Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 11/12/24

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they set up tonight's Canucks home matchup versus the Flames including the debut of top propsect Jonathan Lekkerimäki (6:00), they go around the NHL with analyst Ray Ferraro, plus they're joined by former Canucks and Hockey Hall of Famer Mats Sundin to discuss his new book "Home And Away'. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. As we look ahead to tonight's game between the Canucks and the Flames, 7 o'clock at Rogers Arena, we must look back to yesterday at Canucks practice ahead of tonight's Flames game. The team did practice with a little bit of wrinkle to their forward lines. It is Suter, Miller, and Jonathan Leckermackie who is expected to make his NHL debut tonight when the Canucks take on the Flames.

Second line of DeBrusque, Pettersson, and Garland. That leaves Heinen with Bluger and Sherwood. Bluger, the glue guy, the gluger of the line. And then, of course, also expected to make his debut, not tonight, but possibly Thursday, against Bo Horvat and the New York Islanders. Dakota Joshua once again took line rushes with Atu Ratu and Nils Hoaglander.

Defensive pairings remained essentially the same. So unless you've got anything you want to say with your diminished voice, we can dive right into some Rick Talkin' audio from yesterday. Yeah, I think we should get into the Brock Besser update, which a few people got a little bit confused with yesterday because it originally was reported by a few people as day- day, but I want you to listen to this audio and tell me if it sounds like a regular day to day update, because it didn't to me. Here's Brock Besser asked for an update or sorry, Rick Talkett asked for an update on Brock Besser. Do you have an update on Brock?

Uh, I don't, I don't, I don't. Would you guys ever give us an update on Brock? Well, yeah, I don't. I don't. Would you guys ever give us an update on Brock? Well, yeah. Yeah. I think it's day-to-day. I haven't really talked to him today, to be honest with you. I haven't. Because these things, it's a day-to-day thing.

You feel better. Like, I don't know. All right. That was clear. These things are a day-to-day thing. Okay. What does that mean? He's got a concussion?

What are these things that are this thing? Yeah. I mean, look, the Canucks, over the course of the Pittsburgh era with Alvin and Rutherford in charge, have been, I'd say, pretty guarded, fairly closed off when it comes to the health and the, more importantly,

revealing of information or the lack of reveal for information. Was there a follow-up question? Well, the follow-up question was, are we ever going to get an update on Brock Bester? Well, no, but when he says day-to-day, would they not be like, sorry, is Brock day-to-day or are the updates going to be day-to-day? Oh, yes. What's the day-to-day part?

That's right. That's the confusing part. Andy, you should have been in the scrum. That's what I want to know. So is Brock day-to-day? Jim Benning is there. I'd like to add something on the day-to-day thing. Jim, you're in a corner over there. What are I want to know. So is Brock day-to-day? Jim Benning is there. I'd like to add something on the day-to-day thing. Jim, you're in a corner over there.

What are you doing? Don't we all live day-to-day? Everything is day-to-day when you think about it. Jim, have you been here the whole time? Yeah. You've been in the scrum? I'm installing a plaque that says just that. But no, no.

What's the deal there? The deal is that they don't want any information given out about Brock Besser's health, and they don't feel that they need to give daily updates. Okay, so he's not day-to-day then? I have no idea, Andy. Neither does anyone. I don't think Rick Taka does, and they don't feel that they need to give daily updates. Okay, so he's not day-to-day, then. I have no idea, Andy. Neither does anyone. I don't think Rick Taka does, and I don't think any of the assembled media do yet.

The updates are day-to-day. I think it's pretty tough to give an update on a guy. If we're suspecting that he's got a concussion, and let's remember that he got hurt when Tanner Jeannot gave him a real cheap headshot, so kind of put two and two together there. Concussions are tough to give a timeline on. You know, that's just, I don't know.

I don't have anything more to add. The alternative is that he doesn't have a concussion. He's got a different injury. All we know right now, factually speaking, is that he's injured. He's not skating with the team, he's not going to play tonight against Calgary, and they're not

at a stage where they're even ready to give the designation that we normally get in hockey, which is either day-to-day, week-to-week, or month-to-month. So it's all very vague, and yesterday's Q&A session didn't do anything to clear any of that up. I would say this, don't expect Brock to play tonight, that up i would say this don't expect brock to play

tonight and i would not expect him to play thursday either uh let's move on here we've got some audio about jt miller who we talked about this yesterday on the show uh is having a rough go of it lately for a variety of different reasons uh the audio that we've got from Talk It is slightly different from the audio that we've got from Miller. We'll actually paraphrase the Miller stuff. He basically said he still feels fast. He acknowledges that he's not being as engaged physically

and then he said, for reasons. And then went on to say that he understands where the deficiencies are in his game. An interesting bit of the extrapolated quote talking about that it feels right now is that his line, when it's on the ice, isn't getting any sort of extended zone time. And then all their shifts kind of feel like they're taking laps. It's just back and forth, back and forth.

Yeah, the forecheck is off. Right. And I think that goes directly towards him saying, I'm not as able to be as engaged physically as I'd like to be, i.e. getting in on the forecheck. I think this was a quote that IMAC got. Okay. Did you say there's audio of it?

No, I got the audio on talking on Miller. So I think this might have been an exclusive quote that IMAC got from JT Miller. And if you want to read the article, it's up on sportsnet.ca. And the headline said, Miller's mild start limiting Vancouver's ceiling early. And I think after the last game, there has been a lot of focus on JT Miller

because that was, in Rick Tockett's words, his worst game of the season. And oddly enough, it was probably Elias Pettersson's best game of the season against the Edmonton Oilers. So I think there's naturally going to be a focus on JT Miller, who it hasn't been terrible by any means. I don't think his start has been comparable at all to, for example, Leah's Pettersson start. Right. But some of the old bad habits have revisited themselves. A little too much guns slinging with the puck,

a few too many giveaways. And then we saw, you know, against the Oilers, there was a few times, and granted he was probably tired and gassed, but when he just wasn't moving his feet out there. And it's funny how it all starts with that, right? You hear, why is Petey struggling? Not moving his feet. Why did JT Miller have a tough game?

Eh, wasn't really moving his feet. But Rick Tockett had some thoughts on JT Miller's game, and this was them. Yeah, well, he's hard on himself. You know, he knows there's another level. Yeah, we all know there's another level. You know, the last game

was probably his worst game of the year. He'll tell you that. But he's had some good moments for us. You know, he'll round it out. I'm not worried about him. But what I do love JT, some guys think they're playing well and they're okay. He doesn't. That's what I love about JT.

And I shouldn't even say playing well because I think he's playing fine. And he's trying to find that upper level like everybody else, like our whole team. It's no different than other guys so am i the only one that finds it confusing to keep track of who exactly is in the canucks top six and to check every day how exactly it's mixed around um the only line that's been a constant for the last little while has been the new third line of hein and bluger and sherwood everything else has been in the blender for various reasons from injuries to mediocre play it's again it's it's it's hard to keep track of the top six i had to check yesterday at practice

i was like wait garland is back with pd now that Mm-hmm. That's correct. But DeBrusque will stay with Petey. That is also correct. Okay, so Pettersson gets two pretty good players in Garland and DeBrusque, and Miller gets Suter, not the fastest guy in the world. Have they mentioned that? They've mentioned that before. And also a guy making his NHL debut in lecker mackie so

jg miller coming off his worst game of the season gets the kid while pd gets two pretty reliable players it is an instructive thing that you're doing here because i think it underscores how much flux there's been for this team over the first 17 games of the season. I mean, we're and I'll go like we're move past the fact that Thatcher Demko hasn't played a single minute of competitive hockey for the team yet and move past the fact that the blue line's kind of been in a state of arrears where Eric Branstrom wasn't even on this team at the beginning of October. And now he's a full fledged member of the six.

Derek Forbort's missed a ton of time with various things guys have been in another if you look at this forward group um their leading goal scorer now Brock Besser out with an upper body injury uh Dakota Joshua still has yet to make his season debut you've had Arshdeep Baines and Nils Oman jumping up and down between the American Hockey League and the National Hockey League really since the start of the season Baines and Nils Oman jumping up and down between the American Hockey League and the National Hockey League really since the start of the season. Baines has jumped all the way up to the first line with JT Miller, and now he's down in the HL. He's played on two first lines this year, with Abbotsford and with Vancouver. Go look at the number of forwards that have dressed for games this year,

and it's not a staggering amount by any stretch, but it's a lot for a team that you thought had everything kind of figured out after the offseason in which they brought in a number of guys. Also, you want to talk about Flux. The forward that scored the first goal of the season is now a member of the Seattle Kraken, right? I mean, that's how quickly things have changed

over the course of 17 games into the season. Did you see I saw him yesterday? Oh, that was your, that was a original Jason Brough video. Yeah, I was out there for, I was out at eight rinks for a kid's hockey tournament and it was crazy out there. I don't know how Daniel Sprung found parking,

but he did. Good for him. And he was out there practicing with, it looked like a guy, a few guys from the Cocoa Express. And this is probably a work visa thing like he's i don't know waiting for paperwork to come through to go and play for the kraken but i thought it was interesting you know just like me thinking it was interesting that

sprung was still wearing his canucks practice gear what else are you gonna wear yeah what's he gonna put on yeah he just wanted to think you can hit up sport check for like a little bit of long jersey a little bit of longing involved there. Don't these guys have old practice jerseys that they can throw on? Not with them, probably. Yeah. They don't handle their own gear. That's the thing we don't understand about these guys.

They never touch their gear most of the time, right? I know. The only time they touch is when they're putting it on. I just thought, don't you think it would be weird? I've been traded from this team, put the gear on in front of like... Yeah. And by the way, there were a lot of people gawking. Maybe that's why he was wearing the gear.

I was like, is this guy just going to have a Costanza sit-in with the Canucks or something like that? He rode Sprong on the back in marker. He's like, just in case anyone wants to know who this is. He's reflection has single tears. So anyway,

getting back to the top six of the Canucks, I want to play some Rick Talkett audio on why he put Lekker Amaki with JT Miller. And we can talk about it after that. I like, I don't know. I just rather have, rather have Gar's back with Petey and Jake. I think, and I think Millsy's forechecking, being able to get the puck. Like, like how he gets the puck to Brock.

You know, Lettermackie's got a great shot. And, you know, Seuss is that Swiss Army net that can play that defensive game if we need him to help out, so take less pressure on Lettermackie, Johnny. So I think I just want Johnny to just go play the game and be who he is. Like we had these two-on-ones, he's trying to pass everybody. That's not his job. just want Johnny to just go play the game and be who he is. Like we had these two-on-ones

and he's trying to pass everybody. That's not his job. I want him to shoot the puck. Like these young guys, I always laugh, like even Baines last year

had a couple two-on-ones and he was trying to pass. I want these young guys to be selfish. That's what he is. He's a shooter. Shoot the puck every time and Millsy won't be mad

if you shoot, trust me. Okay. Yes. I remember that play when Baines had just been called up and he went in on two on one and forced to pass and i remember thinking that's a guy that is new to the nhl and is being too deferential to his teammates let's set an over under on Lekker Mackey's shot total tonight.

Ooh, I like it. Shot on goal, not shot attempts. And by the way, we've been told repeatedly by our boss here, Canberra, that it is Lekker Mackey. Yep. Lekker Mackey. So four syllables. Oh, on that note.

Not Lekker Mackey. To give you an idea. Lekker Mackey. To give you an idea. Lecker-a-Mackie. To give you an idea of the Lecker-a-Mackie fever taking over the city. The city news anchor came in this morning and asked for the proper pronunciation. The four syllables. Talk, it's got to work on his, though. Yeah, it does.

Well, that's why he kept calling him Johnny. He kept calling him Letter-a-Mackie. You know, Letter-a-Mackie's got a great shot. Letter-a-Mackie. Letter-a-Kenny and Lecker-a-Mackie combined into one. So, this is the biggest story of the night, right? Everyone is very excited about this. Great shot. Letter Kenny and Leckermacky combined. So switch to Johnny. This is the biggest story of the night, right? Everyone is very excited about this.

There's so many different wrinkles and avenues to this conversation because you got the sense from training camp that there was a push. There was a lot of praise being heaped on the 20 year old Swedish sensation. There were a lot of people within the organization talking him up. People accused us of buying into the hype. They said Halford and Brough are getting tricked by the hype yet again. And then he got sent down to Abbotsford. We were like, we did get tricked again, but now he's back up.

I will say this. The fact that when Besser went down, they immediately were like, Sprung, you're out of here. We're calling up Leekromackie. I think that this organization understands a couple things. One, they want to reward younger players who have shown an ability to stand out at the American League level. I think that's what the Baines recall was all about last year.

If you're doing the business there, we're showing that if you're a young player who's talented and works hard and looks like you can make the jump we're going to give you that opportunity and that's a good thing but i think the first thing as opposed to rewarding players and giving them a little hey way to go here's an nhl paycheck and some nhl experience for a bit is can he help this team and i think there's probably a belief within the organization that over this season, Lekker Mackey can help the team more than Daniel Sprung. And you hear Rick Talkett talking a lot about the details

that Lekker Mackey's been working on. But once you get into the NHL, it's a whole different ballgame of whether or not you can put it all together um because when you're being tasked with the details sometimes what can happen is you're so focused on that that you forget what got you to the nhl right and what got you into this position of first round draft pick making his NHL debut. And I think Talkett probably remembered Baines' NHL debut and how he was a little deferential with the puck, which is why I want to set a Lekker-Mackie.

Oh, I did it again. Lekker-Mackie over under for shot totals. Five. Ten. No, no, no. Not ten. Fifteen. Oh, my God.

Five. Ten's too high. I was going to say three and a half. I think he's going to hit five. You want to set it over under three and a half is an appropriate total. Well, I don't want to push, so we're going to do a half. Yeah, three and a half is an appropriate total. I think he's going to go over.

I think he's going to have five shots on goal. I think he'll get half a shot. Have you ever seen gambling in your life? No, this works. Three and a half. It's when the puck breaks in half, and then half of it hits the goalie. Over or under, A-Dog? Under.

Under. So you think he's going to get three, two, or one shots? Yeah, if I'm being realistic. Okay. Laddie, over or under? Over. You're going to go, okay. I think he's going to end up with five shots on goal and a goal in his NHL.

Wow. Yeah. Why do you always have to hot take it? Like, every time. Have you been on radio before? Have you been on radio before? You say he's going to score in his NHL debut? Have you been on?

I don't know if that's a huge hot take. It's not a huge leap. It can happen. No, but it always has to be like, we're doing over-unders. I also think he's going to get in a fight. Go big or go home. 40-how hat trick. I think he's going to fly.

Alfred, you might as well just go for the hat trick at this point. If you want to listen to boring sports talk radio, we have plenty of programming for the rest of the day that will fill your needs. I am on the excitement train. I'm trying to get pumped up. I'm trying to get pumped. It's 620 in the morning. One of their two prized prospects, which was the other point I was trying to get to,. I'm trying to get by 620 in the morning. One of their two prized prospects,

which was the other point I was trying to get to, is going to make his debut tonight. The biggest difference between, and we're using our R.C. Baines maybe unfairly as a foil here, but the biggest difference between the Baines debut and the Laker-Mackie debut is the Baines debut was a nice story. He was undrafted. He clawed his way up.

Local kid. Local kid. This is a lot different. This is a guy that's coming in with very high expectations. This is a guy that's coming in with not a lot of AHL experience. And the AHL experience he had, he killed it. This is a guy that could

be, and is expected to be, something of a difference maker at the NHL level. Which is why in his first game, he's not expected to defer to everyone else. And the club wants him to go out and be a difference maker. They don't want him to go out there and kill the time and feel the ice. You know what?

I think he's going to score two. There we go. After that speech, he's going to score two. Can we take a second to imagine if Lekar Mackey comes in and immediately it's clear that he's a pretty good player and belongs in the NHL. Can we take a second to imagine what the Canucks lineup looks like? The depth just gets deeper? No, it does. That's a great thing with this.

I don't know if there's a silver lining. I'm not trying to put pressure on him to do this. It's not vital that he does it this season, but it would be nice, wouldn't it? Look, and I'm dropping a look early here, 6.21 in the morning on a Tuesday. There's two things to what you're speaking on here. One, there could be a silver lining to a Brock Besser injury here.

And if you want to extrapolate this and pull this further down the road, we have talked at length about the contract situation with Besser moving forward and that they might have a ready-made solution to replace him if it doesn't work out in Jonathan Lekromacki in a very weird way right now in a very unfortunate way because Besser's hurt they're gonna get a pretty good look at where he's at NHL wise yeah right now in that's in Brock Besser's spot that is the silver lining of the whole thing and I hate saying it like this and I know I might sound like a callous jerk, but whatever. That is a benefit to the club that they're going to get a look and see where he's at in terms of, are you ready to do this?

They're literally putting him into Brock Besser's spot. He's going right there. And Taka is saying, like, I want JT Miller to go and get the puck on the forecheck like he does with Brock Besser. And then Leck shoots it. He's calling him Leck now. Yeah, so there's that aspect of it for sure. And I think it's a big part moving forward.

And the other part of it is that when we talk about teams in their Stanley Cup window, oftentimes we talk about unique guys that are playing on value contracts. And usually a lot of those teams have one or two guys that are giving either decent or high-end production on entry-level deals and right now which which names come to mind when you think of those guys the guys that have won cups and they won them when they were on one that jumps out to mind most recently for me was byram in colorado in 2022 i think about like Toffoli and Tanner Pearson.

That's going a ways. That's a decade ago now, which is crazy. That makes me feel old. But those are guys too. Young guys that step in and can play important roles on your team. Didn't win the cup, but Chris Kreider on the Rangers. I mean, that was a long time ago. I mean, his was crazy because he made the jump straight from college to the NHL playoffs, right?

But those guys are vitally important. They play a huge role and they can not necessarily be like the make or break, but they can give you the kind of financial flexibility moving forward. The Canucks have two guys right now in the system that they are hopeful can be those type of contributors. One, we're going to see tonight in Lekermackie. Two, we're not going to see tonight. Maybe we'll see him next year. And it's Tom Willander, right?

And if you look at the state of this defense right now. Or he's going to be traded at the deadline for an upgrade on defense. Right. So he either represents the upgrade to defense himself or he's traded for that upgrade. But point being, those are the two guys right now. And that's why the Lekermackie thing is really exciting for me anyway tonight. Because I think that there's a lot riding on it.

But I don't have that sense of dread that I normally do with the Vancouver Canucks. It's a good anticipation. We're going to talk to Greg Wyshynski next. We'll talk to him about that Pittsburgh loss. Woo, 7-1 at home to the Dallas Stars. But, Halford, I just wanted to give you an update from the world of sports yes shane waldron is out as the bears offensive coordinator oh imagine that former seattle seahawks offensive coordinator

coordinate anything ah shane waldron that doesn't surprise me at all. So before we go to break, I will say the Bears right now are in tailspin mode because there is massive, maybe you want to talk about highly touted prospects that have a major influence on the future of your franchise. Caleb Williams was supposed to not just represent

a prized acquisition for the Bears, but really the anticipation that he was going to be the first franchise quarterback, maybe in franchise history, there was a possibility when he got drafted that a lot of people were saying, this is the guy that could end up being the best quarterback in Bears

history, because there's not a great lineage of Bears. Do they consider Jim McMahon? He would be it, but almost like a de facto. Yeah. It's Jim McMahon because there's not really somebody else. They were more of a running backs team.

Right. It's like when the options are Jim McMahon and then I guess Rex Grossman, it's not a huge list, right? It's not a Mount Rushmore of quarterbacks there. So that doesn't surprise me one bit. They've looked awful the last two weeks. Caleb Williams is getting hit left and right.

And you're stunting his growth as a potential franchise quarterback. So there's a little bit of news from the NFL as we go around all of it here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. Ray Ferraro joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Ray. How are you?

I'm good. I'm in Florida. It's nice and warm. And got the Devils and Panthers tonight. So I'm, yeah, all good. I'm in Florida. It's nice and warm. And I've got the Devils and Panthers tonight. So I'm all good. All good. I was running through the list of games tonight. That was one of the good ones. A clash atop the East. You've got a really good goaltending matchup at Madison Square Garden between

Halibut and Shisterkin. You've got the Battle of Ontario. And then here in Vancouver, not only do you have a classic Flames-Canucks rivalry, but it is also going to be the debut of Jonathan Lech you have a classic Flames Canucks rivalry but it is also going to be the debut of Jonathan Lekromacki for the Vancouver Canucks which everybody is very excited about so Brough is he's playing he's playing hurt today his voice is all banged up so he bestowed on me the honor of asking his question he wanted to make it clear this is a Brough question but Halford gets to ask it. Come on. No. Okay.

So Lekker Mackey's coming in tonight, and Talkit had the audio yesterday saying we want him to be aggressive and to shoot and to do the things that made him successful at every other level that hopefully will translate to this level. So Ray, as a guy who in his last year in the dub scored, wait for it, 108 goals in 72 games, then went to the American League with bingo and had 20 goals in 37 games. What do you remember about when you made the jump

to the NHL with Hartford? Were your coaches telling you to shoot the puck as much as possible like you did in junior in the A? Did you feel like you had to defer? What was it like when you made that jump to play for the big club? Well, nobody really told me anything. Like, it was so different, guys.

Like, I remember the, you know, I got called up, and it was a December game, and, you know, I was really nervous. And so at the morning skate, I was out there and doing my thing, and I had a couple guys tell me, okay, you've been out here long enough. Get off. Save it for tonight. And that was really the only thing that they said to me. Like, there was no, like, it's so much more complicated now.

Like, I don't recall having any sit down with a coach to go over systems or, you know, an understanding of how much I was going to play or who I was going to play with. There was none of that. And so I think in a way it's harder for the kids, for anybody to make their debut in today's game. It's just a different world.

I would say what I noticed right away is, holy crap, these guys are big, and they're all really good. Like, even the guys that weren't very good, you know, by NHL standards, you're like, they're all good. You know, like, people would be amazed when they sit up and watch a game and they go, that guy sucks. If they got on the ice with him, he'd be the best player they've ever played with. And they're like, oh, they skate well.

They're big. They cover ice. And so for LeKaramaki, even though he's gotten, I don't know, what's the average in five shots a game or something in the American League? You're just not going to get that. And so there's a really fine line about you know doing what you can do like doing what you normally do like for him it's being a shooter

but being patient enough and understanding that you're not getting five shots a game nobody gets five shots a game and it's uh early on i would suspect he'll have like a, you know, he'll be good early. Like if he plays a couple of games, if he's at all close to being a legit regular NHLer, he'll play well early and then he'll fade and then he'll jump again. Like there's so much adrenaline tonight. Like it's the coolest thing. You've done nothing but dream about

this your whole life and now your dream is is right on the doorstep was it easier for you to not be deferential though because you were playing with a bunch of other young guys like if you i'm looking at that roster you guys had in hartford when you broke into the NHL, Turgeon was 19. Kevin Dineen was, he's your age, so he was 20. Ron Francis was only a year older than you and Dineen. What I find interesting is Rick Tockett noted that when Baines made his NHL debut last season, I remember this play. He went in on a two-on-one.

I can't remember who his teammate was, but he should have shot the puck and he forced a pass on a two-on-one and I think that's what Talkett wants Lekermackie to avoid is being too deferential just because he feels like you know as a young guy you don't want to go out there and you know your teammates think you're selfish with the puck well um i would say okay so everybody's going to be different um there's some swagger to the way like karamaki plays right like he's a shooter he knows he's a shooter he's always been a shooter he gets a two-on-one he's probably going to shoot like Like that won't change. For Baines, it was a long road for him

and maybe an unlikely path to get to the NHL. So he would be more nervous. He would be probably more deferential. You know, Jason, you more than Mike, but like, you know me a little bit, right? So chances of me being deferential were slim. I knew that I had to score. I just knew it. I could feel it.

I had to produce offense to stay because I couldn't do what some of the other guys were doing. I just couldn't. I wasn't big enough. I wasn't fast enough. And so for me, it was always, it was easier to not be, but when you get into the room, I don't care how many dressing rooms you've been in, how many games you've played,

but you're sitting there and you're trying to just say it's another game and it's not. And I'm looking around, I'm 20 years old. I'm with like, I'm with the aside from the guys you mentioned, we had Hartford was in a transitional stage. And there was a lot of older guys there. Mark Johnson, the great Olympic hero for the U S he got hurt. So I got called up. I'm sitting in his stall. The guy sitting beside me comes in

sees me sitting there he goes how long are you here for that's how he said hello and I was like uh I don't know how I get till Mark gets back I mean like the hell was I gonna say I was 20 I was terrified and you know he in particular didn't make me feel altogether welcome yeah that's pretty funny you did you guys did really have a young team though i'm like there are there are some other guys down like olf samuelsson was your age started in the american league we started all of us um myself uh dean evison kevin benin olf samuelsson paul fenton paon, Paul McDermott, Peter Sidorka, which came up a year later. We were all in the American League together, Bradshaw. And then all of a sudden, we were all in Hertford.

And the only difference really was they took that great logo, which was on its side, like a B in Binghamton, and they flipped it to a W. And we're like, wow, we're a bunch of 20-year-old kids running around having a bunch of fun and we're playing. And then we realized, oh my God, we're getting our teeth kicked in every night because the rest of the league's pretty good. Yeah, and you guys finished last in the Adams division and missed the playoffs.

We did, but finished that year. I'm not going to let you go on that. We finished the year. They traded for mike liute and we went 10-0-2 down the stretch and then made the playoff the next year it was very much like when talk came in and they had that 30 game training camp that was kind of what happened to us that first year and then the next year we like you know we kind of came of age, I guess. Well, while we're on the topic of young teams, it's funny, we were saying earlier that Mike and I

have each picked a team to pick on outside of the Canucks, and Mike is really picking on the Nashville Predators this year. I'm picking on the Anaheim Ducks because that game that they played against the Canucks, I was, you know, normally I watch the games and I'm picking on the Anaheim Ducks because that game that they played against the Canucks, I was, you know, normally I watch the games and I'm pretty biased. Like, I want the Canucks to win, so I'm not upset if the other team plays badly, but I was almost offended on behalf of hockey. I think I lost you there, guys.

Oh, sorry, Ray. So I was saying, have you got us? We'll get Ray back. We'll get Ray back. We'll get Ray back. Just while we're waiting for Ray. Yes. That roster in Hartford was unbelievably young. You know what you can while he's not on the line?

How bad was that roster? No, it was, I mean, look, there were some great players on that. Multiple Hall of Famers. They're just young. Marty Howe was on the team. Remember him? I do. By the way, you are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

We are in the midst of our conversation weekly with Ray Farrell. We just lost the call here. We will get him back in just a moment. We do need to talk to Ray about a couple different things, including one of our guests that's coming up later in the show. If you missed it off the top, Hockey Hall of Famer Matt Sundin is going to join the program at 8.30 today.

We'll talk to him about well, he's doing media for his book, which just got released. He's been doing the media car wash and the tour over the last couple of weeks. So we'll talk to Matt about that. I did want to ask, Ray, it's funny, when I was doing the research for this hit yesterday, yes, I do do that. There's a clip,

an old overdrive clip where, you know, Ray used to do the hit with O-Dog and Hayes and those guys, the more challenging matchup, Doug Gilmore or Matt Sundin, which I thought was a pretty interesting one. I don't know why they asked him that, but I think we've got Ray back now.

But I was thinking, Ray, we got you back. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. Don't worry about it. Bruff,

why don't you pick up where you left off? Yeah. So I was saying that Halford is, is picking on the Nashville Pred. Sorry about that. Don't know what happened. Bruff, why don't you pick up where you left off? Yeah, so I was saying that Halford is picking on the Nashville Predators and I'm picking on the Anaheim Ducks because they were so bad against the Canucks when they played. I was almost offended on behalf of hockey. How much of that has to do with just the youth that they've got in the lineup there?

And how much of it, it frankly has to do with the head coaching well okay so it again with some experience of going through this the part of the problem when you um when you're in a rebuild you get all these young guys in there and everybody thinks that like literally everybody thinks all the rebuilds here we're on the ground floor we're going to get young players and then once we get young players then they're going to all get better well a lot of times what you find out when you when you get young players is some of them or a lot of them can't play like they can't play at this level matt sundin joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning, Matt. How are you? I'm very good. How are you guys doing? We're great. We wanted to first thank you for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. And to start, just wanted to know what it's been like for the last few weeks. You've been doing the media tour with the book, a lot of reminiscing, a lot of trips down memory lane. I'm sure you've told the same story over and over and over again,

so we'll try to avoid that. But how's it been the last few weeks? It's been great, actually. You know, I haven't been not as much back in Canada. I obviously lived there for almost 20 years and visiting back in mostly Ontario this time. But it's been great. It's always great to see the Canadian hockey fans, right,

and visiting them. So I had a lot of fun going down little memory lanes and watching some games at the same time. You know, obviously we're here in Vancouver, and you've played in Quebec, you've played a long time in Toronto, but what sort of place does that short time, but a memorable time in Vancouver, hold for you when you look back over your playing career? Well, I'm very happy about it.

I wish that I could play the full season. Obviously, when you're 37, it's not easy to come into the season starting in January when everybody has already got 40 games into their legs almost and going into the second half of the season but in terms of the city, the fans of the Vancouver Canucks

I really enjoyed it. Me and my wife loved being in Vancouver I thought the team you know obviously went to the cup finals a couple years after I was there but already after I was there, but already when I was there, it was a very strong team with two great forward lines, great defense.

Obviously, Roberto and Matt, we had all the ingredients actually to go far in the playoffs, and obviously they did a couple of years later. Was that why you chose the Canucks? Like, what was the main reason? I mean, was it all the Swedes there? There were a ton of them. Olin was there, the Sedins, and Edler. The whole thing, we looked at me and JP Maidens.

What team has the most Swedes? Oh, it's the Canucks. Let's go there. Let's join them. No, but yeah, I think JP Maidens at the time, we really liked the way they connected. Obviously, they were a top team in the Western Conference at the time, and it was a good opportunity to play another year.

How hard was it to leave Toronto? Well, it was tough in the circumstances, and obviously I talk about that in the book. I think it doesn't matter. You know, we all, NHL players, understand the business part of the game. And when you sign an NHL contract, you're really, you know, you're up to the judgment of the management or whatever. If you're going to coach us, how long are you going to be in the city? So I understand that part.

But saying that, you know, when you play 13 years, 11 years as the captain for the Toronto Maple Leafs, it's impossible not to take it personal when, you know, Cliff at the time, he run the road in Carolina, I think, and he said, Matt, can I see you for a bit? I knew right away this is not great. And he said, you know, do you want to waive your no trade clause

and go somewhere? So it's impossible to not take it personally, even though I, you know, the Toronto Maple Leafs try to do what's best for the organization and the future. And, you know, I just want to try to be part of the team and stay there. Why did you refuse to waive your no-trade clause,

and what was the blowback like that you experienced? Yeah, I think the biggest reason was when Cliff asked me, I think we're in Carolina, and I said, I think we're three or four points out of a playoff spot. I was having, I remember I had a really strong year that year too individually and uh being the captain and just like i said i think it was so hard to picture myself like i want to stay for those last 20 games and try to make it into the playoffs and also being the captain and i think more than anything we invest so much time and effort

13 years with an organization you want to have a the opportunity and obviously also a no trade clause which which gives me the right to choose as well so i think that the hardest part when it became public and the next you know two or three months just you have to deal with all the questions down at the deadline. Obviously, that was hard. But no regrets out of that. Did it hurt knowing that fans wanted you traded because they moved on? I mean, fans are always going to stick with their team, right?

But it's sometimes hard to hear that. No. I think all players go through, at some point in your career, and like I said, NHL is a business, and we all know that, right? But still, you invest time and effort,

and you will take it. It's always harder, and the more years you've been in the organization and spent time with the fans and the organization, I've been in the organization and spent time with the fans and and the organization I think it gets harder saying that though you know my 13 years with Toronto I think we had a lot of ups and downs twice to the conference finals you know there's and I you know you look at the players today they go through a lot of scrutiny, whether it's the Canucks players or the Leafs.

I didn't have once over my years with the Toronto Maple Leafs where a fan came up to me and was disrespectful or something. I think the hockey fans are great. They cheer for the team. They want the players to do well. But the business side is what it is. What was it like to actually write the book and come up with all the material?

Were there any parts of your life that you looked back on and went, oh yeah, that happened? Well, it's a little bit of a therapy looking back at your childhood. And a couple of reasons why I wrote the book. I think, you know, it was now or never. I got asked a few years to do my biography. And finally, I said, our kids are old enough.

I think if I don't do it now, it's never going to happen. And, you know, reflect back on the childhood. And you realize when you get old, and I certainly do, And, you know, reflect back on the childhood. And you realize when you get old, and I certainly do, that I was fortunate to have great support from my parents throughout my childhood. Me and my brothers, at the same time, look behind the scenes, what happens in a dressing room when you're the captain for an organization like the Canucks, I mean, like the Maple Leafs and, and, you know,

the relationship with coaches and pressure that comes from being an NHL player, whether you're a Canuck or a Maple Leafs. And also maybe the most important thing, I get zero respect right now for my kids, for my hockey. They don't care that I play. I hope my kids one day are going to pick up this book and say, Hey, Hey, look at it. Hey, our dad was a pretty good hockey player. I'll tell you what, if they don't read the book,

get them to watch the video of February 21st, 2009. You return to Toronto as a member of the Vancouver Canucks. And I went and watched the clip the other day, and it is remarkable how the storyline plays out. So they play the tribute video for you coming back and you're very emotional. And then the game goes to the shootout where you're the deciding shooter.

Like how much can one guy take in a night? You're already emotional for your return and the fans were, as you said, they were very gracious and huge applause. But then the on-ice product, you've got to go finish a game for your team. What do you remember about that night in particular? Well, it was, you know, I compare it to, you know,

playing in the Olympic Finals 2006, my generation with Lidstrom and Forsberg and Alfredson and the Sedin twins, we had a chance to win the gold. First time a Swedish team to win a best-on-best tournament like the World Cup or the Olympics. Sweden had never done that before, haven't done it since. But I tell you, that game coming back with the Canucks to Toronto was as nerve-wracking.

But you know all players, I think everybody can agree about the NHL players. Once that puck drops or you're on the ice, it is like hitting a mute button. You're doing things that you've done a million times. But I was very glad. I remember just before I took the puck going down to take the penalty shot, I was very happy to get a chance to score the winning goal for the Canucks

against the Maple Leafs in that game. What are your memories of playing with the Sedins? You'd obviously played with them on that 2006 gold medal team and then you joined them in Vancouver. What do you remember about where they were at in their careers and maybe what advice you could give them? Well, I was really glad to get there i think maybe one of the reasons too why management wanted me with the connects was i think i i was i've been been along uh been around long enough and i i i um it was really

great to watch daniel and henrikrik closer than just playing against them. See how great they were, not only on the ice, as we all know, but as teammates off the ice. And just the whole work ethic of the Canucks team. Then when I compare coming from a team missing the playoffs three years in a row and you come into a team that is actually challenging for a cup and President's Trophy, it was such a different atmosphere. And I think Hendrick and Daniel really led the way

for that generation of teams they were in. And cup finals and President's Trophy, scoring leaders, they did a lot of great things. And I know they still do a lot of great things for not only the Canucks, but the city of Vancouver. Matt, this is a question I actually hate to ask, but I want to ask it anyway. What was it like to retire without winning a cup? It's a very common question I get. I think when, and I try to actually portray that in the book, I think

where I come from and growing up in Sweden in the 70s and the 80s, my dad worked for the local, I mean, for the phone company. My mom was a nurse. They were paycheck to paycheck. I really lived my dream, right? And to represent Sweden in the Olympics,

to wear an NHL sweater, I'll never forget my first NHL game, to come in the dressing room, Guy Lafleur and the Joe Sackicks and playing the Gretzky's and Lemieux's. Like I lived my dream for all those years playing in the National Hockey League and were able to make a living of something that was my passion, right? So there's no regrets there.

And, you know, the only thing that I do regret a little bit is for the fans in Toronto. They deserve to win the Stanley Cup. They haven't done it since the 67th. So I wish we could have pushed through for them. But, I mean, hockey has given me everything, really, in terms of meeting people, travel, playing the sport I love. But for the fans, and the Canucks fans as well,

like a Stanley Cup, for everybody that supports the teams and the players, that's what you want to see. Is it harder to win a cup in Canada than it is in the United States, or is this all just a coincidence that there hasn't been a Stanley Cup winner since 1993? Listen, guys, I think you know that. There's no doubt that there's a difference between playing in a market

like Vancouver or Toronto or Montreal than playing for Tampa or Florida or Las Vegas, where you have a few journalists and you can lose five or ten games and it just disappears in the flow of the season, where you can actually lose in two or three games. Everybody wants heads to rolls. And same in Toronto, same in Canada. So it gives a little extra pressure on players.

They have to deal with being under the microscope and scrutiny, and they have to understand and learn how to deal with that part of being watched a lot more in canada than they are in some markets in the u.s so it is it is different how do you do it is there is there advice to it because i mean the thing is like it's not going away so i imagine you can you can get yourself into you know it should be like this or it shouldn't be like this, you know, should, should, should, but it is, right? Like that's the way it is.

But listen, I played 13 years in, I mean, all my careers, I mean, all my years in Canada, and I think you learn and you have to learn to when you leave the ring for a practice or a game, win or lose, you have to have a mental off button. You've got to go home and do something completely different. You rest, you sleep, you travel, and you play. Those few hours when you're not at the rink, don't read everything that's going on in the media

or listen to every radio show. I'm talking about the players because they need to be able – they know themselves both as a team and players when they have a good or bad game. And they need to stay level-headed, win or lose. So I think the players – that's my biggest advice. If you want to have a long career and play for many years in Canada and Canadian markets, you need to be able to block all that stuff out and do other things in between your practice and games.

You know, you talk about that toll and the physical toll that it takes. And it's funny, Shea Weber went to the Hockey Hall of Fame last night and he did an interview recently where he was talking about that Stanley Cup run that they went on with Montreal. I think he said he was basically, he looked like a mummy by the end of it. He was taped up so much and he was going through so much. Your last kick at it with the Canucks was that run that ended prematurely you guys lost to Chicago in the second round but um I remember you getting hurt against St. Louis and then gutting it out and coming back

and you finish the playoffs with like you're a point of game guy how difficult was it that final year you mentioned already getting just getting back into playing shape halfway through the year and then playing through injury knowing that it might be your last chance at it, but you still wanted to give it a go even though you were physically limited. Yeah. Well, you know what? I loved it. And I think even looking at the playoffs,

especially when I thought I had my game back to where it was supposed to be, I really loved it. And I think once you get to the end of your career, whether you're going to play another year or not, you're obviously not the guy they're caring, you know, you might not be the franchise player, the top guy on the team. But I remember those last games in the Chicago series, how I really enjoyed coming to the rink at home in Vancouver. And even in Chicago, you know, the building, the atmosphere, because the only thing I really miss from the game is, you know, once you take your first stride in a Stanley Cup playoffs or an NHL game

and there's a sold-out arena, there's millions watching on TV, it's such a, you know, you live in the moment. There's no time to think about what's going to happen the next week or next minute or what's happened in the past. So you live in the present, and that's something you miss after your career. Well, Matt, on behalf of Jason and our producers and everyone here, all the listeners that are texting in,

I want to thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. This was great getting caught up with you. Congrats on the book, belated congrats on a terrific career, and happy trails to the rest. Thanks again for doing all this. Thanks for having me, guys, and good luck for the Canucks. Rest of the way. Appreciate that.

Thanks, Matt. Matt Sendeen, Hockey Hall of Famer here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough.