Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 11/1/24

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

Mike and Jason look back at the previous day in sports, the boys wonder if fans are starting to panic and if the team is considering trading Pettersson, plus they get a Canucks update from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. 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. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Loose in front here, great chance down low. Ovechkin, score! Canucks goalie coach Marco Tornoyas. Now taken by Crosby. On the far side. Cuts it through.

He shoots and scores! Sidney Crosby, the overtime game winner! Whatever, Rob. Just give me a rub. Give me some meat. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Friday.

Sweet, sweet Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. It is Halford and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you.

Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program.

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Kintec, got a big show ahead, as we always do. On a Friday, we have a lot to get into to set you up for the weekend. We have a lot of guests to talk to on the show today. Beginning at 6.30, Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN, is going to join us. It's the Seahawks hosting the Rams. Seahawks, one and a half point dogs to the Rams. Despite the fact the Rams are coming into Seattle with a losing record,

what has become of Lumen Field, Jason? What has become of the 12s? Where are the 12s? They're gone. They're gone. It's just 11 now. The actual appropriate number of players on the field. That's it.

AJ is going to join us at 7 o'clock. AJ's Pete's on. He's Broadway. I assume he's going to join us because I have not actually spoken to him since the Yankees lost the World Series. So we will try and connect at 7 with AJ. A reminder, as we speak about AJ, we're giving away a $100 gift card today to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway,

the best pizza place in the world. Best ask us anything or what we learned. The best, only the best, will win a $100 gift card. You have to put a pizza emoji into either or. Hashtag it AUA. Hashtag it WWL. Put the pizza emoji into the text. You'll be entered into the draw. 730 Moj is going to join us

ahead of the BC Lions playoff game on Saturday. 3.30 kickoff our time from Regina against Saskatchewan. We'll talk to Moj about that at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. I don't know what we're going to talk to Dolly about. That's Jason's department. Jason navigates the Dollywaters on Thursday evenings.

Yeah, I got a text from Rick and he's like, I want to talk about the temperature of the market after two losses. Good enough. We're going to talk a little temperature with Dollywall. It was cold last night, I'll tell you. It was cold last night. It was wet. He also said the Elias Pettersson saga and

would teams be interested in him? Wow. I thought they already had that argument with Drance on the crossover. Rick loves to relitigate a good argument. Okay. Especially when the guy he's arguing with is not present. So we'll talk to Rick at 8 o'clock about that. Moj at 7.30, AJ at 7, Brady Henderson at 6.30.

We got a lot to get into on the program. So without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what's happening. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Your Vancouver Canucks had a day off yesterday. No hockey for the Vancouver Canucks.

They were told to just get away from it all after that 6-0 loss on Wednesday to the New Jersey Devils. So we will find out most things today when they resume for practice. Yeah, they're going to practice at about 1130 out at UBC. And yeah, we'll wait and see how the lines and the power play units look today at practice. And then they're going to leave to head down to California

for three games down there. The first on Saturday against what?, the red-hot San Jose Sharks? I did my pre-scout last night. Yeah, you watched the Sharks and Blackhawks? How was that? They beat the Blackhawks 3-2. Will Smith getting jiggy with it? So Will Smith got jiggy with it.

First two NHL goals. You know he wears number two? What? As a center. Brian Leach? No, number two? What? As a center? Brian Leach? No, number two. Number two is a defenseman. A fine number for a defenseman like Hall of Famer

Brian Leach, who I don't like, but that's fine. It looks very strange. Like Taylor Hall's four as a forward looks weird. He was also playing last night. But two is it's very bizarre. But anyway, other than that, he had a really good game. Did they look good? Nope.

No. But they didn't look terrible. I flipped by it a little bit. How many people do you think were there? Six. Yeah, a lot of empty seats

in San Jose. So I learned a lot about both the Blackhawks and the Sharks last night. So they do an intermission piece where they try, you know,

the typical like interview. I've never seen this before. They did an interview with an assistant coach. Really? It's been done. Are you sure? I think so. I think so.

I can't think of like an example in my brain, but I want to say it's been done. These are like CNN arguing skills. Surely somewhere in the history of the sport, this had been done. Is that the most interesting takeaway you had from it? That they interviewed an assistant coach in the intermission? The most interesting takeaway was I actually watched the intermission.

I should have just flipped somewhere else. But they panned to do a pano shot of the arena. And I was like, that looks like a pregame shot because there was no one in the seats. But it wasn't. It was just a regular intermission. There was more people there that were working at the arena then. And you know what?

The crazy part is I thought about it, I'm like, that would have been a fairly decent game to go to because it would have been Celebrini against Bedard. Yeah, but Celebrini's still hurt. But Celebrini's still hurt, and he's not playing. So anyway, the Sharks have won three in a row. We can get to them in a little bit. But back to our Vancouver Canucks.

So the Canucks did send Baines and Brandstrom down, but that's presumably for cap-related reasons. The weekly recall. Yeah. Is this even worth reporting at this point? You know what's going to happen. The next day, they'll be like, and they're back up.

Here's the thing. We do have to wonder when Dakota Joshua is going to make his season debut, and could that be on this trip? I would say the same for, not that Forbort hasn't made a season debut already, but when is he going to return to the lineup? Because, you know, Baines is probably the obvious who comes out if Forbort goes in because you get the complication of the lefty-lefty if Branstrom stays in there. I don't know. But those guys are going to be in the lineup sooner rather than later,

I think, Joshua and Forbort. I think the Canucks could really use Joshua at this point. I think they could use a jolt of energy or something different into the lineup. I guess we should note on the subject of Abbotsford and guys going up and down, the stars and moons align because Abbotsford is also in California all this week.

They play in San Diego Saturday, Sunday, and then they play in Ontario, not the province, the city, on Wednesday. So I suppose, I mean, and the Canucks do tend to get creative with their recalls and reassignments, that maybe there's an opportunity there for some guys to take a quick jaunt to go play for the Abbotsford Canucks.

Because the Canucks go Saturday in San Jose. They got a bunch of days off before they play Tuesday, Thursday in Anaheim and Los Angeles. So they're basically in California for the week, which is actually a fun time to go. They will be down there for the U.S. election, too, in Anaheim, which Angeles. So they're basically in California for the week, which is actually a fun time to go. They will be down there for the U.S. election too in Anaheim, which should be a lot of fun. But I do wonder if there could be some maneuvering

or some machinations where they move guys up and down because the Abbotsford Canucks are down there as well. Let's look on the out-of-town scoreboard last night because there are a few interesting results. San Jose, we already mentioned, they've now won three in a row. They beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. I'm sure Conor Bedard was thrilled with that. The Edmonton Oilers playing without Conor McDavid.

They go into Nashville, they pound the Predators. They solve the problem. 5-1. They got rid of McDavid. They scored five goals for the first time in a game this season. Leon Dreisaitl, two goals and an assist. The National Predators are, I think, they're in full-blown, like, we're in trouble mode here.

Because they briefly, and by briefly, I mean they won three games, snapped out of the funk to start the season, but now they're 3-6-1. They're 2-5-0 at home, and it just doesn't seem like it's clicking at all. Whatever style that they had last year that got them to the playoffs and gave them a good run against the Canucks in the first round has been completely thrown out the window.

They missed Kiefer Sherwood. Absolutely. The Carolina Hurricanes hosted Boston. And speaking of teams in trouble, the Bruins are in trouble. The Hurricanes beat the Bruins 8-2. And the Bruins are now 4-6-1. I've watched the Bruins eight to two and the Bruins are now four, six and one. I've watched the Bruins a few times. They do not look like themselves.

And this could, I mean, this could be the, the break that the likes of the Buffalo Sabres and the Detroit Red Wings and the Ottawa Senators have been looking for and that the Bruins, Are they good? They might not be good anymore. It might finally be it for them. Yeah, so there's a lot going on in Boston right now.

This game was in Carolina, by the way. I do want to preface this by saying, if you're wondering if there's been more lopsided scores in the first month of this season than ever, you would be correct. There have been, I think it's 70 games that have been decided by three goals or more already in the early stages of this season than ever, you would be correct. There have been, I think it's 70 games that have been decided by three goals or more already in the early stages of the season.

And we've seen a few eights hung up there, as a matter of fact. Like earlier this week, just a couple nights ago, you had Seattle Kraken beating Montreal 8-2. You had the Ottawa Senators winning a game 8-1. You've seen some pretty high-end teams get blown out, including, hey, your very own Vancouver Canucks who got throttled 6-0 on home ice.

I don't know if there's any rhyme or reason or logistics for it, but it's happened. Anyway, Boston loses 8-2 to Carolina last night. And the Elias Lindholm, Elias Elias, whatever, Lindholm scrutiny is starting to bubble to the surface. It's not a terrible start to the season. It's two goals and six points in 11 games. And he did get one last night.

He got an assist last night. Sorry, but, uh, Freed and Kyle spoke about this on 32 thoughts, which came out this morning. And they said right now, Boston's trying to spin this as the last couple of years, we've started the season like gangbusters. We were the

best team in the nhl this is good that we're losing bad and it didn't translate to the end of the year because we had early playoff exits now we're trying the other thing it's people are kind of like yeah right whatever um you've seen early in the season that montgomery has expressed his frustration with uh the way the team has played There was the very public calling out of Brad Marchand. The Lindholm thing is interesting. So, Frege actually talked about the end of days in Vancouver with him. And I'm paraphrasing most of this, but it's pretty accurate. I can trust myself here.

He said a lot of the Canucks players were actively recruiting him to stay because they felt like he was the perfect complimentary piece for the group that they had that he wasn't going to be relied upon to be one of the best players on the team but like he was going to be the fourth or fifth best player and he fit really well especially in the playoffs when he was tasked with that he went to boston and suddenly it's like there's a lot more he's not a one c he's not a one c he's not a oneC anymore. He's not a 1C. He's not a 1C anymore. Right? We saw it. I don't think he can move that well. But I think he can be effective.

Like, Freed's put it, if he's your fourth or fifth best player, you're pretty happy. Sure. If he's your number one center and you're relying on him to play a ton and lead the charge. He was the top center available. Right. Doesn't mean he's still a 1C.

And, I mean, he's being thrust into a position where he's still a 1c and i mean he's he's being um thrust into a position where he's not only got to be a 1c but he's got to be on a 1c on a team that has a great lineage of number one centers prior to him of course and has high expectations like we're not talking about going to a rebuilding team or going to a team that doesn't have cup aspirations even though they might not be a cup contending team, Boston approaches it like that. So there's a lot of consternation about what's going on in Boston right now. The Washington Capitals, these guys might be legit.

They honestly might be legit based on their scorelines and the fact, I mean, I know Montreal isn't very good, but the Caps beat the Habs last night 6-3. And the Caps, if you look at the shot totals, really dominated this game, especially the third period. And I guess Martin Saint-Louis, the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, did he say this in French?

He said it in French? No, he said it in English. Oh, he said it in English? Yeah, the translation didn't do him justice. I heard the quote later. Okay, so the quote was, we threw up all over ourselves in the third period? Yes.

And then, unfortunately, one of the- So it's going well for the Habs. Yeah. I mean, they weren't good at all. They had 16 shots on Charlie Lindgren. He stopped 13, which isn't even that great, but he still got the win. Can we hear the Ovi goal?

Ovi got one. You got the Ovi goal there? Ovi got one closer to Wayne Gretzky last night. He now needs 36 to tie, 37 to pass. He's got three goals in his last two games, so he's rounding into form a little bit earlier than he normally does. Here's Alex Ovechkin in a 6-3 win for the Caps

over Montreal on Thursday night. Carolina has a 6-2 lead over Boston after just two periods. Loose in front here. Great chance down low. Ovechkin scores! They managed to get in the Boston slander in there too right before the goal.

Yeah, that was good. A lot of people texting in and saying, oh, you glossed over the Podkolzin fight in the Oilers-Preds game, and I guess we did. Yeah. Jeez, Podkolzin. Who was that, Jeremy Lauzon? Where did that come from?

Yeah, he just caught him with a right and then caught him with another right. Did we? And he went down. Did we miss this in Vancouver in trying to figure out what Pod Colson was going to be? Maybe he's an enforcer? Maybe he took some lessons in the offseason or something.

Maybe this is what we were missing the entire time. Because he has not done anything else. But you understand you have to actually physically have a hand of stone to bust someone's forehead like that. Like, they teach you don't punch him in the forehead

because the forehead's a strong bone. You want to get him on the button, not the forehead. I love the announcers when that scrap started. They're all just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, LaZone's a tough customer.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. And then he just got clocked by a pod goalie. That was the thing that got everyone was he wasn't beating up on Steve Stamkos or anything. He went after Jeremy Lozon, who's a tough customer. And again, I want to reiterate this. He knocked him out with a forehead punch.

It wasn't in the cheek. It wasn't on the butt. And he just caved in front of his forehead. Ah, right on my forehead. And his hand was fine. Wow, probably stunned a little bit. No, I don't think he did the job. I don't know.

No, it's funny. I saw a couple people on Twitter point out like, oh, either like the secret's out or people have finally figured out Pod Coles. And I do not remember this being in his arsenal wheelhouse on his resume at all. Does anybody? I don't remember ever, ever hearing that he had this in his arsenal wheelhouse on his resume at all does anybody i don't remember ever ever hearing that he had this in his game but i mean here's the thing you can't tell me

that that was a lucky punch or that that was a fluke because he that was delivered with the kind of ferocity of a guy that's thrown one of those before i'll just leave it at that like it looked like a shot he fought once as a canuck against aj greer of the boston bruins and lost considerably i don't know what changed since 2022 well he might have just got lucky with a punch right i mean no i've seen lucky punches land they're wild and they're haymakers and it's just you're flailing right that was a shot so i don't know maybe pod colson secretly has been like this crazy assassin the entire time we never knew about it that's his real job yeah he had one job he was good at hiding the americans if he was a secret assassin he's really good at being the secret part uh the leafs beat the kraken four to one last night, and I think the story there is William Nylander,

who apparently went to Craig Berube and said, I want to play more. I want to play on the PK. I want to play on the first unit power play. And Craig Berube went, okay, maybe. And then Nylander went out there and scored two goals. And that's his eighth goal. So seventh and eighth goal for William Nylander.

So that's pretty good. He got chastised, though, by Berube. Because he had a weak back check on the one Seattle goal. So he came to the bench. You could see Berube jawing at him. And I think it was along the lines of, you want more playing time, huh? That's an interesting one.

So I watched the broadcast. And that's all they talked about pregame and all they talked about in the first intermission. And it's funny because they asked Nylander about it, a shirtless William Nylander about it after the game. And he was like, it's not a big deal. It's just a conversation. I mean, Brubé's nickname is Chief.

He's like, just a conversation that me and Chief were having. And it's not really a demand. It's just, I want to play more. The thing is, if you look at all of the measurables he is playing less right like there's been a decided knock down in ice time where it's two minutes less than he's playing under sheldon keith and this despite the fact that he's played pretty well and he's producing um i don't i don't really know exactly what's going on other than brube went in with the idea of we've got to make this team less top heavy top heaven we've got to get more of our role guys playing more important roles right so for example i don't know if you've

been following the exploits of matthew nize matthew nize is having a great year playing well yeah right and um that line that's got Pacioretty on it um gets a lot of looks right despite the fact that Matt Max Pacioretty showed up on a PTO and signed a one-year deal so I do wonder if part of that is just giving a haircut and ice time to some of the big guys so some of the smaller guys can eat you sound like you watch a lot of sports last night did you watch watch the Monday night or the Thursday night football game? Bits and pieces. Garrett Wilson, that was an incredible, incredible catch. You don't hear this very often, but he was able to get his shin down

in the end zone. Yeah. After making an incredible one-handed catch. It was a better catch than Odell Beckham Jr. Now, I think that was almost a decade ago, the one that he had. Because he was able to get his shin down, do you think? I felt like his extension of the body was more impressive, actually, because you know what it looked like?

It looked like the Michael Jordan jump man logo. It did. The way that he – it was unbelievable. So Garrett Wilson makes this incredible 26-yard – it was a go-ahead touchdown as well and I guess Vegas is always right because you and I said yesterday how and why are the New York Jets favored against a

at least in terms of record far better Houston Texans team they went out and did the business 21-13 well the defense got it done too for the Jets C.J. Stroud completed what like nine passes or something like that

it wasn't 11 of 30 11 of 30 for the Jets. CJ Stroud completed what, like nine passes or something like that? It wasn't, it wasn't. 11 of 30. 11 of 30 for CJ Stroud. And they're without like no Stefan Diggs, no Nico Collins. So they're pretty banged up. But that was, I guess in hindsight,

the line made sense because everyone from the Jets, from like the coach Jeff Ulbrich to Aaron Rodgers and everybody, they said their season was on the line. They said we needed to win this game. If you go to 2-7, it's going to be really hard mentally to try and dig your way out of that. So I guess the desperation factor played

into the line. But that catch was completely unbelievable. And you're right. At first glance, it looked like he only got one foot in. But then on the replay, the shin, Jason, the shin made all the difference in the world. He dragged that shin and he was okay. The refs originally missed that. He's like, I didn't see him get his shin down.

See the shin drag there. Yeah, no. It was a big night in sports. How was everybody's Halloween, by the way? Other than rainy, it was good. Awesome. Candy filled. Yeah, you ate a lot of candy. Candy and Simpson filled. Although I have a trouble staying awake now, I find, as I age. I'm not able

to do the late Halloween nights anymore. Well, we work an early morning radio show. That's part of it. When do you go to bed? Were you falling asleep on the couch? Oh, yeah. I kept falling asleep during the Simpsons-a-thon. I'm like, come on, Andy. Snap out of it. Come on, man. Slap myself in the face. Let's go. Pouring water on my head. It wasn't

working. I kept passing out. All the chocolate too? That was part of it. That was part of it? I thought the chocolate would help you stay awake. No, it's like it's just like a chocolate. It's so cozy? Yeah, it's just tough. Maybe you maybe your place is too cozy now. Yeah, I had like seven blankets on me. It was

an ordeal. That's nice. It was nice. I'm glad you had a cozy Halloween. It was fun. Did you know that like there's considerably less fireworks now, right? Yeah. I mean, I heard a little Halloween. It was fun. Did you know that there's considerably less fireworks now, right? Yeah. I mean, I heard a little bit. I heard a few, but in Delta, it was bad. Is it legal in Delta?

No, it's not. And I thought the rain might start stopping people. It's a municipal thing. I vividly remember as a child, though, we had one of those neighbors in our block that would always go all out with the firecrackers for Halloween and just put on a friggin' show. Like, it was insane. Go down to Lummi Island

in the States? Yeah, it was just, like, massive explosions. Grab all the fireworks? But apparently, this is just, like, a BC thing, like... It's a Vancouver thing. No other province... When I lived in Kamloops, it was like that, too, though. There was lots of firecrackers. But, I mean, other provinces, I guess, don't do this? This is just, like, a local thing with the firecrackers but i mean other provinces i guess don't do this this is

just like a local thing with the firecrackers do other provinces have a fireworks night anything i don't know not on halloween i don't understand why it's just a local thing new year's canada day that was it very strange uh a friendly reminder it is ask us anything on the program today so if you want to get them in uh start emailing starts emailing how old am i start texting now start uh setting your carrier pigeons send a handwritten mail mail you know slide it through the mail slot dunbar lumber text line is 650 650 start getting him in we're gonna give away the 100 gift card to aj's pizza on east broadway to the best what we learned or ask us anything uh around 8 30 a reminder put a pizza emoji into the text. It's a good weekend for sports. And the last sort of local fight, this could be it for both the Lions

and the Whitecaps this weekend. So the Lions go on Saturday to Mosaic Stadium in Regina to take on the Saskatchewan Rough Riders in the West semifinal. And then on Sunday at BC Place, 545 kickoff, the Whitecaps are in a do or die against LAFC in their best of three because they lost the first game in LA. I don't have... Who's more likely to win?

Yeah, I knew you were going to ask that. Who's more likely to win? The Lions? I think they're only three or three and a half point dogs going into Saskatchewan. The line was not as lopsided as I thought it would be. I wonder if it has to... Saskatchewan's been totally inconsistent as well.

So my first gut answer was going to be the Lions because, as I always say, the one answer you can give to any argument in the CFL is it's the CFL, right? Anyone can win on any given day. There's no dominant teams, even with the records. The Whitecaps do have something in their favor in that there's no pressure on LAFC to win on Sunday.

LAFC, in its back pocket, has that third indecisive game back in LA if they need to get through. But they don't really want to play that game. No, but I mean, they wouldn't be that upset if they had to. You get to go back home. The owners are like, we get an extra home run. You get some exercise. Yeah, you know, you get to run around. Yeah, you could talk training session on Sunday on turf.

See what that's all about. So I think at the end of the day, though, I'm still going to say the lions are the more likely of the two because the opponent is less imposing. Like LAFC is very good. Yeah. There's a reason that they were the number one seed in the West. They've got a lot of money. They spend it on a lot of good players.

They score a lot of goals. They're very, very difficult. for people going to the match what are the rules if it finishes uh regular regulation in a draw straight to a shootout straight to a shootout and it's basically no extra time there's no aggregate and every match has decided to have a winner and a loser it doesn't matter by how much you win or lose by right but it's straight to penalties right so you could lose seven nothing in the first leg. Yeah, yeah. And then go nil-nil and win in penalties

and force a game three, even though you haven't scored a goal, right? That's how it works. What do you think the Whitecaps will try and do? That's interesting. I know I asked, we had Tosin Ricketts on the show yesterday, and I said,

is the goal and the objective to put your best foot forward early and try and not let this go down to the coin flip that is penalties or do you say we have to stay in this for as long as possible and keep this match alive as long as possible because the one thing with LAFC is they kill

teams on the counter attack they are very good at watching a team move forward and press and then going the other way and scoring on the counter and on the road sometimes that's all you need to do is get one counter-attack goal and then park the bus i think knowing vanny relatively well having him on the show and watching him all year it's not in his dna to sit back yeah you know if he's gonna go out which he might very well be he's gonna go out guns a blazing they're gonna try and put on a show. I'm going to try and score some goals. I hope they do it. LAFC 9, the Whitecaps 1.

It did not work. We tried, but it did not work. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. The fan base is very uneasy right now because I think everyone just sees it as the team has so much potential. And it's been a long time since we entered the season hopeful, really legitimately hopeful. And you'd say, okay, look at this. We got this, we got that, we got this.

If it all comes together, the Canucks might be able to make a run. And they're just, something seems off about the the team would you say it's time for everyone to panic yes i would kid i will say this if they go down and lose to san jose that's gonna be a problem let's crack each other's heads open i mean san jose is a wagon granted three in a row three in a row they're hot they don't even have a scar of up to Thomas Drances hit yesterday which is actually full of optimism once you

parse through all the big words and run on sentences he said if I had told you going into the season no Demko Petey would be a shell of his former self Miller would be playing injured to the point where he couldn't take face-offs

in a bunch of games. Seelov's was terrible. And you still managed to collect points in. Yeah. I can't remember what it was. You'd say, okay, that's great that they survived it. I do think there's an element of that optimism that should be reflected in our analysis.

However, people are very much trained to expect the best right from the start and then every single night when we were talking about boston earlier and how boston has trotted out this well the last couple years we started like a house on fire and then petered out by the end we're trying to do the inverse and everyone kind of side eyes them um you do want the canucks like drance said to be peaking in march and april not like last year where the offense dried up in march and april the power play i mean the power play is bad now but the power play got worse as they went down the road and then in the playoffs they really struggled to generate chances you're hopeful that the stuff that Toc had implemented with transition play will afford them more scoring opportunities throughout the season,

but it's a bit to wobble right now for sure. Is it worthwhile to make a big trade for a defenseman if Pedersen is still playing like this? And is that part of the fact, is that, is that factored in from the management? Because I think, and also we'll throw in just so we're not picking on pd we'll throw in demko status if it remains uncertain going forward do you so to me that's a chronology thing like certain a a and b would have to happen before c

which is the big trade yeah you need to get some clarity on both and with petterson i'm sure that there's a certain threshold or point or tipping point even with this management group where they either know what's happening or dangerously know what's not going to happen with him right it's not going to come around or the play is not going to improve demko is a little bit more straightforward weirdly enough because at a certain point you're going to know if he can come back and then when he does he can play or not yes and what's those two questions if he does come back are we all going to be on pins and needles yes yes yeah so will there be certainty on? The only thing is that you've got Lankan.

You can make a calculated guess. And you've got Lankan in. That's true. You know, I think you can. Let's get fooled by small sample sizes again. True. Let's do it one more time. Well, or is there a defenseman out there that you could trade Petey for

who is good enough to warrant a trade for Petey? You keep doing this. Is there somebody out there? You did this yesterday. I'm not saying Rasmus Anderson. There has to be someone better than that. Is there a D-man out there? You did this yesterday, too.

Just trying to incite chaos. The issue with an in- Well, Dollywall's going to come on and talk about it. I actually don't know if there is. I'm being facetious. Dollywall's going to come on and say, would any teams be interested in Pettersson? I don't know.

Maybe he's made some calls. But Drance and Sat would say 1000%. There would be teams lining up for a shot at Elias Pedersen. If you believed in the player. You got to get a diagnosis first. That's what, that's what, that's what, you know, yesterday I'm listening to, sorry to cut you off here, but yesterday I'm listening to Sat and Dan

and they were taking ideas from the listeners like, what's wrong with Petey? And there's just this massive range from the physical, maybe it's an injury, wrist, knee, to the mentality or the mental side to he doesn't want to be in Vancouver, you know, that you got pressured to sign with Vancouver last year.

And, and, and, you know, we don't know the answer. We don't know. It's impossible for us to know. We can speculate on it.

And Drance has made the point that Pedia doesn't want to talk about it. So he's not going to share it, which is his right to not talk about it if he doesn't want to talk about it, so he's not going to share it, which is his right to not talk about it if he doesn't want to talk about it. But there has to be a diagnosis from the Vancouver Canucks on what is ailing Pedersen before they make a decision on it. And nothing I've heard so far, you know, you hear certain things from the coaching staff like maybe he isn't working hard enough. Well, then the question I would have is why?

Why? Is he unhappy? Because what I heard about Pedersen when he broke into the league was this is a guy that is obsessed with hockey, and he loves it, and he just wants to play, just loves the so much and now we're hearing you know he's got to work harder he's got to be you know more dedicated to his craft so so my question is like what the hell is going on right but and we and the Canucks need to have a diagnosis on that before they they you know decide to trade him or think he's fixable or whatever. I think the Dranson-Satz assessment of this mythical trade value is that any team that would be offering, and a lot would, because it would be the ultimate buy-low candidate.

You would come in and say, we understand that you've got to foot the bill for this $11.6 million over the next eight years, but if they truly believe in the talent and the ability for the player to reach a ceiling they're going to come in and it's going to be the ultimate by by low candidate right a guy that you never thought would shake loose that oftentimes conceptually speaking you would make an offer sheet for like that's that's what they're talking about that if you were to if he was to even entertain and by he i mean the collective front office of the Canucks,

entertain a deal for the guy, everyone sending offers would be trying to buy low. It'd be very hard to win that deal. Yes, they would all be buying low. One guy was like, Adam Fox for Petey. I'm like, the Rangers would not do that. But that's the kind of D-man it would take for Canucks fans to be like, oh, okay, that's good. But that would never happen. We're getting all these texts in, one text in.

He just looks out of shape. I don't think it's that complicated. If he's out of shape, that's complicated. Why is he out of shape? Why didn't he put the work in? And then you go back to the whole thing of, well, did his knee hurt him too much in the offseason that he couldn't, you know, he did mention that he had to train around it.

Is he not motivated? I mean, that's the thing. We need to, the Canucks, and I obviously have more information than we do because they don't say anything and Petey doesn't say anything. And I need more than Rick Talkett saying he needs to move his feet.

Right? I get what Talkett is saying, but like, why isn't he moving his feet if he's not moving his feet? Is that an injury thing? Is he not motivated? What's going on? I'm so confused with this. I'm so confused watching this guy play. I'm like, what has happened to you, man? That's something a potential trade partner would

ask as well, right? They'd be like, well, obviously what is going on with this guy before we make this deal? Hey, we've been watching some tape. Share this with us because it seems important. But to wheel it back, that's why I was talking about the chronologies. There's so many things that would still theoretically have to happen, chronologically speaking, before you get there. Oh, yeah.

We're still in the infancy. I say this half-jokingly. I realize we're a ways away from this even being a potential conversation. You know what else we've been waiting for? Rick Dollywall. He joins us now on the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Ricky D? Gentlemen, how are you doing?

We're doing pretty well. How's your text inbox been on the show? Can I tell you, yesterday after the Devils loss, send Pettersson to the American League, put him on waivers, fire Rutherford,

fire Alveen, trade DeBrusque, Myers, Seelovs, and Soucy. That's what our text line was yesterday. I'm presuming yours was the same? Yeah, I mean, there are some definite extreme opinions out there. What do you think it is about this team or specifically that loss against the Devils? I know it was a bad one, but the Canucks are 4-2-3. They have two regulation losses in nine games, which it's not a great record, but it's hardly a disaster.

Yeah, and so I'm going to tell you why. So go back 13 months. Nobody in this city thought the Canucks were going to make the playoffs last year. The president came out and said, everything has got to go right in order for us just to make the playoffs. So then they get to the Western Conference final, almost, Game 7 in the second round, and now expectations are through the roof in the market.

That's what it is. But there should be concern. It wasn't the Devils game. It was the Carolina game as well. Glaring mistakes by star players. Have you seen that many three-on-twos and two-on-ones against by the Canucks in two games? That's not talking

hockey. Here's another thing I'm going to say. People say to me, why aren't they playing like they played against Edmonton in the playoffs in Nashville? Well, it's very simple. It's tough to take advantage of last year's momentum when you got nine new faces in

the lineup. They had nine to 10 UFA players last year. That's not ideal. And the lesson is learned. Don't have that many UFA players in one year because you can't keep them all. It's going to take way more than nine games for the new guys to learn the talk it way. We haven't even hit, Jason, the 10-game threshold. You always hear teams say, well, let's wait until the 10 games. You know, I talked to a source in Boston yesterday on Jake DeBrusque, and this is what I was told. When DeBrusque plays on a set line, he takes off. If you're going to keep moving him from line to line

and different line mates all the time, he struggles. But, I mean, take that into account, but also nobody saw zero goals in nine games for Dabrowski as well. And some people say he's a streaky player, but I don't think anybody, anybody thought he'd have, you know, nothing in nine games. De Arne and the healthy scratches, to me, is a concern. Size is great, and you'll love that size, but size has got to play.

You've got to be able to handle the puck and responsible in your own end. So is the market overreacting? Yes. But by the same token, the goalposts have changed from year to year, and because of last year's success, the Canucks are being held to a higher standard, and that's the bottom line. Have you made any calls about Pedersen? What's going on there? Yeah, I did. And so I get the heat on Pedersen in the market. It's impossible not to talk about him. We're in a Canadian market. He's got four points in nine games. He's not the difference maker game in, game out that we all expected,

especially with the increase in money. Expectations are higher. Your best player has got to be your best players, and right now they're not for the Canucks. So I know what this city and the media are saying about Pedersen, so I talked to a Western Conference executive last night to see if I can get a different view and, you know, different angle and what other people in other cities think of Pettersson. And so basically this is what he said to me last night.

This is a top end elite talent, but he's not shooting. He doesn't look confident. I want to see more compete and effort. I don't see the energy and the passion. He doesn't want the puck. He's a hell of a player and players like that want the puck. Something seems off, but if he regains his form, the Canucks are going to be a tough out. So Jason, whatever the media and the fans are saying in this city, that's a guy, an executive in another city. Essentially, after hearing that, would you say it's basically the same as what we've been saying? In what way? What have we been saying?

Well, that he's not shooting. He doesn't look confident. He doesn't look like he wants the puck. He doesn't want the puck. We were talking earlier in the show, and the Canucks aren't saying much about it. I mean, Talkett will say he's got to move his feet, maybe suggesting he's got to work a little harder in practice. Petey doesn't talk about it. I mean, Talkett will say he's got to move his feet, maybe, you know, suggesting he's got to work a little harder in practice. Petey doesn't talk about it at all.

But, you know, what I think is confusing about all this is that we just, you know, we know why Demko is out. We know what's, we kind of know. I mean, there is some mystery there, but this whole thing for me is just, I have no idea what's going on with Pedersen. And I don't know what the diagnosis is, whether it's physical, mental, a combination of both,

whether he's happy here, whether he's not, you know, it's, it's just, it's quite, um, and I'm just wondering, you know, what people have, you know, when you talk to this executive, does he have any idea about what's going on? Yeah. So I think he told me people outside of Vancouver are saying the same things as Vancouver. Now, I heard you guys talking about a possible Pettersson trade. And this executive believes that teams would be interested in Pettersson despite the lack of production. And he says, and despite the lack of production in the contract, because teams have seen the magic before in Pettersson, and there's teams out there that believe they can get that magic out of him again. There won't be 31 teams.

Like, I know Drance and Sat thinks there's 31 teams that are going to be after this guy. I think those guys are wrong. There's not going to be 31. But this executive thinks teams like Buffalo,ago maybe utah could make it work but we're not there yet right but would it surprise me if teams call vancouver just to see what's happening with petterson no it's every team's job to know what's going on with other teams do you guys remember that gm that said he didn't know that the Boston Bruins were trading Joe Thornton? He ended up in San Jose and the GM said, I didn't even know he was available.

You don't want to be that GM. You don't want to be the guy out there that says, I didn't know that this was happening. Teams check in on other teams' players every day of the week, every day of the week. And it's their job to know. Just like it's the Canucks' job right now to know who's available on other teams around the league, other teams' job is to know who's available in Vancouver. But I don't think we're there yet. I think we haven't even hit the 10-game segment with Pedersen.

I think he had 15 points after 10 games last year. He's at four after nine. So obviously that's a big drop-off. But he has the capabilities, guys, to go crazy and have a five-point game. And then the whole thing in the market could switch in two seconds, right? Rick, you have sources on the Canucks.

What do they think is, or maybe his agent or something, what do they think is going on here? Well, he's got two powerful agents. I'll tell you that much, Pat Bresson and J.P. Berry, and I don't think Pat and J.P. are nowhere near as concerned about him as the Vancouver market is, and I don't think that they are. Those are two pretty powerful guys. And I don't see panic in either one of those guys. And, you know, the Canucks are probably just as baffled as everybody else, you know, as to the production. And Tockett is very smart. Remember last year, he said something about PD

and it blew up. He's not going to do that again. I know people after post games want Tockett to, you know, not only rip Patterson, but rip other star players who are making mistakes. He's not going to do that. He has figured this market out. He's not going to do it. The Canucks can't rip Patterson. They can't do it because it's going to blow up in the market.

And Tockett's really smart. He's not going to do that. But he gives you little subtle hints. He's got to work harder in practice. He's got to be better three-on-three at practice. He's got to shoot more pucks. He's got to move his feet. He gives you subtle hints as to what's wrong with him. And he does it in a very professional manner, but he's not going to come out and rip them because he's very smart. He knows that this market will blow it up if he

rips Pettersson. So, but I, I, I think, uh, Jason, everyone is baffled at his production. And this is a smart hockey fan base that isn't, you know, this is, I say it a million times, but I do have to say it. This isn't Columbus or Carolina. You're just not going, and even Patterson realizes this, this isn't Carolina or Columbus where you can get away with it. You just can't get away with it. Brian Burke used to say the worst thing in the world is having a big contract in the Canadian market and underperforming.

And that's just the honest truth. It's a tough place to be. So we were talking earlier in the show about the defenseman market and how everyone texts into the show, go get Rasmus Anderson, go get Rasmus Anderson. And I understand why they do that. He'd be a good fit, but the price would be high. And are there any other ideas out there? Because, you know, the NHL market for defensemen is usually pretty tight because if teams have good defensemen, they try and keep them.

Oh, yeah. What are you hearing about any possible options for the Canucks? Because I think if they were to make a move, it would be on the blue line. Obviously, at some point, they're going to have to add a defenseman via trade. The blue line market right now is tough. It's a tough one. And it's pretty quiet because most teams still believe they have a chance to go far this year. Again, we're not even at the 10-game segment for a lot of teams like the Canucks. The market is high.

Look at Ole Matta, third rounder. Look at Timothy Lilligrant. One game this guy's played this year, couldn't crack the Leafs lineup. He got three pieces. He got a third rounder and I think a sixth and a player in return. It's not a cheap market.

And so here's the other thing. Injuries can change the market quick. We saw that with Utah. They got two veterans out. They had to go out and get Ole Matta. So when a team loses two guys like Utah did, that helps change the market. It's not a big market either because Columbus has already said they're not moving Ivan Provorov.

I heard you guys talking about Provorov. They're not moving him yet. And Columbus is off to a surprising good start, and they've been actually very decent. The Flames have said the same with Rasmus Andersen, not right now. And if you're going to get guys like that, you're going to have to overpay right now. And last year, the Canucks traded a first and a second rounder. I know everybody wants that defenseman like Andersen and Proveroff, but those guys cost you multiple high picks. So if the Canucks trade a

first and a second rounder two years in a row, have fun with your prospect pool in two to three years. It's not going to be good. I get the go out and get the defenseman. You know, I don't care if we spend a first or second rounder, but boy, go ask Manny Malhotra. He'd sure like to have a lot more prospects to work with as he continues coaching in Abbotsford. So it's a fine line. You know, it's a fine line with, you know, going out and getting these guys that you want, but they're not cheap. They're going to cost a ton. And just like last year, the Canucks gave up a first and second rounder. Will they do it again this year? What is happening down in Abbotsford? What are you hearing?

First of all, I want to talk about Klimovovich. Four points all last year was a disaster year for the kid. Now he's got five points. He's leading Abby in scoring. Klamovich was not a Jeremy Colleton favorite. Didn't get in the lineup when he did fourth line limited minutes. He didn't have the trust of the coach. The kid's finally getting the opportunity to play higher in the lineup. It took four coaches, but Manny Malhotra is finally giving him a chance up high. Agent Dan Milstein never formally asked for a trade last year, but he was frustrated with Klamovich's development. I personally, just me, this is me saying it,

I thought he was going to ask for one. He didn't. Canucks have articulated a clear plan for Klamovich for this season. Milstein has bought it, and they don't want to give up on this guy. They don't want to give up on this guy. He's off to a good start, and it's amazing what happens when you get played higher in the lineup, get a little bit more confidence, and he's off to a good start. So Klamovich, good on him, and they should have never sent that kid

to Abbotsford after his draft year. He should have been in that kid to Abbotsford after his draft year. He should have been in junior scoring 50, 55 goals somewhere in the Canadian Hockey League. Massive mistake by the previous. Now the kid's in his fourth year in Abbotsford. He's only 21. There's no reason to send that kid to Abbotsford after his draft year. A big mistake by the previous regime. All right, LeKarimaki, goals in back-to-back games, 14 shots in those two games this week,

22 shots in four games, volume shooter, good start. But I say don't rush them. LeKarimaki and Tom O'Lander are your only two blue-chip prospects they got. And by the way, the Canucks are very, very happy with O'Lander's start in Boston. He was just named the Defensive Player of the week, winning goal last week, 5.5 games. When Lane Hudson left Boston last year,

you remember Hudson last year in Boston did the heavy lifting for all the points on the blue line there? Well, guess what? He's in Montreal with the Canadians, and Will Lander's now getting an opportunity to showcase more offense that he did last year. He didn't get that opportunity because Will Lander, or so it was Hudson who got all the power play time.

He got all the offensive situations. He's gone. So Will Lander is getting a little bit more opportunity to show his offense this year in Boston, and he's off to a good start. Okay, Rick, I just wanted to ask you about the Whitecaps and the Lions. Will either of them survive the weekend well first with the whitecaps we had vanny on this week he just loves the fact they got a a week off before between games guys i don't like that i

you know can you imagine the canucks and the owners playing a playoff game and they're playing sunday and they gotta wait a whole week for another game like i don't know why they do this in soccer. A month and a half ago, the Whitecaps played seven games in two and a half weeks. Now, look, their last two outings against LAFC have been very good and very competitive. I was thinking, you know, you played in LA, you had 15-15 shots, 4-4, were shots on goal.

You're coming out of there feeling good. Why not play Wednesday? But anyways, Vanny says he's going to get healthy. He's going to have good prep work for Sunday. The last two games, very, very solid games against LAFC. But this is not time for moral victories. I heard what you guys were talking about. Get it done.

Move on. You know, get past the first round. Last six years in Vancouver, four no playoffs, two in the first round, out for the Whitecaps. It's time to get past the first round. Last six years in Vancouver, four no playoffs, two in the first round, out for the Whitecaps. It's time to get past the first round. When it comes to the Lions, I can see a win this weekend. Vernon Adams, he's got to make some explosive plays like he did against Montreal two weeks ago.

Can he pass? Don't pass for five, six, seven, eight yards. Go deep. Stand back. He needs to touch the ball at least 20 times. Running game, Saskatchewan, it might be cold. No turnovers is going to be the key for them. But I definitely

see a Lions win tomorrow.