Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 11/13/24

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk yesterday's Canucks home win over the Flames with analyst Randip Janda, plus the boys tell us what they learned. 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. Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose the f***ing Canucks? You're listening to Halford & Brough.

Canucks are changing Miller to Suter in the slot. He scores! I like the way we responded in the second. A little bit more offensive movement. I thought we didn't give up much, and when we did, Lanks was there for us. I hate to say it, man. It's like Aaron Rodgers just completely sucked the air out of the building. When we lose, I ain't even getting a shower until early this morning.

I just be mad. I just brush my teeth. I was like, I don't deserve soap. Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on A.O. Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. This is Alfred in his breath at his Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Thireview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason.

And we're going to have a great show, shorty. Jason, good morning to you. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Hal for the Broughan of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're

looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, you've gotec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Raffi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, you got a big show ahead on a Wednesday, as Bruff alluded to. We're looking to turn that narrative right around. No way is the morning show going to be tired and lethargic and fat following a Tuesday night night. Maybe one of those things.

Nobody said anything about fat. Lethargic, we can do something about that. Projecting here a little bit, I think. There were some social media comments. We can control the things we can control. On a Tuesday. It's a Wednesday. It's a Wednesday.

And yes, it was cold in there. That's why we had all the jackets. Yeah, I'm surprised by those comments. I mean, it's an ice rink. We said the comments weren't going to get to us. And it's 6.02. And we've already dressed two thirds. Your first time at a hockey rink? Like, come comments weren't going to get to us, and it's 6.02, and we've already addressed two-thirds of them. Your first time at a hockey rink? Like, come on. I was

warm. Clearly. I was well-insulated. There's one thing you were. It was warm. Anyway, we had a good time at the game last night, but we do have a lot to get into for today. Guest list begins at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host. We can talk about the Canucks' 3-1 victory

over the Calgary Flames last night with David, but a bunch of other stories with Canadian teams in the National Hockey League last night. The Winnipeg Jets deserve not quite top billing alongside the Vancouver Canucks, but pretty close. Fastest team to 15 wins in NHL history. They did that last night. I'm still choosing to ignore them.

I know. It's crazy. I'm like, we need to talk about them. And you're you're like no yeah yeah they're off to a good start conor mcdavid four points last night lenis all mark a shutout in the battle of ontario so lots to get into with david amber at 6 30 7 o'clock frank sarah valley from daily face off will join us uh we'll talk to frank about everything else that happened around the national hockey league uh the fallout in pittsburgh after The fallout in Pittsburgh after that big loss. Dallas Lars Eller gets traded.

We'll talk to Frank about what else is going on on the trade fronts around the NHL. 8 o'clock, Randy Janda. He was on the call last night for the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 win, as mentioned, over the Calgary Flames. Looking resplendent in his suit and turtleneck yesterday. Ran into him in the broadcast booth. So we got a lot to get into on the show. A lot of stories, hockey and otherwise. Again, working in reverse on the guest list.

8 o'clock, it's Rand Deep. 7 o'clock, Frank Cervalli, 6.30, David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. 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? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed it? 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.

Elias Patterson had a goal and an assist. Pew Sooner scored the winner, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena, rebounding well from that 7-3 loss against Edmonton on Saturday night also at Rogers Arena. That was a fun hockey game last night, not just because we were in the arena.

I went up and chatted with Shorty in the second intermission, and he said, this is a pretty good hockey game. I'm like, I know it is. There was a bit of a lull at the end of the second period, but the second period, let's start with the first period.

I thought the Canucks played pretty well in that, but they gave up the first goal of the game because that's what they do. It is now the eighth straight time they've surrendered the first goal, but I didn't think they were playing badly. And then they go into the second, and they're really all over the Calgary Flames,

and they take the lead, and eventually later on in the game they get the insurance goal, and they win the game, and deservedly so. So if you look in terms of points percentage in the Pacific Division, the Canucks are now first, which is honestly impressive considering all the things that they've had to deal with, not having their starting goalie and Thatcher Demko, not having Dakota Joshua,

guys like Daniel Sprung, not really working out. Elias Pettersson struggling for most of the start of the season. They've done, I think, pretty well, all things considered. And speaking of Pettersson, it was another good game for Pettersson. And, you know, I thought something changed in the Edmonton game and how I was viewing his game. He just looked like he had a little bit more, to use a Rick Talkin word,

juice to his game. And that continued on into the Calgary game. Five points in three games for Petey. Five points in three games. And he got a goal and an assist and you know the first goal that the connect scored was on the power play which is good and what i noticed was that pd was first in on the four check and like had the legs going um forced the Calgary defender into making a quick play. Lekomackie, and we'll talk about him soon, and Garland were also in the corner fighting for a puck.

Eventually, I think it was Garland gets it back to the point. It goes over to the Hughes. Petey goes to the net. Bada bing, bada boom, it's in the net. It all starts with Petey getting on his horse and getting into the offensive zone with a forecheck, turning a puck over in a good way, and the Canucks have that goal. Lekker Mackey, I thought, looked very comfortable. Yep.

There were never moments when he got the puck and he looked like, uh-oh. Or, you know, sometimes you'll see a player out there a young player and you can tell that he's gripping the stick like there was none of that and i thought he played really well um and jt miller bounced back in a really really good way um he looked himself out there, except for that one time that he got a shot. Except for that one. Did he get it? Did he get it in the boys?

Yeah. Definitely, though? Sure looked like it as he sort of staggered his way to the bench. Yeah, all the replays made it seem like football in the groin. Football in the groin. And then we did notice,

the way that he skated to the bench, I wasn't exactly sure what happened, because he wasn't wincing in the way that you would when he normally gets it. Oh, he's doubled over. Yeah, and I was like, what's going on right now? And he was moving very gingerly. He was like. And that's what it was.

He was taking a few deep breaths. He actually dropped to a knee when he was on the bench or near the bench. I'm like, oh, okay, I think I know what happened here. So Miller bounced back. I'd say ditto for Kevin Lankanen, who had to make a few saves, especially early on. The Flames did have some opportunities, and for the most part, he was there. The goal that he allowed, not much of a chance.

A rare mistake from Quinn Hughes, who didn't clear the puck hard enough when it was on his stick in front of the net. Don't screw around with the puck when you're in front of your own net. And he did, and it ended up in the back of the net. Kiefer Sherwood was everywhere on the ice. And I'm telling you, this guy, the Preds are going to regret not bringing him back.

He's like a wrecking ball. But he's more than like, we've seen guys that can get in on the four check. And that's great, right? Like you want guys like that. I think about a guy like Derek Dorsett. That guy hit everything. He was in on the four check. But I think Sherwood has offensive talent.

The way he gets his shot off. How many shots did he have last night? He had a bunch of them. And we've talked about the numbers that he's put up in the AHL. And we've seen some of the shots that he's unloaded for goals this season. And that third line is just, they're together all the time it's actually going to be really curious to see what they do when Dakota Joshua is back and he could play Thursday and I'm not necessarily talking about Thursday because I think Joshua is just going

to take Baines's spot on the fourth line uh or maybe Hoaglander spot I don't know he's going to take a spot probably Baines on the fourth, and they're going to ramp him up pretty slowly. But once he's up to speed, I mean, there's probably going to be injuries, but let's say everyone's healthy. Where would Lekker Mackey go? Yeah, no, it's a great question. If they're not going to break up the third line and they want to bring Dakota Joshua up into the top six,

there's a lot of guys. Suter is not the fastest guy in the world. He's probably going to get bumped down. So you might even have Pugh Suter on the fourth line. So good problem to have all the depth that they've got up front. Garland, again, I already mentioned him getting in on the forecheck on the power play. He was great on the PK, too.

Just wasting time down in Calgary's end. Brandstrom had his first goal of the season. Finally, another defenseman scored. And his first goal as a Vancouver Canuck. I thought Tyler Myers had a really solid game. He was good. There was a Vancouver Canuck. I thought Tyler Myers had a really solid game.

He was good. There was a couple times where he pinched to keep Pucks alive in the offensive zone. Thought he was strong in his own end. And then I thought

Ryan Kessler played well at the arena. He was gunning a lot of beers. A lot of energy. A lot of energy. Brought a lot of energy to the rink. So, listen, it was a good night for the Canucks

against the Calgary Flames. Let's talk a bit about Lekker Mackey. Yeah. Because Rick Tockett was asked a question about Lekker Mackey after the game. And you have to remember one of the guys that was just traded away essentially to make room for Lekermackie and that was Daniel Sprong listen to Talkett's answer and by and also I'll add another one he was playing in the game last night, but not for the Canucks, Andrei Kuzmenko.

Listen to Tokic's answer when he talks about Lekar Maki and see if you start thinking about Daniel Sprong or Andrei Kuzmenko while he's giving this answer. Yeah, listen, it's one game for him, but I see, I'm not talking to the other guys, but for him, there's a conscience there. Like you have to have, yeah, you want to, you want to press the envelope, you want to score, you want to be creative. But when there's times when you got to be in a spot for us, that's critical. You got to, you got to, you have to show a conscience.

You got to have the conviction to be there. Like, you know what I'm saying? If you're the reload guy, two guys dive in and you're not show a conscience. You've got to have the conviction to be there. You know what I'm saying? If you're the reload guy, two guys dive in and you're not really reloading, you're kind of coming back slow, I have a tough time for those type of players. I don't care. And if you do, you better score 60 goals. That's just my rule.

So you've got to have a conscience. I think the kid has a conscience. You watch him play. Sure, he's going to make a mistake, but I think the difference with it, and I think he really I think they talk about it, he's obsessive about his game. I think he really wants to be obsessive and play without the puck. But, I'm nuts. I want him to be creative, though. I want him to go.

I don't want him to, you know, not looking to be the third guy back all the time. That's not what I'm looking for. 14-07 time on ice last night for Leckermackie in his NHL debut. two shots on net so he hit the under on the three and a half total yes that we threw out there yesterday uh slight disappointment for me being in attendance and saying that he was gonna get five shots on goal and his first nhl goal your hot take not not land no no that's crazy step it up leckermackie is what

i had to say in the post game uh But 2-57 on the power play. And I won't play the clip because it was a short one, but Talkett did say that there were some Besser-like elements to Lekromackie's game that he saw out there on Tuesday night against the Flames. It's hard not to look at this and say, between the fact that he is playing with Brock's regular line mates in JT Miller and Pew Suter he's getting plum assignments on the power play first unit power play where Brock Besser would normally be uh we talked about silver linings yesterday with the

Besser injury and it sucks that he's hurt because he got off to a good start to the year in a contract year and was also sort of doubling down on the 40 goal season he had a year ago but silver linings are silver linings you take them where you can get them and in this instance what a great opportunity for this organization and i think most importantly rick talkett to see exactly what they have with leckermackie and where his game is at uh relative to where they're at in terms of their competitive window because if they were a rebuilding team they'd probably have a little more leeway like yeah we can bring him up and if he's not playing great then no big deal right the stakes aren't that

high we're not in the business of winning a ton of hockey games right now this team being in its competitive window to have a guy that has the offensive ability which i think we all know but also that conscience that rick, it was speaking about. It bodes well in case things don't work out with Besser long-term. I'm talking contractually. We all wanted to know is Lekker Mackey, the, you know,

ready made fill in. Should something go pear shaped either in contract negotiations or whatever early returns. And I stress the word early because it was his first ever NHL gamer. You got to be optimistic about it, right? So that's a good thing. Speaking of being optimistic about things,

Elias Patterson, we mentioned earlier that it was a second straight consecutive game on the hop where he looked very good, finished with a goal and an assist. Here's a stat for you in the entire month of October, Elias Patterson put 14 shots on goal in five games through November. He has 13 already. So if you want to talk about a guy that looks a little bit more engaged,

a little bit more dangerous, look no further than those numbers. And as Andy pointed out about 90 times last night, Elias Pettersson does have how many points in the last few games, Andy? Five in the last three? Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, that sounds about right. So Rick Talkett made note of this in the post-game remarks, talking about not the stuff that's happening during the games,

but the stuff that's happening before and after practice and how maybe, maybe even Elias Pettersson realized it was time to step it up. Here is Rick Talkett on EP40 following a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena. Well, when you get rewarded when you're doing that stuff, it's, you know, he knows he's got to do it. And it's not that he, you know, I was telling him, you know,

I don't want you to have to do it. I want you to want to do it because that's, and you can tell that he wants to do it. Like he's just, you know, even very attentive now. Like I just, he just seems like last week he's really kind of, you know, enough's enough. And he's rolling up the sleeves, and that's what I want to see from him. And he's put some good efforts for us. So Alex, the Spreadsheet Wizard, texted in and says, Jason, just wanted to say that it looks like Petey's return to form

has been gradual and not a snap as you suggested. Do you feel in retrospect that there was anything more than mental bugging him? Yeah, it has been more of a gradual return for Petey as opposed to just like, boom, something good happens to him. The Carolina turnaround. Yeah, and I still don't think he's fully back. I'm not willing to sit here and say that he's fully back. And Petey said after the Edmonton game that there's still a long way to go for him.

But to the question, do you feel in retrospect that there's anything more than mental bugging him? No, I don't. And if you're hinting at, like, maybe he was injured. Like, yeah, maybe he's got tendinitis that was bugging him but if you read between the lines of what rick talkett is saying he wasn't enthusiastic enough about working on his game being there before practice he wasn't he wasn't putting the work in well talk and that's mental talking at a real interesting snippet there about getting tired in games. And talking, it's like, I want you to be tired in game.

It means you're working hard. And then this is how you build endurance, is you work yourself till the tank's at E, and then you build yourself back up. And then you go out again. Like, don't consider that. I mean, he doesn't really, he doesn't ideally want that. But in this situation with Pedersen, yes, he does.

Ideally, Peter would have come to camp in better shape, right? Well, they're working. Having worked on his game. Now, did the tendonitis affect his off-season training? Petey did say that they had to work around it. So maybe he didn't show up to camp in quite the shape he wanted. Or maybe his game was a little rusty because he hadn't been able to work on it enough.

But the fact is, is like, you'd have to willfully not be listening to Rick talk it to, to, to not believe that the Canucks were not thrilled with his work ethic when it came to his game. Yeah. So it's now another win in the books for the Vancouver Canucks. As several people were pointing out on the postgame show with Sat and Bic yesterday, another win against a quote-unquote non-playoff team, assuming Calgary doesn't make a push and get there. And that is, I mean, I think there's a few narratives that I took from last night.

One was the Lekker-Mackie thing, which I think we've delved into pretty thoroughly. We'll do that throughout the show. Two is Patterson, who had a great night. Three is going to be okay. Quality of opponent time, because if you go ahead and look at the schedule for the Vancouver Canucks coming up, it is not a murderer's row of teams over the next few. You know, you've got the, uh, you got Bo Horvat and the New York Islanders coming to town on Thursday. You got Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.

And then Nashville with all of their highly paid stars who aren't doing a thing in the standings. So those are the next three games. If you go by the Canucks form recently, these are all teams that are in the bottom half of the National Hockey League standings. In the case of Nashville, they're right in the basement. So there's an opportunity here to make hay, collect points take care of business which they have done against the sort i hate calling them second rate teams but that's the phrasing i'm going to go with the the ones that are still going to stick out to people and unfortunately you're not going to get a chance to prove yourself until you go get to play them is what happened against edmonton what happens

against what happened against new jersey what happened in the first two periods against Carolina? Yeah, the next really good team coming in to Rogers Arena, the New York Rangers, on November 19th. Yeah, a week yesterday. And then they head out on a six-game road trip against Ottawa, Boston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, and Minnesota. I don't know who the toughest game in that six-game trip is. Maybe it's Minnesota.

It might be Minnesota at the end. Normally you'd look at Boston and Pittsburgh, but maybe it's Minnesota in the end. I'm sure the Canucks schedule gets tough at some point. I'm just going to scroll down the schedule. The schedule, remember when you to scroll down the schedule. But, like, you know, the schedule – remember when you would go through the schedule and when the Canucks were really struggling?

And you'd be like, oh, God, all these teams to look tough for the Vancouver Canucks. Now it is a little bit different, right? You know, it feels a little bit different. It's funny because, again, I'm listening to the postgame show on the way in this morning, and people are almost glossing over the fact that the Canucks have eight wins. And by the way, that stat where they've given up the first goal in eight consecutive games, do you know what the record is over those games? 5-2-1.

Yeah. So there's some positives to be taken, but I think in light of what happened last year with the 100-plus points, 50-plus wins, is people have heightened expectations. And a game last night against Calgary, people were like, yeah, that's one you're supposed to win. I have to admit, and I'm not trying to stir it up here. Let's do it. I have to admit that when you look at all the players

that the Canucks have up front, you do start having to wonder if one of them's going to get traded. It's the most obvious thing. Well, we all know who we're referring to here. Adog said it 90 times last night. Who? Every time Hoaglander touched a pocket. Yeah.

He's the one. He's the one they move. The funny thing with Hoaglander is like, and I'm not saying you're wrong. Do you? I'm not saying you're wrong, but I really like Hoaglander in the fourth line role. Yeah. Because he adds some skill and speed and tenacity to the fourth line. Is there a forward you don't like right now, though?

I don't think. No, not really. Yeah, that's the thing. I like Hoaglander there. I had an insurer word on the third. I mentioned to centers yesterday how great they played. It's very hard to pick a guy that you would say

isn't contributing. The 4C. The 4C right now. Well, you say Hogan because he's young enough to give you a bit of value, right? Yeah. But he's probably at his all-time low

right now in value. And when I say value, I'm not expecting much back. I'm just saying, like, he's the first guy I would think of. What I was going to say is that I don't think the Canucks are going to have a fourth line

that's going to play, to play big, heavy hockey. You know? They just don't have that, so what you might go with is a tenacious, skilled group, right? But maybe Hoaglander would be the guy

that would be traded away to not only create cap space, but give up a current NHL player. Because you hear like, listen, I'm not suggesting that they'd be able to do like Hoaglander for Bowen Byram. I'm not suggesting that. But I am suggesting that there are some teams out there that are like, listen, we're tired of losing.

We don't want your draft picks and prospects anymore. We need to start winning some games and I think Nils Hoaglander would be the type of player that they'd be like yeah this guy's talented he last season had what over 20 goals all even strength he wasn't getting much power play time so maybe there's an opportunity for him to add to his game he's signed to that contract extension which I thought at the beginning of the year, when they signed him to that contract extension, it was like, that's a little bit weird.

I wonder if they're trying to just get cost certainty there just so they can, you know, because RFAs, pending RFAs, as we've seen, some teams don't want to take that on and be like, do you really want to stay here? We also need to,

we also need to point out the glaringly obvious is that it solves a problem for the Canucks because eventually there is going to be a log jam. Right now, it's great. Right now, you're moving forwards all over the place and you've got this fantastic depth, but when Joshua comes back, it gets a little bit more complex, and then when Besser comes back,

it gets even more complex. They have too many wingers and they need more defense. But then you're talking about, all of a sudden, you're like, well, we move Suter back to the middle, right? That's what I'm saying. What level of D-man would Hoaglander command? I have no idea, man. Singularly by himself? Yeah.

Probably not anything that's going to move the needle in a massive way. But would it be like a guy that would slot into their top three? The value of a three-slashman is i'm not gonna say infinitely higher but significantly higher than then hoaglander yeah it would have to be maybe a package deal or maybe it's a guy that they've identified that's playing lower in somebody else's lineup that they think they can elevate like maybe there's a brandstrom-esque type acquisition out there uh there's one guy that always texts in upset that we're like trying to get Hoaglander traded.

We're not trying to get Hoaglander traded. I'm just looking at the group right now and knowing what the Canucks need and thinking, okay, what would teams be interested in? Also, it's Andy that's trying to get Hoaglander. He just seems like the most likely candidate. He does. He does seem like the most likely candidate, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to be the guy.

They got to get Brock Besser signed. If they can't, I don't think they're going to want to go past the trade deadline on Brock Besser without a contract. And I don't think... I'm of a different mind on that one. But if Besser wants to be a Canuck, then I think he'll play ball with them. I think he'll be like okay we got to sit down and figure something out here um the leckermackie addition you know how we were talking about besser has a lot of

leverage in this situation yes you know he's like yep you guys are right in your window you're what you're gonna you're gonna trade away i'm a 40-goal scorer. My teammates like me. You're going to trade away one of your best players. But now they can kind of be like, well, you know, and we know this is a management group that will play hardball with its players. Just ask Petey. They're like, well, you know, Lekker Mackey, he looks pretty good.

Tok says he loves his conscience. Yep, he's got a good conscience. Yeah, So anyway. There's your leverage. We're not trying to stir it up here. I think it's exciting. All the players that the Canucks have and the opportunities that are ahead of them. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. It's brand deep. Brand deep. It's brand deep. It's brand deep. It's Ran Deep. Ran Deep Janda time. It's Ran Deep Janda. It is Ran Deep. Ran Deep Janda.

It is Ran Deep. Talking hockey now. Oh. 804 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 3 of the program. Randy Pjanda, as the song suggests, is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers.

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Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Randy. How are you? Good morning, gentlemen. I'm doing well. How was the game experience last night? It was fun. It was fun. Yeah, it was a good night at the rink. I thought it was a good hockey game. Maybe I was just excited by being there, but it was good. I thought

I didn't think the connect's first period was as bad as some people suggested i know they gave up the first goal in the game for what like the 30th straight time is it eight actually um but you know i thought they had their moments in the first and then the second they really took over and uh they put the game away nicely for sure and i think the first period, based on the, you're right, you know, they really limited the chances of Calgary, but if you had to pick one period, maybe it wasn't the tidiest of periods. It was, what, 14 giveaways in that period alone from Vancouver.

The puck movement wasn't quite there, but the second period started, guys, and they made it real tidy after that they were you know playing vancouver canucks hockey where that neutral zone play the aggressive forecheck but also the ability for the defenseman to step up and really take away any speed that calgary was trying to generate in you know the neutral zone that was gone and for the rest of the game uh calgary got what one high danger chance. And that was in the third period. Vancouver didn't give them anything five on five. So, yeah, I think the first period, a couple of things maybe popped up.

But after that, they locked it down. Your thoughts on the debutant yesterday, Jonathan Leckermackie, in his first NHL game? Yeah, I think Leckermackie, look, he looked comfortable. That's the word when I think about his play. There was no deer-in-headlights moment from him, right? You know, in your debut, if you're able to play 14 minutes, get a couple of shots on goal, and really that early play when he picked up the puck in the neutral zone on his own blue line

and just attacked that empty space. He took what Calgary gave him, and right after that, gives up the puck, and there's a middle drive to the front of the net, which leads and right after that gives up the puck and there's a middle drive to the front of the net which leads to a Dan Vladar covering up the puck that was you know a really telling moment early in that game to say this guy's not nervous he's excited he's attacking that space and you know his puck pursuit was another thing that was I was impressed by so I like the fact that a he's not afraid to take the shot he's uh not afraid to attack the empty space and that puck pursuit of just hounding players in the in

the attacking zone or the neutral zone you're saying all right he is wanting to win that puck he's not simply a one-shot scorer that's always just hey give me the puck no he wants to get it um and as rick talk had mentioned after the game game, there is a focus on the two-way game. There needs to be predictability in that regard, and he's got it conscious, as Rick Talkett mentioned. So it's early. There's a lot of adrenaline in this game. Of course, there's going to be peaks and valleys,

but I like what I saw from Lekker Mackey. What do you think the Canucks' plan with him this season is? Well, part of it is going to come down to health, right? Like, if he can show that he can give you 15 minutes of A, you know, quality offense, he can finish chances when he's playing in the top six, because that's key. And it's not only about that A game of raw production,

it's also being a player that doesn't give up anything. And that's going to be key here, guys. After one game, he has that element. that element but you know there's been moments uh whether in sweden or even in the ahl and there's limited sample size there's mistakes and you expect mistakes from young players um but do you improve on that uh from a defensive perspective so i think with him the plan is take you know see what he can offer you first and foremost. The other thing is if there is production in the top six while he's playing in that position for however long Brock Besser is out, you know, yeah.

Like I think it's really up to the kid. He could see a 10 game stint here. He could see beyond that. He could see a two game stint. So I think part of this is going to come down to Lack down to lack of you want a skilled player playing in a skilled position so whether that's a third line when everybody's healthy or the top six I guess that's going to be dependent on health here boys. I am starting to get encouraged by Elias Pettersson's play if the best we've ever seen him is a 10 out of 10. Where is he right now?

I want to say that last game against Calgary last night was probably at 8 and, you know, 8 and a half maybe, right? Like this is, we've seen Elias Pedersen be really, really special with his shot. I think this was a step in that direction where you've got a goal, an assist, but it's overall the way he looked everywhere on the ice. You know, that goal he scores, it starts off with his forecheck, which is saying, all right, he's making a real impact. He took, what, 22 draws last night, 64% in the face-off circle.

So he's making an impact there. Four-block shots, guys. A 200-foot game that we're're seeing and the five points in three games i think with petterson he's building that confidence he's moving his feet and he's got some edge in his game and this is the key thing where yeah maybe it's more of an eight and a half and uh for me just based on the fact that he is showing things in his game that stiffness that nasty streak. He's not full on Evgeny Malkin, you know, doing any stick work with the opposition,

but he's, you know, a reverse hit on Tyson Berry, being aggressive on the forecheck. He's in every passing lane. He's committed defensively. And there's that one play, he didn't score on the play, but it kind of gave you maybe a background, a little bit of a closer look to where his confidence is. And when he had a chance coming down the left wing and he kind of drops his shoulder on Fosbischel and gets the inside there and takes a shot, which goes off of Ladar's mask and the straps come off.

That to me, I think that Elias Pettersson two weeks ago, if that happens two weeks ago, he's probably slamming the brakes near the face-off circle and peeling off. I don't know if he drives the net like he did on that play two weeks ago. That was a play where I looked at and said, alright, this guy is building confidence. He's not a 10 out of 10, but he's getting

a lot closer, and I thought that was probably his most confident game. Funny story, on that play, A-Dog jabbed me in the ribs and said, see that, bruv? Petey winning battles against guys i'm like i'm seeing it buddy i'm seeing it it's encouraging the entire section of rogers arena didn't just point at you on that play bro yeah well i mean look i just call it like i see it and right now i'm seeing a guy that's starting to find his game you know what else i noticed i noticed he was

smiling after the game when he did the walk-off interview. He looked genuinely happy. And, you know, it's nice to hear Rick Tockett saying the work that Pedersen is putting in is paying off for him. And, you know, Petey even himself said after the Oilers game, still a long way to go to where I know I can be. But, you know, he's encouraged by the progress. And we all know how important this guy is if the Canucks want to be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders so you know it's funny because after that Edmonton game people were rightly down about the performance it was a bad performance but for me I was like I hope we remember that game as the game where Petey started to find his game as opposed to kind of an embarrassing loss to a division rival.

Yeah. And, you know, listen, the criticisms have been valid. We've seen the hockey in the past. It hasn't been the most inspiring, but you're right. The last couple of games, there has been a step in the right direction. And, you know, when it started to turn a little bit, at least defensively, there was a thought of, okay, you need that raw production. Defensively, it's nice, but you're making some serious money. But what that defensive style of hockey, what the commitment to the 200-foot game for Pedersen has given him confidence, right?

Whether it's being second in the league in terms of blocked passes, which tells you he's very active with a stick, he's even reading the game intelligently, that's giving him confidence so whatever it gets it done you know and i think defense had a lot to do with just getting him you know maybe to a point mentally to say hey i can still impact this game even though i'm not getting that production and rather than putting pressure on yourself to produce offensively and that's it that's the end game uh there's other things and other ways you can impact the game.

And we're seeing that with Pedersen on the defensive side. And now it's coming through offensively as well. We're speaking to Randy Jandek, Canucks analyst here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. A moment for Eric Brandstrom, who got his first goal of the season and his first goal as a Vancouver Canuck last night. This is turning into a pretty good story here. Yeah, it is. And I was really impressed by his game yesterday. I thought, you know, a goal and assist is one thing.

You play 15 minutes, nearly 16 minutes, and there's also a little bit of physicality to his game. He's, of course, an undersized defenseman, but, you know, a couple of hits, finishing his checks across, you know, along the wall, three block shots, one of them right down the middle of the ice where uh took away a scoring chance with uh on a pass as well and there was an aggressiveness to his game guys where you know when we talk about defensemen getting shots through we often think of

Quinn Hughes on this team and Quinn is you know the guy that's been scoring goals um he's got shot attempts he had another five yesterday but for for Eric Brandstrom to pick up five shots on goal himself and show that, Hey, I can do this. And we've seen that with him, you know, in other stops with Ottawa, he, he picked up his points, he got his goals, but he's been an excellent story. And you do wonder where that third pair would be without him in terms of puck movement with Brandstrom. He's obviously a player that needs to focus on the defensive side of things.

When you eat pressure, the question is, can he cope with that? But yesterday, the way that Vancouver was playing, Calgary was attacking in the first period. They put on more pressure in the third period, but I like Brandstrom's game. I think he answers some of the questions that the NHL world had for him coming

into Vancouver, and really that's exactly what that third pair needs right now. They need a guy that is comfortable on the puck. They need an individual that can take his chances, which he did yesterday, and he's fitting quite well with Vinny Deharney. I think Deharney is going to have his

games where sometimes he looks really good. Other games, you're saying it's a work in progress Vinny Deharney. I think Deharney is going to have his games where sometimes he looks really good. Other games, you're saying it's a work in progress. But more than anything, I think Branstrom's been able to stabilize Deharney a little bit. Kevin Lankanen, 27 saves last night. A good performance, and especially in light of the fact that he got skunked a bit on the weekend. He got yanked against the Oilers en route to allowing seven. It's interesting because when we talk about him, we talk about the on-ice performance,

but we also talk about how glowing Rick Tockett is every time he speaks about him. And I think part of that has to, we pointed this out earlier, that Lankanen's really saved the season for him. Like, imagine how much worse this would have been for Rick Tockett had it been either the play of Arthur Se Silovs

or Lankanen came in and played and didn't do as well as he has. If there was something to happen with Demkor, he's not able to return to the past glory right away. At this point, are you comfortable enough in what Lankanen's shown that you'd be comfortable with him for the remainder of the year if he was your number one? Yeah, that's a big if, but if that was the case, I think with Kevin Lankanen,

yeah, he's shown that he's a veteran goaltender that can come into a situation where I'm last minute and he is an individual that can handle it. And yesterday was a classic example, guys. You get smacked around in that Edmonton game, seven goals against, and to Rick Tockett's point, that wasn't on Lankanen. That was a team effort in the third period that went awry. But yes, there were some bad goals. And we haven't seen that many from Kevin Lankanen at all this season. And they all kind of came on one game.

But this is an individual that has really stabilized the goaltending for this team. I think even yesterday in that first period, there's a couple of rush chances, including one in tight for Andre Kuzmenko on the backhand, you know, that goes in, we might be talking about a different game here. It's two nothing. And you know,

the response in the second period, maybe it's a little different. Maybe you're a little bit more dejected. He's making this key saves and key moments. And even in a game that was pretty understated from a, a goaltending, you know, perspective last night.

He still had one or two pretty big saves. So I think moving ahead, whatever happens with Thatcher Demko, you hope that he's able to return and he's able to play. At the very least, there's a bit of a platoon situation with him and Kevin Lankanen. I think moving forward, the big question with Lankanen will be, can he be a starter? That's still, you know, he's shown through, what,

14 games this year from the Vancouver Canucks that, yes, as of right now, he can be. But I think one area that you have to watch out for is just overplaying him, right? If he's going to be the starter in his ability, you believe in it. But, you know, fatigue is a thing. And Rick Chalk had addressed that after Game Day Sk day skate yesterday and he's talked about the last couple of days is yeah you got to find ways of getting the backups in the crease you got to get kevin

lincoln in some rest so you know thursday i'm curious to see is that a shield off game you expect him to get to chicago and and or national games uh one of them there with the back-to-back but you know lankanen needs his rest as well. So I believe in his ability. Now it's on the Canucks to find ways to give him rest because even the best goalies get tired if they play too much. So the next four games at home for the Canucks, you got Bo Horvat and the New York Islanders

coming to town on Thursday. Saturday, Conor Bedard finally makes his NHL debut in Vancouver. Fingers crossed on that. Don't get hurt, Connor, before this one. Sunday, the Nashville Predators, who are maybe the most, not maybe, they're the most disappointing team in the NHL so far this season. And then you finish it off with another one of those testers against the New York Rangers next Tuesday. Of those four

games that I've listed, which one is the most appealing to you in terms of storylines? Yeah, I think anytime the Rangers come to town, there's always a measuring stick game, and maybe it's the 1994 kid in me that always looks at that matchup to say uh that one's generally pretty special and you know these teams the last couple years have been relevant they've been good um so that one is the one that pops out to me especially with the rangers dropping a game to the jets last night uh you know they are still one of the better teams than they have arguably the best goaltender uh probably, you know, for sure, it's Hellebuck and Shosturkin and Vasilevsky

when he's on his game. So I look at that one, but I think with beyond that, the Conor Bedard show coming to Vancouver, right? You're right, he hasn't been able to make his debut in Vancouver. This is a kid that, in his draft year, talked about how he still watched the Vancouver Canucks game and watches them closely. So it's going to be a special moment for him.

And I know him and R.C. Vance are also good buddies leading up to their NHL careers. They used to train, you know, in the offseason together. Whether Vance is on that team, whether he's still at the NHL club, we'll wait and see on that. But if I just zero in, I think it's the two big city teams from the United States, the New York Rangers and the Blackhawks. But the intrigue with the Predators is there because I feel like,

you know, it's kind of turned it around a little bit here, boys, but Barry Trotz is probably pretty close to his phone right now. If they drop another couple of games, he's probably similar to Kyle Dubas and saying, Hey, I got to shake this up a little bit.

So I think there's some intrigue around the Predators. Randeep, this was great, bud. Thanks for doing this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week and all the games coming up. All right, guys. Take care. Thank you.

Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's Randeep Janda here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. That game is going to be the battle of the tired teams because the Canucks play on Saturday before they play Sunday against the Preds. First back-to-back of the year.

And the Preds, they will have Saturday off, but they'll play Thursday in Edmonton and Friday in Calgary, so that'll be their third game in four nights. Okay, it's time now for some What We Learns before we go to break. I'm going to start because the Canada soccer story, the investigation into drone usage throughout the program over the last few years, was finally released yesterday. I'm going to try and do the cole's notes version here to get through some of the big talking points so first off um bev priestman will not be back as the women's coach

that was confirmed why what happened neither will the two assistants uh including the guy that was actually responsible for taking the drone video and got caught with the drone in his possession, Lombardi. Now, an interesting part of this is that Lombardi did not cooperate with the third party independent investigation that was conducted over the last few months and then given to Canada Soccer on November 5th. And one of the major takeaways from the investigation is that a lot of people did not cooperate with the investigation. John Herdman couldn't find the time, apparently. They put it down to, like, couldn't find us. He's too busy. Too busy to talk about this.

Busy schedule. He didn't want to drone on about things. Okay. Get out. In a note that accompanied the findings from the investigation, Canada Soccer wrote independently of the investigation that it identified. Now, here's the key. Potential violations of the Federation's Code of Conducts and Ethics involving Herdman.

When pressed on this, they then added that Herdman was not interviewed by the independent investigator. Over the last four months, when asked why, it was called, quote unquote, scheduling issues. Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue, here's the quote. It's something that Sonia, who is who is the investigator and John's representatives worked on. And I don't really have visibility into the specific situations and why it's a fancy way of saying, you know, that's some corporate speed.

That's how you say, I don't know. That's how these business people speak. We don't have visibility on this issue right now. Blue clarity. Blue went on to add, there was evidence gathered from witness statements in documentary

review, as far as I understand, in the absence of a direct interview. I don't know how you can release the findings of an investigation into John Herdman,

essentially, when you don't interview John Herdman. You know what I would do? Just wait until you interview John Herdman. You know what I would do? Just wait until you interview John Herdman. And then... Well, maybe it became clear that his schedule was not going to open up.

And herein lies the catch. Canada soccer has no leverage to compel Herdman to go along with this in any way. I think an interesting question is whether or not mlse will keep john herdman in this position right is the blowback is that good for the brand is the blowback going to be severe enough that's the question yeah because this is creeping into swept under the rug territory and it feels like enough people are like, okay, how did they do this year? TFC?

Yeah, yeah. Missed the playoffs. Lost in the Canadian Championship to the Vancouver Whitecaps on penalties. You'll remember that. What were people saying about the job that Herbman's done? Because there's always like that, like, we'll fire him,

but only if he's not really doing a great job. He said he laid some important building blocks for the future this year. Okay. All right. He inherited. Corporate speak. He inherited the two Italians who massively disappointed and underwhelmed all year.

And I don't think any of that was his fault. Do you know what still really bothers me? Was it the drones? No. Okay. It was Bev Priestman. Her speech after this whole thing broke. Yeah well she messed up

she took a very wrong tact and she was like I'm gonna miss the New Zealand, it was a New Zealand game because that's the right thing to do and it's about sportsmanship and it's about leadership while at the same time she was totally chucking some

of her underlings under the bus. And she acted like, oh, she was like, I'm going to do the right thing. Because that's what we do for Canada. She was lying. Right. I mean, I get that. She doubled down. She doubled down big time.

And at the end of the day, the same result. If she had stepped down at that point and said, I'm going to fall on my sword, it might have been more noble. But at the end of the day, I'm going to be dead honest. I could care less about Bev Priestman. She got rightfully dismissed from her job because of this. The fact that she didn't own up is more a personality thing. That was her very foolish way of dealing with it. But as long as the outcome was the right one, which is you need to get rid of her, because not only did she show a lack of judgment by allowing the drone spying scandal to go on, but she didn't own up to it. But she's gone now, right?

The more interesting thing for me is what you brought up will there be enough people speaking very loudly and very candidly about this to keep the stain and the stigma of cheating going yeah or does it all just go away and does herdman just kind of get to skate because he just won't cooperate and he'll just wait it out yeah he might i mean maybe that that's his plan like he's under no legal obligation to meet with his nice lawyers who are who are doing the doing an investigation it's not like they have like subpoena power or anything you know like a couple weeks ago under arrest john herman i was like aren't you a lawyer yeah a couple weeks ago when i was talking about sometimes in the face of controversy or

criticisms or you feel like you need to respond to something sometimes the best thing you can do is not say anything at all i feel like herdman has really taken that to heart and he's like if i don't say anything yeah i can't get in any trouble and it might be sneaky and underhanded and avoiding uh ownership and responsibility and all those things. But there is a point to be made here that if you don't say anything, you can't get trapped in what you say. But will MLSC want that hanging over him?

It's a great question. Is he worth it? That's always the question. Is this guy worth sticking our neck out for? I think we're going to find out over the next couple months because they'll either have to make, they have to make this decision like in this offseason. Well, and then like MLS offseason is like, what, four days?

Yeah, so it's got to be quick. Three hours. You better hurry up because the season starts in January. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.