Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 11/13/25

Episode Date: November 13, 2025

Halford & guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports, plus they discuss the latest 'Nucks news with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance. 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 the best of Halford and Brough. Savoy 2-0 with Rosalick, the shot, scores! And the Edmonton-Oilers win it, 2-1 in overtime. Nemitz looking for the Hattie. Shemo Nevitz with the overtime big winner. Oh, what's you going to do? He's the roofed at here.

Look at that. Look at this. Look at that. Good morning, Vancouver. What the hell was that? 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Alfred and his prop with Jamie Dodd.

We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jamie, good morning. Good morning. Ad, good morning to you. That was the roof daddy guy, remember? We've played it before. And Greg, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at Sands. Dash trustee.com. We are in hour one 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 the Middle 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Big Thursday show ahead on the Halford & Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. We got a four guester today. Guest list today begins at 6.30 a.m. Bradley Wright Phillips is going to join the program. One of the greatest strikers in MLS history, now a studio analyst for MLS season pass on Apple TV.

Jamie, of course, was a huge fan of Brad. Riley Wright Phillips doing his two-year stint at Plymouth Argyle. Of course, yeah. That's where I know him from. We are now just nine days away, nine days away, from the biggest White Caps game in their MLS era, over 50,000 tickets sold to the November 22nd match against LAAFC in the Western Conference semifinals.

So we'll preview all that with Bradley Wright Phillips at 6.30 this morning. 7 o'clock Luke Fox, NHL writer from Sportsnet is going to join the program. relatively quiet night in the National Hockey League last night, which is four games. However, a busier night tonight. Ten games on the slate going on across the league. So we'll go around the NHL with Luke at 7 a.m. this morning. 7.30 Brady Henderson, our Seahawks Insider from ESPN is going to join the program. The game of the weekend in the National Football League goes Sunday from Los Angeles.

Seahawks, Rams, 105 kickoff from SoFi. Seahawks are three and a half point road dogs in this matchup between two teams that are seven and two. The winner will move atop the NFC West. They'll have sole possession of first place. And in the eyes of many, the winner will emerge as the top team in the entire NFC. We'll talk to Brady about all that at 7.30. At 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance from Canucks Talk on SportsNet 650 and the Athletic Vancouver. Very exciting moment for Jamie Dodd.

I love it. To speak with Thomas at an entirely different time of the day. which is really great. It's always a thrill. The Canucks traveled to Raleigh yesterday ahead of Friday's game in Carolina against the Canes. The Canucks will practice this morning

at 10 a.m. our time, so maybe we'll get some updates on the walking wounded for this Vancouver Canucks team. We are giving away Giants tickets today as well this Saturday, November 15th at 7 p.m. At the Langley Events Center, it's the Giants taking on the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Parker Burgess was on the show yesterday, head coach of the Giants to preview that one. If you were so excited by Parker's preview and you have to go on Saturday, we're giving away free tickets. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning, we'll get a pair of tickets to see the Giants. Don't call now, mostly because it's not 8 a.m. Call it 8.604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-0-650. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning. We'll win the tickets. I'm not even going to do the guest list.

We have so many things to get into. So without further ado, Greg, 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? 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 of essence tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCCSA.ca.C.a. Back half of this segment, we are going to do some Canucks preview stuff, but it is what happened, and we are going to tell you what happened in the National Hockey League last night.

And that begins with the Edmonton Oilers. It is not your textbook example of a two-game win streak. A little bit of luck involved and a little bit of good fortune in overtime, but the Oilers won their second straight game in a row yesterday in Philadelphia, the overtime hero yet again, Jack Roslovick 119 into OT as the Oilers beat Rick Tockets Flyers 2-1 at Xfinity mobile arena. Here's what it sounded like. Flyers. Cancelled out, turned over.

Roslovak, up to Savoy for the win. Back to Roslick, he scores. And Edmonton prevails two to one in overtime. Now I said that this modest two-game win streak by the Edmonton Oilers has come with some good fortune. Yeah. Obviously, the game against Columbus earlier in the week, they get that fluky goal with a minute left in regulation while short-handed from a defenseman, Jake Wallman, to send the game

to overtime before a Rosliff won it. Yesterday, Philly's Travis Kineckney tipped a Travis Sanheim shot past Stuart Skinner with 24 seconds left, and it looked like it had given Philly the win in regulation. But hold on. That goal was overturned when moments earlier Owen Tippett entered the zone prior to the puck getting in. It was called outside. The goal was chalked off. Oilers go to overtime. They win again. Even Speck, who is, I would say, a ardent Oilers supporter threw it out there that, yeah, they're getting a lot of fortune against two not great teams. But hey, wins a win.

You don't argue with a win streak in the Oilers for as bad as they've been this season and as Rockies that's gotten over the last few weeks have won their second game in a row. Yeah, and that Jack Rozovic signing paying off for them in a big way. What could have been? A guy that can put some goals in and play center in a pin. Yeah, that would look pretty nice in Vancouver right about now. We'll go through the rest of those scores, I know, but just the big picture headline for me was good night for the Western Conference.

A lot of the Western Conference teams in action picked up points, and that starts with the Edmondton Oilers in the Pacific getting two points. Yeah, and, you know, it's crazy to be scoreboard watching on November 13th of this year of our Lord. But this is where you're at with the Vancouver Canucks because so much is on this season as what we've coined a referendum season here, you need to start doing this right from the get because it's kind of understood that what the Canucks are doing right now

is trying to stay afloat in that mushy middle, maybe at the back end of it, but just to stay alive in that playoff chase. I think it's also because these standings are so bunched up. Like usually at this point of the season, even this early, I think there's more teams that you look at and say, oh, they're done. They don't have a prayer.

And there's probably a couple more teams that you say, well, they're locked in for sure. There's so many teams in that middle area right now. I think we're all kind of waiting just to see how are the standings going to sort themselves out? Are we going to start to get clarity over the next week or 10 days here? And so you're waiting to see like Chicago picks up a point, but they got a point, right?

And it's like, okay, they're hanging around. San Jose's hanging around. Utah wins again. There's all these teams just hanging around in this mix still. We'll get to Chicago in a second, but I do want to bounce to the Eastern Conference here because while this game obviously did not feature a team from the West, two teams kind of tied to the Vancouver Canucks,

at least one currently, and one I think always will be as long as J.T. Miller's there. So the Rangers hammered the bolts in Tampa Bay yesterday, 7 to 3. Panarin had four assists. Miller scored in that game. The story, though, is from the Tampa Bay side of thing. So an awful night for Andre Vasselowski,

he gets pulled. But here's what you want to pay attention to, Canucks fans. Brandon Hagle got knocked out of that game by none other than former Canucks defenseman, Carson Sousie. Left, did not return. John Cooper doesn't have an update on him.

So you can add Brandon Hagel to an injury list that includes deep breath, Victor Headman, Ryan McDonough, Anthony Sorrelli, Pontius Holmberg, Dominic James, and Nick Paul. Why is this important? The Canucks have the Tampa Bay Lightning

on Sunday. So the Canucks will go Friday night in Carolina, then Sunday in Tampa Bay. Now here's another interesting wrinkle to this. Tampa Bay has a game before they play the Canucks on Sunday. Sunday. They take on the Florida Panthers on Saturday. And if you'll remember, these two teams hate each other.

They want to murder each other. And to that point, the Lightning called up a couple of their HL tough guys. One in particular, Scott Sabrin, who some will remember, was the instigator in that preseason game where the Panthers and the Lightning racked up 300 penalty minutes. Sabrin was the one that went after Aaron Eckblad. And then Aaron Eckblad was the guy that everyone was going after because he had taken out Brandon Hagel previously. So as far as the Canucks go, they should just kick back, relax, and watch this very depleted

Tampa Bay Lightning team, expend all of its energy on Saturday, and then go into the Sunday the second of a back-to-back against the Canucks. So something to keep an eye on there. Tampa Bay not in a good way right now. No, the injury situation is really, really serious for them. I mean, they still have the top line, which is extremely dangerous of point,

Gensel and Kutrov. But after that, I mean, especially if Brandon Hagel has to miss a few, games here or we'll see you like Zemgus Gorgensen's is on their second line. It drops off in a hurry. It's like having Lucas Reichel on your second line. Not centering it though.

It drops off in a hurry. And then as you mentioned, no headman or McDonough on the back end as well. And then on top of that, Under Vasselisky got shelled by the New York Rangers. So there are problems all over the place. I heard John Cooper say that there's maybe a little bit of thumb sucking. Oh, you heard that too.

Yeah. Maybe they're feeling a little bad about themselves and they need to snap out of it, but the Canucks could be catching them at kind of the perfect time here. Yeah, and you got to assume that after getting shelled last night, Vaselowski would be in on Saturday to take on the Panthers, meaning they'd probably get the backup on Sunday. So things might break well for the Canucks in the second of this road swing that's going on. Okay, I do want to turn our attention to one more game from last night, and it was the game of the night.

North Vancouver's own Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center, a rocking United Center, by the way. It was loud in there yesterday, taking on Jack Hughes, Luke Hughes, and the New Jersey Devils. And it wasn't the Hughes brothers that provided the heroics in this one. It was a defenseman. Simone Nemich with the hat trick, including the winner in overtime, off an unbelievable pass from Jacob Markstrom. Here's what it sounded like, Nemich O.T. winner, as the Devils beat the Blackhawks in Chicago in an absolutely fantastic game.

Mark Struck, stretch pass. He has Chicago caught. Nemitz for the hot track and the overtime winner Simone Nemitz An all-time performance He single-handedly brings the devil's back

and wins it in overtime A little pre-scout there for when Simone Nowich has eventually traded to Vancouver Canucks This game is rife with both past and future Canucks All of this, Carson Sousy

got a shout out in there Shout out, J.T. Miller got in there. Connor Bedard and Simone Nemich taking center stage. It's like, those guys are going to look great together in a few years. Also, speaking of former Canucks, you see the goal, Sam Lafferty of all people, scored on Jacob Markstrom? So it was his first point of the year. And it was Alex Faust working the game, at least the call that I was on, and you could see him kind of scrambling to have something to say about not the most common household

named Sam Lafferty, an unbelievable burst of speed. That game last night, for those that did not watch, was one of the most. entertaining NHL games I've seen this year, and a large part of it had to do with the speed in which both teams played. Like, say what you were a little bit, Sam Lafferty, but he can't, he can wheel. Like, he's got speed. And he was a footnote to this thing because the show that Bedard and Jack Hughes put on every time that they made an offensive foray, you know, the broadcasters were over the top

and their praise of it. And I think rightfully so. It was just, it was such a display of speed and skill. encumbered too there was no clutching and grabbing actually you know what though I will say Badaar got laid out by Brendan Dillon in that game coming into the zone so there was that but

as I don't want to tie everything back to the Canucks although we're kind of want to do it when you watch some of these teams with the really good young high-end talent it is just a reminder of what it looks like the danger on every offensive possession and how unique their talents can be and then it goes

to well how do you acquire those talents and what do you need to do in order to get one on your team and why are they never available for trade? All those conversations can be had on a night where the Canucks aren't playing and two other teams are. I think also notable from that game as we tied it back a little bit to the Canucks, but we're

kind of all on watch for are the Chicago Blackhawks for real? Are they really going to hang around? Maybe not make the playoffs but at the very least pose a challenge to some of these more veteran teams pushing for the playoffs in the Western Conference and of course the number one guy in the spotlight is Connor Bedard and what he's doing scoring wise

but we also got to start talking about Spencer Knight and what he's just going to say that. Yeah, well, sorry. No, no, that's good. It's good. We saw it here in Vancouver. He put up a great performance. Another fantastic performance last night.

I think the Blackhawks were outshot 37 to 20 by the New Jersey Devils. So yeah, they lose, but Spencer Knight instrumental in helping them pick up a point. And I think it's kind of easy to forget given there were stops and starts to his career in Florida. And it obviously didn't start the way he wanted it to. But this guy was a 13th overall pick as a goalie, not that long ago. That's hard to do. Like, there's a lot of talent there. If you're getting picked in that spot in the first round,

he's 24 now, and it really feels like he's coming into his own. And there's obviously still a lot of flaws and a lot of holes on Chicago's roster. But if you're pairing superstar scorer, who's probably going to break 100 points this year if he keeps this up, with goalie who's capable of going red hot and stealing new games, that's a team that can hang around for a long time in the playoff race. It seems like to sneak into the playoffs, to be honest.

Greg, as our resident. Goley expert, how close are you following the Spencer Knight story this year? Not really that close. I don't care for it. Yeah. It's the Blackhawks. Not a big fan, to be honest. What do you mean? It's the Blackhawks. They might make the playoffs. It's just another American goalie. Adam to the list.

But this is sort of the culmination of like what Jamie was referring to, like high-end talent, high-end pick, and sort of coming to fruition this year. I don't know if it's a breakout year or not, but he certainly looks like he's got the potential to do it. Well, he just never had the opportunity right now he's got the runway to just go do it right and right i've even heard it's a great goal you're even starting to hear people to say he might be in the picture for the americans at the olympics with the way he's playing and some uncertainty around for example thatcher depco

which is crazy to think about what the competition he's yeah okay so there's your out of town news from yesterday back half of this segment we will turn our attention to the vancouver canucks as i mentioned they traveled to raleigh yesterday in advance of friday's game against the hurricanes Today, they will skate at 1 o'clock local time. That's 10 a.m. Pacific at the Carolina Hurricanes practice facility in Vizaline Arena, my favorite of the dental arenas. The big news from yesterday was the Jonathan Lekaramacki, and it's good news for the Abbotsford, Kinnock's.

He was activated from injured reserve and quickly reassigned to H.L. Abbotsford. Yeah, and hopefully he can get, it probably is more of a conditioning stint thing, even though it doesn't need to be technically labeled that or anything. But hey, go down, your legs under you. I'm sure we'll see him sooner rather than later in the NHL

considering the state of the Canucks roster, but as you mentioned Abbotsford could really use I don't want to say boost, but I'll just say it. A boost right now. There you go, Laddie. What a freaking boost. I was like, wait, I can't think of another word. I'll just say it. I like how you've created fear of that word in Jamie's mind. It's not

fear. It's like, oh, I don't want to play into their trap. It's a great drop, right? That's fate. That's a trap. Yeah, exactly. Anyways, if we're looking head to the storylines coming up on this three game trip and we'll talk more about the Carolina game specifically tomorrow. But obviously it starts with the situation in goal. And we'll see. I know Rick Dollywall was saying yesterday that more evaluation needs to be done on Thatcher Demko. We'll see if we get any more clarity beyond the the two to three week timeline

that Frank Sarah Valley put out there. I know Sat was on Kinnuck Central yesterday kind of saying he'd be shocked if he sees if we see Demko in three weeks, which given Demko's history, a lot of sense. But in the meantime, all eyes now turn to Kevin Lankton. And the big question for me is just how soon does fatigue or the overwork factors start to kick in for Lankinen? I was thinking about the conversation we had with Kevin Woodley earlier in the week and talking about goalies playing back-to-back games. And he said, you know, it's not so much the back-to-back games themselves. It's what it does for you down the road and kind of in the immediate future after those games and he played back to back, then he had a day off, then he played 40 minutes

in the next game against Winnipeg. So that's a lot of work in a very short time period for Kevin Lankinen. Now he does have two days off before this next game, but you're going into a three and four. There's travel involved. I like Kevin Lankin as a goalie. I know he's come under criticism this year so far for his performance, but it's asking a lot for any goalie, let alone one who's not use to carrying the starters load to play this volume of games in a short time period and maintain the level. And already the Canucks are giving up three and a half goals a game. That's one of the lower marks in the league. Now you can point to penalty killing is a big part of that. But ideally, goaltending would be part of the solution to the penalty kill. And

is it realistic that you're going to get that level of goal tending that can kind of mask some of the defensive deficiencies from this team with the burden that Kevin Lankin is now going to be asked to take on. Well, we're going to get, I would imagine, I would imagine we're going to get a look at Patera this weekend, right? They're going to go Friday, Sunday, sorry, could be Monday as

well. They're going to go Friday, Sunday, Monday, Friday in Carolina, Sunday in Tampa Bay, Monday in Florida. So you would assume, and I underline it three times, assume, that he would get one of either the lightning or the Panthers. If they go to Lankin and all those, my word,

I think we'd all walk in on Monday pretty gobsmunk if that was the case. So again, I'll throw it to you, Laddie, because you're excited to see Yuri Patera play here. What realist, and I guess maybe it's not necessarily about Patera so much it is, is to any NHL team going to its third or dare I say fourth goalie in this instance, because if he was healthy, Tolapilo would have been the third guy. What can you realistically expect or is this one of those moments where, I don't know, a guy that hasn't been seen by a lot of NHL teams could come in and do the business? Well, if you've done your research and you've brought in players that you wanted to and listen to your goalie coaches, ideally out of your fourth goal, you could get replacement level, right? Like that's the bar you kind of set for yourself. And we've had Woodley on the station enough times for him to say, you know, the days of having two goalies is over. You need three.

You need four in the pipeline. And we're seeing that now. And yeah, I think replacement level is, it's a high bar for a fourth goalie. But I think if you've done your research and you have the pipeline that you want, that you should be able to. to at least get that out of your fourth goal tend. Okay, let's turn our attention now to the center depth or lack thereof for the Yeah, and this is going to be a really interesting challenge, I think, for Adam Foote specifically on this road trip because we've talked a lot about the quality of the teams they're facing, right?

Carolina, Tampa, Florida. Now, Tampa and Florida come with asterisks here, right? We all know the injury situation in Florida as well with Tampa Bay, and we'll see what their availability is by the time the Canucks face them. but it's not just three really good teams the Canucks are facing here. It's three really good coaches as well. It's Rod Brindamore. It's John Cooper.

It's Paul Maurice. Those are three of the most highly regarded coaches in the NHL. And when you're going on the road and your center situation is what it is for the Canucks, you got to believe all those coaches are looking at this and thinking, oh man, can we get, can we get Braden Point out there against Lucas Reichel? Can we get Sebastian Ah, uh, oh, out there against Lucas Reichel? Reichel, I think, has played three road games for the Canucks since they traded him. That was still, he was still kind of in the honeymoon phase.

Whereas like, yeah, we're going to play this guy 15 minutes a night. We love him. He's the new toy. Since then, the minutes have gone down quite significantly for Lucas Reichel. We saw he was at like 11 and 10 in the last couple of games on this homestand. So obviously the bloom is off the rose a little bit here in the eyes of the coaching staff. They're already struggling to find him minutes in home games when you control the matchups to a much greater degree. What does it look like now on the road?

They're already asking Elias Pedersen to do so much when it comes to faceoffs, defensive responsibilities. I'm not sure how much more you can turn the dial in his direction. Like there's only so much one center can take on. Atu Ratus looked good recently. But again, I mean, where is the trust level from Adam Foot and the coaching staff to guys like Ratu and Max Sasson and Lucas Reichel? It's one thing to have one center that you're pretty skeptical about in your

line up and try to hide on the road. I think Max Sassen kind of falls into that category as well. So I don't know how Adam Foote's going to manage it. It's going to be really, really difficult. But again, as I said, you've got to believe all those coaches are looking at it and thinking, oh man, this is a huge matchup that we can exploit in these games. Skeptical of 50% of your own centers. Not ideal. There's a number. You don't love it. Okay. Finally, Quinn Hughes. Go. Yeah, lost in all of this talk about Thatcher Dempco this week. I mean, we should remember that Quinn

Hughes took what looked like a pretty gnarly painful hit in that game against Winnipeg left the game now he only missed what a few minutes came back and yeah I thought he looked pretty good after he came back I'm I'm very curious though to see if there's any noticeable lingering effects or drop off I think we've gotten pretty good at diagnosing when Quinn Hughes is being hampered by some sort of physical ailment we saw it down the stretch last year right where it's hey he's still out there and credit to him he's fighting through it he's gotten it out he's giving giving it is all. And, you know, he's still doing Quinn Hughes things on a pretty regular basis, but just the overall impact isn't there. I think we saw that at the start of this year as well. Didn't quite look right. Took a few games off, came back and was much, much better. And we've talked about the Canucks looking more dangerous as a team offensively. A huge part of that is Quinn Hughes, getting back closer to the top of Quinn Hughes's level. They can't afford any slippage there. And that, again, that was a tough hit. I don't know. Maybe it was, I just needed to take a few minutes. And then I'll be fine. but if there's any sort of effect on his performance,

you add that to the Thatcher Dempco absence. I don't think the Canucks can really sustain that as a team. So I'm going to be very, very curious to see what version of Quinn Hughes we see on this three-game road trip. Okay. And finally, in closing of the first half hour of this program, we do have some very sad news to pass along as we bring this first segment of the show to its end. This morning, it was reported that legendary New York Post, and Rangers reporter Larry Brooks passed away on Thursday at the age of 75.

Brooks, who in 2018 received the Elmer Ferguson Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame as a distinguished member of the hockey writing profession was, for me, the greatest hockey writer of his generation. He was a guest on this show on a number of occasions, and it was always an honor and a pleasure, and I almost felt like I was back in journalism school whenever Larry Brooks came on the show, because I felt like I was looking up to someone who I had followed. for an awfully long time. He did his beat with the Rangers

about as well as anyone can do a beat in this sports industry. One of the best to ever do it. He will be sorely missed. Rest in peace to Larry Brooks passed away yesterday at the age of 75. You're listening to the best of

Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. We just have to call Thomas Dran's erotica. Thomas Transerotica Coorsing Thomas Transerotica Expecting goals

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8.04 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, with Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com.

We are now in our three of the program. As the music suggests, Thomas Drance is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off. Hour three. Hour three is brought to by Campbell & Pound, real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-dashpound.com today. We are broadcasting live from the Kintech Studio, Kintech, footwear, and orthotics, working together with you in step. This is an exciting time for the show. Not only do we get to speak with Thomas Drance, but Jamie gets to do it in an entirely different hour of the day. That's a lot of fun. Joining us now from the Athletic Vancouver, Thomas Dranx here on the Halpert & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

what up drancer good morning gentlemen spent a lot of time in the previous hour talking about life without that your demko and what it might look like for the vancouver connects how do you see this playing out maybe in the immediacy given that the connects are about to embark on a three game road swing yeah i mean i think they got to play them all three um we'll see if nikita tollopilo can get to the point of being healthy but i mean eury patera hasn't played a lot of hockey for this club at the american league or the n hl level uh i know he's got more NHL experience, and there was often a thought that he would be the third guy, like the first goal he called up in the event that you needed him, even throughout this summer when the Canucks were preparing to roll with Tolapilo and Ty Young down at the HL level. And, you know, I think the sort of thought was if we need a backup or a spot start, that'll be Petera. And if there's a longer term absence, that that'll probably be Tolapila. And so I don't think we know a lot

about Demko's timeline or prognosis here. So that could impact exactly what we see, but as for this weekend, I know he's coming off of a three on four three, well, I mean, he played three times in four days. He played 2.66 games

across a four-game stretch Lankinen did as a result of the Demko injury. But I think you're going to ride Lankinen. I mean, you have to. And, you know, this team doesn't have, this team doesn't have sort of like time to wait, right? And these are tough opponents. You know, at the very least, I think you start Lankan in the first two, right?

And maybe if you win both, right, then you can give them some rest on the third game. But a lot of Lankanin, that's what we're going to see. Okay, this is where we need those sound effects we were talking. I was going to be like, can we rewind the tape here to the top? Record scratch. I think he's going to. to do three so you think do you sorry is this your opinion like you think it should be lankin

or do you think the organization will actually say okay you're playing friday in carolina you're playing sunday in tampa bay and then you're playing monday in florida i don't see what other choice they have i mean i guess we talked to uri peterra yeah uri peterra as greg put it will give you i mean he gregg said you he will give you quote unquote replacement level of goaltender end quote who said this gregg frank servile Bally? No, Greg Ballet. Frank both says and spells his

name differently than that. Completely different name. I heard Frank when you said Greg. The, I mean, replacement level goal pending. Yeah. Yeah.

That's right. Like, good take. I don't know. I mean, you're, I'm suggesting that you can't play Yuri Patera against you that the Tampa Bay Lightning

are the Florida Panthers, and you guys be like, wow, he's crazy. No, no, no, no. That makes sense. When you say it out loud, it makes a lot of sense. Yeah, like, I'm sorry, like, you know, so I think Yuri Patera ended up falling into a no man's zone, right? He was signed before Ian Clark departed, right?

So I think he was, you know, one of those, like the Spencer Martin claim type Clarkie, you know, make work projects in Vancouver goalie depth. But then, of course, Clarkie, before the season, right? And, I mean, you know, I don't know if either of you gentlemen were up in, in fact, I remember neither of you were up in Penticton for Canucks training camp, but that's where I had, like, had eyes on Yuri Patera, and it was like, Petera, Shilov, Tola, Pilo, and he was a younger goalie, and that was also the training

camp where Rick Tocke, it was like instituting all the rush offense. Right. Right? And it was just like, every rush was a goal, right? Like, it was like, we were watching training camp unfold and me and Harmon, right, who watch all of this together. Yeah. And like every single time up ice, we just like, we're exchanging looks.

And I was just like, Canucks goal pending, we have to start sounding the alarm. And then they signed Lankan on the Saturday, right? And it was like, oh, my God. Like, you know, people don't understand how necessary that was, right? I don't know, man. I think you have to play Lankin in all three games. That's good intel, though. See?

You watch Teterra get ventilated. That's good intel. But is the confidence level that much higher? You play in preseason. Is that much, is it that much higher in Nikita Tola Pilo, though? But seriously, someone go check the game launch. I don't think we saw him in preseason. Yeah, I don't think so.

I'm checking right now. I don't think we did. But, like, but how much does the equation change if Nikita Tullo Pilo gets healthy? It's not like he has this wealth of pro-North American experience either. No, but, I mean, he's got good American League results. I know it hasn't been good for Abbotsford this season. but I think we all understand how hard-handed they are. You know, and, I mean, at least they've used him, like, some in preseason.

Like, at least we've seen him around the team. Like, Yuri Patera literally has been, like, not, I think he's been okay in Abbotsford this year, but. I'm running through right now. Yeah, I mean, he didn't, I don't think, I don't even think we saw him in preseason boys. Like, this is not, this is not, this is not. to suggest that, you know, this is not going to be a normal split for at least the next little bit. And, and honestly, it can't be like, look at where the Canucks are, right? Like, they're, you know, we can quote the 28th in point percentage, or we can say they're three

points out of the playoffs after 18 games. The truth is, is being three points out of a playoff spot after 18 games is a lot of points back, right? Because you've only had a quarter of the season. You're right. We have to look at this as a race, not a, not a total. right like they're they're falling behind they're falling behind in the race and so we're already at the point like I was looking at it last night right where the math me and Jamie talk about this a lot on connect stock so Jamie just like familiar um but the they're already at a point where the math is like stacking up and it's not horribly stacked up against them because you know they've been more like within shouting distance of mid as opposed to outright bad but you know you want to get to 97 points 97 points is the point total at which since the NHL moved to this divisional two wild cards format

no team has ever missed the playoffs right so I always use 97 as my higher bar for what a team you know wants to hit to get to 97 points already the connects have to play at a 103 point pace the rest of the way right it's like I was this a 103 point team we think this is a 103 point team like I don't know Even if you want to get to 93, which is right on the fringes of the historic playoff bar, on average, since this playoff format was adopted in the Pacific Division, I think this bar is way too low.

I think this bar is going to be way too low this year. You want to make the playoffs at 93, you're still needing to go off and be a 98-point-paced team the rest of the way. Like, this is a 98-point-paced team, boys? Like, come on. Lankin. Lankinen, Lankin, Lankin, Lankin. Three times. Just as a point of clarification, you were correct.

There was no appearance for Patera in the preseason in six. So no shortage of opportunities to get him in. In six preseason games, Tye Young, Nikita Tolapilo, Kevin Lankin, and Thatcher Demko. So four goalies appeared in the six games, Patera was not one of them. Yeah, I mean, like, you know, I know he exists. But I question it a little bit, right? Like, I can't, I can't, I can't confirm he exists, but that's about it, right?

So, you know, this is three Lankanins. You have days off before, you have days off on the back end. The travel is obviously inconvenient, but at the very least you play Lankan in the first two, and then cross your fingers. But Lankanen, the answer is going to be Lankan in for the foreseeable future. It has to be. How far does that stretch, Trance? because you're right like three and four here but then I think they play two games in the next

eight or nine days after that so that becomes a lot easier but then you're into another three and four four and six on the road and then you get right back to the grind of the schedule I mean like where's the breaking point for you and the usage on Kevin Lankton and I mean that's that's just working with a two to three week timeline for Thatcher Demko and who knows what the ultimate timeline is but like where's the breaking point on Kevin Lankin's workage or work usage. Yeah, I mean, obviously you're going to have to spell him. Um, you know, I would say after this three and four, I'd like to see him not get back to backs at the very least. Um, so because, you know, we saw it too. This team did incur diminishing returns by overusing Lankin

last season, right? He was sensational before January 1st and very human thereafter. Um, and I don't think that's a coincidence. This is a guy who's been a 1B. Um, he's had months where he can, you know, hold a team afloat as a starter. He did it in Chicago. He obviously did it for Vancouver last season, but I think asking him to be a workhorse number one is not necessarily putting him into a position to succeed. And so they are going to have to mix in some goaltenders.

I just think that goaltender is more likely to be tolopilo, and then I think you can go to something that, you know, more closely approximates like that 55 to 60 versus 22 type backups, type backup split. Trance, one of the other things I'm keeping an eye on this road trip is just how Adam Foote manages the situation at center for his team going on the road. Lucas Reichael has played road games for this team,

but it was still, as I said earlier in the show, kind of in the honeymoon period for him when he was getting tons of minutes and it was like, all right, let's just see what he's got. That's over now, right? It was. We've seen the honeymoon period end for Lucas Reichael. He's down to 11, 10 minutes now. So now you've got. really two centers that you trust to put out for a face-off

and Elias Pedersen or not to rot to, that's a very, very difficult set of circumstances to manage on the road against good teams, even if a couple of them are dealing with a lot of injuries right now, but also really good coaches on the other side. How do you expect to see Adam Foote try to manage this? Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a lot of Elias Pedersen, for sure. Elias Pedersen has the most draws taken in the NHL this year,

and that is a massive departure usage-wise from what we've seen. seen in the past with Patterson, right? And this team's leaning on him to do a whole load of defensive heavy lifting. And there have been nights, like that avalanche night stands out to me from, what was that Sunday, where, I mean, you know, he honestly was so good in the draw that night that it disrupted the abs attack, right? They started doing things like starting shifts in the offensive zone with Jack Durrory and McKinnon on the ice because he was cleaning.

their clock. Now, I know he struggled against Winnipeg, but, you know, the truth is you're going to have some bad nights if you're taking 27 to 30 draws an evening, which is not, like, that hasn't been unusual for Patterson. And I think it's their only option right now. And it's not, that's not ideal. Like, that's a really tough spot to be in. You know, the only, like, there's not a lot of centermen we're seeing get used like this in the NHL, especially not guys who are also counted on to be that team's top offensive center. Dylan Larkin would be the only example. And, you know, Bruff's not here. So I will say it. It's not like Pedersen has looked as dynamic on puck as Dylan Larkin, right? But that context, I do think matters. Like, I do think

there's an extent to which Pedersen's being asked to hold up too much here, especially given, you know, the state of his offensive game, which is not firing on all cylinders. The two-way work has actually been commendable, and there were times earlier this season where I felt like people were straining for positives on Pedersen, and I actually think that's kind of changed, or at least it's changed in how I'm viewing it across the last like 10 days, maybe two, two and a half weeks, where, you know, the just like sheer enormity of what they're asking Pedersen to prop up has really been laid bare in some of these games. That 29 draw performance against the abs. And then what we saw against Winnipeg was just so

stunning to me, right? That it's like, okay, this is, I mean, this feels like, remember those seasons where it was like, Bo Horvatt and Brandon Sutter was your second line center, but Brandon Sutter would miss 40 games? And it was like, how's Bo Horvatt ever? supposed to keep his head above water. Like, that's what we're seeing, usage-wise, from Pedersen. So I expect more of the same. They're going to need to go with more of the same. And it's not ideal.

And let me give you one more, gentlemen. One more. Quinn Hughes, 27 minutes a night, on average this season. It's first in the league, right? So it's like across the board, you know, this team is relying on two few players to do too much. and we've seen this script before in this market

but you know it's like at every single position right it's like goal what do they do lankin lincoln and lankin at center what do they do how do they handle the face-offs more peterson because what else are you going to do

what are they going to do on defense more Quinn Hughes and by the way especially in the wake of that scare with the stick not to mention the fact that he's already missed time this season I don't love seeing Quinn Hughes

lead the league in Time on Ice, right? I know he can do it. I know he can do it. I know he's really good, but I don't know that that's the way that you get the best version of Quinn Hughes in April, right?

Like in the stretch run when you're going to need him. And this is sort of the issue with just not having enough talent, right? Like even your good players are asked too much of, not necessarily put into a position to succeed. And how many times has that been the story for this franchise across the last 15 years? it's almost like they should maybe consider going with a team building strategy that allows you to like, I don't know, accumulate talent over the long term.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's crazy talk, trads. My bad. On the on the Quinn Hughes point, I think we've gotten really good here in Vancouver at decoding when he's peak efficiency, Quinn Hughes and when he's still incredible Quinn Hughes, but obviously dealing with something that's hampering him, whether it's just workload or an injury, a nagging injury of some sort. and I think there's a pretty stark difference between the Quinn Hughes we saw at the beginning of the year, then he takes a few days off because of injury, and then he comes back, and I think he's been a lot better. But to your point, I mean, he leaves the game temporarily against Winnipeg, then comes back, takes that big hit. He's playing so many minutes. It's hard to really buy in that we are going to see that peak level of Quinn Hughes as those kind of physical ailments pile up,

and the workload just remains so high. Yeah, you know, and this is pretty common, right? I think 25 and a half minutes, for example, is just like a level you feel more comfortable with. It's still top 10 usage for an NHL defenseman. Heck, it's still top five usage for an NHL defenseman. But I feel like that's sort of where you want to be. And then, you know, it's worth noting, too, the Canucks have trailed for 170 of their last 450, 5 on 5 minutes. And what happens when this team trails, Quinn Hughes plays more.

And Quinn Hughes doesn't just play more. He plays more with the puck because he's constantly trying to make things happen. happen. They've only led for 90 of their last 450 minutes, right? So what happens when the connects lead more? They sometimes play a little bit more Tyler Myers. They play a little bit more Marcus Pedersen. So, you know, between that, between that, you end up in a spot where, you know, a lot of things are conspiring, right? To not just make Quinn Hughes play more, but to play tougher minutes in terms of how he actually, like what his actual sort of workload is while he's logging that ice time. And so, yeah, I mean, ideally, if you're able to sort of play with

the lead a bit, right, that would be a huge help, maybe even just more neutral scripts, right? Don't fall behind early so much. Like managing games would help too in the interim. But yeah, this team this team needs too much out of two few players and that's where we're at that that's that's where we're at

Dranser if this was great buddy thanks for taking the time to do this today as always we appreciate it enjoy all the games this weekend so it's Friday Saturday Monday we'll do this again next Thursday Cheers boys be well Yeah have a good one to see up that's Thomas Trance from the

Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Stock here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650 featuring Jamie Dodd who normally hosts Canucks Talk. With Dranth. And then that duty has fallen to Josh Elliot Wolf. I don't know what the rest of the Domino. I can't keep track, but the Domino

effect here. Poor Josh. You do. No. When you're a producer and you get tapped to host for a week and you don't have to produce and book guests, it's a great feeling. Doesn't matter what show you're doing. It's a great feeling. With Thomas Dr. Oh, yeah.

You're upset about it is Petera discrepresent. You just kind of threw it out. I don't understand. And there's people in the text inbox saying they should claim Spencer Martin. These are not better options than Yuri Patera. Yuri Patera has played 12 AHL games over the last two seasons. He hasn't played a lot of hot. This year he's been one of the most, like him and Young are the two goalies that have played the most for Abbotsford.

I'm going to defer to you because you're the goalie expert. And I still, I think, and I know, Drance is on record saying it's Lankan, Lankan, Lankan. Lankan, Lankin. Lankin. I do wonder if they almost have to. It's always Lankin, Lankin and Lankin with you. I wonder if they... Trance is always saying,

I wonder they have to put him in. I watched Patera a lot in the W.HL. He was fantastic with Brandon. We're going all the way back to the dog. Well, I just, I know what I've seen from him. And just to hear him just throw it out like that. Like, goalies very rarely get opportunities. And that's why you don't see goal,

or do you see goals get stuck in the HL for so long. Good goaltenders, because they just never really get a shot. So why are we going Lankin and Lankin and Lankin? When you have a guy, you can just throw out there and see what you. what he's got. You don't want Lankan in to get a shot? On the Spencer... Why do you hate Lankan, Laddie? Eventually he's going to need

a rest. That pivoted quickly. On the Spencer Martin thing, because that got brought up in the end basket a couple times. He's got a two-year deal. So you have to pick up a larger ticket than you'd want on what would be a stopgap, right? I don't... Now, they might do it if they're desperate.

I'm with you, I don't see it. Do you know why Spencer Martin's available? Yeah, because he's not very good. Because he was bad to start the year in the KHL and he got released. Yeah. Why are we going with that. I don't think that's happening. I don't understand. I mean, he has been here before. Like, he knows where the bathroom key is and all that stuff.

But he's 30, and we know what he is. Yeah, exactly. We know what Spencer Martin is. And if you have to pick up the two years of his deal, I don't think that's a wise move. I don't, I understand where Drance is coming from. I also understand where you're coming from. I think the one big takeaway here is none of them are good solutions. No. Not for a team that wants to win. It's a bad situation to be it. It's the same conversation as it is at center. Yeah.

It's like, we are all looking and see, man, Lucas Reichel is not it at center. What are the other options? Like, call up Niels Amon? I mean, isn't that the Spencer Martin of this situation? You brought that up yesterday. I know, and it's like, okay, David Kompf is going on waivers. We want to go down that road? They might have to.

They might. Leaves are really struggling without them. It honestly might make sense for them to do it, which is pretty shocking to say. Well, the Reichel deal, which was a desperation move. It's like, we're so banged up. We're going to pull the trigger on this move. Anyone could have had him because he went for a fourth round pick. I'm actually surprised the honeymoon period lasted as long as it did.

Yes. Because I know when they picked him up, I was like, you got to be kidding me. Like he's, this has meant as no disrespect, although it's going to sound like a lot of it, but this has meant as no disrespect, he could not get a regular gig with Chicago. They said if he's going to play, he's got to be a top six guy, and he's not a top six guy here. Now, I know Chicago's an improved outfit this year, but they're by no means an elite team in the National Hockey League. So if you can't crack it there, it's comical to think that you're going to come into Vancouver, and be gifted a pretty heavy lifting role and thrive in it.

Drans and I were live on air when they made the Lucas Freikl trade at AJs, actually. And my immediate reaction was, oh, you know, like, whatever, fourth round pick for a reclamation project. And I was like, I'm just surprised they're acquiring a winger instead of a center. And Drans was like, oh, they're going to play them at center. I'm like, what? Right away. That's the plan. They're going to play him like two C.

That was the plan and it hasn't worked out. No, and you can already see what's going on is Adam Foote has. decreased his ice time in consecutive third periods when things needed to get done. When they needed results or they needed goals or they needed offense, they needed something to happen. Reichel became an afterthought. And I can't see that changing in the immediate future or down the road either. The 5-4 lost to Colorado.

He got 10 minutes of ice-tip. They came went to overtime. It was a high-scoring, you know, you need your top six guys fire in. Now do his ice time against Winnipeg. 11 minutes. Yeah. And that was another game where it was in the, it was within their grasp in the third period. They were pushing. They were pushing to make a comeback and he's theoretically an

offensive piece for you. He's your second line center or in name only I suppose. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.