Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 11/19/25

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they speak with Vancouver Goldeneyes head coach Brian Idalski, whose club's inaugural season gets going on Friday., plus they talk the latest Canucks news with analyst Randip Janda.  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. Normally when the Canucks have an complete off day and they're traveling and there's no news, it can be a struggle sometimes to figure out what to lead the show off with. But thankfully, a pair of North Vancouver kids took center stage last night. The only question was, who do we lead with? Connor Bedard or Macklin Celebrini. Maclin Celebrini, you get to ride in the front seat this morning because your hat trick was slightly more impressive. Yeah, you didn't need an empty nutter.

Yeah, that loser baddard. That was uncalled for. Macklin Celebrini completed his hat trick yesterday. Late, late into the evening, 252 into overtime. San Jose sharks were covered for a 3-2 win over Utah in San Jose. Let's hear it right now, Laddie. Here's Macklin Celebrini, game-winning goal. Hat-trick completed in overtime.

Sharks win 3-2. Back over to Celebrini. Macklin loads up. Shoot. And scoff! Scored! McClend! Brady, a game winner, and a hatching.

Just an unbelievable talent and what he's doing right now. Him and Baderd kind of acknowledging one another and the exploits that they are up to this year, and just going back and forth and outwitting and outduling one another. They have almost exactly identical stats. You've each got 13 goals. Celebrini has 17 assists to Bedard's 16 assists. Did you hear about the record that Celebrini made?

Celebrini now joins Gretzky, Crosby, and Mary Alamia is the only teenagers to have 30 points through the first 20 games of a season. Remarkable. Remarkable statistic. Here are some more numbers. Okay. I'm going to read you the top five scores in the NHL. Nathan McKinnon, 33 points.

Celebrini, 30 points. McDavid, also 30 points. Badard 29 points Shifley 27 points Three of those guys were not on the Four Nations team For Canada because Celebrini and Bedard weren't there

And Shifley wasn't either You got snubbed Can't you can't Like I know Shafley had three assists last 90s I think Shifley's gonna make the team I think Shifley's And I think Sellebrini is

gonna make the team The only one that like I think Baderd will make it too but I think Everyone should make it What do you remove? Yeah like can you Can you only take two goalies?

Can you not take a third? Could you say Can you use that spot elsewhere? Could you say like if you don't 100% trust Badard defensively, right? Because there's a similar argument

going on with Evan Bouchard And our friend Justin Bourne went on social media the other day and was like You know what? I would have Bouchard on Team Canada and I replied no

I was like, I retweeted it three times As much as I could Like, no But I mean, I think they'd I don't know how you leave How you leave a guy like Badard off I mean, what kind of argument could you make

That he's not going to get any power play time Or you need other guys in different roles Is that the argument? You don't trust him? Based on how they're playing right now They're going to make it. I don't know. I don't know.

You need to play something. You need. I think like 80% of certainty. Assuming they're still playing this way come time of the announcement, they'll both make the first. There are roles to fill. And there are also so many guys right now that didn't play on that Four Nations team that also deserve to be there.

We have not mentioned Nick Suzuki yet, and I think he's a lock. As the 3C on that team. Yeah. Now we could get rid of we. I'm talking about it. But you know what? I'm going to do it. We.

They could get rid of Kineckney probably won't be on the team. I don't know what you do with Sam Bennett at this point. It seems like he might be one of the most polarizing guys on this one. But you need different types of roles. Like, Badard isn't going to kill penalties, right? Probably not. Probably not. You're going to have to have those guys out there.

And I know there are some people that just to say, well, just take the most talented guys. And it's like, well, you know, the, like, I know that sometimes Canada has erred on the, taking too many plumbers and grinders and leaving talented guys behind. That's exactly what happened at the World Juniors, for example, right? And then all of a sudden, you're like, why can't we score? Why are we working so hard with few results? So Phoenix just texted in.

Take off Mark Stone, take off Seth Jarvis. You put in the eye injury there, Phoenix. He's fine. He's back playing. Take off connecting. Even if you do that, you still have to find space for, right now I would say, Suzuki, Shifley, Bedard, Celebrini, and Tom Wilson. Yeah.

That's five guys. Do you remove Bennett from the team? Maybe. Maybe. But he sure did a hell of a lot in the two biggest moments of last year, which were, one, the Four Nations tournament, two, the Stanley Cup playoffs. I think Mark Stone's a tough one because you just don't know if he can stay healthy. But before he got hurt this year, he had 13 points in six games. He was on fire.

He is a very, very good player. Mark Stone is awesome. In a big game, in a big situation, I would still trust Mark Stone over Connor Bedard. What do you do with Bradford? Marchand. I think he's made it. Yeah, so do I. I think he's made it. I wondered about him, but what he's done for Florida this year is incredible. So let's go now. Travis Kineckney, I think, is probably like, I'm not making the team, I'm. Tip of the cap. Well, Four Nations was fun. Yeah. Okay, let's turn our attention out to what Connor Bader did last night,

because we've already buried it long enough in the show. We're 10 minutes in. Prior to Macklin Celebrini's hat trick heroics late into the evening in San Jose, Connor Bader had scored his second NHL hat trick and his second in 11 games for the Chicago Blackhawks. Blackhawks are on fire. They extend their team point streak to six games. It's a 5-2 victory over the visiting Calgary Flames who were in action tonight. Here's what Bedard's hat-trick sounded like into an empty net. See if you can recognize who's on the call.

He's able to recover. He'll try it from his own zone for the hat-trick. He's got it. Plata Bernard. Second career hat-trick, 5-2, Hart. So I do think it's important to note right now that what Bedard and Celebrini are doing individually is amazing.

The point totals are fantastic. The style of play is terrific. They're also doing it on teams that are winning hockey games. Like this isn't a very classic good stats, bad team kind of thing. The Blackhawks are... Well, Santos is not that great.

They're better than they were last year. They were flirting with a playoff position last week. Jamie and I mentioned one morning we came in And the two wild card holders in the West were San Jose and Chicago. But Chicago's playing very well. We've mentioned. It's got a lot to do with what Spencer Knight's doing in net as well. Chicago's got a plus 15 goal differential.

They've won for the fifth time in six games. They collected 11 of 12 points over that stretch. They're playing well. Guess how many teams in the Western Conference have a better goal differential than Chicago? One. Colorado. Oh. Colorado in the conference.

Colorado has obviously been the best team in the NHL. this season. But, you know, Chicago, if you're still in the conversation of, can the Canucks get in the playoffs, Chicago could be one of those teams that throws a wrench into this because there might be five teams from the Central that make it because Colorado, Dallas, and Winnipeg are the top three teams. And then you've got Chicago, I think a lot of people, especially Thomas Strance, expect. Utah to be in the mix

for a playoff spot and then that leaves if that is the case if that is the case that would leave only three spots in the Pacific and right now it's Anaheim Vegas in Los Angeles

that's right Edmonton is not in a playoff position right now and they're not playing all that well now everyone will say and I would probably agree like Edmonton will probably find a way into that mix but you know Seattle's

in the mix too. And I think after Minnesota slow start Dave started to find their game a little bit. All I'm saying is like come on Kanax, get going. Just hang in there.

Well, I was listening to Sat and Dan yesterday and they were saying if the Kinnocks had gone 0 and 3 on this road trip, they would have been like willing to say they're cooked, they're not coming back. Right? And I'm like, well, you know, if all it takes

is an extra loss and an overtime loss to say they're cooked, then, you know, they're on the stove right now, right? They are there, or they're in the oven. They're on the burner. Right. Possibly the back burner. But the point remains. I kind of feel like this is how the season's going to go for at least, I don't know,

another month and a half, two months where the Canucks are just teetering on one really prolonged losing streak knocks them out because they are the dictionary definition of treading water. Right now, they're keeping their heads above. I don't know if their heads are above. Their heads are kind of like, kind of like falling below once in a while, and they'll be like, oh, you know. Maybe they've got like a straw, a tiny little straw.

Their homer that's already stuck his head in the tar pit, but he hasn't like sunk to the bottom yet. Right. So his bum's still sticking in the air. He's like slowly sinking, but he isn't completely submerged. By the way, can I mention one other thing about Connor Bardard that I think is important? Bernard, now in his third season. served as an alternate captain

for the first time in his career last night with various injuries to Blackhawks leaders including the captain Nick Falino who's on IR and Jason Dickinson Vancouver's former favorite son he's out of the lineup as well so Badar now taking a leadership role in Chicago as well Okay

Vance the Insulator texts in and he said he sent it early what we learned but since we're doing what happened I'm going to read it now J.T. Miller looked like classic Miller on his giveaway and lackadaisical skate

sure makes his trade look better and better Vance went on, but I won't read the rest, but that defensive play against Vegas last night where his, as the kids say,

controller disconnected looked a lot like his play. I think it was against the Kings, one of his last games for the Canucks, one of them. And I remember when I watched that play, I was like, he can't be on this team anymore. Like his, his head's not in it. He is not in a good place right now. Now, I'm not saying that's the exact same scenario with the Rangers because obviously things were happening in Vancouver. But, you know, I don't know if

everyone listening right now has seen the play but essentially he was on the he was up near the point it was early in the second period it was one nothing Vegas it was a play in the ranger zone as you mentioned miller was up near the point and then just sort of disconnected the controller whether it was him or someone else and just kind of stopped skating so you just stopped skating and his legs went straight like even ovechkin was like hey man you got to bend your knees a little bit you're going to move your feet, right? Like, it was, it was shocking to see, really. I mean, it wasn't the end of the game. And I know that he wasn't in, like, perfect position to make a play on the puck, but the fact that he just totally strained up and didn't look engaged at all on the play, man, that's not good.

So the Golden Knights went on to score on the play that we're talking about to go up 2-0. They eventually won the game 3-2. J.T. Miller, obviously. did not hear yesterday's show that he was the limitless AV one to watch. He did manage to chip in an assist in the 3-2 loss, but not a great performance by him or the Rangers last night.

Oh, he got watched. He did get watched. A lot of people saw that clip. Right. Tusha, Greg. You know what? Not the way he wanted to be watched. It did work out in the end. Now, normally we wouldn't spotlight a Dallas New York Islanders game in the

intro segment, because quite frankly, neither of those teams make a lick a difference to us given everything else we've got to cover. But Dallas is going to be in town on Thursday and the end to the Dallas Islanders game in Dallas yesterday was one of the most bizarre endings I've ever seen to a hockey game. I hope we got the bleep button at the ready

because Patrick Wall was front and center in this one. So with about 30 seconds left and the Dallas Stars trailing 3-2, there was a flurry in the New York Islander zone and Miko Ranton rode Romanov into the boards in a very, very nasty fashion. Got him in the numbers.

Romanov basically went shoulder into the edin boards and it, oh, it's on the TV right now as a matter of fact. And it was ugly. Romanoff was in a ton of pain when he went down. Randen got five in a game. The on-ice microphone managed to pick up Patrick Waugh going absolutely insane at the hit and threatening Miko Ranton

who was standing in the tongue. watching the replay. Patrick was, still got it. Still got it. So we'll just let the audio run here. It is kind of entertaining. This is not even the craziest part of this game last night, which the Islanders did eventually win three, two,

despite losing Romanov to what looks like a pretty serious shoulder injury. He's in all kinds of pain. And there is some verbal violence going on from the Islander bench. Patrick was maybe the most verbal and incensed and red So if you couldn't make it out there Patrick was saying to Miko Randon

when we play you in four months you're not going to finish the effing game which is an amazing moment from a head coach He knew the schedule right away. Pull out his phone for sure. Can you imagine? Hey, Siri, when do we play them again? PetroGois's coaching career has been a series of pizza.

That's incredible. That's incredible. Yeah. That's not all that this game knows schedules. That's not all that this game had. So, with the Dallas net empty, and now they're at five on five because they're still killing off the rant and penalty, Wyatt Johnson looks like he ties the game with 0.1, 0.1 seconds left on the clock. But hold on a minute. It appears as though there's some.

pretty serious goalie interference on David Riddick. So video review comes out of way and I just want to play the theater here because with 0.1 second left the Dallas stars think they've got the most improbable comeback ever and here's the call as it happened live in real time on the ice. Wild

game between Dallas and the New York Islanders last night. Everybody who's here in Dallas on their feet awaiting this announcement after video review the call of the ice is overturned. We have a goal-tender interference.

Wow. No goal. 0.1 goes up on the clock. They're pouring off the bench. 0.1 on the clock. They didn't even care that there was a 0.1 left. Like all the Islanders came out. Riddick was like celebrating and throwing it.

They were fired up because that game was so emotional at the end. Also, Bo Horvac got tossed out of that game. I couldn't really quite understand what happened. He got a double minor for high sticking. And then he got a 10-minute misconduct. And then when he was in the box, they just sort of like, just get out of here. They chucked him. I don't know.

He likes to walk the line. Yeah. He scored another goal last night too. So he has 13. Always overstepping that line. Bo Horvett. Yeah. But so anyway, if you're wondering like what this means moving forward, well, the Vancouver

Canucks might have caught a break because I don't think that Miko Randon is going to be in the lineup on Thursday when the Dallas Stars take on the Vancouver Canucks. Almost everyone was like, that's a suspension. Don't you think it got turned around a little bit on the play, though? Like his legs kind of got taken out from a. by the Islanders player. You sound like Glenn Gulletson, because Glenn Gulletton in the aftermath was saying,

look, I watched the replay. Yeah. He thought he got twisted around. I thought he did too. Yeah, the only thing is that he got a five in a game in the moment, and they did review it. That's why he was hanging around in the tunnel. But that might also mean if he got five in a game,

although it was so late in the game wasn't really. 30 seconds left, right? Like, it wasn't much of a penalty for him. I mean, he didn't get to play for the final 30 seconds, but that's it. I don't know. We'll see what happens. I'm sure we'll get something from the Department of Player's Safety today at some point.

Is Romanoff okay? Okay, so I was reading Andrew Gross from one of the papers in New Jersey, he was tweeting in the aftermath. And he said, like, no one in the room was happy afterwards, even though they won this big game because Romanov was in serious pain. And they were still livid about the hit because it did happen, like, a couple minutes prior to the end of regulations. So I got a feeling he's getting, you know, you can tell when guys get hurt and you know, they're seriously hurt. And oftentimes because they're kicking their feet around. Like, he was yelling and screaming. I thought he might have broken his collar.

That's what I thought right away, right? So it was an ugly hit. If you get a chance to see it, I'm just floating around on social. Okay, it's been all hockey so far on what happened, but we have to mention some of the teams that qualified for the World Cup yesterday because we talked about this yesterday, that Scotland had the opportunity to qualify for the first World Cup since 1998 if they beat Denmark, which they did in very unscottland-like fashion.

A remarkable match. Because they scored four goals. One of them was a bicycle kick, which I didn't think Scottish players learned. Scott McTominy. That's what happened when he went to Italy. All of a sudden, he got some flair. That was incredible. Yeah.

So Scotland qualifies for the World Cup. By the way, huge choke by Denmark, who still have a chance to qualify. They're not dead yet. That's, that was bad. And then Curacao. Yes. a country of like 150,000 people qualified. Now granted they have

all like Dutch players on that team and they were all like born in the Netherlands but still an incredible story and perhaps the most incredible of all Haiti qualified for the World Cup which is you know I think most of us know what Haiti's going through war-torn, gangsters essentially run that country, they haven't been able to play any of their games at home. They have qualified for the World Cup as well. That to me is the most

remarkable of them all. The national stadium overtaken by gangs in March of 24. So they played every single World Cup qualifying match on the road. And to qualify not through the inter-confederation playoff, but to win the group into top of the way that they did. First time in 52 years that Haiti has made the World Cup. You've got to go all the way back to 1974 for their last appearance in it. So a remarkable accomplishment by them. We're going to break, though. I want one more piece of audio, and I do want to go back to Scotland.

And I want to play what happened at the end of the match. I think I watched about 9,000 different videos yesterday of various pubs in and throughout Scotland watching the end of this match. So up 3-2 on Denmark, it was not. nowhere near comfortable enough because a draw would see Denmark through and Denmark was pushing for the equalizer despite the fact that Denmark was down to 10 men.

And it went back and forth and back and forth all game. It was like, Scotland's in. No, Denmark's in. Scotland's in. Nope, Denmark's in. So in the 82nd minute Denmark scores to even it. They're in. Tierney scores in stoppage time to put Scotland up 3-2 but it's still hanging in the balance because Denmark is pushing. A bit of a blunder

on that goal too, wasn't it? Yeah, a little bit. Terrible clearance by the Danish centerback. So what happens at the end, It's cinema, it's art, it's everything that you love about sport. I'm going to throw this to BBC Scotland, and you heard a bit of it in the intro. This is the winning call. This is the Kenny McLean goal from center with Casper Schmichael pushed way up the pitch, trying to find an equalizer.

Instead of trying to kill the time, Kenny McLean looks up and sees the keepers out and tries to lob him from center. Listen to the Scottish play-by-play on this. It's theater, it's cinema. It's a great call. Take it away, Lattie. Scotland just need to hold out for a full. few more seconds. My voice just needs to hold out for a few more seconds. As Hulman has it, he's

surrounded, he pokes the ball back. Surely now, Scotland, he'll hold onto possession as McLean is looking to go for goal from the halfway line. It's Chip Schult. Glorious, glorious, Kenny McLean with the halfway line. Scotland for, Dempard 2, we are returning. to the World Cup. What a night! It was just an incredible day and night of World Cup qualifiers. So 42 of the 48 spots are now locked in. Six more still ago, there's some European qualifiers, and there's two Inter-Confederation ones as well.

But what a moment for Scottish supporters worldwide, and especially the ones that were at Hampton Park yesterday. That's an all-timer. That goes down as one of the greatest performances from the Scottish national team. I know they've been to World Cups, and I know they've done things and I remember the Archie Gamble goal

even though I was three years old but that is remarkable what they did yesterday. If we could get Scotland at BC Place Scotland could come to Vancouver for the World Cup that would be the ideal team to have there.

I have to agree. Because they're fun and Canada might also be able to beat them. Right. So there's that too. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best

of Halford and Brough. So if the Canucks aren't in a playoff position and people are wondering about Quinn Hughes and he doesn't have trade protection Yeah, February is it

Would it come up then or have the Canucks already said like we're waiting until at least the off season because you could make the argument that if you're going to trade him and if he's not interested in staying you could make the argument that a team, and it wouldn't have to be New Jersey,

it could be any team in the NHL will give up a lot for two guaranteed postseason runs with Quinn Hughes. That's the big kicker, right? Two. Yeah, instead of getting him in his last year, you get that too. Man, if you retained, his cap hit is like, what,

four million bucks or something like that? Yeah. I, you know. Just throwing it out there. We've got to build up something for the next couple of months. I think it's totally valid. I've always thought, like people said,

like when does the conference? I was like, I think the conversation starts at this trade deadline if the Canucks are not in a playoff position. And this trade deadline just happens to be preceded by this huge gap in the schedule where everyone's going to have an opportunity to take stock of where they're at in their NHL seasons and look ahead and say like, are we a legitimate playoff contender? Are we a cup contender? Are we out of this thing? Do we have Brian on the line, by the way? No, we're still working on that. I think that from a Canucks perspective What you brought up about like that second year of Hughes is vitally important

Like you could go to him and be you know you can't sign him until July 1st But you could go to him and be like hey buddy how are you feeling right? Yeah And if he's like eh Well the other part of it is that based on what So last week we talked about this yesterday We bookended the week with two interviews from the two Canucks executives who are making these decisions.

It was Patrick Alveen. On Monday, we talked about his after-hours interview with Scott Oak. And then on Friday, we had Jim Rutherford in his interview with IMAC on sportsnet.ca. One of the takeaways for me was that there was a sense of a no-plan plan plan. And by that, I meant they didn't seem to commit themselves to anything. It was like, we'll just kind of keep rolling along. And do we want to add young players in the draft?

Yes. Do we want to stay competitive? Yes. Do we want to build around the players that we have? Yes. Do we want to keep the players, the young players that we have? Yes. It was yes to everything.

It was having their, you know. Have their cake and eat it too and also eat that cake over there? Try to live in. I will also have that cake. I want that cake. But not even living in every world, not even just two separate worlds, but every world imaginable, they wanted to be part of it. So from that sort of line of thinking, I do wonder that if part of it is,

okay, let's say we get to that stage in the season where it's not looking. and great for us. Are we leaving a door open? Do we exist in another world where we have to entertain this idea? Would they even consider it, though? That's what I'm just saying. If you're going to say everything's on the table.

Rutherford's even suggested that the Canucks could wait until the following trade deadline. Sure. But I think you have to, I think you have to have a conversation with him and be like, hey, like, we got to make some decisions here. I mean, they pressured to Leahs Pedersen

into signing that contract because they had to make some decisions. But I could also see them just like hanging on and hanging on hope, hope, hope that maybe, you know, Quinn signs eventually, right? Well, that's the downside of having your fingers in every pie, is that you don't really know what direction they're going to go in. They could go in any direction, and it might not be the direction that you see best for the club. There is so much banking on this season, I do wonder.

if they're going to be in or out of it by February March. Like, that's the biggest concern for me. It could be out of it in a month. No, but what if they're not? Oh, what if they're not? Right. Well, if they're not, then fair enough. But that's going to dictate what they do in a significant way.

Like, I don't know if they'll have the foresight to be like, we're barely hanging on to a playoff spot here. Do we waive the white flag? And when we talk about rebuilds, by the way, and I know I've mentioned the New York Rangers a couple times with what they did, but I want everyone to remember when, Jeff Gordon was the general manager and they announced that they were going to sell off all these players that were beloved on Broadway because they had been deep in

playoff runs before and they had developed an affinity with the fan base and they were two points out of a playoff spot when they sent that letter to their season ticket holders that we're tearing it down and we're rebuilding they were right there standings wise to be a playoff team what they weren't from the eyes of management was a realistic playoff contender. And those were two very different things. But I remember, like, Mark Stahl was visibly shaken when he saw what was going on. Yeah.

Because he said, we're right there. Like, you tell us all year we're going to shoot for the playoffs, and then we get close to it, and then you pull the rug out. It would be hilarious if the Rangers have, like, two rebuilds in that time span, because I'm looking at their Rangers team right now and going, okay, if they lose Panarin, an unrestricted free agency and they've got J.T. who I think we all worried about

when his game, how long his game would last. Zabanajad is getting older. Lafranier, I don't know what he is. But he's been a big time disappointment for the first overall pick. You might have to, listen, if this season goes off the rails, does Chris Drury keep his job?

A general manager. No, I think, I think Chris, I think Chris Dury put his job on the line with J.T. Miller. And I mean the entirety of it. Yeah. So trading for him was one big gambit. Making him the captain was. That was doubling down, right? But that's also.

A volatile guy. That's also saying that your executive career, at least in New York, is dictated by one guy. But in the wake of what happened last season where, let's be honest, there was practically a mutiny against management. Yep. and the way things went in New York. But back to the Canucks, I really do, I do think that, you have to play it out in your mind about what is the return at this point?

What is the return at this point? And I think if you were to put Quinn Hughes on the market and you could send him to any team, Again, any team, he doesn't have any trade protection. And you'd say to that team, let's say they're a contender or a playoff team at the very least. And you go, you can have Quinn Hughes for two post seasons. Yep. What are you willing to give for that?

You get a massive return. A massive, massive haul. Okay, we're going to pivot now to the PWHL. As we mentioned off the top, the Vancouver Golden Eyes are going to play their inaugural home game Friday, November 21st, 7 o'clock at the Pacific Coliseum against the C.W.H. Seattle Torrent. Joining us now on the program, first time guests, very excited to get him on the program, the head coach of the Vancouver Golden Eyes. Brian Adelski here on the Halifred & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Good morning. Brian, how are you? Doing well. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on and taking the time. We appreciate you doing this. So big picture question to start. This isn't just the start of a season for you and the Golden Eyes. This is the start of a franchise. And I know it's a long list of things you had to do to get to this point, walk our listeners through what it was like building a team from scratch and then leading

all the way up to this Friday when the Goldenizer finally going to make their PWHL debut. Well, it's been an interesting journey. I came on right the day before the draft. So a lot of that work was done with free agency and expansion draft. And so that was part of the reason I was excited about the opportunity was some of the players that were already on board and the roster that Kara had built and was constructing was in a great spot with a lot of talents and a lot of good human beings. And then from there now we're putting in the infrastructure of staffing and then the PNC and some of the additions and updates. And it's been a bit of a world win and training camp and then here we are now with a selected roster and preparing for our first game.

How do you put together a team identity when none of the players have been together as a group? Well, there was a framework when we were adding players about what we were looking for as far as people, character. Obviously, you can tell why people that were selected, by CARA defense and goaltending was early and often what we were looking at and kind of building from that area out into the forward group. So, I mean, identity, you always have an idea of what you want to play in everyone's like, what are your non-negotiables? What are you going to, you know, advocate for in the room and players?

The reality is my job is to put the players that we have in the best situations for their skill sets and what they're able to do. And I think that's what I'm most excited about the roster is because there's a great mix of gritty players. There's a great mix of high-end skill. There's a great mix of players that can skate and get up and down the ice. And so there's a lot of different things identity-wise we can become. So it'll be interesting to go through that process.

The expectations are pretty high right out of the gate as well. looking at the odds makers and I don't know if you know this but you are the favorite to win the championship this year so I know you've said in previous interviews that you know pressure is

a privilege and there is going to be a honeymoon period with this team for sure but how do you deal with the expectations for an expansion team when you're the favorites to win it well that

is a little surreal, no doubt. That's not the normal thing is to walk into an expansion team and be favorites like that. But that's why we play. Like, who doesn't want to be in that situation? I would much rather be in a situation like this where people care and are watching

and you know that you have an opportunity to win and be successful than some other opportunities I've been in where you know you don't have the resources. You know you're playing uphill and every day is a complete grind because you know you're not where you need to be from a talent perspective. I will take this any day of the week, every day of the week. Brian, let's get to know you a little bit personally.

You're a Detroit guy, and I know you like drinking coffee. Who would win a coffee drinking contest between you and Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell? Ooh, I'm a huge Dan Campbell fan, so I don't know. I think I'd be happy with a tie in that one. But side note, I literally just stopped with my e-bike and bought four bags of beans on the way in this morning. So I got that going for me. I also heard, like, you grew up, okay, you're talking to a guy that had, grew up in Vancouver, but had a Detroit Pistons bad boys poster growing up.

on his wall. What was it like growing up a Detroit sports fan? I mean, obviously, you know, the Red Wings, I'm sure you're interested in them, but did that Pistons team shape you at all with the type of person you are and the way you like to compete? Honestly, 100%.

And I'd take it even further. I mean, you go with the Russian 5 through kind of that time for me growing up and even, you know, Joey Kosher, Bob Probert and just the identity of growing up in Detroit and then the Fad 5 with Michigan basketball, that was a pretty good era to be a sports fan. And, you know, what Dan Campbell is doing back there now and bringing that back and grit. And, yeah, there's no doubt that if you're growing up in that area, especially that time frame, you had a huge chip on your shoulder

and kind of embraced the grit and the grind and working hard and just competing and being a little on edge and nasty. So I would love for our club to be like that. We'll see how that shapes out. We are speaking to Brian Adelsky, Vancouver Goldnise head coach here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sports Net 650.

The Golden Eyes have their inaugural home game this Friday, November 21st, 7 o'clock at the Pacific Coliseum against Seattle. Just one more on your history coming into this job, Brian. You've coached in a lot of different places. And, you know, the typical pipeline from North Dakota to China to Russia. Everyone's done that before. Tell us a little bit about your coaching career prior to landing the job with the golden eyes.

Yeah, one day I woke up and I was an old coach. Yeah, life is funny. I would have told you I probably would have stayed at North Dakota forever. And then when that program was eliminated, it actually turned out to be a great opportunity, a growth for me. So being able to coach different age levels, being able to have the opportunity to go overseas and coach in China and Russia and then be a part of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Yeah, very fortunate now back into college hockey and then the opportunity in the PWHL, it's, You know, for a self-described, you know, Michigan kid who is a bit of a grinder. Like, yeah, it's been a great ride and opportunities, and that's what I've always loved about hockey is how a game is like that and how close-knit and people in relationships.

So it's cool to be here, and I can't wait to add in our chapter to all of that. Okay, well, before we let you go, let's do a quick preview of Friday's game. It is the big one, of course, it's the inaugural game for the Gold Night. set the stage for us and for our listeners who are some of the players that you're going to be leaning on to get through what's going to be obviously an exciting but emotional night there's going to be a lot of energy in the building and then the players that are going to kind of set that standard moving forward and what is you know high expectations for the pw hl campaign for seattle or for Vancouver yeah no doubt probably starts in goaltending for us with ummerz marsh mashmire and then uh christin campbell uh solid

But number two for us, super excited about our decor, honestly, Sophie Jake's bomb of a shot and very offensive-minded, but great in her own end as well. Claire Thompson is, honestly, I knew of her, but seeing her in person is probably one of the best athletes I've ever coached. She's all over the ice. She'll be dynamic. Ashton Bell, similar. So right there, those.

three defensive players are pretty elite and then up front Sarah Nurse and then Michelle Carvinan and I'm a huge Michaela Kava fan just with her hockey sense. Jen Gardner

great shot. I mean I could go on and on through the whole roster that any given night somebody could be the kid and curious and that's a special thing to have. You want to go check them out? Great depth.

Sorry, go ahead. I just was going to say we have great depth. If you want to check it all out, it's this Friday, November 21st, 7 o'clock at the Pacific Coliseum. It's the Golden Eyes and the Seattle Torrent. Brian, thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Best of luck on Friday and with the season, and enjoy that coffee. Sounds great, guys.

Appreciate it. Thank you. That's Brian Adelski, head coach of the Vancouver Golden Eyes here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. It's Randy Janda here. on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Randy. How are you? Good morning, boys. I'm doing well. How are you? We're well. There's a little bit of downtime here now that the Canucks yesterday was a travel day home from Florida.

Today they'll practice no game until tomorrow against Dallas. So it gives us time to parse through everything that happened over that three-game road trip, where although it was a short road trip, certainly eventful, including the 13-goal epic in Florida. some early takeaways or late takeaways, I suppose, now from the three-game road trip, now that it's concluded Randeep. Yeah, I think you've got to look at it two ways. As a result,

you know, if you had said three to six points, it's kind of what you're expecting three or four points, you can look at it and say, hey, that's not bad. That's kind of what you're going in for, and it's a tough road trip. Can you come away with the points? The process, however, guys, it was rough.

It's not good at all, right? In terms of eating a lot of pressure, sure, there's injuries to Thatcher Demko, which certainly affects the way you play. But defensively, Vancouver had trouble. Offensively, they scored but they weren't able to

generate that many high danger chances. And if you look at the three-game breakdown, I believe it was 52 high-danger chances against an 11-4 in those three games five-on-five, which tells you a lot. So the result, I don't think you can be mad at that as far as three out of six points. You'll take that against

those three teams in the NHS. Well, when you start looking at the process, and particularly the defensive process, there are reasons to worry, no doubt about that. Where has all the defensive structure gone? I think it's gone to Philadelphia. That's where it's gone because this is a different coach, right? Like this is Adam Foote's philosophy when it comes to coaching this team, and we saw it in the preseason was that, you know, it's going to be different.

And I think that idea of having a swarm, aggressive, style since training camp, it is having its struggles right now. And if you make a play on the puck and you're aggressive and try to win it, you put yourself in a good spot if you win that puck. But if you don't, there's going to be a lot of space, particularly in the slot. And it felt in that Florida game, Florida really was up to them whenever they wanted to score. And, you know, that's where I think where it's making chances. Don't get me wrong.

I don't think it's simply down to the system. I think it's a command of the system of the players, if you look at the defense, If you look at the five-man unit, they are not driving with that system. But, you know, this is one of the things that happens where you're not able to, I think this newer system that the connector tried to get used to is very aggressive. And against teams that can play and beat pressure, you put yourself in a very, very difficult situation if they do beat that pressure. And another thing is, if you don't have ozone time, guys, you're out there for long shifts.

and if you're struggling with your defensive system you're eating pressure you're not able to get off the ice one of two things is going to happen in the NHL you're either going to take a penalty or you're going to give up grade A chances and it feels like that's happening for Vancouver a lot particularly when those long changes

are going on in the second period I wonder about a guy like Tyler Myers who I think at times under the tocket system really thrived because I don't want to call it a simple system but he knew what his job was and he went out and did it. In this system, I wonder if there's more decision-making

from the players as opposed to being told what to do. And I wonder if that's having an effect. It seems like there's a lot of running around going on. And even Adam Foote has alluded to sometimes guys are covering for other guys and it sounds all well and good to help out your teammates. but when you start trying to do other guys' jobs, it looks like that game in Florida where you're running around a lot.

No doubt about that. And I think there's a few moments in that game, particularly, guys. But even you'll start looking at the last four or five games, you'll see a defenseman Tyler Myers, chasing up the wall, and all of a sudden what happened, there's a, I don't know if it's a lack of communication, but maybe there's a lack of understanding in that play where there's a lot of vacant space, right?

and that's where something, you know, whether you enjoyed the previous system and the previous coach or not, and don't get me wrong, there's plenty of downsides to Rick Tocke's system as well, the offensive side, particularly, but it did protect the middle of the X. And in this league, that is the most important. And now right now, what you have is you have some players that are, you know, chasing up that wall, trying to make that play, maybe make a mistake and are trying to make up for that mistake right away.

And you're kind of doubling down on that. And that's where I think, you know, it is part, it feels like there's a lack of trust at times in their own decision making. But also, you're just trying to do too much. And when you start doing too much in the defensive zone, when you're not able to win the puck, that's when you start opening up a lot of space. And I go back to that, you know, that Florida game where it fell in those second period goals particularly, the ones down low, even the ones that Vancouver had the puck, they just felt like there was a lack of trust and there's a one goal

where three Kinnuck players were chasing a Florida player below the goal line like there's three players there and that tells you the lack of communication but also I do still feel like at times they're trying to figure out

their style of play on the fly and against good teams that's going to hurt you and it did with eight goals excuse me seven goals you know no doubt about that seven goals against Florida

prior to the empty neck goal and that's going to happen when you play a really good teams, and you don't have that chemistry or that trust defensively. What are you watching for at practice today? I'd like to see the line combinations again as well. I think with these players,

you've got to see kind of what's working for you, no doubt. Sherwood and Kane and Pedersen, we're starting to see a little bit more there, but five on five guys, it's still, it's a massive, you know, it's a high shooting percentage for this team. and the power play is now top 10, which is great.

But five on five in terms of driving play, this team certainly still needs a lot of help. I'm curious to see, you know, if, A, who's on the ice, right? Like we heard about Teddy Blugher and potentially making the trip. And I know Adam Foote was pessimistic about him getting a game and another three gamer, but is he any closer to, you know, occupying that center position? They haven't had Philippeal and Teddy Blugher since October 19th. And I know bringing in David Camp certainly helps, gives you hopefully some practice time for him

and he can get used to his teammates. But I think you need another center there. And Teddy Blugra, I'm curious on his status just in terms of, is it still a short-term thing? Is it going to be more of a medium-term thing? And the line combinations, five-on-five, we can talk a lot about the progress that they meant on the power play, but five-on-five, that middle six particularly still needs a lot more juice.

So, you know, are you able to change it up a little bit? Do you maybe load up, you know, I've liked what Drew O'Connor has done, I've liked what Brock Bessor has done particularly on the power play. But I'm curious to see if, you know, how do you put David Camp in there to get a little bit more out of him? Is he officially going to take a second line roll? And that first game, he was playing on technically a third line. They brought him into VA, essentially a 2C when it comes to ice time.

Does that change up who he plays with? So I'll probably be watching out for that as they can now try to get. David Camp some reps. The issues that the connects are having defensively, I know a lot of people will be like, well, it's on the defenseman. It has their, it's right in the name, defensemen. But you also got to wonder about the centers on this team.

And I know David Camp has only played one game and it was tough for him. So we expect more of him defensively. But I know Elias Pedersen has been very good defensively. But, you know, you lose a guy like, like Pugh-Suter, who was good defensively. J.T. Miller often had the match-up role. How much of this goes back to the centers that the Canucks currently have? I think a lot of it does, guys. And, you know, when you start a couple of aspects of this, right?

You mentioned just having players that have done it before. And when Pughes-Suter came to Vancouver, I think the biggest compliment that could be made to him was that he's a smart player, He's, you know, an intelligent player, but he's also, he provides value. And Suter grew over the years. He showed that he could be trusted in the center position to a certain extent, winger position on the PK, and eventually a goal score as well. So you're missing, you know, him, you got J.T. Miller that was traded as well. And J.T., for all at times, his criticism defensively,

one thing he was able to do really well, guys, was also be aggressive on the forecheck. He was able to, you know, swing games with playing a heavy game. And that's something that this team is lacking down the middle of the ice right now. Al Lee Patterson has been trying to do his best when it comes to nearly being a point-for-game player over the last week. He started to play really, really well, I think, offensively as well. But you need players that can dictate the game. You need players that can initiate and not play a reactive game. And I think from the center position, Vancouver's really hasn't had those types of players right now.

And, you know, Heidel was a part of that conversation. A player that can carry the puck, a player that can dictate the terms of the game, so to speak. And they still, they haven't had that. So, you know, you can try with a Drew O'Connor and be aggressive on the forward check. He's done great, six goals. But we know how important the center position is, whether it's a defensive aspect of it. You need your centers to get a lot of puck touches, and those guys do have to be skilled particularly up the lineup. So for me, the center position is really.

really, I think, the biggest issue with this team. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.