Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 11/21/24

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

Mike and Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss Conor Garland's love of sharks, plus the boys chat 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 Halford and Brough. I think Sousa's got to get his confidence up. I would like to see him, and I told him, is just get into people a little bit harder. Thought about coming in front of that. They score! What a play! And look who it is!

His very first NHL goal! Fraser Mitton! My cat's name is Mitton. Work check, for a check, and for your check, yeah? Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It's Halford and his brother.

It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios, the beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you.

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

We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews.

So, Orfite, what are you waiting for? Kintec got a big show ahead on a Thursday. Guest list begins at 6.30. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us ahead of Thursday Night Football. We'll talk to Nick about everything that's going on around the NFL. Tumultuous times for the New York-based football clubs, the Jets and the Giants.

Yeah, the Jets. There's all sorts of reporting going on right now on Woody Johnson, the owner, interfering in operation. And at one point, it has been reported that, what was it, four weeks into the season that he suggested Aaron Rodgers be benched? After their 10-9 loss to the Denver Broncos, when he suggested it. And apparently the Jets coaching and management managed to talk him out of it. But there's some disagreement about whether or not he might have been joking. But they also talked him out of it.

And then they were all fired. So I don't know how much they actually did talk him out of anything. Nick Shook's going to join us at 630. By the way, the Thursday nighter tonight, Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Cleveland Browns. 7 o'clock, Luke Fox, Toronto Maple Leafs writer and NHL writer for Sportsnet, is going to join the program. We'll talk to him about a very eventful game yesterday, the marquee matchup on Wednesday Night Hockey across the Sportsnet family of channels.

Mittens scored. Sorry? Mittens scored. Yes, Fraser Mittens scored. The Leafs, I'm just going to throw this out there now. I'm very scared. I'm very scared because the Leafs are doing all the things successfully that they were never able to do before.

Stick up for each other and stuff? Keep pucks out of the net, have good goaltending, block shots, play tough. They looked like a tough team last night. It was crazy. I don't like it. Yeah, and that was without Austin Matthews, who was vacationing in Germany. It was without half their forwards. He's out eating their

schnitzel in Dusseldorf. The rest of the guys are putting in the work i gotta say marner looks good right now too they i it wasn't even the same organization playoffs yeah that's true uh we'll talk to luke fox at seven o'clock about that 7 30 uh jc abbott is going to join the program bc lions cfl writer for three down nation uh we thought we were going to bid him farewell when we said goodbye a few weeks ago after the lions lost in the crossover game in the playoffs, but he's back because there's big news on the lions front. So I guess one of the first orders of business for the new GM,

Ryan rig maiden is the official word yesterday that they're going to trade Vernon Adams, a junior. They made that official yesterday. So we'll talk to JC Abbott about that and a whole bunch of other things with the lions, including who their next head coach might be. 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance, the Drancer

from the Athletic Vancouver. We will talk to him as the Canucks depart today for Ottawa in a long eastern road swing that does cut back through the Midwest. So we'll talk to Drancer about what to expect this weekend. Canucks take on a familiar friend Travis Green and the Ottawa

Senators. That's going to be on Saturday in Ottawa so we got a big show ahead it's a four-gester there's lots of sports there's lots to get into including some optimism from the Canucks so without further ado Laddie let's tell everybody what happened hey did you guys see the game last night no what happened I missed all the action because I was we know how busy your life can be. What happened? Did you miss that? What happened?

What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. The Canucks did practice yesterday ahead of flying out on this lengthy road trip that's going to take place and won't see them come back until december the 4th goodbye everybody for a long time before they left for ottawa uh some cool and good developments for your local hockey squadron thatcher demko spoke to the media about his pending return uh should we just jump right into some audio here that we've got on Thatcher Demko?

Let's begin with where he's gotten to up to this point. Thatcher Demko talking about rehab and a turning point in Penticton for pre-training camp where they kind of figured out exactly what they needed to do to get the knee and the popliteus back up to speed and how they're slowly working on it. Here's Thatcher Demko from yesterday's Vancouver Canucks practice. No, we had to use different modalities to get the function up.

It wasn't an adaptation of my style of play, and I knew it wouldn't be. Shortly after Penticton, we really nailed down what the issue was specifically, which was nice to finally kind of understand what was going on. That gave us a clearer picture of different options that we had moving forward. It was kind of just trial and error at that point, and we ended up finding something that worked really well for me. So it's great that he's having progress,

and I expect that we might even see him on the road trip. It's a six game road trip. I'm not suggesting that the Canucks are going to rush him back in any sense. I don't think they will. But it was sure nice to have him because, you know, Silav probably should be down in the HL working on his game. And Kevin Lankanen, I think we've seen him peter out a little bit. He had a great start, helped keep the Canucks afloat.

But I would like to see Thatcher Demko sooner rather than later. I think the question that a lot of us have, and we're going to play another clip in just a bit because that's obviously knows this too is are we all going to be on pins and needles every time demko makes a save i i don't i don't know if i can live like that but i guess he knows that too that he can't return and just you know get hurt again and be like okay i i guess i'm ready to go let's let's let's try it uh so here's thatcher demko talking about all the work he's putting in right now and all the the testing that he's putting his knee through before he actually does return to the NHL. Yeah, I think, you know, admittedly, I feel great right now. And to your point, you know, I can't feel good and go back into game action

and have a setback two weeks into playing. And I got to put this thing through hell and know that I can kind of sustain that and withstand just the pressures of being in the NHL every day and playing games, waking up, practicing, traveling, doing all this stuff. I need to make sure that I'm ready for the long haul and then do everything that I can to make sure that I am. So I think this last, like I said, I still have a little bit of work to do, but I think the last stretch of it is going to be just that capacity build and making sure that I can, you know,

withhold the schedule of the NHL. So I guess we've got to cross our fingers a little bit that there aren't any other further setbacks because he is going to be pushing it. He's talking about putting this injury through hell, or maybe it's not an injury anymore, putting his knee through hell. I mean, we've all put our popliteus through hell. Boy, have we. I do it every day when I wake up.

But mine is healthy. Thatcher Demko hurt his. Laddie, I got a question for you. What is the most vulnerable position going to be for Demko as a goalie? I mean, I personally always find it crazy how strong NHL goalies are when they're, I don't know, pushed up against the post, basically in the splits position, and you get like 10 guys in the crease all poking away at things.

And I'm just like, first of all, glad you're wearing a cup. Second of all, that looks crazy how strong these guys are in very unusual positions for most of us. Yeah, it's when you're anchored on the post. Like you said, if there's like a jam play at the side of the net, when these guys go into what's called reverse VH, you've heard Kevin Woodley, I'm sure, talk about it. Your leg is bent and it's almost like a spring, the way it's coiled into the post, and then you're supposed to use your post to push off. That would be the time when his knee is most vulnerable

because you're putting all that pressure, all that weight, when you've got the spring loaded, and then when he pushes off, that would be the time that I would be looking for. And Woodley said it in his hit that we had him on the other day. He hasn't seen him go post to post with his one foot on each post at the same time, which he's seen him do before. Right.

So he was a little worried about that, but you heard Demko say he's hasn't had to adjust that much. So there's a bunch of different things here, which lead me to believe that his return might not be as imminent as I think maybe people want and or hope for one is he's, you're never going to get like, I respect the fact what he's saying. Like, I have to put my knee through hell

and withstand the pressures of being in the NHL every day. But the only way you're going to be able to do that is being in the NHL every day. Like, I don't think there's anything that's going to replicate game action. Honestly, the pressure of it. You just have five guys in there just, like, poking at pucks.

Yeah, like, nothing is going to replicate. Get in there, guys. Nothing's going to replicate. Target is Pap, guys. Nothing's going to replicate. Target is Papatias. Nothing's going to replicate the spontaneity of an NHL regular season game. Things that happen in the course of a game that you just can't replicate. So there's that. The other thing, and in speaking with one particular medical professional

whose advice that I do trust, this might not necessarily be so much about injury rehabilitation as it is to understanding that you might not ever be at 100 again that 100 with um a particular injury is just it's gone now it's off the table that the way that you feel now might be unique to a high level athlete because it's almost like the normies yeah yeah you know you guys like louis ck bit where he goes to the doctor and his doctor goes yeah your ankle is just worn out now it's just pooch like an old tire all these drugs destroy my liver well you gotta weigh that against how much you want your uh right oh yeah for sure yeah but um there is it's funny because you you know, everyday life, it's like, well, we deal with certain ailments and injuries and we just kind of figure a way to work around them.

Now, I'm not saying it's that degree for an NHL caliber player, but there is going to be a certain level of, is this injury going to cause me pain? Is it going to hurt? And if the answer to both of those is yes, then it becomes a pain tolerance and pain management thing. The very undetermined thing is if someone is able to either withstand that or power through and get back to the level that they previously had, because that's a tough thing to do. Because remember, the level that an athlete previously had oftentimes is predicated on, I feel 100%. I'm training like a madman i'm watching

everything i eat i don't feel limited in anything i can do i sleep 13 hours a day in a pod with oxygen being pumped you know what i mean a lot of uh highly elite level athletes are used to having everything firing and operating at max capacity. And when that changes, sometimes the end result changes as well, the how successful you are at your particular sport. And all this with Demko isn't specific to Demko. I just want to make this abundantly clear. This is like any athlete that is dealing with an injury, but an injury that is...

Some are better able to do it than others. Right. Some have higher pain thresholds. Some people are able to scale back the work? Right. Some have higher pain thresholds. Some people are able to scale back the work that they're doing away from the games and still remain sharp. That's the biggest thing for me. And that is specific to Demko. Because not only is he dealing with an injury that might prevent him from grinding the living daylights out of his body to be at a high level,

he also doesn't have the coach that was there doing it for him, right? So a lot has changed here. I think asking him to come in and be the same Demko that we saw, especially last year where you were talking top three in the NHL, Vesna Caliber, it's going to be tough. I'll put it that way. It's going to be tough. Wow. That was encouraging. Thank you, Mike, for that.

No problem. Three Putt Shane texts in, and you can text in to the the dunbar lumber text line at 650 650 the bridge street dunbar lumber and latner has moved progress way in tilbury's industrial park more room more product more awesome details at dunbar lumber.com sure would be nice to shore up the defense before throwing demko to the wolves of what is the Canucks net front defense. Well, let's talk about that defense a little bit because the Canucks practiced yesterday and lo and behold,

Soucy and Myers still together. But Rick Tockett did take some time out of his day to talk to some of those defensemen. And you know those very public, wow, Rick Talkett has sure been talking to these guys for a while. Well, he went around to various Canucks defensemen. I think it was the big three. It was the Meyer, Soucy, and Juleson.

Yeah, the big three of errors. The big three of errors and had some time with them. I need you to do the exact opposite of what you've been doing. Guys, maybe I should have had this chat earlier with you the exact opposite of what you've been doing. Guys, maybe I should have had this chat earlier with you, but I've noticed you've been struggling. Everything you're doing is bad. I want you to know that. And then Rick Tockett addressed

the media afterwards about all that, and he had this to say. I think his game has come on the last couple games. I think Sousa's got to get his confidence up. I think everything is magnified. Everything he does, it's in our net. And I talked to him today.

He's close. I would like to see him, and I told him, is just get into people a little bit harder. That's when he's at his best. I can say that about every player, but I'm a big believer. You got to get people. You saw the Zabanejaks goal. I think it was Ratz. You got to take a stick like, you know, you saw the, the, just as a bandage act school, you know, I think it was rats.

Like you got to take a stick. You can't just be with a guy. I think that's a, that's one thing we get, we got to get better at whether it's Susie or ratty or whoever Petey, you got to get into people. And I think we, we haven't been as good as getting into people,

but we're getting better. I like that. You got to take a stick. You can't just be with the guy skating next to him. How you doing, bud? Hi. How's the day going? Notice you've got the puck there.

How do you like that puck? Would you mind if I took it? Can I have that back, please? So. So stupid. So, Rick Talkett obviously listens. I like being with you.

Yep. And then Rick Talkett's like, you need to be inside the guy. He's like, what? You got to go through him. Sir, I don't know about that. So obviously Rick Talkett listens to the Halford and Brough show because yesterday in between all the conversations we were having about the blue line and the endless iteration of do we need to switch up the pairings and the newest one, which is how long before they acquire Marcus Pettersson or another defensive cog. I did throw out there the notion that in these trying times where so many guys are out of the lineup and you're relying internally for guys to step up. Maybe just maybe the answer is Susie Myers.

You're going to have to do more. Play better. You're going to have to play better. The cavalry is not coming. We do not have a trade lined up. We are not going to have to do more. Play better. You're going to have to play better. The cavalry is not coming. We do not have a trade lined up. We are not going to fix this by moving the guys around in pieces on the chessboard. You're going to play together as a pairing. You just need to play better.

I think that's what they're doing. I think that's exactly what it is. I think they look at, you know, first of all, the difficulty of the trade market and how much they would have to give up to get a guy that was a significant upgrade on what they've got right now. I'm sure they can go out and acquire another five, six defensemen, but, you know, they're kind of chock full of those right now,

the way the guys are playing. But also there's nothing really down on the farm that, you know, people were texting me and saying, what about Jet Wu? I'm like, what about Jet? Let's stop doing this. I've never played in the NHL before. I don't think he's going to solve everything. Yeah, I don't think he's going to hop into the top four and be like, where have you been? So the best answer might be.

What about Colmick Ward? Okay. The best answer might be just to, you know, play better. We know these guys can do it, especially Soucy, right? I mean, that's like Soucy is. Soucy's been a disappointment. He's not years old or anything. Like he was good last year.

He was solid. He was reliable. And right now, as Tuckett said, it just seems like everything is going wrong for him like i got ian cole vibes from him in the last game where i'll be in cool playoff ian cole right remember when ian cole was and he was hurt and he was going through a lot and it just like everything that happened to him was like a comical mistake it was magnified it just it was almost like the camera was on him and anytime the puck was around him bad things were gonna happen yeah it was like oj simpson's character in the naked gun pretty much right like him again uh nordberg nordberg

yes yeah yeah getting big nordberg vibes um yeah sussi i mean here's the thing though and then somehow sussi manages to like stick his finger into a wall socket or something. I didn't even know there was one on the ice. Here's the thing. Don't put a fork in there, Susie. As we get back to the seriousness of it all, I do think there's something to this. I'm also going to be very curious to see if the recent developments, the losing at home, the bleeding goals, the depletions from the lineup, if this provides, I guess, the spark, I'm struggling to find a better term,

but the spark for Rick Tockett to bring back some of the staples and some of the style of play that they had last year. Because I understood and we all understood what the MO was for this offseason. Right? It was. We proved ourselves last year. We know that there are certain things that we can do on the ice. We know that we can be successful doing those things. The next iteration for this team is to find some more offense,

have some more offense on the rush, create more chances, be a more diverse offensive team. Aggressive attacking team. And with that, change our style of play a little bit. Don't forget about our staples, but add to them. And what's happened is, and Rick Tockett said it, I don't know, 15, 16 times already this season, they have forgot a lot of those tent poles, a lot of those staples,

a lot of their landmarks. They have. And part of that has to do with the style of play that he himself has implemented. So, do you get the situation that you're going out on the road, you just had a homestand where you went two and four

over six games and you got four out of a possible 12 points. No JT Miller, no Brock Besser. They're not even sure that he's going to fly with the team, let alone play, anytime soon. So don't count Brock Besser in your lineup in the near future for the Vancouver Canucks. No Miller, no

Besser, no Demko. No Forbort, I guess. Is this enough for Tuckett to say, you know what, we're going to get back to a little bit more meat and potatoes, a little less north-south in terms of being aggressive. We're going to play a little bit closer to the vest.

We're going to ask more of our defensemen, and we're going to play more low-event games over this six-game road swing and try and start banking some points and feeling better about ourselves. Yeah. I mean, it's possible. It's possible. I don't know what Talkett is telling the team,

but you also looked at the goals that they scored against the Rangers and, you know, two of them were directly off the rush and one came after a really nice transition up the ice. You know, Ray pointed it on the broadcast and was very impressed by Hronik separating the puck from the puck carrier in Vancouver's defensive end, making a pass out, I think it was to Petey, and then the puck goes

into the other end. There's a bit of zone time there, but I think, you know, the Rangers were a little off balance because of how quickly everything had happened, and then Quinn Hughes scores that goal right into the game. I get what you're saying, but I'm just not sure the coaching staff is going to be willing to abandon things so quickly.

No, I just think it's on the table. It might be. Who knows? Because it's not like the returns from the early part of the season have been overwhelmingly positive. I realize that, but a quarter into the season, are they in a position right now where, I mean, I guess they might be, right? That's the thing.

It's like the desperate times call for desperate measures. Look around the league right now. Boston fired a coach being two games under nhl 500 like there are a lot of teams right now that feel like they're underperforming and underwhelming and i watched the national predators last night lose three nothing in seattle i'm like i gotta wonder how much time's left for this group and barry trotz not that he's gonna start trading and i got some odds sent out to me by some sports book. I can't remember what it was.

So many sports books now. Yep. Said Andrew Brunette is the most likely to get fired. Yeah. And I was kind of like, really? Like, do you think that would be the answer right now? Maybe. Who knows?

I thought, you know, Barry Trotz was just going to more bring up some younger guys first. But yeah. Did you see his blunder yesterday? Yeah. He started the wrong lineup and got a penalty for it. He's costing his team right on the ice. Also, I know it's too late to have a canary in the coal mine, but giving up five goals to that Nashville team,

which is what Vancouver did the other night, that is not a... Well, it was a PK, right? It was a terrible PK. They were on the power play a bunch. That is not a... Well, it was a PK, right? It was a terrible PK. They were on the power play a bunch. Maybe they're good now. They're not. Jess said I watched them last night

and they were awful. What was more disappointing, the Islanders loss or the... The Islanders loss. The Islanders loss. The Islanders loss was dreadful. So that was the canary in the coal mine for the subsequent canary.

I'm like, what is going on here? And then when Rick Toggin said he liked their game against Nashville, I mean, I almost wanted to have the screeching brakes audio play. Wait a minute. What did you just say? Like, that was not a good performance. I know that there was a lot of mitigating circumstances,

including the benching of JT Miller in the third period. But I watched, again, I watched a Nashville team yesterday on the power play at five on five just stand around on the perimeter like, how does this team score any goals, let alone five? Stevie and Langley text in. Talk was telling the media that the team was too passive against the Rangers. He doesn't want the team to sit back and let the play come to them. He wants them to attack and be aggressive.

So I don't think we will see them sit back on this road trip. I think you do have to separate aggression offensively and aggression defensively. And I think what Rick Taka was talking about there was aggression defensively. And a lot of that would result in, you know, gaps that were too big. You know, if you're talking about the gap

between the pucker and the Canucks defenseman, sometimes you're like, you give that person a little too much space. And he was talking about more defending the rush and defending in zone where the Canucks don't seem to be trusting each other. Yeah. So they're playing a little bit passively.

I get what you're saying, Stevie and Langley. Stevie. Stevie Nicks and Langley. But I think there are differences between defending aggressively and then you know, rushing

aggressively. I'm just throwing it, look, I'm just throwing it out there as a possibility. Because if I was a coach right now of any team in any sport, rushing aggressively. I'm just throwing it out there as a possibility. Because if I was a coach right now, of any team in any sport, I would be looking at, one, my overall record. But two, when you go down the columns and you look at goals against, then I'd be like, that's a problem.

Yeah, just send it. But here's the thing. You don't want to send them the wrong message, too. You don't want to send the wrong message of being, okay, like, guys, we're not good. We got to park the bus. We got to lock it up. You could sell it, though, by saying, let's get back to the things that made it successful.

Well, I think they're trying to do that. I think they're trying to rediscover their identity. And I went, still allowing that sometimes you've, you know, I think people too, and that includes us, like it's possible we've made too much of these system changes. Like a lot of it was just like, hey, if you got an opportunity to beat a guy, beat a guy. You know? I get that. You know, it wasn't like, we're the run and gun Canucks now. No, no, no.

Just watch how they play. They're not playing. It's not like wow what a difference to me offensively it's like still a lot of back to the point man the point man tries to find a shooting lane 50 of the time the puck gets through you know like it in everything seems to be funneling back to the d-man and the d-man shoots so like it's still for me it's kind of like wow this looks a lot like last season yeah They do look like a more dynamic team on the rush, both in terms of speed and in terms of the chances that they create.

It's not overwhelming, but I definitely have noticed the difference. I think in more on the defensive side of things, if there's got to be a renewed commitment to maybe playing a little bit more in the middle of the ice and protecting that part of the ice. And yeah, for sure. Well,

Tyler Myers, not following Zibanejad into the corner. You're listening to the best of the ice and protecting that part of the ice. Yeah, for sure. Well, Tyler Myers not following Zibanejad into the corner. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. A special congratulations to a guy that has been a terrific hockey player for the Vancouver Canucks and just had a baby boy, Connor Garland. Congrats to Connor Garland and his family. He left the Rangers game right after it ended

and raced right to the hospital. And he has a son, and Connor Garland and his wife have named the son Quinton after Quint, the character from the movie Jaws. If you're not familiar with the film. Spoiler. Quint meets Jaws near the end of the film. So you have the lead of the movie.

That would be Jaws. Then you have the second character, the antagonist, I suppose. I don't know which one. Who's the protagonist? Who character the antagonist i suppose i don't know which ones who's the protagonist who's the antagonist there martin brody and jaws are the two leads did you call the lead jaws that's the lead jaws he's the number one jaw not top billy lead character he's seen in the film for all of five minutes that's the lead character it's what the movie's about he's not the lead character he has no dialogue the movie's about. He's not the lead character. He has no dialogue. He's not a real person. Anyway, I did not realize that there's... Well, Richard Dreyfuss was in it.

But there's the scientist. And then there was Roy Scheider, who was Martin Brody. Roy Scheider was the lead, yes. Roy Scheider was the lead. The tritagonist. Jaws was not the lead. Jaws was the lead. Jaws had top billing.

His name was on the poster. His picture was on the poster. He was the one that got the Academy Award. Jaws was the lead. Jaws had top billing. His name was on the poster. His picture was on the poster. He was the one that got the Academy Award. He went up there. He won the Academy Award. Yeah, he went up there for it. For all the sharks out there that preceded me that didn't get this award, the tritagonist was Quint.

I learned this. Yeah, he had the great monologue about World War II being in the ocean with the sharks. I like how that connects to be very upfront about this. So the people that are confused that it was for Quinn Hughes. No, no, no. Quint. Quint. The T is vitally important there.

That was called foreshadowing. Yes. Yeah. Because things did not end well for Quint. Did not. Connor Garland loves sharks. But. And this is.

Comes with a but. This is hilarious. I love how much he's still fascinated with sharks. But. And this is. This is. Comes with a but. This is hilarious. I love how much he's still fascinated with sharks. Like apparently as a kid, grew up on the East Coast where Jaws is from. Yeah. And. He has a summer home on the Cape. I sort of imagine he's on that.

He just loves sharks and you get all these. I was doing some research for this yesterday because I just thought to imagine he's on that. He just loves sharks. And you get all these – I was doing some research for this yesterday because I just thought it was hilarious. And I think he grew up with Ryan Donato. Yep. Who was – what was it? Connor Bedard's line mate recently. That's right.

In Chicago. Now with Seattle. Right. You can tell that Donato was like, oh, yeah, the guy loves sharks. I just want to imagine Garland sitting on the Canucks bench right next to Hughes or something, just dead silence for 30 seconds. He looks at Hughes. What's your favorite kind of shark?

I just think they're neat. Okay. Hughes is like, what? Garland starts listing all of his favorite sharks in order, why he likes them, like Milhouse with the sprinklers. But the butt that comes with it. I keep trying to tease the butt here. The teasing of the butt.

What else? Connor Garland loves sharks, but he's terrified of them. Right. And I don't think he's actually ever seen one. No. And he's too scared. He stays in the locker room during the sharks warm up. That is.

During away games when they come out of the mouth. Apparently he won't swim in the ocean. Yeah of sharks but he loves them too that is the true test of how much you respect the shark yeah it's like me with bees where you love the bees but you're fearful yeah of what's talking about bees i respect them but i'm terrified the power they possess yeah so nowhere i did way too much research on this, the phenomenon of, what's it called? Galeophobia,

which is the fear of sharks. And I was up till midnight last night. I just became fascinated with this. So what we all have to understand that- You stayed up till midnight researching this? I did. As a species, we as humans are not inherently fearful of sharks. so you're not born fearful of sharks

yeah you see jaws and then you're like i'm scared of sharks it's a learned phobia and then i guess like quicksand i remember yeah right you're not scared of quicksand when you're born but once you get stuck in it when i was a kid we did the Universal Studios tour. Oh, I love that tour. And I was terrified of the Jaws part. That mechanical shark. That mechanical shark. I was like, dad, dad. And as a kid, it means last year.

Yeah, you know you're in those carts. I was like, dad, why don't you take the aisle seat? But it's interesting. I was absolutely terrified of the backdraft sequence. So my brother is the exact same as Garland. There's equal parts admiration and love of the backdraft sequence. So my brother is the exact same as Garland. There's equal parts admiration and love of the shark with fear. What do you think it is about the shark? Is it the...

Well, it's the teeth. Obviously, it's the... It's those cold, dead, black eyes. I think it's the eyes, man. I think a lot of it's the eyes. They live forever and they just don't stop swimming. They're like a relentless killing machine. Yeah. If they stop swimming, they die. I think. They're

nature's psychopaths. Yeah. But they're not. Yes, they are. What, are we gonna snuggle with a shark? I mean, it depends on the type of shark too, though. Sharks have gotten an unfair rap of being like carnivorous. I want to kill humans. Yeah, some sharks are pretty docilecile but some are

terrified when sharks bite surfers or swimmers it's often a curiosity something yeah they think it's like a seal or something yeah that it's entered their ecosystem right i went to the ripley's museum yes just like a couple months ago in toronto okay so i'm a bit of a shark expert i'm gonna say i did my research they they were in the tanks with all the other fish there and everyone was wondering like how can that be and it's because they keep them well fed

and apparently the only time they attack anything is if they're like starving hungry. They won't go after any of the other fish. All the other fish are like Larry's got low

blood sugar right now. Look out. Also though. Can you please toss him something? Throw him a couple humans. He's got that crazy

look in his eye. They showed an x-ray of the shark's teeth. That's terrifying. It's like a conveyor belt of teeth that just keeps going. Did you know that sharks don't have bones? Just teeth. No bones in a shark. It makes them delicious.

Shark fin soup, man. Yeah, it's like salmon. You're constantly shark fin choking fins joking on that's not legal yeah why is it not so i should stop making it probably i'm telling people my shark fin soup party is i gotta clear out my bathtub we got some problems at home no like okay and you the scariest part of it i think is actually captured on the original jaw there was a novel first. The book was better.

The novel first and then the poster, which is. I thought the weird part about the book was when it was written out. The whole first chapter is that. Spoiler if you haven't read it yet. And don't tell me you were going to go home and read it. You weren't. So the cover is, it's an unsuspecting... How do you write that in a book? It's like, and then the shark

came and... And then you have the... The cover and the movie poster are the unsuspecting swimmer. It's just a leisurely day at the beach and they're swimming. And there's this gigantic, bloodthirsty teeth-showing shark

underneath. So I think that's what the fear is. You can't see it coming. Garland's going to miss the next game because he'll listen to this segment. He won't get any sleep. Or he's going to be so upset at our lack of shark knowledge. Yelling at the radio. We should get Garland on and not ask him any hockey questions. Just shark talk.

Just talk about sharks. Just shark talk. That would be amazing, actually. That would be very funny. We should pitch that. Nothing about hockey. Just sharks. Just sharks. Yes. would be amazing, actually. That would be very funny. We should pitch that. Nothing about hockey, just sharks. We'll pitch that to the Vancouver Canucks. To the phone lines we go.

Thomas Drance joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Drancer? Good morning, gentlemen. You have two options. It's a choose-your-own-adventure Thursday here on the Halford & Brough Show. You can either start. You can have two uninterrupted minutes to talk about sharks and maybe Conor Garland's fascination with them,

or you can start with Thatcher Demko and what he had to say to the media yesterday. Your choice, Trance. Go ahead. Well, the thing about Great Whites, no, the... I mean, look, Sharks are cool, right? I think we can all understand

being very into Sharks. Yeah, the Demko's return. Yeah. So, you know, one of the pieces of commentary that most stuck out to me listening to Demko speak yesterday, you know, was sort of his admission, hey, it's going to be something that I'll have to manage in terms of frustration as I return, like, you know, a game or two where it's going to take me some time to get up to speed. And, you know, of course, that's correct. Right. Of course, that's right. situated in the context of sort of Demko's overall thoughtful approach to being an NHL

goaltender, which, you know, he's been sort of taking since he was 15, right? I mean, you think about this as a guy who accelerated through high school, you know, went through the college system. I mean, every step of the way, I think he's been and put like a lot of thought intent um he's been very deliberate about his professional development about his approach to the position about you know even when it comes down to like working with ian clark and winning clark over and and vouching for clark right like really sort of hammering the table in public when Clark was out of contract with the team and on and on. I mean, this is a guy who I think more than, more than most,

you know, has been like, not, not only he's been so in, he had so much intent and put so much thought into sort of his path to the NHL that it was widely copied. You know, there's great NHL goaltenders, guys like Jake Ottinger, who will specifically cite the path Demko took as something they studied themselves and followed. So, you know, when he talks like that and when you hear him talk about how after Penticton, for example, they found something out

that helped make him comfortable and helped get him back on track physically as he recovered from this injury, like, you can tell that the same level of like thought and inquiry and rigor that he's put into every aspect of playing the position has sort of been put into figuring out how to recover as best as possible from a completely unprecedented injury situation that has obviously afflicted him over the course of the past seven months. And, you know, that I think is going to be fascinating here because, again, we're in completely uncharted territory

in terms of this injury and what impact it will have. And as I sort of think about this Canucks team and how it's listed over the past two weeks and sort of how it will overcome being shorthanded, at least in the near term. Well, I mean, we don't know when exactly when they'll get Demko back. I think we suspect at some point on this road trip. We don't know when they'll get Brock Besser back. I think we expect at some point on this road trip, JT Miller looks to be a little bit further off. And at least we don't expect him to return on this road trip jt miller looks to be a little bit further off uh in in at least we don't expect him to return on this road trip so um you know they're going to be playing without a full deck of cards for the time being anyway and you know the goaltending itself

i i think is where um my like greatest you know i don't want to use the word concern but like the the greatest volatility that this team I think will face. Cause I think they have a pretty high floor is in net. And I think we've actually seen that play out over the last two weeks where Lankanen's game, you know, his, his performance regressed to save percentage certainly did. And we've seen this team get, you know, eight 80 goal pending at five on five across the last two and a half weeks,

like since they returned from California and it hasn't looked great right it sort of makes everything seem more difficult right instead of pulling away when you get a one goal lead you're the other team's tying it up and the margins get tighter or you're giving up the first goal or you know i i do think that's been something we've been sort of seeing this team deal with well below average goaltending over the past two weeks and it's it's a tough look right like it's difficult and that's where demko's return should help and yet you know i don't think we can take it to the bank especially right off the hop that demko is just going to come in and be the the thatcher Demko we've come to

expect. One of the best puck stoppers on the planet, given, you know, the injury context and, and, you know, as he noted, right, the work that it's going to take him to get back in rhythm and get used to game speed. And, you know, I'm confident he'll put in the work necessary to him. That, You know, I'm confident he'll put in the work necessary to him. That the goaltending situation just sort of lingers in my head as something that I was concerned about going into the season. Lankanen answered a lot of those questions for a period of about four or five weeks. And yet here we are, Demko probably coming back shortly.

But Lankanen sort of sputtering and she loves uh you know i thought he played well against the rangers but he didn't get the win and all of a sudden i i think i'm looking again at this team and saying the thing i'm least confident about the thing i'm least certain about right now remains their sort of situation in the blue paint are we all going to be holding our breath watching thatcher demko every time there's a jam play around the net or you know every time he makes an acrobatic save or you're gonna be like careful you're poplatius oh man I think so like it's not fair to him but I think so right and that's I think natural um you know, the, I mean, there's a whole lot of rules, little like things that we think of all the time when it comes to injured

athletes and, and judging or, or sort of adjudicating what to expect from them. And, and, you know, this is with the rise of gambling and player props and fantasy football, you hear these more and more on the internet when people are projecting performance. Things like hurt guys stay hurt, right? Or durability is a skill that doesn't tend to improve with age, right? Just sort of some of those watchwords.

And so I think inevitably fans are going to be holding their breath to some extent. And that's something that's only going to be holding their breath to some extent. And that's, you know, something that only, that's only going to be answered with time and with availability. And that just is what it is. And, you know, it's pretty common these days, right? Like it's pretty common with players who've sustained major injuries or repetitive injuries, right?

You know, that's how I think a lot of fans experience their games. That's just the case. So we'll sort of see exactly what it looks like with Demko in terms of his form, in terms of, you know, potential performance impact once he returns, in terms of the workload that he's able to bear here. And I suppose go from there. But yeah, I think you're right.

Like, I think that holding your breath sentiment, I think that's going to be common for Canucks fans here especially given how important central importance that Demko sort of has on this team and and on this team's hopes of you know exceeding expectations again this season and winning a championship. God I don't know if I'm getting in enough oxygen to my brain because I already hold my breath when the Susie Myers pair is out on the ice and uh it was interesting yesterday at practice that those two were still together as they've been all season and it seems to me that Rick Tockett is looking at his personnel realizing he doesn't want to break up Hughes and Hronik and go on. The only solution here that I can see is you guys play better. Yeah.

Yeah, and it's tough because the Hughes-Hronik pair generate so much. And then in very prescribed usage, this Brandstrom-Deharnais pair, especially when it's been Deharnais with Brandstrom. I know it's been Jules in the last couple games, have also played really well, right? Like, have also given the Canucks really good contributions, albeit in a sheltered role, you know, over the last three weeks, four weeks.

So, you know, on some level, this team has two pairs that are playing pretty well here. One of them plays completely differently than the rest of the team in Hughes-Heronic and then the other you know is just sort of eating sheltered minutes picking their teeth with sheltered minutes honestly like having a lot of success and then you know a lot of that is getting given back frankly at five on five by what other teams are able to generate on a consistent basis against Soucy and Myers.

Look, we saw Soucy and Myers play well for this team last season. We saw them do a creditable job checking Connor McDavid 5-on-5 in the playoffs. No small feat. They were spending a little too much time in their own end then, too, but that's inevitable when you're facing McDavid and co. But, yeah, I mean, I don't really have the answer. I do think that they might be in one of those spirals where, you know,

I think they came into the season and Soucy was struggling, and then you can't really hide on defense, and it feels like Myers' game is sort of trended in that direction too. But the underlying data, the fact of the matter is, is that the team's been outscored, you know, two to one in that pair's minutes. And they've been outshot by a massive edge. And you're not quite, I mean, I don't think you're quite at the point where they're like giving back what the team is able to generate

in terms of winning their minutes with third and first pair on the ice but um we're getting close we're getting close to that point and and certainly we've seen i think against deeper teams against top comp um that it makes those matchups tighter for sure for the canucks so you know i think we know that something's got to give there i think the organization knows that something's got to give there. You know, I think there's a reason the top four upgrade is what this team has been looking for and sniffing out on the trade market dating back.

Well, even before the season began. So, you know, I don't, I don't think it's a secret, but look, there's not a lot of defensemen available that are going to move the needle

and just about every contender in hockey wants them this is another thing i think about like i'm watching a lot of the capitals these days i don't know about you guys but i'm watching i find myself gravitating toward the capital they're legit yeah they're they're a ton of fun you know they're on massive canucks like pdo bender but but but one thing that they have, right. One thing that they have, like I watched their game in Colorado last week. And one thing that they had was they get to that game and it's not, you know, the, the chicken pair or, or the, um, or, or the Sandin pair that they're sort of hard matching against Nathan McKinnon. In fact, they're not hard-matching anyone.

It was Farivari and Trevor Van Riemsdyk as the most frequently used matchup pair against McKinnon. So facing this Avs team that has the second-highest gear at the top of their lineup of any team in the league behind only McDavid, the Capitals go in on the road at altitude and they don't even hard match against McKinnon. They just roll

three pairs. And it's like, well, they have a complete D pair. They have a complete D core. They have six guys that they're fully comfortable with. And that creates this sort of uniformity in terms of how they're able to play. When Hughes and Hroniker on the ice versus the other Canucks

defenders, right? You can feel feel it you know the the team plays differently they're able to play differently it looks different materially when the caps are rolling any of their three pairs out even though none are even close to hughes and haronic in quality the caps are able to just roll lines and play their game right and and it sort of me thinking, there's like three or four teams in the league that have a complete decor, and that's it. Every other contender is going to be looking at one of these guys, and the Canucks are among them. It's going to be a crowded marketplace.

It's going to be an expensive marketplace to buy in. The Canucks have been able to be creative. They've been able to be aggressive and get to the front of the line in some of these situations over the last year and a half. But they'll have to be again, I think in in sort of fixing this issue transfer uh freed really knows how to uh shake it up in vancouver i'm just reading his latest 32 thoughts up on sportsnet.ca and number three is weird idea that may only make sense to me. Nikita Zdorov back to Vancouver. No idea if even possible or if anyone would want it,

but he was a good fit and the Canucks miss him. Thoughts on Freed writing that? Thoughts on the idea of that? Thoughts on thoughts. I mean, I guess it hasn't really worked out in boston right um look i'm a i'm a i'm i'm a slappy when it comes to zadorov right you you'd be hard pressed to make me not like that idea just because at the end of the day bring me all of the super fast guys that shoot hard, take hilarious chances with the puck and pull it off, you know, and give the best quote after the game while being dressed to the nines, right?

Like, give me all of those types of players. That's exactly what I want to watch hockey for. So, you know, a guy with some weight, a useful player, a really good player. Look, I think the Canucks at this point probably need a right-handed defender more. useful player, a really good player. Look, I think the Canucks at this point probably need a right-handed defender more than a left-handed defender. So if you're taking on that contract and paying for it, to me anyway, Zdorov's not the perfect fit. But yeah, would this team be better with Nikita Zdorov?

For sure. I think we knew going into the season that at least on paper this team's blue line wasn't going to be as good as it was last season that there was going to be you know a need to to be more than the sum of their parts as a defensive group if we were going to be talking about this team not taking a step back in terms of the quality of their blue line the club decided to prioritize, you know, wing depth in particular. And they, that was right, in my opinion, like that was the right bet. And I actually think it's mostly worked,

even though the team's offense looks significantly less imposing or lethal, mostly because their shooting percentage has been within a normal range as opposed to historically high. this team is generating more they do look more dynamic in terms of what they're able to create you're listening to the best of halford and brough