Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 11/25/24

Episode Date: November 25, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, plus they talk a big Canucks road win over the Senators with Canucks Central host Satiar Shah.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose the f***ing Canucks? You're listening to Halford & Brough. Halford & Brough.

Halford & Brough. Patterson in the slot to the right circle. DeBrusco into that with a backhander. It's loose. They score. Kiefer Sherwood in the crease. Digs it home. I thought we played a really terrific game.

I thought we did a good job. He's going to dump it over the top. Intercepted. Kobe Bryant. Far sideline. He's got the blockers. 30, 25, 20, 10, 5. Touchdown Seahawks. Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Monday.

Happy Monday everybody. This is Alfred. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kid Tech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good Good morning. Ada, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you. Hello, hello. And as we continue in our intern program here at Sportsnet 650,

intern Spencer, good morning to you. Good morning, guys. Thank you. Halford and Brough in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program.

Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec, got a big show ahead on a Monday.

Lots to get into from the weekend. There was a lot of guests to talk to as well. Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the Too Deep Zone, is going to join us at 7 o'clock. Yes, that does mean that the entire first hour of Halford & Brough today is all Halford & Brough as we go through everything that happened over the weekend. Mike's going to join us at 7.

He wrote about the gross chase for the NFC West. It's a gross chase. But no one's terrible. No one's terrible. You can look at it in a negative way that the NFC West is, you might suggest it's bad. Gross. But there isn it's bad. Gross. But there isn't a bad team there.

There's no Carolina in there. There's no New England Patriots in there. There also isn't a good team in there. There's a bunch of mid. You know how we like to use mid? Is our trying to glom onto the youths. You know, this is disappointing. To start the week off, the Seahawks are back in first place

after two very impressive wins. It was an impressive win. I am back on the bandwagon. They pulled you back in? Exactly. That's what they do. Just when I think I'm out, I'm back in. They go and they beat the Niners down in San Francisco.

I know the Niners have one or two injuries. And then they take care of business and the defense has looked good in back to back games. Mike McDonald, he is back to being a defensive guru and I'm not going to have you paint it with this

negative brush. If Mike Tanier wants to come on and call it a gross race for, I think it's a very exciting race for first place in the NFC West. You know what's happened here? I've become the bruh. You're so caustic. You're so caustic.

I've become the bruh. He's become the hound. No, you have always been caustic, and don't pretend that you haven't been. All right. Adnan Burke's going to join us at 730 instead of his usual 630 slot. He's doing Amazon Prime Monday Night Hockey tonight. It is the Ottawa Senators, who are a mess, by the way. They'll be playing the Red Hawk Calgary Flames.

He's doing an interview with Nazem Khadri this morning. He did a sit-down interview with Conor McDavid last week, so we'll talk to Adnan about all that at 730. 8 o'clock, Satyar Shah is going to join the program. We'll talk about the Canucks' big win in Ottawa on Saturday and all the news surrounding the team at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Satyar Shah is going to join the program. We'll talk about the Canucks' big win in Ottawa on Saturday and all the news surrounding the team at 8. So we've got a lot of Canucks talk. Sat's going to join us at 8.

Adnan Virk at 7.30. Mike Tanier at 7. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources

and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We begin in the nation's capital on Saturday. Jake DeBrusque, two goals and an assist. Kiefer Sherwood, a goal and an assist. Elias Pettersson, two apples. Kevin Lankanen, 26 saves. And Max Sasson had an assist in his NHL debut.

The Canucks did all of this without the services of their captain for the majority of the game, a 4-3 win against the Sens in Ottawa on Saturday. My buddy texted me after the game. He said, I knew I was into that, and I knew I'm really supporting the Canucks this year because I spent the entire game yelling at the TV, at the referees through the TV. There was a lot of angst.

They made me so angry. A lot of angst. A lot of angst. The Canucks fan base was back criticizing the referees like no other fan base can. Explain this to me. Okay. Quinn Hughes gets ejected.

Fine. It's the rule. It's stupid, but it's the rule. Stutzle, his hit was so much worse than Hughes's was. It wasn't so much worse. It was a lot more dangerous. It was worse. A lot more dangerous.

Neither should have been. A lot. Stutzle is kind of a little rat. I don't like him. Yeah. I mean, he's a good player, but he's sort of like a new Marchand for me. I just don't like him. But anyways, but he doesn't get ejected.

Yeah. Did he even get a penalty on that? The Canucks got a penalty off of that play. Did they not? I want to say. So what the heck, man? Like, how does that happen? How does Hughes get ejected for his hit?

Stutzle, his hit, not nearly as bad. Sorry, so much worse than Hughes's, and doesn't get nearly as the same. Is this the call-in show? Is this the post-game show? And you're A-Dog on line three? I haven't been this angry at a Canucks game in a long time. Don't worry, man. They won the game.

They won the game. And you know what? I want retribution. Sometimes the best wins are when you overcome challenges. I barely won the game. I got really dicey at the end there. But they overcame the challenge, just like the Seahawks did. All right?

I don't know. I found that whole thing rather. Just to clarify before we move on to the actual game, I love that you've turned in a mic from Surrey, right? Like at 6.06. It just made me very angry. So what's up with that? How does that happen?

They all got penalties for roughing. So there wasn't a penalty on the hit. Stutzler got a penalty for roughing. Hoaglander got a double minor for roughing. The second one was served by Max Sasson. So he had a big night. He got to serve a penalty, and he got his first assist. You're right that the officiating was not good.

They kind of put themselves in a box with what happened with Hughes when they called a major. They called a two-minute minor for boarding or cross-checking. It would have been fine. But what the referees do is they call a major first because that's the one that you can look at and review. You can't review a minor. Now, they caught themselves in a box, I said,

because when you call a major and there's an injury, they're like, ah, crap. Yeah, they were like, like well he did cross check him from behind and it was a bad I'm not saying it wasn't a bad hit did go into the wall and he's headed back to the room so there's a bit of an injury there so I mean they were in a situation where they couldn't exactly be like actually it's a minor yeah you know I wouldn't have cared as much if it wasn't Hughes, our best player. If it was like Branstrom or something.

Continue, Jason. Let's talk about the game. The Canucks actually got off to a great start in terms of how they were playing. They were out shooting the Sens by a bunch early in the game, but everything changed 12 minutes into the first when Quinn Hughes got tossed for boarding.

His buddy, Josh Norris, maybe they had some issues back at the University of Michigan or they were just, you know, sometimes when you're friends, you're just like, I've had enough of this guy. The play was reviewed, and we all know it was a bit of a soft call, but I actually didn't expect it to be called back because Norris did go face first into the boards

and had to go to the Sens room with an apparent injury. The Canucks did a great job of killing off the major. And then they took the lead on the power play of their own because the referees were like, we better call something on Ottawa real quick. And they did. And Jake DeBrus tipped Garland's shot past Allmark. The Sens tied it up in the second, also on the power play, when Brady Kachuk pounced on a loose puck around Kevin Lankanen, but Teddy Bluger answered back a few minutes later

on a great spin-around pass from Max Sasson, who was playing his first NHL game. He had a lot of friends and family there, and dad looked very happy, looked very excited, and Max Sasson made a key play in the game. Now, it was 3-1 Canucks before the end of the second after DeBrus. That guy again. Remember him? Beginning of the season, guy couldn't score. Now he's scoring.

Scored his second of the game. The assist from line mate Shrewood, Kiefer Shrewood, who is a fan favorite, might have become the quickest fan favorite in Canucks franchise history. And Elias Pettersson. We'll talk about both of those guys in a bit. That line struck again in the third. This time, it was Sherwood from DeBrusque and Pettersson.

And it looked like the Canucks would win this thing comfortably. That is presumably why Brady Kachuk decided at that point, let's drop the gloves with Dakota Joshua and get tossed out of the game, which is exactly what he did. Perhaps he should have tried to stick around because the Sens made it interesting in the end, scoring twice to make it 4-3, but it was too little too late for poor Travis Green's team,

which dropped its fifth straight game to fall to 8-11-1 on the season. The Canucks, minus a bunch of their stars, A-Dog, overcame a lot to improve to 10-6-3. They've also won a whopping seven straight on the road. Remember that loss to Tampa Bay I do Jason All the way back in October It was the Canucks third game of the season And remember they went in there

They hadn't actually won any games yet Because they dropped their first two And then they played Tampa Bay And Tampa Bay because there was that hurricane Came out in front of their home fans And played a really good first period. And they ultimately beat the Canucks. That was the only road game the Canucks have lost all season.

And it seems like it was 600 years ago. Lots of Canucks fans in the crowd, I noticed. And they sure enjoyed the part midway through the third period when the Canucks, on a delayed penalty to Ottawa, played nearly two minutes of just straight keep away. They call it a rondo. A what? Soccer. They call it a rondo.

When you do your little warm-up and you play keep away. Oh. It's called a rondo. The Canucks fans there should have been O-ling. Yeah, they should have. They could have really got into it. Sorry? Yeah, rondo?

Yeah, the keep away was actually really funny. The fans were not enjoying that. My favorite part of the game. Yeah, but there were a lot of Canucks fans that were laughing. Yeah, it was the keep away was actually really funny. The fans were not enjoying that. My favorite part of the game. Yeah, but there were a lot of Canucks fans that were laughing. Yeah, it was funny. It was almost two minutes. They should have done the Olays. It's so ballsy to do without a goalie.

Right? There was one back pass I was like, all right, guys. Enough of this. But I'm a little too close to the sun here. But I really respected it. The Suns killed off the two-man advantage, unfortunately. My stat of the night, Filip Hronik played 27 minutes and 38 seconds, was a plus three with one assist.

Very impressive performance from him. I think we should also mention that Elias Pettersson on that line with DeBrusque and Kiefer Sherwood has four points in two games since JT Miller left the lineup. My stat of the night, Kiefer Sherwood with a game-high 10 hits for the Vancouver Canucks while contributing offensively as well. So you move him up to the top line, he doesn't forget where he came from. He's still grinding, he's still forechecking, he's still hitting.

What a pickup for the Vancouver Canucks. Go ahead. Stewie texts in to the Dunbar Lumber text line and get a load of this. We got a new read here, guys. Nice. We got a new read. I think it was my comment the other day. It was like, surely they know this place has moved.

Texts in to 650650. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and reno warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DunbarLumber.com Stewie says the Canucks are still out of the playoffs as of now. The West is a lot harder this year. Yeah a lot of that though is

Canucks haven't played many games On points percentage they would be in Points percentage they'd be third in the division. They've only played 19 games, and they're one point back of the Edmonton Oilers for the second wildcard spot. The Oilers have played three more games. I was thinking about this because we're going to maybe talk a bit

about the Pittsburgh Penguins, and every time I look at the out-of-town scoreboard, the Penguins are playing. I mean, they seem to play every night. They've played four games more than the Vancouver Canucks. They've played 23 games. They've only won seven. Get a load of this goal differential, man.

Minus 34. They are almost. For the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yeah, they're horrible. They're down there. San Jose's the same. San Jose's played 23 games more than any other team in the NHL. Dreadful.

They got six wins in a minus 27 goal differential. So yeah, this Pittsburgh Penguins team that on the weekend celebrated Sidney Crosby's 600th goal in the National Hockey League are one of the worst teams in the NHL. Another text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line is, Sherwood the new Burroughs. I think Sherwood's just Sherwood, man. Like, yeah, it's great.

I understand it. I know it wasn't meant in any way, but it was meant as a compliment. But Sherwood's a guy that is writing his own story. But I do really like him up on that top line with Pedersen and DeBrusque. And the Canucks brought Sherwood in not to score points. They liked his speed. They liked his physicality. And I think they liked the fact that he goes out on the ice and chirps.

How many times have we heard Rick Taka talk about the Canucks? Like, ah, they're a bit of a quiet team. They need a bit of energy. And especially with JT being out, they need a guy who is going to provide their team with energy and maybe get under the skin of the other team. So in that way, yeah, he's Burrows-esque. But I think the bonus, and the Canucks will probably say,

oh, yeah, we saw lots of offensive potential in him. He is a guy that has gone down to the AHL and piled up points. And I think we've seen he actually has some offensive ability. He has a very good shot. And now he's playing with two guys that are getting paid a lot of money to put up points to produce, and he's really helping them. Because Petey is playing well, but I still don't think he's up to full speed. And I mean the speed thing literally.

He's not moving as fast as he used to and i think that's not just jason's eye test saying it like if you look at the analytics and you know there are uh they do track speed of the players now he's really not like skating as fast as he was he is playing well but it's great and pd has said this that sherwood is the type of guy that can go in get the puck make things happen on the four check and then those other guys can take advantage uh it's been a good month in november though for peterson he's got 11 points in 10 games which is the kind of production that we needed to see including as you mentioned like four points and lost two two multi-point games back to back and it's the second time that he's done that

in november put up multi-point performances back to back um And it's the second time that he's done that in November, put up multipoint performances back to back. We sure would, just to circle back on what the texter was saying, when the Canucks said, and Patrick Alvin said, we need to find the next Dakota Joshua, that to me is a more appropriate comp. Because they went out and identified a guy where they thought that there was more than what he had given or what he was able to produce in his previous stop, plural

stops. And I think that's the key here is finding like Burroughs, he kind of matured and matriculated within the Canucks organization, right? They, I mean, I don't think that anyone in the Canucks organization when they first saw Alex Burroughs had identified him

as a guy that could go on to become what he became. With this pro scouting department, they went outside the organization and found Dakota Joshua, then found Kiefer Sherwood. Now, granted, Quinn Hughes might have been the pro scout that found Kiefer Sherwood because he did play a role in getting him here. But to me, that's a sign of really good pro scouting and the ability to identify what guy isn't just going to thrive in your system, but might be able to be elevated to a role that he hasn't played before. Because right now, Sherwood's a first-line winger on this team.

Yeah. You know? Like, no one would have expected, back on July 1, that the Canucks' top line going into late November was going to be Pedersen, DeBrusque, Sherwood. No one had it. He played over 20 minutes because he's on the power play as well. He's on the first unit power play.

Kiefer Sherwood is on the first unit power play because they're missing a bunch of guys, but also because he's shown an ability to go out and win puck battles, keep pucks alive, and he's got some finishing ability. Yeah. I want to play some audio from Rick Talkett now, right at the very end of his presser following Saturday's game. Talkett was highly complimentary of his team,

even though it got a little hairy late, and they did beat an Ottawa team that's not in good shape right now. Without Hughes, without Miller, without Demko, without Besser, they managed to pull together a pretty impressive road victory. Here's Rick Talkett, a bit of a Q&A with our very own Ian McIntyre following the 4-3 win over Ottawa on Saturday night in Ottawa. I thought we played a really terrific game. I thought a little bit Hudson rules at the end,

a lot of cross-checking in front and stuff. But I thought for the most part that the guys really handled the pressure of it. A game that you will kind of put in your memory bank and use it as a foundation for other games? Yeah, I mean, you know, I mean, it's an A2 game schedule. You're going to go through a lot of adversity

and stuff, and it's the way you handle it. You know, like I told the guys, block out the outside noise. You know, 72 hours, things change. You know, or 24 hours hours and you can control it. So that's the narrative that we talked about before the game tonight. And I do understand why Taka went that route.

Like it was a good win for sure. Also, I think after the homestand, it could have been one of those things where you're not exactly sure where the team's going to go. Right. You get four out of a possible 12 points at home against some inferior competition as well. You're without Besser. Miller takes his leave of absence. You go into Ottawa and Hughes gets the gate early. You've got Max Sasson playing in his first game in the NHL. It's a lot of different moving parts.

You get Kiefer Sherwood, suddenly your first line winger. To do what they did was important. It's good to get that road trip off on that right foot. It's important to take advantage of an Ottawa team, and we can get into them in a minute, that is completely discombobulated. And now Hughes is rested for the next game. He's ready to go. He can play 28 minutes now.

He can take all those Veronic minutes. Do you want to hear a very telling stat? I do. I'm actually going to use it in trivia form. Who would you say is the leading Canucks goal scorer right now? Isn't it like an eight-way tie? There's a five-way tie for first. All with six goals.

JT Miller, Elias Pettersson, Kiefer Sherwood, Brock Besser, and Pew Suter all have six goals. And then it's pretty close in second. Connor Garland, Jake DeBrusque has five. A bunch of guys have four or three or two. They're getting scoring from everywhere. And we've said multiple times this season, so far this year, the strength of this team is their balance up front

and their depth up front. Yep. And now we're seeing it because they've got two very key guys out of the lineup in JT Miller and Brock Besser. That's two thirds of their, essentially their top line. Yep.

The JT Miller was their top line last season. I think they went into this season as the top line again. And now their top line is Pedersen, DeBrus, and Kiefer Sherwood. line again and now their top line is petterson de brus and keifer sherwood and you know i i've got to tip my cap to those three because they knew that without jt miller this was going to be tough and they were going to have to step up and in the last two games they have stepped up yeah the depth that at four we probably don't talk about it enough because we're so concerned about the back end we do talk about it a lot though like we we had we were talking about

it earlier in the season i mean yeah we'll talk about the problem areas more but i think it is very impressive and you know some people have texted in and said um they spent too much time and they spent too much cap space on filling out the forward group, and they kind of ignored the defensive group. And my pushback is always, and I'm not blocking for the team here, but it's hard to find defensemen. Yeah. Like it really is. They tried.

It just hasn't worked out. They tried, and I guess they could have tried harder to keep Zdorov. They could have given him what he got from Boston, but I understand why they didn't. I think Zdorov's a little overpaid in Boston. I know we all liked him here. I think he's a lot overpaid in Boston. Yeah, I wouldn't... I can see Canucks fans turning on him if he came back

and didn't play great with that new contract. What was funny is when Freed wrote that blurb in 32 Thoughts and suggested maybe Boston will trade Zdorov back, and all the Canucks fans were like, only if the Bruins retain. I'm like, the Bruins will not be retaining salary on a guy that they just signed. People are also getting on my gaze.

They're like, you're misremembering the Zdorov era here. I'm like, I remember it crystal clear. No, you don't. Yes, I do. No, you don't. He wasn't very good to start. I know he wasn't very good to start, but it was a great pickup. It wasn't great.

That was the whole point of the exercise. It was a great pickup. But you made a comment where it was great right away, and it wasn't great right away. He was okay during the exercise. It was a great pickup. But you made a comment where it was like great right away, and it wasn't great right away. He was okay during the season. In fact, there were multiple reports, and I heard it myself, that the Canucks were thinking of flipping him. Yeah, but I don't –

But then he came into his own in the playoffs. Okay, I don't recall saying it was great right away. If I did, then that's on me. What I was saying was it's a great pickup. When they talk about pro scouting, talent and identification, and filling a need, they had to do it on two fronts.

One, their defense wasn't rounded out enough. And two, Susie was hurt. So they needed something to go straight away. So your options are limited at that point. Classic Halford gaslighting us. Oh, it was great. Hit the ground running. It was fantastic.

His contract in Boston is working out great. Since you're talking about defense, a couple of different texters pointed this out. Now that Hronik has proven he can play well by himself, will they finally split the pair up? One game. I don't know, man. I don't know.

They've been just so – I mean, you could ask, will they split the pairings after pretty much every game this season? And they never do. Right? Susie Myers together, Hronik and Hughes together. It would just help their defense out so much if they could do it and they could both play well by themselves.

Yeah, it would. I mean, you know. You're right. I hope he considers it at least. But the interesting thing was, you know, Susie is now probably the number five defenseman now because Branstrom is regularly playing more than him. Now – Branstrom was a good pro scorer.

Branstrom was going to play more when Hughes went out because he's a left-side guy, and he's going to take some of that power play time too from Hughes. But, you know, Soucy still needs to be whipped back into shape. Boosh and North van. Nobody asked, but I think we should call the Debrusque PD Sherwood line. The Depeche Mode line.

Feels like a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Oof. I don't know about that. Who sent it in? The Boosh? The mighty Boosh from North van?

Do you guys remember Depeche Mode? Yes. I remember Depeche Mode, yes. I know what he's getting at. It's just that's kind of, it's just too complicated. Yeah, it feels like De-stretch Mode, to be honest. It's not complicated at all. Do it again.

De-peche Mode. De-brusque. Pe-ter-son. She-er-wood. Oh, my God. De-peche Mode As an 80s guy I'm willing to table it Boosh

We'll see what happens You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough 802 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for.

Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 3 of the program. Satyar Shah is going to join us in just a moment here for some Canucks talk to kick off Hour 3. Hour 3 of this program is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. 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, our feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec to the phone lines we go. Sat joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, dude? How you doing? What's going on, boys? Happy Monday. The Seattle Seahawks finding ways to win football games.

I'm sure you guys are very, very excited watching that game yesterday. Yeah, we were really fired. I love a 16-6 barn burner. I was fired up. Why are you so down on this? I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't like this.

We got to make sure that when we come in, Halford and Brough can't be aligned in positivity, right? If there's too much, it ruins the bedrock of the show. So I came in this morning and I was calling it the NFC mid and the division's no good. And I will stand by the fact that three of the four teams

in the division lost badly yesterday. So yes, the Seahawks are a toppy mid. I mean, they're not Browns bad. Well, that's true. No. Definitely not. Definitely not Browns bad. Are they Man City bad?

Oh. That was crazy they Man City bad? Oh. That was crazy. I'd say Man City bad. I can't believe how bad Man City is, honestly. Like, it's ridiculous. They got shelled at home 4-0 by Spurs. I mean, it's – anyway, let's talk about the Canucks. Yes.

First of all, just your thoughts on their win over the Sens on the weekend. What was the reaction like for you? Well, honestly, I was, I mean, I want to say, like, impressed because, I mean, you're beating the Ottawa Senators. But considering, you know, all the obstacles in front of them, the fact they played as clean as they did, especially after Hughes went out, is what I was most impressed by. They had a couple moments where Myers had his, you know,

Myers type of moments late in the game with that slap shot. And there were a couple moments they weren't great, maybe defensively, but for the most part, I thought they played as clean a game as you can expect, especially after Hughes went out. And when you compound that with all the injuries up front, not having Besser, not having JT, and obviously, you know, having a guy like Joshua

trying to find his way back. By the way, I thought he played his best game against the Sens. I was pretty impressed. I was kind of waiting for, can this team really kick into its identity and play to its identity and find a way to win games? Even though Ottawa had problems, I liked that they were able to clean it up and just be the more mature, more stable team and find a way to win. We've talked at length about the forward depth.

And we actually reiterated this morning, right? We should really mention how impressive it is that you go into a game without two-thirds of your top line in JT Miller and Brock Besser. You put together this makeshift one where all of a sudden, Kiefer Sherwood's now a first-line winner. What was his time on ice? He was over 20 minutes against them? Over 20 minutes.

Yeah. He was his first unit power play. Right. He's's out there doing everything it really does speak to how good this group is and i think the most important part is when you get elevated in the lineup that's where the guys aren't just like treading water but they're shining that's an important part of depth too because these guys have to be able to take on elevated roles and thrive in those roles not just kind of hold the water yeah i mean it just goes to show how good they've been at adding real high level NHL players. Even if they're not stars,

there are guys that can play up the lineup and not look out of place and having enough of those guys. And we just, we saw the lack of that last year in the playoffs, right? I mean, the fact that we're considering the play John, the left or Becky,

and they had had Lena Scalza come up playing a couple of games. It kind of tells you how little depth they had as soon as a couple injuries happened, whereas this year now you have guys going up the lineup, and that also includes getting rid of Daniel Sprong for nothing, who was supposed to add another layer of that depth, and I think a lot of it also just comes down to when you have your

best players play well, it elevates everybody around them. Garland's been carrying whatever line he's been on, so there's no surprise he's doing his thing. I think we've got to give credit to Beluga and Hyann as a duo. I think they hold their own for the most part, but having Pedersen look a lot more like Pedersen, being able to carry a line and elevate a player next to him,

I think that makes a big difference. But I think what Sherwood shows you is he's a guy that just can play in any spot. If you put him into a situation where you ask him to do something very specific which you're doing really well which is for checking be the first on pocket just play to your energy and play to your identity and that fits in so well especially when they want somebody on every line to be that f1 for checking type of player he just fulfills that role so well and a lot of it is filled in you see how well debrax has played along the wall pedersen finding both those guys to an open space.

I think when you have your best players and leading a line, it makes it easier for those guys that can be supplementary players to tag along and keep the thing going when you have some injuries up front. So is Petey back? Where are we on this? Is he back? Is he 90% back? 80% back? 75% back? What are we doing here? Okay, I'm going to say like, let's put it like high 80s, because I still think he'd be a little bit quicker. I think we can see his shot, you know, stand out a little bit more.

But I think he's pretty close, right? Like last night, or not last night, the game against the Senators, the two goals that were scored, one of the things, what he did on both the goals that he was on the ice for, was make a great defensive player, great player in the neutral zone. On the first play, he intercepts a pass in his own zone, chips it along the wall, chips it out, Sherwood gets it, and he makes a great play to DeBrusque on the goal.

And the second goal that that line scored, that Sherwood scored, Pedersen picks the puck off in the neutral zone, gets his own entry, makes a nice play to DeBrusque, drives the net in the middle, and that's what allows the crash to happen, and for sure with the bang to puck in, is turning defense into offense. That's a trademark of Pedersen's game. I know people love the flash. They love to see him wire that shot,

and I want to see him dangle guys, but he's not always doing those things. I think part of the reason why Pedersen was such an incredible player at his best, he made all the right plays. He turned defense into offense. He was a guy that was completely in control of every aspect of the game,

and that's something we saw against the Senators. We've seen it kind of build towards that. But when we see him turn defense to offense and really dominate both sides of the ice, that's when we see the player in his back. So I think Pedersen is back, but I don't think we're seeing anywhere near Pedersen's peak quite yet,

which I think would be exciting if he can find that level throughout the rest of the season. Do you think Pew Suter gets enough praise in this market? Because what a valuable piece he's turned into, just his versatility.

We've seen him play a top six wing role well, not flashy, but well. And now with JT Miller out, he's responsible for centering Dakota O'Doshua and Connor Garland, their second most important line, or depending on the night, it could be their first most important line. Yeah, I mean, he's been even better than I thought he would be. Like, I thought him coming in last year,

he just provided a little bit of depth. I don't think you can view him as a legitimate third-line center, but he can give you something up and down your lineup and give you that, that, you know, nice versatile depth. But what he's shown is you can truly play an elevated role for your team

and not look out of place, whether it's on the wing or playing down the middle. And I think having somebody that can, you know, shadow as a makeshift second line center. And cause right now, I mean, you know,

he's a second line center and Garland's playing like a top six winger and Joshua's trying to find his game, but they don't look out of place. And I think having a guy that can play throughout your lineup and not look out of place in an elevated role is really rare and hard to find. And you just look at the fact that he's only making 1.6. I think the other part of it is, you know, is this guy you can even keep beyond this year? I know the cap may be going up, but the Canucks obviously have some big players that have to sign at the end of the year and make some moves. He might be in a position where he's pricing himself out, because if he can play like

this on the Canucks, he may not go to a lesser team, make a lot more money, and perhaps play up the lineup and provide a bit more depth. So I think whether he stays here long-term, that could be a question because of how well he's played. I think his intelligence is what really allows him to play up the lineup with players like that and not look out of place. But I think his skills are he's played. I think his intelligence is what really allows him

to play up the lineup with players like that and not look out of place. But I think his skills are also underrated. I think, how often do you guys notice him losing a battle along the board, despite not being the biggest guy? Like, I don't notice very often where he doesn't come away with the puck. Here's a question for you. If Brock Besser returns to the lineup on this trip, and he returns to the lineup before JT Miller where does he go in this lineup man I mean it's pretty wild right to be like well you can't take the guy make it 1.5 million off the Pettersson line because he's playing so well but it's too important can't take Sherwood off that but that's kind of what he's been like he's been he's been so good on that line he's really been

the spark plug for it I don't feel like you should take him off, but I think if you look at it as what's the best, the lineup, take away the hot spell for Sherwood playing Lex to Pedersen. And again, I would keep him there, but I think the lineup looks more balanced. If you put Besser back with the Pedersen and DeBrusque, you put Sherwood back with

Heinen and Bluger, and then you could put you know, keep the Suter, Garland, and Joshua line, and then you could put, you know, keep the Suter, Garland, and Joshua line intact. Now you can put Hoaglander on the fourth line, and now you have a little bit more push in the fourth line. And we know how good that trio of Heinen, Bluger, and Sherwood was earlier this season when they were together, and they can certainly be a third line for you.

And all of a sudden, with Besser back, even though JT's not there, I think the makers of those top three lines look like pretty solid top three lines, despite not having JT. But personally, I kind of want JT's not there. I think the makers of those top three lines look like pretty solid top three lines, despite not having JT. But personally, I kind of want to keep Sherwood there. I think they're too dominant right now to take away. I think they've been one of the best lines the past few games in the league with how they played and dominated

play, and it's a clear edge the Canucks have right now. Like, Pedersen, the last few games, has been the most dominant two-way forward in the league, based on how they've been able to keep the puck in the opposite zone and not allow anything defensively. And Sherwood plays a big part to that. So I don't know if I want to mix that up,

but I think it's hard to find a better mix than having Besser with Pedersen because I'm not quite sure I love Besser with Bluger and Heinen. I just don't know if you're giving enough support. But I do like the idea of maybe putting Suter with Besser, but then you're taking Suter away from the Garland-Joshua line. Do you want to mess up two lines to make one go? So I'm just kind of curious about where it falls. But I kind of think if you do put Besser back,

you do get three lines that look a lot more like a first, second, and a true checking line. So Elliott Freeman has reported a few times that the Canucks may not want to give Thatcher Demko his first start of the season on this road trip just because then you've got to get on a plane afterwards and your recovery can be compromised a little bit. Are we just expecting Thatcher Demko, if he's going to play in the next little while, to make his season debut at home? That's what it sounds like.

But it wouldn't shock me if all of a sudden Demko's feeling good. It's the last game of the road trip. They'll just play or something. Or if they end up playing the game on Wednesday. But I just think the way they've gone about it, the way they've been super conservative with his rehab and the work he's done the past couple months. I just think it's unlikely they're going to put him into a position where they have any concerns at all.

I think they're doing their absolute best to create the safest environment possible to bring Demko back. And considering them trying to push him back to come back in the playoffs last year at the end of the year, and we know that whether he was rushed back or not or whether he pushed it too far far we know he wasn't 100 stable enough to come back and and stay healthy as we saw him getting hurt in the first playoff game so with all that having happened and the fact that they understand their chance of winning this year and even next year if you have demko is him being at his best i think we we know how good lankanen's been but i think lankanen is

also showing that he's a really good goalie. He's got a star number one superstar goaltender. And it's only so far a guy like that can take you unless your team plays spectacular in the postseason. You are going to need Demko this year if they're going to make the playoffs or if they're going to do anything of any consequence in the playoffs. And I think with that being the case and with the history, they're being ultra conservative because they maybe wait an extra week or two as opposed to where he could have been as far as coming back i think that's

really clear and i think one thing that demko himself wants to do is ensure that this time when he comes back he's like 100 he's over he feels like he's like you know i know you can't be 110 but essentially that frame of mind where i have to be overcooked and over ready and then i'm going to make my return. I think that's also something he needs for his confidence and the team being confident and being able to use them down the stretch. Well, think about the position he's in too, from his own financial perspective, he's got one more year left on his contract.

He wants to let the league know that he's fine because the worst case scenario for him would be he comes back for two weeks. He has a setback. Then he's out. Then he's really painted with that problematic brush, even more so than he already has been. And I'm sure that he wasn't exactly thrilled that the word poplatius has been reported and that's out there, you know, and people are like, it's the most rare injury we've ever seen in hockey. You know, like I'm exaggerating obviously, but you know, just for the sake of his contract, he's probably frustrated with how this is all played out. Well, absolutely. I think the

contract stuff is, is a big part of, I mean, for any professional hockey player, you're trying to be healthy and play the game you love, but a big part of it is you're trying to bank as much money as you can because you have a unique opportunity to play in the National Hockey League and be a star player.

So obviously, it's going to be a big consideration for him. And I think it's a bigger consideration than the four nations. I mean, the runway to really impress for the four nations is kind of out. They're going to announce the rosters not too far down the road here too right and we're getting to the point where nobody can work their way into it and there's not enough runway at all for demko to do it so there's no consideration i think for him trying to come back before that tournament as much as he'd love to represent canada but the contract one's huge and

the biggest thing about it is he needs to show he can play in the playoffs. The only time we've seen it was in the bubble playoffs. It was spectacular, but complete different circumstance that, you know, people don't really put a lot of weight into given, you know, how strange it all was. We heard Patrick Alvin refer to it as state playoffs, essentially, and didn't really put much onus into it. And maybe that's because the Penguins, you know, crashed out so quickly back in 20 2010 when they had the bubble playoffs but nonetheless we know that they don't put a ton of weight into it

across the national hockey league and demko has to show he can play in the playoffs nobody's going to pay him eight million or even seven million over seven years or even eight years if he can show he can be ready and healthy in the postseason and then also show he can win in the postseason and that's i think the the entire consideration. I mentioned it from the team's perspective. That's where they want Demko to be. But also Demko, he understands for him to make money, he's got to be able to be available and playing well in the playoffs. And he's not going to get Shusterkin money, right?

I think that's all very clear. Even if he comes back and plays well, he hasn't had the track record of health to get $10-11 million. But he can easily still get seven, 8 million, especially with the way the cap is going out. And you you're essentially putting anywhere from 60 to $70 million on the line by making sure your, your, your recovery this time is correct. Cause that that's how much money he could either make or lose.

If he gets this right. What did you think of Phillip Heronix game after Quinn Hughes was ejected? He was excellent, man. I know he's had some bad moments, and you kind of want a bit more offensively from him considering how much money he's going to make. I think we're getting to the point where we're analyzing the bad for him and making that the bigger part of the conversation

because I think he's been excellent defensively for the most part. He's had some moments, but if you also look at the numbers and the metrics, he has the best, the lowest goals against for 60 on the team outside of Brock Besser. And I think that says something for a team where we've seen, you know, some up and down play that he's been the steadiest and the fewest goals have gone in when he's been on the ice.

He has the biggest differential. He's been over 20 goals scored, five on five. He's only been on the ice for 10 of them. And considering the minutes he's played, he's been the best Canucks defenseman by the numbers. And I think when you look at how many minutes he plays and how he's able to get the puck out of his own zone effectively

for the most part and have good zone, have good retrievals and exits and also has done a good job of facilitating play in the offensive zone. He's done a lot of understated play and I think he can be better. But I think he's been a lot better than people give him credit for, and when you start digging through the numbers, especially the defensive numbers,

he's been a legitimate top four, top pairing defenseman by those metrics for the most part this year, and I thought last night or the other night with Quinn Hughes going out, he elevated his game to another level, and I think what that type of game does, it makes you kind of wonder, as much as Hughes

and Hironik want to play together, is there more upside at times if they split those guys up? We're speaking to Satyar Shah, Sportsnet 650's very own here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I wanted to discuss the Max Sasson thing for a moment. Not necessarily him, although it was a good story. I think it's good organizationally when you reward a guy that's come from where he came from

and was undrafted. Nice pass on the Bluger goal. Yeah, he only had what, 747 of ice time or something, but that doesn't matter. It was a nice story. I can't remember who hypothesized it, so I'm stealing it from an unknown source, but they said it seems like

organizationally, they're doing this thing where they're not afraid to bring guys up from Abbotsford, give them a look of a handful of games. And then they thought that the mantra might be, we're going to tell you things that you need to work on to be a player at the NHL. Go take them back to Abbotsford. And that's like a homework assignment. I thought it was interesting because it's a good way to develop guys while also saying like, hey, the NHL is still within reach because for a team that has as much forward depth as they have, they've also had a lot of guys come up from Abbotsford already in the first 20 games of the season. If you look at other NHL teams, there's a lot that haven't made as many recalls as the

Canucks have had. So have you heard anything on that front about organizationally what the ideas or what the goal is with bringing guys up and, you know, trying to get that streamlined between Abbotsford and Vancouver? Well, that's something that they really wanted to focus on when they first got the job and they took over at the front office was there is an opportunity here that not many teams have by having the AHL team so close in proximity. Not only is that beneficial for being able to call guys up, but it allows you to use so many more resources from the NHL side

to develop your guys in the AHL side. You see the Sedins, how they travel back and forth consistently, how often even the rest of the coaching staff and management team ends up getting to Abbotsford. And the fact that they've had that proximity allows them to be able to use so many of their top guys with working with their talented players that it's allowed them to have a bit more practice of one-to-one. So I think that's something that allows them to have the players as ready as they feel like they can get them. And then it comes down to making the best out of your

opportunities. But I do think this has been a big part of their plan that we want to put players in a position where we're incrementally making them into NHL players. And that's been communicated to the players where it's like, hey, you're getting a recall, but don't feel like you have to go out there and prove the world that you're going to stay here and this is your one shot. This is part of the plan. And if you play really well, you dictate how long you're going to stay there. But it's okay if you come back after a couple games because our plan here is a long-term one, and we are expecting it to go up and down a little.

We're expecting peaks and valleys in your development, and that's fine because that's how you get better. And I think when you have that plan, you're able to really get that through to players, especially young players who really need to feel the assurance and the confidence that the organization has their back. It allows them, I think, to have more confidence in these recalls and also not to get too down on themselves when they do get sent down because when it gets sent down the message is don't worry about this is part of the plan now if you get to a point after a couple years you go up and down you can't stick then it becomes okay

well this player is maxed out of his potential but i think what it does is it doesn't let players get into that whole yo-yo mentality where their mental health goes up and down based on their expectations because they're not quite sure where they stand. And you'd be surprised, and I don't want to make this about the previous management, but just across the National Hockey League, how poor communication is between organizations and their players and their prospects. You'd imagine, you'd think that they have these, you know,

Google Docs that they all log into and they all talk to each other and they have these video calls consistently and they're sending videos to each other. That doesn't happen. I actually wouldn't expect that, Sat, because we hear the stories about, like, this guy didn't know he was headed for a healthy scratch, like Taylor Hall or Kutz

in Philly. These are their star players and there's no way they're going to communicate with their young players. Sorry to cut you off there. No, that's fine. It's mind boggling because you would expect people to do these things, especially for a multi-billion dollar organization and multi-million dollar players and how much money is at stake

and how much is at stake for these organizations. But not everybody does it. And I think that's part of the reason why you see successful organizations and not so successful organizations. Details like this do matter. But to answer the overall point, there is a real method to their madness. There's a real method cap-wise, of course, to the number of recalls and demotions they made to accrue cap space.

But the way they develop players, there's a comprehensive plan to it. And I think that that's the reason why you're seeing players have success even if it's only for a couple of games at a time because we had the conversation last week about the traditional way in the nhl is you get good then you get old then you get bad and then you rebuild and i think it's important to know that like while the canucks are in their window and competing and a playoff team and everything there's also this element where you have to still pay attention to young players and what's going on. You always have to be reloading, right?

You can't just bottom out because as Fried said last weekend, two weekends ago on the broadcast, it's really hard in this league to bottom out and hit rock bottom and then try and climb out of it. It's a much better idea to have an arsenal of guys that are at the ready and able to come up and play. Cheap labor, but also energizing for the team that's right like so you look at like i were in previous years if this example

had come up when sasson would have been recalled the response would have been oh god we must be desperate like he has to come up because they're so thin on players or they don't have enough guys in the in the a that are of a higher quality or a higher caliber. This just feels and looks and it's playing out differently in a good way. This is what development should be and throwing flowers at management and everything, but this does feel like a progressive way of doing things. It is. It is far more progressive. I think it's what you need, right? I mean, look at the injuries the Canucks have right now.

If you don't have the depth the Canucks were able to get, whether it's a guy like Sherwood playing up, but also having the guys in the AHL team that they've now worked on, like Sasson, for instance, on different teams, may have received a recall already. One of the reasons he hasn't is, you know, they kept pushing him to get better and better, but there's been a real competition for guys getting recalled.

And there have been guys that you can see now, whether it's Baines, who has earned the coach's trust, Rossu, who's obviously bringing a real versatile for guys getting recalled and there have been guys that you can see now whether it's Baines who has earned the coach's trust Ross who's obviously bringing a real versatile edge to the team with his ability to play center and take right-handed face-offs and even having a guy like Sasson come up and not look out of place I think what that does for your organization is it also lets you survive some injuries throughout your lineup too and you need to have these types of players and when when you have the veterans, sometimes you don't get the enthusiasm to your point that you get from these young players because they're so hungry for these opportunities.

Not to say that a veteran like a Sheldon Drys isn't, but he's been through this before. And there's a different level of enthusiasm you kind of need sometimes, especially over a long season. I'm sure a lot of the guys on the team haven't loved their start, haven't loved some of the bad vibes

with the injuries happening, the weird situation with JT. So when you bring a guy up who's playing his first NHL game and he's super excited, that stuff is contagious. I think it's a positive thing to have around the team

and that's just a small benefit of it. But I think these are the types of things that allow you to survive a long season. And if you want to be a legitimate contending NHL team, you have to have layers layers of depth and a lot of it has to come from your internal development it's taken a couple years to get there but they're showing real signs of that right now with these guys coming up and playing as well as they have that's a really great point hey sat thanks for doing this today bud as always we appreciate it uh have a good show today

enjoy the rest of the week thanks boys always a lot of fun thanks Sat Satyar Shah from Canuck Central here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650 you're listening to

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