Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 11/26/25

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the latest Canucks trade rumours with Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli, plus the boys preview tonight's 'Nucks matchup at Anaheim with analyst Randip Janda. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Where do we start with our Vancouver Canucks? When we last spoke yesterday morning, there are a couple of reports from Elliot Freeman and Thomas Drance that the Canucks had made it known that veteran players were available for trade. It sounds like the Canucks sent a memo to the rest of the league. Although there may not have been any names included in that memo, but we figured pending UFAs like Kiefer Sherwood

and Evander Cain, if anyone would have them, were a safe bet to be made available. So that was the morning. More stuff happened in the day, which was a travel day for the Vancouver Canucks as they headed down to California to kick off three games in California, and it's a four-game road trip,

which finishes in Colorado. It's a tough one. So more stuff happened in the day, including an interview. by Jim Rutherford with Patrick Johnston of the province. Some of the quotes from that interview confirmed the reporting from Elliot Friedman and Thomas Drance

although we're still not really sure like what they have planned. Okay, so Rutherford said we have to make this team younger. We have to get this team going in a different direction. I agree with that. Okay. From where we've been. Okay. I also said the position of the team is that you would be willing to talk about the unrestricted free agents.

Okay. That would be talked about closer to the trade deadline. This isn't about just looking at trading everybody. There are a number of veterans who have played very well. So this isn't about clumping everybody together. It's more about accelerating the obvious moves that could be made two months down the road. We'll talk about that in a sec. Okay.

Now, if Adog was doing this interview and pretty much any other Vancouver Canucks fan, the immediate question would be like, is this a rebuild? Are you doing a rebuild? What about a rebuild? And Rutherford said, use whatever word people like, whether it's somewhat of a rebuild. Those are several words. That'd be hilarious if that's their new slogan. It's somewhat of a rebuild. Soar, S-O-A-R, somewhat of a rebuild. But he says it's not a full-blown rebuild. The F-B-R. And then he said, rebuild, retool, whatever. And then he said something that they constantly say. It's the position we've been in since the J.T. Miller trade.

So not a full-blown rebuild. The other follow-up would be, what about Quinn Hughes? Yeah, that guy. And he said, I believe Quinn and his agent are aware of the direction we want to go. And they're aware of the direction they want to go. obviously. Everybody wants to play on a winning team, but there's different reasons why people make decisions. Gee, what could those different reasons be? Have you ever mentioned them before? Does that guy have any siblings in the NHL, Quinn Hughes? Two. Parts unknown.

New Jersey. Could Rutherford be signaling that this is beyond his control anyway? There's nothing that Canucks could do anyway because Hughes wants to be somewhere else. I mean, there's different reasons why people make decisions. Have you ever heard that? Yeah, I did. That even if the Canucks were in a great place,

maybe their captain would be leaving anyway because there's different reasons why people make decisions. All kinds of different things. If I were in management's position, I might want to spin it that way, especially if it's true, right? Especially if it's true.

But I would not want to be the president. of hockey ops or general manager that lost Quinn Hughes. And I would have a, I would be like, well, it's not us. Yeah, disassociate yourself from that, brother. I'm just a simple president of hockey ops. There's only so much I can do as the president of the hockey team. So I have another question. Yeah.

Before we get into some audio and ask what happens next. And it relates to Quinn Hughes. Is it possible? The Canucks are just taking care of all the typical trade does. business now because they're potentially going to have to work on a much bigger trade at the trade deadline and they don't want to be like distracted by other sol and stuff like I get there might be um you know they might want to shake things up yeah now but it almost like he said uh so so this is the he said it's more about accelerating the obvious moves that could be made two months

down the road, is this kind of like clearing the docket so that you, because you might have to deal with something bigger around the Olympic break right before the trade deadline? I think you have to leave that possibility open, and I think it's fair to infer that. One, because Rutherford just keeps talking and just keeps laying out all these different plans with all of these different lines and all of these different little coded messages. And some of them not even that coded, which leads you to infer a lot of different. things. I think the primary one is that it sounds more and more like ever like Quinn Hughes is leaving. If it wasn't already something that everyone had in the front of the mind after yesterday's

interview and all the news that was coming out, it's clearly at the front of the mind of the organization of Rutherford of Alvin and everyone. So back to your original point. Is this in a weird way sort of opposite world but similar world for Rutherford? A guy that traditionally going into the deadline has always been an early shopper, right? That was the in Vancouver. You'll remember the Elias Lindholm trade that was done very early in the process if you go back to Pittsburgh and Carolina he liked to do that stuff early now instead of being an early shopper he's going to be an early seller he's going to try and get all of this done it would lead one to believe jason that this would open up the possibility to say okay let's say they sell off a couple

free agents by December of January prior to the Olympic break yeah do you then circle back to Hughes and say here's what we've done this is our one last we need to to know where you're going type conversation. Yeah, this second round draft pick in 2007 looms pretty large, Quinn. We've heard it's a deep second round. It's a deep second round. And then do you say, and then do you say, here's what we're ready to offer you when the time is right and here we need to know now.

You've brought it up that a team that was acquiring Hughes would have, maybe infinite more interest in acquiring them for two playoff runs instead of a one. Thomas Dran sort of pushed back on that a little bit saying that doesn't. It doesn't matter when you're going to trade Quinn Hughes. You're going to get a bounty in return. But I think there's a couple other overriding sentiments to all of this. What is it? This season shot.

Whatever this season was supposed to be, it's shot. And they are moving in a... There's a chance that Tolopulow and Patera could get hot. Can I... You know what? This is totally off topic, but kind of on topic. We should talk about this too, I guess. We will.

Yeah. Can I also point out that if you go look at the schedule, after the new year in January, they have two monster... homestands. I think they have two eight game homestands. Teams don't often have one eight game homestand in a season. Knucks have two. That's going to be fun. And it coincides with maybe the worst year they've had in, I don't know, five or

six years. Right? This is trending to be an awful year. Do you think this is trending to be worse than last year? Points wise, record wise, yeah. Absolutely. Right now, if they were to hit last year's total year... Drama-wise, though? I mean, I guess it could be if they trade away Quinn Hughes.

Drama-wise, yeah. This team, hi? drama wise because there's no telling how ugly this could get when you start to consider that once you sell off pieces there is an element of why stop there

you know what I mean? Like if you move out let's say for the sake of unrestricted free agents Bluger, Kane who's another one I'll throw on the pile? Pending UFAs? Yeah sure would Thank you. Let's say you move them and it gets you whatever you want in return

do you then start saying well we've gone this far do we start asking Garland Besser I don't know about Horonic Myers you wouldn't have to ask Garland until July 1st Right for the record You'd probably have to ask him just out of politeness

And niceness Ditto for Demco I think too Demco take your bed that's what I'm saying Do you all of a sudden start going down the road and saying Well we're already selling we're already moving guys out Ditto for Demko be a good band name That is a good band name I like it

The band is constantly injured Let's play some audio here What we got from Elliot Friedman he was on the station yesterday. Yeah, two clips yesterday with Sat and Bick on Canucks Central. We'll start first with Sat asking the question. Now that this is out there in the ether, how aggressive, just how aggressive are Jim Rutherford and the Vancouver Canucks going to be?

Here's Fridge's answer on the Canucks and their level of aggression with all of these trades. I think they're going to be pretty aggressive. I mean, all you have to do is look at Rutherford's history, right? when, you know, when he, I know Papa Colvin's the GM and he's involved here and he sends the note out on the chain but whenever something like this happens with a Jim Rutherford team,

your alert is up that you know that some of this could happen at any time and I think some of the general managers have been around for a while, they know that about him too. So his history is to be early not to wait if he doesn't have to, And I think that that's what this is.

Like the Klanops are ready to talk now. And so let us know what you're thinking with anyone on our roster. And you know what? I think that some of this, too, you know, is I wrote, like the first thing you think of, Sat, when you hear this come up, is what does this mean for Hughes? And the answer is nothing right now. But I think it's obvious that whenever this conversation, comes with cues and you're not getting too far away from it you know one of the things they

could say depending on what happens here is well this is what we've done and this is what we're planning on doing how do you feel about that and this is what's available for some of the things we might be trading or try to trade so what it says to me is they're out there now they're ready to do things let's hear what you got and we'll make our decisions based on that. So Frege points out what many are astutely aware of that every decision that this club makes now doesn't exist in a vacuum.

It all leads to the bigger question, which is what's going to happen with Quinn Hughes. And you brought up the possibility of the Canucks possibly taking care of all their deadline deals early to try and focus on the Hughes thing as they get closer to the actual deadline. There is an element of, are you dismantling this team?

Are you systematically picking it apart? What's going on here? If you make a handful of moves, is that a precursor to an even bigger dismantle that you say, Quinn, this is the direction that we're going? We're going to try and pivot hard and bring in young players and draft picks so that the future, maybe not the present,

but the future looks brighter. So if you were to sign on, this does look like a little more of a rosy outlook than previous. That seems like that. It's the same pitch they're giving McDavid in Edmonton. Right. I'm not even joking. No, I know.

But the issue, again, is that it's a hard pivot 20 games into a season, where in the off season, all you did was talk about how the improved vibes in the room, the new outlook under Adam Foote, the addition of Avander Cain and the goaltending tandem of Thatcher Demko. Yeah, we're going to have the best goalie tandem in the league, monkey paw curls. Yeah, and now your goaltending duo, 20 plus games into the season is Tolapilo and Patera, which we'll get to in a second. What a season. Right?

So, and they're going to say, And I know how this is going to go, is that we had a plan. And we thought the plan was going to work, but we were besieged by injury. It's bad luck. It was bad luck. It wasn't our fault. Whatever the case, all of this leads to the big question, what's going on with Quinn Hughes? And when can they expect a decision to be made?

Well, Fridge also addressed that yesterday on the show with Sat and Bick on Canucks Central, talking about the future, what he's hearing about when a decision will be made, and how close they are to potentially hear. hearing that decision. Here's Elliot Friedman from yesterday's show with Sat and Beck on Connect Central about Quinn Hughes. The thing about Quinn Hughes is and believe me, I did a lot of work on this again yesterday.

Just number one, the memo didn't reference any names. So the first thing you're asking is does that mean Hughes? And I was told no. And I think people asked and they were told no, not at this time. but I do think we're getting closer to the moment that this conversation is going to be held

about his future and what it's going to mean and could his name potentially be out there but as of right now like if Hughes has made his decision nobody's saying it like I asked yesterday has Hughes given does anyone know if Hughes has given any indication on which way he's going. And the answer is no. I don't think, I think everybody suspects, but there's no hard word given that he's made his decision. I think that's still to come.

Like I said, I think everybody suspects it based on what Rutherford has said and some of the answers that Hughes gave early in the year in interviews and conversations, that has he come right out and say, I want to be out there. or I want to leave, I've got no evidence of that. But, you know, I said yesterday on Nick and Justin's show in Toronto, Kipperman Boren,

that I assume that this conversation is going to come around the Olympics. I mean, some people said today they think it could even be earlier than that. So I guess that the best answer I can give you guys is we're all on alert for when it does happen, but it looks like it's coming. Yeah, Rick Dollywell has also reported that he believes that the Canucks want to know. during the season. They don't want to wait until the summer, until, you know, like June and they're like, do you want to stay?

You know, because I think, well, first of all, nobody likes this hanging over the team. It's not necessarily good for business. Not that trading Quinnian should be good for business either, but it's not good for the team to have this hanging over them. But I really do think, and Durantz, again, might push back on this. I really do think that two guaranteed playoffs with Quinn Hughes, people are going to pay up for more than a Quinn Hughes under contract. Like, especially, especially, especially if the understanding is that Quinn just wants to go play for New Jersey. which I'm not saying is the case

but it's certainly been hinted by by Jim Rutherford and you know if the Canucks do things we still like people assume some people assume not everyone some people assume that if the Canucks trade Quinn Hughes

well that forces the rebuild and that that's going to force a three or four year long process don't think that. You know, Rutherford says it's not going to be a full-blown rebuild. And you still hear, I think Rick Dollywell said it yesterday, still hear that they want to turn this around quickly.

This team has never, ever suggested that they're interested in tearing things down. So even if they do trade Hughes, it doesn't mean they won't try to turn that trade into pieces that can help them win now. It might be one of those things where. you trade Hughes to a contender this year, and that contender is going to be like, well, we're not going to give up major roster pieces here, right?

Sure. So we'll give you a crazy amount of futures, and you go spend those futures however you want. Yeah. Until the Canucks come out and explicitly say, it's different this time. We're going to be doing things differently than we have. for the last, you know, well, decades now.

We should probably assume that they're not ever going to be interested in tearing it down, and that includes this time. And when they say we're not interested in a full-blown rebuild, which they've done very recently, Jim Rutherford, I can read a quote that he had in an IMAC piece very recently, you know, we should probably believe them when they say that. And this is the quote that Jim Rutherford has. and iMac included in his most recent piece that you can go read at sportsnet.ca.

Rutherford said rebuilds can work, but you have to understand rebuilds take a long time. There has to be a lot of patience, and for the teams that take the biggest jump and ultimately rebuild and win a cup, they usually have a first overall pick and you still have to get lucky on that.

So a rebuild is not something that we're going to look at doing. Like I said, we're in transition ever since the J.T. Miller trade. Yeah. But we're not trading all these players for draft picks that may or may not end up playing someday.

Okay. So, here's another question I have. Added to the pile of questions that I have, that we all have, if it gets to the point where Quinn Hughes says, I don't want to stay anymore. Sure. I think you should probably trade me.

Should this management group be the ones doing it? I think that's the biggest question of them all. And does a new management group come in there and maybe in some interviews go, hey, like, this might not get me the job, but you guys got to be doing things differently. What are you crazy? I've been watching from the outside for, you know, a decade and a half now. Yeah, I mean, switch it up here. Part of a managerial regime change is to kind of.

You're not getting hired. Do the difference. Do the almost the exact opposite of what the previous administration did. A lot of companies of, you know, thrive. Just on that, like, what got you into this situation? Why don't we do the opposite of that? And if that was this, if that's the suggestion, I find it very difficult to believe that the same guys

that led the Canucks to this moment are going to be tasked with getting them out of it. Can you imagine the PR of keeping a management group that is forced to trade J.T. Miller And then forced to trade Quinn Hughes. And the team stinks. I mean, at that point, I honestly am wondering, do you bring in,

an entirely new group and wipe it clean to move hues. Like, do you let the current iteration of these guys do it? Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. I don't know what the direction is right now. Having read everything yesterday and parsed through it quite carefully and then stacking it up to the messaging that we heard, and there were a few inflection points over the calendar year of 2025, July 1 was one of them, the Adam foot higher in the summer was one of them, started training camp was one of them, and then now is another.

so there's been about four you can point to significantly different directional messaging from the organization at all four of them where you're like we're going in the club is going in this direction the club is going in that direction here's the long-term outlook here's what they have planned for hughes and it just continues to change on a whim which leads you to believe that either they didn't have enough faith or they didn't believe in their ability to execute the plans or the original plans were so poorly constructed that they fell apart 20 games into a season whatever option it is a or b they're both awful because right now you're looking at a team that the only definitive statement they've made is that they're going to try and sell off the guys

that would have probably gone at the deadline anyway early if they were out of the plan that's that's that's the new that's the new plan and all that really says is that you're trying to expedite what is turning into if it's not already a lost season. You're just trying to acknowledge it's a lost season before you get to the Olympic break or the turn of the calendar or whatever. You're just saying right now, this season's cooked. And by the way, speaking of how cooked this season is, we should mention before we go to break,

Kevin Lankett is not on this road trip that they have embarked on. They left for Anaheim yesterday. They're going to play Anaheim, San Jose, L.A., and Colorado. And Kevin Lankin is not going to be part of it. Thatcher-Demko is obviously not going to. going to be part of it. The goaltending over the next four games on this road trip, unless something changes with Lincoln's situation, is going to be on the shoulders of Nikita Tolapilo, who's played a grand total of zero NHL games this year, and Yuri Patera, who's played one and allowed

seven goals in that game. And that is a grim, grim outlook for a team who I'll remind you at the start of training camp said that they had the best goaltending duo in the National Hockey League. And now they've got two guys that were piecing it together in the American League about a month ago. David Amber is going to join us next. We'll talk a little bit about the Canucks, but I also want to talk about the Oilers, and speaking of the goaltending, they got issues. I got blown out again last night at home to the Dallas Stars. Nobody was good for the Edmonton Oilers. Well, maybe that kid that scored his first goal, he was okay. Yep. What's his name? Clattenberg?

Clattenberg. Yeah. Okay. So they're more of a Clattenberg team now. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Our next guest is our NHL insider from Victory Plus. It's Frank Cerr Valley here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Frank. How are you? Pretty good. How are you guys doing? We're good. There's a lot going on here right now.

So I want to start by making this as open-ended and as wide-ranging as possible. What do you make of what's going on with the Vancouver Canucks right now? I think the Vancouver Canucks front office. office after a particularly lifeless weekend sees this team in a lot of the same view lens or prism as a lot of others around the league, which is this team isn't close enough to competing. And you can talk about injuries. You can talk about a number of different things that have popped up over the last, not just quarter season, but going back a calendar year. they all contribute to a team in a position where changes need to be made.

And so the note that was sent to general managers on Monday indicating that they're open for business and ready to move on from pending UFAs and vets to speed up this process, no need to wait until the March trade deadline in order to send off a few pieces, let's get ahead of that and get to some real brass tax conversations. that's where they're at. One of the things we kicked around is them taking care of some business now because they might have to deal with Quinn Hughes ahead of the trade deadline. Is that possible?

Yes. I think it's certainly in the back of everyone's mind. I think they hope that it's not possible. I think they hope that Quinn Hughes is committed to Vancouver and that they can continue to build around him. And I'm not even convinced that if he told them point blank that, you know, sometime, well, let's just say hypothetically, calendar turns to 2026, Quinn Hughes, the Canucks sit down and he says at that exact moment in time,

hey, I'm just giving you an early heads up because I care about you in the organization that I'm not going to be resigning here. Even if that were to be the case, I'm still not entirely sold that he moves before the deadline. There's so much time, but what they certainly could use that period of time leading up to the deadline, the 100-day countdown essentially starting on Jan 1, is to have those exploratory information gathering, reconnaissance conversations that they'd really need to have in order to make a trade of this magnitude. It's not one that materializes overnight. It's one that's going to take weeks or months to play out.

And that part, I mean, the number of teams would be staggering. The question is, do you wait until the deck is more full in the off season when all 31 other teams can participate as opposed to just the few that have the cap space or wherewithal to make such a surgical change like that midstream mid-season? You know, everyone points towards New Jersey is the obvious landing spot because of his brothers. But as Jason's pointed out on a number of occasions, every team in the National Hockey League would be, you know, making as aggressive as a pitch as imaginable, I would think,

to try and secure the services of what many consider to be the best defenseman in the National Hockey League. Tell us about Philadelphia. There's a lot of different ties there, obviously, and I'm curious what kind of package the Flyers could put forth, and if they're at that stage where they're ready to make a splash, like every other team would, to acquire a guy like Quinn Hughes. Yeah, I think there's certainly going to be among the list of teams that is,

extremely interested in Quinn Hughes salivating at the possibility of Quinn Hughes if he were to become available. I mean, the Rick Tocket tie is easy, but Philadelphia is an hour and change away from the Devils. He can run a power play without cannibalizing his brother's appearance on the devil's top power play unit. Most of the Flyers actually live in New Jersey. their practice facilities there. It makes sense. There's a lot of competition, obviously, and it's certainly a lot closer.

But look, I think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves here, and I'm all for rampant speculation and, you know, finding interesting storylines. But I got to tell you, like, I've done a lot of, you know, investigative work, quote-unquote. I've made a lot of phone calls in the last week. to try and drill down on the Quinn Hughes story. And the people closest to him that know him best say he's 100% committed to the Canucks

and doesn't plan on going anywhere. So take that for what you will. Well, say more about this because if you can, I don't know what you can say. But I think most of us in Vancouver, it's just the consensus seems to be he's gone. So is that consensus? wrong? I think it's

undefined. I mean, look, feelings change, things change, windows to win become different realities, which I think is really what the Canucks are staring down at this exact moment in time. And I don't think

Jim Rutherford's quote yesterday Patrick Johnson really helped anything in terms of the narrative or discussion. because it seemed to be so open-ended. But the conversation that Quinn Hughes has had internally, again, with some of the people closest to him, he's not thinking about that.

He's not talking about it. And he has reiterated on a number of occasions that he's 100% committed to the Canucks. So that's out of his own mouth to people around him. Now, is he saying something different at home? Is he planning or plotting something there? I couldn't begin to tell you. I can only share what I know.

What do you think the, like if someone, if Hughes were, okay, this is going to sound bad, but if Hughes were to say, I'm 100% committed to the Canucks and someone were to say, why? What would the answer be? I think it would be loyalty. belief in you know

finishing something that you started it would be in trust in the management team to be able to surround you with the right pieces obviously a certain amount of luck would be involved but at the same time some belief in what the level the Canucks have played at

to this point in time is maybe he believes that this is not really what they are. Maybe he believes that they're better than this and have been beset by a few tough circumstances. What if they had an authentic number two center here? What if that's her Demko wasn't injured? What if, you know, you can what if yourself to death? But if you're looking for a path inside, you know,

one of the ultimate competitors' heads, that's generally how people that ride, to the level that Quinn Hughes has is super belief in your own abilities to help transcend what has been a really tough run. I mean, that's generally how it works. So the plan now for Rutherford-Nalveen

then seemingly would be pivot hard, make some deals, and then try and present a new rosier future for Quinn Hughes beyond this season. I mean, I think one thing is clear is that there's been whatever color flag and we were joking yesterday is Is it white, is it off white? Is it Moves?

I don't know, but is it just your way, this season essentially is cooked, is that they're not going to turn this thing back, the least of which is the issues in net, which we haven't really even scratched the surface of on this show today, but is that, that seems like a maybe logical game plan, is try and make a bunch of moves in the moment, throws your outlook for the future beyond this season. Yeah, I mean, that's just, it's not just for Quinn Hughes, that's for the overall health of the franchise. I mean, what is the path forward here?

It's not with some of these pieces that have been assembled and particularly not with UFA is that they don't want to get into a position where, hey, we lose Pew Souter because we talked ourselves into whatever. That's not the thought process. So get ahead of it now. Don't get wrapped into the moment and make those decisions as to who's staying and who's going ahead of time. so you can set out this long runway to get exactly what you're looking for and what you need.

You mentioned a suitor there and talk ourselves into whatever. Well, that whatever was kind of Evander Cain. Do you think they have some regret about that? Probably, but I would argue that even with his, I'll say, relatively poor play based on his own standards, I like you're still probably making that deal like the trade was still the value proposition presented to you

like I don't know why you wouldn't do that um yeah the suitor one look I think for as much as he brought probably still a relatively imperfect player and they had drawn a line in the sand but I think what confuses the marketplace is why is it that you drew a line in the sand for Pew Souter and he walks, but then you go back and you did draw a very clear line in the sand with Brock Besser and caved at the last minute.

So what is the rhyme or reason? What is the process? What is the thought that goes into assembling the team as opposed to just panicking at the last second and giving Brock Bester everything that he was looking for. Our next guest will be on the call tonight. 7 o'clock, Ducks, Canucks from Anaheim. Randy Janda joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Brandeep?

Good morning, gentlemen, and I was listening right before you through the break there. Jason, thanks for reminding me of the 10-2 aggregate loss that the Arsenal had at the hands of Byron. Thank you. Just what I need it. You're very welcome. What do you think of when you watch Thomas Mueller play for the Vancouver over white caps.

Okay, so even though he was a part of that demolishing of Arsenal, what I remember is the demolishing of Brazil by Germany. That's 7-1 in Rio de Janeiro. Like, anytime I see Thomas Miller, he's done so many great things in Europe, but that matches the one I remember because that was a systematic demolishing of the home team on there where they thought they were going to win the World Cup, and Germany said, no thanks. And Neuler had such a huge role to play with that.

Awesome to see his success here too. But anytime I see him play out, I go back to that match against Brazil and where they just wiped out the hopes and dreams of an entire nation. I think that might have been one of the most shocking games I've ever seen. Well, when I was watching it and I couldn't believe it was actually happening, it almost seems surreal that Germany kept pumping in those goals. And I remember the crowd shots of the Brazilian fans, they were either in complete shock

or a lot of them were in tears. He's played in so many big games. He's played in so many unbelievable moments and now he's playing for the Vancouver Whitecaps. That almost seems surreal. It does. And going back to that match, I remember the national anthems.

It was one of the most passionate national anthems I'd ever seen, like, Brazilian players and the fans were all into it. And like 10 minutes into that match, it was all gone. It was like all gone. So, yeah, it's unbelievable to see what he's been.

the Whitecaps and what they're doing. Are we just treading water because we don't want to talk about the Canucks situation because it all seems so dire. I'm sure the energy will be matched tonight at the Honda Center between the Canucks and the Ducks. Yeah. I mean, I almost want to start because we haven't talked about it enough with the goalie situation, only because under any other circumstance, Kevin Lankin, the announcement that he wasn't going on this road trip would have been a huge story.

It would have been massive news, and we would have spent a ton of time talking about it, but it's all been overshadowed by what's gone on with Jim Rutherford and the state of the team and the announcement that all these UFAs are up for sale. But there is a hockey game tonight, Randeep, and you're going to see, do you anticipate it's going to be Tolo Pilo in that tonight? Yeah, that's certainly what I think, based on, you know, he got the practice reps. He feels pretty good by the, you know, had a good chat after the practice as well. he feels confident.

He feels like the injury that he suffered earlier this year is behind him. So if I had to guess, I would say it would be Nikita Tolapilo. And Adam Foote mentioned after the last practice as well that he would get a game. Maybe it seems more than that now at this point based on the fact that, you know, Demko is injured and Kevin Lankinen as a way for personal reasons. So with Nikita Tolapilo, what I like about him guys is that even in his scrum And just the way he composes himself, he's just a, he's really even killed. And he's saying, hey, you know, there's one puck.

There's five skaters. Like, I don't overthink this, which is he's going to need that type of mentality, right? This is a team that's obviously struggling the last little bit. And you just need a guy to go in there and not overthink the situation with a couple of those, those absences that I just mentioned. So I think total appeal is probably your guy. And hopefully the Canucks can really tight. up defensively because young

goaltender who's got two NHL games sure he's got a little bit of that experience but you know we've seen this team struggle with two NHL quality goaltenders if you don't play well defensively especially against his Anaheim team you know it could be trouble so I think it would be

Tolopilo but you know it's more about the environment for me with that conducts defense well the last time they had a goalie between the pipes that might have been playing a a little above his head. They did not tighten up defensively.

In fact, they lost 8 to 5 to the Florida Panthers with Patera in goal. I think it's fair to ask the question, is this team capable of tightening up defensively? Yeah, I think when you talk about it, you know, from that perspective, and here's the thing. I think, you know, we've seen this in the past with this team, not maybe the last two years because they had a very structure heavy or protect the house at all at all costs or protect the guts of the ice.

We haven't necessarily seen that. Now, if you ask the team, you're saying, hey, we're just not executing. And Marcus Pedersen was talking about closing quicker and the fact that they're allowing teams way too much time to set up. I go back to, I think they're, you know, they need to be better denying entries. And are they capable? They've got the right players that have done it in the past. like Marcus Pedersen has been good at denying entries.

Tyler Myers has those moments where he could stand up players at the defensive blue, but we haven't seen it this way that way this season. And I think, you know, the players are saying they can execute better, but there is something about their system that just allows that a little bit easier where the swarm really kicks in, you know, once the zone is set up, and that's when they start to be aggressive. Guys, I'd like to see it a little bit earlier on. I'd like to see that be offensive defensive blue.

line. So I think they are capable, but you have to make tweaks. And if it's simply just not executing, then, hey, that's on the players. But is there a way that you can just tighten that up and get them to play a little bit more aggressive at the defensive blue? Because those zone entries against this team have been very, very easy. And once you're set up, like you're chasing, right? That's where the trust factors really kicks in. If you're, if you don't make that decision, if you sit back a little bit, you're chasing the play. if you're too aggressive, guess what? The guy behind you might make that same mistake

and you've got the entire team chasing. So I think they are capable of tightening up more so than they have here. You have to do better at your closeouts. You have to do better at protecting the net. I think that's been the most troubling thing defensively for the Canucks is that in and around the net, it's open season on these goaltenders where in tight you've got so much room around the blue paint. Like you mentioned that 8-5 game.

sure Yuri Patero was he played like a goaltender that hadn't played in the NHL for a long time but he also made some unbelievable saves in that game but in tight there's so many chances and that's the thing that this team has to get better at where I don't care if you're giving up the perimeter even if you give up the zone entry but are you making sure that that play is not behind you

the puck is not behind you that the man is on the right side of you and that's where this team right now is is suffering and that's where they're taking a lot of their hits guys What did you think of Adam Foote's assertion that injuries are the reason? Injuries are the reason why defensively they've been struggling. Because you do have, you're missing forbert, so you've got to go with a pretty young pair of DPD and VLander, and there have been some mistakes there, for sure.

You're missing Heidel and Bluger, which have brought, I mean, well, look at what it's brought in. brought David Comf in as a second line center. He's good defensively, but he's learning the system. And then you've got two pretty inexperienced guys in Max Sass and Atu Ratu playing center, the other center being Elias Pedersen. And centers are so responsible for it. But I do think a lot of people were like, are the young guys the only guys making mistakes out there? Is that, is that what you're saying? So what did you make of that assertion? Yeah, I think, okay, the injuries obviously have had an

effect this year. Now they're a little bit healthier than they were when they were the nine players, and that was the extreme. But I think injuries have had an effect to a point guys where, yes, you have some players, Max Sassone being one of those guys that maybe

defensively is not to the standard that you need. I think he does a lot of great things offensively and he's added some speed to this team. But yeah, there's the size issue, there's the defensive awareness at times, but that's not the only reason. There are veterans that are making those mistakes too. There are veteran players that are, you know, leaving their area of the ice or taking that second risk that

compounds the first one, the first mistake. So I wouldn't put it solely on young players. I think Adam Foote mentioned something in that scrum that was really important after he mentioned the injuries. He mentioned that, hey, we might be having these discussions behind closed doors, but you're not going to know about it. You're not going to find out about it. And that's where we're keeping it inside, so to speak. So, you know, if there are those conversations about veteran players making those mistakes, and, you know, that's something

that this coach has decided that he's not going to put in the media. He's not going to put out there and the injuries are what they want to talk about. The injuries and the impact that it has on the young players, getting these high-stress minutes is going to be the conversation line. But I thought that second comment from foot

was really important to say, yeah, hey, we have discussed. There's conversations. There are moments behind the scenes, but those are going to remain behind the scenes. So I think that answer told you that, of course, the coach is not entirely probably happy with the entire roster, but it's not going to work its way out to the media. Well, one of the behind the scenes comments or meetings that he did talk about was he said he sat down with Quinn Hughes right before that scrum and, I mean, essentially said like Quinn Hughes needs to take shorter shifts. And he said, I want Quinn playing a lot, but I don't want him playing 30 minutes on just 20 shifts. I want him playing, you know, 27, 28 minutes and taking 26 or 27 shifts. And I think the inference there is that Quinn just wants to win so badly that sometimes he's unwilling to come off the ice. And I think we're, as fans in media, we're like, yeah, we don't blame you.

But what did you think of that comment? Yeah, that one, you know, I think I'd be lying if I said I didn't notice that during games as well, right? When Quinn plays that long, he plays, you know, at times 90 to 2 minute, 90 second to 2 minute shift. You can see from a coach's perspective, you're saying, hey, I want you out there a little bit less, but I want you to be there more fresh, right? I want you to have energy throughout the shift. And one of the things, I think that this goes with any player, especially, you know, if you can go back to maybe the L.A. King's era. And when Drew Duddy was in his prime, like he didn't want to get it off the

ice either. So this is very normal for an elite defenseman, especially one that wants to win. That one is that, like you have to drag them off the ice. So from a Quinn's perspective, I don't blame him. This guy has the motor, the engine, the want that you want from your

player. He knows he can change the game any shift guys, any moment of the game, and he's going to try to do that. The downside of that is as we know, later on in the shift, especially if it's going back and forth, especially if you're sitting your own zone a little bit longer than you want to, it's going to take a toll on your body on that shift.

That second half of that shift, you might be tired, there might be breakdowns, there might be moments you're not the freshest, and you're not putting yourself in a position to succeed, but also that weighs on you as well when you're doing 30 minutes a night, at some point here, halfway through the season, especially if he goes to the Olympics, which, you know, as long as he's healthy, he's going to, you know, those are minutes you have to manage.

And it's not only a Quinn Hughes thing. Last season, at the end of last season, you know, Connor McDavid admitted that he had to manage himself a little bit better. That's why he kind of ran out of gas in the second half of the season where you push yourself so much that you're not able to get the most out of yourself later on in the season. So while I understand the want, I understand the need from Quinn Hughes to be out there. I also understand where Adam Foote's coming and saying,

hey, we need you, you know, slightly less maybe, but we want you at the, when you're, you know, you're at 100% battery or 90% rather than, you know, the 65 or 70 sometimes you may be on their shifts. So the McKinsey-McKeckern assignment to Abbotsford was also overshadowed by some of the news, yeah. He's gone? Yeah, he's, uh, he was assigned to Abbotsford two days ago.

The modern M&M, McKinsey McCackern? Who do you think draws into the lineup tonight? Is it Reichel? Or is Bain still on the roster? We haven't seen him for a while. Yeah, no, he's still there. He's at every pregame warm-up. He's at every practice.

So you've got the younger Kinnock's player there with R.C. And I look at them. So if you look at, you know, the way that they skated, I still probably look at the overall effort of Vance as probably being the one that draws in. Reichel, the question I have is we've heard of the offensive pop I've seen flashes in Chicago

when he would carry the puck guys we saw elements of him carrying the puck through the zone, neutral zone really we've seen certain elements of that here in Vancouver but we haven't seen shots we haven't seen much of any offense so if you're looking for

especially further down the lineup in an energy role ours should probably be your guy that you look at because even if you get six or seven minutes you know there's a personality of he's going to try to bring in speed, he's going to try to bring in a forecheck. With Lucas Reichael, I think he's, if he's not

a top nine player, if he's not a player that can give you those top nine minutes on the wing, you know, is he a guy that you'd put on a fourth line with a sassone or Carlson? I don't necessarily think he's that type of player. So with Arche, you know, probably fits that profile a little bit more where you can play him on the fourth line

and he does inject a little bit of speed in that lineup. He can help on the forecheck. But is there going to be offensive finish? Probably not, as we've seen early in his career. So if I had to go in one direction, I'd probably say arch just based on the profile of the player. And with Reichel, you know, both of these guys, they're young, they've made mistakes defensively this season. But I think with Reichel, that's probably still a bigger question mark with him. And when you're playing a high-flying team like the ducks, not exactly the type of, you know, you don't want to be worrying about those defensive assignments. I'm not as

worried about that with Reifle because he'd be on the wing, but still, still a question mark in this game. We're speaking to Canucks color analyst, Randib Janda here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Randeeb, of course, will be on the call tonight when the Canucks take on the duck. Seven o'clock from Anaheim, you can hear it right here on SportsNet 650. I got one for you, Randeep. Does Adam Foote need to reconsider his deployment of in the amount of minutes he gives to Evander Cain? so this is kind of the conundrum you have if you're out of foot right like yes you look at avander's minutes and the shots are not the most efficient you've got the bad penalties like the unsportsman like conduct against calgary um and there's reasons to say hey you know until you prove that you can play top line minutes we're going to put you in second line or third line a role but here's the problem guys uh you don't really have players that can bring it to that level I would say you don't have competition for that first line spot

like when we start talking about you know Drew O'Connor or you start looking at other players like you need balance in the other part of your lineup so you're going to have to put Evander in another another role that is still pretty prominent it's going to be a first or second line role like in Edmonton I felt like he was on you know he could have played the top six he could have played the fourth line like there was a mobility within that lineup because you had the superpowers that were Connor McDated and Leon Dry said when you're saying

hey we've got interchangeable wingers these guys are going to drive play regardless. I don't think Vancouver has that depth. We talked about defensive depth with this team but for depth we're seeing where you have to look at the mix of the line and you have to see where he fits and you know when Evander's going he's bringing a four check

we haven't seen that often enough. When Evander's going he's scoring goals at all areas of the ice and we haven't seen that enough. We've seen a lot of shots but a lot of those shots are low percentage shots. So in terms of the ice time, personally, I would like it to see it a little bit less. I think, you know, I drew O'Connor getting a little bit more elevated time. I'd rather see that.

I'm Brock Besser. I think this hasn't been Brock's best stretch either, but, you know, he can probably give you a little bit more. Until Evander really starts going, you know, playing with his score check and his speed, I'd like to probably have them and more than a second line role in deployment. But here's the thing, guys. You know, do you, if you move them down the line, do you lose them? And that's the question with

Evander, right? Like, you don't want to lose them. Oh, no. We've lost Evander Kane. No, you know what I mean, right? Like, it's not, if you're worried about the vibes, you don't want to be dealing with that situation either, because the problem here is, you know, you don't have a replacement that's head and shoulders that much better than a vendor cane.

So, like, you know, that's why I say, to me, it's not that big of a deal if he's getting a little bit more deployment. But if he takes bad penalties, yeah, that's something that you can't live with. Absolutely. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.