Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 11/27/24

Episode Date: November 27, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including a big Canucks road win over the Bruins, they talk the latest NHL news with Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli, plus they set up tonight's Nucks matchup at the Pens 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. Jake DeBrusque scored in his return to Boston. Connor Garland had a goal and an assist, but Kevin Lankanen, he did the blanking in. His teammates should be thanking him. 32 saves, his second shutout of the year. You like that, admit it, laddie. 2-0 win for the Vancouver Canucks in Boston on Tuesday night.

Yeah, it wasn't the prettiest game, but a win is a win, and every once in a while, you're just not going to have it offensively. The Canucks still found a way to grind their way to a win. And now they won a ridiculous eight straight on the road. The Canucks blocked 26 shots on the night with 32 getting through to Lankanen, who was the star of the game. Let's hear now right away from head coach Rick Togvias. Jason, you're wrong. He's not just the first star of the game. Let's hear now right away from head coach Rick Togvias. Jason, you're wrong.

He's not just the first star of the game. Rick said he was the first, the second, and the third stars of the game. Here's Rick Togvias after a 2-0 win in Boston on Tuesday night. Well, it's definitely top. I mean, he was, you know, first, second, and third star. Like, he was very good tonight. Saw the puck extremely well. They made a couple of nice

where they were they think they were going to shoot it they're going to shoot they went back you know the cross ice and he just read it that's when you know their goal is on tonight so he made a couple of those saves they're tough saves he made tonight really tough so lincoln has bounced back really nicely after uh i would say a couple of so-so performances against the New York Islanders and the Nashville Predators. The New York Islanders one was the one I was like, oh, he's getting tired and he's kind of losing his focus a little bit. Nashville wasn't great either, but yeah, the Islanders.

No, but the Islanders were on, remember the third period? The pucks were getting through him. It was just like, it was an ugly night overall for the team, but that did include him. He bounces back, gets the win in Ottawa. The Sens scored a couple ones late on the power play and I guess with the goal he pulled. But the Bruins game, you know,

wasn't his first shutout of the season because he also shut out Philly earlier in the season in Philly. But I think that was his most impressive game. That's his best game as a Canuck. He wasn't the first, second, and third stars in Philadelphia. But one of the reasons he was, according to the head coach, he was the first, second, and third stars last night is because nobody else did much of anything.

No. Garland was good. DeBrus did his thing. But it was a Lankan show last night. They didn't play very well. I mean, I guess you would credit the Canucks for blocking 26 shots on the night. That's not typically how you want to play. But every once in a while, look, you're not going to have it.

You're not going to have your legs. And the other team is going to be playing motivated hockey. And the Bruins right now are playing motivated hockey and they are playing on a specific way under their new head coach, Joe Sacco. And they're getting back to, I guess, the Bruins identity of locking down games and being really good defensively. And the Canucks probably knew that. They probably watched the games that Joe Sacco had coached. It was a 1-0 win over Utah and a 2-1 win over Detroit. And they probably figured, listen, if we can get a goal or two, we had a chance to get a point or get a win in these games. So let's be really responsible defensively.

Let's keep the Bruins as much as we can to the outside. Let's block a bunch of shots, 26 shots. You know, Juleson had four block shots. Myers, Soucy, they had four blocks each. Hughes didn't have any. Not a team player, that guy. Selfish. Selfish. Selfish. Selfish. He thinks

he's, you think you're bigger than getting in front of a shot, Quinn Hughes? Again, the Canucks may not be thrilled with everything that happened last night, and frankly, maybe they even got a little lucky with some bounces, but, you know, we talked about this yesterday. That's exactly the type of game we predicted it would be. The Bruins can't score. No. They can't. And they were maybe a little unlucky that they didn't score a few last night.

But if you watch them play, you'd be like, wow, who are their scorers there? You know, Pasternak had some chances, I guess. But it wasn't like a crazy amount of chances. I did not notice Justin Brazow that much, their team score. You know, again, I think they probably went into that game and said, if we keep things tight and we get good goaltending from Lankanen, which we did, and if we can find a goal or two, we can win the game,

and that's exactly what happened. The power play came through for them when former Bruin Jake DeBrusque hopped on a loose puck that had deflected off a garland from a Quinn Hughes point shot. It wasn't pretty, but it's the kind of goal you can score when you just go, eh, screw all this passing it around on the perimeter. Let's just put the puck on net and go to the front of it. I actually think that's the main strategy of the Canucks power play these days.

I don't hate it. You know, pass it around a bit on the outside. Give it to Quinn. Waste a bit of time. Half-heartedly look for a Petey one-timer, and Petey's usually not even ready for it. He's like, don't give it to me. I'm not going to shoot this thing.

And then Hughes just, like, throws his hands up in the air, does some tap dancing at the point, and wrists one in. And once in a while, it'll bounce around. Sometimes it'll just go straight in. Once in a while, it'll bounce around in front of the net, and then someone will bounce on it, and it's a goal. If I was Yogi and I was coaching the power play, my philosophy would be Quinn should have the puck.

And then when Quinn doesn't have the puck, the question should be, when do we get it to him? And the answer should be quickly. It works. It worked yesterday. It was all right. They actually had the puck for a while before he finally flung one on net, but nothing was presenting itself. I didn't hate that power play, actually I saw the context of the game and it was like they're looking for something here

because I think one goal might win this game it was super low event like let's make no mistake you could tell right off the bat it was going to be a very low scoring game boring oh man I was struggling look it was exciting in the end when

it was exciting in the end when you're, it got a bit better. It was exciting in the end when you're like, okay, are they actually going to hold on? You know, the third period was a bit of holding your breath, wondering if the Bruins were finally going to break through. But yeah, the first two periods was a snooze fest. Sometimes at the beginning of the game, you can get a real sense of what the game is going to be like. Neither team had a single shot on goal

until David Pasternak unleashed the one timer at seven minute mark of the first period. Like that's that was the game in a nutshell. It was going to be really low event. Back to the power play, though. I didn't I could I almost felt like I knew what they what the mood of that extra man unit was. And it was, hey, this is a probably critical moment in the game for us. There's not a lot of penalties being called. We're probably not going to get a lot of looks on the power play.

And there's not going to be a lot of goals. So let's make sure we get something at the net here and not try the Pedersen one-timer off the edge or whatever. Now, I'll say this. Did you notice after Jake DeBrus scored, his muted celebration? Yeah. That was a guy that had thought about scoring against his old team, and he made up his mind prior to that it was going to be a very muted celebration.

If I was DeBrusque, I would have done the most elaborate goal celebration ever. I think they had just had a video welcoming him back, and then he scored. It's a very soccer thing to do, by the way. There's a big article in The Athletic talking about the complicated etiquette of celebrating against your former club. A lot of guys just really make a point of not celebrating at all. Right. I don't like that.

You should go out. Do the gritty. Come on. Embarrass them. I don't think to embarrass them. And embarrass yourself in the process. Yes, Andy. Come on. Embarrass them. I don't think DeBrus gets it. And embarrass yourself in the process. Yes, Andy. We should all be embarrassing everyone.

I get it. DeBrus didn't have any ill will towards the Bruins, it didn't seem like. Oh, no, no. He played there for over 400 games. He left in free agency. That's fine, right? So he went back, and it was a very muted celebration also. It ended up being the game-winning goal.

So I think that maybe he even understood. It's like, it's a big goal, yes, and it's important, but he kept that under wraps. I think it's going to be a very different type of game tonight in Pittsburgh against the Penguins because I think even if the Penguins did want to lock it down, like the Bruins, I don't know. They know how?

Completely incapable of doing it. This team is, and again, we hope we're not jinxing this, but the Penguins are the worst defensive team in the NHL. And whether you want to argue about if it's goaltending, if it's the players in front of the goalies, if it's Mike Sullivan's system, whatever. It doesn't matter. They allow a lot of goals.

And it's going to be, I think, a much easier game for the petterson line which got absolutely dominated last night in boston um yeah i know de brusque scored but that was on the power play at five on five they were pinned and i think they went up against the Lindholm line and the Lindholm line obviously didn't score because it was a shutout but territorial at least

DeBrusque, Pedersen and Sherwood had their worst game together as a trio Sherwood didn't even get his requisite 10 hits on the night I was just asking these guys back here did you guys notice Lindholm and Zdorov at all? I noticed Zdorov was trying to make some big things happen. He nearly clobbered Archie Baines in the first period.

Lindholm was pretty solid. He's never flashy, though. No, I know. He's not that kind of guy you really stand out. He was pretty solid. He got robbed by Lankan at one point, didn't he? Yeah. The thing that struck me with Lindholm

when he first came over to Vancouver was he doesn't play fast. He's not a fast player. He's super strong. He was very good in the playoffs. He's hard on the puck. He has a stiff stick. Yeah, he's a good net front, I thought.

He's a big, strong guy, and he's good positionally. And he's good net front He's a big strong guy And he's good positionally And he's good positionally in a lot of ways Because he doesn't skate that fast He has to be He just has to be in the right spots And he usually is And if you run into him

He's probably going to take the puck off of you He, to me, was a guy whose game was Much more useful Advantageous In tune with playoff hockey. Also, he was miscast right from the get in Boston as a 1C. On a good team, he's a 2C, and on a great team, he's a 3C, which is ideally what you want because he doesn't produce the points enough.

He's a maybe 50 to 60 point guy. Yeah, I know he got up into the 80s with Calgary, but he was also playing alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Kachuk. So that helped, right? In Boston right now, the way that they're playing right now probably fits his style of play even better, where he can go out and play the minutes that he's playing, gain, as you mentioned, a territorial advantage,

but not be counted upon to try and score 30 goals and end up with 80 or 90 points because it's not going to happen. I like this text from Wes from Nanaimo. You can text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. Wes says, How long have you guys been Canucks fans for? I've been watching this team as a diehard fan for over 30 years. Feels like you guys have been watching longer.

Don't we all know that the games like they play tonight are the ones they lose? Tonight will be the game that Crosby scores a hat-trick and the Penguins start a 10-game streak. I mean, I've been watching since... Start a 10-game streak, right. I've been watching since the Vancouver Millionaires. I don't know about you guys. Yeah.

I don't know. I think it's going to be... They should be the favorites in the game because, listen, Pittsburgh, I'm telling you, is bad. This is a team that has really lost its way. They're slow. They're not good defensively. And you keep thinking, like, well, they turn around.

They've got all this Hall of Fame talent. The Hall of Fame talent isn't what it used to be. But it won't be easy because the Canucks played last night in Boston. And whether this is fair or not, presumably, Seelov gets the start tonight. So that's a wild card. Let's put it a nice way. It's a wild card. His last outing allowed, it wasn't horrible, but he allowed four goals on 33 shots and a 4-3 loss to the Rangers. His overall save percentage is 857 and his only win came over Chicago. And we've gone over many times on this show that Chicago can't score.

And Conor Bedard isn't even getting shots on goal. And whether you want to blame Bedard or you want to blame the terrible team that he's surrounded with, they're not a good offensive team. That's his only win of the season. Yeah. So it's a wild card tonight.

I mean, in his starts, he's basically a minimum of three goals a game guy. He gave up six to Calgary in the opener. Then it was three to the Lightning. And that was a 4-1 loss because there was an empty netter. There was another six to New Jersey. As you mentioned, there was a decent game against Chicago in there. And then there was another four goals against the Rangers.

So it's a wild card in the sense that you don't know what you're going to get, except that you can kind of anticipate that there's going to be some goals surrendered. Now, the interesting thing here is that for now, at least for tonight, the Canucks only have a choice of two goalies, Kevin Lankanen or Artur Silovs. But soon, soon, it will be a third. Can we pull up the audio from Patrick Alvin yesterday before we play the talk and audio?

Patrick Alvin was on with the intermission with Murph yesterday, talking about a variety of things with the team, including Thatcher Demko. And it was the first kind of time that we actually got some semblance of a timeline, importantly, from a front office member, not some sort of media speculation. So Patrick Alvin was discussing JT Miller, which we can get to in a sec. And then, of course, it was about Thatcher Demko. When might he return to the lineup and how his progression from injury, returning from injury, is going?

Here is Canucks General Manager Patrick Alvin on with Murph yesterday in the first intermission of that aforementioned win against the Boston Bruins. I think he feels that he needs a couple more reps here to get into the rhythm. Tough when we don't have many practices here playing a lot of games. So we're just going to be patient. I mean, he's been working so hard and, again, showing how committed he is to come back to play for the Canucks and play for his teammates.

I don't envision that far away. He looks good to me in practice. So, good on IMAC, who's traveling with the team right now. He decided to ask Rick Tockett, especially after last night's game where Kevin Lankanen posted a 32-save shutout. When Thatcher Demko returns and he's healthy, is Lankanen still going to be playing a bunch? Might he retain this lion's share of starts?

Rick Tocca may be caught off guard by this one. Here's the question and answer after last night's game against the Bruins. You're growing attention on when Thatcher is going to get back. With what you've seen from Kevin Lankan in these 20 games, is he going to be part of the conversation, no matter what, from here on in? Well, I mean,

what's presented in front of you? I mean, he's playing very well. I mean, he's been great for us. So, you know, he's going to continue to play for us. I mean, I don't know how to answer that in the sense that he's not going to sit at the bench.

Okay. Just answering that. Okay. I mean, I'm not set by the bench. No, he's not going to sit the bench. Okay. Just answering that. Okay. I'm not set by the bench. No, he's been terrific. And like I said, he lives for the moment, you know, game to game, which that's what I love about him. Rick, does the name Wally Pip mean anything to you?

So are we all kind of targeting December 6th, Friday, December 6thth at home against Columbus for Demko's start? I know we're not. It's an old midweek Columbus game. No, it's Friday night. I've heard Lankanen has Taylor Swift tickets, so he's actually not available for that game. So Demko's going to have to start that game. That makes sense. Yeah.

By the way, that is going to be wild downtown. I just realized they're playing a home game that night. If you're going to that game, because I have a feeling that it's going to be more than just the people going to the Taylor Swift concert. I feel like there's going to be people down there just to be down there. At least 10 Canucks won't be in the lineup that night.

They'll be going to the... Taking the Sky Train to Vibe Central. That's how you're going to take all, like, you know, we've been... I've been to games when there's either a Lions game or even a big concert at BC Place and a Canucks game. Yeah, it's very busy. And it's busy, but I feel like this is going to be even crazier because I think there's going to be a lot of people

that are downtown for these concerts that just want to hear the concert while it's going on even though they can't get in I know it's been a problem like I know in Toronto uh they actually had the security setting for Taylor Swift like you can't you couldn't just hang around the stadium close by. And in other places, there's a word for it. It's like Swift gating or something like that. It's something weird where people will, they just want to be part of it. They don't have tickets, but they want to hear it. They're like, I can hear her.

And, you know, BC places like that. If you can hear what's going on. There's tickets to the gate. It's called Tay gating. There's tickets to the It's called Taygating. Swiftgating? Taygating? Thank you for the real Swifty weighing in. There's tickets to the concert There's tickets to the concert

they're selling where you're behind the stage. You can't even see her. And they're selling for $2,300. They should do like a watch party outside of the concert. Downtown. Invite everyone. Well, yeah, but there will be restaurants that host that sort of thing. Or bars that host that that sort of thing that's why i'm saying it's going to be wilder than normal feels like a demco night feels like a demco night right yeah and i i'm prepared for anything with demco and thank god lankanen is around because i would hate this to

be a scenario where it's like, thank God he's finally back. Oh, my God, the goaltending has been so bad. We need you back so badly, buddy. Okay, starting tonight, be amazing. Because I don't know if it's necessarily going to work like that. Just because not only the injury, the rust. Yeah. And the lack injury, the rust. Yeah.

And the lack of, the lack of, he didn't get any preseason games, he didn't get a training camp, he's just working his way back in, and it's like, all right, go. All it would take is one soft goal for people to be like, uh-oh, he's not ready yet. I get that, and I think that's why IMAX sort of asked the question. I think it's why it's a valid conversation.

Lankanen is easily a top 10 goalie in the NHL this season. I think you could maybe stretch it out if you want to look at some of the advanced analytics and say he might even be in the top five. He's got the two shutouts. I think the league leader is Hellebuck, who's got three. The same percentage dipped because of those aforementioned games

against Nashville and the Islanders, but he's still at a 9.09. He's top five in wins, which is the most important stat for all goalies. Actually, if you go to Moneypuck, goals saved above expected, he's right there. Yeah. No, no, he's average. Yeah, but in terms of the metrics. not he's not a top 10 goal in terms of the metrics that i'm throwing out he's you could make the argument that he's in that conversation right um to say like you said 909 i still think

the connects are pretty good defensive team though they are last night was a you know it's funny because i think a lot of people were sort of down on last night's performance uh in large part because the ice was so tilted and it wasn't a banner offensive night from the Canucks. I thought the shot blocking was good. I also thought, and it's funny, when we talk about Vanni Sartini getting sacked yesterday on the show and he had that quote that when you're not at your best, you have to find a way when you're maybe close to your worst. And you need to win games like this. Not be fortunate that you won games like this. I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying here, people at home.

You need to be able to win games like this. Good teams can go out and win games like this. Bad teams go out and put up a dud offensively and don't get anything out of it. Well, you don't want to have regular games where you're getting outplayed like the Canucks did last night in Boston I mean that's how it felt to watch the Canucks what five years ago yeah I was like oh god it's one of these again you know and I remember um the Canucks had a start to the season

where they were winning a bunch of games like that and you know Tanev and Edler were still there and they were gamely blocking shots and it was one of those things where you're like wow good for those guys blocking shots like that and sacrificing but this doesn't look good this is not trending in the right direction right but the Canucks haven't had a bunch of games like that and when that's not the type of team they are and if you do find yourself in a game like that it's nice to know that you have the ability to win them. Yeah, it's a versatility thing, right? You've got to be able to win games different ways

when you're playing 82 of them during a regular season. And if it's a combination of, well, our guys are going to get in front of a lot of pucks and so too is our goalie, you give it a clap. You give them a round of applause. You say, it wasn't a great night tonight. But thankfully, we've got a less daunting opponent tonight. Amazingly, I'm saying that about a team that has Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Molotov. We got to get going here, but Austin and Langley text in.

If Lankanen keeps playing like this, when do we look at extending him? If Lankanen keeps playing like this, the Canucks won't be able to afford him. Yeah. Because Lankanen, don't forget, didn't sign with the team until he signed with the Canucks because he thought he deserved more money. And ultimately, the Canucks won the game of chicken with him, and they signed him to a very low contract.

And Lankanen, I think, unless he's had a complete change of strategy, I think he's going to be like, no, I'm getting paid now. Big raise for you, Kevin. $900 going to be like, no, I'm getting paid now. Yeah. Big race for you, Kevin. $900,000. Yeah. $875,000. Yeah, exactly.

I mean, I don't think they're going to be able to afford him. He also, I mean, this has worked out great for him, though. I mean, this situation, very unique, where you get to join a good hockey team with the number one goalie out for an extended period of time. I mean, Lankanen could have gone to a lousy team and might have been join a good hockey team with the number one goalie out for an extended period of time. I mean, Lankanen could have gone to a lousy team and might have been ventilated and wouldn't have been able to show and put up the numbers that he's put up. I mean, he's going to be competing. I wouldn't even say for a backup job somewhere. Someone's going to look at it and say, like, we have to consider this guy as a 1B, maybe

a 1A, maybe a full-fledged starter. But you're right. The payday is going to be the big thing. And Artis Silov, if he's able to go down to Abbotsford and continue to work on his game and not face the pressures of being on an NHL roster night after night after night,

maybe his game grows and goes to another level where you're comfortable with him as a backup. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. To the phone lines we go. Frank Cervelli joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Frank. How are you?

Good, boys. How are you doing? We are well. I got a lot of things I want to ask you about. Jurecek and the goalie market, the Flames, the Rangers, and the Sens. But I want to start with the Vancouver Canucks. A broad overview as we get from the quarter mark here, game 20 to game 21, and then tonight in Pittsburgh,

what are you hearing on the Canucks front regarding anything? JT Miller, Thatcher Demko, whether the Canucks are just waiting to get everyone back in the fold before they figure out what they need moving forward. Do you have anything for us, Frank on the local hockey squadron? I do.

That certainly seems to be the plan that they want to, their, I do. That certainly seems to be the plan that they want to... Their quest is to get a full complement of players and roster as they built the team, really before making any more significant decisions beyond that. They haven't been able to do that, as we know, not just from Demko, but Dakota Joshua missed, obviously, a big chunk of the year to this point, and now Miller is out. I think the hope is that at some point, you know, when they get back, that potentially Miller could be back.

And that is still certainly in question, but I think there's lots of hope that Demko could make his return before the end of this trip. How would you classify the current temperature of the trade market? Because I was joking the other day. You've got two struggling teams in Pittsburgh and Nashville, and they managed to combine for the Phil Tomasino blockbuster. Not exactly shaking things up in a significant way, but it almost kind of struck me as something where it's like, well, they were able to make a move, which is a good thing. Otherwise, it's been very quiet to start the year and we are coming closer to American Thanksgiving, which is the first real sort of fence postmark for the NHL.

Yeah, I would classify it as simmering. We'll get to it in a second, but the David Juracek situation is ready to unfold. You've got a number of struggling teams, and you've got a team that at least in the standings isn't struggling in the New York Rangers, but has expressed a desire to shake things up. Look, I think there's been way more activity on the trade front in terms of conversation, not in terms of actual execution and getting something done,

but there's been way more chatter and conversation than a typical year for November. I can say that. Regarding Jiricic, were the Canucks ever in on this, or was it never an option for him in Vancouver? I guess it depends on how you would classify as in. Did the Canucks have conversations with the Columbus Blue Jackets about trying to acquire him? Yes. Did they ever seriously go anywhere? I don't think so.

I believe they presented an offer that Columbus needed a lot more. And so I don't think that the Blue Jackets, or I should say, I don't think the Canucks were willing to engage on a level that the Blue Jackets were looking for in order to try and get Jirichek. So certainly interested in the player, but unless there's a significant change in the package or what the Canucks are presenting, I don't believe he's going to be landing in Vancouver. What are the industry's thoughts on the player?

Because he's obviously a highly touted draft pick. He's only two years removed from his draft year. It hasn't been super overwhelming statistically at the NHL level, but it's also an organization in Columbus that has had problems building their prospects up and developing them into full-fledged NHLers. I feel like sometimes they rush guys along. So is this sort of a sense of Juracek is a guy that will flourish and blossom somewhere else, just maybe not necessarily in Columbus?

Yeah, that's the thought process, certainly from other teams and why they're so interested. They see a future 50 to 60 point power play quarterback at a six foot four right shot D that can step right in. And, you know, if not produce, you know, in a big way this year, maybe needing one more season potentially to go or at least a half year to play games in the AHL. That's the thought process around the league. I mean, he's a guy that's pretty close to ready-made, like knocking on that door in terms of his development path. So that's where the interest comes in. How it's devolved and unfolded in Columbus is an entirely different story and situation.

I think the tough part is the fact that it's spanned now two different regimes, two general managers, two head coaches. Look, last year and what took place, him getting shuttled back and forth between the NHL and AHL and being a very productive AHL player for almost 90-some games now, I think the hope was that this year would be a fresh start. So when he's been in the lineup, he hasn't really received much of an opportunity.

Playing 12 minutes a night, I think the tough part was when he started becoming a healthy scratch for 37-year-old Jack Johnson and Christensen and then now you pluck Dante Favreau off of waivers another right shot guy and all of a sudden he's in the lineup before you are I think that kind of I don't know if that was the nail in the coffin things were already pretty difficult I think for Juracek to see a path for himself in Columbus anyway but when that happened with Favreau was like man that's a really tough spot and that's why this has sort of picked up in a big way so the tough part is for Columbus he's probably exactly if you think about it long-term

perspective probably exactly what they need which is why they're taking their extra time to make sure that they get the right package in return. So who wants the move more here? Do the Blue Jackets want to trade him and get something good in return? Or does Juracek want a fresh start somewhere else? No, I would classify it as Juracek wanting a fresh start somewhere else. I think they've made it known to the Blue Jackets, like, look, we don't see a path here. It's clear that with the way you're deploying us, me, you don't see a path for me here,

so let's just call it what it is and move on. We're speaking to Frank Cervelli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. The goalie market, Frank, sure seems as though Carolina and Colorado would be two teams interested in adding a guy. I guess the question is, who do you add?

Who would be available right now? Is it John Gibson and then not a lot of other good options? Yeah, I'd add in Dan Vladar, a guy who was on our trade targets board last week. Look, Dustin Wolf has grabbed the ball and run with it in Calgary. He's getting more and more of the work share. He's going to get more difficult competition,

which Vladar really shouldered for most of the first quarter of the season for Calgary. And he's a pending unrestricted free agent. I think the asking price on Vladar is a second-round pick. Coincidentally enough, Colorado's second-round pick for this upcoming draft already belongs to calgary but is there something that colorado can do to help fix this 855 save percentage like we're on track to be if you're the avalanche the the worst save percentage of any team in the salary cap era like hard to do i think the blue jackets a few years ago were 864 and that was

one of the worst in a long time 855 is unexplainable so um they it feels like they're the most urgent need i understand the point that people have made about carolina and their goaltending situation given fred given Freddie Anderson's pension for injuries and the fact that Kochetkov went down over the weekend. But to me, Kochetkov, look, you never know with concussions, but it seems like he's responded, at least according to Carolina sources, better or more quickly than a lot of people might have envisioned, given the nature of it. And he's really not insanely far away from coming back so can spencer martin hold down the fort between now and then for a team

that has never really placed a ton of value in going out and spending to acquire a goalie you mentioned dan vladar and the calgary flames and calgary's been a very good story this season as we get closer to american thanksgiving they are in a playoff spot. I don't think a lot of people anticipated that. They play hard, and it's a tough team to play against on a nightly basis. I was listening to a hit that you had earlier in the week, and you were talking about, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, but someone from the Calgary executive saying that part of the reason they're having success this year is they've got guys that actually want to be

and play in Calgary. If I've got that right, can you expand on it a little bit further? Because I think it's really interesting. Yeah. So think about the guys that were out the door last year. The door off made his trade request. He lands in Vancouver relatively soon. Lindholm rebuffs the flames on a massive contract offer. He gets sent the door jacob markstrom expressed his unhappiness with the team's competitive path he's gone and it's not that those guys are bad guys or malcontents or anything like that i think at a certain point everyone in that room was looking over their shoulders saying okay who's next what are we doing here who's going to be

here for the long term? And it created a really tough environment for those guys, I think, as soon as they got out of their cars every day at the rink. It was clouds over their head, tough place to be. And the losing obviously certainly doesn't help. This year heading into camp, not only did they kind of clear the room of players who didn't want to be there, but there also seemed to be this us-against-the-world mentality that that group has latched onto

that we've seen in NHL history in terms of a path to the playoffs can actually be a pretty powerful thing. There's been a number of teams in recent years that have that sort of aura and vibe around them, and Calgary this year has a bit of that and so just speaking to people in their front office like they've said hey last year even after wins being in our dressing room or around it wasn't a place you wanted to be this year totally different feel uh the goaltending has certainly helped in a big, big way, particularly for a team that struggles to score. They've been 18 consecutive games now without scoring more than three goals in regulation. I just think there's power to the energy that they have, and the goaltending can carry them a long way. I'm telling you, if they continue to get this goaltending can carry them a long way. I'm telling you, I, if they continue to get this goaltending,

I don't see the flames missing. And is it fair to suggest that if this continues along, it'll alter whatever people might've thought that the flames might do going into the trade deadline? Well, I, I, maybe there was a misconception about that from the beginning.

Cause I don't think the flame has really wanted to try and make significant moves this year, given all that we just talked about. They really wanted to try and keep this group together as long as they could and wanted to subtract or minimize the noise around the group. So Anderson, Rasmus Anderson, was a guy that people had focused on really early on, mostly just for pure, hey, typical hockey deadline deal. This is a guy that has a year left on his deal, could be really valuable as having a fantastic season.

Might the Flames have to do something? I think really maybe outside of Dan Vladar, there's not really a ton that they have to do, and it better be something good if if they're going to want to do something if that makes any sense like not to say that they're not going to just that um if they're going to make a trade it's going to be for something of significant value to get back yeah they're not just going to be like all right fine we'll trade everything that we can um so the New York Rangers um when the news broke that they might want to shake up the roster and I saw Chris Kreider's name out there I was

like what like aren't the Rangers their record looks good and then I figured maybe I should watch one of their games so I tuned in to their performance against the Blues the other day at MSG and I know that was a big game for the Blues because it was Jim Montgomery's first game in charge of the Blues. So maybe they had some extra juice because of that. But the Rangers were dreadful, man. Not only did they lose the game, they could have lost it by a lot more than they did. And maybe I got a better understanding of why management is impatient with this team. What's going on there?

So the long and short of it is that Chris Drury, their GM, sent a memo to all 31 other teams saying that he's open to shaking things up, open for business. And two of the names specifically that were mentioned in the memo that are available that he's interested in dealing are Jacob Truba, the captain, and Chris Kreider. Now, the Kreider part, I think, caught even some Ranger fans by surprise, given his value as a net front presence. Truba, no one's surprised at. And i think there's some thought within the rangers front office that they're just not at the echelon that they need to be you mentioned the eye test and certainly they're not passing that from a pure standing standpoint they're fine they're right in the mix 12 7 and 1 and i think a couple teams that are much below them and the standings have kind of said oh well the rangers are going to shake things up what does that mean for the sins and the red

wings and you know a bunch of other teams that are sort of in that same mix but lower um i think when you consider the big picture from the new york rangers how do you get out of the east how do you have a chance to compete for a Stanley Cup I think the loss to the Florida Panthers last year really kind of said to them we've got a ways to go to get there to beat a team like that and as much as they maybe wanted to make some changes last summer for for cap, for things that didn't materialize or couldn't get over the finish line, for no trade causes that ended up hamstringing their summer. They weren't able to do as much surgery as they maybe wanted to. And now this is, with this somewhat at times lifeless start,

this is perhaps the time to revisit it. So who would some of the motivated dance partners be here? Ottawa, would they be in the mix with philadelphia be in the mix i'm trying to think of you know teams that are maybe looking to do the dance with the rangers here if anyone well that's the tougher part is finding matches just based on the way the nhl works in general right you've got teams kind of in different piles or camps of, hey, we're a rebuilding team. We're looking for futures. Hey, we're a win-now team.

We're looking for right now to help us. And I think, unfortunately, there's not enough intermingling between some of the teams that are in relatively similar circumstances or situations. There's, it's so rare to see a, yeah, I'll trade you bow and Byron for Casey Middlestat. Like we don't see the traditional and I hate the term hockey trade.

We don't see that anymore. And I wish we did because it'd be so much more fun to talk about and instead we're trying to kind of piece together hey uh I can trade you uh Chris Kreider uh that's the thing you're at you're asking about a dance partner okay so who are the teams that could use Chris Kreider that are in a win now mode okay so if you find a list of them, that's great. But which current piece are they willing to pluck off of their roster in order to send back to a Rangers team that ultimately wants to chase a Stanley Cup?

Hard to do. Yeah, I hear you. Frank, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it, as always. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Wednesday. See you guys.

See you later. Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. To the phone lines we go. Randy Bjanda joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Randy? What's going on, boys? How are you? We're well.

Thanks for taking the time to do this today. And shout out to you. I was listening to the postgame show on the way in this morning at like 5.20 a.m. and there was Randeep astutely pointing out on the postgame show that Jake DeBrasque had a soccer-esque, no celebration celebration when

scoring against his former team and Randeep came through with an Eric Cantona reference no less. I heard that too. Very well done, Randeep. You know that was a recording of the postgame show though, right? Oh, really? You weren't doing that live? I just assumed you stayed up. They didn't go all night.

It was a marathon, guys. We kept on going. What did you think of the game last night? Obviously, Kevin Lankanen was the first, second, and third star according to Rick Tockett.

Who was the fourth star? Connor Garland. Overall, Kevin Lankanen was the story last night guys 32 saves you talked about it um i thought a lot of bend but not breaking that game from the vancouver canucks and listen sometimes the five on five game is not gonna be there but can you still win games and kevin lankanen uh just being able not only to have a strong game, guys, but he looks so confident, he looks so big, and he looked fresh. He looked like he's, you know, that fatigue that we were maybe talking about a week ago last week. He didn't have that.

He also had that lateral movement where the Boston Bruins did try to go, you know, east-west on some of their plays. That guy had a fantastic opportunity. And it was no beating Kevin Lankanen. So I would say the story, no doubt, was his play. But Vancouver was opportunistic. I mentioned Connor Carlin. I thought his puck pursuit, his motor.

I think he had a little bit more in that hometown game, just being from Boston and a little bit outside of the city. There was an extra motor, I think, in his game. But I thought, of course, the game story, Kevin Lankanen, when you get goaltending like that, you get confidence from it. Do you think the Canucks went into that game expecting a tight checking, low scoring game based on the first two games that the Bruins had played under Joe Sacco and one was a 1-0 win Utah, and the other was a 2-1 win over Detroit? Oh, yeah, no doubt about that, right? This is a team that gave up, what, 44 shots in their first two games.

So you talk about the goals against for sure, they only gave up one, but even shots, they've been suppressing those shots pretty good, keeping a lot to the outside in those first couple of games. So Sacco has committed defensively and got his team trying to just hunker down defensively rather than taking chances with a number of giveaways and being a little too aggressive perhaps on the defensive side. So that was a game knowing the way that a new coach goes in trying to teach defense to a team that has kind of lost their way.

And we saw that throughout the evening, guys. This is a Boston team. They have a big defense. They have the biggest defense in the NHL. And they're doing a better job of making sure that you really have to fight for the middle of the ice. So credit to the Bruins. They've had to really simplify their game.

But that being said, when you play that defensive, offensively, you don't have much going on. And that's why they're the lowest scoring team in the NHL going back really the entire season, but especially even in these last two games. So if you can pick your spots against this team, they're going to have a very, very difficult time scoring. And that's even with a David Pasternak. We saw that yesterday.

But, you know, credit to Vancouver as well because they committed defensively. We talked about Lankanen, no doubt. But when you have 26 blocked shots, you have four players, you know, with three-plus blocked shots in that game, including Noah Juleson, Carson Soucy, and Tyler Myers, I think there was, all right, we can get the lead against this team.

We might not necessarily be able to break into the inside, but then you've got to commit defensively. You've got to eat a lot of pucks, and Vancouver did that. Do you think it's going to be a pretty different game tonight in Pittsburgh? Oh, yeah. You go from a team that doesn't give up anything the last three games to a team that has lost their way defensively. You give up six goals to Utah,

which is not a juggernaut on an offensive team themselves. The Pittsburgh Penguins, a couple of things here, right? They're a five-man unit on the ice. Whoever's on the ice, whether it's a top line, Sidney Crosby, or the bottom six, yeah, stopping pucks right now and keeping a defensive shape is really a problem for them. Kyle Dubas and the defense he's been able to put together there, or lack thereof, is a real problem.

I think there's been a lot of discussion about Marcus Pettersson being on the trade block, but you look at all the other names, and I'm including Chris Letang and Eric Carlson in that, they've got some issues. And goaltending, yeah, local kid, you feel bad for Tristan Jari, but it's been a season from hell for him. Nedeljkovic, who started off the season well, he's dropped off as well.

So I think tonight there's got some goals in it. Of course, the second of a back-to-back is going to be tough for Vancouver. As they say, schedule loss, but it's opposition in Pittsburgh. They're in a bad way right now, guys, even though they got a couple of nights of rest and and a couple of days of rest uh in a game against pittsburgh against any opposition this year there can be goals uh in in between the first and second periods

last night on the panel uh david amber who had on the show this morning and luke gazik were doing the breakdown of the shop locking and they had uh carved aside about a minute and a half to talk about eric brandstrom who who was doing a nice job on the defensive side of things, and I think they wanted to make the point that for all of the things that Brandstrom has in his arsenal offensively, the defensive side of his game has been noticeable, and that's probably why he's solidified himself, at least for now, in that defensive rotation.

He might even get more minutes as time goes along. This is another one. I call them the big three of cheap contracts now for the Vancouver Canucks. Kiefer Sherwood, Kevin Lankanen. I think I'm ready to put Brandstrom in that conversation only because that's... Didn't play a whole lot last night, though. No, but they gave him the spot shadow at the intermission, I think just to kind of highlight the fact that he was doing defensive things,

even though he's a defenseman by trade. I guess everyone naturally assumes that he's more of an offensive guy, but I think overall, collectively, you've got to be pretty happy with the performance he's put forth. Oh, for sure. And this is a guy that the biggest question

heading to Vancouver and for the remainder of the season, guys, it's still an unanswered question, but he's shown progress in that. And there's that one shot block on Charlie McAvoy yesterday where he's in position. He ends up shattering a stick on the shot block on Charlie McAvoy yesterday where you know he's in position he ends up shattering his stick on the shot block but he's in position

he's ready to absorb that and I thought Vancouver as a team did a really good job of fronting the Boston Bruins yesterday the defensemen were a part of that but Branson the way that he you know got in position he was lined up he was you know laughing on the bench uh after it broke his stick and and to to me you know this is a player that is when we talk about developing a team identity and developing a fitting that team and of course vancouver it took a while for them to kind of get into that they're still forming it but brandstrom comes to vancouver understands what they're trying to do and understands where maybe his deficiencies are. It's a very similar conversation to Daniel Sprung, but here's the difference.

Branstrom is actually doing work on it and making progress, whereas Sprung, even though his heart might have been in it and he was talking about changing his game and making progress, it never worked out. I like Branstrom for two reasons. Offensively, of course, we've seen it throughout his career. He's committing defensively, but he's also showing a little bit of edge here, guys,

which is really important. Even yesterday, he gets into the grill of Mark Kastelik, who is one of the toughest guys in the NHL. He beat the brakes off of Luke Shen last month. And, you know, for Branstrom to just step up to him in a scrum, it's a small thing, but for me, it's also a big thing to say he's showing something different. I watched a little bit of Brandstrom when he was in Ottawa, and he was kind of like a flair defenseman where he gave you some offensive flair.

But, you know, he was a pretty soft defenseman. He wasn't blocking shots. He wasn't in those scrums. Since he's come to Vancouver, we've seen something different. It's like a flip switched, and that's exactly what Vancouver needs. So even if it's 13 minutes, are you getting a good 13 minutes from him? And the answer right now is yes. Well, I think he might play more tonight in Pittsburgh, given the style.

But last night was more of a Noah Juleson type of game, and Juleson actually had the third highest ice time of any defenseman. Hughes and Hronick were obviously one and two, but it was Juleson that was number three. I guess you got to credit guys like Juleson and Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers just for that was their type of game. And they stepped up and blocked a lot of shots. Yeah, you talked about Noah Juleson. He played 1949 yesterday, which is, you know,

a big number for a player that usually is on that third pair, but, you know, three plus minutes of that was shorthanded. And those aren't easy minutes. Those are box out minutes, block shot minutes, you know, stepping up into the neutral zone and trying to kill attacker, squash an attacker, as Rick Tucker calls it, winning battles in the corner. So, you know, 19-24 of just playing, you know, honest, hard, you know, hockey, right? Like that is something that it's not going to be something that's going to be, you know, all over the highlight reel.

Because Juleson plays a pretty simple game, but that's what's needed on this team. So I think that was a huge game for Noah Juleson to build that confidence to play against some of Boston's players. And listen, Boston was trying to attack the blue ice. They were trying early on in that game to make life difficult for Kevin Lankanen and jam pucks through. So the Canucks defenseman, whether it was Noah Juleson, Tyler Myers, who played just under under 19 minutes and Carson Soucy,

who we've talked a lot about on this show, another 19 minute guy last night. Those weren't easy minutes. Those are minutes where you're, you know, you're eating cross checks. You have to dish out your fair share as well. And, you know, Carson Soucy, I think, has it been a challenging season for him? Absolutely. But the last couple of games, we're starting to see that Carson Soucy that can win those battles.

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