Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 11/29/24

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they set up an early Canucks game in Buffalo this afternoon with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal, plus the boys tell us what they learned. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. I think Rona is going to be out a while. I didn't like what I was hearing this morning. No! God, please, no! No! No! The game is over. The Bears won't even get to fourth down. They leave Detroit with a timeout in their pocket.

How in the world can that happen? It's the Bears. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the

Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics

provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Raffi, what are you waiting for? Kintec. What a big show we got today. Big day for the National Hockey League. No games yesterday, so there's 14 today, including a matinee, an afternoon affair for your Vancouver Canucks. A 12 o'clock puck drop in Buffalo today.

I'll get to our Sportsnet 650 scheduling in just a moment here. 12 o'clock our time, 3 o'clock Buffalo time. 12 o'clock our time, 3 o'clock Buffalo time. Never been good with the time zones. I know our times, though. 6.30, Brady Henderson from ESPN Seahawks Insider is going to join the program. It's the Seahawks.

It's the New York football Jets on Sunday. Aaron Rodgers and the Jets hosting the Hawks. Hawks are two-point road favorites. We'll talk to Brady about all that at 6.30. 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza is going to join us. I lamented to AJ yesterday. I was not able to go by for American Thanksgiving. They opened up at 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza is going to join us. I lamented to AJ yesterday. I was not able to go by for American Thanksgiving. They opened up at 9 o'clock.

I was just too busy and I wasn't feeling great yesterday. So I'll catch up with AJ today and we'll give away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza. Did they have any turkey pizza? They had breakfast pizza. No turkey pizza. You should try a turkey pizza. You can table that. A turkey on a pizza. When we talk to AJ at 7 o'clock.

Mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy. Okay, that's enough. That's enough. I got it. 602, already enough out of you. Did you watch all the games yesterday? Yes. Okay.

Not bad, actually. Not bad. Not bad. It wasn't the greatest. The Bears-Lions game, which we'll get into, is obviously the talking point from the day. But decent job from the NFL from carving something out of some pretty weak matchups. A seven Oh five,

Paul Hamilton's going to join the show from WGR sports radio, five 50 in Buffalo. We will get a preview from the saber side of things today. A seven 30 mode is going to join the program. Eight o'clock. It's Rick Dollywall. A reminder. We are giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

To the best, ask us anything or what we learned. Oh, by the way, it is Ask Us Anything Friday on the program. If you want to ask us literally anything, Dunbar-Lemertech's line, 650-650. Get them in, hashtag them, A-U-A. And then we're going to give away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. We're going to get into everything right now.

Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that?

What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools or resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. It was not good news for the Vancouver Canucks yesterday. Although the club has yet to confirm any of the news that we are about to pass your way, there are multiple reports out there, including one that we're going to play in a moment here from Elliot Friedman. The Vancouver Canucks blue liner,

Phillip Hirona could be out a while. That was Fried's designation with a suspected shoulder injury after an awkward collision late in the game against Pittsburgh the other night. And Rick Talkett is going to meet with the media about half an hour after our show ends. 9.30 our time, 30 buffalo time there's no game day skate because it's a weird start time but rick tocket will meet the media and he's going to get some questions um we actually kind of broached this during the show but it felt like we were scared to even entertain the idea of what the Canucks defense could look like without Philip Hronick

for a long time. I'm serious. Like scared as in like I don't want to deal with this. I don't even want to talk about it. I don't even want to talk. I don't even want to entertain it. And we all saw the play at the end of the Pittsburgh game when Hronick goes into the boards awkwardly.

I don't think it was a super dirty play by anyone on the Penguins. It was just he got caught off balance a little bit, got shoved a bit, and then fell into the boards and, I don't know, separated shoulder. Who knows? I have put a bounty on Jack St. Ivany's head. Right. Jack St. Ivany. That's the guy that did it.

Jack St. Ivany. Sounds like a kind of soap. It's like, are you using your St. Ivany soap? I am. I'm like, yeah, it separated my shoulder. It made me slip in the shower. Does that mean the right side is now Myers, Day, Harnaid, Jolson? We'll get into that in the second day, dog.

Yeah. I mean, that's what we were scared of. I think we actually said, well, I think it was like, imagine their right side with, and we were kind of like, all right, well, what do you do? Do you put Juleson with Hughes? They've played together a little bit before.

You reunite Susie Myers and say like, guys, figure it out. Pretty much. Just figure it out. No more messing around. Play better hockey. And then the third pair is what? De'Arne and Brandstrom? out pretty much just figure it out no more messing around play better hockey and then the third pair is what day or nay and brandstrom well we don't know yet we are going to find out

at 9 30 he's out for a long time yeah we know that and i think it's going to be a month let's go to the audio now here is elliot friedman this was right after we got off the air yesterday on the fan hockey show uh elliot friedman with his update on Philip Hronik. Unfortunately, I think Ronek's going to be out a while. I don't know exactly what is going to go on there, but I didn't like what I was hearing this morning. He's a really good player for them. I mean, look, they rotate their pairs a bit but he obviously plays a lot with hughes and when your d is banged up or

it struggled as much as uh as theirs has at times down the lineup you know guys like that take on extra importance but you know i always say if you're gonna get banged up you might as well get it out of the way now. And the other thing, too, is that Vancouver's built itself up a bit of pad. Like they're not 100 percent secure, but they're not 100 percent secure. But they're you know, they're they've gotten themselves off to a good start. Now, I think the interesting thing I always wonder about here is timelines because, you know, their D has struggled, they've battled injuries, and you know that Rutherford and Alvin like to deal, right? But you always have to prepare for guys coming back. Like,

as you mentioned, Besser's back, Demko is coming back very soon miller will be back um so you have everything you do you have to do in the sphere of you've got to be able to activate all these guys and play all these guys right so um i'm always careful about that but you know we'll see what the timeline is i just don't know so three putt shane texts into the Dunbar-Lemmer text line, 650-650, and he writes, this is where Talkett earns that Jack Adams award. Well, he earned it last season too, but he said anyone could win the Jack Adams

when your team scores at historic percentages and have relatively no injuries. Time to embrace the hard, Talkit. Yeah. Yep. I did, I was on with Kipper and Bourne yesterday and Kipper asked me, you know, what is Talkit, how has Talkit been throughout all this?

And I kind of said, like, I think he's just trying to maintain his composure. Yeah, he is. Throughout all this, like, he's trying not to freak out, at least publicly. We don't know what he's like behind the scenes, but I imagine he's looking at this right now and going, first of all, I can't necessarily count on any help coming from a trade. We don't know if a trade is going to happen.

I'm sure he's in contact with Patrick Galvin and Jim Rutherford, but it's a tough situation for management too. And I know that was kind of the conversation a lot on the station yesterday. Do you make a trade now? Well, what are you willing to give up? Would it be better to just wait and see

if you can survive this for the next little while? Because any GM that sees the situation the Canucks are in, not going to give them a sweetheart deal. You're not going to get a really effective defenseman for not much. And these are the types of situations when you can really make mistakes. And I think the entire organization has to show some composure here. Because like Freed mentioned, they've had an okay start.

They're 11-7-3. They're in a playoff spot. So they can't afford to lose 10 in a row or anything, but they can afford a stretch where they go I don't know four and six over the next 10 and then hopefully make it up a little bit they might fall a little bit out of a playoff spot but if they can just grind out some wins or grind out some games where they can get it to overtime and get a point even if they don't win that would go a long way towards them surviving this little thing

and then getting guys back eventually like Miller will be back soon hopefully Demko will be back soon and be effective hopefully and that means you could go with Demko or Lankanen right as opposed to Lankanen or oh Seelov'sovs. Right. And then, you know, before you know it, hopefully, Hronik is back, and then you might be in a better position then to make a trade, not out of panic, but just like, yeah, we want to.

I will say, it is kind of funny how last season, it was this perfect storybook season, incredible. And this year, it's like, every week it feels like something horrible happens. It's like the exact opposite of last year's vibes are now being bestowed upon Canucks fans.

Like, well, you like last year? Well, welcome to reality, boys. That's exactly what I was saying on Fan 590 yesterday. It's almost comical. And I was going through some of the things. I think it started with the goaltending situation as a whole, right? And that included Demko's weird injury,

included the goalie coach drama, and we'll see if that has any effect because Demko's coming back and he doesn't have his guy, Ian Clark, working with him on a regular basis. And then we went into the season and Pedersen still looked not great. And then Besser got hurt. And then JT Miller left the team. You know, I mean, am I missing anything here in terms of all the...

Did you mention Dakota Joshua? Dakota Joshua, right? I mean, that was, you know, it's not high vibe stuff, right? I mean, it was really tough for him, and thankfully he's okay, and he's back in the lineup now. But, man, it's just complete opposite. Last season didn't go all great for the Canucks, but the first half was incredible.

The vibes were high, though, and now it's like anything that can go wrong is starting to go wrong. Right, but okay, so you said that, and that's accurate. You have to finish the sentence with, and they've survived it. Yep. That's the key to this whole thing. It has not sunk them to the point where they're down with the the nashvilles and the chicagos and the san jose's of the world who are currently um operating out of

the western conference basement so in terms of for quinn hughes right and so in terms of actual corresponding moves in the aftermath of this chronic injury and i will remind you none of this has been made official by the club yet. We presume that it will be at around 9.30 this morning when Rick Talkett meets with the media. According to the official NHL roster site, the Canucks have opted to bring up Mark Friedman from the American Hockey League affiliate in Abbotsford. This shouldn't come as any huge surprise to anybody. They need a body. They need a healthy guy that can play on the defense. Some will remember that Friedman got knocked out cold

during a game with Abbotsford and was actually stretchered off. He has since recovered from that. He has played a handful of games and given that he's played close to 100 games at the NHL level, he was the next logical call up when you're dealing with something

on the road and you need an NHL capable defenseman at the ready. Friedman up. Archdeep Baines down, again, according to the NHL roster site. And they've been forced to sit some veterans anyway down in Abbotsford just because they want to play some younger players. They're flush with defensemen down there.

Danny in Brookswood texts in and says, how long does Hironic need to be out for for it to impact our cap situation uh slash help accrue cap space i never totally understood how that all works um yeah here's the thing they wanted to accrue cap space by not using ltir so no one's been on LTIR this season. We'll see if they can continue doing that because if they were to acquire a defenseman, a significant defenseman, they might have to put Hronik on LTIR. But I don't know.

You know, the thing with that is if you acquire a significant defenseman and you put Hronik on LTIR, eventually you got to get down to the cap number, right? So I don't know what's going to happen. You know, the trades out to create a ton of cap space because his new contract extension doesn't kick in until next season when the cat when his cap hit goes up to three million dollars so there is all sorts of complications going on for the Vancouver Canucks right now on the subject of Nils Holander, we've got some audio on him as well.

Rick Dollywall yesterday talking about the latest on the beleaguered forward who isn't getting a lot of ice time under Rick Tockett, isn't putting up a lot of points, and as you mentioned, does have that new contract in hand. Here now, Rick Dollywall on Nils Hoaglander. Okay, so I got a little bit of an update on Hoaglander this morning.

He's obviously in Rick Tockett's doghouse. This is almost like, Ryan, Kuzmenko-like what's happening. I was told this morning that all parties, including Hoaglander's agent, Alain Noir, are trying to get things back on track for Hoaglander. All parties want the same thing. They want for Hoaglander to play well and get his confidence back. There has not been a trade request made by the agent, but he has picked up the phone and he has called the Canucks.

There is concern from the agent's side. You do hear his name pop up in trade rumors, Ryan. Canucks are making calls on the market right now. You do hear Team Zwan Hoaglander. It does not sound like the Canucks want to move him right now if they're working with the agent to fix this. I'll be very curious to see what happens over the next week. I'll be very curious because I could definitely see everyone saying,

let's take a breath. Let's pause. Let's not freak out. Our pets' heads are not falling off. Let's see what happens. Can's not freak out. Our pets' heads are not falling off. Let's see what happens. Can't I freak out? Let's see what happens when we get Demko back in the lineup and then when JT Miller returns to the lineup.

Now, I wonder if that could all happen or both those things happen on Friday, December 6th against Columbus because that's the one we've been circling for Demko's. Taylor Swift day. Taylor Swift day. It's going to be wild downtown that for. Taylor Swift Day. Taylor Swift Day. It's going to be wild downtown that day. Taylor Swift's going to be in town.

Downtown is transforming, by the way. I walk to work, go up to Granville or Georgia every day, and it's like there's all these crazy displays up now. It's insane. Yeah, it's almost like she's a big deal. I guess. Some sort of artist. But anyway, to my earlier point,

when 3-Punch Shane texted in about how talk, it's going to earn the Jack Adams, which again, I agree with Jason. He did that last year. Now it's prove it time. I do wonder if this is the perfect opportunity for him to say, boys,

you see those hatches over there. We're going to batten them down and we're going to batten them down real good. We, and not unlike what the Boston Bruins have done in the aftermath of firing Jim Montgomery and bringing in Joe Sacco, you can do low-event hockey in this league. Yeah, lock it down, man.

You can lock it down in this league. Aaron from Coquitlam, who is a Leafs fan, texts in and said, thinking of you guys and Canucks Nation. Thanks, Aaron. Thanks, Aaron. But glass always half full. Players can surprise when pushed into roles. My Leafs went 7-2-0 without Austin Matthews

and missing 7-8 forwards a night. Rise up, look at each other in the room, and embrace adversity. The Canucks will gain from this mentally. Yeah, hopefully. You know, they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I always push back on that. It says, yeah, but it might kill you. It could kill you.

I don't know. I've never liked that because if you get hit by a semi-truck and it doesn't kill you, you will definitely be weaker. Unless you get stronger. You won't, though. You will be in a lot of pain. You narrow back, right? Oh, yeah.

Clearly someone here hasn't been hit by a semi-truck yet. I do think that there's a couple of opportunities here, and one is for Talkit to re-implement the importance of defensive trademarks and hallmarks and places that you need to be. I think there's also an opportunity. I think he's been doing that. I think, but here's the thing.

I think you can go out now with the explicit purpose of we are prevent. We are in prevent mode. Oh, that's what we are. That's what they did in Boston. It's not what they did in Pittsburgh. Well, no. I think Seelow's put them in an early hole there because if you give up an early

goal and then a bunch more, then you're like okay, we can't lock it down now. We've got to run and gun. I thought that the mentality in that game should have been the first period is to protect Artie at all costs yeah yeah we have to do whatever we can well they did man do you see no did you see the first goal though the first one was bad the first goal and then the second and thirds were defensive breakdowns yeah okay i i'll give you that but you know it was one of

those situations where i think they got rattled as soon as Artie led in that first goal. Oh, I do as well. Yeah, yeah. And he did too. And he did. You know, Wills got rattled. And that was also, listen, that was also the second game of a back-to-back on the road after a game in Boston that I think was probably quite physically taxing

because they were, they didn't have the puck much yeah and when you don't have the puck that's exhausting anyone who plays beer league hockey knows when you go out against a team that's better than you or playing better than you and they have the puck all the time you're just like man this is exhausting you're trying to get in the lanes you're running around a lot you're trying to close up passing lanes. You're not controlling the play. So you're not in control of your own energy expenditure. You have to go out and react as opposed to try and put your imprint on the game. And that is one of the challenges.

And it is one of the drawbacks of saying, okay, we're going to play a lock it down style. We'll bring it to soccer. Do you, how many times have you seen it in a, in a soccer game where a team tries to play park the bus soccer, and then they hold on, they hold on, they hold on. But eventually there's a breakthrough late in the game because they just

can't hold on long enough. Yeah, it happens because it's exhausting trying to do that. But the other part of it is you get it to penalties and in the hockey parlance, that's one point. Yeah other part of it is you get it to penalties and in the hockey parlance, that's one point. Yeah. Just get it.

Just get it as deep as he can and keep it going. Okay. The Canucks have got to play tournament football. Yeah, seriously. They do for the next few weeks anyway. Well, and they also need to get some clarity on what's going on with Vincent

Desharnais, who was nursing an injury at last blush. Like when we last got an update, it was about a week and a half ago that he was dealing with a minor injury, and that was what had kept him on the shelf. You would, this is, again, I'm not saying this is a golden opportunity, but it is an opportunity. He needs to play. He needs to work through whatever he's doing,

and he needs to figure out whatever's going on so that they can make a definitive statement of we think there's something here or this is going to be a problem that we're not able to fix where would you um are you gonna get me to do the pairings i have no idea i went i was going over them this morning like i do think that there's some validity to keep hughes with a guy that's going to be 100% defense stay at home. I guess it's maybe Juleson. I guess. I don't know.

It's not a great solution. I have time for the let's just put Hughes and Brandstrom together, but that's more like an intriguing science experiment type thing than actual practicality. The right side of their defense right now is so problematic because Myers, Jules, and Deharnais, there's issues across the board there. You might go back to who is Quinn most comfortable with, and then that's the answer to the question.

And even ask him, he's like, which of these, line them up, like the three bachelors, you get to choose them. Like, which one do you want? It's the answer to the question and even ask him he's like which of these line him up like by the three bachelors you get to choose them like which one do you want it's the dating he's gonna be like you know what i'll just go by myself right yeah i don't need i want to be single right now go go for forwards it'll be like a power play i'm looking to discover myself right now so that those are the options though unfortunately and i i don't know how close Forbort is to returning. The only thing I could say is that with this Heronic injury, it does open up some more minutes, and there are opportunities to either play elevated roles

or to work themselves back into the lineup and to prove that maybe they weren't a bad offseason signing. I got to say, I regret picking up my Forbort license plate because he has not done a lot yet. He needs a Forbort license yet. He's in the same camp as De'Arne. He needs to play and they need to figure out exactly what they've got. Well, it's going to be hard for him to play because he's hurt right now. When he comes

back, he's got to play though. Unlike De'Arne, though, he looks at least like a capable NHL defenseman. He's played a lot of NHL games and he's more polished than De'Arne. Four-board's a completely different story. He's just, it's been bad luck keeping him out of the lineup. But none of you can tell me you've got a firm grasp on exactly what he is on this team

because it's been such limited playing time. I mean, he is what he is, and that's a defensive defenseman who can kill penalties and isn't going to knock your socks off. I don't think we need to analyze too much about what Derek Forboard is. He's actually been in the league for quite a long time. I know. I didn't say he hadn to analyze too much about what Derek Forboard is. He's actually been in the league for quite a long time. I know. I didn't say he hadn't been in the league for quite a long time. Because it was the same thing with Desjardins and Edmonton and Desjardins here.

Anyway. But he was a project in Edmonton. Desjardins was a wild card in Edmonton, which is why he was out of the lineup eventually in the playoffs. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall.

Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly.

Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. 8.04 on a Friday. That's late. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough in the morning. It's brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination

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today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star

Google reviews. So, what are you waiting for? Kintec. To the phone lines we go. Rick Dollywall joins us now on the Halford &

Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Ricky D? What's going on, boys? Friday. Let's go. No time to waste. No time to waste.

Philopronix injury. How bad is it? What are the Canucks going to do about it? Taylor's yelling in the background. Hey, not many options. They called up Mark Friedman. There is no quick fix.

Canucks can make a panic trade or they can be patient. You don't want a knee jerk reaction right now. Any way you slice it, this is a massive loss. Most people think it's a separated shoulder, although they're still evaluating it. I don't think he wants surgery, but there's still some stuff I think that needs to be figured out. But 45 seconds left in Pittsburgh, he gets that push into the boards by Jack St. Ivany right away.

You just knew it wasn't good right away. You could tell. You know the Canucks had no adversity last year with injuries until after the All-Star break, and even then it was minimal other than the Demko injury. This year has been the opposite. No Demko, Joshua at camp, Besser concussion. Now, Hronik, you've had the Miller leave of absence. And now Quinn Hughes' partner is right-hand man,

a guy who chews up 25 minutes a game on the right side. That's one of the best first pairs in the NHL just split up. And the right side right now, I'm sorry, guys, is not looking good. Myers, D'Arne, Julson, and Friedman, three of those guys are 6'7", 8' defensemen. Myers will eat up most of Heronic's minutes. The other thing is, you know, Demko's return,

and you're going to have that defense in front of him. You don't want Demko to return and face 45 shots a night whenever he comes back. So Canucks have to be careful. They can go after big names. We already know they've thought about Nikita Zdorov.

Some say they did call Boston on Zdorov, but it just didn't go anywhere. But also keep in mind, they've got some defensemen in Abbey who are one to two to three years away. Elias Pettersson, Karel Akudrayahtsov, Cole McWard, there's Sawyer Mineo in Seattle, and then there's Tom Wallander. You know, the Canucks expect some of those D to contribute at the NHL level in the next not-so-distant future. Like, I'm going to tell you, they're very high on Wallander.

You know, when they call Columbus for David Yerosek, I mean, common sense tells you that Columbus would want Willander back. I don't think the Canucks think that Yerosek is better than Willander. Like, I'd be surprised, guys, if Willander doesn't sign a Vancouver after this NCAA season. He's better than he was last year, and he needs to start playing pro hockey soon here. So look, and you can get the usual suspects on the market, right? You know, there's Ivan

Provorovs out there, Marcus Pedersen, Rasmus Andersen, Aaron Eckblad, all those guys. You can go and get one of those guys if you want, but what does that do to the development of those young kids I just mentioned who are not too far away? They're really in a tough spot. It's going to be really interesting to see how they get through this next little stretch. Tell us more about the Canucks

calling Boston on Zdorov because Zdorov was acquired last season after Carson Soucy got hurt. Wouldn't it be funny if he was reacquired after Phillip Perona gets hurt? Yeah, I just look. Elliott threw the rumor out there. Elliott's not. Like, again, when Elliott says stuff,

you have to read between the lines. I just heard it was a short conversation. It wasn't major. And it was just, they miss him. They absolutely, like, Jason, they miss Zdorov and what he brought, and the intangibles in the dressing room and sticking up for teammates. He had a great playoff, and

they miss him, but it didn't go anywhere, and it's not going to go anywhere. That's a lengthy contract. I mean, there's a lot of good young defensemen out there. The one kid that the Canucks have always loved, this regime has always loved, is Boehm-Byram.

But have fun trying to get him out of Buffalo. The Canucks play in Buffalo today. But have fun trying to get, you know, Boehm-Byram. When the Canucks, I told you before, when the Canucks were trying, you know, the Miller trade rumors, Colorado was in on Miller. And Vancouver asked for Boehm-Byram, and Colorado said no. So they have their, and they love the Braden Schneider kid in New York, too. That's another guy, this regime.

When Miller and the Rangers were talking to Vancouver, sorry, when the Rangers were talking to Vancouver about Miller, that's another ask the Canucks had was Braden Schneider. That's, you know, Boehm, Byram, and Braden Schneider, what do they got in common? You know, Jason, they're young, good defensemen, right? You want to build around good, young defensemen. But by the same token, we are, you know,

we're starting to see some kids on the farm that are showing potential to get to Vancouver, I think, in the next one to three years. I know you talked yesterday on the show about Nils Hoaglander and you've been in touch with his agent I imagine there's some frustration there with Nils Hoaglander and his reps but I also imagine that there's some frustration with the Canucks because it's not like they want to bury this guy they want him to be good they want him to be successful but right now you look at the lineup and you're kind of like, yeah, you probably deserve to be on the fourth line.

Yeah, no, look, I see both sides here. Look, he's in the doghouse. He's in Rick Tarkin's doghouse. Fourth line, 9, 10 minutes a night. Season low, 7 minutes in Boston. You can't play him in a 1-0. You're trying to hold on to a 1-0 lead in Boston. He didn't get much ice there.

But here's my problem, Jason. He just signed a new three-year deal worth $3 million a year at training camp. Not sure why the Canucks signed Hoaglander so fast. He was an RFA. They had the decision on him as an RFA is months and months away. And how does the GM sign a player to three years and not ask the coach, hey, look, what do you think of this player? Can you work with him for the next three years?

Right now the coach doesn't think very much of the player. His play without the puck has got him in trouble. There are some penalty issues there for three games or four in a row. And just like Kuzmaiko, got in trouble with Tarkin. The whole ladder is in the same boat. Now I've been told that all parties, including his agent, Alain Roy, they're trying to get things back on track with Hoaglander. So they're all, from the way it was described to me,

is all parties, including Alain Roy, they want Hoaglander to play well and find his confidence. The agent has not asked for a trade. So you do hear Hoaglander's name pop up in trade rooms all the time as the Canucks continue to make calls in the market. It doesn't sound like they really want to get rid of him, Jason, because if they did, they wouldn't be working with the agent to fix it. Now, I'm going to bring up an example. Brock Besser and Connor Garland, 18 months ago, both these guys, agents had permission to seek trades. They both wanted out.

They wanted a fresh start. Those trades never happened. Besser had his best year last year. Garland's been phenomenal this year. How you deal with adversity is the key. The adversity didn't break Besser and Garland. They used it as fuel to get better. Hoaglander can do the same thing here.

Everything is fixable as long as both parties want it to make they want to make it happen it looks like they're trying to make it happen with Hoaglander but I will say this just because the agents in there Milstein Dan Milstein tried his hardest

to get Kuzmaiko to stay in Vancouver like this guy put in the hours the time, the minutes. Like, Milstein told me on the phone one day, we're going to fix this. He's going to play in Vancouver. We don't want out. We want it.

Guess what? At the end of the day, Milstein didn't make it work because Tarkin had no time for Kuzmaiko, and it didn't matter what Milstein said. There's only so much an agent can do. The bottom line is Hoaglander can fix all his problems by playing better and do the thing the coach is, and play the way the coach wants. The onus is really on him.

It's not on the GM or the agent. The onus is on Hoaglander. Let's talk about Kevin Lankanen. A lot of people noticing that he's a pending UFA and wondering if the Canucks can find a way to keep him. It won't be easy, though, because he took a good deal with the Canucks,

and he took that deal because it was going to be a good opportunity. He's made the most of that opportunity, but he's not going to be signing for league minimum anymore. Do you think the Canucks are... I mean, a lot of this is going to have to do with how Demko looks when he's back. It's not like a decision has to be made today on this thing, but are you hearing anything about Kevin Lankanen or is this just all something for us to talk about? There's a little something there because, okay, well, let me say this first. This guy's 10, three and two and 15 starts adjacent.

He's done a wonderful job for the Canucks bridging the gap until Thatcher Demko's back. No idea. I'm telling you this nicely. No idea where the Canucks would be without this guy. Rick Tockett loves him, and he's already hinted he'd like him back next year. That's going to be easier said than done. They can't sign him until January 1st.

Take this to the bank. You're not getting a discount on the next contract. His agent, Todd Diamond, has already given the Canucks a massive break. The next contract for Lankanen will be market value with term, or else he goes to July 1st. Keep this in mind. This regime does not like paying money to back up goaltenders. The only reason they took Casey Dismiss' contract was to get rid of Tanner Pearson's contract.

All the goalies they went after in the summer were well under $1 million. Their offer to Casey to Smith at the NHL draft was not good. It was not good at all. Lankanen, if he continues his play, is going to be in a very good spot. There are teams right now kicking themselves for not signing Lankanen in the summer. One of those teams is Colorado. They had interest. And what teams complained about goaltending all year?

Colorado. Both their goalies, same percentage, is I think in the 871 and 872. So Lankanen, he's boosting his value if he continues to do what he's doing. His number one priority is the Canucks, but he's also showcasing his skills for every other team in the NHL. That's what UFAs do. That's why pro scouts go to see players all the time because they know which ones are the UFAs.

Before deciding on Lankanen, the Canucks also need to decide where Archer Seelovs fits in the puzzle in the future because, look, Seelov struggles, could make the Canucks' decision easy. He's not been good this year. He could use a lot more time in Abbotsford. Seelovs can't even work with Ian Clark. He's not based out of Vancouver.

And I've not heard of any Ian Clark sightings in Abbotsford this season. So what are you going to do with Seeloff's? That's another piece of the puzzle here. One thing the Canucks have in their favor, if they ever were to re-sign Lankanen, is their goalie coach, Marco Toronios. Marco and Lankanen. I gave it a shot. Keep going, keep going. I know. I gave it a shot.

Keep going, keep going. I know. I gave it a shot. That was good. That was a good attempt. It was a good attempt. Alfred, give it to me. Marco Terranius.

Don't ever say, Alfred, give it to me again. That's true. Please do not give it to me. Listen, Terranius. Anyways, Marco and Lankanen have worked together for years in Finland.

They have a great relationship. They worked together in Finland when Lankanen wasn't signed this past summer. And the Canucks could also trade. They could also decide to use Lankanen as a trade ship at the deadline. That'd be risky, man. That'd be risky. But Jason, and I was going to say this, what did the Canucks playoff run show this team last year?

You can't have enough goalies ready to go in the playoffs. And they used three. I don't think many NHL teams used three in the playoffs last year, but Vancouver used three. And they even had Tolopilo called up for crying out loud, and who knows? It's going to be interesting what happens with Lankanen. So what I'm assuming is going to happen on this trip is that Lankanen will start the final three games

and then Demko is going to make his return to the lineup Friday, December 6th against the Columbus Blue Jackets on the same night that Taylor Swift's in town. Is that your assumption or is that a dangerous assumption to make right now? I'm 100% with you. I don't think I've ever said this, Jason, but whatever you said about Demko is my thought process. So let's go through this road trip. We're halfway through. He has not played. There's only two games after today. I haven't heard he's starting in Buffalo. No one's

told me that he's starting today in Buffalo. I'd be shocked if he is. So then you've got Sunday in Detroit, and you've got Tuesday in Minnesota. Then you've got a six-game homestand. It is getting closer. Yes, it is. They're close to the end. Everything's great. But the one thing, and one goalie coach told me that really concerns him,

is Demko is still lacking practice time and more shots. Look at the Canucks schedule this week. It's not been great. They haven't practiced much. Four games in six days. That doesn't allow practices. Yesterday they had a day off, no shots. He needs more practice time.

He needs more shots, way, way more. When he does get out on the ice in the last few weeks, it's often with three goaltenders and a quick 20, 25-minute ice time. That's not good enough. That's not ideal for Demko right now. You want him 100% ready to face the rigors of the NHL so he just doesn't return for one game, and it's more. But if he doesn't play on this trip, I'm with you.

I don't see it, but we'll see. That's okay. Canucks start a six-game homestand after this trip, and he can play on the homestand. Oh, and that would give Lankanen some rest, too. He needs it. I thought it was interesting, actually, that Rick Tockett said the other day he kind of conceded that the Canucks did overplay Lankanen a little bit and you know the the game he had against the Islanders especially as that game wore on and it didn't look like the Canucks were going to come back in that one Lankanen was I would say he was down right bad in that game but we give a pass on that and then the next game against Nashville

I don't think he was very good in that one either. And look at Tuckett's postgame in Pittsburgh. He didn't look happy. And, you know, you can't win in this league without goaltending. Lankanen's given Vancouver everything. Like, I don't know, like I said at the start of this interview, I don't know, Jason, where they'd be without this guy. And he did start. They'd be in big trouble.

But you know what? I'm a little worried about this month. I know the Canucks have survived up until now, and given all they've been through, you might even say at times they've thrived despite all the stuff that they've been going through. But this month, man, if Veronik's out and Demko and Miller are wild cards, can we say?

This could be a tough one. Jason, I'm not worried about this month. I'm worried about the second half. Did you watch Colorado and Vegas the other night? What a great game.

The Canucks haven't played Colorado. They haven't played Vegas. They played Edmonton once. They haven't played Dallas. They haven't played Winnipeg. They have had the easiest schedule

of any team in the National Hockey League. Jason, things get tougher in the National Hockey League. Jason, things get tougher in the second half. They haven't played any Western Conference powerhouse teams. And the good teams they have played, things haven't necessarily gone all

that well. No, and Colorado and Vegas the other night, what a tremendous game. I think a fifth round of the shootout. And Colorado's getting healthy. They got the Russian back. They still don't have their captain back, but my goodness, they look good. That was big boy hockey the other night.

I couldn't turn the TV off. Like, Canucks have had an absolutely easy schedule, like easy, but it's going to get a whole lot tougher. All right, Rick. Enjoy your weekend. There is lots of sports on, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it, and we'll talk to you again next Friday. Hold on one sec.

All for an 804. We've got to stop this. I've got a meeting with the tailors banging on the door. 804, Holford. 804, what's going on? I know. I own that. I own that.

Was it Brough going on at CFL's dying rant? Doclock, what's going on? I know. I own that. I own that. Was it Brough going on at CFL's dying rant? What's going on? No, it actually died over the weekend, Rick. So we actually don't have to have that conversation anymore. The funeral is on Wednesday. No, it's not. Hey, listen, expect the BC Lions to name their new coach

mid-week next week. Is it going to be Buck Pierce? So the finalists are Buck Pierce, Jordan Maximick, Mark Kilman, and Mike Benavides. Second interviews are going to be happening very soon. They're going to make their shortlist this weekend. It's going to be next week for sure. They've got to get the new coach.

There's 20-plus free agents. He's got to have a say in who to keep, who to not. So just expect an announcement. They're getting close. They're down to four. They're going to wh, who to not. So just expect an announcement. They're getting close. They're down to four. They're going to whittle it down this weekend. I want Buck Pierce. He's definitely high up there,

but this Jordan Maximick guy is the Lions offensive coordinator, and he's got a really good relationship with Nathan Rourke. So he's got that in his favor. That's the most important thing, though. Whoever they hire, job number one is get the most out of Nathan Rourke, and that's why Buck Pierce, for me, it appeals to me because he was a quarterback in the CFL. Yeah, and so do they hire a guy, an offensive guy for Nathan Rourke?

I won't be surprised, but they've got to fix Rourke. He can't play like he did when he came back from the NFL or else they're going to be in big trouble because they're now going to be paying him over $750,000 a year and he's effectively your highest paid guy in the CFL and they can't afford another year like that from him. So do they hire a Buck Pierce or a Jordan Maximick? It wouldn't surprise me.

Okay, Rick, I promise next week we'll get you on time. 8.04! No more 8.04, 8 o'clock! Bye. Bye. I'm not going to be here next Friday. You're listening to the Halford and Ruff Show.

Neither am I. Good luck to whoever's covering that show. Ken texts in, asks us anything. Do you guys in the studio turn down the volume whenever Dolly calls in?

I turn the TV at least five points down. Ken, first of all, thanks for watching on the stream. Yeah. You and the six others. Love our streamers. And yes, I do turn the volume

down in my headset when rick dolly wall joins us there's only a handful of guests that you got to adjust the volume for okay this is the one let's do some ask us anything's from the dunbar lumber text line okay uh nabil the numbing cream guy i I saw that. Ask us anything. What's your airport routine when traveling? Do you get there early or spend as little time at the airport before your flight? So I would say I err on getting to the airport early because I don't mind either if I'm traveling with friends, we'll go for a beer. And if I'm traveling by myself, I love some time to just sit and read either my phone or a book or whatever. I don't mind. I just hate airports.

I don't mind. But once you get through, you got to go through the security, right? Like you got to do all this stuff. I'm aware of what you have to do. So if you've got time, use it. And then just go try and take advantage of a nice. I remember i had a buddy who's got a young family and he works a busy job and he got stuck on the runway you remember

sometimes you get stuck on the runway tarmac yeah the tarmac and it was just because it was bad weather so they eventually had to cancel his flight but he was on the tarmac for three or four hours i was like oh that must have been a nightmare. He was like, it was amazing. It was great. I didn't have to do any work. I didn't have to deal with kids. It was terrific.

I just sat there and rested. I try and make sure that there's, I leave as, I wanted to time it out. So I have to spend as little as much time between getting through check-in and security. So risky. That adds stress to it. So risky.

There's the stress when you're trying to time things perfectly. I love the rush. I love the rush. So what are you doing at home? Why don't you... You know what I'm doing at home

is I'm not being in the airport. That's what I'm doing. You can sit on the couch at the airport. There's no couches at the airport. The chair is at the airport. I hate being around... What's the word for it?

People? People. Yeah. So the less time I have to spend around people. He's quietly not a good person. Also quite anymore. Nothing to do with being a good or bad person. I might be doing the people a favor.

Because maybe my negative aura is going to upset their trip. Did you ever think about it like that? You are very selfless. I think I'm going to do it. I'm looking on Twitter right now. 40% off blue check. I think I'm going to... This is the time to do it. This is the time to become a blue check.

The site is on the rise. Do you see how much money you can make? I was looking at that. Yeah, but your tweets have to be good. No, they don't. No, they have to appeal to blue checks. Yeah. That's what he came out. Oh, so you're going to be part of the grift. Yeah.

Musk came out and said that you only make money if you get engagement with the blue check marks. So this happened because a woman- I should just develop an alter ego personality. Mm-hmm. A grifter personality? It's kind of easy, right? A woman named Tiffany Fong, who's got about 300K followers, and she is indeed a blue check. It's kind of easy, right? A woman named Tiffany Fong who's got about 300K followers

and she is indeed a blue check. There's a story to that. I don't want to know because I just saw the dollar signs. Cha-ching. How much does she make? Billions of dollars. It's not billions.

No, she's in the tens of thousands. But it really fluctuates. But you don't know the story behind that. I don't need to know the story. I just know the dollar signs. But the point being is that I know like i see these guys like i could be the king content creator on canucks twitter right i i you just have to be like you you attack every red meat topic every with with like a complete lack of shame well you steal you got

to steal tweets you just steal tweets from good ones that don't have blue checks. Right. I think I could do this. Do it. And then we could all get rich. We could go out. We wouldn't have to go out for one dinner a year, guys. We could go out.

Halford's blue check grifting is paid for multiple meals. True. Think how much fun we'd have. I hate Twitter anyway. I may as well use it for some sort of personal gain. 40% off. I'm thinking about it. We're going to go right to the humanoids.

No one's got anything of interest to say. Like the other two and a half hours of this show. Right now, we're going to do Humanoid, What We Learned, and Ask Us Anything. They are all brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Check them out today because it is a Vancouver Hockey Game Day, $6 pints. And then, of course, go in on Sunday because it's happy hour all day

so you can watch a bunch of football. Josh the Zamboni guy was real busy this morning. Okay. He sent in a bunch of Ask Us Anythings, and they were all pretty good, but I'm going to read this one. Ask Us Anything. If you were to ref any sport at the highest level, which one would you choose and what would your personality be

or how would you be known? Would you be a friend or a tyrant? Nice. Good question. Okay. I think I would take hockey because I know it the best and I would be moody. That's what I'd be known as like some days not you yeah the best I'd be true some days I'd be like really friendly to the players and be like I'd explain every call I'd let them talk back a little bit blow off a little steam it wouldn't

bother me other days I think it would be really satisfying to make the misconduct signal you know when you just put your hands on your hip and you're like bam yeah you're gone you're gone and then you want another one bam you got one right that would that would be fun you're listening to the best of halford and brough