Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 1/15/25

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk last night's Canucks loss to the Jets, they discuss the latest NHL trade rumours with Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli, plus they look ahead to tomorrow night's action versus the Kings 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. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Aaaaaaaaa A dand one of And Winner, Brad Weill, takes care of Vancouver beating the Canucks for the sixth time in the last seven meetings. Six won the final. You know, I'm in favor of execution. Maybe, maybe our entire team needs to be executed after tonight. They're faster, they're bigger, they're stronger, they can shoot better, they can pass better,

they can do everything better. I'm better than you. Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. and do everything better. I'm better than you. Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. This is Halford, it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Regular Zach, good morning to you as well. Good morning. Halford and Brough for 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, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec

studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Okay. We got a big show ahead on a Wednesday. Guest list begins at 6 30. David Amber, hockey night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host is going to join the program. He worked last night's debacle in studio alongside Justin Bourne as the Vancouver

Canucks lost 6-1 to the Winnipeg Jets in Winnipeg. We'll talk to David about that. We'll also look ahead to tonight's action. It's a quiet night in the National Hockey League, but Sportsnet Wednesday night hockey does have one good one on tap as the Oilers travel to Minnesota to take on the wild. Two top five teams in the West go toe-to-toe on Sportsnet. Tonight, David will join us at 6.30 to talk about all that. Seven o'clock, Frank Ceravalli from Daily Faceoff is going to join the program. His trade deadline objectives for each team in the Eastern and Western Conference are

now online. We'll take a look at what the Vancouver Canucks may or may not do going into the March trade deadline. Frank will join us at seven o'clock. We can also go around the league from last night, 13 games in the national hockey league on Tuesday evening, eight o'clock, Randy Janda is going to join the program. He also worked last night's debacle in Winnipeg for us sports that six 50, he was on the call. We'll ask him all the hard hitting questions like what's up with JT Miller?

Why did they start Lanking it over Demco? Who knew what time it was when the first clock was ever made? All the hard hitting questions we will ask Randy at eight o'clock in the morning. Does he know the answer? I don't know if he knows the answer or not. That's why we're going to ask him. Finally, another announcement. We are giving away a pair of tickets and a $50 gift card to join Sportsnet 650 on Sunday, February 9th for the big football game at the Clayton Public House.

Caller number three at 815 this morning will win two tickets and a $50 gift card. The number to reach us here, 604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-0650, that number again 604-280-0650, the Clayton Public House, good food, good people, good times. Okay, that's what's happening on the show today. Zach, 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 missing your life can be. What happened? Missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. I have yet to check the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket at 650 650. I am waiting until after we get through our rundown. Kyle Conner scored a natural hat trick in the first period last night. The Winnipeg Jets crushed the Vancouver Canucks six to one ending the Canucks. I'll say it very disappointing five game road swing. I will now dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. Dear God, this is awful.

I actually don't think it was a very, very disappointing road trip, but we can argue about that later. It was a very disappointing night last night. It was the Kyle Conner show in the first period as maybe the most underrated or underappreciated player in the NHL scored a natural hat trick for his 24th, 25th and 26 goals of the season. It's nice when your top players show up and score goals.

The first goal was off a terrible turnover by goalie Kevin Lankanen. The second was off a pretty brutal rebound by Lankanen, not to mention some questionable back checking by the Canucks. And the third was, well, it was ugly. Tyler Myers fell in the offensive zone. JT Miller didn't see that Myers fell or didn't care. And Connor was easily able to sneak behind the entire Canucks team for a breakaway, a nice move.

And then came the hats, the Winnipeg hats. It was over at that point, let's face it. But just in case you thought the Canucks would come out strong in the second. The Jets made it four nothing 39 seconds in when a long point shot by Neil Pionk beat Lankanen. The rest of the game was meaningless unless there's meaning in the Canucks showing absolutely zero pushback while the Jets continue to dominate.

Come to think of it, there might be some meaning in that. It was a terrible performance by the Canucks. The Jets are good, but not that good. It was yet another concerning performance by the Canucks who haven't won two straight games in a month and a half. They haven't won two straight in regulation since late November when they won in Ottawa. Remember that fun game?

Yep. And then Lankton stole them one in Boston. That seems like a long time ago. Consistency has been the issue for these Vancouver Canucks and here's Rick Tauket talking about that issue of consistency and how it's hard to be consistent. It's hard to be consistent, right? It's hard to do the right things all the time. It's hard.

It's hard to go through people. It's hard to serve properly. It's hard to reload properly. It's hard to get the pucks out when we need to. It's hard to take pucks on that and you can't do it once in a while. It can be hard to get the pucks out when we need to. It's hard to take pucks than that. And you can't do it once in a while if you want to be a good team. Um, that's really the, that's what it is.

Yeah. I mean, it's my job. I'm not going to get some guys committed. It's on me. So remember the beginning of the season where we were optimistic about the team and we had some laughs about the Kinnock slogan of the year, embrace hard. I don't think they're embracing it.

Does it sound like it? Not based on what the coach is saying. Some of the guys might be embracing it, but the top players have not been embracing it except for Quinn Hughes. JT Miller last night, a lot of talk about his ice time. He had a few flashes where he looked interested, but I tweeted out JT Miller's ice time after the second period and it was like nine minutes. And multiple people replied to me that dude

looks checked out. Oh yeah. And it was hard to disagree. I mean I think that's a that's a hell of an allegation to put out there but you're kind of like you know if he's not checked out what what is it? Because there's something going on there. He wasn't on power play one and he isn't skating with Besser anymore at Evans. He was on a line with Nils Holglinder and uh, Connor Garland last night. And I wonder what he thinks about that.

Elias Pedersen has now been held pointless in eight of his last 10 games. This is a guy that got $11.6 million cap hit contract and lot of term because he's a hundred point guy. Hard to score a hundred points when your pace is, I get points in two out of 10 games. He had two goals against the sharks, then he got hurt. And they needed

one secondary assist against Toronto. Now, of course, he also won the Selkie in that game against the Leafs, so that's a feather in his cap. But look, this is the bottom line with this team. If Miller and Petey aren't going, the Canucks are toast. They might make the playoffs with only one of them going, but they won't go anywhere in the playoffs as we saw last year when Pedersen was not going. And if both of them aren't going, as we've seen lately, they could easily miss the playoffs. They're currently on the outside looking in. We're talking about their two best forwards. Their're one C, they're two C, however you want to stack them, obviously they have to get going.

This is not complicated. And what Rick Taukett is talking about is specifically those guys. Yeah. When he's saying like, it's hard to be consistent. It, you know, Oh, GT Miller had a great game in Montreal, two goals, two assists. And we're you know, Oh, GT Miller had a great game in Montreal. Two goals, two assists.

And we're all like, wow, that's awesome. Great game. Haven't really heard from him since. No, you haven't heard anything. It's been, it's been four games since that Montreal game. Petey winning the Selke in Toronto, all over the place, blocking shots, looking engaged, people saying he's engaged. He's engaged. He's like, people saying he's engaged he's engaged

mm-hmm yeah he's engaged didn't even notice them last night they even play he was out there so too is JT Miller here's okay so the reason that I said I thought it was a disappointing road trip and the Canucks finished a five game swing at one two and two first off thought it was a disappointing game swing at one, two and two. First off, thought it was a disappointing road swing because they won one of the five games. Granted, it was a three, nothing shut out in Toronto and the second of a back to back

under less than ideal circumstances, it was good. But I go back and look at the totality of it and there were so many, so many concerning moments throughout the trip that I look at the, you know, collective and I'm like, I, I fail to see how you can be anything other than disappointed with that. The blown lead against the Habs and giving up five goals. Washington was fine. Carolina was a complete. Washington was more than

fine. It was pretty good against Washington. What happened, though? Yeah, they lost. And how many goals did they score? Seven. One. Carolina was an absolute egg. It was a dud. Although some will say it wasn't that different than the Toronto game,

which all for me really just throws the Toronto game into more arrears, because after the Toronto game, a game in which it was so painfully obvious that this team needed to bring a lot, if not all of what they brought to that Toronto game into Winnipeg, they did the exact opposite. The Winnipeg game, and I know everyone's gonna say, hey, it was at the end of a five game swing, the Jets are really good, you're in their barn,

that's a tough game. Sure. I cannot believe that this team again laid a gigantic egg in one of those, hey, this game should mean something type games. Hey, this is an important game. Philip Peronik must be so happy that he flew to Winnipeg for that.

Like, wait, you have talked at length this season, fans, media, coaches, general managers, players about how great it's going to be when everyone finally gets healthy and you get your, you know, 23 man roster back to full, full health. Well, they're almost there. Yeah, Dakota Joshua was not there, but he's been a passenger this season for a multitude of reasons. Anyway, Horonica comes back in. Hughes is all excited at the practice yesterday in the morning skate. Everyone's excited about getting her on a bag. They go out and they're down three

buzz midway through the first period. Oh, a lot of that was on Lankton though. Whatever the case, but it was, but it was second period comes around. You're down three, nothing. What do they do? They give up a goal, seconds into the second period, ghetto shot 20 to 10 in the second period. That goal was also on Lankton. Six one final. And you go back and you look at this and you're saying,

at what point is this the team's identity? I tweeted this out last night. When Patrick Alveen did a Q and A with Ian McIntyre, I've gone back to it numerous times because I do think it was pretty illuminating about what Alveen, the Q and A with Ian McIntyre, I've gone back to it numerous times because I do think it was pretty illuminating about what Alveen thinks of this team. He openly asked the question, like, what are we as a team?

What's our identity? What's the reason that we have these great games followed by these duds? And I think the answer might be that that's your identity. That it's a team that for some reason or another, can't maintain the good times and the good vibes, and most importantly, the good play. And I don't know what it is.

I don't know if it's because they get cocky or arrogant. I know Sat threw that out there yesterday in the post game show. I don't know if Tauke can't push the same buttons on a night to night basis. I don't know if they just don't feel like playing two nights in a row, but it's not like they went into Winnipeg

and tried their asses off and lost three, two in overtime. They went into Winnipeg and got blown out, destroyed. And here's the thing, someone tweeted at us last night, if we were to put together a Mount Rushmore of the awful, disappointing, dejecting, and blowout connects losses this year.

Yeah. You know, the Mount Rushmore meme is that you're supposed to find four of them. I had like eight. But that's what makes it so appealing. I had two Mount Rushmores. Okay. Do you want to hear my Mount Rushmore? Yes.

Of bad losses? Yes. So I got to pick four and it was tough. It was tough. Okay. Despite me kind of playing devil's advocate with Halford a little bit, I'd go with last night because it's still very fresh in my mind. And frankly, it was embarrassing.

It was pretty bad. It was embarrassing. It was pretty bad. And Lankin is part of the team and he wasn't ready to go. After the coach made him the starter over Thatcher-Demko. Which we can get into later. The blown lead versus the Kraken. That one was bad.

Four one, they had them up four one. With five minutes to go in the third period. And they lost the game. The blown lead versus the flames in the season opener. That kind of set the tone for the season. That was a bad one. Yeah, you can blame it on C-Labs, but come on. That set the tone for the season.

you can blame it on sea loves, but come on, let's set the tone for the season. Um, and probably the five to home loss to the Islanders, which a lot of people may have forgotten, but that was a dreadful performance by the Canucks. They've lost. So like these, so these are the games that I left off in order to pick those games.

Six nothing to the Devils at home. I just left that out there because I was like, well, the Devils are good. Seven three to the Oilers at home. Five one at home to Boston. Three nothing at home to Nashville. The connection lost twice at home to Nashville. And I remember that game, the loss they had to

Nashville was not good and it followed up or it was like two games after the loss to the Islanders. So I'm leaving some really juicy score lines out of my Mount Rushmore because I think the blown leads against the Flames and the Kraken deserve to be in there. And that 5-2 home loss to the Islanders, I think was, it was a terrible performance by the team. If I was to be convinced to take one of them out of there,

I might take last night out of there, but it's so fresh in my mind that I'm just like, I'm putting that in there. I mean, it deserves to be on there. And here's the thing, a lot of these losses, they need the proper context behind them. So last night, the Canucks are coming off this great win over Toronto. They get Philip Herona back in the lineup

for the first time in seven weeks. As mentioned, they're got as close to their full healthy rosters they've had all year. And everyone was preaching about the need for consistency and how important it is to string together results so with that context they go out and lay an egg you mentioned the Islanders game you know what else the Islanders game was that was Dakota Josh with season debut after his emotional

return recovering from testicular cancer a game that you thought that the team would have had some kind of lift or at the very least like hey it's great's great to have Dak back in the line. Let's get some energy tonight. Yeah, they played terrible against the Islanders. A very mid team, dare I say sub mid. And do you remember they made us look bad too? Cause we were making fun of the Islanders before the game. That was the worst part of it all. Yeah, they made us look bad.

They made us look worse. That never happens. Never happens. That never happens. How about the six nothing loss to the Devils? The Hughes-a-Palooza game, where Quinn Hughes' entire family, both his brothers are on the other team,

his family's in the stands. Do you know I've been shut out twice in games that I've been to this season as a fan. You went to the Devils six nothing in the national. And I was at the Preds game. That's fun going to two games and not seeing a single goal. What was the game that we went to? When they beat the Flames. was at the Preds game. That's fun going to what was the not seeing a single goal What was the game that we went to?

When they beat the flames was that the flames game? Yeah, we saw a win. Oh, that's good. Yeah Yeah, that's when we took our young son Yeah, yeah, it was all me though. I Canceled rough out so the six nothing lost against the Devils I mean that's one where Hughes gets a chance and you know, they're gonna be in the spotlight It's nationally televised and they go out and again, lay a complete egg. A lot of these games come with zero pushback, zero fight, zero intensity. They fall behind and there's a real, real damaging thing with this team or when they fall behind,

they fold and they're just like, well, we didn't have it tonight. Yeah. And then it's like, all right, move on to the next one. We tried for a little bit. It didn't go very well. And then we didn't try. And now we're just going to go on to the next game. This team has given up five or more goals 10 times already

this season. Do you know how many times it happened last year? Nine. So at the halfway point of this season, they've already given up five or more as many times as they did through 82 games last year. We're at game 43 of the season. This is probably what this team is. Is that anytime that they're going to go out and give you a good effort and

remind you that they have a ton of talent and can be a good team, they're probably going to come back with a stinker the next game. I want to read a couple of texts into can be a good team, they're probably gonna come back with a stinker the next game. I wanna read a couple texts into the Dunbar Lumber text line just to show you some of the differences of opinions that are coming in. Jeremy and Abbotsford, guys even the devils missed the playoffs last year,

maybe this is just one of those years where nothing goes right. Here's another one. I wanna jump in. Here's another one, I want to jump in. Here's another one. Unsigned text. I'm ready for the Canucks to trade Miller and Pedersen and Besser and whatever else

for pennies on the dollar. This team ain't good. I'd rather root for a really bad team instead of an inconsistent team whose best players don't seem interested whatsoever. I think both are good points and that is the decision that the management group is going to have to make about this team and they're going to have to be honest with themselves.

They might have to check their egos considering they were the ones that decided to sign JT Miller and Elias Pedersen to long-term contracts. They're going to have to be really honest about themselves because that who don't seem interested whatsoever is not just some random guy texting into a radio show. I mean, that part is, but like the coach, his

message after the game last night was, we're not embracing how hard it is to be consistent in the NHL. He's saying like, it's hard. It's hard. He's not saying like, it's hard. So, you know, you don't have to do it every night. He's saying like, it's hard.

And that's the point. And this is also a team whose general manager came out and like ripped the top players and said specifically of Pedersen, was like, he thought it was gonna be easy. So it's like, are you guys willing to do the difficult stuff? The whole bloody slogan of the season was embrace hard and we're halfway through it. Okay. And do we need a new slogan? Probably. You need a midway point

slogan. It's like embrace the hard occasionally. That's just more what you are. Well that's the reality. But that first text I don't think that's right. Like I don't think that's accurate. That it's one of those seasons where nothing goes right. Like they started the year, seven, two and three, which included, remember when they went down to California and they swept the entirety of it, including beating the Kings in the finale for two, they were seven, two and three at that point.

They've got two wins against the defending Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers in their barn and then here. They've got wins over Colorado. They've won games in pretty impressive fashion. And then you look at the peaks and valleys of the team, the correlation is there's peaks and valleys with their best players. JT Miller started this road trip with that four point game

in Montreal where he was the best player on the ice, scored two goals, had to assist, was the best player out there, driving force. After that, pointless in four straight games, and his ice time crept all the way down to 13 minutes. Pedersen had this selky winning performance against the Leafs on Saturday, and followed it up with nothing in Winnipeg.

The highs have been there, they've just been followed by stunning lows. Stunning lows. Not even just like mediocre play. highs have been there, they've just been followed by stunning lows. Stunning lows. Not even just like mediocre play. It goes peak and then real valley. And that's the maddening part. It's like we're getting catfished by this.

Yeah. It was like, stop sending me all these hot selfies. I can't handle this. Here's a text. I will be the first one to keep JT accountable for his lack of effort, but I'm having less than less confidence in the coach. His deployment is questionable.

His emotion isn't there, or at least I don't see it when we're watching it on TV. He doesn't seem to want to call time out when we go down three nothing. He doesn't want to challenge the refs. The team needs to see their coach stand up and show some emotion to back his boys up. The coach takes some responsibility.

Um, yeah, you know, I, I, sometimes I feel that way. Sometimes I would like to see Taukeit just blow a gasket. I think he's just trying to keep it together. I think he's trying to keep his composure. I think he's trying to not make it worse. I think he's trying to not make it worse. I think Rick Tauket is a pretty savvy guy and he knows that any sort of, even a mini meltdown, a mini meltdown is going to get played up, is going to be talked about way too much, and he's probably a guy that wants to work after this somewhere, right? It's a lot easier to be

the coach that is remembered as the guy that kept to work after this. Somewhere, right? It's a lot easier to be the coach that is remembered as the guy that kept it together in the face of adversity and kept it calm and collected when things were going off the rails than a guy that went off the rails with it, right? That's kinda where I'm looking at this. I don't have a problem with the job that Tauke has done this year.

I think this is entirely on this team, on this group, and I know people have brought it up so I'm not the first one to say this on this core. Look, they've had, this is their third coach. They had Travis Green. They played well for a while under Travis Green and then they didn't. They had Bruce Boudreau.

They played well for a while under Bruce Boudreau and then they didn't. I hope the same thing isn't happening with Tocket, but right now you look at it and you're like, there is way too much inconsistency to one, predict what they're gonna do on a nightly basis, and then two, have faith that they're just gonna figure it out, that they're gonna suddenly be consistent.

Because the first half of the season, the only thing they've been is inconsistent. That's all we can count on. Problem is we just don't know what night they're gonna show up and what night they're not gonna show up. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Frank Ceravalli from Daily Face Off joins us now in the Halford and

Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Frank. How are you? Better than you guys. Is everyone okay? Ah, we're doing all right. We're getting used to the inconsistency. It's kind of like consistently inconsistent.

It's consistently inconsistent. Yeah. If the Canucks play well one night and they played well against Toronto on Saturday night, we know or should know by now that the next game is going to be a total disaster. Well, that's exactly what you got last night. I mean, that was about as dark as I've seen it. Um, where, where do they go from here? I know I'm supposed to have the

answer to that. Yeah. Well, you did set me up nicely for my first question, which of course comes off the heels of you guys publishing the trade deadline objectives for all the teams in the Eastern Western Conference. Can you let the listeners know what the primary objective is or should be for the Vancouver Canucks as we get closer and closer to the trade deadline? It's the same objective that's existed for this team since they stepped onto the ice for training camp. I think at some point in the first few weeks of September, if they maybe didn't realize it prior to that, they understood

then that there was a hole on this team's backend and that it needed to be filled. And so it's a top four impact defensemen that can help more efficiently move the puck for the Canucks. It's a non-negotiable for the way this team wants to play. And, you know, now getting to the point where you've got Philip Aronick and Quinn Hughes and the regular lineup back together, well, I don't know if they thought that that was a reason to maybe take your foot off the gas or what, but this team needs more of that and less of some of the other pieces that they've had filter in and out of their lineup.

So, I know I was watching this morning the morning cup of hockey on daily face off with you and Johnny and Colby and you guys talked about Chris Drury and the New York Rangers maybe needing to reinvent their blue line as I try to connect some dots here. What did you guys have to say about the Rangers potentially reinventing their blue line? What would that entail? Well, the Rangers have four guys, four defensemen, specifically on my trade targets board. They make up four of the top 25,

which is obviously significant and sizable. And the thought process is, they've got some big decisions to make. And not just about pending UFA Will Borgen and whether or not they should flip him. It extends to Kayandre Miller and the future of that defense core and what it looks like. Pretty much everyone outside of Adam Fox and Braden Schneider is available and out there. That includes Ryan Lindgren, who's been a playoff warrior for them. Um, and of course, Zach Jones, who's been a healthy scratch

and victimized out of the lineup. Um, these, we've heard a lot of these same questions about the Rangers for the last few years. The team that plays poorest in its own end is over reliant on its goaltender and needs to ultimately fix and solve for that problem before being able to be considered a true cup contender. So they've got other existential core questions, what happens with Chris Crider and some others as Crider makes his way back. But in the meantime, I'm sure what you're searching for is, are they a trade partner?

Could they be a fit? And I mean, I think the answer to that is yes, but at the same time, in some ways, part of what the Rangers are looking to solidify is still part of what the Canucks are looking to solve. Right. Trade partners in theory, but maybe not in practice. And I know when we talk about the Rangers

and we talk about the Canucks, it's inevitable that we'll circle back to JT Miller at some point, because it's been reported on a number of occasions that the Rangers and Chris Drury are admirers of Miller. The question I have is, has anything that's gone on this year, and there's been a lot, it's been a very loud year for JT Miller,

without the production. Has anything dampened enthusiasm either with the Rangers or other potential suitors for teams that are interested in acquiring Miller or has he done enough over the course of the last few years to say that whatever's going on this year is more of a blip than the reality? Well, don't you have your answer in being selected for Four Nations Faith Off? Right? Like it wasn't even a question. Fair. Yeah. And that happened at the time when he was out of the lineup for the absence that's never really

been confirmed or talked about. I think his resume speaks for itself. I think his compete level and the intensity that he brings is all part of it. And through it all, as rough as this season has been at times, and even looking at some visuals from last night's game and body language and otherwise, he still has 29 points in 32 games. His low bar, his B game is, I think, significantly higher than many others around the league. And when you've got two hundred point seasons essentially under your belt and you've hit 30 plus goals in each of those years, that's a really valuable commodity. And at age 31, soon to be 32 in March, I, you know, even with the term remaining on his deal, I think a lot of teams are saying for the next three years, JT Miller could

be a huge part of our team. Forget what the other part of the contract looks like. I don't think I've ever covered a team where body language was such a big thing. It's constantly like, are they happy? Did they look good? Are they friends with each other? How does Petey look? Does he look happy or sad today? Does JT look happy or angry today? What does that say about this team? Or maybe it says something about the fan base, but I don't know. A lot of people watch this. I think it says more about the team.

Yeah. I think it speaks to a group that's fragile. I don't disagree. The question is what is to be done about it? You know, like are they hoping that one day it'll just click and they'll figure it out and they'll be like, you know, we, we need to be more professional.

And if this quote unquote rift is still an issue, we need to put that behind us because this group, this core, they had a great season last year, but there were still issues at the end of the season with Pedersen. And it's, it's been together a while now. And all like Brock Besser has been on the team for a while now and Elias Pedersen and JT Miller,

they've been here for a few years now. The management group made the decision to sign JT Miller long-term and they made the decision to assign Elias Pedersen long-term. But the clock is very much ticking on both of them for two different reasons. I think JT Miller, because of his age, you don't want to get to the point where people are like,

oh, he's a little old, maybe he's on the decline and good luck with that contract. And with Elias Pedersen, it says no move clause kicking in on July 1st. So some decisions are going to have to be made and pretty soon. Yeah. And the other part that's ticking on Elias Pedersen is if this is all that he is, which I think a lot of people would look back and say I can't believe that that's all that he is, but if he can't play up to the level of an 11 and a half million dollar player,

the other thing you're ticking against is. Him essentially being found out to everyone else. When does the shine wear off of this player that should have and could have been doing a lot more? And then how much does that damage his trade value? We're speaking to Frank Sarah Valley from Daily Face Off here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. The Edmonton Oilers, Frank, who the Vancouver Canucks are going to see an awful lot over the next week, of course, starting on Saturday night, hockey day in Canada up here on Sportsnet.

I'm curious about what is going to happen now that Evander Kane, and as you put it out, the documentation is all good. Everything is clear on Evander Kane in terms of him going on LTIR, which means the Oilers are gonna accrue some cap space. How big a move, or how, if any of a move, are the Edmonton Oilers thinking about making as they get closer to the trade deadline? Yeah, I think a pretty big move.

I mean, this has been on Stan Bowman's radar since the moment he took over, starting to plan for what this first deadline would look like. And when it comes to documentation, I think I probably should be a little bit more clear because I did receive some tweets about it yesterday and I'm happy to clear it up. What do I mean by that? Well, the first thing that the NHL does with a lot of LTIR cases and not just the high

profile ones is they go through the medical history to understand exactly what's happening here and is the timeline that's being prescribed publicly, does that fit with what the, you know, the opinion of medical experts would be? Is it plausible? And so if a Vander Cain had undergone the abdominal surgery at the start of the season and missed straight through into April and then were to magically come back that first week of the playoffs, I think there would be a healthy dose of skepticism had the Oilers gone out and used that LTIR money to stack their roster much in the same way that Vegas and others have done Tampa as well over the last handful of years. Now that you add in this additional knee surgery and as the oilers put it very clearly in their

press release, he's had to pause rehab from the abdominal surgery, essentially halting that progress until this separate rehab can be completed on the knee theoretically, that they now have the ammo if ever questioned by the NHL or whoever, hey, like this, he had to get this knee surgery. We, like, we had to clean this up because it's hindering his comeback. So they've got, I think, the goods medically to be able to present a strong case if they were ever questioned

and not sure what that would look like, but the scrutiny, they would pass the smell test, is my opinion, based on the information that I've learned. So they're in pretty good shape to now if Vander Cane's timeline lines up for some time in April, that they could go out and spend that money between now and then and be in good shape. What are they targeting? Now, well, the other thing to add in too is the Oilers were really smart about their cap from the beginning of the season with their season opening injured uh reserve roster and the way that they spent their pool. They've essentially been accruing cap

space on most days throughout the season even while not putting Kane on LTIR. They haven't had to use that money yet. Um they got a really what's called a clean capture so they've been banking money on top of that space. So it's not just Kane's LTIR money that they could use in full. It's also approximately an additional million plus dollars that they've been accruing between now and then. Joining us now, Randeep Janda here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning, Randeep, how are you? Good morning, boys. I'm not gonna lie, after last night's game, I woke up a little later today. I wanted to sleep in. I wanted to react and recover from last night's game. That was a rough one. Do you want to do a fun exercise to kick off the hit today?

Let's do it. Let's do it. We have been tasked with trying to come up with a Mount Rushmore. So the top four worst Canucks losses of the season. We were so good at this Randee, that we came up with two Mount Rushmore's basically. So we've got just to throw some at you. I'll give you time to think here.

The blown lead against the Kraken just prior to the new year. That was a bad one. The blown lead against the flames in the opener. That was bad. You can throw last night's game onto the pile. That wasn't very good. Five, two loss at home to the Islanders, which was also Dakota Joshua's emotional return

in his season debut and recovery from testicular cancer. The six, nothing loss to the Devils at home. Seven, three loss to the Oilers at home. Five, one loss to the Bruins at home. Or hey, why not? The three, nothing loss to the Predators at home. So feel free to take your pick, Randy. Yeah, I'm gonna go with maybe because it's fresh.

I feel like that Winnipeg game at two nothing, it felt like it was over because Winnipeg simply doesn't drop points. They're one of the stingiest teams and that was a rough one. Other than that, the Seattle comeback at the final five minutes, like that's on my Mount Rushmore. The Islanders won because it was the Islanders, right? Like when you get beaten by a New Jersey who's got firepower, that's one thing,

but we were all talking about it, how the Islanders are kind of lifeless. And in that game, it was one way traffic for them. So you got to slap them on that Mount Rushmore. And the last one, I feel like it has to be Calgary. It was the first game of the season. It kind of really started things off, um, with the inconsistency with this team. So I'm going to go Winnipeg, the Seattle comeback, uh, the New York Islanders game and Calgary as the opener that got things going there's, there's my four.

Randy, we are on exactly the same page. I think you did wake up early and listen to me rattle off mine. You're both wrong because the New Jersey game was the worst game I've seen all year, but I digress. This is a fun debate, isn't it? Like we're debating, it's half the season and we've got some great candidates for a Mount Rushmore of bad losses by the Canucks.

I mean, if that doesn't demonstrate the inconsistency of this team, which is by the way, barely out of a playoff spot right now, then I don't know what does. Yeah. And it's, you know, I'd love for it to be a Mount Rushmore of great team wins, but hopefully that's coming in the second half of the season. I think yesterday's game, obviously it's an eye opener because, you know, that excuse of not being healthy is no longer there with Philip Perona coming back with everybody being healthy

other than Dakota Joshua but when we're talking about the top five or six pieces of this team them being there and then being ready to play now it's go time guys and listen you know we can the excuses we talked about it a fair bit too if hey this team is just trying to stay in that hunt, stay in that playoff race. And, and once they get healthy, it'll be good. Uh, yesterday where a couple of things happened after that two nothing goal, as I mentioned, it just felt like it was, yeah,

you're not coming back in this game. It was the opposite of the Toronto game where it felt like there was a real lack of life. And, and the things we praise this team for in that Toronto game, the commitment wasn't there. There was no fight or pushback. So it gets real now and any excuses, help, all of that stuff of saying, hey, wait until this team is ready to go. Well, it's go time now, second half of the season, they got to start picking up points

and they got to pick them up fast. What was the most discouraging thing from last night? Was it the start with Lankton? It was a Lankton's performance overall. Were you at least, were you concerned as I was about just the general lack of pushback at all? I know Connor Garland said in the aftermath that he actually liked that they didn't quit and I don't necessarily think that they quit, but I certainly didn't

see anything that was inspirational after falling behind. As a matter of fact, after going down three, nothing in the first period, I thought, well, maybe they'll have a good start to the second boom goal against right away. And they got out shot 20 to 10 in the second period. Yeah. I thought overall, you know, you're that game, the first period, it goes a certain way, but I expected to see something from the Canucks in terms of a little bit more pushback of hey if we're going to go down in this game

we're going to we're going to you know lean into this and and play to a you know tough to play against mentality at the very least and I know Kiefer Sherwood had 10 hits in that game he's flying around he's doing his thing but from a team perspective where you know you fall behind in that game, are you playing to an identity? And that's really the concern I have with this team is, what is their identity? On certain nights, we've seen strong destructure,

we've seen good decision making, we've seen a team that's tough to play against. I didn't see, we haven't seen that A, consistently enough, we've seen it over a stretch of games on this road trip. So in that moment, when you're losing the game, when your team is maybe your benches is slumping a little bit, what are you pushing back with? Is it a, hey, okay, we're gonna go down swing in this game

or is it a, all right, three nothing and we're gonna come out with that same energy we had in the first period. And I thought the first couple of shifts were not that bad actually. There was, Hoaglander had a chance, Heinen had a chance but after that it was shoulder slumped and I think the most concerning part was it was there kind of felt like and you know Connor Garland is on the ice, he's playing, he felt like they had a push. I didn't see it so much, it felt like they were kind of going through the motions

about halfway through the game. And that's probably the most concerning part. Speaking of Lankton, were you surprised that he got the start over Demko yesterday? I wasn't surprised that he got the start. He's coming off a shutout. He's an individual that felt pretty good in that game. John Tavares, Nick Robertson

with a couple of excellent chances. So you roll with the hot hand hand but he had a tough game listen that one nothing goal is on him to make that play give it away and not get back into the crease whatever the circumstances may be whether that's schifely getting in the way or Hironik the two nothing goal I think there's more than just him on that play in terms of coverage but the rebound is not a good one. The five nothing goal, he loses his post and Nino and Nita Ryder is able to bank it off of him. There's a lot of open space there.

So it was some inconsistency from him. I didn't have an issue with him getting the start, but the game from Kevin Lankin wasn't a strong one. And if you go back over the last month, and I know this coincides with the team not having a good stretch, but you know, Lankankton and Staff, he's 873 save percentage his goals against is not bad it's still below three but you know he hasn't been as strong as we've seen in the past and I think that's probably the more the team structure the

more you know them having the lack struggles but there's been a drop-off in a bit in his game as well so I think yesterday was an example of that, but him getting the start, it was Demko either getting the Winnipeg game or the LA game. You get a shutout against Toronto. I think you get the benefit of the doubt, but yeah, not the greatest games. And let's be honest, not the greatest of games from any of the players, including Kevin Lankinen. Two part question for you.

What's up with JT Miller and what's up with Rick Taukett's deployment of JT Miller? Yeah, I think I'll start with the second part of that question first. I think the, what's up with the deployment of, of JT Miller is one of two things, right? We've heard the health issues with JT Miller potentially still being an issue. That might be a part of it, but when you're playing what 13 and change in a win,

when you're playing 14, 30 in a loss, in a loss where you needed goals, and what nine minutes, I think, Bruff, I saw your tweets from last night while we were doing the game around nine minutes, sub 10 minutes through 40 minutes. That's also a lack of trust to a certain extent as well. And I know he's a star player. I know he's an individual that you rely on to get points. But even before the two

nothing goal, which you could look at that replay and either, you know, I'm not sure what JT's thinking in that situation or he's not skating back and covering that left side. But even before that, there were a couple of giveaways early. One that led to a premium chance that Tyler Myers blocked. Another one that led. And in that classic, you know, throw the puck to the middle of the ice. That leads to a chance. There's a couple of moments where he you can tell even in his own zone,

drop and back, drop and deep. It wasn't offering the best and the most consistent, trusted play for the Vancouver Canucks. So, if you're a coach and you're saying, hey, I need you to be tidy in your own end at the very least, if you're sitting back and if you're eating pressure, are you going to be playing with confidence? And I think with JT Miller, we're not seeing the offense, the four points against Montreal, um, a side zero points on the rest of the trip. Uh, but also I think in his own end, he's really struggling right now. Last year,

it was one of his calling cards where in his own zone, he was tidy. He was a beast this year. We're not seeing that. And you know, whether it's health, whether it's trust, I feel like there's maybe a mix of both things here. And that's why the last couple of games We've seen a real dip in his ice time We're speaking to Randy agenda here on the halferden bruff show on sports net 650 Randy has mentioned is a presentation of bells and whistles your New favorite place to catch all the action hockey football soccer and more on Fraser right in the Fraser hood on socials at bells and whistles YVR

I know it can be a fool's errand to try and predict what this team is going to do because they are wildly inconsistent They are consistently inconsistent mind you but Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings. I am hopeful I stress hopeful that there will be some semblance of pushback and fight for two reasons one They just got torpedoed in Winnipeg and there should be some embarrassment from that too. The Tanner Genot angle with his illegal hit on Brock Bessowich for his best route lineup. I know Genot got booted out of the game and got a three game suspension, but the pound of flesh narrative for me anyway, it still remains there. So I ask you, Randeeb,

what are you expecting from the Vancouver Cucks when they take on the Kings at home on Thursday? Well, they have every reason to be motivated for this game. This is a divisional opponent. You mentioned the Tanner Janot angle and let's be honest guys, the last 10 games stretch for this team has been rough. You look at that road trip, the goal differential was minus six. They got absolutely smoked in that Winnipeg game last night. So the LA Kings aside,

you've got yourself a race for that second wild card spot. And now whether the belief is there in the Calgary Flames or not, the fact of the matter is through 43 games, the Calgary Flames are looking like a playoff team. I don't know how long that's going to last, but this is go time for Vancouver. Now you look at the opposition, I think the Jeannot angle is an interesting one because Brock Besser means a lot to this team. He's there, you know, going back a couple years, of course, last year the leading goal scorer, and that was a dirty hit. That was a hit that even though Junot apparently apologized after the game,

we know how hockey works. And for a team that requires a spark right now, requires some confidence, in a way, this might be the perfect opponent where you can say hey let's rally around this one thing and let's make this a tough game for the LA Kings let's make this a tough game for Tanner Janow. I think at this time you need something you need an emotional spark so the LA Kings coming to town is bad in one way because they're one of the toughest teams the best teams in the NHL going back about a month they They've gotten really defensively stingy. They're getting contributions from Adrian Kenpe

and he's been on a hot streak over the last little bit. But they don't maybe score the most goals, but they don't allow very much and Jim Hiller has got them going. So, hey, from a opposition perspective, there are a lot more easier teams to play. But if you're looking for that emotional buy-in, like here's an excuse, you wanted a rally and cry. Well, there's the Tanner-Geneau angle and there's the angle that you need to, you need to

settle into playing your style of hockey. We're still trying to figure out what that is for the Vancouver Canucks, but if you want to be a team that's tough to play games and you need some buy-in, this would be the game, guys. The Canucks lack of pushback this year has been noticeable for me, speaking solely as an individual. So I got to ask you, has it been that noticeable for you, calling and watching all these games? Yeah, I think the pushback in certain times, the Quinn Hughes, Pierre-Luc Dubois moment, I thought in the moment, in the short term and the medium term, the Quinn Hughes, Pier-Luke Dubois moment, I thought in the moment, in the short term and the medium term, so to speak, in that game, I think that

Canucks did respond in their own way. Kiefer Sherwood went in there, J.T. Miller. There was a scrum that ensued, like there was immediate pushback. There were moments later on in that game where De'Harnay challenged Dubois. Dubois is not a fighter. He's known for avoiding the fight more than anything in the NHL world. So like in that isolated incident, I do feel like, you know, there was a little bit, but consistently, yeah, in games, are you are you taking your pound of flesh, so to speak? We haven't seen that from this team. Some teams aren't built that way. But I think in any given moment you are if you know, you're if your

Captain is getting roughed up if there's moments where You need a spark and I had a talk about a big hit and one of the areas that I think this team Did have a little bit more intimidation. Sometimes it's not actually doing something It's the threat of doing something that provides the pushback and that's where Zdorov in the second half of the season, you had to keep your head on a swivel, right? Like this guy was going around there and he was trying to swing the momentum in the in the favor of his team and it's not only him. I thought JT Miller last year also did that very consistently early in games especially where he would you know isolate the opposing center. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.