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. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Back to Caprice. I've hacked it in front on and and puts the net off. They score! They score! They're going to give it a good goal to the wild. Now, Platen Keller, trying to go to the neck. Keller. Shoots, he scores. Platon Keller.

Platon Plutch. You're a Blu-J fan. You're vomiting right now. That is bad. I don't care what you say. Oh, my God. That's bad. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Wednesday.

Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Broughtonet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adah, good morning to you. Good morning.

Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a dead freedom hat trick. One, no more interest, two, much lower payments, and three, financial peace of mind. Visit them online at sands dash trustee. com.

We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. So Kintech, footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Lots to get into on a Wednesday.

It is a Canucks game day guest list. Today begins at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada. SportsNet NHL host is going to join the program. Five games on the slate tonight, including the Wednesday night Sportsnet double header at 4 o'clock. It's the red hot Utah mammoth going to Toronto to take on the Leafs. Then it's seven. As mentioned, it's your Vancouver Canucks hosting Connor Bedard and the Chicago.

Blackhawks at Rogers Arena. David's going to join us at 6.30 to talk about all that. 7 o'clock, Frank Sarah Valley, our NHL insider from Victory Plus. Speaking of Connor Bedard, we're going to ask Frank about his contract situation in Chicago and his chances to make Team Canada at the upcoming Olympics. We'll get into a whole bunch of other NHL news with Frank at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30. Mark Specter's going to join the program. Oilers reporter for Sportsnet. Not great times for the Oilers right now have lost. two in a row, five of our last seven lost last night in Dallas.

I also want to see just how truly bad this season has been for Evan Bouchard so far. We'll talk to spec about all that at 7.30. Finally, at 8 o'clock, Randy Janda, Canucks color analyst right here on SportsNet 650. As mentioned, Canucks Blackhawks tonight, 7 o'clock from Rogers Arena. You can hear the call right here on SportsNet 650. We are giving away ACDC tickets later in the show. 8 a.m. The show is not until next year, August of

2026, but we're giving away tickets every day this week. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. 604-280650. We'll win a pair of tickets to see ACDC next summer at BC Place. That is what's happening on the program today. All of it. Lattie, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened 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.com. Yesterday for the Vancouver Connects, a quiet one, they flew home from Nashville, had the day off as they returned to Vancouver. Today, there will be a 10.30 a.m. game day skate,

and then, of course, the game against Chicago. Tonight's 7 o'clock Rogers Arena, the Canucks and the Blackhawks. There was some news, and we'll get this out of the way, so we can never speak of him again. Vitelli Kravsav's time in Vancouver has come to an end. The team announced Tuesday that the Russian forward was placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. He then apparently signed a deal back in the KHL with Tractor Chelyabinsk.

I worked on that one in the intro. Say farewell to the 25-year-old. Kraftsoff. Jason, I know you will miss him dearly. Well, that's twice now that we've taken a chance, taking a flyer on a guy, nothing to lose. Except our valuable time as human beings

being alive on this planet. I'll never forget where I was when I heard the news that they let him go. For the second time? For the second time? Yeah. I remember he came over to the Rangers in a trade a couple years ago during garbage time for the Vancouver Canucks season and I remember having

a bit of a, I had a bit of her temper tantrum when that happened because it was like oh god the connects are the team that does this they just take this guy you know and like you're watching him it's like this guy's not an NHL player he's never going to thrive in this league so he goes back to Russia he does well there and then they bring him back he wants to give him another shot so we got to you know waste time talking about him in training camp again and you know we see him in the preseason and like right away he makes like a terrible mistake out there do you know what it was some preseason game where I think there was a guy like standing right next to him

and he was just like talking to him basically like, do you remember that? No, I believe I blocked it out of my memory. Yeah, yeah, like he was just standing right next to him and then the guy ended up like, he wasn't talking to him, but he might as well been, he ended up like tipping a puck home and it was like, okay, well, that's it for you. You're never going to get a chance. He ends up down in the H.L. Where he doesn't want to be.

And this was probably always going to result in him going back to Russia, which he has. and that is the end of Vitelli Craftsoff's time in Vancouver. I am more curious about tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. They got Quinn Hughes back against Nashville in Nashville, and that made a big difference, although everyone contributed to that win down in Nashville. Now we're waiting on a bunch of the other players, including Connor Garland.

Now, Garland has been, skating. He didn't go on the trip. He's been skating in Vancouver. We've wondered if he might play tonight, but the Canucks haven't had a practice. And if this is, I mean, the Canucks haven't come out and said it, but I think a lot of people wondered, is this like a concussion thing after he got hit in the Rangers game? And if it is, you wonder if he's going to need a full practice with the team before he returns. If it isn't, Maybe he doesn't. I don't know.

But we'll see if Connor Carlin will be back tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. Connects were out without their two main play drivers, as you all know, if you've been listening to this show. Hughes is back, and they're waiting for Garland. Teddy Blugher might be back soon as well. Probably not tonight, but Adam Foote said, Connor Garland's probably...

Connor Garland is close. And then after Garland, Blugher's probably the next one. and the Canucks P.K. could really use Teddy Blugher. Well, and then after Bluger, Derek Foreboard has also resumed skating. He'd be number three in the power rankings of guys likely to return. You're right that Foote said that Garland was close on Monday yesterday. On my favorite show, Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV, Dolly reported that Garland is expected to be back on the ice,

but I think that meant for the morning skate and whether or not he'll actually participate in the game tonight is still very much up in the air. but signs are pointing in the right direction overall the team is starting to return to health and that it has managed to keep its head what's the term when it's not above water and it's not below water is it at water because they're 7 and 7 so they've done a good job

they're treading water they're not drowning and you can say that for the team and they are going to doggy paddles I think yeah they're doing the doggy paddle to 7 and 7 and you bring up a good point with the penalty kill getting bluger and foreboard back would very much bolster a unit that's been under fire over the last week and a half and really hasn't done a good job

of keeping the puck out of its own net. There's a couple good discussions to have. One is how do the Canucks deploy their goalies over the next four games at home?

And the other one is when Forbort is ready to come in, who does he replace? Is it D.P.D.? Is D.P.D. coming out of the lineup? Because you got Quinn Hughes, Philip Porn. Tyler Myers, Marcus Pedersen, the vets.

I probably aren't coming out. And then you've got Tom Velander, who's been playing really well on the right side as well. So maybe you could have a pairing of Derek forebort on the left with Tom Velander on the right. And wouldn't that be a somewhat unexpected story? If Tom Velander, his play, which has been very good, and I think the Canucks have welcomed his skating,

if he were to replace D.P.D., who's been a fixture in the lineup so far this season. Yeah, and if you look at the ice time from the Nashville game, it's kind of followed suit with what Foote has done a lot this year, which is play the top two pairs a ton, and then use that third pair sparingly. Although Vellender and Pedersen both registered assist in that game, so good on them both for doing it.

But DPD only played what? 1143 and 1052 are the ice times for both of them. So, I mean, they weren't. weren't playing much at all, the two of them, right? So I'll be curious to see that. The goalie deployment is interesting for sure because it's been a heavy start to the season, and you've kind of seen Thatcher Demko

over the last few games not put the heroics forward. He hasn't played badly by any stretch of the imagination. Don't get me wrong, but he hasn't put forth the heroics that we saw earlier in the year where on a lot of nights he was the only reason the Canucks were in the game. And you do have to say, like, Lankin for his sort of mid as his start to be the season has been the last game out which i believe was the four three shootout win over st louis which he's nails in the shootout i mean he did make a lot of saves

yeah i don't a couple people took issue with umbridge if you will with some of the goals that he let in during regulation but he still finished with i think it was 36 saves and was good in the shootout so the goalie rotation will be interested to watch moving forward demko's played the last two games for those of you that might have forgotten the games in minnesota and nashville the conucks have an interesting schedule uh they have they have they have they host the Hawks tonight, then they get two days off. They'll presumably practice at least once, and that will be the opportunity if Garland doesn't play tonight, or maybe they get some players back at practice after tonight's game. Then they get Columbus and Colorado back to back this

weekend, followed by Winnipeg on Tuesday. So you can almost think about it in two chunks. One chunk is solely Chicago tonight. Sure. And then the other one is three games and four nights against Columbus, Colorado, and Winnipeg. If I'm going to bet, I'd probably go Demko tonight. Okay. Even though that'll be three straight starts.

Then Lankinen against Columbus. Yeah, I'm with you so far. Demko, do you want to have for Colorado? Sunday Night Colorado? Hell yeah. And then Lankin for, Winnipeg on Tuesday, and giving Lankan and that start

on Tuesday would allow Demko to get a pretty good break between playing Sunday against Colorado and then going out on the road again. Yeah, it's like they don't play again until Friday in Carolina, so that's like almost a week off right there. So I mean, that's just me wondering. I have no information on it.

Pretty smart. They'll probably do the complete opposite. By the way, I watched Colorado play last night. Can confirm still very fast. Yeah, they're... Still very fast. Got a good good team speed there. You know who looks slow? The team they were playing against, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Yeah, the Lightning, man. There's something off there, right? They look old. They look old and they look slow. Maybe a bit stale? Yeah, all the all the above. It looked like two teams

playing at two very different speeds. It was a close game. And Braden Point scored a really nice backhander to make it three to and make the end of the game really tight. But it looked like there were two teams playing at two different speeds. I watched a bit of Anaheim last night. You know, it looks good. Cutter Gochee. They're a good team. I'm not ready. I'm not ready for the Anaheim Ducks to be relevant again. I needed another year. This is weird. They're 8, 3 and 1. I don't know if it's I don't know we all just, I don't know if

it's sustainable, you know. They score a lot of goals. They score a lot of goals. They're a good team and the Pacific Division is weak. Right now, it's soft. And I, you know, again, I went back and look, the last time that Anaheim made the playoffs, you know

who's playing for the team? Kevin Bexa and Ryan Miller. Like, that's how long ago it was. And you know who else was on that? Yes, Kess on that team? No, he was gone at that point. But you know who else was on that team? A 21-year-old rookie by the name of Marcus Pedersen. Unbelievable.

That's how long ago this was. Crazy. Anyway, you want to do the White Caps thing? Yeah, we can get into the rest of the NHL story. Maybe in the segment where we talk to Mark Specter, we'll keep Mark for 10 or 15 minutes, and then we'll get into the rest of the NHL story from last night because I do want to keep it local here.

And this is going to be a big story over the next few days because Don Garber, the MLS commissioner, is coming to Vancouver. He's going to have a press conference on Friday. And he's going to be coming to Vancouver to speak to some politicians and some business people about the stadium situation in Vancouver. And he had a quote, I think it was the Canadian press he spoke to. And he said, the club isn't sustainable in a situation where they're in a building which they have no control over

and they have minimal participation with revenue. Another issue is the lack of schedule flexibility, which BC Place would probably take umbrage with. But he went on to say this team is no different than any other professional sports team having the ability to capitalize on all aspects

of what a stadium could deliver both for fans, for corporate partners, hospitality value, and also for schedule flexibility, um is something we hope to be able to make some progress on so we all the big boss is getting involved yeah is what's happening and sorry i cut you off there did you want to keep going well we all know the situation with bc place um the white caps pay some rent it's not very much rent um but their only revenue source is really some sponsorship opportunities and ticket sales they don't get

food and beverage which is huge they don't they don't get any parking or anything like that they don't control the stadium because bc place which is owned by the province controls the stadium and the white caps lease at bc place ends in two months one month it ends in December yeah it ends well it ends at the end of the year so it is two months we got November and December and then the lease is up and there's no you know there's no worries that the white caps are just going to leave in two months like they can figure something they can kick the can down the road on something but there's a lot of things coming to a head I think with the Vancouver white caps the current ownership group has essentially said the team is for sale um now is that a serious um you know is that we're definitely selling the team or is is that like, we've got to sell the team because the stadium situation, to use Don Garber's words, isn't sustainable. And we don't really want to be the ones to, frankly, move the team if we have to. I wonder which public officials, Don Garber, will be meeting with. Because, again,

BC place is a provincial asset. But the discussion around a new stadium at the P&E, those discussions, have been with the city of Vancouver. The big question I've got right now, because to me right now, that stadium at the P&E is, I don't want to call it a long shot, but man, it's a lot of work shot. There's a lot of things that would have to happen.

It's a long ways away. Let's put it that way. The big question I've got is, would a renegotiated lease at BC Place make it sustainable for the Vancouver white caps in this city now if the answer is no then you've got to talk about a new stadium

but if the answer is yes how much is BC place willing to negotiate with the white caps are they willing to lose them as a tenant either to a new stadium at the P&E or to relocation do they think those possibilities are real or are they

bluffs either by the white caps or MLS what would be the political ramifications of essentially giving the white caps a piece of the stadium if they did because it's a provincial asset and a lot of people might be like this is essentially a wealth transfer from the province to the owners

of the white caps but what about the political ramifications of losing the team? I don't know if you've noticed but the white caps are becoming more and more popular in the city and I was speaking with the caps yesterday Nathan Vanstone

and he was saying that they've sold over 43,000 tickets for this game against LAFC. So I expect this game to be a sellout, much like it was against Inter-Miami and Messi. I mean, that was an incredible night for the Vancouver White Caps. And then I would say another question I've got is, how is Don Garber going to handle this? Is he going to draw a hard line on relocation and say, no, we're not relocating the white caps or is he going to throw out the possibility of it happening? Because he's done that in the past. If you look at what happened with Columbus,

they nearly moved, but they got a new stadium built and they got new owners. But if you look at San Jose, they actually did move to Houston and then they built a new stadium there and they got another team. So this stuff has happened before and Garber has said,

we've been through this before. Garber's, this is out of his playbook because he's done this before where I guess the situation reaches a point, I don't want to call it a breaking point, but it reaches a point where, like I said, the boss needs to get involved. And that was the situation over a decade ago in Columbus where the owner at the time put up the threat of relocation with a press statement that included Garber's blessing. So fans in Columbus hate Don Garber now because Don Garber essentially signed off on the idea that they were going to rip the team out of Columbus, right? But that got a new stadium.

It's a beautiful stadium. In a very weird roundabout way, the situation in Columbus worked out for everyone. I won't go down the road too far because it's kind of, it doesn't really, a lot of the particulars don't pertain to this situation. So let's talk about your questions. How much is BC Place willing to negotiate with the white caps? Great question. Historically, they haven't really felt the need to because while it is an anchor, the white caps.

There's never really been a threat of what are you going to do otherwise, right? There's never been that. Oh, you're going to build a new stadium? Good luck with that. And a negotiation is always a negotiation. Like even if you're friends, you're still doing business. And I would suggest the relationship between the two isn't always necessarily friendly. At times it could be adversarial, which is probably par for the course with any tenant

and, you know, operator, owner, what have you. But for the longest time, there's never really been a need to cede anything to the white caps. Because why would you bother? Right. They're being a provincially owned entity, I hate putting it this way, but they don't really owe the white caps anything, right? They've got obligations to other people that aren't one of their tenants. It's always a very tricky situation for the politicians because you don't want to be the politicians that are essentially handing public money over to

billionaires now. They own teams, not millionaires. But you also don't want to be the politicians that lose a team. Not on your watch. Not on your watch, yeah. Now, this was another interesting thing with the Columbus situation because, and again, it is very playbook-ish, but right after Don Garber signed off on potential relocation, the threat spawned a big reaction from a lot of politicians, right?

The governor who's, or sorry, it was the attorney general who, now the governor and the mayor of Columbus jumped on board. We're like, we can't let this happen. Yeah. And they got behind one of the fan movements called Save the Crew. And all of a sudden, it became no longer just a sports issue, but a political issue. Now, is that what Garber's first step is here in actually getting boots on the ground in Vancouver and talking to local politicians is to kind of gauge the temperature of who am I able to get on

my side? Because make no mistake. Garber does not want the team to relocate. Relocation is not good for MLS. and it's not good, even though the stadium situation is, as he puts it like, untenable, they still want to keep the foothold that they've got. They don't want to move the white guys. They don't want to move them.

It's a great soccer city, and they know that. You know, that's why they decided on Vancouver and look at the excitement in the market right now. Whitecaps are top 10 in attendance in MLS. That's good. The bad part is that they are right near the bottom of the league when it comes to food and beverage revenue. Well, no, they have no food and beverage revenue. Right. So right near the bottom, they're at the bottom. Just revenue.

There's nothing coming out of there. It's a revenue play. So Tim and Animo texting is what is the difference between the BC Place leasing agreement with the BC Lions and the White Caps? Do the Lions have a better deal? I don't think so. I don't think they do. I think everyone needs to understand, though, that MLS now is very different from the CFL. the CFL is much, much smaller than MLS.

And you might be like, really? Like, I think more people watch the Lions than the White Caps. Look at franchise values. The Lions are probably worth, I don't know, at their best, $20 million, something like that. And, you know, I don't know what a Mard Olman paid for them, but they weren't worth that at the time. The White Caps are worth half a billion. Like it is very different And you're just looking at the future

Of the leagues And also, again, the revenue potential The Lions They're going to get their ticket sales They're going to get some sponsorship You know, they're going to get their TV money From TSN right now That's another negotiation

That has to take place That's going to be very important For the CFL coming up But MLS, you've got a league that wants to be a top five soccer league in the world. And frankly, they probably want to be a top three soccer league in the world. And they've got billions of dollars behind them. And the final question that you have listed here,

I think that's the biggest one in the immediacy out of this week is Will Garber draw a hard line on relocation? Because when he was asked about this situation at the MLS All-Star game and shout out to local journalist Hard Joe Hall, who asked the question at the media availability, he did not bring up relocation. He was like, his big takeaway from that was we're going to get it fixed in Vancouver.

We're going to sort it out in Vancouver. We want to stay in Vancouver. If by the end of this week, and when that press conference rolls around on Friday, relocation is mentioned from the commissioner, that's a big move. And it could just be, like you said, the idle threat of it or the possibility of it.

This might be chapter one, right? He might come in and say, he might not draw like, He might not just be like, we're moving this team if we don't get a new stadium. But I think he's going to try and heat this process up because I think he's looking at the white caps right now and be like, hmm, I got a big playoff game. Everyone's really excited about this white caps team. Thomas Muller's there and, you know, like, again, that game at BC Place, when they sold that thing out for Inter Miami and Messi and they won that game. I mean, I sound like Dollywall here

is like, you don't think they noticed that? Yeah, right. They noticed. You know, that everyone noticed that and they got the World Cup coming up and Vancouver is a host city. We are a great soccer city and now the commission's going to come in and hint that

we better get something done or this team is going to move. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. It's Rand Deep. Randi Janda time It's Randipe Janda

It is Randy Randi Janda It is Randi Talking Hockey now Oh 8.03 on a Wednesday Happy Wednesday everybody Halford Brough of Sportsnet 650

Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by sands and associates score a debt freedom hat trick one no more interest two much lower payments and three for the haddy financial peace of mind visit them today at sands dash trustee dot com we are now in hour three of the program hour three is bratsy by campbell and pound real estate appraisers trust the expertise of campbell and pound visit them on the internet at campbell dash pound com today we are coming to live from the kintech studio kintech footwear and orthotics working together with you and step randip's going to join us in about what two minutes here a dog before we do that you had something yeah well I just wanted to set the day up

because the Canucks are going to skate this morning at Rogers Arena they're going to skate at around 1030 so a couple hours from now they didn't practice when they got home from their road trip they had a day off yesterday so they've got the Blackhawks tonight and what we're wondering I think the biggest question is whether or not Connor Garland is going to play tonight. He has been skating by himself in Vancouver. He's close, but we don't know. Sometimes you need a full practice with your team,

and the Knecks are probably going to have an opportunity to practice in the next couple of days before a busy weekend against Columbus and Colorado back to back. First time in a while, it's been hard to find practice times in this condensed schedule. And maybe that kind of changes things in terms of, you know, does Garland need a full practice, or is he just going to be like,

I'm good to go, put me in the lineup tonight against Chicago? I hope it's the latter. I mean, I'm actually, you know, for as earlier in the week, because we were all still coming off the weekend that was filled with all these different sports moments and big high-stakes games. I was like, felt a little apathy towards the Canucks.

I didn't even really watch the game on Saturday against Minnesota. Yeah. But tonight, I'm very interested in this Chicago team, in large part because of Connor Bernard leading the sergeant. He was playing a lot better. Last time he was in Vancouver, he was bad, man. I went to the game, and I sat pretty close and watched him the whole game.

And he just like, he was so frustrated, too. I think he ended up getting a misconduct, didn't he, at the end of the game? I was just going to bring that up because... That was the game that Connor Garland played quite well in, actually. They beat him 6-2. And the last time that, you mentioned, with this sort of revenge to her, I don't want to call it a revenge to her,

But there was certainly some motivation for Bedard after what happened last season, not just in Vancouver, but throughout the 82 games coming into this year. I do wonder if the young man who's got, I think it's 16 points and 13 games and is on a five-game point streak, is kind of made mental notes about the things he wants to rectify from last year. And if tonight his first opportunity to be back in Vancouver is one of those. I told you that I heard from a few people that he's been telling everyone, you know, that went up to him. like, hey, how's it going? He's like, I'm going to be better next year.

Like that was his off-season in Vancouver. I think he was very, very motivated and willing to put the work in to come back this season. And everyone's been saying, oh, his skating looks a lot better. And his skating needed to improve because he's got an amazing shot. But you can't just dine off that in the NHL. You've got to get to the spots too. And I think there were too many times where he was shooting from distance. Like he's still going to score goals.

shooting from distance, but it's not the WHL anymore. It's not junior hockey. You got to be able to skate. You got to be able to compete. You got to get, I sound like such an old man here, but you got to get to the hard areas of the ice. And he knows that. He knows it.

I may be looking up. Connor at any time goal score odds for tonight. I may be looking them up. To the phone lines we go. Our next guest is a presentation of bells and whistles. Canucks color analyst here on SportsNet 650. Reddy Janna joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

What up, Brandy? Good morning, boys. How you doing? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. So I had to make the mental note this morning when I was laying out the show. I'm like, we got the call here on SportsNet 650, but it's going to be Batch and Landon Farrow. And that's because it's Davali night, and you're going to be doing the hockey night and Punjabi broadcast.

Can you first tell us about everything that's on tap for this evening from that side of things on the broadcast side? Yeah, it's exciting. It's actually, hockey men, Canada, Punjabi will be involved. It won't be a broadcast. So I've been helping the Canucks actually plan this night, going back nine years. So it's been a really cool project to work on and see it grow every single year. So this is the one game of the year where I actually put on my planning hat rather than my broadcaster hat, guys. So it's a very important day for people of, you know, different faiths and different backgrounds.

But, you know, it's great for the Vancouver Canucks to, A, welcome the community to the rink. and it allows for a sharing of cultures and an understanding between cultures through the sport of hockey. So, you know, you've got a party on the plaza, which is going to be fun. Bring an umbrella. If you're going to do that as well, please,

it's going to be a little wet today. Surrey's own intent, who's one of the biggest producers and artists in Punjabi music is going to be the pre-game and intermission entertainment. There's going to be at the volleyball market with local charities, local businesses. I know the Museum of Suri,

which has a exhibit going on right now about hockey and what it means to the city of Surrey is going to have a little pop-up exhibit as well. There's a lot of festivities that are going to be going on tonight. So just a really exciting night overall, guys. I can't wait for it. So very different for me today.

I'll be obviously paying attention to the game, but I'll have a few other things to do as well. And what a great platform for the night, because this is a pretty Ballyhood game going in with how the Chicago Blackhawks are playing and what Connor Bidard has done. And of course, the Vancouver Canucks going back in,

after a pretty successful road trip at least in terms of results because they were able to get two wins on the board including that big late dramatic win in Nashville and now potentially the return of Connor Garland tonight as well although we'll wait and see on that one

yeah there's a couple of things to really I think take from A the road trip you mentioned it you know the process as of right now and there's going to be a time when we do focus on the process and playing the way that Adam foot wants to play but still looking at that injury list and you know certain players are required to play and i would say Connor garland is one of those guys like they need him back they need his play driving skills they need his intensity his second

effort i think that minnesota game was a classic game where they just didn't have the juice right like they needed somebody to kind of bring him into that game and Connor garland on most nights will do that so not only play driving i think there's a certain intensity to his game where if you're having an off night if the legs are moving a little slow there's an element And his personality, that he just doesn't take games off. He doesn't take shifts off. So they need them, I think, from a mental perspective as well. Now, whether that's tonight, I guess we'll wait and see.

But, you know, going back on that road trip, three games, sure, they weren't the murderer's row of Central Division teams. But the fact is, you come back with, you know, four out of six points. And that's the most important thing for this team. They need results rather than, you know, the process is more of a long-term, I think a medium-term thing. While they get bodies back, they just need to pick up two points. points at a time. Well, the process was pretty good

in Nashville. I know the Preds ported on in the end due to score effects, but don't you think the process was pretty good, at least for the start of the Preds game? Yeah, I think you can even say 40, 45 minutes. They play a really strong game, right? When I look at the entire road trip, I'm

speaking more of the totality of it, but you're right, the last game on that road trip, when you start looking at the way that they were able to play, establish that foretruck. And I really like that, you know, the first period was strong. They fall behind on that Horsburg goal, but other than that guys, like the way that Quinn Hughes changed the way that they can attack,

and that's a big part of it. You know, the Fort Trek was strong in that game as well. I thought the bottom six especially was able to, whether it was the Rat Two line, whether it was, you know, the Abbey line, they were able to kind of get some things going off the Fort Trek, and Linus Carlson had a big role in that too. So you saw a little bit more of it in the final period, maybe that's a little bit of fatigue,

maybe that's a little foot off the gas, maybe that's a little bit of a bad call in Evander Cain as Evangelista snapped his head back, a couple of things I think worked against the conucks from that final period. But overall, from a process perspective, that was certainly their best game on the road trip. Yeah, they're bottom six right now.

Just think about this. You've got an Abbey line. Should we call that the Calder Cup line? They've been trying. They've been trying. I think we need to give it more respect. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sasson, apparently we're saying his name like,

that between Carlson and Baines. I've got to correct here, it's Sassone. Sassone? It's Italian, not French. Oh, for God's sake. Sasson. Okay. Yes.

So Richio is going to be the one that's going to pronounce it? Yeah, Risho should be given these lessons. Okay. And then the other line that I've actually been quite impressed with is Ataturatu between McKinsey McKeckern, who I did not expect to see in the lineup this season, and Drew O'Connor, who early on, we were quite critical. We were kind of like, what do you do here? And we knew, you know, he's big and he can skate and he can get in on the forecheck.

But there didn't seem to be any bottom line, but there was more of a bottom line on this road trip. So like this bottom six on paper looks like a problem. But I actually think it's been the least problematic of the two sixes. Yeah, I think when you start looking at, well, expectations are lower as well. But the fact is, they have a very simple game when it comes to, you know, you mentioned Drew O'Connor and Jason, I remember you asking about him a couple of weeks ago where what does he exactly do, right?

And Fort Check is the question, really the answer to that. And we've seen him establish that. He's been a bit of a madman on the Fort Check over the last, you know, five games or so. When he plays with Kiefer Sherwood, we really see that coming to the four. And the bottom six, I actually like Atu Ratu's game as well. I think he's got a strong start to the season.

Unfortunately, you know, Teddy Bluger not being in the lineup has opened up a spot for Ratu, which is good for Ratu because he's able to, you know, show that he can play that game. He can be aggressive on the four check. He's got a solid two-way game. Of course, there's going to be cracks in his game. He's still a young player. It's not a perfect game, but, you know, he's much needed on the draw. So that bottom six, and McCackeren, adding a little veteran, you know,

presence at that line, and he brings that forecheck, too. I really like the way that they play. And I think it really does come down to me for, you know, for that line. You need to have somebody that can get there on the four check early. And I think with O'Connor, R.C. Bance is able to do that. The fourth line and so someone's been able to do that as well. I thought Linus Carlson had his best game in the season last time out against Nashville. Like that assist to Evander Kane was one thing.

But even he was like, you know, Rick Tockey used to word sticky when it came to Linus Carlson, where he just kind of, you know, he'd be aggressive. on the walls. He's a big body and he just kind of like wraps around you and that's kind of his or track. He's not going to, he's not going to drill you, but there's a way he can win those puck battles and just make life difficult. And I thought that was probably his best game to doing that against Nashville. There was that one shift though where he had two chances to get the puck out and he couldn't. Yeah. And Tom Villander was like, hey man, I've been out here for three minutes. It's the second period. I can't get to my bench. So you're going to have

to get that puck out. Eventually it did get out and Tom Villander was able to. Catch his breath on the bench, which actually brings us to Tom Vielander. And we were having this discussion earlier. If Derek Forbort returns, or when he returns, who comes out of the lineup? D.P.D. or Tom Velander? Yeah, that one might be a bit of a rotation based on the way that, like, both of these guys have played. Because I do, Forburt is a given. You need him on the PK. That penalty kill is struggling right now.

And Forwort is a big part of the reason it is struggling. need him back there to plug up those lanes. Now, Elias Pedersen can play that right-hand side. He's played it well at times. I think with Villander, what we have to really focus on with him is that he's getting a good stretch of games, but it's not always going to be that way. So I don't mind actually rotating both of these guys. For me, you know, Elias Pedersen has an NHL body. Like he kind of low-key reminds me, like the body type, there's an element of greasiness to his game. He's like a modern-day, like a Darius

Casperitis like he's kind of you know got some sides to him but there's a little bit of like you know you know he can kind of go take it to the alley

if you want to definitely definitely and I like that I want that in the lineup but I think there is a way that you get probably Elias Tudders in the majority of the games

but even as a young player he's going to need a reset right and with Belander like the natural right hand side you don't want him sitting in the press box too long but having him as the guy that occasionally takes a seat in the press box.

I don't think that's a bad thing. And I think Eli Fetterson's probably going to need that reset at some point, too, just as a young defenseman. So to me, it's Rulander is probably the guy that loses out because you want him to play more minutes. And Abby, he's going to be able to do that. But the way he's been playing guys, you know, the attacking versus Nashville, sure, he throws the pass into the dangerous area

that Brock Fessor gets on to. I don't think it was intentional, but I don't think it matters because he did everything right before that. against Minnesota he hits the post attacking down the right-hand side and there's another play that he made against Nashville where he's facing a fork check just inside his own blue line the way he backs up and just takes a nice little turn, patient play and wheels away from pressure.

Like it's little subtle things like that that his skating is so good you're like, wait a second. You know, I can understand why Aadput does trust him in certain games because this kid's got something, no doubt about it. You just need a little bit more probably seasoning in the HL but certainly a great start for him. Can the Elias Pedersen line get beyond just being a pure shutdown line and actually get some offense?

Well, they're going to need to, right? Like, it's something that we talked about with, you know, at length when it, even the previous iteration of it with Brock Vester and Jake DeBrus, you get Kiefer and Evanderthane playing next to him. Right now, five on five, you're just not seen that pop. Right? And I think it's a time and space thing, there's been flashes. maybe in that last homestand

where we saw him hit him the neutral zone in that stride and everybody got excited and even though his defensive game has been unbelievable like he's been very very good he's not a defensive stopper

for this team he's got to be a defensive stopper and a play driver so you know I certainly hope so I think adding Truit on that line adding some speed some physicality was much needed the best friend of Brussick experience

last year I was in a huge fan because that line really lacks speed. Yeah, I never want to see those three together again. Yeah. Like, they don't work. They do not work. And Jason, I bought into the discussion in the preseason because I, you know, I chatted with

Jake DeBruscan. He was like, yeah, we need to play faster. I need the puck in my stick. And like, I, I was, I drink the Kool-Aid, so to speak, where I was like, you know what, give them another try. I'm with you. I don't think that trio works just based on the profile of players and really the lack of speed on that line, right?

Like, somebody's got to get home. Somebody's got to do the dirty work. Jake's good in the corners. Is he, you know, is he great? Not necessarily. I don't think that's his game. So I think you need somebody that's able to really dig Pucks and play with some speed.

And I don't think any three of those guys are able to do that right now. But with Sherwood, you know, that's a player that can work there right now. But that is certainly, you know, finding that right duo for Elias Pedersen is going to be the key. Hopefully, Connor Garland gets back very soon. And then you can go back to that. at least duo where you know Garland's going to dig puck so you know he's got

that play driving ability himself as well. I mean the hard thing with the Garland situation is that you put him with Pedersen and I agree those two work well off each other but work well off each other but Garland's doing most of the work out there but Pedersen you know with a one touch pass here

or a nice shot there it can work those two together but then you've taken Garland away from a line that you know you're looking at Lucas Reichel Besser and Jake DeBress then and then you've got an issue on the second line you know the Heedal injury

obviously was a big deal and I don't know what our expectations are for Heedle I'm kind of not even expecting them back I don't know maybe ever but you know you need you need each of these lines to have someone that's going to take control and we were hoping that Pedersen would take control

of one line and that Garland would take control of the other they don't have that right now, and I don't know what the answer is. Yeah, I think in the short term, you know, you want to see what this Bessern-de-Brust line with Reichel can do, right? Obviously, you know, there's been a lot of talk about Connor Bacardt playing

Vancouver. Lucas Reichel, a big game for him. He's playing his former team. Yes. Essentially, you know, the revenge game is out there for him as well, where he was with a graduation of a lot of these young players for Chicago. He was basically deemed a player that they could get rid of. So I think you're right.

You know, losing Philip Heedel forever long, excuse me, is something that it's going to hurt this team. We've seen it from a puck possession perspective. We've seen it with Philippeal started off the season scoring well. But you don't necessarily, that's a long-term concern.

And the short term, I think you have to see what Lucas Reichel can do. And hopefully that trio with Bessor and DeBrasch, two goals from Besser last time out, one in overtime. But, you know, that's something that give it time, a little bit of chemistry, could build here in the next few games

and I don't think you really have any other options unfortunately because the trade market I know Nazan Khadri is playing game 1000 today so he might free up his cell phone and he might start taking calls at that point but there's one centerman maybe two three centermen that are on everybody's list and no hero is going to walk through that door

I think in the next 10 to 15 to 20 games for the Vancouver Connection you have to look internally and you have to give some of these trios a little bit of time because they have to build that chemistry. Hey, Randy, were you at Bells and Whistles watching Arsenal yesterday? Didn't they have like a 15-year-old kid playing for them? They did.

Max Doeman is the future, boys. Not only for Arsenal, also for England. I was not at Bells and Whistles yesterday, but I'm very excited. Three goals conceded in the league this year, which is at this rate, they're going to smash Chelsea's record of what I believe was 15. So fingers crossed, but I will be at Bells and Whistles the next couple of days here. It's the place to watch sports in the city's boys. And I will be heading over to 3296 Frasier Street

to watch some Champions League soccer for lunch today. Maybe a little pre-game snack and check out their lunch specials as well. Right, enjoy it today. Randeep, and enjoy it tonight as well. It should be a lot of fun at the rank and we'll do this again next week. Thanks, guys. Take care.

Thank you. That's Randive Janda on SportsNet 650. As mentioned, 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. How can you be 15 in playing in the

Champions League? So they played him earlier in the Premier League campaign when they throttled Leeds 5-1 and they brought him on at the end. You notice that? I was like, they're bringing out a 15-year-old. That's like the human victory cigar at this point. Damn, that hurts. That hurts.

Anyway. It was a good day for North London yesterday because Spurs got a big one too. Yeah. There's a, and there's a, so, many games. I know when the new revamped Champions League came out, everyone was like, this is confusing, and there's too much going on, and then

those European nights happen in Europe, and everyone's like, this is amazing. Yeah, but it's cool, because you get, you get great, Matt, like Liverpool played Realia yesterday and beat them 1-0. It was Byron playing PSG. There was a, there's marquee matchups every night

of a European week. Now, the thing is, this is kind of what the Super League envisioned. They're like, what if? What if we took all of the best teams in Europe and just had them play each other in meaningful games all the time? And of course, there was some pushback to it.

But now that we're seeing it play out, I mean, these are every Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday, I guess if you're into Europe and Conference League, there are some really high profile bona fide must watch European matches with regularity. Young boys didn't qualify this year for champions. It was a tough year for young boys.

But don't worry. I get a year older. Yeah, I heard that. get better. I heard they were just too young. I'm good. Are we going to talk young boys or what? Max Downman's a young boy.

He's 15 years old. Yeah. My young boys, I have a bad news for you all. We did not make it. They didn't qualify. This market loves young guys. How many more of those you got? A lot.

I'll just say a lot. We're going to go to break before we get in any further trouble here on the Alford-Bruff show on SportsNet 650. You've got to the year older, a year wiser. What's your? in my heart. You're still my young boys. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.