Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 12/10/25

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss Canucks trade rumours with Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli, plus they chat with 'Nucks analyst Randip Janda on the latest around the team. 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. Two seconds left, tries to get it into the goal, priest. He scored. Through traffic, off sticks. They score. Pavel, Dorafee. With 12.1 seconds left. A hit safety shot. Scor!

Gail McCar! Rips at home with eight seconds to go. Shot, re-out, score. Connor McDavid, David, with one second left. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brow.

It is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintek Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Scor a debt 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 an hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal.

North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street. in Vancouver. This show, this show right here, is coming you live from the Kintech studio. Now's the time to maximize the benefits of custom orthotics. Before the year runs out, visit kintech.com. Got a big show ahead. Big show ahead on a Wednesday. A four guester here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's time now for the morning drive. Brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Guest list today begins at 630. David Amber, Hockey Nighting Canada. SportsNet NHL host is going to join the program. Four games in the

NHL tonight sports net's got two of them Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey it's the Red Wings and the Flames followed by the Kings and Cracken. David will join us at 6.30 to talk about that. 7 o'clock Frank Sarah Valley, our NHL insider from Victory Plus is going to join the program. We'll ask Frank for the latest

on what he's hearing about Canucks trade plans, including those involving Quinn Hughes. Frank's going to join us at 7. 730, Paul Hamilton's going to join the program. Sabres reporter for WGR Sports Radio 550 in Buffalo Sabres are in Vancouver tomorrow

to take on the Canucks after a wild O.T win in Edmonton last night, Paul joins us, said, for an early Sabres preview at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Randeep Jandah is going to join the program. Canucks color analyst on SportsNet 650. Big news for the Canucks yesterday. Thatcher Demko declared himself ready to go to take on the Sabers Thursday night.

We'll talk to Randip about all that and more at 8 o'clock. Reminder at 8 a.m. this morning, right around the time Rand Deep joins us. It's Halford and Brough's 12 days of Christmas. Listen to Halford and Brough every day until December 16th for your chance to score an early Christmas present. We're giving away some cool stuff. Restaurant gift cards. Tickets to sporting events.

Canucks tickets yesterday. Where are we in the days? Today is eight, if I'm not mistaken. All right at eight. I'm pretty sure we're able. Is that lords a leaping? Swans a swimming. Oh, okay.

I don't know the song very well. I think we're past geese-a-lang. Captain's a Traden? we're not doing that today it's probably a kintech thing i don't know i anyway we've got a lot to give away caller number five at 8 a.m this morning 604 280650 that number again 604 2800 650 that's what's happening on the program today it was the duick morning drive brought to you by the duik auto group without further ado laddie let's tell everybody what happened hey did you guys see the game last night no what happened what happened

I missed all the action because I'm losing. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is Bradson, you behind? 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. The Vancouver Connect sort of practiced yesterday, an optional with 10 skaters and a couple of goleys, including Thatcher Demko, who, after missing the last 12 games with the lower body injury will return to the crease on Thursday when the Canucks host the Buffalo Sabres at Rogers Arena. Yeah, as you mentioned, only 10 skaters,

mostly young guys out there. Plus Demko and Lankanen, most of the veteran skaters took the option. They had a season ticket holder event last night as well, meet the players. I'm sure Quinn Hughes got some questions from the fans last night at Rogers Arena. Pedersen did not practice yesterday

although that wasn't unusual because as mentioned most of the veterans took it off but it's possible according to Adam Foote that he could practice today Foote sounded pretty optimistic yesterday that Pedersen

is fine now I don't know how much time how much more time he's going to miss but maybe he's going to be ready to go against the sabers the Canucks do practice again today at 11 a.m. at Rogers Arena.

So we'll know more about what we can expect to see about against the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow night. Thatcher Dempco was the big story yesterday and it's a media. And what did you, what audio did you clip from this? Because I actually haven't heard it yet. No problem. I listened to it this morning. And Demko held the scrum,

lasted about five and a half minutes. He was pretty tight-lipped on a lot of things. Let's throw that out there. Not being rude or defensive or anything like that. Demko, not me. I'm never those things. He just was pretty short with his answers. He was asked how he's feeling.

He said good. He was asked if he's ready to go. He said yes. He was asked the moment. He was like a kid after school. I was like, how was school? Good. Yeah.

Did you enjoy your lunch? Yes. Did you see the snack I packed you? Yes. Demco answered just like that. Mom, stop asking me questions. And then. And it was weird.

He called Koo's mom, but whatever. Demko was asked about potential Olympic participation, and he also punted on that one, said you're going to have to ask Billy about that one, that, of course, being the American Olympic GM. Another GM with a nickname. I know, oh, Billy. I might have, you know what, that might have been me subconsciously doing that. He might have called him Bill.

I might have put a Y on there. I'm not too sure. However. He was like, Quinn was talking to Fitsy, though. Wasn't interesting. Those guys talk every day. They're very close. They're text buddies.

on a chat. It's called, get me out of here. Yeah, please, Fitsy, please, I beg of you. Anyway, there was a good answer that he gave talking about after the summer that he had where he anointed himself and the organization anointed himself healthy and ready to go. There was another health setback and he seemed pretty open and willing to talk about the challenges and the frustrations from that, but kind of wanted to push back on the narrative that he's injury prone. I'll let the answer speak for itself. Here's Thatcher Demko talking about his return, his health, the summer that he had, the season that he's gone through, here's all of it. Thatcher

Demko meeting with the media yesterday following Kinnock's practice. Unfortunately, you can't, you know, look, I mean, I know what you guys do and there's a narrative around the whole situation, but, you know, any guy can go through and have a great summer and then get hurt. So, you know, it's, you know, I have sitting there, you know, pretty much just beat myself up for a week and, you know, you feel guilty and you feel bummed out and pissed off and all those things. But, you know, it's part of the game. And I can only control so much at the end of the day. I know that I'm doing everything humanly possible. Preparation-wise, education-wise, I have a great team that surrounds me and helps me do what I can to make sure that I'm ready

to play. And, yeah, I mean, I'm the guy who feels it the most when things don't turn. turn out the way we wanted to. But yeah, I've been working hard and ready to go. So Demko is right. There is a narrative around his situation. And it's a simple narrative. He can't stay healthy. Yes.

And, you know, I'm sure if he thinks, truly thinks, like this is just something that could happen to any goalie. Has nothing to do with my prior injury history. I just got hurt. Anyone can have a great summer and get hurt. Yeah. But I think with what's happened to the Canucks this season and all the question marks around a player like Quinn Hughes

and all the question marks around the direction of the team, it's more than fair to wonder about the future of Thatcher Demko in Vancouver, even though he just signed this contract extension. And he had that quote where he said, like if I could sign forever in Vancouver, I would have done that. What does his future hold in Vancouver? It seems very, very difficult to predict because let's stay, he remains a Canuck. How many games is he going to play?

Is he going to be able to stay healthier than he has in the last little bit? Let's say the Canucks go to him and say, like, what do you think about? Moving on, would a team even take him on? Could you sell any team that would be looking for a goalie like Factor Dempco on him, knowing his injury history and knowing that he's got a pretty healthy cap hit after this season, was it eight and a half or something like that for three more years? Man, if you're bringing in him, you better be real confident that he can stay healthy. but how could you be real confident that he can stay healthy?

It is one of the few very interesting storylines to follow with this team on the ice for the remainder of this year. Again, I know I'm probably writing this off early. I know I know against... No, you're not. I know that they'll probably go on some sort of win streak where they'll get to within six points of a playoff spot and people will be like, eh, I'm not ready to break it.

Yeah, it'll be the last 10 games to season. Anyway, let's come out of the bottom five. I don't think they will. Calgary went seven, two, and one in their last 10. So it's not out of the realm of possibility, but I want to shelf that part of it. Because my idea here would be, there's not going to be many really interesting

storylines and narratives playing themselves out on the ice. A lot of it is going to be off the ice. The trade rumors, the rumblings, all that. Maybe Quinn Hughes's body language is an on ice thing. But Demko, for the remainder of this year, that might be the most interesting storyline on the ice. Because if he can stay healthy and play, It does two things.

One, it does give them a better chance of winning. I mean, it's hard not to look at what's going on. And guess what? A lot of people are like, I don't like that. So there's that angle. I don't like that angle. And if the Canucks go into a quote unquote rebuild where winning is not the number one goal, it's acquiring young assets.

Could you make the case? You know, Kinex fans will be like, now he'll stay healthy. You know, now he'll probably play all 82 games. if everything's on the table then everything's on the table and Demko will be one of them I would suggest that but on the ice he's now got an opportunity to do like two or three things to be honest

one is to show that he can stay healthy and I think that's the biggest one of them all right he has to be able to show that what he was talking about anyone could have got hurt after having a really good summer where they feel hit is honest and legitimate and true and I think he believes it and more importantly I think he feels like he has to believe it The mental game is probably so taxing and sort of trying on him right now

that you have to think, hey, I'm not broken down. I had a really good summer. I felt healthy. I got hurt just like anybody else might have. This is a groin injury and I'm coming back from it or whatever. So can he come back and play? Because you do have to point out the fact that since he got hurt, it's been almost over a month.

It's been a month in five days. The Canucks won four games, four games while he was out. I think there's a correlation there between him not being available and the team winning four of 12 games. Absolutely. They were 7 and 7 when he got hurt. That's not a great record. It's better than 6 and 7.

Yeah. But they were a different team with him when they had a take-your-pick. Lankinen hasn't been good. Petra in his one appearance was not good. Total appeal has barely played. It's been a lot of Lankin-in, and it's been a struggle. Now, the other part of it is if he does stay healthy

and plays out the remainder of the year, it changes a lot of things for the conversation about his future, his trade value, where he might go, whether they might be willing to consider moving him or not. And here's another one. Let's say, hypothetically, Demko and Pedersen play on Thursday against Buffalo.

Who's really missing from the lineup at that point? Heedle, Blugher, and Forbort. Heed'll be the big one. Right. But considering what other ennings, NHL teams are going through at that point. If you've got that much of your lineup healthy and ready to go on Thursday against Buffalo, you're pretty good.

You're in pretty good shape by NHL standards in a condensed season. There are other teams dealing with massive, massive injury issues. If you have your 1C and your number one goalie back in the lineup. And you got your number one defenseman and Quinn Hughes. And all you're really missing is your 2C and a depth C, like you're 2 in 4C. So yeah, you're still weak down the middle. you're still in pretty good shape comparatively speaking to a lot of other

NHL teams. So that's the other thing that Demko on the ice brings back into the fold. Okay, Nick Kempereos weighed in on the Quinn Hughes situation and here's something he wrote and you can read the article on Sportsnet.com.cée, he said the market for Hughes

may be much wider than just New Jersey. The Canucks believe there are teams completely open to the idea of trading for Hughes to have him as a two-year rental without any assurances he'll stay past his contract expiring in 2007. These teams see Hughes as a final

piece that could help them win or be a threat in 2006 or 2007. And this has always been the part of the Quinn Hughes situation that I feel has been kind of like underrepresented. It's always been like, you know, well, he's going to go to New Jersey.

And it's always been about the extension that he's going to sign this offseason wherever he signs it. The lack of trade protection for Hughes is huge. He could theoretically be traded anywhere. And even if a team isn't ultimately able to resign him, it's still worth a massive haul to get him guaranteed for two post seasons.

We've heard about New Jersey, Detroit, and Philadelphia. But just think, I haven't heard anything about this team, but just think about a team like Carolina. Sure. Okay? The Hurricanes don't have a defenseman like Hughes. They have a very good defenseman in Jacob Slavin. But Slavin's more of a two-way defenseman, right?

He's the ultimate defensive defenseman, I would say. They've got Shane Gostis bear running their power play now. And their power play isn't great. I have no idea if the canes have the pieces to make a Hughes deal happen. But I'm just using them as an example. Imagine one pair with Slavin and another with Quinn Hughes. If you're, imagine having that. It's like, who's on this pair?

Quinn Hughes, who's on this other pair? Jacob Slavin. Should we even bother having a third pair? Let's just roll those guys out. How could you not investigate the possibility if you're a team like the Canes? Like that team Carolina, they've been so desperate to get over the hump. And it wouldn't just be like, okay, we've got one year to do this. It'd be two.

If you're a decent team and you don't already have a Norris caliber defenseman, you should be calling the Canucks. I think Freed just floated the idea of the Washington Capitals. That makes sense. I mean, you know, you got a good team right now. And there is the element of Ovi's not going to be here much longer, right? Like, why not make one last, you know, one last try at this thing? They're already a good team.

And I think Kippa just made a good point. Like, let's, it's all well and good to talk about New Jersey, Detroit, Philadelphia, for obvious reasons and be like, okay, well, he'll go there and then he'll stay there forever, right? But what about a team that just picks him up as a rental? Yeah, I hope the mentality from the rant and trade is prevalent in these talks. Let's say hypothetically they go down the road this trade deadline. The randon deal, which was a pure rental twice, netted some pretty big returns for both teams, right? You got really good young players moving in both ones.

I mean, Naceous is a little bit older, but Stankovin got moved as well. And that was for a guy that, I mean, if you want to talk about getting Hughes with a little bit of security and a little bit of term, you had no idea what you were getting with Brandon and the Carolina Hurricanes found out the hard way. Now, the interesting thing that Carolina is, you know, I don't think that that would necessarily shy them away from doing it again because of what you mentioned partly, which is you get a guy with a lot more term. So you get an opportunity to get him in the door for one playoff run and then spend a lot of time convincing him to hang around after the contract. And you know what? this off season you can be like okay well we'll if he doesn't want to stay we'll cut our losses and maybe we'll flip them and we're still going to get a huge haul or we could just keep them for a year which is also what carolina which all carolina ultimately ended up doing with randon in a shorter term

okay last night in the nchl that was a wild night in the natchel i i watched the buffalo edmonton game and start right there man there were some things that happened in that the sabers went up three nothing this game is in edmonton and evan bouchard i would say had an all-timer giveaway on one of the Buffalo goals but then the Oilers

went into the third period and Connor McDavid scores like 10 seconds right in and everyone in that building was pretty sure that the others were going to tie this game up but they waited

until one was it 1.9 seconds left in the third period to tie it up and everyone's thinking okay well the others are going to go win this in overtime

and then more shocking defending from Edmonton. And yeah, Evan Bouchard was on the ice, he didn't make all the mistakes. But three on three, we're now quite used to... It's a lot more low event than it was when it was first introduced. It's more just like, hey, you got your guy, you got your guy, don't let them beat you, and there we go. There's three of us and there's three of them.

Defend them up. The Sabres had the puck in the corner in three-on-three in Edmonton's end. And, like, they all went to the one guy with the puck and it left, too, was that Alex Tuck? Yep. Wide open in front of the net. Some of the worst defending I've seen in three-on-three overtime since teams kind of figured out how to play it. When it first came in, they were like, oh, that guy's wide open. That was crazy.

Three-on-three is awesome. And then, you know, they coached it up a little bit, and you don't really see that very often. But, man, what a game last night in Edmonton? And there was some great hockey, some sloppy hockey, and Buffalo goes into Edmonton and gets the win. Yeah, tuck with the OT winners. You mentioned 33 seconds into the overtime. So Buffalo comes into Vancouver with a little bit of momentum

after losing a pretty ugly one in Calgary in their previous game. Sticking with some of the Canadian teams, interesting development from Montreal yesterday. We had Eric Engels on the show yesterday talking about the NHL Board of Governors meetings in Colorado, but also, but what's going on with the current plight of the Montreal Canadiens? We talked about the goaltending where yesterday the Tampa Bay Lightning put six past the Montreal Canadian is then a 6-1 drubbing in Montreal, a game in which both goalies, Sam Montembo and Yakub Dolbysh both made an appearance. Who started that game?

Dobish started it. I believe it was Dobish in. Yes. Allowed three goals on 14 shots, replaced after the first period, Montembo mop-up duty, three goals on 13 shots. It might be Jacob Fowler time. Thank you, Laddie. It'll be Jacob and Jacob, the two goal centers.

Montembow came into the game. Don't worry, guys, I got this. Nope, I don't. I have not seen the goal yet, but apparently one of the goals that he gave up to Darren Radish was it had stink lines on it and everything, and it was not good. So an hour after the game, the Habs announced that they made a trio of recalls from the HL's Laval Rocket, including Fowler. Tell me more about this guy, Laddie, because he's,

lighting it up in the American League. He's a former third round pick. He's their brightest goalie prospect, although I guess you can consider Dobish one as well given his age. Tell me more about him though. Yeah, he's pretty young. He's 21 years old and he's pretty much straight out of college. He was in Boston College. Right. That's a lot of pedigree.

Pretty high draft pick. Third round, I felt he should have got higher in the draft than 69th overall. Nice. But yeah, like you said, he's been absolutely unbelievable for Laval in the HL. And since basically his last year of college, he's just on this upward trajectory, really, really fascinating name to watch.

So are they keeping two goalies, keeping three goalies then? They're going to have to for now. And here's the thing, Montembo isn't quite the Silavian version of Unplayable, but he's the backup now. I think he is, man. I think he is. He might be. I think you're overstating it.

And Dolbisch, they've asked a lot of them early in the season. And I think you saw, and I know we played that clip where he was crying after their O.T. lost to the devils. I think that may be underscored how much pressure is on a young guy that I don't think expected to be the starting goalie for the Montreal Canadians this year. So they're giving another guy a chance. Very young, but there's a big piece of it Sportsnet.com, by angles, talking about how the recall of Jacob Fowler might not be as risky as some think, bringing him into this pressure pack situation. So the three goalies for Canada, the Four Nations, were Jordan Bennington, Sam Montembow, and Aiden Hill? Yeah, that's right. Okay, so Aiden Hill is doing

the best of all three of them, and he's got an 8-8-8. He's not playing right now. Yeah, and he's out. He's hurt. Yeah. Right. And Bennington's got a 875. Yeah, and he's platooning with Hofer. Hofer played last night in their loss, and they're just

bouncing back and forth. Hofer's showing some life, at least. Yeah, but neither of them are very good, but Binnington's been bad, like straight up bad. Montembow's the worst of all of them. Mm-hmm. Those were the three Canadian College of the Four Nations. Bennington's probably going to be on the Olympic team, but there's definitely going to be two new ones.

Well, okay, so Pete DeBoer better get comfortable with Logan Thompson. Yeah, in a hurry. By the way, so I know there's been a lot of talk about the woods in Colorado, Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgwood. Did you see what happened in that game last? So here's the thing, and I know we're up against it for time. Because of the TNT broadcast, they started that game in Nashville super late locally. I think it started at around 8 or 830.

830 local, I think, yeah. So not only did it go to overtime, it went to the shootout. They were in the rink in Nashville at 11.30 at night local time watching the shootout. And the shootout went super long because Scott Wedgwood was in the game and he was in the shootout. And when Philip Forsberg made a shootout move, he collided with Wedgwood. Wedgwood's head snapped back and then it kind of bounced off the ice. And then there was this long, awkward pause where nobody did anything. And you started to realize that the NHL's concussion spotters were like,

Wedgwood has to come out of the game in the shootout. So they take Wedgwood out and Blackwood, who's just been sitting there for all 60 minutes of regulation, all of overtime and all of the shootout has to go in. And they're looking at each other on the bench and they're like, what do I do? He went in and didn't have to face a shot because Gabriel Landisog missed right away.

So the game was over. So thankfully he wasn't pressed into any real action, but a very bizarre circumstance. The National Predators ended up beating Colorado very late into the evening last night. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Frank Saravalee from Victory Plus here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Frank.

How are you doing? Pretty good. How are you guys doing? We're good. We are wading through the sea of Quinn Hughes trade speculation and trade packages and news and notes. Do you have anything new on this front? Is anything been percolating over the last 48 to 72 hours with regards to the Vancouver Canucks potentially trading Quinn Hughes?

or, I guess, potential suitors for Hughes? No, nothing new. Look, everyone's trying to parse through and read into this as much as possible. I understand it. I want to reiterate what I said earlier this week with Sat and Bick, which was, I have zero indication that the Canucks

are actively working to engage in any sort of discussion about Quinn Hughes and his availability right now. I think anything else that's been out there has been, I think in some ways putting the card before the horse. What is the focus in Vancouver right now? The focus in Vancouver is to try and chart a path to being as competitive as possible.

And in the meantime, might actually include adding as opposed to subtracting. Look, the needs are clear. The mission and mandate in terms of moving out pending unrestricted free agents still very much part of it. but the goal for this team is to try and get to a position where they can compete and perhaps change the narrative that's existed around the team for the last bit compete I mean do they still think they're in the playoff race I don't think this year I mean look the mass isn't massing and everyone can see how this is played out I mean I'm talking 35,000 foot view of where this team

heading for the future. What would an ad look like? Just still looking for that second-line center? Is that mostly? Can't compete with that one. So, I mean, who's that going to be? I feel like we're banging our heads against a wall a lot in Vancouver because there's a lot of teams out there looking for a second-line center.

And have we not gone through the list already? Have they not gone through the list already? No, they've gone through it. And they were one of the teams that inquired about Phil Dano. I mean, like go through the entire, any relatively big name impactful center that's either been rumored or been talked about, they've checked in on and they've done their homework. Do you think they believe that the Philippal injury was not just significant, but massive?

I mean, massive, like in the sense of now look at the, trickle-down effect and that you've got Kampf playing in a role way above his head I mean there's a guy that was playing in the minors and is now your second line center on paper I mean yeah the the effect has been significant but it's this is not just one injury this is multiple years of erosion

this is a team that at one point in time had Horvatt Miller and Elias Pedersen and now just has Pedersen. So it's been a multi-layered process to get to this point, but does the injury help? Of course not. It's big, but the Kadax also acknowledged that they knew going into that deal exactly what his injury history was and how that might change on a dime.

Well, you talked about the erosion down the middle, and I'm sure management will be like, that wasn't all our fault. The Pedersen Miller thing. Could we have seen that coming? Oh, I'm not even putting any blame on anyone. Yeah, no, no, I might be. But the question I wanted to ask is,

have you heard any rumblings? Because I've heard a few rumors, but I never know what to believe in this situation, like of potential regime change in Vancouver, new management coming in. Because if you're the owner, and it's gotten to the point where you don't know, if Quinn Hughes is going to stay.

Rick Tocke had already left last season despite the fact that management wanted to keep him. I'm going to be really curious to see what the crowd is like tomorrow against the Buffalo Sabres. There are a bunch of unsold seats as of yesterday. And you might be like, hey, I don't know if these guys have done their job. Yeah, I mean, I think.

a fair question to ask in general knowing that no matter what no one was really expecting Jim Rutherford who arrived four years ago to the day yesterday at the age of 72 that he'd be in the position for a decade. So the question is a fair one overall. I have not to answer it though I have not heard any rumblings about any changes at the management or front office level. And I think there's a curiosity that exists around the league in terms of how things work in general. Meaning, Jim Rutherford is a guy who does still manage a lot of the trade calls. and there is, you know, the, I'm trying to think of the proper way to phrase this, the delineation of role and how exactly business is conducted,

I think is certainly of a curiosity to many other front offices in terms of how this all works and comes together, but I haven't heard of any speculation of changes or something around the corner. It is an interesting dynamic. It's a unique dynamic for sure, at least publicly facing, because there have been times over the last few years where the public face and the public speaker is flip-flopped. There was a time where Alvin would do all of the public addresses, all of the media, and he seemed like the front-facing guy when Rutherford took a step back. But then you'll remember, like, prior to the J.T. Miller trade, who was the one conducting the big interview with Gary Mason that set the table for what was to come? It was back to Jim

Rutherford again. So it's interesting that there's that, as you put it, curiosity across the league, because I think there's a curiosity still four years into it for Canucks fans and people to cover this team that it's never that delination that you talked to. It's never really been clear. And it doesn't seem like it's any clearer today than it was four years ago. Well, and I think to me that highlights the issue with having a two-headed monster running your team. And some might respond to that, maybe even in the Canucks front office, and say, no, no, hold on. There's just one, and it's Jim Rutherford, and everything else that happens after that is at his direction. But when you do have two different voices that are

speaking publicly, when you do have two different voices that are speaking to teams and to agents at times, that is or can be problematic. And, I mean, you don't really have to look very far out of Vancouver to understand how difficult that can be, because look at Don Maloney and the boiling pot of hot water that he stepped in twice this season already with messaging, only to have the general manager and Craig Conroy come out a week later and say all the things that fans wanted to hear to begin with, that had he been the only one speaking, the proper message would have been sent and understood and received. And so I do think it can be a challenge.

And I think to ask the overall question, and this isn't me pushing anyone out, but at 76, what is the game plan? What's the future? And who exactly is going to be running and steering this ship moving forward? Yeah, that's a big reason why I wonder about potential regime change, because, I mean, I think you made the point earlier. Like, nobody, when Rutherford took this job, nobody expected that he'd be here for long. and he had to be talked into taking the job. There was the whole story of Francesco Aquilini flying down to his home in North Carolina and saying like, you know, like, do you want this job?

And he took it. And then, you know, he made Alvin the general manager, I think with the hopes of growing into the role and eventually taking on more of the responsibility. And here we are now four years later. Yeah. You can't do that when you. you keep the training wheels on him.

And that's the view from around the league is that he has not, he doesn't have the autonomy that most other general managers would. Yeah. Like he would get the, what I've heard is that he would get deals down the line. You know, he would, he would talk about something and then Rutherford would kind of step in. I don't know if you've heard the same thing, but it sounds like we're talking about similar things. teams around the league were kind of like well who's making the call here

who should I be calling because I don't want to waste my time with one guy if he's not even right you only want to really deal with the decision maker it's kind of like when you go to the car dealer and you have to deal with the salesman who then runs back to the manager every five minutes in the conversation it just gets really annoying right like let me just deal with the actual guy

and so yeah I understand that part of it and I think again highlights for me and only in very rare situations do I think having the president of hockey ops and its separate general manager actually makes sense and in this case

I just have a hard time with it and I so then you mentioned Francesco Aquilini so then like let's take this one step further which is to me when you look at the entire Canucks operation over the last decade and a half plus it starts

at the very top and how business is conducted, and it trickles down from there. And so if you think Patrick Alvin's job might be difficult as it is, working in the confines that we just figured out or discussed, then now add in the owner who is very hands-on, also having a say above your president of hockey ops. And it becomes this impossible thing, I think, to wrangle with on a daily. basis where like I'm not I'm not being funny here like I think authentically Patrick Alvin might have one of the hardest jobs in the league yeah I don't doubt that either this might be coming out of left field but I saw Brendan Shanahan doing media at the board

of governors in Colorado Springs he had a stand-up interview with Gino Reda I was calling that's interesting that he's he's doing media and he said at the end of the interview Gino asked him about his future. And he said, yeah, the competitive fire is still burning. And if, I don't know, maybe if the fit is right, the time is right. And then he kind of trailed off. He said, we'll see. Do you think we'll see Brendan Shanahan running an NHL team again?

With zero doubt. And I, in some ways, I would be surprised if it doesn't happen in calendar year 2026. I think there's an interest. I think there's a hunger. I also, I don't think he's alone. Like, I don't think it's a coincidence that Lou Lamarillo also at this, I saw him at the same board of governor's meeting in Colorado Springs the last two days, he's still there as a governor for the New York Islanders, but this is his first year since the late 1980s

that he's not managing a team. And even at his age, I don't think it's a coincidence that we saw him pop up on a podcast yesterday. So I think there's plenty of people around the league that believe that, and I don't know, maybe even the two of them together, given their long history, that there is interest in, you know, former executives diving back in again. I got to ask the follow up. Shanahan to Vancouver. Is it possible? Definitely. If they decided to make a change, so let me reframe the question for you. Are you asking me, do I think Brendan Shattahan would be interested in the Vancouver Canucks

if the job was offered to him? The answer is yes. Brandeep Janda, Connox Color Analyst right here on Sportsnet 650. What up, Brandeep? Good morning, boys. How are you doing? We're well. Big news of the morning and yesterday, I suppose, was that Thatcher Demko declaring himself fit and ready to return, presumably to start against the Sabres on Thursday at Rogers Arena. And even though the season's gone completely sideways or south, I guess, I think a lot of people

have to be looking forward just to getting Demko back in the net, given how shaky things have been in net this season. Yeah, no doubt about that. I think with Thatcher, obviously the start of the season was very promising, right? We saw that road trip when they went to Dallas. They had that victory. There was a couple more. You felt good about the season to say,

okay, at least you have this guy. You're figuring out the center position, but you know that Dr. Demko is going to bring his game. And the problem with that is as long as Dr. Demko is able to stay healthy, he can bring that game. And, you know, that's been a challenge for this player over the last little bit. I know he made some comments about, you know, the narrative about him. Unfortunately, that is the reality, right?

It's more of a game-to-game situation to say, hey, can you stay healthy? Can you put those efforts together that there's a, you're not wondering about Thatcher every time he gets up off the ice after making a save to say, is he, you know, wincing, is there, you know, free movement there? So I think with Thatcher, you've got no doubt there's frustration on his end. You know, I think he does a great job of working with his team and informing himself, educating himself about every injury that he's gone through. but still the human side of it I think you got a sense of it yesterday in his conversation with us just talking about

yeah it's not an easy thing to do but it's what he has to do so you know I think to have him back is a huge boost for this team in the short term here just because yeah you're not able to score that freely right now outside of that Minnesota game

the last three games you were shut out and one you scored a goal in the other and it feels like when one goal goes by them that confidence certainly drops. And with Thatcher Demko, it's going to be tougher to score that goal. If he's 100%, if he's ready to go, he just makes you more confident as a teammate out there. He's just such a wildcard for this team going forward,

especially after they gave him the contract extension, because if they want to be competitive, you can't trust him to stay healthy at least. That's the narrative, and that's the reality. At the same time, let's say that the Canucks change direction and say, okay, fine. If you guys want to rebuild, you're going to get it. It almost makes it tougher if you have a really good goal like Thatcher Demko

if you want to rebuild because sometimes he can keep you in games and hurt your draft position. Yeah, that's the potential conundrum this team could have if they are trending in that direction. But Jason, I think with this team, right, like you start looking at their player right now. And yes, he's capable of stealing games. He's the one goaltender on this roster right now that is capable of doing that.

Even, you know, before he got injured and he played 10 games, there was the majority. Over, I think, 60% of his games are quality starts, which is, you know, you're going to get a quality start from Dats of Demko more often. You know, he's going to, you know, give you a very high baseline to say, okay, he might make some unbelievable saves, but he's not going to let him the bad goals. Maybe one game this year he didn't look great. Other than that, I think, you know, he's very, very consistent. So in the short term, you're happy to see him back because you want him healthy. In the long term, of course, right? Like, we've talked about this with the Vancouver Canucks in the past is, you know,

you go on heaters when the fan base probably doesn't want them at certain points of the season. But, like, I think that's not the time right now. I'll be honest with you. I think it's more about building confidence in your goaltender. In the long term, a healthy Thatcher-Denkel, whether he's on your team or another team, if that is the path that they choose is the most important thing, right? And I understand that other conversation about, hey, you know, dropping games as the season goes. Game 30, I understand, you know, that's a conversation right now.

But I think getting Thatcher up to his standard of play, healthy, on your roster is very, very important for this team right now. And, you know, whatever the future may hold, whether that's, you know, him well into and cutting out that, you know, basically playing out that new contract that kicks in here in Vancouver or it doesn't. I think having Factor playing at a pretty high level is important for this team in the long term because it does in a lot of ways, you know, set the course of, you know, just, just you, I don't see, I don't see, you know, Fatcher being unhealthy or, you know, kind of, you know, inconsistent to helping this team in any which way. So I think that's something you're going to have to live with just based on the fact that you need a

healthy Patrick Demko. What are you looking forward to today at practice as the Canucks gear up to host the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow at Rogers Arena? Yeah, I think it comes down to Elias Pedersen for me. This team obviously needs center help. We've been talking about it prior to the season beginning, and then the fill of heatal injury happened and now Alias Pedersen is dealing with his issue as well. But, you know, just seeing if he's available for this Buffalo game, obviously there was some

good signs yesterday from Adam Foote outlining that it was a better day and he's, you know, feeling a little bit more positive on that front. This team needs offensive punch, right? They were able to out shoot a chance of wings early on in that game at least and pretty much throughout, but there is no finish right now. You know, Kiefer Sherwood has been in a slump here in the last 10 games, zero goals. You've got, what, 29 shots on goal, if I'm not mistaken, in those 10 games. Jake DeBrusk has 27 shots on goal in the last nine games.

games and he's got no goals. So we're starting to see some players struggle. Even Quinn Hughes has zero points in the last six games. So it tells you that they just need that high in talent. With Elias Pedersen, I understand there's a lot of people that are saying he's not back to that level that he was a couple of years ago, but he still upgrades his top six significantly from a defensive perspective and from nearly a point per game perspective. And, you know, just can you add a little bit more offense than that top six? That David Camp, Brock Besser, Connor Garlandline, is effectively playing a shutdown role right now. There's not much offense there,

but I understand that when you have to play the top line on the other team. And David Kamp is not an offensive player. So if you can bump him down on the lineup, you get a little bit more offensive pop. You know, that's what I'm looking for in practice today. If Elias Pedersen's out there, that's a good sign for this team because they do need that offensive punch right now, which they're seriously lacking.

Are you still in somewhat disbelief that the Kinex just played two games with centers of David Kompf, Max Sassan, Atu-Ratoo, and Drew O'Connor, the latter of whom is not a center? Yeah, it wasn't on my bingo card at the beginning of the year. You know, when we're talking about, you know, center depth, excuse me, center depth and, you know, having Philip Heedle, obviously, a part of the mix. And I think everybody understood with Heedle,

there was an element of the next hit could knock him out for a certain time. And that's exactly what happened. You run into Tom Wilson or Tom Wilson runs into you, and that's what happens. But did we ever think there would be two or three centers? Like essentially, your top three centers out of the lineup four and two of them for an extended period, right? No, I didn't expect, you know, David Camp to be on the Vancouver Connects first and foremost. But Max Sassone, I thought, you know, he's done an ad hoc. admirable job here, but, you know, at the beginning of the year, I saw him as a winger.

I thought if there was going to be a path for him to make this team, it was going to be probably fighting with Leonis Carlson and Archie Defense for a role. So I didn't have Sassone a part of the mix. I didn't have, you know, David Kampa part in the mix. Atu-Ratu, I thought would be fighting for a fourth-line role. I thought he would be, you know, you know, pushing his way into this lineup, but we're talking about him being a second-line center. And Drew O'Connor, like, I think he's done a good job.

obviously he's had a little bit of, you know, experience playing the center position in the past. And he's just, you know, got a big wing span. He can move up the ice. He's defensively responsible. So, you know, I like the way that he's been able to at least fit into this. But if you would have to talk to the coaching staff of this sort of situation, I'm sure they would have said if Drew O'Connor is playing down the middle for us,

you know, some stuff has happened to this team. There's been some significant issues. So, yeah, I didn't see that. And I think with Ratu and Kamp specifically, you feel for them as well because some of these guys are having to play, you know, top six minutes that really, you know, Atu Ratu, Ratu is a third line center probably at this point in his career, maybe a fourth line center. He's trying to figure out his NHL game.

David Kamp is not an offensive player. Never has been. That's not his M.O. But when you play further up the lineup, you know, you can understand why you want them up there because you need a defensive stopper, so to speak. But at the same time, what do we talk about in the past, guys? If you're playing on top six, you've got to chip in with points. And with camp, I feel for him because that's not his profile, right?

You can see the puck skills, like, he tries hard in the defensive zone. He's trying to make plays, but that's simply not his game. So, yeah, it's a huge surprise. We're speaking to Randibe Jan, a Canucks color analyst here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Stick with the center position here. I know that Drew O'Connor, he's mentioned that he's, He played a bit of center in the minors, and he played a bit of it, you know, throughout his minor hockey career

and youth hockey career. But how big of an ask is it to get him to do what they're asking him to do right now, given that the majority of his NHL career, he's been on the outside, not on the inside. Yeah, and I think with Drew, you know, 27 years of age, so it's not like he's a young 22-year-old anymore. And, you know, it's like throw him in the deep end. There's an experience there, but guys, moving to the middle of the ice, you're getting a lot more puck touches.

There's a lot more defensive responsibility. And I think with Drew, he's an everyday NHLer now. But remember, he was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to the NHL level of hockey. And, you know, he became an everyday NHLer a couple years ago as a winger. And when you're set into that role, it's not an easy one to move back in the middle, right? Like, this is, I think, a pretty big transition for him. And he is good defensively. He is somebody that you like to have because he understands the game.

Well, even yesterday at the optional practice, he was one of the veteran players that was out there. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.