Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 12/11/24

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk the latest hockey gossip with Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli, plus they chat last night's OT Canucks loss 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. Into the Vancouver zone, turning on the Jets, going to the goal, he scores! Dylan Holloway, backhand to forehand, off the Vancouver zone, turning on the Jets, going to the goal. He scores! Dylan Holloway, backhand to forehand off the right wing, beats Thatcher Demko to end the game. It's pity, pity, pity every game. Matthews is in! Scores!

About the fifth opportunity. If I had a girlfriend, she'd kill me. I'm screwing around with you. I'm on the hotline, baby. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0- hotline, baby. Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. This is Halford.

It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintex studios in beautiful Fairview slopes of Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, four parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star google reviews sore feet what are you waiting for Kintec we got a big show ahead on a Wednesday lots to get into we'll start with the guest list begins at 6 30 uh David Amber Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host is going to join the program. We'll talk to him. Scotiabank Wednesday night hockey. It's the Sens and the Ducks. Classic rivalry.

07 Stanley Cup final all over again. Oh, yeah. We'll talk to him about what's going on off the ice with Ottawa. We'll also talk about everything that happened in the NHL last night. We'll do the same with our 7 o'clock guest, Frank Cerevelli, from Daily Faceoff. Get into some trade chatter with him. Talk to him about JT Miller's

return to practice yesterday for the Vancouver Canucks. 7.30 Mike Silver is going to join the program. Long time chase here. Maybe the best NFL writer in the business right now. He's got a new book out. He also had a really cool feature piece for the Athletic

at the end of November on Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions. That was the one that got me to tell Andy, we got to chase this guy because that Jared Goff piece was terrific. And I think Jared Goff is a pretty interesting story and a pretty inspiring story, to be honest with you. Do you remember when he used to play for the Rams? And I'd be like, don't worry, Jared Goff will make a mistake. And he did. And he would often make that mistake. Now in Detroit, what's he known for? As a guy that's like pinpoint passer, right? Like on a team that could very well win the Super Bowl.

Imagine if both Matt Stafford and Jared Goff win Super Bowls. Does that make it the greatest trade in NFL history? Yeah, we liked it for both teams. Yeah, both teams. Quite a lot. Both teams won. But I don't think the Lions expected it to play out like that. I think they were obviously like, fine, we'll take off. And then he started playing well for them.

And then they're like, I mean, why would we try and get another quarterback here? So Mike Silver is going to join us at 730 to talk about all that and a bunch of NFL talk. 8 o'clock, Randy Janda, who was on the call last night for the Canucks 4-3 loss in overtime to the St. Louis Blues. We'll talk to Randy about all that. We are also, apparently while I was away, giving away tickets to see Creed and one of my favorite bands of all time,

Big Wreck. Love Big Wreck. I love that song. What's that song called, Andy? That song. Yeah, so we're giving away tickets to the Summer of 99 Tour. Creed, Big Wreck, Saturday, August 16th, 2025. If your calendar's open for August 16th, 2025,

be caller number 5. 1-2-3-4-5. Caller number 5 at 8.15 this morning. The phone number here at Sportsnet 650. Yes, we do have a working phone. [phone]. Oh, hold on.15 this morning. The phone number here at Sportsnet 650. Yes, we do have a working phone. [phone]. Oh, hold on. Let me check.

That number again. Okay, it is working. That number again, 604-280-0650. So for everyone that complains that they don't listen live and they can't get in

on the contest, call our number five at 815, 8.15 this morning. It's a rotary phone, so bear with us. We will be giving away a pair of tickets to see Creed and Big Wreck next summer. That's the show. It's a rotary phone, so bear with us. We will be giving away a pair of tickets to see Creed and Big Wreck next summer.

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

What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the B.C. Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Dylan Holloway scored one minute and 40 seconds into OT last night to help the St. Louis Blues ruin, ruin Thatcher Demko's return after 233 days away from the team. Blues win 4-3 against the Canucks at Rogers Arena in overtime on Tuesday night. Yeah, so we'll get to the Thatcher Demko conversation in a bit,

but just to recap the game in case you missed it or in case you want to relive it. It wasn't the prettiest game, but I guess enough stuff happened to keep it interesting, to make it interesting enough to talk about the next day. The Canucks did open the scoring when Connor Garland beat a flat-footed Ryan Suter along the boards. I think Suter was waiting for a teammate of his, possibly Colton Perico, to, you know, get off the ice. Otherwise, he would have been called for too many men on the ice, and Connor Garland said, well, while you wait, I'm going to take the puck, and I'm going to go around you. I'm going to create a two-on-one with Dakota Joshua.

Garland feeds Joshua, and Joshua scored his first goal of the season, which was very nice to see. Not nice to see. The Blues' first goal, which came just a minute later after Demko threw it around the boards to, unfortunately, a member of the St. The Blues' first goal, which came just a minute later after Demko threw it around the boards to unfortunately, a member of the St. Louis Blues. Dylan Holloway fed it quickly to Zach Bolduc,

who I'd never really heard of, found a soft spot on the ice between Hughes, Hoaglander, and Sherwood, and ripped it past Demko to tie the game. Bolduc was the Blues' first round pick in 2021, and it appears he can shoot the puck pretty well. The Blues' second goal came with the Canucks on the power play

when Garland gambled at the point, and he lost badly. You have chosen poorly, Connor Garland. That gave Robert Thomas a breakaway, and he made no mistake beating Demko cleanly. Suddenly, the Canucks were trailing the game after earning a power play to try and, you know, take the game after earning a power play to try and you know take the lead not a great way to end the first period well they were down 3-1 when the Blues third goal was the result of an awful tripping call on Brock Besser boo referees

Besser was guilty of absolutely nothing on the play on on the resulting power play. Kyrou, Jordan Kyrou, took a perfect cross-seam pass from Thomas. Thomas was good last night. And one-timed it past Demko. It was a nice pass, I suppose, but the hole in the Canucks' PK structure was pretty, pretty glaring. Anyway, you knew after that terrible call the Canucks were going to get a power play of their own, and it happened almost immediately when Brandon Shen got called for holding on Jake DeBrusque. The Canucks pressed hard with the man advantage and finally broke through

when Pedersen's net side pass to Garland was deflected into his own goal by Team Canada defenseman Colton Pareko. Not a good showing for Team Canada there, Pareko. Petey tried to pass it, but the hockey god said, actually, it was a shot, and it went in. Now, you'd think the Canucks would press even harder in the third period. You'd think, given they were trailing by a goal and playing at home. But you'd be wrong.

I mean, I guess they tried to press. They tried. But the Blues were playing a pretty good road game, or the Canucks are having trouble generating offense you choose until about four minutes left in the third period when the Canucks finally woke up eventually they pulled Demko and what do you know they tied it when Pedersen made a nice play down low to feed DeBrusque out front for his 13th goal of the season pretty impressive considering his start that he's got 13 goals it wasn't a five on five goal of the season. Pretty impressive considering his start, that he's got 13 goals.

It wasn't a 5-on-5 goal by the top line. It was a 6-on-5 goal, but it was sure a timely one. Sadly, the Canucks would only earn the single point on the night as Dylan Holloway won it for the Blues in overtime. 10th of the year for Holloway, whom the Blues ripped away from Edmonton this offseason. They ripped away. He's been good. He's been really good last night, too.

Not the best effort by DeBrusque to defend Holloway on the play, but you know what? The Canucks didn't deserve to win the game anyway. At least they got a point. Yeah, so a lot of talking points from the game, obviously. The first one, I mean, even though the Blues did win and there was a lot of reasons why they won it, you have to look at the fact that Thatcher Demko was back in,

got his first start in 233 days, looked fine, made some big saves at times, wasn't thrilled with his performance in the aftermath. Laddie, let's play some quick audio from Thatcher Demko. Here he is after allowing four goals on 25 shots and a 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Laddie does not have that audio at the ready. Demko essentially said he wanted a couple of the goals back. He felt a little bit rusty.

And overall, it was a frustrating night for him. So it's good that in his first game back, he got to feel the frustrations that have plagued this team. Let's try this again now. Here, Thatcher Demko following the loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. Felt rusty for sure.

Obviously, it's frustrating losing. I thought I could have played a couple of goals differently. So, I mean, I'm sure that there's stuff that I can pull to keep building. But obviously, it's frustrating right now. So, look, I know the story was Demko last night, and I'm happy to talk about it. You know, I thought... He didn't get hurt.

He did not get hurt. I thought he played fine. He was bound to be rusty, you know. He did make a bit of a mistake through the first goal, threw the puck around the boards to a St. Louis Blue, and then, you know, had to get set really quickly, and the Blues fed it quickly to Bull Duke in the slot, and he beat him. Maybe that's one of the goals that he would want back.

But look, the Canucks did not play super well in front of him. They gave up four or five breakaways. Demko still managed to make a number of big stops. He made some good saves, and I think that's a performance you can build on. I'll be very curious to see how he feels this morning. Yeah, that was my only real concern. I was like, how's the Popliteus? Are we good with the Popliteus?

Is the Popliteus still intact? Answers to all those was yes, he's okay. Yeah, so I think on that side, I would err on the Demko performance being encouraging. Yeah, yeah. Okay? So, you know, look, unless he wakes up. Remember, he played one game of the playoffs.

And then the next day it was like, oh, he's injured. Like, what? What? You know, like this thing has been such a long soap opera that maybe you wouldn't be surprised if there's a few more chapters to it. Oh, yeah. Let's put it that way. But so far, I think right at this moment, happy with the Demko return, even though they didn't win the game.

I thought he looked good enough, and I think you can expect a little rust, and you know with Dr. Demko, he's going to work hard, try and fix the things that he needs to fix with Marco Terranes, and we'll see how that relationship blooms. Key stat of the night for me, Quinn Hughes played 29 minutes and 50 seconds, and he was very good in that pretty much half the game that he played, although there was overtime.

The Canucks' defense outside of Quinn Hughes continues to be a massive problem and I think probably in everyone's head you're going back and forth like it's good that the Canucks are finding ways to get these games to overtime and get a point or maybe two points here and there you know it's it's good that they found a way back from a 2-0 deficit against Columbus and a 3-1 deficit to St. Louis on home ice. But then the other, the Mr. Negative side of your brain is sitting there going, yeah, but that first period against Columbus was dreadful.

And last night against St. Louis, a team that I realize is playing better under their new coach, and they did play well. But at St. Louis, the Canucks are at home. Thatcher Demko is making his return to the crease. I don't think they played well. I wasn't watching that game and going, man, they're playing really well. I think the defense, it's a personnel problem with the defense. They're not good enough.

There's three or four guys on the ice that just are not good enough. And there are other guys like Tyler Myers or Carson Soucy that are playing too far up in the lineup. You know, like who were their bottom three guys last night? What was that?

Juleson, Darnay, and Friedman. I mean, Friedman's in there, right? He's playing his offside i mean it he had a bottom pair of friedman and darren a that's not going to be good so even before the canucks lost heronic for almost two months they needed to add another defenseman now they've lost heronic for two months like this is what we can expect yeah now uh that is obviously going to affect your ability to create offense when you really have trouble moving the puck.

I mean, you see the difference in the chance generation when Quinn Hughes is on the ice versus when he's not on the ice. That being said, I thought the top line at 5-on-5 was way too quiet last night. Like, way too quiet. You've got DeBrusque, Pedersen, and Besser together. And yeah, Petey, he made, you know, he scored the goal on the power play.

And I think even if Pareko hadn't knocked that in, it was going to be a good pass to Garland and Garland was going to score. And Petey made a very nice play to DeBrusque out front to tie it when it was six on five. That was a five on four and a six on five it's great that Petey is is is finding little moments to produce but I think we all know that when we're watching him play at five on five he's not dangerous out there he's he's not he's not he's not generating chances and I think what I'm saying right now is why Rick Tockett was frustrated with the question about Elias Pettersson

Petey is producing points he is not playing as well as we all know he can play okay so let's play the audio from last night because this got interesting in Rick Tockett's post-game remarks following the loss to the St. Louis Blues. It started with a line of, I'm going to say, three consecutive questions about Elias Pettersson. We're going to jump in and start the audio where Talkett kind of starts to get frustrated with the incessant PD questions. We'll let it roll because it's a back and forth between Talkett and Farhan and a couple of the Canucks reporters. You classify this however you like. We're going to play the audio.

Here's Rick Talkett following last night's loss to the Blues on Elias Pettersson. Yeah. I mean, that's what you expect him to do, right? He's doing a good job producing. I don't know what else to say. You guys are obsessed with PD, huh? It's PD, PD, PD every game. Sorry, sorry.

You get paid a lot. You're always going to be part of the story. I know, but every game I got to. You guys are good at it. Like, you analyze the game. Why do I have to? You know, when I ask questions at TNT, I never always, hey, this player, you know, that's just. We'll let you ask us the next time.

I love you guys, but it gets old, like, every time. Pedi, Pedi. I know you want to say gets old like every time PDP I know you wanted to say the wrong thing that's why I'm not falling for that trap anymore I'm joking that is a legitimate question he's producing I'm screwing around with you

he's been producing that JT's been out hopefully with JT coming back, those guys will both produce like they did last year for us. So, yeah, one-two punch. Brother, I hear you. It's getting old. It's getting old. Tell me about it.

But he's not playing well. He's not playing like an $11.6 million player. He's not. Do you see the goal McDavid scored last night? It's incredible. And I know that's a high bar when you're comparing Pedersen to McDavid scored last night? It's incredible. And I know that's a high bar when you're comparing Pedersen to McDavid, but Pedersen isn't even in the same stratosphere as McDavid right now. Look at some of the players around the league. Look at Kaprizov. You know, look at the guys that came in

for Tampa and played for Tampa Bay. I know I've just, I absolutely refuse to drop the bar for Pedersen. All these people that absolutely think that, you know, like Petey, one of the best players in the NHL. He was at times, yeah, but he's not right now. He's not even close to one of the best players in the NHL right now. I'm sorry, he's not. You watch him

play. Just watch him play. He's not creating anything at 5 on 5. Nothing. Like that line last night at five on five. Nothing. Like that line last night at five on five did nothing. I thought the whole sequence with Talk It last night was super interesting. I'm still trying to wrap my head around exactly what it was because he was clearly frustrated. And then he, the tiny little part,

tiny little part, without parsing words too much, but the tiny little part where he said, you guys are trying to trap me into saying the wrong thing, is the kicker to the whole thing. Because he knows what he wants to say. That's right. He knows what he wants to say. That's right.

He knows that if he was being 100% honest, he would say exactly what I just said. But if he did that, he would be stepping in to a crap storm because, again, and this is why he keeps pointing out the word production, production, producing, producing, production. Pedersen finishes last night with 23 minutes of ice time, a goal and an assist, and a team high, or sorry, forwards high, five shots on net. So box score-wise, if you didn't watch the game like you were seeing,

you'd be like, good night from Pedersen. Two points, five shots on goal, played a lot, right? Assisted the goal that got them back into it, made a nice play where Pareko put in his own net and then had the, ah, I can't believe I did that reaction. And then there's the eye test part of it. And I think Talkett is savvy enough, while also showing a hint of frustration last night,

but savvy enough to know that it's just not worth going there because the dynamic is so odd. And the dynamic is about to get more complex on the head coach because Miller's coming back. Right? So the other big development from yesterday was a JT Miller took the morning skate with the Canucks. And then Rick talk,

it spoke to the media after that. We don't know exactly when Miller's going to come back into the lab. It could be as soon as Thursday, but that adds so many different layers and wrinkles to the team. One of them is that from a lineup standpoint, minus Hronik, the Canucks are going to be as healthy as they've been this year. That's as close to their ideal starting 23-man roster as they can have, right? Because they've gone long stretches this year without Demko,

without Joshua, without Miller, and now without Hronik. But with all these guys back, you can't be complaining about lineup exits at that point or guys that are missing from your lineup. There are teams that are in way worse shape in terms of availability. And there's also the dynamic of you have to now have life with those guys both back on the team and in the lineup and what that's going to look like glass half full guy like talk it said is that we got the one to punch down the middle back and ideally that's what you're hoping that there's shades

of last year but when they were both in the lineup earlier in the season it wasn't going great it wasn't going great they never really played they might I think there's like one game where they both played well. I want to read a text into the Dunbar-Lumber text line because there's a lot of people texting in. I'm not going to read the ones that agree with me. There are quite a few that agree with what I just said about Pedersen. But here's the thing.

Here's another guy. Bruff, drop the Petey thing. He is overpaid. He will never be worth 11.6 with this cap. When it gets to 105, the cap, he will be. Until then, he's overpaid and good for him. You and I would love to be that much overpaid. I am overpaid.

It's exhausting. I don't even get to pay that much. It's exhausting, this texter says. He isn't performing. Get over it. Move on to the next thing. How can you get over this issue? How can you?

It starts with this issue. Now, there are some other equally big issues. Like the defense is a massive issue right now. But if you're talking about getting over the fact that the Canucks have committed a massive eight-year contract to Elias Pettersson, I will not get over it in, what, game 30 of the contract? I'm not getting over it. I'm sorry. It's a massive issue, and guess what? He doesn't have a no-move clause until next year.

So in theory, the Canucks have a decision to make still. They've signed this guy to a big contract. Is it working? Is it going to work? Because what I'm seeing right now is not encouraging. Some people texted in and said they're starting to feel some seismic activity around Mount Brough. Did you see Mount Tockett nearly blow yesterday? There's a reason he got frustrated with that question. We are obsessed with Pedersen for good

reason. Yeah. I also want to say that there's a lot going on with this team right now. And it's a very interesting moment in the season because you've gotten past American Thanksgiving. I keep coming back to what I mentioned earlier, is that they are getting closer and closer and closer to that sweet spot that they hit last year where everyone was healthy and active and in the lineup and playing, right? There were no excuses needed last year because they were playing great and they had everyone available.

Every time that we've looked at wobbles and some questionable performances, blowouts at home, the lousy home record period, and we've been like, well, again, don't have their Vezna caliber goalie. Don't have the emotional heartbeat of the team he had to take a leave of absence Dakota Joshua wasn't available in the lineup now I understand that Hronik is out and I can get to that part in a sec but the rest of it it kind of feels like it's go time it's like okay we got our guys we know what we're doing here let's go the hiccup to that for Talk It moving forward is that i know mount bruff was about to erupt on

the pedersen thing but i want to circle back to the blue line because right now i don't think that you can be a competitive nhl team playing and i hate pointing out three guys but playing day harney friedman and juleson on a basis. I know there was a switch in and out, and Brandstrom was out, and Friedman was in. Why was he out, by the way? Was there any concrete reason for that? Talkett said he just wanted to have a rotation. He just wanted to get him in.

Talkett likes Friedman, because Friedman can skate and play a super simple game. He's not awful. I think we all got a little bit drunk on Brandstrom. He's good, though. Has he made any glaring... I'm trying to think. Yes, yes.

What is his glaring mistake? Some guys beat him. He's not a great... Yeah, but that happens to all of them. No, I know. Other than... I know. Well, I'm just saying.

I can't think of a single thing, unlike, let's say, Derridae, for example. Listen, last night, I get it. I would have rather seen Branston in there than some of the other guys. Much rather. But the fact that this is even a thing that's happening, where you're putting in Mark Friedman,

who played a handful of games in the American League this year, and would have probably been 9 or 10 on the depth chart. And then he jumps, and he's playing more than DeJarne in a game last night. The blue line right now. It's bad. Yeah. When Hughes is on the ice, they're an NHL team. When he's not,

they're an NHL team. It's such a stark contrast. I also think that it's either mentally, or maybe this is a direct approach from the coaching staff is that there is such a focus on getting Hughes the puck and having Hughes out there and making Hughes be the sort of central force and driving force of everything. I do wonder if it's skewing the way the team is attacking and playing because it's point shot city. Oh, it's always been like that, though.

Yeah. I mean, that's one issue that talk-it system, if that's part of the system, and I imagine it must be because we see it all the time, they need to work the puck down low a little bit more. The point shots are just, I mean, listen,, listen, you're kind of alluding to this. Half the time, it seems like their plan, and that includes on the power play,

is give it to Quinn and see what he does with it. Yep. And half the time, I'm like, that's the right move because the other guys on the ice aren't creating anything. Mm-hmm. I mean, it's... I get what's kind of going on is there was a,

there was a sort of push to reinvent and rediscover and reimagine what the offensive attack was going to look like. And they tried it earlier in the year to mixed reviews because I do think part of the,

you know, bloated goals against had to do with the fact that there were maybe guys, maybe blowing the zone or maybe trying to be more aggressive in a mindset approach. And that allowed chances going the other way, whatever the case. Right now, I think there's a real sense of frustration that they can't generate at five on five. And it kind of goes back to what you're saying about Pedersen is that when it's just sort of like, do something guys go out there and produce and make things happen and do something. It always comes back to the same thing.

Get the puck back to 43 and he's going to be the one to do it. Could you imagine how good the Canucks would be if Pedersen was playing as well as Hughes is? Yeah. A-Dog. Like that's the frustration. That's what everyone's getting at. I know.

Right now. Would you agree with me that Garland is their most energetic, effective forward? Non-Sherwood division, yes. Yeah. Non-Sherwood. Garland is the guy that will get the puck going the other way. Right?

Garland's the guy. Is anyone else doing it right now? They need Miller back. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Frank? You know, do they have to fumigate Rogers Arena?

Like, what happens to the Canucks when they get home? I don't understand. Dude, your timing could not be more impeccable. That was the question that I asked our listeners going to break because we have no idea what the big, major, defining difference would be from a team that set records for winning consecutive games on the road and then goes home. Even though these last three games, a win, a loss, and an overtime loss, so the points are fine.

Bruff pointed it out prior to going to break. It just hasn't looked good at all, and it hasn't looked good all season at home at Rogers. Frank, I'm going to bring in a texter. Here's his theory. It's Dino Bravo texting. What's going on at home? The visiting team's coach tells his forwards

to get after the Canucks' defense right from the opening faceoff. Knowing that the Canucks are currently icing five very mediocre D-men, it has not been hard for the visitors to get off to a good start and build confidence from there. And after that, the Canucks are left chasing the game. I find it hard to disagree with that notion. So, Frank. Okay, loyal texter.

Yes. Loyal texter, thank you for the message, first off. Second, why would that be any different than on the road? Wouldn't the game plan be the exact same? Hey, get after the Canucks D, look how shorthanded they are, look at how they have issues and inefficiencies moving the puck. I get the idea, but that doesn't separate anything from home and road. There has to be something definitive about what is different at home

as opposed to what's different on the road. Did they even, that last road trip that they played, I think they played a spirited game against Ottawa. They got soundly outplayed in Boston and managed to win 2-0 because Lankanen stood on his head.

They lost to Pittsburgh and they were down 5-1 in that one. That was a Seeloff's game but the defense did not play well and then they like they they went in and beat Buffalo and Detroit in overtime but they needed a last minute goal to beat Detroit and I think they blew a lead against Buffalo they lost to Minnesota like the road trip wasn't terrible in terms of results, but I don't think the process was all that great. No, but the process earlier on the previous road trips was unbelievable. That's the part that, so you have good process coupled with good results in subsequent trips.

And then you get home and it's like at times they forget how to play hockey. Yeah, no, I it's it's it's bizarre but frank honestly man it's been a weird year here everything's been weird like everything's upside down and the other um i don't even know if i want to describe this as weird but i'll say unusual has been the whole jt miller story and uh i'm wondering if you're hearing anything about when he's likely to return he's been skating with the team he's probably going to practice today and I wonder if he's going to speak with the media today that would seemingly be the logical next step reported last week that Wednesday was the likely possibility for practice. Yesterday, getting him out there for the skate, obviously that helps.

In terms of a game day return or game date, I'd imagine at some point on this homestand, because there is quite a bit of time between now and essentially Christmas. That said, I don't think anything's set in stone. I think part of it is up to JT Miller and his comfort level. And, you know, part of it will, you know, he's going to have to speak at some point and address,

I guess, part of what led to this and what he's feeling. But at the same time, I think they're more concerned with exactly that, what he's feeling. But at the same time, I think they're more concerned with exactly that, how he's feeling. Another issue that's plaguing this team right now is the blue line. And we've spent a considerable amount of time talking about it and what fixes might be out there, which has led me to look pretty much everywhere at anything that might be

available, just the trade market for defenseman period. And I know that you spoke recently about the situation in Anaheim. I guess Cam Fowler is a name that keeps coming up now, not necessarily as a fit for Vancouver, but just the possibility of anyone, anyone being available. What are you hearing or what do you know about Fowler out of Anaheim? I actually really like Cam Fowler as a fit for the Canucks.

I, again, I don't know the plausibility of it, but I do know that he, you know, he's nearing a milestone. He's on track at some point. He's 11 games away from being the second player ever in a Ducks uniform to play all thousand games with the team. Those milestones mean something. That said, I think he knows that his tenure in Anaheim is coming to an end. The team knows. I think they've been on the same page about

what that looks like and how they'll process it and handle it. It's a really small window that he has. It's a four-team trade list, but I've been told that Fowler is willing to work with the Ducks when this all comes together to find a place that fits for him, given what he's meant to the organization. And I think he's got lots of game left. I think when you look at, look, not just Fowler, but other players on that team, they've been beaten down. And Fowler came into the league at a time when the Ducks were one of the most competitive teams, you know, every year for a period of seven, eight years. And he was a huge part of their success, you know, chewing up 25 minutes a night for teams that were going to the conference final. And since then, there really hasn't been a lot to play for. And that's not an excuse,

but he's 33 and not 37. So he's always been such a gifted skater that I think he's got the ability to go somewhere and bounce back for a bit as sort of a shot in the arm. And the nice thing is, from a term perspective, if the Ducks are willing to maintain some, there's only one additional year left. So if they're willing to eat half, he becomes an incredibly attractive option that almost any team in the league from a cap perspective could find a way to wiggle in. Interesting. Nashville, we just finished speaking with them about them with David Amber. And I mean, it's a mess right now. They've lost eight in. Interesting. Nashville, we just finished speaking with them about them with David Amber, and I mean, it's a mess right now. They've

lost eight in a row. Andrew Burnett's about as frustrated as you can be. I also didn't even mention this. I had it in the notes, but I forgot to mention it. Roman Yossi left the game yesterday with an injury and didn't return, like, just to pile on some more misery. We sure it was an injury. He was like, you know what? I'm out. I don't want to be a part of this anymore. That's what makes

me wonder. Now, not Yossi, but do you see anything potentially shaking loose in Nashville, or would this be like, okay, the fourth coaching change of the year is going to happen in Nashville before Barry Trotz goes and tries and shakes things up with a trade? Well, I said at the beginning of the week that I was like,

the way this is going for the Preds, I'd be shocked if by the end of the week something doesn't happen. And there's a few layers to that. I know the Preds were really active last week in speaking to teams that they, they thought the Preds were, were really close to making a deal then. But the feedback that I got to some teams from some teams that were in conversation with the Preds was that they got a sense that they weren't completely convinced that Barry Trotz knew what he wanted to do

like had a bunch of different things on the table what was the right fit and I think as bad as this has been the knee-jerk reaction is always to do something you got to do something we got to get this team out of a tailspin however in a way it's almost kind of allows you to take a deep breath because for all intents and purposes this season is over mathematically they're not they're not coming back from this they're done so knowing that are if you're trying to fix it for right now, is there a potential that you're doing more long-term damage in the future? I think that has to be what's on Barry Trotz's mind at this exact moment in time. And the other part is, everyone, Andrew Burnett was asked pointedly yesterday about his job security. He mentioned earlier in the week that he could scratch the entire roster and totally fair comment. But having been a coach himself for so long and really working tirelessly

to make sure that Andrew Burnett was the right guy for the job, I think Barry Trotz feels a lot of responsibility as a former coach to not just say, hey, you know what, we're going to throw a warm body on the tarmac for everyone to point at and say, look, he's doing something. That might not be the right course of action. At some point it becomes, you know, untenable and you have to do something. But I'd say he's really trying to resist the urge to make the coaching change and has been for a while um Tampa Bay and Nashville have a connection with some of the moves that made that were made over the offseason do you think Julian Breezeball is feeling pretty good about his decisions not only

to move on from Stamkos and target Gensel but also to get Ryan McDonough back. Yeah, I think there's probably a fair bit of that. At the same time, I would say that's, I mean, look, Gensel was always going to be a great fit, and I think anywhere he goes. I just think he's a player that doesn't get enough love and attention for what he's been able to accomplish and the consistency with which he's done it. When looking at Stamkos, though, I also don't think we fully appreciated just how difficult this has been on him, moving and the way it all unfolded.

I think for the first two months of the season, he was completely shell-shocked still. And I don't know if you'll get him to admit that or not but i think this has been a real big change that he's i think he struggled grappling with so from that perspective and sizing all up yeah are the are the lightning looking pretty good do they come out ahead perhaps but that also doesn't mean if stamko stayed there in a comfortable environment and didn't have this big shake-up that he would be playing as poorly as he has been in nashville and if you want if you're the lightning you could sit there and gloat um i would certainly understand that but i'd also i'd be pretty careful because the Lightning are on pace for 95 points,

and that's a yet further decrease from the 98 that they had last year. That 95 becomes pretty close to flirting with not making the playoffs, in short order. So careful what you want to throw out there in the universe. To the phone lines we go. Randy Janda joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Randy. How are you? Good morning, boys. I'm doing well. How are you?

We're good. Let's just start. Thoughts in the aftermath of last night's 4-3 loss for the Vancouver Canucks to the St. Louis Blues in overtime at Rogers Arena. Yeah, that was a... I think if you're the Canucks, you can be happy that you picked up a point, but generating offense is a problem, boys. And 5-on-5 offense right now for this team is a struggle.

When JT Miller, your leading point getter from last year, is not in the lineup, you lack that one-two punch. And we're starting to see that play out a little bit. And, you know, good offense generally starts in your own end. And for Vancouver, when Quinn Hughes is not on the ice, getting the puck out of their own zone is a bit of a challenge right now. So, what's your solution, Randy? I think, you know, when you look at that back end,

you've got to tinker a little bit. The Mark Friedman experiment with Vinny Deharnais was an interesting one. I thought, you know, Friedman played okay. It's not like he's a game-changing defenseman. He brings effort. You kind of know what you're going to do there. But it does feel like that bottom pair, we've been talking about this the last

two or three weeks, it's lacking. And I think Branstrom needs to come back into the lineup. He's a better puck mover. He's not the answer, but when we're talking about the ability to get a puck out of the zone, make that pass, skate it out of trouble, he's more capable of that.

I think the key for me is going to be Derek Horvath as well. He brings a little bit of stability, a little bit more, I think, defensive prowess on the back end. So you need a little bit of both of those things. But guys, really what this team is lacking right now is hitting the neutral zone with speed. And what you need to do on that back end is

you've got to move the puck out of the zone quickly and cleanly. You have to process the game quickly. And without that, you lack speed through the neutral zone. Without that, you lack a forecheck that hits home. And yesterday, there was a few moments where Vancouver maybe had a bit of a forecheck. But outside of that, they were not able to establish it where St. Louis was.

So I think it really does start in their back end. You got to, A, tinker with the pairings a little bit, and B, you just need better efforts and cleaner puck movement from those defensemen, the ones that are currently on the roster. How much does overall style of play, strategic approach, all that stuff play into this? Because Ruff ran through what is basically a fancy stat for Halford and Ruff is looking at scoring chances.

That's a fancy stat here in our world. And it's pretty obvious that the Canucks play low-event hockey both ways. And I do wonder if that approach, that mentality, is becoming a larger and larger reason why the team has problems generating five-on-five. Yeah, and that's fair. I think the coaching staff and Rick Talkett heading into this season wanted to open it up a little bit more. We saw that in preseason, their focus to attacking off the rush.

And I'll be honest with you, you know, I think before that road trip, the sixth gamer, I asked Rick Talkett about that on whether he thought his transition game was getting better that was in you know off the uh just coming off the new york rangers game where they scored two goals off the rush and it looked like over the last couple of games prior to the that road trip they were starting to pick it up and what happens philip ronick gets hurt um of course you know you're already without jt Miller at that point, and it felt like any progress that they're picking up attacking off the rush, it just stops in Pittsburgh

with that Philip Peronic injury. So you're right, scoring chances, they're dead last, bottom five in high danger chances. But given the absence of Philip Peronic, I can understand that JT Miller as well. But you have to, I think, play it safe until JT Miller gets back. And that's what Rick Talkin is trying to do. They did have plans.

They wanted to execute more of a quicker, a more offensively, you know, quick strike offense and transition. We see that prior to that road trip. But, guys, you need better puck moving D. You need generally players that can make that first pass quicker, and I just don't see that with the Canucks. A bottom pair for sure. When Quinn Hughes is really not on the ice,

you don't have that defenseman to make that play. So while, yes, you want a higher octane transition D, you've got to run with the horses you have right now, and I think it starts from defense. They just don't have those horses. Randy, what did you think of Talkett's reaction to the question about Pedersen? Yeah that was interesting I think that's probably a coach that A is getting a lot of questions about a star player and you know that whole point about I know what you guys want me to say was the part

where I'm just like okay yeah, yeah, clearly there is some, there is some thought that he needs more from players. And he said that he has an identified name. I find that Rick Talkett in post-game media conferences saying a little bit less now, and it's understandable. The team is not winning and they're about 500 in their last, what, nine games. So there is frustration there. I think with Elias Pettersson,

every question without JT Miller in the lineup is going to be, or it's going to be Quinn Hughes, or it's going to be Elias Pettersson. But when you're not winning and you need to see a little bit more from your star player where you need that five-on-five game to be better, you need him to maybe have those statement games

where he's taking over a game, I can understand it being frustrating. And listen, this is Vancouver. This is the fishbowl of most Canadian markets, but I would argue that Vancouver is top at least two or three when it comes to the NHL in terms of getting those questions there. And if there's a story, they're going to ask those questions of the coach. I think that was just an element of, yeah, I know my star player needs to do more. I've mentioned it. I've mentioned it kind of in generally he hasn't identified names, but maybe there's a little bit of frustration on the player and potentially needing more from his team.

But, yeah, having to answer that question over and over again. Agree or disagree, Connor Garland is their most effective forward at five on five right now. I would have to agree. He's the guy that brings the second effort. He's the guy that is, you know, consistently creating something out of nothing. And I think we saw a good part of that yesterday on the Dakota Joshua goal where he has that second effort. Dakota scores his first goal of the season. We also saw that on the 3-2 goal where he draws the penalty on Sundqvist, and that's all second effort.

He wins the puck. But we also kind of saw where he's having to do a lot of heavy lifting right now. He's handling the puck a lot. And, you know, I think that was a moment where he gave away the puck at the blue line and it led to a transition attack the other way. And that's not, I don't fault Connor Garland for that. I think he's really trying to do a little bit more every time he's out there. He's trying to generate offense because it's essentially him and Quinn Hughes

that are starting these plays and winning puck battles and you know extending plays in the offensive zone you look at the puck possession time obviously queen hughes is running away with that for the team lead but you know uh garland was up there as well a top two or three in the team uh and you're going to have moments where sometimes it's going to hit like the goals and sometimes um you're going to have those other moments where maybe you take an unnecessary chance or you hang on to the pocket a little bit but you're right i think connor garland uh he's been he's been consistent he's been bringing that effort game in game out um so we should probably ask you about demko what did you think about his performance you know he said afterwards that uh he felt a little bit rusty

and maybe there's a couple goals he would have liked to play differently. But overall, I mean, my take was that it was encouraging. I expected him to be rusty. And as long as the popliteus is still popliteusing, then I'm fine with that performance. Yeah, I think, first of all, it was great to hear a grumpy Thatcher Demko after the game. I missed it. It was one of those things's great to hear a grumpy thatcher demko after the game just i missed it it was one of those things where he's you know he's he's wired a certain way and he's so

focused on the game so i i love to actually have him back and uh back in the room and and he's an important part of this team guys in terms of the effort yeah the first period was rusty which is understandable you haven't played in eight months, what, 230-plus days, and playing that puck, even before that on the first play when Roddick Fox, you know, a little bit of a low-key slew foot or just sticks his foot out a little bit and Demko falls, everybody, I'm sure, was just like, what's going on there? I had a look at him a couple of times during that play, even as the puck went down the ice, to just see,

okay, is everything all right there? It was fine, but, you know, he threw in the puck on the goal, probably plays that one goal a little too deep on that Bull Duke play, but after that, the breakaways in the second period, in the first period, it was the Robert Thomas goal. It doesn't have much

of a chance on that. Thomas has got a heck of a shot, but saves on Kairou, Holloway in the second period, three saves on Holloway alone on one shift in the second period, three saves on Holloway alone on one shift in the third period, and a couple of them of the highest quality where he's having to go from side to side, that lateral movement.

He's sticking out that left pad and making a skate save. I thought as the game went on, he warmed up as well, so it's a good start. We'll have to see how he feels at practice today at Rogers Arena. Beyond that, just the day-to-day. It's, all right, this is the starting point.

This is the foundation for Thatcher Demko. How does he look in the next one, whenever that next one is? What do you think about these next three teams that are coming into Vancouver? We got Florida, the defending Stanley Cup champs. Boston, which has had an up and down season, but still has a winning record. And then Colorado with all their firepower. Yeah, the Florida one will be fascinating because they are such a difficult team to play with. And I don't know if you guys saw the Sasha Barkov shootout goal last night. Anytime you're playing

that guy, good luck. And, you know, we talk about five-on-five offense. Who's the best at shutting it down right now in the league? It's the selfie winner, Sasha Barkov. So if you're not able to generate five-on-five offense, you know, seeing that Sam Reinhardt, Sasha Barkov, and Carter Verhage line is probably not the one you want to see immediately.

But I think this is going to be a challenge, right, where you have a line where Barkov comes to town and then the next line after that is Kachuk and Bennett. It's going to really challenge this Canucks team. But let's see what they can do in home ice. This is going to be, you know, not an easy one. But they have been able to beat this team earlier this year. I know a lot of those Florida players were injured that we're talking about uh but that one's going to be tough uh bruins are are not playing

well still uh they got spanked yesterday um so a couple of challenges coming away in colorado you know what you have you have mccarr you have mckinnon uh they have the high octane offense they're going up and down this year as well they traded for a couple new goalies over the last a couple of weeks but this is no doubt when it comes to generating five-on-five offense, this next game against Florida is going to be a challenge. But you want your star players, whether that's a Quinn Hughes who's brought it all season, whether that's Elias Pedersen, who I'm sure if he gets that head-to-head matchup,

that's the one you try to go with against Sasha Barkov. That's a challenge. But, you know, this is the moment that allows you to step up if you're able to hit that level. So I know it's a daunting task, guys, but if you're the number one center on this team, you've got to circle that on your calendar and say, all right, this is the one that I've got to step up for.

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