Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 12/13/24

Episode Date: December 13, 2024

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

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose the f***ing Canucks? You're listening to Halford & Brough. Halford & Brough.

Jennifer Besser shot wide to the net. Rebound in front. He scores. Brock Besser. Brock Besser. We know that they're going to be coming all over us everywhere on the ice. I thought the D were scrappy, and obviously Langs had a great game. Hey, Soto, want to say thank you to the Yankee fans?

No thank you. No thank you. Thank you would have been coming back to us. Anti-Italian discrimination. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody.

Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Alfred and his brother, Fittiesportsnet650. We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Ada, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Halford and Brother 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, or parts. We are in Hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler.

Well, they pay the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Sofie, what are you waiting for? Kintec, we's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews.

So, Orfi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, we have a huge show today. We have so many things that we need to do over the next three hours. I'm going to try and break it all down right now. Guest list begins at 6.30. Brady Henderson, ESPN, Seahawks Insider. Huge, huge game Sunday night. Seahawks, Packers, Sunday night football, Lumenfield.

Packers are two and a half point road favorites. I hope it's a better game than Rams Niners was last night. So the first primetime game of the week, not great. Second one, hopefully better. It's a chance for the Hawks to stay atop the NFC West with a win because as Jason mentioned, the Rams and the 49ers played last night. Rams won. AJ is going to join us at 7.

A reminder, $100 gift card today goes to the best, what we learned, or ask us anything. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Get them in now. Hashtag WWL or AUA. Put a pizza emoji into your text. 705, Kurt Malosky, head coach of the Vancouver Warriors. The Vancouver Warriors have their home opener tonight at Rogers Arena.

They're going to host the hated Rochester Nighthawks tonight. The Warriors did get their season underway a couple of weeks ago with a loss in Colorado. A reminder, you can get tickets for tonight's game at VancouverWarriors.com. 7.30, Bob the Moj Marjanovic is going to join the program. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. We are giving away another pair of tickets to see Creed and Big Wreck next August. A reminder, we're going to be giving away tickets at 8.15 this morning.

Call our number 5. 5. Phone number 604-280-0650. That number again, laddie. 604-280-0650. Call in at 815. It's your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Creed and Big Rack next

August at Rogers Arena. What did you say, Laddie? Finally, don't interrupt me when I'm in a room. I'm on a roll. I'm on a roll. Why did you throw me into the middle of that? You love Big Rack. Okay. Boston's favorite Canadian band or Canada's favorite Boston-based band.

Finally, Food Bank Friday. It goes today from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in support of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. So what you can do is you used to be able to text a bunch of different emojis, and they would represent different dollar values. Yeah, yeah. That got too complicated. I mean, it's one banana, Michael. What could it cost?

$10? So we've made it. It got confusing for people, I think. People were texting peaches and eggplants and carrots and everything else. Bananas. Someone texted an emoji that cost them $500,000. It was the most expensive vegetable ever. Text the carrot emoji to 30333 to donate.

Real simple. So you can either donate $5, $10, or $25 via the carrot emoji. You get to pick your own. So it makes it a lot easier. We streamline the process. Food Bank Friday and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, obviously a tremendous, tremendous initiative. We want to support it.

We want you to support it all day. It runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. today. We'll be reading this throughout the show. So if you missed any of that information, don't worry. I'll be resetting it a couple times as we are here until 9 a.m. Okay, that is everything that's happening on the program today. I'm not going to repeat any of it. I'm not going to work in reverse.

Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that?

You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. The reason I had to get through all that stuff so quickly is because we need to talk about your Vancouver Canucks. Their best performance at home by a mile last night.

Maybe their best performance of the season. Kevin Lankanen, he's blanking. Got to be thanking him. 27 saves. JT Miller, a pair of assists in his return. Canucks win 4-0 over the Panthers at Rogers Arena on Thursday night. I mean, that was the performance that they needed. That was the exact type of performance that we were talking about

because yesterday we set up these next three games and you could feel the tension in the Canucks fan base. And we said, listen, there's three pretty good teams coming into Rogers Arena over the next week or so and it started with the defending Stanley Cup champs from Florida who were playing really good hockey it's going to continue on Saturday against Boston and then Colorado on Monday and we said look you can look at this two ways. One, this is an opportunity to get your game back, make a statement.

And the other is, if you don't play well, things are going to get dicey. Not only are you going to flirt with falling out of a playoff position, people are, you know, you're going to, the team, the team is going to be in trouble. And I'm real glad the Canucks chose the former. And it was everyone contributing in some big way or little way. Unexpected guys like Max Sasson and Mark Friedman

playing big roles and contributing. And then you had Brock Besser scoring, JT Miller picking up a couple of points. Everyone was making plays in some sort of way, whether it was offensive, defensive, and of course, you had Kevin Lankanen goal with the shutout, but what did Kevin Lankanen say after the game? He couldn't say enough about the defense in front of him.

Everyone was chipping in in some way, big or small, yesterday. The first period was the Max Sasson show. Believe it or not, if you didn't watch the game the 24 year old rookie was everywhere that guy is fast man he had he had a he had a rate he had a rush up the wing it didn't result in a goal but i actually texted shorty i was like hey how do you find out how fast these guys are going like because sometimes you hear shorty's got that information i'm like i want to like i want to yeah did someone have the radar gun on Max Sasson up there?

At any rate, you know, the first goal he's involved in gets an assist and Carson Soucy scores. The second, Danton Heinen scores. Danton Heinen, Danton Heinen ended the night as the high man among forwards in ice time. Yep. Which goes to show you that Danton Heinen had a much-needed good performance,

but also that the ice time was so spread out along the four lines because they all deserved it, and it was great that some of the other guys that had been playing a lot got a little rest, and some of the guys that hadn't been playing as much got to contribute a lot more. The Canucks are not the fastest team, so it's great to see a lot more. The Canucks are not the fastest team,

so it's great to see a burner like Sasson making an impact in the bottom six. There's some Yannick Hansen and Tyler Mott or Mason Raymond potential there, especially if he sticks on the wing. I know he was a center in the AHL, but maybe he's going to be that speedy four-checking winger that we've seen in the past in Vancouver.

Speaking of making an impact, how about the pairing of Friedman and Forbort? The double F pairing. I know a lot of people were upset that Branstrom got scratched again, but those two were a good pair last night. Friedman is a tough dude. He took a puck to the face the other day. He was laying the body.

And Forbort, he made a really nice pass up to Bluger to get the rush going on Heinen's goal. Forbert has been a bit of a forgotten man on the Canucks this season just because he's missed so much time, personal reasons, injury reasons. But he is more than capable of holding down a third pair of role so long as he can stay healthy, which was an issue in Boston, but when he came back from his injuries with Boston,

the Bruins players could not say enough about him. That was just his fifth game of the season yesterday. He's been the forgotten man, the forgotten man of Derek Forbord. That's a good way of putting it because you kind of you never get a true sense of what the team looks like until everybody's there, and they're still not at 100% full strength.

Of course, Hronik's still out of the lineup. But to get him back, and he played almost 20 minutes last night. He's a journeyman like Ian Cole was. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. Do you know what I mean? That's a good comp. Like, he's a good, he's a third pair guy who's more often than not going to get the job done.

He's not really a wild card, and I thought he played that way last night. The Canucks made it 3-0 in the second on a goal by Brock Besser, who was playing in his 500th NHL game. Lots to like on that goal. It started with a big hit by Friedman that got the puck to Quinn Hughes,

who skated around and around and around and around and eventually up the ice and dished it to JT Miller, who slipped it to Besser in the middle of the ice. Besser shot, missed the net, but he was able to grab the bounce off the end boards and put it behind Bobrowski. Now, that was probably the end of the game, but just in case, the Canucks got one more

with just about seven minutes left in the third when Jake DeBrusque, front of the net, front of the net, Jake DeBrusque, good hands and willing to go to the front of that, tipped home a Quinn Hughes point shot on the power play. Miller picked up his second assist of the night on the power play goal. It was party time at Rogers Arena.

The only question was whether or not Kevin Lankanen could pick up the shutout, and he did. What a night. It was great, right? And I think the big talking point that you're going to hear throughout the day as the narratives and the analysis continues here on Sportsnet 650 is that the depth of the team really came through in a major way yesterday. It came through in the sense that Rick Tockett was allowed to give some of his heavy minutes guys

relative nights off. He was able to roll four lines pretty effectively. You mentioned Danton Heinen ended up being the high man time on ice for forwards. We mentioned that Derek Forbore played almost 20 minutes. And this is what, when we talk about the team that they built in the offseason and what they envisioned, some things have worked out and some things haven't. We'll get to the Deharnais thing and the news that broke during the game yesterday on the side of things that haven't worked out.

We'll get to that in a minute. But Rick Tockett spoke about this in two separate clips following the game yesterday. The first one talking about how depth helps and actually is able to establish more of a role on the team when injuries and adversity hit. And then what happens when you get over the adversity and the injuries go away? Here's Rick talking on why depth is a big help when you battle

adversity. Yeah, I mean, you know, every team goes through injuries or some adversity and how you handle it. That's why depth, you know, Sass tonight, depth player. You know, Heinen gets more ice time. You know, obviously, you know, Friedman I thought was good tonight. Like, you know, heinen gets more ice time. You know, obviously, you know, Friedman, I thought, was good tonight.

Like, you know, he gave us some minutes. Forbork came in. I thought he was good. I just think that depth helps when you have these stretches of injuries or adversity. So, and then when you get a full lineup, it just kind of elevates everybody. My son is also named Forbork. Anyway, Ray Forbork? Ray Forbork. Anyway. Ray Forbork? Ray Forbork.

Now, there's a second part to this. It's that it's not just about depth players filling the roles and then returning to their regular roles when everyone's back and healthy. It's also about internal competition. And I think this next clip, this was maybe Talkit kind of, not necessarily clapping back, but pointing out like, hey, maybe I do know what I'm doing when I'm rotating in defensemen and I'm not playing Eric Branson for two consecutive games and i'm moving guys around

the lineup and we're making these call-ups from the american league because guys pushing guys from within makes everybody better here's rick talking on competitive and competition keeping players on their toes i think it's big you know we're you know it doesn't necessarily the guy's not dressed he's not playing well i think you know we we have a group where you can rotate some people in. You know, like, you know, whether Friedman plays a few more games or Brantz comes in or, you know, there's a rotation. Vinny, we have that luxury and it keeps people on their toes. I mean, you know, if you play well, you stay in. That's the way, that's what internal competition does.

So I think the thing with Brandstrom getting scratched is they wanted to bring Forbert back in, right? He'd been waiting to play. They need him back in there. You know, he's supposed to be pretty much an everyday player. Yep. For various reasons, he hasn't been this season beyond his control. Well, you're not going to scratch Hughes on the left side.

You're not going to scratch Soucy. He's playing better. So that's the left side, right? So where are your options for Branstrom? I guess you could put him in on his off side, on the right side. Which he's done before. But they don't like doing that. They don't like doing that.

And I think what they wanted against Florida especially, remember how we talked about the game in Florida earlier in the game, earlier in the year yesterday and how physical it was. It was big boy hockey and the Canucks really played well against Florida and they were up to the physical challenge. They wanted Freeman in for that. They wanted Freeman in for that. I mean, you could talk said it before the game yesterday. And Juleson and Soucy have been a pair that has had some good moments. And then Myers is with Hughes. So, you know, Brandstrom is just kind of the odd man out here. And I would be surprised if Tuckett makes any changes to the lineup

on Saturday against the Bruins. So Brandstrom's probably going to be sitting again. I mean, look, I think there's a few things that are happening here, right? One is the coaching staff and management definitely thought that there was some Rubik's Cube where they could twist things around with the eight or ten defensemen they had available and find a group that could get results. Like last night against the Panthers,

that's their best win of the season, right? That team? I don't think there's any question about that. Yeah, I think so. They were able to do it with a defensive group that still, you look at it on paper, and you're like, I don't know how they did that, but they did it.

It was a 4-0 victory. Like, Lankton played great. I think they played to their identity. If you're looking for that, right? Like, if you're looking for, I don't know how they did it, well, they played to their identity, and the identity is that Quinn Hughes is? Like if you're looking for, I don't know how they did it. Well, they played to their identity and the identity is that

Quinn Hughes is the puck mover and the rest of the guys hit. You know what I mean? The rest of the guys check and they block and they box out in front of Kevin Lankan and they win battles

in the corners and you know, like that's, it's a pretty simple equation. So that's, when I'm talking about the Rubik's Cube, it's like they knew

that there was a set of guys that they could get out there that could do the things that Tuckett wanted them to do that would lead to success. Unfortunately, DeJarne and Brandstrom weren't it. They just didn't fit. They didn't do the things. Why is Julsen in over

Brandstrom? Because he hits and he boxes out. And he's a right shot A-Dog. Have you been keeping up? They want to go lefty-righty, lefty-righty, lefty-righty. I'd rather have Bradstrom than Julsen. Yeah, I know you do, but they also just beat the defending Stanley Cup champions 4-0 with Julsen in.

Julsen kills penalties. There's roles that you have to be aware of. It's not just any particular big, heavy bodied thumper. DeJarne's not getting it done and we can get to that again in a moment but um if they are able to somehow unlock the code and figure it out even in the interim with this defensive group uh it is a major major win and honestly it lets them

off the hook a little bit yeah this group because I know management still wants to improve this blue line. There's no question about it. Let's see them do it a few more times. Sure, but last night was a great building block. Absolutely. Great building block. Absolutely, and I would be shocked. Unless there are injuries, I assume the same lineup,

same combinations, same everything, except for maybe the goalie is going to be the same against the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Let's talk about this goaltending situation. I joked last night that I'm going to have to bring out the Dave Pratt machine of the goalie controversy machine. I think we all need to just chill right now. No.

Yeah, we do. What's the opposite of chill? We need to chill. We need to start trading Demko. Here's the thing. Demko has played one game in his return to the lineup. Four goals against. Let's enjoy the fact that we've got Kevin Lankanen playing really well.

No goals against. And Thatcher Demko, who needs to get his game back. If you didn't expect him to be rusty in his first game back after everything he went through, come know, like, come on. You're being unrealistic. So let's be happy that it can be either Lankanen or Demko. I think until Demko gets his, why not just alternate starts?

Just alternate starts. Where is your... It's not the Demko trade, of course. What happened to my co-host that I knew and loved and was... Yeah, I was promised a goalie controversy. Yeah, where's your sports radio spirit? You pick, which one do you want?

Do you want Demco or Lankan? Let's go. I only get one. Yeah, you can't have both. You get one, I get the other one. It's like... Well, I made a joke on Twitter last night, and I'm a little gun-shy because...

Yeah, that went well. Yeah, well, honestly... Yeah, that was your fault. A lot of people, many people, many people say they liked the joke, but it was me making fun of myself about a player I'm not even going to mention today. It was Ilyas Pettersson.

Who went pointless. And didn't have a shot on goal. Pointless, I repeat, pointless. Stayed on the right side of the puck. Yeah. Made some good defensive plays. His number is between 39 and 41. At any rate, this whole goaltending thing, we need to wait.

We need to just wait and see how it plays out. We need to give Demko like 10 starts, and then if you want, if you want, we can have a goaltending controversy in about February. No, I don't want to wait that long. Well, you have to. Listen, Santa's going to bring you some stuff at Christmas, and you can enjoy and get excited for that. And then when the Christmas excitement wears off

and you're wondering what's next, maybe in February, if you're good, we can have a goaltending controversy. Because I feel like our hearts were never into the BC Lions quarterbacking controversy. Mine was. We just never had the same zest and zeal like our predecessors did.

This is something we can really sink our teeth in. When's the last time we had a legitimate goalie controversy? It would have to be Luongo Schneider. There hasn't been anything in the interim, right? Nothing, nothing to that. Black Miller? No. No one was invested enough.

That playoff series, they had to decide who to start. Miller was injured. Yeah, but we were invested in Luongo Schneider. I feel like we can get there. It was a little bit more heated. I agree, though. They should just alternate starts for now. Yeah, that's fine.

Just go back and forth. What we need is for one of them to win all their starts and the other one to lose all their starts. Anyway, all joking aside. But we also can't... For the next few weeks, you have to give Demko a little bit of leeway to make some mistakes. Yeah, yeah. He's getting his game back, okay?

All right. You get one more start. Demko got his groove back. You get one more start, Thatcher. I do want to mention JT Miller's return to the ice last night. And just in over 15 minutes ice time. You know what? We'll play one more Talk It clip.

Talk It was speaking about the impact that Miller had. Spoke very glowingly about the guy that we've called the emotional heartbeat of the team. I thought it was great. And I know that almost every national sports broadcast last night picked up on the fans at Rogers Arena chanting JT Miller, which was fantastic. I thought they should have done a Derek Forbort one, too. Right. I mean, he was out for a while as well. But alas, it was JT Miller's name being chanted from the rafters. Here's Rick Talkett on Miller's return and what he meant to the team in a big win over the Florida Panthers.

He's arguably one of the best players in the league. He's a big part of our team. That's hard to do. Not play for a month and come in there and do what he did. He had a couple points, but I thought he played him against Barkoff. I don't know, he played 14, 15. That's kind of what I wanted to play him, but I thought he did a good job against Barkoff.

He's a big guy in the middle. It's tough to go around him. Prior to the game, JT Miller did meet with the media. It was after we were off the air, and he started his media availability by saying he wasn't going to answer any sort of questions regarding his absence from the team for personal reasons, said he was going to look forward, not back, and if he wanted to ask any questions about hockey,

he would be more than willing and happy to answer them. I guess that puts a bow on that chapter because it does not sound that we're going to get anything, nor do we think at this point that it even really matters from our perspective. He's back. He's playing. It's a chapter in this season, and I think when we look back on this season,

there's going to be a lot of chapters that, quite frankly, are incomplete when it comes to plot and narrative and details. I just think that that's the way that this team is going to operate this season. It does feel a bit hollow from the, where we do our job on this side of the desk, because people are kind of leaning on us to know these things and we don't, but,

and this stage of the game, like seriously to my buddies texting me, I don't know. And I don't know to my credit as an intrepid journalist, I've asked people that I don't know. To my credit, as an intrepid journalist, I've asked people that I think might know. As a great gossip. They don't know either. We don't know.

I don't know if this is the wheels of change on the NHL and how we address things in society and privacy and media availability and leaks. Maybe this is the brave new world that we live in. Whatever the case, I'm actually okay with looking forward and not looking back because, to be dead honest, the first two months of this regular season

weren't great for the Canucks. I think there was a lot of frustrations and there was a lot of angst and there was a lot of hand-wringing about everything that was going on. God, yesterday, it was a big game. You put it very well. That was a big game, man. You put it very well. That was a big game, man. You put it very well a couple weeks ago

when you said they felt like there was a bunch of little fires everywhere. Well, the number of those little fires that you can stamp out and say that they're extinguished and move forward, it does feel like a good thing. And when's the last time that this team has had that kind of performance on home ice,

which is vitally important, because, yeah, they've been great on the road, but they've stunk at home. So for them to be able to do that, it was a very good thing. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall.

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

It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. In a one on a Friday Happy Friday everybody Halford Brough

Sportsnet 650 Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers They have a friendly knowledgeable staff

that can help with anything you're looking for sales, financing, service or parts We are in hour three of the program Rick Dollywall is going to join us in just a moment here

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for? Kintec. To the phone lines we go. Richard M. Dollywall joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Rick? Oh, not good, guys. Highway 99 shut down, so everybody in White Rock, oh my goodness. I left

6.30 this morning White Rock. It took me an hour to get to Surrey. Now I'm in Delta. I still got to cross the Alex Fraser. But when you got a major highway like that shut down, everybody in White Rock this morning, guys, it is chaos. Like, number 10 Highway is just King George. I mean, it is chaos.

I'm basically not even halfway to work yet. But there's a lot of people in White Rock right now this morning scrambling. It's pretty chaotic out here this morning. Well, sorry to hear that. Sorry to hear everyone who's stuck in traffic today. I know that must be frustrating, especially if you're listening to our show. Even more frustrating. Yes.

Let's talk about the game last night because that was not frustrating as a Canucks fan. In my opinion, that was exactly the type of performance they needed. Very impressive, complete 60-minute effort. We have not seen many of these games this year. A huge win at home, so there's 2-1-1 in the homestand. And you know what they did? They silenced the crowd that says they can't beat good teams well you just beat the defending stanley cup champs by four goals that's one of those games i think jason where in a few weeks they say they

you know what that that can turn a season around it can put belief in the team they needed that kind of win you know it was a great first period. That first period set the tone for the rest of the game. JT Miller's first game back missed 10 games, had two assists. I really like Tockett. Managed his minutes, only 14. In fact, I'll tell you. Managed everyone's minutes. Well, hey, you know what?

That happens, Jason, when you roll four lines. Yeah, it was awesome. Max Sasson was the hero of the first period. The Panthers didn't scout him. They didn't know that he was like the fastest man in the world. Oh, and I'll get to Max Sasson in a second here, but back to Miller, he's such an important part of the team, guys. He makes them so much stronger up the middle, helps the power play.

What was he on face-offs last night? I think 12 for 20, 60%. So a good first game back for Miller. But what about Kevin Lankanen? 27 saves, shutout. Look, I'm running out of words to really describe this guy. Canucks have 15 wins.

He's got 14. There's only one goaltender in the NHL with more wins. Connor Hellebach at 18. What a story. And with Demko back, the Canucks are now set at the goaltender position for the rest of the year. And thanks to Lankanen, guys, the Canucks don't have to rush or overplay Demko. Demko can now get the necessary rest and the recovery that he needs. Hands down, the most important July 1st signing, Lankanen, he bridged the gap for the Canucks

to Demko, providing absolutely calming presence in that. I don't know. Like, I ask you guys, I don't know how the Canucks would do it, but re-signing Lankanen's got to be a must. But, if, capital letters, if Lankanen

continues to play lights out for the rest of the year, I don't think the Canucks can do it. Term and money is going to be if. Like Jason. I think the only way they're able to do it is if they prioritize Lankanen as the starting goalie. And I don't know if that's going to happen. Agree or disagree. And Demko's contract's up up in a year and by the way

they can start talking to demko on july 1st about a new deal uh but just absolutely that seems unlikely don't you think like for them to do it that i know there's a lot to still to be written in this season but for them to talk extension with demko you know less than a year after he recovers from this injury. But what if he goes on a heater the rest of the year? How about if he plays 30, 40 games and goes deep in the playoffs? I mean, things can change. We just don't know. But, you know, the Canucks signing a Lankan has turned out to be an absolute must

and an absolute incredible signing. You mentioned Sasson. Fourth line was in on the first two goals. Sasson, the two primary assists. This kid was feeling it last night. 20 plus teams. You talked about Florida. They didn't scout this kid. 20 plus teams after him in

college. He picked the Canucks. If he becomes a regular in Vancouver, teams are going to look at his development in Abbotsford. Working with the Sadin twins in Abbotsford has big benefits. I get more and more agents asking me about Abbotsford. They really like the setup. And I heard Moj talk to Manny Malhotra last night, and Manny made a good comment that when kids get sent from Vancouver to Abbotsford, they go down with a good attitude.

When they're down in Abbotsford, they have a good attitude. They get called up again. The worst thing you want is when a kid gets sent down to Abbotsford and that kid is sulking and crying and saying, why me? I deserve to be in Vancouver. Well, Hoaglander last year, or the year before, he got sent down, didn't like it, but he went down there, worked with the Sedim twins, came back and scored 24 goals. So I think that

that was a good point by Moj. I just think Abbotsford's got a really good reputation right now around the league. It's a really good setup. It's 10 times better than the setup in Utica. Imagine having access to a couple of Hall of Famers like the Sedin twins, but also Manny Malhotra there. You can just go up to them and be like, Hey,

I need help with this. And Milstein told me when they picked Vancouver for Sasson, they picked, Milstein said to Sasson, you're going to get good development in Vancouver with the twins. So I think the Sedin twins, I know when, when they were first

hired people thought it was a gimmick it was not a gimmick these guys are well respected they have a hockey sense they teach you you get better uh it's a really good setup down there absolutely no question about it okay so um obviously lankanen great signing for the Canucks. Terrific work, not only to get him signed, but also at that number. De'Arne, not such a good signing. They made a bet. They gambled on his potential, and the potential has not panned out. Where are they with moving De'Arne out of the organization? Well, Jason, his name's out there.

Canucks are trying to see if they can move him, and I'm going to tell you something. His name hasn't been out there for one or two days. I've been told it's been out there for a while. He hasn't been a fit. He's had a tough time staying in the lineup. The St. Louis game, he only had 12 minutes, and Friedman had more ice time than him.

He's been in the American League all year long. Right now, Friedman is out playing them. He had another strong game last night. Talkett likes what he brings to the table. One of the Canucks goals started last night with a wonderful hit from Friedman. When Sadorov and Cole left, they were replaced by Forbert and Desjardins.

Two huge guys. I can see why they signed them. Hockey people love size. Size was the number one reason. They thought they could work with them, and they thought they could make them better, but projects are for Abbotsford. They're not for the NHL. The NHL doesn't have

much patience for projects. Hockey people's love for size is never going to end. The big guy's got to prove he can't play. The big guy's got to prove he can't play. The small guy's got to prove he can play. Now, De'Arne is going to be tough, very tough to move. He's got term. That's problem number one.

Problem number two, he's not playing great. The one team told me last night his puck skills are an issue for them so bottom line is canucks have to find an everyday defenseman in that third pair on the right side they haven't had one all season long that's not good i will say this when besser got his concussion it was day or nay who said about tanner you know the league did what they had to do. Next time we play them, next time we play them. Much full respect for De Arne for saying that. You know, he was talking about

the Kings-Canucks next game. Also, I want to say this. This regime doesn't wait forever to correct their mistakes. Curtis Lazar traded shortly after signing a three-year deal. I think it was shortly after year one Daniel Sprung lasted nine games Riley Stillman Jason Studnicka Mikheyev Kuzmenko they move on

they move on from their mistakes I don't know what's going to happen here if you can't make them because you know if you can't trade him what do you do you put him on waiver send him to Havaspert I just don't know Jason what the recourse is going to be here if they can't move them. Yeah, at least maybe bury half of his cap hit in the AHL. At any rate, let's move on to Brock Besser scored last night. You know, Nick Caprios wrote an article on Sportsnet.ca where he talked about Besser's potential ask. And I know you guys were

talking with Ray Ferrari yesterday on your show about term and Ray was a little hesitant about an eight-year term for Besser. How important is term going to be in all this? Both are going to be important. You just got to look at Miller's deal. You got to look at Pedersen's deal. What did both those guys get? They got turn man money investors in no different boat. Let me say this first. I told you guys a couple, two, three, four weeks ago that Travis Konechny is going to be a comparable for Besser. Where is he at? 8-7. But I have to tell you this, and the people get a little bit confused on the connect me a contract connect me is not making eight seven this year he starts making eight seven next year so people get a little bit confused about that comparable but i will say this will he get what connect me gets

i don't know but the connect me is also on pace for 96 points this year he's a hell of a player for the philadelphia flyers most people you talk to around the league do feel the number will start with an eight i do feel that if the number does not start with an eight in vancouver i and in july 1st is sitting there like either he's going to get eight in vancouver plus or he's going to get it somewhere else uh jason on july 1st okay so now let's go to this he i'm hearing it's very quiet right now. Not hearing of any negotiations yet with agent Ben Hankinson. Also, although there is always communication with the two sides, I find it really hard to believe that Hankinson did not meet with GM Patrick

Alvin when the Canucks were in Minnesota a couple of weeks ago. Although Hankinson would have met with him not just to talk about Besser, he's also got Bluger and Forbert as well. Now, I think the Canucks could be waiting to see if last year, 40 goals is a one-off. In the previous four years, before the 40 goals, 23 goals was the highest Besser got. Before he suffered his concussion this year, Besser was on pace for 40.

I think he had six after 11 games. Brock can bet on himself, and he can do just fine on July 1st. And I'm going to tell you something else. Goal-scoring wingers, they don't grow on trees. Developing your own is even tougher. Look at the Canucks' current roster. Besser and Hoaglander are the only two wingers that were drafted by the Canucks

and are on the current roster. Everybody else, every other winger on the Canucks was brought to you by either vis-a-vis a trade or free agency. So at some point, this team's got to do a better job of draft and develop. The cap's going to go up this summer.

That's going to help Besser. There'll be more money in the summer. And don't forget, the Canucks didn't sign Pedersen last year till March 2nd. Eight-year deals don't happen in 24 hours. You think the Canucks weren't talking to Pat Bresson and J.P. Berry for months and months and months before they finally agreed? Of course they were. Ray Ferraro on our show made a lot of good points yesterday. He's worried about eight years. Where's the foot speed for Brock in years six, seven, eight of that deal? Eight-year deals are always dangerous for guys who are 27 and 28. What do you look like at the tail end of that contract? Now, I do believe both sides,

the desire is really strong to get this done in Vancouver. So the timing of this, do you think it's going to be similar to the Pedersen situation that it goes right down to the wire ahead of the trade deadline? Yeah, well, they should get kicked. I mean, come on. I think in January they should start kicking. And to think that they don't have general feeling of what it's going to take i'd be shocked they i they they pretty well know the canucks know and and you know people that complain about the eight million it's not like brock's going from four eight million he's going

six five to eight which isn't really a super duper jump considering the caps going up considering he's coming off of 40 goals, considering he led the team in playoff goals with seven, and he scored four of those goals after he broke his finger in Nashville at a practice. So look, either way, this guy's going to get paid. Wingers that score are going to get paid, Jason. And whether it's going to be in Vancouver or elsewhere, that's what we got to wait to see. I thought he was going to get a two-year, $3 million contract. Well, you're definitely not his agent.

I'll tell you that much. All right, Rick. I hope the traffic improves. I hope you get to work on time. I'm in a park. I pulled in a park and a couple of people just went right by me

to give me a dirty look. I got to get out of this park. Someone's going to call the cops on me. All right, I got to go. I got to get to work later. See you. Be safe, buddy. That's Rick Dollywall in a park

on the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Hope he's okay. He's in a park. He's pulled into a park. There's so many ways we could go with that. We're not going to do it. I'm just biting my tongue quite aggressively. I'm bleeding now.

Let's do some What We Learned. learned sure i want to play another bit of audio from elliot friedman on the most recent edition of 32 thoughts um we already played a little bit about um where they are as a team and you know the need to maybe move day rna etc etc um here's something on the return of jt miller and how that might go even besser told ian mcintyre the other day it's been a lot different without him so So just having him around again, even before you step on the ice for a game, you could sense within the room. It's different for all the right reasons in Vancouver. And it has to stay that way. Like, I think,

I think he has to bend and the other guys have to bend. Everybody has to bend a little bit. It's like a podcast, Kyle. You've got your talents. I've got my talents, although I'm still trying to discover exactly what those are. And we have to bend them together to make the podcast good. And hopefully, by the time we are both fired,

we will find a way to do that so he has to bend and the Canucks have to bend so this is hinting at some sort of dynamic flexibility right there was some sort of uh what Elliot is hinting at is we're not trying to make stuff up here. There was some sort of dynamic that was going on in the room that needed a break. A dynamic, you say? Elaborate, Jason. Oh, okay. Here, let me make it up. Yeah. I don't know if we're ever going to get much past this point of very vague speculation.

But I think maybe what we can conclude is there were issues within the room, within the team, because some people have wondered if it is like a purely a personal thing, right? Like nothing to do with the team whatsoever. Purely a personal thing. What I think we can conclude from that, and Freedj isn't just going to put this out irresponsibly, there was something going on there, right? And they need to work on that. Just like they needed to work on the relationship between, but like, no, but what are you laughing at?

No, there's so many rumors out there, right? Like there's so many rumors out there right like there's so many rumors out there that just you just said here's what we know something happened yeah but but no but you're not you're being disingenuous you're being disingenuous because there are some people that said that this has nothing to do with the team this is purely a personal thing for jt miller there were some people that said that's not true nothing happened okay fine be disingenuous I'm just I'm just disingenuous well you you you are like like we're trying to we're trying to have to like again I sound like Dollywell here I'm repeating myself 6,000 times you know all the rumors that I've heard is like oh it's something at home or whatever is like something happened within the team yeah right that i think that's that's important

that's not nothing no so they're gonna have to make some changes and he's saying that you know miller's gonna have to bend a little bit and the canucks are gonna have to bend a little bit essentially saying like you have to let Miller be himself but also Miller has to acknowledge that being himself you know sometimes I guess my point I guess my point would be that after 10 games and nearly what 20 days of no messaging, no explanation. Then the player returns with no messaging and no explanation. Well, the message was, I will not be giving an explanation. But this is where we're at.

It's still a very vague, very nebulous guess at what's going on. Which brings me back to the point that I made in the first hour of the program. This might just be it. This might just be this very weird, very brave new world where we're not getting anything, and it ain't coming anytime soon. We haven't gotten anything in the past. The usual insiders that were clawing and scraping away for it, either they know. We just got something, man. Yeah, I think you got a general idea now.

We just got something. We tried the same thing with you got a general idea now. We just got something. They tried the same thing with Poplatius, and we got Poplatius eventually. I mean, yes, Halford, I understand what you're saying. Obviously, we don't know for sure. We probably never will, but we have an inkling of an idea now, in general, what it was. That's what we're saying. That's what I'm saying.

We've got a hint of a feeling. Well, that's something. That's something. Especially if it relates to a team dynamic. I think it's pretty sure it might have just happened. Well, that's something. That's something. The notion of the something that we think is pretty sure might have just happened. Open your ears, man. I am opening my ears. Open your disingenuous ears.

I love when people text in and they're genuinely upset when we fight. Like, please stop fighting. I'm not even fighting. I got stuck in traffic. He's like, I'm just trying to get to work.

He's so defensive that he won't admit that he's fighting. I'm late to work and mom and dad are like, I'm just trying to get to work. He's so defensive that he won't admit that he's fighting. I'm late to work and mom and dad are fighting. I'm not fighting. You're fighting. Yeah, you're fighting. Okay.

I do get what you're saying. I do get what you're saying. I think that part of you doesn't want to acknowledge that the way that I'm approaching in this sort of like, I don't know what else to tell you, but we're not getting anywhere here, isn't like the most viable. We're not. We're not getting anywhere here. We just got somewhere.

We're making progress here. Okay. To what end? That we could infer that it was just a problem within the team. There's some sort of team dynamic that needs to be fixed and worked on. Yeah. That's all. Nothing crazy.

We're just trying to rule out some of the crazy rumors that have been going about. Compared to all the other crazy rumors, this one is at least not crazy. It's just standard. Yeah, he had a fight with his team or something. That happens. It's not a huge deal.

It happens. Right. Not some outlandish conspiracy theory that's been being thrown around for the last three weeks now. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. We got a lot more to get into on the program today.

I had a What We Learned, but I didn't want to... My What We Learned was the Buffalo Sabres have made it clear that you are allowed to bring inflatable palm trees to games now. This is courtesy of the... Okay, so... You had to clarify? Yes.

So back on December 6th, the general manager, Kevin Adams, had that press conference. I wasn't here for it. I'm sure you guys talked about it at length, where he was talking about his team's woeful start to the season. They were 11-14-1.

And then Adams went down the road, and I think you classified it as the press conference got away from him. Yeah. That he said, Buffalo has issues attracting and retaining talent. And the line was, you become a perennial playoff team that has a chance to win the Stanley

cup year after year, but you're on no trade lists. We don't have palm trees. We have taxes in New York. Those are real. Those are the things you deal with. And the one thing that everyone plucked from that was the palm trees yeah yeah right because it's it is tribe been to buffalo didn't see a single palm tree the entire time they don't exist there and

there was one that was really struggling it had no leaves it was dead at a sign it said please help me it's like the palm trees we have down in English Bay. It always makes me laugh. Like, yeah, those are hanging by a thread. I'm not developing like I should. So kudos to the Buffalo Sabres fans who kind of took this and ran with it. And they started wearing Hawaiian shirts and started bringing inflatable palm trees to the games. But of course, this took a weird turn

like most things do in Buffalo because you started getting anecdotal evidence and stories that ushers were taking palm trees away from fans and telling them to deflate them before they got back to their seats. So kudos to regular weekly guest of the program, Greg Wyshynski. He reached out to the Sabres, and they confirmed that it is okay to bring that paraphernalia into the rink and to sport it,

as long as it's not obstructing anybody's view of the ice. They should start selling them. They're thinking about leaning into it. Sabre's logos, man. They're thinking about leaning into it. Also firing Kevin Adams. Actually, you know what? He might be selling them.

That is one way to lean into it. Yeah, get your palm trees. I need the license money. All right. I'm sorry we had a fight. Let's moo cow. Okay, you want to announce the winner right now? We're going to announce the winner.

It's the last day that we're doing this. It's the tickets to see Creed and Big Wreck. August 2025, Rogers Arena final. We've been doing this five days in a row. The final winner of the week is A-Dog. Congrats to Nick from Poco. You will be taken higher. I believe it's called Pocompton. Ah, yes. That's right from Poco. You will be taken higher. I believe it's called Pocompton.

Ah, yes. That's right. All right. You'll be taken higher. Nice one. Okay, so there's your winner. That's not the only contest that we're looking at. If Pocompton, can you imagine a less threatening guy than Bert?

He's the toughest guy in Pocompton. Ooh, it's that Bert guy. I've heard about him. Bert? Don't make eye contact with him. What was the name of the guy that won? He's the toughest guy in Polkhampton Ooh it's that Burt guy I've heard about him Burt? Don't make eye contact with him What was the name of the guy that won? Uh Burt Nick from Polkhampton

Nick should take Burt They should do like a Polkhampton thing together You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough