Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 12/16/24

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, they talk a disappointing Canucks home effort versus the Bruins as well as a hypothetical Elias Pettersson trade floated by Elliotte Friedman, plus they preview tonight's 'Nucks matchup versus the Avs with NHL.com & In Goal Magazine's Kevin Woodley. 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. Bostronok into the Vancouver zone, trying to find the net, got a wrap around, he scores! David Bostronok beats Thatcher Demko by outweighing him around the net. This is my nightmare! Let's face facts, for four or five guys,

they're struggling. They're struggling to get emotionally invested in the game. It's not like you can go to Costco and just pick up one or two of these players that you think can help you. No, no, no, no. Good morning, Vancouver.

6-0-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddy, 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, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec, who doggie do we have a lot to get into on the show today? Sports weekend. Socked, man. Socked.

The Canucks sucked. The Seahawks sucked. Whitecaps might be moving. Sucky as much as sucks that ever sucked. We are going to still have fun, bring energy. All of it today because we've got a huge show. Massive stuff. And the Canucks are back in action tonight.

Guest list begins at 7 o'clock. Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the Too Deep Zone, is going to join us. We'll talk about an MVP caliber performance from Josh Allen. An injury to Patrick Mahomes. 10th straight win for the Eagles and the Seahawks clunkers Jason mentioned on Sunday Night Football.

7.30, Arif Dean is going to join the program from Colorado Hockey Now and Mile High Sports. It is the Canucks. It is the Avalanche tonight. Note the start time, 7.30. Late one. Puck drop tonight at Rogers Arena. In case you're wondering

about the scheduling, Canucks Central from 4 to 6.30. Pre-game show from 6.30 to 7.30. Game starts at 7.30 and then the post-game show all right here on Sportsnet 650. So Arif Dean will join us to talk about the Avs at 7.30 this morning, 8 o'clock, Kevin Woodley, NHL.com, InGoal Magazine.

We'll do a preview of tonight's game from the Canucks side of things, talk about what he's seen from Thatcher Demko through his first couple of starts, and what we can expect from new Avs goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. He'll probably play tonight against the Vancouver Canucks. It is a very good sports night, I'll tell you that. Not one, but two Monday night football games. Not great matchups. You get Bears and Vikings and Falcons and Raiders.

You also get a Stanley Cup Finals rematch tonight between the Oilers and the Panthers. That's on Amazon Prime at 5.30. And then, of course, the Canucks game at 7.30. So that's it. That's what's happening on the program today. 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 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. While there are many contenders for worst home game of the year for the Vancouver Canucks through Czech's calendar, December 16th, Saturday was certainly one of them. David Pasternak, a goal and three assists. The Boston Bruins whipped on the Vancouver Canucks. 5-1 at Rogers Arena on Saturday night.

Not a good night for the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, that was a concerning effort and an especially frustrating one. Following their performance Thursday against Florida, the Bruins dominated the game from the very start, and you never like to see Brad Marchand happy. And he was laughing. He was laughing. You know, the crowd was booing him,

and he scores the first goal, puts his hand up to his ear like Hulk Hogan, sarcastic Hulk Hogan. And let me tell you, that night, that night was worrying for a number of reasons. And it even got me thinking back to the Florida game and going, you know what? Like it was good.

The Florida game, don't get me wrong, but think of, think of who led the charge in the Florida game. Max Sasson led the charge in the Florida game. It was him in the first period, right? That, that helped the Canucks get off to the two nothing lead. It was the fourth line.

It scored the first two goals. And then, you know, it was a lot of Lankan in. And yeah, Besser scored, but it wasn't, you know, it wasn't necessarily the top dogs that got it done against the Florida Panthers. And can we all admit that it's some of the top dogs that we're worried about right now and curious about right now? Brother, I'm worried about all the dogs. Top dogs, bottom dogs, mid dogs, A dogs, Addy dogs.

Let's start playing some audio because there was some interesting audio from both Rick Talkett and Jim Rutherford. Let's start with the head coach because you know the Florida game it just felt like a bit of a reprieve but it was a short-lived reprieve because that Boston game man Rick Talkett was not happy and you know he had the kind of infamous quote, even by now, about the guys who weren't invested in the game. And do we have that quote? Let's start with that audio right now, because that was what took a lot of people by surprise, I think. Are you getting enough emotional pushback from your team? For some guys, yeah. We have, let's face facts, four or five guys, they're struggling. They're struggling to get emotionally invested in the game, and that's my job to get these guys.

Still certain guys, we've got to find another gear from them. They've got to understand that it's the NHL, and you can't play one good game and then two bad or whatever. This is a game, a sport, the NHL, where you have to be jacked up to play the game. You have to be emotionally in the game. And sometimes the guys are, it takes them like 30 minutes to get in the game for whatever reason. So Rick Tuckett himself has received a lot of criticism that I've noticed online. And I threw out a tweet during the game and I said, you know, I noticed a lot of people are blaming Rick Talkett for all this.

You tell me specifically what he's doing wrong. And a lot of people pushed back and they said it was the system. It was the system. It was the system. It's a dump and chase system. It's not a creative system. And look, I'm not sitting here and saying that the coaching staff doesn't deserve questioning, doesn't deserve criticism even. When the team isn't prepared to play, even Rick Tockett admitted,

I guess I've got to do a better job of getting these guys prepared. even like when the team isn't prepared to play, even Rick Talkett, it is admitted. Like, I guess I got to do a better job of getting these guys prepared, but I do want to play this one piece of audio because Rick Talkett is not telling his guys to dump it in and dump it out all the time. That's not what he wants them to do. He wants them to make more plays than they're making. He wants them to hold on to more pucks. He wants them to, you know what he wants them to want? He wants them to want the puck.

He wants them to look up and make some passes. So, Laddie, can we play the audio? It was the part that starts with the weak side was open like he was really frustrated with with with i i think mostly his defenseman um because you know he did put some of it on his forwards but there were plays to be made in the boston game and there was a very interesting tidbit in this audio and we'll talk about it after we play it we got there's the weak side was open a bunch of times tonight we just couldn't find it we just we didn't see it tonight the skate four or five more feet hit the weak side it's open

instead of we're jamming it up the strong side um that happened and then we had some you know spurts like i said i think we had 54 60ts, like I said. I think we had 54, 60 attempts at the net, getting our shots blocked. We talked about a certain play we wanted to do against Boston. We didn't do it until maybe in the third. So that's a little, I think that pisses the staff off because we had a good game plan. But somehow when you chase the game or you're a little bit, when you got the puck, it's like a hot potato.

All of a sudden, I don't want it. So what do you do? do you just get rid of it so I think we got to calm the waters and even when you're down to nothing you still can make plays you know we don't have to dump the puck in we don't have to just throw you know throw it off the glass there's plays to be made you you know we were just watching the video after the game there's there's 10 to 12 foot passes available and we're flipping pucks. Not just the defense, it's a group. So there's so many issues right now. There's so many issues right now. That's an indictment when a head coach comes up after the game and says,

my guys weren't playing the game plan. I mean, it's an indictment of the players, but I guess it's also an indictment of the coaching staff. That's why you rarely hear that, that the guys weren't following the game plan. Oh, yeah, why weren't they following it? Doesn't look great on the coach's communication. Doesn't look great on the team's buy-in around the coach.

And then there's also the matter of, well, maybe you just don't have good enough players, right? And that's going to lead us into this next bit of audio. We're throwing a bunch of audio out there just now, just to get everyone thinking about it, texting into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. We want to hear your thoughts. We've got a whole hour of just Halford and I and the dogs talking about this. So we want to hear your thoughts as well, because Jim Rutherford, the president of Hockey Ops, came on after the game and we all wondered if he would be breathing hot

fire at the Canucks after that performance, but he wasn't really. He was actually quite reserved, but he did say that the team needs a few more players. Well, I think that's a fair point that person's making, but it's not like you can go to Costco and just pick up one or two of these players that you think can help you.

You know, we're living in a cap world. It's hard to make deals. But yes, the point that this person's making, we need to add a couple of players to to really give ourselves a chance to contend now if you're wondering why are alfred and brough going so audio heavy this morning it'll all make sense because late last night because you're tired and it's a monday i don't want to talk about things i'm sad because you know they got four or five emotionless players on the team uh last night, we got word that 32 Thoughts was coming out this morning,

Elliot Friedman, Kyle Bukoskis, and there was going to be something that Freedj threw out with regards to a purely speculative trade involving two middling, slumping, struggling teams right now, the Vancouver Canucks and their expansion brethren, the Buffalo Sabres. Without further ado, I will now let the audio speak for itself. Elliott Freeman, again, purely speculative, throwing out a trade scenario between the Vancouver Canucks

and the Buffalo Sabres. All right, so Kyle, with all of that said, I want to stress, this is in my head. I sit down. I am a danger, Kyle, when I have too much time to think. Thinking is bad for me, yes. But I had some time on Sunday to think, and I was thinking about the Sabres,

and I was thinking about Rick Tockett, okay, and what he had to say on Saturday and then reiterated on Sunday. So I want to stress this is purely in my head. Who says no? Cousins and Bowen for Patterson. Whoa. He's got his microphone muted, but I just heard Dom's head explode. 32 Thoughts, the podcast.

We'll be looking for a new producer come Tuesday. Who says no? So really interesting clip, not just because of the trade, but also no longer Dom is with us. That's it. So there's a lot to get into there. Obviously, it's been a very tumultuous weekend in Canucks land when we start with all of the good vibes emanating from the win over Florida and we come in on Monday and Rick talking is not once but twice gone to the media and criticized his players because he did you know LA was talking

about I heard Rick talking on Sunday Canucks practice on Sunday Rick talking yet again basically doubled down on what he said Saturday yeah he used the words passengers there's too many passengers and then you know apropos of nothing you've got one of the biggest news breakers in the league and one of the more in tune media members throwing out just again purely hypothetically this big trade scenario so there's a lot going on with the Vancouver Canucks right now we'll try and unpack it over the next 45 minutes. So Dylan Cousins, right shot center, is about 23 years old. And he's already had like a 31 goal season. You might remember him from the World Junior Team for Canada where he was really good.

And then Bowen Byram, who we all know and we've talked about even in this market, left shot defenseman, pending RFA for the Sabres. So they've got to figure something out. The Sabres have lost 10 games in a row. They are an absolute disaster. You already knew that, but there have been a couple of seasons now where the Sabres are supposed to take that next step. And they keep having these massive losing streaks.

And these massive losing streaks. And these massive losing streaks are really affecting their ability to make the playoffs. So they're in Buffalo right now going, we gotta do something. Kevin Adams, you're the general manager. If you don't do something, you're getting fired. But it's to the point in Buffalo now where you expect

Kevin Adams to be fired at any point now. Terry Begula, I don't know if he even remembers he owns the Sabres because he's so excited about the Buffalo Bills who might win the Super Bowl this year. You know, that Bills-Lions game was going on at the same time as the Sabres were losing. And I would even question how many people

were even watching the Sabres game in Buffalo. I know they were responding to the social media account with anger. Yes. But, you know, Buffalo responding to the social media account with anger. Yes. But, you know, Buffalo needs to make a big move. And I think Buffalo is going to make a big move. The question is whether, you know, look, if you throw out that question, who says no? I think Canucks fans, there would be a lot of upset Canucks fans, I think. Because Elias Pettersson has reached levels that Dylan Cousins and Bowen Byram have not.

And listen, we all know my thoughts on Pettersson and how he's been playing for essentially the last year. But I don't know the information that the Canucks know. And I've always said that the most important thing for, there needs to be a diagnosis. And I'm not in a position to make an accurate diagnosis, and neither are you, neither is Halford, neither are the dogs. We need to know health-wise, where is Pedersen? What the hell is going on in that room? Is it something, or is it just a red herring in all this? You know, I think back to some teams where people said, it's a culture problem. There's no leadership there and I'm kind of like yeah but you don't have very good centers and your defense stinks right

like you know I think that that was Edmonton pre-McDavis like well we've got a culture problem I'm like no you got a personnel problem you got a massive personnel problem so how much of this is just like the defense stinks right like they Like they're just, we can go around and around and there's just so much to chew on this morning. Okay, well, the two biggest takeaways for me from the weekend, if we want to try and parse this down and really focus in on what the issues are at hand, is your head coach and what he had to say on Saturday

and what he had to say on Sunday after sitting on it for 12 hours and having time to let it marinate and to see what the backlash may or may not have been or if he even cared about it. So Talkett said what he said on Saturday and then doubled down and reiterated what he said on Sunday. And that was that he's got too many passengers and too many guys on this team

that are emotionally uninvested or unemotionally invested. I don't know which one it is. It doesn't matter. So that's one thing that's a big glaring issue coming out of the weekend. Unemotionally uninvested. Thank you, Greg. Second one is when the president of hockey ops goes on after hours and tells a national audience that the team is two players away

from being a real contender. That's about as cut and dry as you can get it. If you add what Talkett said. And then what do you know? Two candidates pop up. If you add what Talkett said. Purely hypothetical candidates. If you add what Talkett said to what Rutherford said,

and this isn't us inferring or speculating or parsing. If you add up what those two guys said, you come to one conclusion that the decision makers in this organization and on this team don't believe right now that the roster is capable of being a contender in the NHL. Plain and simple. Taka thinks there's too many passengers. Rutherford thinks they're two impact players away from being a legit contender.

And the standings would play that out right now. They're the second wildcard team. Are they good enough to make the playoffs? Yeah, probably. Probably. I just wish everyone could see the inbox, the Dunbar Lumber text line. A Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and renter warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. There is no middle ground to any of these

texts. It is, first, I'll drive Pedersen to the airport, get this guy out of here. We're never going to win a cup with this guy. And number two is, are you crazy? Are you crazy to think about that trade? No chance would I do that.

I'll stop being a Canucks fan if this trade is made this classic red meat sports talk radio right here hate it or love it poll question poll question poll question and then some people are saying like

Friedman's just speculating he said it himself come on okay come on think that way the Canucks can get a better return be that way

there we go Adog hates Cousins I don't like hate the trade but I think it's a little weak for the Canucks can get a better return. There we go. I don't hate the trade, but I think it's a little weak for the Canucks. Looking back to last year, remember the Nets just thing that ever happened? That's the kind of guy that if he came back, I'd be like...

Let me push back on this. Dylan Cousins... Can you let me finish pushing back? Dylan Cousins, 23 years old, already had a 31-goal season in a bad situation in Buffalo. Right shot center. Good Canadian kid.

They need a right shot center. Plus, you get a top four defenseman in Boehm Byram. Yes, who has injury issues. Yeah, I know. And hasn't been great for a couple years. Pedersen doesn't? Well, yeah. He's playing through.

I totally understand what you're saying, Bruff. I see the if you're gonna make a trade if you're if you're gonna make a trade you worry about when you trade Pedersen if we're talking purely positionally here you're like well okay then who's our second line center it's Puse Suter like that that doesn't work okay well you get get a center back yeah and yeah Cousins hasn't been very good. It's concerning what's going on with Dylan Cousins. You also address another major error. How many times do I have to come in here and listen to you whine about the defense? I know.

I get that they address two issues with the trade. I just think that Pedersen at his peak, assuming he ever gets there, which is a question mark, of course, Pedersen at his peak is better than Cousins. Granted, yes, Cousins is younger. You're going to be able to sell that to any potential trade? I understand why the return for Pedersen might be low because of that. Are you even okay with them thinking about trading Pedersen?

Yes, I am. But again, it would have to be for Netsch's. That's the kind of guy I'd want to see coming back, a guy I know who could reach those points. You didn't even know who the hell Marty Natchez was last year, man. He's gone off this year. He's gone off this year. Yeah, he's a very, very talented player.

But, like, that's not available anymore. I know, but I'm just saying that's the kind of guy I'd feel comfortable coming back. What if Dylan Cousins goes off? He's only 23 years old. He's a terrific potential. Two years younger than he is. I see the upside. I'm just saying my initial reaction is like, I don't know. I think it's a little weak. I love everyone's young. Potential. Two years younger than he is. I see the upside. I'm just saying my initial reaction is like, I don't know.

I think it's a little weak. I love everyone's enthusiasm, and it's great. But I think what we need to do is kind of recalibrate our thinking here because this conversation shouldn't be about Dylan Cousins and Bo and Byram. What it should be about is that the Canucks are in enough of a funk, enough of a tailspin, or enough of an area of concern where they don't get to pick and choose who their trade partners are going to be

or who you're going to dance with. I think that's what everyone's missing here. There have been countless trades through NHL history where it's not about exacting the right return or finding the ideal trade mate. It's oftentimes who's in as much of the mud as we are? Who is in much of the mud as we are, who isn't as deep a crap as we are.

And in this unfortunate instance, like it has been many times, it is yet again the Buffalo Sabres, right? The Buffalo Sabres were in it when they traded Ryan O'Reilly. The Buffalo Sabres were in it when they traded Jack Eichel. Those two trades alone might make it seem like Buffalo shouldn't engage in this kind of thing, but they are. And there's clearly something rotten in the Canucks room if talk is saying there's five or six passengers.

So maybe do the trade, if nothing else, just to shake things up. The idea was the biggest takeaway would be this, that after a year in which everything went right and they were one win away from going to the Western Conference finals, not even 35 games into the following season, this has come up. Things have taken a fairly decided U-turn. And again, not necessarily in terms of points and wins and losses in the standings,

but in terms of vibes. And Bruff, you summed it up really well a couple of weeks ago when you said it felt like there was a lot of little fires burning everywhere. And that's not a good thing for a hockey team it's not a good thing for anything not a good thing for any professional organization if you have one big fire at least you can try and stamp it out but when you've got all these little fires burning it becomes a real problem because it's distractions left and right would you guys make that trade like brof would you make that

trade i you know what? I know it's a tough question because it's not like, there's a lot of variables. We're just reading Tim in Vancouver's text. We get it. Bruff hates Petey's guts. How many times do we have to turn in to the show to hear him whine and complain about him? I've listened every day for like 10 years and it's literally ruining your show.

I've kind of nailed it though, haven't I? That's ruining the show? I've kind of nailed it though, haven't I? That's ruining the show? I've kind of nailed that there's an issue going on, right? I don't know how you can listen to the head coach talk about not having his players emotionally invested and then all of us are like, Petey's definitely one of those guys he's talking about and then be like

why is Brough always complaining about Petey? He might get traded guys. He's got an eight year contract extension and he doesn't have a no move or any no trade clause. It doesn't kick in until this offseason. This is when they're going

to have to make the decision I'm complaining about him because I'm watching him play and he doesn't look like the same player as he used to someone tweeted out his first NHL goal the other day, and the hop in Petey's step was not the same step that he's got going right now. Noticeably smaller hop. Noticeably smaller. So I'm sorry, Tim in Vancouver, if I'm ruining the show

with my very on-the-nail talk about one of the key players on the Canucks that is now in trade speculation. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. 802 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough,

Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda, North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a

friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 3 of the program. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Engel Magazine is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 3. Hour 3 of this program is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers.

Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. 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, our feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec, before we get to Kev, we do need to address the fact that neither Bruff nor I are mathematicians by trade. It appears as though we are off a bit with the poll question. Yeah, it's 58% to 42%.

I said 52% and everyone was all over me because 58 plus 52. That's 110. Which we give every day. That's true. That's why you're off. That's why, yeah. Yeah, exactly. To the phone lines we go.

Here's the guy that gives 110% every day, Kevin Woodley. I've seen him on the ice. All right. Kevin Woodley, NHL.com, and Goal Magazine here on the Halford & Brashtown Sportsnet 650. What up, Kev? I was told there would be no mass, and as for Mr. Ballack there, you're right. He has seen me on the ice, which is more than I can say for him over the last two years. Wow. Shots

have been fired. By the way, didn't Woodley light it up at the most recent charity event? Yeah, in between his stints at the bench hurling and getting back into the crease. He sounds like a guy that gives it his all. That's post-concussion syndrome

when I'm hurling. Oh, okay, it might also be post-concussion syndrome when I'm for a living. Oh, okay. It might also be post-concussion syndrome. My bad. Kev, let's just start with, we'll get into the goaltending in a bit, but what do you make of the current state of the Canucks, that performance Saturday against Boston and now they're going to have to deal with

some rumors for each throwing out. The idea of a trade with Buffalo, Elias Pettersson for Dylan Cousins and Bowen Byram and everyone in Vancouver is Googling Dylan Cousins highlight reel and just seeing what's going on with him. What do you make of the current state of the team? Well, I mean, unsettled would probably be the most generous term um and obviously when stuff like that happens it's funny eh like I saw some players yesterday I wasn't I didn't go to practice yesterday because frankly with one game left in a six-game homestand I've had enough of that place

um so I wasn't at practice yesterday had other things that had to be done but I saw some of the some of the audio and some of the videos coming out of the interviews and sort of the idea that the reaction to Saturday night was just more of a Canadian media market kind of thing. And I'll give you that taking Saturday night and turning it into trade stuff, that may be more of a Canadian thing, but I don't think the reaction to the effort and the complete lack of it on Saturday night was about a Canadian market. I think that was, I think that was anytime your coach is questioning the emotional investment of four or five players and being as openly critical and frustrated,

admitting the coaching staff has frustrations with guys not executing the game plan they're given against specific opponents. Like that's, that's not us, right? like that's not a media market overreaction that's that's just the reality of a team that looks good one night and then looks nothing like that the next night and i think you know just to sort of stay on that side of things performance side of things as opposed to the trade rumors that come after such inconsistent performances and with all the talk about how much of that is related to the vibes in the locker room um you know it's what they did last year was predicated a lot on work ethic and commitment to being on the same page and there's been no consistency in either of those things this year. And that's fine.

Like, it's hard to play as hard as they did last year for an entire 82-game season. But what we were told last year is that this was the start of new standards, of, you know, this team having a new identity and, and sort of being able to live up to those standards on a, on a more regular basis that this was going to be part of the culture. And we just haven't seen nearly enough consistency out of this group from an effort and execution standpoint to make you believe that that culture has stuck

there's still work to do and i think they you know we hear it the frustration from coaches and management it sounds like they agree as well and so that's that's where you know i think a lot of the pushback comes from fans um in terms of the home record and I think the source of a lot of it, like just everything they did last year was predicated on an identity that they have not yet been able to rediscover. And it starts in my mind. And frankly, statistically as well, it starts in their own end.

And quite often there's issues personnel wise in terms of getting the puck out of their own end. Absolutely. But a lot of it starts with commitment and work ethic defensively and how that feeds everything else in their game. And it's just not there on a night-to-night basis, and it shows up most when they're at home. What did you make of Tockett's assertion that there were plays to be made

in the Boston game and the plays just weren't made. And Tockett even himself seemed to be flummoxed as to why that was. Was it an ability thing? Were they nervous? You know, because Tockett's system has taken on quite a bit of criticism as the season has progressed. You know, people complaining about the dump and chase and the dump it out but based on what he was saying after the game and what he

was saying Sunday after practice like he wants them to make more plays they're just not doing it well and I think you know there are times in the past couple years where he's talked about that offensively like that there are things they can do to execute in the offensive end to score more goals than they did. I think we heard that a little bit in the playoffs last year, like there are plays there that I think for the most part this year, those problems have started getting out of their own end. And I think that's, you know, again, not putting words in his mouth, but I do believe that's where most, I don't say all, but most of that was directed on Saturday night and then the follow-up, right?

Like making plays to get out of your own end as opposed to just dumping it out. And there were times, you know, and I'd have to go look back at all the exits on Saturday night to see how much of this was defensemen not making plays and how much of this what was happening earlier in the season, which is guys weren't always where they were supposed to be and giving them the outlets and giving them the options and as as more opponents sort of get longer looks now for over a year how this system works are they taking away those lanes or as it was early in the season are guys just not where they're supposed to be and that was a big problem early in the year.

The gaps between the defensemen trying to break out and how far the forwards were up, not giving them outlets to make it. I mean, Tyler Myers looked so good last year because everything in front of him, and he'll tell you this, was more predictable and simpler to digest. And when where you expect those guys to be based on that predictability and where they're supposed to be isn't there that's when you get uncertainty and indecision and flip it up off the glass and off the boards and so haven't fine-tooth combed saturday night to tell you

which was which but i think most of the execution he's talking about is getting out of their own end and i think it's fair you know and some people made this, you know, assertion before the season started, but it's fair to question how much of this on the back end is personnel, right? Like this isn't, you know, that's where puck moving on the back end was a question that people talked about in the summer.

Do they have enough? And the answer so far is probably not. What do you make of that trade proposal that Freach threw out there? Can I YouTube Dylan Cousin highlights? I knew this was coming last night, so I did it myself. I'm like, eh.

I don't know. You know me. I always say I don't know. You know me. I always say I don't like to blow smoke. When we talk about goaltending, I do the research. I look at the numbers. I'm blessed to have access to ClearSight. I watch video. I haven't watched a whole lot of Dylan Cousin video.

I think we know a little more about Bowen Byram. Would he help this back end? Yeah, absolutely. But where that fits in, and at the end of the day, what do they say about trades? When you're giving up the team that gets the best player and it wins, I find it really hard to not see Elias Patterson as the best player in that trade.

Okay, well, let's talk about... I have fairly significant margin. Let's talk about... I can't talk about Petey anymore. So let's talk about the city and begin margin let's talk about i can't talk about pd anymore so let's talk about thatcher demko um what have you seen from his first two starts because he's probably going to get the start tonight against colorado if only because kevin lankanen is out with the flu yeah i don't know if that would have been the initial plan i think there probably would have been a bit of a rotation going here. And so I liked his first start for the most part. I really didn't love, you know, amidst all the conversations about everything he means to this team

and how hard he's worked to get back, I really didn't love that effort defensively. I mean, two on O's, it was like watching Tuesday night barely get eight ranks, breakaways all over the place. And it wasn't quite more the same against Boston. Um, you know, like they got outshot badly in the first period. Uh, and I saw some stuff where like, Oh, a natural stat trick has the high danger chances like at 11, zero. And it was more like three, nothing in terms of actual high danger chances. But I thought he had to be, even with two goals going in in the first, both on cross-ice passes, so much for the goalies only having to play

one half of the net, I thought he looked fine, and he kept them in, and he made a number of big saves. It was kind of early in the second when he goes wandering out, and as he said himself yesterday, uncharacteristically, to beat a play up near the blue line up around the top of the circle that to chip a puck out and put himself in a pretty compromised position in terms of contact and going down awkwardly and he gets back up and everything's fine and that's probably a nice little check mark for him that you know like the body's holding up no problem um but that felt chasey

like that felt uncharacteristically aggressive and from that point on in the game maybe it's just a coincidence but i i thought there was a little uncharacteristic chase in his positioning um his positional consistency is one of the things that hasn't been there uh in these first couple of starts there's times where he's been uncharacteristically outside the blue ice i can't remember the last time and it's david pasternak so like grain of salt given the level of skill but to see him sort of get caught and over committed on the short side of the post. And Pasternak told us post-game that he was shooting until he saw where Demko was on the ice, and that's when he decided to go for the wraparound.

So if Demko's read was Pasternak shooting this, I'm taking extra ice, his read was right, but he made it in a way that allowed Pasternak to change his mind and didn't allow him to get to that post. So that was a little uncharacteristic. The fourth goal, that initial shot's going well wide and again a little bit of chase like reaching and extending for a shot that's not even going to be on net and it goes off brandstrom's ass and goes between your legs and hey that's a tough break a tough bounce that happens but that's a play that i think when he's at peak of his powers he's not

overextending to chase a puck that's going well wider than that so kind of opens himself up in that this is all to be expected um if if that seems hyper critical for a guy who's two starts into being off for you know seven months it's not meant to be because with it, there has been a lot of excellent saves. You see a lot of patient guys coming down into good shooting areas. He's not retreating. He's holding his ground. He's making really patient glove and blocker saves.

Obviously, the dynamic stuff on the 2-0 double slot line, those go in over 60% of the time. You see the athleticism, the ability to get a leg out and extend and make a save. It's all still there. And the other stuff, which I think for the most part is just read-based and timing-based, that'll come with more reps. We're speaking to Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingle Magazine here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. On the other side of the ice, Kev,

tonight the Colorado Avalanche, they have a new goalie, Mackenzie Blackwood, got his first start as an Avalanche on Saturday. I don't know how much you saw of it, but he stopped 38 of 40 shots and a 5-2 win over the Predators. What do you know about Blackwood?

I assume he's going to start tonight. We probably should have asked Arif about that earlier, but we didn't get a chance. We were too busy talking about Jared Bednar's hair. That's on me. We were rightfully distracted by that salad. Oh, it is a magnificent set of like slow. Disagree.

Disagree. It looks awful. It looks awful, man. There's some guys that can have long hair. Jared Bednar is not one of them. It is distracting. No, Brough, let me tell you. It is causing their defensive.

It actually ruined Georgia. Let me tell you a picture of me during the pandemic, and No, Brough, let me tell you. It is causing their defensive... It actually ruined Georgia. Let me tell you a picture between the pandemic and you'll see somebody who cannot have long hair. Anyway, Mackenzie Blackwood. Pay me enough and I might put it on social media. That's somebody who shouldn't have long hair. Jared Bednar pulls it off. Mackenzie Blackwood, go ahead.

Mackenzie Blackwood has long hair. He's also a really physically gifted goaltender who still has a ton of tools and might be a great fit here. Now, the interesting thing to me was the areas where Georgiev struggled in Colorado were low-danger goals. There was a number of sub-micro categories

of types of shots. At the end of the day, the environment in Colorado, Georgia have got the worst of it when there were all those injuries, but it's leveled off. It's a top 10 defensive environment in the NHL right now

for all the offense that they have. They spent, maybe it's just how much time they spend in the offensive end. It is a top 10 defensive environment. And so the problem that they ran into was just the bad goals that georgia was letting in like it was up near double digits low percentage goals interestingly in the underlying profile blackwood has sometimes struggled with similar

things and you're going to find this hard to believe but he actually had an easier environment in san jose from an expected say percentage standpoint than Georgiev did in Colorado. And a big part of that was for whatever reason, whether it's systems or teams just thinking it's going to be an easy night when they played the Sharks, a ton of low dangers. In a time when teams in the league, and this was my column at NHL.com over the weekend, the unmasked column on Friday, about why say percentage is really decreasing in the league, and this was my column at NHL.com over the weekend, the unmasked column on Friday, about why save percentage is really decreasing in the NHL.

A big part of it is that teams don't waste shots from the perimeter anymore. And if they do, there's multiple layers of traffic. They're purposeful about it. It used to be a three to one ratio, low danger shots to high danger shots in the league. It's down to almost two to one this season. And what Blackwood was getting in San Jose was an uncharacteristically, easy for me to say, high degree of low danger shots.

And for a goalie, that can really help you feel into a game, get into a game, get your touches, get your rhythm, feel good about your game. It's not going to have that in Colorado. They don't give up much. They possess the puck a ton. And then when they do give it up, it's more likely to be a

high-danger chance than what he was facing in San Jose. They don't spend tons of time pinned in their own end. It's a different environment. There'll be an adjustment period, but he's massive. Just massive. I've had multiple people that have played with him or

coached him say he's built like he's built like an nfl linebacker he has unbelievable athleticism and i think he's really quiet at his game in san jose the potential for a good fit there um is high but again it's how we adjust to sort of the mental challenge of fewer low danger chances um and and again expectations right because he hasn't had them in a while i do think the people that say last time of fewer low-danger chances. And again, expectations, right? Because he hasn't had them in a while. I do think the people that say last time he had expectations, it was in New Jersey and it didn't go well, and so he can't handle it.

I don't think that's fair because I've got a glimpse into some of the injuries that he was playing through when he was in New Jersey. And some of them are almost staggering. Like he had what we call a Bauer bump on the heel that had to be surgically removed. But at one point before having it removed, it's like a growth, like a bone growth caused by rubbing against the skates. At one point, they actually cut the heel off his skates, covered the back of the skate with black tape so nobody could tell.

And he was basically playing with an open heel on the back of his skate. Like that guy played through a ton in New Jersey, so I'm not going to go on and on about how his numbers weren't good there, and that means he can't be a good goaltender for the Colorado Avalanche. I don't believe it's true. There's tons of upside, and if he can handle the mental side of it, it could be a really good fit for the Avs. Before we let you go, we were talking about this last week,

and then I went to NHL.com just to check out your article and then I looked at the save percentage leaders in the National Hockey League right now. Number one is Anthony Stolers in Toronto. Number five is Joseph Wall also in Toronto.

Are we prepared to live in a world where the Toronto Maple Leafs have the best goaltending in the National Hockey League? I'm certainly prepared for it because one of my weekly hits in another market that goes year long, we sort of kill the dead time in August by ranking goalie tandems in each division. And when I ranked the Toronto Maple Leafs for this season as having the best tandem in their division i got some of the most abusive hate i've ever had

for the benign goalie guy like i was i was the stupidest man in the world and quite often that's true but it was pointed out to me in very explicit and detailed ways how stupid i was for saying that the toronto maple leafs would have the best goaltending tandem going into this season. So, yes, I am very prepared to live in that world. I hope that Anthony Stoller's injury, because that's the only question. He's on IR now. Yeah, that's the only question mark, guys. He has posted well above expected.

His numbers last year were way better than Bob's on a per-shot basis. They were the best in the NHL. Similar the year before in Anaheim, elite numbers relative to environment. The only question is, could he do it playing more because of the injury history? And so let's hope for Leafs fans

and for my prognostication that the injury he sustained over the weekend or heading into the weekend is short term because I think it's a perfect balance. They both have question marks about durability, but when you have two of them, they have a chance to have the best goaltending in the NHL. And I would argue it was perhaps a little silly.

They had a nice rotation going back and forth between them. Stoller's makes 50 plus against the Devils. And so they reward him by going back to him and he doesn't make it through the game. There's a lesson there. One, the Canucks might want to heed when they get both goalies up and running and playing well here in Vancouver. Kev, you're the best, buddy.

Thanks for doing this today. As always, we really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. Hopefully it's a good one. We'll do this again soon. Appreciate it, guys. Thank you. That's Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingold Magazine on Sportsnet 650,

a presentation of White Rock Hyundai. Visit the showroom on King George in White Rock or whiterockhyundai.com and Ingold Magazine on Sportsnet 650, a presentation of White Rock Hyundai. Visit the showroom on King George in White Rock or whiterockhyundai.com. The Leafs have two injury-prone goaltenders. Surely they can't both be injured at the same time, right? Never. That's never happened. And then they've got Dennis Hildeby.

Yes. A very unproven goaltender. Is he Swedish? Yes, he is. Oh, okay. He's very, very tall. Yes, he's very tall. He doesn't have a very, like, he is. Oh, okay. He's very, very tall. Yes, he's very tall. He doesn't have a very typical Scandinavian name.

Dennis. Dennis Hildeby does not sound. He's a menace, they say. All right, okay. We need more What We Learns into the Dunbar Lumber text line. We'll start with ours on the other side of the segment. Let's have a good What We Learn segment. Robust What We Learn segment. There's have a good what we learned segment. Robust what we learned segment.

There's a lot to talk about. The Canucks, we spent the whole hour talking about the latest on this team after their performance against the Boston Bruins on Saturday

and some of the speculation that Elliott Friedman threw out there. And in case you missed it on 32 Thoughts, Frieds threw out the question. Elias Pettersson to Buffalo for Dylan Cousins and Bowen Byram. Who says no?

Was he just 100% speculating? Or has Freed heard something? And maybe he's turning into sounds like speculation. But maybe something's out there. We all know that the Sabres are a disaster right now. They've lost 10 in a row. They're probably looking to make some deals. And the Canucks, after Jim Rutherford went on after hours

yesterday or on Saturday and said, yeah, we need to add a couple more players to this team in order to truly contend. We know that Jim Rutherford is motivated to make some deals. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough.