Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 12/16/25

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they set up tonight's Canucks road matchup versus the Rangers with radio commentator Brendan Batchelor, plus they get ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski's thoughts on how 'Nucks management handled the Quinn Hughes trade.  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. There's Kachuk. He's no. He scores. Hey, hey, what do you say? Brady Kachuk. The captain gets it done. Foresberg shoots and scores. Philip Foresberg's got two.

Halford, you're good at turning on guys? I mean, jack's off making time with Tate McCray in the village. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough, it is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Hey, dog, good morning to you. Good morning. Gladdy, good morning to you. as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest, two much lower payments in three.

Financial peace of mind. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them in 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming live from the Kevester.

Kintech Studio, now is the time to maximize the benefits of custom orthotics before the year runs out. Visit kintech.com. Time now for our guest list, better known as the Duick Morning Drive, brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Big one today. Guestless today begins at 630. Greg Wischinski, our NHL insider from ESPN. I believe he texted Adog yesterday that he was, quote, so bleeping excited, end quote, to talk to us this AM in the wake of the Quinn Hughes trade. So very much looking forward to that.

Greg is going to join us at 630. That's Wachinsky, not Ballyck. He's not always bleeping excited to join you guys? More bleep and excited, end quote. 7 o'clock, Brandon Batchler, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks. He's on the call tonight. Canucks Rangers, 4 o'clock puck drop from MSG. Batch will join us for a game-day preview at 7 a.m.

At 8 a.m., Jim Cernie is going to join the program, executive editor of Forever Blue Shirts. So Batch is going to join at 7 to preview from the Canucks side. Jim is going to join us at 8 to preview from the Rangers side. Did you know, Jason? There are only three teams in the NHL right now tied for dead last with just four wins at home.

Two of them meet tonight in New York. The Rangers and the Canucks, who's the other one? The Los Angeles Kings. Yeah. Oh, right. They haven't played as many games at home, though. So there's an asterisk beside it, but still, there's only three teams in the NHL with four home wins. The Rangers, the Canucks, and the Kings.

At 8.30 this morning, get this. Dale Weiss is going to join the program. Yeah, Dale Weiss. Remember him, former Vancouver Canucks? We're going to talk to Dale Weiss about culture because Dale Weiss has talked about culture. He talked about the culture the Cedine set in Vancouver on a podcast appeared not too long ago.

Has culture been a thing lately with the Vancouver Canucks? Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I was told it wasn't an issue, so I don't even know why we're having Dale Weiss on the show. Totally random, but very cool. Dale Weiss is going to join us at 8.30. Finally, Golf Town giveaway, $250 gift card to Golf Town. Caller number 5 at 7.30 this morning. And then at 8, it is the final day of the Halford & Brough 12 days of Christmas.

I will miss you, Halford & Brough, 12 days of Christmas. Last day today, last prize, caller number 5 at 8 a.m. For both of those call-ins, 604-280-0-650. That number again, 604-280-6-50. I will do my best to remind the listening audience of the call-ins. the 7.30 contest for Golf Town and the 8 o'clock contest for Halford & Brough's 12 days of Christmas. That's what's happening on the program today. It's a big one. Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? 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.ca.

With his plate now nearly entirely clear of things to do, Patrick Alvin did some media on Monday and over the weekend. A couple different interviews in the aftermath of the Quinn Hughes trade, including one with SportsNets Ian McIntyre. Yeah, this is an article that IMAC wrote, and a lot of it's on Zeev, William and what he's going to bring to the Canucks and Patrick Alvin said of the trade in the addition that I think a lot of people are excited about, especially since watching and play

against the New Jersey Devils the other night. He said, hopefully this inspires the team here and the veterans that signed long term and believe in this team and organization and want to play here. I think it's important for them to see that we're getting NHL players. ready to play and impact the team right away. I also hope they trust in our relationship, myself and Adam, with the players, and see what we're trying to do. Oh, yeah, what are you trying to do?

And then Alveen said, we're trying to be aggressive and trying to make our team better. That sounds good. And I need them to lead and guide our young players every day in order to get better. Now, well, hold on.

Players signed long-term include forwards Elias Pedersen, Brock Besser, Connor Garland, Jake Debrusk, and then there's Hironik and Marcus Pedersen locked up on the back end with two goalies signed, Demko and Lankinen. That's a lot of commitments for a team that hasn't been very successful, and they all have some degree of trade protection, all of them. Although Garlands and I believe Demcos don't kick in until July 1st,

That's according to Puckpedia. The Canucks clearly want to remain competitive, which is to say there's no indication that they will be intentionally bad next season. They're not going to tank. As always with this franchise, there's an urgency to this retool, as evidenced by Alvin's comments on Landon Ferraro's podcast. 100% Canucks podcast. It's about the Canucks.

It should be 110%. But I digress. Where Alvin said that it was important for the players they acquired in the Hughes trade to be NHL players, not prospects in college or junior. They want guys who can contribute right away, or at the very least, sooner rather than later. And I think a lot of people read these comments right now, and they're like, Impatience has gotten this team into trouble before. So I guess we'll see how they do this time around.

But this time, Jason, surely it will be different. Yeah, you know, there's also been reporting from Thomas Drance, where he has pointed out that even when the Canucks are totally out of the playoffs, how they finish is important like they want them to win which is which goes against I mean some would say common sense

because the worst if you're out of it if you're totally out of it do you care how you finish because for draft positioning it only hurts but the Canucks aren't a business

where you're trying to sell tickets and I'm not a season ticket holder, but I think the season ticket renewal date is usually in February. Right. So you need, you want to have something to sell. And the season ticket base is, is your lifeline. You know, that's the lifeblood of any sports franchise.

So when you're rebuilding and, you know, like it is, it is harder, I think. Like you want to be able to, what one, one thing I, I pointed out. a month like a month ago i think on the show and we talked about this for a bit was the connects are really good at get like talking themselves into the team next season yeah like there's always there's always some semblance of hope you never they never go into a season where it's like yeah you know what like we're we're not going to be very good and and that's for the better of the franchise like so just bear with us there's never there have been from other teams. There have been from other teams and some of them have done well because of it and

some of them like Buffalo, which we'll get to in a bit. They haven't done well. But the Canucks have always been like, you know what, there's reason for optimism that we could be a playoff team. And I think a lot of that is a strategy because you don't want to lose your season ticket members. Well, it's also predicated on the very first the first part of Rick Tocke's coaching tenure in Vancouver. Remember when he came on in the aftermath of the Bruce There It is

era. And I remember talking to Drance about this and there was a lot of importance placed on what Tuckett did at the end of that season setting the stage for the next year. Like it becomes a lot more difficult. But I don't know how much of that was marketing. Some of that was like the team. But I'm saying both can exist to create

a similar goal. Like not only are we going to improve morale and potentially keep some of our season ticket holders around we're also going to instill some of the things that we want to do in the not so distant future on the horizon where we want to try and quote unquote be competitive again. Now they haven't been competitive in two years. This year

I think is going to be really interesting because the template is there to make a bunch of moves and subtract a bunch of veterans skaters in light of the fact that you just traded away your best player and captain. The template is The template is absolutely there, but I'm not sure that they're going to follow the script. I also want to point out that this is Patrick Alvin saying all these things, so I'm not sure how much weight it actually carries.

Can we play the audio from yesterday? So this is from the Spit and Chicklet's podcast. This is Bill Guerin, the general manager of the Minnesota Wilde, who orchestrated the biggest trade in the National Hockey League by far this season. And one of the biggest trades the NHL has seen in the last five, ten years, the Queen Hughes trade. listen to all of the clip because he makes it pretty apparent right at the start that his initial call was to Patrick Alvin and then the subsequent call was right to Jim Rutherford. Here is Bill Guerin, the general manager of the Minnesota Wild

talking with the spit and chicklets guys about how the deal for Quinn Hughes came together. One of my AGMs Matt Seld called me. Matt Sells called me. I was on my way to watch a game at MSG and he's like, you know, I'm just reading all this stuff about Quinn Hughes. maybe it's worth giving Vancouver a call. And I'm like, yeah, you know what?

I'll give him a call. So I talked to Patrick. He told me Jim was handling it. So the next day I called Jim and, you know, I just, I made him that offer right away. You didn't bounce it all. You didn't consult any of your staff or you just. No, I mean, no, no. Like we talked about it, but it's obvious who, listen, they wanted, they needed a center.

a left shot defenseman, a prospect, and a first round pick. Oh, we have that. Well, we have that. So, I mean, that's just really the way it worked. And, yeah, I was walking around LaGuardia waiting for my flight home, and Jim and I were on the phone. I just offered that to him. And, you know, he, Jim's great to work with.

Like, he really just kind of, he works through deals with you, but there's no there's no bull involved like uh straight to the point which i which i love and and you know but he had to take he had to take time because there are apparently there are other teams interested as well so you know he's got to do what's best for for his team so um you know i i had to you know kind of sit and wait but check in with him every once in a while it was it's always a good process with those guys now it is understandable that patrick alveen was busy and maybe couldn't deal with the Quinn Hughes because he was, of course, getting the Max Sassone deal across the line yesterday. Yeah, that was the thing on his plate. That was, it took up the majority

of the plate. Yeah. Yesterday. Sessone's agent is a beast. Yeah, he's a beast. He's a beast. Danny the Bill, the Beast Milstein, they call him. Oh, yeah, that is a Danny Millions client. Yeah. Didn't you see the timeline yesterday? Dan Milstein beat the Canucks to the punch on the announcement by one minute on social media. He posted a picture of him and Max Sassone having a celebratory dinner. And then, of course, the Kinex posted a minute later that Patrick Alvin announced that the club has agreed to terms with forward Maxis on on a two-year contract with a $1 million AAV.

Yeah, he got a quote too. I know. He was quote-worthy in the press release. Patrick Alvin said, Max has made the most of the opportunity presented to him this season and has provided us with some solid play. Solid play. There you go.

Better than bad play. It's true. Since signing with the organization on a college, he has shown significant improvement using his speed, yes, and skill to build a strong foundation for his future. Max was a key contributor to our championship run last year in Abbotsford, and we're excited to watch him continue to grow as a player. Is it worth noting that Sassone is still waivers exempt and could be sent back to Abbotsford? It's worth noting. If there's, I mean, there's a bit of a numbers crunch right now with the Canucks.

And I don't think Pedersen is going to play tonight in New York against the Rangers. But believe I read that he's expected to play at some point on this trip. There's four games left on this trip. They got a few days off after this one, right? They don't play again until Friday against Bo Horvatt and the New York Islanders. So I wonder if that might be the game that he returns. Give him three more days to get over whatever it is that's ailing them. Are they all going to do some touristy stuff in New York?

Yeah, like they got a lot of time. I don't know what they're going to do. They could find a bar to watch a Seahawks and Rams on Thursday. Oh, right. That's important. Yeah. We should mention that the Rangers lost again at home last night. I watched this game and the crowd was not happy with the home team.

They lost 4-1 to the docks, a couple of empty netters at the end. And were they both empty-netters at the end? I don't know. I know there was one empty-nettor and then I turned it off. and I know that the goalie Shisterkin had a bit of a spaz after. He flipped out and smashed his stick walking down the tunnel. The Rangers yet again

have an inability to score goals on home ice just one last night as you mentioned there now 4-9 to 3 at MSG this year and last night they were without the services of Mika Zabinajad. Now I want to go down the road here a little bit this is just something to keep an eye on just something to keep an eye on okay so prior to the game yesterday, Mike Sullivan got up to the podium and announced that Mika Zabinajad was going to be

scratched, healthy scratch from last night's game against the Anaheim Ducks. Can we play the audio? Here's Sullivan's explanation as to why. Mika will not play tonight because he violated a team rule. He missed a team meeting this morning. And so he will not play tonight. He'll be available tomorrow. Mika and I had a conversation about it. You know, there are logistical challenges that this city presents sometimes. But having said that, I think Mika understands the importance of

that the rules that we all expect of one another. So I'm watching this media yesterday and Sullivan almost spoke for two minutes about this. I'm like, it feels like an awfully long time and an awfully long explanation for what seems like a pretty straightforward story. Zabinajad misses a team meeting.

there's a punishment, he misses a game. After the game, and I don't know who the reporter was, but an intrepid New York Rangers reporter, asked Mike Sullivan, hey, wait a minute, is this the first time Mika Zabinajad missed a meeting, or is this happened, and is he a repeat offender? Listen to what Sullivan had to say after the 4-1 loss to Anaheim. Was it a one-time thing for him missing a meeting

or had it happened before? No, it's a. Listen, I'm not going to get into specifics on why we make decisions the way we made them, okay? We believe strongly in a process that we've put in place here for our team. And it's as simple as that, that we all believe in, and we have a certain set of expectations that we all hold ourselves accountable to. And at the end of the day, that's what it's about. And we all take ownership and responsibility for it.

Meek and I had a discussion. We made a decision, and we move on. He's an important player for us. He's a terrific player, and he's a terrific person. Who's the captain there? Tighten up that ship. Tighten that ship up a little bit. I have no idea of going on.

Here's the thing, though. All Sullivan had to say was, no, but he didn't. He went on a really weird explanation. That was the first word he said. But he cut himself off. He said no. He was going to. Listen.

See? He said no. I think he was going to start saying why it was only the one time, but then he went into a, like, you just went in a totally different direction. I don't know what's going on in New York, but I know it's not good. Yeah. And here's what I were, when Matt Barzell got scratched for being late for, I think it was the team bus with the Islanders this year. I do remember Arthur Stapled jumping onto Twitter and saying, generally when this happens, it's not the first time.

Like, you usually get a pass when it's the first, like, if you miss one meeting or you're late for one meeting, generally they don't lay the hammer down. Is Mika coming into into meetings? 10 minutes late or missing them and they'd be like, ah, the subway again. Like, that's what I'm wondering. That explanation was great. The number 10 or whatever it is.

They took the L train and he ended up like out of, like, I don't know where. In the Bronx somewhere, yeah, right? I don't know. But it's, this is a team that's obviously hanging on by a thread in terms of like their season being on the line. Their seventh place in their division.

The Miller captaincy and subsequent play has not been great. They have been awful at home, historically bad for that organization at home. And now this happens. And of course now the Vancouver Canucks go in there tonight. I have no idea what to expect tonight. The Rangers are either going to be and Mika Zabinajad in particular,

are going to be like the most passionate, pissed off team ever or they're just going to be what the Rangers have been all a year at home, which is flat. I'm a little more excited to watch games now. Oh yeah. Are you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's more interesting, right? Oh, far more interesting. Yeah, there's something to, it's not just the same old

same old. And I'm not saying I didn't enjoy watching Quinn Hughes play hockey. Like don't, don't use it as that way, right? I appreciated the moments that we had, but there's a curiosity factor to these new guys now. I want to watch more

of Zev Bouem. I really want to try and get a handle on Marco Rossi as a player too because he's going to be very important for the Vancouver Canucks. There are segments in this organization that I truly believe. think that if Philip Heedel had stayed healthy,

things would be much different right now. Okay, well, you got your Heedel replacement now. So the next thing, and all it cost was Quinn Hughes. The next thing I'm wondering about now, and if I'm trying to read the T-Livs organizationally, is when the Vancouver Canucks either quietly or publicly state that in addition to all the injuries that happened this year, that one of the big issues that plagued the team was the Quinn Hughes distraction.

That that really was. an issue throughout. So it's like, we lost Heidel, we lost Demko. We had the Hughes Cloud hanging over us for the first 30 plus games of the season. The Hughes Cloud is appropriate. You know what I mean? It looked like it was following Quinn the whole time. Because he did, because here's the thing. Did he do everything he could physically and like maybe not effort wise, but was he playing a ton and trying to win games? Yes. There were only a couple of effort issues. Like it was like five seconds combined. Yeah. Was. Was. there a Paul cast

over the team? Also, yes. I thought when Adam Foote openly acknowledged and he's like, yep, it's a thing, everyone knows about it. It's an issue. He probably knew the trade was coming then. I think that's part of it as well. Yeah. And you just wonder how long that was hanging around now. There's

another very interesting dynamic. This comes at a time where a god-awful team like Nashville has just won seven of its last 10 where sometimes sparks happen and it doesn't really make any sense. Between Demko coming back, and he did look very good against

New Jersey, I thought. And he got through the game healthy, which is a big thing. Between Demko coming back and the Hughes trade being consummated and the new guys, plural, bump, they didn't play all that well against the day. I'm not saying. I'm not saying playing well. Right. I'm saying, I wonder if there's a run of results

where they go like six and four over their next 10. Yeah. Demko has the potential to get them some results for sure. And that's where not only are the leaders of the tank commander going to like the tank command going to be upset but that's where the organization might start talking itself into maybe

we can turn this thing around quicker maybe we can use some of these guys that are still around and by that I mean the Bessers and the Garlands and everyone else who's inked long term and we're going to replenish with guys in that

23 to 27 age range and we're going to give it the old college try again I think it's a flawed idea I think that they've got, as we talked to what earlier, they've got the template to do this thing in the right way. You did the big piece of it. You got a really nice return for Hughes. Keep going down that road.

Keep going. You're doing a great job. Don't stop now. Right? The race is long. It's a long one, right? But I don't, I can kind of see where this is going. And it's, you know, I think a lot of fans are going to be left frustrated that what they consider to be a full-scale rebuild is, like so many other iterations, is going to look like a retool.

Wish is going to join us next. We'll talk to Wish about the Quinn Hughes trade, and he's excited to discuss that with us. And we'll also discuss the Buffalo Sabres, finally. And I mean finally firing Kevin Adams and replacing him, the new general manager is Yarmou Kekeleinen. And I've got a question about that.

And the question is, did the Sabres assess? essentially do an extensive search for Adams' replacement and then give the winner a tryout of sorts? Yes, that's exactly what happened. Because, you know, they said that they did, so Yarmel Kekyllian joined the Sabres as a senior advisor in May. Yep.

And they said they did a big search for that in which Yarmel stood out as their top choice for that position. So why didn't they just make him general manager right away? Did they want to make sure that like everyone liked him when he got in there? Because that would have been a good time to fire Kevin Adams last off season instead of, you know, now. I think they let him sit around and watch everything that was going on. And then at the end, he had to like report or give a presentation about what he would do if he was the general manager. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. It's his friend and Bachelor, Bachelor, Bachelor, Bachelor. Life from Rogers Arena, Collin' Connax Games. It is Brendan Bachelor, Bachelor, Bachelor. 7 o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody, Halford Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halford Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road

to being debt free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. Brendan Batchelor, Play-by-Played voice of the Vancouver Canucks is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is brought to by Jason Homonock at Jason. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Visit them online at Jason. Dow Mortgage. We are coming to live from the Kintech Studio. Now is the time to maximize the benefits of custom orthodox. before the year runs out, visit kintech.net. Friendly reminder, Canucks, back in action tonight, looking for another victory on the road, this time at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers.

Puck drop is 4 o'clock. You can hear the call right here on SportsNet 650. You can hear our next guest on that very call. Brendan Batchler, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks joins us now in the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What about, Batch? Not too much. How are you guys? We're well.

We're for one of the rare times this season. And I'm actually really looking forward to this game tonight because a little bit of energy, it's a little different. I got to admit, at times this year, it has been a slog. And I didn't really get to fully appreciate the 9.30 a.m. start game in New Jersey. So this one, it's Madison Square Garden. It's against the Rangers, J.T. Miller, all that stuff. But I am very excited to see the second iteration of Zeev Bouillon,

Marco Rossi, Liam Ogren. And just to see a little bit, well, what did you see on Sunday that you liked from? And I know it was early days and everything. What did you like from the new guys of the Vancouver Canucks? Yeah, I think there's a raising of a floor in some positions from these guys, certainly mostly Marco Rossi helping out down the middle and things look a lot more solidified there. You know, obviously with Queen Hughes leaving, the back end is going to look a lot different and the deployment had to be a lot different.

And, you know, I liked some of what I saw from Zeebouiam and, you know, the minutes being more spread out and other guys getting more opportunity will be interesting to follow going forward this year. I thought there were a couple of interesting ships where Booiam and V-Londor ended up out there together and that's two 20-year-old defensemen playing on a pairing

in the NHL so that's cool to see as you look to the future and I think you're right about the feel around the team right now and honestly anytime a team makes a big trade whether they're the buyer or the seller or something changes with their roster in the immediate term you're more entreat to watch them and see them.

But I think also the fact that the Canucks are charting a path towards the future to some degree at the very least by making this move and bringing in young pieces means that the feel around watching this team has changed. And as someone that watches all the games, obviously, I have that feel too where rather than talking about, you know, oh, when is the quick use trade coming? and what's going to happen. And is he going to stay or is he going to go? Now you can shift your focus.

And again, not that I'm trying to say that trading quit use is a good thing because it certainly wasn't. It's a dark day in franchise history when you have to move off a player like that. But now we can talk about how to the young guys look and expectations are not there for this team to accomplish things this season.

So then you can focus on things like how the young players are developing and the opportunities they're getting and how they're doing with those opportunities. opportunities and how they grow their games. And ultimately, we are going to see growth from some of these young guys between now and April. So it's kind of an exciting turning on the page at the same time, even though it's disappointing that we got to this point where they had to trade Quinn Hughes. Batch, is there a bit of a numbers crunch up front now?

Maybe a little bit. You know, if they start to get healthier, then, you know, there will be to some extent. but, you know, Atu Ratu, a healthy scratch the other night, which I thought was a little bit surprising based on how well I think he's been playing of late. So, you know, internal competition is always a good thing. And unfortunately, because of some of the injuries they've had this year, there hasn't been enough internal competition. And guys that would have been battling for roster spots on a healthy team have all been playing.

Like, you know, you go back to training camp, we were talking about, you know, is Bain's going to make a push or what about Carlson or maybe Sassone? And in fact, for the most part, I know Baines has been a healthy scratch a few times, but for the most part, all three of those guys have been in the lineup on most nights by necessity. So now you, you know, you get some extra bodies in in a trade like that, you know, most notably in Ogren and Rossi up front. And now there is some of that competition and there is some, you know, a standard that has to be met if you want to be in the line up on a nightly.

basis and that will only grow if Elias Pedersen comes back soon. What about Teddy Bluger? You know, ultimately, who knows about Philippeal in terms of getting into the New Year? And eventually there are going to be guys traded off this roster too. But yeah, at the moment, there is some competition there. And I think, you know, that's a good thing for young players and veterans alike, because, you know, it means they've got to look over their shoulder a little bit when maybe that wasn't happening to this point in the year. The scratches for the Devils game were Ratu, as you mentioned, Baines and then P.O. Joseph on the back end. Do we know anything about what is ailing, Elias Pedersen? I believe all we've been told is that it's an upper body injury.

Beyond that, I don't have any specific insight. I don't think it's concussion related because we haven't heard anything about protocol or anything like that. But it's something that's bothering him to a degree that he needed to go on IR. Obviously, that was retroactive so they could get Marco Rossi into the lineup, and he's on the trip, and he's practiced with the team. So I would imagine he's close, and, you know, maybe we'll learn a little bit more about his status and availability when the team takes the ice for morning skating under an hour from now.

But, you know, I don't have any specific intel on exactly what's ailing him, or how much longer he might be out. Do you think they might be able to talk themselves into a team with Elias Pedersen and Marco Rossi down the middle? And maybe, maybe Philippal. Let's not forget about him. And maybe next season, maybe again, Braden Coots. That to me depends on Elias Pedersen.

So that's a team you can talk yourself into if Alias Pedersen is the 100-point bona fide number one centerman that he's been in the past. If he's not, I'm not convinced. And maybe they would be, or maybe they would look at it that way. But I also have to believe that they could learn from the mistakes of the past in the sense that, you know, looking at Elias Pedersen and Philip Heedle is a one-two punch,

ultimately didn't work out. And, you know, maybe there's an argument, you know, if Heidel was healthy, things would have been different. And I'm sure that's the case. But I think it's also clear that you can't necessarily bank on Philippeel to be healthy. So Marco Rossi comes in, adds some centerized depth. He's the guy that they would have loved to have brought in in the summer

so that they could have had that one, two, three punch going into the year. But, you know, because Pedersen, you know, still hasn't trended enough in the right direction for me, I think when he went out with the injury, he was still on pace for a sub-70 points. season or he was, you know, at or around that number in terms of what was expected for him for the year based on the pace he was playing. You know, I think you need more from Elias Pedersen if he's going to be your number one center, unless Marco Rossi somehow breaks out

and becomes a bona fide number one center, but I don't think many people expect that to happen. So, you know, can you build a team around two second line centers instead of one first line center? probably not in my mind but ultimately we'll see how things go and you know i think wasn't it gary mason who was on with you guys that that essentially alluded to the fact that alias peterson is the one big decision left for this team in terms of where things go with him whether he stays um and ultimately what that means for the team going forward and uh their conversations around him and his play going forward are going to determine whether they believe he can get back to being that number one center or not. I know Patrick Alvin said all the right things about it, but

ultimately their actions are going to speak louder than their words. And, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if there's another domino to fall in terms of a quote unquote key player being moved out of Vancouver at some point. Not saying it's going to be imminent. I think if they were to do that, that's more of an off-season move than an in-season move because of the term left and the dollar amount and the complications around everything that's happened there. But, you know, I don't think we should assume that their plan is to talk themselves into Elias Pedersen being a number one center if Alias Pedersen doesn't show that he can get back to being a number one center.

You know, for me, the curiosity factor on this season just went up. I'm not saying I'm happy that Quinn Hughes was traded. but you can be curious about things that might not end up so good. You know, I want to see what the powerplay looks like. I want Pedersen to get back and I want to see what the power play looks like because I know the power play numbers weren't horrible, but I think there was some dysfunction on that power play, just watching it go.

You know, there was way too often just Quinn doing it all himself, and I don't think that's how power plays should work. You can talk about that or maybe some other things that you're curious to see without Quinn Hughes because he was such a massive, massive part of this team. I mean, he had the puck on his stick for four minutes out of every game according to the stats. Yeah, and, you know, with the power play in particular, I like the way it looked against the devils on Sunday where there was more rotation, there was more decisive puck movement.

And that's an encouraging sign now when Elias Pedersen gets back there. I think that's going to be interesting because he hasn't always been the most decisive player with the puck on the power play. And I think that was part of the dysfunction that you're alluding to is that Quinn might have got frustrated by the amount of times that he would try to set up PD for shot opportunities or one timers and instead just get the puck passed back to him and they would work it around the outside. And I think we talked about this a few weeks ago. Like Petey always dust the puck off and they were killing their own penalties or their own power plays in some senses by the way. way that they were moving the puck around and even going back to rick talkets time here he wanted them to be more straight ahead of the power play he wanted them to get pucks and bodies to the net and create chaos and try and have secondary opportunities like that and that's a perfect example of

the jake de brus power play goal that made it one nothing against the devil so um you know again it was just the one game so we'll get another look at the power play unit tonight and you know we can you know, continue to learn about how Zeeb Williams going to fit in on that unit. I think Marco Rossi's probably a pretty solid addition. He led the Wild and power play goals last year so he's capable of producing on the man advantage too. And, you know, on paper with the skill set that he has, you add to Lee as Pedersen back to that top unit and it could

make it pretty dangerous. But chemistry is an interesting thing. And so I'm going to be interested to see, you know, not just with, you know, Pedersen and the power plays, but, you know, who's going to be the best D-partner for Zeebuey going forward? Who are going to be the best wing combinations that get the most out of Marco Rossi? Where does Liam Ogrin fall in this lineup in terms of whether he's a third-liner or a fourth-liner or whether he needs some time at Abbotsford as well? You know, these are all going to be interesting things to track.

And, you know, as I was saying earlier, you're right. You know, it's not a happy day that you have to trade Queen Hughes, but there are some more hockey-based, intriguing stories. storylines with this team now as opposed to the off-ice drama, which frankly we've had to talk too much about over the last few years and not saying that the off-ice drama is gone because Elias Pedersen's still here. We just spent a portion of time talking about what's going to happen with his future. But, you know, as someone that calls the games, I like talking about the games a whole lot more than talking about the off-ice stuff. And I would much rather be analyzing,

you know, where Zeeb Williams fit is with this team than, and, you know, looking at trade speculation going forward. We're speaking to Brendan Batchelor, Play-By Play Voice, the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Reminder, you can hear Batch on the call. Tonight, 4 o'clock from MSG, it's the Canucks and it's the Rangers. Batch, what did you think of Thatcher Demko's game on Sunday morning against the New Jersey Devils?

Yeah, I thought he was really good. And, you know, it was a storyline that I think went a little bit under the radar because of the two-point game for Zeev Bouillon and, you know, the excitement around getting those new guys in the lineup. But he was crucial for them, especially on the five-on-three penalty killed that they had early in the game where he made like four back-to-back to back-to-back, unbelievable saves to keep them in front and ultimately allow them to win the game in the end.

So, you know, I know New Jersey is pretty banged up right now. They don't have many of their top guys in the lineup, and that will have played a factor in that result too. But I thought Demko looked like Demko again, which is encouraging with the amount of time he's missed with injury. And I think with some of the struggles he had in that Buffalo game at the end of the homestead, he was pretty self-critical when we talked to him after the game,

especially about the Rasmus Dahlene goal that he led in on a long, relatively unscreen shot for the point. And so to see him healthy and trending back towards his, game I think is a good thing and a good thing for this team. I know people want them to lose games and ultimately I think they still will. You know, they get two power play goals against the Devils, but the five on five numbers show, if I'm not mistaken, but the Devils drove play pretty effectively against them and just didn't have the finishing ability at the top of their lineup to have it make a difference in that game. But, you know, I think Demko with a younger

team in front of him, keeping them competitive, keeping them in games is a good thing for some of the growth of those young players, particularly the young defensemen, because when you've got Thatcher Demko behind you, you know, you're free to take more risks and, you know, make some mistakes as you learn the NHL game and try to evolve your own game. And having that insulation behind some of these young guys, I think is going to be pretty important going forward. Ultimately, that's going to depend on if Demco can stay healthy though and I think hopefully he does

and can get on a good run whether that means he's going to be in Vancouver long term to help this group transition to wherever they're headed or whether that means a healthy Thatcher Demko increases his asset value

in terms of a potential trade going forward a healthy and good Demko playing to the peak of his abilities is good for this team regardless of what the future holds I think. Speaking of Demko's health,

So he's played two in a row. Does he go tonight? Because they do have a Friday, Saturday, back to back against the Isles and the Bruins. Yeah, I wonder about that. You know, it could be Kevin Lankin' night. That said, Kevin Lankin's last appearance in a Kodak's crease, he was pulled after two periods for Nikita Tolapilo.

So confidence is not necessarily at a high from the coaching staff with Kevin Lankin in his game right now. And, you know, because Demko's missed so much time and you haven't had a back to back yet, you theoretically could go back to him in this spot. So, you know, to me it's almost a toss up in terms of who goes

tonight because we know they're going to split the next two anyway. So, you know, I, with a morning game on Sunday, so it's been you know, longer than just one day between games. It's been like a day and a half. I could see them going back to Demko. I could see them also saying,

look, we don't need to run him hot out of the gate since he's been back and and shifting to Lankan in as well. I know a lot of things have gone wrong this year, and a lot of the reasons why they're 12, 17, and 3 aren't just because of the goaltending. But Sunday was a, like, it was a friendly reminder that when Demp goes on and he's doing his thing,

he can, like, get you out of situations that, quite frankly, the other goal is on the team just aren't going to be able to. Yeah, you know, we've talked about this a lot over the years that he papers over the cracks for this team. And I think, you know, if we really take an honest, look back even at

203-24, that team had a great season, won the division, went on a PDO bender as we've talked about, but Demko was a big part of papering over some of the cracks with that team and leading them to the heights that they got to, especially in the first half of the season.

Obviously he got hurt in the second half, but, you know, yeah, and again, you know, some people will say, oh, no, he's going to come back and steal a bunch of games and they'll earn too many points and it'll hurt their draft position. I honestly, when you lose Quinn Hughes, the impact that that's going to have on your roster is going to be exponential to a degree that, you know, yeah, Demko might steal the odd game

here or there. I don't know if he'll be able to play well enough to notably change where this team finishes in the standings, but at the same time, it does, as I said, provide some insulation for those young defensemen to be able to take some more risks knowing that they've got a Vezna caliber goaltender behind them when he's healthy and on his game and so hopefully he continues to provide that for this group. Do you think it's possible

that we do see the Canucks get pinned in their own end and a lot of games going forward because they're last in the league this season but I haven't watched them like I

watched a few of the Canucks teams where I'm like a few years ago from maybe some of the Willie Desjard in years or even some of the Travis Green years where they just couldn't, they'd get out shot, you know, like 40 to 15 or whatever. They were just dominated in games. This season, it's been more about really bad

defensive breakdowns that have costed them. But, you know, and I think that's your reason where Adam Foote has kind of said, we're right there in a lot of games. Is that going to be different going forward without Quinn? Yeah, it's too early to test. And I think the devil's game maybe isn't the best marker because the devils have Jack Hughes and Timo Meyer out of their lineup right now. And if those two guys are in that game with the way that the devils drove play at five on five, it could have been a completely different result.

And that's also a game where the conducts were opportunistic on two power plays early and we're able to protect the lead, which for the most part, they haven't been able to do. They've been getting behind early and chasing games a lot this year. And, you know, the state of the game changes completely depending on, you know, where you are, you know, whether in front or behind or, you know, in a close game late. So, yeah, absolutely. I think we could see teams jump out for early leads against the Canucks and then kind of lock things down. And whether that means the Canucks get pinned for extended stretches, you know, I think that's going to happen because we've seen that happen pretty consistently with this group when Queen Hughes wasn't on the ice for this team this year. especially if they got caught with some of the young defensemen out there, it would happen, you know, in some of those sequences.

So now that Queen Hughes is gone and he's never on the ice for them, you know, absolutely I would expect other teams to be able to drive play pretty consistently against them. And so that ultimately is why I say that, you know, even a healthy Thatcher Demko eventually won't be able to paper over all of the cracks with this team. and why, you know, I can't remember. I think we were having a conversation or somewhat on our airwaves was having a conversation

right after the trade happened, saying, oh, no, is the return so good that this team is going to, you know, continue to win games and be better going forward? And it's like, no, you lost Quinn Hughes. The return's not better than Quinn Hughes. The team's not getting better without Quinn Hughes. And so, you know, ultimately, yeah,

I think we'll see them get pinned at times, especially against stronger teams that have, you know, very dangerous players up the lineup. If they, you know, if they're on the road, let's say, and the other team has last change and get like a, I don't know, a Nathan McKinnon line out there against some of these young guys playing down the Canucks lineup. It's not going to be pretty for them ultimately.

But I think it may also be a good learning experience for some of those players, too, about where they need to get to, you know, help this team trend in the right direction. Canucks, Rangers, 4 o'clock tonight, Batch. Have a good call. Thanks for doing this today, buddy. Sounds good. Thanks, boys. Have a good one. Brennan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Canucks right here on SportsNet 650. Okay.

And the moment is not necessarily the reason why Quinn Hughes is leaving. I still think there's a good percentage of his decision that is based on the same thing it was based on for Matthew Chuck. He wanted to play in the States. He wanted to be closer to home. Like these are things that they can't compete with. But there certainly wasn't a counter argument made by this team based on the, the culture based on the results on the ice, that would compel him to stay. I know there's definitely people around the organization that believe if the team was better,

he'd stay. So, I mean, there's something to be said for that. But I do think that there's other forces pulling him in a different direction. And the bottom line, boys, is that, like, now that we know the timeline. And, you know, Rutherford said a year and a half, Alvin said a year. Now that we know the timeline of when they started to believe that Quinn wasn't going to resign, this is malpractice what they've done with this team. Like from the long-term contracts to hiring Quinn's guy as your, like all of that stuff

in service of desperately trying to make the case to have him stay when a year and a half ago you started to believe he wouldn't is insane for this franchise. Yeah, I'll say I tried to give them a little bit of leeway or leverage by suggesting that going into this season with Adam Foote as the head coach, who may have been personally selected by Quinn Hughes. And then the moves that they made was the old one last college try. Like, we got to give it one more shot. So I can understand that logic.

But whatever the case, like even if you appreciate the effort, it still failed spectacularly. So you don't really get that much credit for trying and failing miserably, I'd say. They get no, they get no credit. This is like finding out your ex-girlfriend got engaged and then buying her a car. It's insane. It's absolutely bonkers that they went down this road. Listen, I think they did good on the trade.

I really do. Like, I think Booiam's great, both from a non-ice perspective and an off-ice perspective, all the people now coming out of the woodwork and criticizing Quinn for how he handled himself as captain in the community and all this nonsense. We'll love Booiam because I think he's an absolutely charisma machine off the ice. I think Rossi is a good top six center The Wilde didn't like him for various and hundred reasons But I think he's good

And then you know the first and on grim I mean it's it's a really good return for them being behind the eight ball on Quinn But it's just the kind of thing that should be of a piece with what is already Should be a rebuild that's in motion And I know that you know Rutherford finally will allow the words to emerge from his mouth Or at least his pen in a in a press release but these wheels should have been turned a year ago. And so that's where the franchise is.

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