Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 12/19/24

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Halford and guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports, including last night's OT Canucks loss in Utah, plus they set up tonight's 'Nucks action in Vegas with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance. 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. Sergachev with a pass into the slot. Sergachev with it, pass into the slot, Sergachev scores! Mika'el Sergachev wins it for the Utah Hockey Club. We had a 2-0 lead, and they've got to lock it down. Lock it away. Now a lead pass over the line, here's Kane on a change, he scores! He caught the flyers changing.

Good morning, make it through 6- Vancouver 601 on a Thursday Happy Thursday everybody It's Alfred, it is Brough No wait, it's Jamie Dodd It is Sportsnet 650 We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios In beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver Jamie, good morning Good morning

Hey dawg, good morning to you Good morning Ladi, good morning to you as well Hello, hello Alfred and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews.

Soar feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec, we got a big show ahead on a Thursday. Guest list will begin at 7 o'clock. Yes, that means it's one uninterrupted hour of Halford and Dodd from 6 to 7. We will look back on the Canucks game last night. 3-2 overtime loss to the plucky, resilient Utah Hockey Club. And then there's no rest for the weary because the Canucks are back in action tonight, 7 o'clock, from T-Mobile Arena in Vegas. So, first hour, we'll take care of all that.

Guest list begins at 7. Nick Shook, our good buddy from NFL.com, is going to join us. Yeah, we're going to do some NFL talk today. Big Thursday night or tonight. Broncos, Chargers in L.A. Battle for not supremacy of the AFC West, but second place in the AFC West. We'll also use Nick to preview a terrific Saturday lineup.

Yeah, Saturday football this week, folks. You've got Houston at KC at 10 a.m. on Saturday, followed by Pittsburgh at Baltimore at 1.30. So we'll talk to Nick Shook about all that at 7 o'clock. 7.30, Jesse Granger from the athletic Vegas Golden Knights beat writer is going to join the program. Again, as I mentioned, 7 o'clock tonight from Vegas. It's the Canucks. It's the Golden Knights beat writer. He's going to join the program again, as I mentioned. 7 o'clock tonight from Vegas. It's the Canucks.

It's the Golden Knights. We will talk to Jesse about a red-hot Vegas team that's won five of their last six, nine of their last 12, including a 3-2 win over Minnesota on Sunday. So it's also a well-rested team because they haven't played since Sunday. Jesse Granger will join us at 7.30 to talk about all that. 8 o'clock, it's the Drancer, Thomas Drance from The Athletic Vancouver. Big career moment for you, getting to talk to Thomas Drance. I know that's a rarity.

Very exciting for Jamie. Canucks Vegas, 7 o'clock, we mentioned that. Pre-game, post-game, actual game, all right here on Sportsnet 650. If I am not mistaken, and I have been repeatedly throughout this week, just the second back-to-back that the Canucks have played this season, the first on the road, and the last back-to-back was in mid-November at home when they beat

Chicago on a Saturday and then lost to Nashville on a Sunday. Fact check it all you like. If it's wrong, I'll just throw my shoulders out. Who cares? Yeah. It's me, Alfred, and I'm on vacation today. So we're going to talk to Drance at 8, Jesse Granger at 7.30, Nick Shook at 7. I should also remind you that we've got only two days left in this contest, today and tomorrow, but every day this week we've been giving away tickets,

a pair of tickets, to see the PWHL Takeover Tour that's coming through Rogers Arena on January the 8th. Rogers is a proud partner and fan of the PWHL. Here's how it's going to work. Caller number 512345 at 815 this morning will win a pair of tickets to the PWHL Takeover Tour. The phone number 604-280-0650. That phone number again, 604-280-0650 that phone number again 604-280-0650 be caller number 5

at 815 this morning to win a pair of tickets to the PWHL takeover tour okay 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? I missed all the action because I was

we know how busy your life can be what happened. What happened? I missed all the action because I was We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at

bccsa.ca The Vancouver Canucks held a multi-goal lead, a two-goal lead in the third period yesterday. Prior to last night, they'd only lost one of those games once, but it was two. Now, Mikhail Sergeyev scored four 48 into overtime,

Utah, three, two winners over the visiting Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night at the Delta center. Yeah. Their first visit to Utah and didn't start off very well for the Canucks. They were on the back foot in a big way in the first period, really struggled to move the puck.

I thought Utah's speed gave them fifths as well. It felt like Utah had one prolonged shift in the offensive zone about five minutes in, and then it almost seemed like the Canucks just went into hot potato mode, right? It was back to off the glass and out and dump it in, and you're just tired and get to the bench. No one was making a play. No one was holding on to pucks as rick talk it would say fortunately as utah piled up chances off the rush and breakaways uh one i mean they kept trying to make the extra pass and

blowing really good opportunities but two thatcher demko was really good to keep it at zero zero going into the break second period much better for the canucks they were able to slow down slow down utah they actually had control of the puck a little bit which is always nice uh and they going into the break. Second period, much better for the Canucks. They were able to slow down Utah. They actually had control of the puck a little bit, which is always nice. And they opened the scoring when Danton Heinen made a nice finish. Big bounce off the end boards.

That was kind of a theme on the broadcast last night. On the power play? Yeah, the second power play. Incredible. Which we'll talk about. The power play units. Oh, we will talk about the power play units. We'll continue. The station's putting Twitter polls out there and stuff. It was great. which we'll talk about the power play units oh we will talk about the power play units we're

putting the stations putting twitter polls out there and stuff it was great anyways dan heinen takes a finish off a big bounce off the end boards uh makes a nice finish to a nice play to open the scoring one nothing lead for the canucks canucks opened up a two nothing lead in the third period when dakota joshua showed a great burst of speed, got open for a breakaway, held off the back check, completely clowned Vijmelka for his second goal of the season, likely sparked by us lighting a fire under him yesterday on the show and wondering if he could come out of the lineup. When in doubt, thank the morning show.

You're welcome for that. And great to see Dakota Joshua with a big-time play like that as he continues to you know find his legs uh so two nothing in the third period as you said Utah not done first Clayton Keller who was really dangerous all night I thought we all knew he was a good player I think but it was just hard to like grasp in Arizona because it was such a ridiculous situation he's a really good player anyways he grabbed a rebound made a really nice play to beat Demko and then with myers in the box on a pretty soft cross-checking call dylan gunther you knew he was going to figure into this somehow his shot deflected off of teddy bluger past demko and tied

the game both teams good chances late but this one went to overtime and i gotta say after some of the three on three overtimes the canucks have played this year, this one was surprisingly entertaining. This one had a throwback overtime feel to it with the team's trading chances both ways. However, Mikhail Sergachev, as you heard, beat Thatcher Demko on a two-on-one to win the game for Utah. And this came after JT Miller maybe stayed out a little long on his shift, threw a pass across the ice to Connor Garland.

It bounced off the sideboards, sprung Utah going the other way, and then Miller did not have the legs to get back and break up the play. And that's how it ended, 3-2 for Utah. For a game that started as poorly as it did, and let's be honest, it was not an oil painting in the first period. They went to the intermission, and there were Freed and David Amber sitting there making jokes about what a snoozer it was. The game ended in very exciting fashion. And there were a lot of interesting takeaways from that game.

So who better to speak about this than the head coach, Rick Talkett? Now, here's a clever thing that we get to do. Play the entirety of his presser following the game because it was a grand total of one minute and 25 seconds in length. Not a lot of touring media on this mini trip. Not a ton of questions. And even if there were a ton of questions, it didn't sound as though Rick Tockett was interested in being very verbose

in answering them. So, without further ado, here's everything the head coach Rick Tockett had to say following a overtime loss to Utah last night. Coach, how would you assess that game up 2-0 in the third? Yeah, I didn't like our first. I thought we responded well in the second.

We had a 2-0 lead, and you've got to lock it down. I know you don't like to comment on officials usually, but the call on Myers? Yeah, I mean, Kyle's a good ref. He saw something different. you know, it happens. It happens. How do you think your team turned it around in the second? Well, we started to skate, went in some more battles.

They were ready to play, we weren't. And then we obviously grabbed it through the lead. Mistake on the first goal, we back in. And then fluky power play, go against him back in the game. You said you like Dakota when he's moving his feet. Do you find that he's getting his game training back? I thought today was a step in the right direction for Dakota. I thought he really moved his feet,

so hopefully he can build off that, yeah. You made the change to power play one, Patterson out, Miller in, just for a different look? Yeah, we're just trying different things right now. What was your assessment of the power play? Danny gets the power play goal to get you guys off. Just your thoughts on the overall units tonight. I thought we had some chances.

You know, I thought we had a shot at the puck. Huggy had a couple shots. Wasn't too bad. I mean, obviously, Hino getting that goal for us, it really helps us. Is there anything you can take away from tonight to get you ready for Vegas tomorrow? Well, I mean, just got to lock these games down. It's 2-0.

You got to, you know, you got to stay with it. So, yeah, I mean, every game's a learning lesson. And there you have it. Nobody asked him if he was Team Petey or Team Miller?

Well, so... Why did nobody ask him the big question? I'm glad we waited until 6-11. We were 11 minutes into the show before we decided

to address the elephant in the room. I wanted to know what he thought. Murph did ask Rick Talkett about the changes to Power Play 1 and Power Play 2. Yeah, but specifically, which team is he on? Well, the specific changes that Andy is talking about, in case you and ListenerLand have no idea what we're talking about, is that Miller and Pedersen have been split up to their own respective power play units.

And when asked about it, Rick Talkett, I think, had five words. If I'm not mistaken, I missed the count because everything was going pretty quickly, but we're trying new things. We're just trying different things right now. We're just trying different things right now. So you can do the count on how many words that is. Seven. Thank you. That was it.

Doug was literally counting on his fingers. God, you're adorable. So That was it. Doug was literally counting on his fingers. Yeah. God, you're adorable. So that was it for what the coach had to say. He was asked after the Colorado game as well and had an equally, I don't want to call it terse, but it was a truncated, abbreviated response to the question. And a lot of people want to know plain and simple what the hell's going on what's up what's happening here jamie do you have any thoughts

because it's especially it's not just that they've been split up but it's that they flip flop between power play one and power play two like it would be one thing if it's like okay our power play we want to get it going guys are being too individual individual, so we're mixing up the units. We're throwing them in a blender, and hey, Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, you're on one, JT Miller and Brock Besser, you're on the other, and then we'll mix and match guys around that. But it's not that. In Colorado, it was JT Miller got demoted, and it was very clear.

It was, okay, the power play one unit is out there without you, JT. You're coming on with power play two. Correct. Then last night, it was the opposite. Patterson on to Power Play 2, JT Miller up to Power Play 1. So it gives the impression, and Rick Talkett did not elaborate otherwise, that one, either he's taking turns kind of punishing or sending a message to both of those guys,

or two, maybe there's a reason that they can't be on the same power play unit together. Because typically you want your two best forwards, your two most talented forwards who have both recently scored 100 points in a season in the NHL. Usually you're throwing those guys on your top power play unit together. Yeah. I mean, look, there's two ways of looking at this. You can do it on the salsa scale. The mild salsa is this is purely

tactical. This is just about trying to generate more chances from both units and give the power play an entirely different look. That's boring. And some would argue that mild salsa is delicious. That analysis is delicious that analysis is delicious because both units i think have actually looked better well the second unit scored last

night right dan heinan shout out to tantan heinan whose nickname is high no yeah i thought he said dan high note i was like he doesn't play for you that's a different guy but it was high no anyway the more scotch bonnet mui caliente assessment analysis of what's going on here is that these two guys can't be anywhere together especially on the man advantage that the rift the divide the angst the animosity is to the point where the coach is like you go on power play one tonight you go on power play two yeah and then tonight in Vegas, we'll just flip it around. We'll see. We'll see.

Are they out there together? Now, the interesting wrinkle to this is late in the second, I think it was after a Canucks that the Canucks had killed the penalty. Talk it through the lotto line for a shift. Yeah. Miller, Patterson, and Besser. So, like, talk it, I got to say, is doing a great job of leaning into the bit and, you know, creating the speculation and what's going on with these guys,

then giving us a little breadcrumb. It's like, oh, maybe they can play together. Ah, no, no, that's just one shift. But I don't, like, I mean, even the station Twitter account last night during the game was like, are you Team Miller power play or Team Petey power play? Yeah. And it got a ton of votes, got a ton of interaction because, of course, how can you look at this situation

and not think something kind of funny is going on here? Yeah, it can be a clever wink and a nudge and a, hey, check out what I'm doing here. And it could also be completely unrelated. The point being is that that dynamic is hanging over the team. And the longer that the season goes on and the longer that little things like this happen, we'll all pick up on it and we'll all have a good time with it.

Because at the end of the day, we don't have a lot to work off in terms of either someone addressing it, which I don't think is ever going to happen, or there being a declaration of, yeah, they don't work great together. We probably won't see the lotto line together, and you probably won't see them working on a power play unit together. That's fine. Hold on.

The lotto line thing is fine. Them not being able to be on a power play unit together, that's not fine. See, I need to have your top two guys be able, even if you decide, okay, we want to have your top two guys be able even if it's even if you decide okay we want to have balanced power play units which i i disagree with i'm load up power play one but even if you decide that there has there's going to be moments where hey a guy's out with injury or it's the third period and we really need a goal we're gonna load up you have to be

able to put them out there on the power in light of what you just said this is why i think that it's uh it can't be the case it just can't be like come on you can't loathe someone to the point you can't play on the power play together you can't be out on a 200 foot sheet of ice for 45 seconds together come on like really you're right, if that was true, that's wild. Plus, they can't even speak to each other. They got to go through Besser. It's like back and forth. Like, just tell Petey that I'll go over there. Miller says he'll go over there.

I have been in work scenarios where I've watched two individuals work side by side who absolutely load each other. No, it's not Brough and I. Absolutely. Laddy and A-Dog. They're very professional about it. You would never know. We hate each other's guts. Could not stand the sight of one another,

and they worked together for years. Years. So you and these were not multi-million dollar a year athletes that we're talking about. I understand that there might be a riff, but I honestly, if you take a step back and you don't get involved in the minutia and the lunacy of all of this,

it does seem crazy, crazy that that would actually be the case. It's also really remarkable where the conversation around this has gotten to with fans. And I think I had a rant last year on Canucks Talk where I basically said,

can we stop treating them as if they only exist in relation to each other? You know what I mean? That's good. Because every time you either praise or criticize one of them, the texts come in, right? Well, if you're saying, well, Miller didn't back check well enough. I was like, well, what about Petey? And it's like, well, but that has nothing to do with Miller back checking or not.

Or the vice versa with PD. I've never seen the closest I can think of is Luongo Schneider, but that's different. That's a goalie controversy, right? Like that's standard. That's all. Well, well, this guy would have, would he have saved that shot if he was in, right? That's very standard. for the Canucks having two skaters viewed purely in relation. You know what I mean? In juxtaposition to each other and dividing the fan base like Miller and Petey are doing right now, where it's literally like, are you Team Miller or Team Petey? And they can only be discussed in relation to each other. Has there ever been a situation like this with the Canucks? Petey has zero points since Miller's returned.

Yes, we are all aware. we are all very very aware i think also adding to the complexity of what you just laid out is the fact that last year and i've said this about 9 000 times now i feel like a broken record the vibes were great yeah everything was good they were winning games they were playing good hockey. Everyone was healthy. No one took extended leave of absences to deal with personal reasons. Everything was good. To come off the heels of that, to whatever this is right now, it makes everything a lot more complex and a lot more confusing. Yeah.

Because everyone wants to find that know, Brough does this a lot. He wants to, he wants to find that one flashpoint or that one moment or that one thing that changed everything. And unfortunately, interpersonal relationships

aren't always that black and white. There's a lot of great things build up over time. Angst, animosity, whatever, all those adjectives I threw out earlier.

But for this, it just seems really weird. Like, I have constantly this season done the juxtaposition thing where I'm like, look at this season compared to last season where, you know, the core players are still almost, you know, uniformly the same. And outside of, you know, not necessarily having the goaltender, but still with Lankan having the goaltending, there's a lot of similarities,

but it just feels and looks and smells a lot different. And that whole Petey-Miller dynamic is chief of the differences. It's right atop that list of what are the biggest differences from last year to this year. And it is easy to get distracted by, obviously. I mean, look, everyone is, at a certain point, interested and curious about drama, right? And especially when you don't have all the details. And I understand being very, very curious about that. As you said, like looking for the flash

point, what happened? What is the actual issue here? How serious is it? Right? Does it legitimately stop them from playing on the same power play unit together? This texture makes a really good point, though. Everyone spends more time talking about two-star players not getting along instead of realizing they both need to be better. And that's really it, right? Because last year, like, I don't think their relationship magically deteriorated over the summer and coming into this season, and all of a sudden it was untenable, right?

I'm guessing it's probably pretty similar to what it was last season, but the big difference was everyone was producing, right? This point last year, I mean, they were among the league leaders in points in the NHL. Right now, if you just look at even strength, five-on-five goal scoring, Elias Pettersson has three goals in 31 games, five-on-five, right? That's behind Kiefer Sherwood, Pugh Suter, Jake DeBrus, Quinn Hughes, Brock Besser, Danton Heinen.

Danton Heinen has four five on five goals. He has more five on five goals than Elias Pettersson this year. Teddy Blue or Connor Garland, there were three. Eric Brandstrom has three five on five goals this year. JT Miller, now he's missed 10 games, one five on five goal this year. Nils Hoaglander, who hasn't scored since like October, has two five on five goal this year neil's hoaglander who hasn't scored since like october has two five on five goals this year and that's ultimately what it comes down to is maybe it's not the reason that these guys aren't producing whatever friction there is whatever

rift there is but it's getting harder and harder to escape that it's got something to do with it and i've again this is something i've said on canucks talk but like when my kids are fighting over a toy and i don't want to get involved the phrase i use is figure it out right and it's like figure it out we're at figure it out stage because whatever is going on they're not going to win consistently with these guys playing and producing the way that they are yeah and, and someone texted in, I'll pull up the text now. Oh, it's from Jason in North Van. He writes, I don't want to be that guy,

but a lot of this is media driven and never have we seen evidence of them not liking each other. I would push back against the evidence of them not liking each other. I think there's been a few incidents and singular moments, the shoving match that they had in practice earlier this season, things that we've heard anecdotally from former coaches, that I think that you can at least surmise that they're not the best of friends. I think they've gone on the record saying, this is not a media thing.

This has been stated on the record. They've gone on the record saying, we need to work on our relationship. So that's the evidence. Now, if you want to, and then I know the immediate pushback is like, well, there's lots of teams where guys don't get along. Yeah, but if you're asking for evidence, you're asking for evidence. You're not asking me to classify what kind of evidence it is.

It's there. Jamie brings up the salient point here, is that when those two guys aren't producing and aren't playing at a level that we're accustomed to, it's a natural thing, media fan or otherwise coach, to try and figure out why. And this big elephant in the room is often atop the list of this is potentially why things aren't going great. It was a natural human reaction to whenever something ain't going right. It was a natural human reaction. Something ain't going right. The marriage is struggling.

Well, you look at the two people involved in it, right? That's kind of how it works. And with the scoring, and especially these last few games, you look at who's leading the charge and who's not. Whereas the last six goals that have been scored by this team yeah it's well even like the last four games they have now Besser and DeBrusque scored against Florida which is great but other than

that it's Joshua Heinen Sherwood with three and Sasson so the last six goals it's like Sasson Heinen Sherwood Joshua Soucy right and then you talked about the five on five goals you talked about what they're doing on the power play units. It is glaring. Glaring is a way to put it.

Okay, we're going to take a quick break here. On the other side, we can get into everything else that happened last night. There were a lot of other talking points. Thatcher Demko, great first period, great start to the game. Probably wants the Sergeyev goal back, although we're not going to hang that one on. We can ask Laddie for some analysis on that one. We'll take a look at some other individual players as well, and then we also have to pivot

to tonight's game. A huge test. A very difficult place against a very difficult team. The Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. The Canucks are going to go back-to-back. I assume it's going to be Kevin Lankan in the net tonight for that one. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

What we just have to call Thomas Drance Erotica. Thomas Drance Erotica. Course. Thomas Drance Erotica Corsi Thomas Trans Erotica Expectant Goals Thomas Trans Erotica Dog Model Thomas Trans Erotica

Run Russian Thomas Trans Erotica PDO 8.04 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford and Brough with Dodd, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in 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 3 of the program. Thomas Drance is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 3. Hour 3 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 sore feet what are you waiting for Kintec our next guest is a presentation of freeway Mazda or as Andy says it Mazda Thomas Drance joins us now on

the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650 what up Dr, Drancer? Yeah, I'm a Mazda sayer, too. I don't know why. Fair enough. Are you Data or Dada? Oh, who says Dada? Dada. You mean Data? Dada.

It's just Dada. But you know what? No one says it that way. The underlying Dada. Did it, Dada. What was the other one that we used sometimes? There's three of them. There's Data or Dada. Datum? No's three of them. There's data or data.

Datum? No, no, no. There's another. Mazda, Mazda. Is that singular to data? Yeah, data is plural. Wow. Is it past the past?

Wait. Yeah. Datum. Whoa. Blew my mind. Whoa. What? Do that again.

A piece of datum. A piece of information. Data is many pieces of information. I didn't know data was plural. I never knew that. Again, a piece of datum, a piece of information. Data is many pieces of information. I didn't know data was plural. I never knew that. We got trance on, and this turned into Canucks talk really quickly. This is like an early what we learned.

That's fantastic. Anyway, game last night. I know that you on social media were raving about the entertainment value late. Basically, from Gunther's goal onward, it was awesome. Everything before that, eh. Yeah. Yeah, 100%. I mean, the energy that you saw on TV in that building, and maybe it was aided, honestly, by the odd format of that building,

the fact that that building is straining to accommodate hockey, much like Barclays Center used to, which is still, by the way, a huge upgrade over what the Arizona Coyotes were playing in. You know, I thought it was tremendous. I was stunned by how quickly I ended up on the edge of my seat. The team started trading chances. The passion level felt very high. Didn't feel like for 55 minutes, I was like, well, this is a Canucks game.

And then for the last 10, I was like, this is a Canucks game. Let's go. And yeah, I mean, look, you have to enjoy those moments you get over an 82 game regular season where it really becomes quite captivating because an 82 game regular season ebbs and flows there there there aren't it these games don't have that level of energy more than five or ten times in the regular season and then you get to the playoffs and every single moment does right and you know i just felt like last night it was an incredibly fun watch especially once the game you know was really in doubt once gunther you know shot a change up past thatcher demko and leveled the score okay the next big topic of conversation uh the peterson

miller thing with pp1 and pp2 uh whatever direction whatever direction you want to go with this one, I'm not even going to ask a question. I'm just going to cede the floor to you because there's so many different ways we could go. But the Pedersen-Miller dynamic now stretching over to the power play. Yeah, and look, I don't know. I don't have the answer in terms of what the dynamic is

that's led to that decision. What I think we can safely say is Elias Pedersen is the most overqualified PP2 player in the league. Right. Like this doesn't happen very often on very many teams. You know what I mean? I mean, like I was getting people, people, I think, really noticed it last night, too. Like I was starting to get texts from people all around the league, just like, what's going on? Like, you know, there's that that there's no other team like you don't see mitch marner on pp2 or

you don't see miko randon or whatever right like it's just very strange to have a player of petterson's caliber with his lengthy track record of power play production uh on power play too and so it's it's odd it's notable it's something that other people around the league notice as being odd and notable and so yeah i mean i think we're right to side eye it i think it's wild to be totally honest with you well and it's not just peterson going down to power play too though drance right it's them it's peterson and miller flip-flopping between Power Play 2 between games right? Like it'd be one thing if it was

hey, I'm sending a message to the Power Play unit and I'm bumping Miller or Pedersen down for one game and then they're reunited next game but to do it the way where you know, against Colorado, it was Miller down on Power Play 2, Pedersen with the first unit and then reversed. It's weird because of the quality of the players involved. And then of

course the whole under, you know, overarching, uh, context of their relationship this season, how much in it's in the spotlight, it becomes even weirder when you factor that in. Well, I mean, at least power play to got a goal. Yep. But yeah, no, look, it certainly invites questions and conversation. Like that's all that's it definitely invites them. And it's very strange. And that's sort of I mean, I don't know the reasoning behind it to sort of go into it further than that. But it's another thing about this Canucks season where we look at it and say that seems weird that that seems off and that's sort of just kind of where we're at uh given that you know the the explanation the talk it gave

dan murphy yesterday right was just we're trying something different okay i mean i guess it worked they scored a power play goal so they got one from their second unit. Great shot by Denton Hine in there off the ricochet. Canucks have got a couple of ricochet goals in the last little bit and seemed like they were actually shooting for it a bit in Utah. So wouldn't, wouldn't even call it purely a bounce. I think they knew that they were active boards in that new building and

capitalized off of that factor. But, yeah, I mean, it's odd, man. It's really weird. One thing that I think caught a lot of people's notice watching Utah last night was just how fast they were and how many problems it gave the Canucks, especially in the first period. I know you pointed out on Twitter Utah wasn't able to take advantage of it, right? Maybe the extra pass a little too much, missing shots, all of that, but they definitely looked decisively faster than

the Canucks. Are you concerned about the Canucks team speed, or do you think it's more of an issue of just once they're able to move the puck a little bit better, all of a sudden they'll look a lot faster as a team? No, I'm concerned, and I'm concerned because we see it like it's one thing that we see it against carolina and new jersey and edmonton and i think we did see it in all three of those when the canucks have faced all three of those opponents but it's another when you see it against columbus and utah right and granted they managed to come back and take full control of that game over a columbus team that was playing the second leg of a back-to-back but we all saw that first period right and and it wasn't just the Canucks being flat although that was part of it right it was also there was a

serious matchup issue there right the the Blue Jackets are young and fast and outskated the Canucks and if they'd taken their chances on that night the Canucks might have been in too big a hole to come back um you know one thing that I one dynamic that I felt played out throughout the course of the evening yesterday was look Utah's impressive man like this is an impressive team right this is not a team that you're watching play and against the Vancouver Canucks and you're thinking like okay this is a team that's you know on their way up but they don't really have dudes like capital D dudes capable of sort of taking over a game you know Gunther, Keller, Cooley like those guys are dudes right like this is a team that actually might have the top end talent that they need.

And that top end talent's already making a difference in NHL games against great teams, right? That top end talent's already point per game guys or thereabouts. And so, you know, you're sort of watching this play out. It felt to me in the first period anyway, you know, when I say like this is a Canucks game, right? It felt in the first period like, okay, this i say like this is a canucks game right it felt in the first period like okay this is a young team that's pretty good right that might even be better well not even not might at the moment is better than the canucks are five on five and and it felt

like that throughout the game even when vancouver managed to you know score on the power play and then get a really impressive counter punching goal from dak Joshua but you know it felt like okay this is the cagey grinded out Canucks and Utah missed their chances and we know what happens when teams miss their chances against this Canucks team the Canucks are going to find a way to win this one and that's nearly how it played out except that Utah was actually able to battle back was actually able to hang and and so it doesn't turn into an opportunity squandered and a lesson learned for a young team it turns into instead sort of a flight for a Utah team that I think I mean first of all they're eighth in the west now by point percentage thanks to those two points that they

gained yesterday and I think we have to look at them as being every bit in this western conference playoff mix like i i think there's a real shot that this is a team that's going to play postseason hockey or or has a very good chance to if things break their way and if they continue to perform at the level that they have they're one of the best five on five teams in hockey period period, right now. And, you know, they've got a stable ownership group that I think we'd expect to swing big between now and the trade deadline. And they've got the assets to win the bidding for whatever player they decide they want, right? Like whoever they have designs on, they're going to have the draft capital and the prospects to make as good, if not better, an offer than almost any other opponent in the West,

except for Vegas because Vegas has the black magic factor. And so, you know, I mean, the – sorry, I've completely forgotten the question, which I often do while I talk to myself in circles. But the sort of takeaway that i that i had from that game was this is not this is an opponent now that's of a high enough quality that the canucks can't get away with it with their usual script right and i think that's an impressive data point for us to hold on to at least as it applies to utah well i mean i watching the game last night and i felt like as a young team that was maybe trying to figure it out they

would have felt hard done by that they hadn't scored on demko because he did make a series of really good saves in the first half of that game i don't know what the expected goals would have been or anything but yeah i was well over three i mean right demko performed expected by a bit which uh kind of segues nicely into what I wanted to talk about, which is not just that he's back, but he's a star-level goalie. He's early in his return from a lengthy injury,

and it looks like he's pretty close to his previous level. He might not be all the way there, but it's closer than I imagined that he would be this early in the process, which I think has to be a real positive thing for the team. Oh, yeah. And it's not just that the saves are spectacular, like that third period desperation save.

I mean, he saved a point with that incredible sort of sliding stop on Michael Carconi in the last minute. But it's the way that he's playing. He looks completely the same. Maybe not dialed and dominant the way that demko can get up to but that's you'd expect with normal rust right more than anything coming back from a completely unprecedented knee injury stylistically the way he's playing looks identical um and and frankly there's even moments where you can see the raw power and athleticism that's always made demko so special um so you know you combine that with him making

three starts across his first four games back or as a four and five four and five um you know practicing every day there hasn't been sort of maintenance days there's been nothing like he he's back and he's just back doing the job the way he's always done the job and at a very high level i mean you can't take anything but a huge positive from that away from this canucks team especially because you know with the way their game has trended over the past six weeks uh as they've dealt with some pretty significant absences. You know, I mean, they're trending to be a team that's going to need an elite goaltender.

And, well, they've got one. Speaking of games trending in certain directions, Dakota Joshua, what did you think of his performance last night and where his game might hopefully be going? Because as Rick Tockett said, it was good, but it was just one step in the right direction. Yeah, the goal obviously is an awesome play, especially with the hustle back, the skilled move to score. You love to see that. But it was the stuff earlier on, like that play where he, you know,

is sort of beating the Utah Hockey Club down ice, and Veg Melka comes out to play the puck and makes a pretty sketchy move and the Canucks almost get a you know a third gift from a goaltender charging out of their net of the season uh you know a tribute to Kachetkov uh once again uh you can see it on the forecheck his work as an F1 looked very much like the Dakota Joshua we saw be such an impact guy for this team last season right and that's that's, that's essential. I mean, that's an essential component of what he brings. It's been a little bit quiet in that area for him,

especially on Monday, for example, when he played seven minutes. Right. It felt like the down ice pressure, the return of his sort of torpedo game as an F1, almost like fueled the rest of it. And all of a sudden we got what looked a little bit more like a vintage Joshua performance. You know, even beyond the medical side of this, you miss training camp, you miss the first month and change of the season. It's going to take you some time.

Like it's going to take you some time to find your legs. He's well behind the eight ball relative to most of the other players in this league. And last night was just, I felt like a good, like, sliver of light, a sort of sliver of, hey, you know, I think this guy might be coming. This guy might be close to getting back to being the, you know, guy we saw be such a huge part of this team in a top six role in the playoffs last year. What are you watching for tonight against Vegas for the Canucks, Trance? Well, Vegas is an interesting opponent because the truth is

is that the five-on-five metrics on Vegas have been pretty meh all season long, and yet we know what Vegas is. We know how dangerous that they are and that's I feel like a far more similar profile to Vancouver frankly than this Utah team where you know I mean I think they're five on five fastballs one of the highest in the league right now like one of the six or seven teams that are hardest to skate with five on five that's the team that we just saw even though I think most people would look at the schedule and be like, this Vegas game's the more important one,

the more interesting one, the measuring stick game. And I actually think, well, there's truth to that because Vegas is the Pacific Division leader. We know what they are. We know what they can do. We know what Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev and company are about. In some ways, I thought Utah was going to be a tougher matchup, frankly. So, you know, you're in the second leg of a back-to-back,

and that's challenging enough. Vegas is a really tough place to play. And there is a styles makes fights factor here that I'm fascinated by. In particular, Cassidy and Taka have been working together on Team Canada's staff since the summer, exchanging ideas, tweaking systems, talking about how they should play. So you'd think that both these teams have

an especially good grasp on one another, not only because they're frequent opponents and frequent opponents where like for example last season pivoted pretty substantially off of Vegas cheating out high effectively with Hughes and Hronik right and and all of a sudden you know from that early December Vegas game on you can see that that you know those Hughes and Hronik interchanges that were such a big part of hashtag the start last season kind of disappeared. That space disappeared based on what Vegas put on tape.

So that's one thing that I'm always watching is Cassidy and Tockett and how they approach one another's attack is always fascinating to watch. I think this is two of the best defensive technicians in the league going head-to-head. And the other part of it would be that they're going head-to-head with teams that i think are built in some ways in a diametrically opposite way right vegas's engines sort of this one through six depth blue line right like their the blue their blue line depth is a key part of

what they do and then they're built down the middle and in fact when when sheep with sort of filling out their wing talent right in-house with guys like dorfayev you know brought in guys like holtz brought in guys like all of them like really sort of are trying to stick it together on the wings and and really double down on maintaining center depth and even adding to it with the Tomash hurdle deal not to mention the Noah Hannafin deal sort of bolstering their blue line and the Canucks have kind of decided to have more depth on the wings right with Lindholm walking for example Zdorov, Cole walking as the club went out and prioritized bringing in Dabrowski and Sherwood and Heinen so in some ways the Canucks are inside out. Vegas is outside in.

And so there's a team-building clash, like a philosophical clash, in terms of the roster construction that we're going to see tonight that I also think makes for an interesting contrast. Do you think we see Phil DiGiuseppe or Linus Carlsen tonight? Hmm.

I mean, for like, I'm just trying to think for whom, right. It felt like, I mean, are you taking Hoaglander out of the lineup? Possibly. That would be the one,

right? Yeah. Sasson, I guess. Yeah. Or Max Sasson. Yeah. I think it would be Hoaglander,

Sasson. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, right. Sasson. Is that the other one?

Data, data. That was the one I was thinking of. Um, yeah. I was the one I was thinking of. That was it. Yeah, I mean, maybe. Look, they got called up. They get a couple days of an NHL paycheck before Christmas. You know, I don't know.

Do you really want to change that lineup last night? I felt like they played pretty well. I think if you're taking someone out, I think it would be Max Sasson. And I don't know if, I mean, Sasson's been playing in the top six, and I thought he had another game where his speed played and where they needed that speed, right? I mean, that's the other part of this. Can you afford to take Max Sasson out right now,

given your need for speed up front? Which, you know, that need is significant, as we saw last night. Can you afford to take Max Sasson out? Exactly the question I thought we'd be asking on December 19th of 2024. Transer, Max Sasson leads the Canucks in five-on-five points per 60 right now. Yeah, with 128 PDO.

Same, facts are facts. Can't take that guy out of the lineup. Can't take your. Can't take that guy out of the lineup. Can't take your points per 60 liter out of the lineup. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, and Nils Hoeglander's, I think the goals per 60 liter across the last two years. So this is very much a stats are for the statistician who drowned in a lake with the average depth of a meter. All right,

Drancer. This was great, but thanks for taking the time to do it. As always, we appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. Should be a good one. Thanks buddy.

Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to your listeners. Thanks for having me all year. Merry Christmas to you as well. Thomas Drance, Thomas Drance from Canucks talk and the athletic Vancouver here on the Halford and rough show on sports net six 50. Okay.

Aren't you guys hosting like on Christmas Eve together? Not Christmas Eve. I think it's New Year's Eve. Oh, okay. Yeah. The 30th and the 31st.

Oh, okay. I think Drancer's doing with Josh or something next week, but like on Christmas Eve. Drancer and I are doing December 30th and 31st together.

Two-hour shows. We're really pushing the boundaries of traditional radio here. And we're off the year New Year's Day. And then back to normal Thursday, Friday. That's right, A-Dog. But next week, Monday and Tuesday,

so the 23rd and Christmas Eve day, it'll be Drance and Josh hosting the morning show. That's also right, A-Dog. Very well done. That's like what we learned. If you'd like me to give you extra details, December 24th show is from 8am to 11am. Odd hours, but it's a special show. Alright, we're gonna... Can I just saym. Odd hours, but it's a special show.

All right. Can I just say something quick? Yeah, sure. The Drance intro reminded me of Shorty's voice. Yeah. And it got me thinking about, what was the deal with that camera angle last night? Can we talk about that for a minute? You mean how they couldn't see the board?

No, no. When they showed them right before the start of the period, they did like the little... Oh, yeah, looking down at them. And it was like the sharpest angle I think I've ever seen. Very not flattering for Shorty. I apologize for Shorty. There were some broadcast issues last night. That's the dating site

selfie where you put the camera up high and you shoot it down on yourself, right? So high. I noticed that. I was like, what's going on here? So the camera guy, I'm assuming, was one row ahead of them and just kind of leaning down and pointing the camera as high as he could. They're still figuring out the whole hockey thing in Utah. How to set the building up and everything.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, the attendance last night was like 11,000. I thought it held more than that. It does, but there's something about the way the building is constructed. You could see they had whole sections kind of blocked off. And I saw also their owner, Ryan Smith, on Twitter yesterday was giving away, he called them single goal view tickets, so you can only see one of the goals, which is amazing.

To be fair, he was like, we don't normally open these up for obvious reasons, but hey, if you want a free shot to come in, I'll give some away here. So I think it's just the way the building is set up, that's the max they can do while giving everyone a legitimate view of hockey. So yeah, the 11,131

attendance higher than Mullet Arena, but they only count the unobstructed view seats. So the ones that are obstructed, they don't count, I guess. So there you go. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.