Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 12/20/24

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Halford & guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports, they talk yesterday's Canucks road loss to Vegas with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal, plus the boys tell us what they learned.�� This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Carlson still with it, trying to drive the goal. He scores! It's the second goal we lose our man, and that's it. Herbert to throw. Pump fakes, and now to the end zone! Caught! Touchdown, Chargers!

You want excitement? Shove this up your stockings! Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. 6.01 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford.

It is Brough. No, wait, it's Jamie Dodd. It is the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, and we are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jamie, good morning. Good morning. Almost called him Jason.

Adog, good morning. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to Good morning. Almost called him Jason. Adog, good morning. Good morning. And Laddy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Well, they pay the highest prices on scrap metal. 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. What are you waiting for? Kintec, we've got a big show ahead, and it's not just because we're leading into the Cure Bowl today between the Ohio Bobcats and Jacksonville. Big pregame show. I love it. I love bowl season.

Who kicks off at 9 a.m. on a Friday from Florida? The Cure Bowl. The Cure Bowl. We've got a big show ahead, though, in all seriousness. We've got a lot of guests to get into. We've got a lot to talk about from last night's Canucks loss, 3-1 in Vegas to the Golden Knights. Guest list begins today at 6.30.

Brady Henderson, our ESPN Seahawks insider, is going to join us. It is now essentially do or die time for the Seattle Seahawks if they want to keep their playoff hopes in a good spot. They take on the Vikings this weekend. Sunday, 105 kickoff

from Seattle. Vikings come in as two and a half point road favorites we'll talk to Brady about all that Seahawks trying to get a win at home where they have not been very good this season 7 o'clock, it's not AJ from AJ's Pizza Day, it's his lovely wife Teresa's going to join us she will set up the weekend that

will be at AJ's it's a very very busy weekend for them and set up their holiday hours as well in case anyone wants to go by and get some pizza over the holidays. 730 Moj is going to join the program. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. I, because Jason is on vacation, am the Dollywall handler this week. So I got all of the things Rick wants to talk about.

He wants to mention that there was no deal ahead of the Christmas holiday roster freeze. Breaking news. There has not been a deal. Repeat. There has not been a deal. Wait for it. No deal.

Nils Hoaglander, what does his future have after a healthy scratch last night in Vegas? And then Rick has Santa's wish list for all local sports teams. So we'll talk to Rick about all that at 8 o'clock. We have two contests today on the show. Not one, but two things to give away. First is going to be the PWHL Takeover Tour tickets.

Last day, we've given away every day this week, last day for a pair of tickets, the PWHL Takeover Tour on January the 8th at Rogers Arena. Rogers is a proud partner and fan of the Professional Women's Hockey League. Caller number five, caller number five at 8.15 this morning will get the final pair of tickets to the PWHL Takeover. The phone number, yeah, we have an active working phone here. 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650. Finally number again, 604-280-0650.

Finally, I mentioned AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. We are giving away a $100 gift card today. To the best, ask us anything or what we learned. All you got to do is hashtag them AUA or WWL. And importantly, put a pizza emoji into your text. You will be entered into the grand prize contest To win A $100 gift card to the best pizza place

On earth AJ's Pizza on East Broadway 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 No I missed all the action because I was We know how busy your life can be

What happened What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the B.C. Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools or resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Wild Bill William Carlson broke a tie early in the third period.

And the Vegas Golden Knights went on to beat your beloved vancouver canucks 3-1 at t-mobile arena on thursday night in las vegas and this was the obviously second leg of a back-to-back but just like they did in utah canucks opened the scoring again this time it was teddy bluger in the first period scoring a nice gritty net front goal and really the first the first 20 minutes overall, I think, very strong for the Canucks. They didn't give Vegas much. They were able to, you know, get the goal from Bluger, had some other decent chances. A lot of it was very hard working. And in fact, I think that's probably something close to the template for what Rick Tockett

wants to see from them on a consistent basis, right? There was nothing flashy about it. They didn't look like all of a sudden this high-octane attacking team, but they had their legs. They worked really hard. They were detailed, all of that, and they really limited what Vegas was able to do offensively that felt like an identity period, especially on the road in the second half of a back-to-back for the Canucks.

But, of course, Vegas is a very, very good team. You knew it wasn't going to be that easy. You knew they were going to push, and they did in the second in a big way. With a 1-0 lead in the second half of a back-to-back, Canucks only managed two shots in the period. Vegas in control firmly, and eventually Alex Petrangelo beat Kevin Lankanen with a slap shot. So, 1-1 going into the third and still you

know not a bad spot to be in considering the circumstances for the Canucks as you mentioned William Carlson wild bill scored early to make it 2-1 nice play from him going to the net Rick Talkett said after the game they kind of just lost their man on that one he makes it 2-1 and after that you know the Canucks had moments where they pushed a little bit they had a power play opportunity in there not a lot of really grade a scoring chances necessarily and then it kind of fell apart in the last couple of minutes right first Vegas was able to play keep away basically with I don't know two minutes left with a one goal lead for Vegas,

an extended shift in the Canucks end where they weren't even really trying to score. It was mostly just about possessing the puck. Then when the Canucks did get the puck, there was a whole bunch of confusion about getting Kevin Lankanen off of the ice for the extra attacker. We almost had a replay of JT Miller losing it on Colin Dealey in Winnipeg. He did that thing again. Well, he almost did, although this time, and you could see

Taukett on the bench, and it looked, I don't think he was motioning for Lankanen to come. He was holding up the stop sign, so which was weird because there was just over a minute left, and you're down, and you have the puck in your own end. It was very, very strange. Finally Lankanen gets off, but maybe because of some of that confusion,

they make a bad play in the neutral zone. Elias Pettersson turns it over. Brett Howden ices the game into the empty net. And the confusion with the empty net situation, I think it was especially surprising, and maybe it's telling about where the team is right now because under Rick Tockett, right? The Colin Dealey thing, that happened under Bruce Boudreaux.

Correct. Under Rick Tockett, I would say it's been a major strength of the canucks is their six on five attacking situations and even specifically how early they pull the goalie how aggressive they are and how sharp they are about doing it i think to the um i think it was you guys had the hollywood watch party yes for that big comeback against nashville yep that was two empty net goals late, and it was Archer Shelovs coming out in the buildup, right? Not waiting until we get into the offensive zone. We're going to get the extra attacker on to help the breakout, to help us gain the zone.

It was very clear they knew what they wanted to do. They executed it. It was really effective. It was completely different last night. They did not know what they wanted to do, and then they figured it out they didn't execute it so to me that is it seems like a small thing but it's also maybe very telling about where the differences are from this team last year versus right now this season and it ends with a goal and the insurance goal for vegas in a 3-1 win. So we'll do the micro to the macro,

what exists in a vacuum to the big picture. Excellent recap, Jamie. Thank you. Now, here's the thing. As Laddie gives me the, it was okay. Come on, Laddie. I've just heard better. The game itself.

Laddie's a tough critic. I know. The game itself was absolutely fine. The Canucks went on the road into a very difficult place to play, where I believe it's now 12 wins out of 15 for the Vegas Golden Knights this year at home, and I think it's 11 out of 12 against Western Conference opponents. So very difficult place to get a result.

The Canucks went in, played low-event hockey, played the Vegas Golden Knights about as straight up as you can. The shots were almost identical. It was essentially a one-goal game until the empty netter. If you want to look at all the metrics on that game, it was pretty even. So you'll say, all right, you didn't scratch out a point, but you put in a decent effort, and it's fine. The big picture, the macro, the difficult thing to ignore

when you're looking at small sample sizes and things in a vacuum is that i think we've officially reached the point of the proceedings where miller and petterson overshadow every single thing that's going on right now like if we're talking about one thing it's always in the shadows of this bigger thing or if we break down an individual play, we're almost ignoring the elephant in the room. Does everyone understand what I'm talking about here? It just feels like everything right now is happening adjacent to this issue

where Pedersen and Miller are not doing anything of significance on the ice with regularity. They're not producing. And you're leaving it up to your role players to try and get things done in moments where you would look at your star players and say, you're the highest paid guys on the team. You're the two of the most valuable guys

we have on this roster. You need to be difference makers with way more regularity than you are right now. Well, and that's where I have a problem with the idea that it was a fine performance. And we'll hear from Rick Chalkin, and that's kind of what he said. JT Miller and Elias Patterson combined for zero shots last night. That's not fine.

You know what I mean? So, yes, you were still able to play Vegas relatively close, but you could have been in a much better position if your two best guys had shown up. And by the way, at five on five, you can throw Jake DeBrusque and Brock Besser in there as well. They each had a shot on the power play, but nothing at five on five. So your four highest paid forwards, Pedersen, Miller, Besser, DeBrusque,

at five on five combined for zero shots on goal. It was guys again. It was the bottom six. It was Teddy Bluger, Pugh Suter, Kiefer Sherwood. Connor Garland had an all right night. You can call him a top six player. But it was those guys, Danton Heinen, who were driving the bus. And that's great.

But they're designed to be complimentary players, right? They had nothing to compliment, though. They were the guys doing it. So, okay, hey, it's great that even you can try to do the positive spin and say, well, hey, we got basically nothing from Miller and Pedersen or Besser and DeBrusque, and we were still right there in the third period. And, you know, we had a chance if we executed better to push and try to tie it up. That's fine. But it's a big problem that you're consistently getting nothing from your best players and zero shots from either Miller or Pedersen last night.

It's really tough for me to sit here and yeah, it's a tough place to play and it's the second leg of a back-to-back and say, oh, well, that's fine. Hey, we'll get them next time. Yeah. Zero points for Pedersen since Miller's return. It's five games now. Really? I haven't seen anyone mention that. You're allowed to mention it until he gets a point.

I'll grant you that. You're allowed to keep saying it until he gets a point because right now, it's glaring. And we can throw other guys into the mix right now. But at this point, and yes, it's an easy narrative, and yes, it's fun on a certain level, the gallows humor of it all, but this is Pedersen and this is Miller right now

firmly in the crosshairs because it's not close to being good enough from either of them. Drance wrote a stat last night on Twitter that they have the lowest shots per 60 rate at five on five this season of their career, of their careers, Pettersson and Miller. When you watch them play at evens, and we can get into the power play stuff in a minute, but when you watch them play at evens, and we can get into the power play stuff in a minute, but when you watch them play at evens,

they are generating chances at a rate that would be commensurate with what? I don't know, your regular or everyday third line player? Yeah. And this is part of the reason why over the last 15 games or so, the Canucks offense has been so one-dimensional so pop gun and so limited in terms of creating quality chances I know some people appoints firmly at Rick Talkin say this is the system and the style but this system and this style does allow for individual players to show their individual brilliance and make things happen.

It is a dynamic that is glaring, is super obvious, and most concerning, is not going away. Yeah. Doesn't feel like it's going away anytime soon. It seems to be getting worse, arguably, right? Like, Pedersen, in November, there were a lot of signs that, okay, hey, maybe it's still not, you know, you know elite elite petterson but he's having an impact on the game he's producing and that has really disappeared in december some people like adog are tying it to jt miller's return but it's also i think even been more noticeable because jt miller's not producing either right jt miller i think is on one five on five goal this year and

yeah he missed almost like they can't play together it's almost like there's something going on maybe it's weird and to the point about well it's rick tockett's system look i think he prioritizes defense i think that's the team's identity but they as you said it's career low shot rates for them right so it's like it's they were playing under the same system the same coach last year and they were able to have a lot more offensive success than they're having right now so it doesn't just come down to the same system, the same coach last year, and they were able to have a lot more offensive success than they're having right now. So it doesn't just come down to the system or the coaching or the tactics that Rick Talkett, you mentioned the power play. Yeah, Jamie, I have a question for you.

What the hell is going on with the power play? What a great question. And maybe we'll get some answers on Saturday when they come back home to face the Senators and there's more than one or two media members there asking Rick Talkett questions after the game game but to catch everyone up i think everyone was wondering what it would look like it was two games leading into this right colorado and then utah where one of them one of petterson and miller had been on the first unit and one had been

on the second unit right this time it was he switched it up even within the game right the first opportunity everyone's wondering okay what's going on it was petterson back on the top power play unit miller demoted to the second again right but then in the third they had an opportunity and he flipped it it was miller back up on the first power play unit and petterson on the third or petterson on the second and that's really notable because that was a power play when you're down a goal in the third period. So if there's a time for saying, okay, hey, guys, I know we're doing this thing, we're trying something new, but let's get serious and let's go get a goal here. I'm putting my two best guys out.

Why is he doing this? That's the moment. That's a great question, Ada. Why is he doing this? Well, it was seven words, right? They're trying out some different things. Okay, yeah, but that didn't work, and he's still doing it. So why is he're trying out some different things. Yeah, but that didn't work and he's still doing it. So why is he still trying out the different

things when the different things aren't working? Well, let's hear from the head coach now. Yet again, we can play his press conference in its entirety because it lasted a grand total of one minute and 16 seconds, I believe. Rick Talkett facing the media after last night's 3-1 loss to the Golden Knights in Las Vegas.

Seemed to be a ton of ice out there for our other team tonight. I'm sorry? Didn Seemed to be a ton of ice out there for our other team tonight. I'm sorry? Didn't seem to be a ton of ice out there for our other team tonight. No, I thought, well, it's a good hockey team. I thought we played well. Didn't give much. They didn't give us much. They capitalized and got the empty net goal.

You guys got the start you wanted tonight, the opening game? Yeah, we had a good start. Really liked our first period. They're a good team. They had a little press. Obviously, the second goal, we lose our man. And that's it. We tried to make a few presses.

But, yeah, we couldn't get that equalizer. You guys do get a power play in the third. At this point, you couldn't set up and get some quality looks on them? Yeah. You're hoping for, you know, somebody to get something going there. You know, and I think they're taking Quinn away a lot. So he's trying to dish it to some other guys. But, yeah, Petey had the one-timer and missed the net, but I don't think we had much after that.

Did you take positives from this game? Yeah, I thought a lot of good efforts from a lot of guys. I really do. Like I said, it's a 1-0 game. You know, obviously unfortunate that goal, and then we just couldn't get that second goal. And then, you know, a few chances there, Heinen on that shorthand with Sherwood um a couple of chances here and there yeah it's uh but we didn't give

him much let's you gotta take the positive over that would you think a pdg has only played a few games this year they played hard yeah i thought he did a nice job that was pdg at the end by the way phil di giuseppe at first i thought he said p'm like, wow, he's asking a Petey question, but no. Phil DiGiuseppe, who did draw into the lineup along with Linus Carlsen. That was over Nils Hoeglander, which was a story, and we can get to that in a little bit. And Max Sasson as well. Max Sasson was out as well.

When I listened to Tuckett there, I'm like, okay, he's just trying to get through this, and he's not really in the mood too much for talking. I also didn't disagree with the genesis of what he was saying because again i do think it was a fine okay performance on the road was it great no that's not the word i would use for that was it abysmal no now here's the thing a lot of people have pushed back on that latter part and they'll say offensively and watching this team struggle to generate chances, it is kind of abysmal. And I understand where you're coming from.

Listeners, I'm with you to a certain degree. I have a slightly different outlook about what's going on with the team right now. And it's that there's been a major struggle from the beginning of the year to implement that evolution of style that Taka wanted. You know, he tried to work on some things in training camp, and we're going all the way back to September here, but work with me chronologically. He wanted some things to evolve offensively. They wanted to get better on the rush.

They wanted to create more chances and be more dynamic offensively because they fell short in the playoffs last year. I think what happened was when it wasn't working and he saw the flaws, both in terms of their ability to execute and the lack of talent they have on the blue line, especially after the chronic injury, it was a lot easier to just be like,

we're clamping down. We're batting down the hatches and we're going to grind this thing out. And that's exactly what they're doing right now. They are grinding games out right now. And I think the, that kind of went out the window because of all the absences and the weird stuff, right? With Besser and then Miller, you know, Joshua, taking a while to come back, all of that, then Roenick.

So I understand that. Every time she loves playing. Yeah, exactly. That was tough. I understand that. But you're almost healthy now. Yes, Roenick's a big piece, and I think we're seeing how much he helps Hughes and all of that,

but still, I mean, what? He's like your fifth or sixth best player. So, okay, you're missing your fifth or sixth best player. That's tough, but that's something a lot of teams go through, and if that causes you to completely throw out, okay, well, we can't try to score then. We're missing our fifth best guy. Sorry, like all we can do is completely throw out. Okay, well, we can't try to score then. We're missing our fifth best guy. Sorry.

Like, we got all we can do is completely throw that out. And, you know, we're not trying to evolve anymore. We're batting down the hatches and we're playing defense. Like, that's an issue. That's a big problem. That's why people are frustrated right now. Because these are not aesthetically pleasing games. No.

The Colorado win and the Florida win were textbook. Like, they played a very good suffocating style. the Colorado win and the Florida win were textbook. Like they, they played a very good suffocating style, but if you're looking for flare points, you want flare on your suspenders. Like it's not the kind of style that you want to implement at all. Now, the big question moving forward is,

does this team have flip the switch ability? Are they going to be able to show more wrinkles or at the very least more ways to produce some offense that's the strategic on ice tactical stuff then we come back to and we're going to come back to this a few times the whatever is going on with Petterson and Miller whether they have individual struggles that have nothing to do with each other or whether their struggles are a result of the fact that they just can't coexist with one another. Everyone's talking about it out loud now. We're not talking about this in secrecy or in the shadows or behind the scenes, because when the play on the ice gets to this point where both guys are so ineffective, everyone notices and everyone is trying to figure out why. And I don't think that Talkett's weird power play deployment and then not really explaining it any other way

than we're just trying to do something new. I don't think that's going to appease anybody. I don't think it's going to help the players. I don't think it's going to help the team. The power play really needed that. That third period one where Dorofeev took the high-sticking penalty on Pettersson right after the Carlson goal, that was a prime opportunity

for a team that, if you're just trying to hang in a game and keep it a one-goal game, you're waiting for that exact opportunity. So you can't come out and do bupkis on the power play. You have to have something. You have to at least have a halfway decent chance. They had better chances on the penalty kill last night than they did on the power yeah it's a good point right

if you're going to play that okay we're going to really lock it down and play low event at five on five we're not going to give them much we know we're not going to generate much but that's fine you have to be able to take advantage on the power play and they did not look close and maybe because they only had one of their two highest paid forwards out there on the power play and to the point about you know them having to change their style and throw out some of that evolution tones text in that's why they're looking for a top six winger and a top four defenseman look obviously if you go and get the right top four defenseman and top six winger yeah the team's going to look a lot different but with the way they've played recently and we heard you know

frank ceravalli earlier, he told us earlier this week, he told us that they might be getting closer to landing a top four defenseman. We'll see what happens after the roster freeze on the other side of Christmas. This team's now on pace for 97 points. That's a playoff team, but that's not a Stanley Cup contender.

So how much, and I'm curious to get listeners' perspectives, your perspectives on this. I would be fascinated to know what get listeners' perspectives, your perspectives on this. I would be fascinated to know what Jim Rutherford's perspective is on this. At a certain point, your appetite for dealing what it would take to get a really good top four defenseman and what it would take to get an impact top six winger, your appetite diminishes if the team keeps playing like this, right?

If they cannot figure it out on the ice, if they're on pace for 95 points in mid-January yeah going out and making a couple of additions would help but is it going to turn you into a stanley cup contender and can you afford to give up the assets necessary i'm not saying they're at that point yet but they've gotten a lot closer than they were a month ago and it's only a handful of regulation losses away from them being on pace for like 94 points and then it's a real conversation so it's interesting because brough and i would always say you just defer that decision that you're talking about until demko comes back and you see what you've got now i know it's still early days for that

your demko but he's back and i would actually argue that at this current moment, their goaltending situation with Demko and Lankanen is better than anything they had last year. I know DeSmith had a nice little run at the beginning. I would say that Lankanen throughout this season has played better hockey consistently than DeSmith did at all last year.

So the goaltending's fine. They are playing with such fine lines and thin margins with this style of play that look last night lankanen lets in kind of a soft goal or a very soft goal depending on your analysis against petrangelo and they don't convert on a third period power play that's the that's the game for the canucks two instances in a 60 minute game that's how tight and how fine the margins are if lankan makes that save which the majority of time he probably does yeah and you know they score on the power play it's an entirely different game but at the same time it's like if my aunt had wheels should be

a bicycle kind of thing it did all you can sit away again it was right there for you but that's but the point is if you're're going to employ this style, you're always going to be in these coin flip situations. You're in a position where it's like, well, if we had just gotten one more save, but the best teams win by two goals sometimes. You know what I mean? And it seems a little beneath the team that was supposed to be taking the next step in their evolution, right?

That the goal was go further in the playoffs, be a more complete, well-rounded team. So I get the angst, and it's piling into the Dunbar-Lumber text message in basket at 650-650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. To the phone lines we go is one half of the dynamic duo

known as Donnie and Dolly on Check TV. Rick Dollywall joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Ricky D? Gentlemen, how's it going? We are well. I hope you are well as well. Let's talk about that game last night, 3-1 loss for the Vancouver Canucks in Vegas. First of all, because I heard you talking about this,

not a good night for the Canucks on the scoreboard because Vegas, obviously, they got the two. Edmonton, L.A., and Calgary all collected points last night. Last year, the Canucks spent most of the year atop the Pacific Division. Not this year. They're chasing teams big time. Right now, they trail first place Vegas by eight points. Canucks are fourth in the division. They're only one point up on Calgary. Now, the Flames are not going away. Everybody, can you believe this? They're in a wild card spot. Everyone's waiting for them to fold like a cheap tent. They're not doing it. They refuse to do so.

I actually give them a lot of credit. A lot of people thought Calgary might be a lottery team, and here they are. They're just a pesky bunch, well-coached, and they're not going away. You know, and it sure looks like a wild card spot for Vancouver if they get in the playoffs this year.

And the L.A. Kings, I think I heard you, Holford, say they've won 8 of 9. 8 of 11. That's the other thing. Canucks haven't been on a heater. This time last year, they had winning streaks of 4, 5, 6. They haven't got on that heater, but the teams in their division are. Like, you know, Vegas has been on a good run. L.A. has been on a good run la has been

on a good run and by the way the thing that's scary about the kings go look at their goals against i think it's one of the either one two or three in the nhl they're top to score on and they've had goaltending issues last three or four years so the division is a different division than last year this time so very interesting uh the the Pacific Division, 12 months from ago to where it is today. Now, you can't win in this league when your star players are shooting blanks. The last seven goals by the Canucks have been scored by Sherwood. He's got three of them, Bluger, Joshua, Heinen, and Sasson. That's great for those guys. That's not great for the Canucks. Patterson, no points in five games. Miller, two goals in his last 13. Besser, two in his last 13.

Garland, no goals in his 10 games. DeBrusque's gone quiet as well. Besser, Miller, and Patterson, they combined for one shot last night. One shot. That's got to change. Look, this team needs Miller and Patterson playing like difference makers or they're in big-time trouble. And look, I don't care about this thing that they don't like each other. Miller has done an interview in the past where he admits his – I think it was with Ian McIntyre. He admitted his relationship with Pettersson has been up and down.

That's not an issue to me. We've all been in dress rooms, every single one of us. Not everyone likes everyone, but you need every player pulling on the rope in the same direction or else there's going to be trouble. You don't have to go for a beer with the guy after the game, but when you put that jersey on, you better be prepared to play for every guy in that dressing room.

I don't see that an issue right now. And are you kidding me? Have we seen bad dressing rooms in this city before? Lyndon and Messier, that was a dysfunctional room, and not because of Trevor. Printers and Dickinson, after the great cup game in Ottawa that year, two Lions players went at it on the team bus. It wasn't Printers and Dickinson.

It was two other guys. I think, if I remember correctly, it was two offensive linemen. Rourke and Adams this year, same. Some said that the dressing room was split. Newsflash. Humans have problems getting along with humans. Look at the media fights

over the years. Our industry is bad. I knew two guys who did a show on radio for three months. They never talked to each other until they had to go on the air when the mic said on-air button went on. I'm not worried about the Canucks dressing room. The concern is how inconsistent this team has been. It looks great one night, looks bad another.

They rarely put together three good periods. What team's going to show up tomorrow against Ottawa? And Travis Green's got them 7-2-1 in their past 10, and they've won five straight. They won last night in overtime in Calgary. A lot of people are suggesting that the fix is going to come via trade, but there was no deal made prior to the holiday freeze, which went into effect last night at midnight.

Were you surprised that nothing got done prior to last night at 12 p.m.? No, I wasn't, Mike, and I'll tell you why. I don't remember so much hype around a Christmas freeze and the Canucks making a trade than this week. Maybe it's social media. I don't know. I'm not surprised they didn't do nothing at the deadline. The Christmas freeze isn't that big of a deal among teams in the NHL because not many games are played during it.

The pressure isn't huge to get something done before it, but what happens now is one reporter says the Canucks are close and everybody goes, okay, well, the Canucks are close. Now there's a trade coming. It never happened. The Canucks did try to make moves. They have been one of the more aggressive teams. They are looking for a top four defenseman and it's no surprise to anyone around the league. I still get the sense that boland byram is is one of their top targets so why not 23 years old full of potential can you imagine a byram tom will lander second pair in vancouver for years to come but one team told me

this week good luck finding a top four defenseman right now the prices are high teams want top prospects some teams are not ready to make a trade because they are still thinking playoffs good luck finding a top four defenseman right now. The prices are high. Teams want top prospects. Some teams are not ready to make a trade because they are still thinking playoffs. You know, some teams, you know, they still think, hey, you know, a couple of good weeks, we'll get back in the playoff race. So that's been a factor as well. But Capococco was very interesting to me. That was a trade by the Rangers, a 23-year-old second overall pick.

Every team in the league had interest, but the Canucks are not an asset-rich team right now. So Seattle gives up a right-shot defenseman, Will Borgen, and two draft picks, including a third-rounder. Well, that's a deal the Canucks couldn't do if the Rangers asked for the same deal from Vancouver, what they got from Seattle. They simply don't have the draft capital. Canucks don't have a third rounder this year. They don't have a third rounder next year. And they don't have a second rounder in three years.

But I got the feeling that Jim Rutherford is not going to sit idle forever. I can see a shakeup to this roster sometime in January if they continue over the Christmas freeze break to continue to play inconsistent every week. If they're going to be inconsistent, there's no way. Rutherford's not going to shake it up. This team is too inconsistent. Every week there's a new fire to put out as well.

Everything went right last year for these guys, and this year's been the opposite. And there is no way that Rutherford's going to sit pat next month if it continues the inconsistency. Rick, Niels Hoaglander, one of two forwards coming out of the lineup last night, healthy scratch, Max Sasson the other one, and I mean Hoaglander hasn't scored in forever, his ice time is way down and now a healthy scratch. Where is this going for Niels Hoaglander and the Canucks? Oh boy, Jamie, this one's a really, really tough one to figure out.

Okay, so this guy's gone 24. Well, he had 24 goals last year, right? So two goals this year. No goals in his last 26 games. 21 games without a point. Healthy scratch last night. How are you going to move him after hearing that? His confidence level is lower than a snake's belly.

I can't remember a player who had a great season like Hoaglander did last year, sign a contract extension, and then go straight into the toilet. The agent has already talked to this team a few weeks ago, and everybody agreed we're going to work together to try and get his confidence back. So I asked the agent last night, I go, hey, look, have you asked for a trade or do you got permission to talk with other teams? You know what I got? Zero response. That's telling. That's telling to me when I get zero response.

I've known that agent for many years. There has to be frustration. There has to be frustration. Just like Kuzmenko, it looks like Hoaglander is not going to work with Tockett. This may have passed the point of being fixable. Why sign him to a three-year deal did the gm not ask the coach if if you can work this with this guy for the next three years like what did that conversation not take place like not sure where you go from here his trade value is next to

zero why would pro scouts go to a canucks game to see Hoaglander and watch him either sit on the bench and play six to ten minutes or be a healthy scratch I'm not sure what the next step is here with this uh diminishing asset it is pretty wild because I can understand signing him so that when you eventually do move him there's cost certainty for the uh team that acquires him. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, they didn't sign him to move him. I know. Let me give you the breakdown of the signing. In the summer, they held some talks. They were very – nothing major happened in the summer, but there was contact between the Canucks because he's an RFA.

Look, Mike, there was no pressure to sign Hoaglander because he is cost-controlled or he's controlled because he's an RFA. You could have done the signing before any time in March, April, May, June, whatever. He comes into camp, and he's one of the most conditioned athletes on the team. So the team's like, oh, that's impressive. They call the agent and say, look, we're blown away by his conditioning. He's doing great. We want to set an example for other kids to come to camp

and be like Hoaglander, be in shape, and then boom. Okay, that's how the signing came about. And then now, I mean, I don't know how you could possibly move this guy. And I don't even know, Mike, what is the next step here? Well, no, the second part of what I was going to say there was when you've got a 24-goal scorer at that cap hit, it's great. You can move that around. It's not that he's not a 24-goal scorer.

He's a zero-point scorer. You didn't have a point. I've seen drop-offs in players' production before. I don't remember anything this staggering and this, like it's almost eye-popping when you look at his game log and it's 0-0-0-0-0. It's to the point where I don't even know if you can tell a good story about a Hoaglander bounce back because that's how far off he's fallen.

And can I tell you something else, Mike? When you look at every single Canucks winger on their roster, the Vancouver Canucks have drafted two wingers on their roster. It's Hoaglander and it's Besser. The rest of the wingers on this hockey club have been acquired through July 1st or a trade, waiver wires, whatever. The only drafted wingers on this Vancouver roster are Hoaglander and Besser, and the rest were acquired through other means.

You have invested so much in this guy. You sent him down to Abbotsford. The Sedin twins worked with him. He came back, scored 24 goals, and it just looks like this is not pocket sky. This is a duplicate of what's happening with Kuzmenko. And like I've already said it twice, I don't know where, Mike, where you go with this anymore. Like I just don't understand how it got to this point.

And look, the onus is on the player too. It's not like he just got Tuckett this year. He's had Tuckett for a while, right? It's not like Tuckett hasn't told him 100 times, check better don't take offensive zone penalties don't give the puck away be better in your own zone it's not like there hasn't the messages haven't been relayed but right now i i don't know how he gets out of this funk when his confidence is at 20 never mind 26 games without a goal, Mike. We're talking 21 games without a point. Point, yeah. Back to the Miller and Pettersson thing for a sec,

because the Canucks are going to return home on the weekend. They're going to have two games that are going to be fairly highly publicized. They're going to have a lot of people in attendance, a lot of media in attendance. With regards to splitting Miller and Pettersson up on the power plays, do you think Rick Tockett's going to have to address it? And if he does, what do you think he's going to have to say about it? Other than what he said already, which is a very curt,

we're just trying something new. Mike, go look. The Vancouver Canucks, okay, there was one reporter on this road trip. The Canucks didn't even send their in-house reporter. That is a very sad reflection of our industry, TV, newspapers, and radio. Like, that is a very sad reflection of our industry tv newspapers and radio like like that is a very very sad the vancouver sun in the province used to send two reporters like one each the paper is sending none radio is sending none our industry is in trouble rick talk it's post game press conferences were 90 seconds and a minute and a half.

That's not acceptable for Vancouver and a major market and a fan base and a media base that is looking for answers. Okay, that's bad. He's going to come back and now he's going to be asked why these two are both on PowerPlay One. But if you want to know why we don't have answers as to why both of them are not on Power Play 1, it's because the state of our industry and one reporter, and nothing against Dan Murphy, because he's got a live broadcast to do. Murph's the best in the business.

But he doesn't have time to spend five, six minutes with Talk It. He's got a live broadcast to do as well. But we can't get answers in the last two days because there's not enough reporters on the road to question Rick and ask him why, on God's green earth, do you not have your two best players on Power Play What? Before we let you go, we've got to do a very festive exercise here. You have a Santa's wish list for all of our local sports teams as we put a bow on 2024 and look ahead to 2025. Take it away, Rick! Alright, for the Canucks, a practice

facility, it's time. How much longer can this linger? When the Calgary Flames get their new rink, I think the Vancouver Canucks will be the only team in the National Hockey League without a practice facility. That's embarrassing. That's not right. There was word they had traction with UBC, but I don't know. There's so much red tape there. But come on. For the Vancouver Canucks, Santa is going to give you a practice

facility. It's time. It's time to get one. Cut out the nonsense that the land is too expensive. David Braley told me that 15 years ago. He was trying to do the same. Land is expensive in Vancouver. Yeah, we get it. But also by the same token, you're a National Hockey League team and you don't have a practice facility. For the BC Lions, a new stadium. Look at the

ones in Hamilton and Winnipeg. Football was meant to be played outdoors. I miss Empire Stadium days. The Lions, a new stadium. For the Whitecaps, a new owner who keeps them in Vancouver. I don't want to see another Grizzlies situation. For those of us that were there

and that covered it and that remember it, that wasn't fun. This city doesn't need to lose another sports franchise. They don't. Whoever bucks up to buy the Whitecaps, they need to keep them in Vancouver. For the Vancouver Giants, for owner Ron Toigo to bring a Memorial Cup

or a World Junior back to Vancouver, because nobody does big events better than Ron Toigo. For the BC Hockey League to always be the best Junior A League in Canada, to SFU and UBC never make cuts to sports. There's nothing better in this world than a kid with a dream to get a scholarship and the kid's working his ass off to get a scholarship. Make sure SFU and UBC have sports

so that kid can get a scholarship. Don't take that away. For Jason Brough, an interview with the CFL to be for their vacant commissioner's job? Yes. All right. Anything else? For Holford, a course on how to drive a bus?

So you don't bring me in at 8.04? I got you in at 8.01. In 8.05? 8.01 today. There are kids at BCIT that go to broadcasting school that look up to you, Holford, and you're bringing me in at 8.04. You've got to be a better bus driver. This was a nice sentiment.

It started out so kind and so warm and so fuzzy. Remedial BCIT courses for Halford. Point taken, Rick. One last one. I forgot about this. Hold on a sec. I forgot about this one. For Canucks Twitter, less

drama, more fun. Laugh more. You don't have to take this team so seriously. Canucks Twitter can be such an exhausting place. So much negativity and toxic people on there, it doesn't need to be. There's far more important things in life than this hockey team and Canucks Twitter. Laugh more. Enjoy more. You don't have to have so much hatred on Canucks Twitter be more happy Rick I want to end this on an uplifting note I was very pleased yesterday to see the video

of that you put out on social media of you diligently returning your shopping cart I'm serious this is right I heard you on the crossover I wasn't there but with trance on Wednesday and you said you were going to change you were going to to be better, and you're doing it. You're being the change in the world, Rick. That's what Christmas is all about. I'm proud of you. I was the guy when I go to save on, I don't always return my

buggy to the buggy place. I just put it on the island so it doesn't, you know, but I stupidly announced it to the public and I got a lot of heat for it. So I manned up, and yesterday I went to Savon, and I videotaped myself putting it away. And that's my Christmas gift to Savon Foods. Rick, you are the best, truly the best.

I want to thank you not just for today, but for doing this all year. It's been a lot of fun. We always love having you on Fridays, and it makes going into the weekend that much more enjoyable. Thanks for this, buddy. We really appreciate it. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and we will talk again in 2025. And quickly, Merry Christmas to you guys. I love doing this hit.

It's one of my favorite parts of the week. I love radio. I'm really, really discouraged with what's happening in our industry. Radio has been a big part of my life, and when I got a chance to come back with you guys, a huge part, 31 years I did radio. I need you guys to keep going for the people of Vancouver, but I just love coming on with you guys in the morning,

and you guys are doing a great job, and just all the best in the holiday season, and we will see you in the new year. Thanks, brother. Appreciate it. Love you, buddy. Talk soon. Yep, that's Rick Dhaliwal here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet. 6.50.

That was a surprisingly emotional hit with Rick. I'm in tears right now. Nothing better than a kid with a dream. Rick's videotaping himself, like, talking like, yeah, that was me. I just put away my shopping cart. Meanwhile, in the back yard, you see the cart, like, rolling into traffic. I feel like I was the only one that got an

unnecessary amount of criticism during that holiday wish list. You got the love of coal. Everyone else, it was like, here's a really nice thing.

Well, the dogs didn't get anything. It normally gets directed to Brough, but because he's not here, it has to go to you, Halford. He's not going to do

it to Dodd because Dodd is a guest host. That's true. He's going to be polite to him. But if it wasn't for the fact that Brough is here, he'd be getting all the heat instead. It's true. And he's going to be polite to him. But if it wasn't for the fact that Brough is here, he'd be getting all the heat instead.

That's true. And that was a very good Christmas list by Dahlia. Well done, and thank you, Rick. Okay, we do have time to get the ball rolling for what we learned. Jamie has two football, specifically NFL-related, what we learned. So take your time. We got a lot of time. We don't have to go right to break because we don't have to come get rick right on at 8 30 so feel free stretch your legs you've

got two nfl related what we learned one includes audio if i'm not yes it does but i'll start with the one that's just uh just text here i mean i guess it's all audio because it's radio so it's audio for for the listeners anyways uh my first what we learned, this is courtesy of Paul Daner Jr., who covers the Cincinnati Bengals for the Athletic. Reported yesterday, quarterback Joe Burrow gifted his offensive lineman authentic Japanese katana swords for Christmas. Daner says, all the swords are unique. Each one comes with its own story from certain towns or battles. So apparently these are authentic battle

used japanese katana swords he put them all in a room and had the linemen pick theirs out and this is the quote that i love most from left tackle orlando brown who says joe does a great job buying gifts that are extremely meaningful the fact that he bought me a sword it's the most ancient form of respect i didn't realize that it was the most ancient form of respect. Neither did I. But there's some real, like, martial stuff going on in the Cincinnati Bengals locker room. Joe Burrow paying his offensive lineman, quote, the most ancient form of respect by giving them katana swords.

I do love this because it's been an annual rite of passage going all the way back to dan marino and his isotoners yeah that you get your offensive linemen a gift they're the guys that protect you the only thing i don't like is that it used to happen away from the spotlight it wasn't meant to be anything more than a genuine act and gift of appreciation for the guys that keep you from getting killed on a weekly basis it wasn't meant to be for public consumption now i feel like guys are kind of putting it on a little bit so for example this is laying it on a little thing right like it's cool i like a katana sword as much as anybody i i'd take one gladly but now all of them are getting a lot of publicity yeah uh patrick mahomes in case you missed it someone figured he spent close to over a hundred thousand dollars on a on his old

lineman gifts they get he gave each one a rolex a pair of norma tech recovery boots sure not exactly those aren't cheap don't really know what that is it's those big things they put on their legs to help them recover it like squeezes their legs and helps the blood flow. They're not cheap. All right. That's a good gift. Jamie seems very uninterested on this deep dive into the Armature Recovery Booth. That's a solid pull.

A pair of Oakleys and a Yeti cooler. So he ran the gamut with it. Brock Purdy, he got them all cars, right? He got them all Toyota pickup trucks. Now, the weird thing about that is Brock Purdy makes less than all of his linemen. Like Trent Williams makes so much more than Brock Purdy does. Well, here's the thing. It ended up being sort of a paid advertisement for Toyota.

Okay. It was very obvious that on the low rookie scale that Brock Purdy has, he still makes more money than a lot of people. Don't get me wrong. But it kind of seemed like it took the offensive lineman gift to the next new awkward level. Yes. Which is sponsorship. Yeah, it's Spokane.

Yeah. And it's like, ooh, this is getting really awkward. It's also, I mean, I don't know, you know, when you get married, right, and you do like the groomsman present. It's like that's a lot of effort. A lot of thought goes into it yeah you have to do that every year could you imagine whoring that out like this groomsman present brought to you by zales but also like it was hard once that now to think of something

that's like oh it's really special and meaningful now you got to do it every year for these offensive linemen how is joe burrow gonna one-up himself on the authentic battle-used katana swords? He really should have gone on the hierarchy of swords and started low. Here's a dagger made out of stone. And then gradually worked your way up to katana. Gone to the Bronze Age. Anyway, let's mookow that one. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.