Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 12/29/25

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

Brough and guest host Josh Elliott-Wolfe look back at a busy weekend in sports, they discuss Saturday's disappointing 'Nucks home loss to the Sharks, plus they preview tonight's road matchup at Seattle with Canucks Central host Satiar Shah. 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. Sam gets hit as he throws, ball is caught near side. Border five. Touchdown. Cahawks. great job by Sam Darnold Alan looks he's back he's firing and is incomplete the Eagles win he threw a pass

for Shakir and it wasn't even close it's not good enough so deserve what uh deserve the outcome good morning welcome to Halford Obruff still know Mike Halper he's still on vacation so you got me Josh Elliott Wolf filling in but the rest of the cast and crew are back

including Jason Brough. Good morning, Jason. Good morning. How are you doing, buddy? It's been a while since we work together. Yeah, I know. I missed you so much. I'm doing great.

Good morning, Adog. You missed him? You really missed him? I missed him so much. That's what I just said. He's lying. He's just being polite. Being very polite.

That's the goal. Good morning, Laddie. Welcome back. Hello, hello. Halford & Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score Debt Freedom Hattrick. No more interest, much lower payments,

and financial peace of mind. Visit sans dash trustee.com. and Halford and Brough is brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal since 1926. Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive, downtown in Richmond, and at duik Auto Group.com. We're coming to live from the Kintech Studio.

Happy holidays from all the team at Kintech Footwear and orthotics. They do two things. They do multiple things. And orthotics. All right. What are we doing on the show today? You're driving the bus, young man. Yes.

It's a heavy show to do. day for guests, including Chris Peters, who starts it off at 630, content manager for Flohockey. We will get into the World Juniors in Canada. They won both their games over the weekend, and there are no concerns from anyone at all. They look terrific. Everyone's super cool with them. I actually think they need more little cute, fancy passes.

That's more of them, right? Because we didn't see enough of them against Latvia, so we'll ask Chris about that. Or can they do even more fancy passes that don't lead to any goals? Yeah, that's the recipe. And then, well, I also want to talk about McKenna versus Stenberg because I feel like McKenna's, he's getting the hype, but I still want to see more from Gavin McKenna. I think we all do.

7 o'clock, we're going to talk to Mike Tenier, writer, editor, founder of the Two Deep Zone, about week 17 in the NFL setting up three very, very big. games over week 18, including one, the Seattle Seahawks will be involved in against the San Francisco 49ers for the division and the number one seed in the NFC, a huge game that will not be on Sunday night. It will be on Saturday night. So we'll talk to Mike Deere about that and everything else that went on over the weekend. 730 in Furness, host on Sports Radio KJR in Seattle, TV studio host for the Cracken. The Vancouver Canucks play game tonight against the Seattle Cracken,

who I often forget exist. They beat the Flyers last night, though. They did. And they're technically by Drance points percentage in a playoff spot right now. Are they really? They are. What? In the final odd card. I don't know. It's been a weird season for the Seattle Crack. The division is no Bueno. Yeah. And then at 8 o'clock, we'll talk to Saty R. Shaw, I know him, from Canucks Central. about everything going on with the Vancouver Canucks, including a loss over the weekend. So working in reverse, 8 o'clock, Saty R. Shaw, 7.30, Ian Furness, 7 o'clock, Mike De Nere, and 6.30, Chris Peters.

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

What happened? Miss it? 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 BCCSA.ca.

We will start with the Vancouver Canucks who fell to the youthful, fun, full of energy, San Jose Sharks 6 to 3, the first time since 2019 that the Canucks have lost at Rogers Arena to the San Jose Sharks. 6-3, Macklin Celebrini, looked pretty good, and the Canucks, the bump, the post-Quin-Hughes trade bump where they won four in a row. It is now over. Yeah, which was a bit of a PDO bender as well, too. They were getting the bounces and getting the saves, and a lot of their shots were going in against San Jose. They weren't good. And Adam Foote said before the game that the Canucks needed to start playing better at home.

And then after the game, he said they weren't ready to play. So when your head coach before the game says, we got to improve our home record, we've been not good at Rogers Arena. And after the game says, we weren't ready to play. I'm kind of mad at everyone for that. The Canucks fell to 4.11 and 1 at home

with that sluggish loss to the San Jose Sharks. Elias Pedersen returned to the lineup and looked, I don't know, okay, I guess. No points, but he looked fine. They didn't, whatever. It wasn't close to matching what Celebrini did for the sharks. And, you know, Celebrini is probably going to go to the Olympics with Team Canada. He's only 19 years old. Terrific hockey player, Ray Ferraro during the broadcast, kept comparing him to Sidney Crosby,

and it was hard to disagree with Ray on that take. Now, Canucks fans, as usual, are in a bit of a weird spot where they're fighting amongst each other. That doesn't happen. Yeah, no, it does. Believe it or not. Oh, it happens. I was unaware. Yeah.

Yeah, sometimes on social media, which I participated in yesterday and talked later about how to go. You know what? You know what? It went pretty well. I don't go on social media that often anymore and go on rant. But when do you do, bud? But I took the gloves off yesterday. So here's something I want to discuss.

If losses are a good thing for the Canucks because you want to get a good draft position, right, this year, and most people have given up on the hope of making the playoffs, why are people like myself still frustrated with the performance on Saturday? and I think it starts with this idea that the Canucks are going to attempt this hybrid rebuild where yes they will trade their pending UFAs because that's just common sense and they can start doing that anytime soon but here's the thing it also sounds like they want to keep a lot of their veterans and a lot of those guys were playing against San Jose so you're

like, why do you want to keep these guys? And that includes both goalies, according to Thomas Dranswood, he's been reporting, both Demko and Lankan in the way Drance described it in the athletic. This is a very Dranth sentence, so just

bear with me for a sec. The Canucks intend to mute the usual competitive urgency, which means trying so hard to win, that has underpinned so many organizational mistakes across the past 10 years and keep an eye on the future while avoiding a total tear down and maintaining a robust base of veteran players as mentors for their younger

pieces. I think it should be noted that the Canucks are a relatively healthy team right now. They're still missing Heidel, Blugher, and Forburt. Heedle's been out on the ice, so maybe he's a few weeks away. Good to hear that he's feeling better. But as mentioned, Elias Pedersen is back and Demko has been starting a bunch of games, including Saturdays. And they're still laying massive eggs at home against teams like San Jose. So why a hybrid rebuild? What is the argument to keep these veterans who are more likely to depreciate in value than appreciate? Is it to maintain the culture? To avoid losing? Okay, but what culture exactly? And they're already losing. Like, what is the, why is there this, this desire from the Canucks to keep these veterans that they already have

under contract? You can bring in veterans. You can bring in veterans to help out the young kids. You can bring in guys, give them one or two year contracts. They can be affordable. They can be good guys. They can be good in the room. Maybe they're a little bit older, so they're not quite as good as on the ice, but they're good in the room and they can teach the young guys. You know, one guy I want to talk about, well, there's a couple guys I want to talk about. And, you know, one of them is Brock Besser. He had a really quiet game, offensively speaking. I couldn't believe he was one of the guys out there on the five on three penalty kill, but, you know, that's another topic for another day. I know it's been hard for Brock ever since J.T. was traded. He's played a lot with David Comf this season,

and that's not a playmaking center. He hasn't shown much with Pedersen or Rossi either. I guess he's been out there with Sasan a little bit too. And this is one of those veterans I'm talking about. What purpose is Bessor going to serve the Canucks over the next few years? We all remember last season when it looked like he was gone in free agency. The Canucks tried to sign some other guys. able to do it and then decided the last minute to bring Besser back. So clearly they weren't terrified of losing him. Now they might be stuck with him. Is keeping Besser going to drive the culture to a better place? Brock is by no means a bad guy or bad teammate, but is he going to be worth this contract? What is he going to bring to the team? If it's scoring, then he needs

to start scoring more. The other guy is Jake DeBresk, who is apparently going to be a healthy scratch tonight against the Seattle Cracken. I mean, where are you, Josh, with this idea

of the hybrid rebuild? And do you think that means that they're going to keep a lot of these guys that they have

under contract? I mean, it seems like it. In terms of where I'm at with it, I mean, I don't support it.

I don't love it, especially because as you mentioned, it's, we see these guys and we've seen them for a while not have much

success in Vancouver. And if you're looking for reasons to be like, okay, as Alvin said, we can retool it with a little bit of a hybrid form, which is wild to say. I just don't see, to your point, what you're building on with these players specifically at the moment. And I also think that there's this hunger or willingness from the fan base at this specific moment where if you went and you said, hey, we're going to go, we're going to try to trade. as many of these veteran pieces as we can over the next few months into the summer, see what we can get for them, get as many picks, as many prospects as possible. It feels like they're afraid to do that because they're afraid, A, of what the fans are going to think, be probably what ownership is going to think.

Season ticket base? Yeah. And to me, for most of the fan base, I think they would welcome it with open arms and having exciting young players playing at Rogers Arena, even if they're playing during losses, if they're doing exciting things and you can see the roadmap to being successful, I think fans will buy in,

but right now the roadmap to being successful, especially if they don't move any of these veterans, I just, I don't see the roadmap. And the frustrating thing, I think the most frustrating thing in all of this, is that I think if they, not even fully committed, like half committed,

traded two or three of Alias Patterson, Connor Garland, Brock Bessor, Jake DeBrasse, Thatcher, Demko and you got a picks or prospects back, I think that would be enough combined with trading, depending on UFAs, that in a few years we'd look at this team and be like, man, they had a bunch of picks,

they had a bunch of prospects a few years ago, now look where they are. I just wanted to talk about what the Canucks are missing right now, and this might be obvious to some people, but not so obvious, apparently, to others. Because if the goal is to win a Stanley Cup, okay? God, you need great players.

You need game changers, game breakers. And this is what I tweeted out after the Sharks game. Except for Demko, you can't stay healthy. there's not a single game breaker under contract for the Vancouver Canucks right now there's no true number one center unless you know PD decides once in a while to be a number one center but he hasn't for a while that'd be cool there's no true top winger there's there's no you know like they got wingers they have a lot of complementary winger that aren't complementing much at the moment like when you think of top wingers in the

NHL, you think, I don't know, Pasternak or Kutrov, or even Marner in Vegas, they don't have one of those. There's no true number one defenseman. Philip Peronik's a good player, but he's not going to be in the Norse conversation, ever. And, you know, Zeev Boullium might be one day, but I mean, look, you don't, you don't get these guys that easily. You just don't. Zeev Bouillon, if he can be as good as Philip Peronik, that's a win.

You know, that's an absolute win. So you don't have any of those key position players. And, you know, if you do have a number one goalie, that number one goalie can't be trusted to stay healthy. As much as he hates that narrative, it's been true for the last little while. So good luck with the hybrid rebuild. And how are you going to get those guys? The way to get them, unfortunately, is through the draft.

It's very rare to get them in a trade, which is why the Quinn Hughes story was so big around the league. It was like, oh, my God, this actual Norris trophy winning defensemen is available. Yeah. This is crazy. This never happens. I shouldn't say never because, you know, Jack Eichael was traded to Vegas, so that was a number one center.

But like, it's rare. And most of the time, you're thinking, okay, we got to rely on the draft. So how are they going to get these guys? And it's not just enough to get one of them, right? Like, you need, if you think about that 2011 team that the Canucks had, they had Henrik Seneen who won the Hart Trophy, right?

Any won the Art Ross, I believe. Daniel Sadeen won the Art Ross trophy. So there is your number one center and there's your elite winger, right? They were a package deal. You had Ryan Custler, who won the Selky Trophy as your number two. Now, they didn't have a Norris Trophy winning defensemen, but their blue line was deep,

and they had a first ballot Hall of Fame goalie. Yeah, it was awesome. And it still wasn't good enough, because you went up against a team that had a Bergeron, who's a first ballot Hall of Famer, and Chara, who's a first ballot Hall of Famer, defenseman. and Tim Thomas who played like a first ballot Hall of Famer

like that's the bar and I know I say that too much on the show for the regular listeners I'm like the bar is high but sometimes I feel like the bar has been lowered so far in Vancouver that we forget all the great players all the great players that you need

plus you need the supporting players in order to legitimately compete for a Stanley Cup a few years ago it looked like the conucks were kind of almost there you know PD looked like a legit number one center. And then you had J.T. Miller, who was, you know, some people who said, like, he's the number one center. And you could kick him off to the wing, too, if you needed it. Brock Besser was an all-star. And Brock Besser, with a guy like J.T. Miller played even better. And you had

Quinn Hughes, number one defenseman. Thatcher Demko in goal. Well, all that has kind of fallen apart because Miller's not here anymore. Hughes isn't here anymore. P.D.'s not here anymore. And Thatcher, Dempco can't be trusted to stay healthy. So you go. ought to start again. Like, you can't, you can't salvage what is here. Well, and it should be obvious when you trade Quinn Hughes, right? Like, that should be the first signal and the, the main signal of like, okay, this didn't work. The era's over. And you can keep trying to cobble together whatever you want over the next few years, whether it's, you know, hoping that Olius Pedersen is going to bounce back or betting on these veteran players that you, you did resign over the summer

and extend over the summer. And you can keep trying to add around the edges. But to your point. It's like it does feel like you just need to commit and find a way to get meaningful impact players. And the only way that's going to happen is via the draft and the only way you're going to give yourself as many shots at the can, as many kicks at the can as possible is by trading some of these guys who are locked up long term. And not only that, like, you also got to think about when you're going to be competitive and when you're going to be in an actual window. And if those guys fit within that. And for someone like that, Dr. Demko, I'm kind of at the point where Connor Garland, maybe Jake DeBrusk falls in that too, where they're 29, 30 years old, where

I'm looking at this team three years from now at minimum is when they're going to be actually competitive. And I kind of don't believe that those guys are going to be meaningful impact players three years from now. Or at the very least, I don't think they're going to be more impactful than whatever you get back in a trade for those players. Yeah. And so weighing those things out, like, it's just, it's so, it's frustrating for us. It's frustrating for fans to look at what this team is doing and go, like, we see them spinning their tires in the mud, and they just keep going, ah, we're going to keep spinning a little bit more. And eventually we'll get out, and it's just, it's not, it's not happening. Yeah, you have to wait for the toe.

Yeah, wait for the tow truck. And sometimes you have to call the tow truck. Yeah. And they're not doing that. Celebrini was fun to watch though. He was. Man, is he good? And I was thinking, watching that game and, you know, I think most of us generally figure he's going to be on that team.

I don't know about Bedard, but I think Celebrini's... The injury might have kind of Goddard's chances. The Blackhawks have fallen apart. Yeah. But I was thinking about the Ford group that Canada is going to have at the Olympics in Italy. and I know we're all rightly worried about the goal tending and like I don't think their blue line is as good as it's been in the past

when you look at the group that they had in 2010 here in Vancouver I mean that was incredible that might have been the best blue line ever assembled but Canada's forward group this might be this might be the best forward group ever assembled in international hockey it's going to be insane when you've got McDavid,

McKinnon, Crosby, and Cellebrini leading the way. I know people will be upset if Baderd doesn't make the team, but if Canada can't score this tournament, it won't be because they don't have Baderd, right? It'll be because a team with McDavid, and Crosby and Cellebrini somehow can't score. Plus a lot of other really great players, some first ballot hall famers,

in the mix there again I know that a forward group is not going to you need more than just a forward group you need a really stout blue line and I am looking at that blue line and going hey that's good but it's not as good

as ones in the past and the goal turning I guess Logan Thompson's going to be the starting goalie so we'll see how he does if the coaching staff believes in them but it would be crazy if they don't bring them at this point but this forward group is insane Yeah.

Can you imagine, you know, you're in the American shoes or the Swedish shoes and you're like, how do we shut all these guys down? Yeah. Like McDavid gets off the ice and it's like, oh, a break. Oh, great. And then McKinnon flies on there and you're like, oh, my God. And then, all right, okay, we got all our checkers out against these guys and then Celebrini and Sid come out the door. You know, it is incredible. And I cannot wait for these Olympics.

I think they're going to be awesome. And don't forget, it's December 29th today. So December 31st, New Year's Eve is when Canada makes the roster announcement. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Welcome in Chris Peters, content manager for Flow Hockey. This is not going to be fun to hear in Vancouver. This may not be a great year to have the number one pick.

So that's just, you know, like that's been the chatter here. at the World Juniors, even among the scouts, is like, boy, I'd hate to be picking one because I don't know who I'd take. That's not a great place to be. When you say that, is it just like, hey, you don't want to make the choice between these guys that might be in the top three, or is it just a weak high-end overall if Gavin McKenna doesn't pan out the way we thought he might? I think that a lot of the scout, like, you know,

what may not be known as much by the public, I don't know, I mean, the public pressure on whoever's picking number one is often a factor. You know, and we were talking about it, it's like if you're one of the Western Canadian teams, it's kind of down towards the bottom, and everyone in Western Canada has been hearing about Gavin McKenna for years and years, you know, isn't there, you know, that's the guy they want. And so, you know, there could be pressure to make that selection. But, you know, I think that there's, the reason that they're, they're nervous about this is that, yeah, you don't want to make that mistake. And if there's pressure on taking McKenna, if everybody expects you to take McKenna and then you don't, and then McKenna does pan out, then you're in real trouble.

That's when you lose your job, those kinds of things. So there's pressure on that. So a lot of teams want somebody else to make that decision for them and then just take the next guy that's available. And I do think that there is a bit of it where the high end of this draft is not where we thought it was going to be. We haven't seen it. There's a lot of uncertainty. But it is one of those years where it's just like, all right, well, we'll just take the next guy. Like some people have said maybe the best position is actually three in this year's draft because you might get, you know, but yeah, it's, and, you know, if it's me, if you're asking me, you always want to pick one.

You want to have the option of every single player, but you also have to make that decision. think back to Montreal, they made a decision when everyone wanted Shane Wright. They took your ice love Kofsky. That's kind of worked out, but it actually, neither one of them has been the best player from that draft. So, you know, either, you know, in the end, you really never know until things happen. So it's been a very intriguing conversation this year that is starting to remind me more of the Nico Heeshire here where we're just like, who is it?

We don't know. Is it him? Is it Nolan Patrick? And then all of a sudden, actually, it should have been killed. a car. So a lot of things can happen this year. Hey Chris, really appreciate you taking the time. Enjoy the rest of the tournament and with where the Canucks are, I'm sure

we'll be talking as the season goes on here. Sounds great, guys. Thanks for having me. There is Chris Beater's content manager for Flow hockey and it does, like the more the season has gone on, the more research I've done and the more we've heard from prospect analysts,

the more I've just been like, as long as you're in the top three. That would be very funny though. The Canucks finally, finally get first overall. And there's no consensus number one. It's like, oh, come on, man. Why does this keep happening? I mean, it's hard to, it's hard to ignore McKenna's stats in the dub. Like, they're incredible.

Yeah. But then this year happens. Then, then I'm watching them. And I'm like, yeah, there's obviously some elite talent there, an elite vision. but you know why is he playing the wing question is in the back of my mind

and there are been a couple times when I'm like man he's not getting back very quickly and when you hear you know about you know does he have the motor and you're like oh I don't love that like that because like you know you would never

question you know you watch celebration you're like that guy's got a motor you watch Bard he's got a motor he's got a motor You know, but Dard has had to figure it out defensively, and I think he's still got work to do there. But, yeah, imagine if the Canucks finally get the first overall pick, and they're in this position where, you know, they've either got to, you know, pick Gavin McKenna and hope the hype is real.

Yeah. Or not pick him and hope that they didn't make, like, a franchise-altering mistake. That's why Chris brought up a good point where it's like these teams of Western Canada like Jamie Dodd has been talking about Gavin McKenna I think since he was like 12 years old and it's just like there's all this public pressure on whatever team gets first overall especially if it's Vancouver or any Canadian team to take Gavin McKenna because he's the Canadian and here especially it's always like ah there's not enough Canadians on the team yeah you just

really have to be sure about about his character you just really have to be sure that he's not going to be, I don't know, Alex Dague, you have to be sure that he loves hockey and that he loves putting in the work and that he wants to do it. Because, you know,

these kids, even though they're only 17 or 18, they've been playing hockey a long time. And for some of them, I think it's just like, man, this is a lot. Yeah. Like, I'm, you know, I'm, like, this is, and you're telling me I have to work even

harder when I get to the end. NHL. I mean, I can't just get by on my elite vision anymore. I have to put in the word play. Everyone's good here? Yeah. You know, the stories you hear about Bedard, this offseason around town, is that he was telling everyone like, I'm going to be better.

I'm going to be. So he's driven to be better because it wasn't all roses for him in the first couple of years in the NHL. Yeah, he won rookie of the year. But I think a lot of people, including myself, even were like, yeah, I thought it'd be better, you know? Because the hype was so big and he's getting. all these commercials and I see them on on the TV all the time and you're like yeah okay and then

you get to a point sometimes you're like oh this is actually hard so I've got a choice here either I'm going to kind of avoid the problem or I'm going to tackle it head on and it sounds like he tackled it head on and look at the year that he's had so far you know yeah he's injured right now and he might not make the Olympic team and he might not have made the Olympic team even if he had stayed healthy but he put himself very much in that conversation so you have to get to know these guys and what makes them tick and you have to get honest answers from the people

around them and you have to make sure that their character is high and that they are driven to keep doing what they've been doing. We get a text Mike in Mexico. Canucks will always pick a swede if they get first pick. The thing is Mike, like that might be the right pick this time. That might be the right pick. I mean

Stenberg does look great. But I don't know man. I'm kind of team Stenberg now. It's so hard to ignore McKenna's vision because that is just so rare. Yeah. Like, that's the thing. It's like, yeah, he may miss and not his ceiling,

but very, very few players have that ability that he has. Well, the vision, yeah. Even if you might criticize the perimeter play, maybe he's a bit soft, but, like, that vision is like, nobody has that. Like, very few guys have it, right? So, yeah, maybe Stenberg looks great, and sure he'll, I'm sure he'll be a great player.

I'm sure, like, if the Canucks end up getting Stenberg, like, nobody's going to complain about that. I guarantee people would. Well, maybe some people would complain about that. Yeah, he was sweet. But, I mean, like, Senberg, he's going to be a great player. Nobody would complain about that. A lot of people would complain.

A lot of people complained about that. But what I'm saying is like, Semberg is a very good constellation prize. But again, like McKenna, like, if the conducts get first, oh man, passing on McKenna is such a huge risk. Because of that amazing. I don't think they would.

You got to take a chance on that vision. So if you guys have it. I think you got to look at what he did in the WHL and go, yeah, maybe he had a down year. Maybe we're going to need to work with them. but anyone that can put up the points that he did in the dub, that we cannot pass on that guy.

We've got a little bit of an update on the Jake DeBrasse situation. He is expected to be a healthy scratch for the Canucks tonight against the Seattle Crackin, and Elliot Freeman and Kyle Bacoskas dove into this a little bit on 32 thoughts. You can download the podcast now, but here is the bit on DeBrusk. Adam Foote has been very careful this year not to pour gasoline on the fire. Like, I actually liked that he came out and admitted it, said, yes, it's a reset. He's been struggling.

You want to get him going again. But I just think the way it is right now in Vancouver with them looking to move people, it's impossible not, like, it's almost like a no-win situation at this point in time. because if it comes out and they handle it the right way, they say he doesn't say you're going to have to see the lineup tomorrow or we're going to keep you guessing. He comes out right and says, yes, we're doing it. He, as you said, DeBras comes right out and says, yes, we're doing it.

And immediately it's, they're trying to get out in a way with no trade clause. Like, you can't, you just can't escape it. Jake DeBraske is in the second year of a long-term deal. You know, he's still playing a bit for them. It's not like Dave, it's not like you're looking at what they're doing with him around this and saying the opportunities aren't there. So I don't know that we're there yet.

But just because of, you know, what they're kind of going through and what the mission is kind of of their group right now, the story explodes. And plus it's also, it's Vancouver, which is a white market, as we know. It explodes into something really big. But I still want to wait and see a bit, but I understand why it becomes a big deal. I mean, Nebraska is one of these guys where I'm kind of like, why, why not, why not explore

the trade market? And now the answer might be because the Canucks want to be back to competitive next season. Retooling with a little bit of a hybrid form. Right. A hybrid rebuild. But, you know, he has a full. no move clause, so that could be a factor in things, but

tonight against the Seattle Cracken, he won't play. Hoaglander will come into the lineup. There's another change to David Kamp is going to be a healthy scratch. God, I'll miss him. Oh man, he's so creative. Atu Ratu is back

in the lineup, and Ratu will center Drew O'Connor and Kiefer Sherwood. So that's a good opportunity for a robust line and a good opportunity for Ratu. Conner's playing pretty well. Sherwood's pretty consistent in his effort.

Another interesting line okay. The top line Pedersen and Besser yesterday at practice at least this could always change but yesterday at practice were back together on the line with Evander Cain so you know Besser

I mentioned earlier in the show I thought he had a really quiet night offensively didn't play very much against the San Jose Sharks was out there on the 5 on 3 PK which was a little confusing but I know it worked out it did yeah on the 5 on 3 they gave up the 5 on 4 but

Besser actually made a couple clears on that and then the second line is Rossi and I'll be curious to get some people's takes on what they've seen from Rossi because I haven't really seen much Rossi is between Garland and Ogren who gets bumped

up to the top 6 We welcome in Satyar Shah from Knocta I promise I didn't forget who he is From Kinnock Central That guy you work with every day Yeah Does post games

Handsome guy does the post game show Yeah I've heard of him I've met him Sat Sati R Shah Happy holidays How are you I'm good

I'm enjoying a bit of a hybrid holiday Only working game days So it's been pretty nice It's not too bad Did you do the post game show After the Sharks game? Oh, I sure he did. How was that?

I sure did. How was that? Did you have a temper tantrum? I mean, I want to say a temper tantrum, but it was just like, you know, everybody's so upset and angry. Like you can't even mention, like, I mentioned the sharks haven't made the playoffs of 2019. Like, what does that mean? The conducts are good.

I'm like, I'm just saying they have missed the playoffs in 2019. You know, you're like, well, the conducts can't reap. I'm like, I understand. I'm just saying the sharks that have made the playoffs in 2019. It's just people are so on edge. You can't even say anything without somebody getting triggered. Well, you know what? You know what I'm dealing with a lot right now is, I'm not saying like everyone.

Everyone is against me. But, you know, when you complain against about that, Sharks lost, people are like, well, I thought you wanted them to lose. I'm like, well, yeah, but like they have a veteran-laden team right now. And I think there's a good discussion to be had about how many these veterans that are signed long term do they need to keep if they're going to go through. a rebuild and if they do end up keeping a lot of these guys then are they really going through a rebuild well I think that's completely fair and you know obviously based on the way the messaging is gone it was first we don't want to rebuild and it's like we are rebuilding and now it's the hybrid rebuild and nobody's heard that before and and I guess you know you know it's just

the way perhaps alveen phrased it or whatever but it's very clear and we talked about this a couple weeks ago that they don't want to tear this all the way down to the studs they do want to be competitive. Now one thing I've, you know, I've been trying to ask around about and I've been thinking a lot about too is them wanting to keep veterans. I'm not sure necessarily means they want to keep all their own veterans. But I think what they want to have is a group of players that can grow with the younger guys, say in that 25 age range or whatever. So I do think as much as they want to keep veterans, it's not that they're married to every single one of the vests they're assigned long term. I think they're open to moving a lot of these veterans. But it's like we talked about. They don't want to move all these guys. just picks and prospects. Now, I think the other part of it is, too, based on the contract of certain players, and we all know, and the player who's the highest paid player on the team, even if you wanted to move them, are you getting those types of futures you want? Yeah, the market may not be what you think it is, and we've talked about that in the past as well. So I do think, and to your point, because I completely agree, I want to see them

move a number of these veterans as possible. I want to see them take a longer-term approach to it, but I don't think they're married to every individual one of the veterans here. It's just they don't want to just move them for pure picks and profits. But I do think that they can move one of the wings and get a player who's 25 perhaps or even 24 or even 26 maybe that fits in better with the group over the next few years that they would be willing to make that script move. But also, how likely is it that somebody looks at, say, Brock Besser, hypothetically, Garland and Jake DeBrusk can say, hey, we like those guys so much. We want to trade away a guy who's equivalent to them almost, but four or five years younger. Like, is that even in the cards for you? So I don't think they're married to all these vets,

but I do think the needles are trying to thread might be too small to get that thread through. I know in the wake of the Quinn Hughes trade, a bunch of the guys were asked, you know, are you still on board? You know, you signed when Quinn was here. Now he's not. Are you still on board? And they kind of like defiantly said, like, you know, Quinn was my buddy, but I signed with Vancouver because I'm committed to the Canucks.

You know, I think about that. I think Thatcher Demko was asked that. Connor Garland was asked that. But I still wonder if any of those guys might have a conversation with management and be like, hey, if you can find me a different spot, I would be open to it. Have you heard any rumblings of that or have you thought about that possibility? I haven't heard anything specific because it's like you said when you asked, like it's kind of a pushback on all this. The guys have mentioned they want to stay here. They want to be committed.

But I also do think guys are smart enough in a market like this, not to create. a bit of a storm around them and they know as soon as their name gets out there or they're willing to do something, they're going to get asked about it, it's going to be talked about it. And we know how much the players in this team love the media.

They speak so glowingly all the time. They love it. Their eyes light up in these scrums. Yeah, exactly. So they're so excited every time, you know, the media comes up. So, of course. But so I do think there is a level of,

I want to say dishonesty, but just, you know, you're keeping your cards close to your chest for the time being. but I do think as the losing compounds and as the friendly media gets more and more onerous that perhaps they look at it and say do I want to be in through

do I want to go through this? And the thing is you can't fool players and we always hear about this. Guys may say the right things at training camp and they might say the right things early in the season but players know when they have a team they also know when they don't have a good team and I think when you start

going through the rest of the season and you realize perhaps how far away you are from competing and you look at your own situations, it might illuminate where you may want to go in the next year or two. Right now you're defined, but then you may sit down by the end of the year and say we have a lot of work to do.

It's just going to take a couple years. The management team says it's only going to be a year or two, but I see it taking longer potentially and do I really want to be here. So I completely agree. I do think at some point in the offseason or perhaps even by the deadline, somebody might be open to the possibility. And I don't know who. I can't sit here and say

and again, I've asked, and they've all kind of pushed back on the idea that the players don't want to be here. But losing sucks, and they still have 44, what, 44 games to go on the season. I think that's the other part. It's not like the conducts or 15 games left. You've got to ride out the final 20. They have more games remaining than they've played, and it feels like we play two seasons already. And if they keep losing, it's not going to get more fun. And I do think there will be players that look at this and say, do I want to keep going through this?

Last year wasn't good. This year is not good. Next year may not be good. and all of a sudden I'm staring at, you know, my 30s and two or three really good years left, and do I want to spend them being here? What have you seen for Marco Rossi so far? I mean, nothing too great, and I don't mean that's too much of a criticism. He came over via trade.

He was injured right before he came over, missed a bunch of games, and it's not always an easy transition, so I do think you always have to give a little bit of grace. He is a really smart player. He made some really nice subtle plays. He knows what position to be. and he does battle fairly well in gritty areas, comes away with the puck. So I've seen a lot of good things from

his overall talent, but that finishing ability, you know, you got the good balance the other day, but he hasn't really had too many dangerous chances. At the same time, you look at some of the wings he's played with. They haven't been at their best. Like, ever since they made the trade, Bessor is stop scoring.

Dubrosk is now being healthy scratch. Garland's not playing at the level that we've seen. I'm not sure there's a wing who's a legit top six player that's playing all that well right now. too. So I do think that makes it a bit harder for a new guy like him coming through. But, you know, he's not the fastest player. He's not the biggest player. And he's not a guy who's going

to be, you know, impacting shift after shifts at a high level like a first-line center. He's a second-line center that has certain strengths and certain weaknesses. But I don't think we've seen anywhere near his best game yet to have a strong sense of what he's going to be. Like, I do think he's going to be a better player than what he's shown. But, you know, like, if anybody

thought he's going to come in and become a first-line center here, I just don't think that's what are you curious to see tonight against the Cracken? Is it maybe if the practice lines hold from yesterday, Pedersen and Besser together again with Evander Cain? Is that something worth monitoring or do we already know what that's going to look like? I mean, listen, we've talked about Evander Cain quite a bit too. And to be fair, he's been fine. But to what end? It's like, yeah, does he play better and you get a better trade value? I think that's the best thing you're excited about.

And I think we're back to the conversation of who does Besser mess with centerwise on this team? J.T. and him have had a lot of chemistry. Obviously, he's not here anymore. Pedersen and Besser have had a hard time rekindling that chemistry now for a couple years. Bester hasn't quite worked with Rossi. I mean, with Hulies at some moments, I'm just not sure. I guess if you want to look at a big picture and say, well, can Bester and Pedersen rekindle that magic?

Is that on Bester or Pedersen? And this kind of gets us down the negative path again, right? It's like, okay, am I excited to watch Bester and Pedersen try to figure it out again? And maybe we could talk about how Pedersen is going to be the player we all thought he could be or some thought he could be potentially or whatever. So, honestly, I don't even care about the best all that much because we've had these discussions and even the whole Pedersen discussion. It's like, yeah, you missed a bunch of games.

The correct take it possibly, you know, probably is, you know, if you have to give him a couple Okay, after he came back from injury, to see where he's at. But we've seen him now for a couple of years' struggle, and do you have the patience to see if he's going to work out again? I don't think anybody feels that way, or not a lot of people feel that way. So I think my excitement, I would say,

or intrigue still is with the young players. Can Rott to look like a player that can stay in the lineup? Can Zee William continue showing his puck skills, but at the same time manage the puck a little bit better? Can we see Liam Ogren, perhaps, show a bit more than what he showed in his first game or his first game back at Rogers Arena and do we look at some other guys

perhaps getting opportunities down the lineup? Do you see Yvilland or perhaps play a little bit more? Because I'm not too intrigued about the veterans. Like, are you guys intrigued to see if Pedersen bounces back again? Like, is that something that we have on our radar? No, my friend, I am not. We're looking for a game and a game out? No, no, I am not.

I am curious to watch them not at Rogers Arena. What is going on? With, I mean, it's bad, and I said this earlier in the show, but it's bad when before the game, Adam Foote comes out and acknowledges to the media. Like, we got to be better at home because this home record is not acceptable. And then after the game is like, we weren't ready to play. How, I get it's hard after Christmas, right?

And I think there is a point that the guys on the broadcast, the TV broadcast made a good point. They were like, listen, San Jose had to wake up early, get on a flight so they're in work mode early and the Canucks you know they're at home and they've just had a few days off with their families and stuff maybe it was harder to get into that game but the home record over the past two seasons has been embarrassing you know and and it is how many games how many shocking performances have they had at home over the last two years is it up to like 20 maybe it's 50 but but you're like

Like, you know, you know, I, I, because, so I know what you're saying about San Jose, like, um, San Jose is young and exciting, right? They're, but they're a bad defensive team. And the Canucks had trouble breaking them down. They had trouble breaking down the San Jose sharks because they didn't have their legs. They gave up a prime scoring chance that Demko made a good save on, I think 30 seconds into the game. Guy wide open in the slot, Demko made a nice pad save. Like, how?

and this gets me back to this whole argument about the veterans like why are we keeping these guys like they are they have been part of this and to your point like I wouldn't want to talk to the media either right like seeing those same faces over

and over again would drive me crazy to I might not be so but bring in someone who's hasn't been through it because I think like the losing it becomes like you know how do you think the guys welcome new guys to the

team is like welcome to the Canucks you're going to love it or is it more like sarcastic like well it's interesting here right and and just some when Boeum played his first game for the Canucks you know the enthusiasm that he had the fact that he was smiling

that was a welcome thing you know and I get it from some of the veterans and I just feel like just a fresh start for everyone's sake including those players is much, much needed. I mean, I think you nailed it really in terms of what we've seen, and it does come down to the leadership group

when you're this bad at home ice consistently for two years and talking about apologizing every other home game to the fans for the performances that the team had last year. And, you know, there are so many games we talked about it on the post game show, you know, how inexcusable these performances are for fans who are paying a lot of money coming in to watch their teams play and it's not cheap getting tickets. especially in a Canadian market where the team was coming off last year,

the previous year before that, a successful run in the postseason or somewhat a successful run in the postseason. They're prices go up, and this is the product that fans are paying to come watch. That's frustrating, and I totally understand why you are embarrassed by it. But I think it does come back down to the leadership not being strong enough. And we can blame JT. We can blame Patterson, and I'm not putting it on Quinn because we can only do so much, but you never had a strong enough leadership group that, number one,

could look past petty grievances between themselves, and did they have the mental fortitude and the discipline to do the things that are necessary when you're at home consistently to be able to bring a good effort in? Because the thing about, I talked to former players about, especially last year when the team struggled so much. And it's like, it's not always easy playing at home because there are lots of distractions.

And if you have a team that has a lot of young families and younger kids on the team, there are a lot more things going on home, especially when you've been away and the connects have a pretty challenging travel schedule generally and they spend more time on the road because of how far they have to travel. So sometimes when you come back home, there's more to catch up on what a few former players have kind of told me about.

So there are more challenges, I think, sometimes being on a whole night, especially when things aren't going well too, and you're trying to do your family stuff. But that also comes down to having a level of professionalism and having a level of dedication that goes well above and beyond to be able to fight through. these things and be able to have the focus and a mental fortitude to be able to come home and put together and string together performances that are strong enough.

Now, perhaps the Connects have gotten to the point now where a team is just bad. And if you're bad, it's only so much you can do. But I think last year was a big sign of the leadership group really failed the organization in so many different ways. And if you fail in such a drastic way and you're still not finding ways to get through it, who are you actually married to? And I think that's a completely fair point to ask. and I would love to see them actually move on from some of these guys.

I think they do need some fresh veteran leadership. And I get their idea of you can't just bring in guys on one-year deals because they're kind of like mercenaries come in and going. They kind of want to have a few guys that are committed to being here. But is this the group of veterans that you want to keep here? And if you look at the record, you look at what they look like on home ice consistently. And you're right. Like we can excuse last night.

Same thing with the Pedersen thing, right? We can excuse that first Pedersen game back. he skews the first game after the break, but it's not like we haven't seen 50 of those. I don't even think it was that bad considering the standard that he's had over the last little while. Well, that's because the bar is low, right? But you're right. You're right.

He was fine. He was fine. The fancy stats loved him. He was the best player on the ice, according to the fancy stats. So it's like... When was the last time he beat someone one-on-one, sat? When was the last time that he got around someone? He doesn't have the legs to get around anyone.

You know, it's all the last time. like it has to be a dangle if he's going to it's like he's never you know he had a rush that he actually ended up making a nice drop past a cane on last night but he tried to get around the shark's defenseman and it was like nope no chance and it honestly looked like a guy that was 35 and it just lost his legs like his legs were shot and if anyone ever gets to the bottom of what the hell happened to this guy please let me know yeah well and the thing is like if you are getting older sometimes you get stronger and sturdier so you can fight guys off a bit more and you create space in different ways like i think

of matt sandine the way he played early in his career and he was a lot bigger of course like a behemate like six five or whatever he was right but once he got to the latter parts of his career he just shielded guys off he put guys on his hip on his back and he'd make plays and he'd be able to create space for himself like you find ways to adjust and you find different ways to impact the game What Pedersen doesn't have his quickness He keeps falling over There was one play on a rush going up the ice And I feel like I'm bagging too much on the guy right now

But in actually because I've loved this game over the years But I can't believe what I've been watching now The last couple of years But there's a play, they're trying to come up ice On a rush opportunity He tried to circle back around the red line To be available for a pass And he just trips over

Nobody's narrow just falls over And we've seen that so consistently It's not even you don't have the pace You're also not sturdy on your skates consistently So how are you finding with- working with a skating coach? Yeah, he's been working with a skating coach at all? Like we hear about, he worked hard in the off season.

What does that mean? I don't think, I mean, I don't know. Like, I don't know. It's just one of the hardest things to get is information on what guys actually do, especially when it comes to Patterson. And I'm not sure. I think the team has an idea of what he does, and I think the team was happy with the work he put in.

But does anybody know truly to what extent he's working on certain things? I'm not quite sure. if he has worked on the skating, it's certainly not improving. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.