Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 12/31/24

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

Halford & Thomas Drance look back at the previous day in sports, they set up tonight's Canucks matchup in Calgary, 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. Jared's got it back, looking, throwing, Enzo caught. Touchdown, Detroit Lions. Amon Ross, St. Brown. He's going to throw it to Jared. Does Pedersen's level of play give the team any pause? Can he live up to the value of the deal that he signed? It must be wonderful to ring in the new year over and over and over.

Please kill me. Good morning, Vancouver. 7- Vancouver 701 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Happy New Year's Eve, everybody. It is Halford is Brough featuring Thomas Drance. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Thomas, good morning to you.

Good morning to you. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford is Brough to the Morning is brought to you by Jason Hominuck from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

I am joking. Let him do exactly that. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. This show is also being presented 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. It is the final show of 2024.

Thomas Drance is riding alongside of me as we bid farewell to 2024. Before we get into anything, Thomas, can you tell everybody about the good folks at Kintec Footwear and Orthotics? Kintec. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Footwear and Orthotics. Kintec. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Footwear and Orthotics is powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec.

We did it, bud. We made it through 2024. Barely. Well, there's still an hour and 58 minutes left, but we're that much closer to 2025, and we have a big show ahead. We have lots to get into on the program. We've got a pair of guests today.

Greg Wyshynski, our NHL insider from ESPN, is going to join us at 7.30. Very appropriate that Greg joins us on this, the last day of 2024, because the NHL has decided to schedule all the games throughout the course of the day on December 31st, including, and I totally forgot about this, the Winter Classic. Oh, wow.

I did, too. Yeah. That's today. That is today, friend. Usually that's a New Year's Eve game. So do you think they've... It is New Year's Eve. Oh, sorry. A New Year's Day game. Yeah. Do you think they... Is that a response to the college football playoff? I have no idea what it's a response to. Because there's three bowl games tomorrow.

All I know, and you're probably right, all I know is that this game will be played on a Tuesday, midweek, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon from Wrigley Field. It is the Chicago Blackhawks with Conor Bedard. Do you know who they're playing? Yes, they're playing the St. Louis Bears. There we go.

There's a single game on New Year's Day in the NHL. Yeah, they balanced it well. They balanced it well. The, what is it, Greg? Who is it, Greg? The Devils at the Kings. Classic. 2012 Stanley Cup rematch.

Honestly, that sounds pretty funny. I mean, it's a good game. Steve Bernier dropping a ceremonial putt. Nice call. So we got a ton of hockey to get into with Greg from the NHL front. 13 games today. There's basically hockey all day. Puck drop starts at 9.30 our time this morning and then

goes throughout the day. We can also ask Wish about the World Juniors because he has written the most profound and important piece of the tournament thus far, explaining why Team USA chose Freebird as their goal song for the tournament. That, of course, the 1973 rock

anthem from Leonard Skinner. So we'll ask him about that when he joins the program. 8 o'clock today, Brendan Batchelor is going to join the program. Batch is going to be on the call tonight, 6 o'clock. Canucks, Flames, from the Saddledome in Calgary. Just to set the schedule for today, Dan and Sat have Canucks Central starting at 3. Dan and Sat then have the pregame show starting at 5.

Batch and Randip on the call at 6 o'clock. Reminder, it's all right here on Sportsnet 650. And then, after the game, for what many of our listeners counts as a legitimate New Year's Eve plan, we got the postgame show. That's going to go right until 11 o'clock. Again, it's all right here on Sportsnet 650. So we got a big show ahead. We got a lot to get into.

This is, in addition to being New Year's Eve, a tremendous night in sports. Drance mentioned the college football playoff. We got one tonight. Penn State, Boise State, and the Fiesta Bowl. My favorite of the bowls. And then, of course, Canada, U.S. The Fiesta Bowl is not your favorite of the bowls. You like it more than the Sugar Bowl.

More than the Rose Bowl. More than the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Actually, no. I do like the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Yeah, the Pop-Tarts Bowl is number one. And we've also got Canada and USA, of course, from the World Juniors at 5 o'clock, so there's a lot of stuff to watch tonight.

And we're also going to unpack the sick performance by Missouri in the Music City Bowl yesterday. One of my favorites. We're going to look at what Iowa did and whatever bowl they played in yesterday. What about the Snoop Dogg Bowl? That was also, there was only one bowl yesterday. Was there only one yesterday?

Yeah, Iowa lost to Missouri. In the Music City Bowl. In the Music City Bowl. Right. At Nissan Stadium. Where, by the way the Music City Bowl. In the Music City Bowl at Nissan Stadium. Where, by the way, Mizzou kept losing all their weapons. Unbelievable performance from their quarterback, Brady Cook.

I have to take your word for all of this, that their quarterback is indeed named Brady Cook. I don't know. He could be named Brady Cook for all I know. I don't know. I don't know. It doesn't matter. Well, he went there. Yeah, no, my takes are real, unfortunately. We doesn't matter. Oh, he went there. Okay. Yeah, no, my takes are real, unfortunately.

We have a lot to get into on the program. Wyshynski's going to join us at 7.30. Batch is going to join us at 8. But before we do any of that, we need to tell you 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? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? What Happened, as always, is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Greg's got a look on his face back there. What's up, Greg?

Oh, it's the Leonard Skinner thing. You said Leonard Skinner. You said Leonard Skinner. Oh, my God. Like, pronunciation's never been my strong suit. I think everyone understands. Leonard Skinner did his brother. Not Leonard. Len is his brother. Not Leonard. Lenny.

Okay. We need to get into what happened yesterday. And there was one major story that took Canucks land by storm. Canucks Twitter, Canucks Blue Sky, if that is a thing, or if you used to join, all of it. And it was that on Monday, our very own Ian McIntyre published his end-of-year interview with Canucks General Manager Patrick Alveen. And Patrick Alveen, your Canucks General Manager,

decided to end 2024 with a bang in a very candid, very frank, and very revealing conversation. It was very cool, guys. Don't look at explosions. Right? Just, like, toss the match and walk away from the car. You see what's going on behind me? I don't need to look at it. I already know what I did. I couldn't believe it was Alvin.

I'm like, is this Patrick Alvin that I know? Like the guy that never gives you anything ever? You know, is dropping all these bombs on you? It's like Leonard Skinner versus Leonard Skinner. Yeah, like who is this guy? Patrick Alvin. Patrick Alvin, as I do the Coles Notes version, said, Elias Pettersson, JT Miller, and Brock Besser have underperformed this season.

He also said that a Pettersson trade was possible, and he also said that head coach Rick Tockett needs to find solutions so that the team is more consistent. Okay, then. There was a lot to unpack here. Let's take a look at some of the highlights. So I'll break this down into about three or four important parts, and the first is that Patrick Alvina. Do you want to play a game? Do you want to break them down, about three or four important parts. And the first is that Patrick Albine...

Do you want to play a game? Do you want to break them down? And then we determine whether or not there's meaning there or no meaning there? I do love games. Yeah, let's do this. I do love parsing words. I do love finding meaning in things. Let's parse words.

Let's parse words and be like... Let's go overblown versus like fair point. Okay. In terms of the reaction that you've seen online. Drance, I like your style. I like your moxie. I will read verbatim the quotes from the piece. These are all Patrick Galvin.

I'm not going to do the voice. I'm just going to read them straight. Oh, my God. Please do not do the voice. Nope, not going to do that. We've had issues with people doing voices on the show before. We're not going to do it ever again. On the Canucks' quote-unquote best players underperforming.

Now, I think it goes without saying that this is not meant to include Quinn Hughes and Thatcher Demko for a variety of reasons. Really, this is focused on the three guys, Elias Pettersson, Brock Besser, and JT Miller. From Patrick Alvien's mouth to your ears, I think it's fair to say that you expect your best players to be the difference makers and the best players when you need them. And unfortunately, I think we haven't got the most

out of those specific guys. If those guys would have performed to their capability, I think we probably would have won a few more games. So it's hard. Do I expect more from them? Absolutely. Alvin then went on to say, I'm happy that Brock is scoring goals here lately,

but I would have him in the same boat as Petey and Miller in terms of giving us more when we need more. There is more to give. Absolutely. Trance, your thoughts? I actually think there's a lot here, but I don't think it's necessarily a lot here from the vantage point of, and we'll get into it more once Patrick Alvin discusses trading Pedersen and company. What I do think this absolutely is,

is revealing of a true internal stance that there is frustration about this club's inability to play the right way consistently. That has been simmering among Canucks management for months, and I think it's only gotten more pronounced over the course of the last couple weeks where, you know, as he calls out, you have those performances against the Avalanche and the Florida Panthers. Right. Which we will get to as well. Right. And then you have these performances where it's not just that, like, that you lost

a game in which you played well, right? It's games where it's like, did they care? Did they try? you know what i mean like the work rate's not there so i think that's been simmering and and i think now right now i mean how are you winning games if it's not besser if it's not miller if it's not debraskin if it's not pd getting back in your lineup in the next week so i you know a shot across everybody's bow straighten up straighten up and play really hard right now because our season might be on the line over the next six games. I think this is very much a quote that we should make a lot of.

Okay. On Elias Pettersson, and there are a couple, but the first is not about the trade, which we'll get to in a moment, but about the player's performance thus far and what the player has done since signing his $92.8 million contract extension earlier in 2024. Again, here's Patrick Alvin on Pedersen. I think, again, it comes back to expectations and preparation, how you prepare yourself. I don't believe that he was aware of just how hard it was going to be just because you achieve one thing to get the long-term extension life just gets harder you haven't

really accomplished anything you're not even halfway there and that's in brackets to winning a stanley cup and then obviously the mental part comes in there too and suddenly you feel the pressure. Drance, thoughts? I mean, I think it's interesting in that Pettersson has been completely unwilling to share any details about what he's been going through over the course of the season. That's a good point. And so Alvin at least, you know, hey, look, he's feeling the pressure. You know, how he's dealing with expectations and preparation and growing into this deal is a work in progress,

and there's a lot of pressure on the men. That might be the most insight we've gotten into what Pedersen's gone through over the course of this season. And it came from his general manager. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, to me, everything that Alvin said about Pedersen, I could feel myself nodding along almost like reflexively without even thinking about it because I was like, yep, yep, yep.

It all makes sense. There was a lot of pressure on the player. He probably either was unaware or maybe was like intentionally willfully ignorant towards it or it's something i can ignore or something i can no he intentionally he had no desire to talk about it right like that's another part of this i'm not like i i when the canucks were in chicago which was pretty early in the season i had a one-on-one conversation with him and asked in the politest possible terms about sort of where his game was tracking, what was going on,

just trying to understand it. And he was so unwilling to talk about it. Right. Right? To the point where I literally made the case, I was like, Elias, I'm going to write about this team four times a week

and talk about your struggles for 10 hours on a week and i'd love to have something actual to say from you or i'll just make it up like it would help me to know that sure or i'm just gonna like say what i think you know yeah and um and he was like you don't need to know anything it's like okay cool man great and here's And here's the thing that players don't get in those situations. This was at the absolute apex of the Pedersen pressure. He was so dismissive and rude through the interview. If I'd run that transcript, which I would have been completely fair because it was on the record,

it would have been a 48-hour story adding pressure to the player. Right. Which I'm not in the business of doing that no matter what they say about me in the inbox. Yeah, yeah, yeah. record yeah it would have been a like 48 hour story adding pressure to the player right which you know i'm not in the business of doing that no matter what they say about me in the inbox yeah yeah but it's just like it's so and so you know i thought that commentary in addition to the commentary i'm sure you're about to get to about pedersen not facing the music it's just like be a pro man be a pro it's a good point to bring up because um when your general manager says it in the way that he did and very much acknowledges that yeah there's a lot expected of you the bar has been raised and you're getting compensated rather well like it's not as if there's this huge

burden of pressure that doesn't come with any reward. This is close to $100 million. It's there. It's real. And I think the important thing is no one's going to shed a tear within the organization for you. This is the kind of things that professionals go through and the elite players are able to deal with, overcome, and then thrive with expectation, pressure, all those sorts of things.

Do you think they regret signing him to that contract at this point? Or if they're starting to? Later in the article, Alvin reiterates for, I don't know, what must probably have been the millionth time in his mind, that he believes in the player. He believes that he can be elite. He says that he could and should be a top flight number one center in this league but he also had and very candidly answered the question about trading Elias Pettersson and IMAC asked him and he responded until I've got the entire quote here I once again will read it

aloud so he's asked about potentially trading Pettersson. And he says, while smiling, and this is courtesy of IMAC, well, you know Jim's history. That, of course, a reference to his boss, Jim Rutherford. We want to build a team that sets us up for long-term success. Building around the long-term deals with Miller and Petey, having Quinn and Demko locked up, Filip Hronik and Jake DeBraske, I mean, those are big pieces. Petey has shown up to this point that he is an extremely talented, quality player that could and should be a number one center.

I believe in him. I believe that he's capable. But he needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don't go well is it possible i guess i would say anything is possible and then like kevin garnetti pointed to the sky and yelled

anything is possible i got a question for you guys regarding that is that is what alvin just said they're mostly him wanting to light a fire under pd to play better because they're like oh god we have to our star has to play better because they're like, oh God, our star has to play better because of this contract? Or is there some part of him that's like, you know what? Anything's possible. Anything's possible! Or is there some part of him, thank you, Laddie.

Or is there some part of him that's like, look, if he's still not playing great, right up until his no-move clause kicks in, we got to launch this guy to another team if the season goes sideways. I read almost the entire interview as a threat. No. Or like a lighting a fire.

As Alvin trying to like, you know, like a lion tamer snapping to just try and settle everything down and get everyone's attention. You know, one thing I've noticed throughout this season covering this team and listening to all the audio and on and on, do you remember when Rick Tockett would, like, lay in very honestly to this team, like, after wins or after, like, he'd tell you what he actually thinks? Have you noticed this year that he's, like, much more protective,

much more upbeat, much more positive? And when bad things happen, it's we got to flush it and move on to the next thing. Right. He's completely changed his communication in the media. And, you know, look, I think this organization wants to prioritize holding people accountable.

Right. This is not a kumbaya approach. This is a, you know, we want if a guy does something that's unacceptable for them to be benched regardless of how sick they are that well that was like a point of contention between boudreaux and management was there were like moments where players would do all manner of mistakes turnovers lazy line changes and there'd be no repercussions right but that's because bruce was bruce he a little scamp and rub him on the head and go back out there and try again. And by the way, there's

some wisdom to that. Sure. Right? Like there were moments where that worked even for Bruce and But it's not what this management group wanted. No, it wasn't. That's not how they want to do business. That's not how they want to approach things. And I just think this is Alvin being like, this is an essential moment in our season and we definitely want

to call everyone to attention and get everyone focused that's it with that said if it doesn't work is there a chance they still move on from pedersen prior to i don't i don't personally i'd be pretty surprised and i don't i think this is just like alvin being very literal i think alvin was asked a question, right? And the question, but is moving your 26-year-old star actually possible? And he's like, well, you know Jim's history, right? As like a qualifier. Then he mostly says positive things about how he still believes in Pedersen.

And then he comes back to his goal of lighting a fire under the player. And then he ends it with, but to answer your question, anything's possible. Anything is possible! And then, like, I think iMac, I'm sure, was pretty weirded out when he did the, like, full-on Kevin Garnett,

like, tongue out of his mouth. Patrick, what are you pointing at? Pulling his hat down over his eyes. Just overwhelmed by the moment. That's how I read this. Okay, but what if it doesn't go well and you're then stuck with Pedersen's contract? What are you doing right now?

I'm just asking, I'm just wondering what would happen in that scenario because then you can't move him, right? Or it'd be very hard to move him with the NMC kicking in or whatever. I'll point you to the last part of the question, which is, yet again, anything is possible. Anything is possible.

But also like, yes, but you have a finite window of that though. Oh no, we're stuck with a guy whose floor is point per game centerman in his mid-twenties. Oh no Yes but you have a finite window of that though Oh no we're stuck with a guy whose floor is Point per game centerman in his mid 20s Oh no Look I think you I don't think

Even when he doesn't play amazing He's still pretty good I think the At the end of the day No matter what he says here The 8 year extension the club Signed him to and pushed really hard to get done last year still speaks more loudly you know in terms of where the club's positioned here yeah i look i think we need

to take this as uh when presented the opportunity to speak alvin opted not to punt but opted to speak right he didn't do the kevin shovel day off would you say a lot of words without saying anything he chose his words very carefully and i think maybe in some cases he didn't do the Kevin shovel day off, which is say a lot of words without saying anything. He chose his words very carefully, and I think maybe in some cases he didn't choose them carefully. He probably talked a little bit off the cuff, or at least more off the cuff as Patrick Alvin can get. You kidding me? For example.

That was insane. I think he's very deliberately trying to go in there and light a fire under a team that needs it. For example, on that note, it was not just the players that were receiving criticism. There was, how should I phrase this? I'll read the quote so you can figure it out yourself. But I would say there was some questioning of the job that Rick Talkett has done, unlocking the problem, finding the solutions as to why this team is so wildly inconsistent this year.

When asked about the job that his head coach has done, is this all on the players or is this on the coaches? Well, here's what Patrick Alvin had to say. I think it goes hand in hand with the players, right? I believe that Rick is a great coach and a great communicator. And I believe that the players have responded really well.

But again, I think his job, and I know that he's working on it every day is to find solutions to be more consistent it's tough if your home record isn't better I do know that Rick is well respected by the players and I know how hard he works and I know that he doesn't shy away from the ownership of not being at the level where he expects the team to be at. He then went on to say, but we play tremendous games against Florida and Colorado. And then in between, it's just like,

what happened here? What are we? There's a very interesting quote from your general manager. Sounds. It honestly sounds much more like a Canucks talk bit. Yeah. What are you? What are they? What are they?

What's their identity? Honestly, I swear that's something I've said in the last two weeks. And it's fair. Yeah. It's a fair. When the general manager is asking the questions that fans and media alike are asking, one, sort of validates what all the chuds are saying. But two, it definitely lends credence to, okay, well, we're not making this up

or we're not seeing things that aren't there. And I mean, I think the one thing that I've harped on with Brough throughout the season is I have been alarmed at the number of no shows that have happened on home ice where there hasn't really been any sort of visceral reaction to it. And I'm not talking about, you know, a Pierce Sixer or a brouhaha at the end,

but like I go back to the New Jersey blowout, the Huesa Palooza game where they lose 6-0 on home and just get absolutely drubbed. Slaughtered. Like just beaten, beaten down.

Like a drum. Yep. The 7-3 to Edmonton, which was another profound game because there was the rivalry from the playoffs last year. And you just kind of get your teeth kicked in. Repeatedly.

Yeah. There's been so many of those in sort of big moments on home ice that you just wonder, what's happening here? Or what isn't happening here? Or you go back to the question, what are we?

What is this team because the head coach hasn't taken them to task in the aftermath in the way that i thought that he would have you remember the first couple games that rick talk it was in charge he wasn't afraid to call the team soft he wasn't afraid to say things like i wish we had 10 practices so we could figure out like all these things that we need to address. Very blunt, very forthright. I wonder if Alvin speaking this way might embolden the head coach to start speaking in a similar fashion. Yeah, they also had the no-show against the Islanders. That was an ugly game, and that was like Dakota Joshua's first game back.

Remember the 5-0 loss to the Islanders? Yeah. And then they had the, I guess it was like 4-3 loss to the Sters. Yeah. And then they had the, I think, I guess it was like four, three loss to the St. Louis Blues, but it was just a parade of breakaways

to the absolute definition of a mid-hockey team. Mm-hmm. And that was in Thatcher Demko's first game back. So there's just this repeated...

Right, for the Demko first game back, yeah. There was another one, yeah. But like, these games should

matter to people. Like, the Hughes game should matter to the Devils. The Oilers game should matter to this team. Getting Joshua, they don't seem to get emotional lifts from what you'd expect them to. That to me is always a concern.

That to me is an added sort of data point where it's like, do you compete hard enough for each other? You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor. Live from Rogers Arena, calling Canucks games. It's his friend and Bachelor, Bachelor, Bachelor.

804 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough featuring Thomas Drance on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in the final hour of this program.

Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice at the Vancouver Canucks. He's going to join us in just a moment here. He'll, of course, be on the call tonight. Last game of the calendar year for your Vancouver Canucks, 6 o'clock from Calgary. It's the Canucks and the Flames. The final hour of this program is brought to you

by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. Thomas, before we get to Brendan Batchelor, can you please tell the good folks listening out there in the ether about Kintec Footwear and Orthotics? Yeah, we're coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec is powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews.

Soar feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec, to Kintec is powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet. What are you waiting for? Kintec. To the phone lines we go. Brandon Batchelor joins us now on the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Batch? Good morning.

How's it going, guys? We are well. How are you in the wake of what's going on with Manchester United right now? Oh, I'm completely demoralized at this point. I cannot explain it at all it's it's i mean obviously they're they're not good enough they don't have enough good players um but to make a coaching change to bring in a new manager and a young forward thinking manager that you think can improve things and then to have it go this pear-shaped is um you know i i'm a lot i'm rarely at a loss for words but i'm at a loss for words for how poor they've been and um you know it's it's difficult

when you're looking at them legitimately being close to the relegation zone but that's where they are right now so hopefully uh reuben amaram can can figure things out there but it's it does not look good and um you know, and it's very disappointing. They should have brought in an Allardyce or something, right? No, no, no. Lump it up to the strikers, get some 6'7", Tyler Myers-esque strikers up there. 100%. Don't they need a manager who people describe as a firefighter at this point?

You know what? I'm going to put a bow on the conversation right here because I know our listeners are like, what's going on right now? Even though I want to dive deep into what happened with Joshua Zerksy yesterday, we'll leave it for now. We will move on to the Vancouver Canucks because they, of course, are going to play their final game

of 2024 tonight in Calgary, 6 o'clock puck drop. Batch, who are you expecting to start in goal for the Vancouver Canucks tonight? Yeah, that's a good question i don't know um you know maybe kevin lankan and after a bit of a shaky performance for thatcher demko but at the same time this is what a three game in four night stretch so um do you want to get demko back in, try and rebuild his confidence and have it be a situation where he can play two of these three games? Or do you want to give Lankan a chance to go back in there and play as well as he has, especially on the road in Calgary tonight?

So it'll be interesting to see which way they go. Drance brought up a pretty good point prior to going on a break, which was if you play Lankan tonight, it does give Demko an opportunity to exercise the demons against the Kraken in the first game of 2025, almost like a starting fresh in the new year, because that game on Saturday, for as

much that went wrong across the board for the Canucks, especially in the final five minutes of the game, that wasn't exactly a banner day from Demko on Saturday. No, it wasn't. So I guess the question is, do you want to give him the chance to exercise those demons or are you worried that the Kraken are like a bogey team for him,

I guess, to kind of use a soccer term there? I'm not. Oh, yeah. I mean, Demko can, you know, you want him to probably play two of these three games, I would assume. You want him to rebuild his confidence quickly. I guess you could start him tonight and then could go back to him against Seattle

and then play Lankanen at home on the second half of the back-to-back. But, you know, this is the good problem for this coaching staff to have, is that I don't think anybody would be surprised or shocked or disappointed or outraged if either guy started a game at this point and that's a good spot to be in at least for the moment so Lankanen's made three starts since Demko returned um does that surprise you from a volume of workload perspective like the fact that it's been too Demko for every Lankanen? A little bit, yeah, especially right off the bat. And, you know, I guess there's a school of thought that you need to get Demko playing,

you need to get him game reps, you need to get him comfortable with the speed and the pace of the game and the traffic that he has to face that you can't replicate in practice. But I think the other thing that makes that number more surprising is that, well, I guess part of the reason that number is elevated is because Lankanen was sick. So Demko had to play a couple more than maybe they would have liked early on. But I think prior to the game against Seattle, Demko has been pretty good.

And, you know, this coaching staff has shown a tendency. You think so? He hasn't been bad, let's put it that way, other than that game. Like, do you think that he'd had a stinker or had looked, you know, vulnerable prior to that Matty Beneers goal from inside the blue line? I mean, I just think he hasn't been, like, he hasn't been himself from a sharpness perspective, I would say. No, no, I think that's fair. And that's okay. That's a high bar, right? perspective, I would say. No, I think that's fair. That's okay. That's a high bar.

Exactly. Part of the reason you play him a lot is because you want to get him to that level of sharpness. I think that number is probably slightly elevated, as I said, by the fact that Lankanen was sick and Demko had to play a couple of extra there, but if you want the guy to be the guy that he's been in the past, the way to get him there, I would imagine, is to play him a fair bit. So, you know, ultimately, he's going to play a lot and Lankanen's going to have to play a fair bit in this crazy month of January coming up where they have 15 games. And I couldn't believe it when Rick Talkett said coming out of the

Christmas break, there were 21 games before the the four nations face off that's a quarter of the season being played in the next five or six weeks here so it's a crucial stretch for them they have a high volume of games and they're going to need both goaltenders um in order to have some success here especially with the guys they're missing from their lineup right now well yeah and let's get into that because i'm not sure, like, I'm not predicting that the Canucks are going to lose a bunch of games in the absence of Quinn Hughes and company. We've seen that this team can find ways to outkick their coverage, right? They've got the onions, as it were, when it comes to grinding out victories.

So this isn't a results take, but I am pretty confident that the Canucks are going to be widely outshot over the next several contests. At least until Hughes is back, I think this is going to be tough from a process perspective. How do you think that interacts with kind of the goaltending decision-making that Rick Tockett and Marco Terranius and the staff need to sort of wait here? Well, yeah, your goaltending is going to be really important because you're going to need guys to keep you in games at the very least, if not steal the odd game for you, if you want to keep your head above water without Hughes in the lineup. And, you know, I think the shot metric number is a good point

because this is a team that is pretty selective with their shots anyway even with Quinn Hughes in the lineup and oftentimes get out shot even when he is no they also get out chance don't do that don't do that they also generate nothing and give up too much this season yeah no I agree I agree but no what i'm saying is the shots tell the story if for this team the shots tell the story yes oftentimes they do and you know that they when they have been at their best and when they have had success even this season it is about being opportunistic on the chances they create it is not about creating a high volume of chances and queen hughes is a big part of the quality of their chance generation so not only are they likely to be not just outshot but potentially heavily outshot because of the

way that Hughes helps them control play but they their top guys need to make the most of the chances they do create because if they don't then it's going to be really tough for them to generate offense without the guy that helps them generate offense the most and that's where the comments from patrick alvin yesterday um you know get put in in bold and underlined and circled and italicized or whatever other way you want to emphasize them is in order for this team over these next few weeks, however long Hughes is out, to continue to keep itself in a situation where right now they're in a playoff spot, although if they lose tonight, the Flames can hurdle them,

which, you know, I know it's a little early. We're still in the first half in terms of games played to be looking at it that way. But if you have a bad two weeks here, you could fall out of it and get into a situation where you're chasing. And for this group that has struggled to string together consecutive strong performances and you know get on any sort of run in terms of

results that would be a really tough spot for them to put themselves in so when you're in a situation like this what do you do you have to look to your top players your JT Millers your Brock Bessers you know Elias Patterson if and when he gets back in the lineup, these guys got to score, they got to generate, and they've got to put the puck in the net when they do get those chances, because if they don't, you know, there's only so long you can go relying on Hugh Suter and Kiefer Sherwood to produce at the level they have, and, you know, luckily for the Canucks, they have to this point, and, you know, that was a point that IMAC made during that interview, I think, that, you know, those guys have helped the Canucks keep their heads above water.

But ultimately, your best players need to be your best players is a cliche for a reason. And, you know, this month could very well define where this season goes for the Canucks. And if those guys don't step up, then, you know, there will be a lot of big questions around this team and this core group going forward I think Eric Branstrom led the team in five on five ice time but only played two shifts uh after uh in the final five minutes of the game and uh you know my observation would be moving the puck was a problem, certainly on the Vince Dunn game-tying goal, or sorry, the 4-3 goal, but I might even argue the 4-4 goal as well when Derek Forbert lost where the puck was behind the net. How much does this coaching staff need to just keep entrusting this guy

and maybe even up? I know he was like, he led the team in 5-on-5 ice time and played power play one, and I still come away from that game thinking they need to get more comfortable playing Branstrom in high leverage moments here if they're going to survive without Hughes. Yeah, well, I think that kind of speaks to the situation that they're in with the injuries is Eric Brandstrom was a late pickup before the season in a salary dump trade and now we're talking about him being their most important defenseman on December 31st

so you know that's a that's a really tough spot to be in. And as much as we've seen Brandstrom do a lot of good things, moving the puck up the ice, we've also seen him get beat in the D zone and off the rush. And that is probably where the coaching staff's hesitancy to put him out in some of those high leverage situations, as you would say, to answer, um, you know, that's where that hesitancy comes from. But when you struggle to move the puck in general, and you've got a guy that can move the puck, you probably need to play him more,

and you probably need to make him the focal point, as scary as that might be for you when that guy is Eric Brandstrom, who I think, you know, has given the Canucks some good minutes and played well for them this year. But, you know, in an ideal world, he's still not a top four defenseman on this roster. But that is sort of, he sort of is being, he's the Quinn Hughes understudy who maybe, you know,

didn't have all his lines memorized and isn't ready for that big moment. But you've got no other choice. Quinn Hughes is down. You've got to throw him in there under the spotlight and see how he can do. And, you know, much like I've talked about the key players needing to generate, if Eric Brandstrom can step into this, these big shoes of Quinn Hughes, and not just, you know, not that he needs to become Quinn Hughes,

but he needs to help them drive play for a few weeks here until they get Quinn Hughes back. You know, maybe 10 games at the most, I guess we're assuming, although we don't really know a definitive timeline on when the captain Quinn Hughes back. You know, maybe 10 games at the most, I guess we're assuming, although we don't really know a definitive timeline on when the captain will be back. If he can just have a short spurt where he can be a very impactful puck-moving defenseman that helps them generate, that they can trust at both ends of the ice,

then that allows them to survive this very difficult stretch without their top pairing in the lineup. And then, you know, he can go back to being cast more properly when those guys get pairing in the lineup and then you know he can go back to being cast more properly when those guys get back in the lineup but you know you're right i think branstrom needs to perform at a certain level in order to get those opportunities and the coaching staff probably needs to trust him more in some of those bigger moments and i'll be interested to see if the way things unraveled in the third period against Seattle informs the way they deploy him going forward. And I guess we'll find out as soon as tonight when they face the Flames.

Batch, this was great, as always. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this tonight. Have a good call tonight. It should be a good game. And Happy New Year, bud. Happy New Year, guys. Have a good one. Thank you.

You too. Thanks. That's Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks right here on Sportsnet 650. You can hear him and Randip on the call tonight. 6 o'clock right here on this very station, Sportsnet 650. A reminder, Sat and Dan have you for Canucks Central from 3 to 5, from 5 to 6. They will then flip the switch to the Canucks pregame show. And then the postgame show after the Canucks and Flames at 6 o'clock tonight.

The postgame show will begin as soon as the game is done Flames at 6 o'clock tonight. Postgame show will begin as soon as the game is done and run until 11 o'clock tonight. So you've got your full slate of Canucks stuff all right here on Sportsnet 650. Interesting note here, courtesy of Sportsnet 650's very own Joey Kenward, who is an avid listener of the show and texts me, did you know, Thomas Drance, that tonight is a battle, a battle of the two teams with the most loser

points in the NHL this season. Makes sense. The Canucks have eight and they're alone. They're alone in loser points. And then the Flames are tied with Nashville and one other team with seven this year. So pretty good chance that tonight's game will go to overtime and or the shootout.

Or the shootout, not and or. Well the Canucks are going to have to score for that to happen, Mike. Possibly. The Canucks are going to have to score some goals. Or it could be 0-0 going into the shootout. That might be how we get there. The Canucks are, so it's really going to be fascinating just because this team struggles so mightily to threaten at all

without Hughes on the ice. And this Calgary team, I will give them a ton of credit. Under Huska this season, they have, every time I watch them, they attack their opponents in exactly the right way. Like, do you remember that first game? Can you explain? I want to hear this. This is good. The first game they played against Vancouver. Yep.

They're playing against Artur Shilovs, and they made no bones about it. They were like, we are getting traffic to the net, and we are shooting from the point. Shoot from distance. And it was like, the Canucks were up,

they were down, and they were just like, we're pretty confident if we keep this up, we're going to get a break, and we're going to get back into this game. And they just stuck to it. And the dam broke in their favor and you see it like every time i watch them play when they go up against a team where i'm like oh boy i don't know about that defense if they're they're just like we're gonna dump it in and we're gonna forecheck you like

they are very good at picking at opponents weaknesses i i hate admitting this out loud because of the inherent rivalry but but I have a begrudging respect for what the Flames have done this year. It's really impressive. They have no business being at 17, 12, and 7 and one point behind the Canucks for the final wildcard spot on talent alone. They don't.

On true talent level, they are no better than the 13th best team in the West. Go look at their team right now, and you almost wonder how they're doing it. They've had good bounce-back seasons from Huberto and Kadri. Huberto is top 20 in goals in the NHL. He's got 15. It's a nice story for him.

And their second-leading scorer is Kadri. He's got 13 goals. Those are the only two double-digit goal scorers they have. You know what he kind of reminds me of right now? Huberto? Yeah. He reminds me of watching the late-career Sedins

play on different lines. Right. It's like he's a lefty. He's not fast. He's an incredible playmaker. He's a good finisher, but he's not an elite finisher. That's not what makes him special. He just a kind of a monster on puck like he's really good on puck

so it's him cadre and uh martin pospicil not to be confused with tennis icon vashik pospicil yeah anything is pospicil right well done uh so that's your that's your top line in calgary and they've actually managed to manufacture reasonable production. They're one of the lower scoring teams in the NHL. Yeah. This could, I mean, by all accounts, this should be the lowest of the low event games tonight, the lowest of the lowest scoring games,

which means it'll be 7-6, right? Go ahead. Connor Zeri. Uh-huh. Okay. I paid close attention to Connor Zeri. You know what he reminds me of? He reminds me of hockey James Harden

Okay Now not at that level of like MVP James Harden Right But you know how James Harden doesn't look fast? Yes And then he just gets by everybody? Yes You know what I mean?

And it's like he doesn't look like he should be a great shooter And then he just gets it done Like Connor Zare is not particularly big He's not particularly fast doesn't look like he should be a great shooter and then he just gets it done like connor's air is not particularly big he's not particularly fast and he's just gonna get to wherever he wants to on the ice every time out it's it's wild it's a terrible shame for him that he's being saddled with having to play with kuzmenko on a regular basis yeah it is it sucks especially because he's the good version of what that type of player can be do you remember when everyone in this market was convinced that kuzmenko was a star do you remember when the

shorthouse family used to laugh at me for saying that they should have taken a second round pick for kuzmenko rather than extend him that okay i don't think they laugh at me for that anymore that i think when it's all said and done we're gonna look to look back on Andre Kuzmenko's, wait for it, 39-goal season. Yeah. Which I went and looked this up last night. Andre Kuzmenko has a top 20 all-time goal-scoring season in Canucks history.

I know. He's up there with, like, the Skrikos and the Tanties for, like, single season. Like, I know that they put up 40. They put up images of him on the side of the building. He was a, I mean, again, he didn't hit 40, but at 39, that is one of the top 20 all-time single season goal scoring marks

in Canucks franchise history. And it belongs to a guy that is in, the long history will be a blip. That whole season will be a blip. Oh, I mean. He has one goal in 29 games this year. He's going to be in the KHL next year. To this day, to this day,

the fact that Elias Pettersson had his 100-point season playing on a line mostly with Andre Kuzmenko and Ilya Mikheyev, and then after Ilya Mikheyev, because it was really Ilya Mikheyev playing on a torn MCL. And when they dropped Ilya Mikheyev, they replaced him with Anthony Beauvillier, and that line didn't miss a beat. Tito! And then the next season, he was making Sam Lafferty a 15-goal scorer.

And people will still say with a straight face stuff like, Elias Pettersson doesn't make his line mates better. I wanted to make this about Kuzmenko. You did a Jason. You turned it into something about Pettersson, which is good line mates better. I wanted to make this about Kuzmenko. You did a Jason. You turned it into something about Pettersson, which is good. Except I turned it into something positive about. So that's like, it's like an anti-Jason. Turn that frown upside down.

Every time I look at it, I'm like, I cannot believe that year. Made no sense. It made no sense. But when you look at it in the annals of Canucks history, it's going to be there alongside some of the more prolific sniping seasons. Out of a guy that you will forget about over time. Only 10 Canucks in history have had a season with more goals. I know.

10 different players. I know. It's remarkable. What was funny was it was obviously a fraud the entire time. And only I was willing to say it. Only? Only Drance. Only Drance. Only Drance.

Okay, coming up on the... Hey, I took a lot of abuse for that. I'm going to really enjoy this one for years to come. You know what? I'm such a good friend. I'm going to allow you to do it on the show. I'm not even going to push back. I'm like, go off.

If I took as many victory laps about goalies as Drance takes about his team... He's only taken one today. And you know what? He's got to get another... We're starting fresh in in 2025 right clean slate I gotta get everything out there for I may have jinxed and like Kuzmenko's gonna have like a hat trick it's like one of the great individual efforts he said it's gonna be a 7-6 game Kuzmenko scoring four I don't know if it's gonna be for the team that had seven of the team that had six taking a run at Sittler's record yeah

go ahead so my question for Drance is since you're so convinced the Canucks aren't going to trade Elias Pettersson, do they move JT Miller in season or during the offseason? I don't think they move either in season. Okay, so you're saying the Canucks will trade JT Miller this offseason? I think if this season goes south, options that we previously would have considered to be wild and improbable probably are on the table.

Because I don't think this club will tolerate having taken a significant step back this year, even with all the injury context and weirdness context that obviously we all know kind of explains where they've found themselves. You know, I think that that's part of what we should read into Alvin's interview. Like he's kind of thrown the gauntlet down here. Like one of, if not the thing that has most defined Rutherford and Alvin's tenure here has been to double down on and support this core, complement this core, right? DeBrus, Koronek, like, refusing to rebuild.

Everything has been done to put this, like, Demko, Hughes, Miller, Pedersen, Axis in position to win as a group, as a collective. Which, to be fair, is the right move if there are no issues, right? Because it's a really good core on paper. If there's no internal struggle and guys aren't having issues of their own with their play or off the ice or whatever. Say everybody's playing at full tilt, then it's great to complement that core because it's a great core. I mean, I was pretty skeptical. I was pretty skeptical going into it.

And look, they're currently poised to end the season with or to end the calendar year with something like the eighth or ninth depending on the result of tonight's game the eighth or the ninth best record in 2024 which excludes the like charmed two and a half months where the team scored five goals off like sam lafferty's took us right right? So even excluding that miracle PDO bender that the team went on in the fall of last season, I mean, this has been a very, very strong team across the last 12 months. And yeah, I mean, I think they're still,

I still think they're a fringe contender. Like I kind of worry that with the core that this team is built around, that they're kind of capped at a ceiling of hey maybe you can beat the Oilers three times out of seven right like maybe you can beat the Oilers three times out of seven if Stuart Skinner dies mid-series right and so you know that that's my concern like you say they're a great core they definitely have one player who is a great player I think Pettersson can be a great player I think we have real question marks around Demko because of the unprecedented injury he's

sustained you know I think JT Miller I mean JT Miller is elite every second year. Right? Every second year, JT Miller is elite. But then you have the other year. And his commitment to the bit is actually pretty remarkable at this point. I do like it. So between those two players, if there was to be a big shake-up to this quarter of this offseason,

more likely it'd be Miller than a Patterson? What are you trying to get me to say? Nothing, man. What do you want from me? I just want to know your thoughts. I think if this season goes south, I think there will be consequences in terms of this organization asking themselves some pretty tough questions.

Come on, Drafts. Take a seat. Let's pick a player. Pick a player. Re-examining the potentially to the point of re-examining. See, Ruff would have humored me by now if I just picked a player. No, no, no. Ruff would have told you to shut up by now.

I think any objective hockey analyst looking at the thing would just say pick the younger guy pick the younger guy so i mean if you want me to pick a player that would be the player that i'd pick but on the other hand petterson doesn't have trade protection or move protection that kicks in until july 1 so there's more flexibility there. But again, I think this organization wants it to work with this core. They've spent years trying to make it work with this core. I think they're going to push through that until it becomes truly untenable.

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