Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 1/24/25

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including yesterday's brutal Canucks road loss to the Oilers, they talk the lack of pride the Canucks are showing with commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich, plus they discuss the latest 'Nucks news with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. 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. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Nugent Hopkins with a face-off dodge. This is my nightmare. To dry saddle to Nugent Hopkins, he scores. This has to be rock bottom. I don't know what they do if it gets worse from here. Tonight on Rock Bottom. Corey Perry grabbed a hold of Quinn Hughes and threw his head down into the end boards. You can act like a man. What's the matter with you?

Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. 6-0-1 on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody. It is Halford and his bruff. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios, the beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and bruff of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers They have a friendly knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for sales Financing service or parts we are in our one of the program our one is brought to you by North Star metal recycling

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal North Star metal recycling they recycle you get paid Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step. We have a show of a significant size today on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Guest list begins bright and early this morning. Very excited to have our first guest on the program at 6.30.

Columbus Blue Jackets forward and poor moody native Kent Johnson is going to join the program. Kent, welcome. How are you? Congrats on a great season for you and the Columbus Blue Jackets. What's wrong with the Canucks? Do you follow them still? Big fans still. We'll talk to Kent after last night's unfortunate loss for the Blue Jackets to the Carolina Hurricanes, but a good game for him. Goal and an assist brings them up to 30 points in 35 games this year. We will talk to him about this. I'd call it an inspirational season with the Columbus blue jackets are having currently, even with the loss last night,

still woke up this morning holding onto the second and final wild card spot in the Eastern conference. So Ken Johnson at six 30 this morning, we'll join the program. Seven o'clock it's AJ from AJ's Pizza. A reminder, we are giving away a $100 gift card today to the best what we learned or ask us anything. Dunbar number text line is 650650, hashtag WWL or AUA, and importantly,

put a pizza emoji into your text to be entered into the contest. 7.30, Bob the Moj Marjanovic is going to join us. We'll talk some Canucks, we'll talk some Lions. Of course, we will talk Championship Sunday, Commander's Eagles followed by Bill's Chiefs to see who will be playing in this year's Super Bowl. Moj, of course, will be going down to the Super Bowl on Radio Roast, so we'll talk to Moj about all that. At 7.30, 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program.

As per usual, I have no idea what we're going to talk about with Rick. Jason Breff is the anointed Dollywall handler. What are we going to talk to Dollywall about today? Demko and Miller. Demko and Miller. That's going to be at 8 o'clock. As far as the business of the show, I mentioned we're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's. We are also giving away a pair of tickets to see Nine Inch Nails on the Peel It Back

World Tour. They're coming to Rogers Arena this summer, Sunday, August the 10th. We have given away tickets twice already this week. We're giving away another pair today. And then Monday and Tuesday of next week, we're giving away pairs as well. B caller number 9 at 815 this morning. The number 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650. B caller number 9 at 815 and you can win 9 inch nails tickets. Okay, working in reverse on the guest list. Eight o'clock, Dolly Wall, 730, Marjanovic. Seven o'clock AJ.

630, Kent Johnson. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how messy your life can be.

What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca And yet another brutal loss for the Vancouver Canucks.

Zach Hyman had two goals in an assist. Leon Dreisaitl had a goal in two assists. And the Edmonton Oilers thumped the Canucks. 6-2 on Thursday night in Edmonton. Remember when we did the Mount Rushmore Oilers thumped the Canucks 6-2 on Thursday night in Edmonton. Remember when we did the Mount Rushmore of bad losses this season? It was a fun little exercise that we did. I had fun. Last night, I don't even think you could put that on a Mount Rushmore of bad losses. It was less fun. It needs something more. It needs to stand by itself.

It shouldn't have to share the mountain with three other losses. It was singular. It was like the statue of liberty of bad losses. Just again, singular. One singular bad loss standing proudly in the harbor. Arm raised. Give me your tired, your poor, your Vancouver Canucks. That as IMAX said on the post game was rock bottom.

And then sad said, don't be so sure about that. But so far it's rock bottom. Sure. They've lost by more goals this season. And this one was at least on the road, not a Rogers arena in front of paying customers. There's a positive. Customers who paid a lot, seen the ticker prices, but this was rock bottom so far.

This was a team that got challenged by its coach after blowing a lead against Buffalo at home and against a hated rival that didn't even have its captain, best player. They responded to that challenge by surrendering five goals in the first half of the game and scoring none. The Canucks had nothing last night in Edmonton. No offensive punch, no pushback. The goaltending was bad. The defending was even worse. The Canucks were unprepared, undisciplined, uninspired.

This team is in crisis and this group has not earned the benefit of the doubt that they can find their way out of it. One good season where everything goes right does not earn a fan base's trust, especially when it was preceded by much of what we're seeing right now with this same group. I'm not even going to recap all the goals like I usually do. We all saw the game moving the puck. They look like a deer getting out of a car.

I can't think of one positive to pass along. The only line that did anything was the one with JT Miller and Brock Besser. Just two problems with being positive about that. Miller is probably going to be traded and it's anyone's guess at this point, if Besser will be here next season. Hmm.

I get it. What are they going to do, Mike? I don't know. I have no idea. I have no idea. I, I. What are they gonna do, Mike? I don't know. I have no idea. I have no idea. What are they gonna do? I don't know. I spent half of yesterday reading about how

a JT Miller trade scenario is suddenly getting more and more muddied, more and more murky because the returns for Miller aren't as being enthusiastically received as maybe they once were. And I don't even know if that was the magic elixir to begin with to solve all the ails this team, because as Bic and Sat astutely pointed out on the postgame show last night, there are so many different problems with this team right now.

We haven't even mentioned the goaltending yet. We mentioned it yesterday before the game, as you astutely pointed out, the Canucks had the second worst save percentage in the entire National H hockey league collectively as a team, and it didn't look any better last night. Thatcher Demko is not riding in with the white cowboy hat on a really pretty horse to save the day for this team. That's not happening. He does not look like the same goalie right now.

Right. So put that in the problem category. The defense remains as problematic as ever. Welcome back to Edmonton for Vinny De Harne. He gets his mail sent directly to the penalty box now. The forward group seemingly incapable of pulling this team out of its funk when again, for the millionth time this season,

you look at the two highest paid forwards on the team and it's a no show again. Oh, and by the way, Kiefer Sherwood got hurt last night too. Left in the second period, didn't return. So just throw that on top of the pile for good measure. Probably the team's best bright spot in terms of what's actually gone good for the team this year.

There's one, now he's hurt. Hopefully it's not a big injury, but at this point, everything seems secondary to the one major question, which you just asked, what the hell are they going to do to get themselves out of this? I think there's a second question now too. It's can they even get themselves out of this? How are we back at this point again? Was last season just fool's gold?

Were we fools that thought it was gold? Let's face it, this possibility was, and the possibility I'm talking about is what we're saying right now, it's kind of in the back of our minds, but we bought into this group. We admitted we were wrong about them. That's what pisses me off. We thought they'd finally matured.

We thought they had the right management, the right coach and the right core. Now we're back to questioning everything. How can you not be questioning management, how they've handled all of this? That includes putting the defense together, but just all of this. That includes putting the defense together. But just all of this, if the management or the leaders of the, of the group, how have they let it get to this, the coach has talk at lost the room. And if he has, does that say more about the coach or the players is talk? I've heard this before talk.

It's brand of hockey is just too hard for this group to play. And if so, does that say more about the system or the players or does it say a lot about both? That's a possibility. It seems like a bad marriage right now between the style that Tocket wants them to employ and the player's ability to execute it. And I don't know why. Honestly, I don't.

I wanna play a clip from Tocket yesterday where he's talking about how many guys are exhausted or look exhausted on the team last night. We'll let him explain the number and we can come back on the other side. So this is Rick Tauket after a game in which, as you pointed out, he challenged his group on Wednesday after practice, held their feet to the fire,

said that they needed more. And he was incredibly disappointed with the loss against Buffalo. With that hanging in the background and this big rivalry game that had an extra grudge to it with the suspensions, his team laid a complete egg. And here's what Rick Talk had to say in the aftermath of 6-2 loss to Edmonton on Thursday night from Edmonton. Well, this business, you have to bring energy. I mean, I felt some guys did not have energy tonight for whatever reason look things. They looked exhausted five or six guys I'm not sure why but we're gonna have to get some rest here and we got a big game against Washington

That's a that's a must-win type of game. You always got a You always got to kind of have in your mind that I'm gonna bring a must-win attitude By the way trotting out the must-win game for a January tilt against a non-conference opponent is a big old red flag, right? If you're a head coach and you're trying to push the buttons of your team and you're trying to poke and prod to find that energy that let's be clear, he's point, how many times has Rick talk it pointed out either the lack of energy or the lack of buzz at the start of a game, emotional investment. Remember that one, the lack of buzz at the start of a game.

Emotional investment. Remember that one. The lack of juice at the beginning of a period. Take your pick. He's got a lot of different descriptors for it. And I'll, I, I will mention another one of the problems that I didn't mention earlier. And it's been a recurring theme this year as well. And it happened last night, the lack of pushback on this team. I do not think that it's the single solitary reason that they are struggling.

I do not even think that it's one of maybe the top three problems on the team. I think the top three are goaltending defense in the forwards. But I will say this, when we talk about the identity of this team, the one thing that we've said on a number of occasions is, well, they're consistently inconsistent. That's one thing you can say about this group, is you never know what team is gonna show up. I would add a second one,

and these are not endearing, redeeming characteristics, by the way. The other one is, when they get pushed around, or thumped, trucked or bullied, more often than not, they don't stick up for themselves and they don't stick up for their teammates. So last night, it's four nothing Edmonton. Connor Garland comes in on an offensive four,

he takes a poke at Calvin Pickard on a rebound. Probably a little bit of an aggressive stab, but nothing out of the ordinary that you don't see through 82 games over the course of a regular season. Especially from Connor Garland. It's a Connor Garland move. Scrum breaks out behind the net, everyone's sort of involved, and then Corey Perry, who I will admit,

makes a pretty smart, calculated move that peels off of the Scum and says, Hey, there's Quinn Hughes, their best player. So he takes Quinn Hughes in a headlock, chucks him to the ice, kind of greasy, but whatever. I actually, you know, in the, in the moment, I'm like, yeah, sure. You guys were all upset that Connor Garland was tied up

with Connor McDavid, your best player last game. Go tie up the Canucks best player. Go do it. Pederson kind of shuffles his feet over, throws an arm around Perry. And that's the only only response that you get for the remainder of the second period from the Vancouver Canucks. That's it. Your captain gets hogtied to the ground in a game where you're getting your lunch fed to you anyway. It's not a close game.

You're already being embarrassed in many facets of the game. And then you have to wait until the third period, a minute 53 in, when Teddy Bluger, Teddy Bluger of all people, takes it upon himself to try and exact some revenge with Corey Perry. Corey Perry says, no, doesn't drop the gloves. I don't know. I don't have the bandwidth or the energy to get into the Corey Perry side of things. I did that on Twitter last night.

I'm just going to leave it there because this is about the Canucks. Friedman tried it as well. Teddy Bluger and Mark Friedman are the culture carriers last night. Really? Those are the two, God bless them for trying. We've always said that someone's gotta try. That's what Wolf Pack mentality is. That's actually what Tauke said after the game is like, some of the guys were trying.

Yeah, some of them did try. That's awesome to hear. Yeah. Some of the guys were trying. We're giving out participation ribbons for trying. Yeah. Good on you, Mark Friedman, for taking that 10 minute misconduct,

for barking at. It is unbelievable how out of sync, out of touch, unharmonious, inharmonious, deharmonious, I don't know the word. It's crazy that this team that had everything go right last year now has everything going wrong. I would challenge anyone listening right now, text in to the Dunbar Lumber Text Line 650650, point me in the direction of one thing that's going right for this team right now.

It's like the monkey paw thing, like give me one good Canuck season, okay. Oh God. And at the expense of that season, everything goes wrong next year. The Dunbar Lumber text line is hopping right now By the way, Kent Johnson has to follow this to think even knows I Can't why am I turning my microphone on this morning? I don't know what I know. I don't know Yeah, nothing's going right this morning that big red button ready there Gonna come on the show. I was like, hey, what are you guys doing this morning? Any exciting?

I'm gonna come on the show. I was like, hey, what were you guys doing this morning? And they exciting Lots of text into the Dunbar lumber text line at 650 650 Metro Vancouver's trust your choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at Dunbar lumber.com I like this name the king of blind bay Texan. Guys, we went from top of the league to how do we stop Quinn Hughes from walking to New Jersey for nothing and we did it all in a calendar year. The Canucks ability to out Canucks themselves

never ceases to amaze. This is another thing I want to bring up. Yeah. Because I'm hearing this more and more. Yeah. What does Quinn Hughes think about all this? There is This notion that you cannot trade a bunch of the core While he's still under contract because he won't settle for a rebuild rebuild. He won't he won't settle for it

He just won't have it What if he wants big changes has Has anyone considered that? What if he's looking at the team the same way we're looking at the team? Which begs another question. What are the chances that Miller, Pedersen and Besser are all gone next season? Miller, Pederson, and Besser are all gone next season. Miller, because he's on the block right now, Besser, because it doesn't sound like they're close to getting an extension done with him, and Pederson, because... Because Pederson. Yeah, I get it. Are you watching?

Cause Patterson. Yeah, I get it. Are you watching? It's definitely something that you've got to consider. Now, the sort of sub question with the subtext that I'd be asking is, how much is this group going to go to Hughes and be like, hey, you're our captain, you're our leader, you're the face of the franchise.

We need to get your assessment on a lot of this stuff. Because remember, I always point back to that anecdote that Patrick Alveen had after they signed Kiefer Sherwood. It was a minor anecdote, but I think it was telling. And he said, Quinn Hughes came to us and said, you know, we need a player like that moving forward. As a matter of fact, we need that particular player. Played against him in the playoffs,

he was a pain in the butt. Lo and behold, July 1, boom, Kiefer Sherwood signs at the Vancouver Canucks. I think if you have such a special asset like Hughes and you understand how valuable that he is, I think you would grant him more, it's not leeway, but you would grant him more clout within the organization. You would lean on him to maybe make more decisions than you would with another player. Cause at the end of the day, players play coaches, coach, executives make the moves.

I think that. You also don't want him to get into the head space of I'm out of here. Yeah. You, you want to keep him happy. So you grant him certain allowances that you wouldn't with other players. And I think that when this season, and at this point, when the season is mercifully done, you go directly to your captain and you say, let's have a sit down. Let's talk about what went right. Brackets, not much.

What went wrong a lot. And the personnel moves we may need to make. Do you think that a Miller trade is going to happen this season, in season? Because I'll just, I'm asking it because my biggest concern right now is that they make the trade, they take an L on the asset return, and it does nothing to change the course of action for this team because they're so fundamentally screwed up.

I mean, it could make it worse. Like I said last night, the Miller line with Besser was the only thing that was working a five on five and granted those goals that they scored kind of came in garbage time when the game was over. Uh, Ladi, you got something from Elliot Friedman? Yeah, he was just released a 32 Thoughts minutes ago. And there's a bit of a rant that he included

in there about the whole situation with Corey Perry the Canucks protecting Queen Hughes So you want to hear free just thoughts on the whole old deal? I do absolutely. Okay, let's hear what he has to say You know Miller kind of stared him down and I'm gonna you know, Mark Friedman got the misconduct in the third period I bet you I bet you Friedman sitting there and and and he's saying, you know If you're gonna give me a misconduct, at least let me do something. Like I didn't do anything that was worth, and Bluger tried.

Bluger tried. Yes, I give Bluger credit, he tried. But like, I'm sure Friedman's like, I just got robbed, like totally robbed. Like a misconduct for that. But as you said, Bluger tried, but I don't know. Look, I'm like, I'm basically the same age as Tauke. Tauke has a lot more career peddling minutes than I do.

3000. But I don't know. Like it just, it bothers me to see how much abuse Hughes is taking. I, and again, I'm not blaming the other teams. That's what you're supposed to do, but I don't know. It doesn't sit right with me, Kyle, to see, he's their best player. He's trying to carry them through a really difficult time.

And I just think he's getting roughed up a lot more than any opponent is by Vancouver. Hey, I mean, I pointed this. I've been pointing this out for two months and it started and I know at the time everyone was like, ah, it's a one off that awful loss that they had to the Islanders in mid November. We've talked about it. I think it made Mount Rushmore if I'm not mistaken. Made mine.

Yeah. That was the game where Dakota Joshua made his emotional return after overcoming testicular cancer and the Canucks went out and laid an egg, an emotionless egg against the Islanders. And in that game, Siplikov trucked Quinn Hughes and nobody did anything about it. Everyone stood around and watched and I heard all the classic cliches and answers. Oh, you know, you're going to exact your revenge on the scoreboard or you can't afford to take a penalty and put the Islanders and their feared power play out there. And everyone said that and every excuse in the book.

And then, you know what happened later on in the season? Tanner Janow hit Brock Besser. And happened later on in the season? Tanner Janow hit Brock Besser and then later on in the season Kaden Gouly trucked Jonathan Leckaromacky and the same excuses kept coming out and now we came full circle last night because two and a half months after the Siplikov hit on Hughes, Corey Perry decided to take liberties with him and you know what part of that equation probably was for Perry? Who's gonna do something about it? Who's gonna do something about it? And the answer was 25 minutes after the fact,

Teddy Bluger and Mark Friedman tried to do something about it, tried. If you're Hughes and you're looking around, you're saying like, where are the other guys on this team? Who's got my back here? Anybody? Who's going to do something here? Because it's not a one time occurrence anymore. And the power plays didn't matter last night. It was for nothing. If someone had just grabbed Perry and just started wailing away or done whatever, or waited until the next time he was out on the ice

It wasn't going to make a lick of difference the connects were still losing that game and still losing it in very poor fashion If i'm hughes i'm Furious at this situation Furious at my teammates He's the leader of this team And he is leading by example By all accounts He's a well-spoken lead, uh, communicator.

He's a guy that has shown consideration for his teammates multiple times. We've heard stories about it behind the scenes. And this is what they're giving them. They're giving him feuds and rifts. They're not even sticking up for them. They don't even act like they wanna be Vancouver Canucks. You know what I wanna watch on a regular basis?

Guys that wanna be Vancouver Canucks, guys that wanna be here and tell us that, not through the media. Like, oh, it's been reported that Elias Pedersen wants to stay. Oh, awesome. Thank God. Thank God you want to stay. Everyone else looks miserable.

I get it. Losing is hard. So try winning. This team has had one good season where everything went right. Some people pointed the New York Rangers and they said, well, you know, they looked dysfunctional a few weeks ago and it looked like they were going to hit the skids and did hit the skids for a while. But look at them. They've turned it around. That core has had so many more successful seasons than this core. You've certainly got a lot more.

Gets the benefit of the doubt that they can pull themselves out of it. This core does not. And there have been way too many times when I've asked myself, do these guys want to be here? Do they want to be Vancouver Canucks? Do they bleed blue like Kevin B. Exa did? Like the Sedines did? Like Burroughs did?

And half the time I'm like, I don't think they do. Doesn't sound like it. It doesn't look like it. And we are basically five or 10 games past the halfway point of the season. I mean, and this is why we keep asking, can this keep going? Because at this rate, when you're openly asking

on a fairly regular basis, if the team is invested and the answer is kind of always shade towards no, you got a real problem on your hands. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Bob the Mojmar Jonovitz joins us now. What I can't live with and I don't think a lot of Canuck fans can live with is just the lack of emotion that this group shows, the lack of response that it shows after a game like Buffalo. I mean they went into Edmonton last night and they were flat. I'm sure they finally woke up a little bit and showed some signs of life. So I just look at this thing and say, okay, where does it start?

And I know a lot of people are pointing their finger at Rick Hockett, but to me, it's not that it's the leadership group of the leadership core of this group. Think about it. They've gone through three coaches in green and Boudreau now talk it. Um, to me, adversity reveals character. I've been covering this team for 30 years. I've been walking into that dressing room since the Coliseum days. You guys have been around a long time too. You guys have been around this team. And to me, there's just something about this leadership group that's just off. That's just different. You know, how do I put my finger on it? I don't know, but it's just a different group.

And I think you're starting, well, I think you're starting to see, you've already seen it in the past, but you're starting to see it again, how this group reacts to adversity, which really doesn't react that well to adversity. What is it like walking into the room and talking to these guys if they're even around? Yeah, it's a great point if they're even around.

It's just different guys. I mean, you know, it's such a strict, there's so many restrictions now in terms of how the media deals with players. Here's the thing that cracks me out too is like everyone likes to pound on the media. Oh, it's the media's fault. Oh, the pressure of the media deals with players. Here's the thing that cracks me out too, is like everyone likes to pound on the media. Oh, it's the media's fault. Oh, the pressure of the media. You know, I'll give you an example. That whole thing with Pederson and Miller, the big, the rift supposedly, right? You know, that everybody

talked about. They were questioned one time on that. That one weekend or whatever it was, that two-day span, that was it. It's never been brought up since it wasn't brought up before. And, you know, just looking at Patterson's reaction where he stormed off. And I'm just kind of like, dude, just answer the question, put it to rest. And that's it. You don't need this, you know, this, this entire drama playing out. Um, it's just different. I mean, before these players seemed a little bit more approachable.

You could talk to them. You know, there was some levity in the discussions. This group, it's like, it's like they're miserable half the time. Even with the way I think they're miserable. Just think you're in the National Hockey League. You're making millions of dollars. Go out there and have some fun. Have a smile on your face for crying out loud.

I just, I don't know. It's just, who knows? I might just be howling at the moon, but it's, it's like I said, it's just a different, different group. Victim mentality comes to mind a lot. Yeah. You know, it's, it's poor us or whatever the case may be. But like I said, you're playing on the national hockey league. You're making millions of dollars.

Go out and have some fun. We're in here. See everything too. When I look at this team, what have these leaders, these so-called leaders done for this group to get them out of this slide? I mean, like I said, okay, maybe you can give some mulligans to certain guys that have missed time with injury and are trying to get their game back. But even then, what about Pedersen? Guys making $11 million a year. Did you notice him last night? Nope.

Have you noticed him this season? He won the Selkie that one night in Toronto. Yeah, that one night he won the Selkie. Congrats. But I mean, here's a guy that, you know, he just doesn't seem to be having any fun. Well, guess what? You can do two things. You can sit there and sulk and go through the motions and you know what? It's not going to be fun for a hell of a long time.

Or you bring your lunch bucket to work, you work your, you know, what off, you work your butt off and you start having some success and guess what? It's fun again. But to me, it's just, you know, it's just right now I look at this team and I just see a bunch of guys that are feeling sorry for themselves. It's almost like that Boudreaux rant back in the day when he was with the capitalists. She just walked into the locker room and that's the way I feel about this team right now. You want to feel sorry for yourself? Go spend three hours at Canuck Place Children's Hospice. Then come back and tell me if you're feeling sorry for yourself because you're not playing

well in the National Hockey League making millions of dollars. It's just get it together. I mean, it's so frustrating watching this team and it's frustrating because they have so much talent. This isn't a team that doesn't have talent. They've got talent, but for whatever reason right now, well, maybe some of the reasons we've stated, they're just, I don't know,

they're just blowing it is what they're doing. We call them slick Rick, we call them Ricky D. Rick Dollywell joins us now in the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. What up Ricky? Gentlemen, happy to be here Friday. So, was that the low point last year or last night of the, of the season? Was that officially like it wasn't, they've lost by more goals.

You know, they lost six, nothing to the devils. At least this one wasn't at Rogers arena. Um, but man, considering the coach called them out directly and said, I challenged these guys, so I'm going to be curious to see how they respond considering it was Edmonton a rival that the fan base and hopefully the team doesn't like either and that's what they came out with. Donnie called the Buffalo game, the low

point of the season. And there's, there's competition for games that are for the low point and you nailed it. So my biggest thing last night was how are you going to respond to the Buffalo game and the coach said the most disappointing game in two years. Well you know how they responded? They fell behind three-nothing for the third time in the past five games. They're not good enough to overcome three nothing deficits. That's four losses by the way, in the last five, they are now three and eight in the month of January. Here we go again.

Tauke it says five, six guys lacked energy. How is that even possible when you're a team that is not in the playoffs and you're fighting for that second wild card spot? How many times has he said this year, um, six guys weren't there, too many passengers. I would love for him to start naming the five, six guys. Pedersen had no shots on goal last night. You know he's one of the five, six, right? You just know it, right? So teams are scoring way too many easy goals on the Canucks. Look at the last week, go back to the Winnipeg game. You probably got two or three easy goals every game.

It's driving talk at nuts. Um, he looks defeated by the way. I don't know if you guys think that, but he's saying the same things after every post game, he's running out of answers. Yeah. Um, I'm really starting to wonder if this guy wants to come back.

Well, I wonder if he's being tuned out as well. And, and, and, and, and which could lead to what you are talking about. Yeah. How about him tuning out? Like, you know, Alveen says we want him back. We want to do a long-term deal, but it takes two to tango.

Well, that's telling me he's sitting there going, okay, uh, do, am I, am I thinking about, you know, do I, am I coming back? So there's, hey, maybe management's got the answers. Jason, is this team waiting for a trade, a shakeup? Some are playing like it, some players are playing like they're waiting for a shakeup, but the only guy really that's untouchable is Quinn Hughes. I don't think, I think the rest of the core has lost the right to be called untouchable.

And I want to ask you guys a question. Have we heard about a players only meeting? You know how sometimes after game, the doors locked, the media is not let in. And we always hear about the players are having a meeting. I haven't heard of one of those. They might need one of those if they have not held

one privately already, you know, how about getting in a room, just to players, kick the coaches out and say, Hey guys, you know, we got to look at ourselves in the mirrors. Something's wrong here. We're not doing this the right way. We're not competing. We're the, you know, we're not having pride in the Jersey, you know, and I'm with Hullford, you can't let Corey Perry do that to Quena Hughes.

You know, I love the fact that Miller talked to Perry after the second period when it was over, Blugart tried to fight him. But guess what? There's no more shots at Perry. The season series is over with Edmonton. And by the way, Tom Wilson's here tomorrow night, so get ready for some more fun. Another question I want to throw at you guys is where's the owner's patience? Fan interest is dwindling in this team. I know your i i know your guys text line but i know ours a little bit better we're getting tax that people are saying we're tuning the televisions off during we're turning the television is offering games

people are not taking three tickets to games we had a a bunch of tax this week that said we had three tickets to a connex game we said no not gonna go he's got to sell sponsorships and season tickets this summer if they don't make the playoffs he's going to have a rough summer. Consumer confidence with this team is very very very low. I mean the owner can't be happy. You know the Flames beat the Sabres last night so they lead the Canucks by three points and they got one game in hand for the second wild card spot and they also happen to have a goaltender who is one of the hottest goalies in the National Hockey League. And they're putting their season on the back of their goaltender in Calgary. Wolf, this kid who played in the Western Hockey League, has been unbelievable.

And hey, don't worry. Up next for the Canucks, the number one team in the NHL Washington. Let's talk about Miller. Like what's, is there anything on this? So, I mean, cause I hear so many different scenarios, like something's close or maybe it'll happen at the trade deadline. Actually, you know, maybe it'll happen in the off season.

What's your best bet right now? What are you hearing? But that is true. What you just said, like it could happen in five minutes, it could happen in five minutes. It could happen this afternoon or at the four nations or at the deadline or in the summer. Like it is really like, honestly, Jason, that's where we're at. It could happen at any time.

We, we, we, all we can do is continue to wait for a Miller trade. Um, yeah, they were close last weekend with the Rangers, nothing since. Teams keep checking in and they're hoping that Canucks take some bad offers. That's where we're at today. But I find it really hard to believe that Canucks will win a Miller trade. But by the same token, this isn't a fourth liner, they're peddling.

This guy had 103 points last year. He made the U S team for the four nations. You can't just give them away. But. But you also can't keep going like this. True. But they're not dealing from strength, a position of strength. Miller turns 32 next month,

five more years at 8 million, dressing him issues with Pedersen, a leave of absence, production down. That's a lot for teams to take on right now. This isn't an easy move. So one team told me last night, they can't get in on Miller right now because of their, uh, salary situation, but they could in the summer, there'll be more teams involved, Jason, don't kid yourself after the season is over. Another team told me some clubs are divided on Miller. A lot of GMs love them, but some analytics departments on certain teams and other staff

are pushing back. Yeah. And so like, there's a lot of that I heard going on. Here's another one for you. Some teams are asking their captains and assistant captains about Miller. Some teams ask their leadership groups about acquiring a player, especially a guy, a big

personality with Miller. Go back to when the Canucks signed Sherwood and Alvin asked Hughes and other guys in the leadership core, hey, you guys okay if we go after Sherwood? And they, oh yeah, yeah, go after him. This guy, you know, he drove us nuts in that Nashville series. Well, I think that's going on too. I think teams are sitting down their leadership groups and saying, hey, look, we got interest in Miller. What do you guys think?

So I think that's going on. Rangers might be the best fit, but they're 7-0 and 3 in their last 10. They won again last night. They don't have to overpay now. They can be patient with Vancouver. I mean, honestly, the Rangers are one of the hottest teams in the national hockey league. Carolina's interesting to me. They leaked it out yesterday. They were out of Miller. Canucks leaked it out. They are still in.

Hurricanes have a very hands-on owner. This guy's always looking for bargains like Carolina's tough to deal with sometimes because of the owner. So I'm going to tell you, this owner is well known for calling agents during contract negotiations and reminding them, the agents, how low the cost of living is in Carolina and how low the taxes are in Carolina, how, and it's not greater in the bigger markets, more cost of living for players so very hands-on order uh... in carolina the devils like miller a lot but not not many believe they can pull off the trade one thing to keep in mind

character not the position of retained salary they have to pay all we all mckay have five point two million next year two years from now they got a pay allEL 4.7. This club's got no appetite to retain. They're going to have to get creative to get a deal done. And like I said, honestly, Jason, it could happen today or it could happen in a few weeks or in a few months. It's just, but here's the final thing I want to say on Miller because I see this propping up again today on Twitter. Miller's agent Brian Bartlett has made it very clear to me,

JT did not ask for a trade. I got a lot of pushback on this, and I still get pushback on it. Lots of people said he did ask for a trade. Despite the narrative that he did, I can tell you this. Both sides have a very good working relationship. They're working together on this. There is open dialogue between the Canucks and Bartlett on what's best for everyone involved.

I can tell you right now that he did not go into an office and pound the table and demand a trade. I can just tell you that both sides are working on getting, you know, both working on this situation. But it's kind of semantics at this point, isn't it? Like Miller is, Miller would like, Miller's open to a trade, right? And I think that's where we're at. So it's semantics whether or not he went in and, uh, you know, said, I want out of here. I realized that maybe that could affect his

legacy in Vancouver, you know, it affected Brian Kessler's legacy in Vancouver. But at this point it's semantics. Like he, he's not saying like, no, don't trade me. Yeah. If you were to ask him, if you were to ask him, would you rather be in Vancouver or would you rather be on the Rangers?

What do you think he'd say? Yeah, there's no question. And Bartlett's really smart. He'd say the Rangers, right? And Bartlett's really smart because you just nailed it on the Kester. The moment you ask for a trade, what happens? You become public enemy number one.

And you know what? You don't want to become public enemy number one because Miller know what you don't want to be become public any enemy number one because miller's got a lot of fans in the city like the heck he's got a lot of fans around the league like a ton of GMs love this guy just not every not every team can do a Miller trade because of either cap related reasons or whatever but he's got a lot of people that love his style of hockey, the nastiness, all that stuff. They really like the player. The other thing I want to tell you, you know, they're still listening in on Pedersen and

I don't think he's out of the woods. The goal was always to trade one of these guys. I can't say which one's going to go, but like Pedersen's got to pick it up. Like no shots on goal last night. I mean, at some point, he's got to be a difference maker. He's got to pick it up. Like no shots on goal last night. I mean, at some point, um, he's got to be a difference maker. He's got to drive play. There was a couple of times he crossed the blue line last night with the puck and I'm thinking, okay, this is it. You know, make a play, do something, you know, that's a difference making play. So he he's got to get going here because he's on pace for 50, 55 points.

And that that's just not good for a guy making 11-6. He's got to drive more play and they need him to be a difference maker. They really do and it's not happening right now. Rick, is there a chance that next season, Pedersen, Miller and Besser are all gone from the team? Yeah, isn't. Well, if they're going to do that, they better get going.

They better get, you can do Miller in the summer, but you can't do Peterson in the summer because there's no trades going to kick in. And with Besser, what I'm being told on Besser is they do want them back and there might be a long-term deal there if both sides really work at it. You heard Alvin say, Alvin said it takes two to tango on two people in his press conference. He said it on Tocket and he said it on Besser. And like I think if they sat down, there's a deal to be had and that's what Alvin was hinting at that there's, if they get together, they can work on a long-term deal.

Uh, that's what he was getting at. Right. And out of all these forwards that you're talking about, best, there's the only one right now. Okay. Look at the Brasca has gone cold again. Right. So now I think he's nine games without a goal.

He goes, he goes cold, he goes hot and now he's back to cold. Patterson and Miller production way down. The only guy that really, it doesn't go into long drought is Besser. And a beautiful goal last night, what a shot, right? So if you let him go, so who's gonna replace him? And same thing with Miller. The guy they get back from Miller

isn't going to be as good as Miller. And the guy they get back from Besser, well, who are you gonna plunk in there next year? Besser scored 40 last year, led the team in the playoffs. He probably would be leading this team in goals if he didn't get the seven games missing because of a concussion. So tell me right now, Jason, who's going to score the goals? I don't know.

I don't know. I have no idea. It's not like there's a ton of free agents out there. Yeah. And you got the poor kid last night, sitting as a healthy scratch, Hogan lander, right? You have absolutely sewered his confidence and you've the poor kid last night, sitting as a healthy scratch, Hoglender, right? You've absolutely soared his confidence and you've soared his trade, whatever trade

market he had, you've soared that. Well, he's part of that too. He's part of that too. He didn't, he hasn't performed. All right, I'll give you that. He did perform last year. So he was doing something right last year, was he not?

24 even straight goals. So you tell me right now, the kid has fallen so far that they're playing Linus Carlson and and DJ Seppi ahead of him like that's how far this kid has sunk and go have fun trying to trade this kid have fun his trade value is lower than a snake's belly three goals all season in 43 games his salary goes goes to 3 million last next year. So you tell me one team that wants a guy sitting on three goals, who's going to go from 1 million to 3 million in salary. There's another headache for you.

They got to figure out and solve this summer as well. But Rick, Rick, we haven't gone through it all yet. Let's talk about that your Demko. Oh, absolutely. Oh boy. Can I actually have to be concerned with Demko's play. That's 16 goals against in four straight games. He's allowed three goals in eight of his 12 games he's played since returning from the injury. I see a lot last night Demko's done, he's washed up on Twitter. But this guy's 29, Vezina trophy candidate last year. He had two

injuries that essentially kept him out 10 months. Forget about the popliteus. When he hurt the popliteus, he was out basically two months before that, as you guys know. That's a long time for a goalie to be out. And look at his blue line,

the way it's constructed in front of him. The right side last night, Aaronic, Freeman and Dairne, Demko's gotta be better, but the amount of mistakes that are being made in front of them, pretty alarming. Defending is a major issue right now with this team. So I asked a goalie coach last night, not a goalie coach of the Canucks, but a goalie coach what he thinks of Demko's play and this is what he had to say.

He said the sharp angle goals and coming off his post or things that didn't happen before It's hard to say how much is rust how much is reads and quality looks versus those movements He's just not as crisp as he was before when they were drilling him relentlessly in practice But I don't think he gave up more than the one to two dead angle goals the past few years We've seen a bunch in the past week dead angle goals the past few years, we've seen a bunch in the past week. So look, this guy's like, I don't know about you two. If you take 10 months off, how are you going to be on,

you know, when you come back, anybody takes off 10 months from our job. I don't know. Our job is easy. We'd be fine. It's not like we do reps and we got to get better. We just, we just talk for a living. I get it.

Um, but I want to say, with the Canucks chasing the playoffs now, goaltending is even more vital. They need some better starts from Demko or he's going to start losing starts to Lankenen. Here's a question for both of you. If you ask Lankenen today, would he want to return to play in front of that defense? Lankenen or someone else, one thing is clear, the Canucks can't go cheap on the backup going next year they need a solid backup and it's going to cost money if they will pay the price if they go cheap on the backup next year because right now i don't know what damn cool you're to go cheap with a backup for 1 million or 1 million and a half, I don't think that situation ends up good. Anything positive, dad?

Nothing? We're struggling. We're struggling. We could talk BC Lions and CFL, Jason, if you want. I was going to say nobody got hurt last night, but then I remember Sherwood left in the second period. Oh. He didn't come back.

That's right. Sherwood did. Yeah. He did get hurt and he didn't come back for the third. Hey look, I know like I said this, or I know your guy, the fan base is pissed off and rightfully so. Like I just don't understand how this team went to game seven at minton in the playoffs almost to the western conference and by the way if the investors not hurt i mean come on and if them goes the better than a damn close in that they would not game seven possibly at home against ever to the now issues been an absolute uh... opposite year nobody can figure out you know like what is going on they had six seven guys who had career years last year now they got six seven guys going the opposite way and and it's just it's very tough

to figure out um and here's i'll tell you something else like i i'm not uh i i want to hear jim rutherford like i i'm not a guy that listens to patrick alvein and gets a whole ton out of that i i want to hear what Rutherford says because he runs this hockey club. And you know, there's two guys in Canucks history that when they talked and they were powerful and you listened, it was Pat Quinn and Brian Burke. And Jim Rutherford is right there. You cling on to every word he says. I understand they trotted Alveen out last week. I get that. But the guy that I want to hear is Rutherford.

He's the powerful guy. What's going through his head right now? Why are they in this situation? What's going on with Pettersson and Miller? Oh, there's a million questions. I mean, I know they trotted him out. They trotted out the wrong guy last week. They need to get Jimmy out in front

and try to help because consumer confidence is just at an all time low with this team right now. Rick, this was great buddy. Thanks for doing it as always. We appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend. We'll do this again next Friday. Alfred, you're getting better.

It was 702 last week, 704, no 802. It was 804 last week. You're getting better pal. Thanks buddy. I appreciate the support. See ya. Love you guys. See ya buddy. I appreciate the support. See you. Love you guys. See you, buddy. Rick Dollywall here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

We love you too, Rick. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.