Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 1/28/26

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the latest hockey trade rumours with Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli, plus they chat yesterday's Canucks home loss to the Sharks with analyst Randip Janda. 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-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. And beats Tolapilo sticks side. And the sharks make it 5 to 1. Do you feel like you have the guys ready to play tonight? I mean, I don't even know what kind of question that is. Dahlene's sending it to the empty net and he's going to score.

He gets the hat. Your circle, sinners. The 40-maker 6-1 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful favor of your slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Ladd. Good morning to you. Hello, hello. Halford. And Brub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at sands.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Banker'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 live from the Kintech Studio, Make 2026, your year to move better and step stronger with Kintech custom orthotics. Big show ahead on a Wednesday. The guest list today, also known as the Duick Morning Drive, brought to by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet, NHL host is going to join the program. Busy night in the NHL last night with 10 games.

Not so much this night. Tonight. Just three games, including the abs taking on the Sends in Ottawa at 430. That's the sports night game tonight. David Amber is going to join us at 6.30. Talk about all that. 7 o'clock, Frank Sarah Valley, our NHL insider from Victory Plus, is going to join the program. We'll talk about yesterday's big off-ice news for the Vancouver Canucks.

Thatcher Demko being shut down for the year to undergo hip surgery. Frank is going to join us at 7 to discuss that. and more. 7.30, Nathan Rourke is going to join the program. Quarterback for your BC Lions, the Lions announced an extension for Rourke on Tuesday. The New Deal takes the Victoria BC Native through the 2028 season. Nathan Rourke is going to join us at 7.30.

8 o'clock Randy Jand is going to join the program. Connock's color analyst here on SportsNet 650. As mentioned, another bad performance at home for the Vancouver Canucks last night, dropping a 5-2 decision to Macklin Celebrini. and the sharks at Rogers Arena. Randy will join us to break it all down at 8 a.m. Speaking of 8 a.m. Yet again, every day this week,

we're giving away a $50 gift card to the big football party at the Clayton Public House. Sunday, February 8th, Sportsnet 650 is hosting. If you want a seat at the table, email them at info at the Clayton Pub.com. If you want to win the $50 gift card, be caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning, 604, 280, 0,650.

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. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? I missed that? You missed that?

What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies of best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. Maclin Celebrini, just a casual goal and three assists last night. Four points. San Jose beats the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 at Rogers Arena on Tuesday night. Okay, there is a lot to unpack from yesterday. So we'll kind of start with the news that we actually hinted at right at the end of our show yesterday. I said a little birdie told me that there might be some Thatcher Dempco news today.

Yeah, and there were some pretty big Thatcher Dempco news in that he was shut down for the season. He's going to have hip surgery and hopefully be ready for training camp. next season. And then the Canucks played a game against the San Jose Ozarks and Kevin Lankan got pulled real quick. And it made me remember the start of the season when the Canucks were going to have arguably the best goaltending tandem in the league.

Some people said that. And they weren't necessarily out of their minds to say that. But there were some big ifs and the biggest if Thatcher Dempco was if Thatcher Demko was able to stay healthy and it hasn't exactly turned out that way. No. Next season, the rebuilding Canucks will have $13 million in cap space tied up in goalies. In theory, they could have a very good tandem if Demko can get healthy and stay healthy and find his game.

If Lankinen can tighten up his game a little bit. And I think maybe most importantly of all, if the skaters in front of whoever's in can play some semblance of team defense. But right now, right now, right at this very moment with Thatcher Demko, headed for surgery, Kevin Lankinen, kind of struggling. And again, for me, most importantly, the team in front of them looking like they have, they're either clueless in what's going on defensively or terrified of what's going on defensively. Right now, it looks.

pretty dire in all three of those categories. And that's why the connects are, you know, dead last in the NHL. It's one of the big reasons, at least. I wonder if we are going to have another offseason of goaly coach gossip. There's talk that Ian Clark could be brought back into the fold. I wonder what Demko wants in his rehab. Part of the time I'm like, does Demko, like, he respects Ian Clark, but does he like him? Is he, you know, like, is it, is a lot of work? Is it too hard? I don't even understand the dynamic. Sometimes it's not the thing you want.

It's the thing you need. Ooh, that's probably a good way to put it. You know? So, you know, we've had goalie coach gossip in other off seasons, and it's crazy that it gets to this point. Always some of my favorite. This market is still pretty passionate about its hockey team, and right now the goaltending, I wouldn't even try to make a prediction.

on what it's going to look like next season. No. I have no idea. No idea. It's a major, major wild card. A big part of that would be trying to predict the future of Thatcher Demko's health. There's got to be significant red flags if there wasn't already within the organization. And I'm not talking about his ability to rehab and get back to playing form.

It's keeping that form for any sustained length of time. I think I saw a stat floating out there that he's appeared in 36% of Canucks games since 2022 when the injuries first started bubbling to the surface and he underwent the first of, I've lost track of how many surgeries now or how many different rehab stints he's gone on, but he just can't stay healthy for any length of time. Yeah, this is a big surgery though. Laddie, what are your thoughts on the surgery? What's the goalie community saying? Do they, is this one of those things? Could this be like, all right, fine, like we've dealt with all this, not little stuff, but stuff that we hoped would rehab. Forget it.

let's shut them down, let's take care of everything now, we'll get the hips. Does it all start with the hips? Does it all start there? If you're getting a ton of groin injuries, usually it's because the root cause is there's something wrong with your hips and that's causing kind of like a chain reaction. And so yeah, you got to get it. Usually the guys wait until the off season to get it cleaned up. A lot of guys will play through sort of hip problems throughout the year.

Get it cleaned up in the off season and be ready to go for the regular season. But obviously with what he's dealing with, it's gotten to a point. where he just needs to get it done now, and then you can kind of turn the page and move on. And it's certainly not a death blow for goalies nowadays. It's not like, you know, back in the day, Tommy John surgery for pitchers, it was kind of like, oh-oh. And now today, it's everyone gets it done.

It's kind of the same thing for goalies. Where hip surgery, it's not the end of the world. It's not great. It's not what you want to see, but it's not, guys certainly come back from it. So it's, it's a tough one to swallow if you're a Canucks fan. So the Canucks in their press release, made sure to note that this surgery is unrelated to the injury that he had.

Unrelated to his nine other injuries. This is nothing to do with the other seven injuries. But the other one was the knee, right? The popliteus. The popliteous. And this is the hips. And I'm kind of like when they put that out there, I was kind of like, I understand why you're clarifying,

but it doesn't make it any better. It's like worse. It's like a domino effect. Like each injury leads to another one. It's a kind of CYA from the Canucks, right? They're saying like this is not us forcing him to play on his old injury. This is this is a new thing that has cropped up. Yeah.

Because they know that everyone or a lot of people in the market are like, hey, what's going on medically with you guys? Yeah, and I understand the, as you put it, the CYA element to all of this, but anyone with half a brain, a quarter of a brain can look at this and go through the injury history and be like whether it's related or not, if you want to take yourself off the hook for what's gone on, that's fine. But the bigger and more pressing issue remains is that you've got a goalie that's about to enter a three-year extension at eight and a half million per that has over the course

of the last three years, shown little to no ability whatsoever to stay healthy. Not from a lack of trying. That's one thing I want to get out there. I do feel bad for Demko because he's worked incredibly hard to come back from these injuries multiple times. And secondly, you can tell every time he talks about it, he does not want to be typecast as like the human band-aid. You know?

I mean, that he is. And yeah, so it's unfortunate. It's very unfortunate, right? like Bill Buckner didn't want to be remembered as the guy that let that ground her through his legs. But sometimes you are where you are. I get it. He was a hell of a ball player, but that's what people remember him for. I just, I do notice there are other professional athletes who will not bristle at the questions about their health or where they're at their rehab.

Like, Demko very much pushes back against that. Like, this isn't me being injured. This thing happened. I rehab that I'm good to go. and he just doesn't want to be typecast as that guy. Unfortunately, he's typecast as that guy. Okay, the game last night. First off, I'll start off by saying, like,

I'm not surprised or anything by what happened last night, and I realized the Canucks are rebuilding and want a better draft pick, but we've still got to go back and look back at these games. Sure. Right? I know Halford, you enjoy a good Kevin Lankinin critique. Right?

Yeah, you do. And I'm not saying he's been good, but the Canucks are really bad defensively. And don't take it from me. Take it from Tom Vielander, young defenseman who said all our details were bad. Yep. Last night. Back to me saying it. They don't manage the puck well enough.

They get caught running around all the time. It's really shocking how badly their structure has broken down. Yeah, they've got some young defensemen playing, and that's part of the reason. But even the veterans seem unsure of where they should be on the ice or what they should do with the puck when they get it. That goes for the forwards, too. Like on San Jose's first goal, maybe keep a lot. maybe keep an eye on that Celebrini guy, Drew O'Connor.

Because Celebrini, he's pretty good. He's probably the first name on the top of the old whiteboard. We're like, hey, you got to stop this guy. He's got a lot of points. The Conachs are like, I've never heard of him. What number is he? You know, it shouldn't be easy for Celebrini to get wide open and stay wide open. But that's exactly what happened on the first goal.

Now should Lincoln have come up with that save? Maybe. But that Celebrini guy works on his shot. It's a pretty good shooter, too. The next goal started with a giveaway by Horonick. And it looked like he was kind of like, he had the puck, maybe flubbed it a bit, a little bit, but was he sure of where he was going with the puck?

Were the forward sure of where they should have been going? To get a pass? Didn't look like it. The third was another coverage breakdown with Tyler Tofoli left open in the slot. And a Kinnock player right beside him, but didn't check. them.

The Canucks looked paralyzed for most of the first period. And again, I mean, it's not like I'm surprised or anything. They're the worst team in the league by a wide margin. Yeah. But it is crazy how far they've fallen from the structure. Remember the big, but it was part of the marketing campaign structure. Yep. That they display during that one good season under Rick Tawket with Adam Foote on the

bench running the defense. Yep. There have to be questions at a certain point this season. If they haven't already been raised, then I know a lot of our texters have, about the continual mistakes that this team has in, I'm going to use big air quotes on coverage and the system and start asking like, do you need to take whatever this system is crumpling into a ball and throw it in the trash can? Well, are they even listening to the system? Are they even, or can he explain it?

properly. I don't know. Again, obviously, it wasn't in the building last night. I was listening to the post game show. I talked to a couple of people that were there. They said, a lot of this is not for a lack of effort from the team. Like, the one thing, like it might not be the most inspired performance in terms of guys running around

and hitting and fighting. We're going to ignore the fight part of it. But, you know, there's never a night where you're pointing around the room being like, this guy didn't show up, this guy didn't try, this guy gave up, right? What's happening is there's these huge lapses and huge breakdowns in every time Adam Foote comes to the podium in the aftermath, he points out several, not one or two,

several big, loud, egregious mistakes that end up in the back of the Canucks net. And here's the problem. There's no course correction for any of them. The next night he comes up to the podium and there's another fairly long soliloquy identifying in detail about all these individual errors. Like last night he pointed out the Horonik one on the giveaway and he's like, it's a mistake that a veteran guy usually never makes. He also pointed out Drew O'Connor on the first call. He didn't name him. But he said, you know, we had a forward that went where he shouldn't have gone.

It's like he went into a haunted house. Don't go in there. You're never going to come back. So when you throw it out there as a coach, I think someone's going to take a look at what you're saying. I mean, like, there's two things you can do here. You can either correct the mistakes that are happening with regularity or take a deeper look at the system and style you're playing and be like, This isn't working. The guys aren't getting it.

It's not giving us adequate defensive coverage. We need to change it. Right now, they're in this weird middle ground, and part of it has to do with the fact that they're in a rebuild, where they're allowing losses that are expected to cover up what I think are very, very important issues, which is there's no wasted time in the NHL. There's no time to just sit back and kick up your feet and be like, It doesn't matter.

These are still valuable minutes for veteran guys to prove, quite frankly, that they still belong in the league. And young guys to learn their craft and learn it in an environment where there are stakes, there are standards, there's a mandate set by the coach that has to be followed to a T in order to find success. And right now,

there are a lot of guys that are just swimming blind on the ice. Does it give a lot of our listeners the desired result? Absolutely. The team is horrific standings-wise. The team is 5, 17, and 3 at home this year. Think about that. They have five home wins. And they are, what is it, a minus 35 goal differential at home,

which through this stage of the season is the worst goal differential at home that a Vancouver Canucks team has ever had. in the 80s, no matter when, like, the entirety of this franchise, you've never had a team that's been this bad at home. But at least for the people

that bought tickets, they got to see Celebrini last night. And that's fine. Like, I get that. I mean, maybe you're joking, maybe you're not. I'm not. But eventually.

I mean, a lot of people last night there was like, do you watch the hockey team? Yeah, well, I watched Celebrini and the Kinnock happened to be on the ice too. And if the marketing campaign is going to be like, come watch the other team and get cheap tickets, that's great.

Like, that's fine. but if you care about the trajectory of the team, then I do think it matters that they are looking like a floundering mess in their own end. Well, offensively, they're not exactly rolling either. You know whose production has fallen off a cliff? And we haven't really talked about it much. Connor Garlands. Yep.

At times, he's been the Canucks best forward, where you notice them all over the ice, winning battles, making plays. He had a few of those moments last night. But you got to wonder what he's thinking about the state of the team and where he's at in his career. I know he said he likes Vancouver and he feels a connection to the city, but I like Vancouver too. I feel a connection to the city. I'm not sure if I choose to be on the Canucks right now. And if you're the Canucks, you can look at the player right now and see an opportunity to move a contract that may not be so efficient in a few years.

you are trying to plan a rebuild. And as part of planning a rebuild, you have to look not just to next season, but years ahead. And your plan isn't going to go to perfection, right? You know, you make a plan, God laughs, et cetera. But there still has to be a plan. Do you want Connor Garland on this team at 29 years old and about to start a six-year contract extension? Or do you want to try and move him? because what the Canucks end up doing a lot of the time is like

now we'll keep that guy and let his contract go bad. Oh, okay. Let him mentor the youths while he gets older and his contract gets worse. Yeah. You mentioned it earlier. Lots of scouts in the press box. Presumably some of them to watch Evander Kane who didn't do much of anything before attacking Timothy Liljigrin at the end of the second.

He did. I was actually wondering if Kane was going to do something to get some attention right before that. I was thinking that because the Canucks didn't exactly set him up for offensive success. They gave him Ratu and Hoaglander as linemates, fourth line. And then that five on three, not that I'm advocating him for him to be on that, but the Canucks had a very lengthy five on three, almost two minutes. And he didn't get any of that.

And then right after he goes out and he quote unquote fights Timothy Liljikrin. Yeah, I'm sure. rest of the league was, you know, really standing on attention that Evander Cain beat up Timothy Lildegroen. He had the zero career fights prior to this. But I think he just, I don't, he did something. He did something. He wanted to, he needed to do something. I wonder if he, I wonder if the Canucks should have put him out there on the five on three, you know. But Lecker-Mackie was out there. And he got lots of power play time. And I certainly wanted to see him on the powerplay. So I don't

know who I would have taken off. But he had multiple chances to score off one-timers, him and Pedersen. Pedersen was looking for Lecker-Mackie on the one-timer. He found him a few times. Should have scored probably at least once, but no dice ultimately. But I think it was fine from Leckermackie. Two points for Petey both assists his first multi-point game since November. So that's something.

I put out something rather kind of positive on Pedersen on Social media and a lot of people didn't have much time for it. Really? Yeah, I was like, because I honestly do think that I'm not saying he's back. I ain't saying he's back. You know, if you want to compare last night, Pederson to Celebrini. Yeah. That's a one C. Brough, Pedersen is back.

That's a franchise player. Get the video ready. But Pedersen, I mean, the bar is solo, right? It's just like, yeah, he doesn't cough up the puck or, you know, he doesn't look super, super nervous when the puck's on his stick. and he made a nice play to Tom Velander on the first goal of the game. And then he set up Proenic for a one-timer for what, the last goal of the game, like book in, desist for Elias Pedersen.

He's actually driving play and trying to make things happen, which he was. People keep asking if I'm back, and I haven't really had an answer. But now, yeah, I'm thinking I'm making progress. Hey, Doug, he is not driving play. He is not driving play. Well, for him. I mean, in comparison to the way, The whole thing, he is not driving play.

In a comparison of what he was doing like a year ago. It's like a crossing guard. He's directing some play. Yeah, directing play. He's directing some play. Don't say he's driving. Okay, well, he's making, he's trying to make things happen. You don't drive play on the power play.

I'm just saying in general he's trying to make things happen. I'm trying to be positive about him. He's showing some offensive flare. It's never been our thing. Watching Celebrini last night, and I know the guys were talking about this on the post-game show. And how you need some loss. in the draft lottery or in just in your picks, right?

I mean, Quinn Hughes was the seventh overall pick. Sure. They got lucky that other teams didn't take them and Quinn Hughes fell to the Canucks. The Canucks need, they need the man. Like they need, they need something, look, when I was, when I was a kid, and I first started watching the Canucks, they were totally aimless and one of the worst teams in the league in the 80s after they went on that Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup.

They were terrible. And then they drafted Trevor Linden. And that was the first bit of hope. And Trevor Linden gave the team life. And then soon after that, they found Pavillbury. And then all of a sudden, they were kind of a serious team. You know?

Yeah, they got Pat Quinn in there. That was a big deal as well. But, you know, it all started with getting Trevor Linden. and then some other stuff fell to them. Pavel Burry, finding Kirk McLean, finding some good players in trades. And then they nearly won the Stanley Cup.

You know, the Canucks drafted the Cedines, and yeah, it took a while for the Cedines to become the guys on the team, but eventually they did. And they set the culture, and their play was incredible. And the Cinnock nearly won the Stanley Cup. You know, right now, I know we can talk about some of the young, young players. Zeve Boullium, I don't know, maybe he can be the guy.

Sure. But, you know, we'll see. What I really think is they're just going to need to find these guys in the draft. And whether it's Stenberg or Gavin McKenna or, you know, Keaton Verhoff, I don't know. But they're going to need to find it. Coots is maybe going to be a good player. I don't think he's got the talent. Prove me wrong, Coots.

talent to be like the man but the bar the bar is high and that you know look at who's going to win the Stanley Cup this year probably Colorado right

Nate McCar you know those guys you know who's the team that we talk about all the time

the Edmonton Oilers McDavid Drysidal like you know the Celebrini last night the sharks would still be

horrific Celabrini's got a guy on his line Colin Graff Yeah, Steffie Graff's kid It's not But this guy is an undrafted kid Out of Quinipiac Who's piling up points

Playing with Celebrity Quinnibriac It's Bob's College, right? You know like And that's what That's what these great players do They not only play well themselves

They elevate other players You know, the Siddins, I love Burroughs, but the Sidon's elevated Burroughs. And Burroughs help them, for sure. But that's what happens. All of a sudden, you get, when you have a great player or a great forward, sometimes you get an additional good player out of that

because that guy is so good that he can elevate someone else. Yeah, and when you talk about getting the first overall pick, like there's some luck involved with that too, and it's the draft year you're in and who you end up choosing. The last three, have been great. Schaefer, Salabrini,

Baderd. The three before that, Slavkowski, power, Lafranier. Sometimes it conspires against you. You get the number one pick in a year where it just doesn't go your way.

And you don't get what you're talking about, the guy. You just get a lowercase guy. And that's not what the connects need right now. They need a difference maker in a major way. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Frank Saravelli, our NHL Insider from Victory Plus, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Good morning, Frank. How are you? Pretty good. How are you? We're well. There's a lot going on in Canuckland right now, both on and off the ice. There is a few things going on, Frank. I know it's hard to believe with this team in this economy, but the big news off the ice yesterday was the Canucks announcing shortly after we got off the show that Thatcher and Emco is going to be shut down for the year to undergo hip surgery in the hopes that he will be ready for training camp in the fall. I'm just going to let the floor be yours here, Frank,

because you've done a lot of reporting over the years on Thatcher Demko's health, his contract situation, the contract that he was signed to. So feel free to take this conversation in any direction you want to go. Thatcher Demko and the news that he's going to be shut down for the year to undergo hip surgery. Well, it was called to my attention yesterday a tweet from 2022. from a podcast that I did in which I explained that an anonymous NHL executive speaking at the time said, I'd try and move on from Thatcher Demko sooner rather than later because of his hips. That the prediction was at the time that Thatcher Demko will be the next Corey Schneider,

really talented goalie just unable to play because of health considerations. And look, I have zero interest in being the loudest in the room. I tend to not criticize other reporters so much as possible because I think in the end, with so much information flying around, there's always going to be moments when when you get stuff wrong or someone passes you something that's incorrect information. And so what goes around comes around,

I just find that there's just constant carnival barking in your market that for whatever reason, everyone wants to dump on everyone. And the person that I feel most for is that's Dr. Demko because he's a competitor. He is a supremely talented netminder and even the start of this season at the very beginning

was a reminder of what he has left in the tank that it's a sad story all the way around. But I also think a reminder for people that like there's information out there and what we choose to share selectively is done so at times for a reason. It's not just to create headlines or cause a stir. These are actual conversations happening behind the scenes.

Well, I mean, I think one of the biggest problems with society right now is people just unable to accept truth if it makes them uncomfortable or unhappy. And we've seen that a lot with the Vancouver Canucks. I remember when you came out with a report on McAev that he'd done his ACL and, you know, he kept playing. I got torn to shreds. People saying, doesn't this guy understand what an ACL injury is? there's no maybe. Like every tear is, we're talking about micro tears. Yeah.

There's nuance. There's is. And I don't have any interest in like going back and reading the receipts, but like just let your work speak for itself. And that's it. I'm not tooting my horn at all. Well, I'll tweet your horn for you because you were not high on the Marcus Pedersen trade that the Canucks made. you're looking at that first round draft pick that they sent away. I think the Canucks would rather the prospect they got on that trade.

And you at the time said, yeah, maybe, I think Pedersen's maybe a number four or five defenseman. And again, I know you don't want to do this, but we just ended our last segment talking about like, have any of the moves that the Canucks management made this season, Have any of the big bets that they've made worked out, whether it's the coach, whether it's bringing back Brock Besser, whether it's, you know, just, well, Thatcher Demko contract extension looms large, especially at this point. You know, it feels like none of them worked out. You know, they bet on Heidel to stay healthy as well. And he was hurt seven games into the season. And he was part of a J.T. Miller trade.

You know, it's just like I'm trying, I'm honestly trying to come up with something that has worked out. And I don't think there is one. Well, I think the story is that as I see it, the Canucks management group as a whole seems to have really lacked vision and foresight. And part of that commentary includes, yes, sometimes you get thrown around. and plans change. But in this case, taking a first round pick that you get in your hands

and flipping it instantaneously for instant relief and gratification on Marcus Pedersen of all players, I just think it was reactionary. It was reactive and it was, I don't even know that there was a full view of the marketplace and everything else that could have been achieved in that moment and time.

And the power of hanging on to that capital and letting some time pass and things to play out. I just watching that play out, I mean, you could see it from a thousand miles away or I'm 2,500 miles away in Philadelphia. I've seen Petters, I mean, look, Jim Rutherford clearly knows Marcus Pedersen better than me or better than most. But you could watch his play and what he's trending toward. And more importantly, this goes back to scouting and everything else,

there's a ceiling to his play. Like to suggest at that moment in time that you think Marcus Pedersen can be a first pair of defensemen, it was disingenuous in the moment. And it was a quick fix to feel good at that moment. moment in time after there was so much ruckus and so much drama and it's like, hey, let's talk about this now. And I just feel like it's been one thing after the other with this organization getting in its own way. That I also think this is some of the toughest, one of the toughest jobs in the business is being or running the Vancouver Canucks with the top-down ownership

structure and how involved they are in the process, that there's other demands placed on this organization that there frankly aren't in others. And so I think you have to view all that in totality, but to say that it's been like this team's chasing its tail, I think that's probably the best way to say it is they're always digging out from the latest disaster as opposed to you know putting a plan in place Brandeep Janda joins us now

on the Halford and Brough show on Sports Night 650 but up Brandeep Good morning boys how's it going I was actually getting ready for the show reading your bestseller Halford I have it here at my house you and grants wrote a book a few years ago I was gifted it a couple years ago so that was my pre-show

reading yeah both the words best and seller are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that assessment, but thank you very much for reading. I referenced that earlier in the show, the Ryan Kessler against Nashville chapter. Anyway, those, you know, when we wrote that, there were brighter times for the Vancouver Canucks. Not so much now. A 5-2 loss, yet again on home ice, this time to the San Jose Sharks.

I got to ask you, like, when you're doing these games, and I was listening, I was at my kid's soccer practice yesterday, so I listened to the entire game right here on SportsNet 650. and there's the balance between the game in a vacuum and calling what you're seeing and analyzing everything in the moment and then what it means big picture and then of course trying to gauge a team that's in a really bad way

how do you balance actually going through the moment and what's happening in the game and then what it really means in the big picture? Yeah, it's a bit of a challenge in the sense that you do have to look at the big picture, right? There's a number of young players that are going to make mistakes, and therefore I think, you know, if this team was third in the Pacific, you know, you call the game slightly differently.

But at the same time, guys, like some of that, you know, I think that first period, it was a tough one for Vancouver across the board. I don't care if you're a young guy or if we're a veteran. A lot of mistakes were made by, you know, veteran players. So you do still have to be honest with the call. You have to be, you know, aware that, yes, even though a rebuild is going on, even though there are some young defense in the lineup, you know, there are veterans in this lineup too. And you got to call it how you see it. And I thought, you know, a couple of those goals, the first three specifically, you know, that was a very discombobulated first period.

That was, you know, we've seen some hockey this year. And I thought, you know, that first period, that was a team that, you know, it was a tough one. for them defensively. So when you're focusing on the game, of course, you're looking at the here and now. You're looking at how they're reacting in the moment. But at the same time, I think you do have to look at where this team is, who's in the lineup, the young guys. But on a certain night, like last night specifically, I think it was, you know, for

a Vancouver Canucks performance. It was a tough one across the board, whether you're a young player or a veteran. Because the point I was trying to make earlier in the show, I think Adolf ended up making it the video that we put on social this morning. There's no wasted time in the National Hockey League. There's no games where you just shrug your shoulders and they say, you know, results don't matter. So this doesn't matter.

Like you can lose, but you can't be lost is a good way to put it. Because you can't, in the first period, they were lost. They were lost defensively. They were lost in terms of what they were trying to accomplish, how they were accomplishing it. And you get Adam foot at the podium afterwards. And that's a dejected head coach where there are, mistakes happening that are the same mistakes from the game prior they're not getting cleaned up and

again yeah you can lose but you can't be lost no and that's a very good point because i think for the first time in a long time and listen this team has fell behind two nothing three nothing in a number of games recently but you know there there were moments within those games you're essentially saying okay hey they did a couple of things right um but you know the other team just laid it on them over that five minute or two minutes fell. That to me last night was a game where you could understand why VLander was dejected after the enemy is pretty critical

is because it felt like that was a moment where which was really testing, okay, can you get out of this? And unfortunately, they couldn't. They were rattled, right? Like, this was a team that couldn't connect passes. This was a team that defensively, and I think that's the biggest issue right now with this team, is that

when they get hit with adversity, when they get hit with that haymaker from a team like San Jose, you can't adjust and you cannot find your, you know, what you're, I want to say structure, but whatever you're good at, you can't fall back on that, right? Like, and structure, there is none right now defensively for this team. The middle of the ice was wide open and that's where I think, you know, the whole idea about being lost, you know, losing but not being lost.

Right now they are lost in the defensive zone. And that's, I think, the most challenging thing. When you are a team that is struggling, you know, sometimes, you have goal tendings, sometimes you have, are we going to front everything and push everything to the outside and, you know, simplify the game. They're having a very difficult time simplifying the game, and that's showing on the scoreboard.

What did you think is Celebrini? It's good. Four-point game, and it felt like it was just at a pretty leisurely pace for him. I think he's got now 22 multi-point games this year. He's second in the NHL of primary assists. Didn't even pick up a primary assist last night. All of them were secondary. and the goal.

And, like, it just shows you how much, you know, how much skill he has. He's 19 years of age. Every time you see him, it feels like the watchability rankings. He moves up the spot. And, you know, I was talking about this with the boys yesterday on the postgame show. We've got the, you know, Connor McDavid, you know, Nathan McKinnon probably won two. I usually, you know, in my watchability rankings in building. Like, for me, Nathan McKinnon's number one.

Connor's number two. I just love the raw power of Nathan McKinnon. but I think Celebrini probably number three or four like that's how good this kid is already it seems so effortless even that goal that he scored on the one-one you know that move he makes on Philip Heedle

to get the initial shot off it's just silky smooth guys and the sky's the limit for this kid in terms of just this season because you start looking at his numbers at this rate he's going to smash Joe Thornton's franchise record for points in a season for the San Jose Sharks

which is at 114. And you know he's a he's in a example where he can change the trajectory of a franchise. He's that example of a player. So, you know, I don't have a vote in the heart trophy, but I think it's a slam dunk. If this team makes the playoffs, he's got a 42-point lead, I guess, on his next closest teammate when it comes to point scoring. This team is nothing without him, and it's not like I said, it's like watching, you know,

a Sid Crosby in his prime or like a Nathan McKinnon. You know, he electrifies the same way, which you're essentially. saying he's worth the price of admission. So, you know, I think with Macklin, the scary thing is he's only 19 years of age and it's only going to get better. And it shows you exactly what the Canucks are missing.

That type of difference maker and hopefully they can find it in this year's draft. I'm going to be, I know what the odds say, that the odds are actually more likely that the Canucks pick third overall than first or second combined.

Third overall is a 54% chance. I'm still going to be furious if they don't get one or two. No disrespect to Keaton Verhoff, who might go third overall. But, you know, I look at the Canucks up front. I was just like, they got no juice. You know, yeah, they can get some power play goals

or once in a while they can make some plays. But you see what Celebrini does by himself. And that's what the Canucks are real. I mean, they're lacking a lot of things. I know hockey is an ultimate team game, but it still starts, I think, with your best players and the connects don't have enough of them right now. Yeah, you need game breakers.

You need players on any given night that can win their matchups. I think with McElabrini, you know, the way that they had the lines with him previously were maybe more top-heavy in the sense that he was playing with a To Foley, right? Like, he needed that support. Now they've got different players on different lines. They've got a little bit more balance. to their lineup, and that makes them stronger

as a team. And that, you know, when your best player is able to play with individuals that, you know, it's kind of like the Crosby Coonitz, right? Like no disrespect Chris Coonitz, but we know what the balance there was, where Salabrini's playing with Will Smith and Colin Graff right now, but they don't need a Tyler Topoli up there.

So Foley can support a Wendberg. Your best players are, you know, capable of winning you games. Your best players are capable of handling a line on their own. And for Vancouver right now, That's the biggest need, guys. And, you know, I think when Quinn Hughes was on this team, there was a thought of,

okay, how do you get one more high-level game breaker? Is that Alias Pedersen returning to his form or is that a different player altogether? Once Quinn leaves the team, now you're looking for, all right, you need to start with one. And, you know, depth is something that you build out through the draft. Depth is something that you do, you know, build out by, you know, graduating players from your HL team. But right now with this team right now, you need one. the two game breakers at the very least. And I think you're right about the draft. The probability says what it does. But even if you get a third pick overall, I know there would be a lot of,

you know, frustration in the market, but the Canucks need multiple players to hit, right? And that's what I think the San Jose example shows you where you need a celebrini. You need somebody who's got high-end skill. But, you know, Will Smith and his chemistry, like, that's a first-line player guys. Like that is a duo and that was another player that was taken high in the draft. You start looking at a player like Michael Misa. I know he has only played 14 games this year

but he's going to be another top six player. William Eklund has played that role so there's going to be at least four or five players that you need to profile that way. So for Vancouver it's about getting not only one of those guys. I think you need three or four of those guys but you need one that is a

bona fide game breaker. No doubt about that. Do you think there's any way for them to get another first round pick in this draft? That's going to be tough, right? Obviously, I think the best bet to do that was Kiefer Shrewitt, if you're looking at straight up rentals, we know what he ended up getting. Now, the question is, are you going to move off players

a term? And the real value there, guys, is as we've talked about, you know, the players of term is there's a Connor Garland, you know, there's value across the league. Like, so you have to start exploring those types of conversations. We know that Patrick Alvin is, having veterans on this group moving forward is important

now, but how many do you need? If you need maybe two on the back end, you know, does that free up a player that might be able to fetch you a first round? I don't necessarily see that maybe on the back end as much as I see in the forward group. So it is possible, but you've got to essentially look at a player

like Connor Garland or Jake DeBrusk. And I think Garland is the easier conversation in the sense that he doesn't have a no movement clause up until the summer. with any move with Jake, you're looking essentially at more term. So that's more money tied up for the player. Is that even worth the first round pick? Probably not.

With Garland, you might be able to make that happen because, you know, $6 million on a long term and a player that has a lot of respect across the league. So I think that's probably your most likely path if you're looking at that. But, guys, it depends on management. It depends on how many veteran pieces they want. One thing about Connor is for sure that Connor Garland, you know, he's liked in that room, he's respected in that room, he's taken a step more of as a leader. But, you know, who does management believe if there's one or two guys that need to stay in that

forward group as veterans that are going to be carried over in the next year? Like, who are those guys? You know, I think any time a player doesn't have a no movement clause, you have to explore that possibility because you might be able to get more from dealing that player. So it's going to be a delicate dance for management as it tries to try to. to figure out how they can maybe potentially add one more pick. Is Garland still hurt? He's gone 11 games without a point.

Yeah, his impact on games is also just, you know, he's not to say he's not out there trying to make a difference, but is he able to make that same difference that we saw? You know, he's, he's one of those guys that will never tell you that he's hurt. He's kind of cut from the same cloth as a Philip Peronic or Ian Cole a couple years ago who, you know, refused to say whether he was hurt in the playoffs. but the staff speak for themselves. He has been battling something. We know he's had a couple of injuries this year.

And obviously, you know, we can't speak to that because neither the coach or the player has mentioned it, but if you look at the zeros on the board, you look at, you know, even his impact of trying to make, you know, a play every single game. And, you know, his impact is lessened over the last, I want to say, since he was out last in late December. So, you know, one thing about Connor, and I noticed this also in that Philly game or he got slew-footed by Noah Kate, is that teams zero in on him, right?

They understand he's the guy that kind of can initiate. He's the guy that is the spark plug. And what I noticed near the end of 2025 was that even away from the puck, Jason, he's getting a lot more attention where Vancouver, if you don't have a Quinn Hughes, if you don't have a game breaker, you know, Connor is going to try to initiate in his own way. And teams will check him a little bit more, like literally away from the puck. So I think it's not only been a struggle if he's hurt or if he's managing an injury right now, but he is getting more attention, which is, I think, making life a little bit more difficult for Connor Garland. All right, Randipe. Well, actually, I'd want to ask you one more thing.

Is there any way to predict how what happens with Canucks goaltending just in general? Like, I see we're back to the goalie coach. you know, gossip around this team. And, you know, Thatcher Dempco shut down for the season. Who knows how that goes? Kevin Lankinen, I mean, I think the play in front of him has been so bad that I have trouble really ripping Kevin Lankton, but I'm sure the team isn't thrilled with his performance this season.

Canucks are going to have, what, $13 million tied up in goalies next season, the rebuilding Vancouver Canucks, all that money tied up in goalies. Would you even dare to make a prediction on how this turns out? Yeah, you know, you're going to need a crystal ball on that one just based on the fact that obviously, you know, it sucks to see thatcher with another injury. This is a player that is highly competitive, but he hasn't been able to be a part of competition going back to two and a half years now. But, you know, looking in the short term, you've got a game every other day basically until the Olympic break, which, you know, give that to Kevin Lincoln. and obviously Tolapilo, I think coming into that game last night was not easy. He did a good job.

He made some good saves. But this is Kevin Lankininin, it's crease the rest of the way until the break. And then the second half, guys, when the Olympic break is over, I think there's going to be a fine ballot here. How do you get Nikita Tolapilo games? How do you get a NHL experience? And you also want to, of course, Kevin Lankin is your guy. He's going to get the majority. But you also have to start seizing Nikita Tolapilo, hopefully he's ready.

Hopefully he's ready for that level. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.