Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 1/3/25

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including an OT Canucks win at the Kraken as well as Team Canada getting eliminated from the World Juniors ahead of the medal round for the second year in a row, they look ahead to tonight's 'Nucks home clash versus the Preds, plus they discuss the latest Canucks 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 & Brough. You're listening to Halford & Brough. For the second straight year, the Czechs and Canada's host at the World Junior Championship. A 4-3 win sends them to the semifinals. And Canada fouls out of the quarters for the second straight year. I mean, we're only guessing at this point. The news is Patrick Demko's gone down the tunnel into the Canucks locker room.

Nothing can possibly go wrong. Possibly go wrong. That's the first thing that's ever gone wrong. Good morning, Vancouver. 6.02 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Ralph.

It is Sportsnet 650. And 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. Hey, dog. Good morning to you. Good morning. And regular Zach, good morning to you as well.

Good morning. Halford and Brough for the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Well, they pay the highest prices brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler.

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We got a big show ahead on a Friday. Guest list begins at 630. Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN. This Sunday, season finale for your Seattle Seahawks. 1 p.m. kickoff in Los Angeles against the Rams. Well, technically most of the Rams backups. You can hear it all right here on Sportsnet 650 on Sunday. No playoffs, obviously, for the Hawks,

but we will talk to Brady about what could be No playoffs, obviously, for the Hawks, but we will talk to Brady about what could be a 10-win season for the Hawks and what it means for rookie head coach Mike McDonald. That's all going to be at 6.30. 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway is going to join us. A reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday on the program. We are giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza

to the best Ask Us Anything or What We Learned. Hashtag them both, AUA or WWL. Dunbar-Lumber text line is 650-650. You can start getting them in now. 730 Bob the Moj Marjanovic is going to join the program. NFL Week 18 last week of the regular season.

Two, count them, two playoff spots up for grabs as well as the number one overall seed in the NFC. You want to know, I want to ask Moj, if his plans are solidified for Super Bowl week. It's Moj's big event of the year. Going to Super Bowl, Radio Row, we'll talk to Moj at 7.30. About all that, 8 o'clock, it's Dollywall.

I have no idea what we're talking to Rick about today. Jason is the official Halbro Rick handler. Yeah, just the usual stuff around this team. Petey, Miller, all that stuff. Maybe Demko. Yeah. Speaking of the Vancouver Canucks, big win last night in Seattle.

No rest for the weary. They're right back in action tonight, 7 o'clock against Nashville at Rogers Arena. A reminder, Canucks Central 4-6, pregame show 6-7, then the postgame show right through to 11 p.m. You can hear it all right here on Sportsnet 650. Zach forgot

some of the administrative nonsense on this team. Detroit blogger. Right. Have people mentioned them? The Dunbar Lumber text message in basket? Yep. Canucks won last night. We have a clip that suggests the Canucks won. Does Zach not know about that or did you

just forget about it? I'm learning right now Okay, well that's on A-Dog A-Dog, you're fired, goodbye Sorry You had a good run It's been fun And by good, I mean fine And by fine, I mean mediocre

Okay, without further ado Zach, 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 busy your life can be What happened? You missed that? What happened? As always brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance.

JT Miller scored the only goal in the shootout in the Vancouver Canucks. Recovered. Recovered in a good way this time. A 4-3 win against the Seattle Crackit at Lemon Pledge Arena on Thursday night in Seattle yeah um so before we get to the game what was up with Thatcher Demko so what what happened he got he got hurt he had to leave the game Kevin Lankanen came in for people just waking up and maybe they didn't know I went to bed uh what happened Thatcher Demko exited yesterday's game at 749 of the second period after making a save.

And then upon a few replays and Shorty and Ray walking through it on the broadcast, there was also a bump that appeared that happened in the first period. So there was a couple. A bump? Yeah. What's a bump? He took a little bit of a bump and fell to the ice.

Oh, okay. Yeah, so. No, different kind of bump. Not that kind of bump. This is a much cleaner bump. Anyway, Demko exits midway through the second period. Everyone starts panicking, and rightfully so. The former Vezna finalist

obviously missed a ton of time this year recovering from his popliteus injury. And immediately, I think a lot of people, the red flags went up that, oh my God, he's hurt the popliteus again. Fear not, Canucks fans. Post-game, Rick Tockett said that Thatcher Demko was merely experiencing back spasms during the game.

Yeah, don't worry, guys. He's got a bad back. It's not the popliteus. He's got a bad back. And those heal quickly poplatias. He's got a bad back. And those heal quickly. So Tauket said it's not believed to be serious. Hopefully it'll only clear up after a day or two. But just to reiterate, it was not a re-aggravation of the knee injury,

at least this according to Canucks head coach Rick Tauket following the game. Thatcher Demko suffered back spasms during the game yesterday, exited in the second period, made way for Kevin Lankanen, who I thought performed pretty admirably, given the situation he was thrown into. And I guess you can expect Kevin Lankanen to be back in action tonight when the Canucks take on the National Predators at Rogers Arena. Yeah, it's right back to action for the Canucks tonight.

So this is going to be a difficult turnaround, considering how undermanned they are. And maybe Kevin Lankanen was hoping to get some rest during the game yesterday, a difficult turnaround considering how undermanned they are. And maybe Kevin Lankanen was hoping to get some rest during the game yesterday, but had to come in and play. The Preds are playing a little bit better, aren't they?

They are not. They have lost three in a row. Really? Oh, I thought they were playing a little bit better. Well, whatever. They're having a real tough go. Okay.

And they're actually allowing a lot of goals now. Instead of losing low event games, they've given up, what's my math here, 15 goals in their last three games. Oh, okay, they're not playing better. Okay.

It was an important two points for the Canucks last night, who did blow another multi-goal lead to the Kraken, but were able to get it done in the shootout this time. We don't see many shootouts anymore, but the Canucks won it in the shootout. JT Miller scored. Kevin Lankanen stopped all three Seattle shooters. I thought Connor Garland was excellent last night. He scored a goal. Tyler Myers was a workhorse. He scored two on a nice passing play that saw JT

Miller and Jake DeBrusque pick up assists. Brock Besser did some good work on that goal too. I thought Hoaglander had a good game I thought he was going to break through last night, he even got a shift in OT so Tuckett must have felt the same way about Nils Hoaglander and as you mentioned you got to hand it to Lankanen who had to come in

cold for Demko, the tying goal was a stinker he didn't see it, it was a long point shot and it went in with, I don't know, like a minute left and I was like oh my god, this has not been a very good sports day. But he did stop all three cracking shots

in the shootout. So good for Kevin Lankanen and good for the undermanned Canucks. Look, Seattle is bad, man. They're not good. That's not a good hockey team. Like, they, you know, the Canucks blew that three-goal lead to them the other night at Rogers Arena,

and the Canucks were the far better team that night for 55 minutes, and then they completely fell apart. And I guess you've got to credit the Kraken for coming back, but I thought that was mostly the Canucks falling apart. then last night uh the Canucks are able to build another lead with again like just they're missing Quinn Hughes they're uh they're missing Philip Peronik they're they're missing Elias Pettersson their goalie gets hurt and Seattle still can't win that game JT Miller although I think he was named first star of the game last night, I would have probably given it to Connor Garland if I was picking that.

A lot of other players. JT Miller did make, there's three plays that stood out for me for JT Miller. One was the very nice assist that he got, a nice pass to Tyler Myers, who made a nice play in the corner, got it to Myers, and Myers shot and scored, so that was good. At the end of the game, Miller was on Myers, and Myers shot and scored, so that was good. At the end of the game, Miller was on the ice for one of his very quick shifts that he took last night, and he made a nice play along the wall to get the puck out when the Canucks needed it. Now,

Seattle still tied it, but JT Miller made a nice play there, and then the final play would have been in the shootout because he was the only one they actually scored. So, you know, those are three good moments, but I thought it was just like a, it was a weird night for JT Miller. He didn't play all that much. I don't know what his final ice time was. Might've been in like 15 something.

He was 1541, which included almost two minutes in overtime. So it was closer to 13 during regulation. So at 5-5, he didn't really play all that much. Neither did his line mates, Besser and DeBrusque, certainly at 5-on-5. So that was a bit of an odd night. He also took two penalties. And I think the second one was, you know,

the first one was a cross-check that he was just trying to make a play on the puck and he did get a scoring chance and you know Ray Ferraro on the broadcast mentioned he's like yeah you know I get why that's a penalty but if you're gonna call that then you gotta call about 15 penalties in the game for cross checking so that one you give him a pass on but the second one you can't take an offensive zone hooking penalty. And the Kraken scored on the power play, too. So it was a weird up-and-down night for JT Miller. And JT Miller, guys, whether you like it or not, his name is still in the news because Elliot Friedman has been talking a lot about JT Miller, and essentially he's saying that JT Miller will

not go to the Canucks for uh to ask to be traded but if the Canucks want to trade him and they present something to him he will consider it yeah I mean that's going to be out there I think until the trade deadline passes at this point I'm fully prepared for the next two months to be inundated with this and it wouldn't be the first time that we've had incessant JT Miller trade speculation going into a deadline feels like it's a biannual rite of passage here in Vancouver and it's gonna happen again this year with the added wrinkle of the issue with him and Elias Pettersson just for some some context on last night, Miller did get regular shifts last night. As a matter of fact, he had 28 to Connor Garland's 26.

It was the shift. It was a super short shift. 30-second shifts. It was just an odd night because if anyone kind of likes taking a little extra on his shifts, it's JT Miller trying to make something happen. Shorty and Ray actually made mention that there was a power play that the Canucks had and

Miller got off the ice after 30 seconds with the power play and they're kind of like, that was a bit of an odd shift for JT. But I think, you know, for the most part, you know, Talkett was rolling four lines and we've seen that before and maybe he's

taken into account that the Canucks have to play again tonight. So he's not going to play the wheels off of any player, really. And, you know, they got the win, so we'll see how Miller looks tonight against the Preds. Yeah, so the talking points last night, Demko, which we've already covered, JT Miller's very curious night, Kevin Lankanen,

a pretty impressive performance in relief coming in cold off the bench. So in the postgame Kevin Lankanen, a pretty impressive performance in relief coming in cold off the bench. So in the postgame, Lankanen told Murph that he had some quote-unquote communication with Thatcher Demko after the first period that he might be making an appearance in that game last night. So it wasn't as if it was a complete shock to him. He had an idea that Demko was laboring a little bit.

And I would assume, unless there's another plan out there that none of us are aware of, that Lankanen will be right back in net tonight for a chance to play against the Nashville Predators. Now, there's also another... And Andy brought this up prior to the show, and I think we've talked about it

a lot. This is what life looks like now for the Vancouver Canucks without Pedersen, Hughes, and Hronik in the lineup. It's probably not going to be all that aesthetically pleasing. It's probably not going to be all that pretty. They are in a dogfight for points right now. I think we can say with this two-game mini road trip in the books,

they come home tonight against Nashville. Now, starting Monday, they head out on an Eastern swing, which starts with a Montreal team that's playing better, no doubt, but still outside the playoff picture. It gets very difficult after that. There's a lot of incredibly tough games, including a back-to-back against Carolina and Toronto. They're going to have to continue to scratch and claw and fight for points.

Do you think Hughes will be on that trip? Do you think Petey will be on that trip? You'd hope so, right? You would hope so. I mean, Hughes was week to week, with Tockett saying weeks out of the lineup. Patterson was singular week. What that led me to believe was that

neither was going to make this mini two-game trip through Calgary and Seattle. Maybe one of them gets back for tonight, although that doesn't seem likely either. And then starting Monday, it's like, okay, it's a fresh start. We're going on a road trip. It's a new week in this week-to-week diagnosis. Maybe.

I got a feeling, I know you kind of hinted at this yesterday, that maybe Hughes pushes to get back in the lineup early because he's dying of boredom right now. He just doesn't like sitting around not doing anything. He's read too many books. He's tired of reading. He wants to go play hockey because that's what he likes to do. Well, his team needs him too.

What did you think of the decision for Tockett to bring in Breezebaugh and take out Brandstrom? People were losing their minds online. Clearly the coaching staff isn't as big of fans of Brandstrom as a lot of the Canucks fans are. Foot and Talkett are not bullish on Brandstrom. Pretty fair to say.

In the shows that I did with Drance earlier in the week when he was talking about the fact that you can't replace Quinn Hughes and how you're going to try and deploy guys to do more. He was pushing for Brandstrom to have a more elevated role. And he didn't understand why at the end of the Seattle collapse last Saturday, why wasn't Brandstrom out there at the end when he had played very well during the game and he was

able to move the puck. And I kind of looked at him and I'm like, I will tell you why. I don't think the coaching staff has any faith in them whatsoever. Yeah. I think that their idea is... People will push back. It's like, how can they have faith in some of the other guys? It's a valid pushback.

Yeah, totally. I mean, I got no problem with people pushing back against that. I think it's a bit of an old school mentality where it's like when you've got a lead to protect, you play the big boys, right? And you get Forbort and Deharnais and Julson and Myers and Soucy. Everyone not named Brandstrom. We got this guy named Breezeball over there.

Do you want to give him a whirl? I did not expect to see Breezeball in the lineup this year. Really? If you had told me that at any point preseason, that at any point this season, the Canucks would be winning a game with Kevin Lankanen and Nett, and Breezeball on the blue line, and Max Sasson at forward, I'd be like, what happened to the team?

It feels like Breezeball has been with the Canucks since the Messier era. He's been with the Canucks. Okay, so Breezeball is the second longest tenured guy on the team. It's him and Brock Besser. Yeah, I asked you last night. Yeah, and Breezeball made his debut amazingly six years ago. It was almost to the day. It was February of 2019.

We're in January of 2025. I won't bother playing the clip because I can paraphrase it. Talk It had a lot of praise for not just the fact that Breezeball came in and played well in the limited role that he had, but he hasn't played an NHL game in close to two years. He's been out of the mix.

He's been dealing with some pretty serious issues from the concussion and to have him come back, it says two things. it's great story it's very good on the player kudos to him but two it does speak to just how thin this blue line is right now okay so we're going to talk a little bit of Seahawks with Brady Henderson in about 15 minutes I want to talk about the other hockey game that all of us were watching yesterday and that is Canada bombing out of yet another world juniors this one at home in Ottawa they lose to Czechia four to three they had to climb back and it was actually quite

similar to the Canucks game they were the Kraken and they came back and they did tie Czechia but they lost late in the game. This was the difference between the Canucks and Kraken game, is that this one ended in regulation on a power play goal. That's kind of fitting by Czechia, and Czechia wins it 4-3. I'm not sure it's time to panic and get all existential about hockey in this country just because of this tournament. And also given that Canada is still producing really some quality young talent

in Bedard and Celebrini. That being said, two straight years without a medal is cause for, I hope, some reflection at the very least at Hockey Canada. The story that a lot of people are talking about after this game is all the penalties Canada took. 55 penalty minutes yesterday. All the penalties. And that's in the tournament, too.

You can say the Canadians were undisciplined. I think they were. Or that the refs were too harsh. Or that IIHF rules are, you know, they're not the same as NHL rules or major junior rules. Penalties were definitely a factor for Canada in Ottawa, and I'm not going to deny that, but I have to say my main takeaway for this year's tournament was how difficult it seemed for Canada to create scoring chances.

That should not be the case for a Canadian junior team, which is essentially an all-star team. Right. I mean, we have a lot of really good young hockey players in this country. And I don't know if it was this group never quite gelled or if they left too many offensive type players off the roster because they were chasing guys, you know, he has a good motor and he'll skate hard and he'll play the system, whatever that was. But it was tough to watch Canada have to grind so hard to score. And we're not talking about, like, they had to grind to score against some of the minnows of the tournament as well.

You know, they just never looked dangerous to me. They never clicked. Even when they had momentum, like like they got momentum against Czechia their third period they had they were in control of the game but it still looked really difficult to translate that momentum into actual scoring chances why which is why I think there was a lot of pushback against the head coach Dave Cameron why didn't you practice more during the tournament and he said well we didn't practice because the guys were exhausted and a lot of people were like they were exhausted what this is young players they're in they're playing their

dreams out playing for Canada in this short tournament in this short tournament and you're tired what what are you tired after playing Latvia? You're tired after playing Germany? Well, maybe that says something. I thought you chose all the guys with the high motors. They should be able to practice. At any rate, I would also like to know how Hockey Canada will respond to what was clearly, clearly a disastrous coaching performance by Dave Cameron, highlighted by one of the most ridiculous goal challenges I've ever seen, which

ultimately Canada tied the game. But they had momentum and they were looking for a tying goal. And then, you know, it didn't look like they had just scored. It didn't. No one watching that game was like, yeah, that's probably a good goal um and he calls a challenge and the refs look at it for like five seconds they're like no that isn't a goal and you've got a penalty that had the potential to completely kill any momentum Canada had had let alone Chucky could have scored on that power play. At any rate, my main takeaway is that this Canadian team was just not very creative. And we haven't fallen so far in the world

that we don't have creative offensive-style players. And maybe that injury to Schaefer, one of their best puck-moving defensemen, hurt them early on. But, man, it was a tough watch. It was like watching, you know, everyone was making the connection to the Canucks, right? It was like, oh, we're going to watch this grinding Canadian team followed by a grinding Canucks team. Team Canada should not be a grinding

team at the World Juniors. They should be a dominant, creative, dynamic team. Yeah, it was a tough watch from the very first game of the tournament to the very last one. And it is a big, big black mark on the program when you finish fifth at consecutive tournaments, especially when you're hosting. And I mean, go back and people were saying when they were doing the Canada's best three players

of the tournament in the aftermath. And I think there was a lot of people jokingly, but not jokingly saying like, this is going to be tough to pick three outside of the goalie, Carter George. There just wasn't a lot of standouts. There wasn't a lot of standout moments. And I know that there's other teams in this tournament.

I know that people are going to say, I can't wait to see Tom Willander in the Swedes play. Like that's great if you want to, but the tournament for a lot of us has been predicated on Canada, taking it more seriously than everyone else, being better than everyone else and being better than everyone else, and winning more than everybody else. Playing in a gold medal game.

And none of those things have happened in two consecutive tournaments. And it's just lost its luster. I know that Jeremy and Suri, I think it was Jeremy and Suri, said, you know, don't start pretending like you care about the tournament now that Canada is eliminated. So, Jeremy, I will follow your directions and your orders, and I won't pretend. It wasn't a compelling team going into the tournament for me.

They lived down to every expectation that I had, which was they weren't very entertaining and they weren't very fun to watch, and they made an early exit from the tournament. Well, the best description I saw of it is, and they've done this before too, but Team Canada has this thing where they try and construct a team like they're trying to win a Stanley Cup

and going on this long, grindy playoff run and every line has its role, as opposed to just picking the best talent available. And they've done this before as well. Yeah, and they've won a lot of gold medals at ADOG, right? I don't profess to know the talent that they've left off very well, but it's just like, just pick your best players and hope for the best, hope everything works.

Yeah, but that's not how a hockey team works. Like, I'm not, I'm not, listen. They needed a scoreboard. I'm playing the devil's advocate with you a little bit. And they had a bunch of scores that they didn't bring in, right? Yeah, but they've done that before

and they've won gold medals. Well, they've done it before. You have to have roles. You have to have roles on a team, but. They've done it before and it hasn't worked either. I agree with you that watching that performance, the entire tournament,

I was like, where are the creative offensive style players? You know me, I love Tyler Mott when he was here in Vancouver in his role. To me, it looked like a bunch of Tyler Motts out there trying to score goals. They had the Mott factor. Like Gavin McKenna started to show a little bit as that game wore on, but he looks very young. He's not draft eligible for two years. That should not be your most dynamic player. Where Canada lost this tournament was with their 19-year-olds, which is, that's where you're supposed

to win a tournament, with your 19-year-olds, which is, that's where you're supposed to win a tournament, with your 19-year-old, with your older players, not the guys that are draft eligible in two years, not the guys that are even draft eligible this season. And I can't think of a 19-year-old player, not counting any of the goalies, that stood out for me for Canada. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. 8.02 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by a 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 Hour 3 of the program. Rick Dollywall is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 3. Hour 3 is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec. Our next guest is a regular contributor to Fan 590 in Toronto. They call him Toronto Rick. Rick Dollywall joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

What up, Rick? Yeah, this Kipper guy called yesterday and I was like, wow. Wow. I didn't... I've never done Toronto radio before in my life. I know you guys have, but I was like, okay, let's give it a shot. I felt like you were kind of sucking up to the Toronto guys a little bit. I heard the start of it. I was like, okay, let's give it a shot. It was okay.

I felt like you were kind of sucking up to the Toronto guys a little bit. I heard the start of it. I was like, oh, Kipper, I read your book, and I'm born. You played in the BCHL, didn't you? Greatest league in the world. You got to loosen these guys up, Ruff. You got to loosen them up. I did read his book.

I will say one thing. I've been hanging around hockey players since 1990, and I love hockey players, but the ones I like the most are the ones that are undrafted but make the lead two, three, four years later. And for me, I just love undrafted players because you know what? They just never give up perseverance, and they make it despite not getting drafted like i just have a

respect for those guys and i and i do i i have to be honest with you i i just i i just love long shot um undrafted stories i could read them all day i read a lot of books mostly on guys that weren't drafted just to just to get in their brain on why they didn't quit when they didn't get drafted, you know, all that stuff. So I'm a big believer in that. I really am. I just hope your love for Toronto doesn't come between you and Donnie. Well, I went to the Hockey Night Canada studios last Saturday and met Ron McLean, who's obviously us in the broadcast industry. I know there's people in Vancouver that don't like Ron McLean.

I get it. I get it. But as a broadcaster, I've been watching him since the 80s. It was a pleasure to meet him. And he's obviously a guy that I look up to. And I just I think he's one of the best in the business. I think he's one of the best Canada's ever produced. And take away your hate for him because he might have said something bad for the Canucks. But when I put my broadcasting hat on, that is a guy who has had the longevity. You cannot have longevity in our industry if you are not good. And Ron McLean's what in his fourth, fifth decade. He keeps going and he keeps going and he keeps going because he's really, really good. So I don't care whether somebody likes somebody or not, but always respect the job.

And I will always respect Ron McLean. And meeting him last Saturday was absolutely a treat for me. Okay, Rick, let's get into what happened last night during the Canucks game. Thatcher Demko had to leave the game. The Canucks are saying it's back spasms. Are you hearing the same or Are you hearing anything different? No, I heard last night it's not super serious, and he should be okay.

So that was the story of the game for me, guys. Look, 7.49 left, second period, collision with Julsen. And please, those people ripping Julsen for getting Demko Hurt, stop. He was getting his man. It was actually Demko that skated into Duleson. I mean, like, really, he was just getting his man in front of the net. By the way, that was Demko's sixth game since returning from that nine-month injury.

So it could be a game or two. You already are missing Hughes, Pettersson, and Aronik. The last thing in this world this team needs is Demko. But Lankanen, to the rescue again, comes in cold in Seattle. So I'm going to ask you guys, because this is going to get interesting here in the next few weeks. So where is this Canucks team without Lankanen? They can officially sign him now. It's getting to the point where they may have to go out of their comfort zone to re-sign this guy. Find a way, because I don't think there's anybody

in Abbotsford ready to be a full-time backup next year. Sure, they can go out and get a cheap backup, but with the uncertainty of Demko's health, how can the Canucks let this guy go? Because he can go to July 1st, Lankanen might want an opportunity where he's the starter if he continues to play like this for the rest of the season.

What kind of deal do you think he could get? Let's cut to the chase here. Throw out, if you can, a ballpark contract for what he would be reasonably asking for. Okay, so because we're only halfway through the year, Jason, it could be tough. But here's what I'll tell you. I believe in my heart.

His camp, he was looking for close to $2 million or $2 million on the market. Didn't get it, right? And then I heard the number one five. So that's something they were already looking for. Let's start with a base of two. Now he's had this incredible year. Everybody around the league notices him. Look, he's going to get a big raise, and he's had this incredible year. Everybody around the league notices him. Look, he's going to get a big raise

and he's going to get term. He didn't get those two things from the Canucks. And the Canucks got one hell of a deal when they signed him. They're not getting a hell of a deal again. I can see him up in the 3-5 range, maybe 3-4 years, I'm just

guessing. But here's the other thing, Jason. How about if he keeps playing like this? What's his worth at the end of the season if he keeps on this hot streak that he's on? Maybe it's higher, but it's really hard to come up with a number when the guy is essentially

only played a half season. There's other factors here I want to get into as well when it comes to Lankanen. You've got to throw in the fact that Demko can be re-signed on July 1st. Would Lankanen want to re-sign here knowing Demko could get a long-term deal? Teams in the NHL

now are investing more in goaltending. They're scared if they don't. What happens when your starter goes down for a lengthy period? Florida spent $13 million in goalies when they won the Cup. I know $10 million was tied up with one guy, but you get what I'm getting at. Very interesting to see what happens with Lankanen.

To sign Lankanen, the Canucks are going to have to go to a number they're uncomfortable with because this regime in the past has not liked paying for backup goalies. If they re-sign Lankanen, they're going to have to go to a number that they're not happy with. That's just the bottom line. And I'm going to tell you something else. It would be a whole lot easier to sign Lankanen if OEL wasn't making over $4 million to not

play here next year. Yeah, it's going to be a big decision for them to make. And so is the Besser contract. What are you hearing about that, if anything? Yeah, there is some stuff there. We're in January, guys. No deal. I checked in earlier this week.

I was told there's a lot of work to do before a new deal is done with Besser. Besser turns 28 next month, right, guys? Term's going to be an issue. Do the Canucks want to go past five years? Besser's not the fastest guy in the world, but he compensates for his lack of speed with hockey sense and a great shot. He's always in the right spot for rebound goals, tipping goals. He's always giving the guy with the puck a good option for a pass.

I wonder if the Canucks worry about his foot speed when he's 34, 35, 36. Guys who score goals always do well on July 1st. They just do. I've talked to agents who have had guys with assists and points, but I've been told over and over again, the guy that does the best on July 1st is always the guy that can score. With the NHL trading deadline, March 7th, the Canucks probably have their date as to when they need to get a deal done

with Besser. If no deal by them, they have no choice. They got to move them. Like you can't, you can't let this guy keep this guy, not get anything for him. And I guess they could, if he does go to July 1st, I guess you could always take a stab at him on July 1st, but I don't know, but I just know that there's work to do. He's turning 28 next month. And, um, if, if they had, if they, if both sides, Jason liked the term and the money, it'd have been done by now. Yeah. So when you, yeah, when you say, when you say there's work to be,

work to be done, does it, are you saying they're pretty far apart right now? I wouldn't say pretty far. I just said the way it was described to me, there's work to be work to be done does it are you saying they're pretty far apart right now i wouldn't say pretty far i just said the way it was described to me there's work to do before it's hey look we're january 2nd 3rd or whatever it is today look you know they they essentially could have talked july last july 1st yeah like it's not there's been time yeah it's not like they don't know what the other side wants. But I certainly, and my gut tells me that term is an issue. Like, I would be very surprised if the Canucks went to eight years to a bester. Yeah. Rick, is part of it the Canucks not really knowing what they've got in their team right now? What do you mean?

Well, I mean, look, the Canucks are a bit of a mess right now. I don't know if you've noticed. Oh, big time. So, you know, the decision to extend Besser, it might be one of these things where, like, do we need to change course here? And if we commit to Besser, then that's another player that we've committed to, which makes it tougher to change course. Absolutely. That's a great point. or then that's another player that we've committed to, which makes it tougher to change course.

Absolutely. That's a great point. And I'll tell you something else. Up to this date, the Canucks have had a very easy schedule. I know after tonight, they are going to feel it. The rest of January is tough. What this team looks like at the end of January is going to be very interesting to me because the NHL trading deadline is going to be a month away. Like what they come out of this month

after the Capitals twice, the Oilers twice, the Jets, the Stars, they got some tough games coming up. And you know what? The days of the easy schedule are over for these guys. What do they look like at the end of January?

Like that's what's going to be telling for me because the trade deadline is going to be effectively five weeks away at the end of the trade deadline. Look, last year, everything went right for him, right? And last year, nothing went wrong. The opposite is happening this year. You know, people ask me why they haven't traded their first round pick. Well, Rutherford traded his first and second last year because he thought he had a shot at the Stanley Cup. Can you tell me they have a shot at the Stanley Cup right now? Because you really only cough up those types of picks because you think you got a shot at the Cup.

Like, I mean, they're right now fighting for that second wildcard spot. And the way Vegas is going and the way the LA Kings are going, like, I don't see them catching either one of those two teams. Like the Oilers are kind of up and down one week. But I'll tell you the way the Kings are playing and the Vegas is playing, I don't see them catching them. Look, Besser's very simple. If you lose him, how do you replace the goals?

He got 40 last year, seven in the playoffs, and four of those were with a broken finger. He's scoring at a good clip again. It looks like his clip could be over 30. bottom line is you got to pay for goal scores they got a decision to make on Besser either do it or move them. Rick I saw some pic on your Toronto trip I saw some pictures of you with you know the likes of Ron McLean and then you were wearing your best button-down hoodie I see and there's a picture of you with with Elliot Friedman in the Sportsnet studio so I imagine you might have had quite a bit

to talk to about Elliot about the Miller and Pedersen situation in Vancouver and I know you wanted to talk about that today. I do because there's a lot of points to make here because, you know, the media, we get it, right? You know, there's so many lunatics on Twitter. We get it. But I want to say this. This may be impossible, but the Canucks need to simmer down the noise. They literally are the talk of the NHL for the wrong reasons. Thanks to the GM ripping his highest paid player three months into an eight-year deal and threatening a trade I'm glad that ex-Connacht Brad Richardson came out and talked about those issues

in a podcast and for those who say the media makes stuff up there's a guy in the dressing room that told you that there were issues the funniest thing about Brad Richardson he only played 17 games for the Canucks that year and he had some pretty detailed stuff on Pettersson and Miller. Alvin accomplished two things with that interview, a message to Pettersson to get going or else, and a message to the rest of the league to see if more teams will call on him so Vancouver has some options in case they move him. Now, teams will keep calling.

Canucks will keep listening. In case they decide to move one of them down the road. But right now, the goal may be to keep both. The Rangers and the Canucks are talking about a lot of things, not just Miller. There's pieces on both rosters both teams are interested in. I've said for two years, the Canucks have liked Alex Lefrenier and Braden Snyder.

This regime likes those two players. I also wonder if teams would back off on Miller due to his ongoing situation with Pedersen. Are some teams kind of, you know, do we get this guy? You know, he's got these issues, you know, with another player in a dressing room. I wonder about that situation as well. I want to get to Miller.

I was told last night, cool the jets on the Miller stuff. A, he hasn't asked for a trade. I've been saying for weeks, if the Canucks move Miller, it'll be Vancouver being proactive, not the other way around. B, there's a report that he's got a favorite city he would waive his no trade clause to. I was told last night, he does not have a favorite city where he would waive his no trade clauseade clause to and see he is just focused on playing for the Vancouver Canucks. When you talk to people around the league, not many think the Canucks will have the you-know-what to move Pedersen, a 26-year-old top six center who's got 440 career points in 441 games. They just need him to be a difference maker.

And he's not one. He's not one right now. And I'll say this. The agents for some of the biggest names on the Canucks are getting a kick out of some of the reporting these days. Some pretty wild stuff being reported. But thanks to Alvin ripping Pedersen, these rumors won't go away.

And the Canucks can thank themselves. That's the bottom line. Like, if this, if the Petey Miller thing had died down and now it's exploded again because the GM ripped Pettersson. One other thing I was going to ask you guys about, I was thinking about this yesterday. If Chris

Tan had never left Vancouver, let's say he never went to Calgary. A guy like him would never let this Miller-Pettersson thing fester as long as it has. But I think the club is really surprised that it's a thing again this year. And I think that it is. But they've got to find – now that the national media is all over it,

where's Miller going, where's Pettersson going? And this thing ain't going to stop. It's like a runaway train right now. I'm going to put you on the spot here Rick you might hate me for this but who is more likely to get moved Pedersen or Miller you always keep the younger guy and you always keep the younger guy and he's younger by the way by five years and the other thing is Pedersen Pedersen can still be but we're in this position today because he's not a difference maker the GM had to go blast exactly exactly that's why we're in this position today and his name's out there because the club is not happy he signed for 11-6 and he

signed for eight years and he's not a difference maker and they need him to be a difference maker and that's why we're here but the the bet and the hedge would be that he's going to return to being a difference maker the 100 point guy we know and he's got many years to figure it out can you imagine can you imagine the pressure on him though if they trade miller and they're like okay well you had a problem with him fine we got rid of a fan favorite for you heart and soul guy and i'll tell you it's just like Brad Richardson said. I love Miller. Everybody loves Miller.

Hey, I told you guys, when I talked to the American team of the Four Nations, they gush about Miller. They said to me, we need guys like him when we play Canada, the Four Nations.

They love him. Everybody loves the heart and soul Miller guy. But he's also six years, five years older. And if the Canucks do decide one day to move one, obviously you got to take the young guy who was a top six center center. And,

but you got to have like Patterson's got to show them here. And then when he comes back from an injury that he can return to his old form. But the other thing I want to know is what is Patterson think of Alvin's comments? It would really, really be nice to know what he thought about the GM, you know, turning, tuning fine, you know, blasting on him, you know, like,

I mean, okay, so you, you, you know, we know he shut his social media down this year, right? We know that there's been a million rumors, right? He was going to go to Buffalo for cousins and Byram, right? He is seeing all this stuff and now he sees the GM blast him. What's he, what's his thoughts what's he thinking about the gm blasting him yeah we'd like to see some sort of reaction uh let's let's finish this on hopefully a positive yes it is or at the very least maybe a funny moment

because you were texting with who what's his name no oh you're on name oh you weren't you weren't texting with sam alam sam alam is the swedish four nations coach oh darn it okay you were that black betty ready oh i screwed it up okay but you were texting who is who is the swedish world juniors coach that you're texting with about tom willander hold on magnus oh boy havlad, that's kind of boring. Okay. Can you do me a favor? Sure. Just have, going out with me today, just give me some black Betty.

Give me some black Betty. Okay, well, we got regular Zach in, so all right, regular Zach, you might have to find that. Tell us about what the guy without the funny name says about Tom Willander. First of all, Willander's had a very good world junior for Sweden. Patrick Alvin is there to watch him today in the semis. It's, you know, it's the medal games.

The GMs want to see their draft picks to sell, not the preliminary games. Okay, anybody can excel in the preliminary games. The one knock on Willander is he doesn't provide as much offense you would like from a high pick one scout in Ottawa told me his stick's been very active at the worlds he's been impressed with that part of his game there is room for growth but he's still very young so I was texting with Swedish coach Magnus Havlitt this morning Havlitt said to me he is very happy with Will Lander. He's given him a ton of ice, power play PK.

He's a leader on and off the ice, one of his captains, smart two-way player, competes hard on every ship. So here's what I wanted to tell you. When it comes to Will Lander's future, I will be very surprised if Will Lander does not sign with the Canucks after a season is over with Boston University. Most people you talk with say he is pro-ready. I don't think the plan was to play three years at a university,

but time will tell. We're a few months away from that decision. The Canucks are looking for a top four defenseman, and you know teams are asking for Will Lander in return. Canucks won't do it. There's a real good reason. Will Lander can patrol that right side in Vancouver for a lot of years to come. After Hughes, the Canucks don't have a drafted defenseman on this roster.

And that's it. It's Hughes and the rest were acquired by either waiver wire, free agency, July 1st trade, whatever. That's not good. You need more than one drafted defenseman on your roster. It's time to change that. But I think the future looks bright for Tom O'Lander. I think this kid's going to be a good one.

This wasn't on your list, but what did you think of Canada losing at the World Juniors? Another defenseman that's been drafted by the Canucks, Sawyer Mineo, was on that Canadian team. Didn't play a huge role in it, although I'm not sure anyone on the Canadian team outside of the goalie played a huge role in it. Although I'm not sure anyone on the Canadian team outside of the goalie played a huge role in it. Yeah, I'm just not happy with the whole week.

I just thought, you know, picking the selection of the team caused, when you have so many people that are pissed off with your selections, there were some kids in the Western Hockey League, there's one in Kelowna, that Crystal, that was just ignored. And I think at the time time he was leading the entire CHL in scoring like look politics will forever run in the game of hockey and you know minor hockey you and you're in minor hockey I put two kids through minor hockey I could write a book on politics and minor

hockey but the politics don't end in minor hockey. They continue in junior and they continue in pro. But some of the selections this team made and the amount of uproar in those selections, right off the bat, like people were saying the wrong team was picked. And then the head coach, okay, who's to blame for all the penalties? Okay, the coach's job is to have a good disciplined team.

They took way too many penalties. And sometimes you can blame the ref, but sometimes you just got to flat out say too many dumb penalties. And I thought they just put them as hell. The coach took one of the dumb penalties yesterday with that stupid challenge. Exactly. Exactly. And the coach, I don't think he's going to be coached.

I don't think Dave Cameron's going to be back. Might be it for Dave Cameron. Yeah. I don't think he's going to be coaching again. But on home soil, it's tougher. Like if you're in Czechoslovakia or Finland or you're anywhere, the Czech Republic and Canada does this, and you're okay with buying, you know, come home.

But when you do it on home ice and a big crowd in Ottawa, the anticipation is gold medal. The expectation is gold medal. And just to lay an egg like that, you're just sitting back going, you know, is it time for a summit? Is it time for a summit? Yeah. I don't know.

They can have one if they want. Yeah, go ahead. Sure. Rick, always fun to chat with you on a Friday. Don't leave us for Toronto. I know you love it there. I know. I got some good friends there.

I'm starting to love the city of Toronto. I love the highways, the roads. I love the quietness. I'm starting to love the city. I'm not going to lie to you. I don't like the suits in Toronto, but I like what they've done to Radio Vancouver. You know, we got 3 a.m. radio stations that are dead

because of idiotic moves back east. I don't like that part of it. But I'm starting to, I'm going back in the summer. I'm starting to like the city. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. Rick, we got one final thing before we let you go, okay? Take it away, Zach.

Whoa, Black Betty. Sham-O away, Zach. Oh, Black Betty. Oh, Black Betty. I'm moving my feet. See you, buddy. See you, pal. Rick Dollywall, everyone. Another powerhouse hit on the Halford and Breff show. No phone slap? No. Nothing? He's on his cell. He's on his cell. Yeah, he can't really slam his cell phone.

Just throws it across the street. Yeah. Rick's like, I broke my cell phone. That's why you always get those texts from Dollywall. It's like, I have a new phone. It's because he tried to slam his cell. Okay. I hope the Toronto part gets, you know, like that creates a bit of a rift. Donnie gets really mad at him.

Can you imagine? It's just like, oh, now there's a rift in the media. Oh, the fans would love that. Yeah, it started by Petey and Miller. It started the whole thing. Petey calls a press conference. Yeah, yeah by Petey and Miller. They started the whole thing. Petey calls a press conference. Yeah, yeah. Hey, you guys checking this out?

To see this rift? Yeah. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.