Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 1/6/26

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they set up tonight's Canucks matchup at Buffalo with analyst Landon Ferraro.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Sort of coming right up the middle. Across Seattle High Line, dropped off to Van Riemstein, center to McFlein. They score. And it's a hat trick. Justin sort of, three goals.

Bounce past to Draymond, back to Curry, a relocation three is on the way. It's around it. God, it popped them, and popped him. I kind of live by saying, if you ain't got no haters, you ain't popping. So hate away. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Broughton, it is SportsNet 650.

We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adol, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest, two, much lower payments, and three, financial peace of mind. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid.

Visit the Middle 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to live from the Kintech Studio. 26, your year to move better and step stronger with Kintech custom orthotics. Lots to get into on the program today. We begin with the Duick Morning Drive. It's our guest list for the day, brought to you by the Duick Auto Group.

It begins at 6.30. Paul Hamilton, WGR, 550 sports radio, and Buffalo is going to join us. The last time we spoke to Paul, it was December 9th. The Sabres were dead last in the Eastern Conference. And Kevin Adams was their general manager. When we speak

to Paul today, the Sabers, will have jumped six spots in the standings and just three points back of a playoff spot. Hottest team in the NHL. We'll talk to Paul at 6.30 about a remarkable last month for the once lowly Buffalo Sabres, our sad club brethren.

7 o'clock, Greg Wschinsky's going to join the program. Our NHL insider from ESPN, busy night in the NHL tonight. 10 games on the slate. Greg's going to join us at 7 to talk about everything going on. In the league, 730, Chris Peters, content manager for Flo Hockey, our show's resident

prospect expert, I would say. It's going to join us after the world juniors ended yesterday. Sweden captures gold, Czechia claims silver. Canada wins bronze. We'll recap the tourney and ask about some of the big draft eligible prospects like Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg, Andy, your favorite,

Ivar Stenberg. We'll talk to Chris about all that at 738. Did he start up that fish restaurant Ivers? He did. That's a matter of fact. There aren't many Ivers left. He's by far the most successful Ivar, I know. except for the fish stick magnet.

Ivar. Wasn't there an 86 or Ivar? Ivor. Ivor Evans. Yeah, Gene Flash. Right. Yeah. Good recall. Thank you. That's pretty impressive.

He is neither related nor spells his name the same as Ivar Stenver. Right, right, right. 810, Landon, Ferraro is going to join the program. Canucks analyst here on SportsNet. Canucks, as mentioned, or in Buffalo tonight, it's a 4 o'clock start, pregame, postgame, and the actual game all right here on SportsNet 650. first in a six-game road swing for the Canucks. Landon joins us at 8-10 to talk about all that.

Busy show, big guessless, lots to get into. So without further ado, 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? Missed it? You miss that? What happened? Let's jump right into it. We will begin with what I was just talking about from the world. Tournament. Dunn. Sweden wins. Casper Eustovara, one of my favorite names,

and Victor Ecclin scored in the first period. And then Ivar Stenberg, the potential first overall pick in the upcoming NHL entry draft, capped off the scoring. Future Vancouver Canucks. Capped off the scoring with an empty netter to win it. Congratulations to Sweden, who won just its third ever world junior hockey title.

In the first ever all-European final since 2016, they be Czechia 4-2 to capture gold. And Sweden, very deserving. of the gold they've kind of had tough luck at this tournament in that they've often played well in the round robin or the group stage, whatever you want to call

it, and then it gets to the metal stage and they're like, ah, we can't win. So they finally got over the hump although I guess they didn't have to beat Canada or the United States in the gold medal final. They beat the United States along the way though. Canada finishes with

bronze, the game lacked intensity and good for Canada for getting the win and getting the bronze was not played at quite the same level of intensity as the other games which is understandable

given that only the bronze medal was on the line and I heard some people on the station yesterday saying like you know it's still cool to win a bronze medal yeah it's cool but it's not great You know what's cooler? Winning gold.

Yeah, exactly, or even silver, because those are better. Yeah. Do you win silver? A big question here to start off. No, you're going to lose silver. No, no, no, you win silver. You win silver. You win silver.

You win silver by winning in the semifinals. That's what you win. You win at least silver when you go there. But, okay. You win silver by losing gold. You're a loser if you win silver, so what you're saying. well you are you've lost the game yeah i'm saying you didn't win a silver medal in that moment because you lost it's not like an individual competition but you still you've still won silver

you get a silver medal okay whatever this is stupid adogs this is what you do to the show um so the canada story uh ends with a bronze uh Gavin mckenna piled up some points yesterday and you know you look at you look at the total points that he had in the tournament, you'd be like, wow, this guy's, this guy's incredibly, he must have really shown out. Not really, though. Braden Coots scored against Finland. Hey!

And then he got, you got traded. You got traded by Seattle to, where was it, Dollywell was all over us? Prince Albert. Prince Albert. A hot spot of Prince Albert. In a can? Yes. Okay.

So Coots is going to have to go and try and win, first of all, a WHL championship, and then hopefully a Memorial Cup. Cup. And then we'll see what happens with Braden Coots next year. He was not at the end of the day one of the guys that Dale Hunter leaned on in this tournament. He's only 18 still and they often stay. This is a 19-year-old's tournament except for the odd phenom here and there. I imagine he's going to play in this tournament again next season. If if he is in the HL and that I don't even know where that rule is

I don't know if it's been stamped and it's official yet but if if each NHL team is allowed to have one 19 year old C HL player play in the HL it's just a little bit confusing there then I imagine he's that's where he's going to be and I imagine that the Canucks would release him to play in the world juniors Yeah, maybe get another kick at the can.

You would hope, right? I mean, if he was in that position, you'd like to see him go back and try and make a bigger mark on the ceremony. I don't, but here's the thing. I don't exactly know what it would mean other than a boost of confidence for the player. Like, we've seen former Canucks prospects. What a freaking boost. Thank you. Seeing former Canucks prospects, current Canucks prospects, go to this tournament and dominate.

Lechromacki was probably the most notable one. And there's not often a correlation between starring or dominating in this tournament. I think it's playing in high-pressure situations. I think it's great training. I think it would be better training than going up and playing, you know, another HAL game. There's nothing again at HL games. I might even push back against that because the American Hockey League's probably a more fertile training ground. But the experience of playing in that type of environment where you've got to deal with things like the media.

Look at look at the old pickle that Zame Perak got himself in just because he said some stuff that you probably truly believed. I don't know if everything he said was truthful. Okay, well, let's do that story. Let's do that story. The part where he said his Flames teammates had actually told him to keep his answers short. I was reading an article by Eric Francis on Sportsnet.com. And I think it was McKenzie Weeger said, like, we wouldn't have told him to say that. But then McKenzie Weger also said that they talked to Zane Prack about his remarks that he made at the World Juniors.

Let's lay this out, because this is a bit confusing. So, Perak had a really good tournament scoring-wise. As a matter of fact, he broke the Canadian record for points by a defenseman with 13, surpassing Alex Petrangelo, who had the previous record back in 2010. The other thing Zane Perak did during this tournament was tell reporters that, yeah, you've got the second reply, right? Oh, you've got everything. Look at you.

Let's just let the young man speak for himself, which apparently is not allowed to do in Calgary. Here is Zane Perak talking during the tournament about showing some personality while playing for Canada at the World Juniors. To show your personality, was it by watching other athletes doing the same thing? I think it's more watching NHL guys be robots and not having any personality.

So, you know, I think you need some personality and it's kind of the best way to grow the game. And, you know, I don't want to come in here and be a robot. I mean, you know, when I'm in Calgary, I definitely have a lot of guys that are telling me to give really simple answers, but, you know, here I can kind of do what I want. So on Monday, McKenzie Weger, who may or may not be a robot, told reporters in Calgary that he had spoken at length to Perak about his remarks via text message. And he says, he does think that Perk feels bad about what he said, and that's okay. That meant that the conversation went back to Zane Preck.

Here's what he said yesterday about the remarks he made during the tournament. It's like the other day when you talked about who you are in front of the media, did you learn about that and did you hear from the team about those comments? Nothing yet. I mean, I think some things got spun out of proportion and, you know, my words probably worded things wrongly, but obviously it wasn't my intent in the words I said. And, you know, I sincerely apologize to, you know, the Flames organization. and my teammates, you know, at the end of the day, that's, you know, not acceptable and that can't happen.

The robot's got to him. The important thing, of course, is that Zane Prack learned the number one lesson from all NHL players. When you say something and you say something bad, blame the media for spinning your words and twisting what you said. So congratulations. Everyone learned a valuable lesson here. He's not wrong, though. The NHL players are robots. He was just speaking the truth.

Yeah, and then the robots shut him down. Yeah. Which is what the robots are programs. It's the why are you booing me? I'm right. But some of them, some of them say that, like,

some of them are robots because they've learned to be robots, right? And it's just the, so here's the thing that Weeger said, right? I kind of knew that it wasn't a personal shot at the guys because I know in here that we don't say that to him anyway of the advice to keep answers short. I think that might have been one of the main problems. Yeah,

He's like, why are you, yeah, why are you putting this on us in Calgary? Like, I, as far as Weger was concerned, he's like, we're not telling him. Yeah, we're not telling him anything. Say whatever you want. Maybe he didn't mean the players. Maybe he meant, like, the media guys, like the trainers and like, don't. Maybe the PR guys. Like, when I heard it, that's what I assumed.

I didn't think he was talking about his teammates. Weeger said, I think he was just under the spotlight. His words just kind of tripped up on him a little bit. I don't take it personally. And then a couple of the other guys on the flame said, like, yeah, you're at the World Junior. Sometimes you're like, I think it was Codry said, Everybody's on their high horse in the world, juniors.

Everybody's excited, fired up. It's the best players for your age group. You can tend to excite you and overly stimulate you. So maybe Zane Perak just had too much screen time or something like that. That's it. No more YouTube for you. If I now, as a media guy that loves to twist words, my headline would have been. Cadreys says, over-stimulated Perak needs to, quote-unquote, get off his high horse.

That's a story. And that's how you spin the story. spin it, yeah. Okay, let's talk about the Vancouver. A lot of problems in that Calgary room, I've heard. They need to trade some of those guys. Maybe Zane Perak, get them off that high horse. Let's turn our attention to the Vancouver Canucks now. Walking around on that high horse and all the robots are getting upset. Okay, the Canucks, they're in Buffalo, and they practiced yesterday.

We'll see if that line of Petey with DeBrusk and Carlson can build off their strong game against the Bruins. You know, I think it just goes to show that we're looking for anything good And the Linus Carlson story has been good And that line was very good At the end of the day They scored one goal Yeah, right?

Like they dominated on the natural statric scoreboard In terms of coursey and they played very well But like Let's everyone just calm down a little bit Or not I mean it's been such a rough season, feel free to enjoy that line. You know, it was just a little while ago that DeBrusk was a healthy scratch.

I'm curious to see how the power play evolves without Quinn Hughes, and I think we're still seeing that. They've also got some guys like Garland and Rossi that are injured now. Pedersen, you know, we talked yesterday about Tom Vellander quarterbacking the power play. I don't think he is. like I don't he's out there but I think I would say having

watched that unit with Pedersen on it I think Pedersen's running it he's running it off the right half wall and a couple of young D men are getting a chance to show their stuff on the power play but I do think and I think it's the right decision to have it run through

Pedersen on that right half wall the top unit against Boston was Pedersen and Willander he was the only defenseman out there and then Debrusk Sherwood who hasn't matured yet and Besser who could really use a goal

rounded out that top unit the second unit and remember Garland and Rossi are injured was Booium and Horonix so two D-Men with Kane Carlson and Drew O'Connor is now on the power play and deservedly so so

that's just a couple of things to watch for tonight in Buffalo I always like to go into these games with something specific to watch for if it's not like hey let's try and win this game right like those are the things that you want to watch you know I'm

excited to watch Linus Carlson and I hope he can keep it going and I am apprehensive to watch Brock Besser because like he is in a hole right now and I guess he'll still be on

a line with Max Sasson and Kane Evander Kane so that that power play time when he's out there with Pedersen to Bruskin, Sherwood might be his best chance to get off the Scheid. Yeah, and before we get into

the opponents that the Canucks are going to play on this six-game road trip, I do want to mention that this morning, Chequia and Latvia announced their Olympic rosters. Congratulations to Philip Horonik and David Kompf. Both of them were named to the Chequia Olympic

roster, so they'll be heading over to Italy and February to represent their country in the hopes of winning a medal, maybe following in the footsteps of their junior program, which is racking up medals left and right. Lavia did name Teddy Bluger to its team, which I guess is kind of a given, although he hasn't played at all. I mean, he's played with two games this year, I think. Yeah. So I guess you put him on the team, and if he can't make it due to injury, they'll have a replacement, but he's going to go if he can play, if he's healthy enough to play. So three Canucks today celebrating their Olympic announcements with Bluger going for Lavia

and Cronick and David Kamp going for Chekia. Trey, the Gulf Island Farrier Worker texting to the Dunbar Lumber text line and this is a bit of a lull right now in terms of Canucks News. So let's dig into this a tiny bit. He says, some hockey fans can be so dumb.

If hockey players are robots, we complain they have no personality. As soon as anyone says anything with personality, they have to apologize because some dumb fans complain. We can't have it both ways. Trey, stay with me for a sec here because I understand your sentiment but I disagree with it, okay?

As soon as anyone says anything with personality you write, they have to apologize because some dumb fans complain. They don't have to apologize. It's true. Zane Preck didn't have to apologize. They don't. And now maybe they feel

that they have to apologize not because the dumb fans complain it's because their teammates are upset. but the players or anyone that says anything interesting or meaningful that might ruffle some feathers the people that are comfortable doing that they don't apologize they stand by what they say or they engage in a conversation about it they don't immediately shut it down by apologizing for it right that's what the NHL is lacking it's it's not the fans fault it's not the media's fault it's maybe the team dynamics and the team culture of hockey

that you don't stand out that might be a thing i don't think it has anything to do with the fans or the media you know a guy like brad marshon will say interesting things and it'll just be like yeah yeah and you guys if you guys want to fight about it online go for it i'm going to go play hockey, right? You can't, you know, if you want to, if you want to be someone who's outspoken or says things that, you know, not everyone is going to agree with, then you just have to accept that not everyone's going to agree with them and be like, I'm okay with that. So there's a really interesting article from Time Magazine 12 years ago called the

story. Was it still in your bathroom or something? It was in my dentist's office. He hasn't updated things in a while. It's called the sorry state of apology culture. I was reading about apology culture a while ago. I remember this came up because there's this, and this is 12 years ago, so it gives me an idea of how long this is going on.

But it was talking about celebrities who were dialing back or just flat out offering these very empty hollow apologies for things that they didn't really necessarily need to apologize for. But they felt they needed to address. And the easiest and quite honestly, most simple way to do it was to just apologize. They essentially said that no one wants to suffer the potential consequences of having an opinion that might not be popular. And that's what it was. Everyone wants their opinions to be like, congratulations for sharing that.

That is incredible. They want the likes. And part of having the, and some of this does have to do with cancel culture, which depending on what your idea and understanding of that is, does exist in some form. some people think that having an unpopular opinion or an opinion that is disagreed with might get them in trouble or deserves an apology and it takes away from apologizing for something like the act of apologizing should be true it should be contrite you should be I'm genuinely an apology shouldn't be I'm sorry that my words that I still believe made you feel that way the worst one is I'm sorry if I offended anybody yeah my intention wasn't to offend anybody of course your attention wasn't to offend anyone of course your attention wasn't to offend anybody. If we know that, if you wanted to offend somebody, then you could say, yeah, I apologize. I knew I went out and offended someone. Yeah. You know, I'm sorry all you fatties were upset. Right. You know, that's offensive. That is. Right. You're not supposed to body shame. The fats. Um, I know. I like, so with this correct thing, I kind of rolled my eyes this morning.

He's like, now he's doing the thing that he's actually speaking out against, which is doing the most obvious robotic answer, which is, I'm going to apologize to nobody in particular. for nothing I did wrong. But I'm just going to say I'm sorry because that'll put an end to this chapter. You know the worst thing about the, or the next step in this apology culture?

AI. Right. Because before you used to have to work with like a PR company to work on your apology. Now you use Chet GPT. I was reading this article the other day and it was about cheating in colleges and universities and might as well have been in high school

because there's a lot of AI cheating going on, believe it or not. People just throw their assignments into AI and they're like, finish it for me, right? And anyway. Good learning there. And there was this story about this one, I think it was a professor, that found that everyone cheated on this assignment. And then the apology to this professor was then created by AI.

so she got like the same apology. Oh, man. Everything is AI. I mean, that's a little funny. I mean, it is funny. Yeah, it is funny. I apologize for finding that funny. Yeah.

But it is very funny. Yeah. Have we had any, like, do we, have you ever used any, like, dynamics at home where you're just like, you know what? I'm just going to, I'm just going to throw this into AI. I've never used it. I've never used it. I've never used it. I've never used chat, GPT.

I've never used any AI. No. Too much of a control freak. I'm just not. Not really. Every time that I see the... It is a problematic technology, but it is pretty, like, incredible as well.

It feels like a cut corner operation. Well, yeah. But I don't, like, what... But if you use it properly, it's just the next step of search engines, basically. You just can't trust everything that comes out of it, and you've still got to dig into it, and you have to have a skeptical mind when you use it.

Well, it's like the Google search engine AI summary. Like, that's impressed me a few times, even though it's often wrong. It's like, on occasion when it is right, I'm like, wow, it actually summarized things really quickly for me and gave me the info I needed without having to, like click a million or 20% of the time. But then sometimes you'll be like, wait a minute, that's not right. Yeah, no, exactly. So, like, that's the thing. Like, when it works, you're like, hey, this is great. Unfortunately, it doesn't work most of the time.

Before we go to break, I know we played it in the intro, but I want to give a shout out to Delta Hockey Academy's very own. Justin's sort of former Vancouver Giant five points last night. Hat trick, two assist, Capitals 7-4 win against the Anaheim Ducks, a game in which I checked the box score. Mikhail Granlin went minus five last night. So lots of big statistical moments last night. But let's hear it for the Delta Hockey Academy's Justice sort of hat-trick goal here, five-point night for the Washington Capitol's 7-4 win against the Anaheim Ducks.

Both Sortiff and McMichael with three-point nights, sort of flying into the offensive zone. Van Reamsack feeds. McMichael Cross-Its! One touch! It's the hat trick for Justin Sordham. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. I don't know, man.

Sometimes I think it cuts both ways. I think this team Canada at the World Juniors, you look at what happened last season. They left the scorers off. You know? And then they couldn't score. And then this year they're like, fine. We're bringing all the talent, and it's going to be an offensive team.

And then you're defensively bad. Like, there is good reason to build teams the way these guys do. They're not idiots. They might, at the end, be wrong, but is it wrong if Canada wins this tournament or Sweden wins this tournament, and the Americans don't? Like, I don't think, I honestly don't. don't think that the right move is to just be like, well, here's our, you know, the highest skilled players will go up against Canada.

But I don't think that's the debate here. I think Robertson is pretty stupid. The debate is that in the four nations tournament, specifically in the final, there was a saw off between the top six forwards in Canada, the top six forward in the U.S. in that final. And they essentially played each other to a stalemate. when a lot of people are suggesting is when it came time to find a goal from an alternate source yeah i know they were relying on brock nelson and chris crider

and don't you think the americans would take that overtime against canada for the gold medal that situation just to be in that situation again like i don't think they did badly at four nations do you i don't think they did badly at four nations but when you're leaving home you're leading point getter yeah i understand there are degrees yeah there are degrees but i but like Adog, we have this battle sometimes, right? And

Adog's just like, look at the stats, take the guys with the most points, and put together your team. Like, I think that is bound to fail. Yeah, and I don't think. I really do. I think that's bound to fail. Yeah, I mean, like,

for example, I think here's... Going against that, though, and trying to have this more balanced approach doesn't always work, though, in these short tournaments, when you just need a goal, right? Well, sometimes you need to defend. Did you watch Canada at the world Juniors, you know, they got a lot of goals. Sometimes they needed a goal and sometimes they need to get the bloody puck out of their

own end. It doesn't mean you cut the guys that are only defenders. Like, you have to have a balance still. I'm not saying you just load up on offense, but like you can't... Well, you are sometimes saying you just load up on offense. You can't ignore your, like, top goals sports. You have to like, you know? No disrespect, but this is sort of a forced disingenuous argument

because you're suggesting that Jason Robertson can only score goals in his atrocious just defensively. Which I don't think is... No, no, no. The argument itself. Oh, there's the argument. Yeah. The flip side of it is like J.T. Miller's on the team. Does J.T. Miller deserve to be there on merit, or is he there because he's J.T. Miller. And I think you all understand what that encompasses is that there's something about J.T. Miller's attitude and persona and veteran presence that maybe has him on the team.

Now, if you want to talk about the defensive prowess of a forward, I think you can make the argument that there might be nobody more liable to, make a mistake in a big moment, then J.T. Miller, because we've all seen it play out. And part of it has to do with, you know, his brain switching off in certain moments. Part of it has to do with the fact that sometimes his give a bleat meter seems low. But you bring him to this turn. He has some give up in his game. Right? And in a big moment, that's a risk as well.

It's a short tournament. You take the best players and you hope they go. Like, it's not complicated. But Adog, it is. When you say, can you, okay, well, good counter argument. But it's like, it's a quick tournament. Just get the guys together. But a best player is, how do you determine that?

Like, I think that's what they're trying to do. They're trying to bring the best players for the roles that they're going to play. Robbins is not there. Or the roles that they're going to play. And sometimes I feel like, maybe this is unfair, this is unfair, but sometimes I feel like you look at things like, this guy's got 100 points, this guy's got 70, the guy with 100 points is better.

And it's that simple. How many, like, was Patrice Bergeron, what's the most points that he ever got? With Barkoff, what's the most points that he's ever got? There's so much more. But Robertson would be in the role of a goal score. But Robertson wouldn't be playing. I mean, you would hope he wouldn't be playing on the third and the fourth line. He'd be playing on one of the top lines.

Well, maybe he wouldn't be. Well, he should be. He should be. He's one of the best goals scores. But you're leading off one of your best, it's just a huge risk. So is Connor Bardard. So is Connor Bard. Well, there's no room for him.

Butard is a little younger, though. So, I mean, I get that aspect of it. Like, if Bedard was a few years older, he'd be there. Like, the next Olympics, he'll be there. The people that are taking umbrage with this election are saying why him or why not Robertson and why Vincent Trocheck, why Brock Nelson, why J.T. Miller. And I think there's a valid. They're loading up on these old guys that are going to be just left in the dust. And then when I look at the Canadian roster, like it was the conversation we were having yesterday.

I'm like, in my estimation, you can make a valid argument that Sam Bennett should be on that team. Now, I don't think it's as cut and dry as some of these other ones because you're talking about who you're going to take off. then. Well, I would have taken off a Horvette or Sorrelli. Right? Sorelli for sure. And my logic there would have been, if you're asking a guy to show you what he's got on the biggest stages and the biggest moments and to build his resume, and he does it, I'm not sure what more you can ask of a player to get on.

Now, at the end of the day, it's one person's selection. It really is. Bet it's more confusing because he's a big game player. And I know there's a small cadre of individuals that make up the selection. process, but it's very small, right? There's only a handful of people and you get a different handful of people in the room and they might go with a different opinion, right? That's just that standard team building how it has to be done is if you were to, you know, gauge all of Canada and take a countrywide poll to see who should be on the team, you know, you'd probably get a more democratic

process, but you wouldn't get a team built is what you're saying. Like I'm not, I'm not disagreeing with you brought in the sense like I do agree like there needs to be balance and there needs to be like you got to have guys like Patrice Bergeron on the team like you need oh Patrice Bergeron thanks you for being on it you've got to have a guy like one of the greatest two-way forwards of all time of all time

first ballot all of fame you gotta have a guy like that you need that balance but I think sometimes these guys overthink it a little bit and you leave off a guy like Jason Roberts and you're just like what are you doing like it's such a no brain but it's more complicated when you're not the favorite like you've got a goal

go in there and go, how are we going to win this tournament? Like back, okay, let's go to soccer, okay? So Canada, back in the day, when they would go into a tournament like the Gold Cup, this is pre-this current Canada, which is a pretty good team. Call them the Dark Ages. You go back and that gold cup that they won, right? They're not like, we're going to give our best players against, you know, Columbia's best players or wherever

and we're just going to go we're going to go head to head Yeah you find a way to win You have to be like okay We're going to get These guys who can defend Defend defend and hopefully We're going to get a counter attack chance

And we're going to bury that chance Because that's the only way we'll win If we try and go Head to head with these guys And just go run and gun Run and gun run and gun There's a 100% chance we're going to lose If we park the bus

and keep a bunch of guys behind the ball and maybe that one counter-attack opportunity that we can score on, we've got maybe a 3% chance to win. You're going to take the 3% chance to win, right? It's very different when you go into these tournaments as not the favorite. It's easy for Canada.

Canada just goes, yeah, let's take our best players and we're just going to play the way we play. There's going to be no tactics. It's just like, go out there and play. The other teams have to have tactics. The Americans can't match the talent. I get what you're saying, and they have to be like, what are our best odds to win?

We've got to play a more defensive, grindy game and just hope for the bounce. But you also need guys that can score goals. And once in a while, you need a big goal, especially if it's in an overtime. And not have your best goal score on the team in that big moment when you need that one big goal, I'm not saying Robertson's McDavid, but the McDavid goal, for example, like you need to give the opportunity to your best players to be. your best players because it might just be a one bounce one goal game. It could very well be that. I mean, the states are a bad team. Like, they're still a very, very, very good team. But to not

have your best goal score there is very straight. This led Sat and Bick yesterday on their show to ask, Frank Sarvalley, but the possibility of teams inquiring about Elias Pedersen. Yet again, PD trade talks back in the mix. Here's about two and a half minute clip here. Here's what Frank had to say to Sat and Bick yesterday and what the possibility of teams calling on, Elias Pedersen. You drilled it with how we're all going to have to recalibrate our expectations because there's going to be some jaws on the floor this summer

with players or centers that are signed in an incredibly thin market that get way more than what you would believe market value to be. And Wenberg is the poster child for the Harbinger that, or the Harbinger for the Seventh. market in terms of how that's all going to look. I mean, he has one 59 point season, and by the way, if you want to have some fun with numbers, the guaranteed total compensation for Alex Wenberg in his career is north of $73 million.

He might be in the HAL's most anonymous $73 million man that we've ever seen. Which good for him, like, no one's knocking it. But we do have to change how we think about what centers are going to be getting paid. And now, I mean, so let's spin it back to Pedersen. Does anyone think that he's played close to the level of $11.6 million a year? No. But are teams interested in seeing if they can unlock a 27-year-old player who has 40 goals and 100 points on his resume? Yeah, I think that part is clear.

and they see that contract, although risky, as if he does get back to that level, what an absolute bargain value that could be, given if someone was producing at that level, it would cost you a fortune to sign. So I do think there are teams that are intrigued, I think is the best way to say it. Now, will the Canox be able to find commensurate value in return is a totally different part of the equation, given all the roadblocks that could potentially be in place.

The full no move, which is now in effect, that and the risk of the contract for teams that are acquiring, I mean, it's a really difficult trade to make and to say nothing of the idea that the Canucks would then be left with what down the middle. So here's the thing. Regardless of what you think about a hybrid retool or hybrid rebuild or whatever phrasing the Canucks you're using for not doing things in the traditional conventional method and trying to expedite things. This makes a ton of sense. Because if you're going to try and expedite things and hurry things up and move things along quickly, part of that is finding moments of opportunity on the market where you can.

Pounce. The market right now is what it is. And you just so happen to have somebody that might be tantalizing at this snapshot in time. It might not be in a year and it might not be in two years. But right now, if there's an opportunity to pounce, I feel like you almost have to do it. Within the framework of we're trying to rebuild and reshuffled and retool in a hurry. The no move clause could prove a bit of a complication. Maybe you shouldn't be handing those out so frequently. So many different people. Which team do you think about the most when you think about a possible landing spot for Pedersen? Carolina, because they were interested before, although I don't know if that ship has sailed. I would still look at that team and be like, yeah, they got Sebastian Ajo. I think Logan Stancova might be there 2C right now because Jordan Stahl is getting on in years.

Yep. I used to think Buffalo because I felt like Buffalo was just ready for change but I'm not so sure anymore I almost think that what you could allow to play out right now

is one of those moves where because the market is so soft and because teams might be desperate enough you just take any call and you really have to consider any offer that comes your way but it's got a mesh with what Pedersen wants, too.

No, I know, but I'm saying... I'll add a couple more teams. Yeah. So who'd you say, Carolina? I said Carolina, and then I said Buffalo, but I wonder if the sea changed there over the last month has really changed. Okay, Montreal's been dying for a two-see, but here's one, and I watched them last night. L.A.

Willing to accept it, Los Angeles. Coppertar's not going to be there. Yep. I don't know what Byfield is going to be, but I know, I think they've got their, eyes on byfield being the one C eventually. But what if they just replaced Copaatar with Pedersen and hoped that L.A. would be a more minimal place for him. It's a great idea.

It's a great idea. Really do. I think that anything that allows this move to be facilitated is a great idea. Would you want to trade them in the division? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure.

Seattle. anywhere. What's your main reason? What's your main reason for wanting to deal Peders? I think it's impossible to start anew and rebuild with him still around because he's the biggest pockmark of the previous iteration. It's the biggest hurdle that they've got. I'm not, I almost remove his caliber of play and the drama surrounding. I almost take that out of it. I look at it. And if you've got that sizable a contract and what it represents, in terms of financial commitment is one thing, but also what it represents in terms of what he's going to be

to the next generation of Kinex, he's going to be looked upon as a guy that is a leader, a veteran, and all those things. And I feel like it's very difficult to start anew, which is what I want, and I'm pretty sure you want to. It's just really difficult to do that. And it's difficult for him.

It would be difficult for him. I think so too. Yeah. You know, if you have an opportunity right now to move it along, move it along, right? Take advantage of this market opportunity and say, I think L.A. is going to want to do something big. Yeah. They were the team that a lot of people wondered about if McDavid didn't resign. Yeah.

L.A. would be pretty easy to sell Pied on, I think. I mean, it's obviously a good. hockey market, but it's not like front of mind for most people. Is it a good hockey market? You can live in anonymity a little bit, but I'm just saying like they still have a fan base, like people do show up to the games, you know what I'm saying? It's kind of like the best of both worlds

plus it's sunny, got beaches. Sunny texts in, not Sunny L.A., but Sunny says, I think fans just want a full reset. Yep. I think so too. Yeah. And is there a little bit of fear that he goes down and rediscovers his game and turns into

100 point? Yeah, there is a little bit. A tiny bit, but I think you could tell yourself like, well, that probably wouldn't have happened in Vancouver. Yeah, like what's the fear that you missed out on it? Yeah. Because I'm not sure it's happening here. And. Or ever will. I also think that you're tasked every moment that goes by where someone else walks out the door,

it does add a level of responsibility and obligation to the guys that remain. Like, for example, who is the leader and who is the captain with Quinn Hughes gone? and a lot of conversation about who that guy should be. By all rights, with the amount that he's being paid and the responsibility he's should be Pedersen, but it's not. It's fallen to you. We get texts in, like maybe it should be Phil Horonick.

Maybe it should be Tyler Myers. We can turn our attention now to the phone lines and ask the next question of our next guest. Landon Ferraro joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. First off, good morning, Landon. How are you? Oh, just loving the Vancouver rain this morning.

Oh, yeah, I haven't looked outside yet, but I can only imagine how wet it is. is outside. Hey, look, we caught us right in the middle of a conversation here. Started with the Elias Pedersen discourse, but did kind of shift off into the guys that are being tasked with a lot of the responsibilities, both on and off ice, in terms of being the leader and being the face of this team right now in the wake of Quinn Hughes being traded. It's been a handful of games now, more than a handful of games, a few weeks now. You know, when we watch the games as closely as anyone, you see what's going on.

Who's really stepped up? Who's been that guy since Quinn's. Hughes has been traded to the Minnesota Wild. I mean, play-wise and how they talk about them in the dressing room, like I heard it just as I clicked on there of you talking about erroneous, like, to me, that is your guy now, and then, but also just like when Hughes was here, like

Tyler Myers is a major part of that leadership group. There's a reason that, like, when things aren't great, like, Tyler Myers is someone that talks to the media consistently. He's even keeled. He's, you know, he's been through a ton in his career. He knows how to handle different situations.

Like, he's definitely a guy that would be looked to in that dressing room for sure. But, you know, in saying that, like, Philip Oronik, like, his play, especially since Hughes has been gone, how he's carried himself, how he's handled his on-ice production as well. like he's really stepped up and taken a way bigger role here. I'm excited to see it simply like, you know, I played against Taroniq when he was just turning pro coming over from Europe, he was in Detroit system. Like he had a lot more offense in his game and he liked to make plays.

He still had a bit of snarl in his game, but like he carried the puck a lot more and that's what he's being able to do now. It's interesting, I think, that he's not running the first, unit power play. Is it possible, Landon, that yes, it's good that VLander is getting the opportunity on the first unit with Pedersen de Brasherwood and Besser, but maybe they want Pedersen to run that power play, to quarterback that power play off the half wall, and they'll have Horonick on the other power play kind of running that one? Yeah, I mean, it makes a lot of sense.

when Rossi was in the lineup then on that first power play unit you had Pedersen and Rossi running either half wall with Valander or Buoyam up top like it does make sense it's awkward it's a bit

awkward to me just with where the roster's at you know like they make that massive trade to move out Queen Hughes and bring in three young players and that shift has started to the younger side and giving them opportunity but they still have a lot of vets

and to me it's you're wanting Pedersen to take more control of that first unit so you do put the younger guy out there with them and hope that he'll take over a little bit but you also

really like the main thing is just getting that young guy those top minutes and having them exposed to that and getting them to raise his level like when you get to the power play like the plays happen fast. When you see that lane, you've got to be able to make it really quick, right? Like, all those things. So the young guys are getting those reps, and then Hironic can go on to that

second unit and bomb some one-timers. Because that's another thing, right? Like, again, I played against him when he was younger, and he hadn't had Quinn Hughes on his other side where he's just throwing it to the left point all the time. Like, his one-timer would hit the net, and it was hard. And now, like, it's... you know, over the past couple of years watching, like his shot is sporadic a little bit, or erratic, sorry. And, you know, I think he'll get that, starting to get that dialed back in,

and he'll get that one-timer going. We were kind of joking around yesterday, talking about V-Lander's game and saying that sometimes he looks like he's a little bit in the way, like he gets in the way of his teammates or whatever. You know, it wasn't a harsh criticism. It was more just a joke, I think. most of us have been fairly impressed with what he's brought given his lack of

NHL experience but the speed of the game compared to what he was playing last season in the NCAA how can you compare the two tough um i'd say last year when blonder would go into a game it's like getting on the highway and all the traffic is going 65 miles an hour and this year he gets on the highway when he steps into a game and it's going 105 miles an hour like it's it's completely different right like in college and junior there's guys that can skate guys that make plays like everyone kind of does their one thing when you get to the NHL everyone has all those bases. Like, yes, there's guys that skate better than others or shoot better, but like you don't run into anyone that you're like, oh, that D-Man literally can't pivot and turn backwards, right? Like, that happens at lower levels.

So you get up here, every player is better. The hardest thing is everyone is stronger. So every battle that you get in, even a quarter of a second little stick battle that you would have had in college that you just rip out easy, you're now expending more juice to try and win that bad. Like, all of those things add up to it. Like, that's why you don't see a ton of players go, especially a defenseman, go right from junior college directly into the NHL because it's a massive jump.

And I think all of us and fans need to remember that a little bit while watching him of, like, yeah, he does some things and it looks great. And then he does some other things. and you're like, he looks a little young, and I don't know if he's going to be able to make that jump. But again, you've got to remind yourself like it's his first year playing against real men and the best in the world at what they do.

It's going to have some real tough parts for them. Do you think this Pedersen-Dabrasse-Carlson line can keep it going? I'd really hope so because it was fun to watch the other night. right like the way that they i mean it's so different right like peterson you know i'll give it to him again right like it's not it's not like he's putting up crazy points but like he is trying to transport a puck he is trying to take guys on and he's starting to beat more players like you know i think he's looked pretty good considering right like for where we're at right now you know i'm not sitting here thinking that pretty good means, yeah, he had three points in his last two

games. Like, it's kind of the whole package, but the Bruss comes back in after his healthy scratch has a good first game against Philly. It hits that post. It was flying, but like a good answer from his scratching, and then he comes back into the next night and one and two, and the way that he's skating, the way that he's attacking the puck, and then Carlson just continuing on the great path that he's been on this year. Like, that line looked really, I mean, I know the numbers backed it up, but like that line looked really good together. And the way that they skated, they all kind of knew what their job on the line was

and did it really well. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.