Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 1/7/25

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk yesterday's Canucks OT loss to Washington, plus they chat Rick Tocchet criticism and "The Rift" with NHL analyst Ray 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. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Laker-Mackey with tires, Johnny Starr! Jonathan Laker-Mackey! Two goals in succession! And the Canucks have a two goal lead. And then what happened? You blew it! You lose!

Good day sir! I couldn't care less about the team struggling. Good morning Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Alfred and it is Bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Regular Zach, good morning to you as well. Good morning. Alfred and Bruv 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 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 them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. This is exciting. We have a new Kintec read. We're broadcasting. Broadcasting. Broadcasting. Broadcasting live from Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. I like it I thought you're gonna be like good tech good check oh wait no I

don't know what to do new script gotta work out the kinks got a lot to get into on the show today big guess you should just keep yelling kintec regardless in that bit spot arbitrarily barking the word kintec let's try it let's try it we're broadcasting live from kintec studio Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step Kintec That's not bad. It works They'll assume like we like that All the listeners are like couldn't you guys have done this before the show? No, you do it in the middle of it Okay

We got a big show ahead lots to get into from last night's loser point night another loser point night for the vancouver connects Five four loss in in Montreal in overtime Guest list today begins at 6 30 Greg Wyshinski our NHL insider from ESPN is going to join the program 10 games in the National Hockey League tonight We'll look ahead to some of those and I suppose we can let Greg gloat about in the US winning the world juniors For the second consecutive year. I will warn you about that right now. Or we just don't bring it up? I bet it's gonna, I bet it'll be brought up.

We're not gonna bring it up though. I bet he'll bring it up. Okay. Yeah. Ray is gonna join us, Ray Ferraro, that is. It's 7.05 this morning. We'll talk about the Canucks with Ray. Ray is working this Saturday, big game.

It's the first NHL on ABC game of the year. It's an afternoon affair between the Bruins and the Panthers. Good playoff rematch there. He called a bunch of Rangers games on the weekend as well, so we can ask him about that. But we'll talk about the Canucks as well. That's at 7.05, 8 o'clock. His son, Landon Ferraro, it's a Ferraro Tuesday here

on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, is going to join us. We will further break down the Vancouver Canucks' latest overtime loss, this one 5-4 in Montreal last night. So that's it. Working in reverse on the guest list. 8 o'clock Landon Ferraro, 7-0-5 Ray Ferraro and 6-30 Greg Wyshinski. That's what's happening on the program today. Zach, 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? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca.

Nick Suzuki scored a power play goal, 48 seconds into overtime. To give the Montreal Canadiens a 5-4 win against your Vancouver Canucks at the Bell Center on Monday, Suzuki scored on a pass from Lane Hudson, very impressive rookie Lane Hudson after, yes, unfortunately, Nils Hoaglander was still in the box after being penalized with 36 seconds to go in regulation.

Soft call, not a good call, but a call nonetheless. Canucks lose, but in a familiar refrain for this team, still managed to scratch out a point in Montreal. Well, it was entertaining at least, but at the end of the day, the Canucks blew another multi-goal lead and only got one point out of the effort. I was reading IMAX column on it and here's a paragraph from it.

This season, no lead is safe. Monday was the sixth time in 19 games this season. The Canucks lost, albeit all six defeats with loser points after taking a lead into the third period. A lot of loser points. There's their ninth loser point of the season, the most in the NHL. They're the best at the loser points. But that's number one in loser points.

But that's a, sometimes that can be a good thing. So it's like, wow, you guys are getting a lot of games to overtime at the very least. But as IMAAC notes, so many of these loser points have come after they've taken a lead into the third period. So it's kind of like, well, we still got the loser point, I suppose. It's not like they've battled back to get the

loser point. Right. On the bright side, it was a classic gun slinging performance by JT Miller and he really needed this performance and so did his team. His first goal on a nice pass from Nils Hoeglinder, who will enter the game story later on, was absolutely ripped past Montebeau. If you're going to score a goal to break a streak

of not scoring on a goalie, that's a pretty good goal to score. It was the first time he'd beaten a goalie since late October. He beat Montembeau again, team Canada goalie Montembeau. In the second period after picking up a rebound off of Lekker Amaki's flub shot and Lekker Amaki was playing on a line with JT Miller and, and

looked pretty good actually. A few seconds later, Miller also started the rush on Lekker Mackie's goal. Then in the third Miller fed Jake DeBrusk after a perfect shot fake for Vancouver's fourth goal. That was on the power play. So JT Miller was involved, heavily involved on all four of Vancouver's goal.

Uh, Lankton, he was in there again. He allowed five goals on the night, but you gotta say he had some hard luck on some of them, especially the fourth one that bounced in off of Quinn Hughes, Lankton had still made some great saves despite getting just 24 shots against. Would you like to see some more saves? Yeah, of course you would, but I don't know if

anyone after that game was sitting there going, that's on Kevin and Lankton. He didn't hit a post game show. So, well really a lot of people on Lankton. The Cleavers were, look. The Cleavers were out for everyone. Very quickly on Lankton. I get it.

There was another goal from distance in which he was having problems tracking the puck. Yeah, the second goal. Yeah. Well, but, but you know what? I will say that Tauke wasn't putting that one on Lankton and he was putting it on his team because that was a long shift by Montreal.

Agreed. In the Vancouver end and there were opportunities to make plays and they just couldn't do that. My line, I think it would be this, is if you're a goalie, anytime you allow five goals on 24 shots, you're probably not thrilled with your performance. Even though, and this is in the case of Lankton last night. He made several high-end quality saves Yeah, but I mean even the first one on Caulfield right like it was a great shot. He's he can really rip

He's got a great release but five goals is five goals But it's and it's also a shot that you know, you you wouldn't be shocked if it if it got saved So you kind of mentioned this early on, was it a penalty on Hoaglander at the end? I kind of disagree with you. I was like, yeah, probably it was a penalty. He was running around without a stick and that'll get the refs at least watching you

the way he was running around and he didn't have a stick. As soon as he hit Anderson, and that's when the penalty came, it wasn't his hit on Hudson. It was on Anderson. It was as soon as he hit Anderson, I wondered,, when the penalty came, it wasn't his hit on, on Hudson. It was on Anderson. It was as soon as he hit Anderson, I wondered, I was sitting there watching. I was like, Oh, don't call that. And the referee did call it.

Was I sure he'd get called for it? No, especially not at that point of the game, but it was, I guess, I guess the word was, it was like, it was a kind of an unnecessary risk. And what was kind of the point, he just, like, he didn't have a stick. So he wanted to do something. So he knocked down Josh Anderson, which is easier said than done because Anderson's a big boy. Uh, not the kind of thing that Hoaglander should really be doing given his precarious

spot on the team and given all the ill time penalties he's taken this season, often in the offensive end, his game has been coming along too. I think he's been playing better. I mean, I made a nice pass to JT Miller earlier in the game, um, to the point, you know, where he was out on the ice in that situation. So when you're that player and you get entrusted with being out on the ice in that situation. So when you're that player and you get entrusted with being out on the ice in that situation, don't take a penalty. Here's my thing. Don't take a penalty. Here's my thing. Okay here's your thing. Here's my

thing. In a game where there were, what was it, it was three penalties apiece called, one in each period, a very neat, tidy fair, and in a third period where outside of the Caulfield slash, pretty much everything was like, Oh, I guess there was this, the slash on Sherwood at the same time, it did not feel like that call was justifiable in that situation. Knowing that if you give someone a four on three power play and overtime, you're, you're cooking the team that's going to three men. So you want the refs to manage the game now?

I would like- Now you want the refs to manage the game? If they've set the precedent during the game, how did they set the precedent? Cause there was nothing being called. Yes there was. No there wasn't. You just mentioned two slashes.

There was a penalty called per period on the teams. Each team had three penalties going into the final, the, the final stages of the game. There was not a penalty filled affair. There was a lot of stuff that got let go. Okay. Fine. I'm not going to argue too much. I didn't love the call.

I did not. I just thought it was kind of like if of all the guys to get that called on, it was like, man, hoagie, buddy, hoagie. Come on. The, what we're doing right now is very reflective of what was happening in real time on Sportsnet 650 yesterday, because I don't know if you listen to the radio call. I'm old school.

I love the radio. I was also driving. I was listening to Batch live just eviscerate the officials for the call. Like, hated the call. Did you think it was on Hudson, though? No, I mean, he had the opportunity to look at it between the third period and overtime.

And even when they came back for overtime, still referring to it as a penalty that shouldn't be called. And he brought up the fact that of the stuff that's been let go in this game, to call that with 36 seconds left. On social media, Sat was like, that's a penalty. Right, Sat and Bic then went to the, they threw to the studio and they're like, well, tough penalty on Hoaglander, but it was a penalty.

So I get it. I get it. It's the, and here's the thing. You can argue these penalties for days and days and days. It's red meat for Sports Talk Radio because you know, one man's, well, that's clearly a penalty and you could make that argument, is another person, you should never call that

in that moment. There's lots of other things we can discuss in this game as well. The line of Debrusk, Suter and Garland at five on five got absolutely dominated out there. I think they faced the New Hook with Doc line and there was kind of a rotating cast of wingers, other wingers there, but it was Alex New Hook's

line for the most part. Suter is playing up in the lineup while Elias Pettersen recovers from his injury, and it's not going all that well. Ideally, Suter is your third line center or even on the wing or even the fourth line center, which makes me wonder more and more if Elias Pedersen is going to be ready to play Wednesday in Washington. He did practice the other day, but he's not quite ready to go. They need him back and they need him back to play at a fairly high level considering the competition

that the Canucks are going to continue to face on this road trip. And if you've forgotten, they play Washington on Wednesday. Capitals are a good team this season. Ovi is going to be trying to score another goal to chase down Wayne Gretzky. Then they go to Carolina on Friday, Toronto on Saturday, and Winnipeg on Tuesday. So they need all the help they can get

at the end of the day. I want to play some audio. Do we have Rick Tuckett talking about playing under pressure and how some guys are just kind of slapping the puck around? Here's the head coach after the game, after another game where the Canucks blew a multi-goal lead and only ended up with a loser point. Well there's just yeah I think there's confidence I think there's moments when you need a guy to make a play. It seems

like when a team puts pressure on us sometimes we just start slapping pucks around when you should want the puck you know if some your buddy has the puck you got to hang in there for him and want the puck. You know, if some of your buddy has the puck, you got to hang in there for him and want the puck. Um, sometimes it'd be some contacts, uh, where you're going to have to go to an area and have contact to get it out. I think sometimes we're a little shy going to that area sometimes, but you know, we're, we're working on it. You know, we'll continue to work on it.

We got a point, um, disappointed to give it up, but, uh, we got to move on. At the end of the day, Tauke wants guys to step up on this team. You could argue whether or not they have the ability to step up, especially some of the defensemen, you know, make a play. We're trying. Yeah. Which guy does he want to do that?

Uh, I don't know. He just wants, he wants more, he wants more guys. And it's not just the defenseman, right? He wants the forwards to make plays to be available for the defenseman to pass it to them. Even if they put them in a self, in a situation where they might get hit. He wants someone to make a play with the puck or take a hit to make a play or literally step up, you know, step up and close down the gaps instead of skating backwards on defense.

If you skate backwards through the neutral zone or you're backing up too much when the other team's coming at you, that's not helping. Now the problem is sometimes you need some courage in order to close that gap because if you close that gap and the other guy gets around you,

you feel kind of foolish. That's called getting walked. Yes. Or maybe step up and stand up for a rookie when he gets crushed with a huge hit. Oh, now you're really giving me the red meat. Well. Now you're really giving me the red meat.

So I was laughing. I was laughing at the post game show because they were breaking down Rick Tuckett's answer to IMAX question about whether someone should have done something when Lekarovacki got hit by the ghoul. Kaden Gouli. Kaden Gouli. That was a great hit.

He stepped up. He did step up. He stepped up and the Habs are stepping up all night making hits. They're a confident, young, hungry team. And they played like it stepped up early in the game, smoked leckermackie and then nobody did anything. Take it from here. My friend, you're the old school guy tonight.

Nobody did anything. Let's play the audio first. So first period of the game, it's a big hit. It's a big open ice hit. It's clean. But as we've seen in, I don't know, every other NHL game this year, when a hit like that happens, there's an automatic response.

Now, IMAAC, to his credit, asked Taukeit about this in the post game. And I wasn't sure if Taukeit was gonna get asked about this. I was waiting for someone to ask Taukeit about the Holgländer penalty and nobody did but good on IMAQ For asking about this because someone I brought up on a number of occasions this year It's like hey, it seems like oftentimes the Canucks are on the receiving end of a very big hit legal or otherwise And there's not that instant reaction that you see from countless other NHL teams I'm asked that IMAQ Mack, asked, talking about it.

Here's what Rick Tauquette had to say. I think, you know, he's the next people. Like it's not even about, you know, the fighting. You just got to do something hard. Whatever the next shift is doing hard, that's what you should do. But we grabbed the three-one lead. So you know, maybe, I don't know. Yes. That's what you should do. Maybe. I don't know. That's what I took from it. Look,

and I'm dropping an early look here at six 17 in the morning. I went back and looked at some of the instances this year and I couldn't find them all, but there was a couple that really jumped out when the Canucks played the Islanders back in mid November, Sipilkoff stepped up and absolutely collided with Quinn Hughes in a similar fashion. Clean hit, good hit, right through the chest,

but you've got your captain on the receiving end of a huge open ice hit and there is no response. The Tanner Janot hit which landed him a three game suspension for concussing Brock Besser. Went back and watched a video on that one.

No response. Stop, stop making that sound No response Nothing, and I don't mind if your mentality is okay We're gonna punish him on the scoreboard. We're gonna take it. We're gonna wait. Well. He did score a goal as vengeance Yeah, they scored a goal as vengeance. Yeah, then the caramac. Yeah, I mean they point to you got the last laugh Yeah, of course. I'll come for Yeah, the Karmakian, I mean, they point. They got the last laugh. Of course, they'll come for himself.

Of course, like Gulley scored as well. Cancel that out. I just I watch a bunch of other games across the NHL. Nobody does this. Nobody lets there. And it's not like it's key for Sherwood on the end. It's a little different when it's Sherwood because Sherwood's out there. I think he's already at 220 hits this year.

I'm not making that number up. It's crazy. I think he's at at 220 hits this year. I'm not making that number up It's crazy. I think he's at 220. He's gonna have 500 hits by the end of the year. It's wild I will say it does annoy me when a fight breaks out after a clean hit I'm like, oh, it's a good hit just keep playing it was awesome But then when it happens to your own team, it's like I kind of wanted to guys Yeah, I've changed my opinion on that. I used to be that opinion and now it's your own team Let me finish for once. The, uh, the, the,

the click, um, now I've lost, completely lost my train of thought. No, no, keep finishing. I used to be like, there doesn't need to be a reaction, but then the other thing is like, it's your team. Do what you feel is right. You know, it's your team. Like even if it's a clean hit, we're not sitting here

sticking up for justice, right? Like we're sitting, you're sticking up for your teammate. Do you like that your teammate got hit? Yeah. Hopefully not. So what are you gonna do about it, right? It's like, some people will say, well, it was a clean hit, so you shouldn't,

it's not fair to the guy that hit you that he would have to fight. Who cares? He's not on your team. Do what's right for your team. Even if it's not, you know, even if a judge would look at it afterwards and be like, well, it was a clean hit. So he didn't need to fight. Who cares? So he's

not on your team. I also went back and looked and this is December of 23. This is shortly after Zdorov joined the team. And there was this game against Chicago where Reese Johnson flattened Elias Pettersson. And if you watch the replay, Reese Johnson gets about, I'd say six seconds after the hit before Zdorov beelines for him and drops him. And it's like, it's go time. Yeah, that was awesome. You hit Pettersson, there's no questions about it. Like I'm

not really worried about the ramifications. It's a December game against Chicago. Yeah. It's go time. And it was funny because Pedersen actually had a quote afterwards. He's like, he didn't need to do that, but it's awesome that he did.

I want to read. That might be the sentiment that I'm trying to get at here. I want to read some texts into the Dunbar Lumbertex line because it might be a bit of a theme on the show today. Just once what I love to see the coach show some emotion, stand up for the boys, um, to the refs, even if it was a call or not a call, just to stand up for his boys once in a while would be nice. He'll see something and say, and, and, and bad and say, and shrug his shoulders.

And off it goes. It's okay to be pissed off sometimes. And he doesn't do that. Why would any of the players respond like that when their coach won't respond like that? So this is the theme of the show, I think. And because I was asking Halford last night and I was asking a few other guys in the media, are you surprised at how

much venom quite a few members of the Canucks fan base seem to have for Rick Tauket? This is a guy that won coach of the year last season and came in and a lot of people, the narrative at least went that he helped return respect to the Canucks organization and to the jersey on or to the logo on the jersey. And he came in and he did some things that were pretty, I don't want to say heavy handed, but he took control of the team. Yep.

And he fixed a lot of the things that need to be fixed. And now halfway through next season, I'm seeing a lot of people ripping the coach, like ripping the coach and saying, you are no longer welcome here. And I just find it curious. And I understand that some of it comes from maybe the style of play that the Canucks have or maybe some of the struggles of the key players like a guy like Elias Pedersen but I'm surprised I'm just surprised I wouldn't have predicted that halfway through this season there would be so much venom for the head coach and so much criticism of the head coach.

This coach that won coach of the year last year was a great story. A lot of people enjoyed him just talking about the game. So text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. Any thoughts on this to criticize the coach, to stick up for the coach. I want to talk about Rick Taka today because there's no game that's going to be a game that 50, 650, any thoughts on this to criticize the coach, to stick up for the coach. I want to talk about Rick Tocca today because

there's no guarantee that Rick Tocca is back. Needs contracts. The club has an option on him, but I don't think that's going to be, I don't know if that's enough for him to come back next season. There's a ton to unpack here, by the way. Yeah, I would love to know the listeners' thoughts. Because again, social media is one platform.

I think the live radio- Oh, it's a platform, all right. It's a platform, and you're going to get some certain responses. I think there's a real sense of the immediacy and the anonymity which creates success pool times. Text in Dunbar number text line is 650 650. Does the Canucks current style of play, like for example how they were held to 20 shots in Montreal last night and that was the eighth time in 39 games that they've had 20 shots or fewer in a game this year, does that annoy you? Does that bother you? Do you need style points and results?

And is that realistic with the current crop of Canucks that are out there right now? Because remember, this is a team that's still without, and especially last night, Pedersen, Kronik, Joshua, Demko, take your pick. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Ferraro, Ferraro, let's chat with Ray Ferraro.

It's time for Ferraro, let's talk to Ray Ferraro. Ferraro winds up for the shot. Score! Ray Ferraro. Ferraro winds up with a shot. Score! Ray Ferraro! Breakaways on site! Score! Rebound score! Ray Ferraro!

Ferraro, Ferraro. It's time for Ray Ferraro. Let's chat with Ferraro. It's time for Ray Ferraro. 702 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. 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. They can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program Ray Ferrara was gonna join us in just a few moments here to kick off our two Our two is brought to you by Jason hominac at Jason dot mortgage if you love giving the banks more your money

Then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. I am joking. Let him do exactly that Visit him on the internet at Jason dot mortgage. We're broadcasting live from kintex studio kintek footwear and Orthotics working together with you in step. So does it really say we're broadcasting from kintex studio Yeah, the kintex studio. I know just kintex studio. I am Ron burgundy And I just read what's in front of me. I hate't hate it. Fewer words means we get through it quick. I must have read the other read six million times, never memorized it. I have memorized it.

Really? You couldn't say it right now? I don't think so. Wow. I would be a nightmare if I had to do a school play or something like that. First of all, because I'm 48, and they're like, what's that guy doing?

I would not remember any of the lines. Nothing. The 48 year old man keeps yelling line. It's like a dude on stage up there. Okay, Ray's going to join us in a minute. We should reset what we've been doing for the first hour of this program. And that's asking you, the listener,

the collective listener, what are your thoughts on Canucks head coach, Rick Tauket and the job that he's done? And why are we asking this? There seems to have been a fair amount of criticism lobbed at the reigning Jack Adams winner for NHL coach of the year. People seem upset about, well, one, where the

team is at in the standings, two, the style of play, three, and this is the one that I've noticed bad in the standings to the style of play. Three. And this is the one that I've noticed and I have some time for maybe the ghosts of the playoffs, specifically the second round against Edmonton, where it seemed that times that it was a real slog to generate offensive chances. And there was, you know, I think against Nashville, Nashville, too. But Nashville, I felt like they controlled it a little bit Nashville. Nashville too, but Nashville, I felt like they controlled it a little bit better.

Yeah. Uh, Edmonton, it seemed like they were the second best team on the ice for too many long stretches. Cause they were. Right. But too many long stretches. Yeah. Yeah.

And then. I think Edmonton went to the Nashville playbook though, in terms of blocking shots and frightening shots and just, you know, and some of that has carried over into this year where you're looking at the shot clock at any point in the game and just, you know, and some of that is carried over into this year where you're looking at the shot clock at any point in the game and going, is that it? That's the total number of shots.

So if I were to have one criticism of Rick Tauke, I would wonder, I would wonder, not necessarily like this guy's a dinosaur. I would just wonder why the Canucks couldn't create more working the puck down low in the offensive zone, as opposed to constantly going back to the point for point shots. Now there might be a good answer for that, but I

would, you know, I feel like the Canucks as a team sometimes go back to that safety valve, go throwing it back to the point just a little too often, and it becomes predictable in a bad way. Sometimes there's predictable that's good. Sometimes there's predictable that's bad. And they don't get to the inside enough with the puck. I'm not talking about going to the net, looking for a rebound. I'm not talking about going to the net looking for a rebound I'm not talking about going to the net looking for a tip I'm talking about taking the puck and getting it either by skating it there or Passing it there to the front of the net for slot shots. Yep. That's what they don't do

I know that's easier said than done. I realize it but I think you got to find a way said than done. I realize it but I think you got to find a way. Let's go to the phone lines now. Ray Ferraro joins us here on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Ray, how are you? I'm doing okay. Home, which is a good thing and just you know high on my calendar priorities was to talk to you two this morning. I imagine it was number one on that list. Well, it wasn't one, but it was five. Hey, before we get into this hockey nonsense, how was Anfield?

Oh my God, amazing. Yeah. You know, everybody says, oh, you've got to enjoy that game day atmosphere. And it's really unlike anything here. First of all, if, if you've ever been to Europe, people that are listening, like there are no parking lots around the stadium, because that's where everybody lives. The houses are, you can literally throw a baseball from the gates of Anfield, like that you'll walk in to somebody's house. It's great, isn't it?

It's amazing. So like there's no cars. And so we had an Uber driver that could take us a certain place and he dropped us off, everybody's walking. So what happens is that people park their cars mostly downtown at Anfield or in Liverpool and it's about a mile. And so people take two hours to walk to the game. They walk, they stop, they have a beer, they have a burger, they go to the next pub date. And so by the time, like, you can just feel the energy as you get

closer to the stadium. And then we walked in and we went for a tour in the, in the afternoon. And it's just like, it's like history oozing out of every brick of the place. It was amazing. And then in the game, I was laughing, I'm standing with our next to our 15 year old and he's the guy that gets up at, uh, at five in the morning on Saturdays cause he can't get the score or watch it

later, you got to watch it live. And, uh, um, they're losing one, nothing. They conceded in the first five minutes. He was so stressed until they scored. And then they scored and I go, can you breathe now? And he's like, well, that's better. That's better. And they, they won three, one.

It was guys, it was amazing. It was one of the, one of the greatest live events that I've seen. And it's just a game in the middle of the primate season, right? Yeah. It's not like it was a high level pressure filled game, but oh man, it was just amazing. Did you learn any new like swear words, some good

English, what is it? Scouser swear words? Okay. But the Scouser language is a whole new thing. Oh yeah. What is that? I don't know. Ask the Beatles.

Like it's, it's not even a, I, I had to ask like when we were checking in a couple of times, like what's that? Pardon? What's that? Like I couldn't even understand. I was just checking in. I've checked into 15,000 hotels.

How different can it be? Then I found out I'd given a deposit earlier. I didn't even know what was going on. So no, I didn't, I didn't learn anything specifically, but it was all like, I might as well have gone to a different country. Like it doesn't speak, it's not even English, is it? I, yeah.

There's, well, it's the same in a lot of those cities. I remember being in Manchester and talking to some of the cabbies. I'm just like, uh-huh. I don't know what you're saying, but I'm just going to say, uh-huh. It's just- So are those local dialects kind of?

Yeah. I mean, there's a cockney that will kind of, that's more, that's's London that's like a working-class London that you might see in like lock stop like Guy Ritchie. Yeah, that's the rhyming slang. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

It's, uh, it's quite, and then I mean, the easiest to understand is the posh, but you're kind of like, it's uncomfortable to listen for some reason. Well, I will say this. I was doing my pretend accent on the way over and my, my teenagers were like, you have no idea what you're talking about. No idea.

Please do not embarrass us in front of them. I hope you embarrass them a little bit. Every, every opportunity I kept saying to the boys, I'd go, up to the Reds, up to the Reds. And I started talking about my club and they're like, you are such an idiot. Wow. They should appreciate a dad that took them on that trip. That was very nice of you.

Oh, we had a great trip. It was beautiful. Awesome. So I want to talk a little bit today about the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, the reigning coach of the year. And we are noticing quite a bit of criticism in the market for Rick Tocket.

Now, sometimes this can just be the loud minority, but I just wanted to get your thoughts on the job that Rick Tocket has done with the Vancouver Canucks this year. Does anything stand out for you? Well, I, I plead to a little bit of cheating here because I was listening to you guys on the way in because I was a little late and you know, you're

talking about getting the puck off the boards and into the middle of the ice. And if we, if we go back to training camp, they, they wanted to play a little more transitionally. Right? They wanted to, they talked, if you remember, they talked about landmarks and ways to break out. And so I think there was an effort to try, I won't say open it up, but it kind of is,

kind of open up the game a little bit and it didn't really work. And I was just doing our podcast, you know, with Draggs and there's not, and this will get back to talk in a sec, there's not been a week this year, it seems like, that nothing has happened. Like from the moment that I think we all found out that Dakota Joshua had been diagnosed with cancer and had surgery and then Demko's knee and he wasn't going to be ready for camp. Remember when that showed up? You're like, well, wait a minute. He was almost ready to play. Yeah.

It felt like in game seven. And then, so then there was Demko and then Miller wasn't at camp. He was just kind of dealing with something and he played one game and then the season started and Petey got off to that really slow start. And then he started to climb out of the thing and shortly thereafter, Miller left for 10 games. And then he comes back and, you know, it's clear when you're dealing with something, it doesn't just go away. You know, you're, you're continually dealing with it. And you know, last night was his best game by a

country mile and not just because of the four points, although that certainly does. It helped. Like he's, yeah, he's got to, he's got to produce for you to say, Oh, that was a great game. And he was fantastic. And so in that time, then Hughes and Pedersen go out.

So if you were ever trying to get the team to change the way they play, and I think talk really wanted things to change because he kept talking about it. Um, there's been no time to get it to change. They haven't even had, uh, um, they haven't had a run of health that a style change would take hold or identity change would take hold. They haven't had it. And so you revert back to what is best. And that's, I get it.

Like the puck stays outside and then it's a shot pass and then it's an attack of a net. Um, I'd like to see the puck go inside more too, but they haven't had the opportunity to build any of that, like none of it. Like just thinking, I hate talking about last year cause it might as well be 40 years ago, like for every team, like last year, the New York Rangers won the president's Trophy.

This year they're going to have to go on a great run to make the playoffs. Like how the hell does that happen? Right? The same guys are mostly the same guys. So last year we always can, you know, no matter what happened with the Lions, Garland and Joshua went out together. And whenever things were kind of off kilter, those guys would have a really good shift, whether it was Bouguer or Souter in the middle of them or, you know, like, and that hasn't

happened this year. Garland's played himself into a different place. Joshua has not quite caught his stride and now he's hurt again. So like, I think there's a lot of factors in it. I can see where people are frustrated. I mean, there's like two players you can not be, three players you can probably not be frustrated with. Um, one is Garland, um, one is Hughes and one is probably Lanken.

And although, you know, although he's only got, he hasn't won much of late, although I don't know how much fault it is of his, but he's getting into the point where he's playing too much and probably needs a step back. But what are you going to do? You got to wait for Debco to get healthy. It is like bubbling water. It's always something popping up. It's whack, it's whack-a-mole actually.

You, you try to solve something and here comes something else. And so I get where the criticism comes like, why can't you come up with a way that everybody plays more tightly? It's because there's issues to fix all over the place. And it's not just specific here.

Like you can look to honestly guys, and, and I'm not trying to deflect, but you know, I do a lot of games that involve other teams and holy smokes, there's a lot of issues in a lot of places. There's very few teams that are like, yeah, we're pretty happy with our first half, very few. Well, what I find interesting is that we get a

lot of texts suggesting that Tauke wants them to play this super conservative style of banging it off the glass and out or dumping it in and then a few times after the game, including last night, he's like, I'm begging guys to make plays here. I'm begging guys to do something with the puck, make a play, don't just be whacking the puck around, do something. And it's kind of the opposite of the safe play. And yet he, thanks Alfred. But then I come back to like, does he have the personnel, especially on the back end, to make plays?

Like some of those guys, you know, when they have the puck on their stick, it's, you know, it's concerning when the puck's on their stick too long, you're just kind of like, get rid of it, get rid of it. And I just wonder if he's stuck in the middle of wanting his guys to make plays, but also knowing that some of them just aren't capable of making plays under pressure.

Well, the puck moving pressure breaking defenseman is gold, right? Like, just think as much as like when Quinn's out of there, I mean, I did laugh and I do laugh when I hear both fans and people that cover the team here. Oh, you can see how much, you know, how, uh, how much they lack a puck mover when Hughes is out of the lineup.

Sure. Take Cale McCarr out of the lineup in Colorado. See what they look like back there. Then you got Keaton Middleton moving the puck, right? Like, holy smokes, you can't take one of the best couple of guys in the league and take them out. And then you take the second guy out to a

defense in Heronic, to a defense that was already looking to add somebody. Well, of course it's going to look like that. Honestly, the fact that the, if the puck doesn't move in, in rapid speed on the fact that the, if the puck doesn't move in, in rapid speed on the tape to the right guy from your D, your offense is going to die. We will die. We all think, um, as players like a centerman, we

always think we're really important. I always felt like we really helped drive the offense. You did, you were, your centers are important. Come on, Ray. Well, we are, but if the puck keeps coming and some D shoves it up your rear end all the time, you're like, could you put one on my stick, please?

I remember having a conversation with Kurt Fraser in Atlanta. Now we were terrible, right? And so our D would get it and for safety, they would always flip it out. So finally I'd had enough and I went to him, I go, hey, Kurt, I feel like I'm on the punt coverage team. Like we get the puck, they loft it just under the clock. I skate like hell down the ice and the other D goes D to D and passes it back into our zone. Can we at least try to make a pass?

And the fact is the guys that were back there, they didn't wanna make that next mistake. So they're like, the safest thing is when the puck's off my stick. And you can tell a good team so easily, we look at analytics or whatever, but if you sat there with a piece of paper and a pencil, pick a couple of guys on any team and mark when they have the puck, who has it next, which team. I'm telling you, you'd be surprised because a lot of the D

around the league that can't play in pressure, like it's a step above them. They, you know, they bang it off the glass or chip it out and that's a safe play, but the other team has the puck next. Just mark it on your paper. You'd be shocked how many times that happens. Yeah. So I know that the rift between Miller and Pedersen, it could be a bit of a red herring or

it, you know, we don't know how much it's impacted the play of the two players, but clearly the organization based on multiple reports has had to spend energy on it. How much do you think that's weighed on a head based on multiple reports has had to spend energy on it. How much do you think that's weighed on a head coach? And can you ever remember a situation in your career, maybe where a couple of guys weren't getting along and the coach had to get involved and spend some energy

on a situation that you really didn't want to spend it on? Not as specifically as this, but I mean, there were, there's plenty of times where guys don't all go for dinner together, right? Like where you're like, you know, some guy goes to dinner here, but I don't want to go that guy's going. And so like that does happen. Guys sit at other ends of the bus or opposite sides of the plane.

Like it does happen when you're spending energy on it though, like, I think there's a weariness that comes with it all. I just did the Rangers in Washington this weekend, and then they were in Chicago the next day. I was in studio and I'm watching Vinny Trocheck through this interview, you know, paraphrase, and he was asked, you know, what can be done to turn the team around? And he's like, when I come up with that answer, I'll let you know. But the interview, the la violette behind the bench and he's like, yeah, that was a pretty good start. Like they all seem exhausted.

And so to your point, like if you're dealing with it, it becomes exhaustion. Right. Like time and time again, no, some of it, right? Like time and time again. No, some of it, they're not even talking about anymore. The media and the podcasts, and we're all talking about it because that's what the job is, right? But they're probably not talking about it anymore

to the extent that we might still be. The best example I can give is before Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup in 2004, Vinnie LeCavier and John Tortorello were not. They weren't even in the same book. I was gonna say they weren't on the same page. They weren't in the same book. And so Jay Feaster was the general manager.

He called them both into an, into a meeting and he said, I'm not firing you and I'm not trading you figure it out. And then he left and they won the Stanley cop. So somewhere they came to some kind of piece because I think if I remember correctly, and they didn't have the media infiltration of so many podcasts and outlets and radio, like all of it that we have now. But at some point that just went away there. Right?

They were like, okay, we got it. And they moved forward. And I don't know what the answer is here. You know, I don't know. I do know that, you know, like playing a hell of a lot better would probably solve a lot of problems. They can only be a shell of themselves if Miller, Pedersen and Demko are not themselves. Those three guys, I mean, Quinn has been a, an afterthought because he's been so great all year, but without them there, I mean, those are your headliners. Pick three players on any team in the league and diminish their production and that team

is not as good. No matter who it is. Right? Like it just, it just can't be. Ray, before we let you go, you worked Caps Rangers over the weekend, right? Yes. Give us a little look ahead because the Canucks will be in Washington tomorrow night to take on the Capitals. Much different team than last year. They're going through a little bit of up and down right now. Last year, I want to say they scored 218 or 220 goals, one of the worst in the league. Somehow they made the playoffs. They had like this crazy goal differential.

They went out in the off season, they added six players. crazy goal differential. They, they went out in the off season, they added six players. Um, uh, Logan Thompson was in gold, uh, Chikrin and Roy on defense and Duhaime, Dubois and I think, oh, Maggia Pani. Yeah. And it's changed their team. They spent all of camp getting their D up into the rush, creating offense, you know, like trying to be a more dangerous team. And that's what they are. There were chances there. There are chances against Washington and they're willing to give those up because they score at a much higher rate.

Dylan Stromes had a fantastic year. He was, he hit the ditch here for about two or three weeks and he was really good on Saturday, had a goal and then an assist. A guy to cut, to look at, Canucks fans won't know him because we don't see the caps much is Alexi Protas. This guy's a monster.

And last year he scored three goals in his last 56 games. Yeah, I was wondering how is he second on the team in scoring? I was like, Alexi? Is that even how you pronounce it? That's an interesting spelling. Yeah. And so he, at the end of last year, Spencer Carberry had a meeting with them, you know, what they have in their year-end meetings.

And he's like, you got to get in better shape. He's like, when I watch the games at 30 seconds on your shift you got your knees straight, you can't move. And so he went home, his brother, they traded up in the draft to get his brother, who plays in the Ontario League. They live, I think, in Belarus. They went home, they live in a small place, they did nothing but skate and conditioning all summer. And he said he came back, he looked like a completely different person. And so he is big and he'll go to the net and he's, you know, he plays on one of their top two lines and they got that number eight guy that, you know, was off to, you know, is still still magnetic when you watch him play.

He scored on Saturday, the place just erupted, and they're all there to watch that. It's getting close. Ray, this was great. As always, thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll be doing this again next Tuesday.

Yeah, talk to you then. Thanks guys. Thanks buddy. Thank you, Ray. That's Ray Ferraro here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.