Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 1/9/25

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

 Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk last night's Canucks OT loss to the Capitals with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal, plus the boys tell us what they learned. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da Well, we can't play Hughes the whole game. I mean, so I don't know. I don't have an answer for that. So loser points in all of them? Yeah. Hallelujah. Can you see the future? You win this round.

Good morning, Baker. It's 6.01 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Alfred at his Braille Outfit, his Sportsnet 650. You win this round! Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Thursday! Happy Thursday everybody! It is Halford at his breath, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Regular Zach, good morning to you. Good morning. Halford and Breath of 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. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together

with you in step. Kintec. Nope, still don't have it. Guest list today begins at 6 30. We are going to be joined by Jaina Hefford. She is the senior vice president of hockey ops for the PWHL and last night Marie-Philippe Poulin scored twice as her Montreal Victoire. I'm working on all my pronunciation this morning. How's that going for you? Not bad. They down the Toronto Scepters 4-2 Wednesday in the first ever PWHL game in Vancouver at Rogers Arena. 19,000 people there, over 19,000. They set a record for the biggest midweek

attendance in PWHL history. Way to go Vancouver. So we'll talk to Jane Hefford about that at 630. Seven o'clock Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program. We are just two days away from the start of wild card weekend. Get started Saturday afternoon with the chargers

and the Texans it ends on Monday night between the Rams and the Vikings. We're not sure where that game is gonna be played yet We can look ahead to all of the games with Nick We can also ask him if Bill Belichick is already headed back to the National Football League We'll explain more later in the show said he's saying there. He said he's staying at UNC. Oh, he said it did he? Yeah, yeah He's staying there. I bet you he's staying there. Eight o'clock Rick Dollywall is gonna join the program Of course, we will discuss last night's 2-1 loss Vancouver Canucks in

Washington against the Capitals if you're wondering wait, it's Thursday It is Thursday Rick's moving off his usual Friday slot today. Thomas Drance will be taking his spot tomorrow. I don't know as the designated Rick Dollywall handler if you reached out to him last night or vice versa, but Rick will be joining us at eight o'clock to talk about all things connected. I think we might talk a little bit about Rick Taukett's future because that is starting to gain some momentum now that some reports are out there about what his contract actually is.

The mutual option contract. Yeah, I mean it's a team option but he has the right to say like no thanks to your option. So Rick Dollywell is going to join us at 8, Nick Shook is going to join us at 7, Jaina Hefford is going to join us at 6.30. Big guest list ahead we got a lot to get into. So without further ado, Zach, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game tell everybody 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 training visit them online at bccsa.ca

Pierre-luc-du-bois New mortal enemy of the Vancouver Canucks scored his second goal of the game late in overtime Washington Capitals beat your Vancouver Canucks 2-1 on Wednesday night if there's any silver lining Specifically for the Halford and Bruff show it's at Vancouver's streak of loser points rolls on on this road trip that's two now out of the five games on the road we can only imagine what will be in store for carolina toronto and then winnipeg all in all it was a good performance by the canucks who are once again without alias peterson and you know despite all their injuries the one thing that you have to say is that they're not getting dominated in games.

Nope, they really aren't. Even in a game like the one a few games ago against Nashville where they were shut out, they weren't dominated by the Preds. I mean, that's not exactly congratulations. You didn't get dominated by Nashville at home, but I don't think they're playing terribly. They're just without some key players right now and, and the defenses is, is not good.

Nope. It's just, it's just not, I mean, it needs, it's missing Hronik and it needs something more than that anyway. The Canucks outshot the Caps 31 to 18 last night, marking the first time Vancouver reached 30 shots in like 15 games. I think Shorty mentioned on the broadcast, it was the second longest streak in franchise history of not getting to 30 shots. I don't know who's keeping all those records, history of not getting to 30 shots. Yep. I don't know who he's, who's keeping all those records.

Um, but I mean, I had noticed it and I think a lot of other people had noticed how many times you would turn on the game, maybe you missed part of it and you're like, we only got seven shots and it's like halfway through the game. So last night was a little bit different. Uh, what wasn't different was that Quinn Hughes was incredible for the Canucks. He logged over 27 minutes on the night with an assist on the Canucks' only goal of the game, a power play marker by Connor Garland in the second period. If only Hughes had not been trapped in the penalty box for the Canucks' four-minute power

play in the penalty box for the connects four minute power play in the first. I know there was a lot of people that were saying, you got to get a whistle. Got to get a whistle. Yeah. Shoot the puck at the goalie. Yeah. But he was saying, honestly, well, everyone was thinking it. Everyone was thinking it. But stop the play. How? Drill Drantz suggested the post game that you intentionally flutter a puck towards the goalie and then crash the net to it.

Yeah, well that's a problem for the Canucks. They can't get shots on goal. Except for last night. 31 of them last night. Yeah, but not on that power play, not without Quinn Hughes. Yeah, it was frustrating and Quinn Hughes noted his frustration after the game. Yeah. We've got the audio here, correct? The Quinn Hughes audio. So, um, Hughes has done a really good job as the captain. And he actually references a lot of maintaining that balance. Like he's very much the, um, embodiment of don't let the highs get too high and don't let the lows get too low. And I did notice that last night he managed to maintain a really, really even

kill, but he was very terse and very short in his responses. We'll let you see what you think. Dear listeners here is Quinn Hughes, following a two one OT loss, another overtime loss for the Vancouver Canucks this time in Washington. Yeah, well I think we're a good team. So they're a good team, but we're a good team too. And you know, we battled through a lot of adversity. This year. I don't think weled through a lot of adversity this year. I don't think we've had our full lineup, you know, yet this year.

But guys are playing really hard right now. And yeah, we're a good team too. So we expect to get two points against a team, you know, anything. There was a good, so I'll just jump in here. There was a good, good effort last night, right? I think we said this actually, if you you go- The second period was very good. They held Washington without a shot for 11 minutes in the second period.

If you go and read the gamers from the Washington side to things, so I went and read the AP one, courtesy of our friend of the show, Steven Wino. He actually said that coach Spencer Carberry will still have a lot to be unhappy about despite this win. He went on to say that it was another sluggish performance from the Caps. He said the Canucks had a lot to be unhappy about despite this win. He went on to say that it was another sluggish performance from the Caps.

He said the Canucks had a lot to do with that. All of these things though, are kind of being mitigated by the fact that the Canucks keep losing games. The overtime losses now, as much as this become like a jokey meme for our show, you can tell that the players, particularly the captain Quinn Hughes and the coach,

Rick Taukett are getting frustrated with the fact that they are by far, by far the leaders. And I like to use like NHL best, not NHL worse, but NHL tops among teams that can't get it done in overtime or the shootout. Cause at the end of the day, it's still a loss. Um, the connects are now three and nine in overtime And maybe that's partly bad luck, but the coverage, I mean, the coverage on the Capitals winning goal was not good.

All three Canucks on the ice following Alexei Protas into the corner. He was then able to feed Dubois who was wide, wide open to come in and deke Lankanen. You watch the replay and Miller lost his stick behind the Canucks net and he wasn't able to defend. Clearly, at least one of Myers or Debrusque, probably Debrusque, cause he's the forward, should

have hung back in the middle of the ice or at the very least, you know, turn your head to see what was going on behind you. Just, just take a look. Um, you know, that was, that was the worst part of the night for the Canucks. I don't know, overall, it was a good performance. That was not a good moment.

Let's talk about when the Canucks might have a full lineup because there's a couple of things here. They're missing Pedersen and they're missing Chronic. Have a full lineup because there's a couple of things here. They're missing Pedersen and they're missing Hronik. There's kind of news on both those guys. First of all, that Pedersen is getting close to playing and Tockett said, uh, in the morning he was just like, you know, like you can go through the doctors and you ask them if he's ready to go. And then you just have to go to the player and say, are you comfortable playing?

So clearly I think what he was saying is that Pedersen's been cleared to play, but it's just a matter of when he is feeling comfortable enough to play and the Canucks really need him at this point and you know, Quinn Hughes is out there playing and he's got a bad hand, clearly. He's not a hundred percent. Um, and listen, I'm not saying that, that, that PD is just like, oh, I'm not, I don't

want to, I don't want to play right now. And I'm, I'm not as tough as, you know, Quinn Hughes or whatever. I'm just saying like, they need them back. Yes. They need this guy back and they need them back playing at a high level. And as for Hronek, there's some good news here. He is headed down to Abbotsford on a conditioning stint, not to play games, but he is going to practice down there.

And I want to play Rick Tocket talking about Hronik after the game last night, because the news had come out during the day that he would be going down to Abbotsford, a conditioning stint. It sounds like Philip Honica has been working real hard and coming back and maybe he's a little ahead of schedule. Well, I think, well, he's been, he's been really training hard, like really hard.

Now I don't know if it's accelerated the date, but I will say he's expedited a lot of things because the way he's worked so I give him a lot of credit and he'll be going on their practice and so I don't know when he's gonna be back but I will tell you he's he's expedited a lot of things on his rehab. You're expecting to play though down there? Where? He's not gonna get into games down there? No no no no no no no he'd kill me if I went out there. No. Okay so he's not gonna play games for Abbotsford, which apparently was a thing on social media yesterday.

Hironic has been out exactly six weeks since he fell awkwardly into the boards against the Penguins. At the time of the injury, they said it would be approximately eight weeks. So I think that's what they're talking about it being expedited here, is that it looks like he might return a little earlier, although.

So when do you think they're going to have a full lineup? Can they squeeze it into this trip? I doubt it. Can they get it? No, God, no. Can they, can they expedite them on Tuesday when they take on the Jets? I really doubt it. No, maybe first game back after the, after the road trip. Yeah. But DACA is out too. Yeah. But he's not on a long-term injured reserve, he's retroactive to the third. None of the guys are on long-term injured. Yeah, but I'm saying like, none of them are

longer than what this trip might be. So maybe it'll be that first game back after the trip. I don't know. I think Herodot is going to take a little time. He can stay in a conditioning loan for two weeks. Yeah. So the part- But then he could come up after and still just

be practicing with the Canucks. Yes. Like this is him skating with Abbotsford and still just be practicing with the Canucks. Yes. Like this is him skating with Abbotsford and getting puck touches and that sort of thing. It's really just so he can skate with someone out there and not just by himself. I think the news that he got the conditioning loan, if there's one thing to be taken from it's like,

there's kind of a light at the end of the tunnel now for this group. Yes. Which is Demko has survived the back spasms and Pedersen sounds as though he's ready to return. And Hronik is now pushing himself to that next level where he's going to skate with the American league team and Joshua, fingers crossed, although he was very ineffective when he was in the lineup. I mean, I've got a list of the guys that haven't scored in a while, which we can get to in a sec. So one texter into the Dunbar lumber text line, push back on when I said,

I think they're playing fine. I think they're playing okay. Considering all the injuries that they have and the state of the blue line. Do you agree with that? Last night? No, just in general, just in general. Like I don't think they've been awful. No, I don't think they've been awful. No, I don't think they've been awful considering what they've got the injuries and

The blue line which needed help even before Hronik went out and before Hughes went out. I don't think they're playing terribly Yes, there was a horrible breakdown in overtime. Yes, that's that that can't happen. But I think Considering what they've got right now, they're treading water. They're getting points. They got a point in Montreal. Maybe that felt like a lost point because they had a lead, but Washington, very good team. They went in there. They got a point. Well, they dominated statistically last night in terms of, you know, possession, shot metrics, all that stuff against the top three team in the NHL.

And Washington has been very good at home this year. I think they only had four regulation losses at home this year. I understand where people's frustration is because the moments of struggle have almost always, over this last little bit, correlated with losing games. It's come in these big, loud, unfortunate errors, a lot of them in overtime.

And then a lot of them at end of games when they're trying to close out leads. So I get that. I get why- Seattle end of the game was a disaster, but for 55 minutes they played well. But if you- Listen, I'm not home or radio.

You know me. I'm not a guy that's just like gonna be like, let's look at the positives. But I just think overall, they're not playing terribly considering the circumstances. Is one of those like societal tests. If you were to ask people now, uh, retroactively what they thought about that loss against Seattle,

I bet you a lot of people would just instinctively say the connects played like garbage. Like that was junk. That was terrible. I can't believe they did that because they blew the lead at the end. Yes. A lot of people aren't looking at it and

saying for 55 minutes, they were by far the better team against Seattle. Drantz didn't think so for some reason when we were working the show. He's like, I thought Seattle was all right. I'm like, I don't know what game you were watching. Seattle looked terrible. Well, maybe people are somewhat conflating like a boring style of play sometimes and lack

of scoring chances with not playing well. There is that. Because I mean, they're playing, as Ruff said, as good as they can based on what they have probably Which still isn't great because they don't have a lot, but I mean, I don't know how you could expect much more right now I mean that they have what they have look at the blue line that they've got right now It's an AHL blue line pretty much except for Hughes other than obviously Hughes and you know Tyler Myers is playing way too much and I thought it was like it's

is playing way too much. And I thought it was like, it's the picking on Meyers has started up again because he's playing too much. He's their second best defenseman right now. I noticed he tried to do that huge spinorama on the power play and I was like, oh my God, what's he doing? Well, Susie is an absolute shell of himself. I know he actually saved a goal last night defensively, but with the puck, like he has no confidence with the puck right now.

And then you're asking Juleson to be a puck mover. You're asking who, Forbert to be a puck mover. I mean, you know, I do wonder if Brandstrom might get into a game soon. They must think so little of Brandstrom's defensive game. Like, I want to, I want to like underline, illustrate, highlight, whatever, how little they must think of his defensive game, because they have no options on the blue line right now, but

they still are confident sitting him out for multiple games in a row. Well, you know, on the, on the winning goal in overtime, um, everyone was so quick to leap at Tyler Myers. I'm watching that and I'm like, what is the brusk doing? Yep. Why are you going into the corner?

Like what, that's not what your position does. Like if, if anyone's going to go into the corner and follow a guy with the puck, it's the defenseman. What is the brusk doing back there? He's the guy that left Dubois wide open, not Tyler Myers. So I want to start picking up people, but people are just, just ready to leap on any mistake that this defense makes. And I get it. Yeah, I get it. I get it. Especially Myers, because he's playing a lot and you know, he was the

guy running the power play when Quinn Hughes was in the box and it did not go well. No. It did not go well. Myers shouldn't be out in three on three overtime on any other team in the NHL that has got Stanley Cooper playoff aspirations. He's not a guy that's an option in overtime.

No, I mean for the connection it should be Hughes and Hronik and that should be the only two guys. And then maybe another guy that isn't on the team right now. You have maybe reached the point where you could make a viable argument that you should play three forwards in overtime, as opposed to playing one of the defensemen that they currently have not named Quinn Hughes.

Because at that point I'd say it's a coin toss as to whether you're going to get the same kind of coverage from an actual defenseman as opposed to a forward. Now, a lot of this, and there's a real divide here about Rick Tuckett's approach, strategy, deployment, all that stuff, and then the guys that he's forced to use in those moments. And I'm going to start paying attention to this more and more because it sounds like there's these little moments in Rick Tuckett's media availability, where he's becoming, he's already, he's obviously cognizant of it, but he's, he's less afraid to mention the fact that, um, especially on defense, he's got one guy that he can play and one guy only.

So there was some audio from yesterday in the scrum following the loss in Washington, where IMAQ asks him this question. I think we've got it in the audio, but I'll just reiterate it. If Tocket is shocked at the team's record in overtime in the shootout, which is what, three and eight, three and nine now, despite the guys that he has at his disposal, basically, how can you be losing this many games

with the amount of good players that you have? And Tocket's answer was pretty interesting. We'll play the entire clip. We'll pick it up on the other side. Rick Tauke being asked about overtime and the guys that he can play and not play following a 2-1 overtime loss in Washington last night. Is it hard to believe with what you have on this team that you haven't won more games over time?

Well, you know, we can't play Hughes the whole game. I mean, so I don't know. I don't have an answer for that. You know, we have some chances. Unfortunately, what happened? So you did have an answer for it. The answer was you can't play Hughes the whole game.

And that's kind of where they're at with the blue line. That's that's where it is. They have we taught, you know, it's funny sometimes, we're trying to identify all the problems with the team and why isn't this working, why isn't that working, why is the shot generation there, or why is it not there?

And sometimes you look at it and you're like, your best defenseman is playing through noteworthy hand injury. You don't have your second best defenseman. And as we said time and time again, Susie and Myers are a five, six, maybe a solid five, but a five, six defenseman on a good team.

Yeah. Or a four, five. Yeah, okay, whatever. But with the point being is they're being deployed as top end guys right now. And and Susie is struggling and Susie's probably playing the worst hockey that he's played since he joined the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah. So it's not like you're getting a, let's call them a five. It's not like you're getting a five that's been elevated and he's holding his

own. Yeah. You're getting a five that's elevated. He's like, I'm playing like a seven or an eight. Like the, he looks yippy with the puck tonight when there's holding his own. Yeah. You're getting a five that's elevated and he's like, I'm playing like a seven or an eight. He looks yippy with the puck tonight. When there's no pressure on sometimes. It's like he's handling grenades right now. Yeah. And it's, you know, now I want to point to another thing. When people are talking about, well, the offense has dried up,

the shot generation is low and they're not scoring enough goals. One thing that's, I mean, I know it's, it was bound to happen inevitably because you can't count on depth guys to score at the rate they were going. But remember earlier in the year, we were like, don't worry about, you know, Pedersen and Miller not scoring goals because Sherwood's putting them in with regularity, Pugh Souter was the leading goal scorer

at one point. Sherwood's got one goal in 10 games. Kiefer Sherwood's offense has kind of returned to where you expected it to be for Sherwood. Is Nils Hoeglund ever going to score again? No. You could actually see his frustration last night when he went offside ahead of Max Sassen early in

the game. Hoeglund had plenty of time to stop up and he just realized it too late and he took away a good chance for Sassen and Hoaglander had given Max Sassen the pass. It was a really nice pass. Sassen's got speed. He might've been able to get in there on a

really good chance and then Hoagie just goes offside and then he's like, realized at the last second, oh, I should probably drag my leg here. And it was like way too late. They're really, you know, there is a lot to like about Hoaglander from a raw tools perspective. We all know he's got talent and he's got a motor. The Pepperpot. It's the hockey IQ and it's the bad penalties.

And you know, last season he had 24 goals, all at even strength. And I know some of the times he was playing up in 24 goals, all at even strength. And I know some of the times he was playing up in the lineup, so that helped him. And this season he hasn't, but he's got two goals. Yeah. Two. Yeah.

I. And, and, and, and, you know, he's taken bad penalties. You know, the one against Montreal, not smart. Remember how you used to say that you, you thought when his name kept resurfacing in trade conversations, you're like, you could probably sell a nice story about Hogan lander that this year was the anomaly.

And you know, this is a guy that scored 24 goals, all of them at even strength, like a fantastic five. Story is getting less effective. You'd be very hard pressed to sell that. I think right now from what's going on because um, like goal scoring droughts of this nature are pretty egregious. There's guys that can go double digits games without finding the back of

the net. But again, this is a guy that did all his damage at five on five. It's not like there was a asterisk to last year's 24 goals saying like, yeah, but he feasted out with the man advantage or he scored a bunch of empty net goals. Like he came by them honestly and earnestly and you thought, well, here's a guy that doesn't need to have all of these primo opportunities to score. He just goes out and makes it happen. That's completely gone from his game.

Yeah. Like they're snake bitten. I get that part, but this goes way beyond bad luck. This is like an inability to read plays, zero confidence, zero confidence whatsoever. And at a time where, you know, you're struggling to score goals and you need somebody to step up, it sure would be nice if the guy that put in

24 last year could do it. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. We are coming to you live from the Kintex studio and my new read is not coming up kintex footwear and orthotics Working together with you in step kintex dang it to the phone lines We go you just got to own it stop saying dang it afterwards just it sounds great kintex It's a lot funny if you just don't acknowledge it. That's what we discussed, right? Just say Kintec, no, nothing after that. We're really micromanaging Halfords reads today, aren't we?

Yes. Kintec! Shoot. To the phone lines we go, Rick Dollywell joins us now on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Whatever, Ricky D. Gentlemen, I am here. I am here. What did you think of the Canucks' performance last night in DC? Well, you can't question their

effort last night. When you out shoot the third best team in the NHL on the road 30-15 after three periods and to hold them to 18 shots, I mean, that's a pretty good team there on the other end. But the problem the Canucks have

right now is they can't win an extra time. Tenth time they've lost past regulation. No NHL team is close to that. Canucks are on pace for 21 overtime games this year, which would be an NHL record. Three guys in one corner in overtime and Pierre-Luc Dubois was all by himself in the slot. Talk it won't like that. Um,

love the intensity and the physicality in this game. Dubois going after Quinn Hughes. You got to send a message to Dubois. You can't do that. And I think for the most part they did. Tom Wilson chirping the Canucks bench. That's where you miss a door off. Now I heard you guys talking about his door off this morning. Okay. I don't care how he's playing in Boston. I don't care if the Bruins fans hate him. I don't care how we explain in boston i don't care if the bruins fans hate him i don't care about his contract all i know is that if last night the drop was in the vancouver lineup he would have made a difference for the

knox in the physicality department zadorov drove the orders nuts in the playoffs last year he is missed he made the knox hard to play against last year and he kept other teams honest and he would have done the same thing last night in Washington and again and and Bruff I heard you ripping oh Boston hates him you know his contract I don't care that guy in the Canucks lineup last night would have helped the Vancouver Canucks in the physicality department. Definitely he would have I agree I agree with you but was it worth the contract? Well, the Canucks made them an offer. It's not like the Canucks said, okay, see you later,

bye. Their first offer was 4.5 million over four years. Then at the very end, they went back and attached another year, but it was too late because they spent too much time on Jake Gensel and it was too late. So yeah, the Canucks wanted him back. Tachkin wanted him back. Everybody wanted him back but economically it didn't work at the end. But they tried. Don't tell me that Tom Wilson wouldn't have been as brave as he was last night if Zadorov's in the Vancouver lineup. Zorov's one of very few guys in the NHL that make you, you know, kind of, Hey, this guy's big. I wonder if I should go up again. He's scary.

That's the word. There's only so many guys who are scary. Back in the day, eighties and nineties, there were tons of scary guys, but there aren't many scary guys. I think Wilson is definitely one of them, but Zdorov is just so big and strong. I get what everyone's saying here. I'm not blind, but I think Zdorov got this myth. There was almost like the legend of Nikita Zdorov in this market. And I just wanted to offer a little bit of push back on everyone who was texting

and saying, you know, Zdorov, Zdorov, Zdorov. They don't have him. So what is the solution going forward? Because I thought it was pretty interesting that Rick Tuckett said after the game and you're talking about their record in overtime. Well, we can't play Hughes the entire overtime. Hughes tried, like a shift over two minutes in

overtime, which is crazy. So what are they going to do here? Because if they get everyone back and healthy and Petey comes back and Herona comes back and Demko can stay healthy and they don't have any more, you know, calamitous injuries and Dakota Joshua comes back, they still need to address the defense. Absolutely. Absolutely, absolutely.

And you know, you, you, people talking last night about, you know, they went out and got Day-Arne, right? And I got to give Day-Arne credit. In the last three or four weeks, he's been much better. I mean, he started out slow and then the Connaughts put him on the market and all that stuff. But you go look at Day-Arne's minutes in the probably last two to

three weeks he's up at the 16 17 18 minute mark you look at the shots you look at hits you look at blocked shots he's getting some every single game he has improved but he's a guy that you want to step up in the physicality department and I know he did last night he went after Dubois got a penalty and and the capital scored. But look, at the end of the day, are they as menacing tough wise as they were last year? I don't think so.

I'm a little bit with Holford in the sense I expected a little bit more in the physicality department last night from Vancouver than they got. But look, here's the team. There's no sense bitching about it because we're almost at the halfway point of the season. And they've only got under two months now to address whatever needs they want to address. You talk about addressing the needs for the blue line.

Well, guess what? The trade deadline is not too far away. I do want to say one more thing about last night's game. I did, it was good to see Demko backing up last night. Okay, so he's close to returning the lineup after suffering back spasms in Seattle last week. Now, I think this is gonna be fascinating how this goalie situation plays out. The Canucks do want to re-sign Lankinen.

They have already touched base with his agent and they picked up the phone and called him. They know he's in for a big raise and they know he's gonna get big term. They know he's in for a big raise and they know he's going to get big term. Demko needs a long stretch here guys where he doesn't get hurt. Just to quiet those and I'm seeing a lot of this. He's injury prone, give up on him, trade him. Look if Demko, if he can go a long stretch without getting hurt, it'll help silence that

crowd. His contract is up next year and the Canucks can talk to his agent, Demko, about a new deal starting July 1st. So when I look at this club, Jason, there are just so many, so many tough decisions coming up. And I haven't even mentioned Besser. You know, I haven't even mentioned Besser. And you know, there's so many tough decisions coming up for this hockey club. Well, Rick Tauke is another one. And his contract is starting to,

the situation there is starting to seep into the sports radio landscape as well. I've been talking about this for a while, but it hasn't seemed to get any momentum. I mean, I'm going back to the off season and Tauke has asked about his contract situation. He says, well, I'm sure when we have time, we'll talk about it. Have you had time yet? Are you going to talk about it? Because we're in a situation right now where Tauket could himself just walk away next season and I'm sure he would find a job somewhere else,

either as a head coach of an NHL team or he can just go back to TNT, have fun on TV. Yeah, he could. But I'll tell you this much, this guy deserves an extension just based on what he has been put through this season. Injuries to all his star players, Hughes, Besser, Pettersson, Aronic, Demko, Joshua, they've all been out.

Imagine coaching at the NHL level without your top pair at times on defense. He's had to do that. Missing top six centres for lengthy periods. He's had to deal with two star players that don't get along. He's had to deal with the GM trying to trade two of his best players. He's had to deal with an incredible amount of outside noise. The Miller leave of absence.

This general manager had 10 UFAs last year which resulted in seven to eight new faces. That's not his fault you know what that team they played in game seven against edmonton that's not the same team he was handed a training camp but despite all that he's got this team in a playoff spot nearing the halfway point of the season died they wake up this morning during the second wild card and if he leaves on his own they you just mentioned it he's got the clause where you can walk away that will be a good look for the canucks it would mean the situation is so bad in

vancouver that he decided it was not worth coming back to he'd just doesn't look like he's having as much fun as last year bad body language spats with the media short news conferences it's a different vibe with him, but it's not all his fault. The Canucks have been the top story in the NHL

for all the wrong reasons too many times this year, and it just drains you emotionally. But I am not hearing the Canucks don't want them back. Mm-hmm. After the way they treated Boudreau, then hand pick pocket. If the Canucks don't pick up the option to bring

this guy back, they're going to look foolish. Earlier this year, Quinn Hughes said pocket is the best coach he's ever had. He's the captain. His contract's up in a couple years. I wouldn't want to be the one to tell Hughes they're going to get rid of this guy and they're going to get him his fourth coach in four years.

Rick, would it almost be insulting if all they did was pick up his option as opposed to giving him a contract extension? Here's a guy that, you know, you, you laid out all the things he'd had to deal with this season, last season, he was the coach of the year and he was the guy that management would always bring up as kind of like a feather in management's cap that they'd gone out there and they'd handpicked this guy and they took so much heat for the way the Boudreaux situation was handled.

But now we've got Rick Tocket, it was our guy. And they gained a lot from him and yet he doesn't have a contract extension. You nailed it. And why would Tocket come back just on a one year deal? Why? Every coach wants, what does every coach want? Security. And why would Taukit come back just on a one-year deal? Why? Every coach wants, what does every coach want?

Security. You know, he's already making a good salary. He's at 2.7 exactly what Travis Green was at. He's making a good salary. But who wants to be the lame duck coach? Who wants to come back next year and go through this whole cycle again on a one-year deal? Everybody wants security. He's going to want security.

If all they say to him is we're going to pick up the option, that's it, no extension, why would he stick around? Um, I, no, I agree with you. I agree with him. That's going to be one of the many interesting things to watch. Um, Elias Pettersson, when do you think we're going to see him in a game again?

Oh, well, so he was close yesterday, wasn't he? He was close and he, you know, everyone felt this is it. I mean, game day skate and talk, it said, I'm going to talk to him. It's an upper body injury and you know, look, I heard you talking about, let me get to Peterson and Miller because you said something interesting this morning. You said that the Toronto media, Canucks are in Toronto on Saturday. Toronto media can't wait to get to the Canucks on Saturday. But I've been told because the Canucks play in Carolina Friday night, they're not going

to be holding a game day skate in Toronto on Saturday. So that won't sit well with the Toronto media because they're chopping at the bit to get to Pettersen and Miller Saturday morning. So I believe the Canucks are going to practice in Winnipeg Sunday or Monday or both days and maybe they can travel to Winnipeg, the Toronto media. The Toronto media's fascination with this story is just as high as the Vancouver media's fascination with this story. They're not going to get a shot at Pederson and Miller on Saturday because the Canucks

aren't going to hold the game to day's skate. It's travel day. They were sorry, traveling overnight, they're going to say this about Pettersen and Miller. It is impossible to go a day without talking about these two guys. Every TV show, radio, podcast, newspaper, Miller-Pettersen 24 7. National media is dropping

something on this story every day. I can't recall a time when a team made both top six centers available. To do that in a country like Canada, I think it's a great opportunity to do that in a country like Canada. I can't recall a time when a team made both top six centers available to do that in the Canadian market is begging for 24 seven around the clock coverage. This is uncharted territory.

Like people around the league are shocked that there are two centers on the same team available. Look, canucks are listening. They have to. They have caught the curiosity and the imagination of the entire league by making two top six centers available. The Canucks' biggest fears got to be Jack Icah. Okay, he was only 25 when Buffalo gave up on him, moved him to Vegas. Since then, he's won a Stanley Cup. He's on pace for over 100 points this year and Vegas is in first place in the overall standings. Do the Canucks give up on a 26 year old Pettersson and regret it later? A lot of people feel the one team that could satisfy Vancouver

for Pettersson is Columbus. Tons of cap space, good young centers, draft picks to pull off a Pettersson trade. Columbus has got two first round picks this year, multiple mid round picks in cap space and also, uh, they play in the East. I don't really, really feel that the Canucks would be super excited. Uh, if they did decide to move Pedersen in the West, obviously not in their division, but I wouldn't want to move them in the West. I would want to get that guy as far away as from Vancouver, because if he pops off in a few years,

you don't want them popping off in your rink four times a season. Teams are also digging Jason into the Miller Peterson feud, trying to find some insight into that relationship. Obviously they'd have to do their research on that. Well, if you're going to acquire one of these two guys, you want to make sure you're not getting the

dressing room issue in the deal. But, um, you don't want to, okay, Bruce Boudreaux said something interesting today about the Miller Peterson feud. Um, he said Vancouver has helped into the dressing by guys like Tanner Pearson, who did a lot of the soothing out. Canucks have lost a lot of good veteran guys.

Ian Cole. Yeah, Luke Chen, Ian Cole. Imagine if Chris Tanev never left. They just, by the way, they just loved Tanev in Toronto. He's been great on and off the ice. I, look, I give the Canucks credit for trying to get Chris last year. And Chris had Vancouver very high, very, very, very, very, very high on his list of destinations, but I think he's happy. He's got two, he's got a young family, two young

kids, mom and dad are in Toronto, so it kind of worked out really well for him. But sometimes that veteran player can help so much in times like this. And Canucks had guys like Pearson, Shen, Cole, Tanev. And you know, you wonder if they could use a good veteran like that in the dressing room right now. Quickly on the agents, I just want to say this. The agents for both Miller and Pedersen are well aware, obviously, what's going on. Miller's agents got 100% control.

Pedersen's agents, they don't have that control. They must be surprised that four months into an eight year deal, this is where they are. The agents met their clients in Montreal on Monday. Pedersen's agent was seen talking to Alvin. So there is no lack of communication between all sides. I don't know, like a lot of people still don't feel, Jason, that the Canucks will do this in season. Maybe it's an off season move, but it's, it would

shift and alter that dressing room in a massive way. Well, I had a bit of a chuckle yesterday because I read what you were reporting and that a lot of the, the teams around the league don't believe that the Canucks are serious about trading Alias-Peterson. And then, and then the a lot of the the teams around the league don't believe that the Canucks are serious about trading Elias Pettersen. And then, and then, and then some of the insiders I see, um, use that word, uh, specifically like the

Canucks are serious about trading Elias Pettersen. How did, how is this all, all shaking out? Is that, you know, some people aren't serious and then the Canucks are in someone's ear saying, no, we're serious about this. Okay, but hold it, hold it, think about it. The Canucks need the NHL to know they're serious about Pedersen because they get better offers.

Right. More offers. So the national guys were fed. It doesn't take Einstein to, you know, it doesn't take Einstein to figure out who told the national guys that they're serious about Pedersen. Exactly. It doesn't take, like, you know, where it's not a to figure out who told the national guys that they're serious about Pedersen. Exactly.

It doesn't take, like, you know, where it's not a child of four here that couldn't figure that out. The Canucks need the NHL to know they're serious about Pedersen so they can get the best offers they can get for them. But I talked to a team who talked to Vancouver about both and they felt it was more Miller that Vancouver was pushing than, than Pedersen. But look, this story, it's not going to end today or tomorrow. You're going to hear 50 million different things.

You're going to, it's just look, we're in Vancouver, it's a Canadian market. The two top centers on the team are available in the trade. It's just not going to stop. Like if you guys, like we get ripped all the time, quit talking about it, quit talking about it. Well, come over, come over into our shoes and try to prepare for a show and not talk about it you know and then you got these guys on twitter who you know sit there and listen to podcasts all day and and then they they they give you quotes from these national guys every day who are dropping

stuff it's impossible if we were in car in Carolina or Columbus, maybe you could say, don't talk about it every day because it's not that big of a deal there. But this last time I checked, this is Vancouver, one of the best hockey markets in the national hockey league. And you got your two top centers available and you don't want us to talk about it. Yeah. Don't take that seriously. That's just a, that's a minority because most people come up to me, all my friends are like, what's going on there? They're not like, talk about the game. How about that shot block from Susie? Like they're not talking about that. They want to know what's going on with the, with the star players on the team.

I got a call from Boston this morning, you know, just saying, Hey, what's going on in Vancouver? And, and you know what people are like, this has become a big story, like not only in Canada and Vancouver but across the National Hockey League. These are two very written, you know, these are two really good hockey players who are available. You just don't see this every day of the week. Yeah, you know, it was funny we were talking about the Zabinajad for Miller, maybe not necessarily the one for one component of it, but the fact that it got out there and it was reported. And then we started to connect the dots there and it's like, well, it's interesting that a reporter from Pittsburgh is announcing this. If you want to start going

down the road of like, well, how did that come out? I mean, you can do the math on that one too, right? Probably a coincidence. Guys, we've been in this industry, how many years? Like, you're trying to tell us, like, we can't figure out who's leaking to what reporter and who's doing the leaking. I mean, come on, it doesn't take Einstein to figure it out. And the Pittsburgh guy broke the Zbenajad, sorry, and Miller thing.

Um, and, but you know what? It's not hard. It, there's a lot of people talking right now. I'll leave it at that. And there's no shortage of rumors when it comes to Miller and Pedersen. That was very good on Zbenidjad. Very well done. Well done, Rick.

I'm thankful. I'm very thankful they didn't acquire them. Very thankful. Dolly. Very thankful. Hey, hold on a sec. By the way, that deal was bigger. It was never one for one.

I've been telling you guys for two years now that the Canucks love Braden Schneider and they never stop asking for this guy. Good, tough, western Canadian kid. He's just a really, really good young player and it was never one for one. Zabinijad and Miller, it was always more pieces involved and the Canucks just never quit asking about that Snyder kid. They have been for a couple of years and that's just a kid they've identified, sorry, that they really like. Rick, this was great. Thanks for bumping up on a Thursday. Hey, I want a check.

Oh, whoa. You guys bumped me up. You know, I got to go get a Miller, or sorry, not Miller, I got to go get Taylor a coffee now. I wish I could get Miller a coffee and sit down with him. But you guys screwed me up. I usually come on Fridays. What's going on?

Blame Dranson. Blame Dranson. Blame Dranson. Yeah. You're trying to tell me that I got shifted to Thursday because of Kojak? Yeah. Yeah.

Another timely reference. Who loves you, baby? Who loves you, baby? Thanks, Rick. See you, buddy. I think he's gone. Go Jack. Go Jack.

All right, telly. Is it telly Savalas? It's Go Jack, right? Yeah, that is a good pull. When Hugh's playing with a contraption on his left hand and not being 100% and then going out there and playing half the game. What is that, by the way, on his hand?

It's actually a weapon. It looks like it's got a short blade that comes out of it. I keep thinking of Wolverine from the X-Men. Yeah. It's clearly a medical device, but it looks very hastily made. It's the hand hold togetherer. Yeah, that's what they call it.

Quinn, have you got your hand holder togetherer? Yeah, his hand, if he was to remove it right now, it just turned to jelly. Just a little bit. Hey, speaking of which, does Kiefer Sherwood wear surgical gloves underneath his gloves? It's because of eczema. Oh, I see, okay.

So you get dry skin while playing, so some guys have secondary gloves. I can see that, I can see that for sure. If he's to fight during a game, he has to remove them. Yeah sure. He said he was sure to said last night his gloves came off And then the other other layer of gloves came off. Yeah, you should remove one slap him What I challenge you to do that I demand satisfaction It's a very painstaking and laborious way to start a fight, but So anyway we were it's funny because we were playing the Pedersen audio and then we were

talking at the break. There is a long colorful history in the national hockey league between coaches who think that their players are ready physically to go and have been cleared and players that just aren't there yet. My favorite was Darrell Sutter with Willie Mitchell when the two were together with the LA Kings. There was a time where Sutter said, you know what? He's got doctor's clearance. He's got trainer's clearance.

Coaches want him to clear himself, so do it. And Mitchell was like, I'm not quite ready yet. I've got the all time quote. So this is from 2013, Darrell Sutter on Willie Mitchell status. Willie Mitchell, I have no update. The only thing I can tell you is historically he's a player that's missed significant

periods of time in his career. It now appears he's historically doing that again. And it's, you know, we laugh, but it's like Willie Mitchell's dealing with like post concussion syndrome and everything. And here's Darrell Sutter being like, you know, we laugh, but it's like, Willie Mitchell's dealing with like post-concussion syndrome and everything. And here's Darrell Sutter being like, you know, you got to figure it out.

There was also- What was the other one with Torts? Who was the guy that Torts couldn't get out of the tub? Wojtek Wolski. Can't get him out of the tub. He would, so Torts had this thing- Like he got stuck in there or something? Torts didn't like to talk about injury.

He would always defer by saying, I don't know. I haven't talked to Rammer. Who was their old trainer? Jim Ramsey. He's like, I don't know. I haven't talked to Rammer. But then I guess he got fed up with Wolski cause he felt like Wolski was ready to go,

but he was just sort of milking this injury status. So he's like, I don't know about him. Got to talk to Rammer. And then he paused. He's like, I know we can't get him out of the tub. He's like, he's always in the tub. Meaning he would just be sitting. He just loved the hot tub.

He loved the hot tub. I love the hot tub too. I get that. If I played. I love the idea that there are some. You got the jet zone in there. Right. All the ideas.

He's got a margarita. Yeah. There's a professional hockey player out there that's just like, he didn't even pay all this money. He was like, you know what? I really love milking this injury. I'm just gonna milk it for all it's worth. If I. This is awesome not playing.

If I played for. I still get paid, right? Yeah. If I played for- I still get paid, right? Yeah. If I played for a professional sports team, I would spend an inordinate amount of time in the rehab pools, like the sauna, the steam room, and the tub. I would be in there so much. I would develop a skin condition for being

in the hot tub that long. You know what I would abuse is, like, not abuse, but- That's fine. You can say abuse. I would get a lot of massages. Maybe don't use abuse Yeah, right. Okay. I'm thinking yeah quarterback right now, but in a different way gotta be a definitely has to be a better way to just like if you've got That's the wrong way

You know what forget that would utilize the services. I love getting massages Yeah, what's the machine where the guy's head is just sticking out of it? It's like kind of looks like an iron lung. Oh cryotherapy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The deep freeze. Right. Is it a freezer? Is it a steam in some way? That's old school, isn't it? No, you're thinking a hyperbaric chamber. No, no, no, no, no. Your head is sticking out of it. Yeah. It looks very comical. I thought that was to steam as well. I thought that was a steam. I don't think back in the day it was a steam. No, no, it's a cryotherapy. It's the cold one where you have your head sticking out. Split down the middle.

Oh, OK, cryotherapy. I always assume that's like when you freeze me while I'm dead. No. And maybe one day, I'll come back. Totally different technology. We're still trying to figure out the 15 stab wounds to Mr. Burns. What are we up to, fellas?

13. All right, just give me. Mook out that hole. Give me a moocow. Raider Texan, okay, Deshaun Watson, great. Now I've said that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm never gonna get.

Raider, that's why we kept preempting ourselves. I'm never gonna get another massage in this town again. That's it. I've been blackballed. Oh, you're on the list. Yeah. We know about you. Why don't I just turn over here?

I learned. I'm sure you didn't have to take I just turn over here? I learned. You didn't have to take your pants off for this. I learned as we move along. It's okay, it's okay. I learned. That happens to a lot of guys, don't worry. I learned as we move along.

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