Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 2/13/25

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they talk an exciting start to the 4 Nations with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance. 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. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaa 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 Four nations facing off. Marner to work. He's in. Marner! It's Marner! It is a tie! When you were a kid, do you dream of that moment? Yeah, definitely. I thought it was a big time player making a big time play at a big time moment. What a freaking booze.

Four nations facing off. Good morning Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. It is Halford and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios of beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford 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. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you and Step. Got a lot to get into on the program today on a Thursday.

Guest list gonna be in at 6.30 this morning. We're gonna go to Montreal. Scene of last night's epic opener to the Four Nations face-off. Two of the nations faced off. Eric Engels, our guest at 6.30. He was in the building for the very exciting start to the four nations face off. Two of the nations faced off. Eric Engels, our guest at 6.30. He was in the building for the very exciting start to the tournament.

He also has a great piece up on sportsnet.ca about Sidney Crosby further cementing his legacy in Canada's opening win over Sweden. It was a lot of fun. The atmosphere was, I was told it was electric in the building. We'll get more from Eric who is live on location for that. And then we'll look ahead to tonight's game.

We get more nations facing off tonight when USA takes on Finland. It's seven o'clock this morning. Mike Tenier, our NFL insider, is gonna join us on the program. So Mike lives in the heart of Eagles country. So I wanna ask him, because he's written about this a couple of times,

what it's been like this entire week now that the Eagles have won the Super Bowl and got to go back home and celebrate. It was funny when I was flipping by that Raptor Sixers game, the whole arena was green. Everyone arrows like, oh, I'm going to wear my Eagles jersey. Also drunk, probably still drunk.

Yeah, probably still drunk. Yeah. Mike also had, check out this line from Mike, his scathing takedown of anyone criticizing Jalen Hurts. You know how we were talking about it the other day? One of our textures called Jalen Hurts middling. Mike wrote, go ahead, list him the 17th best quarterback in the NFL or whatever.

You film sniffing podcast geniuses of quarterback micro analysis. He was angry. Yikes. We're gonna talk to Mike at seven o'clock. I've got him at number 15. Right. You film sniffing podcasting genius.

We'll also get into some off season NFL stuff as well. That's at seven o'clock with Mike Tannier. Eight o'clock Thomas Drance, the Drancer from the Athletic and Canucks talk right here on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of Canucks talk, did you see who him and Jamie Dodd had on the program yesterday? Uh, refresh my memory.

Mikey Moe. Oh, that's right. That's right. He was talking about the 1990s world cup and uh, how it was like just like a war out there. So it's a pretty good get. We'll talk to Drancer about that. We'll also ask him about everything that him and the

boy genius, Harmon Dial have been doing over Athletic. Who might the Canucks pick up ahead of the March trade deadline? We'll talk to Drancer about that at eight o'clock. Finally, we are yet again, every day this week, we're keeping with it, we're giving away a pair of tickets to see the HSBC Rugby Sevens later this month at BC Place. If you wanna go, be, call our number seven for the sevens at 8.15 this morning. Phone number here 604-280-650. That number again

604-280-0650. Sevens tickets going to the seventh caller at 8.15 this morning. Give us a ring, you can talk to Adog, that's also included in your prize. Working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock it's Drance, 7 o'clock it's Tanny or 6.30 it's Engels. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night?

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

Is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools or resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Mitch Marner scored 6-0-6 into overtime last night. And Canada recovered after blowing a two goal lead to beat Sweden four, three in overtime in the first game of the four nations face off at the bell

center in Montreal. You know what? I loved it so much. Greg, I want to hear it again. Chris Cuthbert on the call Mitch. Maybe the only time I'm ever going to cheer for a Mitch Marner goal unless he does it again in this tournament. Here's Canada's game winner in OT. for a Mitch Marner goal, unless he does it again in this tournament. Here's Canada's game winner in OT. Cosby, took a look, doesn't have crushed legs with him. And he'll drop it back.

Marner to work, he's in. Marner! Mitch Marner in overtime! Pretty great start to the tournament, man, I'm not gonna lie. It was an entertaining night, it was an entertaining game, it was a terrific finish, it was a really good time. Yeah, and I think if you were surprised by the intensity or you were surprised by the quality of the hockey, then you really weren't paying attention to what the players have

been saying for a few years now in that they want best on best to be back. And, um, you know, you can say it's been nine years or 11 years, depending on what you thought of the 2016 world cup doesn't really matter. It's been a long time. And a lot of these guys, um, have not been able to participate in this sort of thing. And, um, you know, they are all, if you make it to the NHL and you're one of the best players in the

NHL, you're, they are all, if you make it to the NHL and you're one of the best players in the NHL, you're pretty competitive person. And can you imagine, you know, you're, you're, um, McDavid, right? That'd be cool. That would be cool. That'd be awesome. It's fast.

Except you'd have to live in Edmonton, but you know, it's tough. Not everything's perfect, but you're so good at the game once you want that opportunity to play with the best and represent your country like you've seen others do, like you've seen Sydney Crosby do, and then Sydney Crosby had seen Gretzky and Lemieux do it.

And you know, you, you, you go back, um, in the history of the game. And so, you know, in 2016, McDavid was part of the world cup, but he wasn't playing for Canada. He was playing for team North America. Again, such a stupid tournament, but, um, you know, now it, it, it's everyone, all the best Canadians are on team Canada.

And I don't know. Let's see, here's a challenge for the listeners. Okay. Have, has any team outside of an all star team, been able to put together a one, two punch like Sidney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon on one line? And then the next line has McDavid. You know what, you know where it really stood

out was in the overtime yesterday is it felt like every shift it was like, here comes McDavid, here comes McKinnon. I thought it was just Crosby didn't even get to play until late in the overtime. I thought it stood out in the first period. Well, it did for the Swedes. Yeah. And I know. That power play too, it's like we're never taking a penalty ever again.

I know, I was like, what are you doing Nylander? Keep your stick down for God's sake. No more penalties. Yeah, I mean, it started off with that power play and then, you know, Canada looked dominant in the first period and we were all going, ah, the Swedes are going to give up and credit to the Swedes, they came back and maybe Bennington would want that second goal back and some people

didn't like the first one. But you know, the third one's not his fault. And frankly, I think Canada let their foot off the gas a little bit. I mean, Sweden's got a really good team too, right? Let's be honest. There's a lot of really good players out there. But it was coming up to the end of regulation and

Canada had like 19 shots on goal. And I tweeted that out and everyone was like, Rick talking hockey, baby. I'm like, come on. He's got his influence on the team already. That's good. He's like yelling, dump was like, Rick talking hockey, baby. I'm like, come on. He's got his influence on the team already. He's like yelling, dub it in, dub it in, get it deep. Yeah.

Uh, at any rate, that was, that was just really fun. And, um, you know, Canada, us on Saturday, if that's what Canada, Sweden was, I can't wait. I'm glad that, I'm glad that that game happened to kick off the tournament because, and there's a lot to unpack there from your opening soliloquy, but I wanna start with the intensity that Canada showed right off the bat,

and I don't think that Sweden was prepared for the level of intensity that was going to happen right away. I don't know whether it was just nerves or they weren't sure how this tournament was gonna go or if they just flat out weren't ready for it. They go into it and say, oh, does Canada take international hockey seriously? Ah, I don't know. Maybe they were like Justin Trudeau and those political ads where they just weren't ready. I don't know.

How about, um, they're just like not as good as Canada when Canada. But they were when the game went along. And they were still, they were still like, I think, I think that was Canada. It felt like Canada let their foot off the gas. Again, if you put, you know. See, I'd push back on that. Okay. Well, let me push you first and then you can push back. Okay.

Um, what team in the world could possibly push back to, I'm using push back too much, but like you again, you've got one line with Sydney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon and they were incredible. And then another line has Connor McDavid. On paper, Sweden's top two centers were Ilias Petersen and Mika Zabanićad. Now we'll talk about PD later because he was not one of their top six players. They wasn't, you know, like his ice time was way low yesterday, but I don't know, like it's

just, it's such a challenge when you've got the ability to send over two incredible lines, basically. Yep. I mean, I don't know what they had a lousy first period. So it's funny if you're the TNT broadcast, who was the rights holder for the game yesterday in the US had Wayne Gretzky come on at the intermission

and Gretzky ripped the Swedes for their effort and the first period that they had. It's funny actually, a couple of the Swedish news outlets including Expressin wrote about it this morning, anecdotally when they were talking to a bunch of the Swedish players. And then I was listening to Sam Hallam, by the way, we should probably just refer to him by his actual name,

as opposed to Sam Halam. Sam Hallam. Sam Hallam, no, no, Sam. No, don't give it off Sam Hallam. In his post game media availability, which I listened to this morning, he was saying, we felt like the first period was about Canada coming out and dictating, but we didn't play well and he acknowledged it. It was a bad start.

The mistake by Nylander was very costly. He said in the last six to eight minutes of the period, he felt like they got a little bit better, but he fully acknowledged. He's like, we got dominated in that first period. Now, the interesting thing was tactically, he made a bunch of changes, including where the ice time was going. And the interesting thing was he switched around all his D pairings after the first period. And what he ended up doing was putting Headman with Gustav Forsling and then making that the top pairing. And then they ended up doing was putting Hedman with Gustav Forsling and then making that the top pairing and then they both played close to like 30 minutes

and then they did a really nice job there. He was also. Whose ice time got cut? All right, let's do it. Trivia time for the listeners. If you had to guess who received the fourth lowest ice time among all Swedish forwards yesterday, feel free to answer. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. It was Elias Pettersson. Now granted, the three guys below him played significantly fewer minutes. I mean, it kind of is what it is though. Pettersson had 16-32 and then you had had three guys Lindholm Arvidsson and Gustav Nyquist that were like 10 minutes. Basically got deployed like a 3C. I noticed him twice.

Yeah. I noticed him twice. You know. When did you notice him? I noticed him twice. Once on a two and one where instead of shooting it he passed back to the point and once at overtime where he had a pretty good look but fan on the shot the shot. And I'm not being sarcastic. Those literally were the two times where I'm like, oh, there he is. Like I did not notice him much last night. I noticed him on Marshaan's goal, but it wasn't his fault. It was a pretty brutal giveaway by Forsberg who didn't get the puck in deep. And then Canada turns it up the ice so quickly.

Like it was just like boom, boom, boom, boom. Second there's a giveaway. It's like, see ya. PD was stuck in the neutral zone,. Like it was just like boom, boom, boom, boom. Second there's a giveaway. It's like see ya. And PD was stuck in the neutral zone, but honestly it wasn't his fault. Okay, so real quick, because there's about a million other things I wanna talk about,

but 16-32 time on ice, which was low. Credit would just one hit and one shot on goal. I had to go through and manually count face-offs because they didn't have all the stat sheets up at nhl.com. Two of 12 in the face-off circle, which is not great. So, you know, it was a tough, as Jason said, it was a very tough go for a lot of Swedish players last night because Canada came out on fire and

dictated for the first period and you know, stretches of time. I, I, um, I'm an enthusiastic PD critic, as you know, I'm aware I'm not that last night doesn't do it. It doesn't, it doesn't Last night doesn't do... Look, I just put the numbers up. There's no Swedes out there that I was like, they were terrific. I thought Lucas Raymond was really good, actually.

Yeah, okay. He's a talented player. And then Gustafsson and that was really good, I thought too. But I don't think it's... If you're going to criticize Pedersen, criticize him for his play with the Canucks. But last night, I don't think it's, if you're going to criticize Pedersen, criticize him for his play with the Canucks, but last night, I don't know. If you want to say he did not look like a top five highly paid player in the NHL, that's perfectly fine, but that's not a new take.

You said that by the way. But that's not a new take. But again, you said it. And it's not even, and he's not even close right now. Anyway, there's a lot more I want to get into on the Canadian side of things. I want to play some audio from John Cooper. And I want to circle back to what you mentioned earlier about guys like, specifically, I think, McDavid and McKinnon, understanding that this is

the first of their moments internationally. And I think what they got to see last night was what it means to be a Canadian hockey icon because there was the pop that Mario Lemieux got when he was introduced to the Bell Center. And that was apparently like, I don't know, 109 on the decibel chart, whatever that is. It was so awesome. It was huge, right? Awesome.

And of course it was because it was a French Canadian icon in Montreal and all that, but it was also because the things that Lemieux did internationally and he was there as a sort of like senior captain official of the Canadian men's national team. Then there was Sidney Crosby and the pop and ovation that Crosby got was secondary only to

Lemieux and this was pregame. And as John Cooper points out in this clip, this is for a guy that, reminder, has played his entire career in Pittsburgh. It's not like he spent any time in Montreal, aside from when he's been there as a visitor, but the pop before the game, the three assists during the game,

the player of the game award afterwards in which he got another huge ovation. Here is John Cooper on Sidney Crosby's night from the opening night of the Four Nations face-off. I don't know, I could kind of write a book on just my time around Sidney Crosby and this short little window I've had. I think if you were really listening what happened at the beginning of the game when everybody was announced and that Mario Lemieux's roar aside, Sidney Crosby, I mean the roof

was coming off and it's, you know, he's been a Pittsburgh penguin his whole life and that just shows you how many, how much people care about him and respect him in this country. And I thought that was, you know, if I'm going to think about my top three or four moments of this, it'll be the ovation Cindy Crosby received from this, I mean, what a crowd. And, but just his demeanor on the bench that just says all the right things at the right time and then you need a lift and teams push and he's the one that sets up the helper and then you need a lift and overtime and he's the one that sets it up and just there's it's no coincidence his record of when he's wearing a Canadian jersey

that's it's not fluke and he will go down as the greatest player to ever represent his country. If not, he's gonna be on the Mount Rushmore for sure of people that have thrown the Canadian jersey on. Coop is so smooth. Yeah, I know. It's almost like he was a lawyer or something. There were some people that were saying,

I guess in light of, and the Shea Theodore injury, which we'll get to in a sec, but they said he looked really tired and drained, and they're like, you're only one game into this one. I think it's- Who, Coop? Yeah. He always looks kind of a little bit like-

I think he's really into it. Yeah. Like he manages and coaches, not irrationally with it, but with his heart honestly, he's very invested. And he is, as you heard in the clip, a huge amount of respect for the players and like what they're doing and what they're going through. And I think he really lives it and it is

stressful doing what he's doing right now. I mean, you're tasked with, it's almost, it's one of the more unenviable jobs when you think about it, cause everyone expects Canada to win. Any failure or falling short of that, right? Coop is always in control of his own press conference, right? Yep.

He's going to go at his own pace and he's a very, he's a very thoughtful coach. So he was talking about Sidney Crosby and he put it really well, his importance to the game and how good he's been representing his country. Hands up, you were watching last night and thinking, is he just going to waste away the rest of his NHL career in Pittsburgh? I think a lot of people were thinking that. And it got me thinking. If Sid were to ever agree to be traded by the Pittsburgh Penguins and go play in another

uniform, and he didn't come to Vancouver. uniform. And he didn't come to Vancouver. Okay. Okay. And didn't come to Vancouver. Classic Halbrow, stacking hypotheticals. No, no, no. But we've always, we've already talked about the possibility of Sid come to Vancouver. Where would be the best place for him to land?

Okay. So I've come up with some options here. Montreal, the respect level there is off the charts and they've got a good young team and who knows in a few years or maybe a year or two, maybe they're ready to take a stab at winning the cup. He played junior in the queue. I remember he, he like even took some French

lessons because he went there. There is obviously a tremendous amount of respect for him in Montreal. It's almost like he's French Canadian. Um, Colorado to play with Nathan McKinnon. Uh, what about, and this doesn't get discussed much, Edmonton to team up with McDavid. Stop.

How about just, how about just at the time, whichever Canadian team is closest to breaking the cup drought. Because. Sidney Crosby to Winnipeg. Imagine if he added to his legacy by helping to break that drought. The thing about going to Colorado with Nathan

McKinnon is I'm sure Sid would enjoy it because he's friends with McKinnon and that's the team that gets talked about the most, I think. And also like they needed to see, the need is there. But it's kind of like, well, if you went to Colorado to win a cup, you're like, all right, that's cool, I guess, but Colorado's already won a cup, you know, it's not Canada, right?

It's not Canada. And I wonder if that interests him at all, especially the possibility of maybe going to Montreal to play. So I was thinking about this last night and I did wonder if Montreal might look at this and say a couple things. One, Crosby's not slowing down. Crosby's not slowing down in the slightest.

At thirty seven, he just went out and had a three assist player of the game performance in a best on best international tournament. And it's not like one of those, you know, oh, like he's not a legacy pick for the team or anything like that. He's still playing at a very elite level. Would Montreal be willing to take the risk of cashing in some, and I'm talking like

key prized young assets, which is probably what it would take to get him out of Pittsburgh and say it's gonna be worth it like key prized young assets, which is probably what it would take to get him out of Pittsburgh and say it's gonna be worth it for the influence he's gonna have on the remaining young players and what he's gonna do to us as a franchise,

even though we know we might only get like two or three or four years out of him. And let's be real, once he starts hitting 40, you're gonna be like, how high a level is he gonna play at? I do wonder if that might be the play in something that Crosby might even entertain, like the only place I would leave Pittsburgh for to write that second chapter. Yeah. You know? Because I mean, I don't think he wants to be a rental anywhere.

But don't you think there's gonna be a lot of conversation after watching him play at this level? And it just seems like it's the perfect storm for this conversation to occur. Now, Sid might just be like, hey, you can talk all you want, I'm not leaving Pittsburgh, that's why I signed there. I only want to wear one jersey during my NHL career and that's the way it is. I am a Pittsburgh penguin. Well, his buddy Nate McKinnon might convince him, hey, you want to, you know, see one more time the cup? I'm sure it's already come up. The thing with Colorado, and I hate putting it this way.

Nate doing some light tampering. Right. Just the most gentle of tamperings. The thing with Colorado is it wouldn't feel special. It would feel special to Sid, I guess, if he really wants to play with Nate, but I'm with you, right? Like it wouldn't, it would be like, okay. They both won cups.

Did Ray Bork not feel special? But that was- But he had won a cup. But he, he, he- He still- Crosby won cups. Crosby's won cups. Going to a location and then winning a cup

is not an easy thing to do. Ray Bork was a lot different, even you know that. Ray Bork was way different, that's it. Even you, even you know that. Yeah. Right? You're just being difficult now, laddie. You're just being very difficult.

You're making it sound like it's just like, ah, wins another cup, big deal. Oh, great. That's a huge deal if he goes and wins another cup. But the whole thing with Bork, the whole thing was that he'd never won a cup. That was, that was the thing. Like you go to a team and see if you can do it.

And that's what he did. Boston shouldn't have been terrible. Sid's already done it. And you've got, you've got this storyline. Well, that's the thing. They weren't terrible. Boston shouldn't have been terrible. Sid's already done it and you've got this storyline, well that's the thing, they weren't terrible. They weren't terrible. They just weren't quite good enough. You've got this drought that's going on in Canada

and you've got this guy who has done so much for Canadian hockey, you add it all up and you're like, what's one more thing that you could do in your incredible career that has seen you score one of the most memorable goals of all time in the Olympics, that's seen you win multiple cups with your NHL team. What's one more thing you could do help break the Canadian drought? Yeah. And for me, it would be like, your NHL team, what's one more thing you could do help break the Canadian drought? Yeah, and for me, Montreal would be the one.

Again, the difference is if Winnipeg's knocking on the door, is it like Sidney Crosby to Winnipeg? That has a different feel to me as well. No, but you're looking at it from the fan perspective. We gotta look at it from Crosby's perspective. Crosby's perspective. He probably doesn't wanna go, but if he were to go, he'd be like, well, I'd like to play with one of my good buddies.

No, it would be. It would be. He was a Habs fan growing up. And his dad was a Habs fan. It'd be Montreal. It would be Montreal. If it was for the emotional and for the feels, it would be Montreal.

And I'm confident projecting that onto the conversation. I think number two. Sid thinks about the fans too, right? Like he thinks about, he thinks about all that sort of thing and, and, and, and you know, like, look at the, like that was a recruitment by the Montreal fans last night, whether that was intentional or not.

And you know they're going to talk about it. You know it's going to be all the talk in Montreal is any way we can get Crosby to the Habs, their young up and coming team. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Thomas Drance joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Thomas. How are you? I'm fired up. What a great game of hockey that was. That was pretty good. Hey,

Oh, brilliant. Like electric hockey. That was phenomenal. Just from an entertainment standpoint, Couldn't look away as a hockey fan. Glad we get to do this for a couple more weeks. Jansser, you're a hockey nerd. Maybe you can help me out with this question. Has any team been able to roll out a one-two punch like McKinnon and Crosby on one line and then McDavid on the next. Oh man. I'm there such nukes.

Like there, there's an element to which I think McDavid obviously is the best player on the planet. And I actually thought that was a parent yesterday. I think there's an element to which, you know, once Mitch Marner figures out how to help McDavid recycle the puck, that line is going to be absolutely lethal. And it's not just on Mitch Marner, by the way. I also thought the Sam Reinhart chance in the third, McDavid's down low, he expects them to maintain possession and sort of just work the puck below the hash marks. I don't think he's used to playing with a creator like Marner, who's

able to take that sort of kicked Reinhardt puck from behind the net and actually work it inside, right? As these guys gain some familiarity, McDavid's going to start going to the net. And if he had on that play, whether Reinhardt shoots or tries the back door pass, he at least pulls Gustafson, right? Like he at least creates the base. I think he was expecting that Reinhardt was not going to, I don't want to say shovel the puck on

that, but he was going to, he was going to put a cross eyes for like, McDavid was almost in the dry sidle spot. Right. And, and right, but there's only one man I want in the dry side. That's not a, that's not a shot I want anyone else taking, frankly. Um, I think McDavid could probably bury it, but like, I know what you're saying.

They don't, they don't know each other quite yet. They don't know each other quite yet, but I still thought that line looked like Canada's most dangerous, even though it was the Crosby line, or well, it was the Crosby line that scored their most important five on five goal. So yeah, I mean, I think you're going to get even more out of that McDavid group. And even that, like the idea of Mitch Marner, Sam Reinhart and Connor McDavid figuring out how to unlock teams over the course of Mitch Marner, Sam Reinhart and Connor McDavid figuring out how to

unlock teams over the course of the next week, because I'm pretty confident they will. I mean, even that's just a thrill to watch. And then obviously the CID performance was ludicrous. And then the assist on the Mark Stone goal, where he ends up sort of off the rush in this just like lower body strength versus lower body strength fight with Gustav Forsling, who's become the best defensive defender in the sport. Right. And it's just a clear win for Crosby and a great play. I mean, wow, just honestly, there's so much about that game that was so fun to watch and so fun to peer into in terms of the one-two punch, yeah, the best player and probably the second best skater in the league playing on different lines.

And then you've got McKinnon, you know, working with like the greatest from the previous generation, who's still probably a top 10 to 15 player in his own right and has the big game bona fides and showed it again, had the entire Bell Center chanting his name. I mean, what a night for hockey. Incredible. I don't know that I can, frankly, come up with another sort of answer to it. I mean, even you think about the Sochi roster or the Vancouver roster, I mean, in Vancouver

in 2010, you had like Ovechkin was the second best player in the world. He played for a different country. You're right they had Crosby, they had Aguila, but it's like the second line that really mattered in that tournament was Mike Richards, Rick Nash, and oh my god who did they play with? I can't come up with it. Mike Richards, Rick Nash, and Jonathan Taves, who sort of turned that tournament as a third line for Team Canada. And then 2014, I mean, by the time you get there, Canada's winning one-nothing, right? It's Chris Kunitz with Crosby. It's not an explosive offensive force. Like, I think actually there's been an evolution in sort of, not the nature of

how Canada plays international hockey and of course we've gone nine years without seeing it but I feel like Canada's got a level of skill like I remember in Vancouver there was this sense that you know Canada might have the greatest volume of talent but it's Russia that has like the artists right the greatest offensive minds in the sport and it just feels like those guys are Canadian right now. So, yeah, I mean, I do feel like this is pretty unique. You know, even going back to like 86, the Canada Cup,

you had Gretzky and Lemieux together with Hauerchuck, right? So it's, yeah, in terms of a one-two punch, I don't know that I've ever seen anything like this. We've tried to answer this next question throughout the morning and we're just getting yelled at. I don't feel like getting yelled at anymore. You can get yelled at. So I'm gonna ask the question of you, Thomas Strantz.

What did you think of Elias Pedersen's game last night against Canada? I mean, I thought he looked much the way he's looked throughout the season. So one thing to note is, while he doesn't have burst or juice in my view, right? Like I still think those first two steps look uncharacteristically burstless, right? There's just not a lot of power in his first two steps.

So I think that limits his ability to go out and be decisive in terms of winning games, which is what you need from him and what Sweden absolutely needs from him given sort of the state of Zabanejad's game. And I thought that showed again last night. That said, you know, I didn't think he was like costly to them, right? I think he can still hang. He's still a smart enough player that he can hang in that in a game with that tempo. It's just that he's not likely to be the reason his team wins in a game with that

tempo. One thing I did note was he didn't have a single defensive zone start. His line was pretty sheltered in terms of their usage by Sam Helam. And as a result, you know, I think you, I think that's telling, right? Like, I think that's telling about the state of his game, especially, you know, granted they've got Joel Eriksenak, you know, you'd want him taking defensive draws, even if Pedersen was at his two way best. But I do think the sheltered nature of that line says a lot about where Pedersen's game is at. And yeah, you know, there's some missed opportunities. The two-on-one, obviously not a decisive moment for him offensively and

then of course misses on the three-on-three overtime sort of one-timer chance, which would have been a really good one if he'd been able to get it on net for Sweden. So, you know, I honestly felt a lot like we've felt about Pedersen all season. It's like, yeah, he can be a, he's, he performed last night like a guy who's going to finish between 50 and 60 points, but can hold up from a two way perspective at the top of the lineup and that's fine.

That's there's nothing wrong with that. It's just not what we have come to expect of Pedersen, what he's been through most of his career and what this team needs, that they're going to, this Canucks team needs, frankly, and team Sweden too, if they're going to hit their ceiling or win anything meaningful. How do the Canucks get the burst and the juice back in this guy's legs? I mean, I wish I knew. I'd be charging more than Darrell Belfort, right? I mean, I wish I knew I'd be charging more than Darrell Belfort, right? I mean, you know, I pretty consistently bought that there's a physical issue.

I've pretty consistently suggested that I think it's going to take time. That I think one of the dangerous parts of what remains this season for the Canucks is that I don't know that you get your, you know, some juice in your first two steps back, uh, over the balance of the campaign, especially given that Pedersen's, you know, highest velocity shots and highest speed skating bursts all came in the first two weeks of the season. Right. Uh, this, this feels to me like one of those situations where patience is required. And yet, you know, with his NMC kicking in at the start of the next league year on July one, you know,

patience is something that certainly would be a test for the Canucks to exercise, right? They take on a lot of risk exercising that patience. But, you know, when you're talking about a guy who was point per game plus with exceptional two-way results from the ages of 20 through 25, um, you know, I, I think risk is warranted just because this is the sort of player who if he hits his ceiling is just about impossible to find or replace. So look, I don't envy Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvein trying to figure this out or come up

with suggestions and work with the player on this. I think it's a tricky one, but I do think, my view of it anyway is if you're gonna if you're gonna take a risk if you're going to roll the dice Right and gamble make sure that if you win you win something worthwhile, right? And what's more worthwhile than you know a point-per-game top line center who's still in his mid 20s? Nothing, right? So in my view anyway Yeah, I mean I'm concerned don't get me wrong. I'm not confident In my view anyway, uh, yeah, I mean, I'm concerned. Don't get me wrong. I'm not confident in this take the way I was, you know, when he struggled in the 2022, 23 season and I was pretty confident that, Hey, look, guys, don't

just lose their game. History tells us that history does tell us that again, but man, it's, it's looked so different and it's looked so different now for 12 months that, uh, you know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to pretend that there's a right answer here by any means. I would just want, if I were, you know, Conox Brass, I would just want to see what this looks like after a healthy summer. I need to see that before I give up on the player.

So this was going to be my next question. Under the CBA, how much babysitting are teams allowed to do with the players? Because I want to know what happened this past off season that had the Canucks so upset about his conditioning when he came in, but also if you want to look at it from Pedersen's perspective, and we've heard it from Pedersen and we most recently heard it again from his agent, like there was a knee issue, the tendonitis issue that kept him from training to his full capacity. So what happened last summer and if the Canucks

keep Pedersen, how can they avoid a repeat? Well, and how can they avoid a fine, right? Which has happened to them in this regime. Take the fine. It's relatively recently, right? Take the fine. Yeah. Take the fine. I mean, I agree. I agree. Look, there's not a lot of babysitting you can do. You have to trust that your best players and your team are partners in winning, right? Like that's, that's kind of that. And so, you know, you can make some recommendations, you can set up a training regiment, but you're, you know, you can make some recommendations, you can set up a training regiment,

but you're, you know, you can't have staff on the ice with the guy, or at least you can't get caught doing it. And you know, you need to make sure that whatever you do do, whatever resources you're working with or providing the player, the player's on board, because again, all it takes is one guy to be like, nah, nah, this is too much. And you know, you're going to get your wrist flat. So look, it's, it's a tricky one to navigate, but you've got to have trust that the player

wants it enough. And look, I mean, the thing about Patterson, right, is, you know, like, I still remember, I go back to Victoria, the first time I really started covering him at that training camp. And like, he was out there mossing guys in scrimmage with like a smile on his face, right? Like he, he dusted everyone in the 40s skate. Um, you know, he pulled off a Forsberg deke to win a scrimmage. You know, it was a pretty, it was a pretty alpha performance frankly, from Pedersen. I remember seeing that from a 21 year old kid, like very clearly putting his own stamp, like, hey, this is my team,

is effectively like the hockey language he was speaking in that setting. And, you know, I remember seeing that and being like, man, there's a core of steel here. Now, I've since seen a lot of stuff that has made me question that. But I think why I'm bringing it up is to say like, that's in there. This is not a, you know, normal level competitive guy. This is not a guy who I think needs to be motivated or babysat

necessarily or hasn't at all times in the past. But for whatever reason, like I think more than anything, it's trying to figure out how to tap back into that, how to sort of get him back to being this guy that honestly we have seen in the past in terms of that sort of killer level of will. You know, I think that's in there because I've seen it, but I don't know that we've seen it in a while. Okay. Let's move on from Pedersen. And I know you on Harm and the rest of the crew over the Athletic are getting

ready for the trade deadline, which is March 7th. So less than a month away. And I'm sure there's plenty of calls being made between the teams during this two-week break. What do you think the Canucks, if anything, will target? What should they target and what should they be willing to give up? Well, so I think a lot of this depends on what they sell, right? I think that's the first thing. I do think there's a sense that the

organization would love to let the dust settle in the wake of the JT Miller trade. And given how the team has performed in, you know, four or five, depending on whether or not you want to count the Dallas game as a trade that occurred before or after the Miller deal, right? Miller was scratched as a result of a pending trade, but he was scratched, right? Like he was officially on the Canucks roster at the start of that game. So whatever, I'm not getting into the semantic argument, but no matter what, over those five games you've seen, I think a lot of impressive hockey being played by this group. Do you want to give that, you know, a chance to rise as it were, to steal a baking metaphor or are there bigger

picture items that the organization needs to be focused on? And Brock Besser is really the face of that I think now until March 7th, right? The question of can you, as the eighth seed in the Western Conference, you know, pretty significantly far back of the Kings from a point percentage perspective, from even being third in your own division, can you afford to let, you know, pretty consistent 30 goal per 82 game goal scorer who's still in his 20s, you know, can you let that guy walk in free agency without netting a return or do you need to stay focused on the big picture given, you know, that this team has

materially changed their direction with the Miller deal and sort of the internal logic of that of that trade, right? So making that determination I think is key as sort of a first step because if the connects are buying, you know, I think they're buying as most likely hybrid sort of sellers, right? Where maybe you deal better, but you're also not going to wave the white flag on the season. So if you deal better, you're probably going to look to bring in another top nine winger, right? Ideally a player that's slightly more affordable or multiple players using the assets that you gain. So, you know, honestly, I think that's the first step. It's not what should they be willing to part with asset wise? Like what should

they be willing to part with asset wise? Like not a lot, right? Not a lot of future value should go out the door in the narrow pursuit of improving this team short-term. Look, maybe they come back and they beat Vegas, they beat Utah, and they beat LA in three of the first four games, and that may motivate you to be a little bit more aggressive, but even then, I think you're looking at like a second and your second tier of prospects to bring in some reinforcements to just sort of give like the locker room that like pat on the back of, hey, good job, we'll give you something.

You know, like I think that would be worth doing, but I think anything more than that, you know, would require the team to first sell, would be sort of in that hybrid mold where you're, you know, operating with both the left hand and the right hand there, selling with one and buying with the other and just sort of trying to bring in some aggregate value to better position you for the offseason while also nodding toward the fact that you are an overwhelmingly likely playoff team this year and a playoff team that has some reason for optimism, you know, best defenseman on the planet plays for you, you've got, you know, pretty good goaltending tandem.

You play pretty good team defense. You've got a pretty good blue line. I mean, those are reasons to bolster this roster with some level of sort of moderation and balance, but I don't think you can go all in on a season where you're not close to challenging, you know, Vegas or Edmonton or Winnipeg for being one of the top teams in the last. And, you know, those are the four teams you're most likely to see in the first round, you know, that's unenviable.

You don't want to send a lot of assets down the drain in sort of pursuit of winning three games or two games in that series, as opposed to, you know, going deep. Well, Jancer, I was going to ask you if you shared my opinion that the top six need some more size and strength and punch. For sure. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, we'll table that conversation for another day. Maybe that's an off-season project for them. I'm with you, though. Yeah, yeah. Okay, good.

Pretty simple. Yeah, but. I'm with you though. Yeah, yeah. Like, pretty simple. Yeah, yeah. But, but also speed man, like you need more speed, you need more size, you need more juice, you need to be able to generate shots. There's a lot of different items. Other than that, they're perfect. Other than that, they're in good shape. Okay.

Trancer, enjoy the rest of this tournament, buddy. We'll talk again next week. All right. Cheers boys. See you buddy. Thomas Trance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk right here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. So a lot of people are texting and I

asked Drantz, has any team been able to put together a one-two punch like Canada had last night when it was McKinnon and Crosby on one line and then Sweden was like, oh okay we survived that and then, oh know, Sweden was like, oh, okay, we survived that. And then, uh-oh, McDavid's over the boards. This is going to be hard. And, uh, that 87 team, Canada Cup team had, um, Gretzky and Lemieux playing together, but then also Mark Messier was, and like the Oilers, someone texted in, I apologize for not giving

you credit here because we've got a lot of texts in, but that Oilers team had Gretzky and Curry together, and then Messier and Glenn Anderson. That was a good combo. Like Glenn Anderson. He was. Glenn Anderson was one of the most underrated players on that Euler's team.

He was so, so good. And yet he was overshadowed by all the other Hall of Famers on that team. When did he get into the Hall of Fame? It took a long time, didn't it? I can't remember. You should know this, he's a Burnaby guy. Yeah, I think he got in in 08?

Yeah. It took a while to get in though. What did everybody think of the 10 minute overtime? Amazing. The NHL should adopt that. Did you hear McKinnon was like, no. Seven minutes maybe. Because he carried the puck by himself for like minutes

If they would have lost I would have come in like called him a puck hog Yeah, you gotta try to share that thing maybe once in a while, buddy Yeah If there was one guy that got way too jacked up by the crowd cheering every time he touched the puck and overtime was McKinnon He's like I can hear it. It's powering me to the other end of the ice. He's so fun to watch though That was great. I could see why he was exhausted by the back of the. Did he find the back of the net every once in a while though? I really, really hope there's at least one more Canada power play so I could see McKinnon, Crosby and McDavid again.

I think there'll probably be one more Canada power play. Well, you never know. They might be like, nope, we're not taking more penalties. We can. Do you think they drew that one up? Yeah. That was planned, right? That was like 15 seconds.

That was so quick. That was planned, right? It was like 15 seconds. That was planned. And the way that Sid did the cross-ice behind the back. How do you defend that? Like it's just perfect. Yeah. Block the pass. Well, you block the pass. Well, yeah.

That's where it started. You wouldn't know because the pass is perfect. Yeah. It cannot be blocked. And it was so quick. Yeah. They definitely planned that one. So did you know-

I really hope we see more. If this tournament was playing normal overtime rules, we wouldn't have seen Mitch Marner's goal last night because it came in the sixth minute. That's why the NHL needs to adopt it. I think, well, it's funny because Conor McDavid was asked about it in the post game media availability. And he said that he thinks it's a great trial run.

And that got a lot of people's attention. Well, the BCHL has used it for the last couple of years and I cut all the games for the highlights for the BCHL has used it for the last couple of years and I cut all the games for the highlights for the BCHL and it's actually kind of rare when a shootout happens. It's like, wow, it's kind of a novelty all of a sudden all over again. McDavid added it. The players liked it. The fans liked it. It felt a little more like it's in our hands.

I don't really think anyone wants it to ever go to a shootout. That'd be interesting. I wouldn't. This is an easy one that they could implement, like starting next season, like we're going from five minutes. Starting after the four nations. Right. And don't do some half measure where it's a four on four for the first seven.

No, go three on three. Just go three on three for 10, like come on. What did you guys think of them not getting the full three points for going to overtime? I think it's a good idea for tie breaking purposes. Yeah. See, yeah, when they explained that I was like, oh, I didn't even know that was a thing.

It's very world-class championships. It could be, it could be a costly point lost. Yes. That's what I was thinking like. For Canada. Their punishing teams for going overtime. Because there is the possibility that, let's say, to pick on them, Finland goes 0-3, Canada, the US, and Sweden

all go 2-1, right? Yeah. Maybe I'm, I don't know, maybe I'm not doing the math right there, but it could be costly, I guess. Well, yeah, it could be. I think, put it this way, you're going to have a much clearer picture after tonight. After two games are in the books, you got a really clear idea of who's up against it and everything else.

Also, other fun little things that happened yesterday in the game that we noted. Did everyone see Sidney Crosby get in a loot bag at the end of the game? I tweeted this out. Yeah, me too. I jokingly- Had a bunch of coupons. Did you get a watch? Yeah, I just got a nice watch.

I jokingly tweeted out, I was something like, oh, there was like a fidget spinner and a rolo in there or something like that. Pack of hockey cards. Right. It was an Arby's gift card. It wasn't, he got his choice of watches, apparently. It was either a Rolex or an IWC. And he went with a swatch.

Casio, actually. Yeah, he's like, oh, you can see the gears. It's pretty cool. He went with the Casio calculator watch. You know, that would be a Sid thing too. It's like, I like a calculator on my watch. Seems handy to have. I never heard.

For the 10% tip that I leave at every restaurant. I'm not a watch guy at all. No, me neither. So Ron Hainsey apparently put this together. He went out and got the watch people on board. I don't know how it works but Did you see the watch that Brady was rocking during the Super Bowl? Was it the big ornate gold one? Yeah, it was a very expensive watch all the watch nerds were all over it

Are you a watch guy? No, you have a watch. Yeah, man. I have a Right now I have a Garmin to track my heart rate He's nice every time he's beeping loud. Every time Adog yawns during the show, my heart rate goes up to about 175. Anytime Petey's on the ice, your watch just explodes. Oh God, I guess we need to get into the Pedersen discourse with that. I was trying to dance around it

with all this fun watch talk. Yeah, he looked slow last night. Okay. What else, I don't know what else I can say about it. Well, I got some things I want to say. Okay, go for it. You, I'll put my mic off. Yeah.

Okay. At the beginning of the show, we were running through a bunch of stuff that happened in the game last night. And I said, okay, I put together the numbers on Pedersen real quick. I said, look, these are what they are. He played 16-32 time on ice. That was ninth among Swedish forwards. Only Lindholm and Arvidsson and Nyquist

played less. He was credited on the stat sheet with one hit and one shot on goal. And he took 12 face-offs, one, two, lost 10. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.