Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 2/27/25

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they talk a big OT Canucks road win over the LA Kings, as well as look ahead to tonight's matchup at the Ducks, as Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance joins the show.  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. Whoa. Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose a f***ing Canucks? What did I do? 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- You're listening to Halford and Brough. Drops left circle for Garland, got a shot away, he scores! Carter Garland with his second of the night, wins it for the Canucks. We missed the challenge and then we got a penalty in overtime, so to kill those two penalties off, a lot of guts, guts gonna give guys a lot of credit It's Krush. He's so big for us and obviously a big big boost for us when we saw his plant. What a freaking boost

Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody's Alfred in his breath It is sports net 650 and we are coming live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver Jason good morning. Good morning a dog, Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you. Hello, hello. And finally, internalesio, good morning to you as well.

Good morning. Halferd and Brougham in 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. What's going on? What's happening right now?

Did I just do that twice? What's happening right now? What's happening right now? Why did you stop? Stop what? Did I do that twice? No, you just looked at me funny. Oh, I thought I read the read twice.

No, you did it once. That's why. You did it perfect. You did it once. Sometimes I come in and I'm like, it's really early, I'm not really awake right now Did I just do the thing I was supposed to do follow-up question? Did I do it a second time? You did not we're all good

We got a big show ahead on the health and rough show on sports net 650 Canucks going back to back So it's the Canucks game night after a Canucks game last night big win 3-2 over the Los Angeles Kings We have a bunch of guests to get to but the first hour and 15 minutes of this show it's all Halbrow. It's all us. Our first guest. It's just me doing the Kintec Creed. Kintec. But we're in our thugs. They do this already. 715 Jason Greger from Edmonton is going to join the program. We're going to start going around to some of the Canadian markets throughout this week and the next as we get closer to the March 7th trade deadline and see what these teams have in store going into the deadline. And for Edmonton, they are in a bad way right now.

Bleeding goals like crazy. Connor McDavid's a minus seven in his last three games. Will they trade Connor McDavid? No, they won't. But we'll talk to Jason Greger coming up at 715 about the plans out of Edmonton. 730 Michael Dagostinoino is gonna join the program. He's been on our show before, when he was the interim manager of the Whitecaps, when Vanni Sartini was suspended. Normally he's the assistant manager to now,

of course, Jesper Sorensen. The Caps are in action tonight, seven o'clock BC place, the second leg of their ConcaCaf Cup match against Deportivo Saprisa from Costa Rica. So we'll talk to D'Agostino about that at 7. Ladi grew up as a big fan of them. He loves Soprisa. They're your favorite Costa Rican Premier League team,

if I'm not mistaken, is that correct? Second favorite. Eight o'clock, Thomas Trance from the Athletic is going to join us. He's on the road with the Canucks. They had a big win last night in Los Angeles. They're back at it tonight in Anaheim. I'll remind you as well,

we have some stuff going on at the show. Specifically, at 8.15 this morning, we're doing a giveaway for a pair of tickets to see Neil Young. Yeah, Neil Young. This September at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby. Beautiful venue, amazing artist. Two Neil Young tickets, a pair of Neil Young this September at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby beautiful venue amazing artist to Neil Young tickets a pair of Neil Young tickets up for grabs this morning at 815

Caller number 7 at 815 will win a pair of tickets to see Neil Young this September at Deer Lake Park the phone number here 604 280 0650 that number again 604 280280-0650, that number again, 604-280-0650. Be caller number seven at 815 this morning and you could win a pair of tickets to see Neil Young this fall at Deer Lake Park. Also, we do not have streaming capabilities this morning. Is that correct, A Judge?

It's not in the affirmative, if you like. It is not working. It is not working. So for those of you that like watching Halford and Brough in the morning Find an alternate way to do it because there's no viewing privileges this morning At least until we get the stream sorted out. So working in reverse on the guest list 8 o'clock It's Drancer 730 Michael D'Agostino from the cap 715 Jason Greger to talk a little Oilers

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? Missed it?

You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Connor Garland, baby. Two goals last night, including one at 426 of overtime.

His second of the game. Of course, the Canucks recovered after blowing a two goal lead in the third period and one three, two in overtime against the Los Angeles Kings at crypto.com. Garland's goal was assisted by none other than the captain Quinn Hughes, who made his triumphant return to the Vancouver Canucks lineup last night. Okay. We'll talk a lot about Quinn Hughes in this segment,

but let's just go over the game in case you missed it. Uh, Vancouver's first goal was by Nils Hoeglinder. Awesome. He got the bump up, uh, into the lineup and a lot of people were wondering what he'd do with it. It's funny. He didn't, he wasn't even playing with the top

guys when he did score his goal, but halfway through the first period, it was a textbook example of moving your feet. Cha cha cha. The play started and the Canucks end when Derek Forebort, who I thought had a strong game, took control of the puck off of a face off. As soon as Hoaglander saw that he took off into the neutral zone, taking a good pass from Forebort, hitting the Kings blue line with speed, with speed Halford. It's very important.

How do you get speed? You got to get those feet moving through the neutral zone. He was on a two on two with Sherwood and Sherwood did a good job of getting his own feet going, driving the middle of the ice. How many times have we heard that? You got to drive the middle of the ice and then you got to get to the interior. And that's exactly what Nils Hoeglinder did. He cut behind Sherwood into the slot. I think a Kings defenseman fell, but whatever. Hoeglinder

kept those feet moving the whole way and eventually picked a spot high over the shoulder of Riddich. There was only one goal in the first period. The Canucks scored it one nothing for the Canucks, but there was also a really nice back check by Jake DeBrusk to keep the Kings from getting a scoring chance Just thought that play warranted a mention It showed off to brusk his straightaway speed and also, you know You got to keep your feet moving on the back check as well The Canucks second goal came in the second period on their first power play of the game. Garland scored it after Joshua worked the puck down low. He didn't go back to the point.

Interesting. He worked it behind the net. You're saying that they went below the goal line. Instead of just automatically looking up to the point, Joshua went, how about I go the other way? And Hedl was behind the net. And he went, how about I go the other way? And Heedle was behind the net and he went, oh, I'm in a good spot here. Quickly moved out front and Garland was alone

in the slot. He found Garland and Garland buried it. In case you were wondering the way they split up the forwards on the power plays, because there were two units yesterday that kind of got equal time, the four forwards on that particular power play unit were Garland, Heedle, Joshua and Besser. While the other unit had Debrusk, Pedersen, Souter and Hoeglinder. So the power play units essentially kept the top two lines together. So on one you had Garland, Heedle and Joshua,

and the other one you had Debrusk, Pedersen and Hoeglund or the extras were Besser and Suter. Anyway, the Canucks went into the third with a two nothing lead, looking for their second impressive win at Crypto.com this season. You remember earlier in the season, they had a good win down there after they swept the California trip, I believe. But you knew it wasn't going to be easy because

the Kings are a good team and the Canucks just, I don't know, they don't like to make anything easy. And the Kings did cut the lead to a goal halfway through the period when Adrian Kempe got going through the neutral zone. He kept his feet going. Moved in on Tyler Myers and zipped one past Lankton. The game was tied a few minutes later when Warren Fogel, one of my favorite names, tipped a point shot high out of the air and behind Lankton. High out of the air and behind Lankton.

At first, upon replay, it looked like it might've been a high stick. Now only the league can review a high stick. You can't challenge that. But apparently the Canucks thought it was also goalie interference. So they challenged it and they lost and everyone went, yeah, obviously you lost. We just watched the replay. All of a sudden, the Canucks had blown a two goal lead plus the Kings had a power play. Who do you think was favored at that point in the game?

Probably Los Angeles. Now to the Canucks credit, they killed the penalty. And got the game to overtime. They also killed off a tripping penalty to Drew O'Connor during sudden death. I know you didn't like that call. Soft. That was questionable. Soft.

And then, well, yeah, he got the puck, but he also tripped him. It's not soccer. And then at four on four, because there hadn't been a whistle, Connor Garland won the game with a shot over David Riddich's right shoulder. Not sure if Riddich lost his net there. Don't really care. The Canucks badly needed that game.

They nearly blew it, but they got it eventually moving back into a playoff spot in the process. Loved the effort from the PK. Loved the guts that Quinn Hughes showed in not only returning to the lineup, but playing a lot more than he probably expected to play. I don't want to say that that was the Canucks ceiling or what we can expect as a high point for this team moving forward, because I think there's still a little bit more that you would want, especially offensively because the shot totals were again, pretty paltry. But I'll say this,

the Los Angeles Kings have lost a grand total of six games at home this year, three in regulation and three in overtime, extremely difficult place to go and get results. And the Canucks have done it twice. Did they blow a two, nothing lead? Sure. But you're also talking about, if you want to go glass half full on that, the Canucks were able to control for 40 minutes, a team that was playing unreal hockey

over their last five or six games. Stelvin lost in regulation and I want to say seven. They're playing very well right now. Did the Canucks get handed a bit of a lifeline with Drew Doughty not being in the lineup? For sure, but they took advantage of it and they needed two points and they needed to feel good about what they were doing

out of that game. Remember, as Quinn Hughes pointed out in his interview on TNT post game, this is the first time that he's played a game with Heedle and Pedersen and all these new additions, eventually I assume Mancini might come back into the lineup as well. So there's still that sense of getting, and he used the term acclimated with one another, but just figuring it out and realizing that, yeah, they're down to impact forwards in Vancouver.

I think it's goes without saying now they're no longer with the services of J.T. Miller. And if we're being honest, they're really no longer with the services of whatever Elias Pedersen was in the past. There's a new version of Pedersen that at least for the rest of this season, the 30, 25 some odd games that are left that I think everyone's just going to have to deal with. And this is what they're going to look like. They're going to be a low event, close to the vest, grind it out, try and get the, be on the right side of a three, two score.

I feel like that's what the connects are going to be for the rest of the year. Yeah. Um, it was funny Garland after the game, I think I read this in IMAX piece. He said, um, he said, we like playing in those tight games. We're comfortable playing in those tight games.

So, uh, well, good. That's what you're going to get them. Uh, just on that note, I would not be surprised if this team, if they do make the playoffs, it's gonna be on the strength of like loser points. You know, they've gone to overtime so many times and come away with one, but those are good results for a team that plays a lot of one goal games.

Like you need to get it. Don't lose one goal games in regulation. If you're gonna lose a one goal game, lose it in overtime. Or win it. Or win it. Or win it. Or win it. Stats that stood out to me after the game. Hughes logged 21-38.

Now, Khronic was the high man for defensemen and they played seven defensemen last night, which you don't rarely see. How good is DPDA? He played 10 minutes and played well. He's awesome. Yeah. Yep. But I know you're excited.

I know you're excited about DP, but that was not the top story for me last night. I think we should all be excited about him. But I'm mostly impressed with Quinn Hughes. So good. Who logged 21, again, 21-38. He didn't expect to play that much. I think he told the TNT broadcast or something.

He was like, I think I'll play 15 or 16. But then it gets to overtime and you're like, get out there. Um, Garland with two goals, obviously, um, he got bumped into the top six, essentially playing with Heidel and Joshua and you know, two goals. That's good. Keep those guys together.

Just to interrupt real quick. I like that line. Yeah. Yeah. I, I thought that that might've been one of Joshua's better games, although maybe the counting stats weren't on par with some of his other ones. I thought that they look dynamic. Nice play when he worked it down low. Right. And the other part of it too is that, you know, previously the

third line was those two wingers centered by Blugger. And Blugger's got his limitations. It's actually interesting to watch him play with Heidel, who's obviously got more drive and offensive upside. I said on our chat yesterday, I was like, Heidel is way bigger than his name sounds. Yes, he is. He is big. He's like, who is that guy?

Heidel sounds like a very, like, undersized European winger, but he's like a big center. And then I said, Justin, you call him Heetal, and I got nothing. Heetal, Heetal. like undersized European winger, but he's like a big center. And then I suggested you call him Heetal. Heetal, Heetal. Yeah, but he also sounds like little, heetal, little. How good is he too, eh? Yep.

Heetal is so good. OK, you're really, your optimism, you're brimming with optimism right now. All it took is one win. In overtime, when they blew a two goal lead in the third period. I also wanted to shout out Sherwood, who I thought had a really strong game. Seven hits on the night, really active down low. And again, on that first goal by Nils Hoeglund,

or made the net drive and kind of ransom interference there that allowed Hedl so good or not Hedl, Hoglunder who did play well. So good. To attack the interior and get away a good shot that was able to beat Riddich for the Canucks first goal. Questions that I have for you, cause I know you

followed up on this. Yep. Is Tyler Myers okay? Tyler Myers is okay. He had a big red welt on his neck because the shot that he blocked, it was in overtime, hit a nerve and then as Rick Tuckett described it, momentarily made him dizzy. So that's why he was, because he was really laboring on the ice. And he looked like, I don't want to say panicky, but he looked like, you know, like concerned

about himself. Tuckett, and I won't play the audio cause it's sure. I'll just paraphrase it. He suggested after the game that the Canucks and Meyers really dodged a bullet with this one, does it make the bag? He didn't dodge the buck and that Meyers may even be an, that wasn't the best way to put it. I know I was like, and then we moved along.

Meyers might even be an option tonight when they play in Anaheim. So good news on the Tyler Myers front because that certainly looks scary at the time. We can also talk about the challenge very quickly because Tauke did address it. Laddie, do you have the audio at the ready here? Rick Tauke on the challenge, took ownership for it. Just flat out said it wasn't a good challenge,

but we'll let Rick Tauke explain it a little bit more here. Tauke on the failed challenge, which ultimately did not cost the Canucks in a three, two overtime victory over the Los Angeles Kings. Well he hit his blocker but he wasn't in the crease from the angle so you know so my mistake you know yeah I don't think he had his foot in the crease. If he had his foot in the crease I think would have been no goal but because he was out of the crease we thought he hit his blocker so yeah. Sat and Bick on the postgame show

were theorizing that the challenge might have been, Bic called it a YOLO challenge, which I laughed at. Yeah, why not? Tog and actually yelled at him from the bench. YOLO! He threw a red flag and it just said YOLO on it. Ref's like, oh, he's got the YOLO challenge going.

He's like, where'd you get a flag from? But the other part of it was, the King's power play is pretty inept. I think it clicks at about 15%. And hey, let's give kudos to this Canucks penalty kill, which has been lights out recently, especially last night. Maybe he felt confident enough to throw caution to the win. Whatever the case, wasn't a great challenge.

I wanna play some other talk at audio here because we need to circle back on the captain, Quinn Hughes and what Rick Taukett had to say about his captain. And this is a guy that was very, very uncertain to play last night in Quinn Hughes. I think it's a fair way of putting it, right? As a matter of fact, all the reporters covering the game in their pregame tweets seemed convinced that because Hughes didn't take the warmup and wasn't involved in rushes, he wasn't going to play. And it sounds as though as it Tauke and the coaching staff thought that might've been the case as well.

Not only did Hughes play, he went above and beyond the ice time that he thought he was gonna get, he was out there in overtime, and he set up the game winning goal. That's a captain and that's a leader. So here's the head coach, Rick Tauke, speaking about number 43, Quinn Hughes. Well, I mean, he's a driving force, right?

He has the puck possession a lot. He's not afraid to make plays. You know, he's just, you know, he does, he's our, you know, like I said, he's our star player. And not only that, I think in the dressing room, he's a common influence for a lot of guys. Okay, now listen here to Tauket speak about, it's a little bit of a longer clip,

but I want to play it in its entirety, because I want to give an idea of where Quinn Hughes was at physically, what the upcoming schedule looks like, including a back-to-back tonight in Anaheim, and just how close he was to not playing. Here's Taukeh in great detail, breaking down how they eventually landed

on the decision to play Quinn Hughes last night. Yeah, it was like, I don't know, I was just getting, it was like 11 minutes and Huggy called me in the medical room and we had a little bit of a talk and he kind of persuaded me. You know, it was it was one of those things that I don't know what he played tonight, but we're the original thought was 16 to 17 minutes. I think, I don't know, do you guys know how much he played? So that was the original load management, but he said he felt pretty good out there and I think he's pretty good right now.

So that's the one thing that, he wanted to play. We felt that he was safe enough, talked to the doctors. That he was fine. Did you have to cross stuff out on the line of guard or anything? Like, was it that close? Well, it was about the eight minute mark and we had to tell Bainsey he was not playing so yeah But that's probably the longest I've ever gone making a lamp strip

So I don't know what the wire is I think it's seven minutes or you gotta get your line up and so we're I think we had about 90 seconds left My guess is that he was basically telling talk. He's like I'm playing. Yeah, he's like I'm playing I'm getting out there And I'm playing that He's like, I'm playing. I'm getting out there and I'm playing. That's truly a game time decision. Yeah. You're leaving it to like six minutes, seven minutes before puck drop. You said 90 seconds ultimately.

Yeah. We had to figure this out. He's like, I'm going. So that's one, that's what leaders and captains do. Is that we went into last night's game talking about, it was a pretty big significance, that game, because the connects had fallen out of a playoff spot, Calgary doesn't appear to be going away,

and they needed wins, and they needed a spark after scoring a grand total of two goals in losses to Vegas and Utah back to back on Saturday and Sunday. Also, I think it's a testament to, you might not always be 100%, you might not always be at full health, but you gotta find a way, not just to play, but to make an impact when you're playing.

I think that's one of the big unspoken things here with Hughes is that Hughes didn't go out for 15 and 16 minutes of sheltered leisurely skating. He was out there in overtime to set up Connor Garland's game winner. Took a big hit early in the game too. Right, that's the thing is there's playing hurt and then there's playing hurt but being effective.

You're not just playing in the sense that I'm out here. I'm out here and like my presence is gonna give you guys a lift. My game is gonna give you guys a lift, you know? And that's what Hughes brought to the table last night. Was it a perfect night for me? I'm probably gonna say no. It looked like there was a little bit of rust there.

I mean, he was almost off ice for what, three and a half weeks when you factor in how much time you missed prior to the break. Well, don't worry. He's got another game tonight. Yeah. Well, now he's very back at it, right? That's the other part of this is now you're back. Like you have to figure out a way.

And it's at that time of the year where the grind of the season has gotten to guys, injuries are piling up. You see a lot of people coming out of foreign nations are wiped, right? The Kachucks still haven't played. And he, how'd he miss last night? Go down the list of guys that are heard. And on a team that has been through a lot this season, a lot.

And I know whether he should or not, he said in the past, Quinn Hughes, I'm saying, like, I kind of feel responsible for the breakdown on this team. And as the captain, whether or not he could have done anything about it, it sounded like they tried to mend whatever was going on between JT Miller and Elias Pedersen. And ultimately they couldn't. Players asked them to sit down and I'm sure Quinn Hughes was part of that. So he probably felt some responsibility,

especially when JT Miller was traded out of there. But you know what? You're not going to win them all. And you can either quit or you can just keep grinding. And I think not only Quinn Hughes' play on the ice, but his, everything that he does off the ice, like what a great captain. Yeah.

What a great captain. A great leader. He really is a great leader. You know, he might be soft spoken, but I think he's well spoken. I have seen a few interviews with him. He did a big long interview with TNT after the game last night, had some really thoughtful

answers, thoughtful answer about Adam Foote and why he was such a good coach. And he was just saying, you know, like a lot of coaches, they just try and yell at you and bully you. It feels like Adam Foote is legitimately trying to teach you, you know. So he always keeps in mind others as well, right? And as a leader, you have to do that. Um, you know, I, I, I'm sure he was, uh, the

first guy to check on Tyler Myers after the game. Like that's what, that's what captains do. And that's why people look to them. And, uh, I was actually, I was thinking about this and we could have a good house of positivity debate on this. Um, has there ever been in a season, a more important player to the Canucks than Quinn Hughes is this season?

It's like you're talking about a relied upon, most valuable by a mile. Most valuable by a mile would be the way to put it. So the guys that I think about are Luongo, when he first came to the team. 2006, 07 Luongo is definitely like in that pantheon most relied upon single season Canucks. And then maybe, maybe Pavel Buri in the early 90s when he had some back to back 60 goal seasons. There are other guys on the Canucks that were

scoring, but it was like Bur Buray with 60 goals and then the next was Trevor Linden with 32, you know, something like that. So, but I think, I mean, I would put Quinn up there, right there, maybe even above what Luongo was to this team when he first came. So I, we. Luongo played so many games, that was very,

very, very, very, very impressive. I've had this bar room debate with, actually, I think I had it with Drance one time, talking about the greatest sort of single, very much what you're talking about. The greatest single season, one off, like you relied upon this guy so heavily. And the one you're talking about, the beret year,

is probably in the Pantheon as well, when he scored 60 goals and had 107 points and the next closest Canucks skater had 70. Yeah. Like that's what we're talking about here. That was also the 93, 94 year when of course, the Canucks went to the Stanley Cup. So you're talking about Hughes right now and

in this particular season, and I know he's missed 10 games due to injury, but you're talking about a guy that's been relied upon with 50 plus years of Canucks hockey with the Luongo season and the Beret season. And that's pretty special stuff. Like, like he's a defenseman. He's played 48 games. He has 60 points.

Connor Garland with his two goals yesterday, vaulted into second place in scoring. He's got 36 points in 58 games. So he's got. A wild gap. have 36 points in 58 games. So he's got. It's a wild gap. So the second place has 24 points fewer, and he's played 10 more games.

Third place is JT Miller with 35 points and he's tied with Besser and Debrecht with 35 points, but like Miller's not there anymore. Yeah. Besser, I don't know if he's going to be here past March 7th, you know, if the Canucks can make the playoffs with the performance of, you know, with everything that's gone on with them, you

know, like I hope, I don't know if he would win it, but I would hope that Quinn Hughes gets not only Norris consideration, but Hart trophy consideration. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. What we just have to call Thomas Trance erotica course Thomas Trance erotica

expected goals Thomas Trance erotica Thomas Trance erotica Thomas Trance. Veronica. Pee-dee. Oh. Thomas. Trance.

Veronica. 802 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough 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 three of the

program. Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Kinox Talk is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec Footwear and or Thodix working together with you in step. To the phone lines we go, Drancer joins us now on the Haliford and Brough show on Sports Night 650. What up Drancer? Boys, how are you? Good, how are you feeling after last night's game in Los Angeles? I'm tired. I'm honestly tired. I've been on the road.

I've had a pretty rough go travel wise, just like pretty consistently throughout this trip. So anyway, one more game and then I'm flying home on Friday. So I'm looking forward to it. So sorry, go ahead. Hopefully you have enough in you to discuss Brock Besser one more time, because we just

had kind of a lengthy conversation and I think we talked ourselves into like, if we were to bet he will not resign with the Canucks. Where are you right now? I think that's the safest bet all told. I mean, you know, the wild card nature of how this organization occasionally makes these decisions, right, where things can be quiet on the back burner, progress can be slow, and then suddenly it gets done, I think creates trepidation. But I think when you sit back or step back and just like say the generic facts with the team and player like

stripped out of the equation, right? This is a team at the fringe of the playoff bubble in the Western Conference, right? Ninth in the West today by point percentage, right? Could be eighth tomorrow, but could also be ninth. With a player who, you know, they haven't prioritized extending to the point that they extended to newly acquired guys and a free agent like reclamation project basically that they signed after training camp began over the course of the last month. I mean, that fact pattern alone sort of tells you where the balance of probabilities has to lie in how we think about it and examine it, right? Like, fringe

playoff teams tend to be looking ahead, right? They tend to be looking bigger picture, unless they're like a really like obvious young ascendant team like Columbus, right? Which the connects aren't and You know Given that lack of progress given where the team's positioned. I mean, you know, typically speaking I think we'd look at that and say the players less than likely to remain now look I like best or a lot as a player. I don't think he was at

his best last night, to be totally honest with you. But the, you know, I think if you could reach a reasonable deal, you know, I think that could make sense given that this team needs offense and Besser can help provide it, especially on the power play. But, you know, I do have some sort of bigger picture questions about whether or not Besser has really ever been like a perfect fit with sort of that Rutherford-Tockett alignment on how this team wants to play, just in terms of the foot speed, right? And, you know what, I mean, with how this team has evolved with sort of where they've gone,

with the transitional phase they've entered, you know, I have major questions about whether or not they see, the club sees Besser as sort of a long-term fit. So again, there's still a wild card nature to how this team makes these sorts of big decisions. I'd imagine they are deeply reluctant to weaken their team significantly, which a better trade would obviously do.

And yet, can this team really afford, given how this season has gone, to be chasing a play know, a playoff spot with any sort of reckless abandon, especially with, you know, the form that Pedersen is in. And I thought he was, you know, pretty unimpactful again last night. If, you know, considering Hughes's injury status, which caused him to be a very late add to the game. And in talking to him a bit after it, you know, I think one of the reasons why it took so long for him to get back was,

you know, sort of a, like a compensation sort of injury, like a, like a, not a re-aggravation of the original, but something that complicated it as he was working to get back in the lineup. Right. And? And so, and then you've obviously got Demko, who's on his second extended, well, third extended absence of the season. Those are this team's three best players, you know, like, can a team really afford to look at that situation on the ground, you know, three, our three best players dinged up eighth or ninth in the West as it stands and you know we haven't really prioritized getting this player done and be that reluctant to look ahead. I mean does that make a lick of sense to anybody? If Besser is traded do you think

it could be one of those situations where they get a return, let's say it's a late first or something like that, and then immediately flip that pick like they've done in the past, or is that one of those things where they would wait for the off season to try and remake their top six and try and figure out what they got in their top six? Because as much as they've fixed the defense, I think it's done a pretty good job of that.

You know, they have Rob Peter to pay Paul a little bit. Yeah, exactly. And you know, that, okay, but now obviously the focus now is on the top six and I just don't know what they've got there right now. Well, so I guess the good thing is some of those new line combinations we saw last night looked

pretty good. Yep. Yep. Yeah, yeah. Heedle with Garland and Joshua was good. Liked that a lot actually. Yep. Yeah, exactly.

I thought that Heedle line with Garland, like I thought Hedl and Garland had immediate chemistry. I thought Dakota Joshua looked like, you know, like even there was that one shift in the first period where they sort of got into the offensive zone and then maybe overpassed it a bit. But there were some really nice area passes with Joshua combining with both Heedle and Garland and for me it's like okay if this was game one of the playoffs or what have you you'd be like hey guys you got to be a little less fancy than that but when it's a new line and when you've got a player like Joshua who's had such a difficult season for very understandable reasons, like I kind of just think it's a good

sign to see them like trying things and having fun. You know what I mean? Like you can like find your game, find your game, have some fun, have a blast. Right. And then. And they were together as three on a power

play unit too, right? Like. Right. And made that nice pass, you know, how many times? Yep. Work it down low, worked it to the hedle behind the net. He comes out in front, he made that nice pass, you know, how many times? Yep. Worked it down low. Worked it to Hedl behind the net. He comes out in front.

He's a big guy. You know, he needs attention, then he gets it perfectly to Garland in front. That's a great, that's a great power play goal. We need to see more of that on the power play as opposed to back to the point, Quinn Hughes dances and then, you know, like there needs to be more, there needs to be more.

And I, and I liked seeing that on the power play. One, and Hedl just generally with the speed, with the puck carrying, with the way that he's backing up defenders. And then I thought one thing that was notable was how Garland was able to use that space last night to create his own entries or to attack out wide and find space, right?

Like there were a lot of plays where Garland found a lane and then a path into the slot that like didn't connect. But you keep trying those, you keep finding that space and if you're finding that space against LA you're going to find it against everybody because that's a really good defensive team right like that space that hedle speed threat creates Garland immediately understood how to work and it's only a matter of time before you know some of those are going to backboard in to Joshua in the slot or what have you and then he's got pretty good hands and tight like that's gonna work I really feel confident that that's

gonna work Garland dropped a pretty interesting comp because I was I was basically presenting it to him like we've seen you and Joshua play with you know Pew suitor and Teddy Bluger and Elias Lindholm, who really works off puck and tries to find quiet ice and JT and like we've seen this duo play with so many different sentiment. I don't feel like we've ever seen you play with a guy like Heidel, you know, in terms of just being this big bodied forward that can just flip the ice in transition. Yeah. And his answer, and his answer was, you know, effectively not to disagree with me, but to suggest that actually it's a little bit like playing with bow from Garland's perspective. And I hadn't really considered that, but, but that makes sense given sort

of those bull rushes, right? That, that were, were a staple of Horvats game during his time in Vancouver. So I actually thought that was an instructive comp from Garland himself. So anyway, the, like, I liked that. I liked that line. I thought Hoaglander did have an impact in terms of giving that line with Pedersen and Debrusk a little bit more neutral zone juice. Right? I think that's part of the hope is like if we put a absolute cannon ball with Pedersen can,

can the sort of pace that Hoaglinder plays with help or force Pedersen to get back to like moving his feet a little more actively. Right. I think that's part of the hope there. And I thought that line played pretty well, even if I thought it was another game where, you know, I had some texts and I saw some tweets on Twitter that were just like, Patterson looks like he has jumped tonight. And it's just like, guys, come on. Like we don't have to squint at this, at our television screens or at the ice and pretend that this is vintage, right?

Or even close to it, right? Like, Pedersen's not the sort of player you need to be looking at closely to notice his great impact. Like if he's on his game, it's going to jump off the screen and command attention, right? If you're talking yourself into it, then you're not seeing it. You know, like we don't have to pretend here. And then I also thought that Drew O'Connor suitor Besser line played pretty well, although I'd mostly have credited O'Connor,

who I thought was a beast in transition and defensively. He's a giant. What does he look like in perp, in, in person? Like, is he, is he one of those guys where you're like, Whoa, you're big. Yeah. I mean, he's half a tight end. You know, like maybe a fullback. Right. Yeah, he's a big guy and I mean, pretty fascinating career to this point,

to be totally honest with you. I loved his game last night, but I don't know that there was enough, like I just don't think, if that line gets a dialed in game from Besser Which I don't think they got last night. I think that looks pretty different. So anyway, you know, I like that top nine a fair bit and To come back to the question of what do the Canucks have in the top six?

Well, not enough right like they're still short an elite player probably and maybe that player can be Pedersen down the line. I'm not expecting it at this point this season. So they're still short an elite player and I mean realistically like what a cup contenders have multiple elite players. So yeah they're without question shorts and pieces although you know if you're getting that version of Garland and realistically this you're getting that version of Garland, and realistically, this team mostly gets that version of Garland, to be totally honest with you, just the goal results haven't been there, but the impact has been there, I do think.

At the very least with Garland, you're looking at an actual top line forward in terms of the impact he makes on his team. I know we don't typically view him that way, but I think we have to, I think we should. So at least that's a start, and then at least they have an upside shot in I know we don't typically view him that way, but I think we have to, I think we should. So at least that's a start. And then at least they have an upside shot in at an elite difference-making center in

Pederson. It's just, you know, I don't have an answer for what we've seen this year, but it ain't that. Tell us, this is a question for Adog because he loves DPD. Tell us what the team thinks of DPD and what is the plan going to be to bring him along? They dressed seven D men last night so he wasn't going to play 20 minutes but I think he only played 10 minutes but apparently Adam Foote is a big fan of this guy.

Well the whole team is a big fan, the whole organization is a big fan of this guy and how could they not be? Right? I mean, he's, you know, like, his hits look like they hurt. The hits he throws look like they hurt. And there's like a little bx in that where it's like they're not the huge hits necessarily that you look at or that you're watching the game and it's gonna like you know make you go like say like audibly make that like whoa but there are the hits that if you've been around the game you kind of have a sense of oh that's the that's the sort of contact that another forward is

gonna have an ice bag on like the next day or after the game because of and I think that matters. I think to have that in your bag at his age is incredible. And then I think he makes really smart decisions. I think he's got a really good feel like for when to pinch down the wall in the offensive zone. I actually think he's had offensive value because of that. And then the skills are there, right? He's fast, but he's not a burner. He's not Quinn Hughes walking the blue line, who is,

but he's fast. He can move. He can get play moving in the right direction and he can do it with both his feet and with a good first pass. I think he makes pretty good decisions. I think he's got a pretty high skill level, like a clear NHL level skill level as a defender.

He's definitely a heads up guy when he's handling the puck, which isn't always true when you're blooding a defensive defensement, right? He's never looking down. Yeah. And I mean, that's crucial. So I like all of that in his game and the team does too, right? Like, you know, Rick Tuckett said it explicitly and I reported it in the athletic the day before that like the, the, the pecking order right now sort of remove Pedersen from the group of guys in like Mancini,

Susi and Forbert. Um, he's in a different category. He's going to be a fixture. This team is, if they remove him from the lineup at any point, it's not going to be that he's been passed by one of those guys. It's going to be that they think a young guy needs a breather or a young guy could benefit from watching from the press box or what have you, right? Like this is a guy who I think is now basically fifth on the depth chart. And I think what's going to be interesting here is when this team signs Volander, which

will be expected to occur on the conclusion of his sophomore season, you know, they're going to have some options with a variety of, you know, veteran defenders to sort of accompany them, right? Like we saw Marcus Pederson and Myers play as a pair last night, but, you know, going forward, we might see them split a bit more frequently because of Pederson and Volander being sort of a lefty righty. and the team may be preferring to get those guys acclimated to the NHL with more veteran partners as opposed to playing with one another. I also understand that in the mind's eye of the Canucks coaching staff, not that it's a priority to split Hironic and Hughes at any point, especially when they're in such dire need for offense.

But you know, Elias Pettersson played with Heronik at training camp last year, like in Penticton. Club loved what they saw. And I think in their minds, I have the coaching staff, it's like if the defense can ever get to the point where they have really good options to play with Hughes, you know, I think Elias Pettersson, Phillip Heronik is something that, you know, Adam Foote and Toc are gonna look at on the whiteboard for years to come and say, man, we really like that duo

or the potential of that duo. And that's a pretty significant role for a guy nine games in his NHL career to be sort of earmarked for, even if it is a longer term view that the organization's taking on it. But I think it speaks to the fact that Adog is not his only fan at the moment in the city of Vancouver. By the way, Rick Dollywell tweeted out about 25 minutes ago that it sounds like Noah Juleson's season is over, surgery this week on his hernia. So that's one less option that

the Canucks have on defense, although they might be, I suppose, adding Willander at some point. But it makes me wonder about Carson Sousi. Have you heard anything about the market for him? Because it was reported a few weeks ago now that the Canucks had made Carson Soucy available for trade. Nothing has happened. So, in terms of players that we're keeping an eye on ahead of the trade deadline, March 7th,

the next Friday, Besser's obviously right at the top of the list, but there's also Pugh Souter. He's a pending unrestricted free agent and Carson Soucy. Are you hearing anything on those two? I haven't heard too much on Pew suitor. Uh, you know, aside from the fact that, um, you know, he costs 1.6, he waited till August.

Um, he's going to flirt with 20 goals. He is a special defensive player on the wing. He's a reliable center option. Right. Um, I mean, I, you know, three and a half, four million should be his market price, right? Like three and a half, four million should be his market price.

So, you know, I think the Connect's like him. Not the fastest guy, not the biggest guy, right? And that's sort of where he's run into problems in the past is it's like, Pugh Suitor is without question a guy you win with, but he's run into problems in the past is it's like Pugh suitor is without question a guy you win with but he's kind of also profiles as a tweener it's like yeah we like him as a center but he doesn't win draws and he's not big or fast and he scores but he doesn't produce a ton of offense he's not really a top six guy are we comfortable with Pugh suitor as our second line center it's no one is, no one is when they draw it up on a whiteboard.

Right. But the fact is that when you need a second line center, because injuries hit and you're able to shift this guy into that spot, guess what? You've still, you're still good. Like you're still fine across a month of NHL hockey and that he's not playing totally over his head. He's not completely out of it. Yeah.

In fact, he plays well. He plays not completely out of it. No, no. In fact, he plays well. He plays well. If you give him the right... I thought last night was a good example. I thought Besser had a pretty poor game. He had Drew O'Connor going and that line was still fine. In fact, for the first 40 minutes of game was maybe Vancouver's best defensive line and was playing tough matchups.

You can't ask too much more from, uh, from a guy. And then when, when he plays on the wing, like when he played with Miller and Besser in the playoffs last year and down the stretch, he was, he brought a totally different defensive gear to that line, right? Like I think as a top six winger is really where, uh, I think, I think he'll ultimately get a big deal from a smarter team. Not that the Canucks are included in that, right?

Like one of those smarter teams, perhaps in more of a win-now mode, will understand that on the wing he can really add a defensive gear, especially if you play him with high-end players, and that's invaluable. So yeah, I mean, I haven't heard much about talks there, but I do know that he's in line for a raise given how his free agent experience went last time and is pretty intent on getting that. I'd be curious to know how exactly how that slots in the bank groupers plans. I wouldn't be shocked if they took at least a college try between now and the deadline, but I don't know. know I mean the team's so within its

center that maybe they end up doing it off the back foot. Look you're never gonna go wrong signing a good player like Pius Tudor. I really do think he's like one of those guys who just has way more hockey value than you ever think he does just because he's so smart and so good defensively and so reliable and so consistent as for Susie, you know, I'd heard about a week ago, the club was feeling somewhat less urgency in part because they felt his form had bounced back, um, since the, uh, kick in the butt that those trade rumors and sort of the email blast that was sent out to rival teams about his availability.

Um, that, that he'd sort of responded well to that. But I don't know that I don't know that he I know that they weren't happy with how he played in Vegas, right? He ends up coming out of the lineup in Utah and then he's back last night. And I don't know if we know if he was actually back last night or if he was back because they played seven D. Right. So, you know, his progress stalls here here it's clear that he's on thin ice what would the market look like for him I mean he's got the no trade clause

he's pretty settled with a very young family and Western Canadian roots I don't know that there's a ton of teams he'd be eager to wave for and so that sort of limits things a bit I think you know that's a classic mid-round pick probably given sort of the contract but he. I think, you know, that's a classic mid-round tech probably given sort of the contract, but he's a good player. Like if he ended up in Calgary, for example, I think he'd be a big help to a team that needs some defensive depth

and is pretty inexperienced on the back end. You know, I think he'd be a big help to a team like Edmonton, frankly, that's playing guys like John Klingberg and then could really use, you know, a guy with his sort of defensive bona fides and speed, especially cause they could just plug him with a guy like Brett Kulak who can do some of the puck moving, like carry the load from a puck moving perspective.

So, you know, I think there's some good fits. Um, but, but yeah, I mean, it's not going to be a huge return if the nuts do decide to do that before the deadline. And at this point, just in handicapping it and sort of adjusting to what I've seen on this road trip You know, it does really appear like he's on thin ice performance life And so I'd probably shade toward that being more probable than not as we go into the last week before the deadline All right, your answer try and get some rest. What are your travel plans? Well, I got a drive to Anaheim, so that's easy. And then are you coming home after that?

Are you, are you going to make the Seattle game or just come, yeah, come on. I'm skipping Seattle. I thought, I thought to myself, I'll at least go home and then I can always drive down. Yeah. But I'm not going to do that. All right, buddy, hang in there.

Enjoy the grind. See you pal. Uh, Thomas Trance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.