Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 2/28/25

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including a disappointing Canucks road loss to the Anaheim Ducks, they look ahead to tomorrow's clash at the Kraken, plus they chat the latest Canucks trade rumblings with Rick Dhaliwal. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da But this one is all over. As the Anaheim Ducks score five unanswered goals to overturn a 2-0 Vancouver lead. Oh hi, thanks for checking in. I'm still a piece of garbage. And we need some guys to rise to the occasion. We're a desperate hockey team. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning Vancouver 601, howdy Friday. Happy Friday everybody. Sweet, the weekend. Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Friday.

Happy Friday everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford and his bruff. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Gladdy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and bruff of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, yet 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. Got a lot to get to on the program today. First hour of the show, completely uninterrupted Halbro. The guest list begins at seven o'clock. AJ from AJ's Pizza is gonna join us. A reminder today is Ask Us Anything Friday.

We will be giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. To the best, Ask Us Anything or What We Learned. Dumbart Lumber Text Line is 650-650, hashtag it A-U-A or W-W-L and don't forget, don't forget to put a pizza emoji into your text. That will enter you into the contest. 705, gonna go to Columbus and we're gonna talk to Aaron

Portzline from the Athletic. So the Columbus Blue Jackets got a big win last night. One of the most inspiring stories I would say, not just hockey, but all of sports this season. And then this weekend, Columbus and the NHL are expecting one of the largest ever crowds in league history at Ohio Stadium on Saturday for the outdoor game. The league said more than 90,000 fans are going to be in attendance on Saturday. They call it the horseshoe. They do call it the

horseshoe and the horseshoe will be. It's my favorite stadium. We're going to jam that horseshoe full of people. 90,000 plus. It is anticipated to be the second largest crowd in NHL history behind the one at the Big House that they did when we were there at the University of Michigan a few years ago. So we'll talk to Portsline about that at 7. 7.30, Bob the Moj Marjanovic is going to join the program. Moj wrote a scathing article on Elias Pedersen this week for Black Press. We can talk to him about that as Moj put on his big J journo hat. Obviously gonna talk to him a lot about the Vancouver Canucks. Maybe we'll get into some CFL and NFL stuff too. Who knows with the Moj.

Eight o'clock Rick Dollywall is gonna join the program. We will talk about last night's Canucks game with Rick, a five-two loss, a really, really disappointing loss for the Canucks in Anaheim. We'll talk about the Brock Besser contract situation, the Thatcher Demko entry, the Noah Juleson injury, and pending UFA defenseman Derek Forbord.

Did I miss anything? So, you know, in The Simpsons or The Family Guy, where it'll be like, oh, today's a Bart episode, or today's a Meg episode. Hate a lease episode. You just call it The Family Guy? No, no, no. Just doesn't matter.

When I say like, when they're like, oh, it's a Meg episode and they kind of make a joke about it. What's today gonna be? Is today a PD episode? No. Based on the Dunbar Lumber Text line, the listeners want today to be a PD episode. We've had so many PD episodes.

I do have a quick question for you before you continue on. No, is it going to be a PD question? Well, since you're kind of the curator of this whole thing, is last night, does last night join the Mount Rushmore of bad Canucks losses? Nah. Because I know it's pretty full. There's a lot of faces up there right now. It's anaheim.

I know you'd have to extend it quite a bit another face in but I don't know man We might know we just yeah, I mean there's no but like there's no point in doing this anymore Big at any rate is I hope like I don't want it to be a PD episode Based on the inbox I I went through the inbox from the post game show yesterday and let me tell you, that was a PD episode. So between very, very, uh, excitingly calling this a PD episode and then saying, are we really going to do this again?

I promise it'll be an entertaining show. And if not, at least you'll get some free crap out of the show. We're giving away a bunch of stuff today. Final day, final day of tickets, giveaway tickets to see Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, the Love Earth Tour September 6th, 2025 at Deer Lake Park. If you want to win our final pair of tickets to go see Neil Young in September, be caller number 7 at 815 this morning. The phone number 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650. Caller number

seven at 815, 815 this morning, is going to win a pair of tickets to see Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts this fall at Deer Lake Park. Also, speaking of giveaways and contests, I need to tell you about the ultimate Vancouver hockey experience. This is through SportsNet 650 and Waypoint Insurance on March 15th, Chicago and their young megastar, who could it be, are in Vancouver and you can win a chance to see it live plus an overnight stay at a luxury hotel in Vancouver. Whether it's a home game or a road trip, Waypoint is always the right call for your home business or auto insurance. Top shelf insurance and a top shelf hockey fan experience. If you want to enter, go to the contest page at sportsnet.ca forward slash six 50 and enter the contest closes this Sunday, Sunday, March 2nd. The megastars line and Slaggart.

It is we've decided that good old Slaggart. So we've got a lot to get into on the program without further ado, 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 that? 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.

Last night in Anaheim, Ryan Strohm and Troy Terry each had a goal and two assists, and the Anaheim Ducks scored five, count them, five unanswered goals, as the Vancouver Canucks blew a two-nothing lead and lost five-two at the Honda Center on Thursday night. So they're now one and3 on this road trip. They blown a 2-0 lead in two straight games.

Now they got the overtime win in Los Angeles. They did not last night against the Anaheim Ducks. I'm not going to go through all the goals. Man, that game, sometimes you're watching games and like, man, I wish I could be in the goals. It was, it was a, man, that game, you know, sometimes you're watching games and like, man, I wish I could be in the building. Last night I was watching, I was like, man, I would give $300 to not be in that building. What's the opposite of that scenario?

That's where I would like to be. I was actually texting Ferraro during the game and I was like, what was the better atmosphere? Was it Saturday night in Montreal between Canada and US or Thursday night in Anaheim between Vancouver and the Ducks. At the Honda Center? Everything about that game was gross from the

performance that the Canucks had to Anaheim's uniforms, which I actually found difficult to like look at. It's, it's, it's, it's. They got so close and yet they're so far. Like they went back to the old school jersey, but they don't have the old school colors. So what's the point? They're just so orange.

I'm like, am I watching the Netherlands here? What is going on? This is just disgusting. It feels like, is this orange soda night in Anaheim? Orange soda night. The Canucks, I don't know, that game last night. The worst nights ever. That game was a real difficult to watch. There aren't many nights where I'm just like, you know, if I, if I didn't have to

do this for work, I'd still like, I wouldn't watch this game. Most nights I'm just like, I'd be watching this game anyway, because I love hockey. I'm trying to love the Canucks and you know, but last night is kind of like one of those games where I'm like, oh, I'd just love to just be able to flip away from this game. It was a bad game, man. You were lucky you were at the Whitecaps game.

I still kept an eye on it. Yeah, but like kept an eye on it. What, checked the score? And I watched the third period. Okay. It wasn't great. You said in the notes, this game was gross and it's hard to push back on that.

You know who else isn't pushing back on that? The countless listeners to the Halford and brush show texting in this morning. And you know who else wasn't too fond of the game last night? Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tauke. Here is Rick Tauke in the post game in which he was none too pleased and none too complimentary of his team talking about how the Canucks abandoned the game plan in a five, two loss loss in which they surrendered five unanswered goals to the Anaheim Ducks. Here's Rick Tauket following last night's loss. While we had a game plan they're a rush team got the two-nothing lead and we had a two-on-one we

didn't connect I think we had a breakaway a couple of missed opportunities and all of a sudden they had a rush game. And then we decided to forever abandon the game plan. And we need some guys to rise to the occasion. Whether that's a middle drive or go to the net, like we had shots on that with nobody going to the net, so a little disappointed in the grit part of our game. Boy, it sure doesn't sound like he was energized by orange soda night. So here's a question. What, what, what, what, what, what is this team right now? We're, we're a week away from officially a week away

from the trade deadline. And, you know, we did hear a notion that management was going to see how the Canucks looked after the break and then make some decisions on what to do at the trade deadline. So we've seen almost, what we've seen four games since the break. It's pretty dire, man. Pretty dire. Like if you're the Canucks, like I'm sure ownership would love to get to the

playoffs regardless and get a couple of home playoff dates in the revenue books. But I'm going to overall, like, does that take precedent over, does that take precedent over building something more for the future and getting some assets for pending unrestricted free agents? Like they're going to have to determine whether or not, like they can't, they can't just be like, well, we'll figure out Brock Besser after the trade deadline. Like you cannot risk, you cannot risk Brock Besser walking away for nothing.

Uh, and frankly, I'm wondering if you can do the same with like Pugh suitor who, who might be frankly more valuable than Brock Besser. The, the, the, the fact that he has what? Three fewer goals than Besser. He kills penalties. He's a center. And then you got guys like Derek Forreboard that you can probably just trade away unless you want to re-sign them for cheap. If I'm management right now, I'm looking at this team and going, looking at this team and going, our star or superstar center that we've given this massive contract to is a complete no show, complete

non-factor on the ice. Nothing happens when he's out there. We've got a, a, a star winger who scored 40 goals last season, who might be kind of checked out at this point. Um, our number one defenseman and the best player on the team, the captain, the guy we have really no complaints about is not playing at a

hundred percent and we're forcing minutes on him that he shouldn't be having. And our star goalie, Thatcher Demko is also hurt. So like, you know, like, the sell, sell, sell signal is very much on with this team. So, there's a lot to unpack there. You covered a lot of ground. The two questions that you asked were,

what is this team right now and if you're management, what are you thinking? The team right now, and if there was one thing that you could succinctly say that's like clear and obvious and probably the most accurate descriptor is a team that Is so limited offensively that in order to win games They have to play a style in a system almost to perfection and almost with Consistent high energy to get the results that they want because the margins are so fine if they're gonna win

They have to execute their game plan and play with a level of energy that is consistently sharp and consistently high. The issue is, this might be one of the most inconsistent teams that I can remember in Canucks history. Patrick Alveen said it through the media, Rick Tauket says it all the time. Seemingly every post-game remark

that we get from Rick Tauket now is some variation of, I don't know why we're not doing the things I want us to do, or we were doing things well, and then we stopped doing them well. Game to game, period to period, you have no idea what kind of effort or performance you're gonna get from this team. This is the same team that's put up great performances

this year followed by horrible ones. The first period yesterday, again, didn't watch all of them, by all accounts, they skated off the ice pretty content with what they did. They got out to a two-nothing lead. They looked at the very least like they were prepared to put forth a 60-minute effort and it stopped after 20. Following that, everything kind of fell apart. Now, if you're management, what are you thinking? You're probably thinking that if this team has shown you one thing through 60 games this year, it's that they are incapable of putting forth

the effort and consistent performances to be a team that will do anything of note in the postseason. That would be my takeaway right now if I was the general manager. You could say like, I like some parts of our team and we have shown on occasion this year that we can play with the best teams in the league, but

we've done it with no regularity and no sense of consistency that we could count on it happening when it matters. Matt and Surrey text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650 650. I know you guys don't want this to be a PD episode, but as long as that guy is making 11.6 and playing like dog bleep, that is unfortunately going

to be what the listeners want after yet another pointless minus performance. So I want to go back to last year, a year ago, where this whole thing kind of started and it was after the all star break. This whole thing kind of started and it was after the all star break. And this is not me saying like, Oh, I was right and you guys were wrong and I took a lot of heat

because of it. Well, maybe part of it is, but, but like. Feels like this is where it's going. But, okay. But you know that one of the things that I kept on saying about this is this is not normal. What's going on here, right? This is not, this is not your typical slump.

Like what we are seeing right now is not a guy that snake bitten or just going through a bit of a, of a rough time or whatever, like watching him down the stretch and especially into the playoffs, I was like, there is something way off about him. Yep. And I still feel like, I don't know what number, but I think over 50% of the fan base did not quite grasp or did not want to grasp how far this game's got, this guy's game had fallen off.

Okay. Like, like you remember that I'm like, I'm like, I don't know what's going on here, but it's not normal. You can't treat this as a, well, he's just going to bounce back kind of moment. Sure. Right? Like now I hoped I was wrong about it, but what

we're seeing right now is not a typical slump and we still don't know exactly what's going on. Well, I think that's part of the reason why the narrative has shifted to resignment. Like it's not a slump. This is who the player is right now. But I think some people are, I mean, look, I'm in this every day, right?

Like I, I do this for a living. So, you know, for me, I was like, I've been wondering what's going on with this guy for a year now. I think most people are now like fully caught up. So they're going through a lot of the emotions that I've already been through with it. Like I've already, like it was three months ago that I was like, are we gonna keep doing this for eight years? And now that's what we're getting into the Dunbar Lumbertex line. Like people texting in is like,

I've been Petey's biggest supporter, his biggest defender, but I cannot stomach what I'm watching right now. And I can't fathom another seven years of this. But just wait until he gets healthy, dear listeners, just wait until he gets healthy. There's going to be, and I think maybe this will... People also saying like, you gotta rip Petey and you gotta hold him accountable and you gotta let him know, like he knows.

Yeah, and you've done it. He knows and we've ripped them end to end. I don't know how much more I can, I mean I'll try. If you want me to try and keep ripping them, that's fine, but that doesn't really, it's not going to solve the problem. We are not at the point where Pedersen's going to be like, you know a lot of people are pretty upset with me.

I guess I better play better. People texting in and saying like talk it should bench him. Can the heat get put up any higher on this guy? I don't think it can be. Like, Pedersen isn't sitting there going like, am I not playing well? Am I not, Well, am I not, oh, should I try harder? Like this is something either, he is, like he looks physically incapable of playing at, not only a star level, but sometimes an NHL level. Yeah, I mean, this is one, as you pointed out

on a number of occasions, nothing new. And two, sort of leading to a go nowhere conversation because I mean, I don't mean to like, I don't take it offense. I don't mean to dismiss what you're saying here, but there's no more cattle prodding from like our standpoint. And the organization has made a few things clear. One, someone is deemed him healthy enough to play on a nightly basis, so that's happening. And until that changes, there's no point in trotting out, is he hurt or is he's not, because one, we don't know,

it's all speculation, and two, if he is, neither party seems interested in addressing it publicly or doing something about it so that narrative will remain out there until it's addressed or not and we are left to deal with the on ice product and the on ice product quite frankly is bad last night was bad there were now if we want to pivot off this there were some other poor performances last night and I do want to spend a couple minutes here before we go to break just pointing out one thing C-lobs is borderline unplayable in the NHL I know I had a nice game against Utah last night or two nights ago whatever it was Sunday night and that's

fine that's a one-off for him he He gets beat clean by unscreened shots with way too high a frequency to play on an NHL team that has any aspirations of going to the postseason. If you're gonna rely upon him to be a regular contributor with the Canucks have granted small sample size recently, but he's played what, two of the last four games? So 50% of their games, they're not, they're not going to make the postseason

if he continues to play with regularity. If Demko can't come back and they have to go with Lankanen and C-Labs playing any kind of significant minutes, they're cooked. Like last night they didn't play well, but I also think that last night was probably a game where points were up for grabs. And you can make the argument that on three of the goals

that he let in that I watched on replay at the very least, he just got beat clean on shots from distance that didn't have a tip, didn't have a deflection, didn't have a screen. Wasn't all on him. I'm not trying to put this. I mean the second goal, the second goal, Adog, I hate to say it, but DPD looked like a rookie

defenseman there. But I, if you're, if I'm putting it within the context of like what's going on right now. Like if you're fighting tooth and nail for the playoffs and you're desperate, like it almost, and I know they just signed Lanken into a long-term deal, so they are worried about the health concerns moving forward, but it would have been more advantageous just trot Lankton him back out and try and get that game and the worrying thing About C lobs what you mentioned is this isn't new this is something that's been known about him for a while and was a red flag as he came up through the system as

What's his ceiling when you have a problem like that? If he isn't able to fix it, it will severely limit his ceiling. And I think we're starting to see that now that he's getting more NHL time, he hasn't really fixed those issues. So his ceiling continues to be limited. I watch a lot of games across the NHL. I see what the sort of standard level of goaltending is

and what goals go in. I don't see another guy playing at this level that lets in as many goals from distance as he does. And I'm not talking about it went off three sets of legs and bounced off the ice and up really high. We're talking about unscreened shots that he's had an eye on from distance. It almost looks like when you're terrified of getting beaten

you sink as deep into your net as humanly possible, which is a good old soccer goalie trick. don't want to get chipped from distance so you just play back on your line that's what it feels like to me and I know that this is probably problem 4a or b on a list that's got a lot of stuff ahead of it including one through three and it starts with Pedersen but if they're if you're looking right in the exact moment where they needed points last night and they need more points out of this trip that they're on, that was extremely costly last night,

the way that he played in that. Also, the way the guys played in front of him. There was a, I mean, 40 minutes of that game last night, and this is another thing that Tauke was completely dumbfounded by, it felt like the guys on the ice thought that they had done enough through the first 20 minutes that they were going to be able to hang on for the final 40. Yeah, it's like, it's Anaheim. Look at these uniforms.

They're not a serious team. How can we take the other look like traffic cones out here? Like we could probably skate around these guys. Spoiler alert, those traffic cones scored five unanswered goals. Um, that is a very concerning thing for a head coach that I will say this as a target defender through most of the season, it sure does feel like every post game media availability

after a loss sounds exactly the same and that's fine. But your job as a head coach is to figure out answers, not provide excuses. Yeah. And if it's not working, your job is to find something that works, not to point out that what you're doing isn't working. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah.

You know? Like. I think he's out of answers. If, yeah. I honestly do. I think he's out of answers and you can take either tact, it doesn't bother me. You can say like, well, that's his job.

If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem and there's credence to that. And then you can also say, well, what are you going to do with the guys playing like they're playing? You know, like especially number 40, he's your number one center. What are you going to do if he's a non-factor? Well, I personally, I think that the occasional

exasperation that Tuckett shows is that he knows his best and highest paid forward is playing so poorly. I think he knows that he can't really say anything about it. I think anybody else would have said something at this point. Well, he said things before, but- In any sort of definitive demonstrative way? Other players have been called. Do you think talk it's coming back if

Pedersen is still there? I don't know. I'd really doubt it. That has to be, we need to talk more about this. I mean, some people will be encouraged to be like, oh, they could bring in a new coach. Like, I don't know, if you're Rick Tauker right now, unless they really pay you and you're kind of

like, well, that's a lot of money. I'll stay and take this. Are you looking at this group right now and going like, well, I'm going to win a cup here, right? Like Rick Tauke wants to win things, right? He's won a lot of things in his life. I'm sure he also wants to make money, but you know, he was coach of the year last year. He's, he's, he's a big name in hockey. He's on team Canada for the four nations.

Um, and I'm sure that he would get consideration for any opening that comes up, uh, in the NHL. So if you're him right now, you're like, do I really want to come back to this? Cause there's only a team option on that. And I'm pretty sure if Taki doesn't want to come back to this? Cause there's only a team option on that. And I'm pretty sure if Taki doesn't want to come back, he won't come back. So, um, I, I, the uncertainty around this group

at this point is frankly unprecedented. When you go from Pedersen to Besser to Demko to the coaching staff to, you know, I think you probably even say there's uncertainty around the future of Quinn Hughes right now, just considering the current form of the team and the fact that they're going to have to do something over the next year in order to to convince him to extend with this team Should also remind you that the connects ended last night still in a playoff spot in the Western Conference. There's some Optimistic to go to break with you're listening to the best of Halford and brough

You're listening to the best of Halford and brough. I hate that goal horn. Yeah Come on I hate that goal horn. Yeah. Oh, come on. It's pretty good Anaheim goal. Brutal. Can I play a clip from last night, you guys? It was a You sure can, Greg. Not a lot of good moments from this, the Canucks game, but let me play my favorite moment from last night's game.

Terry to the Vancouver line for McTavish into the slot for Stroh, he scores! Oh. Oh. Scores! Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Ninth of the year makes it three to two you what now that you pointed out that horn is a little annoying amazing I love when the horn went over bad thing that's kept talking is your brother Almost almost off-putting how natural it sounded in the clip could you play the third part where the horns going over batch They take their first lead of the night with 119 left in the middle frame. It is a dumb horn. Yeah.

It feels, I know when you actually improved it. You know when you see those videos that you know are AI, but you're still like, it could be real. That's the exact same vibe I get listening to Bruff's goal horn. It's just too close. I know it's not the goal horn. Oh.

All right. All right. Rick Dollywall joins us now in the Half horn. Oh. All right. All right. Rick Dollywall joins us now on the Haliford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Rick? Gentlemen, how's it going? Good. Let's talk about that game last night.

Hey, what a barn burner. Oh man. Oh man. You got to win that though, Mike. You're up two nothing. You let the Ducks score five in a row. Cee Lobs was so good in Utah, and he'd like to have two or three back last night. Canucks had five shots in the third period,

four shots in the third period in LA. You know, this is hard to believe, and in both games they had two-nothing leads, and then you come up like that in the third, it's really concerning. Now, they do still lead Calgary by one point for the second wild card spot, because the Flames lost in Tampa Bay,

but they keep letting teams like Utah, St. Louis, Anaheim, stay in the hunt. And the Blues in Utah won last night. So, you know, it's starting to get clogged up for that second wild card spot. Now, Canucks continue to be one of the lowest scoring teams in the NHL for they've scored six schools in four games since the four nations. And I Mike, I saw you tweeting up a storm last night about Rick Tuckett and the

post game. You know, he was disappointed in the grit part of the game, disappointed in the team. We kind of gave in, which is another word for we kind of quit is basically what he was trying to tell you. But the one that caught me again was quote unquote, we need some guys to rise to the occasion. Well, I can name one guy and I heard you guys talking about him in the morning. Look, Patterson is not helping. He's fifth in team scoring, highest paid player on the team, has not scored in 13 games.

You can't score if you don't shoot. Last time Pedersen got more than one shot in a game was a month ago. When you're struggling offensively, you don't get many offensive zone starts. Well, guess who's not getting many of those? Pedersen. Ownership management and the coaching staff, they've got to be wondering what the heck

is going on with this player. But I think all those three I mentioned, they've got to help this. They've got to fix this. And I know they've tried and I heard you guys say, you know, they've probably sat the kid down a hundred times and said, hey, look, and remember after the San Jose jose game talk it said he had a one-on-one with peterson move your feet shoot more like they move your feet peterson has told them to move his feet no sorry talk it is told them to move his feet a hundred times this year like i mean

either it's just not getting through but he keeps saying it it is baffling and very concerning for the Canucks, because your number one center is on pace for just over 50 points. Canucks are also looking for a number two center. The center right's position right now is a big issue. Going forward, it's going to be a big issue. And so basically you can sit here

and the trade deadline's a week away, right? So when does management make the call on whether they're going to sell or buy that decision is going to be fascinating for a million reasons. But there's so many things up in the air right now, it is just incredible with this hockey team. Anything on the Brock Besser contract front? Well, before I get to Besser, I got, uh, some

stuff on Pia Suter. Uh, I think, uh, Brock, you asked me last night, uh, what's going on there. So I, I, I found out this morning that right now I can tell you with Pia Suter, who's a UFA that there is no progress in contract talks. I can tell you that I don't expect any movement with Suter at this point.

Canucks got him really late in the summer and the market was dry for suitor. They got him at one six. They're not getting him at one six anymore. This guy's in the three million range and he's higher. What did he score last night? His 15th goal. And he's probably most likely gonna get hit 20.

So the Canucks got a choice to me in the next seven days brought it to best for the second piece to her they got a decision to make so i can report this morning that no progress you obviously the two sides are talking they got the you know pia suarez agent was in town about i think two and a half weeks ago in the kind of you know started they're obviously talking but i can report no progress this morning in contract talks

with the Canucks and Piazutor. And I can tell you right now, at this point, I don't expect any movement. So there's your update, Brock. You asked for it, you got it. Can I ask you a follow-up question? Yeah. And is there any way that the Canucks would trade him?

I mean, we're talking about he's in the same situation as Besser pending UFA. And with his small cap, it might be attractive to a team looking to shore up just forward depth, his versatility, his ability to play all over the lineup. He's a smart player, too, not the fastest, but might be a valuable addition to a playoff team. Oh, you nailed it. His hockey IQ and he can play the wing, he can play center, he can do special teams.

He, I mean, he can play high in lineup. You want him to play in the bottom six, he can do it. You want him to give you minutes because somebody got hurt in the top six, he can do it. Like this guy, it could help a lot of, you nailed it. A lot of playoff teams would be looking for a guy like Pia Suter because when the injuries hitting the playoffs you need somebody to step up and Pia Suter could be that guy but to find out this

morning that contract talks there's no progress Canucks have seven days to figure out what to do with Pia Suter but you're hey look Canucks have four UFAs Besser, Suter, Forbert and Juleson. Juleson I'll get to you can't move him because he's injured. But the other three, absolutely. They all could be in, you know, I'm going to throw Carson Sousi in there too. But you're right, any one of these UFAs could be moved in the next week. But we got to wait for that decision.

Are they going to sell? Are they going to buy? We don't know yet. So let me get to Brock Besser. I checked in with Besser last night and told nothing't know yet. So let me get to Brock Besser. I checked in with Besser last night and told nothing new to report. So I can't report progress, but I also can't tell you it's going sideways. I've been getting that answer for weeks. They have had eight months to get this contract done. It looks like obviously it's going to go down to the wire. Three things

are going to happen. They're going to sign them, trade them, or they're going to keep them. If you trade Besser, then who scores on a team that can't score? It's one of the lowest scoring teams in the NHL. Now we've known all along, Canucks don't want to do seven, eight years. They can live with something in the five to six year range. I was told there is a long-term deal for both sides that can get done. I wonder if it's a six years, like if they work at it, they can get it done. There are obvious concerns with Bessar skating in the latter years of a long-term deal. I get that, but the flip side is they're not exactly flush with goal-scoring wingers. You know, the first two games after Four Nations, they had

O'Connor and Sherwood in the top six. Those are not top six players. The only top six wingers they have are Besser and Debrusque. One might be gone in seven days but one phone call and we say this all the time and I say it all the time and I have to, one phone call can change everything and we saw that eight days ago with this regime. After weeks and weeks and nothing the Canucks called Kevin Lankton, Lankton his agent last Thursday morning, cut a deal in 12 hours. The Canucks first offer to Lankton was 3.9 million in early January. In one day, they went from 3.9 million to 4.5 and they got it done. That's why I don't discount anything out with Besser, not with this regime.

Remember Miller got done real quick, lanking it quick. The negotiating on Besser is not going to stop. Now I want to get this in, throughout this process I have heard, you know, throughout this process that I've had people tell me, you know, Besser feels disrespected at times. The GM never comes out and says anything nice about him, always backhanded compliments. Then you give Marcus Pederson a new deal after he's been in the city five days. You gave him a long-term deal.

This regime has watched Besser for close to three years and nothing yet. So I'm already starting to hear about teams that would go after Besser if he hits July 1st. On the trade front, teams interested in Besser keep checking in. But one team told me last night, it's very quiet on the trade market simply because prices are very high right now. So it's a, if you're wondering why there's not a

ton of trades right now, it's, it's because the prices are around the league are very high. Um, okay. Let's get to Thatcher Dempko because we saw last night that, uh, Sealof's, despite having a nice game the other day, uh, and a nice first period, he's very good in the first period, did not play well last night. And, uh, we're not going to put the entire loss on him, but a lot of it was. Where are we with Thatcher Demko's, uh, health?

Yeah. So a quick update for you. He was on the ice multiple times this week, uh, would not surprise me if he's back next week, not hearing of any setbacks, uh, before he was hurt. He was playing really well, right? But for injuries in less than a year and the biggest question right now and the only question with Demko

is durability so when he comes back from this injury how long will he last can he go the rest of the season without another injury that's going to be really essentially the million-dollar question with Demko is just where's the durability because before he got hurt in the Toronto game he was playing really well but the great thing for the Canucks is that Lankanen is not acting like a backup when he plays. Lankanen is acting like a starter. That's the biggest key for the Canucks because look first game after his big contract what did Lankanen do goes into Las Vegas, great game.

I think it was 31 or 32 saves. When Demko's out, the Canucks don't miss a beat with Lankinen and that safety net is the reason why they're in a playoff spot today. So basically, essentially, Demko was on the ice from what I hear a lot this week, and it wouldn't surprise me if he's back next week. So that's the update on him.

What else you got for us, Rick? No, I just feel for the guy. He has been dealing with a nagging injury. It had to be fixed. He is going to have surgery on his hernia in Toronto soon. Most likely season over,

with Tom coming and Victor Mancini acquired in the Miller trade, that right side is getting crowded. Right. And you got to wonder if Juleson's days in Vancouver are over. Look, fans get on his case. I think Twitter can be an awful place.

I think it's one of the worst things in society at times. There's so much negativity, so much hatred, there's so much agenda driven content. There's no need to take shots of the guy on a day when he finds out he's got some bad medical advice. You know, Canuck fans gotta be a whole lot classier here. This is a local kid.

You know, his teammates and his coaching staff absolutely love this guy. This guy plays hurt, block shots, you know, his teammates and his coaching staff absolutely love this guy. This guy plays hurt, block shots, kills penalties, has got grit, sacrifices his body, never complained, is a really good six, seven guys who's accepted his role. One of the biggest things at the national hockey league level is accepting your role and not being that guy who thinks, you know, I should be a top four defenceman, but I'm in the third pair. This guy accepted his role and was there for the Canucks when they called him and

went in and, you know, and I'll tell you something else. Last summer when he was a UFA, Juleson instructed his agent get the deal done in Vancouver, get the deal done with my hometown team. He had six to seven teams that were calling for his services, but he made sure. He told his agent, he said, look, get the deal done in Vancouver. I want to play as an Abbotsford kid. I want to play in Vancouver. And, you know, so I think we live in a society where we have this outlet called Twitter, where we can be negative and

mean and we can do anything, you know, and say anything and do anything you want. But sometimes, you know, you know, these players, yeah, they have good games, bad games. Look at us, we have good shows, bad shows, you know, and we get ripped too, we got public jobs. But I just, you know, his camp can, they're not blind. They can see everything that's going on. And you know, that guy's just a warrior type guy. And I don't know, uh, uh, Jason, if he's going to be back or not, but you know, whatever he gave the Canucks, he gave it a hundred

percent every single time. Um, one last guy to talk about here, Derek Forebort, a pending unrestricted free agent, has had some tough injury luck here this season, but I think is a pretty underrated player to be perfectly honest with you. He's a big part of the penalty kill. He does a lot of the things like Juleson does, like the hard things that don't get appreciated.

I'm pretty sure there would be a team out there interested in adding him up, adding him for defensive depth for a playoff run, but maybe the Canucks want to keep him too. Yeah. And all the UFA players could be traded in the next week, including Derek Forbert. It just takes one phone call, but I wouldn't be

surprised if he gets past the deadline and the Canucks might extend him, Forbert at some point before July 1st, if he gets past the deadline and the Canucks might extend him forward at some point before July 1st if he gets past the deadline Now Carson sushi is on the trading block too. Like I mean then he doesn't want to go You know, it was interesting that sushi got healthy scratched in Utah I think it was and then he got back in line up if you're trying to trade the guy You can't trade the guy and have pro scouts go see you if you're healthy scratch. So Suzy gets back in line up in the LA games, but Suzy's on the block. Mancini probably taking Juleson's spot. Forbert makes sense depth wise.

And we don't know if Elias Pedersen, the defenceman is ready for a full-time role yet. I know everyone's loving him and I know he made some mistakes last. And I know they went with 70 and his ice time got cut after one of his mistakes last night. He's got the size, the talk, it loves for bird. I'm talking about for bird. And he's a good penalty killer. Did you see him on the PK in the LA game, five minutes left and then overtime, right?

So there's a lot to like about for bird. I'm not saying they're going to sign them. I'm just saying that it wouldn't surprise me if he gets past the deadline and that's something they would look at In turn if you look at if you look at I don't know if you guys have if you look at the blue line in Abbotsford guys, I Think every single defenseman other than one is either an RFA or a UFA in Abbotsford and I don't see anyone making the jump next year that's on the current Abbotsford blue line.

So you got to keep that in mind too. Who's coming up from behind on the left side. And so there's a lot of things at play, but what happens here in the next seven days is going to be absolutely astonishing in which way they go, they sell or they buy at the deadline. Do you see this team ever considering a rebuild? Cause those conversations are out there again. And, you know, until they show us that they're

interested in something like that, I'm not going to give it much consideration. In fact, if I go back to the conversations that Jim Rutherford made to Gary Mason in the now infamous Globe and Mail article, he basically said, we're going to try and trade our way out of this. The whole idea being that we got to keep Quinn Hughes, but also maybe left unsaid is that ownership has

never seemed open to the type of we're gonna have to really take a step back here in order to take bigger steps forward in the future because that is really the question of what you do you know because right now the way the Canucks are constructed the way that Pedersen is playing taking big steps forward seems really difficult without first taking some steps back. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does.

And what did Benning say every year though, Jason, we got a two year plan. We're going to fix this in two years and two years became six years and six years became seven and we're going to retool on the fly. What surprised me if they say we're going to retool on the fly. What it surprised me if they say we're going to retool on the fly is, is I just don't see this owner. And you also have a president that I don't see sticking around for a retool

or so a rebuild, like a rebuild. OK, so is Buffalo in a 13 year rebuild? They haven't made the playoffs in 13 years. You know, Phoenix went how many years, Florida went how many years? Like, I mean, where's the appetite to go six, seven, eight, nine, 10 years without playoffs with this owner? I just can't see him signing off on a rebuild and you got an owner who is not, uh, going to stick around for a re no, sorry, a president.

I just do not see him sticking around for a rebuild. I, at his age, I just can't see him saying, okay, I came to Vancouver, uh, you know, to win. And I just did not come to Vancouver to rebuild, which we don't know. Like it's easy to say rebuild and then how many years is a rebuild? I know Rick.

And you know what, you know, what's really depressing though, like we're back at this point where we're debating this stuff. Yeah, talk about it. Like, oh, you want to be Buffalo? And people will be like, well, look at Pittsburgh or whatever and how they sunk. We're having these conversations again. I thought we were able to kick or punt on these conversations for at least a few years,

but we're back to them. And I think that's the most disappointing thing about this season. Like last season right now, it's feeling like a big time mirage. Yeah. You know, and I'm still my biggest concern. I know everyone says Quinto Hughes in two years.

Look, I know it's not 10 years away, it's two, but my biggest concern right now with this hockey club is the middle of the ice. They had Horvat Miller and Pederson two years ago and now Horvat Miller had gone, and I keep hating saying this and now the guy that's left is on pace for 52, 53 points. It is really hard to get top six centers. It is really hard.

I don't know how they're gonna get, like they're looking for a second line center that's 24, 25 years old. Well, if other teams have one, they're not giving them away, you know. Certainly not from Pedersen right now. And name one centerman, just go ahead and do me a favor, name one centerman in Abbotsburg or name

one prospect who's ready to jump into a top six center role, they don't have anything. And that's my biggest concern. Last year, Miller and Pedersen got close to 200 points. This year, the top two centres are on pace for 95 points. You cannot go far when your top two centres are, and they create most of the offence, the top two centres and they're on pace for 95 points. You can't go far with 95 points you can't go far with that you can't go far with that they need to be difference makers and the most points he'd also had in his career is 45 if you take the 45 point season out the other years he's had 20 21 22 like it's my biggest

concern with that the defense is better the goaltending is good, clearly they have now become one of the lowest scoring teams. Like scoring more than two goals in regulation is a challenge for this hockey club right now. And one of the reasons why is they don't have creative centers right now. They just don't. Rick, this was great, buddy. As always, thanks for taking the time to do it. Was it great? It felt kind of depressing actually. Rick was great. Rick brings it every Friday. Okay, but, bro, you made it depressing talking about a rebuild.

You're the one that brought it up. Hey, you know one thing I would not rebuild? What's that? Your guy's show. Oh, thanks buddy. You know, I would not tinker with it. I would not make any trades. I'd keep Andy.

I would not touch your show the way it is. All right. Well, you're married to mediocrity as well, I guess. That's awesome. That's great. What are you saying? I'm mediocre? Hey, yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying.

What? Thanks, Rick. Hey, adios. Thank you, buddy. Rick Dollywall here on the Haliford and the Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, so speaking of the playoffs, right now at Money Puck, they've got Calgary at 36.1%

to make the playoffs, Vancouver at 34%. This was updated shortly after last night's results, which of course weren't good for the Flames or the Canucks. The Flames lost three nothing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. By the way, remember a little while ago when you were kind of like high on Tampa Bay and you're like, I like what they did. They obviously made the right move getting rid of Stamkos and bringing in Gensley. And then they went in the tank.

Now they're on fire. They are now 8-0-1 in their last nine. Anyone could win that division right now, Toronto, Tampa Bay or Florida. They dominated Calgary yesterday, dominated Calgary. That was a three, nothing victory, very comfortable for them. So that's good for the Canucks, the Calgary Flames lost. Not good for the Canucks is that Utah is on a bit of a heater now. Clayton Keller, a career high five points. Utah smoked Minnesota 6-1 last night.

So if you look at the standings, Utah is now just two points back of Vancouver for that final wild card spot. If you squint at it and you really talk yourself into it, you could say that there's a bit of a race brewing with multiple teams getting into it. Again, if you want to consider Anaheim at six points back in the race, you can. If you want to consider St. Louis still in the race, you can. Question. Yes. If the Canucks, how important, rather, are these final two games

for the Canucks before the deadline? Like if they win both of them versus if they lose both of them, will what the Canucks do at the deadline be vastly different or is it not going to matter? So remember when we were having the conversation earlier and you're asking about like the win now thing? Like they are all about the present. Like they're not trading for futures. And if they are, those futures are going to get flipped around for a roster player right away. You understand that, right? Like if Besser's out, someone's

coming back in, that's just the way that they are designed right now. They're not interested in stock. Not designed, it's just how they operate. Right, but that's by design. The operation is by design. They're like, this is how we go. So let's say they trade- Can you believe we're back at this? We are back at this. We're back at the, you know, we're going to try and make some hockey trades. Like, no, get draft picks, rebuild this thing.

But that's a debate between, that's a debate for the fans. Like, I am pretty sure, I'm 100% sure that the decision-makers involved this team at the highest levels are, let's say that the only- You go find some magic beans! We've been asking you to find these magic beans for years now does management actually think that the Conox will do some damage in? The playoffs though like they can't think that can they I think that they are designed like the way this roster is currently constructed Even if they make it in like the odds they make it in they get three home playoff dates That's a lot of oh, I understand the revenue aspect of, of course, but I'm just saying from a fact of like, the odds of this team getting out of the first round seem pretty slim right now.

Let's go the other way. That's all I'm saying. Let's go the other way around. Let's say we're gonna tear it back to the studs and try and rebuild around Hughes. Do you think he's gonna be interested in that? That's probably- Well, that was my question to you from the beginning, because he might.

Well, that's, I- You don't know that though. But, Halford- He's had the chance to leave in two years and go somewhere better. Your wet reply to Adog, I think is a little unfair to Adog, because, because I sometimes wonder if Quinn Hughes looks at this. I mean, like, he's out there giving his all, like, hey, he might be friends with Pedersen.

Doesn't mean he wants to be teammates with him, the way things are going. It doesn't mean he wants to be teammates with them, the way things are going. He might honestly say like, aggressively cut everything from this team and let's start again and let's see where we are in a year. He might do that. I mean, he might be sitting there as like, I don't want to come back and do this again. In fact, that would be, that would make me the least likely to want to stay on this team. If I have to go through another hellish year like this one, don't you,

don't, don't you see that at all? Like, I don't think that it fits the, his personal timeline at all. Like he's going to be 26 in October. No, it doesn't. Yeah. Like it doesn't make any sense. But, but, but, but, but if you come back and you do the same thing next year, then he's definitely gone. Like this team, here's what this team needs, hope. And the only thing that is going to bring.

Trade your way. No, no, no. It's going to bring hope is to make like bold, bold moves and see the future. Because right now, here's what we're looking at. The future that we're, a lot of us are looking at right now is seven more years of Ped looking at. The future that a lot of us are looking at right now is seven more years of Pedersen.

You need to fix that. You need to fix that. It either needs to be seven years of a drastically different Pedersen. Or no Pedersen. So maybe management is like, okay, we got one more season of Hughes. We gotta give them the best possible team

that we can next year to try and convince them that there is hope for the future. That could be it. Yeah, but what does that- But does that- But that doesn't solve anything that we haven't solved anything like get the best- I know. Like does that involve Pedersen?

But maybe that's the best option though, which is depressing as all hell, but maybe that is the ultimately the best option. What time is it? Too early to drink? You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.