Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 2/7/25

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they talk a big Canucks OT win over the Sharks with Donnie & Dhali's 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. Whoa! Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose the f***ing Canucks? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-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. Now to the face off dot. Into the slot shoots, he scores! Drew O'Connor on the overtime penalty shot wins it for the Canucks. What a freaking boost. The grumpy guy. Yeah, that's Jason.

Yes, a little bit grumpy that guy. Kind of like Tim too though against my better judgment I did. Ross is like, you know He's just grumpy all the time. Ladies and gentlemen the weekend Good morning Vancouver six o'clock on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody sweet sweet Friday It is Alfred it is bruff It is Sportsnet 650 and we are to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning. 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, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 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. It's the weekend everybody, it's Friday. It's Super Bowl weekend. We got a lot to get into on the program today. A big guest list awaits starts at 630. James Myrtle. Yeah, Myrtle from the Athletic. He's going to join us at 630. Now, normally we don't do game previews the day ahead of a game, but because we're not on the air tomorrow, we're going to Myrtle today about tomorrow's game four o'clock yeah the

dreaded four o'clock puck drop from Rogers Arena it's the Canucks and Leafs tomorrow now we can ask Myrtle about a Leafs team it's been dominant on their Western road trip so far got wins in Edmonton Calgary last night in Seattle so they come into Vancouver pretty hot pretty hot those Leaf, we'll talk to Myrtle about that at 6.30. Seven o'clock it's AJ from AJ's Pizza On East Broadway. Reminder, we got a $100 gift card to AJ's for

the best Ask Us Anything or What We Learned. That's also a reminder that it's Friday, so it's Ask Us Anything on the program. I have heard that AJ is in Florida, so we'll see if he's got a direct line to Jimmy Aces for some Super Bowl bets for the weekends. I thought Jimmy Aces was a New York guy.

Is he a Florida guy? East, it's an East Coast thing. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. 730, the Moge is going to join the program live from New Orleans, where he is making a very strong case already to be Super Bowl MVP.

Moge is killing it right now. We can also discuss not just the Super Bowl with Moj, but last night, NFL awards and the Hall of Fame announcement. Sadly, Moj did not get inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last night. One of the more noteworthy snubs of the evening, to be honest. I saw a lot of Seattle sports guys upset.

Softy was very upset that Mike Holmgren didn't get in. I thought you were gonna say Moj, but yeah, Mike Holmgren didn't get in. I thought you were going to say Moj, but yeah, Mike Holmgren, definitely right there with Moj. Eli Manning, Mike Holmgren, Moj, oddly enough. And then Adam Vinatieri. Those were the four big snubs from last night. Do you think Andy Reid was a product of Mike Holmgren just by the way they look?

Yeah, it was the genetic tree. Eight o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. I don't know what we're going to talk to Dolly about, perhaps the Dolly handler, but I need to know, I need to know how soon the Canucks are going to extend Drew O'Connor. I need to know. So we'll ask Rick about that at eight o'clock. A reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday. Dunbar number text line is 650-650.

Hashtag it A-U-A or W-W-L. Put a pizza emoji into your text. The best one, the best one, the best of the best, will win a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. And let me tell you, the Dunbar Lumber Text Line from last night's game is pretty nasty. You know what? I'm gonna make a ruling right now.

The winner of the $100 gift card to AJ's, it could be an ask us anything or what we learned, but it has to be non PD division. Has to be. I'm encouraging all of you to think outside the box because 90% of the texts right now are about Ulias Pettersson, number 40. Not surprisingly.

It is 650, 650, the Dunbar Lumber Text Line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. So, Working in Reverse on the guest list, eight o'clock it's Dolly Wall, seven thirty it's The Moj,

seven o'clock it's AJ, six thirty it's James Myrtle. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What 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. Thursday night in San Jose, Drew O'Connor scored on a penalty shot just 33 seconds into overtime.

Vancouver Canucks win 2-1 in San Jose over the Sharks. I actually just want to play the game winning goal again because of the historical aspect of it. There was only one- Historical aspect. Historical aspect. The Canucks only had one other penalty shot winning goal in overtime prior to last night.

We'll play the audio. I'll come back on the other side and tell you who that other historical figure was. Here's Drew O'Connor with the winner last night on the penalty shot in OT. Chance to win it here in overtime. O'Connor in from the left. Scores!

Canucks give up the late goal, but they wind up with two points. A penalty shot in overtime. And Drew O'Connor, 33 seconds into sudden death, gives the Canucks a 2-1 win. Since you don't, clearly don't know, or are you just playing possum? I can't tell. He's such a good actor.

I can't remember. I don't know, who was it? November 18th, 2016, who can forget where they were when Ben Hutton scored on a penalty shot for the Vancouver Canucks. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Against a team that doesn't even exist anymore, the Arizona Coyotes.

Laddie, who was the goalie for the Arizona Coyotes that night? You told me and I've already forgotten. Oh, Louis Domingue. Louis Domingue. Louis Domingue. Not the best. Louis Domingue and Nat Ben Hutton with the penalty shot. That's it, Ben Hutton and Drew O'Connor,

forever linked in Canucks history. So I was joking after the game, I was like, I think Halford did predict that Drew O'Connor. I pat myself on the back. You said it at the beginning of the season, it was one of your hot takes. It was like, here's one of my hot takes. It's going to be like Drew O'Connor playing for

the Vancouver Canucks is going to win a game in overtime. Correct. On a penalty shot against San Jose six days after JT Miller was traded. Correct. And he was like, not a lot of my hot takes come true, but I have confidence with this one. Yeah.

What a season it's been. And then I added with an asterisk, then the only reason that they're going to overtime is because Philip Heidel made a really bad play at the end of regulation. Right. Yeah. Also a guy that I knew would be on the team. It's a wild sequence of events. Right. Yeah. Also a guy that I knew would be on the team. It's a wild sequence of events.

Crazy. But it was a... At least JT Miller's not around to blame in overtime. How about Drew O'Connor using JT Miller's shootout move? Yeah. Came in off the left side. It's pretty impressive. Pretty impressive. A little homage to JT.

He's like, I'm gonna need a left-handed stick here, please. He slammed the gate. And then to further honor JT's like I'm gonna gain an honor at the end I need a left-handed stick here please he slammed the celebration further honor JT why is he snapping yelled at all his teammates yeah oh god it's happening again well it was certainly a night in Santa back for in the corner it was certainly a night in San Jose I think as we've said on numerous occasions, this season's and season's past, not an oil painting by any stretch of the imagination, but I wanna get this out there right now before we turn our attention to Elias Pettersson,

cause it is a massive talking point yet again. I don't even care how they win games, just go out and win games and rack up dubs and take care of business and get in the playoffs. Well Demko too. I mean, Demko. Demko was great. Is looking better. Yeah, he was great.

You know, he did allow that final goal, but that was his homage to Luongo to give up a late goal and force overtime. After making the first three saves and letting him score on the fourth rebound or whatever it was. He looks solid and great call on everyone who had the over in yesterday's game. So I almost set it on the air. I almost set it on the air yesterday. Yeah. Cause I didn't even realize that Vanaček was starting until later in the day. If I knew that Vanaček was starting when we were on the air, I would have said play

the over because he hadn't played since like December and lo and behold, it was basically a zero, zero game until the third period when Dakota Joshua scored for the Vancouver Canucks and he had a very nice game yesterday. Rick Taukett spoke glowingly about Joshua's game rounding in the forum. Yeah. I'm going to see that get a goal.

Another, another former connect Tyler Tafoli scored even it up for the sharks. And then Drew O'Connor in overtime on the penalty shot Canucks now firmly, firmly taking grass with that final wild card spot in the West that of course, because Calgary lost to Colorado last night, but I feel like I'm rambling. Feel like I'm filibustering. I feel like I'm taking away from maybe the major talking point from last night. And this is not just our doing. If you listened to the

post game show last night with satin Bic, they did a very delicate dance of trying to do an actual post game show while also wading through the toxic infested waters of the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket, which Bic said at one point was 90% text about Elias Pettersson. Well, I think it might've been the worst game of his career, frankly, considering the situation.

Okay. You don't need to turn your mic off quite yet. I do have something prepared here, but. Think I'm going to turn it off. I think with, um, well, the way he looked on the power play had a lot of people wondering what is going on with this guy. Okay.

So I do have something prepared here. I know people have their own theories on what's wrong with Pettersson. Some people's theories is I have no idea what's wrong with it. Ray Ferraro went on Donnie and Dolly yesterday and he was just like I don't know, I don't know. There's some people who are absolutely convinced it's an injury, absolutely convinced of it. 100%. This is tendonitis. Petey said so and you're just ignoring him. How could you do that to him? Some people say, ah, he got his contract and he got fat and happy.

Some people just say he's soft. Disagree with all of it. Okay? I think I'm not saying that there was no tendonitis there. That is not what I think. This is my theory, which you are free to disagree with. Okay? He's got the yips.

He's got a bad case of the yips. He's got a bad case of the yips and that means he is terrified of failure. And what did Jim Rutherford say when asked about Pettersson? He said he was having trouble living up to the contract. He's scared of failing. What we are seeing in my opinion is 90% psychological, maybe 100% psychological. His confidence is completely cooked. Now, how did he lose that confidence? Who knows? Maybe the tendonitis was a factor, or maybe he didn't work hard enough in the offseason. But tendonitis does not explain why he's terrified to shoot the puck or terrified to attack space

on the power play. There was a moment in last night's game where he had the puck all alone at the point and the Sharks were like, we know you're not gonna shoot. We know you're just gonna pass it. And there was probably 20 feet between Pedersen and a Sh sharks player.

He didn't attack that space. He passed it. Okay. Um, and you know, what do we hear a lot of when Pedersen came into the league? Oh, this guy's a perfectionist, right? He's a perfectionist. There's a good type of perfectionism and there is a bad type of perfectionism. And you can have both, but here are the following effects of perfectionism.

Fear of making mistakes, procrastination due to fear of failure, avoidance of challenges. You think about all the times the Canucks have said, this guy's just got to work. He's got to work. He's got to go. He's got to work. Rip me for this all you want. I don't care.

I'm used to it at this point. Go read up about the yips before you do it though. If you haven't experienced them before, you really don't know what it's like, and you probably can't fathom them, how they can possibly occur. They are maybe the cruelest affliction in sports. So when you get the yips, you overanalyze your movements, instead of trusting muscle memory, instead of trusting muscle memory, you fear making mistakes so much that you tense up, you try to like consciously control your movements which actually

makes them worse and then you lose more and more confidence and you spiral into more anxiety. If anyone listening right now that's watching Pedersen that's also experienced the yips in golf or baseball or maybe even hockey. I'd love to hear from you what you think about this. I got a few quotes from athletes that have dealt with the yips. Rick Ankeel, remember him? We had him on the show. We had him on the show back at 1040.

We had him on the show and we talked about this. And it got so bad for Rick Ankeel at one point, baseball player, that he was having a few vodkas before the game started. And he says, it's like you forget how to throw a baseball. The harder you try, the worse it gets. Chuck Knoblach, famous yipper. I don't know what happened. One day I just couldn't throw the ball anymore.

Macky Sasser, remember him? I do. Catcher for the Mets, couldn't throw it back to the pitcher and guys were just like, stealing. It was like, oh, you can't throw it back to the pitcher. It was like a mental roadblock. My mind wouldn't let me do what I had done my whole life. Simone Biles, we all heard about her. She had a specific gymnastics form of the yips, it's called the twisties. The gym yips.

Your body and your mind are not in sync. I literally cannot tell up from down. And Bernhard Langer, it felt like an out of body experience, my hands wouldn't do what I wanted them to do. Even a guy like Novak Djokovic, earlier in his career, and I think it comes up every once in a while or it still did, said, I had to reprogram

my mind to trust my serve again. So the yips aren't associated as much with hockey, but it does happen. You can become hesitant with your shots. You can miss easy little passes. You can bobble the puck without getting checked. That happened last night. Now, the good thing about hockey is you can miss easy little passes, you can bobble the puck without getting checked. That happened last night. Now the good thing about hockey is you can go do other stuff like play smart defensively or you know level a guy with a big hit that we've seen Pedersen do a few times,

but when the puck is on your stick you feel like your hands are about to explode. You literally don't trust how your body is moving. One more thing about the yips. They are super embarrassing to these guys. They don't want to talk about it. You're not going to be in the mood to talk about it. It's embarrassing. And maybe even you don't understand what's going on. One more thing about the yips.

One more. It makes them even worse when JT Miller is yelling at you. Known fact, proven by science. Take it or leave it guys. Everyone's got a theory and that's mine. Okay? If it turns out I'm wrong, I'll gladly admit it. If I'm right, I suppose the good news is that the yips can be overcome and maybe PD has already had to overcome the yips. Remember Rock Bottom in Carolina? Maybe that was a bit of the yips. Remember rock bottom in Carolina? Maybe that's that, that was a bit, a bit of the yips too. And then he found his confidence. A lot of people that talk about the yips is like, man, they come and go. That's the frustrating thing.

If it turns out I'm wrong, gladly admit it. If I'm right, the bad thing is sometimes the end careers. So, uh, let's explore this a little bit further. We've got a few minutes until we get to the break and look, uh, this is what thing is sometimes the end talking about and working in of these incidents happening. So when you brought this up last night, and spoiler alert, we do prep some of this stuff before the show, I was like okay, it's an interesting theory. We have spent so many countless hours

trying to diagnose and figure out what's going on. This one's as good as any, and at least this one is founded in sport because it's happened to countless people before. So I got to thinking, and then I remembered that a book that my uncle gave me when I was like 14 or 15, I've referenced it on the show a bunch. It's the best American sports writing of the century.

It's like a thousand pages, like a Bible, it's gold. And I've like dog eared it now from having read it so many times. There's an article in there from 1973 from Roger Angel, who's one of the greatest sports writers of all time. He wrote for the New Yorker for decades and decades, the Babe Ruth of sports writing. And he had a really long profile on Steve Blass.

For those that don't know who Steve Blass is, he's like the godfather of the Yips. I hate saying it that way, but it was called Steve Blass disease for the longest time because he was the first athlete, specifically Major League Baseball player, whose career was ended by what Jace was talking about, the Yips, and there's a million different phrases for it.

But what this article does and what's crazy about it is that you brought up a really great point. No one likes to talk about it. In fact, most athletes don't talk about it. I'm a Rick Ankeel coming on our show. It's like pulling teeth, trying to get him to really talk about it. Like really. And his career was over at that time, right?

Yeah. And like really, really talk about it. Yeah. And this is- It's so embarrassing. Right. So this article, and I'll put it up on Twitter later so everyone can have a read it for free free on the New Yorker website because it's like you know so old now it's 50 years old. It's a PDF. Yeah really you have to go to the library to get it out. It's on microfiche.

So it goes into very very elaborate detail about the depths and lengths that one goes to try and solve it. And then the lead and the crux of the whole thing is how everything stopped being fun and how miserable life became. Yeah. And that really hung in the ether when I was thinking about this, I'm like, whoa, okay. Just, you know, they had some great anecdotes

from Steve Blass's teammates who watched it go down. And they're like, I don't understand how he could do it. Because at the end, the spoiler alert, is it ruined his career. And the pirates kept him on the roster, like the 30 man, the 60 man roster, whatever. But he just stood there in the dugout and watched. And they said they never had more respect for a teammate

because he was like, the amount of struggle he was going through and then just to be drummed out of the team, having been a very big part of it, was heartbreaking to watch. And here's the other thing, they never figured out what went wrong. Never figured it out. He went to psychiatrists, he did,

what's it, transcendental meditation. Transcendental, yeah. Is that what it is? Yeah, I don't know. Anyway, he said people were mailing him, because this is back in the day, this is in the 70s, amulets and potions and everything else. Oh, he talked to John Tavares.

Right, John Tavares was like, try this. And then finally- That means never got the yips. Someone, and then they were like, the big mushroom cloud that was hanging over. That's the right phrase was he was close friends with Roberto Clemente. Roberto Clemente died in the tragic plane crash. And even Steve Blassett, he's like, you know, I've looked inside myself and I've done the studying of myself.

That wasn't it. Like, there was no correlation between the personal tragedy and me getting the yips. Like no one could explain why it happened. It just happened. Uh, we're getting a lot of texts into the Dunbar Lumber Text Line saying, yeah, I think you're onto something. Graf, you're the best. We love you. You're so handsome. A lot of that. Well, no, I think you're onto something. Bro, you're the best. We love you.

You're so handsome. A lot of that. Well, no, but seriously, Jeremy Abbott for Texin, he goes, I'm a welder. And when I was young and learning the trade, I went through about a year where I was regressing. I had a high stress job with major deadlines. It got to a point where I couldn't even lay

down a basic weld. Took a lot of mental work to get through it. The yips are real and they can affect anyone. Yeah. It affects, uh, Adog. It affects musicians, uh, guitarists, pianists, that happens. Sometimes I would sit down at the piano and

just forget how to play. See, you're joking because you don't, you don't, you've never experienced it. No, really. No, really. Sometimes, yeah, you get so nervous, you just forget every, or actually it's even better with acting, really. Sometimes, yeah, you get so nervous you just forget every... Or actually, it's even better with acting. You memorize a script, you know it page to page, an entire play or an entire TV script

or whatever, and you memorize it perfectly of every single word. But then you get there, you get super nervous, and you forget all your lines. And it takes you like five, 10 minutes to psych yourself up and get back into it. Obviously, this is not what's happening with Petey. He can't just psych himself into it, but I understand what you mean. This is the frustrating thing about the yips. And by the way, I mean, I'm like, Bruff, are you projecting on this? Because I've dealt with the yips on the golf course ever since I played punting,

chipping. And you can go out and you can practice and you can think, OK, I got this. Like, you can be around the chipping green for two hours and be can think, okay, I got this, right? Like you can be around the Chippin' Green for two hours and be like, all right, I think I figured something out. And normally you've like, like changed your grip to something super weird, right? Like you tried something completely different.

Like remember in that scene in Tin Cup? Yeah. Where like, he's like, put this, uh, put this behind your ear now, like, you know, like put your sunglasses on or something. And, and, you something, at any rate. But then you get out on the course and the first time you got it, your hands explode. Right.

Right? Now those- And you're just like, God! And the biggest- And it lives with you, man. Right. It lives with you because it's like, and I can't imagine, I'm the furthest thing from an elite athlete out there.

Well, that's the thing. But I can't imagine, you're Chuck Knobluck, you've played baseball your whole life and you can't throw the ball to first from second base? Yep. And that's your livelihood. That's the big difference, right? Like if you all do respect to your robust golf game, but if you've got the yips at golf and you just stop playing golf, your life's not going to change that dramatically.

Like you'll miss the activity and it'll be a leisure thing that you don't do anymore. But your life is probably gonna be pretty much the same. For a lot of these professional athletes that have gone through this, it's their identity, their livelihood, everything. Everything that they've understood, everything that they've trained their bodies to do for decades and decades suddenly sabotages them

and leaves them. And it's the most mundane, simple tasks. Throwing a ball in a general vicinity, landing a jump that you've done a billion times over. I know Nick Anderson is quite the famous one from basketball, shooting free throws. He bricked those free throws in the 1994 NBA finals as a member of the Orlando Magic

and then went to becoming a 40% free throw shooter after that. Terrified of going to the line. Free throws are where it really happens. It's these times where you're alone and that's why I think you see it so obviously on the power play because again, like there was early in the game, Petey's at the right point with the puck, nobody around him.

And you could see, you could feel like he was just like, okay, well I can't shoot. I can barely move here. I'm going to just pass this off. Nothing looks natural. And that's the whole thing. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. ["Rick Dollywall Theme Song"] Rick Dollywall. ["Rick Dollywall Theme Song"] Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall.

Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly. Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dolly Browse 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. Rick Dollywall 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. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. To the phone lines we go. Rick Dollywall from the Donnie and Dolly Show

on CheckTV joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up Ricky D? Gentlemen, it's Friday, let's go, let's go. What'd you think of the game last night? What was the big story for you? Well, I'll get to the big story, but I do want to say, hey, look, the Canucks wake up this morning in a playoff spot, second wild card spot, thanks to the Flames losing at

home to the Avalanche last night. I did not think they would need overtime against the worst team in the NHL, but they did. Drew O'Connor, the winner on a penalty shot in OT. I got a little O'Connor tip for you. He has signed up a car deal with Basant Motors. Oh, God. I know. Good but bad. I bring the goods to you guys. I bring the goods. Basant Motors, a proud sponsor of your station and Donnie and Dolly. So the latest Canuck to get a deal

with Besant Motors is Drew O'Connor. And by the way, what is it with these Pittsburgh guys? They've been in town for a week. One guy gets a six year deal. The other guy gets a car deal. What's going on here? Anyways, the other positive for me is Thatcher Demko. Last four games, three and one, 1.25 goals against average, 9.53 save percentage. Remember a couple of weeks ago, remember Canucks Twitter, get them out of town. He's done. He's, you know, get them out of town, trade them. He's washed up. Well, it was a little different last night, wasn't it? Looks like the old Demko's returning,

which is massive for the Canucks because they are not scoring anywhere near the clip that they did last year. So get ready for a lot of low scoring games from here on in. But look, I talk, Canucks are by the way, 5-1-1 in their past seven, but I'm sorry guys. I just left that game last night really wondering what has happened to Elias Pettersson. 1.4 games since Miller left. We were told Miller gone would make a difference It hasn't. Zeroes across the board last night. Not even a shot on goal One shot on goal in the last two games and the teams had 10 power plays in those two games He spends a ton of time in the power play

He's got no goals in eight. No points in three We saw McKinnon, McCarr and Netschis this week roll into town. What did they look like to you? All three of those guys, dangerous. Um, Patterson just doesn't look dangerous when he touches the puck. It's not that anyone's picking on them. You just want to see a difference maker and that's not close to happening right now.

This isn't Carolina or Columbus. You can't get away underperforming with a big contract in this town. We had Yannick Hansen or Ray Ferraro both say this week on our show, they're baffled as to why Pederson has looked average when Ray Ferraro says he's got no answers, that's telling like. Ray is the best storyteller in the market. And when you ask him about Pedersen like we did, and he said, I don't know, I don't know.

I think he said, I don't know five times. Alveen said last night on 650, he's not injured. He said it on your station. He said, nope, he's not injured. He's dealt with stuff, but he's not injured. They just want him to prepare better. They want him to get better every day. There is nobody I know that thinks he's injured.

People need to realize that Alvin Rutherford and Tauke came from Pittsburgh. Who is in Pittsburgh? Sidney Crosby, first guy on the ice, last guy off the ice, first guy in off-season workouts. Crosby has set the standard for superstars, with the way he conducts himself on and off the ice and he gets better every day. That's the standard Alveen wants from his superstar. I'm also going to be interested to see how Pedersen plays at the Four Nations. How will Sam Halam use him? He won't... I had to get... That was well done though, that was well done.

How will Sam Halam use them? Cue black Betty. Anyways, he won't be playing teams like San Jose in that tournament. The other thing I want to say to you guys is this. These athletes go through the same things you guys and me, average Joe Blow goes through. They have stresses at the rink. They have stresses away from the rink. We saw a player, Miller, take a 10 game

leave this year to sort things out. We may, we think these athletes live a perfect life because they make millions and millions of dollars when in reality they go through the same ups and downs that everybody else in society does as well. Yeah. And they have to do them in public, making it even harder in some cases.

Yeah. I have a tour. Yeah. And they have to do them in public, making it even harder in some cases. Yeah. I have a. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for that Adog. I was about to just say, I have a tremendous amount of empathy for Elias Pedersen in this situation and then Black Betty came on. Hard to.

Um, you know, I, I, I vehemently disagree with all these people that are just like, he doesn't care, he got paid, now he doesn't care. It's nonsense. It's an easy answer, but it's not, I think his problem, and I talked about it earlier in the show, Rick, I don't know if you were up in time, like,

I think he's got the yips. I think he's got a classic case of the yips. I think he's terrified of failing. So in some ways that can present itself with avoidance and maybe that's him avoiding working on it because he doesn't want to, he just wants to avoid it. And maybe that's why the Canucks are kind of flummoxed by all this, because the yips are, man, it's not good to have. And we've had a lot of people texting into the

station and saying, I've had the yips, it ruined my golf, it ruined my tennis and professionally, like, you know, I was a doctor and for a while, like I was scared to do, you know, not surgeries, but you know, like it affects everything in your life because, and it's embarrassing too, because you're like, and maybe that's why he doesn't want to talk. That's my theory.

Like I saw Ray on your show yesterday. He's like, I don't know. He said, I don't know for like two minutes. I'm like, here's my theory. It's the best I got. Feel free to disagree, but that's what I think it is. Whatever it is that the Canucks need to figure it out because, and I'll get into this, their center-ice position going forward.

Because two years ago, these guys had Orvat, Miller, and Pedersen up the middle of the ice, and you can't name me five other teams in the NHL that had a better one, two, three centers, and Vancouver did two years ago, and now their center-ice position is a mess. In the sense they're starting to now look for another center. They got nothing in Abbotsford for top six centre potential and and I'll get into that later but listen whatever it is that is is holding back Pettersen they just need to figure it out like I don't know what it is I just I watch the games like you guys but when I see McKinnon like that game Colorado, every single time that guy touched the puck,

I said to myself, oh, oh, Canucks are in trouble. That's a difference maker. That's a guy with a high salary. That's a guy making 10, 11, 12, whatever he's making. But that guy was the price. Whenever Canucks fans went to see that game, they got their money's worth with McKinnon, McCarr, and Netches.

All three of those guys were great that night. And that's all you want to see from Ellysh. You just want to see a difference maker. This kid has over 400 points in 400 games. Like it's there. You know, he had over 100 points in his season. He had, I think, 89 last year. We know it's there.

But for whatever reason, since the All-Star game in Toronto last year, something is different in the sense that since that All-star game in Toronto last year, something is, is, is, is different in the sense that since that all-star game, his numbers and his play have gone down. I don't know what it is. So Rick, I wanted to follow up with something there because there are a number of fans that are absolutely 1000% convinced that PD has hurt.

And this goes back to him saying that he has, he had knee tendonitis during last season. And then he said, when they returned this year, he said, yeah, the knee wasn't perfect. I was able to work around it, but it wasn't perfect. The Canucks have downplayed the knee tendonitis. He hasn't missed any games because of it. But so what are you hearing about this? Because I would like to investigate this

further because I have been wrong before. Okay. So if he does have any time, is it not in the best interest of the hockey club and the player to take a one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, five weeks off? What's the big deal? Look at, look at Colorado's best player,

Landis God, one of their best, their captain. He hasn't played in a year and a half to fix the issue. What's the problem if he does have knee tendonitis? Isn't it in everyone's best interest to sit him a month or two or three? Who cares? When Landisgog's been out a year and a half close to two, it's okay to sit your star players. So if it is an issue, why are they not sitting them? But you ask yourself Jason, why are they not sitting if he's got an issue? I don't think it's the issue Rick. I don't think it's the issue, but I get constant pushback from people that are like, you know, they'll show me his skating stats and his speed stats and there's

sort of compelling information there, but I think he's just like, God, in Austin he's lost his mojo, right? Like he's no confidence, none. He's scared. He wouldn't be the first player to sit out a month or two. Big deal. Sit him out. If you can fix the knee and if that's the issue, sit him out and say, okay, um, uh, Elias, you're going to sit for eight weeks. You're going to get better. And when you come back in eight weeks, you're going to be perfect. Okay? Let's do that.

Plan is resolved. They're not doing that. They're not doing that. So clearly to me, he's not injured. The general manager went on your radio station last night and said he's not injured. I don't get it. Quinn Hughes is injured. Oh yeah.

Do you think he's going to go to the Four Nations? Okay. I was told yesterday, and I mentioned it it on the show that Hughes is dealing with an oblique injury. It affects your muscles in the abdominal region between your ribs and your pelvis on the front side of your body. You know, I googled that right? Because there's no way out. There's no way on God's green earth. I would know that. That's the great thing about Google, right? Anyways, someone described it to me yesterday as day to day, but we'll see. Will he play against the Leafs tomorrow? That's the big one, right? We should find out soon. On the one side, he's been banged up for a while. He's got the hand injury, it's always taped up and now he's got this other issue that's popped up in the last week.

The rest would do them wonders, but here's the other side. He is very competitive, really looking forward to the best on best and playing, guess what guys, with his brother. Um, there is obvious concern this week from the American team. They've been active all week, getting all the information they can on Hugh's injury all week long. When Hughes agent JP Berry told us on the show Monday that Hughes were playing the Four Nations, you've got to remember where JP was coming from. It was Monday morning. The night before Hughes took the pregame warm-up against the Red Wings was a very late scratch. Clearly it's been nagging as the week has progressed. So I would say to you

that in the next 24 hours we'll get an answer on two fronts. Will he play against Toronto? And if he plays against Toronto, you just know you're not holding the kid back for the four nations. The Marcus Pedersen contract, how did it come together so quickly? The Marcus Pederson contract, how did it come together so quickly? Well, first of all, Pederson's a character guy. This is a good signing. Leadership with this management team, he's got leadership character. This management team knows him from the Pittsburgh days. Here's something not a lot of people know. Rutherford and Alveen got Pederson out of Anaheim and into Pittsburgh in 2017.

Canucks really wanted to do this signing fast. They were very proactive here. They signed the player five days after acquiring them in a trade. There was no pressure on the player or the agent. Players work really hard all career long to become UFAs. You need to play seven years or be age 27 to become unrestricted. Most will check the waters on July 1st, but Pederson felt comfortable with Alveen and Rutherford. There was no hesitation on his part to do this quickly. When you give up a first round draft pick, you got to sign the guy.

Bottom line, Penguins GM Kyle Dubas told the Canucks and every other team two months ago, you're not getting Pederson unless there's a first round pick involved. And good on Dubas for hanging in there because he got it. Soon as they got the first in the Miller trade, they got their guy. Some are still surprised. They flipped that first round pick so fast. But hey, when you target a player and you believe in them that way, why not just get it over with, get it done.

Now, I got to tell you this, the next defenseman signing for the Canucks will be Tom Olander out of Boston University in a few weeks. I'll be shocked if he doesn't sign. With Ellysh Pettersson, the defenseman showing so much promise, the Canucks could have, I mean, this is could, they could have three drafted defensemen on their roster next year. When is the last time? Oh, thank God. That has happened in this market. Never in the last 15 years. I can't think of three drafted defensemen in their lineup. Like it's just never. And they're finally drafting and developing because there's two more down there coming up, Saw that so you're a menu and could write out to have two more

promise indeed so they're finally finally so guess who got the canucks to defenseman poor that j t miller they got philip or ornick and marcus peterson that's great for the blue light but it's left them in a jam at the center ice position they're looking for a toxic center those guys don't grow on trees and the ones that are available are expensive.

Go look out how many teams are in on Dylan Cousins. So many teams are looking for the exact same thing the Canucks are. Hard to believe the Canucks had Horvat Miller and Peterson up the mill two years ago and now look at the centre ice position. One last thing, there is nothing in Abbotsford remotely close to a top six center. It would not surprise anybody if the Canucks target a center with their number one draft

pick this summer. They need to get quality centers in the system. Hey, when's Drew O'Connor getting his contract extension? Well, he's got the card, contracts next. They love them. They love them. And there was a lot of interest. You know, Elliot said in the West with Edmonton and uh... also las vegas but also in the east this is a little bit this guy was a desirable player and the canucks targeted him he had to look at look at last night he before check look at the goal against uh... was it was first game

uh... the first goal in front of the net for check speed size uh... how can you let him go all for that i? I mean, this is a must sign, just like Pedersen will be shocked if they don't get him done. And it's not a, it's not a six times six deal, right? It's give the guy term, give him two, three years, give him a, you know, whatever 1.5 or two or whatever he's asking for, just get it done. You like the guy, you got him, just get it done with.

You know, I was struck by one, something that Patrick Alveen said on the station yesterday and he was talking about the new guys, Hedlveen said on the station yesterday and he was talking about the new guys, Hedl and Drew O'Connor, and he was saying the game is all about speed. Yep. And it made me think about Brock Besser and

whether or not. Yeah. Brock's, you know, like he does a lot of good things. I really like Brock Besser as a player, not the fastest guy. And is it possible that they just don't value Brock Besser as much player, not the fastest guy. And is it possible that they just don't value Brock Besser as much as maybe some other teams

around the league might? I don't think they do. So let me get into this. The trade deadline is a month today, by the way, guys, a month today and Brock Besser is still not signed. So I'm told, still quiet on the Besser contract front, now this could go a lot of different ways.

You can sign them, you can trade them. You can also keep them at the trade deadline because you're in a playoff spot. They wake up this morning in a playoff spot. The owner wants playoff revenue. Some think this might go past the deadline. I wouldn't rule that out, folks. Amazing.

Even yesterday on your station, Patrick Alveen keeps saying, we're evaluating the Besser situation So they found the solution to the Marcus Peterson situation in five days The better Besser situation is now in month seven Alveen said it takes two sides to make it work. That is GM code For we are far apart as is the case, it's about money in term. I do believe that Canucks want Besser back.

The term could be the biggest issue, especially if Brock's asking for eight years. They just signed Marcus Pedersen, he's 28. Six year deal he got, right? Besser turns 28 in two weeks. I would imagine that Canucks would like a five, six year deal with Besser, just like Marcus Pedson same age same age

Keep that one. So the other one I'm going to tell you the one comparable that the Besser camp used was Travis Connect me at eight point seven. I do not believe he's gonna get that connect me at the top I think it was 18. I think he's 18th in the NHL. I think he's on pace for 90 95 points He's a really good player in Philly, but can Besser get 8 million on July 1st? Time is going to tell, the clock is ticking, this guy's been a model draft pick on and off the ice. He's 10th all time, he's 10th all time at Canucks scoring in nine years, averaging 24 goals every year. I know the speed thing but there has got, okay now take a look, take Besser out of the top six what do you

got left for wingers garland debrasco connor insure what you tell me out of those more i just mentioned who's going to score twenty four goals next year out of those guys you you're taking a veteran guy by the way very well like in the dressing room right and so look it's the canucks call, but I do

believe they're trying, but it takes two to tango. Don't believe they're close. Well, I mean, a situation you might want to compare it to is, you know, Jake de Bruyce wasn't a superstar by any means, but look at how much trouble the Bruins have scoring without him. You know, like they already had issues and then they took him away and they used their

cap space elsewhere on, you know, Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov. And then you're looking at that team and you're going, who can score goals here? Marshawn? Yeah. Pastranak? Yeah.

Who else? Anyone? Yep, absolutely. Okay. So I just, I challenge you to go look at the top six wingers without Besser and you tell me if that's acceptable going forward and you know what, look, but if he's

asking for eight times eight, it's not going to happen, right? It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. Again, Marcus Pederson, 28 years old, the Canucks gave him six years. Besser turns 28 in two weeks. I'd imagine you probably want those 28 year olds

in five, six years. I, you know, but they gave Miller at the same age, they gave Miller seven, you know, they gave Miller seven and they got rid of him in two and a half. Hey, another UFA I want to quickly talk about and give you guys an update is it's pretty quiet on the Kevin Lincoln in front. There were talks after January 1st. There was actually pretty good talks. Uh, the Canucks wanted to get something done.

Things have slowed down. The agent wanted to know the salary cap number for next year, so he knows the number now, but I'm still hearing quiet right now on the Kevin Lankin in front. Now, if Demko returns to form and shows durability the rest of the season, things could change for Lankin. Canucks may not need to pay big money for the backup if that's in a damp goes

back if lincoln and keeps playing good the rest of the season he's got a most likely price himself out of the market anyways he's going to cost over four million maybe four and a half I don't know like have you seen the goalie contracts this year they've all been over five and I'm waiting for Lindgren's number in, in Washington. It could be 3.5 to four. So the Goli contracts this year are working in Lankton in his favor.

Uh, but I'm just, that that's going to be a situation that look, a Demko that returns to old Demko could change a lot of things. Then the Canucks don't have to pay a ton but they probably you do. Lanken improved this year to everybody in Vancouver and including Canuck management the importance of a good backup. He saved their bacon. The only reason they're in a playoff spot today is when Demko was not there Lanken and held the fort and held the fort and did a great job. It

shows you the importance of a good backup. Rick real quick. Is there a market for Carson Susie? First, I quickly, I just want to say, I talked to his agent, Jerry Johansson. They, the first preference is for him to stay. They want to make it work in Vancouver. If not, Johansson will work with the Canucks to help facilitate the trade. When Susie signed in Vancouver, he had six to seven teams after him. Vancouver made the final three. He's from Viking, Alberta.

Vancouver made a lot of sense. Young family. Now, here we are a year and a half in, the Canucks want to move them. You know what? I don't like this. The Canucks are getting, they got to be careful here. They're signing too many guys and then getting rid of them way too quickly in the term deals. Never mind putting Pedersen and Miller on the market quickly after seven

and eight years deals. That's not the reputation you want as an organization. Hey, sign here for three years, but we're going to get rid of you in 18 months. Canucks traded Curtis Lazar 45 games in with three year deal. One or two of these bad deals is okay, but they're doing this way too much. And you know, maybe it has a, you maybe agents say you know what we're not going to sign a Vancouver because you you get rid of guys one year into three-year deals like you know what you they got to be careful here he's got a full no trade he's making 3.2 I don't think no I don't know Jason if that's an easy contract to move

but he's been good in the last two games. He had to move to the right side because Elly's Petterson is playing well on the left side. The left side is rock solid in Vancouver. It's rock solid. So maybe they try, maybe they don't, but the agents are willing to work with them either way. Rick, you are rock solid, my friend. Yeah, brother.

Thank you for taking the time. Hey, get your toques on, your gloves on, it's cold out there. Be safe, be warm. What are you laughing at? I'm serious. I don't go anywhere without my toque. I got a big thick toque and it's 24 seven boys. All right buddy, enjoy the weekend. Stay warm. Adios. That's Rick Dollywall and his big thick toque here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.