Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 3/19/26

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they preview tonight's Nucks home matchup versus the Tampa Bay Lightning with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Dude, I've been playing hockey, right? So that's where my head's at. Hudson, two-centered. First goal. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

This Halford, it is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming here live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. morning. Maydog, good morning to you. Good morning.

Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halpert and breath of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to 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 the middle of 17-Powell Street in Vancouver. We're coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech. If you want to text in to the show, 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber Text Line, trusted by contractors and DIY champions

across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online today. We got a lot to get into on the program today. Our morning guest list, it's the Duick Morning Drive, brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins it.

7 o'clock this morning. Eric Erlinson is going to join us from lightning insider.com. The bolts are in town tonight to take on your Vancouver Canucks. 7 o'clock puck drop from Rogers Arena. Eric is going to join us for a lightning preview at 7 a.m. this morning. 730, Jason Greger is going to join us from Sports Radio 1440 out of Edmonton. Lots of news out of Edmonton lately as it pertains to the Oilers. You have the dry-sidal injury.

Connor Ingram, they're starting going. goalie. And of course, tonight's very intriguing rematch against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, who of course beat the Edmonton Oilers in each of the last two Stanley Cup finals. Jason is going to join us at 7.30 this morning. 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk is going to join us. As mentioned, Canucks are back in action tonight. 7 o'clock from Rogers Arena against the bolts. Friendly reminder, you can hear pre, post, and the actual game all right here. on SportsNet 650 beginning at 5 p.m. Drance is going to join us at 8. Speaking of 8 a.m. that is, we're giving away a four pack of tickets

to see the Monster Jam at the Pacific Coliseum. That's a monster truck show. It's got nothing to do with jam. See all your favorites like El Toro Loco and Gravedigger. Saturday, March 28th at 7 p.m. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning gets a four pack of tickets. 604-280-0-650. Oh, but we're not done yet.

God, we got a lot of business to do on there. show. Are the other shows doing business? No. We're the only one. Are we the only one that does business? We do. We have so many giveaways on this show. We stand on business. This is all business. We're already zoning out of the show. Is that good? I'm one of the hosts. Wait now. Just wait. Don't zone out yet. Because we're giving away. Inside braves had better that da da da da da da da da da da da da da da. Don't zone out just yet because we're giving away a pair of tickets to see the giants and camloops blazers this Saturday, March 21st at the Langley events. Center. Caller number five at 7.30 gets those tickets. Same phone number 604, 280, 0650. At the risk of alienating more of our listeners or hosts, I won't run the guest list in reverse.

Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I lose. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed that? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best of tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca.ca. The Kinecks had the day off yesterday ahead of tonight's visit from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

They'll skate this morning at Rogers Arena, so we'll see if there are any changes to the lineup. Curtis Douglas was the Healthy Scratch Tuesday against Florida. And while it's hard to imagine foot will change a winning lineup, He was like, we just beat the two-time defending champs. I think that makes us the champs. I think that makes us the two-time defending champs. I do wonder if he'll be tempted to have Douglas in there against the NHL's most penalized team.

There aren't really goon teams anymore in the NHL like there used to be, but if there was one, it'd be Tampa Bay, believe it or not. Nils Hoaglander did not have a great game against the Panthers, so we'll see what Foote decides there. I do want to spend most of the Canucks segment this morning on their opponent at Tampa Bay Lightning because the bolts have lost three straight first rounds since losing to Colorado in the Stanley Cup final back in 2022. And I think it's fair to say there's a little bit of pressure on the Tampa Bay Lightning

this season. They've still got a chance to catch Buffalo for the division title. But regardless of where they finish first or second in that division, they're likely to face Montreal, Boston, or Detroit in the first round. Maybe Columbus. At any rate, you got to think they're going to be the favorites against their opponents in the first round. More importantly, perhaps for them,

they won't have to play the Florida Panthers who won't make the playoffs this season and who knocked them out the past two seasons on their way to those back-to-back titles. Now, the bolts have been scuffling a bit lately, with just three wins in their last 10 games, but they're coming off a 6-2 win in Seattle on Tuesday, so maybe things are starting to turn around for them a little bit.

They picked up Corey Perry at the trade deadline from Los Angeles, so that certainly didn't bring their average age down. I was looking at some of the average ice times and ages of the lightning last night. Victor Headman, I knew who was old. He's 35. His average ice time is way down this season. Ryan McDonough is 36. The top pairing on Tampa Bay is actually Darren Radish, who's having a crazy season.

17 goals for the Blue Liner. For like a caput of a million bucks. Not for long, though. And J.J. Mosier. So that's a big difference from past years. What's not different, Nikita Kuturoff is having another amazing season. Hart caliber year. He has 111 points in 62 games.

That's pretty good. 111 points in 62 games, which is actually a better clip than Connor McDavid, who has more points, but who's played much more games. Well, not much more games, but more games than Nikita Kutrov. The Lightning don't really have a glaring weakness. They score a lot of goals. They defend well. Special teams are solid. And oh, yeah, they got Vasilevsky and Net, who might just win his second Vezna this season.

will John Cooper finally win the Jack Adams Award? The betting favorite right now is Lindy Ruff, which is pretty typical of how that award goes. You know, there's sometimes when teams have like a crazy regular season, and they'll be like, well, they got to get the award there. When the Bruins had like 132 points, Yeah. Who's their coach

that was Cassidy, right? That was the Jim Montgomery year. That was the Jim Montgomery year. Yeah, right. He won coach of the year. But I always wonder when voters are voting, do they just look at like,

here's a team that has been bad for a while? And now they're good. So that coach should be coach of the year. Because I think those voters should have to answer like some fundamental questions about their vote? Like, what specifically did Lindy Ruff do this season

that he didn't do last season when the Sabres weren't very good? It's a fair question. Don't you think? Yeah. He's like, oh, well, this season, my owner fired the general manager and that seemed to give us the bump that we needed to do.

Like, do you know what I mean? Like, I think they should at least ask themselves, like, what did it? did you do to help this turnaround? It would be the next evolution. Like I think Talkett, I think Talkett, I mean, people are like, oh, brough here, you know, say nice things about talking again. I think there were like easy things that you could point to that Talk it did.

Like he taught them structure. He taught them how to defend. Yep. And that fundamentally changed. You know, when Barry Trots went to the New York Islanders, he did the same thing and the Islander's record improved. And he wins coach. of the year. At any rate. Well, okay, it's funny. Okay, a couple things. It's funny that you

mentioned Barry Trots in that year in the Islanders because that year that he won it with the islanders back in 2019 is probably the year in retrospect that they should have given it to John Cooper because that was the year where Tampa Bay smashed all sorts of regular season records. They had 62 wins in 82 games. They had 128 points. Now that team most famously was remember is the team that got swept in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets. And really the time of Cooper's career where I think he actually faced some job security

questions. I remember people saying, do you have to fire the coach? The organization, of course, said no, and he's gone on to great success since then. But as far as the Jack Adams goes, that was the one year where I thought Cooper should have won. Maybe he'll win it this year. But to your point, I do wonder

if that's the next stage in the evolution of voter transparency. Because we already know who votes for what, now. The PWAHA made that a priority. I wonder if the next phase of it is, especially for people that have questionable ballots and weird decisions,

that maybe they'll be a public push to explain your thinking behind it. Because oftentimes, when you hear these guys explain these very off-the-wall picks, there is some lot. It might be flawed logic. But you know what? The important part is they put some thought into it

and they tried, as opposed to people that are just blindly filling out their ballots. Yeah. It's not easy being a coach for a long time like Cooper has been in Tampa Bay. You know, look, he's had some great players to coach, and he still does. But history shows in the NHL that it's hard to keep guys motivated and sharp. Messages get stale. How long did it take for Tocke's message to get stale?

A year and a half? Pretty quick. Players get complacent. They have fights with each other. other, well, not in most markets, but some, you know, I was reading a quote from John Cooper and he said, you have to keep reinventing yourself and you keep, you can't keep going to the same well all the time because that act will get old with the guys. The second you start resting on your laurels and you think you conquered it, I'll be standing where you are right now. It's about challenging

yourself. That quote was from 2018. Eight years ago and he's still the coach. It sounds like he's got a real partnership with his players where he sets the system but is open to any new ideas. Now you do need a mature group to do that and you do need players who want to provide their input and that's guys that want to win and that's guys that want to achieve something special as a group. You know, the one thing I've always noticed about Cooper is how comfortable he looks in his own skin. He just, he just really looks or sounds rattled, even in high pressure situations.

And you think of all the high pressure situations he's been in. I mean, the Olympics, Canada was on the ropes twice before they finally fell to the Americans. I'm sure he's not always composed inside. But that's the message he sends to his players. like, don't worry, guys, I've prepared for this. And for the most part, Coop has prepared for things. I do love this story. He told about being a rookie coach in the NHL because it was a really honest, honest admission from him. And he said, when he first came into the league, he didn't know the NHL, obviously. And he said, to be honest, I'd get off the bus and fake that I was talking on myself. cell phone just so the players would walk ahead of me and I could follow them and see where the

locker rooms were. Smooth. I respect the hell out of that move and I've done it many times in NHL ranks where I don't know where to go and it's a bad feeling when you get in there you're like where's the, you know, for us, it's like, where's the media room? Sure. You know, it's like you don't know. Yeah. You know, it's kind of, it's not like, some of those places aren't the most like welcoming places and for Coup he's probably just like, I'm the head coach. I'm the head coach. I've got to take this very important call. You guys go ahead of me. I'm talking to my general manager.

You got to make sure that you got to make sure when you fake the phone call that you don't have anything. Like your phone isn't in a position or something on the screen that makes it obvious that you are faking the phone call. That is a big part of it. Having done it numerous times, I do it mostly to avoid other conversations. That's what I do too.

I see someone coming on the horizon. I'm like, time to take a fake phone call. Yeah, yeah. If there's a whole group of people and I'm like, I don't want to talk. I'll be like, oh, Thank you, phone. And will you, will you fake talking? I'll do the fake cadence.

You know what I'll fake? I'll be like, yep, yep. Like I won't have long sentences, but I'll act like the other person is talking a lot. I'm like, I'm like, yep, we can do that. We can do that. All right. Okay. Listen, I just got to get going here.

And then I just like start kind of like picking it up a little. The important thing is to not tie yourself into too much improvisation. So it's as if you're taking a phone call where there's a lot of instruction on the other end. And you're doing a lot of like, yes, no. That gives a sense of importance. Like this guy's getting directions or he's getting things that he needs to get done told to him on the other line. It's an important part of the fake phone call. By the way, aside from Coop's fake phone call anecdote, I could talk about him for hours and hours because he is one of the great stories of the last decade of the NHL that we don't talk about enough.

his longevity in an industry where coaches get turned over with great regularity really should be celebrated more. The fact that he's never won a Jack Adams, I think is a testament to that. We almost take him for granted. He's widely regarded as the best of his class, the best coach in his industry. But don't you think there's pressure on the lightning this season to do something in the playoffs? Because, listen, I'll compare him to another guy that is no longer the coach, and that's Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh.

Mike Tomlin did a really good job in Pittsburgh, given the talent that he had some years. Yeah. Like you'd get them to the playoffs for the most part. The problem became that he couldn't get them further than just getting to the playoffs. But you wouldn't say that his job security is on the line if they don't do anything in the postseason.

No, but not that kind of pressure. There's pressure for this group to get out of the first round, having failed in the previous three. But maybe you go into next season and you're like, now there's pressure. Like the pressure starts to build. Three first round exits. Yeah.

For the team that they've got and some of the money that they've invested. I don't know about job security, but I think it's just, you know, for Koup himself, he was the head coach of Canada that didn't win the Olympic gold medal. So, you know, most people like Kube. You know, the worst you could say is that sometimes he it's a little preachy, right? But I think, you know, I think he's got good things to say.

Like, I don't find him, I don't find him preachy. Sometimes he can get a little long wind in and act like he's the wisest man on earth. But in some ways, he's pretty wise. I don't even necessarily mind his approach on that. I think he's very, he's very introspective and he's very thought-provoking when he speaks. I look at what he's done. And since he's broken into the NHL, he's made the playoffs in 12 out of 13 years behind the bench. And that includes two wins in the Stanley Cup final

and two more trips where they lost the Stanley Cup final. So four out of 13, he was in the dance to try and win a cup. And it is, it's funny because we only really talk about coaches in this league when it's time to get rid of them. Very rarely do we celebrate the guy that stays in one market for as long as he does and just does nothing but win games and get his team to the playoffs. And how much of an advantage does he have?

that market. Well, see, now this is the other thing we need to get to is this organization, when we talk about the Vancouver Canucks going through a rebuild and things that they want to emulate, we look at Montreal because of their rebuild and it's the most recent one in their Canadian team. A lot of what the Tampa Bay Lightning have done probably isn't, you're not able to replicate it in this market. They've got the advantage of being in a no-tax state.

They've got inherently great players that they can continually build around and shift from era to era. But I want to... They got good weather and the players can live well. But I want to... With real estate prices down there. But when you talk about the ability you turn over the roster

under the same head coach, when John Cooper broke in as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, he was coaching Marty St. Louis, who's now a head coach in the league. And his oldest player on the roster, I kid you not, in his first year,

was 39-year-old Sammy Sallow. That's how long John Cooper has been around. And that's how much you've turned over that roster. Cool if the Lightning played the Habs in the first round. It's very possible. Yeah, I was thinking about that. It might be the number one most likely opponent for the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Montreal

Canadians. And then he plays Marty St. Louis. He's like, didn't I used to coach you? Didn't you score 29 goals for me one year when you were like 38? And he did. And I look at that team and I say, what are some of the signature hallmarks of that team? And one of them is the ability to make tough decisions on players and cut bait when it's no longer time for them to serve a purpose on your club.

The biggest one is Steve Stamco's, but they've done it with other guys as well. Julian Breezebaugh is a very good and also at times ruthless general manager. Yeah. But they have some advantages that allows them to go out and get guys, but they've done a remarkable job of mining talent from discarded draft picks and finding guys that have been overlooked in the draft, finding guys that have carved their way up through the American League and have been able to give them big minutes.

And they do it with the kind of regularity that makes you think that it's not a fluke. They don't just have a ton of luck. I mean, look at the D. It's unbelievable. Darren Radish and J.J. Mosier? Yeah. But that being said,

will that be good enough to win a Stanley Cup? You know, Victor Hedman, when he was at his peak, was an unbelievable defenseman, at times the best defenseman in the game. I don't think anyone's really saying that about Darren Rattish or J.J. Mosier. Not yet. But you're right, though.

Like, I mean, they find their way to the playoffs more often than not. And normally they have a very good regular season. And people are, people look at the standings these days and they're just like, yeah, there's Tampa Bay there. They're always there. Okay. Speaking of the standings, let's rip into some of these games from last night. Last night, of course, was a battle of the two top teams in the standings, both of them, both Central Division foes. It was the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars.

Ottinger 33 saves, all three saves in the shootout. Dallas, who didn't play especially well, I think they only registered 18 shots on net through regulation and overtime, still managed to win 2-1 against the Colorado Avalanche. So now I'm really keeping an eye on the abs because they look very disjointed post-deadline. While they outshot the stars last night, they still only managed to find the back of the net once. Bednar was pretty happy with their effort.

I watched his post-game presser, and he said, listen, if we play like that most of the time, I'm going to be probably pretty happy with the results. But they're not winning games. They've lost three of their last four and four of their last. five, I think they're going to be fine long term, but anytime you make as many significant changes like they did at the deadline, there is a pressure. You can feel it mounting to everything needs to start clicking, and it needs to start clicking soon. I wonder if there's a bit of a hangover from

the Olympics. Potentially. I, you know, it could very much be a thing. Just emotional. I mean, your energy levels, you just got to keep them high. And, you know, Tampa Bay is coming into this game tonight, scuffling a little bit. And they're trying to find their game. And that could very well be a Stanley Cup final like it was a few years ago. The game I watched last night was Washington and Ottawa. Man, Ottawa, Ottawa, they're a good hockey team. But, you know, Olmark led in a bit of a, well, a bit of a bad one, I would say. I think it was Tom Wilson shot, kind of a bit of a sneaky shot that beat him that he wasn't

really prepared for and was a quick shot. Omar's been doing a lot of that lately. Yeah, it's been a time. I mean, it's their main issue. It's their main issue. And I would say maybe finishing as well. Apparently Brady Kachuk's effort level hasn't quite been max. Olympic hangover.

Their Olympic hangover. I mean, there's a guy to watch this offseason. As much of the Sends will complain about us speculating. And as much as Brady Kichuk will say, you know, I'm the captain of this team. I'm staying like, I'm sorry. But with everything that's happened in the family and also just the trend, I think any American player playing in Canada, a superstar level player, and we're going to talk about Austin Matthews that way, we're going to wonder about what happens this offseason. I did see that Tom Wilson had a big hit on Shane Pinto behind the net. Did you see that?

So, you know, as the NFL GM's meetings reportedly had some spicy moments, Eric Tolski, there's. the general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes apparently went at Batman, Betman pretty good. Yeah, so did Pat Verbeek? And Betman went back at Eric Tolski pretty good, but that was on the issue of headshots. Like, I think there was a goalie interference fight. That was Verbeek. And there was, yeah, and there was a headshots fight that Eric Tolski was apparently leading.

And he just said, look, the standard is dropped on headshots. And listen, Tom Wilson's a tall guy. And Eric Pinto was. was kind of turned his body at the last minute. But, you know, the head was the first contact for sure. And, you know, there was a couple Sends fans that talked about it online, but otherwise it was kind of like, yeah, he didn't get a penalty for the head. Yeah.

You got a roughing penalty later because the Sends kind of went at him a little bit. But at any rate, I'll be curious to see what more comes of that. The Sends, that was a bad loss for them. You know, they can't afford these losses. Washington is not in the playoffs right now? They're hanging around it. They're hanging around it. Washington's another good team.

The Sends are a plus 17 goal differential. The caps are plus 12. Columbus is plus eight. You know, Detroit is hanging on by the skin of its teeth. They've got that second wild card spot. They've got the minus three goal differential. And normally, by the end of the year, if you look at the goal differential among the playoff teams,

If there are at least eight that have a positive goal differential, there probably won't be in the West. But if there are, those are the ones that are in the playoffs. It just makes sense. But, you know, with Ottawa, I don't know, man, they're a good team. They really are. They're maybe a little bit boring at times. But if they don't figure out their goaltending,

this is going to frustrate them a lot. Yeah. And, you know, it's one of those teams where progress and growth isn't always linear. It's not always an upward trajectory because they're going to most likely take a step back this year and not make the playoffs. And I think it's probably a double sting for them when they look in the division. They see team like Montreal who is building on last year's playoff appearance. It looks like they might even be a more serious, not a cup contender, but a playoff threat. And they're definitely going to the postseason.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Thomas Trance joins us. on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What up, Drancer. Gentlemen, good morning. Dranser, you're going to drag me into another ring of honor debate, and I hate you for it.

But I have to read this paragraph that you wrote in The Athletic. And it says, even if Pedersen never recovers his offensive game, he's signed for six more seasons after this year. If he isn't moved, stays relatively healthy, and produces 55 points per season. By 2028, he's going to be in the top 10. among Canucks skaters and games played, and we'll be closing in on passing Stan Smil

as one of the five most productive Canucks players of all time. Throne is Calder Trophy season, and that's an unassailable case for the Ring of Honor. For those of you that don't know, unassailable means unable to be attacked, questioned, or defeated. I am attacking that notion, that if Pedersen never recovers his offensive, game and he stays for six more seasons and scores 55 points a season that he's going to be in

the Ring of Honor. That seems insane to me. I know. I know. Well, I mean, it's awkward, right? I hate this. It wouldn't happen. They would not, they would not vote him into the Ring of Honor. There's no chance. I'd like to be on the record. I hate this very much, but go on, continue. What do you hate it? It was just that we're debating it? All of it, the idea, the concept, probably the conversation. Could you really see that? Like, he doesn't recover his game, he finishes his career, or at least that contract in Vancouver, and then they're like, you know what? He finishes, I mean, rough, if he finishes that contract in Vancouver, I mean, that's six more seasons plus 16 games.

I mean, that's a lot of games, man. We're talking about him playing a thousand plus games for the franchise. If he finishes, I'll get it. If he finishes the contract, he should get in just because he survived. I'll put him in I'll retire his number at that point This is with no offensive Yeah

This is with no offensive bounce back If he finishes his answer That's crazy First of all If he doesn't offensively bounce back There's no way he's playing Six more seasons in Vancouver Never mind the ring of honor

He should get a medal of honor If he gets the eight years And so should Kinnucks fans Yeah Yeah No I mean I'm just pointing out right This was in a mailbag

Someone asked me Which of the sort of Hughes Horvatt-era guys, you know, are going to have strongering of honor cases. So first off, I go like, well, Quinn Hughes is obvious to me, which also has set people off, by the way. Because, you know, my view, honestly, is if you spend some of your peak years, seven peak years for a franchise, win a Norris trophy, man, and, like, really prop up a team that the moment he, left went from being like, oh yeah, I can see them being a fringe playoff team to being like easily the worst in the league by a factor of 10 points, right? If you're that level of player to me, like, I think you should have your jersey retired. But, you know, that's a,

that's a different debate and one we had about Burray and Longo, too. You know, you then sort of go through it and it's like, Kessler has a slightly better resume than Horvett. He's not in the Ring of Honor or doesn't have his jersey retired. Todd Bertuzzi has a better. statistical case than J.T. Miller. He doesn't have his name number retired, nor is he in the Ring of Honor. So those two are easy to cross off. And then you get to Pedersen and Besser. And, you know, look, when you say the phrase, rewrite the record books, it's usually really exciting. And in this case, it kind of feels like a threat. But that's kind of where we're at. Like these guys are going to accumulate, depending on their longevity in Vancouver, you know, top seven to five. And in

Pedersen's case, real potential to break into the top three, Pinnock's careers ever on a statistical basis and based on longevity, depending on how this plays out from here. There's context there, though, Dranser. Like, we all recognize the point, but like the context outweighs the stats in my opinion. Okay, well, that's fine. I'm just saying you're going to have like then to explain it, right? To like it's going to be part of Kinex history that like, well, why didn't we recognize that team?

It's like, oh man, you were there to watch it. It was painful. Like, you know. Yeah. So that's what you do. You just explain it. And that's fine. And that's fine.

But the argument is going to be there. And remember the frustration that we feel today, right, watching. this team struggle immensely will fade over the course of decades. Like we shouldn't be too significant in terms of being like prisoners of the moment, right? Like there's going to come a time 20 years on, you know, where it's like, you know, at the end of the day, like, he was a pretty good citizen, never really got into trouble, had this amazing peak. Like, man, you should have seen rookie year Pedersen.

You know, like, things fade. Frustration fades. Anger at team performance fades. Not to mention that if Pedersen's here six years, man, they shouldn't be terrible the whole time. That would be really upsetting. I mean, that would be the only way to salvage it, I think, if he became like a useful player on a good team. Right. The story is not written yet, right, is my point.

But the statistical case is going to be compelling. In the event that these gentlemen play two or three more seasons for the Canucks, they're going to be in, you know, all-time territory as goal scorers, point producers, and in terms of the longevity that they've logged for the franchise, that's true. And that's really what I was writing out. If you want to really dive into the context, gentlemen, I think you have to realize that this conversation is about Pedersen, but it's also about the Ring of Honor, which has become such an odd. it was supposed to be a good thing.

It was supposed to be a nice thing. It was supposed to honor and celebrate players that weren't going to have their numbers retired. But as things have gone along and unintended consequences have arisen, it's become the second tier of celebration, right? And the Luongo one was the one that I think broke the conversation. Yeah, yeah.

Because if you look at the rest of the Ring of Honor inductees, you're like, they're all very nice players and they all have very nice stories to tell. Here's this first ballot hall of fame. Right. You know what I mean? And then you start looking at it and you're like, well, what is it really all about? Because the other thing I'll point out is that they, you know, when the ring first started, they were putting people in left and right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And now it's really slowed down. They haven't had one in there in three years. Well, who achieved more for the Canucks, Luongo or Hughes? Longo. Luongo. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. But Luongo's, Luongo's like, Luongo's up there with the twins, Buray and Hughes. Right? Like that's the In terms of quality of players The Siddians in Bray In terms of For a prolonged stretch in Vancouver

The Canucks had one of the coolest things in the league Those are the only five things, five guys That that would apply to They were truly the best Or at least top two or three At their position for a prolonged stretch Or prolonged peak While they wore Canucks colors

and that's it. And, you know, for me, that that was why I didn't think Luongo should go in the ring of honor. I thought it was clear that his number should be retired. I agree. I agree. But the same standard that I argued for there, I can't now be like, well, and that shouldn't apply to Quinn Hughes. No, I know that people are upset

with how Team USA conducted themselves after beating Canada. I know people are upset the Team USA beat Canada. I think that's fair. but the you know I just think the pain and the annoyance

and like that shift against the Colorado avalanche where you know it really did look like Quinn Hughes packed it in you know the pain of those moments is going to fade over time and we're going to remember watching Quinn Hughes just like sort of pull the strings and puppet master games and smiggle about the ice

differently in five to 10 years, I would imagine. You know, I certainly, I'm not going to remember it. Like, I watched almost every game of his connect's career, and it was awesome. Like, it was really, really cool. So, yeah, I mean, for me anyway, that's, that's like very obvious that at some point down the line. You know, after he's, I mean, he's on a Hall of Fame trajectory. He's still got more to accomplish to get there.

But, but, you know, I don't see a lot of signs of slowing down. And I think his player type, I think his body type is athletically. Like, I think he's going to have a really long career here. So it might be 15 years before we're really having this conversation. But at some point, you know, this franchise is going to want to honor Quinn Hughes and should. I don't think we're ever, sorry. Yeah. I don't think we've very really, we've ever really,

rough and I have talked about this. We've never really adequately unpacked or dove into the Hughes breakup, the big picture of it all. You know, like the fan reaction, everything. else because it happened. It happened pretty suddenly. So suddenly. Yeah, yeah.

And now, like, I find myself... It's like, all of a sudden we came home and we were like, you've changed. Something about you has changed. And then he left. And I thought I'd pay more attention to Minnesota, but I haven't really. Really? A little bit more, but not to the point where I'm like, I got to go watch and play. And I don't know.

I will in the playoffs. That's going to be fascinating. I will for sure. But that's partly because he's a fantastic player. And if he was playing pretty much anywhere, I'd probably try. and make a point of it. Well, it also is going to be an incredible first round. It just feels like he was able to drop Vancouver so easily that there's a dynamic

and component of that that I don't really think has been explored and the breakup really hasn't been gone through the whole therapy part of it yet. Like it just seems like it's still sudden. Yeah, but like as Canucks fans, we've got the breakup with Hughes but also everything else. Like our life is a disaster right now. See, that's a good point. Like we just got so much going on right now, which is like, oh yeah, and also I had a terrible breakup along the way.

I also got fired from my job, kicked out of my apartment. Like my goldfish died. Everything happened. I'm living on the streets. Yeah, right. Okay, that's a good point. Feel free to take that in any direction you want. No, I think the, I think the truth is that there was like three pretty remarkable breakups within a 10-month span, right?

The J.T. Miller trade. Another good point. Which was a huge deal, a huge deal, right? I mean, Miller was a cult hero, I think. think on the scale of Todd Bertuzzi in this marketplace, right? I mean, there were restaurants that had menu items named after him. His name was most frequently chanted. He was a lot of people's favorite player, right? A lot of people's favorite player. Like the guy who had both skill and toughness that this market responded to more than anyone else. More than Quinn Hughes when he was here.

Correct. And then you get this wild two-month stretch from his, you know, 10-game absence, then all the rumors about it, then the admission in public from the team that they have to trade him because of a relationship issue between him and another star player, then he's dealt. Then you get the Rick Tocket departure,

and not that fans are as attached to coaches as they are to players ever, but it was pretty remarkable in the context of like Canucks history for the team to make, a, you know, really competitive bid to keep their current coach and for him to be like, no, I'm good. Like, that doesn't happen. We don't see that often. And so that was like a pretty significant shock, I think. And then the Quinn Hughes thing plays out so quickly once this season began, right? I mean, this was

supposed to be the season to keep Quinn Hughes. It goes to hell in the hand basket immediately. And then one day he's just kind of gone. And, and, you know, I mean, even think about the reporting, like the reporting that the Canucks and the Devils had talked about Quinn Hughes on Hockey Night in Canada, which kind of signaled the end. Yep. And Quinn Hughes then referred to devil's general manager, Tom Fitzgerald, as Fitsy, right? In the post-game commentary. That was on December 6th. and on December 12th he was traded, like less than a week later.

So it was such a whirlwind. And then you don't really stop. Like the Canucks win four in a row. The Wild immediately become one of the best teams in the league. And then the Canucks don't win again, basically. Until like now. Like I still don't know if they beat Florida this week, but I think that's it. And I think the extent to which Hughes was propping up

this team I still think is like dizzying right I mean for me anyway when I think about like what has happened to Minnesota and how easily they became one of the best teams in the league from a team that was like kind of fraudulent and pretty reliant on goal tending to just like oh wow this is a legit two-way powerhouse and a legit offensive powerhouse and the way that the Canucks became like oh yeah you know they're like the 24th best team in true talent but if things go well they get lucky they can make the playoffs maybe to oh my god this is terrible this is unwatchable drag um you know i i think that caused a lot of people's heads to spin too right like i think i think Quinn hughes hid a lot in Vancouver i think you made a lot of players look a lot better

than they were and you know i think there's huge implications to that too when we consider um sort of what that means for the franchise or how good this team was in the first place how far away they were from contention even when they were continuing to push chips in. So when I consider sort of the three breakups and the

head spinning element of it all, yeah, I think it's impossible to unpack and I also think it's difficult because it happened in season and it didn't happen at the trade deadline and it happened pretty much out of left field like over the course of six days you know, we went from hey, Quinn used to do you.

doesn't seem very happy, but everyone's reporting that he hasn't asked for a trade to, oh, he's gone. He's gone and the club felt that they needed to rip the band-aid off. And now we're looking at a totally different era of Canucks hockey. I just happened so fast. And I don't think people have had a chance to, like, sit with it and let it breathe. And then, of course, Hughes and, you know, the Team USA becomes a villainous in the minds of Canucks hockey fans for totally understandable reasons. And that, I think, is like amplified negative feelings toward him now.

So, you know, it's going to be interesting when he comes back. Like, there's no world where he's not going to get booed his first time back. But I also think there's no world where 20 years are going to pass and people aren't going to look back on the best defenseman in franchise history, who was also a blast to watch play with more fondness than they feel. this moment. Drancer, we have to cut it short today because we got a bunch of stuff we need to do in the final half hour, including talking to Elliot Friedman, but I want to thank you for helping us unpack a little bit.

We got, this was like good therapy here. We were able to work through some of our issues. We were able to figure out what happened and what might happen moving forward. We're going to work through this together. I don't feel better. I feel irrationally angry. It's ever man for himself. Dranser, thanks to tell.

Time strands from the Athlete, Vancouver and Canucks Talk here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. The 36th annual Canucks for Kids Fund telethon is tonight when the Canucks play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The telethon is hosted by Olivia McDonald and Elliot Freeman. Two very good-looking people. You know, you have to have very good-looking people to host these telethons, right? Otherwise, the money doesn't roll in. It's true. man Elliot can get the money rolling in.

That's why they don't let us host anything. Yeah, I'm just like, can you guys, do you guys own a suit? No. Let's go. We'll pay you money to go to commercial. Let's go to the Aval Auctions hotline now. Talk to that very handsome gentleman. Elliot Friedman joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.

What up, Fridge? Right now, I don't own a suit either. I think I have to pick one up today. My bags didn't make it. Oh, no. While you're out here, are you going to be poking around and seeing what the Canucks are thinking because there's a lot of

you know there's a lot of curiosity among the fan base about whether or not the Canucks are truly going to commit to this rebuild maybe they don't have any other choice but to do that now but what are you hearing about the patience level in Vancouver when it comes

to ownership and to management you know I I honestly think that the biggest challenge Jason was, you know, it's really hard to wrap your head around how we got from two years ago to here. And I think that when you look at where you were two years ago in that great series against Bedmonton and also the lineup you have,

you know, even if you didn't think it was going to reach the height of heights, you didn't think it was going to be this. Like you didn't think you'd have a situation where Miller was somewhere else, Garland was somewhere else. Hughes especially was somewhere else. And, you know, some guys were really struggling, like Pedersen. And I think, honestly, the thing that I really feel the most, Jason, is that, you know, it's like the stages of grief, like, finally get to acceptance.

I think they just finally hit acceptance. When Quinn left, it was like, this is over. And I think there's a shock. and I think you have to kind of figure out where you're going from here. And, you know, I think the other thing, too, is just like, you know, with Demko, get them fixed and see what you got. Like, I think that what happens is you reach a point where you simply say, you know what, we're going to tear it down a bit and see where it takes us. And you hope that maybe, you know, some of your young players would start the, trajectory is, you know, quicker than you think. But I don't know that we're going to see any

quick fix attempts here. I just don't think right now they see that is worthwhile. If something drops on their lap, we'll see. But I just, like, at the deadline, I didn't get a sense that they were really trying anything that would turn them around or even think that they could turn themselves around fast. What do you think they're going to do with Elias Pedersen? So, you know, I always think that, I always think that it's easier to solve your problem, that it is to trade your problem. I always start from there. You know, number one, I'm sure that they were asked to take money this year, and they said, we're not interested in that. and number two, even though Pedersen is a really talented guy, I think the offers that they started getting as far as they went,

because I'm not sure they really went that far, weren't that great. And I think it was kind of like we'd rather make no deal than what we think is a bad deal. so I mean I'm sure all options will be on the table this off season I have no doubt these conversations will continue but I think the I don't know if easiest is the right word but maybe I mean the best thing probably for everyone is Pedersen comes back and plays great next year and plays better but I have no doubt the conversations will continue I just heard the Canucks are not the least but interested in retaining.

So I don't typically like bringing up people's age when they get into their 70s and be like, ah, the game's passed you by, and you know, I think people can stay sharp well into their 80s and, you know, but Jim Rutherford's 77 and

this is going to be, this is going to be, I think, a long rebuild. And I think it's perfectly fair to wonder about his future in Vancouver. Have you heard anything on that front? First of all, I don't think it's ever unfair to wonder about somebody's future when a season has happened like this. It's just the nature of the beast.

I don't speak to Jim a lot, but I speak to him from time to time. If I have a question, I'll reach out and I'll ask. And like, the way he deals with me on the phone has no different than when he was at the apex of his power. He is very much still engaged. I mean, look, when the Quinn Hughes deal happened this year, he got right on it and said, I'll take care of this one. And so I think there's still a fire there. I think that the harder it gets,

the more he's determined to prove people along. I mean, the only thing, and again, I have no reason to think there's anything like this, but like if there's any health reason or anything like that and again I have nothing to believe that there's a case right now but like you know I looked around earlier this year when all the rumors were going around about maybe he would say this is it he's had enough and I definitely got the reverse of that impression like I don't think this is a guy who is it who was saying okay this is it I'm going to walk away or anything like that at least not earlier in the year So that's where I stick right now. And until I get a reason to believe otherwise, I go with that.

Like, you know, sometimes, you know, Marv Levy always had a lie. And he said, when you decide I'm retiring on this day, you've already retired. Yeah. And I think about that a lot. I really believe that. And I always look for that. And the Jim Rutherford I was dealing with at different times earlier this year did not have that. on him.

Do you speak with ownership at all? No, not really. No. Yeah, they've been so quiet that I just... It's probably a better thing. Probably, but I wonder, I'm not expecting a press conference, okay? You know, Francesco Aquilini doesn't love doing them. I don't think he enjoys the process of public speaking, and that's fine.

A lot of people don't. But I do wonder if the fans are at least going to get, you know, one of those letters. and what it'll say? I have no idea, to be honest. I don't know the answer to that. I'm generally not a fan of those letters, I have to say. I think that there's nothing wrong with addressing your season ticket holders. I don't think there's anything wrong with like once a season,

you know, just maybe doing something that gives you an indication. But I think a lot of the time, Michael, where organizations walk themselves into trouble is when too many people are speaking about your plans, right? Yep. Like, unless it's, I think, like, Rutherford and Alvine should be the guys doing it. And, like, if faculty wanted to speak and I've got no idea if he does or doesn't, I haven't even, I don't even think I've seen him at a board of governors this year. So I don't know how he feels and what he's thinking, but I generally think it's better if the hockey people talk. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.