Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 3/20/26

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, including yesterday's Canucks home loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, plus they get a 'Nucks update from 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. You're listening to Halford and Brough. The Tampa Bay Lightning come into Rogers Arena. Score six, led by Nikita Kuturav, who had three points on the night, and beat the Knox by a final score of 6 to 2. It was competitive. And Springer drives the ball, right field in deep. Fernandez turning at the fence.

It's a grand slam. Ladies and gentlemen. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford, it is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios

and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Good morning to you. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Do you have payday loan debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at sands dash truss t.com. We are in hour one 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're coming to you live from the Kintech Studios. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. Time now for our morning guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. at 630 this morning. Kevin Egan, host of MLS on Apple TV and a good Irishman on this, St. Patrick's Week, not day, is going to join us on the Halford & Brough Show. Caps are back in action this weekend.

It's a Saturday, late night starts 730 against San Jose. I also have to ask Kevin, what is this MLS Sprint season that they're going to do next year? It's like a truncated version of a real season, but they're going to cram it into like a couple weeks at the beginning of January and February. And this is because why? They want to get their schedule on track with the rest of the major leagues across the world. They're no longer going to be a summer league. They're going to be a traditional fall to spring league. But they don't want to lose a season.

That's right. They don't want to lose that precious revenue, Jason. So they're going to do a tiny little season at the start of 2027. Just a tiny little one. I hope we hear something like the white caps will play in Detroit after the sprint season. Yeah, right. That's what we're hoping for. Maybe the spread season won't be the last,

but we'll find out with Kevin Egan at 6.30 this morning. 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. A reminder, we're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's the best pizza place in the world. For the best, Ask Us Anything today, it is Ask Us Anything Friday. And I'll tell you this. You, the listeners, are going to be in tough to beat Jason Brough in the Ask Us Anything game

because he was grinding last night. He was up way late, putting together all kinds of great Ask Us Anything content. However, if you're able to best him, you will win a $100 gift card to AJ's for the best ask us anything. 705, Ben Jacobs is going to join the program, senior football correspondent from Give Me Sport, two soccer's in one day? Two soccer's? Unbelievable.

He sat down with Canadian manager Jesse Marsh recently in which Jesse Marsh unveiled a whole bunch of stuff that nobody knew, including the fact that he says he was guaranteed the U.S. men's national job. And then he actually turned down a job in England because he thought he was getting it, only to learn that he wasn't getting the U.S. men's national job. Then he landed in Canada where he's very happy right now. He also says... And then he put a giant chip on his shoulder. Yeah, like the size of America.

And then he also told Ben that despite having never won a game at the World Cup and never having drawn a game at the World Cup and never getting a single point from any match at the World Cup, Marsh thinks they're going to win the group, thinks they can win their group at the upcoming World Cup. World Cup. So lots to get into there with Ben Jacobs at 705. 8 o'clock Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. Intrepid Canucks reporter from Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. We are going to talk about last night's game and all of its glory. The draft lottery, which is reportedly going to happen on May 5th.

And better culture in the Connect's dressing room, according to Rick Dollywall. And finally, Curtis Douglas, who did not get to exact his revenge against the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. You're not supposed to go through all of them. You're just supposed to pick out like one. or two of them. I did not know there were rules. I made the rules. I made the rules.

Just right now. Just right now. This is a very moment. Take back what I said about Curtis Douglas. Maybe we won't talk about him. And I wonder if they let him go and get a tough guy on July 1st who can play ever game. That meant to be every game, but Rick spelled it wrong.

A reminder, finally, it is Ask us something Friday. And the last day as well for Monster Jam tickets. Monster Jam. We're giving away a four-pack of tickets to see the jam at the Pacific Call of see them on Saturday, March 28th at 7 p.m. Caller number 5 at 8 this morning, so right before Rick Dollywall, 604, 280,0, 0, 650. Last day this week, you'll never be able to get your hands on Monster Jam tickets again

8 o'clock this morning, caller number 5. Except on the secondary market, but you're going to pay a lot to get inside that Colossum. Or the initial market, or just hanging around. You know how much it cost to see Trucosaurus? I don't. It ain't cheap. I don't know, actually. And Truccasaurus, I don't think is on the North American tour.

He is. No, he's being replaced. people. He's being replaced by classroom crusher. Which I find a questionable name. Yeah. It's not like... What are the kids like? I hate school. No. Down with homework. Down with homework.

All right. We got a lot to get into on the program. Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss it? You missed that?

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 of BCCSA.C.C.S.A. It was a big night for Nikita Kutcheroff and Anthony Sorrelli.

Each had three points as the Tampa Bay Lightning powered past the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 at Rogers Arena on Thursday night. It was a tale of two teams at two very different ends of the spectrum, Jason. Yeah, I really don't have much to say about the game just because this is what

the Canucks are and that was what the Tampa Bay Lightning are. The Canucks were pretty badly outclass last night by a far superior opponent. It was 4-0 for Tampa Bay less than halfway through the game. And that was with an incredible save by Kevin Lankinen off of Brandon Hagel. Yes, it could have been worse last night. The Lightning did get a few bounces here and there and we're lucky to tip some shots, but they were just, they had the puck all night. They were fully in control of the game. And, you know, I think if there's any good news for the Canucks, it's based on production at least, Marco Rossi is playing like a top line center in the last four games. He has nine points. Yeah, he's been good. That's, that's an amazing run. Considering the bar that's been set

this season by the Vancouver Canucks, nine points in four games. The bro line was pinned in their end for a lot of that game. And if you look at the analytics, they didn't have a good night. But, you know, Marco Rossi continues to produce. And by the way, I asked, I texted Brendan Batchelor last night during the game. And I asked, like, how do you list the lines? Like, how does, you know, why is, Rossi's line, the second line, despite the fact that they're playing, you know, in terms of production at least better than any line that the Canucks have. And I was like, I should know this. And he was like, probably. But he said that he lists them based on the order they go in at practice. So it's like the drills that they take. Who goes first in the drills? And apparently Pedy's line still always goes first. And I was thinking it would be funny if that Adam Foote blew his whistle and was like, uh,

uh, uh, Pedy. No, no, no, no. It's, it's, it's, Marco's line goes first and you guys are the number one line now. It's like when, you know, when the Simpsons hockey episode, when Homer let Lisa right up front, that's right, instead of Bart. Yep. Bart initially gets it because he's a good guy at sports, but Lisa becomes better at sports.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can see the correlation here. Yeah. I think it should do that. I think that would be pretty good. You know why. Nothing much else to, honestly, nothing to report from that game. I think that was the type of game. I mean, listen, we're all, we're all, you know, I see the narratives as, is like, they made progress against Florida.

And then, you know, they took a step back against Tampa. I'm not really going to look at it like that. I think they've just started their rebuild. They beat a Florida team. They played fine. Florida is, they don't have their heads in the game, now. They're missing so many guys and if they were going to be focused on any game on this road trip, it wasn't the Vancouver game. It was the game they played last night in Emminton

where they beat the Oilers and we'll talk about that later. You know, it's just they are what they are right now. They are a young team that is learning yes, but they are also just bereft of any game-breaking talent. And that includes Mark Orozzi, who's on a who's on a who's on a run, who's on a nice run, but he's not, he's not a, he's not a game breaking talent. They don't, they don't, he's not Coutheroff. Like what Coutheroff is doing is just incredible. And last night, he almost did it effortlessly. Yep. And you know, you, you did touch on something kind of interesting that we're going to have to monitor moving forward. And it's how do you discuss and analyze and break down the rebuild? Because this is, this is unique. This is uncharted

territory for everybody involved, the organization. the players, the media, the fans. Can you even do it? No one's gone through this before. It's such a slow process. Exactly. It's a good point, A-Doh-I-X-I-Zo. I zoom out, right?

Because if they have a good game, you can see they're making progress. Well, okay, but are they going to keep make, what if they keep making progress? And then at the end of the season, what are they, a Stanley Cup contender? No, they're still the same roster, right? You see, zoom out or zone out? Zoom out. Zoom out. A little bit of zone.

Yeah, better go. But also zoom out. Like, you're not, the young guys have to improve. And I think that's what you monitor for sure. But the young guys will also improve more when the team is improved, and they've got better players to play with. See, now here's the thing, as I take you behind the curtain here at Sportsnet 650, I don't know if you guys in listener land are aware of this or not,

but we have a lot, underline a lot of, dedicated content towards the local hockey squadron, specifically the game-to-game stuff. Really? We have hours of programming baked in around the individual games. So, for example, and I don't mean to throw IMAQ under the bus here, and hopefully I'm not doing it, but he's got an article up on Sportsnet.com.com right now saying, Canucks take step back after small progress, and it's important to learn from it. I would vehemently push back on this notion that they took a step forward against Florida,

and they took a step back against Tampa Bay. Me too. Because I don't think it works like that. I think with this collection of players, so many of them, let's be honest, are not going to matter one iota when this thing is at the finish line, right?

Like there are some guys right now that are going to be distant memories when this thing is to the point where we really start getting invested in games again. We have not, locally, ever gone into a season where the games don't match. matter. This organization has always, always put the dangling carrot of competitiveness. And if it's not the playoffs, the catchphrase always used to be meaningful games in March,

right? We don't get that anymore. It is interesting to think about it that way, though, because if you do think about it that way, Let's Is there anyone out there that thinks that the Canucks are going to be a Stanley Cup contender with Marco Rossi and Elias Pedersen as the top two centers?

The bro line leading the way to the cut? No, no, no, no, but let's just talk about the center. No, no, no, no, okay. No, I don't. So what do you do then with that? Like, even, so if management, is sitting there and going like, I mean, maybe they think they can turn the team around

with Pedersen and Rossi as the top two centers. But if you don't think that way, then what's your game plan going forward? I mean, Rossi's signed for a couple more years at a cap hit of $5 million. Is that a guy you want to take all the way to the end of that contract? So he's in that position where he's got one year left on his contract. And let's say his production is pretty good. And then he's like, yeah, I'm going to need to get paid because now I've got one year left. before unrestricted free agency or wherever he's at. And then unrestricted free agent years are like the Canucks have learned this so many times because they end up getting those guys.

Then they're like, okay, you got to pay me now. Yep. Right. So what do you? So I'm not, I'm not sitting here saying like trade Marco Rossi right away. But if you are long term thinking, you need to take that sort of stuff into account because sometimes like Marco Rossi right now at $5 million, what a bargain. Amazing. That's great.

If you got to pay them, less of a bargain. Absolutely. And also, you always, always, always have to ask yourself the question, if I sign this guy long term to a deal, can I win a Stanley Cup with him? Sure. And a guy like Rossi, I think you could say that in a less prominent role, I don't want to say depth, but less prominent role, he could probably be a viable contributor.

What he needs to do is prove that despite, you know, the tire fire burning around him, that he can still produce and play to pretty high level. And I will say this, if you want a glass half full approach this morning, with what he's done over the last nine games. So since the calendar flipped to March, he's got four goals, eight points, four goals, eight assists, 12 points in nine games. I would say that of all the guys on the team, he's shown more than anybody in a season where there's not a lot to.

play for. Oftentimes you don't have the most robust line mates. Your team doesn't produce very well and you lose more often than not. There's a guy that's going out there and producing at a pretty impressive clip. Now here's the thing. He does have some, you does have some good line mates right now in terms of chemistry. He lines up perfectly with the rebuild in terms of like, right, right, but is he going to be a two C? This is not something, but you don't know, but I don't know. On a good team, he'd still be a two or a three C. Like on a cup contending team, Probably a three-C. Probably a three-C.

Because the Minnesota Wilde deemed that he wouldn't be. Well, I think that's their area. And he got to the playoffs last year. He's not a big guy. No, he's undersized. He's not a big guy. You get to the playoffs and then you're like, oh. I still think he'd be a contributing player on a playoff.

Where? Probably 3C on a good team. 3C is sometimes a different type of player, though. Okay, but that's so far down the road. But I think it's important to lay it out. I think it's important to lay it out that way. I think what's important right now, and it might sound too simplistic, but when you find players that are able to rise above and produce and play well in what's supposed to be a downtime for the organization, you take that as a net positive. Sure.

Because you can either sign that player or you can move him for assets. There's a least value in it. That's the end of the game. End of the story. Every guy that comes in right now. Every guy that comes in right now should be looked as such. Hey. But the problem is that sometimes.

the way the Canucks operate is like, he's producing. He needs a new contract. Let's get him one. Yeah. Like if Martin Horace, finishes on a heater and ends up being, I don't know, the 1.5 point per game guy over the final 20 games of the season, you know there's going to be calls for,

they need to lock this guy up as soon as they can. Well, the good thing is they can't sign him to any sort of contract because he's got two years left after this one. So, but, but, but you just, I really, want, I really want the underwriting like question to be, can we, if we're going to sign someone long term, can we win a cup with this guy? Especially at a key position like center. Yeah. And I, you know, this organization has been fooled by small sample sizes before. It's been fooled by late season pushes before. And I just think that entering into this brave, bold new world of the rebuild,

we are not going to be able to do business the way that we've always done it, which is look at game by game results and say this is a step forward and this is a step back or look at a week in which you win three or four and then a week in which you lose all four and say that these are ups and downs it's all down until you reach a point where you consider the rebuild to be over and you're ready to step on the gas and that is the most crucial part of this whole thing everything that precedes it is about building up to that point there's no slow burn or slow climb there Absolutely needs to be patience, but patience comes in acquiring assets. Not looking at what you have in 20, what is it, March 20th, and trying to decide right now if that's going to be a major play apart four or five years down the road. Certainly not looking at a game to game basis. You can maybe say, wow, in the last 10 or 20 games, you know, Zev Boullium has really started to play a better.

That's something that you can latch on to. So you're not just doing it on a game-by-game basis because this isn't, the Canucks aren't, you know, during the regular season for most teams that want to make the playoffs, you're looking, you are looking at how the team is progressing and how they're doing because you want them locked and loaded for the playoffs. This is a very different process. This is a four or five-year process where, you know, on a game-to-game basis, it doesn't really matter. you want to take a look at much larger sample sizes for individual players. Now there are teams in this league who are looking at things on a game-to-game basis very closely, and some of them not too pleased with the results, including last night, the Edmonton Oilers. And we're going to start our NHL rundown there because the Edmonton Oilers suffered a 4-0 defeat

in their first and only rematch of the year against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers. The same Panthers team, I'll remind you, which knocked Edmonton out of the Stanley Cup final, each of the last two years. Now, the interesting thing here wasn't so much the 4-0 score line. It's what the head coach, Chris Knoblock, had to say in the aftermath.

I'm going to yell at you to pause this after his first answer, because I want to take everybody through what happened last night and why Knoblock was under such fire. Knoblock opened his presser by talking about his team's effort level in a home 4-0-0 shutout loss

to the team that ended their season two years in a row. Here's what Chris Knoblock had to say. Just want to start off by getting your overall thoughts on how the game went. The guys worked really hard, and I thought the effort was there, and we just couldn't find a way to score goal. Okay, stop it right there. After this, there's this long, kind of uncomfortable pause where I think all of the media members listened to what he just said, and he was like, he thought he was okay. No, wait, he said he was okay with the effort level after a four or nothing long.

to the Florida Panthers at home. Is it Mark Specter time now? No. Oh. It's Ryan Rashog time as a matter of, man. And kudos on Rashog. Listen to his question. See if you can get what he's getting at here.

Maybe a little more out of the coach after a flat performance against the team that ended your season two years in a row. Here's how the rest of the media availability went. The effort was there and we just couldn't find a way to score goal. So we asked you earlier today about this game and if it was, you know, any more to it given it was the Florida Panthers, right? And you were very focused on the standings.

But, like, should this game have been about a little more than that? And did you, like, did you feel the pride kick in from your players that's required? Like, it's 4-0 on a night, you know, a team that came in here that doesn't have much to play for, that should mean a lot for you guys. Yeah, I don't know. I don't see it that they didn't show up and play tonight. We came out strong. We, first 10 minutes, I thought we're, had the majority of the play.

We had one shift there. We're a couple of opportunities to score. Puck gets popped out. They get a breakaway goal. And after that, I think we were flat. Probably if we were flat, it was for the last 10 minutes of the third period. After they scored their first goal up until the end of the first period, that's probably part of the game I didn't like.

overall, you know, I would maybe criticize us, maybe not shooting the puck enough. You know, I thought, yeah, I thought the effort was there. It just, we couldn't find a goal. And I think a lot of it had to do with us not shooting enough. So he wasn't biting. And Speck asked his personal favorite, Darnel Nurse, a similar line of question after the game about, you know, energy and intensity and this being a big game for you guys. And Nurse also kind of said, hey, we try and bring it every night.

and we like our effort and sometimes it just doesn't work out. So there's this dynamic at play where the media is just begging for someone to get angry and upset with how this season is gone. And none of the Oilers will take the bait either because they don't want to give reporters and they talk about a headline, as Petey would say, or they genuinely believe that the effort's okay and the results just aren't there. I watched the game last night. but certainly watch the first period I mean the effort if the effort was there then the oilers are in trouble

right is that not a very obvious thing to say and I know they're missing I know they're missing dry saddle and that's huge and you know hopefully for their sake he's back and ready to go for the playoffs but you know I've maintained all season that the oilers are not particularly close to as good as they were two years ago or last year like this is this is it's a thin team defensively they got issues.

At least they saw their goaltending. And I honestly, yeah, right? I mean, the goaltending is a problem. And frankly, you know, Chris Knoblock, who came in and was the hero a couple of years ago, well, welcome to coaching in the NHL, right? I don't know if the message is starting to fall flat, but I do know that the fan base is turning on him.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Rick Dolly Wall

It's time for Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Rick Dolly Wall 8.03 on a Friday, happy Friday Benny Halford Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt? If you do, Sands and Associates can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program.

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at A-B-L-E-Octions.ca to get your business assets sold and your building cleared. Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline. Our next guest is a presentation of Bassan Motors. It's Rick Dollywall here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What app, Ricky D?

Gentlemen. What's going on, brother? Stop this rain. depressing as hell. I'm sorry, buddy. Well, so was the Canucks game last night, and how badly outclass they were by the Tampa Bay Lightning, who were scuffling a little bit in the last little while,

but man, they were in full control of that game last night. Any other thoughts? It went as expected. The Lightning showed you why they're one of the top teams in the NHL. The Kinnock showed you why they got a long way to go. Vancouver had eight shots on goal, midway through the game. When Ogren scored,

that was shot number eight, which had just passed the midway point of the second period. Wouldn't it be amazing to have a player like Nikita Kutrov in this city? A superstar that brings it every game, every period, every shift, every practice. He is what

every team expects from their highest paid player. Consistently great every game. Do you think coaches are complaining about Kuturoff telling him to move his feet or he's not shooting enough or his practice and offseason habits aren't good enough. The bar is so low in this city that we get excited when Pedersen scores two goals for the first time in 21 games. Kuterov brings that every single game.

Like he is, what is he now? I think he is one point behind Connor McDavid for the NHL scoring lead. He had one and two, one goal to assist last night. He's unbelievable. guys I was thinking about this what team should the Canucks be looking at in terms of how to run a model franchise I think it's Tampa Bay

since 2013 four Stanley Cup appearances two cup wins all under one coach so people in this city want Adam foot fired right so that would make it seven coaches in the same 13 years the Tampa Bay's had one coach does seven coaches in 13 years in Vancouver or it could be if they fire foot

five coaches in six years Does that scream stability to you guys? Well, no, but they haven't been a stable franchise. Okay, so would free agents want to sign in a place where the turnover of the coach is that crazy in this city like it is? The Lightning got a franchise goalie. They got a franchise defenseman and a franchise forward. Canucks had all three, two, Demko Hughes, and Pedersen when he was getting 100 points. You want to talk about how important the draft is?

The story goes like this. In 2009, Brian Lotton was the Tampa Bay GM. All his scouts wanted him to take Matt Douchain with the second overall pick. Tavares went number one. Brian Lottin said no. He overruled all his scouts and he said, I'm taking Victor Hedman. He was not passing up on a 6-foot-6 defenseman that good. Think about the trajectory of that franchise if they take Matt Dushain and not Victor Hedman.

Yeah. And it took a while for Hedman to really become the premier defenseman that he might not be anymore, but that he certainly was for a long time. Well, he's 35, but is he not a big part of their four Stanley Cup runs? Of course he is. The right decisions at the draft are going to be critical for the Canucks to get out of this mess. Yes, there's luck involved. There's tough, tough decisions to make.

Sometimes you're going to hurt feelings, people's feelings, but Lotton proved, that's okay. That's okay. The Canucks already know that Tampa Bay is a well-run team. Remember one of the candidates for the Canucks' GM job before it went to Patrick Alvin was Tampa Bay Assistant GM Matthew Darsh, who's now the Islander's GM. The Canucks talked to him, but it was always going to be Alveen because of the connection with Rutherford and also Pittsburgh. Now, you remember when Trevor Lyndon took over as president, he flew to San Antonio,

he picked the brains of the GM of the Spurs to feel out why. the Spurs were one of the best run teams in North American. And they were like, get the first overall pick multiple times, it helps. Get Tim Duncan, it helps. But it's a reboot. I think that's where they are today. Back to Square One. And they're turning the computer off and they're turning the computer on.

That's where they're at. The Lightning are one of the best run teams in the NHL. Canucks have a long ways to go before they catch Tampa Bay or any other team, for the fact of the matter, any other team to be successful. They need to, Jason once a sec, they need to start doing things right yesterday, ASAP. Like, do you need, they are the farthest thing from Tampa Bay in terms of being consistently good year in, year out, year and year out. They're miles and miles away from that. So, Leaf texts in and he says, we get excited if PD bikes the seawall on an off day, which is very funny.

But what do you think about when you hear Adam Foote say things like, you know, PD's been here 25 minutes early for practice and he's on the bike after games? I'm like, are we, is this, is this real life that we're listening to right here where we're supposed to hear that information and be like, congratulations? Yay! The bike after the game got me. first of all, you hear the phrase of players that he's a good pro on and off the ice. Why do you think guys like Luke Shen and Tanner Pearson keep getting picked up in old age? Because they're good pros on and off the ice. I remember Travis Green telling me that Tanner Pearson was one of the best pros on and off the ice.

Hey, going on the bike after a game or showing up 25 minutes before practice, that's just being a good pro. That's nothing special. That's nothing that coach would be bragging about. especially for a guy who's the highest paid player on the team. It seems crazy. It's like saying of a golfer is like, you know, you see him out the driving range. You mean practicing?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for hockey, it's like, you know, Connor Garland would be out on the ice all the time practicing. And I've seen it multiple times. You just be out there. The coach didn't have to point it out afterwards. You should not be bragging a bike. You should not be bragging about a guy going on a bike after a game.

and especially when he's your highest paid player. You know, Rick Tock had brought this to everyone's attention last year about not moving his feet. He's got to have better practice habits. You've got to remember where Rick Talk is coming from. Where did Talk can come from before he arrived to Vancouver, Pittsburgh? Who's in Pittsburgh? Who's the best pro ever on and off the ice?

Sidney Crosby. You know, where did Alvina Rutherford come from? Pittsburgh. Where was Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh? Do you think you got to tell, do you think they brag about Sidney Crosby being on a bike after a game? It just, what I want to know, what I want to know is what the thinking was when Jim Rutherford struck the deal with Pedersen. Because there were voices in that organization. And I've been told this by multiple sources that said, this guy does not love the game as much as he should.

and for Jim Rutherford to do it, knowing what Sidney Crosby was like on a day-to-day basis. And it was almost like, they were like, well, you know, we can't lose the talent. But, and while I understand that, it just, there were a lot of dissenting voices in that organization that said, be really careful with this. Absolutely. And one of the guys probably saying, don't do it, Jim. was Rick Tocket. Rick Tockett knew that he was getting a long-term deal,

and he probably wouldn't have approved it. But that was, as you say, and correctly say, Jim Rutherford's call. The Pedersen signing was his call, and the owner had to approve it because you can't do a deal of that magnitude without the owner approving it. It was those two that did it. And now two years later, you know, this deadline and the previous deadline,

you're trying to move them, and now, you just wait until the NHL draft comes up, Jason, and it's going to start all over again. Who's going to be after Patterson? And, you know, Elliot Friedman said, I know he was on your show, our show yesterday. He said the offers for Patterson at the deadline were not good because people recognize that, guess what?

His production is way up. He's on pace for, he might not hit 50 points, guys. And here's another one for you. I keep asking people, why are teams after this guy? And there are teams out there, Jason, that think they can get them to 80, 85 points. And for the Canucks to retain? Yeah. Well, they need Canucks to retain, but the owner doesn't want to retain.

Would you want to retain? Jason. No, no, no. Listen, we've been through this before. We don't need to do it again. But my argument would be like, forget about the return then. Say, here's your, or at least take some money back. take an inefficient contract back so you don't have to retain.

But the actual return would not concern me as much as moving on and getting a clean break. I agree. I agree. And you know what? But I will say this in defense of Pedersen. And I will say this. I don't have any evidence. He has ever gone to his agents and said, get me out of Vancouver. I don't have evidence. I actually hold that against him. Well, I will say this. For everything he's been through that guy with the media and the fans and all that stuff, I don't have evidence he has ever gone to his agents and said,

get me out of Vancouver. The fans have also been very supportive of him, Rick. There was a let's go PD chat after he scored for the first time in months. And Jason, hold it a second. The media was behind this guy, too. When he scored 100 points, go look at your Twitter account, go look at mine, go look at everyone's. Everyone was doing cartwheels about this guy coming in and getting over 100 points.

Everybody in the city of the media, the fans, Canucks, Twitter, everyone was cheering for him. I just don't know. I just don't understand how he went from 100 points to 50. And it's just one of the weirdest things in this city I've ever seen with any athlete in any sport is the drop off and what happened, why? I just, it's really hard to figure out. What else do you want to get into today, Rick? The draft lottery is going to be on May 5th.

Reportedly. Frank Saravalee reported that yesterday. Yeah, it's pretty accurate. I will say this. It's going to be the day the Canuck fans are waiting for. If the Canucks end up in last place, which I do believe they will, they'll pick up one, two, or three picks. There is no generational player in this draft,

so they will get a very good player. The Stenberg-McCennad debate doesn't really matter until May 5th. if the Canucks pick third, so you guys are all debating for hours about it, it's not going to matter. The one thing that bothers me is the hate for Stembourg in this city, mostly due to the fact that Patrick Alvin has signed and drafted so many Swedish-born players since he got here. Stenberg is a very, very good player. Lots of people have them ranked number one for the draft. McKenna is not, as much as people don't want to hear this,

McKenna is not a slam dunk number one choice across the board with 32 teams. I contacted two teams last night about Stembourg and McKenna, and one team told me this. Both are very impressive. They're producing in very difficult leagues, but which one is ready to handle the pressure of being a number one pick in a Canadian city if it's Vancouver or Calgary? Okay, so keep that in mind. The first two picks, let's say they go like this, Vancouver, Calgary or Calgary, Vancouver, these guys are going to end up in a Canadian market.

The other team had Stembourg just a little bit ranked higher than McKenna. my point is this don't hate Stenberg because there's so many Swedish-born players in Vancouver he's an incredible player who if he ends up in Vancouver will be a very good prospect but I think that just hating on Stenberg because you you feel there's too many Swedes in Vancouver I think that that that's wrong I do believe that I think that that's a that kid's a good hockey player yeah it's an unfortunate it's an unfortunate I don't want to say coincidence you know that that You know, Canucks fans right now want more Canadian players. And there's a choice now between this Canadian kid who put up insane point totals in the

CHL and now has bounced back quite nicely in the second part of his NCAA season. And then, you know, Stenberg, it's not fair. You're right. It's not fair. But he's considered just like another Swede. And the team has a Swedish general manager. it's drafted a lot of Swedish kids in the last little while. So is it fair?

No. Is it understandable? Kind of. I get it. And I, you know, nobody has pounded the table and more than myself on the Kinex team, more Canadians, more Canadians, more Canadians, two or three. So the Seattle Cracken have 17 Canadians on their roster. Why is the team two hours down the highway with 17 Canadians?

is it can I have two or three, Max, and why is that? Like, they should have more Canadian kids. But I'm just saying both these kids, if McKenna was a slam dunk, and I'm telling you, I talked to two teams last night, one said they got them. There's a reason why McKenna's not a slam dunk, number one, across the board, because there are hockey people who watch Denberg and think there is a possibility. This guy could go first.

He's a very good prospect. He's a very good kid. You know, so I'm just, and last thing. Their styles are very different from what I understand. They're playing styles. Jason, Stenberg, he told us earlier this week, he's 181 pounds, a pretty thick kid. He's close to six feet. He plays a little bit more of a North American style.

Yeah, North, South, yeah. Yeah, so he's a pretty go-getter. Like, okay, I'm not sitting here. If the Connucks get number one, I'm pretty confident they're going to take McKenna. But if it happens that the Canucks get two, and I'm going to end up with Stemberg, I mean, it's still going to be a very, very good situation. Now, this draft coming up on May 5th, all I can think about when I think of this draft is Trevor Lyndon and Jim Benning

and a look on their face when they drop. Canucks need some luck, okay? The Islanders got a franchise defenseman sitting at 10th place last year, right? That stuff never happens in Vancouver, right? Is it too much to ask for for the Canucks to get the first pick when they finish 32nd? The Islanders get the kid, Matthew Schaefer, who collected his 50th point, by the way, is a defenseman as an 18-year-old. That just changed the whole trajectory of that franchise.

Like the Islanders in two seconds past the Rangers, they pass the Devils, the Horvatt and Barzell and everybody's excited. And look at what that draft did last year for the Islanders. Just massively changed the franchise. This kid is unbelievable, Matthew Schaefer. and he's incredible on the ice, he's incredible off the ice. The Canucks never get a break like that. I mean, what were the odds of the Islanders doing that, 10 to 1?

I think they were 3.5, right? I mean, the Connucks never, ever. And I just go back to Trevor's face. What was the year they finished 31st and he dropped? The Canucks dropped. Yeah. That was a Dahlene draft. Yes, it was.

And it just, they get no luck or breaks at these things. And I just, I think the city of Vancouver, and I think the Vancouver fans, after what they've seen last year and this year, I think they deserve that first pick. But it's going to come down to the bouncing of the balls. And you know what? The balls could go left. They go right. We have no idea which way the ball is going to go, Jason. They could go up.

They could go down. They could go up, down, right, left. They could go slightly left and also down. They tend to go down over time. Curtis Douglas I thought he might get into the lineup yesterday against his old team but I've also seen him skate

and he sounds like a really good guy and I think the Canucks are going to need good guys on the team tough guys on the team but there's also a baseline that you have to reach in order to compete in the NHL level

and I don't know if his skating is there. What do you think about all this? Okay, so first game, Curtis Douglas in Vancouver under seven minutes, second game, nine minutes, third game, healthy scratch, fourth game healthy scratch. This is the 32nd place team in hockey. He can't get in the lineup.

That's a concern for me. One of the reasons he was put on waivers twice this year is he is having a tough time being an everyday NHLer. For that role of team toughness, you want a guy who plays every single game. He's going to have to show the Canucks down the stretch here. He can play full-time. He's got to get back in the lineup. Florida, big team. Florida and Tampa Bay have had some huge brawls in the last couple of years. Douglas was a part of them, and he sat against both teams this week, which was a surprise to me. If not, the Canucks might have to get someone on July 1st.

Okay, so Derek Dorset, Michael Furland, played full-time in that role before injuries derail their careers. Dorset could skate. He could kill penalties. He could provide toughness. Furland could play higher up in the lineup when required. But the fact that he was claimed twice this season also shows me what NHL teams out there, and you just said it, how important toughness is. Douglas is a quality person. He's a quality teammate. No one has a bad word to say about him. You mentioned his skating, but it's not his fault. He's 6'9. Those tall guys have, his size skates are probably 15, 16, foot speed is always an issue for the big tall guys. You're in

minor hockey, Jason. You look at the tall, gangly kids in minor hockey. They always take longer to figure out the skating. Definitely. They're always. They don't have the core strength. They're tall, they're gangly. They don't have the muscles. Their skates are way bigger than the other kids. It's the core strength. It's definitely the core strength. It is hilarious.

Yeah, and I've seen it in minor hockey. Tall kids, they just struggle with skating and Douglas is no difference. So I was told if the Canucks did not select Douglas on waivers, he would have been snapped up shortly after. There was a handful of teams of watching to see what happened with him on the waiver wire. I'm very confident that if the Canucks didn't take him, somebody else would have, and somebody told me up to five to six teams for monitoring that.

But the Canucks obviously, because they're in 32nd, had the first pick in the waiver wire. Now, here's the other thing. He's a group six free agent, but I think he's qualified. It's qualified to be a UFA this summer. I got to double check that. So look, I think for the fourth line and that role, you want an everyday player, Jason. But how are the Canucks going to know if he's an everyday player,

if he's sitting in the press box eating popcorn, right? Yeah. Like, those were two pretty heavyset teams that the Canucks played this week, and they didn't think enough for him to put them in the lineup. So I don't know what happens there, but I do believe in my heart that I was really happy when they got him. A, Canadian kid, B, tough, defends his teammates. There's a ton of stuff to like about him, but it's a bit of a concern when he can't get in the lineup on the 32nd place team. Yeah, and against his old team, which you think you might throw him in there.

But, you know, they've got to get Nils Hoglander his minutes. So one more thing. the room. There's been a lot of talk about how much better the room is over the last few weeks. What are you hearing? What's going on here?

I am hearing since the trade deadline the Canucks dressing room is in a much better place. A lot of the young kids that are really helping make a better place. There are kids in there that really care. William, Wollander, Ogrin, and defenseman PD. These guys are going to be the keys

four or five years down the road when the Canucks become a bad. better team. There is a really good young core. These kids to work with when you trade players who don't want to be here, the culture automatically improves. It improves. It gets a whole lot better and that's what's happening kind of since the trade deadline. And when the remaining veterans

want to stay, things do get better. Brock Besser for me is doing all the right things on the ice and saying all the right things off the ice. Bester's a guy I'd keep. He is well-like, wants to stay, wants to make it a better place. Kevin Lankanin, the latest veteran to come out and say, I want to stick around, I'm not going to bail, I don't want out.

Besser and Lankanen didn't sign long term here to bolt and jump the ship. That says a lot about their character. The Canucks have had the worst stressing you in the National Hockey League the last two years. You can't have enough character guys that want to stay like this. Heronik wants to stay, Blugher does, Besser Lankanin. I keep those guys.

I know there's people that still want to ship guys out and stuff like that. You have some good young kids who get it. Keep the veterans that want to stay. Hey, if DeBrusk wants to go, get rid of them.

But you know what? When veterans are coming out and saying, I don't want to go, keep these guys. Keep these guys. Why would you want to move them? Alfred. Rick?

Alford wants to move everyone. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Well, we're running out of time, and it was a very awkward pause. But yeah, I'm of the more, let's get rid of all these guys as quickly as possible. But alas, we're out of time. We've got to go. Rick, thanks for doing this day, bud. We appreciate it.

All right. Good finish. Good finish. That's good. It wasn't awkward at all. Not at all. You zoned out, didn't you? No, but, I mean, what we'll be?

Well, we've got to go to break. It's 826. I didn't want to go down the road again. Yeah. You know? I get it. What are you going to do? It's Friday.

I think if the Kinex can get off one of the... It's 5 o'clock somewhere, brother. If the Kinex can get off one of those goalie contracts this off season, that'd be huge for them. They get off all the contracts. Gotta be a better way to say that. But no, like they need to move people out. And I don't care if it takes a while and they do it methodically.

But they do, for the sake of everybody involved, they need to move off almost everything that this club has been about the last two years. You know? You can't be the laughing stuff. of the league and the one that everyone points to when you say, what does dysfunction look like? They could literally change over two-thirds of their roster and it honestly wouldn't matter. Three quarters.

Yeah. Four-fifths, five-eighths, five-sixth. And whatever. Just they need to move on from a lot of these guys. And I know now we're up against our time and I'm going. Now you got me going. I know that there's this, again, in a lost season, you're looking for things to talk about. So it's you ask every single player on the team.

Like, are you committed to the rebuild? Do you want to be here moving forward? And it's like, they're not going to say otherwise. The one guy. Because they might not be movable. That's the one thing they also have to understand, right? The one guy who did was DeBrusk. And guess what he did 24 hours later?

Yeah. Tract, retract, retract, right? Like, it's, you can't do it. Once you state that you don't want to be around, it creates a problem. The, uh, the media should bring lie detectors to the end of season presser and be like, we're just going to, we're going to do things a little bit differently this year. We're going to, you all up to a lie detector and we're going to ask each of you, do you want to stay?

Oh, it's wiggling around a little bit there. Why is it catching on fire? You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.