Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 3/21/25

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

Jason Brough and guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports including an OT loss for the Canucks yesterday, as well as the Canada Mexico Nations Cup semis results, plus they get a 'Nucks update from Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli & 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 Halfordesser with a slam shot, he scores! Brock Besser ties the game! He gets hot, let go. You know, we know that they're gonna be coming all over us everywhere on the ice. Now leakin' in, shoots tipped in, score! It's Brock O'Clock! Watch out for the shark attack!

Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, it is Halford and Brough here for the shark attack. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Woo! Woo! Good morning. It is Halford and Brough here, Friday edition of the show on Sportsnet 650. Once again, for the final time here, no Mike Halford. I'm Jamie Dodd filling in. Mike will be back on Monday.

Good morning, Brough. Good morning. How are you? I'm doing all right. Yeah. I'm looking forward to the weekend. Yeah, it's the end of the week. It's catching up to me a bit.

The time takes its toll, doesn't it? It does, it sure does. Try doing it every day. I was gonna say, even for just a week, it takes its toll. Good morning, Adog. Good morning. And good morning, Laddie.

Hello, hello. There you go, got your catchphrase in. Did a catchphrase, it's two words. I think it's a catch one time. I said what's up to you and through you so much I can't respond with hello. Hello. Hello is like mussel wassle Put me on the spot Halvin and bruff is brought to you by the Delari family of Honda dealers Experience the Delari difference today visit your nearest Delaree Honda dealer today this hour of the show 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 1170 Powell Street we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step big show show on a Friday as always here on Halford and Bruffwell. We'll start with the guest list at 7. AJ from AJ's Pizza will join us chat about what's going on at AJ's Pizza. Of course it's a massive sports weekend with March Madness in full swing now so great time to post up at AJ's for like 12 hours and enjoy some sports and eat some pizza. 705 Frank Saravalli NHL insider from the Daily Face Off joins the show. Some things to get into specifically related to the

Canucks but also some interesting news items from around the league to chat about with Frank. At 730 Bob the Mojmarjanovic joins the show. And then at eight, Rick Dollywall from Donnie and Dolly. So two, not one, but two insiders on the show today. Yeah. We're going to talk to Dollywall about, well, a number of things, but, uh, did Tom Willander's team get eliminated? So they did from their conference tournament. Oh, I see.

Okay. They're going to be an at-large selection is my understanding to the national tournament. Oh, okay. So his season is to be an at large selection is my understanding to the national tournament. So his season is not done yet. His season is not done yet, but we will talk to Rick Dollyball about the plan for Tom Willander. Yes, correct. So that's a, among other topics that we'll discuss with Rick Dollywall at eight o'clock.

Now, of course, it is also an ask us anything Friday here on the show. So you can send your Ask Us Anything questions in to the Dumbar Lumber Text Line 650-650. And because it's Friday, we're giving away a $100 gift certificate to AJ's Pizza for the best what we learned. Now, are Ask Us Anythings eligible here as well? Yes, they are. All right. So the best either Ask Us Anything or What we learned. Send it in hashtag WWL what you learned in the last 24 hours in sports.

Has to be a pizza emoji too. Include the pizza emoji people. Do not forget about the pizza emoji. So many great ask us anythings that would have won, alas no pizza emoji. Don't be part of that tragic story. Don't do that. Don't do it to yourself.

Include the pizza emoji and you'll have a chance to win. 650 650 is the Dumbar Lumber text line. So again, 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall, 730 Bob the Mojmar Johnovich, 705 Frank Zeravalli, 7 AJ from AJ's Pizza. By the way, we'll announce the winner of the gift card at 830 while we're reading What We Learns and Ask Us Anythings. But before we do any of that, let's tell people what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training.

Visit bccsa.ca. And it was a busy night in sports yesterday on the ice, on the pitch as well. Of course, we got to start with the Vancouver Canucks. They lose a wild one for three in overtime to the St. Louis Blues and the Canucks started off slow. They were actually up in the third period. They blew the lead. Brock Besser tied the game with a big slap shot with mere seconds left before Philip Broberg eventually won it in overtime for the St. Louis Blues. Yeah, that was a roller coaster. I don't know after all was said and done, whether it was a point lost or a point gained or just a point. It was just a point for the Canucks.

Honestly, my big takeaway from that game was like, I, both teams should feel bad about themselves. You know, the blues should feel bad for blowing it in regulation. Like there's just, both teams should be disappointed after that game. That's more than anything. That's fair.

I don't know how Besser got so wide open in overtime. Anyway, we'll get to that. Uh, it, the game did not start well for the Canucks. I guess their first two shifts were fine, but the first period clearly outplayed by the blues, but managed to escape with a scoreless tie.

Thanks in large part to Kevin Lankanen in goal. I wonder if he's getting tired yet. That could be a factor. The Canucks started the second much better, but they couldn't beat Jordan Bennington. And it wasn't until later in the second, I think about five minutes left in the second, Zach Bolduc, man, you just eat that guy's good.

Can't leave him alone. Can't leave him alone. It was an innocent looking shot. Alas, it was inadvertently tipped into his own goal by Quinn Hughes and the Blues held a one nothing lead after 40 minutes. So it was desperation time for the Canucks heading into the third and that's when a solid four check

led to Kiefer Sherwood taking a pass from Philip Hronik and ripping one home. Uh, the game did not stay tied for long about five minutes after Sherwood tied it. Elias Pettersson made a really nice defensive play at his own blue line. He got the puck to Nils Hoeglund who upped it to Brock Besser and Hoeglund went hard to the net with Hoeglund providing the screen. Besser fired a pass Bennington to give the Canucks the lead.

It was also Besser's 200th career goal and it was good to see Hoaglander go get the puck for him. So it was 2-1 for the Canucks. I don't need that at 6.07 in the morning. Thank you, Lydie though. It was. It's 200 goals. It was 200 goals.

For the 2-1 goal in an eventual four three loss. I'm happy for Besser. I'm sorry for being happy. You're forgiven. Apology accepted. Uh, there was another two goal turnaround to come and, uh, not the good version. If you're a Canucks fan in the span of 24 second,

the Blues scored twice to take a three, two lead halfway through the third period. And the Enterprise Center was rockin'. The corporate names really make it tough to say those sorts of things. And the Enterprise Center... Down at the end last night, we had a great time. Over the next 10 minutes, the Canucks tried desperately to tie the game, but as the clock ticked down and down, it didn't look good.

And I started walking out of the room because I had to take the garbage out and now there were fewer than 10 seconds remaining and then this happened Justin Falk battling for it down low. Canucks try to get it free. It's cleared out to center. Quinn Hughes has it to the red line. 10 seconds left. Hughes makes a move. Passed it up the left wing. It's sent to the right circle. Besser with a slam shot. He scores! Brock Besser ties the game with 2.7 seconds left on the clock. His second of the night. This one at six on five makes it 3-3 and the Canucks have grabbed this game back from the brink. So a great play by Quinn Hughes at center to open up a passing lane.

He did his dancing. He did his Quinn Hughes dancing. Uh, opened up a passing lane to Petey at the blue line, then a terrific cross-ice pass, good vision by Petey to find Besser, who was somehow completely unchecked, uh, and then an awesome slapper by Besser to beat Jordan Binnington. So at the very least, the Canucks had managed to earn a point on the night,

but the Blues were the ones who came away with two points because this happened in overtime. Leas Pettersson, one on three into the Blue Zone. He bobbled the puck and turned it over and Dylan Holloway's got it for St. Louis. Holloway stretches it to center for Chen, or rather, chance for a two-on-one. Braden Chen in front for Broberg to the backhand, he scores!

The Canucks claw back to earn a point in St. Louis, but Philip Broberg ends it with 118 left in overtime and the blues win four to three. So there's a lot to unpack from last night in St. Louis, but why don't we start with a winning goal for St. Louis? Jamie, what happened in overtime?

So it's a great question. There is a bit of a, like a Rorschach test element to this, right? Because Patterson does turn the puck over that leads to the Blues going the other way. Now you can dial it back a little bit and say well Quinn Hughes kind of puts him in a tough position there by passing to him in a spot where he doesn't have speed, you know, the Blues are able to converge on him and put pressure on him and then Jake DeBrusk I think compounds things as well by going off for a change, roll them and kind of just letting, letting the blues pick up speed and, and

have a two on one the other way. So I think the best way to look at it is basically three, three of your top players. We don't always include Jake to brusk in that mix, but he is, he's one of their highest paid players, highest paid forwards. Three of your top players made kind of compounding mistakes in the span of about five seconds and you do that in overtime. But who do we blame the most?

That's the most important thing. Hold on, hold on. We have to, but we have to have someone who gets blamed the most. Honestly, for maybe, I don't know, I don't pick on Quinn Hughes very often, but you know but I think Quinn put Pedersen in a bad spot there. Saw that he was flat footed, but one of the

things I want to get into later on with you is whether or not Quinn just played too much in the game and maybe he was just like exhausted and it's not just your legs that go when you're tired, it's you know, your brain goes a little bit too. I agree that it wasn't a great idea by Quinn Hughes, but if you're Elias Pettersson, you still have ample opportunity to make a better play. Like just because Quinn Hughes passes it to you there, you're always picking on. Does it mean that you have kind of a show in the morning? Yeah. What can I say? I know.

You know what I mean? It's like, it's not like, oh, well, I guess I have no choice, but to skate forward into pressure now, you could do something else. You could make another play. But that's what I mean. It was compounding mistakes. It wasn't a great read by Quinn Hughes, a soft

play by Patterson, a bad read by Debrusque. And when there's only three guys on the ice at a time and all three of them make a bad read in the span of about five seconds, you're in trouble. Well let's hear what Rick Tauke, the head coach, had to say about the play in overtime. Well, yeah, well, we did a nice job in Calgary and I don't know, we aborted the plan. When you don't have speed, just throw it back, get some fresh people out there and I think we're making those short passes with nobody standing still you gotta and then we don't you know we obviously

don't we got to get back on that two-on-one that we don't play right but hey listen it's we got to clean it up gonna clean that stuff up. So earlier in the postgame availability Tuckett said you know it was good to get the point and they showed some resilience and grit but overall a sloppy game by the Canucks. That's what he deemed it. And I think a lot of that was about the overtime, which was sloppy. But I just wonder about, I really wonder about

fatigue for Quinn Hughes. So I don't know how much we're going to talk about the Canada, Mexico game, but at the end of the game and actually for quite a bit of it, but mostly in the end, Alfonso Davies just tried to play hero ball. Like I was yelling at the TV, you got to pass the ball, man. Please pass the ball. And we all know that he is the most talented player on that Canadian team.

And a lot is expected and Canada was down in that match real early. And I think he felt that it was on him to get the job done. Like he's not, like Canada has more talent than they used to, but they're not Bayern, right? They're not Bayern Munich. And so when Davies plays with Bayern, he's

surrounded with a lot more talent and he feels like he can trust his teammates a little bit more, probably. It didn't look like he trusted anyone last night, uh, down in LA against Mexico. And sometimes I get that vibe with Hughes and I really got that vibe last night with Hughes. Yeah.

And especially it's not so much the play in overtime for me that makes it stand out, but there were some shifts in the third period where, look, it's great that Quinn Hughes is a shooting threat and he is, he can be really dangerous when he is using his skating to beat defenders, open up shooting lanes and snap that wrist shot.

I mean, we've seen him score a lot this year on that play. It can be a really good, dangerous effective play for the Canucks, but there were moments in the third last night where it wasn't that it was more just like, usually, you know, what's the Seinfeld line with the guy in basketball, a chucker, where you just get the ball and it's like, boom, you're chucking it up. Who's this chucker? Yeah, that's a good point. There was a couple of shifts where that was him, right? He's

at the point and he gets it. It's just boom. It is off his stick immediately without doing the kind of setup work that he so often does to make it really a really effective chance. And I mean, it's pretty tough for us to come in here and like level any criticism at Quinn Hughes considering how absolutely ridiculous he's been and where this team would be without him. I do think probably more than anything, it's him. Because if you're Quinn Hughes, what's the message you've taken from this season more than anything? It's, I'm so important to this team.

Without me, they're lost. I'm not saying that's an ego thing or anything. That's just, that's the facts of the matter. So you're in this massive game, biggest game of the season, you're desperately trying to make the playoffs. How could you not be tempted to take it all on yourself? You know what I mean? The inbox is blaming DeBrusk by the way, neither

Pedersen or Hughes seem to be getting much flak. It's mostly been DeBrusk. Yeah, all three of them made mistakes. DeBrusk should have stayed on the ice and pressured the D-man. Um, you know, in, in overtime, it's basically if one person gets beat, then it's a huge advantage for the other team.

And now Debrecht did get off the ice and Besser came on and was further, was closer to the Vancouver goal when he did get on. But Besser, I don't know if Debrecht was gassed himself. I have no idea. But if he had stayed on and pressured the puck carry a little bit more, it wouldn't have been quite as easy to make that stretch pass, I imagine.

But listen, I. Well also, hold on, hold on. The real person we should be blaming for the OT goal is Rick Taukett for reprogramming Petey's brain such that he didn't feel comfortable regrouping. Here we go. Yeah.

Yeah. This is, it's like, I almost didn't feel comfortable regrouping. Here we go. Yeah. Yeah. This is, it's like, I almost regret having the interview. Having the interview. It's like, Craig, we are so sorry about this. We did not know. We did not understand. I don't know.

I think it's gotten to the point right now where it's just messy with everything. Yeah. Right? This has been a very, very messy season for the Canucks. And going back to the JTPD thing, it's just been messy. And everyone's kind of dug in on their opinions. And, um, like you were saying, like some people don't even know if they're joking or not, throwing out tweets on social media.

Like, like East West now has become like this, this, like this weird thing and, and, and talk, it is kind of not helping himself because he's using it constantly in the, uh, in his post game of veil too, right? Like he said, yeah, I liked the tying goal. We got going north, right? Like, so he's like, okay, but there was an East West pass there. The PD made to Besser, right?

Like we're going to everyone's just like, we're, we're just, I think, I think everyone has kind of lost the plot at this point. We're going to set the record in this market for most conversation about the cardinal directions on the ice. Like every play now is filtered through, which direction was the puck? Was that puck traveling north? Oh, I don't like that play then. Was it traveling east-west?

Oh, that's a good play then. And it's like, guys, what about if it goes northeast? Sometimes I see why professional athletes might want to play in a place like Carolina or something where they just don't care about this stuff. Why are we talking about this? Where nobody knows what North says. Yeah, who cares? What are we doing here?

I heard people like, Petey would have made a different play if his brain hadn't been reprogrammed. I was like, I don't know, he just kind of bobbled the puck. He just lost the puck. I don't think anyone was programming to do that. No. Like, and that's, and that was also an element of, you know, the big question of what's going on with Pedersen skating, right? Like he just, he was flat footed and he, he had

no acceleration there, like nothing. And you need to be able to, to, you know, not like he was going to beat those three blues, but to make a better play helps if you can have a little bit of juice. Oh God, I used it from Drance in your legs. Don't worry. You'd only be like Drance if you then used it

like six times in the next five minutes as well. Following up on that, Matt, the flower delivery guy at Surrey says all three of them looked gassed in overtime. Quinn played five of the last six minutes of the third. And he played 11 minutes in the third, two more minutes in overtime, logged over 30 minutes on the

night. And it brings up one of these good debates. Is that too much? Maybe, but is a kind of gassed Quinn Hughes better than anyone else? Like Marcus Pedersen that you're putting out there? Yeah. Yeah. And to me, it's pretty much a simple question of if you're not risking long-term injury for Quinn Hughes by playing him this much, it's an organizational goal to make the playoffs,

and you might need to play Quinn Hughes that much. Now you can see the slip, the slippage in his game, but I think still he's your best option so often to do something. Well look at the play he made on the tying goal. Yeah. Right? Like it all started with him at center ice. I mean, there's no way where the Canucks were at

that point in the game with the pocket center ice, there's no way that that should have led to a goal for the Canucks. Like the Blues had pretty much everyone back. Quinn Hughes does his dancing at center, finds Pedersen at the blue line, and then Pedersen makes a play, really nice pass to Besser and Besser scores. Now I don't know what the Blues were doing defensively.

It's a great question. On that, and if don't know what the Blues were doing defensively. Great question. On that, and if that was, the roles were reversed, we would be killing the Canucks. We would be absolutely. Hey, why is everyone on the same side of the ice? The number of chances, and I'm not trying to take anything away from the Canucks because it's a great series of plays

from Hughes, Pedersen, Besser on that tying goal, and they deserve credit. But the Blues left the door so wide open by having zero killer instinct and failing to put away that game. And you're exactly right. If we were a St. Louis Blues focused show, yeah, we'd be celebrating and giving them kudos

for winning in overtime, but we would also be absolutely carving them for that sequence. You know what the wild thing is? The defensemen on the left side, like the St. Louis Blues left side, which is where Besser ends up scoring that goal, is Ryan Suter.

And he goes all the way over pretty much to Patterson. It's like, he's the most veteran veteran in the NHL. Ryan Suter has played like a million games in the NHL. It's just come. Buy me out again, buy me out again. I'll find another team. He's getting baited by by like 16 right now. Completely blew it.

I just wanted to read this from Ian McIntyre's post game column. Under the title Dempco Update, he writes goalie factor Dempco out since February 8th with his third injury this season, is on the trip for the Canucks and could play in the New York area as Vancouver visits the Rangers, New Jersey, New Jersey Devils and Islanders over a span of five

days, starting Saturday at MSG. Um, I, I, I wonder about Kevin Lankton and like he's played so well, but he's gotta be getting tired. You would think so. But the risk too, like I know there's a risk of putting sea loaves in and I don't know how much upside there is. It's mostly downside risk. There's also a risk in putting Thatcher Demko into this. Right? Like remember when he came back and he was struggling early on and he said, yeah, I feel like I've just kind of lost touch with my game a little bit.

And that one really stood out to me because it's not only recovering from the injury and making sure that you're physically ready to go. It's also just getting a feel for the game back. Has he lost his feel for the game in the last little while that he's been out again? Because you're going to throw him in this situation where you've got some desperate teams. Now the Rangers lost again at home yesterday, so

they may be desperate, but they're not playing particularly desperate. And I, and I don't know if they're going to throw Demko in there for a 1pm start against the New York Rangers. Probably not, but maybe he plays against the Islanders and that's a desperate team right now. And that's a desperate team that's actually

winning some games. So if, when, and how they put Thatcher Demko back in is going to be really interesting to watch. Especially because you can't really afford a and how they put Thatcher Demko back in is gonna be really interesting to watch. Well, especially because you can't really afford a ramp up period for him, right? That's what I'm talking about, right? It's not like, well, it's gonna take him a couple games

to get back to a, it's like, that could end your season. A couple of bad games from your goalie could end your season right now, but you also just can't ride Lankton in. You have to give Demko at least a handful of games here. If he's ready to go, you have to play him. You have to play him and you have to see what you get. But it's a big roll of the dice for this Canucks team.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. From the Daily Face Off, he is NHL insider Frank Saravalli, a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor. Frank, how's it going today today thanks for doing this. I'm good good morning guys. So lots going on even post trade deadline here with the Vancouver Canucks and one of the news items in conversation this week here has been Rick Tuckett's future with the team will he be here next year when will that all get figured out and we heard earlier this, Patrick Alvein said they'd like to get things

figured out sooner rather than later. They obviously like Rick Taukett a lot. Taukett was on our station on our show actually earlier this week. And he basically said, Hey guys, I'm trying to make the playoffs. I don't really have time to be thinking about this right now. What's your read on where this situation is headed and when we could expect a resolution between Rick Taukett and the Canucks? Oh, I think you're right. read on where this situation is headed and when we could expect a resolution between Rick Taukett and the Canucks? I think you're right if they were up to the

Canucks they'd love to have that done and settled and in their back pocket understanding that Rick Taukett is gonna continue to be their head coach for the foreseeable future. That said I don't think my understanding is in according to what Rick Taukett said I don't think my understanding is, and according to what Rick talk, it said, I don't think that there's been much by way of, uh, talking or negotiating. I do think the focus has been on trying to keep this team in a playoff spot or, um, in the hunt. And that's been the number one goal. So look, um, I think the lesson here is not all that dissimilar to the

best or conversation if you wanted to keep them and not saying that they won't, but this could have all been handled. This was, this is the reigning Jack Adams award winner from last season, who by every single metric and measure had an unbelievable year why wasn't an extension done before allowing him to go into the final year of his deal now we understand there's an option year and I it's not clear yet as to whether or not it's a mutual option or a club option or a talk it option, but don't leave that till March

or late March of the following season in which he could potentially walk at the end of it because it's just one more unsettling factor to this year. Well, how much could all of this be Rick Tauke not wanting to, without knowing what the future is going to look like in Vancouver, lock in to being the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks? Well, I think a lot of it, if I were in issues,

again, not understanding what, how the option functions, because no one has shed light on that yet, but if I were in his shoes, I'd say, okay, look at the incredible drama that's played out around this team this year. Is there a potential that even Alias Pedersen is moving on in the summer? a potential that even Elias Pedersen is moving on in the summer. And frankly, what, what's the competitive posture of this team moving forward? It's not just the drama and the headaches, but will this team have a chance to win as constructed? I'd want to wait and find out as much information as possible

before making that decision. It would have been a totally different conversation and he would be locked in again had you just taken care of business when you should have last summer. But the reason I likened it to Besser is because it's no different than Besser coming off of the 40 goal a year. They say, okay, well, let's have you go prove it and do it again. And then they try and em you up on the AAV because they don't want to pay you at your highest value. Same thing is going on with pocket.

They essentially said, hey, we know that you're the reigning coach of the year. We know that you've done a fantastic job and the staff that you've assembled. And I wanted to clarify that because for whatever reason I was getting shots thrown my way on social media, not shocking coming from your market, but the fact that I said that this staff from pocket and foot with the Sabines chipping in and all the experience that they have from top to bottom and Quinn Hughes has said this, that this is the best coaching staff that he's played for, that it is a top five staff in the league and that beyond that they've essentially made the same dare. You won Coach of the Year, we had a great year, we were one win away from the conference final, but we're not going to get an extension that. Why not?

Why didn't you? You know you make the comparison to Brock Bessar I think it's a good one. Now in Besser's situation obviously coming off the 40-goal season he hasn't been able to duplicate that this year and that's probably cost him some well has cost him some bargaining power even when he hits July 1st. He'll still get a nice deal but obviously a different scenario than if he had come out and had another 40-goal season. With Tauke, I'm not sure I get the sense that he's really hurt his market value that much by what the Canucks have done this year. Do you have a sense of just kind of how in-demand he would be around the league? And has he done

enough, even considering how difficult this season has been to kind of you know make a case to be in the upper echelon of coaches when it comes to the salary he's making on his next deal? Yes I think in some ways and this is gonna sound funny to say he's done a better job holding this group together this year than he did last year. The team was way more talented last year. There was no drama, there was no hiccups, and you had a healthy Quinn Hughes having a NARS trophy season and up until basically the 90 yard line of the season or 95 yard line of the season you had your

franchise goalie and Fatcher Demko having a Vezina level season to the point where he was a finalist. So then you take this year, you inject all the drama that's been there and chaos, and this team might still make the playoffs with a vastly depleted roster. I can only tell you this with absolute certainty. I know that there are teams right now that have had coaches signed up for next season and beyond that would fire their coach into the sun to get their hands on Rick Tocket. So his market value has only gone to increase and I think everyone, not everyone, but I think there's six, seven, eight teams in the league that are waiting to see how this plays out to understand whether or not they might be able to get it. Very interesting, Frank.

I mean, we kind of have an ongoing thing in this market where the media for the most part has defended Rick Tocket and we get all sorts of text messages to our Dunbar lumber text line wondering why we keep defending Rick Tocket. Can you share any more about- It's okay, just run him out too. I mean, go ahead. Can you share any more about like, so you're talking about like specifically his name comes up and they'd be like, I would fire my coach if we could hire Rick Tauket. Yes.

He is Rick Dollywall. Rick, what's going on, man? Jamie, it's got to be Christmas for you. Getting away from Drantz. It's got to be Christmas. It's, I got to be honest. It's a, it's a nice change. Switch things up every once in a while.

You know, like from Halloween to Christmas, you went from Halloween to Christmas. Buff is 10 times better to work with. Good guy. Uh, you know what? It's been a good week for you. Hey, I heard Drantz was on his best behavior though, on the crossover on, uh, on Canucks talk.

Well, at least you don't have to listen to how great Utah is. Oh, Utah is the best team in the history of the National Hockey League according to Drantz. St. Louis is crap, but Utah is great according to Drantz who watches 400 hockey games a night. But hey, you know, you don't have to hear that anymore. That's true. Well, until Monday anyways. What did you think of the game in St. Louis last night, Rick?

That's a heartbreaker. First of all, you tie it the game in St. Louis last night, Rick? That's a heartbreaker. First of all, you tie it with four seconds left. What a beautiful goal by Brock. That's a tough one to swallow. But give the Canucks credit. They never gave up and they got the point thanks to Besser. It's amazing how perception can change in a week. Besser goes from no goals in 12 games to four goals in his last two.

He has now scored 200 goals in the Canuck uniform. Only Pavel Bury and Trevor Linden have reached that 200 number quicker. Besser reached 201 in 80 games less than Horvat did. Right. Even the GM probably going to kill him, but would actually have to say something nice about Besser after last night. Besser proved again last night. He's a clutch goal scorer. Who else on the Canucks scores that time goal from there with four seconds left? Nobody. And that's where the team is stuck if they let him walk. You can find another scoring winger, but not one that is best friends with your

captain. Not one that is very well-liked in that dressing room. Not one who wants to stay here and not go anywhere else. Now, he's going to do fine on July 1st, Besser, if he hits the market. Goal scoring wingers always do. But the big issue for Besser is going to be term. It's not money. The money is going to be term. It's not money. It's the money is going to be eight plus. There's no, the Canucks already made an offer of 8 million. That's not the concern for Besser. It's going to be terms. Will, it'll be term. Will teams commit six to seven years to him? I think there are teams out there like that might be afraid to do that. Like I,

uh, I think that might be an issue for Besser I don't know the term he's going to get on July 1st I'm very confident he will get the money the million dollar question is can he get six to seven years on July 1st um you got to figure the connects are going to take some more runs assigning Besser his agent Ben Ankinson tweeting out impressive Besser stats last night you know he's loving that game last night right signing Besser. His agent Ben Hankinson tweeting out impressive Besser stats last night. You know, he's loving that game last night, right? If Besser keeps playing this way down the stretch, Hankinson is going to get

Besser a nice payday, either here or somewhere else. But he's going to get it. Rick, how much of, I know you can't speak for all the fans, but, or even the team, how much of, I know you can't speak for all the fans, but, or even the team, how much of the idea of moving on from Besser is less about Besser because we all know he's a good guy and when he's on his game, he's a good player and just wanting to change,

like bring some different element to the team instead of committing to more of the core that has just not gotten it done. Yeah. You know, the fact that Canucks made that's their new contract during trade deadline week tells me that they want the guy, right? Jason, I think they do want them.

Go take a look at the top. But they want them on a bargain, right? They want them on a, well, only the bargain they want is on term. I like the Canucks offer of five times eight signifies they think like eight is a pretty good bump from six five. I think we would all agree.

I, I, I think the Canucks are in the ballpark money wise, this whole thing is coming, going to come down to term. I'm not so sure like, is Brock going to get seven on July 1st. Look at their top six wingers okay. The only two top six wingers they have who play in the top six with regularity are Besser and Debrusk. I know Hogan has been there for a week and you know that's a really nice sign for the team but they're the only

two top six wingers in the sense that who can score and stay high in the lineup the whole year long. They do respect the player. Um, they do want the player back, but there is issues with his skating and his foot speed. Teams are worried about his foot speed in years, six, seven, eight of a long-term deal. And I can understand that.

And I can understand the Canucks only going five. I really do understand. I, I've had other teams tell me that they think their philosophy on five is, is not wrong in the sense that, you know what, this isn't the fastest skater, he just turned 28, I think last month. So skating's a big time issue, right? But, but great hockey sense, great sniper,

you know, it goes to the right areas of the ice, he does everything else so well. And, you know, to hit 201 goals and go look at the list of Canucks who have hit 200 goals, you see some pretty big names here, right? You know, you know, Tony Tanti, who did just, you know, one of my favorite players of all time Tony Tanti who did just, you know, one of my favorite players of all time in the

eighties and Jason, you remember Tanti. Oh yeah. And you know, and Tanti scored all of his goals on weak teams, like the Canucks were not good in the eighties and. It was the best goal scorer the franchise had until Pavel O'Berry came around. Absolutely.

A hundred percent and a hundred percent. And Tanti did it on weak teams. Like he didn't have the luxury of scoring all those goals on great teams. He did it on weak teams in the smite division. So look at the list of players. Brock Bessard, he was drafted by the Canucks. He's been a model draft pick. He's well liked in the dressing room.

You ever hear of any issues with Brock off the ice in his nine plus years here? No, just like the Sedin twins. These guys are model draft picks and this is going to be interesting to see for me. How this goes. I fully plan on, and I can see Brock's angle too, that I worked hard all my life to become a UFA, these players are club controlled after they're drafted for a lot of years. So when you finally get to UFA status, you owe it

to yourself to maybe go check if the current team is not giving you what they want. You owe it to yourself to go see if you can get that on July 1st. He, why wouldn't he go to July 1st if the connoisseurs are not giving him what he wants? He worked hard all his life to get to UFA status. Yeah, at the very, go talk to them.

Go talk to teams and see if you can get six, seven years. And, um, clearly the Canucks and I understand the Canucks side of it. Um, they don't want to commit, uh, to seven, eight years right now. And, and, but the Canucks did make an offer, a new one at the trade deadline week, and that tells you also that they do recognize the player and look at the playoffs last year. You know, who led the Connucks in playoffs scoring? It was Besser.

Remember the three goals in Nashville. And then last night I thought he was going to get a hat trick. And, and so it's a good player. It's, it's a really good person. It's a tough call from both sides and how this ends up is, is just going to be astonishing to me. Well, another guy that people have questioned

his skating, but not his hockey sense and is having a terrific season for the Canucks is Pugh Souter. You've got some new information on the Pugh Souter contract situation. Yeah, at the trade deadline, a contract talks between the Canucks and Souter went cold, really cold. There wasn't much contact. Souter's agent was in Vancouver four or five weeks ago and so there was some minimal talks then. But since the trade deadline, I've been told the two sides have had some loose talks.

This is very interesting to me because Suter has hit 20 goals. He's clearly in for a huge raise on the 1.6 million he's currently making. So like Rick Tuckett said the other day, it's a cha-ching, cha-ching time for Suter. He could get close to 4 million on July 1st. I mean, let's say he pots another five. I don't know. Um, we had a poll question this week, who just signed Souter or Bessert, you know, and Souter won, like Souter won that poll, which is like blew me away. He's got

17 even strength goals. He leads all Canucks, but here's the thing. Look at the Canuck center ice position. A lot of their cap space should be allocated for a second line center via trade or free agency. Heedle is your third line center. He's making a good buck. Bluger is still here next year. Max Assan and Atu Ratu could be pushing for full-time roles next year. We don't know that. The need is for a playmaking second line center. The Canucks have already dealt two very good centers in Horvat and Miller. They got no offense back in those deals.

They used Horvat and Miller to get top four defensemen in the Arona competition. That's why today they're one of the lowest scoring teams in the NHL. They didn't trade Horvat and Miller and get offense back. They got two top four D. That's one of the issues they have with scoring goals is they lost to really good center of it. The Canucks went outside their comfort zone with Kevin Lankton and their first offer to Lankton was 3.9 million. They went all the way up to really good sentiment. The Canucks went outside their comfort zone with Kevin

Lankton and their first offer to Lankton was 3.9 million. They went all the way up to four or five. I don't see them doing that. Time will tell with Souter, time will tell, but I don't see them going out of their comfort zone that much for Souter, but I can report since the trade deadline, there's been at least some dialogue there and it's kind of interesting right like I he's at 1-6 he's clearly going to double his uh his colleague he might triple I don't know but Pia Suter is is doing it in his UFA year you know top bottom top six bottom six PK you know he could play wing or, he can do it all for you. But when you look at the Canucks center ice

position, what do you see? Pedersen's now finally starting to act like a first line center, last 10 games, first 60 games, not so much, and they need a second line center. You know, Hedl's still here, you know, so what do they do? How do they fit that guy in with a huge race? And you've got 13 million to play with cap wise.

Um, Tom Willander, where's his season at and when could assigning happen? Will assigning happen this season? That's a great question. Now the NCAA men's ice hockey tournament, uh, brackets will be decided this Sunday. B, you could play as early as March 27th. If they lose that game, Will Landrieu could be available to sign with Vancouver on that

date. To get a high first round pick under contract, especially one that has played really well since his draft year, many things got to come together. So let's talk about some of these things. What would be the initial plan for Will Landrieu? The Canucks are starting in Abbotsburg. They are in the middle of one hell of a playoff race, right? And on the right side they do have Mancini, right, as the extra idea on the right side. Many NCAA players try and burn a year of their rookie contracts to get back at the negotiation table sooner, but

history shows that really doesn't help young players. A normal three year entry level deal gives the player more time and a better chance of getting a better second contract. When you burn a year, you better produce real fast to get a real good second deal, because if you burn your contract, then you don't have much time to impress and get that good second deal. Knowing Willander's representative, Todd Diamond, they will likely do what they feel is best for his career long term and earning power. Keep this in mind, Willander's father, Erik, is a skills

coach in Sweden and certainly values development. Here's another one for you. What does the actual contract look like for Will Lander? It could come down to a battle over the schedule A performance bonuses. Will Lander has certainly met or exceeded his draft position with a stellar play. It should be noted at 15th overall in two years ago, the Karei Mackie signed his rookie contract,

$475,000 maximum in yearly rookie performance bonuses. Will Lander will exceed that easily, but is capped at $1 million per under the CBA. Finishing the school year could come into play here as Will Lander is an excellent student. But once BU is eliminated, I expect things to develop relatively quickly.

A lot of people have said this year that Willander is going to come out. Um, it's going to happen signed with Vancouver, but it's just not always as easy as just saying, here, sign, let's do it. There's a lot of factors to consider. From a Canucks perspective, are they desperate to add Willander because in the last little while,

the defense has been reshaped. There's a lot more depth there. There's a lot more ability there. If you'd asked me this three months ago, I'd be like, oh, they're probably going to need them, but do they need them now? Well, are they going to need them in Abbotsford next year maybe?

Or look at Abbotsford. Well, I'm not talking about next season. I'm talking about this season. But they got to look at it like this. He's actually got a pretty good size body. He's got a, like some people say a pro body already, he's a pretty thick kid. You always want to get that kid in Jason and

get them into pro hockey, whether it's Vancouver or Abbotsford. Go look at Abbotsford's blue line. I think everybody down there is either a UFA or an RFA for defense. I don't know if Hollander is going to step into the Vancouver lineup. I don't know that. But the Canucks got to think, they got to project where he is next year. Is he in Vancouver or

Abbotsburg? You're probably thinking he's ready for pro hockey. Like he has had another good year. I think he was named an All-Star again for his hockey. I think he was again named. I just think, look, if he goes back to BU for another year, you know, we're doing this all over again in 12 months, you know, maybe get them into the pro hockey and, and, and get them ready for pro hockey right now. I, and they're in that one hell of a playoff race, you know? And like I said, they're playing Elyse

Pedersen, the young defenceman on the right side and he's a left shot. You got Mancini there to kind of, you know, help you, he's really good in six, seven spot. So you have depth there. So it's going to come down to a lot of the factors I just talked about, but I would be shocked if the Canucks don't say to his advisor,

you know, let's sign a deal. Let's get him into pro hockey. Um, Rick on, uh, Rick Tauket's future. Have you got anything on that? That's definitely been a topic of conversation that has been brought up more and more. Well, you guys started it with Tauket and I thought he said all the right things.

Nobody had brought it up before us, Rick. No, no, no, no. And I mean this in a good way. I thought, no, no, I mean it in a good way. I thought it was great. I thought Tauket said all the right things on your show. If word would have leaked that he was talking extension with the Canucks in the middle of a playoff race, he would have got ripped for that.

Tuckett was smart to say he's waiting for the end of the season, right? The Canucks have made it clear they want him back, but obviously, clearly, he's not ready to commit yet. So for me, after the season, this looks like the Canucks are going to have to articulate a plan going forward to keep Talkit. He's going to need a vision and a plan that makes sense. He's going to have to, there's going to have to be a sell job by the Canucks because it has been one hell of an exhausting year for Talkit. A lot of things have gone wrong. The Miller leave of absence, the Miller

Peterson feud, the two guys most affected by the Miller Peterson feud were talking to Quinn Hughes. You don't think those two guys tried hard, really hard to fix that. Yes, they did. Yes, they did. And it was grueling and it was nonsense at times that feud and no team should have to do that in

the middle of a year to deal with two superstar players that can't get along. And I'm sure Quinn Hughes future is going to come up when talk it talks to the Canucks. Why would he sign for four or five years here? No one, the franchise defenseman could leave in too. And I'm sure management's going to have to show talk at how they plan on getting a second line

center, a top six winger. I would like to know that too. Like what's your plan? What are you willing to give up? That's it. To get a centre and who are you targeting, man? There's no one really an unrestricted free agency unless you're going to overpay the hell out of Sam Bennett.

Okay, but if you go the trade route, if you're going to get a second line centre and they don't grow on trees, everybody wants Willander and La Caramacchi and a first round pick. You go to July 1st, you don't have to give up anything but you got overpaid. So either way they're kind of stuck and here's another one for you. Maybe Tuckett needs some more leadership and toughness. When Ian Cole and Zdorov left the dynamics of that dressing have

changed. Those are two guys that Tuckett misses. The Canucks had interest in Brandon DeHaim last year. He signed with Washington. Did you hear Tom Wilson raving about DeHaim the other day about his character and sticking up for teammates? Yeah. Is toughness and getting a veteran leader on the

Canucks July 1st wishlist? If it's not, it should be. Pocket's going to need a lot of answers, guys, to a lot of questions. Uh, you know, um, and he's got all the leverage. This regime hired him. If he leaves, that's a bad look. That's a bad look.

That's a terrible look because. It's a terrible look. Because management was really hanging their hat on the decision to hire Rick Tauke and last season it looked amazing, you know, for all the criticism that they took, uh, the way that Bruce Boudreaux's tenure ended in Vancouver. And then they're like, I remember going into last

season and going, man, this management group is really hanging their hat on the fact that they've got Rick Tocket, this better work out, Rick Tocket better be a coach. And then he goes and wins coach of the year. Um, if Rick Tocket decides to leave, oof, that's a, that's a tough one. You're listening to the best of Halford and

Brough.