Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 3/25/26

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

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

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. For Jackson-Lacom, drop to McTavish, one-timer, he scores. A hard shot for Mason McTavish at the top of the left circle, beats Kevin Lankin and over the glove, and the ducks go ahead, four to three. I've been trying. It's just this body doesn't recover like it was when it was 24, 25. Doesn't mean I'm not trying.

The spirit is willing with the flesh is spongy, bruised. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough, it is SportsNet 650. We are coming alive from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Hey, Daw, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees.

visiting today at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 11th, 70 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech.

And if you want to text into the show today, it is 650, 650 on the Dunbar Lumber, text line trusted by contractors and DIY champions. I think that means do it yourself. It can't confirm. A lot of champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber Online today. Okay, we got a lot to get into on the program today. The Duke Morning Drive, that's our morning guest list.

Brought to you by the Duick Auto Group, a four-guester today and a lot of hockey talk on the horizon. Greg Wyshinsky's going to join us at 630, our ESPN NHL Insider. An incredibly busy night in the NHL last night. 30 teams in action across 15 games. We're going to get into all of it, or as much as we can, with Greg at 630 this morning. It's another quiet night tonight. Monday there was one game. Last night there was 15 games, and tonight there's two games.

Yeah, it's not great scheduling, if we'll be honest, but I do think that's, That's partly because tonight I'm going to skip ahead to our 730 guest. Adnan Burke from MLB Network joins us because the MLB season starts, Jason, tonight. An exclusive opening night game on Netflix. How about that between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park? So the main opening day is tomorrow. But the MLB season gets underway tonight. So Adnan is going to join us this morning.

And then, of course, the Js open their season on Friday. I'm going to have a question for Adnan. and this is for Rob and Surrey because he's texting it a few times about the Mariners and he's a big Mariners fan

and every time he texts him about the Mariners he has to take a shot of the Blue Jays but I honestly want to know Adnan's opinion who has a better shot at winning the World Series

this year is it the Toronto Blue Jays who came really close or is it remember that light they came so close so close or the Seattle Mariners

and if you look at the sports books and if you're look at the sports books, the answer, despite your... Yeah, who is it? Your laugh there is... Seattle Mariners. Yeah, I could see that.

Easy division, maybe. The Seattle Mariners winning the World Series? That thing they've never been to before? Let's go. A-Dog's a huge mariners. Heck yeah. Who's your favorite mariner? I like them all.

You see Big Dumber. I mean, it is Big Dumber. Who are we kidding? Well, a lot of people are wondering if, like, J-Rod can have... a season and even like an MVP caliber season. I'm quite curious about him. He's kind of, is he not there, is he not there, their Vladdy where you know the talent is there,

but you just don't know if it's always going to come out in the right way? The only big difference is that he did not break out in last year's postseason, whereas Vladdy did carry the Blue Jays all the way to game seven of the world. Super close. Super close. Came very, very close. So anyway, Adnan's going to join us at 734. some MLB talk. Frank Servali is going to join us at 7.

Another NHL insider, He from Victory Plus. As mentioned, with nearly every team in action last night in the NHL, there was a lot of movement in both the Eastern and Western Conference playoff. Pictures. We'll get into all that with Frank at 7. I mentioned Adnan at 7.30. 8 o'clock Thomas Drance is going to join the program,

the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk. Canucks lost for the fifth time through seven games of their season high, eight game homestand. This time, last night, it was a 5-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, the first place in the Pacific Division, Anaheim Ducks. We'll get into all that and more with Drancer at 8 a.m.

So we got four guests on the horizon. We got a ton of stuff to get into. It is a very loaded show. Without further ado, Laddy, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was.

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety. Alliance making safety simpler by giving construction companies of essential tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.cai.cala.cail

Granlton scored twice last night. John Carlson noted trade deadline pickup had three assists and the Ducks scored a 5-3 win against your Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday night. Yeah, the Canucks got off to a half-deas and start last night and they finished the period up 1-0 on a on a power play goal by Jake DeBrusk who now, who has now scored 12 of his 15 goals with the man advantage, so you can do the math on what the even-strength

goals are. Nice pass by Elias Pedersen to find DeBrus down low beside the Anaheim Net. The assist gave Pedersen 499 career points, which frankly are Ring of Honor numbers. I mean, we'll talk to Thomas Trance about that. I mean, Ring of Honor, right? I mean, 500 career points. You know, he's still a young man, Jesus, ring of honor. The Ducks were still probably the stronger team in the first, but Kevin Lankinen looked solid stopping all 10 of Anaheim shots. But the Ducks tied it up in the second after Alex Killorn got in close and beat Lankan. Two Canucks players, Ratu and Hironik.

They both went to John Carlson, and John Carlson had the puck kind of in the slot area, and he said, well, two guys just came to me. So that leaves Alex Killorn wide open for the pass. Confusion in the Vancouver end? That's crazy. I haven't seen that all year. A couple minutes later, the Ducks took the lead on a goal by the veteran Michael Granlin, who batted home a puck that had popped up way high in front of Lankinen.

But the power play came to the Canucks Rescue again later in the second. Brock Besser scored the goal, and Elias Pedersen, he picked up the magic assist. Magic number of 500 career points, all of them with the Canucks, obviously. Seventh all-time leading score in Canucks history now. Ring of honor numbers. Let's go. So on to the third we went, and the Ducks started with the remains of a two-man advantage.

The Canucks killed the first penalty, but there was Granlin again, scoring at five on four. Anaheim led three to two. Credit the Canucks who didn't roll over and die. Sometimes I think we wish they would, but they didn't. Instead, they tied it up once again. O'Connor scored his career high, 17th of the season off a rush with the Vanderkain. Let's take a moment now to check in on the Canucks goal scoring race. Oh yeah, we get 20 bucks on the line here.

I have Brock Besser, right? Good night for you. He's got 17. You have Drew O'Connor. Good night for me. He's got 17. So both of them tied finally, Kiefer Sherwood. Yay.

And 17 goals despite the fact. That Sherwood only played 44 games for the Canucks is no longer with the team. Pedy and DeBrusk have 15 each as well. Anyway, the Ducks retook the lead a few minutes later when Mason McTavich took a short, smart pass from Jackson Lacombe, and fired one quickly past Lankan. That broke a lengthy goal drought for McTavish, who was a healthy scratch the other day. And it was a big goal for a Ducks team trying to win the pillow fight. in the Pacific Division.

It should be noted that the third period was kind of fun hockey. One of those, I'm not sure the coaches love this, but the fans do. The fans were into it. There were plenty of scoring chances, lots of back and forth action, not much defense. The Ducks, of course, are used to playing games like that. Their last one was a wild one, a 6-5 OT win over Buffalo. But despite all the chances, there would be no more goals for the Canucks. Elias Pedersen did make a fun save with the goalie out.

But he couldn't save them all. There's another reason to pile on to him, right? What was the save percentage last night? Come on. Not high enough. The Ducks eventually made it 5'3 and took two points out of Rogers Arena, something a lot of teams have done this season. Yep.

So the Ducks finished the night. 40 wins, 84 points, 5 clear of Edmonton with a game in hand. So they look like they are in. I don't know if you can be in cruise control or in the pole position or any other driving reference to the Pacific, but they're on their way to the playoffs. I think I'm pretty confident in saying that, meaning they will snap one of the NHL's lengthiest

playoff droughts in the process. It is hilarious, though, because it's stunning to me that they're going to be probably the number one seat in the Pacific. They're going to have a pretty good chance of advancing to the second round. By the way, did you notice that Utah is no longer comfortably in charge of the first wildcard spot anymore? I, for the longest time.

Nashville, man. Nashville is a pretty crazy story. Steve Stamcoe has 35 goals this year. He is 35 now? The most quiet 35 goal seasons. Wow. Yeah, double check on that in case he doesn't, and I've totally made it up.

But I'm pretty sure. Pretty sure Steve Stamcoe says 35. Anyway, we're bouncing around here. Yeah, he's got 35 goals. Yeah, confirmed. A couple people have texted in and asked if we could play the Adam Foot audio last night explaining one particular thing. Why?

Why? Has Kevin Lankin started so many games in a row, especially at home when Nikita Tolapilo was sitting there healthy and eager and ready to play some hockey games. Pretty straightforward question. Yeah, I think so, right? Here is the answer from Cadoc's head coach Adam Foot. And remember, this is him being asked a question

about why Lankan has played so many games in a row and he hasn't played Nikita Tolapilo. I think we just wanted, you know, we had a really good start against Seattle, and I thought Tolo played good at the game before and fought hard. But we're trying to get some momentum with our young guys. as well. And total, you know, he's, what was he, you know, but was he five, six and two. And, but I just felt like we wanted to get some momentum with, you know, our group. And we've had, you know, we want to have more results at Homestead for sure.

But we've, it seems like we're playing with more confidence. And that was probably mainly what that was, though we put a lot on lengths. But we'll manage it. We have discussion every day about it. We'll manage it moving forward. And we'll see how the. rest goes. So, hold on.

Can you replay the very first little bit of that audio where he talks about the Seattle game in particular? The Seattle game was the last one that Nikita Tolapilo played, and that was a 5-2 loss to the Cracken at home in the second of this eight-game home stand. We had a really good start against Seattle, and I thought Tolo played good at the game before and fought hard, but we were trying to get some momentum with our young guys as well. And Toll, you know, he's, what was he? You know, but was he five, six, and two.

And, but I just felt like we wanted to get some momentum with, you know, our group. Okay. So Total Pilo plays against Seattle, loses 5'2. Lankin comes back. The next game against Florida, maybe one of the games of the year, and they beat Florida 5-2, right? And then following that, there is a 6-2 loss to Tampa Bay, a 3-1 loss to St. Louis, and then a 5-3 loss to Anaheim. And he said he was trying to build some momentum moving forward.

But is he talking about momentum in terms of the results? Or is he talking momentum in terms of the play in front of the goalie? And if they're talking about having momentum for the young players in front of the goalie, what exactly did Lankin and give you over the last three games that would have you play four in a row? I think I kind of understand what he's trying to say. Okay, so. But just before we get into it,

but I think he was trying to say that Tolapilo had a good game, then didn't have a good game. Then Lankini came back with a good one. It's sort of like you get to run with it until you have a stinker sort of thing. But I'm not 100% sure. And this is me inferring a lot. Anyway, what were you going to say? I do wonder about communication and clarity of purpose in the Canucks dressing room,

based on the way that Adam Foote sometimes speaks to the media. We had, I think it was David Amber yesterday talking about, of course we've been talking a lot about John Cooper. And he was saying that the players were saying that when they went and played for John Cooper internationally, they were like, as soon as he starts talking, he grabs your attention. And we know how John Cooper talks, right? It is very deliberate. Yes.

It is not fast. It is not jumping from topic to topic and, you know, a sides here and a side's there. He has something that he wants to say and he gets it across. And some of that is probably due to, well, natural ability, but also maybe to his training as a lawyer where you're not going to go up in front of a judge or a jury and be like, oh, I forgot to say that over there. Adam foot the lawyer.

You have to remember that my client, my client, well, yep, sure he is up here and a lot of, you know, a lot of people think he's guilty. He may have murdered that, but let's not talk about that. Now, I didn't say that. I didn't say he may have murdered that. He definitely did not murder that guy. But, but, and look, you see this guy over here. He comes from a good family. And I actually knew his, his dad earlier.

But that doesn't matter. But he's, anyway, he didn't. he didn't kill the guy. Right. Okay. He might have done some other stuff. He might have done some other stuff, but he didn't, he didn't kill that guy. Right.

It's funny. It's funny you use the word deliberate because I think that's the perfect way to describe how John Cooper talks in that. Intentional. Deliberate intentional. There's not a lot that's left to interpretation. And there's not a lot of vagueness when he speaks. And part of that is a natural gift.

Like some people have the gift of gab. some don't. Some people know how to deliver a message. Some don't. You bring up an interesting point, though, because especially in a year where you're doing a lot of teaching and instructing and coaching young players how to play in the NHL, you do need a lot of deliberate, straightforward, intentional messages and directions. You don't, on top of everything else of these, especially young defensemen have. sure they understand it and don't just say yeah I get it yeah and you're nodding along you've coached you've coached I know this is the NHL but you've coached kids younger kids and um there's a lot of nodding along like do you understand yep yeah I remember coaching kids and

and I was using terminology like rim the puck yeah and I was like listen you just got to rim it out in that in that situation and then I was like I kind of saw something in the kids eyes I was like, do you know what I mean when I say rim it out? He's like, no. I have no idea. But it sounds good. And I know you want me to nod. Bruf's like, six, seven.

Everyone's this. Now that I have your attention. Yeah. Okay. I want to get into some of the stories from the National Hockey League last night because there was a lot that happened. We're actually going to start in the Eastern Conference. We got to talk about the Ottawa senators. We talked a lot about them yesterday coming up that big win in New York in which they won a very important hockey game,

but lost a bunch of very important. important players in that hockey game, including Thomas Shabbat. Their blue line is decimated. So say hello to Carter Yakimchuk. Their first round pick in 2024 gets called up in the second of a back-to-back, makes his NHL debut, scores a goal, gets an assist, and the Ottawa Senators hold on for a three-to-win in Detroit to vault their playoff chances, according to MoneyPuck to a whopping 73%.

They move into the second wildcard spot. in the East and they deliver what might be a death blow to the Detroit Red Wings in the process. I know there's a lot of hockey left to be played and I know that the Red Wings could still claw their way back into this. But last night, given that they got, think about this, you get an Ottawa team that's in the second of a back-to-back, you get them in your barn, you get them playing a rookie defenseman in his first ever NHL game and another guy named Jory and Donovan, who I've never heard of in my entire life.

These guys go out and beat you three, two, in what was basically a must-win game for each team's playoff chances. That's a huge blow, a huge blow for a Detroit team, who, by the way, also got Dylan Larkin back in the lineup last night. And he scored. And that

still wasn't enough to lift him. Right now, as of March 25th, 2026, I am looking at this final stretch drive for Detroit as maybe the most important one of all the teams in the NHL because of everything that's at stake.

Because of where Steve Iserman is with the Izer plan, the lack of action that he had at the deadline only picking up Justin Falk. The fact they had a playoff spot and they slept out of it, there is huge, huge stakes involved for the Red Wings right now. I blame Rick bonus. Yeah, he's

really... That's a factor. That's a factor in the Red Red Wings fall. You know, Columbus coming out of nowhere and now being very solidly in a playoff comfortably in a playoff spot right now. They're the number two seed in their division. Carolina's going to win the Metro, but

you know, second, third and fourth place in that division is wide open. The only good news, I would say, for the Detroit Red Wings last night, is that the New York Islanders also had a bad loss. Yeah, and those are the first two teams out of the playoff picture right now. The Islanders are on 85. So the Islanders in the Sends have the same amount of points, 85, and the Islanders have played one more game. The Penguins aren't safe.

No, they're not. I mean, if you want to say it, like, realistically, Columbus isn't quote unquote safe either. There's only two points out. Money Pucks odds give Pittsburgh 75% chance. New York, 47% and Detroit 46%. So it's very close. I'm really in that division.

And I'm glad Columbus came along because it made it a lot more interesting than it might have been. I'm really impressed with the Ottawa's done. Like this is. Totally. Here's the thing with Columbus is they had all the pieces in place. which is evident now. It was very obvious that whatever Dean Eveson was doing

wasn't working and once they made the switch to bonus, they just took off on a rocket ship. I'll give Greener a lot of credit for what he's done with the Senators team because he has not had

consistent goaltending all year. He's got a decimated blue line and they've consistently played pretty good hockey. Like if you look at some of the underlying metrics and I know goal difference is an underlying metric,

but what they've been able to do all year is play pretty good. sound defensive hockey. They just haven't necessarily gotten the wins out of it because their goaltending to let them down so many times. But this last stretch, they've gone 8 and 2 over their last 10. They really have like zero margin

for air now. Like they basically have to go out and win almost on a nightly basis. And they've really come through in the last little bit. They're 15, 3, and 2 in 20 games since January 25th. They won 15 of 20 since January 25th. That's really impressive from the senators.

What else from last night? The Islanders, as you mentioned, they suffered a really bad loss. I'm very curious to see what's going on there because they went big at the deadline, getting Braden Shannin Town as well. And it's going the wrong way there. Not only did they lose to the Blackhawks last night at home, they didn't get a single point out of it. They weren't able to extend that thing into overtime or the shootout.

They lose 4-3. They fall out of the playoff position as a result. Now, they've played one more game than Detroit, so they're in a little bit of better position. But there were some big losses to teams in the East. Boston suffered a bad loss as well last night. in a game that kind of got overshadowed by all the nastiness there,

including a pair of former Canucks fighting each other in Nikita Zadoroff and Dakota Joshua. And that was because Nikita Zaduroff took a five-minute boarding major on John Tavares, also fighting Nikita Zadorov yesterday. Easton Cowan, and he was kind of left responsible for doing it

because, one, he was one of the guys that didn't stand up for Austin Matthews after the Radco Goudis hit. And two, he was actually on the ice last night when Zadorov hit Tavar. So he jumped in. Good for him. That takes some courage.

According to the tail of the tape, he gave up seven inches, 65 pounds, and 737 games of NHL experience on Nikita Zadouroff. But he jumped in and took the fight anyway. Another fun little tidbit about that fight. They both are the same billet family in London when they played for the London nights. Ethan Cowan actually apologized to his billet family. I hope they're not mad that I fought Nikita Zadoroff. So that was a tough loss for Boston as well.

We mentioned Columbus. They kept doing the business. So there's this stat, and I think you retweeted it last night, that since when the Blue Jackets hired Rick Bonus, they were 28th in the NHL, 16 in the Eastern Conference, and 8th in the Metro. Right now, they are 8th in the NHL, so they've jumped 20 places in the overall standings.

They are second in the Metro, so they've jumped six spots there. And in the Eastern Conference, they've gone from 16th all the way to 8th. So it's been one of the most remarkable turnruns. He won't win the Jack Adams, but I think he should get some consideration for it because this is one of the better in-season turnarounds

we've ever seen from a coach that came along. And remember, he was only hired on January the 12th. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Well, it's great to be talking baseball with you again, Adnan. I know this city in particular really got into baseball last year, and it was great with the Mariners and the Blue Jays, both having great years.

we still tease Laddie a little bit about the Blue Jays and how it all ended. Just so close, Laddie. So close. Just incredibly, incredibly close to being out. It just couldn't get. I mean, one of the cruelest losses I've ever seen. But I also am looking forward to chatting movies with you again.

I am thinking in the next few days of going to see Project Hail Mary. Have you seen this yet? I have it. It's so funny. Our friend Andy Cole asked me that just before we locked on. And it's like the first big movie of the year, right? Like I was focused as so many were on the Oscar movies and catching all those. Now it's like, all right, we can officially turn the page.

It's one battle after another. PTA gets his rightful coronation, the three Oscars. What's 2026 going to give us? And this is the first big spectacle and university getting rape reviews. I haven't seen yet. I'll tell you why I'm skittish. A critic who I love named Ty Burr said it's very sentimental and shaved of ET. And then another critic of Owen Glyberman said, quite frankly, it's not a good movie.

So I'm hesitant and I sell a two-and-a-hour run time ago. Oh, geez. So I would like to see it at some point. I assume I will because these kind of movies, if you can't say, well, I'll wait until streaming. Oh, no, then don't even bother watching it. Like, if you're going to go see it, go watch it in the big theater on the IMAX and enjoy your popcorn and slushy.

So I hope to get to it the next week or so. But I'm a little worried because a couple people who I trust are saying it's not good, but most people are saying it's very good. I know it's not like, I don't know if you, what will you describe this as. It's just, it's not Oscar-type movie, but I really enjoyed The Martian. Like, it was just that, that for me was, that was movie escapism, and maybe it's because of the Canucks season.

I need a bit of an escape, and I feel like this one could offer me that. Are you a fan of those escapist-type movies, or are you more into serious cinema? No, no, I like a good escapist movie, but I'm with you that if you like the Martian, you're probably like this, because it's the same writer. So the guy who wrote The Martian wrote this as well, so it feels similar and has echoes of it. The directors, by the way, the Lord Brothers, those guys did like the Lego movies, so they've done like animation. This is like a really big budget film, but, I mean, huge success so far at the box out of it. It's like wild number. They were $110 million that open that. So it's indicative of the fact people want to go to the movies and do something.

And Cheerpoint on Escapeism in the Canucks season to dovetail it to the Blue Jays in Toronto as well. Both of those markets, Vancouver and Toronto are aching for baseball. The Canucks and Leaves aren't doing anything, so you're right. If ever there was a time, people are paying attention to baseball in April. this is it for both Toronto and Seattle, obviously, with all the people in Vancouver, sharing for the Mariners. Adnan, enjoy opening night tonight, man.

Getting excited for it. Thanks for doing this. Can't wait to see. What will Barry Bond say? We'll all find it together. Thanks, boys. See you, buddy. Adnan, Verk from MLV Network on Sportsnet 650,

a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor. Angry Otter Liquor has the bases covered with a game day lineup of beer, wine, and spirits, and a great selection of non-alcoholic favorites. Visit angry otterlicker.c.cr. I'm seeing Project Hail Mary on IMAX today, and I'm very excited. I was thinking of going tonight as well. Where are you going? Which theater? Scotia Banks mine. It's just downtown. The I max there opened up.

Well, it's the theater I've always gone to anyways. See what his name on. They finally gave it at IMAX last year. Which show are you going? I'm going to an afternoon showing. What time specific? Is this sold out? Maybe a little date day. Maybe a little day. I don't want to say on the air, just in case, you know.

I'll be like, you-hoo. Hello. No, I'm going with my dad. I'm excited. I mean, I'm biased, obviously, as a big sci-fi nut, so this is my kind of movie. So I'd understand if somebody didn't like sci-fi, wouldn't care about it. Apparently, it's like a cross between Interstellar and E.T. So that's kind of the vibe you're going for.

It's a mix of those two movies, and you said the same author is Hail Mary. But the reviews have been... The Martian. Yeah, but I'm saying the author of Hail Mary wrote The Martian. Yeah, but the reviews have been incredible. Like Stellar, if you go on Rotten Tomatoes, you'll see it. I think it's 95%. average score. So I mean, the reviews are very high. And the thing I love the most that I've

heard the most about so far that I'm really happy about is there's no CGI. It's all practical effects. It's all, it was all actually filmed in space. Yeah, yeah, that's true. There's a real alien. Very expensive. Yeah, but what I'm saying is like the alien is not CGI. It's a puppet. And that may sound like, well, who cares? But I mean, it's like, it's a puppet. It's a puppet. It's a puppet. It's a puppet. Man, oh man. But what, but what that does is it allows you to sort of like, buy into the fact that, hey, there's something there. Like, it's a tangible thing you're looking at. It's not just some CGI effect. And apparently

that really helped with Gossin's performance as well. I was watching an interview he did where he was like, yeah, like, half the time I was acting, I thought this was a real creature in front of me, and that helps with his performance. And so I'm really excited to see how they pull it off without any CGI. It looks really cool. Thomas Dranz from the Athletic Vancouver joins us now on the Halford and Breft Show on SportsNet 650.

What up, Trancer? Yeah, you know, I got to express some sympathy because look, I know people think that a lot of sports analysts, especially in this market, are negative. But the truth is that a lot of punches get pulled because, you know, some days you wake up and don't want to take the heat. So if you're describing a team's move as lateral, it's always like, this is a terrible move.

It's a terrible move and I'm gussing it up to avoid getting your ire. So like there hasn't been a lot of like times to catch it. You know, like I remember a move. that I described as lateral was the like Benino plus two picks for Brandon Sutter. And it's like, well, they've sure paid a premium to make a lateral move, right? And it's like, oh, so this is really terrible, right? Like usually when you see lateral, it actually does mean bad or backwards. Well, you're just confusing Halford more now.

I've never had more clarity, actually. It's a matter of fact. I know exactly what lateral means. Drans, I want to talk to you about something that I think every other show but ours has been talking about, and that is messaging from the Vancouver Canucks. There's been some messaging when it comes to some of the, let's call it copy that has been coming out from the Vancouver Canucks to season ticket holders. And I know you've been talking about the need to hear from ownership in one way or another,

even if it's just a letter that's coming from above hockey ops. maybe you could reiterate to us your argument for that and what you've been hearing in response to your argument. I mean, I'm hearing a lot of people talk about how much they love the taste of boots from Kinnux fans saying, like, what more do you want? It's super clear that this organization is rebuilding. But I don't know that it is. And I would add that I don't know what comes next over the next three weeks.

Right? Like, I don't know what this looks like. I don't know what this looks like after the Kinnock's season finishes on April 16th. I don't know who's going to be in charge necessarily, certainly not across the board, right? I mean, or is this team going to have a change in the management suite? Is this team going to have a change behind the bench? Like, I don't know, and neither does anyone, I don't think. I'd be surprised if Kinnock's ownership, if the decision makers in the halls of power know exactly what this looks like

month from now, to be totally honest with you, and that's fine. Like, that's not criticism, right? I think when a season goes this far sideways, you need to take some time to evaluate it. And I think you need to take some time to calm down and evaluate it, right? Like last night, I'd say, against the Ducks, was a night where I actually thought the Canucks tried. I thought the level of disorganization was less notable.

and I felt like they had enough of the puck that some of their young players took some chances and played assertive hockey and even if there were mistakes made, I want to see that. I want to see guys like Tom Blander and NZ Boeum, even if there's mistakes that come as part of it, like try to skate the puck up ice

and try to make aggressive breeds and try to do things to impact the game. And I thought we saw more of that last night than we have in months. So, you know, I understand And if you've watched a lot of these Kinex games across the last two months and been a little bit shell-shocked, right? Like you trade Quinn Hughes, they win the first four, and then it's just been miserable. I think there's been, I think you've seen a team that's checked out.

I think you've seen a team that hasn't maintained an acceptable work rate. I think you've seen a team that hasn't been organized enough night to night. And that would make me furious, like especially if I was cutting the checks, but even if I had constructed the team or, if I had more skin in the game. I mean, to be totally honest with you, gentlemen, I kind of can't tolerate it. And I'm just a neutral-ish observer. Right?

I mean, so I think it is challenging to message what's happened or what's going to happen if there's not clarity from the top anyway. And I think once there is, once this team has figured out exactly how they're moving forward, then, you know, in major hockey markets, when you've got significant ruptures in a team's direction,

you know, not every year, but every four or five years, when a team significantly changes what they're doing and what their approaches, it's not unusual for fans to hear directly from ownership about what's next. Jeff Moulson in 2021 had the very famous press conference where he said the club needed a fresh start and that launched the rebuild for the Montreal Canadiens.

And by the way, in a similar time frame, December 2021, Canucks fans also heard from ownership when Jim Benning and Travis Green were fired and after Bruce Boudreau was hired to discuss that sort of change in direction. Like that did happen, right? So it's not unprecedented in this market.

It's not unprecedented in other markets. You've seen the New York Rangers letter. Like one of the things that I get is like, how common is this? And I'm like, well, in markets where people care a lot, it's not uncommon. In fact, it's typical, especially when big, significant organizational changes occur. and in this case, you know, I think you need to be sensitive to the market's deep and well-founded skepticism about this organization's ability to delay instant gratification from a competitive standpoint.

And the history of that is well documented. You know, Mike Gillis in 2014, Trevor Lyndon in 2017, you can look at 15 years of short-term focused moves that this team has made. And it speaks volumes about what this organization's philosophy has generally been and what their goals have generally been, which is to be competitive year after year. And that's not going to be possible this season, obviously, but not next season either. Most likely the season after that. And at some point, once you've been poor enough as a team for three or four years, much like

we saw maybe four or five years, much like we saw from 2014 to 2019, You can do everything wrong. And in doing everything wrong, you pick high enough in the draft order for a long enough stretch. You're going to unearth two really good players that put you back into a position where short-term moves will be justified, right? Because we can't possibly rebuild with a Quinn Hughes on our roster. Right.

Even if you haven't done the work to actually accomplish anything, right? You'll be able to convince paying customers that you need to do what you need to do. and hockey people and analysts and media and national media. They'll defend bad move after bad move in support of sort of short-term thinking and short-term gains because, hey, you can't possibly, you've got to do everything you can to support Quinn Hughes. You know, whether or not that's a self-defeating series of moves in the long term, evident to everyone, by the way, as they're happening. And so, you know, I think this organization,

once they've decided how to move forward, do, especially if they are going to take a longer-term view to this, owe it to this fan base, owe it to their paying customers to explain why we've arrived where we've arrived, you know, and sort of do what they can to convince the market that they're willing to sort of change the philosophical short-term underpinnings that have guided Canucks hockey decisions and leadership decisions across, let's be real, a 20-year time horizon. I don't know what's controversial about this.

Like, this to me seems incredibly obvious, not even just from a, like, sort of journalistic, coming at it from like an ethical standpoint or like demanding a pound of flesh. You know, we need to come. Notability. Like, that's not even it. It's, it's, it's, it's, if you're going to sell hope, you, you, you better try and do it effectively. And, and I just don't think any hockey operations,

new, new hockey operations leader, I certainly don't think Jim Rutherford can, can, can sort of stand in front of the microphones and tell Kinex fans, like, it's a new day. I think it's got to come from higher up than that. If you're going to get into the business of, you know, what, what the Canadians did so well, getting people on board with a process, right? The process of aiming higher over the long term. Are they worried about the short-term business implications? I guarantee they are. I mean, attendance, like, I thought the building was pretty reasonably full last night, given that it's a midweek game against a non-premium opponent. I know the Anaheim ducks are both fun and the division leader, but let's be real,

it's not exactly the, you know, it's not like they have a fan base that travels, right? The, so non-premian opponent, but it was still the lowest Canucks attendance has been listed in a long, long time. I mean, just cracked 18,000 in terms of what was announced. We know that those numbers are generally inflated, right? Because it's tickets distributed more often than not, as opposed to actual, you know, butts in seats. But yeah, I mean, I still think. think when you consider even the secondary market prices or some of the student rush prices, I mean, it's still going to cost you, you know, 50 bucks to get into the building at least.

You can get pretty good lower bowl seats in South Florida for 50 bucks. And that's coming up back to back stand the cup wins. So, I mean, there's still natural advantages. There's still a level of enthusiasm. There's still the truth that Vancouverites are. trained to enjoy a night out at a hockey game, right, and are incredibly passionate about this team. So the floor, I still think, is higher for the Canucks than it is for a lot of other teams.

And that's before you start to bring in the top prospects, right? Like, that's before this rebuild really starts. Like, this should be the worst part of the rebuild, where you're eliminated from playoff contention in late March, and you don't have any, like, you know, top 10 picks in your lineup yet. Right? Like, this should be the hardest part. I would have had a fun night at the rink last night.

It was a fun game. It was a fun game. A lot of fun game. A lot of fun. And, you know, I thought the team mostly performed acceptably. And I mean, they lost, but they, they, that, if Canucks losses over the last two months looked like that, we wouldn't be, no one would be mad about it. No one would have much to criticize. Like, even the breakdowns on the goals, you know, like the Grandland poke goal, that's lucky. the Granland sort of off the power play goal.

I mean, that's a bounce more or less. The first one was a bad breakdown. Two guys went to Carlson. Well, three guys went to Seneca. Yeah. At any way. It was Seneca who did the spin pass. But the,

but even there, even there when you watch it, like other than Curtis Douglas should have skated back toward his own zone because he left them outnumbered. You can totally understand why they were cheating for us. offense. Seneca looked to be in a brutal spot. And even Ratu, who got too far over on the blue line, which sort of ended up leaving Hironic on an island covering a two-on-one, like, given where Seneca was located, I don't think you, like, I don't think gambling that he wasn't going to be able to pull a perfect spin path on the tape off in that situation was a reasonable

read. So my point is, is there's nothing in that play that's as unconscionable as what we saw on the Brandon Hagel chance or on the Busniewicz goal where it looked like a confused team. You at least avoided those moments last night. And look, I mean, that is as low as I can set a bar, but I can step over it. Transor, I want to ask you a question that is not necessarily a question from me, but a question that I see from people. And I'm going to put this on a T for you here. Okay.

And I'm sure you've heard this question. they've said they're in a rebuild. What more do you need to hear? Oh, man. Well, it's not so much about what I need to hear. It's about what I want to see. And it's about,

so I know this is going to sound like Buddhist. So excuse me. Go for it. But I want this team to accept that they've got nothing. I want this team to accept just how dark this is, right? Just how much work this is going to take. So, for example, the, you know, commentary from the team that Philip Peronix on a short list to be named captain and the reporting that it's a strong possibility.

You know, that to me not only is, is it, I think, an unsurious discussion locally, but. Philip Peronik is by far your best player. He's also, and far more importantly, by far your best trade asset. Preaching to the choir, buddy. And you cannot be removing weapons from your arsenal when you're backed into a corner the way the Canucks are. Like, if maybe, maybe there's a path to have Philip Peronic be to the next great Canucks team, what Alex Edler was in 2019, 20, right?

Where he, like, played on a third pair with, or a second pair with Tyler Myers, but he was 33 and he was beginning to slow down a bit. But, you know, he had 33 points before the pandemic shutdown. Like, he was probably getting to 40 that season, or he was at least getting close without power play time. And he was mean at the net front and he was really good and he was some veteran stability on the back end. And it's like, okay, like, maybe you can get there before Horonix, you know, too old.

Maybe over the next four or five years. More likely, though, Heronic is either a player that you dealt for assets that mattered to you, to your next great connects team, or there's another possibility. He is to the next great connects team, what Connor Garland is today to the Utah mammoth. Right?

He's the really valuable piece that you attach to the more distressed asset to make sure that you get a return when you trade that more distressed asset. Right? And I mean, this is like I've been, I've been looking around. I spend a lot of time doing stupid stuff like this. But like yesterday I was building a list of the worst contracts in hockey. Why? Because I think those are trade targets for the Canucks.

Like if you have a bad contract that only lasts two, three, four more years after this year, like that's a contract that I'm very keen if I'm the Canucks to a contract. to acquire in exchange for potentially Brock Bessor, potentially Olius Petterson, potentially Jake DeBrusk. Let me give you an example. Hairbrand scheme. The total cap hits,

expiring cap hits of Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson, and Philip Dunow total 17.5 million for next season. The combined cap hit of Philip Oronick and Elias Pedersen, 19 million. One and a half million.

Could be almost cap neutral to the Montreal Canadians. You get a second line center, You get a premium right-handed defender, and all of a sudden the Kinex maybe get some meaningful futures back in a trade that also clears the Pedersen contract from the books. I think if the club isn't at least considering items like that, there's no path forward.

Like I just think there's nothing too dramatic for what the Kinnux are going to need to consider and do and execute over the next three to four years. And so, you know, I need to see some signs. that this team's beginning to reckon with just how severe their plight is and just how little they have. Yeah, how asset poor they really are. And that's why I keep, like, I keep, so I had a bit of a rant the other day where, where I said, like, they need more first round picks.

And Adog posted it online. And people were like, well, how are they going to do that? I'm like, trade heronic. That's the point. Like trade erronek. That's what you need. If you go, if you go into the NHL leading score, or the top players,

I don't know what percentage of them were first round picks, but it's a very high percentage. Yeah, you get a guy like a Kutrov or something who's a second round pick, but all these people excited about like, look at all the draft picks they have. Yeah, there's a lot of sixth round picks in there.

You need the premium picks, and then you need to go make those picks. And even a second round pick, it's nice. You might get lucky, but it's a second round pick. you need firsts. You need way more of them. You need high firsts.

Like, let's be real, you need high firsts. I mean, there's sort of two tracks here. And both tracks are important. Don't get me wrong. But there's two tracks. There's the track by which you identify the capital D dudes. Because at the end of the day, like, why are the New York Islanders having a great season? It's not that Matthew Darsh is some, you know, massive alchemist.

They have an 18-year-old who showed up and immediately was a, you know, heart trophy level contributor who's going to win the Calder and who's probably going to end up on the fringes of Norris ballots right away at 18. Why are the San Jose sharks, you know, having a good season. They're not going to make the playoffs it looks like now, but why were they competitive all year? Well, they had a 19 year old who showed up and was a heart trophy level player. He'll be on heart trophy ballots, locked. And so, you know, like that's the fundamental reason. It's not some of the other picks or the volume picks that those teams have made.

The New York Islanders made three first round picks last year. Like one of them is dictating their success this year. The other two are years away because they were made in the teens, right? Like now those picks in the teens and in the second round still matter. Don't get me wrong, but they matter because they're volatile, right? They matter because they could turn into something. And if they do turn into something, then that, A, that's huge. B, those picks are a safer way to store hockey value, exchange value, during the course of a rebuild than players, because you can't really afford when you're as asset poor as the Canucks to like sustain injuries to sustain underperformance from key players, right?

I mean, the Thatcher Demko injury is so devastating to the Canucks, right? So much more devastating to the Canucks than it would be to, you know, your average NHL fringe playoff team too because that's a really valuable. asset and a really significant commitment that now is almost impossible to move. Like that's something that you, that's a punch you can't take. You have a glass jaw in terms of sustaining a breadth loss of value. More than that, though, I think the Minnesota Wilde acquisition of Quinn Hughes is instructive. Like you turn a late top 10 pick in Marco Rossi, a couple, a pick in the teens in Zib Buhum and a 20th overall pick, plus another first, it's for sure going to be in the 20s.

into one of those capital D dudes, that's a rocket ship for you. Right? So you need to be creating and developing value to put yourself in a position to make the deals that might matter down the line. And that's the most probable path for how some of those volume picks that you have outside of, you know, the pick that you're going to be awarded for your significant failure this season. That's how that fits into the mix.

But it's sort of like two tracks, right? it's like you have this track that can create depth and value for you via the trade market, right, that asset wealth that you need. And then you have those top picks, which are going to be the Canucks own picks, which give you a chance to have access to those guys most likely to be the capital D dudes that actually shape outcomes in this league. And that's how you have to view this. You need a lot more of the latter.

And it's good that they're on track to begin to do that, to do that. but like it's their own picks that are going to shape the next era of Canucks hockey. Make no mistake about that. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.