Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 3/27/25

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they talk a massive Canucks win over the Islanders 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. Whoa. Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose a f***ing Canucks? What am I doing? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- You're listening to Halford and Brough. Nebraska into the Islander zone centers for Forbert up in the rush. He scores! Derek Forbert with a hard wrist shot driving through the middle. We need more... Four.

...port license plates in the gift shop. I repeat, we are sold out of... Four. ...port license plates. He said he's a sneaky offensive player, so good for him, yeah, he's been great for us. I wanna be in these positions with these guys. You know, it sucks sitting out.

I think that that rubs off onto other guys, which is great. Good morning Vancouver 602 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. It is Halford in his bra, fit his sports net 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios of beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

A-Daw, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff

that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Big show on a Thursday for Guest-er. Guest list begins today, 6.30. Sam Cosentino is gonna join the program. He worked last night's game on the panel. Scotiabank Sportsnet, Wednesday Night Hockey.

Not only did Sam work the game, but right prior to puck drop, he said it was gonna be a Vancouver Canucks win. On the night he was right, a 5-2 win for the Canucks over the Islanders. We're gonna talk to him about what he saw from another gritty, gutsy road win from the Vancouver Canucks.

That's gonna be at 6.30 this morning. Seven o'clock, Adnan Virg from MLB Network rejoins after an 11-week hiatus. 11 weeks, Andy. 11 weeks flew by. Adnan is gonna join us, of course, because it is MLB opening day. Happy MLB opening day to everybody, including Ladi,

wearing his Blue Jays jersey. Technically, it opened a week ago in Japan. And there it is. So, of course, as Ladi astutely points out, it's not the real opening day that happened between the Cubs and the Dodgers in Japan. But for 28 of 30 MLB teams, I guess it's today and tomorrow because the Rays don't get to open yet because they're still fixing up Steinbrenner Field

in Tampa Bay. Great situation they got going on there. Also, you know what I learned this morning? Did you know that the Oakland Athletics are now just called the Athletics officially? So- Just Athletics. That's it.

There's no city. The abbreviation is ATH on the small bug. They're like, if you go to the standings- They're like the Utah Hockey Club, but the opposite? Just athletics. That's it. There's no city. The abbreviation is A-T-H on the small bug. They're like, if you go to the standings page. They're like the Utah hockey club, but the opposite? Just Utah. Imagine if they were just called Utah. No, just called hockey club. No, no, no designation for city.

No, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. It's the opposite, right? There's no city. No city. But just a name. Poor Sacramento. What do they gotta do to get some respect around here?

I don't know. But if you go to the MLB standings page, everyone has a proper city and then moniker, and then it's just athletics. It's kinda cool actually. Who are you? We're the athletics. Where are you from?

Parts unknown. Yeah. Doesn't matter. They're like a luchador, a masked wrestler. You don't know where they're from. Anyway, Adan Burke's gonna join us at seven o'clock to talk some baseball. We are not airing the Jays game today because it's at noon and that would have preempted Canucks talk or Canucks brunch or Canucks linear or whatever we've got

here. But we are going to air the Mariners game tonight against the aforementioned athletics. That's the Seattle home opener. And that's at seven o'clock tonight. Seven thirty Brandon Astle is gonna join the program. How about those Abbotsford Canucks? Brandon of course the play-by-play man for the Abbey Canucks. When we last checked in with them two weeks ago they were barely above the playoff bar. We're like oh they'll get in the playoffs that's good. They've won seven games since then. Well how about the Abbey Canucks on the Vancouver Canucks? The entire Abbey Canucks line. How impressed are you with Ratu right now? He's been very good. He's very good.

He needs to get a little bit, a little bit faster. Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen. Like I think he's just going to go up to Pew Suiter and be like, you made it without being fast, right? And he's like, yeah, I'm the best player on this team right now. So.

Hey, guys are stepping up. Guys are doing the business. And Ahtu Ratu is the latest one. We'll talk to Brandon Astle about all that, all the guys that have made are stepping up. Guys are doing the business, and Atu Ratu is the latest one. We'll talk to Brandon Astle about all that, all the guys that have made their way up. We'll do that at 7.30. Eight o'clock this morning, Thomas Drance, the Drancer from The Athletic, and Canucks Talk.

We'll look back on the Canucks 5-2 victory. Buddy, we got some big news. I know we do. We gotta get to it in a second. That's some big news. I'm trying to run through it as fast as I can. Coming out of Philly, I'm glad we talked about that yesterday.

Here we go. Thomas Drance is gonna join us at eight. Brandon Astle at 7.30, Adnan Burke at 7 o'clock, Sam Cosentino at 6.30. We're going to guess Andy, we're giving away tickets as well. I'm trying to get through this. Is there anything else you want to jam in here? We're doing a bit of a spoken word later on. That is what's happening on the program today, laddie. Let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? That is what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how messy your life can be. What happened? You missed that?

What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, resources and safety training visit them online at bccsa.ca I'm very excited to throw to another sounder we got breaking news sportsnet 650 breaking news out of Philadelphia it is official the Philadelphia Flyers have relieved John Tortorella of his duties as head coach. The Philadelphia Flyers have also announced that associate coach Brad

Shaw has been named their interim head coach and will assume duties immediately. This comes what 24 hours after John Tortorella uttered some very odd remarks following a seven to two loss in Toronto the other night. When he said, I'm not really interested in coaching this team, they said, okay. Boy, he really stepped in it. We're no longer interested in employing you. So he's no longer with the organization?

Does this mean like, do you know how they were talked about kicking him up to the front office or something? Sounds like he's just gone, gone. A statement from Flyers GM, Danny Brieyer, today I made the very difficult decision to move on from John as our head coach. John played a vital role in our rebuild. He set a standard to play and reestablish what it means to be a Philadelphia Flyer. John's passion on the bench was only equaled by his charitable work in our community. As we move into the next chapter of this rebuild, I felt this was the best for our team to move forward.

I'd like to thank John for his tireless work and commitment to the flyers. And that is Rick Tocket going, I have a little more leverage now. Well, yeah, there's that part of it for sure. Okay, so let's focus on the news itself before we dive into the obvious Canucks angle to this. But the news itself, after Tortorella uttered those words, following the game against Toronto, I don't think we need to replay them, lad,

if you're able to track them down, try. But the Coles Notes version was what you said basically, is that he said, I'm not interested in learning how to coach this kind of team. And this kind of team was one that was terrible in playing out the string. Yeah, I think it was more like in this situation.

Absolutely. In this situation with like 10 games left in the season, I'm not interested in how to coach during that sort of time. And understandable, a fiery passionate guy who's going to be 67 years old pretty soon, probably wants to coach a winner right now, teams that are playing meaningful games at the end of the year and going to the playoffs, now playing out the string. That being said, I was under the impression that he said the quiet part very much out loud,

that there's some things you can say and some things you can't say. I saw some people saying, oh, this is why we love Torz. This is why we love his honesty. And I said, I'm not so sure about that. Let's play the audio again, because this is essentially John Tortorella's last salvo as the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. This was him from two nights ago against Toronto following a 7-2 loss in Toronto

and what he had to say about coaching his current team. It's my job to prepare this team in this type of situation. I haven't done a good enough job the past couple of games. These last two games, are you sensing frustration setting in? Maybe it's a cumulative effect from last week playing well and not getting results. Well, when you're in this type of situation and you're losing all the time and there's nothing at the end of the tunnel for you, there's certainly going to be some frustration. But this falls on me.

I'm not really interested in learning how to coach this type of season where we're at right now, but I have to do a better job. So this falls on me getting the team prepared to play the proper way until we get to. So Brandon in Vancouver texts in, they canned Tortorello with 10 games to go in a season that they're already well out of the playoffs.

That's diabolical. Yeah, not really. No, it's not diabolical, but you gotta think that he got fired because of what he said. Yeah. Right? For sure.

Because I saw some people. For sure that had an impact. I saw some people, including Frank Sarah Valley came on this program and tried to kind of reframe it as torts deflecting and taking the focus away from his terrible team. No, when you say you're not really interested in, like he basically said, I haven't been putting the effort in.

That's what I thought. That's what he said. He said, I haven't prepared the team well enough in the last couple of days and that fell on me. That falls on me. I got to do a better job of preparing the team, which means maybe he was actually telling the truth. Maybe he was like, we're playing Toronto tonight?

Does that sound right? And then I think five minutes he's like, we're losing to Toronto. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Badly, I might add. The blue and white team. Yeah. I don't know.

They're better than you guys, so good luck. Yeah. So it's, okay, that part of the story is covered. We now must obviously pivot to what it means moving forward because as you pointed out, Rick Tauket, who has yet to agree to a contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks beyond this season. Brear's like, it's time for some light tempering.

I don't know what to say other than there's a lot of pieces that fit and make sense there. Yeah. I understand. Although that team is a long way away. Sure, but I would say almost remove the rosters currently constructed out of it. There's a lot that makes sense there. So Frank talked about the relationship between Keith Jones and Rick talk it that one was pretty well established. Yeah Yeah, I don't think that everyone really understands how popular talk

It is in that sort of like New Jersey, Philadelphia, North Jersey area. Yeah, he's beloved There is a tampering if we are just text talk at winky face emojis. Like if it's just emojis, no words. I don't know what constitutes like. That's probably okay, right? But it's going to be a story moving forward because Philadelphia's next coaching hire is profoundly important. The Tortorella experiment or however you wanna call it

sort of ended catastrophically I would say. This is not the way that they envisioned this thing ending with the team playing awful. A lot of guys were shipped out and that sort of undercut the team. And then Tortorella essentially saying at the top of his lungs to anyone that would listen, I'm not really interested in coaching this team anywhere.

Laddie's shaking his head. Well, it's Torz. Is it really that surprising this is how it ended up? Yeah, kinda. Kinda that he got fired. Cause that what always ends with Torz. Is it really that surprising? This is how it ended up? Yeah, kind of. This is how it ended. Kind of that he got fired. Cause that's what always ends with Torz. Not. Well, I think it was the big problem.

I think, I think that sort of thing kind of related was a big problem when he was in Vancouver, because I think he was still emotionally invested with the Rangers and he came here and Elliot Freeman always says, man, Torz should have taken a year off after that Rangers job. And he came to Vancouver and yeah, he was

fiery at times to the point where he got a big suspension, but I never felt like his heart was really in it. And his heart was in it last year because Philly was like against all odds still fighting and scrapping for a playoff spot right till the bitter end. And the thing, I mean, the legacy that he'll leave behind, obviously like the Sean Cacciore incident the thing, I mean, the legacy that he'll leave behind, obviously like the Sean Caccieri incident and how, you know, that happened,

the guys that they shipped out this year, right? I mean, I think that was the big part of it was that he wasn't interested in coaching a team where they took away Farabee and Frost and Lotton and didn't really replace them with anything on the active roster. Yeah, Lotton has been so good for Toronto. He's been a real culture carrier.

Let's talk about what happened last night against the New York Islanders. This is weird. It was another impressive win for the Vancouver Canucks and they wouldn't have done it without their star goalie, Thatcher Demko. Demko 26 saves, Kiefer Sherwood two goals and an assist, Vancouver Canucks defeat the New York

Islanders 5-2 in New York for their second consecutive victory on this home stand. Hindsight looking back on it, they really should have swept the victory in New York. Yeah, because they played probably their best game against the Rangers. There's no reason that they shouldn't have got out of there with wins over the Rangers, the Devils, and the Islanders. But alas, they did not. Staying alive in the playoff chase, Drew O'Con and pew suitor Also had to assist last night and the Canucks moved back within three points of the st Louis blues for the second and final wild card spot in the west Vancouver also has a game in hand on the blues and you Mentioned that your damn go and let's be real here

Vancouver is not winning that game last night without the heroics of that your damn go specifically in the first period the Can Canucks were outplayed in that first period. They were out shot by a two to one margin. It ended up being 10-five in shots for the Isles. They went into the break tied 0-0 and that had to do with the fact that Thatcher Demko made a bunch of huge saves, including one really early. Oh my, I thought that was in for sure. I thought that was in. I was like, oh, slow start for the Canucks. So not only Horvat. Yeah, good night. Not only two games in a row where he's come up with a bunch of highlight reel saves,

but going post to post and extending himself physically, because that's what he did against Horvat on that one very early in the game. Great pushes, right laddie? Great pushes. That's a great, yeah, great technical term. Yeah. Okay, yeah, to push, to push across the ice.

Yep. That's what goalies do they do That's the goalie analysis you get on the Haliford and breath show. Oh, they were there Your hearts in your throat every time he makes a big push Yeah, is it less so though? No, I still there was a safe last night every time he does man I'm like, oh god, that's how I feel. I thought that's hard because it's a big part of being a goal Yeah, I know that's it's tough. I apologize saves though's hard because it's a big part of being a goalie. Yeah, I know. It's tough when you do those saves though. I apologize for not remembering the actual save in real time, but there was a save last night

where he got up and he got up slowly. And I think I manifested into saying gingerly, he was probably fine. He probably got up normally, but I'm like, he looks slow and ginger. And I'm just waiting for the inevitable, well, Demko's coming out. He's got red hair, doesn't he?

No, Demko's not red hair. No, he has a soul. Anyway, getting back to the point at hand, he's been able to get through two games, two games now without any significant injury. And actually that was one of the things that came up in his post-game media availability with Murph yesterday. Here's Thatcher Demko talking about being in the battle with his boys and starting to

find his legs as the Canucks have now won two in a row and stay alive in the playoff chase. Your competitor, you want to play, you want to help your team win so for you personally these last couple of games to get back in the net, how does it feel for yourself? Yeah, I mean I want to be in these positions with these guys. It sucks sitting out and I'd do anything to be out there. Yeah just a couple more big games here on this trip and try to get back home with a good road trip.

Lastly, we always talk when players come back or skaters about being game fit and when goalies come back it's about reads and timing but how much of it is a fitness thing when you haven't played for all the come in and play these games? Yeah I've been trying to catch my legs a little bit um you know it's just the nature of things um it comes with the territory so you know I think each game you'll start to feel better and better um you know it's not like I'm completely out of shape but probably take a couple of games to to get my legs 100%. But yeah, I've been feeling good. Okay. So Demko is definitely the story in the first part of that game.

Let's call it the first half of the game, especially in the first period. The Isles could have scored a lot of goals. Granted, the Canucks had a few chances in the first period as well. It was quite open for what we were expecting from those two teams. But, um, as that game wore on, the Canucks were clearly the better team on the ice. Now, um, that goal that Tony D'Angelo scored. Yep. To put the Isles up two to one, that was a tough

one because it had followed a shorthanded goal by Szyzkus, um, that was like, oh, the Canucks have a chance to make it two nothing here because sure would have opened the scoring and they give up a shorty and then not long after that, it was like three and a half minutes after that, D'Angelo scores and you're kind of like, oh, all right, you know, the Canucks are pretty undermanned and yeah, they had a great effort

against New Jersey, but maybe they're looking at the standings too and going, maybe the fight, I was just saying is like, maybe the fight's going to go out of them. Like it went out of torts apparently. But no. And it was a lot of the guys, not the lesser lights, but like the role players that came through.

Atu-Ratu scores, Derek Forbort scores on a goal that, you know, let's be honest, Sorokin would probably want back. And then they go into the third period with a one goal lead and you know, captain obvious thanks, but it's a pretty huge moment with Teddy Bluger scores a minute and five in. Like that probably took the fight out of the

New York Islanders when they're now down by two goals and then the rest of that third period, man, Demka had to make a few saves, but the Canucks were really good. Like they were in, and we're going to talk to DT, right? Because. Nope.

We're not? Oh, I thought we were. Okay. Um, and, uh, we tried to get TT on, but we couldn't, but he was talking about all the, uh, the battles that the Canucks were winning on the ice. And that's the one thing I was noticing as well. Like he was, they were, they were first to pucks and

every 50 50 puck battle, it seemed they were coming up with and they were winning. The puck pursuit was very impressive. They outworked the Islanders. They grinded the Islanders into the ice and then Kiefer Sherwood gets an empty netter at the end and they win 5-2. It was an impressive win. Well, there's so many things that they've done differently on the final two, the most

recent two games of this road trip. And I'm gonna use that game in New York as sort of the bookmark of the benchmark of things that go bad and things that go wrong. You talked about the Bluger goal and how big that was in the third period. Well, they had a similar instance against the New York Rangers where they went into the third period of that game also tied in a very big, very pivotal game and they were the ones that conceded the early goal in the third period, one of the two Brodsinski goals. Also the depth scoring on this team right now. Of the last seven Canucks goals,

they have been scored by Jonathan Leckere-Mackie, Connor Garland, Kiefer Sherwood twice, Atu Ratu, Derek Forber and Teddy Bluger. So you're talking about guys, depth players, guys that haven't scored with regularity this year coming to the forefront. I think the idea here between that little like anecdotal evidence and what you're talking about is because so many high end top end guys

are out of the lineup, the role players and grind guys have been elevated. So they've been able to do the, you know, the dirty work and the lunch pail stuff with more regularity. I mean, it almost feels like the team in a very weird way is better suited to playing talk at hockey right now because they have so many depth guys in the lineup. Then if they were to have some guys

that maybe don't necessarily do the things that talk it wants them to do. They don't have, I think over the course of a longer sample size, the offensive ability to compete with regularity. But here's the thing. They're not having any problems scoring goals right now or the last five games, they have 20, which is remarkable because they are without so many offensive weapons from earlier in the year.

But I mean, 20 goals in their last five games, that's nothing to, I mean, that's a great total for this team considering how much they struggled to score this year and how depleted they are at forward. Right now, no Pettersson, no Hoeglender, no Hedl, and they're still finding a way to score and they're still finding a way to get results, which is a big thing. Two more points for Pugh Suter.

He's up to 38 points on the season, which is seven fewer than Elias Pedersen with far less ice time. Now granted PD's missed some games, but far less ice time and certainly far less opportunity. Like Pugh Souter doesn't get power play one time. Well, he does now, but he hadn't before, right? And, uh, man, Pugh suitor is making himself some money. Yeah.

Whether it's with the Canucks or some other team, the consensus seems to be that he won't be back with the Canucks, but I mean, like if he's not back with the Canucks, the Canucks are going to have to go find some centers because if you think about it, the uncertainty down the middle for the Canucks heading into this off season, like we all know there's going to be a big conversation with Elias Pedersen in the

off season and there's going to be like, okay, are you in on this or not? Because you know, you got your no move clause that kicks on on July 1st. So we can all agree there's some uncertainty with Elias Pedersen. There's obviously uncertainty with Pugh Souter because he's a pending unrestricted free agent. I'm also going to say there's quite a bit of uncertainty with Philip Heidel just because of his health. Always will be, fortunately.

And how much you're going to be able to rely on him. And then you've got Teddy Bluger. Um, and you know, I, I think there's some uncertainty too with Ratu because the way he's playing right now, I'm not saying you got a pencil men for a, for a foreshore role with the Vancouver Canucks next season. Will Derek Forebort be back? I'm talking about centers right now, eh, dog?

Talking about centers. Could Derek Forbord play center? He probably could. Very versatile. And I just think down the middle. And the Canucks have basically said, yeah, we're definitely going to be looking for a center in the offseason. So I have no idea how it's going to look down the middle for the Canucks next season.

Ratu's interesting. I know that that was a- That has been really good. That was a big game for him yesterday. He wins battles. He's strong. He's not the fastest, but he's strong. That was the you sound like you're talking about pew suitor there There no no no, he's not the fastest, but he's very smart That's a pew suit

that was the first game that Ratu played against the Islanders since they traded him away in the bull Horvat deal and that was a good performance from him and The more you see the more you like the more that they've leaned on guys from Abbotsford this year I know we got gotta go to break, but we're gonna talk to Brandon Astle later in the show, so I did wanna bring this up. Ratu, Lekaramaki, Oman, Sassen, Baines, Carlson, DPT, and Mancini.

Those are all guys that have logged time with Abbotsford this year, and you're talking about, I mean, a couple of those guys have just had cups of coffee up here and haven't really made a full-on impression, but the amount of guys that have come up from the American League this year, and not full on impression, but the amount of guys that have come up from the American league this year and not just shown well, but

provided things to a team that's battling for a playoff spot. It's a very bright spot for the organization overall. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Pedersen has a no move clause that becomes

active on July 1st. So that is a factor that Sam didn't mention. So once that passes, all of a sudden, Pedersen has a lot more control. True. And that can definitely affect the return of any possible trade. And frankly, Pedersen can say just, no, you're

not trading me. I want to be a Canuck and I'm going to stay a Canuck whether you like it or not. Now you can always make it hard on a player and force their hand, but that's many, many, many, many steps down the line. But I do think that no move clause is, it's a massive factor. It is. And that's why it's going to be just a really tough decision. And you're going to have to, you're going to have

to gamble either way. If you gamble by keeping him, then you've gambled that you're all going to be on the same page and that his off season prep is going to be better and that he's a hundred percent healthy and that he's going to fit with the coach and blah, blah, blah. If you trade him, there's two risks.

Number one, you look like an idiot because he finds his game somewhere else. But the more important thing is, because that really shouldn't matter as much. The more important thing is like, what are you going to do? Because all of a sudden your center depth has gone from Elias Pedersen, JT Miller and Bo Horvat to none of those guys and no easy way to replace them. In a very weird way, a hypothetical or potential Elias Pedersen trade might be less

about Pedersen than it is about two other guys in this organization. And that's Quinn Hughes and Rick Tauke. Hughes, it's obvious the implications there that him and Pedersen, I think it's fairly well established that Quinn Hughes and Rick Tocket. Hughes, it's obvious, the implications there that him and Pedersen, I think it's fairly well established that Quinn Hughes and Lewis Pedersen are fond of each other. They're friends, they like each other, they sit next to each other on the plane, right?

I think the friendship part of it is fairly well established. Is he more fond of? Let me finish. Okay. Yeah. That's a part of it for sure. The other part of it is, does that relationship supersede or have anything to do with what's going on on the ice? Like, is Hugh's able to separate and silo off, like, I love the guy, he's my friend,

but we have a job to do on the ice and it's not maybe happening right now. Does he like winning or does he value the friendship and does he see those things as, you know, can they come together? But whatever- Does he, does he, because he said earlier like, I believe in him and he's going to be fine. But whatever the case, that's a, I think he's a very major, Hughes is a very major central figure in that.

Of course. The other one is talk it, because if he's going to be your head coach moving forward, he does privately anyway, need to answer the question, do you think you're gonna be able to win and are you gonna be able to coach the way you wanna coach and get this team to the heights you wanna get them to if Pedersen is there and requires the amount of minutes

and the amount of responsibility, everything that comes along with being the highest paid top sender on your team. So there's two guys there that aren't Elias Pettersson that will profoundly impact whether or not he gets moved. That's my opinion anyway. Now I wanted to bring up something on TalkIt because a couple people have texted in about the allegations that some people, maybe not necessarily named Helford and or Brough, are forcing the narrative of TalkIt to Philly. I just want

to make it abundantly clear is I'm not sure people understand how deep the relationship is between Rick talk it the city of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Flyers organization. I don't actually think people understand how intertwined those two are. The Flyers drafted talk it and brought him into the NHL. He spent over two stints in Philadelphia bookending his playing career, 11 years and over 600 games with the organization. He has been inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame. When he talks about Philadelphia, he talks about it as the place where he grew up, he felt like he found a second

family, he talks about the relationships that he made in both stints, both stints, not just the early one where he had the real success, the second stint as well. He talks about the great group of guys, all the friends that he's made. Philadelphia has a very special place in Rick Taukett's life and the city of Philadelphia loves him and loved the way that he played. There's a long, very detailed, very rich history there that if you're accusing anyone, and I'm not even saying accusing, but if you're thinking that there's being a narrative pushed here, know this, that narrative was written a hell of a long time ago and it's got a lot of very real evidence to suggest that there's a very important relationship

between that market and the head coach. And look at the guys in the organization that are running it. They're also very popular former flyers. There's no agenda, there's no spin. I get nothing other than I'm pointing out just exactly what is at hand. If it was a different market, I would be like, oh, whatever. It's a coach that is without a contract next year and an available job.

And then you piece together something. There aren't many former Flyers that epitomize Flyers hockey more than Rick Tauke. Like he was tough as nails. He could also score and he was a winner. And what have the Flyers done? Historically, throughout the last 20 or 30 years of this organization, they bring back the guys that are franchise legends, and they bring them back in a variety of capacities. Briere, Jones, Clark, Holmgren, you can go down the list. It's what

they do there. Okay, so. It's worked out really well up to this point. They should keep doing that. And hey, that's a valid point. That's a valid point to bring up is that sometimes when you keep it in the family, it doesn't always work out, right?

Like you need to sometimes go a little bit far afield. Now they tried to do that with Dave Haxtall. Remember, it was this very un-Philadelphia-like hire as head coach, is that Haxdall was gonna be a guy that was gonna grow with the group and he was gonna bring an outside perspective and he wasn't gonna have any ties to the past. And then they decided that it wasn't for them

and they went right back to being, what was it, the slogan, the new orange? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was bring back Keith Jones, bring back Danny Breyer was bring back Keith Jones, bring back Danny Brouillere, bring in guys that, and Torts was. They have an active alumni there. Very active alumni.

Sonny texted in, is Tauke going to want to be a part of a rebuilding team though? I assume he means Philly. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what you'd have to ask him. I don't know. Like it's a big challenge.

When you look at the situation that the flyers are in, it's probably unlikely that they're going to turn it around next year or maybe even the year after, but they do have a lot of draft ammo in this year's draft and you can either make the picks and patiently develop the players or you can get a little more aggressive with your trading. But it's a good question. And we don't even know if Tauket is going to consider the Flyers job. But what we do know is that the Canucks and Tauket,

according to what Rick Tauket said, are not talking contract right now. Tauket has said, I'm focused on coaching hockey and I don't want to make this a story. Well, too bad. It's a story. But on the other hand, on the other hand, Canucks management would like to talk to him.

And they've said, we want to keep them long-term. Also the Flyers fired John Tortorella this morning. That's another thing that we should probably mention. 55 minutes ago, he was fired. With 10 games left in a season where it would have been really easy just to let him coach out the string and finish the year, they got rid of him. To the phone lines we go, Thomas Drance joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

What up Drance-er? Gentlemen, good morning. Your thoughts on another big and dare we say gutsy win for the Vancouver Canucks last night 5-2 in New York against the Islanders? Yeah, I thought it was a pretty solid performance from the second 30 minutes from the skaters and a sublime performance from Thatcher Demko all told. Demko I think gave them a chance to find their game in sort of the second half, you know, 30 minutes of the second on, because, you know, they were giving up a lot to the Islanders off the rush. The Islanders looked the much more dangerous team for much of the evening, but Demko kept

them in it and fundamentally outplayed Ilya Sorokin, who obviously got chased early in the third there. Sorokin's played a lot of games, right? They've been sort of scrapping for their playoff life in a pretty crowded playoff mix out east. And I wonder if that was that catching up to him because he looked far more beatable than the Canucks netminder who, you know, was clearly the primary reason that Vancouver was able to overcome, I think, a shoddy start and an uncharacteristically flat game from Quinn Hughes and, and Philip Aaronic, right?

I mean, that's sort of what was most impressive. The connects managed a clear victory and did so in a game in which Quinn Hughes was not right. Supernova dominant the way he has been most nights. And that sort of poses another question here, which is, you know, guys have been playing 30 minutes a night and guys been playing 30 minutes a night while, you know, visibly grimacing at times on the ice.

Uh, he's not going to be able to sustain that surely every single night, the rest of the way. Yeah. They're going to need to find ways to win games like that. Don't you think the Isles deserve a little bit of credit for how they played Hughes last night? Like they were tight to him.

And part of it might be what you're saying, like he's tired and it's harder now to get that separation. But I just, I think, you know, there is another team on the ice and compared to say the Rangers having Matt Rempey out there against him, they seem to have better players suited to actually staying close to him and limiting the time and space that he was getting. Yeah, I think that's right. I think there were certainly guys like Hudson Fasching at one point before he got hurt, had a really nice sequence where Quinn Hughes went to work

and we're so used to him just completely going through guys in moments like that. Checkers, first-liners, fourth-liners, certainly Matt Rampe was lost in that situation. But like honestly a lot of guys are, so key caliber guys are. And I thought there were guys like Hudson Fashing, that Maxim Sipashev guy who did a really good job. The Islanders have a lot of a lot of size on the wings and a lot of size on the wings with speed too. You think of Sipishev, you think of bashing, you think of Engvall. So I think they were pretty well suited to doing it. But even when Hughes didn't have the puck, they had a guy really high in the zone, like

basically marking him, right? They were defending in a way that left some space down low, which is pretty uncommon. There's a lot of just collapsing, a lot of just packing the paint in the NHL these days in zone. And they were like, absolutely pressed to him at all times in the defensive zone, which I did think was impressive. Look, I thought the Islanders played pretty well to be totally honest with you, especially not the first half. They were less impressive when chasing in the

third, but even then, you know, there, there were some pretty significant Demco saves there, you know, down low off Simon Holmstrom and, um, I guess Angball hit a post and they had chances late. So I just thought the Islanders played pretty well overall, but the Canucks had the better goalie that night.

And, and I thought that made the difference ultimately. Goaltending to it was definitely the difference because Serokin didn't play very well either. That goal he, he led into foreboard was not good. Yeah. And to Bluger, right? Yeah, yeah. You sort of unscreened.

It was a nice shot by Bluger I thought. It went post and in. Yeah, no, it was a good shot, but it was also one that I think Siroken is far more likely to save on a night when he is. Agreed. Not so human. So Janser, we don't get breaking news a lot on this show, so I wanted to get your thoughts on it. Torts being fired in Philadelphia and the possibility that this storyline could include

Rick Tauket. Yeah. So, Torz being fired. I think there are technical aspects of being an NHL head coach that Torz is brilliant at. I think he's a pretty thoughtful guy to work for, at least from, you know, reviews that even like Canucks staffers still share about Torz's time there, like takes time to get to know people. I think treats people really well behind the scenes anyway.

But I think there's limits to what Torz accomplishes in part because I think he wears people down and I think he wears people down by usage and I think he wears people down and I think he wears people down by usage and I think he wears people down with, you know, the sort of volatile emotional flares that crop up high and low over the course of a season. And so I think you've seen in Philadelphia where like this team under manned the last two years as they've gone through this rebuilding process has been frankly, uh, far more difficult to beat than they probably should be. Right? Like I think in terms of punching above their weight and, you know, playing really high quality defense while being lethal off the rush, uh, I think Torz has gotten more out

of this group, certainly across the last 18, 20 months, than he had any right to. And that's the positive part of working with Torz. And I think the negative part of working with Torz or employing Torz is sort of what you heard in that remarkable press conference that he gave the other day, the, I don't have any interest in learning how to coach at this time of year, right? Um, because the truth is, is that the stretch run is the problem with torts. It just happened. The flyers last year too, where they seem to be cruising for a playoff spot and then they completely ran out of gas. Um, and, and look, the flyers

did not have the same caliber of season this year overall, but they still ran out of gas down the stretch because I think the way that Torz rides his best players, I think the way that Torz engages and manages people emotionally, I think it wears people out. And I think over 82 games, you've seen that repeatedly. It's like every Torz season is the same. So for where the Flyers are at in their rebuild, you know, they should be a team capable of competing for a playoff spot next year, in my opinion, based on the talent on the roster now,

especially if they can fix their goal-ending, which is, you know, their big issue over the course of the year. And I do think, you know, a highly structured coach with who's a little bit more modern in terms of how they use their players. I think that can work, right? Like I think that team can be very much in the mix with the New York Rangers and the Detroit's of the world. I think Columbus and Utah are probably a little bit ahead in terms of like high end young talent, but I think, I think they can be in that mix next season with the right coach. Could that right coach be Rick Tauket? I suppose we'll see. I mean, we know that Tauket obviously is not signed to an extension. We know that his deal expires. We know the team has a club option.

So it's not as if he's a pending free agent without there being significant conversations around that and without the Canucks having the opportunity to put their finger on the scale to at least some extent. So you know former flyer right like was buddies with Charles Barkley back in the 80s in Philadelphia obviously has a lot of affection for the city city has a lot of affection for the city, city has a lot of affection for him. So you know there's a lot of it that could make sense presumably but I also think there's a lot of teams, a lot of big teams in the Eastern Conference or at least in the Eastern or Central Time Zone that would

benefit enormously from a coach like Tocket and would probably have interest. I mean I think about the Chicago Blackhawks. I think about the New York Rangers. You know, I think about the Boston Bruins, right? Like, who's who of sort of the big spending teams on the Eastern Conference. I mean, how many vacancies would you expect among those four teams?

All four? Like, I'd expect all four. At least three of four are gonna have vacancies beyond this season. And I think Taukit would be a really strong'd expect all four. At least three of four are gonna have vacancies beyond the season. And I think Tauket would be a really strong candidate in all four markets. So yeah, look, this is gonna be a fascinating one. Tauket said he doesn't want to talk about his deal during the season while he's focused on this playoff push. I think that's genuine to be totally honest with you. But, you know, there's also certainly been

increasingly loud rumblings in the industry about Tauket's future. And to be totally honest with you, gentlemen, view, but there's also certainly been increasingly loud rumblings in the industry about Talk Its Future and to be totally honest with you gentlemen, they predate this season. Right? So it'll be interesting to see exactly how this all unfolds. When you say they predate this season, can you

expand a little bit more on that, even if you don't want to, can you? Well, no, I mean, I just like, I can't really report anything so much as the, you know, there was, there was chatter that I was hearing about it, like back in September when I would have not believed it, you know what I mean? Where I was like, what? Just stuff that you sort of don't even take

seriously and file away. And then as the story becomes louder and louder and as the season unfolds the way it did, you sort of wonder if there was more to it. Uh, and then maybe you shouldn't have written it off. But you know, it wasn't something credible enough to report at the time. It was something I just filed away and was hearing and you know, that's it. Um, I mean, he did mention on our show and this isn't like, this isn't massive or

anything, but you did say kind of like when we have time to talk about it, one of the things we're going to talk about is just the direction of the team. Yeah. And any coach that was looking at an extension would obviously want to talk about that, but it seems more prescient with this situation.

I mean, is it fair to wonder if Pedersen is the biggest thing to discuss? I think it's fair to wonder it. I think there's no question that there's been challenges internally this season. I don't think that's a secret, right? Like this group has, excuse me, this group has obviously endured a lot of, you know, off ice distraction, off ice noise. A split, like a fundamental split in this core group occurred over the course of the season. Efforts to mend and create partnership

proved, you know, unfruitful, right? Resulted in the club having to make a trade that they never wanted to make, right? Like a trade that the organization didn't want to have to make, but decided that they had to. So, you know, I'm sure that Pedersen struggles and, you know, I suppose part, perhaps the role that he played in it would be part of what a coach would be considering in deciding whether or not to commit long-term, right? I mean, that makes sense to me for sure. I would think, I would assume that that would be

among the hottest button topics to discuss for sure. I mean, how could it not be? Yeah. I also wonder just the optics if Taukeit does decide to leave and nobody's suggesting he is going to, but he might have the option, how that would look for management after saying how badly they want to keep them? Yeah, yeah. I mean, so how badly it would look. I think the,

I'm just trying to gather my thoughts here, gentlemen. I think the I'm just trying to gather my thoughts here, gentlemen. I think the management should be wanting to keep Rick Tocket, right? I mean, they took a lot of heat willingly in order to get their guy, right? Like Tocket was handpicked. He was their guy. He was the guy that they wanted. He was the guy that they believed in. And they were willing to slow play Bruce Boudreau's dismissal, you know, perhaps in an impolitic

way. They were willing to wade through a lot of market skepticism, a lot of people quoting Rick Tuckett's record in Arizona in order to install this guy behind the bench. And the impact was pretty much instantaneous, right? Like immediately this team played far better five on five. Immediately this team started to be organized and disciplined. And we haven't seen it this year because the team hasn't, right? I mean, of late, like one of the things I actually thought

while watching the game last night was, boy, if they'd been able to work like this, right? I mean, of late, like one of the things I actually thought while watching the game last night was, boy, if they'd been able to work like this, right? If they'd been able to work like this with any consistency through November, December, and January, they wouldn't be in this spot. Man, they were just so, they're winning battles. They were first to Pucks. Their puck pursuit was incredible last night. I mean, I just thought it was, it was very impressive and you know, frankly, I thought the same thing in New Jersey. Yeah, for sure. I agree. And actually, I feel like I've thought it relatively consistently ever since the team left California after that really brutal return from the four nations face off. I would say that their efforts have been pretty consistent in a way that they hadn't been

for much of the season. And I think as much as people will point to injuries and as much as people will point to things like you know could they have used DPD in the lineup earlier or whatever whatever you're pointing to is like the reason that the Canucks um underachieve this season like number one on the list with the bullet has to be this team didn't work hard enough consistently enough like they put themselves in that hole because of that. And why was that and why is that? Right. And I'm well, and I mean, I think the organizations kind of told us with

everything they've said about how trying the season was and the changes that they've made and, you know, the idea that this, the determination, right? That the part partnership between multiple players on this team couldn't be built to a point where they felt that they could win, right? That the partnership between multiple players on this team couldn't be built to a point where they felt that they could win, right? I mean, that's the truth, right? That's what they have told us in their actions and frankly, what's been reported behind the scenes. So I think we kind of have a sense of why. But yeah, anyway, coming back to Tauke, the truth is that he's been effective here, right? And so the organization and this management group has invested a lot in handpicking this guy, you know, taking the bullets of, you know, how ugly the Boudreaux dismissal was

and how much criticism they took for that to have this guy here. And now, you know, they've made it, I think abundantly clear that they rate him highly as a head coach. They should rate him highly as a head coach. We should rate him highly as a head coach too. Although I know this season has created a widespread sense of dissatisfaction with this team's style of play and, you know, lineup decisions and on and on. Um, the truth is, is that, uh, at least in my mind, this is a highly,

highly skilled NHL bench boss who the club should absolutely be motivated to keep. And, you know, I think his departure, if it were to unfold that way, would certainly represent an L, right, for management. I think it's pretty clear from the way that Quinn Hughes, for example, talks about working with them, right, that, you know, Operation Keep Quinn Hughes would be in question, not more than it already is or anything like that, just that, like, it would be one of those things that we'd add to the ledger, right, in sort of weighing that scale up. And yeah, so I mean, I think it would be a pretty tremendous hit, frankly. And, you know, I do think that's why I'm like, that's why I would ultimately anticipate that the club does push to keep it. But, you know, this club's done some interesting things, but in

terms of like, forecasting what the Canucks are going to do under Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen behind the bench. I mean, I think that's been a pretty difficult thing to parse through over the years, right? Whether it's, you know, assistance or American league coaches, or obviously the Boudreaux thing, him not getting an extension that summer, the way that all played out. You know, this has been like an area that they've been especially inscrutable, like especially difficult to handicap. I'd say ever since they took over in Vancouver. Thatcher Demko, I think both you and Brough astutely called it like a Hail Mary when he was activated off IR and then thrown right into the crease. And it was sort of their last ditch effort. And through two games, like the Hail Marys worked

to a certain degree, like they're- The ball is looking good in the air. We do have a catch. No, we don't have a catch yet. We don't have a catch yet, but the ball is in the air. We're going to review, but we might have a catch. He escaped the pressure and the ball is, now everyone's gotta get organized in the end zone

and they might need a crazy bounce. We've managed to ruin the Hail Mary thing now, but anyway, we'll move past that. Well, you already said they made a catch. It was under review. Making the playoffs would be the catch. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.