Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 3/27/26

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they so some Ask Us Anythings, plus the boys discuss the latest news around the Canucks with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Darcy Kemper comes into Rogers Arena, stops all 19 Vancouver shots for his 39th career shotout and the Kings get a crucial two points in their chase for a playoff spot in the Pacific Division. They end their four-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canock. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody.

Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford and his Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Good morning to you.

Good morning. 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.

Visit them today at Sands-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 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We're coming to you live from the Kintech Studios. Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech.

And it's Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford, Embruff Show. So text your A-U-A's, as the kids call them. I don't know. 650, 650 into the Dunbar Lumber text line. Trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online today. Okay. To the guest list we go, it's the Duick Morning Drive, brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 6.30 this morning.

Chris Peters, content manager from Flow Hockey is going to join us. The NCAA men's hockey championship is underway as teams look to advance to the frozen for tonight in a prime time game on ESPN Dos, Gavin McKenna and Penn State going to take on the hated Minnesota Duluth in opening round action. We'll talk to Chris about that and look ahead to the NCAA tournament of college hockey talk

with Chris Peters at 6.30. 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, as Brough mentioned. It is Ask Us Anything Friday. The best Ask Us Anything gets a $100 gift card to AJ's today. 730, Dave Softie Mahler, from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle.

Very exciting time for sports in Seattle. You know what else I want to talk to about, Dave, is this millionaire's tax that they've got in Washington. And how it's going to affect you and I when we go down there. Right? What do we do? They're going to look at us and be like, tax those guys.

Those guys are so rich. A couple hundredaires rolling through here. I know it's been a topic of discussion down there, and people are wondering how it's going to affect sports teams and athletes' willingness to sign or stay in Seattle. So aside from discussing tax brackets with Softie, we will also discuss the Mariners who opened their MLB campaign yesterday.

The NBA coming back to Seattle. That took another big step this week. And hey, the Seattle Cracken won a big game yesterday. Dave Softie Mahler, one of our favorites is going to join us at 7.30. 8 o'clock, it's Rick Dollywall. Intrepid Canucks reporter Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. Canucks lost last night, 4-0 to the L.A. Kings.

To finish off one of the worst homestands in franchise history. I don't know where it stacks up. I did not do the research, but I can say with some good authority that that was one of the worst homestands in Canucks franchise history. So with Rick, we will talk about the game. We will talk

about Adam Foote or many Malhotra behind the bench for the Vancouver Canucks and some other stuff as well. I don't like to give it all the way. You do. I told you not to and now you don't. Oh, that's why I don't do it. Right. So Rick's going to join us at 8 o'clock this morning. Reminder. It's asking us anything Friday.

that good stuff. Not going to run it in reverse without further ado. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.c.c. I do want to say, the most rare what happened

ever happened this morning Laddie was almost late for the program you are in Laddie bit of a sleep I'm usually the first one here but you guys never talk about that I was going to one time you are the bedrock of this show when it comes to showing up on time Laddie's consistent

and thorough and diligent always the first one in the door what did you get that Chevy Volt up to on the highway coming in that's what I wanted to talk about all the way from Ladner perfectly legal I'm sure so I don't want to be labor this point But when I called you this morning, I think you were still in a dream state. Yes. I think you said sorry, dad at one point.

I don't want to get up for school, click. Well, that Chevy Bolt certainly did some work on the way in. So kudos to you for getting in on time. I'm just so excited for Jay's opening day. Yeah, I can imagine. Okay. Last night, the Vancouver Canucks, as mentioned, finished off what might be the worst home stand in franchise history, Darcy Kemper,

19 saves. It was Trevor Moore and Quentin Byfield with a goal and an assist apiece. The Kings snapped the four-game losing streak. The easiest way everybody knows how. That's by playing the Vancouver Canucks. Four-nothing win in Vancouver at Rogers Arena on Thursday. Yeah, it was yet another home loss for the Canucks

who fell to 8, 25, and 5 at Rogers Arena. So there have been 38 games at Rogers Arena this year. Eight times the Canucks have won, and the fans have been, And yay, the Canucks. It is one of the worst home records in, frankly, NHL history. I know Rob the hockey guy said it was the worst home team of the last 30 years. There's this site called Stat Muse.

And it's basically you can just query anything about sports stats. And so I put in worst home records in NHL history by season. And the Canucks are 20th. Like this includes the 1928-29 Chicago Blackhawks. It includes the expansion senators, the expansion sharks. Lest we forget, the 1930, 1931 Philadelphia Quakers. Yeah, oh, the Quakers. Is that one really bad Capitals team on there?

Didn't they have a really awful season? Yes, 1974, 75. The Canucks are, I mean, they're not Quakers bad, but they're pretty bad at home. And last night was not a close game by any means the Kings dominated the Canucks. Panarin was really dangerous on Kopitar's line. I thought, I think it was the best game

I've ever seen Quentin Byfield play. Obviously, I try not to watch many Kings games, but he was really good last night. By the end of the second period, it was 3-0 for the Kings on the scoreboard and 31 to 12 on the shot clock. Nobody played well for the Canucks. They were all overmatched by a middling King's team

that's still on the outside of the playoff picture. So as you mentioned, the Canucks finished their eight-game homestand with a two-and-six record. They beat Nashville in the shootout and took care of Florida in regulation. Yeah, take that banthers. No big deal, two-time defending champs, who definitely weren't trying

and were looking ahead to their game at Eminton. The other six games were regulation losses. There's no real point in hammering away at the Canucks. We all know they're a bad team. Hopefully this all leads to a better. place in a few years because it's pretty tough to watch right now. And I expect it's going to be challenging for a few more years. At least next season, they might have a player like Gavin McKenna in the lineup.

I remember the Penguins, the first year they had Sidney Crosby. They were awful. But Sid was incredible. The Oilers weren't-Dick-Tarnstrom was their leading scorer? Sid was the leading scorer. Oh, did he take over for Dick Darnstrom? Yeah, Tricky-Dicky. It had like 100 points.

The Oilers weren't very good the first year that had McDavid either. I guess the difference is that the penguins also had Malkin coming, and the Oilers also had dry-sidle coming. Hopefully in a couple of years, the Canucks have a guy like Landon-Dupont as well. They're going to have to stay really bad for a few years, but the payoff can be worth it. Nothing is guaranteed, but it's the only path forward when you're as asset poor as the Canucks.

You're not going to solve it in free agency. They can't trade their way out of it. They're just going to have to be bad. As for the game last night, I liked the young kids at the end of the night, actually showing some frustration and showing some fight. Didn't mean anything on the scoreboard? No, but when Zeev Boullium is out there dropping the gloves

and, you know, Tom Velander is out there roughing it up and Linus Carlson, I mean, I think that was good to see. There was a clip going around a couple of the kids, days ago. I think it was Tyson from Canucks Army that put it out there and he caught a couple of the young guys at the end of practice practicing fighting. Working on the scraps.

Was it, I can't remember who it was. William was out there. William was Ogren or maybe DP'd I don't know. It was three young guys and they were just having fun. They were kind of working on their fighting and then Boolean was like I'm going to apply this to the game.

And you know it's something, right? I don't know what these young guys on the team right now are going to amount to, but it's nice to see them actually care, which is the lowest of the low bars. Like, hey, do you care? Yes.

We'll get to the, we're in the process of getting the audio ready. How are we doing with the audio right now? Do we have foot audio available already? Okay, so there's a couple things we do want to play, which is a shocking turn of events because the last, I'd say, eight or ten games, we don't really have much post-game audio. to parse through. I thought that Booiam and his postgame media availability sounded super frustrated. And I don't know if it had to do with a little Tilly with Brand Clark because he

wasn't talking about that. He was talking about getting their asses handed to him again, this time by the LA Kings. But I want to, the frustration level. Did you see the clip of Tom Villander on the bench just freaking out? After he got stuck out there for like a three minute shift. Yeah, he was, he was so angry. It was good to see he had something in the tank though after he's in good shape. He was able to come back and then, you know, slam the bore. and everything. And the coach, Kevin Dean, had to tell him to like, it's okay, calm down.

I mean, it's not okay. We're terrible. Yeah, you know, calm down. Glass half full, the fitness is there. Glass half empty, you were stuck out there for a three and a half minute shift. Anyway, let's play some audio from Adam Foote yesterday when he was asked about his top line.

Now, obviously his top line, and whatever that is at this point, I think it's a nebulous idea because sometimes it's one line, sometimes it's another line, but whatever the case, The top line did not score, nor did any Vancouver Canuck last night. So Adam Foote was asked about it.

Here's what the head coach had to say yesterday about his top line, maybe needing to give the team more. Well, we want more from them, that's for sure. I mean, you know, I'm not going to get into getting into all that right now. Like, I'm not going to get on the negative train. You know what I mean? I get it. You guys need your ticks, but I'm not going to go there on that one.

All right. I'm going to make sure that we just keep pushing in the right direction, and see the positive of this. We got a young team. We got a big, a lot of things different to have this year that you guys know are well aware of. And I'm not going to get into that.

I wish you would have said positive train. I'm not going to get on the negative train. I'm on the positive train. Can we acknowledge that instead of clicks? He said ticks? We should acknowledge it. Yeah. What's a tick?

That's what your dog gets. This show is tick bait. That's all it is, right? These journalists out there, they want their ticks. They just want their tics. They have special baths for those. But it's like, can I say anything and have these idiots not make fun of me? I mean, no.

No. You can't. No. Well, don't say ticks instead of clicks. I think the frustration level. And there's about eight different reasons for it. Horrible season. You know, listless performances.

Losses piling up. Many of them at home. You know, when you know that, and you can see the finish line, but you're not quite, there and you know that the season's almost over but you still have to go through the exercise of finishing it there can be a level of frustration with that and i think it's really starting to like spew out of the the players and the coaches and everybody else because this has been an absolutely miserable season when you look back on this season years from now it's going to stand out not just because in a you know within a franchise's history

that has plenty of bad seasons with a lot of losses. I mean, the stat you pointed out earlier, I keep going back to it, and I went back to it a few times last night. You are talking about, in the history of the National Hockey League, one of the 20 worst home teams, single season in the entire history of the NHL.

And that's going back to the 20s and the 30s. The Blackhawks were still in a lot of those lists. They were still two words, Black Hawks. Like, that's how long ago. it was and that's the company that the Canucks are keeping from like a from when it was like a six team league. Yeah. Teams struggled at home because two thirds of their lineup got drafted into the war. Like those are the kind of teams that the Canucks are being stacked up against historically now for their futility at home. And this eight game homestand and we all saw this coming from a mile

away. This was obviously going to be and I know I've used inflection point a lot over the last month, but this was going to be an inflection point. You learned it for me. Everybody in the organization is looking at what they've just done on home ice and is very dejected with the way that it's gone. Very dejected with the way that's gone. Because there was only two or three performances where they were like, yeah, they showed some spirit and they showed some fight tonight. I don't see how they bring foot back. I just don't. I know there are some people that are like sarcastically or not even sarcastically, you know, saying like you got to bring foot back because he's the team.

Tank Commander or whatever. But you can't bring them back. You can't. You still have to have, you still have to have some sort of... You shouldn't be there now. No. I mean, it's, it's, I don't want to say it's not fair to him,

but he wasn't, he wasn't ready for this job. Oh. He is not done a good job. He looks overwhelmed. And he, it was a, it was a, it was a desperate, and ultimately bad hire. This was the guy that had head coaching experience just a partial season in the WHL.

He didn't even last a full season in the WHL. And Rick Tockeet made a decision to leave. It put the Canucks kind of in a tough spot. And they figured, all right, well, Quinn seems to like Adam. So let's make Adam the coach. I mean, it was a bad decision. And again, I get people that are like, no, you have to keep them as the coach because we want the Canucks to be bad next year.

Yeah, but most of those people like myself understand that he still can't come back. I don't think. I'm glad we've reached that point. I don't think that even with the greatest coach in the world that the Canucks can be a good team next year. I don't think it's possible. They completely lack the talent. I suppose you could be like, well, if Demko is super healthy and Lankin and doesn't have to play all these games and we'll get to that in a minute. And maybe, you know, Heedl comes back, which you probably shouldn't do, but if, you know, and then the ever elusive, you know, Pedersen, what if they don't trade him and he turns it around?

Like, I suppose they could be. No, no. No. Now with, I mean, okay, here's the one thing they won't have. Goaltending. Well, they might though. Like if Demko is healthy. Well, he's having a big surgery that they think is going to fix everything. I'm ready to put if Demko is healthy in the same category as if PD will bounce back. Probably.

Okay? And that's totally unfair to a guy. And what he'll ever play again? It's totally unfair to a guy in Demko that is trying his best to get back and rehab and get healthy. But at this point, you're looking at the guy in his injury history and saying there's a much. better chance that you're going to be a band-aid for the remainder of your playing days than you are just bouncing back to full health and being a Vezna Calibur guy again. Do we want to talk about Lankinen getting a fifth straight start? Do we care enough about Tolo Pelo? I mean, all I really

want to say is that if you're going to make winning a home game like last night's important, and that's apparently why Lankan has made all these starts, you've got to at least be competitive in the game. Otherwise, I'd rather they give Tolo Pilo some starts to take. what he's been working on in practice and apply it to a game and apply it to his development. Lankinen played well last night. He made some really good saves. He stymied Pinaran a few

times. You know, the goal that Pinaran did score probably wasn't the best one, but he had a ton of shots on him. Yes. His save percentage was over 900. It wasn't Lankan's fault last night. He was battling out there. It's not your fault, Kevin. But I don't think the fans had a better time last night

because Lankin was in net. And the Canucks didn't, I mean, I guess they had a better chance of winning me because Lankan was in net, but like the chance was nothing. They weren't going to win. They were so thoroughly dominated by an L.A. King's team that yes, is desperate. And they do have some good players for sure. But man, they're not that good.

Okay. Do we have the Buyamadi already? I just want to play the first 25, 30 seconds of his post-game media availability. Now, obviously he was coming in hot because he ended the game with a scrap with Brant Clark and he was visibly upset. And they actually, you know, the linesman got in there in the middle of the tussle.

And as Shorty mentioned it on the broadcast. Like he thought he actually, the linesman should have stepped out because those two, Clark and Booiam, were not ready to give it up. They were pissed off at one another and they were ready to throw. So I'll consider that when you listen to the tone

and tenor of what William had to say. But this is a frustrated young man and you can hear it in his voice and you can hear it in his words talking about what went wrong last night and a 4-0 loss at home to the Los Angeles Kings. Yeah, I mean, you saw it, like, just kind of get anything going tonight.

I think they pretty much dominate us for most of the game, so that just sucks. Why do you think second periods have been such a struggle for you guys? I don't know. I mean, I think, like today we, you know, I thought we actually played decently well in the first, and then the second we just, I think it's little things We just get caught out there for so long. And we have all of us, all the day.

We all get stuck out there for at least, you know, a minute and a half, two minutes or something. The forwards get tired and then they can't change. And they get a change of what we're still out there. So it's just a cycle. And we just got to find a way to dig in in those moments and, you know, find a way to not let that happen. So there was also that there's a very small snippet in there where he kind of concede. He's like, I thought we played decently well to start the game. If you compare that to what his head coach said after the game yesterday

where Foot came out and his first remark was, we played great in the first period yesterday. We had a great start. There's a disconnect right there. No, you didn't. You know. He didn't at all. He wants to get on the positive train.

That's true. No ticks. He's got his conductor hat and everything. He's all aboard the positive train. And at this point, does it feel like we're piling on the coach? Maybe. But again, you said it earlier. With the greatest coach in the world,

this team's still probably 32nd in the NBA. HL. And I'm ready to put a ban, a show moratorium, a ban on anyone saying that you need foot because you need a tank commander. It's dumb, reductive thinking. It's for mouth breathers on Canucks Twitter. Like, I can't handle it. Yeah.

When you hear a guy like that talk, Booiam, who's an aspiring professional and wants to get better at his craft and is saying all the right things about being around and rebuilding the culture and wants to be part of when things turn the page. in Vancouver, you can't saddle that guy with a coach who, and it's very obvious, he's in Ivers House. He's not prepared to work with the team through a rebuild. And a lot of you will say, part of working through a rebuild is losing lots of games. Wrong.

Part of a rebuild is going down to the studs, finding guys that you're going to build with, and growing them along, teaching them how to play, instilling, like, standards, and the characteristics and the habits and everything that you want. All these things matter right now. There shouldn't be throwaway games, right? There shouldn't be games where Vellander gets stuck out there for a three and a half minute shift and he's pissed off. And I hope it's a learning lesson for him and I hope the coaching staff uses it.

But I have my doubts. I really do have my doubts. And I have my doubts that any of these young guys that are saying the right things and trying to do the right things right now are actually getting better. I know it's easy to pay at lip service. It's like, well, they're out there getting their revents. and they're learning from their mistakes, but there needs to be some tangible evidence of it.

Otherwise, it's just a wasted season. And that is no good. Luke Texan, I feel like mouth breathing gets a bad rap. Nice, solid, direct way to breathe. It's not efficient. You should use your nasal passages as much as you can. I know it's tough during seasonal allergies.

Yeah. That's why God gave you a nose. Okay. Well, we spent the entire opening segment talking about the Canucks, which we did not plan for, but that's okay, because later on in the show, we'll get into the rest of the NHL stories from yesterday. There was a lot that happened across the National Hockey League.

We can also get into the World Cup qualifiers. Canada now has a little bit of a clearer vision on who they will play in their group. It will either be Italy or it will be Bosnia. That will get decided next week, Tuesday, in Bosnia. We can also get into anything else you want to get into on a very busy Thursday. And of course, now it's Friday in sports.

A reminder, if you want to get your thoughts in Dunbar Lever, it's excellent at 650, 650, 650. Poor Ireland. Poor Ireland. That, by the way, added to my theory that especially in soccer, you can have a start that is too good. It was too good. It was too good, too soon.

They went up 2-0 on Chequia, and as soon as I saw that, I was like, oh, they're not protecting that at Chequia. Northern Ireland, Ireland, Wales, all bid farewell. well in pretty crushing fashion. I think Northern Ireland was a little bit more expected. Italy dispatched of them. Yes.

There were lots of very sad Irish people in my neighborhood yesterday. I was really upset because Ireland in the World Cup would be, it's a good time. Yep, it would have been great. Yeah, they traveled really well to check you. Troy Parrott got a goal yesterday. Scoring sensation, Troy Parrot. Anyway, if you want to get away in on any of this, also the MLB story, as Lattie mentioned, as he rolled in here this morning, Blue Jay season gets underway today as well as they are

one of the last teams of Major League Baseball to get their season underway. way. Because they have a roof. They don't need that extra day off. That's true. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dollywall here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650.

What up, Ricky D? How's it going, guys? How's it going? Things are great. Let's talk about that game last night. They're not great, Alford. If they were great, we'd be talking about a winning streak. Instead, we're talking about eight wins at home all year.

Let's go back to the Grizzlies first year. 10 wins at home. That's it. And the connection are now 2 and 8 in their last 10 at home. Shut out five times at home this year. 12 shots on goal after two periods. 13 shots at the 50-minute mark. It's just baffling.

Fans, with the money they're paying, just won an honest effort every night at Rogers. And that's not too much to ask for. They pay a ton of money. Players should not cheat them. on effort. Obviously, they're in 30 seconds, so the skill in the hockey sense is not there with his team, but the effort should always beat. This is the same week. You know, they keep losing at home and then season ticket prices go up again, not by a huge number, but no playoffs in

nine of the last 11 years. I don't know, I'm not sure that was warranted. The New York Rangers have a policy that if they don't make the playoffs, they don't raise ticket prices. I think the Knicks, they got the same owner, Dolan, they do the same thing. that's goodwill by the ownership. That sort of stuff never happens here. I don't know about you guys, but when they sent out their season ticket message this week to the fans, we had a ton of text to our show.

We had 20 to 25-year season ticket holders, say, that's it, they've had enough. No more, no more. We had a guy who's been a season ticket holder, I think, for close to 50 years, he said it's over. They're pissed at ownership, management, concession prices, tired of the losing. Not renewing will catch the owner's attention. One playoff win in the last 15 years, and the building is still full.

It's still full. Sometimes the owner takes that for granted. I'm going to be very interested to see if that changes next year. But only time will tell. We don't know until we start seeing some home games next year. But I think there's a lot of people that are tired of shelling out, you know, type of money for what is essentially a team in a rebuild in 30 second place. Well, especially when you can't essentially get your money back on the secondary market.

If you're having to blow tickets out the door at 50% or just give them away, you know, it makes the financial commitment that much more. Absolutely. And it's not cheap. Like this is not the 1980s where you can buy a ticket for seven bucks, you know, and popcorn was two bucks and coke was one buck. Like, we had a text this week. Some guy went to the movies for 65 bucks,

and then he went to a Canucks game, and it cost him $400. Like, I mean, for two tickets. But it's just like, Jason, it's not like they're coming off of five good years, and you're raising prices. They're coming off a horrible year last year, and this year's been worse than last year. And I like the policy by the race. If we don't make the playoffs, we don't increase prices.

That's pretty goodwill by the order. But I don't think you'd ever see that type of goodwill here. Well, let's talk about some goodwill because I think Z. Booiam and Tom Vielander and Linus Carlson earned some goodwill at the end of last night's game, even though the team got dominated on the ice by the Kings. But they showed some frustration. They showed some fight. and Booiam dropping the gloves

I think showed a lot of Canucks fans that he still does care and whether this is fair or not I think sometimes we wonder if some of the veterans on the team feel the same way. Since the trade deadline, two guys have really stepped it up for me in terms of listening to them in interviews

and being very impressed. That's William and Willander. These are two high, character kids, you know, and I see letters with these guys in the future, both of them. They talk, they're mature beyond their years. They talk like 10-year vets sometimes. You listen to them, you're going, holy smokes. Sounds like a 10-year vet.

When Willander went to Sweden during the Olympic break on his own dime and went to train to get better, what does that tell you about the kid, right? There's something there. You know, you think it's cheap to fly from Vancouver to Sweden? that was his dad. The Kinex didn't pay for it. His dad's a skills guy. He's got his own trainers down there. And during the Olympic break, this kid hops on a plane to go to Sweden to work out, get better. That's what you want to see from your young kids.

And the kids, they draft from here on in. That's what you want to see. And Buiam, he's going to get there. I know people are, you know, he's only 20. How many 20-year-old defensemen do you know in the NHL right now? Not many. Personally, none of them. He shows you flashes. He shows you flashes. He's going to get there. And for those people that are looking for a ton of points for Buiam, do keep in mind,

he's on the second lowest scoring team in the NHL. He's pushing the puck up to forwards who are leading this NHL, leading this team with 17 goals. The Cocks may not have a forward with 20 goals this year, and that might take them back 10, 15, 20 years. I can't remember the last time. but this is one of the lowest scoring teams in the national hockey league. He's not going to get a ton of points now, William. If points are what you're looking for him. He's pushing the puck up to a lot of guys that have trouble scoring goals. When the Canucks went to Edmonton, took Edmonton to game seven two years ago,

they were one of the highest scoring teams in the – I think they were a top ten scoring team in the NHL. They had six, seven guys at the All-Star game. Scoring goals wasn't a problem. Scoring goals is a problem now. but as we've talked and talked about culture, it is so nice to see two of the guys that are trying to change it. One's 20 years old, the other one's 21,

and it's just nice to see that, you know, you would like to see it from the veterans too, but it's just so nice to see that it's two young guys that are trying to change the culture, make it fun to go to the rink, make it fun on road trips, on the plane, in the hotel, all that stuff. You know, the Canucks have ample reason not to be happy,

this year. A lot of guys want it out. Right? Guys don't want out of Vancouver because it's a great place to play. They want out because it's not a great place to play. But you're right. Both those young kids, Willander and Booiam, they care. Their care meter is very high. And that is,

and judging with, and the fact that they're 20-21, that bodes well for the Canucks. It definitely does. And, but you know, don't get me wrong, both those guys need to improve dramatically. Well, sure. And that's not, It's not a criticism at all, but I do wonder when I hear all this talk about signing Zee,

William to a long-term contract, when would they think of doing that? Because he's got one year left on his ELC. Is there any reason to rush into that? Well, they could do it July 1st. Yeah. And, yeah, they could do it July 1st where they can wait. It's their call. But he's the centerpiece of the Quinn Hughes trade.

is he not, Jason, in your eyes? For me, he is. Sure, I guess. I mean, I don't know what that has anything to do with signing him to a long-term contract, though. No, no, but he's a centerpiece. He's a very important part. You don't want to sign him to two years,

and then two years and two years and let him walk as a UFA because that's exactly what happened with Quinn. Look, yeah, I get that argument for sure. Yeah, he's going to get a long-term deal. I'll be shocked if he doesn't. Markets change all the time. salary caps going up.

One to two crazy contracts affect everybody. Keep that in mind. But he's got a huge upside. He's going to wear a letter one day. His character is through the roof. He's won at every level that he's ever played. Most people think, Jason, that William is going to get $8 million plus a year. There's two contracts in the last year that have really changed things for defensemen.

Luke Hughes got $9 million. He came off a 44-point season. Jackson Lecombe, $9 million. He came off of $4 million. 43-point season. If it's an eight-year deal, it's going to be between 8 and 9, or maybe a little bit over 9 for this kid. And for those people that think that's an outrageous number, let me tell you something. The first time I dropped, Kiefer Sherwood's going to get $5 million was on your show in September. I took a lot of heat for that. Oh, he's an idiot. He's just, you know, he's doing this

for the agents. Everybody freaked out. Sherwood ended up going from $1.5 million to $5.7. I was wrong. It wasn't five. It was five, seven. Markets are changing. Caps going up. A lot of stuff goes on with these contracts. One dumb contract affects a lot of teams. Bobby McCann in Toronto, as soon as Sherwood signed,

it just screwed the Maple Leafs because Bobby McCann's got better numbers in Sherwood, and now all of a sudden, Sherwood's the new comparable. He's in Seattle. That guy's going to get way more, way more. Dan Sherwood. And these guys are 1920 goal scores, right? It doesn't take much for the market to get crazy. It takes one or two dumb deals. Like people could not believe Luke Hughes went from his entry-level deal to $9 million off of 44 points. But it is what it is. You do have to be careful though, as the Canucks, because they're kind of setting a new hierarchy of salaries, right? In the

rebuild, there's going to be these baseline salaries that, yeah, I know teams look at other teams and here are the comparables, but they also look internally on the team. And sometimes there have been issues within the Knox where you're like, this guy's making this much, and this guy's only making this much, this seems off.

Yeah, yeah. You remember Tyler Mott? One of the reasons he ended up leaving Vancouver is because he thought he should get what Jason Dickinson was getting in Vancouver. But Jason Dickinson was 6-4-220 could skate. And so, yes, comparables do play a, big factor, Jason.

And every day, and this summer, you're going to see on July 1st, what are you going to see, Jason? You're going to see some dumb contracts. Yep. It's just the way hockey goes. And it's going to affect future Vancouver Caracas. It's going to affect, they got some potential first, second, third of all picks coming. You think those guys are going to be cheap to keep in the fold for year after year after year?

That's kind of what I'm arguing. Like, you need to set it accurately. And also, I would say not, I realize that sometimes you have to make Bet-son guys and you have to take some risk but let's not overpay these guys too early because we also want them hungry to improve. We don't want them

fat and happy. Let's move on here. A lot of talk on our show about Adam Foot. Is next season, is it a two horse race to see who's going to be the coach?

Are there only two options, Foot or Malhotra? Yeah, I think that's a great point. It's been a hot topic this week, too. We're going to find out soon in two or three weeks anyways. But let me say this about Mahaltra, first of all. The goal for Mahaltra, like every coach in the HL, is to coach in the NHL. Nobody wants to be in the minors forever, right?

His family still lives in Toronto while he coaches in Abby. He's got kids age 8 to 17. His son, Caleb, we all know, is going to be probably the first center taken in this year's NHL draft. Mahaltra is very well aware of the situation. There could be an opening of Vancouver, there could be an opening elsewhere, he's going to get interest. A few people reached out to me and asked me if I've heard anything about Toronto and Mahaltrow. Really hard to say right now because the Leafs have not made a coaching change.

So it's all just the hearsay, right? The Canucks are either going to fire foot because they need a better coach. They're going to fire foot because they don't want to lose Mahaltra or they're going to keep foot. I heard you guys this morning and I agree. Foot does not help himself when he talks to the media. He's not great with the media. but neither is Elvin. Their best talker is Rutherford by a country mile.

Now, the other thing I want to get across is in the last 11 years, the Canucks have hired three rookie coaches, Willie Desjardin, Travis Green, and Adam Foote. In those 11 years, with those rookie coaches, the Canucks have missed the playoffs nine times, Mahaltrow would be the fourth rookie coach in 12 years in this city. Rookie coaches take a long time to figure things out, and in a Canadian market, it's way tougher.

is an excellent coach today in the NHL. It took him seven to eight years to become that. But we expect these rookie coaches in Vancouver to become great in one year. Foot was hired to fail. The plan was win for Quinn. Instead, what do they do to foot? They traded Hughes, Sherwood, Garland, and Myers. What coach isn't going to suffer with those four guys taken out of his lineup?

He was never hired to be a coach of a 32nd place team. It was all about winning this year. The reason they're 32 is not because of foot, it's because of management mistakes. Now, does Mahaltra even want the Vancouver job? This team has had six coaching changes in 13 years. The Canucks job will not be great for Mahaltar's resume. He's going to lose a lot. Will the owner want to pay foot two years not to coach?

Mahaltra isn't, and this is the big one, Mahalta is not taken Vancouver from 32nd to 15th or 10th or 5th or 2nd. This is a bad hockey club that needs major jobs. changes and patience to fix. Fans and media in this town, and maybe you guys, maybe Drans, maybe me, I don't know who, but we're all going to be bitching about the same things next Christmas, if it's Mahalter there or foot there. Take that to the bank.

And for those saying Manny develops players younger or better than foot, what young players are people talking about? Most of the kids from the draft this year and next year for Vancouver will not be playing in Vancouver for two or. or three years down the road. Just as important as coaching in a rebuild is the development team. They are just as important. How you work with kids in Abby is just as important.

Canucks did a good job with Lina's Carlson, Maxis-Saw, and Leveres-Petters and the defenseman, but Holglenner and Lackaramackie, something's wrong. When they keep sending those two up to Vancouver and they keep getting healthy scratched or sent back down. The combination of coaching and development is going to be very crucial in the upcoming years. But I do caution all those people that want a coaching change.

I guarantee you those same people are going to bitch about something about the new coach next year. Take it to the bank. You know who is that? Maybe, but I just don't know why it's got to be either foot or Malhotra. Like, why would they not? You know who was a good rookie head coach who took over a rebuild in a Canadian market? Marty St. Louis.

And that was an outside the box kind of idea. Yeah, that was a good one there, I thought. And that was, I mean, it ticks a lot of the boxes you're talking about where it's like no experience taking over a team that's going to lose more than it's going to win. I think it's important you get a teacher in the door, to be honest. Okay. So why is you not working in Vancouver with rookie coaches, right? Like why? Like the Willie D. Travis.

And give Travis credit. He's an excellent coach today, but he took them a long time to get there. And so we're going to, you guys want your seventh coach in 13 years. And you watch, you just take it to the bank. amount of people the bitch about the new coach next year by Christmas. Nobody can win in Vancouver. As another team told me this week, it doesn't matter who coaches in Vancouver. They're taken over the 30-second place roster.

There's not enough talent. There's not enough hockey sense. It's going to be bad for whoever takes over. It doesn't matter. I just can't buy the notion that it doesn't matter who coaches the team when you're trying to bring along young guys like a Z. Booem or Tom Villander. I can't accept that. Okay.

Well, so you guys, go ahead and tell me who's going to, who would come here next year where you wouldn't bitch about something he did? Well, I don't know. We'd bitch about everything. Okay, well, that's what I'm got. Pete DeBore's not coming here. Okay, well, I, no, no, no. So, Dolly, you're confusing me a little bit.

What are you advocating for exactly? I'm not advocating. I'm saying it doesn't matter who coaches next year. They're going to have the same issues. There's not enough talent. and hockey sense on this team to take them from 32nd to 15th or 10th. That's what I'm saying. But nobody's expecting that.

Nobody's expecting that. They're expecting a coach to come in here and work with the young players to improve them. Nobody's expecting them to make the playoffs. I don't think necessarily people, even if the connect is worth 32nd overall next season, I don't necessarily think that people would be automatically upset with the coaching staff. I don't think that Adam Foote has done a very good job this year. When I listen to him talk, I'm confused, and I wonder if that carries over to the players as well.

Yeah, his explanation about why Lankan and has started four straight times over Tolo, Pelo was a bit confusing. But that's, you know, again, a rookie coach. How many times did he talk to the media under Rick Tocket? Can you remember? Not many. and now he's right at the center. Not as much as Kevin Dean's talking right now, I'll tell you that.

Yeah, I mean, that is part of it though. Like, it's a grind. That is part of it. It's like a daily grind. It's like, oh, God, I've got to look at you guys again and explain myself. You need to be well-spoken. Look at John Cooper. He's so well-spoken, and I think it really helps him. Like, we're running out of time here, and I want to get to one more thing because we had Frank

Sarah Valley on the show. Was it earlier this week or was the last week when he said that he would be shocked if the Canucks don't try to move one of Lankanin or Dempco this offseason. So I ask you, Jason, exactly how is that going to happen? Demko's had two major injuries in two years, two surgeries. He's played a grand total of 43 games in the last two years. This hockey club gave him $8.5 million a year. Exactly what team is lining up for that.

You can't even think about moving Demko until he shows up to camp. He then plays a significant amount of games by Christmas by January 1st. Those are all big massive ifs, capital letters, if, wishful thinking. What team is even thinking, Dempco until Christmas? What about Lankinen, though? What about Lankanin? Because Demko all agree with you, and I think we'll all concede that Demko for any team to acquire him. It would just be a massive risk and probably not worth it.

What about Lankan in, though? There are some teams with goaltending deficiencies. Okay, so they're watching Lankin right now. You don't think Lankin is being watched? So here's the thing of Lankinen. This hockey club gave him a full no move. This year and next year. He just said last week in the media, he doesn't want to go anywhere.

He became a father this season. He had to leave the team for a personal matter this season. Does that sound like a player ready to waive his no move? The reality is both these contracts and the no move make it virtually impossible to move these guys. Like I have no indication, no indication that Lankin, And he just said last week, I want to stay. I want to work with the young kids. I want to help this team.

I want to do all this stuff. He's got a full no move, right? He's got the young kid. People think waving a no move. Has a hockey player with a young child ever been traded? Okay. Like it happens. Like the kid will be fine.

You move radio stations. You go over one bridge and you go to the new radio station. To ask this guy. Why do you think he asked for a two-year no move? To be in control. to be in control. It's not necessarily to say, it's not necessarily to say,

I'm not moving out of Vancouver, but if they try to... He's not showing any indication. Okay. Jason, he's not, he just told the media last week, I don't want to go anywhere, and I want to stick around.

Well, you can change people's mind. You can say, well, we don't want you. Okay. And we want to move on from you. He probably changes mind. This happened. Dolly, it's happened millions of times in the NHL.

Okay. I'd ease up with a million times. People don't understand what goes into a no move. They take less money to get the no move and the, they take the less money so they can sleep better at night knowing that I don't have to move my young family. He took less money. Like what part of that don't you get, Jason? He could have got more elsewhere if he would, he would have packed up his bags and left as a UFA. Okay. It's not as easy as you say. I'm just saying a no move clause, a no move clause,

the value in a no move clause is not simply, I don't want to move. It's being in control of the situation if you are essentially asked to move or you get to that point. I mean, that is, in fact, that's probably the biggest thing. The no move clause is like,

I get to say where I want to go. Artemi Pernarren did it. He was like, I'm not going to Seattle, even if they offered me all this. I'm going to L.A. That's the only place I'm going to go. So I just have an issue on completely closing the door, unless you're hearing from his reps or from anyone that he said,

like, I am not moving 100%. I have no evidence he wants to go anywhere. And here's another one for you. When he tells the media I want to stay, and he's a goaltender playing in front of four defensemen under the age of 23, and he's going to get lit up, he's going to get lit up playing in front of a very weak hockey club with leads the NHL and goals against, this guy wants to stay in that scenario

like what does that tell you he doesn't want to go anywhere look I'll never say never because Tyler Myers waved and he had no desire to wave and his agent got mad at me whenever I said hey they're going to move them and move them and move them and it happened

but I mean it happened because they traded Hughes they traded Garland they traded Sherwood and Myers saw the writing on the wall these guys are not going to be good Okay, I'll leave. But I just have no evidence to the Lincoln wants to. Maybe it changes someday. I don't know.

Ricky D. Always fun, buddy. We're having it for time. Thanks for this, bud. See you, pal. Adios. Later, buddy. Rick Dollywall.

And the phone. That was a slam. That was a slam. He was fumbled it a bit as he tried to slam it. He was just really excited to hang out. Bruff got him a little rattled. Little rattled. All he's getting upset.

Okay. Let's all take a deep. Take it to the back. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.