Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 3/28/25

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they preview tonight's 'Nucks road matchup at Columbus with analyst Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich, plus they get a Canucks update from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na O'Neil drives one the other way. That's headed out toward right field. He's done it again! Straight away center field. He shoots it deep. Back at the wall. Gone! Jorge Palacu! Oh no! And they score! Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Woo! Good morning, Vancouver 601. And a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. It is Halford at his broth at his Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and Brough of 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. pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them 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. Got a big show on a Friday. Before we do anything, a couple of announcements. One, happy early 41st birthday to the A-dog.

Oh, thanks. Thanks, buddy. A little understated, no problem. Your birthday's on Sunday. Yeah. But it's been a birthday week. I don't know this for certain but I bet you're a birthday week guy. Birthday month actually. Birthday month guy yeah. So happy birthday to you a dog. Thanks buddy. Secondly Jason got a haircut. Yeah. Those of you who can't. For the buzz cut. For the many of you that aren't watching on the stream right now that can't see it. You got a high and tight, the kids call it. The Johnny Uniteds. We're trying to convince him

to go with a young person's haircut. So like the flat line across the front, maybe some speed lines on the side. Speed lines. I won't be doing that. You can get both ears pierced. There's nothing speedy about me. Something you can set your watch to.

It's a big Friday show. I don't care for flat brimmed hats and I don't I don't care for the the line What do you call hair basically is a flat burn? Called a widow's peak and a lot of people in Hollywood think they're amazing every hat I have is a flat brim Okay, so they're the ones that could look good in me. They're the best hats I know you do look good in the flat brim your hat guy. Why don't you look good in me. You're the best hats. You do look good in a flat brim hat. You're a hat guy. Why don't you wear more flat brim hats? You look good in heavy quotations. I don't know.

It is sort of a younger generation thing. Dude, we're like five years apart. Well, what I'm saying is you, you are far removed from your younger generation. At best, 14. True. Flip that, 41 right around. Okay, we got a big show on a Friday.

Got a lot of guests to get on the program. It's gonna begin at 6.30. Matthew Fairburn is gonna join us from the athletic. He is a staff writer covering the Buffalo Sabres. He had a piece out this week, which given our ties to the Sabres, we thought we had to talk to him about it. How much suffering can a fan base handle?

The Sabres are testing the limit. Amazingly, the Sabres actually aren't that bad at home this year. They're just bad overall, again. The Sabres are once again the worst team in the Eastern Conference. Once again, they won't make the playoffs. So we're gonna talk to Matthew Fairburn about that

at 6.30, seven o'clock. Brian Hedger is gonna join the program. He is a Blue Jackets beat writer for the Columbus Post-Dispatch. It is a Canucks game day, game afternoon. Canucks Blue Jackets, four o'clock puck drop tonight from Columbus. Huge night, not just for the Canucks and their playoff chase,

but in the East, you've got Columbus, Montreal, and the New York Rangers all within two points of one another. Montreal had a bad loss last night for them. And they're right back at it again tonight. So a huge game for the Blue Jackets and their playoff chances. We'll talk to Brian Hedger about that at seven o'clock, seven oh five actually to be specific.

Seven 30, Bob the Moj Marjanovic is gonna join us. We'll talk about the Vancouver Canucks with him. Check out this lineup from Sportsnet 650 today. If you wanna know why we are called your home of the Vancouver Canucks, watch this. From 11 to 12 today, Canucks brunch. From 12 to two, Canucks talk. From two to three, Canucks central.

From three to four, Canucks pregame. Four o'clock, puck drop between the Canucks and the Blue Jackets. After that, Canucks post game all the way till 8 PM. That is nine uninterrupted hours of Canucks coverage right here on what's on a date Then it's the Vancouver Giants Canucks dessert We're running out of meals to name after the next after dark yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah We could do that that is good, and we probably will now that you said it out loud

How's everyone doing did you enjoy the game? What are you wearing? Anyway Moe's gonna join us at 730 for some Canucks talk will now that you said it out loud. Hey, how's everyone doing? Did you enjoy the game? What are you wearing? A knox jersey. Anyway, Moj is going to join us at 7.30 for some Knox Talk. Eight o'clock, Dolly Wall is going to join the program. What are we talking to Dolly about? As the resident Dolly Wall handler, what are we

talking to Rick about? Uh, the Rick Tockett situation and apparently the Vancouver Knox were not all that pleased with all the Rick Tockett stories yesterday. There were a lot. What I love about this show is we can kind of set the agenda and- They must hate us.

Are you suggesting we have an agenda, Jason? No, not- What are those idiots talking about in the morning? Not that way. Just like whatever we- You set the table. Whatever we talk about in the morning often gets talked about on the other shows because the fan

base is starting to talk about it. And they're sheep. And they're sheep. And- Surely the Canucks must realize though that this would be a topic of conversation. You would think. Like, you know, it's not-

You would think. But I think Tortorella getting fired yesterday kinda took it up a notch. So Dolly Wall is gonna join us at eight to talk about that. A reminder, it is Friday, that means it's Ask Us Anything Friday, and that means we're giving away a $100 gift card

to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Best Ask Us Anything or What We Learned. Start getting them in now. Dunbar number, text message in basket is 650-650. Don't forget to put a pizza emoji into your text, hashtag it WWL or AUA. The winner gets a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

That is what's happening on the program today. It's a big show we got a lot to get into. So without further ado, laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm moving. We know how messy your life can be.

What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca Yesterday the Vancouver Canucks did practice, although we have no idea what went on there because nobody bothered to cover it.

So, after that practice the Canucks went about the business of scoreboard watching. And let me tell you, not a great night on the out of town scoreboard. The two teams that the Canucks are chasing for the two wild card spots in the West, both won. And this is not a repeat for the St. Louis Blues. That's all the St. Louis Blues do now, is win hockey games. They won their eighth straight contest.

They almost didn't though. I know, a three, two comeback victory over the Nashville Predators, in which the St. Louis Blues kind of played like crap. They only had 10 shots through the first two periods, and they were trailing going into the third. But then Dylan Holloway happened. And Dylan Holloway has been a revelation for this team, a savior, if you will. Now, a great piece of business from Doug Armstrong signing him

to an offer sheet in the offseason. But the Blues win again What is a eight in a row for them eight in a row for the st. Louis Blues? You have it at the end of the game though. They had a goal disallowed Yeah, they scored so everyone thought the predators had tied it and they all celebrated and then all it was like two milliseconds after the buzzer I'm expired before the puck went in the net and look at this murderers row of teams that St. Louis has played. Minnesota, Anaheim, Nashville, three times. Yep. Nashville, three times.

Come on. They won all three. They swept the season series against Nashville. They won all five games against Nashville. They played the Canucks of course, Chicago and Montreal. You can only play who's in front of you, Jason.

Well, thank God on Saturday, they have to go to Colorado. Colorado won last night big time against Los Angeles, but now you're looking at it and every time that you get, and this is me speaking from personal experience, you get a little bit of optimism and a little bit of hope, a little bit more hope after the Canucks win a game in there. You know, meager playoff percentage climbs by a couple. Minnesota and St. Louis come back with a victory. It's going to take another seven wins probably from the Vancouver Canucks, if not more, to get into the playoffs. And I was very hopeful that Minnesota would continue its skid and

continue to tumble down the standings. But it didn't happen yesterday because much like the St. Louis Blues, the Minnesota Wild got a much needed victory yesterday. It was Matthew Boldy with the game winning goal, a 4-2 win over the Washington Capitals in Minnesota. That was a pretty good hockey game actually. Very cool moment after that game. Alexander Ovechkin, as his teammates, were filtering off the ice and going down the tunnel, Ovi called them all back onto the ice

so they could each singular shake the hands of Marc-Andre Fleury to say farewell after a 21 year career in the national hockey. Is Fleury the most beloved player in the NHL? I think so. Like universally. So Ray was on the call for this. Does anyone not like Marc-Andre Fleury?

Is there one guy like- Peter DeBoer. Yeah. He's the one guy. Touche, Greg. He's the one guy. Touche, there is one. There's one guy. He's not a player though.

What does that tell you if there's one person? I'm talking about players. They all love this guy. He's got such a positive attitude. Didn't Lindon do that? Or sorry, Ginnla do that on Lindon's last game back in the day? Yeah. Like they're all skating off and Ginnla's like, hey, come back.

Well, Ginnla was another guy. I know it wasn't him getting the handshakes, but Ginnlund was another guy that was like- Everybody loved. Everyone loved. Yeah. Even Canucks fans who hate the flames, they're like, ah, I kind of like that guy.

Yeah, how could you not? He's so happy. So Ray was on the call for that game last night, and I guess the studio crew and the announcing crew were taking a back of what was going on. So Ray was trying to explain to them, this is not a very common occurrence. It has happened in the past, but the idea is. Ray was like, that didn't happen for me.

Oh, it shook my hand. Tell you that. On the way out. And he went silent and pouted for a bit. No, um, he was trying to explain two things, like one, what the, the symbolism of the gesture, but also what you're talking about, like, there's only a handful of players that are this beloved in a generation and Mark Andre Fleury is right at the top of the gesture, but also what you're talking about. There's only a handful of players that are this beloved in a generation and Marc-Andre Fleury is right at the top of that.

It looks like there's no one, brackets non-Peter De Boer division that doesn't like Marc-Andre. Fleury. Just goes to show if you're happy and positive, you get liked. It's not worth it. It's just way too much being happy and positive. Not for me. It's not for me. Yeah, it's not for me. being happy and positive, but- Not for me. It's not for me. Yeah, it's not for me. So anyway, so the Blues win, the Wild wins, so they keep their cushion ahead of the Vancouver

Canucks. If there was any good news from the out of town scoreboard yesterday, it did come from the Calgary Flames who despite firing a whole bunch of pucks on Casey DeSmith, 48 to be exact, the Calgary Flames fell four, two to the Dallas Stars in Calgary last night. So the Flames, their season was really gonna come down to these next few games where they had to run the gauntlet and get some pretty good teams, including essentially the class of the central division

without Winnipeg, but they've got Dallas last night, they've got Colorado coming up. This is the second consecutive game where Dallas went into an Alberta based Franchise gave up a ton of shots got roundly outplayed but came out with the victory They did it against Edmonton last night or two nights ago. They did it against Calgary last night So a very damaging loss for Calgary Calgary did put a pretty spirited third period comeback underway But unlike their previous four games, which they all won in a comeback fashion,

they weren't able to do it last night. So they dropped some standing in the Western conference playoff. According to Money Puck, these are the playoff odds. Minnesota 92% chance of making it St. Louis all the way up to 73.1%. Vancouver's at 19.2%, Calgary's at 18%, and Utah's pretty much done. They're at 0.8% chance. Speaking of Utah.

Yeah. They went out in spectacular fashion yesterday. If you want to point to the exact moment and toe tag them time of death on the autopsy, you could point to Thursday night for Utah, Thomas Drance's beloved hockey club, eight nothing, a loss they suffered at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning yesterday. Poor Karel Vegemelka, our boy Vegemelka, who in his 15th consecutive start, finally said, please, no more, I'm so tired,

let me go, gave up four goals on 11 shots before he was mercifully pulled from the game. Jackson Stauber came in and promptly gave up four goals on 10 shots. So it was not a good night for the goalies, or anyone otherwise, on the Utah Hockey Club. They lose eight nothing.

This is the third time this year, by the way, that the Tampa Bay Lightning scored eight goals in a game. So that's it for Utah. It's now four teams in the race. I don't know if you want to consider Minnesota, quote, unquote, in the race, because they've got a 92% likelihood of making the playoffs. But it's St. Louis, it's Calgary, and it's Vancouver.

And at this point, the margin of error for the Canucks is getting close to nil. This is another game tonight where one point really might not even do it. They got to somehow emerge from this game for two. And at this stage of the game, you're just trying to keep it alive. You're just trying not even do it. They gotta somehow emerge from this game for two. And at this stage of the game, you're just trying to keep it alive. You're just trying to get to,

and I know it sounds so trite and so cliche, but it's true. You win one game and you feel better, and then you hope that something goes right on the out of town scoreboard. Now the problem for the Canucks in the last week is that nothing has gone right on the out of town scoreboard. Any momentum that they've gotten from the consecutive

gutsy wins against the Devils and the Islanders hasn't really been followed up by any good vibes, aside from maybe Calgary losing last night, but Calgary is not the team that you're chasing. The team that you're chasing is St. Louis, and yes, while the Canucks have games in hand on the Blues, it's tough to see the Blues slowing down. They will lose a game eventually, that I am confident of.

The St. Louis blues will not win the remainder of their games. Well, their next game might be a loss in Colorado. However, they're going to need to lose three, four or five in a row in order for the momentum to really change. And for Minnesota, you know, I guess they're going to ride that 18-4 and four start out and

probably make it. They needed to lose last night and then set them off on a tailspin because they've got a couple back to backs against New Jersey and some tough games coming up. So I want to talk a little bit about what happened in the East too, because the West is a little depressing.

Montreal, that was a bad loss for them. Losing to Philly, Philly playing well on the day that Torts gets fired. The Bradshaw era is underway. Classic Bradshaw bump. In Philadelphia. Um, so Columbus today is feeling like they've got a massive opportunity because they've got a game in

hand on Montreal and they're only two points back. So if they beat the Canucks tonight, they're tied for a playoff spot with Montreal. I actually don't know who would have the tie breaker there because Columbus has 23 regulation wins and Montreal has 24. So mixed in between Montreal and Columbus are the two New York teams, the Isles one point back

in Montreal, but they don't have a game in hand on the Habs. between Montreal and Columbus are the two New York teams, the Isles one point back in Montreal, but they don't have a game in hand on the Habs. The Rangers one point back in Montreal and they played a game extra compared to the Habs. So this is a huge opportunity for Columbus who have been struggling lately, although they are coming off a win. So we'll see that, you know, Rick Taki keeps on saying, we're going into desperate buildings. But they've gone into desperate buildings

and played pretty well, you know? Their last game against the Islanders, the Islanders were desperate, and the Canucks came away with the win, and they deserved to win, even though Demko had to hold them in early. Can we just talk about how mid that playoff chase is in the East right now.

Look at the records in the last 10 games of Montreal, the New York Islanders, the New York Rangers, and the Columbus Blue Jackets. And I guess to a lesser degree, the Detroit Red Wings. Yeah, the Islanders are the hot team at four, three, and three in their last 10. They've won four of their last 10 games, and they're the hottest team in the chase.

All of them stink. Like Montreal this week is at a lousy week. They got blasted by the Blues last night. They had another bad loss. They're still sitting in the second and final wildcard spot. You go over to the West and you can't make up any. The second place right now in the East has 75 points to put that into context.

The Blues have 85. Yeah. So the second and final card, second and final wild card in the West has 10 more points than the East. So Al from Nelson texts in, wow, the losses to the Rangers and St. Louis really sting. Rangers more so. Well, St. Louis too, because that was a two point swing. Yeah, for sure. Because the Blues got two and the Canucks only got one, even though Brock Besser

tied it up late. So that game, I guess, could have been worse for the Canucks, but the Rangers won hurt just because the Canucks deserved to win, but they made a few mistakes and you know, they couldn't put the, put the Rangers away early, even though they absolutely dominated play. So they lose in that one. But here's the thing.

If you go back on the Canucks season, like you start with game one, there's a lot of games you're going to look back and regret and you add up all those things and you're like, well, you know, they maybe don't deserve to make the playoffs. Like you can say like, oh, that one and that one and that one. Yeah.

You're collecting a lot of games where the Canucks should have done better. And I always like to look at goal differential. And if you look at the teams in the race, St. Louis is a plus 16 goal differential. I don't know. A lot of it's a lot of that's been put together in the last eight games, but some team, I mean, they didn't have to get hot if you look

at the Eastern race, but you know, if one team got hot and took advantage of a soft schedule, then they were going to pull away on this. And St. Louis, as much as I don't want to say this, they deserve credit, right? They won eight in a row. That's pretty good. The Canucks have had soft schedules.

It was early in the season they had a soft schedule, couldn't take advantage of it. Lost to teams like Buffalo at home. They lost to Buffalo at home. You know what's going to, so it was funny. I did this exercise the other night, Nick, you always try and look for those particular segments of the season where you point to and you're like, they lost it here or they lost it here. And it's difficult with the Canucks because they never really had any huge extended losing streaks. Conversely, they never had any huge winning streaks either. But that stretch where they came out of the four nations break. Remember that they started on the road and they lost back to backs in Vegas and Utah.

It was when Demko wasn't in the lineup and Hughes wasn't in the lineup. Yeah. And so there was a nine game stretch out of the break where they only won three games but they didn't push any of their losses to overtime or shoot out either. They lost in Anaheim. They lost in Seattle. Honestly if you want a point and I who is that that just texted in talking about? Al from Nelson. Al if you want to look at two games that really killed them getting zero points out of trips to Anaheim and Seattle, two teams that are way out of the playoff chase.

Those will end up being ones that you circle on the calendar. There's a handful of other ones too. The home record. The home record. Home record was terrible. 15, 13 and seven this year. So.

Unbefitting of a playoff team. So the Canucks have played 35 games at home. They've only won 15 of them. Yep. So there, I mean, there's a handful of reasons why, I don't know if you'll ever be able to point to one consecutive stretch, they've only won 15 of them. Yep. So there's a handful of reasons why. I don't know if you'll ever be able to point to one consecutive stretch, but that was the one. And of course it coincided with injuries to two key guys.

Two key guys who not coincidentally are back now as the Canucks have now won five of their last eight. As we went to, did we cover everything in the East? We did. I wanna talk about Edmonton for a minute here because Edmonton got absolutely blasted, 6-1 by the Seattle Kraken last night. Now I know that every Edmonton loss right now

comes with an asterisk because Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl aren't in the lineup, but the Kraken scored, I believe it was five goals in a 12 minute span to absolutely annihilate the Oilers. One disallowed too. Yeah, Pickard got chased. Olivier Roderigue, a guy I was not familiar with. I don't know who he is.

His father Sylvain is a famous, well maybe not famous, but he's a goalie coach within the Oilers organization. Famous is doing a lot of heavy lifting there bud. A well known. Famous in your goalie. A well known in the goalie community. Right, okay.

Laddie has a lot of goalie coach posters. It's like a goalie coach shrine. I got a signed Ian Clark, why wouldn't I put that on my wall? Was Stetcher a forward last night? I don't know. I saw, so I wasn't paying a ton of attention to the game because it was kind of a blow.

He lost it on the bench. Stetcher did? Yeah, he went over and was smashing his stick and was going crazy, but I don't know if he. He's listed on daily face-off as right wing on the four-pline. Is it because he had to play as a forward and he was so frustrated by it? Yeah, he's like, we gotta get in on the four-check, guys,

come on! The fact that if that is true, that Troy Stetcher played up front. Well, they might have just played seven-D. I'm not sure exactly. But anyway, they lost six-one last night to the Kraken. Is it a burn to say you guys aren't a playoff team without McDavid and Dryside or is that just kind of like obvious?

Like there's, some would say that's the two best players in the world. Yeah. Those, those two. So you don't have them in the lineup. Is it even that, is it even that bad? It's like, yeah, we're not very good without the two best players in the world in our lineup.

Okay. I'm glad you mentioned this. So I was watching, I was watching the game on Wednesday night against Dallas and at the intermission, they had Mac T, Craig McTavish, Jean, Prince Bay was doing it and Bob Stoffert, the three of them were talking. And they were talking glowingly about the first period

that the Edmonton Oilers had and all these things were going right and all these things were going right and all these guys that had stepped up, Matthias Janmark and everything, the Edmonton Oilers were losing. Like they were losing that game one nothing. And it's, I know what the guys were trying to say, but they didn't really ever couch any of their remarks

with the fact that of course, the Edmonton Oilers are still losing this hockey game and they have not found a way to score yet despite all these great things that were going on. You know, I mean, I understand that the team still should be able to put forth good efforts without McDavid and Dreisaitl, but at a certain point, you do become so reliant on those guys,

because as you pointed out, you could make the argument they have the top two players in the NHL, and that's a big, big loss when those guys aren't in. Stewart Skinner, save percentage, 894. Well, there's another. Calvin Pickard, save percentage, 898. I don't know what the future has in store for Stewart Skinner with the head injury that he suffered on the Miko Ranen knee to the head the other night against Dallas, but Calvin

Pickard certainly wasn't the answer last night. Maybe it's Olivier Rodrigue. I don't know. Now, here's the thing. If goaltending is an issue for them in the playoffs this year, they have to make big changes in that position, right? What's Mikko Koskinen doing these days? What is Mikko Koskinen doing these days? He's in Switzerland.

The Canucks, for what it's worth, the Canucks are only seven points back of the Oilers in the standings, in the division, right? Like they're not going to catch them or anything like that, but realistically, Edmonton shouldn't be a third place divisional team. They should be right there with Minnesota and St. Louis battling it out for the wild card. They have the exact same amount of points as Minnesota and they're only two up on the blues. I'm sure that they'll be able to coast their way in, but I do wonder if this continues to go the way that it's going. They've only lost two in a row.

They're five, four and one in their last 10. Instead of maybe holding Dreisaitl and McDavid out for a longer period of time, if they do kind of rush them back into action with maybe like a week to go in the regular season. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

Bob the Mojmar Jonovic joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up Moj? Man, with these clock management skills, this will be a shorter segment than me taking off a YVR. Ah man. All right.

See you later Moj. Or what? Yeah, it's been a, it's been a morning. It was fine up until the Aflanza Davies story ripped us apart. Oh man. But anyway, let's focus on the Vancouver Canucks, shall we?

Rick talking. I don't know, have you caught the latest out of Philadelphia by the way? This Cam York story now that we were talking about prior to going to break? Missed it. Okay. I haven't know. Have you caught the latest out of Philadelphia, by the way, this cam York story now that we were talking about prior to going to break. Missed it. Okay. I haven't seen it yet.

Uh, Cole's notes version that game against Toronto, which led essentially to Tortorella getting fired. Apparently there was some sort of incident between torts and cam York that saw York benched for the entire game. And then according to sources of Kevin curse from the athletic, whatever happened between

Cam York and Tortorella in part had a role in his dismissal. So there's a lot going on the Philadelphia side of things, but there's also the Vancouver side of things and Rick Tauke, who as you know is a pretty popular guy in Philadelphia. Yeah, it's interesting. When you look at Tauke, it's kind of flown under the radar this year and you have to ask yourself this question, why hasn't he signed a contract yet? I mean, you know, when you look at pocket, I mean, it's kind of flown out of the radar this year and you have to ask yourself this question. Why hasn't he signed a contract yet? I mean, he's the guy coming off of Jack Adams award winning season as a coach. Um, and you know, he's got the golden ticket with that for at least for a

little bit and for whatever reason he hasn't been able to agree to terms with the connect. I don't think it's a situation where perhaps they're playing hard ball. I mean, you'd like to have some job security as a coach, would you not? Um, so I've been really surprised that they haven't come to an agreement. And now, you know, people start connecting the dots as you know, we've talked about. I mean, Philadelphia, I mean, the, the one thing about being a player in the national hockey league is that first team that you play for and if you have success with that team, if

you're there for five, six years, you can go all over the NHL, but you usually identify with that team. And I know Rick Tuckett had success with the Penguins, but I wouldn't doubt it at all if he kind of identifies as a flyer. And if that's the case, why wouldn't that job be something that maybe he converts, right? So it's going to be interesting to see how the situation plays out. Moj, I remember last year, before last year, one

of the things that Rick Taukett wanted to do was empower the leadership group. Do you remember that? He wants to empower the leadership group. Do you remember that? He wants to empower the leadership group and he wants these guys to not take control, but I suppose take more control of the team and keep everyone accountable. And last season we were all like, man, this

is working great. Quinn is being a great captain. JT Miller seems like a perfect right-hand man for Quinn Hughes and Elias Pedersen up to a certain point was playing really, really good hockey. Now you're kind of like, we still love Quinn Hughes as the captain, but everything else seems to be in flux.

Um, what do you think the Canucks can do about the leadership group this off season? I think it's going to be a priority for the hockey club and talking to people within the organization, I'll tell you right now, it will be a priority. And it's not to say that, you know, the people that they have are aren't leaders or aren't great fits, but you just need a really strong leadership group.

And right now I think that's something that's lacking with the Canucks and there's been a lot of change. I mean, you know, you lose JT Miller. Don't kid yourself about the losses of guys like say Ian Cole and the door off, right? Those guys have voices in the room. And right now this is the team that's kind of lacking that type of leadership. And you know, the other thing too, is when you lack a really strong leadership group and a really strong room, it kind of almost impinges sometimes on player acquisitions, right?

I mean, sometimes you might be willing to take on a project, a guy who perhaps, you know, might not be a fit somewhere. But if you have a strong enough group, you know, maybe you can get him to conform and be a productive member of your team. If you don't, well, then that's a concern that, you know, he comes in and might be a guy who has a negative influence on the group. So I know I'm talking to people with the connect organization, that is going to be something that they really focus on this year in the off season. And you know, they might even sign a guy who the fans might say, what are they doing bringing this guy in for? But I think that'll be one of the keys that they address this year, somehow,

some way getting that leadership group stronger. Do you think there has to be some self-reflection from the management group about how they let things spin so out of control this season when it comes to Miller and Pedersen? Well, there better be. Um, any management group, any team, any coaching staff worth its salt in football. You always hear the term self-scouting. Well, you do that both in terms of what you're

doing in competition and also in terms of how you're running your organization. You have to, I mean, you have to look at some of the mistakes that were made, address those mistakes and learn from those mistakes. So to ignore that, to ignore what happened and not learn from it, for me is it's a huge mistake. It's something that they have to do.

Do you think that might help them deal with the scrutiny that the team is going to be under just because they are the top dog in town in terms of sports in Vancouver and Canucks fans are very, very passionate about this team. Well, I mean, it's the world that we live in, right? I mean, this is a Canuck team that is, um, with so many vehicles now that, you know, fans can get

their message out or the media can get their message out, whether it's, you know, whether it's podcasts, whether it's out, whether it's, you know, whether it's podcasts, whether it's YouTube, whether it's Twitter, I mean, it's everybody has a voice, right? And I think the one thing that the organization has to do is try to, how would we put it, be careful in terms of not having any self-inflicted wounds. And we've seen that this year a couple of times, right? So it's a situation where, yeah, again, they're gonna have to go back and look at this

and learn from this. And you know, it's interesting you mention that because one of the things still about Rick talk that no one's really talked about is this guy who's been in the league for what? Since early 80s, so we're talking close to 40 years, maybe a little over 40 years. This is the first time he's ever played or coached in a Canadian market, right? And, you know, he talks about

embracing the pressure. And I know that Rick probably, you know, loves the city of Vancouver, loves the fans, loves the passion. You know, at the same time, I don't know if Pocket or any member of that organization really enjoys the scrutiny that this team comes under. I mean, you say one wrong word and people are talking about it. So it comes with the market. There's pros and cons to it, but I mean, that's another thing that I think maybe comes into play with Pocket.

I think one of the things that I hear from the media that I actually disagree with a lot is when they talk about, and I get it and I think we've had this conversation and I guess I agree to a certain extent. They talk about the lack of actual media, traditional media coverage compared to 15, 20 years ago. And I'm talking about the number of reporters that go in the dressing room after a game, at home games, or maybe the lack of reporters on the road, which we're seeing right now. Like yesterday, I had no idea what happened at

Canucks practice in Columbus. No idea. I was actually wondering, I was like, I wonder if Quinn Hughes got the day off. I hopefully he got the day off. I couldn't find the information. Like there's no media covering, I know a lot of guys were traveling, but that

was like almost a practice done in secret for the Canucks, but I do think with the proliferation of social media, and as you mentioned, all the podcasts and just the direct contact that fans have via social media to the players and to the team. I think that more than makes up for the lack of reporters that are going in and asking questions after the game, because we all know that these young guys, just like every young person and every frankly person, is glued to their phone, right? And it must be very, very difficult

to constantly have to deal with the scrutiny that you see online. You have to be very, very disciplined to ignore it. And in some cases it's impossible to ignore because you've got people sending you stuff that they saw online. So I do think that they need to bring in leaders, but also maybe role players that just naturally

handle that better. And let's be honest, I have wondered how Elias Pedersen handles all that. Yep. You know, and I think it's one of those things where it sometimes feels like, you know, there are people that are just like, well, I wish it went away or, you know, it's wrong that this happens.

Well, it might be wrong. Some of the things that happen on social media, but it ain't going anywhere. So you either have to accept that it's going to happen and that maybe your words are going to get twisted or you're going to happen and that maybe your words are going to get twisted or you're going to have haters that just hate you. Like they just don't like you

and they're never going to be convinced that they like you. And you have to be comfortable with that. Does that make sense? Yeah, it doesn't. You know, I'll leave it out to that. And you know, you went to a game this year, you saw the media setup that they have now compared to where it was, whatever, 10 years ago, 20 years ago.

Previously, you could walk into that connect room after practice and just have a conversation with a player. And you kind of got to know some of these guys, you got to build some rapport with these players. And as a result, I don't think the relationship seemed quite as adversarial as it does now in certain instances. You know where I'm going with that?

Yeah. Yeah, I know. And I think it creates a separation and maybe even more of an adversarial relationship with the media. When, you know, like, listen, you walk into the room, you start talking with guys like everyone likes Moj. Right? Maybe not me.

Well, not everyone, but yeah. But I think a lot of the players like you, right? And if you can go in there and kind of be a representative of, of, of the media, like, I think that does help. And it also helps you, well, it maybe even convinces you to talk a little more positively about the guys in the room and maybe stick up for them a little bit more. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's a fair point, right?

I mean, you, if you develop a relationship with anyone and you kind of, you know, like that person or enjoy their, you or enjoy their discussions that you have, whatever the case may be, yeah, you're going to give them a little rope. I mean, that happens in everything, right? I mean, never mind just in terms of dealing with the Vancouver Canucks, it's any sport, any team anywhere. So again, it's like I said, the dynamic of it now, I think probably hurts the team more than it helps the team in terms of, you know, the stuff that gets out there sometimes.

Okay. So JDog, the car hog, one of our favorite textures texts in with something that I'm going to, I'm going to push back a little bit on. He says, who gives an F about social media? I couldn't care less about what strangers say about me on the internet. First of all, JDog, I don't care less about what strangers say about me on the

internet. First of all, JDog, I don't know your real name and how often is it that you've had to deal with literally thousands and thousands of people criticizing you and saying mean things about you on social media. Like it's different when you're famous. His name's Jordan. Okay. So like, I don't think that a lot of the fans can actually relate to being able to, for example, search their name on social media and see hundreds of messages all coming up and criticizing you and ripping you.

Until you're in that situation, I think it's really hard to pass judgment. Yeah, and it is. I'll be perfectly honest. Anyone that's had a show on any radio station, and you guys know this, there are times when you go in in your inbox and you look at some of the messages, at least I know I did and I know Donnie Taylor did when we did the show together and even doing a way back with Pratt, I mean, some of the stuff that was written in there, you're like, are you kidding me? Right?

It's just like, and the crazy thing is in all the years that I've been doing this and you guys probably the same thing, I'm sure you can attest to, you've seen so many nasty messages in that inbox so many people calling you an idiot this that You know ripping your character ripping your integrity and I would probably say Oh, let me guess zero is the amount of times you've had people that actually come up and said anything like that to your face Yeah, agreed. I've never had anyone say come up and said anything like that to your face. Yeah, agreed.

I've never had anyone say anything like that to my face. And let's not compare ourselves to professional athletes like the Cannots. We, we handle maybe like 0.1% of the hate. But on a much smaller scale, we see it, right? And yeah, sometimes it's, it's personal. And sometimes you're like, what are you thinking? You don't even know me, right? We're talking sports and here you are criticizing, you know, the very fiber of who you are. So again, as a professional athlete, like you said,

multiply that by a thousand and you could see how it impacts somebody. But there are professional athletes that handle it better than others. And I think even when you go back to honestly, like a draft interview, that, that should be, you want to try and like drill down and see, I mean it's very tough with an 18 year old, but see like is this guy going to be able to handle the scrutiny of a Canadian market?

And in some cases it puts you at a disadvantage because there might be some very, very talented players that you have to say, you know what, I think you're really talented. I think you're going to be a good hockey player, but I think you're going to struggle in this market. Well, you know, if the Canucks did some due diligence, and never mind the Canucks, but any team that's, you know, concerned about that, maybe go talk to some organizations like, I don't know, the New York Yankees, the New York Jets, the Boston Red Sox, teams that have unbelievable media pressure and scrutiny on them in major markets and find out what they do to see what tells they have in talking to prospects or players that would make them fit in that market and perhaps that wouldn't make them fit in that market. So there's an idea

there because there are markets, like you said, that have had successful teams and you wonder what type of markers they're looking for in terms of prospects and players that can play in those markets. Before we let you go, it's not quite a food-related ask us anything on a Friday. It's more like a tell us anything.

It's an anecdote from Moj. Two of our Friday favorites met this week, Moj and AJ from AJ's Pizza on Broadway. I almost found out who Jimmy Ace is by the way, but anyway, I'll get to that in a second. So last week at a meeting downtown Vancouver and a business meeting, so I figured, you know, be a nice guy,

I'm gonna bring a pizza from AJ's, right? Because meeting was in Mount Pleasant, AJ's is right there on Broadway in Kingsway. So I phoned in, ordered my my pizza saying I'm gonna pick it up at one o'clock I get in there and AJ sees me and AJ walks over goes, Mo she goes, I'm so glad we finally made and we start chatting. Lo and behold we played on for the same slow pitch team the legendary squids which ruled Riverway Park in Burnaby after crushing everybody in North Van and Mahon Park.

The squids? Anyway, the squids, I'd left the squids and the year after that, AJ had come and played for the squids and he played with all these guys that I knew and we sat there for like 15 minutes just talking about all the guys that we knew on that team and one of the guys on our team actually would partake in the odd or so. And I asked AJ if it was Freddie, if that, or if that was like, you know, Jimmy Aces, he said that wasn't Jimmy Aces. So anyway, it was, uh, we had a really good time. And by the way, the pizza is phenomenal.

Absolutely phenomenal. The few, the proud, the squids forever bonded in time. Forever bonded in time. I'm glad you like the pizza. It is the best pizza in the city. Oh, it is. I'm telling you, the pizza's phenomenal. Yeah. I agree.

Moj, this was awesome, dude. Thanks for doing it, as always. Enjoy the weekend. OK, guys. Have a great weekend. Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Haliford & Breff

Show on Sportsnet 650. Rick Dollywall joins us now on the Haliford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Ricky D? Gentlemen, gentlemen, it's Friday. Let's go. Let's go. What do you think about the Rick Tocket situation and all the talk in the market about Rick

Tocket, especially in the wake of Tortorella's firing in Philly? Well, interesting. As soon as Tortorella was fired, everybody had Taukeid going to Philadelphia. 100% that's a good fit because Taukeid still loved in Philly. Was there ever a more Philadelphia player than Taukeid? Probably not. But whether the Canucks like it or not, and they probably don't, they have to understand that their head coach is

not signed and until you sign him this conjuncture about talk it and possibly leaving or staying or whatever is going to happen this isn't going to go away like it like it's just not you saw national media all over this yesterday like right right away, like it was just boom. Um, talk it to Philadelphia and the Connex have to realize until they signed this guy, um, this isn't going to stop, but I do want to say a few things and that is the talk that has not decided. He wants to leave Vancouver. There's been no decision made. There's no truth to the rumors that he's leaving as of today. Taukech got a long-standing representative in Steve Mountain and by the way, Mountain has represented Canucks over the years. I remember dealing with him on like 15, 20

years ago on Murray Barron, Murray Craven, Gar Snow. Those are all Philly guys. Yeah, well yeah exactly. So and he also Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry,

Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry,, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry, Barry There is no way if the Canucks call Mountain, he won't pick up and negotiate. Mountain has been a respected agent in the hockey world for decades. Now, Mountain will be ready if the Canucks call. As I said yesterday, the Canucks have the clause in Tocket's

contract to bring him back, but it's hard to believe the Tocket would return on a one-year lame duck deal. Did the Canucks not just do that with Boudreaux? And it was a disaster. If a deal is struck with Tocket, you would assume it would be with Turm. There's a lot of reasons for Tocket to resign in Vancouver. He's got a relationship with Alvin and Rutherford. They've been good to him. They went through two Stanley Cups together in Pittsburgh.

There's a mutual respect there. But if he becomes available, there's going to be a lot of interest in Tauke. Take that to the bank. It's pretty not good to name teams right now because tampering and all that stuff but there's going to be teams there's going to be teams in on talk it there's no question about that when you talk to people around the league one question you have to ask and i heard you uh jason this morning is why didn't the canucks extend talk it in the summer after you just won the coach of the year award,

why not strike when the iron's hot? This should have been done a while ago. Now it's gonna go to the 11th hour. I still believe the Canucks are gonna have to do a sell job for a long-term deal with target. Can they show him that they're building something year in, year out that is a top program every single year? If there is a good plan,

I can't see why Tuckett would say no. Staying in Vancouver can be sorted out under the right circumstances. But I do wonder about a couple of comments made by Alvin. I will take you guys back probably six, seven, eight weeks ago.

First Alvin said about Besser, we want them back. Um, we want them back, but it takes two to tango. Then we found out that the Canucks made Besser an offer, but it was rejected. A couple of weeks later, Alvin said the same thing about Tocket. He said, we want them back, but it takes two to tango. So did the same

happen with Tauke? Did he reject Canucks offer and they can't? So every negotiation, you guys know this includes you guys and everyone in society. Every negotiation comes down to dollars and cents. It does. It's just the harsh reality of dealing, doing contracts. After winning the coach of the year award, I'm sure Tuckett thinks he's in for a big raise. He did a great job. He's making 2.7, but what does the raise look like? Is the raise causing the issues?

Those are questions worth asking because after winning the coach of the year, did Tuckett think he deserves to be in a higher bracket when it comes to salary? Does he want more term? Maybe the Canucks don't want to spend a huge ton of money on a coach. These are all things that you think about and you think about them because the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks is not signed and we're down to what? Nine games left and it's not going to stop. These, I know we get, you guys get it, we get it.

Oh, stop talking about talk it's contract. Well, a couple of things, we're in a Canadian market and the coach isn't signed. There's nine games to go. Like it's totally impossible not to talk about it and the national media yesterday is all over. Yeah. Um, so whenever it's brought up publicly, the

conversation, whether it's talk, talking about it, or even all the way back to the off season with Alveen talking about it, the party line always seems to be like, when we have time, we'll, we'll get together and talk about a contract. And that still seems to be the party line when we have time and now talking to the same, listen, I'm all in with this playoff race.

I don't want to deal with it. Do you think there have been any conversations about a contract or has anything happened or have they both just been kind of like, we'll talk about it later? Yeah, the sense I get it's quiet. The sense I get is quiet. Now I did say in my opening statements that, um, pocket is going to concentrate on

coaching, but if the Canucks were to call, uh, his representative, I don't think he would not pick the phone up. Um, no, I, I, I do believe the connects want him back. I do believe they have the option to bring him back. Um, but last time I checked coaches on a one year deal and we just went through it with Boudreaux, it was a disaster. I'm not saying it would be a disaster again with Tocket, but if you're Tocket, why would you come back on a one year deal?

Like why? Like under like what? So you can be judged and there can be no, like, are you going to get an extension at Christmas time? Why not just do the extension now? But, um, there's a lot of things at play things to play Jason. I do believe it's been quiet otherwise, you would have heard rumblings, but it This is and this is a big

Big thing because you got your star defenseman franchise player who absolutely loves talk it The other thing is if pocket leaves I'm pretty sure Adam Foote and Sergey Gonchar are going to leave and those two have done a tremendous job with the defensemen. You know Adam Foote has worked with those D. I mean then and worked and worked and worked with those defensemen. If you lose Toquette I'm pretty sure you're going to lose gone char and foot. And last time I checked, like that, those are two pretty good teachers, teachers of the game for

that, for that blue line for sure. Well, with talk it, if I was in talk it shoes, first of all, I'd feel a lot better about myself than I do in my shoes. But, um, I would want to know, okay, can I get some guidance on what Quinn Hughes is thinking? That's it. Right.

That's it. No, there'll be another one. Can I get some guidance on what the plan is for Pedersen? Yes. Do you think that's all, I mean, I know you said it all comes down to dollars and cents and I know you were rolling, so I didn't want to push

back on that because I think it does come down to a little bit more than that, especially when you have options. Like he might be able to, at the end of the day, get the same deal as, you know, in Vancouver, as he could in Philly or whatever, you know, but the situations might be different. And if I'm talking, I want to know that my key players see a future with the team and my key players are all dialed in and

motivated to be their best. Yeah. And, and so he needs to know how are you going to sign Hughes, right? He needs to know like going forward is he got a number one goaltender at Thatcher Dempco that's going to play 50 to 60 games or, you know, and he needs to know his number one centerman who was locked up for seven years. or at Thatcher-Dempko that's going to play 50 to 60 games or, you know, and he needs

to know his number one centreman who was locked up for seven years. So let's say talk at signs for five is, you know, he's had his issues with, with, with Pedersen and it started this year at camp when he did not show up in great shape. It started right there and he needs to know if his number one centre is going to produce 50 or 60 points or if he's going to get back to the hundred point guy that we all know he can be. But I mean, I don't know if Pedersen comes back or not this year, but he's pretty well, he's going to have a tough time hitting 50 points. I know there was injuries there, but is he your number one center type guy for target?

You know, the franchise defenseman, the franchise gold center. But I mentioned something to you too Like they're gonna have to show him Jason like are you building something year in year out of winning program a top program? Like this year's been taxing on him like the Miller leave was you know, the Miller-Peterson feud You know his number one center going from 100 points to 50 points Just it was a soap opera at times. It was just tire fires every week. Like that got to him. And I'll tell you something else, a coach told me

the other day that coaching in Vancouver and coaching in another market which is not as strong with media and all the other things at a Canadian market, which is not as strong with media and all the other things that a Canadian market, some guys told me that some coaches would take less in another market as opposed to a market like Vancouver that can get chaotic at times. And there's the proof this year that it can get chaotic at times. And the Miller-Peterson thing, it was very taxing on Tuckett this year. You could tell and he kind of got terse with the media and I think the media got to him at some

point this year. So look there's a lot of dynamics at play Jason but this is going to be a fascinating decision to me. Does he come back or does he go? But certainly if they, it would have been done by now if they would, they could agree on everything but obviously they're not done and no negotiations ever done until both sides are happy and I don't think they're there yet. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.