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

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, they talk a disappointing Saturday night Canucks loss to the Kraken, plus they discuss what the club might do ahead of Friday's NHL trade deadline with Sportsnet NHL analyst Nick Kypreo, as well as Canucks Central host Satiar Shah. 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 Jared McCann, last circle, into the slot, Stevenson missed it, comes right point, but a turn with a drive, he scores! It's one of those things, you know, the moments are there, we just couldn't capitalize. Good morning, Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Monday, happy Monday everybody, it is Alfred, it is Brough, it is 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. And Lydie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Bruff 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. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step

We got a lot to get to on the show today. No messing around We have a ton of things that we need to discuss from the weekend That was it is a hockey heavy show on a Monday as we get closer and closer To Friday's NHL trade deadline the guest list is gonna begin today at 630 Nick Kiprios Yes kipper from real kipper and born on Fan 590 is going to join us. We'll ask him what he's hearing about the Vancouver Canucks heading into the March 7th trade deadline. We can also get his thoughts on the flurry of activity over the weekend. Lots of deals went down including that big Seth Jones to Florida

deal. Nick Kiprios at 6.30 this morning. 7.30 Eric Francis from Sportsnet in Calgary is going to join the program. The Flames are struggling right now and they're struggling to score, but they did enter the weekend holding the second and final wild card spot in the West, snatching it away from your Vancouver Canucks in the process. So we'll ask Eric what the plan is moving forward,

what their plan is moving into Friday's deadline. That's at 7.30. At eight o'clock it's Satyar Shah. Sportsnet 650's very own is gonna join us at eight o'clock. We will reflect on Saturday's 6.3 loss in Seattle, which capped off a lousy road trip for the Vancouver Canucks. Halford, are you seeing the Dunbar Lumber text line already?

650, 650, if you want to text in. Oh my. Like it's, it's, we're, we're two minutes into this show. Oh my. A lot of positivity. It's just like, first one I look at, just wondering when do we burn this team to the ground? Morning boys, you guys need to rip into the management.

And then this one, please don't talk about the Canucks today. Well, failed on that third one, I'll tell you that. I already mentioned them a couple of times. And here's Phoenix, Mount Brough, Mount Brough, Mount Brough. I'm not going to Mount Brough over this team. He's got three clapping hands. We're, we are beyond that right now.

Uh, Sat is going to join us at eight o'clock. We'll look back on everything that happened in Seattle and then the road trip at large, which was just a disaster coming out of the four nations face off. Uh, that's at eight o'clock. Eric Francis is at seven 30. Nick Kiprios is at 6.30. We got a lot to get into with the Canucks and around the National Hockey League as well,

so without further ado, laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. We missed all the action because our movement. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Despite that one text that suggests that we don't start with this,

we are going to start with the Vancouver Canucks. Ely Tolvinen scored two goals for the Seattle Kraken in a 6-3 win on Saturday night at Lemon Pledge Arena in Seattle. While Pugh Suter, Philip Heidel, and Dakota Joshua did score for the Canucks, it was not enough. And as a result, the Canucks are yet again on the outside looking in at a playoff spot with roughly 20 games to go in the regular season. Suffice to say this team is in a bad way.

They have one game left before Friday's trade deadline. And if you're management, you've got to decide now how important it really is to make the playoffs. I've got a spoiler alert for you though. Dun dun dun. Making the playoffs has never not been important to the Canucks under this ownership group. They have never suggested that making the

playoffs isn't a priority. It's true. Even during what's remembered as the rebuild, they were doing their best to ice a competitive team that could play in the postseason. So I'm not sure why things would be any different now. Uh, based on what I've heard, the Connects are trying to bolster their forward group.

How do they go about doing that? I don't know. Do they trade better and use the return to acquire somebody else? That's kind of a move that they like to make. Mm hmm. Uh, do one trade, get some futures, and then people are like, Ooh, what's going on in the draft?

Well, don't bother cause we're using that first round pick, we're sending it out the door. Do they use their actual first round pick? It's also possible. Don't shoot the messenger texting into the Dunbar lumber text line. Until the philosophy of the Canucks changes, I think we should expect the same philosophy that

they've always had, which is to never wave the white flag on a season, especially one where the post season does remain a realistic destination. Now does this last road trip change that philosophy? Possibly. If ever there was a reason to wave the white flag, that road trip combined with the fact that Quinn Hughes is nowhere close to a hundred percent.

And we'll get into that in a bit. Yeah. That was it. Saturday's loss in Seattle was downright ugly. People can say the Canucks played well. They dominated the Kraken fine. They lost six to three to one of the worst teams in the NHL. In the final two games of that road trip, the

Vancouver Canucks were outscored 11 to five against two of the worst teams in the Western conference. And yet again, Elias Pedersen found himself in the crosshairs after another, let's call it a concerning performance. We're going to play two clips from Rick Tuckett's availability Sunday after practice.

Pedersen wasn't named directly by Rick Tuckett, but it's obvious who he was talking about. Okay. This first one, um, was about Tuckett when I started his availability talking about moments. And he said that hockey is a game of moments. And he's saying, look, I'm into analytics. I think that, you know, that's important.

You gotta add up your scoring chances for, and add up your scoring chances against, and the teams that, you know, end up in the positives of those categories typically do well, but know, end up in the positives of those categories typically do well, but you also have to own the moments and we're just going to play this back and forth and we got the question in there too, right? So here's a question and it was basically about,

um, the Canucks went up three, two in this game on a shorthanded goal and that in theory should have been a big moment for the Canucks. Rick, when you talk about moments, like a shorthanded goal to go up 3-2 felt like it probably should have been one of those moments last night. Is that sort of disappointing that you weren't able to harness that and use that as momentum? Well, yeah, of course. Anytime that something good happens you want that momentum, but you know you lose a draw

But you still got to make sure you you know you We call it stunt your man or stay with your man you leave your man They get it like these little moments that you know they tip they had three tip pucks last game You know whether it's bad luck, whatever we still gave it to him, so Yeah moments in the game Halford yes Yes, Jason. Who lost the draw?

Oh, wait, was it Elias Pettersson? Who didn't stay on his man? Yeah, they, they spot shouted it after the game. Yeah. Jujuce and, and Gazdik. Won't even say his first name because it draws the ire of locals. Although the last name will as well. The panel spot shouted it after the game, like right away.

Okay. We're going to play another clip here. And this is about needing to shoot the puck. And I want you to hear the whole thing. Okay. Because this is another comment directly aimed at Elias Patterson. You know, I just think, uh, you know, we had a

couple of guys like you're down the pipe, you gotta shoot the puck, you know, there's no reason to pass and that's why I have a tough time with confidence. Like I rather just, guy just rip the shot, but rip it and hit the net. We have people going to the net. That's how you get back.

And that's how you, that's how you get out of slugs. It's, you know, from my experience and even my career, you're not going to the net, that's how you get back. That's how you get out of slumps. It's, you know, from my experience, even my career, you're not gonna get a pretty goal to get out of a slump. It's usually off of your skate, it's a three foot rebound goal, but you gotta get there. And you gotta be willing to have the courage to shoot those pucks, you know, but you gotta move your feet.

You know, like I said, everyone wants all these fancy offensive system. I just came from four nations. Connor McDavid just attacks and he shoots the puck. There's no like a tic-tac-toes. It's the same thing with us. You, you, we got to deliver pucks to the net. You got to be willing to get there and you got to be

willing to rip pucks and have all those details to do that. That was the story of the season right there in a minute. There was a lot in there and it all came from maybe the most discussed play of the night, which came near the end of the first with the Canucks on the power play. Pedersen had the puck of the point with

tons of space to attack. He started towards the net, looked like he was going to shoot and it just couldn't pull the trigger on it. There was traffic in front of the net and a clear shooting lane, despite what some people said on social media. You're never going to get the most clear shooting

lane, but that was about as clear as it. And if you move your feet, you can find that shooting lane. I also want to just point out. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're talking about like, it was a clear shooting lane. I think we to just point out. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're talking about like, it was a clear shooting lane. I think we should also point out that deferring was an awful option.

There was too many bodies and there was too many people in the way. Like shooting was the only option in that instance. I mean, he never, he never actually found anyone to pass the puck to. No, because there was no one to pass the puck to. Just shoot the puck. It doesn't have to go in, but you got to shoot it.

That's where we're at right now with Pedersen. And anyone who watches that play and thinks, well, he's clearly injured, I think we'll just have to disagree there. This is a confidence thing and it's playing out in front of our eyes. Um, that line about everyone wants a fancy offensive system, Takeda has clearly heard the

criticisms. He's basically saying, you can drop the fanciest system in hockey history. It can be running gun. It can be, you don't even have to play defense. If your star forward isn't willing to shoot the puck when he's got the chance to shoot the puck, it won't make a lick of difference. And if you go in onto the Canucks account on Axe, and you watch Rick talk it, he's beside himself.

He's just like, ugh, everyone wants an offensive system, right? And he's basically saying, look, I just came from the four nations. Connor McDavid, when he finds the space to attack, he shoots it. Cause it said the same thing about Nathan McKinnon. That's how he won the tournament. You just want to shoot, you just want to shoot. He won the tournament, shooting the puck. You know, and I, this whole thing too is like, it

begs so many questions about what are the Canucks going to do at this deadline? Like I hear they want to add a top six forward. Is that going to make Pederson shoot the puck? Yeah, is Ricard Raquel going to change things for this team? Seriously, like that's got to be top of mind there. You know, now some of that criticism might have

been directed a little bit Brock Besser and we can talk about him, but it's so clear right now that the Canucks are not going to have a dramatically different offense unless Elias Pedersen dramatically changes himself. And everyone that wants to put this at the feet of the head coach, I will say again, is woefully wrong. And it's inaccurate and it's misguided and it's off target. I don't know how you can watch what's happened this season, especially with some of the higher paid guys and say that this is a coaching

and system and deployment issue. And even if you do, then go back and tell me which coach of this particular core of players has really unlocked the mystery, really figured out exactly how to get the most out of this particular core of players has really unlocked the mystery, really figured out exactly how to get the most out of this group. You know, was it Bruce Boudreau?

Was it Travis Green? Cause all of them tried, and all of them tried different things. And none of it led to sustained game over game, season over season success, right? I think that's an important thing to bring up when some people push back on talking. I'm like, well, other coaches have tried with this group just as hard with totally different philosophies

and it hasn't worked. So at a certain point, you do have to start looking at the roster construction of the players and putting the focus solely on them. And I think starting to redirect more and more criticisms towards management with, which for me is probably eating some humble pie because I've been very complimentary

of this management group, but this year has been a genuine struggle for them. And their ownership of the Pedersen contract needs to be, I would say more emphatic. Like they need to embrace that this was a mistake and they, if they're going to salvage, if there's anything left to salvage, they're going to need to figure out a way to get out from under it.

Because I don't understand how this could continue to go forward the way that it is right now. Like to me, to me, the path of no resistance here is the most insane one. The path of throwing your hands up and being like, well, that's what $11.6 million is gonna get us on a nightly basis. Let's hope it gets better.

Seems like the most insane thing. It would make more sense right now to shut the player down and play out the rest of the season and say, if it's health, physical or mental or both, go get it sorted. And maybe there's a chance of salvaging it, but having them play through seems like the least positive thing for the team, cause they're losing

and the least positive thing for the player, cause he's got nothing going forward. Like there's, there's no production at all. I mean, they seem to be thinking that they just get, you got to work your way out of it. You got to work your way out of it. Yeah, I guess. There was, uh, there were reports that

Pedersen stayed on the ice late yesterday after practice and hopefully that's a start, but work, work, work, work, work your way out. Sure. Go shoot pox and you know. But here's the hold on, but like keeping optimism for something that historically has never come to fruition seems crazy to me too.

Like waiting for that next great thing or the next light bulb to switch on or. Are you talking about the core or are you talking about Pedersen himself? Well, Pedersen. Like he's gotta keep working. Pedersen himself, for sure. So what, stop working?

Well, I mean, they gave another player. Go on a huge bender? They, honestly? They gave another player a mid game, 10 game break to go figure some stuff out. So I don't know, now that the precedent's set there, why not try it again at this point? Honestly, why not?

It's just right now, I don't know if any of this is doing anybody any good. It's certainly not doing the team any good because they're losing hockey games with regularity. And I don't know if having Pederson in the spotlight, like the post game Saturday was a bloodbath. The post game Saturday was a bloodbath. It's brutal.

Right? You could spot shadow. They got a bunch of games at home coming up too. Like, is that going to get ugly? You could spot shadow every single moment on the ice where he looked like a shell of what he once was, and it's all out there for public consumption, and everyone has the same take on it.

It's like, what is wrong? What the hell is going on, right? We didn't even point to the ones, when we were in our text, right? Like, he got bodied behind the net by Brandon Tanev, and then I think upon trying to get up, someone else just shoved him to the ground. Like the old high school bully thing

where you're throwing a guy in a locker, kind of like kick him when he's down. It is a tough watch. You know, the kick me sign was a little much. Right? Right? Who even made that? He just patted his pants. Tanev did the entire time.

And then to top all of this off, Friday is the trade deadline. And I am equal parts thrilled and terrified that I don't know what direction this team is going to go into with the guys that are at the wheel. With Rutherford and Alvina at the wheel, you know that there's the possibility for some fireworks and for some major deals.

I just don't know what direction they're going to go. Well, we're going to have to get to the Queen Hughes injury at some point, but I do want to dip into some other stuff because everyone out there knows. Sure. Yeah. Quinn Hughes is injured and maybe that does affect the Canucks strategy, the trade deadline.

Who knows? Brock Besser is slumping as well. I don't know where Brock's head is at. Maybe he's checked out, maybe he's having trouble focusing five straight games on that road trip without a goal during which he's totaled just five shots. And I think when Tauke says there's a couple of guys, one of them is definitely Pedersen, but the other one

could easily be Brock Besser. He's also a team worst, minus 19 now. Don't like that. And again, here we are, don't shoot the messenger. That number I have heard does not sit well with management. Nor should it. Plus minus is a flawed stat, even though

Halford loves it. Love it. But when you've got Quinn Hughes at plus 10 and Besser at minus 19, it is tough to look past the discrepancy on that. So when are the trades going to happen? I'm a little surprised actually, we got through the weekend without some sort of press release because I heard late Friday that there were a couple of deals they were working on.

Now the Canucks don't play again until Wednesday. So it's not like they had to get something done because they had a game Monday or whatever. I haven't heard anything since Friday, so your guess is as good as mine as to what happened to those potential deals. The one thing I will say is I doubt Pettersson is going, so your guess is as good as mine as to what happened to those potential deals.

The one thing I will say is I doubt Pedersen gets moved. If you're a playoff team, you can't make that move now. I mean, you could, but you'd be crazy. And if you're not a playoff team, you might want to just wait until the off season before you seriously consider taking that gamble. At this point, you'd have to be getting Pedersen at a serious discount.

If you're willing to shoulder the risk of his contract, it has gotten that bad. And the Four Nation showed everyone who was watching hockey, where his level was compared to the best players in the world. And obviously it was nowhere close and it's gotten worse since then. So I think there were probably a lot of fan bases out there that before the Four Nations were like, and I know the fans don't make the trades, but the fans were kind of like, yeah, get Pederson out of Vancouver. It was JT Miller's fault or whatever. I haven't watched a Canucks game in five years, but I've heard he's pretty good,

you know, and then they watch the Four Nations and they hear about it a little more and they're like, actually, maybe not Pederson. I've got a JT Miller update for later in the show as well. We'll table that one though, because since we are doing all Canucks stuff in the first half hour and you mentioned the injuries, we should probably give everyone an update. I know a couple of people have already texted in to the Dunbar number text line at 650-650 asking what's going on. So, insult to injury or injury to insult, I suppose, over the weekend was that in the Vancouver Canucks

6-3 loss in Seattle on Saturday, Quinn Hughes did not play the final half of the third period. He sat out the final nine minutes and five seconds of the third. And yet again, Hughes' health came under the spotlight because there were numerous camera shots of him getting knocked to the ice and then laboring on the bench and then trying to stretch whatever was ailing him out, but ultimately wasn't able to return for the last half of the third period. On Sunday at practice, the Canucks said

that Hughes is listed as day to day with a new injury not related to the oblique strain that kept him out of the previous six games before the break and then of course all of the four nations. Rick Taukett said that Hughes quote unquote tweaked something else and that his absence in the third period was precautionary and then he said he's hopeful that he will be able to skate on Tuesday. So don't anticipate anything today, which is Monday of course. We'll see if Hughes can return to the ice on Tuesday.

Even if he does, I think it's safe to suggest that whenever he returns to the lineup, he will not be anywhere near 100%. That's your Demko, for those that are wondering on his health. Quick recap in case you forgot, Demko has been out of the lineup since February the 8th, and it is now March the 3rd. So we're coming close to a month, Demko has been out of the lineup since February the 8th, and it is now March the 3rd.

So we're coming close to a month from Demko being on the ice practicing with the team. Undisclosed injury, prior to the break when he got hurt against Toronto, the team said that he wasn't gonna travel on that five game road trip, which is now over, but they were hopeful that he'd be available to practice once the five game road trip was over.

Well, they practiced on Sunday. Thatcher Demko wasn't there. Rick Tauke said it shouldn't be long before Demko is back on the ice practicing with the group, but they don't know when that is. He said Demko started skating a few days ago. So if you want to work in reverse from Sunday, you can try and figure that out. But Tauke said he's not exactly sure when Demko is going to return just to practice never mind availability for games so does this cloud things going into Friday's deadline the fact that Quinn Hughes is extremely banged up and

that your Demko might not be playing for another week or two weeks I don't know I don't I have no idea no idea where this management group is at other than they feel like they want to make moves going into Friday. And as you pointed out right off the hop of this show, there's sort of been an organizational mandate for as long as we can remember, the playoffs matter and the Vancouver Connects

would like to participate in them on an annual basis. So what's the latest on the playoff picture? I mean, honestly, the weekend wasn't terrible in terms of scoreboard watching. Calgary, to give you an idea of how bad this race is, Calgary is playing lousy right now. Calgary has one goal in its last three games. They got a tough, tough road trip.

They did, but they scored no goals. They got shut out in back-to-back games in Florida, and then they lost 2-1 in overtime to Carolina on the weekend. But that overtime point. That got them right back into the playoff spot, baby. And now you're looking at a Calgary team that had, uh, they had a stretch that went, I think 141 minutes,

which stretched over four games where they didn't score a goal. Yet that one goal was enough to propel them one into overtime and then two pass the Vancouver Canucks for the second and wild card, second and final wild card spot in the West Utah and St. Louis because Calgary and Vancouver haven't played very well lately, have been able to catch up and make this thing kind of close. Um,

as of this morning, the blues are one point back of Calgary for the final wild card. So it goes Calgary, Vancouver, St. Louis. The Blues have more games played than anybody in the West that was 62. Utah also racked up a few wins over the weekend, although they lost on Saturday to New Jersey. So they're right in this as well.

They've got 63. So they are two back of Calgary and Vancouver. They played 61 games. So in a very weird way, the West has gotten more teams into the playoff chase, but they're all sort of like backing or midding their way into it. All the blues are playing well. They're six, two and two in their last 10.

And I think Utah is playing well. They're playing okay. Yeah. It's not lights out hockey. It's not like they're ripping off eight or 10 game winning streak. No, no, no, no. And both of them lost over the weekend.

That's the funny part is that everything got close despite the fact that Calgary, Utah and St. Louis all lost their last game. So it's a bit of a turtle derby in the West, but the connects are right in the middle of it. We'll see how this week goes. They don't play again until Wednesday. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Nick Kippur-Hills joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Kippur, how are you? I'm good. I'm good. How's everybody out west? Angry. Angry. Angry. Not panic, no.

Some panic. Definitely. Fine panic. Yeah, mostly frustration. I heard Friday that the Canucks were working on a couple of things, maybe looking to add a top six forward. Haven't heard anything since. What are you hearing on the Canucks? Yeah, I think what I'm hearing is I don't expect them to be ultra aggressive, but I don't expect them to wave the white flag either.

So I don't know what that means. Maybe a few tweaks here and there outside of, you know, making a huge trade, just the decision on Brock Besser again will dictate a lot here to make a big trade and, and trade Brock Besser to me, doesn't make any sense at all. I'm starting to lean towards maybe not getting a deal done by the end of the week for Brock Besser, but, but keeping them anyways. Doesn't that just give Besser more leverage in a

negotiation? If, if you, if you give him the opportunity to walk away for nothing and make management look real bad? Yes, yes, but if it's enough to get them in the playoffs and possibly allow ownership to make a few extra bucks, I think it might be probably a path that they they're willing to go down. Playoffs are important this year too to to ownership I think as well so I think with it still wide open the fact that they are losing and yet still very much in a playoff position I cannot see them waving the white flag at this point.

Is there a scenario where the Canucks don't resign Brock Besser and lose them for nothing, all in order to just make the playoffs, play a couple of home games only to get swept in the playoffs? Or miss the playoffs. Yes. Even worse, miss the playoffs. Does that not seem like a bad idea? Should they not try and get something for him? See, we're back to this.

I mean, Kemper's clearly seeing something, right? It's the exact same thing I was seeing in the first hour from what I've heard, making the playoffs is important. Just got to- So just getting swept in the first round and then losing best for nothing is important. Yep. You got to get on that train, bro. You got to ride it. I don't know, man. I just don't. I mean- Choo choo. How does a couple game rep, I know playoff revenue is important.

I get that. Of course it is. No, no, no, no. Don't, don't, don't just sweep it aside. I know it is like. But I'm no, but why. That's what it's, that's what it is. I know, but how does that help the longterm

health of the team if you lose best for nothing? Hey man, we're back at this. That's what I'm saying, right? We're back at this, aren't we? Like this, this whole, you know, you know, what we were talking about earlier in the show, it's like those years where they missed the playoffs, everyone has now since

called that, that was the rebuild, right? They were trying to make the playoffs. I know. That's why Louis Erickson got signed. That's why Brandon Sutter got acquired, you know, like Tyler Myers signed, Ryan Miller in goal. They, they didn't want to fall off that badly. So I actually have this argument with Drance a lot.

I'm like, Drancer, you can sit there and go on your show and say that the Canucks should do this aggressive rebuild until you are blue in the face, but they are not listening to you. They're not going to change their ways. And it doesn't really matter what we think. They are going to do what they do. But this is in the betting regime. I have some faith in Alveon and Rutherford.

Do they not see losing best for nothing as being bad at that management? Well, okay, hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm not saying they'll get something- Who owns the team? Hold on, hold on. I know, I get that. I'm not saying it, and I'm not even saying they're gonna get something crazy in return for Besser.

But if you could at least get something for him, as opposed to nothing at all, just so you could maybe squeak into the playoffs, I don't know, that just- Okay. Again, we're stacking hypotheticals on hypotheticals. First off, the trade deadline's not until Friday. They could very well move him in the next four days. Well, I hope they do I mean, I would like to see him stay Do if I were to bet right now and I could easily be wrong

I think they're gonna move Besser but also add another forward. I mean, I hope I hope you're right with that Actually, I'll go even a step further. They're gonna move Besser The assets are gonna get in return are gonna be sent to Pittsburgh in exchange for Ricard. Yeah, I can see that. I'm not joking. I know you're not Ricard. Very possible. I only see that. He has a few years left on his deal. So it helps you in the immediate cause he is having a very good year offense. He is, but he's also 31.

Yeah. But that I'm not, I like Raquel. I'm not saying he's a bad player, but it would answer your question cause you're like, what are you doing for the future of this team? Well, you do get a guy that's under contract for three more years. It takes that box. Say what you will about being 31 and maybe not being that fast and maybe not getting any younger or. It's probably faster than better.

Raquel is a fine player. I would be fine with getting him in the immediate. So there you go. I was actually wondering if, because the Penns played Sunday, they played yesterday and Raquel actually had a pretty good game. Um, and I was like, maybe that's what they're waiting for. When you come to that point, a lot of people I know are texting in about Alex Tuck.

Yep. There's another one. I can see that too. I don't, I don't, I'm not sure about that, but like, I think they're going to try and upgrade the forward group. Yeah. I really do. the forward group.

Yeah. I really do. The only thing in the back of my mind is maybe something changed over the weekend with not only that performance in Seattle, but the Quinn Hughes injury and his health status is massive. Even they might wave the white flag if Quinn Hughes, if they're like looking at this guy and being like, he's going to be out for a couple of weeks. Now, for now they're saying it's day to day.

But again, until this team starts acting in a different way, we can complain until we're blue in the face about it. And we can talk about it, and we can talk about it. Certainly we can talk about it. Is this the right thing? I mean, you go back to the JT Miller trade. When JT Miller was acquired by the Canucks, nobody doubted that he was a good player. I don't think anyone predicted that he would

get to the levels that he was with the Canucks. And he got to an incredible level, but the question always was to what end? Which means to, you know, it means to what end? What is the ultimate goal? What did JT Miller in his, as an individual, very successful time in Vancouver, what did the team accomplish?

They get to the second round game seven of the playoffs. Which actually isn't bad. I mean, well, and they get the, but do we count the bubble? We're not counting the bubble, right? No. I don't count the bubble. No. But, but do you know what I mean?

Like that was the whole question. And, and like, this is what, even though JT Miller played really well, and he did actually return them some assets ultimately, so that also goes on his ledger. But the whole thing was like, the reason people were upset when that trade went went through was not, it wasn't about JT Miller, everyone knew he was a good player. It was just like, what are we doing here guys? Yeah, they were trying to. Shouldn't we arm ourselves for the future?

And it pains me to say that we're back to this point with this team. You gotta remember, like, the return on the Miller trade from the perspective of, you know, are we getting into the playoffs and are we going anywhere in them? Like, actually, given that they haven't had any playoff success since 2011, actually wasn't a bad return they made a couple playoff appearances under the

Miller era and they got to game seven of the second round that's what as far as they've gone but they've never but they've never been true Stanley Cup contenders no but that was like are you are you defending the trade the the Miller trade originally yeah um from the what did they accomplish as a team? From the perspective of where they wanna- You gotta marshal all your assets in one direction. From the perspe- If we're going on the perspective of

we are looking at it through the lens of ownership and management and what they wanna accomplish. Oh, okay. They're probably fine with what they got out of it. Sure, yeah. And now he's gone. We sold a bunch of jerseys. Seriously, right? I mean, they got as far in the playoffs as they had in a decade.

Increased interest in the team. But again, sometimes I feel like there's different conversations happening. There is very, very many different conversations happening. Do you resign yourself to what the decision makers are doing and just say, well, we've got to follow this. Or do you vehemently push back like kind of what you were looking to with Drantz against the core essence of it? I don't think me telling Drantz like, hey man, you can talk about this until you're blue in the face is me agreeing with it and supporting it. It's just like...

Well, it's the same thing as the Pedersen discourse. Do you come in every day and bang your fist about how this is unacceptable or do you resign you just resigned to the fact that This is the reality. Yeah, it's all sort of the same Try and have some laughs along the way And I'm going back to what I was saying like don't be wrong like if the Cucks were like playing like they were last year And they looked like they were a cup contender I'd be fine with them treating Bessie like a rental if they were a competitive playoff team But they just don't look like they will be so like I just I hope I hope I hope that if they move them or that If that he does he does get moved because I think it's gonna happen and that they get something for me

They don't let him walk for nothing look you can't lose that asset for nothing if past history is an indicator of future behavior then they're is an indicator of future behavior, then they would almost be bound to move better as opposed to let them walk as a free agent. Because they've been very steadfast, and they've delivered on their promises about not letting assets walk without anything in return. That's fair to say, right?

Like of all the criticisms you can have of management, they said from day one, like, we are not that group that uses those stupid lines like, he's our own rental. Or, you know, we'll wait and see until July 1. Like, they move guys. I also don't think they're very impressed with him right now. Well, there's that too. You know, like-

Or if they ever were. I think they see him as, for this season at least, part of the problem. Sure. So, I expect he's going to be traded. Likewise. I could be wrong, but my expectation is that he's going to be traded. Likewise. I could be wrong, but my expectation is that he's going to be traded, but at the same time, people asked on social media, are they going to be buyers or sellers? I was like, I think they're going to be both.

But we'll have to wait and see on this. Seth Yarshaw joins us now on the Haliford and Bruff Show. What up, Seth? What's going on, boys? I want to rewind all the way to Saturday night. How much fun did you guys have working that post-game show on Saturday? Oh, it was a blast.

It was a blast. It was people being very excited and happy with the team's direction. The future feels bright, and people are very excited about what lays next. And it was actually not any of that at all. It was people being very angry. And I made the point of the post-game show.

Usually we try to read a variety of different opinions, right? Like some positives, some negatives, a bit of everything. And it was just like 99% people being angry and that's all it was. And, um, I guess the good sign is that the market hasn't reached the apathy stage yet, but can't be too far off with too many, uh, disinteresting games. Like the one we saw on Saturday. Can you blame them for being angry? No, no, not at all.

I mean, it's been, it's been a really difficult year. And the biggest, I think, reason for a lot of the disappointment is you went from having some hope last year to it's all blown up in your face and it's not even entertaining, right? Like that's been the real tough part of these games. If you're a fan, not only is the team not playing well. They're not really playing an entertaining brand of hockey and even a game where they do score a few goals, they play poor defensively.

So it's just, you know, for all the talk of entertainment, it's all ultimately about winning. And they haven't done a lot of that, especially the past few weeks. So, Sat, I said earlier in the show that I was hearing that the Canucks are looking to add to their forward group. Kipper came on and said pretty much the same thing, even to the point where if they don't add, they might keep Rock Besser, even if he's unsigned. Are you hearing the same

thing or something different? Could things have changed over the last few days with the Queen Hughes health status and that poor performance in Seattle? I don't think anything has changed yet. And as far as the best thing goes, they've made it pretty clear to people asking it seems that there's a real chance to hold on to him. And I was told even to hold on to him, that doesn't mean they won't sign him. They may still sign him after the deadline. But I don't think that's something that's going to make fan base overly excited. I think it's going to create a bit of questions about which direction to go and especially if

they keep them and they start struggling even more. And then do you feel like you have to sign him now? And are you holding onto the core? I think holding onto Bess or not signing him creates more headaches and problems, I think, but it's a possibility. It could happen. And as far as them being buyers, they want to add the longer term fit, but I do think they are open to making some short term deals or go after certain rentals as long as the price is cheap. So one thing that they have a lot of is cap space. And one thing they can do is they can trade for players and they can facilitate trades too at the third party. I've been told that almost everything is on the table

for them at the deadline. They may facilitate trades to help get a draft pick back. They may trade for a rental if the price is really cheap. They might make a bigger deal. They are going to be asking, I'm expecting them to make a couple of moves. What I kind of, the impression I get about the rental market is kind of what, the plaster, the hat cap space

on deadline day where you were able to scoop up guys for next to nothing for fifth or sixth round picks, seven round picks, and even taking contracts off people's hands to save them money down the stretch was something that teams were able to do. So I wonder if that's something they look to do here is they're going to play in the rental market but get players as cheap as possible closer to the deadline. I'm expecting the Canucks, as much as they'd like to get deals done early, this might be

a deadline where it really does come down to the wire. So what kind of players would they be looking for? I think they would love to add that real top six type of long-term fair. Like we talked about guys like that, like Billy Cousins, the guy who's fit the bowl. And we spoke about Josh Norris in the past, but he's been injured. But if you look at guys that were traded for last year, like Jason Zuckerman, for instance, the second, third line type of player that went for, I think it was the seventh round pick from Arizona, just take the money off their hands. I can see them being in the market for players along those

lines. Somebody that's a second slash third liner, and it's not going to be somebody that's going to overly move the needle, but perhaps give them just a little bit more firepower, a little bit more depth upfront for a so-called playoff push-up being a playoff team. But we're not talking about these guys being huge needle moving players. I don't see them being in the market for Brock up front for a so-called playoff push of being a playoff team, but we're not talking about these guys being huge needle moving players. I don't see them being in the market for Brock Nelson and trading away significant assets, especially if they're not signing him. I don't see them doing the Lindholm type of trade and trading in significant just to make the playoff. I think it'll be for somebody a caliber below and if the price is cheap, but we'll see how desperate

they are the next couple of days. Were you struck as I was that in Rick Tuckett's media availability yesterday, pretty much the entire thing could have been like, I think he's talking about Pedersen without saying his name. Yeah, I think it's pretty evident, right? I think he's tired of talking about Pedersen directly, but indirectly everything he talks about leads back to Elias Pedersen, right? And I think, you know, I don't know if there's anything else they can do about Elias Pedersen, right? I think when you look at all the time they have spent, whether it's video work, sitting down with them, cognitive reinforcements, negative reinforcements, I think they've tried just about everything with Elias Pedersen.

And ultimately any of this team's success is going to come down to can this guy really turn the corner? Can this guy really be the player they need him to be? And I just don't see that path being available to them this year. And if you know all this comes down to Pedersen and you know all your offensive potential, your potential as a team all comes out to Elias Pedersen finding his game, but you don't have confidence in him finding his game this year. What does that tell you about your odds of doing anything? And if you, even if you do make the postseason or forget even making the

postseason, can you even make the playoffs with this guy playing the way he is? And I think this team clearly needs another offensive push, but I'm just not sure he's capable of bringing it. So I hear the coach talk about, I hear the coach point towards push, but I'm just not sure he's capable of bringing it. So I hear the coach talk about it. I hear the coach point towards it, but to me, it's kind of in one ear and out the other, because I'm not sure it matters at all. And I'm not being negative about Petterson.

Maybe he tries to figure it out by next year. Maybe he needs an off season, but I just don't see a player who's capable of turning it around right now. What do you think other NHL GMs around the league think, you know, we, we heard at the beginning at the beginning of the season, I didn't disagree with these takes earlier in the season when guys like Drantz would come on and say there would be 30 NHL GMs lining up for a chance to get Elias Pedersen. Is the lineup a little shorter now? Oh, it's definitely a shorter lineup. I mean, I don't even think half the league is lining up.

Maybe it's the full league would have lined up at one point. Right now I don't think they are. And in season, it's a lot more complicated, you know, too, because the number is so big salary cap wise, but I think the teams that are interested. The number is smaller. I don't know. I can't put a number on it exactly, but it certainly isn't even half the league. I don't think.

And those are teams I think that are willing to do it for a massive prep rate price. We're talking about, can it do a Darcy-Comper type of deal for Pierre-Luc Dubois, this type of swap that LA made. Now, the Tempers play well for LA, but at the moment it looks like just straight salary caps up. You took nothing back in return. Just took a contract back to make it happen. I don't know if Vancouver is there with their willingness to make that type of deal for, for Pederson, but I think that's kind of what's out there for them. Now, is there a team that likes Pederson enough? Cause all it takes is one or two teams that like him, that get into a bit of a

bidding war and next thing you know, they offer you something decent. But as it stands, and as everything that I checked into over the course of the weekend was that the connects aren't really getting a ton of calls on Patterson and the interest isn't quite at the level where a deal seems likely at this stage. And again, we'll see if somebody swoops in, but I think his market value has gone down, down significantly so much so that him getting traded may not seem very, very realistic now. And perhaps even in the off season, because as much as the connects are open and moving him, are they open and moving him for nothing or just to dump the contract straight up? And if they are, well, that would signal, you know, a pretty big, um, admission of,

uh, of a mistake, but also your pathways are getting better without getting something back in value decreased significantly too. So it puts you in a really difficult spot. You know, they have the luxury of if Pedersen comes back next season and doesn't perform, they have the luxury of getting fired. Honestly, like I sometimes think like as a media guy that has to do the post game show, has to do the daily shows.

Like have you thought about the possibility of them kind of gambling on him, keeping him for next season, then it's the same next season? Like we were just talking about what, what this is going to be like on this home stand, seven of the next eight games at Rogers Arena. What's the fan reaction going to be if, if he continues to

play this way? Well, I mean, it's the short-term reality and the reaction, and then there's the long-term ramifications. If you make, if you get this person decision wrong, whatever it is, keeping him, trading him, return you're getting, like that's it for Queen Hughes.

And if that's it for Queen Hughes, we're talking about, well, the better part of the next decade is going to be about trying to figure out what the team's going to look like, we're talking about, well, the better part of the next decade, it's going to be about trying to figure out what the team's gonna look like, you know, and you know, how rebuilds can be maybe it's fast, and it takes four or five years, or maybe it takes a normal amount of time, which takes seven, eight, nine years. And that's as you actually do get right out or you spin your wheels

to like Edmonton, though, or like the Sabres have been spinning the wheels for, you know, the better part two decades right now. And this management team might go down as a management team that fumbled Queen of News. Like that's how high these stakes are. We went from talking about how this is one of the better run franchises, all of a sudden with this front office over the past year and how everything they touched last year turned to gold and how they brought respectability back to the

organization. Well, if they're going to be remembered as the, as the front office that traded JT Miller made the wrong decision with Queen, with Elias Patterson and Queen Hughes ends up walking, then they're going to go down as the worst management team in franchise history because of what happened. Like you can blame them or not for all the things that happened before, but they're always going to be known as the guys that traded away or lost Queen Hughes, but that's how high these stakes are. So all these decisions between now and the deadline and this off season it all it is all going to tie into what's going to happen with Quinn Hughes and if Quinn Hughes doesn't stay here well this management team is not going

to be here for a long time but this team is going to be into a long-term rebuild and if that happens man all the stuff we saw last year and everything we talked about positively, it's going to turn upside down really fast. We're speaking to Satyar Shah, Canucks Central host here on the Haliford and Brush show on Sports Night 650. Speaking of Quinn Hughes, Sat,

do you have any idea on how severe the most recent injury is? Cause as I understand it, it's not related to the reported oblique injury that kept him out for the six games prior to the Four Nations, and then of course the entire Four Nations tournament. Also, how are they gonna balance this between needing him to play, obviously,

if they're gonna have any sort of success, but also not running him out there when he's clearly below 100%? Yeah, I mean, it's, I think ultimately it comes down to how bad the injury is. If it's something that can get significantly worse, like I just shut him down.

Does it matter? Like the last thing you want to do is for him to get into a situation where something chronic happens or he gets injured or something he's got to deal with beyond the off season. Now you're hurting your chances next year. And then do you want to be in a position where you forced or you,

you put Quinn Hughes to a, um, injury crisis too. Now you're talking about trying to heal him up and also keep him long-term and make a team better. I just see so many issues with forcing Quinn Hughes to play, or not even forcing him to play or allowing him to play. If the issue can get worse. Now, everything we've heard is that it's still, it is minor, but we hear that and the next thing you know, a player is gone for a couple of weeks, right? And the latest example was the guy like that, Fademko. They will maintain that the injury is minor for Fademko. It

just takes a little bit of time and he is going to be back soon. But even if it is minor, it could be a couple of weeks and they, he was supposed to be not be out for long and maybe be to play the four nations and whatever injury perhaps oblique has kept him not off the speed right and we saw like how he looked off the pace in the games he has come back but that was supposed to be an injury that he may decide to play throughout the four nations and then he misses you know three games when the connects come back from the break so So I think I'm very reluctant to say he's going to be fine, but everything I've heard behind the scenes and everything I've heard over the weekend is, they don't think it's gonna keep him off for very long,

but these things can change fast when it comes to injury updates. Well, I'm glad you brought up Demco, because that was my next question. And it's not just about the remainder of this season, but we just saw this morning that the Washington Capitals locked in the second half of their goalie duo.

They signed Charlie Lindgren to a three year, nine million dollar deal. And I think some people had designs that that might be what the Canucks do with Demko and Lankton moving forward just because of Demko's health situation. But at this stage of the game, I wonder if you can count on him at all to remain healthy, because it sure feels like one step forward, two steps back with him.

I know that might be an unfair assessment, but if you look at this season, it's been just such a series of start stops that I'm not sure you can rely on him throughout the course of an entire 82 game season period. No, I mean, I don't think you can this year. I don't think you can really feel confident that he is going to play a significant amount of games down the stretch here. I've heard he is going to join the team for practice pretty soon here. I don't know if that's going to happen before their game on Wednesday against the Anaheim Ducks. But at the same time, if you're a Dempo and you saw the Canucks sign Ken Alankhadan and they have their goalie signed up for a few years,

you've gone through injuries and he's the guy that's really pushed himself to get back ready. And I'm not saying he's not going to push himself, but does he take a little bit of time here because there isn't much, I don't think he feels, or I don't think he can do the rest of the season to convince Vancouver or anybody else that he's still going to be the guy. I think the best thing for Demko is make sure you're a hundred percent healthy physically before moving forward and don't put yourself in a position where he's still going to be the guy. I think the best thing for Demko is make sure you're 100% healthy physically

before moving forward and don't put yourself in a position where you can have any other injury down the stretch. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.