Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 3/4/25

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they look to Friday's NHL trade deadline, plus the boys chat the latest Canucks news with radio commentator Brendan Batchelor ahead of tomorrow's matchup versus the Ducks. 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-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da Miller moves him with Savannah Chad. He shoots, he scores! It's another two point game for JT Miller. Ooh, captain of the football team. He's a dream boat. Pedersen cutting in, Elias Pedersen, put it high! Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, You got the done! Woo! Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Tuesday Happy Tuesday everybody It is Alfred at his brow, Fitisportsnet 650

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver Jason good morning. Good morning. Adog good morning to you. I hope PD doesn't listen to the show. Laddi you scamp Good morning to you as well. Hello hello Alfred at Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Scamp. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Half of the breath 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 know what they're thinking you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal.

North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Big show ahead on a Tuesday, three guests on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. The first will join us at 630. Greg Wyshinski, our regular Tuesday insider from ESPN is going to join us. We will go around the league as we get closer and closer to Friday's trade deadline. Six games across the NHL last night. Greg also went to the outdoor game in Columbus over the weekend. Got to ask him about shaking up. He is about the injury to Jack Hughes.

There's a lot to get into with Greg. He'll be joining us at 6.30 this morning. Seven o'clock going to talk a little trade deadline in a different vein with Ilyas Hussein from the Toronto Star. He has a piece out right now about the rise in trade protection across the NHL. Did you know, Jason, that nearly 30% of active NHL players have some form of no trade or no movement clause right now.

Also- That's way too high a percentage. 30%. Yeah. And I did not realize that this is like an NHL specific thing, the other big sports leagues in North America, they don't have this. Yeah.

So Ilias wrote a big piece about that. We'll talk to him at seven o'clock as we get closer to the trade deadline and how that could impact Friday's deals. At eight o'clock, Brendan Batchelor is going to join the program. The Canucks do return to practice today. 1130 this morning at Rogers Arena. Batchelor will be on hand for that. I presume he will also be on hand for tomorrow's game. 730 p.m. puck drop. Note the start time. It is a home game at Rogers Arena against the Anaheim Ducks. Batch will be on the call for that. So we'll preview Wednesday's game as well. And speaking

of Wednesday's game, Jason, this Wednesday, March 5th, we're giving away a pair of tickets to see the Canucks. That's right. The Vancouver Canucks are celebrating First Nations Night on Wednesday, presented by Rogers and Rogers wants to send you to the game. All you have to do to enter be caller number seven lucky number seven at 8 15 this morning the phone number here 604 280 0 650 that number again 604 280 0 650. Rogers is a proud partner and fan of the NHL. Good luck at 8 15 this morning you can win a pair of tickets to see the Vancouver Canucks take on the Anaheim Ducks First Nations night, Wednesday, March 5th.

Caller number seven this morning, 8.15, 604-280-0650. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm moving. We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? Missed that? 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 not practice.

It was a full team day off in anticipation of today, where the Canucks will return to practice, as I mentioned, 11.30 a.m. at Rogers Arena, and we will get answers to a couple of questions. Most pressingly, will Quinn Hughes participate in practice today? And will Thatcher Demp go make his return to practice after being off for nearly a month.

Of course, a lot of people are just waiting for the trades. And at this point, we're just playing the waiting game and soon we'll get tired of that and we'll break out the hungry, hungry hippos. The Canucks, as you mentioned, have a home game Wednesday against Anaheim. Then it's the trade deadline Friday, followed by

a game that night against Minnesota. Brock Besser remains unsigned with all options remaining on the table. Although it was reported that his extension offer is no longer on the table. So I don't really know what that means, but Brock Besser does sit at number four on Kipper's trade board. The Canucks have enough cap space to add

something significant at the trade deadline. Even if they do keep Brock Besser and all their pending UFAs, I seriously doubt they're going to be spending futures on a rental. They better not. But I could see them going their pending UFAs. I seriously doubt they're going to be spending futures on a rental. They better not. But I could see them getting aggressive on a center with term or years of club

control, a la Philip Heidel. Or maybe even a winger. They definitely need more of everything, especially up front. And that goes double if they don't keep Besser. But if you're looking at wingers versus centers, at the very least, they've got De Brusk signed long-term and he's been fine for them and they've got Leckermackey in the system. He might not be quite ready, but he's certainly trending in the right direction down in the AHL. On the other hand, they don't have any centers that are trending as top six NHLers while

Suter is a pending UFA. Apparently they're quite far apart in any talks between club and player. They've got Hedl, they got Bluger, but we all know Petey's kind of a mess right now. So, you know, the center position is the problem area, which is why it was so frustrating that JT and Petey couldn't get along and JT eventually couldn't get along with the team. And now he's with the New York Rangers and doing

pretty well with the New York Rangers. If we want to talk a bit about what happened last night in the NHL. Yeah, we should probably pivot to that right now because JT Miller stayed hot and the New York Rangers stayed hot as well. Miller and our Temi Panarin each had a goal and an assist.

21 saves for Igor Shostarikin for his fourth shout out of the season. The Rangers, who are now seven and three in their last 10, got a four nothing victory over the slumping New York Islanders last night. With the win, as I mentioned, it's seven and three in their last 10. The Rangers have won four or five.

It's their second shoutout into two nights. They're now even on points with Detroit for the second and final wild card spot in the East plus four goal differential. They trail Detroit on the tiebreaker. But if I was to kind of prognosticate and look ahead, they are. They've gotten exactly what they wanted out of the Miller deal. And then it gave them a shot in the arm. It gave their offense a punch.

It's kind of lifted the spirits of Mikas Abinajad whose play has improved over the last 10 games as well. And they would be, I don't want to say a dangerous proposition because I still think they're kind of a flawed team, but they would be a tricky proposition if they were to sneak into one of the two wild cards given their individual star power, the goaltending, veteran

experience, and they've been in the playoff multiple times. So they know what they're doing when they get there. And Sabanajah had been kicked to the wing. Yes. Okay. So he's on a line with Miller. That's correct.

And Miller's the center. That was kind of the spark. And, and Will Cooley. And Cooley, good old Cooley. But they don't spell it. Cooley. They spell it. Cooley.

So we should call him that, Will C don't spell it coolly. They spell it coolly. So we should call them that well. Coolly. Coolly. All right. Um, so right now, if you're looking at, um, who's more likely to make the playoffs, it might be the Rangers compared to the Canucks. They're both in pretty much exactly the same spot.

Near identical situations. Because they're tied in points with the second wild card team, but they don't have the same spot. Near identical situations. Because they're tied in points with the second wild card team, but they don't have the tiebreaker. The Canucks are of course tied with the Calgary Flames because the Flames have the regulation wins tiebreaker. That'll hurt. That'll hurt.

If the Rangers make the playoffs, largely thanks to the bump that they got from JT Miller and the Canucks missed the playoffs in large part because of the fact that they don't have JT Miller anymore. So yeah, through 10 games post trade, and it's been a longer like actual calendar time because of the four nations face off break.

Miller has 14 points in 11 games since joining the Rangers. So he's scoring at a clip that would have been on pace essentially with his best season in Vancouver where he was 100 plus point player. This also comes at a time where the Canucks can't score and their offense is bordering on inept. I looked yesterday and it was funny because we had Eric Francis on the show yesterday talking about how weak and pop gun the Calgary Flames offense is

with just 155 goals this season. Vancouver Canucks have 165. They scored 10 more goals this year than the Calgary Flames, who are one of the most inept offensive teams in the NHL. So there is that dynamic, the big picture. The Pedersen Miller dynamic and how it's playing out, I struggled to think how it could be going any worse

from a Canucks slash Elias Pedersen perspective. Because you talked about this at length, prior to the trade being consummated for JT Miller to be moved out of town. You said, what if they make the decision to keep one and part with the other, which they did by keeping Pedersen and parting with Miller?

And what happens if one takes off like JT Miller has and one really struggles, not just continues to struggle, but even struggles more? And I think you could make the argument that Pedersen's game has been even more toothless and lifeless since the trade has happened. What happens? I would be very curious to know where fans are at.

I'd be curious to know if any of our listeners right now have changed their minds on this in the 10 game window that maybe they understood or were okay with Miller leaving. Cause Miller was a flawed character when he was here. Right? I think there were a lot of reports that rubbed people the wrong way about his behavior and his attitude and the way

that he treated certain teammates. Has anything changed in the three weeks to close to a month since the trade was done? Are you looking now at the 14 points and 11 games that Miller has with the Rangers and saying? Yeah, he might have been a jerk when he was here But man could he put the puck in the back of the net man could he help our offense? I'm curious if our listeners are at that if anything has changed in that short window

Because there's still 20 games left in the regular season for this storyline to play itself I'd say the sentiment I see more from people is that they're angry at Miller for quitting on the team when he was here Based on how he's playing now. It's like waiting on the it's like Why couldn't you do this with the Canucks and we all know why but I mean at the same time I I see that a lot that repeated thing a lot on social media and a bit in the inbox What do you mean quit on the team on the Canucks? Just not try I want to be here I'll give his best effort for whatever reason and now you see him obviously giving his best effort and having a great time in New York. So that probably rubs some, well it does rub some fans the wrong way because it's like,

why couldn't you just figure it out here and be that guy here and then we wouldn't have the center depth issue and, but we all obviously know that, you know, don't have to reiterate all that, but nevertheless, I see that a lot. I was listening to 32 Thoughts yesterday, walking Pedro around the neighborhood and I skipped to the part- Is that your dog? That's my dog, yes. It's not like some guy I know.

I'd like to make that abundantly clear. Yeah, yeah. And Pedro was listening to like Joe Rogan or something. He's got an open mind. He's a hannibal. Thanks, kind of a jerk. He's got an open mind. He's a hannibal. Thanks, kind of a jerk.

And anyway, Freage was talking about the Canucks and the JT Miller trade. And basically it came to the part where I think Kyle said like him leaving wasn't just about his relationship with Petey, right? And Freage was like, no. No. But it was a lot his relationship with Petey, right? And Freach was like, no. No. But it was a lot to do with Petey, but all Freach said in kind of a dramatic way was like, it was time for him.

I think it was time for him to go. I think, I think JT became almost unmanageable in, in Vancouver and both sides recognized that he had to go. So listen, it's just, since we don't know all the details, I think the thing about all of this is, it's just really damn unfortunate because you had it. You had it. You had the blueprint. Like on paper you had it.

You had the blueprint. Like on paper, you had it. You had this guy that in JT Miller that when he channeled his emotions properly, he could be just a terrific leader from a, we'll drag you into the fight type of guy. And in Pedersen you had this ultra talented, you know, very cerebral, but also hardworking type of center that, you know, when he was on, he played like a selkie type player where he was great defensively, but also dynamic offensively. You remember the comparisons that were made to Pavel Datsuk and those

comparisons by the way, were totally fair. He played at that level. And when JT Miller was on, you know, again, like one of the best passers on the power play you'll ever see. And Petey was a great finisher. I mean, and then you had Quinn Hughes and you had Thatcher Demko and just, it all fell apart. And what I'm, when I'm curious, I mean, I'm

obviously curious about what the connects are going to do, but they're in such a tough spot right now, I'm still curious about what the hell happened. And I know I've seen some sentiment because there are some people that just like can't handle what's going on in New York right now with JT Miller.

Like I saw some people tweeting out like, we need to just ignore JT Miller. I was like, well, buddy, that's not how the human brain works, right? Like people are going to be curious to see how this works out. So if you don't want to hear about JT Miller anymore, sorry, you're going to hear about JT

Miller because this is part of the soap opera and this is how people are going to follow the rest of the season. It's going to kind of be like Miller versus Petey, who can help their team the most? And right now the answer is easy. JT Miller is helping his team the most. And right now the answer is easy. GT Miller's helping his team the most. I have actually been starting to think about

like, what's this post-season press conference going to be like? I know we're like 20 games away. Lots can happen. But you know, you know, like, and I know, I know we're going to have press conferences after the trade deadline or whatever, but I'm talking about like everyone rolls out for their,

like, okay, here's the Pedersen to talk and here's management and here's like, I'd love to have that right now. Yeah. And I'll be like, what? Because when Miller was traded, there wasn't much, was there? Do they even have an availability? Like I can't even remember. Alve, well it happened on a Friday night and they were in Dallas. Yeah.

And Miller showed up to the rink, did like the sort of Grandpa Simpson in and out and then like left right away. Was there a big availability? Alve met with the media the day after. Cause they, I believe they returned home from that trip. That was the last game. Was there any media there?

Not on the trip. It was very quiet. It was very docile, to be honest. And then remember Miller played like the next night. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he didn't really, and then all he was talking about was like, I just want to focus on the future. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I just want to focus on my time as a writer. And that's fair. And that's fair as well, but there wasn't really a huge media dissection of the deal or how it came to be. I mean, that might've been the potential timing of why they did it on the road. I'm not 100% sure.

But the other thing I wanted to know, and when I was asking the listeners, I'm just genuinely curious about their sentiments because after the 10 game mark post-trade, you can kind of get an idea of where this thing is trending. Now, I'm not entirely surprised that Miller is reinvigorated and re-energized

with a return to New York. And I'm not really surprised that there's been a spike in production either. He was obviously underperforming and quite frankly underwhelming over his last 25, 30 games with the Vancouver Canucks. I can understand how that would irk some people even more. The notion or sentiment that he was either dogging it or

loafing it in his final days in Vancouver and then flip the switch the moment that he got to New York, I get that sentiment. It's probably not all that inaccurate. Mentally, I think that you could have- He was checked out, man. You can point that he was checked out, right? Is Brock Besser checked out right now? He's kind of playing like it. Is Pedersen checked out right now? Well, possibly. Pedersen still has seven years left on his deal.

What I'm curious about is if anything has changed in this short window, because the more and more sentiments that I see right now are that this is not just about a personality clash and a fracture, it's that the team's offense has taken such a 180 this season. And this just sort of capped it off. It was the chef's kiss on what was at one point a pretty useful and effective offense to one that just struggles to score goals and to find the back of the net with any sort of regularity.

Okay. Some other news from around the NHL last night as we get onto the back half of the first half hour here, big game between the Capitals and the Senators last night. You see the Tilly, the tilt between Tom Wilson and Brady Kachak didn't get the fight at the four nations face off. So they did it last night. Wild game where the caps had a three nothing lead. They blew that three nothing lead. Then they came back to beat the Sens five four in the shootout. Sens are in a real bad spot right now. They've now lost for the sixth time in seven games. This is despite the fact that they've got all these guys back,

including guys like Kachuk and Pinto who had missed time post-break. The Caps, they had their season-long losing streak, Snap, three games, just to give an idea of how dominant they've been this season. So that was the one out of there. We got the Panthers and their in-state rivals at Tampa Bay. Lightning played last night. It was a 2-1 win for the Panthers over Lightning. Big story there, of course, was that Seth Jones made his Panthers debut, played a lot, well over 20 minutes as they kind of expected. Almost scored a goal early in the second period, played to

a huge round of applause from the Panthers faithful. So that's an interesting one as well. As we go to the standings there, a lot of people are talking about what that Atlantic division is gonna end up looking like, because right now, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who also played last night,

and kind of blew a point by losing in the shootout to the San Jose Sharks, it's now Toronto and Florida atop that division. Toronto's in first by way of the tiebreaker. They're both on 79 points. And the people in Toronto are already starting to do the hand wringing thing about potentially having to play one of these two Florida teams in the first round.

Right, cause that's the possibility of what's shaping up right now. And they would obviously like to avoid those, hopefully sliding into one of the wild cards because it's kind of a given that the Caps are going to finish first in the East and they're going to get the second of the wild card team. So there's a bunch to play for there atop the Atlantic. And of course the Caps finishing last night atop the Metropolitan, they're going to win that division running away.

Austin Matthews, should we talk a little bit about him? Because he's only got 22 goals this season. How many did he get last season? 70. Was it 69? Was it 70? Yeah. Let me double check on the final tally there.

But Austin Matthews obviously has missed a ton of time this year. And when he has been healthy, the production hasn't been there anywhere close to last year. Do we have some audio from fan 590? Oh yeah, we do. So who are we listening to here? This is the post game show from last night.

It's JD Bunkas and Sam McKee, two huge fans of the Health and Rough show. Right, okay. Well, here's what they're saying about Austin Matthews. There's just some with Matthews body language that's just not there for me this year, man. Yeah, I've been talking about this a lot. Sure.

I don't even know, I don't know. I am out of theories. I don't know what's wrong with them. Something's wrong with them. Like, we're heading towards the deadline and you gotta win the division, but I don't know what's wrong with him. Something's wrong with him. Like I, you know, we're heading towards the deadline and you got to win the division, but I don't know. Like, I don't know how hurt he is. He plays 25 minutes here.

Like I, I, he just looks tired, tired. Quite frankly, he's a shell of himself. I know that's a strong statement, but it's just, he's not even close to the same guy. So I don't know. I don't know. A shell of himself. That seems to be going around. He has 52 points in 46 games, but It's a shell of himself

Goal score 69 goals which is very nice nice trade PD for Matthews get them both back on track see there's a big difference between the two Don't watch the tape I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but Toronto's in a weird spot because we've had a couple of guests on the show this year. And the entire regular season, and I don't mean to cast dispersions onto any of their media members, but it almost seems like they're

trying to find new interesting things to talk about because the team has been so much in, well, let's just wait until the playoffs for the last couple of years. And this year is no different. Like the Austin Matthews trajectory goal scoring wise this year, it's interesting, but the only time that it's going to matter is once they get past game 82 of the regular season and they start the postseason because there, it's going to be the test whether Matthews is truly a shell of himself or not. I thought he was good at the four nations. Although is truly a shell of himself or not. I thought he was good at the Four Nations,

although I thought a lot of the American players that were playing with a lot of heart and a lot of drive looked pretty impressive. I thought Eichel was really good. There was a handful of guys, obviously the Kichucks did their thing. But I have watched enough Leaf games this season to see that Matthews is nowhere close

to the player that he was last year where he set all kinds of franchise goal scoring records and everything. But he's also missed a ton of time cause he's been hurt and you gotta think that has something to do with it. I've talked to a few guys from Toronto who just, who just thinks that like Matthews is almost

like constantly dealing with something, whether it's his back or his wrist and I and for some theories about just like the way he shoots the puck and the way he contorts his body to shoot the puck. Too much torque. Too much torque. Yeah. Too much torque.

Um, there's a lot of, a lot of texts coming into the Dunbar lumber text line. Um, Juan from Comox asking, do you think Petey regrets signing his contract, money aside? I was like, I don't know, man. I don't know what's in Petey's head. I have no idea what Petey's thinking because he doesn't really,

I don't know if you've noticed this, but it doesn't seem too open to opening up to the media. No, finds it annoying at times. He finds it annoying. Yeah, yeah. Here's the thing, coming into the show tonight, it feels like every night I'm doing equal parts New York Rangers updates as I am to Vancouver Canucks updates

and that's because this dynamic continues to mushroom cloud and grow. Also, as we get closer to the deadline, as we try and figure out if the Canucks are gonna be able to salvage the season and becoming more and more skeptical by the day and what that looks like when they start orchestrating trades because they've been busy this year they have one of the biggest trades in the NHL this season

moving Miller and it's been one of the most fruitful ones for the Rangers. Do you think Rangers shows are doing Filipino updates every day? Probably not. Probably not. Paul texted in McDavid's a shell of himself lately too. So much shelling going around. I wonder if the four nations face off was a mistake. Did we push these guys too hard? And did we push them too far? But McDavid and Matthews, that was a problem well before the four nations. And we all know that Petey was a problem before the four nations.

But did you see what the Florida Panthers did yesterday? They announced that Matthew Kachek is going to be out for the remainder of the regular season. LTIR. Yeah, but he's not going to play again until the playoffs. Besser to the Panthers. Jimmy Aces. Jimmy Aces. Yeah, he called it.

Of course, a lot of people are just waiting for the trades, and at this point we're just playing the waiting game, and soon we'll get tired of that and we'll break out the Hungry Hungry Hippos. Now we play the waiting game. No, the waiting game sucks. Let's play Hungry the hungry hungry hippos. Now we play the waiting game. No, the waiting game sucks. Let's play hungry, hungry hippos. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

A month and a half, two months of Miko Rantanen and the same playoff fate that you've had the last five or six years. If they go and utilize it as a rental. They would have to win the cup for that thing to pay off if he walks. Anything short of that is a disaster. As a Canucks fan, depending where you stand on this issue, would that almost be like a good thing for the Canucks?

Because let's say Carolina keeps Rantanen, regardless of what they do in the playoffs, let's say Rantanen walks away. So they got all that cap space. They've had interest in Pedersen before. Now they wouldn't have Natchez to trade, but they might be able to put together some sort of interesting package for Pedersen. Am I too focused on finding teams to trade Pedersen too?

One, yes. Oh, so you're not worried about it? Oh, I'm extremely worried about it. My worry would be that the longer this season plays out, the worse it's going to be to try and get a return. If this season continues with 20 more games of the performance that we're seeing right now, the

trade, the interesting trade offers, as you put it, are only going to be interesting in the assortment of garbage coming back the other way. Yeah. Because it's not going to be good. I half wonder if we need two months of Pedersen not playing hockey games in order for there to be time for people to talk themselves into maybe trading for Elias Pedersen. I think that the theory of maybe like having some time away and allowing everyone to breathe

and they'll be like, okay, is this a distressed asset that now that everyone's had that exhale, it, we're able to go after it? Maybe. I don't know. I honestly don't know how much damage has been done to the asset. I know that there's been some though.

I know that there's been some.. I know that there's been some. I think there's been a lot. Right. In terms of the asset value in the trade market. I think that the Canucks would be, it would be in their best interest to move on from this as soon as possible because this is going, there's two issues here.

One is the player himself. And I think you could make a fairly valid argument right now that if he's going to rediscover a game, his game, it might not be in this market, on this team, in this city. The whole change of scenery, which a lot of people have talked about, and there's probably some validity to it. There's also the managerial aspect in which a management group that historically has done a fairly decent job of cleaning up their own messes is now tasked with cleaning up their

biggest mess so far. Because this is. Yeah. Of the failed signings that Rutherford and Alvin have had, right now, this is the biggest mistake that they've made, without question. Mikheyev is a drop in the bucket compared to this. So is Kuzmenko. Any other deal. This is a profound problem. As much as you say all this, I 100% agree with it, but in the back of my mind, I'm kind of like, yeah, but I wonder if they're going to gamble on keeping him and just being like, hopefully we can turn this around. Because if they do trade him, then you're in a situation where you have very little down the middle.

This is why it's such a tough situation and probably and understandably a lot of people are listening and going like Bruff definitely wants Pederson traded. Canucks luck, he regains his form, becomes a superstar again. No, no, no. JT Miller? I honestly, I just care about the Canucks, right? And regardless of whether or not Pedersen regains his form outside of the Canucks, like it doesn't, like it does matter, but, but what are, if the Canucks trade Pedersen, what are they then left with?

You have to trade your way out of it and you have to trade your way into it. You rob Peter to pay Peter. How are they going to find a legit top six center? You trade Besser, you trade Pedersen, you take the bounty of assets in return, you try and find one. I'm not saying... It's real difficult man. You know what's extremely difficult? Trading your way out of your problems that you created. I know. Which is what they're... I mean I know this does not seem like rocket science but I'm not

agreeing with any of it by the way. I think it's a crazy way. I'm honestly glad it's not my job, but that's what it is. Really. It's a, they're, they're in such, such a tough spot because there is that temptation to keep Pedersen and hope, hope, hope, hope, hope that he can turn it around, but if they do do that. Do we do. And then next season, Pedersen is the same, then is that a risk that they're willing to take?

I doubt it. Because then he's untradable. No one's going to take him because then you've had like the, I guess you could still have the, you've changed the scenery argument, but then you'd have the, well, he had an entire off season to get into shape, get stronger, try and figure out what's

going on between the ears. And he's still like this. So, and, and at the same time, you're looking at what that would do to the spirit of the team. Okay. All I'm saying is that I like to try and base some of our ideas and theories here in fact. And I often say, and I'll say it again,

that a pretty good indicator of future behavior is what's happened in the past. This is a management group that has done the Rob Peter to pay Paul as it relates to rebuilding the blue line to get what they've got right now, which by the way, if you've got a top, let's just go top three, Hughes, Frohnick, Pedersen. Well, two of those three were completely rebuilt

via trade, right? That was Frohnick and that was Pedersen. And that came at the expense of the forward group, right? But they've done this before. They've tried to trade their way. And it's not trade their way out of it, but it's trading. I like the Peter Paul analogy because it makes sense, right?

With this one, I think that you can go to another instance of past behavior, which is when they've realized that a deal isn't working out, they move on. They haven't really shown the patience to let's see if it works itself out. Yeah. They just haven't. But this is a different category. It's a bigger category. What's the largest category?

Five? What's the category five? It's a category five. It's the biggest category you can get. So pretty much it's a no win scenario regardless of what they do. What do you mean? Unless Petey regains his form,

which seems slim at this point. I don't understand the question. They keep Patterson, He doesn't regain his form It all goes to hell or they trade him they get less assets back. They lose the trade Can't figure it out The trade him and they can't get the assets back and then he regains his form with the other team There's all these three scenarios and none of them like these are like a dolly wall of scenarios I'm just saying nothing looks good. What is that? Well, the highest upside scenario is they keep him and he regains his

foot. Yeah, that side is the, that is the only one. Right. Ramon texts in, he says, you might as well rebuild at this point. If you trade PD for a meh package, how is it even possible to create a real contender? Um, other people texting in, Rager, he's 26, there's so much time for him

to figure it out here. Yeah, Rager, but on the other hand, he's 26, there's so much time for him to continue to struggle like this here. Like, it's, it's, from a marketing perspective, think of, think of, if they bring him back and he still stinks. Just think of how ugly that could get at the arena as people walk around and they're just like I hate this team. This is the worst day of my life. This is brutal and how much did I spend to get in here like a thousand bucks to bring the family?

You're right. Oh the way. Oh by the way There's tariffs now, and I don't have a job anymore, but at least the music's happy. Ticket prices going up next year You're right. This song does make everything better. Morning Batch. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys? We're well It's been an eventful first couple days to start the week and we haven't even had a Kanax game yet, we have to go all the way back to the weekend for that one.

The way that that road trip ended and the negative thud that it was met with from the media and from fans and everything, what was it like calling those last two games, Batch? Yeah, it's a team that seems to be fighting things right now in terms of getting results, in terms of building on positive things that happen in games. Cause it's not like they were dreadful for 60 minutes every night throughout the

road trip, right? They had leads, they played well in stretches, but things seem to get away from them right now. And, you know, for a team that, you know, was so good scoring first and protecting leads last season, and I know last season is basically a different team now with all the changes that have been made, but to see such a departure from that is, you know, I mean, we've seen it through 60 games now, but it's been surprising, to say the least, and it's part games now, but it's been surprising to say the least, and it's part of the reason they haven't been able

to gain more traction in terms of, you know, building on wins and winning streaks and extending those opportunities to put themselves more comfortably in the playoff picture, certainly than where they are right now. Consistency, or a lack thereof, has been a talking point all year long. I go back to that interview that Patrick Alveen did

with IMAC right prior to the start of the new year. And he said, like, we have a hard time figuring out what team's gonna show up on a night-to-night basis. And now, it almost feels like that's been whittled down to period to period. Because, you know, when we came in on Monday, I was talking about, after the first period in Seattle, they threw to the panel and Freage was talking about what a good period that was from Vancouver and especially on the heels of a disappointing

Performance in Anaheim and then the subsequent second and third periods They didn't have any of that form that they showed in the first So I feel like in a very weird way that the inconsistencies that were there game to game are almost now appearing Period to period which is a worrying thing. Yeah, well, and this is something this team struggled with early in the season too. We can remember them talking about needing to find that 60 minute effort and put together a solid 60 minutes.

Ultimately that's been a struggle for them. And, you know, whether that's, you know, they get a lead and they sit back too much or get too high on their horse I don't know if that's necessarily fair or true and every time Rick talk it's asked about that he essentially says well I don't know why we would get complacent we have no reason to be complacent we haven't you know earned earned the right to be complacent in those situations because we need to be on our game and on our game from the drop of the puck

till the final horn in order to have success. But yeah, that's been a struggle for this group. It continues to be a struggle and it continues to be baffling, right? Like it's not like there's an obvious solution to some of these issues with consistency. It's just something they've been battling all season and something that they continue to battle. And, you know, with

20 plus games left, we'll see if they can get on some sort of a run to solidify their playoff positioning. But based on past form, it seems unlikely that they're going to rattle off five or six wins at any point here down the stretch. Although I guess there's time before the deadline here so we could see some personnel changes that could impact things and one of their better stretches in recent memory was the run they went on right after they made the trades and brought in guys like Marcus Pederson and Drew O'Connor and Philip Heidel right before the Four Nations break. So I'll be interested to see how either the movement the Canucks make before the deadline or the fact that the deadline passes and guys can exhale

because they know they're not getting traded. If that impacts this team's ability to find some more consistency in their game down the stretch. What did you see from Brock Besser on this road trip? Not a lot to be honest in terms of what he's capable of doing when it comes to scoring goals and being involved in the offense. For a team that's really struggling to score right now, this is a guy that hasn't scored enough and isn't a big enough factor, especially at five on five.

You notice him on the power play because he gets the puck and, you know, has more open looks and more opportunities. But at five on five, it's been very quiet around Brock Besser. And, you know, like I was alluding to before, I'm sure there's a lot going on with him. The deadline's coming up.

He doesn't know what his future is going to be, both in the short term, the rest of this year, and in the long term in terms of whether he's going to sign a contract and stay a Knak or whether he's going to be on the way out. So dealing with all of that noise, I'm sure is challenging, but at the same time, you're one of this team's top offensive players and not that he's like, I'm isolating him for criticism because we all know we've spoken so much about Elias Pedersen in this market

and Jake DeBrasque I thought had a somewhat quiet road trip as well after a couple of goals early on. Ultimately, for the Canucks to have success, their top offensive players have to produce and Besser is among a group of guys in that conversation that aren't doing enough and aren't scoring enough right now. How much do you think Besser's game was affected by the trading away of JT Miller? Yeah, I think there's certainly a chemistry that they had that we saw yielded tremendous results for both of them last year. And now that Miller is gone, not just for Besser, but in terms of the overall structure of the lines,

it feels like there's a lack of chemistry there. And that's always going to happen when you make trades and bring in new faces. You know, guys are going to take time to settle. And you have to understand if you're playing with a guy that was just acquired, you have to figure out his game and how he plays and the best way to play off him. So, you know, I agree. I think Besser and Miller together were such a great tandem that now that Miller's gone,

Besser is kind of trying to find his way in terms of line mates. It also hasn't helped that because the Canucks haven't been good of late, but the Lions have been switched up numerous times. So, you know, Besser was down on the third line at one point. He's been back with Pedersen. I think he had a brief stint with Heidel at one point in there, too.

It's, you know, hard to remember because of the way things have been shifted. But ultimately, you're Brock Besser. You were a 40-goal scorer last year. You should be capable of generating and producing offense without JT Miller. That just hasn't happened yet for him since the trade. So in theory, the fact that Connex have seven of their next eight games at home is a good thing.

In theory, I wonder though, if they continue to struggle and certain players continue to struggle, if playing at home will actually add to a bit of the stress around this team? It might because there's going to be more media around, more questions being asked, more focus put on the struggles if they do continue. And that's gonna be challenging for these guys, I'm sure. But at the same time, I look at this stretch and I say, yeah, there's a lot of home games, but there's also a lot of games against teams

below the playoff bar right now. So, you know, as much as I know that might not provide people a lot of comfort with a team that's coming off losses to Anaheim and Seattle, but this is also a tremendous opportunity. You're playing at home, you're going to get some practice time over the next few weeks at Rogers Arena, you're playing teams on paper most nights that you should be beating. So there's a big chance for you here to solidify your playoff position in the next two weeks, leading up to that head to head match up with the Flames in Calgary, I believe on the 12th, which could be a massive game for both teams. So, you know, to me, we hear Rick talk and talk about sort of mentality at times and I think, you know, the the glass half empty side of this stretch is a lot of games at home. They've struggled to find consistency on home ice. Maybe they feel the pressure more when the fans are in the building and the media is around

and there's more focus on them. But if I was in that room, I would be wanting to look at the glass half full side of things, which is we're playing at home, we're playing some teams, we should be able to beat and if we can find our game and have a good couple of weeks here, that's all we need in terms of, you know, really cementing ourselves as a playoff team. So it could be a challenge, but it's a great opportunity for this group as well. We're speaking to Brendan Batchelor, play by play voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650.

In Saturday's loss to the crack, and Quinn Hughes only played five shifts in the third period, he sat out the final nine minutes and five seconds. Prior to that injury and sitting out, what were you seeing from Hughes? Yeah, well, it was clear he was battling something. They kept showing those clips on the broadcast of him trying to stretch off at the bench,

and then ultimately sitting at the end of the bench with his head hanging low when he wasn't able to come out and, and be on the ice when they were trying to make their late push at the end of the third period. So, uh, ultimately, I guess we'll see if Hughes is at practice today, if we get any news about where things are heading with him. But, uh, you know, I can't imagine how frustrating that must be for a guy that you know has had to miss a bunch of time here sees

this team struggling knows he's a guy that can make a difference and yet you know late in that game was unable to get out there and contribute in the way that he would want to and and let's be perfectly honest like I talked about this next couple of weeks is a big opportunity. They need Queen Hughes to make the most of that opportunity. So hopefully for their sakes, it is indeed just a short term thing and he is able to get back to practice today and potentially play later in the week here, if not in their next game tomorrow. Because yeah, as I said, you know, a Queen-Huseless Canucks down the stretch here with the number of games they have and the congested schedule, that makes things

a lot more challenging to produce offense and by extension to win games, which is what they need to start doing here. Without getting into specific names, because we're not going to know any names. If there was one element that you think this top six needs, it can be, you know, speed, it can just be talent, skill, size, nastiness, like what does the top six group need? Well, I think it does need speed, but it needs someone to create space for some of these skilled guys, right? So that's like a speedy for checker kind of who could get in, can be a physical threat,

can create some room out there for guys like Pedersen and Besser if he's still here beyond the end of the week to, you know, have more opportunity to get pucks to the net. And ultimately, what this whole conversation comes down to is shooting the puck more. And we know with Elias Pedersen in particular, that's been a struggle of late. So get someone that could kind of be a battering ram in there that can knock the door down and give you some room to find your offensive game, to be more comfortable getting pucks to the net to create more opportunities. And then obviously, if you're requiring someone to play in the top six, you hope they have some scoring ability or playmaking ability of their own. But I think

speed is something that they lack at the top of the lineup. And that's why we've seen Drew O'Connor be given some opportunities up in that top six, I think. But yeah, more of a physical threat. Kind of, unfortunately, and I hate to characterize it this way, they kind of need a JT Miller type back in their top six. And ultimately things didn't work out with JT, and there's a lot of reasons for that. And a lot of those reasons may be more off-ice

than on- ice issues. But if I was picking a magical type of player that they could pluck out of thin air to fit into their top six group, it's someone that brings a lot of those same characteristics that we saw from number nine when he was here in Vancouver. Batch, can you remember in your time covering the Canucks, if there's been a tougher decision

to make than what the Canucks should do with Elias Pettersson? No. I think you could argue there's never been a more difficult decision in the history of the franchise, let alone in my time covering the team here over the last decade or so. There's never been anyone that's been paid this well in the history of the franchise. And the fact that his game has seemingly evaporated into thin air is a very real concern.

And I don't envy management with this situation because you're kind of you know in a situation where you know either decision could be the wrong one right like let's say you bet on the player you say okay you know he's struggling to find his game we hope he'll find it down the stretch and if he doesn't he'll have a summer to figure things out and he can come back in next year and be an improved player. Well, that's a 11.6 million dollar gamble that you're making for seven more years on that contract.

And if he comes back in next year and isn't any better, then that just could be a contract that you're saddled with for most of the next decade. And then we're talking about, you know, where things go from there and how they get out of that situation. Or there's the very real possibility that they do decide to trade him, probably not in the next few days here, but let's say in the summer

before that no movement clause kicks in. And, you know, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Pedersen was traded, that he might then go and find his game again somewhere else and get back to being the kind of player that that he has been for the Canucks in the past. So, you know, there are some scenarios where they get out from under this contract and Pederson continues to struggle and it looks like a really good decision for them. Or the other side of things where Pederson

figures it out over the summer, comes back next year and gets back to being the dominant top level player that he's capable of. But there's a lot of landmines that they've got to tread around here through this situation. And ultimately it's going to be fascinating to see how it plays out. But it's going to be fascinating to see how it plays out. But, um, you know, to answer your original question, I can't remember, you know, anything quite like this in the history of the Canucks. And it's hard to even remember something like this, uh, from other teams around the league in terms of such a big money contract being signed so early in a player's career.

And it already being such a big issue for the team and for the organization. Batch, this was great as always. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it. Have a good call tomorrow night. We'll do this again not next week, but the week following. Sounds good. Thanks boys. Have a good one. Thank you. Brendan Batchelor playing the play voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.