Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 3/5/25

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they chat NHL trade deadline rumours with Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli, plus the boys preview tonight's Canucks home game versus the Ducks with analyst Randip Janda. 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. So the news from practice yesterday probably had less to do with what happened at the practice as opposed to what happened after the practice, Jason. Leas Pedersen met with the media for one of his lengthiest, most honest, most open and most candid scrums of the year, talking with reporters about a number of things following Canucks practice yesterday ahead of tonight's game against the Ducks. Yeah, which audio do you want to start with first? Because I've obviously got a few thoughts on this and I'm sure the listeners will have some thoughts as well.

Okay, let's go right to him talking the flat out. He has not been good enough this year. It's just Petey talking about expectations and how Petey hasn't met them this season. He also went on to add that I haven't been the way I want to be this year. more than anyone and yeah good practice today and I'm ready for tomorrow. He also went on to add that I haven't been the way I want to be this year. I haven't played to expectations. I have expectations on myself. The franchise has expectations on me as well. We have expectations on Laddie to play the right clip but he played the wrong one. So when we talk about expectations and Billy's to hold a five minute scrum later today.

I don't know how we don't get on the same page about this. It started out very much with Leas Pedersen owning it. And that seemed to set the tone for the majority of the comments that he put forth after that. As a matter of fact, Pedersen then also went on to address his little spat with the media following a game against Utah last week where he called the media annoying after I asked the question about whether the pressure and the lack of confidence as mentioned by his head

coach Rick Taukid was having an effect on his game. Here's Petey's Mia Culpa on dealing with the media from yesterday's media availability. No, I mean, I appreciate the love all the time. Maybe I'm not the best showing it all the time. I mean I think it was after my comments against the Utah game I missed a breakaway and I got asked about it and how frustrating the season's been. I was really mad at that moment and I said something I didn't mean. I said meaning is annoying, which is, some days can be, but it's not, it's the last

thing that's making me play bad or not myself this year. Okay. Let's start with the comments about, I haven't been the way I want to be this year. I haven't played to expectations. It's good. Good that he knows played to expectations. It's good. Good that he knows that. Yeah. It's good.

It's a good start. I guess he opened up his social media again. First of all, I've never bought into the idea that Pedersen doesn't care or that he got paid and stopped working. I think, I think that's dead wrong. I think he cares a lot. I think, I think that's dead wrong. I think he cares a lot.

Um, I'm not sure he knows how to deal with that or he has known how to deal with that. And I think the fact that he does care a lot only makes it harder when he isn't playing well and living up to expectations. When you're a pro athlete that's dedicated his whole life to a craft, a lot of your ego is going to be tied up into how you are performing. And sometimes when your ego gets bruised, it's hard to deal with it. Think about any of us in our life, if there's something that we do that we're proud of and someone says,

you're not doing a very good job of it. And you kind of know deep down inside that you're not doing a very good job of it. If you get criticized, you're going to react in people are different people are going to react in different ways. Sure. If you're super mature and you've, you know,

maybe a little bit older and you've gained wisdom through the years, maybe you've learned how to be like, you know what, you're right. I think this criticism is coming from a good place and I'll work harder at it. Um, maybe when it's kind of new to you, you get defensive, right? Like you get super defensive.

You don't want to talk about it. Um, and sometimes you avoid the problem. Sometimes you do. Um, I thought it was promising that he owned his remark to Ian McIntyre and this isn't about the media. I, I, again, it's really not. This is about, that comment was about, when I saw

that comment, I was like, I didn't care about the media. Ian McIntyre has seen a lot through the years. He was kind of like, whatever. Like that, do you think that bothered him? He was just like, okay, well, I'm just going to write it up. The way I wanted it. The reason I wanted to play it initially, like

right off the top though, is that there was an overall sense of accountability and taking responsibility for one's actions. Yes. And I'm sure part of it was the team going, you're gonna go own this. Because based on how disappointed I heard the team was after that remark, and honestly bewildered,

I think is another word to describe how the Canucks felt. Like how can you act like that when you're playing like this? How can you act like that when your're playing like this? How can you act like that when your general manager has actually given an interview, what, a month and a half before saying like, you got to learn how to face the music? I'm sure there have been a few hard conversations. In fact, we're going to play some Rick Tauke at

audio that suggests exactly that. Might play it. Between team and player in the last little while about facing the music and owning up to his play and how he carries himself. You always hear Rick Tocca talking about body language, you know, how about actual language? And you are not only representing yourself,

you're representing the Vancouver Canucks. And oh yeah, you're one of the captains of the team. Which I'm actually mentioned in his article. Exactly. And that was rather intentional. Now, look, I don't think fans are going to hold a moment of frustration against a player, as long as they know it came from a place of frustration on performance and not indifference. Right? Like, cause that kind of came out as, it's like, you know, it's annoying to have to deal

with this stuff, right? Like. I think flippant and dismissive. Yes. Yes. Um, you know, the, the moment of frustration, you don't want to have it too with this stuff, right? I think flippant and dismissive. Yes, yes. The moment of frustration, you don't want to have it too much, but you think back to JT Miller, a lot of people would be like, yeah, he's slamming a stick and yelling because he cares about winning, right? They actually might see it in a positive way in that

he actually cares deeply about his performance and he's so mad about it that he's going to hurt IMAX feelings about it. Right? Like he's going to lash out. He's going to lash out and, and, and, and, and take it out on, you know, JT Miller would take it out on a stick or the boards or, um, to

teammates or himself or whatever, you know, like, um, I want to play the, the audio from, from talk it though, because I thought that was, there's, there's a number of things, both good and bad about the audio from Tauket and kind of lends more questions to it. So let's, here's Rick Tauket, the head coach on, uh, in this game after Elias Pedersen, uh, spoke.

And then all the reporters went up to Rick and said, actually, Petey said, you know, like, you know, like this and here was Rick's response. Yeah, I think for the relationship, you know, you can ask him, I think I have a really good relationship with Petey. I think the one thing that we've talked about and, you know, he has to own it and we've talked about that and I'm glad he's talked about that. There's nothing he could do in the past. There's expectations on him. Maybe he'd deal well with it. Maybe the preparation stuff, but now he can only go forward.

And the preparation now, you know, I know he's stayed on the ice a lot now early. He's meeting with coaches more. He's doing the last 48 hours or 72 hours, he's doing stuff that I'm like, wow, like that's the stuff we need from you. So the way way I look at it he has a good 22 games for us you might forget we might all forget about the 60 games or whatever that you know this year I think I've seen players have just average years and then have

great playoffs and what it was that guy that has a great playoff obviously he's signed but that guy benefits the team team benefits, he he reaps the awards because of that. So don't waste games, like he's got enough time to turn this thing around and help this team get where they want to get. So that is good to hear, but I think a lot of us are like, he's doing the things in the last 48 hours that we've wanted to see. So what was going on in the thousands of hours before those 48 hours? I mean, I'm not trying, honestly, I'm not trying

to be negative. I'm just trying to- You're doing a good job though. I'm trying to figure out, no, I'm not. Look, I just read a whole bunch of things. It was like, it was positive of a Pedersen, no I'm not. I just read a whole bunch of things, it was positive about Pedersen, but I think we're all curious about what was going on at the beginning of the season if he's not doing the work.

If he's finally doing the work now, what was going on? Let me try and phrase it a different way. It would be great and we would both love it if all of this came to fruition and that these 48 to 72 hours were a massive light bulb moment for both the player and the organization and that everything that is a both the Leah's Patterson and the Vancouver Canucks this season suddenly fixed itself with a good 48 hours of practice and him talking to the media candidly for five and a

half minutes and for the final 22 games of the regular season always going to be great. candidly for five and a half minutes. And for the final 22 games of the regular season, all was gonna be great. That would be ideal. That would be positive. That would be unbelievably optimistic. And at the end of the day, it would be excellent because it mean that what has largely been a slog this year,

that part of the year would be over. It's also kind of naive to think it's gonna happen. Kinda. I think that's a fair way of putting it. Because I have been more guilty than anybody of looking for solutions to whatever the problem is. And I think it's multifaceted. I don't think there's one. And I've been one of the guys that's been sitting here being like, this feels like it feels like the turning point. Feels like it's going to change. Feels like like this is, this is really going to take.

This is it. I think we figured it out. You know, we figured it out when he got the contract extension. All right. Don't have to worry about the uncertainty of your future anymore. You're financially set for life.

It's like running a scratch and win. You're set for life now. Then there was finding him a new winger. They went out on day one of free agency and got Jake DeBrasque. Okay. You're not going gonna be, you know, having to play with Nils Hoeglander and Ilya Mikheyev on the regular anymore.

We got you a brand new winger, he's gonna score you some goals. We figured that out. We solved that problem. Then, fast forward to this year, there was an issue with JT Miller. Okay, you know what? No problem.

We're gonna figure that out too. We're gonna trade away the guy that you've had a rift with. We're gonna move on from him. We're gonna choose you and not choose him. And that'll solve all of the extraneous noise and the lack of comfort in the room and the friction and the animosity we're gonna solve that too.

And now we're on, I've lost track of solutions. I know I named three, and I know I didn't name countless other ones. So when I talk about naive- You forgot about the, once the playoffs start. Right, of course. How did I forget? So it's, I'm glad that this happened.

I think it's a positive step, but I've seen positive steps before and I'm glad other things have happened before. It just hasn't translated to what- You actually went more negative than me. It's not negative when you point out all the times that I was being positive and I got burned on it.

And you would yell at me, you're like, you're still buying this in. I'm like, yup, because this management group believes in the guy, they paid him the money, they got him a winger, they traded away the guy he doesn't like, they're behind him 100%. Well, the reason I'm positive is that you hear he's putting in the work, which lend to my question of what was going on beforehand. I think in some ways it was an avoidance of the problem. Remember when Homer was hiding under a pile of jackets?

Was that the college episode? Yes. Right? He's like, he's like, he's, he had that big exam and, and he was like, well, my plan is to hide under a pile of jackets. And then the nerds were like, how about, how about instead of that, we cram for the exam.

Cram like you've never crammed before. So is P cramming now? Is that what he's doing? He's cram for the exam. Cram, like you've never crammed before. So is P cramming now? Is that what he's doing? He's cramming. Yeah. Yeah, he's, well, I hope so. I hope he's, he's cramming for the final 22 years. Uh oh, they brought out a pile of jackets to the ice.

This doesn't look good. Yeah. I, I, I, I, I'm not kidding you when I think there was an avoidance of the problem. How many of us in our normal everyday lives have a problem that we avoid? Never. I always tackle it head on. I tackle it just right head on. I would know I've never had a problem before.

Yeah, exactly. Right. And that's a problem in itself that you've never challenged. You're your whole life. You know how you say your whole life is what we learned? Yeah. Your whole life is also an act of avoidance. Yeah, that's how you make your life cozy,

if you just avoid everything possible. I want to play one more bit of audio from Elias Pettersson. And this is, it was funny how the media scrum went because he came out and started admitting some stuff. And then all the media felt like a lot more comfortable. Yeah. Asking them questions.

And like. Got brave, didn't you, J-Pat? No, but everyone was like, cause the thing is like, everyone says, oh, the media is so hard on Peddersen. Actually like we're walking on eggshells around this guy, you know, because we don't want him to storm out of the scrum like he did at one

point. So finally it's like, okay, he's in a good mood. He looks to be like, he looks to be open. And I guess the management has told him he's going to go out there and face the music today so we can ask questions. They asked him about his lack of shooting and wondered if, um, confidence was an issue.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, that comes with, obviously, not getting looks, trying to make the perfect pass instead of maybe simplifying it. I've always been a pass first guy, but I also have a good shot, so I should use it more. Yes, but it's definitely been, yeah, maybe it's not trusting it. But hopefully that's not a headline, but I'll definitely look to shoot more moving forward. So, you know how in the past I've said that PD always says, I don't want to create a headline

That's what I'm talking about. Did you hear that? Yeah, I just said it I hope that's not a headline to set it in the clip Which always suggests to me that he's reading a lot of what's being written about him because he cares and he has an ego and more importantly You know, not only is he reading what's being written about him, he's really taking to heart what's being written about him. And I realize this is so much easier said than done. As a guy in the media that gets like one millionth of the things said about him that, that, that, that Petey does, I read what's written about me.

And I, I don't care as much as I used to, but everyone cares, everyone cares, but it would be nice and probably helpful if he could get to the point where he just accepts that his comments are going to create headlines. Again, that's a lot easier said than done in this market. I'm actually imagining the headline right now. Petey doesn't trust his shot and he hopes he doesn't

create a headline by admitting it. Right? That's the headline. If you headline the headline. Comes the headline. Right? I mean, like it is. I hope this doesn't become a headline. Pedersen, I hope this doesn't become a headline the headline. Right? I mean, like it is. I hope this doesn't become a headline.

Pedersen, I hope this doesn't become a headline. Exactly, right? Sounds like someone who wants to make it a headline to me. Isn't it ultimately the goal that you should just find a way to stop caring about it? Like isn't that like how you gotta deal, like I don't see any other way to deal with it in a market like this.

So you gotta train your brain to stop caring about what people say and write about you. Which I get is really hard to do. Not even not care, embrace it. What do we say about the Kachaks? How they embrace the intention and they know, they know there are going to be some people that don't like them.

And they're like, yep, Brad Marchand knows there are going to be some people that doesn't like what he says. He's just his own man. He has his opinions. Now, PD doesn't want it to be a headline because he's basically saying like, I've lost trust in my shot. Sure. Right?

Sure. So obviously you don't want that as a headline, but I've just heard that so many times from him. I don't want to create a headline. I don't want to have a headline for you. Then I'm just like, you're going to, like, just face it that you, you're a star player, star hockey player in a hockey mad market. If you go to the grocery store, it's a headline. Sure. Right? Like you can either admit reality and face reality or keep going like, I hope reality is not reality. Okay.

At any rate, I don't know if it was cathartic to get all that stuff off his chest. I hope it was. And I hope he comes out flying tonight. Uh, perhaps as Halfords suggests, this is wishful thinking, but maybe we can have a reverse of last season where it started out great and finished badly. Perhaps this time it'll start badly and finish great.

And as Tauke put it, we'll forget about the last year. Okay. We got about two, three minutes here to run through everything else that happened with the Vancouver Canucks non-Peterson division yesterday. Really quick front practice. Quinn Hughes was out there for about 15 minutes and then was taken off the ice. His status for tonight, still very much up in the air. Jonathan Leckaromacky was called up from AHL Abbotsford, got right into the lineup.

I presume that we will see him tonight, although everything remains to be seen with this team until you get the lineup card right prior to the game. Yesterday, Pugh Souter became the main character for a little bit, especially last night. So this began with a report from Patrick Johnson at the province, citing an earlier report from Rick Dollywall that it appeared as though

that suitor, a pending unrestricted free agent, was gonna be on the move. Dollywall said that it did not seem as though suitor was set to sign a new contract. Peej then put out there that it sounded as though that Souter was being dangled in a variety of trade scenarios. That evening, yesterday evening, there was a report from friend of the show, Adam Kierzenblatt, suggesting that a deal was close with the Dallas Stars,

that Peej Souter may have been on his way to Dallas. And then that deal was being held up by the fact that the Stars were playing a game last night. That deal never materialized and shortly after the game Farhan Lelji from TSN reported that no trade for Pugh's suitor was imminent and as a matter of fact suitor is expected to be in the lineup tonight when the Ducks go to Rogers Arena to take on the Vancouver Canucks 730 puck drop. So there's definitely trade winds blowing around the versatile Swiss center, the Swiss Army Knife, who's not the fastest skater but a very cerebral one and it

does appear though that Canucks management is very much looking at trying to get something in return. I suppose for a pending UFA that they're not going to be able to re-sign. Who's going to play center? Well, tonight Pew suitor. No, I know, but like if they trade suitor. They're going to have to do the old trade in, trade out, we're going to make a problem with a trade and we're going to fix that problem

via trade as well. This management group has to be incredibly busy over the next 48 hours because the trade deadline is on Friday. If it's going to be center out, center in, goal scorer out, goal scorer in, they're going to need to get cracking because there's only, and not Seattle cracking.

I still can't believe they're going to risk maybe letting Brock Besser just stay with the team without an extension through the deadline. That seems, I remember when Frank brought it up and I'm like, I don't believe that. I'd be shocked if that happened. And now I think I'm surprised that remember when Frank brought it up and I'm like, I don't believe that I'd be shocked if that happened. And now I think I'd be less shocked because that seems to be where the momentum is going.

Yeah, like Frank's gonna join us at seven o'clock. Yeah, and it's like all of out of nowhere where Brock Besser had been the main character for the better part of five, six, seven days, all of a sudden it was Pugh suitor last night. So a lot of things in the air as this show goes along and we lead in to tonight's game, 730 puck drop against the Anaheim Ducks.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Frank Cerfali from Daily Face Off here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Frank, how are you? Doing pretty well. How are you doing guys? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

So two guys right now that a lot of Vancouver Canucks fans have their eyes on as we get closer to Friday's trade deadline. Let's start with Pugh Souter instead of Brock Besser because this is sort of a newer one for Vancouver Canucks fans. What do you know on Souter's future either in Vancouver or elsewhere?

I would say the best way to explain what's happening with the Vancouver Canucks right now is it's very quiet on the trade front. Okay, I don't think they've had much happening in the last few days. And beyond that, I don't think as I've talked to other managers around the league, I don't know that a lot of people have stuff going at this exact moment in time. So it's kind of been fascinating to watch this develop as it sort of feels like a few teams are waiting until Friday to see if prices can come down. And what all that means in relation to better and or suitor extension talks, I think remains to be seen.

I'd imagine that at some point today, if not yesterday or tomorrow, that they're making their sort of best and final. Here's where we view the situation and this is what we'd like to do. And if not, then accept whatever fate comes your way. Okay, a couple of questions. Is there something holding up the trades?

Is it the prices are high or is there one big domino that needs to fall, maybe ranting in, in, in Carolina? Like there needs to be a decision there before teams consider other players. What do you think's going on? I've been asked this question a lot. Um, I can't, I don't foresee ranting in as a What do you think's going on? I've been asked this question a lot.

I can't, I don't foresee Ranson in as a domino because I think there's a lot of teams that would be interested of course, but he may not ever make it to market. Like I don't think anyone sitting here going, well, I can't go out and not do anything and wait. Like, you know what I mean? There's not any indication that he's readily available yet. Right. Okay.

And until that happens, I don't know why teams would be holding up their plans waiting to see. Um, that said, I do think that maybe what would produce it, not necessarily a domino effect, but a run on moves might be the first center that goes. If it's Nelson or if it's Lawton or pick another Johnny Gord, pick another guy, that there's so many teams looking for centers that if one does fall, then the next team might say, well, I can't be left with nothing here and holding the bag, so I better just step up and pay the bag. So I better just step up and pay the price.

Well, that was the thing that I wondered about when I heard Puse Suter's name in the news and possibly being moved out of Vancouver. He's a pretty important center for them right now. You know, they got Pedersen who's struggling down the middle, Philip Heidel, who has been pretty good since coming over to the Rangers, but then Suter's their three C and Teddy Blugger's their four C. There's no one else

really that screams obvious center in the Vancouver system. I agree. And I hate to pun, but he's also a bit of a Swiss army knife. Yeah. I mean, he does, he has utility, like you can use them in different spots.

He's almost insanely consistent in his production throughout his entire career. There aren't many chunks or segments of the schedule that he is absent or doesn't show up for and he competes. So I think for a lot of the reasons we're mentioning, he's one of those guys that, you know, obviously the Canucks, will they survive if they don't have few suitor? Of course. But he's one of those guys that I think makes a lot of sense to keep and not necessarily as a pure rental for trying to ensure a playoff spot, but I would say even for a little while longer after that. So Brock Besser, is it trending towards him staying with the Canucks and possibly being unsigned?

I see that as a possibility. Now people have said that is ridiculous, reckless, pick the term you want in terms of how the Canucks would manage that. I think they're hopeful that they have the ability to convince him later on down the line based on the loyalty factor to stay if they go beyond Friday at 12 noon Pacific time. Yeah, I mean, I would just think that that would put a lot of the leverage into Brock Besser's camp just because they already have the leverage. Explain that. Just because they already have the leverage And explain that I think they've got full and complete leverage here Brock Besser has been a consistent goal scorer the caps going up. He's a relatively young ish ufa and

He does the hardest thing in the league to do which is score so He's looking for a bit more term than the Canucks have been willing to offer. And I think two parts of this are true. One, he's confident that he'll get that on the market and be well suited. And two, the longer this has gone on, the longer the Canucks have sort of questioned or at least, I'm going to say, and don't underline this because it's not meant to be said in capital letters, but they've almost dared, that's what the season was, a dare. Hey, you put up 40 last year, let's see what you can do this year.

And I think everyone reacts to that differently, but the longer this has gone on, it's also provided time for him to open his eyes to the dysfunction that's surrounded him. And you'd be blind to not see it before, but you'd also be shocked at how many players, especially ones that have been there for a long time, can have blinders on and that both of those things may be operating on, you know, the idea that you can be well

paid elsewhere and the dysfunction that's existed in Vancouver, that those two things could be operating on simultaneous tracks. And it's created an environment where I think there's probably not a ton of stress this week for him. And not to downplay it or underplay his connection to Vancouver, but he's happy to stay. He's also like, I believe just reading the tea leaves fine if he's moved or if he moves on this summer. We're speaking to Frank Sarvele from Daily Face Off

here on the Haliford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. On the subject of leverage as it pertains to Vancouver, the Vancouver Canucks and some of their players, I wanna shift the conversation to Elias Pedersen. If the Canucks are going to entertain moving him at some point or really just trying to dictate what the future has in store, how critical is it that the Canucks don't allow Pedersen to have any more leverage over this situation than he might already have? I think it's incredibly critical, and I'll give you a real world, recent example last weekend. Jeff Jones has the full no trade.

He voices publicly for a week prior to the move how unhappy he is, wants to play for a contender, and then adds in criticism of the team, turning the volume up to a 14, to the point where they feel like they need to do something for the betterment of the rest of the team. Right. With that, he gave them two teams to which you would accept the trade. The Dallas stars who immediately said, look, we've got so many young players to sign.

There's no way we can do it. We're not interested. That left the Florida Panthers who somehow the Hawks were able to keep it quiet. That Florida was the only team left standing and had that information gotten out, the Panthers would have had complete and total leverage to reduce the return. Sure. The last thing you want to do if you're the Vancouver Canucks, which assuming that we get to this point, we'll have had nearly 18 months of demonstrated poor

play from Elias Pettersson to then hand him on the other end of it, complete and total control over where he ends up and when. Was that Chicago, I want to ask a follow up question with the Pedersen stuff. Was, did Chicago just get kind of dumb lucky or was it savvy from Kyle Davidson keeping the cards tight to the vest or do they just, they catch a break that Florida didn't find out about this?

It's probably a bit of both. Like they also had Florida having a clear need for him. So there's a connection between Seth Jones and Bill Zito. He played for him in Columbus. Um, and for a team that was capped out and had little resources and assets to spend, they also had a goalie and were dealing with a team that didn't have that positional box checked in their rebuild That it almost kind of just lined up perfectly. So some of it was dumblock. Some of it was savvy Now some of the leverage that the Vancouver Canucks might have had has probably been damaged by the fact that Pedersen

Hasn't played very well for a long time now. That hurts leverage. How much is his trade value already plummeted? It's in the toilet. There's no way to confuse this situation. I believe with the term and dollars remaining on his deal, it's such an incredible risk that if we're not there now, the longer it goes on, we're approaching a point where it's, it's going to be just take them off our hands. And there's no value left. And that's, that was part of the risk of while all this was happening with Miller and they were trying to decide what to do and who goes and how do we, you know, how does this shape up?

The longer the season went on, the more his play was consistently poor. And I think the, it wasn't, it's not the nail in the coffin because there's still plenty of time to rebound, but we were all looking for these different points where his game might just rebound and it was, well Miller's gone and then it was, oh, four, four nations playing with his countrymen, that'll do it. He'll get confidence there and we've yet to see it for any sustained period of time that I think it's all compounded. So, you know, I, I'd be very surprised, of course,

if something were to materialize between now and Friday. I think when you look at the market as a whole in the summer, you never know how someone views it, but I've said this before, and I believe this quote that I got from a GM to be completely true that there is not one team in the NHL that today could acquire Elias Pedersen and feel 100% good about it. Even the biggest Pedersen believer has to feel some sort of pit in their stomach of what happens if he doesn't get back to the level that we've all seen him play at. What have you heard from the Canucks about this situation?

Like why do they think, I guess that's just the question, why? Why do they think this has happened? this has happened i i can't answer that i i don't i don't have any theories uh... i think that they've been bewildered by this as well uh... i think so much of it is is right between his ears i've talked about the idea of in and mentioned in passing, it's almost like watching a golfer with the yips.

Like the talent is obviously there. The ability, all those things, do I think that he wants to play poorly? Not at all. Do I think he wants to put together a strong game that he's proud of, that he can feel really good about. Yeah, of course. And none of this has ever been, you know, I've, I've seen and heard so many of

the comments like, Oh, like Frank's just a PD hater or what, like I just call, I say it and share it exactly how I see it. And more importantly, how I'm told what other people think around the league. And it's been really hard to watch. Like I think everyone's like, this is, this was a guy that was truly one of the best players in the league that has upside that even when he was at the 40 goal mark and a hundred point season, people were like, there's still more to,

there's another level to get to. Like he's still just scratching the surface, which makes this part of it, a million dollar a goal pace, that much harder to stomach. What are you hearing about the future of Rick Tauket? Well, that to me is the biggest storyline that hasn't been talked about enough, which is he

still doesn't, I mean, yeah, of course there's the option, but still doesn't really talked about enough. Which is he still doesn't, I mean yeah of course there's the option, but still doesn't really have a deal for next season and beyond. And I don't, I have no idea but I'm, I can't imagine there's been a ton of talk to this point. And he's such a driving force in all of this in terms of where the Canucks go next that I can't imagine watching all of this play out and swirl around him that it's been a fun or comfortable year to coach. So he's one of those guys that I think is always up for a challenge, but if Pedersen's gone, Miller's gone, let's see what happens with Besser. You know, you're facing potentially a year next year

where you're like, you're starting back at square one. And as exciting as LaKara Mackie looks, and obviously, you know, the Quinn Hughes show on a nightly basis is hugely impressive, especially given the injuries. I just, where do you go from here? Is this, if you had to, if you had to pick or if you had your pick of the litter, which I guess they're getting closer to walking him towards, would this be the place that you'd wanna do it?

Would Boston be a more appealing, I'm just throwing that out there because they've got a coach on an interim tag. Would that be a more appealing option right now? Probably, I don't see Boston in any different position. Probably not, but. Because I was trying to look at teams that. I'd like to go to another team with no centers.

Right, that's the thing. It's like, if you were going to leave, the idea would be, well, you'd go somewhere where the grass is greener. But it would have to be someone that has either got a vacancy or willing to create one, I suppose. And I was looking around, and Boston seemed like one. But then you look at it, and I'm not

sure the Bruins are in any better shape than Canucks. As a matter of fact, after last night, I wonder if the brooms are ready to wave the white flag on this season. And I think they're, they're right there. Um, then there's so how many other options are there? But then there's the question of what a team be willing to create an opportunity if he hits the market, which I think is a fair question. Like the blues Montgomery, Chicago has an interim. Are you intrigued by that? At the same point, you're starting with more

building blocks in Vannes. I don't know. It's a real existential question, I think, facing the Canucks. This was the most elaborate availability and frank and honest discussion that Elias Pedersen's had this year. That Elias Pedersen has been forced to do. Right, I mean, he didn't wanna do any of it. I don't blame him. Talking to the media is a pain in the took. That was pretty funny, he was like,

you know, I said some things I didn't mean, even though you guys are kind of annoying. Ah, it's annoying. Yeah, yeah. It's 100%, it. Yeah, it's annoying. Yeah. 100%. It's a fair and valid remark. Yeah. But it's the equivalent of complaining about part of your job.

Yeah. Go to work this morning and you're like, I'm sorry for calling you annoying, but know that I hate you. Everyone's got annoying parts of their job. A coworker, a co-host. I mean, there's someone that you just don't- You have one co-host. You just don't get along with why you put it at me

You don't particularly care for it's part of your job only one Maybe two or three. Yeah particular dogs that you don't particularly care for but anyway, let's focus on Petey here It's part of the job and yesterday he performed that job admirably. Mm-hmm. Give him credit for that. I Just have a hard yet his feet moving credit for that. I just have a hard time. He had his feet moving the whole time. I just have... Okay, but what happens if he comes out and just lays another egg? Well, we're used to it by now.

Yeah, what do you mean, what if? Well, after today's, or yesterday's rousing speech, all pumped up on cast. Was that a rousing speech? For him. Take it's the most he's spoken this year. Did he morph into Winston Churchill yesterday? What happened? I don't think any-

Here's in the eyes of the reporters talking to him. I don't think that- Never forget where we were. I don't think that any of this should matter. The only thing that matters is the performance on the ice. And it's great if this precedes a good performance on the ice, but if it precedes a l a good performance on the ice, but if it precedes a lousy performance on the ice,

I'm not gonna point to the media availability as anything other than in that moment, he was open and honest and forthright, probably for the first time this season. Because remember, one of the other more famous media availabilities from this year was him being asked about his rift with JT Miller and him denying

that there was one. And then, you know, getting the aforementioned annoyance, getting annoyed with some followup questions. I remember when, uh, Winston Churchill said, look, I, I don't want to make this a headline, but we shall fight them on the beaches. That was what he said.

And he said, please don't put this in the newspapers. Please do not make this a headline, but we shall fight them. We shall fight them on the beaches. That was what he said. And he's like, please don't put this in the news pages. Please do not make this a headline, but we shall fight them. We shall fight them on the beaches. Getting lots of texts requesting a Let's Go PD chant tonight. No. So maybe that, in conjunction with his presser,

is what's going to put him over the top. Maybe it'll embarrass him so much. He actually does something. You know. I still think the JT Miller chant would get him. Do you know how much I thought about that? We did that right at the end. Or crush him completely. We did that. What does would be funny. We did that right at the end.

Or crush him completely. What does this mean? So we did that right at the end of the show yesterday and I flagged that text and I'm like, I don't know if I should flag it because I don't want to read it. And the text was, what happens if a JT Miller, when an old school JT Miller chant,

I won't ask Andy to do it because Andy doesn't know how to chant. JT clap clap clap Miller clap clap clap. So the exact opposite of that. What happens if a JT Miller chant broke out at Roger's arena? And I didn't want to talk it into the universe, like talk it into existence, but I said, we read the text anyway, and I thought about it a lot after the show yesterday.

It would be so uncomfortable, so uncomfortable. But he did his presser yesterday, so I think it's less likely that that'll happen. I think the fans will be. That's why he did it, because he heard our show and was like, oh no, no, I can't handle this. I can't hear the intro. Let me talk to the media, please. I'll apologize. It's just like, I could, here's the thing. At some level,

I could see it happening, maybe not tonight, but at some level. No. What are you talking about? 1000% it could happen. You tonight, but at some level. What are you talking about? 1000% it could happen. You're 1000% it could happen. In a long lineage. Especially as we keep talking about it.

In a long lineage of terrible takes, this is right near among your worst. It could absolutely happen. I suppose if he had an absolutely atrocious game, maybe. Oh, what if that were to happen? Yeah. Has that happened yet? But after yesterday's rousing presser, I say we

give him the benefit of the doubt you act like all the media afterwards were like brilliant it was brilliant we're divorced crying afterwards I have never been so moved by a player availability bad feints Several people texting in to clarify a dog you thought that PD speech yesterday was just rousing Yeah, I didn't think I'll rouse. No people were like, you know, I think PD speech was a rousing No, it was a rousing speech. Maybe a little. And then shout out to Trendvice in the Dunbar Lover text message in basket who sent in a

Photoshop of Petey's head on Winston Churchill's body. It's been a show, folks. It's been a show. Okay, we'll do our business. We've left Randeeb on hold way too long. We'll do the business afterwards. Joining us now, Connex Color and a Stan Sportsnet 650, Randy Janda here on the Halifred and Bref Show. What up, Randy? What's going on, boys? I was at the

availability yesterday. I can confirm it was neither rousing or arousing. Yeah, okay, so you were there. What, you guys know? I was there. Did you all hug and cry at the end? No, we didn't. No, we didn't. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Andy. I know this burst your bubble. What was your takeaway from Alias Pedersen's media availability yesterday? No, he didn't. No, he didn't. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Andy. I know this burst your bubble. What was your takeaway from Elias Pedersen's media availability yesterday? Well, listen, it was honest. I think it's something that folks have been wanting for a while just to say, hey, address the struggles head on.

Obviously it was not the most comfortable conversation for Elias Pedersen, but I think he took it head on and it was nice to hear. There's a player that we see what's going on on the ice. He was obviously going through it, but to actually acknowledge and say, yeah, this is something I've been dealing with. This is something that I need to be better at. I think it was something that probably, you know, it was something that might take a little bit of weight off his shoulders.

Now, does that mean he's going to turn his play around? Does that mean he's going to have a multi-point game? I'm not saying that but I think overall guys, you know, it was something that was nice to see in terms of honesty to say, hey I'm going through it, I'm trying, I see what I need to be better at but it's been a grind this year and I think there's a little bit of optimism from him but also Rick Tauke just to say, hey, you can, it's tough to wipe 60 games just the way, because it's been an up and down season, more downs than ups. But for the rest of the season, if you want to make the playoffs, if you want to get back on track, kind of the mentality you have to have. What did you think? Where should we start here? Oh, new lines yesterday. Let's go with

Jonathan Leckermacky getting into the mix on a line with Philip Heidel. Thoughts? Yeah, I think with Lekermacky, what they need right now is a guy that really needs to provide an offensive boost. He's not afraid to take a shot and in a way, you know, they just need somebody that really is kind of coming in with that reckless abandon when it comes offensively. Just get shots through. This is a team, whether it's Pedersen, which has been documented thoroughly by everybody. I think Brock Besser is also in that conversation now

as well, the last five or six games, we're not seeing him get his shot off. You need to get pucks through. You need somebody that can pick corners and even shoot for rebounds, guys. This team hasn't done a good job of that over the last couple of weeks at the very least, if not all season

So with Leckermackie what you get is a guy of course in the HL 19 goals this season in 32 games. He's kind of like that home run hitter, you know 19 homeruns You know, he's a homerun hitter his stat line kind of reads that way But what I like about his game is that he's not gonna be be shy. You hit him in transition playing with Phillip Heidel, a guy that's willing to hang on to the puck. He's going to find Leckermackie in those soft areas. This is a sniper that is going to be able to find those soft areas. Now, with Leckermackie, it's just a matter of the speed of the game. You play at the AHL level, you acknowledged it yesterday.

When you get up to the NHL level, the the speed changes you have to get used to that. The other thing is playing with Philip Heidel this is going to be a difference. He hasn't done that yet. He had some success with JT Miller earlier this year. JT is a guy that likes to hang on to the puck too but Heidel's style is different so there will be a transition. You know one practice can help with that but, NHL game speed is game speed. And you know, it's going to be something that he's gonna have to get used to pretty quick here. What's your best guess on Quinn Hughes for tonight?

Quinn Hughes, based on the comments, like I had, you know, just reading Rick talking and the way he was talking, obviously this was my guess. I just feel like, I feel like it's a no. You know, the fact that he left practice after what, about 15 minutes and they were testing things out, you know, that usually is not a good sign. Now, Quinn's a tough guy. He's been trying to, you know, really grind it out and trying to power his team.

But to talk its point at some point, you gotta, there's a limit to that. Even you gotta get the guy some rest. So if I had to really, you know, make a guess right now, I think Quinn Hughes, just the way that he's clearly was a hundred percent coming back from the previous injury. Now you've got another tweak as Rick Tauke had called it, this is a lot for one guy that's

trying to power his team. So how many injuries are we talking about here? Is that, cause like I'm thinking about, there was the hand injury, there was the oblique injury, I don't know if the hand is still a concern, but the oblique I'm sure is still bothering him. Is there an, is your understanding now that there's another thing?

Yeah, I think from the way that I read the situation and you know, I think Rick Tauke had mentioned the hand injury first yesterday and then he talked about the next thing and that it the the something else he tweaked something else seems like a third one it didn't seem like it was a recurring injury so the way that you know he fell in that that previous game against Seattle obviously a lot of us focus on that because he got up a little slow he was slow to go to the bench. He was standing at the bench. You could tell he was not comfortable.

And when you don't play the final nine minutes and five seconds, of course guys. But the way I read that comment, the way I read that conversation, it felt like this was something new altogether, which, you know, that's a lot of miles. If you play a lot of minutes this season, when you're carrying the puck and you know, Quinn Hughes is pretty good about not getting hit, but let's be honest guys. He's been hit a few times this season when you're carrying the puck. And you know, Quinn Hughes is pretty good about not getting hit. Well, let's be honest guys, he's been hit a few times this season.

Teams are finding opportunities to get their licks in. And that's something that over a season when you're playing that amount of minutes, it's going to, it's going to grind you down. And the reality is he's an important player. He sees a lot of the puck, which means he sees a lot of attention from the opposition as well. What did you think of when Rick Tauke was

asked about Leckar Mackay? He kind of said, well, at this point, hey, why not? Yeah, listen, this is a coach that needs excuse me, offense desperately right now. And I go back to a clip that he had when a comment that he made prior to the foreign nations, when he was talking about Pederson and he essentially said I want PD to go have fun and try some stuff and you know that's a coach basically in my opinion begging for offense just going out there give it to the Four Nations be

creative come back with some offense. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.