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

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

 Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they talk last night's disastrous Canucks home loss to the Kraken with The Athletic Vancouver & Canucks Talk host Thomas Drance.  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. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa As Joey DeCord stops all 25 Vancouver shots for his fifth career shutout, and the Canucks are f***ed. I think we had some guys that really gave some effort, but I don't think we had a lot of poise tonight. There's some plays there, some poise stuff that we just got to relax in certain situations. They just played sucks.

I've seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked. Good morning Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Thursday! Happy Thursday everybody, it's Halford and his broth at Sportsnet 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. Good morning. Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and broth of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly yet knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service

or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Okay, so I got to read this. My voice is hanging on by a thread, kind of like Rick Talk at Sanity. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec Footwear and Orthotics working together with you in step. He sounds all right, right guys? Yeah. Yeah. Normal breath. There There's gonna be some voice breaks today. Nice. Adog will enjoy that.

We'll make a compilation. Yeah. We do have a big guest list ahead on a Thursday here on the Haliford and Bruv Show on Sportsnet 650. It begins at 6.30, Luke Fox, Sportsnet NHL national writer, is gonna join the program. We'll go around the NHL with Luke. We'll also discuss the Toronto Maple Leafs who clinched their ninth consecutive playoff

berth yesterday. That's the longest active streak in the NHL. Big win over the Panthers. Greg's just staring. Nine consecutive first-round exits. I know they've been. One second round exit. One second round. Eight first-round exits for the Leafs. We'll talk to Luke about all that at 6.30. 7.30, Justin Dunk is going to join the program from Three Down Nation. We will talk some CFL. Yesterday, obviously, we passed along the news that the CFL appointed Stewart Johnson as the league's 15th commissioner.

What is to be expected from the former TSN president taking over from Randy Ambrosio? We'll get the answers to that at 730 with Justin Dunk from Three Down Nation. At eight o'clock this morning, Thomas Drance, the Drancer from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk here on Sportsnet 650. Another awful home performance for the Vancouver Canucks last night, a five nothing loss to the

Seattle Kraken. Third time, third time that the Canucks have been shut out at home this year. And that happened a grand total of zero times, zero times last year. Yeah, it shouldn't ever really happen. So we'll talk to the Drancer at eight o'clock about that. Another really, really tough night for the Vancouver Canucks at home in front of the ticket buying public.

Five nothing lost to the Kraken. So Working Inverse on the guest list, eight o'clock it's Drancer, 7.30 it's Justin Dunk, 6.30 it's Luke Fox. That's what's happening on the Kraken. So Working in Reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock it's Drancer, 730 it's Justin Dunk, 630 it's Luke Fox, that's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody 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. As you heard in the intro, Joey Dachauer made 25 saves for the Seattle Kraken.

Thatcher Demko made 14 for the Canucks, a five nothing win for the Kraken or more as it relates to the show, a five nothing loss for the Vancouver Canucks, their third loss in five games. It has been a nightmare stretch after a little bit of optimism on the road and another gigantic thud at home for the Vancouver Canucks, a five nothing loss to the Seattle Kraken

on Wednesday night at Rogers Arena. Okay, so I'm gonna kind of interview you about this game because I wasn't able to watch it. I only heard the last little bit in the car, um, courtesy Brendan Batchelor in Randeep. And, um, so I'm going to interview you. Okay. Um, was this the Canucks basically going, man,

reality is setting in. It hasn't started out well, the Kraken basically going, man, reality is setting in. It hasn't started out well. The crack can get one, then they get another, and then it's like, we got nothing and it's over. Well, it's a great question, Jason. I would say that there were a lot of signs yesterday that the players acknowledged that the season is done. Yeah. They had two power plays in the first period.

I don't really think we need to parse down the dynamics and the inner workings of the actual game, but there was two power plays in the first period where the Connects had an opportunity to do something, anything to try and get off on a good start and get off a good foot and they didn't do it. And then it just became a goal, goal, goal, goal. And finally goal, the fifth goal

for the Seattle Kraken yesterday with not a lot of pushback. There were some testy moments where the players on the ice showed a little bit of punch, literal, in trying to show that they weren't happy with the way things are going, but it wasn't even nearly enough. And it was, I don't want to say it was the white flag, but it sure felt

like the white flag from the players. Yeah. So I saw the highlights obviously, but, um, was it weird? Some of the stuff like the Debrusque turnover wasn't weird, but it was bad. Thatcher Demko didn't look great in goal. That was bad. And I know we probably want to talk about other stuff, but I find it really odd that

Tauket pulled the goalie. I find that there's something weird about that. And if it was in a vacuum, if it was just by itself, I'd be like, cause I know what he said after the game, we can play the audio, but down four nothing in a game where they haven't had much, the season's pretty much done. And it comes right after a game where Taukeit was

criticized for not pulling the goalie. So I threw it out on Twitter as soon as it happened yesterday. I just want to remind people of what happened in Winnipeg. They were down 3-1, Thatcher Demko looks like he's like, are we going? See, there went my voice. We going? And I don't know if Tauke forgot to pull the goalie.

I don't know if he was kind of like just like in a daze or something like that on the bench, but didn't pull the goalie. And a lot of people made a lot of it. I heard it, you know, sat wondering about it in the post game show and as you should wonder about it, your season's on the line, you're down two, you don't pull the goalie, but then the next game

it's four nothing and you pull the goalie. That's, that's weird to me. So I put it out on Twitter and the two tweets, as I was on a tweet storm last night, two of them. First one said, pulling the goalie in this moment, that's just sending some sort of message, right? And then my followup and subsequent tweet was, everyone can feel free to guess exactly what the message is

cause I am out of ideas. Rick Talkett was asked about pulling the goalie while down four nothing with just under 5 minutes remaining yesterday. We don't have the question in the audio, but I'll paraphrase. It was very cleverly asked by whomever asked it. I think it might have been Drancer saying, in the past, Rick, you've talked about your players needing to earn the goalie pull. So what in this instance suggested that the players had earned it. There was a little bait being dangled out there for Rick Tauket. I don't think he necessarily took it. You be the judge. Here's what he said about

pulling the goalie down 4-0 with just under five minutes remaining in an eventual 5-0 loss to the Seattle Kraken. Last night, here's Rick Tauket. Well, you just try to, to you know you're looking for who's giving up who's not and I want to see you who knows you might need it on what do we play on Saturday six on five goal like you might as well do it so you know why not that's the way I look at it. So he caught himself there. Okay that was not a confident answer. He caught himself. He caught himself when he said I'm trying to see who cares and who doesn't. And then he quickly reverted to, we can also get some reps with the man advantage. I don't buy any of that. I honestly

don't buy any of that. That did not sound like an answer that was, I don't know. That was weird, man. It was yet another weird moment in the season. Yep. It was bizarre when it happened. I don't know what to make of it. It was bizarre when it happened. I don't know what to make of it. It was bizarre when it happened and. There's like three or four different explanations in there and none of them sounded convincing to me. The only one that I thought where he might go down the road of chastising his players for the crappy performance

was I wanna see who had given up and who hadn't. But then he quickly just diverted off to, well, we could use some reps on the six on five in case we need a goal on Saturday when we try and get another game in the bag. But did he sound super dialed in then? He was like, when are we playing again? Saturday?

No. I mean, again. I probably would have ignored it if it hadn't followed up that Winnipeg game where he was criticized for not pulling the goalie. Yep. There has to be a relationship there. You would think.

There has to be. You would think and they asked the question. I mean, that's the big thing about this is they went and asked the question about as directly and straightforward and forthright as you can. I mean, we could go back and replay the auto, but the question that was asked was as straightforward as possible. It's like, why would you do that? You said in the past that the guys have to earn a goalie pull and they were down four nothing.

It was one of their worst performances of the year at home. I don't want to criticize the person that asked the question, but I wish the Winnipeg game had been referenced. Like, I wish the question had been, you didn't pull the goalie when you were two down in Winnipeg, but you pulled the goalie when you were four down against Seattle. We got a chance. What are we doing here? You know, we got a text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650,

and it said, Tauket is paying attention to what the critics are saying about him. It was clearly a shot at those who criticized him for not pulling the goalie in Winnipeg, but was it a shot at outside the team or inside the team? I mean, that's a great question because there was zero, I want to just. It's like I don't think pocket cares what's, what anyone says on the post game show.

Yeah, yeah. You know? But in case anyone missed the game last night, there was a 0% chance that that was going to what anyone says on the post game show. Yeah, yeah. But in case anyone missed the game last night, there was a 0% chance that that was gonna provide any spark, any optimism, any hope. Like if you were watching the game, that was Dead Man Walking in blue

and Seattle taking over that. That game was dusted. The only thing that they could have done at that point was ruin Joy Decor's shut at that point was ruin, joy, decor, shut out. That was it, right? And I don't think that was the reason the talk it was going to the goalie. But see, if he would have said that,

I would have bought it. Because you don't like to get shut out on home ice. You could have said, listen, we're down four. He should have said that actually. That's exactly what he should have said. If he wanted to lie about it, he should have said, well, you know, we've had a lot of bad performances at home and I know you want to get into well, we've had a lot of bad performances at home, and I know you want to get into this.

We've had a lot of bad performance at home. I wanted to give our fans something, maybe even just a goal, just give them something. And then I'd been like, okay. Three putt Shane texted into the Dunbar Lumbertex line. If I was talking next game, I'd pull the goalie right off the opening face off. Let's get this going right away.

And then 3-putt Shane says, I feel sorry for him. Now a lot of people would disagree with that because they're getting frustrated with talking. There is a real divide among the fan base right now. Mm-hmm. A huge divide. There is. And while we can fan those flames. If you want to text into the Dunbar Lumber

text line at 650-650, uh, Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years, visit them, visit them at one of their three locations to serve. You are online at dunbarlumber.com. So I have actually, I was actually in attendance for I think two of the shutouts. So I'm kind of happy I wasn't at the game.

You were the Devils and the Predators. Yes, I was. I mean, you and I were there. We were there for the Devils game. That was Usapalooza, which was terrible. Yeah, that was bad. This one was bad. But I mean, how many dreadful home losses

have there been this season? Is it 10? Yep. Is that around there? Because I keep coming back to, they lost to Buffalo at home. How many full home losses have there been this season? Is it 10? Yep. Is that around there? Because I keep coming back to they lost to Buffalo at home. They lost to the Islanders earlier in the season, and that was like a terrible performance. Just horrible.

Philly, who's a bad team, they lost to them at home. Nashville twice at home, and Nashville's one of the worst teams in the Western Conference. Seattle twice, and Seattle's miles away from the playoffs. Take your pick of the number of bad teams that have come into Vancouver this year and have left with two points in their pocket. They have 15 home wins this year, 15. There's three teams in the NHL that have 15 home wins or less this year.

And it's the Vancouver Canucks, the San Jose Sharks, and the Chicago Blackhawks. So you're in company with two of the worst team, the two worst teams in the NHL and you in terms of home record. I do want to get into some of this home record stuff and the lousy performances at home, but since we're already talking about Rick Tauket and we're already talking about a divided fan base and people that are maybe getting tired of his message. A few people pointed out to me last night and then as I heard it a couple times, there was one word, one specific word that Rick Tauke really harped on in his post-game media

availability yesterday and it had nothing to do with pulling the goalie. There was one word and one specific word that kept coming up again and again and again and thanks to Laddie, we've got a special compilation for your listening pleasure. Here's Rick Tauket and the one word that kept coming up over and over and over again in a five nothing loss to the Seattle Kraken.

You know, we had a couple power plays where they needed some poise there. I didn't think we had some poise. Then they got a couple of quick goals on us. And you can see guys were getting nervous chasing the game. I mean, you know, I think we had some guys that really gave some effort, but I didn't think we had a lot of poise tonight. There's some plays there and some poise stuff that we got to, you know, we just got to relax

in certain situations. Intensity, but relaxed. There's plays there and I just think we're not finding them. A lot of missed nets, blocked shots, the same old story. That's where the poise is. You know the guy's going to be in front. You've got to fake it, go around and then shoot it. These are the poised plays. Seventy-six shot attempts are, I mean, I like it, but you'd like to see more. We've talked about being able to shoot somewhere where the goalie might give a rebound instead of you missing that and starting to break out. So this is a, but that's poise.

We gotta keep working on that stuff. Now if I told you once, I've told you a thousand times, poise counts! It's just as important as the others. Swimsuit, evening wear, talent, poise! That was actually talking at the end there in the locker room. as the others. Swimsuit, evening wear, talent, poise. That was actually talking at the end there, in the locker room. I get it, I get it. Look at it, Tyler Myers, swimsuit, evening wear.

I thought, when I first heard it, I'm like, man, he's saying poise a lot. It would be amazing if there was immediate follow-up question. Do you think the Canucks need more poise? It's so fitting though, because- Also, please define poise. It has been the thing that he's talked about all year.

It's not the process, it's the problem. It's that we don't have the guys that can execute it and they don't have poise, ding, when it comes time to putting the puck in the back of the net. I also get a chuckle when he's like, we got to keep working on that. Rick, there's seven games left in the season. Game 75 that we just played. He's like, there's seven games left. Yeah, game 75 that we just played. He's like, there's what? It was pretty remarkable to hear him say it again and again

and again. The fact that he hasn't blown his top yet is maybe a credit to his poise, honestly, because we played audio yesterday from Patrick Waugh just losing it on Anthony Duclair apologizing mid rant. I'm sorry that I'm losing it on him, but he knows. I think talk's starting to crack though. I hate to go back to that goalie poll thing. Well, I don't because it's weird. Well, it's actions speak louder than words

sometimes, right? It's a cliche, but it's a cliche and then people use it for a reason. Someone texts in and is like, is this what we're talking about now? Like, are we talking about goalie pulls? I'm like, well, yeah, because that really stands out to me. One game and in that Winnipeg game, like the Canucks were closer to making the

playoffs during that Winnipeg game than they were during the Seattle game. No. Right? Like, you know, I mean, they were both very low chances, but it was a higher chance against Winnipeg. But Winnipeg, it was still in the balance at 3-1. This one, I know, you know, it's five minutes left to get one, and then all of a sudden it's four. Like, no, don't even go down that road

of trying to justify the comeback narrative. It wasn't happening. The Canucks were dead and done and dusted. I've got more audio here actually as well. You gotta get the captain's response after a game like that and a performance like that, especially at this time of the year. So this is a two-parter and Quinn Hughes had absolutely

zero time for questions or analysis about his team being mentally and physically fatigued. It got brought up. There's a follow-up question that we've got in the audio. Hughes wanted no point of it, no part of it, and pay close attention to the points that he makes throughout this answer because it's not just a stock answer and a stock reply. He could tell that he's thought about it and there are very specific examples that he's pointing to here. This is the captain, Quinn Hughes, following a five-nothing loss to the Seattle Kraken talking about how he doesn't want to

discuss mental and physical fatigue. Guys who are mentally tired from the chase? I don't know, I'm not gonna comment on guys being mentally tired or physically tired. I think that if you went around the league, everyone would say that they're mentally tired, especially the guys that played at four nations so I don't know how many guys on our team we have

Lincoln and PD and that's really it so I don't think there should be any excuses for that. But is it tough when you're playing what feels like a dozen game sevens in a row where the stakes are, that it's that tense and intense. Where you guys? Chris, that is just a reality. I mean, if you ask St. Louis Blues, if they're mentally tired from playing game sevens every other night trying to win,

they won 10 in a row, so they're not using that as an excuse. They're just playing good hockey. So I love the answer from the captain. He specifically made a point of, you know, when he talked about the guys that played in the Four Nations, he said, we only had two of them. And those two did not participate in last night's game.

So the, the subtext there is that nobody should have been that flat in a playoff chase when, and he followed it up with, go take a look at the St. Louis Blues. They were in, at one point this season, a much more dire position in the standings than the Vancouver Canucks were. And they have come together at the toughest time

of the year with a bunch of guys that played in the Four Nations Tournament as well and have gone through the grind and have won 10 in a row. Anything about the Blues, I'll give them a ton of credit, is they found ways to win. Dare I say they've had poise. They found ways to manufacture wins and points and results when they haven't been at their best.

And that's been, I say at times, the complete opposite of what the Canucks have done, especially on home ice, especially on home ice. So Mike, the Canucks have seven games left. Five of them are at home. Yep. That's a problem. I know you wanted to talk about the home record

and you and I chatted a bit on the phone last night and we were talking about all the dreadful losses and I'm like, well, I don't have a theory on why. How could you? Like I can't prepare prepare five minutes on, here's why the Canucks have been so dreadful at home this season. Because I just don't know. I mean, we were talking about the Kings and the opposite, right? They're unbelievable at home.

Can't lose. And I'm always kind of like, well, is there a good reason for that? Or, I don't. I don't know. I can't't know. Here's the thing. I can't explain it. Here's the thing. Cause I framed it in a way last night where it was like, when you do your end of year autopsy

and you miss the playoffs, a lot of that autopsy is trying to figure out why you missed, right? It's gonna be a long autopsy this year, man. So they're gonna do the obvious ones that are legitimate. Tons of injuries, lousy blue line to start the year. I can't believe that Juleson and Day Harne and Brandstrom combined to play 97 games this year. When I saw that number, I was almost jaw dropping and I don't get stunned

by a lot of stuff anymore. But there's going to be some obvious things that they look at from the autopsy where they're like, this is where the season went wrong and this is why we missed the playoffs. When it comes time to dissect the home ice record, I have no idea what findings you could possibly have that would lead you to say, this team for some reason or another, couldn't get it done on home ice.

The contrast- Maybe they lack poise on home ice. In front of their fans, they feel the pressure and then poise goes out the window. The crushing weight of the pressure of last change, is that it? I don't know. They won 27 games at home last year. There were only nine games at Rodgers Arena last year where they didn't get at least a single point. Rodgers Arena was a difficult place to play last year. Really was. Top seven or eight record in the National Hockey League at home. 27 wins out of 41 took care of business. This year it's not just been bad. It's one of the three

worst home records in the entire league. You have no hope, no hope of making the postseason if you're down there with the sharks and the Blackhawks in terms of wins at home. You're nowhere close. So I mentioned how it's going to be a long autopsy. Can you imagine the brain trust gets together after this season? Maybe they have a whiteboard and Patrick Alveen's

got the pen and he's like, all right, where did things go wrong this year? Let's list all the answers here. And they're just like, bad home record or star players were fighting and we had to trade one of them or whatever. We're going through the list. The blue line was- Rick, I noticed you wrote poise in really large letters. Poise has been a problem.

Poise has definitely been a problem. Like the whiteboard would be full. Yes. It's like we're gonna have to bring in another whiteboard here. Two whiteboards? It's gonna be, it's gonna be, actually it's gonna be a real challenge

to try and drill down on what exactly went wrong. Mm-hmm, that's what I was saying. Like when you start to, and I've kind of been doing it slowly over the last couple days, and you start to compartmentalize the individual issues that led to this very, very discouraging and disappointing season, the list gets pretty long. And some of them you can explain, some of them you really can't. And that is what's going to be the difficult part for this team going into the off season,

is trying to explain what nobody can explain. Trying to solve a problem that doesn't really have a solution. Why did we stink on home ice with the type of regularity that you have to call it an issue? You can't just say, well, you know, sometimes you get the bounces or sometimes you don't or, you know, home or away, it's all wins at the end of the day. It's clearly not. There, I mean, to get shut out three times on home ice, it can't be something that's allowable or something that becomes with any kind of regularity.

And getting shut out by lousy teams on home ice, it's not like he came in and we're playing the top teams in the league, he got shut out by Nashville and shut outy teams on home ice. It's not like he came in and we're playing the top teams in the league, he got shut out by Nashville and shut out by Seattle on home ice. Joey DeCourt is going to the Hall of Fame in fairness. He made 25 saves last night. Not that many of the difficult variety.

Like he was fine. Like three quarters of them were point shots. He was fine. He made that one really nice glove save off O'Connor. He did make a nice glove save off O'Connor. I think that was one of the ones that Tuckett was talking about poise. Like he got a bear down in front of the net. I don't think O'Connor. I think that was one of the ones that Tuckett was talking about poise. He got a bear down in front of the net.

I don't think O'Connor did anything wrong there. He fired it pretty hard. He got to poise it. You got to poise it. Ah, more poise would have put it. Less fire. Poise is just as important as swimsuit. Yeah.

So we're... As Joey DeCord stops all 25 Vancouver shots for his fifth career shutout and the Canucks are f***ed. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. And what we just have to call Thomas Drance Erotica. Thomas Drance Erotica. Course. Thomas Grange Erotica Corsi Thomas Grange Erotica

Expected Goals Thomas Grange Erotica Dove Model Thomas Grange Erotica Regression Thomas Grange Erotica. Ruh-rash. Thomas Grange Erotica. Pee-dee-oh. Thomas Grange Erotica.

802 on a Thursday. It's always an interesting pivot when we go from thrash Thursdays to that. You're listening to the Halifred and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. We're going to do a thrash version. I was going to say we're going to make a thrash version of this if you want. Thomas Trance-erotica. What was that at the end? It's a double kick. The blast beats.

I thought it was a whoopee cushion. Okay. Who does that the best? What? The last double kick, the drums. The best drummer. Metallica? Oh.

Lars? I'd say maybe Slayer. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that tough? Man, that's a subjective question, man. Is that tough to do? It looks tough.

I mean, I'm no drummer, but my drummer did it and he struggled at it. You're basically running the entire concert with both of your legs. Yeah, he struggled with it. Well, it's hard. Yeah, yeah. Especially if a song has it nonstop for like a six minute song. It's hard, yeah.

It's very, very hard. Get on that bike, get on that stationary bike. You need a lot of stamina. Yeah. Right. But some guys make it look so easy. In your shin muscles, right? You know who the best blast beat drummers are?

No. Jazz drummers. Really? Yes. Typically speaking. They have the most stamina. Oh Andy, you're so learned random quick random fact Learned Papa Homer the word is learned Pepsi. Okay, Alfred and brother the morning

Alfred and brother in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers They have a friendly knowledgeable staff they can help with anything you're looking for sales Financing service or parts we are in our three the program Thomasance is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studio, Kintex Footwear and Orthotics working together with you in step. To the phone lines we go. Thomas Drance joins us now on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up Drancer? Gentlemen, how are ya? Good. I have a question about a question. Were you the one that asked Rick Tocket yesterday in the aftermath of that five-nothing

debacle at home against the Seattle Kraken about the goalie pull? Was that you asking the question? No, that was Daniel Wagner. Okay. Yeah, no, I look goalie pull fully justifiable for me In that situation in fact, you know team could have been more aggressive with it team could have gone at 10 minutes in fact, that's what the math sort of says you should do right now not not necessarily because You know, even if you don't get a goal You're also more likely to get a penalty to get put on a power play and trailing by as much as the Canucks were given the stakes. We kind of knew where this was going, but their fate is sealed after last night, more

or less. Right? And that sucks. Like that punctures the bubble of hope that it's an awful lot more fun to live in and play through down the stretch, right? So yeah, I mean, no, I had no problem with the goalie pull. I didn't ask about it.

Drancer, it was weird, man. Come on, man. That was weird. Especially coming on the heels of not pulling the goalie against the Winnipeg Jets and getting criticized and then he pulls the goalie at four nothing. Like, come on, there's something there.

You think so? I mean, they, they had the goalie out against Winnipeg and they had an extra guy jump on the ice. And so the goalie was returned after they were shorthanded. It wasn't that they didn't pull the goalie was returned after they were short handed. It wasn't that they didn't pull the goalie. It was that they pulled the goalie, missed their shot because of a mistake,

and then didn't have the goalie out again. Right. Right? I mean, I just, I think the full context there is more that, you know, they pulled the goalie pretty aggressively, three-ish minutes left against the Jets, right? Once the error was made, it was like, okay, whatever, white flag. Yeah, okay.

To me, I mean, isn't that what happened? Am I, am I wrong? There seems to be, no, but there seems to be a lot more being read into it by a variety of people Like I classified it as I thought it was weird wildly less strategic And wildly more of the message sending variety if only because talk had opened the door With his initial response to the question was I'm trying to figure out who quit and who didn't

Yeah, I mean look that part that part is That part stop, you know. I'll let me phrase it as a question to you guys. You do you feel like there was quit in the Canucks team? You felt like that was a performance where the team accepted where this is going? Not particularly, which is why I thought it was weird that I was. That was his first remark.

Right. You know, like when we played it back, we talked about it a lot. And I think, Bruff's being honest here and I'm being honest here, I just found the whole scenario weird, including the answers. And we're not trying to make too much about that, but it's hard to ignore because of one, the Winnipeg game, two, they got the doors blown off them at home yet again. And three, even the most like rose colored glass wearing optimist would have a hard time saying that that team looked primed even with a 10 minute left goal. Yeah.

And Tauke's answer seems scattered. Yeah. And then Tauke's answer explanation seems scattered. Well, I thought, I think he was furious. I mean, for me, I think the answer that explains a fair bit of it was, um, Patrick Johnston asks about effectively, effectively gives talk at a layup opportunity to sing Quinn Hughes's praises.

Right. Yup. Yup. And talk doesn't hear him. Right? He's like, who? And then, and then basically is too mad. Frankly, like, right?

Like he's too mad for, too mad at the outcome. I don't know if he was too mad at the team. I don't know if he, like, I just think it was a super competitive guy who, you know, like, when he was on your show two weeks ago right I can't even talk about my contract I'm too focused like that seems authentic to me boys. Well he said it again yesterday right or the day prior I'm just focused on beating the Seattle Kraken well I got to find a way to beat the Seattle Kraken. Yeah and I I think this team's, you know, gone through a lot. I think there've been a lot of distractions. I think a lot of it has been annoying. And I think there's been a sense of like, we're

going to work through this. We're going to grind it out. We're going to figure this out. Um, and we believe we can. And I feel like last night was just like the final, like, well, the writing's on the wall now, right? There's the, the, the emperor has no clothes. It's kind of done realistically.

And I just, you know, the fact that like, asked effectively about, you know, Quinn Hughes' will playing 28 minutes last night. And, you know, didn't get results. Wasn't like Quinn Hughes at his electric best, like we saw earlier in the season, but still, I mean, you know, juking and setting up scoring chances and still controlling play five on five and

on and on. And, you know, he was just too angry to even really process it. He was too focused on what went wrong and where they could have been better and where he could have been better. And to me, that's that explains the mood And to me, that explains the mood, that explains the commentary, that explains the scatteredness of the thing. It was just a guy coming to terms with something that they'd worked all season to avoid, this moment, the acceptance and the dislike of that acceptance that this season will fundamentally fall well short. If you had to predict right now, where do you see things going with Rick Hawkins, the head coach of this hockey team?

Yeah, I mean, look, I think the team clearly intends to enforce their rights here, right? And they do have some rights given that they have a club option. But I think obviously that would be awkward. And, uh, the club's strong preference is to get an extension done. And, you know, given that positioning, given that frame, given that management wants to keep Rick Tocket. How about this, given the fact that, I mean, think of how long Rutherford has been, you know, at the head of a team's hockey ops, right? Um, prior to arriving in Vancouver, and actually,

even if you include Boudreaux and Tauke, seven coaches dating back to 1997. It's a pretty long time boys. Especially given the dynamic around Boudreaux or the fact that Mike Johnston only lasted a season and a half in, in Pittsburgh, right? I mean, um, Paul Maurice had a long run for Rutherford and then La Violette had a long run and then when La Violette was replaced it was Maurice. The history of

this, the Canucks president of hockey operations anyway is stability behind the bench. That's like a hallmark of sort of how Rutherford operated teams have run themselves. This club wants to keep the coach. Coach is probably going to need a new contract. My expectation is that that's where this leads. But you know, timing, how it happens. Could it get acrimonious? There is clearly a negotiation to occur and a wider conversation about sort of the club's direction and plan here that has to occur. Yeah, I mean, those are all sort of risks, but for me, those would be less likely outcomes. You know, do I ever want to bet against drama when it comes to the Vancouver Canucks? No, but in this case, I'd say the fat part of the

bell curve is, is Tocket re-ups and remains in Vancouver. So Jance, you were the first to report that the Canucks have this option and they're willing to use it. Was that more a message to Tocket or was it more a message to other teams around the NHL not to come sniffing around Rick Tocket? Um, you know, honestly, I was just asking around, especially in the wake of the widespread reaction

to it being like Tocket, Tocket, must be Tocket. Right. And you know, there've been, there've been some conversations, you know, or, or whispers anyway within the industry about Talkets Canucks future for a while. So I just figured I'd check in on it. And you know, I mean, the way that I reported it really was like, team sources insist like, hey, first of all, this guy's done unrestricted for agent, right?

Like this is, this is not a situation. Tauke is our coach and for all the clucking hens here, he's not a UFA. We have rights here and we intend to use them. We're going to bring this guy back. And so that was effectively what I was told and reported and I think Freedman's reporting matches that. What did you think of your buddy Jamie Dodd's take that Rick Tauke spoke pretty differently about Ilyas Pettersson and Nils Hoeglinder and their injury updates? Yeah, I think that's true. I think it's clear that the tone and the substance of what he said was wildly different. And, you know, look, I think the, you know, we don't know ultimately the details

of what Pedersen's working through or what have you, but, you know, what we do know, for example, is we can see it. We can see Quinn Hughes grimacing on ships. Like we can see him standing up on the bench. You know what I mean? And doing like a stretch pretty frequently when he's not playing.

So we know that there's guys on this team, leaders on this team, who have been slogging through for a while. And, you know, I totally understand availability-based frustration. If there's any, like, if there is a feeling that, you know, a guy's playing hurt or teammates are playing hurt and another guy's not, you know, that can lead to those sorts of things.

Do I know if that's what's going on and if that's why the tone sounded the way it did? I don't, right? And so I want to be careful here, but I don't think it was unfair subtext to pick up on by Dodd. Well, is it, I mean, I don't, you know me, I don't like to beat around the bush, you know? Yeah.

Can these two coexist? Um, so yeah, can they build a durable partnership? I think so. I think so. I mean, I, I think it's incumbent on it, on them to make it work. Like I think, you know, that how many coaches now talk, it's the third connects coach for Pedersen and the third and not a long

span of time, right. Dating back to 2022. Um, you know, I, I think it's, I, I, I don't see why not. Like, I don't see why not. I don't see why not. I don't really buy that like, Tockets brand of hockey is too restrictive for Pedersen to thrive in. Like that doesn't square for me. Just given sort of the emphasis on puck possession, right? Given the way that Pedersen played in his first, like a hundred games under talk it. Right. I mean, you know, we, we all know what the last 70 have looked like, but it's not

like he struggled playing talk at hockey for, for the first hundred games of his, of his, um, of, of their 10 year partnered up with one another. So I don't really buy it. I also just don't think like Pettersson's way of sort of thinking about the game, the way he wins in the league, you know, I think it's dismissive, frankly, of him to suggest that like, no, like, you know, the best seasons were playing that East West hockey under Boudreaux, you know, that punt and hunt all offense hockey that relied so heavily on the forecheck. Like man, that, that's how, you know, Pedersen needs to play to succeed.

And when, and when they had Taukeet and Travis Green playing more structured hockey, you know, he struggled. And it's like, that's to me, that's dismissive. Like I, I believe in Pedersen's game and two way chops more than that. Right? Like I sort of come at it thinking that that's a, that's a pretty, uh, sort of negative slant

to take. It's like, Totally. That's almost a criticism of Pedersen. You know, it's almost like you're trying to support Pedersen, but at the same time you're criticizing him. Like he can't play structured hockey.

Right. He can only win playing riverboat hockey. And it's like, I don't buy that. I don't buy that at all. That, that doesn't square at all with, you know, what we've seen in the past from Pedersen is like a two-way player. Um, and, and, you know, it was like a smart hockey player, like a hockey player who kind of knows what it takes and sees angles that others don't. Like I don't buy that. And then, you know, in terms of talk at work and with

Patterson, you know, I don't, I'm sure, like, I don't think it's personal or anything, you know. But I mean, how would, how, how do your listeners and you guys feel having just watched it this season? Right. Would, would your belief be a little bit dented? Like, would you need to see more? Would you be concerned about it? Like, I think so.

Right. Like I think we all kind of are. So now imagine if you're the guy in charge of being like, okay, Patterson, this is the moment that you've got to go out and win it for us. Right? It's like, yeah, I'd be, I'd have some questions if I were in that position too. I think that's at least a relatively rational response to how protracted these struggles have been and sort of what it's looked and

felt like. Right? So can, can they work past that? Assuming that I'm right and talk it does feel that way, which I think would be understandable. I mean, I don't see why not, but it's going to take a level of preparation from Pedersen, I'd think, to sort of build that level of trust back, right? To reassert himself as the man for this team. Like that's, I don't think that's a talk it issue. I think that would be a process that he'd probably have to be working through with any NHL coach here, just sort of given what we've seen since, you know,

March of last season. Given what we've seen since you know March of last season I'm gonna ask you about the team's woeful home ice record and Performances at home this year. I'll give you a second to think about the reasons Why well I run through some of the ghastly numbers 15 wins at home There's only three teams in the NHL with 15 or fewer home wins. It's Vancouver, Chicago and San Jose That's bad company to keep. They've been shut out three times on home ice this year. Six nothing to New Jersey, three nothing to Nashville,

five nothing to Seattle. Two of those three teams are not even close to the playoffs. That's bad as well. I could go through the list of Mount Rushmore of bad home games. Nevermind bad games period, but bad games are home this year. But we need two Mount Rushmores.

So in light of all of that that I just said. Two Mount Rushmore's. Yeah, Mount Rushmore A and Mount Rushmore B. I don't know how you do it. Mount Rushmore, Mount Rushlife. Yeah. Do you have any idea, any theory, any thought, anything as to why this team very clearly couldn't play good hockey with regularity

at home this season? I don't, man. I think it's random. Okay, good, you're with me, because I have no idea. I think it's random distribution, most likely. This is the nerdiest possible answer, but the truth is that they didn't play well all year

at home or on the road, and as a result, you're sort of more likely to have your clunkers stack up, you know, on one side of the ledger or the other. You know, like I would suggest too, for example, like one of the things booing their road record is like, you remember that stretch of games after JT Miller took his leave, right? And it was like, they got the comeback, the last minute goal in Buffalo

and then won it in overtime, the Garland choking up on his stick through the legs goal. Yep. Right. And then they, and then they had a point shot goal, I think it was Brandstrom scored late in that game in Detroit. And then they won that one in overtime. Right? And it was like they were regularly shelled in a lot of those games, but they sort of went on this winning streak where the results had really no basis or relationship with how they were actually playing. And it was kind of a bad sign, but also the conversation around it was like,

this team looks happier without Miller, right? And it was sort of the first glimpse we were getting at sort of where this season was gonna go over the next six weeks. And the truth is, is that it's like, those games could easily have been wildly disappointing. I mean, you lose one nothing in Buffalo. Like how do you even lose one thing to the Buffalo Sabres? Every game they play has 14 goals, right?

You lose to Detroit and Detroit, especially at that point in the season, same reaction. And instead it's like these home warriors or these road warriors, right? Like why can't they manage these efforts at home? And it's like these home warriors or these road warriors, right? Like why can't they manage these efforts at home? And it's really like a bounce or two that's making the difference. Right. So I think more than anything, it's most likely to be that this team didn't play well or consistently all season. And it just happened to be that some of the most dispiriting

performances occurred at home. But look, the club has to think about it, right? Like the club has to think like, oh, is there something we're doing, right? Is there something we're doing? Is there something we can change in the environment? Like what happened to create, to really change sort of this, how this team played where they were home where Roger Zarina was a fortress for them last season, to sort of bring about this fecklessness that we saw throughout the year. You know, that's a worthwhile conversation for the organization and the team to explore and think about. And, you know,

maybe it's as simple as with the pressure of this season and how sort of odd things were, it was even harder to sort of be around it all year when they were in the city, as opposed to on the road. I mean, maybe, maybe it's something as simple as that, but most likely just randomness. That would be my assumption. I just think this team didn't play well no

matter where the games were played frequently enough over the course of the season. Do you have the same answer for their overtime record? Is that random distribution? No, no. Well, I mean, partly, but no, the truth is, is that I think the, I'd have to double check this,

but like last I checked, I think they were one in seven in non-Quinn Hughes minutes from a goal differential perspective and overtime. Um, and especially in that long stretch when Philip Peronik was out of the lineup, you know, you had like Myers and De Harne, right? And like a bunch of other defenders out there that probably shouldn't be out there three on three. And the team is bleeding goals against in those situations.

So I think a lot of the overtime record is connected to the fact that for, for a large stretch of the season, the Canucks had only one defender that really should be out there three on three. And, you know, even, even then, for wide stretches of the season, only two, right? Like this is where I actually think, you know, now you could throw Marcus Peterson out there for like shutdown shifts, you know, and it's like, go out there with Pugh Suter and Kiefer Sherwood, right? And we just like try to maintain possession for a couple minutes and play good defense or not a couple

minutes, 45 seconds and play good defense. Like now you could at least do that. They didn't have that in their bag. So I actually think that's a personnel issue on the back end. Transurf. This is great, but as always, thanks for taking the time to do it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next week. Cheers boys. Bye. Thomas Trans Thomas Drantz from the Athletic Vancouver, Hank Koneckstock here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650.

So the goalie poll last night, a thing or not a thing? I think it was more of a thing than Drantz was suggesting. Yeah. I don't think he was trying to downplay it. I think he believes that. But maybe not as. Genuinely and earnestly, but I think it, I,

the moment that it happened, I put it out on, like again, Twitter's like the official voice of record. Is this official? But I threw it out right away. I was like, there's something weird about this. What's the message here? I didn't know what the message was. Yeah.

But there, to me, there was no way, no way that that was about trying to score a goal. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It just wasn't. They were, they. But Drance gave me some more context and I should, and I should have looked closer at the end of the Winnipeg game to relate it to that, but.

Whether they were shorthanded? Well, and then they tried to get the goalie out, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. I mean, I'll remove the Winnipeg thing from it still. Like you're down four, go around the rest of the NHL. Look at four nothing games, even if you're quote unquote playoff lives are hanging by a thread. Like it, that game was done. It made it worse cause it made it five nothing

cause they scored into the empty net. What was talking, maybe thinking like Seattle came back from a fairly large deficit late against us. Maybe we can do the same thing. I mean, I like, if you're going to legitimately go with the puncher's chance, then yeah. And like, we were so desperate, we'll try anything. But, but Tuckett's answer didn't suggest that. Didn't help it. The answer was, I think scattered is a good way to put it, right?

Yep. You didn't have like a for sure, this is why we did it. Next question. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.