Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 4/8/25

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

Mike and Jason look ahead to the Canucks' matchup with the Dallas Stars and break down what makes Dallas such a tough opponent. The guys also go around the NHL scoreboard.  Mike and Jason are joined by Canucks analyst Landon Ferraro to talk about the team's lack of a practice facility, what he's keeping an eye on in the final games, and his thoughts on standout players. 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.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- He kills, one second, and it's on track! Flauhrer is back on top of the college basketball world! Waa had it and dropped it, and Detroit scores first! Patrick Waa just got caught hot-dogging. Believe me, he was going to give it the hell do you do when he dropped the puck. Good morning, Vancouver 601, on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This is Alfred in his Broughity Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Elon, good morning. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred in Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews visit them online at sans-trustee.com We are in hour one of the program hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal North Star Metal Recycling they recycle you get paid visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintex footwear and orthotics working together with you in step.

Poor A-Dog, he's got a cold. He's not feeling well, he tried to gut it out. He had that dog in him yesterday. Not today though. He's got the kennel cough. He's got the kennel cough. Comes back and back. I don't think we got him vaccinated.

We got a big show ahead on a Tuesday. Just five of these left this year, Jason. Canucks game day. Just five of them left. Canucks are in action tonight. Thank God. All right. Five o'clock from Dallas.

Our guest list today begins at 6.30. Shai Davidi is gonna join us. We're gonna do some baseball talk with Sportsnet's chief baseball columnist, the Blue Jays and Vladie Guerrero, as you heard on our show yesterday, agreed to the second richest contract in MLB history. Yesterday the Jays celebrated it with a big win over the Red Sox in Boston, so we'll

talk to Shia about all things Blue Jays at 6.30. Seven o'clock Owen Newkirk is going to join us from DLLS Dallas Sports. He's a podcast host for the Dallas Stars. The Canucks are in Dallas, as we we mentioned to take on the Stars tonight. 5 PM puck drop pregame show starts at four o'clock right here on Sportsnet 650. Uh, Owen will be joining us for the Dallas Stars side of the preview. Landon Ferraro is going to join us at eight for the Canucks side of the preview. The Canucks had a travel day yesterday to Dallas, so no practice, no skate.

They're going to hit the ice in Dallas this morning at 930 our time so you will find out everything you need to know for tonight's game Canucks Stars 5 o'clock from Dallas so working in reverse real quick on the guest list 8 o'clock it's Landon Ferraro 7 o'clock it's Owen Newkirk 630 it's Shia Davidi that's what's happening on the program today laddie let's tell everybody what happened hey did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how messy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened? Is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. The Canucks will travel to Dallas tonight, or they already traveled. They will play the Dallas Stars tonight in Dallas. And I guess it's time, Jason, for us to start focusing on the other teams. By that I mean the playoff-bound teams like the Dallas Stars, who for the second consecutive year have won 50 games and are back on their way to the postseason unlike their opponent tonight the Vancouver Canucks. We love the Dallas Stars. We love them so much. Love the Dallas Stars.

I guess the big story from the Stars perspective and we'll talk about all of this with Owen Newkirk in the second hour is when they'll get high skin and back. It sounds like he can miss the entire first round and that's a pretty big deal because that could be a tough round for the Stars against Colorado who, you know, if I had to make a cup pick, I'd probably take Colorado and maybe the fact that Heiskin may not be available to the Dallas Stars contributes to that cup pick. I was looking at the star stats and it's crazy that Matt Duchenne is their leading scorer, but you got to hand it to the guy. He was becoming an afterthought in the league, especially after getting bought out by Colorado. He's 34 years old now. He's the leading scorer on a Stanley Cup contender. And I was thinking the stars are a bit like the Jets in that they don't have any super flashy superstars, you know, super, they've got some very good players and so do the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets have Hellebuck in goal, but I'm talking about the guys like

the skaters, defensemen or forward too, like, oh, like these guys, unbelievable. But they're solid everywhere, including in goal with Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith. He's having an unbelievable year, by the way. The latter of whom, DeSmith, actually has superior numbers to Oettinger, his safe percentage is something like 921, albeit with half the workload of Oettinger.

We can talk about that with Owen. I also want to talk about Wyatt Johnston. So I saw this list on the athletic. I think Pierre Lebrun wrote it. And it was five guys who didn't make Team Canada at Four Nations, but could make the Olympic team. And Wyatt Johnston was one of them. And then I was looking at it and I was like, oh my God, this guy's only 21. Yep. 31 goals, 68 points, 21 years old. They get crazy depth of forward. Do you think he was maybe overlooked a little bit

because that was the COVID years where he was drafted and everyone kind of was like, I don't know these guys haven't played enough games. I mean, that's just a theory, but by the way, the other guys on that list, I'm gonna try and remember them right now. It was obviously Nick Suzuki was one. Yep, that makes sense.

Robert Thomas, who's playing unbelievable for the blues lately, and it is a big part of the fact that they've had that winning streak, although that was stopped by the Jets yesterday. I think Tom Wilson was on it. I can't remember. There's one more guy. Mark Shifely. Mark Shifely, yeah. Yeah. The Dallas Stars, despite us saying that they're not interesting,

they actually are kind of interesting from a pure hockey. If you're a hockey purist, you should actually look at the Dallas Stars as the model of consistency and the way to do a build throughout the organization. They have waves of players that are ready to take over from the previous iteration, and all three of them are playing right now.

They still have the Ben, although Tyler Sagan is out, but they still have the Ben and Sagan era going. Then they've got the Hintz and Robertson era, that generation of players. And then previously when they had the Stankov and he was in there as well. Now you could say it's Wyatt Johnson and Thomas Harley, for example.

And it's been a model of draft and develop. Jim Nill's done an amazing job as the general manager manager. I don't think anyone can say anything otherwise. They've got back to back 50 win seasons. They're a perennial playoff team. They do lack the national sort of pizzazz. No one's really like, no one's really excited about the Dallas Stars. I mean, the guy we have mentioned is Ranton and we should have mentioned him right off the top. I was gonna go there. They've got Rantanen now. Yeah.

And we'll see what kind of impact he's gonna make. By all accounts, he's been a better fit in Dallas than he is in Carolina. 14 points in 15 years. Yeah, yeah. So I guess, you know, someone texted in, you guys don't think Rantanen and Heiskenen are superstars? Why Johnston will be a superstar

Real soon. I'm just talking about like like high skin in You're not gonna see him on the like the highlight. He's just such a solid defenseman, you know, he's not like Quinn Hughes He's not like Kale McCarr. He's not even like Lane Hudson in Montreal. He's just a really, really good player. Do you know what I mean by that? Yeah, he's kind of been, I mean, the easiest way to do it with defensemen is just to go to the Norris voting and the Norris finishes.

And Heiskenen hasn't been at the same heights that Hughes, McCarr, you now throw Zach Rorensky because I'm assuming he's going to be a finalist this year. I did the quick look at it, and I don't think he's ever finished higher than like 10th in Norris voting in Heisken. Here's the thing with Dallas. The Rantanen deal and the Rantanen extension

probably gave them the closest thing they're going to have to a top five, top 10, depending on where you put Rantanen at the time of the deal. Talent to bring in the door. And really that's designed to put a very good team over the top. Now, whether it'll work out this year or not, they've got a lot of runway with his deal.

But Dallas is very much, like, they're a knocking on the door right now, Tim. Like you mentioned you had comparisons to them in Winnipeg. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's a potential Western Conference final right there. Like you could say that those are the two teams that everyone else needs to go through.

By way of the standings too, I know Vegas is in that conversation. I know Colorado is in that conversation, but you're talking about two teams. The similarities are their depth, especially at forward. Like their ability to roll out two or three lines of guys that can put up somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 35 goals each. Like you're talking about six or seven guys on each of those

teams. Now, the other part of this is that especially in Dallas, they're so talented and they're so deep. They were able to withstand the loss of their best defenseman, Miro Heisken, for a very long time. Well, and we all got to know Thomas Harley at the Four Nations. I would imagine half the hockey world hadn't really heard of or thought of Thomas Harley before they saw him in a Team Canada jersey. And they were like, and again, not a super flashy player,

but very solid. Because he plays in Dallas. But yeah, the team that they've built is designed to be good for a long time. They've got a complete truckload of talent coming through. But as it pertains to, I don't know, say the local hockey squadron, who they're gonna face tonight,

one of the big issues that the Canucks face this year, especially early in the season, was when someone went down to injury, flaws were exposed, depth was Depth was tested and failed. And I guess it's a good illustrative point for people to understand what it looks like for upper echelon teams when everything doesn't go right or when injuries hit or when your health fails you. Are you going to be able to get through those difficult times?

Because this is a national hockey league. Guys get hurt all the time. Injuries happen. Do you have the organizational depth to withstand like a Heiskenen missing as many games as he has or some of the other injuries that have hit that team? Dallas was able to deal with it. Vancouver early in the year, they weren't. And that's why I point to when Hughes and Hronik

missed the amount of time that they did, what happened to this team? They cratered in a lot of different ways. And that's when you saw guys like Noah Juleson and Eric Branstrom and Vinny DeHarnay, not NHL defensemen, playing close to 100 games combined this year. So there's a lesson to be learned there for sure.

I think the other impressive thing about Thomas Harley is he wasn't one of these guys, even though he was a first overall pick. First round. First, sorry, first round, 18th overall pick in 2019. He didn't like jump right to the NHL. He played over a hundred games for the Texas Stars in the AHL. And maybe this is something to keep in mind with Tom

Willander potentially on the way. Sure. You know. That's a good point. Let's not freak out if he's not on the team next season and let's not worry too much. Now Thomas Harley came right out of the OHL so he'd taken a little bit of a different path than Tom Willander who's already played two years of college, but I Just think it's really important with a guy like Tom Willander that you might need to send him down to the AHL for a while You know, it's it's not it's not a big deal Well see now you just have to develop them the right way and Dallas had the luxury To do that

because they didn't need to rush them. I think they can actually have the luxury to do that right now. Tom Willender. I think they do. I think with the way their defense is, they've got Hronik, they've got Tyler Myers on the right side, they've got, if you want to put Mancini in there, that's fine. You know, you can move some guys over to the right side.

They need to develop Tom Willender the right way, unless they trade him for a center. Yeah. Or maybe you just rush a center to the National Hockey League level. That could be the way to go. No, you go and get one that's already been playing and you give a first round pick and Tom Willander for him. No problem, right? Yep. That's easy. That's the Canuck way. I will say too, if you want to take another thing that Dallas has done extremely well, being able to find real value in the back half of the first round. Cause they haven't drafted high in a long time.

They're finishing at or near the top of the standings. So you go back, like Johnson was the 23rd overall pick. You mentioned Harley, I think went 18th or something like that. Stankoven who since got traded was a second round pick. Maverick Borg was a 30th pick So they've done a nice job finding guys there. Okay, and I'll fill the Dallas Stars We'll talk to Owen Newkirk about all this coming up in the second hour of the program

We do need to go through some of the scores last night and the st Louis Blues reign of terror is now finally over lost to the Jets 3-1 last night ending their 12 Game winning streak in the process the Jets just keep doing the business. Crazy stat from that game. They held the St. Louis Blues to under 30 shots. They have done that in 36 of their last 39 games, including 17 in a row now with the St. Louis Blues. So I know that the goaltending has been excellent

in Winnipeg, but you gotta admit, a large part of that is because of the style that they play in front of both those goals, especially Connor Hellebuck. I don't know where everyone's gonna put the Jets right now in terms of their contenders in the West. Theoretically, they should be number one. They're the best team in the West.

They're that much closer to winning the President's Trophy, which could be a curse, but I think everyone wants to pick somebody else in the West, they're that much closer to winning the President's Trophy, which could be a curse. But I think everyone wants to pick somebody else in the West just because Winnipeg has zero history of getting it done in the postseason. Like if you were to pick a team in the West right now, you'd take Colorado. I think so, yeah.

If I was picking a team in the West right now, I'd take Vegas. I mean, but that's kind of the point here is I think I'd take Colorado. I think I'd take Vegas. I don't know about LA and I don't know about Dallas, but I would also put them in the conversation with Winnipeg. God, there's some good teams, eh? I know. The West is going to be a meat grinder. It really is. Do you think if you were to take a consensus pick, like you ask a hundred people who

do you think is gonna win out of the West, where would the Oilers fall? That's a great question. Because a lot of people would still pick them. I wouldn't. I think that... Just because of just because they got McDavid and they got Dry Settle. I think last year screwed them up. Just like fatigue wise. I think so... Mentally? Yeah, well okay both. I think. I think the four nations didn't help either. Everything that I've read was the Edmonton Oilers were exhausted going into the Stanley Cup final against the Panthers and then I think it was sort of

evident after falling behind three nothing that the exhaustion was real and then Connor McDavid had this sort of otherworldly transcendent performance to scratch and claw and drag them back into the series. And then when the series was done, he was physically and mentally exhausted. You get the short summer because you've gone deep into the playoffs. You come back. And then this year, and this is probably Stan Bowman's biggest failing in his first year in the job in general manager Didn't add enough to take the pressure off of two guys specifically

McDavid and dry saddle and he lost yeah a lost Broberg and have you seen the concern in st. Louis know that Dylan Holloway is hurt. Yep Dylan Holloway is a very good play out performer for the Oilers last year. Didn't see that coming, right? Like Dylan Holloway is hurt and the team is in trouble, but it's not the Edmonton Oilers, it's the St. Louis Blues.

So you go into this season, you're Edmonton, and you're thinking maybe we can lighten the load on McDavid and Dreisaitl just a little bit because they're exhausted from the year prior. And it's that it's the exact opposite. They're leaned on heavily, heavily and then you mentioned the four names. They look old and slow man. They do.

They do. They've lost, to put it in Drantz terms, a guy like Dylan Holloway gives you some juice. Yes. And I don't know if the Oilers, I'm kind of with you. I don't know if they've got the juice. Now that probably means they're gonna win the Stanley Cup, but I think it just goes to show that there are a lot of teams in the West, I mean, and the East,

that could easily get to the Stanley Cup final. I'll tell you who doesn't have any juice right now. The New York Rangers. New York Rangers lost 5-1 last night to the Tampa Bay Lightning. If they weren't already dead in the Eastern Conference Playoff chase, last night might have done it. 5-1, maybe a bit, maybe a bit of a deceiving score because Andrei Vasilevsky was awesome in that for the bolts last night. 38 saves. But still, a 5-1 loss when you're fighting for your playoff

lives is a 5-1 loss. I'm gonna play some audio from a guy that I think knows what's coming when the end of the regular season happens. What's coming? That's New York Rangers head coach Peter LaViolette laddie. I think he knows and everybody else knows what's gonna happen when the 82 games are up and done and the New York Rangers miss the playoffs.

Here is a very dejected Peter LaViolette following a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night I don't have a message right now. I don't go into the locker room after the game So we needed to win a game tonight We didn't win So there's been a lot of that through the course of the year the last eight or nine minutes of the first period or where? We where we lost the game tonight Then we snapped out of

it and we played better in the second and the third. I thought we generated a lot of chances defensively. We were tight in the second, generated a lot. Weren't able to score. We scored one. I needed that second one, I thought, in the second period just to get it to three to two and make that push towards the third period, but that never came soon. There is no easier guarantee to make than to say that Peter Lavielette is gonna get fired. I'm not laughing at a guy, by the way, I'm not laughing at a guy losing his job. No, don't like anyone losing their job.

Can you imagine though, there's like, we're coming back with Lavie. Yeah, it's, you can't. No chance. He's done, he knows he's done. Yeah, the question really is, who else is gonna go from the the Rangers and is the general manager? Does he have the support of Mr. Dolan there in New York? Yeah, okay, some people aren't going to

like this. Some people aren't going to like this. Some people aren't going to like this. But I do think that it's not good that Pedersen and Miller had their rift this season. But I do think there could be a silver lining to it all by getting out of that contract with JT Miller. I thought you were going to go much more- No, no, no. The way- Implementary. No, no, no. The way there's a lot of JT Miller fans.

Yeah. And I was one when he was playing his best, but when that contract was signed by the Canucks, I thought to myself, well, they better make hay with this right now because that contract is not going to age well. Yep. Just my opinion on that and the way the Canucks are right now, doesn't feel like they're going to contend for anything next year or even maybe, I don't know, hopefully the year after and who knows, who knows with the Canucks. But I'm glad that the potential for that Miller contract

to turn into an anchor is now with the New York Rangers and not with the Canucks. Yeah, I know what the Rangers were trying to accomplish when they acquired him. I absolutely get it. But they took on a big risk, picking him up for years, essentially three through seven of a contract. They're an old team now.

Yeah. They're an old team. And they're relying on a guy who is- Didn't they just rebuild? Yeah, but they're relying on a guy who's 32 to be the emotional leader and the spirit of the team. He was supposed to snap them out of this. By the way, on the subject of La Violette, there is a fairly decently sized section of Rangers fans who think that this season could have been turned around if in conjunction with the JT Miller trade,

they made a coaching change. Because they're gonna miss the playoffs by a handful of points. Now, here's the thing. I wonder if they kept Laviolette because they wanted to make sure that they exercised all their options in terms of like what he brought to the

table or what he didn't and not to get a false sense of what this group is about by getting the new coach bump. You know what I mean? They wanted to see this group warts and all, even with Miller added to the lineup. He's been good, there's no question, but yeah, he wasn't enough to snap them out of their fun. I would still like to see the alternate universe where Drury doesn't make it so public that he wants to trade Truba and he's willing to trade Crider.

Because I wonder, I don't know anything, but I do wonder if half the Rangers, I think they have an attitude problem, I think there's something going on there. A collective attitude problem. How much of it was an FU to management? I think there was a large part of it. That was a tight group that had been together for a long time. The veteran guys were probably rankled. When Truba went and Kreider's name was out there. I think Kreider's name being out there was a big deal. I'm sure Zabinajad's looking, he's like, whoa, like am I next in this firing squad

that's gonna go down? And Jury was like, hmm, we wish. I don't think we've betrayed you right now the way you're playing. Yeah, okay, it's gonna be a difficult turn here as we end our end of first segment, but I did wanna pass this along now and to close out the segment,

unfortunately we do have some very sad news to pass along. Yesterday evening, we learned that longtime Sportsnet broadcaster and 14 year NHL veteran Greg Millen passed away. Millen, of course, was a goalie during his professional playing career, appearing in over 600 games with Pittsburgh, Hartford, St. Louis, Quebec, Chicago and Detroit. He retired from the National Hockey League in 1992 and then transitioned of course into broadcasting. He covered the Senators in their inaugural season. He then went on

to serve as a color commentator for Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet. You've no doubt heard Greg Millen's work throughout the last few years. He was often synonymous with Sportsnet and hockey in this country. During his broadcasting career, Millen covered three Olympic Games, two world cups of hockey, and 12 Stanley Cup finals. On behalf of the entire show here, our deepest condolences go out to Millen's family, friends, colleagues, and fans. Greg Millen was 67 years old. You're listening to the Halford and Ruff show on Sportsnet 650. ["Sportsnet 650 Theme Song"]

803 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Ruff, Sportsnet 650. Halford Ruff of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. With over 3,000 five-star reviews, visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. Landon Ferraro is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three of this program is brought to you by Campbell & 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 Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. The Vancouver Canucks are back in action tonight. Five games left in the regular season tonight. 5 o'clock from Dallas. Reminder, pregame, postgame, and the actual game, you can hear it all right here on Sportsnet 650. Joining us now to break down tonight's game from the Connect side of things, Landon Ferraro, here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Landon, how are you?

Doing pretty good, guys. How you doing? We're all right. It's a weird holding pattern that we're kind of in here, though, because... Well, we should ask Landon about the practice facility. Sure. Landon, is it a big deal for an NHL team to go without a practice facility like the Canucks have? I mean, a few years or a bunch of years ago, no, no.

It was pretty standard still for teams just to kind of have the one and then make do. But no, at this point it's, it is weird. Um, you know, but Vancouver has a very different problem that, you know, a lot of other teams don't, and that's, you know, the price of land here and trying to find it, but no, like it's, it is something that would be very, you know, very much beneficial. What's the, what's the advantage? I mean, I'm sure you've, uh, you've been in these

practice facilities. Um, where does it, you know, where does it help the team? Well, it doesn't even just help the players, but it helps the training staff and everyone. You know exactly where you're going to be. There's no more dress and drives where you're getting dressed at the rink, you're driving to the other one, or the trainers have to log all the stuff over here in Vancouver, it's up to UBC. And, you know, just things get moved around and messed up. So there's not, you know, it's just not, you don't know what's going on half the time. So when you have your own, you can have, you know, if it's decently far apart, like when

we were in, when I was in Boston, like you have two sets of gear. So you have your set at the practice rank, you got your set at the game, you bring your, like the trainers bring your skates back and forth, but like there's, you know what's going on. There's no surprises. It just, it makes everything a lot easier.

Okay. So five games left in the Canucks season. What are some of the things that you're watching for? Because I assume you're not watching the standings anymore. No, not quite. No, but for me, I think it's mostly about the young guys and the steps that they've taken. And you're using it as a real long audition for spots next year. Who's going to have the leg up going into training camp trying to make the team. This team, Vancouver is going to need to have a few entry level deals, some young guys on the team to help out next year. This is a big part of that, but for the rest of it, it's kind of like what Toc has been talking about in the sense of like who's going to play to the end, even when we do

get it like eliminated on next to our name, like who's still going to show up, who's still going to play the right way and go about your job the right way. Like those are the things you look for. Um, it's been telling perhaps with that in mind, how much praise Rick Tocket has, um, put on Nils Holglinder.

Yeah. I mean, he's, you know, he's had a tough year, especially the first half. And, but at the same time you could see him, like everything was pure effort and he was taking a lot of penalties because he was trying so hard. Like he wanted it too bad. And, and, you know, he was able to, you know, kind of reset and let the first half go and he got his legs moving in the right direction and things had started to play a little better.

And the last game coming off his injury, like you could tell he wanted to be back in the lineup and he'd been, you know, begging to get back in and they were making sure he was healthy. But as soon as he's on the ice and he uses legs, he uses his cutbacks and gets into the face of the other team and is that pest. He's a really, really usable forward that has a decent amount of upside. Is he a top six guy? Does he have that potential to be? Because it feels like with Hoaglander, we've been trying to figure out what exactly he is. And Rick Tauket, although I think he's liked him more in the top six lately,

has often said that when I've brought up Nils to the top six, he hasn't played like he's been playing in the bottom six. And I like the way he's playing in the bottom six. I think he's getting too fancy when he gets into the top six. So I'm still not exactly sure where Hoaglander fits into the lineup. Yeah, like he strikes me as one of those guys that, you know, he's in your top six, but you have another guy, you know, like it used to be

with Garland on the third line that you could switch out if it just, the night's not going his way. Cause I feel like he's always going to be, you know, a bit of a wild card, but I think, you know, especially as he gets another year older, another year of experience, like I think he'll figure it out enough to where he can be a good, you know, second line guy that is the energy guy on that line and make sure that they get pucks back on the forecheck and things like that. But I think it is important for a guy like him to have someone on that third line that

if things just aren't going, they can flip them because he's going to have moments of just a bit of chaos. He's kind of like the Tasmanian devil when he gets out there. Sometimes it goes the right direction and sometimes it rips them the other way. We're speaking to Canucks analyst Landon Ferraro here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. A reminder, the Canucks are in action tonight. Five o'clock in Dallas against the Stars pregame, postgame and the game. It's all right here on Sportsnet 650. A reminder, the Canucks are in action tonight. Five o'clock in Dallas against the Stars pregame, postgame, and the game.

It's all right here on Sportsnet 650. Some of these younger players are going to get extended looks here that have impressed over the last little bit, Landon. Atu-Ratu, I think a lot of people have been impressed with his play as of late. Do you think he has done enough or do you think he will do enough over these final five games to become an everyday NHLer next season? I think so, yeah. You know, I think his game has grown quite a bit. He doesn't, especially his skating, you know, that's always been, you know, kind of the main thing for him.

But you know, I feel like he still needs his first couple strides to get a little quicker. His overall speed once he gets going is totally fine, but if he can get his first couple steps just a touch quicker, I think it'll even open up more to his game. You listen to people talk about him and how he handles himself around the room and in the gym and stuff. He wants to be a player, he puts in the work. I can see him taking that job next year and having a pretty solid year. He's done it the right way where he's found what they need and kind of slotted in. He's coming and done pretty good on draws,

but not only that, he's been able to help out offensively and make some plays that aren't the other guy doing everything and he just kind of puts a backdoor tap in. He's creating offense, he's using shot. I think it's been really good for him to gain this confidence and have it going into summer, but also I think it's been a really good for him to gain this confidence and have it going into summer, but also I think really big for the team to see that he could jump up and make some plays as well. Lenden, do you ever feel like when we're talking about these players and we're talking

about the last five games and the young players and do you ever feel like we're almost like debating the deck chairs on the Titanic, knowing that there are major, major issues that the Canucks have to deal with before this stuff even matters? Yeah, but I would say with especially watching the young, and that's why I kind of focus my vision on that side of it is because there is more, I'll say more hope in that in the sense of, again, the better they do, and the more of them that can actually be on the team next year and not just play a few minutes here or there or be a healthy scratch the whole time.

Like to actually play and contribute and be a part of the team is just opening up more space for the management team in the cap to find those bigger replacements because that's what more you're alluding to and then how much work they have in front of them. But for every next entry level deal that they have on their NHL roster, it's just opening up a bunch of money for other players to be signed. So it is a really big piece to it. Where's the ceiling on a guy like Victor Mancini? See, he's a really interesting one.

You know, me and Sad were talking about him the other night on the broadcast and like you look at his numbers kind of all the way through and like he's never been like an offensive defenseman. Not thinking that he's going to be leading the rush, but then you watch him, you watch him since he's been in Vancouver and you look at his NHL numbers and they're actually kind of better.

For me, I said it the other night, but every time he's on the ice and he either has the puck or the puck's coming to him, his head is up, he's looking for a play, he's strong and really good on his edges. So I mean, he can make his little cutbacks and have his head up and find that next play. He's, you know, of the younger guys, I would say he's, you know, a little better at, you know, when the puck's coming up to the blue line on the offensive side, like, he's a little more comfortable with picking it up with his head up and walking the line and getting that shot through. It looks more natural to it. At the same time, he's pretty good defensively. He'll make a mistake here,

there obviously, but him and Pedersen are really good skaters and they can recover. I think it's a higher ceiling than I originally thought. I think he's a guy that you can, you know, you can give him some pretty good minutes because he's got, he's got the strength, stamina, and, and so far, you know, kind of the mind for it to be able to play some bigger minutes. How should the Canucks be thinking about Tom Willander then? Because on the right side, you'll have Hronik, Tyler Meyers and Mancini. So there isn't like an urgent need to rush Willander into the NHL, although I'm sure Tom Willander is, you know, I'm not saying he's not willing to go to the NHL,

but all these guys want to play in the NHL, they want to play in the NHL as soon as they can. Yeah, I mean, obviously he's going to want to play there as quick as he can. That's all you're thinking about. You're never leaving junior thinking, I'm so excited to go play in the American League. It's not a thought that pops into your head, but it is an interesting situation here. Do you, with how many young guys you have going already, do you need to put another one in there and burn a gear? But really at the end of the day, that player is going to make that decision, him and his agent for the most part, in discussion with the Canucks, but like that's really going to end up sitting in their hands. And it's just, again, it's an interesting thing. And I would like to see

him up at this level, simply to see what he looks like compared to Mancini and Pedersen as well. You know, he wouldn't have as long as a runway because the season's ending, but at the same time, just to see what he looks like, is he going to be able to go right away next year or is he going to need a little bit of time? Are we more comfortable with the two guys that are here and then we can flip one of them if we need to later? But I think it's always best for the young guy to get, even if it's just a game, like in that game, the amount of knowledge that kid can pull out of it, especially going into summer where, you know, you're no longer guessing what you need to work at. Like, you know, you can get in a game,

you'll feel NHL guys, the first time he goes back for a pocket in the D zone and someone's chasing after him and he's used to college and the guy goes to hit him and it ends up being a lot more physical than what you just left. So just all that information can set him up for a huge summer as well. Landon, this was great man. Thanks for taking the time to do it as always. We appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight and the final five games of the regular season the next time we do a hit with Landon I think it's gonna be end of your autopsy time okay thanks buddy how about that have a good one guys yeah thanks Landon Ferraro Canucks

analyst here on the Haliford and Bref show on sports net 650 I'm gonna throw you on the spot no I want to do something here okay but can I just say that I chuckled a little bit when I asked Landon the question, does it feel like we're debating the deck chairs on the Titanic when there's all this other stuff going on that could make all this stuff moot? And then your next question is like, what do you think about Victor Mancini? Yeah, what about? I was like, yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

Where's the ceiling on this Vic Mancini fellow? No, I know. I mean, it's a weird balance, because I mean, after we're done off the air, there's 18 Canucks branded shows that are gonna be on Sportsnet 650, all of which that are gonna be talking about the minutiae and the day-to-day and who's playing tonight.

I think I'm actually gonna get in the lineup. I keep having it in my mind that the Canucks are gonna trade their first round pick and a top prospect for a center. having it in my mind that the Canucks are going to trade their first round pick and a top prospect for a center. Yep. Like a 25 year old center that can play. They're going to sign Jamie Ben and free agency.

No, no, no. You're not listening to me. I'm going down the road, man. A 2C. That's what they need because I don't think they're going to go into next season with Pedersen, Heedle, Ratu and Max Sassen down the road. No, they're going to go and they're going to acquire a center against my wishes. They're going to bring back Elias Pedersen, get it right, have a good training summer, get fit,

and they're going to have... Oh, you've just said it's against your wishes. Okay. I already said that. I said they should trade them. I've said it like a thousand times that I think that it would be best for all parties involved. All parties involved. This is me trying to do what's best by the player and for the player.

Yeah. I don't think it's going to fit here. I don't think it's going to work here. I think there's too much residual damage. That's just my opinion though. I could be totally wrong, but I have seen other players get a fresh start elsewhere and revitalize in a way that they couldn't do in their current situation.

I'd like PD to, it'd be funny if he got traded and they asked him, why do you think it didn't work out in Vancouver ultimately? And he said, you know, we didn't have a practice facility. I didn't have a practice facility. I didn't have a home. I had a house but not a home. Alright, I want to do this. What what did you

want to do? This is a great question. We got 4 minutes left and I think that's enough time to go through this. Dan from Birk Whitlam texting a great question. Dare I say and ask us anything? It's great but this is really good. How do you rank the disappointing teams this year,

former playoff team division, in order of the biggest disappointment? You get four to choose from, okay? Canucks, obviously. The Boston Bruins, the New York Rangers, and the Nashville Predators. Perfect symmetry. Two from the west, two from the east. All of them. It's a lot of disappointment. All of them made the playoffs Predators. Perfect symmetry. Two from the West, two from the East.

All of them- It has a lot of disappointment. All of them made the playoffs last year. All of them are missing this year. So let's break this down real quick. Canucks, we don't have to break that one down. We know it was why it was a disappointing season and how it came to be.

Bruins, special mention for them because this is the worst season that they've had in about 15 years. Yeah. So they're not just missing the playoffs and they're not just below average. They're bad bad. They bottomed out. And they gave a lot of money to a guy like Lindholm, right? And Zadorov.

And Zadorov. Rangers, nobody went further in the playoffs last year than the New York Rangers. They were in the conference finals and they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, so they fell the furthest. And the Predators have been an abject disaster from day one. Whereas, the Canucks and Bruins and Rangers

took a while before they fell apart. Nashville fell apart right from the start. So, their disappointment has lasted the longest. All four have a good case to be the most disappointing. Um I put I'm going okay this is gonna be I mean it's time I pick Boston I think Boston's last for me okay because Boston had such a good run that I felt like it

was gonna end eventually okay and a valid point and I just think like you lose char and then you lose Bergeron and Kraytchi. Like it's really hard to replace these guys. And I think Boston right now is in the same position as Detroit was when they lost Zetterberg, Datsuk, and Lidstrom, right? They just, they tried. Too much.

They tried to keep it together. And you know, it just, it's not gonna happen. Danny Geiser will save us. Well I mean look they've still got some good players in McEvoy and Pasternak and they got a good goalie who they've committed to in Swainman so that kind of adds to the disappointment but I'm gonna put them I'm gonna actually put them last because they've had such a good run. I'm gonna put Nashville next because Nashville so I'm just I'm just gonna say like the Rangers and the Canucks were so dysfunctional yes and so I think it's between those two I think the Predators just tried something and didn't work

like I don't hear a lot of like dysfunction coming out of Nashville. But they had a good thing going and they kind of messed with that didn't they? Yeah, no, no, no. Hey, they're all disappointing, right? So like there's no real wrong answers here, but it's between the Rangers and the Canucks for me. And the thing that makes, I think, both teams,

the candidates to choose from, is how much disdain the fans have for the team. And I brought that word up before. That's a good point. Disdain. And Rangers fans. They hate their team. They hate. They hate all of them.

Hate. They hate their team. They hate their team. I'm gonna read,. They hate their team. They hate their team. I'm going to read a tweet from TheGardenFaithful, which is an account on X Twitter that has quite a few followers. And here's what TheGardenFaithful tweeted last night, the Rangers had some awful teams from 1998 to 2004, but I didn't hate them the way I hate this team. They have no character or pride or anything that could be called a redeemable quality,

a true embarrassment of a team. They've got some several high profile media people that dump on the team with regularity. Mike Rupp is one of them. Boomer Seisen is another one. And they all have the same complaints. No character, no pushback. New York fans aren't as sensitive, right? If they hate a team, they hate a team.

They've hated Knicks teams. They've certainly hated Mets teams. When the Yankees aren't good, they don't like them. This Rangers team has had a number of embarrassing performances on home ice. Does that sound familiar? That draws out disdain from a fan base when you have poor performances but especially poor performances at home and you wonder do you guys so this is the question that comes up right do you guys even care well no the question is who's number one who's the most disappointing is it

the Canucks or the Rangers I think is the Rangers yeah by a small margin just because they made it when you go to the conference finals and you lose in six so you two wins away from going to the Stanley the Canucks or the Rangers. I think it's the Rangers. Yeah. But by a small margin. Just because they made it. When you go to the conference finals and you lose in six. So, you're two wins away from going to the Stanley Cup final and you come back with this season. That's brutal. I think and I know this is I think the dysfunction is almost on par. I don't think we really understood how dysfunctional the early parts of the Rangers season was when. Like is Drury gonna survive

this? I don't know. It feels like a lot of the Rangers season was when. Like is Drury gonna survive this? I don't know. It feels like a lot of the wounds were self-inflicted this year. Yeah. Feels like he, the Truba deal, maybe it had to be made, okay fine, but the way that he handled the Crieder situation. Did Truba nix a trade in the off season?

Yes. That might've set the tone, right? Yeah, and then it was like, well, we'll take this into our own hands, Anaheim. Like it was, you know, it was one of those things where. No, no, no, but just the start set the tone, right? Yeah, and then it was like, well, we'll take this into our own hands. Anaheim. Like it was, you know, it was one of those things where- No, no, no, no, but just the start of the season, I mean, I know the record was fine,

but everyone was like, this team is not good, and there's a problem here. They forced Truba out, right? It was like, well, if you're not gonna agree to a trade, we will just healthy scratch. Is beginning the season with a mutiny a bad start? Bad quick to get off the season on? They are, they sound mutinous, right? Right? They do season on? They sound mutinous, right?

They do, yeah. But a mutant captain was true. Well, I'm talking about the head coach and the general manager too, right? But a mutiny while you've got a winning, remember how they had a good record to start the year? I know it was kind of propped up on special teams in Shusterkin,

but they were like 12, five and one or something like that. And then a mutiny, it was all very bizarre. Anyway. Well, I was gonna say say before you get to break the one thing that Canucks have over those other three teams in that mix, it's Canucks from Missing Demco for most of the year. Those three other teams all had their starter

and goaltenders and they all, other than Shisterkin sort of flopped. You know the other thing that Canucks have? Quinn Hughes. Yeah. They've actually got a player that everyone loves. Quinn Hughes is the best player of those four teams mentioned, the best player in any of those four teams

mentioned. I didn't even think about it. And he's like, he's everything you would want in a captain. Yeah. So, that's nice for us. And they're still bad. All right, we gotta go to break. When we come back, it's what we learn time.

Get them in, hashtag them WWL. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know. You're listening to the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650.