Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 4/9/25

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Mike Halford and Jason Brough recap a historic comeback from the Canucks, with 3 goals being scored in just 60 seconds time. The tiniest of playoff chances remain alive, while the Canucks are going to have some difficult decisions either way in the offseason. Then, Randip Janda joins to chat Canucks, his perspective on an incredible win versus Dallas, whether or not fans should still be hoping to see the Canucks in the playoffs, and what to do with guys like Pius Suter in the summer. 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.

Whoa, wait a minute, huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose a f**king Canucks? You're listening to Halford and Brough. Marcus Peterson forces a turnover. Left wing! You are listening to Halford and Brough. Two seconds left! Garland gets it in front for Sherwood, he scores! Kiefer Sherwood wins it in overtime for the Canucks! I thought tonight was pretty, overall pretty good game until the last minute of the game. Good morning Vancouver, 6-0-1. It's even better now that I heard it. 6-0-1 on AO Wednesday, as Halford did his broth in his Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Regular Zach, good morning to you. Good morning. And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and bruh from the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted voice 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 premium metal recycler, pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. So that was Miko Rantanen following the game last night. Laddie before the show, he's like, I've got some audio of Miko Rantanen. I thought tonight was pretty, like overall pretty good game until the last minute of the game. It's like a Finnish Randy Newman just talking about what he saw.

It was a good game for Dallas until the final minute. Folks, I don't know what to say about that game, but we've got an entire first segment to talk about it. Before we get into what happened yesterday, need to tell you about today's program. Got a big guest list ahead. It begins at 6.30 with David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet, NHL host.

Five games in the National Hockey League tonight as we get closer to the end of the regular season. It is Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey. We have a double header on tap. Huge game. Huge game between the Leafs and the Lightning from Tampa Bay to kick things off. Followed by the Blues and Oilers. Don't forget though, you've also got Calgary fighting for their playoff lives in Anaheim. And of course, the Minnesota Wild who could eliminate the Vancouver Canucks from playoff contention tonight as they host the San Jose Sharks. So there's a lot to get into there with David Amber. That's at 6.30. 7.30, Sean Hogan is going to join the program. First time guest.

He is the executive director at College Hockey Inc. The Frozen Four gets underway tomorrow from St. Louis, Penn State, Western Michigan, Boston University, and Denver are your frozen four. Of course, this year's tournament of special interest to Canucks fans because of Aidan Sellebrini and Tom Villander. And then of course, next year, the big merger comes where CHL players are now eligible to play NCAA hockey. So we'll talk to Sean Hogan about all that at 730.

Eight o'clock, we're going talk to Randip Jandy. He was on the call last night for that insane six-five overtime win. Yeah, if you're waking up right now and you went to bed when it was five-two for Dallas, the Canucks won that game. Six-five, the Canucks became the first team in NHL history to win after erasing a three-goal deficit in the final minute of

regulation. Randheep is mostly going to talk about Arsenal's win over Real Madrid though. Second biggest story of the day yesterday is Canucks doing something no team in NHL history has done before. Second best story yesterday. So working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock Randheep Janda, 730 Sean Hogan, 630 David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Lad o'clock, Randy Janda, 730 Sean Hogan, 630 David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, 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 missing your life can be. What happened? Missed it? 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. Kiefer Sherwood scored 3 minutes and 44 seconds into overtime last night as the Vancouver Canucks again did something that no other team in the rich and long history of the NHL has ever done. Scoring three goals in the final minutes of a game and going on to win that same game 6-5 in overtime against the Dallas Stars in Dallas on Tuesday night. They've had some wild ones this year. They sure have. You know it kind of set the tone right off the start with

that Calgary game. Mm-hmm. Where they were the ones who were blowing the game and ultimately lose. And you know, they've had some crazy comebacks, Brock Baster scoring against St. Louis late. Last night probably. Well, last night was NHL history. I know. It was NHL history and it was, you know, the Canucks are not, I mean, probably not going to make the playoffs. Hold on. Never know. Hold on.

Never know. But, you know, in these last few games, we've been talking last little while, I was like, what are we going to watch in these games? At least it was entertaining. What we're going to watch is NHL history. NHL history, exactly. So I want to point this out.

Uh, Jason Bruff, a diligent worker, very thorough and very prompt, sometimes too prompt. I want it to be known. I jumped the gun. He sent his nightly notes prior to the end of this game. It was five, two at the time. This is how Jason Bruff's notes began. So that's it for another season.

In the last decade, the Canucks have made the playoffs twice and missed eight times. This might be their most disappointing miss of the decade, given what happened last season when they piled up 109 points. Hey, it's just what professionals do. Did you hear iMac on the post game show? I did not. He was saying like, yeah, I had to write two columns yesterday. The first one was kind of an obituary on the season. And then I'm like, oh, delete, delete, delete, delete, delete. What an amazing comeback for the Canucks as they hang on.

Maybe don't delete, just save for another day. Save for another day. save for another day. Save for another day. Save for another day. Oh yeah. You keep up the words. Jason Will ultimately ended up being right with what he wrote. He just wasn't right last night.

Well did you see, I actually put it out on social media when it was five to two, I said it's official, the Canucks. I was like, oh I shouldn't have put official. And then people were like, oh, that age, like, no, oh yeah, you called it, right? You were so upset too that it did. Everyone called an unprecedented comeback. Not just in franchise history or of the last decade.

Make this clear, like, you can go back to 1917 with the Montreal Maroons when forward passing was outlawed. No one has ever done this before, nobody. And of this season of all seasons where if you want to talk about the blown leads, you were thinking about the Calgary game in the opener. I was thinking about the Columbus game where they desperately needed points and they blew that in. The Seattle one. The Seattle one.

They've had some wild games this season. And this was just another one to throw on the pot. You know what though for the sake of some audio goodness I want to play the supercut of the comeback which began But I don't even know where to go with pew suitor We'll get to him in a minute, but he also said history yesterday But we'll jump to it right exactly with 60 seconds left Canucks are down 5-2 what's more and this is why I don't give Bruff a hard time for writing the notes when he did.

Dallas had already scored an empty net goal. Right? Like this was, Granlis scored into the empty net to make it 5-2. Again, if you think about it, the Canucks would have won that game in regulation if Tauke hadn't pulled the goalie. Yeah, there's something.

And it wasn't even like, it wasn't a 4-2 empty net. It made it 5-2. And there is something to consider. wasn't even like, it wasn't a four two empty net. It made it five two. And there is something to consider. Shouldn't you have, anyway. So it starts with exactly 60 seconds left, and it's a tu ratu. This is what the comeback sounded like to begin, and we'll run the whole way through,

and then we'll stop before we get to overtime. One of, no, no, no, not one of, the most unlikely and unprecedented comeback in NHL history. Here's what it sounded like. with 59 seconds left in the third period and the Canucks are not quitting. Queen Hughes left point to the right side for Hironik, down the near boards for Garland. With a pass in front, Puse, Suter scores! Suter in the slot, beats Casey to Smith

and just like that it's five to four with 28.4 seconds left. 10 seconds left to Garland to the point. Left point, Hughes long wrist shot, deflected wide of the goal, rebound for Herodik in front they score it's Pius Suter in the slot with 5.2 seconds left and they're not dead yet shooters got his second goal in the final minute of the third and it's 5-5. So at this point I'm assuming that the Dallas Stars are sufficiently rattled. Like they're probably like- Did you, I was laughing when the connects tied it. I was looking at the Dallas crowd behind

and there was one guy that just stood up and turned his back to the stars. He just stood up and he was like, I can't watch this, you idiots. I'm disgusted with all of you. It was crazy. I don't know what else. It was funny. We'll play, maybe we'll play the Jamie Ben audio later and get our own unique spin on that one.

But before we do any of that, we need to cap this comeback off. And it came three minutes and 44 seconds into OT. Some great work from Connor Garland behind the net setting up Key for Sherwood. And here's what it sounded like is the Canucks completed an absolutely insane comeback to the left corner for her. Oh, check by Harley low in the zone. He's knocked down by her on it. Can the end boards Garland gets it in front for sure. He scores Kiefer Sherwood wins it in overtime for the Canucks.

And they're back from the dead. They trailed five to two in the final minute of the third, but when it's six to five on the road in Texas and it's Sherwood with the overtime winner, his 18th of the season. So on top of all of this, Pugh Suter also made history yesterday. He is now just the seventh player again in the entire history of the NHL, which has been around for a long time and has had a lot of players. Seventh player in NHL history to score twice

in the final 30 seconds of regulation. He now has a career high 24 goals. Yeah, I don't know how much stock and value they're gonna put into the final third of this season, where Suter has at times carried, I repeat carried this team, but it is, it's a remarkable, you know what? If you wanna just let it exist in a vacuum, it's a remarkable, you know what, if you want to just let it exist in a vacuum,

it's really great for him. Really I got it's kind of bounced around in his NHL career. He's done yeoman's work this year. He has delivered well, well more than what his salary is compensating him. And he now has a career high 24. And who knows what he's going to get to this point. The guy's scoring with regularity. So I just want it to be known that it's not me texting into the Dunbar lumber text line about Elias Pettersson, but a lot of people are.

Wow. And- How do we make this historic comeback? Well I'm just reading what the, I'm turning it to Dollywall here. I'm just reading what they're saying. A lot of people say, it never happens without Pedersen. You know, it is wild. Some of the games that the Canucks have played without Petey, everyone thought, oh, this is just going to be like the most boring hockey without him in the lineup.

The Canucks aren't going to score. Well, he got hurt against the Rangers. They scored three times against the Devils, won it in a shootout. Scored five times against the Islanders, won it. Scored six times against Columbus, lost in a shootout, scored six times against Anaheim, scored six times against the Dallas Stars.

Now defensively, that's where they've missed Pedersen the most, honestly, defensively. They haven't missed his offense, because Pugh Suter has been scoring, like once he got in the last, once he got since Pedersen's out. I don't know if you can, I don't know if you can base your strategy

around being a quick strike team, but on Saturday against Anaheim, the Canucks scored five times in four minutes and 30 seconds. And then, cause you gotta remember, it wasn't just the three goals yesterday in quick succession, four goals in the game's final four minutes and 44 seconds, counting overtime and the end of regulations. So they've got that real quick strike ability. That could be their thing moving forward. Well, I think the two players that you really tip your cap to last night were

suitor as you mentioned, but how about Connor Garland too, who's been in terms of effort, they're most consistent forward all season and made a terrific play on the winning goal in overtime to win a puck battle down low, get underneath the Dallas stars player with the puck, and then quickly fired out to Kiefer Sherwood and Sherwood buries it. I mean, I mean, there's, there's another great story. Like if you look at all the guys that were involved in this comeback. So the 5-3 goal, Atu Ratu, he's been a great story lately, right? Pius Serta scores twice and then Sherwood from Garland. Isn't that like a list of the guys

that have kind of shown up this year? Well, they were talking on the post-game show about, like is Rick Taukett seeing enough from role players and depth guys growth wise to, you know, maybe reconsider whatever his previous thoughts were about this group. Ratu got mashed and on the dot like face-offs. He was miserable on anybody. One key draws down the stretch when they were in desperation time and talk it spoke about this

after the game. Like he is making a conscious effort to say there are some younger guys or guys lower in the lineup that are getting a lot of reps in moments where say what you will about this Connect season, but last night they could have easily put it to bed when it was five two and there was a minute left. Easily, easily just been like, it's not our night.

Yet again, we trailed three nothing in five two in this game. We probably don't deserve to win this one. No one said that. Mancini got a goal last night too. There's another guy we've been talking about that has gotten additional reps and more time. Aturatu, we talked about him.

I am not trying to put lipstick on a pig here, but you can't, put it this way. If the team goes out and does something that no other team in NHL history has done before, I will gladly come in and talk about it, talk about it enthusiastically. Totally. At least the morning after.

The whole idea is to be entertained at the end of the day. Are you not entertained? And that was entertaining and it was impressive what the Canucks did. And, uh, I was laughing because, um, the fourth goal I'm watching on TV and I guess the fourth goal goes in and there's 30 seconds left.

And Shorty goes, don't go away. I'm like, they're gonna do this, aren't they? Because it's been that kind of season. And then when they get the puck deep, I'm kind of like, man, the Stars are just kind of standing around, like they're almost are just kind of standing around. They're almost just praying this doesn't happen. And sometimes when you're in this situation, even if you're a good team like the Dallas

Stars and they are a good team, you panic a little bit. And sometimes when you panic, you just stand around and the Canucks were not standing around. They were attacking and they were buzzing. And to be honest with you, the Canucks played a really good third period. They were all over the Dallas stars for the most part. Now Dallas did make it four, two and that, and I was like, all right, well that's it. And then obviously when they score into the empty net or that's when I throw out my tweet, well, it's official.

The Canucks are going to miss the playoffs. So overall, that third period for the Canucks, like they deserve something good out of it. I don't know if they deserve that, but man, like it was fun. It was fun to watch. And that's in these games, if you want to call them meaningless, like Vikingstad texted in and he said, um, you know, I, I, I, I, you know, I want to get mad at the Canucks for blowing their draft position or whatever, but I just can't.

You know? Like, yeah, you can't get mad at the team for doing that last night. That was impressive. That was like, it's an under man team. Guys like Pugh Souter, who has been kind of like an afterthought on most teams for his entire career. He's playing the hero now. You got young guys like Atu Ratu that are part of it. And a guy that like Kiefer Sherwood, who's basically put his body on the line the whole season, set an NHL hits record He gets the winning goal from Connor Garland a guy who has never stopped working hard all season So right like that's awesome. It was nice to have a night of fun

You know who else had fun last night or yesterday anyway, Montreal Canadians fans and Ottawa Senators fans like Regular Zach over here. So we'll start with Montreal all due respect I don't want to bury the fans like regular Zach over here. So we'll start with Montreal, all due respect. I don't want to bury the lead, but we got to start with Montreal. They win their sixth straight game in a row, a four one win against Detroit at the Bell Center on Tuesday.

Sam Montembeau, 30 wins. The most important goalie stat of them all, Greg, wins. You almost had an open net goal that he saw up, but it was a missed net by the Red Wings instead. So Montembeau gets the win, the Habs get the win, they are now, I mean, they're in, right? I mean, they're not gonna blow this, they're pretty much in.

And they're getting some pretty intriguing reinforcements because Ivan Demidoff, the 2024 draft pick, highly touted, is on his way over from Russia, having left SKA St. Petersburg to sign a three year entry level deal with the Montreal Canadiens. And did you see the sleuthing Habs fans found the exact flight he's on?

I did not. Like, leave it up to the internet, right? Like they know the exact flight. They're excited, man. They're excited. They're feeling it right now in Montreal. No one expected this team to make the playoffs. They're gonna make the playoffs

and then they're gonna get this potential wild card. This kid is really talented. The boost of Russian nitrous, is that, is that the drancing? What a freakin' boost. Did I drancing that one well? Did I do it? He's got juice. Yeah.

This guy's got juice. Yeah, so he's not. Russian juice, too, so it might be legal. What do we all? It might be illegal, I don't know. What do we all know about Demidoff? I know that he was the second overall pick. He was the number two ... No, he wasn't the second overall pick. Sorry, fifth overall pick, number two prospect in that draft class behind Celebrini, but dropped to five.

According to some people. Right, and then sort of slid to five because of the KHL factor, but at 19... No one expected him to be available this early. Got it. Okay. So that'll be really interesting. By the way. Moving forward, yes. Does the Russian factor change a little bit after this with Mitch Goff coming to the NHL way sooner than people thought he would and now Demidov?

You'd have to think, right? How are they doing this? It's a great question. I mean, there must have been- Like, did Demidov have to buy his way out of that? I don't know. In the case of Philly, there was some back channels for sure. Like it was clear that the Flyers were working

to try and get Mitch Koff out. I mean, but the thing with Mitch Koff was, it was years before anyone expected him to come over. Again, I didn't follow the Demidoff story that closely, and I'm not gonna lie part of it because I did not think it was gonna happen this year. I mean, I don't, you know, we can get a guest on maybe later in this week once Montreal clinches and get a further analysis

of what's gonna happen here, but it's a great story for Montreal. They're on their way to the playoffs, but so too, Zach, are your beloved Ottawa Senators. So the Senators officially clinched yesterday. Now. Good for them, man. Honestly, again, good for Travis Green,

good for Sens fans fans because it has been a long wait for them. And they were grouped in there with Detroit and the red hot Buffalo Sabres and, and, and both those teams, um, like that was a, that was a big loss for Detroit. Yep. Um, and Buffalo is officially eliminated.

And it's now 14 years for the Buffalo Sabres. So they're neck and neck right now with the New York Jets for the longest playoff drought in North America. And then the other ones are the Charlotte Hornets and the NBA. And guess the baseball one? They had pirates. No, they had two of the best players in baseball playing for them at one point.

I don't know who angels angels. Yeah. Angels streak is longer than a pirate. Damn. Ten years. That's terrible for the L.A. angels. But the Sabres, it's funny because the Sabres are finishing really well. Yeah, they're one of the NHL's hottest teams and they're piling up goals and it's just like way too little too late for them.

Somewhat meaningful games in April until yesterday when they were officially eliminated. So Zach, as the only Ottawa Senators fan I know, how are you feeling? And first off, how old are you? I'm 24. Okay, so you were alive when this drought started eight years ago. I was alive eight years ago, yes.

Yeah, you were alive eight years ago. So that was the third longest active drought in NHL history was the Sens not getting into the playoffs since 2017. You must be excited. It feels great. My one complaint is that every single time broadcasts reference the Senators' playoffs, they immediately show the elimination goal from 2018 and that is. 2017. 2017, sorry, yes. It was the Kunitz goal, right?

Yeah, the Chris Kunitz overtime, game seven. Yeah. It hurts. Yeah. I forgot about that goal. That was a massive goal for Kunitz. Yeah, so good for the Sens and it remains to be seen who they're going to play because it looked

like Toronto and Ottawa was almost set, but the Lightning are making a run for the division. And if you look at goal differential, the Lightning are way above the Leafs and the Leafs lost last night in Florida, they've got a two point lead on the Lightning and the Lightning and the Leafs play tonight. So the Battle of Ontario. Need Battle of Ontario.

Need that. We need it, but it's far from guaranteed. Now a lot of people texting in about Pugh Souter. How can the Canucks not sign this guy? Well, he might just be too expensive for them at this point. And also I do think you have to take into account, I mean, 24 goals, which is great. Career high shooting percentage right now, 19%. He's a, he's a 13% career shooter.

Um, and also like how many minutes is he going to get? You know, if the plan is to bring back Pedersen and the plan is for Hedl to be in the lineup and, you know, assuming he's, uh, he's recovered from his concussion and they go forward with Hedl on the roster. You know, where does Suter fit in? Right? The whole, like, I'm not saying don't, I'm not

saying don't, but I'm just saying like, you can't think that this is the suitor you're going to get in terms of opportunity. You know, he's, he's not going to get this opportunity if you keep Pedersen and if you keep Heidel and if you go out and get a center, which they've said they're going to do, right? The center position for the Canucks is

it is so in flux. There is so much uncertainty. And I guess you could say that Suter has added another wild card to the piece. He's played so much down the stretch. He is a 21 minute at a night guy. In his last four games, sorry, four of his last five games. He's hit 21 minutes. Okay, one of them was 20 minutes and 58 seconds. That's 21 of my books. He's played a ton.

So that's the opportunity. But he's not. That's the opportunity you're talking about. He's given this opportunity in a lost season. So he's and you're not going to. You can't. He's not a guy like, you know, Mike, the urologist text and he's like, he's not scoring by taking control of the game. Don't overpay for a flash in the pan. He's not a flash in the pan.

Well, he's a good player, but he's not this. You don't sit there and go, well, like he's done great as the 1C, so make him your 1C. No, no, no. He's done great as your 1C, make him your 3C. You need more. How about that? How about that, though? He's done great as your 1C, make him your 3C.

Well, he's not going to get paid like a 3C, that's the problem. Pay him like a 2BC. Okay, well then you've got Hedl. Yeah. And then you've got the guy that they want to go out and get a young center. Maybe that plan changes.

I would not talk with such great confidence about Hedl, by the way. Well, I'm not talking with confidence at all with Hedl. I'm not saying you. I just said it's a wild card. Everything's a wild card right now down the middle for the Canucks. I would say with Hedl, you have fortunately and unfortunately got everything as advertised. Tantalizing skill and talent and speed, raw ability without question, and a penchant for always being

hurt. We've seen it all in a very short window with, with, uh, Filipino. So if you want to extrapolate that out over however long he's in Vancouver, I would just naturally assume that it might be more of the same. But anyway, we got, we got to get to break. We got a lot more to get into here. A lot of big decisions for the Vancouver Canucks this off season. But the off season has not begun yet. Massive decisions. The off season has not begun just yet.

We got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up, more NHL talk as we preview tonight's action. A lot of very important, very pivotal games. Five games across the league. Two of them will be featured prominently on Sportsnet for Wednesday night. Scotiabank hockey. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada Sportsnet NHL host, is going to join us next to preview it all. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on

Sportsnet 650. I thought tonight was pretty, overall pretty good game until the last minute of the game. It's Randeeb. Randeeb Janda time. It's Randeeb Janda. It is Randeeb. Randeeb Janda. It is Randeeb. Talking hockey now. Oh. In 04 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough Sportsnet 650. Halford and

Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. With over 3000 five star reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. Randeeb Janda, as the music's Jess, is gonna join us in just a moment here, kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers, trustee expertise of Campbell & 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 and Step. To the phone lines we go, Randeeb Janda. Presentation of Bells and Whistles joins us now on the Haliford and Breast Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Randeeb. How are you?

Good morning, boys. I'm recovering from yesterday. That was a wild sports day, especially for the Canucks. There was only one thing that was going to prevent us from starting with Arsenal and Declan Rice's master class yesterday. And that was the first and only comeback of three goals in the final minute to win in NHL history. And it was Vancouver Canucks last night. What was going through your head? What was going through Batch's head yesterday as you guys were watching that unfold? Canucks are down 5-2 with a minute left.

Come back to tie it in regulation, win it in overtime. What are you guys thinking is that going on? Well, it's funny because you know after that four to goal and the five to goal I I'm not gonna lie. I started making notes about the post game and just being all right, you know, they threw everything They threw everything at the Dallas stars the special teams battle, which was not much of a battle. Both PKs were not great. And that seemed to be the story. Hey, you know, Vancouver had a good start to the game. They brought energy, they brought a good third period,

but it wasn't gonna amount to anything. And within a minute guys, that changed real quick. So I think for batch as well, we were kind of, well, it was so funny that we actually ended up picking up Mikhail Granlin for the waypoint insurance player of the game and I had to redo that at the post game show. Quickly the life changes. What did I think? I thought the game was over, no doubt. We've been having a few discussions about Pugh Souter and what the Canucks should do with him and kind of extends into what do you thinkucks should do with him and kind of extends

into what do you think they should do down the middle this off season? It just seems like there's decisions to be made on every centre except, I don't know, Teddy Bluger. Yeah, that's fair. And Pugh Souter is going to be such an interesting one because, you know, the league is also watching this guy, right?

This, even though he had to wait till August to sign his deal when he came to Vancouver, he's to be such an interesting one because you know the league is also watching this guy right this even though he had to wait till August to sign his deal when he came to Vancouver he's not going to have to wait till July 2nd this year and you know 19 points in the last 20 games will provide that type of attention having a career year scoring 24 goals in a pretty thin center market across the league will do that. Most expectations are that Sam Bennett's going to sign in Florida and the other centers you have in the market are a little bit older and maybe past their best days. So with Suter, I think it poses an interesting situation for Vancouver. I think the hope would be, you know, he's found a fit here in Vancouver. He's shown some versatility and he's gotten a chance to play up and down the lineup.

And more recently, he's shown that he can play up the lineup. But cash rules the day. And it depends on what kind of dollar figure we're talking about, guys. He's earned every dollar that he's going to get. He took a bet on himself signing a two-year deal on a pretty decently discounted rate. There's a lot of fans of his. Maybe a couple of years ago, he was kind of like the hipster pick to be a good value signing. Well, he's not going to be a value signing moving forward, but with Philip Heidel and his future uncertain at this point in time, the same could

be said with Elias Pettersson. Vancouver, I think, needs to go into the market for Pugh Souter. They need to seriously consider extending him or keeping him in Vancouver, but the fact of the matter is, guys, what's the ceiling with Pugh Souter, right? Sure, he's put up points, but is he still a 3C for your team on a playoff contending and a cup contending team, which you hope Vancouver is, that's just the ultimate goal? You know, there is a limit to how much you can pay him. So it really depends what other GMs have in mind and what that price is, but he's no doubt an important player for this team as of right now. I mean, you asked a great question there. What's the ceiling? And I think the answer

is we are currently witnessing and experiencing it like all due respect to the guy, but there's no way that he's ever gonna get more of a look than this. I mean, he's playing 21 minutes a night and he's got a career high of 24 goals. Like this is probably the ceiling right now, right? For sure. And I think what he's been able to do,

getting this one fee role because of injury, because of this situation, you give him credit. And I wanna say it's even beyond the points, right? Against New Jersey, we saw him go head I want to say it's even beyond the points, right? Against New Jersey, we saw him go head to head with Nico Vichier. Against Winnipeg, we saw him go head to head with Mark Scheichle's line. In certain matchups this season, he's done an excellent job against top line centers, but the question is long term, when you're thinking of signing somebody to a four or

five year deal, whatever it may be, at their peak, are they going to be able to maintain that peak? And the other question is, when is that dollar value? And for some folks, I remember having this conversation, what, a month, maybe two months ago, we're talking about the three and a half million dollar range. Now you're above that with what he's been able to do. So you got to ask yourself a question long term. You know, is that a player that you really need to be looking into a four or four plus million dollar range? And that another 20 to 25 million dollars you're giving up. So I think no doubt this is the peak.

I love the story, but where does that fit? Because I still see him as a middle six, top six winger or a two, three C. It could work, but is he going to command more money than that rule provides? Um, are we talking enough about Philip Heidel and what his hockey playing future is? Cause this, this is a pretty big piece that the Canucks brought over from the Rangers.

And, uh, you Rangers and we're all concerned about his health, but you also have to take into account the hockey considerations for the Canucks. No, I think with Phillip Heidel and his history guys of concussions, it's such an uncertain area. There's big question marks there. Obviously the last time we're talking,

mentioned Philip Heidel and has his good days and his bad days. That's kind of that's the language of, hey, yeah, we'll see how it goes essentially, right? So I think that is a big question mark. Anytime you have, you know, multiple concussions, you have a history of that. And it's not only about, you know, having the the concussions it's the style that Philip Heidel plays. He hangs onto the

puck and sometimes that head is down and I wish he would release the puck like a second earlier than he sometimes does and listen that hit by Jason Dickinson was a bad hit it was not the usual style of you know hanging onto the puck where we see you know Philip Heidel going down Main Street but is usual style of hanging onto the puck where we see, you know, Hedl going down Main Street, but is your style of play more susceptible to getting hit like that? I think Hedl is because he does hang onto the puck. And that's also a good side of his game too,

because he's a zone exit and entry machine. You know, he's up there with some of the best in the league in terms of that number per game, but that does come with an element of risk. So I think it is going to be a real question heading into the off season of where is he at? The more concussions you get, the more head injuries you get. It gets tougher with time.

So I think it is going to be a talking point heading into the off season, no doubt. We're speaking to Canucks Color analyst, Randy Janda here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of ceilings of guys playing the center position, Atu Ratu, where do you see his at? I guess right now and then looking forward to next season. Right now, I think with Ratu, he's shown that he can at least provide a discussion on, hey, can this guy be in everyday NHL or next year?

And you're getting production from him. He's not maybe the best playmaker, but if you can score goals, that's fine, right? Not everybody's going to be a Hendrick Sadeen or Hendrick Sadeen life where they're always going to think pass first. So the fact that he's able to get, three points in the last two games,

he's been able to score some goals and guys in the faceoff circle, that's been able to score some goals. And guys in the face-off circle, that's where he's going to provide his value. Even though he didn't have success in that last night, you know, is he out there on the penalty kill? Yes, he is. Is he out there late in games when you need a key draw win? And he's leading the Canucks in face-off percentage.

So I think he does a couple of things really well that's going to score points with Rick Tauke. One of them is base off. You know his ability to win draws and high leverage situations is going to be that something that any coach loves and in the long term I think as I mentioned I think next year when you're hitting camp there's a maturity about this kid that he understands and in starts with the skating last year. He got the direction that, hey, you really got to up your skating.

Talking to him, I know him and his brother skated in Finland and they really focused on that and they made sure that that was an area of improvement that he had. And he came back, had a little bit more burst. Is he a perfect skater? No, but he's making progress. So I think with Ahti,araj the long-term plan here, you got to be looking at him to say, all right, you know, that 4C, that 3C spot,

are you able to make that yours? Are you able to at least provide a discussion to say, hey, this NHL experience has meant something? I love the way he plays it. I think his, whether he's F1 or F2 on plays, he plays a heavy game, which translates well. He's just got to up that skating a little bit. And if you can do that guys, and obviously some of his reads as a young player are not quite there defensively at times, but he's

still a young kid. But I think, you know, that three, four C role, he can certainly in training camp put in a, put in a pretty good fight there just to see maybe he can solidify that, especially if the Canucks have some vacancies at the center position. How much does Canucks management need to consider team speed when making all these decisions? Like, Ratu worked on his skating, it's improved, still not the best skater. We all know Brock Besser isn't known for his skating. We all know Pugh Suter isn't known for his skating. We all know Pugh Sutter isn't known for his skating.

And frankly, the way Elias Pedersen has been skating this season is concerning. We've heard management talk about team speed and needing to have more team speed. That has to be in consideration in all the decisions they make going forward. We're good about that. And if you look at the latest lineup change, they had Max Sassen centering Debrusk and Besser and two things there, you have to have speed with both Besser and Debrusk.

When Suders played there, sure they've had some, you know, some success, but guys, this is not the fastest of lineups. Of course, Hohlander brings that on the top line of Suder and Garland and Garland brings up part of that as well. Sherwood brings that, Drew O'Connor, but they need a lot more of that when they are healthy and going. And I look at the centre position specifically, yeah, it's not a fast group as of right now. Now, looking beyond this season, whether it's a winger, we can have the speculation of what

kind of player you need to pick up. Well, if it's an Ehlers type of player or whatever, yeah, you need speed. You're going to have to address that. And I think they've got players sprinkled in there, especially in the bottom six where you're saying, okay, Sherwood brings it, O'Connor brings it, but you need more of that. You need guys that are a little bit more relentless as the F1 or the F2.

They need to hit home. But I look at that center position, and Phillip Heidel was a player that they targeted for that reason. He can skate, and unfortunately with his health, he's not that guy that's able to provide those breakouts and help out Quinn Hughes when he's not on the ice to bring that speed in and go through the neutral zone. So

you're going to have to address that. I think Sassen is a temporary fix, provide that from the HL level, even if you look at the last game they played against Dallas last night, guys, he was the fastest skater on the ice. But Vancouver, in three agency in trade are going to need two types of players, you mentioned it fast, and also guys that are comfortable carrying the puck. Um, we haven't seen a bit of that from some players, but you know, guys that are comfortable picking up the puck at their own blue line and forcing the issue.

You need that and speed heading into the off season. Do any names come to mind when you think about, I'm not talking about free agents because we've, we've talked about healers and some people have suggested the Canucks go after a guy like Sam Bennett and it's easy to pick players off the UFA list because everyone's talking about those players. But are there any names that come to mind when it comes to young centers that the Canucks could target? Any in your head?

Because I assume the Canucks have compiled a bit of a list. I hope they have at least. Yeah, that's a tricky one because I think a lot of this, um, you know, around the trade deadline, it was easy to compile a list and you see a couple of those names getting moved off, uh, Dylan Cousins and Josh Norris. But, you know, I started looking at some of the players that other teams might be looking at moving off and they're not that young to be quite honest with you. You know, is there a player like if you're trying to add some, you know, offense and middle six punch, do you look at a player that's maybe 27, 28 years old, like a Pavel Zakha?

I'm not hugely interested in that because I think he's a more expensive version of P suitor, essentially. And if you're trying to maybe get near 60 points, Boston's rebuilding younger players, Jason, I part of this also feels like, you know, teams and just seeing where they fall in the playoffs, like there's going to be some changes here for some teams. And I look at a team like Dallas, right? Dallas has an expectation of winning something or at the very least getting to a Stanley Cup final or a conference final. If you don't do that, there might be some changes coming out there. Are there, you know,

is there a way that you might have some, some fallout there, whether that's some younger players? So in terms of specific names, yeah, I got to recalibrate my list, so to speak. But I started looking at teams that have struggled a little bit this year that are looking to shake it up. Perhaps, you know, a team like Columbus that is putting in a fight this year, but do they want to ramp up a little bit more? Do they want to maybe shake it up? And is there a piece like a Cole Sillinger who has, you know, had some injury trouble

this year, but he still kind of features as a buy low, kind of young center that's putting him on his third line right now, but if you buy him early, is that a player that could potentially maybe take a step up for you in a two-zero long-term? He also pops on the wing. So, if I'm looking at that age range,

somebody like that, that is getting love in their market, but maybe is a little undervalued. Randy, this was great, bud. Before we let you go, please tell us about your friends at Bells and Whistles. I was there yesterday, as you can tell, last night I was very excited for the Canucks, but earlier on in the day I thought the best game was probably going to be Arsenal demolition of Real Madrid. What an atmosphere and Champions League continues tonight. Today, excuse me,

I've had bells and whistles with PSG and Aston Villa and Barca and Dortmund. So hit up bells and whistles 3296 Fraser Street. The sound is going to be on and they got the best lunch special in the city. Nice. Enjoy it, bud. Have a good one. Thanks for doing this. Cheers boys. Yep. Randy Janda here on the Hellford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay. We're going to do what we learns. I'm going to start right now. I mentioned this earlier in the show and just sort of like casually didn't really dive into it. But the Denver Nuggets, man, the Denver Nuggets had a house cleaning of epic proportions yesterday firing their head coach Mike Malone and their general manager Calvin Booth

With three games left in the regular season This has been the season of shock moves in the NBA. This one is shocking. This is not a record because Hubie Brown was fired by the Atlanta Hawks back in 1981, also with three games off. So it ties the NBA record for a team cleaning house this late in the season. Also ties a record, Mike Malone was, sorry,

coaching a team that had 47 wins. Like they weren't terrible, they were just underperforming. Ties the record, Larry Brown back in 1983 was fired after coaching the New Jersey and that's the 47 wins. So the big question is why? Well, the Denver Nuggets have fallen on really hard times as of late. Although they sit fifth in the West, they're dangerously close to falling into the play-in tournament because their things are so tight between spots four through eight

in the Western Conference. This is not befitting of a team that has arguably the greatest player on the planet in Nikola Jokic and won a championship two years ago. Now the name I've not said yet is Jamal Murray's name and he is the key both in a positive and negative way, to all of this. Simply put, Jamal Murray can't stay healthy.

When he's healthy, he's a brilliant basketball player. Like his post-season in 2020, and then of course, 2023, when they won the title was huge, it was massive. He's got an unbelievable ability to shoot the basketball. He's got a great jumper. He can score. He's a clutch score. He's done the 50 point thing a couple of times. Problem is he missed the 2021 and 2022 post

seasons entirely due to torn ACL. I don't think he's appeared in more than 65 games over the last three years. Is that the reason why he wasn't that effective for Canada at the Olympics? That's part of it. I think his health has taken a real. And when you don't play, you're out of rhythm.

And when he broke into the NBA, he was like a 82 game a year guy for the first couple of years. And then his health has really taken a turn for the worst. So right now what's happened is he's out with a hamstring injury. Now, initially the nuggets kind of said, we're just resting him.

He doesn't need to play right now, But then Mike Malone, prior to getting fired, had a press conference, which was really weird. Like he didn't know when Jamal Murray was going to come back. And he said like, he might be writing something. Something happened behind the scenes. Sounds like it. You know, like when, sounds like it.

You know, when Torz was fired and then it came out that he might've had an, like everyone pointed to his comments. Right. Um, where he's like, ah, you know, I'm not really interested in learning how to coach a team in this position, but then it came out that he might have had an altercation or something with Cam York. Did something happen here?

Now imagine if Torz got fired, and then four hours later, Danny Breyer got fired, because that's what happened in Denver. They fired the general manager four hours after they fired the coach. They weren't seeing eye to eye. It wasn't a tandem firing they Actually like there was a gap there was a gap what yeah now fire him and just or just say they weren't bringing him back Who the GM he was in the last year of his deal, but no I know but he's fine Like you can't come back. Oh, you're like you're not here anymore. You're not just key card does not work

Yeah, I thought they were said we're know we've decided not to bring you back But it's like so are you still the GM for like three games? So the Coles notes version of what you were talking about earlier, like, was there a rift? My understanding was Malone wanted them to go out and get some more veteran players. Cause he's like, you know, we've got this Jokic fellow, he's quite good at the basketball.

We should just surround him with veteran players and try and win another title. Calvin Booth, the general manager, wanted to go younger with some of the guys that he had drafted and try and grow them into the role. And then Mike Malone, I think, pushed back and he's like, that's great that you wanna grow young players, but we've got an all-time generational player.

We should be winning more than one title with Nikola Jokic as our star center. And then the Cronkies just said, like, oh, you're all fired. Maybe they were on- Come on, Arsenal. Yeah, I wonder if they were just said like, oh, you're all fired. Maybe they were on. Come on, Arsenal. Yeah, I wonder if they were just like on a bender because Arsenal had that crazy win.

They're like, fire everybody. Fire the coach, fire the general manager. Anyway, so to your earlier, earlier point, a lot of really good storylines going into the NBA playoffs now and the Nuggets just threw themselves right into the thick of it. You got the resurgent Golden State Warriors with Jimmy Butler.

You've got the, obviously the Los Angeles Lakers with Luke and LeBron. A lot of them are in the, in the Western conference, of course. Yeah. They're really compelling storylines, but it makes for a very interesting postseason. I want the Mavs to go on a miracle run.

Told you. I don't think that's going to happen. Well, it's funny because all those teams that we just talked about, they aren't even like the favorites. No. Right? Who's the favorite?

Oklahoma City? And Boston. See, it's Boston. It's Boston until otherwise. It's the reigning champs. And the thing with OKC is until they do it in the playoffs, no one's gonna trust them in the playoffs. Now, it's not just, I mean, part of it is they just haven't had their moment yet.

They're a young, exciting team and everything. But you look right now, and like I bet if you go to some of the sports books, you could probably see that there's public money coming in. Like it's hard not to be enamored with the Golden State Warriors, with Jimmy Butler, who's a proven playoff contender, joining Steph Curry, who's a champion.

It's hard not to be enamored with the Lakers and the narrative there, like 40 year old LeBron and Luca coming on board, right? The NBA really needs a good postseason. It does, cause last year. Desperately needs a good postseason. Give us a moocow on that. Text your what we learns into the Dunbar-Lumberjacks line, 650-650,

Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and Renault Warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DunbarLumber.com. We'll read you what we learned on the other side of the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650.