Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 5/21/25

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including comments from Rick Tocchet yesterday on Donnie & Dhali, they preview tonight's NHL playoff action as the Oilers get set to take on the Stars in game on of the Western Conference finals, plus they get a 'Nucks update from Sportsnet Canucks reporter Iain MacIntyre. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa A. The second one, he scores off the iron and in! It was Rodriguez who spotted an open-air neck-let. Steroids aren't drugs, they occur naturally in the body like sweat or tumors. We all get kicked in the ass and we all take the heat. Last year it didn't go away and you get some criticism, so you got to deal with it. That's the business for it.

I kind of live by saying if you got no haters no haters you ain't poppin' so hate away. Good morning Vancouver 6 o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody this is Alfred at his broth at his Sportsnet 650 We are coming live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver Jason. Good morning Adog good morning to you. Good morning. And Ladi good morning to you as well. Hello Hello Alfred and brother 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 one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling,

Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Well, they pay the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. This is the 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you and Step. Got a big show ahead on a Wednesday.

Guest list today is gonna begin at 6.30. David Amber, Sportsnet, Hockey Night Canada, NHL host is gonna join us. I believe he's gonna be joining us live from Dallas for game one of the Western Conference Final. It's Edmonton. They call it Big D. They do call it big D That's David's nickname as well

Edmonton Dallas for the second cuz David yes cuz David come on just to take but Honestly move along move along honestly big D David Amber is gonna join us from Big D Dallas the host I've gave one of the Western Conference final second consecutive season. These two teams will meet. This one gets underway at five o'clock our time tonight. However, we will not be airing it on sports net six 50 because we're going to be doing the Abbotsford, Colorado,

AHL Calder Cup playoff game here on these airwaves with David. We can also look back on Florida's big five to win over Carolina and game one of the Eastern Conference final last night. That's all happening at six 37 o'clock. First time guest on the program. Julian Edlow is going to join us. He covers the NBA and the New York Knicks for the draft Kings network tonight. Also at five o'clock. Wow. You got a lot of viewing options this evening. Game one of the much anticipated NBA Eastern Conference final between the New York Knickerbockers and the Indiana Pacers.

We're throwing it back to the mid nineties for this one. The ninth time, ninth time that these two franchises have met in the postseason. It's also a rematch of last year's second round where the Pacers upset the Knicks to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. We'll talk to Julian Edlo about that at seven o'clock, seven thirty. This one is near and dear to our old curtain blog hearts. Craig Ludwig is going to join the program. We used to have a running joke back at the curtain blog that Craig Ludwig had

the biggest shin pads in the history of the national hockey league blocked approximately 9 billion shots with those shin pads over his long storied NHL career. Why are we talking to Craig Ludwig? Well, after a storied NHL career, which he won the Stanley Cup with Dallas in 99, another great career moment for him. He's a podcaster now. He's working for DLLS Sports. He's an analyst pregame postgame,

does the podcast with Owen Newkirk, who we've had on the show before. He did have giant shin pads. Massive shin pads. Just go Google image Craig Ludwig. There's a hockey card of him when he's playing for Dallas. And it looks like he's wearing goalie pads. They are the biggest shin pads in NHL history.

I don't know if he still has them. Are you going to ask him about those? They're mattresses. It looks photoshopped. Yeah, I know. I know. They're great. That should honestly be the first question you ask.

He was a good shop locker. You win Stanley Cups with Craig Ludwig. Craig, before we get into the game Could you please can comment on your shin pad? Well? He was always very sensitive He was like I have big shins big delicate shins. He's wearing baggy pants on the ice Craig's gonna join us at 730 to talk about his shin pads and the Dallas Stars 8 o'clock I Mac Ian McIntyre is gonna join the program Our intrepid Canucks reporter finally back home here in Vancouver after working the stars jet series for sports net.

We can talk to him about everything that he saw on the road. Obviously a very emotional game six to close out that series after the passing of Mark Shifley's father. We can also talk to him about the new head coach to the Vancouver Connucks hired while he was on the road. So everything to talk about with I Mac at eight o'clock. So working in reverse on the guest list, eight o'clock it's Ian McIntyre, 7.30 it's Craig Ludwig,

seven o'clock Julian Edlow for a little NBA talk, 6.30 Dave and Amber. That's what's happening on the program. 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 busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? 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 or resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca.

We do have a fair bit of stuff to get into regarding former Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tauke, but before we get into that, we do need a fair bit of stuff to get into regarding former Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick talk it But before we get into that we do need to start the show appropriately It is what happened what happened yesterday was that Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves and the Florida Panthers Defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 in game one of the Eastern Conference final at my favorite center the Lenovo Center in Raleigh on Tuesday night. It was another favorite center, the Lenovo Center in Raleigh on Tuesday night. It was another dominant performance from the

Florida Panthers who dare I say, dare I say, kind of look like a wagon right now in these playoffs. Yeah. And the Hurricanes, I thought they, they started out okay and they had some chances. There was a two on one where Florida defenseman made a really nice play. I thought the pass across was a little bit rushed,

but you know, there were chances for the hurricanes in the first period. They just couldn't convert. Bobrowski made some saves and at the other end, Freddie Anderson didn't. And not all the goals were his fault, but a few of them could have been saved. Let's just put it that way.

Um, the Panthers really didn't have many shots on goal on the night, but, um, you know, if you're not getting the saves and you're giving up some glaring, um, scoring chances within those minimal shots, it's going to be tough against a team like the Florida Panthers. That game started out very physically. With a bang. Several bangs as a matter of fact. And then they called like a weird roughing call.

Cause I actually wonder. They needed to cool down the temperature. I actually wonder if that was why. They were like, they were like, you know, cause everyone was like, what? You can't call that roughing. I believe you're talking about the Ajo penalty. Yeah.

And then, well, I think Florida scored on that power play. You sure did. Right? So, you know, I mean, some of the hits that were being laid, it was kind of like, good children, this is dangerous. Right? Like, but it was very intense for the first bit. The Carolina arena was very loud, but then it got, then it got pretty quiet in there. And I think, you know, Carolina is the type of team that if they get a lead, it's going to be tough

for you, but if the other team gets a bit of a lead, especially if it's a team like Florida, it's going to be tough for them. This is a crazy stat, 13 straight losses for the hurricanes in the conference finals. Yeah. The last three times they went, they got swept. Yep. And now they've lost game one. And this has always been the knock on Carolina. I realize it's only been game one.

Mm-hmm. It's always been the knock on Carolina. They can win a first round, they can even win a second round, but they still have not been able to get over the hump. And it's because game breakers. Like, who are they? Who is going to step up and be the man offensively for the Carolina Hurricanes? Is it going to be Ajo? Is it going to be Svechnikov? They brought in Rantanen for this very reason. He didn't want to say stay, so they traded him. So anyway, it's only one game. I realized that, but so far the narrative around

the Carolina Hurricanes is the same and the narrative around the Florida Panthers is the same because the Florida Panthers took, took care of Carolina last year. Yeah. The 13 consecutive losses in the conference finals, a crazy stat. And you know, the Carolina Hurricanes have kind of

become the Toronto Maple Leafs of the conference finals. It's like they can get to that point, whereas the Leafs can get to the second round. But once they get to this point, I do believe there's some level of mental blockage around the team. Now the interesting thing in that dynamic is that Carolina has made some pretty serious and significant alterations to their roster as They've moved along some of the key parts are still obviously Have and will continue to be there right?

Oh has been there for forever stalls been there for forever Slavens been there for a long time too, but but special a cough now. Yeah Disappointment to me. Yeah, especially cops careers been a disappointment and I know there were great things, you know, anticipated from him. And I think that maybe. He was hurt last year, wasn't he? He's been hurt on a number of occasions. I'll never forget the famous Alexander Ovechkin

knockout early in his career. I don't know if that sort of paved the way for how things were going to go for him in the playoffs, but regardless, I think the story is less about the Carolina Hurricanes and more about the Florida Panthers. If you look at some of these numbers right now, Florida has been, I would say, the most dominant team, both by eye test and by metrics in the playoffs thus far. And this includes an Edmonton Oilers team that has been absolutely like, I'll say fire wagon this time.

Yes, fire wagon after losing the first two games to L.A. The Panthers have won five of their last six where the Panthers are killing it right now, where they didn't in the regular season, is they're getting a ton of offense from their blue line. They've got 12 goals from the defense core. And this was a team, if you look at their numbers during the regular season, their production from the blue line was fine. It was middle of the pack in the NHL.

It wasn't terrible, but it didn't necessarily stand out. The addition of Seth Jones, which I don't think we've really talked about enough, especially in that Toronto series, how good he was and how much. He's had some rough games in the playoffs. Yeah, but he's been, he's been such a great plus for them because he can play like 28 minutes a night. So I remember last year when the Canucks took the Oilers to seven and then the Oilers fairly easily took care of Dallas.

And we were all sitting there going like, Canucks could have maybe had a chance against Dallas. I wonder if least fans are sitting there thinking, thinking the same thing. Like, like I think last year, most of us were like, the Oilers are probably the better team. They deserve to beat the Canucks. Yep. And I think if you're honest as a Leafs fan, especially the way the series ended, you know, you're like, okay, well Florida is probably better than us. But game seven, if you just found a way to win that game. I wonder what Leafs fans were thinking watching last night.

It's like, man, we could have beaten Carolina. The thing was, is they weren't even close to beating Florida. Well they were, they were game seven. Five and seven, they got the doors blown off. But they got to game seven, the same as the Canucks. The Canucks weren't close in game seven. The interesting thing out of Toronto is I have not heard

the narrative yet from, and I know this is because a lot of the fans of Meteor Sour, but I haven't heard anyone really say like, man, they were so close. Like at the end of the day, and it's funny because it was a seven game series and the Florida Panthers in that pity party they were throwing in the aftermath said, look, they pushed us right to the brink. We think we're pretty good team here. Well, the others said the same thing about the Canucks. Right. They pushed us right to the brink. We think we're a pretty good team here.

Well, the Euler said the same thing about the Canucks. Right. You know, and there were some guys on the Canucks, no names mentioned, that didn't show up, the top players, and there were guys on the Toronto Maple Leafs that, you know, top players that didn't show up when the games mattered. Who? Who didn't show up for the Toronto Maple Leafs? I just think it's a pretty similar story, especially the way that game one went.

There's a long way to go in the series though. Speaking of the Vancouver Canucks, we do have a new development in Vancouver Canuckland, although it involves a former Vancouver Canucks, specifically former Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tockett. For the first time since he left, or dare I say quit, on the Vancouver Canucks, former head coach Rick Tockett spoke to the media. It was Donnie and Dolly that got the much anticipated interview yesterday, Tuesday morning, Rick Tauket

spoke about a variety of things, but I think the one thing that drew a lot of people's attention, it was probably the most interesting part of the interview, was when Rick Dollywall asked Rick Tauket what he thought about fans who accused him of being a quitter and quitting on the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, so okay, look, I just going to throw this out there. I know there are some fans that are tired of the Vancouver media praising Tocket, but I was speaking for myself. I can't

help that I mostly agree with the way he looks at things. I know, I just, I've always said I call it like I see it and maybe I'm wrong, but this is the way I see it. I really liked his answer when Rick Dollywall asked him to respond to those fans who called him a quitter. So let's play that audio right now and then we'll dig into this a bit because I think there are some lessons to be learned from players that play amidst the noise of a market like Vancouver, Toronto, and boy, am I getting tired of hearing about the noise. A lot of fans understand why you left, but some

are saying, hey, embrace the hard, meet pressure with pressure and they think that you quit on the Canucks. Well what are your comments about that? What do you think about those that say that? I understand it you know I listen you know I can't I can explain them I'm not a quitter but I understand where they're coming from. Sometimes in life I reckon you have decisions you got to make and you hit theroads and you got to go right or left. And sometimes you make the right decision. Sometimes you don't, you got to go with your conviction.

And it wasn't a quick thing. It was just something I felt for me to evolve. And just in my life, this was the right decision. And there's other things that, you know, I can't, I'm not going to dive into it. But I just feel like this was the time, but I understand the passion of fan base, man. They want a winner. Like there's no better, you know, you want to be in a pressure cooker because the rewards there, if you can win in that town, the rewards are, are, are just, I mean, I, I picked Vancouver.

If you want to stay in the cup and all the 32 teams, I would say if the top three or four cities, Vancouver is in one of them. If you won the Stanley Cup, how they would react to the celebration, just the, just the, the, the, the aura, the, the, the, the, it's just, I mean, I can't even put it in words

because I, I, we went to the second round, game seven. I couldn't believe what I saw outside I, I, we went to the second round, game seven. Yeah. I, I couldn't believe what I saw. I was like the city. So can you imagine when it's Stanley Cup there? I can't imagine it. Oh, yeah.

Can I. So that's a pretty tough question to answer when you're asked, you know, what do you think about people calling you a quitter? And all he said was, well, I get why they'd feel that way. He doesn't think he's a quitter, but here's the thing. He understands that fans might see him that way. There was no defensiveness in his answer, and that's

something that the media could learn by the way. Just an awareness that this is the business that he's in. I think that's a really good message to send. And I think about teams that play in the noise. If you've got a coach that would be like, yeah, fans are going to say stuff sometimes because they're really passionate. You know, especially in the age of, of social media where no public figure goes unscathed, nobody.

If you're a public figure, you're gonna hear about it from the haters on social media. I'm sure it wasn't fun for him to read and hear the things that were written and said about him. Who likes to be criticized? Who likes their own words to be thrown back in their face in a disingenuous way? Who likes to be accused of looking like a horse? You know?

You know, that happens to some people. I don't know who. It's sad. Who does it happen to? Here's the thing, and here's what I think Tachin understands. There's what you'd like reality to be, and there's what reality actually is.

And the actual reality is that not everyone is going to agree with you. Not everyone is going to like you and not everyone is going to say nice things about you. That is a hard lesson to learn. Take it from a guy who said a lot of things that people disagree with. And sometimes people are very mean about it. They call me a horse. But the quicker I think you learn that lesson, and it is tough when you're in your twenties. You know, a lot of these guys are on their twenties.

But the quicker you learn that lesson, the quicker you're just going to live your life on your own terms and call it like you see it. And that's what I see from Rick Taukett. And it's kind of liberating when you just accept the fact that you can't control what other people think or say. I'll say that again.

You cannot control what other people think or say. You can only block them. Don't even waste your time trying because it's pointless. And there are probably people listening right now that are actively disagreeing with what I'm saying. I know there are people listening that don't particularly like me, especially in a certain fan

club of a certain player on the Canucks. Yeah. You know, my mom also not a fan. She loves Petey though. But she's not listening. One more thing. I've always found Tauke quite introspective and willing to question his own decisions in hindsight.

And not everyone's like that, especially in pro sports or politics for that matter. We're openly doubting yourself and saying, oh, I might've made a mistake. It only feeds your critics, which is why so many of them don't do it. Yesterday Tauke conceded that maybe there was something he could have done differently to solve the whole P.D. Miller rift. I mean, it didn't work out very well for the Canucks so it's certainly possible that there was a better way. There had to have been a better way. But like what are you gonna do? It happened and hopefully you learned something from it. You look back on it honestly and you go, is there

anything I could have done differently? Maybe. Okay. If I deal with this another time, maybe I'll use this experience. Um, you know, I, and I, and I just think like this, the, the way he accepts the business that he's in is a lesson that could be learned from a lot of the players in the modern age who struggle with, and talk and even mentioned by mentioned, by the way, he's like, players deal with a lot. And he mentioned social media. Sure. And I wonder if there were some players on the Canucks that he was thinking about. And I just think like, there are so many times where, you know, the players, they,

and teams, I've seen it in Toronto and in Vancouver, they almost get this siege mentality where they're like, everyone's out to get us. So let's hate them. And you're like, okay, well that's fine, but not everyone is out to get you and not everyone hates you. They want success for you. Now, is there going to be some quote unquote noise along the way? Yeah, there is, but like, this is the business that you're in. Did you hear Pacioretty? I did hear Max Pacioretty. Max Pacioretty. So this is a guy that, I mean, he's a real veteran. He might be retired now, but he was the captain of the Montreal Canadiens and that was a very, very tough situation for him.

He was a young guy. He's an American and he was made the captain of the Montreal Canadiens. Didn't speak French. And he was asked, what's it like to play under the pressure of Toronto? And he was made the captain of the Montreal Canadians. And he didn't speak French. And he was asked, um, you know, like, what's it like to, to play under the pressure of Toronto? And he said, I love it. It's a privilege to play under pressure. And you probably don't realize that when you're in it or when you're younger, he said, but it's

a privilege to have this many people care about how we do. And he said, I certainly never felt this way early on in my career, but it builds winners. It turns you into men. It helps you become who you're ultimately trying to become. Yeah.

I mean, the, the pressure conversation has been so interesting because over the last 48, 72 hours, we've had it from every different angle, right? We had the Toronto Maple Leafs crumbling under the weight of expectation and the crushing pressure. We had the Florida Panthers almost apologizing in a weird... Again, we called it a pity party, but it was almost like they were making the apologies for the Maple Leafs players for capitulating to that pressure. We had Rick Talkett speaking about the pressures that he and others faced in Vancouver now that he's gone, you know, the residual aftermath and the effects of, you know, a very passionate and very dialed in fan base that's angry now. Like there's, you know, there's there's a lot that goes into playing in this league

and being in the sport and coaching in this league, too. And it's interesting because Patch Ready's perspective is that of a guy that's been through it and is in the twilight of his career. And he probably looks back and thinks, if I could go back and do those days again, I'd love to be able to do it because they're at their end now, right? There is a sense of nostalgia that the pressure

is one thing that you end up missing because with that comes the drive and the excitement and the adrenaline and dude the payoff. Yeah, the payoff. The payoff if you win. So think about- Or the disappointment when you lose. Right.

But anyway- But think about Brad Marshawn right now, okay? Let's say the Panthers go on to win the cup. What's going to be a better experience afterwards? The Panthers cup or when the Bruins won the cup? Well, I mean the parade in Boston yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah like the whole narrative remember the year before The year before I mean it might mean something to Marsha because he's at the end of his career that might mean something Weighing it out, but I get what you're saying

You know what? I mean like like winning a cup in Florida like I've heard some people and I kind of agree with them. Like Matthew Kachuck is always going on about like, there's no pressure in Florida. We love it here. I'm like, okay, is that something to brag about? You know what I mean? But like, so the year before the Bruins won the cup in,

what was it, 2011? You know, the year before they blew a three nothing lead in the playoffs to the Flyers, like they heard about it. There was all sorts of pressure. You know, Boston might not quite be a Canadian city when it comes to hockey, but man, there's pressure there and you'll hear about it. You'll hear lots of criticism there.

And then they come back and they win the Stanley Cup in a very dramatic fashion too. Right. And, and like the payoff from that must have been so huge. And that's why Rick Tauker is saying like, if Vancouver wins the cup or Toronto wins the cup, it's going to be incredible. Right. Now the interesting part of all of this,

and I wanted to get into this yesterday, but we kind of ran out of time, was that there is something with a certain genre and style of modern player that just doesn't want that either. They're not wired for it or it's not in their DNA or they take a different view than their predecessors. Cause when I was talking about the pressure thing yesterday, I said, look, oftentimes in this conversation,

I look to the past and look to history and there were countless NHL players before you that had to deal with this. And it's sort of a rite of passage, time immemorial, all that stuff. But then I wanted to add on. While that's true, there's a new breed of player that says we don't need to go through what the previous generation went through. It doesn't apply to us.

It's not the same thing. We don't have the same goals and ideals and objectives for our careers. Fair enough. And that's fair. Yeah. And it's, you know, life. I think, I think a lot of this has to do with a younger generation being encouraged to be more vocal and more open with the challenges, mental or pressure, or otherwise that they face and saying like part of this is hard and you know, part of this is difficult and it's interesting. Can we just use AI for this?

Yeah. Can you answer the questions for me? Hot dog. We have a wiener. But it's interesting to hear a guy like Patrick Reddy talk about it in the twilight of his career because he would argue if I could go back, I would embrace those moments even more because now at the you know, he could be played his last game. Like there's a there's a rush and all the things that you talked about, the

adrenaline, the potential payoff that people care that you lose an athlete. But there is another and I don't know if it's just a generational thing or what, but there is a new breed of player that doesn't hold that as a beacon of being a professional like his earlier generations. And it's a really interesting dynamic dynamic. I wonder if I fall on. I wonder if so many have experienced disappointment playing in Canada. Also being subjected to social media. Yeah, I think that's a big part. I honestly think that's that, that's a big part

That's that's a big part you're listening to the best of Halford and brough You're listening to the best of Halford and brough former stars the famous Stanley Cup winner Craig Ludwig is gonna join the show in just a moment here to preview the game tonight to the phone lines We go the power West industries hotline Craig Ludwig joins the program here on the Halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 Good morning, Craig. How are you? history's hotline. Craig Ludwig joins the program here on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Craig. How are you? Good morning, gentlemen. How are you doing?

We're well. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. The Canucks just introduced their new head coach, Adam Foote, who played a similar role to you in the NHL. Pretty big, tough guy. And he was talking about how he defended and how he knew the tendencies of the players.

And, you know, he knew their A game and their B game. And he said, if they're going to beat me, it's going to be with their C game, because I know their A game and their B game. And it just made me think about all the work that goes into, you know, scouting the other team and learning their tendencies. How did you learn the tendencies of these players? Was it just from playing against them or was there a lot of video work put in as well?

There was video, but not like today. I mean, for God's sakes, every time you see a player come back to the bench, they're not even watching the game anymore, right? They're looking at their iPad. So, and I'm not a fan of that, but it doesn't really matter. You know what I mean?

If that's what it takes for the players and I completely understand it. But for me personally, and it's what I tell our guys, and I'd ask our guys all the times, you know, you're going to get the juniors and stuff like that. And you're going to see the lineup on the board. You're going to see the opponents. I mean, they got the lines up there and that mean that's been around, you know, since God was a cowboy. So everybody knows that's what happens.

But, and I'd ask them, so what, what are you looking at? What do you see? Why do you look at that board? Where are the courts to put it up there? And you know, that's, you know, if we're going to play against this group and that's who they're playing with and this is their winger and stuff like that.

And I said, no, you're not wrong. But then I'd go back. I said, I went over every player. I didn't really look at the defenseman obviously, but I looked at every player and I went through them before the game. And I, in my my head I would play over what did Brett Hull do? What did Joe Neuendijk do? Thank God they eventually came and played with us

but those kind of players I went through with my mind and I knew were certain guys with I knew what Fedorov wanted to do. I knew that when Fedorov if I I'm not a guy that can hold a gap like you know some of the just touch the table so you know you know, I mean, everybody knew that. So, I would give up the blue line, but I wasn't going to get beat to the net. So, what I, and I knew just for instance, with Fedorov, I knew that when he got just to the top of the circle, below the circle, and he did, he wasn't able to get to the middle of the ice,

he would turn to the wall. He would curl up the wall and look for guys late. Well, in our system with, you know, with Dallas and Montreal, we always had a third guy coming back and we were very religious about that. So I knew all of a sudden I had help and then you would be able to shut that kind of guy down. Now, and there was actually one time Rick Wilson, who was our D coach, who I had in college at one time too. So Wilson's known me forever.

And it was about just on our side of center ice and it was the Federerall thing. And I was backing up right in front of the bench and I heard Wilf, she yelled from the bench, stand them up, stand them up. And I just looked at him as I was skating backwards and federal camp, I looked at him and I said, yeah, right. And then we got in and we ultimately get back. He spins around at the top of the circle. And one of our guys comes and closes them down and I get back on the bench and I said, well, seriously, you thought I was going to stand them up and he goes,

yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. Sorry about that. Sorry about that. Um, yeah, yeah. So. How do you play a guy like McDavid? I mean, I, I don't know if you've ever seen a guy skate like McDavid does.

I don't think I have, but I haven't had to play against these guys. Yeah, me personally, I'd be changing as soon as I see him come out there, I'd be off the ice. So, you know, again, you kind of know who you're playing against, but again, I'd be changing. As soon as I see him come out there, I'd be off the ice. So, you know, again, you kind of know who you're playing again. But again, the same thing. I watch what Connor does.

And when he comes into the middle of the ice and when he comes into the zone, he starts getting below the top of the circle and you know the moves, you know where he wants to get to. He wants to just like, oh good, they want to get to the middle. I don't let him, number one, I don't let him get to the middle.

And I will back up. I mean, I'll be in the, I would be, I just talking about I'd be in his in the goalies in his face But what I see is when he can't get to the net even when he gets below the hash marks And he can cut he can't cut in he'll go behind the net That's for me What I've done is I just made sure that all four other players on my team are back in the zone now that is probably Not the way to do it I would definitely not do it the way that LA was doing it.

In my opinion, the way that LA plays is there, they were playing not, not to lose the game and they were just sitting back. I thought in their neutral zone and sometimes they have four guys and the other side of the center line and the, well, I don't care what player had it. They were playing that way against all of them, but they were playing and they were waiting in their zone. Like, so I think what has to happen, and I would assume Dallas will do this is that they're going to make sure when the puck is in the offensive zone for the

stars, they're going to have guys up. They're going to end, you're going to make it difficult getting through the neutral zone and you can't let a guy like that or any of their good players, any good players, you can't let them enter the zone, you know, without some resistance. So I think they're going to try to, they're going to try to stay up as much as they can in the neutral zone and then sort it out from there. The toughest thing I think about McDavid, and I'd

love to get your opinion on this and how you stop it is that, you know, you're trying to stop him from getting to the inside of the ice and you're focused on him. And then he, he makes the cross seam pass to dry sidle who's like on the goal line. And then he rips home the one timer. He was like, well, what do we do about that?

We're supposed to shut down the guy that's standing on the goal line? Well, yeah, you are because that's not my responsibility. If I've gotten, if I'm on the side of McDavid, I can't worry about two other people. And I believe, you know, when there are two on ones, then my philosophy is, and I, and I get edgy about the way I see some defensemen play, play two on ones is you,

when that forward, that's, you got a two on one and the puck carrier ends up getting across, you know, below the top of the circle and you're starting to get between the, you know, the hash marks and the top of the circle, I start to fade off to the, to the far post. I make sure that my goaltender has the confidence that he can come out and cut that, that angle down and knowing that the passes and getting across. Now you don't give a guy too much room, especially on his offside. He comes in and is offside the shooting angles a little bit better.

So you've got to play that a little bit differently, but I watch goaltenders and I can see goaltenders, for instance, if somebody enters on the left-hand side of the goal time goaltender and I watched the goaltenders left leg, that's up against the post. Just when I watch goalies playing, you know, that two on one. And when I see a goaltender loading up on that left leg, it tells me he's getting ready to move across for that pass across the eggs, which tells me he doesn't trust the defenseman. He doesn't trust that he's going to do his job and say, you're not getting the puck across.

And again, the great players are going to make those passes at that time. It's going to happen. But that guy has to be picked up. And again, if it's a two on one, and I won't say this on the radio, but if there's a number of rushes, two on ones or three on twos, somebody's made a mistake. And so now your job is to buy time to allow people to get back into the play. So the longer I can keep somebody on the outside,

and anytime you see, my thing is, is when I see a forward and he's skating, like, and he stops his feet, he doesn't like where I am. He doesn't like it because he wants me to come to him. And then he wants to jump to the middle. But the thing is, is when he stops his feet He's still moving and he's moving down to a lesser high danger shooting area because he's taking himself away from a certain shooting angle And he keeps moving but it's also allowing like if it's a two-on-one

My partner probably made a mistake somewhere or he was up in the rush and we're supposed to have a third guy back Well, i'm trying to buy a little bit time for that guy to get back down into the low slot and I want you to come right straight into the slot and if I'm the left fence, when you're going to get off to the right hand side of me and you're going to help me with that passing lane across there. If you can catch the puck carry, then I'll let you know. You go to them and I'll slide across a little bit more. So again, I think it's communication.

It all happens in practices, right? I mean, you know, with Hitchcock and when we were in Montreal, especially with Hitch here in Dallas, I mean, we did it every day. We did the same three drills every day, every single day. And he would always go up to the board and start drawing them.

And he drew with his left hand, the crooked hand, and we'd sit there and be going, what the hell is he drawing? What drill is this? And all of a sudden, 10 seconds later, we go, oh, Hitch, it's the neutral zone four check. Just-check. Just say that. You screw us up with the drawing. I begged him. I begged Hitch all the time. Just give your drills a name. Everybody knows the Canada Cup warm-up drill. And players just go to that. They know the drill. Just give every drill

a name and we don't have to waste time with coaches trying to do too much on the board. Was Brett Hull dialed in while Hitch was at the board? Holly was never dialed in. The only time Holly was dialed in is when he had the puck on a stick below the top of the circle. That's why he's got over 700 goals. You have to give Brett Hull a ton of credit because as much as Holly wanted to be Holly when he got around our group, and again you you gotta remember, you've got, you know, you got Mike Keene and you got Joe Neuendike

and you got not Mo so much, but you got Carbo. And so there was a lot of us that came from Montreal and came from places where they had one and there was a lot of structure. And, and how we bought in as much as he needed to and as much, you know, as much as he wanted to, but you got to give him credit because when he first got here,

it was Brett Hall. And again, it was, you know, I think anytime you get those kinds of players, and there's a reason to get them. I mean, you know, I know what happened that in the summer, I got a call from Bob and, you know, the question was, so to speak, how do you, if we get a certain player, how can our room handle them? And I love it when GMs do that. I don't know how much general managers trust players and, you know, talking to them and things like that. I think you need one and one that you can trust and trust goes back and forth that it stays between the two of them.

You don't, you know, you're not going to share it with your teammates. But, but when the question was, I said, not even worry about it. I don't even know who it is, but I'm not even concerned. Could care less. We have a strong enough room that whatever kind of player you bring in here, we're going to be able to, in our way, be able to get them to buy in. And we don't need a hundred percent because you don't want to take, like players like Holly, you don't want to take that away from them. That's what they do. But there's a little bit of structure that you can help us out with. Craig, this was so much fun.

I, there's so much more that I wanted to get into. Hopefully we can have you on the show again. I wanted to talk about, I mean, we're talking to a rare breed one right now. It's someone who's actually won a Stanley Cup in Canada in 1986. I don't know, they don't make those guys anymore. So I'd love to talk to you about the pressure of playing in Canada and how it might be different now.

And maybe that's part of the reason why we haven't had a Stanley Cup champ in Canada since 1993. I want to talk about your shin pads and shot blocking and how maybe some of the players should be using those but we'll have to save that for another day if you're willing to come on our show again. Oh no, I'd welcome any time. It's been a pleasure and I tell you what with Adam Foote I think generally players take on the personality of their coach and I think it's gonna be a good thing and the same thing with

Rick Tuckett, you know, and he you know, the same thing's gonna happen I mean you watch her coaches and so I think what he'll do a great job there. Thanks, Craig. This was great Enjoy the game tonight Okay. Thanks guys. Thank you. That's Craig Ludwig former NHL er Dallas Stars analyst D LLS sports if you want to check them out. They do a pregame and a postgame and a podcast. Joining us on the Haliford and Brough show, it's Ian McIntyre.

iMac, as he's known here on Sportsnet 650. Let's start with, because we haven't spoken with you since Tauke left and Adam arrived. What do you think about everything that's going on with the Canucks right now? Well it's a big swing, right? It's a calculated risk and high risk, high returns I think. I'd also like to point out, this was always a possibility. I think it was Drance's show where I said, I thought it was 50-50 whether he'd come back and Thomas said 60-40 comes back.

So let the record show I was less wrong than Drance on this one. That will kill you. Yeah. It was always a possibility that Rick would leave. You know, I covered, had a couple of talks. So I'm not about, hey, are you going to stay or are you going to leave specifically? Because I don't think he was interested in that conversation

with a member of the media. But I had a couple of conversations with him late in the year when I was on road trips. And you could just see firstly, how draining this season had been on him and on everybody involved, right? And maybe that's not a shock to anybody. But it really took a toll on him.

But the other thing that I got the sense from as the the season was winding down, he was a free agent. And it's like with players and guys that you think are going to come back, they get close enough to free agency and they take a look around and maybe they don't come back. And I think there was a little bit of that. He got to the end of the year suddenly. There's seven other jobs open. In the end, even though I said 50-50, in my gut, I thought he would come back. He didn't.

He had the freedom to leave. And I'm not sure that, that Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen really could have done anything differently because they, as far as we know, they, they more or less came up to his, his price. Certainly they came up to his term. Uh, and you know, sometimes stuff happens. I think if anything, in hindsight, maybe when all the bad stuff was happening back in November and December, if they'd gone to him then and sort of as a show of support and a show of

commitment said, hey, let's do this deal now. We believe in you, even with what's going on. Maybe it would have been different, but he's found, I think, a good situation for himself in Philadelphia. And back to the other half of the question with Adam Foote, I describe it as a big swing because the Canucks, I don't really know how to characterize the situation they're in right now, but they've got to be good next year. This can't be sort of a methodical realignment or retool.

They've got to be good next year. So Adam Foote certainly gives them a chance, a possibility to do that because he's got the system, the structure. So there's continuity there. He's got relationships with players, most of whom are coming back. And, you know, it's it probably among options gives them the best chance to have an immediate bounce. But, you know, and this is all because of the Quinn Hughes factor.

There wasn't the Hughes factor in, in the hiring per se is both, um, Alvin and,vin and Adam Foote said that Quinn, they didn't talk to Quinn during the process, but there is the Quinn factor in that he could tell them they're leaving after next season. He could say, I'm not going to resign. And so there's, that creates a situation I think's almost unique for Vancouver and that they've just, they've lost their coach. They're coming off a terrible season, but there's this real urgency that they have to have a big bounce back next year.

And I think Adam Foote gives them that chance. What does Adam Foote need to do to return optimism to the team? Forget about the market. The market is going to be what the market is, but like, how do you, I think we can all admit that the room needed to be fixed. I think there were steps taken to fix that room,

but I don't know if we can sit here and say like, oh yeah, everything's good now. So what does he need to do to make sure that it's a better environment next season? Oh man. And here we are, we'd gone like eight minutes without talking about Ilias Pedersen. Oh, why do you bring him up?

I thought that was my job. Halford pushes back on it. He's tired of talking about PDN. I'm sure a lot of people are too. Well, I kind of am as well, but it is, it is reality here. Like if you're, if you're talking about the room and culture, like culture is not just

everybody getting along. Uh, that's really simplistic. It's so much more than that. And, and one of the most basic things about culture is you have to have complete buy-in from everyone and especially your leaders. And so in that respect, Ilias is going to continue to be an issue.

I don't think it's a bad thing that there's now a different voice in charge, but I also am pretty sure Adam Foote isn't going to be any more lenient than Rick Tauke it was as far as expectations and accountability. So I think that's going to be an ongoing issue and we're really not going to know until probably next November. We probably won't even know at training camp, assuming that that Pedersen comes back because everything seemed okay at last training camp too. And it was only after that that we started to, to learn of the organization's frustration with him. And later after some, at some point after that,

even teammates frustration with him and not only JT Miller. So, so that's, that's a factor. I would say though, I think it was important that they made the move that they did. I'm sorry on a personal level that JT Miller is no longer on this team because I had a lot of time for him and we all know he was a hell of a player when he was on his game, but you couldn't continue with both. And in the end, as JT said to me in New York, he needed to change too. So I think that was an important step, but they need more.

I'll say this though, because I reached out to a couple of players last week. I was actually covering the Dallas Winnipeg series, but wrote about obviously the coaching hire. The couple of guys I reached out to loved this hire. People on the team really wanted it, and almost universally I would say. I would say universally, except I've covered hockey a long time and that would be naive to say that every player on the team wanted Rick Tauke back. But I think almost

all of them did. So there'd be a lot of disappointment when he left and I can tell you there is probably a lot of happiness, maybe even relief when it was announced that Adam Foote was staying. So I think there will be some positivity within the group. I don't know that that's gonna filter out into the marketplace and be reciprocated, but I know internally guys will be happy to have Adam Foote. Obviously he has a lot of work to do, so including filling out his staff

and it's gonna be really important. They have a good camp and good pre-season. Really important that they have a good start to the season so that they're operating in a far different environment than what they tried to survive last year. We are speaking to Sportsnet's Ian McIntyre here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. So the understanding of timelines and deadlines is pretty important for this organization. I think everyone understands that next year there needs to be a bounce back and hopefully

a playoff appearance after missing the year prior. And then, you know, further down the road, there's the Queen Hughes timeline and everything it pertains to whether or not he'll make a decision to resign or go elsewhere. I suppose there's also one regarding the president of hockey ops, Jim Rutherford. Have you spent a considerable amount of time or any amount of time at all thinking about Rutherford's future in Vancouver and the timeline there and how much longer he might be in charge? No, it's actually, I wish I had a good answer for you and could jump in with something that could occupy maybe a segment

even when I'm not on. But I can't because it's been a while since I talked to Rutherford. I mean, he is on his second contract, obviously, with Vancouver, but he said himself in that press conference at the end of the year that he hasn't thought of doing anything else. And I also thought maybe one of the most revealing things that was said at the end of the season that didn't get a lot of attention because there seemed to be so many other news items to unpack. But when Rutherford said, and I can't remember the exact quote, word for word, but he feels responsible for what has happened, that this isn't what he envisioned. I think that's going to, if anything, if he had any thoughts about easing out, I think that's going to make him dig in, at

least in the short term, because he feels a responsibility for this. I think over time, though, and we've already seen it a little bit, that Patrick Alveen is going to become more and more prominent and the focus of the decisions made and Jim Rutherford is going to be less so. And, I mean, ultimately, being realistic, ultimately, Rutherford is still his boss and he's going to have to sign off with him on big decisions. But I think we already saw this, at least I saw it in my job and the way I covered the team. I saw that Patrick Albean kind of stepped out front a little more, seemed more confident with us and seemed to be much more as you'd envision a GM, a guy who's making day-to-day decisions, seemed to be the guy

making day-to-day decisions. And I think that transition will continue even if Rutherford stays, but it is a good question. You know, how much longer Jim's going to do this. And, and ultimately, you know, what that might mean for the franchise if you are going to change a hockey operations president. Remember they went years without one, right? From Mike Gillis until, until Jim Rutherford. So, you know, maybe when Rutherford leaves, Patrick

Alveen is just in charge for a while. There isn't a president, but it is a fair question. Ian, when you reached out to some of the players to talk about the coaching change, did you just stick to the... Just two of the players. Oh, okay. So, did you stick to the coaching story,

or did you get into anything else about what needs to change for next season to be more successful? I was just canvassing on what they thought. And people were, the two guys were, and it wasn't on the record otherwise I'd be telling you their names. Of course I'd have written about it, which I haven't. But just wanted to know what they thought. Like take the temperature and you know both were disappointed but very respectful of my clothed decision and both were really happy that Adam

Foote was going to be the guy because there's a lot of, here's the thing I can tell you, for better or worse, the belief or the tone in the dressing room is often very different than what it is outside of it. And those guys think that they still have the makings of that. They still think they can be that 109.2.