Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 5/31/24

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they get the latest Canucks update from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal, plus the boys tell us what they learned.  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. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Back from the cats the other way, Lundell pulls one in, and he scores! Anton Lundell has given Florida their first lead of Game 5. You may have noticed that the finals will start in a place where you used to play, in Boston. You looking forward to that? Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, Boston's in the way in between our goals, so that's it. I'm very, very fortunate that I feel like I get good support most places that we go to play. But it's just for whatever reason, it's just a little bit extra here. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Friday.

Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie is on vacation, so good morning to Basketball Ben on the wheels of steel. Good morning. Halford & Brough in the morning is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Acura dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today by visiting your nearest Dilawri Acura dealer. Today, we are in Hour 1 of the program.

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Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. It's the last day of May. This is it. When we come back on Monday, it'll be June, which means we're that much closer to vacation. No, to what's going on in June. Of course, there's so many great things going on in June,

the start of the NBA finals, which we now know about, the start of the Stanley Cup finals. Now, I say all this because while June will be an exciting month, the first week, it might not be great. We are not going to have a lot of sports on early next week.

Maybe the Canucks will make a big trade? Hopefully. Probably not. That doesn't typically happen during the Stanley Cup final or before the Stanley Cup final. They usually tell you don't do those sort of things. Pedersen for Kachuk is what you're saying?

So game one of the... Yeah, maybe. For Kachuk. Sorry, Matthew. One for one. You can't play tonight. Game one of the Stanley Cup final is going to be Saturday, June 8th. Game one of the NBA finals is going to be Thursday, June 6th.

So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and probably Thursday, could be a little slow. Unless, of course, some of these Eastern and Western Conference Finals in the NHL get dragged out a little bit longer. I'm going to start by asking you, the listeners, for a little bit of help. A little bit of help. Give us some stuff to work with here. Ask us anything Friday. We've got a lot of time that we can, you know of uh devote to ask us anything friday also the reason i

mentioned is because we're giving away a 100 gift card to aj's pizza on east broadway for the best ask us anything if you want to do some canucks specific stuff if you want to go further afield and go into the world of sports if you want to go even further afield and just do an ask us anything about anything dunbar lumber text line 650-650. Hashtag it AUA. Put a pizza emoji into the text. I have an Ask Us Anything. Early one.

For everyone. Early one. And it's going to be part of what happened. What's going to be more painful if it happens? Watching Oliver Ekman Larson hoist the cup for the Florida Panthers if the Panthers win the cup or watching Gustav Forsling hoist the cup for the Florida Panthers if the Panthers win the cup, or watching Gustav Forsling hoist the cup for the Florida Panthers. Friend, that is a very good ask us anything. Yeah, it's a pretty good one.

Now, Florida might not make it to the Stanley Cup, although they sure look like they're going to, especially after last night. By the way, good call. I think you might have been right that Game 4 might have been the decisive game in that Eastern Conference Final. Yeah, we'll see. I just think the Rangers are... I mean, they played well last night.

Let's just get into what happened. Sure. So really quick, yes, on the program today, 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza is going to join us. 7.05, Luke Gazdik. 7.30, Mike Kelly. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall. As mentioned, we're giving away a $100 gift card for AJ's Best Ask Us Anything. And it is Ask Us Anything Friday.

Get your Ask Us Anythings in. Dunbar Lumber Tech's line is 650-650. That's what's happening on the program today. Ben, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was busy. We know how busy 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? 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.

Young Sam Bennett, who's not so young anymore, had a goal and an assist, including what proved to be the eventual game-winning goal. The Florida Panthers moved within a single victory of going to their second consecutive Stanley Cup final. They beat the Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference final. I want to play the Bennett game-winning goal because it was into an empty net, and it was so deflating for Madison Square Garden. It got so quiet. You could actually hear the referees whistle in the aftermath.

Here's what it sounded like. Bennett with the eventual game winner. Savannah John hustling after it. Lures the ring in his hair to get it to center. Knocked away by Trochek. Savannah John gets hit by Bennett. Bennett comes up with a puck. He's got the empty net.

It goes! He didn't get the whistle. That's too bad. Anton Lundell. That actually sounded like there was a bit of a cheer. Yeah, it got so quiet. And then after scoring, Bennett decided to rub salt into the wounds by bouncing Chris Kreider into the end boards. And then the referee started furiously blowing his whistle

because he thought a scrum was about to ensue. Anyway, as mentioned in the intro, Anton Landell scored as well. And your guy, the subject of our Ask Us Anything, Gustav Forslund, got the scoring started for Florida. He was the second star of the game, too. So the Florida Panthers are now one win away from the final. AJ's going to join us at 7 o'clock for his beloved Rangers talk. We might be doing an obituary.

Here's the thing. The takeaway that I saw numerous, numerous pundits lead with yesterday was that in Game 5, the Rangers might have given it their best shot. They had a way better effort than games three and four in Florida where they were roundly outshot and outchanced. They held the lead. Chris Kreider finally got his game going. They played maybe some of their best hockey of the series,

some were saying. But at the end of the day, it kind of looked like this. The best team in the NHL in the regular season gave it their best shot, and it still wasn't good enough. end of the day it kind of looked like this the best team in the nhl in the regular season gave it their best shot and it still wasn't good enough and that's going to be a real problem for a team now that has no more margin for error as they are down 3-2 to the florida panthers and on the verge of elimination yeah and uh so just discuss this question who would be who would be more frustrating to watch hoist the cup if it happens for the Panthers,

Forsling or Oliver Ekman-Larsen? It's such a great question because both have such high levels of frustration. Yeah, I think it would be, for me, it would be Forsling. Yeah, it's got to be Forsling. But you're paying Ekman-Larsen to do this. Yeah, I know. That's the tough thing. Money is going to this gentleman.

Ekman-Larsen is still a factor for the Canucks and will be for a number of years with his buyout cap hit, which was significant, and I think it was the right move by this management group, but it was the wrong move by the previous management group to acquire him in the first place, even though we've come to appreciate Connor Garland, and he was part of that trade. Yeah, Forsling though has turned into,

like let's be honest about Ekman Larson, he's the third pair guy for them. I know he racked up a bunch of hits last night, but he only played 16 minutes a night. He's the third pair guy. He did play well earlier in the season, in the regular season for the panthers and he played a lot of minutes when they were dealing with some injuries to some of their key defensemen

but forsling kind of he just i think represented the impatience that that management group had in trading away some of their younger players and and futures and it and the problem is it amounted to nothing like if you buy the canucks bought bought out Oliver Ackman Larson and it amounted to something, right? It helped, it helped to get, it helped provide us this season, him trading for,

you know, Jim Benning trading Forsling for, uh, God, it was Adam Clendenning didn't amount to anything. And people will fire back and say, well, Chicago traded him too. So it's not like the Canucks were the only team

that gave up on this guy. Yeah, but they gave up on him real quick. And he was their draft pick. And I think that does make a difference. The Blackhawks were going through struggles and you know maybe it wasn't a surprise that forsling didn't pan out with them forsling goes to florida he didn't actually go right do you go to carolina or something carolina carolina waved him so it no i know i know that i know that it regardless of the path that Forsling took I think you can still be frustrated that

the Canucks had drafted a guy that ended up being a very good defenseman in the NHL 100% he's 27 years old right it's not like he's and yes he's gone through some tribulations and trials in his NHL career um so there's obviously a cautionary tale at play about not giving up on prospects too soon. As a matter of fact, Florida has a couple of these sort of reclamation projects. Sam Bennett's another one too, languishing in Calgary and then found his role and his spot in Florida.

Wasn't it weird that Bennett never really panned out in Calgary? You watched him play and it was like he had what you wanted. And I know we all remember him as the kid that couldn't do pull-ups, but this guy's tough as nails and he's a big boy and he plays a rough and tumble style. Why didn't it work in Calgary? It's not like they never gave him an opportunity there. Two words, Daryl Sutter.

Is that generally accepted as the reason okay so he like i would think that sam bennett would be a daryl sutter type of guy he had a trade request under jeff ward before before daryl sutter took over for jeff because he wasn't happy with his role and how he was being deployed playing under jeff ward and then he initially spoke glowingly about playing under Stutter, but fell into the same sort of trappings and issues that he had under Jeff Ward is they wanted more from him. You know what it is to be dead honest is they wanted more from during the

regular season. Sam Bennett's a playoff guy. Sam Bennett is one of those guys whose game is better suited to the post season than it is to the regular season. But yeah, he's had good regular seasons in Florida. He's definitely been better. I think he's, I mean, it's so cliche to say that he's found a home or found his niche, but he absolutely has.

I'm just surprised he never found it under Daryl Sutter because you would think by the style he plays that he would be the perfect player for Daryl Sutter. Yeah, it just sort of became the same issue where he never emerged as more than a bottom six forward. I don't think it was without trying, but he just sort of became

a guy that was used in a variety of roles. He could kill penalties. He was an occasional power play guy, but he never got a ton of minutes. I don't know if maybe he was blocked by some of the higher end forwards in Calgary, but it just never materialized like it has in Florida. I mean, if you watch him on a regular...

Yeah, he could have been blocked by some of the guys that had down the middle there. If you watch him on a regular basis in Florida, he does so much for that team. And it's just a physical force. Now, the other thing too, it might be a stylistic thing because Florida, not really like an aesthetically pleasing hockey team. Like they grind and grind and grind.

And they like to have pucks south of the goal line. And they like to keep possession for long stretches of time. They score a lot of goals, like jam plays at the net. It's greasy. It's effective hockey for sure. They've dominated time of possession against the Rangers when you look at how much they've had pucks on their sticks. Oh, by the way, Ben, can you pull up that audio from Paul Maurice?

Paul Maurice in the aftermath, they were trying to, the reporters were trying to sort of unearth or uncork exactly what makes Florida such an effective unit. And one of the reporters thought that he had figured it out because according to NHL.com, the Florida Panthers had one giveaway, one recorded giveaway in the game last night. And this, you know, I credit the reporter for asking this question. Paul Maurice kind of had some fun with it.

And then Paul Maurice had a real, like, relatable moment where he wanted to answer the question about possessions and takeaways. But he was trying to do it in the moment. He might have been caught off guard. And in the end, he just realized he didn't really know what he was trying to do it in the moment. He might have been caught off guard. And in the end, he just realized he didn't really know what he was trying to say. But here's Paul Maurice afterwards talking about the one, the lone giveaway that the Panthers had last night in their win over the New York Rangers.

Paul, you guys, according to the stat sheet, had just one giveaway tonight. Is that something that you... That is awesome. Just don't tell me Bobrovsky had it. No. Do you want to know who it was? Yeah, who was it?

Heck yeah. Oh, he's out. Is that something that you guys talked about? I mean, you were surprised by it, so I don't know if... No, you know what? To be fair, I don't follow the qualification of what a giveaway is. There were so many puck battles on the walls that I thought we had control of the puck that we didn't make a play and it's into their feet

and then they get possession of it. I would count that as a giveaway. I think the change of possession, it's either forced or it's not in some ways. What am I trying to say? I think there's a lot more giveaways in that game for two coaches and that blood's out he's really he's really enjoying himself isn't he paul maris and all this so he sounds like a pretty funny guy actually but on

the subject of that like he's talked about how much the florida panthers play pucks on the walls and then on the end boards like that's a that's a big part of their game where the puck is just tied up for long periods of time and he said like they don't that's actually the hardest thing to gauge in terms of when they do their advanced stats afterwards is because that's almost like a neutral possession like no one's really possessing the puck when it's a wall battle right the idea is you the winner of the puck is now the one that has possession he's like we spend so much time actually in that gray area that he considers them turnovers because the Panthers that's kind of how they predicate their play like when we go into those battles we feel like we're better than

everybody else so that we can possess the puck for a lot longer so I mean it's certainly working against the Rangers because I you know I think the Rangers are the more entertaining team. I think they're more interesting. And I think they make a better story going into the Stanley Cup final. But right now, unless some of these guys can get unlocked, like Panarin and Zvinijad's had a horrible series, their season might be coming to an end on Saturday. Would you say that, in general general if there's a talented player

that everyone sees there's clearly talent in that player but that player has not panned out in general the main reason is that he doesn't win enough battles on the ice could be i mean how often like is that at the top of the list how How often do we hear coaches talk about, like, it's the great sort of understated part of the game because there's not a statistical benchmark for it. Like, I remember talking about the greatness of Zach Parise and what made him such an elite player for a long time. He's like an elite board battler, an elite guy.

Won one-on-one-on-one puck battles. Right. So some of the kids on, on the, on, on the hockey team, I coach, they're eight years old and they think that like Trevor's egress is incredible as a hockey player. He's got six skills. He's got, he's got, yeah. And, and so, you know, they're into hockey cards right now and they're like, oh, sweet. I got like a Trevor Zegers card. He can do the Michigan, right? Everyone, everyone in, in with kids hockey, you're basically like, you're either a player

who can do the Michigan or you're, you're a player who cannot do the Michigan. And the players that can do the Michigan are the best players. Those guys are sick. They are incredible, right? And I just wonder, you know, I don't really want to pick on Trevor Zegers here because – That's fine. He's not listening.

But, you know, I think of all the players that have come through Vancouver or wherever, and maybe this is, you know, like it probably doesn't relate to Sam Bennett. But I think of players like Goldie, Jake along the wall, and the guys that didn't pan out, for the most part, it was like, you didn't trust them in those one-on-one situations. It wasn't the flashiest thing,

but if you can't win battles, and sometimes it's will, but mostly I think it's a lot of it's like technique yep they just don't know how to do that because it's hard to actually practice that you can go out on the ice and you can practice the michigan you can practice stick handling all that sort of thing but battle drills like you need someone else to do it with you you can't do it by yourself i also think it's a mentality thing too is there's i think there's certain certain individuals that are wired better for that now the ultimate example of you know i think the best hybrid of the the sick skill guy that your eight-year-olds are in love with and the gritty guys is matthew

kachuk because we've seen kachuk score unbelievably high-end, high-skill goals between the legs, Michigan's, all that kind of stuff. He's capable of doing it. They ran about a 45-second to a minute highlight pack yesterday of Matthew Kachuk just crashing into Shusterkin and doing it in a way where it was all the accidentally on purpose, bouncing off him, landing on top of him. But all it was was jam plays uh from either taking the puck below the goal line to in front or just making a beeline to the front of the net right no

there was no youtube mixtape about it like they're not going to put together like you know the kids aren't going to be watching it on tiktok later oh look here's another jam play like it was just that's the kind of and it's in his DNA, because that's the way that he plays, and that's the way that he likes to get greasy and battle and things like that. That's what every NHL executive is looking for now, is the hybrid of the high-end skill with the grit that you need to win in the postseason. You know, it's a good way to think about players. I always think about it this way.

If I was on the team and I wanted to win games, who would I rather have as a, as a teammate? Right. You know, like, would you rather have the guy that can do the sick Michigan, but doesn't really do anything else.

Right. Or would you rather have the consistent player that if a puck goes into a corner, you can be pretty confident that he's going to come out with that puck. Yeah. And that's what everyone, everyone is looking for now, I think is who brings all those

tools to them because he used to be i mean very much the nhl you had individual types of guys you had your high-end skill guys and we're going back a few decades here but then you had tough guys to protect the skill guys the skill guys were left to do one thing and the tough guys were left to do another thing and with the eradication of enforcers and everything like i don't know i think that's an overstatement i think this i think skill guys in the NHL have always had to fight battles. Like, I'm talking about puck battles here, not battles. Like, not like someone's going to beat me up. I'm saying go get the puck.

I think the hybrid. Like, some of the best puck battlers we've ever seen in Vancouver are the Sedins. Those guys would win battles along the wall all the time, and a lot of it wasn't due to them being tough or whatever like they wouldn't go in there like i'm gonna win this battle they were just but really good with their body position and their sticks but i think the siddines were uh early adopters of the style that you had to play for what we're seeing now is that because they weren't

blazingly fast and they did have to rely on their physicality. I think it's understood in this market that the Sedins were a hell of a lot tougher than their public personas. Definitely. You know what I mean? I think everyone understands this. The way that they responded just wasn't in the... But they weren't greasy.

They weren't like dirty or anything like that. They were just in unbelievable shape. Yeah, and they could win battles in tough positions. But I think a lot of that was their technique. Sure. But, I mean, it almost goes beyond that. It's like they were ones that had unbelievably high-end skill and the ability to read plays, but they also, and in a lot of ways,

introduced a certain type of physicality that I think it was unique for the time, without question, because they fought for small spaces that they would dominate very very tiny spaces of play and they absorbed contact perfectly because because of their body positioning though and also because they work together right i mean they certainly weren't water bugging out there um we got an ask us anything from scott okay if you could get one do-over from the bending era what move are you making okay so i'm I'm going to make a rule on this, that this has to be in a vacuum.

Because if you say, if you get one do-over from the Benning era, what move are you making? If the Canucks had drafted Matthew Kachuk instead of Oluyelevi, do they end up with Pedersen? Do they end up with Quinn Hughes, right? Like there's always these knock-on effects. Butterfly effects. The butterfly effects.

So let's just say that somehow these are all in a vacuum. So if they had drafted Matthew Kachuk, they'd still end up with the team they are today. So for me, I mean, that's one you got to think about, right? Like Matthew K about right like there's so many options yeah jared mccann for good branson that was bad yeah neil andrew instead of rattanen the draft one to me though that almost falls in a different category because they could have taken anyone ahead of the player that they took like i know we're all picking one particular guy like kachuk over you levy or uh nila hey you wouldn't have noah juleson right i mean that's the thing no butterfly i kind of look at it as it has to be

either a trade or a free agent signing where there's a direct you know what i mean because the draft thing there's too much left to chance like yes you took this guy but you could have taken a myriad of other guys right and i know I know that everyone would have been like, well, Kachuk, but they might not have done it. They might have taken another defenseman instead of Ulevi. Just not that defenseman. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.

So that's a tough one. The Toffoli situation, you know. Yeah, the whole. That was a gaffe. That whole offseason. That whole offseason. Can you put a whole offseason in there? Because with Markstrom and Tanev as well.

Toffoli was such a great fit, though. And that one almost hurt even more because it was Benning that made the move to get to Toffoli. It's like, good job, Jim. You made a great trade. He's a great fit. Yeah. He's like, well, I'll show you.

And then let him walk, right? I mean, there's no shortage of candidates. I think I'd go with the Ekman-Larsen trade, though. See, now that's a tough one because we're still going to have to pay for that. But it got Conor Garland in the door. Yeah, but. And everyone loves Conor Garland now. Yeah, that's true.

We're up for Garland. Yeah. Dylan Gunther might be a player, though. That's a problem. Here's a good text. The Sedins trained so that they became almost impossible to knock off their feet. It's important. I've got a week off from talking about Elias Pettersson,

so you're going to have to handle that part. I, you know, he's, he actually has, I'll take, I'll take a five minute break from my vacation. Your vacation from your vacation.

Petey has mentioned that he has trained to become harder to knock down. Now he did have an injury this year, but he spends a lot of time on the ice. He spends a lot of time on it. And He spends a lot of time on, and I know sometimes, you know, it's because you get knocked down in battles sometimes, right? But, but you do need to learn how to stay on

your feet in those battles because the whole idea of battles is to get the other guy off balance so you can go and get the puck. So, um, that's going to be something that he's going to need to train around. And I'll be very curious to see him in training camp to see what he looks like. The Sedin-Pettersson correlation is so tough because the Sedin's career arc, like you saw it,

like they came in and it was hard right away. It wasn't easy and they didn't have success right away. It was a very traditional story arc and narrative that we saw. Two young guys come in, and they're not physically mature, but they work and they work, and they slowly go up and up and up until their zenith, which is 2010-2011 when they're winning MVPs and going to a Stanley Cup final. Pedersen comes in, and he's shot out of a cannon.

He wins the Calder. He looks like he's going to be a superstar right from the get. And now he's going through, I would say, the dip. Like this is probably the last, I mean, the COVID years, I kind of, it's very difficult to say what was, you know, on ice struggles and what was, you know, the off ice distractions. But now it's like, there's, I hate using re-litigation because, one, we use it too much, and two, it's probably not the right term here.

But there's a sort of refocus that he needs to have. I mean, everyone seems to understand this. The general consensus is go on vacation, get your mind away from the game for a bit, and sort of rediscover who and what you are as a player and how you're going to live up to the expectations of this contract now. And that's another thing the Sedins never really had to deal with was living with the weight of a contract. Everything that they got in the NHL they had earned,

and they never felt like they were overpaid players once. The moment Pedersen signed that $11.6 million a year contract, part of it is the inevitability of making damn near $ 12 million dollars but you have to live up to a contract now and that's a lot going on i hope he's taking some time to uh he should throw his phone in the ocean yeah he should i saw he was on a scooter again going over the broad street bridge oh no that was on the day of his press conference yeah Oh, perfect. He was just going for a quick mental scoot. Throwing his phone into the ocean might be very therapeutic.

Yeah. So maybe that's... And he could afford another one. He should just buy a bunch of phones and throw them all into the ocean. I guess that's not very... It's probably not good for the environment. They're not biodegradable, these phones.

Take the battery out first. Yeah. Recycle the battery and then you can throw the phone in the ocean. Pay a diver to go and get the phones after the fact so they're not stuck in the ocean. But you can buy like 50 phones and just start hocking them.

I can confirm it's very therapeutic. I did it with my walking boot after I was able to. I just threw it into the ocean. Again, not a big work ride and then hooked it into the ocean. I went back and got it. I felt bad from an environmental standpoint after, but it's very therapeutic to throw stuff in the ocean. You should talk to Aaron Rodgers about about that uh dark room stuff oh yeah the um the the meditation that he had yeah multiple

days just be yeah see and we're right up against it for time here but who cares um that can go one of two ways is it can either be eye opening and like and like a revelation, like the guys that do Zoomers, and they're like, I can see everything with more clarity now. But it can also do damage because it can be too much. Yeah. Oh, no, I'm alone with my thoughts. This is the last place I want to be. That is the worst. Now I'm just picturing a hermit crab going around in your walking boot on the beach.

He needs it. It's like him and Chris Tanna. Chris Tanna found it during his drifter days. Do you think Chris Tanna just has the same walking boot and he's held onto it forever and just keeps using it? Again, we're up against it for time. So I went back and I did the search. This is like personal walking boot.

I found three different Chris Tanev walking boot eras in Vancouver. And it was 2013, 2016, and 2019. It was like with an eerie level of consistency that every three years he would break his foot and then the line would be Tanev was spotted leaving the arena in a walking boot if you google that phrase at this point he might as well just leave it on wouldn't it save time

he looked so comfortable in that thing confident not my first rodeo pirouettes in that thing. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dollywall.

Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly.

Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. 803 on a Friday.

Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for.

Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour three of the program. Rick Dollywall is going to yell at us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the 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 Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. To the phone lines we go. Rick Dallowell joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Rick. How are you waiting for? Kintec. That's what you're waiting for. To the phone lines we go. Rick Dollywall joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Rick. How are you?

You know what Taylor and Henderson are doing right now? They're sleeping. Oh. They're sleeping. You know what I'm doing? I'm talking to you guys. You're grinding, Rick. I respect it.

That's really good. We have a day off. I think we have a better holiday package than the teachers. I'm convinced of that. You guys need to get a better agent gurney he's slipping he's slipping we actually enjoy our jobs and we we enjoy our co-workers yeah yeah this is henderson getting extra days off all the time uh rick you uh you asked me to ask you about tyler myers so uh what's going on with Tyler Myers? Well, you know what his agent, JP Berry, told us

just a couple of days ago, the plan is to strike a deal with the Canucks. I believe this will get done. I think it'll be in the two to three year range at around 3 million, maybe just a tad under three. Myers and his family love Vancouver. They've got a home in Kelowna. It makes too much sense. Canucks simply can't let Myers and Zdorov go. That's too much size. They can got a home in Kelowna. It makes too much sense. Canucks simply can't let Myers and Zdorov go. That's too much size. They can't let them both go. Let me put it that way. One's got to be re-signed and Myers is the easiest contract to do. He's the only free agent of Vancouver that we know is willing to take a pay cut and a significant one. All the others got their hand out for significant raises. The coaching staff, especially Adam Foote and Sergei Gonchar,

have played a big role in Myers' improved play this year. 19 to 20 minutes a night, one of the most physical defensemen in the playoffs, great on the PK, okay. And also, for a tall guy, you don't see the foot speed declining. That's important. He's 34. Those guys in those big boots, first thing that't see the foot speed defining that's important he's 34 those guys in those big boots first thing that goes is the foot speed that's not the case with myers so there's a lot to like here i know the first five years you got a lot of heat in the market but i believe um i have nothing imminent right now because the canucks are out there working

the phones they're trying to make trades they're trying to clear a cap space they're dealing with the you know other free agents as well the three years and around three million maybe a tad under but i i just i'm hearing too much of uh myers and vancouver getting done at some point how much do you think it has to do with uh his role as a leader on the team i mean we all very much enjoyed how tyler myers played in the playoffs um his aggression he was he was downright nasty at times uh and you know he would go into puck battles you know super aggressively and it was encouraging to see um but i also feel like there's going to be a challenge to make sure that the culture is maintained they've They've got this new culture.

I'm sure there's still, it's still, you could probably call it a work in progress, but he does seem to be more, one of the more vocal players in the room, and he seems to be quite well-liked in the room, and I'm wondering how much that has to do with the Canucks' desire to retain him. Absolutely, great points.

And in the six years that Tyler Myers has been in Vancouver, have you guys ever heard a negative story about him? No. Off the ice? No, the only criticisms have been his on-ice play, which is fair enough. But other than that, seems like a good guy. Yeah, he's a great pro.

You never hear issues with him off the ice. You never hear issues with him. You know you never hear issues with him you know that you know we hear stuff in the media all the time this guy never we've never heard anything bad about him he's a troublemaker in the dressing room we never heard that never heard issues off the ice this has got this guy is just a good pro he shows up he does the work he you know what and he's never been an issue he He's a coach's dream. Even earlier in the season, remember the first road trip? I think they were in Tampa Bay.

He struggled. He was a healthy scratch. He went to the coaching staff and he said, okay, you know, I think Gonchar and Adam Foote did a tremendous job with him this year. I really do. And he himself has relayed to J.P. Berry how much he likes the coaching staff in Vancouver and you know what there's just a lot to like about this player he just he never complains that's the other thing guys you know JP said to me at one point two or three years into his contract in

Vancouver he says you know you guys had Myers traded like the second day he signed and when he signed if you look at the free agent class for defensemen the year he signed Myers in Vancouver, there wasn't a star-studded July 1st. You know, holy smokes, look at all these defensemen available. He was one of a few on the right side, the Canucks. They gave him six times six. I know everyone complained about the contract at the time, and I get it. I get it. I get it.

But this guy's absolutely this year has been a turnaround, and you nailed it. You can't lose the culture because the one thing Talk It has done this year, accountability, teaching, and he wants to learn. And Brendan Dillon was on the air with us this week, and he mentioned it. He said just because you get to the NHL, it doesn't mean you stop learning. And that's the thing that the canucks coaching staff has done this year better than any year in the past 10 years is teaching teaching teaching and look at myers at 34 they turned this guy around he had a good year uh we can get to the other ufas in just a sec but i do want to ask you

about your conversation with jp berry who also represents qu also represents Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson. What did he have to say about Hughes' playoffs and also the whole thing with Pettersson? Is he injured or not? Should he have said he was injured, et cetera, et cetera? Yeah, you know what? One thing about J.P., if you've known him over the years, he's a very honest guy.

He says it in interviews all the time. When it comes to Pettersson, Barry said this simply. He was just being honest that he wasn't 100%. I don't think he was making excuses. I'm surprised that it got out there through a national reporter that Pettersson was making excuses. And I think, look, J.P.'s had a ton of players in Vancouver over the years. He knows the drill. He knows the media. He knows Canucks Twitter. He was well aware of what was being said

about Pettersson in the playoffs. If you're underperforming with a big salary, a Canadian market is not the place you want to be. It's a tough place to be with a big contract and not performing. And JP knows that. he did not make any excuses for Pettersson JP some players do tell their injuries some don't I find it hard to believe that Quinn Hughes and Philip Peronic were 100% in the playoffs but they elected not to say anything that day when the the interviews were done it's the player's choice you know I've known JP for 26 years he's very loyal but he's a very honest agent he's got a rich history with players in vancouver going back to the sadine twins he knows this market inside

out he just dealt with guess who louis erickson for six years and well five years in this market he knows this market inside out he's got all his players well prepared for what could happen in Vancouver he knows this market inside out so I'm just saying to you uh he understood what Pettersson was going through but he did not believe that uh he thought Pettersson was just being honest when he said his uh you know his knee was bothering him since January he did not think Pettersson was making excuses. Do you think he would have some constructive criticism for Patterson at all? Like, do the agents ever be like, hey, listen, I know I work for you, but I need to tell you something.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That happens all the time with all agents, not just, you know, JP and Paperson. They work together with all their Vancouver clients. You know, they got Quinn Hughes. They got, obviously, Patterson. And so they work with all their Vancouver clients. You know, they got Quinn Hughes. They got, obviously, Pedersen. And so they work with all their clients. They have these discussions.

They have meetings. You know, at the All-Star Game in Toronto, JP and Pat met with Pedersen. They met with all their Vancouver clients. They met with all their clients in general about, you know, hey, how's it going? What do you need? How can we help you? Those conversations, Jason, happen all the time between agents and their players all the time. I think that all the Vancouver clients that are represented by JP and Pat,

they talk to their agents all the time, the clients all the time. You make a good point. Yeah, sure they do. I mean, you just don't say hey hey uh ellie is going to training camp we'll talk to you at the end of the year you know there's discussions and this was a big year for uh petterson you know the contract happened before the trade deadline and then you know obviously things didn't go his way in the playoffs oh yeah they're talking with these guys all the time uh okay let's let's talk about the other unrestricted free agents.

I know you want to provide updates on what's going on with Zdorov and Dakota Joshua. Well, the guy I get most asked about is Zdorov. His agent, Dan Milstein, rejected the Canucks offer before the playoffs.

You can imagine what the number is now after his great postseason, never mind the number before the playoffs. There have been no talks with Milstein since the season ended. If the Canucks made one mistake, my eyes, not signing Zdorov when they traded for him. Milstein was pushing for that. He was surprised after a few weeks of him being in Vancouver

that no talks had taken place. He was even willing to do a sign and trade when the player was in Calgary with any team. Now the Canucks are clearly in a position where they have to overpay and they have to find the money. Can the Canucks create the cap space for Zdorov?

Time will tell. If Zdorov walks, the Canucks may not have to look far for his replacement guys. Surrey native Brendan Dillon is sitting right here. He's going to hit the market. He wants to play for his hometown Canucks. It's high on his list. There has been interest in this player by this regime in the past. Dillon's term and money will obviously be lower than

Zdorov. He's got the size. He sticks up for his teammates. He hits hard. He blocks shots. He kills penalties. That to me makes a lot of sense,on dylan if the door off walks um now i want to talk about dakota joshua i just believe there's a lot of work to do here before a deal is struck i don't believe they're close when gm patrick alvin said after the season we can find the next dakota joshua you knew he was sending a message the canucks may be saying look we don't want to do you've had one good year we don't want to quadruple your salary. But the cold hard facts are Joshua had a great season and he's in line for a considerable raise. And I'm sorry, but if this guy goes, you guys know what happens on July 1st.

What did Brian Burke say? You know, GMs act like drunken sailors. And there's 32 teams in the NHL. And you know, some of these teams on July 1st got some cap space. And they can, you know, there's always one, two, three, four, what, five guys? Stupid contracts on July 1st. So we know that could possibly happen. But I will say this.

This has got to be driving Taka nuts. A lot of the qualities he likes in a player are what Zdorov and Joshua bring. This is a business. But I have been told things can change quickly and a lot of times look things can change quickly lots of time for the tide to turn with Zdorov and Joshua one phone call can change everything I've been told I wouldn't necessarily count that out we got a month to go here and I think the Canucks are out there you you know they're trying to make trades you're trying to clear cap space i'm sure they're trying to you know trying to get somebody to take mccabe's contract all that stuff's behind happening behind the scenes so i just think i'm not ruling anyone out i i i'm not ruling anyone out i i think

we know that they're going to be close with some people and work to do with others. Caleb Malhotra, the son of Manny Malhotra, he was originally drafted, I believe, by Kingston in the OHL draft. But he ends up in the BCHL with the Chiefs. And in a related story, Manny Malhotra is now the head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks. What's the story behind that? Yeah, I'm really excited to see the job that Manny Malhotra is now the head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks. What's the story behind that? Yeah, I'm really excited to see the job that Manny Malhotra is going to do in Abbotsford. This guy is so respected in the hockey world.

But the day his son Caleb signed with Chilliwack, I got a few phone calls saying, look, don't be surprised if Malhotra ends up coaching in the lower mainland. But I thought it may be with the Vancouver Giants as an assistant coach on the BC Hockey League, not with Abbotsford as head coach. I don't think anybody saw that coming. Now, I also believe a few teams across the CHL had interest in Malhotra as a coach as well. So, great question. How did Caleb end up in Chilliwack? He did go eight overall, as you mentioned, at Kingston in the OHL draft, but the family had already decided to take the NCAA route agent in the NHL is Darren Ferris him and his firm went to work Eastern Canada and Eastern USA knows that the BC Hockey League is the best way to get to the NCAA everyone back east I don't care if you're in Ontario or in Eastern New York the word is that the best Junior A League is the BC Hockey League, and it's not even freaking close.

Chilliwack GM and coach Brian Maloney brought Caleb in for a greet and meet to Chilliwack. There were some Zoom calls. The Chiefs beat out several suitors for Caleb. Maloney sold the Malolter family on development and the importance of schooling. And Maloney runs a very good program out in Chilliwack. It's a win-win for all sides. Manny's kid's good program out in Chilliwack it's a win-win for all sides

Manny's kid's going to play in Chilliwack and he's going to coach in Abbotsford but I just think that this kid and of course now that the BC Hockey League is not involved with Hockey Canada they can pull this off because under the old rules they couldn't do this a 16 year old from out of province had to move with his parents to Chilliwack. They don't have to do that anymore. So anyways, I just thought it was very interesting. Just the dynamics of Caleb ending up in Chilliwack. Manny ended up in Abbotsford. I just think that this is a, it was a really interesting story.

I didn't even get into 20% of it. I think there's a lot more there, but it was a really good story. Rick, now that it's vacation day for your coworkers, what are you going to do now? Well, first of all, during this phone call, you know who texted me three times? That idiot, that nut bar, Thomas Grant. He's on the air with you guys, right? There's another one right there. I just heard a ping or whatever it is.

He keeps texting me from California or where the hell he is and he knows i'm on the air with you guys but he's texting me what's he texting read his text what's he texting i know what he's texting but we were texting well i hope you know you're reading them no i'm not reading them but i can look at it and he keeps texting me but he knows we're on the air the guy's a certified nut bar you know just a nut bar. Okay, Rick, go deal with the nut bar. We'll talk next Friday. I'm going back to bed later.

See ya. Rick Dollywall, Canucks reporter here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. His phone's a-bingin'. What do you think Rick's brain is like? Like, if you could take a... There's a lot of binging in there. Take a road trip into Rick's brain.

Hop on the magic school bus. Yeah. There's a lot going on, but also not a lot going on. Does anyone know what I mean? Lots of loud noises, I think. Yeah, just all of a sudden, just like, bang, bang, bang. Like, whoa. Yeah, you know, like the sound of when you throw a bunch of pots and pans downstairs?

It'd be like that consistently. That sounds... That's pretty good, actually. You've never done that as a kid? Yeah, that's pretty good, actually. It's fun as an adult, too. Okay, we've got to refocus here. This is serious business here on the Halford & Brough Show.

Is it? Well, because the last, I'd say, half hour to 40 minutes of every Friday show has a tendency to go off the rails. People like Dave and East Van, who, by the way, is now blocked. Sorry, Dave and East Van. They'll complain, and they'll say this is like nauseating word salad. You're just talking and you're not. Like you're doing right now.

Like you're doing right now. So we got to focus. I've got some ask us anything. I've got some ask us anything. And I wanted to do this one from Colin and Tawasin. Because I wanted to throw it out there because we need some listener feedback on this. So earlier in the week,

I referenced a article from NBC Sportsc sports boston when it became pretty apparent that kyrie irving and the dallas mavericks were going to face the boston celtics in the nba final and the writer and i forget his name in the moment i apologize he put together a mount rushmore of the most villainous athletes in boston so athletes that Boston hates. And it transcended athletes, sports figures. So he came up with a list. Obviously, you need four because it's a Mount Rushmore, right? So it was Alex Rodriguez.

It was Roger Goodell. It was Ulf Samuelsson. For injuring Cam Neely. And it was Kyrie Irving. Pretty good list. Pretty hate-filled Mount Rushmore. So Colin Tawasin, ask us anything. Further

to what you spoke about earlier in the week, about the greatest villains to Boston, who would you put on the Mount Rushmore of villains to Vancouver Sports? Vancouver Sports, okay. So, right away, two jumped in. Brad Marchand. Brad Marchand, Mark Messier.

They're up there. Mark Messier for two reasons. Whatever it was he gave us with the Vancouver Canucks, but also he was a member of the 1994 Rangers. He was the captain of that team. If you're the guy that's responsible for carving it out in stone, you can get to work on Messier's head,

Marchand's nose right away. Is Messi up there? So, we had now we need to fill in the blanks. Recency bias. What if they do another game and he also cancels that one?

Would he then be? And then he says, the reason I don't want to come to Vancouver is because it smells. Yeah, I hate all of you very much. Recency bias. I thought about Messi at the you very much. So, recency buys. I thought about Messi at the break. I'm like, but it's too new. What about Patrick Kane?

Ooh, interesting. We were trying to come up with one from Chicago. He said Bufflin. Yeah. Could be Keith, too. Duncan Keith. Keith for Daniel Sedin. No, I think I agree with Ben.

I think it might be Kane Ben I think it might be Kane because he just torched us so much and so consistently doesn't there have to be something more than he played well against you yeah but once they

play that well you start to hate them that's why Duncan Keith is a better choice and he's from here so there's a weird like you're supposed to be nice

because you're from BC but you're not but the one that we need to put on there is Steve Francis oh yeah yeah steve francis he insulted us he is yeah there has to be an element of like there's an insult i like that that's a good one yeah that's gets it yeah it can't be just like because with patrick kane

kind of just like yeah he's a good occupier i didn't really not big country we had one of we had some grizzlies candidates but the thing thing is, is like the difference between Steve Francis and Stu Jackson or Michael Heisley and everyone else is that they actually did participate in the franchise being in Vancouver. Michael Heisley did not. He did.

He sang the national anthem. Yeah, that was a trick. That was a trick. I would put Michael Heisley on this list. I would put Michael Heisley on the list. Yeah, right. It's tough. Well, you can put him on post-mortem.

That's fine. Sure. But I think Steve Francis, and I'm trying to limit it to athletes here, but there's, and then I need, we're going to need some help from the listeners here to round it out because I thought about Messi as the potential number four. I thought about Duncan Keith. Steve Francis is definitely on it based on all these.

Steve Francis is number three. It goes, Marshawn Messier, your choice. I think Messier is number one. I think Brad Marshawn is number two. I love our text inbox. Steve Francis, Duncan Keith, Bufflin. More than words was my first kiss in sixth grade. A lot going on there.

A lot going on in the Dunbar Lumber text inbox. I like it when you can tell people are listening on the podcast and texting in like an hour later. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.