Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 6/6/24

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

Mike & guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports, plus they chat with The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance as well as Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet. 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. I want to punch baseballs to the moon. We all know that the moon is not made of green cheese, but what if it were made of barbecue spare ribs? Would you eat it then? You know, maybe the Cubs could have got it done if they'd come really hot, really fast. Good morning, Vancouver.

601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford. It is not Brough. It is Jimmy Dodd. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jamie, good morning. What's going on, man?

Good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Dodd in the morning is brought to you. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Dodd 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 one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Pays the highest

prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. And of course, we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews

soar feet. What are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Folks, you cannot buy chemistry like that. We didn't even go over that in the pre-show rundown. He just knew, I'm the Kintec. That's what you're waiting for. Folks. You cannot buy chemistry like that. We didn't even go over that in the pre-show rundown. He just knew I'm the Kintec guy. I'm the Kintec guy today. How are you doing,

Jamie? I'm doing great, man. I, uh, I feel way better than I normally do coming into the morning show. And that's because there is actual sunlight outside. Yeah.

There's a couple months a year where the morning show shift, uh, coincides with actual sunlight as opposed to, as I put it, coming into the dreary darkness of death known as the morning show. Good morning, everybody. We have a big show ahead. I'm just stunned about how much better I feel. Oh, my gosh. The sun is up.

You feel like a completely different person coming in. There's a certain level of energy that comes with doing a show in the middle of June. Now, this week is stunk. So really, there shouldn't be any energy whatsoever. But it gets better starting today. The NBA Finals begin this evening. 5.30 our time is tip from Boston. It is the Mavericks and the Celtics in Game 1.

At 6.30, John Corrales is going to join the program from the Locked On Celtics podcast and the Boston Sports Journal. We will talk about the number one story of these NBA Finals. Dallas is going to join the program from the Locked On Celtics podcast and the Boston Sports Journal. We will talk about the number one story of these NBA finals, and it gets underway tonight right away. Kyrie Irving's return to Boston. We'll speak to John about that at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Adnan Virk from MLB Network. 7.30, Alexander Gange-Ruzic from One Soccer Canada.

Canada soccer, everybody. And the new gaffer, Jesse Marsh. They are in the Netherlands. They will take on the Netherlands today. 11.45 is the kickoff. Our time, the first of two friendlies against the FIFA 7th ranked Orange, as they're known internationally, the Dutch national team. And then on Sunday, Canada will take on number two ranked in the FIFA rankings in France.

So we'll talk to Alex Gongeruzik from One Soccer about that. Excuse me. At 7.30. 8 o'clock. This is going to be fun for you. You get to talk to Thomas Drance. Yes, thank goodness. Rarely happens.

Thomas Drance from The Athletic Vancouver. And Canucks Talk is going to join us at 8. And then at 8.30, Canucks head coach and the 2024 Jack Adams winner for coach of the year, Rick Tockett, is going to join the program. Very excited to talk to Rick Tockett at 8.30. I'm also very excited to announce that for the fourth consecutive day,

we are giving away a pair of tickets to see Snoop Dogg, Snoopaloop, on June 25th at Rogers Arena. Best What We Learned is going to get the Snoop tickets. Hashtag it WWL. Put a ticket emoji into your text. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Here's the thing.

We're not actually going to have a designated What We Learned segment today because we have so many guests and talk is coming on at 830. We'll read them intermittently throughout the show and we will announce the winner right at the end of the show after the interview with Rick Talkett. But again, if you want to win Snoop tickets, hashtag WWL. Tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. Yes, Greg. You know what Rick Talkett said to the what we learned segment?

I don't. You're dead. It's true. He actually said that. He's not a big what we learned guy. No, apparently not. So working in reverse on the guest list. 8.30, Rick Talkett.

8 o'clock, Thomas Drance. 7.30, Alex Gungay-Ruzick. 7 o'clock, Edna Enverk. 6.30, John Corrales. It's a big show. We got a lot to get into. Without further ado, Laddie, 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... 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. We begin with some news from Vancouver, Canuckland. On Wednesday, the team announced that former skills coach, Yogi Svejkovski. I did it, guys. Nailed it.

I did it. Svejkovski. I'm going to call him that for the rest of the hit. They said call him Yogi. I said, no way. Yogi Svejkovski has been promoted to assistant coach, while Daniel and Hendrik Sedin are going to take on an increased coaching role. As well, this comes after the departure of Mike Yeo to the Ottawa Senators.

Thoughts, Jamie Dodd? So it was interesting to hear Rick Tockett speak yesterday on Zoom with some of the media because one of the things he said was, you know, we've been kind of considering Yogi. I'll just say Yogi because apparently I got his name wrong yesterday on Canucks Talk. Durant's like, no, no, it's definitely Shevkovsky That's in dispute, let's put it that way Anyways, they said they were Already considering Yogi for a promotion

Even if Mike Yeo had stayed So obviously they think very highly Of Yogi and what he can bring to the staff And the thing that stood out to me was Rick Tockett kind of hammering on the point Yesterday on the Zoom of how much key players trust yogi right like hey jt miller goes to him for advice it looks looks for him sometimes even more when he's looking for rick talkett uh to pick up tips to talk things over elias lindholm same thing and you know we hear that

all the time about rick talkett right how much he values his ability to build the relationships with the player so obviously he sees that happening with yogi and that's going to hold a lot of weight and you know it's we'll get to some rick talkett clips he was asked about the relative lack of experience on his coaching staff and i think that's a fair thing to bring up but you know rick rick also said it's up to him to make sure the coaching staff kind of comes together and gels and learns to work as a unit. And it sounds like he's he's excited about the staff he has. OK, let's play the audio now. Here is Rick Talkett saying he's not concerned about the relative lack of NHL coaching experience behind the bench in the wake of Sveikovsky's promotion.

Yeah, I think it's on me to really convey that, like for the twins. I mean, they're getting another year experience as a, you know, as coaches coaches i know it's kind of part-time i think they'll get to take a little bit more of it obviously sergey you know he's been a he's been a coach here for six seven years um obviously i think footy has uh come leaps and bounds i know this is only really his second year technically but um the way he handled this year, a year and a half with me, he's a veteran. He's been a captain. So he's a veteran coach to me,

even though I know he's only technically a two-year guy. Obviously, Ian Clark is huge on our staff. And then I think when you promote within, I think Yogi is a guy that is going to bring enthusiasm to our staff. And then, you know, I think when you promote within, I think Yogi is a guy that is going to bring enthusiasm to our staff. So, you know, I'm not concerned about the experience and it's up to me to make this gel together. So at first blush, some of you may be thinking,

this feels like an awful lot of time and effort and energy expended on the promotion of a skills coach to assistant coach. And one, yes, is the offseason. It's slow. And this is your home of the Canucks, so we are going to hyperanalyze this. But there are a couple of very interesting takeaways from this entire last, I'd say, week where Mike Yeo left the organization

and landed in Ottawa at a time where there were major questions facing, particularly the power play, in the wake of what happened in the playoffs. And then you lose the guy in charge of the penalty kill, and all of a sudden you're saying, well, that's a lot of changeover for a team that had a very good regular season, had a good playoff, won a round,

made it to game seven of the second round, but is looking to take it to the next level. And now they're going with a group of relatively inexperienced coaches from a uh nhl behind the bench standpoint but there's two things here i think one uh promoting from within which i think is always a good organizational mandate when you talk about it works all the way down and it's a trickle-down effect to ahl abbotsford and players coming up I think the more important thing here is that uh Rick Tockett had a willingness to understand that some changes needed to be made because of how the power play finished up last year and how it went in the

playoffs like it was a major major problem in the second round against the Edmonton Oilers and some people could point to that's maybe why the Canucks didn't get to play Dallas in the Western Conference final and you would say like he's the Jack Adams winner reigning coach of the year you might want to hold on to all that control and keep coaching the power play but to be able to elevate someone from within and then hand off those duties and say we're going to try a different look at I think it's an important thing yeah and you know talk it it's interesting he's very reluctant to kind of assign duties to individual coaches right as we know he's a big round. I think it's an important thing. Yeah, and you know, Talkit, it's interesting. He's very reluctant to kind of assign duties to individual coaches, right? As we know, he's a big roundtable guy. So it all kind of falls on the roundtable as a collective

responsibility, whether it's the power play, whether it's the penalty kill, right? But it did sound yesterday like, okay, Yogi is going to be what we would traditionally call kind of the power play coach for the first unit. The Sedins are going to be more involved as well, it also brings up the question well who's going to be in charge of the penalty kill right because that was mike yo's responsibility is it going to be

adam foot he's he hasn't done that at the nhl level before and i was kind of thinking you know really to me the assistant coach thing like the way i've been thinking about it is through the special teams units and going into next season i was thinking okay which special teams unit do I have more concerns about I'll throw this question out to the listeners as well are you more concerned about the power play or the penalty kill going into next season I think at first blush it kind of seems like a crazy question because like well the power play we've seen what they can do at their best we know how much the penalty kill has struggled uh over previous seasons and even at the beginning of this year that's ridiculous but down the stretch and especially into the playoffs

the penalty kill was much more reliable much more successful looks better on the eye test look better statistically way better than the power play did now if you asked me okay which one will rank higher relative to the rest of the nhl at the end of next season i still probably lean to the power play right because there's there's a certain amount of talent there pedersen hughes miller besser that's four guys you feel really good about on power play one you can find a fifth guy you can do things there but i still might have more concerns about the power play because i think this team needs an elite power play to be an elite team are they we've seen what the 515 scoring looked like in the playoffs it didn't look great they

need that power play to boost that to supplement that in a way but i don't think yeah that's right i've realized i say that word a lot anyways um it's a good word in a way that i don't think they need an elite penalty i think they can be an average penalty kill and be a true contender. I don't think they can have an average power play and be a true contender. So when you think about it from that perspective, I mean, that's a lot of responsibility riding on Yogi, right? To come in and fix this power play in a way. There's something really interesting at play with the Edmonton Oilers here. And a lot of people have spoken about how great their special teams have been during the playoffs, right?

The Edmonton Oilers right now, at evens, five on five, have 40 goals for and 40 goals against. They're basically a saw-off team at five on five. That is not traditionally the statistical hallmark

of a Stanley Cup champion. I don't want to go so far as to say that the Edmonton Oilers could be the modern era's first special teams Stanley Cup winner, but it's kind of starting to shape up that way. If you go back to last year, when Vegas won the Stanley Cup, at five on five, they outscored people by a two to one margin of 66 to 33. So that was a team that did not have to rely on an outstanding power play and a stifling penalty kill to win series.

Edmonton is the exact reverse. They've got, now at this point, an all-time historically talented penalty kill and a power play that everyone knew that was probably going to cook at around 35% in the playoffs, which is a really great mark. How does that relate to the Vancouver Canucks? I'm with you on for this team to be that next step, that next level team wanting to get beyond the final eight into the hallowed final four, or God forbid, the Stanley Cup final.

It's pretty obvious with the pieces that they have and the personnel that they have that the power play has to click at a near similar rate. Yeah. Because that's where they're going to make hay. And I do think that there may be something about teams not being as dominant at five on five anymore, either with parody or in a cap league or whatever, that a team like Vegas from 2023 might be the anomaly and a team that can really cook on the power play might be more of the norm.

Yeah. And it's a good point about the Oilers and the, the zero goal differential at even strength. Now, yeah, is that going to be an anomaly? Are we going to see the playoffs called in a similar way? Because that's part of it, right? Like one of the reasons we always stress five on five play in the playoffs is because the refs stop calling penalties. So you're playing a lot more five on five hockey.

That hasn't been the case, I don't think, in as extreme a manner as some years this year. So who knows if that continues going forward? Now I will say as much as I have more concerns in some ways about the power play, Mike, the urologist from Brockville makes a good point as he often does in the inbox here says, I think given the potential personnel changes and how bad the PK has been over the past few years,

we have to keep that PK at least league average. And that's not as easy as it sounds. That's a good point. Cause you look at basically all of their best penalty killers, right? Teddy Bluger, Elias Lindholm, Dakota Joshua, Ian Cole, Tyler Myers, who sounds like he'll be back, but you go down the list. They're all unrestricted free agents.

Yeah, I know. That's going to be a real challenge this offseason. Bruff and I talked about it yesterday, in that when you remove the architect, I'll use that term very generously here, but yo was the architect of it. You remove the architect and you remove a lot of the like gardeners and

painters and everyone else that's responsible for it. It can be very difficult to replicate the success they had late in the year. I like to answer your original question. And by the way, if you want to weigh in Dunbar Lumber tax line, six 50, six 50, what special teams unit are you more concerned? I'd like to answer your original question. By the way, if you want to weigh in, Dunbar-Lumber text line 650-650. What special teams unit are you more concerned

as House of Negativity, I like to say intrigued by? We can flip it around. Would you be more optimistic about it? Yeah, right. God forbid we have some optimism about things around here. What unit are you more focused on going into the offseason? Dunbar-Lumber text line 650-650. You can also send what we learned

to get Snoop tickets. It is, for me, the penalty kill. I think that the power play, just by part of having Quinn Hughes on it, will always have the ability to be good. And if it goes through slumps, it may just be on his shoulders to snap them out of it.

PK right now, for me, without the same coach that got it to a pretty decent level last year and without the talent there from last season. And I don't know who's going to get brought back in free agency. That's the one for me. I want to talk about Daniel and Hendrick Sedin. Some audio here.

Sounds like they're going to be far more involved at the NHL level than they were in previous seasons, including one of them, get them behind the bench on occasion. And at least one of them, I don't know why they both in previous seasons, including one of them, get them behind the bench on occasion, and at least one of them, I don't know why they both can't travel, but at least one of them going on every road trip this season. There's going to be a Sadeen factor with the Vancouver Canucks next year. You got twins. Why would you bring both? You just bring one and you're good.

Why would you break up that energy? It's like how they shot was it Full House? Yes. You have to have them together. With Mary-Kate and Ashley? Yeah. You need them together at all times. Anyway, here's Rick talking on more on the Sedin's role being elevated for next season. Yeah, I think one of them will come on the road with us, whether it's between him or Sergey.

So we'll have another hands on deck here and eyes for us. So one of them, you know, if it's a five-game, four-game road trip, one of them will come on for us with Sergei as being the other guy. So we'll be covered there. Obviously, they'll be part of the power play and be involved. They were more in the second unit. So I think that I'm going to use their knowledge even more. And I think they're more comfortable to even dive into it more.

For the same thing, team systems, they're starting to understand what I want. I think for me, they're going to take a little bit of a bigger chunk. I think they feel comfortable doing that now before I think they like come along slowly. And I think that they're willing to take a little bit more bite of the apple for us to say. No bite of the elephant, bite of the apple this time from Rick Tockett. So I think this is great. The Sedins are obviously franchise icons and legends. I think it's interesting watching the evolution of their post-playing careers.

It's almost like they're just trying to figure out what they want to do in the most basic sense imaginable. Will the power play look different in a way with Sedins more actively involved with it? They're going to actively look for twins in the offseason, actually. But can we expect the power play to be deployed differently because of this? Or will it look more... I mean, I hope it doesn't look the same as last year. Yeah, I mean, you would assume that they're going to have their own imprint on it. That would be obvious.

They were decent on the play. But I also think Rick Talkett obviously has a way he wants the power play to look, and I don't know that it's going to be a completely dramatic change just because it's Yogi and the twins having a little more say in it. I think Rick Talkett, I think we know what he wants. He wants them to be more movement. He wants them to attack more, go to the net more. It's just for whatever reason it hasn't translated onto the ice.

But I don't think those principles are going to change. I think the biggest takeaway, A-Dog, is that it's about the Sedins, not even necessarily about the power play. You're starting to see the formation from it being like a nebulous job title. They're just kind of around. Yeah. They're just sort of learning the ropes, figuring things out.

Right. But I mean, there was some thought that they might go into management. Right. I mean, there was that part of it too. You've seen this with a lot of ex NHLers that move into their post playing career and they're not exactly sure what they want to do.

It's like your first year of university, right? You take a bunch of different classes. You're trying to figure out where your fourth, right. Or your third or your fourth or your sixth, like you, Van Wilder. And then you kind of are looking at it like, well, what is that? What is exactly that I want to do?

What I want to specify in? And it does seem as though they've kind of veered towards being back on the ice, working with players as opposed to working in management or learning the ropes of the front office. They did do that in a certain capacity, but it seems like their passion might end up being working with players, which makes sense. I remained convinced that up until about two years ago,

the Sidians could still lace them up and provide a completely competent fourth line for the Vancouver Canucks and get some power play time if they needed to. I think it's great that when you have people in your organization, this goes back to Yogi's great that when you have people in your organization this goes back to yogi as well when you have people in your organization that not only you believe in but have proof of concept that they've done good work and that they will continue to do that it's important to elevate those people as opposed to always going outside the organization bringing people in you got to remember in the early phases of the alvin rutherford

era there was a lot of outside people coming in right and it was a lot of replacing what you already had so for them to say hey we inherited this individual or this individual was brought aboard we weren't sure how it was going to work out to elevate them is a good thing it's a good organizational um like philosophy and it gives other people in the organization the belief that, yeah, like, there is a ladder that can be scaled up here. It's going to be cool to see one of the Sedins, I guess it'll be, like, rotating basis, Daniel and Henrik, behind the bench for Canucks games this season.

By the way, this texture makes a good point, right? As much as we're talking about, okay, who's coaching the power play, what does it look like, does it look different, tactics, all that, this texture says they just need Petey to get his confidence back, power play? What does it look like? Does it look different? Tactics? All that. This texter says they just need Petey to get his confidence back. Power play solved. That is a big part of the story. Pedersen goes in the tank in the latter half of the season. Predictably, the

power play suffers as a result. If you think he's going to have a big bounce back year, that's a really, really good reason to have a high degree of confidence in the power play going into next year. You want to do some Blue Jays before we go to break? I guess. Deep sigh. Do we have to?

Deep, deep sigh. I will say it would be funny if the city's exact role was specifically just to bully Pedersen into playing better. Bully? They just both gang up on him on the ice. This is what you're going to do now. And then they do the good cop, bad cop routine. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that's good. But no one knows who the good cop or bad cop is because they keep switching. This is very confusing. So, Laddie, we now have two Blue Jays fans in attendance, not just one, so 50% of the studio. No doubt thrilled with Isaiah Kiner-Falefa. Yesterday, you know what, just roll with it. I want to play the audio.

A walk-off for Kiner-Falefa in the bottom of the ninth. The Blue Jays beat the Orioles 3-2 on Wednesday night. Here's what it sounded like. And in the end, the right field. It is deep and it is a game winner. Isaiah Kiner-Valefa with a line drive base hit to score Kevin Mishio. And the Blue Jays beat the Orioles. I'm going to read verbatim from Jamie's notes.

The Blue Jays win a walk-off against the Orioles, but I still hate this team. I've reached the point where even when they do something good, I just roll my eyes. Explain yourself, sir. It's like, you know, if you've been, you know, trying to get your kid to clean their room, and they do like, and they're not doing it,

and then they do like the bare minimum, they pick up like two things, and they're not doing it. And then they do like the bare minimum. They pick up like two things and they're like, look, and you're like, Oh great. That's awesome. You've really solved the problem. Like technically it's good.

It's like me watching the Cucks for eight years under Benning. It's like great, they won a game. We're supposed to have a parade because they won a game by one run against the Orioles. Well, the game yesterday, it required a fantastic pitching performance

from Barrios, and they still only scored three runs. That's the thing. It's like they got spanked in the first two games of the series, squeak out the narrowest possible victory in this one. So your run differential in the series is like what? Like minus 15 still or something stupid. It's like, great. All right.

Yeah, you can occasionally barely eke out a win at home against good teams. Awesome. We will continue this conversation coming up in the 7 o'clock hour with Adnan Virk. But it was really the only other sports highlight of note from yesterday. And kudos to the Jays for not getting swept by the O's. They got a chance to split the series. I will say that. But I kind of agree with the sentiment.

It's like, is this just really celebrating the lone victory that you might get after getting smoked by the Orioles in the first two games? You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You hear him on Canucks Talk. You read him in The Athletic. I am subjected to his commissioner-dom of our fantasy

football league, which is well, it's a whole story unto itself. He joins us now,omas drance on the halford and brough show with jamie dodd on sports on 650 uh we're getting rick talking on the show later to talk about all the changes behind the canucks bench so it's a it's a new role for yogi and an elevated role for the cityans your thoughts yeah i mean you know i think i think very highly of all three individuals. I rarely hear a bad word about any of them.

In fact, often hear praise, and not just from official channels, but from players, from player agents, about the impact, about how much Canuck benefited from and enjoyed working with Shevkovsky in particular. Obviously, the Twins as well, especially with the minor league guys, their sort of go-between work. From Talk commentary yesterday sounded like the twins or at least one of the twins would travel more that's something the club did in the playoffs you had one of the twins traveling with the club on the road something that didn't happen in the season so that that's a change that was already partially implemented um and i guess the benefit of having you know that

city in partnership, right? Like one can go, one can stay, you keep the bridge open to Abbotsford at home, but also have additional support on the road. You know, I think it's fair to comment that there's a lot of experience going out the door on the Canucks coaching staff all around, right? Between Jeremy Collin, who was one of the top American League coaches, to Manny Malhotra, who's never been a professional head coach, Mike Yeo, a multiple-time NHL head coach and a 20-year assistant, being replaced by Shevkovsky, who, again, I think has the hockey mind and ability and is well-regarded enough that this is by no means a comment on him.

But it doesn't seem like he's been a you know, a full-time on the bench assistant, you know, even at the major junior level to this point in his career. So there's a fair bit of an experience discrepancy with what't think experiences like the end all be all, if you're a smart hockey person who works hard and can do go through so much change for reasons that, you know, sort of appear to be pretty nebulous at this point. But I think the promote from within, identify smart, experienced hockey people and give them more opportunity model. I mean, I'm all for that. I think that makes a ton of sense. It's just the, yeah, there's still sort of, I mean, I'm all for that. I think that makes a ton of sense. It's just the, yeah, there's still sort of,

I think questions that remain even in the wake of Talkett's explainer press conference, which was very much appreciated and I think needed in the market yesterday. Well, and Rick Talkett was pretty upfront too about like, hey, Mike, it was a big loss, right? And, you know, Rick Talkett also putting the onus on him as he often does. It's going to be up to him, right,

to kind of bring the new coaching staff together, make sure it gels, make sure it's working properly. And, you know, one thing we've learned about Rick Talkett is he doesn't really like to officially divvy up the responsibilities necessarily, right? Like this guy's in charge of the power play. This guy's in charge of the penalty kill. He's a big roundtable guy, of course. But it does sound like Yogi's going to be doing, maybe taking lead on the power play.

But, of course, Mike Yeo's out the door who is running the penalty kill. What do you make of kind of the new sets of responsibilities and who's in charge of what, that dynamic on the staff now? Yeah, I mean, most teams at this point have like a designated specialist power play coach

with primary responsibility for handling that portfolio talking to shoot that approach. You know, and that's fine. I mean, to some extent, right. Like, you know, one, one of the best in the league that you could find if you were building a dream staff to manage your power play, to have that responsibility would be Rick talking who did the job in Pittsburgh. Right. Pretty regularly had solid special teams in Arizona.

And the Canucks had at least decent special teams all told, and their power play was above average and ran extraordinarily hot for a couple months. So, you know, for me, it's not about, like, Rick Tockett needing a power play coach or, like, an update in how this team systematically produces offense. Like what this team did systematically and structurally last year worked,

even if, you know, there, there's probably a level, a level of like risk inherent in, in building up offensive attack that the club's going to have to be more comfortable taking on going forward. You know, I fundamentally believe this team's goal scoring ability shot generation ability is more about talent than it is about you know playing conservative hockey i think you need to upgrade the lineup first and foremost so just to sort of come back to this i i side-eyed the decision for talk it to manage the power play by himself,

not because I don't think he can do it, but because I think it's fair to wonder about how much time a head coach really has to delegate or really has to manage a portfolio that crucial by themselves when, when this is a big job. I mean, this is a big job from a media perspective. This is a big job in Vancouver, you know, given the impact that the Tuckets had on changing the culture, on the emotional intelligence of the club, right, on how they carry themselves.

I think it's been a sea change. I think fans have responded to it and noticed it. It's hard for me to imagine that you could be that effective in that many areas and then also run a special teams unit and be, you know, coming up with fresh ideas and innovative entries and on and on and on. Like it just seems like so much for one guy to take on. And you know, if, if Shevkovsky will help there, I think that's a good thing, but it's going to be primarily Rick Tockett's responsibility surely.

And, and, and that. And that remains true. And so I do think the just sort of time management, it's not a concern. It's not at that level. It's just interesting and different from how everyone else does it. And I think from that perspective, just sort of looking at it as something that's interesting and maybe a little bit risky from a Canucks perspective, I think is fair. I wanted to get your thoughts on the notion or the execution of from promoting within as opposed to going outside the organization to fill some of these roles. Well, so it's one of those things that I believe, like I believe that that's how the organization wants to do it.

I think there's a variety of reasons for it. Right. I think partly it's about empowering smart hockey people, intelligent hockey people. And that's a good thing. Partly it's, you know, a way of developing staff the way that this organization's talked about, especially under this management team, developing players. Right. The idea that it's happening at every level and this is proof positive of it. You know, I also think there's a really strong business case for it. And this is important, right? Like, you know, Jim Rutherford's the sort of executive where it's not just that he has been a Hall of Fame NHL general manager for 30 years.

You know, he also owned at times, you know know parts of the whalers and parts of the windsor spitfires and on and on right like this is a guy who's been both responsible for making the hockey moves and relatively uniquely among his nhl colleagues also like cutting the checks and making it all work from the ownership suite so uh you know i i think there's an element to which if you're able to do it effectively, if you're able to develop people effectively, then you're also able to save a fair bit of like non-cap spending that you'd otherwise be spending on assistant coaches. And so, you know, it's one of those things where I do believe that it's an honest preference in how Rutherford wants to lead

and wants to develop people. And we saw that in Pittsburgh and how many of his lieutenants went on to be NHL general managers or, you know, vice presidents of hockey analytics after joining the Penguins organization as consultants and on and on. I mean, advancing his staff, I do think, is part of what we've seen from Rutherford teams in the past. And partly that's what we're seeing reflected. But I also think, you know, not to look at it cynically, but certainly there's a level of self-interest there too,

right? Like if you're able to give smart people a new shot and have it work, you know, that's a cost efficient way to, of, of managing a hockey team's budget. And I think that's sort of the, the takeaway from this.

Joining us now on the program. Very happy to have him. Canucks head coach, Rick Talkett here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Rick, how are you? Hey,

how you guys doing? We're good. One, thank you for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. And two, wanted to offer congrats, not just for a great regular season and a good run in the playoffs,

but congrats to you, Rick, for capturing the Jack Adams Award to the NHL Coach of the Year. Very well deserved, if I do say so myself. Yeah, I appreciate it. I mean, I honestly got a lot of help. Staff was great. Organized, you know, just

been here a short time and they've done everything they've in the city to make me feel comfortable. You know, you guys know this. When you work in a good environment, you're a good headspace, you you do your you know you can do your best work i guess so very lucky to have uh the organization behind me yeah and as you mentioned the work your staff did as well rick and obviously the uh the changes announced to the coaching staff yesterday with yogi shakoski getting promoted from the skills coach to being uh your new assistant coach and

you know one of the things you talked about when you were speaking with the media yesterday was how much Yogi had earned the trust of the players, guys like JT Miller, Elias Lindholm, and how much that meant to you, kind of observing the job he was doing as a skills coach. How important is it for, to have those different voices on a coaching staff, right? So it's not just the head coach that the players trust,

that the players are talking to, but that they have those relationships and that level of confidence in in everyone who's around the team yeah i think it's huge guys um you know for me you know you got to put your ego aside i mean i can't you know every player you know sometimes connects with different coaches and you got to allow that i think that's the one thing that we did really well as a staff is, you know, give autonomy to certain guys, you know,

which player clicks with what coach. Yogi was a guy that came in here. He stayed in his lane. When I got here, he was told what he has to do that. He just, we gave him more projects and I watched the way he interacted with, you know,

whether it's a Miller or a hog lander, the way he worked with the twins, the way he worked with the staff, came up with some good ideas going into summer for him with our power play. So, you know, Jim Rutherford's big with promoting within. You know, I had it, obviously when Yosie, it was a big loss for us. I love Yosie. You know, I had a bunch of assistant coaches call me that, you know, and I felt that even Jim Rutherford and Patrick was the best way to go to keep the continuity of our staff.

You know, and I know you were asked about the relative lack of experience on the coaching staff beyond yourself yesterday. And one of the things you said was, you know, it's up to you to make sure that the staff gels and you get everyone on the same page. And I think, think you know we often think about chemistry between players in hockey right and how important that is but you know chemistry i'm sure on a coaching staff matters a lot and what does it look like in your eyes when a coaching staff does have that chemistry is gelling and as the head coach how do you go about making sure that happens yeah i think it's

important um you know i learned this when i was in pittsburgh with mike sullivan staff you know sergey was there jock martin a veteran learned a lot um the way we kind of the way that we ran things then the way mike sullivan the round table uh a lot of you know a lot of ideas bringing to the table making sure guys you know you know i've been on staffs where people are you know not so much afraid to say something, but they stunt their growth when it comes to creativity. And, like, this is a big year for us. I mean, our team could change a little bit drastically,

I say drastically, but because of the free agency. So we've got to be ready for anything. And I just gave a note to the coach the other day, because we're going to meet in about two, three weeks, that we might have a different team. We might have to play a little different. So we've got to be ready for that. And that's why your staff has to be aligned.

And we have to come in really creative next year. And I want these guys to come up with some ideas for us. Maybe a little bit more stuff offensively. How can we get better off the rush without sacrificing defense? There's a lot of different things, but that's what we're going to have these projects all summer. Obviously, keep a close eye on Florida

and Edmonton. The two best teams going at it. What are they doing a little different than we're doing? I think you've got to be an open-minded staff. Hey, Rick, who's going to run the PK now? Footy. Footy is in Arizona. I ran it quite a bit with the staff there.

So I'll have my hand in all that stuff. But Footy really worked closely with Yosi. They had a great relationship. So Footy will take the lion's share of that. And Yogi and I'll get the twins involved with a power play. Speaking of penalty kills, I don't know how much you've had a chance to look back on the playoff run, especially the second round against Edmonton.

But the lack of power play success that you guys had, have you looked at that in a different light, given what Edmonton did on the penalty kill? You guys were actually the only team to score a power play goal against them, I might add. Like LA didn't do it. LA didn't do it. Dallas didn't do it. Have you gained a newfound appreciation for the way Edmonton kills penalties?

Are you still looking back saying, we left something on the table when it came to the power play? I think it's a good question. I think if you go look at ourselves, look at it. I think it's a little bit of both. They do the toy the bowl where they hard press down. I still think there's

holes in that uh got the ticket from edmonton they were unreal their pk's been unreal and has got them to the finals but i don't think we took advantage of it um you know that's for other discussions i think we obviously got to get more connected as a group uh on the power play so when you you know i talked about this when you hit the pressure you know four the power play. So when you, you know, I talked about this, when you hit the pressure, you know, four-minute power play game seven, you know, when you're connected as a group, and it falls on me. You know, I got to take the heat for that.

You got to make sure guys are connected. And I felt that that's the one thing we lacked a little bit this year, being connected. And it's more connected, being connected than the plays. Like, I know a lot of people want set plays and all that. And really, I don't really believe in that. If you watch Edmonton, and they're probably the team to look at

when it comes to power play. And obviously, they got McDavid. I mean, he's everywhere. He's unreal, don't get me wrong. But they attack. And they have different spots for each guy. And I think I mentioned it yesterday. their third goal, they missed the net, but Nugent Hopkins is by the net on the other side,

where usually he's up top, but he's down low, and he gets that goal, and that was a difference goal maker for them. So we have to have more of that mentality, and that's got to be worked on all summer. With your power play, Rick, as you said, you're not a big plays guy, right? And we've heard you and our listeners have heard you stress the importance of the movement, the attacking mentality, using pressure when there are those moments where you beat pressure. And I'm sure you put a lot of work in on that with the players.

Why is it sometimes difficult for the players to translate those kinds of things, those mentality types of things from practice onto the ice in a game? Yeah, that's a great question. And I'll say this. We have a great group of guys. I mean, I'm really lucky, you know, the Hughes and Mills and PP, they're great to work with. But sometimes, you know, a little bit of, I shouldn't say old habits,

but, you know, they were successful, you know, the last three, four years, you know, more of that set. You know, Millsy coming down on that left side flank. But teams are taking that stuff away. So, you know, we're trying to introduce other things. So sometimes, you know, you got to go through a little bit of pain to get, and listen, I don't want to sound they're not buying it i think they understand now we have to go to another level so the question's on me like you know it's on me this summer to get these guys understand

that we're gonna have to do things different and it might be uncomfortable for some guys you know that sometimes we might have to play a certain spot every once in a while against the other team's personnel you know you're playing a team that's in a diamond. One night you're playing against a team that plays a toilet bowl. You know, there might be some different looks. Sometimes a guy might not get the, you know, the shots he wants, and he might have to be a guy that, that night, he might be a guy that has to be in front on this certain spot or come up over the retrieval.

I mean, retrievals are everything in power play. They're so underrated. If you watch Edmonton, after they shoot a puck, they get most of those pucks again and that's when you kill PKs because then guys are tired and then you can really, you know, if you look at that, we'll put it this way.

Edmonton scored most of their goals when they did score and we were actually pretty good against them to PK later in the series, but a lot of their goals were later in the power play with about 20 seconds left. It was never the first minute. So there's the proof in the pudding. We're speaking to Canucks head coach Rick Tockett here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Rick, how much of the playoffs are you watching right now?

Are you dialed right in or have you kind of unplugged a little bit? No, I can't unplug. I've been playing the what-if game game i've been watching most of the games um it's it's but i like yesterday i i got to be careful there's a torment i got to recharge because it's been tormenting my mind what you know what i could have did different you know like you know should we have practiced that on one off day than the day off because we're sluggish the next game like there's certain things you play in your head You got to be careful that you don't torment too much. But I'll watch this series.

Obviously, looking to see what they're, you know, what these teams are doing. I know, you know, watching Florida, I really have a respect for Florida, how the way they play, how aggressive they are, how deep they are. So I'll be watching their team. And obviously, I know Edmonton pretty well. So as a. So I'll be watching their team.

And obviously I know Edmonton pretty well. So as a coach, I'll be watching them and also as a fan. Yeah, I mean, the what-if game, you're not alone. Yeah, it's hard. Obviously, right? And especially in the Western Conference Final. Did you see anything from the Dallas-Edmonton series that stood out for you? The one thing for me was the lack of physicality.

That was one thing that stood out for me, is it seemed like it was a much lower temperature matchup than the seven-game series that you guys pushed Edmonton to. I'm just curious, when you were watching six games at Edmonton Dallas, what your takeaways were. Yeah, the one thing I'm proud of about our team, and I still think we could have been

more physical against Edmonton. I think we took advantage of a few things and we'll learn from, but the one thing that makes me proud is Edmonton, you know, and I've heard from, you know, some other people inside there, how hard it was to play against the Canucks. And so that makes us, it makes us should be even hungrier, knowing how close we were.

And, you know, obviously Edmonton deserved a series, but I thought there was parts of that series, we were really physical and we were on our game. We kind of sustained it. So that's kind of the thing I look at. You know, I look at that first period of Game 7 where we just couldn't make it. You know, we just couldn't make a pass.

I think we were a little tight. We just couldn't get in and go in. And I think when you get 3-0 in the hole, it's tough to come out. You know, we did in the third, but, third, but it's the what-if game. What if we had a better first? If we scored on that power play, if somebody scored on their break. You know what I mean? So that's the hard part.

But the one thing I told the players, and this is at the end of the year, it's going to be even harder. It's going to be a hard year next year, and we've got to embrace it. So looking ahead to next season a little bit, and obviously we've got a lot of time to go before training camp and everything rick but you know you mentioned your your coaching staff will be meeting and working on some new tactical ideas and systems ideas over over the summer and you know how do you balance because obviously you you guys had such a successful regular season and the style you you instituted the team bought in and it worked

really well how do you balance now okay trying to add new things to that or tweaking it right when the system you used this year was so successful but as you said you also want to take that next step forward how do you kind of walk that line going into next season yeah i think that's a great question i think that's the the stuff that we got to discuss as a staff because you know 90 i don't want to change. I mean, there may be 85, but there's about 15%. I think we can change. Obviously we got to find a way to score off the rush. We got to find a way of getting more shots through or, or, or, you know, to the net with people.

I think that's two things that we have to improve on. If, you know, if you even improve like 10% on both of those things and, and, and stay steady with without the puck, I mean, that's a good recipe for success again. But it's hard to do. You know, I don't want to, you know, I'm not a riverboat gambler. I'm not, you know, I know some teams like to, they like scoring off the rush. They like to play that style. But I don't know if that's sustainable in winning.

I really don't. I think if you look at Edmonton, the way they've changed their game since October till now, they're comfortable playing a 2-1 game. You watch McDavid play the game now, they're up 2-1, and I'm watching him. He's not toe-dragging at the blue line like he had maybe in the past. He thought he had to do everything.

He's playing a smart game, that's i think that's the way you the recipe but saying that we got to find a way to get better off the rush can we get our d up in the play a little bit quicker um is there ways we can you know when we don't you know when we do get the puck we can have a guy take off i i learned a little bit from nashville i mean they like sending that guy out of his own, almost, you know, maybe a little too much for my liking, but it did work sometimes. But I do like the way we defend without the puck. I think we're one of the better teams of protecting the inner slot, those grade A chances. And when you have a guy like Demko, Seelass, you know, maybe, you know, I don't know what's going to happen with Smitty, but when you have those type of goaltenders and you can make them play half the net, you can be in every game.

And I remember going into last offseason, Rick, there was a big focus on players having a big summer, right? And coming into training camp in the right shape. And, you know, now one of the things that Patrick Alvin said at the year-end press conferences was that he hoped the players learned from, you know, this season and the playoff experience about how to kind of prepare themselves, prepare their bodies throughout the season to be ready to play their best hockey learned from you know this season and the playoff experience about how to kind of prepare themselves prepare their bodies throughout the season to be ready to play their best hockey in april in may in june hopefully how can players start that process now in the summer in the offseason going into training camp yeah i i think uh to be honest you you know over the year and i'm not trying to

disrespect anybody but a lot of the lot of the year uh that most of honest, you know, over the years, and I'm not trying to disrespect anybody, but a lot of the years, most of our players, you know, it was September, October to April for a lot of years. Now we went into, you know, what is it, May? You know, was it late May or whatever? Might have to change their workouts a little bit more. Might have to skate a little bit earlier now than before. There's a lot of tweaking.

You know, when I hear Kucherov and Stamkos are skating, they were skating like two weeks ago on the ice working on stuff, that's the sort of stuff that I want Petey and Hughes and Millsy. Those are the things I want to hear. You know, yeah, you've got to rest your body. We've got some guys that have had some body. You know, Millsy, he was dealing with some bumps and bruises all year, you know, and he never complained.

So, you know, obviously he's got to get rest his body, but he's the type of guy that he's obsessive. He wants to, you know, he wants to know how, you know, how he could be better in game six and seven, how, you know, our team can be, that's the type of attitude I want, you know, a guy like Pedersen, big summer for him. You know, he's the guy that's got to, like, I want him to come in one of the, probably, I'd like to see him top three, one of the best shaped guys. And he him top three, one of the best-shaped guys. He knows the importance of practicing and all that sort of stuff. You've got a taste of it.

These are the experiences you get, and hopefully they'll be dialed in this summer. It was three, four months before the season starts, so there shouldn't be any excuses of coming in in great shape knowing that we were this close. Is it important to tell guys that, So there shouldn't be any excuses of coming in in great shape, knowing that we're this close. Is it important to tell guys that, or is it more important to let guys figure that out on their own? No, they know. It's been crystal clear.

I think you guys know me. There's no excuses. I'd be very shocked to see some of these guys come in in average shape. And if there's, you know, and I'm not trying to lay the gauntlet, but if that's the case, then there's going to be some ramifications. We just can't go backwards. We've set the bar here. And, you know, you look at all the successful teams,

their leadership group, they go to different levels. And I got to give those guys a lot of credit. They bought in and they want to go to another level. I'm not too worried about that leadership group not coming in great shape. They're dialed in. They're upset that we lost and they want to come back even stronger. That's nice to hear for a coach.

Rick, we want to thank you for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy some time off. I know June is often busy for front office types, but Enjoy some time off. I know June is often busy for front office types, but enjoy some time off. Try and enjoy as much of the Stanley Cup final

as you can and try not to play too much of the what if game because we've done it for a while. It gets frustrating after a while. Yeah, I know. I got to stop doing it. I'm getting better at it. My girlfriend's already

she's already given me this speech. She doesn't want to hear it anymore. Enjoy the summer. Thanks, Bob. If I don't stop it, the doors will be locked here soon. So I got to stop the summer, Rick. Thanks, bud. I appreciate it. If I don't stop, the doors will be locked here soon, so I've got to

stop and let it get. Thanks, Rick. Appreciate this. Okay, guys. Thanks. Take care. Rick Tockett,

head coach of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of

Halford & Brough.