Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 7/2/24

Episode Date: July 2, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including a busy day one of Free Agency, they chat with the WhatChaos Hockey Show and Bruins analyst Pete Blackburn as the Canucks and Boston swapped UFAs yesterday, plus they discuss all the new Canucks signings with radio PxP man Brendan Batchelor. 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. Jake DeBrus, turn to defense, He tried to cut for the net. Scores! My best hobby is yet to come. I'm really excited to do it in Vancouver. I felt that we stuck to a plan and were able to shine those guys

that we believe makes our team better. We need more port license plates in the gift shop. I repeat, we are sold out of sport license plates. Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It's Alfred and his brother at Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Hey, dog. Good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brother of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda

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So we did the Bort drop. I was wondering if the dogs were going to be able to cook that up in the lab. Kudos to you. Big day for the Vancouver Canucks yesterday. A to cook that up in the lab. Kudos to you. Big day for the Vancouver Canucks yesterday. A number of new players in the door. We've got a number of guests on the horizon. Guest list begins today at 6.30. Dan Rosen, NHL.com.

He was tasked with updating the signings tracker for NHL.com. He had that job? That was his job. I don't even know. I thought they gave that to some intern. He tweeted out yesterday and he said, I know that this is correct because I wrote every single word of it. So Dan will join us and talk about all the signings.

You know what? We'll spare him having to go through the Canucks ones. We'll go non-Canucks division with Dan Rosen because there was a lot of news around the NHL yesterday. Seven o'clock, Pete Blackburn from the What Chaos Hockey Show. Now we're going to bring Pete on the show because the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks did a sort of swap of players yesterday. Three Bruins coming this way to the Canucks, two Canucks going that way to Boston. So we'll talk to Pete about all that at 7 o'clock.

7.30, Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks. We'll get his thoughts on all the new guys that'll be wearing Canucks uniforms this fall. 8 o'clock, Sean White. Yes, the kicker for the BC Lions. 28 straight field goals for the man. 11 for 11 on the year, including that winner against Edmonton last week. So we'll talk to Sean at 8 o'clock

ahead of the big game against Laddie's beloved Hamilton Tiger Cats. Sean White at 8. Brennan bachelor at 7 30 pete blackburn at 7 dan rosen at 6 30 and we might just have news more news it's going to be like yesterday or something like that because victor headman just signed a four-year contract extension worth a cap hit of eight million dollars which just adds to the whole weirdness of the Stephen Stamkos thing. Bizarre. Yeah.

Even he was like, it's weird, man. We just don't like you, Stephen. Yeah. Please leave. Please leave. He's like, do I have BO? What's going on here? After all this, so long and good luck.

I don't call saying good luck. I scored 40 goals last year. What is it about me? I don't know. Well, you know what? Rosen wrote about that for NHL.com as well, so we'll ask him at 6.30. But we've got a lot to get into.

We've got a lot of Canucks news that we need to parse through because, of course, none of it happened on our show yesterday. So without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. what happened? Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. The Canucks signed seven players yesterday in free agency, and I had to laugh after we left the show yesterday.

My kid was out at a soccer tournament in UBC, so I got there. And then, of course, all the parents wanted to talk about all the Canucks signings. And I'm like, literally everything happened from the moment I left the studio to the car ride getting here. You tell me what happened. You tell me. I don't know what's going on. I have no idea. We'll

kind of go through these one after the other. The big one, obviously, and the one we'll probably focus the most on is Jake DeBrusque agreeing to a seven-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks with a $5.5 million AAV. 27-year-old winger, soon to be 28. Reported, rumored earlier in the day when Elliott Friedman came on with us

bright and early at 6 o'clock in the morning, and my homeboy here, Jason Brough, astutely pointing out that, hmm, parsing through Fried's words, we may need to pay more attention to Jake DeBrusque. That proved to be the right thing. DeBrusque, now a member of the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, that was funny. Fried came on and said, well, maybe Jake DeBrusque, and then I asked a question

about Gensel and the lightning. And then with my mic off, I went to Halford. I said, after thinking about it, I was like, Halford, ask a follow-up question on Jake DeBrusque. More about this Jake fellow.

And then Elliot said to me that I didn't sound very enthusiastic about it. And I didn't sound very enthusiastic about it. But let didn't sound very enthusiastic about it. But let me explain, because I had a lot of people reach out to me and said, and basically poke fun at me for my lack of enthusiasm when Elliot Freeman brought up Jake DeBrasque.

Get this out of your system now because you're going on vacation, so this is your last chance to do this. Go. Have we even done what? Yeah, we're good. Okay. We're good. Go.

Business. Business out of the way. Okay. So the Jake DeBrus story in Boston, from what I had been following, and obviously it's the Bruins, it's another NHL team. I don't follow them on a day-to-day basis. I kept hearing about this Jake DeBrus guy, who

I knew who he was, Louis DeBrusque's son, who kept on getting healthy scratched. And I'm like, well, what's going on there? And then he had a trade request out, and then he rescinded that trade request. And, you know, he occasionally put up pretty good numbers uh 27 goals a couple of times but there was some real inconsistency there and when i hear that a player is getting healthy scratch all the time i'm thinking okay maybe his effort isn't there all the time um so after doing a little reading yesterday um what i did learn in a good way was that under jim montgomery

he had become a more consistent player and i heard his interview with uh drance and uh jamie dodd and when drance wasn't cackling maniacally, I could hear Jake DeBrasque say that, you know, there were times that, you know, he needed to grow up and not grow up like none and like he was super immature or anything, but he said that, you know, some of the things, some of the, some of the years, the COVID years were hard for him and he had to, and he had to grow up as an nhler and he just had to learn um how to be a regular nhler and in reading through a few other things um bruins fans are not happy to be losing this guy because he had matured into a player that not only could score and play with really good players he had also

rounded out his two-way game and become a really good special teams player both power play and penalty kill so that was my reaction it was kind of stuck in the like is this the same guy that like wanted out of Boston all the time and then oh wait a minute he didn't want out of Boston and he couldn't stay in the lineup all the time like Like, is this the guy that I'm supposed to be excited to come play with, Petey? Well, it's funny that you mentioned his play under Jim Montgomery because I did reach out to a couple people who were around the situation

and both of them said the exact same thing. Bruce Cassidy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jake DeBrusk and Bruce Cassidy just never got along. And it wasn't that one of the reasons that... I always thought it was Bruce Cassidy's relationship with the veteran players that ended up getting him turfed out of Boston.

It could have been a thing with a multitude of his relationships with younger or older players. I don't think the Bruins as a whole were very happy playing for him. And I think Jake DeBrusque, by all accounts, was a pretty popular player in the room because guys like Patrice Bergeron were always going to bat for him and Brad Marchand was always going to bat for him.

Now those guys are leaders on the team, and that's what they're going to do. They're going to try and encourage young players. That's what leaders do. But listening to Jake DeBrusys' interview with, again, Cackling Drance and Jamie Dodd yesterday, I actually thought he sounded like a super mature and thoughtful guy and a guy that's learned a lot from his time in the league and maybe a guy that's also going to be looking forward

to a fresh start. A couple things. You know what? Let's play the audio from Patrick Alfine first, because we don't have the particular part of the clip where he says that he envisions DeBrusque opening on a line with Petey. That is what he said, though. He said, of course, as every general manager says,

he'll leave it up to the head coach, this case being Rick Talkett, on who plays with who. But the things that they liked about DeBrusque, here is Patrick Alfine on Canucks Central yesterday talking about their big day one free agent splash. Yeah, I do think there is still growth in his game and Jake is coming out of a really good organization that has a winning tradition out in Boston.

So I would imagine he's going to continue to thrive here and be part of the core group moving forward here in the next seven years and his ability to skate and create the offense. But I also think that his two-way game has really improved over the years. I've always been impressed by Jake in the playoffs where he seems to be able to elevate his game and play at the next level. So I'm excited about getting Jake into this group.

So stay tuned until the next hour when we have Pete Blackburn on the show. And we'll talk to him. He's a Boston guy. So we'll talk to him about the Jake DeBrusque story in Boston, how it went from him essentially from being drafted all the way to actually leaving the team. We'll get the full narrative because, again, one of the reasons that I might've sounded less than enthusiastic about Jake DeBrusque is I was kind of like, isn't this the guy that wanted to was getting healthy scratched and wanted to

leave and was super inconsistent, streaky score. This is the guy we're resigning to play with PD. Hopefully this all works out. But I will still maintain that chemistry isn't always predictable. Maybe you've got a line next season of Petey, DeBrusque, and Hoeglender, and Miller, Besser, and Suter,

the other top line, or maybe it's Danton Heinen getting a look with Miller and Besser. One thing Patrick Alvien said about Heinen is that he can play up and down the lineup. Now, of course, the Canucks re-signed Bluger and Joshua, so those two could reunite with Garland on the third line. I still feel like Bluger got a little bit screwed

when Lindholm came and they bumped him off that line. I was thinking about that the other day. I was like, you know, in hindsight, I wonder if the Canucks should have tried a little bit harder to make Lindholm and Pedia a thing. Alas, I was thinking about that the other day. I was like, you know, in hindsight, I wonder if the Canucks should have tried a little bit harder to make Lindholm and Petey a thing. Alas, I digress. Taka could also, next season, look to elevate Joshua or Garland into the top six.

And don't forget that the Canucks are going to give Lekker or Mackey a good look at training camp. Maybe he gets a shot with Petey and DeBrus. You never know. They don't want to rush Lekker or Mackey, and you don't camp maybe he gets a shot with Petey and DeBrus you never know they don't want to rush rush Lecker or Mackey and you don't want to be in this position but now that I think they've got all these forwards they're not going to have to rush Lecker or Mackey in fact a guy like Pod Colson better show up and he better look good. Otherwise, he might not even have a spot on this team, the amount of bodies that they have.

The fourth line could then feature a new signee in Kiefer Sherwood. I am super excited to watch this guy on the Canucks after watching him against the Canucks in the playoffs. And Patrick Alvin was joking that Quinn Hughes was probably the most excited for Kiefer Sherwood because Sherwood basically pissed off all the Canucks and was probably a hassle for Quinn Hughes with Sherwood's forechecking ability. And he's one of these guys that plays with a lot of energy and tenacity, and he's annoying, and he's got an awesome name.

Now, fourth line, Nils Amon probably still the center down there, and I guess the other winger, if it's Sherwood down there, is whoever doesn't crack the top nine. There you go. There's your spot. There's probably no need right now to think too intricately about the line combination, but I think it's worthwhile just to trace out a few possibilities just to show you what the Canucks did yesterday and how it all could shake out.

The bottom line really is this. DeBrusque has to make a significant impact, preferably with Petey, who needs to come back refreshed and ready to perform at an elite level. An elite level. We need to hold Elias Pettersson to a high bar. If Petey doesn't bounce back for the Canucks, it's hard to see how they're a cup contender. That may sound harsh, but that's the reality with his new contract. They have made a big bet on Pedersen. And if he doesn't play a lot better than he played in the second half of last season and into the playoffs,

hopefully he figures out any physical injuries that he's got. Hopefully he has a good offseason of training. Hopefully he gets his head straight. Because if he doesn't, the Canucks, I don't see any way that they're a cup contender you can't have your 11.6 million dollar player you know not living up to that contract now granted when it comes to DeBrusque he doesn't necessarily have to mesh with Petey doesn't have to because that's a lot to put on a player you come in and you say okay you have to play well yourself if you have chemistry with

Elias Pedersen and he holds up his end of the bargain, great. If not, the nice thing about DeBrusque is that he turns just 28 in October. He's 27 right now, 28 in October. So he's still got some prime years left, but he's got to bring a consistent and reliable effort, which is, again, something he lacked at times in Boston under Bruce Cassidy, but seemed to figure that out in his last couple of years with the Bruins. So my takeaway on this was the one line that Patrick Alveen kept reiterating when he met with the media, did Canucks Central, released a statement about the Brusque. Jake has consistently been able to elevate his

game in the playoffs. I think that is a two-part answer. I think that answers what they like about DeBrusque and also what they are thinking already further down the road. Not talking about the regular season, talking about what did we see in this year's playoffs. We saw

an $11.6 million a year center in Elias Pettersson underwhelm and we also saw him at times anchored with guys like Ilya Mikheyev on his wing right and how many times did we bemoan the chances that we're landing on the sticks of guys that just couldn't put the puck in the back of the net here's the one thing that jumped off the page to me about DeBrusque he's already played 86 playoff games. That's what you get. And they talked about him coming from the Boston program. That's what you get

when you're drafted by the Bruins and you play your entire career there. They're in the playoffs every year. Perennial playoff team. DeBrusque played more playoff games than Connor McDavid has. And they both broke into the league at the same time. That clip I put in the intro was a beautiful playoff goal by Jake DeBrusque. So they are obviously got an eye

on just beyond regular season counting stats and success is that when it comes down to the playoffs, and Alvin did mention this yesterday as well, they've got more versatility and more depth.

So in game seven against, I don't know, the Edmonton Oilers, the best chances aren't falling on the sticks of Mikheyev and Lafferty and everybody else, right? Austin in Langley, Texas.

It's going to be hilarious when DeBrus fits like a glove with Miller and Besser, and Petey is playing with PDG and Carlson or Putt calls, and God, I hope that doesn't happen. Keith the Water Guy, at what point is it up to Pedersen to mesh with his line mates? The guy has had a few really good line mates over the years, and we are constantly giving him excuses. Well, he didn't have good line mates over the years, and we are constantly giving him excuses.

Well, he didn't have good line mates late last season, but part of that was Petey's fault. Part of that was Petey's fault that he was left with those lineups or those line mates because Miller and Besser, do you remember? Taka gave Petey Besser a little bit of time at the end of the regular season, and he gave him Connor Garland at the end of the regular season. And it looked a tiny bit better,

but not as good as Miller with Besser and Garland sticking with Joshua. So yeah, absolutely. 90% of this is on Pettersson to mesh with his line mates. DeBrusque's only responsibility. Like you can't. It's unfair to DeBrusque.

If you're the coaching staff and you go to DeBrusque and you go, you really got to perform well with Pettersson. Yeah, see, I don't. Right? Like I don't think they would do that. I don't think they would do that. If this gives them another look on the wings because when they brought in lindholm part of the problem was he bumped beluga out of the sea

and then it was also abundantly clear to rick talkett that he was only going to deploy him as a center like he's like he's not a winger he's a center so it made yes they brought in an extra forward that added to the depth of the group but it was kind of at the wrong spot i think that at the end of the day that coaching and management kind of at the wrong spot. I think that at the end of the day, that coaching and management group would have probably said, all right, we like Lindholm and we like what he brought, but it wasn't the right solution for the puzzle pieces. He was a good piece, but it didn't fit perfectly.

He wasn't a winger. No, and that's why bringing in DeBrusque, I think conceptually, I like what they did yesterday. Do you think they're better than they were last year? I think at forward, they're better than they are. Let's turn to the blue line now, though, because... You think they're you think they're better than they were last year? I think at forward, they're better than they are. Let's turn to the blue line now, though, because... You think they're better at forward right now than they were last year? Yes.

But at blue line. Yes, I do. I think having Sherwood and Joshua together makes them even more, and this is a good term, hittier forward group. Much hittier. Because it did seem at times last year that it was like, well, you got Dakota Joshua running around doing all at times last year that it was like well you got dakota joshua running around doing all the hitting and then it's like well who else is

providing that so sherwood comes in and that's his bread and butter i hope their speed is upgraded up front as well and dr dalvin was talking a lot about heinan's a good skater yeah um but you got to do something with that skating right um and heinan has bounced around a little bit so you know he's a hometown boy. Hopefully he gets some juice out of that. What about the blue line? The Canucks added some beef to replace Nikita Zdorov and Ian Cole.

Derek Forbort and Vincent Desarnais are both big boys who can kill penalties. That's another really important thing that Patrick Alvine talked about yesterday with most of the players that were added. Somehow they got taller. I didn't think it was possible when you lose Zdorov and Cole, but they actually got taller, which is impressive.

But the penalty kill was something of mind in most of these signings. And I think Forbert and Darren Ayer are going to suit the Canucks' defensive style under Talkett, but you do have to wonder, and Drance asked

this of Patrick Alvin, and Patrick Alvin didn't disagree, if they've got enough puck moving ability on the bottom two pairs, especially if Hughes and Hronik remain a pair. Right now, the second pair would be, I don't know, Soucy and Myers with presumably Forbert

and De'Arne on the third pair, and then you've got guys like Noah Juleson and Mark Friedman can be your 7th and 8th guy. Is that good enough? It sounds like Alvin is pretty open to adding another D-man, but how he's going to do that remains to be seen. They spent a lot of their cap space already. They don't have a lot of assets to trade,

certainly not ones that they want to part with. Alvin also sounded open to experimenting with splitting up Hughes and Hronik and having those guys, this is Patrick Alvin's words, carry their own D pair. And he said, those are the questions for training camp. I keep going back to the last training camp and how they really tried to put everyone except Hronik with Hughes early on just to try and make it happen. Now, ultimately, Hughes and Hronik got paired together and they were so good together and the team was having success

that they never really looked back and they were right to do that but i think what they're looking at right now is they're going all right quinn hughes has been a pretty good player without haronic before haronic i know he won the norris trophy this year and that's a feather in both quinn uses cap but also haronix yeah um but for the sake of the team they might need to spread the wealth a little bit okay i'm gonna go right back to what i said about de bros this to me is another nod to like we're looking down the road here and we're looking towards the playoffs with the way that this blue line now has six foot seven tyler myers six foot seven vincent de harney six foot five

carson soucy six foot four derrick forbert i think they might be the biggest blue line in the nhl is Tyler Myers, 6'7", Vincent Desharnais, 6'5", Carson Soucy, 6'4", Derek Forbert. I think they might be the biggest blue line in the NHL. Is it worth noting that Desharnais was healthy scratched eventually by the Edmonton Oilers and replaced by Broberg because the Oilers were having trouble with the Florida Panthers' forecheck? Yeah. I mean, that's going to be an issue. Anytime you have the bigger, slower guys. They were actually pretty excited about the potential of De'Arne because he's only been in the league for a year,

and they thought there was more. They thought there was more there. So maybe a guy like Adam Foote, Sergey Gonchar can bring out more in Vincent De'Arne. Well, and I think Kiefer Sherwood is along those same lines as well. He's a 29-year-old guy, and he hasn't even cracked 200 NHL games yet. Yeah, Seussie and Myers is your third pair great. The second pair I'm not so sure about.

Like, I mean, and I don't know much about Forbert either, but, I mean. Well, Seussie and Myers would be your second pair. Seussie and Myers. That's what I'm saying, though. I don't, like, I would prefer them to be on a, you know, ideally. Isn't this exactly like last year? You're kind of like, yeah, you like the top pair of Hughes and Hronik stay together, but you're going to be tempted to play those guys a lot

so you keep the guys, all four of them, in the bottom pair below 20 minutes a night. Yeah. There are a lot of question marks, and I'm a little worried. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. Our next guest has been on this show many a time. We're very excited to have him back. Pete Blackburn here on the Halford & Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. Our next guest has been on this show many a time. We're very excited to have him back.

Pete Blackburn here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Peter. How are you? I'm good. Pete, we wanted to get you on because I'm sure you're aware of this. The Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins just decided to switch a bunch of players onto each other's teams yesterday. But we want to know the story of Jake DeBrusque.

And who better to ask than a diehard Boston Bruins fan? Tell us about what we're getting here in Vancouver for the next seven years. Jake DeBrusque and who better to ask than a diehard Boston Bruins fan tell us about what we're getting here in Vancouver for the next seven years Jake DeBrusque uh Jake DeBrusque is a very good player who is not very good all the time and that's been kind of the uh the frustrating book on Jake DeBrusque he does a lot of things he's well liked in the room but the inconsistency and and the streakiness of his game can be uh can be difficult to deal with uh you know when he's good he makes an impact and and when he is good he tends to be good for for good stretches but when he's when he's not good he's invisible for for long stretches as well so that's why the numbers aren't gaudy um but you know he's well liked he does a lot and he's a very emotional player and i think that that kind of feeds into uh the streakiness

is you know he kind of gets between his own ears a bit i think a little bit perfect with pd terrific a match made in heaven i'm sorry i just lost it there um did he have was bruce cassidy especially hard on on on jake debrusk i do believe so and they uh i think it's clear that they didn't really get along very well and that's where the trade request came from and that's where the trade request was in uh being rescinded came from once Bruce Cassidy was fired. So their relationship was pretty adversarial. And so, like I said, he is known as a pretty emotional guy. And yeah, Cassidy is pretty tough on his players.

And I think Jake DeBrusque was one of them. Now, did DeBrusque, this is what I've read, did he round out his game as he went from younger player to more of a veteran on the Bruins? And I'm talking about two-way play and penalty killing and those things. Oh, yeah, yeah. He's a good all-around player. He's a 200-foot player.

The Bruins probably wished that he would be uh a bit more offensive uh as as his kind of career rounded out he only had 19 goals last year and I think they needed a bit more scoring but he is a really good 200 foot player and uh and that's something that I think he's he's proud of and he should be. From a fan's perspective, because I know I was watching you and DJ talk about the exodus of Linus Allmark and how upset you guys were and that you guys loved him and you loved the pairing with him and Swayman and everything. Is there that same level of angst from Bruins fans about losing DeBrusque? Or was he not as beloved by the fan base?

Definitely not the same level of angst. I think that a lot of the Bruins fans liked Jake DeBrusque. They didn't love him. And it's kind of what you expect with a guy who is as streaky as he's been. There's been a certain level of frustration. And I also think that there was writing on the wall a little bit that, you know, they weren't advancing and contract extensions and his time here was

turbulent. And I think a lot of Bruins fans did realize that a fresh start might be good for him and might be good for the team to just go in another direction. So I don't think that there was as much, you know, this sucks kind of reaction as there was to lena solmark even though the writing was on the wall there too we're speaking to pete blackburn here on the halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 uh real quick i want to run through the other two guys it was only one year for danton heinen in boston this time around he had obviously second

tour of duty with the team uh what did you see from him this season? Because this was, at least statistically, one of the better seasons of his career. I'll tell you what, I love Jan Heinen. He's not an amazing player, but he is a really good player, a detailed player, who does basically everything right. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes. The scoring and the offensive production that comes with him is pretty much considered an added bonus if you get it. But if you're looking for a bottom six player who you can trust,

Dan Heinen is absolutely that guy. And for the value and the dollars that Vancouver got him at, I wish the Bruins had kept him. But he is just a really, really solid bottom six player. One of the things that general manager Patrick Alvin wanted to improve this offseason was the speed of the team. Will DeBrusque and Heinen help in that regard? I mean, not really. They're kind of middle of the pack. The Bruins weren't exactly known as a speedy team for the past few years. The Bruins themselves said they wanted to get faster.

So I don't necessarily know if I would consider that a strength of either one of those guys' games. Pete, with the final guy coming from Boston to Vancouver, Derek Forbort. Aside from the we now have Forbort license plates in the gift shop, we don't have a ton of information on the guy. So what can you let us know about Derek Forbort on the blue line? He's a tough meat and potatoes kind of guy. He'll block a lot of shots.

He's really good on the PK. But he's not exactly super reliable on the blue line. I think that Bruins fans were clamoring for him to not be a regular part of that third pair by the end of his time here. And so you won't see much spilled milk over his departure in Boston. But he is a pretty valuable player in terms of getting dirty and getting greasy. And when he got hurt, the Bruins had to go out and get Andrew Peek at the trade deadline, and they were essentially looking for

a Derek Forbert replacement. So even though he's not a top four defenseman, or probably not even a top five defenseman, he is valuable and brings an element to a blue line that teams need and covet. Okay, so now to the other side of this. The incoming players to Boston. How were you feeling after news broke that they had signed both Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadarov from Vancouver?

I mean, I like the fits for both of them. You know, I think I would consider both of them a pretty big gamble. I don't know. You guys have seen probably more than I have of those two guys. But, you know, I like Elias Lindholm being down the middle, and they really needed a top six center, and that's not an easy position to fill. And so when you do fill it in free agency, you're probably going to overpay,

and I think they probably overpaid a little bit for Lindholm. It's a gamble, but I also like Zdorov on the back end and kind of him being that second-pairing defenseman that you can pair with Carlo and kind of pushes the depth down on the blue line. But I think the bigger concern is what those contracts are going to look like sort of on the back half. Yeah, I'd be more concerned with Lindholm myself.

Like, I think Zdorov will give you fair – they're both the same age, but Zdorov looked to me like he was – that's a weird way to put it – more in his prime than Lindholm. But Lindholm did play well at times just because he's a smart player and he's a really strong physically strong player but you know i i don't know if adding lindholm for example is going to help the team speed of the bruins but it might fit in because i think the when the bruins were at their were at their best is when they almost played what you would describe as like a plotting style but it was like very

intentional and it was a powerful game that they played but i don't know if they want to play that style anymore yeah that's that's kind of why i like to the fit for lindholm not not for like a new style but because he fits the way that the bruins already play and kind of like the surgicalness of his game and how he thinks the game and, and like obviously the two way, the two way ability and 200 foot ability of wind home, I think is what you, what you want in the center.

If you, if you're looking for like a top six center and you know, there's been comparisons to, you know, he's a worse Charlie Coyle and, and I don't, I don't agree with that. I think he's, he's better than Charlie Coyle, and I don't agree with that. He's better than Charlie Coyle,

certainly has the capability of being better offensively. I guess I would ask, what is Elias Lindholm offensively from what you've gleaned? Because a few years ago he had 42 goals, but last year was not that guy and hasn't been that guy for his career. So what did you see offensively? Not a whole lot of dynamism. Is that a word?

Dynamic play? It is now, Fred. It is now? Yeah, I wouldn't consider him a dynamic player, but I would consider him just a really smart two-way center. Now, if you put him on a line with Pasternak or you put him on a line with Marchand, he might put up some points. I mean, I don't think it was any surprise

that he had his best offensive season when he was playing with Kachuk and Goudreau, right? So I think he's smart enough to be able to use those players and be in a position where he can be the most responsible player on that line. Not that a guy like Brad Marchand needs to be babysat or anything, but I'll be curious to see who he plays with in Boston. Have there been any inklings as to what the combinations could be up front for Boston? No. I mean, all that I've heard is that they don't want to play pavel zaka down the middle anymore they're going to move him to left wing again and and so i mean when you look at what

they got last year in terms of production from charlie coyle and pavel zaka two guys that have never really been top six centers in their life and they ended up getting more point production than bergeron and creche the year prior like like, that's got to be encouraging when you're talking about Lindholm's offensive output, because he has done it and has produced almost at a point-per-game level at the peak of his production. Him

in the top six, playing with whoever he plays with, whether it's Pasternak, whether it's anybody else in that top six, I think you're looking at probably an uptick in what you were going to get from Pavel Zaka. So, uh, you know, that's, that's where the encouragement, encouragement lies for me. But like I said, the length of that deal and what you're paying for,

I think maybe you're looking at an overpay, but they're desperate. They needed, they needed a top six guy. Pete, this was great, man. Thanks a lot for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it. Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on. That's Pete Blackburn from the What Chaos Hockey show here

on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Sometimes I think our listeners just hear what they want to hear. So Pete was very thoroughly describing all the players that the Canucks had acquired from Boston. And for me, a listener in the interview, because that's what I do when people are talking. I listen. You're known for that. I am known as an attentive listener that never gets distracted by the two televisions that are in our studio.

Listening to Pete, I'm like, those are pretty well-rounded nuanced thorough breakdowns pros and cons of all the guys and all everyone did was to classic boston hater can't believe he's crapping all over the canucks signings and then i responded to one of our texters and i said sir or ma'am whatever pete started his answer about danton heinen as i love Danton Heinen. I wish the Bruins would have kept him. I don't know how much more positive you can be. And he called Jake Dabrowski a really good hockey player. How much more effusive can you be in your praise? Forbert, on the other hand, well...

Well, what do you want him to say about a third pair guy? We're really going to miss him. Yeah, yeah. He was also extremely injured last year, which only allowed him to play 30-plus games. Yeah, he needed a conditioning stint down in the AHL at one point. Yeah. Because he was hurt and been away from the game so long.

Forbore was a first-round pick way back in the day. He was 15th overall in 2010. I mean, Forbore, he's going to probably be in that mix with Friedman and Juleson, sort of the 6-7-8 defenseman because while he's been a capable NHL-er, he's by no means

a lock to play. Like, he didn't feature, I don't think he featured in all of Boston's playoff games, if I'm not mistaken. That's why his

Pete alluded to, they brought in Andrew Peek. Sounds like DeBrusque's going to be a fit with Petey. I had to take that, right? When he's like,

he's in his head a little bit, I'm like, bit oh god not again here we go again two of them it's his friend and bachelor bachelor bachelor life from rogers arena calling canucks games it's his friend and bachelor bachelor bachelor Life from Rogers Arena, Kalinka, Knox Games. It is Brendan Batchelor, Batchelor, Batchelor. 7.33 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody.

Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of 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 2 of the program. Hour 2 is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste.

Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some, get some, at a liquor store near you. Or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. To the phone lines we go. Brendan Batchelor joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Brendan. How are you? I'm well. How are you, Michael? I am well.

Have you managed to come down from the euphoria of England's dramatic come-from-behind victory on Sunday morning? Well, it's strange because it was euphoria mixed with terror at what almost happened. It wasn't like the usual, like, oh, your team gets a dramatic late win feeling. It was more like relief and still frustration at the way they played throughout the game leading to that.

So that's like common emotions for an England fan, though. So it's old hat at this point. I was listening to a podcast with Gary Lineker, Alan Scherr. And is it Michael Richards? Michael Richards. Yeah. And it was so funny because they were like,

yeah, yeah, they got the result. They got the result, but I can't, I keep coming back to how dreadful they've been for four straight matches, just awful. And then they'd rip them, but then they'd check themselves.

And they'd be like, but they are into the quarterfinals. They are into the quarterfinals. And it was, I mean, this is very classic England, all of this. And we won't bore the listeners anymore. Batch, what did you think of what the Canucks did yesterday? What did you like? What do you still have questions about? Well, I think it was a good day for them because on a day where there was a lot of money

and term and some big contracts being thrown around, I thought that all of the moves they made were sort of smart, calculated decisions that directly address the kind of team they want to be and the way they want to play under Rick Tockett. I think they had a pretty good day. They made some decisions that I think, you know, were sort of smart and targeted at their needs and the way that they want to play under Rick Tockett. So, you know, would it have been nice to land a Jake Gensel, a high-end forward that could produce it at a higher level in the top six. I think it would have, but at the same time, they never really got the opportunity to

talk to someone like Jake Gensel about that. So to not commit a huge dollar amount on someone or to chase the market because they missed out on Gensel. I think it was a good day for them. I like the Dabrowski ad. I think, you know, they targeted special teams and their penalty kill in particular with some of the other signings like Forbert and Heinen. And, you know, all in all, I like what they did. If I have any questions about the roster now, it's more about, you know, lack of puck moving ability on the back end. But at the same time, they added a lot of speed on the wings.

And when you have speed on the wings, maybe as long as you can get the first pass, as Patrick Alvin alluded to, then you might not need as much puck moving ability. But that remains to be seen. It remains to be seen whether they're going to tweak their systems in terms of how they want to play and generate offense going into the season but overall you know i think it was a really good day for them i think they made some smart bets and really rounded out their forward group especially you know further down the lineup what do you think some line combinations could be i know you love doing this stuff and I know it's too early to do this and everything

could change with one injury or whatever, but let's go through this exercise anyway, just to show how many players the Canucks do have and the potential that they could put together. Well, so this is interesting because I think it'll be more about tandems at this point. So we know Miller and Besser are probably going to stay together. I guess at this point we expect that it's going to be Pedersen and DeBrus going together. And then you've got like Niels Hoaglander. Could he be a top six guy? Could Danton Heinen be a top six guy?

You know, could Pugh Shooter go back to the wing again and be a top six guy? I guess that sort of depends on whether they see him as a centerman or, or whether, you know, they'd be comfortable using him at a top six wing role like they did last year. You know, there, there is that third line that could be put together again, but also you could, you know, separate those guys. Like you could have Teddy Bluger on the fourth line. You could put Suter in between Joshua and Garland.

You could put Joshua and Garland on a line with Pedersen if you wanted as well. And then, you know, the fourth line, now you've got Kiefer Sherwood, you know, Danton Heinen would be an option down there. They've got young guys that'll come in and compete for spots. And, you know, if you don't use Suter on the wing further up the lineup, then, you know, maybe he ends up being your fourth line center. But with a guy like Sherwood who has physicality and speed, I like the look of a potential fourth line going forward for this group.

But all that said, I think the good thing about having this conversation is we can realize how many options that Rick Talkett is going to have because a guy like Heinen can play both wings. He can play up and down the lineup. You know, Suter's a guy that can play the middle and play the wing. He could be the third line center. He could be the fourth line center. Like there's going to be lots of room for tweaking

and figuring out the best way to deploy these guys. And I think that's going to be the most interesting thing about training camp and some of these camp battles is ultimately what do the lines look like on i guess it's october 9th now they announced the home opener against the calgary flames those abbotsford guys better come in ready to play yeah well and this is a good thing too because you know we've heard them talk so much about opportunity for young guys but you don't want to have open spots on your roster that unproven players are

going to have to fill. There needs to be competition. And so now any of those guys in Abbotsford, Pod Coleson, Baines, Linus Carlson, like, you know, there are players there that have NHL experience that they will have to beat out for jobs if they want to be a regular member of the Vancouver Canucks. And, you know, that internal competition, I think, is so important. You know, you can't have those guys coming in, essentially thinking they've earned a roster spot already

when they don't have any proven track record at the NHL level. So, you know, injuries can always change that and probably will. As we know, it happens basically every year. But, yeah, the internal competition is big and not just gifting some of these guys spots because you like the way they've developed, but making them earn it and making them come in and compete against some veterans

who certainly have the experience and the ability to play at the NHL level. Hey, Batch, if the Canucks do experiment with splitting up Hughes and Hronik, and that's something they suggested, Alvin suggested yesterday, they might want to do, who would be the best bet to play with Hughes? Yeah, that's tough. I mean, all of those guys on the right side have played with Hughes.

Noah Juleson, not so much last year, but two years ago, he had some minutes there. We know Myers has played with Hughes in the past. I guess DeJarne would be the only exception as a right shot guy coming in now. So, you know, that sort of remains to be seen, I guess. I would assume Myers at this point, just because he's sort of the top four caliber defenseman, if you want to call him that, in that mix. And then maybe you'd go with Soucy and Hronik and see what they can do.

And then your third pairing is what your third pairing is. But that's going to be another fascinating thing going into training camp is, you know, are they going to stick with Hughes and Hronik and say, okay, we're just going to play these guys close to half the game and we'll figure things out the rest of the time? Or is it a necessity that they separate them and that Heronic drive his own pair? Because last year there, you know, there was lots of talk about, Oh, they need to play separately.

And we were looking at Cole McWard potentially as a partner for Quinn Hughes. And then they put them together and they never took them apart because they were so good. And, you know, through the first half of the season, they were one of the best pairings, if not the best pairing in the entire National Hockey League. So as much as you want to talk about spreading things out, if they can continue to play at that kind of level, it's going to be hard to keep them apart. But that said, you know, it may be a better option to separate them. I would lean Myers right now in terms of who would be the most likely to play there but

none of the options behind Hronik look great in terms of guys that can help elevate Quinn Hughes and so I do wonder if maybe there's another move to come if they can find one to bring in another right shot D to kind of round out their depth maybe a little bit higher up the lineup than some of the guys they brought in like like Forbert and Desjardins. And then maybe there's a better built-in partner for Hughes in that scenario, I guess. I'm really intrigued with Sherwood, the story behind him, because this management group's done a good job of unearthing late bloomers. I mean, I think Dakota Joshua is probably the best example of it.

But if you look at the profile, like sherwood's been playing on one year two-way deals for the last like five or six you've seen his ahl numbers yeah it's crazy yeah and then last year was career highs across the board at 29 and then you look at the games played and it's still sub 200 it almost feels like despite the fact that he's close to 30 there's a lot more to give and another ceiling to be reached whereas other guys that are getting close to that kind of age you kind of already know what they are as players that's intriguing to me yeah well and heinen's another guy in that conversation like he was on a pto last year like he's always got one year deals and it feels like late in the summer sometimes that he signed those deals but he's been

sort of a consistent bottom of the lineup guy that has some offensive upside too um so you bring in a few of these guys and they could really pop for you and that's kind of what the Canucks are betting on and they're not just betting on it with some of the forwards like Sherwood who you know as soon as they sign him I like that signing because I remember how effective I thought he was for Nashville uh in the first round series and you know Heinen's as they signed him, I liked that signing because I remember how effective I thought he was for Nashville in the first round series. And, you know, Heinen's a local product who we're all sort of aware of and have followed his game a little bit more closely because of that. So those signings are good. But Alvin talked yesterday about betting on Deharnais, who doesn't have a ton of NHL experience, but isn't exactly young on being able to find another level in his game too. So, you know, since Rutherford and Alvin have taken over,

the Canucks pro scouting has done a very good job of, you know, finding some of these guys that have been able to make an impact. And, you know, Dakota Joshua is sort of the star pupil of that class in terms of, you know, a guy that they found that didn't have much NHL experience that now, you know, could have signed a bigger deal than he did, I think, if he had gone to the open market rather than staying in Vancouver. So now that they've got the infrastructure they like in place, now that they've got the coaching staff they want,

they've got the organizational alignment, they've had some success, so they're an attractive place for players to come, they are betting that some of these guys that they like in terms of the way that they play in terms of their upside are going to flourish in a Rick Talkett system and under their chicas. If they can, then that's a huge bonus, not just for,

you know, the players they've brought in this year and getting the most out of them, but going forward, if keeper Sherwood comes in and has a career year, then you can go to similar players that you want to target next year in free agency and go, look what we were able to do for Keeper Sherwood. We can do that for you as well. And it allows them to continue to add strong players down their lineup that can maybe overachieve relative to what they've done in their career in the past. And more importantly, in a salary cap era, overachieve in terms of the contract

and the number that they have to pay them. Batch, this was great, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Try and enjoy the match on Saturday, okay? Yeah, we'll see if I have any fingernails left by the end of it. Thanks, boys. Have a good one. Thanks, Batch. Appreciate it. That's Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks

here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough.