Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 9/10/24

Episode Date: September 10, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they parse through Canucks audio from yesterday's Jake Milford Classic, they get an update around the team from radio commentator Brendan Batchelor, plus the boys tell us what they learned. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. You're listening to Halford & Brough. I don't want to go really hard. I want to go medium hard. You know, I'm a big believer just taking it a day at a time. We live day to day. Like, we live, you know, with, you know, today.

We're in today's world. Um, J.D. Miller is a b****. And eventually, they were rescued by, oh, let's say, Moe. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It's Halford and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello. Hello. Halford and Brough for the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier Honda dealership. Visit them online at VancouverHonda.ca. well hello hello halford and brad for the morning is brought to you by vancouver honda vancouver's premier honda dealership visit them online at vancouverhonda.ca hour one of this program 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 you get paid visit them at 1170 powell street in vancouver and we are coming to you live from the kentech studio kentech canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec, got a big show today. There's a lot to get into. The sports keep rolling along.

There's something to look forward to almost every night now, which is exciting. Guest list gets underway. 6.30, Gareth Wheeler, the voice of Canadian soccer on One Soccer, is going to join us to preview tonight's friendly, although I don't know how friendly it'll be, between the Canadians and Mexico from Jarrow World AT&T Stadium

in Arlington, Texas. So I did the research on this. Do you think there will be more Mexican fans there or Canadian fans? No, I don't like to make predictions. But last year when Mexico did its 15-match tour of the U.S., they averaged 52,000 supporters per match. And I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but there is a— How many Canadian fans do you think are making the trip down there? 40?

50. 50, yeah. So just shy of the 50,000 that they can expect in attendance. Anyway, big match for the Canadians coming off the big win over the Americans on the weekend. We'll talk to Gareth Wheeler about that at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Nick Shook, NFL.com. He'll be joining us after Monday Night Football,

a very impressive performance from the San Francisco 49ers, easily dispatching of aaron rogers and the new york jets without the services of christian mccaffrey late scratch from the game yesterday with a calf injury no problems there uh the 49ers roll so they are now tied atop the nfc west with our beloved seattle seahawks uh yeah how was aaron rogers i wasn't able to actually watch the game. So he didn't get the ball that much. I think I sent you the time of possession stats midway through the third quarter.

I was asking for updates from the golf course. Aaron Rodgers, it's almost like an incomplete on your report card. I was like, we can't really get a great idea because he just didn't have the ball enough. He looked okay throwing it. He didn't look okay running it. Right.

And kind of what you would expect from a 40-year-old guy that's coming off uh achilles surgery do you remember in the irishman when we saw deniro fight and you know for most of the movie makeup was able to make him look young ish and then he had that one fight scene where he looked approximately 100 years old we see this sometimes with nfl qbs i remember when Tom Brady, at the end of his career, would take off for a run, and he's at the five, and now he's at the six. He's still at the six, getting eventually to the seven, to the eight.

It was that slow. Did it look like that for Aaron Rodgers? It didn't look like the Irishman. Do you know the scene I'm talking about? Yes, I know the scene. I was like, wait a minute, that guy's like 100 years old. It's Angry Grandpa. But it wasn't...

I'm going to go with incomplete. We'll ask Nick Shook what he thought, because I had a hard time figuring out exactly what we were seeing, because they barely had the football. And they did have one really good scoring drive. And is that mostly because the 49ers just ran the ball? Yeah, which is, again, pretty incredible considering Christian Kapp. Running the ball?

Yeah. It's back. It's so back. It's so back. Pete Carroll is like, come on, man. Get me back in the game. 7.30, Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks, is going to join us.

He'll be reporting from the MILF. Jake Milford yesterday. A lot of audio coming through there. Some pretty big stories coming from the tournament as well. I'm Brendan Batchelor reporting from the MILF. I can understand. We're coming to you live from the MILF here and lots of players on the field. The course, Andy.

It's the course. On the pitch. Not the pitch. The course. On the ice today at the MILF. Batch was also kind enough to procure some audio, so we'll play that in the opening segment of the show as well. Brendan Batchelor at 7.30, 8 o'clock. Our weekly BC Lions guest is the general manager, Neil McEvoy.

He'll join us. We can ask him, maybe he'll shed some light into how the salary cap works and how much the BC Lions are over it after signing Matthew Betts and Nathan Rourke. You should ask him that directly. How does the salary cap in the CFL work? You know, the league was pretty transparent about it.

They had a press release and everything talking about the exact amount everyone over. And I laughed. I mean, it's not funny, but it's kind of funny that Hamilton went over by like $2,000. This was last year, right? Yeah, this was last year. Because they have to update a league number.

You owe us $2,000. Should have done that Timmy's run. Put us over the top. Hamilton has folded. It's like, we can't make this. They're going to get a payday loan to cover it. Expect us to pay this back. Hey, they won the Labor Day though.

They did. They were waiting for me to come home. And they were so happy that Laddie was there. Like, we're going to do it for you, Laddie. And they also asked you for $2,000 after the game. And then some guys came up to them. Where's my money? They didn't really ask.

It's a donation box going around in the stands. The GoFundMe. Okay, 8 o'clock, Neil McAvoy, 7.30, Brendan Batchelor. 7 o'clock, Nick Shook, 6.30, Gareth Wheeler. We got a lot to get into. 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? You missed 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. Do you want to start with the MILF or do you want to start with the football? Where do you want to go here? I'm going to start with the MILF. Okay, so on Monday. I always start with the MILF. I'm glad you guys have just embraced this now.

Yeah, on Monday. So opposed to it at the beginning. The Canucks gathered at Northview for the annual Jake Milford Charity Golf Tournament. Affectionately known as the MILF in these parts. This has, for the last several years, kicked off the start of the hockey season. All the Canucks players show up, coaches, management, and guests. They all play some golf. They have a good time. They do some media availabilities.

They do a little bit of a roast. The new players have to get up there and introduce themselves. And for us cranks in the media, it's always a chance to pry some much needed Canucks content as we await the start of youngsters. So we'll start with the Elias Pettersson audio. Right.

And then we'll follow it with the Thatcher Demko audio. Oh. What? Why? They were there, right? They were there. Why? Why are you focusing on those two players in particular? Yeah, in particular.

Why those two? They just didn't want to talk? You think you're better than us? Yes. Fair enough. Now, when I say we have audio, I should say we have select audio. Certain players talked to the media yesterday. There was some news, though, and that, of course, Brock Besser.

Probably the biggest news that everybody proceeded to write on yesterday is that Brock Besser has been cleared to play and is able to begin skating at the start of training camp after missing that last game of the Stanley Cup playoffs second round against Edmonton with a blood clot in his leg. Besser said that off-season training was delayed slightly because he was on blood thinners,

but that he's been able to resume skating for a few months and has now, most importantly, been cleared for contact. Let's hear now from Besser on where things are at with regards to his rehabilitation and what is in the aftermath of taking blood thinners to figure out the clotting issue. Here now, Brock Besser from the MILF. It was okay, and I was on blood thinners for a few months during the summer, which I could still skate and stuff, but I had to be careful just contact-wise.

But I've been off of them for a little bit now, and I've gotten to you know start doing contact uh towards the end of summer and um yeah it's obviously something that we look back on and it was a tough scenario but i'm just happy that i can move forward and uh really focus on this season further adding to the complexities of all of this is that brock besser is also going into the final year of a three-year 19.95 million dollar contract with a 6.6 million aav it is crazy how much things can change in a year i was thinking about this yesterday and um you know the beginning of last season when you talked about brockesser and Conor Garland,

it was the leading question at the top of your mind was, how can the Canucks get these guys off the roster? And now they're seen as indispensable. Conor Garland, one of the most important players on the Canucks in the playoffs last season, and did such a good job on a line with Dakota Joshua, and sometimes Teddy Bluger sometimes Elias Lindholm but a really good player and then Brock Besser finally hits the 30 goal mark and he says actually I'm gonna go for 40. It's the unpredictable nature of sports and

it's why we watch and it's why sometimes I feel like even previewing a season is kind of like, yeah, none of this will happen. Right. Like what we're talking about right now. There are so many factors and variables that go into a season, whether it's the form you're in, the chemistry you have with certain players, how healthy you stay, how lucky you are. Brock Besser, he was a guy that really had a lot

of bad luck especially you know off the ice as well struggling with the passing of his father and just seeming unclear about where he wanted his hockey career to go at one point he wanted to leave the Canucks. Then he's like, no, wait, I don't. I want to stay. And then he stays and he scores 40 goals. And then all of a sudden, this contract that everyone looks like with a cap hit of whatever it is, 6 million or can't remember.

6.65. 6.65. People are like, that's impossible. It's impossible to get rid of this guy. Now it's, how are the Can to get rid of this guy now it's how are the Canucks going to sign this guy right or should they sign this guy because you know people do know that things are so inconsistent you know you know year to year in hockey another guy I'll talk about Jake DeBrusque you know how many times did we hear Jake DeBrusque once out of Boston

you know and I couldn't yeah and then I and they were right well I couldn't keep track of whether How many times did we hear Jake DeBrus wants out of Boston? You know? And they left Boston. And they were right. Well, I couldn't keep track of whether he's playing well or he's not. Is he in the coach's doghouse or what's going on? And now he's another guy that's coming to Vancouver and we really don't know what to expect from him. And Boone, people say, well, wait a minute. You don't know what to expect from Brock Besser? No, I don't, you don't know what to expect from Brock Besser? No, I don't.

I don't know. I think that's the nature of goal scorers as well. Sometimes they're going in for you, sometimes they're not. I suppose there is that comfort level in that he plays with JT Miller, and that was a consistent duo for the Canucks all season. But with goal scorers, and especially one with Brock Besser's health condition, until we know that he's over it, until we know that he can get back to the level he was last year, it's hard to predict anything.

And I think Jim Rutherford, oddly enough, Canucks management, including Patrick Alveen, but it was Jim Rutherford who said this, they're acting the same way. They're taking a wait-and-see attitude. I don't think you can expect a Brock Besser extension before the season, but if Brock Besser starts out playing pretty well and they can come together on a deal, I wouldn't be surprised if we see one in the first part of the season. Yeah, and Besser said as much in his remarks when asked about how he's going to handle

upcoming contract negotiations and his future in Vancouver. It sounds like he's going to let it play out. Let's hear now from Brock Besser from yesterday. Yeah, just let it play out. And, you know, obviously coming off a blood clot, you know, I think I got a lot to prove, just, you know, kind of dealing with that little setback.back so um you know i'm just focused on having a great camp again like i did last year and then trying to you know have a fast start to the season again you mentioned jake debrusk in speaking about

brock besser debrusk also met with the media yesterday uh i think every conversation in question leading into training camp around Jake DeBrusque, we've kind of moved past the, why did you choose Vancouver? And more, who are you going to play with now that you're in Vancouver? And one of the things that he did allude to is that he's got really good options. If it's not JT Miller, it's maybe Elias Pettersson. If it's not Elias Pettersson, maybe it's JT Miller. It better be Elias Pettersson.

Yeah, or it could be JT Miller. It better be Elias Pettersson. There was note of the fact that after years of dining out, getting to play with guys like Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, last year, DeBrusque played mostly with Charlie Coyle. Headline, DeBrusque leaves Boston because of Charlie Coyle. Right. I didn't want to write it, but Jason did, and that's fine.

I like it. I like how it's out there now. Now, there's no disrespect to Charlie Coyle, but without saying his name. That's like a little disrespect to Charlie Coyle. DeBrus did say when he was looking in for agency, one of the first things he looked at was who's got really strong centers. Yeah. Right?

Because I didn't. Who's the least like Charlie Coyle? The opposite of Charlie Coyle. That's what he looked like. Anyway. There was a reason that the Bruins gave a lot of money to Elias Lindholm. There was a reason there was dry sidle to Boston rumors. There's a reason people are still looking at the center depth in Boston

and going, huh, it's no Bergeron and Cresci, is it? Yeah. So here's what he had to say on the center depth in Vancouver and why it made Vancouver a landing spot. This is Jake DeBrusque. Looking just at the center position, I think, was kind of the first thing that I really looked at. And then obviously how they played last year in the playoffs,

playing against them. Obviously how Rick Talkett's reputation, all these things come into it when you try to decide your future. And I really like where the team was going. Obviously they made some big steps last year, and I just thought that I would be able to fit in pretty well. And it excited me looking at, obviously, the roster, what the makeup is for the next couple of years.

And to join a group like that, I couldn't say no to. So, unfortunately, we didn't have the audio of DeBruis speaking specifically about Elias Pettersson. But to give you the Coles Notes version, he has been skating with Pettersson over the last week. They've been doing some four-on-four stuff and things like that. He joked, he said, I hope I'm not annoying him yet, but he's been hanging around Pedersen trying to, you know, figure out what he's all about. Figure out how they're going to mesh together.

So it's certainly... Let us know, Jake. Let us know. He's like shadowing him like an actor would. Like he's doing like a character study on him. Yeah. How do you eat your cereal in the morning? Yeah.

Are you a method actor, Jake DeBrusque? Yeah, that's right. So... So do you put your socks on first or your pants on first? He did say that Pedersen was making some unreal sick passes. Not just unreal passes. Not just sick passes. Unreal sick passes.

So that's very important. And it does seem as though, like the fairly obvious, what we're all thinking about is that when they open night one of the regular season, it'll be Jake DeBrusque playing on Elias Pedtersson's wing. The connection made no secret of the fact that they haven't acted like, we signed Jake DeBrusque and we'll see where he fits in the lineup.

You haven't had that usual song and dance where it's like, we'll see what Rick Taka wants to do. It's very clear that, I mean, and Taka has spoken about it. When you parse through everything that Rick Taka has had to say about Elias Pettersson this offseason, there's been plenty because there's plenty to parse through he has mentioned almost every time that he was giving Elias Pettersson a rotating cast of wingers now that was included in a laundry list of issues why the production might have fallen off in the second half of the season

and Pettersson's game didn't match the eye test or the smell test or whatever. But it was there. Like the rotating cast of wingers and the guys that he was given was absolutely in that conversation. Moving along, we got a lot to get into today. There was also some news on the Thatcher Demko front yesterday. This courtesy of Check TV's friend of the show, Rick Dollywall. It sounds as though that progress is being made, and this is the second kind of update that Rick's given on this, that there is progress, but it's slow.

The 28-year-old has reportedly not faced live shots yet, still continues to pluck away at the knee injury that sidelined him in last year's playoffs, and then has been shrouded in mystery, and I think is a decent way of putting it that we're not really quite sure one what the knee injury is two what the severity of it is and then three how it's going to delay the start of the season elliot freeman went on with donnie and dolly yesterday and essentially said the club isn't concerned about this being something where Demko is going to miss say half of the regular season however there is some concern that it's

going to hamper the beginning of the season which would put a lot on the shoulders of Archer Silov's going into the start of the season or maybe or maybe a new goalie or maybe a new end up signing yeah um has it been determined whether or not he's had an operation we don't know do we your guess is as good as mine on this one when i say you know shrouded in mystery i really mean it like they're you know the sort of cryptic reporting we got from frank saravalli a couple weeks ago where we said that one doctor told him that you could be practicing medicine for 50 years and never see this particular injury i mean that's not something you often hear when it's talking.

It should be noted that that doctor was a dentist. That's right. He was a vet. Yeah. I'll be very curious to see what Demko's like when he's back and what the injury was. And if we get any information about what exactly, or if any procedures happened.

And we'll see if this is just something. The other thing we've heard through various reports is this is maybe something that Demko will just have to play through. One thing that is coming into picture, and the picture is becoming a little bit clearer, is there was obviously a divide between the Canucks and Ian Clark on how hard the goalie, specifically Thatcher Demko, should be worked out. In that same hit with Donnie and Dolly, Elliot Friedman did say

the Canucks felt that Demko was working too hard off the ice. I mean, this doesn't come as any huge surprise. I remember we've talked about that very tiny snippet of a Jim Rutherford interview from earlier in the summer where we said Thatcher Demko would come off the ice and it'd be looking like he'd be working for hours he'd be dripping in sweat it's time for Canucks practice and he's already exhausted from working with right Ian Clark and I want to make this abundantly clear that this isn't to assign blame to anyone everyone has philosophies on how to prepare themselves for work, right?

Some people will say, I want to rest prior to the start of work because I want to make sure I've got the energy to perform at my highest level when I'm out there. Other people will say, I got to get ready for work. Yeah, other people will say, I'm going to drink 24 beers on Sunday night because it's the only way I can mentally face work.

Yeah, and sleep. And neither is right or wrong. Who's to say what the healthy option is there, right? Who's to say? It's funny, I was listening to Jim Harbaugh talk about Joey Boza, because he's got him in with the Chargers now. And he was talking about how he had a very effective game in the opener against the Raiders, and he said

but he does the same thing on game day that he does before every single practice. And he works out vigorously for an hour. On game day? Yes. Really? Yes.

And he's like, you know, but he can do it because he's in. That's crazy. Yeah. And I'm like, wow. When Hughes was talking about how he had a more, I think it was more of like a targeted off season in terms of working out he got more rest than he usually did and all his workouts had a specific point yeah but there was maybe some more rest and recovery in there than usual right like i mean i could understand a goalie coach not naming names any particular goalie coach being like to get you playing at your highest level we have to replicate

the intensity and everything that we do so when you go into a game it feels just the exact same and i could see someone else say the president of hockey ops of a hockey team saying okay that's great but this intensity and the level that you're working at is destroying the guy's body it's too hard on him right and you know at the end of the day, you're like, well, who's right? Yes, you get the goalie playing at the highest level when he's in the games, but he's also getting hurt all the time, so he can't actually play in those games.

And you can't depend on him for the playoffs. And it's not that direct, though. There's an element of bad luck with Thatcher Demko's injuries. But, I mean, I think it just goes to show that there's different philosophies at times, both of which have merit and you can make an argument are the quote unquote right way. But when there's conflicting ideologies, one's always got to go. Very rarely in those instances do you find a happy medium or like a compromise because oftentimes it's like,

I think this is the right way to do it. And I don't want to come off that. And the other person says, well, I think this is the right way to do it. And I don't want to come off that. Okay. We're going to get off the hockey talk for a little while,

but we'll be back. Don't worry. And I want to hear from the listeners on a few questions that we've got for you. And you can text into the Dunbar lumberumber text line at 650-650. The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way. That's Progress.

In Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. Who are you most excited about of the Canucks' new players? This isn't who's going to score the most goals, just who are you most excited to see? Maybe it's their style of play.

Maybe it is the amount of goals that they're going to score. LeKarimaki. Maybe it's LeKarimaki if you're ADOC. Maybe it's a guy like Derne, who was apparently pretty funny yesterday at the MILF and chirping JT Miller. And you know, there's actually an intriguing

hockey related narrative with Darren A and that the Canucks see him as someone who might be able to do a little bit more than he's done at the NHL level. Who knows? Maybe we see Darrenne on a pairing with Quinn Hughes if they want to spread Philip Peronic down to the second pair. So Texan, who are you thinking about a lot as we head into this season

and you're excited about, you're curious about, you think this person is going to be important? Please don't just text in their name. Give a reason. For example, Rocket in Langley texts in, I don't really know a lot about him other than he pounded on Quinn Hughes last year, but I'm really looking forward to watching Kiefer Sherwood. Wasn't that one of the ones that you had flagged as a guy that you're most excited about?

I'm most excited about him for sure. I'm old school. I'm old school. I like those guys in your bottom six that are gonna go in get in on the four check hit some guys turn some pucks over i think they provide energy for the team and i was really glad like quinn hughes was that the canucks went and targeted a player like keifer sherwood and even got actually keifer sherwood also he Also, he has, I think, the coolest hockey name. He does have a... And his brother...

Kiefer Sherwood. And his brother Cole Sherwood. And they're both with K's. Hey. How cool. Kiefer Sherwood. Do you play hockey? Yeah.

You know I do. You know the other reason that I think he's intriguing is when Quinn Hughes, the captain of the team, Norris Trophy winner, is out there stumping for you and advocating to management that they go out and get not just like a player

of your ilk, but that player in particular. You better not suck. Right. So now there's a lot of pressure on Kiefer Sherwood, but that's fine.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor. Live from Rogers Arena, calling Canucks games.

It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor. 7.33 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, 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.

You know, we were talking at the break how you can really start to feel that hockey season is back you're getting a bunch of very underwhelming transactions coming through on the old wire well the leafs got that nick robertson deal done he wanted out but they couldn't find a place for him so they're bringing him back there's also there's also there's also so proper that was there's also rookie camp rosters. And that's always fun. For example, the New York Rangers released theirs. They have guys named Raul, Rico, and Talon.

Not Dallin, Jason. Talon. T-A-Y or T-A-L-Y-N. Talon Boyko? Okay. Yeah, Talon Boyko, the goalie. The goaltender. That's very tall.

Does the eagle have large talons? Very tall man. Very tall man, yeah. Very interesting. I mean, we're not quite in D1 lacrosse territory with the names, but Raul Anderico, that's pretty impressive. That's a good training camp roster right there. Anyway, we are getting closer to the start of hockey season.

Locally, that always kicks off with the Jake Milford tournament, which happened yesterday. Our next guest was there dutifully talking to players and collecting audio. Play-by-play man, Brendan Batchelor joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Batch. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys?

Good. You excited? The Milford is always the unofficial start to the season. You were out there, got to talk to some of the players, got to hear Desjardins have a good zinger at JT Miller's expense. Seemed like a lot of fun, but was that energy in the air as we get closer and closer to Penticton? Yeah, it's always sort of the unofficial kickoff where there have been a few informal skates, but this is the first time really that the whole group gets back together.

And obviously it's for a great cause, the Jake Milford every year. And they have a lot of fun out on the golf course, obviously. And also a few of them chatted with us yesterday morning and that's where you sort of like we got our first chance to talk to Brock Besser and Quinn Hughes and get their thoughts heading into the season and it sort of feels like okay now we're ramping up even though you know the regular season's still quite a ways away but before we know it it'll be young stars by the end of the week and training camp next week and then into the preseason and off we go uh you mentioned besser obviously i think that was the biggest news of the day him confirming uh that his blood clotting issues have been sorted out he's now skating and

is able to absorb contact and he'll be ready for the regular season i thought it was interesting that he said that you know in part because of his health he still thinks he has a lot to prove this after scoring you know 40 goals last year he is going into the last year of his health. He still thinks he has a lot to prove. This after scoring 40 goals last year. He is going into the last year of his contract extension. Curious to get your thoughts on what Brock Besser had to say yesterday. Yeah, I thought that really stood out as well. And I was kind of surprised, I guess, to hear him say that. Because it's probably not often that you hear a guy have a career year or see a guy have a career year

like he did and produce the numbers that he did and yet still feel like he has something to prove but i think that's sort of been besser's entire career to this point is there's been a lot of potential there that was finally realized last year but he has had to deal with various injuries and issues whether it was the blood clot or you know i remember his rookie season he's a goal away from scoring 30 and he gets hit into the gate in that game against the islanders and it ended his season so if that's what he can draw on for motivation is you know sort of needing to prove to people that the the blood clotting issue isn't going to be something that's going to impact him going forward, then that's good motivation to have from his perspective

and from a team perspective. You want one of your top guys coming in motivated to have a good year. So I was surprised to hear that from Besser, but pleasantly surprised because I think that's a good way for him to approach the season. And hopefully he can have an injury-free campaign where he's a regular contributor like he was all of last season, really, up until Game 7 of the second round. What did Jake DeBrusque have to say about meshing with Elias Pettersson? Yeah, that's sort of going to be interesting, how DeBrusque and Patterson, assuming that they get that look together,

which I think is what we all expect in training camp at least and going forward. He talked about how when he was looking at teams to sign with, that the center ice options on the teams he was looking at were sort of one of the first things he looked at. And when you come to a team that if you're playing in the top six, it's either going to be with JT Miller or Elias Pettersson, you can understand why it was an attractive destination for him because he knows he's going to get an opportunity,

most likely with Pettersson, but for sure with one of those two guys. And, you know, there's going to be a lot of focus on Pedersen, I think, going into the season because of how things ended last year in terms of his individual game, basically from the All-Star break all the way through to the end of the playoffs. So from Pedersen's perspective, to have a legitimate top six winger that you hope anyway is going to be stapled on that line and they can become kind of a tandem or a duo would help Pedersen try and find his game again. Because if there's one thing you can look at with Pedersen last year,

and this isn't the entire reason why he struggled down the stretch, a lot of that is on him as well, but he didn't really have consistent wingers. Sometimes the quality of his wingers was not that great. I heard you guys talking, I think it was yesterday, by the time he got into the playoffs, he was essentially the third line in terms of deployment because of the success of the Joshua and Garland line and how well they were doing, and obviously Miller's line

and the way that they had produced throughout the season so to have Jake DeBrusco on his wing I think could make a big difference for a guy like Elias Pettersson and and hopefully that means that from Pettersson's perspective he can bounce back and have a good start to the season and from DeBrusco's perspective he can show well as he joins a new team and begins a new long-term contract in Vancouver. Batch, we were just talking about make-or-break seasons for members of the Vancouver Canucks, and since we can't assign that to Pod Colson anymore, since he's with the Edmonton Oilers, what do you think the future holds for Nils Hoeglander?

Do you see, like, what role do you see him playing? He spent a lot of time with Elias Pettersson at 5-on-5 last season and did well, scored a bunch of goals, had a ton of even strength goals. In fact, all his goals were even strength. I think he scored, was it 24 goals? Not much of a special team's presence, either power play or shorthanded, and then did not have a very good postseason. The Canucks make a bunch of additions at the wing position. So when we're talking about a guy like Nils Hoaglander, where do you see him fitting in?

Yeah, it's kind of up to Nils Hoaglander because you're right. He has shown potential and he did score a lot of goals last year but it's clear that you know for the most part there are still lots of questions about his two-way game and about building trust with the coaching staff and now with the additions they've made as you allude to there's going to be a lot more competition. So last season, because of the lack of depth on the wing at times, if, you know, Niels Hoaglander got lots of cracks at playing with Pedersen and lots of cracks at playing in the top six, those opportunities might be fewer and further between this season.

If some of the new guys that they've added, like a Danton Heinen, for example, is sort of a high energy player that could certainly have a chance to slot into the top six like this is make or break for hoaglander because now there are guys that could legitimately pass him on the depth chart and if that happens then you know it's a very good question what his role is on this team because generally speaking um you know on on good teams in the NHL, and certainly I think the way we saw Rick Talkett deploy his group last year, if you're playing down the lineup, you know, you need to have something else that you're bringing.

You can't just be a fourth line guy that only plays five on five. So can Hoaglander have a bigger presence on power play too? I think that's a good question um you know i don't see penalty killing in his future so that's unlikely to happen um so you know you need to add more dimensions to your game you need to add more reasons for the coach to be able to keep you in the lineup and you know like i think neil's oman's a good example of that where you know there's plenty of people that will say you know how is neil's Oman getting opportunities or, or, you know, more highly thought of by the head coach than someone like Niels Hoaglander that scored 20 plus goals. It's because of the trust.

It's because of the two-way game. It's because of the penalty killing ability, which Niels Hoaglander to this point has not been able to develop. It doesn't seem like based on the way he's been deployed and based on how his role was reduced in the playoffs so if hoglander can come in have a good camp lock down one of those top six spots be more productive on the power play and round out his two-way game a little bit then the sky's the limit for him and i think that's why people in vancouver are so excited about a guy like neil's hoglander is because you see the potential you see what he could be but he needs to become that because if he doesn't there's now enough wing depth on this team that he could get past for some of those roles and if he does then you start to question

where he fits in on this team do you think they're going to completely reimagine the power play yeah well I think there needs to be some sort of drastic change because what happened last year late in the year and into the playoffs obviously wasn't good enough now whether that's reimagining in terms of you know the the setup they play like in the modern nhl there's only so many you know setups you have on the power play so um you know do they go away from the umbrella which at times has been very effective for them and they have been been very good on the power play so um you know do they go away from the umbrella which at times has been very effective for them and they have been been very good on the power play or do they look at changing personnel which you know it wouldn't surprise me if jake de brus gets slaughtered in on the first power

play unit but other than that um you know the other four guys it kind of feels like it's you know makes the most sense for them to be there unless you want to go to like splitting guys up between two units and trying to find some unique chemistry and and you know splitting the power play time more 50 50 rather than having the top unit play like 90 seconds of a second unit get the last 30 or so um so i think that's going to be another thing that once we get into training camp you know if they get to work on special teams that's going to be another thing that once we get into training camp, you know, if they get to work on special teams, that's something that we'll watch very closely because, you know, we know how much the power play struggled at key moments last year. And if they want to take a step as a group and get back to where they were

in terms of being in the second round and having an opportunity to move on and being in a close, hard-fought series, it's your power play that can make the difference in those big moments. And it absolutely needs to be better than it was late last season. Batch. This was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week and then everything up in Penticton. We'll be doing this again real soon.

Yep. Sounds good, boys. Have a good one. Thank you too. Thanks. Brandon Batchelor here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Yeah, the make or break season thing, that's interesting because there's not someone that jumps to mind immediately. The guy that was going to jump to mind

He's in Edmonton. He's in Edmonton now, but Hoaglander's an interesting one. And I know that there's some pushback in the Dunbar Lumber text message in Basket about that. I'm not really sure. I mean, don't get me wrong.

I understand the concept of what they're talking about. Like he scored 20 plus goals last year. Like he made it. He made it. I'm like, well, so did Daniel Sprung.

Right. He's on a new team. Right. And he's on his third team in three years. The playoffs. For the record, I like Hoagland.

Me too. I've always, I've always liked him more than Pod Colson. Yeah. And I think that was obvious when I spoke about the players. And the difference was it was a simple, you know, like the meme of the do something with Pod Colson. You're like, hey, dude, do something. Don't just tread water out there.

Go out and do something. Hoaglander certainly gets that. Hoaglander, when he's playing energized, sometimes he plays over the line. Like he can be dirty and that's not a negative. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, you want guys that are going to play with that energy.

But the fact of the matter is, is you, if you're Nils Hoaglander, should be looking at all the new additions and going, well, Danton Heinen is my competition now. And frankly, so is Daniel Sprong and Jake DeBrusco. Because if I'm not in the top six, how much ice time am I going to really get? Because if I'm on the fourth line, and let's just say that Rick Tockett is fine with playing a guy like Nils Hoeglander on the fourth line,

how am I going to get more than 9, 10, 11 minutes a game if I'm not killing penalties and I'm only on the second unit power play, which barely plays considering the first unit plays power play, which barely play is considering the first unit play so much, which might be something they look at. I don't know. But again, you know, I, I, I batch mentioned it. I already mentioned it too. Like you have to carve out an identity as a player. Yeah. You have to, you have to be valuable in areas that maybe even some of the star players aren't valuable. Star players don't always kill penalties.

Go kill penalties. Find a way to make yourself invaluable to the team because guys that there's not an obvious situation for the coach to tap you on the shoulder and send you out onto the ice. It's a hard way to make a go of it in the NHL. As a guy like Daniel Sprong has learned, there's five minutes left in the game. Are you going to be out there in a key situation or not? Oftentimes we'll be like two things can be true at once. So in this instance with Hoaglander, one is truth.

He was one of the best value contracts in the NHL last year. In terms of goals per dollar, he's up there among the best values across the league. Not many guys score 24. Was it 24 goals? None of them on the power play. All even strength. For a cap hit just over a million bucks. So that's the truth.

The other truth is that he's on his third NHL coach, and he was a healthy scratch in the playoffs. And the other coaches had some issues with him as well, about the style that he played, the way that he played. And you brought in a bunch of new competition. Right. So, I mean, Travis Green had a look he played. And you brought in a bunch of new competition. Right. So, I mean, Travis Green had a look at him.

And you're a pending RFA. Yeah, Green had a look at him, Boudreau had a look at him, Tocant had a look at him. So the third coach saw some of the issues that the first and second one saw. Also, another truth

is that Hoaglander turns 24 in December, so in a few months. So it's not like he is just breaking in or figuring out his game. He's still young by conventional sort of context. But all these things are true, which is why I think it's maybe not necessarily a quote-unquote make or break, but it's still up in the air.

So it's hilarious. This one guy is getting really frustrated. I think he's Nils Hoeglander possibly. Okay. And he texts in, so Sprong and Heinen are his competition. One's 29 and the other is 27. For this year, yeah. This isn't rebuilding anymore.

This is about getting results right now. And you have to make yourself like that. No one's guaranteeing anything for Sprong and Heinen either. No one's guaranteeing anything for sprung and heinen either no one's guaranteeing anybody yeah you know heinen did get a two-year term so maybe he's a little more comfortable than sprung is maybe he's a little more comfortable with nils hoaglander but it's a competition and my only point in all this and i feel like this is the least controversial thing is if you want to make a hockey team you you got to carve out a specific role. Yeah.

I also want to point out that guys like this do come and go. I know we live in the moment and we get attached to players, but you brought up something interesting in the previous segment about the Yannick Hansen and Alex Burrows comps, talking about when they established themselves, how they established themselves, how they established themselves, late bloomers, diamonds in the rough.

Here's the other thing. Those guys are anomalies. They're the exceptions rather than the norms. If you can have a career like Alex Burrows or Yannick Hansen, you're happy as hell. Yannick Hansen played almost 700 NHL games and had a really good career for where he came from to work his way to that. Burrows was even and had a really good career for where he came from to work his way to that. Burroughs was even more than that.

I mean, where he came from... There's a work rate and there's a consistency of work rate with those guys. And there's also a realization that a lot of guys won't ever get to that level. It's not like you can just snap your fingers and say, I want to have a Hansen or Burroughs type career. It's not going to happen for some guys.

They either don't have, as you said, the work rate, the consistency, the drive. Sometimes it's luck. Burroughs had the great chemistry. What did you say, sir? The opportunity. The opportunity, yeah. A lot of it's luck, right?

A lot of it is when you come around, when you break into the NHL. It's a lot tougher to establish yourself on this Canucks team currently than it would have been a few years ago. Like a few years ago, guys like Sasson and Baines might have been getting more reps at the NHL level. But there's... We saw a lot of players that didn't deserve to be in the NHL.

They were in the NHL because they were on the Canucks. I watched Mark Michaelis play NHL hockey. Too much of it. A lot of it. Yeah. Griffin Molino. Things have changed. Five games he got. Things have changed. Right. It's different now. And sometimes. Thank God. Right. But the bar is

higher. Yeah. But I mean, and that is often how diamonds in the rough get unearthed as they go to places where there's more opportunity. Bad teams, thin organizations, rebuilding teams. It's all part of it. It all adds to this conversation about individually who's in a,

maybe not even necessarily make or break, but who's going to be battling more than others. It really is just like any job at a private company. Sure. Make yourself invaluable. It's the only way you're going to have a career is if an organization looks at your role and says, we can't afford to lose you.

See, so someone just texted in, what about Sammy Blay? Plays like a wrecking ball out there and seems like a talkative kind of player. I absolutely forgot. Throw him in the mix as well. And he's going to be fighting tooth and nail because nothing's guaranteed for him. He's a PTO. Yeah And he's going to be fighting tooth and nail because nothing's guaranteed for him. He's a PTL. Yeah. He's there to grind.

So imagine, and this is kind of goes back to what you were talking about earlier about you build competition in a variety of ways. One is your opponents that you're playing on a nightly basis. Two is you look at the teams that advance further than you in the Stanley Cup playoffs and eventually won it, which is Florida. And then out of the West, it's Edmonton. The internal competition is driven by the amount of people that you have fighting for jobs.

There's very few jobs available, and there's a lot of good candidates fighting for them. That creates internal competition. And I think that's where the Canucks are at right now, and they're like, this is going to be a very, very stiff competition for bottom six winger roles. There's a lot of guys that are looking at those jobs and at those minutes saying, I want that.

And it's a fine line because some of those guys are looking at top six roles too. A guy like Nils Hoaglander should be coming into the season and going, I still want to play with Elias Pettersson. Maybe Jake DeBrus gets, quote unquote, gifted the first opportunity with Elias Pettersson, but who else is he going to play with? Is there an obvious answer for the third winger on that line? Is there an obvious answer for the third winger with Miller and Besser. Jay Weston Van writes in,

just say pressure creates diamonds for God's sakes. It's right there. No, we don't fall back on those typical cliches here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Iron sharpens iron, though. Paul Texan, don't you dare diss Griffin Molino. He was one of the most electrifying Canucks of the past years. I don't know why he's

the one that always sticks in my mind. Mark Michaelis does for me. I was unnecessarily triggered by him. And I think it was just where the Canucks were. And I'm watching this guy play. And it's just like... That was the Jimmy Vesey year too. I'm like, how? Vesey, how That was the Jimmy Vesey year, too.

I'm like, oh, Vesey. How much did I hate Vesey? How is this? And now he's back. I know. He's back. But you know why? He carved out a role.

Yeah, as a New York Ranger. And only a New York Ranger. He's a good penalty killer, though, isn't he? Yeah, but it didn't work anywhere else. I don't know why. I don't know if he was just really comfortable there or what. But that's an interesting one. It's like he can only be a Ranger.

He can't do anything else. So we asked earlier in the show for your thoughts on some of the new Vancouver Canucks and which ones intrigued you, excited you, which ones you were curious about. And we got a bunch of good texts in. Gmaz, the Sprong signing is really intriguing to me. The fact he is thought of as a $3-4 million player and signed for $950,000.

This man has a point to make and something to prove. He will be motivated and could turn out to be the steel signing of the summer. That's the hope at least. But I think other teams have said that. You know who else has hoped that? Every team that's employed Daniel Sprong.

Yeah. He's got to figure out a way to gain the coach's trust. If he doesn't, he won't play. But if he does, you're absolutely right. I mean, think of if Sprong figures it out and maybe you've got a line of Sprong, Petey, and DeBrusque. Speaking of DeBrusque, Rich in Cloverdale texts in,

I think the obvious answer is Jake DeBrusque. I still don't think that he will be on Pettersson's line by the end of the season, as I think he will be a much better fit on Miller's line. However, to start the year, I really hope that he and Petey can build some great chemistry. North Creek Dan, most excited to see Jake DeBrusque.

Will be cool to see how he sets up on the power play and his fit with Petey. Yeah, that's a really good point from Dan. A lot of us are wondering, is he going to have fit with Petey at five on five? They still haven't replaced Bo Horvat on the power play, right? And I don't know if they're going to just slot slot debrusk into the role that horvat played or if there's going to be a complete complete rebuilding of the power play uh that'll be really interesting to see um at training camp in the pre-season taylor and richmond texan i'm most in i'm most interested in danton heinen because I watched him play junior B for the Sockeyes

and always wanted him on the Canucks. Yeah, he's a local. And he's going to bring speed and, I think, versatility to the Canucks lineup. And I think that's something that they really need. You know, it's funny. When they talk about all these Boston guys that have come forward.

And this goes back to, I remember when they signed, remember Curtis Lazar? Yeah. When they signed him out of Boston as well. And all of them, to a man, spoke about the culture that they were bringing over with them, like what they had learned from playing with. Did they actually bring it with them?

Well. Or did they forget it? Some did, some didn't. Did Schaller bring it with them? Well. Or did they forget it? Some did, some didn't. Did Schaller bring it? No. I never understood that one. I never got the Schaller thing. I was like, why?

I always say this, but I'm like, why day one? Why is that a priority in free agency? Anyway, I didn't want to turn this into a Tim Schaller disparaging segment. Yeah, you know, it's tough because i can understand conceptually what they're talking about boston's got her if you want to take anyone from any program in the nhl it's probably boston right they do think they've been at the model of consistency over the last 15 years you're listening to the best of halford and brough