Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 9/17/24

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss comments from Canucks GM Patrik Allvin on the importance of raising the bar this season, plus the boys chat with Abbotsford Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra. 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. Takes a snap. Kirk looks, sails it, Drake there, caught! Touchdown Atlanta Drake London Into the slot Quick shot They score

Deegan McMillan Was there any temptation To think about Another organization To see if the grass Was green Or something like this Um

No I mean I had some Conversations with The Vancouver Canucks. Good morning, Vancouver. 6.01 on a Tuesday. It is Alfred and his brother. 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. Hello, hello. And we have a new member, the fourth member, the fifth member of the show,

intern Arash in the house. Good morning, Arash. Morning. Good morning. Arash has already surpassed the dog's work rate. He fixed the television this morning. Oh, that's good. Nicely done.

We were working on that Crosby clip. We had more bigger fish to fry. That was weird. That was weird how Crosby's voice changed slightly. Just a little bit when he mentioned that he had conversations with the Vancouver Canucks. I can't believe he said that. He admitted it. I admitted it right on load.

We heard it right there. Just mind-blowing. I'm assuming the change in his voice was because of the excitement about potentially joining Vancouver. Exactly. You are listening to the Halpern and Ruff Show. Maybe the disappointment that I just couldn't get over the line and he had to settle for staying in Pittsburgh. For $8.7 million.

Fine. We've got a big show ahead on the Halpern and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. This show 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.

We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Well, they pay the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them. 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So what are you waiting for? Kintec. So we've got a really big show ahead. As mentioned, we've already introduced a new fifth character for the entire week.

We have five guests on the show as five guests, five guests on the show as well. I'm not talking. You're not going to, you're not going to, you know, who will be talking Sean Gentile from the athletic in Pittsburgh. We'll talk to him You're not going to. You know who we'll be talking? Sean Gentile from The Athletic in Pittsburgh. We'll talk to him about the big news yesterday.

Sidney Crosby signing an extension that'll keep him in Pittsburgh until 2027. Did you see the video, the photo ops? Just so happened that on the same day that Crosby's extension was announced, he just happened to be out in the community delivering season tickets to Pittsburgh Penguins season ticket holders. What a coincidence, Jason. That was part of his extension. He's got to go do a little more work in the community.

Sid, what have you done for us lately? Not only did you take his haircut. We haven't missed the playoffs two straight years, buddy. Yep. Go deliver these season's tickets, you bum. And then it just so happened that the media showed up on somebody's stoop to interview Sidney Crosby while delivering tickets, wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey.

Funny seeing you here, guys. Got an announcement to make. So Sean Gentile, I don't know if he was on the stoop, by the way. We can ask him that question. Sean Gentile is going to join us at 6.30 from Pittsburgh. 7 o'clock. This is very cool. 15-year NFL veteran.

One of the most accurate kickers of his era. Former Cincinnati Bengals great Shane Graham is going to join the program. And this is because on the weekend, Brough and I, and I think it was Martin Ego as well, were texting back and forth about the NFL kickers. They're just too good now. They're too accurate. They're too strong.

Their legs are huge. They don't miss from 50 yards anymore. It's just a routine thing. It's like an extra point. So we thought, like, how did it get to be this way? How are kickers so good now? And oddly enough, Shane Graham, who runs a kicking school and has been coaching a bunch at the collegiate level,

was interviewed in the Washington Post for this exact topic of conversation. So A-Dog reached out. Shane Graham going to join the program at 7 o'clock. 7.30, Brennan Batchelor, play-by-play voice here, Vancouver Canucks. Canucks took care of business at Young Stars. The resilient Young Stars team rallied yesterday for a 4-3 win in their finale. They go 3-0 up in Penticton. Batch was on the call for all of it.

So we'll talk to him at 7.30. 8 o'clock. Pains me to say it this way, but proud Scottish international Ryan Gauld, also a member of the Vancouver Whitecaps, is going to join us on the program. We will talk to Ryan about making his re-entrance into the Scottish national team, setting up Stuart Armstrong, his Scottish buddy, on the weekend for a goal against San Jose, and the Whitecaps are in action tomorrow night in Houston.

Then at 8.30, the fifth and final guest on the program, the head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks, Manny Malhotra, is going to join the program. We'll talk to him about everything that happened and all the good things that he saw from young stars in Penticton. We'll take a look ahead to the Abbotsford Canucks season. We can also ask him about his kid, Laddie. You sent along some clips yesterday.

Manny's kid is a rising star in the BCHL. Yeah, Caleb Malhotra is starting to make a name for himself in Chilliwack, and it's only the preseason. So we got a big show ahead. I don't know what becomes of what we learned. It might just not happen today, folks. If you want to send them in, we'll probably find a time to read them. Maybe

right after Ryan Gould. I don't imagine we'll talk to him for half an hour. So maybe there'll be some time after Ryan Gould, before Manny Malhotra, send them in to the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650 650. Let's get into what happened here. Hey, did you guys see the game last night?

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened?

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. As mentioned, those resilient, plucky Vancouver Canucks Young Stars, they overcame a two-goal deficit. Maybe it helped that the guys had played in the

NHL last season. Who's to say? I don't know. You tell me. But they won. They won. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters. Winning the Young Stars tournament. They finished first place at the Young Stars with a 4-3 win. Comeback victory over the Calgary Flames on Monday afternoon at the South Okanagan Event Center. Arsh Steve Bain scored.

Riley Patterson scored. Deegan McMillan scored. Yeah, we call him Deeger. And Vilmer Alrickson. Vilmer! He's my favorite Vilmer. He was the And Vilmer Alriksen. Vilmer! He's my favorite Vilmer. He was the best Vilmer at the tournament, by far.

He scored his second goal of the tournament. And maybe he's a guy that we can talk to about with Manny Malhotra. What you saw of him. Long story short with this guy, big boy. He's a big guy. And Manny Malhotra has said throughout the tournament that he's been taking the puck to the net

and he's been rewarded for that. He was drafted, I think, in the fourth round in 2023. Then he came over to North America. He said, I want to learn the North American game. He went and played for Guelph in the OHL. Didn't knock it out of the park. It wasn't like he was scoring 100 goals in the OHL. Didn't knock it out of the park. It wasn't like he was scoring 100 goals in the OHL.

The Athletic wrote of him, a towering winger. Ulrichsen casts a large shadow given his 6'6", 215-pound frame. His D1 production, D plus one production, which means his draft plus one production

at the OHL level was pedestrian, pedestrian. But he genuinely possesses some encouraging tools, including a promising puck skills and decent feet, especially when waited for a man his size. So we all like when the Canucks have a potential power forward in the lineup. So, you know, this is what this tournament is supposed to do. It's supposed to give opportunities for young players who we might not know about. And he comes in, and I don't think many people could have even known Wilmer Eriks Olriksen.

I keep calling him Wilma Erikson. Yeah, don't do that. Wilma, Wilmer. Wilmer. You can't use the young boy's voice all the time. It's Wilmer. He's a young star. It's not a voice.

It's how you do it. He's a young star. He's a young star. At any rate, the Canucks went 3-0. Just dominated the tournament, by the way. It's a good start to the season. You want to get off on that front foot, Jason? They didn't dominate the tournament.

They won all three of their games, but they had to come from behind in two games. They wanted to make it difficult for themselves. They wanted to challenge themselves a little bit. They did that on purpose. That's how good the Young Stars are. I did enjoy how Manny was asked about the resilience of the group. He kind of played along, but I know

probably in his head he was like it's a young stars tournament we're not talking about resilience here we put this team together four days ago like they don't have any identity we got a strong culture here their identity at the young stars tournament we've been working on things we have slogans we're working on a few of them we have leaders like deegan mcmillan deegan like was leading the charge yesterday by the way you don't see a lot of deagons You don't see a lot of Deegans. You don't see a lot of Vilmers, though, either. Okay, where do you want to go next?

Because we can do the hockey stuff, or we can get to Monday Night Football, and then circle back on the hockey. Let's stay on hockey. Let's stay on Sid signing and people having takes. Takes. By the way, that has become one of my least liked words because I'm in the take business. Okay. So I hear all the time, like, terrible take.

That's a bad take. It's a bad take. Oh, you don't like this take? Your take on takes. My take on takes? Like, I cannot, I can't even stand that word now when people are like, terrible take. Just say, you disagree.

You know? You disagree. Do you just want people to say opinion again instead of take? Bring back opinions. This is my opinion. Make opinions again. This is almost as bad as, like, we are efforting to get someone on the show. Yeah.

What the hell does that mean? We're efforting. We're just trying. We're just trying. We're efforting to get them to take. But that's like a total radio thing, right? Yeah, we're efforting. We're efforting that.

Yeah. It's like we're trying. We're trying. It's one step up from trying hard. Okay. Sorry. I got mad 610 in the morning. A little early.

I mean, it's an awkward take on takes, but I'll accept it. Okay. Sid signed and people had opinions about all the money he left on the table. The Athletic called Crosby an unselfish figure at a time when sports is infiltrated with such greed that professional athletes are even further from reality. I saw one estimate suggested that Crosby has left throughout his career over $40 million on the table just because he's always been satisfied with like, how about $8.7 million per year? Yep. My number's 87.

$8.7 million per year. Still a lot of money. So I'll take that. His agent guaranteed like a chain smoker. Just like miserable. I'm sure his agent is pretty happy having Sidney Crosby as a client. The question, I suppose, is whether this will pay off for Sid and the Penguins. I'm sure Crosby would willingly make the sacrifice if it meant another shot at a Stanley Cup.

That's what he's all about. He's all about winning and, I guess, you know, winning and I guess loyalty. He probably doesn't even need a guarantee of a cup, you know, just an honest chance at it, play some big games, leave it all on the ice, et cetera,

et cetera. At the very least, you know, making the playoffs would help. The Penguins have missed the playoffs in the last two seasons. And Sid said, I think winning is the most important thing to me. And I think taking a discount is understanding the dynamic and how it works and trying to give the team the best possible chance to be successful. Ultimately, if you got to go out there and do your

best and do your job, I think I'm more focused on that than the number, I guess. And Kyle Dubas, the guy who's now under a lot of pressure to make sure that this happens for the Penguins. If he thought he escaped the pressure in Toronto, he hasn't. He said Sid is making a tremendous personal sacrifice in an effort to help the Penguins win both now and in the future as he has done for his entire career. I don't think they're going to do it. Prove me wrong, Sid. Prove me wrong, Pittsburgh Penguins. Prove me wrong, kids.

Prove me wrong. I just don't see it. Halford, convince me I'm wrong. You're not. Here's the take. The take of takes is that this contract isn't about Sidney Crosby at all. This contract is entirely about Kyle Dubas and what Kyle Dubas is now

under immense pressure to do over the next... Good take. Thank you. I like it. Yeah, yeah. You know who really signed a contract? Kyle Dubas. A contract... With the devil! Yeah, or... I don't know what that means. I don't think that's it. But Kyle Dubas now has an inordinate amount of pressure to

turn this thing around, turn it around in a hurry and do it on the understanding that it's your star player that is made this. And it is a big sacrifice, right? I know people are going to say $8.7 million is still a lot of money. It absolutely is. But it's at a time where Lucas Raymond is getting paid eight. And we'll get to that in a minute. I just wonder I hate saying it this way I wonder if it's a bit naive from the Crosby camp thinking that

him taking a haircut of this nature is really going to translate into turning around a team that is significantly flawed like let's call it what it is i wonder a flawed team oh they haven't made the playoffs in two years they've got a coach that doesn't seem to understand how to figure out to unlock a power play which should be great they've they're on the majority of their guys are on the wrong side of 30 the carlson thing i think we can say up until this point has not worked out And now you've freed up some money for Dubas at a time where, well, free agency's already come and gone. Every year that Crosby plays is a year closer to the age of 40. And there's still no real sign that Pittsburgh in this offseason

has made enough changes to get them over the bar just to be a playoff team, never mind a playoff contender and a Stanley Cup contender. And they don't have a bunch of stud prospects because they've been a successful team. And they've traded away a lot of draft picks. Unless Rutger McGroarty really turns into a player for them. And soon, I don't know.

I think this is also, I don't know if I'd use, maybe he is being naive. I don't know if I'd use – maybe he is being naive. I don't know. But I also think it's loyalty to not only the organization, but some of the players that he's played with. It's loyalty to Geno. It's loyalty to Chris Letang, guys he's won cups with. Geno's 38, and if you watched him at times last year, he looked 48.

No, I know. Chris Letang is getting pretty old. Are we really expecting Eric Carlson to have another renaissance year? He's 34 years old. It's an old team, and then you've also got guys like even Brian Rust, who's got four years left on a deal, $5 million cap. He's 32. Ricard Raquel's 31.

You know, I know you can still play into league in your 30s. I'm not like, as soon as you turn 30, you're done. Look at Sid is the best example of that. He's 37. But Sid is a special player. I watched them last year, and I think if they had a half-decent power play, one that at least wasn't terrible,

they would have made the playoffs. I don't think they would have won the Cup, though. And how is that going to get easier? What is Kyle Dubas going to have to do? How many rabbits is he going to have to pull out of his hat in order to turn this team into not just a playoff team, but a cup contender over the next three years. While at the same time, Gino will get even older.

Letang will get even older. Carlson, Sam, and Sid. Like they've wasted great years, two great years from Sid. I think we give Sid the benefit of the doubt that he can keep playing this way for, I don't know, the next couple of years, but not many guys do it at 40. No, and not many guys have the kind of year that he had this year at 37. Wasting it, is it one way to put it? I think the other one is there's almost i go back to naivete i think

there's some naivete on this on the side of the penguins as well that it's like well we're just going to keep the thing together we're just going to keep doing it we're going to keep running it back and it'll work because it's worked in the past i i keep looking at this and saying where's the missing piece right what's going to tie this room together where's the rug piece, right? What's going to tie this room together? Where's the rug? Like, what's going to tie this whole thing together? Because all the, I mean, and it's not Rutger McGroarty, right? What's going to be the difference maker? What they're saying is. Sometimes it's just,

you've got to go through the process of rebuilding the team. Because Crosby's quote yesterday, and it was the one that most people led with was, I think winning is the most important thing to me. And I think that taking this discount is understanding the dynamic and knowing how it works, trying to give the team the best possible chance to be successful. Like that's cut and dry. He didn't say I took a discount so I could hang out with Gino.

I didn't take a discount so I could play a couple more years with Letang. And Carlson, he took a discount because he wants to win and he felt that was the best way to help them win. Now, the question is, how do they go about doing that? And if you look at their roster right now, it's not all that dissimilar from the one that missed the playoffs last year. I'll say this. There is one opportunity here for Dubas with cap flexibility during the year,

and it's to make a trade of significance, like something that is going to tilt the skills. They're tough to do. They're tougher to do in season than they are out of season. How is he going to pull that off with all the money they've already got committed to these guys? Well, things happen in the NHL, right? LTIR or something like that, some situation like that.

And things happen in the NHL. We've seen it before where teams get off to bad starts or some guy gets his nose at a joint or there's a massive injury or some team underperforms and then they're like, OK, we're moving on. Things happen. Jim Rutherford is good as that. You know, I mean, shouldn't have let that guy go.

And if there's a guy that can make a trade, it's Jim Rutherford. Pick up the phone, Kyle. For the record, I hope I'm wrong. I hope Halford's wrong. If Sid is committed to playing out of his career in Pittsburgh, if it's not the Canucks that win the cup while Crosby is still playing, I hope it's the Penguins. That would be one of the greatest stories in NHL history if it happened. Of course, the greatest

story in NHL history, the greatest, would be if Sid just got fed up with Pittsburgh and say, I told you winning is the most important thing to me and now I'm going to Vancouver and we're going to win the Cup there. I'm glad you're bringing this up. Good take.

Yeah, because I do wonder, I know he's got a three-year contract extension and what's being written out of Pittsburgh is now, well, now we know. We can finally put this story to bed. What if, let me just throw it out there. We can have this conversation with Sean Gentile. What if the Penguins suck this year?

What if they just look really, really bad? Because there is that possibility. Again, these guys, these first ballot Hall of Famers, guys like Sid and Gino and Eric Carlson, again, great players, but they old. Yep. Right? They're not going to get better.

Like, it's hard to see them getting better. I know Eric Carlson had a bit of a resurgence in his career that caused him to end up in Pittsburgh. But there's not many players that get, you know, two resurgences in their career. I'm not saying he was awful last season. I just don't think it was a smart trade in the beginning anyway. You've already got Letang.

Why bring in Carlson? I don't understand. Go and get something else as opposed to this puck-moving defenseman that not only didn't fix your power play seemed to make it worse yeah well that was that was the scary thing was that he came in and almost disrupted whatever they had going on the power play now um and they don't have gensel anymore just has someone texted that and no more gensel too there is a sentiment out there that if you look at the career arc and trajectory in san jose uh carlson year one, there was a noticeable incline

in terms of familiarity and then point production. So there could be that that you're holding on to. But again, as you mentioned, he's a lot older than he was when he first started in San Jose. I mean, maybe the prediction,

if we're going to talk about predictions or takes, is that Sully will get fired and they'll try and bring in a coach that can change the way they play. You know? Maybe the coach is like, I work well with older players.

I don't know. That was a hot take. Right? Okay. I want to finish what happened with last night's. Coach works with the seniors. Imagine that's the angle. He's been working at an old folks home.

Yeah. I can get him around. He'll be fine. Okay. I do want to focus on. Everyone sit down. We're going to do some knitting now. Do some arts and crafts.

I want to focus on Monday Night Football real quickly here. Very interesting game last night. The Atlanta Falcons, despite not playing very well for three quarters of a football game, and despite a sort of erratic performance from their veteran QB coming off a torn Achilles, Atlanta Falcons, despite not playing very well for three quarters of a football game, and despite a sort of erratic performance from their veteran QB coming off a torn Achilles, known on Aaron Rodgers, it's Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins puts together, now, what world are we living in, Jason? Listen to this.

A flawless last-minute drive to win a game in primetime. Kirk Cousins, who is this guy? 22-21. The Falcons beat the Eagles on Monday night. But the story. Speaking of old guys, it was a good week for the old guys. Aaron Rodgers got a win. Yep. Kirk Cousins got a win. And very anti-Kirk Cousins win.

None of it made sense. I'm like, what's going on here? Why is Kirk Cousins doing the job in primetime? But the story in the aftermath, unfortunately, not about lovable Uncle Kirk and the Atlanta Falcons. It was the knives and cleavers that are out in Philadelphia for Nick Sirianni and this Eagles team. Now, I don't know if you remember this last year, but the Eagles collapsed quite spectacularly. And part and parcel with that late season collapse was several games in which they led going in the final two minutes of a football game and ultimately lost the killer yesterday was with 146 left in the game on third down they elected to run a pass play out of the backfield for saquon bark was a good play

it's a great play barkley dropped the ball it was a good how are you arguing with that play they had it how am i arguing with you run the risk when you throw the ball that if it ball. It was a good... How are you arguing with that play? They had it. How am I arguing with it? You run the risk when you throw the ball that if it's incomplete, you ruin it. It was a perfect throw. He dropped the ball. That's the risk that you run when you throw the football. You know what happens if you run the football?

I love your reaction. We should get the video of Halford reacting. It's like I've just explained the rules of football to you. So Saquon Barkley, he's a professional football player. Part of being a running back, I don't know if you know this, is catching the occasional ball. Ball's right in his hand. He says after the game, I let my team down.

Yeah, you did because you dropped an easy pass. It's called risk assessment. They had the play dialed up perfectly and he dropped the ball. I don't know what to say. If you drop the ball. I would trust my professional athletes to catch the football. I would trust my professional running back to run the football with two downs left on the clock with a minute 46 left.

They could have salted the game away. I don't want to fight with you over the Eagles. I'm glad they lost. I don't even like the Eagles. I'm glad they lost too, actually. I was pretty happy for Kirk Cousins. And then there was an incident. We'll talk about this with Shane Graham,

because in the first half of the game, the Eagles refused to kick field goals. They went for it twice on fourth down, including one on fourth and four. And it's funny. ESPN's got this graphic now. I don't even know where they do the math, but it's the stop or go meter on fourth down,

like if you should go for it or not. But when it gets into the green for go, there's different shades of green. It's like how much you should go. So there's light green, which is like, yeah, you can go. Yeah, but it's almost like a yellow light. And then there's the dark green, which is like you need to go for it. So they went, go for it on fourth down on the light green.

Didn't get it. They don't kick a field goal. And what happens? They lose by one point at the end of the game. So Sirianni under serious heat in Philadelphia. But good on Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons for pulling that one out. 22-21 victory. That was the Monday Night Football story.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Patrick Alvine did a Q&A with Drancer. Six guests. So I'm just going to read some quotes. Yeah. There's some interesting parts to it. Right at the end, he's asked about the expectations of the season.

And he said, from day one of training camp, we have to know there are different expectations. There's a different standard now. We have to raise our game right away. We're not going to waste any time here. We got the respect back last season. Now teams are going to be ready to play us. If we're just doing the same, we'll end up with lesser or similar results.

So how do we get better? It starts with the coaches and the message they send to the players then it comes down to how we start day one and then we go about building from there okay so take that that's a pretty like hey we're not messing around answer right yeah expectations are higher okay there's a very interesting quote about Brock Besser here. And he's talking about, Drance asked him about Brock scoring 40 goals and how does that change the equation when you start talking extension with him or considering extension with him. As we all know, Brock has one year left on his deal

and then he is an unrestricted free agent. Now, he said, I'm happy that it looks like Brock HealthWise is going to be cleared here to attend training camp. He worked really hard this summer and it was a really unfortunate situation last year. And of course, he's talking about his blood clotting issue. I was pleased last year with how he changed up his off-season training and it translated into a better year. Now, our expectations are higher. I'm sure Brock's expectations are higher too. So I want to see the consistency. I want to see the hunger from every single player, including Brock, to come in here and keep raising the bar. And when the time is right, I feel that I have a good relationship with Brock and with his agent Ben Hankinson, so we'll talk.

For now, his main focus is to come back here and play to the level that he showed last year and even be more consistent. Okay, now Alvin says something that when I first read, I was like, is he joking? Okay. Here's the quote. I told him that he could have scored 50 goals, but I felt he took his

foot off the gas when he scored 30, and we want to see him pushing through. Wow. So I actually don't think he was joking there. Probably not. So I think the whole takeaway from this interview is expectations are higher and everyone better be on board. And nothing you did last season really matters

because it's about raising the bar. Those are pretty tough words though, right? I thought you should have got 50 goals. That's like a parent when the kid brings home a 97 and the dad is like, what happened to the other 3%? I'm trying to do the math here real quick. He hit 30 in February. And then in... I think he hit 30 in February. And then in...

I think he hit it in late January. Was it late January? Okay, I'm looking at it. I mean, the goal scoring dried up a little bit down the stretch, but you could make that argument. Not that argument, but you could say that for a lot of guys. And not even on the Canucks, like across the league. Like, generally speaking,

like I'd say a lion's share of the big scorers in the NHL tend to do their scoring in october november and december right now i get it i get what you're saying is the truly elite are the ones that are able to carry that over and do it in the post season right um and i but i think this is just all part of raising the bar how many times did first of all before rutherford and alvin joined the organization how many how many times did we bemoan the fact that the bar had been lowered so much and the bar had been lowered by what was considered successful by the team and individuals? You know, it's a low risk move. I'm like, yeah, but it's also like not going to work. So we won't go through all the, you know, failed prospects that the Canucks brought in. And, you know, they didn't amount to anything.

And the bar just being lowered in terms of just how they went about their business. Yep. And so this is the organization following through with its word that the bar is being raised, and it will be raised every year until the Canucks win the cup, which they fell short of last year, and they didn't make it out of the second round. So I don't mind the phrasing and the quote.

And actually, I kind of like, oh, he scored 40. Why didn't you score 50? I think there's something to that. The really interesting thing, the really interesting thing is going to be if the same tact is taken with Pedersen.

That the bar is raised across the board. It doesn't matter how good of a year or whatever you did last year. It's going to need to be better for every single guy. You're bringing up Pedersen? That's my beat that's my beat no well obviously i'm bringing him up he's but they already signed him to a contract but if you're telling a guy who hit 40 goals for the first time in his career that we thought you could have scored 50 what are you

saying to your 11.6 million dollar year center get back to the the bar that you've already hit a few times before. The bar is there. Get to that level. I think there's probably significant metrics that they feel that he needs to hit production-wise. And then in terms of body language and eye test. Well, that management owns that decision, too, that they gave him that contract extension. Because you do run a risk.

And I know how team dynamics work. There's some guys that you can call to the carpet, and there's some guys that you can't. There's some guys you can call out, and there's some guys that you can't. Some guys have. Some guys handle that call out better than others, too. And contractual situation plays into this, too. Some guys are locked in.

Some guys aren't. It's all part of it. It's not right or wrong or good or bad. It's just the reality. I do wonder if this raising of the bar is going to be universal across the world. I mean, is this messaging going to Quinn Hughes? Like, yeah, you won the Norris last year. Oh, yeah, it will.

You won the Norris last year. Why didn't you win the Hart? But I think Quinn does that himself. I think Quinn does that himself. So don't you think those three guys, those are very different. Let's bring in JT Miller into this. Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Brock Besser, JT Miller. Four very different personalities, don't you think?

I would agree. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe they feel like Brock. Maybe they're motivated differently. Yeah, maybe they feel that Brock needs a little cattle prod a little bit. I think they probably do. Which is funny because i think if i was the player i would push back saying hey i ticked every box you guys put in front of me last year i came in except when he

let out his foot off the gas after 30 well is he that i also i don't know i don't even i don't i know that his goal scoring... The clip that he was on at the beginning of the year did not carry over to the end of the year. But let's be real here. Did you expect it to? No. Did anyone?

He's always been streaky. That's his MO. It's not streaky. It's just like... But he is. That's how he plays. No. This entire team ate out.

Like, they had a free coupon at a restaurant in October, November, December. Yeah, it was an amazing start. Right. I mean, we talked about it, like PDO Kings, which I never really bought into, but elevated shooting percentages, cooking on the power play. You felt all that stuff was probably going to come back to earth a little bit. So is Besser, now here's the chicken or egg, did he take his foot off the gas

or was he just a symptom of a team that, you know, everything caught up to them, including regression and everything else? It was probably both. I mean, Besser's always played with a streak, right? Sometimes he's hot, sometimes he's not. I didn't feel like he wasn't, I didn't get, I never got the feeling that he wasn't going at a pretty good clip last year. I never, I test stuff.

He wasn't playing poorly. He was never the center of my critical focus. Also, he had seven goals in the playoffs. He was really good in the playoffs. Yeah. So I'm not sure on that one. I mean, again, we're talking about reading the transcript of an interview and context and everything else,

but words are words and there's not much to parse there. It's pretty straightforward, I would say. I think Rick Tockett has had the most interesting quote on petterson this season and it was um from an article he wrote or not he wrote it was an interview that he did with uh ian mcintyre and ian mcintyre then wrote the article and it's up on sportsnet.ca and talker predicted of elias petterson he's going to be a driving force for the way we do things. I need him right there with me. I expect him pressure games and stuff like that.

He's going to be there for the team and for his teammates and for himself. I expect that because I've seen it. And then he went on to say that he had a conversation with Petey a couple weeks ago

and I thought this was interesting. He said he just sounded excited on the phone. Last year when I talked to him, he was very subdued. So there is some tough talk for some of the, um, top Canucks right now. It's good. I like that.

And I like it. I like it. I know we had some fun with the whole embrace the hard slogan yesterday. Um, I love the idea behind it. We had some fun with meet pressure with pressure. We made fun of that, but we generally understood and agreed with the sentiment that you can't run away from the pressure, acknowledge the pressure,

recognize that it's there, and then deal with it. Meet it head on. And I think this whole embrace the hard is, they want to keep raising the bar. Patrick Alvin and Jim Rutherford came from an organization that won Stanley Cups. The Vancouver Canucks have not done that. They're trying to raise the bar.

They're putting pressure on players, and they're seeing what the players can do with it. Conference finals this year. Keep raising the bar is better than putting pressure on players and they're seeing what the players can do with it. Conference Finals this year. Keep raising the bar is better than embrace the hard, by the way. Just so we're clear. He just came up with one on the spot. Keep raising the bar. That's good. The bar is the Conference Finals. That's the bar.

That's where you gotta get to this year. You just keep raising it. Steve from Calgary. A new slogan for the Canucks. The bar has been raised. Embrace the bar. Embrace the bar! Embrace the bar. Embrace the raising bar. Okay, now we got to stop. Depending on how the season goes, I'll be embracing the bar.

To the phone lines we go. The head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks, Manny Melhotra joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Manny. How are you? Very well, guys. Thanks for having me.

Thanks for coming on and taking the time to do this. This head coaching gig is pretty easy, eh? Three games, three wins, no problem. Good start up in Young Stars for you and the rest of the Young Canucks. Let's just start big picture. What were some of your takeaways from the weekend that was? I was impressed. Obviously, we brought some veteran guys to Penticton, some guys who had experience.

So that was definitely beneficial to the group just in terms of the way they performed and the way they carried themselves. So that right off the bat helped a lot. But I was really impressed with the way they were able to implement the structure that we had talked about. Obviously, it's a real quick turnaround. We get one practice and a morning skate, and we hit the ground running kind of thing. So three games and four nights, they were really able to implement the structure

and the systems that we wanted. And that was a big part of why we were successful, I felt. Let's run through some of the individual performances here because a lot of our listeners are keen to hear what you had to think about some of the guys that were out there. Let's start with Jonathan Lechermacki. I was listening to some audio following the game yesterday. You were very complimentary of his play, not just in that final win,

but throughout the three wins in the tournament. What did you see from Lechermacki that impressed you the most? Well, right away, game one, playing with Rats and Banes, he did not look out of place one bit. You know, he was calm, touches. He made some really good plays, had some good attempts on that. So for him just to hop right into the mix and feel right at home was impressive for me.

And then as the tournament went on, each game he had some real flares up, real flair. And he was able to jump into holes and execute some plays where you kind of take a step back and say, wow, that was pretty exceptional skill level. But for the most part, he was steady throughout the whole weekend. Arshdeep Bain's a guy that, you know, you talk about the veteran presences there, has some NHL experience, a lot of experience in the American League. What are the challenges for a guy like that who's going to have higher expectations and more expected of him going into a tournament like that because of his experience,

being able to match that and put forth the kind of performance that most would expect to see from a guy with that kind of experience? Well, you have to manage expectations, number one, obviously. You know, you would love for your top-end guys to walk away from a three-game set with three, four, five points, six points. But it's obviously not that easy. For me, Bainsey had a really good weekend in terms of his level of compete.

He won a ton of puck battles, made some really intelligent plays. Between him and Ratz, obviously, they were solid for us over the three games. So from a points standpoint, it wasn't a great weekend for him, but in terms of him getting up and running and now ready for main camp, I thought he had a good weekend. How much did you know about Atiratu's game prior to taking this gig with the Canucks,

and what do you know about it now that Young Stars is in the books? Obviously just watching video over the course of summer uh you get a sense of his game um but that's only a part of the picture um you know getting to know the individual around the rink and off the ice you see he is he's a consummate professional like he's a he's a very intelligent player front of the line in every practice drill, knows what's expected, very intelligent when you talk to him about systems and what's expected of him. And then on the ice, again, very reliable, knows where to be.

And then between the three of them, Lecomacki and Baines, they had some elite touches, some really crisp entries and almost almost for connected for some some opportunities but he uh he was impressive as well for me yeah he's such an interesting case study because he's still only 21 years old but he's done a ton like he turned pro at 16 he made the junior team at 17 he's already played a bunch of NHL not a bunch but he's played a handful of NHL games and now he's sort of back at this stage um what were some of the smaller maybe like nuances or like anecdotally things that you saw that you know the professionalism that you're talking about and

the package that he already brings to the table despite only being 21 years old well it it does take a lot i mentioned just being at the front of the line for every practice drill. It takes a lot just to step up and obviously a new set of drills, new systems, new structures to be able to say, you know, I got it. And he would lead the charge and just kind of a leading by example mentality was impressive to me. And then within the game on the ice, his attention to detail. He was positionally sound, again, winning puck battles on the right side of the puck all the time. So just those little things, they go a long way in terms of catching your eye as a coach when you know you can put a guy in a certain situation

and he's going to be very reliable and trustworthy. We're speaking to Abbotsford Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So we knew a fair bit about Baines and Ratu and Lekermacki. I didn't know a ton about Vilmer Ulriksen prior to this tournament, but he certainly made a statement scoring a couple of goals. Obviously the size jumps out right away. What did you like about Ulrichsen's game over the last three? Again, another guy that over the course of three games

really started to find his footing and started to get better and better with each period that went on. But the things obviously that stood out, his ability to use size. It's one thing to be a big player. It's another to be able to use that size effectively. And he did a really good job of just, you know, protecting pucks, driving pucks wide, getting to the net. You know, at this level, as competition becomes stiffer

and D-men become heavier, there can be a tendency for guys to shy away from the net, where for me, he acted as a power forward, took pucks to the net, got pucks off the wall, and then, again, that intelligence of being positionally in the right place at the right time stood out. And again, he's a young player, so once he grows into that body

and he develops that man strength, I'm looking forward to seeing what his total package looks like, his total name. We're speaking with Manny Malhotra, the new head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks. Manny, what would you say is your main responsibility as the head coach of the AHL team?

Well, the importance that obviously Ryan Johnson and Patrick Aldean put on the development of these players. They see the Abbotsford Canucks as kind of the source of the next generation for the Canucks. So I take that responsibility very seriously. So my number one concern or focus would be to get these guys ready to play at the next level and try to teach them the habits and the structure and, again, the details within the game that are necessary to succeed at the NFL level at the pro level i should say i remember um when you were on the canucks if there was a penalty kill and there was a face-off in the canucks and always wanted you on the ice taking that face off and we were talking about how you know there's some guys on in the canucks system where they need to identify or define where they will be valuable for a team.

Because a lot of them won't be top six players. They won't be out there on the first unit power play. How do you approach that when you're dealing with some players or most players who have come up their entire hockey careers and been the star players? And now you have to develop them and maybe they have to accept a different type of role. Well, that is, that is to me, uh, essentially what becoming a pro is. And, you know, as you climb the ladder and as you get to higher levels of hockey,

all these guys have been quote unquote, the man at some point in their hockey careers. They were power play guys. They were point getters. But at the next level, the guys that understand that they may have to adapt into a different role and accept a different role. Those are the guys that become pros and understand um so again that would be a part of my uh role and responsibility would would be to help guys identify with what they're really good at and help them hone in on that because as you as you mentioned before um it takes all kinds of pieces to become a part of a team and you know you may not be a power play guy or a top six forward but there is value in all those other jobs killing penalties winning face-offs

being reliable in the defensive zone that shut down forward type mentality and even go the other way for the guys that who are expected to be offensively elite, just trying to help them find where on the ice they're effective from and trying to find positions and strategies to produce those points. It's not just about producing grinders. You have to help those guys that are offensive-minded hone in on those skills as well. Is that something that you had to accept in your career? To a certain extent, coming out of junior,

I kind of adapted that third line or shutdown center type role when I came out of junior. So obviously the high draft pick status, with that comes a lot of expectation in terms of being a point getter. However, you know, I understood coming out of junior, I was not a point producer. The last time I was a point producer was minor hockey. So I had adapted to that role by the time I got to junior and then honing those skills in the NHL once I got

to Columbus that was kind of the the message for me was we don't need you to score goals we need you to be very reliable defensively we need you to win faceoffs we need you to kill penalties and kind of that guidance really helped me to to focus in on okay this is going to be how I'm going to carve my niche in this league. Who is the coach that helped the most in terms of carving that niche for you um it started with uh ken hitchcock in columbus um obviously a very defensive minded coach he had uh you know the gee Carbonneau's um in in Dallas and he he was the one that kind of taught me the the importance of those roles and and you know the value of those roles and then as I continued on um Todd McClellan was a big influence uh for me in terms of uh again, we had an elite team in San Jose

and there were times where I'd be on the ice with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, and I fully understood the mission. I was not trying to set up anybody. I was not trying to produce points, but I was in a position to be responsible defensively. So, yeah, those two coaches for me really helped me define who I was as a player in this league. But that can be enjoyable, can it not?

Like a lot of people are like, oh, that just sounds like hard work and not why I play hockey. I play hockey to play goals. But I imagine if you're part of a line or a group or a penalty killing unit that is successful and shuts down the other team's best players, that must be something that you can really get up for. I think it's like with anything in life, when you find a purpose and you have value to your group, you know, that becomes important to you. So yes, it's not as fun or glamorous as being, you know, the setup guy on the power play, but, you know,

hockey people understand the value of different roles at different times in the game. So I think it's just finding purpose, finding value in your game, and then understanding what it means to the team is a big part, again, of becoming a pro and finding your game. How is your son, Caleb, enjoying his initial experience

with the Chilliwack Chiefs? It's been a good experience for him He's only been there a month obviously But camp has gone well They've had a few exhibition games The organization itself has been incredibly welcoming Obviously a great program they have going there So he's enjoyed his experience thus far.

What's one piece of advice that you would have to all the hockey dads out there? Besides having great genes, which not all of us have. So, you know, like be a good professional athlete. But what's one piece of hockey advice that you've got for the parents out there? Well, that's a tough one. I think just you have to let your kids,

you know, it, it, it has to become your kid's journey at some point. And, um, you know, I, I realized early on that, uh, like with any, any kid and parent relationship, the more you push, they may push back. So, so you know we gave him his freedom to choose the path that he wanted to go on we allowed his coaches to coach him and when he wanted advice from me you know I'd be very open and honest but I'd wait for those opportunities that he asked me but the biggest biggest thing that, you know, he's going on his own hockey journey, wherever that takes him. But just knowing that he has the ability

to make the decisions. And because it's now his journey, he is, you know, it's on him to get himself to work out or apply himself in practice. And just how hard he pushes himself will determine how far he pushes himself will, will determine how far he goes on this path.

That's very well said. Hey, Manny, thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Best of luck with the season moving forward. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun. Hopefully we can do this again as that season gets underway.

Appreciate it guys. Have a great day. Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's Manny Malhotra, head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.