Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 9/25/24

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk last night's impressive pre-season debut with a win over the Kraken at Rogers Arena with radio commentator Randip Janda, plus the boys tell us what they learned. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose the f***ing Canucks? You're listening to Halford & Brough.

Well, Lannan holds in for Broughton. Left circle. Pass down low. It's a healthy score! Yeah, it's a rival team. Seattle, you know, we're close to them. Seattle! Rojas on the ground at third.

Machado touches third. Fires to second Out there Out at first Oh my goodness It's a triple play There's nothing more I love Than pushing it on another grown man And just taking it over

Good morning Vancouver 6-0-1 on a Wednesday Happy Wednesday everybody It's Halford and his bro Fit his sports net 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 bruv of 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, be it sales, financing,

service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Well, they'll pay the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 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.

Sophie, what are you waiting for? Kintec. We've got a big show ahead on a Wednesday, big sports night ahead on a Wednesday as well. Guest list begins at 7 o'clock with the host of Hockey Night in Canada's After Hours. Scott Oak is going to join the program. His new memoir, For the Love of a Son, detailing the tragic and unfortunate passing of his son, Bruce, is now available, so we'll talk to him about that. The book actually comes out in

January of 2025, but you can pre-order your copy now, so we'll talk to Scott about that coming up at 7 o'clock. 7.30, Vanny Sartini, manager of your Vancouver Whitecaps, tonight the Caps will go for their third straight TELUS Canadian Championship against hated Toronto FC, Drone FC, led by John Herdman, featuring the Italians at BC Place. We'll talk to Vanny about that at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Randy Janda is going to join us,

color analyst for your Vancouver Canucks right here on Sportsnet 650. We will look back on last night's victory in the opener at Rogers Arena against the Seattle Kraken. We can look ahead to another game tonight out in Abbotsford as the Canucks take on the Calgary Flames, the red-hot Calgary Flames.

Now, that game's not on TV, correct? It's not on TV. You can only hear it right here on Sportsnet 650. And you have to use your imagination. You do. Theater of the mind, they call it. And you just have to trust that Batch isn't lying to you.

He did a backflip. There's no way for you to check that. You'll never see that again. I don't know how to segue that into monster trucks, but we're also giving away a four-pack of tickets to Monster Jam on Saturday at the Pacific Coliseum today. Every day this week,

we're giving them away. They do backflips there. They do. Do you know Batch is going to do the play-by-play? Yeah. If you want to listen to it and not see it, you don't really capture the true essence of the monster trucks, but it's a close second. And there he goes, and he's over the car.

Yep, and he's on top of the car, and now the car is crushed, and everyone is happy, and we celebrate. Do you think monster truck rallies ever had radio play-by-play? I bet they did. Back in the day? I bet they did. I bet they might still. They might still.

We can ask Batch. I don't know. Best What We Learned is going to get a four-packet tickets to see Monster Jam on Saturday at the Pacific Coliseum. Start getting them in now. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. I'll also say, if you want to weigh in on anything from last night's game or any thoughts from the early parts of this Vancouver Canucks preseason,

get them in because we are doing all Canucks for the first hour of the program. 6-630, 630- are doing all Canucks for the first hour of the program. 6 to 6.30, 6.30 to 7, all Canucks. We will run through everyone that played last night. There was a lot to get into. There's a lot of audio to play as well. And we can dive into the Dunbar-Lemmer text message in basket to hear from you, the listeners. Working in reverse on that guest list. 8 o'clock, we got Randy Bjanda.

7.30, Vanny Sartini. 7 o'clock, Scott Oak. That's what's happening on the program today. 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 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. Two power play goals powered.

The Vancouver Canucks to a 3-1 victory in their preseason opener against Seattle on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena. Nils Hoaglander and Philip Hronik scored with the man advantage. Pugh Suter added an empty netter, and that was more than enough. Artie Seelov's made 18 saves on 19 shots. 3-1. The victory for the Vancouver Canucks over the Crackett in a spicy, spicy

preseason affair. Yeah, it was fun. It was entertaining. It was a good game. It was pretty quick. It wasn't plodding whatsoever, and there was some energy to it. Should we go through some of the players and just talk about how they performed and what

might be coming up? The first one I just want to mention is they didn't play, but why didn't JT Miller play? Because they were advertising that he was going to play. So maybe just something to keep an eye on. I think the Canucks were saying it was a rest day, but it was clearly in the advertising.

Do you remember when we went through it? It was like, oh, they're going through it. They're saying this guy's going to play in this season, preseason game, and these guys are going to play in this one. And him and Besser were supposed to play yesterday. Besser did play and he was on a line with Suter and Lekermacky. But I thought that was going to be Miller's spot that Suter was in. We're not going to make a big deal of this, but just let's just keep this in the back of their mind that they advertised that Miller was going to play yesterday. He didn't play. So I think we start with Artur Silovs, and he was really good, really calm, really composed,

played the whole game, which is sometimes rare in a preseason game. Early on, he had to be really good because the Canucks had a bit of the jitters, a bit of the giveaways, a bit of the case of the puck is bouncing off my stick and I don't know where it's going. And I thought he was really good and he was probably their best player overall. Rick Talkett,

I think he knows that there's a lot riding on Seelov's going into this season. I mean, Talkett's not... Talkett's pretty in tune with what's going on with his hockey team, right? And the one thing that he mentioned both last year in the playoffs and now early this year is that Seelov's never seems to get rattled. And I think there's two different types of rattling that could go on here. In the postseason last year, it's nerves, right? Like you get thrown into this big spot.

There's a lot riding on, you know, your performance. In the preseason, it's janky play, and it could be pretty erratic in front of you, and you've got guys that aren't really NHL-caliber guys. Nothing seemed like there was giveaways. You mentioned there was giveaways in the early part of the game. It's like, well, it's my job to cover up the giveaways. And Seelovs looks calm through all of it.

So here is Rick Tockett on his number one goalie going into the season, Archer Seelovs. You know, the same asie going into the season, Archer Seelovs. You know, the same as last year in the playoffs, you know, very calm. There were some breakdowns. He was right there in position.

That one, you know, side to side play, you know, when we gave the puck out, actually a couple of times, just a very, you know,

he just doesn't get rattled. You know, you can see that demeanor in him. You know, he, I really rattled. You know, you can see that demeanor in him. You know, I really enjoy that. You know, you can just tell. Like, I don't think I ever see him get rattled, you know. And he's a guy who gets put in some interesting situations, whether it's being third stringer to starter in the playoffs

or the kind of situation he's in right now. What does it say that he's able to maintain that demeanor in these situations yeah when you call his name i you know it doesn't matter playoff you know a playoff game or first preseason game blue and white scrimmage game he uh no he's just uh he's a very calm kid you know he's very confident you know he's you can tell and i think he's got i think he you know he's got the deemery if he looks at demmer he looks up to him because Demmer's the same way so if they are able to withstand the loss of their Vesna caliber net minder and Seelovs can come in and provide the kind of goaltending let's be honest when you see other high-end elite goalies get knocked out of action you remember

Tampa Bay last year when Vasilevsky was hurt? I mean, they essentially had to rush him back because it was just not working. Matt Tompkins wasn't cutting it. It just wasn't happening with the backup that they had. And that's fair. I mean, it's not quite to the level of some of the backup quarterbacks we see in the NFL where the play just falls off a cliff. Usually it doesn't work like it, but I have seen

instances in the NHL where you have a top flight goalie that gets knocked out and the floor just falls out from under your team. if silas can come in and do this and not and i'm not talking about just like holding the fort but thrive but he doesn't have to be at a vesna level he just has to be good but imagine if he's at that level where he wins you the odd game and i think most importantly he's not giving up any of the back breakers that you kind of come to expect from a traditional backup goalie. They could be, I mean, they'll be laughing.

What are they paying him? $850,000 this year? Yeah. That's going to be one of the better contracts in the NHL. So who do they start tonight in Abbotsford? That's a good question. It won't be Seelovs. I think Ty Young was on the bench as the backup.

Maybe he gets some time. Maybe Yuri Patera gets some time. I don't think it will be Kevin Lankanen. He just met with the media yesterday. He was on Canuck Central yesterday. Yeah, so that would be probably a little quick for him. I don't know if they brought that up with him. If anyone listened to that, I don't listen to the station.

Text in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line. I consciously try not to. At 650-650, the Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. Okay, let's keep going through this list here because, A-Dog, I was very impressed with Leckermackie last night.

Well, well, well. I don't know why you're taking that view. Look who comes crawling back. I respect it. I respect it a lot. I thought he looked really comfortable with the puck. He did have a bit of a shaky first shift, but I'll allow it.

First shift. He was comfortable with the puck. I noticed when he was out there on the power play, which scored two goals without Pettersson, without Miller and Quinn Hughes. Trade those guys. He's got some nifty moves, too. He did this little kick from his skate to his stick with the puck.

Yeah, well, the most important thing I saw was composure with the puck on the power play, and he protected it. He used his body to protect it, and he made some nice plays. He had his head up. He made a nice cross-ice pass at one point, picked up a second assist on the power play.

That was Hronik's power play goal. Then got another assist on Suter's empty netter with a really smart, again, composed pass off the boards when he could have tried to score, I suppose, from his end, but he got his head up, he recognized the situation, and he recognized it quickly, and he made a really nice bank pass off the boards to Suter, who picked up the puck through the neutral zone and ended up scoring into the empty net.

He's going to play again tonight, and I assume he'll play tonight with Petey and DeBrusque, the neutral zone and ended up scoring into the empty net. He's going to play again tonight. And I assume he'll play tonight with Petey and DeBrusque on the line that was together throughout training camp. So I know Talkett liked his game as well. Yeah. Before we get to the audio, I do want to say, we kind of talked about this yesterday and I'll reiterate it now. The likelihood of Lekromackie making the team is still probably slim. get to the audio, I do want to say, we kind of talked about this yesterday, and I'll reiterate it now.

The likelihood of Lechermacki making the team is still probably slim. And we understand that training camp, and specifically the first week of preseason, not the entire preseason, because I do think that guys can kick the door down, but the first week of preseason, it was funny, Elliot Friedman was talking about this on

32 Thoughts yesterday. He was saying, be cautious of what you take away from that first week of preseason. Every time. Every time. Every time. Because it's really, really the exhibition season then. Although last night's game did have a bit of spice to it. And the young guys are way more amped up for those games than the veterans.

100%. That being said, the messaging from the team, and these are the decision makers on the Vancouver Canucks. This isn't the out of shape talking heads at 613 in the morning doing this. Like we're just relaying what we hear. And as a matter of fact, we're just going to play the audio from the head coach. Talk, it says he's going to keep getting looks at this because he's got a high IQ and he's a talented player, which can only lead me to believe

that he's going to get more looks at it because the head coach said it. But here, hear it for yourself. Rick Talkett on Jonathan Leckar-Mackey following a 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night. Yeah, just very crafty, smart guy. Pretty good patience with the puck.

You know, I really liked him. Even on the empty net goal, he didn't rifle it down. He made a nice bank pass. Like, things like that, I think he's a hockey IQ's pretty smart kid. I think he's going to get more and more comfortable. So, you know, I talk and mention the same sort of things that we did. Patience with the puck.

Even on the power play when, in theory, you've got more time with the puck, a lot of teams will pressure the puck carrier. And I just thought he did a really nice job not forcing passes i remember all the forced passes we saw in the power play when it was struggling last season um he used his body to protect the puck and he just found the right guy to move it to never skated himself into trouble never tried to force a shot didn't get off a shot a couple times but didn't panic and and he was also part of the puck recovery efforts as well so listen one game um but so far so good for this kid he had a good training camp um you know he was given the opportunity to play with some top players and how do I put this nicely?

He hasn't blown it yet. Yeah. You know, like, I don't want to be mean here, but Pod Coles in last year was given an opportunity, and he blew it. Okay. Right? I think that's a good, you know, and it was like,

and he was gone right away. He was cut and gone pretty much right away. Here's what I want to say is maybe the conversation shouldn't necessarily be, is he going to make the team or not? Because it's probably a bridge too far. And maybe it's too black and white where there should be some nuance here. I don't know if it is a bridge too far. It depends on health.

Let's say if we're going to take a positive away from this, it's that a guy who I think it's fair to say that there were some questions about him after he was taken 15th overall in 2022 because he had a very rough time in his, what was it, plus one draft year, right? To see the ascension of his game

and to see a line of progress that has, I mean, aside from some valleys early on, to see him continually get better and shine on big stages right world junior mvp big stage gets the job done that's impressive goes to nhl camp gets a pretty plum assignment playing on the top line looks good that's a good development even if he doesn't make the team out of camp given their lack of draft stock and amount of high-end picks that they have

there was a lot of pressure for lech or mackie to not bust right so if it's trending in the direction of you know i would say the anti-pod colson that's huge that's huge for the organization yeah it's you know when you're talking yourself into a player i don't feel it many a time i don't feel like we're doing it with lech or mackie right now uh let's talk about the first goal scorer of the night, and that is Nils Hoeglander, who scored. In short, he quickly pointed out, wait a minute, you don't see that very often

because it was on the power play. Hoeglander scored, what, 24 goals last season? None of them were on the power play, which is a feather in his cap, not a criticism, but last night he was on the power play, and it was a really nice passing play. First of all, I went from Wolanin on the right point, who made a nice play to get it over to Ratu,

down low to Carlson, and then Carlson quickly back up to Hoaglander in the slot, and Hoagie buried it. Really liked that. First of all, I liked that they worked it down low i don't know how many times did i say last year like you gotta work the puck down low on the power play you can't just be like let's get it back to the point and fling it on net right like you you absolutely that has to be so i realize it's not the 1980s and it's not like gretzky's in his office but like you have to to go low high on the power play.

At least it has to be one of the things that you do. Now there's still time for the bomb from the point, as we saw later on from Hronik, but there's got to be a lot of different plays that you work. So that was really good to see, first of all, from the power play. And it was also really good to see Holaglander, who we had a very long conversation about a week ago, he shows up in camp in great shape

and gets recognized by the coach. The coach says, really impressed with Hoaglander. He must have done a lot of work in the offseason. He's one of our fittest guys here. And in the first preseason game, the first goal of the season he gets rewarded for all that hard work I think he clearly got the message that he couldn't rest on his laurels

even though he did have a good regular season the Canucks brought in a lot of wingers the competition was amped up for his spot and I'm sure he wasn't thrilled with how the playoffs went for him so good to see from Hoaglander we all know that this guy has a lot of potential it's a consistency thing with him and it's earning the coach's trust it's earning the coach's respect it's earning the coach's appreciation and from the outside looking in it sounds like he's doing that you know it's interesting because earlier this week, Cole Perfetti finally got his contract done with the Winnipeg Jets, right? He was a holdout RFA.

He missed all training camp, and then they finally got a deal done. They bridged him. And I started digging a little deeper into it. And the parallels between Perfetti's season last year and Hoaglander's season last year are actually pretty similar. Like, Perfetti had a really good regular season in terms of scoring. Hoaglander actually had more goals. He had 24 to Perfetti's 19,

but both had the same thing happen at the end of the year. The offense dried up. They started to maybe have their game questioned by their head coaches, and they were both healthy scratches in the playoffs. Now, Perfetti was sat down for a lot longer. He missed almost the entire playoff. It wasn't a long playoff for Winnipeg, but Hoaglander played more,

but didn't really have the impact or the effect. And it was really the same thing from the head coach. The head coach questioned the overall effectiveness of their games, right? And if you look at them, they're fairly similarly aged players. Hoaglander's got more experience and he's a year older, but I thought it was interesting.

Like, you know, there was a message sent to both these players and it was yeah you you scored goals and you racked up some points and you played well you had a good played well you did well you did well but when the playoffs came around your game wasn't good enough plain and simple right and that's uh there's and there's different ways guys can take that right perfetti held out of camp. Let's talk about Atu Ratu because I don't think anyone's stock has risen more than his has in the last few weeks. He was great on face-offs.

I don't know if he lost a draw last night. He earned a nice assist, as we already mentioned, on Hoaglander's power play goal when he takes that pass from Ratu. And he makes just a really direct play. He goes, I'm giving it to Carlson, and Carlson's going to give it back to Hoaglander. He hit the crossbar in the second after getting a nice feed from Garland, I think it was, behind the net. Made some nice defensive plays, too.

I think Harm on Twitter was pointing out one that he made down low defensively and that is important. If he wants to be a center in the NHL, you've got to be good defensively and you've got to play all 200 feet of the ice. You've got to make some plays defensively down low. And that's why, and by the way, that's why you've got to be a good skater if you're a center.

And that's why he's worked on his skating because you've got to get up and down the ice the whole ice not just the wingers that are like i'll go from blue line to maybe the offensive zone right like you know i i know it's not that like that anymore but um i think he's been um a really nice development most surprising development for me for sure i did not see this coming because because you know you know why possibly i won't put words in your mouth but did you just kind of forget about him last season a little bit or not not forget about him just not think about him well remember every time we checked in on abbotsford he was an afterthought like we're talking about

not that he didn't play well though but we were though, but we were on the Baines train. But also, when we talked about Ratu last year, I distinctly remember it was like, is he a winger, is he a center? And that was what they were trying to figure out down in Abbotsford. And he was flip-flopping between the both. Now, it might have been that that ended up being a positive

because it maybe, I don't know, made his game more well-rounded or he understood the game better playing two positions as opposed to one. Whatever the case, he looks and it sounds like he's making a real, like there's a real chance he's going to make this team, which I wouldn't have said. Where does he fit though?

4C? Do you want to hear the audio? Let's play the audio from Taka. Because Taka actually had to ask reporters yesterday. He's like, how many draws did he win? And that's how this clip starts. Listen to the things that he checks about ratu's game and tell me if he doesn't sound like a guy that could be a 4c on this team here's rick talking on atu ratu what was the uh face off study for yeah i mean that there you go and um i think he plays a

heavy game he's not afraid to get in there he's he's uh he gets in there i think he plays a heavy game. He's not afraid to get in there. He gets in there. I think he likes the heavy game. So he just keeps working on his skating. He keeps playing faster, which he is. And like I said, I don't think there's been a day that he has not worked his ass off. You know, like he's always got his motor running. So he's trying to make the team. That's what I'm looking for, guys.

Like he's just trying to elevate himself. You know, he's going to make rookie mistakes. But we can live with that if he keeps working i still think it's a long shot for him to make the team just because uh blueger's gonna be back at some point i imagine fairly soon um and then you've got suitor unless you bump him to the wing there's another center and um i know people will probably be like why would you talk up nil zaman well nil zaman kills penalties and ratu only spent a little bit of time killing penalties last night nil zaman was their top penalty killing center last night yeah i mean that i know they were playing with with half a lineup, but that is what he would bring to the table.

And I don't know, maybe the Canucks want him to keep playing big minutes down in Abbotsford because at some point they're going to have to replace guys like Bluger. And maybe that's what they're targeting for Ratu. Eventually there's this overtaking of Teddy Bluger. Here's the thing, as we have this first half hour celebrating all of A-Dog's takes with Lekromackie first and now the insane depth of the Vancouver Canucks. Last night, if you watched that game, there were three or four guys

that, let's be honest, probably aren't going to be on the opening night roster that looked really good. Like, I thought William Carlson looked really good, right? Carlson. Linus Carlson, not William. William Carlson plays for a different team. I thought Linus Carlson looked really good. So we got him now, and we really do have some depth.

Wild Bill here. Depth down the middle, baby. Like, it is, it's funny because one of the things that we've bemoaned is the lack of American Hockey League and prospect talent that this current group inherited from the previous regime. But slowly, they've kind of started to build it up where you're like, you're not overwhelmed by it. You're like, oh, this is intriguing, right?

Yeah, he can play. Yeah, Lekarimaki, Ratu, Carlson, Linus, not William. You're looking at all of them and you're saying, this is kind of impressive and it bodes well for the future because in the inevitability that injury hits and when we do our nhl whip around we can talk about all the injuries that are hitting teams like this this this and this like they're it's happening across the league early this year um you're gonna need guys right like i mean here's the thing have you thought about and not to be

smirched a guy but arsh deep bans like's, I haven't really thought about him at all this preseason because there's been so many other guys that have jumped to the forefront and made themselves relevant and made themselves noticeable in preseason action. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. It's brand deep. Brand deep. It's brand deep.

It's brand deep. It's brand deep. Randy Janda time. It's brand deep. Janda. It is Randy. Randy Janda. It is Randy. Talking hockey now. Oh.

803 on a Wednesday Happy Wednesday everybody Halford Brough Sportsnet 650 So A-Dog See that track has like Hit em up potential Yep

But it's got A-Dog Right I don't know A-Dog's got a certain Head to be hard Yeah A-Dog embraced the hard He did

Just yammering away On the phone there So A-Dog embraced the hard He did Just yammering away On the phone there So A-Dog By the way Better Diss track Hit em up Or

Not like us Hit em up Yeah Old school We're old So A-Dog Put out the Halford and Brough

Lineup Met with as much Enth much enthusiasm as the Sportsnet 650 lineup. Uh, we put out the Halford and Brough lineup for the year, right? Every day, every day of the week. He put it out yesterday. At Andy Cole, 1984. Right. So, uh, we got. I think people liked our lineup though.

We got a lot of Ferraros. That was a joke. Oh, I see. Yeah. Yeah. We have, uh. Met with as much enthusiasm as our lineup here at Sportsnet 650. Every other Tuesday is Ferraro Day.

That's right. So for next Tuesday, we have both Ray and Landon on the show. Did you hear Landon on the broadcast yesterday? And he sounds like Ray, but nicer. Yeah, he's... There's a lot of Ferraro there. He looks like his dad. He sounds like his dad.

I think we're going to have fun with this. I remember... I think I told you when we did the winter classic and he got picked up by the bruins off which he actually played in that game and i was chatting with him and i every time like he would answer something i'd just pause and be like this is exactly like talking to ray it's the mannerisms and the yeah he thought he thought at some point he was gonna call you a dummy yeah that's a big ray word yeah he's a dummy you You're a dummy. Don't yell at me, sir. Anyway, point of this story is someone

on the Twitter machine asked Andy if he was going to do intros for every single regular guest because we have so many of them. I don't know. Right now the answer is I don't know. Each jingle is an arduous task. We got to get to the studio.

We actually do have a song for Ray. I've got to get to the studio. Yeah. We actually do have a song for Ray. I just haven't really given it a thought yet. Okay. But at least there's a... There's so many regular guests. We're holding out for more money, is what he's trying to say.

I'm kind of scared to make a song for Ray. Well, my goal is just to make him very, very angry. Oh, good. Oh, good. Thanks, that's awesome. It's just for you guys. We'll do the business in a moment here because we need to get to our next guest. Joining us now, one of the regulars on the Halford & Brough Show,

Randy Janda joins us now on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Randy. How are you? Good morning, gentlemen. You guys were talking about cars getting stolen. I actually have a pretty funny story. In front of my house, my parent Buick Century was once stolen. We didn't know about it

until the cops showed up, and they told us that it was used to steal meat from Safeway. And that's it. Then they dumped the car. It was a getaway meat car. You don't get a lot of those. Don't they normally have to set those things on fire? They missed the most important part. They just left it

because they needed that salami or whatever they got. Would the car not be worth more than the meat? No. It was a 1992 Buick Century, so think about that for a second. Why do you need a car to steal meat, though? You need the trunk. You need the trunk. How much meat are we talking about here?

A lot of meat. You want to use your bike? Yeah. Throw it in my pocket. Oh, man. Okay, let's focus here, everybody. We had a game last night we need to get into. We got a game tonight that we need to preview.

Randy, big picture. You can start anywhere you want. 3-1 win for the Canucks over the Kraken at Rogers Arena on Tuesday night. Exhibition opener for the Canucks. The Kraken had already played a couple. What was your big takeaway from the evening? Yeah, I think the big takeaway was the young guys. Two players for me that stood out more than anybody.

And that was, first of all, I think there's a lot of talk in this market, even prior to this game, about Jonathan Lechermacki and what he could do, whether us thinking or the market thinking, you know, he's been given a real shot. Was it an aspirational idea or was it real? Was it legit? And I think yesterday he showed there's a lot there. And, you know, early on in that game, the first shift,

he gets bounced around a little bit. And I'm not going to lie. I thought, uh-oh, this game is maybe too physical for him. But he settled into the game. We started to see the skill, a cross-eyed speed to Brock Besser, an excellent zone entry and a middle drive towards the net. And just picking up steam as the game went on. I'm on notice now. I was not very much a believer that he could make the team,

but if he gets opportunities in the top six playing alongside a Brock Besser, potentially. We know that he's playing in Abbotsford. Rick Talkett mentioned that he's going to be playing today as well. So he continues to get opportunities. He shows his smarts. That's a big takeaway for me is I think there's a lot of people that may be not believing that he had a shot,

but if there's a roster spot, at the very least, they're giving him a strong look here, and I thought he showed very, very well. The other player I'd give a shout-out to is Atu Ratu. I think his ability to win face-offs, be a smart player, showing some maturity that maybe he didn't have last year. I thought that was a very good start against the Seattle Kraken. Listen, the intensity is going to pick up. So these young players have to ramp up their game as well,

but a good start by both of those young players. Ratu is intriguing because, and again, maybe this is just me not paying close enough attention, but it felt like when we were talking about Abbotsford last year, he was kind of an afterthought. And part of that had to do with the fact that, like, Arshdie Payne's burst onto the scene, and there were some other producers.

And it seemed like the only thing we ever really talked about with Ratu in Abbotsford last year was whether he was going to play center or wing. Needs to improve his skating. Right, and that was the other thing. And then we'll check back when you do. And now, I mean, I watched him play last night. I mean, again, it's the first week of the preseason.

Everything needs to be taken with a gigantic chunk of salt, not a grain. But he looked the part in a lot of different ways. For sure he did. And I had a chance to chat with him prior to the game yesterday at the morning skate. And this kid is very, very – and you have to be, if you're an athlete, you have to compartmentalize everything, but he is very direct of what he needs to improve on.

And he spent all summer long working on that skating. Normally, his program was a lot of lifting, a lot of squats. And he said, hey, I did all of that. But this year, day by day, him and his brother just worked on skating in Finland. So the attention to detail is there. And in that game yesterday, let's start with the power play, right? The quick puck movement,

I thought the power play looked good, but Atsu Razi had two, you know, a very key role, especially on that first power play goal, playing alongside Linus Carlsen and Hoaglander to get that goal. But even beyond that, there's simple plays in his own zone

where he gives away the puck, but it leads to a Seattle chance. But right after that, there's simple plays in his own zone where he gives away the puck, but it leads to a Seattle chance. But right after that, he cleans it up, wins a battle, you know, corrects his own mistake and relieves pressure. There's other moments where you could see him engaging in battles in front of

the net. So of course the skating is something he's going to have to improve even further, but there's a, there's a real maturity about this player, understanding what he needs to improve on and working on this one by one. And he did mention that the Sadims have had a huge role in that, just simplifying the game for him at times, not overthinking it, not giving too much

information where it's saying, hey, work on one thing at a time. And it's clearly paying off because he does look like a very different player from what we saw last year when do we expect bluger back well he was practicing um we did see him you know skate with the second group yesterday and the the fact that he's doing that tells us it's not that far away and even in penticton uh at that point in time rick talk it did say about a week right so started looking ahead. Now it's Wednesday. That was, I think, Thursday that was mentioned. So we're probably in that range.

But if he's ready to go in the next few days here, that's a great story for the Vancouver Canucks. But in that meantime, you want to see who else could take that step. And Asu Raku is, you know, showing that maybe he's on the radar for that. I think Max Sasson's playing down the middle of the Canucks are giving him a shot to say, all right, what else do you have? Niels Oman's a part of that conversation.

But with Bluger, based on timelines we've heard going back to last week, it should be something that hopefully if everything's going normal here, we should see him in the next couple of days, but that remains to be seen. As you guys know, injuries can change pretty quickly. If Bluger's back in

time for the regular season to start, who are your four centers on the Canucks? Yeah, I think for me Bluger's got to be on there. You've got to have Pugh-Suter. I think Pugh-Suter as a winger has shown his value, his versatility,

but the way that Rick Talkett wants him playing, and the way you want to really map up this lineup to be a little bit more offensive, Pugh-Suter being a center is going to be key to, A, either playing on a line with Conor Garland. You'd expect Teddy Bluger to do that, but remember, there was some very good chemistry last year in the preseason between Suter Connor Garland. You'd expect Teddy Bluger to do that, but remember, there was some very good chemistry last year in the preseason between Suter and Garland,

so I know a lot of people lock Teddy Bluger into that role, but I think Suter is going to have something to say about that. Even if he isn't, let's say Suter's in a fourth-line role, that gives you an opportunity to make your fourth line a little bit more offensive, because Suter does have some pop, and you can maybe throw in a Sherwood next to him and potentially another winger that's got a little bit more offensive because Suter does have some pop, and you can maybe throw in a Sherwood next to him

and potentially another winger that's got a little bit of offensive pop. But, yeah, it's JT Miller, Elias Patterson, Suter, and Bluger for me. Everybody down the middle is healthy because I just think that gives you, you know, JT's going to take a lot of the strong matchups. Bluger's got the ability to do that. And then, you know, Patterson, you can hope, obviously, playing with Jake DeBrusque, that should be a pretty responsible line defensively, but you want him to eat, you want him to put up points, and a suitor line may have that capability also on a lower level.

Are there any waivers risks on the Canucks? Well, I guess, you know, some veteran players, you know, probably depth pieces, to be quite honest with you, not many that should be concerning to the team, maybe like previously years. But of course, if a young player makes this team, and I'm looking at Natsui, Raju or Alekermacki, that probably puts a veteran in a dangerous spot. So is that player a Phil B. Giuseppe, who's been somebody that's been well-liked in this organization? On the back end, we've seen players like Christian Olan and hit waivers, and they haven't been picked up. So I think there are some veteran players. Yuri Patera is obviously another one, right?

Yeah. The guy that they picked up, and he's fallen down the pecking order a little bit due to the pickup of Kevin Lankanen. So I think there are a couple of veteran players that are kind of those AHL, NHL bubble guys, but not huge worries for this team. Maybe chip away at your depth a little bit, but not something that ultimately worries you about the depth on this team.

What about Nils Amon? Yeah, he's the one that, you know, I like him as a player, but he's ideally probably, knowing what coaches like in this league, having that 13th forward being a center is probably what we're looking at. So, yeah, if he doesn't make this team and he's even bumped out of the 13th forward spot, is that something you consider? Absolutely, Jason. But I just feel like coaches today like to have that extra center it gives you a little bit of versatility uh he's got size

and if i had to pick one player right now to say all right who's that guy that is probably you know in the front running spot or that it's probably neil's oman but you know if max asson is given a couple more looks he can impress impress. Maybe he enters that conversation. Atu Ratu, I would ideally like to see him play every single game in Abbotsford and get a shot when he's ready. But you never know. If he's ready for a 13th forward spot, yeah, it does put Nils Oman on the spot. So there is no doubt a 13th forward competition going on here.

It's not up the lineup as we've seen in previous years, but Oman could be that player. When are we going to see JT Miller? That's a great question. There's maybe thoughts that it could happen yesterday because Brock Besser was playing. We don't know the lineup for Abbotsford yet, so I think that's going to be something that as soon as it happens

or as soon as something, the players at the ice, you know, Batch is on that hitting the tweet button. But as far as JT Miller, yeah, I would expect in the next couple here, you know, the hope is he didn't play yesterday. It's a back-to-back. You have your other guys step up and you have them play against uh calgary and abbotsford but that's one uh you know they kind of they they hold everything pretty close to their chest so uh your guess is as good as mine but uh as soon as we get some information

on that we'll we'll let everybody know well they did advertise at some point on social media that it was going to be besser and miller playing last night so something happened um you know someone texted in and said he might have been a little banged up in the blue and white scrimmage. I don't know if you noticed anything about that. But I guess everyone here in Vancouver with all the injury issues that we've had to deal with are kind of on pins and needles on that sort of stuff.

So I guess just something to monitor. What did you think of Elias Pettersson's game last night? There was an email that went around the station that reminded us of pronunciations. Lekker-Mackie. So not Lekker-Ruh

Mackie, just Lekker-Mackie. And then Elias Pettersson for DPD. I guarantee you that started with Brendan Batchelor because he is the pronunciation king. He gets it down to the exact things. If anybody screws up, he gives you a look or he sends you an email.

But with Elias Pettersson, I thought that was a performance by a young player that had some good in his game. Of course, he was engaged in battles, but I thought there were some tough moments as well. I like him as a prospect, and I think there's a couple of moments, and there's one specifically. If you remember, Logan Morrison hits the post for Seattle, coming

down the right wing. The reason that happens is, you know, Elias Pedersen just dives into that neutral zone, and knowing the way that rick talk it of course he wants his uh defenseman to step up into the neutral zone a little bit be aggressive but you want to be really really smart with those guys and there's just a couple of moments where maybe that discipline of all right when to go and when to stay back wasn't quite there but i i thought we sometimes we forget in training camp and prospects camp how young these guys are right when a player like a Noah Juleson or you know Derek Forbert

going back to last year like Nikita Zdorov and Ian Cole make that mistake you're saying all right you've got 500 games under your belt maybe you should know not to do that or or that mistake still happens because it's such a instinctual game with With Elias Pedersen, he's still young in the game. So I saw a couple of moments where maybe a little over-aggressive. You could see potentially him trying to release the puck a little early and rushing decisions. You could see the pressure on the forecheck got to him once or twice. So I thought overall, really engaged in fouls.

I'm really interested to see how his game develops in Abbotsford because I think he just needs that seasoning in the minors. But at this point in time in his career, you kind of expect that from a player that doesn't have that pro North American experience and has very little of it actually going back to eight games in Abbotsford last year. Did you sense more of a desperation from the Canucks to get the puck moving up the ice oh yeah you could tell there was you know certain moments i thought um particularly there's a little uh a moment or two when you know christian aladdin's uh a very you know he's a 29 year old defenseman he's played in the ahl but one of the best things he he does is they control the puck and move it really quickly and there's a couple of moments

with tyler myers yesterday where play starts behind the net. Lennon gets it to Myers. Myers gets it to one of the forwards. And they just zip it up the ice really, really quickly. So they're not delaying as much. And I thought there was a couple of moments in the neutral zone as well with the Linus Carlson line where, yeah, head up, being aggressive, whether it was starting in their own zone or being aggressive in the neutral zone. So it wasn't perfect. I think in the third period, Rick Tauka wasn't necessarily happy with their game. He didn't like the puck management there.

But the mentality, you can note that there's a change of, all right, when you get the puck, keep it moving. Play fast. And that's something that I'm excited to see when Pedersen and DeBruskin and these other players, of course, the other half of the team, you know, what it looks like for them. I mean, if we're talking about, you know, Christian O'Lan and Tyler Myers doing this, I'm excited to see how Quinn Hughes is, you know, even,

we know he's aggressive to begin with. Is there another gear he could probably take it into, which is a scary thought for the opposition. Randy, this was great, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight and have a good call. Thanks very much, guys.

Take care. Thank you. That's Randy Bjanda, the color analyst for your Vancouver Canucks, right here on Sportsnet 650. You can hear him tonight on the call. The only way you're going to be able to consume tonight's content is right here on Sportsnet 650. Could I just say that I love our texters because

literally four or five in a row all at once came in and said, so you could say Randy Parrott's car was a meat seeker. It was the meat seeker. It was the original meat seeker. Was it a 1992 Buick? We all have one brain apparently. Can you imagine? Making the same references. Buick came

out with a line of car called Meat Seeker. Ah, the Buick Meat Seeker. Okay, I want to do a... My first ever car was a Buick. It was a good car. I thought you were going to say it was a Meat Seeker. It was a Buick Regal. It was a Meat Seeker. It was very regal. That was a good car. I liked that car.

It was. That thing could fly, man. It was a boat. It could fly. It was a fast boat, though. Flying boat. Yeah. I want to do a What We Learned to kind of kick things off. Next segment, we're going to do some more from our side of the table. We're going to turn it over to the humanoids as well.

You're going to do yours, and one lucky humanoid is going to win. Well, not lucky. It's a good content that they submitted. But one lucky listener is going to win a four-packet ticket to see Monster Jam on Saturday at the Pack Call. I have a what we learned.

I learned that Bill Belichick, the most high-profile unemployed football coach in the world, has a new sneaky candidate for a landing spot. Jacksonville. Oh, for him. Everyone thinks that Bill Belichick will just take over from Mike McCarthy in Dallas when Mike McCarthy inevitably fails this season and they need to put the pieces back together.

But Albert Breer from Monday Morning Quarterback, formerly NFL Network, Monday Morning Quarterback, senior NFL reporter, was on with Dan Patrick this morning, and he pointed out that Jacksonville might end up being the place where Belichick takes over, not this year to save the season or anything, but next season when this terrible season in Jacksonville comes to a close and they finally realize that they have to change some things around.

I did not realize. Maybe nice for him. It's a little warmer. It is warm. Yeah. And expectations, I mean, some might be high, but he's going to be taking over a team that's cratering right now. I don't think there's a more disappointing team in football,

brackets, non-Cincinnati division, than Jacksonville right now. I think they're more disappointing than Cincy. Cincy's 0-3, but at least they've played well at some stages, and they put up some points. Jacksonville looks terrible. Jacksonville, well, they did play well early in the Miami game, but then they blew it. That fumble through the end zone really hurt.

See, that almost makes it worse that they kind of threw that game away because since then they've looked awful, and it really culminated with that 47-10 loss to the Bills. So pointing out a few things here. One, Belichick's very close to the ownership group, the cons, the father and son.

And he is. Yeah. He, when they hired Doug Marone back in 2017, that was all largely on the advice of bill Belichick, who said like, hire this guy. Apparently he's got the ear of ownership.

He's close with both of them. So the other thing is that i didn't want to move to england well there you go right i mean i don't know when that's actually going to happen like officially because it will eventually i think maybe yeah at any rate sorry i cut you off that's okay um i did not realize that the father and son cons had exceptionally high expectations for their team this year they said it was the best roster that they've ever built in Jacksonville. So for Jacksonville to be 0-3, it's falling way short of owner expectations. Trevor Lawrence looks like a mess.

Doug Peterson doesn't look like he knows how to fix it. So there you go. I learned that Bill Belichick might end up in Jacksonville of all places, not Dallas, unless Jerry Jones beats him to the punch. I'm going to add before we move cow, because you mentioned the Dallas Cowboys there. Did you see C.D. Lamb came out and said, sorry for the way I was acting in that game.

He apologized. He apologized because him and Dak Prescott got into it. Why didn't Dak apologize? Dak didn't do media, actually. No, I know. And he said, for me and my performance, I expect a lot out of myself, more than anyone could put on me. And quite honestly, I failed myself.

And obviously, I failed the team just as far as producing and being that game breaker player for the team and the guy that they can lean on. I kind of let the game get to my head a little bit. But in the same sense, I know what I can do. I know what I bring to the table. I know what I can do. I know what I bring to the table. I know what I can do on the field. So long story short, there shall be a difference, says C.D. Lamb. And he said his relationship with Dak is great.

He said, we're brothers to the end. And then it said that Dak did not say anything. Not to me. When asked about his comments, Dak walked away from the scrum. I have no brother. I don't know this man. He is not my brother. So the Cowboys take on the Giants tomorrow night, Thursday night football.

Most are expecting that the Cowboys will right the ship because the Giants are terrible. Although. Daniel Jones had a game, didn't he? Malik Nabors looks legit. He had two touchdowns and 100-plus receiving yards. He looks really good. So I'm not ready to pencil that one in. Look at the Cowboys' schedule after the Giants game.

They got to go to Pittsburgh to take on the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers, probably the best defense in the league through three weeks, I would say, out of being Pittsburgh. Yeah. Then they got to host the Lions, who are a tough piece of business. Then they got to go to San Francisco to take on a 49ers team,

which is wobbling right now, but still, it's the 49ers. If they don't get a win against the Giants tomorrow night, there is a very real chance that this team could be a one-win team by the end of October. And I would not be surprised if – I doubt that'll happen because they'll win one of these games. But what happens if they don't beat the Giants? Well, they'll win one of the next.

But if they don't beat the Giants, it's obviously a huge deal. It's obviously a huge deal. If they don't beat the Giants, they're going to be an underdog going into Pittsburgh, I would say. Okay. I would think. They'd be at home against the Lions, and who knows, because we're talking about two weeks out.

Yeah. And then that 49ers team, assuming they get healthy. By the way, what's going on with Christian McCaffrey? Why is he going to Germany to get his Achilles checked out? It was supposed to be a run-of-the-mill Achilles strain. You don't go to Germany for a run-of-the-mill Achilles strain. You don't. It doesn't make any sense.

Something's up. You go to Achilles town. Maybe don't. It doesn't make any sense. Something's up. You go to Achilles town. Maybe his family doctor's there. He's got to go. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.