Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Have Won Two In A Row

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk yesterday's big Canucks win over the Blues that puts them on a two-game winning streak, plus they discuss the latest NHL news with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (27:32).  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.

Whoa! Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose a f***ing Canucks? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- You're listening to Halford and Brough. There's a breakaway chance. Miller in. He scores. A stretch pass sends Miller in behind the Blues defense and he scores. The first period obviously kind of set us up for the game. So yeah, it was a nice win for us. You know, I heard rumor that they were, you know, getting yelled at by their coaching staff there. You're a loser. Are you feeling sorry for yourself? Well, you should be, because you are dirt!

Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Tuesday. Hank Hill in the intro. You are in his halibut, in his brow, in his sports net 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios in beautiful Fabu Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. A-Dog, good morning. Good morning. A dog, good morning. Good morning. Laddie, good morning. That was Jim Montgomery.

Hello, hello. And finally, intern Ryan, good morning as well. Good morning. Alfred and Ruff in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for,

sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Our one is brought to you by North star metal recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North star metal recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step.

Well, the connects are back. So back everybody. Two wins in a row. We got a lot to get into on the show today. Guest list begins at 6 30. Greg Wyshinski from ESPN is going to join us on a busy night in the NHL tonight. Eight games around the league we're going to talk to Wish about the fallout from the Miko Rantin trade. His most recent playoff bubble watch Vancouver Canucks moving up that bubble and he spoke with Bill Daley About players skipping out of the four nations face-off Will they face punishment if they skip out on this tournament y'all have to find out at 630 Greg Wyshinski will join us Then 7 o'clock Ray Ferraro is gonna join the program. Ray is in Vegas Vegas baby Vegas. He's in Vegas tonight working the Stars Vegas game

So we'll get a nice pre-scout for the opponent that the Canucks will play on Friday Vegas, Vegas baby, Vegas. He's in Vegas tonight working the Stars Vegas game. So we'll get a nice pre-scout for the opponent that the Canucks will play on Friday, of course, the Dallas Stars. Talk to Ray about that and whatever else you guys texted about prior to the show. Eight o'clock, Brendan Batchelor, play by play voice of the Vancouver Canucks

is gonna join us. He was on the call for last night's win. Big win for the Vancouver Canucks in St. Louis. I will discuss that with Batch. We can also look ahead to the national game on Wednesday. A reminder, two, two contests we're running today on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Our final giveaway of a pair of tickets

to see nine inch nails. That concert is gonna be in August. We're giving away the final pair of tickets today. Eight o'clock, caller number nine, eight o'clock this morning. The number 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650. Also, we are giving away a pair of tickets

to the Clayton Public House for the big football game on Sunday, February the ninth. Pair of tickets to the Clayton and a $50 gift card. That's going to go at 8.15. Caller number 9 at 8.15 again, 604-280-0650. So two giveaways, three guests, one big game to get into. Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety

simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Connor Garland had two goals. JT Miller and Pugh Suter had a goal a piece, as the Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Monday night, and most importantly, Jason, with the victory, the Canucks have now won consecutive times, consecutive games, sorry, for the first time since December the 1st.

Yeah. Two game winning streak. Two game winning streak. Two game winning streak. Bring your green hat. Solid start to the road trip coming off a win over Washington on Saturday, two more stops to this trip in Nashville, Wednesday and Dallas Friday. Um, you heard Rick talk it in the intro there. The Canucks had a great first period.

I got two goals from Connoror Garland and outshot the Blues 12 to four, I believe. Garland's first goal was a tap in after Quinn Hughes somehow got a pass underneath a sliding Ryan Suter. I don't know if that was skill or luck or a combination of both, but it was a great pass. And Garland was there down low as he usually

is to tap in that great pass. Garland's second goal, also a usually is to tap in that great pass. Garland's second goal, also a bit of a tap in. This one on a power play after Brock Besser moved his feet to get to some open ice and take a pass from JT Miller's, Besser's slot shot. Yeah, I know. His slot shot, high slot, but still a slot shot. They all came out. Was stopped, but Pedersen and Garland were on top of Bennington and Garland was able to shovel it in.

So Garland's first two goals came from about, uh, I don't know, a combination of like two feet maybe. He was real close to the paint. Uh, so Besser moved his feet to free himself up for a scoring chance on the power play. So did JT Miller in the second period when the Blues shorthanded again, decided to change and let Miller get behind them.

Miller recognized the situation. He found the open ice, did some backwards crossovers and Quinn Hughes hit him with a perfect stretch pass that Quinn Hughes could probably do in his sleep. Miller went in and ripped it home. That was it for team Canada goalie Jordan Bennington, who was replaced by Joel Hofer.

Plays for the Gophers. Future Hall of Famer. No, he didn't. Hofer. Yeah, Hofer. Uh, the Blues did make it 3-1 on a power play of their own, but Puse Souter. Not the fastest skater, but looked pretty fast.

He beat Hofer for a shorty with Nils Hoeglund in the box for high sticking. So it was four one heading into the third. And honestly, even though it's the Canucks, it was also the Blues. So it felt comfortable. The Blues did not have a good night and they did make it four two on a goal by Colton Perejo but Tyler Myers was able to add an empty netter and it finished 5-2 for the

Canucks. An impressive night for JT Miller who answered the bell against Brandon Shen taking a pretty big punch in the process. Another two points for Quinn Hughes, oh hum, two goals for Garland who's been I think, their most consistent forward all season. I thought Myers had a solid game in his return to the lineup. Logged almost 23 minutes and finished plus three. Did get called for a tripping penalty in the second, but you know, A-Dog, nobody's perfect, buddy.

Nobody's perfect. Speak for yourself. Another win for Kevin Lankidon, who I know they were talking on the broadcast and I wonder if some of those guys were talking to Rick Tocket all day. Might just get all six of the Canucks remaining games before the Four Nations tourney and noteworthy that Elias Pettersson had a team high seven shots. No goals, but a dog. Nobody's perfect.

One assist and hey, it's something to build on. It was a good performance and finally, finally for the first time in basically two months, you could say that the Vancouver Canucks strung together two good performances in a row. And that's an important thing for a team that struggled to find any sort of consistency, really since the calendar flip to December, which is when the last time that they won those games. There was a lot to kind of unpack in individual moments yesterday,

and I managed to clip some audio about this stuff. The first period, a very eventful first period, so the Canucks score early. And this was a bee in the bonnet of the St. Louis Blues because I don't know if you've been paying attention to that team lately or not, but they've had a real issue with slow starts and lack of energy to start the game.

So shortly after the Canucks score, JT Miller is challenged, as you mentioned, to a fight by Braden Shen. In the post game, the game was on Amazon, of course. Amazon's Andy Petrillo actually asked JT Miller about what happened between him and Shen. And good on JT for giving us a peek behind the scenes. Here's JT Miller and his scrap with Braden Shen. Eventful game for you two. You pick up a goal and you got some scars to prove it as well tonight in the fight with Braden Shen. Did you expect him to challenge you so early on?

Honestly, yeah. I heard rumour that they were getting yelled at by the coaching staff there. He's a leader, he's a guy that is willing and obviously scoring first shift of the game, I actually was kind of expecting that but I have a lot of respect for him. Those two had a nice little chat in the penalty box. Miller went, I think, back to the room to pull himself together after he took that punch and then he went back to the penalty box and, uh, I think I could lip read Braden Shen telling him good job.

Yeah. Like some respect there. So Shen really, and again, I don't want to spend too much time focusing on the blues, but they also interviewed Shen in between the first and second periods. And he was visibly, visibly frustrated at the lack of energy that his team had.

I don't like this thing. And I noticed, like a lot of listeners have done it, the citizens as well, where when the Canucks put a good effort forth, the first thing that people do is poke holes in how bad the opponent was. I think you could make an argument that St. Louis is in a funk right now. They're not very good, but I don't think that should take away from what was a pretty good road game for the Vancouver Canucks last night. Now, that road game could have gone in a funk right now, they're not very good, but I don't think that should take away from what was a pretty good road game for the Vancouver Canucks last night.

Now that road game could have gone in a couple different directions, especially in the first period, when despite outscoring and out shooting the Blues by a fairly healthy margin, there was a moment where a goal was disallowed. So in the period, it was a Dylan Holloway crashing the net sequence where Quinn Hughes

Kind of clearly pushed him into Kevin Lankinen, but when the goal went in Referee TJ Luxmore emphatically Waved the goal off. There was no discussion. There was no huddle with the referees He immediately called it off. So goal on the ice Disallowed and then I thought, I thought a very, very reckless challenge from Jim Montgomery. Yeah. You know, when I first saw that play though, I was like, my first instinct was, you know, like I, I thought hitting Jim Montgomery might be right. You know what actually got it? My first look at it.

My first gut reaction was you're going to need like a smoking gun or some dead set evidence to overturn a non goal on the ice. He waved it off right away. So here's the thing, it's almost like you might be, I think Montgomery might've been right that there was goalie interference, but in the context of how he needed to get it overturned

I was like there's no chance and sure enough after the game and laddie get the audio ready here Jim Montgomery actually fell on his own sword and said I made a mistake because not only did the challenge fail When the Canucks went to the power play they scored and the Blues have a terrible penalty kill I wonder if that should have been taken into the equation Here's Jim Montgomery postgame on the disallowed goal on the Dylan Holloway goalie interference. I made the mistake of challenging it. The ref's explanation to me was that Holloway was going to skate into the crease no matter what, whether he was pushed or not. I felt Holloway was trying to stop and got pushed once and the second time pushed him into the goalie

But You know, I made a mistake of challenging it and we got overruled on that. I thought it was dead wrong I know when we challenge the league it needs to be dead wrong. I thought it was and You know per the league's decision. It was not and the ref explained it that way too the way I just explained it to you Couple of the takeaways from last night Tyler Myers returns from a three game suspension One of the best players on the ice last night and you mentioned the penalty of course and can't be perfect all the time But he was actually a dog actually named the third star Sizing Tyler Myers you're always criticizing someone building. I wasn't criticizing Tyler Myers. You're always criticizing someone.

Well, I wasn't criticizing him. I was criticizing the core last night. And then JT Miller scored. And I'm still correct. Good. Miller, Myers was named the third star in the building. You had a good game. Here's the thing.

In a vacuum, this game was great. The Connaughts did a nice job. They got a win against a team that's chasing them in the standings. The Amazon broadcast had those standings and how important this game was. And Rick Tauke talked about it being a four point game. They're going to need to carry this momentum

and this run of good play over to like, we're kind of half tongue in cheek joking that we're so back and it's a winning streak. The fact that they haven't strung together consecutive wins in nearly two months is more problematic than it is a sigh of relief right now. I do wonder, and I'll go back to the other guy that I probably needs to get a little bit more credit for this abbreviated two game winning streak, but how well the team has played and it's Lankanen. Oh yeah. And I know, I know that

Jody Shelley on the broadcast last night, you were joking about this said, you know, he might be getting a run of games coming up here. And everyone was like, where'd you get that from, Jody? Where did that come from? Seems like a lot of praise for JT Miller in the game and not much for Elias Pedersen. Who are you talking to all day? Do we want to point out that also a season high, seven shots on goal for Elias Pedersen,

despite his season low ice time, less than 15 minutes. I was actually gonna throw that out to the listeners. What's with that? Is that a good game for Pedersen or he only played 14, 24, like, and didn't score on any of his shots. Like how do we feel about this? Like season low in ice time.

How do we feel about it? Team high in shots. I don't know. Mixed. I mean, it's never great when your highest paid forward is logging the ice time of a third line center. Yeah. That's not great. However. Selling shots, baby.

If you're talking about. However. None of them went in. Yeah, right, but efficiency. Getting that many shots in that limited ice time, that's really good. None of them went in, and like you said, that's not that great. Here's why. The shots came with a free Froger. That's good

Here's it was cursed. That's that's bad. Here's why I think it's good He's shooting the puck. I think at the end of the day that should have got to be the only takeaway Yeah, then why why the ice time so low? What was the reason for the is skating with Hoaglander and Carlson? So he might just temporary by association Temporarily deployed as a 3c. I mean, he was the 3C last night. Yeah. Yeah. Pugh Suter and JT Miller were the top two centers.

Pugh Suter played 1930. JT Miller. Pugh Suter was the top center last night. JT Miller played 1653. Now. He didn't have a fight. He did have a fight. But you know, Suter's not playing with Hoeglund and Carlson,

right? Like that, those are third line wingers, Hoeglund and Carlson, you know, that's bottom six and I don't know, maybe that's the way the coach sees Elias Pedersen right now. Now he does get, um, first unit power play. So that's a little bit different. And he did have an assist on the power play

goal, went to the net, best net front presence in the NHL right now. Elias Pedersen got an assist on Connor Garland's goal. But yeah, I guess we're still in the, I don't know, some people are going to rip them. Some people are going to support them. I've been ripping them, but I do think seven shots on goal says something good about his performance last night. Crazy that we're almost in February and this is, you know, took them this long to get to this total in terms of shots on net. And again, I really, really hope that the conversation that, I mean, cause they were talking about how him and Tocket were working on practice Sunday

after the game on Saturday and you know, in the post game remarks, including his answer to your question, but a bunch of other ones, if they're going to talk about being less deferential and taking charge, that to me is a direct look at Pedersen and being like, Hey, we don't need you to constantly look off shots and constantly play the puck to your wingers. Deferred, deferred. You don't want to be deferred.

You don't need to be deferential as much as you are. You can shoot the puck with more regularity. And I mean, look at last night, that all adds up to the equation that he knows seven shots on net and a pretty emphatic victory for the Canucks. Yeah, go ahead. Well, I just want to read some text because it's mixed as usual. Here's a text. I think it's Petey showing progress.

If he keeps doing that, points will come. Meanwhile, Nate in Richmond takes in, there's got to be higher expectations for Petey, guys. Remember that great dump in during the second period? That was a good dump in. I've said all along I don't want to lower the bar for Pedersen. I think I've lowered the bar. It's been lowered. It's been lowered.

Yeah, it has. And that's going to be the great debate until we see production that's on par with the money that he makes. I don't know how else to describe it at this point. Some guys were tripping me when I was complaining about the core prior to Miller's goal. And one guy was like, but Petey screened that guy. And I'm like, yeah, he stood in front of the net. That's great.

I don't want him. Luke Texin, the bar is frozen to the damn ice. That's how low it is. Yeah, again. I tripped over it. Go look. Yeah, go look. Go look around at other players

that are making that amount of money. If you want to drop the bar and say, hey, for the amount of minutes that he's playing and what he gave you last night, it's a good performance, that's fine. You can make that argument. But the amount of cap that that takes up doesn't fit with the remainder

of the National Hockey League. And there's no arguing that, there's none. Go look at the other, it's rarefied air when you make that much money. And I don't know what to tell everyone about that. It's, if it's fair or unfair in your world, I don't think that matters. Why are you so hard on him?

I don't think that matters. They're gonna need to have more at some point. He's been doing some great screens. He had a couple of good defensive plays that were spot shadowed by the Amazon crew last night. Tied a guy's stick up at the blue line. He's gonna look at that stick tie up. Good positioning.

He's going to win the selkie and you're going to feel so foolish. Mike. He's not going to win the selkie. He's probably not going to win a selkie. Not with that attitude. No. Anyway, back to Lankton.

Were you joking in the notes where you said that he might get six games in a row? No. Going into the four nations faceoff? That's what Jody Shelley was saying. Yeah, I think he said he was going to get the run for the rest of this road trip. No, he said until the break.

He said until the break, until the break, it's six games, six games, no back to backs. There's a lot of games. Look at what Joey DeCord's doing for Seattle. He plays every game now. Grubauer hasn't played in, I don't know, years, it seems like down there. I think that this is.

Just to say Joey DeCord's legs have exploded. Yeah. I think that this is. He's course legs have exploded. Yeah, I think that this is still gonna play over group hour. If you want to start looking at narratives over the next week or so, I think this is the one to follow the closest because it's a real pickle that the Canucks are in with their goal tenders. I'm still gonna follow the trade stuff closer. Yeah, it's fine. but I mean, this might lead to that. I don't know if they're in a position to not, when it comes to gold tainting, I don't know if they're in a position to think anything other than what guy is gonna get us two points tonight.

End of thought, end of sentence, end of conversation. I think that they are in that mode right now because they are still very much in the thick of the playoff chase. As far as I understand it, they would like to be in the post season. And I think that if this season, and you know, you want to, I throw out

the word salvageable yesterday, that to me is look at what's coming up with two more games on the road and then I think three or four at home before the break. There's points on the board, there's points on the table and your sole impetus is what goalie gives us the best chance to get two points out of each of these games because you're right, there's not a lot of back to backs

and everything. Now, if you make the decision that in the majority of those, the goalie that's gonna get you the two points is Lankanen, I think you have a real, real, real big looming dark cloud on the horizon, which his name is Thatcher Demko because one, he's obviously gonna wanna play. Two, I don't remember a time where he's been deployed as a little used backup, which is what he would be.

If he's, let's say over the next six games, Lankenen goes five of six, four of six, which I don't think is out of the realm of possible. What if he goes six of six? Well, what if he goes six of six? I feel more confident in Lankenen than Demko right now. No kidding. Yeah, thanks, Adog.

Wow, man, you are sharp this morning. I'm just saying, so give him all six. I ran the numbers through the. So give them all six. I ran the numbers through yesterday. I ran the numbers through yesterday. So we talked about that January 14th game when they lost 6-1 in Winnipeg, right? And that was the one where Lankton got the shutout in Toronto and they went right back to

Lankton in the next game, even though that Winnipeg game was against The most highly touted and bonafide best not just American goalie But goalie in the NHL and Connor Hellebuck and we all thought Man, that sure seems like a game that Demko probably would have wanted a chance to go up against Hellebuck head-to-head in that game They went with Lankton in Lankton and got skunked. What happened after that three straight games for Demko. Four straight games. Four straight games. Four straight games for Demko. Now to be fair, Lankanen was sick. Yep.

But still. During some of that. Four straight games for Demko. Yeah, no, I know. But like, I don't know if that would have happened. Okay, take this. If Lankanen. Sure, but take that part of it out of it.

He got the four game run. Mm-hmm. You know, circumstances are otherwise, you got those games. So that's a proving ground for you because your season's been erratic so far. In those four games, Demko goes one and three chances are otherwise, you got those games. That's a proving ground for you because your season's been erratic so far. In those four games, Demko goes one and three and

has an 833 save percentage. The numbers do not bear out very well. And then to make it worse for Demko, Lankton comes back in, has a great game against Washington on Saturday, 32 saves and a 2-1 win. It was rock solid last night. Ladi, I have a question for you. Is the only way for Demko to find his game to get

games or can there be more work done while he's not playing that's going to help him improve a little bit? I think he needs regular reps to stay up and at the NHL level. I think that's definitely what you're talking about is crucial, but I think with his injury situation too, I think there is some work to be done in practice. So I think there's credence to be laid to both approaches.

There's a remark he made after, I think the Buffalo game, the one where they blew the third period lead and he was a little upset that he didn't come up with one of those saves. And he said, I feel like I've lost touch with the game a little bit. And you know, he doesn't mean like, what is hockey anymore?

It means like. Maybe he was existential. Yeah, yeah. Very profound. I was like, I just don't recognize this game. It's just his touch with the game. Um, and it's just the feel of the game. So I don't know how that can be replicated in practices.

Well, a lot of it, when the injury happened, right? People were discussing whether or not he'd have to adjust his game, basically his new future with this injury that he has to deal with. This might be part of it. This might be him just adjusting his game and getting used to playing in the world with a broken popliteus.

Well, how about adjusting the mentals of you're not the starter right now? That too, very competitive guy. To me, that's the bigger thing, like getting his game on track or not getting his game on track, it's almost secondary because they keep they don't they don't have that luxury right now. But he would agree he hasn't been good enough. Sure. But will he agree that he's not like I'm OK with not playing? No.

Right. He's not going to be. He's never been that guy. I don't think he's wired that way at all. I think he thinks that that's his net and that Kevin Langdon is in it. And that's not to try and create something that's not there. That's any top flight elite level goalie, right? That's my net. The guy was nominated for a Vezna last year.

He considers himself, and rightly so, one of the best goalies in the NHL. And you want that level of competition. It's a friendly competition, but you want that level of competition. It's a friendly competition, but you want that level of competition. So, I mean, but to me, the thing that compounds all of this is like, if Lankton went in and was average or was poor,

then you'd be like, okay, there's nothing to choose from here, put Demko back in. But the moment that Demko comes off that tough four game stretch, and now Lankton's got back to back with good performances. You kind of put it on the coaching staff. You're like, how do you not play him? Cause you need the points, you need the wins.

If the coaches want to talk about consistency from the players, I think the players could turn around and say, hey, from a coaching staff, from decisions, you guys need to hold up your end of the bargain with consistency. If getting wins is icing the best lineup, then Lankton has gotta be the guy right now. Demko would be piping up.

I disagree with the guys. However, like offer an alternative. Anyway, okay, we got a lot more to get to on the program today. Greg Wyshinski is gonna join us on the other side. Before we get to Greg, I do need to remind you that the big football party is Sunday, February the 9thth hosted by Sportsnet 650 at the Clayton Public House. If you don't get the tickets or the $50 gift card to the Clayton, that's okay.

You can still get reservations for a seat or a table at the big football party. Visit them at theclaytonpub.com. The Clayton Public House. Good food, good people, good times. You are listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you keep finding these. Where does he find these? From the Nintendo archives.

This is from the ESPN National Hockey Night Super Nintendo game. So cool. Wish he'll appreciate this. It's pretty clean. This is that baseline. Oh yeah. You are listening to the Haliford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford and Bruff 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. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour One of the program. Greg Wyshinski from ESPN is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour One of this program is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go, Greg Wyshinski joins us now on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Wysh? You know, my happiest times when I was a kid was I was in my basement, literally my mom's basement for all you vlog fans out there. And I would play like Super Nintendo, but

I would turn the sound down on the game so I could listen to WFAN Sports Talk Radio. So I've got the Sports Talk Radio in back of me. I've got like Yoshi's Island on the TV. And it's entirely predictable that my life turned out the way that it did with, you know, Mike and the Mad Dog arguing about who the Jets place kicker should be whilst playing video games. That's the totality of my being right there. So who's your favorite guy on sports radio? It was Mike and the Mad Dog. Again, who are those guys?

It doesn't resonate with Vancouver people a lot. Well, those were two. It was one guy named Mike Francesca, who was like this curmudgeonly old Italian guy. And then Chris, the Mad Dog Russo, who you may know from various ESGN appearances now or whatever. But like, it was one guy who was like the laconic sarcastic guy. The other guy that was the yippy dog, kind of like Jason's the laconic sarcastic guy and Mike's the yippy dog. It's a tried and true sports talk radio format. Yeah, they asked us when we broke into this,

who wants to be the dog? And I was like, woof. But the reason, not to make this a referendum on sports talk radio, but the reason why that station meant something to me and why there's so few stations, think that really got it when the medium was booming was that they took it, they had fun with it, but they took it seriously. Like the discussions about the New York Jets place kicker were life and death discussions. Like you were entering the octagon when you were debating these topics and I always appreciated that they kept K-Fabe,

for lack of a better wrestling term, in the sense that these are important things to the people listening, and we are going to treat them with import. And I always appreciated that. Like a good sports debate show has to treat it with some level of import, even though it's absolute frivolity.

You should hear our conversations about Elias Pettersson. They are life and death. That's what I'm talking about. That's why, and again, and the times I've listened to Vancouver radio, you guys get it. You guys do treat these things with some level of importance.

I appreciate that. I want to talk about Rantanen because I want to know, and I'm sure you've talked to a lot of people here, what happened Because Rantanen seemed shocked and a little upset. Nathan McKinnon, Jared Bednar, they seem pissed off that it happened and poor Marty Natchez has to go in there and be like, Hey, I'm pretty good too. What do you think about McKinnon's, he goes,

shut up. But what do you think about McKinnon's, he goes, shut up. But what do you think about what happened here? God forbid Nate just walked in eating a Snickers, like, oh boy. And you're really on McKinnon's bad side. So here's how I really think it played out. I think it played out where the Colorado Avon Lanch had a number in mind, or they maybe

didn't, I don't know, but like they clearly weren't going to sign Ratman for what he believed he was worth he's said it in various languages that he was going to take less than market rates if they were colorado i cautioned people who players say that because we don't know what their conception of market rate is like i was

going to take less than dry title the state okay we're still making a lot more than the kid like like that but that's kind of the thing, right? I think the Colorado avalanche made, made two decisions here. They made one that they did not want to pay rent in that money, knowing what they're going to have to pay in a car in two years. And I think they also decided that when they look at their roster, it is not a roster that's deep enough to win a cup. They, I think that's their assessment of the current state of affairs.

And if they want to win a cup, they have to get better throughout the lineup. And so that's another part of it. And the third part of it is that I kind of believe that maybe, just maybe, they think if they can stick the right player next to Nathan McKinnon, they can get 85% of Miko Rantanen. That doesn't mean they're going to get Miko Rantanen. I think that Chris McFarland is completely right when he says that that's a unicorn. That's like a guy who comes along in the draft once every 10 years for you.

But I mean, you're paying one of the best centers in the world to make guys better. And I think that the combination of those factors meant they weren't going to give him the contract he was looking for. And then off we go with one of the bigger blockbusters we've seen in the league in a long time. So is there another shooter drop, you know, this season for the Avs? Because I look at that roster, I mean, I looked at it with, with Ranton on it. And I was kind of like, maybe, but you know, it's not, it's, it's, uh, this is an unfair bar to hold them to.

It's nowhere close to where they were when they won the Stanley cup. Maybe that's unfair to hold them to, but again, like not anywhere close to where it was. Landis Goeg's future does not look optimistic with the team. Um, I don't know if Casey Middlestad is the 2C that they need.

Like, do you think something else could happen before the trade deadline for the Aves? I think it could. Um, again, I think it all comes down to what they believe they could do. That's not going to help, not only help them this year, but going forward. Like if, you know, Brock Nelson's names come up a

lot of times, I think that's a really, really good fit for them. That type of player, a great two-way center, a guy who can also contribute offensively. You could see him slotting in behind McKinnon in sort of that Nozzum-Codrie role that I think they've been trying to replace since Codrie left. And so, but like if that's a rental, I mean, to what end? Like, because I think you're right. I don't think they're as good as Winnipeg and I don't think they're as good as Vegas. I don't think they're as good as a lot of teams in the West right now, even if they're going to

make the playoffs. So if it's Nelson or anybody else, I think it's got to serve this year because you got to be in it to win it and they're going to make the playoffs. So you might as well at least shoot your shot. But I think it also has to be a move that is going to linger on beyond this year. And that's sort of linger on beyond this year. And that's sort of what they have in mind. But I will tell you, like you mentioned conversations around the league, I mean, like the conversation around the league is when I was calling sources over the weekend was what are they going to do with center?

Like what are they going to do now with this flexibility and some assets to address the center spot? Because we all believe that's probably the next shoe to drop. What about the other move or other moves plural that Carolina was contemplating here? How close were they to coming to fruition before they decided on ranting? So it's my understanding that like it really was a let's all put our cards on the table a couple of weeks for these teams for Carolina, for Vancouver, for Colorado, maybe for others that we don't know about.

But Carolina wanted to make a deal. And so I think they were tired of the negotiation process with all these teams. They wanted to lock something in and get it done and sort of create a little bit of a runway for whoever they bring in. And so what I know is this, Marty Nacius was not ever going to be part of a JT Miller trade. Like he was off the table when it came to Miller. He probably was going to be part of an Elias Pedersen trade. Like without question. I think in order to make that deal get done, that was probably going to be a piece of it. What the other components ultimately look like in those deals,

I don't know, but I think they just like Granton a lot. And I think that they like the Finnish connection with Ajo. And I think that they believe because of their cap situation now versus last summer when they tried to re-sign Gensel to no avail, that they can keep them. And I think the other thing about it too is that like, I think they kind of know that they might get the green light on the money from Tom Dundon, which is a thing that a lot of people have been wondering about. Their biggest task right now is convincing Nico Rantan that the grass ain't greener in New York or somewhere else and that Raleigh is the place you want to spend the next eight years. Oh, and by the way, we're the only

team that can give you eight years. Right. One final one on this trade before we move along. No, I've got a few more. Okay, a few more, you go ahead. I'll finish up. Go ahead, Greg, Jason. Did, is there any, is there any thought out there that the Canes might've used the Vancouver Canucks

to put pressure on Colorado to make a decision on the trade and to give them their best offer? I haven't asked that question. So I don't know. I don't know if there's a perception or not. I don't even know if that's anything that any of these teams would address on a down low. But I mean, my guess is that it was all sincere.

My guess is that they've liked Pedersen for a while. My guess is that they saw Miller as liked Pedersen for a while. My guess is that they saw Miller as a good fit for what they do. I mean, my god, like if if Rob Brendamore is your coach, I think JT Miller is kind of a guy that you'd like to fit that sort of like mold. So I don't I know, I know there's always this notion of like, you know, one one player using another team for leverage or one team weighing another team against another

to gain trade leverage. I don't think that's necessarily true. I think they liked a lot of all the players that they were pursuing. It's just that maybe liked one more than the others and ultimately liked the deal that was there for that player. So what are people around the league saying

about the Canucks situation right now? I mean, the same thing we've talked about for months, that it's untenable, that they assume that because the Miller thing almost happened, that it's probably going to be JT that's shipped out. I know there was recently an uptick of like, well, we can't figure this one out and the Rangers might be the only team in the market for this guy. So maybe we'll go back to the guy who we can trade without permission. I don't know. I think once that comes out, once you got that close and you're like one drastic condition or salary retention away from executing a trade, I mean, the writing's on the wall, right? So I mean, that's sort of been the perception. I think that continues

to be the perception and we'll see what shakes out. I mean, we've sort of been the perception. I think that continues to be the perception and, and, and we'll see what shakes out. I mean, we've also talked about the idea that winning solves everything and the more the Canucks push towards the playoff spot, maybe the, the, the, the calmer everything gets. But I mean, it just, it just seems inevitable. I think that's the sense I get from people around the league.

Two wins in a row, Wish. The Canucks are back. There you go. The Canucks are back. I mean, that is, that is, that is, that is a momentum with a capital M right there. So Elliot Friedman over the weekend on Hockey Net in Canada mentioned that the Canucks and

the Sabres might be having some conversations about Elias Pedersen. Um, now that probably wasn't the top story in Buffalo this weekend, but, um, and I, I, I, I don't know if Buffalo sports fans are, are ready to start thinking about the Sabres again right now, but, um, and I, I don't know if Buffalo sports fans are ready to start thinking about the Sabres again right now, but, uh, are you hearing anything about Buffalo because Buffalo is just continuing to be Buffalo.

I mean, look, if, if Josh Allen could have somehow sped up time, avoided that quarterback blitz, twisted his entire body to the left and thrown an impossible pass, that might've been a first down right there from what I've seen on the internet. So, listen, I think Buffalo is clearly a team that knows it needs to change the game, that it needs to change the mix,

that it needs to do something aggressive. At least I hope they do. I mean, like to me, this is a classic case of just a group of good young players that have atrophied on a team and in a market. And you're probably going to regret trading one of them when you do trade them, but they're desirable to other teams. So you might as well get more of a known commodity and sort of like move in a different direction.

And Pedersen sort of fits that bill. Do I think anything will happen there? I don't know. I mean, like they've, they've got the pieces to probably entice. Like if, if, if the Connexor are in the market for a good young defenseman, well, I mean, do we dare go to trade was one for one for Owen Power? I'm probably not, but I mean, like that's the kind of thing you can see. Uh, if there was ever kind of a move of that nature.

Um, I don't know, I think it's something they should consider, but I have no idea ultimately where it all lies and ultimately if the Canucks are still in the mindset of trading them. Do you think Kevin Adams is going to remain the GM? Dude, I don't know. I don't know how he became the GM. He was Kevin from accounting. You know, like, there was not anybody on the top of the list of, I mean, like everybody when he got hired, and he seems like a decent guy, but everybody when he got hired is they're like, oh yeah, that's a yes, man. That's like, that's somebody who's not going to necessarily, you know, push

back on Terry Pagula or anybody else that's running the team. And so I'm at a loss as to, I mean, you have to make a change at some point based on the success of the team on the ice and the little incremental things he's done here and there have not done enough to move the needle. So yeah, I mean, he, by all accounts, should probably not be the general manager now, but ultimately I don't know where they turn

or what that means or what they ultimately in that franchise see as the right direction to take. One final one on this trade before we move on now. Has anyone figured out what the heck Chicago was doing in this deal? Because I know you tweeted out that no one really understood at the time what Chicago was doing there.

Here's what they weren't doing. Because this is a weird misconception that came up amongst Blackhawk fans. They were not reacquiring their own third round pick to sign someone to an offer sheet. It's not how it works. The draft will have happened by the time you can sign someone to an offer sheet. You need your pick next year, next year, 2026, which they already had. So I had a bunch of Blackhawk fans pushing back on what were they doing here with, well here's what they were doing, that's

not what they were doing. You dum not what they were doing. Okay. You dummies. The second thing is that, listen, I don't like what they did here. I think the idea that they agreed to any of this without realizing it was ranting in is kind of insane. Yeah, that is insane. Which has been multiple reports. Yeah, there's some multiple reports about that.

I think you got to do better to the third. You just have to. You trade Taylor Hall and take that kind of salary to facilitate that kind of trade. You know, 50% of that salary, you know, when a fourth rounder is the going rate for like 25, like, dude, just do better. And so, but if you want to kind of like squint and say, all right, this might be what they were trying to do. It's the idea of it was a way to trade Taylor hall, um, without having to rain retain salary that allows us to then do salary retention on say like

Alec Martinez later on, and then, and then we can get maybe a third for that guy cause we're retaining salary. So there is a little bit of strategy to it, but I just don't, I just don't, you know, 50% of, of, of a, of a six leading score in the league salary and then Taylor hall to facilitate a blockbuster trade that one team clearly wants to make. Like you got to do better than just the third round tech. We're speaking to Greg Wyshinski from ESPN here on the Haliford and Bref show on sportsnet six 50, uh, the playoff bubble watch wish I'm on the most recent one up on ESPN.com right now. With all due respect to the battle in the West between the Canucks and the Blues?

Calgary. Calgary. The East is far more entertaining and far more interesting. Have you been able to accurately handicap this one or are there just too many teams involved to really get a clear picture on who's on the bubble and who's not? The only one I'm going to, I mean, I said to see guys recently, like the people counting out the Rangers are wrong. I mean, I was one of them. They're going to be fine. They're, I mean, they're going to, they're rolling, they're picking up points. They stumbled a little bit against Colorado recently,

but like overall they've been on such a roll and, and really playing the kind of hockey that they can play. Now are they still a terrible 5-on-5 team? Yes, but they ultimately had much better goal-turning than anyone else in the bubble and I think that's what's going to shake out so far as them making the playoff cut. The other one is really intriguing. I mean, depending on the week, it's, it's, you know, Columbus, it's, it's Montreal, it's Ottawa. You know, it's, it's a mix of, of a bunch of teams, Boston. And I, and I don't know who's going to ultimately win out. I kind of think maybe Ottawa could, could, could sneak in like when

they get all marked back and healthy, which could set up a really fun first round series between them and the Leafs potentially, which maybe this is a wish my heart is making to see that series. But the Rangers definitely, and then the other one is just the Schmoz. Although now I'm worried like the Devils are gonna end up in the wild card

because they can't win games anymore apparently, which is a whole other conversation. I think Boston's gonna miss. I really do. I think so too. I think so too. Yeah, I mean, I think the mix other conversation. I think Boston's gonna miss. I really do. I think so too. I think so too. Yeah, I mean, I think the mix is off. I think the coaching change hasn't necessarily led

to any great change in their success. And it's just been a down year. They're gonna have to really kind of figure things out. And I also think that where the team is in the standings, if you take Cam Neely at his word, there's not gonna be the cavalry arriving to save this team. They're gonna look at this team and say it's an off season fix,

maybe a retool at the deadline with our sellers, and then we'll kind of figure it out after that. But yeah, I'm with you. I don't think Boston's gonna make it, which of course, clears the way for a Maple Leaf Stanley Cup win now that they don't have to play Boston in the playoffs. Well, my dream first round matchup is in Ottawa

and Toronto, it's Montreal and Toronto, just because Montreal I think would come in there with that youthful energy. And when they're on, they can play a pretty physical game. Um, you know, the Leafs would be heavy favourites, I would think in that series, but, uh, what do you think about the season

that Montreal's had? I mean, feisty would be the word I'd use. Like, you know, they've clearly, I mean, two things have happened for them since the beginning of the season. One obviously is that Sam Motsenbo has learned how to goalie again, because he was not good earlier this season.

And it's kind of amazing that they've, you know, pushed this far with him being A and then pretty good and then Caden Trimo being a disaster where they had to turn to a kid to sort of like supplement their starter and it's worked out. And the other thing too is the Lane Hudson effect. Like we've seen rookies have an energizing effect on teams before and, you know, you watch that kid play and you see the impact that he's had on power play and you see the way that he skates at 5.05 and there's exhilaration to it. I mean, I'm not saying that he's the reason why they've been successful, but there's no

question that when you, it's like putting a nitro booster on your car. Everybody goes faster when they see someone like him play. And I don't think that you can discount that and I think it's gonna be one of the reasons why he's he's gonna be a Calder finalist I but I we're doing the next awards watch soon But I kind of think it's probably gonna be celebrating him and wolf at the top three right now with Mitch coughs Outside the top three, but we'll see how it shakes out. Okay one more before we let you go Four nations face-off. So yesterday we did the story that Alex Patrangelo asked out or isn't gonna play in the

tournament and then hours after releasing the statement that he wasn't gonna play, played in a hockey game a lot of minutes too nearly 25 for the Vegas Golden Knights so that got my my antenna up a little bit because I am wondering what player participation is gonna look like when the tournament is actually on. I know you spoke to Bill Daley. I don't know how lengthy your conversation was, but get us up to speed with what Daley had to say about participation in the Four Nations faceoff.

And if you are like me, a little bit worried that players might start dropping out. Well, my conversation was simply investigating what happened with Petrangelo, which is to find out if the NHL All-Star game rule of you've got to miss the game before or after the All-Star break if you pull out of the game would apply to this exhibition tournament. Right. To which he said no, which was a surprise. I got to be honest with you because I really thought that they wanted to have that in place to encourage players to play. I don't

know maybe it's a heavier lift than All-Star and they're just trying to be as thoughtful as they can with the players that are participating but these guys won't have any kind of regular season penalty if all of a sudden they pull out of the tournament and so that was intriguing to me. What do I think the participation rates gonna be? Well we already know there are some guys that are injured like Markstrom's not gonna play Yeah, I think the Devils would be insane if they allowed him to play in that tournament If he's if he's healthy or still ailing whatever I mean there's there's a you know

Conversations to be had a bit Austin Matthews other players, too. I think ultimately you're gonna see a lot of them play I mean most of them the majority of them, but this Angelo thing is, is really interesting because you get the sense of it's, it's, he just didn't want to do it. Like, he's not going to be on Team Canada necessarily, or maybe he is, and he doesn't worry about it. I don't know. I mean, and he's probably thinking about the long game here of I could use two and a half weeks of rest versus playing this tournament that I don't really need because I have gold medals and this ain't the World Cup and and I wonder if there's other veteran players that might be in the same mix

that would prefer to have the three weeks off and then playing this thing and if that's the case then you might have guys that duck out but I don't think it's gonna be enough to really impact it's not like we're gonna be watching the Pyeongchang men's hockey tournament here, right? Like a bunch of people that we've never heard of skating around It's it's gonna be fine. But what I don't think he's gonna be the for the last to duck out wish great stuff as always But thanks for doing this. We appreciate it anytime. Thanks for having me Greg was Chinsky from ESPN here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up on the other side of the break, it's Ray Ferraro.

He'll be joining us at 7 o'clock. Brandon Batchelor at 8. A couple of giveaways at 8 o'clock at 8.15. And what we learn is at 8.30. Get him in now. Dunbar number text line is 650-650. You're listening to the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.