Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Need Another Right Shot D

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk Elias Pettersson as well as the latest NHL news with Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli (2:22), plus the boys talk a big Canada Soccer win and a potential BC Lions QB controversy (27:00).  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.

Frank! Frank Cerebelli Frank Daily Face Off Frank Frank That's the one I always miss. 702 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Happy Wednesday. You're scared now. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Happy Wednesday. You're scared now. Happy Wednesday, everybody.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough 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 2 of the program.

Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is brought to you by Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason Hominick shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him at Jason.Mortgage for for more we are coming to you live from the kintec studio kintec canada's favorite orthodox provider powered by thousands of five-star google reviews sore feet what are you waiting for kintec okay uh a quick psa to all the listeners that don't want to hear about elias peterson right now. You're getting some. Well, yeah, one. We got two hours left, brother.

First of all, we are merely a reflection of what the listenership has been texting in incessantly, repetitively, and consistently through the first hour of the program, right? We're not putting this on, not making it up. We are merely a vessel for you, the listeners, right? We're not putting this on, not making it up. We are merely a vessel for you, the listeners, to voice your opinions. You're servicing the listeners.

That's one way of putting it. So it is what it is. People want to know. People want to talk. People want to figure out what's going on with Elias Pettersson. Let's ask our next guest that very question right off the bat. Joining us now from Daily Faceoff, Frank Cervalli, here on the Halford & Brough Show on sportsnet 650 morning frank how are you pretty good how are you guys uh we're well it's been an interesting hour the first hour of the program

spent a lot of time talking about vancouver's 401 loss in tampa bay to the lightning yesterday but it seems like no matter what the results are or or if it's an overtime loss or a shootout loss or a regulation loss, everything kind of comes back to one guy and one question. It's what's going on with Elias Pettersson. Do you want to try and take a stab at this, even maybe going back to the negotiations of the contract that he signed in the spring and then all the rumblings about maybe a trade to Carolina that also popped up around that time?

Do you have any idea what's going on here, Frank? Because we are flummoxed here in Vancouver. I mean, to be honest, I think you have to try and separate that from this. What I see is a supremely talented player that seems to be having a crisis of confidence. I mean, when you have a rush in the zone and you sort of flick a backhand toward the net, that doesn't, like, that's not Elias Pettersson to me. When you see someone who doesn't have really much conviction on the forecheck to hunt down pucks and make plays that's not that's not him like i'm

missing the confidence with the puck the creativity the by by the way just purely hanging on to it and not getting rid of it is a huge part of what's missing i i refuse to believe that that goes back to the contract, the'm, I'm a Canuck mostly for, for life at this point. Um, as far as I can see, or the foreseeable future, that's what the team wanted to try and accomplish. He agreed from his own end and signed it. That's theoretically what he should have wanted. The rest of it now should just be going back to playing. And so I don't know why it would ultimately be connected. Other than the pressure, of course, to perform. Right. And that could be it, right?

It could be the crushing. That's really natural for any player signing a mega contract like that. Okay. Well, that dovetails into what I wanted to ask next. And I know historical context is tough because you have to try and think of something on the spot. But can you remember a situation, anything similar to this? Because Brough was brought up on a number of occasions. He does not remember this kind of dynamic at play where a player gets the deal, gets the contract, gets the security, gets the money. And it doesn't necessarily fix anything.

As a matter of fact, you could maybe say whatever happened there, it made things worse, and it's been a funk that's been extended over a long period of time. It's just how significantly his play has fallen off. It's not, like I've seen slumps in the NHL. This looks like a completely different player to the point where I'm willing to entertain any theories from pressure and confidence.

I definitely think a lot of it's mental, but I also wonder if there's something physical contributing to the mental part of it. Frank, I know you follow the Canucks closely. I can tell you the team doesn't think that there's anything physical and obviously they wouldn't put him in a position to play if, if they believe that there was a physical issue at play here. What do you think the team is thinking right now about their decision to give this guy

the eight year contract? I mean, that part I can't hypothesize. I don't have any viewpoint in that. I mean, we are two games into a new contract? Three games into a new contract? Three. And by the way, the Canucks are one win away their next game from having the same number of points through the same number of games as last year.

Probably should point that out, even though it feels a lot different this year. It's hard to wrap your brain around. I mean, I think that part is clear, that how could a player that looks so good and so strong look to me so much of it is body language he doesn't look like he's ready to compete or ready to be in the battle and that part is I don't like it I want to be careful how I say this because I don't know that it's... Don't worry. I can feel how hard this is for you. It's hard for us, too, because we're trying to find answers here,

and we don't want to say anything that's completely crazy or anything. Part of it is confidence. Part of it is he also at times looks like he's scared. And I don't know of what because we didn't see any of that before at any point in his career. I think scared is a good way to put it. He looks like he's, I mean, tentative might be a nicer way to put it. Scared of making mistakes, scared of, I don't know, losing a battle. Scared of contact at times. That part looks like it's, it's there.

Tentative is probably a great way to say it um i i don't know any other way to describe it because it's so unusual for him and his game to see it that i don't know where it came from yeah um is it too early to talk about trading for right shot defensemen or is that later on down the line? Because I know that's always a popular topic Arnaz had a tough start to his Canucks tenure and finds himself in the press box. I think, what, did he play one game? I guess Calgary's start might quell the Rasmus Andersen speculation a little bit, but what does the market look like for right-shot defensemen three games into the season? Yes, certainly not teaming and by the way from the Rasmus Anderson perspective I know the the Flames and Canucks

have done a lot of business going over the last calendar year but the every indication that I have from Calgary is that they want to try and, especially with the strong start, they want to try and keep this team together. They're not rushing into any conversations about moving players. They feel like they finally got a mix of a roster that really wants to be in Calgary, which they think makes a big difference compared to a bunch of guys last year who seemingly had one foot out the door. And so they're going to really try and slow play any of those conversations and certainly don't have any designs on entertaining those conversations to start the year. When you're looking at right shot defensemen, the first person that comes to mind is Timothy Liljegren in Toronto. Certainly available. The Leafs, again, are dealing with a

situation where they've got a 25-year-old right shot D who had shown some promise at some points, was leaped over on the depth chart, and now they are in a position where back in the lineup, I believe, to get his first action of the season. But they his trade value is the lowest that it's been. So I don't know that they necessarily want to pull the trigger right now. I think part of this exercise of getting him back in the lineup is to, you know, to try and showcase him a little bit because they will ultimately have to make a decision. But even at the $3 million price point, like, it doesn't really work for the Canucks. Like who are you moving out to bring him in?

We're speaking to Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of the Canucks, you spoke recently with a former Vancouver Canuck and a recent former Vancouver Canuck, Elias Lindholm, when doing the latest episode of Frankly Speaking.

Deep dive on the Bruins and their sustained success and their culture and all the winning and playoff appearances consecutively that they've done. We'll get to that in a moment, but first,

how was your conversation with Lindholm? What did he have to say about life with the Bruins and maybe even past life with the Canucks? Yeah, I think one of the real candid parts about our conversation was really how he struggled with the weight of last season that it is difficult playing in a contract year the uncertainty of where you're going to end up and then I think he got to Vancouver and just

you know really wanted to try so hard for success that sometimes that ends up going the other way and then obviously not completely healthy during that run that probably also contributed to it um when it got to the playoffs though I think it was really clear that we saw the real Elias Lindholm and how much of a factor he was. I mentioned in the pod that the Edmonton Oilers are certainly happy that Lindholm is out east. I mean, they got a healthy dose of him for the last number of years between Calgary and Vancouver, different matchups that they felt like he was an absolute pain to play against. And I think he enjoyed his time in Vancouver,

also probably knew that at some point that, you know, it probably wasn't going to work out for the long term and was someone that really just wanted to put his best foot forward. So he's happy to be back in the East after starting his career in Carolina. And I think someone that, while he may not have the ability to carry a top-end unit on his own, meaning point production-wise, I think it's a bunny clear that Lindholm needs to play with guys who can run with the ball, and he's a great complementary piece.

Though the complete factor of his game, I think, is really important and shouldn't be overlooked. And the Canucks did certainly get to enjoy part of that on their run to game seven. So I think he's a strong fit in Boston. And I think for whatever reason, and I know they've had some of their own issues to start this season, mainly going up against the Panthers. But I think people are sleeping on the Bruins a bit. I want to talk about a couple of winless teams in the Western Conference. The Edmonton Oilers are not one of them anymore

after they got a come-from-behind win over the Philadelphia Flyers last night. But Colorado is 0-3, and they've been outscored 20-10 over their first three games, so 20 goals allowed in three games. Is that bad? That's bad. So is what's happening in Nashville,

and there are high expectations for Nashville considering some of the additions they made to their lineup. They're 0-3, and they've been outscored. Six goals in three games. Yeah, and they've been outscored 14-6. They got blasted by the Kraken 7-3 last night. Which start is more concerning for you? It's definitely Colorado, and I mentioned before this season started

that I think Colorado is one of the biggest wild cards in the whole league there they'll probably find a way to get it together and figure it out but it's going to take some time before reinforcements come and we still have zero timeline on Gabriel Lanskog it's looking like November 15th for Val Nachushkin and what about this goaltending situation? I mean, the sample size on Alexander Georgiev playing really poor hockey is, it's abundant. 74 games last year, 63 in the regular season, 11 in the playoffs, and 897 save percentage.

That's well below league average. Then their solution, before claiming Capoakunin off of waivers has been well you know we can always throw eustace anan in the net young upcoming goalie that we really like he's 24 the problem with him is that he barely has a quarter season of nhl experience under his belt so me, I understand that they're in cap hell and that they can't go out and spend to add a goalie. But the difficult part for them is, like, how do you solve it now? Kakanen might be able to spell you for a bit as a waiver claim, but you don't really have the ability or option

to go out and trade for something better. I guess my real surprise is that they didn't try and address it in a more meaningful way this offseason. We're speaking to Frank Cervelli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We were just speaking with David Amber going around the league with a couple of things, and Brough brought up an interesting question with him talking about contract length,

and I think it was with regards to Jonathan Huberto, right, about the lengthy deal that he signed. Yeah. And how it was, I mean, for a year, it was considered maybe the worst contract in the NHL. Now it's not. He's come to life a little bit. He's come to life a little bit.

Two-parter, do you think that if contracts were shorter in length, it would be a better thing for the league? And when the next collective bargaining agreement comes around, is there any appetite to shorten it from its current eight-year length max term? I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the asks on the list from owners. And I think in some ways it could be mutually beneficial. I mean, look at the earning power of Austin Matthews, for instance, the, the quickest, it depends on how you look at it, right? What's your willingness to bet on yourself? Um, the quickest way you can get to the next

renegotiation point is always the way to raise your earnings? Or do you prefer the security of, hey, what happens if I get hurt in year three of a four-year deal? Then what? What happens after that? So there's always insurance factors and other things involved that change the conversation or could help support whatever way you decide to go. But I think, to me, to me, it's a double-edged sword. Like, on the one hand, you see some teams get into some real trouble with long-term deals, but then on the other, you see teams enjoy absolute bargains for long periods of time with players that have given your team and your salary cap picture some real

cost certainty. So my guess would be that in the end, we don't end up having a change because I think there's a ton of players that really like it and certainly some teams as well, that it's probably really split on how you view it. Frank, great stuff as always, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. Enjoy the games tonight and the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Wednesday. See you guys. See you later. Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford &

Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So, Jay in Calgary texted into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650 and said, we did see this before with Elias Pettersson. The season Travis Green was fired. it was just as bad as this. And yeah, we have seen Petey slump like this before. And you remember rock bottom in Carolina.

It's burned into your memory. You remember it so clearly. It is. But it also gives me some hope that he can find his way out of it because i can't remember what the very next game was but the very next game he kind of came alive and that's why we call it rock bottom in carolina you remember he like tripped over was it freddie anderson in goal for carolina he tripped over a stick or something like that. And there was just like, he was just, it was, it was bad.

Um, and then Petey said after he recovered from his slump and he said, you know, I, I'm not going to give you guys headlines, which was one of his favorite lines. And he didn't want to go into it too much. Ah,

but that in itself is a headline. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but he said i you know to paraphrase him learn some stuff about myself i learned how to get myself out of this and we thought okay well you know that's a learning experience in the nhl he had a slump he got himself out of it good for him and that's why part of me wonders if he could get

himself out of this one if he found it and part of me is also like i know there's a lot of people out there that are hoping that this gets incrementally better so you look at games like last night and go well there were a few good things. You know, he found his legs. Maybe this will get incrementally better. I tend to think that this isn't one of these things that's going to get incrementally better. For me, I think there's going to be, if there is going to be a recovery for Elias Pettersson, it's going to happen quickly. He's going to find something in his game, and it's not going to be, well, he just got better and better over three months, and now he's back to playing at this high level

because I think this is a lot of mental, I think this is a lot of confidence, and if he finds something in his game, my hope at least is that he just takes off. Yeah. The incremental thing, I don't know. I don't know if that's the way it's going to happen. I appreciate the historical look back,

and again, I know that a lot of future behaviors are dictated and can be predicted by past performances. The biggest difference between the aforementioned slump and the low in Carolina was that the team was no good and they had no expectations. They were bad. They were in the middle of a season where they fired Travis Green and they brought in Bruce Boudreaux, but they still weren't, how would I put it? A serious hockey team.

They were deeply unserious. This adds to the pressure, doesn't it? Yeah. And his new contract. Yeah. I mean, if you want to start looking at pressure points, you've got a coach that's got a lot of clout and is the reigning coach of the year and is held in very high esteem.

You've got a captain of the team that just won a Norris trophy and is the best at his position as voted on by the writers and is carrying the mail on a nightly basis. You've got an alpha type leader in JT Miller who's playing at a very high level and is, as we said, bringing energy and being a very noisy, demonstrative, difference-making, sometimes in a bad way, but difference-making player, the stakes are being raised all around you. And you went to the second round of the playoffs last year. Your management group went aggressive, aggressive,

and bringing in a rental that they paid a high price for. Like, the stakes are high. I know we've got to go to break, but our co-worker Josh Elliott-Wolf, what do you think about this suggesting they put Garland and Hoaglander with Petey and then move to Brusk up to the top line? Yeah, we talked about that

earlier in the show. I know Garland specifically you mentioned, but just more so for like that energy level. Put the lotto line back together. Yeah, I could try that too.

But do you get what I'm saying? Yes. That's... Petey's got to get out of this himself, man. Yeah, I know. His teammates aren't going to dig himself out of this. Yeah. He's got to get out of this himself man Yeah I know He's not going to His teammates aren't going to Dig himself out of this

Yeah He's got to get out of it himself Someone texted in Am I the only one who thought Petey was their best forward last night? Yes you are No David Quadrelli David Quadrelli

Also thought he was the best forward last night No Connor Garland was easily Their best forward last night We've got an open segment on the other side Text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line 650-650. We'll also go through

some other stories in sports. Canada played soccer yesterday and probably Halford wants to talk about that. You know what else we need to do? What? We need to talk about the BC Lions.

Oh, the BC Lions, right. Yeah. Big decision. There's a quarterback story there. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd.

And Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 732 on a Wednesday happy Wednesday everybody Halford Brough Sportsnet 650. This one's a banger.

This is good. Called Blowout Win. Blowout Win? Yeah. That's what the Canucks need. That's why I'm playing it. Is it really called Blowout Win? Yeah, it is.

That's awesome. Wow. Turn it up a little bit? Halford Brough 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. I've been laughing all morning.

You're just chuckling like a little girl. I've got to pull it together. I can't help it. The dogs are adorable and funny. They're chuckling away back there. I just love trying to watch you do a read over top of like some very, very loud flugelhorn or something. This is so abrasive.

But like a fake flugelhorn. Yeah, and Halverson's trying to like power through it. We are in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Just kidding. Let him do exactly that.

Visit him at Jason.mortgage. So to take you guys behind the scenes a little bit of the show. Maybe this is why I'm having such a chuckle this morning. It's just such a crazy existence that we lead. The first half hour, we went over the Canucks game last night, and we spent 20 minutes talking about the game without mentioning Elias Pettersson. Correct. And that was intentional.

Correct. And then right at the end of the first segment, I guess I had a fairly strong, not rant, but it was just on Pettersson and saying, like, are people just catching up here? Like, this is crazy. I mean, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here. The guy has not been himself since the all-star break last season, you know, and anyone saying like, it's been three games, relax. Like, are you not watching? So I went through it all. I said, I don't know what's going on. I'm flummoxed by what's happening. It's i've never seen it before and it's a drastic fall off and then at the end of the segment is when a dog usually posts the video from the show the video

so it goes up on social media and i said a dog do not put that petterson thing up there yep i just i don't like so for all of you that texted and say say, Bruf, you just want this for the clicks, and you guys are just doing this. Like, I don't want this. He's actually doing the opposite. I don't want this, but I have to do it. You have to call it like you see it. And everyone texting in about Petey and saying,

you got to put him with this guy, put him with this guy. This is Talkit's fault. This is so-and-so's fault. It's up to Petey to get out of this. I'm glad you brought that up. We actually are doing the opposite of... I don't want to throw gasoline on the fire here. We're not click baiting.

We're saying the opposite. Cowards. A-Dog really wants to put up a Pettersson-related video. We had one on Thanksgiving Monday. It was supposed to be a nice day. Spend some time with your family, eat some turkey. We talked about Noah Juleson before we talked about Petey this morning. We talked about Seelovs quite a bit as we laid him out for the blame game.

Let's talk about the BC Lions and their quarterback controversy. Okay. This is quite a decision by the organization. So yesterday, we have BC Lions General Manager Neil McEvoy on the organization. So yesterday we have BC lions, general manager, Neil McEvoy on the show. And I had two particular questions that I wanted to ask. And I kind of knew what the answers were going to be because he's the

general manager. He's not the head coach. He's going to defer to the head coach. One was not even if like how much you guys anticipate playing Vernon Adams in the season finale, because the game doesn't mean anything. He hasn't had any real game time, save for that second half that he got against the Argos

in relief of Nathan Rourke a few weeks ago. And Rourke hasn't been great. So, you know, McAvoy kind of gave us something to chew on there. And he said, you know, I'd like, I think a good way to do it would be to maybe have both guys play or do whatever it takes to get us a win and get us some positive momentum going into the playoffs. The other question I had was, is the organization ready to, you know, say right now,

so this is before the final regular season game and before the week 19 bye week, which is a great piece of scheduling, that you commit to Nathan Rourke as your starting playoff quarterback right now, two weeks ahead. And it was the same sort of answer, and it was sort of like, it's the coach's decision. So then yesterday at practice, Rick Campbell was asked

about his quarterback situation right away. Because with all the things that are ailing this team, everyone wants to know what's going on at quarterback. You have two guys that you said you were going to use, and when you signed Nathan Rourke, you said Vernon Adams is still a big part of this team. But then the execution never matched those remarks because Vernon Adams has not played at all, really.

It's been all Nathan Rourke right up until this point. That's fair to say, right? Except for that half against Toronto. Except for that half, yeah. It's been all Nathan Rourke right up until this point. That's fair to say, right? Except for that half against Toronto. Except for the half, yeah. Which is not a lot. So anyway, we're just going to let the audio go, including the question and answer period, where the head coach, Rick Campbell,

confirms that, one, Vernon Adams is going to start against Montreal in the season finale, and maybe even wildly beyond that decision which I think is kind of crazy it's open for starting in the playoffs like if he performs well Vernon Adams could be the starter when the BC Lions go to the playoffs here now the question and answer period following BC Lions practice yesterday with head coach Rick Campbell. We saw Vernon taking first team reps.

Can you tell us what's going to happen on Saturday? Yeah, he's going to start and play this week. Yeah. How much? All of it. Yeah, he's going to be our guy. When you look at his numbers, he's only thrown seven passes in the last eight games.

That's half of your season. Yeah. What's taken so long to see that, and how important is it to get him more action now? Yeah, we want to get him in there and see how it goes, see if we can get a change of energy, that type of thing. So also he's obviously a very good player, so we want to get him in there and see how he goes.

I guess best case scenario is it goes very well, but then what is your decision come playoff time as to who will start in the playoffs? Yeah the statement from the very beginning was we want to use both these guys to the um we got two starting quarterbacks so we want to use them to the best of the ability and um you know if Vernon changes it up and we got a good good energy going and stuff then we'll roll we'll roll with whatever gives us the best chance in the playoffs. How did Nathan handle it? Those guys uh those guys are both role models in my book they're just ultimate team guys um I think Nathan it's more a matter of circumstance I don't think our football team's problem is our quarterback position um I think it's our whole football team offense defense and special teams not playing well enough and coaches too so I don't think it's our whole football team, offense, defense, and special

teams not playing well enough and coaches too. So I don't think it's a quarterback issue, but I think it's a circumstance where we're looking to change things up a bit. And we got two guys that are starting quarterbacks and we're going to do whatever it takes to give ourselves the best chance. If it's not a quarterback issue, then why are you changing the quarterback? He's just trying anything at this point. Don't say it's not a quarterback issue. If you're changing the quarterback, and that's the only starter

that you're changing, this is mind-blowing. The team is flailing, right? They're totally flailing. I'm kind of here for it. Maybe it'll work. Maybe it'll work. It's the CFL. You just got to get hot. You just got to get hot. A little bit hot.

We said at the time that we have two starting quarterbacks. Then why didn't you use both of them? You threw seven passes in eight games, Vernon Adams. I don't even care about I don't even care, really. I'm just like, don't say one thing, and't even care really I'm just like don't say one thing and then in the very

next breath like counter everything you just said like I don't know and he was up there just kind of like yeah try it out let's see what happens I think they're out of answers man they must be they feel like they need to do

something bold and I might almost be with them frankly it's like uh you just this whole lion season has been like okay well we'll bring back nathan we'll bring back matthew batts and it's i don't want to say those are hail marys. I don't consider those moves like the moves that the New York Jets have made, for example. But as the season, this last month or so, where the only team they've beaten is Calgary, and they had a terrible collapse against Hamilton, a dreadful home game against the Argos,

and they got smoked in Saskatchewan last week. I think things have been getting worse. The team is completely lost. And again, I said the most likely scenario for all of this is that the Lions play one more meaningless game against Montreal in the regular season and then they're out and then they have to make some big decisions about who's going to lead this team going forward, including and we're talking about the head coach in in rick campbell and rick and

rick campbell just sounds like a guy that's like i don't know let's try this let's let's see if the whole team can get a spark by vernon adams playing maybe he feels like there was some bad blood in the locker room when nathan rke came in, replaced Vernon Adams. Maybe Vernon Adams was a very popular figure in that locker room and there was some bad blood from the team when Nathan Rourke came in, replaced him, and they want to see if putting Vernon Adams back in there can spark the team and they can get some energy because the thing you look at in that Saskatchewan game

is how it got worse as the game went on. And I don't know if they gave up, but Rick Campbell has made some comments, and you referenced this yesterday, and I think it's really important because it kind of reminds me of some of the comments that had been made about the Canucks before Rick Tockett's season last season where he coached them up and got them to play under pressure.

But it was like when things go badly for this team, they tend to spiral. And as opposed to going, all right, guys, we got to harden up here and find our game. Things get worse. And that is not the type of thing you say about a team that is in a good way. So there's a couple. One person texted in and said, this is a galvanizing move like pulling the goalie in a hockey game. To which I'll say, one, you pull the goalie in a game where you're trying to snap your team out of it so it's fundamentally different in that regard

two they tried this already they went to Vernon Adams for a half against the Argonauts when they lost 33-16 looking to find a spark and then they went right back to Rourke and there was and I was like well They lost 33-16 looking to find a spark. And then they went right back to Rourke.

And I was like, well, what was the point of that exercise? You didn't even give him a shot at it. If they wanted to salvage this thing, you need to give a quarterback that basically hasn't played since the first half of the season more than, I think it was Janauer that was asking the questions, like seven passes over the last eight. Now he goes in, he's got a mean nothing game against an opponent that has nothing to play

for in a, a team that has nothing to play for. Right. And now you've left yourself open to, well, but do you think it's the right decision? I think it's the right decision. I don't think it's the right decision.

You think they should stick with Nathan Rourke? You made the decision when you brought Rourke in. Yeah, but it wasn't working. Sorry? It wasn't working. It hasn't been working for... How many weeks did we go back? I'm just saying, you made the decision.

And I don't think that you could put what's wrong with this team at the feet of the quarterback. No, but the decision to change quarterbacks, I think it's the right decision. We got texters texting in. He says, I'm a season ticket holder. I pay my money for this team. They should have gone back to VA weeks ago. And I think that's where.

That would have been the decision. Yes. And he says, you don't even have to look hard. This is the texter watching the pregame videos, watching the team on the sideline, and how all the offensive players seek out Vernon Adams after a series. It is VA's team. All you got to do is watch.

And this is probably why they've gone back to Vernon Adams. Now, is it going to be too late? Is there going to be a rust factor with Vernon Adams? Maybe, but I do think as much as we can make fun of how they've handled this all and how Rick Campbell says, I don't think it's a quarterback issue, but the big news is we're changing quarterbacks, right? I mean, I'm at the point you know sometimes in a in a season when you're like you're in the might as well seat part of the season sure things are going so badly

for the lions that this is a might as well move sure and i mean i guess there's also the possibility of thinking beyond this very short term. Because, like, I would assume that Nathan Rourke is in the plans to be the quarterback beyond this season. We'll see. Right? And if he's not, great, then make this move. But if he is, you know, whoever's making the call. And I agree with you on a certain level that this is just sort of a let's try it because the season's in a tailspin anyway. Yeah.

Right? But how it got to this point, honestly, I don't know how much it has to do with the quarterback position. This is a flawed team on a lot of different levels. We've had Mo John on a weekly basis. We've had J.C. Abbott on repeatedly. Dollywell's talking about, like, they struggle in a lot of different facets. And, you know, we've mentioned the comments from the head coach where we don't respond to adversity well.

And the general manager comes on and says, you know, maybe we're not as physical as we need to be. So there's a wide array of issues that kind of gets caught up in this, like, who's going to be the starting quarterback thing. And I think it's I just think it's been handled poorly. And I suppose I will offer a bit of a flyer on this one to say, yeah, you know what? If you're at the stage of your season where you're so exasperated, it's like, let's just try it. Fill your boots, right?

Let's go. Away you go with it. They're at the blackjack table and they're down to their final. Sure. Which I do admire. It's been a bad night at the tables. You got that one chip left, you walk by the roulette wheel,

and you're like, you know what? Let's go. Let's go. I did say we were going to read some texts into the Dunbar-Lumber text line, and just a reminder to get your What We Learns in for the What We Learn segment. Darren from Abbotsford.

The way Petey looks out there is the same way he looked in the playoffs in the last three months of the regular season. Either it's because he is still dealing with a knee injury and needs to be sidelined until he's 100% or this is a bigger problem than we thought Frank came on our show just now and said the organization doesn't think it's a physical thing and they haven't really treated it like it's a physical thing. They big time downplayed the tendinitis at the end of last season's press conference. They said the PD's 100% heading into this season.

So I don't, and they've never rested him. They've never been like, okay, he needs to take a game off. He's playing, he's not playing limited minutes. So, you know, there might, I'm sure all players deal with some sort of physical ailments, but according to the organization, that is not a significant factor. Van City, Zavid and Toronto Texan, is it possible Petey could be one of those guys that just might be on the brink of falling out of love with the sport?

There have been some examples of that in the past, right, with athletes in general. Yeah, there have. And again, since we're throwing everything at the wall here. I can't do this. I can't do this. Why? Do you think it's irresponsible? Yeah, I think it's armchair psychology.

Well, that's kind of what we do on this show. We don't. Sure we do. We do fun things. Okay. I don't know. That's a bridge too far for me. I don't know.

Okay, well, the message from the organization is that he isn't putting enough work into his game. So we're not even speculating. Okay, let's talk about what Rick Tockett said on our show just last week. He said, I want Petey to be obsessed with his game like Sidney Crosby is, which is to say Petey is not obsessed with his game like Sidney Crosby is. He wants Petey to go out on the ice early before practice and stay after practice. Instead of shooting 20 shots, he wants him to shoot 100 shots. When Petey first came into the league,

all the talk was about how he was obsessed with the game and getting better. Things got hard for Pettersson after a honeymoon start for Pettersson in Vancouver. And now, do you not wonder? So you don't want any part of this conversation. You don't wonder if Pedersen has lost his passion for the game? I wonder it.

I'm not in any way, shape, or form qualified to suggest yes or no. Bow, bow, bow. What? I'm not. Come on. What a hot take. What? You're not qualified enough.

Yeah, I'm not. I'm qualified to do like a handful of things. I was for the first part. I'm qualified to do like a handful of things. He lost his passion for the game. You know, that didn't even occur to me. I didn't even thought about that. I don't want to think about it because frankly it's disturbing. You're putting ideas in A-Dog's head.

You haven't even thought about it. Have you been watching him play? The guy looks miserable. He looks so miserable. I try and talk myself out of it, I think, is what it is. I don't want to think about it because that would be very, very bad for this team. Very, very, very, very bad for this team. It would be bad.

Again, the contract, the years of length. If he's not interested in the game and he's lost his passion for it well you asked frank you asked frank about what the organizational thought would be on the contract those are the things that intrigue more is i would love to know where the decision makers are at in terms of poking and prodding and the other side of it. What are the ramifications? Because right now. Paul and Coquitlam text in. Sorry.

Yeah, no, no. Of course he's lost his passion for the game. You don't need to be a psychologist to see that. Anybody who understands human beings can observe that. And that's why Halford is having trouble with this because he doesn't understand empathy. He doesn't understand it. What is passion? He can't wrap his head around it. He doesn't understand it. What is passion?

He can't wrap his head around it. He can't look at someone else and pretend or to kind of put himself in his shoes. And that's the sign of a psychopath. That's me. He's got that golden retriever mentality. Armchair psychopath. Oh, man.

Yeah. Okay. As the navel gazing continues here on the Halford & Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650, we keep saying, like, we don't want to talk about this, but we feel compelled to talk about this. And every time we go off topic, we seem to go right back to this topic. And it is perplexing. Like, it's thrown me into a very unique headspace this morning

because part of me is like, at what point are we just doing too much? Yeah, because you just put it on his line mates for months and months and months and months. And I'm like, watch the games, man. Watch the games. He's not playing. It's not his line mates.

It's him. But you were like, no, it's his line mates, his line mates, his line mates. Well, he's got new line mates. Nothing. No change, really. He's the same guy. He got set up a couple times last night by his new line mates.

Yeah, and what did he do? He whiffed. He whiffed on one. So it's super, super perplexing. What adds to the perplexing dynamic is where the team is at competitively and where they want to be. This is a big step forward season for a group that, again, 50 plus wins, 100 plus points, second round of the playoffs last year, game seven of the second round against the eventual Western Conference champs.

This is a team where I understand why the pressure is there and why it's Talkett said the things that he said. We need this guy to be on the same plane of difference makers as our other two leaders and stars i always go with hughes and miller just sort of de facto guys hughes because best defenseman in the nhl last year miller because i feel like he's the emotional heartbeat of the team right and you know you everyone realizes that when you've got a team that's on the cusp of contending to get over the top you can't have any passengers it just doesn't happen yeah right you need everyone firing and you need especially your top guys right you secondary

and tertiary guys have to raise their game and the top guys have to produce at a level that only a handful of guys can touch. That's what 11.6 million means. That's what eight years of term means. That's what being elite means. So you do certain things that other guys can't touch. You're blessed with that sort of skill and that sort of ceiling and that sort of high-end ability. So that's where the Canucks are at

in terms of a competitive cycle right and everything has been accelerated it happened fast last year happened fast yeah remember when they the definitive moment for me last year was when they went out and bought a high priced rental i'm like oh wow we're in this mode yeah this is great yeah we're trade deadline we've been so used to all right who are we gonna sell how can we secure a third round pick in 2020 get the garage sale ready again get the garage ready so clean it up put the signs out so everything was happening quick last year what else happened quick hey petterson we need an answer on your playing future we need to lock this thing in because it's not only going to dictate what we do at this deadline but it's going to dictate what

we do this summer how we lay things out we got to get heronics deal done everything has happened quickly and this competitive window shot wide open last year and that's why there's this real sense i think i'm starting to figure it out now i think this is what this real sense of this can't carry on whatever funk there was from last year like coaches players management like you can't have it right that's why there's a lack of patience that's why they want to get things sorted out right right away that's why i think rick talk it looks frustrated and sounds frustrated even though it's only three games into the season we were all hoping that it would be a fresh start right yep we're all hoping that an off season would clear all this stuff out. With the understanding. And then he'd come barreling into this season looking super motivated,

looking super healthy. And unfortunately, it just hasn't happened. Randeep Janda is going to join this nightmare in a couple of minutes. And then we'll have what we learn segments. So text in your what we learned into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. I think we might be setting a record for text messages into this

show. So many. So many. I think there are more text messages coming into this show than there were in the playoffs last season.

You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.