Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Need More Creativity Up Front

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss what the Canucks' Trade Deadline goals should be today (3:00), plus they talk some hockey and football with commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich (26:48). 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.

7.02 on a Friday, but not just any Friday. It's Fiesta Friday. It's Trade Deadline Friday. Happy Trade Deadline Day, everybody. It's also Ask Us Anything Friday. AJ from AJ's Pizza's gonna join us in just a second here for Ask Us Anything Friday. They are, of course, the presenting sponsor of both Ask Us Anything and the Trade Deadline.

Hey, while you're doing this, can I do a personal thing? I guess. Happy 80th birthday to my dad. Aw, hey, cool. Yeah, Mr. Bruff. Happy 80th. Happy birthday. Mr. Bruff, Dr. Bruff. Is he listening today?

No. Like every day, he is not. He still doesn't know what to do, does he? No, he's like, are you on the radio doing the weather? I'm like, yep. Sister Shae. I always wanted you to go to medical school, goodbye. You're getting a real job.

Happy birthday, Dr. Brough. You are listening to the Halford and Brough show, not a doctor on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough for 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 two of the program. AJ from AJ's Pizza is going to join us in just a second here. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together

with you in step. To the phone lines we go. He is the owner and proprietor of the best pizza place in the world. AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. What up AJ? What is going on? Well, happy birthday to your dad, bro.

Thank you very much. Yeah, of course. 80 man, that's awesome. It's a big one. It's a big one. Doesn't care about sports at all. I just heard, right? Yeah.

He thinks you're on the weather. That's good. I wish I was a weather guy. You guys waste a lot of your lives. I'm like, yes, yes, we do. Got it. AJ, what's happening, buddy? What is going on?

So hey, Jimmy Aces has given me a couple things. Okay. What is going on? So hey, Jimmy Aces has given me a couple things. Okay. One, he says, Canuck ownership is holding up the trade. The best or trade? Yeah. So I'm going to, I'm going to jump in here because in, in one of the great developments in Haliford and Brough and AJ history,

I'm watching the Ray and Draggs podcast, which is Ray Farrar, who we have on our show all the time, and Darren Draggard, and out of nowhere, he starts talking about the Brock Besser trade, and he said, and I quote, I've heard some low-level rumors that he's going to Florida. Low-level from the streets where Jimmy Aces operates.

From the gutters. Jimmy's okay with whatever level he's on. He's not, he's not, there's no, there's no issue whatsoever. He knows who he is. My mind is racing. I'm like, did Dreger just use Jimmy Aces? That is amazing. Hey, and one other thing, he says Rantanen is going to a Canadian franchise. So, okay, this is the other one

We're not the caducks We've got we've got this ranting into Dallas deal, which everyone thought was being done and the general just waiting for it to finish Right. It's not I love Jimmy aces. I love him to death. I'll never and he might end up on the East Coast That's all I'm saying. I'll never forget. I will never forget Jimmy giving us commanders lock in Detroit. And I'm like, this is a crazy pitch guys. Wild. But I love Jimmy aces with all my heart. Okay. Uh, we'll pivot off that. Ask us anything Friday. What do you got? Um, Hey, so I would ask you this is, and this is, this is maybe a bit more of a serious question. My apologies.

Is EP this has that put the Canucks in purgatory? That signing. I've talked about it as being- And do the kids know what purgatory is? And I don't know. Yeah, they can look it up. It's Google safe. I've said that as of right now, it's the biggest mistake that this executive management group has made signing him to that extension,, strong arming him into it, however you want to classify it. It's, I don't know, where would you put it,

Brevis terms of the one of the most egregious contracts, one of the most onerous contracts right now in the NHL, it's up there. I think if you're asking if it has the potential, of course it has the potential. Right. I just think, cause they can't make any moves. I mean, besides jet setting people and, and, and which is a shame, right?

Right. Which is, which is a shame. So we're here until 10 o'clock today. And if that move does come to fruition or a move come to fruition for the Vancouver Canucks, we'll be on top of it. You guys at AJ's this weekend, you got games tonight, you got a game on Sunday. So lay it out for everyone. Why they should come to AJ's this weekend. We got a fun weekend. You guys got pizzas coming to you too, as well. The dogs are going to be super happy. They've been asking for a morning. Hey, it's going to be a great weekend. And you know what?

Today's obviously very exciting and then any chill all weekend, which is awesome. And then I know I'm probably Alfred. I think you and I are the only people looking forward to next week with a little March Madness coming. And my annual trip to AJ's for March Madness is already on the box, buddy. Exactly, a happy hour all day Sunday. Excellent, thanks for doing this today, bud.

We appreciate it. Tell Jimmy we say hi. I will take care of everybody. See you later. That's AJ from AJ's Pizza Ony's Broadway presenting sponsor of Trade Deadline Day, feeding Sportsnet 650 today. Dogs, you didn't even react when he said it, nothing.

We're not getting any. Why not? Coming after we leave. at 650 today, dogs, you didn't even react when he said it. Nothing. We're not getting any. Why not? Coming after we leave. Oh. I am so mad right now. Hold your applause, folks. I was wondering what was going on.

I'm like, why are Andy and Greg not, they were asking yesterday, do we get free pizza in the morning? With like those puppy dog eyes. Yeah, well, cause last year we did. Now we got that hang dog expression. Let's buy him a pizza. Okay. Um, here's an ask us anything that I'm going

to not only throw out to you, the dogs and listeners, I'm going to ask it, I'm going to answer it very quickly. Well, not that quickly. What is the one characteristic you want the Canucks to add today? So when that. Hockey player.

Yeah. But the, the characteristic of the hockey player. Goal scorer. So everyone's like. Good hockey player? Everyone's like, I like some more size and some more speed and you saying like the goal scoring ability, but here's a word that I'm going to settle on.

How about some creativity? Yeah. Creativity in the forward group. Right now, I just don't see enough of it upfront. The ability to make something happen out there. So that's kind of a vague description, but everyone knows what I mean. A guy that makes things happen out there. So that's kind of a vague description, but everyone knows what I mean. A guy that makes things happen out there.

I feel like Connor Garland has been the only one that's done that reasonably consistently this season. He's been creative. Obviously JT Miller was a very creative player. He was a gunslinger and he threw the odd pick six for sure, but he made some great passes too. And of course, Pedersen is a very creative

player when he's on his game, but he's not on his game. But among the Canucks forwards, who right now would you describe as that guy is really creative? Pew suitor is useful. I wouldn't call him. He's cerebral. I wouldn't call him a playmaker and his stats over the years don't suggest he's a big time assist guy. And I actually don't think Philip

Heetal even considers himself a playmaker. There's an article up on Canucks.com that Chris Faber wrote and he told Faber that he sees himself as more of a one on one guy and I'm going to read this quote. He goes, I love to go one on one. That's my game. Since I started playing the game, that was good. I always love to go one on one up the ice or even

from the corners and go to the net. I don't want to be the guy who is standing on the wall and just creating the play. So there's nothing wrong with that by the way. I'm not criticizing that. The Canucks need more of the, the, the ability to take the puck and just take it to the net. But you know, if you look at the, let's just use

a, you know, assist stats as a proxy for creativity. Okay. Over the last three seasons, Quinn Hughes has 190 assists in 210 games. We all know Quinn Hughes epitomizes making things happen out there. Very creative. Right?

Very creative. Very creative player. Second is JT Miller with 142 assists. Third is Elias Pedersen with also 142 assists. One of them is gone. The other one is struggling a little bit. And Brock Besser is fourth with 89 assists and he might be gone today.

And then there's Connor Garland at number five with 77 assists and we've already kind of shouted him out as the guy that has consistently done it. So who are the guys that you can rely on to make things happen out there? They don't have it right now. They don't.

And you know, a name that I will bring up yet again, that I've brought up in the past and certain people have pooh-poohed it or shot down the notion of it. The idea of it is Matt Barzell out of the New York Islanders. I think that's the kind of creativity, the kind of playmaking, the kind of offensive flair, vision, hands, skill set, you know, table setting, all that stuff with the added benefit that you're bringing a hometown kid back home.

The Islanders to me seem like a team that you could try and do something big with at this point. I know that they kind of are stuck in the mud with their old school mentality and there's a report out there right now that instead of trying to trade Cal Paul Mary now, they might sign him to an extension. But I do wonder if the Brock Nelson trade,

the longest tenured Islander finally moving along is maybe a nod to, we need to do some things differently around here, or we need to move some guys out in order to change the look of this team because they're going nowhere fast. So the Canucks have a game tonight, by the way, against the Minnesota Wild at Rogers Arena.

Last time they played the Wild, they lost in overtime, it was during that trip where pretty much everything went to overtime. And I think they beat the Red Wings in overtime,. They beat the Sabres in over time. They lost. They were winning that game 2-1 going into the third period, but then it fell apart. You know who is a classic playmaker and a creative guy that I really admire? And this is kind of apropos of nothing, but also about what I'm talking about. Matt Zuccarello. The Hobbit.

Like he's 37 years old and he's still making plays out there. That's kind of what I'm talking about, Matt Zuccarello. The Hobbit. Like he's 37 years old and he's still making plays out there. That's kind of what I'm talking about. Like who, who, who, who right now you're looking at this group and you're like, okay, they've got, I mean, they've got, they've added some size and they've added some speed and Hedl and Drew O'Connor.

And when Brock Besser has someone, you know, a creative player down the middle with him that he's got chemistry, he can certainly, he can certainly score. But again, it's just that ability to make plays out of nothing and create and have really good vision and distribute the puck. They don't have it right now.

I mean, Pedersen, when he's on his game, he's one of the best in the NHL at it, but he's not. So I wonder if that is something that they go out and look at because this forward group right now is just, they're not going to get it done. No, and I feel like there's so many things that this forward group needs, because we have to, I mean, it's funny, because I remember the last time I brought up Barzell, you're like, yeah, but then you get too much soft skill

and you're tough six and you're not big and strong and tough and fast enough. Yeah. To which I said, yes, that is also true. Oftentimes, creativity comes with a guy that maybe plays a little bit more on the perimeter, maybe isn't a driver, a guy getting to the guts of the ice. They've got, it's an odd mix at forward.

It's an odd group because I like a lot of the individual pieces. And at times when you see them click and see them connect, you're like, yeah, like it's a good dynamic diverse forward group. But right now the offense is so sort of one and done. And I mean, you know, Dran's kind of summed it up perfectly.

They're a team that if they get their 25 to 30 shots and get to three goals, they give themselves a chance to win. And that is really, if you want to sum up the Canucks in a sentence or two, offensively, that's where they're at. So a lot of people texting in that Philip Heidel is creative. But he himself. He himself said he's more of like a one on one type player and he doesn't want to be the

guy along the wall. But that is. Creating plays like, like there, and there's nothing wrong with it, but, and I know he was kind of blocked out from the top six with the Rangers, but he's played 388 games in the NHL. He has 93 assists. Those numbers don't.

I will say. They don't stand out to me. I will say though, um, you know, creativity. Yes, potential. Creativity in this sense can be kind of a, kind of a nebulous term because in essence, if you're driving one-on-one and making things happen, you are therefore creating chances.

Absolutely. I think the idea is you want someone that maybe isn't necessarily taking the puck and looking to get it back to Quinn Hughes at the point every time as they're sort of de facto number one, this is what we're gonna do. And I mean, I'm being mean to a lot of the forwards, but that has been the sort of de facto offensive

option this year. It's like, get it on your stick, look up and get it back to the point. Do you know what got me onto this? I was at my hockey shop yesterday, the sports exchange on, on Burrard. Yep. Good shop.

And so there's parking in the back and you go up this staircase and they've got all these old hockey posters. Like it's the one they've got Wayne Gretzky and rollerblades. Oh yeah. Do you remember that one? Yep.

Yeah. So there's this- Cool California. There was this poster of Pavel Datsuk and it was for Reebok hockey. For the O-Stick. So it was- Wow, with all the little holes in it.

Yeah. Okay. So the advertising, what they called the copy, said was, do you look for an opening or do you create the opportunity? And I was like, first of all, that's good advertising. And then there's just a picture of Pavel Datsuk and it says like, your move.

And I'm like, man, the Canucks could use someone like that. The ultimate creator. Like create the opportunity. Don't just be like, well, there's, I mean, half the time, I mean, the Canucks haven't even been looking for the openings. True.

Right? Like they're just like, yeah, back to the point. Right? Canucks are one Pavel dad took away from winning a Stanley Canucks. Well, no opening here. Better dump it into the corner. All you need is a Hall of Fame forward and maybe

one of the best two way forwards to ever play hockey. That's all you need. But I'm not saying that. I know, I know, I know. But it just got me thinking. I'm like, who's the guy that just makes something out of nothing?

And people are always- Just Quinn Hughes, that's it. And so like Rick Tauke, you can understand his frustration. Man, that clip said so much that we played when he was like, everyone wants this fancy offensive system, right? Like I can't even get my guy to shoot the puck, right? I can't even get my guy to shoot the puck. Yeah. Right. I can't even get my guy to move his feet. And so much of creativity is moving your feet,

opening up shooting lanes and opening up passing lanes, misdirection, that sort of thing. Again, the things that Elias Pedersen does so well when he's on his game and there's still hope that he can return to that game, but they still need more creativity upfront. Yeah. Okay.

Let's go through some of these deals that happened yesterday, just to kind of reset everything that's going on. I will apologize ahead of time. If you're hearing something for the second or third time today, it's trade deadline day. We need to go back and recap everything that's happened because we need to know what deals are

in the books, what teams might be doing, what teams are done business for the day, or of course last night. So obviously the big one, and we've talked about this a lot, was that last night the Colorado Avalanche landed, probably the biggest rental on the market in Brock Nelson. They got him out of the New York Islanders in exchange for a first round pick

and a highly touted prospect, Callum Ritchie, who was also a first round pick. So in essence, two first rounders for Brock Nelson. The Edmonton Oilers, after getting Trent Frederick out of Boston, made a move yesterday, which was kind of interesting, paying a relatively high price, a first round pick, to get Jake Wallman of the San Jose Sharks,

the offensive defenseman. I thought it was a bit of an overpay, especially since the San Jose Sharks, I think, paid a second round pick to get Wallman from Detroit in the first place. He's on his third team in three years. I know Edmonton's desperate to add some pieces and they can feel this thing maybe going off the rails a little bit. We still don't have, speaking of the Edmonton Oilers,

full confirmation of what's going on with the Vander Kane, but as Freage said, and a reminder, Freage came on in hour one of the program. If you wanna download the podcast, you can do that. Hour one is now up, or down for download. With these moves that they've made, it kinda sounds like they've come to some resolution on what's going on with Cane's money. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to add.

We'll see if Edmonton adds anything else. Here's one of interest. Yesterday, the Toronto Maple Leafs placed Ryan Reeves on waivers for the purpose of the, I'm assuming, sending him down to the minor should he clear. That would free up approximately 1.15 million if he clears and they put him in the minors. 1.35 million if someone takes on the ticket.

It is now a good time to remind Canucks fans that Jim Rutherford once traded a first round pick to get Ryan Reeves. Bad time. What was the impetus behind that? Were people taking liberties? With Crosby. Yeah.

Yeah. And it didn't last long in Pittsburgh. I don't think Reeves played an awfully long time there. I'm not saying just for the record, I'm not saying that the Canucks could, will, or should pluck Ryan Reeves off of waivers. I'm merely pointing out that one of their key executives was also a key executive in Pittsburgh when they acquired Ryan Reeves and you know the Canucks aren't

exactly the toughest team in the National Hockey League, but I again am I no way shape or form suggesting that the Canucks are gonna claim Ryan Reeves off of waivers. The bigger story there I I think, is that Toronto put him on waivers and everyone kind of said, this is the first move towards a much larger move because the Leafs are probably going to do something of significance today. They have been tied to another brother combo and that potentially getting Brandon Tanev out of Seattle so that they can team him up with Chris Tanev when he gets healthy because he's got a shoulder injury, but he

should be returning to the Toronto Maple Line, Toronto Maple Leafs lineup soon. God, is this going to be the year the Leafs do it with pretty much like no expectations on them? Like I don't think there's a, I don't think there are sky high expectations on the Leafs right now. I just always remember when the Capitals

finally got it done. Yeah. It was like they'd blown a couple years of their window and their GM actually said like, yeah, we've got a two year window. And then the two years passed and they didn't get it done. And the very next year was the year that they

actually won the cup. When that just be like, just, just perfect. I think it's going to be too hard for them to get past either Florida or Tampa Bay, but the guy don't feel the expectations for the Leafs like I have in the past. They would have to, I mean, one thing is Barube's got an entirely different approach

and he's won a Stanley Cup within the last, what, six years. So there's that part of it. Um, I would also add the goaltending in a weird way might be the best that they've had in a long time. Not recently with Wohl, but. But it's also unproven with Stollers. He has no track record of doing it in the postseason,

but he's been very good when healthy. So that's a different dynamic for them too. A coach that has won in the playoffs and a goalie that's playing better than any of the previous iterations have, by the way, I think I misspoke. I think I said that the sharks sent a second round pick to. They got one, didn't they?

They got one for Jake Wallman. They brought his contract on board. So hand up on that one. That one's on me. Thank you to the multiple textures who pointed that out. So I was watching the Sabres lightning game yesterday. On purpose. It was actually, oh, it was a good game.

It was fun. It was a, oh it was a good game, it was fun. It was a six five. Pond hockey. Six five game and like I don't think Coop would have been very happy with the way the lightning played and he actually benched Kutcher off for a bit. He didn't put him out on the power play. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he sat there at the end of the bench with his gloves off and his arms folded.

But for me, just watching the Sabres and how many mistakes they make, I mean, it's just, it's crazy. Like it really is. They had a really good chance to tie it right in the end. They actually had a six on three with 20 seconds left, Dahlien gets it at the point and just like

wrists one on net from the point. I'm like, you've got a six on three, maybe work it around a little bit, right? I know you're running out of time, but anyway, it got blocked and then it goes back to Dahlien. Dahlien throws it over to T.H. Thompson. It gets blocked. Like you can't get a shot through at six on three.

And it was just, it was so frustrating. You know, I'm not, I mean, I have a soft spot for the Sabres, sad club brethren and all, but I just can't believe that they haven't done anything significant yet. So did you hear Ray on the broadcast last night when we were talking about Freage earlier? Should've seen what Ray was texting me.

Yeah. Like it was, it was like, you know, the, the, the disdain for the Sabres, but he's, he was absolutely right to do it. So there was an instance. They're such an immature team. There was an instance late in the second period where there was a scrum in front of, I think it

was Ukopeka Lukaunen's net. And a couple of the Tampa Bay Lightning players were grabbing at Rasmus Dallin and, Peck of Luchanen's net. And a couple of the Tampa Bay Lightning players were grabbing at Rasmus Dahlien and putting him in a headlock and giving him a face wash and giving him a couple jabs. And Dylan Cousins skated around the perimeter of the scrum. Like he, you know, when you're,

when you wanna look like you're involved in something but don't really wanna be involved in something, those vibes were going off big time and rake up pointing out He's like hey, that's your captain getting mugged in front of the net. They asked him about it postgame, too Cuz yeah, you see the quote No The question was did they did the Sabres do a good enough job matching Tampa's energy post whistle and his response was? Yeah, I don't really know. I thought so It seems we always get the penalty in those scrums,

so I think we always have guys in there. Yikes. I don't know what kind of non-response that is. What a definitive response from Dylan Cousins. Not looking good, the responses from Sabres fans to that quote, not happy. Also, why is Kevin Adams still the GM? He might not be for long.

They might have to make another change. I think Lindy Ruff is like, at least I'm getting paid a lot for this because this is just dreadful. I think he probably regrets taking that gig in the first place, honestly. Well, I mean, is he, has the game passed him by a little bit?

I don't think that's it. I think he's, I think that he thought that he was going to a team that was on the rise, that he could kind of grow with them, not unlike what he did in New Jersey when they had that great season where they made the playoffs and everything looked like it was trending in the right direction. I don't put this at the feet of Lindy Ruff really much at all. This core, this group, this collection of players has chewed up and spit out head coaches and soon to be another general manager, someone's going

to have to come in there and I think do a thorough autopsy and with, by that, I mean, take a cleaver to the autopsy, just start hacking away. Yeah. Cause this thing is toast. But the funny thing is, is like, you can say about the savers like, why don't you do something dramatic?

Like they have, trade it away, Jack Heichel. It's just, they just, I mean, if you ever want an example of why culture matters, the Sabres are a good reason. The culture of this show is about to improve tenfold because Bob the Moj Marjanovic is going to join us next. Always love talking to Moj on a Friday, we'll do an Ask Us Anything Friday as it pertains to food as well. Speaking of Ask Us Anything, friendly reminder that Ask Us Anything and all of the trade deadline coverage today

on Sportsnet 650 is brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Go check them out tonight and go check them out on Sunday, Vancouver Hockey Nights specials on all kinds of good stuff including pints of beer. AJ's Pizza at 325 East Broadway or visit them online at AJ's.Pizza.

You're listening to the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. It's the Moch. I did not eat four burgers. Yes, it's the Moch. I don't want to go to Winnipeg. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. It's the Moch. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. Jamalanya. Yes, it's the Moch.

Halperd's fine, but you know, Bruff is just grumpy all the time. It's the Overtime. Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, it's the Moach. 7.33 on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody. You are listening to the Halford & Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & 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 two of the program. A reminder, it's a four hour show today

on Trade Deadline Day. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at 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. Visit him on the internet at jason.mortgage. To the phone lines we go, our next guest is a presentation of the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them on the internet at jason.mortgage. To the phone lines we go.

Our next guest is a presentation of the Clayton public house. It's Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up Moj? The good four hour show. Man, oh man, Brough must be doing cart wheels over that. We love it.

I love my work Moj. We love it. I love it. We got. Every time, every time your intro comes on, I'm just like, I get like, I guess I am a bit moody sometimes. It's a reality check, is that what you're calling it? Yeah, I got to look in the mirror sometimes, but then I get distracted.

I'm like, God, you're good looking. I know that we should probably spend the next two and a half hours breaking down the CFL schedule. Nothing for Mojo on that. Nothing for Mojo on that one. Let's get right into the trade deadline stuff here. A lot of teams have said in the past, they've tried to straddle that line between being buyers and sellers and trying to do both.

I think it's easier to say than it's actually easier to do, but the Canucks, you figure, are going to try and do it today? Yeah, I do, because it's kind of been their MO. Even in the last little while, I mean, you trade Miller, you get a pick, you take the pick, you flip it, you get Pedersen. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they trade some of these UFAs.

Well, of course, we've already seen one go, Carson, since you go to the Rangers for a third round pick. But, you know, trading some of these picks, getting some, quote've already seen one go Carson since you go to the Rangers, Rangers for a third round pick, but you know, trading some of these pick, getting some, you know, quote futures or picks or prospects, and then maybe using that capital to maybe get a player that can help them right now. So, um, yeah, like I said, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. I don't think it's going to be a complete, you know, sell off. And I don't think they're going to go all in and, you know, bring in some UFAs, so I see them playing both sides of the fence and, you know sell-off and I don't think they're gonna go all in and you know bring in some USAs so I see them playing both sides of the fence and you

know they've shown that they could do it in the past and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they do it today. How would you feel if Besser is traded today? There'd be a tinge of sadness it's a business I understand that but to me Brock Besser he's a good human being, right? And I'll tell you a little story about Brock. When he first came up and whatever it was 2016, 17 season, I think he played like whatever eight, 10 games at the tail end of the year when he came in from North Dakota, there was a young kid that was in a wheelchair and I think he was

part of the make a wish program and he got a wheelchair and I think he was part of the Make-A-Wish program and he got brought in in a dressing room just by that area and Brock went over and talked to the kid and he must have chatted with the kid for like, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes. It wasn't just one of those, here's my picture, hey nice to see you, let's take a picture and I'm going to walk off. He took a legitimate interest in the kid and I'll never forget that because here's a kid that's whatever,

seven, eight games into his NHL career and he was showing that type of character and I said, this kid gets it. I like this kid already. And even when he was talking to the media the other day, he even thanked the media for being supportive. It's kind of a little different too from what we were a couple of weeks ago. But he's a quiet type of guy. He's not exactly one of those guys that's extremely loud, but he always

treats everything I've seen about him and know about him. He treats everybody with respect and in kind he gets treated with respect as well. So yeah, if he gets traded, there'll be a tenderness, but at the same time, it's a business, right? And you gotta expect it. Yeah, it's one of those delicate balancing acts where you gotta understand the chemistry and the camaraderie in the room,

while also understanding that you can't keep guys around just because they're beloved and that they're important figures. But that stuff does matter, right? So this is always a big day for all 32 NHL teams in terms of the message that you're sending to that room. What do you think the message is gonna be? Or what do you think the message that the connects

want to send will be by the end of today? Well, I think, you know, I think the players in that room believe that they're a playoff team, believe that, you know, they can qualify for the postseason. And that's the message that management has to send them as well. There's nothing worse than a team that's in the hunt

and your management trades off a bunch of assets and basically runs up the white flag. It doesn't do well in terms of the morale for the room. Conversely, if you're a team in the hunt and you add a couple of pieces, it's a message by management saying, hey, we believe in you, right? You know, look at the Dallas Stars

going after Miko Rantanen. And, you know, we'll see where that winds up in the next couple of hours. But the fact that they're actually going after Rantanen tells that team that, hey, we believe in you guys and we're adding the pieces to see if we can take it to the next level. So that's the question that, you know,

the thing that the Canucks have to navigate today, their management team is that, you know, if you sell off a couple of pieces and don't really have anything coming back, man, it just sends a bad message to the room in the sense that, you know, management is trading away assets and we're in a hunt for a playoff spot.

So it's gonna be interesting to see how they navigate that today. If the Canucks are able to add a top six forward to the group, what type of player would you like to see added? We had a discussion earlier in the show. I don't know if you were listening, but, um, you know, some people will say size or speed.

I said creativity, like the ability to make things happen, um, open up the play, create chances for not only yourself, but for others, because I don't really see enough of that right now. Well, let's get greedy, right? I mean, let's have a play driving center. I mean, unfortunately those don't grow on trees. So, you know, what's your next best option?

Probably a winger. And if it is a winger, next best option? Probably a winger. And if it is a winger, I'd like to see a winger who plays heavy and who can probably, you know, be creative and drive a little play. But, you know, again, those are big asks, right? Usually at this time of year, you know, you're trying to get a player that's going to have, most teams are looking at players that are going to help them in the playoffs, right? I mean, they're looking at those type of heavy type players. But when you look at this Connect team, to me,

here's the thing, are they really tough to play against? No. Right? You can talk about getting creative players and skilled players, but I would just like to see them tougher to play against. And that means probably adding somebody who's a good player. Like I'm talking the 20 goal score, but somebody who's a 20 goal scorer and plays a heavy game,

I think that would be a nice addition to this team. And a realistic one too. We're speaking to Bob the Moge Marjanovic here on the Halifax and the Brush Show on Sportsnet 650. What did you think of Elias Pedersen's last game out Moge? A lot of positive feedback from players and coaches and media members alike with the multiple face-off wins, 20 plus time on ice.

What did you think of Pedersen in that three-two win over the Ducks? Well, a couple of notes. Number one, if you're gonna throw a brick at a guy, might as well throw a bouquet, and I'll throw him a bouquet of that media availability session that he had. I was like, whoa.

I think somebody had a chat with Elias and said, this is the this is the way you got to kind of handle this situation. So full props to him. I mean, I thought he was honest. He was forthright. You know, I thought he was very insightful in that media availability media availability session earlier this week. So we'll give him credit for that. And then the game he was engaged, right? I mean, you know, he had a couple of hits who he seemed engaged in the game. But as we're talking with Rick Hockett after the game, it's a day by day thing. And Rick mentioned it, he says, you know, and I just got to come to practice and build off that. It's a brick by brick process, right?

It's not a situation where you say, oh, he's back. But it's a step in a positive direction. And hopefully that trend continues here in the next period. You have any sort of prediction on how this is going to turn out for Elias Pettersson in Vancouver? Like, do you think he's going to be part of the team next season or is it just too early for you to make that call? Um, I think to me, you know, here's the thing where the Canucks are going

to gamble a little bit. They, everybody that I've talked to, and I'm sure you guys have probably heard the same thing, his off season was not where it was supposed to be. And this is, you know, just about every camp is saying this. His camp is saying this, the Canucks management team is saying it, coaching staff, whatever the case may be.

So now the question is, can he have a great offseason in terms of workouts, in terms of his preparation and come back and be the player that he once was? Right? And that's a big ask because what's the one thing that, and you know, it goes back to talking to you guys at the start of the year. And I don't know if I've mentioned this over and over, but you know, he talks about his practice habits, you know, use that example of Crosby. He's talked about his practice habits throughout the course of the year.

To me, that's the big question is, does he have that passion to drive himself to be the best that he can be and take his game to that level? That's the million dollar question. I think when you strip it all down to the bone, that's the question right there. Can he be that player? Does he have that work ethic, that Crosby like work ethic, that McKinnon like work ethic to take his game to his maximum potential. Let's keep it local, the Sedin like work ethic.

The thing that kind of struck me about Rick Tuckett's comments where, you know, he was saying, and this is good, this is good. I'm not saying it's bad, but he was like, you know, in the last 48 hours, we've been seeing things that, you know, he's, this is what we've been waiting for, to see in terms of a work ethic. Which just makes me wonder, like, what was he doing before?

Well, you got to remember athletes are human beings, right? I mean, they have emotions, they deal with things. Um, I, I, you know, I can't speak for the situation at hand. I can only tell you, um, maybe some experiences that I know of, or have heard about or gone through, but I think sometimes, you know, for whatever reason, maybe the message comes across differently, maybe it comes from a different voice, and for whatever reason, it clicks. And you kind of go, okay, and you start listening to that message and you start acting upon, you know, what people are telling you. And again, like I said, sometimes all it takes is a different voice.

Who knows? Again, I don't know this. I don't know the inner workings of what's going on with Pedersen and the coaching staff and or management and or his agents. Maybe it was just somebody talking to him and he kind of, for whatever reason, he kind of got it and he's reacted to it in a positive way. While we've got you here, what did you think about the news about DK Metcalf

requesting a trade out of Seattle and that news leaking on the same day that the Seahawks were hoping to honour Tyler Lockett, although they were releasing him, they were, you know, they, they said a lot of good things about Tyler Lockett. Man, um, uh, you know, I've had the opportunity to interview Tyler Lockett on a lot of good things about Tyler Lockett. Man, I've had the opportunity to interview Tyler Lockett on a bunch of occasions and saw him at training

camp and stuff and we're talking about Brock Besser and good human beings. Tyler Lockett's one of those guys, right? Just gets it and sad to see him leave the Seahawk organization. Would DK Metcalfe feel like, no, I mean, the problem with DK for me was there's too many times it was about DK, right?

I think he's a tremendous talent. Yet at the same time, I don't think he gets the most out of that talent. You know, he's not that receiver, he's a big, powerful receiver, but at the same time, he's not that type of receiver that goes out and dominates games. When, you know know when he has

to elevate his game and dominate I don't see that happening right so you know is it a hit yeah but at the same time I don't think it's one of those you know crushing blows that you can't recover from as an organization um again uh Tyler Lockett for me I I think Tyler Lockett's more of a hit than DK Mech App I know that may sound strange when you consider everything that Tyler Lockett for me, I think Tyler Lockett's more of a hit than DK Mechapp, I know that may sound strange when you consider everything that Tyler Lockett brings and everything that DK Mechapp brings, I think Lockett would be the guy. Okay Moj, it's Friday, that means it's Ask Us Anything

Friday, that means it's food. Food baby, food, let's go. Now first question to a follow up question, do you have a sweet tooth? Oh yeah. Okay, so in a restaurant setting, what's your go-to dessert to cap off a meal? Oh, that's tough, because there's a couple.

Is there one that you'll order, like, if it's on the menu, like, I will get it, no matter what, like, even if the place might not do this very well? I'm gonna tell you a slam dunk for me every time at the keg if I'm there I've got to order a Billy Miner pie One of the best days of his life from the same cloth

Yeah You can't go wrong. I mean that's got everything. It's got chocolate. It's got caramel. It's got ice I mean, it's just like it's an all-star team of desserts wrapped in the wine. Um, you know, I can go cheesecake. You know what's under, like, you know, for me, um, um, I was going to mention pavlova is really good. You ever had pavlova before? Yep.

Yeah. Pavlova is like, you know, strawberry pavlova without tomato, that's up there. Um, cheesecake is always the winner. You can't go wrong with cheesecake. I love cheesecake. The one thing I will never, I will never, I will never turn down cheesecake ever.

The one thing I will never eat is tiramisu. Oh. Because when my daughter was like a kid, every time we had family meals, tiramisu was her favorite, so we had tiramisu for her birthday. Her mom's birthday, her grandma's birthday, anybody's birthday, Christmas, Easter, you name it. We always had tiramisu.

You know what? I'm like, no, I'm just like, I'm tiramisu'd out my, for my life. I cannot touch tiramisu. Um, the, the, I don't have a sweet tooth at all, but one that I will always get and one of the few things that the English do better than everybody else, sticky toffee pudding.

It is sticky toffee pudding. That sounds so English, I don't even know what it is though. It's like a sponge cake. I don't even know what you're talking about. It's like a sponge cake. I know what that is. Sponge cake with dates and then it's got like

a caramel toffee drizzle on top of it. It's so good. It keeps you regular too. Yeah, it's good. Takes all the boxes. You know, I can't remember the name of it right now, what's the thing, little thing that comes like it's a little custard and you kind of blowtorch the top of

brown sugar. Crème brûlée. Oh, crème brûlée. That's another classic right there. You cannot go wrong with crème brûlée. That's a good one too. Well, this has been another edition of foods we like. Okay.

How about this? How about, okay. I mentioned tiramisu. Yeah. What is one dessert that you guys will not eat? Uh, oh man. Well, I don't eat, I don't like ice cream at all. So I that's crazy. Yeah, I don't like Fun and kittens. I don't like any I don't like any of it. What don't you like about ice cream?

Mouth feel too cold mouth feel. Yeah, don't like old don't too cold Cream hurts my teeth. It hurts you. Well, then get some senso dine man I don't cuz you're missing out on ice cream. Don't like it. So like ice cream cakes, like Moj talking with a Billy Miner, I'd never order it. No. Ice cream cakes are my go-to.

You need to be analog. I know. I mean, it's, I am who I am. Hey, you know, I saw this on social media posts the other day. Remember Neapolitan ice cream? Never cared for it. Never cared for it. Never cared for it. I'm there with you.

Like it would come in a box and it'd be like vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, all kind of like in little silos or whatever, like little rows. I was never a Neapolitan guy. Yeah. Never. I was always a rainbow sherbert kid at Baskin

Robbins. It was, that's an amazing, am I saying that right? Sherbert? Sherbet. Sherbert? Sherbert kid at Baskin Robbins. It was, that's an amazing. Am I saying that right? Sherbert or Sherbet? Sherbert. Sherbert or Sorbet. They're different things. Sorbet, yeah.

Okay, all right, trade deadline and we just ran through I like ice cream, I don't like ice cream. We pivoted off foods I like to ice creams I like really quickly there. All right. And look, we're getting more texting. Yeah. People texting in.

I like ice cream too. Yeah. All right. Moad, you're the more text in yeah people text again. I like ice cream too Moe'd you're the best buddy. Thanks for doing this enjoy the weekend Let's have a great weekend enjoy deadline day. Thank you later, dude Have a good one Bob the Moe's Marjanovic here on the Haliford and Bref show on sportsnet Honestly, you could do like a 10-hour show on foods you like and don't like and you get a thick a million texts into the Inbox it is the easiest, easiest way to engage people. There are four texts about sticky toffee pudding. It's really good.

Yep. It's a good one. It's very tasty. It's the most popular thing you've ever said. I can't believe you don't like ice cream. What are you eating at like a full scoop at a time? Like why does it hurt your teeth? It's not like I loathe it, but I would never

actively go out of my way to get it. And I- Not even a nice ice cream cake with a cookie crumble in the middle? No, no, there's a really good ice cream place by our house. It's Glenburn. It's one of those old school, like, soda shops.

Yeah. Pop soda shop. And they do fantastic stuff. And we go there all the time and never get ice cream. It's not my thing. I don't like it. You know what? Wild.

Adogs, since we'll all have this conversation with you. You know the, not the tubs, like when you get your hog, hog and dos or whatever. Yeah. Right? Like don't you think they should make that thing bigger because you, I, I always feel guilty if I like eat all of that.

You just buy a less expensive ice cream and a bigger quantity of it. No, I think it's the perfect serving, the little cup. I mean, yeah, you fill it. No, no, no, that's not a serving brother. That ain't a serving brother. Yes it is. No, I think it's the perfect serving, the little cup. I mean, yeah, you fill it in. No, no, no, that's not a serving, brother. Yes, it is. No, it's not, it's not.

Like, it's like, it's single size. You get that, and like, the recommended serving is like, this will be for four people. Yeah, it's like a quarter of a cup. And I just feel like if I, because I'll eat it right out of the tub, I'm like, man, I'm gonna crush this and Quickly to like easily real quick designed to make you hate yourself

Yeah, that's what it is, but it's delicious. Who cares. You know what was Actually not a bad ice cream when you were in elementary school And you'd get the tiny little cup of vanilla with the tongue depressor spoon. Yes those that okay. Yeah, no Chocolate frosty malts I remember getting that Canucks games as a kid at Pacific calcium Mm-hmm, and I think it's because they put the cinnamon in the chocolate like that's what makes it taste the way No, you know what makes it taste the way that does is the wooden tongue Yeah, it adds a certain Maltes as a kid at Canucks games. Oh my god so good

Buffalo Bill has already complained that we're not talking about the trade deadline enough It was like four minutes bill like I can't know what to say. We were here for four hours All right We're working overtime for you And if we're gonna dive off into the world of Billy Miner pies and baklava wherever else there We talk about ice cream performance not to check the wallman trade further. We've got do on an update here Yeah, Elliott Freeman reporting Buffalo anduckar are working towards a contract extension. Zuckar has indicated he wishes to stay.

So Jason Zuckar struggling with Stockholm syndrome, uh, will be staying with the Buffalo Sabres. So that takes a winger off the trade board. Very strange that he would want to stay. He's having a great year, by the way. He's got 44 points in 54 games. Yeah.

He's a good player. I always thought that he'd end up here at some point. He's been tied to Vancouver, it seems like three or four times during his career. Remember when he was in Minnesota? I think I remember, I think I threw that out there. And I think I threw Mike Russo under the bus accidentally by doing it.

I didn't mean to, but that, I always thought he was going to go there and then, do you remember that? Raider just texted in, whoa, Jason Zucker news, there you go, Bill. Yeah. You're, you're welcome. I was like, finally. All right.

We, uh, we do have Rick Dollywell coming up next. So it's going to get a lot more interesting. Uh, we got two hours left on this show. That's right. We're going in an extra hour. So here are the next four guests, uh, Rick Dollywell, Sat, Murph and IMAX. So all the big hitters from the Canucks, sorry

Drance, our Canucks media are, are going to join us as the trade deadline, uh, Drance. Our Canucks media are going to join us as the trade deadline unfolds. It's at noon, our time, 3 PM Eastern. So still lots of time to make some deals. The Canucks have traded away Carson Sousi. They traded him yesterday, but nothing so far today if you're just joining us. And a friendly reminder, the trade deadline

coverage, all of it on Sportsnet 650 is brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, homemade dough, premium local ingredients and authentic cooking methods. AJ's is for diehard pizza people, dine in or order online at ajs.pizza. You're listening to the Halford and Brev Show on Sportsnet 650. I don't like ice cream at all.

So I don't- That's crazy. What? Yeah, I don't like ice cream. What's wrong? Do you hate fun and kittens? I don't like it fun and kittens I don't like it I don't like any of what don't you like about ice cream mouth feel too cold mouth feel yeah don't like it don't you call ice cream hurts my teeth it hurts you well then get some senso dying man

your teeth hurt huh your teeth hurt well that's too freaking bad you hear me I'll tell you what you can put your freaking SOTY too