Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Schedule Is About To Get Very Tough

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

In hour two, Jason Brough and guest host Jamie Dodd chat with the Chicago Sun Times' Ben Pope (1:10) about what the Blackhawks might do this off-season to improve their team around Connor Bedard, plus the boys look at what is about to become a very tough remaining schedule for the Vancouver Canucks as they try and make the playoffs (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.

Welcome back to Halford & Brough here at Sportsnet 650. I'm Jamie Dodd filling in for Mike Halford for the week. Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Dallari family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dallari difference today. Visit your nearest Dallari Honda dealer today. This hour of Halford and Brough is brought to you by 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. That's Jason.Mortgage. We are coming to you live from the K mortgage for you. That's Jason dot mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintex studio,

Kintex footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. The Canucks beat the Blackhawks six two over the weekend. It's been another pretty frustrating season or very frustrating season. I should say for the Blackhawks joining us now to chat about that and what's next for the team going into the offseason. He covers the team for the Chicago Sun-Times. He is Ben Pope. Ben, thanks for doing this today. How are you? Good, thanks for having me. Pretty long road trip, so glad to be back in Chicago now. Yeah, well congratulations on being back home and as part of that long road

trip, a second visit to Vancouver for the Blackhawks this year, and of course those games take on extra importance as it is Connor Bedard's hometown, and a second frustrating loss for the Blackhawks in Vancouver. And look, I know it's just two games and there's been plenty of other sources of frustration, but do you get the sense that those two games against the Canucks in Vancouver, considering Connor Bedard do loom a little bit larger for not just him but the Blackhawks organization on the schedule? Well I think it's only two games as you said but they have been two

of their worst games of the season. Still have two wins both against the Blackhawks the two times the Connexors scored six goals a year both against the Blackhawks and the fact that Bedard in that extra spotlight has performed so poorly in those two games. Sure he's frustrated about that and sure his family is you know frustrated about that so it definitely is two of the contenders among many contenders for the worst teams of the season for the Blackhawks and I think that's 10 straight losses to Vancouver overall now. So that's a team that has given them quite a lot of trouble. So yeah it's definitely not been their you know

finest stretches and then they actually had felt you know pretty good about their improvement and that they were taking a step in the right direction after the trade deadline and had a five-game point streak and then they go into San Jose and lose and then Vancouver and get kind of messed around. So yeah, that momentum really didn't hold up for them. I think what's been striking to us in Vancouver and probably across the league outside of Chicago is just how unhappy Connor Bedard looks on a regular basis and how

frustrated and it's understandable how unhappy and frustrated he looks, but is that kind of a daily occurrence with him? Well, certainly he's not satisfied with his play or with the team's play. I think he's kind of a serious guy in general. He gets compared to Celebrini so much for obvious reasons and they just met for the first time Thursday in San Jose and I think people have this impression that Celebrini is so much happier than Bedard and his situation and I think that maybe more than anything just due to their personality. I think Celebrini is so much happier than Bedard in his situation. I think that may be more than anything just due to their personality. I think Celebrini

is just kind of a lighter, more happy-go-lucky personality than Bedard is. That's not really ever been his style even before he got to Chicago. I also think his frustration is not necessarily, you know, wow, what a bad situation I'm in. It's, wow, I'm not really making this any better. I think people are eager to think that he's dissatisfied with the Blackhawks and to some extent that's true, but I think it's not that he's viewing the franchise as letting him down. I don't think he has an ego or kind of a self-centered personality like that. It's more that he's not helping them get better and he's in it with them and it's

not going the way anyone would like so far. And I think it's more from that perspective. Um, but certainly it has been a rough stretch for him, especially since the four nations break, um, coming back. I think he only has three points in 11 games or something like that since then. And it's been pretty quiet. A lot of those games where he hasn't had a point, he hasn't really even had that many chances. So it definitely looks like he's kind of slogging right now. And I'm not sure exactly what the reason is for that, but we're late in the year where

there's not a lot to play for. And maybe it's getting a little bit worn down for him. What has been suggested by the coaching staff or Blackhawks management, where does Bedard need to improve? I mean, does he need to get better defensively? Does he need to get bigger and stronger? Those are the typical things you hear about with young players.

Is that applicable to him? It's funny. We really haven't heard a lot of direct feedback. Um, recently, I think Luke Richardson was a lot more willing to, to talk about that. And with Sorenson coming in in December and his main, or one of his main objective was to kind of get the bad art going. And, um, so he's been a lot more positive with Baddard in terms of what he's saying publicly. He hasn't really been willing to

criticize him much or say that, hey, this is what I'm telling him that he specifically needs to work on. I think certainly getting a little bit stronger is going to be an offseason priority. It's not that he's not strong already, but because of his size, he does kind of tend to get pushed off the puck a little bit more easily than he should. And just from my perspective, in my opinion, I think if he can beef up a little bit more, that should help that next season. And we've seen him improve defensively this year. I mean, he's definitely not as much of a liability there as he was last year but certainly still a ways to go with that and I

think also just finding more opportunities to use his release. I mean when he was drafted I think that was considered maybe his strongest aspect of all his shooting release and it was going to be interesting to see coming into the NHL how well that would translate against better goalies and defensemen who are better getting sticks on pucks. And I think we've seen that it maybe hasn't translated as much as people hoped so far but he hasn't lost that skill. So I think it's going to be a matter of just finding ways to create more space for himself

and more opportunities to use it. And if he can get some better teammates moving forward who can maybe take a little bit of the attention defensively off of him and force opponents to respect his passing options more, maybe that could also create more space for him. We're speaking with Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times talking about the Chicago Blackhawks and Conor Bidard. So Ben, you talked about the idea of getting better teammates for Connor Bedard in an article for the Sun Times. And you suggested that one of the things that

the Blackhawks will find difficult is their reputation as being losers, which is always tough to overcome. What is the plan this off season and could you see the Blackhawks landing any of the top free agents like say Mitch Marner? Well I think they're gonna be try to be aggressive. I mean they have over 30 million dollars in cap space. This year they have I think over 80 million dollars in cap space for 26-27, which is the most in the league

Now that they've traded Seth Jones, they really don't have any long-term contract commitments on the books I mean, it's a pretty clean slate Certainly, they're gonna have to sign the dar to an extension after next season and a lot of young guys they they have penciled in extensions for but Some of those might not be that expensive yet other than BDARD. So they acquired say Weber's contract from Utah at the deadline just to kind of have insurance that they'll meet the salary floor next year if they aren't able to bring in several big contracts this summer but they're going to try to do that.

It would just make a lot of sense. They have the ability to and it would help the team a lot. That may be through trade more than a free agency. It's not the best free agent class ever, especially now that Rantan has been locked up. They have so many picks and prospects, not all of whom are going to possibly fit on the NHL roster that it would make sense to maybe package some of them in a trade. But the free agency will also be an active thing. And I think they'll certainly make a push for Marner along with probably half the league if he gets the free agency and they're going to be able to present a very competitive offer, maybe just as much money if not more than you get anywhere else. But it's going to be

a question of convincing him and other guys that they look at to come to a rebuilding team. I think there's not as much awareness around the league of how strong their prospect pool is and their promising young players. I think the big thing that people think of right now who are deep in the weeds of the Blackhawks is, oh, this is a bad team. And so they're going to have to overcome that. I mean, they made a push for Jake against the last summer. And I don't know exactly what they offer, but I imagine it was pretty competitive. And he chose to go to the Lightning instead

because he can compete for a Stanley Cup immediately there. And I think that's a logical choice. So that's something they're going to have to kind of overcome this summer. And it'll be interesting to see if they can do that. You mentioned eventually Bidard needing a new deal as well. And, you know, he'll, he'll even be extension eligible after this year, going into the summer, right on July 1st.

And, you know, sometimes with young players of his caliber, of his draft pedigree, that's a, that can be a priority for the organization is to get really ahead of it and, and lock them up long-term as soon as they're able. Do you have a sense of whether that will be a priority for the Blackhawks if there's a realistic chance of getting a deal done this summer or do they have so much else on their plate that it could be something that waits a while for Bedard's next deal? I really haven't gotten a sense yet of what their hopeful timeline is on that extension. I was just thinking about that recently,

that yeah, he will be eligible for an extension on July 1st. And if next season he isn't signed, that may be a little bit of a storyline. I don't think there's any, I don't think they're worried at all about the offer sheets or him asking out as much as some fans kind of want to speak that into existence. It's just a matter of

figuring out the right number for his next deal and I really honestly don't have a sense yet of when they intend to do that but I imagine it'll at least be discussed this summer. It is going to be really interesting to see where that number comes in. On one hand, one of the most talented young players in the league, one of the most anticipated young players to come in in a while, call their trophy winner. It's not like he hasn't lived up to expectations. He's been very good so far, but it's not like he's blowing it off the roof, numbers-wise, and his production is a bit down in this second season. So projecting that will be an interesting task. Even'm sure they'll, even if they don't

sign it this summer, I'm sure they'll begin the process of trying to figure that out in terms of what they think his value is just because it's going to be such an important and also complicated equation to figure out. You mentioned the frequent comparisons between Bedard and Celebrini this year and look I mean Celebrini's had a fantastic season but also I've seen a lot of comparisons more broadly between the Blackhawks situation and the Sharks situation. It's kind of funny because the Sharks have a worse record than the Blackhawks but all of the conversation around San Jose is oh look how much fun they're having, the vibes, this is so great with Celebrini and Will Smith and it's a very different conversation with Chicago. Now look we'll see

where it goes with San Jose after this year if they're still losing next year it could be a very different conversation with Chicago. Now look, we'll see where it goes with San Jose after this year. If they're still losing next year, it could be a very different conversation. But with the situation Chicago's in and through this rebuild process and, you know, landing Connor Bedard, do you get the sense that there's something Kyle Davidson wishes he had done differently as GM of the Blackhawks to maybe try to make things just a little less frustrating and depressing at this stage of the Blackhawks to maybe try to make things just a little less frustrating

and depressing at this stage of the process. I think in terms of his decisions on when to move along prospects, I don't think he regrets that. I think things have gone pretty well in terms of his decisions on promoting guys at AHL and then to the NHL and that sort of thing. I mean, we've seen guys like Frank Nasar, who were good, not great in college as a former first-round pick, come in and absolutely tear it up in the AHL the first two months of the season and then get promoted into the NHL at the right time. And it's not like he's tearing it up, but he's been solid and I think

he's raised his stock. And same thing with Artem Levshinov came in pretty raw to the AHL at the start of the year and it was a challenge those first few months and then since New Year's he'd really been thriving and dominating down there and then he gets called up a week ago and he's looked pretty solid in his first three NHL games. So I think in terms of moving the prospects along at the pace he has, I think that's been handled pretty well. If anything, I think he would regret making different decisions on the free agent market last summer. Tyler Bertuzzi has been a disappointment and he was their longest contract term that they gave out of four years. And Tervo Tervinen's been solid. I think that one's worked out, but um,

some of the other guys I brought in, Pat Maroon and Alec Martinez and um, TJ Brody, a lot of those have not worked out. I mean, he, he wasn't trying to make the team a playoff contender this year, but he was trying to make them a little bit more competitive. Um, and they have not been more competitive. And in fact, they've kind of gotten to the point where they've replaced a lot of those veterans with the young guys because the veterans or even playing any better than the young guys so uh... i think if if they'd been a little bit more competitive and if some of those short-term placeholder additions have been a bit more effective

maybe that would have helped the mood feel a little better just to feel like okay we've taken a step from last year even though we're still you know fifth to bottom or whatever in the standings. If they were in that position instead of second to last again maybe it would feel a little different but as I was saying earlier I think it's also just kind of Bidart's personality that he's maybe not the happiest guy and until they're succeeding he's not going to be that that joyous about it. And that's just kind of the inevitable part of the

situation. And they won the lottery at the time they did in their rebuild when they still have a long way to go and got him at that time. And they're not going to say no to that. He's their centerpiece player, but just was kind of inevitable that maybe the first couple of years of his tenure were going to be difficult. Ben, we appreciate the time, Obviously people out here in Vancouver following the Blackhawks closely and look, if Badaar doesn't have a new deal when training camp goes around, you can bet we'll be calling you and chatting about that because there's a lot of fans who will be interested in it out here.

Thanks for doing this, Ben. Yep, sounds good. Thanks for having me. That is Ben Pope, Blackhawks beat writer for the Chicago Sun-Times weighing in on a frustrating season, another frustrating season for the Blackhawks and what the path forward looks like. And they, they faced that problem where, okay, it's great, you have cap space, but you got to convince someone to take that money.

And there's only so many options out there and it's probably really hard to get the top guys. So what do you do? Do you then spend all your money on the mid tier free agents? That's usually not a way to get better in a hurry or to set yourself up to be sustainably good. It's a tough situation. Well, there are a few things that stood out for me about the Blackhawks on Saturday. Number one, structure wise, I mean, they're terrible.

The first two goals that the Canucks scored were essentially identical and it was just defense been getting free down the flank and having a wide open shot at the goalie, Quinn Hughes first. And then they're like, let's see if the goalie can stop Tyler Myers. And the goalie could not stop Tyler Myers. And even though the Canucks, I think that was their third and fourth shot.

Yep. And it was late and it was late in the first. So it's not like the Canucks were all over Chicago or anything. It was just those big, big breakdowns and the Canucks get out of there with a two nothing lead. I don't think anyone, even though the Canucks have had a somewhat frustrating season, was

thinking that Chicago was going to come back. Nope. In that game. And eventually the Canucks come away with a 6-2 win. Um, the other thing that stuck out was just Baddard did not play well. And then as a result of that, the third thing that stuck out was just his frustration at the

end of the game. And I am by no means excusing what Jason Dickinson did to Philip Heidel. I thought it was dirty. I thought it was dirty. I thought it was stupid. I thought, you know, I was, you know, everyone's like, are you mad at the NHL? Are you mad at the Canucks for their

lack of response? And I'm like, no, I'm mad at Chicago for sucking and for being in a position where they're so frustrated that Jason Dickinson does something like that. It was a frustrated hit. The Hawks were running around a little bit. And then Bedard for some reason was out on the

ice, like at the end of the game and, you know, the Canucks are maybe targeting him a bit, but I also felt like Bedard was getting fired up throughout that game. He was just really frustrated. And there's a reason he got a 10 minute misconduct. You know, I think the referees were tired of

hearing from him. Yep. Um, and they were also minute misconduct. You know, I think the referees were tired of hearing from him. Yep. Um, and they were also just like, look, kid, I'm going to give you a 10 minute misconduct because I think you need to lead this game because you might get hurt soon. Right? Like I mean, the fact that the Blackhawks coach,

who was it? Andrew Sorensen didn't put Dickinson out there anymore because he was scared of what was going to happen to Dickinson yet he's still going to put Connor Bedard out there. Like I realize it's not the NHL of the 80s and 90s anymore, but still like that seemed kind of wild to me that you know the Canucks were clearly very frustrated with what happened to Philipp Hedl and they're still putting Bedard out there. But Bedard was I guess, I don't know, willing to mix it up. He just looked miserable

the whole game and you know I don't care if that's his personality or whatever,'t know, willing to mix it up. He just looked miserable the whole game. And, you know, I don't care if that's his personality or whatever. You know, the fact that you rarely see this guy's smile. I actually went to the morning skate and I saw him there. And I saw the Blackhawks practice and he didn't look happy there either. Like there were like no moments of levity. And frankly, he didn't look very good in the practice either.

You know, the team is a real mess and I'm sure they got some guys that are coming up. They've had a bunch of first round picks over the last little while. I know they have some players, but you mentioned the difference between Chicago and San Jose and I'm by no means a prospects expert, but isn't, isn't generally understood that, you know, Chicago has Bedard

and San Jose has Celebrani, but San Jose in terms of upper echelon prospects has more. Well, they have more on the roster who are producing and playing right now. I don't know that they have more on the roster who are producing and playing right now. I don't know that they have more in the system coming. You know what I mean? They have Will Smith, who was 20, 23, fourth overall pick. They have Eklund, who's a bit older,

and has had more time to develop. So they have more at the present. But as Ben was saying, I think the sense is, Chicago just called up that Lev Shunov guy who could be really good for them next year. So I don't know if that's fair going forward, but it has made a big difference. And it's just kind of a fluke, right? That they happened to already have these guys before they drafted Celebrini.

So he's not coming in. At least he has these young players to kind of go through it with. With Bedard, it is such a fascinating difference of perspective, right? As Ben was saying, like, look, he's just a serious guy and you can easily imagine it as framing it as well. Hey, yeah, they're losing a lot. What you want him, you know, laughing and joking around and smiling all the time. It's like, no, he's, it's good that he's upset and frustrated with all the losing. I get that, but there has to be,

you don't want it to just feel miserable all the time. You know what I mean? And you need to be able to find those moments of, of, uh, of levity. And they're in such a tough spot. Like I have no idea what the next steps are to get them out of it. He looks so young.

He still looks very, very young. And I think that's something we also have to remember. He's 19 years old. Yep. He is young. And I think that's something we also have to remember, he's 19 years old. Yep. He is young. I think he looks about 17. Yes. But he is very young and sometimes I think

about the hype that he came in with. And Mike and I have talked about this a lot. His first year, correct me if I'm wrong, was the first year of the ESPN contract. Yep. So he got hyped up on a big level, not only in Canada, because of what was happening with the world juniors, but also in the United States, because the broadcaster wanted to hype him up.

And, you know, he was on the Pat McAfee show and things like that. Do you remember their schedule to start the year that year? It was like, I think they opened in Pittsburgh. It was like, Bedard versus Crosby. It was Montreal, Toronto, New York. It was like, oh, let's get this guy front and center as many high profile

matchups right off the bat. Well, all the commercials too. Yeah. All the commercials. And I mean, the Bedard with kids is still a huge star. And a lot of that is based on all the marketing that they did with him. I mean, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,idard came in with, barely got any attention. And right now you get a lot of people that are like, oh, maybe Sal Labrini is going to be better than this guy.

And you start to wonder if that might actually be the case. It's just a tough situation. I want both these guys to do well. Yeah. Because they're local products. Now I don't necessarily want Chicago to do well or San Jose to do well, but I do want both of them to do well and it was hard to watch how

frustrated Bedard is and we talk about, man, what are the Canucks going to do? How are they going to improve this? Like how is Chicago going to improve this? I don't know. It's because, okay, you miss out on Marner, understandable. So what you're going to sign the next Tyler

Bertuzzi? That's a roadmap for being disappointed again. You know who's going to get paid? Ehlers. Oh yeah. Ehlers are going to be the guy that, all right, we didn't get Marner. We didn't get Sam Bennett.

Brantanen's off the market. Brantanen's off the market. How about Ehlers? Yep. Ehlers is going to get, Ehlers is just in the perfect spot. Ehlers is like, how about Ehlers? Yeah, how about old Nick Ehlers? You don't want me win a feg?

There's going to be a bunch of other teams that do. The cap is going up. Call me money bags, Ehlers. You know, I'm quite speedy for Yeah, all you teams that need to get faster Speed and skill interesting. Yeah, I have that. I honestly think that's why Brock Besser is still gonna do just fine. I Like I because there's just such a lack of guys that you can even talk yourself into being top six players or legitimate Scoring threats on the market that some team maybe Chicago is gonna be like, well, someone's gotta take our money. Here you go, Brock.

Here's seven by seven or whatever the case is. Oh, Brock'll get paid. Yeah. That's why he's checked out. All right. On that note, we'll take a break here and we will come back next segment, open segment on the show.

So send your text in 650-650 to the Dumbar Lumber text message inbox. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DumbarLumber.com. We'll dive into the inbox, we'll take a spin through some other things happening around the NHL next on Hal from the Bruffs Sportsnet 650. Hey it's Jamie Dodd.

And Thomas Strantz. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to two on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. Welcome back to Halford and Brough on Sportsnet 650. It's Jamie Dodd filling in for Mike Halford. Halford and Brough is brought to you by the DeLari family of Honda dealers. Experience the DeLari difference today. Visit your nearest DeLari Honda dealer today. This hour of Halford and Brough is brought to you by 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. That's 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. That's Jason.mortgage. So the Canucks played back to back Saturday and Sunday. They beat Chicago. They lost to Utah. Today is officially a team day off. Tomorrow they finished the three game home stand against Winnipeg, which is going to

be a tough game. The Canucks have not exactly matched up well with the Winnipeg, which is going to be a tough game. The Connaughts have not exactly matched up well with the Winnipeg Jets this season. And if they make the playoffs, that might be their first round opponent. And then after the Winnipeg game, they go to St. Louis to play a big game, another big game against a team that's among the teams chasing for that final wild card spot.

Saturday is against the New York Rangers, JT Miller. It's a Saturday morning game for us here in Vancouver. 1 PM Eastern time, which means it's a 10 AM start for us in Vancouver. That's Saturday in New York. The trip continues through New Jersey, back to New York against the Islanders, and then Columbus

and it finishes it off. Winnipeg! The Jets again! Come on! And another early start! 12 p.m. Pacific in Winnipeg. Why did the PD versus Miller game have to be at 10 a.m. out of all the games? Yeah. Why does that have to be the early one? It's unfortunate. I'm by far looking to that one. There's already been a PD versus Miller game. It was, uh, it was in the four names. Yeah, I know. Not much happened, but, uh, this is different. Yeah, this is different.

It's different. This is different. Uh, and both teams are fighting tooth and nail for a wild card spot. The Rangers are in basically the same situation as the Canucks. Um, there's one wild card spot available in the East, I think. Ottawa looks to have that first wild card spot.

I guess they could still choke, but right now that's the way it looks. And in the West, the Canucks are among three or four other teams that are looking for that final wild card spot in the West. So that's going to be a big game. And so is the St. Louis game on Thursday. And, but let's first like focus on Winnipeg and, and just, I mean,

they, the Jets just seem to own the Canucks, frankly. It's a really, I mean, look, the Jets are maybe the best team in the NHL, certainly in the regular season. We'll see how they perform in the playoffs, but they super deep they're complete they've got Hellebuck They've got stars up front. They're they're a really really good team. So they're a tough matchup for a lot of teams I do think they're a specifically a tough matchup for the Canucks as well And then beyond the Winnipeg game, you know Then you have to go out for a six game road trip that takes you all the way back East, a massive game to start that

off against St. Louis, who's playing some really good hockey right now, had a big win against Anaheim yesterday. They're tied with you in points. You have a game in hand, but that could evaporate by the time you play St. Louis on Thursday. And the thing that just really stands out to me is no, there's no back to backs on this six game road trip, but there's no extra days off or anything either. Right?

So they played back to back on the weekend, day off today, Winnipeg tomorrow, and then it's every other day for the rest of the month. So that's still a very busy schedule. Six game road trips at the best of the time out East, best of times out East are tough for a West coast team for the Canucks. Now you consider some of the competition doing it in the thick of a playoff race. This is season on the line stuff and I think it highlights just what a missed opportunity the Utah game especially going up

one nothing in that game was. If you win that game in regulation you're six points clear of Utah with the same number of games played and what 15 games left 16. Yeah 15 games left That's not quite season over for Utah but that's really close like you had a chance to put their season on life support and Instead you let them be right there and now you've got this very very difficult schedule to contend with and one of my big questions is What's that your demko status gonna be that, you can't play Kevin Lankin in seven straight games here to end the month, on the road, every other game.

Through those games, they need to get Thatcher Dempko back soon and they need to hope that not only is he back in the lineup, but he's back close to as good as he was before he got injured again, in a hurry for them to have a chance here. Uh, when I went to the morning skate on Saturday, the Canucks were working him pretty hard.

All three goalies were on the ice to start and then Silavs left early cause he was going to start. And then it was Lankanen and Demko out there and they were working him pretty hard. Now I'm not a goalie expert, so I can't tell you how he looked or, you know, I was like, he looks pretty good, he's in the NHL, right? But I don't. He's stopping lots of bucks out there. Oh, that one got was like, he looks pretty good. He's in the NHL, right? But I don't.

He's stopping lots of bucks out there. Oh, that one got in, so that's not good. But I, again, like I, I can't, I couldn't tell you, um, you know, how he looked, but I know they were working him pretty hard and he was pretty tired after that session. So obviously they want this guy to be available. They got away with starting Seelofs against

Chicago, but you know, the two goals that he allowed, they were long shots. When he made some saves that looked awkward as well. Yeah, yeah. It's not like it was like, oh, that's great. Some shit. I was like, Hey, you got the win, but you don't want to start them again.

No, no, but can you start Lanken in every game for the rest of the season? No, but that's why you need Thadra Demko back ASAP. And then also you've got this Philip Heidel situation hanging over everything. And that's a new one for the Canucks. Against Utah, down the middle, the Canucks went Elias Pettersson, Pugh Souter, Teddy Bluger, and Nils Amman.

Pugh Souter, Teddy Bluger, and Nils Amon. That's, that's not like on paper with Pedersen playing the way he is, even if he's shown some improvement over the last little while and a willingness to at the very least shoot the puck. That's not a deserving lineup. That's not a deserving playoff lineup. If you, if you look at that center group and

Accurately assess what alias Pedersen has been this season, which I would say is probably at the level of about a third-line center That's one of the worst if not the worst center groups in the NHL Pedersen suitor Blugr Aman like that is Third line center and alias Peders, essentially how he's performed this year. Pugh, Souter, third line probably isn't what you like him. Teddy Bluger's like third line, but you probably like him even better

as your fourth line center. And Neils Amon is like fourth line center in a pinch. You're missing two top six centers in that group. And so, yeah, when you don't have a legitimate top six center in your lineup, it's going to be really, really difficult to generate offense, to look dangerous offensively. And again, it's not like Phillip Heidel has been setting the world on fire or filling the net or filling the stat sheet, but at least he's a guy who can make some things happen out there.

Carry the puck. Carry the puck. Carry the puck up the edge. Has a little bit of offensive skill and offensive mindset to his game. They're completely lacking that with him out of the lineup and I think they're, you know, Quinn Hughes played almost 30 minutes last night. They need him out there.

They need him out there to fill the offensive role that your center is supposed to fill. If the Canucks miss the playoffs by one point or even by, I guess what, wins percentage or whatever it is, how big will that missed double minor yesterday look for them? Huge. That honestly, that. Like that could be, I know it sounds dramatic, but that honestly could be season defining. That one missed opportunity. And season defining not just because they didn't score,

but because of how it looked. Yeah. If they miss the playoffs, even if it's not by one point of the tiebreaker of Utah or whatever, but if they miss the playoffs at all, I think that will be one of the defining moments of the season, right? Golden opportunity, home ice, extended power play,

big moment in the third period. And as you said, it's not just that they didn't score because whatever, Hey, if you, you're working the puck around and you've got these great opportunities, you don't score, it happens, but they looked so disjointed. They lacked urgency. It really just summed up so much of what we've been seeing offensively from this team and to do it in that moment. And then I think you also factor in talk it after the game saying,

Oh, there are plays to be made. We're bummed out as coaches that they didn't do it. We're frustrated. That was, that was the frustration of watching the Canucks try to score distilled into a four minute sequence. And yeah, it will be one of the defining moments of this season. If they missed the playoffs. Um, what do you think, what have you and Drancer have been talking about?

When it comes to. Utah. Yeah, I know. Well, that's the other thing that's a nightmare in all this if Utah makes the playoffs and Drantz just gets to talk about it. Did you know Drantz was in the crowd as a fan at the game yesterday?

Wearing a Utah hockey club jersey. I don't know, he told me. He went fan for which side. He told me on the show, he's like, I'm going to the game as a fan. I was like, to support Utah? And he was like, no, no. He bought his nephew tickets for Christmas.

Oh, so I was thinking about names for the Utah hockey club. And I've seen a few people saying the Utes, the Drancers or the Drants. And I was thinking about the Utah- The juice? No, no. That's how he described it. They have a lot of juice, the Utah juice. The Utah that's how he described. They have a lot of juice the Utah juice the Utah brunch That's not bad, right? Yeah, the Utah brunch. There's always time for Utah brunch. Yeah

One texture suggesting that the reason you're here with us this week is because Brent trans needed a whole show to himself just to talk about Utah I saw I called bear is like you gotta get me off the show this week I can't do it. I can't do five days of Utah send Alfred on vacation. I need somewhere. I need to be somewhere else He's been talking up Columbus to though. Yeah, I took care of that though I was gonna say I hopped on their bandwagon and then they've fallen apart if you're powerful Do you think if you're worried that? Yep, Drance is gonna be able to crow about his Utah take Well, first of all, here's the thing picking any team.

And I know Drance has been on them for a while, but picking any team when the race was this close with like 20 games to go, doesn't really qualify as a hot take. You know what I mean? Like if you're within four points of a playoff spot with 20 games left, I think it's just the way I think this team is going to make it. It's like, okay. It's different with Drance though. So, so I was texting him. What I'm saying is we don't need to give like, we don't need to give him credit

for picking a team that was close to the playoffs to make the playoffs. He's taken it. If, if you tell, and this is the, so I had a text with Drance. I was like, Hey Drance, just a heads up that I was kind of poking fun at you in the morning and we, we had a question, what would be worse, you know, Calgary making the playoffs or Utah making the playoffs and Drance being right. And it was a tough question to answer. And then I said like, you know, I'm worried you may be right. And then his reply is I am right. Like it hasn't even, is's so confident. You know, it's like, well, I am right.

And there's no room for debate. I was like, well, what if you're wrong? He's like, no, I'm- What are you talking about? I'm right. What are you talking about? Like, I'm obviously right. I mean, look, who looked like a better hockey team yesterday? Utah or Vancouver? Utah. Yeah.

Yeah. But he could still be wrong. He could, they could still miss the plus. That's always been my point to him is that it's like, it's fine to think that Utah is the best team, has the best talent of these chasing teams. But it's, my point has always been like, it's crazy to be certain about what's going to happen.

In a game of hockey. Over 20 games. You know what I mean? Like pick any 20 game chunk of the season and look at nhl.com and you'll see some wild standings results. Right? So yeah, if you, I don't, I don't think there's anything wrong with thinking Utah is the best of the bunch, but that doesn't mean they're going to win out. So here's the thing. If you're really hoping to avoid the Drance back padding for Utah, there's two paths, well, one path to avoid it and really avoid it. And another one, which is like, maybe just a nice consolation. As you said, he's also really been championing, uh, the blue jackets in the Eastern. What everyone has.

We all want the blue jacket. No, no, no, no, no. Not like, uh, I not like a, not in a, Drance doesn't believe in feel good stories. He was doing it from a hockey analytical perspective. Now they've fallen off. The emotions do not compute. No, absolutely not.

So they might miss the playoffs. So that should give the Drance haters some comfort as well, a little bit. The other one is St. Louis, because as positive as he's been about Utah Utah he has been extremely negative about st. louis. yeah what's his line? not a serious team. to the point where when i bring it up like hey they got a big game against st. louis next week he scoffs at it. i'm like well look at the standings it is a big game what are you talking about? and Utah is playing some pretty good hockey

right now they're on a roll they've got every chance still to make this to be in the playoff spot. So if it can't be the Canucks, the outcome you should be cheering for the most, if your main perspective is being anti-trance, is St. Louis to make it over Utah. So bringing it back to the Canucks, let's say there's two scenarios. The Canucks miss the playoffs and the other scenario is they squeak into the playoffs, but they lose in the first round. Does management see that any differently? I don't think so. I don't think they should, and I don't think they will. And I think regardless of what happens, whether they make or miss,

as you said, their playbook is going to be the same, which is they're going to desperately try to find at least one and ideally to impact forwards at the top of the lineup in the summer. And I think again, that's. Who do you think about when the, like, do you just go right to the UFA list? So one of the reasons.

Ehlers would make sense. Ehlers is the guy, but he's going to make sense. Everyone's got cap space. Yep. The one of the reasons I really wanted them to trade better at the deadline, if they weren't going to get them signed is they don't, they don't have a ton of assets to go out and make a big trade.

And especially if you're putting Leckermackie and Volander off the table, which I think is understandable. Okay. Well, those are the two prospects the teams are really interested in. They, so what I wanted them to do with Besser was, if you're not gonna keep him, trade him at the deadline, get some assets in, then you can go,

not as part of a rebuild or anything, but that you can then go use in the summer to try to land a big impact forward. And you'd have to add stuff into that, of course, but at least rebuild your stash of assets a little bit so that you could go the trade market for a player. To me, what's made the most sense is always one UFA and one trade. And that's still a really tall task,

but you're not gonna get it both done in UFA. You don't have the assets to get it both done as a trade. It probably had to be a two step process and keeping that story, I just think made it more difficult. Do you have any leaning whatsoever about what they're going to do with number 40? Or does it change on a daily basis? It changes a lot.

If you had asked me three weeks ago, I probably would have said, I think they're going to trade them. I think they're going to trade him. I think they're going to trade him. I think unless he ends the season on an absolute tear, even better than he's playing now, I still bet he's moved even better than he's playing now. Can you imagine? Yeah.

Yeah. I'm talking like peak. How well is he playing right now in your opinion? Pretty well. He's not the best player on the ice all the time, but he's playing pretty well. He was on ice for all of the goals against last game. Yeah. So I'm saying like, if, if Petey somehow is like, you know,

vintage Petey by the end of the season consistently, every single game night in night out. That's not going to happen, bro. I know. Well, that's what I'm, hey, I'm just saying that's what, what, what, that's what it would take for them to keep him. If that doesn't happen, then yeah, I think they still move him at the draft. I mean, that is a massive move to make.

Does the Quinn Hughes stuff play into it? Does it change your view on it at all, right? With Quinn Hughes giving him the vote of confidence? That was actually what changed my opinion on it. Well, that's why I was saying, ask Quinn what to do. Yeah, and then Friedman reporting how much he had his back and all of that. That's a fascinating dynamic if you are all in

on trying to convince Quinn Hughes to stay. Yep. Now is that, there's levels to this, right? Because Quinn Hughes could be really supportive of Elias Pettersson as a person, as a friend, but also see the wisdom of potentially trading him. Yeah. But that has given me pause.

I think it does matter. Yeah. I think it does matter, which is why I suggested earlier in the show, like just skip ahead to Quinn Hughes and just be like, hey man. What's the deal? Can you give us a little heads up? What's going on?

I know we can't offer you a massive contract extension right now, but let's say we could. Would you consider signing it? Because that to me, you know, if he's suggesting, probably not, right? Or if you can figure that out by his answer, then, well, put it this way. If they don't have Quinn Hughes and Pedersen is the guy that's kind of leading the way,

I don't want that. That, based on how he's played for what, 13, 14 months at this point. Not a happy thought. Not a, not an enticing thought to watch that version of the Canucks. Russ and Poco says, you guys are assuming there's trade partners for Pedersen. He's 11 million a year. How many teams are actually interested? It's a great question.

It's a great question, Russ. Now I do think as you said, there's so many teams with cap space. And yeah, somebody, I mean, we were talking about Chicago. A number one center. Right. And like you don't think Chicago would be interested in that. I don't know what kind of return you're getting, but I do think it's still possible to trade the player.

It just, if you're fantasizing about the dream return that sets you up for the future, that's probably off the table at this point. But I still think you can make the deal. Yeah. I'll be curious to see how quickly everything moves in the off season as well. Elliot Freeman has reported that the Canucks are going to have a big sit down with Pedersen

at some point, he called it. They'll have their come to Jesus moment. And I don't know if some of those talks have already happened. They might've. Well, I don't know if some of those talks have already happened. They might've. Well, I'm sure there's lots of conversations. Lots of conversations. And I'll be curious to hear what Rutherford and

Alveen and talk at say at the end of the season, just when they get the basic question, Hey, what happened there? Do they have a good answer for that? I think you mentioned on the show last week that if you're at the year end availability, that's going to be your question, right? Yeah. For managed.

It's just- What happened here? What's your opinion? That's something I've been saying a lot this year is can someone just, all I want is for an explanation why has this happened? What is going, like before you can start to say, we think we're going to fix it or we All I want is for an explanation why has this happened? What is going, like before you can start to say, we think we're gonna fix it

or we think he's gonna turn it around next year, you have to understand what went wrong. You have to diagnose the problem before you can fix it. What would be the most optimistic answer? Like if they were hooked up to a lie detector and they had to tell the truth, what is something that you'd want to hear? Because if it was something like, you know,

he wasn't strong enough, he didn't put the work in, in the off season. That would in some ways be encouraging because you could just say, well, if he puts the work in, in the off season, he comes to camp in shape and in better shape than, um, you know, that's great. Then maybe we could have old Petey back. Yep. But the other one would be like, well, why didn't you do that? You know, if we got a player that doesn't work hard.

I think the most, and we got to take a break in a second. I think the most optimistic possible answer is something along the lines of, he suffered some sort of injury late last season that. Impacted his play that impacted his confidence. He wasn't able or didn't put in the work necessary because of a, you know, some combination of mental and physical stuff going on, didn't put in the work and came to camp, not in the best shape, and it's spiraled and snowballed from there.

And then it was this kind of loop of, because he didn't put in the work, he kept losing confidence and he was never able to get back on track. And some players were yelling at him because of it. That to me is the most... Which players? The most optimistic answer, which isn't necessarily an optimistic answer. But I find it fascinating

that the people that you would say are more like PD defenders point to the tendonitis. And it's like, well, he can't perform. He has tendonitis. It's like, well, but that's not an optimistic answer. If you're saying he has this chronic knee condition that has caused his play to drop off a cliff for 13 months now, that's not like, well, I want to sign up for more of that. That, that should make you want to train more than anything. Alfred and I always joke about that.

We're just like, don't worry. Don't worry. He just has chronic knee injury. Chronic knee injury that makes him completely ineffective as a player when it acts up. So like, oh, okay, well, no problem then. But what's most important is that you were right. Absolutely.

All right, we'll take a break. Don't forget, send your what we learns in coming up at eight 30, but up next, we'll talk Seahawks and a little cracking with the inferness from KJR radio in Seattle. That's coming up here on how for them, rough sports net six 50.