Halford & Brough in the Morning - The JT Millers Game Has Arrived

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with 4EverBlueshirts executive editor and New York Rangers reporter Jim Cerny (1:28) ahead of tonight's NYR matchup at Vancouver, plus the boys speak with BC Lions head coach Buck Pierce (24:15) to set up Saturday's playoff matchup vs. Calgary. 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 7.02 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody, Halford Brough, Sportsnet 50. Halford and breath of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. Jim Surny, the executive editor of Forever Blue Shirts, is going to join us for a little rangers talk here.

In just a moment to kick off hour two. Hour two of this program is bratsy by Jason hominock at Jason. 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 them online at Jason, Dom Mortgage. We are coming to live from the Kintech studio, Kintech, Footwear, and Orthotics, working together with you in step. Our next guest, as mentioned, is the executive editor of Forever Blue Shirts. Those blue shirts will be in action tonight, 7 o'clock, Canucks, Rangers from Rogers Arena,

a reminder, pregame, post game, and the actual game. You can hear it all right here on SportsNet 650. Jim Cerney joins us here now on the Halford & Brough Show. Good morning, Jim. How are you? I am doing well. You guys all well-rested and fired up for the return of JT or what? Well-rested, no. We watched the baseball match last night, which I told him. Oh, you're not well-rested.

Yeah, but we're alive and we are excited for this game, and we're happy to get you on the program so we could set the tone from the Rangers side of things. So look, you go look at the standings and the box scores on this. The Rangers are 3-5-and-2. They're 7th in the Metropolitan Division. They're 31st in the NHL in goals scored. Beyond those numbers, Jim, what have you made of the Rangers start to this season? Oh, yeah, that's a loaded, long question, or probably long answer,

but just trying to narrow it down for you. You know, it's almost like the season took a pretty abrupt U-turn the last week because the first seven games, your rangers were playing some really, really good hockey. They were disciplined in their own end defensively. When there were breakdowns, Igor Shusirkin was playing out of his mind. And, you know, they were terrific on the road. They had been 3.0 and 1 in their first road games.

You know, the hiccup, of course, was the fact that they can't win at home. They were shut out their first three home games of the season at the garden and have, you know, have just been unable to win games on home ice to this point. So, but, but had played very well in most of those home games, they were the better team and just couldn't find ways to put the puck in the net. You know, so there was plenty of good in the early going. The past week was not good. It was not a good week for the Rangers.

In fact, a distinct regression to a lot of what we saw last year, especially in their defensive zone, especially with starting slowly, not starting on time, so falling behind in games. And when you're not scoring a lot, when you're struggling to score, that's a big issue when you're trying to play catch-up all the time. And that's the way this past week has been. You know, and other issues crept into their game, too. J.T., you know, we refer to them. Now the Rangers captain said, Rangers didn't show the proper respect, you know, in losing games to the San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames.

They didn't respect the opponent enough. And, you know, Rangers aren't playing well enough that they can disrespect anybody. So, yeah, there are a lot of reasons why they're three, five, and two right now. Scoring an issue, that's been an issue since day one, their whole mighty swows. but again the eye test told you that the first six seven games they were they were playing some pretty good hockey and looked a heck of a lot better and more engaged than they did a year ago this past week has been concerning though and i assume the trochec injury is a concern and had an effect um i'm wondering how j t miller has handled all this what's he been like in media veils there was always uh a certain amount of tension around J.T. Miller in Vancouver,

and I'm wondering if that's showing up in New York. Yeah, so I wondered the same thing. And I think the last time I was on the program in September, I talked about it. I'm like, ah, this is all well and great, and people are fired up. J.T. is the captain. But boy, if it goes south, what's it going to feel like?

What's it going to be like? because knowing J.T., you know, the history there, yeah, I wondered. And he's getting that test right off the bat every night, every day after practice. He's answering the same questions. Why can't you guys win at home? Why? What's happened to the scoring? And now lately it's been even worse.

You know, how can you not, you know, beat the bottom feeders like San Jose and Calgary? And to his credit, he's held it together. but there is a serious edge to him right now, you know, which isn't a surprise to you guys, I'm sure the fans, the Canucks fans tuning in. You know, he's getting irritated and irritable, answering the same questions over and over to his credit. He's held it in.

I know he's holding it in because I know him well enough, you know, from over the years. But, yeah, if this keeps going out, on, and he continues to struggle, he had struggled production-wise. Like, his effort's been, you know, exemplary on the ice. He is working his tail off out there. But, you know, you wonder if he's trying almost too hard, squeezing that stick, and, you know, he's missed plenty of great A's in the first 10 games,

especially as this has gone on here. He had a couple more against Calgary the other night. He just didn't even put on net that were clear, you know, great scoring chances. So I'm sure that's wearing on him on top of the fact that, oh, yeah, now I've got to, you know, talk to these buffoons after every game asking the same questions. And, you know, you can see it. He's frustrated. So he's frustrated personally, individually, collectively with the team. And then, you know, being in that role where he has to be there.

he can't go and go take a shower and let somebody else handle the questions post game. He's the guy now, and I know he doesn't like it, but I will say he is holding it together, you know, at least for now, 10 games in. So the Canucks had a day off yesterday because they played Saturday and Sunday. So Elias Pedersen has not yet been asked about this game tonight. has J.T. Miller spoken about his return to Vancouver yet, or has the focus been elsewhere? Yeah, focus has clearly been elsewhere once, again, you guys know J.P. well enough, this shouldn't come as a surprise. He wants no part of talking about coming back to Vancouver and, you know, rehashing the history of which there was plenty of good history for him.

but certainly the ending, you know, last season, you know, wasn't pleasant for all those involved. But so he'll, I'm sure he'll be asked about it today, you know, at the morning skate. So that really will be his first public comments. And I don't expect him, you know, to talk, you know, directly about the Pedersen situation or, you know, in any specific terms about, you know, leaving here. I'm sure he's going to throw bouquets to the fans, which he has done all along ever since January 31st since

the trade. He has been really spot on and with his messaging about the fans and about the Canucks organization. And I would expect that to continue today. You know, he's certainly going to take the high road and be, you know, nothing

but positive. I wouldn't expect him to break any new grounds or say anything overly enlightening about, you know, what his true feelings are or about the end of his tenure in Vancouver. Will Schisturken start tonight? So we don't know because the Rangers did not practice yesterday either, and, you know, it's not a question Mike Sullivan was asked the other day. My gut is saying that this might be a good spot to get Jonathan Quick in there. He's played well the first two games. You know, Igor's played a lot

to start the season, started at 8 of 10. He has not been good the past two games. He was not good allowing a six spot against San Jose. He was not good allowing five in Calgary to start the road trip. And bad timing, because he's been playing lights out. I mean, he was as good as any goalie in the league to start the season. But at the same time, and you can talk about cause and effect, I guess, at the same time that the Rangers' defense, you know, has shown massive lapses this past week,

Igor's game has not been up to snuff either. So it's a bad combination. And, you know, listen, they have a lot of confidence in Quick. And I think, personally, that this is a good spot to get him into. And then, you know, have Igor come back in Edmonton against Connor McDavid and company on Thursday. We're talking Rangers with Jim Cerney. Jim, I got to ask you

what do Rangers fans think of Lafrenier right now because I was on the internet the other day and I actually think I know the answer to this question but you tell me and our listeners Yeah, it's almost like a rhetorical question, right? You pretty much know what the answer is going to be you have the answer in your back pocket

it. Yeah, he's had a really rough start to the season. And this is after, you know, a disappointing year last year. And I think what his vast, and he does have quite a bit of support, I think his supporters always point to the analytics. And, you know, he's driving the play and look at his expected goal share. It's always among the best on the team. And, you know, part of that comes with his most of the past couple of years, past few years, you know, his typical linemate has been Artemi Panarin. So, yeah, they're, you know, they're driving the offensive play. But the numbers just don't back it up. The production just doesn't back it up.

And, you know, he's a guy that I think struggles with confidence with that puck's not going in and talk about, and I mentioned J.T. Talk about a guy who's had some great aid looks. He has had some unreal looks. And I don't know if you saw the replay the other night. I mean, he had the gaping cage. Dustin Wolfe was all the way on the far post. Laferrineer was wide open on the opposite side.

And he got off a good shot from five feet out. And somehow Dustin Wolf got over and got an arm on it. And it doesn't go in. You know, that happens. But it eats away it is confidence. And I'm not sure when things are not going well, that he's an overly confident guy. So it's been rough.

And, you know, he was, I'm not a big plus-minus guy, but he is minus 10 through 10 games. And it's a fairly warranted minus 10. And he was minus three against the sharks, minus three against the flame. So it's, you know, you can argue it's going south quickly for him. And the puck's not going in. So, you know, he's got one goal.

He's only had required. pointed points in two of ten games. And, you know, they run them out there. And he's playing more than ever than he ever has this season. With Trochecked out, he's playing on the first power play unit. And it's just not happening for him. So that's a big windup to answering your question of saying, yeah, he's kind of the poster child for, you know, things that are going wrong for the Rangers.

Like if it was Mika Zabanajad last season, the poster child for everything that went wrong, you know during that dismal season their struggles right now he is pretty much the poster child for it and you know again he's getting looks so he's doing some good things but you know

there's plenty he needs to clean up and yeah he's the was a number one overall pick and that's always going to hang over his head and it doesn't help when he had the game he had against San Jose and Macklin Celebrini is running around putting up a five-point night against him on the same sheet of vice,

not only against him, but against the Rangers. So, you know, that certainly drew quite a bit of conversation on social media among those that are down on Lafey right now. I can't believe it's taken so long to get to this guy, but how has Mike Sullivan handle it all this? He's getting a little hot. Is something going to blow tonight in Vancouver? Like, if the Rangers don't have a,

good game tonight in Vancouver. Like, are there going to be fireworks or what's going, like, it just seems like everything's very on edge right now. Right. I don't know what's happening behind the closed doors, but you can see it bubbling up more and more, especially this past week. He wasn't happy with getting shut out at home,

you know, three games in a row. But two of those games, like, they dominated the Edmonton Oilers in that game at home. And Stuart Skinner stood on his head, and then the oilers came away with a win. You know, that was happening quite a bit in the early going. So he said our process is good. I know fans, media, you look at it,

and it's always about wins and losses. And at the end of the day, it is. You need enough points and enough wins to get into the playoffs. But as a coaching staff, we look at how we're playing. And boy, are we doing the right things. In our own end, we've really cleaned up things. You know, sure, Igor has played great, but we've played really well.

front of him offensively, we're getting the looks. We keep doing this. We're going to be fine. But these last three games, starting with the Minnesota loss at the garden last week, and then the San Jose game and Calgary game, which I've referenced a lot, he's become more and more irritated. And it's, yes, you can see the fire in his eyes and you can see it bubbling up inside of him, but it's the words that he's using to describe what's going on. Like I loved what he throughout the, you know, our egregious mistakes defensively, you know, in our own end. I'm like, there we go. You have Mike, Mike's getting pissed.

He's not happy. And, but I think that's, you know, I think that's good. And I think that's kind of the JT effect on the team, too. You know, they're not just accepting it. They're angry at it, you know, at the way this week is gone. Now, listen, they got to pull out of it. They got to find a way. but there's a certain undertone of anger, whereas the last season, I don't know that I sensed that often enough from this group.

It was just more kind of mopey, hang our heads, bad body language. There's none of that right now. And I think their effort has been good really throughout the season, you know, a couple stinker periods and, you know, a couple stinker games in there. But for the most part, their effort's been good. So they're angry at themselves, especially about this past week. And Sully's, you know, he's let his anger out. He's shown it. But I think that's a good thing.

You know, I think that's a good sign. Now, of course, they need to turn it around, whether it be tonight or in Edmonton or whatever. They need to start turning it around soon with better effort or better, you know, results and certainly better play in their own end. We're speaking to Jim Cernie from Forever Blue Shirts here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Jim, before we let you go, I did want to ask you about a former blue shirt, and that's Philippeitel, who as you know is out yet again with another concussion. And I did want to go back to his time in New York because that's where all of this sort of originated with the multiple concussions that he suffered as a member of the Rangers. Right now there is some, and I think probably valid talk about whether or not he'll be able to resume his NHL career, or whether it's safe or not to. did those type of conversations take place in New York as well, or was it too premature?

No, those conversations were definitely underway. And I'll start with this. And if you've gotten to know Phil at all, he's a super popular guy. He's very likable, well respected, you know, within the locker room and the fan base. He's, you know, a very popular guy. so you start with that and then now there's there's so much concern for him as a person not to you know even looking beyond what his NHL future is and it was that way for a while in New York because there were so many injuries there were you know that 23 24 season was pretty

much entirely wiped out you know he sustained a concussion in November and was out for months then in January, we hear he's, you know, he's getting closer to a return, may return to practice soon, and he had a major setback, and he was done for the rest of the regular season. And that was concerning. To this day, I don't know the specifics, and he talks around the edges of it, but something happens, you know, that basically submarined his chances to return at that time. So what ended up, you know, you're thinking two, three months out of the lineup, boy, that's significant, ended up being the rest of the season.

So, yeah, there were a lot of talks about and concerned about his future, you know, health-wise as a human and as a player. And that's why when he was treated, there wasn't a hue and a cry about, oh, how can we give up on this guy? And is he, you know, former first round pick when he's healthy, boy, you know, he produces. Instead, it was, yeah, there's, you know, Chris Terry, this is a smart move. He can't, you can't count on him.

You can't bank on him moving forward. And, you know, I've written a couple stories about it in the past couple days. Just, you know, in a way, it's kind of heartbreaking, you know, knowing the individual. And seeing, you know, since he got to Vancouver, this is, this is twice already. They've taken a big hit. And last year, it ended his season. You know, and this year it's submarines, you know, a pretty good start for him, you know, three goals in his first five games. You know, so the answer, again, I know I gave you a longer answer, but the answer is yes, there were those concerns in New York.

And like I said, that's why there was no cue and cry with the fan base when the Rangers included him in that Miller trade. Because I think everybody was concerned that, you know, is this guy going to stay on the ice? You can't count on him. unfortunately. Jim, this was a fantastic breakdown. It always is when we get you on the show. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it.

Enjoy the game tonight, and I got a feeling we'll be reaching out later on in the season. That sounds great. Thank you, boys. Thank you. That's Jim Serney, New York Rangers reporter from Forever Blue Shirts here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. Daniel Texan, how much do you think JT is putting on the board tonight,

shaping up to be a battle? $5. $5. He's always been frugal. Speaking of money on the board, we're doing a little giveaway ourselves here, you know. We're giving away a $250 a gift card to Golf Town on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Here's the details. You need to be caller number five at 7.30 this morning. 604-280650. That number again, 604-280-650. They are just about, they, of course, being Golf Town, are just about on the verge of starting Canada's largest demo club sale. Online access begins October 30th, two days from now. The in-store event is November 1st and 2nd at all 48 Golf Town locations.

If you want the $250 gift card to Golf Town, caller number 5 at 730 this morning, 604-280-0-650. Also, before we go to break, we need to do tonight's One to Watch, brought to you by Limitless A-V. and there's really no answer more obvious than who the one to watch tonight is, and that is J.T. Miller's. He makes his return to Vancouver for the first time since his controversial trade earlier in the year. I am going to be watching, like so many others, what the response and the reaction will be from the Rogers Arena

Faithful tonight. 7 o'clock puck drop. J.T. Miller makes his return to Vancouver as a member of the New York Rangers. He is the one to watch tonight. One to watch is brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audio-visual integration experts, specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today. Visit them online at Limitlessavv.ca.ca. We're halfway through the show on the other side. BC Lions head coach Buck Pierce is going to join us.

You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Big Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with Big Ten. and even bigger bets, weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650, or wherever you get your podcast. 732 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halford and Brub in the morning is bratsy by Sands and Associates.

Get out of the penalty box of debt and back into the game with a financial fresh start. This is them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour two of the program with the midway point of the show. BC Lions head coach Buck Pierce is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour two of this program is brought to by Jason Homonock at Jason. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then, Don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.morgage.

To the phone lines, we go. Our next guest, as mentioned, the head coach of the BC Lions. Buck Pierce here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Buck. How are you, buck? How are you guys doing? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Congrats on the win in the end of the regular season, ending it well, going into the playoffs in style.

Before we preview that Western semifinal, let's take a look back on what happened in Saskatchewan over the weekend. kind of an interesting game, given the circumstances. What did you think about your team's play, and how happy were you with the result? Well, obviously happy with the result. You know, anytime you're able to get a win there, and Regina is always, it's always tough, tough place to play. So I thought it was a physical game.

It was that type of game. It was, you know, very physical up front, a fairly clean game in terms of, you know, not very many penalties called. It was, you know, a four-quarter game. between two good Western rivals. So obviously happy with the result. We got some things to clean up,

but we're moving on to Calgary and getting ready for the playoffs. In a game like that, did you notice that Saskatchewan was holding anything back in terms of scheme or anything like that? Because if you guys beat Calgary, it'll be you guys going to Regina again to play the Rough Riders. No, I mean, they, you know,

when you look at where they are and what they needed to do. You know, they wanted to make sure they got their guys out there and they got them some reps, you know, going into their by-week and getting them prepared for, you know, their Western finals. So I think they accomplished what they wanted to accomplish from that standpoint. Defensively, when you watch them, they're very good at what they do.

They don't do a lot defensively, but just extremely sound. I thought, you know, whoever was in there, they played their schemes, just like we saw on tape. I'm sure, you know, when you play a team multiple times in a season, there's always some wrinkles, you know, that go in. But, you know, the majority of the time it's a defense that, you know, sticks to what they do well and just execute at a high level. So, Buck, big question here. How did you guys turn it around? Because partway through the season, things weren't looking so good. No, I think, you know, we just stuck to what we believed.

You know, there was never a sense of panic. It was just a period of growth, you know, that let you go through throughout the season. You know, you look at the start of camp. It's an entire new staff. So we're learning each other. We're learning our players. And I think it was just a sense of belief. I think, you know, we understood where we could get to.

and just had to learn and grow together. I think the biggest thing is it was never a loss of, you know, what are we doing or, you know, we need to do this. We need to change these things up. We stuck to our guns and believed in what we were doing. And execution comes, right? So we always try to focus on just getting a little bit better every day and, you know, focusing where our feet are and where we currently are,

not looking too far ahead. and, you know, we knew if we clean some things up, then we could, you know, control our own destiny and get to where we wanted to go. So, you know, proud of the guys for just, you know, continuing to believe in our process and what we do here and what we're trying to and still here, and it's been fun.

We're speaking to BC Lions head coach Buck Pierce here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. BC is going to host the Western Semifinal on Saturday, November 1st, against the Calgary Stampeders. Kickoff is 2.30 in the afternoon on Saturday. Buck, you mentioned facing teams multiple times during the year. What's the biggest challenge in facing a team for the third time,

like you will, with Calgary, especially having already beaten them twice this season? Well, from an X's and O's schematically, you've got to be able to have some wrinkles in, and you've got to build a look at yourself, whether it's offense to events or special teams, you know, what have you put on tape? you know so it's not just game playing against the opponent it's you know what have you shown

what have you done you know how can you how can you adjust that how can you make it different how can you not be in the same rhythm of what you've done as a play caller or as a play designer and then just you know making sure that you know you're highlighting what we need the key things that we need to do to perform in a highlight level and win. You know, we talk about playing clean football every week and being the most physical team. So at this point in the season, make sure our bodies are right. You know, these guys have played two preseason games and 18 regular season games. So it's been a lot of football. So we've got to make sure that we're healthy and we're able to go out there and

perform. The game, as mentioned, this Saturday, 2.30 kickoff from BC Place. It's the Western semifinal. The Lions will be hosting their rivals, the Calgary Stampeters. A reminder for tickets at more, visit BCLions.com. Buck, thank you very much for taking the time to do this today, setting the game up. Best of luck on the weekend against Calgary on Saturday. Go get a win, and we'll do this again soon. Hey, sounds great.

Thanks. Thanks for having me on, guys. Have a great day. Thanks, Mark. That's Buck Pierce, B.C. Lions head coach here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. I mentioned it, but I mentioned again. A reminder, if you want tickets to the game this Saturday, back-to-back weekends at BC Place with a playoff game hosted by the local squadron, B.C.Lions.com for tickets.

Not that I'm complaining, but is there ever a day off from the sports? No. It's crazy. No. I mean, this Blue Jays run has added a whole new dimension, but at the same time, we got the BC lines playing really well, and we've got the Vancouver Whitecaps playing really well. I mean, we just had a whole weekend go by, and there was an NFL game last night, like Kansas City and Washington played.

I didn't watch five seconds of that. Yeah, I didn't watch much of it. I watched a little bit. Yeah, but like, yeah, but you watch everything, right? But if you're choosing to watch Marcus Marriota over Shohei Otani, that's your call. It's two TVs, brother. That's what you got to do. You got to get on my level.

Got to set it up so you can watch Marietta, throw multiple interceptions in a game that means nothing to nobody outside of Kansas City and Washington. I wonder sometimes why you struggle with focus. I don't know. I don't know. What are we talking about? I don't know. What are we talking about? Okay.

Let's talk about tonight's game. Yeah, so this is a marquee game on a marquee night for the National Hockey League. As we mentioned, it's a frenzy tonight south of the border mostly where all 32 teams are going to be in action, 16 games across the National Hockey League. And with all due respect to some of these other matchups that have teams higher in the standings and perhaps with more and better Stanley Cup aspirations than the Canucks and the Rangers, this one has special meaning. Maybe the most meaning and the most drama and the most potential for controversy out of all of them because it's J.T. Miller's return to Vancouver, which has been bandied about a lot on this station, it's specifically on this show. The Canucks had the day off yesterday, but there was still some news in the wake of yet another injury, although nothing's been confirmed. But Victor Mancini, the defenseman that the Canucks got from the Rangers in the J.T. Miller trade along with Philadelphia. He got hurt Sunday against the Oilers, so it's possible, in fact, likely, tonight that neither of them will play against the Rangers.

Rick Tollywell reported that the Canucks had called up Tom Velander. Now, it's possible, I suppose, that Vellander makes his NHL debut against the Rangers tonight, but Kudriatzov was the healthy scratch on defense versus the Oilers. so it remains to be seen if VLander will come into the game I can't keep up with all the injuries I don't like the Canucks are going to skate this morning and there's going to be a media availability the Rangers are going to skate this morning

there's going to be a media availability so you're not going to have to wait long to find out some news but Queen Hughes I think it was Ian McIntyre has already reported like he's not expected to play tonight which really puts extra pressure

on the current top four of Horonick, Marcus Petterson, Tyler Myers, and D. Petey, who's top four guy now. The other D-Man being P.O. Joseph, who did not play very much at all against the Oilers, despite Mancini leaving the game. The Canucks just went, all right, we got two pairs here. It's beer league tonight. We got four guys. It's actually a lot of guys. Flip them, not even rolling, just flip them. And Tyler Myers had a pretty tough night. Not a lot of things went his way. So I want to get back to the question And love to hear your thoughts Into the Dunbar Lumber Text Line at 650

650 This is kind of a weird question to ask But like will something happen tonight Like will there will there be something That we come in tomorrow And we're like Wow that that was Well we got something to discuss

Fireworks fireworks Some something like maybe it's again Like I kind of went through this earlier Maybe it's the crowd reaction. Maybe it's something between Miller and Pedersen. I know they've already met twice, once in the Four Nations, once at MSG, but Pedersen barely played in either of those games. You know, he wasn't in form at the Four Nations,

and that game had little meaning anyway. Then he got hurt at MSG. And, you know, this one's in Vancouver. Like, this is where it truly matters. and sometimes the emotion from the crowd can affect the players or maybe it's just like whoever wins they're feeling great about the win but whoever loses is like oh man like if the Rangers lose

and that makes like so they've gone you know all their struggles at home to start the season you know not scoring goals at MSG and then they lose to San Jose they lose to Calgary two of the worst teams than the NHL based on the standings and everyone's opinion, and then they come to Vancouver and they can't get, they can't get a result against, you know, J.T. Miller's old team. Then you know what the conversations are going to be like around the Rangers. You know, the connects, meanwhile, are only slightly more comfortable than

the Rangers. Yeah. And I don't even know if they are, right? It might be even. I know they've got a slightly better record and they're coming off a better performance, but, you know, if they lose this, they're below 500 and they've just lost a J.T. Miller and the New York Rangers. So I'm, you know, everything points towards something significant happening because of the temperature of the two teams coming in, a bit ornery, bit upset. You got, as you mentioned, the Rangers coming in off a blowout loss in Calgary. And you've got the Canucks in a very unique position, a very unique position because they've got the wounded animal aspect to them.

They're banged up. They're missing a ton of guys. There's that sort of, we're going to fight and scrape and start. scrap and claw our way. You give them a lot of credit for what they did against Edmonton, and now it's like, okay, you need to replicate that kind of effort, possibly as short-handed as the game before.

I do wonder what Evander Kane does tonight. Oh, that's a good thing. You know what? If there was one time for him to do, I don't know, something, like he's, don't get me wrong. I mean, he's laid some big hits, and he's actually made some nice passes that have led to goals.

Those are called primary. But I think overall the fan base has not been too impressed with the Vanderkane. Let me point to a couple things here. One, I think there's some still residual complaining about the lack of response from the Tom Wilson hit on Philippaedal. I think that's still hanging in the ether among the fans. Certainly know it's among some media types. How much, well, you, but how much of that had to do with out of

foot just being like apparently saying I'm not saying it's right or wrong I'm just saying it's right or wrong I'm just saying this was there a response no you know what happened earlier this week Tom Wilson in a game against Ottawa

I think it was on the weekend actually went out and laid a massive hit in that game and Ottawa lost its collective mind in that game not only did they put a beating on the capitals on the scoreboard it was like Donnie Brooke all hands on deck we're responding right now. Now, the Knox didn't do it for whatever reason.

The residual... I mean, they responded a little bit in the moment. It's not like they were like, hey, it was a pretty big hit. They all went over. I mean, Tom Wilson wasn't scared in any way. He's probably laughing. My takeaway was that it felt like something was just left wanting to put it in that context. So there's one part of it. The other part of it, as it specifically pertains to Evander Cain, this is the kind of spotlight that he relishes. Where's that attention you ordered? Well, it could be here tonight, 7 o'clock Rogers Arena, where everybody is just sort of standing there waiting for something to happen. I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but Evander Kane, throughout the course of his NHL career, has kind of lived for

these types of moments, both on and off the ice. He likes being the main character. He likes being a central figure and at times I think he likes being a bit of a decisive polarizing or controversial figure I think he honestly I think he does relish it at times right I think that's pretty clear and if he doesn't then what the hell are you doing so there's so they're like put it this way if there's a big platform and a big spotlight and a big moment that's hanging out there with an invitation to step into it I just wonder if tonight's the night that he doesn't You get what I'm saying, right? Shouldn't you start the night with the line, probably get it out of the way?

There's, right, there's no one particular way to do it. But everyone's got that one friend that they're like, if there's a moment to be stolen, buddy's going to steal it or buddy's going to take it, right? You're going to walk into a room at a party and they're the one that's going to maybe either light it up in a good way or maybe light it up in a not so good way. Why do we bring this guy to the party? Right. Sorry for our friend.

We've known him forever. Everyone has this friend. He has opinions. Everybody knows them. You know, sometimes you bring him and he's the life of the party and sometimes you bring him and he's not. But anyway, so back to my original point. The stage is set for this.

The stage is set for this kind of thing to happen. So, again, these Miller and Pedersen have been out on the ice against each other twice already. But Four Nations, it was a meaningless game for Sweden, I believe. They'd already been eliminated. and Pedersen was, I think he played 10 minutes and then the game at MSG that was in March

Pedersen's game was nowhere to be found and he ended up getting hurt remember he took a face off and it was just like I don't know what happened there but he just left just say goodbye and he didn't look he was like okay this season sucks and that was the last game he played

so they haven't really gone head to head tonight J.T. Miller is the one C. Elias Pedersen is the one C. Adam Foote has had Pedersen out there. It's against a pretty good players in matchup roles. That's the matchup, right? Pedersen versus Miller? And I'm not really ready to be convinced

that it's going to be like those two doing anything. This is like PD got bigger in the offseason specifically for this moment. But they'll be out there against each other a lot. Yeah. I'm not saying like they're going to drop the gloves. should. I mean, it would be awesome. It would be amazing. If Pedersen lined up Miller for a big hit. Could you imagine if they dropped the gloves and he knocked them out? That would, well, maybe not that way, but lining him up for a big hit, like if PD lined

up Miller for big hit, regardless of how the rest of the season went, that would make it. That would be amazing. That would make it for me. If it was like, it was a fight and it's like the Dean Youngblood story, like he's been, you've been in the barn with your dad or something like that. What's going on? If you haven't seen Youngblood rent it before the game, go to Blockbuster and rent a before the game tonight.

Flashback code PD montage. I have a tiger playing in the background. But I just even think the matchup from a hockey perspective is going to be interesting because if those two go one-on-one essentially against each other, then everyone's going to be like, let's go to natural statric and see who won the matchup or whatever. Like I can't think of any other matchup that it would be. No, it's that.

Right? And I would, look, that's, that's the, that's their top line. But also, I think every, you put Pedersen on them. I think everyone should lean into it. I think the players should lean into it. Definitely. I think the coaches should lean into it. I think Foote should be like, here's your test.

Let's go get it. And you could spin it as an absolute positive, an absolute confidence builder. Like, Pedy, you're playing well. Go get it. Go after it and dominate this matchup. Right? Do it. Go out there and take care of a guy that's on the wrong side of 30.

And quite honestly, and this is still bothering me in the aftermath that we have this conversation about whether they're going to boom or not, make them boom. Make everyone remember that this guy isn't here anymore, right? If you ain't with us, you're against us. By the way, is this not like a galvanizing, a potential galvanizing moment for this team? And I like you say, like don't shy away from it. Lean into it. Take the opportunity. Can I also point out when we were talking about the reception that Miller's going to get?

I went back and looked at the Bo Horvatt reception when he came back and like there was a debate whether or not they were going to boo Horvett and then the fans went ahead and did like it wasn't vociferous but they did it when he touched the puck and I'm like he had made those comments though

remember but on the bench in New York but is there can you really correlate like and make an equal comparison between like one comment that he made with the Islanders to bullying and getting into such a argument with a teammate that they had to the break you

guys up and trade you somewhere else? I think Okay, with all due respect to Horvatt, Horvatt was never beloved in this market. He was the captain. Yeah, I don't care. He was the captain. I don't care. He was a good, loyal foot soldier.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, those guys are, you know. So when he comes back and they're never beloved in the market. Are you saying he was beloved like J.T. Miller was? No, I'm not saying that at all. But I'm saying is that they managed to find a reason to boo him. You think he could find one to manage to boo Miller. They're going to boo Miller. A lot.

They're going to give him quite an ovation when there is the time to give him that video tribute. Do you want to bet on it? Do you want to bet on it? You don't understand what I'm saying yours. I'm saying it's like... Clearly. Yeah, I'm saying... So tell me. If you ain't with us, you're against us. Okay, you're sounding like Dollywall here. Like, what do you think is going to happen tonight? They're going to give them a nice tribute. I know what's going to cheer.

And then after they cheer, they'll start booing. That's what it'll be. And they'll do the J.T. Miller chant. And they'll be, and it'll be this confluence of cheers and booze. I'd just like them to just, like, absolutely hammer away the guy all game. That'd be awesome if they booed his tribute. Yes, that's what I'm saying. See, that's what you're getting at, right? But that won't happen.

No, it won't happen. But that would be amazing theater. Yeah. I would like this to be the most emotionally charged night of all time. Right? I think it'd be great. I don't think it's going to happen, but it would be fantastic. And the way that that happens is you very clearly make a point of who's the hero and who's the villain.

whether you like it or not, whether you even believe it or not. It'd be funny if one good guy and one bad guy. It's funny if the crowd gets like so behind Pedersen and Pedersen's just emboldened out there and he's incredible and he scores all these goals and then he's like, you know what? I'm going to do it. I'm going to fight J.T. Miller

And then Miller just beats the wheels off. You went too far. I did not read this well. I did not read this well. He flew too close to the sun, buddy. Too close to the sun. I'm in over my head I am going to kill you

right up until the point where you've fought them Can we petition sports net to have like a Miller and PD cam all night? Like just little side cams and follow them around the whole night. I hope so. I think we convinced at least two people to buy tickets to the game tonight based on that last time. You said it'd be far because it better be good.

You're welcome Canucks Sports and Entertainment. It's like a one-nothing game, boring game ever. We got to go to break. When we come back, Landon Ferraro is going to join the program. More Canuck Stock. And, oh yes, right, another giveaway from the Halford and Brough show. Someone said a real text that came in. It's a lot of giveaways on the Halford and Brough show right now.

It must be fall sweeps. I'm like, what decade are we in? In what world do we have fall sweeps? Coming out next on CBS. Are we in the cover of TV guide? Are we going up against Falcon Crest? I don't know what's happening here. We're just giving away stuff because we like our listeners.

We're giving away a pair of tickets to see the foo fighters. They will be coming through Vancouver next September, 2026 at BC Place. You can get tickets at Ticketmaster on Friday, but we're giving away a pair today and tomorrow, last two days of the giveaway. Call in at 8 o'clock, 604-280650. That number again, 604-280650. Caller number 5 at 8 o'clock wins a pair of tickets to see foo Fighters,

September 2026 at BC Place. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. Thank you.