Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Sad Club Showdown Is Here

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the possibility of the Whitecaps getting a new stadium announced today, they preview tonight's Canucks matchup versus their Sad Club brethren in the Buffalo Sabres (3:00), plus they discuss the struggling Jets with CJOB Winnipeg's Jim Toth (29:25). 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.

You're listening to Halford and Brough Everly, leaving it for Tollman and one-timer. Scars! It's done! Eight over time! Sam Reinhardt sends you, George the net. They score! Lundell tipped it in.

with 50 seconds to go, the Panthers. We're still looking at it bad. We're talking with Bo. We've met with Tucker. We love to have Bo back. Who's Bobo? Sir. Booboo.

Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It's Halford. It is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming here live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning. Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred in 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-trustee.com.

We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling Day recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to live from the Kintech Studio. Now's the time to maximize the benefits of. of custom orthotics before the year runs out, visit kintech.net. Big show ahead. The guest list today. It is the Duick Morning Drive, brought to you by the

Duick Auto Group. It begins at 630. Jim Toth. Jets at noon on C.J.O.B. Radio in Winnipeg is going to join the program. We've mentioned a lot lately how the jets are struggling and we're not talking about it enough. So today we remedy that. How bad are the jets? They're just four points ahead of the Canucks. Jim Toth will join us at 630 to talk about Winnipeg. 7 o'clock, Adnan Verk joins the program from MLB Network. He joins us having just wrapped coverage on the recently ended baseball winter meetings in Orlando. Some huge deals went down, including one, or a couple actually for the Toronto Blue Jays.

We'll talk to Adnan about all that at 7 o'clock. What are they talk about at the winter meetings, do you think? We'll talk to them about it. Do they still like, should we still do three strikes? I think that, did they go over the robot umpires that are coming into effect? Oh, probably. they went over a lot of things because it was right at the very end Alonzo signed. They finally got some news at the very tail end of

the winter meeting. The AL East just keeps getting better and better, eh? Don't even get me started. That's at 7 o'clock, Adnan, Verk. 730, Brady Henderson. Remember when the Jays lost that game? That was tough. Remember when they lost the World Series? It was tough, man. I was sad. Oh, right. They were in the World Series. Do you think they talked about that at the winter meetings?

They were just like, that was pretty crazy. Like, the Jays definitely should have won that game. They had multiple chances. Multiple, multiple chances to win the World Series. They went up to John Schneider and they're like, well, have a good winter. Yeah, that was tough, though. Brady Henderson's going to join us at 730. He's our ESPN Seahawks insider. Here's something I did not have on my bingo card at the beginning of the NFL season.

That going into week 15, the Seahawks would be 10 and 3 and 14 point favorites against the Indianapolis Colts and their new quarterback, Philip Rivers. Did not predict that. That is exactly what's happening. they're going to let them start seems dangerous let is a very interesting word to use there but that's kind of what everyone's thinking is this legal can they do this i found some audio from everybody even his kids were asking him dad are you sure you could do this could this be construed is elder abuse we will find out on sunday brady henderson's going to join us at seven 30 to talk about all that eight o'clock thomas drance from the athletic vancouver and connect stock canucks are in

action tonight seven o'clock from rogers arena against the sabers there's also been another big development on the trade to Quinn Hughes front, this time courtesy Gary Mason. Drancer's going to join us at 8 to talk about all that. 12 days of Halford-inbrough Christmas goes today at 8 a.m. Caller number 5, 604-280-0-650. That's not the only giveaway we're doing today. At 7.30, we are giving away tickets to see the Vancouver Giants take on the Victoria Royals this Saturday, December 13th at the Langley Events Center.

Again, caller number five this time at 7.30. So it's 7.30 and 8 o'clock this morning. We're doing our giveaways. I'll do my best to remind everybody to call in and win the prizes. That's what's happening on the program today. That is the Duick Morning Drive brought to you by the Duik Auto Group. Without further ado, Laddie, to tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night?

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss that? You missed that? What happened is Brat to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance?

Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools or resources and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.com. There's a press conference today. There's a press conference today. That's City Hall. Oh, it won't be with Jim Rutherford or Patrick Alvin. It won't be Canucks related at all, actually. Nope.

This morning, at City Hall. the mayor of Vancouver, who lives there. That's where he lives. Yep. That's his house. He lives in the attic. City Hall will be holding a joint press conference with Whitecaps sporting director Axel Schuster, and it's about a new stadium.

That's what it sounds like. According to Halbro's sources, the two parties are going to announce an exclusive negotiation period to explore a new stadium and entertainment district at Hastings Park. This comes right after the weekend report from Patrick Johnson, who reported that his sources were saying the same, that this does give the white caps after a wildly successful season and a pretty good bit of negotiating from MLS Commissioner Don Garber, an exclusive window to assemble the project.

It sounds as though the official announcement will be this morning at City Hall. Yeah, it should be exciting for sports fans in the city, and we can all dream a little bit more about a new outdoor stadium, but we should also be cautious in our optimism. It's all well and good for the caps and the mayor to announce that they'd like to get something done. It's quite another to actually, you know, get it done. One rather large question that needs to be asked

is, who's going to pay for the new stadium? Patrick Johnson reported that a proposed agreement will be presented to Vancouver Council that will allow the white caps to bring aboard other partners for additional development on the site. So this is, I don't know if this is an invitation, Right. For those partners, I'm sure they've got some partners in mind,

but they might need to find some more. So, again, who are those partners? What do they want to do? Sure. Do they want to just build a stadium, or will there be other parts of the development that, as you mentioned, can create the kind of entertainment zone

that accompanies a lot of new stadiums these days? I don't know. Do they still do hard rock cafes? Well, do we need, we did have a hard rock cafe. It was a big deal back in the day. A rainforest cafe. You know, the air to dream. Yeah, bring it all back.

What will the public think of all this? Because there's always got to be some sort of, you know, public feedback process. And I don't know if you've heard, Halford. I know you don't do a lot of developing. No. In Vancouver. Personal or otherwise. Our city has a bit of a reputation for red tape.

They call it red tape. Yeah, no, I have heard that part, especially when it comes to development. There's a lot of hoops to jump through. It's an actual hoop. Which is... Like, you're talking literally. Like, they put out a bunch of hoops. It's just one of them.

There's going to be one today. Axel has to jump through four of them. I mean, I would go... There's got to be some non-market housing plus this hoop here. You better jump through it. Oh, you didn't get through it. What other questions do you have? Are the lines part of this?

Yeah. Yep, that's a good one. Because it's just... Might they combine horse racing and soccer together? No more horse racing, buddy. I mean, they'll be there. No, they won't. They're done.

They're retiring. They're retiring. They're going down to Palm Springs. It's true. They've got a place. So the alliance part of this, because they're not part of the presser. There's only... As far as we know, as far as we know, this is the mayor and the white caps.

Is the provincial government on board? Because they're probably going to need to contribute in some fashion. They're not part of the presser. What about First Nations? They're not part of the presser. So I think this is going to be, again, it's, nobody's trying to throw cold water on this. This is the first step. Like this is what happens, right?

This is the infancy. You throw it out there. And then you're like, okay, what are the many, many hurdles that we need to overcome before shovels actually go in the dirt and we build a new stadium? Yeah, it's the infancy of the- Oh, we'll need to buy shovels. It's the infancy of the project, is how I would classify. But I would also classify it as an overwhelmingly positive step because the one thing that MLS Commissioner Don Garber harped on at MLSCup over the weekend in Miami wasn't necessarily that they didn't have a stadium to play. And that was the overarching theme.

But it was there's been no progress. Like remember, he showed up a few weeks ago and sort of made the media rounds and met with politicians and, you know, did the bureaucratic spin. And then I think he assumed that there would be a little bit of momentum off that. And then he, but to his dismay, there was not. So at least this is something tangible. It might seem a bit photo op-ish in the moment that they're announcing something that was kind of out there in the ether a couple days prior. But that shouldn't take away from the fact that it doesn't seem like this is all BS though. No, it seems like I said, it's the, it's the infancy in the first step, your baby's first step on the way to becoming an adult.

And it's a good thing because the white cabs have been able to. capitalize on what was a fantastic season. I know there's a big divide between the on-field product and then the business and development and exploration side of things, but you've got to admit and acknowledge that momentum can do a lot

of things in a positive way for you, and the white cats couldn't have any more than they've got right now. We've talked about it being an all-time year for any sporting franchise in the city of Vancouver, never mind just soccer specific, what they were able to do this year, the amount of fans they were able to capture,

the amount of success that they've had, all of it's now being parlayed into something tangible on a new development, new stadium, which is a very good thing. Okay, let's, we had our fun and optimism and we're dreaming and it's cool. And we go back to the Canucks where I know we got everyone talking about

regime change yesterday, and that seemed to be what all the shows were talking about. I felt like right before the Iraq war, there's going to be regime change. and then Gary Mason came out and wrote another column and when Gary Mason writes about the Canucks

people should pay attention to it and that article proved an effective countermeasure to the possibility that say Brendan Shanahan could be coming to Vancouver because Gary Mason believes and this is what he wrote that Jim Rutherford has the complete support of ownership

on whatever moves he ends up making. Now, if you think about it, there's only one party that knows for sure if Rutherford's job is safe, and that's ownership. I can only assume that Gary wouldn't write that he believes something to be true unless he was pretty well-informed on the matter.

Gary also wrote that it now seems like just a matter of time before Quinn Hughes is traded. Gary added that it may not happen to rush because Rutherford needs to nail this trade but if Gary's reporting last season prepared us for the eventual trade of J.T. Miller it might be a similar story now with Quinn Hughes. Now what's the one big difference between last year's

Gary Mason article and this year's Gary Mason article? Well, that article that preceded the Miller trade was an actual interview with Rutherford. nobody on the other hand was quoted in Gary's piece on Hughes maybe because the source of what Gary believes didn't want to go on the record it's possible possible possible

doesn't love to do press conferences doesn't talk to the media all that much on the record could be but I do think it's worth noting that we haven't heard much from Rutherford or Alveen for that matter for a while now Patrick Johnson quoted in a McConaughey couple weeks ago when the Canucks sent out that memo about being open for business, but there's been no media availability for a while, and certainly not since all this Quinn Hughes stuff

kicked off. And, you know, if you listen to Adam Foote talking yesterday at practice, and I've got the audio here, this whole Quinn Hughes thing, you know, players can say like, I don't read social media, and I've just got a job to do, but come on, they're human beings. And obviously, it's seeping into the locker room. They obviously hear it, like you said. I think when I've been around things like that, you're not talking about it, you're not, you know, you're trying not to think about it, but it's there.

And you can feel it certain days more than others. I can feel it certain days more than others, and these guys are human, they can feel it. It can affect, for sure, a locker room. I have to give the guys credit. they're in a tough spot hearing the noise and they keep coming to work every day and keep doing their job. And that's their pros, that's what they're supposed to do. But I answer your question, they can hear it.

And it probably affects some players more than others. But like I said, I give them a lot of credit for the way they're handling it, coming to work, trying to win hockey games and do their job. Well, the Buffalo Sabres are in town tonight to play the Canucks at Rogers. Arena amidst all the noise. Thatcher Demko is expected to start. Pedersen will not return. It doesn't sound like it.

He did skate before yesterday's practice. And Foote said that although it's unlikely he's going to play against the Sabres, Peders is expected to travel with the Canucks on their four-game road trip. That starts Sunday in New Jersey. That'll be interesting. And continues essentially until the Canucks have. a three-day Christmas break. The Canucks tried out

some new line combinations of practice. Is anyone interested in these? They are pretty depressing. You still got the four centers of David Camp. He was between Garland and Besser. I guess that's their first line. That's their best line, top line. Max Sasson was between

Carlson and DeBrusk. Drew O'Connor, still a center. He's out there with Kane and Sherwood. in theory that should be a big physical line and then you've got Atu-Ratu between Hoaglander and Baines Reichel the Extra

Yes Yeah it's a tough forward group to look at right now Because It's a tough forward group to start the season It was really right? You were like oh this is this is pretty thin up there And then it got thinner The one thing that they couldn't afford

Going into the year was Any sort of depletion from the center position I know this is not not a scorching hot take, and it's not especially new. But the fact that they're in this position right now is at equal

points, sad and comical. Like, only the Canucks this could happen to. You can't get through an NHL regular season. I mean, I guess you can. You'll lose a lot of games. But you can't get through an NHL regular season with, I mean, consider the profiles of players. Sasson for the largest part prior to this

year was an American league player. Drew O'Connor was a winger. David Komp was a 4C on a team that couldn't even use them, so they basically cut them. And Atu Ratu was also an American League guy. And now they're all playing significant contributing minutes on an NHL team. Yeah. Like the proof is in the pudding when it comes to this team. They're not good enough in way too many areas to compete on a regular basis.

But I go back to what I said yesterday. Like, Pedersen's not going to be there tonight. So the argument falls a little thin. But they are in no way, shape, or form in the work. health situation in the National Hockey League. There are teams out there right now that are ahead of them in the standings because every team's ahead of them in the

standings that are dealing with more catastrophic injuries than what the Canucks have had. The Canucks just had no room for error, especially down the middle. There was a... However, I think they're probably up there. Without Pedersen, I think they're probably up there

in terms of like, wow, this is bad. I think they're pretty like, name another team that has the injuries to their top three centers, I would say, because you've got Pedersen out, you got Heidel out, and you got Blugher out. I could have easily seen that, one, two, three. Well, that's what I was saying.

I said if Pedersen wasn't to come back tonight with Demco. Yeah, but he's not, right? Right, yeah. But the center position was weak going in, and now it's dead thin. I mean, I understand what you're saying. Missing that many centers on a team that didn't have that many to begin with, there's a reason they're bottoming out. But I was more trying to point to the injury excuse,

which look at times this season it was a mass unit there was way too many guys out they didn't have the ability to compete I think maybe the game in Florida might with a Petera game might have been the one where I was like this is it's amazing that they've got an NHL lineup out there with the amount of guys that they've

got on the ice let's read some text into the Dunbar Lumber text line because I think a lot of people want to talk about what Gary wrote about in the global mail and I'll say report it because he said I do believe that Rutherford has the full support of Francesco Aquilini, the ownership group.

Jay in the Ridge says, guys, is it not hard to believe that four years ago, all we wanted was a president of hockey ops to be the person to speak for the franchise. And then too soon after that, Rutherford comes in and puts his foot in his mouth multiple times. And now when we have this massive decision on our hands in terms of Hughes, we have nobody that's willing to speak on the state of the franchise. yeah it's not ideal I think Canucks fans

are dying for someone to come out and say like this is what's going on sometimes I wonder if the reason they don't do a press conference is number one maybe you know Rutherford press conferences don't always tend to calm things down

but number two maybe they just maybe they're still trying to figure it out maybe they don't know like timing of this is going to be crucial if Quinn Hughes is ultimately traded.

You know, whether it's before the trade deadline or in the off season, the timing of all this. I think about the timing of the last house cleaning. You know, they fired Jim Benning and Travis Green, cleared out the coaching staff, and then they were like, oh, I guess we need to hire a coach. But they didn't have a general manager to do that because they just fired Jim Benning. And Trevor Lyndon had left a while ago. so they didn't actually have a president of hockey ops. So then ownership goes and says,

okay, well, we're going to hire Bruce Boudreau. And then, you know, he does well. But Rutherford is brought in soon after that that he's hired. And then they go through the season and, you know, there's that Bruce, there it is stuff and all that. And then it turns out that Rutherford, like, he's not a fan. He's not a fan of Bruce Boudreau, right? You're like, oh, okay, well, that's not ideal.

and then there was all that noise around Bruce being fired and that did not look good on the organization and then ultimately they brought in Rick Tocket but there was a timing issue there right like they didn't line it up perfectly so this is going to be a different situation here but I just wonder you know if you leave Rutherford to do the Quinn Hughes trade

what do people think this market about Rutherford like is you know what I mean like it's it's like you so you you traded the best player in franchise history one of the best players in franchise history like so your whole your whole job your whole job was to keep Quinn Hughes and you said that yourself like this is all about keeping Quinn you you failed I mean even if you wanted to even if he wasn't going to sign anyway right there's that possibility I'm sure they've already kind of hinted at that right when Rutherford said, well, some people make decisions for different reasons, right?

I don't know, man, like that'll be hard. But at the same time, at the same time, you know, like, are you going to hire someone and be like, your first job here, people aren't going to like you for this. Your first job here is to do one of the most important trades in franchise history. You're going to trade away. You know, I don't know. It is a very, very difficult situation. One of the subplots, which is almost no longer being sub and becoming a main plot,

is I think you're starting to see the dissolution of the President of Hockeyops general manager approach with Rutherford and Alvin. And I think you're seeing it just kind of devolve in front of you because you know what I noticed from the Gary Mason article? I went back and checked it. I think there were 13 different references to Jim Rutherford in that piece. You know whose name didn't get mentioned once? Yeah.

Patrick Alvin's name did not get mentioned. The general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, his name did not get mentioned once in a piece that focused almost entirely. Granted, there were some other things, but on the trading of Quinn Hughes. It is yet again this weird divide where the president of hockey ops, who said all the things. including, you know, and Grimmison Ladner just pointed out, and if Rutherford hadn't come out last year and mentioned when he was leaving, this topic would not even be as close to his big of a deal.

We'll never know because you can't. Yes, it was. But just let me work through this. You can't unring the bell and you can't put the genie back in the ball, so you don't know. But it was Rutherford to put it out there. I think it's fair to ask would Alvin have if this was his shop and his show because he says nothing.

What about the idea of Rutherford stays and they hire a new general manager that people can have faith in. I mean, then you've got the issue of, like, is the person really going to have full control to do his job underneath Jim Rutherford? My first question. And is Jim Rutherford ever going to have full control

under ownership? My first question would be like, we're going to have meddling from the ownership and meddling from the president of hockey ops, but I don't know. My first question would be, what's the point? What's the point of hiring a general manager if Rutherford's still here.

Well, maybe there's a good hockey mind then. Is Alvin not? I don't know. It hasn't struck me as a genius. Okay, then why's he there? Maybe I got rid of him all right. Well, I think he was there originally to grow into the role and to do a lot of the dirty work that Rutherford didn't want to do anymore

because he's getting a little bit older. Right. And that has not turned out the way. There's all the phone calls for the 2C. He made them. Alvin would make them. And then Jim would be like, all right, give me the phone.

And that's kind of what I'm pointing to. We got a fish on the hook here? I think at some point, the idea that they had in place went awry, which is, I think what you were talking about was Rutherford was supposed to be the outgoing overseer of everything and allow Alvin to take this job and eventually become a true proper general manager like we see in what, 31 of 32 other markets in the National Hockey League. What we've got is something entirely different where the general manager of the team, is in no way, no way, shape or form the spokesperson of what's going on.

And at times, isn't even considered a shock caller or a decision maker, right? Frank said it yesterday on our show. People around the league are like, who should I talk to? And that is not a great thing. When you're dead last in the NHL, you've got a memo out there looking to make trades, and people are calling on your most important player. If the follow-up call to, hey, are you guys interested in trading Quinn Hughes is, and who should we talk to about that? That is not a great way to go about your business.

I'm the general manager, damn it. Who do we talk to? Which one? And the secretary is like, I don't even know which one. I've got two numbers on the switchboard, and I don't know which one to send you to. And I think that, again, there are situations like this in the NHL, like St. Louis is going through one right now, where Doug Armstrong is. slowly seating the general manager's spot to Alex Steen. And then next year he's supposed to be the guy.

But Doug Armstrong is still there. And you see these, you see these plans that have been in place where the older generation wants to hand the torch to the new one. It never works, man. But it never works. I have good friends that grew up thinking, like, I'm going to take over the family business.

And that's what was communicated. Like, son, one day, you're going to run this. And then it gets to the point, where you're in your 30s or whatever and you're like ready to take over the family business and your mom or your dad is in their 70s and they're like, son, I ain't retired. Yeah, you're not ready yet.

This is all I got here. This is what gives me purpose in life. And it's, I built this thing and I'm not the type of personality that's going to give it up. So you're fired, son. Okay, we got a lot more to get into on the Halperin' Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Previous segment was brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats the Duick deal since 1926. Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown. Visit them in Richmond and visit them online. The Duick Auto Group.com. Coming up, we're going to turn our attention to the Winnipeg Jets, the struggling Winnipeg Jets. Jim Tooth from C.J.O.B. Radio and Winnipeg is going to join the program. One of our favorite guests. Don't miss it. It's coming up next. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all. All that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks, listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 6.34 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

Halford and Brough, SportsNet, 6.50. Halford and Brub of the morning is bratsy by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal can get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at Sands-trustee.com. This is way too good to be unlicensed. This is pretty impressive. Way too good to be unlicensed. Bring it up a little bit for me.

I might listen to this unironically on Christmas. Imagine you're the musician recording this. Oh, I'm having a blast. Really? Oh, it's amazing. Do you think at some point you'd be like, this isn't what I dreamed of? I'd be like, they're paying me to do this?

That's awesome. That's true. They're paying me to do this, and the answer is not really. Yeah. It's unlicensed music. That's true. Don't put my name to this, please.

Yeah. Don't tell people how I live. Befittingly, our one of this program is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go, our next guest, good friend of the program, C.J.O.B. Winnipeg.

Jets at noon. Jim Toth joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Jim. How are you? Good morning, gentlemen. on them well. How's everything out there? Not great. Yeah. Not great. Are you, are you, let me ask you a question.

Let's go. Are you trading Quinn Hughes to the Winnipeg Jets? They can trade them to anyone they want. That's true. They got, do you get center prospects? That's what the connects are apparently looking for. What's going on with the, what's going on with the Jets? Things don't, things don't seem good.

Do they have to score? Because we have centers, but do they have to score? It'd be nice. I understand, I understand that the centers aren't scoring there right now. That's one of the many problems that is plaguing the team right now. 2.7 and 1 in their last 10. They are now 14, 14.1 on the year. I reference this in the beginning of the show.

They're just four points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks in the standings, which is not a good place to be. The game against Dallas, I saw that you threw it out there on social media. The best effort in weeks, but no points out of it because they lost 4-3 in regulation. A lot of teams get moral victories against the Dallas stars. The Canucks had one of them, too. They played well, lost. So have I perfectly encapsulated what's going on with the Jets?

What am I missing about the woes of the Winnipeg Jets right now? Well, to me it begins and ends with the defending. They are a team that in the last couple of years with their success and old president's trophy last year. And second in the West two years ago and fourth overall in the league was from their defensive system that was a forecheck and then take away the neutral zone. And they created so much offense off their defense.

And this year they're not defending well. I've never seen, well, I shouldn't say I've never seen. I've been around for the 15 years of this team, but it's been a couple of years since I've seen this team give up so much off the rush and give up the middle of the ice. And they just have for some reason. It's interesting, doing some of the broadcast this year and, you know, listening to some of the post-game comments,

none of the veterans are shying away from what's going on. And they kind of address it, like after the game in Edmonton, when they got their doors blown off, 4-0 in the first period, and three goals in the first seven and a half minutes of that game. Kyle Connor came on after and he said it just, you know, he said, we got to want the puck and you got to want to, you got to want to get up the ice, and you got to want to, those are all things that, you know, are kind of scathing to say about a veteran team like this

and the oldest team in the National Hockey League. And so it begins there with me. And then Scott O'Neill talks about, you know, five-man units. And he's talking that way because often it's just weird this year. like Dylan DeMello is a very solid defenseman. He's a top pairing guy with Josh Morrissey. He's an analytical darling. If you're into the analytics,

he's a very good defenseman that way. And he's just having a terrible year when it comes to turnovers and holding the puck and possessing it and taking penalties. And it's just kind of indicative of the team. He's one of the more solid defenders. And yet he's not defending very well. And when he's not, it just seems when Arneal brings up the five-man units on the ice,

It's two or three guys are sort of doing what they're supposed to do, and two guys are kind of, well, maybe this other guy will get there for me and stuff like that, stuff that I've not seen from this team in a long, long time. And then it goes to the offense. They cannot score. Mark Sheifley has 38 points. Kyle Connor is 37. Valardi and Morris, he have 26 and 25.

And then it drops off real quick. Nino Neideriderider is 15 points, but a lot of that came when they were 12 and 3. He's had two goals in the last seven or eight games and one. was an empty netter. And the other night against Dallas, they really played well. They defended better. They gave up two power play goals, which Dallas is deadly on the power play. Dallas has got a lot of weaknesses, and they went toe to toe with them, and they kept

coming back in that game. But the people that got them back in the game was the top line. And they even took a – or Dallas took a random penalty with two and a half minutes to go, and they pulled the goalie for half of that and had a six on four, and they couldn't gain the zone, and they couldn't gain the zone because Shifley, Connor, Vilardi, Morrissey, essentially played five of the last six minutes and they were gassed. And we talked about it on Jets at noon the next day and I said, I get what Arneal was doing.

It's disappointing that they couldn't gain the zone because they were so tired. But there's nobody on the bench I would tap right now with three minutes to go or two minutes to go to go. Hey, you're up, try and get a goal. We referenced, I think we were talking to David Amber, when we referenced Shifley's Ice Time from that loss, 25 minutes and 47 seconds. It's rare for a defenseman, let alone a forward. yeah what were and you know he had two goals in that game guys like he's been outstanding

like a lot of people he's last time i was on with you guys i talked about i've never seen players in their late 20s early 30s get better and i mentioned connor halibach he literally keeps getting better into his 30s Kyle Connor keeps getting better i told you the story of josh morsey a couple years ago told me you know a lot of people when you're 25 26 and go home in the offseason think well this is who you are and you just work out and then you come back and that's the player you are. And he goes, that's not the case. Every summer we're working to get better.

It doesn't matter how old you are. All their veteran core players are getting better into their 30s. And yet, you know, it's so disappointing that they don't have some secondary scoring to augment that. Yeah. God, I can't believe Shifley's 32. He's played over 900 games in the NHL. That's crazy. Okay, I wanted to ask about Jonathan Taves.

First of all, what were the expectations for him when the Jets signed him and what has he delivered? Well, I think the expectations where a lot of people weren't sure he'd be a second-line center. And then when they did sign him, it was kind of anointed that that's where they were going to play it. I mean, we depend to you ask, right? Like this town and this really NHL went on fire with this story of a guy who's been away for two and a half years, coming back to not only play, but playing his hometown. I heard a story that when he contacted the Jets and said, I want to do this, and he spent the summer skating with some different people and kept updating them

whether he thought he could do it or not. And then when he decided to, he could, you know, he was told to have your agent call Chevy and we'll work it out and we're very happy. And his agent called 12 and 13 other teams, which didn't make the Jets very happy, but that's what agents do. And he chose here. It was always going to be here. So everybody was elated.

I had expectations of him looking at the last two of his years, albeit on horrible teams in Chicago. My personal ones, or if he could come in and get 40, 45 points, and augment this lineup down the middle who already had Shifley and Lowry, who I think are great centers, this could work out. And Nemesikov did fairly well. The Mesikov has that wrap, and I agree, he's not a bona fide every day second-line center, but he can play there. He can do some things.

And he did last year, right? Like he filled in there with Eilers and Perfetian did well. So I kind of thought if he could do that and get 40, 45 points, anything 50 points and above would be great. Well, it just, the alarming part is. is. And he said this the other day when he was demoted to the fourth line. He goes, you know, he's all about team and he's all about winning and he'll do anything it takes. But he goes, it is an ego hit because he's always prided himself at both ends of the ice.

Plus minus is what it is, guys. But, you know, I always say it's within five or six of whatever way you are. If you're minus 20, you're probably could be minus 14. If you're plus 20, you could be plus 14. Like, it's just that kind of an elusive stat. But he's minus 13 and has nine points. he's only got three goals and I think that's what's really bothering him is just you know the line mates and him are kind of trying to figure it out

and the way he's giving up goals and on the ice for goals against is his biggest frustration I watched him in training camp guys and he turned a puck over and I thought he was going to lose his mind that's how intense he still is he made one mistake after making two solid plays and a shift and he slammed his stick

against the boards when he went off Like he does not like to make mistakes. And he's made a few mistakes and then he just can't get his game going. And I hate saying that because he's been great in the face off circle. He's been great. You can see the hockey smarts there. Nikita Chiburikov was up with him at the start of the year. And you could tell him he was, Chibrookov wasn't sure where to go.

And he was trying to help him and stuff and everything like that. But so for a guy who's been off for two and a half years, I think it's been okay. But for a three-time Stanley Cup chance, champion an Olympic gold medalist and a surefire Hall of Famer, there's a lot left to be desired in his game, especially points-wise, right? Is it fair to suggest that after two and a half years away from a high-level, intense sport, at the level that he wanted to play at, that it might have just been too big of an ass for tapes? Because I ask this, we move away from the Jets and from the NHL in general.

We're going to have Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider on the show, in about an hour. And we're going to be talking to him about the Seahawks next opponent. which is the Indianapolis Colts and the possibility that Philip Rivers, who is much older than Taves and has been away from the game twice as long as Taves, is going to try and jump right back. And I'm always fascinated with these guys who have played at a high level and then go away for a while and then try and jump back in just how difficult it is because you can never really replicate in Rivers' case, the NFL,

or in Taves' case, the NHL, just how intense and high impact the game is at that level. well here's the thing about that first thing about Philip Rivers is I'm glad he's coming back because his physique is like mine now so if he can do this it gives me hope so you saw that too okay thank you now we're saying the quiet part out loud everyone saw him yesterday right I'm not trying to shame anybody I just got to work the Jets broadcast this weekend I'm thinking that suit might fit me after I saw Philip Rivers who knows um but uh it's it's a fair case and so the story I have from a very good source is you know Jonathan was in Arizona and he was skating with the university there.

I'm going to go. I'd like to do this. I'm going to go skate with Arizona players. And he skated there and he called like a month later and he said, okay, I'm going to go to Minnesota and play with some NHLers. I got to see. And about a month after that, he called again. He said, I can do this.

The thing is, guys, that I don't know how you feel, but every four or five years, the NHL just gets faster. That's fair. So if you're skating with veteran players, like I can see how you think you could do this. And I don't want to say this because he is doing it. Like there are parts of his game that he can play. He can play the game.

But at second line center, I don't know. But and then he came and he did this. But the other thing that Jets look is really slow this year. And that's because, you know, their forecheck is based on, their system is based on the forecheck and then defending. And that's where they've been getting beat. They've been getting beat off the rush. When they play Buffalo the first time,

got their doors blown off. up nine rush chances and four goals off the rush. And Scott O'Neill was livid because he said, we just spent a day looking at the Sabres last three games and how to defend the rush. And so speed is becoming a question, right? Jonathan was never quick a feat. And so I'm seeing that. And then Scott Arneal literally this past week has said he put Lowry up with Taves and Perfetti. And he said that, you know, during that game, we noticed that Taves was taking all the offensive faceoffs and Lowry was taking all the defensive face-offs. And after that game, Arneill said,

well, it just, you know, only in the offensive end was Taves doing that because Adams are center, Adams are defensive center. But he said, it just allows Jonathan and some extra time to get up the ice on the wing. And so they recognize it, right? Like it's just, but I don't know if it's so much him because it was never that quick, but the Jets often are looking really slow. And it reminds me of the first year they made the playoffs against Anaheim, and Paul Maurice was brought in mid-season to evaluate and finish the season.

And that off season, Maurisa's from what I told said, you guys got to get quicker. Like Anaheim, it blew your doors off. And so they stopped bringing in veterans like Oliokin and all that. And that's when they started giving Eilers and Kyle Conner over the next couple of years of the ice time. And so they got really fast. But this is the one year that I see in a year in my time covering the NHL, that every four or five years, the league just naturally gets faster somehow.

And this is the year. And so that's another problem. for the oldest team of the National Hockey League right now is that, you know, if they don't get their forecheck going, they are caught and they are done through off-rush chances. And Jonathan's a part of that. Jonathan is 37 years old. He was never quick when he was 27 years old.

He was good, but he wasn't fast. And the reason I give him full credit, and I think he belongs here this year, is in the NHL anyway, is because of, you know, his hockey smarts is unbelievable. He is positioning and where to go and where the play is going, makes up for a lot of his lack of speed.

But generally speaking in this team, this team looks really slow this year, and it's because I think every other team looks phenomenally fast to me, and you guys are going to see Buffalo tonight. They can blow your doors off. Anaheim is blowing your doors off. Carolina, when Carolina was here and they played Carolina,

they have four lines that can blow your doors off. So it's just one of those years where I just think, you know, as the league gets younger and some of the younger players mature, it just got faster, plaguing the Jets as a whole, not just Jonathan Taves. We got so fascinated with the Jonathan Tave's story that we didn't even ask about, Connor Hullabuck. Yeah, 10 seconds or last.

Is he just expected back soon and then it'll be off to the Olympics? He's back on the ice skating. He took, it was an optional skate yesterday. They did some three on three with contact and he was out there. I think Darren Dregor reported he could be back as early as next week, but it looks like he could be back next week. I don't think they're going to rush him. I do know he's a big part of wants to be at the Olympics.

So I think he might be back next week, late next week, if not the week after. But he's on the ice taking shots and taking contact. Jim, you're the best, buddy. Thanks for doing this. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. All that good stuff.

We'll do this again in 2026. Long May Philip Rivers run. Thanks, gentlemen. Have a good one. All the best. Happy holidays to everybody out there. Jim Tooth, C-J-O-B radio in Winnipeg here on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet, 650. Greg Wasinski just published an article on ESPN.com.

Of course, we had Wish on the show yesterday. It's his NHL trade tiers, big board. Guess who's at the top, Quinn Hughes. Oh. And he, this is interesting because we kind of talked about this with Wish yesterday. He said, I think the Canucks actual target on the Devils is 26-year-old captain Nico Heeshire. But it's hard to imagine New Jersey gutting its depth like that, considering how much time number one Senator Jack Hughes has missed on an annual

basis. Do you remember we had that conversation where I sent a DM to wish? I was like, don't yell at me, but I essentially said like, are the devil is going to be able to afford to keep Nico Hesher? Because he's in almost an identical situation

in terms of age and contract status as Quinn Hughes. He's got essentially a year and a half left before he can become an unrestrictive free agent and he's going to get paid. Yep. I like Heeshire a lot

He's a great player He's a great player He's a great player I mean if you had He's a Selky guy He's a Selky guy He hasn't won the Selky But he's finished second and fourth

He's a really talented Two-way center But You know the reason I said to Wish like don't yell at me I don't know the devil's well enough I was like well maybe they have another guy coming up that that could replace

Hecher Maybe Maybe they're not I don't know They haven't come together on a contract I mean, they can't sign an extension until the offseason, but according to Wish, it's kind of a non-starter anyway. But you could see why the Canucks would target him, right?

At least 26 years old. He's still young. It's a pretty good player. And then you essentially allocate the money that you would have given to Quinn Hughes to keep him, to sign him. How would people, you know, we talked about like the Canucks making a move to get people to talk themselves into the Canucks, maybe having a chance? How would people feel about Nico Hesher and Elias Petters?

as your top two centers. I know some people will be like, nope, just because Pedersen is still part of the equation, but I think some people will be like, man, I'll take that. Two very defensively reliable centers with offensive capabilities as well. I think the concern with Heeshire and Nate in Richmond

pointed this out, and you alluded to it as well, is that he would be a UFA after next season, and what would be enticing him to stick around? Yeah, absolutely. Right? Absolutely. The Canucks would have to have, that's not a deal that could happen now. It's a dilly of a pickle that the team is in. That would be an off-season deal where you'd have to, both teams essentially would have to negotiate extension with those.

That's a dilly of a pickle. It is. Yeah, it would be, it's two pickles because the, well, the devils probably wouldn't have trouble negotiating extension with Quinn, but the Canucks would have to do one with Nico. I don't even know if it's worthwhile going down this road, but. I know, like, I know that a lot of the station, by that, I mean, I mean our station, Sports Night 650, the bread and butter right now. As far as I can tell, based on the show recaps, is going through these different trade scenarios in great depth and detail for some of them,

to which I say, like, a fun exercise. I know a lot of the fans and listeners are clamoring to see what you could get in return, but all of it seems so far down the road and way, like, way, way too many steps to be taken before you start identifying players. I know it's what you do. And I know it's fun, and I know the, and I'm one to say, I think it's part of, I think it's part of building our expectations for what a return could be. But you can't, you have no idea, you have no idea, you have no idea what the team's

going to look like after this hypothetical trade would be made. You have no idea who's going to be making the trades. You have no idea what the direction of the team will be. When they talk about a retool or a rebuild or reconfiguration, whatever reword they want to use, they don't ever, it's very hard to slot certain players into that. because Nico Hesher, for example, going to a team that has a somewhat rosy outlook for the future is probably more interested in signing on than a team that stinks

and looks like it's going to stink for the foreseeable future. But would they stink if he was there? That's the thing, right? That's what... There's no one player that can pull you... Even Connor McDavid can't do it alone, right? We're seeing what's Hughes right now. Hughes is a fantastic player.

Can't pull this team out of the stink. The team has fundamental issues, the way it's been built and the amount of body blows that they've taken over the last little bit which is why the I think there's so much drama here

Nico Hescher would like why would I I'm going to make so much money regardless why would I sign on here it's this one of this same question it's the same thing that we said about Rick Tocke it why would he stay and Quinn Hughes now do you know how bad it has to get

for you to say of your captain like why would you stay I think the most important decision that the team has in its immediate future is not whether or not Quinn Hughes stays. It's who's making the decisions. Who would orchestrate a trade or who would negotiate a new contract with him? Because until they figure that out, there's a problem. But I think they have.

I don't know. But I think they have. But I don't know. Gary Mason wrote, I believe that Jim Rutherford has the confidence of ownership to do whatever he wants to do. So I think that thing, I think that's that decision for me, the big question is like what's your strategy here what are you targeting

what do you want because you could get a massive hall of futures for Quinn Hughes but if they're going to be taking a lot of the value in the trade up in players that can play now I think it becomes harder because it's like wish says it's like

well why you know why would why would the devils give up Nico Heeshire assuming they can resign him okay they'll do that and then they could also probably end up with Quinn Hughes and free agency. Okay, we got to go to break. We got a lot more to get into on the program.

On the other side of the break, we've got Adnan Verks going to join us from the MLB baseball winter meetings in Orlando. Brady Henderson is going to join us at 7.30. Our ESPN Seahawks Insider, he will preview the Seahawks Colts game. It is in Seattle. The Seahawks are 14-point home favorites. And that one at 8 o'clock, Thomas Durant,

from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk is going to join. us. We will preview tonight's game between Buffalo and the Vancouver Canucks. We'll also talk about the Quinn Hughes trade stuff. There's lots more to go. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.