Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Trouble With Trouba

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

In hour two, guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Israel Fehr discuss the news of Jacob Trouba's time with the Rangers coming to an end as well as other hockey stories, as Daily Faceoff NHL insider Frank Seravalli (4:17) joins the show, plus they talk new BC Lions head coach Buck Pierce with CFL commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich (26:17).  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.

We regret to announce the following layoff, which I will read in alphabetical order. Richardson, Luke. That is all. I thought you were going to say Truba. Truba, Jacob. He might be next. Watch out. He's next on the list here. we regret to announce the following waivers truba jacob that is all welcome back to alfred and bruv here sports at 650 we're live from the

kintec studio kintec canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star google reviews sore feet what are you waiting for? 650-650. That's the Dunbar Lumber text line. Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of the show brought to you by Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money,

then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's Jason.mortgage. All right. Frank Cervalli from the Daily Faceoff is going to join us in just a moment here. But first, always fun to chat from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. He is AJ.

AJ, what's going on, man? Good morning. What's going on? Hey, dog. We got an old friend of the show who's Jimmy Aces whispering in my ear that it's JT Miller for Truba. Jimmy Aces says that? Yes.

Jimmy Aces is back? He's back. Oh, man. He's back, baby. That's it. All right. We don't even need Sarah Vallion. I was going to say, we've got Jimmy Aces' insider right here.

I keep trying to book Jimmy Aces. He always says no. It's very mysterious. Sometimes he doesn't have access to a phone. There you go. You heard it here first. Are you implying he's in prison? Well, he's a long-time

friend. I can't divulge. Oh, I understand. For legal reasons. Legal reasons, right. Exactly. AJ, I got to ask, are you a Swifty? You know what? I am not, but I don't have anything against the Swifties. Right.

But I appreciate you brought it up because if you want to avoid the 200,000 people who are going to be downtown, come up to Mount Pleasant, hang out at AJ's. So true. Much better time. Much better time at AJ's than at true. Much better time. Much better time at AJ's than at Swift. We got Fridays. We got Fridays

because the Canucks are on, obviously. We got $6 pints and then it's going to be a great fun weekend. You got football all day Sunday. Happy hour.

So yeah, come on in and avoid the crowds unless you're going. Unless you're going. No, that's the perfect thing to do instead of going downtown

and fighting the crowds is post up at AJ's, enjoy the pizza, enjoy the beers. Hey, also, I wanted to ask you, Juan Soto, your Yankees, are they going to be able to keep him? What's happening with Juan Soto? What's your gut tell you about his decision? I think he's going to the Mets. Ooh, cross town, no less.

I think he's either going to the Mets or the Red Sox. I think the Red Sox have a real, real good shot at getting him. And I have to be honest, I'm okay to not have him. Wow. He was pretty good for you guys last year. Yeah, but I think they need three players, not one. Personal opinion. I think that opinion is going to change in a hurry

if he's lighting it up for the Red Sox. I think you're going to be singing a different tune, AJ. I'll be biting my tongue and making it bleed for sure. Yeah. All right. Make sure you go check out AJ's Pizza if you're trying to avoid the crowds downtown. A couple Canucks games, football on Sunday.

It's going to be a blast there. AJ, thanks as always for checking in with us. Yeah, enjoy the weekend. Everybody take care. Absolutely. That is AJ from AJ's Pizza, and he makes a great point. Don't go downtown. Yeah, enjoy the weekend. Everybody take care. Absolutely. That is AJ from AJ's Pizza, and he makes a great point. Don't go downtown. Just stay on East Broadway.

Enjoy some of the best pizza in the city. The best pizza in the city and a couple of Canucks games over the weekend to enjoy there as well. I thought you were going to say the Juan Soto point was a great point. I get what he's saying about they need three players instead of one.

They've got the Martian. They've got Jason Dominguez to come and play the outfield. Wave goodbye to him as he goes to Fenway. That's tough. That would be tough. Tough look for the Yankees. That would be tough, yeah. Okay, as mentioned, now joining us from Daily Faceoff,

NHL insider Frank Cervalli here on Halford & Brough. Frank, thanks for doing this. Very busy times around the NHL. How are you? I'm pretty good, yeah. insider uh frank saravali here on halford and brough frank thanks for doing this very busy times around the nhl how are you i'm pretty good yeah what a busy day already jacob truba news yes it's uh it's been interesting yeah so i mean we've just read some of the tweets from you know it does seem like a lot of reporters maybe got the same information a lot of the same language used right he's out for roster management purposes what's the latest you can tell on what we should expect the jacob truba situation how we should expect it to play

out here in new york well it certainly seems like he's reached the end of the line with the new york rangers that uh the captain's tenure will be ending today if not he's already played his last game as a ranger and probably of of little surprise in the sense that his name has been out there for a bit and then really started to percolate last week when Chris Drury sent out the memo to all 31 other teams, letting them know that he's available. I mentioned then that I knew there would be a handful of teams interested in Trouba. And, you know, when you, when you look at it now, um, my understanding is that there's been a few teams that have put legitimate offers on the table. Um, there are teams that as Trouba has a 15 team, no trade list,

some of them are on there and they wanted to at least allow him, uh, I don't want to say some choice in the matter, but at least some say and, and be sensitive to, uh, the position that he was in, um, with his family situation. And he was taking some time over the last, you know, 12 to 24 hours to really think about that and you know the rangers have have let him know hey if if you can't come to a decision then we will put you on waivers um much like we did with barclay goodrow as a way to get around um the the no trade provisions in your contract and we'll have someone pluck you off of waivers in a sort of decided or done deal uh so to speak if you can't come to terms with the decision on your own so

that's been my understanding of what's been put toward truba and it's now up to him to basically see how this plays out from here like you said frank no huge surprise that the truba's names out there it's been out there for a while but but it does seem like the way the Rangers have been playing that the front office here really wants to escalate this. Is this just the thing that is available to them that makes the most sense to them to send that message to the team given the way that it's played lately? I don't know that it makes the most sense. I think it's a really cutthroat way to do it, which I think we're all okay with in today's NHL,

that they're making a hard-line stance. As a general team perspective, this isn't good enough. You saw the direction that they were trending in over the last 10 days as Chris Drury sent that out. It seemed to plunge them further into the abyss. And changes are necessary. This is a team that they felt like they wanted to make changes last summer for whatever reason, weren't able to do so.

And now, after not being able to get over the hump in the conference final that they've got to just do things a little bit differently they've got a core of players that um you know lots of question marks about what happens with igor shesterkin after this year will you eventually re-sign artemi panarin you've seen some other players that are younger guys take on bigger roles what's the next iteration of Chris Kreider look like if he remains in New York? So they've got a few existential questions to work out with their team. And I think what's really interesting is they're hungry to do so. And all of these conversations started with a team that had Stanley Cup aspirations that was

off to a 12-7-1 start. What does that say for the rest of the league if the Rangers are willing to shine a light on some difficult questions about teams like Detroit and Nashville and other teams that wanted to be in better spots, the Ottawa Senators, that haven't to this point, and yet we haven't really heard too much? You know, the other thing that springs to mind for me, Frank, is, okay, Jacob Trubis' tenure as a Ranger is over one way or another. He's played his last game there, and it's great. I get it.

You're sending a message, and maybe you're trying to do a little bit of addition by subtraction, but moving on from Jacob Trubis is not going to single-handedly change how that team plays. And let's say a team does claim him on waivers. All of a you've got an extra eight million in cap space and if you're willing to be this aggressive i think it's fair to to guess that chris jury is going to be pretty aggressive about using that cap space in season is this the kind of thing where maybe they have something you know an iron in the fire to use that cap space? How quickly could we see them be aggressive to add after they do the subtraction of Jacob Truba? Well, it depends on who they're making the transaction with, because it's not, to your point, it's not to just get the $8 million in cap space and then marvel at it over the next

number of weeks and say, wow, isn't that amazing? We're spending less money. That's not how the New York Rangers operate. So there's certainly something else in the works here in terms of trying to improve this team. It might not be necessarily position for position. I think you could say that. And look, this is a team that's always trying to get better. Ultra aggressive is the way to view them.

So I'd be real surprised if that cap space that they were able to generate from moving on from $8 million would be sitting there long, if at all. On Trouba, he's a guy that hockey people obviously like and respect. He's been, at times in his career, very good, very productive in his role as a leader, as a physical D-man. But with that cap hit, it's hard to imagine that a bunch of contenders who are probably very close to the cap would be able to fit that in. So logic says that it's probably a team that's got some cap space that might be interested in him. And those teams are generally not the ones pushing for the playoffs what what is the read on on what he could bring to to a team especially if it's a team that that is lower down in the standings

hard to say i mean i've been trying to piece together some trade opportunities for truba um you know as we've gone on here and over the last few days, a few teams stand out. Nashville is one, although they don't have the cap space, they'd have to try and find a way to create it. Utah has had a real issue with their defensemen going down one after the other. First, Sean Dursey. Then they were in a spot with John Marino. And then now, you know, you look at Maverick Lamoureux after the fact. Three key pieces all on the right side of your defense that are out for significant periods of time. So they just, Utah is one team with cap space, with draft capital, with a lot of it. They check a lot of the boxes, including the need that they'd be one team I'd be keeping

a real eye on. And also a team that probably would be, you know, if we're being honest, you know, Utah, the old Arizona coyotes would probably be on a few no trade lists that are lingering from last summer so um it seems to connect a lot of dots and that'd be one team that i look at and another would be another team without the cap space but certainly with a need to improve their defense would be the detroit red wings and i don't know that they would be on on truba's um truba's list because he is a Michigan kid. Maybe that would make or take some of the sting out of it.

But again, Detroit would have to make it happen. And what could they send back to New York in order to make it worse? So we'll see how the Trouba situation plays out. What's next for the Rangers here as well. The big news yesterday in the NHL, Frank, Luke Richardson out in Chicago. Anders Sorensen comes in as the interim. And, you know, given their performance, especially recently, not a huge surprise. But was there a tipping point or kind of a final straw for Luke Richardson's tenure in Chicago? Or is this just a case of you know look the time has

come we see which way this is going yeah I think it was a slow burn getting to this point um look they had a pretty unlucky month of October and I think a lot of people in the Blackhawks management group were looking at that saying okay let's see if this turns. And then the month of November was just disastrous for the most part. There's a team that we haven't seen enough progress. And in fact, a lot of regression. And the easiest one that comes to mind is Connor Bedard and the tough spot that he's been in all year long. The frustration has boiled over for him.

And then you look at some other players that were massive free agent acquisitions when you think about how they tried to prop up the dart and support this team better um that they just haven't seen it you know Tevo Teravainen good first five games to start has been on the milk carton since then Tyler Bertuzzi up and down Taylor Hall supposed to start has been on the milk carton since then tyler bertuzzi up and down taylor hall supposed to be healthy there's a former heart trophy winner he ends up being a healthy scratch a surprise healthy scratch at that this year so they haven't had nearly enough progression to take that step forward and this is a team that kyle davidson said quite

clearly before the season started we're you know finishing in, finishing in last place in the league is not acceptable. And here they are 26 games in, and that's exactly the spot that they're in. That said, you have to feel for Luke Richardson because he has a team for two seasons that's in the tank quite clearly. And then finally gets a roster with some increased expectations let's see what we can do here and he lasts 26 games with him uh it feels like uh for the coaches that could step in if they are going to make a long-term hire that the chance to coach a player like conor bedard would be very attractive the flip side to that is of, that you're going to have to try to get the best out of him,

and that's certainly going to be priority number one for whoever ends up being the coach in Chicago. What do you imagine the Blackhawks are looking for in the next head coach as they try to turn this around and, as you've said here, put this pretty rough start behind them? Well, they're actually going to give Ander Sorensen, who's going to make his debut on Saturday against Winnipeg. He's also going to make history, by the way,

the first ever Swede to be an NHL head coach, even though he has the interim tag. They're going to give him a long runway, likely the rest of the season, to see if he can earn that full-time job. And one of the reasons they're really excited about him is he's been a skills coach and development coach for a long time. Working in Sweden, he coached David Pasternak and the Nylander boys and has actually maintained close ties to the Nylanders for years. So he's able to speak that high skill,

high end game that I think really suits Bedard and would have a window into how that works and what that looks like. And so would have a good understanding of, you know, really being able to communicate and see the game through that prism. Luke Richardson, totally different style. You know, thousand plus game career as an NHL defenseman, one of his assistant coaches, Kevin Dean is arguably one of the best defensive minds in the game. I don't know that they had enough forward thinking

offensive game plan in their thoughts to be able to appease or challenge or get to someone like Bedard. and part of that might be some of the frustration that you saw from him so it can't just be the solution can't be um hey like let's um you know let's change our lineup 87 times throughout the course of the season to make better line combinations to see if we can find something that works for bedard it also has to be structure and system as well. And I think Anders Sorensen is going to have a real interesting crack and, and trying to solve for that puzzle.

How close is Kyle Davidson to being on the hot seat? I mean, this is going to be his second coaching hire right after bringing in Luke Richardson and it can be hard to get three coaching hires as a GM, right? So I feel like this is a pretty high-stakes decision, not just for the organization, but for him personally, to really get this one right and start things turning around in Chicago

because since the high of winning the lottery for Conor Bedard, it's been a lot of pretty tough times for Chicago since, and I wonder, it's one thing to change the coach. How long is it before Kyle Davidson is kind of next on the list of changes there yeah I think we're a ways off from that because if you think about it the first chunk of his tenure was still about tearing down and it was still about making trades much like the Brandon Hagel one which pops up again this week because Hagel makes four nations face off roster for team canada and has been such a big part of what tampa has done but he spent really kind of you know think about his

first few months on the job um it was making a coaching change firing jeremy colleton that was like literally his first week um then that's followed quickly by you know those trades that we were talking about and then they get to the bottom and now it's about building back up again. Bedard's one great piece to start, but look at what's going on in Edmonton. Look how long it's taken after getting Connor McDavid and he had Leon Dreisaitl already there, plus Nugent Hopkins and Hall and others. It can't just be about one player.

There's a whole team that you have to build. And for him, he's assembled a lot of the pieces. You talk about Rinzel and Moore and Korchinski. And I love what I'm seeing from Frank Nazar in the AHL to this point this season. They've got a lot of really nice pieces, but it's going to take time. It's going to take years for that team to get finally assembled. And, you know, we're kind of looking at like 2028 before you can really have a sense of, you know, how competitive that team could be. So I think he's still got some pretty significant runway left.

Sticking with teams that have come out of the gates struggling and this is a team in nashville that had much much higher expectations than chicago they were seen with what they did in the offseason as a dark horse cup contender it hasn't gone that way they've really struggled to score they get shut out in montreal last night they've got some veteran players here they've got some players on some big tickets if they don't turn things around pretty fast the the season's pretty much going to be over for them uh what what can the the predators do is there anything that that is percolating in the next few weeks here that that might open up for them as they do try to turn this thing around yeah i could see nashville being one of those teams that's in on truba

you know we can talk about the lack of scoring and the shutouts and all those things that have contributed to it they are also giving up way too much and that part has been consistent from start to finish um they've been in the market for a top four defenseman. But this has been an abject disaster. Like there's no two ways about it. When they went out and made the decisions over the summer to sign and bring in the pieces that they did, you know, part of that was predicated on the idea that they'd have a chance to win and be competitive this year. You're thinking, okay, we can sign Stephen Stamkos to a four-year deal. We can go five years for Jonathan Marsh.

So we'll worry about what the fourth and fifth years of those deals look like later. So long as we have a chance to compete and potentially even win a Stanley Cup this season, if you don't even make the playoffs and you're not close, it's unforgivable. I mean, look at the way this roster is structured. Stamkos, 34. Marcheseau, 33. Forsberg, 30. Ryan O'Reilly, 33. He's got two years left on his deal. Roman Yossi is 34. Brady Shea, 30. This is an old team. Yuss uc soros is 29 he turns 30 when his deal kicks in next season going up to 7.74 million bucks there there's if you don't make it now there's there's no hope for you later so they've got to find a better solution and and it seems like a lot of

that comes back to the guy whose hand has been on the controls making all these moves and barry trotz frank just before we let you go here i mean there's been so much going around around on around the nhl we haven't really had a chance to ask you about the canucks i know i know you were on the station last night and you had the report about jt miller maybe next week wednesday rejoining the team in practice is there anything else that you're kind of keeping an eye on monitoring around the Canucks right now um yeah I would say that um certainly curious to see how Thatcher Demko wakes up and feels today um my understanding was he has put that knee to the test to the limit over the last you know a few days and weeks as he's worked his way back.

And I think there's some thought that if he woke up today feeling good, that he has a chance to back up tonight. So that would be interesting to see him back in uniform. And then, yeah, the JT Miller thing, everyone wants to know when's he going to be back. Still, I think in some ways to be determined, but they do have a plan, and that plan seems to include him rejoining the team midweek next week for practice.

I think Wednesday would be a logical choice when you hear midweek, and it's also sandwiched between games Tuesday and Thursday, but I don't think that's set in stone and definitely something to keep an eye on. Frank, really appreciate it. Great stuff. So much going on right now.

I'm sure you've got lots to get to, so we'll let you go. Thanks for doing this. Thanks, guys. Have a good weekend. Thanks, Frank. That is Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff on Sportsnet 650, brought to you by Angry Otter Liquor, your hockey headquarters for your favorite game day beer, wine, and whiskey.

More at angryotterliquor.crs uh okay i do we got to take a break here because moj is coming up on the other side i just want to mention again we are giving away tickets to see acdc april 22nd 2025 at bc place tickets are on sale to the public in just a few hours here at 10 a.m at ticketmaster., but we're giving you the chance to win tickets. 8.15. At 8.15 today, you call in. The number is 604-280-0650. Don't call at 8.14. Don't call at 8.16. Call at 8.15, 604-280-0650. Caller number 10 will win a pair of tickets to see ACDC April 22nd 2025 at BC Place. Don't forget your

What We Learn submissions as well. Include the pizza emoji for your chance to win a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. And we haven't even had a chance to do any Ask Us Anythings because we've had so much to get to. So we'll try to get to some of those as well. But the Moj first next here on

halford and brough sportsnet 650 hey it's jamie dodd and thomas strance get your daily dose of canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on sportsnet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app it's the moj i did not eat four burgers. I don't want to go to Winnipeg. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. Halpert's fine, but, you know, these intros. They eat up so much time. All right. Welcome back.

Alfred and Brough here, Sportsnet 650. I love these intros. They eat up so much time. Wait, who's joining us? It's great. It makes my job easier. It's fantastic stuff. We're live from the Kintec Studio.

650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and reno warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DunbarLumber.com. Halford & Brough brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of the show is brought to you by Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Go to Jason.Mortgage. Now joining us, as you heard in the intro, he's a presentation of West Coast Auto Group. He is the Moj. Moj, what's going on, man? Good morning, counselor. Good morning, Izzy. How's it going? It's going good. It's Friday, man.

It's always good on a Friday. Absolutely. We're an hour and a half away from the weekend here on the show. It's very exciting. Lots to get into today with you. Oh, by the way, I wanted to say this as well to our listeners. If you have a food-related Ask Us Anything that you want us to run by Moj, you got like 10 minutes here to send it in all right so 650 650 get your ask us anything in about food for the moge but before we get to

that silliness lots of other stuff to get into moge uh the lions roll out buck pierce as their new head coach this week what's job one what does buck pierce need to do to turn the lions around well i mean first in terms of what he has to do tactically hece need to do to turn the lions around well i mean first in terms of what he has to do tactically he's going to reach out to the players and obviously communicate with them then he's going to assemble a coaching staff hopefully here within the next short period of time but the biggest thing they've got to do is they've got to change the mentality on this team um the more people i talk to the more players I talk to, you're hearing things like a lack of accountability last year, guys not fearing for their jobs when they were playing poorly.

So that's one thing that has to change. And, you know, he talked about it as well. This team has to get mentally tougher. It's funny because one player, or probably one individual in the CFO who I won't name, who if I mentioned, you would know. He said, I hate to be critical, but to me, the Lions almost seem like posers because they talk about for the culture and they go out there and they do everything right, but when push comes to shove, they don't kind of adhere to those principles.

They kind of just go their separate ways. So that's one thing that it's interesting hearing from people outside looking in. And the other thing too, that that's really good about this whole process and Jamie and Israel, you guys will probably know this as well. When you're hiring an individual or when you're going through that interview process, it's a tremendous opportunity to learn more about your organization. You talk to people from the outside looking in, you know, I think the term that they use is called mining. And what you're doing is you're getting, you might not hire a guy, but you might get some ideas on what to do just in talking to this individual.

So it's been a really good process for the Lions, and now they've got to take all that information, and they have to go about changing the culture on this team. Lions fans will remember Buck Pierce as a really tough guy, a gritty quarterback, a guy that would do anything for that yard, would play through injuries. Now he's been a coach for a while, and he's had success running some offenses.

But being the main guy is a bit of a different job. And if you're talking about the Lions, especially coming off of last season, which at the end of the day was a disappointment, and they're talking about a lack of a different job. And if you're talking about the Lions, especially coming off of last season, which at the end of the day was a disappointment, and they're talking about a lack of accountability, what kind of head coach can Buck Pierce be? What kind of personality and mentality can he as the lead guy bring to this group?

Well, you know, whatever coach and whatever sport guys, what's the thing you always hear? I got to be true to myself. And you just touched on it. I mean, Buck Pierce was a gutsy player. He was a courageous player. He's a guy that played with a lot of grit. You're right.

He's a guy that, you know, run outside instead of stepping out of bounds, he would try to run over a DB and pick up another four. And that was almost to his detriment, right? Because he was always hurt, right? I mean, Buck wasn't the smartest player sometimes in those regards, but you're bang on with that. And I think this team is going to embody that personality eventually. When all

things are said and done, that's the way the Lions will play the game. That's the way that they will go out there. So I think that's the type of team. Now, in terms of coaching, he said that he's going to be the coordinator. Like I said, he's going to be the play caller on offense. So pretty much, he's a de facto coordinator. And it's interesting because certain coaches have certain styles, right? I mean, Rick Campbell, you know, during practice, he for the most part would just walk around and let the coaches coach. Some coaches are, quote, managers.

Wally Buono was like that as well. But, you know, there's guys that want to be a little bit more hands-on and take a role in the defense or take a role in the offense, and I think Buck's going to be, like I said, a little bit more hands-on by take a role in the defense or take a role in the offense and i think buck's going to be like i said a little bit more hands-on by being the play caller and offense what's the realistic timeline here for the lines can they be legit gray cup contenders as as soon as next season or is it a bit more of a process or it's going to be more of a process for buck pierce that's what they do in free agency i mean you know one of the things that we keep hearing is they got to significantly improve their offensive line. So, I mean, if you go out there and you get a couple of pieces in free

agency, well, now you're in the hunt again, right? I mean, I always tell this to Halford and Brough, to me, it's always about winning in the trenches. So, that's where it starts, and I think they recognize that, and they know that they have to improve their offensive line. So, again, it's going to be interesting to see what they do in free agency. Now, again,

those guys just aren't, you know, hanging out there. There might be one or two or two or three guys that might be interesting to see what they do in free agency. Now, again, those guys just aren't hanging out there. There might be one or two or two or three guys that might fit the bill, what they need. So it's going to be interesting to see how it all shakes down. Really big night in the city. I think people are flocking downtown tonight for Canucks Blue Jackets. It's the big, big Canucks return. Long homestand here right before the holidays. This team has been so weird this season where they've struggled at home.

They've had some periods where they've looked just downright bad. But when they've gone on the road, they've grinded out points. They look like a team that can play with a lot of effort and push games into overtime or step up late in games and earn that point. But we are just a couple of weeks back from people being really frustrated with this team and the way that they've been playing at Rogers Arena. What do you make of just this such a weird split for this team between their performance at home and on the road?

Oh, like, Izzy, you're such a nice co-host. Like, seriously. You could have just thrown Dodd under the bus and said that he's got floor sheets for Taylor Swift tonight. Because he's a big Swiftie. But the way you played around that, the way you stickhandled around that, that was veteran. That was very good.

Thank you. Thank you. That was very good. So, like, you know, we'll talk about Dodd and those floor sheets later because he's a big Swiftie. Here's the thing. I mean, this is a team that's on the road. They're 10-2-1 at home.

They're 3-5-3. And I talked to a few players yesterday, as well as Rick Talkett about that situation. And, you know, Talkett really isn't buying into the, he says it's a decent enough sample size, but he doesn't want to make a big deal out of it to the point where, you know, people start, where his players start thinking about it. But Tyler Myers talked about it and he said, you know, the fact that they seem to be dialing into the system better on the road. He talked about their play as a five-man unit better on the road.

And the other thing, too, that Tuckett mentioned as well, despite all these players that are out of the lineup, whether it's JT Miller, whether it's Roenick, he just talked about the fact that guys, even though when they're not playing well, are falling back and just playing the system. And that kind of brings the team game up. So it's really interesting because, like I said,

when you look at the record at home and on the road, I mean, it's completely different. And, you know, he talked about a guy like Jake DeBrusque, 11 goals on the road. He hasn't scored at home, which is just bizarre. And I asked Jake about that, and he said he's never – he was laughing. He said, I've never had that. He goes, it's great when you're on the road, but he goes,

I've got to start scoring at home because, you know, it's starting to build on him here. But, you know, to his defense, he said he's never been on a road trip that's lasted longer than a week. Right, right. But, you know, I dug up his numbers, actually. I look up the stats. During his career, with this 11-goal run on the road,

he scored 74 goals at home, 75 on the road. So it's not like it's some sort of thing with Jake DeBrusque where he can't score at home, right? But you also look at the fact that, you know, guys have stepped into the lineup, whether it's an R. Steve Baines, whether it's a Max Satchin. And then there are players in the lineup that have elevated roles, guys like Connor Garland and Pia Suter, right?

And Brock Messer talked, touched on that. He just talked about Suter being a guy that's got a great hockey IQ and you can throw him anywhere in the lineup. So it's not only about the fact that the guys would have stepped up on the bottom end, but it's also about the fact that the guys that have elevated roles and played better. And that's why they've had all this success on the road.

Now they've just got to transfer it to home. Well, the DeBrusque thing is wild, too, because he leads the team in goals. It's December 6th, and he hasn't scored at Rogers Arena, and yet he is the team leader in goals. It's pretty wild when you consider it, especially where the conversation was on DeBrusque earlier in the season and where it is now and the satisfaction with that signing. And, you know, a big part of that as well, Moj, of DeBrusque's production recently

is the improved play from Elias Pettersson. And I don't know if he's quite back to his peak, but he's certainly picking up points at a much higher rate than he was earlier in the season. How close do you think he is to being kind of all the way back to the version of Elias Pettersson that the team wanted when they signed him to that massive deal? Well, first off, I'll hit on DeBrusque really quick. I did a hit on Ottawa prior to the Ottawa game. And I said, you know, the thing is with DeBrusque, he hasn't produced like they want.

I said, but he's a really streaky player. Well, he scored two goals that night. He scores in Boston. He scores in Buffalo. Hat-trick in Detroit. And he scored against Minnesota. So what's that? Eight goals in his last six games, if I'm not mistaken.

Now, getting back to Pedersen, I think, you know, and I touched on this with Mike and Jason. And it started at the, you know, even at the start of the year when they interviewed Rick Tockett right before the first game. And they wanted to see, he wanted to see more investment from Pettersson. And he talked about practice. He used that example about Sidney Crosby. Elias takes 21-timers, Crosby takes 100.

We've got to get Elias taking 100. They basically wanted to see more investment from Elias Peterson and Pettersson, I should say. It's 7 o'clock. Give me a break. Pettersson, more investment from Pettersson in, you know, the way he practiced and the way he was invested. And they've seen it. And pockets talked about this, that those habits have changed and you're starting to see some of the results on the ice right now.

So I think he's on his way. Is he there yet? Probably not. But he's probably at 90 percent, 95 percent. And I think he's on his way. Is he there yet? Probably not. But he's probably at 90%, 95%. And I think he's just going to be fine if he continues on this trajectory. It's a pretty big game for the Seahawks this weekend in Arizona. If you look at some of the playoff projection numbers, win or lose, it could really flip their season a win uh from the numbers i saw has them in the the 60 plus percent range to make the playoffs a loss that flips down to 10 11 so obviously a massive massive game they just played the cardinals a couple of weeks ago and the defense really stepped up in

that one what's at stake for for seattle here what can they prove with with this game against the cardinals we'll see that again this is why it's so nice talking to guys who actually do research. Unlike Halford and Brough, you guys actually did your research on this topic. See, there you go. You're right, Izzy. I mean, you look at the Hawks. If they win this game, 62% chance of going to the playoffs.

Arizona's down to 17. If Arizona wins this game, it's 71% Arizona, 11% Seattle. The reason why is the strength of schedule that the Seahawks have remaining. After this game, they've got the Packers, the Vikings, the Bears, and the Rams. I mean, the Packers and the Vikings are going to be extremely tough outs. For the Cardinals,

they've got the Patriots, the Panthers, the Rams, and the 49ers. Well, you tell me which schedule you'd rather have, right? So, in terms of those probabilities, I think that's probably the biggest reason why is the strength of schedule remaining. But, you know, the big thing for Arizona, man, their running game just disappeared against the Seahawks last week,

or pardon me, two weeks ago. And that has to change. They have to be able to run the football. But, man, you look at the way that Seattle defense is playing. Leonard Williams right now is just unconscious. He has just been playing unbelievable football, and that front four has been playing well. And it's going to be interesting to see if the Cardinals can actually run the ball

and make themselves more than a one-dimensional team. All right, enough about sports here, Moj. We put out the call for the food questions for you. And man, our listeners responded in a big way. The inbox flooded. The inbox absolutely exploded. You know why? Because people are actually listening today. That's why. That's right. That's right. Absolutely. So it's hard to choose just one here, but I'll take this one from Jay in Poco, who says, Moj, what is the best North American sandwich? He gives some examples, cheesesteak, Montreal smoked meat, Cubano, et cetera. What is your best North American kind of signature sandwich

from a specific location? That's a tough one, right? I mean, you know, Montreal, Schwartz's smoked meat. Hard to beat. Very good. I mean, you guys have been to Montreal and I'm shimmying, and like that. Just forget about it. But there was a sandwich that I had in New York when we were there one time.

Carnegie's. Oh, my God. It was so good. It was just, it was amazing. But, you know, there's. Hold on, hold on. What was the sandwich? What was the sandwich at Carnegie's? It was like a pastrami.

It was like, I've got it on my Instagram page. I think it was like about three inches thick. Like, I mean, it was just stupid, but it was so good. I'm going to tell you a little off the beat one. I spent a lot of time in Kamloops, obviously. There's a place up there called Red Beard. It's a little sidebar, kind of like, you know, it's a brew place, like one of those little, you know, craft brew places.

They've got a nashville chicken sandwich to die for and and their pastrami sandwich i don't know they cure the meat for like a week or something like that um really really good the one that i want to try that i haven't tried here what's not a sandwich it's more like a burger it's a place called between two buns or whatever it's on pender between Cheeseburgers or something. Yeah, I've got that on my list too. Yeah, it's on my Instagram page. It looks like a heart attack waiting to happen. It does, yeah.

It looks very good though. I mean, I'm like, I've got to try that. One of these days, I'm going to go down there and just try it because it looks so good. Like I said, you probably eat that. You probably need to take a shower and not eat anything for the rest of the week. It looks really, really good. Like I said, you probably eat that. You'd probably need to take a shower and not eat anything for the rest of the week. It looks really, really good. You're not eating four of those burgers in one sitting, Moch?

No, not a chance. By the way, I never ate four. I just had two. Four were for everybody, right? Right, of course. That's the legend, right? So what, am I going to see you at the floor seats at Taylor Swift or what this weekend? Not a chance.

Are you kidding me? I don't understand what the big deal is. But then again at the floor seats at Taylor Swift or what this weekend? Not a chance. Are you kidding me? I don't understand what the big deal is. But then again, I'm not exactly Taylor Swift's demo. But, you know, it's funny. Even people of my age are, you know, hey, do you know anyone with tickets? And I'm like, you're not a Taylor Swift fan. But, you know, it's become an event. Yeah.

And people just want to be part of the event. So it's interesting. Hey, you know what? Great stuff. Tons of people in Vancouver. Good for tourism and all that stuff. Traffic's going to be a nightmare down there this weekend, but it is what it is.

But, yeah, I know Dodd's got, you know, four sheets of paper, six grand each for. Yeah, he balled out. Well, yeah. I mean, hey, the guy's a lawyer, right? He's got money. Making that radio money, splashing it around on Taylor Swift tickets. Hey, this guy, he does radio just as a side gig.

Come on, Izzy, do your homework. I mean, Dodds like loaded. Trust me, if I somehow came into Taylor Swift tickets, they would be on the secondary market as fast as I could get to get them there. They would be instantly on the secondary market. I will tell you this. I actually knew somebody that got Taylor Swift tickets. Their daughter got Taylor Swift tickets.

And as big of a Taylor Swift fan that she was, she sold them and basically paid off her tuition for the year. Right? I mean, it's a no-brainer. Yeah. So in that instance, you make the smart move. But, yeah, it's funny because, like I said, it's become such a big deal. It's an event. I'll but yeah there's it's funny because like i said it's become such a big deal it's an event i'll guarantee you there's people there tonight

and i'm not saying the majority but there's going to be people there tonight that probably couldn't name five taylor swiss socks sure but they're going because it's an event so it is what it is moge great stuff man appreciate you weighing in on the sandwiches and everything else thanks for doing this buddy are you guys going to be back next Friday? Because this was a lot of fun, and we had tons of people, way more people listening just judging by the inbox. We will not. Not next Friday. Two Fridays from now, I think I'll be working with Bruff.

All right. So a couple weeks. He's splitting the difference. Happy holiday season to you, fellas. Exactly. Happy holiday season. Thanks, Moj. Thanks, Moj.

That is Bob the Moj Marjanovic joining us here, as he does every Friday on the Halford & Brough Show, of course, brought to you by the West Coast Auto Group. Great service, great selection just over the bridge in Maple Ridge. What a guest. Football, hockey, sandwiches. Sandwiches. What else do you need?

Taylor Swift. Moj can do it all. He can cover the entire spectrum. We got a few minutes here before we take a break. We had this Ask Us Anything come in and i i regret to say but i think i've lost the person who actually said oh here it is colin into wasson uh in honor of of the taylor swift taylor swift mania in vancouver this weekend he says what concert past or present would you go to the lengths to attend but the swifties are doing this weekend in vancouver that's from colin in twas and i mean i don't know if there's any concert that i would pay

some of the prices that some people are paying to that length all right we've gotten this one before the hotels uh prices and all of those things but if we're just talking you know like dream concert experiences i'm gonna show off like my age and my how i'm i'm 38 but i'm secretly like 58 yeah sure because like the name that comes to mind there's a couple of names that come to mind to me immediately and one would be like peak led zeppelin okay okay yeah you're going older than i thought led zeppelin guy that's cool um so i don't have like a specific show in mind but just like an awesome led zeppelin show and the other other one is peak Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Like early 80s or right around Born in the USA, something like that.

Have you seen Bruce? No, I've never seen Bruce. I know he was just here recently. Yes. But I spent all my money on Taylor Swift, so I couldn't go see Bruce. For me, it's easy. Michael Jackson Thriller Tour. Oh, that's interesting.

That was one of the two or three tours that were up until the Swift Tour, and her heiress tour is now the most profitable tour of all time, even counting for inflation. It's just a monster. I want to say Michael Jackson's Thriller Tour was either first, second, or third in the most profitable tours of all time, counting for inflation. It was just a behemoth, that tour. Obviously, biggest selling record ever.

I would love to see that tour specifically, just because of how legendary it is. Yeah, that's a good one. The Led Zeppelin one's a good one, too, though. The Longies are unattainable, though, so they're making me sad. I had that in my mind, Led Zeppelin. But you said past or present. I know.

But I like the Beatles, obviously. Yeah. I want to go see. Although, I don't know, though. Were the Beatles, I guess, like the one in Chase Stadium? They didn't tour very much. And those were like, because the whole thing was like, they were like, we don't know though like were the Beatles I guess like the one they didn't tour very much and those were like because the whole thing

was like they were like we don't like touring because no one will shut up during our shows you know what I mean like were they I don't know if that was like a great concert experience

no my alternate pick would be David Bowie but obviously that's also very cool him in his prime would be I'm a big Pumpkins fan so I would have loved to have seen the Pumpkins

tour Melancholy I think I was only nine when it came out or ten NHL's trotting them out soon. I know that was, I was going to say you was behind for that. It's going to be my,

what we learned. Uh, yeah, very excited for that, but I would have loved to seen, uh, yeah, the pumpkins tour melancholy when the record first came out.

That's a good one. Would have been really cool. Uh, somebody, somebody else texted in David Bowie, 1983 BC. There we go. Can't speak to that show in particular,

but I like the David Bowie shout shout out uh from you greg that's a good one uh all right oh this is a good one best concert to go see would have been the live aid the queen show the queen portion of live aid oh yeah pretty legendary pretty epic yeah that's famous i was gonna throw out the the uh up in smoke tour the uh ice cube eminem dre snoop orangey they did come through vancouver i've got the tour here no i was uh i was six oh really gee oh my god i've seen i've seen your high school i've seen pictures of high school izzy and you look like the kind of guy who would have been at that show that's all i'm gonna say that's if it had been your time you would have been i would have been

right i would have been on the floor seats damn is he were six for up and smoke yeah oh my god yeah is he's young, man. I don't know. He got into this business when he was like 18. Veteran. Poor decision-making as a teenager, right? Started the clock early. We all make mistakes.

650-650 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. We'll take a break here. Quick reminder again that we're coming up on your chance to win a pair of tickets to see ACDC. Speaking of concerts, speaking of awesome concerts, ACDC coming to BC Place April 22nd, 2025. Tickets go on sale later today at Ticketmaster.ca. You can win a pair of tickets at 815. Call in 604-280-0650, right on the dot at 815. Caller number 10 will win those tickets to see ACDC April 22, 2025 at BC Place. Up next, we will talk to Rick Dollywell, get the latest scoop on the Canucks

here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650.