Halford & Brough in the Morning - This Canucks Team Believes

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they discuss the breaking news of the Philadelphia Flyers firing head coach John Tortorella (6:00), they talk a massive Canucks win over the Islanders yesterday (12:00), plus they chat the NHL playoff race with Sportsnet analyst Sam Cosentino (26:43). 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.

Whoa! Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose the f***ing Canucks? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- You're listening to Halford and Brough. The Nebraska to the Islander Zone Centers for Forbert up in the rush. He scores! Derek Forbert with a hard wrist shot driving through the middle. We need more board license plates in the gift shop. I repeat we are sold out of board license plates. He said he's a sneaky offensive player so good for him. He's been great for us. I want to be in these positions with these guys you know it sucks sitting out. I think that that rubs off on to other guys which is great. Good

morning Vancouver 602 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. It is Halford in his breath at his Sportsnet 650. We are coming live from the Kintec studios of beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason good morning. Good morning a dog. Good morning Good morning. Good morning to you as well Hello, hello, how for the breath of the morning is brought to by Vancouver Honda Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers They have a friendly knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for sales Financing service or parts we are in our one of the program our one 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 they recycle you get paid visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step big show on a Thursday For guest or guest list begins today 630 Sam Cosentino is going to join the program. He worked last night's game on the panel. Scotiabank Sportsnet Wednesday night hockey. Not only did Sam work the game, but right prior to puck drop, he said it was going to be a Vancouver Canucks win. On the night he was right, a 5-2 win for the Canucks over the Islanders. We're going to talk to him about what he saw from another gritty, gutsy road wind from the Vancouver Canucks.

That's going to be at 6.30 this morning. Seven o'clock, Adnan Virk from MLB Network rejoins after an 11 week hiatus. 11 weeks, Andy. 11 weeks flew by. Adnan is going to join us, of course, because it is MLB opening day. Happy MLB opening day to everybody,

including Laddie, wearing his Blue Jays jersey. Technically it opened a week ago in Japan. And there it is. So of course, as Laddie astutely points out, it's not the real opening day that happened between the Cubs and the Dodgers in Japan, but for 28 of 30 MLB teams, I guess it's today and tomorrow, because the Rays don't get to open yet,

because they're still fixing up Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Bay Great situation they got going on also. You know what I learned this morning Did you know that the Oakland Athletics are now just called the Athletics officially so just athletics That's it. There's no city the abbreviation is a th on the like if you go to the standings They're like the Utah hockey club, but the opposite? Just Utah. Imagine if they were just called Utah. No, just called hockey club.

No, no, no. No, that's what I'm saying. No, that's what I'm saying. It's the opposite, right? Yeah. There's no city. No, no city. But just a name.

Poor Sacramento. What do they got to do to get some respect around here? I don't know. But if you go to the MLB standings page, everyone has a proper city and then moniker. And then it's just athletics. It's kinda cool actually. Who are you?

Where are the athletics? Where are you from? Parts unknown. Doesn't matter. They're like a luchador, a masked wrestler. You don't know where they're from. Anyway, Adan Burke's gonna join us at seven o'clock to talk some baseball.

We are not airing the Jays game today because it's at noon and that would have preempted Canucks talk or Canucks brunch or Canucks linear or whatever we've got here. But we are going to air the Mariners game tonight against the aforementioned Athletics. That's the Seattle home opener and that's at seven o'clock tonight. 730 Brandon Astle is going to join the program. How about those Abbotsford Canucks? Brandon, of course, the play-by-play man for the Abbey Canucks.

When we last checked in with them two weeks ago, they were barely above the playoff bar. We're like, Oh, they'll get in the playoffs. That's good. But they're barely, they've won seven games since then. Well, how about the Abbey Canucks on the Vancouver Canucks? The entire Abbey Canucks line. How impressed are you with Ratu right now?

He's been very good. He's very good. He needs to get a little bit, a little bit faster. Yeah. I don't think that's going to happen. Like I think he's just going to go up to Pugh suitor and be like, you made it without being fast, right? He's like, yeah, I'm the best player on this

team right now. Hey, guys are stepping up, guys are doing the business and Ahtu Ratu was the latest one. We'll talk to Brandon Astel about all that, all the guys that have made their way up. We'll do that at 7.30. Eight o'clock this morning, Thomas Drance, the Drancer from the Athletic and Canucks Talk. We'll look back on the Canucks 5-2 victory. Buddy, we got some big news.

I know we do. We got to get to it in a second. I've got some big news coming out of- I'm trying to run through it as fast as I can. Coming out of Philly. I'm glad we talked about that yesterday. Here we go. So Thomas Drance is going to join us at eight. Brandon Astle at 7 30, Adnan Burke at 7 o'clock, Sam Cosentino at 6 30 we're gonna guess Andy we're giving away tickets as well I'm trying to get through this is there anything else you want to jam in here? We're doing a bit of a spoken word later on. That is what's happening on the program today laddie let's tell everybody what

happened. Hey did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... LADDY let's tell everybody what happened. What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. I'm very excited to throw to another sounder. We got breaking news. Sportsnet 650 breaking news.

Out of Philadelphia. It is official. The Philadelphia Flyers have relieved John Tortorella of his duties as head coach. The Philadelphia Flyers have also announced that associate coach Brad Shaw has been named their interim head coach and will assume duties immediately. This comes, what, 24 hours after John Tortorella uttered some very odd remarks following a 7- two loss in Toronto the other night. When he said, I'm not really interested in coaching this team, they said, okay. Boy, he really stepped in it.

We're no longer interested in employing you. So he's no longer with the organization? Does this mean like, do you know how they were talked about kicking him up to the front office or something? Sounds like he's just gone, gone. A statement from Flyers GM, Danny Breyer, today I made the very difficult decision to

move on from John as our head coach. John played a vital role in our rebuild. He set a standard to play and reestablish what it means to be a Philadelphia Flyer. John's passion on the bench was only equaled by his charitable work in our community. As we move into the next chapter of this rebuild, I felt this was the best for our

team to move forward. I'd like to thank John for his tireless work and commitment to the flyers. And that is Rick Tocket going, I have a little more leverage now. Well, yeah, there's that part of it for sure. Um, okay. So let's focus on the news itself

before we dive into the obvious Canucks angle to this. But the news itself, after Tortorella uttered those words, following the game against Toronto, I don't think we need to replay them, lad, if you're able to track them down, try. But the Coles Notes version was what you said, basically, is that he said, I'm not interested in learning how to coach this kind of team. And this kind of team was one that was terrible and playing out the string. Yeah. I think it was more like in this situation,

absolutely in this situation with like 10 games left in the season. I, I, I, I'm not interested in how to coach during that sort of time and understandable, a fiery passionate guy who's going to be 67 years old pretty soon, probably wants to coach a winner right now. Teams that are playing meaningful games at the end of the year and going to the playoffs, now playing out the string. That being said, I was under the impression

that he said the quiet part very much out loud. That there's some things he can say and some things he can't say. I saw some people saying, oh, this is why we love torts, this is why we love his honesty. And I said, I'm not so sure about that. Let's play the audio again.

Cause this is essentially John Tortorella's last salvo as the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. This was him from two nights ago against Toronto, following a seven to two loss in Toronto. What he had to say about coaching his current team. It's my job to prepare this team in this type of situation. I haven't done a good enough job the past couple of games. These last two games, are you sensing frustration setting in?

Maybe it's a cumulative effect from last week playing well and not getting results. Well, when you're in this type of situation and you're losing all the time and there's nothing at the end of the tunnel for you, there's certainly going to be some frustration. But this falls on me I'm not really interested in learning how to coach this type this in this type of season where we're at right now But I have to do a better job. So this falls on me getting the team prepared to play The proper way until we get to so Brandon in Vancouver texts in They canned tortorello with ten games to go in a season that they're already

well out of the playoffs, that's diabolical. Not really. No, it's not diabolical, but you got to think that he got fired because of what he said. Yes. Yeah. For sure. Because I saw some people- For sure that had an impact. I saw some people, including Frank Saravalli came on this program and tried to kind of reframe it as Torch deflecting and taking the focus away from his terrible team.

No, when you say you're not really interested in, like he basically said, I haven't been putting the effort in. That's what I thought. That's what he said. He said, I haven't prepared the team well enough in the last couple of days and that fell on me. That falls on me.

I got to do a better job of preparing the team, which means like maybe he was actually telling the truth. Maybe he was like, ah, we're playing Toronto tonight. Does that sound right? And then I think five minutes he's like, we're losing to Toronto.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think badly. I'm a blue and white team. Yeah. I don't know. They're better than you guys. So good luck. Yeah.

Um, so it's okay. That part of the story is covered. We now must obviously pivot to what it means moving forward because as you pointed out Rick talk it who is yet to agree to a contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks beyond this season Rears like it's time for some light tampering. I Don't know what to say other than there's a lot of pieces that fit and make sense there. Yeah. I understand. Although that team is a long way away.

Sure, but I would say almost remove the rosters currently constructed out of it. There's a lot that makes sense there. So Frank talked about the relationship between Keith Jones and Rick Tauke. That one was pretty well established. Yeah, yeah. I don't think that everyone really understands how popular Tuckett is in that sort of like New Jersey, Philadelphia, North Jersey area. Oh, yeah. He's beloved there.

Is it tampering if Priya just texts Tuckett winky face emojis? Like if it's just emojis, no words? I don't know what constitutes like- Like that's probably okay, right? But it's going to be a story moving forward because Philadelphia's next coaching hire is profoundly important. The Tortorella experiment or however you wanna call it,

sort of ended catastrophically I would say. This is not the way that they envisioned this thing ending with the team playing awful. A lot of guys were shipped out and that sort of undercut the team. And then Tortorella essentially saying at the top of his lungs to anyone that would listen, I'm not really interested in coaching this team anymore.

Laddie's shaking his head. It's Torz, is it really that surprising this is how it ended up? Yeah, kinda. Kinda that he got fired. Cause that's what always ends with Torz. Not, well I think it was the big problem. I think that. Yeah, kind of. This is how it ended. Kind of that he got fired. Because that's what always ends with Torch. Not. Well, I think it was the big problem. I think, I think that sort of thing kind of

related was a big problem when he was in Vancouver, because I think he was still emotionally invested with the Rangers and he came here and Elliott Freeman always says, man, Torch should have taken a year off after that Rangers job. And he came to Vancouver and yeah, he was fired eight times to the point where he got a

big suspension, but I never felt like his heart was really in it. And his heart was in it last year because Philly was like against all odds still fighting and scrapping for a playoff spot right till the bitter end. And the thing, I mean, the legacy that he'll leave behind, obviously like the Sean Caccieri

incident and how, you know, that happened, the guys that they shipped out this year, right? I mean, I think that was the big part of it was that he wasn't interested in coaching a team where they took away Farabee and Frost and Lawton and didn't really replace them with anything on the active roster.

Yeah, Lawton's been so good for Toronto. He's been a real culture carrier. Let's talk about what happened last night against the New York Islanders. This is weird. It was another impressive win for the Vancouver Canucks and they wouldn't have done it without their star goalie, Thatcher Demko.

Demko 26 saves, Kiefer Sherwood two goals and an assist, Vancouver Canucks defeat the New York Islanders 5-2 in New York for their second consecutive victory on this home stand. Hindsight looking back on it, they really should have swept the big three in New York. Yeah, because they played probably their best game against the Rangers. There's no reason that they shouldn't have got out of there with wins over the Rangers, the Devils, and the Islanders.

But alas, they did not. Staying alive in the playoff chase, Drew O'Connor and Pugh Souter also had two assists last night. And the Canucks moved back within three points of the St. Louis Blues for the second and final wild card spot in the West. Vancouver also has a game in hand on the Blues and you mentioned Thatcher Demko and let's be real here. Vancouver is not winning that game last night without the heroics of Thatcher Demko specifically in the first period. The Canucks were outplayed in that first period. They were outshot by a 2 to 1 margin. It ended up being 10-5 in shots for the Is period. The Canucks were outplayed in that first period. They were out shot by a two to one margin.

It ended up being 10-five in shots for the Isles. They went into the break tied zero-zero and that had to do with the fact that Thatcher Demko made a bunch of huge saves, including one really early. Oh my, I thought that was in for sure. I thought that was in. I was like, oh, slow start for the Canucks.

So not only- There's Horvat, yeah, good night. Not only two games in a row where he's come up with a bunch of highlight reel saves, but going post to post and extending himself physically, because that's what he did against Horvat on that one very early in the game. Great pushes, right laddie?

Great pushes. That's a great, yeah, great technical term. Yeah, you had to push across the ice. Yep, that's what goalies do. That's what they do. That's the goalie analysis you get on the Haliford and breath show Uh, well, they were there

Your hearts in your throat every time he makes a big push Yeah, is it less so though? No, I still there was a safe last night every time he does man I'm like, oh god, that's how I feel. I thought that's hard because it's a big part of being a goal Yeah, I know that's it's tough. I apologize saves though I apologize for not remembering the actual save in real time, but there was a save last night where he got up and he got up slowly. And I think I manifested into saying gingerly, he was probably fine.

He probably got up normally, but I'm like, he looks slow and ginger. And I'm just waiting for the inevitable, well, Demko's coming out. He's got red hair, doesn't he? No, Demko's not red hair. No, he has a soul. Anyway, getting back to the point at hand,

he's been able to get through two games, two games now, without any significant injury. And actually that was one of the things that came up in his post-game media availability with Murph yesterday. Here's Thatcher Demko talking about being in the battle with his boys and starting to find his legs as the connects have now won two in a row and stay alive in the playoff chase.

Your competitor, you want to play and want to help your team win. So for you personally, these last couple of games to get back in the net, how does it feel for yourself? Yeah, I mean, I want to be in these positions with these guys. You know, it sucks sitting out and you know, I do anything want to be in these positions with these guys. It sucks sitting out and I'd do anything to be out there. Just a couple more big games here on this trip and try to get back home with a good road trip. Lastly, we always talk when players come back or skaters about being game fit

and when goalies come back it's about reads and timing, but how much of it is a fitness thing when you haven't played for all the come in and play these games? Yeah, I've been trying to catch my legs a little bit. You know, it's just the nature of things. It comes with the territory. So, you know, I think each game, you'll start to feel better and better. You know, it's not like I'm completely out of shape,

but probably take a couple of games to get my legs back 100%. But yeah, I've been feeling good. Okay. So, Demko is definitely the story in the first part of that game. Let's call it the first half of the game, especially in the first period. Yes. The Isles could have scored a lot of goals. They're granted the Canucks had a few chances in the first period as well.

It was quite open for what we were expecting from those two teams. But as that game wore on, the Canucks were clearly the better team on the ice. Now that goal that Tony D'Angelo scored. Yep. To put the Isles up two to one, that was a tough one because it had followed a shorthanded goal by Szyzkus. That was like, oh, the Canucks have a chance to

make it two nothing here. Cause Sherwood had opened the scoring and they give up a shorty. And then not long after that, that was like, oh, the Canucks have a chance to make it two nothing here cause sure would had opened the scoring and they give up a shorty and then not long after that, it was like three and a half minutes after that, D'Angelo scores and you're kind of like, oh, all right. You know, the Canucks are pretty undermanned and yeah, they had a great effort against New Jersey, but maybe they're looking at the standings too

and going, maybe the fight, I was just saying is like, maybe the fight's going to go out of them. Like it went out of torts apparently. But no. And it was a lot of the, the guys, the, not the lesser lights, but like the role players that came through, Aturatu scores, Derek Forbort scores on a

goal that, you know, let's be honest, Sorokin would probably want back. Aturatu scores, Derek Forbort scores on a goal that, you know, let's be honest, Sorokin would probably want back. And then they go into the third period with a one goal lead and you know, captain obvious thanks, but it's a pretty huge moment with Teddy Bluger scores a minute and five in. Like that probably took the fight out of the New

York Islanders when they're now down by two goals. And then the rest of that third period, man, Demka had to make a few saves, but the Canucks were really good. Like they were, and we're going to talk to DT, right? Because.

Nope. We're not? Oh, I thought we were. Okay. Um, and, uh, we tried to get DT on, but he was talking about all the, uh, the battles that the Canucks were winning on the ice. And that's the one thing I was noticing as well.

Like he was, they were, they were first to Pucks and every 50-50 puck battle, it seemed they were coming up with and they were winning. Uh, the puck pursuit was very, uh, impressive very impressive. They outworked the Islanders. They grinded the Islanders into the ice and then Kiefer Sherwood gets an empty netter at the end and they win 5-2. It was an impressive win. Well, there's so many things that they've done differently on the final two, the most recent two games of this road trip. And I'm going to use that game in New York as sort

of the bookmark of the benchmark of things that go bad and things that go wrong. You talked about the Bluger goal and how big that was in the third period. Well, they had a similar instance against the New York Rangers where they went into the third period of that game also tied in a very big, very pivotal game.

And they were the ones that conceded the early goal in the third period, one of the two Brodsinski goals. Also, the depth scoring on this team right now of the last seven Canucks goals, they have been scored by Jonathan Leckere-Mackie, Connor Garland, Kiefer Sherwood twice, Atu Ratu, Derek Forber and Teddy Bluger. So you're talking about guys,

depth players, guys that haven't scored with regularity this year, coming to the forefront. I think the idea here between that little anecdotal evidence and what you're talking about is because so many high end, top end guys are out of the lineup, the role players and grind guys have been elevated. So they've been able to do the dirty work and the lunch pail stuff with more regularity.

I mean, it almost feels like the team in a very weird way is better suited to playing talk at hockey right now because they have so many depth guys in the lineup. Then if they were to have some guys that maybe don't necessarily do the things that talk it wants them to do. They don't have, I think over the course of a longer sample size, the offensive

ability to compete with regularity. But here's the thing, they're not having any problem scoring goals right now. Over the last five games, they have 20, which is remarkable because they are without so many offensive weapons from earlier in the year. But I mean, 20 goals in their last five games, that's nothing to, I mean, that's a great total for this team considering how much they struggled to score this year and how depleted they are at forward. Right now, no Pettersson, no Hoeglender, no Hedl, and they're still finding a way to score

and they're still finding a way to get results, which is a big thing. Two more points for Pius Suter. He's up to 38 points on the season, which is seven fewer than Elias Pedersen with far less ice time. Now granted, PD's missed some games, but far less ice time and certainly far less opportunity. Like Pugh Souter doesn't get power play one time.

Well, he does now, but he hadn't before. Right. And, uh, man, Pugh Suter is making himself some money. Yeah. Whether it's with the Canucks or some other team, the consensus seems to be that he won't be back with the Canucks. But I mean, like if he's not back with the Canucks, the Canucks are going to have to go find some centers.

Cause if you think about it, the uncertainty down the middle for the Canucks heading into this off season, like we all know there's going to be a big conversation with Elias Pedersen in the off season and there's going to be like, okay, are you in on this or not? Because you know, you got your no move clause that kicks on on July 1st.

So we can all agree there's some uncertainty with Elias Pedersen. There's obviously uncertainty with Pugh Sutter because he's a pending unrestricted free agent. I'm also going to say there's quite a bit of uncertainty with Philip Heidel, just because of his health. Always will be. And how much you're going to be able to rely on him. And then you've got Teddy Bluger. to rely on him and then you've got Teddy Bluger and I think there's some uncertainty too with Ratu

because the way he's playing right now, I'm not seeing you got a pencilman for a foreshore role with the Vancouver Canucks. Will Derek Forebort be back? I'm talking about centers right now, eh, dog? Talking about centers. Could Derek Forebort play center? Probably could.

Very versatile. I just think down the middle and the Canucks I'm talking about centers right now a dog talking about centers Derek for board play center all the good I just think down the middle and then in the connection basically said like yeah We're definitely gonna be looking for a center Yeah in the offseason so I have no idea how it's gonna look down the middle for the connects next season Ratu is interesting. I know that that was that's been really good. That was a big game for him. Yes, he wins battles He's strong. He's not the fastest, but he's strong. That was the, you sound like you're talking about Pugh Suter there. No, no, no, no, no. He's not the fastest, but he's very smart. That's Pugh Suter. That was the first game that Ratu played against the Islanders since they traded him away in the Boa Horvat deal. And that was a good performance from him.

And the more you see, the more you like, the more that they've leaned on guys from Abbotsford this year. I know we got to go to break, but we're going to talk to Brandon Astle later in the show. So I did wanna bring this up. Ratu, Lekaramaki, Oman, Sassen, Baines, Carlson, DPT, and Mancini. Those are all guys that have logged time with Abbotsford this year, and you're talking about, I mean, a couple of those guys have just had cups of coffee up here and haven't really made a full-on impression, but the amount of guys that have come up from the American League this year, and not just shown well, but provided things to a team that's battling for a playoff spot. It's a very bright spot for the organization overall.

We're going to continue the Canuck stock coming up on the other side of the break sports net. Sam's Cosentino is going to join us next. He of course was working the game last night on the panel, but we'll get the reaction from the big news of the day in the NHL. And that is John Tortorella has been fired by the Philadelphia Flyers, no longer the head coach in Philly. You're listening to the Haliford and Bruff

show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drantz. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 PM on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. ["Sportsnet 650 Theme Song"] 6.33 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halperd Bruv, Sportsnet 650. Thrashed Thursdays. Forgot all about it. There's so much going on.

That's how John Tortorello feels right now. John Tortorello out in Philadelphia in case you missed it. Barely had time to get through the intro of the show today when that news broke. It's actually Torch on guitar. This is his project. Am I reading this right on Puckpedia that the Flyers have three first round picks and four second round picks? You are not reading that wrong. You are reading it right.

It's going to be a busy draft for them. Well part of the reason that they had fallen on such hard times was because they traded away so many guys. Yeah. All right, Frost, Farabee, Lawton, all out the door. And now John Tortorella as well. You missed that news again off the top. Roughly 6.04 this morning, our time,

the Philadelphia Flyers announced that John Tortorella had been relieved as duties as head coach of the hockey club. We got a lot to get into on the program. Sam Cosentino's waiting patiently on the line here to talk about last night's Canucks game real quick before we get to Sam. Halford and Breff in the morning. The show you're listening to is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service or parts. We are

in hour one of the program. Hour one 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, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. He was working the game for Sportsnet last night. He joins us now this morning, Sam Cosentino here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Sam, how are you? Good morning, guys. Thanks for having me on. I'm doing great, thanks.

The sun's shining here. We're still cold, but hey, air's free and I'm breathing. We're very happy that you could join us this morning. And we were gonna start with the news about the Vancouver Canucks winning yet another important game last night, but we gotta start with this news out of Philadelphia that just hit.

John Tortorella out as the head coach of the Flyers. I guess it's not entirely surprising given his remarks on Tuesday night following a blowout loss in Toronto, but what were your thoughts, your reactions upon hearing the Torts is out in Philly? Well, you know, originally when I'd heard the comments, I was, I was a little taken aback, but I thought, you know what, maybe, uh, you know, if you put it into context of, Hey, we're seeing brighter things in the future.

I'm not really interested in coaching these types of games because I feel that our future is bright and that we're going to, you know, I'm going to be able to coach in important games and clearly it wasn't taken that way. And sometimes the optics and the context can, can get misconstrued. Uh, and I think that may have been the situation there. Like they've never heard

Tortorella like, you'll go out and he'll rip his guys and he'll rip his teams. But quietly, most guys that I know that have played for him have appreciated him as a coach, not everybody. He's not everybody's cup of tea. So, you know, I think the optics were with Keith Jones and Daniel Breyer, they look back at it. I heard Kipper and Bourne talking about it on their show yesterday. And, you know, Borny was really kind of taken aback by the comments and, and didn't like them at all. And I guess, you know, he probably would construe it the same way as, as what

management did and he's gone now. So it was probably time anyhow. I think, um, you know, David Karl's going to be an interesting guy that I'll be looking at, maybe to coach that club here in the future. I'm pretty fascinated by what lies ahead for the Flyers because, you know, this rebuild, it's, you know, like any, it's going to take a long time. And to think you're going to turn around overnight, that's not going to happen. Ask Buffalo, ask Montreal, ask Ottawa.

Yeah, I was just going to ask you that because, you know, I know the Flyers have been pretty busy in the draft recently getting guys like Jet LeChenko and obviously Mitch Goff and Oliver Bonk, the defenceman with the London Knights. They've got three first round picks and I think four second round picks in this draft. What is the attractiveness of this job for a head coach?

Well, you know, it's going to take someone who, um, is going to need patience for sure. It's going to take someone who's going to have to be a culture creator slash maintainer. Um, but I think when you look at the management group and think about what lies ahead, I think there is some attractiveness to that job. I really do. Now, are you an older guy that goes in there and tries to like Babcock when he came to Toronto and tried

to write the ship and change the culture and do all that? That's not a situation you're looking at. But I do believe that a young guy who can grow with a team, like look what Spencer Carberry, what he's done, but you really have to do your due diligence. And I feel bad for some of these guys that get their first jobs, they come in there and they're dead man walking from day one and they're just placeholders basically until the next coach comes around until the next phase of the rebuild comes around. around until the next phase of the rebuild comes around. I hope that Philadelphia really does its due diligence and looks at someone who can be part of the solution and not just a placeholder for a couple of years. Well, Sam, I got to be honest with you. We're talking a lot about Rick Tauke possibly taking

that job because he doesn't have certainty beyond this season. First of all, what do you think about that? And second of all, tell us a bit more about David Karl, who, uh, who a lot of us would know from the world juniors. So when it comes to talk it, I mean, of course that would be an attractive job.

Anytime you have those types of relationships as an ex player and, you know, ties to the organization, Philadelphia is I think pretty big on that, like most organizations are. So that would definitely be a possibility and if you're you know if you're a Rick Tocket you're looking at a situation where it's just been so much drama over the last couple of years you know is is the organization now immune to it moving forward or is that something that you just see continuing moving forward? And

I would say that based on the last couple of years, you'd be a little bit leery of the drama continuing forward. When you're a hockey coach, you want to coach hockey. You don't want to have to do the, you know, in junior your responsibilities are taking care of the other things. The billets, the education, you know, being really well aware of where your players are mentally and in their home life. I think when you get to pro, there's enough support around you and resources around you that your job as a head coach should be worried about the X's and the O's and creating relationships with your players and nothing more than that. Allow the rest of the organization's resources to manage the rest of the drama that's gone on.

I think this year that Rick Tauke has unfortunately had to be in the middle of all that, be it through answering questions, having meetings with players above and beyond the normal call of duty. And as a coach, how much do you really want that? So I think if he looks at the organization and trusts the people at the top of Philadelphia, when this year comes to an end and he feels like there's a better fit there in a place where he can just rely on coaching the Xs and Os and making relationships with players,

then that may be an attractive job for him. I mean, I don't think anyone wants the kind of drama that's gone on there the last couple of years. And that's the one unattractive part of that job in terms of place to live. You know, that's a great place to live when the place is buzzing, great place to be able to coach, but all the other stuff,

not so much fun. So I do think that that's a possibility moving forward for sure. Sam, what do you think about the situation that the Canucks are in with Elias Pedersen? Because on the one hand, he hasn't been very good. He's been a little bit better lately, but overall hasn't been very good for over a year now.

But on the other hand, if you trade him, then like, what are you going to do down the middle? You're looking for not only a one C, but a two C. I don't think it's a situation you can trade them right now. I think the stock is too low. And so you're going to have to either eat a poor return or eat salary or eat both.

And I don't think that's a situation in Vancouver's interest. They've made clearly made their choice from a management slash ownership perspective to stay on Patterson and move away from Miller. So now you, you kind of have to live with it. It's a little bit like the Carolina situation, like you go out and get ranting and then, oh my gosh, you got to move on. I think that left a lot of egg on the faces of the Carolina Hurricanes, yet they look pretty poised to go back and win another round again and put up another hundred point season.

I think for Vancouver though, I think you have to find a way to work with what you have there. And then if you do feel that moving forward, he gets back to the player he was last year, now you can make that decision. Now you look at a situation where the cap's gone up, you can sell back to the player he was last year. Now you can make that decision. Now you look at a situation where the cap's gone up, you can sell high on the player, your returns or your ability to retain salary will diminish and now you may be able to extract back

from another team what you think is a reasonable replacement value. So now is not the time to do it. I don't think the summer is gonna be the time to do it or the draft Having said that there could be a team out there. That's really excited to push the push the envelope They really like the player and move it forward and maybe they do something at the draft But I just I just don't see it happening selling low on the player right now We're speaking to sports net NHL analyst Sam Cosentino here on the health of the brush show on sports net 650

Excuse me. So Sam last night night, you're working the game, you're on the panel. Just prior to puck drop, you make the bold prediction that Canucks are gonna go out and win, and they do it. So second consecutive win for the Canucks, good call by you. What did you like from Vancouver last night? What did you see in that 5-2 win over the Isles? Well, I think I went on and said,

it definitely wasn't a Picasso, that's for sure. I mean, they give up a number of high, high danger chances against. But I also like I really feel strongly about about where this club is at this exact time. Like if you go through all of the stuff that this club has had to deal with. And you told me with 10 games left in the season, they're still in the hunt for a playoffs. It's this it's truly a remarkable story. It's

movie kind of stuff, right? So, hey, you're just back at St. Louis now, you got a game at hand, so hopefully that game at hand results in two points, and now you're just a point back. You got the hard-charging Calgary Flames that have three games at hand, and you know what? Don't look, but you got Minnesota starting to lose some games now too. So maybe that position starts to become attainable. I just love the grittiness. I love the fact that you got a guy who's got his fifth career goal. You know, no one who scored last night has ever torn it up in their careers. Now, Keith for sure was having an unbelievable season on all sides of the puck. Like he's been great. But Rat Ratu nice to see him exact a little

revenge against his old squad. You look at Four Bort with the 93 game drought and I think he's got 19 in his career now over 500 games and the same thing for Bluger. Like it's not like he's been a guy to rip it up, but good on them. They're, they're finding a way right now. And it's kind of cool because I look at Pius Souter, I covered him through his career in Guelph and thought you know what this guy's he's a good little player but he's just a little player he's gonna be able to do anything he's had an amazing year so all of these guys who have come together here and to think with minimal help from from Hughes last night eating minutes and playing defense so on and so forth but not putting up the points that we're used to seeing them over the last

you know six or seven games and the same thing for Besser. And then you're still going to go out and win that game? I think it's pretty awesome. I think it's pretty awesome. And I think that the merry band of, of second fiddle guys, they're doing a great job and they're grinding it out.

And I love that. I don't know where it's going to go guys, but I'm happy to sit there and watch that all, all day and all night. What did you think of the way the Islanders played Hughes? Because I noticed that they were tight on him the whole night and that's easier said than done to stay close to Quinn Hughes.

Cause sometimes if you get a little too aggressive, he's like, see you later. But I thought, you know, it was, it wasn't a great night for Quinn Hughes. He had a bad giveaway on the power play that led had led to a shorthanded goal against, but I actually thought the Flyers played him, or sorry, the Flyers, the Islanders played him pretty well.

They did. And look what happened when all the attention went to him, then all the married band, the second fiddler steps up and does their job. So one way or the other is going to impact the game. And I didn't think it was near Quinn's, you know, average performance even for him last night but that's okay like the guy's banged

up he's been a rock star the last six or seven games since he's been back playing you know anywhere between 25 and 31 and a half minutes a night it's good if when Quinn Hughes has a bad night and the Canucks still win in this current lineup no he don't know Holdlander no Patterson I would take that all day every day. What did you think of that your Demko's game last night? current lineup, no, he don't know, hold lander, no Patterson. I would take that all day every day. What'd you think of that? Your Demco's game last night. Awesome. I was really worried because some of those, you know, the split saves and there were more than one of them. Every time he does the

splits or we have a freak out, it's going to be tough. Goalies have to do it quite a bit. Yeah, they're going to wonder if they have to drag him out. But based on, you know, his what 19th or 20th game of the season, he looked in mid season form and like he hadn't missed a beat. So I was really, really impressed. In fact, like if you even go back to the, to the Rangers game before he came back

and like, that's a game they deserve to win as well. They have, I watched most of that game. They pounded the Rangers. So unfortunately took the loss there, but I thought Dempko was, I thought he was brilliant last night and that should be the expectation that shouldn't be the, or the norm rather, rather than the surprise. Like that's why Dempko got a long-term deal. That's why they drafted him where they did and they spent so much time developing him and allowing him to play and do his thing.

That should be the norm for him. He's that good. Sam, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the stretch drive here as we get down into the playoffs and the playoff chase. We'll do this again as we get closer to the playoffs.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Sam. Sam Cosentino, Sportsnet NHL analyst. Worked in the game last night. Canucks 5-2 win over the Islanders. It's all here on the Hellford and Breft show on Sportsnet 650.

So a bunch of people texted into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650 during that hit from Sam, and by the way, if you want to text in, the number is 650-650. Metro Vancouver's trust to choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com.

And your point was that Pedersen has a no move clause that becomes active on July 1st. So that is a factor that Sam didn't mention. So once that passes, all of a sudden Pedersen has a lot more control. True. And that can definitely affect the return of any possible trade. And frankly, Pedersen can say just, no, you're not trading me.

I want to be a Canuck and I'm going to stay a Canuck whether you like it or not. Now you can always make it hard on a player and force their hand, but that's many, many, many, many, many, many steps down the line. Um, but, but I, but I do think that no move clause is, it's a massive factor. It is. And that's why it's going to be just a really

tough decision and you're going to have to, you're going to have to gamble either way. If you gamble by keeping him, then you've gambled that you're all going to be on the same page and that his off season prep is going to be better and that he's a hundred percent healthy and that he's going to fit with the coach and blah, blah, blah.

If you trade them, there's two risks. Number one, you look like an idiot because he finds his game somewhere else. But the more important thing is, because that really shouldn't matter as much, the more important thing is like, what are you going to do? Because all of a sudden your centre depth has gone from Elias Pedersen, JT Miller and Bo Horvat

to none of those guys and no easy way to replace them. In a very weird way, a hypothetical or potential Elias Pettersson trade might be less about Pettersson than it is about two other guys in this organization. And that's Quinn Hughes and Rick Tauke. Hughes, it's obvious, the implications there that him and Pettersson, I think it's fairly well established that Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson are fond of each other.

They're friends, they like each other, they sit next to each other on the plane, right? I think the friendship part of it is fairly well established. Is he more fond of? Let me finish. Okay. Yeah. That's a part of it for sure. The other part of it is,

does that relationship supersede or have anything to do with what's going on on the ice? Like, is Hugh's able to separate and silo off, like, I love the guy, he's my friend, but we have a job to do on the ice and it's not maybe happening right now. Does he like winning or does he value the friendship and does he see those things as, can they come together?

But whatever- Does he, because he said earlier, I believe in him and he's going to be fine. But whatever the case, that's a, I think he's a very major, Hughes is a very major central figure in that. Of course. The other one is Tauke. Because if he's gonna be your head coach moving forward,

he does, privately anyway, need to answer the question, do you think you're gonna be able to win and are you gonna be able to coach the way you wanna coach and get this team to the heights you wanna get them to if Pettersson is there and requires the amount of minutes and the amount of responsibility, everything that comes along with being the highest paid top sender on your team. So there's two guys there that aren't Elias Pettersson that will profoundly impact whether or not he gets moved. That's my opinion

anyway. Now I wanted to bring up something on TalkIt because a couple of people have texted in about the allegations that some people, maybe not necessarily named Helford and or Brough, are forcing the narrative of TalkIt to Philly. I just want to make it abundantly clear, because I'm not sure people understand how deep the relationship is between Rick Tauket, the City

of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Flyers organization. I don't actually think people understand how intertwined those two are. The Flyers drafted Tauket and brought him into the NHL. He spent over two stints in Philadelphia, bookending his playing career, 11 years and over 600 games with the organization. He has been inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame. When he talks about Philadelphia,

he talks about it as the place where he grew up. He felt like he found a second family. He talks about the relationships that he made in both stints. Both stints, not just the early one where he had the real success. The second stint as well. He talks about the great group of guys, all the friends that he's made. Philadelphia has a very special place in Rick Tawkit's life.

And the city of Philadelphia loves him and loved the way that he played. There's a long, very detailed, very rich history there that if you're accusing anyone, and I'm not even saying accusing, but if you're thinking that there's being a narrative pushed here, know this, that narrative was written a hell of a long time ago and it's got a lot of very real evidence to suggest that there's a very important relationship between that market and the head coach. And look at the guys in the organization that

are running it. They're also very popular former flyers. There's no agenda. There's no spin. I get nothing other than I'm pointing out just exactly what is at hand. If it was a different market, I would be like, oh, whatever.

It's a coach that is without a contract next year and an available job. And then you piece together something. There aren't many former Flyers that epitomize Flyers hockey more than Rick Tauke. Like he was tough as nails. He could also score and he was a winner. And what have the Flyers done historically throughout the last 20 or 30 years of this organization?

They bring back the guys that are franchise legends. And they bring them back in a variety of capacities. Brie, Jones, Clark, Holmgren, you can go down the list. It's what they do there. Okay, so. It's worked out really well up to this point. They should keep doing that.

Right, and hey, that's a valid point. That's a valid point to bring up, is that sometimes when you keep it in the family, and hey, that's a valid point. That's a valid point to bring up is that sometimes when you keep it in the family, it doesn't always work out, right? Like you need to sometimes go a little bit far afield. Now they tried to do that with Dave Haxtall, remember? It was this very un-Philadelphia-like hire as head coach

is that Haxtall was gonna be a guy that was gonna grow with the group and he was going to bring an outside perspective and he wasn't going to have any ties to the past. And then they decided that it wasn't for them and they went right back to being, what was it? The slogan, the new orange? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it was bring back Keith Jones, bring back Danny Breyer, bring in guys that, and Torts was. They have an active alumni there. Very active alumni. Uh, Sunny texted in, is Taukeit going to want to be a part of a rebuilding team though? I assume he means Philly. Um.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You'd have to ask him. I don't know. Like it's a big challenge when you, when you, when you look at the situation that the flyers

are in, it's probably unlikely that they're going to turn it around next year or maybe even the year after, but they do have a lot of draft ammo in this year's draft and you can either make the picks and patiently develop the players or you can get a little more aggressive with your trading. But it's a good question. And we don't even know if Takeda is going to

consider the Flyers job. But what we do know is that the Canucks and Tauket, according to what Rick Tauket said, are not talking contract right now. Tauket has said, I'm focused on coaching hockey and I don't want to make this a story. Well, too bad. It's a story.

But on the other hand, Canucks management would like to talk to him. And they've said, we want to keep them long-term. Also, the Flyers fired John Tortorella this morning. That's another thing that we should probably mention. 55 minutes ago, he was fired. With 10 games left in a season where it would have been really easy just to let him coach out the string and finish the year, they got rid of him.

It's been a very eventful morning on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. As a matter of fact, we haven't even had a chance to mention yet again, it's MLB opening day. Laddie, real quick before we go to break, how excited are you for this Blue Jays season? You're ensconced in Blue Jays gear right now. You got a Blue Jays hoodie, you got a Blue Jays toque. How excited are you? I'm pretty excited. You get ready to be heard again? I'd be more excited if Vladimir Guerrero was locked up to a contract longer than the rest of this season, but I'm still very excited. Hey, they're zero and zero. That's right. As good as it's going to get. They haven't made a single mistake yet this year. That's right. That's a good thing. Adnan

Burke is going to join us on the other side of the break MLB Network. We will talk opening day in Major League Baseball. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about CIBC. Smart Everyday Banking helps you easily track your spending with confidence. Get $450. $450. When you make the switch, visit CIBC.com forward slash smart. For more, you're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

We regret to announce the following layoffs, which I will read in alphabetical order. Tortorella, John. That is all.