Halford & Brough in the Morning - Which New Canuck Are You Most Excited About?

Episode Date: September 10, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason look back at Monday Night Football and set up Week 2 with NFL.com's Nick Shook (1:13), plus they get the latest news around the Canucks from radio commentator Brendan Batchelor (26:56).  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.

702 on a Tuesday. Nice hi-hat work there, bro. Thank you. I'm going to need my brushes. You're listening to the Halford & Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650. For some reason. It's for these hijinks. Well, that timed well.

Halford & Brough for the morning 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 coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec.

Let's go now to the phone lines. Nick Shook from NFL.com joins us here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Nick. How are you? I'm doing well. Hopefully I'm doing as well as you guys are with all that big band music playing. Love a big band Tuesday here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Let me tell you. Okay, Monday night.

Aaron Rodgers remembers when big band was hot. Yeah, he was 26. Okay, Aaron Rodgers. So Brough was texting me yesterday. Give me updates. Like, how's Rodgers doing? How does he look? I'm like, well, I can't really tell because

the time of possession at that point was approximately 49ers had about 38 minutes of possession and the Jets had somewhere in the teens. It ended up a little bit closer than that, but it was like 39-21 by the end of it. And then if you look at the plays ran,

the 49ers ran 70 and the Jets didn't eclipse 50. So my answer was sort of incomplete because I'm like, I didn't see Aaron Rodgers with the ball enough. What did you see, Nick? You're the pro. Tell us what you saw from Aaron Rodgers last night. No, I mean, that's largely correct.

I had a buddy text me last night. He doesn't have enough weapons. I'm like, well, he has weapons. He just hasn't had the football tonight. And that's largely what the case'm like, well, he has weapons. He just hasn't had the football tonight. And that's largely what the case was, because, yeah, it did get a little bit closer once Tyrod had a three-and-a-half, almost four-minute drive

late in the game, but it was really startling. It was a stark difference between how the 49ers just played keep away from Aaron Rodgers, but when I did see him at the football, at least for one drive, a 12-play 70-yard scoring drive that ended in a Brees Hall three-yard touchdown run, I saw a bit of the Rodgers of old.

I saw somebody who had commanded the offense, knew what to do in certain situations, understood the route patterns and the coverages that he was facing and delivered in order to keep that drive going. It's just that they couldn't string much together after that. So it was a bit of a glimpse of what we're used to with Aaron Rodgers. I was happy to see him, you know, finish the game healthy. And I think he even admitted it afterward, like,

they just need to pick up a few more first downs because, you know, not possessing the ball for more than, that was the lowest time of possession, by the way, of Aaron Rodgers' career in a single game. That was Monday night, 21 minutes, 20 seconds. That was the lowest. So it's hard to do a lot when you don't have the ball very often. But I think that if they figure it out defensively, they'll get more opportunities,

and I think Rodgers will be able to put together a few more drives like that one touchdown drive that they had in that game, and we'll see it pretty consistently from them. I almost wanted to say that the Jets may as well just punt on this one because it was always going to be tough going to San Francisco to beat the Niners. It probably wasn't going to happen and it didn't. And then you look at their schedule now and it's at Tennessee to take on the Titans who aren't great. They get the Patriots in New York. Who knows how that'll go but the Patriots obviously don't have a ton of talent. Then it's the Broncos and then it's the Vikings

so you might get a better sense of what Rodgers and the Jets are like over these next four weeks as opposed to what they were last night against a very, very good Niners team. Yeah, I mean, I felt like they got a good measuring stick, not for themselves, but like what they need to be to be among the elite teams in the NFL by playing San Francisco and just seeing how, you know, the NFC's best team operates and wins a game by dominating you at the point of attack. But I am a little concerned just about the way that they were beaten in the trenches on both sides of the football, especially because this defense has been their calling card in the Robert Salah era and it did not do its job last night. They couldn't get off the field.

And so that's entirely uncommon for week one. But, you know, the whole Hassan Redick absence concerns me. You could see it in their lack of pass rush that they did not generate last night, which is another thing that they usually did pretty well in previous years. But, yeah, you're right. When it comes to working a schedule, you know, Tennessee, New England, Denver, Minnesota, those are all games that you should be able to win if you think you're a good football team. Even though Tennessee made it interesting in Chicago

and New England beat Cincinnati, kind of week one aberrations there. So you should be able to come back and probably rattle off three or four wins in a row and not even look at this game as anything other than it was a nice test at the start of the season. But I do need to see them better up front for me to believe that they'll be a good football team.

It has nothing to do with Aaron Rodgers. We're speaking to Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, quarterback play week one, overreaction stuff. Whose starting job is in the most jeopardy already? Is it Deshaun Watson's, Kirk Cousins, Daniel Jones's, or you can go off the board and pick another one. It's a tight race between Daniel Jones and Deshaun Watson for this one.

I think that the Watson situation is going to kind of evolve as we go through the season, whereas Daniel Jones is, this is a matter of, this is a guy we are paying $40 million a year with a franchise that is, could potentially, you know, be headed towards significant change yet again. You know, like with the Browns, I'm not worried about their coach and their front office. So like, I feel like it's a little bit independent of them.

Whereas with the Giants, it's, everybody could be fired pretty soon. And if that's the case, what's going to happen, and what typically happens is when a coach is trying to save his job, the first thing he does is change quarterbacks. And Daniel Jones just did not look good in that game on Sunday against the Vikings. And frankly, I didn't expect anything better from him than that. Coming off an injury, just I've never really had that much hope

and belief in him because I've just seen probably too many bad performances from him instead that. Coming off an injury, just I've never really had that much hope and belief in him because I've just seen probably too many bad performances from him instead of good. But that was definitely among them. You could see some rust. At times, he would drop back and if he had time to throw and was in rhythm, which did not happen often, he would deliver

some good footballs. They would be accurate passes. They'd be with proper velocity and everything else and they would be accurate passes. They'd be, you know, with proper velocity and everything else. And he would look all right. It's just, it rarely ever happened because whether he didn't have time to throw or he just made boneheaded decisions, it was just a lot of the same Daniel Jones that I've known before.

So I think that he's going to be, you know, on the table pretty soon if they continue to play like this. But I think the Watson situation is a whole different thing entirely. We'll see if they can protect him in the next couple weeks or so, but I don't see any real future with Watson and the Browns. Which fan base had the most increase in happiness

after week one, and which fan base had the biggest increase in sadness after week one? Oh, that's a great question. Happiness. I would say the Patriots, but their fans are probably smart enough to know that that was a bit of an aberration.

Yeah. You got a gritty win, and that's cool. I mean, Steelers fans have got to be happy that they're coming out of Atlanta with a win. I mean, I know the Steelers social account was quick to roast me and my colleagues for largely picking the Falcons over the Steelers, but that's pretty common that comes with the territory.

Buccaneers fans got to be feeling pretty good about their dominant win over the Commanders, but the saddest fans have to be the Giants. I know I live in Cleveland, and I know that it's not very good with the Browns right now, and I know sadness, yeah. Browns fans right now are not, you know, it's been a lot of like, took two days to figure out what happened or try to process it. And they're like,

all right, well now here comes week two. Uh, but it's gotta be the, the franchise is with the least direction. And I'm not going to throw the Browns in there. Cause they got, they sell a lot of talent.

Um, giant fans. I mean, there was a video I saw on social media where Andrew Van Ginkle pick six is Daniel Jones. and then there's a shot of the crowd like that's simultaneous with the video and just streams of Giants fans just start

pouring out of the stadium. They're just like nope I'm done and walked out and I've been there. Somebody grew up going to Browns games. I know what that feels like so I'd probably pick the Giants. It's been a tough stadium for the past few years. Two teams both struggling um i wanted to ask about the rookie quarterbacks and the common joke after week one was i think michael pennix had the best

week of all the rookie quarterbacks um besides pennix who did not play in week one. Which of the guys did show some potential? You know, I think a lot of them did in different ways. Now, admittedly, as I wrap up my game replays of the week, the one I have not gotten to yet is Daniel. So that's first on the docket today. So I can't give you a super accurate description of what looked like it was kind of a close game for about a couple of quarters and then got out of hand. But I'll say this, Caleb Williams,

despite not throwing for even a hundred yards, looked like he handled the situation better than the average rookie quarterback. It's just, there's, there's a lot to clean up. The game flow and his lack of on-target passes affected him, but also he had a couple of drops, including one that would have gone for a touchdown to Keenan Allen. So it's not perfect there. Bo Nix, I want to sit back.

I'm just like, hey, man, you know what? Bo Nix, he's going to figure it out. He's just got to fix this and this. And I think he will. But a lot of what he did in that loss to the Seahawks was pre-snap identification and throwing to a spot based on his pre-snap identification without adjusting to what they do post-snap. And he's going to have to fix that because that's a vital part of the operation.

And then we think about Drake May didn't play. AJ McCarthy's out for the year. And Penix is sitting behind Kirk Cousins. So when it comes after the year, uh, and panics is sitting behind Kirk cousins. So it's, um, when it comes to the rookie quarterbacks, we didn't get the full slate of everything, but,

I think that we are going to have a few situations. And I honestly, I like to throw Anthony Richardson in there too, because he played one month last year and he went toe to toe with CJ Stroud and the Texans in a thriller of a game on Sunday. so if you throw those guys in there as well. I mean, it makes for an interesting group. It definitely does. But I do think that we're going to see –

it's going to be very much worth watching Caleb Williams beyond the fact that he was the number one overall pick because I'm really curious to see how his development progresses over this next month or so. Just not statistically, but just visually. But not the worst weekend from those guys, but could be better. Are the Packers going to be able to keep treading water while Jordan Love is out?

This is the one I'm very afraid of, because in the time that we've seen Malik Willis play quarterback, it has been rare in which he has proven to me that he can hack it um he's got a ton of athleticism and we've seen that on display for sure um you know he can take off and run and everything else but i just don't trust him much as a passer because we don't have a lot of a sample size you know in a very large sample size on him but also when i have seen him on the field even the preseason this year like he just hasn't gotten any better, at least in my opinion. Giving the Packers responsibilities to Malik Willis

for roughly three to five weeks makes me worry that they could end up in a pretty deep hole, but really what they only need to do is scratch out a couple wins in, say, a five-week span to stay afloat enough for Jordan Love to come back and hopefully be healthy enough to right the ship right the ship I just it's the Packers backup situation was weird to begin with

they had Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt and then they went and acquired Willis when it became clear that you know the Titans didn't want him anymore which that kind of speaks for itself he hasn't even been there that long you know that's what I'm really concerned about is he hasn't been there for you know even a month. It's only been a few weeks. So running Matt LaFleur's offense amid the pressure of an NFL live, regular season game, without having demonstrated all that much over your career to the point that the Titans wouldn't get Josh Dobbs a couple years ago

to replace you, that's a big challenge. I just don't feel confident in him right now. Real quick on the Eagles, who, of course, beat the Packers in that opener. to you. That's a big challenge. I just don't feel confident in him right now. Real quick on the Eagles, who of course beat the Packers in that opener. Thoughts there, because it was a very tumultuous end of the season last year for Philly. They basically just collapsed down the stretch, and the

Saquon Barkley acquisition sure looks like a good one. Very good early returns for the Eagles. Saquon looks spry. He was quick. I'd love to see what I saw from him in the Eagles' offense. It was a bit of a tumultuous game for them because there was a lot of rust there, I think, for that offense. And there's times where I'm like,

ah, the Kellen Moore decision-making process didn't work here, didn't work there. It can be frustrating, but they'll iron those wrinkles out over time. It was just good to see the Eagles figure out how to move the football again and enjoy playing football again because it was a really rough sight to see at the end of last year. But Hurts didn't play perfect. Love didn't play perfect

before he got hurt. That's typical of week one. And finally, and I stole this question from Brent Gunning and Ben Ennis at Fan 590 this morning. I was like, I like that question. I'm going to ask Nick. You mentioned this earlier about lumping Richardson in with this year's rookie quarterback.

I ask you, if you had the choice, would you... Because I watch Richardson throw the ball and I'm like, that guy just threw the ball 900 yards in the air. That's incredible. Off of one toe. Yeah, right? I'm like, just flicked it. And I'm like, okay, that's interesting. Would you take him if you had the option to start with the quarterback position right now in the draft?

Or would you take the field of any of the rookie draft pick quarterbacks that were taken this year? So Richardson or any of the guys? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Who would you take? That's interesting. Okay, first off, guys, when I watched that play, which was very early in that game,

that long touchdown pass to Alec Pierce, I saw him make almost the exact same throw in the comp line. Like, sitting in the suite, it was almost the exact same perspective. It was eerie to me because I'm like, oh, I've seen him do that before. Okay. That's the same throw that he made that shocked everybody. But that's tough. That's a good question.

I think if Caleb's not involved, maybe Aileen Richardson, I'd probably take Richardson at that point. I do think Caleb is going to figure it out before long and prove to be kind of almost like a Justin Herbert type where he's just making these incredible throws that are often on the run or improvisation, you know, products of improvisation. And you just sit there and go, oh my God, like, wow, this kid's super talented. He's special. But right now he's not there yet. I just worry about Richardson's health and his inaccuracies. That game was really fun to watch, especially in highlight packages. But there were times where he missed guys. If he could iron that out, he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and tonight he's going to be close. It's just that the consistency in terms of fundamentals and it shows up in his accuracy is still an issue.

But, man, it's fun to have a quarterback like Cam Newton in the NFL again, isn't it? Yeah. Maybe that's going to be his play. He's going to have the stumble Hail Mary. Yeah. It's like the stumble throws the defense off a little bit, and then receiver gets open.

That was a weird game, too, because in that game, C.J. Stroud fell down and threw a pass for a first down from his knees as well. It was a new field, supposedly, and slippery, but kind of wild for two young guys. The Richardson throw reminded me of one of those old Nike commercials where it's like, is that real or is it fake? And then the ball kind of goes out of the screen. He's like, did he just throw it 300 yards?

I'm like, that's incredible. But yeah, no, he's a specimen. I hope he stays healthy because I'm with you. I think that's going to be the one thing that could derail him. But anyway, we're up against it for time. Nick, thanks for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week.

We'll do this again next week. Yeah, definitely, guys. Thanks. Thank you. Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So we asked earlier in the show for your thoughts on some of the new Vancouver Canucks and which ones intrigued you, excited you, which ones you were curious about. We got a bunch of good texts in.

Gmaz, the Sprong signing is really intriguing to me. The fact he is thought of as a $3-4 million player and signed for $950,000. This man has a point to make and something to prove. He will be motivated and could turn out to be the steel

signing of the summer. That's the hope, at least. But I think other teams have said that. You know who else has hoped that? Every team that's employed Daniel Sprong. Yeah. He's got to figure out a way to gain the coach's trust. If he doesn't, he won't play.

But if he does, you're absolutely right. I mean, think of if Sprong figures it out and maybe you got a line of Sprong, Petey and DeBrusque. Speaking of DeBrusque, um, Rich in Cloverdale texts in, I think the obvious answer is Jake DeBrusque. I still don't think that he will be on Pedersen's line by the end of the season, as I think he will be a much better fit on Miller's line. However, to start the year, I really hope that he and Petey can build some great chemistry. North Creek Dan, most excited to see Jake DeBrusque. Will be cool to see how he sets up on the power play and his fit with Petey.

Yeah, that's a really good point from Dan. A lot of us are wondering, is he going to have fit with Petey at five on five? They still haven't replaced Bo Horvat on the power play, right? And I don't know if they're going to just slot DeBrusque into the role that Horvat played, or if there's going to be a complete rebuilding of the power play. That'll be really interesting to see at training camp in the preseason. Taylor in Richmond, Texas. I'm most interested in Danton Heinen because I watched him play junior B for the Sockeyes and always wanted him on the Canucks.

Yeah, he's a local. And he's going to bring speed and I I think, versatility to the Canucks lineup. And I think that's something that they really need. You know, it's funny. When they talk about all these Boston guys that have come forward, and this goes back to, I remember when they signed, remember Curtis Lazar? Yeah. When they signed him out of Boston as well.

And all of them, to a man, spoke about the culture that they were bringing over with them, like what they had learned from playing with. Did they actually bring it with them? Well, did they forget it? Some did. Some didn't. Did Schaller bring it? No, I never understood that one. I never got it.

I never got the Schaller thing. I was like, why? I always say this. Why day one? Why? Why is that a priority in free agency? Anyway, I didn't want to turn this into a Tim Schaller disparaging segment. Yeah, it's tough because I can understand conceptually what they're talking about.

Boston's got to – if you want to take anyone from any program in the NHL, it's probably Boston, right? They've been the model of consistency over the last 15 years. They make the playoffs. They win a lot of games in the regular season. They're good in almost every facet. The special teams are always good. They're disciplined.

And you learned under the tutelage of Zidane O'Chara and Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. They've had good head coaches. Cassidy was a good coach when he was there. Montgomery is a good coach if you want to go all the way back to Claude Julien and his layers. All of it, right? So I understand it.

The thing is, I think that probably gets overblown, and I think it probably gets talked up too much. Yeah, are you a good player? Well, no, but it's also like you didn't set the culture. You just followed the culture. If you want the guys that are going to bring the culture, get the Bergerons and the Crecce's and the – there's only so much that Curtis Lazar was going to get by osmosis, right?

Now, I will say this. Heinen, I think there's a few different factors here aside from what he's bringing from Boston. I think coming back home and everything is great. Although that was the same story with Curtis Lazar because he was from Salmon Arm. I think the versatility is the big one. I think because he can skate as well as he does, you could probably shift him up and down the lineup

as opposed to, and we've mentioned this a few times, but since Daniel Sprong came up earlier, like Sprong doesn't have that versatility in his game yet. Okay, I got another question for the listeners. And we're going to talk to Brendan Batchelor next, and then maybe we can get into this conversation. Which Canuck is facing a make or break season? I think we all would have said Pod Colson,

but then he got traded to Edmonton. So which one are you thinking about? And I guess we're talking about the younger players. Yep. Hoaglander is a pending RFA, still only 23. But what is Hoaglander exactly? Is he a top six winger? He's not much of a special teams guy. I think every point that he scored last season,

and he had a bunch of goals, they all came even strength. No power play points last season, and he didn't kill penalties. Can that change? Can he play some special teams? I guess we're going to have this conversation now. Max Sasson hasn't played much pro hockey. No. But he's 24.

So the clock is ticking, whether that's fair or not. Carlson, Linus Carlson's 24. Baines is 23. I think I got these numbers right. If you're a young player without a ton of draft pedigree, or maybe you've been traded from another organization already, it's make or break time at the ages of 23 and 24. It's funny, you think about Alex Burrows, and what do people say about Burrows?

Late bloomer. Yep. Yannick Hansen, late bloomer. Those guys were 23 or 24 when they said goodbye to the minors. Yeah. And what they did was they made themselves valuable on the NHL team.

Not as stars right away. Alex Burroughs was not the Alex Burroughs that at his peak was playing on arguably the best line in hockey with the Sedins and scoring a bunch of goals. Yannick Hansen eventually found his way up the lineup to play with the Twins. But if you think about Burrows, he made himself valuable on the team by being an agitator and killing penalties. Yannick Hansen, how did he do it? He had speed, he had tenacity on the forecheck, and he killed penalties.

Sure. So if I'm Rick Tockett and I'm talking to these young guys, you ask, who are you? What do you do well? Where do you fit in the lineup? And perhaps most importantly, which situations of a game do I know that I can put you out there and chances are you're going to do a good job in? Because when I've seen Linus Carlsen play, I've been like, he's okay. He's not a liability, but I can't think of anything he does particularly well.

I haven't seen Max Sasson play. I want to see him play. Baines we saw a little bit, and I think Baines hopefully got a bit of a learning experience in the NHL. Don't take penalties. That's one thing you can't do. If you're a young player that doesn't already have a role on the team, don't go out there and take penalties right away.

So maybe we can have this conversation with Brendan Batchelor, who's coming up next. Batch was at the Jake Milford golf tournament yesterday, so spoke to some of the new Canucks and some of the returning Canucks. We'll talk to Batch about what he heard at the golf tournament yesterday. And I would love to hear from you guys, the listeners, which Canuck is facing

a make or break season. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor. Live from Rogers Arena, calling Canucks games. It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor. 7.33 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Brough in the morning 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. You know, we were talking at the break how you can really start to feel that hockey season is back you're getting a bunch of very underwhelming transactions coming through on the old wire well the leafs got that nick robertson deal done he wanted out but they couldn't find a place for him so they're bringing him back there's also there's also there's also

so proper that was there's also rookie camp rosters, and that's always fun. For example, the New York Rangers released theirs. They have guys named Raul, Rico, and Talon. Not Dallin, Jason. Talon. T-A-Y, or T-A-L-Y-N. Talon Boyko? Okay.

Yeah, Talon Boyko, the goalie. The goaltender. Does the eagle have large talons? Very tall man. Very tall man, yeah. Very interesting. I mean, we're not quite in D1 lacrosse territory with the names, but Raul Anderico, that's pretty impressive.

That's a good training camp roster right there. Anyway, we are getting closer to the start of hockey season. Locally, that always kicks off with the Jake Milford tournament, which happened yesterday. Our next guest was there, dutifully talking to players and collecting audio. Play-by-play man, Brendan Batchelor, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning, Batch. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys? Good. You excited? The Milford is always the unofficial start to the season. You were out there, got to talk to some of the players, got to hear Desjardins have a good zinger at JT Miller's expense. Seemed like a lot of fun, but was that energy in the air as we get closer and closer to Penticton?

Yeah, it's always sort of the unofficial kickoff where, you know, there have been a few informal skates, but this is the first time really that the whole group gets back together. And obviously it's for a great cause, the Jake Milford every year. And they have a lot of fun out on the golf course, obviously. And also a few of them chatted with us yesterday morning. And that's where you sort of like we got our first chance to talk to Brock Besser and Quinn Hughes and get their thoughts heading into the season. And it sort of feels like, OK, now we're ramping up, even though, you know, the regular season is still quite a ways away. But before we know it, it'll be young stars by the end of the week and training camp next week and then into the preseason and off we go uh you mentioned besser obviously i think that was the biggest news of the day him confirming uh that his blood clotting issues have been sorted out he's now

skating and is able to absorb contact and he'll be ready for the regular season i thought it was interesting that he said that you know in part because of his health he still thinks he has a lot to prove this after scoring you know 40 goals last year he is going into the last because of his health he still thinks he has a lot to prove this after scoring you know 40 goals last year he is going into the last year of his contract extension curious to get your thoughts on what brock besser had to say yesterday yeah i thought that really stood out as well and i was kind of surprised i guess to hear him say that because it's probably not often that you hear a guy have a career year or see a guy have a career year like he did and produce the numbers that he did and yet still feel like he has something to prove

but i think that's sort of been besser's entire career to this point is there's been a lot of potential there that was finally realized last year but he has had to deal with various injuries and issues whether it was the blood clot or you know i remember his rookie season he's a goal away from scoring 30 and he gets hit into the gate in that game against the islanders and it ended his season so if that's what he can draw on for motivation is you know sort of needing to prove to people that the the blood clotting issue isn't going to be something that's going to impact him going forward, then that's good motivation to have from his perspective and from a team perspective.

You want one of your top guys coming in motivated to have a good year. So I was surprised to hear that from Besser, but pleasantly surprised because I think that's a good way for him to approach the season. And hopefully he can have an injury-free campaign where he's a regular contributor like he was all of last season, really, up until Game 7 of the second round. What did Jake DeBrusque have to say about meshing with Elias Pettersson? Yeah, that's sort of going to be interesting, how DeBrusque and Patterson, assuming that they get that look together,

which I think is what we all expect, you know, in training camp at least and going forward. He talked about how, you know, when he was looking at teams to sign with, that the center ice options on the teams he was looking at were sort of one of the first things he looked at. And when you come to a team that if you're playing in the top six, it's either going to be with JT Miller or Elias Pettersson,

you can understand why it was an attractive destination for him because he knows he's going to get an opportunity, most likely with Pettersson, but for um with one of those two guys and um you know there's going to be a lot of focus on petterson i think going into the season because of how things ended last year in terms of his individual game basically from the all-star break all the way through to the end of the playoffs so um from petterson's perspective to have a legitimate top six winger that you hope anyway is going to be stapled on that line and they can become kind of a tandem or a duo

would help Pettersson try and find his game again. Because if there's one thing you can look at with Pettersson last year, and this isn't the entire reason why he struggled down the stretch, a lot of that is on him as well, but he didn't really have consistent wingers. Sometimes the quality of his wingers was not that great. I heard you guys talking, I think it was yesterday, by the time he got into the playoffs, he was essentially the third line in terms of deployment because of the success of the Joshua and Garland line

and how well they were doing, and obviously Miller's line and the way that they had produced throughout the season. So to have Jake DeBrusco on his wing, I think could make a big difference for a guy like Elias Pettersson. And hopefully that means that from Pettersson's perspective, he can bounce back and have a good start to the season. And from DeBrusco's perspective, he can show well as he joins a new team and begins a new long-term contract in Vancouver Batch uh we were just talking about make or break seasons for members of the Vancouver Canucks and since we can't assign that to Pod Colson anymore since he's with the Edmonton Oilers um what do

you think the future holds for Nils Hoeglander do you like, what role do you see him playing? He spent a lot of time with Elias Pedersen at five-on-five last season and did well, scored a bunch of goals, had a ton of even-strength goals. In fact, all his goals were even-strength. I think he scored, was it 24 goals? Not much of a special team's presence, either power play or shorthanded, and then did not have a very good postseason. The Canucks make a bunch of additions at the wing position. So when we're talking about a guy like Nils Hoaglander,

where do you see him fitting in? Yeah, it's kind of up to Nils Hoaglander because you're right. He has shown potential, and he did score a lot of goals last year but it's clear that you know for the most part there are still lots of questions about his two-way game and about building trust with the coaching staff and now with the additions they've made as you allude to there's going to be a lot more competition so last season because of the the lack of depth on the wing at times if you know Nils Hoaglander got lots of cracks at playing with Pedersen and lots of cracks at playing in the top six those opportunities might be fewer and further

between this season if some of the the new guys that they've added like a Danton Heinen for example is sort of a high-energy player that could certainly have a chance to slot in on the top six. Like, this is make or break for Hoaglander because now there are guys that could legitimately pass him on the depth chart. And if that happens, then, you know, it's a very good question what his role is on this team

because generally speaking, you know, on good teams in the nhl and certainly i think the way we saw rick talkett deploy his group last year if you're playing down the lineup you know you need to have something else that you're bringing you can't just be a fourth line guy that only plays five on five so can hoglander have a bigger presence on power play too i think that's a good question um you know i don't see penalty killing in his future so that's unlikely to happen um so you know you need to add more dimensions to your game you need to add more reasons for the coach to be able to keep you in the lineup and

you know like i think neil's oman's a good example of that where you know there's plenty of people that will say you know how is neil's Oman getting opportunities or, you know, more highly thought of by the head coach than someone like Nils Hoaglander that scored 20 plus goals? It's because of the trust. It's because of the two-way game. It's because of the penalty killing ability, which Nils Hoaglander to this point has not been able to develop. It doesn't seem like based on the way he's been deployed and based on how his role was reduced in the playoffs. So if Hoaglander can come in and have a good camp, lock down one of those top six spots, be more productive on the power play and round out his two-way game a little

bit, then the sky's the limit for him. And I think that's why people in Vancouver are so excited about a guy like Niels Hoaglander is because you see the potential, you see what he could be, but he needs to become that because if he doesn't there's now enough wing depth on this team that he could get past for some of those roles and if he does then you start to question where he fits in on this team do you think they're going to completely reimagine the power play yeah well I think there needs to be some sort of drastic change because what happened last year late in the year and into the playoffs obviously wasn't good enough now whether that's reimagining

in terms of you know the the setup they play like in the modern nhl there's only so many you know setups you have on the power play so um you know do they go away from the umbrella which at times has been very effective for them and they have been been very good on the power play so um you know do they go away from the umbrella which at times has been very effective for them and they have been been very good on the power play or do they look at changing personnel which you know it wouldn't surprise me if jake de brus gets slaughtered in on the first power play unit but other than that um you know the other four guys it kind of feels like it's you know makes the most sense for them to be there unless you want to go to like splitting guys up between two units and trying to find some unique chemistry and and you know splitting the power play time more 50 50 rather than having the top unit play like

90 seconds of a second unit get the last 30 or so um so i think that's going to be another thing that once we get into training camp you know if they get to work on special teams that's going to be another thing that once we get into training camp, you know, if they get to work on special teams, that's something that we'll watch very closely because, you know, we know how much the power play struggled at key moments last year. And if they want to take a step as a group and get back to where they were in terms of being in the second round and having an opportunity to move on and being in a close, hard-fought series, it's your power play that can make the difference in those big moments.

And it absolutely needs to be better than it was late last season. Batch. This was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week and then everything up in Penticton. We'll be doing this again real soon. Yep. Sounds good, boys. Have a good one. Thank you too. Thanks. Brandon Batchelor here on the Halford & Brough Show

on Sportsnet 650. Yeah, the make or break season thing, that's interesting because there's not someone that jumps to mind immediately. The guy that was going to jump to mind He's in Edmonton. He's in Edmonton now, but Hoaglander's an interesting one. And I know that there's some pushback

in the Dunbar Lumber text message in Basket about that. I'm not really sure. I mean, okay, don't get me wrong. I understand the concept of what they're talking about. They're like,

he scored 20 plus goals last year. Like, he made it. He made it. I'm like, well. So did Daniel Sprung. Right. And he's on a new team. Right.

And he's on his third team in three years. The playoffs? For the record, I like Hoagland. Me too. I've always liked him more than Pod Colson. Yeah.

And I think that was obvious when I spoke about the players. And the difference was it was a simple, you know, like the meme of the do something with Pod Colson. You're like, hey, dude, do something. Don't just tread water out there. Go out and do something. Hoaglander, when he's playing energized, sometimes he plays over the line.

He can be dirty and that's not a negative. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, you want guys that are going to play with that energy. But the fact of the matter is, is you if you're Nils Hoaglander, should be looking at all the new additions and

going, well, Danton Heinen is my competition now. And frankly, so is Daniel Sprong and Jake DeBrusco, because if I'm, if I'm not in the top six, how much ice time am I going to really get? Because if I'm on the fourth line, and let's just say that Rick Tockett is fine with playing a guy like Nils Hoeglander on the fourth line,

how am I going to get more than 9, 10, 11 minutes a game if I'm not killing penalties and I'm only on the second unit power play, which barely plays considering the first unit plays power play, which barely play is considering the first unit play so much, which might be something they look at. I don't know. But again, you know, I, I, I batch mentioned it. I already mentioned it too. Like you have to carve out an identity as a player. Yeah. You have to, you have to be valuable in areas that maybe even some of the star players aren't valuable. Star players don't always kill penalties.

Go kill penalties. Find a way to make yourself invaluable to the team because, you know, guys that there's not an obvious situation for the coach to tap you on the shoulder and send you out onto the ice. It's a hard way to make a go of it in the NHL. As a guy like Daniel Sprong has learned, there's five minutes left in the game. Are you going to be out there in a key situation or not? Okay, oftentimes we'll be like two things can be true at once. So in this instance with Hoaglander, one is truth.

He was one of the best value contracts in the NHL last year. In terms of goals per dollar, he's up there among the best values across the league. Not many guys score 24. Was it 24 goals? None of them on the power play. All even strength. For a cap hit just over a million bucks. So that's the truth.

The other truth is that he's on his third NHL coach, and he was a healthy scratch in the playoffs. And the other coaches had some issues with him as well, about the style that he played, the way that he played. And you brought in a bunch of new competition. Right. So, I mean, Travis Green had a look he played. And you brought in a bunch of new competition. Right. So, I mean, Travis Green had a look at him.

And you're a pending RFA. Yeah, Green had a look at him, Boudreaux had a look at him, Tocant had a look at him. So the third coach saw some of the issues that the first and second one saw. Also, another truth

is that Hoaglander turns 24 in December, so in a few months. So it's not like he is just breaking in or figuring out his game. He's still young by conventional sort of context. But all these things are true,

which is why I think it's maybe not necessarily a quote-unquote make or break, but it's still up in the air. So it's hilarious. This one guy is getting really frustrated. I think he's Nils Hoeglander possibly. Okay. And he texts in, so Sprong and Heinen are his competition. One's 29 and the other is 27.

For this year, yeah. This isn't rebuilding anymore. This is about getting results right now. And you have to make yourself like that. No one's guaranteeing anything for Sprong and Heinen either. No one's guaranteeing anything for sprung and heinen either no one's guaranteeing anybody yeah you know heinen did get a two-year term so maybe he's a little more comfortable than sprung is maybe he's a little more comfortable with nils hoaglander but it's a competition and my only point in all this and i feel like this is the least controversial thing is

if you want to make a hockey team you you got to carve out a specific role. Yeah. I also want to point out that guys like this do come and go. I know we live in the moment and we get attached to players, but you brought up something interesting in the previous segment about the Yannick Hansen and Alex Burrows comps, talking about when they established themselves, how they established themselves,

how they established themselves, late bloomers, diamonds in the rough. Here's the other thing. Those guys are anomalies. They're the exceptions rather than the norms. If you can have a career like Alex Burrows or Yannick Hansen, you're happy as hell. Yannick Hansen played almost 700 NHL games and had a really good career for where he came from

to work his way to that. Burrows was even and had a really good career for where he came from to work his way to that. Burroughs was even more than that. I mean, where he came from. There's a work rate and there's a consistency of work rate with those guys. And there's also a realization that a lot of guys won't ever get to that level. It's not like you can just snap your fingers and say,

I want to have a Hansen or Burroughs type career. It's not going to happen for some guys. They either don't have, as you said, the work rate, the consistency, the drive. Sometimes it's luck. Burroughs have the great chemistry. What did you say, sir? The opportunity.

The opportunity, yeah. A lot of it's luck, right? A lot of it is when you come around, when you break into the NHL. It's a lot tougher to establish yourself on this Canucks team currently than it would have been a few years ago. Like a few years ago, guys like Sasson and Baines might have been getting more reps at the NHL level.

But there's... We saw a lot of players that didn't deserve to be in the NHL. They were in the NHL because they were on the Canucks. I watched Mark Michaelis play NHL hockey. Too much of it. A lot of it. Yeah. Griffin Molino. Things have changed. Five games he got. Things have changed. Right. It's different now.

And sometimes... Thank God. Right. The bar is higher. Yeah. And that is often how diamonds in the rough get unearthed, is they go to places where there's more opportunity. Bad teams. Thin organizations. Rebuilding teams.

It's all part of it. It all adds to this conversation about individually who's in a, maybe not even necessarily make or break, but who's going to be battling more than others. It really is just like any job at a private company. Sure. Make yourself invaluable. It's the only way you're going to have a career.

Yeah. Is if an organization looks at your role and says, we can't afford to lose you. See, so someone just texted in, what about Sammy Blay? Plays like a wrecking ball out there and seems like a talkative kind of player. I absolutely forgot. Throw him in the mix as well. And he's going to be fighting tooth and nail because nothing's guaranteed for him.

He's a PTO. Yeah And he's going to be fighting tooth and nail because nothing's guaranteed for him. He's a PTL. Yeah, he's there to grind. So imagine, and this kind of goes back to what you were talking about earlier, about you build competition in a variety of ways. One is your opponents that you're playing on a nightly basis. Two is you look at the teams that advance further than you in the Stanley Cup playoffs and eventually won it,

which is Florida, and then out of the West, it's Edmonton. The internal competition is driven by the amount of people that you have fighting for jobs. There's very few jobs available, and there's a lot of good candidates fighting for them. That creates internal competition.

And I think that's where the Canucks are at right now. This is going to be a very, very stiff competition for bottom six winger roles. There's a lot of guys that are looking at those jobs and at those minutes saying, I want that. And it's a fine line because some of those guys are looking at top six roles too.

A guy like Nils Hoaglander should be coming into the season and going, I still want to play with Elias Pettersson. Maybe Jake DeBrus gets, quote unquote, gifted the first opportunity with Elias Pettersson, but who else is he going to play with? Is there an obvious answer for the third winger on that line? Is there an obvious answer for the third winger with Miller and Besser. Jay Weston Van writes in, just say pressure creates diamonds for God's sakes. It's right there.

No, we don't fall back on those typical cliches here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Iron sharpens iron, though. Paul Texan, don't you dare diss Griffin Molino. He was one of the most electrifying Canucks of the past years. I don't know why he's the one that always sticks in my mind. Mark

Michaelis does for me. I was unnecessarily triggered by him. And I think it was just where the Canucks were. And I'm watching this guy play. And it's just like... That was the Jimmy Vesey year, too. I'm like, how?

Oh, Vesey. How much did I hate Vesey? How is this guy? And now he's back being. I know. He's back. But you know why? He carved out a role.

Yeah, as a New York Ranger. And only a New York Ranger. He's a good penalty killer, though, isn't he? Yeah, but it didn't work anywhere else. I don't know why. I don't know if he was just really comfortable there or what. But that's an interesting one. It's like he can only be a Ranger.

He can't do anything else. Anyway, we're up against it for time. 8 o'clock hour, BC Lions General Manager Neil McAvoy is going to join us. We're going to do our What We Learns, and then we're going to turn it over to you, the humanoids. This is also me asking slash begging for you to send in some What We Learns. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know.

The Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. All you have to do is hashtag it WWL and tell us what did you learn yesterday in sports. It's your chance to be on the radio and you'll help out the show. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.