Halford & Brough in the Morning - Will Quinn Hughes Finish His Career As A Canuck?

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the latest CONCACAF news with soccer analyst Jon Arnold (2:28), and the geo-political effects that are currently impacting the sport internationally, the boys look at the out-of-town scoreboard (27:00), and how it affects the Canucks ahead of tomorrow's big road matchup vs. the Isles, plus they discuss Quinn Hughes' post-game comments following last night's win. 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.

This is some game show stuff. And this is awesome. Add this to the rotation, please. 702 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. And you could win a brand new car. At California E-Mission. Actually, it's just a pair of tickets.

To see the Giants! This Friday, playoff action. A reminder, you are listening to the Halpern and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We are giving away... Very well done, Jason. We are giving away a pair of playoff tickets to see Game 1. When the Vancouver Giants take on the Spokane Chiefs. This Friday, March 28th

At the Langley Event Center this washer and dryer set is brought to you by Garmin guard your ears with Garmin Seriously though if you want to win the ticket be caller number five At 815 this morning phone number here is 604 280 0650 that number again 604 280 0650 you won't win a washer and dryer set. But you'll win tickets to see the in a moment here for a little ConcaCaf footy talk. Before we get to John, we do have some business to attend to. One, I need to remind you, yes, this is the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford and Bruff 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

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And finally, we go now to the phone lines. Our guest is John Arnold from the Getting Conkey Calfed Subst substack, he joins us now on the Haliford and Brush Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, John, how are ya? Arnie, guys, I'm great. I thought the Jonti intro music was for me. I thought that was my new tune, so hopefully next time you can bring it back out of the archives.

But it's good to be here. It was supposed to be, but then we go on a lot of tangents on this show, and as soon as Jason went with the game show theme, there was, there was no stopping us really. We were going to go the full distance with that. So I do want to turn our attention back though, to the tournament that just wrapped nations league, uh, tournament finals, Mexico wins, Canada finishes third,

the U S crashes out and finishes and forth. There are a lot of different takeaways from this tournament, but I want to start with the Canadian performance over those two matches and your thoughts on what the Canadians did. Obviously lost to Mexico in the semis, beat the US in the third place match behind a fiery gaffer in Jesse Marsh. Curious to get your takeaways from Canada's performance at the Nations League final. Yeah, you know, I think in some ways it was a good tournament for Canada. They played well in both games.

You see the style that Jesse Marsh wants to put on the field kind of matching that fiery persona that I thought went a little bit overboard in the third place game when he got sent off for barking at the referee for what I thought was a pretty good call. But you know, I think it's good that mostly they're matching that passion. And I think Jesse Marsh continues to be a great leader for this Canada men's national team. I think the only sort of, well, look, the big sort of blemish is that they didn't win the thing. And they went into the tournament saying,

we gotta win this thing for it to be a success. Well, if that's the level of expectation that you are setting and you don't reach it, then I do think it's tough to come away saying, oh, congrats Canada, it's third place. You beat the US, you got it. You know, you stuck a thumb in your rivals. I I Think that Canada fans can be excited by this performance and have real faith that maybe this summer at the Gold Cup that drought Of trophies that's now gone on 25 years since the last major men's soccer trophy for Canada Might end soon. They might be able to win the gold cup.

There's gonna be some big players missing, but I do think that's the big disappointment is that they're not putting silverware in the hardware in the trophy case. But the performances themselves kind of lend a lot to what we saw during Copa América, what we saw during the quarterfinals that Canada played in November,

that this is a team that's going in the right direction. So I think there's positives to take, even though for me, I do think as kind of a, you know, regional person who's looking more broadly at all these different teams at some point, the standard for Canada has to be raised. Like we can't keep saying, oh, good try Canada, you almost won a trophy. The trophy has to come. But I think the team itself, Jesse Marsh, the leaders in the squad are saying those same things and so that should be the expectation going forward. Still plenty of good things to take away. Okay so in light of that Canada didn't win the tournament, Mexico

did. Did the win and their performance do enough to put Mexico back atop the hierarchy or the power rankings in CONCACAF? Yeah, I've got them atop my power rankings and I don't think you can have any other team there. Mexico is the holder of the gold cup, which is the continental championship. They're the holder of the nation's league. This tournament that happens every year, kind of a check-in on these bigger teams. It's actually really beneficial for the smaller teams, but we don't need to get super into that right now. But you know, Mexico's won both of these two premier continental competitions. I don't think you can have any other team other than Mexico as your first place team. That being said, I think this idea that Mexico are the kings of CONCACAF,

they're so far ahead of everyone else right now is off. When you look at the teams that have been able to boast that kind of label, which we do sort of talk about in the Concord Caff region, as the king of the region, as the team that's just clearly on top of the heap, Mexico's performances just haven't been good enough to sort of, to grab that label. If they win the gold cup again,

if they go into the 2026 world cup with this momentum, and critically, you know, whatever you do at the World Cup, it's so difficult in international soccer because our sample size, what you're really judged on is something that happens every four years and might only get three games. They don't have a bad performance, which Mexico did last time around. So it can be tough to say Mexico is the best team in CONCACAF right now, but I think Canada is right there nipping at their heels.

And they showed in that match, that semi-final game, they didn't get played off the field at all. The US, despite a really poor performance in this tournament is also right there and Panama played them great in the final, Mexico wins thanks to a bit of luck, some good performance as well, but overall, yes, Mexico is the top team in the region, but they're not far in a way the best team,

like Mexico has been in the past, like the US has been in the past. You could even make a case for Canada during that World Cup qualification run as being a team that was so clearly on top, other than at the trophy. So I think they're the best, but it's so much closer than it has been in the past.

Somebody really feels like they could catch them and bring them back down to earth. How much trouble is that American team in right now? It's tough to say. I think it's hard to strike the right balance sometimes in this international game where the sample size is small and the windows, you know, you bring in these players and sometimes like the US in this window,

they're top forward, not available. They're second best forward, not available. So, you know, you look at Jonathan David and how he finished off the play for Canada that led to that winning goal in the third place game. The U S has guys in the squad that can do that, but some of them weren't available. So you kind of have to grade on a curb sometimes, but I do think that, you know, Mauricio Pochettino arrives as this manager and everyone kind of felt like,

Oh man, the vibes are good. He's the guy that's going get the US to a great performance at the 2026 World Cup on home soil. Everything's going great for us now that we've gotten rid of old Greg Berhalter and Mauricio Pochettino is in. But the nature of international sport is that it doesn't matter who the manager is,

they still got the same players typically. You know, you call in one or two different guys and maybe the previous manager didn't like or change a few things about how you're lining up and what your tactics are but he's kind of still working with the same paint and trying to put it on the canvas and make it pretty. So you know there's some decent pieces the U.S. has very talented players doing good things at top European clubs just hasn't really come together in several years now. So I don't think it's a panic button move right now. I think that this summer the U.S. has a lot to prove with the gold cup. But again, you know, the nature of it is if

they show up and win the gold cup and, you know, beat their rivals in the final, all of a sudden everything's hunky dory, everybody's feeling good. And maybe that's not the true nature of the team either. They definitely have some things to work on. And I think for Pochettino, as someone who's only managed clubs in the past, where you're able to work with players every single day, hey, you need to get better at this. We're going to work on this. These are the tactics that we're going to use for the game in three weeks. Being an international manager is a challenge for him because he doesn't have his players now for two and a half months.

I think him and his staff are really going to have to prove that they understand the international game, that they can successfully make that transition, and the US really needs to look different this summer. If they don't, then you're hitting the panic button and you're saying this team is in big trouble for a World Cup where there's a lot of expectations, as I know there is in Canada, as there in Mexico as well.

We're speaking to soccer analyst John Arnold from the Getting Conca Calf Substack here on the Haliford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. So John, I wanted to get you on the show specifically because you cover the region as well as you do and as closely as you do with a look ahead to 2026 because what's going on politically now has thrown a co-hosted World Cup between the US, Canada and Mexico into some very uncharted waters. It's... The amount of rivalries and intensity that's on the pitch

has kind of been superseded by what's going on off the pitch and what's going on geopolitically. Like, for example, at this Nation Leagues' term, how much talk was there about, oh my God, Canada, the US and Mexico are going to have to somehow come together and work together to host the World Cup and invite the rest of the world in this very trying political time while also trying to focus on, you know, just the football part of things. Yeah, I think it's so interesting and it's a difficult balance to strike. You know,

I think most of your listeners will have heard Jesse Marsh at the Nations League kind of media day that they're trying to hype up the event to sell tickets, didn't really achieve like they hoped to. Right. If you look by the crowd. But you know, the big takeaway from that was Jesse Marsh making a strong political statement that I wrote at the time,

hey, I agree with, and I think the timing was right. He said, I'm American, I'm disgusted by how our country is treating Canada, the narrative around the state, it's got to go. It's ridiculous. But, you know, to his credit, I think as well, when it was time to play, he's talking about the game and Mauricio Pochettino, the US manager, he's Argentine, right? He's got hired to do a job and all of a sudden he's in this situation. I think it's his right to make a political statement if he wants to. He didn't. So I think getting that balance right is tricky and it demands a lot of managers, demands

a lot of players. Many of these guys who are in their twenties and also living in a country that is not their own and trying to work out, you know, their life off the field as well as on. So you know, it is absolutely an interesting time. There's a lot of chat about it. FIFA and the organizers are sort of trying to paper over what the Donald Trump administration and the people in his administration are saying about Canada, about Mexico, the tear ups, the effect that we know that they would have if they are to go in

place in force. You cannot avoid that. And that's what international sports is about. I think we saw it at the four nations hockey. People are going to boo anthems if they're mad at the country that the anthem is being played for. I think the, the more sort of important thing to get right for the organizers and they're not asking me, but when you look at who's going to qualify countries that are on these lists that keep leaking out of all of it, these people are not going to ever be able to get visas are going to qualify for the world cup. What are you going to do?

What's going to happen if you're not even going to permit Iran, for instance, a good soccer country to come into the U S you're going to hope they, they get, you know, stick them in a group with in, in Mexico and hope they don't advance. I don't know. Right. So I, those tensions are very pertinent. They feel very present at the same time.

Once the ball gets kicked, it sort of feels like it fades away, and that's not always the case in international sports. Sometimes you have in even a USC Ron match where all of a sudden it feels like all 90 minutes that still have that charge that are still politically tense. I think the players on the field,

most of them knowing each other in the US and Canada, and I think generally the sentiment is the same that Jesse Marsh expressed. I think also contributes to the rivalry kind of staying on the field during the same that Jesse Marsh expressed, I think also contributes to the rivalry kind of staying on the field during the 90 minutes, but not having that sort of every kick feels politically charged. But I would say, unfortunately, I don't think these types of things are going to go away

in the concrete calf region. I think they're always there in international sport no matter what, but I definitely don't see a path where it gets easier. And we're not talking about these things. And I, you know, journalists like me are not obligated to ask these managers and these players what they think. It's just the reality we're in. It's the, it's the world we're living right now. And, uh, look, no sympathy, but if it's going to have to figure out how you make everybody sing from the same

hymn sheet and, uh, they're not the only ones trying and nobody succeeded yet. Do you think there's going to be a significant amount of fans who will be dissuaded from attending the World Cup if their country is playing in the United States? I know as Canadians, we're not exactly dying to go down and help the American tourism economy right now. You look at what's happened with some of the detainment of people who are legitimately in the country, tourists, German tourists who have crossed the San Ysidro border crossing where I used to live in Tijuana, crossing into San Diego, a pretty like free and easy border, except apparently not currently. There's a Canadian

woman whose story also made the press, right? I think that will absolutely deter people from coming. And I think, you know, there's gonna be determined and people who choose not to go, but there's also gonna be people who desperately wanna go who get denied. And a lot of these, a lot of, Iran is kind of the extreme example, but there's a lot of countries who maybe you wouldn't even think about

as not necessarily being a political enemy of the United States, but countries that just have visa backlogs, or it takes a long time to get a travel visa or a tourist visa to do something like coming to the World Cup for two weeks. So far we haven't heard the U.S. State Department say these are the ways we are going to ease those backlogs and make sure fans from I'm kind of picking on a dartboard here but Columbia,

right? Colombian fans are going to be able to come to the U.S. without an issue. I don't know if that's true. And again, like I'm just picking a country, but I think you could go down a list of countries that this expanded World Cup that has more countries qualifying than ever before. And you can see not only will fans be deterred and say,

maybe I don't wanna go to the US right now, but there's fans who are gonna say, I desperately wanna go see my team at the US. I've got the money, I've got my friend I can stay with, and they're gonna be denied entry or just be stuck in a line, you know, to, to try and get the documents. So I do think that again, like this is in some ways what the organizers signed up for, uh, and the Olympics are going to run into the same problem in LA. Maybe there's something that happens where we get

a little sports visa or something like that. I don't know, right? But I do think that that that determined is gonna happen and the denial is gonna happen. John, this was fantastic insight as always. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. We'll circle back with you when we get closer to the gold cup, sorry, that kicks off in June. Looking forward to it, guys, thank you.

Thank you, that's John Arnold, soccer and I'm choking on my words here. John Arnold, soccer analyst from the Get in Conker Calf podcast. Oh, he carded really good. Yeah, on the Halford and Brough Show on Sports Night 650. Did you read the story in the Atlantic yesterday, or at least get the gist of what happened with the group text thread? Is this the athletic? The Atlantic. The athletic? The Atlantic.

The Atlantic. The Atlantic. That would be even funnier though. Oh. Myrtle was added to the group chat. Yes, I did. Yes, I saw the story. So I don't wanna talk too much about that, but it does.

I don't think I was supposed to get this text. It does bring up a good question for a sports radio show. If you were to get added on to any group text, which text would you like to be added to? In the sporting realm? In the sporting realm. Benning era Canucks for sure. Imagine all the spelling mistakes. If you were just to be able to like secretly watch this group text like that Atlantic journalist was and he was like am I am I being punked right? first

Magic reply sounds good guys Who is that? The first of thumbs up emojis the first one that jumped to my mind is the one I would want it wanted to have been in On was the one featuring Brady Kachuk Matthew Kachuk and GT Miller at the foreign nations face-off. I think but we know what that was I feel like there would have been more in that text right than just planning fights I feel like there would have been more You know like ahead of their game against Sweden like me. I wonder what they were saying before they played Sweden What do you think they were saying before they played Sweden. What do you think they were

saying before they played Sweden? I mean, I'd like to be in the Connex leadership group text this year would be fascinating. It's amazing. All the passive aggressiveness between PD and Miller and the text. You know, the reason that I want to is because JT Miller after they announced it said, I hate that they were

talking about the group text. Yeah. You had to bring up the group text. Delete the group text to everyone. Yeah. Now I really want to be in on that group text. So would you rather be on the players group text. Yeah. You had to bring up the group text. Delete the group text to everyone. Yeah. Now I really want to be in on that group text. So would you rather be on the players group text or would you rather be on like an actual work management Canucks brass text thread?

What about the one- That one Canucks brass, I think for me, I'd be like, give me the Canucks brass text thread so I actually know what they're discussing and what they're really thinking. What about the WhatsApp group with all the general managers on it? The 32 NHL general managers. I don't think you'd get much out of that. I don't think you'd get a lot of tea spilled. You know why? Because there's too many people on it. All of us belong to various text threads right now, right? I've got about 9,000 going on in my phone.

And I hate every single one of them. Right, there are some where you're like, I don't know that person well enough, I can't say exactly what I wanna say. And then there's other ones where you're like, I can say anything I wanna say on this one. These are my trusted confidants. Yeah, this is my throw my phone in the ocean group text.

Yeah, there's one text thread dedicated to stuff I can't say on Twitter. A lot. Right, but I'm like, this is my free space. Can I go off the board with my Twitter b-sides, yeah? I don't care a single little bit about UFC, but I wanna be on a group chat

with anything with Dana White in there. I feel like he'd have some secrets. How about Rogan not coming to Canada? Yeah. It's like, dude, I think you've been, here's secrets. How about Rogan not coming to Canada? Yeah. It's like, dude. Yeah. I think you've been, here's my impression of Joe Rogan like, wow, really?

That's crazy. Yeah, man. About something a hundred percent false. It's a dictatorship up there now. Yeah, man. I won't go to Canada. Hey, hey, for the best. I'd rather go to Russia.

It's for the best. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to be on that group text. That would depress me. Like, I don't want to be on something where I know what they're talking about. It'd be interesting. No, it wouldn't. What would be interesting about that?

What would be interesting about being on a group text with Dana White, Joe Rogan, and all these guys. You're suggesting that there would be like some really dark, deep- Backdoor shenanigans going on. Right, disturbing stuff. He's doing something. I think they believe a lot of the things they say.

I think they believe a lot of the things they say. So I don't like, you know, when you're, when you're reading that, uh, text thread with, uh, the Atlantic was on and I was like, there's nothing really surprising coming out of that. Right. Um, but, but like I would be, I don't want to be on a group text thread with, you know, like the

connects will sometimes any team will have a public statement, but then I want to hear it. Cause no one's harder on their players than the actual team, like the actual coach or the actual general manager, the guys that are like, you know, counting on these guys to perform. Let's hear what they actually say. How I mean, can you imagine if there was a group text with Rutherford,

Alveen, Rick Tocket, maybe some assistant GMs and assistant coaches this year? Can you imagine what that text thread would be like? And tell me that, tell me when that died to be on that text thread. That would be And tell me that, tell me you wouldn't die to be on that text thread. That would be at the top of the list. Incredible. I think it would actually, I think maybe just Rutherford, Alvin and Tauke.

That would be the key. The triumvirate, the three points of the tripod. That would be the one that you'd want to get in on. That's where the most, cause the other thing too is like, they all were in Pittsburgh together. So they've all got that existing relationship where they know what they want to see, where the bar is at for a champion.

And they're loyal to each other, right? So they will say... Just a bunch of, Crosby wouldn't do that, Crosby wouldn't do that, Crosby didn't do that, Crosby wouldn't do that, I'm just on repeat. Yeah, Kessel might have done that. Yeah, no, that... I think that'd be incredible. That would be the one, actually. Although I would like to see the Miller and Kachuk's one still.

I have to stay with that. Yeah. It'd be a lot of like Miller and Kachuk's one still. I have to stay with that. Yeah. Be a lot of like, hey, check out this hot chick. Okay. Text in any questions or comments into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. Metro Vancouver's trusted 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. We got an open segment on the other side. Landon's going to join us at eight for a little Canucks talk. We'll look back to last night. Great win for the Canucks over the New Jersey Devils and look ahead to tomorrow.

Big game, another big game. They're all big between the Canucks and the Islanders, also a big game for the New York Islanders. Any questions or comments, text them into the Dunbar Lumber Text Line. We'll get to them on the other side of the Hal Frenenbrough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Vic Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets,

weekdays three to four on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 731 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, and parts.

We are in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at jason.mortgage. You love paying too much for your mortgage? then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at Jason.Mortgage. There was a good night last night for the Vancouver Canucks, not just in terms of their 4-3 shootout victory against the New Jersey Devils.

Desperately needed win, two points in the bag. Also got some help on the out of town scoreboard last night because Utah kind of had the same thing happen to them with the Canucks had happen in New York on Saturday. They lost 5-1 to the Detroit Red Wings yesterday. The Red Wings scored five goals on 14 shots. Right. It was four shots or it was four goals on 11 shots for the longest time. But they didn't dominate to the point that the Canucks

did over the Rangers. Like Utah didn't get many shots either. Utah did not dominate to the degree, no. But. It was a somewhat low event game. Wasn't great. So Vancouver last night, the only team in that Western Conference wild card chase to pick up

points on Monday, the Canucks leapfrogged Calgary to move into the spot right below St. Louis. So if you're talking points percentage, the ranking would be St. Louis, Calgary, Vancouver, Utah. And Utah is actually quite far behind now. I think Utah, sorry, Drantzer. I think those guys are done.

You know what Drantz never factored into his equations was that Utah has been terrible in Utah. The record at home stinks. If you look at Utah. Yeah, they have the same record pretty much as Vancouver at home. If you look at Utah and Vancouver this year, and you're going to point to why they missed the playoffs in both instances, you're going to say they did nothing with their home ice advantage.

They were lousy at home and the Canucks have been lousy at home this year. So too has Utah. And it was a damaging loss for Utah last night. Calgary has games in hand on everybody. But the interesting thing about Calgary is that they have a very, very difficult run coming up. Now tonight, not so much. They have Seattle. Seattle's on a Western road trip.

They're not playing very well. They're not a very good team in Seattle, Kraken. Calgary is playing well. After that game, Calgary closes the month against Dallas, Edmonton and Colorado. So they're going to make up those games that they have in hand Calgary is.

With tough games. Very tough games. St. Louis is the team to beat though right now. And if you look, if you look at goal differential, St. Louis is plus 10. Yeah. Canucks are minus 16, Calgary is minus 21, Utah is minus 13. Um, St. Louis might just be the best team here.

The blues have won six straight. They get Montreal tonight. Another game that's kind of a must watch. The Habs have played well lately. Habs are fun to watch too. Habs are going on the road in this one. It's the last of a four game home stand for the blues where they've been pretty dominant, they've won three of the four.

Habs are two oh and two in their last four. They're fighting for their own playoff lives. So there's that, but, um, St. Louis is going to need to slow down. Plain and simple. If you listen to our one of the podcasts, by the way, you can download it. Apple, Google, Spotify, wherever. Oh wait, one of those doesn't exist anymore.

Right? Anyway, download the hour one podcast. You can hear, uh, Greg Wyshinski, you know, kind of pointed out very clearly that the blues are in the driver's seat. Now, if the connects are going to get in, I would say right now, like prior to last night's game we said they probably need to win 8 of 12. Yeah. Well congrats now it's down to 7 of 11 and if you want to try and pick the game, the remaining 11 games that you think they can win, go ahead and do it. But St. Louis is

going to have to stop winning every single hockey game. Otherwise they're not gonna catch them. It's gonna be really tough for the Canucks. And as much as I enjoyed their performance last night, and you know, there was a lot of guys that stepped up and overachieved to ask these guys to do it, you know, against some really tough competition down the stretch where, you know, Quinn Hughes was playing half the game and we don't know if

Thatcher Demko is going to hold up. It's a tall task, but I'm curious to see how they react. And I think this is where some guys get tested. And I want to see what Lekar Maki is made of. I want to see if he can provide some big moments for the Canucks. More big moments. Down the stretch. Like at five on five, it was interesting that Taked said after the game, he's like, I've

got to find more minutes for him. But the problem is, and he also said, I've got to find some chemistry for him. Because who's he going to play with? Who's his center? Because you're going to put Suter with Debrecen Besser. Yep. Right?

So Lekarmaki's center is what, Bluger? Yep. Nils Eman. Yeah, that's another option. Antu Ratu. You know, it is really tough. And so at five on five, you also have some concerns about Lekker Mackey's game. He's still learning.

It's not his fault. He's young. Yeah. Um, now I think he should definitely be on the power play for sure. I think he just adds so much to that power play. And I, and I really like his shot. I like his willingness to shoot.

I like his decisiveness out there. But you're just limited with the centers that they have right now. For all the talk about Pugh Suter being the one C, I actually think he's more capable of being a one C than Teddy Bluger is of being a two C. Ah, interesting way of putting it. Yeah, the heavy lifting's gonna catch up to him at some point. What you're hoping for right now is that the Canucks can catch lightning in a bottle over the final 11 games, and they can get Pugh suitor on a heater,

they can keep Quinn Hughes healthy and playing over 30 a night. Here's the wild card. Thatcher Demco. Can we replay the audio? Do you try and find this clip laddie Quinn Hughes talking about Demco? Cause this was another thing that was Shinsky brought up. This was from the ESPN post game interview last night. This is not to throw shade at Kevin Lankinen, who's done a remarkable job,

in some ways is saved the season to, I mean, they might still miss the playoffs, but he saved them to the point where they were able to participate in a playoff chase. I think that's fair to say, right? Lankinen's not here this season's toast. There's a difference between the two, and you can say it's ceiling or pedigree,

but it's also, and I hate putting it in these terms, but the way guys talk, act, think, and feel in front of one goalie, as opposed to another. It's not that I don't like Lankton and I don't think that he's good, but I think- They really like Lankton. I think there's almost an understanding

that Demko can go out and maybe win you a game you're not supposed to win. And I don't know if that same feeling of belief is there with Lankanen. Also. He's stolen a couple of games, but you're right. The, I mean, we all know Demko ceiling is higher than Lankanen's.

If they can keep him healthy. Like, does he start again tomorrow? Well, that's the first, that's the question I had. Do you run them out again against the Islanders? By, I mean, Lankanen didn't even dress last night. We failed to mention that it was already Seelove's as the backup yesterday. Lankanen didn't even dress yesterday I mean, Lankton didn't even dress last night. We failed to mention that. It was already, Sealov's is the backup yesterday. Lankton didn't even dress yesterday.

Well, Lankton might be sick. Yeah. So in light of all of that, do you just kind of say, all right, pedal to the metal, like let's go, Demko, you're going again? Like how many games can you play them over the final 11? Let's not forget forget he missed six weeks and jumped back in last night so some would say err on the side of caution but the other thing too you want to play devil's advocate to the devil's advocate

against the devil's advocate you only got a handful of games left and he's gonna have the entire offseason if they don't make it to rest and rehab and get healthy anyway so maybe it is like let's's go. You got the clip here? Okay. Let's hear. This is Quinn Hughes talking about Thatcher Demko after last night's big four, three shootout victory over the devils in New Jersey. Yeah. I mean, first off, Lincoln has been playing like, you know, real top goaltender in the league. But, you know, Thatcher, he's, you know, I've been here for six years. He's been here. We've been here together and he's a Vezna type goalie, you know, Thatcher, I've been here for six years, he's been here, we've been here together, and he's a Vezna-type goalie,

you know, maybe, definitely could've probably won the Vezna last year, and when he's in the net, it's a different feeling, and I think he's had like, two team practices, maybe even one before tonight, so probably wasn't even, you know, close to 100% tonight. And he just gutted one out for us. He was an absolute beast. And he's just one of the most competitive guys I know.

And for him to come out and gut that one out for us and that save, he made it over time, you know, classic me playing a two on one like ****. But I can't say enough about Thatch. Um, so a couple of questions coming into the Dunbar lumber text line as we wait to see who starts the game and goal for the Canucks tomorrow. Uh, BK in Poco, Texas is Lekermackie playing well down the stretch, potentially replacing Brock Besser

for next year. I, I don't think it would be a one for one replacement if they do in fact move on from Brock Besser and don't forget there's still a chance for one replacement if they do in fact, move on from Brock Besser. And don't forget, there's still a chance they re-signed Brock Besser. But if they don't, I think they might try and just bring in some more speed on the wings, even if they feel that Leckr Mackie will be a much better player

next season and might be able to step in at a higher level. Brock Besser has a lot of experience in the NHL. And there were times when he was playing with JT Miller that he was on a shutdown line, not a shutdown line, but let's call it a matchup line. Sure. Okay. So the JT Miller would get the toughest assignments.

Well, Brock would be out there too. Is any, is any Canucks coaching staff, whether it's talking to Exxby or someone else, going to trust Leckermacky in that specific role, or do you want to try and sign a veteran winger that can bring some of what Besser brought, albeit at maybe a cheaper rate. And then you're kind of replacing Brock Besser with maybe like two guys, you know what I mean?

Well, I think that- Like it's just different. It's just a different mix. It's not a one for one swap. I think if there's one positive to be taken from what's been a trying year on a lot of fronts for the Canucks is they have expedited Leckaromachy's ascension to being an NHL regular. I did not expect him to be a regular. it's been a trying year on a lot of fronts for the Canucks is they have expedited

Lekere-Mackie's ascension to being an NHL regular. I don't, I did not expect him to have played, like if you would've told me the beginning of the year, Lekere-Mackie was going to appear in, cause he's close to 20 games, so quarter of the games and was going to be scoring super pivotal goals in, you know, meaningful games in March, scoff it all you want at that line, but meaningful games in March, it's a meaningful game in March. Ioff all you want at that line, but meaningful games in March. It's a meaningful game. Yeah.

I mean, he's got three goals in 19 games. No, no, no. Something like that. Listen to what I'm saying. Yeah. If you were to tell me at the beginning of the year, he would have played in a quarter of the team's game and in those meaningful games in March,

you'd be scoring meaningful goals. I would have said like, well, something must have gone wrong. Well, yeah, something did. Right? Something did go wrong. But he's doing it. The silver lining is that you're going to get a better,

more polished NHL version of Lechromachy next year than you would have if you'd spent the entire year in the American League. He's going to need a lot of time in the gym this off season. He needs to get bigger and stronger. And that's what we all knew. It's not like a criticism.

It's just how players develop. And we'll see what he looks like at camp next season. Keep twirling that stick, though, son. I respect that. I like that. He looked confident out there. He's got swagger. That's when I see him on the power play. He wants the puck.

He wants to do things with the puck. He's not scared of having the puck. He's not deferring. Matt and Surrey with a good question here. We all know Quinn Hughes is amazing and Kevin Lankenen has done his thing. Outside of those two, would it be fair to say that Pius Suter has been the Canucks best player

this year? Okay. So take away Quinn Hughes, cause we all know he's the MVP of the team. Kevin Lankinen, the season will be lost without him. There's probably a few guys that I would put in the category of, you know, the next best player. Um, suitor is definitely one of them.

Yeah. Connor Garland is another. I put Garland, I mean, if we're going to. I think Horonick too. Horonick is, Horonick has played really well, especially in the games where they didn't have Quinn Hughes. I thought he stepped up.

So those would be the guys that I would talk about. I know Kiefer Sherwood has added something, but in terms of importance to the team, yeah, Pugh Suter has been really important to the team. 22 goals, one off the team lead at 23, shared by Brock Besser and Jake DeBrusk. He's been great. He's been great. And they are really asking a lot of Pugh's suitor right now. Again, in a short sample size, which is exactly what they've got left,

he can masquerade in the role that he's in right now. He can. When you get to the playoffs and he's in a matchup, it might be an entirely different story. He might get exposed, probably more likely will be. But for now, you just, there is something endearing about, as you pointed out in the first segment of this show, way back at six o'clock in the morning,

there is something endearing about guys punching out of their weight class and overachieving and doing more than what you would expect. It's an endearing quality for our hockey team. That's why we love underdog stories. Right. Now, those teams usually end up falling short because at the end of the day,

they just don't have the talent or ability or depth that the contenders do. But in this season, which has been a trying season, we played audio from Quinn Hughes talking about how it's been a really long season and how a lot of people, including your co-hosts of this radio program have become disenchanted with the way that and the direction the team has gone. I think maybe there's some real grasping at moments like last night. People have like clapped back in the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket this

morning saying that it feels odd or strange or maybe not earnest that we're speaking glowingly about this game after being so critical over the weekend. I get it. There's a lot of peaks and valleys when you're coming in and talking about wins and losses. But I do genuinely feel like the performance and effort and what they did last night was one of the gutsiest, grittiest performances they had all season. A season where you could say that that was lacking a lot of times. And it didn't have all the sort of signature benchmarks of frustration

that other Canucks games have had this year. There's been a lot of games where you don't know what team's going to come out for the second and third periods. You don't know what team's going to come out for the second and third periods You don't know what effort or performance you're gonna get or what new and creative way They're gonna shoot themselves in the foot. Mm-hmm, and it's frustrating to watch that as a fan and And you know watching some key players and wondering if they're gonna perform and I did say sorry not that but I Did say prior last night's game right when we were going off the air yesterday, like good on Demko for pushing to get back in

and saying like, hey, do we need a Hail Mary right now? I'll throw it, right? And the one thing with the Hail Mary theory, like, not all Hail Marys are created equal. Aaron Rodgers in his heyday throwing a Hail Mary was a lot more dangerous than Tommy DeVito throwing a Hail Mary. You know, I mean, it's a hope,

but the person that's orchestrating said Hail Mary. There's a big difference there. And if Demko somehow can stay upright and healthy and keep going, I know it's a long shot. And I know the odds and history are maybe stacked against it, but there's a little glimmer of hope there. From Dean and Langley, texting in, nobody seems to be focused on Quinn Hughes' mention of him being

excited for quote, what's to come in the next couple of years. Is it just me or isn't this an admission statement that Quinn ain't staying past 2026? Come on, let's get the panic blender going. Oh, Dean. Okay. So as soon as.

Dean and his panic blender. Well, as soon as I saw that, I was like, oh, why did he say a couple of years? Cause that's how many more years he is signed for. I think if you want to take that for anything, you should be optimistic because he's talking about building something over the next couple of years while he's still with the team and then he's got a decision to make.

So he's not, he's not saying, well, we're going to build something that I'm going to leave. I didn't, I didn't see that at all. I, I, that I didn't see him saying that at all. I saw him saying, probably, I don't see that at all. I didn't see him saying that at all. I saw him saying, I don't know whether he meant to say it or it was unconsciously, but he was like, okay, we're going to, he's probably thinking. If you're Quinn Hughes, you're the captain of the

Vancouver Canucks. That means something to you. Even if you want to go play with your brothers or that's, you know, in the back of your mind, that'd be cool. That's, it know, in the back of your mind, that'd be cool. That's, it's almost like, I wonder for him, if that's like an escape hatch.

Like if that's, if that's, if things don't turn around here, I can always go do that in a couple of years. But in the meantime, like nobody watching Quinn Hughes right now is like, Whoa, this guy's checked out on the team. Right? That, that, that, that's the one thing that's,

you have to be encouraged by, right? No, Quinn Hughes is playing for the Vancouver Canucks right now. Well, maybe it's a challenge to management too. He's like, you got two years to build a consistent winner. Of course it is. So give me- But it's a challenge to himself.

I'm giving you two years here. It's a challenge for himself as well, because he's part of the leadership group. And I think the leadership group, they need to talk about this off season, who is going to be part of the leadership group? Because, you know, a couple of the guys that were part of the leadership group were part of the big

reason why this team fell apart this season. Do you want them as part of your leadership group anymore? Well, one of them is not there anymore. So, and you know, Brock Besser is considered part of the leadership group. Is he gonna be there? So, I honestly didn't take that as a negative even though he said couple of years because he said building something. If you build something that's good, Quinn Hughes is gonna wanna stay.

Yeah, I mean, I've actually, you know what? In the last couple of months where things have really gone off the rails and we've been like, well, Miller's gone. And if they trade Pedersen and he's not around next year, he's gone. That means Hughes has gone too. I've always consciously never said that. I've made a point of not saying it,

not cause I don't want anyone to keep the receipts, but I genuinely don't see it that way. I do think that when you talk about Hughes, and I don't think that it's posturing for cameras or media or microphones, he genuinely seems honored and to fully appreciate what it means to be a captain in a Canadian market. I do think that that means a lot to him. I think that it because it was

bestowed on him when it was bestowed on him and what he's been tasked with. I think he relishes all of that. I think he's got friendships and camaraderie on the team like anyone does when they play with a guy for a while but I think he's got friendships and camaraderie on the team, like anyone does when they play with a guy for a while, but I think he also understands that the ability to build a legacy here is gonna be sort of him. Like he's the driving force behind it. I don't know if you get that everywhere else. Like if they were to pivot off,

cause they've already pivoted off Miller. If he can be the culture carrier, if he can be the culture leader for the Canucks, then you know how the Pittsburgh group is always talking about Sidney Crosby does it this way. Yeah. Quinn Hughes is at Sid's level as a player. But Quinn Hughes is top five player in the world.

Yeah. Right. Can everyone agree? Like some people maybe have him number three in the world. He is at that level. He is an elite, elite hockey player in the world. Yeah. Right? Can everyone agree? Some people maybe have him number three in the world. He is at that level. He is an elite, elite hockey player. It's kind of a the-

And he's getting to the point where a young player would walk into the room and go, oh, Quinn Hughes is on this team. He is the captain. I should respect him. Yeah. I'm not saying he couldn't be that in New Jersey, but they already have a captain who's a pretty good player. And it would be the Hughes trio as opposed to like this.

I mean, this is Hughes' team. This is his unit. He is the driving force. He's the one behind the wheel. And I think with that comes a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure, but also the ability to forge an identity and a reputation and a legacy that's very unique.

And he's got a chance to be the greatest Vancouver Canucks that's ever played, ever played. But, but. He's already the best defenseman that the organization has ever had. But a lot of things have to go right for the connects and they got to do a lot of good things in order to convince him to stay. Hughes also really loves the coaching staff, which is, um, which is something.

And I don't think he's, every time he's mentioned it, I, again, I do not think that that's posturing by a player. I think he is very cognizant of the fact that the heights that he's achieved, winning in Norris, becoming the best defenseman in the NHL has happened with this coaching staff. I think, and they don't deserve all of the credit or none of the credit, but they certainly deserve some and Hughes has been very

vocal in expressing that. We got a text in here. People want a Canucks tank job. The Canucks have got to build culture, keep working hard regardless. That's where I'm just texting in here, people want a Canucks tank job. The Canucks have got to build culture. Keep working hard regardless. That's where I'm at too. Like last night in New Jersey, just keep working hard. They got to build this culture and they got

to get rid of the nonsense. The nonsense is the big. They got to get rid of the BS. Yeah. And I know a lot of people, you know, Bruff, you're always picking on Petey. Yeah, I am. I am. You can't have it. You can't have it anymore. You can't go through this again.

You can't have another year like this. You can't do it. Nope. No chance. You can't have another 12 month span dating back to last year's playoffs in March to this year. You can't. There was way too many distractions. There was way too many side shows, there was way too much drama. And there wasn't enough winning to paper over it. There have been dysfunctional teams in the past, across all sports, and winning can erase a lot of that. But if that doesn't happen, all of that toxicity and negativity bubbles to the surface, and that's where you end up with trading JT Miller mid-season for pennies on the dollar.

And having the general manager come out and be like, or sorry, the president of hockey ops having to explain to the fan base why this deal is going to go down and why they're going to take an L on the trade. And that's what happened this year. Okay, we got to go to break We got a lot more to get to on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Final hour of the program is coming up. Landon Ferraro is gonna join us for even more Canucks talk right here on your home of the Canucks Sportsnet 650. At 8.15 we're giving away a pair of tickets to see the Vancouver Giants in playoff action this Friday.

And at 8.30, we're gonna be doing what we learned. Get yours in, we don't have a ton. Dunbar Lumber Text Line, 650-650, hashtag it WWL, what did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know, it's your chance to be on the radio. We're gonna do that at 8.30. It's all coming up in the final hour

of the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650.