Halford & Brough in the Morning - A Defining Year for Canadian National Hockey

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

Guest hosts Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Israel Fehr are joined by Tony Ferrari to chat about the World Juniors. Canada has a chance to bounce back from two tough years in a row, and this may be their best roster in quite some time. Is Gavin McKenna still on track to be the first overall draft pick? After, Scott Laughlin joins to check out the Olympic hockey rosters, with the USA, Finland, and Sweden all releasing their rosters. How do those nations stack up to Canada? Some puzzling snubs leave certain stars out of the equation. 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.

It's Fiesta Friday on the Halford-Nabruff show, Josh Ellie Wolf, Israel Fair, filling in, coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Kintech Studio, make 2026 your year to move better. and step stronger with Kintech customer orthotics. You can text in 650, 650 is the Dumbar Lumber. Text line, Halpernbrough, is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score Debt Freedom. Hattrick, no more interest, much lower payments, and financial peace of mind. Visit sands dash trustee.com.

This hour of Halford &Brupp is for jason.orgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's Jason. dot mortgage. We go to the phone lines now and we welcome in Tony Ferrari covers prospects

and the NHL draft for the hockey news. Appreciate you taking the time. Tony, how are you? Not too bad. It's a good time of year for me. Yeah,

yeah, I bet. It's a one where everyone's on vacation. They're all tuned into the world juniors. They're locked in, especially this year it feels like with Gavin McKenna,

everyone's kind of interested in seeing where he's at with all the reports kind of around his game and what's happened at Penn State. Before we get into that, I just wanted to talk about how Canada has performed in general in the preliminary part of this tournament. What have you thought of Canada's performance

through the four games there? They've been better than the last couple of years, but they've still been pretty shaky at times. I think when you're able to beat up on Denmark, which I'll respect to all the players on that team, that might be one of the worst world junior entries we've seen in a decade. So beating up on the 9-1 was great for the staff, sheet, but the rest of the tournament's been a little bit shaky.

Like, that Finland game was pretty solid, despite going down a couple goals early. But Czechia was back and forth. It was tight. Playing Latvia to overtime again is like nightmare fuel for Canadian. So it's been a bit of a shaky tournament, but this roster seems to be at least a bit more well-rounded than the last couple years. You mentioned the Lafeya game and the Czechia game, and it's a long way. We're a long way from Canada and Russia.

being the dominant teams at this tournament, now the Canada's rivals are evidently Latvia and Czechia in the group stage. What do you make about that? Is this just that the last few Canadian teams haven't been at the same level as the ones in the past, the ones that were running away with the gold medal, or has there just been an improvement from some of those other hockey nations? I think it's a bit of both, to be completely honest. I think Canada isn't quite the crazy dominant force that we've seen over the last 25, 30, 40 years, forever, basically. And at the same time, 10 years ago,

when we were watching Canada beat up on Latvia, beat up on some of these other teams, now they've gotten the experience. They have these big moments and kids want to play hockey now. They lose a game to the United States or Sweden 3 to 4 instead of 9 to 1 and they go, oh man, like I'd love to be there one day. So now their best athletes are playing hockey.

getting into the sport, they're training harder, they're investing more money into these programs. And Latvia's a good program now. Switzerland's a good program now. Denmark will get there one day, hopefully. Like, it's a really interesting time because we are seeing so many of these teams that we used to think of as second, third class nations

in terms of hockey, really coming to the forefront. Like, Czech is one of the best teams in the world right now. Whether it's at the junior level or the national level, it's been really fun to watch their rise. there's a lot of attention especially here locally on what Gavin McKenna is doing with where the Canucks are at right now because there's a chance they end up with the first overall pick

what have you thought of his tournament so far I think Gavin and people in Vancouver might hate me for this Gavin McKenna has been exactly what Gavin McKenna's been all year he's been very very skilled probably the most skilled player on the ice when the power play is going he is an absolute monster but so much of his scoring came

one in that Denmark game that's where he got all three of his goals and the rest of it has pretty much been on the power play even against Latvia where he had two points both came on the power play and I think Gavin McKenna is a supremely talented player he certainly deserves me in the conversation for first overall but

some of the shine has worn off because you're not seeing him back check he was directly one of the biggest reasons for Latvia being able to score score that goal late in that game, and you're worried about some of these things when the puck isn't on a stick. When the puck's on a stick, the kid's a wizard. It's pretty fun to watch, but there are concerns for NHL Scouts, certainly. What can he do in the knockout round here to, I mean, I don't imagine that unless he turns into Sidney Crosby as a two-way player in the next

couple of games here, that he'll completely change the narrative. But what can he do as Canada pushes for a medal here to at least change the conference? about that aspect of his game. I think one thing I really noticed at this tournament is his back checking has been really good. He's defending in transition well, but once he gets to the defensive zone, that's where he takes the foot off the gas. Keep the foot on the gas in that area. And I think a lot of people will stop complaining about these little things in his game.

He's going to probably score. He's going to put up points. That's what he does. Just don't take the foot off the gas in the defensive zone. Like he's doing it through the neutral zone. Keep it going. in terms of his overall game not just at the tournament but at Penn State and kind of throughout his junior career how fixable are the issues he has especially when it comes to defending like because i i think a lot of

the the concern at least from again the the vancouver perspective is that hey you finally get first overall you take the canadian guy gabin mckenna and he's he's been highly touted for a while and then maybe he doesn't live up to to those expectations like how how how translatable is his game, I guess. I think his game is offensively, it's very translatable. I think that's the thing that you're always going to have with him.

He's really kind of at this weird crossroads. Are you going to get a player that is incredibly skilled that develops his defensive game and becomes a guy that can play in any situation in the last minute of the game, the way Mitch Marner did when he came into the NHL. When he came to the NFL, his defensive game was not great. He was a guy that was on the smaller side like Gavin McKenna,

played the wing. You couldn't rely him defensively. Now he's one of the best penalty killers in the NHL. It's getting paid big bucks because not only can he score and put up crazy offensive numbers, but he's a defensive, like really defensive solid, defensively solid player too. So does he develop that

way? Because if he does, that's kind of what you're looking for. He doesn't need to get bigger. He doesn't need to get stronger. There are certain limitations physically that he's going to always have the way Mitch Marner does. But he has the intelligence and the drive to do it. So if he can do it,

then you're not worried about it. I think it's coaching, it's motivation, its engagement. He's 17. That happens with 17-year-old. I think that's the other thing people don't talk about. He did come into this season, and it predates just this season. He's been a hyped prospect for many years

as by far the front-runner for the number one pick. Now that has been debated. There are a few contenders, Lawrence, Stenberg, Verhof. Where are you at on the conversation around on the number one pick? Is it mostly just McKenna not having taken that step or having some more questions about his game

or have some of the players that were slotted in below him put themselves in that conversation based on their play? I think part of it is at least McKenna not having the kind of explosion that we expected because even offensively at the NCAA level, he's not been quite Macklin-Celabrini, Jack Ico level. Even Adam Fantilli, he hasn't been that. he's been closer to James Hagen's, which is a very good player. I think we've all seen him at the World Junior's last few years.

James Hagen's is awesome. And Gavin McKenna is more skilled. He has a lot more tools in his belt than Hagen. So I think you see that and you're happy with that. But I think with some of the other players, particularly Ivar Stenberg, you're seeing his game almost be the opposite of what Gavin McKenna is. He has that skill. He has the offensive tools, but he plays such a complete game.

his defensive game is really solid. He understands how to kind of get back on the forecheck or get in on the forecheck. He's a very well-rounded player. So the thing I've always gone to this year with Stenberg is when McKenna's A game is not there, he's not really much of a factor. When Stenberg's A game isn't there, his B game and his C game are really impactful still, and he's able to kind of really impact the ice that way. So I've personally been a Stenberg guy most of the year, but McKenna's right there.

I think the hype of or the conversation of McKinness out of the running or he's for the fifth best prospect in this draft now is kind of silly. I think the way I look at it is more of it's Stenberg, McKenna, maybe Lawrence, maybe Verhoff, and there are a group of four for first overall right now kind of based on preference at this point. One guy we've been keeping an eye on here as well is Braden Kutz, who hasn't played an incredible amount in the game so far. but in this tournament outside of it with what he's doing in Seattle as well, what have you thought of his progression, I guess, this year? I think Coos is the perfect player to explain why this year's team Canada might be good enough to actually go and win the gold after a few down years. He's a player that, like he said, hasn't played a ton,

but he's been effective in his minutes. He's a really smart player. He plays with speed. He has a ton of energy. And he's the kind of depth player that Canada has really lacked the last few years. they've had really good players but they haven't had guys that could easily be in the top six

playing in the bottom six and accepting that role with a smile on their face and I think that's what Coos has done this year I think he's been great for Seattle and WHL I think he's been really good for Canada in the limited ice time he's gotten so I think Coots is probably going to kind of cap out one day

as a really solid third line center maybe a second liner but this kid is kind of the epitome of why I think Canada actually has a shot this year, whereas the last couple of years, I went into the tournament pretty low on the team. Coots is a guy that has, based on the reports, you know, the intangibles are really high. He's got a really good reputation, as you just said. He's accepting this role with Team Canada, where he's not playing a huge, huge role.

He wasn't expected to, but has filled that role really admirably. But what beyond this tournament, or even including, I guess, the next potential, you know, two or three games here, and then going back into the WHL, what? Does progress look like for him over the rest of the season? Honestly, I think progress is just doing a lot of what he's already doing, being a really solid two-way presence, being an offensive facilitator, being a guy that can get to the net and score, just doing a lot of what he's doing more consistently.

And I think this year is going to be a bit of a weird year for him because I think next year, if they do have the rules where the 19-year-old can play in the HAL, he's the perfect option for it. So I think for him, it's about just continuing to become more consistent, getting stronger, getting a little bit faster, like all the things that usually happen when a player goes from 18 to 20 years old.

Outside of Canada, the U.S. side is always interesting, too. Cole Hudson, obviously, he's been missing with the injury, but what have you thought of how the Americans have played at this tournament? It's a weird year for the States. Usually they look at the roster and they go, we have one of the best goaltenders, and that's not necessarily the case this year. They look at their roster and they go, defensive blue line is absolutely loaded.

And with Cole Hudson being out, you're seeing some of the exposure of some of these other guys that maybe aren't quite the quality of playing first and second pair for that U.S. team. And with him coming out, you're having everyone having to elevate their game. And it's not quite working the way you want to see it. The U.S. is still a very good team. They're certainly a shot to win the gold medal. Will Vellers has been absolutely fantastic after being a late addition to the roster.

He wasn't even initially on the training camp roster. out of late and he's been arguably their best forward. James Higgins, like I mentioned earlier, one of the best players at this tournament, despite his scoring numbers not maybe being as high as he expected coming in, but this U.S. team is really good, and Cole Hudson's been skating,

so hopefully we see him in the quarterfinals today, and he can kind of get back to putting everyone back in place where they should be on that U.S. blue line. USA Finland is the standout quarter in terms of competitiveness anyway. What is your lead heading into that game today? I lean USA. I think they'll be able to outscore Finland

and just overwhelm them with speed. Finland is a weird team this year. I think they've been relying on guys that are probably playing way above their head right now and some of the guys that people were expecting to really kind of shine for that team, not really doing a whole lot. Oktoskoivu has been good but not great.

Oliver Suvanto, who is a draft eligible, has been good, not great. And they've gotten really nice contributions from other guys. but this is a finished team that is maybe finally the sum of their parts where usually they're a team that's well playing above their head. So let's say that the U.S. gets through. Expectation is for Canada to beat Slovakia and Sweden to beat Lafia.

What's your power ranking on those three teams in terms of gold medal chances? My power ranking on those three are probably Sweden, Canada, U.S. I'd even probably put Cheki above the US though I think those four teams are really really solid and Sweden, Canada they're two really loaded teams

that have depth at all three positions so I think if that's the matchup we get at the end it'd be a pretty fun one Hey Tony really appreciate you taking the time enjoy all the quarterfinal action today yeah you too guys thanks there is Tony Ferrari covers prospects

and the NHL draft for the hockey news filling us in on everything going on at the world juniors and the more like the more we talk to prospect people the more I read up on the prospects the more I'm like I don't know if Gavin McKenna is going to go first overall and it's also the thing though that I wonder about is so let's say it's the the Canox

but any team picks first overall and you're faced with the choice of like okay we either pick Gavin McKenna and hope we can we can iron out whatever issues he has because the talent is so obvious and clear there that he should be able to be a huge player in the NHL, especially when you factor in what he's what he did in the dub as well. But the flip side of it too is like you also don't want to be the team that passes on him and you kind of overthink things and then two or three years down the road.

You're like, what what mistake did we make? and why were we, why were we overthinking that such clear, easy decision? And I just, I wonder if Stenberg, though, has gotten to the point now where it's so close and Tony mentions the B and the C game that I think GMs love. Yes, when a player's not performing, I just wonder if he's gotten to the point now, if he keeps it up through the rest of the year, that it's almost too, it's gotten too easy to make the case for Stembourg than it is for McKenna right now. Yeah, and I know there are a lot of teams that really like Tyne and Lawrence,

who's playing in the USHL, who's the center, and that always gets you. That helps. That gets that boost there. I think with McKenna, I don't think there's anything that he can do, certainly in this tournament, and then going back to Penn State for the rest of the season,

that will materially change the narrative, that he's not the toughest player to, to go up against, he's not necessarily got that two-way attribute, but the skill level is so high. And I do think that if it's the Canucks or Calgary picking one, that those teams will have a tough time. There's extra pressure going against McKenna as a Western Canadian kid. Especially for the Canucks, I mean, I know they drafted Braden Coutts last year,

but every year it's like, oh, the Canucks are taking a suite again, but like this year it might be the right pick. you know it's it's a tough spot to be in honestly it might be a year where you're like hey if we're picking two or we're picking three obviously you want the choice you want to have number one but if you're picking second and it comes down to McKenna or Stenberg and you're kind of splitting hairs on both it's almost easier as a GM or an organization or a team to accept that pick and just be like hey we're getting one of them and we don't have to make the choice we just reap the benefits of whichever one the the other team doesn't take, but I don't know.

We'll see. I do think you're right, though. The added pressure for Vancouver and Calgary, if they get first overall, to take McKenna might be, it might just be too much. Like, I think you're in a spot where you're in a spot where you just kind of have to, you have to take them. And worst case, you look back and you're like, we saw the talent. It just didn't work out.

But I don't know, I don't know. We'll see. We got a text from Bort. This is so Kinnuck that when they finally could have a chance. to draft number one. There's no clear cut number one. That's how it goes. That's how it goes. Anyway, 650. At least it's no clear cut number one. Not that people are saying this is an unbelievable draft, but it's largely seen as at least being a pretty good draft. It's not a Yakupon. Yes. Like, it's not a, there's no good options here. It's just not as obvious as Macklin

Celebrini's on the board. He's going to go number one. Yeah. I do think whether it's Stenberg or McKenna, like either of those guys you're going to have them playing in the NHL next season. Fairhoff and the other players, it might be a bit more of a project, but I think either of the top two picks, you're putting them in your lineup next

season. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumbertext line. It is Halford & Brough, Josh Ellie Wolf, Israel, Fair filling in and it isn't ask us anything Friday. So get those texts in, get those questions in and throw a pizza emoji on it because we are giving away

a $100 AJ's pizza gift card will read this one Adam the former bath guy ask us anything the Canucks are guaranteed a Stanley Cup in the next five years but you need to do one of the following

skydive naked scuba dive naked or bungee jump naked which one are you doing I kind of feel like if you put naked on all of them then I don't know if that matters why are we getting naked today I don't know what's happening I guess maybe January 1st the polar bear

yeah that's what I was thinking Yeah, fair. So maybe it's a scuba dive naked. I don't know. What about eat as a lasagna naked, Josh? That's my Friday next. Yeah, that's what I was going to say, right? That's a ritual.

That sounds like a wonderful time. Probably, honestly, all three of these things, I've just like never been interested in doing, regardless of how much clothes I'm wearing. But I think skydive would be the one to do. To do. Just. flapping.

A lot of whipping around up there. Scoop-scoop-dive, I'm, like, there's, there's... It could be in a pool. Snapping turtles? No, you can't scuba dive in a pool. Yeah. I'm worried about

fish and stuff. If I'm just in a pool, yeah, I'll take scuba diving, but I assume we're talking about scuba diving, like, in the ocean, in the depths. Otherwise, you're not, otherwise, that's the easy choice. Skydiving, like, skydiving to me, I'm just, bungee jumping. I'm always worried that,

It's just going to snap and I'm cooked. Yeah, but it doesn't matter if you're nude for that. Skydiving, you have no cord. You realize that, right? Yeah, but there's nothing to snap. There's a professional attached to me. Oh, wait. No, I didn't factor in the...

Is he also naked? I didn't factor that in. Because then it might be the worst option. Maybe bungee jump. I think it's bungee. Yeah. You might have to go bungee down. All right.

That's a good question. 650, 650. It feels like a vibe of a bungee jump to like, hey, is that guy's just naked. It's cool. Yeah, this is his weekend. Caddox are going to win the cup. Yeah. And yeah, in the next five years, too,

it'd be like an immediate payoff. That's great. Gary from the North Shore, what do you think about trading DeBrusk and Evander Cain? Curious to see how it shakes out long term if the Canucks were to do that. A van der Kaine? Sure.

Do it today. I really don't care. Jake Debrusk, bigger conversation. I've gotten to the points that I'm just kind of, like if you say hey the connection trade insert player name outside of some of their their sub 22 23 year old players and maybe I'll throw Marco Rossi in there too

if you say trade this player I will say sure like I've got no problem with it if someone wants to make the case that trading Jake DeBrasque is good because you're heading into a hybrid retool phase as it's been called I'm open to it Because I do think you have to move a couple guys with term to show you're actually committed to making the team younger. And if DeBrusk is the guy they identify as the one to move,

I don't know if I would, I don't know if he'd be my first choice, but I'd be okay with him moving him. Yeah, I mean, and he's got a no move for the rest of this year and next season before it becomes a modified no trade. And by all accounts, you go back to his time in Boston. You go back to his free agency and why he ultimately signed in Vancouver. seemed like he was maybe a rare player who was trying to get to the Western Conference. So that is, I think, a reality of that situation.

But the Western Conference right now is Colorado is amazing. And then you've got Dallas and the Wild. Other than that, you know, Edmonton and Vegas still have a lot of talent. They're right there too. But is there a market? Like, you know, is that a team that is the San Jose interested in that kind of player, who's still got lots of term left on the deal. It's not as

it's not as ready made but that is a different conversation than should the Canucks consider it which I'm with you. They probably they should and Kane yeah that's a slap up. That's a that's a way up 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line keep the text coming in there. Keep your ask us

anything's coming in there. We do have some breaking news do you have a sounder. Okay it's not let's do it. How often do we get to do this? Sportsnet 650 Breaking News Team Sweden

I don't know if they've announced their roster Yes they have Team Sweden has announced their roster and one Elias Pedersen has made the team So no surprise there

Probably isn't breaking news But he is on the team For the people that are buried down on Elias Pedersen And got to the point that they didn't think he would make team Sweden He is there along with former Knoch, Oliver Ekman-Larsen,

which is a bit of a surprise for me. And Jacob Markstrom. And former Knox, Jacob Markstrom, too. And Linholm. Oh, yeah. And Elias Linn. He was also on the Vancouver Knox at one point. So three former Knox and one current Kinnock on the team for team Sweden.

We will talk more about some of these Olympic rosters coming up next with Scott Loughlin from Sirius XM-NHL Network Radio. it is Alfred and Brough and Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats the Duick Deal

since 1926. Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive downtown in Richmond and at duik Ottergroup.com. It is Halford and Brough, Josh Ellie Wolf, Israel Fair filling in

on SportsNet 650. I questioned the choice of the beginning, and I hit the drop, and it was great song. 650-6-50 is the Dunbar Lumbertack line. Back on Alfred and Brough. Josh Ali won't get through. You don't doubt Fiesta Friday. Never doubt Fiesta Friday.

That was my mistake. Rookie mistake, someone say. I apologize for him. Alfred Mubruff is brought to you by Sandsen Associates. Only a licensed insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees to learn how visit sands dash trustee.com. This hour of power to broth is for jason.morgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find

the perfect mortgage for you. That's jason. Dot mortgage. We go to the phone lines now and we welcome in Scott Loughlin, SiriusXM, NHL Network Radio. Appreciate you taking time, Scott. How are you? I'm doing well guys yourselves. We are doing very well.

And just looking at all these rosters coming out for the Olympics, we just got Team Sweden, we got Finland, U.S. earlier today. And the U.S. is kind of the one making the most headlines with some of the decisions they made. Are you surprised by any of the calls that Bill Guerr and Bill Guerin made? Yeah, I think I am. I mean, we found out yesterday that Adam Fox would not be on the team and that ostensibly he lost his spot to Seth Jones. And, well, I really do like the way Seth Jones has played since just going from Chicago down to Florida, and certainly the Stanley Cup success plays into it.

I still had Adam Fox on my team as a third-peering defenseman. I know he's not had the best season of his career. He's not necessarily a Norris trophy candidate this season, like he had been a few years ago when he broke through to win it. But I still thought that he had done enough being a part of four nations and knowing about the loyalty that he would have no doubt in the support he had from his said coach and from the general manager as well with USA hockey, or at least one of the guys in the conversation.

conversations with Bill Garon and Chris Rory, I thought that Adam Fox would be on this team. So to me, that's surprising. J.T. Miller's not had the best season either, and yet he makes it the captain of the New York Rangers. He's not the same player as we know that he was in Vancouver, and yet J.T. Miller's done enough to be a fourth-line player, presumably for this team. And, you know, the fact that Brock Nelson made the team, to me, too, guys, is a little bit surprising. I know Colorado's in a fantastic season. He's been really, really good. I just thought perhaps he would get replaced by a guy like a Jason Robertson or somebody like that. I even had Alex Tuck on my roster as a fourth-line winger with the speed and skill.

He can bring the ability to contribute on the penalty kill and things of that nature too. So in the end, I mean, as I've often said when it comes to Canada, and now when we talk about the U.S. roster, they can only criticize you if you don't bring back the gold medal, right? At this point, we're all just debating all these snubs and omissions with the guys who made. it and talking about, yeah, they made the right move, or yeah, they made the wrong move. Evidently, this will we decided on the ice, of course, and come the third, fourth week of February,

we'll have the knives out or we'll have the chest pounding begin on behalf of these respective countries. You mentioned Fox having been part of the Four Nations roster and one of the standout things for both the Canadian team and the American team is not a ton of turnover from the Four Nations group, some nibbling around the edges. Because of the circumstances of that tournament taking place, a year before the Olympics, it's kind of an unusual one to have the best-on-best, have those

rosters there. The conversation last year was that this was essentially for a lot of the players an Olympic audition. Do you think that the Four Nations and the way that the tournament played out for Canada and the U.S. did have an outsized role in selecting the teams for this year? Yeah, there seems to be some sort of loyalty. And I think that's to be expected for some of the players that were a part of it for Four Nations in February for both Canada and the U.S. You know, I would warn not to just bring back the same team. You do have to make some adjustments, right? We shoot us every year when it comes to the Stanley Cup champions as well.

You don't necessarily just roll it over and run it back and say, hey, this team is good enough to win. Now we're going to be good enough to win next season. Or this team was good enough to win four nations in the case of Canada. This team will be in February just exactly what it was in Montreal and Boston. It doesn't necessarily work that way. I think there's got to be, you know, with any championship team, whether it be international or whether it be in the National Hockey League,

I think there's got to be a significant amount of turnover, a little bit of fine-tuning to the roster, just to keep it fresh to look at your situation and go, yes, we did this right, but we could be better in this area, and as such, we could be a little bit stronger. So I think that, by comparison towards loyalty and how much you want to be loyal to guys that played well for you before, has to be considered.

And I'm sure that that's where a lot of the debates behind closed doors were going on for both Doug Armstrong, and for Bill Garron with the respective committees is, hey, how much of this do we want to bring back? And when I pick my rosters, too, guys, for what it's worth, I mean, that's where I started. I threw up the Four Nations rosters for Canada and the U.S., and I said, okay, this guy deserves to come back. This guy, to me, is a bubble guy here that didn't play at Four Nations, is at a real good first couple of months. I'm going to put him on the team. And for the most part, I think, like Bill Garron and Doug Armstrong alike, I came to the realization that most of the team was going to be coming back,

but there were certain areas where I thought the team could maybe get a little bit younger and a little bit quicker for both countries. So from the U.S. perspective, how do you think, and maybe it's very similar to the four nations, but how do you think it stacks up compared to Canada this time around? Well, a lot of people have wondered, hey, is Bill Garron picking his team as a team that he just thinks can be Canada? And let's face it, guys. I mean, if not for Bennington and overtime, going back to that February 20th game in Boston, you know, we're talking about a different result.

I mean, the three stops that he made, two of which came against Austin Matthews, where highlight real variety types stops, right? And that's ostensibly why Jordan Bittington has been brought back here, because he's proven to be a money goaltender. And, you know, I think there's probably some of it where Bill Garen says, okay, well, you know, we want to be better than Canada in this area. But there wasn't much to pick and choose between the two countries and the two teams, obviously, going back to four nations.

And it was a one-shot game. It was a one-goal game. So I'm sure that Bill Garen probably foresaw something like, like, hey, how do we now combat at Tom Wilson? You know, is Seth Jones in his size going to be a little bit easier combat a guy like Tom Wilson and maybe Adam Fox would be? And, you know, maybe that comes into play as well. So I think there's no doubt that Bill Garen made note of what Doug Armstrong did.

And obviously, Doug Armstrong and going forward here in the next four or five weeks is going to make note of what Bill Garen's done. And look, if it comes to Canada versus the U.S., like it did, you know, back in 2002, like it did back in 2010, as you guys know in Vancouver, that I think everybody would sign up for that. And certainly Bill Garon and Doug Armstrong would be there at the top of the list. Stacking up the rosters next to each other,

got to feel good about the U.S. in goal and on defense. And then one of the defensemen who certainly would have been at Four Nations, had he not been injured, is Quinn Hughes. A guy that we know here, certainly in Vancouver, can change the game, unlike many players in the league. What kind of boost Quinn Hughes give this U.S. team that they didn't have when they took on Canada at the 4th? nations. Well, this is huge, and I mean, being Boston towards the end of the tournament, too,

I mean, remember all of speculation, like, you know, Clinton Hughes is in New Jersey, and then Quinn Hughes's back in Vancouver, always on the ice with the Canucks, and, you know, is he going to be flown at the last minute and such? And once we found out that he'd left New Jersey and gone back to Vancouver, we thought there was no chance that that was going to happen, and rightly so. So, look, I mean, when you get a guy, and look, in this tournament, he doesn't have to play 30 minutes a night, of course, like he's, you know, done for Vancouver at many points in time and now with Minnesota, but he's that type of guy that can help you in every different type of situation. And, you know, you look at the U.S. Blue Line, and like Canada, it's stacked,

it's very deep. And there was no surprise in the fact that Quinn Hughes was going to be added to this roster. The Seth Jones over Adam Fox is maybe the biggest surprise here. But when you talk about McAvoy, who as we remember got banged up at four nations with that serious injury, and when you talk about Slavin, who has been banged up himself for a great deal of this season so far for Carolina and Faber and Werenski and Sanderson and Hanifin coming back as well. Maybe a little bit mildly surprising the fact that Hanifin's back, but again, this speaks to the loyalty that we talked about on behalf of Bill Guerin going back to that tournament in February.

It's a significant blue line, guys that can pretty much do everything that you want them to do, guys that are front-line players for the respective teams. And as we know, Canada pretty much brought back the entire contingent of that defensive core that made up their Four Nations efforts as well, too. very, very deep blue lines on both sides of the ledger and guys that obviously have a little bit of the puck moving, ability to play physical in some situations as well when you look at a guy like Pareko for Team Canada and Noah Hannifin for Team USA and those sorts of things too. So I think that these two teams, there's not much to pick and choose

between the two rosters that on paper at least look like they'll be competing for a gold medal once again. Across this country, there's almost nothing that we like more than debating what these rosters will look like, obviously the Canadian roster, but to a certain degree the American roster as well. And then once the rosters are named, we do tend to turn to, well, what's the taxi squad look like? Who could be the players that get the call if someone gets injured? Is there someone on both sides, the Canadian side and the American side, that you look at it being the next man up for those teams? And of course, it's a big day, too, to find it about Boer-Hovrat's injury too, right? So if Horvatt is going to be gone for a significant

period of time that obviously his Olympic status will come into play. How about DeVon Taves, too, right, guys? He's already come out and said, like my wife's expecting sometime in February and if the baby's not born by the time the Olympics start, I'm not going. So, I mean, stay by

your phone. If you're some of these guys, of course, that are on the back end for Canada, like a Jacob Chikrin or somebody like that, you know, that might get that call from hockey Canada. But the Horvatt thing is big today, and if Horvatt can't go, Doug Armstrong's already intimated that he's going to try to replace a skilled guy with a skilled guy,

or a banger, a grit grinder with a banger and a grit grinder, that sort of thing, too. So knowing what Bull Horvatt is in terms of a skilled player who can score, I would say if you're a guy like Mark Schifley, and boy, was he disappointed last night after the loss in Toronto way. I mean, they've lost eight straight games. The Jets have, he had two goals and three points last night. He said he felt like he did everything he could in his power to make this team.

I mean, beyond McDavid and McKinney, and Srebrenia, I believe, is the fourth highest-scoring Canadian in the league right now, and still Shifley, who got bypassed in February, gets bypassed this time as well. So I would say Shifley, to me, if Horvatt can't go up front, would be the guy that would get the nod. I was banging a drum for a guy like Jacob Chikrin for Team Canada, maybe if there's an injury on the back end, that maybe he gets that call as well. So we'll have to wait and see. As for the U.S., I think, look, and first of all, we hope everybody stays healthy, right?

We don't want to see anybody get hurt and lose this opportunity, because there will all looking forward to it. But I had Jason Robertson on my team USA. I think he said a dynamite season for the Dallas Stars. I liked, as I said earlier, too, Alex Tucker is a penalty killer and a fourth-line winger with skill and some speed as well. I had as a dark course on the back end for Team USA, a guy like John Carlson, who broke our hearts as Canadians, right, going back to the world juniors about 14 years ago, 15 years

ago now, in Saskatoon like he did. So I would say that those are the players that you might want to just keep doing what you're doing. Go through the protocols and all the testing that it'll take to make you eligible to play in February. And, again, there are going to be injuries. We all know that to be true. This is not the final roster for either the U.S., Canada, or Finland, or Sweden. There will be some injuries, and for some obvious players, you don't want to go too far from the phone.

If there is an area of concern on the Canadian roster, it's a net. Jordan Bennington comes back from the Four Nations, but Darcy Kemper comes in, Logan Thompson comes in. They weren't on that Four Nations roster. What do you think is the right approach for Team Canada when it comes to goaltending? Well, I think what's going to happen, and probably what should happen. I know he's been so maligned, and that's Jordan Biddington. The 870 save percentage is absolutely horrible for him.

Let's, you know, not mince words when it comes to Binnington, and it's ineffective first couple of months of the season. I think I would start Binnington. I think Canada's first games on February the 12th. I would start Biddington in game number one. Now, the benefit guys of going through this tournament, the Olympics, as we all know, is that it's a 12-team tournament. It's not a four-nations where you've got potentially just four games to play like Canada did,

like the U.S. did, before deciding who's the best when it's all said and done. So I would start Biddington in game one. I would probably give Logan Thompson game two at this point, and then I'd see where I'm at after that. And, again, for all that Binnington did when he was clutch in Montreal and Boston, I was the same guy, and maybe you guys were thinking the same way going back to February after you let in a couple of greasy, leaky goals in the first couple of games of the tournament, I said maybe we need to give Aden Hill a look here.

Like somebody else has got to do it. But when you combine his clutch play and with the game on the line, specifically on February the 20th in Boston when they beat Team USA, with the three big overtime saves, I think that just solidified his spot in goal for Team Canada. John Cooper spoke with me right afterwards and said, look, as long as I'm going to battle, I want Jordan Biddington to be a part of it. And from all we've heard, Doug Armstrong said that, you know, even though he knows his goaltender better than most, of course, being in St. Louis and all, he said that he was

surprised at the amount of traction that a guy like Bainton got from the outside looking in, and there were others banging the drum, guys like John Cooper for Jordan Biddington. So to answer your question in a long-winded way, I would say start Jordan Biddington in game one, give Logan Thompson game two and let's figure it out from there. Whoever might be playing better, perhaps whoever lets in the fewest soft, leaky, greasy type goals, maybe that's the guy in the end that of course starts to wave the banner for Team Canada as they push for gold. The interesting names coming into the season were for Canada

were the young guys in Macklin, Celebrini and Connor Bardard. And then as the season went on, Matthew Schaefer kind of put himself into that conversation as well. Obviously, Celebrini had such a good start to the season and dating back to last season that you kind of made it undeniable for him to be on the team. Connor Bardard has the injury. Matthew Schaefer maybe doesn't have enough experience to make the team yet, but what do you think of those two specifically being left off? I had Connor Bedard on my team guys, for what it's worth, and at the time of the injury, that freak injury with less than a second to go in St. Louis and the face off at Braden-

at the time of the injury, I believe he was the fourth leading score in the NHL. And I had seen enough from him. I mean, we've seen, although Chicago came back and beat Dallas last night, you know, we've seen from the Hawks in the last, you know, eight, nine games or so just exactly how far they free fall and without number 98 in their lineup. So I thought that if he was healthy, and I guess we'll find out more here in the coming days with regards to his status and how long he might miss, given the fact that he would likely be healthy, or were led to assume, by February in the Olympics, I thought playing with experienced, skilled players who've been around the block a little bit, would bring up the best in Connor Bedard.

So Doug Armstrong's already admitted that Bedard and Schaefer are each still an option for Team Canada should they have an injury or two along the way. So we'll have to wait and see if that factors into it. As for Schaefer, boy, that's a tough call, isn't it? When you talk about an 18-year-old defenseman who's making history before a very eyes, well, at the same time you wonder, you know, is that stage too big for him? For a guy that played 17 games of junior hockey last season, at some point does he hit a wall, does he start to slow down here in his rookie season.

It's such a tough call. They elected to run it back with the guys that they took to four nations. But again, Doug Armstrong's admitted Matthew Schaefer is still on the radar for Team Canada. Everybody harkens back right to 2010 in Vancouver as well when a young Drew Dowdy stepped in and really as a young defenseman made his mark for Team Canada too. So it's been done before where a youngster can play effectively at the Olympics. And I don't know at the end of the day if the inexperience of a guy like Schaefer would be all and end all,

just because you've got so much pedigree around him on the back end and up front with the leadership that Canada is going to bring to the table too. So we'll wait and see. Right now they're on the outside looking in, but like a lot of players, as we're saying here, don't go too far from your telephone. What do you think of the element of, so

celebrating Bedard Schaefer, I think we can all assume that over the next 15-ish years, whenever an international tournament comes up, whether it be the Olympics or World Cup of hockey, if that's coming back. And all of these big stages, do you factor in getting experience for those players on the international level, maybe before they're fully ready for it? Or is it just, hey, once you're ready, you'll be able to handle it?

Yeah, I think once you're ready, you'll be able to handle it. And to me, I mean, look, when they're putting these teams together, too, it's not like an NHL team where you say, okay, we're going to retool or we're going to rebuild here. We're going to look towards the future. when it comes to what Doug Armstrong and Bill Garron have done for the respective teams and their federations essentially, you're saying, look, I have to put the best team on the ice to win a tournament that's about a week and a half long, and we can look towards the future when the future is upon us, but right now we're dealing with the present,

and we need somebody who can go out there and win for us and produce for us right now in order to try to win a gold medal in 2026. So I think there's a difference in a tournament like this. you want to win and build for the present. There will be time to build for the future. These guys getting an H.L. experience. Some of them will come up short and will be available to play for Canada at the World Championship in the next couple of years as well.

And as we know, and Bull Horvatt experienced it, right? Just going back a couple of months ago, Bull Horvatt figured out that, hey, if I pick up the phone and go over and play for Canada at the world, that might better my opportunities to make team Canada as well. We saw it on the same side, too, didn't we, with Clayton Keller, who captained Team USA to their first gold medal at the world's in more than 90, years. And wouldn't you know Clayton Keller's on Team USA now with Bill Garron. So I think it bodes well for those guys to do those sorts of things. And I think that right now you're

building for the present, not necessarily the future. And if Bedard and Schaefer in the end get the call as injury replacements, it'll be because they've earned it, not just because they're looking towards 2030. Hey, Scott. I really appreciate you to taking the time. Thank you for this. Thank you guys. Thanks for having me. Thanks, Scott. There's Scott Laughlin, Sirius XM, NHL Network Radio joining us to talk about the American roster for the Olympics and then also some of the decisions Canada made as well. We did get a ask us anything from Tassiana and Langley.

If you had to build a team to go against Canada and you had to pick the forward defense and goalies from three different countries, which would you pick? and so I think so I think we're unless you have a weird underdog you want to take PD Hugh Lankinen no I'm joking

I mean why not so I think it's three forward groups and then so of the goalie groups I think you have to take the US yeah for sure but then you're not taking the forward group

from the US you have to take one of Sweden or Finland or another one if you want I think I would maybe go Finland defense and Swedish forward group from the big four

yeah because I don't know if I'm going with like check you in anything unless you want to just go Sweden goalies and like you're getting Markstrom and like you just hope you're fine with it and then you go America defense

but then you got to go Finland forward group like I don't know or you just go Finland goalie and you get Soros and yeah you just roll with that I think that's the move. I don't know if you've looked at Finland's defense. It falls off pretty quickly. Yeah.

A non-NHL or on their defense score? Yeah, it'll work out. I believe in it. Mainly I just want the upside of like Connor Hallibuck. But you might just have to go, like the only forward group that can kind of compete with Canada as the U.S. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And the U.S. blue line is loaded.

Yeah. So not, you know, putting that aside and having that blue line with Quinn Hughes on it. And not taking that is tough. I think that's probably the group, if you're lining up Sweden, Finland, in the Americans that has, like the American depth in goal is great. Obviously only one guy's playing.

That's always the thing with goalies, is only one of the group can play at once. So you're going in, you want the depth in case something happens, but you're taking the eight American D-Men. They're almost all of them are going to play. We are actually going PD Hughes-Lankin. It all works out.

What did I tell you? Sweden Forward Group, U.S. defense, Finland goaltending, bring Lankanin in for the shootout. If you had to choose from three different countries, that's the way. If I just had to choose the forward defense and goalie group, I'm just taking all of U.S. Because I just, I don't know, I don't think there's another group from any other team that has an edge over what the U.S. has.

No, I mean, if it plays out anything like Four Nations, did. That is what we saw. But, you know, we've seen Sweden step up on the world stage. Chequia has had this great run, you know, at the world. And, and, you know, David Posner knocks, an amazing player. But he's, he's one guy. You look at the depth of these rosters in Canada and the U.S. They're absolutely loaded. All right, 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber Text Line. Keep the text coming in there. Get your what we learns in. Get your Ask Us Anything's in as well. We'll hit them as the show goes on. Put a pizza. emoji on them and we will award a $100

A.J's pizza gift card to the best ask us anything of the day. It is the Halperton and Brough show. Josh Elliott Wolf is real fair filling in. On the other side, I'm going to talk to Mike Kelly about everything going on around the NHL on SportsNet 650.