Halford & Brough in the Morning - Bo Horvat's Islanders Are In Town, And I'll Tell You That For Free

Episode Date: November 14, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the top hockey stories of the day with Amazon Prime NHL host Adnan Virk (1:23), plus the boys hear from Isles side of things ahead of their matchup tonight versus the Canucks, as New York Islanders reporter Andrew Gross (27:29) joins the program.  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 time to chat with Adnan It's Adnan Furkey's on the show We're gonna talk some hockey And take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for an end. Yes, and then Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ice rink.

And talk about all the films he's seen. 7.01 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are in Hour 2 of the program. Adnan Virk is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. I, of course, am joking. Let him do exactly that. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec. To the phone lines we go. Adnan Virk joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Adnan.

How are you? I'm doing fantastic, Mike. I've got to give you guys a great compliment. I was at an event. It was for alumni of Canadian universities in New York City, you know, Tribeca, Rooftop, all the whole thing. And while I'm there, this guy comes up to me, Bickerman, and says, hey, man, I love listening to you at Halford & Brough.

I said, oh my God, wow. UBC guy, he goes, they're fantastic. And I, and says, Hey, man, I love listening to Halpert and Brough. I said, Oh, my God, wow. UBC guy, because they're fantastic. And I said, No, they're great. I love those guys. Mike is such a great radio guy, great voice. I said, Brough, like his name suggests, is fantastic. He's funny. And he goes, How good are their producers?

I said, Oh, yeah, because Andy, that's all they do for us. So who knew in New York City? And I said, Wait, you're listening to 660 all the time? He said, Oh, yeah, I love those guys. I listen all the time. So I said, I promise I'm giving you a big big shout out, love for you in New York City. I respect that so much. The global reach of Halford and Brough going all the way to the East Coast.

That's really cool though, actually. So shout out to all of our listeners, including the one that managed to get a hold of Adnan. I want to focus, to start, we will get into the hockey stuff, but with the Juan Soto rumors, it feels like this is heating up, and it also feels like there's another summer of, it's like Judgment Day for the Toronto Blue Jays as an organization. It's like, do we go down this road again with the high-price, high-profile chase? What happens if we don't land them? Are we ready to suffer that kind of heartbreak again,

or do we make sure we don't have that kind of heartbreak? I know I'm focusing entirely on the Jays here, but it does feel like the Jays, of all these Juan Soto suitors, are the most compelling ones. Without question. Honestly, Mike, if he goes back to the Yankees, that's fairly boring. They traded for him. He had a great season.

It's the Yankees. Okay, big whoop. If the Mets steal him, again, in the past, it might be exciting. Cross, you know, city rival steals him. But again, with Steve Cohen, the Mets have got so much money, like, that wouldn't be a surprise if he went there. To really add intrigue, we'll be like, wait, Juan Soto spurned 15 years, 440 from the Nationals, could have been with the Padres, beautiful sunny San Diego, and instead he's opting for Toronto. I'm like, wow. And to be honest, I've been skeptical all along and still remain so.

But once Bob Nightingale of USA Today threw in a little 14 years, 643, or whatever it was, I'm like, all right, well, geez, 643, that might get it done. And I do think Brian Cash from the Yankees do have a threshold. Like, they're not the classic George Steinbrenner Yankees, we're going to spend stupid money, we won't be outspending. They're not that team. They are a team that makes it clear how Steinbrenner runs the thing. It's like, hey, there's a luxury tax, there's certain thresholds. They'll give him $600 million, but I don't believe they'll give him $650.

Like, there is a limit to what they're going to spend. I don't know if there's a limit to Steve Cohen's money, but I'm with you, man. If the Jays were to get him, it'd be just a hell of a move. I mean, quite frankly, he's an outstanding player. I don't hope he's worth $643 million, but it would add so much intrigue to our national team. And it would, in some ways, make a ton of sense, only in this facet. Vlad and Bo finally did their deals. If neither is resigned, you're just giving all your money to Soto and going, all right, let's just have at it.

And let's suppose, best case scenario, you do make a deep run and you're able to re-sign one of those two. Somehow, maybe these things happen. It sounds very fanciful. And I can already feel the cynicism of Brock saying there's no chance this happens. And maybe not. Maybe they sign Soto and the team still stinks. How horrific would that be? And they're saddled with this gigantic contract.

He'll still be great. I don't think there's any doubt Soto's going to be a great player. Whether or not he's 6'4 and 43 remains to be seen. But I think Toronto's gaining steam. But as you said, Mike, once bitten, twice shot. We all went through this a year ago. I'm getting that crazy feeling of what happened last year with Otani. So forgive me for not getting too excited yet.

How long do you think this will drag out? Because I think the thing that... There was two things that hurt the Blue Jays in the Otani chase. Number one, not getting him. Number two, not having a great plan B. So if the Jays don't get Juan Soto, I think they still have to do something very significant this off season. Is there an opportunity for something else major, something else where the Blue Jays can flex their financial might, something else where they can get their fans excited and optimistic

heading into the season, you know, besides re-signing Vlade or whatever, like something new for the team? Yeah, 100%. Jay, I think when you look at the team, you know, you obviously say what happened last year, as you point out correctly, is that it was a one-two punch. It was one, you didn't get Otani, and then you end up settling for Justin Turner, Isaiah Conner, Falefa.

Are you kidding me? Another year, Kevin Kiermaier? That's a tough pill to swallow. So I think you're totally right. If you're not going to get Soto, then at the very least, have a plan B. And there's plenty of guys available who I think are legit, really good players. Like, Pete Alonzo would help this team. He provides power.

They need power. Anthony Santander, if you stole him from the Orioles, that would be taking a strength from their team, weakening a division rival, and a guy with 44 home runs a year ago. Like, yeah, there's bats available that will give you some punch in the thigh, which they clearly need. Or if you say, let's just beef up our run prevention, let's go get Corbin Burns.

This guy's one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. He's a signing award winner. Go ahead and give him $250 million. And all of a sudden you feel great about having him and Gosselin or Brios. So there's talent available, and I think you're absolutely right. Again, as I said, I don't know if I'd give someone $643 million. That's an insane amount of money. But if you told me I could give Corbin Burns $300 million

and I could give Santander $240 million, then I'd feel pretty good about it. So I know a year ago the thought was, hey, just because they had $700 million for Otani doesn't mean they have to spend it. Understood. But I'm with you. It's really tough to sell to a fan base.

We're in on the top guy of his generation, and then we set up the scrubs. It's perfectly blunt. Let's talk a little hockey now. I think if there's one team that the entire league is talking about right now, it is the Pittsburgh Penguins. After Sidney Crosby decides to extend with the Penguins and takes a bit of a sweetheart deal in order to help his team win.

You're looking at that situation right now in Pittsburgh, and it is not good. That is not a good team. And people like myself find it hard to imagine a path for the Penguins to get good while Sidney Crosby is still in his 30s, let's put it that way. What are your thoughts on what's going on with the Penguins right now, and do you think Sid has any regrets about signing that contract extension?

He should, because I think it's a mess, quite frankly. It was one of the games we had on Amazon Prime was the Pittsburgh Penguins. I like Mike Sullivan. We had those Penguins halves, that first game we had. And Sully's a good guy and a good coach. He's been there a long time. And maybe the answer is a different voice only because it's not his fault. It's just the team doesn't appear to be responding to him.

But it's definitely not his fault. I mean, it's the roster construction. And they tried to get Ron Hextell to fix it on the fly. He couldn't. Now Kyle Dubas comes in and hasn't had any major changes. They trade Lars Eller, okay, a couple of picks, whatever. He's a 35, 36-year-old player. He traded the Capitals. That helps

their depth. But it's a real mess right now, Jay, because the fact, as you point out, Sid's still Sid and a remarkable generational player, but Malik has lost his depth, and after that they have zero depth. You feel like it's a big-time drop-off. If you look at their top couple of players

and you look at their top six or their top nine, and goaltending's been terrible. I mean, if your talent isn't there and your depth isn't there, at the very least your goaltending can bail you out, and then they are clearly not ready or available to make a key save when need be. So it's a calamitous effect right now. I can't imagine the team going anywhere.

I think Dubas makes the LR trade to at least get everyone's attention. Like, hey, this is possible if things don't improve. But I don't see them improving. They just are a team that got old in a hurry. And they're slow. And they lack talent. And they got a ton of money locked up, by the way. It's not just Crosby.

Like, it's so much money going to Letang. Carlson's $10 million a year. LeTang's $9 million a year. They're top four guys, and you add Sid Malcolm. That's like $40 million. They all have no movement clauses. So you're going to have to pull all those guys aside and go, hey, listen, we're not going anywhere here.

What do you think about moving on somewhere? Because I can't imagine they're going to be hamstrung by high salaries to four players when the team overall isn't very good. We're speaking to Adnan Virk here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Adnan, the connections to Vancouver continued this week. You guys on NHL Network had Macklin Celebrini on the show along with his running mate in San Jose, Will Smith,

North Vancouver's very own Macklin Celebrini. What were your guys' takeaways from speaking with the two young San Jose Sharks forwards? Yeah, both fantastic guys. I mean, very fresh face. God, they look 18. I mean, when you see an 18-year-old kid, you know, they got the beard or a mullet. They look wise down the ears.

These guys look like babies, especially next to me and Stu Grimson. So I'm glad you saw it, Mike. It was a fun interview. Macklin specifically, you know, our researchers do a great job. They gave me a bunch of questions which weren't necessarily related to hockey. So just the fact that his family is so close to Steve Natchez, I had no idea. I called Uncle Steve,

his dad's a VP, works in the health and player development with the Golden State Warriors, talked about his basketball talent, which he said is mediocre. His sister's an unbelievable tennis player, which I was thrilled to discover. She's like an under-16 Canadian tennis single champion. She's getting accepted to a L.A. Gene King tournament overseas right now.

I asked him if he could hold his own with his sister. He's like, no chance. I said, just like a forehand backhand. He's like, no, no, no way. She mops the floor with me. And we also talked about international play, of course. The goalie scored for Canada, getting a bronze in the under-18. Obviously, Canada won a goal, but still to have him there,

have a moment like that. He spoke about the importance of it. So, him and Will Smith, man, both good guys, and again, the Sharks have a bunch of young players they hope to build around, and Stu Brimson, who was with me, as I mentioned, is also a North Vancouver guy, so he was very happy to chat with him and very proud of his roots.

We kind of said, are you more Canadian, more American? He moved around a little bit, but it sounds like he's very proud of his Canadian ties, and he's hoping to have a great season with the Sharks. We'll see. You were in Calgary this week for Amazon Prime's game on the 11th against the Los Angeles Kings. Two-parter here. One, how was your trip to Alberta? And two, what did you think of the Kings? Because they're sputtering a little bit right now.

And last night, pretty significant injury. They lost Darcy Kemper to what appears to be a groin injury. Yeah, the Kings are interesting. Jim Hiller's a great guy. I talked to him a bunch, and he was explaining how, you know, Quentin Bifold's a guy who a lot of players said great success before him in that draft. The last year 20-goal score, and he says he's a 200-foot player,

does all the things right, so he does think he's coming along well. Kovacar is one of the great underrated superstars in the sport. In fact, he's top five right now in points, which is amazing. But, yeah, the Kings, a very road-heavy schedule. Interesting. So the good news is that, hey, you get a bunch of these road games the other way and you're above.500, and hopefully you get a bunch of those home games down the stretch. The bad news is, of course, playing a bunch of road games is tough.

But we'll see what happens as far as the team is concerned. They did not have much offensive punch that night. Brant Clark, by the way, is a guy who's a lot of fun to watch. They, of course, are missing Drew Dowdy, but Clark looks like a great young offensive defenseman, and every time he's out there, he's fun to watch. As for the trip to Alberta, New Jersey to Chicago, two and a half hours, hour connection from Chicago to Calgary.

I landed around 11.30 Sunday morning, fellas, and I said, okay, I could just go to the hotel, get a light workout in, and just watch sports, football specifically, my Eagles, Cowboys. And I said, no, I could just go to the hotel, get a light workout in, and just watch sports, football specifically, my Eagles, Cowboys. And I said, no way, man. You only live life once. My second time in Calgary, first time in 17 years. This time I went to the car rental. Remember this story from previously? Yes. Nashville does not have any cars.

No problem. Went to budget. No cars. No problem. Thrifty has a car. Excellent. Corolla, we're not going anything Tesla. Got it. 173 Canadian, 125 American. No problem at all. Drove to Banff, hour 20. As I pull up, it's a very straight shot. I said, give me the one place to go to.

I'm meeting my buddy Cabby for dinner tonight. My old dear friend lives in Calgary. I've got to be back to see him. So where am I going? She goes, Lake Minnewack. I drove there. Spectacular. Absolutely breathtaking.

I couldn't believe the view. I got lucky in a good day. Blue skies, all the rest of it. Snow-capped mountains, which will just absolutely make your mind melt. And then I drove't believe the view. I got lucky in a good day. Blue skies, all the rest of it. Snow-capped mountains, which will just absolutely make your mind melt. And then I drove back to Calgary. It was an hour and a half. Three hours round trip. I got to see Banff, boys.

It was awesome. Beautiful. It is beautiful. The Rocky Mountains are incredible. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you had a good time. That's good. And I'm glad you got to see a fairly decent game as well.

We got to see Calgary on Tuesday night. Bruff and I were in attendance for that one. We're running up against it for time, Adnan. We're going to let you go now. Thank you again for joining us this week. We always appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We will do this again next Thursday.

Thank you, fellas. Congrats on the global reach of Halford and Brough. And one last thought. First time at the Saddledome, second oldest bar in hockey. That walk was harrowing. I saw the pictures. I've heard that. Yeah, that's terrifying. I hope I harrowing. I saw the pictures. I've heard that. Yeah, that's terrifying.

I hope I never experience that. Thanks, Adnan. Thanks, boys. Take care. Adnan Virk from MLB Network, NHL Network, Amazon Primes, NHL Coverage. The man does it all. Very well versed in the world of sports, Adnan Virk. Let's talk a bit about the

Canucks opponent tonight, and we're going to talk to Andrew Gross about the New York Islanders coming up in the next segment. But you mentioned earlier in the show, this is a team that is struggling a little bit, but also has quite a few injuries. I also wonder if we're going to see not Sorokin in goal for the Islanders tonight, but Varlamov, which could be an advantage for the Canucks, could be, not to jinx it. Okay, so first off, the Islanders are really banged up right now. They are without the services most prominently. Matt Barzell, who's going to be out for a little while longer, was put on IR in late October. Anthony Duclair out of the lineup.

Adam Pellick out of the lineup. Romanoff out. Mike Riley out. So there's a lot of departures on that team. That is why tonight you are going to see hockey players by the names of Isaiah George, Maxim Siplykov, and Grant Hutton.

Those are all players in the NHL currently playing for the New York Islanders. You will see them tonight. It's funny we always joke about trying to glom on to the youths and their lingo and we've used mid from time to time to describe things no better word to describe the new york islanders than mid they are a very mid team i didn't even see they're a shade below mid i think they're a shade below they're six six and four that's a pretty mid record. I'm excited to see their awful penalty kill tonight.

It's just been pretty dreadful. And then I looked at it. I was like, I wonder if Horvat's part of it. No, he's not PKing there. They finally figured out that Beau Horvat, in theory, should be a good penalty killer, but is in fact not. Captain Golf Shirts had a pretty decent year, though, to start. 12 points in 16 games.

Been cooking lately. Three multi-point games in his last six. Captain Golf Shirts. That's Brough. I'm just stealing Brough's work here. Brough was the one that coined him Captain Golf Shirt. You have to salute him every time you see him. Are they going to raise a golf shirt?

Captain Golf Shirt, how are you? Instead of a banner? He's like, I'm fine. It's great to be here today. Nice khakis. How are you? Instead of a banner. He's like, it's great to be here today. I am. Nice khakis. Yeah. It's hard to get excited about the Islanders as an opponent.

It is. It's hard to get excited about the Islanders. They have been doing the same thing over and over. I disagree with you. When they were playing those playoff games at the old rink in the final years, that series, when they played the Penguins and beat the Penguins. What year was that?

That was a few years ago. It wasn't that far along. What have you done for me lately? Yeah. No, it's not. I honestly think. They kept that same team together. They just kept rolling it back out.

I honestly think they've lost something from their team moving into their fancy new arena. And it's ironic because for so many years, it was about getting the new arena built. Build a new arena. We have to build a new arena and it's ironic because for so many years it was about getting the new arena built build the new arena we have to build a new arena and they did like i'm not saying they didn't i'm not saying they should have stayed in the old barn the nasa memorial arena or whatever but during the playoffs when they were the underdogs and they could take on that underdog field, like even their rink was an underdog, there was something special about that. And I used to love watching those games because they would have that fourth line

of Matt Martin and Casey Zizekas, and they would go out there and just like hammer guys through the boards. It was a great atmosphere. Dare I say it was the best atmosphere in hockey. Your rink is an underdog? I love that. The rink was an underdog. Just the concept of that.

It's like the rink, like, wear a mask. This place has a lot of asbestos, right? Like, you might get sick coming here, but it's worth it because it's such a great atmosphere. And then I think, personally, ever since they've gone to this new arena, as nice as the arena is, they've lost that blue collar feel that they had to them. There is something to that for sure.

And I think that when you have a team that's got that particular unique identity, one, you want to embrace it. And two, and here's what I think the problem is with the current iteration of the islanders it's hard to let it go even when it's not there anymore like i would have said moving to a new building in a new arena and quite frankly a new market you probably should have it's not a new market you know what i mean yeah you should have maybe tried to reinvent yourselves a little bit instead of like i'm like in the year of 2024 you still have matt martin anders lee casey zekas they should have put us they should have put a it's luke ryan pulak it's the same guys over and over and over again they should have put asbestos into the new arena let's move past the asbestos that's my take. I'll be a temporarily. It just feels like they've been running it back and chasing something that

hasn't been there for a long time with this group. Do they have a legit superstar on this team? Not even close. No, they have Matt Barzell. Yeah. Who we all love. And we all know Horvat is a very good player.

Yep. But, and they have some good defensemen, but they, I mean, I, I used mid half jokingly but half seriously

because they're never going to with the team that's constructed with the amount of veteran presences that are good at hockey that's kind of the thing Kyle Palmieri comes in tonight he's 33 years old he's coming off a 30 goal campaign

I had to look it up to realize he played so well last year and he's having another really solid year this year you'll never be bad enough to do the thing that so many teams feel they need to do which is bottom out rebuild and try and be a stanley cup contender the islanders almost take a 180 approach and it's stay mid keep the guys that you know keep them around forever and be a playoff contender. Like, we're going to be in the playoff chase every year. Now, the Islanders have played 16 games this season. Guess how many games they've won in regulation?

Three. Three. I did my research. Yeah, three, that's it. They take a lot of games to overtime in the shootout because they keep it close. Yeah. You know, a lot of 3-2 games, a lot of 4-3 games.

They got pretty good goaltending with Ilya Sorokin, as you mentioned. We could see Varlamov tonight because Sorokin's played six of the last seven, I think. And they kind of are in this situation now where when they're healthy and everyone's going, they're probably a team that's going to be in that 6-7-8 spot for the playoffs. When they're not at 100% health and they don't have everyone going, they're more like a 9-10-11 team in the East. So somebody texted in, Noah Dobson is a borderline superstar.

I don't know exactly what Noah Dobson would categorize as, but I do know that he represents yet another big decision that this team has to make because he is a pending RFA with Arbright's. And normally you'd just be like, well, yeah, just give him a lot of money and lock him up and keep him there. But they've already committed so much money to defensemen like Ryan Pulak and Adam Pellick. Like Scott Mayfield got that giant long-term deal that goes all the way till 2030.

And they do things like they locked up Anthony Duclair for, what was it, four years or something. He's a nice player, but there's reasons he's kind of bounced around, right? He's not a complete player. Pierre Engvall, who you might have already mentioned, you know, who was on waivers earlier this season, he's locked up.

And we all know that Horvat's locked up and Barzal's locked up. So I'm not saying that they're not going to re-sign Noah Dobson, but it's just... They're a thousand percent re-signing Noah Dobson. Well, they have to. They have to, but,. Well, they have to. They have to. But, you know, I mean, Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri are pending UFAs.

Like, what, are they going to keep those guys now too? Like, just because they're Islanders? Well, the really interesting thing with this whole process is we haven't mentioned maybe the most important figure of all of this, not Lou Lamorello, but Patrick Waugh, the head coach who, when he got hired, many thought it was to do a, almost an autopsy.

Like this team is not going to make the playoffs. Take a look, see who you like, see who you don't like, and see if you can make some changes and shake this thing up. And he's come in and changes have been minimal. And he's kind of adopted the organizational credo of let's grind this thing out and let's try and get to the postseason.

Adam from Bowen, Texan. History aside, is Bo Horvat not exactly the kind of player the Canucks need right now? Good centerman who can play the wing and play the bumper spot on the power play. I never remember Bo Horvat on the wing. Maybe it was when he was a rookie. He's a center.

Yeah, the bumper spot on the power play. The Canucks definitely don't need a good center man, as he wrote it right now. Yeah. The Canucks are fine at center. The Canucks are fine at center. I was like, oh, is Bo Horvath a right shot defenseman? That's what they need.

Yeah. Well, speaking of the power play, I'll be curious to see if the power play can strike again tonight. Pedersen scored on the power play, and it was like, it was a great power play goal that they scored against Calgary Flames. They dumped it in, which isn't always ideal, but Pedersen went in there and was F1, put pressure on the Flames, and then Lechermacki and Garland were in good spots to take advantage of that pressure. Eventually, turns over to the Canucks.

They get it back to the point, and then it goes to Hughes, and Hughes feeds a perfect pass to Elias Pettersson, who had gone to the net and tipped it in. Like, that was, that's a great power play. Yep. And the Canucks need more of that because there was both hard work on the forecheck

and there was skill involved on the plays to make it the goal. And that's what the power play needs. You need to be hardworking and skilled. If you have hardworking and no skill, it doesn't work. If you have skill and no hard work, and that's frankly what the Canucks were and have been for most of the season,

as Rick talked about that, then you're not going to have a good power play. The Islanders do not have a good penalty kill. It's the second worst penalty kill in the NHL. They've given up at least a power play goal in their last, I don't know, six games or something like that. I can't remember what the number is.

64.7% on the kill. The only worst team, the Edmonton Oilers. So we'll talk a little bit more about tonight's opponent, the New York Islanders. We'll check in with Beau Horvat. Not him personally, but we'll ask Andrew Gross about Beau Horvat and how he's doing with the Islanders. Coming up next on the Alfred and Bruff 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 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 7.32 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brown, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough, Sports 106.50. 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, four parts. This music, man. Yeah, I don't know what this is. What did you type into the search box? This was the Yacht Rock. Oh, okay. The Yacht Rock? I'm trying my artist to just

keep it professional, go through the reads. But it also says in the description, like, an 80s bright theme for TV. Yeah, I can see that. That's exactly right. We are in hour two of the program. Man, that synth. That's exactly right. We are in hour two of the program. Man, that's it. What's going on? Andrew Gross from Newsday is going to join us in just a moment here to highlight hour two.

Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hoffman from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Just kidding. Let him do that. Visit him at Jason.mortgage. This is like a more upbeat Night Court theme. I'm getting real Bull vibes

from this one. What's his name? Bull Shannon? Bull Shannon, yeah. Richard Mull. Yeah, right. What was the name of the judge? Harold T. Stone?

Yes. In the show. Played by Harry Anderson. Yeah. He's a big Mel Torme fan. Why do I remember this stuff? The Velvet Fog?. Played by Harry Anderson. He's a big Mel Torme fan. Why do I remember this stuff?

The Velvet Fog? The Velvet Fog. Night Court was honestly my favorite show of all time. You have John Larroquette vibes. Oh yeah.

He was awesome. Big time. Marky Post. Yeah. Marky Post. Good point. Okay. Let's focus.

Marky Post had it. Yeah. Let's focus. Okay. Connection in action tonight. Seven o'clock from Rogers Arena

to take on the New York Islanders. Joining us now, Isles beat writer for Newsday, Andrew Gross, here on the Halford & Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Andrew. How are you? Hey, Mike, Jason. Morning. Thanks for having me.

Thanks for coming on and taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So we spent the previous segment trying to contextualize the Islanders season thus far. It's actually been recently pretty decent. They've gotten points from their last four games, and that's without a bunch of defensemen, including Adam Pellick and Mike Riley and Alex Romanoff. The bad is that they only have three regulation wins in the first 16 games of the season.

How would you classify the start to the islanders season so far well certainly not what they spent all of training camp talking about which was getting off to a fast start and not having to you know the past couple of seasons they've managed to squeeze into the playoffs but they they needed to have really good runs down the stretch just to qualify. And they wanted to accumulate more points early in the season, so they weren't in that situation again. Look, if they're going to qualify for the playoffs, and I think that's a very big effort right at this point,

it's going to be another season of them scrambling down the stretch to carve out a spot. They are one of these classic stuck-in-the-middle teams. You know, the organization probably could stand to use a full, you know, reset, but with the contracts they have, it's not, it's not possible. They have too many long-term contracts on the book. And at the same time, they're not a bad team. They play solid defense.

They get great goaltending and when healthy, you know, they, they have a couple of, you know, elite players and Matthew Barzell, who's, you know's the top line. They're playing without two-thirds of their top line with Anthony DeClaire and Matthew Barzell out, as well as the three defensemen. So they're not a bad team, but they haven't really done anything to prove that they're a legitimate Stanley Cup contender in the Eastern Conference, but they sort of hold themselves up that way, and reality doesn't really meet perception for the most part. Why do they sign so many guys to long-term contracts?

Why does Pierre Engvall get that long-term contract? Is it just to keep the cap hit down, or does Lulam really like a guy like Pierre Engvall get that long-term contract? Is it just to keep the cap hit down, or does Lou Lam really like a guy like Pierre Engvall? No, I mean, you do go back to Lou because one of his traits, and it's a real positive for him as a human being, is his intense loyalty to people who have done good things for him. You know, he rewards those who work hard. And at some point, he saw something in Pierre Ingvall that really tickled his fancy.

But, yeah, it was to keep the cap hit down. But at the same time, I mean, Pierre Ingvall's in the second year of the seven-year $21 million deal. And I have yet to talk to anyone around the league who believes he would have gotten more than, you know, three, maybe four seasons from another team. And he probably would not have been in the $4.5 million range. So I don't know what they accomplished with that contract. Plus, he started out the season. They had to send him down to Bridgeport in the AHL

because he had a very bad training camp. He's played a lot better since coming back up. But once Barzell comes off long-term injured reserve, I'm not quite sure how they get him in under the cap and he might have to go back to Bridgeport again. If you were to ask an average Islander fan what he wants the team to do, what would that Islander fan say?

Yeah, I mean, you know, it's all well and good to say oh you gotta build back up but you know and then when you go through it right it's it's painful um and that that also keeps fans away from the building um I I would think that the fans are probably leaning towards you know they've seen everything they can see with this group. I think this group went as far as it possibly could. And now the natural cycle of things is to kind of replenish. You know, Brock Nelson is up for a deal after this season. Kyle Palmieri is up for a deal after this season.

Now, Brock Nelson is still playing at a very elite level. You know, he slots in as their number two center, but for much of this current contract, he probably has really been their top center. And losing him would be very painful, but if you're going to take a harsh look at this team, you probably trade him before the trade deadline, and you don't risk them walking out the door for nothing.

How has Bo Horvat been? Bo Horvat's been really good. He was a captain here in Vancouver. He's assumed a bit of a leadership role in the Islanders' room. He was given an A this season. And, you know, whenever Andrews Lee is not on this team anymore, and Andrews is playing really well, he's got this season and next left on his deal. But when Andrews is not here, there's a fair possibility

Bo Horvath becomes next captain of the Islanders, I would think. He's playing really well now with Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pangeot with Matthew Barzell being out. That's not to say he didn't play well with Barzell.

It just seems his game might be a little more suited. And I was talking to Bo about this. He plays a simple, predictable game, and that's exactly what you get out of Pajot and Andrews Lee. So those three have a little bit of chemistry, and they get in on the forecheck, and they go hard to the crease. So it's been a decent line with Duclair and Bartzell out. That being said, this team has had trouble finishing,

and they certainly need Duclair and Bartzell back. We were talking about this earlier in the show, and I wanted to run it by you because I was saying that when the Islanders were playing their last few seasons at Nassau Coliseum, as a neutral observer of their games, I just love tuning in to see the crowd and to see the energy in the old arena. I know they needed a new arena, and I'm not saying that they shouldn't have left Nassau Coliseum

because they should have left, but did they lose something when they left that new arena and moved into the nice, shiny new one? Well, yeah yeah of course but i i think that's kind of natural i mean nassau coliseum and you know you'll see it whenever the calgary flames move out of the saddle dome you'll see it there too because you know those unique barns the crowd is right on top of you, and you just can't replicate that in a modern arena anymore. Modern arenas are built to be malls.

They're built to be spacious. They're actually built and designed to get the fans out of their seats and spending their money elsewhere rather than just sitting there watching the games. So, you know, you'll never have a place like the Coliseum or the Saddle Dome again where really the priority is sitting on your butt and actually watching a hockey game, right, and getting into it. But, you know, I just think, you know, like in New York, when the Mets got rid of Chase Stadium, which by all, and I grew up in that building, Chase Stadium was by every definition a complete dump. But it was, I loved being in that building.

Every Mets fan will tell you, you know, it was a dump, but it was our dump. And they loved it. And it took a long time for their new building, City Field, to develop a personality. But now City Field does have a personality. And going to Mets games at City Field, it really does feel like, you know, that home field advantage. I think it just takes time.

UBS is a great building. There was no way the Islanders were financially able to compete in the NHL, playing either in Brooklyn at Barclays Center or at Nassau Coliseum. So they're really – the only other scenario was taking the Islanders out of New York, right? But yeah, no, I agree. It's not Nassau Coliseum, but nothing would ever be Nassau Coliseum again. So it's almost like you can't go down that road because it was an impossibility to begin with.

We're speaking to Andrew Gross, New York Islanders beat reporter from Newsday here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, Andrew, a couple about tonight's game before we let you go. Is it fair to suggest that whatever the score is going into the third period tonight, everyone will need to pay attention because while the Islanders have shown an

incredible ability to rally from multi-goal deficits in the third period, they also have a problem protecting leads in the third period. Yeah, yeah. No, it's through the score game coin streak. I think it's gone back and forth equally where they're either, you know, rallying in the third period

or allowing a team to get to overtime. And with the Islanders, you know, they've played out of their 16 games, seven have already gone to overtime. And, yeah, they don't get blown out for the most part, but they also are incapable of blowing teams out. So, yeah, it sort of becomes like the NBA. Whatever happens through the first, you know, three quarters,

you know, you have to tune in for the fourth quarter for the final five to seven minutes of the game to really determine what's going to happen. And that's just what we've gotten used to with the Islanders. And checking out the goalie rotation, it's been a heavy workload for Ilya Sorokin as of late. Are we expecting that it might be a Varlamov game tonight, or will it be Sorokin and Nett, or are we waiting to see on this one? Patrick Watts said before the game in Edmonton a couple of nights ago that Ilya was going to play in Edmonton, and he used the word probably.

He said Varlamov was probably going to start in Edmonton, and usually when Watts says that, I would take that to the bank that Varley will be in net tonight. Excellent. Andrew, thanks a lot for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight and the rest of the season. All right. Thanks for having me, guys. Have a good day. Yeah, you too. Thanks for coming on.

That's Andrew Gross from Newsday, New York Islanders beat writer here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. As for the Canucks, they're going to have a game day skate at 10.30 this morning. So we'll find out more then whether or not Dakota Joshua is going to be in the lineup again. I guess they're going to have to recall a few guys too because yesterday, I assume for cap reasons,

they sent down Baines, Leckermackie, and Ratu. They've been assigned to Abbotsford, so I'm sure they can just recall them. It's all about cap space accrual. Another $6.75 added to the cap. Cha-ching! Every penny matters. I saw an interesting chat on the social media apps yesterday

that people were wondering, is the league going to screw the Canucks out of this Capricruel go up and down thing like they did with the Longo contract because they're taking advantage of some loophole? Now, it's worth noting, I can't remember who tweeted it, but there are four other teams doing this right now with the Canucks. This is happening with five teams across the league. I'm sorry. I forget what the teams are.

But it makes me wonder, is this something that's going to come back to haunt the Cucks? Teams have been doing this for years. But this is like every day. It's like up and down, up and down, up and down. Who was it that kept on bringing guys up? Was it Dallas a few years ago? So there's a handful of teams that can do this.

When you've got your American League team in the same city, you can do this. Because it's like, well, they're right there. The Cucks couldn't do this when they were in Utica when they had their mind they wanted to probably yeah so it's uh the san jose sharks and barracuda do it all the time uh columbus used to do with lake erie there was the there was the recall dallas does it with texas all the time there's a bunch of teams that do it with regularity because he doesn't he's now he's with us but you also have to be in the right situation to do it.

Yes. Because the Canucks are not in LTIR. Right. I'm going to say, um, the move to Abbotsford from a player development and hierarchical structure has been great. Like whatever.

I know the attendance numbers in Abbotsford have been low and soft this season, and it is cause for concern. From a player development standpoint, it has really been beneficial because we were working in the athletic when the Utica thing was fully alive, and it proved to be an issue in a lot of different ways. The proximity, the distance between the two cities was a problem. It's hard to keep an eye. There were some advantages some advantages too there were some advantages to playing in utica

and that was the schedule um and you know the distance traveled between places the way the canucks spun it is we can practice more yes however but with the teams more teams moving to the west coast and more viable and that that was when like you know like abbotsford was the only team yeah it was like we got we got a long road trip boys so if you look at it right now i mean it is very refreshing to see uh an nhl organization the vancouver canucks that are able to utilize their American League team with the fluidity that they have right now. Because it used to be calling someone up from Utica was a challenge.

It would take you two days to get here. You'd call Zach McEwen up on a Wednesday. He'd come on a Saturday. He'd arrive on a sled. Yeah. These dogs are exhausted. I had eight connecting flights just to get to this dog sled. And it was a lot.

And the other part. If you're allergic to dogs, it's a real problem those huskies shed the other part of it too was they didn't have organizational depth they they just didn't they didn't have prospect depth they didn't have guys in the american league there was a time where zach mccuhan was their like shining beacon of player development that they took him. And granted, they found him as an undrafted player and had him matriculate through the system. And he got to play in some NHL games.

That was great. But there were the going to the well at the American league. Wasn't something that the Canucks did with regularity. Now you look at it and you know, there are guys right now bouncing back up and down between Abbotsford that on a lot of other NHL teams would be full-time NHLers. Someone texted in, how does it work with guys on two-way contracts? Well, that's why you want to get a one-way contract. Two-way contract?

Yeah, when you go down, you're getting paid like an NHL guy. Yep. And every day you're up, you get an NHL check or paycheck. And then every time you're down, you get an NHL check or paycheck, and then every time you're down, you get an American League check. Yo, yo, yo. Yeah. That's why the Canucks are hard to get. When they get sent down, they go to Subway.

Right. And when they get called back up, they go to Keg Yelltown. Do they have to physically go to Abbotsford? I have always wondered about this. It's like that's part of the rules. Even if you don't play that night, you have to go to Abbotsford, then come back for it have always wondered about this. It's like that's part of the rules. Even if you don't play that night, you have to go to Abbotsford, then come back for it to count.

You have to take an Uber out there, touch the ground. You got to take a picture. You have to provide receipts. Send a postcard. Yeah, I do wonder about that. Yeah, a receipt from the Cactus Club in Abbotsford. Hundreds of pictures of guys

standing in front of the Welcome to Abbotsford sign. They're like, yeah, this checks out. You're good. Okay, real quick, let's whip through some of the other scores from last night in the National Hockey League before we go to break there was a big win for the toronto maple leafs last night in washington over the new york islanders and it was john tavarez scoring

with just 47 seconds left i wish we didn't have that. That was a wild game, man. What a game. Really entertaining. That was a wild game. Oliver Ekman-Larsen's 1,000th game. Well done, former Canucks legend. They had hats and shirts printed up for OEL for the 1,000th game. Neat little logo they came up with. Yeah, that was pretty cool, actually. There were a bunch of goals called back, including one that I definitely thought should have counted, unless I totally saw a wrong angle of it.

Matthew Nyes tipped one home to tie the game late for the Leafs. The referee on the ice waved it off, but he was not in the best position to make that call. Yeah. And then they went to review it, and everyone was like, oh, they're going to count this goal. But then they didn't. But then the Leafs got a power play

and were still able to tie it when Mitch Marner scored. And then in overtime, the Caps had some chances, but John Tavares went on one of the slowest breakaways I've ever seen in my life. But he made a really nice move on the goalie. It was a clear by Marner that ended up being a breakaway pass. So he had to chase it down and kind of like,

come on, John, you can do it. I mean, he's producing in a big way this year. He's having a very good year. And that's because they stripped the captaincy away from him and gave it to Austin Matthews. Logan Thompson, who just continues to kind of make a name for himself, is potentially a Team Canada member, which is wild when you think about it. Logan Thompson who just continues to kind of make a name for himself as potentially

a Team Canada member which is wild when you think about it but 31 saves his first loss of the season comes yesterday in overtime

against the Toronto Maple Leafs Spencer Carbrew was pissed yep with the Caps after he called their performance embarrassing

which is crazy because they went to OT yeah their third period was not good it wasn't great oh because they went to ot yeah their third period was not good it wasn't great they oh because they had a three one lead with five minutes left and then marner and neil underscored in the third um that's brock university legend logan thompson by the way that that so that narrative now that's the thing because we had david amber on the show yesterday and then he was working the panel in the intermissions

for sports net they talk about it every broadcast that That he played CIS? No, no, no. No, not the CIS version. They're talking about who's going to be in net for Canada. Oh, yeah. The more nations, Greg. That's a little more entertaining of a subject. Yeah, it kind of appeals to more people. When is Greg Cronin going to be fired?

I don't know. Should have been yesterday. This is almost as weird as your investment in the failure of Shane Wright's career. He's failing, though. He is failing. His name's Greg. He's failing, though. He is failing. It's his name is Greg. That's the only reason he's picking on him. No, I was offended by the Anaheim Ducks

when the Canucks played them. And last night they lost again to Vegas. They got outshot 39-24 at home by Vegas. They're so bad, man. They're so bad. There's nothing inspiring about this team imagine if they didn't have dostal how bad their start would he's got a 922 and he's four six and two on the year he's got a 922 that was actually one of the ducks better games of the year last night too i gotta add

they were actually pretty happy with their performance they only lost 3-2 at home to uh to vegas yeah but i mean they were down 3-1 very late. I'm not arguing with you. Vetrano scored with like 14 seconds left, so they were done. I'm not arguing with you that they're a very bad hockey team. I remember when the Canucks got thumped at home by the New Jersey Devils. I came in the next morning, and the first thing I said is,

sometimes the NHL schedule does you some favors, and there's one thing on the menu that you need after a rough night where you get skunked 6-0 at home against the Devils, and it's games against the Sharks and the Ducks. It's good for what ails you. It's chicken soup for the soul. And sure enough, they really got their season back on track after that. By the way, the other one that I wanted to mention,

we talked about this earlier, the Avs beat the Kings 4-2 in a game where the Kings put 15 shots on net total. They went the entire second period without a shot on goal. Wow. Yeah. They might be in a little bit of trouble right now. That game against Vancouver has set them off on a bit of a tailspin where they've lost 3-4.

Darcy Kemper got hurt last night in that game, had to exit. So now you're talking about a team that is not scoring goals and now is going to rely on David Riddick in the not-too-distant future to be their backstopper. I would keep an eye on the Kings. Maybe a prolonged slump coming up. Here's the good news. They got a three-game homestand against Detroit, Buffalo, and Seattle.

I'm telling you. Okay. Keep an eye on those games. If you lose those three at home against those teams... Well, they haven't even done that yet. Hey, I don't want to play the hot take horn, but I could see an extended losing streak coming up for the LA Kings.

Well, if you play the hot take horn... There it is! Well, they're definitely sweeping those three games now. And they're going to have shutouts in all three. Okay, we got to go to break when we come back. 8 o'clock hour, Thomas Drance is going to join us at eight,

and then after that, we're going to do what we learned. Humanoids, NRs, get yours in. Dunbar Lumber Text Line is 650-650. Hashtag it WWL. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.