Halford & Brough in the Morning - Could Thatcher Demko Be On The Move This Summer?

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk the future of Thatcher Demko and if the Canucks might try and move him this off-season (6:00), plus the boys discuss the latest hockey news with Sportsnet NHL host David Amber (28:32). 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.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- The game is over! It's a mile high miracle! I'm gonna fool you. You talk better than you fool. I'll fool you up real nice. The one-one pitch. Oh my goodness that is way out of here! It's a good thing that beer wasn't shaking up anymore, or I'd have looked quite the fool. An April fool as it were.

Good morning Vancouver, 6-0-1 on a Tuesday. Or I'd have looked quite the fool, an April fool as it were. Good morning Vancouver, 6.01 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. It is Halford and his brough at his Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Lydie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers They have a friendly knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for sales Financing service or parts we are in our one of the program our one is brought to you by North Star metal recycling Vancouver's premier Metal recycler well they pay the highest prices on scrap metal North Star metal recycling they recycle you get paid pay the highest prices on scrap metal. Nor Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio,

Kintec Footwear and Orthodocs, working together with you in step. A three guest show today on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Guest list today begins at 6.30 with David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host. You might be thinking right now, wait a minute, guys, it's Tuesday

David Ambers usual day is Wednesday is this some sort of hilarious April Fool's Day joke from the Alfred and Ruff show no we had to switch him to today David Ambers going to join us at 6 30 10 games in the National Hockey League tonight huge implications for the Eastern and Western Conference playoff chases and then we'll talk about tomorrow night's Wednesday night hockey as well. Of course, the Vancouver Canucks are gonna feature in that one. And that's at 6.30. Seven o'clock, Tony Ferrari is gonna join the program.

The heir to the Ferrari racing chain. Actually, he's a prospects writer for the hockey news. He's gonna join us. There's a bunch of very impactful college players who have recently signed NHL deals. Ryan Leonard in Washington, Jimmy Snuggerud, one of my favorite names, going to St. Louis and of course, eventually and hopefully, Tom Villander going from BU to the Canucks. We'll talk to Tony Ferrari

about that. We should have had him on a Ferraro day. We could have had Ferraro, Ferraro, Ferrari. That would have been pretty good. That would have been great. Alas, he's going to join us today on April Fool's Day. Brendan Batchelor's gonna join the program at eight o'clock play by play voice of the Vancouver Canucks. Canucks return to practice today, after a full day off yesterday,

and we'll look ahead to tomorrow's game against the Kraken. A reminder, that's a 7.30 puck drop, and whatever is left of Vancouver's playoff chances by then. So working in reverse on the guest list, eight o'clock it's Brendan Batchelor, seven o'clock it's Tony Ferrari,

six thirty it's David Amber. That's what's happening on the, 7 o'clock it's Tony Ferrari, 6.30 it's David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Greg, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how messy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Should we put out the disclaimer right now for everyone to be extra diligent and vigilant when checking their social media accounts today? What's the the April Fool's Day joke that's going around Canucks Reddit right now?

Is it Shorty has announced his retirement? Yeah, but that might be true. That's not bad, actually. That's kind of clever. Yeah, I can see that. But ultimately, not true. We'll call Shorty to confirm at eight o'clock. But just a friendly reminder,

don't trust anything you see on social media. No, let's call him now. Let's call him now. Let's call him now. Who is this? Hey, dude. I heard you're retired. All right.

The Canucks will practice today, as mentioned, at noon, or beginning at noon at Rogers Arena after taking the day off yesterday. They're going to host Seattle tomorrow, Anaheim Saturday, and then Vegas on Sunday in a back-to-back this weekend. We will finally get to figure out a number of things, including the health status of Elias Pedersen and Nils Hoaglander, who were sent home midway through their Eastern road swing

that just finished up. It's crazy. It's crazy. The state of media right now, um, that we just had this massive road trip for the Canucks. They sent Hoaglander and Pedersen back like quite early in it. And.

Played many games without them. And there's been like, we get, we get a bunch of texts, does anyone have any injury updates on Peterson and Hoaglander? We're like, no. We do not. We don't know what happened. They went on an airplane and then they were just gone.

They were just gone. Yeah. And they never came back. Yeah. So. So we can find out the health of them, possibly Kevin Lankenen, who we didn't really talk about this yesterday, where too busy dumping all over

at Leos-Peterson, who we didn't really talk about this yesterday, where too is he dumping all over Elias Pettersson, but we should have probably spent a little bit more time on, if Lankinen was playable in the two games that he played, I know that they were between a rock and a hard place and they had to put it in. No, no, no, no, no, they were between a rock and a hard place and another rock. And they ultimately had to play Lankinen in two games

in which he let in a whole lot of goals and didn't look great in a road trip where they couldn't really afford to drop points and they did not coincidentally in two of the games that Lankton played on that swing. So we'll hopefully find out about him today as well. Um, I, I actually wonder about the, the future of Thatcher Demko in, in, in this market.

Um, you know, if the Connors are going to make moves this off season, could he be a name that is the future of Thatcher Demko in this market. You know, if the Canucks are going to make moves this off season, could he be a name that is possibly out there? The Canucks have already signed Kevin Lanken into a long-term deal and you know, they've got a decision to make on Thatcher Demko. They could technically sign him to extension this summer, but I mean, I don't see that happening just because of his

injury status from the Canucks point of view. And from Thatcher Demko's point of view, he could be all passive aggressive and be like, oh, I thought you had your goalie, his name's Kevin Lankinen. So he was, remember we had iMac on shortly after he spoke with Demko and Demko said all the right things in the aftermath.

But it is a very interesting dynamic in the immediate future. I'd be very curious to see how much they played Demko over the final games of the regular season because you could go back and forth on this one. You may as well try and play them as much as you can until your playoff chances are completely snuffed out. Or you can err on the side of caution and say, you know what, you've had a hard time with your health this year, let's not risk trying to aggravate anything. The flip side of that would be,

you would imagine the player would certainly like to use this as a proving ground that not only am I healthy, but any game I can get at the NHL level to rediscover my groove and my swagger, I want it. And then another angle to that is, we don't know what's going on with Kevin Lankin and his health and Archer Silas still remains someone that you don't want to play even if your playoff percentage chances are 0.001 You still got a chance. You still should be icing as competitive a lineup as you can. Yeah, I mean I I've

I'm still somewhat interested in the remaining games in the regular season but I think this last road trip and the way things ended and the way other teams around the Canucks in the race keep picking up points and we'll get to that in a bit. I'm kind of 99% of into off season mode right now. I know you are. In terms of my thinking. And I know you're still holding out hope that

Minnesota is going to fall out of this race, but they picked up another point last night. Even though they didn't race, but they picked up another point last night, even though they didn't win. But they did and they're well up on the caddocks now and so are the blues. When it comes to Thatcher Demko, like my personal thought is if you really want to get into the playoffs next year, your best bet is to just keep them.

You know, keep them for next year and have him and Kevin Lankenen as a tandem and that might be your best shot of getting in. But you know, you hear rumors here and there about whether or not Temko is really happy in Vancouver and you know, you start to wonder if he might be a name that's out there this off season. At a combined nine and a half million, and assuming that both can stay healthy and play

to their capabilities, the Canucks would have at least for one singular year, a great situation in that. Like those two goals is at nine and a half. I mean, it's a big, it's a big if that. Sure. Demko stays healthy. Yeah. Well, there's also a big if that both of them play

at the heights that we could, put it this way, if you get a full and proper Demco, and you get the Lankinen that we saw in the early stages of the season, and to be fair, I do think some of Lankinen's struggles in the back half of this season had to do with a workload that he's never shouldered. For sure, Ted, for sure, Ted, yeah.

I think fatigue played a role, and that's fair. You're asking a guy to carry a workload that he's never carried at the professional level before. Tabling all that. If you want to look at one thing that they can be somewhat optimistic about, again, assuming everything goes right, which is a mantra for this club, by the way,

nine and a half million for two goalies that can give you the kind of net mining that we've seen. So at least there's like proof of concept here. It could be a very good thing moving forward. The problem is that it might only be for one year and that's assuming that they go through the summer and retain Thatcher Demko and don't do anything kind of crazy with them.

I wonder what his value would be. That's a great question. You know, like because fully healthy, he's super valuable. Look at him right now. Like look at a team like Philly. Philly needs to find a great question. You know, like because fully healthy, he's super valuable. Look at him right now. Like look at a team like Philly. Philly needs to find a goalie, badly. Yep. Talk it and go to Philly.

Maybe they'll take talk it and go to Philly. But I'm just thinking about teams out there that are desperate for an upgrade in goal, and Philly would be one of them. But if I was a team like Philly, I was looking for goaltending, I'd be like, oh, I don't know if I want like, we've already had a lot of problems with goaltenders. Am I going to get damaged goods here with Thatcher Demko? And that's why like personally I would, you know, if the Canucks aren't going into a

rebuild and we all know they, they won't because that's not their way of doing things and they've just kind of, um, rebuilt the defense anyway. And you know, they're going to try and try and be better for next season. I imagine that's their plan until they tell us otherwise. Um, you know, I, I would think that Thatcher Demko is maybe the number one reason why they could make the playoffs next season. Like seriously, I know they've got Quinn Hughes,

but like we're talking, like they had Quinn Hughes for, for this season and it didn't work. Who they didn't have was Thatcher Demko. Yeah. You know, and, and I, and you know, because Lanken and played very well early on in the season, I think we're in some ways, I don't want to say we forgot about Demko, but he wasn't as much a factor

as we thought he might be. I think the emergence of Lankenen papered over how big of a departure Demko was. Yeah. I think it allowed us to be like, well, but the goal-tenning has been fine. And it was fine until it wasn't. But it wasn't, I don't think it was really ever elite.

No. Like it was good. Lankton did really well and it might've been above average, but I don't think it was the type of goaltending you get from a guy like Thatcher Demko when he's really on. Yeah. I mean, if you want to- We saw that earlier and we saw that at times in this road trip, you know, where the Canucks came out, had a flat start.

Demko was incredible. First period against New Jersey was a big one. Or sorry, first period against the Islanders. That was a big one. Yeah, it was the Islanders. Like he robbed Horvat a couple of times. Oh, the Horvat definitely once early on. And that game could have been completely different

without Demko. It allowed the Canucks to stay in the game and allowed the Canucks to actually take over the game. And then at the end of the day, they were deserving winners. But if it was an average goalie in there, I don't think they win that game.

And you know, if you want to start stacking up last year as compared to this year and where things went wrong and by that, I mean, different uh, that your Demko started 51 games last year as compared to this year and where things went wrong. And by that, I mean, different, uh, that's your Demko started 51 games last year. And this year, that last game that he played in Winnipeg was his 20th start of the year. So you're talking about 30 starts difference that he had from a year ago where he was a Vezna candidate, he won 35 games and the Canucks made the playoffs to this year where the Canucks are probably not going to make the playoffs.

So Jeremy in Abbotsford, Texas, and I'm not going to read his entire text because there's some swears in it, but he goes, if the Canucks let a potential top five goalie in the league walk for nothing at the end of the year, then swears. And that's the thing with goalies. They aren't, people don't really trust picking up goalies at the trade deadline. No. And it's a little bit different than having a pending UFA skater, right?

Because most of the times you get to the trade deadline, teams have their goalies, you know, they're all set and the ones that don't have goalies are probably out of the playoffs, because they don't have goalies. They're already, now there are certain instances where a team, like let's say, I don't know, like Edmonton at the trade deadline this year

could have been interested in a goalie, or I don't know, whoever. Good teams with questionable goalies, but I really think teams are hesitant to add a goalie at that point. You know, and you go all the way back to Ryan Miller going from Buffalo to St. Louis and it just didn't work. And I think there are people that are hesitant to do that just because of the nature of the position.

So do the Canucks have to make a decision on Thatcher Demko this off season or do they risk letting him walk for nothing? I mean, I do feel bad for Demko because the timing of all of this is really conspired against him. Where his health kind of started to take a turn, his respective age, right? He's going to be 30 this year in December. When his contract is gonna come up, it's not like he's gonna be in a Schuster,

anywhere near like a Schusterken type situation where the Rangers were, I mean, they had to pay. He was everything to that team. I mean, Demko's not gonna have that kind of leverage. He, look, he had really, the contract that he's on right now, it's not like he's not getting paid. He's got $25 million off this deal, but it's definitely been more advantageous

for the Canucks in terms of a bargain deal. I think if he can stay healthy for a whole year, a team will pay him. I think a team will pay him, but I think maybe missing that gargantuan payday, which other goalies of his ilk have gotten. Vasilevsky got paid, Shosturkin got paid. The timing of Demko's is just, it's unfortunate. Like he got hurt near the tail end of a deal

where he was a bargain. GMs have a very short memory. If you give a year of healthy goaltending, you'll get that deal. See, the thing with him now is, is he gonna have to be a guy that you're gonna have to pair with someone like Lankton because of his health issues? Like, we're not gonna be, I mean,

how many games can you realistically count on him to play? I know we played 51 last year, but remember that was also a year in which his body broke down at the end. He wasn't available at the end of the regular season and he didn't play in the playoffs. If you need to kind of shelter his workload and get him in at around maybe 40 starts max,

then you need to pair him with somebody else and someone that can carry like a large percentage of the mail. All right. What else we got? Uh, we should go through what happened last night in the national hockey league. So it didn't quite go according to plan.

And by that, I mean the Halford plan, but the Minnesota wild did lose last night in New Jersey. The first of their three games through the New York, New Jersey Metro area. All right. It was a three, two shootout loss to the devil's the glass half full person, or at least from the Minnesota side of things. New York, New Jersey metro area. It was a 3-2 shootout loss to the Devils. The glass half full person,

or at least from the Minnesota side of things, will say, we got a valuable point. The glass half empty person will say that we lost the second one. So it's not exactly as I drew it up as I said, but it's still a loss for the Wild. I did say yesterday that I think the Wild are gonna lose all three of these games,

giving us one last faint and false sense of hope that the Canucks can make a run at this thing before ultimately falling short. They're at MSG on Wednesday, then they play the Isles on Friday. The Minnesota offense has dried up almost entirely in that five game stretch where they've lost four or five. They scored a grand total of seven goals.

Like them getting to two goals is an accomplishment right now. And last night, it took them to the final two minutes of regulation to get that second goal when Matthew Boldy scored a huge one to get them a point. Now here's the thing. I'm not even sure that it's the Vancouver Canucks that are chasing anybody, be it St. Louis or Minnesota

for the second and final wild card spot. I believe it is those pesky and dare I say, somewhat endearing Calgary flames. They're hanging in there, man. I take no joy in saying this because the flames will always be a mortal enemy of the Vancouver Canucks, but that is a team right now that you actually have to kind of like.

What they did last night, they have not, I didn't even realize this, they have not beaten the Colorado Avalanche, they did a three, two, and a shoot out yesterday. They had not beaten the Colorado Avalanche since 2002. October 13th, 2002 was the last time that they had beaten the Aves. What, in Colorado or just?

Yeah. So they've been to them at home. 2022, not 2002. Yeah, it was 2002. That was a misstep, 2022. So they got their backup goalie in the net. When you said 2002, I was like, I feel like I would've heard about that for sure, that's a long time.

2022, D'Ambladar is in that, so they got their backup goalie in that. They're down to nothing going into the third period, and I watch Bits and Pieces, they've been largely outplayed. Their third period scoring heroes were Ryan Lomborg and Adam Klapka, scored in a 32 second span. So the three stars of the night for Calgary, you can make the argument, were Dan Vlidar, Ryan Lomburg, and Adam Klapka in Colorado against the Avalanche, a fully healthy, full squad Colorado Avalanche team,

and it keeps their flickering playoff hopes alive. They're five points out of a wild card, they've got games in hand on everybody, and do we have the Vlidar audio there? Can I, again, I don't wanna make this too schmaltzy or whatever, like a syrupy, like, oh, loving for the flames. Cause I understand. But this is kind of endearing to hear him talk

about this team. Okay. This is Dan Valdar, the backup netminder after a big game yesterday, talking about the heart and the belief that the Calgary flames have in one another. This is Dan Valdar after a three, two shootout win over Colorado last night in Colorado. I heard you were one of the guys that spoke up in the locker room in the second intermission. What made you believe you guys can come back against this team? I think that's just our mentality believe

believe believe that's all we got you know we might not have the strongest team on a paper but I think that we got the strongest team in a deep inside in our heart. So, uh, yeah. When I, I was, it doesn't matter who, if it's me or a Cliper or whoever, whoever's stepping up either with words or with the place. So you're still doing as a team. So, uh, yeah, huge win. I still hate them.

I still hate them. I heard that. Belief, belief, belief is all we've got. We might not have the strongest team on paper, but I think we have the strongest team deep inside our heart. Oh man. Oh my God. That hits hard. Tam-Bladar is the poet of our generation.

Cheese ball. Yeah, it's cheesy, all right? Wait, I have a tear going down my cheek right now. There's a reason that I'm bringing all of this up though. I'm just lashing out. There's a reason that I'm bringing all of this. Maybe the Stanley Cup playoff race is the friends you made along the way.

That's right. It's the journey. It's not the end game. It's the journey. I am bringing this up for a reason. Um, they ha from game. If you look at the parallels this season, from game one of this season, when of course

it was the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames in a game that, you know, when you look back and I'm not even trying to force this narrative, I just was thinking about it last night. Think about that first game and the characteristics and the traits that both teams showed and how many times those same characteristic and traits played themselves out throughout the course

of this regular season. You remember, the Canucks went up 4-1. They were, it looked like they were all good and ready to go. Everything was going to be great. It was on the heels of last year's successful season. Everything was going to be great. Calgary looked terrible in the first period of the first game of the year. Looked like they were going to have another long season in Calgary. And then what happened? The Canucks blew a lead. Was that a common theme this year? Did the Canucks blow some leads this year? Did the Canucks show an inability this year

to carry over momentum from period to period and show what they showed in the first and the second and the third? And then what did Calgary do in that first game? Never quit. Remember there was that huge hit on Rooney as well? I think it was JT Miller. That sort of accidental hit that knocked out Rooney.

And then they were pissed off and they kept fighting and they kept scrapping and they kept clawing and they came back and won that game and That kind of set the tone in a very weird way for both of these teams throughout this year Calgary is just kind of Continued to you know scratch and claw and fight and they'll probably fall short The numbers are against them the stats are against them The percentages are against them. The stats are against them. The percentages are against them. But I was watching their post game last night and they did an interview with Adam Klapka,

the guy who scored the big goal. And I won't bother playing the audio because it's more of a visual game. It sounded pretty good actually. You want me to, okay. So halfway through, all of a sudden out of nowhere, McKenzie Weger runs up during his interview with the bunch of the throngs of media and has the towel full of shaving cream and like smears it

in his face. Oh they're having fun that that's a sign that a team's having fun let's hear what that fun sounds like. They got nothing to lose these guys these Calgary flames. They're crazy shaving cream who would have thought here's what it sounded like yesterday go ahead You had a lot of chances in the last few games especially tonight, how good that for you personally? I mean it's it's amazing. Yeah! Yeah! I'm so happy!

It's amazing. It's amazing. It's given me so much confidence that I can be here. It's really awesome. Have you ever had that happen to you before? Yeah, when I scored a hat-trick the HL, so they do the same thing. So yeah, I'm used to it.

You know, I thought that was a baseball thing. I know. Thought that was a baseball thing. I've never seen that done in hockey, actually. I love the gutter roll, yeah, though. Yeah! Okay, and the only reason... It makes a difference, though.

It makes a difference, though. As a fan? Yeah, 100%. As a fan- It makes a difference though. It makes a difference though as a fan. Yeah, 100%. As a fan. 100%. As a fan, it makes a difference. How many times have we come on the show and just been like, can these guys look like they want to be a team? You know, and lately I think we've been happier with their efforts and the fact that they've, you know, just-

What was the biggest story of the year if you had to say? Well, they had a fight. Yeah. They had a fight between two of their top players, forcing one on the mount of their. If those two had smeared shaving cream in each other's faces, it wouldn't have been as funny. Yeah.

It wouldn't have been as funny. That actually, that would have actually come up in the bullying report. It would have led to blows probably. And that's what I'm saying is like, it is, it must be nice to feel that way about your teammate. Feel that way about your teammates. And feel that way about your teammates. Like they are, they have totally bought in

to whatever it is they got going. And it's, it can be pretty nebulous because it's not great hockey and it's not an oil painting. But if you look at two teams, the Canucks and the Flames, who now at the end of the year are pretty much identical in terms of standings and records and like statistically, they're almost the same, but you couldn't come up with two different

narratives in the way that they got there and how happy they are with the way that they got there, then the Canucks and the Calgary Flames. Yeah. And you're right. That first game against the Flames really set the tone for the season. Now, Sea Loves was in there.

Yes. But that's a factor too, right? I think that, you know, goaltending was a big, big narrative this year for the Canucks. The fact that they had to start with C-loves and Nat, maybe kind of like set the stage for the season where there was always going to be this constant churn.

I mean, they played, I don't want to say with regularity, but there was a time where, you know, Demko, C-loves and Lankin and all three of them garnered a large amount of conversation in this city because all three were at some point significant parts of the team. Like you gotta remember in the early stage of

the season, Siloves was playing with fairly good regularity because Lankin wasn't ready to go and Demko wasn't healthy. So I think all of it. And there was more belief in Siloves at that time too, right? And it was like, oh, he'll be fine. I mean, and then it became like, oh, he is,

he's not fine, he's unplayable. That was a big part of the first month of the season. That the, and it was an unfortunate storyline to follow, but the eroding of belief in Silavs' abilities was a big, big storyline at the beginning of this year. Except against Chicago. He's, he's, he's pretty clutch against the Blackhawks. He did always, he always had Chicago in his back pocket. Yeah. Okay. We got to go to break. We got a lot more to get to on the Haliford and

Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. David Amber, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host, is going to join us next. You are listening to the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance will dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. It is time for David Amber, he will talk some hockey maybe It is time for David Amber, he is on the hotline baby It is time for David Amber, he will talk some hockey maybe I'm on the hotline baby, I like the mushrooms talking I remember what I was doing at 23, pooping in my pants There's a massive butt coming here guys, no one's fighting rig talking

No one wants to fight rig talking, I'm on the hotline baby It is, it's David It is, it's David. It is, it's David. Amber, it is, it's David. He's on the hotline. 632 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of 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 one of the program. As the music suggests, David Amber from Hockey Night Canada, Sportsnet NHL host, is going

to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour one. Hour one of this program is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. And just a reminder, another reminder,

you had a good reminder. It's April Fool's Day today. Don't get fooled. I'm reading through my Sportsnet email and we got fooled or someone got fooled because Tiger Woods tweeted out like an hour ago, I can't believe I'm saying this, but a few weeks after rupturing my left Achilles, uh, sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber plus the

explosive lifts, my doctors and trainers have me ready to play the masters next week. Can't wait. See y'all on the course." And then five minutes later he goes, PS, April Fool's, my Achilles is still a mess. Oh, Carter Buchanan. Won't you ever learn? So there were two corporate emails that went out and it was like, one was like, Tiger's gonna play in the Masters. Five minutes later, it's like, damn it.

The third one is that poor son's resigning from sports. I can send mass emails to the entire Rogers Corporation all day today of just fake news, Damn it. The third one is that poor sons resigning from sports The entire Rogers Corporation all day today of just fake news just wrong information Every single thing that I see I'm just gonna email to them to order Ella's coming back to Vancouver Experiment tiger didn't use an emoji He used an old-school colon and Bracket smiley face. I respect it.

I respect it. Old SMS text style. Yes. Yes. Old school respect. Okay. To the phone lines we go. David Amber joins us now in the Haliford and

Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Morning David, how are you? Tiger, Tiger had me for a minute. I was really excited. I was like, Oh my God, if anyone could do it, it's Tiger. That shows my age that I remember when he was sort of superhuman, remember?

David also got the first corporate first corporate email not the second How you doing David how are things going Things are good. How are you guys doing? We are bracing for non playoff life here in Vancouver I have I've tried to talk it into like existence that Minnesota will lose these three games that they've got in New York, New York, New Jersey I've tried to talk it into existence that Minnesota will lose these three games that they've got in New York, New York, New Jersey, and that'll give the Canucks one last faint glimmer of hope

before it's ultimately dashed, but I'm not even sure if that's gonna happen. And then I looked at the standings this morning, and I know that there's two Canadian teams outside of the playoff picture right now in Calgary and Vancouver, but if you look at those two, and we talked about this a lot in the intro man the

vibes and the optimism around Calgary are a hell of a lot higher than they are around Vancouver right now. Yeah I was gonna say even if you caught Minnesota Calgary might be your bigger threat I mean last time was a classic case of will-beating skill right I mean you saw Macar score a beautiful goal. O'Connor scored a beautiful goal, like high level skill goals for Colorado. And you go, well, Calgary just can't compete with that. And all they do is they throw out their fourth line in the third period down by two. And within 35 seconds, they tied the game up their fourth. I mean, how many times that must be the first time this year that a fourth line has scored two

goals within a minute. Certainly the first time this year that a fourth line has scored two goals within a minute. Certainly the first time this year on any team, the fourth line scored two goals within a minute in the third period of a game. I mean, it's kind of crazy what we're seeing with the Calgary Flames. There are a bunch of sort of blue collar, lunch pail guys. We saw a lot of these stories last year in Vancouver

with the Dakota Joshua's, et cetera. Guys sort of playing above their pay grade and doing things many didn't expect them to do and we're seeing that in Calgary night in night out. You know it's been really, it's been fun to watch. It's been a fun, they got a big road to climb as well as you guys know but you're right the vibes coming out of Calgary are pretty good right now. Well, you know, I think at the end of the day, if they end up being the only two Canadian teams that miss, it'll add another layer to these parallels between the two teams

where they've run alongside one another all season, but they couldn't be different in terms of how they've gone about their, you know, 20, 24, 20, 25 NHL campaigns. Like we were talking about it. We were playing audio from the Flames room yesterday and like Dan Vladaar waxing eloquent about how much they love each other. And then Adam Klapka is getting the the towel full of shaving cream in his face mid interview, and they're all, you know, yucking it up and laughing.

And we were saying, like, look at that, like a room that seems like they really like and enjoy one another compared to Vancouver where one of the biggest stories this year was the rift between Elias Pettersson and JT Miller. It ultimately ended with Miller going to New York. So I think there's, again, Calgary may make another final push at this thing and they may get in leaving Vancouver as the only team out, but when we look at the end of the year and the five Canadian teams that are in, the two that are out, they're going to be similar but actually very, very different when you look at their end of year autopsies.

100%. I mean, most people had Calgary as a bottom five team this year, myself included. You looked at, they lost Markstrom and everything else that was going on there. I wouldn't go as far as to say they were about to rebuild, but you certainly thought they were sort of going to figure some things out, find their identity. It was a work in progress is the best way to put it and a lot of guys have either overachieved. You know Ryan Huska deserves a lot of credit for bringing the most out of his players much like Rick Tauke did last year with the Canucks and on top of that some some guys had resurgence as

Johnson, Huberto, you know, no longer are we discussing him as, Oh my God, the worst contract in hockey. You know, he's been not just serviceable. He's been very good. He's been one of the emotional leaders on that team as well. So, you know, you made an interesting point chemistry, chemistry isn't everything, but chemistry is something. It really is. And we cover the playoffs. I've been out there on the ice at the end of the Stanley Cup final a number of times. And the genuine love these guys seem to have for each other. And I'm sure there are people saying, well, of course,

you're winning. You're going to love each other. But I think it's going through that journey together. And a team that I see that has that, not just Calgary, but a team like Washington, the bond on that team seems so incredibly strong. So we'll see what that's worth come playoff time. But I do think there's value in that guys just genuinely wanting to stand up for one another,

battle for one another, pick each other up when they need to be picked up. And we see that in Calgary. And and you, it's funny, you mentioned the clap interview post game and the shaving cream, like it's pretty good. You don't, that doesn't feel like a team that's tense, but still five points out of a playoff spot, it seems like a team that's sort of saying we've got. Everything to play for, we have nothing to lose. Let's just keep hanging together and see how long this journey goes for us. Yeah, it's funny.

Halford and I used to go out on the ice after the Stanley Cup was awarded too, and we'd interview guys and I can't tell you how many times a quote, something like, we're like a family in that room would come up, you know, and it did seem genuine. You mentioned Rick Tauke it in there. What have you thought about the discussion around his future in Vancouver?

Because I know that's made, that's not just a local story, that's a national story now. Yeah, no, we've been talking about it for a while, like both on air and off air. And you can see the frustration and I don't blame him. I mean, he's there to coach. He's not there to babysit.

He's not there to hold hands. And we saw the frustration last week sort of boil over with John Tortorella and that's a different, you know, different situation, different stage of his coaching career and everything else and different team but I imagine this has been incredibly frustrating for Rick Pocket and I imagine there's going to be a handful of head coaching vacancies in the next three weeks when the season wraps up. You know, there's there's definitely teams that are going to be looking to change the feel of their team. And we see the success that teams have had by by changing coaches.

And Rick Cockett's name, I imagine, will be right at the top of the number of teams list. So, you know, I don't I have no idea what kind of conversations, if any, are being taking place between, you know, I have no idea what kind of conversations, if any, are taking place between Vancouver's management and Rick Tauke about keeping them there. But if that's the intention for Rick Tauke at this day, I really hope they're having those conversations in earnest right now because I imagine there's going to be some great opportunities that present themselves to Tauke in the next few weeks. We're speaking to David Amber, Hockey Night Canada, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, let's continue going through all these Canadian teams and the rest of them all looking like they're playoff bound, at least temporarily. Edmonton, they're going to the postseason, but there's a lot of concern right now about

the health of that team. What's the outlook? How do you think this is going to play out for Edmonton specifically with Conor McDavid who will return before the end of the regular season? It's just not exactly sure when. Yeah I mean I said last week the rest could actually serve him well. You don't want him to be walking into the first game in the Stanley Cup playoffs having not played in five weeks though so that that is of concern. I think he's missing his what fifth straight game tonight. So

You know, nob Loggett said he'll be back before the regular season ends So I'm less concerned about that of greater concern is this ongoing off again On and off again injury status of Matias at home. He's so important to them We all saw how important he was to that playoff run last year And to not have him back or to have him back at much less than 100% would really be a problem for the Oilers. And then there's the Stuart Skinner situation. You know, Ranson was like a bull in a china shop injuring guys left and right in Alberta

last week, you know, unintentionally. But you know, he took out Conor's area of Calgary with that that mishap and then the night a night later It takes out Stewart Skinner going hard to the net. So And I know Skinner's had his issues this year But you certainly don't want to go into the playoffs with Pickard plus someone else like it You know you I think if you're Edmonton you feel a level of comfort having Skinner And Pickard there who collectively got you to, you know, within one win of the Stanley Cup final. So there are some injury questions there and they

look like they will probably be starting the playoffs on the road in LA. A team they've beaten three straight years but you know this is a better LA team and this is a team that's been very good on home ice and that could maybe play a factor. I still would like Edmonton's chances in that first round series, but yeah, there are definitely some question marks surrounding the Oilers as you know, we're just a few weeks away

now from the Stanley Cup playoffs. Do you think it's just injuries that explain their inconsistency or does it go beyond that or even does it go beyond goaltending? It just seems like they've been, even though they've got a pretty good record 42, 26 and five, seems like they've just been a little bit off. Yeah, you know, listen, that's fair to say guys, maybe they discounted, and we've talked about this before, they discounted how much speed and sort of youthful exuberance

they lost in Holloway and Broberg and McLeod and Fogel. That's not insignificant. And they made a pointed effort of saying we're slotting in guys who haven't won championships yet, who are at the same sort of age group as our other guys on our team, the Victor Arbidsons, you know, the Jeff Skinners, etc., right? They sort of, they have a very mature team, but maybe they lost a little bit of that speed and dynamic play. Now, Holloway's been absolutely fantastic, so, you know, and they decide to re-sign Adam Henrique and re-sign Corey Perry, and this might all turn out to work out perfectly come playoff time. But during this 82 game slog, that is the regular season, uh,

on certain nights they've looked a little slow. They've looked a little, you know, way too top heavy with the David and dry title. You know, their third highest forward is Ryan Nugent Hopkins. There's like 115th in points this year. Like that's a discernible drop off between two of the greatest players in the game. And hey, we don't have anyone even in the top 100 in points on our forward group after that. So it's putting a lot of pressure on 97 and 29 to get things done every single night. And then the goal tenancy has been inconsistent. So some of it's been play. And some of it, as you said, it's felt off. Certainly, they haven't been dynamic the way we would expect them and the way we've seen them, but this could be a classic case of a team that just says, look, we just need to get to the playoffs. It doesn't matter for the division winner or the third seed or whatever.

We just need to get to the postseason and we'll find our, you know, have our A game ready to go. So that will be, that will be the classic story, whether they're able to dial it up to that or, or whether it's like, wow, this just was an off year for the Oilers. And, and then, you know, it's going to be a disappointing end for them. Well, I got to be honest, uh, I am temporarily

cheering for the Toronto Maple Leafs because I want them to win the division because I want them to play Ottawa in the first round. How fun would that be? I mean, obviously it'd be great for business for us, but just the idea of Brady Kachuk and the Ottawa senators taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs. I mean, and then we'd also, you know what we'd

also get out of that? We get a battle of Ontario and a battle of Florida, which would be incredible hockey as well. But the emotion of, I mean, is that, I feel like Leafs fans this year and maybe in the past few years, I don't want to say they're, I'm going to say it, their enthusiasm has waned a little bit.

Like they've seen the Leafs have good regular seasons and then not have success in the playoffs. They're kind of like, yeah, are we going to do this again? But that would change things. Wouldn't that change the energy if they got Ottawa in the first round? We're on the same page. Who wouldn't want to see the Battle of Ontario and the Battle of Florida? Those would be two epic series. And quite frankly, it's not a shoe in the leaf, you know, as much as it's like, be careful what you wish for.

We all remember two years ago, the Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning and the chance outside Scotiabank Arena. We want Florida, we want Florida. And that was maybe disrespect to Florida, but it was also just like, we don't want to deal with Boston again. And lo and behold, they got Florida and we all know what what happened there it was a very quick series that Florida disposed

of them on their way to the Stanley Cup final. Ottawa is the perfect three and O versus Belize this year guys it's been a bit of their nemesis and it would be really interesting to see that matchup play out and I'm just dying regardless of who Ottawa meets on the plus I'm just dying to see Brady Kachuk in the playoffs this guy guy has weighted, you know, no one is as strong an emotional leader for their team than Brady Kachuk. I really do think he deserves some MVP consideration. He's not going to win the MVP because he doesn't have the numbers of McKinnon or Kuturov or Dreisaitl or, you know, Hellebuck. But from all intents and purposes, if you take Brady Kachuk off that Ottawa team, you know, Hellebuck. But some all-intensive purposes, if you take Brady Kachuk off that Ottawa team, you know, you don't have anything close to the resemble, you know, a team that

resembles what they put together this year. He's been that important to them. So I, you know, I can't wait to see that. And that would be incredible. And quite frankly, when the NHL created this whole system, this is what they had in mind. You're going to get Toronto versus Montreal, you're going to get Edmonton versus Calgary, you're going to get New York Islanders versus Rangers, you're going to have LA versus Anaheim, you have these like great regional and geographic, you know, sometimes historical matchups and it just hasn't happened. You know, it just hasn't happened. So it would be really good to think we can get, you know, Florida versus Tampa, which would be,

you know, essentially like an Eastern conference final. I mean, those are two top Stanley Cup contenders. And you also get the lease on Ottawa, which would be a lot of fun for all of us. Speaking of Florida, how great is it from the schedule makers that we get a return match between Florida and Montreal tonight after that wild game a couple nights ago that ended with Nico Michola getting fined 5K for unsportsmanlike conduct for firing a puck down Montreal's end at the end of the

game. Montreal dominated Florida this year. This game tonight, given everything that went on last game and that very precarious hold that Montreal has on a playoff spot, this is a huge game tonight for both of them. Absolutely. And you're right. Shockingly, Montreal is 3-0 versus Florida this year. They dominated them. And in fairness, when they go down to Florida, there's about 5,000 Habs fans in attendance. I'm sure it's the same when the Canucks are there and it is when the Leafs are there. So it doesn't maybe feel like a road game. Having said that though, there's

some extra, there's a lot on the line and Florida's now finding themselves third in the division so they have something to play for. Montreal certainly is fighting for their playoff lives and that whole Mikola thing and I wonder if Jacki suddenly thrust back into the lineup tonight. He was actually not even in the lineup Sunday when this happened and I wonder if Mikola's you know firing a puck at David Savard's head if he looks on the bench and there's Jack Ives salivating. So we'll see if some of that bad blood spills over. I'm sure if you're Martin Senwe, you're like, let's win the game. That's how we can settle the score first and foremost. But if there is a two goal bulge one way or another, all bets are off because that certainly didn't sit well with Montreal. I really thought they had the right response. Brendan Gallagher and again,

getting in there and saying, you can't do that. That's total Bush league. Um, so it's, it's set up for a really interesting theme tonight in Montreal. Uh, 10 games tonight on the slate and then tomorrow night, your usual morning here on the Alfred and brev show. Uh, it's a five game slate, Wednesday, Scotiabank, uh, hockey on a sports net. You've got the Panthers and Leafs. It's a five game slate Wednesday, Scotiabank, hockey on Sportsnet. You've got the Panthers and Leafs and then of course the late one, the Canucks and the Kraken at seven 30 yard time. So yeah, David, it's going to be a fun couple of days here. Very excited 15 games over the next two days.

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. Enjoy all the action. Should be a lot of fun. Yeah, thanks. And you know, hopefully it's not exactly over yet for, for the, for the flames or the Canucks, but certainly some work to do, but yeah, thanks. And we'll, we'll see you on air tomorrow night. Sounds good. Thanks, buddy.

Uh, David Emmer, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. So I guess two games to watch on the Outer Town scoreboard tonight, Detroit at St. Louis, the Blues are going for their 10th straight win. So dumb. And then the Flames are at Utah to play the hockey club, the hockey clubbers. So you know what? What the Blues have done is creeping up on what Nashville did last year, which is, remember Nashville's kind of like out of the playoffs and then they got their U2 trip taken away. And I don't know if Jim Montgomery took away concert tickets from

the blues, but whatever they've done, this is a similar run. Like this is what's got them into the playoffs. Now you remember last year for Nashville, they sort of came back to earth and then were ousted in six games by your Vancouver Canucks in the playoffs. I don't know. The blues are in, I think I'd be shocked if they miss at this point. Like they would need to have a pretty huge collapse. I don't really have much faith in what they're gonna do. I don't have much faith in either of the wild cards in the West to be perfectly honest.

I'm not even intrigued by those two matches if it's Minnesota and St. Louis. Like I don't think they pose much of a threat. And storylines wise, there's nothing compared to the possibility of Ottawa and Montreal getting in. Montreal, obviously, because like having playoff hockey back in Montreal would be amazing. And Ottawa Toronto first round matchup would

be the best first round matchup, I think, regardless of your affiliation as a fan. Um, but the- You know what team we haven't talked about barely at all this season on our show? Vegas. No. When do we talk about Vegas?

They're just going to win the division. Yep. And they've been- They're a good team. Yeah. They're good. Vegas. No. When do we talk about Vegas? They're just going to win the division. Yep. And they've been. They're a good team. Yeah. They're good. They're good. They've been really healthy this year.

That's been a big plus for them. And yeah, they've, you know, they're just kind of gone about their business all year long. They're a team that, I mean, I foolishly thought that they might have a huge step back this year because they lost so many of their depth guys, but they did not have a problem with that whatsoever. So that was fine.

But just to my point, the point I was trying to make is like the Blues are going to go on this run and they're going to get into the post season. I have like zero interest or expectations in that team in what they do. I don't see them making any noise when they get there. I'm not really interested in the story. I don't even think like 10 wins in a row, any other team in the NHL, you're probably like, we

need to take notice of this team. I think part of it has to do with the fact that it's coming at the expense of. I mean, we've taken notice. Make those playoff chances. We've taken notice because it's affected the connection a big way. But I haven't really done this whole big like,

oh wow, look at St. Louis, look what they've done. I have a lot more faith in the top seeds in the Western Conference than I do in the Eastern Conference because it's Vegas who I have faith in and Winnipeg in the West. And I think if Winnipeg, if Winnipeg gets Minnesota or St. Louis, I know Hellebuck has had his issues in the

playoffs, but I'm pretty confident that Winnipeg will take care of business there. I don't have that much confidence in Washington. You know, if they get Montreal, they'll probably win, but I don't know, going back a long, a few years now, Montreal did pull a massive upside of Washington, not that that has anything to do with it, but I just, I don't know, I don't have, for

whatever reason, I don't have faith in the Washington Capitals. And if the Leafs win the division and end up with Ottawa, there's gonna be a lot of people picking Ottawa. We gotta go to break, but before we do, Laddie has compiled some audio for us. We'll let this breathe and go to break and we'll join you on the other side of the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.