Halford & Brough in the Morning - Dhali On The Lankinen Signing + What We Learned

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat the latest Canucks news with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal (2:17), including the Canucks re-signing Kevin Lankinen, plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). 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.

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Happy Friday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. It is a rare occurrence where we will leave Rick Dollywall on hold coming back from break, but we have to in this particular instance because folks the Vancouver Canucks have given us some big breaking news Sportsnet 650 breaking news

Just four minutes ago the Vancouver Canucks have announced they have agreed the terms With goaltender Kevin Lanken and on a five year contract extension with a $4.5 million AAV. Kevin Lankinen signs a five year extension with the Vancouver Canucks. The quote from general manager Patrick Alveen in the press release. Kevin has done a great job for us in net this season, right from the start of the year, he has shown a strong desire to compete and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win hockey games.

A good leader and teammate. We wouldn't be in the position we are in right now without his strong play. Was it just yesterday that we were having this comp, this conversation like, and we threw out the question of if Lankankenen gets five by five, so we're in the neighborhood, is there any way, is that, is that, is that goodbye Demko?

Because can you have a tandem where Thatcher Demko is going to make what, God, I don't even know what his value is right now. Maybe the same. But can you have a tandem where if Lankinen is your backup, he's making that much and I don't know if you can. Maybe there's no backup in a tandem. You know who we should ask?

Rick Dollywall. He joins us now on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. He of course won half of Donnie and Dolly on CheckTV. Rick, what do you got for us? Yeah, I was just on the phone with Todd Diamond-Lanken, his agent. So listen guys, this is incredible because I just reported yesterday that it was quiet.

So 8.5 million, just let me get going here. 8.5 million is in signing bonuses. There's a no trade in the first two years. There's a no trade, uh, no move first two years, no trade last three years, which is 15 teams. So all day and last night, they did this after the second period of the Canadian game. It was basically done.

So let me go back and let me tell you on January 1st that first week the Canucks tried hard. They tried hard and made a good offer. It was over 3 million a year. It was termed. It got rejected and then talks went quiet. Okay they went quiet and Todd just told me they picked up in the last 48 hours. So look, that 4.5 drops in just exactly where the goalie signings this year changed the market. Logan Thompson 5.8, McKenzie Blackwood 5.2, Joey DeCourt 5.2. But the key one for me, which no one looked at was Pekka Lukinen 4.7. So Pekka Lukinen is the one for me, he no one looked at was Pekka Lukinen, 4.7. So Pekka Lukinen is the one for me, he wasn't going to get over five. There's no way.

One of the reasons, he could have got five. He could have got five on the market if he goes July 1st, keeps playing lights out. He likes Vancouver. He told his agent that. He's very liked in the dressing room. Teammates like him. Management loves him. Rick Tuckett loves him. This is a situation where the Canucks did some good work, I think, here.

We'll get into Demko in a second. Now the Canucks knew they could not go cheap at the backup goaltender position because Demko's on his fourth injury in less than a year. Lankinen, what did he show them this year? The importance of a backup who plays well, especially with a starter who can't stay healthy. The Canucks had to go outside their comfort zone to sign Lankanen. Their first offer was nowhere near 4.5. We know that. And so here we go. They made a decision to give this guy term. They gave him the money. But here's what makes sense more.

The salary caps going up and you're going to have, you're going to start seeing backup goaltenders salaries go up a whole lot. You're seeing starters go down like Markstrom, Almark, Odinger, starters can't play 65 plus games anymore. You need a backup now who can give you at least 25 to 30 starts. Lankenen, he can do that. Now, now, now, now what happens to Thatcher Dempko? And if you're committing five years to this guy, Lankenen, like, okay, you can start talking to Dempko July 1st about a new contract, but there is no way you can give Dempko seven, eight I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.

I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. agent said, give me some time. And clearly, maybe this last injury Demko in the

Toronto game, maybe this played a role in the Canucks moving quick on Lankton. Uh, but I just, uh, this all happened in the last 24 to 48 hours. Is there any update that you have on, on Thatcher Demko status? Uh, just a two week. He's expected to practice in two weeks.

It looks like, um, you know, look, I, guys, uh, I, I know the feeling in the market is, uh, you know, he's injury prone. Uh, but it was just a year ago this time he was putting together a Vezina trophy season. And, but he, you cannot deny the facts, Jason, like you're starting goaltenders now got four injuries in less than a year. Yeah. Um, you cannot deny the facts, Jason, like you're starting goaltenders now got four injuries in less than a year.

Um, you cannot deny those facts and moving forward, I don't know, uh, if the Canucks, uh, you know, do they put them on the trade market knowing, um, that Lankton is here for five years. What does this do to C-lobs? If you keep Demko, um,-sign Demko and now you got Lanken for five, well, what does that do to C-Lavs and his future, the goalie of the future down in Abbotsburg? So there's a lot of things at play, but I think, look, this, is this

an overpayment for the Canucks on a backup? Yes. But does this look like to you guys, is this a backup? No. Signing to you guys, or is this a starter signing to you guys? Well, this is at least a 1B starter.

Yeah. You know, like it's not, it's not obviously some of the, this is not Vasilevsky money or Shostrkin or anything like that. But you do have to wonder, and you also have to wonder, frankly, we have to wonder, does Thatcher Demko want to stay in Vancouver? There's a lot of people we're wondering about,

whether or not they want to stay in Vancouver and how badly does he want to stay in Vancouver. You know, I just wonder if they could kick the can down the road a little bit here, because you're so right to point out, you know, it was just last season that Demko was a Vezza finalist. And if he goes say, you know, even with our short memories, three months of staying healthy, but also playing really well, there's going to be a lot of people are

like, God, like, do you really want to not have that guy on your team anymore? Because I think probably there will still be the opinion out there when healthy, Demko is the superior goalie. Agreed? Yeah, I agree. You're probably going to hear Demko's name pop up in trade rumors. When the Canucks were talking to Carolina for Pederson and Miller, Vancouver didn't bring his name up, but Carolina did. And you're probably going to hear his name more and more until there is a resolution until that, you know, either he starts playing more because look, his durability is the big question. Jason from here on in

durability. So let's say he comes back from his next injury in two weeks is he going to be out again in three weeks is he going to be gone for two weeks and back in three and back and you know is this thing going to continue to go on apparently he's getting soft tissue injuries like I'm not a you know like since the popliteus the injuries seem to be and Kevin Woodley said it on one of your guys' shows, soft tissue injuries. So okay, so what is that? Like, okay, so he's starting to, first we had the popliteus, the first the knee injury and then this and now soft tissue injuries.

Look, there are people that do not and will not write off Demco and I think we need more time, maybe the end of this year to figure out where he is durability wise, but the commitment that Canucks just made in term and money to Lincoln, it tells you A, they love the player and B, they're thinking going forward. But also, you know, Silov showed us this year, he's not ready. Maybe he needs more time in Abbotsburg. Like his last game was in Pittsburgh. That's the game he got lit up in. And so is he ready to step in and give you, as

I just said, teams are now starting to need 25 to 33 starts from the backup. Do you think Sealofts can give you a 25 to 33 right now? I don't think so. No, no, no. Terrified about these back to backs coming out of the break.

Exactly. So, so how is he going to give you a 23 to 33, a 25 to 33? The great thing is the Canucks have Demko under contract for next year. And they have a lot of time to make a decision on them. They don't have to make a snap decision on

Demko today or tomorrow. They can wait this year. They can even wait all of next year. They really can't. You can still come back with Demko and Lankan in next year, but, uh, boy, oh boy, this, uh, I, I gotta tell you, boy talks went quiet for a long time and they clearly picked up in the last 48 hours and

the Canucks clearly said, look, we're gonna have to, we're gonna have to commit to this guy. I think it's a great signing and I think he won over a lot of people in the organization. He really is well liked and he's that guy that comes in the next day after a game and looks at tape by himself and he's always trying to get better. And those are the athletes you want. You don't want the athletes that just come in and go, okay, I got practice tomorrow.

How can I get better? And I think the guy that raves about Lankton in the most is Tocket. But this is a good. Tocket loves him, eh? He loves him. You can really tell. He does. And you know what? This is a good signing. I think they got their guy and they went out there.

I've been saying to you guys for weeks and weeks, they're going to have to go outside their comfort zone to pay Lankton and then they did. 4.5 is a pretty good number. And other goalies are going to look at the Lankton now. Other goalies, there's the guy in Utah who's a UFA right now. You know, he's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton.

He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton.

He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to have to look at the Lankton. He's going to're gonna look at the lincoln and now their other goalies there's uh... the guy in utah who's a u f a right now you know he's gonna have to look at uh... lincoln's number and see where he fits in all these coli all these coli signings that i mentioned played a role in in lincoln and signing that you'll get to option mckenzie blackwood decor pack a look in and all over four point seven and uh... uh... you this is, this is also

the player telling the agent, you know, I, I like Vancouver, get it done. Yeah. Veg Malka is the guy you're talking about down in Utah. Yeah. And you can, you now know why I didn't say his name. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Um, uh, let's skip the game yesterday cause we've already talked about the game. Uh, we're all happy Canada won, right? Everyone in agreement? All right, good. They won. Let's move on to Quinn Hughes. Um, so this was a question that I asked Elliot

and he, in total fairness to him, he was focused on the four nations and he didn't, he said, I don't know to it. Um, is there any reason whatsoever that Canucks fans should be worried that Quinn Hughes and the Canucks didn't see eye to eye on what happened with the four nations and his availability and his ability to even travel there and watch last night's game? No, I'm not hearing that, but what I am hearing is look, this guy flies back from New Jersey, okay, to Vancouver, gets asked to go to Boston by the Americans. Canucks medical staff said he's not cleared to play games, but he's allowed to practice.

Two things worked against Hughes, the injury and the travel. New Jersey to Vancouver to Boston to Las Vegas to Utah. That's what that guy would have done in six days, even if he went to Boston last night, just sat in the press box and cheered on the Americans. I talked to people this week who thought he was going to go, and then I talked to people who said he wasn't going to go. It was really a crazy 48 hours.

So many things happened in that short period of time. Like there should be a 30-30 on just that 48 hours on Hughes and the possibility of going. I don't think the Americans were happy that Hughes wasn't allowed to go, but the Canucks have to do what's best for their player. Now can you imagine Hughes watching that game on TV last night? It must have killed him knowing how competitive he is. He was born to playing games like that last night to drive the passion.

That's a tough night for that kid. But Las Vegas, Las Hades, Theodore for weeks, Boston, Las Charlie, McEvoy for weeks, numerous other players are returning and their teams banged up today. Go ask Matthew Kachak how he feels today. Go ask the Florida Panthers how long he's out. There is no way Matthew Kachak is not going to miss

time. Hughes is still not a hundred percent. Will he be clear to play against Las Vegas tomorrow? Assistant coach out of foot said Hughes will be pushed hard in practice today, 101 drills, then evaluated. A healthy Hughes for the Canucks down the stretch is the single most important thing for this hockey team. Today, he is closer to being 100% because he didn't go to four nations.

The risk of playing him in that tournament was too much for Hughes and the Canucks. I'm not hearing what you're stipulating that he's pissed at the Canucks for not letting him go. I'm not saying that. I'm saying I'm not hearing anything about that. What I'm trying to do is just like, make sure that that's not happening because I've seen people wondering and this whole thing, frankly,

right from the very start, I've been like, you got to let Quinn do what he wants to do. And because you got to maintain a good relationship between the team and the player. So I am by no means saying that I have heard anything, but I just want to make sure because Cox too need to maintain a great relationship with this guy. Well, he's the single most important player and his contract's up in two years and he's got two powerful agents.

Yeah, I would try, I would pretty well try to keep this guy happy seven days a week, 12 months of the year until his contract is re-signed. Right? But if you go back to the Sunday that he first elected not to go to the four nations and he spent a lot of time on the phone with his agent Pat Pras, back and forth all weekend.

And Pat told me unequivocally that the Canucks let him make his call. The Canucks said, look, they gave their two bits, but the Canucks let him say, hey, this is your call. They gave him the time and space. And I specifically remember Pat Bresson telling me that the Can told quinn what this is your call

but if in retrospect if you look at the fact if you want to go on the boston and got hurt they come back what a disaster without a bit there a playoff spot today need they need this guy you know the two most important players they find the one guy to a new contract this morning and then the other guy is this guy you use

and he is help is a whole lot more important i know it killed him watch a game and i'll be a part of american demon i'm sure the americans are safe or we could be counted if we had quit using but the most important thing for quinnies in the canucks is his health and he's all are closer to a hundred percent for not playing in that tournament. Now I know you're going to ask about because I heard you getting going on uh uh Elliott Friedman this

morning. I love the way you were needling him but anyways you're going to ask about Pettersson and and his health. So and and I'm going to tell you what exactly what Elliott Friedman told you. I don't have anybody telling me he's hurt okay so why would the canucks and an injured player to that tournament why would teams we didn't accept an injured player as opposed to a healthy player so if the swedes were told you're getting a peterson he's not a hundred percent with the swedes not upset he walked if he's not a hundred percent don't send me away to get a centerman

you know next to the list to his hundred percent healthy if he is injured why on God's green earth you know are the Canucks not sitting him and saying go sit two three four five six seven eight weeks until you're healthy come back would that not make sense they just gave Demko ten months off for an injury so are you telling me that they can't give time off for Pedersen? Like is he special that he doesn't get time off but Demko gets to take 10 months off to heal an injury? So we're just going to let him keep playing and make it worse?

Like where's the common sense there? The club has to address this at some point. They just got to come out and say, look, either he's injured or he's not, or he's dealing with something because the amount of, of, of just the chaotic reporting on his injury or non injury or whatever, or minor injury. He's icing his knee. I always got ice packs on his knee.

He could have got hurt that morning or the night before, like, so you have these guys on Twitter, their whole job, like nine to five job is to make, is to protect Pedersen. Like, I mean, so like the club needs to address this, like, it's just ridiculous. But again, Jason, isn't the common sense thing if he's injured, not to send them to

foreign nations to make it worse? Like I,'t get it. I agree with you. I mean, I've said it multiple times and I think it's mostly between the ears and maybe a lack of conditioning and strength out there. So But I want to hear it, but I but I but who cares what I think. I want to hear it from I want to hear it from the Canucks. Like the question is, the question is, what is your diagnosis on what happened with Elias Pettersson in the last year?

Exactly. You know, and they've given us little hints and stuff here is like, well, I think the pressure of the contract. Okay. Well, what does that mean? How did it play out the pressure of the contract? Are you saying he didn't put the work in? Or are you saying mentally he couldn't handle the pressure?

Like, because there seems to be just little, like little bits and pieces here. And I get it's sensitive because he's a player on your team and maybe you're also thinking about trade value and that sort of thing. But I agree with you. It would be nice if they just came out and gave us like, here's what we think happened.

Yeah, or the player can come out and say it, or the team can come out and say it. Here's another one for you, Jason. I don't know if you've looked, but the Canucks center-ice position has, well, guess what? Two years ago, they had Pedersen Miller and Horvat up the middle.

Well, guess what? Miller's gone, Horvat's gone, and this guy is not playing like an $11.6 million player. and Horvat up the middle. Guess what? Miller is gone, Horvat is gone and this guy is not playing like an $11.6 million player. You have a guy like Sam Bennett who is going to be a free agent on July 1. What I'm trying to say to you is not only are

we dealing with the injury or supposed non-injury with Pettersen, we are also dealing with the connect cent right position which has weakened quite a bit in the last two years. So who is your first line centre going into next year?

Who is your second line centre going into next year? Are they going to have to go out and get a Sam Bennett on July 1? I'm looking at the centre ice position right now and they are not nearly as strong up the middle as the ice as they were.

Where are they with Puse Souter? Okay uh his agent George's uh Mueller was in Vancouver a couple weeks ago um Mueller held brief and general talks with the Canucks about an extension. When Souter signed with the Canucks two years ago, the market was tough. Several teams had cap issues. Canucks got a real good deal at 1.6 mil, right? This time around, cap's going up. Suter's in a way better position. He does like playing in Vancouver, but you know you're not getting them at 1.6 anymore, right?

Special teams, top six or bottom six or wing or center, he's your most versatile player. Again, he's also been one of the most consistent forwards this year. He's outplaying the current contract. Look, this guy might hit 20 goals this year. And we all know how agents get excited when you hit 20 goals and you're a UFA and you're going into July 1st. So I think that Pia Suter is a guy I think they're going to want to take a crack at signing. The versatility is great great you can play anywhere in lineup uh... and i think i i i can tell you that brief and general talks of that started there

rick this is great buddy as always thank you for taking the time to do this today we really appreciate we even talk with the game last night really no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no and all that hold it i do want to see this uh... because i was all uh... ready to tell you about uh... how proud uh... everyone was of the canadian team but there was one text we got this morning at donnie kitzel at one he sums this up okay i want to read it to you no one should ever underestimate the heart that beats in the chest of a canadian that sums up uh... everything you donning kitzel at a nail that

and when you put that jersey on, the pride, and those Canadian players, they just absolutely, everybody slept well last night. And if you're not proud, then I don't know what kind of DNA makeup you have, but I thought Don and Kitsilano nailed it. And I just, everybody watching that game last night, it was just the best.

It was the best game we've seen in a long, long, long time. Well, you've got a big heart too, buddy. Strong. I know I do. Strong, proud. I know I do. Canadian heart. Oh, oh. Full of bacon. Actually, that's a problem. But anyway, don't worry about it too much.

Full of bacon and crown. I know. Well, that's a good combo. Not in the morning, though. I have a 12 o'clock rule. Nothing before noon. Nothing before noon. It's very responsible. You're so fit, buddy. You know they have bacon flavored Crown Roe now. They don't have bacon. They have apple. It's a breakfast crown.

Hey, listen, and they got to stop that crap. They got apple crown. Stop. Stop. Just give us the original. All this other crap like apple is just to make money. Just give us the original. Attaboy, Rick. Thanks for doing this today, bud. See you later. I saw a guy outside the liquor store yelling that once actually. Just give me the crown. Just give me the crown. Sir, again.

That was the Haliford and Bruff show. Rick Dollywell with a powerhouse segment there, starting off with the Kevin Lankin extension and ending with a rant on apple flavored Crown Royal. You get it all here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. We got a lot more to get into on the program. It's the final half hour of the program coming up. We still have to do our What We Learns. We're gonna do your What We Learns.

We're gonna read your Ask Us Anythings. We are also gonna give away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. For the best, ask us anything or what we learned. We have not chosen the winner yet. We have not chosen the winner yet, so you still got a chance to win. Dunbar number text line is 650650.

Text in now and get your thoughts in. What we learned or ask us anything. And before we go to break, I do need to tell you once again about Jan Pro. From the boardroom to the break room and everywhere in between, Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected. For a free quote, visit them online at JanPro.ca. Final half hour of the show coming up. You're listening to the Halford and Brough 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. Welcome to Kelownafanya.

West Coast. Yeah, Kelowna baby. Best place in the world right here. Ha ha! Colonabonga, colonabonga, colonabonga, colonabonga, hey! Colonabonga, colonabonga, colonabonga, colonabonga, hey! Hey 34 on a Friday, happy Friday 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 three of the program. It is what we learned in Ask Us Anything time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real

estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step. Okay, let's do some What We Learned and Ask Us Anythings. I'm gonna do the Vancouver Whitecaps as to what we learned because I think a lot of people

will probably be learning right now that the Whitecaps, one, played yesterday, kicked off their season, the North American version, although this one was in Central America, and two, lost. The Vancouver Canucks got an all-important road goal in the opening round of their ConcaCaf Champions Cup match against Deportivo Soprisa in Costa Rica, but they ultimately lost 2-1.

And as a matter of fact, it was a gut punch 2-1 loss as Soprisa scored in added time, injury time to seal a 2-1 victory at home in Costa Rica. So Coles notes version, Whitecaps started brightly, Ryan Gould scored in the 21st minute, and then they sort of wilted. They gave up a long distance goal at 1-1 that some people described as a golazo.

And some people described as not great goaltending by Yohei Takayoka. The away goal is very good for the Vancouver Whitecaps because the away goals rule does apply in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The return leg is going to be on Thursday at BC Place, meaning all the whitecaps really need to do is score a single goal at home and win 1-0 to advance on a draw.

A win outright will get it done, unless Soprisa comes in and starts scoring some away goals themselves. Losing the match late was not good, but the whitecaps have had a tendency to do that at times over the last few seasons. First match for the new gaffer Jesper Sorensen didn't go the way he envisioned. I don't think he'll be happy with squandering a lead, especially as late as they did. Whitecaps next game isn't against Sopriza though, they're going to open their MLS campaign on Sunday.

That's an afternoon affair kickoff in Portland. There's your white caps. Update, moocow me. Laddie? I have a ask us anything to throw at you guys. Okay. I want to know how much you think the tenacity and the intensity and everything we just loved about that Four Nations tournament had to do with the officiating. Cause I turned to my wife Katie after the game and I said, man, I thought the officiating was pretty good for like a winner take all game.

They didn't get too involved in doing Craig. They called one penalty. One. The whole game. It was a penalty game. They had to when Trocheck had the trip 200 feet away from him. Completely obvious. They had to call it.

Yeah. But we don't get international competition with this kind of body checking, this kind of physicality. How much of that is to do with the NHL officials? And are we gonna see that next year at the Olympics? I think there were some hooks and holds that didn't get called.

Canada got real lucky not getting dinged for too many men. Yeah, that as well. Real lucky, real lucky. That's two times in the tournament, by the way, that saved them on the Sweden game as well. Now, because we're Canadian, we'll say that that was actually a very savvy line change and then they earned the benefit of the doubt.

But how much was it just because the refs started letting things go? That's why it was so intense. The refs did not wanna call anything up. Can you imagine the IHF refs in that game calling Tiki-Tak, a little holding call here and that like, what has sucked so bad? The crews also get thrown together kind of haphazardly at those international tournaments

as well. I don't speak English. Yeah, they're like we got a Danish guy. Oh, we got a problem here then. The Danish guy and the Czech guy met yesterday. Now they're officiating together. It's a good point. Also, I did the hit over at News 1130 and it was not so intense in terms of the Q&A.

So you kind of do an abroad overview and I I was like, this tournament, the way that it plays out does not happen at the Olympics because you're not doing three fights in nine seconds at the Olympics. Like everyone's gone after that. I'm so glad that there were no controversial goals in this tournament too. There's a couple of entries that, that, um, that

I was like, Oh, that, that kind of looked offside. Yeah, there was a hidden one that I saw. And there was one actually where it was a flipping dump in. And I was like, imagine if they had to make a call where the puck is 40 feet in the air when it enters the zone or whatever. And they're trying to figure out, did the puck go in first or did the player go in first? Like I don't know if anyone I did think did you think it? Did you see that play that I'm like man that looked off? Yep

there was me it looked like the the flip was a little late and the player was in I'm like and And and I kind of can't remember who flipped it in if it was Canada the States but all I was thinking was like I kind of can't remember who flipped it in if it was Canada the States but all I was thinking was like Please clear this play because I don't want this game to come down to oh it looks like the Americans are looking at their iPad now Right, I didn't want that while you can't script a game like that you can Massage the narrative a little bit and I do think I I'll throw this out there, I think that the officials were told before the game and maybe before the tournament,

put the whistles away, let the boys play. I think that was with all of their ears. Even the three fight start, did Miller get an extra two? I can't even remember. There was an extra two. But there was like a power play, there was a power play but that was pretty much it, right? There was an extra two given to the US in over the course of the three fights.

And I think it was on the third fight with Miller. And I think it was because someone left the bench to join the fray. I thought somebody said it because he dropped his gloves first. Maybe it was like an instigated type thing. I can't even remember. It was all such a blur.

I was really hopped up. Because he like went after Pareko, right? He wanted to get out. So I think they gave him an extra. I was all hopped up on goofballs. It says, JT Miller got a minor for cross-checking after Pareko, right? He wanted to get out. So I think they gave him an extra. I was all hopped up on goofballs. It says JT Miller got a minor for cross-checking against Pareko.

Oh, okay. Maybe he had, cause he initiated it. And that was served by Kyle Connor and they told Kyle Connor, get used to that. Yeah, this is the most. You're actually going to serve an entire game at one point. This is the most contributions you're going to have to this game and this tournament is serving the minor.

Yeah. And then in the rest of that game, Sid got the, got the hooking penalty member against Matt Boldy, which was actually a really good defensive play. And then later on there was a penalty to Jake Gensel. This was all in the first period. And then this is the game in Montreal. No penalties in the second.

Yeah, the referees went. None in the third. The referees went into the room after the first period and were admonished for calling too many penalties, so they didn't call another one until last night. Last night there was one penalty in the second period, TROCHEC, an obvious trip on Sam Bennett. Okay, Moocow that. That was a good question.

That was a good question because we all wondered how it would be officiated and how, it was funny for all the talk of the Canadian power play heading in, it's like, oh yeah, well, I guess you need power plays to show off the power play. Yeah, I'll announce the winner of the $100 gift card to AJ's right now, it's MKL. And MKL gets the nod here because sometimes you just need to do good journalisming.

Sometimes you just need to be a big J journo. And he did, he asked this question and we've asked it for almost all of our guests today. Who's stock rose and dropped the most during the Four Nations tournament? Care to take a stab at this one, Jason Breff? Thomas Harley for Canada, for sure. I'd say Thomas Harley of all the skaters.

I think Jacob Slavin. A lot of people didn't know who Thomas Harley was. Jacob Slaven was already known as a really good defensive defenseman. Maybe people didn't appreciate him that much. His stock definitely rose. Falling. I mean, I think you all know who I'm going to pick.

Who's that, Jason? Not in my mind. Who's that, Jason? Uh, nevermind. All right. Uh, I'm gonna pick who's that Jason not in my mind who's that Jason? Never mind all right I'll say You know whose stock apparently rose a lot during this tournament was Kevin Lankan and cuz fresh off getting hooked Against the Canadians he comes out of the tournament and gets a five-year extension for the Vancouver Canucks of 4.5 million per so good job Kevin Lankan and you really proved your worth at the Four Nations faceoff.

It had nothing to do with his previous five months of work. Whose stock fell the most, Alfred? I don't know. Who's to say really? Look, okay, so the obvious answer that we're dancing around here is Pedersen. The only issue that I would have is that I'm

not sure it dropped that much more because the stock was already pretty low going into the tournament. League wide though, did a lot of people where their eyes opened. A lot of people were on notice. Fluto Shinzawa wrote about it. It's like, Hey, what's going on over there? And we're like, Hey, Fluto, you've won a

background on us, just give us a call. We can tell you all about it. It was. We just texted in Jack Hughes. He wasn't even noticeable out there. Jack. I thought he played better last night. Jack Hughes had a bad.

Why was Jack Hughes, Jack Hughes fell down eight times yesterday. What was going on there? Mrs. His brother. I guess that's why Quinn wanted to go to talk him up a little bit. Hughes had a bad, why was Jack Hughes, Jack Hughes fell down eight times yesterday. What was going on there? Misses his brother. I guess that's why Quinn wanted to go to talk him up a little bit. Hughes had a rough tournament. Yeah, he did.

There was a few American guys, actually, if you want to, I was, I listened to Washinsky's post game show with Arda yesterday and he's like, they need to reinvent that bottom six altogether. They were not happy with Adam Fox's play throughout the tournament. Adam Fox was a dash two yesterday and was on the ice for the game winning goal. So there was some guys there as well.

Well, Kyle Conner too, right? I mean, who saw him being a healthy scratch for the final? I was surprised. I thought going, doing what they did. Now, Hindsight. Especially as a Canucks fan, we've seen this guy absolutely light up the Canucks. Especially this year. Yeah. Benefit of Hindsight and the hindsight being 2020, you don't play Kreider and Matthew Kachuk in that

game who combined for 12 minutes of ice time, sit just six and change each. You put Kyle Connor out there cause he can, you know, play. Okay. Let's move on. Um, here's another ask us anything. What was the biggest goal of Wayne Gretzky's

career? That's a really good question because Gretzky, despite being the, uh, you know, overall goals leader in NHL history that Ovechkin is going to pass probably pretty soon, he was known as a playmaker and in the 87 Canada Cup, it was five assists in the game deciding, uh, or the third and final game. And, um, and you know, it was his pass

to Mary Lemieux and Lemieux was the finisher and he did finish it off. Um, a few goals stand out to me, his oddly enough is his empty netter to get 50 and 39, but that was a game that, that was his fifth goal of the game, so that's pretty good. in 39, but that was a game that, that was his fifth goal of the game. So that's pretty good.

He also had an overtime goal against the Leafs in the 93 conference final that sent it to game seven. And then he had a hat trick in game seven, but probably the one, and since we're talking about Pedersen so much, he scored an overtime goal against the Flames. I want to say it was in 1988 when he came in on the left wing with the slapper.

Against Mike Vernon. And then Petey scored a very similar goal to them. And that's, that's what got me going like, oh, that reminded me of Gretzky. And then you disingenuously twisted my words and said, oh, you're calling him Gretzky. I said, no. And I've been doing it ever since.

That goal, because it was against Calgary reminded me of a very famous goal that Wayne Gretzky scored. But I think to the textures point, there isn't like now McDavid has this goal and Sid has his golden goal and Mario Lemieux has his famous goal in 1987. Internationally, there isn't a famous goal for Wayne Gretzky that I can think of. In fact, the most famous part of Gretzky in terms of goal scoring might be the fact that he was left out of the shootout in the Olympics. You know what I mean? Okay. Can you fire up the dot matrix?

We will print out the remaining humanoid submissions. How did you read those first ones? We will print out the remaining humanoid submissions for what we learned. What we learned as always is brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Expand your palette with AJ's white pies made with rosemary and infused with cream sauce or garlic oil. We had one last night at the theater. It was very good. Only at AJ's Pizza.

I got one here from Raw. Someone else texted him by the way, goal 802. Yeah, against the Vancouver Canucks when he broke Gordy Howe's record. He just doesn't have the international goal. Yeah. And that wasn't like a, that wasn't like, I mean, it was a big goal, but team-wise, it didn't really matter. A little bit of a selfish goal, you know? Yeah.

Just wanted to do it for himself and breaking the NHL goals record. Total puck hog. Who do you think you are? Nathan McKinnon? So this one is from Rod in Fleetwood. It's an ask us anything. Rod from Fleetwood noticed that McDavid was the only player that did not bring the trophy above his head. I wanted to mention this because earlier in the show, I said anecdotally, there was a couple of people that texted me talking about the lack of enthusiasm

in which Crosby and McDavid hoisted the trophy. I should amend that. Crosby as McDavid hoisted the trophy. I should amend that. Crosby as the captain took the trophy, yelled, hoisted it high above his head, one text or texted, and what are you talking about? You're right. He had enthusiasm. It was the McDavid one that had zero

enthusiasm whatsoever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. McDavid took it, kind of hoisted it up at eye level, looked at it and then passed it along. I think he felt like if I'm going to have a famous trophy lift, it's not going to be for this. Right. My other point though was like the trophy, they

didn't, they weren't in that tournament to hoist that trophy. None of them were. They, the trophy just was made, it was made in a metal shop like a week ago. Like it's got nothing to it. They were happy. And that's why when you saw the enthusiasm on

McDavid's, you saw McDavid celebrate, right? McDavid was Fired up. He was on fire. He was electric when he scored that goal because that's what he wanted He wanted the golden goal to beat the US. That's what that tournament was about. It wasn't about the trophy That was the only point I was trying to make but good on the earlier texture for calling me out because Crosby did hoist that trophy loud and proud with enthusiasm. I mean, he might just have a separated shoulder. There's also that. He just couldn't lift it, right?

Right. But he played- It'll be fine, all those fans. Don't worry. He's got that separated shoulder. You know what? He played through it. You know what?

You can play through it. Can you imagine if he separated his shoulder, lifting up the Four Nations Cup? Would you? Well- He's out for the rest of the season. You know, Dolly Wall was talking about this. Like, if you're the Florida Panthers right now,

and Brady Kichuck did say afterwards, he's like, this injury has to be pretty serious if my brother didn't play, because they alluded to the fact that he played with a broken sternum during the Stanley Cup final. So his pain threshold is obviously high. Like, I wonder how badly he's hurt. You've got to let these guys do what they. I'm not talking about that.

No, yeah, no, no. I'm not talking about letting them. I'm talking about, I think he's bonafide hurt. Oh, of course you were just joking about what was, if you separate your shoulder, which would be a very serious injury. Like I think, I think Matthew Kachek is seriously hurt.

Uh, Alex, the old ICU nurse, what we learned, Drew Dowdy, 35 years young and still amazing, takes hits and keeps on ticking. A lot of love for Drew Dowdy after that game, including from this show. Yeah, he was, he was like a steadying presence back there and the hits that he did take in order to make plays, takes a lot of courage and takes a

lot of actually savvy and know how to take those hits. You know, you go back for the puck, you want to know where the four checker is. You want to put yourself in the right position along the wall. Just don't get hurt. And even if you get knocked down, that's okay. But take care of the puck.

And that's what Drew Doughty did a really, really good job of. Can I share a stat with you guys? Yes, Andy. This was courtesy of the Sportsnet ticker from last night post-game during a Brady Kachuck interview. Oh, the on-screen graphic? Yeah, it's been making the rounds on social media. It's an interesting stat.

No player on the United States roster has ever won a best on best tournament. It was, well it was a new breed of American players. It was a new wave. But yeah. Well, cause some of the Canadians had Crosby, Doughty. Yeah, I know, but you're not counting world juniors, are you?

No, I don't think that counts as a danger. It has the word junior in it. But how would they have won? Well, they would have had some guys that would, they were talking about the guys that would have been around to have the opportunity to do it. Yeah. Yeah.

No, but like the last. They played in Olympics, but didn't win obviously. Cause it's on the team last night. Yeah. It was a troll of a thing that they were playing. Oh, okay. It's like the guys that actually would have had an opportunity, didn't do it.

And then the guys that had the opportunity now haven't done it. Well, the Americans, the Americans have only won one best on best tournament am I missing the point that's the point That's the point. Oh, I see the guys the opportunity prior Okay, the guys that have played and I don't think there was any holdovers for 2010 not like Canada, right? Sorry, no Criter only made the NHL in 2012 Yeah, 96 was their only best on best win ever. What they were saying was the guys that-

Because the 80 Olympics wasn't best on best. It was a very subtle dig and good on sportsnet for coming off of it. Right. Because the idea was all the guys that had the opportunity last night, that was their first and that's what they were talking about. We've been presented this great opportunity. The idea is they're all losers. Yeah.

That's the idea. Yeah, that's the summary. Friendly reminder. We're going to have a day of being cocky and celebrating, and then we're going to go back to humility and kind of worrying about it because I, I don't, I don't think anybody else watched that tournament and was like, well, we took care of the Americans forever now.

They are never coming back. Right? Like, not, not to worry about it. And remember. They'll be even better at the Olympics. What we talked about heading into this tournament, we said at the very least, and it turned out to be so much more, but we said at the very least, let's have this as a table setter for the Olympics.

And we went through the long history of frankly Canadian disappointments At tournaments that set the table up for, um, not revenge, but you know, like redemption. Yeah. At the next Olympics, whether it was 2006 to 2010, or there was 1998 and 1996, which led to the gold at, in 2002, like now the Americans can play that narrative, right? Now the Americans are the ones that are going to be looking for the redemption. Yeah. I mean, that, that loss last night.

And hopefully they fail again. Yeah. And again and again and again and again. You saw it, you saw it on their face. You saw it on their faces last night. Um, that was a team that was, I don't want to say mortally wounded, but close to it because they were feeling that one more than they would have. I think then a lot of guys more than they would have felt their biggest loss in the national hockey league, be it in the playoffs or in the Stanley Cup final, those guys felt that last night.

And that's either going to be a driving force moving forward, or it's going to be something that they never get over, that they're always going to be number two. Which American do you think felt that the most? Austin Matthews? Austin Matthews would be the first one that jumped to mind. Because he made a pretty big coverage mistake.

Yep, Connor Hallebuck, who got out-ruled by Jordan Bennington, right? That was pretty great too. Because I remember back in 2010 thinking like, that's going to be tough on Kessler. And then like a year later, you lost game seven of the Stanley Cup final. We could check brothers too, right? They were the fuck.

But Matthew can just like won the top. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I'll tell you what I didn't win last night. Okay. We gotta get out of here. We will be talking about it on Monday. I'll talk about it in the group chat though. Don't worry. Signing off for now. I have been Mike Alfred. He's been Jason Brough. He's been a dog. And he's been laddy. This has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.