Halford & Brough in the Morning - Elias Pettersson Looks Checked Out

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, they discuss Saturday's Canucks loss to the Seattle Kraken (3:00), plus the boys look at the top stories from around the NHL (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.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. Their first two games, they're still in the thick of Rokinux tonight by a final score of 5 to 1 on all nights. He's got to play with more, you know, more zip, but put more pace to his game. Just had a little more zing and a little more pep. Zing and pep. See, those are the kind of words we're looking for. Yes. Good morning. Vancouver 601 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody.

It is Halford and is Brough. It is sports that 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairbyslopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Edda, good morning to you. Is Adam foot Michael Scott? Can you imagine?

I mean, there's like, I kind of see it. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brumph of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut that debt by up to 80% with no up front of fees. Visit them today at Sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour

one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Banker'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. We are coming to live from the Kintech studio with a cold, new year, new

opportunity for comfort with orthotics from Kintech. Got a big show ahead on a Monday. It's a four-guester, but the entire first hour uninterrupted Halbro. That's Right. Guest list today begins at 7 a.m. It is the Duke Morning Drive, brought to you by the Duick Auto Group.

Kevin Woodley, NHL.com, and In-Gole magazine is going to join the program at 7. Canucks says you heard on the call lost on Saturday in Seattle. They're back in action tonight at home against Dallas. 7 p.m. puck drop from Rogers Arena. Kevin is going to join us at 7 a.m. To talk about the Canucks, maybe some goalie stuff heading into the trade deadline. 7.30. Dennis Bernstein is going to join the program. He from the fourth period in Sirius XM.

NHL Radio. Dennis covers the LA Kings, and the Kings fired their head coach, Jim Hiller, over the weekend. Extremely tough times in L.A. right now. Injuries piling up, there's a coaching change, and the team is outside a playoff position all ahead of Friday's trade deadline. Dennis Bernstein is going to join us to talk some Kings at 7.30. 8 o'clock Ryan Hanna is going to join the program. Host of the Winged Wheel podcast out of Detroit.

Red Wings have hit the skids recently a little bit. They are really having problems scoring goals. and they're rumored to be interested in Canucks Center, Elias Pedersen. Could it work? Will it happen? We will ask Ryan Hanna from the Winged Wheel podcast at 8 o'clock this morning. Then at 8.30, usually what we learn time on the program, but not today. It's because Braden Coots is joining the program, Jason. Vancouver Canucks first round pick, currently playing for Prince Albert in the dub.

We will talk to him about the upcoming WHL playoffs, getting to work with Daniel and Hendricks Sidene on a regular basis. and, you know what, let's ask him where he thinks he might play next season. Yeah. That could be interesting. He's like, hopefully not Vancouver. Right. Anyway.

Wait a minute. I want to be in the NHL. Wait, I do. Seriously. It's a double-edged sword. Please, I beg you, don't clip that. Braden Kutz is going to join us at 8.30 this morning. All that said, we will try and work in some of our what we learns and some of your what we

learns in the entire 8 o'clock hour. So don't hesitate to send them in. Dunbar Lmer text line is 650, 650, 650. Hashtag him, WWL. We'll try and do your what we learn. in the final hour of the program. We got a lot to get into today. I'm not going to run through the guest list in reverse.

Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it?

You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies of vests and tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA. Well, with less than a week to go before the trade deadline, as rumors continued to swirl around potential changes to the roster of the NHL's worst team, the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday lost 5-1 to the Cracken in Seattle, and Elias Pedersen, the highest paid player on the team,

was stapled to the bench for much of the final period. Yeah, it's been that kind of season. and I know Drancer had some quotes from after the game that he put onto social media and Adam Foote said of Pedersen, he's got to be better and he knows that. And Pedersen said, coach is coaching to win, whatever he decides, I respect, I've got to be better, my number wasn't called. Now, I asked Drancer for some more details on that interaction because he was one of the few media guys. down in Seattle to watch that game in person. And he told me privately, he's like,

that was a stilted back and forth with Elias Pedersen. And here are some follow-up questions to Pedersen. These are going to appear in Dranser's article in The Athletic. That actually has, this article actually has kind of like a positive angle to it because Drancer also went down to Everett to watch Landon DuPont and he's basically saying like you know the Cracken won that game

but the Canucks are the ones in the position to add elite talent to their team because the Cracken are kind of mid but the Pedersen situation is still with the Canucks he Drancer asked Pedersen

if there was any communication from Adam Foote explaining the decision and he said that Pedersen was characteristically reluctant to provide a straight answer at the risk of creating a headline out of a situation that was sure to generate headlines. Regardless, and Pedersen actually said,

no, there wasn't communication, but I don't need to get into details. Then that's a headline. That's a headline. So no comment on it, my number wasn't called. Drenzer then said he pointed out to Pedersen that he's a player that's had a hundred point season in his NHL career while hitting nearly 40 goals. Was the benching a wake-up call?

No, I've got to be better. Pedersen said, there's nothing to it. I've got to be better. So, you know, it was... We're back at this stage of the proceedings. We're back at this stage. It was another listless performance by the Canoxa.

It didn't look that bad by way of the analytics. Like if you didn't watch the game and you went to natural stat trick and you're like, well, the score wasn't great, but... I didn't do either of those things. Right. Don't get this wrong. It was bad. The Canucks were down 2-0 after the first period. Liam O'Grane made it 2-1 in the second,

but that was as close as it got. Adam Foote actually pulled the goalie down 4-1 late. I'm not sure. Honestly, I'm not sure why. You're crazy, Foot. The Canucks were never going to make that game interesting. I don't think they created one opportunity with the extra attacker,

and Jordan Everly scored into the empty net to make it 5-1. The big story was Pedersen, though. Yep. The Kinnock started the third period with a full two-minute power play. And this is when people realized, oh, this might be interesting. And, you know, Shorty was on the call and he was like, no, at least Petterson on any unit. The second unit actually got the first crack. And then the first unit came out for the rest of it, but Pedersen wasn't on it.

All told, the team's highest paid player only got three shifts. in the third period with none in the final 10 minutes. He finished the night with no shots on goal, was minus two with just over 14 minutes of ice time. There was one hit, and he did have three wins and 10 face-off opportunities. Oh, so he lost the face-off battle, too. Do we have Adam Foote on Elias Pedersen?

Here's the head coach. With Elias Pedersen, third period, he's not on the power play. I don't remember if he might have touched some ice during the six-on-five, but I don't think he did. What sort of was behind that decision? Well, he didn't have his whatever it was. He's got to even better, and he knows that.

He's aware of that. We need more from him, and he's got to find it. And I, you know, that's what we, you know, I'm sure he talked to him. He knows he's got to be, you know, better for us. And I'm sure we'll see that next game. And is there any specific area where you're looking for him to be better? Is it just in general?

Like, you know, he's got to play more, you know, more zip, like put more pace to his game, more engaged. And the good things will happen when he gets his motor going. And, you know, he's aware of it, so I'm sure we'll see it next game. I know people were kind of making fun of that comment about, you know, he needs more zip. But, like, it's true. That's exactly what he needs.

He needs to play with more zip. More zing, more pep. More, but, yeah, yeah, good, those are good words. Good words. Does anyone have any other? Zing, PEP. I think he should play with even more Zing. Zest. I was some zest? A little more zest. Now, I know after the game that the Hockey Night and Canada crew were like, wasn't an injury? It wasn't an injury.

And I know some people have been speculating that this decision to bench Pedersen was somehow related to the trade deadline, perhaps as a pressure tactic to make him wave his no-move-cloths or consider more areas. I mean, that's where we are as a fan base right now. We've gone insane. I think it's probably just a coach that's at the end of his rope with the player. It really does amaze me that there are still fans that maintain that Pedersen isn't playing that badly and that it's all someone else's fault.

But I think those people are very much in the minority now, and I hope they are enjoying the time in their cult. Meanwhile, it's trade deadline week, and depending on who you ask, There's either significant interest around Pedersen or it's quiet. Bruce Garriac, the journalist out of Ottawa, reported we're told the Detroit Red Wings have been aggressive in their pursuit of the 27-year-old Ilius Pedersen. But here's Elliot Friedman on headlines on Saturday on Hockey Night Canada, suggesting that things are actually kind of quiet around Pedersen.

Okay, Vancouver. It was reported this week, Tyler Myers. He's considering a trade offer with Detroit. Myers has a no trade clause. I'm very sympathetic to Myers in his family situation. As we speak tonight, I believe that offer is still on the table. I think everybody was hoping there would be a decision by Monday. I just don't know where it stands right now. I also don't believe, as we do this, that Vancouver has a firm other offer for Myers. I think they're considering, I think they're talking to teams, but I don't get the sense there's anything else firm at this point in time. So we'll see by Monday. Patterson, I've looked around. I think it's quiet around him right now, Ron.

But the one thing I have heard about Patterson is that the Canucks are not interested in retaining on him. I think they've been asked and I've heard that that is not what they're willing to do. I've heard it's pretty quiet around him as of tonight, famous last words. Here, I've got a question that I'm going to throw out to the listeners here. or any of you guys too. Okay. You get two options. That's it.

Okay. Two options. Two options. Okay. One is you trade Pedersen, you get rid of the entire salary, but you get nothing back. Okay? That's one option. The second option is that you commit to keeping Pedersen on the Canucks for the rest of his contract, regardless. So you can, you can't, well, you can buy them out if you want.

want, but like the contract, the, I mean, the buyout's ridiculous, right? Yep. The contract remains with the Canucks until it ends one way or the other. So you're trading them for nothing, but you're getting rid of the entire contract or you're, so they're kind of the opposite, the complete opposite. What would you choose? The first, the first option, which is just trading them and getting nothing in return. And that sounds terrible.

And I know what I'm saying is that you've still got a living, breathing asset that you're willing to just go away for nothing. But I think this is about as bad as it can get with where the team is at, with where the, I would say potentially in limbo coach is at with the player. And the players seemingly shrug of the shoulders approach. Like I don't even saying I have to be better. And my number wasn't called. It just sounds, those sound like platitudes that he just like.

Because they are. It could be a list of 18 different things that he would say with the same amount of zest and zeal. Like, there's nothing to it. I mean, the cost is sunk at this point. God, I hate it when he says it'll just make a headline. Right. Number one, as Drantz pointed out, this is going to make a headline regardless.

Number two, who cares? Yeah. You're a professional athlete. But he's, I think mentally, I don't think. Mentally, he's been checked out for a while. And I don't know if it's to the degree of checked out on the team. his teammates, where his career is going, but he's obviously not performing at a level, and quite frankly, maybe not capable of performing at a level in this current scenario,

where management has to look at it and say, for the betterment of everybody involved, the guys that will remain, the executives that are going to be left to put this thing back together, the fan base, the owner, and Pedersen. Can you imagine being his teammate? It'd be really difficult. Yeah. be really difficult to watch this.

I think it would be, I think the most, the most damage it will be inflicted is to younger players or guys trying to still forge their way into the National Hockey League and thinking that this is at all how it should happen. And guys that have already been traded. They're the guy making $11.6 million a year,

a handful of guys in the National Hockey League that make that kind of money, right, that have extended into that 10 million plus cap hit, can't get a shift at the end of a 5-1 loss to Seattle. on a random Saturday night in the final third of a lost season. Like, you know, and don't tell me that it's not because the coach isn't trying to win, the coach pulled the goalie, right?

If you're trying to make a statement. I think the coach had the over, by the way, because it was at five and a half. Potentially? Yeah. Potentially. That's not talking of coaching. You know, when you have that scenario, as a coach, you're sending a message. You are absolutely sending a message.

Yeah. You're sending a message. Because you could have just kept it even, and you just could have played out the string. But going to the power play and then going up with another man advantage, forced obviously, because he goes six on five, and still deciding not to put your highest paid player out there. That is about as big a message you can send without saying the words as a head coach.

Everyone that's texted in, there's been a bunch. If they've chosen the option, it's the first option that you chose. You know, nothing back. Trade him for nothing. Except for Brandon in Vancouver, who did not understand the point of the exercise, he said, can we keep him for like two to three years, then dump him? Brandon, pay attention.

Brandon, this is, no, there's two options. The options are stark and opposite for a reason. This is why public schools are failing because you're not understanding. Okay, what about one year? Then you have an opportunity to do it at the deadline. Can we still retain? There's two options. There's two choices.

Was there a third more depressing option that the Canucks are just trying to avoid, which is trading for nothing and also retaining? Is that just the nightmare scenario? Yeah, they would never do that. They would never do that. They would never do that. They would never do. I feel like the bridge too far is.

Maybe the bridge too far is retaining. The Connects still haven't made a trade since moving Kiefer-Shirwood to the sharks in January. Now it has been reported that the Canucks have an offer on the table from the Detroit Red Wings for Tyler Myers, but it's believed Myers would prefer to go elsewhere if he's traded, perhaps staying west. I know people have mentioned Dallas,

but I also wonder about the Oilers, who are among many teams looking for a right-shot defenseman. We talk about the Oilers in the next segment because they are a bit of a mess right now, certainly relative to expectations. The pending UFAs, Bluger, Kane, and David Camp should be traded this week, But the way the trade deadlines have gone in the past for the Canucks, nothing's guaranteed there.

I know there's been a suggestion that the Canucks should actually keep Bluger. And if the market doesn't develop for him, I wonder if they will. Although I know that is not what fans want to hear. And then there are the veterans with Term, the VWTs, as we call them, including Petterson. Connor Garland doesn't have trade protection until this summer, so he could be moved if the Canucks get an offer they like. Debrusk and Besser. have also been subject to trade speculation, although they control the process with their no moves like Pedersen does.

Let's face it, this is a dire time for the franchise. They are going to get a very good player in the draft this year, which was the point of Drance's article, which is going to publish, I think, at around 7 a.m. our time. But they're going to need so much more to get back to respectability, let alone Stanley Cup contender status. It is one of the lowest points in franchise history. And aren't you glad you're listening to Halford & Brough at this time? As we know in the salary cap era, there are no quick fixes or shortcuts when a team has sunk this low. None that work at least.

The Canucks have tried a few quick fixes and shortcuts. And well, here they are. Consider the Canucks are dead last by 10 points. They're dead last in the NHL by 10 points. It's impressive. They're the worst defensive team in the league and the third worst offensive team. They do have some young players in the lineup, but there's no budding superstar in the organization, unless you want to be very generous when discussing Zev Boullium or Braden Kutz, who will chat with later in the show.

There is uncertainty with the future of management. There is uncertainty with the future of the coaching staff. They don't have a captain and, oh yeah, they still don't have a practice facility. other than that though things are pretty stable they're pretty stable for the Canucks they're happy with how things are going outside of those things which is why honestly this week is so big for the Canucks

they need a win not on the ice but off the ice they need the week to go smoothly and efficiently they don't necessarily need to pull off a blockbuster but they have to avoid the face plants they have to come away with at least I don't know a few more draft picks

at the least by the way they host Dallas tonight, Carolina Wednesday. Tickets on the secondary market are affordable. I swear if the trade deadline passes and they don't make a single trade, I am going to become the Joker. Well, you might want to prep your face paint because it's a very... I'll lose it. There's a very real chance that they don't get a lot of stuff done by Friday. The undercurrent of this year's trade deadline has very much been... It's tough to make moves right now. You already see a lot of general managers lining up their excuses ahead of Friday. I've heard a lot of talk about how the playoff salary cap is screwed

things up for everybody, right? Heard a lot of talk about how there hasn't been as much movement as previous years because things have changed under the CBA. There hasn't been a ton of movement already. And we've seen some of the bigger, more obvious names go off the board, Rasmus Anderson and Artemis Panarin. The Kinex already made one deal with Sherwood. And all these other deals that they're trying to make right now, the ones of significance, involve guys that have no trade clauses, which by the way are running rampant throughout the National Hockey League.

Vancouver is not the only market that's openly moaning about having way too many guys with full no movement clauses. And you've got a bunch of teams that are in the mushy middle where they're not sure exactly what they want to do going into the deadline. You have a handful of teams

that are starting to emerge as, okay, we're ready to buy. Edmonton is fully in that conversation. It sounds like Detroit's fully in that conversation as well. be curious to see what happens in Los Angeles now because of how much they've invested into this season. But there's still some themes that are hanging around the fringes of whether they want to buy, whether they want to sell,

or maybe they'll just stand pat and wait for the summer. And that's probably the most depressing part of all of this is that historically in the NHL, we have built up our expectations for days like the trade deadline only to walk away disappointed because someone is willing to kick the can down the road to the next significant date. Disappointed and a little embarrassed with how it's gone sometimes?

I mean, Jim Benning had some nightmare. trade deadlines where he had to go up after the deadline was over and explained how he couldn't get anything done. Just ran out of time. And you know the Canucks last year, they didn't trade Suter, they didn't trade Besser. They lost Suter for nothing. I remember

the comments about Besser, which we all thought, well, that's the last straw. Besser isn't coming back to Vancouver because he wasn't very happy with them. Even though I think Patrick Alvin, to be fair, I think he just kind of inelegantly said why they couldn't trade Besser

and maybe he didn't think about how that might affect Besser because he essentially said like if you had seen some of the offers that we got for Brock Besser meaning there weren't many good ones and then the Canucks re-signed Brock Besser and now we're in this position. So it's going to be an interesting week. I don't know if it's going to be a good week or a bad week

but it's going to be a week. Halford and I are going to do a special four-hour trade deadline show. working in an extra hour for you, the listener. I mean, that's, that's accountability, you know? That's, we are. We were also told to do it. We were told to do it, but we were also very gritty. Okay, in the next segment, maybe we'll read some of your text into the Dunbar Lumber

text line at 650, 650, but I know Halford has prepared the story from the weekend in non-Connucks News. And man, there are some Canadian teams that are not feeling. very good about themselves right now. Edmonton, Toronto. It has not been a good year for the Canadian NHL teams, and we'll get into that with the trade deadline in mind on the Halford-Abrough show on SportsNet 650.

It's Canucks Central on Sportsnet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. On a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody, Halford, Graves, SportsNet 650.

I thought we were just going to let the pan flute go there for a bit. Sounds like Phil Collins. I was thinking about it. We're having technical difficulties on the show this morning. We are? Yeah. A dog being one of them. Hey, not my fault.

Do you want to hear the best? Not my fault. We have a... A dog's like, listen, I don't want to create a headline here, but... Please do not make this a headline. We have a We have a morning sheet Of reads that we're supposed to do on the program, right?

Bruff has one of those when he comes in too. Yeah. Hey-oh. Hey-oh! Anyway, this is the one Andy sends me this morning. With the copy, nothing to see here. It is completely blank. Why would you send me this?

I don't know. Let you know what's going on, keeping you in the loop. It's pretty great. Halper and Brub in the morning. is brought to you by Sands and Associate. Do you have a CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates can help. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com.

We're still in hour one of the program. Hour one 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 the Middle 1170 Pall Street in Vancouver. So we spent the first half hour of the program talking exclusively about the Vancouver Canucks

as we head into Friday's trade deadline. But there's a lot of other stories going on. across the National Hockey League with a lot of other teams that are facing a lot of big decisions going into Friday. One of them, the Los Angeles Kings, who made a big decision over the weekend, firing head coach Jim Hiller on Sunday and naming associate coach DJ Smith,

noted DJ, DJ Smith, the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. The firing comes three days after fans at crypto.com arena chanted fire Hiller. during an 8-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. And then Ken Holland heard those calls, and he's like, you got it, fans. I'm going to do exactly that.

We came in on Friday morning. Remember, I told you I stayed up to watch that game to the bitter end. And I said, there are a handful of times, when you watch the NHL for a long time, there's a handful of times where you see a team that is verily clearly checked out on their coach and not necessarily playing to get him fired, but not playing hard enough to keep them employed.

And that's what the L.A. Kings did against Edmonton. Now they rebounded with a win, but it was too little too late for Hillers. So he gets shown the door. They're a really interesting time for this team. They made the big splash to get Artemmy Panarin ahead of the Olympic break. Then they lost Kevin Fiala to a season-ending injury at the Olympics. After they came out of the Olympic break, Drew Doughty got hurt, Andre Kuzmenko got hurt, Joel Armea got hurt.

They're outside the playoff picture now looking in. They've still got a week to make a move. But there are a lot of discussions going on. We'll talk to Dennis Bernstein about this when he joins the show at 730. A lot of conversations not about the on-ice product so much, but specifically about Ken Holland as the general manager. And Luke Robitai's tenure is the president of this team, which has been a pretty big nightmare because they have not had a lot of success in the postseason, obviously.

No playoff series wins. And we all know that they've come up against the Abnitone Oilers a few times. I'm surprised you didn't use a looming specter. Nope. Because there's a looming spencer. expector of Anzegopatar not going to be on the team next year. So the Kings were obviously expected to do a lot better in Copatar's farewell season. You know, we're going to go out.

He announces at the beginning of the year. It's his last year. At the very least, I think everybody expected a playoff, a birth. Never mind what they do in the playoffs. They are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in five seasons in Copatar's farewell season. It has been a nightmare for this team. I do wonder, well, two things really.

One, what Ken Holland has in his arsenal or like loaded up in the chamber to try and make a move ahead of Friday's deadline. And then two, if he doesn't do anything of significance and they miss how much turnover there's going to be in that organization because they would have to be bitterly, bitterly disappointed to send Kopitar out like that. And then to have made this Panarin deal. They didn't have to spend much to get Paneer. I mean, they had to spend cap space, but they didn't have to spend much to get them. But that's a sick, that move is symbolic of a team that's going somewhere.

Not a team that's on the outside of the playoffs. It might be. I mean, I can't imagine that there will be any sort of like full-scale rebuild, but a direction change entirely because this season has been really bad for them. They are not a good hockey team. And one of their big issues is the Quentin Bifield. We can also talk to Dennis Bernstein about this as well, has just never materialized into the player they thought he.

be. This has never happened. No. And now you've got to wonder if it's ever going to happen. Or if he needs to move off the college. He's at that age. He's at that age for sure. All right. Well, she got. Yeah. So they're not the only team in a tailspin in the Western Conference right now. The Edmonton Oilers have lost five of six,

including Saturdays five, four loss to the San Jose Sharks. In their last 10 games, this is pre-Olympic break and post, the Oilers have scored the most goals in the NHL. 44. That's pretty great. The problem is in their last 10 games, the Oilers have also allowed the most goals in the NHL, 46.

And the record during that 10-game stretch is a not-impressive 4-and-6. And their games are fun to watch, man. Highly entertaining. There's at least nine goals on the board every game. Yeah. But shocking, too? Shocking defensive play and usually some shockingly nice goals with McDavid or Drysidal involved. But those guys are, they're one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL.

despite all the talent they have up front, you just, you can't, you know, you can't win a cup like that. And sometimes they turn it around. On one of their runs to the Stanley Cup final, do you remember how good their penalty kill was? It was unbelievable. Like defensively, they locked in on the PK. The PK against the Canucks was almost perfect.

Yeah. It was lights out. Yeah, it was that year. Yeah. That's right. Yep. But it was lights out the whole run. And that was the year, that was the year in hindsight,

they should have won the cup. Probably. Even though they went down 3-0 in the cup final, they battled back, and I thought they were going to do it. That was their best team. The team was still good the next year, and they get to the Stanley Cup final. But, you know, this year you're just looking at some of the depth pieces. You're looking at the age of some of their complementary players, and you're looking at a goal-tending situation that still hasn't been solved. Like, people say, do they have a goal?

problem? Yeah, they got a goalie problem. But could the guys play better in front of those goalies? Oh yeah. And the combination is almost like an exponential of bad goaltending and bad play in front of them. So to give you an idea of how bad things are defensively,

the Oilers power play in the three game set, they did the California trip coming out of the break. It went 50% on the road trip and they scored at least four goals in every single game that they played in California. and they walked away from it with a grand total at two points.

So we'll play some audio here. This one was making the rounds over the weekend. This is Mark Spector, who in a very spectorian way, went about asking the questions of Darnell Nurse, but also in asking Nurse about the team's defensive, what was asking about the rest of the guys as well. It was a little bit of a turst back and forth. We thought we'd play it for you now.

Here is Mark Spector talking to Darnell Nurse after Saturday's 5-4 loss. in San Jose. It's some of your best players that are making mistakes tonight. One of the goals, Nugent Hopkins and Hyman, are leaving a guy in front of the net. McDavid gives a puck away on maybe the fourth goal. Your game wasn't great.

Like when the guys wearing E's and Cs aren't doing it, how does the rest of the team supposed to do it? Well, yeah, no, it's, yeah. I mean, it starts with us, starts with the Leas. It goes from there. I think, you know, throughout our line, there's some guys that stepped up and made some really good plays tonight.

And like you said, there's two main mistakes. to many of us. What about your game? How's your game going to look like you fought it tonight? Good analysis. Yeah. Well, my point would be it always takes, when the team's having a hard time,

it takes the guys wearing the letters, the best players, to get you out of this thing. Tonight, we didn't see that. The best guys were the ones making the mistakes. Does that have to change before you can get out of this thing? Yeah, for sure. All right. They love spec in that room.

Again, I am right at my analysis. I appreciated what he was trying to do because he had nurse there in a one-on-one. He wasn't trying to say like, you're the problem here. He's trying to say all the guys making mistakes. But while he did circle back and he's like, what do you think of your? I mean, nurses struggled. They're playing, they're deploying him as a fourth guy.

He's playing just over 20 minutes tonight. And everyone's kind of pointed out, we can no longer play Boochard and Echholm more than they're already playing. That's our top pair. And they are, they are, they are played is full. So we need this pair to step up among others. Now, I've been guilty of this as a reporter too because sometimes silence can be awkward

and you're just trying to fill in the blanks but when you ask a question what have you thought of your play just leave it at that. Like don't say it looks like you were you were fighting the puck out there just because then you've already answered the question for you know what have you thought about your awful play

yeah that's the good way I'm asking it actually yeah my what? Oh no I'm a leading question your play which has been awful. atrocious I don't know if you're watching out there, but... I'm sorry, I hate silence. If there was a takeaway... If there's a takeaway

from all of this, though, it's... The really interesting thing is that they haven't pinpointed one particular reason why they're bleeding goals the way that they are. Everyone is shared

some level of responsibility for this. The goaltending has been poor. The defenders, especially nurse, have really had a hard time with it. But his spec pointed out, in the game against San Jose, it was Connor McDavid with the costly

turnover that led to the 5-4 goal that the sharks capitalized on. I keep thinking they're going to gas the coach. That's where I go back to it too. It seems like the easiest thing. Pete DeBore is out there. I think the King's firing Hiller. I mean, we'll talk to Dennis Bernstein about that. It's not like people haven't been

calling for that in that marketplace, but it's also like this last gasp effort to try and get some wins and get into the playoffs. Like, look at, I mean, the Blue Jackets fired their coach and got an immediate bump. I mean, the Sabres fired their GM, and they got a new GM bump, which I've never seen before. Sometimes it's just a shake-up.

It's just a shake-up, and someone comes in there with some semblance of fresh ideas, something you haven't already heard already, and, you know, how many times have we seen it in the NHL where the team that actually wins the Stanley Cup has fired their coach earlier in the season? Now that being said, it's getting a little late. It is. I will be very curious to see if the third coaching change in the National Hockey League is indeed

Knoblock out and DeBoran because it makes a lot of sense, but it's getting late. Let's turn our attention now to Toronto. Another Canadian team that is struggling as we get closer and closer to the trade deadline. Maple Leafs are in dire straits. A 5-2 drubbing, another drubbing this time at the hands of their provincial rivals in Ottawa. And Craig Burby doesn't care that the team is struggling. doesn't at all. You know who does, though, Austin Matthews. The gold medal winning captain of the U.S. team at the Olympics said that his team's

performance on the weekend against Ottawa was embarrassing. Here's more from Austin Matthews after the Leafs were drubbed 5-2 on Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators. Yeah, I thought we started better. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, just kind of lost it there. You know, just really disconnected throughout. all three zones and I mean just

bad just fairly embarrassing to be honest with you it's just you know not the way you just have we need to have more pride in our play no matter where we're at no matter what the situation is we just have to have more pride in our game and we didn't have that tonight

so Justin Bourne had a really good piece on sportsnet.ca just on how the Leafs shouldn't be afraid to sell big at the deadline and just sell big in general. Even if you're not willing to trade a guy like Austin Matthews and that's understandable, everyone else should be out there. Yes.

You know? Because the whole team, there's problems with the whole team, right? The blue line needs to be completely done over. And any idea that, well, they'll get Chris Tanna back next year and maybe he'll be healthy. He's old. You know, like you're going to have to do this eventually. And, I mean, we've said it time and time again on this station. NHLGMs are so scared of the unknown.

They're just, they're just terrified of it, you know? And it is understandable because it's hard to find talent. It is. It's difficult to find talent. And I know this is, in some ways, an appellant. to Orange's comparison, but the Seattle Seahawks just won the Super Bowl. A few years ago,

there were people that were like, you can't trade Russell Wilson. You can't. You can't trade him. Don't trade Russell Wilson. You know, he's still got the potential to be elite. And he wasn't at that time, but maybe he'll get it back. And I make changes and keep Russell Wilson. Well, they traded Russ.

And then, you know, they brought in Gino Smith, and he was better than expected, but he didn't get the Seahawks over the hump. But then they went out and got another quarterback, Sam Darnold. And like, they just weren't afraid to make changes, you know? Again, it is very different in the NFL when you can cut players, et cetera, et cetera, and your draft picks make an immediate impact. I understand all that. I do.

But I still think that NHL GMs err way too much on the side of, like, well, maybe we'll just play better next year or maybe we'll be healthier next year. We've certainly seen that in Vancouver. Maybe, I don't know, maybe if we do better and they're just so scared to make changes. And frankly, a lot of this brings us back to all the no-move clauses that they've handed out

because it also makes changes more difficult not just finding the right trade partner but not getting equal value for the players. The GMs really need to get together. and collude. That would be the best way to do it. Collusion works. Looking up throughout history.

Speaking of teams that might be making moves as we get closer to Friday's tread deadline, we're not going to turn our attention to an American club, but one that has connections to a Vancouver club. It's the Detroit Red Wing. So I want to play some more audio here. Great weekend for audio, by the way.

Todd McClellan, while discussing his scuffling Red Wings team, had a pretty great line about some of the guys that aren't providing anything on a nightly basis, but are still out there doing stuff, just not the stuff that makes a difference. Here is Todd McClain over the weekend talking about some of the guys, the guilty parties on his Detroit Red Wings team.

What can this group learn from the margin of error throughout this time of the year? You know, it's a real good point, but, you know, what can we learn? We have game management skills that every, minute matters, that the starts of periods, end of periods, checking skill, I can go on and on. I can give you a checklist of 100 things long. But right now for us, I think we have some players that are playing well and playing hard. And then we have some guys that are just jerseys. And what I mean by that is they're wearing jerseys, they're skating around, they're eating up some minutes, but we need more. We just flat out need more. We talk about scoring five-on-five.

We talk about forecheck. If you're not forechecking and being physical, shooting, backchecking, you know, winning faceoffs, blocking shots, and what are you doing? And we need more from some guys. We can't just be on the team at this time of year. You've got to be effective at this time of year. The Red Wings could fall out of this, you know. There are teams.

They're currently in the second wildcard spot. They got 74 points. The Bruins have 71 in the second wildcard spot. Sorry, the Red Wings are in the first wildcard spot. The Bruins are in the second wildcard spot. And then the Washington Capitals, who have a plus 11 goal differential, they're still a quality team, are only five points back of the wings. Now, granted, the caps have played two more games than Detroit.

So that's going to be tough. Columbus is hanging around too. Bones, baby. Bones, bum. Yeah, they're 7-2 and 1 in their last 10. And then the Ottawa senators who've had their... issues this year. But, I mean, they've got a plus nine goal differential. And they're a very good

defensive team. They are. If they get the goaltending, the Sends could go on a run and they played one fewer games than the Detroit Red Wings. And I mean, it's an eight point gap. It's unlikely, but the Red Wings should not

feel that they are safe and comfortable in a playoff spot and that the drought is definitely going to get broken. Like, I think Buffalo, is going to break that drought, but I don't know if Detroit should be comfortable. So let's start piecing this together as it pertains to the Vancouver Canucks. You got a Detroit team that is two four and one in their last seven. They can't score.

If you're wondering who the aforementioned jerseys were that Todd McClellan was talking about, guys that are just jerseys, just fill in laundry at this point. Mason Appleton, 19 games without a point. Michael Rasmussen, 16 games without a point. Andrew Kopp, James Van Riemsdike, and J.T. Comfer are all honing in on double-digit games without a goal. They just don't score. That's a couple centers there in COPP and JT. Compr. Why would you mention that

Jason? I'm just wondering. So just thought it was interesting. Take that. You've got this long playoff drought. You look like you're going to snap it, but all of a sudden things start to dry up offensively as you get closer to the trade deadline. Steve Eisenman, the general

manager, was lamb-based by one of his best players last year, Dylan Larkin, for not making a move at the deadline, a season in which, of course, Detroit fell short of making the playoffs. Iserman willing to allow that to happen again because it is potentially trending in that direction. They may make it in with the roster that they've currently got,

but right now, and we'll talk to Ryan Hanna about this at 8 o'clock, and we have him on from the Winged Wheel podcast, they're not scoring enough to win enough games to get in. Where is Ryan, or where is Steve Iserman on the, you know, like, is he at the desperation mode? Well, that's what we're under him. Because it's Steve Eiserman, and you just, you can't really imagine him getting fired in Detroit. But I also can't imagine ownership being very happy if the Red Wings don't turn into a Stanley Cup contender soon.

Do you remember all the excitement around Steve Iserman when he took over, when left Tampa Bay and he took over the Red Wings? That was a long time ago now. You could get fired. I could see it. Well, I think he's got... Maybe there'll be an amicable departure. I think what's going to happen here is Eisenman's going to have one big swing.

And I don't know if it'll be at the deadline. Oftentimes, like you said, conservatism rules the day, and you often kick the can down the road to the offseason. But I wonder if the play for him will be Patterson. I wonder if that's the move. Pete would have to wave, though. You have to agree to go to Detroit.

But if you look at the... He loves playing with Lucas Raymond. If you look at... loves a strong word. He does. Lucas Raymond's like, you know what? I'd rather play with Dillamark.

Yeah, why don't we ask old Lucas about this? Not important. Here's a thing. You're going to play with him and you're going to like it, Lucas. If this deal, in my estimation,

if this deal, if a Pedersen deal is going to come to fruition, the issue I have with some of these teams that have been rumored like Carolina and everything is I look at them and if I'm the Hurricanes, I'm like,

why would you do this? Carolina, why would you do it? You're fine as an organization. You win 50 games, year you have 100 plus points you get to the playoffs i don't think he's the missing piece for you what you need to consummate that deal is a guy that's a little desperate and a little reckless and doesn't have a lot of options at all three of those boxes are ticked by eisenman and the

red wings they're desperate to get in the playoffs they're desperate to make a splash their fans want peterson i i've been on red wing social media a little bit and they're like they're at that stage where they're like yeah let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's get after it. Let's make a big move here. Well, it's tantalizing. I get it because, I mean, if they somehow unlock the guy, which I still don't know if that's going to happen, but if they were to, oh my goodness, they would be getting one hell of a player. Furthermore, you know that Iserman and Rutherford slash Alvin have spoken because the Tyler

Myers deal has been hanging in the ether. We know that the Detroit offer is out there. We know that, and I don't know how much longer Myers is going to sit for, by the way. Does he just continue to sit out until he decides that he's, going to turn down the deal. I guess so. Has he played his last game as a Vancouver Canach? I thought there was like a quasi deadline for today.

Yeah. But maybe that's just the Detroit one. Because Elliot said there's no other firm offer on the table for Tyler Myers. Okay. And before we go to break, I do want to turn our attention ever so briefly to MLS in the Vancouver Whitecaps. Brough and I were both at the game on Saturday. White Caps ran roughshod over Toronto FC 3-0. a clinical 3-0 victory over what Jason and I may have had the glory of witnessing,

one of the worst first halves of football that I've ever seen from a professional outfit. TFC. The FSA is terrible, man. TFC finished. Are they going to win a game all year? TFC finished the first half with zero shots on goal, zero shots attempted, and expected goals of, wait for it, zero. also

They couldn't complete a pass Zero corners But they did have five off sides So they did something right They got forward Just in a very illegal fashion But it was like right off the bat I know you were a couple minutes late to the game

Because you were you were getting There was a tequila soda lineup or something But I was there early Because I'm a good fan And TFC right off the start Like they were missing wide open passes And then their keeper just gave it directly to the white cat

It couldn't be a bigger. I don't know if they have the term pizza in soccer, but there's a big pizza. And then who's that guy, AZ? AZ, buddy. Is he new? Yeah, we talked to him. He scored his first goal last weekend when they beat Real Salt Lake.

Yeah. Yeah, he's an American guy that they got from the Polish. So he took on a TFC defender in the box, and the TFC defender took the most heavy-footed foul. I've ever seen. And then, anyway, the White Cubs got a penalty and Mueller stepped up and scored. I was like, I don't, you can, can you be that heavy footed and be a professional soccer player? It was wild how bad he and the rest of TFC look.

They looked awful. So Rahim Edwards, who plays for TFC, came out on the second half. Actually, in his postgame media availability, publicly apologized to the TFC supporters because there were some there. Yeah, they were in good form too. But he said, like, too. They're a little annoying, but they're loud through the whole game. Yeah. And he said, forever.

one that made the trip and for everyone to watch that game we have to apologize that's how bad it was. This does not take away from the fact that the white caps were far, far, far superior to their Canadian counterparts. As you mentioned, Mueller got two goals. Brian White scored his 80th goal as a Vancouver white cap movie. He needed that too. He did. He did struggling a little bit. His confidence was down and he had an opportunity early in the match and I thought, did you see that when he came? I thought it was a pretty tentative shot. He was like, I don't know about this, but so it was good to see him get off the Schneide. Mueller had two goals. His second was on,

was a nice goal. Yeah, very well worked set piece. It was what they call. It was flicked on, Halford. Yeah. It was flicked on to Mueller who was not marked at all. We call that straight off the training pitch, because that's one that you work on several times.

Laborta with a backflick and then Mueller wide, wide, underscore wide open in front of goal to tap it in. But hey, the white caps now. I know soccer terms. You're very good at soccer terminology. The white caps have started their season.

They were very good on the pitch. pitch. The white caps have started their season. Four matches in, three wins and a draw. And they have not conceded a single goal yet. So good on the white caps as they've continued on their form for last season. We got to get to break. When we come back, the guests had a horrible hot dog at BC Place, by the way. I don't know why I keep buying them. I don't know why you keep buying them either. I just, I was just like, okay, I'll get a hot. Maybe this time will be a, nope, food poisoning right away. He's looking at them. He's like, I'll have the gray one in the back. I'm like, just give you a hot dog.

What on with a bandaid stuck? It's almost like a hot dog. It's almost like a hot. challenge now. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingole magazine is going to join us on the other side. You're listening to the Halford-imbrough show on Sportsnet, 650.