Halford & Brough in the Morning - Elliotte Friedman On JT Miller's Future With The Canucks

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports (3:00), they talk Saturday's big Canucks win over the Oilers (6:00), plus they chat the latest Canucks trade rumours with Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman (26:19). 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.

Whoa! Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? up, McDavid gets Garland with a pretty good cross check up high. To the face. To the face! To the face! No! Here goes Berkeley into the clear through the snow. All the way home, he's had another home run against the Rams.

The finality of it is tough for me to swallow. Good morning Vancouver, 6.01 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody, it is Halford and it is Bruff. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

A-Dawg, good morning to you. Good morning. Ladi, good morning to you. Good morning. Gladdy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Bref in the morning is brought to you by, Let's Go with Pacific Honda, North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. 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 them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step.

So normally at this stage of the game, I say we have a big show ahead. And then Brough's like, is it really a big show? It is a big show today. We have so much to get into from a fantastic weekend in sports. They were great moments, great drama along the way. Some unfinished business on the subject of the Vancouver Canucks. There's lots to get into. Guest list today, 630.

We're going to talk to Friedge. Elliott Friedman is going to join the program. What a wild weekend for the Vancouver Canucks, there's lots to get into. Guest list today, 6.30, we're gonna talk to Freage. Elliot Friedman's gonna join the program. What a wild weekend for the Vancouver Canucks. At some point on Saturday afternoon, I thought that we'd be coming in here doing a Monday show very different than the one that we're gonna do today. Specifically one where JT Miller

was not still a member of the Vancouver Canucks. He is for now. We'll talk to Freage about what happened on Saturday. I guess maybe more importantly,age about what happened on Saturday. I guess maybe more importantly, what didn't happen on Saturday. We'll get up to speed on everything regarding JT Miller and a potential trade out of Vancouver with Freage at 630 this morning. So stay tuned for that.

He'll be coming up in about 20 minutes time. Seven o'clock, Mike Tanier is going to be joining the program. Our NFL insider from the two deep zone sub stack. The AFC and NFC championships are set. Philadelphia will host the Washington commanders. What? In the NFC championship? Yeah it happened. And the Buffalo Bills yet again will face the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship. We'll go back over all the divisional round games with Mike. We can talk about everything that happened over the weekend. It was a great weekend of football. Mike Tannier is going to join us at seven o'clock to talk about all that.

At eight o'clock, we will talk to Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk right here on Sportsnet 650. Maybe what we can do with Drance is talk about the other stuff, the non JT Miller stuff involving the Vancouver Canucks because he wrote a piece for the athletic on Saturday night why the ongoing JT Miller trade saga overshadowed a pretty solid win by the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. Against the NBA.

It was a good win. Oh yeah, they won. Yeah, and there was also a lot of player discipline and player safety at the end of that game as well. So we'll talk to Drantz at eight o'clock. So that's starting to work in reverse on the guest list. Drance at 8, Mike Tannier at 7, Elliot Friedman at 6.30. I'm not going to talk anymore because we got a lot to get into.

So without further ado, Greg, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed that? You missed that? What happened? I missed all the action because I'm moving. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that?

What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Okay, first half hour of the show is uninterrupted, Halberd. I think we're going to break this down into three major conuxt stories from the weekend. First, JT Miller, second, the win over the Oilers, then the third, the fallout from the cross checks from Connor McDavid and Tyler Myers on Saturday night.

Or what I call cross check a Palooza. Yeah, it was. It was a Palooza of cross checks. Anyway, let's start with JT Miller. Got to start with this. So prior to Saturday's game against the Oilers, and it was Rick Dollywall leading the charge on this, there were multiple reports that the Canucks had come close to a deal which would have traded

JT Miller out of town. Dollywall in the mid-afternoon tweeted out that Miller had not asked to waive his no-trade clause yet, but there seemed to be a lot of activity around Miller. Dolly Wall then added, and this is about one o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, that some believe the Canucks were working very hard on getting a deal done that day.

Then, about an hour prior to puck drop on Saturday, Dolly Wall tweeted again, the Canucks are indeed trying to move JT Miller, but Miller's agent, Brian Bartlett, told me that his client never went to the team and never requested a demand, or demanded a trade. Are you having trouble with your Rs this morning? Rs are tough today. JT Miller is still back to a Canuck. So that was kind of what it sounded like. If you want to download, download the podcast.

That was classic Alfred just grinded battling through it. You just gotta get through it. It's Monday. I don't think anyone noticed. It's Monday. You just gotta get through it. You do not have a twaid 1240. We also called it the guest lit earlier. You just gotta grind through it sometimes. You just gotta push through.

For tallying errors with Mike Alfred today. You just gotta keep going and going and keep grinding. Gwinding, if you will. So what's the latest on JT, Moa? so Let's hand it over to freeges audio from Saturday's broadcast Broadcast because free had the latest including the fact that some thought Miller wasn't gonna dress on Saturday night He eventually did obviously had a good game against the Edmonton Oilers Here's Frege from the broadcast on Saturday about what happened and didn't

happen with JT Miller of the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah. So it continues now, JT Miller, I expect is going to play tonight unless something changes at the last minute. But there was a time over the last 24 hours where JT Miller was not going to play. He was going to be held out of the lineup because talks were progressing on a trade. I believe that team to be with the New York Rangers. Now I don't know exactly what happened, but that trade is off right now. So there's nothing close that would prevent Miller from playing, but things had progressed to a certain point where

it definitely looked like he wasn't going to play. Elsewhere around the Canucks, earlier this week, the Canucks sent out a note warning teams about tampering, saying that, look, nobody is allowed to talk to any of our players without our permission in advance. I believe now at this time, some teams do have permission to talk to Miller. Not sure who it is, but I've heard that there are some teams

that have been granted permission to him. And the who it is, but I've heard that there are some teams that have been granted permission to him. And the other situation we're all watching in Vancouver is Elias Pedersen. I heard this week that Pedersen, who does not have no trade protection yet, has told the Canucks he would like to stay. And I think that their preference is to do that. So interesting note on Pedersen right at the end there, but we'll get to him later on in the show. On Miller, after that LA game, I thought that might be the last game that he played for the Canucks. And I tweeted it out and I said, I think we might be watching the last game we've ever seen JT Miller play for the Canucks just because he

was dreadful. He was terrible. He didn't look involved in the game and he made multiple mistakes to the point where Rick Tuck had to have a word with him on the bench. And it just looked like one of those games, like something's got to give. And I don't, honestly, that could be the slogan

of the year this year. The Vancouver Canucks, something surely got to give. Surely. You know, and now they played well on Saturday with JT Miller in the lineup, but I would be shocked at this point if JT Miller is not traded. Like I think, you traded. I think from what I've heard, everyone's just kind of on board

with, okay, let's get this done. Yeah. You know? It feels like you can't unring the bell at this point. Well, that's a question that I'm going to ask Elliot Freeman. Is it possible if the Canucks don't find the right deal, that the genie could be stuffed right back in the bottle.

But I don't think so. I don't think so, not at this point, not with all the water under the bridge that's happened and all the times that JT Miller has been in trade rumors, I don't think so. And I also just still think that the Canucks, they need some sort of shakeup. They need some sort of, um, something different,

even though they, you know, they did have one of their signature wins last night or on Saturday night. It's funny. You remember we came in on Friday and we did the Mount Rushmore of bad wins. I do. We could kind of do a Mount Rushmore of wins that we thought that the Canucks would build on and like go forward.

And you know, like there was the win over Florida when they beat them four nothing. There was a win over Toronto just a week ago, three nothing in Toronto. And then maybe, but maybe Saturday is it. Maybe Saturday, Saturday really is the one that they're going to, they're going to take and they're going to run with.

Um, but, um, you know, I'm sure a lot of you had heard on social media and you know, I, I, I texted a buddy who was at the Dyson ice event last night. And I said, is Miller there? And he said he is notably absent. And I think that says a lot. That is their premier charity event of the season and all the, you know, corporate sponsors and a lot of the

season ticket holders are there. And that is an important one, not only for charity and it's an important one from a business perspective. So JT Miller was not there. Food poisoning. Which kind of, which kind of, which kind of suggests like, he doesn't want to be around, he doesn't want to talk to people. And I don't want to say like, he's not part of

the team because he's still on the team, but it's, you know, it, it, it seems inevitable that JT Miller will be traded, but we'll follow up more with Elliot Friedman in about a 15 or 20 minutes. Now let's get on to big story number two from the weekend and that was the Canucks game against the Edmonton Oilers and Miller ended up being in

the lineup because a trade with, it was reported the New York Rangers fell through for whatever reason and the Canucks were deserving winners of Uh, it was reported the New York Rangers fell through for whatever reason. And the Canucks were deserving winners of a three, two decision over the Edmonton Oilers, one of the hottest teams in the league. Yes, the Oilers were probably a bit tired at the end of the road trip, but the Canucks were dealing with a few things too, in case you hadn't

heard. Well, if you didn't hear, you weren't listening to the last 10 minutes. Uh, Quinn Hughes, who else, opened the scoring with about five minutes left in the first with the Canucks on the power play. Miller, he was out there. PP won, won the draw back to Hughes who skated

down the wall and flung one in front. Actually intended for Garland's stick, deflected in off an Oilers player at comb just six seconds into the power play. Not too long after that, the Canucks got another good bounce. When Myers long shot rebounded right to Danton Heinen, who was able to beat Stuart Skinner rather easily and who else but Quinn Hughes made it three nothing before the period was through on yet another power play.

Miller fed it to Hughes for his second assist on the night. And the Canucks ended the first up three, nothing on the scoreboard and 16 to seven on the shot club. They had 16 shots in the first period. They've played games where they haven't had 16 shots. And I think a lot of us thought, um, you know, like, where's that been all season at Rogers arena, you know, where's that energy been on home ice? The power play was clicking, the connects were

getting shots, you know, where was that? Now the Oilers did get a couple back thanks to Dry Cytl, who just keeps on scoring for the Edmonton Oilers and maybe we're like, Oh God, are they going to blow this? Cause the Oilers had actually just come back in a game from three nothing down. Yeah, against Colorado.

Um, but the Canucks did a great job limiting the Oilers to just three shots in the third period. We're probably all thinking that third period would all be, it would be like all Oilers. The Oilers are all over the Canucks, but it really wasn't. Miller was named the third star of the night in a game he nearly didn't play. Besides the two assists on the power play, he did a great job shutting down McDavid and Dryseidle.

And, you know, I don't know if the Canucks went to him and were like, if you play well tonight, you really will be traded. Yeah, I don't, I don't. But he, but he, he dialed in, like we haven't really seen him dialed in. And all the odd time though, it was that great game in Montreal. And then there was a bunch of games that you're like, Ooh, something's going on here. Uh, and then he's nearly traded and it wasn't traded and he has a great game for the Edmonton against the Edmonton Oilers.

I was shocked that he was in the lineup to begin with, because usually the standard course of action for transaction is you hold the asset out of the lineup just for protection in the event that he might get hurt or for some kind of injury. If you're that close to a trade, he sits out. Now, just because the trade fell through, I still thought, wow, they'll just keep them out of the

lineup because it would be a huge distraction and there would be too much of a sideshow. But no, Miller went out there and as you mentioned, had a terrific performance. And then, in the aftermath, JT Miller held court with the collective media and he had his scrum. And we've got about a minute oh nine of

audio here. This is a back and forth with reporters where reporters to their credit tried their best to get an answer out of JT of audio here. This is a back and forth with reporters where reporters, to their credit, tried their best to get an answer out of JT Miller about his playing future in Vancouver. We will let the audio speak for itself here now. JT Miller, following a very emotional three to win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night at Rogers Arena. I don't know if there's anything I don't know. It's just try to focus on,

on the game. It's probably good. You're playing, you know, the Oilers tonight and have a matchup assignment, try to keep me focused. Is it different this time around than it has been? I mean you're not new to facing these questions from us about staying focused, but is it different or has it been different over the last month and especially over the last 24 hours for you? I guess. I don't really know what to say to be honest. I don't have a good answer for you. I'm just trying to focus on game to game still. It's boring but it's true.

I did notice though you took the three stars. Is there any sense of sort of knowing that the uncertainty is there, just sort of savoring what's been a pretty great run for you in the city? That's a nice try. I'm going to be a little more clever. I'm going to try to. Okay. If this was your last game in Vancouver, what does it mean to you to play here?

I'm not getting into this. I'm planning on being at Canuck today, tomorrow. Whatever happens, happens. I'm focused on get into this. I'm planning on being a Canuck today, tomorrow. Whatever happens happens. I'm focused on the next game. My initial takeaway upon hearing that was, well this can't keep going on. Like you can't... Could he come out on Tuesday against Buffalo and play the same way and then meet the media afterwards and be like, well guys, it's another game as a Vancouver Canuck. It's like stringing Boudreaux along all over again.

I'll wait and see. Maybe we'll be here on Thursday, maybe we won't, but I'm taking every day as I can as Vancouver Canuck. It seems like an inevitability that he's, God, I don't know, you tell me, do I have the wrong read on this? It just feels like an inevitability. At this point, usually, over the course of history,

when there's this much noise and there's this many reports and a player gets as close to being dealt as JT Miller did, eventually that gets pushed over the line and he gets moved along. And either whether it's the other shoe has to drop or something has to give or whatever slogan we wanted to put on this, it just feels like this part of the story,

that chapter needs to close and I imagine that it will in due time. Yeah, well, we'll ask Freage about it. We'll ask him if he's ever seen a situation where a trade has come this close and then it doesn't happen and the two sides live happily ever after together again. It just seems crazy to me.

Yeah, I mean, it is crazy. It's been that sort of season. Let's talk about one more thing that happened over the weekend. And that was, uh, the crosschecks at the end of the game. Connor McDavid and Tyler Myers each earned hearings for crosschecks.

They each got match penalties. McDavid crosscheck Garland in the head and Myers took aim at Evan Bouchard. I know everyone's making jokes about McDavid not getting suspended and Myers getting a hundred games, but if McDavid doesn't get two games, I'll be shocked because the precedent has already been clearly set and And it's been clearly set with another superstar type player,

Austin Matthews in the outdoor game against Buffalo, cross-checked those a couple of years ago, Rasmus Dahlien right in the head. Similar play and similar, like Dahlien wasn't innocent in the whole fracas either, but Matthews took it too far. Right? And that's exactly what happened.

Like Connor Garland is one of the most annoying players to play against in the NHL. I remember reading one of those player polls where like, who is the, who is, I think it was the most annoying player to play against. And I don't think Garland won it, but he was in the running. Yeah.

Right? They're like, this guy is so annoying. And, you know, he was holding Connor McDavid. He almost tackled him. It was like a form tackle, like right around the knees or whatever. Yep. And, McDavid just had enough and his retaliation went way too far. And he cross checked him right in the head.

And at the same time, like off to the side, Myers and Bouchard were mixed up. But I don't know if Myers saw McDavid do it to Garland and he was like, we're allowed to do that. And then just did that to Evan Bouchard, but it was like, it was like guys getting cross checked in the head all over the place. And, you know, Myers was just as vicious as McDavid's And, you know, I saw some people like whose was worse. I was like, they're both about the same because they both crosschecked

a guy in the head. Well, listening to the broadcast, like Ray was calling it like he had just witnessed the bloody murder in front of his eyes. Like he was he was fired up. And I don't know. It's pretty funny. Yeah. And I don't blame him. Because when you watch it and. Whoa. Whoa.

By the way, good on our company, good on sports, and I believe we strung together 16 consecutive replays of the McDavid cross check on the broadcast, and it was like, we had Zapruder footage, the grainy footage of the Myers one in the corner. We're like, also Myers cross check, Bouchard. I was like, this is good.

Nonpartisan broadcasting, I like it. You know they were in the trucks, they're like, did anyone get the Myers and Bouchard? I was like, yeah, we got this camera at the top of the rink and look Black and white all fuzzy. We have some black and white drone footage of it. We'll air that and then okay So we're gonna do this objectively and that's hard because this is your home of the Canucks sports net 650 But I mean, let's be real here Garland was antagonizing and instigating and poking the bear big time in McDavid.

Yeah, but it doesn't matter. No, I'm just saying, like in terms of what caused the very vicious cross check to the face, like Bouchard didn't do as much to earn, let's call it earn, earn his cross check, right? Those would be the only differences. He could have said something. Yeah, he might have used his words. Yeah, he could have said something heinous. Maybe, but either way way some cutting remark. Yeah, I'm sure who's this clown point being

I think both guys are probably gonna miss Unfortunately the return date in two games time when these two play on Thursday, unfortunately I don't want McDavid out there. You know why I'll take a McDavid for Meyers trade. I disagree. I would like to see him out there on Thursday. I really would. I think, I think it would be amazing to watch. Have you checked the standings? Yes, I have.

I understand exactly what I'm asking for here. Instead of not having the best player in the world on the ice, I'm asking for him. I think. I actually think that's one of the reasons he's going to get two games for sure. Like the league will be like, all right, these guys don't need to be part of the game on Thursday.

So just in case you don't know, the Canucks play Buffalo on Tuesday. So no game tonight, Buffalo tomorrow. Uh, and then, uh, they're in Edmonton on Thursday. And the Oilers also have a game before, uh, the Canucks game on Thursday. Yeah. I guess, I would say.

So Alex Ovechkin. From a ratings perspective though, wouldn't the NHL want to only give them one game each so they would play each game on Thursday. Yes, but from a ratings perspective though, wouldn't the NHL want to only give them one game each so they would play each other on Thursday? From just like a ratings and storybook perspective, like give them one game each, then Thursday is just going to be wild. See, I'm with you.

I think they should have everyone back on the ice. Heck yeah. One game, did you learn your lesson? Did you learn your lesson? No cross checks to the head. And if you do, you have to sit out a game and then just let it out. And then everyone in Toronto will be like,

Austin, Matthew's got two games. Right? So unfair. Also another good reason for them doing one game. I mean, you're right. I think they're both going to get two, if I had to guess, by the way, the media, the meetings, the disciplinary hearings will be over the phone.

So that means what's that's four, four games max, right? You can't go more than five. Five games. Yeah. And then they will take place later this afternoon So we'll keep tabs on all of that and what's gonna be a very busy day We're gonna get word on what the suspensions are gonna be on the other side of the break We're gonna talk to Elliott Friedman about everything that went down

with JT Miller and then everything that didn't go down with JT Miller on Saturday Also, I should mention there was a report from Larry Brooks in the New York Post yesterday suggesting that the trade parameters involving the New York Rangers did not include Mika Zabinejad, who is still refusing to waive his no movement clause to go anywhere, but could involve Alexis Lafreniere, which is very interesting because that to me would be kind of a way more tantalizing return asset in exchange than Mika Zabaniyev.

I mean, Zabaniyev has hit much higher heights than LaFreniere, but LaFreniere is only 23 years old. Yeah, so that's really interesting if that's what it does end up coming down to. So we can get into all this with Fridge coming. Well, let's ask Fridge a few questions. We're gonna ask him what happened? Why did this thing fall apart?

And the other question I imagine would be, is there any way that JT Miller is not traded? Because this thing has gone down the road so far. And at some point, we've said this, right? The Canucks either have to make a trade or they have to say, this is over now. Right. I don't even know if you can do the latter though, when it's this public, especially for an organization that's so- Yeah, they can. They should be like, this was all a media creation. Again, the media created another one. Trump is in today, right?

It's true. It's a new era. It's true. It's all the media's fault. You should be like, these guys were lying about everything. They made it up. They completely made it up.

And a lot of people will be like, I believe you. Yeah. Okay. They're terrible people. They're the enemy of the people. Like, let's get ready for Buffalo on Tuesday. Let's do it Okay before we go to break. I need to tell you about HGTV home and garden television it has a new address all the latest

HGTV shows are now available on channel 409 only on Rogers Xfinity TV coming up Elliot Friedman's gonna join us We will spend a lot of time talking about what did and did not happen with JT Miller and the Vancouver Canucks over the weekend. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canuck Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshaw, your destination for everything Canucks, exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show, listen four to 6 PM weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6pm weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. It just didn't get done for reasons I can't confirm at this time. This doesn't make me think that any attempt to trade with the Rangers is dead.

I don't know that. But all I know is that right now there's nothing imminent. 631 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. So Greg, we're going to have Elliot Freeman on the show in a matter of seconds. That was the audio from the most recent 32 Thoughts podcast? Correct.

Okay. We're getting closer here, folks. We're going to talk to Freach in a moment before we do. One, hello, you're listening to the Haliford and Brev show on Sportsnet 650. Two, Haliford and Brev for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly and knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are 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 them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. Sportsnet's Elliott Friedman joins us now on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Friedge, how are you? Good guys. How are you guys doing? We are well. Pretty eventful weekend. There was a lot to get into. So much so we haven't even talked about the NFL yet. An amazing weekend of football, but we got to put all that on the back burner because there's a lot going on

here. I'll start big picture, Friedge. What happened or didn't happen on Saturday with JT Miller? So sometime Friday, Saturday, the Knocks thought they were close to something. And I woke up in, I was in Canmore, obviously. And when I woke up on Saturday morning, and I should say I'm not an early riser, but when I woke up on Saturday morning,

I woke up to a couple of notes saying, you should be looking into Miller because he might not be playing tonight. And I checked and I do think it was, I do think he was notified that was a possibility. And for whatever reason, whatever they thought they were doing didn't happen. I do still think it was the Rangers. I'm even more convinced it was the Rangers. I just don't know exactly what happened and obviously everybody would want to know what could be on the table. I'm not 100% certain. I think I have a pretty good idea. I don't think it was Lafreniere. I don't think it was a Binachad. But I don't know exactly at the end of the day why it didn't happen. But there was a time where everybody thought it was going to happen and then it

didn't. So we'll see where it goes. And I think it's been open. I think now there's a few teams that have permission to talk to them. Not all of them. I don't think it's blanket permission, but I do think there's a few teams and have permission to speak directly to Miller. Do you know if Miller is willing to go to the Rangers? I believe so. I have no reason to think at any particular time that he would veto a trade there. Who are some of the other teams that might be

interested in JT Miller and might have permission to speak with him? I don't know everyone. I mentioned on the pod this morning that I think there's a chance that Carolina could be one, but I don't know any of that yet for sure. this morning that I think there's a chance that Carolina could be one. But I don't know any of that yet, for sure. So it sounds like it sounds like the granting of permission

to some teams is a relatively new thing. You know, as we also mentioned on Saturday night, the Kanox thought that there was maybe some tampering going on. And I don't know if it was specifically with Miller or it was someone else. I just heard that they reminded teams that nobody's allowed to talk to their players without their permission. And that I think was on Tuesday.

Yeah. Cause typically permission is granted when you're talking about a new contract, but you know, JT Miller signed, he doesn't need a new contract. What do you imagine the conversations are about? It's a good question. It's probably just him letting teams know, hey, like if you want to make a deal, I'll wave to come there. I would suspect and just gauging his willingness to go to places. Yeah.

Do you think they might be like, Hey, what happened in Vancouver? They might ask that too. Uh, yes. Uh, but I think it's, yeah, I have put it this way, uh, Jason, I think that teams are probably doing that due diligence anyway. It's also it also becomes look the guy's got a no move clause people aren't gonna want to go through everything that would take to get him if he's not gonna wave to you anyway. So this way at least you get some confirmation. So Freage I guess this this is a, this is a big

question. A lot of people have theories, but why is this, why is this happening? Why are the Canucks trying to trade JT Miller and why does JT Miller seem okay with it? I mean, it's, it's one of those things where, um, there's probably a lot more out there, there's probably a lot out there that is true, there's probably a lot out there that is false, and there's probably

a lot out there that is kind of in the middle. And you kind of, you just have to go, you just have to kind of sift through and figure out what you believe is true and what isn't. Initially, I thought it was a personality clash. The timeline as it came this week seemed to indicate to me that the activated intensity around it on Friday didn't have anything to do with any teammates, but maybe the organization got to a point where it said, we just have to go.

That game Thursday was rough. The fact how they lost, how they lost. Miller just didn't seem himself, to say the least. He played great on Saturday night. I mean, if he plays like that and he was phenomenal, then either one of two things is going to happen. Either Vancouver is going to say, okay, he's going to stay with us because we need him or someone else is going to say, look, if Vancouver and Miller feel that they've reached the point of no return, then we'll be happy to take him if he's gonna play like that. So I just think after I guess my

guess is and you know you saw Thursday's game everybody was frustrated I just wonder after that game if it just reached a point where we said we said where the Connucks said we've got to do this now. So there's a lot of fans that don't want to see JT Miller traded. Is there any way to put the Genie back in the bottle or is this thing more than likely gonna happen? I mean it's a tough one for me to ask. You know someone said to me you know yesterday you know do you ever get tired of talking about all this stuff? And the answer is yes, but if you think I get tired of it,

you can only imagine how the people who are directly involved feel about it, right? Look, I think, I thought it was really interesting, you know, a couple of, like, last time I did the telethon, or sorry, two years ago, did the telethon, sorry two years ago, I did the telethon. We interviewed Natalie Miller as part of the telethon and you remember the Instagram videos last year, there was a real love affair between Miller and the city. And I saw some people were sending me posts on X on Saturday night.

I guess when Miller left the game after they beat the Oilers, he rolled down his window and took pictures with some fans who were waiting to see the Canucks leave. So, I mean, I know, and I've seen it, like I know there is, at its height, the relationship between Miller and the Canucks and the fans has been

Fantastic and I know somebody who was at the charity event last night who said to me you never would have been able to tell I know Miller wasn't there but you know, you would never have been able to tell that there was anything bad going on the way that the players treated the fans and And my point is that you know know, Jason and Mike, like these things, they go up and down. There's phases where what was true today is not true tomorrow. And all I can tell you at this point in time was sometime Friday, Saturday, I think the Canucks and the players thought he was going to the Rangers and it didn't happen. And that is why some people are like, I don't like to tell you anything until it's done because things can happen in

this particular case, something happened yesterday. I woke up, I checked, everyone was telling me nothing imminent last night before we recorded the pod. I checked people were telling me there's nothing imminent. I haven't heard anything today. Um, but you know, But you know, it's like this blows hot and cold. We're speaking to Sportsnet's Elliot Friedman here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. You know, you've been working in hockey for a long time, so you've seen a lot of different things, Elliot.

And I'm sure that, you know, a trade that got to the one yard line, but didn't get across the goal line. This isn't the first one that's happened obviously there's probably been other ones as well but you know in recent memory I don't remember one like this where the player was about to be held out of the lineup then went into the lineup then played really well got one of the three stars the night and then met with the media afterwards and you know I don't know if you saw Miller's scrum after the game on

Saturday but there was about a good minute and a half two minutes where he was just directly being asked questions about if he had played his last game in Vancouver and to me it would seem wild if he had to do that again on Tuesday against Buffalo and then maybe again Thursday whenever the case if this drags itself out so I know I mean we talked about putting the genie back in the bottle or unringing the bell if nothing is imminent I still wonder if the club can keep putting Miller through this or keep going through it themselves where it's just this waiting game for the other shooter drop yeah it's it's a really tough situation I don't disagree

with you Mike I mean the only thing you can really do is is You know Miller can say look guys like I'll talk about the Kings, but I'm not gonna talk about any trades until anything ever happens You know all I can say is that? Everybody involved thought something was gonna happen on Friday or Saturday, and then it did so Like you know, nobody has, believe me, if I get something wrong, I hear about it and nobody has reached out to me to say anything I said on Saturday was incorrect. So, it was, at this point, at that point, it was,

it was close. Tell us about Elias Pettersson and Pettersson coming to the Connex and saying, I don't want to be moved and it sounds like the Connex are okay with that for now. Yeah, so Pettersson, I heard it, I checked it, it was confirmed to me that I don't know, and I should clarify, I don't know if Petterserson said that directly to them or if when the agent Pat Persan met with the Canucks in Montreal after the World Juniors when the Canucks were on that trip the message was conveyed to them that way I'm not 100% sure on that one but what absolutely happened was that Ped, either himself or through the agent, told the Canucks he does not want to leave and he wants to stay.

The Canucks received that message and they were good with that message and whatever was going on around him seems to have cooled. He also made a huge play at the end of regulation there on Saturday night, getting the puck out of their zone. And I do have a sense that just that, like I said, the team and the players are receptive to Pedersen staying. And so my sense around it, and you know, it could always change, but my sense around it today, this morning at at 643 Pacific time, is that Vancouver is accepting of that request. How do you think it's going to be for Pettersson if JT Miller is indeed traded?

Because a lot of people are just going to say JT Miller was traded because Elias Pettersson and him didn't get along. I don't know if that is entirely true. I believe there's more to the story than that, but man, if you thought there was pressure on him before, there's going to be even more pressure on him if JT Miller is actually traded. I think that, you know, I always think there's

more to the story that we don't hear. I agree with you on that, Jason. I also think that one of the reasons it got pushed so close to the goal line on Friday is that it had nothing to do with Patterson. It was just the way things went on Thursday night. I think the organization was kind of like, we have to really make an attempt here. So I don't think you can say it's all his fault or anything like that. The one thing you can control is how you perform. And you know and I know that no matter what happens with Miller, if Pedersen plays to

the level that he can play at, people are going to be like, they're going to rally around Pedersen. They're going to be happy with that. And that's the only thing that Pedersen can manage is I play my best, I give it my all, people will be okay with that because they will. And if I was in his situation, that's what I would say to myself, worry about what you can worry about control what you can control. And that is how you perform. And if you perform at the level that he's capable

of, things will take care of themselves. What did you make of the cross-checking chaos? Would you call it cross-check a palooza at the end of the game on Saturday? Well first of all that was a great game. Yeah. You know hockey day in Canada was a great day and I was talking with Kyle I don't know if we've ever had four better games than that one on the same day. Can we get more hockey like Bruin Senators? Like that game, that game was, that was a bit of a throwback. Like there's some nastiness, there's lots of goals, more hockey like that. Yes, I even like your game was a great game. Like it was, it was great hockey. I, I mean,

you guys came to play, they came to play. It was a great game. It was great hockey. You guys came to play, they came to play. It was a great game. Look, Garland should have gotten one penalty, seven penalties. He did his job. He just said, this game is not going into overtime because of Conor McDavid. He just decided that he was taking McDavid out of the play. Now, the debate I've been having with people is, you know, even if the referees call a penalty, it doesn't do anything in that situation unless you believe the Oilers were going to

recognize it and throw the puck at the Canucks and take a six on four. Right. Now, I don't know that I would have done that because it was a shooting gallery. The Canucks were completely being dominated. The oilers were getting all the looks they wanted. The Canucks were playing the kind of desperate hockey you have to play. They were throwing themselves in front of things and blocking shots. the only way a penalty changes things is if the Oilers but I'm not convinced like

you want to give the Canucks a breather and if you lose the face off the game is basically over but anyway someone argued with me last night that they could have done that look like you know Garland frustrated McDavid McDavid, you look at his whole week, he got slew-footed, which was a dirty play. He took that shot at Johansson, which I wondered if he thought he was going to be clipped, so he decided to do it first. He got angry and he lost his mind for a second. He'll get suspended because of it. Myers will get suspended too.

You can't have those cross those cross checks to the face. I mean, look, like they missed penalty, penalty or penalties, but in the moment, unless you believe the Oilers were going to throw the puck at the Canucks and say, we're going to go six on four, I'm not sure that would have changed anything. Has the precedent been set with the Austin

Matthews two game suspension for cross-checking Dallin that it's pretty easy to just give McDavid two and Myers two as well? Uh, I, that's what I wonder. Um, I immediately, the first thing I thought about was Matthews and Kyle reminded me that when Matthews got the two game suspension, he was mad about something that happened in the previous game, like McDavid probably was too.

So there's something there. I wonder if my, the one thing I was talking about with some people and I don't know the way players safety is going to roll, they wondered if Myers would get more, um, just purely because McDavid and Garland were engaged at a much higher level than Myers was with Bouchard. And as a result, they might look less fondly on Myers play as opposed to McDavid's, I guess, for lack of a better term, but we'll see. I think they're both getting something. I'll go over well in Vancouver if Myers got a longer suspension than McDavid

You know fill up your content for weeks What did you think is wait? Yeah, just wait until just wait until the leaves show up in a couple weeks the game starts at four o'clock Then there's something else somehow the Connucks are playing Patrick Mahomes and the refs are in his favor too. Okay, okay. I'm glad you mentioned that. Speaking of the refs, what did you think or what have you heard about the reactions to the job that Chris Lee and Wes McCauley did on Saturday? Because I saw a lot of criticism about how I'd say they controversially handled the end of the game. Well, the thing is, like I said, you know, okay, so it depends on

what you think the others would have done there because let's say they call penalty, okay? Yep. Do we think the play is getting blown dead? I think the argument is being made is that regardless of the outcome of calling it that it should have been called and I kind of have time for that. It's like if you see something that egregious you put your hand up and call. Garland should have had a penalty. I think that's pretty obvious. He could have had three penalties like we said he just said okay whatever happens here McDavid is not tying this game. He should have gotten penalties. There's no question

about it. So hearings are today both via phone. I guess we'll find out in short order what McDavid and Myers are going to get. Hey, Freach, thanks for taking the time to do this today, man. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll chat again soon. All right, guys. Have a great week. You too. Thanks. That's Elliott Friedman, Sportsnet's very own here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I am, you know, in, in hearing him speak and I know he's got to be pretty measured about all this

stuff because it's complex. It's being played out in public and it's being dragged out. I suppose there is a world where I don't want to say the bell gets unrung or the genie goes back in the bottle, but, um but if a trade was imminent and now it's not, you almost have to just kind of get back to business. Well, what else are we going to do? You know, we thought we had a deal done, but we didn't, but you're still getting paid to play hockey and you're still a member of the team and you're

still healthy and you played really well on Saturday. Let's go out and do it all over again because there's games on the horizon and the team needs points. They're still in a playoff battle. Yeah. The game against LA on Thursday, you know, I, I came in, I don't want to say hot, but more on Friday, I was like, that was bad guys.

I need everyone to understand how bad a performance that was by JT Miller. And I kept on talking about that second goal that the King scored when Fiala just kind of stepped around him and I was like, well, he got around me. Yep. And then turned his back really on the shot.

And I was like, you know, the first goal when he gave the puck away, it was a weak pass up the wall and kind of put Hronik in a, in a tough position. You're like, all right, well, that was a bad pass, but that happens, right? Sure. He just, it was like a quarterback short arming a throw or whatever. That second goal was bad. You know, that was, that was bad.

And there was another mistake later on in the game when Miller just kind of flung it into the corner and then as Tauke would say, dove in after the puck and a pass easily beat him because he used in no man's land. He put himself in no man's land and the Kings went back on an odd man, a Russian scored. And then the conversation happened on the bench

and then, you know, Miller went to the end of the bench. Whatever happened, you know, Tauke said afterwards, Oh, did he go to the end of the bench? I didn't even notice. Like, mm hmm. Tauke also said after that game though, that he acknowledged, he's like, JT's really strong. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was so bad that I was like, this can't continue. Whatever, whatever this is, whatever's going on here, you cannot play hockey like that. That can't happen. And we were looking forward to the Oilers game on Saturday. I don't know if people were looking forward to it or scared of it. And I thought to myself, man, if there's one time

where you've just got to say, sometimes these trades, the team will be thinking about it. We're like, ah, what should we do? What should we do here? We got this. And then sometimes there's a game where you're like, okay, that just made the decision for us. Sure.

We have to do something here. And I heard all sorts of things too, about the Rangers. So like, so watch out for the Rangers. Like something's going to happen here with the Rangers. You know, one thing I did hear is that Miller's really good buddies with Trocheck. Okay. You know, and Trocheck's on the Rangers.

And so that is a place that I think he wouldn't mind going. And we asked Elliot Freeman, would JT Miller be willing to go to the Rangers? And he essentially said, yeah, it sounds like he'd be willing to go to the Rangers. Cause I think there has been some confusion. Some people wondering if JT Miller nixed the trade.

And he said, no, I don't want to go there. So, uh, you know, according to, you know, what Elliot has been told, the Rangers are one of the teams that he'd be willing to go to. Who else? I don't know. The teams you hear about are New Jersey, Dallas, DeFriage mentioned Carolina too, right? So, you know, the teams you hear about are New Jersey, Dallas, DeFridge mentioned Carolina too.

Right? So, you know, and Carolina has been looking for, you know, they've been in the playoffs a lot and they've been a good team. They've gone to the playoffs, but I think they're, everyone's always been just saying like, oh, there's something missing there. There's some sort of.

Maybe an impact guy. Like a game breaker type personality. Uh, so maybe they think that JT Miller could be that for them. But you know, something could happen today, something could happen tomorrow, but we could be in the exact same situation on Tuesday with the Canucks having a home game against the Buffalo Sabres. And it's like, all right, is this guy going to play? Does he get the call five minutes beforehand? You know, one thing that I was thinking about when it was reported that the trade got down to the one yard line and then they couldn't put it across the goal line. I do wonder if that was a signal to the rest of the National Hockey League,

just how close and just how real a JT Miller trade might be because that made waves across the National hockey league, right? That was a focal talking point on the national broadcast hockey day in Canada. Everyone knew about it. And I do wonder, cause Freage did drop that nugget in there that, you know, the, the process has been opened up a little bit.

Teams have been granted the opportunity to speak with Miller's camp. So maybe it's- Which I thought was kind of weird because usually that's just about a contract. Like, are you willing to extend here? Can we talk about terms? I think it would be, hey, I mean,

I think the conversation would be like, hey, if we're interested in you, are you willing to come here? I think probably it would be what's going on. Are you gonna be a problem? What's going on? What's the issue? How you doing?

He dropped you to the second line. Is it gonna be an issue when you come here? Yeah. I don't think that that's out of the realm of possibility, the conversation that they're having. Again, Rutherford and Alveen's goal here is twofold. It's one, to save the season and to stop the bleeding with whatever is going on, but two,

maximize return on the asset. And the best way to do that is to get as many interested suitors in the door as possible. So if this maybe goes a little longer, because they've now opened up the possibility for Team X, Y, and Z to get involved that maybe previously hadn't, then they might take that and say, you know what? We'll take some short-term pain for the long-term gain. Hey, we're whamping us up for time. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the big football party at the Clayton Public House.

That's gonna be hosted by us, Sportsnet 650, Sunday, February the 9th. Visit theclaytonpub.com now to get your reservations for the big football party Clayton public house Good food good people good times I know that we're an hour into the show and we have not talked at all about the National Football League That is gonna be remedied on the other side of the break Mike Tannier our NFL insider From the two deep zone sub stack is gonna join us the AFC and NFC championships are set own sub stack is going to join us. The AFC and NFC championships are set. It's the Bills and the Chiefs in the AFC. It's the Eagles and the Commanders in the NFC title game.

We'll talk to Mike about all of it coming up on the other side of the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.