Halford & Brough in the Morning - EP40 Had A Lot To Say Yesterday

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they preview tonight's Canucks home game versus the Ducks (6:00), plus they chat the latest stories from around the NHL with Sportsnet's David Amber (28:04). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- at that moment I said something I didn't mean. I said mean is annoying. Nothing was said. Not good. The last 40 hours or 72 hours he's doing stuff that I'm like wow, like that's the stuff we need from him. Look at that hangdog expression. He's learned his lesson. Let's get him a present. Good morning Vancouver, 6.01 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. My name is Halford, it is rough. It is sports net 650 We are coming live from the kin tech studios and beautiful fairview slopes in Vancouver Jason. Good morning. Good morning

Hey dog. Good morning to you morning laddie. Good morning to you as well Hello, hello, Halford and bruff in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers They have a friendly knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service or parts, we are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Well, they pay the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. 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. We got a big show ahead on a Wednesday. There's a lot to get into. You got four guests on a Vancouver Canucks game night. Guest list begins today at six 30 David Amber hockey night in Canada. Sportsnet NHL host is going to join the program tonight. It is Roger's Wednesday night hockey. You got the Sens and the Hawks. It is Roger's Wednesday night hockey.

He got the sends and the Hawks followed by a double header at night. Note the start time, 7 30 puck drops. You got the Canucks and ducks and then the blues and the Kings busy night in the NHL last night as well. 10 games. So we can talk to David about all that at six 30 seven o'clock. Frank Sarah Valley from daily faceoff is going to join the program. We are now just two days away from the NHL trade deadline. We'll ask Frank, the latest on Pugh suitor, who became the main character late last night. We'll get into that and what happened.

Also talk about Brock Besser and all and any other Connect players rumored to be on the trade block. Frank is going to join us at 7 o'clock this morning at 730 from Sirius XM NHL radio and new metal band Korn, Jonathan Davis is going to join the program. Konex are playing the Anaheim Ducks at 7.30 tonight from Rogers Arena. We'll take a look at this Ducks team that don't look now,

Jason, going into tonight's game, just six points back of a playoff spot, five back of Vancouver in the standings. Do you remember earlier in the season where I was convinced that Greg Cronin was going to get fired like real quick? It was a rough jinx, but a reverse jinx. You used your powers for the good of Greg Cronin. Yeah.

Because he stuck around. You're welcome, Greg. They have, they exceeded last year's win total last night, I believe. And they still have 21 games to go this year, so good on the Ducks. They will be taking on the Canucks tonight. 7.30 at Rogers Arena, Jonathan Davis is gonna join us at 7.30 this morning to break that game down.

Finally, final guest today at eight o'clock this morning, Randy Jan is gonna join us, color analyst, on Sportsnet 650 for your Vancouver Canucks. We can talk about tonight's game. We can also talk about yesterday's practice. The Canucks did return to practice yesterday. Quinn Hughes didn't last long. Jonathan Lecker-Ramacki did though. He's back up with the NHL team.

And then there was some very poignant audio from Elias Pettersson after yesterday's practice. We can talk about all that with, excuse me, with Randy at eight o'clock. There's two games tonight in Vancouver, by the way. You got the Canucks and Ducks at 730. You got the Vancouver Whitecaps taking on Monterey in Conkercap Cup action as well tonight. So there's a lot to get into on the program. It's a busy show. So I'm going to stop talking without further ado. Laddie, 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? 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? What Happened was 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. So the news from practice yesterday probably had less to do with what happened at the

practice as opposed to what happened after the practice, Jason. Leas Pedersen met with the media for one of his lengthiest, most honest, most open and most candid scrums of the year. Talking with reporters about a number of things following Canucks practice yesterday ahead of tonight's game against the Ducks.

Yeah. Which audio do you want to start with first? because I've obviously got a few thoughts on this and I'm sure the listeners will have some thoughts as well. Okay, let's go right to him talking that flat out he has not been good enough this year. It's just Petey talking about expectations and how Petey hasn't met them this season. I mean, I think pressure is good. It means you care. And if I wouldn't care, I wouldn't think too much about it.

But it's, yeah, I mean, I'm just the only opposite. I just want to turn it around more than anyone. And yeah, good practice today and I'm ready for tomorrow. He also went on to add that I haven't been the way I want to be this year. I haven't played to expectations. I have expectations on myself. The franchise has expectations on me as well. We have expectations on Laddie to play the right clip, but he played the wrong one.

So when we talk about expectations and Billy... He's going to hold a five minute scrub later today. I don't know how we don't get on the same page about this. It started out very much with Leas Pedersen owning it. And that seemed to set the tone for the majority of the comments that he put forth after that. As a matter of fact, Pedersen then also went on to address his little spat with the media following a game

against Utah last week where he called the media annoying after I asked a question about whether the pressure and the lack of confidence as mentioned by his head coach Rick Taukid was having an effect on his game. Here's Petey's Mia Culpa on dealing with the media from yesterday's media availability. No, I mean I appreciate the love all the time. Maybe I'm not the best at showing it all the time. I think it was after my comments against the Utah game, I missed a breakaway. I got asked about it and how frustrating the season has been. I was really mad at that moment.

I said something I didn't mean. I said meaning is annoying, which is, some days can be, but, but, uh, it's not, it's the last thing that's making me play bad or not myself this year. Okay. Let's start with the comments about, I haven't been the way I want to be this year. I haven't played to expectations.

It's good. Good that he knows that. Yeah. It's good. It that he knows that. Yeah. It's good. It's a good start. I guess he opened up his social media again. First of all, I've never bought into the idea that Pedersen doesn't care or that he got paid and stopped working.

I think that's dead wrong. I think he cares a lot. I'm not sure he knows how to deal with that or he has known how to deal with that. And I think the fact that he does care a lot only makes it harder when he isn't playing well and living up to expectations. When you're a pro athlete that's dedicated

his whole life to a craft, a lot of your ego is going to be tied up into how you are performing. And sometimes when your ego gets bruised, it's hard to deal with it. Think about any of us in our life. If there's something that we do that we're proud of and someone says, you're not doing a very good job of it. And you kind of know deep down inside that you're

not doing a very good job of it. If you get criticized, you're going to react in people are different people are going to react in different ways. Sure. If you're super mature and you've, you know, maybe a little bit older and you've gained wisdom through the years, maybe you've learned

how to be like, you know what, you're right. I think this criticism is coming from a good place and I'll work harder at it. Maybe when it's kind of new to you, you get defensive, right? Like you get super defensive, you don't want to talk about it. Um, and sometimes you avoid the problem.

Sometimes you do. Um, I thought it was promising that he owned his remark to Ian McIntyre and this isn't about the media. I, again, it's really not. This is about, that comment was about, when I saw that comment, I was like, I didn't care about the media. Ian McIntyre has seen a lot through the years. He was kind of like, whatever.

Like that, do you think that bothered him? He was just like, okay, well, I'm just going to write it up. The way I want it, the reason I wanted to play it initially, like right off the top though, is that there was an overall sense of accountability and taking responsibility for one's actions. Yes.

And I'm sure part of it was the team going, you're going to go own this. Because based on how disappointed I heard the team was after that remark, and honestly, bewildered, I think is another word to describe how the Canucks felt like. That's fair. How can you act like that when you're playing like this?

How can you act like that when your general manager has actually given an interview, what, a month and a half before saying like, you got to learn how to face the music? I'm sure there have been a few hard conversations. In fact, we're going to play some Rick Tauke at audio that suggests exactly that. Might play it.

Between team and player in the last little while about facing the music and owning up to his play and how he carries himself. You always hear Rick Taka talking about body language, you know, how about actual language? And you are not only representing yourself, you're representing the Vancouver Canucks. And oh yeah, you're one of the captains of the team.

Which IMAAC mentioned in his article. Exactly. And that was rather intentional. Now, look, I don't think fans are going to hold a moment of frustration against a player, as long as they know it came from a place of frustration on performance and not indifference. Sure. Right?

Like, cause that kind of came out as it's like, you know, it's annoying to have to deal with this stuff, right? Like. I think flippant and dismissive. Yes. Yes. You know, the, the moment of frustration,

you don't want to have it too much, but you know, you think back to JT Miller, a lot of people would be like, yeah, he's slamming a stick and yelling because he cares about winning, right? They actually might see it in a positive way in that he actually cares deeply about his performance and he's so mad about it that he's going to hurt IMAX feelings about it, right?

Like he's going to lash it that he's going to hurt IMAX feelings about it, right? Like he's going to lash out. He's going to lash out and, and, and, and, and take it out on, you know, JT Miller would take it out on a stick or the boards or, um, teammates or himself or whatever, you know, like, um, I want to play the, the audio from, from talk it though, because I thought that was, there's, there's a number of things, both good

and bad about the audio from talk it and kind of lends more questions to it. So let's, here's Rick talk to the head coach on, in this game after Elias Pedersen spoke, and then all the reporters went up to Rick and said, actually, Petey said, you know, like this. And here was Rick's, Rick's response. the reporters went up to Rick and said, actually, Petey said, you know, like this, and here was Rick's response.

Yeah, I think for the relationship, and you know, you can ask him, I think I have a really good relationship with Petey. I think the one thing that we've talked about, and you know, he has to own it, and we've talked about that, and I'm glad he's talked about that. There's nothing he could do in the past. There's expectations on him. Maybe he'd deal well with it. Maybe the preparation stuff.

But now he can only go forward. And the preparation now, you know, I know he's stayed on the ice a lot now early. He's meeting with coaches more. He's doing, the last 48 hours or 72 hours, he's doing stuff that I'm like, wow, like that's the stuff we need from you. So the way I look

at it he has a good 22 games for us you might forget we might all forget about the 60 games or whatever that you know this year I think I've seen players have just average years and then have great playoffs and what it what it was that that guy that has a great playoff obviously he's signed but that guy benefits the team benefits he he reaps awards because of that So don't waste games like he's got enough time to turn this thing around and help this team get where they want to get So that is good to hear mm-hmm but there's I I think a lot of us are like

He's he's doing the things in the last 48 hours that we've wanted to see. So what was going on in the thousands of hours before those 48 hours? I mean, I'm not trying, honestly, I'm not trying to be negative. I'm just trying to- You're doing a good job though. I'm trying to figure out, no, I'm not.

I look, I just read a whole bunch of things. It was like, it was positive about Pedersen, but I think we're all curious about what was going on at the beginning of the season if he's not doing the work. Let me try. If he's finally doing the work now, what was going on? Let me try and phrase it a different way. It would be great and we would both love it if all of this came to fruition and that these 48 to 72 hours

were a massive light bulb moment for both the player and the organization and that everything that is a both the Lea's Patterson and the Vancouver Canucks this season suddenly fixed itself with a good 48 hours of practice and him talking to the media candidly for five and a half minutes. And for the final 22 games of the regular season,

all was gonna be great. That would be ideal. That would be positive. That would be unbelievably optimistic. And at the end of the day, it would be excellent because it means that what has largely been a slog this year, that part of the year would be over. It's also kind of naive to think it's going to happen. Kinda. I think that's a fair way of putting it because I have been more guilty than anybody of Looking for solutions to whatever the problem is and I think it's multifaceted. I don't think there's one and I've been one of the guys that's been sitting here being like this feels like Feels like the turning point feels like it's gonna change feels like this is this is really gonna say it. This is it

I think we figured it out. You know, we figured it out when he got the contract extension. All right. Don't have to worry about the uncertainty of your future anymore. You're financially set for life. It's like running a scratch and win. You're set for life now. Then there was finding him a new winger.

They went out on day one of free agency and got Jake DeBrusk. Okay. You're not going to be're not gonna be having to play with Nils Hoeglander and Ilya Mikheyev on the regular anymore. We got you a brand new winger, he's gonna score you some goals. We figured that out.

We solved that problem. Then, fast forward to this year, there was an issue with JT Miller. Okay, you know what, no problem. We're gonna figure that out too. We're gonna trade away the guy that you've had a rift with. We're gonna figure that out too. We're gonna trade away the guy that you've had a rift with. We're gonna move on from him. We're gonna choose you and not choose him. And that'll solve all of the extraneous noise and the lack of comfort in the room and the friction

and the animosity. We're gonna solve that too. And now we're on to, I have lost track of solutions. I know I named three and I know I didn't name countless other ones. So when I talk about naive. You forgot about the once the playoffs start. Right. Of course. Play. How did I forget? So I it's I'm glad that this happened. I think it's a positive step, but I've seen positive steps before and I'm glad other things have happened before. It just hasn't translated to what actually went more negative than me. but I've seen positive steps before and I'm glad other things have happened before.

It just hasn't translated to what- You actually went more negative than me. It's not negative when you point out all the times that I was being positive and I got burned on it. And you would yell at me, you're like, you're still buying this in. I'm like, yup, because this management group

believes in the guy, they paid him the money, they got him a winger, they traded away the guy he doesn't like, they're behind him 100%. Well, the reason I'm positive is that you hear he's putting in the work, which lend to my question of what was going on beforehand. And I think in some ways it was an avoidance of the problem. Remember when Homer was hiding under a pile of jackets? Was that the college episode? Yes.

Right? He's like, he had that big exam and he was like, well, my plan is to hide under a pile of jackets. And then the nerds were like, how about instead of that, we cram for the exam. Cram? Like you've never crammed before. So is P cramming now? Is that what he's doing? He's cramming. Yeah, heram? Like you've never crammed before. So is P cramming now? Is that what he's doing? He's cramming. Yeah.

Yeah, he's, well, I hope so. I hope he's, he's cramming for the final 22 games. Uh oh, they've run out of pilot jackets to the ice. This doesn't look good. Yeah. I, I, I, I, I'm not kidding you when I think there was an avoidance of the problem. How many of us in our normal everyday lives have a problem that we avoid? Never. I always tackle it head on.

You tackle it just right head on. I would know. I've never had a problem before. Yeah, exactly. Right? And that's a problem in itself that you've never challenged. You know how you say your whole life is what we learned? Your whole life is also an act of avoidance. Yeah, that's how you make your life cozy, if you just avoid everything possible. I want to play one more bit of audio from

Elias Pedersen and this is, you know, it was funny how the media scrum went because he came out and started admitting some stuff and then all the media felt like a lot more comfortable. Yeah. Asking them questions. And like. Got brave, didn't you, J-Pat?

No, but everyone was like, cause the thing is like everyone says, oh, the media is so hard on Pedersen. Actually like we're walking on eggshells around this guy, you know, because we don't want him to just store him out of the scrum like he did at one point. So finally it's like, okay, he's in a good

mood. He looks to be like like he did at one point. So finally it's like, okay, he's in a good mood. He looks to be like, he looks to be open and I guess the management has told him he's going to go out there and face the music today so we can ask questions. They asked him about his lack of shooting and wondered if, um, confidence was an issue. Yeah, definitely.

I mean, that comes with, obviously, not getting looks, trying to make the perfect pass instead of maybe simplifying it. And I've always been a pass first guy, so, but I also have a good shot, so I should use it more. Yes, but it's definitely been, yeah, maybe it's not trusting it.

Um, but hopefully that's not a headline, but, uh, I'll definitely look to shoot more, uh, moving forward. So you know how in the past I've said that PD always says, I don't want to create a headline? That's what I'm talking about. Did you hear that? Yeah, I just said it. I hope that's not a headline.

Just said it in the clip. Which always suggests to me that he's reading a lot of what's being written about him because he cares and he has an ego. And more importantly, you know, not only is he reading what's being written about him, he's really taking to heart what's being written about him, he's really taking to heart what's being written about him.

And I realize this is so much easier said than done. As a guy in the media that gets like one millionth of the things said about him that Petey does, I read what's written about me and I, I don't care as much as I used to, but everyone cares. Everyone cares, but it would be nice and probably helpful if he could get to the point where he just accepts that his comments are going to create headlines.

Again, that's a lot easier said than done in this market. I'm actually imagining the headline right now. Petey doesn't trust his shot and he hopes he doesn't create a headline by admitting it. Right? That's the headline. If you headline the headline. Comes the headline. Right?

I mean, like it is. I hope this doesn't become a headline. Pederson, I hope this doesn't become a headline. Exactly. Right? Sounds like someone who wants to make it a headline. Right? I mean, like it is. I hope this doesn't become a headline. Pederson, I hope this doesn't become a headline. Exactly, right? It sounds like someone who wants to make it a headline to me. Isn't it ultimately the goal that you should just find a way to stop caring about it? Like, isn't that like how you got to deal? Like I don't see any other way to deal with it in a market like this.

So you got to train your brain to stop caring about what people say and write about you. Which I get is really hard to do. Not even not care, embrace it. What do we say about the Kachaks? How they embrace the intention and they know, they know there are going to be some people that don't like them. And they're like, yep, what Brad Marchand knows

there are going to be some people that doesn't like what he says. He's just his own man. He has his opinions. Um, now PD doesn't want it to be a headline because he's basically saying like, I've lost trust in my shot. Sure.

Right? Sure. So obviously you don't want that as a headline, but I've just heard that so many times from him. I don't want to create a headline. I don't want to have a headline for you. Then I'm just like, you're gonna like just face it. That you, you're, you're, you're a star player,

star hockey player in a hockey mad market. If you go to the grocery store, it's a headline. Sure. Right. Like you can either admit reality and face reality or keep going like, I hope reality is not reality. Okay. At any rate, I don't know if it was cathartic

to get all that stuff off his chest. I hope it was. And I hope he comes out flying tonight. Uh, perhaps as Halfords suggests, this is wishful thinking, but maybe we can have a reverse of last season where it started out great and finished badly. Perhaps this time it will start badly and finish great. And as Tauke put it, we'll forget about the last year.

Okay. We got about two, three minutes here to run through everything else that happened with the Vancouver Canucks non-Peterson division yesterday. Really quick from practice, Quinn Hughes was out there for about 15 minutes and then was taken off the ice. His status for tonight still very much up in the air. Jonathan Lecker-Ramachy was called up from AHL Abbotsford, got right into the lineup. I presume that we will see him tonight.

Although everything remains to be seen with this team until you get the lineup card right prior to the game. Yesterday Pugh Souter became the main character for a little bit, especially last night. So this began with a report from Patrick Johnson at the province, citing an earlier report from Rick Dollywall that it appeared as though that suitor, a pending unrestricted free agent, was going to be on the move. Dollywall said that it did not seem as though suitor was set to sign a new contract. Peej then put out there that it sounded as though that suitor was being dangled in a variety of trade scenarios. Thateej then put out there that it sounded as though that Suter was being dangled

in a variety of trade scenarios. That evening, yesterday evening, there was a report from friend of the show, Adam Kierzenblatt, suggesting that a deal was close with the Dallas Stars, that Peej Suter may have been on his way to Dallas, and then that deal was being held up by the fact that the Stars were playing a game last night. That deal never materialized, and shortly after the game, Farhan Lelji from TSN

reported that no trade for Pew's suitor was imminent and as a matter of fact, suitor is expected to be in the lineup tonight when the Ducks go to Rogers Arena to take on the Vancouver Canucks 730 puck drop. So there's definitely trade winds blowing around the versatile Swiss center, the Swiss army knife, who's not the fastest skater, but a very cerebral one. And it does appear though, that Canucks management is very much looking at trying to get something

in return, I suppose for a pending UFA that they're not going to be able to re-sign. Who's going to play center? Well, tonight Pugh's suitor. No, I know, but if they trade su resign. Who's going to play center? Well, tonight, Pew Souter. No, I know, but if they trade Souter. They're going to have to do the old trade in, trade out. We're going to make a problem with a trade and we're going to fix that problem via trade as well. This management group has to be incredibly busy over the next 48 hours because the trade

deadline is on Friday. If it's going to be center out, center in, goal scorer out, goal scorer in, they're going to need to get cracking because there's only, and not Seattle cracking. I still can't believe they're going to risk maybe, um, letting Brock Besser just stay with the team without an extension through the deadline. That seems, I'm surprised. Remember when Frank brought it up and I'm like,

I don't believe that. I'd be shocked if that happened. And now I think I'd be less shocked because that seems to be where the momentum is going. Yeah, like Frank's gonna join us at seven o'clock. It's insane. Yeah, and it's like all out of nowhere where Brock Besser had been the main character

for the better part of five, six, seven days, all of a sudden it was Puse Suter last night. So a lot of things in the air as this show goes along and we lead in to tonight's game, 730 puck drop against the Anaheim Ducks. Coming up on the other side of the break, more hockey talk. On the way, David Amber, Sportsnet, Hockey Night Canada NHL host is going to join us. It's Rogers Wednesday night hockey tonight. The Vancouver Canucks are in the second half of that doubleheader with a 730 puck drop against the Ducks.

You're listening to the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canuck Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. It is time for David Amber, he is on the hotline baby. It is time for David Amber, he is on the hotline baby. It is time for David Amber, he will talk some hockey maybe. It is time for David Amber, he is on the hotline baby. It is time for David Amber, he will talk some hockey maybe.

I'm on the hotline baby. I'm right in the shrooms talking. I remember what I was doing at 23, pooping in my pants. There's a massive butt coming here, guys. No one's fighting rig talking. No one wants to fight rig talking. I'm on the hotline, baby. It is, it's David.

It is, it's David. Amber, it is, it's David. He's on the hotline. 6.34 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for sales, financing, service,

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To the phone lines we go, David Amber joins us now on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning David, how are you? Good gentlemen, I can't lie, I listened to that little jingle a couple times this week when I was feeling down about things and it's nice to be back on the hotline, baby. It's good to have you back on the hotline.

We're gonna start, not with tonight's action, we'll get to that later, but I wanna go back to last night. So funny little development here in the province of Alberta. I was trying to think what kind of Vegas odds you would have gotten if on view at the beginning of the year said on March 5th, there would be a grand total of seven points separating Calgary and Edmonton

in the standings, but that's all there is now because the Edmonton Oilers have gone completely in a tailspin. They're three and seven in their last 10. They got blown out on home ice by the Ducks last night. They seem as though they are in a really bad way. David, what is going on with the Edmonton Oilers? Yeah, I watched some of that carnage and I listened to Chris Noblaw's postgame and you know, he kind of used the same lines, like the defensive breakdowns are bad.

Uh, they're not getting balanced scoring. I mean, what do you know? They scored two goals. Of course it was David and dry title. They don't have another forward in the top 130 scores in the league. I mean, this isn't a balanced team. Uh, they brought in Skinner, they brought in Arvitz and Skinner was a healthy scratch last night. Arvitz and it just hasn't worked. They brought in Skinner, they brought in Arvidsson. Skinner was a healthy scratch

last night. Arvidsson just hasn't worked. They lost McLeod, they lost Hollaway, they lost Fogel, they lost a lot of speed and tenacity. And yeah, they made the trade for Trent Frederick. We're not sure exactly when he's going to emerge, but they don't look like they're a Trent Frederick away from winning a Stanley Cup at this point. You know, I think it kind of goes back to the questions surrounding this team at the beginning of the year, guys. Is the goaltending enough? Last year, I think the goaltending was good enough, right? They were in the top half of save percentage. You know, they came within a goal of winning the Stanley Cup. This year, they're in the bottom third in save percentage. You don't find a lot of teams in the bottom third and safe percentage who are

winning Stanley Cups or making legitimate cup runs. So the goal-turning hasn't been great. The defensive breakdowns have been bad. You know, there was just a lot of, it was strange to watch Anaheim with two men in front of the net and sometimes one or sometimes zero oiler defenders in front of the net last night during that game. The breakdown's a bit bad, the bounce scoring hasn't been there and the goaltending's been spotty and that leads to some problems. In fact, Bob Stauffer, who follows the team incredibly

closely, said their last, you tweeted out last night, their last really solid game was against Vancouver at the end of January. So it's been, it's been a long stretch here and there's definitely some concerning signs with the Oilers. Well, the other thing too is like you mentioned all the lack of goal scoring besides dry saddle, but McDavid himself, and this is not media picking on him, McDavid is admitting like he's not playing up

to his standards either. And you know, it was one of the main pieces up on sportsnet.ca written by Mark Spector, the headline is now more than ever, the Oilers need Connor McDavid to lead by example. And in the piece it notes that McDavid is minus 14 in his past eight games. And whatever you think of plus minus, that is not good in the past eight games and whatever you think of plus, minus, that is not good in the past eight games.

And, you know, in the, in the four nations, obviously McDavid had some good moments, including the most important moment, but he also admitted after the final against the Americans that until he scored that goal, he wasn't playing all that well. And I think a lot of us noticed that. We were like, come on, McDavid, we kind of need you right now.

And ultimately he came through for the country, but overall it wasn't a great game. And, you know, I imagine it was tough to carry into the, you know, back to the regular season after the emotion and drama of that tournament. But he is really not performing up to the very, very high standards that we've set for him. What do you think is going on there? Well, it's a really good question. One thing I'll say is I do think the Oilers

potentially made a mistake. It's easy in hindsight, but you know, there was that thrilling championship on a Thursday night and McDavid was the hero. And less than 36 hours later, he was on the ice again. They had a Saturday afternoon game and they had a Sunday afternoon game. And he played in both those games. They lost both those games.

McDavid didn't look very good in either of those games. And I'm wondering if you would have been better off like sort of saying, look, we're going to give you 72 hours. Um, and we'll see what we can do without you. But they would, you know, it just felt to me like he didn't get that energy back and it's been a slower process getting him back to where he was. I thought in Four Nations he was pretty good actually. I mean, remember the goal against the Americans, you know, he had births. I wouldn't say he was amazing, but he certainly had births. I also think he had to factor in the chemistry issue playing, you know, he started out with

Reinhardt and Marner and then they switched his line mates and got points on his line. And, you know, I think it's just certain guys can play with McDavid and certain guys can't and they were feeling that out throughout the tournament. So I do think that was part of why he was maybe less, you know, impactful at times. But since the Four Nations, it's been a steady decline. And I wonder, you know, the emotion and all of the physicality and everything that went into that. In fact, post game, you heard Conor McDavid when he was asked, oh, you must love this. Is this something we can do every year? And he kind of looked at the reporter and he said, no, we can't do this every year. It's way too taxing. And it was like, it's funny, they played four games, but it felt

like a lot more than that. Didn't it feel like a full playoff series, like that level of intensity, et cetera. So I do think he's having a bit of that four nations hangover, but again, I don't, you know, it's, it's interesting that Mark wrote that, that column and I get it. He's the best player in the world. You, you need him to be the best player. But I do think it's more the supporting cast around him. You can't have just him and Dry Settle have to carry 80% of the offense. It doesn't work that way. There has to be more balance. There has to be more tenacity. They don't have like a shutdown line. They

don't have real shutdown defenders except for at home. So there's just I think right now if I'm Stan Bowman You checked one box there with with Frederick, but you better be looking at a few other options as well So I expect there to be some movement in the next 48 hours I'm sure they're aware of the deficits within this team and they do have the wild card in a Vander Cane guys like if he comes back and he is the of and or Kane that we've seen in the past and that's a massive massive guys, like if he comes back and he is the Evander Kane that we've seen in the past, then that's a massive, massive addition to the oilers. But if he's not, and who's to say he will be at his age coming off, you know, all the surgery he just

went through, then that's something else they're going to have to address. But I think McDavid's part of it, obviously, but I do think there's just so many other mitigating factors there why the oilers on this tailspin right now. Okay. I've asked a bunch of guests this, but this whole Evander Cain thing is weird, right?

Like this is odd what's going on where the Oilers seem to be like, we don't know if we can use the LTI space ahead of the trade deadline, because we don't know if Evander Cain is just going to be like, oh, I'm ready to go. Eight games left in the regular season. I'm ready to play. So make room for me, Kane is just going to be like, oh, I'm ready to go. Eight games left in the regular season, I'm ready to play. So make room for me or there's going to be a problem.

I mean, we've heard Elliott Freeman talk about maybe the Oilers are going to move him out. I mean, this is, you know, I know what you're saying here, if a healthy Evander Kane comes back and he plays up to his potential, then that's great. But to me, this seems like more of a problem than a potential solution. Yeah.

I mean, they're going to have to have some really candid conversations and make sure they're on the same page and whether that is, you know, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, you'll be better, but you'll be better game one of the playoffs or whether that's, they're going to come to a way of trading out someone else to make the room for a Vander Kane and also possibly bring in an extra person. You know, these are tough situations, because what the player ultimately wants a Vander

Kane and imagine just like most players in the league, the minute they're healthy, they've been chomping at the bit they've gone through. There's nothing worse than going through day after day after day of rehab. You talk to the players and it's so monotonous and you're not part of the team and you're not contributing and you're missing out on all the fun and excitement and the competition. It's hard to say to a guy, we need you to sit out for another three weeks, we know you're healthy. As much as that doesn't seem like a massive sacrifice to a lot of players, it would be. as much as that doesn't seem like a massive sacrifice to a lot of players, it would be. So, honestly, of all those storylines going into trade deadline,

the Evander Kane-Admin to Neuillers one is one of the top ones on my list, obviously ranting in, and I don't need to tell your audience this, with Besser and potentially Pedersen and everything else that could be potentially in play. It's exciting, but this Evander Kane thing's really big, because few teams go into this season like the Orlers where it's Stanley Cup or bust. There's no, hey, let's get to the final. There's no, hey, let's have a deep run. It's like, no, we need to win or it's not going to be considered a successful year. We're speaking to David Amber, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL

host here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. The other team in Alberta that I mentioned off the top that we haven't got to yet, it's the Calgary Flames. I take no joy in this and I'm not proud of saying it out loud as a Vancouver Canucks fan, but I admire Calgary, what they're doing right now. I think it's one of the better stories in the National Hockey League. They are now two points clear of Vancouver for the

second and final wild card spot in the West. Again, I take no joy in saying this, but what I respect and like about this team is, you know, they're obviously exceeding expectations and they're punching above their weight class, but also every time it seems like the season's gonna go down the tubes or off the rails, they find a way to not let momentum go in a negative direction, which is very unlike the Vancouver Canucks this year. So last night in Philadelphia, they've struggled to score goals all road trip,

and they explode for six in a very important win over the Flyers. They find the offense when they need the offense. I feel like it speaks to the character of this team that they find ways to get it done. And then of course they've also got maybe the biggest wild card out of all of them in Dustin Wolfenet who continues to be very excellent

for the Calgary Flames. Yeah, that's a great synopsis. Listen, they're resilient and they've got, you remember that whole adage with the Sens, you know, seven, eight years ago when they were kind of surprising teams, the pesky Sens, well they're the pesky Flames. They don't score a lot of goals.

In fact, they're dead last in the NHL in goal scored yet They have a winning record and they find a way to grind out wins. You must mention Dustin Wolf. He's been sensational But they also just have seemed to taken on this identity and I hate to say this because I can imagine Canucks fans It's probably driving them nuts. Remember the identity that Canucks last year this resilient group Hard to play against, dynamic, you know, never say die. They took on sort of Rick Tocque's personality. Well, this Calgary Flames team, they're not nearly as dynamic as the Canucks were last year, but they have that same sort of, we're going to grind you, we're going to grind you, we're going to hit,

we're going to battle, we're going to fight for every inch of ice. It's not really pretty hockey. It's not the most exciting hockey, but it's become an effective brand and it's become their identity. And for certain players like Jonathan Hubertow, who were kind of left for dead a little bit, like, oh boy, this guy's been a disaster. You know, he's not going to be that 115 point guy from Florida, but he's going to be an effective, you know, probably score 30 goals this year, close to 30 goals. And he's become this effective guy again. So they've found a way to have an identity that's working for them between grinding it out and goaltending and, you know, half off to them.

And Ryan Huska, it's a really tough year to win coach of the year because, you know, you have Spencer Carberry, you have Dean Evison, you have a bunch of guys who have incredible stories this year with what they've done with their teams. Um, but Ryan Huska to me should certainly be in that category of elevating a team far past anyone's expectations. And if somehow they hold on and make the playoffs, that that's really one of the better stories at the

NHL this year. Hey, David, are we talking enough about how hot the Tampa Bay Lightning are lately? You know, I, it's funny. So I'm based in Toronto, obviously, and there's a lot of chatter right now. It is imperative for the Leafs to win that Atlantic division.

Everyone's playing well in the top three there. Well, think about if you don't win that division, you either get Tampa or you get Florida. And I'm glad you brought up Tampa. They've looked, listen, they've won nine of their last 10 games. The thing that would worry me most about facing Tampa is Vasilevsky guys. And I know he was a bit of a bust the last two years by for his standards. He looks like the old Vasilevsky.

He's dialed in. He's winning games, making massive saves at the right time, and you just don't want to have to deal with him. And quite frankly, Kuturov, and if Kuturov was born in Saskatoon, I imagine he has a few more MVPs under his belt. I don't say there's a ton of bias in the voting pool of people, but I think one him playing down in Tampa and not in sort of a more, you know, metropolitan market or no one market. And the second thing of him being Russian, like he is just so, so, so good. And again, he's doing it top three in points and he just does everything. I don't know if you saw the goalie scored yesterday. It was just it was unbelievable. So

Yeah, I honestly guys They're a force and I'm interested to see what they do Julian breeze well has made a point in the past of making sort of some big sort of quiet under the radar moves and He might have something more up his sleeves in the next 48 hours as well But it's imperative, whoever wins that Atlantic and you can avoid that really tough first round battle and you maybe get a wild card team, it's a big, big thing because both Florida and Tampa are really rolling.

When are the Buffalo Sabres going to do something drastic with this lineup? Oh man. Honestly. And guys, it's such a good hockey market, like even during four nations, right? They're the top US market per capita. They're a small market, but you have an insatiable appetite for hockey and it's just a mess, guys. You know, one, it's funny, I've been asked who should the least target and really I would say, I'm sure a ton of teams are targeting, including

Tampa from what I understand Alex Tuck is a guy if you could wrestle him away from the Buffalo Sabres, that would be great. But again, the argument, you're asking what, when they're going to be dramatic moves. He's from Buffalo and he's a legitimate player. You're going to take a guy like a hometown guy and move him like that sort of the dilemma staring down Kevin Adams. But yeah, it's a mess guys. It's funny, Lindy Rough two days ago described their loss to Montreal. That was a must win. And I'm kind of laughing. I'm going, you're dead last in the East. How

is that a must win? The must wins have all happened and you've lost them all and you're staring down a top five pick again. So I don people are wondering, you know, Terry Pagula went in, traveled to Montreal. I think it was back in December. You guys remember this? Yup. Went and addressed the team and then they went out and I believe lost seven one that very night. And I sort of said, Oh my God, the owner, you know, strikes up the private jet, flies in to address the team. And this is the response. And to me, at that point, I said something traumatic is going to happen.

It didn't really happen, so I'm waiting. I think we're all kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. And whether it's Kevin Adams making those decisions or someone else has yet to be determined. And I've never hear lobbying for anyone to lose their job. And I think Kevin Adams is a great guy, but I just know the track record isn't what he would expect or what the management or ownership group would

expect and something dramatic, as you said, has to happen here. Cause this is one of the worst runs in league history now. What are they staring down? I can't even remember. Is it 10, 12, 13 years? Last time they made the playoffs was 2011, I believe.

14 years. Wow. And in case any of the listeners don't know, they lost at home yesterday, 6-2 to the San Jose Sharks. Yeah. David, before we let you go, I do want to preview tonight's Scotiabank Wednesday night hockey.

It's actually a great night for both the games on sports night and not. So you've got Sens Blackhawks followed by the double header Canucks, Ducks, and then Blues and Kings, but we've also got Caps and not. So you've got Sens Blackhawks followed by the double header Canucks, Ducks, and then Blues and Kings. But we've also got Caps and Rangers. So OV going into Madison Square Garden chasing down Gretzky's record. And then the Leafs are in Vegas tonight. So it's a great, even though there's only five games tonight, great slate NHL action. Really compelling. Obviously the OV chase right 11 away from the all-time champion,

you know, all-time goal scoring record. The Rangers are desperate for points. They're in the second wild card. Ottawa is one point behind them. For you know, those listeners are more focused on the West. So go type, you know, go look at the Eastern standings because there's six teams sandwiched in three points all fighting for one playoff spot. It's quite a chase to the finish. And Ottawa, we talked about the pressure Edmonton's feeling.

I think Ottawa is feeling that same sort of pressure not to win the cup, but they have chase to the finish. And Ottawa, we talk about the pressure Edmonton's feeling. I think Ottawa's feeling that same sort of pressure, not to win the cup, but they have to make the playoffs. They really have to. I don't want to overstate this, but I've said this on your show before, like I feel, you know, it's hard for Brady Kachuk, who's the heart and soul of that team and the emotional heartbeat to be watching and seeing his brother have the success his brother's had in Florida he's doing everything in his power to pull this team into the fight. If they somehow fall short, I really wonder if he's just going to lose, wave the white flag and be like, I need to go do this somewhere else. It's just, I can't do it here anymore. I'm not

saying that's going to happen. I'm just wondering. Yeah, you understand. So anyways, yeah. And then obviously the Vancouver game guys, I don't need to tell your audience. I mean, these are big games. That's what's kind of exciting right now. You have the trade deadline in two days. And then the backdrop to that is all these teams chasing, are we buyers? Are we sellers? What are we going to do?

And don't sleep on Anaheim, right? They're playing their best hockey of the year. They've won six of their last 10 games. They whooped Edmonton last night and here they are just four points behind Vancouver. So yeah, we're excited for the matchups tonight and every game sort of matters right now. So there's a lot of great storylines. David, this was great as always, but thanks for taking the time to do it. Enjoy all the games tonight. It should be fun. We'll do this again next Wednesday. We'll see you in studio tonight. Thanks fellas.

Yep. See you buddy. That's David Amber, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Yeah, scoreboard watching every night now. I mentioned during that hit the big news for as it relates to the Vancouver Canucks is that the Calgary Flames did go into Philadelphia and beat the Flyers 6-3 yesterday. So Calgary has kind of, they haven't quite salvaged the road trip yet because I think overall it's been a negative road trip for them. They've really struggled to score goals. Yeah, they got two wins. They got one over Washington and one over Philly.

They started with the win over Washington, which was good. Yeah, yeah. They scraped out an OT point against Carolina, I want to say. What are they, two, two and one on the top? That's fine. It's just the offense that really took a nosedive,

but scored six goals last night against Philly. The Oilers, that's a problem. That was crazy last night. That was crazy last night against Philly. Um, the Oilers, that's a problem. I mean. That was crazy last night. That was crazy last night. Um, Mason McTavish a pair of goals, Jackson Lacombe, who I need to ask Jonathan Davis about coming up on the other side, because I will admit,

I did not know much about this young defenseman for Anaheim. You kind of look at their team and you're thinking like, well, I know McTavish and I know Cutter Goche and Zegress, but I didn't really know, but LacCombe looks unbelievable. He had another good game last night, three assists, and Don't Look Now.

I call him Honeycomb. Honeycomb, that's a good nickname. Don't Look Now, but they're not, is six points in the playoff, Chase, you tell me. No, they're not in the race. They're close to being almost considered maybe in the race. Is that a good way of putting it? Anyway, they're going back to back tonight. So they had a big win in Edmonton last night, but Edmonton is in a very bad way. And I'm glad that you are asking every single guest that we have

what's going on with the Vanderkean. I feel like people aren't paying enough attention to this. People- This is crazy. It's very, very odd. I think the first person that we- Do they not have a conversation? It's like, Hey man, you're sitting out. Oh, or either like, does he, does he say like, no, I'm not. I think the first guest that we broached his

conversation with a while ago was Frank Serra Valley and he's going to join us on the other side of the break so we can ask him again, what's the latest, what's going on here and is he going to play for Edmonton? Are they going to move them? What's happening? Are they going to have, you know, five million at

the trade deadline to use or not? Feels like a pretty big deal going into Friday's trade deadline. Frank Cervalli is gonna join us next, right here on the Haliferton Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.