Halford & Brough in the Morning - Here Comes The Adversity

Episode Date: November 20, 2024

In hour one, Mike and Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk last night's Canucks home loss to the Rangers plus the JT Miller news that he is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team (6:00), plus they chat the top hockey stories of the day with Sportsnet NHL host David Amber (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da And he scores! A tremendous goal by Chris Kreider. They made the key play. We didn't tonight. That's what it comes down to. Key plays that we didn't do in the last couple of games. So we'll learn from that. Left corner point. Steps in front. Score! Brandon Boyd! Brandon Boyd wins it for the Lightning!

I'm good. I got a kickstand down. You know what a kickstand is? A lot of people don't in there. A lot of Asians don't know what a kickstand is. That means I'm resting. I'm good. Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. It is Alfred That means I'm resting. I'm good. Good morning, Vancouver.

601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. This is Alfred and his bruh. 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. I got my kickstand down, too. I don't even know what that was all about. Adog, good morning to you. It means he's not taking the Dallas Cowboys job because he's got his kickstand down in Boulder, Colorado.

Got it. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. I didn't say hi yet. You didn't? Kickstand boy was going off over there. Good morning. Why do you do the kickstand thing so early in the morning?

Well, Laddie started it, and then you said you didn't know what it was about, so I explained it to the listeners. It's not my fault Adog's not aggressive enough to get a good morning in i didn't want to interrupt you you were doing your thing all right god shows off to a good start halbert in front of the morning is brought to you by vancouver honda vancouver's premier destination for honda customers they have a friendly knowledgeable staff that can help you with anything you're looking for sales financing service or kickstands. We are in Hour 1 of the program.

Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar 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, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfite, what are you waiting for? Kintec, we's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for?

Kintec, we have a lot to get into on the show today. It was a very eventful day locally for your local hockey squadron. There was a ton of stories around the NHL as well. Three guests today to break it all down for us. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host. We will look back on all of the action from yesterday, both locally and around the National Hockey League. We'll look forward to tonight. Five games on locally and around the National Hockey League. We'll look forward to tonight.

Five games on the slate in the National Hockey League, including a much-ballyhooed matchup in Toronto between the Leafs and the Golden Knights. David Amber will be on the panel for that. We'll talk to him at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Frank Cervalli, Daily Faceoff. We can talk to him about the news yesterday about JT Miller and his indefinite leave

from the Vancouver Canucks. We can also talk to Frank about the situation in Boston. Boy, we sure nailed that yesterday. Led the show with the Boston Bruins struggles not long after the Bruins dismissed head coach Jim Montgomery. So we'll talk to Frank about that at seven o'clock. Eight o'clock, Randy Janda, Canucks color man here on Sportsnet 650. We will talk to him about Vancouver's 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers last night on a very eventful and very muted Tuesday in the market. So there's a lot to get into with Frank, with David, and Ran Deep. It's all coming up today.

But without further ado, we need to tell you, Laddie, what happened? Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? 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. We're going to work in reverse chronological order here in terms of things that happened in the time that they happened. So we are going to start with the Vancouver Canucks' 4-3 loss

to the Rangers last night at Rogers Arena. We will then get into the news that preceded that game about JT Miller taking a leave of absence from the Vancouver Canucks due to personal reasons. But we will start with the game. It was a Chris Kreider goal in the third period that proved to be the difference as the Rangers beat the Canucks 4-3 to end what was a very disappointing homestand for the Vancouver Canucks as they now set out on the road.

Yeah, the Canucks and the Rangers, at the very least, they play some pretty entertaining games, don't they? Remember the Rangers-Canucks game last season at Rogers Arena when the refs screwed the Canucks? A lot has happened since then. Now, considering what happened earlier in the day, it was a dream start to the game for the Canucks when Quinn Hughes scored 34 seconds into the game,

won a nice backhand shot. Assist to Hronik, who made a strong play in his own end to start it all off, and to Elias Pettersson, who had a pair of assists in the first period alone. His second assist came on a nice passing play with Kiefer Sherwood after the Rangers

had scored a couple quick ones to take the lead. Petey served Sherwood a perfect saucer pass, and Sherwood buried it for his fifth goal of the season as he continues to show that he can contribute not only physically with a bunch of hits, but offensively in this league. The Rangers made it 3-2 on yet another tough luck moment for Carson Soucy. Man, well, it got worse later in the game.

But the Canucks did answer back before it got worse. They answered back when Connor Garland, who we didn't even know was going to be able to play yesterday, he did play and then rushed off to the hospital where his wife was expecting a baby. He scored off the rush, taking a sweet pass from Dakota Joshua before firing a pass to Sterkin. The Rangers, though, they took the lead again,

and they took it for good in the third when Pedersen had his stick lifted at the Canucks' blue line. Myers then chases a bandage at all the way to the corner for some reason, and because Pedersen, he said after the game he was caught a little flat-footed and he couldn't recover quickly enough, it left a two-on-one for Soucy to handle. Riley Smith held off Soucy and passed it to Chris Kreider, who was wide open, who beat Seelovs cleanly.

And I got to say, I'm not a goaltending expert, but I say that a lot about Seelovs. Gets beat clean? He beat Seelovs cleanly. For the seventh time in 11 home games, the Canucks had allowed at least four goals. The Canucks did have a few chances to tie it, but unfortunately, Sesterkin is a pretty good goalie,

and that's the way it ended. A 4-3 win for the Canucks overall. And you could tell by the comments afterwards by the Canucks and their coach that it was a decent effort by the team, given the opposition, and more importantly, the news of the day, given the depleted lineup. But the homestand will end with two wins and four regulation losses. And frankly, maybe it's good that they're going out on the road for a bit. So the postgame remarks were unique because when everyone was talking about the game

and the struggles and the adversity, a homestand where you only collect four points out of 12, they were talking about the on ice, but they also were talking about what happened off ice yesterday as well. And that was, of course, the news that happened not long after we were off the air at nine o'clock yesterday morning, that JT Miller was going to be taking a leave of absence, an indefinite leave of absence due to personal reasons. It caught everyone by surprise in the moment of announcement. And the rest of the day was spent trying to appreciate the sensitivity of the situation.

I think for the most of us trying not to speculate as to the reasons behind the personal, and then trying to understand that this is a sensitive situation. It's an important absence for the team in the negative because JT Miller is a very good hockey player and at times the emotional heartbeat of this team. And then trying to contextualize how you discuss it. Like this is a personal issue and you worry about the player

and you worry about that. And you also want to still talk about the hockey team because the hockey team went out and played a game last night against one of the best teams in the nhl fought valiantly and fell short for three it's a very complex day uh and there was a lot to get into i know you've got some thoughts on jt yeah well i know we often joke that the canucks are a cursed franchise and part of being a canucks fan is participating in the gallows humor but the last few months have kind of really been pushing it and it's like, all right, enough. Even for longtime fans of the team, this is getting a little bit ridiculous.

Consider in the last half a year or so, maybe seven months back, their star goalie suffered a knee injury so rare that nobody could think of another hockey player who'd suffered it, as we all got familiar with the word popliteus. A fan favorite and a great story from last season in Dakota Joshua learned he had testicular cancer. Their star winger Brock Besser got cheap-shotted and remains out of the lineup with a suspected concussion. Until recently, their superstar center, who is entering the first year of a massive contract extension, Elias Pettersson, had been mired in a month-long slump. Months, not month. I wish it was just a month. Months-long slump that had everyone completely baffled. And now this with JT Miller, whatever this is.

That's a lot of challenging stuff in the matter of a few months. I know the Canucks were saying all the right things yesterday, like, you know, life happens and you deal with it, but the juxtaposition with last season is pretty remarkable when pretty much everything went right until the end when Thatcher Demko got hurt. Yep. To their credit, the Canucks have managed to stay, I guess,

I don't know, I haven't checked the standings this morning, but above the playoff bar, kept their heads above water. I think they're 500, but they're above NHL 500. 15th in the NHL, sandwiched between Tampa Bay and Colorado. They played 18 games. They've won nine of them. They've lost five of them, but some of them they've got a point for. We are not going to speculate beyond what's been reported so far and beyond the statement

that the Canucks released yesterday, the only thing that's really been reported is that Miller needs a reset. We all know he's an emotional guy. Most of the time, that's a good thing. He is the emotional leader of the Canucks. You hear that time and time again, but sometimes his emotions get the best of him. And I'm sure that's mentally taxing when that happens. Now, look, you said it earlier. I've said it. Everyone said it. I know it's been said that we shouldn't overreact to this and we shouldn't jump to any conclusions we shouldn't speculate etc etc got it but let's face it we don't see this sort of thing happen every day in the nhl it's not unprecedented in sports and we've seen some pretty famous figures step away for i don't know if you want to call them resets, be it Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, or in hockey, I do think, like it has happened, I think of Jonathan Gerrard.

But when it does happen, it's a story, and it's going to get talked about. Because players go through ups and downs all the time in sports, and hey, maybe players should take mental breaks more often, resets, whatever. But I think it's okay to be curious about what's going on here. And it's okay to talk about it. It's not okay to recklessly speculate or throw all sorts of circumstantial evidence at the wall just to see what sticks. But I think we all wonder, let's be honest here, when we talk about this a lot on the

show, we all wonder what it's like to deal with the pressures of being a professional athlete or just a public figure in general. At the end of the day, it is really hard to be a public figure. It's a cliche, but fame is not all it's cracked up to be. You know, I remember reading something that Kevin Love wrote about the notion that everyone is going through something that we can't see. In his case, it was panic attacks and other people have dealt with other things. For the record, we're not saying Miller is going through something similar.

You know, he's not saying he's going through what Kevin love is going through, but he's clearly going through something. And it's just the idea that everyone has stuff going on in their lives. Even the rich and famous. Yeah. And I'll throw it now to, I think two of the individuals people wanted to hear most from yesterday,

and that was the captain of the team, Quinn Hughes and the head coach, Rick Talkett. And they understand to what you were speaking of right off the top about the cumulative adversity that this team has gone through through the first 18 games of the season. I think you could say that they've gone through more adversity prior to the 20 game mark than maybe collectively all of last year.

We're not trying to scorecard adversity here, but it has been a series of challenges, many of which are out of the club's control. We'll hear first from Rick Talkett and he was trying to use it as most coaches do in the positive that the the old whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and how they can use this as fuel. Here's Rick Talkett on the adversity facing his club right now and how it might forge them moving forward.

Well, it's things that you've got to overcome. It's adversity, and it's the stuff we went through last year too. You know, I love this because, you know, we're going to get some bodies back. I thought there was a step. I thought the guys played harder tonight. Certain guys I thought played harder, you know, we're going to get some bodies back. I thought there was a step. I thought guys played harder tonight. Certain guys I thought played harder, which is a good thing that we need from them. And then you just, you know, you use fuel.

People that doubt you or the noise. To me, it's stuff that I love. That's what galvanized the group. So take that energy that we have in the room. You know, we're going to have some bodies coming energy that we have in the room you know we're going to have some bodies coming back i don't know you know whether it's a week two weeks or some all-star people that's going to help but in the meantime some guys are getting some playing time and they're getting used to these kind of pressure games three three game three four minutes

where am i supposed to be in certain spots i think that that's valuable stuff. So the Canucks practice today at UBC and they're preparing for a long six game road trip, which kicks off Saturday in Ottawa against Travis Crean, their old coach and the Ottawa Senators. Then they go to Boston on Tuesday where the Bruins just fired their coach. So, you know, there's a possibility they're going to get the new coach bump there in Boston for a bit. You know, I really am curious to see a practice. Well, lots of things. You know, if Besser's a regular participant. He did skate yesterday.

I don't know if Demko's going to ramp up his participation with the team. And, you know, look, Susie Myers, they've got to break these guys up. They just have to. I don't know how they're going to do it, but these guys continue to be out there for a lot of goals. And it's getting hard to watch. I mean, Susie had some bad luck yesterday, but it's just one of these situations where it's like, man,

like anything is better than what's going on right now. If you've got to switch some guys around, then just do it. So as we pivot back to the on ice stuff, I thought some messaging that was very interesting yesterday from Rick Talkett, and it had to do with the questions that were asked from the collective media, was that, I don't want to call it a silver lining or opportunity

from someone else's unfortunate circumstances, but the reality is, players are going to need to step up. With Demko, Besser, Miller all gone from the lineup, there are, Miller, all gone from the lineup, there are, one, minutes to be had,

but two, important leadership roles that guys are going to have to fill and try and keep up on an daily basis. Because right now, and I heard Sat and Bic arguing incessantly about this yesterday, and Sat was trying to make the point, going into that game against the Rangers yesterday with the lineup that the Canucks had,

the Canucks were the inferior opponent. Yes. You know, and that's a team that was 100-plus points last year. And they were the inferior team in the game. Right. If we're being honest, I know Kiefer Sherwood said, you know, they deserved that one. But at best, it was a toss-up.

So there's a couple guys here. I want to play the Talk It audio. Talk It really spoke glowingly of what Connor Garland did last night. I think it was probably reflective of what Connor Garland's done this entire season as well. But yesterday, Garland and Talk It will break down his day. But it was one of those days where those that have had children know you're not controlling anything.

You're at everybody else's whims, and you're just trying to keep your head above water, and that's what Connor Garland did yesterday. Here's Rick Talk It on Connor Garland and his day after a 4-3 loss to the rangers on tuesday night he's gonna probably have a baby here soon um what was up at three in the morning was up at again at seven no sleep and you know it's our best player so you know what can you say you know you love the kid. That's important. It's important in those moments,

regardless of whatever Garland was going through in terms of like, I'm exhausted, I'm running on pure fumes. A guy that knows that he needs to be a bigger presence and play more in that moment because the team needs him. Things happen to a team during a season. Some of it predictable, some of it not. Things happen to a team. And the other guy that things happen to a team during a season some of it predictable some of it not things happen to a team and the other guy that i wanted to focus on because both hughes and talk

it spoke him up big time is keifer sherwood who is emerging as one of the best free agent signings in this class of the summer of 2024 whatever is driving this guy be it um you know previous snubs or nashville letting him walk or the energy that comes with getting this opportunity in vancouver whatever it is bottle it and keep it going because he has been right up there among the canucks best forwards this season and it was on display again last night uh here is rick talkett on keifer sherwood from last night after Here is Rick Talkett on Kiefer Sherwood from last night after the 4-3 loss to the Rangers. You know, he's just a passionate guy.

We need guys like that. You know, he comes to the rink every day to practice. He plays like it's a privilege to play in the NHL, and he's got an opportunity here that maybe he didn't have much as a natural, like whatever to show, like he told me this summer. I mean, I remember talking about a Sunday morning. He was going to shoot pucks in a garage, you know,

because he knows there's offense in the game. And, you know, I don't know how many points he had last year, but has he got more this year? Like it's 18. He's close, but I'm saying he can play. So good for him. We need a lot of guys like that. Contagious. So how are the Canucks going to deal with Miller's indefinite absence?

He's not going to go on this six game road trip. Could always join on the road trip, but it's indefinite. They don't know how many games he's going to miss. I think it starts with Petey, obviously. Obviously. He's got to be their best forward. He's got to drive play. Fortunately for the Canucks, he's starting to do it.

He needs to do it even more, though. And I would say ditto for DeBrus. DeBrus, if he's going to play with Petey, needs to score some big goals. And I know he was upset last night that he wasn't able to bury a chance late

in the game um they're gonna need more from all these guys yeah I think it's pretty straightforward when it's like if one of your I like the potential of that line with Sherwood on it though sure you know if one of your best players is out and you need to replace what he brought in terms of minutes production and then also what Miller brought is the, like we said, the heartbeat of the team. It's just the inevitability of needing guys to step, not wanting, but needing. You can't have DeBrusque do passenger stuff.

You can't have Heinen, who's been good, but these guys are all of a sudden elevated to, hey, we're counting on you big time now. Did you hear Taka talking a lot about making key plays and how the Rangers last night, they made the key play. It was a really nice goal that they scored that was the game winner. I know we were focused on Petey having his stick lifted and Petey says he's got to do better there.

And we were focused on Tyler Myers chasing a guy into the corner for some reason, and it leaves Carson Soucy all alone, basically, to deal with two players. And, you know, it didn't go well, or it left Seelovs with a chance to make a big save, and he couldn't do it. But the Rangers did. You know, the Rangers made that key play. And, you know, I thought, of course, Zibanejad had a strong game last night after we talked about him.

Evan Bouchard also scored a highlight reel goal after we had trashed him in the morning. The Halbro bump, baby. That's just the Halford and Brough bump for other teams. It doesn't work for the Canucks. But I think when you talk about Petey, it extends to the other guys down the middle especially, like Pugh Suter who was between Garland and Joshua last night

on what became essentially the second line. He was good. Hopefully, they will get Besser back soon because, number one, he's a very good player. And number two, if we're being honest, Lekker Mackey probably needs a bit more AHL time now that he's got his feet wet in the NHL. Lekker Mackie was with Bluger and Heinen

on the third line. And because Sherwood was up on the top line, those three, that's a mix. And not a good mix. I'm not sure that's the best fit for Lekker Mackie, but the Canucks didn't have a lot of

options yesterday. They were like, oh my god, look at all the stuff that's the best fit for Lekomackie, but the Canucks didn't have a lot of options yesterday. They were like, oh, my God, look at all the stuff that's happening. And, you know, there was a chance at one point that Garland wasn't going to be able to play. You know, and speaking of wingers, I'm not alone here. Everyone has been talking about it, but you really got to wonder how much time Talkett has left for Hoaglander. Just a really dumb penalty in the second period.

Marcus Pedersen wouldn't have taken that penalty. I'll get to that in a sec. When Hoaglander got called for interference in the offensive zone, not the kind of play you can make when you're not producing. And he's had some chances to score, and the puck's not going in for him there's a reason hoaglander's name has come up in trade speculation and you know i know we talked with ray yesterday about a guy like marcus petterson and how you know the fit might be a little bit tough in Vancouver just because they need right-side guys and if you add another left-side guy.

But I don't know if you can afford to get too fussy on the trade market. And when Soucy got hurt last season, they made the Zdorov trade. Yep. And I really do wonder, because they were worried, and they were worried all season that things would eventually collapse, right? Remember last season was different.

We were like, oh God, when are they going to collapse? They never really did. But, you know, we were all, it was all in our back, in the back of our minds. We talk about how Soucy and Myers,

well, it's kind of like, well, what are you going to do, right? Like you don't want to break up Hughes and Hronik. You don't know if you want to give Branstrom that much more time because then he's playing in a role that maybe he gets. Maybe it's too much for him. Obviously, no one's calling for Juleson to be elevated up the lineup or

Day or Nay. Well, you add a guy like Marcus Pedersterson if they if they want to pull the trigger on a deal like that at least it gives you a little more options it gives you a few more options you can drop susie down to the third pair if you want right and and and throw branstrom over to the right side on the third pair if you want to do that and then you put petterson with myers and it just it's just it's something different now would that be a panic trade maybe I I don't know but all I know is that if they keep going out there with Susie and Myers I don't know at this point if they're gonna like find their games because it's not going very well

for those two and they they are not by themselves. There's other things that are happening, but they are a pretty big liability on this team right now. Lots more to get to on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. The Hockey Talk continues. We'll continue our whip around the National Hockey League with David Amber, Sportsnet NHL Hockey Night Canada host. He joins us next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4-6pm weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.32 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody.

Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. David Amber is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour one is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. David Amber joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, David. How are you? Good.

How are you guys doing? We're all right. It was an eventful day in Vancouver yesterday with first the news of JT Miller taking an indefinite leave of absence due to personal reasons and then the Canucks playing a spirited but ultimately another loss, 4-3 at home this time to the New York Rangers. When you heard about the Miller news yesterday, I imagine like most, it must have caught you by surprise. How did the rest of the day unfold for you guys trying to cover it all?

And then, of course, pivoting to the Canucks game. Yeah, it was a really busy news day yesterday. We were on the air mid-afternoon for Hockey Central teeing up the games. And the Jim Montgomery news broke just a little bit before then. And, of course, in the morning, you had the news of Ovechkin week to week. So derailing, you know, the hottest score in the league, the number one scorer right now.

And then Austin Matthews, you know, Elliot broke this story. He's out in Germany having whatever looked out. His whole injury is shrouded in mystery, and the Leafs are going to incredible lengths to get their captain back. And then the JT Miller news. It was a really busy news day. As far as the JT Miller situation is concerned,

when I hear someone leaves for personal reasons, and this is maybe just me, I sort of say, okay, we all go through stuff. I don't know what the issue is, and I don't really think it's probably any of our business. And the team's going to deal with it appropriately. And they've shown a great level of compassion saying, you know, we're with him every step of the way. And when he comes back and he's ready to go,

we're ready for him to be back. So I kind of take it like that. I'm not trying to dig into, ooh, what's going on. There could be some salacious stuff here. You know, that's just my personal approach. I've been doing this a long time, and I feel, you know, these guys have lives off the ice and outside of their professional careers like we all do, and I sort of try to respect that as best possible.

So I don't want to even speculate. I don't know the nature of why he's not there. JT Miller's proven himself to be a consummate professional and a guy who leaves all of his heart and emotion on the ice. And I assume he wants to make sure he's completely dedicated to being that type of player when he's back with the team and he's doing what he needs to to make sure that's the case. So I hope for him the best.

I hope he's back soon. Okay, so on that note, there is a kind of interesting, I guess it's a juxtaposition because you mentioned Austin Matthews, and there's a similarity here in that nobody knows exactly what's ailing Austin Matthews. The story right now is that yesterday Leafs GM Bradtree Living said that after the practice, Austin Matthews, who has been out classified as day-to-day, out for the last 15 days, that's a lot of days,

because of an undisclosed upper body injury. He's gone to Germany to see a doctor that he's worked with in the past, and he also went along with one of the Maple Leafs team doctors. Now, Tree Living said that because it was a light week for the Leafs in terms of games played, they felt it was a good time to go. But when you hear something like this, and I think part of it has to do with the fact that remember the 49ers with Christian McCaffrey too, right? Like all of a sudden he's going to Germany to get his injury checked out.

People start to wonder. And then you toe that line between, well, do we just let them figure out their personal health things or do we inquire? And I'm just curious what the mood is in Toronto right now, because anytime you hear someone's going across the pond to go get an injury looked at. And every time a reporter comes out like Elliot Friedman does and says, don't panic, that's the message. I'm like, I think I should probably panic. Yeah, I mean, you know, Brad Trey living was definitely trying to kind of calm the storm a little bit and that is that is a big you know enchilada to throw out there hey wow our

captain you know a prolific scorer our you know our stud is is getting looked at is one part of the equation but he's also going across the atlantic to get looked at uh listen a couple things here first of all i i do liken this a little bit differently than JT Miller. And there's a couple of schools of thought here that instead of shrouding everything in mystery, if you say, hey, you know, he's out with a wrist issue, a back issue, a shoulder issue, it stops a lot of the, it kind of just quiets everything. But when you decide to sort of be very clandestine about exactly what's ailing the player,

and whether that's the player's choice or the team's choice, then it does raise a bunch of questions, the severity and the nature of the injury. Him going across the Atlantic shouldn't maybe be as alarming. And I think Justin Bourne on our show made a really good point. Like, you know, if you have a, maybe it was Colby Armstrong made the point. If you have a Lamborghini, you know, you're not going to bring them to Bob's Mechanic necessarily if that's your best option locally. You're going to go to the place that's going to make sure it's taken care of.

You know, they have an incredible investment in Austin Matthews, and the messaging they keep providing is we need him back we don't want this lingering this is something that's been there maybe since training camp we don't want this lingering throughout the year and to be honest austin matthews wasn't his best version of himself in the games he did play he was still good but he wasn't spectacular which is sort of the bar he said as the 69 goal scorer a year ago so that being the case guys um a lot of it makes sense and justin bourne did bring up the point of when you go across to germany there are different regulations and different restrictions as far as what you can do to treat specific injuries so

you know just like christian mccaffrey maybe he's out there and i don't want to speculate because we just don't know but maybe he's getting a different level of care and service and health care that he just can't get in North America because of rules or regulations. Who has been the Leafs' best player this season? Anthony Stolarz. He's been great. He's been one of the top goalies.

He's been so good, guys, that now his name is getting thrown around, and I don't know if this is going to happen or not, but his name is getting thrown around as a possibility to be the third goalie on the U.S. team. We know Hellebuck's the number one. We imagine Ottinger's the number two. It was assumed preseason that Swayman would be that third guy. Well, Swayman hasn't been very good at all,

and Demko obviously is hurt because he would have been the third guy, I imagine, if he were healthy. And this has left us void at three and he's certainly in consideration. He has been that good for the Leafs that it's been really impressive. There's been some other candidates there and there might be some people listening

and go, well, what do you mean? Mitch Marner's been amazing. And Mitch has been incredible, certainly in the absence of Austin Matthews. They've gone 5-1. He has multiple points in five of those six games, much like Vancouver is going to call on Pedersen to step up and be that superstar without JT Miller and Besser there.

Marner has provided that role without Matthews. And then defensively, Chris Tanev does exactly what you guys know Chris Tanev does. He leads the league in blocked shots. The Leafs were 21st last year in goals against. They're sixth this year, and that's a byproduct of Tanev, OEL, a strengthened blue line on top of Stolarz, who's been really sensational. We were talking about Evan Bouchard yesterday, and we were, to be perfectly honest with you, kind of trashing him.

Then he goes out and scores that highlight reel goal last night against the Edmonton Oilers, which we all know he can do, right? We all know he's terrific offensively, but has some struggles at times defensively. Handicap his chances of making Team Canada. Yeah, I feel the same way, guys. I'm a bit reluctant to just mark him down it's funny at the

end of last year's playoffs it was like oh well there bouchard's there he's going to run the power play blah blah listen we don't know who's going to be the goaltender for canada but one thing we do know is they're going to need to be a great defensive team to me this isn't about having guys running the power play or being able to go coast to coast you already have kael mccar so you don't even have to necessarily worry about that aspect you're gonna have josh morrissey you already have those offensive minded guys you need the petrangelo's you need the parekos you know you need the devin taves you need you need the guys who are going to be able to defend and evan bouchard has shown he has incredible liabilities at times as a defender to me it's just get the puck off the ice to Nathan McKinnon,

Connor McDavid, you know, Braden Point. You know, you have all these roadrunners there with incredible offensive talent. The D doesn't have to be a 200-foot player. They have to make sure they take care of business in their own end and in front of their net. And Evan Bouchard isn't that guy to me. So to me, you're asking me to handicap it.

If I'm the Team Canada brass, Doug Armstrong and the guys, I'm favoring a defensive defenseman, a Petrangelo, a Shea Theodore, etc. That's where I'm putting my focus. And Evan Bouchard at this point, to me, because of his defensive liabilities, wouldn't be on the team. The team that the Oilers beat last night, the Ottawa Senators, who the Canucks are going to play this weekend, I might add, not a good performance from them.

Again, they are 0-2-1 in their last three. They're 8-9-1 in the year. I saw the comments from Brady Kachuk in the aftermath. And for me, I heard it and I'm like, it feels like he said this last year and if not last year than the year prior to that the same thing are any of these teams gonna ever pull it together buffalo detroit or ottawa for god's sakes boston's giving them such an opportunity right now i will give i will give kachuk credit he did he did say this he said the one word you could use about our

performance is immature so at least he's trying new things but it just seems like every time auto is ready to turn the page or to get better or to make that jump they take a step back yeah i i it's a head scratcher i i'm sitting there in the studio yesterday colby armstrong and i are watching the games we're doing the intermissions as you saw in the canucks game the flames game the oilers game and i'm sitting there i go this is great opportunity. Edmonton played the night before. They had to travel. You know, you've been sitting there. You're waiting. This is the kind of game that if you're a serious team,

if you're a playoff contending team, this is the kind of game you go out there and you win. And even if you don't win, you put up a much better fight than they put up. And I think, you know, Brady Kachuk said exactly what we were saying in the studio. We're going, man, that's just, they show, they lack maturity. They lack discipline. They lack, when things start to go sideways, they go really sideways. And we saw, you know, they take a lot of penalties and untimely penalties.

You give Edmonton a five on three for for a minute 57 you know the puck's ending up in the back of your net i mean you're just not giving yourself a chance to win and quite frankly you know omar i was talking about stolarz he's been this great godsend for the maple east omar hasn't been that guy for ottawa yet and they're waiting for him to be that guy he hasn't been as horrible as corpus solo was last year but he certainly hasn't been that number one vesno caliber goalie to help pull this team through with a timely save so i don't know what to make i'm getting animated here because i do feel like this is to me this is a really big year for the ottawa senators you know brady kachuk's

watching his brother winning stanley cops living his best life and who's to say brady kachuk's not going to one day go, I can't take this anymore. I'd love to be part of the solution, but it ain't working. Do you think that might happen? Really? Do you think that's possible? I have no, I'm not saying this from a place of knowledge.

I'm just saying I can imagine the level of frustration for him is incredible. And we've seen this, right? American players don't always re-signing canadian markets and i don't want to be so you know big big picture here you know but we've seen guys you know hellebuck we've seen jt we've seen certain guys do it but we've also seen guys go and you know i think i'd rather go back to the states or back to a different situation and i i think this is a really important season for the for the ottawa senators and they can't be it just can't be like previous years and it sounded last

night in the post game as you said like previous years and that's exactly what my takeaway was there's a lot of runway left there's a great opening the the big bad ruins aren't the big bad ruins right now there's definitely an opening for the ottawa senators and some of the other teams they have to walk through it. So this is game one of a four-game homestand, guys. They have to get their act together in this week and start pulling out some points and showing that

they're a serious team. Well, speaking of Matthew Kachuk living his best life, he was not temporarily last night because they went to Winnipeg and lost 6-3 to the Jets. So I was watching this game closer than I normally would have because of what happened the previous game when these two met in Florida, and Florida skunked Winnipeg.

And you talk about a team with Winnipeg where it's like, if there's any doubters right now, like the one bad performance they had this year, they come back and they get a chance to exact revenge, and they do it in pretty dramatic fashion. Shifley gets a hat trick, Morgan Barron with two shorthanded goals. And it's obviously an emotionally charged night because Paul Maurice comes back. Now, it's not his first time back or anything, but first time he's back as a Stanley Cup champion and said that very famous line,

like, I hope Winnipeg gets the next one. Winnipeg moves to 16-3 on the year, and it almost was like they took offense to having one bad game and then came back with a vengeance the next one. They are such a talented team. Did you see Barron's

first empty net goal, by the way? The bank? Yeah. Yeah, that was good. What a skilled play. Like he also, you know,

their shorthanded empty net, it would have been, the puck goes on his stick. It would have been so easy just to flip it down the ice and flip it towards the net or whatever. He said he took his time. he moved a little bit laterally he

looked at where on the ice he was and it was just a perfect bang shot into the center of the net i thought it was actually one of my favorite plays of the year i thought it was so yeah poised and cool uh and then he has another shorthanded uh empty net goal that's all good for contract negotiations right at the end of the year they forget how you got him he's like well i scored two shorthanded goals you know clearly i'm worth more money than that um yeah the jester this was a statement game and i actually tweeted this out yesterday it was actually a really important game just standings wise and getting their act together wise because they went on this goofy three-game road trip where they went to the rangers and then they had to go down to florida and take on

the two florida teams and then they and then they play this one game at home they fly all the way back from Florida to Winnipeg and now they're on the road for the next six games yeah that's a weird schedule man yeah it is so weird you've got to get to that together before you jump back on the road and have a it's a pretty hard road schedule they're playing some pretty good teams so I think it was an important reset it was an important statement game and um yeah and statement game. And, yeah, and Mark Scheifele, by the way, we're talking about Team Canada. I don't know how he's not a complete 100% block. Not just because he had the hat pick yesterday, but he's just been so, so good. A big, big reason why Winnipeg is 16-3.

So I fully expect Morrissey, Scheifele to be named in a couple weeks. And obviously the U.S. with Connor and Hellebuck. There'll be some good Winnipeg representation at Four Nations Faceoff. But that was a big, big statement win last night. December 4th is the date that the rosters, we'll find out the rosters for the Four Nations. One final thing, David, before we let you go,

where did things go wrong for Jim Montgomery in Boston? When did he go from coach of the year to fired in what, his third season there into his third season there? Yeah, I, that's a great question. You know, a lot of people are actually pointing to the Jeremy Swayman contract

negotiations and that had nothing to do with Montgomery, but it just, it literally, the season started with this dark ominous cloud a little bit over the team. They've kind of lost that mojo there. Their business wasn't kept in house. You know, when Cam Neely went out there and sort of alluded to this eight-year, $64 million deal, we've offered them that, and it just, things blew up a little bit off the ice.

Then right from, you know, week one, you know, stomping on the bench and screaming at Marchand and, you know, one you know stomping on the bench and screaming at Marchand and you know yelling at pasta and it doesn't mean you can't do those things but it just felt like from day one they were in this pressure cooker and there's lots of speculation that you know the contract costs between Montgomery and the Bruins weren't going well for a contract extension that he'd been offered something he turned it down and so there might have been some acrimony behind the scenes between management and Montgomery as well. So I think there was just a lot of different levers being pulled.

And having said that, you know, Jim Montgomery's been successful everywhere he's been. And it's kind of funny to think the guy is the great, you know, coach of the year two years ago, and now he's unemployed. Like, I can't imagine he's going to stay unemployed for long. And quite frankly, there's been a lot of people saying, you know, he had that team overachieving. And certainly the playoff results in his two years in Boston weren't fantastic.

But he certainly, you know, he pulled a lot of wins. He pulled out a 47 or whatever it was win season last year, you know, with a team without Bergeron and Krejci, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. He seems to get the most out of his players. So it's not like he's forgotten how to coach, but maybe they've now kind of come down to earth. They don't have the scoring they used to have. Marchand's older and been through those three off-season surgeries.

He's not quite exactly what he was. So there's a lot of reasons why the team has regressed. I don't see Jim Montgomery as being the one, but as we know, the chip to play when a team's not doing well is the head coach as opposed to the 20 players. So it's the first chip. I'm very interested to see what Joe Sacco can do, and I'm really interested to see where Jim Montgomery lands

because I imagine he might be the first coach. Once the next coach gets fired, I imagine he will be the coach replacing that person. That would be my prediction at this point. We do have like a minute left, so real quick before you go, tonight, 4.30 our time, Vegas begins its swing of the East Coast. They go Toronto tonight, then

Ottawa, then Montreal, so it's the Leafs and the Golden Knights tonight on Sportsnet, big Wednesday night marquee game. Yeah, we're excited for this one. You know, Vegas has been as advertised and Jack Eichel, if you haven't had a chance to watch Jack Eichel play much this year, he's been really fantastic.

And I know Canucks fans, you know, the Pacific Division could be going through Vancouver, could be going through Vegas, could be going through Edmonton, even Calgary's playing well. So it's really interesting to see those teams that you're up against and how they stack up, and it should be really a fun one tonight. No Austin Matthews, but Mitch Marner's been completely just going off of late. So we'll see what the deal is there. I can tell you that Max Domi was just put on the IR.

So the Leafs have some real issues up the middle now. David Camp, Kelly Youngcroke, Austin Matthews, and Max Domi. Essentially, all their centers are out right now. So don't be surprised if we see Mitch Marner playing center tonight. That was something that was discussed at practice yesterday. And our coverage starts at 4 o'clock Pacific time, so it should be a lot of fun. Colby Armstrong, Luke Gassick, Sam Cosentino, and me,

and we're pumped to bring it your way. David, thanks as always for doing this. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Tuesday. We'll pass along the word that Brady Kachuk is going to ask out of Ottawa on your behalf. Come on, man.

Don't put that on me. Just on your behalf. Don't radio me. We'll see, guys. Yeah, but thanks for having me on. And by the way, two weeks today, we're going to announce the rosters for the Four Nations faceoff on Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey for Canada and the U.S.

So two weeks today will be a big day for us look forward to it i'll talk to you soon thanks david amber sports at nhl host here on the halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 he panicked a little bit i mean i don't know is he panicking i've been saying this for years just i know ready construction is counting down the minutes until he gets out of ottawa but he has a sterling reputation we don't that's Right. We have a reputation. I hate Sterling. Frank Cervalli is going to join us next. We'll continue on with the NHL talk.

Uh, we will ask Frank if he's heard anything more on the JT Miller situation in Vancouver. Uh, I doubt he has, um, but we'll talk about it. Um, and we'll go around the NHL, maybe talk a little bit more about the Boston Bruins, talk a little bit more about the Pittsburgh Penguins who continue to struggle. And Mike Sullivan called them out yesterday

and said, we're going to need more effort. And then all the Penguins fans said, we're going to need more talent or maybe a new coach. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.