Halford & Brough in the Morning - How Will The Canucks Vets Respond Tonight?

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they set up tonight's Canucks game versus the Capitals and wonder how the veteran players will respond after being called out by head coach Adam Foote (3:00), plus they go around the NHL with Sportsnet's David Amber (26:10). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to HALFER the corner. What if people hold the line. Here's quickly. Ties his career high. He's got a 40 piece. I love you guys. God, let's go! You dropped a curse word there at the end,

something you don't do very often. We're at that card. It's overwhelmed by emotion and it's the pinnacle peak. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a new Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford and his Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios

in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning. And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Bruff in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Got CRA debt? Sands and Associates could cut that debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid.

Visit them in 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming live from the Kintech Studio, make 2026 year year to move better and step stronger with Kintech custom orthotics. This is for the first time in 2026. We have a five guester on the Halford & Brough Show. on SportsNet 6. Five guests. Do we even have to talk? Did no research last night. Just raw dog in the show. Nice. Nice. Nice. Got to be a better way to say that. We'll figure it out later in the show. Five guests today on the

Duick Morning Drive. That's our morning guest list here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 630. David Amber, Hockey Night and Canada. SportsNet NHL host. We'll join the program. Scotia, Wednesday night, hockey at night. Wings at Leafs, followed by Penns at Flames. And don't forget the Canucks hosting the capitals. David is going to join us at 6.30 to preview that. 7 o'clock, Frank Sarah Valley, our NHL insider from Victory Plus.

Eight games last night in the NHL, six more tonight as the condensed schedule heats up ahead of the Olympic break. With all of the trade rumblings going on, I'll remind you, we're just a little over two weeks away from that break. Frank's going to join us at 7 to talk all things, NHL. At 7.30, our NHL insider from ESPN. Greg Wischinski is going to join the program. Much like Frank, we'll go around the biggest news, notes, stories, and rumors from across the NHL with Wish. That's going to be at 7.30. I know Wish was quite taken with the interview that Linus Almark did, so we'll probably talk about that with him.

At 8 o'clock, Randy Janda is going to join the program. Canucks color analyst from Sportsnet 650, as I mentioned. Canucks are back in action tonight. They have the 11 game losing streak. 7 o'clock versus Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Maybe the last time Ovi ever plays in Vancouver. How will the Canucks veterans respond to Alask? Adam Foote's remarks following Monday's loss to the Islanders.

We'll talk to Randdeep about that at 8. Finally. Finally, 8.30. Sarah Nurse is going to join the program. She, of course, of the Vancouver Golden Eyes and Team Canada at the upcoming Olympics in Italy. Golden Eyes are going to play her former team, the Toronto Scepters tomorrow at 7 o'clock at the Pacific Coliseum. We'll talk to Sarah about that. Talk to her about the Olympics and a whole bunch more at 8.30 this morning. What a rundown. What a guess list.

I'm not even going to go in reverse. Without further ado, Laddy, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing. We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? Miss that? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler to give construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCCSA.ca.ca. We do begin yesterday or today's show, Jake. with the Vancouver Canucks, who had a day off yesterday to sit and think about what their head coach had to say following Monday's loss to the New York Islanders.

Yeah, Adam Foote's comments were still the talk of the fan base. As the Canucks did receive a day off, a few of them will have to speak to the media this morning after the morning skate ahead of tonight's game against Washington. So, I will say, it's not like a carry. whether the Canucks win or lose tonight, but I'm curious to see how they respond to Foote's comments. Everyone yesterday pointed out how Foot has held his tongue this season and maybe even, maybe even taking a few bullets for the veterans. Yet his comments suggested that he's had significant concerns about the culture of the team

and the mindset of the veteran leaders on the team for the last few years. Now, some of those leaders aren't with the team anymore, but those concerns remain. And those concerns include his time. Remember, as an assistant under Rick Tocket, he's not new to this team. He's just the newest head coach. Now, curious to see how they respond tonight,

but I don't think it's, if they, Let me put it this way. Okay. If they do respond, it won't change how I feel about this core. Nor should it. What would probably be more interesting and more meaningful is if they don't respond after that call out. What if you don't do anything? And then you're like, okay, who wants to be here and who doesn't?

I have a follow up question for you. Sure. what would responding look like for this team? Would it just be a win? Would it be a good effort? Because they had a good effort against the Islanders, all things considered. It wasn't a bad effort. The things that Adam Foote were calling out wasn't actually effort-based.

It was the attitudes about when things go bad. And I'll remind you. Yeah, it's a good question. Like, what do we look for tonight? Yeah. Very quiet gates. Right? It's just opening and closing it very carefully.

Guys are just being super polite to each other after you, sir. I'm keeping my composure. Literally never putting their head down once the entire night. Just keeping their head upright the entire evening. I don't know what it looks like, honestly. I think that... I think a win would help. Yeah.

But there's a lot of different ways that you can get a victory in the National Hockey League that doesn't necessarily... There's statement wins and then there's wins that you didn't deserve. I think that the ship has sailed for message sending and message receiving with this group. I'm just going to put that out there. But let's just say, look, if they get blown out tonight, then you're like, okay, what's going on? Because the Washington Capitals, I know they made the playoffs last season, and everyone still considers them a good team.

They are not rolling. Very average hockey team, I'd say. Heading into tonight's game, they're missing some key guys. They're missing Tom Wilson. They're missing Pierre-Luc Dubois. They've missed Pierre-Luc Dubois for pretty much the entire season. and I think the expectation is that he might be back in April. Yeah.

There's got to be some sense of worry in Washington that they could miss the playoffs in a much more competitive Eastern Conference. I think they've lost three in a row. If you look at their stats, they're still led by a trio of pretty old guys, Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, who is out right now. So there will be no revenge for him on behalf of Philip Hedel, not that there would be anyway. Right.

Carlson on the back end. They do have some nice young players like Ryan Leonard and Justin sort of. Our guy. But they've, you know, they've been making a lot of mistakes according to their coach. And in particular, the young guys have been making some mistakes because they're just learning the league and they're kind of being thrown in there with some of the injuries to the Washington Capitol's veterans. Does that sound familiar? Yeah. So the caps will be, we'll see how they play.

And will we see Logan Thompson in goal tonight? Because I think we're all hoping some Canadian goalie gets hot. Yeah. I wanted to circle back on the Vancouver thing. I know we're previewing the entirety of the game. But just the notion of what to expect from tonight, I think it is telling that this is the first time in a lost season where we're really curious to see what the response is going to be from a post game.

I don't want to call it a tongue lashing because it wasn't that severe. No. But game 49 of the season, Adam Foote finally decided that the dam had broken and, you know, that was the straw for the camel's back and all those other cliches that he was finally going to say something. And I think that although it wasn't like addressing down, it was still really significant. If only because it told everyone. everyone that the issues that have plagued this group for the last three years are still very much there. Right.

And that's with J.T. Miller being traded away and Quinn Hughes being traded away. And, you know, Adam Foote having the Gulf Summit over the summer where everything was apparently squared away. And the vibes were supposed to be pristine going into this year. Who was that good? The golf, the golf getaway was with Demko, Pedersen, and Quinn, right? Yeah. There might have been a fourth. I think that was maybe just the three.

Yeah, well, Adam Foot was the fourth. Yeah, of course. Oh, yes, the coach. All I think about is the golf. Yeah. I wonder where they played. Yeah, but, I mean, there was a lot of talk from the top of the organization down, how they had righted that ship.

And that ship here, I mean, is the attitude, the culture, the approach. And now it just feels like a lot of lip service going into the year. And it really makes you wonder, really makes you wonder what Adam Foote had to have either seen or felt to get to his version of a breaking point. Yeah. I was thinking about this a lot last thing. Like, what would have happened that forced foot to say, all right, after 49 games in charge of largely saying, you know, we got young players making

mistakes. We were right there. And occasionally our goalies need to make us safe. What did I finally decide that I'm going to change? Because you're right. There wasn't any feeling during that Canucks Islanders game like the Canucks are melting down or anything. They had... They melted to the previous game. I mean, if there was ever

a moment. Hockey night in Canada. Six goals and 13 minutes in the second period. Maybe he just didn't want to say it after that game. Maybe. You know? Maybe. So he waited for a Monday night against the Islanders. I mean, there were look, were there breakdowns

in that game? Yeah, in the second period, the Islander scored a couple of really quick goals to take the lead. But it's also possible that we're not watching these games as closely as we used to, maybe not seeing the things that we would normally be looking for? Well, I know Drans and Dodd were talking, I mean, everyone talked about this at

length on the station industry, because it's a pretty big deal. And I think Drans pointed out that this might be an important moment in what's been a lost season, and quite frankly, a forgettable one where you're just playing out the string. A lot of these games, there haven't been any notable benchmarks along the way. Like losing to Edmonton 6-0 was only noteworthy because of the score. And it was their 10th straight loss. and another home loss.

But there was no stakes to it. Everyone finished the game. And Nikita Tolopilo got sent down. They're like, we need to get you away from this. And they just, then they suit it up and they played again on Monday. So it's an important moment. And I think what it does is casts further doubt on everything that this fan base, and I don't want to say sold, because that implies that there's been a buying there.

How about told? Told. Very well done. Over the last six or seven months. And any, there's a certain justification. and a certain, like, receipt keeping and gatekeeping that comes with this, where everyone's like, I told you so, like you asking the question in the aftermath of the Quinn Hughes trade

about a culture problem. And it being like sluffed off. Laft off, really. On our team? Yeah. And then when you spell it on your team. Yeah. And then after you spelled it out with a mouthful of cotton,

it was like, no, it still didn't either it didn't sink in or there was a dismissive attitude towards it. Yeah. And that's bothersome, right? Because when the coach, says something, it's supposed to mean something. And the coach very much said, hey, we got

a problem here, we had a problem, we thought it had gone away, clearly it hasn't. And then the party didn't say is, how do you fix it? I think I know the answer, and that's, start moving guys out. I hope Alvin has a follow-up

press conference, so Brough's going to ask him again. Hey, it's me again. Remember the Coulter pump puts in? First of all, it was the Zoom. If he's not on a Zoom, he's this down, crystal clear. Second of all, did you hear what John Harbaugh said in his introduction to the New York Giants? Oh, I should have put it in the notes. It was pretty funny.

He used the word football approximately a thousand times, but his message was, if you don't love hockey, if you don't, I'm sorry, if you don't love football, if you don't love everything about football. And he talked about, you know, playing the game, practicing, watching tape, being around your teammates. Lifting weights. He mentioned all of it. Lifting weights. Then you're going to go play for someone else. Yeah. He said that's what we're going to be doing. Football. Yeah. All the time. Every day. And it sounded, it was hilarious.

It was funny. And I think he was trying to be a bit funny. Yeah. Saying football all the time and football, football, football. But his message was like, you need to be obsessed about. the game and you need to love the game. Yeah. And I, and look, we, we don't know what's going through these minds on the Canucks, but many people have come up to me and said, you know, I've heard you talking about, you know, the Canucks looking miserable and pouty and, you have a culture problem that needs to be fixed. Okay. That was the Zoom. I've heard people talk about, you know, like how, you know, they've said like,

you know, I've heard you talk about how miserable the Canucks. And I agree. Like they look like they'd want to be anywhere else. And again, it's hard when you're losing. It's really difficult. But, you know, when you have a management group questioning the work habits, the practice habits of the group, of some of the top players, and then the coach comes out and says, like, you know, we got culture issues.

and then for that question to get asked, like, do you have a culture problem? And then you're right. You know, I'm not, you know, I was the one that asked the question. And I was just kind of, and when he said, like, on our team, I'm like, mm-hmm. And then laid out all the issues, right?

Like, they had a big fight between two of their leaders. And one of them had to be traded. And then look at some of the things that Quinn Hughes is saying in Minnesota, you know? I mean, he just laid it out. He's like, yeah, we're a better team here in Minnesota. And he just looks so much happier. And he's using his teammates, too.

Like that was a major thing. Like, people can deny it all they want, but the way Quinn was playing in Vancouver was weird. You do not see that. You do not see puck hogs in the, the NHL. And he essentially said like, I'm not really going to pass it to many of my teammates anymore because I don't trust them. And I'm going to try and do it all myself. Was it the right thing to do? No, it wasn't. It was bad leadership on behalf of Quinn too, but it said something.

Then he got out. I will say that. He got out, whether he forced it or not, he got out. By the way, you mentioned the Harbaugh quote. And the interesting thing was when he talked about loving football, he started it out and saying it in a positive way, like this is going to be a place for guys that love football, guys that want to do it all the time. There was a follow-up part about the guys that don't necessarily love it as much as the coach requires. And he said, there's guys around here that don't love football,

we're probably going to let those guys play somewhere else. If you don't love football, you're not going to love it here. I think that's an interesting part of this as well because when the coach sets a standard or more, specifically in the case of the Canucks, the coach tells you what to do and what not to do. Like, don't slam the gate when you come to the bench and don't hang your head when things are bad. Yeah. And you continue to directly defy that.

It's crazy to me that you keep getting opportunities to openly defy your coach. Which brings us, I think, to, you know, some of the guys that might get shipped out of here. And at the top of the list is Elias Pedersen. And I will just, I'll just throw it out there. I think PD's playing a lot better this season. I think he's had moments where he showed just how smart a player is. He's one of the best positional players that I've ever seen. He just knows where to be.

He looks a little more comfortable with the puck on his stick. There were times last season where you could tell he did not want the puck on his stick, and he just quickly got rid of it. He is trying to create more. I think his skating is still a bit of an issue. You know, on rushes, he, you know, he's not creating any separation if he hits the blue line with speed. But like, I still think he's a good hockey player. But the argument that some people have to keep Pedersen and hope his value comes back either

so the Canucks can keep them and have a good player or so they can trade them for something more. I understand that and I sometimes agree with the points being made. But if you're coming back to like we need to change how this team thinks,

the team's mindset and the team's culture, which is where that gets overused a lot, but is still relevant. And if we need to move on from all the baggage and all the negativity and the toxicity, like you've got to do it. Yes. And maybe Pedersen thrives on another team where he doesn't have to be part of the leadership group and he can just go play hockey and maybe in a more quiet market.

And maybe he's got some better linemates and maybe everything is better. for him. But I don't think it's in Vancouver anymore. So Santino and Coquillum just texted in an interesting question. This team went through the trenches for 10 plus years. I don't understand how this team does not hate to lose. It's an interesting question. You know, IMAQ had a bit from his trails from the road between Twitter and his articles that he wrote for

Sportsnet.com. and he talked about how much the losing is eating up, Brock Besser, who's been here for some pretty good times in Vancouver. He's had some great highs throughout his career, 40 goals season, you know, being a menace in the playoffs, scoring goals as they went to the second round against Edmonton. And he said, like, there was almost times where it looked like Brock was, like, ready to, like, cry, essentially.

Yeah. That's fine. Like, that it's his response. But what the organization, or at the very least, what the coaching staff doesn't want is guys riding the highs and lows of emotion like they used to. Well, like what Rick Tocott saw when he inherited the team, and then what Adam Footh saw when he inherited the team from Tockeet is that they think, and I think there's some validity to it,

that this group rides the highs too high and the lows, two lows, and they get off track when things aren't going their way. And they want them to stomp that out of their game and out of their mindset. Now, here's the thing. You can agree or disagree with that. There's a lot of people that will push back and say, you need people to be able to express themselves or show emotion or show frustration.

It's a good thing. I don't disagree with that. What I do disagree with is when two different bosses come in and tell the guys, this is the way we're doing things. And the guys don't do it. Because then you're shot as an organization. If you don't have anybody at the top who can call the shots and set the room and set the culture,

which is exactly what Harbaugh was doing. yesterday. And that's exactly what all NFL coaches do. Here's how we do things here. Here's how you do your job. If you don't like it, you can go do your job somewhere else. Maybe your attitude or your style will be a better employment fit elsewhere. But here, it doesn't work. Think of some of the guys the Seahawks have shipped out. But the problem is that that bar hasn't been maintained. It's all like just noise. It's all been talk. It's all been talk. There's no action. Yeah. Right? the biggest most demonstrative things that Foote's done through 49 games this year is what?

Healthy Scratch Jake DeBrusk once and then after game 49 and an 11th consecutive loss finally call out some veteran players and nobody's been shipped out unless it was either obvious in the case of Kiefer Sherwood or in the case of Quinn Hughes because he didn't want to be on the team anymore.

I mean if you want to look back on it, Hughes kicked the door down with his style attitude behavior where they were like, we can't have, part of it was we can't have it around anymore. It's too big a distraction. It's too big of an elephant in the room. We can't eat this elephant. But the rest of the guys, I mean, I thought it was telling when Sherwood got shipped out that they were lauding all of the things that he brought that he did really well.

Attributes that they wanted, they liked, and, I mean, I mentioned this on the show yesterday. Foot talking about how when Sherwood came to the team, he did all those things they don't like. He was outwardly demonstrative when things didn't go great. He was a gate slammer and a stick smasher. But he listened to the coaching staff. He got that stuff out of his game. And he flourished as a result. And his reward is he gets to leave and he gets to go to San Jose now.

So maybe that last chapter will work. I doubt it though. Because I think there's too much complacency from top down. And this veteran group, regardless of what happens tonight. I think I'm glad that it took, I'm glad that it happened. fact that it took 49 games into Adam Foote's tenure, it kind of sucks. Okay, we got to go to break.

We're way up against it for time. I didn't even get into the rest of the NHL stories from last night. We can do that later on the show, but we do have five guests on the program today, so we got a lot to get into. The guest list begins on the other side of the break. David Amber, Hockey Night, Canada, SportsNet, NHL host is going to join the program. Scotiabank, Wednesday night, hockey tonight, wings at leaves, followed by pens at flames, and then, of course, the late game tonight, Canucks, Caps, Alexander Ovetchen,

and the capitals are here. A reminder that's a 7 o'clock puck drop. You can hear pregame, postgame, and the actual game all right here on SportsNet 650. But David Amber is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops

and post game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 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.

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Still an hour one of the program. David Amber Hockeyn, Canada, Sportsnet, NHL host is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of Hour 1. Hour 1 is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit the Middle 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go.

David Amber, Hockey Night Canada joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, David. How are you? Gentlemen, it's a deep freeze here. Like minus 20 for the next week. It's been horrible. Get me to Vancouver right now. I got in the car this morning and it read minus one briefly. And then it heated up to zero.

So it was, I feel for you. I don't care for the cold temperatures. This was fine comparatively this morning. So, hey, I want to start with what happened last night. As a matter of fact, I want to start with the Montreal Canadian. So one of the things when the U.S. and Canadian Olympic teams were named, we all wanted to see who was on the teams. But I was also curious to see who got snubbed and what those snubs were going to do in the wake of not making their teams.

And in the case of Cole Cofield, it was, yeah, let's show everybody. what's what, scores the game winner with 15 seconds to go last night. I believe he's now tied for the NHL lead in game winning goals. And then if you go all the way back to when he broke in, he's among the NHL's elite in terms of goals scored in the third period

and overtime now. I don't know if everyone saw this, but the HABs also tweeted at USA hockey yesterday with a clip of Cole Cofield scoring that four or three goals. So, I mean, what's bad for Cole Coffield, good for the HABs, I suppose.

And that was a big goal for him. him last night against Minnesota. It was a beautiful. I was watching that live, and it was unbelievable. What a play. He also kept it in, so he scored with 15 seconds left. Montreal had them hemmed in, Hudson, Suzuki on the ice with him, and Montreal had them hemmed in the final minute

that was against the Minnesota Wild. And Cofield made a great play going to this off-wing all the way to the other side of the boards to keep the puck in, to keep sort of the momentum, and a very tired Wild team to sort of, have collapsed under that pressure. And then Coffield, you know, he's one of the best pure shooters in the game. And I, you know, I said this before.

If the U.S. does, you know, let's say they get to the gold medal game even and whatever, they just don't put up enough goals. They lose one nothing or two one. A lot of people are going to be saying to Bill Guerin. You left Jason Robertson off, who leads all Americans in goals. You let Cole Field off. He's one of the top 10 goals scores in the NHL. So, you know, he's putting himself in a tough spot, potentially, you know,

and having the likes of J.T. Miller, who's having an off year and Vinie Trowcheck, et cetera. So we'll see. Listen, it's not all about just, you know, putting pure goal scores on the team. But what I really got a good kick out of is what you just mentioned, the Montreal Canadiens that was just so nasty, you know, Hey, Team USA and they have the coffee goal, which was just a great sort of rebuttal to, you know, their player getting snubbed. Oh, on the other side of the ice.

Minnesota Wild, of course, now featuring Quinn Hughes. Rolling through Toronto and Montreal, what did you think of the new look wild with Quinn Hughes on the roster? You know, the Wild they're great. You've got to remember they're missing Boldie and Erickson up right now, and they're still a formidable team. I mean, they're right there bottling, you know, second best record basically in the NHL.

So they're strong, and what I'm interested to see is what they're going to do. Bill Guerin is, you know, he's a very bold GM, and he's going to probably add more, if he can potentially. There's a lot of rumblings that they're going to try to make a hard pitch to Panarin. Imagine having both Caprizov and Panarin for a bit of a playoff run. So I'm interested to see in the next sort of six weeks what the Minnesota Wilder are up to and just getting out of that central division with Minnesota,

with Minnesota Talas in Colorado. It's just, you know, I really wish we would change this playoff format. I know I'm not alone in saying that. I think we've talked about it on your show before. It's just this year it's really. going to be, you know, if these standings hold up, it's going to be crazy going into playoffs with, you know,

two of the top three teams in the NHL standings meeting in the first round. You know, like, that's just, every year it seems we have the same conversation, and this year it's even more pronounced because that Central has been so tough. Which of the Canadian teams do you think is going to be the most aggressive heading into this trade

deadline? There's a bunch of teams that are not going to be aggressive for sure, Vancouver, Winnipeg, even Ottawa's. Like they're five points out now. Calgary, obviously not. So is it just down to maybe three teams that could be buyers at the trade deadline, Toronto, Edmonton, and Montreal?

Well, I think there'll be a want for all three of those teams to add. You know, Montreal is in by far the best position when it comes to commodities, prospects, draft picks, cap space, right? Like, they're in a good position. Toronto and Edmonton have to get creative. Every time they want to add any front line player, it's like they've got to package a bunch of people and prospects that they don't necessarily have in place

and they don't have the cap space. So they've got to move some bodies out to make it work. It becomes very tricky, you know. The lease of a capologist, and he's probably one of the hardest working guys in hockey, because they're always doing this tap dance because they're always dancing right along the salary cap line. So it's just not as simple as saying, yeah, let's go add a player,

let's get this guy, let's get that guy. the lease apparently wanted to add guys like Rasmus Anderson. They just can't put together a package the way Vegas was able to put together a package of, you know, whether it's a first round pick, second round pick, an elite prospect. You know, the least don't have that at their disposal to make those kind of moves. So it's going to be a trickier for Toronto and Edmonton. They usually find a way to tinker. You know, last year at the deadline, the least added what, Carlo and Lawton cost them two first round picks.

two prospects like you know collectively and it didn't work out the way they'd wanted now both those guys had term both those guys are still on the Leafs this year and I think that's maybe increased the price because you know they wanted Carlo and Lotton for more than just a rental um you know

if you're getting a guy for just a rental just for that little stretch run maybe the cost will be a little different so we'll see my guess would be Montreal would be the most aggressive but we also have to remember they have a bunch of guys just coming back from injury, Doc,

Gully just came back. They still have Line A, New Hook, Jake Evans. They have guys who are coming back slowly, and you know, if you're their management group, you might say, oh, I want to see what this collective group looks like, give them a chance before we go out and make any quick decisions.

But I do think Montreal is certainly in a position. They've done maybe better than a lot of people predicted, and they look like a more complete team than a lot of people may be predicted coming into this season, and maybe, you know, they'll sort of be rewarded by adding a player or two to kind of make a legitimate run. The East is wide open, guys.

Yeah. There's no super, there's no Colorado in the East. There's not even like a Dallas or Edmonton in the East. So it's wide open. I know the Lightning have played very well, but, you know, there's vulnerabilities on every team. This could be one of those years where eight teams in the East make the playoffs and the 8, 7, 6, and 5 teams beat the 1, 2, 3, and 4 teams. I really believe that.

Like, it's not close, the margins. So if you want to try and make that sort of crazy unpredictable run to the Stanley Cup final in the East, this is your year. Yeah, I watched the Oilers last night against the Devils not impressive from the Oilers. Now, they were coming off back-to-back blowout losses over two pretty bad teams in Vancouver and St. Louis. But I got to be honest with you, most of the time when I flip over to the Oilers game, yeah, McDavid is impressive. Yeah, Dry-Siddle is impressive. After that, I'm really having trouble with the depth of the oilers, both up front and on the back end. Is there anything they can do about that heading into the playoffs?

Because, you know, yeah, Colorado was there, but every season you've got Prime McDavid and Drysettle, you have to make the most of it. Yeah, I mean, listen, as soon as we heard Connor McDavid had agreed to a two, two-year deal the pressure's on. They cannot squander, you know, there's two plus years. They have three playoff runs with 97, and I'm pretty sure they need to deliver a cup or do everything in their power

that satisfies him, that we've done everything we can to deliver a cup. Remember, he's taking probably a $5, $6, $7, $8 million pay cut to try and make this happen. So he's showing his dedication there. Where I think they want more is they, Isaac Howard,

Matt Savoy, young guys. Where they're getting stuff, I mean, Zach Hyman's been incredible. I've been sitting there banging the table saying he should be on the Olympic team.

So it hasn't just been 97 and 29. I mean, Zach Hyman, I think has 15 goals in the last 20 games. He's looked like Prime, prime, you know, Hyman, you know, he's been just great. He's been that 50 goal guy. Yeah, Mangiopania hasn't worked out. I mean, essentially he's asked for a trade

and they're trying to figure that out. And if he could start to produce a little bit, they'll probably have a better marketplace to trade him. So you're right. The supporting cast, it's been an up and down season for them. You know what you're getting from McDavid and Drysidal, and I'll lump Hyman in there as well. And generally, you know what you're getting from Ryan Nugent Hopkins,

but the rest of the supporting group, it's certainly been an up and down season for them. And when the team's been best, it's when the Trent Frederick and the Yan marks and the Roslavix, et cetera, have shown up and said, okay, we can provide some complementary scoring. And when they've struggled, it is right, when you're just saying,

all right, 97, 29, you better take over this game. Last night, you know, they don't have dry settle. He's away for personal reasons. And they looked really lethargic the first two periods. They came on really strong in the third. And if it wasn't for Jake Allen, I think the Oilers actually could have won that game in regulation. Jake Allen was so good down the stretch.

But yeah, that's sort of a continued narrative with them. I think you guys are absolutely right. It's just do they have enough around their superstars to compete? Now, one thing we can say is they think they've found their goalie and Tristan Jari and he's looked pretty good so far as an Edmontonoyler. And I could give their fan base and their management some real optimism because that has been an issue in the past. You know, the inconsistencies of, what am I'm forgetting his name now? Stuart Skinner. Stuart Skinner.

Yeah, Stuart Skinner. Yeah, it's morning for me too. Yeah, you know, and they feel like, yeah, exactly. brain freeze because it's so cold here. They feel at least they've addressed the goal to them. But you're right, guys. That is something. If they're going to add, it would be some more depth,

both for the forward group and for the blue line to have just a bit more padding there for their superstars. We're speaking to David Amber, Hockey Night Canada, Sportsnet, NHL host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I do want to jump back to the east here for a sec, David. So you got Toronto and Detroit in the first of the Scotia Bank Wednesday night double header tonight. I know Detroit's not a Canadian team,

but in terms of teams being very aggressive going into the deadline, I will keep an eye on them because it seems like they've been around a lot of different trade rumblings and talks as we get closer to, one, the Olympic break, and then two, the actual trade deadline. And two, if you look at that Atlantic division, I know the East has been very mid through the majority of this year, but that division right now with Tampa Bay, who has points in all of their last 14 games,

they're 13-0-1. Detroit is one of the hottest teams in hockey. there's 7-2-1 in their last 10. Then Montreal's right there as well. It's not quite a powerhouse division yet, but Detroit's right there among some of the hottest teams in the division. I'll be curious to see what the rest of the season has in store for them as they play the Leafs tonight in Toronto, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, you're 100% right. The Atlantic actually has been by far the better division in the East. You know, six of the top nine teams reside in the Atlantic right now. if the playoffs started today, five of them would be in the playoffs. So, you know, when it comes to Detroit, remember, they've missed the playoffs nine straight years. It's kind of crazy that it's been almost a decade. And, you know, Eisman has taken a lot of heat over the last couple of years with some of the missteps and, you know, being a little maybe cautious and standing pat.

This seems like the year he's going to go out. Everyone knows they made a pitch for Quinn Hughes and they tried to package some things together to get Quinn Hughes unsuccessfully, of course, but they're at least, you know, we're in discussion and you have to believe now with the momentum they have he went out and he got john Gibson by the way john Gibson is one 15 of his last 17 starts crazy so they do feel like hmm we finally have that number one goalie right and they made a pretty good trade to get him from anaheim so you know they're in a situation now where i think it's it's not stanley cup or bust or anything like that but they're definitely thinking we have an opportunity here with a really good core when you

look at the young pieces in Lucas Raymond and Mo Cider, who is going to get some Norris consideration. I mean, he does everything. He hits. He blocks shots. He, you know, rushes the puck off ice. He, you know, can be a big part of their power play. He does a lot for that team. He's a pillar. He's kind of, you know, a Victor Headman, you know, ask type influence on that team. So you have these good young pieces, and you have the brinkets and the Larkins and Patrick Kane. And you have this veteran corps there too, who are ready to maybe make that big run for Larkin. It's been a long time coming, right?

He's been their captain for a long time, and he's just never been able to have that playoff success. So, you know, I think you're right. I think Detroit's a team to keep under the radar or on your radar as someone who's going to be very aggressive, and they have a lot of draft picks, they have cap space, they have the ability to do things, and I expect they're going to fully use that this year.

David, did Adam Foote's comments about the Canucks veterans make it onto your radar? What did he say? He basically, after the Islanders game, he said that the veterans on the Canucks, the culture is an issue here in Vancouver with some of the way that the veterans respond to adversity. and it was the first time all season that he's really done something like that and it raised a lot of eyebrows in Vancouver as we essentially are wondering which veterans are going to be left through the rebuild. Yeah, I mean, listen, I watched some of that Islander game and it's, it's a, this is,

I feel horrible for the Vancouver fan base. Like, this is tough. This is tough to go through. I mean, I guess if you're going to rebuild, and et cetera, you're better to be last than to be 15th. I get that or 18th or whatever. But yeah, it's tough. You know, they're probably looking around and who are those leaders?

Who are those guys who are going to sort of grab the guy beside them and sort of say, we've got to get out of this. You know, it's 11 straight losses, the most ever in franchise history. And, you know, I don't need to tell you guys. They're not just losing two to one in overtime. I mean, most of these games have been pretty damn ugly. like really ugly. We saw what happened on Saturday night.

So, yeah, that's, you know, Adam Fudd, I feel bad from, we showed some shots to him on the pinch, and he, you know, he looks miserable. You know, I had a great time to sit down with him before the season, and he had a lot of optimism. He wasn't, you know, he didn't sit there and say, we're a Stanley Cup-Bonify team, but he really had a lot of optimism that there would be some growth, and there was a lot to be excited about. And, you know, to see where we are now with the team,

it's very disheartening. I think a lot of guys are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Is there going to be, you know, sure what's gone, who's next? You know, what's going to happen next? And I think sometimes teams get into that sort of mode of where are we going to go now. It's almost the same thing we saw with the Rangers. They looked completely out of it. Jury issued that statement about, you know, we're retooling and blah, blah, blah.

We're trying to get younger and prospects. And then the team came out and it's played better since then. Even though they didn't make any bona fide moves, they sort of just said, okay, now we know we're doing. what's happening now. We have a sense of the direction, and it took some of the weight off, maybe some of the players.

I don't know. You know, Vancouver doesn't need to make a big declaration as a franchise. I think they've already done that with, you know, we've already heard that from Jim Rutherford, and we've seen that with the moves they've made. But I think guys are just sort of waiting a little bit. It feels that way to me, at least. I don't know what you're,

what do you guys think as far as the temperature of the team? Well, I don't think they've made the moves yet. I mean, Quinn asked out, essentially. They had to move him. She for Sherwood. Sherwood was an obvious trade. He's a pending UFA and they weren't going to sign him and they haven't done anything else. And that's what we're waiting for.

We're waiting to see how far this goes. Which veterans with term are going to be shipped out of here as well. I mean, what are the thoughts? I mean, you know, they signed Brock Bessor to this long-term deal. Evander Kane, you know, what is the marketplace for him? Like there's all sorts of questions, right? It's not so simple. Yeah, the cane thing is actually pretty simple.

If they can trade them, they will. If they can't, they're not going to re-sign them, and he'll finish the season here. The Besser thing is very complicated, and that is looking like a poor decision by everyone, including Brock Besser to sign on, although he got a lot of money on that contract, so good for him there.

You know, there isn't a Canucks veteran that hasn't been bandied about in trade speculation. And, you know, that's where we're at. And I think Foote's comments about the veterans maybe not leading the right way,

that's only added to the speculation. So maybe that's something for the hockey net in Canada crew to take on as, unless you've just forgotten about us here in Vancouver and you're like, we'll check back with these guys later. You know what?

I mean, one guy, it's funny, we were talking about this on Saturday and I just wonder, you know, I think there'd be a marketplace for, I don't know his contract status, I'd have to look it up, but Tyler Myers is a guy, you know, you look at, you look at what teams add at the trade deadline. It's usually guys like Tyler Myers, right? It's those depth defensemen. Yeah. So he's through 20, he's what, $3 million through 2027? He might not want to waive, though. That's the talk here, that he wants to be in Vancouver. He's got a young family, and he just doesn't, He doesn't want to be on the move anymore, and that's the reason why he signed in Vancouver,

might have even left a little money on the table to stay in Vancouver and get that no-move clause. Yes. It's all complicated. It's all complicated, David. But thanks for joining us. Enjoy the games tonight. The games are Detroit at Toronto, followed by Pittsburgh, and a team that's hanging in there, hanging in a playoff spot.

The Flyers have dropped up, but the other team in Pennsylvania remains there. Pittsburgh is at Cal. Calgary, and Calgary has already started the rebuilding move. So it's the river in Calgary. Grosby is vintage Crosby still even at the old age. Of course, we have Canucks and the caps on Sportsnet Pacific. So busy night. I'll see if the intermissions there.

And yeah, enjoy the day. Enjoy the balmy zero degrees while I'm suffering here shoveling snow. Warm up, buddy. Thanks for doing this. We appreciate it. See, bud. Thanks, fellas. Take care.

David Ammer, Hockeyn, Canada, Sportsnet, NHL host here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. I will say for you beleaguered, sad Canucks fans out there. We've got some pretty good opponents coming to town the next few nights. Tonight, potentially Alex Ovechkin's last game in the National Hockey League in Vancouver anyway as the Washington Capitals are in town. Friday, you get what could have been. The Hughes Bowl, Huisapalooza, New Jersey Devils come through town.

Two Hugheses this time, not three. We got to watch them last night as they defeated the Edmonton Oilers. Well, Luke is out there. though. Yeah. So it's just the singular Hughes of Palozo. Just one. Sunday, a three o'clock start. That's Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who of course, are in Calgary Night. And then that's followed by a Tuesday date with Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks. I don't think he for sure would be back for that one, but who knows? So yeah, some pretty good opponents coming through town the next week and a bit here. And that's what you would hope for for an eight-game

homestand to watch a team. Honestly, I went on Monday to see Schaefer. I know. I wanted to see him in person. But you said the vibe in the building was fine. Really good. He's such a good player. I think he should be on Canada. And I wonder if there's an opportunity to get him onto that team. Like I would rather have Matthew Schaefer on the team than Thomas

Harley. With all due respect. Sanheim? Sanheim. Yeah. There's another guy. Schaefer is man, he's good. So I know we've got to go to break, but you were at Adag, I know you've been gone for the last couple days, Bruff went to the game on Monday.

Sat in Genpop, got to really experience the vibe and the attitude and the mood. Club Gen Pop. Club, Jen Pop. Champagne and all that. So it was funny because I was getting coffee this morning in the break room, and one of our co-workers from City News was asking about the vibe around the team. And I said, well, actually, Jason went to the game on Monday. And despite the fact it was the 11th consecutive loss, 11 in a row,

which is a lot in the modern NHL. Oh, I was so friendly, so encouraging. Not nary a jersey to be thrown on the ice. There wasn't even, there was kind of like grumbling when the Islanders scored. Like, oh, it was more just like, oh, that's too bad. You know, there wasn't, I think it just shows the expectations. You know, my buddy, I was sitting next to my buddy and he goes, we've become Calgary. The crowd has become Calgary.

And you know how we always talk about the flames, fans being like, just here to watch a hockey game. Yeah, I'm not going to get too fired up over anything. Going to have some beers. You know, if you talk about the three markets close to each other, relatively speak, in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Calgary's like the Good Time, Charlie. Yeah. Well, actually, I mean, you want to throw Seattle in there as well.

It's kind of the thing about Seattle. Like, no one's really, it doesn't, the fans are like, well, just keep going. It's fine. Win or loose. We're just having a good time here. The arena is nice. Seattle doesn't know what's going on, I don't think. Yeah.

What is this thing on the ice right now? Yeah. Bliss can come in a lot of different ways. It can be ignoring the reality in front of you. It could be ignorance. I don't know. I'm not saying there's anything bad. It was actually quite nice.

No. But it was like being at a youth sporting event where everyone was like, well, I hope they have fun. Sure. And clapping and making sure nobody gets hurt. That should be the banner for the next time. I hope they have fun.

It was a decent game. I want to point out, though. It was pretty entertaining. But it was, I was struck that they're going, they're on their way to losing their 11th straight. They blew a lead. They had a 2-1 lead going into the second. period.

Yep. And people were like, eh. I mean, I know again, we're up against it for time, but I don't think because of the circumstances around this team that there's so many other things to focus on that we

truly appreciate the level of futility that the Canucks are going through right now. Like, it's an 11 game losing streak. It's eight in a row in regulation. Yeah. Like not a single loser point to be found. That's hard to do in the NHL. Yep.

Every now and again, you'll luck yourself. into overtime or your goalie will goalie you all the way to the shootout. That's not even happening. I mean, if you go back and you look at the last decade in the NHL, there's not a lot of eight straight regulation losses where you couldn't even get it. Wasn't their 11th loss of record? Didn't they set the record?

The franchise's record for most games without a win is 13. Well, that's when there was the ties and stuff. Right, but that's what you've got to go. Take the ties away. Yeah. And well, but here's the thing. in this 11 game losing streak, technically speaking, there's a couple ties in there, right?

There was the Seattle game and there was the Boston game because they took them to overtime. So we are talking about record futility here. And I do think that is maybe part of the reason why foot popped off like he did after the last game because at a certain point, you do not want this on your resume, regardless if you have aspirations of coaching in the future or not, you don't want to go down as the least successful head coach,

single season in Caducs franchise. Frank Saravalli is going to join us next, so we'll see what's the latest on the Canucks trade speculation. You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.