Halford & Brough in the Morning - JT Miller & Elias Pettersson

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the top hockey stories of the day with NHL analyst Ray Ferraro (1:21), the boys discuss the antics of Brady Tkachuk and if Sens fans are getting tired of them (27:00), plus they chat Paul Bissonnette talking about JT Miller on Spittin' Chiclets today, and Miller's relationship with other players on Canucks, namely Elias Pettersson (40:00).  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.

It's time for Ray Ferraro. Let's talk to Ray Ferraro. Ferraro winds up with a shot. Score! Ray Ferraro. Breakaway is on his side. Score! Three-bound score.

Ray Ferraro. Ferraro. Ferraro. It's time for Ray Ferraro Ferraro Ferraro It's time for Ray Ferraro Let's chat with Ferraro It's time for Ray Ferraro 7.02 on a Tuesday Happy Tuesday everybody

Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650 Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program. Ray Ferraro, as the music suggests, is going to join us in a minute here to kick off hour two.

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powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, what are you waiting for? Kintec. To the phone lines we go. Ray Ferraro joins us now on the Alfred and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Ray. How are you? I'm doing good. How are you guys today? We are well as well. We're looking forward to this game tonight. Canucks-Bruins

4 o'clock from TD Garden. You can hear the call right here on Sportsnet 650. Let's start with the Bruins side of things. Obviously the coaching changes happened. Two games under Joe Sacco. The good part wins both of them. The not-so-good part, the offense hasn't improved much.

Just three goals over the two games. Is it fair to suggest that the Bruins' biggest problem this year is their inability to find the back of the net? Yeah, I think so. I mean, it certainly didn't help that Jeremy Swayman got off to a really poor start. But they quickly devolved into a little bit of a panic-stricken team. And I find that happens most when you don't score. If you give up a few goals and you score a few goals,

it maybe doesn't make sense, but there's more confidence with the team. Not to the three guys that are stay-home defenders. They probably hate it. But everybody else is like, you know what, at least I'm producing something. We'll get back on track defensively. When you don't score, everybody thinks they suck. And it's amazing. Guys that generally don't squeeze their stick

or don't miss chances are doing just that. Like David Pasternak's had a really pedestrian start. And he's one of the best players in the league. And it's hard to believe that he could go through that. But of course, he's like everybody

else, you do. When I look at the Bruinsville, two years ago they lost Davidid crecci and patrice bergeron so surefire hall of famer a guy that's not a hall of famer but is a really great player and you've got that out of the middle of your lineup and you should not be as good i thought they would draw up 30 points last year like they had 132 points two years ago i thought they'd be in the 95 to 102 or three point range and you know really struggle and they didn't maybe they're paying the piper now for even though they're a young team they lost the you know the veteran core the kind of the

engine of their team in the middle of the ice, certainly the conscience of their team. And we know what Lindholm is, right? He's a 50 to 60 point guy. They already had one of those in Charlie Coyle. And so now they're asking two guys that are 50 to 60 point guys to play in spots in the lineup you'd like 70 to 90 points. And so there's, I mean, it's pretty obvious to me where the problem lies.

Who misses their former players more? Do the Canucks miss Zdorov and Lindholm, or do the Bruins miss DeBrusque and Heinen? Oh, I don't know. It depends which part of the year you're talking about, right? Like the Bruins don't miss October, DeBrusque, but they probably miss March, DeBrusque. Vancouver doesn't miss October, November, December, Zdorov, right? They miss the end of the year one. They don't miss the Lindholm that, you know, before the playoffs.

They miss the Lindholm in the playoffs. I don't know. I would say probably Vancouver misses them more because, I don't know, I don't know. Heinen got 17 goals last year. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'm looking at, so if you're looking at the Bruins lineup right now, you know, despite the pedestrian start that Pasternak's off to,

you're still worried about him when you're, you know, pre-scouting the Bruins, you're like worried about him when you're, you know, pre-scouting the Bruins. You're like, yeah, watch that guy. And Marshawn too, even though Marshawn maybe has lost a step and maybe, but you're still, I mean, he scored the winning goal against Detroit the other day. He's still a very good player. After that though, who are you really worried about scoring goals? Like Justin Brazzo? I mean, he's having a good season, but, you know, it's such a step down from how stacked the roster looked a few years ago. Right, and then you look at the depth

of the way they got goals last year. Like, I think DeBrusque had, like, close to 20 goals. Sinan had 17. Geeky had a really good year last year. They moved him all over the lineup, and he was terrific. They brought up Brazzo kind of around January, and he actually became like this really great story for them.

He's big. He's got good hands, and they found like a little more scoring. You know, so they had a little bit from a lot, and then Pasternak scored at that elite level. And then you start deleting a few guys, you know, DeBrusque and Heinen. You add Lindholm,

who's not had a very good first quarter. You know, Marchand slowed, as you mentioned. Geeky is not playing at the same level he did last year. They're just, they're not as dangerous.

One thing that has, that will change or is changing is when Bruce Cassidy was fired, he was a, he's a volume shooting type of coach. He likes his guys to get the puck to the net, to get to the net, to shoot it once, shoot it twice, break the team down like that. Montgomery played and wanted a more controlled puck possession game.

So they didn't necessarily have a boatload of shots, but they worked for control and then grade A shots. Joe Sacco wants to go back to more volume shooting. And so somewhere in there, the Bruins are trying to learn a new habit again. And so that's something for Vancouver to look at tonight. Were you briefly teammates with Joe Sacco? No. No?

Miss Joel. I want to say he was in Anaheim when I was in L.A. Okay. What do you know about him? Like, what's his plan for the Bruins going to be? It seems to be it's going to be locking it down, but that might just be how the Bruins are. Well, I mean, the strength of their team is supposed to be their defense.

They're missing Hampus Lindholm. He's out right now. I do find it noteworthy that even with the injuries, Zdorov's still on a third pair. They tried him with McAvoy and that didn't work and they moved Mason Lorai who's a really cool story I mean he was a forward till he was 15

and he's a great big guy he's got good skills and then he decided he wanted to play more than forwards play so he switched to defense and now he's in the NHL he was a second round pick the defense is the strength of their team um offense is going to be is going to be a struggle but like as i

mentioned with with sacco taking over from montgomery he wants volume shooting so joe's way is you know he i think at heart he's a he's a you he wants the team to be a tight defender. That's the way he played. But he wants them to shoot and get to the net more and make it more miserable around the front of the net. And I think when you don't have, well, it's a style of play anyway, but when you don't have high-end skill, and outside of Pasternak, they don't, that's the way you have to play.

You've got to create your offense with what you have. You can't have a bunch of 5'7 shooting guards and say you're going to dunk the ball. It doesn't work. Another basketball reference from Ray. Are you really getting into basketball? Oh, yeah. Look, we've got basketball going full-time now.

Reese is playing basketball at school. Cammy had to take him early this morning because I had to talk to you, Mitt Witts. Sorry about that. That's okay. Got me out of the 6.30 drive. That's okay. Ray, so at the risk of jinxing the Canucks here, because I tend to do that sometimes, but a few years ago, if the Canucks would have had a back-to-back on the road at Boston, at Pittsburgh, you might be a little bit worried. But now we're talking about a Bruins team that has the worst offense in the NHL,

32nd in terms of goals for. And then I don't know what to say about Pittsburgh other than I think we should have all seen this coming when they kept on signing these older guys to contracts and they didn't have much in the way of youth. But maybe we didn't see it getting this bad for the Penguins. Sidney Crosby playing at the level he is. What have you got to say about the Penguins? What do you think Sid is thinking these days? That's a hard one because he wanted to resign there.

He took a number, although it's not like peanuts, but he took a number at 8.7 that has been team team friendly for a decade. You know, he clearly could have gone somewhere. He could have pushed to go somewhere. If Sidney Crosby wants to stay in Pittsburgh, he'll stay. If he wants to go, he's going to go. You know, like that's going to be up to him. He must be looking at this because, you know,

you guys have seen his interviews and, you know, so we've gotten to know him over the last 20 years on tv i've gotten to chat with him more than a few times he's there's nothing he does that doesn't have like a a hint of competition in it like he's an ultimate competitor and so this must be just killing him looking at the team that's either not engaged or not good enough. Like some guys aren't engaged. Like if you watch Eric Carlson play, you're going to get 18 minutes of brilliance,

and then who knows what for the next 22 minutes, and then some mixed bag in the third period. Like he just plays on his own beat and his own drum, and I thought that was a mistake, bringing him in. Letang's just getting old, right? Yeah, he's 37. It's the oldest line in the book that time is undefeated. Letang's had some really hard things to go through.

Remember, he had a stroke a couple of years ago. He's had all kinds of injury as he puts together his, you know, the final stretch of his career. But he's just not the player he once was. They have question marks all over their lineup. Most nights when they play, they're the second fastest team on the ice. And Kyle Dubas knows that. but what are you going to do you can't invent players you can't make people go away he's made i you know a couple of mistakes maybe that you know that that they had to that they've got to

deal with like i i mean he did make the the Carlson trade. I, I'm, I'm assuming he got some pressure from up above on that one to, to go and acquire Carlson. You know, Tristan Jari, they didn't assign him for five years. And like, where was he going to go?

If you offered him three years, was he going to not take it? And if he did, you would still have league average goal tending you know so it's but i'm with you i i look at them and i still can't believe they're in this state it just seems so odd because for so long a couple of decades they've been they've been in the upper third of the league and i i guess it all it all comes to an end for everybody i mean the the red wings made the playoffs 25 straight years and haven't made it and I guess it all comes to an end for everybody.

I mean, the Red Wings made the playoffs 25 straight years and haven't made it since. We're speaking to Ray Ferraro here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. One Canucks query for you, Ray. Kiefer Sherwood, I was funny, I was looking it up this morning because he's got 12 points through 19 games, and I was looking across the league to see who he's outproducing year just to get a sense more points than like jamie ben steve stamco patrick kane it's remarkable that this guy that came aboard for what the price that he came

aboard for and what he had done previously in his career how well he's playing and now we're talking about like last game first line winger in ot Ottawa, he had 20-plus minutes, right? He was over 20 minutes' time on ice. First unit power play. Like, what's impressed you most about his game since joining the Canucks? Oh, I'd say his relentless pursuit. Like, all over the ice, it's like he's got this engine that, you know, he wants to get to the puck.

If he doesn't have the puck, he's got to get the puck. If he can't get to the puck if he doesn't have the puck he's got to get the puck if he can't get to the puck he's going to take the body and then once he takes the body he's on his horse to come all the way back and track all the way back into the defensive zone and then he's good on the boards and um i got a chance to talk to him the other day actually and i was really impressed with like his um like some guys are never in a hurry, you know, like when they play or when you talk to them, you know, they're just not in a hurry. He's in a hurry. And, and I like that. Like, that's how, like, I, I connect with that. I was in a hurry.

I always felt, you know, like you gotta go, you gotta go. And he wanted to stay in Nashville. And I know that, that they, they put a little bit of a ceiling on what his salary could be. Like they thought they wanted to pay him along the lines of, you know, their, their bottom six guys. And he's, as he said to me, he goes, look, I'm 29 years old. Like, I can't be like on a play me, show me type of thing, right? Like, I got to get going. You know, and so like, I really respect that.

Like, hey, I'm a good player. I had 10 goals last year. I had a really good playoff. And I deserve more than $900,000. And I thought that was really, like, he had to say to them, like, don't forget to get to a free agency. You know, you know, it's not like he had this well-formed career at this point. He, you know, he'd certainly made headway and people around the league knew who he was, but he had in his gut what he was worth. So he had to tell Nashville, no, I'm going to go test free agency.

And you might have a feeling sometimes that teams are going to be interested, but you don't know until you get there. And so it took courage for him to step out and get into the market. And the Canucks hit a grand slam with him because even at that price point, if the goals dry up somewhere along the line, which, you know, he's not going to, you know, he's not going to get 37 goals. I wouldn't think, you never know, I guess, but you know, you, you would think not, but he's going to bring you value at that price that I don't see how he doesn't outstrip this contract. I do enjoy that Besser's coming back to the lineup hopefully today yeah and uh JT Miller of course

is out of the lineup so they're like you got to play with Bluger because we can't take Sherwood off Petey's line like it is I mean it's a it's a it is a great story for Sherwood and and I think he really does add something to that line with DeBrusque and Pedersen because of what you're saying. He's like constantly go, go, go. And, you know, Petey's playing better, but that's not how you would have described his game earlier in the season is go, go, go. It was a lot of wait around, wait around, wait around. And I think he's added something to that line.

And I'm actually curious to see how long he'll stay on that line. Well, okay, so there's a couple things here. Like as you're talking there, I'm actually curious to see how long he'll stay on that line. Well, okay. So there's a couple of things here. Like when I, as you're talking there, I'm thinking about my best, best years were with, when I was with Hartford, I played with John Anderson, who a lot of people won't remember, but he was a super talented guy with the, with the Maple Leafs. We got him in Hartford and Paul McDermott. His son is Curtis, the giant in New Jersey.

And Dermot just crashed around and four-checked. And Andy made all these plays and we scored. And then when I got to the Islanders, I had Benny Hogue, who was this blazing fast, super talented winger. And Pat Flatley, who was like the best board guy in the game. And I guess my point is the balance of a line sometimes is unique. It's not what you would think would fit.

Like, wouldn't I? I didn't play well with two skilled wingers. That didn't work for me. I needed somebody to get the puck. I needed somebody to win a battle. And that's what Sherwood's helping Petey with, I think. Because now you see Petey is in more battles. He's up on his toes.

He's not back on his heels. And another thing was that coaches talk about this all the time. You hear this phrase, oh, he drags us into the battle. And that's what Sherwood does because he's a pain in the ass. And he is constantly in the battle. And if there is no battle, he makes one and then the pucks there and he wins the puck back or he churns the four check. And now the next guy sees, Oh, there's a loose puck. I can go. He's dragged you into the four check. And so it's, it's a really good fit, uh, this line. And a lot of times, out of necessity, coaches throw three guys together

and it works. Obviously, the grand plan in September was not this line. Yet, right now, it's a really, really great line. We've only got a few minutes left here, but I wanted to ask you, and Paul in the Okanagan wants to ask you about your thoughts on Brady Kachuk in Ottawa Travis Green stuck up for Brady yesterday and then Brady went out and scored a goal in a win over the Calgary Flames but there has been a lot of talk about Brady Kachuk and let's just say his his leadership in Ottawa um I I was told a long time ago when I first saw Matthew Kachuk,

I'm like, wow, he's a lot like his dad. And I was told, oh yeah? Wait till you see the next one. And if you remember back to Keith Kachuk, this is Brady. They're the same person. I played with Walt at the end of my career in St. Louis and there was always something about or around them in the game there was always chaos there was always and it's like the way they play now sure Brady should take less penalties

and I think he's he's at a point right now where he's trying to lead score fight drive the bus you know do everything as the team settles in a little bit and I do think they will like I do think Ottawa will settle in a bit I think his game will will flatten out like the edges the the unruly edges will settle down a little bit, but they won't all go away. They always wanted Keith to kind of settle down a little bit. He scored 550 goals. You want to tame or round off the edge,

but you don't want to take the uniqueness of what he is away. Like, how many times do we all search for a power winger? And, well, there he is. He's sitting right there. So, you know, it's like everybody looks for a 200-foot player. That's full of crap. There's like 12 of those in the league you know like get a bunch of guys to play 150 feet like they can't you can't be perfect all

over the ice right you're going to be deficient somewhere you're going to be in the hall of fame brady kachuk has got this edge to him this short fuse and yeah you'd you'd like to round that off and i and i think it will but man i'd pick him on my team all the time. Okay, one more. One more real quick. I just want to ask about the Rangers because that news happened yesterday while we were on the air with Freed saying that they're not happy with the way things are going and Trouble was already on the market,

but now Kreider might be. And then later in the day it was like Condre Miller might be. And we were joking. It's like I went to the good old-fashioned standings page i was like the rangers are 12 7 and 1 like this doesn't seem like a team that's primed for a shake-up but i know you've done at least one of their games did you see some of these warning signs that i guess everyone else is seeing out of the rangers um well the true the thing was you know was from before the season right um the rangers have 13 players on expiring contracts this year um so this team next year will look very different than it does now

whatever happens this year their record you know before they have been clunked here like they have lately i think they've given up they gave up six in edmonton. They gave up five last night against St. Louis. They should have given up 10 last night, the way they were playing. They were bad, man. They were bad. So what I was going to say is their record does not make a fair portrayal of how they have played. They've had amazing goaltending most of the time.

Quick got lit up in edmonton but they could have played both guys in that at the same time and they would have lost there like that was that was not good and so i think there's a little not well not i think i mean it's obvious there's some uncertainty there right about what are we trying to do here if we can say we're a cup contender but are we now chris crider's got nine goals and one assist he's you know i see the rangers play a lot when when he's when he's going he's still a really good power forward but he's really his game has changed into a special team's heavy game. He's good on the penalty kill.

He's dangerous. And he's one of the best net front guys. And five on five, him and Zibanejad have been together for quite some time. And they just don't fear teams like they did. Can he get it back? He's got two years at six million left. Right? That's a lot.

Trouba, speed is not his friend like when when a team is really quick it's hard for him yeah and you got two years at eight million there like who they can say they're on the market but like who's making that deal and how much money are they taking back and what do they expect back and if they don't take back then you've kind of shaved off what your expectations are for the year and that would be a i i don't think that's the case because that would be an abrupt turnaround from what they were saying in training camp right this was great man thanks for taking the time to do it as always we appreciate it enjoy the rest of the week we'll do this again again next Tuesday. Enjoy the NBA action tonight, Ray. Yep.

Oh, yeah. It'll be NBA action. All right. Thanks, Ray. See you, buddy. See you, guys. See you later. Ray Ferraro here on the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We're going to go to break. We're going to come back. Open segment. I want to play the audio from Travis Green sticking up for Brady Kachuk and then Brady Kachuk going out and scoring

the big goal last night for the Senators over the Calgary Flames. We got an open segment. There's lots to get into eight o'clock. We're going to get back into the Canucks talk. We're going to be joined by a landed for our

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Okay. And that's me. We got a bunch of audio clips that we're going to play this segment. I want to start with Travis Green. So yesterday, Green took to the podium and stood up for his captain and Keith Kachuk 2.0 version Brady Kachuk, who was under fire in Ottawa after, well, after the week that was,

but specifically the 4-3 loss to the Canucks on Saturday, in which he kind of blew his top near the end of the game. He chased out and conducted a fight with Dakota Joshua. He got tossed from the game, wasn't there, while Ottawa tried to stage a late comeback against the Vancouver Canucks. I was unaware to the lengths and the depths of the complaints

that Ottawa had lodged against Brady Kachuk. Apparently there was people all over social media and Reddit complaining about him. The post game show on I think it's TSN 1200 in Ottawa very scathing in their remarks about Brady Kachuk.

Travis Green was asked about all this yesterday. He came to the defense of his captain. Here's what Travis Green had to say before Brady Kachuk and the Senators went out snapped their losing streak and beat Calgary on Tuesday night. Monday night, sorry. We're lucky to have this guy

for starters. A, he're lucky to have this guy, for starters. Like, A, he's a skilled hockey player. He's tough. He's mean. He cares passionately about winning, about winning in Ottawa. And he's a very good hockey player. So I think if you looked around the hockey,

whether you were playing peewee hockey, junior hockey, the American League, any league, any world, you'd want a player like this on your hockey team. Like, so I don't think it's fair. Is he perfect? No. There are not many perfect players in the world, if any. But sometimes when you have something for a little while,

you kind of forget what you have. And I think the Ottawa Senators are lucky to have this guy. So I don't think it's fair, the chatter. Is he going to make mistakes? Hell yeah. Every player does. So I would probably take a step back on that because I don't think it's fair. So I like that.

Is he going to make mistakes? Hell yeah. Why was that so enthusiastic? Oh, you better believe he'll make mistakes. He's going to go out there and make the biggest mistakes you've ever seen. They will be brutal and cost the team big. He's going to make mistakes? Hell yeah.

Hold on. The rest of it was so measured and monotone. But when he wanted to punch it home, is Brady going to make mistakes? Oh, you know he's going to. Anyway, what did you want to say? Bear with me here. Okay. Okay.

Greener said i would much rather have a guy that plays extremely hard and teach him when to do it and when not to do it so green is saying i have a role in this and i need to take what we've got here, which might be a little bit raw in terms of emotions. Sure. And teach Brady how to channel those emotions. Does this sound familiar to you? Because sometimes you don't catch up. I think I know where you're going. Okay.

Have we not compared the job that Travis Green has in Ottawa with the job that Rick Tockett had in Vancouver? This is about Vanni Sartini, right? It is not. The Canucks were an immature team. Yes. Before Rick Tockett took over. They had talent, though.

The Ottawa Senators are an immature team. They have talent. I can see the parallels. Brady, Kachuk, JT Miller. Yeah. Right? The younger version, but yeah, I could see it. You need to, you need to, now here's the thing.

I understand what you're talking about. How many times did we say that JT Miller last season really found his game because he was better able to channel his emotions, and we credit JT Miller for that, but we also credit Rick Talkett. Hey, I totally get the parallels, and it makes a lot of sense. The only thing I would push back on is

every time I watch Kachuk and the Senators play, I'm like, I don't think you want him to reign anything in. I like the way that he plays. I did not put anything on Saturday night at the feet of Brady Kachuk. Was he frustrated? Yeah. Did he lash out? Yeah.

But that's okay. Of all the things that plague Ottawa, I just don't think it's him. I think, if anything, you want the rest of the team to maybe embody more of the attributes that he brings. The reason I keep saying that he's going to want out of there, and I'm trying to talk this into existence, is he's a really talented player. I think the important thing is he's not just talented,

but he's uniquely talented. There's a bit of a unicorn there. I get what you're saying. I think the Sens are just going through this whole thing of like, what the hell is wrong with us? Right? You know, like what is going on? Why is it the same thing every year?

And usually when you go through that, you're like, you know, you look at your best players and you go, I mean, does he need to be a different type of captain? And does he need to channel his emotions better? And how many times did we say that about JT? Sens fans seem to be getting a little tired of his antics. I saw one tweet that was like, if the Sens, if Brady Kachuk fighting somebody after the Sens lose

meant you'd win the game, the Sens would win the Stanley Cup. Sure, yeah. And I think that might be it. But I mean, we can't assume the situations are the cut. Sure. Yeah. And I think that might be it. But I mean, like we can't assume the situations are the same. I just think like it's quite, it's funny because

Tauket and Greener are good friends. Yeah. And they both went into similar situations and they both had similar challenges. I'm not suggesting

that it's the same thing because I think a lot of the stuff with JT was actually teammate related more than fighting at the end of the game like Brady Kachuk. It was JT oftentimes becoming a distraction in the game on the bench and this isn't me saying it's it's miller acknowledging it yeah but also talk it talking him up yeah and going like hey like we are lucky to have this guy we are lucky to have a guy that plays with this type of emotion to play with this type of emotion, to play with this type of passion, my job as a coach is to get him to channel his emotions a little bit better. And it's possible that that took a step back this season. It is possible that things have gotten a little messy.

It's a good point to bring up because the concern, I think specifically with the Ottawa situation, is that if it goes unchecked and the frustrations continue to build without being able to channel them in a positive way, you reach a breaking point. And in Ottawa, it would probably be something along the lines of something egregious happens on the ice or he gets so frustrated with his lot that he either, like I've always joked about, demands a way out or says, I don't want to be a part of this anymore. The frustrations have gotten too great. There's a breaking point. That is what a head coach is responsible for.

As he said, hey, you have to be able to show that emotion and show that aggression, but also channel it so you're not habitually stepping over the line. Because when you continue to do it, like what you're talking about andy with if you got a two points for every time great brady kachuk fought in a loss the monotony and the repetitive repetitiveness of it it makes it less effective every time you do it right it doesn't happen and it's just annoying yeah you're like oh here we go here's brady doing this thing again right it goes from being like oh god yeah it goes really quickly from being like, there's a guy that's pissed off and wants to show it to,

oh, he's losing his top again. I think Sens fans are just like, come on, just score goals, win games. Like, we're tired of this stuff. Win games is the big one, right? Like, no, it's just too much. Like, Sens fans are just like, come on, move on from this. There's an immaturity to it. Yeah.

There is. I mean, just. It's not like you got to remove. Like, have that element in your game. It's important. Stay focused. Keep playing. Yeah. Go your game. It's important. Stay focused. Keep playing. Yeah.

Go score goals. That's how you win games. But it is a super fine line to balance because you definitely don't want to take away any of the attributes that make him so unique, right? And part of that is the fact that... Like, Marshawn was like this with Bruins fans early in his career.

Yeah. Like, they were often like, come on, man. Stop agitating and score goals. You're talented. Forget about the fans. The coaching staff. Yeah. Coaching staff come on, man, stop agitating and score goals. You're talented. Forget about the fans. The coaching staff. He's got to knock this off.

And it's almost like you have to appreciate how good a player you are. Don't be doing this. You don't have to do this. It's beneath you. You're not a fourth-line agitator. You're one of the leaders on this team. So maintain your composure in these games

and stop acting like this. Okay. I've got a warning for Canucks fans out there. Here we go. Uh, we all know that Biz Nasty, Paul Bissonette was involved in something yesterday in Scottsdale. An assault. An assault. A Scottsdale restaurant. I guess there was a group of guys in a restaurant who were acting like idiots. They'd had too much to drink.

They started hassling the management there. Biz Nasty didn't like what he saw. He went over. He tried to do something about it. And long story short, he got jumped. By six guys. Yeah. Like, that's crazy.

Anyway, the police got involved and Biz, did he go to the hospital? He did. Yeah. And the six men that assaulted him were arrested and charged with assault and disorderly conduct. Right. Okay.

So that's one story and we all hope Biz feels better. Here's the thing related to Canucks fans on the podcast today, which is like six hours long. So I don't know if we're going to have the audio for it. Apparently there was an exchange where the guys discussed whether or not the Canucks would trade JT Miller. Okay. And some of the guys were like, why would Vancouver do that?

And Biz said, well, there are some ruffled feathers there, and Miller and Petey don't see eye to eye. Just throwing it out there to prepare yourself. Biz spends a lot of time in Vancouver. He's here a lot. Now, this could be old news. Okay? This could be just Biz talking about something that he remembered.

And that's what makes the spit and chicklets podcast really popular it's off the cuff guys aren't afraid to bring up topics just because they might be like oh they might not like this people talk about this stuff and i have to say that I have noticed that Petey has been a lot happier the last few games. Is it because he's playing better? Probably that has something to do with that. Is it because he isn't getting ripped on by the fans and the media every game? Probably that has something to do with that. I guess I'll end it there.

But I'm just telling you that this is out there again, and it might have to be talked about again. I mean, it's hard to not take whatever they say on the podcast seriously. This is the same podcast that ostensibly got Mike Babcock dismissed from Columbus. They talked to the players a lot. They got directly involved and you could say swayed, pardon the pun, the Jeremy Swayman contract situation in Boston. It's a,

they are a behemoth in the world of NHL players specifically. And so when something like this comes out, it would be negligent on our part to ignore it, to be quite frank. And this is new media, especially in the National Hockey League. It definitely exists, and it has existed. The NBA has multiple podcasts by current and ex-players where they dive deep into the inner workings of locker rooms, player-to-player dynamics, player-to-coaches dynamics.

Hockey is probably a little bit slower to catch up. I think part of it has to do with the culture of things, staying in the room, staying in the room and not a ton of X players getting into media, but you can't deny the impact that that one singular podcast spit and chiclets has had in terms of being a newsbreaker, having access to sources that were otherwise considered completely off-bounds to traditional media and forcing their way into the conversation. Because I think a lot of people, like as Don Sweeney joked, wanted to dismiss it as being the spitting up on yourself podcast or whatever terrible joke he used. Which, by the way, might have set Boston off on this terrible start to the season.

It's there and it's prevalent. So when something like this comes up, yeah, you have to pay attention and pay it mind. So predictably, people are texting in and saying, you know, Brough is fanning the flames in advance by saying, I didn't say it, but somebody is. I'm not afraid to say things either. And I think it's been pretty noticeable that Petey seemed a lot happier lately. Okay?

And those guys have admitted that they've had to work on their relationship. Okay? And I've been wondering more and more this season and lately if this is tenable over the next few years, because both these guys are signed long-term. You can rip me for bringing this up, for daring even to suggest it, but hey, why don't instead of your first instant

be like, don't talk about this, don't talk about this, be like, hey, wonder if there's something there. JT Miller taking an indefinite leave of absence, this is rare. This doesn't happen very often. And all of a sudden, Petey looking pretty happy out there, looking

like he's enjoying life again. Well, the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket has certainly responded. Reminder, you can get your text in 650-650. Text in on the Dunbar Lumber text line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and reno warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DunbarLumber.com. We are going to try and work in procuring the actual audio because Cause I think that'll probably go a long way in furthering whatever

conversation we're going to have moving forward. Greg's parsing through it right now. We're just kind of doing all this. And I hate using this phrase yet again, cause I always do it, but in real time, both what's being said and then what's happening in response, a reminder for the rest of the show,

Landon Ferraro is going to join us at 8 o'clock. We will talk more about the Canucks game tonight. 4 o'clock puck drop against the Boston Bruins in a game that is loaded with storylines. You've got the returns of Jake Dabrowski and Dan Hine

to Boston. You've got the reunion with Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zdorov with their former team, the Vancouver Canucks. And then a reminder, pregame, postgame, the actual game, all right here on Sportsnet 650. Obviously, people are weighing in right now, talking about the dynamic that you laid out. Yeah.

It seems like a popular topic for Canucks fans. The dynamic, I mean... I mean, this isn't necessarily news. This has been discussed before, JT and Petey's relationship. It's not like some crazy new revelation. Like, it's been discussed in the past. So I don't see why people are necessarily so surprised by this. It's come up.

And people have referenced, and to be fair, they've said Petey started playing better a lot before JT Miller took his leave of absence. Do you think that leave of absence happened? Do you think that all came together in three hours? Well, Pettersson's game. So if you want to

do the counterpoint to this, conversations that we've had, I think we talked to sad about this as well petterson's game was trending in a direction where um a lot of the stuff that was being said early in the season about needing to work on his game and be diligent about his habits and a lot of the allusions to the way sydney crosby approached his game in pittsburgh staying after practice working on certain things the chronology of it would suggest that those things have happened and now they're starting to pay off.

It was because we said, is there going to be a flashpoint to when Pedersen goes like, OK, I'm back. Old EP40 Calder Trophy winning guy. And then it kind of became obvious to us that that wasn't going to happen. It was going to be more of a gradual slow burn to where you get better and better and better. Because the thing was that we'd seen it in the past with Pedersen. You always referenced that sort of now infamous game in Carolina a couple years ago where it felt like he hit rock bottom.

And then the next game he came on. It hasn't been like that. He had a multi-point effort. Yeah, it hasn't been like that. It's been different this year, right? And maybe there's some credence to the idea that, hey, Elias Pettersson went out and started to do the things that got him more physically prepared to not just survive

or have, what did Thomas Trance call them, B- or B-level games? And to the point where you can have more A-type performances and not just one-offs, but night after night after night night if you look at the progression through the game log in november you can see it is that there was a lot of nights in october where the score sheet was there's 20 zeros on it in terms of contribution performances and now you've got nights where you've got multi-point games and back-to-back nights twice you've got games where he's putting up goals. I do think that having that line where they got the preseason and offseason goal of getting him connected with DeBrusque

and then finding Sherwood as being an energy guy, that's all clicked. So there's a lot there as well that points to this particular player taking off at this particular time of the season. That's as well-rounded and nuanced as we can make it because there are a lot of factors that have gone into this beyond

just point A, point B, this happened, that happened. There's been a much more slow and gradual burn to getting to this point. We're going to go to break. We're going to come back on the other side. Landon Ferraro is going to join us on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. We're going to do what we learned at 8.30. Dunbar-Lumber text line

is 650-650. Get them in. We will read them in the final half hour of the program. We're going into the final hour of the program. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.