Halford & Brough in the Morning - Keep Your Chin Up, Canucks

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they preview tonight's Canucks road matchup at Washington (6:00), plus they discuss the latest NHL news & notes with Sportsnet's David Amber (25:27). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- And it's at score! Patrick Kane and it's five in a row for the Red Wings and this place is delirious! Congratulations, you and your family are going to Washington. Woohoo! Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game. You don't want to know how far I'll go. Good morning Vancouver 601 on, and I hope Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios,

a beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Regular Zach, good morning to you as well. Good morning. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you

by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Kintec. Dang it. Uh, guest list begins today at six 30 David Amber Sportsnet NHL Hockey Night Canada host is going to join us. Wednesday night hockey on Sportsnet features your Vancouver Canucks in Washington to take

on the Capitals at 4.30 our time. Three other games in the NHL tonight, Colorado at Chicago, Florida at Utah, and an important game for playoff jockeying in the West, a Calgary team right on the heels of Vancouver in LA to take on the Kings tonight. We'll talk to David about all that at 6.30. Seven o'clock, Frank Saravalli from Daily Faceoff. Yesterday, Frank dropped the first trade targets board of 2025 on Daily Faceoff.

One Vancouver Canuck comes in on the list. He comes in in the last and 25th position on the board. His name, Elias Pedersen. JT Miller didn't make the board at all. We'll have to ask Frank Wyatt at seven o'clock. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah. 730, John Walton, play-by-play voice

of the Washington Capitals is gonna join us to preview tonight's game. Caps come into tonight at 26, 10 and four. They're first in the Metropolitan Division, third overall in the NHL. They score a ton of goals. We'll talk to John Walton about all that at 7.30. Then at 8 o'clock, another radio voice, but this time of the Vancouver Canucks, Randeeb Janda is going to join the program. So real quick, here's the schedule for today. Canucks talk from

12 to 2 with Drance and Dodd. Canucks central with Sat and Dan from 2 to 3. Canucks pregame also with Sat and Dan from 3 till 4 30. Then puck drop with Batch and Randeepe at 4 30. Post game show takes you all the way through to 9 o'clock. So yet again, you're home for nine hours of uninterrupted Canucks coverage. It's all right here. Sportsnet 650, your home for too much Canucks talk. And more Canucks talk. Followed by Canucks talk and more Canucks talk followed by Canucks talk that's the show today working in reverse eight o'clock. It's Randy 730 John Walton 7 o'clock Frank Sarah Valley 630 David Ember. That's what's happening on the program today Zach. Let's tell everybody what happened Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how messy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that?

What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. There's a lot of different things that we need to get to that happened yesterday. Okay, you lead the way the way you want to lead. Oh, that's exciting. We're going to start with what happened on the ice in Montreal yesterday. The Canucks actually stayed behind following their overtime loss in Montreal practiced

on Tuesday and then flew to Washington for tonight's game. So the big news that yesterday's practice was that that your Demko was back on the ice. He practiced fully. And then in his article, uh, IMAX article, sorry, on Thatcher Demko, which we can get to in a little bit. IMAX wrote that Demko is expected to at least back up Kevin Lankinen tonight in Washington. Okay.

So as we've talked about, there's a lot of games in a short span starting now. Uh, the Canucks play tonight in Washington, Friday in Carolina, Saturday in Toronto, and then they finish off this road trip Tuesday in Winnipeg. So it would be a lot to ask Kevin Lankinen to play all these games and you don't really want to put sea lobs in.

No. And now that that your Demko is back, it sounds as though again, like, I mean, he may surprise the world and start tonight in Washington, who knows, I find it hard to believe, but he did practice yesterday, but regardless, he's got to play one of those Carolina or Toronto games. And he may even play more because according to that, Demko, Jason, he wasn't even really injured. Why did he leave the game then? So in the article with IMAQ, which was basically

a sit down interview, IMAQ's getting some work done on this road trip by the way. I think he's the only reporter on the road. There was a scrum yesterday with Rick Tocket that was about three and a half minutes long, all IMAQ. Three and a half minutes. You should ask the questions in different voices so it sounds like there's yeah, I was waiting should have like four different voices Well, you know when you watch agree that was a good point. Yeah, you know when you want like old-timey reporter

She was like working here clean up this team You know when you watch a scrum and you're hearing the voices off-camera Yeah, I kept waiting for a different one, but it was just I'm a yeah I'm ex gonna start doing impressions. Anyway, in addition to having control of the scrum, IMAQ is also getting a lot of interviews one-on-one with players. He had one with PD the other day, he had one with Thatcher Demko, and one of the things that Demko addressed was the back spasms, and he said, quote, I wouldn't even say I was injured or anything. A back spasm just

flared up. I mean, you guys wouldn't believe the stuff we play through. A lot of times you'll feel something that you don't feel you can play through. And then adrenaline and the meds kick in and it kind of goes away. He said in the case of the back spasms, he was just taking extra precaution and decided that it probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to finish the game. He came out, Lankton and came in. Demko returned to practice yesterday, so who knows? He may get the opportunity to start tonight,

or at the very least, as you mentioned, over this very busy stretch of games, in what's gonna be a pretty daunting road trip for the Canucks, especially for the goalies, because tonight they face the second highest scoring team in the National Hockey League in the Washington Capitals. Only one other team has scored more goals than the Washington Capitals. That team is the Winnipeg Jets who the Vancouver Canucks are going to finish this trip against next week. The Capitals, I know they've got Ovechkin,

but they don't really have one guy who's filling the net. They have seven guys. They have seven 10 goal scorers already. Right. Including our former friend Nick Dowd. Nick Dowd? Nick Dowd? I wish we had a bruff cam right now. Because the way that his eyes popped when I said Nick. The Nick Dowd reaction? The Nick Dowd reaction.

I would have paid good money to see that, yes. Nick Dowd. Nick Dowd has, he's one of seven guys on the capitals with ten goals. He's actually turned into a pretty good forward in Washington. The Canucks have one point on this trip already. Um, what, when they, when they finished this road trip, how many points do we need for us to be kind of satisfied about the road trip?

How many more points? So they've got one. They need four more to beat. And that's low level satisfied. So loser points in all of them? Yeah. Every girl that dated me in my 20s satisfied. Like he's fine. Yeah.

I got five points out of this, out of the 10. That's actually a funny question to ask. Considering how many loser points the Canucks have, would you be happy if they went all loser points on this road trip? Oh, that's a great question. I'm actually asking one of his voices. Rick, because in some ways you'd be like,

wow, they took a lot of teams, a lot of really good teams to overtime on the road, but they didn't get the bonus point on any of them. I'm willing, if they took every single game on this trip to overtime, I'd say that that's a successful trip. Okay. Yeah.

If they lost all of them, I'd say it's, it's kind of problematic. Like how did you, how did you not fluke your way into a win? Right. Um, how did you not like win the face off in one of the order times and just hold the puck for five minutes and go to the shootout, which is the ultimate coin. Then you lose the shootout. Well, but they might win a shootout. Like that shootout they won the other day

was like their first time in two years that they'd won a shootout. Yeah, they don't go to the shootout that often. Yeah. Right? So that's part of it, but they're also not very good at it. Anyway, that's a really good question there. So OK, so the other stuff that Thatcher Demko

talked about in his interview with iMac, there were two other big takeaways. One was he also addressed the noise or the rift or whatever you want to call what's going on between Pedersen and Miller and the dynamics of the locker room. And, you know, Demko said, prefaced everything by saying he wanted to tread lightly.

And he said that, you know, media can be hard to deal with. And part of the reason that he thinks that all of this has been blown up and exacerbated is the reason that he thinks that all of this has been blown up and exacerbated is the fact that they're not winning games and it's a decent point to bring up because as many have mentioned last year when everything was good and everyone was healthy and the connects were winning a lot of games no one mentioned the Pettersson Miller dynamic even though it existed now where Demko and I think he probably didn't want to go down this

road and chose his word carefully there's more to it than just winning and losing, like the 10 game absence that JT Miller had mid-season. And a number, a number of trade rumblings that are out there that are being leaked by whoever. You can take your guess on whoever's leaking it, but they are everywhere right now. And I know you pulled together some of them for the notes. And after you sent me the notes, Jason, oddly enough, there were even more like trade ramifications and rumblings

and add-ons and addendums. Like this is not stopping. So I had a bit of a chuckle yesterday because I think we all saw what Rick Dollywell reported in that he said that, um, a lot of teams around the NHL don't think the Canucks are really serious about trading Elias Pedersen. And a lot of people in the market went, few.

And then yesterday Chris Johnston, uh, is reporting for TSN and he made sure to say like, the Canucks are serious about trading Elias Pedersen. So was that like a, was that a response to the report from Dolly Wall that a lot of the NHL teams don't think they're serious? Was like, did someone get in Siege's ear and say like, no, no, no, this is serious.

The quote is, when it comes to Pedersen in particular, it seems as though the Canucks are serious about considering moving him. Multiple teams have believed to show an interest. And then Siege went on to report that, hey, don't forget about that Carolina deal that was kicked around last season when Petey was deciding about trying to sign an extension or not.

And, and Marty Nacchus, I know he's, uh, I haven't checked in with him lately and we'll, the Canucks will see the Carolina hurricane soon, but he got off to that crazy start where he was leading the NHL in points. Um, that situation hasn't been fully resolved in Carolina. They kind of kicked the can down the road with

the two year contract extension for him. He was an RFA and they gave him a two year deal, but that leads him into unrestricted free agency. So we still don't know if he wants to stay long-term in Carolina. I imagine he's happier there because I think a lot of his issue there was like, he wasn't happy with his role. Maybe he wanted to play more and they were like,

okay, we'll play better. And now he's playing better, but. His dad sounded off in the media. Don't forget about that. I forgot about that, but he's got, um, a year left after this season and then he's unrestricted. So they've got a decision to make, but you know, any team that acquires Martin H.S.

needs to make sure that they can sign him long term as well. Yeah. Like, I mean, that would be part of it. But he's not eligible for an extension yet. He wouldn't be eligible until July 1st. July 1st, yeah. So if he's the guy involved in any trade, I'm not even talking about for

Pedersen, you know, it's, and he can't sign an extension, a long-term extension with Carolina yet. So there, that could be tricky, a little bit tricky. So that was one of the multiple reports that were out there yesterday. Another very interesting one that got a lot of play across the lower mainland is that the Vancouver Canucks Reportedly rejected a trade earlier in this season that would have sent JT Miller to the New York Rangers in exchange for fellow forward Mika Zabinajad

This was reported by the Athletics Josh Yohei That's an interesting one because Josh Yohei doesn't cover the Vancouver Canucks or the New York Rangers. He covers Pittsburgh and he covers the Penguins. Do you think he's ever met Jim Rutherford? Well, I don't know Jason That's awfully interesting. Isn't it? Did Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen used to work in Pittsburgh or the Pittsburgh Penguins? I don't know I'm gonna have to pull it up on the internet has Jim Rutherford given I'm going to have to pull it up on the internet. Has Jim Rutherford given multiple interviews to Josh Yohei over the past, including the one where he explained why he left Pittsburgh and joined the

Vancouver Canucks organization. That's interesting. I don't know. You guys answered at home. I'm just a simple radio man. I don't know. Um, so Elliot Friedman also followed up on Josh Yohei's, um, report and he wrote in a 32 thoughts column, it's up on sportsnet.ca

right now. And he said, you remember that when Miller took his mental health break, the Rangers who covet the player were in Vancouver. Yeah. I think the Canucks, I think the Rangers were the next team they were going to play. And the Rangers at the time, nobody thought they were in trouble.

They were 12-4-1 if I'm not mistaken. They were 12-4-1 with the win over the Canucks. And then they completely fell apart. They couldn't handle the success of beating the Canucks. It was just like, we flew too close to the sun. Um, and, uh, I, I guess Miller's leave gave the Rangers reason because we all knew that they were kind of like concerned about the Rangers, even though they had this great record management was concerned about them.

Um, and Sabanajad, you know, he hasn't played well really at all this season. Well, I think they were concerned specifically about Zabana Jed's play. Maybe. Yeah. Because he has not been good this year at all. So probably what happened was that the Rangers saw that JT Miller had taken a leave and said, Hey, let's talk to the Canucks about this guy. Um. So here, let me jump in because the framework for the deal is a little bit more detailed from Freage. So the original report was from Josh,

just so we can get this clear. Freage wrote, from what I understand, the Rangers approached the Canucks to discuss what something could look like in a JT Miller trade, with the two big parts being Sabinajad Miller. And it was the Rangers approaching Vancouver. I think that's important to note. Like the Canucks, the Canucks didn't grant JT Miller his leave and then go, all right, let's talk to the Rangers about this guy. It was the Rangers that approached the Canucks.

Freage went on to write that he thinks it was actually a bigger deal more than just a straight one for one. And here's the quote. One of the issues is that Vancouver adores Braden Schneider, who the Rangers do not want to trade. This would be the second time New York has rejected a Vancouver attempt for him. So Schneider is a right shot defenseman. Conversations happened. That's two different reporters. They're suggesting that it did not out and not anything unusual

or maybe not anything caused for alarm because general managers talk all the time, but a few things are very clear. It sounds like Chris Drury and the Rangers do covet JT Miller and it sounds like the Vancouver Canucks, Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen like Braden Schneider. So make of that what you will. All I know is that as we get closer to the March trade deadline, I'm looking at the calendar, it's January the 8th. So once again, unless the intended goal of these leaks, which is to light a fire under both players and say, Hey, this is the final warning shot, pull it together, get along as friends or very

least as coworkers and start scoring some points and start winning us some games. This might not stop because yesterday was a random Tuesday in the calendar. There was nothing remarkable about yesterday. I think it might be past light a fire now. Well, they're still lighting it. But I mean, I think there might actually be intent. Like, hey, maybe see what we can get out there. Intent is great, Andy, but the trade is so.

Who knows what they're doing. I doubt it's for Braden Schneider, though. If I was going to be an agent or an advisor that was calling everyone's bluff, I'd be like, good luck trying to do it. Especially with Miller, because Miller's armed with a no trade clause and he's got, I mean, I know Zvinnageat, Zvinnageat's contract is worse, I would say, than Miller's. Yeah, I wouldn't want that.

Right. If that's the framework of an original ask, I'd be like, pfft. No, Brainschneider would be amazing, but there's no rain, the rain, rain is not giving up Brady Schneider. Exactly. It's not gonna happen. Miller comes with some baggage here. He's on the wrong side of 30. He's got a lot. Has Schneider even been playing all that well?

I don't think he has. I'm not sure. I haven't, no one in New York has played particularly well. I can't imagine, cause they've lost a whole lot of games, but I think the bigger point would be, it is very difficult to pull off Blockbuster trades and either one a trade involving Pettersen hypothetically or in trade evolving Miller hypothetically would be a blockbuster trade It would be huge. It would be one of the biggest trades that the NHL seen in season in a while I don't know how many years but in the last couple of years, let's put it that way. So to be able to do it

I don't know how many years, but in the last couple of years, let's put it that way. So to be able to do it, um, you could be the naysayer or the devil's advocate or the counter-argument guy and be like, yeah, good luck trying to pull off the trade. Keep talking about it all you want and keep, you know, leaking it to the media or putting it out there that anything is possible, but it's a very slim possibility to get it done because it would be complex. I'm looking at Britton Schneider's game log and he only plays like 16 or 17 minutes a day. Like I don't think he's been an amazing player for them, but like you said, I

don't think anyone's been an amazing player. Just to put a bow on it, for each set of the Rangers don't want to trade him. Yeah. And I'm assuming it's cause he's a young right shot defenseman. Yeah. You know, I did want to add one more thing because this has kind of been, uh, my little hobby, uh, talking about Rick Tauket's contract. Cause I don't think we talk about it enough.

And Pierre Le Brun reported, uh, in the athletic, he said, uh, let's point out the situation with reigning Jack Adams award winner, Rick Tauquette, whose contract expires at the end of the season. The Canucks do have a team option for next year on him. But my understanding is that Tauquette has the ability to decide if he would sign up for that option year. So basically it's a mutual option.

So it could be that the Canucks say, okay, we're going to exercise our option and we'd like to bring you back. Taki could be like, uh, no. Yeah. You know, he's not obligated to return. And you could say like, I want an extension. That's what I want. Or he could say like, nah, I'm going to go somewhere else. I'm going to go back to TNT or I'm going to say no, and I'm going to explore the, the, the rest of the market for coaches. So this is another thing that's hanging over the team.

Like, I think there's two things hanging over the team that have been overshadowed by everything else hanging over the team that have been overshadowed by everything else hanging over the team. And that is one is the Brock Besser contract, which would normally on a typical season be like the number one talking point. Uh, and the other one is Rick Tuckett's contract. Like we're going all the way back to the off season now when he was asked about that and it wasn't front burner issue. And I guess it still isn't front burner issue but I remember Tauke said, yeah when we have

the time to talk about it we'll talk about it, I'm sure we'll talk about it. I'm like, it's still out there. I think everyone just feels like too sorry for Rick Tauke right now to ask about it. It's like after all these questions about the team and how tired he looks up there all the time and he's like, can I ask about your situation? He might just start crying. When I, when I read LeBrun's report, I was thinking like, does it feel like there's a very big difference between a standard player contract and then whatever it is that they

give coaches. Well there is, cause there's no CBA. Right. Like it feels like this was written on the back of a napkin and it's like option, question mark. Well, do you remember the Boudreaux contract too, right? I remember when Jim Rutherford came in, he was like, wait a minute, there's another year on this thing?

I think Boudreaux's contract was 100% orally implied. Like, I don't think it was written down anywhere. I think they were just like, do you want to keep coaching? And then they handed him a note. It was circle Y or N. It was like when Kramer started working at that office and he didn't actually work there. Yeah, like I think that were just like, do you want to keep coaching? And then they handed him a note. It was circle Y or N. It was like when Kramer started working at that office and he didn't actually work there. Yeah, I think that was it.

I don't even work here. You know, it makes it so difficult. Standard player contracts, they're formatted. They've got terms and clauses and everything else. And the coach's contract is like, do you want to work here? And then you just kind of nod or shake your head. You wrote it on a napkin. Yeah, that's it.

Just said, Bruce, here it is is. Oh good one. Zach. That's very you're taking over laddies dad joke rain, which is very good Okay, we're kind of up against it for time before we go to break I do need to tell you a little bit about Rogers Xfinity TV HGTV my favorite of the home and garden networks has a new address all the latest HGTV shows are now available on channel 409 on Rogers Xfinity TV. Just to set up the rest of the show here. Coming up on the other side, we've got David Amber, Sportsnet,

Hockey Night in Canada, NHL host. The Canucks are taking center stage tonight. The Marquee matchup, and I can say this because their opponent is a must-see TV team as well in the Washington Capitals. 4.30 from Washington, Hockey Night in Canada, Wednesday Night Hockey on Sportsnet. David's going to join us at 6.30 to talk about that. Seven o'clock, it's Frank Saravalli. 7.30, John Walton, the play-by-play voice of the Washington Capitals is going to join us to

talk about, you've called them the most surprising team in the National Hockey League. In a good way. In a good way. The most surprising team in a bad way is Nashville, I suppose. Like I know they made the playoffs last year, but I never thought they were a good team. No, I don't think they did either.

When they got to the playoffs. And they did add a bunch of new players and those players are contributing for them in a big way. Yeah, so at 7.30 we're going to start our preview of tonight's game with John Walton, play-by-play voice of the Washington Capitals. And then at eight o'clock, Randy Jand is going to join the program. He, of course, on the play-by-play call, along with Brandon Batchelor for the Vancouver Canucks. It's all right here on Sportsnet 650.

So that's the show where a half hour into will come back on the other side with David Amber. You're listening to the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show. Listen four to 6 PM weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. Music 631 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough Sportsnet 650.

Halford Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. David Amber, Sportsnet, Hockey Night Canada, NHL host, is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of hour one. Hour one of this program is brought to you by North Star

Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go, David Amber joins us now on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning David, how are you? Jason, Mike, I'm doing well, how are you guys? We are well. I was going in the first half hour of this show

and we were running through all these different trade reports and rumblings and addendums and clarifications involving the Vancouver Canucks. I'm like, wow, busy news cycle for the Canucks. And then I realized it's because the Canucks are making their Eastern media swing right now. They were in Montreal on Monday night. They'll be in the U S Capitol, Washington tonight. And then Saturday, of course, they'll be in Toronto. So a lot of marquee games for the Vancouver Canucks as they swing East. You've got them tonight in Washington, Wednesday night hockey, 4.30 from Washington.

And of course the Canucks play again on Saturday in Toronto. And there's no shortage of stories to cover with this Canucks team off the ice, David. Don't miss our pregame at four o'clock today because we're actually gonna dig in on what the Canucks should do. Well, we're gonna do that as our hot topic. Listen, I give a lot of credit to the Canucks. They stay relevant whether they're the best team in the league,

they're a middling team, they're at the bottom of the league. Like, I don't think any organization in hockey has had more drama. You know, the last three years going back to the Travis Green, Bruce Boudreau, you know, the last three years going back to the Travis Green, Bruce Boudreaux, you know, Bruce, there it is and all of that. And, you know, the hiring of Taki that was announced before it was announced officially. And now we're seeing it with the players. And I know that it probably drives the fan base nuts. They just want the team to perform on the ice, but it certainly gives us, you guys,

and all of us in the media, a ton to talk about. Are you going to have something special planned for when the Canucks play the Leafs on Saturday on Hawking and Canada in front of the whole world? Yeah, our executive producer, Brian Spear, I'm sure will be, you know, digging up as much as he can and sort of dig in on all the storylines. And it's interesting, you know, the Leafs are playing really well right now. They just won their fifth straight last night. It was a pretty uninspired game for them,

but they're doing enough to win. And Matthews is looking healthy again. He has back to back to back multiple point games since returning from his latest injury. So, you know, and they're trying, they're fighting for first in the Eastern Conference, which not many of us really expected necessarily, especially considering Matthews has missed 15 games, their number one goalie.

We didn't know what the goaltending was going to be, but we stole ours missing, you know, now for, they think a couple of months, potentially. It's interesting that they're still finding ways to win. And then Vancouver, it's just a head scratcher guys. Like, you know, everything went right for Vancouver last year, we get that. And maybe they weren't gonna have, you know, they led the Pacific, I believe, December 23rd

or something like that, and they never looked back. They just, they were such a well-oiled machine. They were so fun to watch. Everything was working out, you know. Garland and Josh, when all these guys were having these career years, and even Miller was having a career year. We get it.

Wasn't all necessarily going to come together, but the fact that they're undoing themselves, you know, injuries obviously has played a role, but this whole soap opera that's been lingering over the team now for seemingly a month, it's shocking really. Usually these things don't happen on pro sports teams. You talk to players though guys, I'm sure you have, there's lots of in-fighting within teams, but the fact that it's spilled out to this level and it's taken this long to resolve and it just seems like the acrimony is so intense. It just, it's bizarre.

So there's no, there are no shortage of storylines. Saturday night will be a marquee night. It always is when Vancouver and Toronto play and we're excited to bring it to you. One guy I wanted to ask you about was Matthew Nyes. How big could this guy be for the Leafs in the playoffs? And I use the word big there because he's a big

powerful guy and the type of guy, I mean, he played well in the playoffs last year and he seems to have taken his game to another level now. Yeah, health is always just the one thing, you know, he's had a couple of head injuries and that's something you always have to be mindful of and he came back from a concussion earlier this year.

It was a big hit from Brandon Montour, clean hit, but it knocked him out for a series of games and he came back and he didn't really seem himself, but in the last week or so so he really has been a dominant player and just using that big frame of his. You know I spoke to an NHLer about Knives and he said man if this guy can just learn to be a bit of an a-hole for 60 minutes you know in the game you know he'll make himself a lot of money he's just such a nice guy.

And it's true if you talk to him off days, he's very soft spoken, you know, kind of a gentle giant, but if you just get a little bit of, you know, Tom Wilson in his DNA, uh, he could be a real, real powerful word for force in the league. And there's so few of them now, uh, that could be his mark. Um, so we'll see he's developing you know with Craig Barube as the head coach he loves his game and I think he keeps working with Matthew Nives to try and increase sort of his whole portfolio. He clearly has the offensive skill he has this

incredibly big frame I mean he's like 6'3", 225, 30 pounds. Like he's a really big guy. And when you see him in person, you're like, wow, he's an imposing figure. But you know, again, maybe a little bit more of that mainstream would take him a long way. So he's someone to keep an eye on. Kind of a lot of what Dakota Joshua provided the Canucks specifically last year when he was healthy, just that guy who could do a lot of different things. Knives is a little bit that version for the Leafs. Maybe not as nasty as Joshua, not quite a

pugilist, but certainly has that body that creates space for other guys and he certainly knows how to finish. What do you think about this playoff race in the East for the final wild, wild card spot? I'm looking at the standings now and congratulations to Columbus. They are in a playoff spot. We noted after Montreal went in and, or not

went in, they hosted Vancouver and, and beat the Canucks in overtime that they had taken over that second wild card spot. Well, now they are all the way back, uh, below Ottawa and Pittsburgh and Columbus. So it's a pretty tight race there for the final wild card spot. I don't know if it's a race full of good teams, but it's a pretty strong race regardless. Yeah.

I mean, so people are describing it as a snail race because these aren't the powerhouses of the league, but I love it. I mean, in four days you've had Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Montreal, and now Columbus hold the second and final wild card spot in the East. And any given day a different team can be there. And for those not watching too closely, I'll just sum it up for you. There are nine teams separated by seven points, starting with the bottom team in the East, the Buffalo Sabres, believe it or not, despite a 13 game losing streak, you know, if they could come up with a hot stretch, they could be right there. They're only seven points behind. So all the way Columbus is a great

storyline because we know what their offseason, what happened with Goudreau and to see them sitting in that second wild card is a really nice inspirational story. Then you have the Pittsburgh Penguins and Crosby. Can that team somehow muster away at the playoffs? Obviously we all know about Ottawa and the fact they've missed the playoffs for so long and Montreal kind of out of the blue has gone from last place in the East and they're sitting there right in the mix,

just one point out. Lot of good stories and maybe a team to keep an eye on. Of all those nine teams are the Detroit Red Wings. Todd McClellan has really calmed that team down. They've won five in a row. They seem to have their mojo back to some degree, guys, and they now sit just two points out. So it's gonna be a really fun last few months

as these teams all battle. And one thing I get thrown in there, and I'm sure Canuck stands will love to hear this, the Boston Bruins have lost five in a row. I was just gonna ask you about these guys. Just Justin Boren said last night, I don't think they're going to make the playoffs. And I said, really? He goes, I go, you don't look at them because

they're not lumped in those 19s, but they played a few more games that everyone. So once the games sift out, Boston can go from third in the Atlantic where they currently reside all the way into a non-playoff spot. And the way they're trending, they were booed off the ice last night and fired on Sweeney Chance were raining down at the TD Garden.

Boston could legitimately be in some trouble, which I know Leafs fans would love, Canucks fans would love, I'm sure a lot of the NHL would love to see. Well, uh, I mean, knowing the Leafs will probably win the conference and then the Bruins will be the number eight seed and the Bruins of the Leafs will meet in the first round and the Bruins will be the number eight seed and the Bruins of the Leafs will meet in the first round and the Bruins will beat them.

But I think, is the issue with Boston just not, like they don't have a lot of goal scoring on that team. Certainly, I mean, they have Pasternak and Marchand can still score, but after that, who are you looking at there? Like Brazzow? They don't have the depth of scoring

that a lot of the good teams have. They don't, they don't. And also up the middle, right? Like look at up the middle, look at that, look at that division when you look, you know, at Toronto, what they can bring up the middle, what Tampa could bring up the middle, Florida, look at their centers, they don't have those depths of centers.

I mean, Charlie Coyle is a good player, but you know, he's your number two center and it goes down from there. So that's a big issue with Boston. And you know, we kind of, a lot of us expected this attrition a couple of years ago when Bergeron and Creechi retired. Oh, that's the end of the era. And then what do you know?

Lo and behold, Boston comes out again, wins a playoff round and, and doesn't miss really miss a beat. And a lot of that was on the strength of their goaltending, uh, all Mark and Swamen. Well, all marks in Ottawa. Now he's injured Swamen stuck it out and held out for the money and got it in Boston and he has been less than the Swamen we remembered. He's their everyday guy.

Now he's not sort of sharing the net with another one a one B kind of guy. So, uh, it's all sort of fallen apart at the same time they don't look like the big bad Bruins and it's not to discredit them they're still you know an okay hockey team but they're certainly not putting the fear of anything into anyone anymore the Leafs handled them pretty pretty well on Saturday night on hockey night in Canada and the slide is sort of there and and you're right when you look at the other teams in the East, the top teams can really put the

puck in the net, New Jersey, Washington, Carolina as well on the metropolitan division. And Boston just doesn't have that depth of fire power and it's showing so far this year. How disappointing would it be considering the playoff race if Ottawa didn't find a way in? Yeah, I think it'd be catastrophic without trying to be too much hyperbole there.

And what I mean is just, you've paid these guys, right? You've given these guys, whether it's Norris or you know, Shabad and Kachak and Stutla and they've all, you know, in ways earned and they've shown their merit, but you've paid this group and the results just haven't been there. And previously it's really been, well, Jesus, they could just get a save, you know, just a little bit of goaltending. They brought in

Corpusalo, that didn't work, that was a disaster. Then they brought in Allmark and Allmark was playing fantastic. I think he was player of the week. Everything was going great. He, he went eight, oh, and one, he was, he was doing everything they hope for. And now he's out week to week and he's not even skating yet. And I'm sure Travis green is going, oh my God, I cannot believe this is the situation. So, uh, it would be pretty catastrophic if they don't make the playoffs yet again, the investments been made, the moves have been made. And you know, we talked about this again, I just, I just wonder what that means.

I don't think you could just keep striking it up and bringing the band back. They'd have to do something significant. And there's always this notion. Remember that whole pampering thing and New York Rangers are dying to get Brady Kachuk? I don't know. You know, we don't know exactly what's been happening behind closed doors and I don't think Ottawa, Ottawa obviously doesn't have any, is not eager to trade their captain or move Kachuk, he's the cornerstone of their team but who's to say Brady Kachuk doesn't pull a

Matthew Kachuk if they don't make the playoffs this year and say hey guys you know it's just not working out for me can you move me so I'm not saying that's going to happen but I'm saying that's something that people talk about the possibility of it happening if Ottawa misses the playoffs. So this whole thing can come completely unraveled. Uh, there's a lot at stake. When you look at those nine teams chasing the playoff spot, you'd be hard

pressed to find a team more desperate. Maybe just Buffalo's missed the playoffs for 13 straight years. You'd be hard pressed to find a team more desperate, maybe just Buffalo's missed the playoffs for 13 straight years. If you're a person to find a team more desperate, then I believe Ottawa can make the playoffs this year. We're speaking to David Amber, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Haliford and Brush show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, so tonight, as you mentioned, pregame show starts at four o'clock and then four thirties puck drop between the Canucks and the Capitals. From the capital side of things, you've got a team that has no problem scoring goals whatsoever.

They are second in the NHL in total goals for. They're first in the NHL in goals per game. Oh, and they also suit up who is soon going to be the greatest goal scorer in NHL history. Some would argue that he is already, but he's gonna be breaking that record at some point. He's now just 23 away from breaking Gretzky. What do you guys have planned for the Ovechkins?

Give like an OV cam, an OV tracker, what's gonna go into tonight's broadcast from the capital side of things? Yeah I mean I think most broadcasts you know for many years there's been a cam dedicated, a camera dedicated to watching eight on the capitals because you just don't know. You just don't know what he's gonna do do. And it's not just goals, but man, since he entered the league, he has the third most registered hits and that's part of his storyline. It's just, he's such an anomaly, right? This big, durable scoring machine.

It's unbelievable to watch him at this. He's either doing his best goals per game, you know, rate right now of his career guys, like it's at age 39. This is unbelievable. He's one goal away from a 20th, 20 goals season. It's kind of shocking when you look at it in those terms, not that dissimilar to what we're seeing from LeBron James in basketball, a guy who just keeps getting older than everyone and somehow still produces at such a high level. So, yeah, we're, you know, that's part of the storyline. Certainly there's a scenario where Alexander Ovechkin sometime this year becomes the greatest goal scorer.

He's got 42 games to score 23 goals. That's a huge number, especially considering he's 39 years of age, but he has 19 goals in the 23 games he's played this year. Like that's shocking, right? Like that's an incredible pace. So anything is possible. The Washington Capitals to me guys are the best story in the league this year. I put them in Columbus, you know, for different reasons, but you know, Washington, they made the playoffs last year and it was a bit of a bit of a fluke. They had the worst goals differential for any playoff team in over 30 years. It was one of those sort of they backdoored it into the playoffs.

And this year they're kicking the front door down to maybe win the Eastern Conference. They sit first in the conference right now. And Spencer Carberry, their head coach, who was the head coach of the year in both the ECHL and the AHL, he certainly had that pedigree, is looking like he's going to win an NHL coach of the year this year because he's just been so good and dynamic with this young team and everything's coming together for them. And you know what's interesting about the Capitals guys? They've taken everyone's garbage, right? Remember what we thought when they took the Pierre-Luc Dubois contract? Yeah.

Like everyone just said, that's horrible. They just got fleeced. Well, Dubois then turned into a superstar, but he has somehow fit nicely in that group. He's a plus player. He's averaging, he's got a 65 point season or something. And he seems to be part of this big, big forward group. They're the biggest group of forwards

in the NHL collectively. They have one guy under six feet in their forward group. They have one guy under six feet on their blue line. So I mean, they're just a bohemoth of a team and he fits that. They took Jacob Chickren, who was by all accounts a disappointment in Ottawa. They took Logan Thompson for goalie who was kind of run out of Vegas because he was, you know, considered a bit of a selfish player and, and, and somehow it's all worked together and Spencer Carvery deserves a lot of credit for someone making all these personalities work. And, um, it's going to be a challenge tonight for the Canucks to slow down this team.

Do we know if Pedersen's playing? Do we have that information? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that would be nice to get him back. Clearly Hughes is, you know, MVP caliber player having him back. Hughes, what about Demko? Do we know that? The Canucks are going to skate this morning at 8.30 from Capital One Arena, and then Rick Tuckett's going to meet with the media shortly thereafter. So appropriately, as soon as we're off the air, we'll probably get worried about all of this stuff. So we will find out this morning in a couple hours, but until then, we don't know the status of Elias Pedersen. Demko practiced yesterday and he practiced fully. And then in an article

on sportsnet.ca from our very own Ian McIntyre, he said that Demko was expected the very least to back up Kevin Lankin tonight. It would be available, sorry, to back up Kevin Lankin. That's 8.30 our time, David, 11.30 Eastern. They're not making him get to the rank at 8 in the morning. Listen, if he's available to back up, I'd like to think he's available to play. Yeah. And I think Rick Pockett's comment, you know, post the injury was the best comment I've heard

this year, back spasms could be 48 hours or it could be four years. I think Rick had back spasms in his career. Yeah. Yeah. And listen, that's not, anyone who's had him knows how debilitating that could be, but I'd like to think of, he's doing a full practice.

Let's hope he wakes up feeling nice and limber today and I'd love to see Demko against this team because they are a dynamic Washington team. And obviously if Patterson comes back and things can, maybe the waters can calm a little bit because Vancouver needs to, you know, we're talking about the Eastern playoff race. Well, with Canucks, as I'm sure you guys have

talked about, they're not, they're not all chilled out in the West yet. Um, you know, we're talking about the Eastern playoff race. Well, the Canucks, as I'm sure you guys have talked about, they're not they're not all chilled out in the West yet. You know, those top three teams in the Pacific, it's going to take some work to catch them. So if Vancouver's, you know, legitimately going to be potentially fighting for a wild card, they've got some decent teams with some momentum behind them. So I know that's probably part of their focus is collecting as many points as possible during this road trip. No, you're right scoreboard watching tonight

You got to watch a Canucks game first then you got to watch the Flames and Kings in LA at 730 Because the Canucks and Flames are tied on 45 points for that last wild card spot So David reminded for everyone listening you can catch David tonight four o'clock Our time is when the pregame show starts 430 puck drop between the Capitals and the Canucks on Sportsnet. David, thanks for doing this today, bud. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. Yeah, thanks so much.

We look forward to it. Canucks caps should be a lot of fun. Thanks fellas. Thank you. That's David Amber, Sportsnet Hockey Night in Canada, NHL host here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So the Canucks do need Pedersen back as soon

as possible. We talked yesterday about how Pugh Suter, who has done a great job this season and been a good performer for the Canucks with his versatility, his ability to play center or the wing is a little overmatched. He's not the fastest skater I've been told. Yeah, I've heard that too.

As the two see, he's a little overmatched. Um, if you want to have him down the middle, you'd want him on the third line or the fourth line. And you know, you can play in the top six on the wing, but I don't think he's the ideal fit there. We're not putting this on Pugh suitor. It's not Pugh suitor's fault. I mean, there's a reason he has the contract

that he has and Elias Pedersen has the contract that Elias Pedersen has. And if you look at this, this, this capitals team depth up front is one of their strengths. You know, on one line you've got Ovi, on another line you've got Dubois, Wilson, and then this giant Alexei Protas who we'll ask John Walton about, Connor McMichael is their 3C and he's having a good year.

And then you've got guys like Andrew Mangiapane on the fourth line and the great Nick Dowd as the fourth line center. Like, I don't know if there's anyone that's going to win an award in that Washington Capitals forward group. But on each line, you've got a player of significance, I would say. You know what's hilarious is that in all of our

preview between David and you and myself talking about the Washington Capitals and all of these forwards that they have and all this great depth, not one of us has mentioned Dylan Strom, who is their leading scorer with 45 points. I know. In 40 games. Right.

I'm still hesitant to be like, and don't forget about Dylan Strowm. I thought that's why you're going to say they need, they need Petey back so we can shut down Dylan Strowm. The guy's unstoppable. 45 points. It's a good story. It's an amazing story. The Blackhawks let him walk.

They didn't even make him a qualifying offer two years ago. They're like, eh, we're good. Just go to unrestricted free agency. I remember we had Frank on the show, by the way, Frank Sevalli is coming up on the other side of the break here and Frank said, I think he had one offer, one offer. And that offer was from the Washington capitals who gave him 3.5 million and Strom just completely turned his career around. Again, I'm with you about if there's a weakness there,

it's probably that either Strom or Dubois, your 1C, right? Like that's probably, I mean, we're picking Knits here, of course. It's a very good team and very deep up front, but you know, in the playoffs, those kinds of things matter where how strong is your depth down the middle and who's your go-to guy. But I mean, you can't argue with the production that Strom's had this year because he's well

above being a point-to-game guy which is pretty impressive. All right what's coming up next? Frank Zervalli is going to join us on the other side of the break. We'll talk to him about his trade board the first one of 2025 which went live on daily face-off yesterday. I don't want to spoil the whole thing for the listeners but there's only one Canuck on the trade board. He's number 25 of 25 on the trade board. Do you think it's a real board? Yeah. Like it's got a big cardboard board or something.

I think it's a white board. I think he can update it. He can erase things. I was hoping it'd be like a cork board that they could like throw like something at it. Like, They're not chasing a serial killer. Oh. Okay. We can ask chasing a serial killer okay we can ask

Frank you know we can ask him all these questions you have an actual trade board he's gonna join us next at seven o'clock 730 John Walton play by play voice on the radio for the Capitals will join us to preview the caps eight o'clock Randy Jen 830 what we learns guys listeners gals everybody get your what we learns in hashtag them WWL and tell us what did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? We've had a couple texts about this. I want to know of the golf fans that are listening,

if anyone tuned into the TGL, is that what they're calling it? The TGL league, the golf simulator league with some of the golf stars. Did you watch it and what did you think of it? Cause I only saw a little bit of it and I was kind of like, ah, this is, it's okay to watch. I, I don't know if I'm going to get super into this, but there were some funny

moments, curious to hear your thoughts if you watched any of it last night. Frank Ceravelli is coming up next on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.