Halford & Brough in the Morning - Lekkerimäki Looks Like He Belongs

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk yesterday's Canucks home win over the Flames (6:00), plus they chat the latest hockey news with Sportsnet NHL host David Amber (28:41). 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.

Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose to the f***ing Canucks? You're listening to Halford and Brough. Canucks are changing Miller to Sooner in the slot. He scores! I like the way we responded in the second. A little bit more offensive movement. Thought we didn't give up much, and what we did, Lanks was there for us. I hate to say it, man.

It's like Aaron Rodgers has completely sucked the air out of the building. When we lose, I ain't even getting a shower until early this morning. I just be mad. I just brush my teeth. I was like, I don't deserve soap. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on A.O. Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody.

This is Alfred in his breath at his Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Thayview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason. And we're going to have a great show, shorty. Jason, good morning to you. Good morningy. Jason, good morning to you. Hey, dog. Good morning to you. Good morning.

And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Hal for the Prep of 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 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Raffi, what are you waiting for?

Kintec, you've got a big show ahead on a Wednesday, as Bruff alluded to. We're looking to turn that narrative right around. No way is the morning show going to be tired and lethargic and fat following a Tuesday night night. Maybe one of those things. Nobody said anything about fat. Lethargic, we can do something about that.

Projecting here a little bit, I think. There was some social media comments. We can controlgic, we can do something about that. He's projecting here a little bit, I think. There was some social media comments. We can control the things we can control on a Tuesday. It's a Wednesday. It's a Wednesday.

And yes, it was cold in there. That's why we had all the jackets. Yeah, I'm surprised by those comments. I mean, it's an ice rink. We said the comments

weren't going to get to us and it's 6.02 and we've already dressed two-thirds. Your first time at a hockey rink? Like, come on. I was warm.

Clearly. I was well-insulated. If there's one thing you were, it was warm. Anyway, we had a good time at the game last night, but we do have a lot to get into for today. Guest list begins at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host. We can talk about the Canucks' 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames last night

with David, but a bunch of other stories with Canadian teams in the National Hockey League last night. The Winnipeg Jets deserve not quite top billing alongside the Vancouver Canucks, but pretty close. Fastest team to 15 wins in NHL history. They did that last night. I'm still choosing to ignore them. I know, it's crazy.

I'm like, we need to talk about them, and you're like, no. Yeah, they're off to a good start. I'm like, we need to talk about them, and you're like, no. Yeah, they're off to a good start. Connor McDavid, four points last night. Linus Allmark, a shutout in the Battle of Ontario, so lots to get into with David Amber at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff will join us. We'll talk to Frank about everything

else that happened around the National Hockey League. The fallout in Pittsburgh after that big loss, Dallas Lars Eller gets traded. We'll talk to Frank about what else is going on on the trade fronts around the NHL. 8 o'clock, Randy Janda. He was on the call last night for the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 win, as mentioned, over the Calgary Flames. Looking resplendent in his suit and turtleneck yesterday.

Ran into him in the broadcast booth. So we got a lot to get into on the show. A lot of stories, hockey and otherwise. Again, working in reverse on the guest list. 8 o'clock, it's Rand Deep. 7 o'clock, Frank Cervalli, 6.30, David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? 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. Elias Patterson had a goal and an assist. Pew Sooners scored the winner and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena, rebounding well from that 7-3 loss against Edmonton on Saturday night also at Rogers Arena.

That was a fun hockey game last night, not just because we were in the arena. I went up and chatted with Shorty in the second intermission, and he said, you know, this is a pretty good hockey game. I'm like, I know it is. There was a bit of a lull at the end of the second period, but the second period, you know, let's start with the first period. I thought the Canucks played pretty well in that,

but they gave up the first goal of the game because that's what they do. It is now the eighth straight time they've surrendered the first goal, but I didn't think they were playing badly. And then they go into the second, and they're really all over the Calgary Flames and they take the lead and eventually later on in the game, they get the insurance goal and they win the game and deservedly so. So if you look in terms of points percentage in the Pacific Division,

the Canucks are now first, which is honestly impressive considering all the things that they've had to deal with, not having their starting goalie in Thatcher Demko, not having Dakota Joshua, guys like Daniel Sprong not really working out, Elias Pettersen struggling for most of the start of the season, they've done, I think, pretty well, all things considered. And speaking of Pedersen, it was another good game for Pedersen. And I thought something changed in the Edmonton game and how I was viewing his game. He just looked like he had a little bit more, to use a Rick Talkin' word, juice to his game.

And that continued on into the Calgary game. Five points in three games for Petey. Five points in three games. And he got a goal and an assist. And the first goal that the Can connect scored was on the power play which is good and what i noticed was that pd was first in on the forecheck and like had the legs going um forced the calgary defender into making a quick play le Leckermackie, and we'll talk about him soon, and Garland were also in the corner fighting for a puck.

Eventually, I think it was Garland gets it back to the point. It goes over to the Hughes. Petey goes to the net. Bada-bing, bada-boom, it's in the net. It all starts with Petey getting on his horse and getting into the offensive zone with a forecheck, turning a puck over with a forecheck, turning a puck over in a good way, and the Canucks have that goal.

Lekker Mackey, I thought, looked very comfortable. There were never moments when he got the puck and he looked like, uh-oh. Or, you know, sometimes you'll see a player out there, a young player, and you can tell that he's gripping the stick. Like, there was none of that, and I thought he played really well. And JT Miller bounced back in a really, really good way. He looked himself out there, except for that one time that he got a shot. Except for that one. Did he get it in the boys? Yeah.

Definitely, though? Sure looked like it as he sort of staggered his way to the bench. Yeah, all the replays made it seem like football in the groin. And then we did notice the way that he skated to the bench, I wasn't exactly sure what happened because he wasn't wincing in the way

that you would when he normally gets it. Oh, he's doubled over. Yeah. And I was like, what's going on right now? And he was moving very gingerly. He was like. And that's what it was. He was taking a few deep breaths.

He actually dropped to a knee when he was on the bench or near the bench. I'm like, oh, okay. I think I know what happened here. So Miller bounced back. I'd say ditto for Kevin Lankanen, who had to make a few saves, especially early on. The Flames did have some opportunities, and for the most part, he was there.

The goal that he allowed, not much of a chance. A rare mistake from Quinn Hughes, who didn't clear the puck hard enough when it was on his stick in front of the net. Don't screw around with the puck when you're in front of your own net, and he did, and was on his stick in front of the net. Don't screw around with the puck when you're in front of your own net. And he did, and it ended up in the back of the net. Kiefer Sherwood was everywhere on the ice.

And I'm telling you, this guy, the Preds are going to regret not bringing him back. He's like a wrecking ball. But he's more than like, we've seen guys that can get in on the four check. And that's great, right?

You want guys like that. I think about a guy like Derek Dorsett. That guy hit everything. He was in on the four check. But I think Sherwood has offensive talent. The way he gets his shot off. How many shots did he have last night? He had a bunch of them. And, you know, we've talked about the numbers that he's put up

in the AHL and we've seen some of the shots that he's unloaded for goals this season. And that third line is just, they're together all the time. It's actually going to be really curious to see what they do when Dakota Joshua is back and he could play Thursday. And I'm not necessarily talking about Thursday because I think Joshua is just going to take Baines' spot on the fourth line or maybe Hoaglander's spot. I don't know. He's going to take a spot, probably Baines, on the fourth line,

and they're going to ramp him up pretty slowly. But once he's up to speed, I mean, there's probably going to be injuries, but let's say everyone's healthy. Where would Lekker Mackey go? Yeah, no, it's a great question. If they're not going to break up the third line and they want to bring Dakota Joshua up into the top six, there's a lot of guys.

Suter is not the fastest guy in the world. He's probably going to get bumped down. So you might even have Pugh Suter on the fourth line. So good problem to have all the depth that they've got up front. Garland, again, I already mentioned him getting in on the forecheck on the power play. He was great on the PK, too. Just wasting time down in Calgary's end.

Brandstrom had his first goal of the season. Finally, another defenseman scored. And his first goal as a Vancouver Canuck. I thought Tyler Myers had a really solid game. He was good. There was a couple times where he pinched to keep Pucks alive in the offensive zone. Thought he was strong in his, in his own, uh, in his own end. Um, and then I thought Ryan Kessler played well at the arena.

He was gunning a lot of beers. A lot of energy. A lot of energy. Brought a lot of energy to the rink. So listen, it was a good night for the Canucks against the Calgary Flames. Let's talk a bit about Lekker Mackey. Yeah. Because Rick Tockett was asked a question

about Lekker Mackey after the game. And you have to remember one of the guys that was just traded away, essentially to make room for Lekker Mackey. And that was Daniel Sprong. Listen to Talkett's answer. And also, I'll add another one. He was playing in the game last night, but not for the Canucks,

Andre Kuzmenko. Listen to Talkett's answer when he talks about Lekker-Mackie and see if the see if you start thinking about Daniel Sprong or Andre Kuzmenko

while he's giving this answer. Yeah, listen, it's one game for him, but I see I'm not talking to the other guys, but for him, there's a conscience there. You have to have, yeah, it's one game for him, but I see, I'm not talking to the other guys, but for him there's a conscience there. Like you have to have, yeah, you want to press the envelope, you want to score, you want to be creative, but when there's times when you've got to be in a spot for us, that's critical.

You have to show a conscience. You've got to have the conviction to be there. Like, you know what I'm saying? If you're the reload guy, two guys dive in and you're not really reloading, you're kind of coming back slow, I have a tough time for those type of players. I don't care. And if you do, you better score 60 goals. That's just my rule.

So you've got to have a conscience. I think the kid has a conscience. You watch him play. He's sure he's going to make a mistake, but I think the difference with it, and I think he really, I think they talk about it, he's obsessive about his game. I think he really wants to be obsessive and play without the puck. But I'm nuts.

I want him to be creative, though. I want him to go. I don't want him to, you know, not looking to be the third guy back all the time. That's not what I'm looking for. 14.07, time on ice last night for Lekromacki in his NHL debut. Two shots on net, so he hit the under on the three and a half total that we threw out there yesterday.

Slight disappointment for me being in attendance and saying that he was going to get five shots on goal and his first NHL goal. Your hot take, not land? No, that's crazy. Step it up, Lekromackie, is what I had to say in the postgame. But 257 on the power play,

and I won't play the clip because it was a short one, but Talkett did say that there were some Besser-like elements to Lechromackie's game that he saw out there on Tuesday night against the Flames. It's hard not to look at this and say, between the fact that

he is playing with Brock's regular line mates in JT Miller and Pugh Suter. He's getting plum assignments on the power play. First unit power play. Where Brock Besser would normally be. We talked about silver linings yesterday with the Besser injury, and it sucks that he's hurt because he got off to a good start to the year in a contract year and was also sort of doubling down on the 40 goal season

he had a year ago. But silver linings are silver linings. You take them where you can get them. And in this instance, what a great opportunity for this organization, and I think most importantly, Rick Talkett, to see exactly what they have with Lekermackie and where his game is at relative to where they're at in terms of their competitive window.

Because if they were a rebuilding team, they'd probably have a little more leeway. Like, yeah, we can bring him up. And if he's not playing great, then no big deal, right? The stakes aren't that high. We're not in the business of winning a ton of hockey games right now. This team being in its competitive window, to have a guy that has the offensive ability,

which I think we all know, but also that conscience that Rick Tockett was speaking about, it bodes well in case things don't work out with besser long term i'm talking contractually we all wanted to know is leckermacky the you know ready-made fill-in should something go pear-shaped either in contract negotiations or whatever early returns and i stress the word early because it was his first ever nhl gamer you got to be optimistic about it right yeah that's a good thing. Speaking of being optimistic about things, Elias Pettersson. We mentioned earlier that it was his second straight consecutive game on the hop

where he looked very good. Finished with a goal and an assist. Here's a stat for you. In the entire month of October, Elias Pettersson put 14 shots on goal. In five games through November, he has 13 already. So if you want to talk about a guy that looks a little bit more gauged, a little bit more dangerous, look no further than those numbers. And as Andy pointed out about 90

times last night, Elias Pettersson does have how many points in the last few games, Andy? Five in the last three? Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, that sounds about right. So Rick Talkett made note of this in the post-game remarks, talking about not the stuff that's happening during the games, but the stuff that's happening during the games but

the stuff that's happening before and after practice and how maybe maybe even elias pedersen realized it was time to step it up here is rick talkett on ep40 following a 3-1 win over the calgary flames on tuesday night at rogers arena well when you get rewarded when you're doing that stuff it's it's you know you know he knows he's got to do it and um it's not that he you know i was telling him it's you know you don't so i don't want you to have to do it i want you i want you to want to do it because that's and and you can tell that he wants to do it like he's just you know even he's very attentive now like i i just he just seems like last week he's really kind of you know enough's enough and he rolling up the sleeves, and that's what I want to see from him. And he has put some good efforts for us.

So Alex, the spreadsheet wizard, texted in and says, Jason, just wanted to say that it looks like Petey's return to form has been gradual and not a snap, as you suggested. Do you feel in retrospect that there was anything more than mental bugging him? Yeah, it has been more of a gradual return for Petey as opposed to just like, boom, something good happens to him. The Carolina turnaround. Yeah. And I still don't think he's fully back. Like I'm not, I'm not willing to sit here and say that he's fully back. And Petey said after the Edmonton game that there's still a long way to go for him but to the question do you feel in retrospect that there's anything more than mental bugging him

no I don't and if you're hinting at like maybe he was injured like yeah maybe he's got some tendonitis that was bugging him but if you read between the lines of what Rick Talkett is saying, he wasn't enthusiastic enough about working on his game. Being there before practice. He wasn't putting the work in. And that's mental. Talkett had a real interesting snippet there about getting tired in games. And Talkett's like, I want you to be tired in game.

It means you're working hard. And then this is how you build endurance is you work yourself till the tanks at E and then you build yourself back up and then you go out again. Like, don't conserve anything. I mean, he doesn't really, he doesn't ideally want that. But in this situation with Pedersen, yes, he does. Ideally, Peter would have come to camp in better shape,

right? Well, they're working. Having worked on his game now, did the tendinitis affect his off-season training? Petey did say that they had to work around it. So maybe he didn't show up to camp in quite the shape he wanted, or maybe his game was a little rusty because he hadn't been able to work on it enough. But the fact is, is like, you'd have to willfully not be listening to Rick talk it to, to, to not believe that the Canucks were not thrilled with his work ethic when it came to his game.

Yeah. So it's now another win in the books for the Vancouver Canucks. As several people were pointing out on the post game show with sat and Bic yesterday, another win against a quote unquote non-playoff team, assuming Calgary doesn't make a push. the Vancouver Canucks, as several people were pointing out on the postgame show with Sat and Bic yesterday, another win against a quote-unquote non-playoff team, assuming Calgary doesn't make a push and get there. And that is, I mean, I think there's a few narratives that I took from last night.

One was the Lekker-Mackie thing, which I think we've delved into pretty thoroughly. We'll do that throughout the show. Two is Patterson, who had a great night. Three is going to be, okay, quality of opponent time, because if you go ahead and look at the schedule for the Vancouver Canucks coming up it is not a murderer's row of teams over the next few you know you've got the uh you got Bo Horvat and the New York Islanders coming to town on

Thursday you got Conor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday and then Nashville with all of their their highly paid stars who aren't doing a thing in the standings. So those are the next three games. If you go by the Canucks form recently, these are all teams that are in the bottom half of the National Hockey League standings. In the case of Nashville, they're right in the basement.

So there's an opportunity here to make hay, collect points, and take care of business, which they have done against the sort of, I hate calling them second-rate teams, but that's the phrasing I'm going to go with. The ones that are still going to stick out to people, and unfortunately you're not going to get a chance to prove yourself until you go get to play them, is what happened against Edmonton? What happened against New Jersey?

What happened in the first two periods against Carolina? Yeah, the next really good team coming in to Rogers Arena, the New York Rangers, on November 19th. Yeah, a week yesterday. And then they head out on a six-game road trip against Ottawa, Boston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, and Minnesota. I don't know who the toughest game in that six-game trip is. Maybe it's Minnesota.

It might be Minnesota at the end. Normally you'd look at Boston and Pittsburgh, but maybe it's Minnesota in the end. I'm sure the Canucks schedule gets tough at some point. I'm just going to scroll down the schedule. But the schedule, you remember when you would go through the schedule and when the Canucks were really struggling and you'd be like, oh God, all these teams to look tough for the Vancouver Canucks.

Now it is a little bit different, right? You know, it feels a little bit different. It's funny because, again, I'm listening to the postgame show on the way in this morning and people are almost glossing over the fact that the Canucks have eight wins. And by the way, that stat where they've given up the first goal in eight consecutive games do you know what the record is over those games five two and one yeah like yeah like so there's some positives to be taken but I think in light of what happened last year with the 100 plus points

50 plus wins is people have uh heightened expectations and almost take like a game last night against Calgary, people's like, yeah, that's one you're supposed to win. I have to admit, and I'm not trying to stir it up here. Let's do it. I have to admit that when you look at all the players that the Canucks have up front, you do start having to wonder if one of them's going to get traded. It's the most obvious thing.

Well, we all know who we're referring to here. Adog said it 90 times last night. Who? Every time Hoaglander touched a puck. Yeah. He's the one. He's the one they move. The funny thing with Hoaglander is like, and I'm not saying you're wrong.

Do you? I'm not saying you're wrong, but I really like Hoaglander in the fourth line role. Yeah. Because he adds some skill and speed and tenacity to the fourth line. Is there a forward you don't like right now, though? I don't think. No, not really. Yeah, that's the thing.

I like Hoaglander there. I didn't share a word on the third. I mentioned to centers yesterday how great they played. It's very hard to pick a guy that you would say isn't contributing. The 4C. The 4C right now. Well, you say Hogan because he's young enough to give you a bit of value, right? Yeah.

But he's probably at his all-time low right now in value. And when I say value, I'm not expecting much back. I'm just saying he's the first guy I would think of. What I was going to say is that I don't think the Canucks are going to have a fourth line that's going to play big, heavy hockey. They just don't have that so what you might go with is a is a tenacious skilled group right but maybe hoaglander would be the guy that would be traded away to not only create cap space but give up a a current nhl player because you hear like listen I'm not I'm not suggesting

that they'd be able to do like Hoaglander for Bowen Byram I'm not suggesting that but I am suggesting that there are some teams out there that are like listen we're tired of losing we don't want your draft picks and prospects anymore we need to start winning some games and I think Nils Hoaglander would be the type of player that they'd be like, yeah, this guy's talented. He last season had, what, over 20 goals, all even strength. He wasn't getting much power play time, so maybe there's an opportunity for him to add to his game.

He's signed to that contract extension, which I thought at the beginning of the year when they signed him to that contract extension, it was like, that's a little bit weird. I wonder if they're trying to just get cost certainty there just so they can, you know, because RFAs, pending RFAs, as we've seen, some teams don't want to take that on

and be like, do you really want to stay here? We also need to point out the glaringly obvious is that it solves a problem for the Canucks because eventually there is going to be a log jam. Like right now, it's great. Right now, you're moving forwards all over the place and you've got this fantastic depth. But when Joshua comes back, it gets a little bit more complex. And then when Besser comes back, it gets even more complex.

They have too many wingers and they need more defense. But then you're talking about, all of a sudden, you're like, well, we move Suter back to the middle. Right? That's what I'm saying. What level of D-man would Holanderlander command i have no idea man singularly by himself yeah like probably not any probably not anything that's going to move the needle in a massive way but would it be like a guy that would slot into their top three the value of a three slash four defenseman is i'm not going to say infinitely higher, but significantly higher than Hoaglander. It would have to be maybe a package deal,

or maybe it's a guy that they've identified that's playing lower in somebody else's lineup that they think they can elevate. Maybe there's a Brandstrom-esque type acquisition out there. There's one guy that always texts in upset that we're trying to get Hoaglander traded. We're like trying to get hoaglander traded we're not trying to get hoaglander traded i'm just looking at the group right now and knowing what the canucks need and thinking okay what would teams be interested in also it's andy that's trying to get hoaglander they um he just seems like the most likely candidate he does he does seems like the

most likely candidate but that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to be the guy. They got to get Brock Besser signed. If they can't, I don't think they're going to want to go past the trade deadline on Brock Besser without a contract. And I don't think... I'm of a different mind on that one. But if Besser wants to be a Canuck, then I think he'll play ball with them. Like, I think he'll be like, okay, we got to sit down and figure something out here.

The Lekermackie addition, you know how we were talking about Besser has a lot of leverage in this situation? He's like, you guys are right in your window. You're going to trade away. I'm a 40-goal scorer. My teammates like me.

You're going to trade away one of your best players. But now they can kind of be like, well, you know, and we know this is a management group that will play hardball with its players. Just ask Petey. They're like, well, you know, Lekker Mackey, he looks pretty good. Tok says he loves his conscience. Yep, he's got a good conscience. Yeah, so anyway.

There's your leverage. We're not trying to stir it up here. I think it's exciting, all the players that the Canucks have Good conscience. Yeah. So anyway. There's your leverage. We're not trying to stir it up here. I think it's exciting, all the players that the Canucks have and the opportunities that are ahead of them. Coming up on the Halifax and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, David Amber, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host, is going to join us. We will look back on a slew of games across the country,

including the Winnipeg Jets, who became the fastest team in NHL history to get to 15 wins last night with another impressive victory over the New York Rangers. We'll talk about that, the Battle of Ontario, and a whole lot more. You're listening to the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah,

your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 634 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 that can help with anything you're looking for.

Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. David Ambers, Hockey Night Canada, Sportsnet NHL host is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour 1 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 & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, David. How are you? Good, gentlemen. How are you guys today? We are well. A little tired. We were at the Canucks game last night. Had a little. How are you? Good, gentlemen. How are you guys today? We are well. A little tired. We were at the Canucks game last night.

Had a little bit of fun, but that's okay. It was a good game. It was exciting for the Vancouver Canucks. But you know what? I have to do the right thing here. I'm not going to start with the Vancouver Canucks because we just talked about them for a half hour. I need to carve out some time to talk about the Winnipeg Jets, who don't lose hockey games ever. They've lost one in 16. 15-1-0. It looks crazy when you look at the standings and you see how far back

everybody is. They are the fastest team in NHL history to 15 wins. And just in case they weren't on everybody's radar yet, I went ahead and looked at the schedule, and guess who they got this weekend? And then on Tuesday, back-to-back games against the Florida Panthers and their former coach, Paul Maurice. This is setting up for a very cool weekend for the Jets, and we'll be paying even more attention to him, I imagine.

I'm so glad that's where you want to start. I was thinking about this last night, watching them go into New York and dismantle the Rangers and these tic-tac-toe goals, and it was just a thing of beauty. And you guys remember when Florida won the Cup? Remember the post-game on-ice interview with Paul Murray? Sure do. And he went out of his way to say,

well, the only thing better than this would be next year if Winnipeg wins the Cup. And I'm like, what the hell's going on here? Well, imagine the scene. You know, right now, it could be a Florida-Winnipeg Stanley Cup final, and I don't think anyone would be upset about that, because that would

just be an incredible series. You know, Florida's made a statement. They're fierce. They're physical. They're not, you know, the path to the Stanley Cup in the East is going to have to go through the Florida Panthers. And let's face it, what Winnipeg's doing in the West, they're opening a lot of eyes. And imagine if that does end up being the Stanley Cup final.

It would be, you know, those comments might come back to Han Paul Maurice. He'll have a good laugh with it, I'm sure. But it would be pretty cool if that ends up being the Stanley Cup final. We'll get a glimpse, a small preview of that in two of the three next games for the Jets this week. So I'm looking, but it'd be pretty cool if that ends up being the Stanley Cup final. We'll get a glimpse, a small preview of that in two of the three next games for the Jets this week. So I'm looking forward to it. What is the, I mean, there's not just one strength. What are the strengths of this Jets team?

Because it's a lot more than just they've got Connor Hellebuck. They're balanced. We mentioned in our pregame show last night that they've won 15 games they have 10 different players collect game-winning goals they have i think 11 players with at least 10 points and that was before last night's game you know their power play first their goals for first their goals against first uh their. Their goal's above expected. Every metric you want to show, they're either first or second, and there's incredible balance.

And you know what, guys? It's all about the identity of the team as well. We saw this a bit with Vancouver last year, that a lot of their identity ran through that line with Dakota Joshua, just be able to go out there, send out that line, smash some bodies, pin the other team deep, just basically impress your will on the other team at certain times. The Jets have that, right? They have incredible size up front.

They have sort of maybe underrated skill when you look at Shifley and Ehlers and Connor and Morrissey. They don't get the ink that the top, top players in the league get, and they're sort of right there with them. And then we haven't even mentioned the fact that they have a two-time Vesna winner in the net. So it's not just Hellebuck. You're absolutely right. So I think it's really incumbent on Kevin Shevelday off to watch this team, to earmark what he wants to do with this team moving forward,

to give them a bit more depth, a bit more, you know, what they need to go into the Stanley Cup playoffs and make sure they can make a four-round run, make sure they can get past whether it's Dallas, Colorado, obviously Edmonton, Vancouver. There's some really formidable teams in the Western Conference, but they have to make some traction this year. And I think it's incumbent on Sheveldayoff to sort of identify what can be added.

And he's got a few months. He's got nothing but time on his side. But right now they just look like such a strong, balanced, confident team, and it's really fun to watch. Josh Morrissey took a few years in the NHL before he became the very good NHL defenseman that he is today. Do you think that's one of the reasons maybe that he doesn't get as much attention as, say, a Kael McCarr or a Quinn Hughes.

Maybe he's not quite up to their level, but he is a very good player. Yeah, he's kind of hidden a little bit. I don't have my notes in front of me, but over the last few years, he's in the top 10 of points from a defenseman. He moves the puck so well. I mean, you guys are just so treated and blessed with Quinn Hughes. Day after day, you almost take it for granted. Well, in Winnipeg, they feel that way about Josh Morrissey. Look at the attrition they've had on that blue line over the last

six, seven years, right? The Dustin Bufflins and everyone else that's come and gone. And the one stabilizing force that's been there throughout is Josh Morrissey and you know he'll be a key cog not just for the Jets but he's going to be a key cog for Canada in the four nations face-off and yeah if he played in New York played in Toronto played in Vancouver I'm sure he'd get a lot more ink but uh you know he's a little bit of a hidden gem but when you talk to players around the league they don't sleep on this guy they knew how know how mobile he is how smart he is with the puck and and really he's one of the top elite defensemen in the league two years ago we were we were saying is it should be josh morrissey or is it josh norrissey you know there was that kind of little

bit of of a groundswell of support for him in nhl circles to to have a candidacy for the norris ultimately didn't happen but certainly he's in that discussion this year again. We're speaking to David Amber, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Another big game yesterday, the Battle of Ontario. Linus Ulmark, 27th save shutout for the Ottawa Senators. 3-0 win over the Leafs. Craig Berube not happy with his team's performance after it, said it wasn't a good game for us, wasn't much good to talk about.

We got outskated. They wanted it more from us. now the Leafs are going to be front and center again tonight because they are going to the American capital to take on Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington capitals who have been fantastic to start the season so I'm going to be very interested to see how it goes tonight for Toronto not only because they've got Ovi in the caps on the ledger here but also because they played so poorly last night against Ottawa so that means you gentlemen are tuning in tonight because we could use the viewers I will be there front and center four o'clock puck drop our time is Austin Matthews gonna play or is he out for a while uh not likely I mean he didn't play yesterday I doubt he jumped on a flight to head out to Washington to play.

So we're not expecting him to play. I think coverage starts at 4 Pacific, and I think the game starts at 4.30. Yeah, listen, they didn't miss Matthews in the first three games. They ran through three teams, Boston and Montreal and Detroit, outscored them 11-2, and their power play was clicking. But last night, they really missed Matthews. They just didn't have any oomph. They didn't have any offensive push at all.

And I think Berube summed it up nicely. They were outplayed, outskated, outworked, and that's going to be the result you get. And if it wasn't for Stolarz looking very good in net, it could have been much worse than 3-0, to be you uh tonight will they get a bounce back it's not going to be easy Washington's really one of the great stories of the NHL this year a lot of people including myself didn't have very high expectations for this group and lo and behold they've they've been fantastic they seem to have found the right coach and Spencer Carberry and the right

group of players uh Connor McMichael's playing his best hockey. Dylan Strom is playing fantastic. He's near the league leaders in points. He's assisted on all 10 of Ovechkin's goals this year. And what can you say about Ovechkin? 39 years of age. He's clearly in hot pursuit of the all-time scoring record. And that's what's, I guess, driving him.

And he's found that you know fountain of youth in his style of play and he sort of picked up where he left off on the second half of last year where he was on pace for a 40 plus goal season and now he's on pace for 58 goals which is insane right we've never seen a player of his age put up any type of prolific numbers like that he has a long way to go but he albeit, you know, he looks like the nine-time Rocket winning OV, not like the guy who started out last year

and couldn't find the back of the net for 30 games. Speaking of scoring pace, I got to mention that Connor McDavid yesterday had a goal and three assists. That's four points. He now has 999 in his crowd.

I was talking to Brough at the break. I'm like, I can't believe that Connor McDavid, for all, as amazing as he is, is one point away from 1,000 already. So if he does it, he will be the fourth fastest

in NHL history. And it's funny as we dovetail off the Ovechkin conversation here. These Gretzky records stood for so long and now it sure seems like one is going to topple with Ovi. And now it just seems like a matter of time before, and not long after Ovi topples him,

that it might be McDavid rewriting all these records as well, as he now looks to go for 1,000 very early in his National Hockey League career. It's amazing. We had this conversation off air yesterday. Justin Bourne said, Cousin, Tino and I, you know, and I sort of said, if McDavid didn't play another NHL game, is he in the Hall of Fame? And it didn't take us very long to say, duh, yeah, of course he is. You know, like he'll fourth youngest to a thousand. He'll be the fourth fastest,

as you mentioned, to a thousand points. You know, when you say Gretzky's records, and I said this on air yesterday, I firmly think he's going to finish with the second most points ever. I think he'll eclipse Jager. He'll be the second most prolific scorer. To get to, what is it with Gretzky, 2,800 points? I mean, my God, that's just, I don't think that's possible, quite frankly. But I do think he'll, I could totally see him having 2,000 career points and being the second most prolific scorer, you know, point getter in NHL history.

We're witnessing something really amazing. He's 27 years of age, I believe, and what, five-time scoring champion, three-time MVP. Like, you know, I always do wonder if people take it for granted. He's just that good, and he's obviously healthy again.

And if you watched last night, you know, it was just the puck was on a string on a stick. It really is a thing of magic to watch with him. And, you know, I just hope we're all sort of soaking it in and enjoying what is the greatness of Conor McDavid. You know, seven or eight or nine years ago, did you think Ovi would break Gretzky's goals record?

Because I was like, there is no chance he is going to do that. And then the NHL really opened up do you remember those years in washington when ovi was getting like 30 goals and like and like uh who's the coach that they had their dale hunter was like dale hunter was like yeah you're not gonna play when uh when we have the lead jay beagle's gonna get your minutes like it it fell that low and like scoring was so hard and you know i remember just being like there's no way he's getting this and uh so i don't know if i i i count a guy like connor mcdavid out and all this especially if the

if the scoring continues to go up in the nhl yeah yeah i mean that's a good point i i listen i i don't kind of pat myself on the back too often, but I did 10 years ago, and it's all documented. It was on our shows when Rodgers got the rights, and I was hosting Oilers regional games with Louis DeBrusque and John Shannon. And then I started doing some national games. I was with Doug McClain way back in 2000, and I think it was 16. And I just said, you know what? I think OV is going to break the record. And I was pretty much laughed off the set by Nick Kipfer and Doug McClain. And it wasn't some great revelation, but I sort of said, look, he's not McDavid. He doesn't have to go coast to coast to score. He overpowers goalies with his shot, which he still does. And at the time, he had Nick Backstrom riding shotgun with him.

So there was that whole aspect. Then there was his durability aspect, right? The guy just doesn't miss games. I know he's missed a few games in the last few years, but for a guy who plays as physically as he does factor this in, he's third in hit since he entered the league, he has the third most hits delivered in the NHL yet. Uh, he's durable. He plays pretty much every single game so i was putting all these things together and then the final thing and i talked to him about this and i actually talked to backstrom about it must have been in 2017 or 18 i remember asking back i said do you think you could do it and he said yeah and i said why and he said because he

wants to and that's i think the most important thing we're forgetting you know some guys the physical ailments kick in and they just sort of say, I have more money than God. What do I need to do this for? You know, Alexander Ovechkin is driven to set this record. You know, he's on a mission for it. And I sort of put all those things together way back in, you know, 15, 16. And I said, I think he's going to do it. And, you know, you needed a lot of luck and a lot of durability and everything to fall into place.

But those things have somewhat fallen into place. And here he is now with the ability to do that. Listen, most of my takes are quite horrible. That was a good one. That was a good one. Well, I'm feeling, yeah, I'm feeling good about it. And John Bucciarastro, I'm buddies with down, you know, for ESPN down in the States. He sort of made the same predictions online, et cetera.

You know, seven, eight, nine, ten same predictions online, et cetera, you know, seven, eight, nine, 10 years ago saying, I think OV is going to set the record. And so he and I are kind of on, on, you know, on the mark for that, but it's still, you know, a lot can still happen here. It's not done till it's done, but I never really waned in my, in my expectation that Ovechkin wants this record. He has the durability and the skill set to achieve it, and it looks like he's on his way to doing just that. Hey, before we let you go, I got to ask,

because I know you guys have done these on the broadcast repeatedly, looking at and projecting the rosters and talking about who's going to be what and who's going to play where for the Four Nations face-off. How much juice have you guys gotten from this start to the season where it's like McKinnon is averaging nearly two points a game and Eichel's the fourth leading scorer in the NHL. And you've got, you know, Connor McDavid honing in on 1,000 points,

and Kyle Connors tied for the NHL lead in scoring. Like, the U.S.-Canada rivalry, it had a spark to begin with, obviously. But with the way that a lot of these star players are going leading into the Four Nations, I can feel the excitement building. And then, of course, the roster building stuff is so much fun, too. I can't wait.

The players are talking about it. You know, I'm sure you guys reach out to certain players. I text with some guys, and they're talking about it. And there are certain guys who are putting all of their best efforts forward to win as a professional for their team, but they also individually want to be selected. We have not had best on best hockey in nine years and guys are looking forward to it and the storylines are going to be incredible leading up to the biggest storyline for canada though is who's going to be

the goalie yep and that's the one thing you keep expecting like someone's going to rise up there's binning thing going to rise up gives up eight goals on the weekend it's skinner going to rise up you know he's looked very average at best this year, and that's probably being kind. Who's going to step up and be the goalie for Canada? Is it going to be Logan Thompson? I mean, his name's now suddenly circling around. Is it going to be Cam Talbot? He leads Canadian goalies

in save percentages here. It's going to be a massive storyline, and in that kind of tournament where there's no margins for error, there's no playoff round. You play the three other teams, and either you finish in the top two and you go for the championship, or you finish third and fourth and you're heading home. So there's no margins there, and it's going to be incredibly interesting

to see on December 4th when they're announcing the rosters who the three goalies for Canada are. I can't wait to see how this unfolds. So tonight, a reminder, the broadcast starts at 4. It's Toronto in Washington to take on Ovi in the Caps at 4.30. The second game is L.A., Colorado at 7. But if you want to flip around on Sportsnet tonight, you know what else is at 7 o'clock?

Bronny and LeBron and the Lakers hosting Zach Eadie and Ja Morant. I thought Bronny was going to the G League. I don't know if he's there yet. Oh, okay. I think it's the eventual plan. Oh, okay. They got him his minutes? Three, I think.

And they got him his bucket. They're like, okay, we're good. Now you can go. Anyway, David, thanks for doing this today, bud. We appreciate it. Enjoy all the games tonight. Yeah, by the way, when Bronny came to Toronto, he got in for all of seven seconds.

It was pretty hilarious. Quite an ovation. Enjoy, fellas. Thanks for having me, as always. Yeah, thanks for in for all of seven seconds. It was pretty hilarious. Quite an ovation. Enjoy, fellas. Thanks for having me, as always. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. David Ambrose, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Yeah, so a couple takeaways from that.

One, the Jets are insane. It's such a remarkable number when you look at how far out in front they are. They're peaking too early, I'm you well they are yeah because they are a very complete team if you if you think about what they've got in goal with connor hellebuck and having a guy like josh morrissey i think he's underrated still on defense and then all the depth that they've got up front good team so here's what i want to kind of zone in on here is when we look back on it, I do wonder if when history's finally been told on this, that Kevin Chevalier will have pulled off one of the great trades,

not just in franchise history, but ever in getting what he got from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois, right? He got three ready-to-go NHL forwards in Velarde, Ayafalo, and Kupari. Not only did it not work out in LA for Dubois with the Kings, their return for him ended up being Darcy Kemper. So if you want to talk,

they traded basically Velarde, Ayafalo, Kupari, and a second round pick to get Darcy Kemper, a goalie they already had had. And a year of Pierre-Luc Dubois. A great year. Yeah,

an unforgettable year, really. Like when you consider that Dubois wanted out, Sheveldayoff didn't have a ton of leverage everyone knew that he was trying to move him that ended up being such a terrific trade for that team well he did have leverage i mean dubois was a good young center but he was leaving remember he told him two years before his deal was obviously i know but he had to trade him he's still a guy that teams wanted.

How often do you win a trade when you're forced into making it? You had two years to cook it up. But it wasn't like, well, while Ryan Kessler, we were talking about Ryan Kessler who was at the rink yesterday. Kessler had all that trade protection that basically said, I'm going to Anaheim. Yeah. Didn't he say Anaheim or Chicago or something like that?

Anaheim, Chicago, Pittsburgh. Right. Yeah. It was like very limited number of teams. That's a tough situation. But Dubois didn't have that, right? And a team like LA. Well, it's hilarious when you look at LA now.

Like how much better would the Kings be if they had those three forwards in the mix? Totally. They would be in so much better shape because they have problems scoring goals and they have to play this really defensive lock it down style. So I do think that you're right. There's no way that they're going to keep. It's impossible to keep up this clip. It is. They would end the season with what? 76 wins?

Which would be pretty cool, but probably unlikely. But it's funny because we've Winnipeg's had a tough last couple years. Even though they've been to the playoffs and everything else. I mean, the attendance numbers have been down. Gary Batman had to go and say all is well, all is calm. I've got to say it feels like a Canadian team is going to break through soon.

Soon. Like if not this year, next year. You know, you've got the Canucks, you've got the Oilers, you've got the Winnipeg Jets. I don't know about Toronto, but, you know, it feels like it's going to happen soon. Can you imagine the Jets break the streak? Can you imagine that if the Jets break the streak,

here would be the story. The Habs win the cup in 93. The Jets leave Winnipeg. And they go to, and they're just forgotten about, and then Atlanta moves to Winnipeg, and in all this time, no Canadian team wins the Stanley Cup. So there would be like a Canadian team winning the Stanley Cup,

the Jets leaving and coming back, and a few years after that, and then the Jets are still the first Canadian team. So if you had to, I know the record screams the answer is yes, but if you had to pick a Canadian team most likely to win a Stanley Cup this year, are you saying Winnipeg or are you saying somebody else? Because I'd still say Edmonton. I'm still saying Edmonton. But I think that you don't get to 50-1 by fluke.

No, no, no. There's no way. Stuart Skinner or Connor Hellebuck? Right, that's the big X factor in this whole thing, right? Also, if you want to look like – I would love to see a Winnipeg-Edmonton series. Obviously, I want the Canucks to be successful, but if it comes down to it,

I would love to see that series between the Jets and Edmonton because especially if the Jets could get it done because in the 80s, the Oilers owned the Jets. They met so many times and it was always like, good try, Winnipeg. Can we also point out that

their two best players and two highest paid players is Scheifele and Hellebuck. They're both in at eight and a half million. They're actually really well set up on the cap too, because they've got such good contracts on board. That Hellebuck deal is... The Hellebuck deal is great. When you consider Shesterkin's going to get like at least 11 and a half, and you're looking at Hellebuck, who's three mil less a year.

He likes it there. Yeah. He took a haircut to stay there. And I'll tell you this. Shifley might not be everyone's idea of a prototype first-line center, like an elite one, but he's playing like one, and that's really all that matters. And then they got Kyle Conner scoring,

like just routinely scoring 40 goals for, I mean. And Hellebuck's having, by the way, three shutouts already. And we talk about the safe percentage numbers dipping. He's still over 930. He still has a goals against average under two. It's like 1990 stats all over again for Halibut. Frank Cervelli is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough show. We'll talk a little bit about the NHL GMs meetings,

which are going on or have happened. Anyway, we'll ask Frank about them. And we'll go around the NHL and talk about, well, I don't know, gin up some trade ideas with Frank Cerevelli as we do weekly on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.