Halford & Brough in the Morning - No Longer Friends With Gavin McKenna, Now Ivar Stenberg Is My Best Fiend

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, including a couple of Canucks overtime losses (3:00), plus they talk World Juniors with Sportsnet NHL prospects analyst Sam Cosentino (27:11), as Czechia bounced Canada for the third time in a row. 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. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Here's the hold. Here's the boot by Luke, and that kick is... No, God! No! He missed it. Luke missed it.

Foster knock, well, the wrist shot, stopped by lank, and rebound they score. Fraser Minted in the crease, wins it for the Bruins. The Vancouver native scores his second of the night, and Boston takes it three to two. We just don't want the playoffs out of reach. It's still there. We're hanging in there. Hang in there, baby.

You said it, kitty. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halpert. It is rough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Morning and happy New Year, everyone. Happy New Year. Hey, dog. Happy New Year to you. Happy New Year. And Lado, happy New Year to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halper and Brub in the morning is a Brad to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. 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 Pallas Street in Vank. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Make 2026 your year to move better and step stronger with Kintech custom orthotics. Ooh, new read day. We got a lot ahead on the Halford & Brough show. First show of 2026.

We made it all the way to 2026. Halford and Brough. Somehow. Got a lot to get into on the program today. Guest list. It is the Duick Morning Drive, brought you by, of course, the Duick Auto Group. Starts at 630. Sam Cozantino is going to join the program.

Sportsnet, Hockey, and. analyst. Chequia continued its mastery of Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships last night in Minnesota, eliminating the Canadians with a 6-4 win in the tournament semi-final. What went wrong for Canada? We'll get the answers from Sam at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Mike Tanny, our NFL insider from the 2-deep Zone is going to join the program. Happy trails to a very fun NFL regular season. It ended last night in rather spectacular fashion. Pittsburgh's win over Baltimore. And with that, the playoff field is set. The Seattle Seahawks

get the number one seed in the NFC and a buy through the wild card round. We'll break it all down with Mike Tanier, our NFL Insider, at 7. It's very nice to be pleasantly surprised by your favorite sports teams. Never thought in a million years going into this season.

The Seahawks, yeah, the number one seed in the NFC. The odds on favorite to win the Super Bowl right now. I still, I don't know if my expectations have caught up to the actual reality yet. It's because you're not used to being pleasantly surprised by anything. But like I've, you know, when the Seahawks during the Legion of Boom and Russell Wilson era,

you go into certain seasons and be like, okay, this could be the year. They're going to be good. They're going to be good. This can be the year. I still can't quite believe that the Seahawks, according to the odds makers, are the Super Bowl favorites? What? Let's bring you back to Earth. Because at 8 o'clock this morning, we're going to talk to Kevin Woodley from NHL

dot com and ingold magazine. We're going to talk to about the Vancouver Canucks. Suffered a pair of home losses over the weekend, Friday in a shootout to Seattle. Saturday in overtime to the Bruins. A couple more losses, but they did get points. There was also some news on Kiefer Sherwood. There's lots to get into on the Canucks front.

We'll discuss all that and more with Kev at 8 a.m. So it's Woodley at 8. It's Tanier at 7. It's Sam Cozantino at 630. So much to get into on the program. Without further ado, Laddy, 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? I missed it? You missed that? What happened?

Wow, no read for what happened this morning. So we dive right into what happened. We will begin with the World Junior Hockey Championships. The hockey game that ended most recently. Canada will play for bronze at the World Juniors. That after a 6-4 loss to the checks in the semifinals of the tournament, last night. Chequia now plays Sweden for gold. Canada now plays Finland for bronze and the question that everybody is asking, yet again, what went

wrong for Canada after a third consecutive loss to the Czechs in this tournament? Yeah, the loss to Chequia, that wasn't the case of Canada getting unlucky or getting beaten by a hot goalie. I know the Canadian players weren't that thrilled with the refereeing, but it wasn't because of them either. Chequia deserved to win that game. They outshot Canada by a wide margin. They were the better team. And anytime Canada doesn't win gold at the world juniors, it's a disappointing tournament.

But this is now three straight years without gold and possibly three straight without a medal if they lose to Finland, which is very possible. Finns love bronze medals games. Yeah, they own bronze medal game. And Canada, you know, sometimes Canada's going to have trouble coming out and, you know, getting really excited and up for a bronze medal game. At any rate, at least the Americans won't win gold either, but it's still, it's hard to stomach. I know,

I know they're only kids and it's not like we're, Halford and I are going to rip them up and down today, but if last year's failure came down to a lack of goal scoring ability, this year's came down to, I think, a lack of defensive ability. I actually wonder if, last year's failure in the criticism Hockey Canada received for keeping some good offensive players off the roster, influence the roster decisions, or maybe the overall philosophy of this year's team. And I'll be curious to hear what's said in the aftermath. Again, I'm not going to freak out over this, but it was quite evident that Canada was struggling in its own end. And that was in the first game against Chequia.

Yeah. The second game against Chequette, there was. still the same things going on that I was kind of surprised to see like losing one on ones a ton of them all over the ice running around and panicking in their own end not tying up sticks

in front of the net or puck watching just not looking dialed in their own end. A lot of people made reference to all the times Canada was forced to flip the puck out and then you know the other team just gets another crack of coming at them. I'm like this is

Canada. Why are we playing on our heels in our own end like this? I personally blame the younger generation and all their fancy trick shots. The youths. The youths, right? Like there's meat and potatoes hockey. And these kids, all they wanted to do is their mischies and their cellies and their fancy passes. I blame the youths for being weak. Well, there is something to it. True weakness of this new generation. Look, I'm kidding a little bit, but I think that a little bit. I think Hockey Canada has kind of lost its mojo and it's lost his swagger and it's lost its confidence in what it does. And I do think that for guys like Halford and I

that grew up watching Canada physically dominate the other team and intimidate them, that seems to be lost because I'm watching this tournament and Finland plays Canada. I know Canada beat them, but Finland was. wasn't intimidated by Canada. And Chequia certainly wasn't intimidated by Canada. They give as good as they get now physically. And, you know, Mike, you and I watched a lot of juniors back in the day

where it be, you know, I don't know, Jordan 2-2 or Steve Downey running around. Like, just crushing the other team. Yeah. I mean, forget about... More defenseless Austrian. That's what you wanted to see every Christmas. there are still teams that are like Canada had no problem with Denmark no no problem with Denmark but physically dominating teams is what they used to

what they used to do sometimes they wouldn't even bring like the most talented team they just bring a big group that would bully the other team and I know the game has changed so I'm not saying they should go back to that go back to bullying because the thing is the other teams now they can play that way They got big boys. You watch that Canada Finland game and you're like, Finland's just as tough as Canada. And frankly, Chequia played more courageously around the net than Canada did.

They were the ones willing to get their noses dirty and go to the net and score goals. I think the interesting thing here is when you talk about identity and what a team. And this is a, I think you importantly pointed this out, this should be a separate criticism of the actual. players. You're thinking a lot of this falls on the organization and the executive and the governing body because they're the ones in charge of creating a team. I remember it used to be when Canada would go to this tournament, it would always show the opposition something that the opposition hadn't seen before. And more times than not, in fact, almost all the times, it was a physical

style that a lot of these players didn't see in their domestic leagues or wherever they were playing. And then they came to this tournament, they're like, wow, this is a different level. And now there's no different level. And part of it is because the playing field has evened out to a certain degree but with the pedigree that the players have, Canada should still be winning. And I don't think there's anything wrong with having that bar incredibly

high. No, let's not lower the bar. Like I saw a lot of, uh, during this tournament, you know, oh, you got to credit the Latvians. They've up their game. I'm like, okay. Or you, you know, Czechia's program is strong now. Yeah. Oh, is that why that there's like 15 Czechia players drafted

in the first round every year in the NHL? wait, there's not. See, I think the idea should be, like, if the tournament's getting better and the quality of competition is getting better, that should raise your bar to, we still want to dominate this thing. Like, we don't just say, well, everyone's caught up. We've got to win this thing. And it's, you know, you're watching yesterday, it's like, a Dale Hunter team can't defend.

What's going on? A Dale Hunter team's got to dress eight defensemen. A Dale Hunter team has given up 40 shots to check yet? And they're trying to figure. And they're trying to figure it out on the fly. Like, one of the big takeaway. from that tournament, if you read enough people that were covering it tip to tail, was that

it never felt like Canada ever figured anything out. McKenna never really figured it out in terms of was he going to be able to break free and not be a perimeter guy? Was he going to find good linemates? The guys that they were... Hold up some points against them lesser teams. The guys that they were really leaning on,

and I think Michael Mesa's one where people are looking at him saying this is the second overall pick in the National Hockey League, how is he not coming in and dominating this tournament? They didn't really have... After being snubbed last year, right? I didn't think he'd come in there with this hair on fire. They didn't really have a defenseman or a defensive pair that they could lean on and say

you're our guys. Did they bring six offensive defensemen to the tournament? Because that's the way it looks sometimes. And then they dressed and rolled eight. Right? I mean, and it's just one of those things where if you look at the ice time disparities yesterday, the checks found certain guys

that they were going to lean on and be like, you're our guys. We're going to win this game and you're going to play more than the other guys. It almost felt like Canada because they had a lot of players. that were good, but none that really identified themselves as the alphas, which I also think is a problem, they're playing for bronze right now, which is a disappointment.

Tid Jiginlan was good. He was my guy in that tournament. And we'll talk more about this with Sam Cousantino, but Gavin McKenna, he did get his points in this tournament, but I don't think you can say it was amazing overall performance. I think the things people wondered about

pre-tournament are still the things people wonder about, is he, as you mentioned too much of a perimeter player, is he committed enough without the puck? There are a couple of clips going around of him not being committed without the puck. And then one final thing, I thought the attendance was really disappointing in Minnesota. Well, there's an issue. And that's something that happens when you go outside Canada for this tournament. You know, it might be a big deal in Canada, but it really isn't in the United States.

And that was in a pretty good hockey state in Minnesota. They should make the tickets. more expensive. I think that'll help moving forward. Were they really expensive? Look, it's junior hockey. I mean, I don't know what to say. It's the best junior hockey players in the world, but it's still junior hockey and it's still a niche tournament

that goes on at the same time. I'll remind you in the U.S. where college football is right in the throes of its playoff and the NFL is lining up for its place, and the NHL's going on. Like, you can't, whatever the tickets were at this one, and I heard some pretty astronomical prices, get in

prices for round robin group games. They really need to reevaluate that because that tournament does not make sense if the barn isn't full, there's not energy in the middle. I was really disappointed Canada in the United States didn't play and people will say, well, it's determined by the standings or whatever. It's like, whatever, just make it happen. Like they rejig groups all the time just to make sure that two teams play. Look at the FIFA World Cup. The Canucks fell to 4, 12, and 3 at home with back-to-back losses to Seattle and Boston. I'm still trying to figure out my reaction to these results.

Because on the one hand, a 412 and 3 record at home, 412 and 3. It's pretty bad. It's embarrassing. And it's not like the Canucks have stripped the roster down to the studs. I know they get some new injuries now with Garland and Rossi out, but there's still quite a few veterans out there who are making a hefty salary. And you want to see more from some of those guys. But on the other hand, the losses are good for draft.

position. And it's not like the Canucks were horrible against the Cracken or the Bruins. I didn't feel super sorry for the people that went there to watch that game. The Bruins game was pretty entertaining. And there are moments in the Cracking game too. I thought the Canucks deserved better in both games. Linus Carlson has been a very good story. He got a couple of years contract extension and his line with Pedersen and DeBrusk was excellent on Saturday. Now, You know, they scored once. With their dominance, you'd like to see a little bit more of a bottom line. But they played well, and Carlson has been, again, a really good story.

Yes. The sorest spot on the roster right now has to be Brock Besser, whose line with Kane and Sasson was not good against the Bruins. Besser has been kind of screwed, given the centers, he's been deployed with since J.T. Miller was traded. But he also hasn't scored since late November. In fact, in the month of December, he played 13 games,

had no goals, just one assist, and was minus 10. Hasn't gotten any better in January either. I realized Besser signed his extension less than a year ago, and at the time, there were some pretty good feelings around that. but I'm starting to wonder

if both parties might want to revisit that commitment I haven't heard anything this isn't me trying to create a rumor I'm just I'm just looking at the obvious and going nobody can be happy with this right now I'm not sure if there would be a big market for Besser but I do think there should be he's a good player when he's got a good center

to get him the puck and he's shown he can produce in the playoffs I think right now he has no confidence and when you stick him out there with he doesn't for whatever reason and i think it's probably the loss of j t miller from the lotto line like he doesn't have chemistry with peterson and right now obviously you're not going to split up de brusk and carlson and peterson because they're looking good together so that leaves him with who as his centers like is max assassin was the two C right or he's been with david comf for, you know, Rossi went for a little bit

and Rossi's trying to find his feet in Vancouver and now he's hurt. The news over the weekend, if there was any news, involved another winger and that would be Kiefer Sherwood. Elliot Freeman went on the broadcast on Hockey Night in Canada and said that the Canucks and Sherwood had what exactly? Let's play the audio from Friday first, or Saturday, sorry, I should say,

because this was the one that caught a lot of people's attention and made a lot of waves on social media. Here's Elliot Friedman talking about what the Canucks may or may not have offered Kiefer Sherwood, the follow-out from that. And then we've got another clip that we'll play later on on the show. But here's Elliot Friedman on the Kiefer-Shirwood situation in Vancouver. There's a lot of talk going on. I don't know how much action there's going to be, but there's going to be a lot of talk.

Last night, the Vancouver Canucks announced that they had re-signed Linus Carlson to a two-year deal. The big name everybody in Vancouver is kind of talking about right now is key for Sherwood, Unrestricted Free Agent, having a career year. And the Canucks did make a new offer to Sherwood this week. I still think there's a sizable gap here. I don't have a timeline for when anything's going to occur in terms of a trade or anything like that, but they did, both sides did talk this week.

I still think, however, there's a gap in where Sherwood would like to be and what the Canucks are willing to do. So let's see where it takes us. So not surprisingly, a lot of the reaction from, you know, listeners of this show, fans of the Canucks, social media, et cetera, was why on earth would they consider resigning Kiefer-Shirwood? This team needs a refresh and a re-world of the hybrid variety. Who knows?

But the idea is, why would you keep him around? Why would you make an offer? So we've got a clip that we'll play probably later on in the show where Frege, I wouldn't say doubles back, but tries to add some context and says, don't get caught up in the semantics of the word offer he kind of said that the kind of yeah he he suggested why don't we play it now okay well it's a long clip it's three minutes long so it'll take us pretty close to the break but the general idea here is that it wasn't so much a concrete here is our offers they were kicking around some numbers and some ideas maybe the canucks okay we're trying to get them on the cheap

before before we play this clip yes and this might be a perfect example of what the kids call coping Yes. My immediate reaction to Frieger's report on Saturday was not frustration that the Canucks might actually extend Sherwood. I don't think they're going to do that. I don't think that's going to happen. I thought it was that they leaked this news to jolt the trade market, to let everyone know like, hey, you know, like we're exchanging ideas here. So I know some of you guys might want to wait on this to give us your best. offer but like you might lose out on it with that that that so I wonder I don't know if I don't know

if that's possible or Fridge addresses this but that was my immediate reaction well with that hanging in the ether let's play the audio now bit of a longer clip but here's Fridge breaking down in further detail the Sherwood report all right I got a couple things I want to talk about I want to talk about this Sherwood thing so I got I got to tell you okay you know what makes me crazy people who get there's a lot of things but you know what really makes me crazy is people who get hung up on language okay don't get caught up in the language don't swim in the semantics i get a text i don't wake up early on sundays i don't like waking up early in general but I really don't like waking up early on Sundays, okay?

I woke up, my phone's binging, I got like three texts from people, yeah, you got the story wrong on Saturday night. There was no offer made to Sherwood. You know what? Shut up with that, okay? Like that's, don't get caught in the semantics. Don't get caught up in the language.

they talked to him they went back and forth they threw some numbers out there like I said it wasn't in the area where it was like they didn't insult him they didn't offer him minimum wage or anything like that but they made an offer it was or they if you don't like the word offer they threw out some numbers okay they were not where Sherwood's people see the market, but they weren't an insult. I think Vancouver was looking and saying, can we get them for maybe a little less than market value? Didn't work out.

Still, like I said, a sizable gap, unlikely that it's going to happen. I also don't understand the people who are freaking out about, I can't believe they made them an offer. I thought they were rebuilding. like I said don't get caught up in language they were simply trying to see if they could get them at a good deal I don't even know if they really thought it was going to even happen but obviously there's still a gap I don't know where this is going to go here at a couple people on Sunday asked me like when do you think it's going to get dealt since this didn't work out

like what do you think the timeline is I honestly don't know I don't have a good feel for it There was definitely some increased noise around him over the last few days. But now I think, look, everybody is in Minnesota at the World Juniors. The GMs are there, scouts are there, people are talking. I think, you know, I think the fact that they were talking to Sherwood had some people saying, okay, if they're not going to sign Sherwood, maybe they'll deal him here while everybody's here. I don't know that. It's hard to figure out the timeline.

But don't get caught up in the language. They talked, they took a shot at it, just didn't bridge the gap. So we'll see where it goes. The last bit of that clip, I think, might lend credence to what you're suggesting here, is that maybe things slowed down, maybe things weren't being as expedited as quickly as the Canucks wanted it to on the Sherwood front. So maybe they, you know, they fired it up a little bit, threw a little gasoline on the fire. Where they were just like, I don't know, we don't seem to be getting a great offer for this.

So let's see if we can scare them into signing like a hometown discount? I don't know. But I'm not going to get caught up in the language. That's one thing I'm going to do. Don't swim in the semantics, Jason. Just don't do it. Okay, what do we got coming up next?

We're going to be joined by Sam Cossentino coming up next. It covers hockey in general for Sportsnet, the National Hockey League, but of course junior hockey as well. We'll talk to him about another disappointing exit for Canada, the World Junior Hockey Championships. That was yesterday to check you. Everyone wants to know what's wrong with Canada. Why do they continue to fall short of a gold medal or maybe even a medal of any color?

So we'll talk to Sam coming up on the other side of the break. Mike Tanner is going to join us at 7. That's when we'll get in to all of our football talk. We were remiss in the first half hour from getting into everything that happened in the final week, week 18 of the National Football League season. We'll also look ahead to a very, very enticing wild card playoff round with Mike as well. That's coming up at 7. Then at 8 o'clock, Kevin Will.

He's going to join the program for some Canucks talk. Kevin, of course, joining us from Ingole magazine and NHL.com. That's the show for today. You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app.

631 on a Monday, Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Get out of the penalty box of debt back into the game with a financial fresh start. This is them online at Sands dash trustee.com. So, Halford, at this point,

do you want the Kinnucks to win the draft lottery or would you just prefer they went second so they wouldn't have to make the really tough choice and potentially get it wrong? That's a good question. You know, like it's so weak to want that. It is my brand.

But it's also understandable. It's my brand to avoid conflict at all costs. So you do avoid conflict if you don't get the number one pick. That's a difficult choice. Number two is easy. You take the leftovers. Right. I'm a big leftovers guy.

Let someone else make that decision on whether to draft McKenna first overall or not. I think I'm going to take number two. Stenberg now, baby. Gavin McKenna, the longer friends. Now I ever Stenberg is my best friend. It was the first thing Adog said when he came in. What's the saying now? Stalling for Stenberg?

Yes, Greg, that is it. Stenberg. Denberg. I really showed on a show how much how little I know about prospects by the way I was like talking to Josh while you were off I was like and what's that kid Fronberg in Sweden?

I got them confused. The random Swedish name generator Fronberg? Yeah. I don't know. We are still in hour one of the program. Sam Costantino is going to join us in just a moment here for some legitimate, authentic world junior analysis. Our one of this program

is brought to my 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. SportsNet Sam Cousantino joins us now on the Halford and Brush Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Sam, how are you? Good morning, guys, doing well, thanks.

Just taking it all in from what we saw last night. Yeah, let's start with the big question that maybe needs to be recalibrated a bit. Everyone wants to know, like, what's wrong with Canada? What did Canada do wrong? How did this go wrong for Canada? But I have seen some pushback to that from a lot of different pundits that are saying this might have been more about what Chechia did as opposed to what Canada didn't do. Where do you fall?

What side of the debate do you fall on this one, Sam? Oh, Chequio was, there were dynamite last night. Came in waves all night long, lines 1 through 4. No one took a night off. Goaltending was good. Got some pock block too, so let's not completely dismissed that Canada was, that was run over in this game. But, you know, I think

I was, they saw something that said that their idea and your chances were almost double of what Canada's were in the game. So they were full value for the marks. Like, they played a hard, heavy, four-check type of game. They showed

their skill, played a connected game. Like, they were, it was awesome last thing. And really, guys, like, they've been that way, you know, go back to Canada and need it over time to win in 23 when Connor Bernard led the way in Halifax the last few years Czechia against Canada

in the quarters oust them without a medal you know that's not something used to Canadians are used to see even the first game in the tournament really didn't end until it was over like it went right down to the wire and there were some shenanigans there that Canada might want to take back but overall

Czechos are a really good team and they deserve to be playing for gold medal here today oh definitely but I also don't want to, you know, all credit to check you, but, you know, I don't want to lower the bar for Canada and, you know, act like they didn't have a lot of talented players at that tournament. And, you know, it's funny last year, there were times when Canada was playing and they couldn't create scoring chances. And there was a lot of criticism for some of the players, some of the more offensive players they left off the roster. This year, I'm watching the games. I'm like,

do they have, are there, were there any defensive players they left off the roster? because it doesn't seem like they can defend out there. What did you think of the makeup of the roster? Yeah, so that's an interesting development, right? Like last year, you're right, I think there were some critical decisions that left some players off the team that would have provided more of that.

This year, though, when I look at the roster, I mean, you know, where they made the big mistake is not getting Matthew Schaefer. He wasn't going anywhere, got his team, you know, sniffing around the playoffs for the New York Islanders. but defensively, I don't think there's anyone else in the country that could have taken to improve the group. Like the group was a bit younger, right?

So when you look at that fourth pairing there with Veroff and Carl, both of those guys are draft eligible guys, when you go up the list a little bit, you know, Burnick played in the NHL this year, he's 19, Aitchison was a first-round pick, but again, only last year. So, like, it was a mix between a couple of older guys who maybe aren't on the super high end, the Ben Danfords of the world,

and a younger group that played limited minutes. And then you're looking at the guy like Zane Perak, who's as polarizing a figure as there is in the junior hockey landscape right now. But what he provided offensively was 11 points, he's won off the Canadian record for all defensemen. Having said that, he showed some of his defensive liabilities as well.

So when you look at the group of the entirety, they didn't really have that pure shutdown, down pair. They didn't really have that depth that you normally see that just kind of keeps the game moving without any incident. And as a result of that, you know, they gave up a lot to the big teams.

You know, four to Finland, five to check you in the first game, six to check you last night. Like, when they played the good teams, they gave up goals and they gave up chances. So, you know, the flip side of that is Michael Hage gets paneled a shot, gets a second chance, said penalty shot same move and misses he hits two or three posts in the game mckenna in the first period rips one off the crossbar like so there was some puck block that didn't go their way as well it wasn't that chequey had dominated the game but the bounces went checkia's way and canada was just a little bit under what check you brought to the table yesterday what did you think of gavin mckenna's tournament good not great you know there's still a game to be played today 10 points three of those and a hatrick against Denmark,

which is good players, should be able to take advantage of lesser opponents for sure. But when I look at his overall play, and I'm comparing him to Stenberg, I think Gavin's game has a long way to go to become as well-rounded as Stenberg. I look at, you know, just kind of getting in the forecheck, and not that you have to be a physical guy, but sometimes you've got to go into areas you want it to get involved and disrupt the breakout.

out. I think there's areas of his game defensively, even on the backtrack that were good, again, but not great. I think if I had to give him a grade for the tournament right now, I would say a B-plus for Gavin McKenna. You know, Sam, we had Guy Godowski, his Penn State coach, on the show, a couple of weeks ago, and I asked Guy, why doesn't McKenna play center? And he said, well, that's a question you should ask him. And I thought that was an interesting answer. I was like, okay, well, if I get him on the show, I will ask him that. But watching him, and play defensively in this tournament, I think I got my answer.

Yeah, I would have to agree. And so, like, where's his best talent is a guy who's going to have the puck and a stick. So then you lean center. His best talent is a guy who's on the power plate. And it doesn't really matter if you're center or not. You're playing on the wall. You're playing the net front. You're playing, you know, at the top, whatever it is.

So that is an interesting development in all this. Like, if you look at where Badard came from, from he played center and junior then he went and played in the wing for a couple of years and he's transitioning back to be in the center at the national hockey level for Gavin McKenna he looks like he's going to be a forward you know right on through

this thing and is that going to be the best place for him to be able to get as many puck touches as possible while you know you're going to have to find ways to game plan around that if he's not at the center ice position but the definitely you can say in watching him

defensively in this tournament that he's probably not ready for that responsibility just yet at either this high level of under 20 hockey or at the NCAA level. Do you think he'll go first overall? I think there's a long way to go to be determined. If I had to make a decision coming out of this tournament, I'd probably have Stenberg out of them. We're speaking to Sam Cousantino, Sportsnet NHL Prospects analyst here on the Halpert and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

I did want to get back to the style of play and the identity that the Canadians bring to this tournament on an annual basis. I mean, there's been a lot of talk about, you know, maybe getting back to some of the more robust physical play that, you know, the likes, and I know we're going way back here, but Jordan Tutu and Steve Downey and Dave Boland and other guys brought to the table in these tournaments and made an impact, not necessarily on the scoreboard, but in a physical nature. And my question for you is, can you still do that in the sort of modern tournament and the way

the tournament is officiated in the way that everyone plays, or is that style kind of obsolete now? You know, it's really interesting because we've seen like the game evolved from that. You go back 20 years ago, and when Canada was on that big run winning five in a row, there was a pretty clear delineation between your top six and your bottom six.

Your top six were your high-end guys that were going to score. Your bottom six, we're going to grind everybody down and play a physical brand and make it very difficult for the opponent. But then in 2014, based on Mike Babcock's Olympic roster hockey, Canada took a turn and decided we're just going to go mostly skill and allow the skill to figure itself out between the three and four lines and between the six, seven, eight D. And now I think we're starting to move back to the way it was. But where I would say it's different, you're probably not looking at a top six, bottom six anymore. You're probably looking at a top nine and an energy trio. or a hard physical trio, if you will.

So it's interesting how the game kind of evolves like that. You know, having said that, when I look at Czechia, they have a lot of kind of bigger players that played a physical brand hockey. I mean, we were not afraid, but they also had a lot of smaller guys. Ben Ax, for example, being one of them as guys who, Pauleton, who would stand in front of the goalie after every, you know, stoppage, that played that brand as well. So it is a very interesting question.

It'll be interesting to see what the debrief looks. like for hockey Canada coming out of this in terms of the roster composition. You know, the other side of that guys is like, okay, Celebrini and Schaefer were both eligible to play in this tournament. They weren't going, you know, they weren't coming back from their NHL teams.

They're stars in the national hockey. There were still a host of other guys that, you know, Sam Dickinson would have been a real big ad, played for the hunters in London. He stayed in San Jose. You know, you're looking at Berkeley Cat and who's in Seattle. You know, there were a couple of other guys, that would have had the opportunity to play that were in the NHL.

Now, every team didn't face that. There were no other countries who had players in the NHL that were eligible to play in this tournament. So that speaks to the depth and the skill of how young skilled players in Canada are making that progression in the National Hockey League earlier and staying longer. So I'll be really fascinated to see what it looks like moving forward here, but I do think we are going to see a slight shift into, hey, we're going to take the top

nine skilled guys and then we're going to take a trio that can really go bang and crash and play heavy and match up against the top lines of the other countries. Yeah, I'm not necessarily worried that Canada's not churning out good hockey players anymore. I mean, with some of the good young players, I mean, it's

incredible the talent that we've got. You mentioned Schaefer and Celebrania and there are lots more. I think what I'm concerned about is the seeming inability to come together as a team in these tournaments and sometimes I wonder if it's roster composition in terms of the type of players that you're bringing but other times I'm not so sure like the physical thing that

Halfer brings up you know I think the other teams are just as physically engaged now because Canada used to be able to bully teams you're not going to bully Finland and And you mentioned Chequia. Chequia wasn't scared at all. They played very courageously in this tournament. They weren't afraid to go to the net. They weren't afraid to hit. There aren't many teams that Canada can run out of the rink anymore.

So I guess my question would be, and I'm also interested in this debrief, is what is the advantage that Canada should lean into in these tournaments? What is their strength over these other countries now? Yeah, and that's a great question. So when you look at how things work, right, it starts basically in the provincial level at the under 16 level. And you see, you know, the WHL Cup and the OHL Cup

and the Gatorade Cup and the Quebec Maritimes League where all of the best players in minor hockey get together, they play in a tournament, you know, and you have a pretty good sense of what it's going to look like moving forward to the next level, the under 17th. And then a lot of these higher-end players at some point, either through their minor hockey, Quebec pewee tournament, the brick tournament, you know,

select tournament travel teams in the spring, then getting to under 16s, under 17s, under 18s, Hulinka. There are a lot of opportunities for these players to play together, but not necessarily all in the same team at the same time. So then you look at the nationalization. You know, do you do what the Americans have done and centralize an under 17 slash under 18,

group that plays in a league and plays together as one team through it and then you kind of carry that team forward to the under 20 loop. Well, now you're looking at that's going to put a big hurt on what the talent, the Canadian Hockey League has to provide, and I just don't know if Canada goes that way. So getting

back to that question, where's the edge? The edge, you know, you're talking about camaraderie and chemistry and that sort of thing. The one thing that Canada did slightly different this year is when they had their pre-tournamenting, camp. It wasn't a camp that was used for evaluating players and making cuts. They basically got

down to the number, maybe three more than their number, and used it as preparation. So instead of wasting time, all, this guy's pretty good, this guy's going to sit this game, you know, oh, we're not sure if he makes the cut or not. They pretty much brought their team right to camp. Allowed them to play in two games, allow them some practice time. And in my opinion, based on all the experience at all those 16, 17, 18, so on and so forth, that should be enough time for this group to come together chemistry-wise. And yes, the guys are playing all over the place, three different leagues, playing in the NCAA, so on and so forth.

But I do believe with all of what we see on their way up and now maybe using the camp as a preparation tool as opposed to an evaluation tool, that should be enough, guys. That should be enough. I think we as Canadians have to understand the other countries are really good at this game too. Sam, terrific insight today, bud. Very much appreciate you doing this.

Thanks for taking the time. okay guys take care thanks happy new year thank you too have a good one Sam cosentino from SportsNet here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650 so just to finish off our Canucks notes for the first hour of the Halford and Brough show this morning

I saw that Adam Foote referenced the playoffs yeah he did after the loss to the Bruins and his quote was something along the lines of we're hanging in there and hopefully we get Heedleback soon and Blugher

you just don't want the playoffs out of reach it's still there I sometimes wonder if Adam foot is just trying to trigger the fan base we're hanging in there and I'm not saying the Canucks do have a realistic chance in making the playoffs because they don't but I did want to mention

this is as good a time as any that every single team in the Pacific Division if you look at the stand right now has a negative goal differential. Worst division in hockey, baby. Every single team. Pretty remarkable. I mean, especially when you compare it to the top three teams in the central,

led by the Colorado Avalanche, but... With a plus 72 goal differential. Dallas and Minnesota are pretty good, too. Maybe Adam Foote is just looking at the other teams in the Pacific Division and thinking, we can't be so much worse than these guys, can we? I watched the Flyers' Oilers game on Saturday. and the oilers were downright bad. And that was three days after the Bruins went into Edmonton

and beat them six to two. Obviously, they've still got McDavid, and he's been unbelievable lately. They got dry-siddle too. Yeah. But besides those two, besides those two, is there anything else, anything else, that you like about the Oilers?

No. Because, to me, their four-depth stinks. the blue line isn't great and the goal tending is I don't know who knows you're waiting till Tristan Jari gets healthy to really see That's the thing is that the trade

The trade of significance that they made To address the goaltending Hasn't been able to Because Jari's out until I think he's out till mid-January Yeah he's out for a while longer So that's still TBD but you look at it There's Tristan Jari right I don't think you're going to be like

Whoa Who is the greatest goalie ever You know he'll maybe be an improvement on Skinner. But there are four teams in that division that have given up more than 140 goals. And that's a lot in the NHL right now. Like you're in the bottom third or bottom quarter of the league

if you've given up 140 plus. And it's the Canucks, the Oilers, the sharks, and the ducks. Now, the sharks and the ducks, I'd put in a different category because I still think they're probably exceeding expectations and they play reckless hockey. They're young. They like to score.

But with that, they really haven't figured out the defensive side of things. So you almost see their defensive record and take it with a grain of salt. They're up-and-coming young teams. Edmonton and Vancouver, you look at them and they've got major issues defensively and quite frankly, a net with both teams at times

where you don't see any solutions or getting better on the horizon. Like what do you, the Canucks, I think it's pretty well established. I have no idea what you see on the horizon for Edmonton that suggests it's going to get better. Aside from, over the last few seasons, they've had an ability to flip the switch. But that flipping of the switch

has come with a decidedly different roster than what they've got right now. Well, and suddenly Vegas isn't looking very good either. None of the teams of the division are good. Vegas has got a minus two goal differential. They've lost a bunch in a row. They lost to Chicago yesterday. Here's an interesting bit of trivia.

Okay. See if I can get it. The Edmonton Oilers lead the Pacific Division with just 15 regulation wins who has the second most are you looking at the standings right now are you cheating?

I'm not down on the Pacific Division I'm looking at the Central Division who has the second most regulation wins in the Pacific Division second most ROWs no not ROWDWs regulation wins

okay can't get to overtime The second Anaheim It is the Calgary Flames. Calgary Flames. How about that? The Flames have 14 regulation wins in 41 games. Wow.

Vegas only has 13. The Canucks have 10. The Canucks are, you know, the Kings have 11. The Sharks have 11. The Oilers lead with 15. That's the most. The Oilers have played 42 games, and they've only won 15 of them in regulation. Maybe the Canucks are still there.

I don't know. Okay. Can the league step in and say none of these teams make the playoffs? Like we're just, we're changing. Hold on. Okay. Here's another stat that I was, division is canceled. Yeah. Here's a, hold on. Here's an, who has the most road wins in the division right now in the entire Pacific division who has the most road victories right? It's the Vancouver Canucks. They can't win at home. The Vancouver Canucks lead the entire, they are the best road team in the Pacific division, at least in terms of wins. Because they are, they're right there.

They're right there. The playoffs are with your reach. They can figure out winning at home. This Adam Fulke knows what he's talking about. They got to re-sign show it and make a run for it, right? That's obviously the path they have to go down. Let's go all in, guys. Let's do it.

This is the year. Should we try it? Should we try it? It is hilarious that the one year where all signs point to the Canucks finally, finally acknowledging that it's not working and rebuilding, also comes in a year where the division stinks. But maybe. Well, hey, the Canucks are in Buffalo now.

Yeah. And they're going to practice today before they kick off a six-game road trip that starts tomorrow against the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres won 10 in a row. Yeah. And then they lost. So now they are 9 and 1 in their last 10. So we booked Paul Hamilton for tomorrow, WGR 550 Radio in Buffalo. We talked to him not long ago.

as a matter of fact, I think it was right before the Sabres went on this 10-game win-street. So I definitely want to ask him, like, how it felt from, because he was very down on the team when he came on the show. And rightfully so. Was it right after Adams got fired, doing he had him on? No, no, no, it was right before. Right before. We were like, we asked them. Paul has seen things.

Yeah. I was like, when are they going to fire Kevin Adams? Like, this is ridiculous. And he was like, probably soon. And then they did it. They have gone from being dead last in the Eastern Conference to a play. playoff team in the span of weeks. I'm not saying,

I just want to ask Paul like, what does it feel like? What are some of the warning signs? What do we need to look out for? You know, those sorts of things. Because if it's ever going to happen in one year where they'll just back their way into something believable. It's not going to happen. But it is. Why would you rule it?

Here's the thing. Why would you rule it out? Because they're a bad team. Okay. Follow up question. Are there other bad teams in their division? Not as bad as the. them. But close.

They're the best road team in their division. That's somebody to hang. Can they raise a banner for that? There's just one problem with that, though, is that they have two massive homestands coming up in the next couple months. Yeah. So they go out on the road for six and then they're home for eight.

I think they have two eight game homestands in the new year, which we're in. That should be interesting. Could you imagine that you're coming home and you're like, we did really well on the road and now this is all where it goes badly? Okay, we've got to go to break. Can you lose 16 games a row. Let's find out. A reminder that large portions of this show

are brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. And I have a, it's not a sad note. It's just, it's an update. They sold the Halbro car. The Halford and Brough car got sold. Did they leave the decal on? Did the person buy it because of the deckle? I asked. Justin and his man. He insisted that the deck will stay on. No, they paid $400,000. for that car.

How much are you going to give us for this? Okay. So anyway, the Halbro car is no longer, but rest assured I'll be getting another one, hopefully soon. With a bigger decal? With a bigger decal, possibly on the hood or the roof of the car.

We'll have to see. Anyway. It's a roof, by the roof, by the way. It's a rough. Brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal. Nobody has since 1926. Visit Duick Jam on Marine Drive.

Visit them downtown. Visit them in Richmond and visit them online at the Duik Auto Group.com. Coming up, NFL talk on the horizon. Mike Taney or our NFL insider from the two deep zones. So much to get into from a wild final weekend in the National Football League. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.