Halford & Brough in the Morning - Petey Gets To 500

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss last night's Canucks home loss to the Ducks that saw Elias Pettersson reach the five hundred point plateau (3:00), plus the boys chat a busy night around the NHL with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (25:11).  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to McTavis. Aettano, one-timer, he scores. A hard shot for Mason McTavish at the top of the left circle beats Kevin Lankin and over the glove. And the ducks go ahead, four to three. I've been trying. It's just this body doesn't recover like it was when it was 24, 25. Doesn't mean I'm not trying. The spirit is willing with the flesh is spongy, bruised.

In time, snoo, snoo, snoo! Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough, it is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Hey, Daw, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees.

visiting today at Sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 11th, 70 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Step Strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech.

And if you want to text into the show today, it is 650, 650 on the Dunbar Lumber text line. trusted by contractors and DIY champions. I think that means do it yourself. It can't confirm. A lot of champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber Online today. Okay, we got a lot to get into on the program today. The Doick Morning Drive, that's our morning guest list, brought to you by the Duick Auto Group,

a four-guester today and a lot of hockey talk on the horizon. Greg Wyszynski's going to join us at 630. SBN, NHL Insider. An incredibly busy night in the NHL last night. 30 teams in action across 15 games. We're going to get into all of it, or as much as we can, with Greg, at 6.30 this morning. It's another quiet night tonight.

Monday there was one game. Last night there was 15 games, and tonight there's two games. Yeah, it's not great scheduling, if we'll be honest. But I do think that's partly because tonight, I'm going to skip ahead to. our 730 guest, Adnan Verk from MLB Network joins us

because the MLB season starts Jason tonight. An exclusive opening night game on Netflix. How about that between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park? So the main opening day is tomorrow, but the MLB season gets underway tonight, so Adnan

is going to join us this morning. And then of course the Js open their season on Friday. I'm going to have a question for Adnan, and this is for Robin Surrey, because he's texting a few times about the Mariners and he's a big Mariners fan and every time he texted him about the Mariners, he has to take a shot of the Blue Jays.

But I honestly want to know Adnan's opinion who has a better shot at winning the World Series this year. Is it the Toronto Blue Jays who came really close? Or is it, remember that light? They came so close. So close. Or the Seattle Mariners. And if you look at the sports books

and if you look at the sports books, the answer, despite your, yeah, who is it? Your laugh there is... Seattle Mariners. Yeah, I could see that. Sorry, the Seattle Mariners winning the World Series? That thing they've never been to before?

Let's go. Adog's a huge mariners. Heck yeah. Who's your favorite mariner? I like them all. I see Big Dumber. I mean, it is Big Dumber. Who are we kidding?

Well, a lot of people are wondering if, like, J-Rod can have a season. and even like an MVP caliber season. I'm quite curious about him. He's kind of, is he not there, is he not there, where you know the talent is there, but you just don't know if it's always going to come out in the right way? The only big difference is that he did not break out in last year's postseason, whereas Vladdy did carry the Blue Jays all the way to game seven of the world.

Super close. Super close. Came very, very close. So anyway, Adnan's going to join us at 734, some MLB talk. Frank Ser Valley's going to join us at 7. Another NHL insider, He from Victory Plus. As mentioned, with nearly every team in action last night in the NHL, there was a lot of movement in both the Eastern and Western Conference playoff.

Pictures. We'll get into all that with Frank at 7. I mentioned Adnan at 7.30. 8 o'clock Thomas Drance is going to join the program, the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk. Canucks lost for the fifth time through seven games of their season high, eight game homestand. This time last night it was a 5-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks,

the first place in the Pacific Division, Anaheim Ducks. We'll get into all that and more with Drancer at 8 a.m. So we got four guests on the horizon. We got a ton of stuff to get into. It is a very loaded show without further ado. 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? Missed it? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies

and tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.cai.cale Granlin scored twice last night. John Carlson noted trade deadline pickup had three assists and the Ducks scored a 5-3 win against your Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday night. Yeah, the Canucks got off to a half-decent start last night and they finished the period up 1-0 on a power play goal by Jake DeBrusk, who has now scored 12 of those.

of his 15 goals with the man advantage, so you can do the math on what the even strength goals are. Nice pass by Elias Pedersen to find DeBrus down low beside the Anaheim Net. The assist gave Pedersen 499 career points, which frankly are Ring of Honor numbers. I mean, we'll talk to Thomas Trance about that. I mean, Ring of Honor, right?

I mean, 500 career points. You know, he's still a young man. Jesus, ring of honor. honor. The Ducks were still probably the stronger team in the first, but Kevin Lankinen looked solid stopping all 10 of Anaheim shots. But the Ducks tied it up in the second after Alex Killorn got in close and beat Lankan. Two Canucks players, Ratu and Hronick, they both went to John Carlson. And John Carlson had the puck kind of in the slot area. And he said, well, two guys just came to me. So that leaves Alex Killorn wide open for the pass.

Confusion in the Vancouver end? That's crazy. I haven't seen that all year. A couple minutes later, the Ducks took the lead on a goal by the veteran Michael Granlin, who batted home a puck that had popped up way high in front of Lankinen. But the power play came to the Canucks Rescue again later in the second. Brock Besser scored the goal, and Elias Pedersen, he picked up the magic assist. magic number of 500 career points, all of them with the Canucks, obviously.

Seventh all-time leading score in Canucks history now. Ring of honor numbers. Let's go. So on to the third we went, and the ducks started with the remains of a two-man advantage. The Canucks killed the first penalty, but there was Granlin again, scoring at five on four. Anaheim led three to two. Credit the Canucks who didn't roll over and die. Sometimes I think we wish they would, but they didn't.

Instead, they tied it up once again. O'Connor scored his career high, 17th of the season off a rush with Evander Cain. Let's take a moment now to check in on the Canucks goal scoring race. Oh yeah, we get 20 bucks on the line here. I have Brock Besser, right? Good night for you. He's got 17. You have Drew O'Connor.

Good night for me. He's got 17. So both of them tied finally, Kiefer Sherwood. Yay. And 17 goals despite the fact. That Sherwood only played 44 games for the Canucks is no longer with the team. Pedy and DeBrusk have 15 each as well. Anyway, the Ducks retook the lead a few minutes later when Mason McTavich took a short,

smart pass from Jackson Lacombe, and fired one quickly past Lankan. That broke a lengthy goal drought for McTavish, who was a healthy scratch the other day. And it was a big goal for a Ducks team trying to win the pillow fight. in the Pacific Division. It should be noted that the third period was kind of fun hockey. One of those, I'm not sure the coaches love this, but the fans do. The fans were into it.

There were plenty of scoring chances, lots of back and forth action, not much defense. The Ducks, of course, are used to playing games like that. Their last one was a wild one, a 6-5 OT win over Buffalo, but despite all the chances, there would be no more goals for the Canucks. Elias Pedersen did make a fun save with the goalie out.

But he couldn't save them all. There's another reason to pile on to him, right? What was the save percentage last night? Come on. Not high enough. The Ducks eventually made it 5'3 and took two points out of Rogers Arena, something a lot of teams have done this season. Yep.

So the Ducks finished the night. 40 wins, 84 points, 5 clear of Edmonton with a game in hand. So they look like they are in. I don't know if you can be in cruise control or in the pole position or any other driving reference to the Pacific, but they're on their way to the playoffs. I think I'm pretty confident in saying that, meaning they will snap one of the NHL's lengthiest

playoff droughts in the process. It is hilarious, though, because it's stunning to me that they're going to be probably the number one seat in the Pacific. They're going to have a pretty good chance of advancing to the second round. By the way, did you notice that Utah is no longer comfortably in charge of the first wildcard spot anymore? For the longest time, I'm like...

Nashville, man. Nashville's a pretty crazy story. Steve Stamcoe has 35 goals this year. He's 35 now? The most quiet 35 goal seasons. Wow. Yeah, double check on that in case he doesn't, and I've totally made it up.

But I'm pretty sure. Pretty sure Steve Stamcoe says 35. Anyway, we're bouncing around here. Yeah, he's got 35 goals. Yeah, confirmed. A couple people have texted in and asked if we could play the Adam Foot audio last night, explaining one particular thing.

Why? Why? Has Kevin Lankin started so many games in a row, especially at home when Nikita Tolopilo was sitting there healthy and eager and ready to play some hockey games. Pretty straightforward question. Yeah, I think so, right? Here is the answer from Kodak's head coach Adam Foot.

And remember, this is him being asked a question about why Lankan has played so many games in a row and he hasn't played Nikita Tolapilo. I think we just wanted, you know, we had a really good start against Seattle, and I thought Tolo played good at the game before and fought hard. But we're trying to get some momentum with our young guys. as well. And total, you know, he's, what was he, you know, but was he five, six and two. And, but I just felt like we wanted to get some momentum with, you know, our group.

And we've had, you know, we want to have more results at Homestead for sure. But we've, it seems like we're playing with more confidence. And that was probably mainly what that was, though we put a lot on lengths. But we'll manage it. We have discussion every day about it. We'll manage it moving forward. And we'll see how the. rest goes.

So, hold on. Can you replay the very first little bit of that audio where he talks about the Seattle game in particular? The Seattle game was the last one that Nikita Tolapilo played and that was a 5-2 loss to the Cracken at home in the second

of this eight-game home stand. We had a really good start against Seattle and I thought Tolo played good at the game before and fought hard, but we're trying to get some momentum with our young guys as well and Toul, you know, he he's, what was he, you know, but was he, five, six, and two. But I just felt like we wanted to get some momentum with, you know, our group.

Okay. So total pillow plays against Seattle, loses 5'2. Lankin comes back. The next game against Florida, maybe one of the games of the year, and they beat Florida 5-2, right? And then following that, there is a 6-2 loss to Tampa Bay, a 3-1 loss to St. Louis, and then a 5-3 loss to Anaheim. And he said he was trying to build some more. momentum moving forward.

But is he talking about momentum in terms of the results? Or is he talking momentum in terms of the play in front of the goalie? And if they're talking about having momentum for the young players in front of the goalie, what exactly did Lankin and give you over the last three games that would have you play four in a row? I think I kind of understand what he's trying to say. Okay, so... But just before we get into it, I think he was trying to say

that Tole Pelo had a good game, then didn't have a good game. Then Lankini came back with a good one. It's sort of like you get to run with it until you have a stinker sort of thing. But I'm not 100% sure. And this is me inferring a lot. Anyway, what were you going to say? I do wonder about communication and clarity of purpose in the Canucks dressing room based on the way that Adam Foote sometimes speaks to the media.

We had, I think it was David Amber yesterday talking about, of course we've been talking a lot about John Cooper. And he was saying that the players were saying that when they went and played for John Cooper internationally, they were like, as soon as he starts talking, he grabs your attention. And we know how John Cooper talks, right? It is very deliberate. Yes. It is not fast.

It is not jumping from topic to topic and, you know, a sides here and a side's there. He has something that he wants to say and he gets it across. And some of that is probably due to, well, natural ability, but also maybe to his training as a lawyer where you're not going to go up in front of a judge or a jury and be like, oh, I forgot to say that over there. Adam foot the lawyer. You have to remember that my client, my client, well, yep, sure he is up here and a lot of, you know, a lot of people think he's guilty.

He may have murdered that guy, but let's not talk about that. Now, I didn't say that. I didn't say he may have murdered that. He definitely did not murder that guy. But, but, and look, you see this guy over here. He comes from a good family. And I actually knew his dad earlier. But that doesn't matter. But he's, he's, anyway, he didn't.

He didn't kill the guy. Right. Okay. He might have done some other stuff. He might have done some other stuff, but he didn't, he didn't kill that guy. Right? You're like, huh? It's funny you use the word deliberate because I think that's the perfect way to describe how John Cooper talks in that.

Intentional. Deliberate intentional. There's not a lot that's left to interpretation. And there's not a lot of vagueness when he speaks. And part of that is a natural gift. Like some people have the gift of gab. Some don't. Some people know how to deliver a message.

Some don't. You bring up an interesting point, though, because especially in a year where you're doing a lot of teaching and instructing and coaching young players how to play in the NHL, you do need a lot of deliberate, straightforward, intentional messages and directions. You don't, on top of everything else of these, especially young defensemen have. and make sure they understand it and don't just say, yeah, I get it.

Yeah, and you're nodding along. You've coached, you've coached, I know this is the NHL, but you've coached kids, younger kids, and there's a lot of nodding along. Like, do you understand? Yeah. Yeah. I remember coaching kids and I was using terminology like, rim the puck. Yeah.

And I was like, listen, you just got to rim it out in that situation. And then I was like, I kind of saw something in the kid's eyes. I was like, do you know what I mean when I say rim it out? He's like, no. I have no idea. But it sounds good. And I know you want me to nod. Brother's like, six, seven.

Everyone's just, yeah. Now that I have your attention. Yeah. Okay. I want to get into some of the stories from the National Hockey League last night because there was a lot that happened. We're actually going to start in the Eastern Conference. We got to talk about the Ottawa Senators.

We talked a lot about them yesterday coming up that big win in New York in which they won a very important hockey game, but lost a bunch of very important. important players in that hockey game, including Thomas Shabbat. Their blue line is decimated. So say hello to Carter Yakimchuk. Their first round pick in 2024 gets called up in the second of a back-to-back, makes his NHL debut, scores a goal, gets an assist,

and the Ottawa Senators hold on for a three-to-win in Detroit to vault their playoff chances, according to MoneyPuck to a whopping 73%. they move into the second wildcard spot in the east, and they deliver what might be a death blow to the Detroit Red Wings in the process. I know there's a lot of hockey left to be played, and I know that the Red Wings could still claw their way back into this, but last night, given that they got, think about this, you get an Ottawa team that's in the second of a back-to-back,

you get them in your barn, you get them playing a rookie defenseman in his first ever NHL game, and another guy named Jorian Donovan, who I've never heard of in my entire life, these guys go out and beat you 3-2 in what was basically a must-win game for each team's playoff chances. That's a huge blow, a huge blow for a Detroit team,

who, by the way, also got Dylan Larkin back in the lineup last night. And he scored, and that still wasn't enough to lift him. Right now, as of March 25th, 2026, I am looking at this final stretch drive for Detroit as maybe the most important one of all the teams in the NHL because of everything that's at stake. Because of where Steve Iserman is with the Izer plan, the lack of action that he had at the deadline,

only picking up Justin Falk, the fact they had a playoff spot and they slept out of it, there is huge, huge stakes involved for the Red Wings right now. I blame Rick Bonas. Yeah, he's really... That's a factor in the Red Wings fall, you know? Columbus. coming out of nowhere and now being very solidly in a playoff position.

Comfortably in a playoff spot right now. They're the number two seed in their division. Carolina's going to win the Metro, but second, third and fourth place in that division is wide open. The only good news I would say for the Detroit Red Wings last night is that the New York Islanders also had a bad loss. Yeah, and those are the first two teams out of the playoff picture right now.

The Islanders are on 85. So the Islanders in the Sends have the same amount of points, 85, and the Islanders have played one more game. The penguins aren't safe. No, they're not. I mean, if you want to say it, like, realistically, Columbus isn't quote unquote safe either. There's only two points out.

Money Pucks odds give Pittsburgh, 75% chance. New York, 47% and Detroit, 46%. So it's very close. I'm really in that division. And I'm glad Columbus came along because it made it a lot more interesting than it might have been. I'm really impressed with the Ottawa's done. like this is totally here's the thing with Columbus is

they had all the pieces in place which is evident now it was very obvious that whatever Dean Eveson was doing wasn't working and once they made the switch to bonus they just took off on a rocket ship I'll give Greener a lot of credit for what he's done with the Senators team because he has not had consistent goaltending all year he's got a decimated blue line and they've consistently played pretty good hockey like if you look at some of the underlying metrics

and I know goal difference is an underlying metric but what they've been able to do all year is play pretty good sound defensive hockey they just haven't necessarily gotten the wins out of it because their goaltending to let them down so many times but this last stretch they've gone eight and two over their last 10 they really have like zero margin for air now like they basically have to go out and win almost on a nightly basis

and they've really come through in the last little bit they're 15, 3, and 2 in 20 games since January 25th. They won 15 of 20 since January 25th. That's really impressive from the Senators. What else from last night? The Islanders, as you mentioned, they suffered a really bad loss. I'm very curious to see what's going on there because they went big at the deadline,

getting Braden Shannin Town as well. And it's going the wrong way there. Not only did they lose to the Blackhawks last night at home, they didn't get a single point out of it. They weren't able to extend that thing into overtime or the shootout. They lose 4-3. they fall out of the playoff position as a result. Now, they've played one more game than Detroit,

so they're in a little bit of better position. But there were some big losses to teams in the East. Boston suffered a bad loss as well last night. In a game that kind of got overshadowed by all the nastiness there, including a pair of former Canucks fighting each other in Nikita Zadoroff and Dakota Joshua. And that was because Nikita Zadorov took a five-minute boarding major on John Tavares, also fighting Nikita Zadorov yesterday. Easton Cowan.

and he was kind of left responsible for doing it because one, he was one of the guys that didn't stand up for Austin Matthews after the Radco Gudis hit, and two, he was actually on the ice last night when Zadorov hit Tavares. So he jumped in. Good for him. That takes some courage. According to the tail of the tape, he gave up seven inches, 65 pounds, and 737 games of

NHL experience on Nikita Zaduroff, but he jumped in and took the fight anyway. Another fun little tidbit about that fight. They both have the same billet. family in London when they played for the London Knights. Ethan Cowan actually apologized to his billet family. I hope they're not mad that I fought Nikita Zadouroff. So that was a tough loss for Boston as well. We mentioned Columbus. They kept doing

the business. So there's this stat and I think you retweeted it last night that since when the Blue Jackets hired Rick bonus, they were 28th in the NHL, 16 in the Eastern Conference and 8th in the Metro. Right now they are 8th in the NHL. So they've jumped 20 places in the overall

standings. They are second in the metro, so they've jumped six spots there. And in the Eastern Conference, they've gone from 16th all the way to 8th. So it's been one of the most remarkable turnouts. He won't win the Jack Adams, but I think he should get some consideration for it because this is one of the better in-season turnarounds we've ever seen from a coach that came along. And remember, he was only hired on January the 12th. Okay, we've got to go to a break.

Wish is going to join us next. Maybe we can get into some of the storylines in the West, because we only went through the Canucks game and the storylines in the East, and it was a very, very busy night in the NHL. But Greg Woshenki from ESPN is going to join us next on the Halford-Abrough 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. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford, Brough, Sports Night 650.

Halifrinbrough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have credit card debt? If you do, Sands and Associates can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. Still an hour one of the program, midway point of hour one, though. Greg Wischinski from ESPN is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour one of this program is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal.

North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. visit the Middle 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the Able Auctions Hotline we go, our next guest, courtesy ESPN. Greg Wyshke joins us now on the Halperdin Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What up, Wish? Hello, everybody. My wife is on a business trip in California, which meant that I got to watch all of the hockey games on the big TV

instead of on my iPad of while we watched shows on Bravo. I ate junk food and I stayed at it. up late. You got to watch the big boy TV. I stayed up all the way through the Utah Edmonton game last night like a big boy. And then I went to sleep. I was very exciting.

Big TV. No interruptions. It's fantastic. I noticed, I saw in your timeline that you were watching Edmonton, Utah, and it was a very entertaining game. Oilers win. I think it was a much needed one for them,

given everything that's going on. There's a lot that's happened in Edmonton since we last spoke, Greg. I'm trying to think about. There was Conner McDavid praising the work of another head coach. There was Connick David calling his own division chase a pillow fight. There's the Leon Drysidal injury and him going to a Bayern Munich match in Germany. Am I missing anything else here?

What did you make of the last week in Edmonton? Well, he also went to go see what's his Healing Hans or whatever that Dr. Damon is helped out all these athletes. Healing Hans. And no one's quite sure what he does. I mean, listen, in our constant search for extraterrestrial life, one guy in Germany who's apparently able to lay hands on athletes and healed him, I'm just saying, maybe check on Hans. Does he use the karate kid move where he rubs his hands together?

And those are actually his healing Hans. It's not Hans. It's just the German accent for hands. That's exactly right. He's the German Miyagi. That's what they call him. Many people are saying he's a German Miyagi. No, that's, yeah, I mean, obviously I hope that if the Oilers do qualify and it looks like they will, that he's back for the playoffs.

But even if he's back for the playoffs, who knows what Gishni's going to be. I mean, I think we're all in agreement that this version of the Oilers isn't anywhere near as good as the last two that made the kindle. But that being said, I mean, the pillow fight comment was absolutely accurate, but it's also sort of sort of, of reminiscent of the 67 expansion in the NHL where the St. Louis Blues had to make the cup final every year because there needed to be somebody from the other side of the bracket that made it. And somewhat in the Pacific, unless there's a series of upsets from the wildcard position, is going to make the conference final. So, you know, one of these guys that's currently whaling each other with fluffy down pillows is going to be four wins away from playing for the cup this

season. I'm prepared to say that Anaheim, I think they're going to win the Pacific, right? They've got a game in hand on both Edmonton and Vegas right now, and they're five points clear of Evanton, six clear of Vegas. I think Edmonton's going to make it just because of McDavid. I don't know what's going on with Vegas. Do you have any idea what's going on with this team who is 3, 7 and 0 in their last 10? They're getting bad loss after bad loss. They seem to be going in the wrong direction. They're only four points clear of L.A. And L.A. has got a game in hand on them. So they're not made in the shade by any stretch. What's going on with the Vegas Golden Knights right now? Well, I mean, apparently Carter Hart didn't solve the goal tending

problems. He didn't. It's probably one of the biggest, the biggest headlines. No, since in their last 15 games, they are 30th in the NHL. Now, the good news is that 30th in the last 15 games is the Seattle Cracken. So there's a little bit of breathing room there if you're the golden nights. But, I mean, It's, you know, defensively, again, I think their goaltending has been a bit porous, but really the story of the Golden Knights since maybe the Olympic break has been, they've been the worst offensive team in the league, which is really saying, and considering the talent that's on this team, it's kind of stunning to think about that.

They're only averaging 2.27 goals per game in the last 15 since the Olympic break. I mean, that is, that's pathetic. And when you think about, you know, again, the players are on that, team and the players they bought in last off season. To bolster that offense, it's kind of inexplicable that they've been unable to generate anything. And, you know, if there's one thing we know about this division with the teams that they're chasing, they could put the puck into that. And so if you're not getting good goaltending and then you can't keep up offensively,

it's a recipe for disaster in the Pacific. I do want to go back to the Oilers just for a second. And I wanted to get your thoughts on the comments by Connor McDavid on John Cooper that everyone took as a shot at his own coach. Do you think they were a shot at his own coach? Well, let me preface this by saying that I've, during my time covering this wonderful game we cover, I've had multiple players tell me they wish they could play for John Cooper. Like, it's not, it's not out of, out of the ordinary for a player to see how the lightning are structured and to see how those guys get to play and to see the offensive push they get

and desire that for yourself. And I should say that that's something that multiple players have told me through the years. For McDavid to say it on the record in a press scrum, I think was less an indictment of Chris Knoblock than it is maybe just organizational philosophy than is the approach of the team in the overall way they play. I just think he's obviously frustrated with all of it right now. Like we talked about just earlier, it's not as good of a team as they've had in the, in the previous two years, or they've made the cup final. The goal-tending situation remains specious.

I mean, even getting the win last night, you're watching Christian Jari, and it's like his body is made of rubber. The number of times the puck kind of like bounces off of it and then goes into dangerous places. And so I think it was probably just an overall level of frustration. Here's a team that has its stuff together, and we can't seem to do it.

But obviously, when you pray as one coach, and that coach is near your coach, it's going to be read a certain way and, and, you know, rightfully so. What's on the line for the Detroit Red Wings right now? I mean, I guess that all depends on if the Eilich family is still under the spell of Steve Eisenman or not. I mean, like, I just think it's abject disaster if they don't make the playoffs this year, considering where they were in the standings recently.

You know, watching that game against Ottawa last night, there was much more of a high level of compete for the senators in the first two periods of that game than there was for the Red Wings. And to not have that sense of urgency at this point in the season is kind of stunning. I just think overall, like the teams that have ascended from that pack that we've always talked about in the Atlantic, you know, the Sabres have considerable debts. And there are reasons why they've been able to put it together this year. But one of them is the fact that they've got players up and down the line. lineup that can make place. I think Ottawa's got a sneaky amount of depth. We were just talking about

that with Merrick yesterday, the idea that there's guys down that lineup that don't get a lot of shine that are really having great seasons. Montreal, I think, is a little bit closer to Detroit in the sense that they're top heavy, but at least Montreal has established itself a second line that's worth a darn this year. I think the problem with Detroit is for most of the season, they've been a one-line team, and they've not had quality depth. And you think about the amount of time Steve Eisenman has had to put this team together and to not have that at this point and their maturation as a contender is kind of inexplicable. Who do you think is Detroit's best player?

I mean, it's it's it's it's most Cedar on the back end. Yeah. I mean, I think he's probably the best, the best player on that team and one of the best defensemen in the league. I think, you know, when you look at their plight since the big break and the fact that they couldn't put the puck in that, I think it speaks to Dylan Larkin not being in the lineup. Like I love I love Larkin. I think on another team, he's probably your great second line center.

Yeah. But, I mean, obviously, the way that the Red Wings are constructed, I mean, he's the heart of that offense. But I would say, I would say I put Mo up before I put Larkin up as the best player. I do wonder about where Quinn Hughes is ultimately going to settle. And, you know, I think the Red Wings were probably interested in Quinn Hughes when he became available. He ultimately went to Minnesota. but I don't think anyone is quite sure where he'll end up. And I do wonder if Detroit, let's say Quinn Hughes signals to the Minnesota

wild that, you know, like I don't know if I want to stay here long term. Do you think Detroit would be looking to make that happen? Yeah. I mean, there's always there's always cheat codes if you're Detroit. And you have the cap space and the ability to bring someone in. Look, I mean, like once the Minnesota trade. it happened, then immediately a lot of devil fans' thoughts went to, Quinn goes to Detroit and Jack joins him in 2030, like, because then that's when Jack's a unrestricted free agent.

And so, you know, there's probably a reality in the multiverse where that whole thing can happen, and if that happens, then all of a sudden it does dramatically change the trajectory of the Red Wings team. But, you know, there are other teams around this league that probably thought they had star players buttoned up and all of a sudden they never arrive and you can't really plan that way. And I think the real issue for Detroit is that like if they missed the playoffs, they inherit the crown from the Buffalo Sabres as the inexplicable playoff drought in the NHL, which is not something you'd ever expect from the Red Wings if you're old enough to remember when they were like the gold standard of prejudice in this league.

We're speaking to Greg Wischinski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough show on Sports it's net 650. Greg, what has been the better bump? Is it the new GM bump that the Buffalo Sabres got from Yarmal Kekalinen? Or is it the new coach bump that the Columbus Blue Jackets got from Rick Bonas? It's the new coach bump only because I love that, I don't know, I remember who reported the story. It might have been Elliot reported the story about like this meeting that the Sabres had

where Lindy Ruff was riding somebody and then like the team stood up and said, don't do that. And then that became like the point in which things kind of coalesced and they got good. I'm kind of obsessed with that story. And I think that there are probably reasons below Yarmal why things have come together the way they have, none the least being they're getting some of the best goaltending in the league from, you know, EPL and from Alex Lyon, which is not something anybody expected. But no, I think it's the coaching thing just because the Blue Yac gets to just looked like they were going to be slowly taking on water for the rest of the season. And then, you know, of all people, Rick Bonas comes in, a guy that, you know, we all thought

was probably done with this whole coaching thing. And then does what Rick Bonas does, which is, you know, connect with the players on a human level, fix certain aspects of the game to tighten up their structure and their defense. And away they go. So as much as the savers being as good as they are is a shock. and I think I'm writing something next week with Chris and Shelton about the sustainability of all this in thinking about them being like the next version of the St. Louis Blues

to go on to win the cup by finding themselves in the regular season. I think the Blue Jackets turn around is maybe a little bit more shocking because of who's at the helm of it. Where would you sort of rank Buffalo's playoff chances right now? because I think what's gone on this season is obviously more than a heater or a blip. 44 wins, 95 points. There's a pretty good shot that they're going to finish

first in the Atlantic Division. They're probably going to have home ice, at least in the first round, maybe through the first couple rounds. Do you see the possibility of an extended run here? Or is, you know, just getting over that playoff drought and getting into the postseason,

is that going to be their win? I think they've got the second toughest pass of them being honest with you, because let's say that, let's say they, like, okay, if they play either Boston or Ottawa in the first round, that's a really tough out, especially with Ottawa.

I think if Ottawa gets any semblance of goaltending, they're going to be a really tough team in the playoffs. So that's tough. And then if you get past them, I think the assumption is that Tampa will take care of Montreal, which means now you've got to get through the lightning. And then if you get through the lightning, then you probably most likely have to get through the hurricane. So that's not an easy path if you're Buffalo.

It's not as hard as, you know, Dallas or Minnesota, but it's still pretty tough. So again, like it's no guarantee that they're going to make it through, but it doesn't matter if they make it through or not. I think that what you needed this year is to break the drought, to build some confidence, to maybe impress a people in the league that have maybe kind of given Buffalo a side eye once in a while about being a destination, but never wanted to play there because the franchise and the team have been garbage. This is an important year for Buffalo, whether or not they actually make it to the conference final. But that being said, you don't want to squander opportunities like this, where you've got a chance based on how you've been playing to really make some headway and

maybe even play for a championship this year. Is there a good reason to believe that the playoffs could be different for Carolina this season other than eventually they're bound to break through? Yeah, no, I, you could ask Dallas about the law of averages, right? I mean, like, sometimes you just don't break through, you know, despite going to the conference final three consecutive seasons. The reason I've liked the hurricanes this year is because they don't have a Gensel and they don't have a rant, but they have maybe the deepest collection of offensive players that they've had. There's a lot of guys in this lineup that can score. There's a lot of ways they can generate offense.

And, you know, as we've seen through the years with the hurricanes, it does ultimately come down to can you get a goal at a key time against the key opponent in the conference final for them. The things that give me pause is I still am extremely frightened of their goal-theading situation. and I don't think Slavin is 100% if I'm being honest. I mean, he's not had a prototypical Slavin season, and he's such an important player for them, especially in the playoffs.

But, you know, up and down, I think that this is a really, really good deep team. And one that should, you know, pretty easily, I think, it passed the first round, which is what they do pretty well. And then, you know, are they better than the Blue Jackets or the Penguins, the Islanders? Yes. and then, you know, maybe we'll see what's lying ahead of them in the conference final. We're speaking to Greg Wischinski from ESPN here on the Halpert and Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

I wanted to turn our attention to a team not in the playoffs, one we talked a lot about yesterday, the New York Rangers. I know in your conversation with Merrick this week, you guys were asking and kicking around the question, has there been a day in the last five months where Mike Sullivan didn't regret his decision in the National Hockey League? we talked about this from a Canucks perspective. We're getting vibes when Tortarella came to Vancouver after that stint in New York where

you know those people that jump into a job right away after they've been at another job for a long time and it's like you should have taken some time away. Like take a gap year or sabbatical and just decompressed. Don't jump into a new job. Yeah. I feel like... He mercifully mercifully got fired after one year though. I don't

think they're going to fire Sullivan. No, but I feel like Sullivan maybe he spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh. He had a lot of success. He got to work with a guy like Sidney Crosby, and then he's gone to almost the polar opposite of all of that in New York. And it has been an abject disaster. He must just hate going to work every day. That was my takeaway from this. And he was so rich that had to pay out the contract.

Like he could have spent two years on a boat off the Maltese coast and been pretty good. And then come back and then you're still Mike Sullivan. Like, I completely agree. I don't understand why it was such a necessity for him to jump back into things. unless, you know, ultimately his dream job was to coach the New York Rangers. Obviously, he's got some history with the team. But, yeah, these guys should just, like, take a breath and go vacation for half the season and then hop on NHL network as a guest analyst for, like, the playoffs,

and then figure out life after that. But in his case, yeah, it is almost like a grim fairy tale to escape a place that you say, don't want to be in because you don't want to go through a rebuild and then end up in an even more severe reeled. Because there's no question that Kyle Dubus has done some real good things in positioning the penguins to be better. You know, I don't think they're quite on the capitals level, but they've clearly started to kind of turn the ship a little bit knowing that they're going to lose Sid and Gino and all those

guys at some point in the next probably two years. But in the case of the Rangers, like, they're in purgatory. Like, they've got some pieces I really. like. I love Will Cooley. You know, I think I think Perot is a great, a great young player. They've got, they've got some guys that I think are good building blocks,

but ultimately what they need to is clear out everybody that's over the age of 28 and then, you know, part, but the other part of that is like, and then what do you do with arguably the best goalie in the world? Yeah, you keep him around, you trade them? Because he's not helping. He's not helping you if you're trying to bottom out.

So it's a worse situation if you're Mike Sullivan because I don't think they really know what the path forward is. Let me put it this way. They thought the path forward was putting the C on J.T. Miller and modeling their franchise after a guy who gets boo-boo-bo-faced when his team is five points out of a playoff spot. So they don't know what the hell they're doing. And was that not, that was Chris Drury leading the charge on J.T. Miller is exactly what this team needs, which always brings. me back to like how loyal is James Dolan to this guy? Well, I don't know if it's a situation where it was just Chris Drury or if it was Chris Drury having sold the idea of what this team should be to James Dolan and James Dolan

agreeing with it. Because if you remember, before the J.T. Miller Gambit, what were they trying to do? They were trying to tamper their way to Brady Kachuk. Correct. And so there's a certain amount of shared DNA in the way that those two guys play. It's a very hard-nosed north-south, straight ahead. I'm the captain, but I'll also drop the gloves kind of thing. And they didn't get paid, obviously.

And then they go and get Miller, who I think they thought was somebody he's not. And so I think it's kind of an organizational notion of this is the way we want to play. This is the personality that we want it. We don't want to be the Nika's a band of Jedd team. We want to be the J.T. Miller team. And unfortunately, when you've made that decision, you also have to take on the fact that J.T. Miller becomes the single worst captain in the National Hockey League if your team is not contending for a playoff spot. So I wanted to get to this, and it's a nice way to finish the hit, because another thing you guys talked about on the sheet, and I saw this on your Twitter timeline last night, why the J.T. Miller trade might be the worst ever.

There may be some hyperbole involved. I don't know, but I'll give you the microphone as it was to follow up on this. The J.T. Miller trade possibly being the worst ever. that's Merrick's contention and so the premises if you guys remember back in the puck daddy days we had the Millberry scale

we would award a milbury head a nod to the milbury scale to trades based on how how lopsided they were and if you had a trade

where it completely benefited one team and didn't benefit the other team at all that's a four milbury trade in this case it's a one

Millbury trade because I think it's a trade that didn't help either team in any discernible way. You know, obviously, you know, the Canucks got a pick out of it, but like, you know, Heedle was always going to be a guy that had extremely high upside, but was

extraordinarily susceptible to being out of the lineup for long periods of time. And then, you know, Miller goes to the Rangers and he's not only a terrible person to model your franchise around, but also has just been not very good at all this year.

And so Merrick's premise is that it's the worst treat in an NHL history because it didn't help either team despite it being, you know, positioned as a blockbuster. And I don't think he's wrong. I think it's a contender for that title. I'm sure there's probably other ones that are even more egregious. But, you know, this is not Adam Larson for Taylor Hall. The trade is not one for one. Like, it is one that did not help either team.

they flip the pick too by the way for Marcus Patterson who isn't doing that well I know I know what the trade tree is but I think it only strengthens the argument I know I know I'm saying that that's what I'm saying that strengths of the area they'd love to have that first round pick right now they love it you know justice for Mancini

who always gets left out of this trade but yeah it's it's not great his contention I think is a pretty good one that it's disastrous and who the hell knows I mean like I guess if they're going to, depending on how deep this rebuild's going to be, like, how long is he for New York? Who knows? It's, what a mess.

Miller? That's Mike Sullivan. Are you, you're like a Miller. Yeah, I'd be, that's a big, that's a great question. Like, does he finish out his contract in New York is a great question? Because it has gone so south, so quickly. And I know there's a couple different accounts that post seemingly every post-game media availability that Miller does. And like, the fans can't stand them.

They think he's like the worst possible captain for the team. And part of it has to do with the fact that, you know, every time he's asked about the team struggles, it feels like he almost always says the wrong thing. And that's a bad vibe, especially in a market like New York where there's so much impetus on having the sea on your jersey. I know we're up against it.

But you can't divorce the fact he's also a jury's guy. Yeah. Like Ranger fans aren't dumb. They can read the standings. They know where Chris Kreider and Jacob, of Truba ended up and where that team is going to be, you know, in mid-April. It's going to be a division champion in the playoffs, and their team is not. And Chris Drury made these decisions to chase really good popular players out of New York

for reasons. And then modeled the franchise after a guy that he went out and acquired who had history with himself was to do a lot of their problems. And it's been bad. It's been the wrong call. So I think that he is also representative of the decisions that Chris Drury has made in the last couple of years. And we haven't even gotten to when they're going to trade Adam Fox.

I'm sure it'll be pretty soon too. So, like, it's, again, just fantastic work, Mike Sullivan. Listen, at least you've got, well, I was thinking if you have a gold medal. Coaches don't get one. At least you have a DVR of your team winning a gold medal that you can watch and feel good at that. I can't stop thinking about if they trade Shasturkin, how many teams could be in on him and how many desperate teams there are for.

for goaltending. We were fantasy casting Shisholkin to the Oilers. Oh, man. It probably cost them Bouchard, we figured. But I had somebody, a former

league executive, reach out to me last night, and he's like, what are the chances that in a post-Serge Bobrowski world Florida Panthers find their way to Igor

should shirkin? I'm like, oh, oh, that's sexy. I like that. That's the first one that came to mind for me. Wish, we're out of time. Thanks, buddy.

This was awesome. See you, buddy. Anytime. Greg Wischinski from ESPN here on the Halford & Bref Show on SportsNet 650. We're up for time, but before we go to break, I need to tell you about JanPro. Cleaner workplaces start with consistent cleaning. JanPro helps businesses stay clean day after day. Start clean, stay clean.

Visit them online at Janpro.com. You're listening to the Halford & Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650.