Halford & Brough in the Morning - Quinn Hughes Is A Force Of Nature

Episode Date: November 6, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk a big Canucks win over the Ducks (6:00), plus the boys discuss the latest NHL news as Sportsnet's David Amber (27:43) joins the show. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose to the f***ing Canucks? You're listening to Halford & Brough. Harlan gets it back to the top of the point for Hughes. Heavy drive, he scores! Quinn Hughes beats Dostal from the line with Pedersen screening in front. What a freaking boost. I mean, those are the ones you want to get. You know, they're not going to be all pretty.

You don't always paint a portrait. Sometimes you paint a barn. Hard circle. What's how it's going? Fire! I remember what I was doing at 23, and I'd be pooping in my pants. Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody.

It's Alfred. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning.

Laddie, good morning to you. Hello, hello. And for the third consecutive day, intern Ethan, good morning to you as well. Good morning. Half an Abroad for the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfi, what are you waiting for?

Kintec, we've got a big show ahead on a Wednesday. Lots to get into from last night on the ice in Anaheim Canucks. Resounding 5-1 victors over the Anaheim Ducks. We've got that to talk about on the show. Also a lot of hockey. Ten other games in the National Hockey League last night. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada,

Sportsnet NHL host, is going to join us. We can talk about what the Leafs did to Hockey League last night. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host, is going to join us. We can talk about what the Leafs did to the Bruins last night. Without Austin Matthews, too. Big result for them. Greg's boy, Anthony Stolarz. What a goalie. I think the Leafs historically do quite well without Matthews, too. They should not play him.

Yeah, they should just trade him. Who did Montgomery yell at? Nobody. Nobody? Just sat there quietly and said, we lost the special teams battle. He had an underhanded remark. He said, those that get the privilege of getting special teams minutes

need to do something with it. So good job, Jim Montgomery. You're going to be fired by January. David P. Yeah. Those that have the privilege of a radio show shouldn't screw it up either. It's true. Wait a sec. So 6.30, David Amherst. of a radio show shouldn't screw it up either. It's true.

Wait a sec. So 6.30, David Amherst, 7 o'clock, Frank Cerevalli. We can ask Frank about the trade wins that are blown. You see, Bo Byron must have heard all those trade rumblings yesterday. Went out and scored a pair of goals yesterday for the Buffalo Sabres. Please get me out of here. I got to go. I really got to get out of here.

They made two very interesting, healthy scratches yesterday in Buffalo, including a very highly paid defenseman, Matias Samuelson, got healthy scratched yesterday. So did Yoki Harju. The kids can call you Harju. Anyway, so we'll talk to Frank about that at 7. Randy Jandel joined us at 8 for some Canucks talk. He was on the call last night for that 5-1 win in Anaheim.

Finally, third day in a row, not just for intern Ethan being here, but also a $100 gift card to Mucho Burrito where they have Mucho Burritos. That's going to be... Where's my burrito? Where's my burrito? That's going to be up for grabs at

8.15. That's going to color numero ocho on the program today. That's eight, caller numero ocho on the program today. That's eight, right? That is eight. Everyone now knows, podcast listeners, streamers, live listeners, 8.15 be caller number eight, ocho.

You can win a $100 gift card to Mucho Burrito. That's what we're giving away today. Real quick in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock, it's Randip, 7 o'clock, Frank Cervalli, 6.30, David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Lad real quick in reverse on the guest list. 8 o'clock, it's Randip. 7 o'clock, Frank Cervalli. 6.30, David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools,

resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Quinn Hughes had three assists, and then he had two, and then he had three. He reached 300, then went to 299, then got back to 300. What was going on over there? I have no idea. What were they doing? The Vancouver Canucks won 5-1 thanks to all those assists

against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center on Tuesday night. Yeah, I'd say the Canucks actually got off to a bit of a slow start and surrendered the first goal of the game for the fifth straight time after Atu Ratu stepped on the ice back in the NHL and immediately took a careless tripping penalty. The Ducks scored on that power play. The Canucks also had a power play that looked rather awful,

but things really turned on their second power play of the game later in the first period when Quinn Hughes shot one hard along the ice for Brock Besser to tip home from the slot. That was one assist. 298 for his career.

For Quinn Hughes. A minute later, the Canucks took the lead on a very nice rush goal from Kiefer Sherwood, his third goal of the season. Sherwood one time to pass from Branstrom, who had activated up onto the rush. They call that activating. Nice little drop pass. You've got to activate the defense, and then he goes in there, skates in,

drops it to Sherwood, and he blasts it home. Very nice move from Heinen at the Canucks' blue line to spring the rush to body position. That's the key there. You get body position, and you get the rush going. Rick Talkett in the postgame said that Heinen played it perfectly. Played it perfectly.

Yep. And, you know, if we're praising everyone on that shift, Filip Hronik made the breakout pass, and Teddy Bluger made a really good play to stay onside. I thought he was going to go offside, but he stretched that leg of his. All of a sudden, what had started out as, I thought, at least, a pretty dismal effort had turned into a one-goal lead, and from that point on on the Canucks were in

full control in the second Elias Pettersson I guess tipped home a Quinn Hughes shot for his second of the season and honestly I'm still not sure what the Ducks were doing defensively besides just standing there and watching

nobody was close to Hughes at the point, and Greg Cronin, the Anaheim Ducks head coach after the game was like, yeah, we were just, nobody went to the point. Someone should defend him. I would also point out that nobody tried to move Pettersson from in front of Dostell.

Hughes and Pettersson both had like a 30-foot bubble around them of nothingness. Perhaps the Ducks were all just mesmerized by Connor Garland, who had another really strong game, a real hop in his step. Can't imagine why. That was Hughes' second assist of the night. Hughes' 300th assist came in the third when Jake DeBrusque, another goal for him, tipped home a Brock Besser point shot.

Quinn Hughes had, of course, passed it to Besser. Made a couple of nice moves to do it, too. It wasn't just your regular secondary assist. The captain, with that 300 assist, is now just 10 assists back of Alex Edler for tying the franchise high among defensemen. He is 25 years old. Probably worth mentioning. Heinen added another to make it 5-1.

Nice pass from Sherwood, but the Ducks were already cooked by then. Credit to the Canucks. That was a dominating effort of a bad team, but I got to say, honestly, the Ducks were awful. At least San Jose, a couple nights before, played with some energy and some enthusiasm.

The Ducks just looked really... They're just there. They looked really orange. They're just there. I'll tell you that. They're very orange and they're very present. They're very orange. It was one of those games,

I know we all want to talk about the Canucks, and normally I don't really care about the fan reaction of the other team, regardless of what happens. I'm 100% interested in the Canucks, but I actually did spend a bit of time last night just seeing what the Ducks fans' reaction was to the game. You know, you just hit the replies on X

and in the game story, and everyone was like, fire Cronin, fire Cronin, fire Cronin. Like, that was a dismal effort from a team that has a lot of young talent that should be doing more with the talent that it's got. At any rate, back to the Canucks. Kevin Lankanen improved to 6-0-2 on the season. He stopped 21 of 22 shots.

Not a difficult night for Kevin Lankanen. The Canucks were very good in front of him defensively. I don't know how many really good chances the Ducks had, but it wasn't many. So a good night for the Vancouver Canucks. The Ducks, just to finish that point, because this is probably the last that we'll talk about, Greg Cronin, needs to be more coach and less what, Laddie?

Cronin. The Ducks have scored. Less Cronin. The Ducks have scored two goals or fewer in eight of their 12 games this year. And when they're talking about firing a coach, I'm sure it's because they look at all these high-end first-round draft picks that they have and they can't score any goals. They can't even manufacture the chances in which they could potentially score goals.

I know the Canucks played well last night. Full credit for them for taking advantage of a bad team. Let's put that in the back. Cronin's answer was pretty funny, though, when they asked him about the lack of scoring. He was just like, I didn't score when I played, and I didn't play this high of a level, so I don't know what's going on.

He was like, guys seem to be whiffing on the puck a lot. That's a problem. He's like, I'm familiar with that. Anyway, there's a lot of text coming in to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket right now talking about the captain, Quinn Hughes. A lot of people saying that he's playing at a higher level than last year in which he, you know, won the NHL's award that's given annually to the best defenseman in the league. Tanbeer wrote in that he's coming for Buray's throne for being the greatest Canuck of all time. And by this, Tanbir, I think you mean

the most singularly gifted and talented player to ever wear a Canucks uniform, which I would agree, it's Buray. Like all the players, including the Sedins, who are unbelievably and uniquely talented and gifted. But I always put Buray on a different level because he played the game at a different level at the time. And that's kind of what I see with Hughes.

I think we should make a promise to our listeners now is that you and I will not take this for granted. I don't. We will not. I don't. I've taken other players for granted. That's our campaign promise for 2028 when we run for office. We're going to say make Quinn Hughes appreciated all the time.

I mean, you know I'm not going to take it for granted because... But we'd probably be guilty of it from time to time. Because sometimes that happens with brilliance. You just get used to it. You do. But you know I won't with this player because I've been waiting so long. I had been waiting so long for the Canucks to get a player like that. That was like my shtick.

That was half my shtick. You had two shticks. One was the Stanley Cup thing. One was that I lost all the time. My teams lost all the time. And the other was that the Canucks needed to get an actual franchise defenseman to win a Stanley Cup because not many teams, if any, win the Stanley Cup without a franchise defenseman.

And I had this whole spiel where I went through the Canucks losing to Dennis Potvin and the Islanders, Brian Leach and the Rangers. Zdeno Chara. Zdeno Chara, yeah, that's right. Zdeno Chara and the Bruins. Like you don't – when you have a player like Quinn Hughes, it just helps so much. You know, the Canucks aren't a perfect team,

but when he's on the ice, they're nearly there. But they have a perfect defenseman. Honestly, he is so good. And I hope that if this continues and Quinn Hughes continues to play well, that not only is he going to continue to get Norris Trophy love, it's time for a defenseman to make a legitimate run at winning another Hart Trophy. I agree. It's time.

I agree. It's time. I agree. It's time. And I think a market like Vancouver has enough amplification to get that thing going. If you look at the numbers when Quinn Hughes is on the ice versus not, they are stark, and it's got to get people's attention. You know, like even I think here's an example of taking things for granted.

Okay. Not many people were really talking about the talent it took on that secondary assist to when he, when he fed the puck to Brock Besser and Brock Besser shot it and Jake DeBruys tipped it home. I think it was the Canucks' fourth goal of the game. But that was his 300th assist. Yes.

And his skating ability on that, he sucked in two ducks there, just with his skating ability and his deception. And Brock Besser is left wide open at the point to really hammer it home with no one blocking a shot and Jake DeBras. So it's that type of move, that type of deception that you might eventually take for granted

because you're like, yeah, that's what he does. Yeah. Here's what I'm saying right now. A couple things. One, there is not a defenseman currently active in the National Hockey League that I would take over Quinn Hughes on a roster right now. Wouldn't take McCarr.

Wouldn't take Yossi. Wouldn't take Fox or Hedman. Morrissey, Bouchard, Heiskanen. Go down the list. Not a single one I would take. And I'll start with McCarr. If you were to give me both guys right now in a lineup, I'd take Hughes over Makar right now. Possibly because Makar got

hurt last night, but I digress. I do think that you're onto something here that the level in which he is playing has superseded where you're saying he's just the best defenseman in the NHL. You're going to make the argument that he's the most valuable player in the National Hockey League. He is starting to enter that territory

where when we talk about, and I got to, the only thing I want to quantify here is the defenseman of his size, because I don't think it's fair to compare him, obviously, to the Charas and the Prongers, the way that they were able to influence a game. Right now, at his size, Hughes is entering that territory that we had reserved for the Duncan Keiths and the Scott Niedermeyers of the world. McCart is almost double the amount of points, though. So?

I'm just curious as to why you would easily pick Hughes over McCart. Have you seen him? I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just curious. He's been egregiously bad defensively. McCart, you're talking about McCart. And he's even called himself out for being egregiously bad defensively. I would take Hughes because I think Hughes has embraced the leadership role and embraced being the guy on the team and everything that comes along with

that. The responsibility of play, shouldering the workload, right? And the understanding that when he's out there, he has to be super impactful because quite frankly, the rest of the defense isn't going to be able to cut it. I just love that he's gotten better and better

every year. Mm-hmm. You know, there are things that he is set out to work on and he has achieved it every year. And that's what the greats do. His shot is insane now. Like it's just, it's insane. It's, you know, first it was

working on his defensive play, and he took it really personally when he was a big minus, which I don't know, I mean, I don't think he was as bad defensively as some people said, but, you know, he needed to work on things. There were times when he would get lost in his own

end, and that was the whole Canucks team though. You know, and I think I'm probably, probably the new coaching staff has, has helped Quinn in that area. Um, and he wanted to, uh, work on a shot and a shot has vastly improved. And, you know, you, you, you're seeing the effects of that now.

He gets it away really quickly and it has some has some zip on it and that's you know you're getting it away quickly getting it through all the shot blockers like that is a that's a big deal in today's nhl this is no longer the al mckinnis loaded up and blasted break some shit because all the players are like i want to let the goalie see it right like that Like that's a different NHL now. So you have to adapt. That hard pass or whatever it was, if it was a shot or a hard pass, you know, that was clearly intentionally on the stick of Brock Besser for the first

power play goal. Like that was just a really smart heads up play. And I wanted to mention one more thing because Quinn Hughes, I think is, is a good leader as well. And he may not be the yelling and screaming type, but I don't know if anyone kept watching after the game when Quinn Hughes was talking to Murph afterwards. And he said,

you know, like I'm, he, he was asked about his 300 assists and he immediately talked about all his teammates and all the friendships he's made. He also said, he also said, I'm glad Petey got credit for that goal because he did a great job getting to the front of the net and that wouldn't have gone in unless he was there. So here's a guy that knows one of his teammates

is going through a tough time, and he wants good things to happen for that teammate. That is what a captain does. For more on the captain, Quinn Hughes, we'll turn it over now, the audio, to Rick Tockett, the Canucks head coach. We're going to play this audio right from the top with the Q&A with Canucks reporter Olivia McDonald,

who asked him a couple different questions about Quinn Hughes. Here is what Rick Talkett had to say about his captain following a 5-1 win over Anaheim on Tuesday night at Honda Center. Rick, we saw Quinn hit that 300 mark, third fastest for an NHL defenseman to do so. Is that

shocking at all to see him do that tonight? No, I mean, he's obviously controlled a lot of the play. Special player. You know, he gets a lot of shots off that's hard to do. And especially when teams are keying on you. So, yeah,

I'm not shocked. Where's your confidence level with him at so far? The season just went a couple weeks in. Yeah, no, it's just he's been here a couple years and he's a pleasure to coach. He just went a couple weeks in. Yeah, no, it's just he's, you know, been here a couple years and he's a pleasure to coach. He just loves hockey. He always tries to work on his game.

That's what I love about him. Oh, he loves him. I also want to mention. Always working on his game. Yep, and he loves that about him. And that is, you know, in any sport, you know, you see guys like Wayne Gretzky when he first got into the nhl his you know his shot was not good and he worked on it and when um you know i think about was it

michael jordan who worked on his three-point shooting uh yeah jordan's big thing was when they got eliminated by the pistons in those consecutive years he realized that he wasn't physically strong enough to withstand the beating. So the thing he had to work on was his strength, endurance, and all that. So he met up with Tim Grover and redid his body, basically, mid-NBA career, which is quite remarkable when you think about it. He got pretty good doing what he was doing, but he realized there was another level he needed to get to,

and that was, I need to be physically stronger. Remade his body and then went on to win a bunch of championships. The Canucks will play the LA Kings on Thursday, and the Kings are looking pretty good right now. Big win for them last night. They smoked Minnesota. They went into Minnesota. So that might be tough for the Kings coming back from a two-game road trip

to Nashville and Minnesota, but they had success there. They beat the Predators 3-0, and then they went into Minnesota against a pretty good team and beat them 5-1. They're 8-3 and 3 on the season. Now, they've had their clunkers, just like the Canucks have. They lost to San Jose. They lost to Chicago.

So the Kings are, you know, they're like most teams. They're not perfect. But this is going to be a test for the Canucks. And I think, you know, if you're looking at the Canucks season right now, you're going, you know, it hasn't been, it hasn't been, certainly hasn't been terrible. In fact, you look at their record and it's 6-2-3, just two regulation losses in 11 games.

You might even say it's downright, it's been good. But the strength of schedule is what people will look at and say, you've been in a lot of bad teams and you've struggled against good teams. You know, and so every time that there's a quote-unquote good team on the schedule, people will be like, all right, let's see what you got, Canucks. Because, you know, again, I don't normally think too much about the Canucks opponent

after the game is over. Except for Greg Cronin and the Anaheim Canucks. But I was, because I'm just, I don't follow the Ducks on a day-to-day basis. Nor should you, friend. Well, it doesn't look like many of their fans do based on the empty seats at the arena last night either. And I'm kind of like, I don't,

I just took time. I'm like, I'm going to try and find Greg Cronin's post game because I want to see what he's saying because like I'm watching that game and going, Greg Cronin might be the first coach fired. Possibly. They're bad. Because that was really bad and if you look at their analytics,

they're really bad in terms of expected goals and the only reason really I think they've got any wins is because of their goalie, Lucas Dostal, who now might be getting a little bit tired and run down. They took his eyes away last night. A lot of traffic in front of Dostal last night.

It wasn't helped by the fact that Anaheim didn't clear the net on any occasion. I want to carve out a couple more minutes here at the end to finish up our Canucks talk by saying that in addition to everything else that we said glowingly about Quinn Hughes in this segment, we should also point out that Quinn Hughes is also a good talent identifier and potential agent because he was one of the guys that told Patrick Alvin to go out and get Kiefer Sherwood this summer. And the early returns on Sherwood, I got to say, I expected certain things from the guy, and a lot of it was hit totals and energy.

I didn't realize this until listening to Shorty and DT on the broadcast last night but if you go look at his American Hockey League numbers he scored at a bloody prolific rate throughout his time in the American League like 36 goals in 57 games one year rate and I'm thinking okay he ripped that shot home so I'm looking that was a great shot I'm looking at this player and his body of work at the NHL level is largely of what you would consider from like a bottom six forward, right? Maybe he gives you 10 goals in a season like he did last year with Nashville, but that's it. He's 29.

He's definitely a late bloomer. He went undrafted. He played a bunch of years in college and then clawed his way up. I just wonder what the ceiling is for him offensively because right now he has 7 points in 11 games and every time he's been out there this year, I have been impressed with everything that he brings because he hasn't

shirked any of the responsibilities in terms of being physical and nasty to play against. Saw him chirping Trevor Zegers yesterday during the game as well. It's like he's brought all of the agitation and annoyances that made him tough to play against. But now he's got a little bit more offensive upside

than I think anyone thought that he might have had. Can I also say that I think the most underappreciated Canuck is Teddy Bluger. Yeah. Here's a guy that has been the center for two very impressive third lines with completely different wingers in back-to-back seasons. He's the glue guy. They should call him Glue. Yes, you've got to credit the wingers.

Hey, I like that. You know, Dakota Joshua and Connor Garland are clearly good players, and I think now you're looking at Danton Heinen and Sherwood and saying those are good players. But Teddy Bluger is an underappreciated member of the Canucks. I actually thought he was pretty hard done by getting kicked off that line when Lindholm was added. Not that Lindholm wasn't good for the Canucks in the playoffs, but I just don't think enough appreciation went into Teddy Bluger's role on the third line last season.

And now maybe people are like, you know what? This guy is a pretty good hockey player. One of the most stark contrasts you can find in the previous management regime to this management regime is how they filled out their bottom six forward group and the guys that they've identified to go out and do it.

It's been hit after hit after hit as far as I'm concerned. Like I've loved everything they've done. I love the price points that they brought guys in on. Suter was a win. Bluger was a win. Early returns on Sherwood, that was a win. And you want to talk about one of the failures?

Darren A., total win. Right. That's a defenseman, though. I'm trying to focus on the forwards right now. I do think that when you talk about, and I know it's easy to cherry pick, especially Roussel and Beagle, but when you talk about, and I know it's easy to cherry pick, especially Roussel and Beagle, but when you talk about how you build a team

and how you find value, this is one of the ways that you do it, is you find good quality, cheap bottom six forwards and see if they can do more with an elevated role on your team and see what they can do with the opportunities you provide them. And these guys have all ticked the boxes

and in certain cases, knocked it out of the park. You're talking about three guys in particular. I'd say Suter, Bluger, now the newest one, Sherwood, coming in all at under $2 million, each playing well above their contract value. And that's an important thing for a team that's trying to contend, right? You got to try and squeeze money

out of entry-level deals when you can. And you've got to try and squeeze money out of your low end, bottom six deals. And they're doing a good job of that. Okay. We're right up against it for time. We have saved pretty much all of last night's NHL action.

So we can go over it with our next guest, David Amber, Hockey Night Canada, Sportsnet NHL host. He will join us next. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks.

Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.32 on a Wednesday. In the break, Laddie said, hey, check this out. I got a Jock Jams ripoff for you. He on a Wednesday. In the break, Laddie said, hey, check this out. I got a Jock Jams ripoff for you. He did not disappoint. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show

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North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. He joins us every Wednesday on this program. Sportsnet Hockey Night Canada. NHL host David Amber here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, David. How are you?

I'm doing pretty well, guys. It's been a big 24 hours. How are you? We're well. It's been a big 24 hours. I assume, of course, you're talking about Vancouver's 5-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks last night. The biggest story of the evening, and I know that you

and Sam were working the panel together, and during the intermissions, I feel like you could both look at one another, and you're like, you know what we should do? We should just talk about Quinn Hughes and the brilliance of Quinn Hughes, and you did exactly that. We've got a new wrinkle for you, and this is Jason. I said this a few times. we brought it up

this morning quinn hughes not just for the norris trophy anymore but quinn hughes for the heart trophy listen uh he was being touted last year was it kevin bx or was it elliot someone in the hockey night in canada panel was mentioning his name as a distinct heart trophy contender. And, you know, when you take a closer look at how he controls the play, you know, there's one thing that really sticks out to me. No player in the league has their puck on the stick more often than Quinn Hughes. And just think about that. When your star player is holding the puck, the other team doesn't have scoring opportunities, isn't putting the puck in your net.

You know, he's controlling the pace of play. He's just a unique, dynamic player. So fun to watch. And that was one thing Sam and I were talking about watching the game. I was like, man, this guy's smooth. The breakouts, the zone entries, the passing, the playmaking, the skating. It's really a thing of beauty. So you guys are lucky to have him there in Vancouver.

Every single team would love to have something even resembling the skill set that Quinn Hughes brings to the team. And I'm sure he will get some hard consideration. He's that good. Did you have any other takeaways from last night's game aside from the Anaheim Ducks are not a very good hockey team? Well, yeah, Anaheim's disappointing. I mean, you could put Anaheim in a category with a number of other teams.

But, yeah, they just have these interesting parts, but none of them seem to be connecting. You look at some of their good young players, and you just kind of wonder, like, why aren't they better collectively than they are? And then on the Vancouver side of things you liked it you heard you know talk at postgame I think was pretty happy it was a pretty complete game and you know it could have come unraveled they gave up the first goal and and you know sometimes things happen on the road you let the game get away from you

you know Lankanen's been very solid he has points in every single one of his eight starts. And the team had depth first through fourth line. Like, guys were grinding hard. So, you know, Sherwood's been a great find, hey? I mean, I don't know how much love you guys give him, but especially without Joshua there, he's been that physical presence. He's been everything as advertised. Luke Gastic used to play with him back in the day

and just said, oh my god, this guy, he's just such a physical force and he works so hard. He's the exact kind of guy that takes on the personality of a player that Rick Tockett would love. And, you know, it was a good grinded out win. It's not always pretty, but it's what you need

to do. Collect those points, move forward and go's not always pretty but it's what you need to do collect those points move forward and go on you know it's funny you mentioned sherwood because we did bring it up in the previous segment i was saying like in addition to everything else quinn hughes is also a good talent identifier and recruiter because there's an anecdote from the summer where he went and told patrick alvin like we played against sherwood in the playoffs he was a pain in the butt to play against we should go get him yeah i don't want to play against him anymore. The best way to shut down an opponent is to sign him in the summer. Anyway, I want to move things along here. I want to talk about the Winnipeg Jets because they are now the sixth team in NHL history to win 12 of their first 13 games. They are 12-1-0.

The last team to do it was the Colorado Avalanche back in 2013-2014. So this is something that we haven't seen in a decade. We're going to have to change up the conversation from, are we paying enough attention to the Jets? Because I think everybody is right now. The real question is, at what point do we stop saying this is a hot start and this

is the sign of a team that's going to be a contender come Cup time? And they're going to make a real deep playoff run because every other team on that list of a team that's going to be a contender come Cup time. And they're going to make a real deep playoff run because every other team on that list is a team that went pretty deep, or most of them anyway went pretty deep in the postseason. I thought yesterday was the ultimate trap game. They're taking on Utah. Utah's flailing a little bit.

And I just didn't know how the Jets would respond, knowing that tomorrow they take the ice at home against the Colorado Avalanche. And to my surprise, Winnipeg was very focused. They went about their business, rolling out the line, banging bodies, making life miserable for the other team, timely goals. I mean, they've been just a pleasure to watch so far, and I can't wait till tomorrow. To me, that's going to be one of those signature games.

If they want to make a statement, and here's the nice thing, Lekanen's back now. Colorado's getting a bit more healthy. It's not exactly Colorado, right? McCard left last night's game, so that obviously is a key situation to keep an eye on. But I want this to be a redemption game. You know, like when Vancouver plays Edmonton, it's a redemption game.

I want to see that type of approach and see what the Jets can bring. But on paper, guys, what they're doing is really impressive, as you said. And then this gets interesting. Kevin shoveled day off last year, if you guys remember, what did he get, Toffoli and Monaghan? Do I have it right? That's who they picked up last year, right? Monaghan, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I want to see Winnipeg, again, go from sort of this team that stands pat and, oh, golly jeez, let's see what happens. I'd love to see them be aggressive like this could be the window um i i'm you know listen we're a few months away from the trade deadline but in a perfect world i think they add another player or two a blue you know another defenseman to give them some more depth a bit more size because it's going to be such a grind even if they win the pacific or the Central, you're staring down, you know,

potentially Vegas in the first round, possibly Colorado in the first round, possibly a team like Dallas or St. Louis. Like, that's how deep the Western Conference could be at the eighth spot, even if they end up first. And they need to grind out some wins. I want to see them adding adding to this team and i'm wondering what kevin shoveled off in those conversations and i know that you know they don't spend to the cap generally and we know their attendance hasn't been great but i'm really

interested to see what this winnipeg jet team can become uh if they really are going to make a bona fide push to try and win a stanley cup this, which would be very cool and a really amazing storyline. All right, enough talk about teams that are doing well. Boring. Let's talk about coaches that might be feeling the heat early in the season. I was honestly, you know, I was saying earlier in the show, like, I don't follow the Anaheim Ducks very much, but I made it a point to watch Greg Cronin's post game just to see what he had to say because I thought the Ducks were just so dreadful last night and they've got so much talent guys that I remember you know when they first came into the NHL people were really excited or guys that I remember playing in the world juniors that were were so good I wonder about him uh I know the Bruins lost again

last night four nothing to the Leafs who didn't even have Austin Matthews. And Jim Montgomery has been involved in some spats, if you want to call it, with some of his top players. And then I wonder about Marty St. Louis in Montreal because the Canadians are just not good. And wanted to get your thoughts on if there's a coach you think about that must be waking up and going like, oh, something's got to change today.

Who is it? It's funny you bring this up. We were talking, so Sam and I were sitting and watching 11 games, and we're having a little back and forth about who could be in trouble with our producer last night off there, and those names came up. And Montgomery's interesting. I mean, this guy's two years removed from the Jack Adams you know his track record every single place he's been is quite exceptional and by all

accounts the players even though he's been really hard on the accountability even of his of his captain and of his star you know forward and pasternak um seemed to be okay with it so I I wonder why there would be pressure on him. Having said that, you know, he doesn't have a contract extension, so it makes it a little bit easier. You know, they don't have to eat two salaries if they do make a move. That's a particular one, a curious one. I think if Jim Montgomery gets fired, he will have a job within days,

if not weeks. I really believe that. I just think his pedigree and resume is too good. But that just might be a let's shake this group up scenario, which sometimes you do see. Another name, and this doesn't bring any joy to me, but I just imagine there is a hot seat in Detroit for Derek Lalonde, who's a very good man, a very good coach by all accounts, won those Stanley Cups as an assistant in Tampa. But I just know Detroit has been underwhelming, to say the least. There are certain teams

where I would think there'd be more fire, but because they just brought in a coach like Buffalo, it's been a disaster again. But they just brought in Lindy Ross. ross so you know are they going to get rid of lindy ross that would be pretty quick you mentioned martin stanley we and that's an interesting one because the narrative has been throughout his reign that he's just so good with the young players they like playing for him uh they you know everyone respects him everyone knows how good he's been he obviously has a connection to Kent Hughes, the GM in Montreal. But again, the question I might have is, is there any DJ Smith there where he's a very likable person, etc., etc., etc.? But the bottom line is the structure and discipline of the team just doesn't seem to be there on a night-in, night-out basis.

So there are question marks i i hate even talking about this stuff um simply because it's people's jobs and there's a livelihood and a human element to it but it is also a results oriented business and i think in the last 24 months we've seen i think 22 or 23 coaches yeah change so it is the revolving door the one other guy would put out there and it seems crazy but nashville i mean they went all in they won the offseason blah blah blah andrew burnett by all accounts is a very good coach very well liked um did wonders in florida uh was you know in new jersey and here he is and it just isn't working right now and the only reason i even bring that up is because you do have barry trotz there and and does Barry Trotz pull the Lou Lamarillo and be like,

oh, I'm looking for the best coach. Ooh, I guess that's me. And Neander is way down to the bench, which, you know, wouldn't be shocking, I guess. So that's the only other name I would sort of put out there as an even possibility. And, again, I think these are all good coaches. I think if Andrew Burn andrew burnett lost

his job just like jim montgomery he'd have another job within days i really believe that so um but sometimes we've just seen it's that quick fix it's the craig berube with st louis or dan biles with pittsburgh we've seen mike sullivan in pittsburgh we've seen time and time again mid-season coaches come in have great, and ultimately sometimes it turns the team around and they win a Stanley Cup. So you never know. We're speaking to David Ambrose, Sportsnet NHL Hockey Night Canada host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

I did want to focus back on Montreal for a second because they lost again last night to the Calgary Flames. So that's four straight losses for the Habs. They've lost eight of ten. They're 2-6-2. I had a buddy call me on the weekend, lifelong Habs. They've lost 8 of 10. They're 2-6-2. I had a buddy call me on the weekend, lifelong Habs fan. He went off for about, I don't know, 5 or 6 minutes

about the current plight of the team. And it's interesting, what he said was this is the first time that St. Louis has really come under any sort of criticism as a coach, because prior to this, there weren't many expectations. And it's not like there's a ton now, but they're tired of the losing.

And they want to see some tangible results from, oh, it's this young team that's learning to, oh, it's this young team that can actually win a hockey game. And this is where I wonder if St. Louis' lack of experience as a head coach and kind of being brought in as a mentor as opposed to a tactician might come to the surface because I was listening to 32 Thoughts with Freedj, and he pointed out something that in his playing career, whenever St. Louis was questioned, he'd always respond with, I'll show you. But it's more difficult to do that as a coach than it is to do it as a player. Listen, I understand your friend's frustration.

It's now the fourth year of this rebuild in Montreal and as you said the I think the expectation this year was this team will be competitive they might be around 500 but night in night out they're they're going to be right there and we've seen them get the wheels blown off of them a few times this year where they've given up eight goals I want to say well at least twice and maybe even a third time. I mean, those aren't competitive losses. So I get that. And I agree with him.

You hear the noise about Martin Saint-Louis, and you didn't hear that last year. You didn't hear that when they finished dead last in the NHL and were able to draft Uri Sklokowski first overall. There was actually celebration. Hey, hey, he's helping us kind of reach our depths. And you're not hearing that anymore. So, yeah, there's frustration there.

Absolutely. I do wonder, again, you know, we talk about guys losing their jobs. What's the plan? Okay, so who is out there? This is the question I ask you. Who is out there? Is it Gerard Gallant? Like, who is out there that you go, okay, well, Marc-Antoine Louis is not the voice. He doesn't have the experience. Who is the question I ask you. Who is out there? Is it Gerard Gallant? Is it like, I'm like, who is out there that you go,

okay, well, Martin's not the voice. He's not, he doesn't have the experience. Who is the guy there? That's always the question to me because everyone wants to fire their head coach when the team's not doing well.

And I'm like, all right, well, who are you bringing in? So there are, there are options. It's not like there aren't, but I'm just wondering,

you know, what would the plan be, be if Martin's not always gone? I just don't know. I don't have that answer. And, but yeah, I wouldn't shock me again because there could be, there could be, this seems like a time when that team needs to do something. And I was on your show last week and I actually said, you know, they have all these first round, second round, third round picks.

They do need to move some of that draft equity capital and get some players. They need some bonafide NHL caliber players to help the ghoulies, to help all of these young players they have. And if they have some veterans, don't get me wrong, it's not to, you know,

Gallagher looked pretty good last night and et cetera, but they need more of that. David, this was great, man. Thanks for doing this. As always, enjoy the game tonight. It's pretty good last night, etc. But they need more of that. David, this was great, man. Thanks for doing this. As always, enjoy the game tonight. Unfortunately, we almost had a McDavid vs. Eichel Vegas-Edmonton matchup. Obviously, McDavid's going to miss the game. But Leon Drysaddle's picking up the slack.

But it's Vegas and Edmonton tonight on Sportsnet. Enjoy the game. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Wednesday. 5 o'clock Pacific. Yeah, we're excited for the matchup tonight. Thanks for having me as always, guys. Look forward to talking to you. Take care. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. David Ambrose, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet

650. We got a text into the Dunbar Lumber text line early on and it said, we need to talk about Besser. Do the Canucks see him as a long-term piece? Do they want to sign him long-term or maybe do other teams really value a goal scorer? Maybe hits the trade market, his value would be high. What do you think the Canucks should do with Besser? Well, let's go back to the off season

and what Jim Rutherford had to say about Brock Besser. He said, we want to see it again. We want to see the consistency. Well, we're seeing it. He's been great. 11 games, six goals, five assists, point a game, six goals in 11 games. Goal and assist last night. And I think you just watch him play.

He's a really good player. Yep. And I think if you were to take Brock Besser off this team, fundamentally change the team. So I think what the Canucks will try and do is try and sign him. But the question is, how much are you willing to pay? And how much term does Brock Besser want? How much total money does he want?

Does he want an eight-year extension? Because then you start going, okay, well, he's 27, 28 next year. Do you really want to do that? Maybe you do. But it's one of those tough decisions to make because it's not going to be cheap and because Brock Besser is going to deserve a very large contract extension because he is a very good team.

And if he were to go to market, he would have a ton of interest in him. Yep. He has a lot of leverage in this situation because he's met the challenge that the Canucks put out there. And Jim Rutherford said, you know, we'll see how he starts the season and then maybe we'll do some talking because they can't really get to the trade deadline and go well we haven't

decided but you know hopefully he'll stay or hopefully we'll be able to figure something out because you know I don't think that's how any team operates anymore. It used to be, well, we'll take our chances. But I don't think the Canucks are such a strong Stanley Cup contender that they're in the position to do that. They can't afford to risk losing Brock Besser for nothing in the offseason. You also can't afford to trade him, though. That's the tough problem. And that's no debate, no conversation, no points needed to be added. You just can't afford to trade him, though. That's the tough problem. And that's no debate, no conversation, no points needed to be added.

You just can't. And I know that some people think, well, long-term, maybe Lekker and Mackey can replace him. Potentially. But I think that would be asking a lot of Lekker and Mackey to replace him in the short term. It's great to have a potential replacement plan, but it shouldn't really change the present, which is Besser is an integral part of a team that they're in their window.

The window might not be wide open, but it's open. And he fits too seamlessly. I think a key part of it is that he's beloved by his teammates. And I don't know if you want to disrupt both on ice and off ice harmony and chemistry because you're worried about him going to market. You can. Look, you can

go through a season and then try and pick stuff up when the season is done. It has happened before. It's more difficult because other teams get in your agency or the moment that the season's over and there's going to be suitors for a guy that's 28 and coming off 40 goals last year and a pointy game this year so far, barring injury or wherever else. Tones texted in, incredible how different the narrative around Besser is 18 months later. Bill from Buffalo said, Jason, do you remember when you were saying Brock Messer should be traded for cap space?

Yeah, I do. Things have changed around the Canucks. Do you still think that? It's awesome. It's great. It's fantastic. Garland too, for that matter. It's strange how people use that as a gotcha.

Like, well, yeah, he's playing better. That's why we're talking about this. The difference is he's scoring goals and playing really well. And it's, you know, you know who else was trying to trade Brock Besser and Connor Garland? The Canucks. Well, Besser's agent too, right? Besser himself.

It was out there. Now, I understand what some people are saying. It's a loyalty thing for some people, right? It's that you weren't, you didn't ride with me when I was at my lowest. You can't ride with me when I was at, when I'm at my highest. I understand that. That's fine. Guess what happens if Petey turns around?

I will sing his praises. What have you done for me lately? Hey, bro. I mean, he just call it. He's my ride or die. Yeah. Just not the die part. Right.

But yeah, like we'll ride high together. I get it. I mean, that's what's been so incredible about this Canucks turnaround is that it's proven so many people wrong. And, you know, I'm like, as a sports guy, I embrace being wrong because it makes things interesting. I, I, I love the fact that the Canucks have turned it around to the point where we're like,

Oh my God, I'm worried about Connor Garland. Are we going to be able to keep them? I'm worried about Brock Besser now. Are we going to keep them? That's great. It's a good problems to have. I think what we're talking about here is the,

the folly of trying to have real life scenarios playing out. It is sort of a fantasy world with sports because sports allow you to dispose of players or move them like that if you want. It's not like that in real life. You don't necessarily need loyalty to anybody in professional sports because there's always a replaceable and sometimes better version of that player out there and your ultimate goal is to put together a bunch of guys wearing the same laundry that are going to win you a championship it doesn't matter who's wearing the laundry at times right so i get that before last season started it looked like the canucks were nowhere close to a championship caliber team.

Nowhere close. Right. And everything changed last season. Mm-hmm. Frank Cervelli is going to join us next. Maybe we'll ask him about Brock Besser and if he's heard anything about a contract extension or talks for Besser.

Lots more talk, lots more hockey talk to come. Rand Deep's going to join us at 8 o'clock talk about last night's game and look ahead to Thursday night's game in LA and maybe Saturday night's home game

against the Edmonton Oilers you're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650