Halford & Brough in the Morning - Should Canucks Fans Be Worried About Demko?

Episode Date: August 21, 2024

In hour one, Jason Brough and guest host Josh Elliotte-Wolfe look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk the Canucks Demko situation (6:00), plus they chat some Habs with Montreal Canadiens reporter for Radio-Canada, Marc Antoine Godin (26:37). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da is that he is progressing, but no timetable as to when he's going to be 100% healthy. Would you say it's time for everyone to panic? Yes, I would, Ken. It was reported that I wouldn't have done this to Kenny Hall, and that's the furthest thing from the truth. But honestly, I'd do it to my mother if she was managing the others. You'd step over your own mother just to get one. We're still going and digging on Saturday, right, Mother?

Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday. It is Halford and Brough. Josh Elliott will fill in for Mike Halford and Jason Brough. Still here. Good morning. Good morning, Josh.

How are you? Do you understand the Simpsons bits or are those a little old for you? Some of them I get. Those ones, I did not. I do put in an effort, I I will say when I'm hosting the show to like Josh is like that's funny

it's an animated TV show oh it's still on they're all yellow that's so cool that's the gimmick yeah fair enough the main character is Homer

Simpsons? yeah oh good morning never heard of him good morning Laddie good morning hello hello

it is Halford and Brough. Halford and Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. You can text in 650-650. The Dunbar Lumber text line, the Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome.

Details at DunbarLumber.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Today on the show, another full day, another very hockey-filled day as well.

At 6.30, Marc-toine godine covering the hockey for radio canada he will join us to talk about the montreal canadians they traded for patrick linea where's that team at it kind of feels like what i've seen from canadians fans on twitter is that they're really hyped up about what the team can be. And I don't know if I'm there with them yet, but we'll see. They're in such a different position than, say, the Vancouver Canucks in that if line A doesn't work out, it's not great because they've wasted that cap space, but it's kind of like, meh. Yeah, it's fine.

It's not like, oh, no, we won't win the cup. They ain't winning the cup. They probably ain't making the playoffs. 7 o'clock, Andy Strickland, Blues ringside reporter for Valley Sports Midwest. We'll talk about the Blues. They get Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, and we'll see where they're at

because they are another team with, I just don't understand what they're doing, I guess, with the Blues. And so we'll get to the bottom of what they might be doing and what they might be with Andy Strickland at 7. At 7.30, Matthew Futterman, sports journalist for The Athletic, really excited for this one. He had an article up about kind kind of the organ organizers of the la 2028 olympics and how they're approaching it and i've like talked about it on the show the last

few weeks i love the olympics and i think paris was amazing and i'm even more excited for what la could be well it's a much more um road trip for people living in Vancouver. If you want to go down and watch summer Macintosh dominate the 2028 Summer Olympics. One of the interesting things that we'll talk about in this interview is that they're going to do the swimming at SoFi Stadium, but also the opening ceremonies. Like that stadium is incredible and the facilities that they've got generally in los angeles are incredible so that's one of the interesting things about uh these la games that we'll talk about with uh max uh eight o'clock kevin woodley nhl.com in goal magazine what's going on with thatcher demko? Should the Canucks be looking at a veteran backup or someone to bring in on a PTO

and everything going on with the Canucks? Goaltending situation. That is at 8 o'clock. So working in reverse, 8, Kevin Woodley, 7.30, Matt Futterman, 7 o'clock, Andy Strickland, and 6.30, Mark Antoine Godin. That's what's happening on the show. 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? 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 bccsa.ca. So, yesterday. What happened is that we had Rick Dollywell on the show. Yes. And he reported some news about Thatcher Demko. And then it officially became hockey season in Vancouver.

I honestly feel like that. Like yesterday was the first time, you know, like the weather hasn't been as good. We're starting to see some cloud. We're starting to see some rain. It's getting, you know, it's still nice out, but it's getting a little chillier. Yeah. I love it. And we're starting to think about the Vancouver Canucks.

And not just because this was potentially negative news. I honestly don't think it was like earth shatteringly negative. It is possibly a bump in the road that the Canucks will have to deal with heading into training camp. But it had all the people on social media talking and it had a few reporters making some calls. I know Patrick Johnston at the province, he reached out to Patrick Alvin. He reached out to Thatcher Demko's agent about those reports and trying to get more

information on what's going on with Thatcher Demko. Has he had surgery? Has he not had surgery? Is he going to be ready for training camp? What's going on there? Nobody responded to him. And it was reminiscent of Rick Dollywall coming on the show yesterday and saying he got radio silence when he reached out to the canucks and his various sources and asked if he's had surgery now patrick in an article in the province noted the canucks could simply put an end to all this with a statement about demko's status, laying out Demko's recovery timeline, going back to the original injury in late April. Maybe they'll do that, maybe not.

But again, welcome to Canucks hockey. 2024-25 season is officially underway. Yes, we have started semi-panicking about one thing, and it's so much fun. I missed it so much. But it's difficult because it does kind of feel like, yes, it would all go away if they came out. Well, actually, it probably would not all go away if they came out

and they were like, hey, no, it's fine. He didn't have surgery, whatever, because we've seen teams. Will he need to? Yeah. He should have. Yeah. So that's what's going on with Thatcher Demko. I'm interested in talking to Kevin Woodley kind of about what,

like how difficult is it to be a goalie, and maybe Laddy you know as well, about coming back from an injury like this. And he's had multiple kind of similar injuries at a certain point like how how much of a backup plan do you need for thatcher nemco and his archer she loves enough of a backup plan or yuri patera enough of a backup plan for where the canucks are at and how do you separate injuries that are just normal injuries that happen might be unlucky versus how do you, as a team, look at a guy and say, we like the guy a lot,

but we have an honest question about whether or not he's going to be durable enough. What kind of things do you have to look at? Do you have to look at his specific style of play? Do you have to look at his body type? I don't know. Aren't all goalies the same now? They're like tall guys?

Laddie, you know this stuff better than we do. Is there anything about Thatcher Demko that stands out to you besides his history that says this guy is going to be an injury problem? I think it's a risk with any goalie, like you said, but he's bigger. He's on the bigger side. Like he's taller and a little heavier than most goalies. So you are going to get some more wear and tear.

And as we've seen, he has had injury issues in the past, which generally means in the future, you could see those injuries popping up again. So like I said yesterday, it's kind of my only concern with Demko because you're not worried about his ability. It's just about his ability to stay on the ice. So let's table this topic until we talk with Kev at 8 o'clock.

There was some interesting news in the NHL yesterday. Local boy Ryan Johansson was cut loose by the Philadelphia Flyers. And essentially he was put on waivers for the purpose of termination of his contract. And this is not something that Ryan Johansson wants. And it's possible this could lead to a grievance. I'm sure most of you have seen this news. And what do we think happened here? So the speculation, i guess from from elliot friedman or his reporting was that uh the issue is the injury that prevented joe hansen

from playing games for philadelphia after being traded from colorado so basically it kind of feels like joe hansen when he got waived was expected to report to the ahl and philadelphia if we're reading between the lines here probably assumed or knew that he was healthy enough to report he didn't report because he maybe felt he was injured and then now maybe that he was like i'm not going to lehigh valley yeah which hey fair enough ryan that's a good call um but now you're in a situation where are you healthy enough to play and if the team believes you are and you are saying you're not yeah then you're breaching when you get traded from colorado and you've played for them yes uh and then you go to philly and you're quickly put on waivers

for the purpose of sending you down to the AHL. And then all of a sudden you're like, Oh, my hip. Right. It's a little fishy, man.

Right. But, um, I will be very curious to see how this plays out because, um, whether or not you're injured, it's kind of like, you know, what's the difference between hurting a little bit and being injured. So, um, we'll see how this one plays out. I mean,

I think you've pretty much nailed, I reached out to a few guys yesterday and I don't think this is anything like there. I know there were some, uh, some fun conspiracy theories out there that it was like almost like an insurance scam or something like that like they caught him like jet skiing or something like that he's like are you supposed to be hurt yeah and he's doing like uh he's like tubing or something in the summer i i don't think it was that i think it was probably going back to originally when they uh acquired him But what happened in the meantime? What happened in the meantime? Like why now did that decision come down?

So we'll keep monitoring that situation. The Seattle Kraken locked up one of their core players, giving Matty Beneers a seven-year deal. I saw this come across my headlines, and I was like, man, I wish I was interested in the Kraken. Dude, like I might actually be interested in this. And I am so disappointed that I am so disinterested in the Kraken because I wanted this to be a rivalry rivalry and maybe one day it will be but I honestly think

that they are the most given their potential the most boring team in the NHL even their off-season acquisitions you're kind of like yeah Chandler Stevenson's a good player and I guess they got Brandon Montour and you know that'll he's a good player, and I guess they got Brandon Montour, and he's a good puck mover. He was good for Florida. Maybe he'll help their power play, but I still look at this team, and I'm like, you got no star power. You're boring. You're boring.

They are. Everything you do is boring and conservative, and I don't know. Maybe us in Vancouver calling them boring will make this more of a rivalry. Like, oh, yeah, that boring team down in Seattle. It's just nothing happens to that team. Nothing. Nothing goes on. All their moves going forward are dictated by this morning show.

Yeah. Oh, they made an aggressive move. They were boring. But listen, how many times have we had people on from Seattle? Yeah. And they're kind of like, yeah, they're kind of boring, right? We have a hockey team. We know that much.

And it's a risk, man. Like, it's a risk because the Sonics are coming back. Seattle's already packed marketplace in terms of sports. Hockey has a bit of a tradition down there. You know, there's some hardcore junior hockey fans. I realize that some kids play hockey down there, but it's completely different than Vancouver. It's completely different.

Outside of that blip where they made the playoffs and they upset the Avs and there was some excitement in Seattle, the problem was they didn't follow that up with anything. They followed it up with just like a boring season. Yeah, they kind of immediately found themselves in like the aggressively mediocre territory where you can like sometimes some years you go and you make the playoffs, you barely make the playoffs, and then you can maybe upset a team, but you're never a legitimate threat to go further than that. But also most years you're going to find yourself kind of on the outside looking in of the playoffs. And you at it now and it like the additions they made

you look at the the standings last season they were 17 points out of the playoffs last year are the additions they made enough to close that gap like i don't look at them as a playoff team this year and i don't look at them as a bad enough team this year, and I don't look at them as a bad enough team either. I mean, I think they could be a playoff team, but they're not going to be so bad that they're going to get the first overall pick either. And that's kind of the issue when you're stuck in the middle. Immediately stuck in the middle. And that's why right off the bat.

I feel like when we talk about this expansion draft and kind of the new format the NHL had, for Vegas, it hit to an extraordinary level that probably would never be matched. Yeah. And we were like, it's so unfair. They're just giving the Stanley Cup to Vegas. But I guess the point you're trying to make is sometimes

when you have an expansion draft and you give the team a chance to be okay and to be competitive, you can end up right away in the mushy middle. Yeah, and it's really, really hard to get out of it. And you look at their, like bringing it back to Matty Meneers, like is he enough to, when you look at him, does he have... You know what he is? He's Bo Horvat. That's exactly what I was going to say.

He's Bo Horvat. Can he be more than that? Probably not. And I look at him and he's exactly what I was going to say. He's Bo Horvat. Can he be more than that? Probably not. And I look at him and he's maybe the second or third best guy. He could be your second or third best forward on a cup winning team, probably third. Yeah. And they have –

I don't see him as a superstar. Yeah. I see him as a local star. He's a local celebrity. Right? He's a good player. He's a good player. He's a good player. But I think when you looked at what they could have had, you know, the potential when they drafted Matty Beneers second overall in their first round, in their first pick, and then

they drafted Shane Wright fourth overall, you're kind of like, man, potential down the middle looks pretty good. Beniers has panned out, but not overly panned out. And Shane Wright is still to be determined what he is. And then you look at, you know, there are other prospects. You know, in 2023, they drafted 20th overall because they had a pretty good year. They made the playoffs and they upset the Avs and they ended a pretty good year. They made the playoffs

and they upset the abs and they ended up with, I don't know, some guy named Edwards Saleh. And last year, I mean, Ladi's going to be like, oh yeah, he's a Czech player. He's pretty good.

I've heard about him. Ladi, I mean, you follow the dub more than we do. They got out of Spokane, Berkeley Katten. Is that how you, I don't even know how to pronounce his name, but eighth overall.

I mean, at good points, like is, is he, what's his potential? He's pretty special. He's pretty special. He's a,

he's a guy who just sees the ice really well. He sets up his teammates well. And he, he was in the talks for being like right up there. Really? Okay. So maybe he can pan out and be the, the real star they need.

But, but it's also like, it's not just the way they've drafted. It's the way they've built the team, which is like, Vince Dunn's our star, right? You're like, okay. Sure. At any rate, I don't want to, I'm been droning on too much, but Josh texted me last night.

He's like, we should talk about the Kraken and how boring they are. Yeah. People love talking about boring things. But like, as a Canucks fan, I'm upset that they're boring. I wanted them to be exciting. I wanted them to, I wanted there to be rivalry there.

And I probably knew in the back of my mind that that wasn't going to happen until they met in the playoffs or something. In, you know, a real rivalry. It won't happen. That's what it'll take. That's what it'll take, you think? Yeah, season rivalry is not the same thing. You need a

playoff battle. Yeah. Like, once they have their first true, whenever that happens, if it happens, true playoff battle, then there'll be a rivalry, you know, 30 years from now. Do you think Sonics fans back in the day were like, man, I wish the Grizzlies weren't so bad? Probably, yeah. That would have been fun to have a rivalry with Vancouver.

They were probably having the exact same conversation 30 years ago. Here's the difference. I wish the Grizzlies were good. Here's the difference. Seattle already had some natural geographic rivalries. Yeah. They had Portland. Right.

And they had the whole West Coast, and they'd been established, right? And when Vancouver came in, they were probably like, eh. Yeah. Right? We'll see you when you guys are good. Yeah, it wasn't that big a deal. I think the excitement for Canucks fans when the Kraken came into the NHL was like,

here's a drivable game that we can go down and we can cheer for the Canucks in Seattle. I still haven't been to that arena. I've heard it's real nice. I've heard it's real nice. I'd like to go, I don't know, I always say this, I'd like to go this year. I think it's cool that it's underground.

I've never been to an underground arena. Well, yeah, they had to dig it out. That's sweet. I mean, I've been to that arena before a long time ago. I saw the Boston Celtics play the Seattle Supersonics there. It was like the Larry Bird era. Damn. Thank you.

That was my first ever NBA game. TV was still black and white then, Josh. It was. It was. None of the games were on TV. They were all, yeah, it was. At any rate. You know, like, but do you know what the big attraction would be to go down and watch the Canucks in Seattle?

Number one, the Canucks. Number two, the arena. Like, I want to see the arena. Ticket prices, too, maybe. Yeah, the ticket prices, maybe, too. The Canucks ticket prices this year is like, oh, geez. But it's not like, I can't wait to see if Brandon Montour can help the puck moving abilities of the Seattle Kraken. Chandler Stevenson.

I'm so excited to see his impact on the second line. Kraken superstar Chandler Stevenson. Do you think they have those guys? It's like, you know how the Canucks and all the arenas have the posters of the star players around the city and littering the arena and outside? Do you think the Kraken have those banners of Chandler Stevenson? They must. It's got to be like, they're superstar players. and like outside like you think the crack and have those banners of like Chandler Stevens like veneers McCann Stevenson their marketing teams like what the hell maybe the first year is like look at Brandon Tana really is mugshot big eyes yeah he's got big eyes. He looks surprised.

I've actually seen, speaking of Brandon Tanev, I've seen Kraken fans online being like, oh, do we got to trade Brandon Tanev now? They feel like they have to trade somebody. And Brandon Tanev, if he was available, very interesting to me from a Canucks point of view. Not that they would trade with the Canucks, because I think... The Canucks, how are you making all these moves?

I know you want to talk about Patrick Laine and uh whether or not the Canucks should have done that I live in a fantasy world like how how are you how are you making that happen the the line I think yeah the line I think the line I think because Columbus clearly wanted to get rid of the entire cap hit and they were willing to send away a second round draft pick in order to um convince the haps to do that so how how like when line a when it became obvious that line i wanted out of columbus and that he was likely going to be traded this offseason i gave it like four seconds of thought in terms of the canucks because of cap hit also the way the like the window that the Canucks are in right now where they can't afford to like take a massive swing on a guy that has

had some issues and also you know like we saw how not that they're same player but like we saw how a guy like Kuzmenko fit with Rick Tockett. Patrick Laine is not exactly known as this hardworking guy that is a 200-foot player and takes care of every area of the ice. Patrick Laine is known as he's got a good shot. Yeah. You know? So the way I would have fitted in, and this is completely hindsight,

you wouldn't have been able to sign Dabrowski and Joshua, and that would have been the exact amount of cap you needed and maybe like hey that's inherently a risk but i also look at jake debruskin to go to joshua both of those contracts it's very very risky and arguably i would say because of the term because of the dollars committed they might even be more risky than patrick linea for you would have picked liney over debruskin now i'm not saying i would pick liney but i could make the case that liney might be at not as risky of an option as people might think it's not even the what do you think is going to happen to him it's the mental game though man it's not the con like for me it's

not the contract it's it's what's going on upstairs but i kind of yeah i kind of believe that he might be able to get back to that form in Montreal. I think he has gone through the steps now and gone through the experiences. But Kuzmenko scored 35 goals for the Canucks, but wasn't really a fit with how they play and how they want to play under Rick Tockett. And Laine, to me, is just more talented than Kuzmenko to the point where I think Rick Tockett might just be like,

hey, if you can hate your potential, then you can do, like you'll be with Pedersen, it's fine. You can do what you have to do. And he'll accept the negatives that come with. Line A and Petey on a line together would be fascinating to watch. Yeah, exactly. That's like the highest of high ceilings, but also the lowest

of low floors, right? And that's the thing to me that was so intriguing. Both crying? Do they like hockey? What's happening right now? Canucks locker room, oh my god. Miller just in the corner, he's like fuming. Not even saying anything. We got another one! How did they do this?

But anyway, I just think it would have been fun. It's a big bet. But, and look, to be fair. I mean, I understand what you're saying. Like, theoretically, if Lainey is like... Talent is enticing. Yeah, if he gets back to his form on the Jets, he was like, for those couple years,

he was one of the best goal scorers in the league. He would have been a perfect fit for Patterson. If you get Lainey at his best years, Lainey, then he's totally worth the money. I just don't think it's worth the risk. scorers in the league. He would have been a perfect fit for Patterson. If you get Laine at his best years, Laine, then he's totally worth the money. I just don't think it's worth the risk. It's a big risk. I really do hope it works out for the Habs, and I think the Habs were the perfect team

to take a risk on that. I guess the only thing that people might say is like, that's a lot of attention for Laine in that market. But listen, if he's going to come back into the NHL, he's going to face some challenges. And he, and you know, I watched his entire presser and he seemed like he was in a better place. And I hope he's learned some good lessons and I hope he's learned some coping strategies for how to deal with the pressure and the tension of being an NHL player, which I can only imagine what that is. It's, it's, it's immense, especially when you have the expectations that Patrick Laine has.

I hope it works out for Montreal. I think the Canadians were the perfect team to try and get him, also considering the fact that they haven't had many elite offensive players in a long, long time. He was perfect for them. I just did not see how that would work for Vancouver. Fair enough. 650-650, keep your texts coming in, and we get your what we learns in.

Get them in early as well. On the other side, we're going to speak to Mark Antoine Godin, and we'll talk about Patrick Laine and what he can bring to the Montreal Canadiens. Before we go, the roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at bclions.com. It is Halford and Brough on Sportsnet 650. welcome back to how for the brough know how for josh elliott wolf here with jason brough you can text in 650 650 dumb bar lumber text line get your what we learned in

early and we'll read them later on in the show. Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. We go to the phone lines where we welcome in Marc-Antoine Gaudin covering hockey for Radio Canada. Really appreciate you taking the time.

How are you? I'm good, guys. Good morning. Good morning. And how are fans in Montreal? They've had a couple days to digest it, feeling about the Patrick Laine acquisition. I think there's a legitimate sense of excitement,

but at the same time, I mean, Patrick Laine comes with a bit of baggage and a reputation. So I guess everybody's kind of holding their breath as to see if that experiment is going to pan out. It's far from a sure thing. When you acquire a player for that price, it's because it comes with some red flags. So we'll see if the red flags are going to prevail

or is it going to be like the humongous talent of that guy that are going to prevail or is it going to be the humongous talent of that guy that's going to prevail. But for the Montreal Canadiens, I think that everybody agrees that it was a risk worth taking and it was a risk that the Canadians were in a position to take both with their timeline to become a competitive team and also from a salary standpoint. So I think there's excitement, yeah.

Yeah, the thing about the timeline and the Canadians kind of being in the position to make this trade is kind of what makes sense to me when we talk about Patrick Vlade. Is this a move that Kent Hughes is looking to make or more aggressive moves like this, I guess, that Kent Hughes is trying to make to maybe accelerate the timeline a bit or at least make bets like Laine? Yeah, well, in terms of accelerating the timeline, they were always looking for ways to do that. But at the same time, they remain conscious of uh not skipping steps especially with the development of their young players they didn't want to put them in roles that they were

not ready for or promote guys that were not ready for the job but you know toiling in the basement of uh of the standings for god knows how many years that that was not their plan. So I think that right from the get-go, they pictured this summer, the 2024 summer, as the summer of the trade, and maybe the 2025 summer more as the summer of the free agent acquisition. So they said at the end of last season that they were interested, they wanted the Montreal Canadiens to be in the mix for a playoff spot next year.

And I think that in their mind, and Kent Hughes said as much, they said that with the idea that they would add another score, another guy that they could put on the top six. It took longer than they thought it would. Here we are, I mean, at the end of August, and it's certainly not like a draft weekend type of acquisition, but they got it done. And now, I mean, all of a sudden, if you have a healthy Kirby Doc,

you've got Suzuki, Caulfield, Slavkovsky. You add Liney to it. Alex Newhook has been showing signs of progress, too. You've got some interesting pieces there. And then, you know, I'm not saying, I'm not going to say that the Montreal Canadiens all of a sudden are a playoff-worthy team. That remains to be seen. But, I mean, a year from now, if you add Ivan Dmitrov to the fold and potentially a free agent acquisition that they will have the money to spend on, then it that have a lot of respect for brendan gallagher having him watched a long time ago now playing for the vancouver giants but he's not the player that he he once was and and you know it's it's it's harder to be a real leader on the team when you're not um you know playing significant minutes and playing a significant role i think galley's maybe a bottom sixer now.

So what does the leadership group look like? Because when you add a player like Patrick Laine, I imagine one of the conversations that Kent Hughes had with him was like, hey, you not only have to, you know, play the way we want you to play, is we're a young team and you might actually be a veteran on this team you might have to be one of the leaders absolutely yeah yeah he's 26 and even though he's not he's not an old player he's already going to be in that room one of the older players so for sure uh it's it's been it's been discussed with liney i think that liney understands that role but when it comes to montreal's leadership i think that the Lainez understands that role. But when it comes to Montreal's leadership,

I think that the leadership starts with Martin Saint-Louis. He's the real captain of this team as the head coach, as the most influential person in that locker room. And the one that, you know, that steers the ship and the one that establishes that, that's the most important person to build the culture there. So I think that it all starts with him. Obviously, it has to extend to the players.

And they named Nick Suzuki captain two years ago, and he's grown into that role. And what I see from that group is a group that maybe is not winning a ton of games yet, but they, they trust the process and they, they're happy with the direction that the team is taking. And they're,

they know that it's, they're taking positive steps. They, they're fully aware of all the job that still needs to be done, but it's not, you know, one of those situations where a team has a losing record and they don't see the end of it.

I think that they see the light at the end of the tunnel. So overall, it's a group that's positive and encouraged with what they're seeing. So you bring in a guy like Patrick Laine, of course, there's always going to be some people saying, oh, he's, you know, he's terrible for a room or whatever. But unless you're in the room, you can't really say. And there's a reason why we always talk about chemistry in hockey. Well, you've got some matters that are soluble in other matters, and sometimes they're not.

But, I mean, I think that Laine comes at a point in his career where he needs to assess the gap there is between how he pictures himself as a player and how the results have been since the beginning of his career. And for the Canadians to make that bet on him now, I think the timing is right because, first of all, he wanted out of Columbus. He thought that he needed a change of scenery. He took many months off to reflect on himself and work on his mental health. So he's in a good disposition to start over and maybe say, OK, if I want to be the player that I can be, it's up to me. But I'm reaching a new stage in my career. And he's got two years left on this deal.

So if it doesn't pan out in Montreal and he he remains a guy that leaves you wanting more and is more problematic than anything else two years from now nobody's going to be really excited or interested in that player certainly not at that ticket so it's up to him to prove that he can be the elite player that he has the talent to show. So I think that with Kent Hughes said, I mean, because I asked him, I said, you know, we've seen this player in the past, you know, not showing the greatest amount of determination or intensity on the ice,

at least when he was not in a position to score. And he said, well, with a better environment and being properly valued by his teammates, we think that we can get more out of him. So I think that's the bet that the Montreal Canadiens are making. They trust their environment, they trust their development staff, and they trust the culture that they've built, starting with Martin Saint-Louis and Nick Suzuki.

It is Alfred Mbroff, Josh Elliott-Wolf, Jason Mbroff, joined by Marc-Antoine Godin, covering hockey for Radio Canada. You mentioned Martin Saint-Louis, and I've kind of been wondering about the job he's been doing. We talk a lot about coaching here in Vancouver, and Rick Talkett, and how players kind of fit within his system with the acquisition of Patrick Vlade. Is Martin Saint-Louis kind of a, is he a match for that? And can he handle kind of that situation? Well, that's a good question. I think that Martin Saint-Louis, he has a favorable idea of players that are smart players

that can read the game well and make quick decisions and good decisions. And the players that are more like north-south, meat-and-potatoes type of players that are not as imaginative, maybe that they won't play as well under him than those other guys who will understand where to find the solutions, where to find the time and space. So when it comes to energy or will, it has to, I mean, it remains to be seen. It's hard to say with Pat Ferdiney if it's going to work or not. But, I mean, Martin Saint-Louis was involved in a – because the Canadians spoke to Lainey before the trade.

Over the course of the weekend, they had the chance to talk to him, assess where he was at mentally, how comfortable and excited he would be to join the Canadians. And Saint-Louis was on that call. And I think that the head coach had to be comfortable that there was something that he could do with him and Sainte-Louis will always take on the challenge he never shied away from any sort of challenge but when you look at a guy with that package not only that shot but also tremendous hands great instinct to find the pockets in the slot on the power play,

the way that, you know, a very favorable frame. There's a lot to work with there. So Martins Favreau will not say, oh, you know, he's had underwhelming results or he's been an issue in Columbus in their room or whatever. I don't want any of it. He wants to work with that player. I mean, there's not a single guy. room or whatever i don't want any of it he'll he wants to work with that player i mean he's there is not there's not a single guy and some that some of the players that that he coached were

definitely not a fit for the canadian for the style of hockey that he wanted to implement but he there's i've not been aware of a single guy who said you know what i'd rather not play with him can you can we move away from that player? So I think that he's going to be central in turning Lainey into a positive player for Montreal. And you know what? It's two years, right? If it doesn't work in two years from now, it's thank you very much and we move on. Well, I think it's fascinating. We're going to be really, you know, curious to see how it works out. I just have one final question, Mark, and I know you kind of touched on this earlier,

but where is this Habs fan base right now in terms of their patience? Because correct me if I'm wrong, I have a few buddies that are Habs fans, and they've been mostly on board with the moves that Kent Hughes has made, and they liked the rebuild. But now it's been three years since that trip liked the rebuild, you know, but now it's been three years since that trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, which seems like a long time ago now just because it was a weird time in the world as well when they went to the Stanley Cup Finals.

But, you know, where is the patience level? Because you can be on board with a rebuild, but eventually you need to start seeing some results. Yeah, that's true. But the first time that I felt that the honeymoon was over and that there was impatience coming was at last year's draft when the Canadians drafted David Reinbacher instead of Matvei Mishkov. And the fan base were so eager to get a little prodigy up front

and a guy who could be a difference maker and a game breaker. And the fact that the team chose to pass on Mishkoff and trade Reinbacher, it created a backlash for the kid, for Reinbacher himself, but also for the front office. And this sort of went away and the, the, the impatience sort of, yeah, it washed away and we came back to more like, okay, let's, let's build it right. Instead of, of rushing as we've always wanted in Montreal, you know, immediate results and it better be now we cannot wait until tomorrow.

But I think that there's been a positive shift with them drafting Demidov this past June. And now there's sort of a, you have a clearer idea of when this team is going to be competitive. They may make the playoffs this year. They may not. You know, I'd be surprised if they did, because other teams in the short term got also better over the course of the summer but in terms of the overall uh potential of this team i think you're going to see it in a year or two from now uh so there is

still i think that there's going to be a demand for progress, a demand for more competitiveness. But if you pay attention to the Montreal Canadiens games, and I know that tons of fans in Montreal, I mean, they live and die for it. They must have seen that at least the team was more competitive this past year than they were two years ago where they were blown out of the water and kicked out of their own building. So there's – what is going to be enough? It depends.

There are some fans who say, you know, don't rush things. There is no point. And heck, I mean, if the team is to miss the playoffs, they better have a good draft pick again next year. There are some fans that think like that. Others are the older ones also that remember 86, 93. They might be looking

for a team that's got playoff hopes and Stanley got hopes quickly. But overall, I think that the patience is still rather strong in the fan base. Hey, Mark.

Really appreciate you taking the time and enjoy the rest of the summer here. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Take care. There is Mark-Antoine Gooden covering hockey for Radio-Canada. So that Atlantic Division, I know there are some people that are like, you guys talk too much about the Atlantic Division and mostly the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But for me, that division, all the teams are interesting. Like if you look at the Canucks division, there's nothing all that interesting, I think. There's the boring cracking. Well, there's, yeah, we already talked about the crack. And, you know, the Ducks aren't going to be probably, I mean. No, they will not. They're not going to be a factor this season.

The Sharks probably aren't going to be a factor this season. The Flames, i guess they're interesting in the sense that we enjoy watching them lose but yeah and they have a lot of cap space they could be interesting off the ice i guess but it's much more of a i i don't know those teams to me are just non-factors but if you look at the atlantic division you've got teams like a team like Florida, who you know is pretty good. And you wonder, you know, you know, I mean, they're the Stanley Cup champs. So, you know, they're pretty good, right?

And you wonder if they can get back there again, which would be their, you know, third trip to the Stanley Cup finals. So, you know, they're good. And then you've got teams like Boston and Tampa Bay and Toronto who you wonder if they can hang on. You wonder if they can maintain that status that they've had as being these perennial playoff teams and some of them winning championships, not the Leafs, but some of them winning championships.

And then the four teams below them you're kind of like all right when are these guys gonna get going because you know Detroit, Buffalo, Ottawa and now I think Montreal. Montreal has been an afterthought for the last three years you kind of looked at the division you're like nah nothing's expected in Montreal but we actually spent quite a bit of time heading into last season talking about Detroit and Buffalo and Ottawa and ultimately none of them made the playoffs but at some point one of them has to break through right one of them has to break through so for me that division all eight teams are interesting I agree um. The Detroit and Buffalo, especially, and Ottawa, it is the, like, hey, when are you going to break through? For Buffalo, it feels like it should have happened already

because every year they're there. It should have happened seven years ago. Yeah. 2011, last time they made the playoffs. Every year they're now. Happened in 2011 anyway. I don't know. Who knows?

But every year they're the sexy pick to make the playoffs you know and well like i don't think anything out of buffalo has been considered sexy but come to sexy buffalo wear a coat you will not enjoy your time uh buffalo but like they they have the pieces and they feel like they should be good tage thompson feel like feels like he should be better than he is i guess or better than he was last season ottawa they always feel like they should be good. Tate Thompson feels like he should be better than he is, I guess, or better than he was last season. Ottawa, they always feel like they should be good, but then they're just not because they're the Ottawa Senators.

Isn't it kind of crazy that Greener's their coach this year? Yeah. I kind of forgot about it. Right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Travis Green is the coach of the Ottawa Senators. The most forgettable Canadian team?

Louis Erickson on the bench for some reason. Yeah. But they have a lot of potential. I actually thought when the Leafs job and the Sens job, they were both available. I was kind of like, I don't know. I know coaching the Leafs is coaching the Leafs and coaching the Sens is coaching the Sens.

But if you're looking in terms of potential down the line, you could probably make a case for the Sens. You can make a case that the Leafs have had their time and they blew it and they just didn't get it done. You know, over the next three or four years, talking three or four years, who do you think has better chance to win the Cup, the Sens or the Leafs? And you can both say, like, there's probably low chances for both of them. But, you know, I look at this Leafs team, and I know I got some pushback from Bourne

when I said this the other day. I was just kind of like, I think their time is over. You know, like, they've still got Matthews. I still think they've got a better chance than the Sens, though, if I was just kind of like, I think their time is over. They've still got Matthews. I still think they've got a better chance than the Sens, though, if we're talking about relative chances. Over the next three or four years, though? Over the next three or four years, yeah. Because you're going to have Matthews.

You're still going to have some of the core pieces around them. And especially if you end up moving Mitch Marner, freeing up all that cap space, and you probably get a big return back. But then you don't have Mitch Marner. Yeah, but that's okay. Yeah. Because realistically, cap space and you probably get a big return back. But then you don't have Mitch Marner. Yeah, but that's okay. Yeah. Because like realistically at this point you need a big shakeup.

He's been like terrible in the playoffs for them. And all they need to care about is the playoffs. I think it's going to be fascinating to see the fit between Craig Berube and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Because one of the reasons that Craig Berube had success in St. Louis was he had the type of team that he wanted to have. They were big. They were tough. They were defensively responsible.

They had a guy like Ryan O'Reilly. They had that big blue line, and they played a physical style, and it fit Craig Berube. And then when the Blues started to evolve a little bit and they brought in young players like Jordan Cairo, not to put the blame on him, but he was very much at the center, very much in the middle of that whole change in coaching in St. Louis. And we talked to Andy Strickland about this.

Then his methods became a little less effective, right? Like Craig Berube is a lot like Rick Talkett. You know, they're buddies. When we had Craig Berube on the show, a lot of the things he was saying was like, that sounds like talk. Yeah. Right?

So if he brings that style and that attitude to Toronto, it can be a challenge sometimes because you're talking to these veteran guys like Matthews and Nylander and Marner, and you're saying, you guys need to play a different way. And they're like, well, do we? Yeah. And are we willing to?

I don't know. I think at this point they better be willing to, and I think they should be willing to because they can't be so arrogant, I guess, to believe that what they're doing is working. But some people will say, well, yeah, they're always in the playoffs, though. Yeah.

I'm just playing devil's advocate here. But yeah, I think that's going to be a fascinating mix. And it brings it back to my whole point. I was like, if I was Craig Berube, would I have wanted the Sens job or the Leafs job? Now, obviously, he chose the Leafs job. I don't know if he was even offered the Sens position, but I know there's something to be said also for coaching the Leafs

and the potential that you've got there, that if you do win the Cup, that's going to be incredibly special. But that to me will be another interesting, like that Atlantic division. All those teams are interesting to me. For sure. On the other side, you mentioned it.

Andy Strickland is going to join us. We're going to talk about the Blues. They bring in Broberg and Dylan Holloway and we'll see kind of, we'll talk to him about expectations for that team, because to me, they are a very confusing team, I would say. So we'll get to that on the other side.

Jam Pro, the leaders in commercial cleaning and janitorial. If your workplace demands a clean environment, contact Jam Pro for a free, no obligation quote, visit jampro.ca. It is Halford and Brough, Josh Elliott-Wolf,

Jason Brough on Sportsnet 650.