Halford & Brough in the Morning - So Much For The Tankinen

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

In hour one, Brough and guest host Josh Elliott-Wolfe look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk last night's OT 'Nucks win over the Kraken, plus they go around the NHL with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (26:08).  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.

Dan-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Liam Ogren in on the court shoots. He scores. Liam Ogren in the shootout, one of the newest caducks wins it for Vancouver. They take it three to two over the crack-in. Bajat-Rabinson! 30, 35, 40, midfield, it's a fun race. Robinson 30, 15, 10, 5, house tall.

Are you serious? 69 hits this season. Nice. Nice. Nice. Welcome to Halford and Brough still know Mike Halfer. Josh Elliott will filly name for him this week. But Jason Brough is here.

Good morning, Jason. Good morning, Josh. How are you? I'm doing well. Adon, good morning. Good morning. Laddie, good morning. Hello, hello.

Anything you would like to apologize for, Lattie? No. Because I didn't hear the fan blogger before the show. Are you tanking? Is that one? Yes. We're not supposed to enjoy these wins, right? Isn't that what's going on right now? Okay.

All right. It was totally intentional. Okay. 100% intentional. All right. Sorry, Josh. Halford & Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks.

Visit sands-trustee.com. This hour of Halford and Brough is brought to you. to buy Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal since 1926. Visit Duick GM Omnarene Drive downtown in Richmond and at Duick Auto Group.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Happy holidays from all the team at Kintech. Footwear and orthotics. All right. You can text in as well. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber Text Line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rent a warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dumbar lumber.com. It's another four guester on the show today.

It'll start at 6.30 with Greg Wyshinsky, senior NHL writer for ESPN. And the biggest story in the NHL right now might be the Buffalo Sabres. Nine wins in a row for our sad club brethren out in Buffalo. Just so happy for them. Imagine if they make the playoffs and the Red Wings. Make the playoffs, breaking the droughts? Yeah. It would be awesome for Buffalo. I hope one of those happens. I don't really care about Detroit, but I hope it happens for Buffalo.

7 o'clock, Brandon Batchelor, voice of the Vancouver Canucks. You can hear them last night on the call on Sportsnet 650, and tonight as well on the station when the Canucks take on the flyers. We'll talk about last night's game. We'll preview Rick Talkitz return to Vancouver. We saw them play against each other last week, but now is his voyage back into Vancouver, and we'll see what the reception is like for him.

7.30, Matt Verde-Ram, NFL staff writer for Sports Illustrated. We'll talk about week 18 in the NFL, anything and everything on the line for a few teams around the league. And at 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance covers the Canucks for the athletic one half of Canucks talk here on Sportsnet 650. We will talk about last night's game and everything going on. with Vancouver Canucks off the ice as well. When are they going to make a trade? We'll talk to Drans about that at 8 o'clock. So working in reverse, 8 o'clock Thomas Dran, 7.30, Matt Verdeh.

7 o'clock, Brendan Batchelor, 6.30, Greg Wyshinsky. That's what's happening on the show. Laddy, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was.

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss it? 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.com.

The Vancouver Canucks win in a shootout against Seattle in Seattle last night, 3-2, and the game, first period, almost started with a very big Seattle bang because it was a breakaway 30 seconds or a minute in and Tyler Myers was chasing a stick in the offensive zone corner and the Cracken were like hey that's a great time to have a breakaway and then they did do that they did not score on it though Kevin Lankan who was awesome last night made one of his few first period big saves and later in the period though the Crack and do score

Jared McCann opened scoring eight minutes in on a four on three power play for the cracking but Linus Carlson answered back Linus Carlson tied for second on the Canucks in goals he gets his ninth goal of the season

off a nice setup from Liam O'Grathen tying him again for second on the team in goals this season it also came moments after a Connor Garland and Jared McCann fight because of a play

earlier in the first period where McCann was like I think you elbowed me and I'm not sure if it was worth a fight but they fought regardless and I don't know who do you think won the fight I think Garland won the fight

because the Canucks scored right after Fair enough So Garland won that fight Yeah that was actually there was a couple of haymakers I was surprised It wasn't bad It was a spirited tilt It wasn't bad

The Cracken did get the lead back Late to end the first period But the Canucks put together A nice passing play And the second period Zbouiam to Tom Vallander To Van der Kaine Who made a nice pass

to one Elias Pedersen who didn't hesitate he shot the puck, he shot it well and he tied the game and that ended up being the final goal in regulation all the way until a overtime that happened

the Canucks had to kill a penalty, but outside of that there wasn't too much going on and then in the shootout Kevin Lankan, he doesn't lose those. He is 17 for 17. That's incredible. 17 for 17. That's crazy. Absolutely insane. In the shootout this season, Liam Ogren, again, his second

shootout winner in a Vancouver Canucks jersey. And he wins the game. Kevin Lankenen wins the game for them. The Canucks win three to two in a shootout in Seattle. Oh, okay. Did we just lose a fucking Canucks? There you go. Okay. You got it in there. Nice. We did it. Okay. We did it. A few things to talk about. There was, uh, I'm reading the Dunbar Lumber text line right now from the post game show. And there are some complaints. about the way the Canucks played in overtime and in general. And basically, it's to get to the shootout. And when Kevin Lankinen is in net and the way he's been in the shootout,

and also you got Liam Ogren now, who's an automatic goal apparently in the shootout for the Canucks, I don't blame the Canucks for playing that way, and I don't blame the coach for playing that way. if you're a board team tank you cannot blame the players for trying to win and you cannot blame the coach for trying to win the only people that are going to

really influence team tank is management and that would be from trading players away now you can not like the way they play in overtime it's certainly not exciting oh it's terrible It's, let's be honest, it's, it's terrible. It's terrible to watch. And Drance, he's probably going to come on and call it cynical, right, which is a term you'd hear in soccer a lot, you know, like they're playing a cynical style, you know,

if it's like England at the World Cup, they're trying to get to the, you know, shootout or whatever, although that hasn't always gone well. Yeah. Pelley kicks. But, you know, it is just, it is the way that they think they have a better chance to win. and iMac pointed this out in his postgame article up on sportsnet.com, it is the best way for them to win. Yeah, they're very right about that. You know, and they don't have, you know, like, when you think about what you need to be successful in overtime, you need burners, and you need guys that can rip shots, right?

You need a lot of offensive creativity and speed helps. Look at the Canucks The Canucks have a lot of that Yeah like they don't That's the problem right So there's a lot of There's a lot of circling back And you know

Getting the zone and then leaving the zone And then getting the zone again And then going nah Leave the zone You know Brock Besser Made a bad pass in overtime And that was like

Don't do that You can't give the puck up You're supposed to just have it The whole time You're supposed to just have it And kill the five minutes And it's awful to watch. And, you know, I was, I was a little surprised

as Seattle fans didn't get on the Canucks a little bit more because sometimes you get a little boo them at least, you know. But look, Lankinen, 17 for 17. That is the way to win the game, and that's what they did. They didn't deserve to win the game last night. Lankin had stopped 39 shots. And then three more in the shootout. So I guess there's not much more to say on that

It's just like if you want to if you if you're going to get upset about The Canucks winning games and especially like that Where they don't play particularly well But they they gut it out because mostly well Kevin Lankinen Then your beef is with management Your beef isn't with the with the players Especially not Kevin Lankin and your beef isn't even with Adam foot The head coach because he's trying to win games

out there. That's its job. Other things that I wanted to talk about, I think it's it's great in this year where things haven't gone very well for the Canucks to have a positive story like Linus Carlson. It's been a long road from the time he was drafted 2018 by San Jose to now. I've heard personally many times and it's been reported as well that he really put the work in in Abbotsford, really taking advantage of having the likes of the Siddines and Manny Mahotra to learn from. And I was reading a couple articles last night

where he credited the Siddins for helping him with the details around the net, the tips, and finding the soft areas. And finding the soft areas exactly what he did last night off a lost face off. Liam Ogren made a good play to get to that loose puck. And then Carlson is in that soft area in the slot where Ogham, he made a nice pass to Carlson and Carlson put it home. The Seneens, if you think about it, they weren't the greatest skaters and neither is Carlson. But you can make up for that if you're smart and you use your body the right way

and Carlson's a pretty big dude and I don't know I just it's nice it's nice to have a story like that I thought Carlson showed a lot at the end of last season I was like there's something there and obviously he was he was a he was a he was a key in Abbotsford's run to the championship but even at the NHL level I thought you could see something he's pretty heavy on his stick so good for Linus Carlson like you like to see that story of development down in the HL. The Kinex really

haven't produced enough players that have gone on to be good NHL players from the HAL and he spent a long time down there.

Was he 26 now? Yeah. I mean that's a story of perseverance for Linus Carlson and not giving up. You know, a lot of people

in his position was like, well, why don't you just go back and play professionally in Sweden? I was like, well, I don't want to.

I want to play in the NHL. And now he's playing really well. You know, you already mentioned this, but that was a really nice goal that Pedersen scored in the second, taking a beautiful pass from Kane and ripping that rister past a cord. That was a great shot. And as you mentioned, there was no hesitation after he picked it up.

You know, so that's another positive. And, you know, good for Garland for taking that fight. Yeah. Like, he's, he knows the situation, the Canucks are. and he's still taking that fight where I don't think a lot of people would take fights in the season that the connects are having

right the fights aren't fun to have and I know he wasn't fighting Ryan Reeves or anything who's fighting Jared McCann which to be fair it might be fun to punch Jared McCann in the face but you know good for Garland for staying in the fight again this isn't you can't ask the players

to tank you did it's a it's a silly notion but I do You wonder when management is going to pull the trigger on some trades. Yeah. Because first of all, you got Jake DeBresque as a healthy scratch. Like there's too many bodies right now, right? There's too many bodies.

So make some trades and let's get this going. My main takeaway, especially in regards to, so yeah, Jake DeBress scratch last night. You had Linus Carlson scoring a goal and he's looked well and it feels like there's maybe more opportunity for him to get an elevated role. but you look at the logjam of wingers, and it's not even like great wingers. It's just, it's good winger that he probably wouldn't take out a lineup. Like, Brock Besser, he has one goal in his last 20 games,

but he's still Brock Besser. Like, you're not going to take him out. Apparently he's a key cog on the PK now. Right, which is good for him. Avander Kane, like, he's been better lately, to be fair, but you're not going to take him out. Kiefer Sherwood, Drew O'Connor. Like, you have all these guys that are good,

but they're kind of in the way if you're trying to have guys graduate into bigger roles, like namely Carlson or Hoaglander or, I mean, a lot of people are going to want to see like Lechermacky down the stretch as well, especially if he can get into a top six role. So the, there's the,

they should be trying to push this simply to improve their draft position, like try to trade a Kiefer Sherwood or someone else to get a little bit worse, but also from the perspective of, giving your young guys a shot in a season where everybody is just clamoring to see young points. I wonder if they could create some urgency on the Sherwood trade market. Is there anything you could tell potential, you know, potential acquiring teams? Like, we're going to set a deadline for this. So get your best bids in because, I don't know.

Like, I don't know if that would work. Because I know what they're trying to do. They're trying to get the best return. They can get for him. and there might be some teams that are telling them, look, I don't want to do this now. Yeah. We're not even into 2006. I would rather do this after the Olympic break, right at the trade deadline, when I know for sure what my team needs.

Especially because the Eastern Conference is so tight, too. Well, that's a good point, right? Like, you know, you look at Buffalo, they win nine in a row. they go from bottom of the conference all the way into a playoff spot. I don't know if you've noticed, but the Bruins have lost six in a row. They're out of a playoff spot now. Ottawa, every time I look at the standings, they're either in or they're out, I don't know what's going on.

The Leafs are last in the conference, and yet I don't even know if they're completely out of it yet. No, like there are four points out, point percentage, like it's a bigger gap, but four points out, like, no team in the Eastern Conference is out of it right now. So if you are the Knoch's in, I think we've gotten to the point, especially with Kiefer Sherwood, where it's like, hey, you're kind of holding out for at least a first round pick, or I think what we hope would be a first round pick. The teams, at least in the Eastern Conference, are probably not jumping at the opportunity to give you a first round pick until they know, to your point, that they're going to be in a playoff spot.

And that might not happen until after the Olympic break, or at the very least, I think it's still going to be two or three more weeks. But every game I watch, and I'm like, okay, I hope Sherwood scores a goal. just to keep it going or I'm just watching and I'm like please don't get hurt because if Kiefer Sherwood gets hurt I'm going to be very upset about not moving him when they

maybe could have had a chance to move them for what they can get right now but anyway that's the takeaways from last night tonight it's the Vancouver Knox taking on the Philadelphia Flyers Rick Tockett's returned to Vancouver This is first game back Rick Tocke Yeah yeah I could have sworn he was here already

Okay that's wild Well because they played against him last It's going to be a big one But in Philly. Yes. I remember that. And they had, and talk was on with Donny and Dolly.

So maybe that's what you're- What do you think his reception is going to be like? Uh, I think it'll be mostly positive. Um, but like most things when it comes to the Canucks, opinions vary. For example,

I like a lot of the media, let's be honest, liked what Tocquet brought to the Canucks. I thought he brought respectability back to the way they played. Um, respectability, not necessarily entertainment, but respectability. It was temporary, but the Canucks did buy in that season, that talk it was named Coach of the Year. And the results were better than they've been in a while and excitement about the Canucks very much returned to the city.

I also understand the criticisms because the style he coaches isn't very entertaining and I think it's very possible that there is a limited ceiling to it. And I think Tockeet realized that too, which is why he tried to evolve the team only for that project to be undone by poor personnel on the back end. And I'm not sure if you guys heard about this, but there was a rift between... What? Yeah, there was a rift. Get out of here. Between a couple of the Canucks. Now that sounds insane.

Yeah, yeah. Pedersen and Miller. And then they eventually actually traded Miller. Where? The Rangers, yeah. Oh, my goodness. How could professional athletes act like that? And then, I don't know if you guys remember this, but Tuckett just, he just walked away. He's like, I'm out of here.

Which I understand, I also understand, irked some people because Tockeet was the guy that was, you know, what was his, what was his saying? Embrace the hard, you know, which was. Me pressure with pressure. Me pressure with pressure. And then he's like, he's like accepted the deal from Philly, right? That was his third model. They've got three practices. sheets, I'm going there.

That's what I want. Well, I also think that Tocke looked at the team and went, I don't, you know, he, look, I think Tockeet probably, I think Tocke was asked if Hughes told him he wasn't saying. He was like, nah, no, I don't know about that. I think he might have had an idea. And I think he didn't necessarily believe in his number one center. So, and he didn't have J.T. Miller anymore. So I think he looked at that and then looked at the opportunity in,

in Philly and things are going pretty well for talk with the Flyers They're in a playoff spot right now and you know I was reading a reading an article about Talks return to

Vancouver and the Flyers captain Sean Couturee said we're all buying into the style of play he wants us to play it's been working so far so it's been fun and that sounds like

his first full season with the Vancouver when they were all buying in and yeah it was fun because they were winning they were having success um zeggris has done well under rick tocket where a lot of people wondered how he'd do in that system considering the type of player um but the results have been mixed with mitchkoff and a lot of the criticisms that rick tocket received for how i don't know he coached Elias Pedersen, he's getting for how he's coaching Michkoff. So I think the opinions on Talkett in Philly are mixed,

even though they're having a pretty good season and they're in a playoff spot right now. The hiring of Rick Tockin in Philly was not universally loved because I think there was a lot of criticism of Talket in Vancouver. And don't forget that everyone outside of Vancouver was following the Canucks soap opera. opera, you know, because it was hilarious to a lot of people like, what, they got a fight between two of their players and one of them is going to be traded. Yeah. And one of the narratives that came through is that Rick Tocket was not good for Elias Pedersen. And that comment he made about trying to reprogram PD like that. His critics took that and ran with it. And Tockett knew

it, right? Like he referenced it. He's like, I made that comment and people lost their minds and, you know, and I think people are thinking that he's trying similar stuff with Mitchcoff, and he might be. And I think there was even a comment that Mitchcoff didn't show up in the greatest shape this season. It's very similar. The quotes and stuff have been very similar from Mitchcove to what was happening with Pedersen. But that being said, like, I don't know, even as a Pedersen guy, I never looked at Rick Tocke as the issue for what was going on with Elise Pedersen. I figured it was something that Elise Pedersen had to solve himself.

And I mean, I maybe had some hope that it was Rick Tocket, just because that would be super easy if Adam Foot came in and it was like, oh, Pedersen's fixed, but he's not. So clearly it wasn't Rick Tocket. I do think the I don't know, the feeling the rhetoric around Rick Tockeet

has kind of gotten out of hand over the last few months for Canucks fans where they're like, he isn't even a good coach. And I'm like, I think he's a pretty good coach. And I think the Canucks would have love to have Rick Tocket. Well, they tried to keep him. Yeah.

They were very disappointed when he walked away. Mark texts into the Dunbar-Lumber text line. Tawket gets immediate results, but his style does long-term damage to franchises and individual players. Damage is a, I don't know. I feel like the Canucks do enough damage to themselves. Yeah. Without Rick Tock's help.

But there are styles that certain players play well under and certain players don't play well under. My thing with Pedersen and Tuckett's style of hockey is that Petty was playing unbelievable hockey for the first half of the season. Yeah. Do you remember that trip through New York where the lotto line was reunited?

What a time. Pedersen scored a goal that was actually a lot like the goal that Gavin McKenna scored against Denmark yesterday for his hat-trick goal. It was very similar. It was beautiful, incredible hands around the net. That was some of the best hockey I've ever seen.

Actually, well, not ever, but in the last decade, the Canucks as a team play. And then we all know that the All-Star break happened, and the Canucks started pressuring Pedersen to either sign long-term or they're going to trade them. And I think that was more where, Pedersen's game fell off. It wasn't, it wasn't a style thing. It was just his game fell off. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Uh, 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Keep the text coming in there.

You mentioned the world juniors Canada did get the dominant win. Dominant 9-1 win. We can get more into it as the show goes on. Howford and Brough is brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal since 1926. Does it dowick GM on Marine Drive, downtown in Richmond and at duacotta group.com. On the other side, Greg Wasinski is going to join us. We'll get into everything going on around the NHL. It is Halford & Brough. Josh Elliott-Wolf filling in for Mike Halford on SportsNet 650.

Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to Halford & Brough. No Mike Halford, Josh L.A. Wolf filling in for the week. Halpert & Brough is brought to by Sands and Associates. Get out of the penalty box of debt. And back in the game with a financial fresh start, visit sands-trustee.com.

And you can text in 650-6-50 is the debt. Dunbar, Lumbertex line. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, and we go to the phone lines now. We welcome in Greg Wasinski, senior NHL writer for ESPN. Appreciate you taking the time, wish. Are the Buffalo Sabres the best team in the NHL?

No, but their goal-thetting is pretty good so far, and they're playing with a lot of confidence, and clearly they hated their boss. I think that's the one takeaway that we could take from the streak is boy, boy did they hate their boss. It's an interesting, you know, the whole Yarmokokaline thing is interesting because he was kind of just like one of the bobs from office space for a while. He was kind of like observing the team and probably calling people into awkward meetings

and stuff. And I'm sure everyone in the organization knew it was just a matter of time before he took over for Kevin Adams. And then, you know, it finally happens. And it just, it's, I mean, I can't recall the last time they made a, a team made a swap at the general manager position or the, you know, top of hockey operations position and all of a sudden had a rocket strapped to their back. So they're getting really good goaltending, especially from Alex Lyon, and the pieces are

fitting. Don't forget, though, I mean, like, part of the reason that they've been on this heater is because they've gotten some amazing play from Josh Norris, and that's great until he's no longer in the lineup. I mean, it's just like, could you sit your watch by the next Josh Norris injury, unfortunately. But, you know, every reason to enjoy it for now. It'll be a nice cushion for the Bill fans after their playoff this appointment to have the Sabres playing as well.

I don't even know if you're being sarcastic or not about they clearly hated the boss because, like, does the GM have an impact on the day-to-day of a team? The GM has an impact on the day-to-day to the team. I'm not necessarily saying a completely tongue and cheek in the sense that when you go from Kevin Adams who admittedly did not make a ton of terrible moves I mean if Josh Norris can stay healthy look what he can do you know what I mean so but there was always I think a sense

given the lack of playoffs appearances and even being relevant late in the season that a change had to come. And so, you know, I'm sure there is a certain new lease on life. There is a certain, okay, there's a, there's a pro in there that, you know, not only is someone who has figured out ways to build playoff teams, but more than anything else has shown a boldness in the way that he manages. And don't forget that.

I mean, it may not necessarily just be, we didn't like Kevin Adams. It may also be like Kevin Adams was so ineffectual as a manager that everybody was just kind of like fat and unhappy. And then Yarmalkeka Lining comes in, and this is the guy who has shown absolutely no hesitation in making huge swings that could involve literally anybody on the roster. So there probably is a little bit of, you know, relief in that there's a pro at the top of the food chain now, but also maybe in the back of their minds, hey, I better, I better, you know, get on my marks here a little bit because this guy, you know, will not hesitate to

ship me out of town. I assume that also goes the other way, though, with Yarmoh, and the positive way of like, hey, you're going on this run. You've won nine in a road in a playoff spot by points percentage right now. Is there, do you look at that, especially with Yarmos track record of being willing to make big moves? Do you think he looks at this group as one that he wants to reward for what they've done? I mean, there's probably a little bit of that, but I also think that, you know, his job with this organization has been to sort of, audit it and get an understanding of what pieces work and what pieces don't and the things that he might need to do in order to really make this a sustainable contender.

I mean, it's a great streak. It's put them in the playoff conversation. There's certain things about this team that have worked really well in the last month that may not necessarily remain sustainable if we have injuries or if we have any kind of goal-theading regression. But at the very least, I mean, I think he's getting a sense of the potential for this team. I mean, look, for months, if you go through the analytics sites, they were always way higher on the Sabres than a lot of people were. Not only in, you know,

what they were doing underlying numbers-wise, but also in their percentage chance of making the playoffs. And it seems like all that stuff added up to them being a little bit better than people gave them credit for once they got, you know, a couple guys to stop the puck. I wish I'm seeing a lot of Devils fans upset with Tom Fitzgerald. especially after the non-Quin-Hus trade or the inability to pull off a Quinn-Hughes trade when you look at the contracts on their books. Are they a team that maybe looks at the Buffalo situation

and just kind of what's been going on in New Jersey for the past few seasons? And would they consider a change at GM2? Potentially, but if they did, I think it would have to be them missing the playoffs and that decision happening in the off-season. you know he's very well liked amongst the players but I think if you look at this team critically

there's a chance that the way they played before Jack Hughes's injury might have been more of an anomaly than anything else their bottom six is not up to championship standards that could be addressed but it hasn't been and then you know the way that this team has been managed it's it just it's kind of messy right now like look when the devil

sign Andre Palat to that contract, everybody at the time said, this is bad. Like, why do this? And the information I have on that decision-making process was that that was completely Tom Fitzgerald. Like he was, you know, getting advice within the organization not to make that signing, but ultimately it was his call and he made it. The Dougie Hamilton contract, I don't think anyone should apologize for because he's, he's been good for them and he was the type of defense and they didn't have in their mix. But now you look at their blue line. and there's like 80 guys back there. And so they've got assets to trade, they've got needs,

and there's a certain amount of stasis happening right now within the organization that I think has double fans frustrated, on top of the fact that they didn't end up with Queen Hughes, and now the paradigm has shifted on what that might mean for the future, considering he seems extraordinarily happy playing with the Minnesota Wild, and Jack Hughes is a free agent in 2030. Are they trying to trade Douggy Hamilton, but he's wielding his no move, clause? The sense I get was that they never came. I don't know what they've come to him with,

how many options or, you know, if there have been any options. The sense I get was there may have been a little bit more movement on Dougie than there was on Palat, probably because he's a more tradable asset. But I mean, you know, when they have Koviceavich coming back, they've got Simone Nemitz coming back, they've got a real log jam on the blue line. And with the money that Hamilton makes, you know, I think that they could certainly want to free up that cash to help out at the forward position. And, you know, watching him a lot this season, he's all right. I don't think he's, I think he's, I think he's maybe lost a step. He hasn't nearly been as effective as he's been in the past. But someone could certainly use him. I mean, I think he still has

a lot of virtues, including a shot from the blue line on the power play that really has a way of sneaking through bodies and getting it on that. Hey Wish, Rick Tocket is back in Vancouver tonight for the first time as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. They can actually play the Flyers recently in Philly, but this is his return to Vancouver. What are people in Philly saying about the job Talkett has done with the Flyers this season? They're saying they're really disappointed in the Eagles offense. And by that, I mean, I really don't know how much attention is being paid. in Philadelphia to what the Flyers

are doing or not doing until the Eagle season is done. I will say that the I think what's gotten the most attention as you guys know has been sort of the interesting kind of back and forth between Talkett and the media about Matthew Mitchcoff to which I'd say

you know a rough coach being unhappy with his best skill player I thought they fired Tortorella it's kind of crazy that this is all happening despite their being a new coach in Philadelphia. But do you sound good success with Zegris, right? Like, that's kind of the...

He's had good success with Zegris, but I think also that he's in a contract here. I think that Trevor, I interviewed Trevor before this season. I wrote a big feature on him. And I think one, I think a lot... Tocke's helped. I'm not trying to say that he hasn't.

I think the coaching staff has helped. But I think a lot of that is Trevor. I think he's... Remember when Sagan got traded from Boston and it was like that come-to-Jesus moment of, hey, you've got to really focus in on hockey and be a better player, and then he blew up in Dallas. I think that's the same thing with Zegris and Anah.

It's kind of like, all right, you know, it didn't, we've parted ways, your life is different, things are not going well, you know, man up and make, and earn a big contract, and I think that's what he's done. The thing about the flyers I find baffling is they give up the first goal, I think maybe more than any team in the league. And yet, you know, they've managed to kind of maintain a pace and be in a playoff spot in the Metro Division despite that. So it's, you don't think of them as a team that's typically built. to climb out of a lot of holes that they dig for themselves, but they've managed to. I don't know if that's sustainable, but talks on a really good job,

kind of making them competitive and keeping them right in the mix in the metro. Have you checked in with the Nashville Predators? Because Stephen Stamco is suddenly on fire, and the Preds are playing, while they're winning games at the very least, they're up to NHL 500 and not too far out of a playoff spot. Yeah, they're like four points out right now,

I think, based on what the sharks did last night. again. It's impressive that they've climbed all the way back up to be a 500 team, but that just means they're like one of 27 teams that are at 500 right now or some ridiculous number in the NHL. But look, I mean, you got to give Barry Trott's credit. I mean, he stuck by his coach during some really tribulent times. He didn't, you know, overreact and start trading people before, you know, that time might come. And now they're right kind of in the mix of the wild card. I don't ultimately know if they're good enough to overcome some of the teams that are in that mix. But, I mean, there's also some teams that are in that mix that we're not sure how long they're going to be there.

I mean, you know, there's only so much Herculean lifting Macklin-Sillabrini can do to that Sharks roster to keep them in a playoff spot. So who knows? I mean, it's been really impressive to see them kind of write the ship and maybe give Barry a little bit of proof of concept or at the very least, you know, add a little bit of, of, of good vibes and good production to guys like Stamco's who needed it if in fact you're going to eventually trade him. I wish we were discussing this the other day and I'd love to get your take on this. What do you think about this potential Canadian forward group? And don't mention the goaltending.

Don't mention the goaltending. And even the blue line, I'm kind of like, it's been better in the past. But this forward group with, I think Celebrini is pretty much a lock now, with Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon and Sidney Crosby. I mean, I don't know this might be, in my memory, the most talented Canadian forward group ever assembled. And I would even go back to, you know, 87 when you had Gretzky and Lemieux together.

I mean, this forward group, what do you think of it as a guy that wants the United States to win? Overrated, clearly. You always do this. No, it's great. I mean, like, I mean, you think about how many guys that they have up front in their top nine, basically, that can take over a game by themselves. And it's daunting. I mean, it is, you know, to think about, if you get past Bikinnon, there's McDavid. You know, Celebrini could easily be, like, in their top six, and he's a guy that has 60 points on the season.

while nobody else on his team has more than 30. That's crazy. It is crazy. They have so many guys on that team that can make plays and do extraordinary things, that it's hard to, it's hard to imagine too many teams outside of, you know, a good goal-pending performance from Sweden and the totality of the American team, giving Canada much of a game. That's how good their offense is.

So we'll see how it shakes out, but on paper, it really is, like you said, one of the greatest assemblages of forward talent that we've seen from a team, from a team Canada. How is the American team shaping up in terms of the current form of some of the guys? Like, what are, what's going to be the strength of it? What are you maybe a little bit worried about? Because, I mean, the worry in Canada is obvious. It's goal-tending, right?

Well, again, like, we're waiting to see what the philosophical approach is going to be from Bill Guerin and his management group because, I mean, we assume it's, we assume guys like Brock Nelson are going to be on the team. Is Trochick on the team again? You know, what are the, what are the change is going to be down the lineup? And does that mean, I mean, we all know Tage Thompson is making the team? But does Clayton Keller make the team? Does Cole Cawfield make the team? You know, what is going to be the look in the shape of their bottom six? Because that's, you know, there could be a philosophical change based on the fact that they lost the four nations face off by one goal. You know, granted, playing Kyle Connor in a game like that probably would help. But, you know, we've, we've gone through that history before. The defense is incredible. It's mobile. It's, it's smart. It's effective. They've got multiple guys that can quarterback a power play. And then obviously they've got, you know, tremendous depth in their goaltending as well. I mean, look, there's some intrigue at least. I mean, Helibuck's been out for a while.

Hughes just came back. He's still wearing a splint on his arm. You know, there are some intriguing things about the team from a health perspective. But I would say on paper, the greatest strengths of the team, team is probably the goal heading and then it's the defense and then you know they're hoping that the pieces fit up front as well as they did in uh in four nations have you noticed the chemistry between queen hues and matt boldy notice the chemistry between queen hues the entirety of the minnesota wild like he's just like really happy there man it's not it's not great news if you're a devil fan uh i was reading mike russo's reports on how the wild treated him like they had his

favorite meal on the team charter when they picked him up they had a like a new BMW waiting for him i mean like it's just sick how how well it seems like he's been treated there i feel like if the devil's traded for him it's kind of like here's your brothers and then they just like walk out of the room so i mean i really think that you know the market the team the potential for that team to be good for a long time it's it's going to be it's going to be really intriguing to see what Quinn ultimately decides, but there's a better than good chance, I think, that he could probably end up signing in Minnesota for multiple seasons. We're still on this American team.

I think Jack Eichael's the one C, and I don't think there's any debate about that. Is Austin Matthews still the two C there? How are the Americans looking down the middle? I mean, by default, you know, they've got Dylan Larkin who had an incredible Four Nations tournament. They've got other guys that can kind of fill out the lineup. But, I mean, the premise of your question is Austin Matthews isn't Austin Matthews right now. And I think that's a fair assessment. I think anybody who's seen him for the last two seasons would agree.

And that really does impact things. Because, I mean, you know, one of the virtues of this, of this, you know, Canada versus USA rivalry and the idea that the U.S. might have what it takes to win gold this time was they could bring an assemblage of centers to this term. tournament that they've never maybe had since the heyday of Medano and Roanick. You know, like, it's, it's been, on paper, it's been great for a few years, but with, with, you know, Matthews being diminished and Eichael's been banged up this season, and, you know, it starts to kind of take a different shape. I mean, they clearly don't like Hughes in the middle. They want to play him on the wing where I think he's much less effective. And so, you know,

it does beg the question of, you know, what will the lineup look like? Um, and it does beg the question, you know, what version of Austin Matthews are they going to get in this Olympic tournament? Hey, Wish, really appreciate you taking the time. We'll talk next week. Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks, everybody. Happy me here. There is Greg Wyshinsky, a senior NHL writer for ESPN.

Not a, he's never going to pump Canada's tires for the Olympics. He does, though, in his own way. In a Wish way? I mean, he's being sarcastic when he said, you know, overrated or whatever. And if I were, you know, we focus so much on the Canadian team and rightly so we're in Canada

and there are some really fascinating decisions to make and the roster's coming out tomorrow. Now there could still be changes to that roster based on injuries, but there's going to be some decisions made and some tough decisions to make. But the Americans, yeah, you're going to like their goaltending, but is Hellebuck in great form right now? But I mean, like, first case, you're like, oh, we'll go to Jake Cottinger.

And you're going to like their blue line with Quinn Hughes leading the way. And, you know, Quinn didn't play in the Four Nations. And the Americans still nearly won it. So that is their, well, we got Quinn Hughes now. But if you look at their forward group and down the middle, which is where the Americans have actually made a lot of progress when you compare it to, say, 2010 or 2014, where they didn't even come close to matching what Canada. had down the middle where Canada had so many centers are like you're going to have to play the wing right they're like fine I'm good at that too right the Americans

the Americans until they got the Jack Eichols and the Austin Matthews couldn't match up with what Canada had at the center position but now they're like yeah Jack is still good you know fingers crossed you can stay healthy but what is going on with Austin Matthews yeah and if you're going up against this Canadian lineup which has McDavid, MacKinnon, Celebrini, Sid,

some of those guys are going to be bumped to the wing, I think. Yeah. You know, how are you going to match up? How are you going to match up? And what's the style that you're going to play? Are you going to play a quote unquote cynical style? Because that's actually what they did in 2014 and they got killed for it.

In the round Robin, they were scoring all sorts of goals. But once they came to, to the Canadian team, they're like, all right, we got to go, we got to play a defensive hockey game, and they lost one nothing, I think. So this is always, you know, we always, as Canadians, there's a bit of,

I think there's a bit of an insecurity where you're just like, oh, we've got to stay on top, we've got to stay on top, like, oh, these guys are coming, oh, we're worried about them, worried about them. But, you know, you also have to go into these tournaments with a bit of confidence, like, we're Canada. Yeah. And we're the ones that people should be worried about.

And when you look at this forward group, I think the Americans would look at that and go, how are we going to deal with that, not how are they going to deal with us? And there is a lot of pressure on the Americans to get something done here because it has felt like for years now, they're like, hey, it's shifting. We've talked about the progress the Americans have made. And to be fair, they're a much better program, better team overall than they've been at previous Olympics. But even just in general, at the four nations, it was like, okay, this is their time. To show Canada they're better

And then they didn't Canada's still won So I don't know Barely And they beat And they beat the Canadians In Montreal Yeah

But I mean regardless I still think there's a lot of pressure on them Just to win a tournament Of course I don't Who do you think there's more pressure on though Canada Canada with this group

With this group of players Going to the Olympics With McDavid McKinnon These guys who have never played in the Olympics. Like, Sid has done it before. But celebrate, like, these guys are expected to win. And anytime Canada doesn't win at a best on best tournament, it's a thing. Whether it's world juniors or the Olympics or, you know, World Cup or Canada Cup, it's a thing if Canada

doesn't win. I think the way I would put it is I think it'd be more disappointing if Canada loses, but I do think there's more pressure on the U.S. to win. Like, just because you have to win at some point. Otherwise, yeah, yeah. No, no, I get it. I get it. It is a Canucks game day, though. Take on the flyers tonight.

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