Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 2/19/25

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they look ahead to tomorrow's 4 Nations finale and also talk some Canucks trade rumours with Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa It's gone in! Karthikas was trying to clear, and all he could do was touch the ball onto Alfonso Davis. We would love it if President Trump was in attendance. BELL! BELL! I mean, not to be dramatic, but it was extremely hard. My nipples are erect thinking about it. Oh no.

Good morning, Vancouver. 6 o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It's Halpern. It is brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Before I say good morning, Elliott's nipples were bang on about that game. He was right. Like, bang on. Both of them were right. Those things can sense a good game coming Good morning. I noticed he was very layered up though. It was a double breast. That's a nice jacket. I liked his jacket Yeah, I wonder if he's a little self-conscious. I feel like a dog was like that is not only stylish. That's a cozy jacket

I know I envy that man. If only I could be that cozy Hey dog good morning to you. Good morning. good morning to you as well the nipples never lie Hello, hello, halferd and bruff in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers They have a friendly knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for sales Financing service or parts we are in our one of the program our one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working

together with you in step. Big show ahead on a Wednesday. Guest list begins today at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night Canada, Sportsnet NHL host is going to join us. Also, Four Nations faceoff host. Tomorrow, the Four Nations faceoff final. Five o'clock from Boston, Canada, USA. David's going to be working the broadcast as per usual. A full hour of pregame coverage across the Sportsnet network. So that'll begin at four o'clock our time with Puck Drop at five.

David Amber will join us at 6.30 to talk about all of that. Seven o'clock, Frank Ceravalli from Daily Face Off is gonna join the program. Frank is also in Boston for the Four Nations. You know what I wanna ask him? Well, these roster rules, these fluid roster rules they've got at the Four Nations Face Off, which may or may not include Quinn Hughes

joining the US team. We'll figure out that as we go along. Frank's also been working the American perspective, both on the ice, this American team that will be taking on Canada in the finals, off the ice, talking a lot in recent days about how much this tournament has resonated within America. So we'll talk to Frank about that at 7 o'clock. We can also maybe do some Elias Pettersson talk too if there's time with Frank at 7 o'clock. 7.30 Axel Schuster is going to join the program. It's been a long time since we've spoken with the Whitecaps sporting director. Much has happened since our last conversation. We are bringing on

Axel today because the Whitecaps play their first game of the season tomorrow, Thursday night in Costa Rica, maybe slightly overshadowed by Canada, US, who's to say, but the Whitecaps are going to play their first game of the season tomorrow, seven o'clock in Costa Rica. Like an exhibition game. No, it is the CONCACAF Champions Cup opener. I am dialed on the Whitecaps season. It will be against Deportivo Soprisa, featuring former Vancouver Whitecap Kendall Lawson. Also, I mention this because three days after

they start their season with the CONCACAF Cup, on Sunday they're gonna play in Portland for their MLS opener. Is there any way we're gonna get any information out of Axel about the sale of the team? Well, we're sure gonna try, Jason. Right. We're gonna try our damnedest.

Can we trick him into saying something? We can only ask the questions. We can ask them straight up or nefariously. But we will ask the questions of Axel. We'll just ask him if you could move to one city, what would it be? Right. What would be your relocation of choice? Good job, Adog.

Vegas. All right. So Axel's going to join us at 730. Now, this is interesting, because technically we might have two soccer, two soccer's Andy, two soccer guests, because at eight o'clock. Two soccer's. Randip Janda is gonna join the program, Jason.

Normally we bring him on to talk about Canucks, because of course he is the cutler analyst for the Vancouver Canucks right here on Sportsnet 650. But today, Randip is going to join us live from Madrid. Is he there to see an athletico Madrid? He's going to be watching the second leg of the Champions League knockout between Real Madrid and Manchester City.

Okay. So he's going to be joining us before the match. Cause if you do the time change and everything, it's almost evening over there. We will talk some Kanax with him. We're going to talk some Kanax. We're going to talk some us before the match. Cause if you do the time change and everything, it's almost evening over there. We will talk some Canucks with him. We're going to talk some Canucks. We're going to talk some Canucks, but actually that is going to be a one hell of a match to go to

because Man City blew it badly back in Manchester. They had a two, one lead and they ended up losing three to two, some horrendous there. Would you say there was a, there was a howler from Ederson? Not a traditional howler, but just like some bad goal-tending and bad defensive play. The goal that everyone was talking about

was the one where Mbappe sort of miss hit the ball, but it still managed to go in and Ederson was kind of out of position looking at it, scuffle over him and then go into the net. He had a terrible clearance though on one goal. He was, put it this way, he was poor. Okay, okay. And they blew a two one lead at home at the end

and now they've got a tall order going into Madrid. And if that doesn't interest you, we'll talk about, I don't know, Brock Besser or something. Or Thatcher Demko or Quinn Hughes or Drew O'Connor. We're gonna talk lots of Canucks with Randip as well. So it's a big day with a big guest list. There's a four guest here on the Haliford and Bruff show. Randip at eight, Axel Schuster at 730,

Frank Starr Valley at seven, and David Amber at 630. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, 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 missing your life can be.

What happened? You missed that. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bcsa.ca.

The Canucks returned to practice yesterday, minus Kevin Lanken and Ilias Pedersen, who of course were wrapping up their Four Nations face off on Monday. So the Canucks went back to practice on Tuesday and a lot of things happened before, during, and after the practice. But I want to start, and I think we have to start,

with Quinn Hughes. So let's work through this chronologically. Right after we left the show yesterday, we actually had to come back during a commercial break to announce what we thought was breaking news. The news of course, that Quinn Hughes was gonna join Team USA in Boston for Thursday night's Four Nations Tournament Finale against Canada.

Now we thought that Quinn Hughes was going because USA head coach Mike Sullivan said, Quinn Hughes was going because USA head coach Mike Sullivan said, Quinn Hughes is coming. So, so we thought, well, to, to come to Boston, yes, to leave Vancouver. We checked our sources twice and thrice. The source of course was the head coach, Mike Sullivan, and also physics. So we assumed that he will be on his way. So imagine our surprise then when Tuesday afternoon,

we started seeing word from Canucks practice that Quinn Hughes was not in Boston with Team USA, but rather with the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver for practice. So what's going on here, you might say. Well, it appears as though Sullivan didn't quite understand the roster rules and emergency call up tournament rules for the foreign nations.

Quinn Hughes is technically not eligible to join the team until their number of active skaters drops under 18. Does it have to be a defenseman though? No. Okay. So we've clarified that for sure. No. We have not clarified that because I've seen

some people say that it has to be a defenseman that gets hurt. And some people have suggested, well, maybe they can go seven D and 11 forwards because there have been some forwards that have been banged up. Both Kachaks have been. Correct.

Uh, you know, I expect them to be able to play, but there's Austin Matthews who, who was doubtful. It could be illness too though, right? Yes. Like it doesn't have to be like an injury. Correct. So a guy could get quote unquote. Sick.

Sick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then Quinn Hughes could play. Or you could quote unquote, you know, fall down the stairs. Yeah, push him down an elevator shaft. Push down the stairs. Or just disappeared somewhere. We don't know where he is.

But I actually personally think that if you're allowed to go 11 forwards and 7D in an NHL game. Which is why there is this constant explanation from everyone involved that the roster situation and rules are quote unquote fluid. Yeah. Because theoretically, you can't tell anyone how many defensemen to play. You could play with five if you wanted. Or it's like, we play with eight if you want.

Does Jake Sanderson of like private security now Like testing his food for him. We'll tap the brakes on that because as we're explaining it might not be a defenseman that necessarily Yeah, yeah Like Sullivan could just lie and be like we're actually like Quinn Hughes on the left wing and then five minutes into the game You know what actually he's better on defense But see I don't even know if he needs to lie. Cause I think that the understanding is that when Canada recalled Thomas Harley,

not only did it drop them to five defensemen, but it also dropped them to underneath the skater threshold, right? So there's an understanding that once you get there, you can kind of do whatever machination with the numbers that you want to do. But none of it has been set in stone. We'll talk to Frank Saravalli about this later in the show.

Maybe he's got some more clarity. This is all very confusing. I want to throw it out to the listeners. Do you want Quinn Hughes to go and play in this tournament? I do, but I am willing to regret my opinion if Canada loses or Hughes gets hurt because I like competition. No, no, no.

I like if we're going to have this best on- If he plays, it's bad. If we have this best on best competition, let's have it as the best on best. That's just the way I look at it. I wouldn't want, would you want would you want yes would you want Canada to play this if like half the Americans best players were hurt yes yeah sounds good to me all right yeah I can't really well I can't argue I mean dog touche I guess I mean like I I just want want the best players to play the best players. I hear you. It would be fun to see them play on the...

From a Canucks fan perspective. You know what, Adog? It would be fun to see them play on the biggest stage. Don't put words in my mouth. I'm talking about for myself. Yeah, but like, I just want the best players to play. Because that's part of the whole... You know what I don't want?

You know what I don't want? Can I win this game and they'll be like, well, we weren't allowed to have Quinn Hughes on the team. And in the back of your mind, you're like, well, that's a pretty good point. So I want us all to listen to Quinn Hughes himself and hear how he feels about participating in the four nations face off and maybe not

getting a chance to play in that final on Thursday. Hughes spoke after practice yesterday and laid out his situation and mentioned numerous times how tough a decision it was for him to bow to the tournament originally and now he's of course struggling with the do I or don't I question going into Thursday's final. Here's Quinn Hughes, Canucks captain after practice yesterday. I mean not to be dramatic but it was extremely hard.

I mean I think it's been something I've been looking forward to for a long time. Yeah, I mean I gotta thank Billy Garan for how patient he was with me not only you know 10 days ago but even you know last night and the last 24 hours and he understood how much I wanted to play and also obligations were to the Canucks. Really what it came down to I just wasn't healthy enough where I wasn't sure that I could get worse and I felt like I couldn't you know be crawling back to Vancouver at the end of

that tournament where now I'm missing more Canucks games so if there's a positive I should be ready to go next game and against Vegas but in saying that that, if I didn't have to worry about any of that other stuff, I would have been there in a second and been playing with what I got. But I had to look at the big picture a little bit. Now let's put out there, just so everyone is clear, that yesterday at Canucks practice, Quinn Hughes was skating in a non-contact jersey and has obviously not been cleared for contact. As he explained it to the reporters yesterday, he is still working with the medical team

on the steps that need to be taken for a full return. Now, Hugh said that he feels very good and that the time off has helped him recover from his injury, but he is still not cleared yet by the Canucks medical team. Look, I think this is how it's gonna go. Today, the Canucks are gonna skate at 11.30 for a practice at Rogers Arena. At that point, if Hughes is out there with the Canucks at 11.30 this morning, I would think it's safe to assume

he's not gonna be going to join Team USA in Boston to be on emergency recall or perhaps suit up for the game tomorrow. If he's not at practice today, then who knows what's happened in that 24-hour span between yesterday's practice and today's practice. As often in this industry, we'll just have to wait and see on Quinn Hughes. Let's get to the other news of the day from the Vancouver Canucks practice. It normally would have been the lead, but Quinn Hughes kind of stole it. The Canucks will be without starting goaltender, Thatcher Demko, when the NHL schedule resumes this weekend.

The team announced that Demko is not going to travel on the upcoming five game road swing due to a lower body injury. A lower body injury, I will remind you that Rick Taukett said prior to the Four Nations break was one, not serious, and two, not related to Demko's knee injury. Well, it's a good thing the Connects don't have any back-to-backs coming up. Oh, wait a minute, they have two coming up.

Saturday, they start in Vegas, and then they immediately play after in Utah, and then they get two days off, so that's nice. Yep. Oh There's another back-to-back in Los Angeles in Anaheim on the 26 and the 27th. So their next four games two back-to-back games and Thatcher Demko Will not be available for these games. So How okay, let's start.

Where do you wanna start? I wanna start big picture. How discouraging is this news that Thatcher Demko is once again heard? And I remember when Rick Tocket said after the game that, oh, it's nothing serious. I think a lot of us were like, I don't believe you because this did not look like a regular kind of. Do you want to do the math on this?

You want to do the math on this not serious injury? Uh, it's been 10 days since Damco got hurt against, uh, Toronto, including, so the time off already is 10. If they've ruled them out for the five game trip, and I suppose he could join them at some point on it, got hurt against Toronto, including, so the time off already is 10. If they've ruled him out for the five game trip, and I suppose he could join them at some point on it, you can tack another 14 days onto that. So that's a not serious injury that's going to sideline him for three and a half weeks. And there's no guarantee that he's going to return once the break is over.

The Canucks next home game is not until March 5th. So theoretically, if Demco's out for the entire road trip, that would be his first chance back. And there's no guarantee he'll be back because he's listed his week to week. So I would say Jason, given his previous health concerns dating back to last playoffs, the entire offseason and the months that he missed this year, this is not a very optimistic development for Thatcher Demko or the club. Yeah, a lot of people, Jay texted in earlier today and he said,

we're done listening to talk it in post game shows, giving us preliminary injury prognosis, right? And I replied to him, yes, we are. Okay, hold on though. He got asked right after the Toronto game. I mean, it is conceivable that he just didn't have all the information. He should probably just say, I don't know. No, no, no. But he said, I was told that it wasn't that serious or it's not looking that serious. That's what he was saying. That's what he said. And it feels like this has happened before guys that, uh, he's day to day turns out to miss like multiple weeks. My advice would be if a guy leaves the game hurt don't offer any update postgame

Yeah, do the old tortorelli's like I haven't talked to Rammer yet. I got talked to the tree Okay, so I've seen this a few times Nate from comox text in with the Canucks constantly lying about injuries I think it's safe to say Petey might actually be banged up I mean first of all very funny But the second second point is like the difference here is Demko will not be playing Demko left a game and they needed an explanation as to why he exited the game. Right? And we've asked for explanations as to why Pettersson's game might be struggling and no one has offered anything regarding an injury from the club.

So what are they going to do with Thatcher Demko being injured here? Are we going to see being injured here, are we going to see sea loves again? I mean, you have to, right? Laddie, in the modern NHL, can you really roll out a single goalie for two sets of back to backs in such short time? It's not advisable. It's not advisable. You know, if you think about it, it's like, do you want to run the risk of burning out Lankton with Demko not fit?

It seems incredibly risky. I don't even think burning out is the proper term for it because it's a very real risk of injury when you're forcing a big goaltender to do what he does back to back. So I wonder, I wonder. I guess you have to. I wonder, getting back to the big picture, I guess, I wonder how much of this is just getting back to the big picture, I guess. I wonder how much of this is just all related to his original injury.

And I'm not diagnosing anything. I'm just curious because, you know, the problem with having everything that Demko went through, he had this unique injury that he had to uniquely rehab. He missed a bunch of time. He missed training camp He missed a bunch of games early on then he comes back and there's been Let's call them nicely some wobbles. Yeah, right. He's had to leave two games and you know, people will say well You know, he had back spasms on one and you know, who knows what what this one is. I just wonder how difficult physically it's been

for him to return from this injury. And we all know that, especially in goaltending, like everything is connected with what you do, right? You're, you know, is that knee bone connected to that, et cetera, but like it's all a chain, right? And. It starts with the groin. Yeah.

And, and, and, and once you, and I wonder if he's been unwittingly making some, um, just changes in the way his, his body is working. And then all of a sudden, like he's putting pressure on another part of his body that he didn't even know about. And that's having a problem. Subconsciously?

So, well, he's just, yeah, like, I mean, I guess the question is, is the guy's body a mess right now? Possibly. You know? He's played in 17 games this year, which is not a lot, and that means that he made it through 15 of them because he exited the Seattle game early with back spasms and they exited the Toronto game at the

10 minute mark after making six saves with whatever this undisclosed lower body injury is right now. So not exactly a massive workload and he's already had to exit twice and has already suffered an injury that's gonna sideline him week to week. Wasn't this the fear though to begin with,

like coming back, playing through an injury that would never go away, that he'd be perennially, if that's the word, injured forever? Yes, and, and. And it is now happening. And with a new approach to off ice training. I mean, that's another part of this that has to be taken into consideration, is that Thatcher Demko is not training and practicing

and working under the same regimen that he was previously. For someone, for any professional athlete whose body is, you know, most of them are pretty finely tuned. Like any change, minor or major, is going to have an effect on what you do on the ice, your training. And I mean, it's going to all be part of it. So Paul in Okanagan, formerly Sunshine Coast, texts in what goalies are available, if any. I don't know, but I'm sure people in Vancouver will be looking and I'll be curious to see if we hear Rick Dollywell report something like the connects are scouring the league for any goalies.

I mean, we've heard this before and they ended up with Kevin Lankton at the beginning of the season and man, thank God they did sign that guy. Now here's the thing. And we talked about this when Sealabs was with the the beginning of the season and man, thank God they did sign that guy. Mm-hmm. Right? Um, now here's the thing. And we talked about this when Seelobbs was with the team before he got sent to Abbotsford, um, it, it got to the point where he was basically unplayable. He's had a long time since there to go and play some games at the American league level and try and rediscover some confidence.

I don't know if it's happened. We've had Brandon Astle on the show before, and you know, it hasn't the reports. I'm not trying to paint this as positive or negative, but when they've talked about the team's successes, it hasn't been because C loves has gone down there and provided Vez in the caliber netminding. So it's not like he's gone down and lit the American league on fire. I think if the organization wants to do right by a guy

who was an incredible foot soldier for them in the playoffs last year, then you do give them another kick at the can, you give them another opportunity, but you also want to know that the leash is incredibly short this time. Incredibly short. Well, they're actually trying to make the playoffs here. Exactly. You don't have time to mess around. I mean, hindsight being 2020, they didn't have time to mess around at the beginning of the year when Demko couldn't get a win and couldn't make a save. A lot of people texting in, Mark and Whiterock,

guys, Demko has been hurt multiple times for long stretches prior to his knee injury last year. He's injury prone. It's time to move on. Well, potentially yes. Well, I don't think potentially to call him injury prone, like he is injury prone. Yeah. No, no, potentially moving on.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. No, not potentially, injury prone, potentially moving on, that's confirmed. By the way, we will, we'll get to the Drew O'Connor stuff later, cause I want to talk about a few things as it relates to, to Brock Besser, but, uh, we're going to talk to David Amber for a bit next, so maybe after we talk to David Amber, we'll talk about Drew O'Connor.

But just back to the Thatcher Demko stuff, like there's no way they can extend him this off season, right? There's no way. They can't give him a big contract extension. And I also wonder what is his trade value if they trade him this off season. It's got to be close to nothing because I actually don't think that any team that would trade for him would trade for him and you know how sometimes there are these trades and you say, and then, oh, he signed a contract extension.

Like that's not going to happen. Why would any team do that? So let's say the Canucks bring him back next season. They go into this off-season, there's like, there's two guys that really need to get healthy. One of them wears number 40. And this guy, Thatcher Demko, he needs to get healthy. And then is it a, okay, show us you can stay healthy next season? Or do they say we can't afford to have a guy that keeps getting hurt. So we're actually going to make you someone else's problem and we're going to solidify our goaltending situation with healthy goalies.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. We have an update on Charlie McEvoy, courtesy the Boston Bruins, and it includes a very long, very difficult to pronounce medical term that I'm gonna try and struggle through. Canee, canee, is that the knee?

Is the K silent? Uh, this is from the Boston Bruins medical staff. Charlie McEvoy sustained an injury to his right shoulder, a chromio clavicular joint. Mm-hmm. That wasn't bad. In team USA's four nations face off gaming against Finland on February the 13th.

He underwent treatment, which was administered by team USA's Four Nations Face-Off Gaming against Finland on February the 13th. He underwent treatment which was administered by Team USA's medical staff. Upon returning to Boston, he developed increasing pain for which he was evaluated by the Boston Bruins medical staff. After undergoing x-rays, MRIs, and blood work, he was diagnosed as having an infection in his right shoulder as well as significant injury

to his AC joint. He underwent an irrigation and debridement procedure at Massachusetts General Hospital on February 18th. He remains in the hospital where he is being treated with IV antibiotics and his condition is improving. So quite a thorough update from the Boston Bruins on what's going on with Charlie McEvoy. Very big development in the Four Nations Face Off. So we go now to Boston where our next guest, Frank Cervalli from Daily Face Off joins us now on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Frank. How are you?

I'm good. Yeah, you guys could have read all that yesterday on Daily Face Off. Yes. That would have been great. I apologize for not reading it yesterday on daily face-off. It came across my desk. And by that, I mean my laptop just right now. So yeah, you were one of the first ones to report that McAvoy was going to be out

for the remainder of the tournament. I guess the question now is, how serious is this moving forward? And how much of the Bruin season is he going to miss with this? Significant, but not over the top. Um, he's I believe week to week. Um, and it's interesting just to hear the phrasing of the report. Look, the Boston Bruins aren't happy. Um, this infection, I believe stemmed from an injection that was

given to McAvoy before the game on Saturday to help manage the pain with the injury and obviously he played and and was great in the game and that's a real typical thing obviously with With big games that players play through stuff and they get help along the way. It's a daily occurrence in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Um, this one just happened to be really unlucky in that there was an infection that stemmed from the belief is the injection that was administered by Team USA doctors, which is part of the shade that's thrown at

the Team USA staff from the Boston Bruins. So that's why I was worded the way that it was right. Yeah. I mean, that's my read between the lines. So, um, it's a totally tough situation, um, for Charlie McAvoy to think that, hey, look, I played through with this shoulder injury. And it's this other part of it that ends up taking me out of what is, you know, potentially one of the biggest games of his life in his home arena,

home barn on home soil against Canada in the final. And a huge statement to be made potentially for USA hockey. You know, this could be a watershed moment for the sport. So to take him out, it's an absolute gut punch to him. It's tough to stomach for team USA who now has obviously a roster in flux and Jake Sanderson likely to be in the lineup. It just changes the conflection of the game a little bit.

And also with Canada having Kale McCarr back who didn't play Saturday, it's like the scales are tipping. I keep coming back to this question. Should this tournament be played in August and September? No. So what is the reasoning? Because my argument is that first of all, we've had great tournaments that have been played in

August and September and frankly, you know, compared to 1987, the players keep themselves in much better shape now and would be much more ready for that tournament than they have been in the past. My second one is just that it's a lot further away from the playoffs. I'll give you two reasons.

One is the players don't want to do that. Their summer, particularly for teams that play into now very late June is short as it is. And that means you're ramping up training in July. They, they want their time in the summer to be able to, you know, continue to do it on the typical schedule, especially with the regular season now being pushed back to basically mid October. And the second thing is,

just look at the sports calendar. College football, NFL, baseball is in full swing with their playoff push. No one in the general sports landscape is going to care about hockey at that time of year. This is a perfect window in the schedule. I mean, think about. You're right about that, it is perfect.

Last Saturday night, the Super Bowl's done, college football playoffs are long over. Baseball, spring training, pitchers and catchers just reported and no one cares. And you had NBA during an All-Star break, and Saturday night was up against the NBA skills competition. And everyone hated the NBA All-Star game.

Right, which again directed everyone over to hockey, which now brings us to Thursday. Yeah, there's an NBA double header on Thursday on TNT, but I guarantee you the lion's share of even casuals in the US are gonna be tuned into this Canada USA game. I will say that intentionally or not, the tournament's done a nice job of adding intrigue on the off days

because all we've done is talk about Quinn Hughes and roster rules and what's going on. Again, I don't think the ambiguity was meant to be intentional to make all of this. I guess there's news happening all the time. Right. But, but it, but it's not, I think, I think the NHL and NHLPA are sitting back and, and slightly embarrassed. I don't know if they'll say that part out loud, but I think there's a, an agreement that these two sides need to do

a way better job moving forward of fixing the roster scenarios. And the fact that it has been so fluid, I think, well, part of that, I know part of it is they want to make sure that they're not putting these teams in a difficult spot by being rigid just for the sake of being rigid. Sure. And that would lead to some criticism from others that, hey, are we just making it up on the fly here? And the truth to that is like, yeah, we kind of are because they don't want to see Canada play with five defensemen on Saturday night in a rivalry game. So if it means allowing them to, you know, sort of shift the goalpost and bring in Thomas Harley on an emergency notice,

you didn't even get to practice with the team or participate in morning skate, and yet impossibly is thrown into an enormous game and plays really well. So it's not been easy. And I think in the end, the people who were right are the four general managers in this tournament who were slamming their fists on the table in August, September, October, and November leading up to the roster announcement saying, we need 25 guys.

And they were rebuffed. And in the end, they were proven correct. What was the reason for them being rebuffed? It was actually, I was told a push from the NHLPA to allow guys to go on vacation. Use this 12 day break for yourself. It's not fun bringing someone to a tournament when you could be off and saying,

hey, not only are you not the first extra at this position and you're sitting in the press box, but a couple things need to go south in order for you to sniff the lineup. As much of an honor as it would be to participate and practice and get the jersey and the experience and everything else, unless you're actually playing in the game, I'd say most guys, and Quinn Hughes is now sort of, you know, kind of basically verbalizing it, if you're not playing, eating popcorn in the press box watching it, it might be cool to see it in person, but it's not really that fun. When it comes to Quinn Hughes, what do you think is the biggest

impediment to him playing? Would it be, um, Canada going- Healthy bodies? Well, well, let's, let me finish here. Would it be Canada saying like, no, you're not allowed to bring him in because everyone's healthy here. Or would it be the players on Team USA and maybe Quinn Hughes going like, well, it's not fair for me to play.

It's not fair for me to take some guy who actually could play in this game out of this game for me to just fly in, parachute into the game. So it's none of those things. Quinn Hughes doesn't have the optionality to play because the US has 12 forwards and six defensemen that are quote unquote healthy right now. So it's the original rules that Canada would be like, no, we have to stick to these original rules.

No, no. And in fact, Canada gets no say. When Canada was granted their emergency exception to bring in Harley, none of the other three teams were brought into the conversation and didn't have any ability to weigh in. They simply made their case to the NHL and NHLPA, which is directed by Bill Daley and Ron Hainsey,

and they made a ruling together that this is what would happen. This is what would be permissible. So in this case, Canada can bellyache all they want if that were the case. I haven't heard anything. And not only that, it wouldn't matter. So I don't think there's any fear of that. I think the true answer is that there, and there's also probably no, I

don't think Quinn Hughes is thinking about bumping someone out of the lineup or feeling like that would be unfair because he can't unless someone's injured. And that's the other part of this is why fly cross continent to watch a game in the press box if you don't have an authentic chance to play. And so that's basically the fluidity of the situation. There's one other layer to it though, which the NHL and NHLPA still have not decided on yet is because the U S has three forwards currently that are banged up, right? Matthew Kachuk, Brady Kachuk, and Austin Matthews.

If the U.S. dips to 11 forwards, essentially two of those guys end up being unable to play, would the U.S. have the availability to go 11 and seven and use Quinn Hughes in that game? The league hasn't decided yet, but I think the odds are stacked against it because I think those guys are very likely to play and it becomes a moot point.

We are speaking of Frank Saravalli from Daily Face Off here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I wanted to dive a little bit more into this US team and USA hockey and then what this has meant from the American perspective, this tournament, what happened on Saturday night. I know on the latest Frankly Speaking podcast, you talked with USA hockey executive director,

Pat Kelleher, and you were talking about, you know, the road to this point. And I heard Tony Granado talking on the TNT broadcast very passionately about how this was such a great watershed moment for USA hockey and what this could mean moving forward. Based on your conversations and what you've heard around the tournament,

how big is this, and again, it's only been a handful of games, but how big has this tournament been as a sort of, I guess maybe the greatest team that some are saying that the Team USA has ever put forth in an international tournament? Well yeah I mean look this I think it's an undeniable fact and Mike Arruzzione had said it himself and obviously someone that closely tracks. We'll get Frank back real quick here. The roster rule stuff is quite entertaining.

It is, yeah. I look at it from a neutral perspective. I'm not deeply involved in the tournament. It's given everyone a ton of material on three off days. I just feel like the NHL and the NHLPA would be looking for any possible way they could to get Quinn Hughes into this game. Except that they might be going against their own rules. Well yeah, exactly. Exactly.

And I get what Frank is saying about how they might feel like they've got some egg on their face and they might be embarrassed, right? Oh totally. Because you know, you're talking- Everyone's saying your guys are just making up the rules as you go along and they're like, yeah, we kind of are. And then they aren't even making it up because they still don't have a ruling on if he can go 11 and 7. Anyway, we kind of are. And then they aren't even making it up because they still don't have a ruling and if he can go 11 and 7. Anyway we got Frank back on the line

now. Frank Sarra we got dropped right at the start of your answer there just talking about this USA hockey program this team that they put forth and how important it is for this program. Huge. Look Mike Caruzione said it with his own words last week when I talked to him that this is the best collection of American talent ever assembled on one roster and you don't really have to Think too hard or squint at that statement. Look at the 2016 World Cup team that didn't win a game Look at the 2010 Vancouver team or even 2014 and Sochi good teams There was a silver medal in there in Vancouver, but that's the whole point of the conversation is that for, for a while, I think the U S got to Salt Lake in

Vancouver and said, Oh man, second place. That feels so good to get to that level. But they've been there for 22 years now and 23 years now and they've got to take a step further. They haven't won at the top level of men's competition in best on best since 1996. That's an impossibly long time and it's go time. It's time for them to stop talking about the incredible strides that have been made. You know, you can point to all these other successes, World Junior back-to-back gold,

five gold medals in the last nine years. You could talk about the Olympic women's gold and world championship success, or the under 18s and all these different levels, all various important milestones, but you got to, you got to get, you got to win when you get there. And I think it's a massive moment, not just for USA hockey, but for the game as a whole

in this country. Um, this is the opportunity to convert and to, to bring in new people, but you got to win to do it because there's so few sports that are left that you can say, hey the US doesn't have a dominant presence in and hockey is one of those and this is an incredible opportunity to make a statement and then double down on it at the Olympics next year. Frank, we only got a couple of minutes, but are you hearing anything Vancouver Canucks related? We were talking about Drew O'Connor just resigning and wondering where is Brock Besser

in all this? Anything else? I know you had some thoughts about Elias Pettersson's Four Nations, so just feel free. Anything you're hearing about the Vancouver Canucks? Well, it's been really quiet on the better front. Um, I don't believe there's been any significant progress or process even in terms of the negotiation. Um, I was surprised, a little bit surprised in the Drew O'Connor

signing because they had just worked to unload players in that pay range that are playing at the bottom of their lineup. And I think he's a quality fourth line center that is now back in the pay range of the guys they just offloaded. And signed for a multi-year deal. So that part was a little bit head scratching. And when it comes to Pedersen, I mean, seems to have stirred

up some conversation or vitriol on social media again. I mean, the stance hasn't changed. It's been the same thing that I've said for six weeks now, eight weeks. If Pedersen doesn't figure it out and doesn't begin to put the pieces back together in his game, I don't see how the, you know, some people would say, Hey, there's huge risk in trading Pedersen. What happens if, you know, he goes somewhere else and turns back into the 40 goal, a hundred point player that we know we can be. I think there's way bigger risk from the Vancouver Canucks standpoint of shouldering that and having the no trade cause kick in on July

one and not offloading the deal. If you can forget the return, think about the risk of what happens if his game doesn't get put back together again. It's a shifting scale. And I think it's certainly of note for the Canucks to consider, not just before March 7th, even though this tournament did nothing to help his trade value, but just in terms of moving forward of how you build your team and what you're going to be centering around quite literally as the backbone of it. I can't imagine there's not significant and serious internal questions

as to whether or not Pedersen can be that guy. Will it still be easy to find a taker for Elias Pedersen and not just a taker of the contract, but someone who's actually willing to give up something for it? I think that's becoming harder and harder because think about what I just said and the risk of taking on that deal

with that term and dollar amount remaining. The other part of this, and this came directly from a rival GM, it would be hard for anyone trading and giving up significant value for Pedersen to really feel good about the deal. Everyone can see his play. They understand whatever's they've internalized, whatever issues have gone on with this team internally. I think there's significant trepidation. I really do. Frank, this was great, but as always, thanks for taking the time to do it.

We really appreciate it. I don't need to tell you to enjoy the game tomorrow night. I'm sure you will, but have a good time anyway. We'll do this again next week. Thanks to you guys. Thanks, Frank Sarrelli from Daily Faceoff here on the Haliford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I do wonder what's going to happen with Besser because one, it is generally easier, not easy, easier to find wingers in free agency or via trade compared to top six centers or top four defensemen. And number two, brings me back to what I was

saying earlier about the signing of Drew O'Connor. They love his speed. The Canucks have been adamant that they want to get faster and Besser is not fast. Nope. It's a good goal scorer, very good goal scorer. And, uh, he's a smart player. And I think that, uh, maybe in a different

situation with a different team, he'd be a pretty shrewd free agent signing. I'm not advocating for this. I want to preface this by saying I'm not advocating for this. This is more me thinking and anticipating where things are going to go as opposed to where I hope they go. But I think this is going to be his last year in Vancouver. I think the most likely scenario, and it's not a great one because you're going to lose

the player and you're not going to get an asset in return aside from his cap space is that he finishes out the year here and they can't come to a deal once the season is done and he's like, I'm going to test. How are they going to replace his goal scoring? I'm not against exploring the market because I would, if Brock is adamant that he wants an eight year contract at what, I don't know, what have they been throwing around, eight million or something like that? Sure. I don't know.

Whatever. Say eight by eight. Let's just say for argument's sake. Yeah, I'm not comfortable with that. I'm not comfortable with giving him that, but I'm also not comfortable with just saying like, oh, we got this kid, Lickr Mackey, he'll replace him by next season.

Right? There's no great answer, which is why I said, like I said, I practiced it with so many things. Like look at- So many disclaimers. The situation with Boston might be a little bit similar in that they lost a scoring winger in Jake DeBrusk. They can't score right now. They've missed them quite a bit.

You know, it's not just that. I mean, their centers aren't creative enough. They do have a couple of good wingers in Pasternak and Marsha, but Marchand might be slowing down a little bit and they don't have much else. But you know, you take Brock Besser away from this team, if the plan is to either trade them at the deadline, I mean that wouldn't that be interesting too, or just keep them as their quote unquote own rental and then let them go in the off season. The, I would hope, I would hope, and maybe they're doing some light tampering at this point, that they have someone in mind.

You know, someone in mind to replace them because that's a huge part of the team that you would be just being like, well, I hope we can replace him. I mean, in the two newest acquisitions at Forward, I think it was very telling about the profile of player that Alvin and Rutherford brought in. And in Heidel and in O'Connor, it was almost hilarious to be like,

well, we suddenly have our two fastest forwards. They're the two newest guys that we acquired. I mean, that's pretty telling they're not frontline guys I don't think you can call O'Connor a top six forward yet Although he might masquerade as one or maybe blossom into one and he'd'll is what he is. I think on a good team He's a 3c. I think on an average team. He's a 2c but they also come in as guys that change the look of the player that they want at forward. I mean, you said it.

They're looking to get faster and Besser's not fast. And this, I don't want this to come across as dumping on Besser. Like I think wherever he goes and gets his money, I think one, he will have earned it. And two, I think he could be a very good fit on a lot of different teams and score goals with regularity and the Canucks will miss it. But the Canucks right now are, I would, I would say that they're a little bit

fractured because of everything that's happened this year. Like, I don't think they win. Just a touch. I don't think they went into this year thinking that there is a possibility that Miller and Pedersen would be gone. And there's that very real possibility because 50% of that sentence is already true. And you have to address the center position first and foremost.

We got a good text in here from Rich in Cloverdale and a reminder, if you want to text into the Dunbar Lumber Decks text line, 650-650 Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. Metra Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DunbarLumber.com. Rich texts in and says, if the Canucks end up

losing Besser for nothing, we don't just gain the cap space, we get Leckermackie plus the cap space to invest in another player to try to make up for Brock's goals. I wonder if that's what they're thinking too. Signing Jake DeBrusk was cheaper than it's going to be to extend Brock Besser. It just mostly comes down to what are realistic expectations for Leckermack and then you do the math

from there. And I know it's not this simple, but let's say, can you count on him to score 15 to 20 goals at the NHL level next year? And if you say yes, then you say, okay, well, now we need to make up the difference between what we anticipated Brock was gonna do and what he was gonna do.

And if the math works, you can do that with the money available, you go out and do it. But it's a risky, risky thing, because you're counting on a guy in Leckar and Mackie with what, five games of NHL experience? Yeah. And a guy that needs to get bigger and stronger.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Bruff.