Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Are Officially In "Must-Win" Territory

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they discuss a tough Canucks home loss to the Canadiens (6:00), plus they chat the latest hockey news of the day with Sportsnet NHL host David Amber (28:08). 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.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- going to the ball, gives it to him, he scores! What a pass from Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caulfield was wide open on the right wing. Guys tried, I gotta give them a lot of credit. You tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try. Behind the dumpster, gives him a good old butt lickin'. Butt licker! Our prices have never been lower! Good morning, Vancouver, six o'clock on AON's day. Happy Wednesday everybody, it is Halford at his breath It is Sportsnet 650 and we are coming live from the Kintec studios of beautiful fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello Hello. Halford and Bref of 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 hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together

with you in step. They got a big show ahead on a Wednesday. Guest list begins today at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host is gonna join us. He worked last night's Canucks game with Sam Cosentino on the intermission. Tonight, Wednesday night hockey, Canucks at Flames,

six o'clock puck drop from Calgary. We'll talk to David about all that at 6.30. Seven o'clock, Frank Saravalli from Daily Face Off is going to join the program. What really happened with Brock Besser at the trade deadline? We'll try and get answers from Frank at seven o'clock. I also want to ask him about this Carolina hurricane story. Continues to develop how frustrated were or are the hurricanes about what Miko Ranen did're or are the hurricanes about what Miko Ranen did to them at the deadline or what he didn't do. We should ask him about Rasmus Dallin too and Buffalo. Spitting chiclets causing problems again.

Again, those rascals from spitting chiclets. Eight o'clock Randy Jand is going to join the program. He of course was on the call for last night's game in Vancouver 4-2 loss for the Canucks to Montreal. He'll be back in action tonight, much like the Canucks, six o'clock from Calgary. We'll look back, we will ask him what the plan is in net. We have a grand total of four seconds of audio of Rick Tauke explaining what the plan is in net. Do you wanna hear it or do you want me to describe it

for you? Describe it. He's gonna talk to Marco Teraneus. Could you be here and then could you expand on it? Well, I just ruined half of it. Oh. And then he's going to talk to Kevin Lankin. Oh, okay. So first he's going to talk to the goalie coach.

Mm-hmm. Then he's going to talk to the goalie. And then he's going to start Kevin Lankin. It's a pretty solid plan. No, then he's going to start Kevin Lankin. Pretty solid plan. We are giving away a four pack of tickets to see the Monster Jam at the Pacific Coliseum

on Friday, March 21st at seven o'clock. That's going to be at eight o'clock this morning. Caller number seven is gonna win a four pack of Monster Jam tickets. The phone number here is 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650. Caller number seven at eight o'clock is gonna win Monster Truck tickets at 815 this morning.

We're giving away a four-packet tickets to the Vancouver International Auto Show at the Vancouver Convention Center. That's the same weekend as Monster Trucks. It's a big automotive weekend in Vancouver. If you want to win the four-packet tickets to the Auto Show, be caller number seven at 815 this morning. That number once again, 604-280- 280 0 650 working in reverse on the guest list Randy but eight Frank at seven David Amber at 630 that's what's happening on the program laddie let's tell everybody what happened hey did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how missing your life can be. What happened? You missed that?

What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bcca.ca You all know what happened last night, but I'm going to recap it anyway. Your ice, Lavkovsky, a goal into assist as the Habs raced out to a three, nothing lead held on at the end of four, two win over the Vancouver

Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday. So the optimist, if there are any left around the Vancouver Canucks is going to say. Me. That the Canucks showed a lot of heart to battle back from a three, nothing deficit and make it a game. The optimists might love the fact that Ilias Pettersson ripped home another power play goal.

That's two in the last little while too. My God. The optimists might even glance at natural stat trick. That's where they keep the advanced stats, Alfred. The fancy stats. And say the Canucks were unlucky to lose. Dakota Joshua, he came so close. Twice, twice came close.

I actually thought he scored, by the way, but we can save that for later. But at this point in the season, all that matters is that the team needed a win and they didn't get it. The Canucks are now 13, 12 and 7 at Rogers Arena. That's right. There have been 32 games in Vancouver this season, if my math is correct, and the Canucks have only won 13 of them. The Chicago Blackhawks have 13 wins at home.

Good company. Chicago 13 wins. Vancouver also 13 wins at home. You'd have to say that it's now more likely than not that the Canucks miss the playoffs. I don't know what Dom's model is saying over the athletic, but I'm watching this team and going, they can't score more than two goals. Sometimes they get three, they don't get four. They just can't score enough. Yeah, two goals last night. The last time they scored more than three was January 27th in St. Louis. So January 27th, that's the end of January. For A-Aug, I know sometimes you struggle with

the month, the month. So it goes January, February. Oh, damn. No, no, no. Oh, yeah, yeah. There was a whole month of February. Right. Oh, yeah.

Where they didn't score more than three goals. By the way, MoneyPuck has them at 24.3% chance to make the playoffs. Now it's March 12th and they're still looking back on that day and January 27th in St. Louis and going, oh, that was a good time, man. We had like five goals. Remember that?

Five goals. Brock Besser is costing himself millions in free agency wherever he ends up, which is looking less and less like Vancouver. And let's also discuss the goaltending pickle they're in right now. We kind of touched on it. Lankton and started last night.

They also have to play their biggest game of the year tonight in Calgary and their best goalie is Kevin Lankton, who they wasted against Montreal. He didn't play all that well and wouldn't put that loss on him. Maybe one of those goals you want back. But didn't love the Slykovski goal. Yeah, there's no margin for error though.

Right? So who gets the nod tonight? Probably Lankinen. He might be tired or an untrustworthy Arthur Silov. Like who do you want to go with? I'd go with Lankanen, because we're in desperation mode. Unless we forget they've got another back to back this weekend as well, so that's fun.

They're also probably going to rush Quinn Hughes back into action tonight. He was in a non-contact jersey yesterday morning, but I'm not sure the typical protocol still holds it at this point. They're not going to be like, well, we'd like to see him practice with the team first, right? It's like, no, get in there, right? Like we're, this is, this is desperation. This is the big, tonight is the biggest game of the season for the Vancouver Canucks and they're

not going into it looking very good. Um, what, again, what were the positives from last night? Are we going to give them credit for battling back? Like I hope they've tried to battle back. They fall behind three nothing. They're at home against a team that is probably going to miss the playoffs, but might make the playoffs. And that's a big one for Montreal. It was a big one for Montreal and you got to credit Montreal, but it's like a, it's a home game against Montreal. You can't, you can't, you can't, you can't fall behind three nothing in a, in a desperation game at home to Montreal.

Like that can't happen. No, it can't happen. And it's great that Pedersen seems to be finding his game a little bit and he's got the courage to actually put shots on goal. That's terrific. Wow. What progress we've made this season where Elias Pedersen is now willing to shoot the puck that's that's awesome right? That's that's terrific but you know like I don't know where Besser is

right now. I don't know if the organization screwed him up so badly at the trade deadline that he's like I don't know what's going on, right? He doesn't have JT Miller anymore. That hurts him. It's just like the team can't score and it's very frustrating to watch them fall behind three nothing in a game where Montreal's best players came through and this was a game where Rick Tocket

went into this challenging his best players came through and this was a game where Rick Taukett went into this challenging His best players to be better. Sure. Pederson was better Besser might have been worse and Debrusk, I don't know for all that chaos. He was trying to generate. I didn't see a lot of chaos It was wildly unchaotic last night I want to throw to the Rick Taukett audio talking about Montreal's big line from last night be his Caulfield Suzuki and I want to throw to the Rick Tuckett audio talking about Montreal's big line from last night. Beas Caulfield, Suzuki and Slokowski all had at least a goal and assist. As I mentioned earlier, Slokowski finished with a goal and two assists. All were plus three.

But I think the really important thing was that without carrying the game territorially or racking up a ton of chances, those three Montreal skaters were able to pounce on the opportunities provided, made plays, showed some creativity, which is something you've hammered home on repeatedly, and found the back of the net with a lot more ease than the Canucks. And that must have drove Rick Tauke nuts. So here's Rick Tauke speaking about the big line for Montreal last night and how his guys couldn't match. Yeah we didn't have an answer for their top line there with three goals. That's a good line they make play.

So it's a tough, we just didn't have an answer. If we had the first goal, obviously we were giving the puck away. We were on the wrong spots against those guys. Anyways, we did make a comeback, had some goldmouth scrambles we had you know we guys tried I gotta give him a lot of credit guys tried hang a banner right guys tried they don't have him that's awesome you try guys like that's the most important thing right everyone tried their best sure they fell behind three nothing in a massive game to Montreal, but they tried. And you failed miserably.

That's a head coach talking, right? And actually. Oh, that was Howard Simpson. Well, it was funny because the narrative between periods last night, whether they threw back to David and Sam Cosentino or whether they had Murph with DT and Landon was all about the frustration level is how frustrating is this getting for this team who had a lot of shots on net last night, but you'd be very generous in saying that they had a lot of great looks at scoring. They had looks at scoring, but with this team's lack of finish and lack of goal scoring ability

right now, you need way, way, way more than what they put up in order to break that elusive two goal threshold. That's killing right now. I mean, if you want to really start to nitpick away, the Pedersen goal on the power play, I mean, there's no reason that they should have been on the power play in the first place. That was just a blown call by the officials and blown in the most egregious sense. It was a terrible call. Although it was, it didn't make up for the fact that Pedersen got blatantly tripped early and they didn't, I was like, when that happened, I was like, oh my God, not even Petey falling down is getting a penalty anymore. We're all out of weapons now. Petey falling down was one of their biggest weapons. And if you want to continue to be glass half empty on this whole thing both you know goals that

went in were seeing eye shots right there wasn't this tremendous buildup there was there's point shots long shots right it would they were seeing eye shots from distance and it's great that they went in and it is great that they were able to muster that comeback but you're right situationally with everything this team is going through and how important these two games were last night's game and tonight's game to fall behind three, nothing, it just can't happen. And it doesn't necessarily matter how you prevent it

from happening. It just can't happen. And I go, I go back to that narrative that was there about frustration and you know, um, David Amber, who we'll talk to at six 30 coming up and Sam, they use the word, everything feels heavy right now. The style of play, the weight on the guy's shoulders to try and get something done.

I mean, I can't imagine what Dakota Joshua was feeling after that game, because literally nothing is going in for him at this point, right? His game is taking incremental steps in the right direction, but for all of these guys, Joshua included, I would just say collectively across the board,

it's like, it's not enough. And it's not enough, especially at a time of year where you need more. You don't just need the baseline. You need more out of these guys. And they're not getting it. They're getting enough to be remotely competitive, but not enough to put them over the bar.

I mean, if you want to look right now, you could make the argument that they're gonna need to go 12 and six over the final 18 games. I think so. I think J Pad had the math yesterday on that. They're going to need to win close to two thirds of their games remaining to get to around 93, 95 points and get into the postseason. Does that seem super feasible right now to anyone listening? Does that seem like something that this team is capable of doing? They've lost two straight and six of their last

nine. I know that they're going to rush Hughes back in the line. They've pretty much reached the point of that math equation where it's like, how long can we hold them out before the situation gets too dire standing wise and points wise? Well, they reached it.

But they love their, they're bringing them to Calgary tonight. Yeah. You went on on I imagine they left last night I hope that left oh my god we gotta get to Calgary they're gonna fly right in today right before the game and he went on that trip so you're not bringing him on the trip for moral support right I'd be it would put it this way for him not to play tonight then you're like oh, he's like really hurt. Yeah. You know?

So you wanna talk about desperate times, as you're rushing back, you're clearly injured star defenseman and captain, you're rolling your goalie on a back to back, and it will probably have to do it again on Saturday and Sunday, and I'd love to go back through the annals of NHL history and try and figure out as a goalie ever played two consecutive back to backs.

Right? I mean, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that he's going to have to do it. If points are at a premium, you just have to roll them out and say that maybe a diminished or tired Kevin Lankin is still going to give you a better shot than whatever Seelob's is going to give you right now. It's incredibly, incredibly tough for this team right now. And all of it, all of it, I will reiterate, all of it is exacerbated by the fact

that they can't score enough. Adding a couple extra goals here and there sure would alleviate some of this pressure, but they are so desperate for offense right now that they don't have the margins to sit Quinn Hughes out for another game. They don't have the margins to give Artie Sealovs a token start tonight in Calgary.

There's no margins for error when you're scoring a max of two a night. What do you think's going on with Besser? Is it as simple as he just misses JT Miller on the ice? I think it's the two biggest factors are Miller on the ice and then probably how he's been treated off of it. And I don't think he's been treated off of it. And I don't think he's been treated very well. No, I don't think so. I think that the remarks that Alveen had in the aftermath of the trade deadline,

even if they were unintentional, were still they're damaging to a player, maybe not even necessarily on a personal, like you hurt my feelings level, but like my opportunity to earn going into free agency. When you announced to the rest of the national hockey league that several other general managers gave sort of piss and offers for you. Yeah. Because they didn't.

Without really talking up Brock. Yeah. You know, it should be without being like, those guys are idiots. Yeah. Brock is a good player. It should have been like the offers were, the offers were insulting for a player of his caliber.

There's an easy line. I just came up with it right now. Now maybe that's the English not being Patrick Alveen's first language, but the messaging on that was not very good. And I think Freage was on Toronto radio the other day saying that, you know, the whole Besser thing was not only tough on Besser, but it was

tough on the room. And Besser is a very popular player in that room. And once it's perceived by the room that he's being kind of like, dragged through the wringer, then, you know, it's not, it's not good. It's not good for team morale to see one of your guys treated in that manner and basically like being fully prepared to get traded and then, oh, he's not traded. You know, I thought it was noteworthy when that

Patrick Alveen was talking about communicating with his agent and going like, you know, like, unfortunately we weren't able to make anything happen. Well, what does that tell you, right? Like he was expecting something to happen. I'm not willing to say that Brock Besser was hoping to get traded, but I know he wasn't hoping for this, but I think the JT Miller thing

personally, that's the biggest thing. That's the biggest thing. And he had some comments yesterday. He said, when you play with a guy for two years and a guy to that degree of how good he is and how good of a passer he is and how he creates space, it's definitely adjustment. Again, I go back to the Canucks have no one really,

aside from occasionally Connor Garland, that's out there making things happen. You know, Quinn Hughes on the back end, but I'm talking about the forward group. Who is making things happen? Drew O'Connor. At five on five too, right? Like good for Petey, two power play goals in the

last little while. Honestly, like I'm happy with the progress Petey has made. Sure. I don't, I don't want to sound sarcastic, but- It's been a good last couple of games for him. He's shooting the puck. He was one of the more dangerous Canucks.

Both of his goals on the power play though. What's going on at five on five? You have to create. You do. And individuals, when you're being paid like that, you have to create not only for yourself, but for other players. You can blame it all you want on someone else.

I'm not saying Petey's doing that, but I'm saying a lot of the fan base is doing that. You look at this group, Heedle, yeah, he had some juice early on when he came in. And people will like, the people that only blame talking will say, yeah, once you learn talking system, then he fell apart. Or maybe alternatively, like he ran out of juice,

right? He ran out of adrenaline. He got out of New York. He was happy to come to Vancouver where he was getting a bigger opportunity, an opportunity, by the way, that he's never had before really consistently in the top six. Have we seen much of Hidal in the last little while? No. There's a guy that, I mean look at

his career. He said himself he's a one-on-one player. Okay, well that means he's not going to create that much for his teammates. Look at his stats. He's not an assist machine. Who is an assist machine in this group besides Quinn this group, besides Quinn Hughes and if Pederson isn't creating a five on five? Okay. Nobody. Nobody. With that said, Laddie, can you pull up the audio talking about the players not executing? This is not a repeat, folks. This is brand new audio of Rick Tauke issuing the same sentiment yet again after a game in which they failed to hit the three goal plateau. Rick Tocket on the players not executing all the good looks that they're getting.

Yeah, I did. The six on five though we had We had two plays that were right there and we were not seeing them. I think I don't know if guys are squeezing the stick which I just watched it with Yogi and it's the right there, right? And we're not seeing it. I think we got to, like Yogi said, we just got to keep practicing it, maybe do some more walk-throughs. But yeah, there was two plays there.

If we executed, some of you would have had a great chance. And it's unfortunate. I really thought we were going to score there, but I felt, I don't know, we're a little antsy, kind of rushed the play, but the slot was open there in the second play. But anyways, we got to keep working on it. Here's what I'll say. Kind of like a couple of, Tauke had a couple of anyways, because he knew he was going down

the road. Did you notice that the first one? He's like, yeah, we had turned the puck over there and anyways, I want to focus on the negatives. I will say this, if Rick Tuckett departs ways with Vancouver and he's interviewing for a new job next season, I think one of the questions that any job, any halfway decent job interview would have to ask is, Rick, if the offense is to dry up like it has in a couple of your other previous NHL stops, what would you do differently now to adjust or to change or to spark that offense?

And he'd probably better have a good answer or one more than, well, I'd tell the guys to stop gripping their sticks so tight. Or I, you know, we would work on bearing down in front of the goal. Because I think that at the next stop, those, those criticisms and those complaints are valid. That if you're running out the same thing and you're running out the same excuses, and I'm just going to call them excuses for lack of a better term after a game, certain people rightly

so can push back and be like, okay, if what's going on isn't working, do you keep doing the same things or do you try something dramatically different? Because the messaging has been consistent from the head coach. The messaging from the head coach has absolutely been, there are good enough looks, there's a good enough strategy, the players just aren't executing the final part of it. It's not about, I mean, he said it himself in that clip. He said, we got good looks.

I would question that they were, you know, high end, high danger scoring chances, but he said they were good looks. We just couldn't put the final product together. And at a certain point, when you're desperate and you're asking your players to do whatever it takes to get you over the hump, I do think that that logic applies to the coach as well. That doing anything to get your team over the hump means drastic changes

sometimes, right? I thought he kind of did it last night when he just said, all right, Pedersen, Besser, Debrecht, you're together, go. Yeah. Right? I mean, as you know, sometimes I watch the Canucks with disdain. And I mean, when you're down three, nothing to Montreal, a little bit of disdain creeped in there. I was kind of like, talk should just play those three 30 minutes. And you just be like, ice time. There you go. Do with it. You guys are the best players.

Everyone complained last game that I was playing all the guys down the lineup. So there you go, all the ice time. Let's see what you can do with it. Right? I mean, he's kind of at, I don't know, credit to talk who's not at the passive aggressive stage of things quite yet. Like it's, it is my opinion. I think you probably share the one that the failings of this season, when you're

going down the laundry list of reasons why coaching is not near the top. I think you're pretty much aligned with me on that one, right? Yes, I'm not willing to completely say. Well, no, I'm not saying that, but just work with me on this one. Yeah.

It's not at the top of the list. No, I put it on the players. But that being said, when a team fails, they all fail and everyone deserves at some level a criticism or a black mark on their reputation and resume because this is a failing right now. Unless they magically turn this thing around and win 12 of their final 18,

which seems less and less likely by the day. Like they could go 500 over these last 18 games and I could very easily see them doing that. And that'll probably land them about, I don't know, six or eight points short of the playoff bar. That's where the team is at right now. It is a huge game going into Calgary tonight. But the thing with that is, is once that game's done,

the next game is equally huge. And the next game is equally huge. And so far I've just really seen a lack of consistent high-end efforts and a scoring output to get the results in those games that are of such great importance. I know we got to get to break, but sometimes we overlook the elephant in the room in this

season and that was that the Canucks top two centers had a fight, a rift that was going on for years that eventually required management to trade one of them away. At the end of the day, there's the issue. For about 50 cents on the dollar. There's the issue. Miller has 17 points in 13 games.

That's why this season fell apart. You want to put it on anyone, you want to put it on the players, you want to put it on management for committing to those two or not being able to figure out a solution. Maybe that's on the leadership group, the coaching, whatever. I put it on the players, get along with each other, figure out a way, be better for your teammates.

And that's where this season fell apart. And this is, this is the result. This is the result. Coming up on the other side of the break, David Amber, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host, is going to join us. You're listening to the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshaw, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post-game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. He is on the hotline baby It is time for David Amber He will talk some hockey maybe

I'm on the hotline baby I'm right in the shrooms talking I remember what I was doing at 23, pooping in my pants There's a massive butt coming here guys No one's fighting rig talking No one wants to fight rig talking I'm on the hotline baby It is, it's David It is, it's David Amber It is, it's David, Amber, it is, it's David, he's on the hotline. 634 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of 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 hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler, pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go.

David Amber joins us now on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning David, how are you? Jason, Mike, I'm doing well. How are you guys doing? We're all right. Probably wasn't the most uplifting first half hour of radio in the history of Vancouver Sports Talk Radio, but accurate I would say because I was watching you and Sam work the intermissions of the game last night and it felt like every time you came back, you guys had a new adjective to describe how hard it was for the Canucks to score.

And the one that really stuck with it was heavy. It was like, it felt heavy. It looked heavy. Everything really kind of seemed heavy for the Vancouver Canucks last night. And I guess that's an accurate portrayal and description of a team that really has a hard time scoring more than two goals a game, David.

Yeah, I mean, all the resilience and all the sort of magical moments from a year ago, it seems like decades is all right. Like, they're the only team in the league that when they're trailing going into the third, have yet to win a game. They have not come back from a second period deficit this season. It's shocking. It's crazy. They have not come back from a second period deficit this season. It's shocking. It's crazy. Yeah, it's crazy, right? It's hard to I mean, it's actually remarkable that they're on the cusp of the playoffs when you when you think about that Yeah, you know what I was hopeful for is Pederson, you know scored on something We see Queen used to all the time just get the puck on then that doesn't have to be the hardest shot in the world just make sure it gets through and

Maybe that'll you know encourage some of gets through. And maybe that'll, you know, encourage some of the guys to shoot a little more. You know, you can see the fans are just getting frustrated by the lack of finish from this team. Yeah, it's hard to explain. It's hard to put a finger on and it's certainly frustrating. I guess the optimists would say, look, they're right there. You know, if they win tonight in Taugary, they're sitting in a playoff spot. Think about that. That's pretty, you know, if they win in regulation. So they're not done.

It's just, it has been really frustrating to watch a team that was so incredibly dynamic last year. And seemingly every guy had sort of had career years last year, almost every guy. And this year it's been such a struggle to finish and to put Pucks on net and to do sort of simple, basic things. You know, Rick Tauke, it couldn't hide his displeasure after Sunday's loss against Dallas. And you know, I just think things have been sort of percolating for a while now. You know, I know Pettersson scored on the power play, but I think the story of last night, if you're comparing the two teams is that, that top line of Nick Suzuki, Uri Slavkowski and

Cole Caulfield came through with three goals and the Canucks top players at five on five scored none. Yeah. I mean, what is that 15 straight games, three or fewer goals. It's really hard to win in this league when you're, you're forcing your defense and your goaltending to not allow more than two goals every single game. It's asking a lot. Yeah, that top line for Montreal, it's funny. Montreal in many respects guys is sort of what we viewed in Vancouver last year. They're so pleased with their young guys. That foundation you just mentioned, that trio of guys really starting to learn how to play

it at the elite level at this, you know, in their NHL careers at a young age. Nick Suzuki is turning into really one of the best two-way centers in the league, and I bet he'll get strong consideration for Canada's Olympic team next year. So and Caulfields could definitely make his way on to the U.S. team as year. So, um, and Caulfields could definitely make his way on to, to the U S team as well. So yeah, Montreal, there's a resilience there. You know what it is guys? Uh, it's funny that David Savard, the UL army, uh, there was the UFAs, there was lots of talks. Is Montreal going to trade them? And I think Kent Hughes was basically saying to the guys, we love you as a team. And Anthony Stewart used to say, are guys, we love you as a team.

And Anthony Stewart used to say, are we a group or are we a team? And a group is just a bunch of guys who are wearing the same sweater and a team is a bunch of guys who sort of play for each other and genuinely like each other and genuinely are battling for one another. And Montreal certainly has that in spades. And I think it was a real positive note that, you know, Kent you sort of said, no, we're not going to tinker with anything. We could go and we can get some other draft picks, but we like the culture we have on this team. And we like the fact that these two guys, even

though they're USAs, we might lose them for nothing. We like the fact that they're, you know, part of this team. So there's a really good feeling around Montreal right now and they've got their work cut out for them to make the playoffs, but they're certainly trending in the right direction of late. Yeah, they're two points back at Columbus. They're tied on games played with 64 apiece,

but I mean, Montreal, you gotta remember that halfway through December, they had an awful record. They were 11, 16, and three at one point. And I just wonder now, do you think they got enough juice in the tank to push and get in, or do you think that it was just too much of a hole that they dug themselves at the beginning of the year and maybe it's next year the playoffs for them? Yeah, this is all gravy. I think most people certainly, I expect a bunch of y'all to be in the bottom tier of the NHL, possibly all the way to the bottom five. I wouldn't say it's

fool's gold, because they do have some good young parts. But I don't think there was pressure on this team to necessarily make the playoffs this year the way there's been for Detroit and Ottawa, etc. Because they make it sure I mean, they play Florida three more times. So that that's a tall task. You know, they're gonna have to earn their way into the playoffs. But they're right there. They're on the cusp. They're knocking on the door. And you know, one thing that we haven't talked

about is Mom Timbo. And I know we didn't see him play at Four Nations, but he was part of that Four Nations team. He's been very good for this team as of late. He's 6-0-1 in his last seven starts. He's been, you know, the save he made on Dakota Joshua yesterday. Like he's making the right save at the right time and the big moment. And, you know, goaltending can take you a long way, as you guys know. So I don't count Montreal out by any, by any counts. You know, Columbus lost last night. They've been, they've been sort of one of the great stories of the NHL this year. But you know, there's 18 games left. Are they going to kind of come down to earth a little bit from the way they've been playing? So it makes for a fantastic finish, right?

You have three teams in Boston, the Rangers in New York, and Montreal within two points of the playoffs. And of those three, right now Montreal is trending the best. So they're certainly right there. They brought it back to back. They have a game tonight as well. So that's going to be key for them to sort of finish off this road trip in a

winning fashion and see what they can do tonight. And they could wake up tomorrow morning at a playoffs spot. Hey, David, what have you made of all the stuff out of Carolina? Well, you mean the Ransom Inn? And more like Bryndamore, who I guess, Ransom and the agent clapped more like Bryndamore who, I guess, uh, ranted into the agent, clapped back at Bryndamore

and said he was misinformed, but Bryndamore kind of openly criticizing management of Carolina saying like, shouldn't we have known that this guy wouldn't sign in Carolina? And now the agent is saying, well, we never had a list of four teams that we'd only sign with. So I don't know where he's getting that, but like the whole thing, I mean, if I'm Rod Britton

to more, I'm very frustrated that, that it all played out like that with no disrespect to Logan Stankovic. But we go into each season now with Carolina going, can they get over the hump? Can they get over the hump? And the season, it looked like they had a good chance to get over the hump and they're probably going to get New Jersey in the first round.

New New Jersey is going to be without Jack Hughes and they're not looking great right now, but you know, Carolina, I, you know, I don't know if anyone looks at that team now after the moves they've made and says like, yeah, there's a good shot to win the Stanley Cup. Yeah. I mean, it's a head scratcher, right? You go and you trade a very valuable piece in nature's pick and everything else.

You go for that home run, but you don't have the pieces in place. And that's a pretty big leap of faith to sort of say, we gonna make this move and just hope we can win them over and you know if you if you agree with you know if you believe what what Rob Brynnamore saying there was zero percent chance Carolina regardless of what was gonna transpire there was gonna win Ranton and over it sounds like his mind was made up as he was flying across the country to Carolina to join the team well I'm not gonna be there for the next eight years. There's no way.

You would think of your Eric Pelsky, the GM of the Canes, you better have a better read on what's happening here because you traded a guy under contract at a pretty good, you know, and Natchez is not just a little ancillary party, he's a pretty damn good player. And I like, I liked at the time, I was like, wow, Rampson, and this could push Caroline over the top. But the way things have unfolded, clearly, you know, it's been a bust, just like Jake Gensel was there last year

and they lost him for nothing. So it's a cautionary tale for other GMs. I think you wanna have the piece in place. Dallas didn't make the move until the piece was in place, long- place. Dallas didn't make the move until the piece was in place long term. You know all the chatter about Mitch Marner and would he come to the Leafs? The Leafs weren't going to make the move. They weren't about to trade Marner for Ranton and have Ranton come and say, well, I'm out of here in June or whatever.

So it all was contingent on having the player in place. So it's interesting that that Rob Brindlemore sort of put that out there and then the agent has sort of denied that being the case. You know it is a he said he said we don't know a hundred percent but at the bottom the bottom line is that Eric Tulski clearly overplayed his hand in that management group and had expectations of being able to secure Ranton in long term and that didn't happen and now they're left no closer to a Stanley Cup Some would argue further away from the Stanley Cup and they they've lost, you know One of their key pieces in HS they lost Drury and lost some draft picks along the way as well So do you think the last thing the Buffalo Sabres needed was a report from spit and chicklets that Ross

Mastalli has requested a trade that he had to go out and kind of angrily deny Ross Mastalli has requested a trade that he had to go out and kind of angrily deny. Um, you know, once those types of rumors are out there, you can deny them as much as you want. And whether this is fair or not, um, especially if they're untrue, it's not fair. But like, man, I don't, I know they've already made a trade with Ottawa cousins for Josh Norris.

Like I, I realized that, but I don't know if that's, that's the seismic change that Buffalo Sabres fans are clamoring for. You know, what are they going to do? Like culturally, culturally, it just seems like this thing has been an issue for a long, long time. They're one of the teams this off season, I think we can all expect there'll be some substantial changes, uh, on the

ice, behind the scenes management. You know, they can't just keep running this back. This was supposed to be the year Buffalo was making a legitimate charge to the playoffs. And if you fall just short as Montreal might, you know, people could probably live with that to some degree. But when you're dead last in the East and you're not playing relevant hockey and you haven't been for the last month, it's hard. And as you said, it just, they are spinning

their wheels right now. I don't know if this, you know, listen, Paul Bissonnette said it on spitting chiclets. We worked with Paul at Trade Deadline. I know Paul pretty well. He's not known as a guy to throw stuff out there to see what sticks. I believe him. He said he heard from a pretty good source that Rasmus Dallin sort of said, if it doesn't get better, I want out. And who could blame him? He's 25 years old. He's the captain of the team, but he's probably just sitting there going, I'm not sure I could be part of the solution. And I don't think anyone would hold that against him if he just said, I need a change of scenery. He sat through what five or six coaches now and change in management and a bunch of different players have come in and out of that lineup and nothing seemed to work. It's dumb sounding,

because again, they do have a lot of nice individual parts, but the totality of those parts has just been so underwhelming. And you hit it on the head, guys. It's the culture. It's something like you put that jersey on and you're in that environment and it's not what it should be. You heard Dylan Cousins just speaking effusively of great praise to the Ottawa City. Oh my God, it's so great to have these fans that appreciate it and I don't think that was a knock on the

Buffalo fans. Buffalo has a great fan base but it's just it was like he just needed a change of scenery and he's been reenergized right he looks fantastic going out he's hitting guys and scoring goals he's doing all the things that Buffalo he should have been doing in Buffalo but for some reason it wasn't working in Buffalo and that's sort of been the case with so many of their players so of all the teams to keep an eye on this offseason guys to me Buffalo might be the most interesting because You just have to figure there's you know dramatic change coming to that franchise at all levels We're speaking to David Amber sports net NHL host here on the Halford and Brough show on sports net 650 you mentioned Ottawa there

David I did want to talk about the Senators for a moment. So it's the longest active playoff drought of any Canadian team. It's seven years ongoing. They made the big trade at the deadline. Brady Kachuck is playing out of his mind since returning from injury. He's got six goals and seven points in his last six games.

The Sens won last night. They've won four in a row. They're 5-0-1 in their last six. It feels like everything is trending in the right direction for the playoffs. And I do wonder if this Norris for Cousins trade, I know there are other parts, but this Norris for Cousins trade maybe just gave them

that spark that could snap the longest playoff drought of all the Canadian teams. Yeah. I want to throw this out to you guys. I was thinking about this. Is Brady Kachuk the best leader in hockey? And that's what, you know, listen, Sidney Crosby aside, I mean, Crosby is Crosby. I just mean like, is he the best young leader in hockey, if not sports?

Right, right now, right now he's got the most opportunity to cement himself as like an A plus alpha leader because there's so much at stake in this season for Ottawa, right? And it's funny because when he missed those first couple of games after the Four Nations and they didn't look great and they wobbled a little bit, the moment that he came back, it was like pedal to the metal, let's go. His numbers in the last six or seven games are off the charts. I think he's got 26 shots on net in his last six games. So he's just driving them, willing them to go. So I have time. I like how he just embraces the pressure and embraces the opportunity. That's what leaders do. I definitely have time for your take here. I think it's a good one.

Yeah. I mean, I think you guys hit it. I think that's exactly it. I think the guy just sort of, he made a declaration. He was being interviewed by Kyle Bacoskis on his first game back and he said, the playoffs for us start now. And they were sitting, I think, 10th in the East and he recognized the situation they're in and he didn't bow down to it and sort of, oh, too much pressure, oh, we're in trouble. He's like, no, let's go. And I'm going to drag everyone in. And he's not just talking the talk, which is easy to do at times.

He's leading by example. He hits everything in sight. He's scoring by example. He hits everything in sight. He's scoring big goals. He's scoring overtime goals. He's the emotional spark plug on that team. And I honestly think, you know, you could argue that, you know, even, even next year at the Olympics, maybe he'll be the captain of the U S team. And that's not a knock on Austin Matthews, but this guy just provides something

emotionally and physically that really few other players in the league can provide. He is absolutely fearless and it's incredible. You're right. They, there's a lot riding on this season for Ottawa. I've said, I've almost, you know, I've been on your show. I think last year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've talked about it a lot.

Yeah. It's, and that's just me, you know, that's conjecture by me. I've never heard him say, or anyone in his camp say they, if they don't make the class Brady wants out, but it just felt like this guy wants it so badly. They had to have progression. And just like Ross Mestalina is feeling this intense pressure, like, my God, I can't take all this losing.

I think Brady was wearing it on his sleeve for the last five, six years. And now finally they're getting some traction. They're not, they're not done yet. I mean, they've got work to do, but they're now finally sitting in a much more comfortable spot in the first wild card with a few points buffer. But he, he, to me, guys, he's probably not going to be on the hard ballot because it's just,

it's hard when guys like McKinnon and dry saddle are doing what they're doing. But just like Quinn Hughes, you know, Quinn Hughes is hard candidacy, by the way, is probably stronger now with him getting all these games. That he won't win the heart because you can't play 50 games and whatever. Yeah. 65 games. I don't think he's not going to win the heart.

Yeah. But my point is, I think you could easily, if you're sitting, having a beer with a buddy, could you make the case that Quinn Hughes was the MVP based on both when he was in the lineup and when he's on the lineup. I say easily you can. And Brady Kachak to me is in that exact same

argument because he's just so, you take Brady Kachak out of that Ottawa team, they're dead last in the league. And I really sincerely believe that. I know we're running out of time here, but is it going slightly under the radar that Detroit has kind of fallen apart at the very worst time? Not under my radar. I has kind of fallen apart at the very worst time? Not under my radar.

I mean, it was funny. They fired Derrick Wollans, the gem of a guy and Todd McClellan comes in and they got that coaches bump and they looked in a nice position. And now I want to know if you're Steve Iserman, what are you thinking here? The team has lost six in a row. And again, you talked about longest

playoff stretches. This is the longest stretch in franchise history. It again, you talked about longest playoff stretches. This is the longest stretch in franchise history. It wasn't that long ago, guys, but they had the stretch of what? 26 years straight in the playoffs or Stanley Cups, blah, blah, blah, blah. That seems so long ago. And, you know, Steve Eisenman, a lot of this has to hang on him. They haven't made the moves that have worked for this team,

whether it's been coaching moves or whether it's personnel moves. And he's been there a long time. And he left Tampa Bay and Julian Brizbois has been able to just have great success as the GM in Tampa and make a lot of bold moves that have worked out. And unfortunately for Stevie Y, that has not been the case so far with his tenure in Detroit. Tonight's game doesn't really need much hype. It doesn't really need much advance. It's the Canucks, it's the Flames for the second and final wildcard spot in the Western Conference. Six o'clock puck drop our time from Calgary.

It should be a good one. David, enjoy the game tonight. Thank you very much for doing this. We really appreciate it. 530 pregame. We look forward to it, guys. Thanks for having me on. Thanks for coming on. That's David Amber, Sportsnet Hockey Night, NHL host here on the Haliford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. So here's the situation for the Canucks. They played 64 games. That means they got 18 left. Calgary's played 63, so they got a game in hand.

How many points the Canucks have again? 69. Nice. If Calgary wins in regulation tonight, that would be a three-point margin and Calgary would still have a game in hand. I would be curious to see how the money puck odds and Dom's model shift after tonight's result. The question is will anyone score tonight? Because Calgary can't score either. Calgary is not exactly an offensive dynamo. That's why I put, you throw Lankton in there.

Like Lankton is starting tonight. Yeah. There's no question, right? I suppose there's a question, the answer, or the addendum to it is like how valid a question is it? Like anytime you're in the second of a back to back. Yeah. Can I still have a few days off after this game,

Lankanen can get rest about that. Actually there's two addendums. The other one is that if you look ahead to the weekend, there's also a back to back on Saturday and Sunday. And I would, I don't know, Ladi, I know I didn't ask you particularly, but if you could go onto your goalie nerd chat, and I'm sure someone will come up with it,

has there ever been a goalie that's played in consecutive back to backs-backs for his team Yeah, I think Glenn Hall did it a couple times there must have been one back in the day, right in the 50s and 60s Brodur obviously played like 76 games a year. I'm sure he must have done Yeah, you must have done it cuz yeah, you're talking about Lankton in going Tuesday Wednesday Saturday Sunday now you got a big gap between Wednesday and Saturday for him to rest but I I just don't see they've run there.

They're out of runway for trying to like massage things. And by that, I mean, can we play another game without Quinn Hughes? Can we ride Lankton and not play Seal off? They're out of runway for, you know, we're going to throw away some points here and there. They kind of, they're being forced to do it. We will find out more at some point today. It probably won't happen at any point over our show, but a reminder to keep it tuned all day right here

on Sportsnet 650 as we lead you up to puck drop at six o'clock from Calgary. It's the Canucks in the Flames, probably the biggest game of the year for both teams. We gotta go to break. When we come back, we will kick off hour two, hour one in the books. The podcast will be available for download shortly.

Frank Cerfali's gonna join us on the other side. Randy Janda at eight, don't forget, we're giving away monster truck tickets and auto show tickets as well. You're listening to the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650.