Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Are Out Of Answers

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they chat the Canucks dropping their eight game in a row, which saw them lose on the road to the Senators (3:00), plus they discuss the top hockey stories of the day with Sportsnet NHL host David Amber (26:11). 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 Halford and Vancouver drops its eighth game in a row. What is the message to the team right now? Yeah, it sucks. Coming down to middle, a shot, a same rebound. They score! The pump picked over, listen, and the score. The Predators of the boomer.

Good morning Vancouver, 6-1. Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by

Sands and Associates. Score a Dead Freedom Hatrick. One, no more interest, two much lower payments than three. Financial Peace of Mind. Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are at hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to 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. This is the Middle 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, Make 2026, your year to move better and step stronger with Kintech custom orthotics. To the guest list we go, it is the Duick Morning Drive, brought to you, of course, by the Duick Auto Group. Guest list today begins at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, SportsNet, NHL host is going to join the program. Wednesday night's Scotia Bank doubleheader tonight. The senators, having just beaten the Canucks, are at the New York Rangers, the lowly, messy New York Rangers. That's followed by a Pacific Division clash between the Kings.

And the Golden Knights, David Amber is going to join us at 630. First of NHL talk. Speaking of NHL talk, it will continue at seven. Frank Sarah Valley, our NHL insider from Victory Plus, is going to join the program. Lots of trade chatter in recent days around the Vancouver Canucks. We'll ask Frank what he's hearing about that. also look around the NHL following a 10 game Tuesday night.

Frank's going to join us at 7 o'clock. 8 o'clock, Randip Jand is going to join the program. Canucks color analyst right here on SportsNet 650. As I mentioned, Randipe was on the call last night for the Canucks' eighth consecutive loss. This won a 2-1 defeat to the senators in Ottawa. Canucks are back in action tomorrow in Columbus to end this nightmarish road trip. Randiap will join us at 8 o'clock to break down all things Canucks. You thought the road trip was going to be a good one?

I did. And it has turned out to be not as good as I thought it would be. We got Vancouver Giants tickets to give away as well. Giants are in action. January 16th, that's Friday night against the Penticton V's at the Langley Events Center. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning is going to win a pair of tickets to the Giants game. 604-280-60650. That number again, 604-280-650, caller number five. At 8 a.m. is going to wear a pair tickets to see the Giants take on the V's game. on Friday. That's the program. That's all of it. That's what's happening today. Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

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

The Ottawa Senators ended a four-game losing streak with a 2-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night. The Vancouver Canucks continued their eight-game losing streak with a 2-1 defeat against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Center on Tuesday night. Yeah, you know, if Monday's loss in Montreal was at least fun and entertaining because we got to watch the HABs, Tuesday's loss in Ottawa was a bit of a chore to get through because we not only had to watch the coaches. We also had to watch the auto senators. We did. Both senators' goals came within 15 seconds of each other in the first period and

that was all they needed. Both goals, they looked identical. A lost face-off. The puck finds itself to a wide open defenseman on the right point. The shot beats Kevin and Lankin. Kevin Lankinen. Zubb got the first one.

Jordan Spence got the second. And again, that was all the Sends would need. The Canucks did pull to within a goal in the third. Elias Pedersen moved into 10th place all time in Canucks' goals, and he should catch Bo Horvatt soon. Then it'll be a ninth. That's right, Halford. So numbers work.

That's now five goals in his last nine games, up to 13 on the season for Petey. He's turning it on. Just in time. It was a good forecheck by Jake DeBrus that forced to turn. Turnover to Linus Carlson, who found Pedersen wide open in the slot for the one-timer, but that would be it for goals on the night. For the second straight night, the Canucks were outshot badly. This time it was 40 to 19.

Against Montreal, it was 41 to 23. The Sends don't give up many shots as a team, which is why their goaltending issues have been especially frustrating this season. They're a good defensive group that hasn't gotten the saves. I think we saw some of their team defense last night against the Canucks. So that's eight straight losses for the Canucks. Yep. Who've yet to even notch a point through five games of this six-game road trip

that wraps Thursday in Columbus. There's still a chance. They can turn it around. They can turn it around. One win will really turn the tide. Well, and they've got the Rick bonus bump too. Yep. Columbus beat Calgary last night.

Brock Bessor did not score a goal. 21 games is it? 21 games in a row now for him. He didn't look great defensively on the SIN's first goal either. And it was the story of the Canucks in the defensive zone, that goal. And Adam Foote talked about it afterwards. He said, we should have done better there. You know, it didn't help that David Camp fell down on the face off while P.O. Joseph, I don't know,

spun around in the circle. I think he got picked by the linesman. Anyway, Besser chased after Shane Pinto, who happily passed it to Zub, who would have been Bessor's man if he hadn't, well, chased after Pinto. And we've seen a lot of that from the Canucks this season, chasing guys, not getting to them in time.

And when you chase someone else's guy, you leave your guy open. You know, I do think that if Besser is going to sit again, game. It might as well be Thursday in Columbus, but I also think that sitting Besser is different than sitting Jake DeBrusk. It would be a bigger deal to sit a guy who's considered part of your leadership group, who's been on the team a long time. Whether you agree with that notion or not, I just do think it would be a slightly bigger deal. I don't know if anyone heard Adam Foote rattling off his leaders.

He was asked about his leaders. And I think while Besser and Garland up front and then he named the three veteran defensemen on the back end, Horonick, Marcus Pederson and Tyler Myers, no. He did not name Elise Pedersen in case you're wondering. So, you know, that's a guy that he just name checked as part of his leadership group. Jake DeBrasse was not named checked. is he going to sit him? I don't know.

Maybe. It's getting pretty grim. But I don't think this is a case of Brock Besser, like, not caring that he's not playing well. But I don't know. Maybe at some point you'd just have to do it. You couldn't accuse DeBusk of not caring out of there when he got healthy scratch. So I don't think that should enter into the equation. You're right.

I mean, I know you want him sad. You know, I think everyone should take a turn. If they're this bad, you're the worst team in the NHL. Yeah. And if you are on a 21 game goal of streak and you're minus 25 on the worst team in the NHL. What do you think it does? Sorry? What do you think it does?

What does it accomplish? It would send a message to everybody that that level of play and that caliber of play is unacceptable. Yeah, but don't you think Brock already knows that? I think Brock knows, but I'm not talking about Brock. I thought what the rest of the guys on the team. Because right now, if I was a young player that maybe say Jess came into the organization, I'd be like, oh, that's interesting. Oh, okay.

Yeah. They sat down Jake DeBrog. who is a veteran NHL player and went a bunch of games without scoring and didn't have the greatest defensive play. Why would that same logic not apply to Brock? And you probably have to explain it to them. And they're like, well, he's a veteran guy and he's been around a lot longer. And everyone likes Brock. And then you're like, does that mean everyone doesn't like DeBrusk? And then they're like, this conversation's over. And then I think, I think the point being is that you either have a standard or you don't. You know?

You're healthy, scratching young defensemen all the time, right? Who was it last night? Yolander got a night off, right? So there's a standard there that the young guys are going to get their time off to sit and watch. There's always that hierarchy, though, in the NHL, where if you've, if you're a veteran, you get a longer leash. Right. A much longer leash. I would say 21 games without a goal is a long, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, long leash.

It's been plenty long. It's a loon leash. I'm like at this point, what are we doing here? What are you saving face? Put it this way. If that stat line applied to any Vancouver Canucks forward, 21 games without a goal and minus 25, I would say, regardless of the number on the back and the nameplate,

hey, maybe you should consider sitting them down for a game. I don't know. Yeah, you mentioned Tom Velanders spent a night in the press box as the Canucks continued to give their young defensemen opportunities to watch from up high and reset a little bit. Makes sense, especially on a back-to-back. Zeve Bouyam returned to the lineup, and I don't know, he did pretty well for himself.

Almost 22 minutes of ice time. He wasn't out there for a goal against. You know, he was fine. But I also wonder where he's at mentally and confidence-wise and just what have I gotten myself into, wise? Yeah, I'm going to ask Frank Saravalli about this when we have them on at 7 o'clock because I was watching frankly hockey with him and John Bucigros on Victory Plus this morning actually before the show started.

And they made a point of cherry picking that Z. Bouillon Healthy Scratch and talking about it a little bit more. Here locally, I did notice that we all sort of gave it a collective. Eh, makes sense. He wasn't really doing much of anything in the most recent games prior to getting sad. And he had made a couple of defensive mistakes, including the one in Toronto, I think, that you highlighted the other day that was fairly agreed. just put it up against the wall and so I from from a hockey person like I don't know I had turned

up the game yeah I was I was watching the football so at that point I was like okay you know you sit them down not a big deal young defenseman gets out a lot and it seems like there's some consistency there because dpity got sat v lander got sat and then bouillon got scratched as well but we'll ask frank about it at seven I do want to play some audio following last night's game so there's a commonality always now between the Rangers and the Canucks. Both teams are tire fires. Of course, the Rangers employee former Vancouver Canuck, J.T. Miller and the Ottawa senators having played the Canucks last night, are going to play the New York Rangers tonight. So I want to play some audio from Elias Pedersen last night. And J.T. Miller a few nights ago where they're both asked

about sort of what's going wrong. Why the huge lapse in energy? Why such a string of consecutive losses? We're going to play P.D.'s first. This is Pedi following last night's 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators in which, yes, he did score his fifth goal in the last nine games, but the Kinnock still ended on the losing side of things. Here's Alias Pedersen being asked the questions about what's going on, what's going wrong with your team during this losing streak following last night's loss to the Ottawa Senators. As a leader in this group, what is the message to the team right now? Yeah, this sucks. I hate losing. I don't know

I don't know Let's hear now from J.T. Miller a couple nights ago when he was asked a very similar question about his team's struggles. First period. Did you feel like anything you get from that point forward and the second?

I don't know. I think these two guys are a lot more alike than they even knew. How did they not get along? They're just both two guys that are out of answers. I don't know. They could look at each other across the room. Like, do you know?

Do you know? I don't know. Maybe they would have gotten better along if they both had that shared thing. Rumor has it that EP40 is still giving a very heavy sigh right now. That was a big sigh. Can we hear that sigh again? Can you see it up, laddie? Let's hear the sigh.

Because we're all sighing along with you, Elias Pedersen. That's a big sigh. Big sigh. That's lung capacity. Yeah, like a second part to it at the end there. Listen, oh, a double. Yeah, it's like a double side.

Double side. The sigh within the side. Ah, the rare double sigh. I mean, you know it's bad. He went on to say in that clip that he hates losing, and he was very cognizant of the fact that they've lost eight in a row. These are the little moments. Everyone's like, this is what a rebuild looks like.

This is what a tank looks like. This is what a team who sinks to the, the bottom to get the first round pick looks like. And I don't disagree. This is what it looks like. But when you talk about building a culture and keeping people accountable, and I think most importantly, making sure that guys are learning something along the way, you do have to combat this element of it, which is where guys get really frustrated and despondent and

dejected. You have to kind of balance the, hey, guys, we're going to lose more games than we're going to win, but there has to be some positives taken from this along the way. And for this team, it's learning. Now, the issue that I have is that we're at game 44 of the season, and there's still a lot of the same mistakes happening that Foot talked about earlier in the year. It doesn't seem like they're really picking up the nuances of those mistakes. They're right there as far as I understand.

That's fine, though. How much does this have to do with this system of swarming and this philosophy of swarming the puck that Adam Foote brought in. And I'm not asking you, as if you know, I'm just throwing it out there. Well, it's a great, it is a good question to bring up. Because the idea of swarming the puck in your own end, I mean, the reason you do it is so you can recover pucks quicker. Sure.

Right? So, I mean, if you stay in your static structure, then a lot of the times the teams can just move it around. and you're just kind of standing in shooting lanes or standing in passing lanes. If you swarm the puck, if you sense that a guy is, you know, vulnerable or whatever, and you swarm the puck, then you can dispossess them of the puck and not going the other way. I don't know if that first goal had anything to do with swarming. I think that was more like camp fell.

And then there was a little bit of confusion. Then all of a sudden Shane Pinto had the puck at the top of the start. circle and Bessler's like, I guess I should go get him. But then he went and Pinto was like, thank you for charging at me because now you're a guy, Zubb. Yes. Which is a great name. The Zub.

He's wide open. But that play did look like a lot of Canucks goals against in their defensive zone where they're running around. They're like, oh, you don't have that guy? I'll go get that guy. Yeah. And then that guy's like, thank you, again, for charging me because I'm a really good hockey player. I'm in the NHL.

And what I can do is if it looks like I'm going to shoot, I change my mind instantly. And then I pass it to an open guy. And then oftentimes someone will charge it that guy. They're like, oh, my God, that guy's wide open. We better charge at him. And then he goes, I'm really good because I'm in the NHL. and I'm going to find an even wider open guy. Wider opener.

Wider opener guy. And then he's like, I'll actually just score. Well, an interesting follow-up question I think would be, is it even worth the guys trying to master this swarm technique because will it even be in play next season? Is this going to be around? Are they even listening to him anymore? I don't think anything matters as far as coaching and structure.

None of that matters this year. It's run out the clock mode now. Let's just do whatever. There is an inherent problem. with that. And again, I go back. Actually, it works pretty well for a tanking season. But I go back to culture and habits is that if you come up in a system where the head coach's message doesn't really matter because you're going to lose anyway, there is the possibility that that bleeds over to the next regime change. That's when the veterans... We don't have to listen to the coaches in this

organization. This is awesome. If I've learned one thing as a Vancouver Cana, it's that. That's when the veterans come in and say to the young guys like you're discussing yesterday, like look like this is just the reality of the situation, get through the year, next year will be better. Granted, a lot of veterans may not be there might not be here. But nevertheless, they have to pass that message along. Then they're like, I can't even trust the veterans. They said it was going to be better next year and they all got to escape. Yeah. These are all real things, by the way, within a rebuild. Okay, I want to read a couple texts here. We played the Pedersen and JT. Audio and someone texts in. Wondering what you expect PD to say or for that matter, JT, do you think it'd be

great if he called out the coach or other players on the team, the question is never going to get answered. I don't think we're expecting them to do anything differently. I think we're playing that audio to just show the tough situation that they're in. Oh, I don't think it was that. Who's this? Dean and Twosson. Did you even hear the question? It wasn't like the most, uh, what's it like instigating type question. Like it wasn't, I mean, can you play the clip again? I actually want to hear this as a leader. Yeah. Um, what do you say to the guys in this situation? How, as a leader on this group, what is the message to the team right now? That's not that hard. Keep it going to what he says.

Yeah, this sucks. I hate losing. I don't know. It's a, I don't know. He does go on to say, like, he just got a... I think this is an inflammatory text from Dean, to be perfectly honest. Yeah. Do you think it would be great if he called out the coach or other players on the team?

They didn't even ask him that. They didn't ask, what would you say to the coach in this instance? Or take the moment to call out your teammates? all she asked was as a leader, what's the message to the team when you're in an eight-game losing streak? That's a really straightforward question. He took offense to be called a leader. He's like, how dear?

He's like, nothing. Yeah, they never ask me. I'm a leader of this. And to answer the first part of the question, what are you expecting Pete to say, I don't care what he says. We play what he's going to say. You get asked the question, you answer it, you play it. That's how this whole thing works.

Right? And if he has a long sigh and says, I don't know, yeah, I'm going to have. a laugh at it. There's nothing inflammatory about any of that. Any of that whatsoever. Can I, do you have a history with Dean and Tuasson? Rachel just said the Halford and Dean

feud is back. Dean, I keep my eye on you from a distance. Nice. I never liked you. Can I just add one positive? If there has been a positive from the last 10 games, it is Elias Pedersen. Yes. He's scoring goals and

the more goals. The more goals he scores, the easier it is to me to trade them. Honestly, that's where I'm at right now. There is increasing talk about the possibility of the Canucks trading Elias Pedersen. That's why he's scoring goals. And yeah, I don't know. That was a nice shot yesterday. It was a nice pass by Carlson.

And it was an effective forecheck from them, and he buried it. And I think he is looking more decisive when he's shooting. he's actually pulling the trigger and I think that's good. You know, we're hearing a lot of the insiders, regardless of the network they're on, saying, yeah, the connects are listening on Elias Pedersen. And I don't know if that's something that happens before the trade deadline, but sometimes these things can, you know, all of a sudden,

it's like, wait a minute, did you just get traded? I mean, that's kind of how the Quinn Hughes thing happened, right? It was like he had a couple of games where he looked kind of disinterested and had those shifts. And I think the Canucks realized then it's like we got him, we got to make a move. I wonder if they're in a situation right now. They're like, you know, we know that sometimes Ilius can fall down into a bit of a dark hole. If we get the offer that we need to move this guy, let's move on it. Now, it's not as easy as just pulling the trigger because PD does have a no move clause.

And I think it's also been reported that the Canucks have not been in touch with Alias Pedersen's camp. So all that sort of thing would have to happen. But I guess I guess this is one of this is going to be one of the main things that we're going to talk about. Who's going to get traded among the veterans? And then how are they going to go about doing that? Not just which team is going to take them. But how are they going to figure this out? when so many of these players have control over the situation

through no move clauses or no trade clauses. I saw that Canucks Twitter picked up on Brough's L.A. King take. I got a kick out of that. Yeah. He was like a week ahead of everyone else. They're like, wait a second. The Kings might be a good fit. It's making the rounds.

Kings play tonight, by the way, against the Vegas Golden Knights. Yeah, I think also we talked about this yesterday in terms of the three, dare I say, most onerous contracts. There's other candidates. But the three most onerous ones that we talked about were Besser, Peterson, and Demko. right yesterday. You said of the three.

Yeah. For the purpose of this conversation, but that was mostly just for, because those guys have been the long-term Canucks. So of those three, Pedersen has made himself the most viable trade candidate and attractive acquisition to other teams

of the three. By far. By far. Yeah. Besser right now, I would say is virtually untradable if you're going to go on current form. There's nobody that's in, interested in taking that on. The 40-goal season seems like so long ago. And Demko can't

stay healthy. So kudos to Petey, huge kudos to Petey for being able to step up in a completely lost season where there's not a great offensive options around him. It's not like he's playing with world beaters out there and he's managed to find the back of the net and play consistent hockey and quite frankly do what some of the other veteran skaters on this team are unable to do. And that's generate offense with some sense of regularity. Okay, we're up against it for time. On the other side, the NHL talk will continue. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, SportsNet, NHL host, is going to join us next on the Halverton Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

It's Kinnock Central on Sportsnet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. It is time for David Amber. He is on the hotline, baby. It is time for David Amber. He will talk some hockey maybe.

It is time for David Amber. 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 write a bit of 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 Rick talking. No one wants to fight Rick talking. I'm on the hotline, baby. It is, it's David. It is, it's David. Amber, it is, it's David. He's on the hotline.

632 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Only a licensed insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. To learn more, visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are still in hour one of the program. David Amber Hockeynake Night Canada Sportsnet.

NHL host is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of hour one. 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 & Breath Show on SportsNet 650.

Morning, David. How are you? Good. What's up, Jans? How are you guys been today? We're good. We are going to move past the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 loss in Ottawa yesterday. And we're going to look forward, just like what Adam Foote tells the guys to do. Just get ready for the next one. And we're going to do this and also celebrate Rick Bonus in a way as well.

Because Bonas, who the Canucks will face on Thursday in Columbus is the new head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, won in his debut last night, 5'3 over the Calgary Flames at home. Bonas seemed very happy in his postgame media availability, not just for winning in his debut, but you can tell that he really wanted to get back behind a bench and coach, and that's what he loves to do. And it was very cool seeing him get a win in his first game. your thoughts on what he was able to do. His appointment is coach

and then getting a win against Calgary last night, David. Well, I love Rick Bowens as a guy. He's worked with us at hockey night, and he's just, he's such an exceptional hockey mind and such a great guy. We actually had him on Hockey Central yesterday, guys, and he joined us,

and he was just smiling ear to ear, and he said he was sitting on a boat with his wife, Judy. They were in the Florida Keys, and he gets a call from Donwood down. Four hours later, he's in Columbus. It was that quick a whirlwind. And I said, well, we thought,

you're retired and he just, he loves the game. What can I say, right? No one has been behind the bench more than Rick Bonas in NHL history. Think about that. And one thing I asked him about is, this is remarkable. This is his eighth team, including twice with the Winnipeg Jets, versions 1.0 and 2.0 with the Jets. This is the fifth time he's been hired in season to replace the coach. So he's sort of that temperature gauge comes in.

He gauges the temperature of a team. He shakes them up culturally, identity-wise. and then they're an improved team as they move forward. So, you know, I think it's great for him personally. He is really excited for this opportunity. Columbus has a lot of work to do clearly. But, you know, they went from the basement to 15th in the east after that one win, and we all know how tightly bunched all the teams are.

So they're still like eyeing a possible playoff situation. And if they don't make the playoffs, I hope he's back with us at hockey night during the postseason because he's a great guy to be around. I picture Rick Bonas taking that call on his boat, like Forrest Gump when he saw Lieutenant Dan and he was on the shrimpin boat and he just jumped off the boat.

Shout over for us. Just jumped overboard and started swimming. Start running. Yeah. So how did the blue jackets look last night? You know, they got that little early bump. And then actually one of the interesting parts of the game, they're playing the Calgary Flames.

The early bump being they got off to 2-0 lead. They're playing a lot of energy, really physical. And then we had a fight. Rasmus Anderson, who isn't really, a fighter, you know, strong defense and for Calgary, got into a fight and actually, I think, won the fight against Boone Jenner, the captain of Columbus. And then Calgary kind of woke up, scored two goals, and we had a pretty good back and forth game. But ultimately, Boone Jenner had the final say and final laugh as he scored in the last two minutes and Columbus won. So I'm not

going to, let's not overplay this. Columbus has a lot of work to do. They'd have to climb over seven more teams to make the playoffs. But it does give them something they've lacked. You know, Rick Bonus can help create a bit of an identity on that team. Like, what are they? Who are they? They've been in the league so long, and they've never really had a discernible identity. And they have some great players, but it doesn't ever seem to lead to much success.

They've missed the playoffs, I think six straight years now. So I'm interested to see what Rick Bonas can do to kind of shake up who that team is. And the first thing he said to us is I'm going to work on their defense. There's just way too many high-scoring chances given up. We're way too loose in our own end, and that's something I'm going to address. When he's going to address it, guys?

I don't know because there's never practice time for any team, right? Like I'm looking at the schedule right now. We have the Ottawa Senators game tonight. Ottawa has 12 games in the next 22 nights leading up to the Olympic break. I don't know how you practice when literally every night you're either flying somewhere or playing somewhere. And I think that's the challenge all the other coaches are feeling right now. Rick Bonas's old team, the Winnipeg Jets, have suddenly won three in a row. They're now four points up on the Vancouver Canucks for last place in the Western Conference,

but eight points still back of a playoff spot. Is it too little too late for them, or do you think they could go on a St. Louis-Bluise-style run and get into the playoffs? Well, they'll need to have a St. Louis-Blu's type of run. The math isn't mapping for them, guys. What do you think it's going to take in the West? And this is a down year. Like we see San Jose has 49 points over 45 games, and they're sitting in the last playoff spot.

That's on pace for like 86 points. I don't think 86 points is going to get into the playoffs, but 90 points might. I think 90 might. Yeah, 90 might, but for Winnipeg to get 90, they've got to go 25. I'm just looking at the map. They've got to go 25 and 12. 25 and 12 will get them to 90. Can they go 25 and 12?

Sure. I mean, that's just, it's a tall. order with the games coming this fast and furious. Now, they do have a heart-winning goalie, and they do have Connor and Shifley and Morrissey. I mean, they have a bunch of elite players, but that's going to, it's going to, that's a tall task, right? You need to go 25 and 12, and you also need the teams, you know, they have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven teams they have to pass. They have a lot of those teams needing to not have three-point games and to kind of fall off a cliff. You're asking, you're asking a lot. You're asking a lot for that to happen, but what's the dumb and

Dumber, so you're saying there's a chance, right? We're thinking, oh, sorry. The Nashville Predators might make the playoffs, and who would have thought that earlier in the season? You know, I watched them play the Edmonton Oilers last night. They got the win in overtime, and, you know, I would say they played the Oilers pretty even. They've still got a minus 22 goal differential, which is crazy, but there's going to be a

couple teams that make the playoffs in the Western Conference, I think, that's going to have a negative goal differential. Now, their reward might be the Colorado Avalanche in the first round, so we'll see how they do there. But I don't think many of us after the first quarter of the season expected Nashville to be in the playoff race, but there they are. There they are. You know, last night UC Soros was really, really good. And I think that, you know, they have that blue chip to play, right? An elite goaltender that can pull out some games.

Stamcoast was absolutely horrific for the first month of this season. Everyone was like, he's washed, he's done. And all he's done since then is pouring goals. I think he has 15 goals in the last 20 games. Last night he scored his 20th, which is now 21, sorry, 16, 20 goals seasons for him. Think about that, like one of the great generational scores, Stephen Stamcoast. Yeah, they've looked a lot better. I still, I'm curious whether they have enough, you know, depth on that team to get through

if they're going to be able to fight off the likes of, you know, whether it's L.A. San Jose or, you know, if the Jets do make a continued run, like, are they going to be able to hold off these teams and get themselves in the playoffs? But the fact that we're even talking about them says it's been a much improved year. So kudos to Andrew Burnett and his staff are sort of turning that thing around and making the Predators relevant again because last year was just such a blip for them. It came out of nowhere after we all thought they'd won, you know, free agency with Marshall's So and Stamco's stuff such a bad year as they did last year.

So this is a bit of a bounce back. But as you said, pretty unexpected. Did the Leafs just run out of gas last night in Utah, or do you have to credit the mammoth, who, by the way, I think are better than their record has indicated? You know, we talk about goal differential. Preds minus 22. Utah is plus 14, and yet there's only a two-point difference in the standings. Yeah, Utah, by the way, do you see how Dylan Gunter shoots the puck?

Yeah, we've seen it. You know, the Canucks could have had him, but anyway, all over. and trade. So, yeah, we've been following his career from afar. He can really shoot the Pock. He scored two beautiful goals. He's up to 23 on the season. So, yeah, he was taking ninth of all.

Who did you guys take that job? I'm scared to ask. Well, that was the pick they traded away for Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Connor Garland. Could have been Gunther. Could have been Gunther. They didn't necessarily, like, they wouldn't necessarily have taken him, but everyone kind of follows it a lot. I mean, well, listen, Garland's played really well, but. I guess you don't want to go and re-examine that trades too closely because this guy, he's 22.

He's from Edmonton, and he's just lighting it up, you know, 27 goals last year, and he already has 23 this year. Aside from that, though, yeah, I think the least ran out of gas. I mean, they gave everything they had the night before in Colorado, and it was their best win of the year and most unexpected one of the year to do something, you know, very few teams have done, and that's walk out of there with two points from Ball Arena this year. Only three teams have done that. So they kind of put it all out there, then flew to Utah, got in,

and they looked flat, and Utah were sitting there ready and sort of needed these points and said we're taking them. So that basically explains that, I think. We're speaking to David Amber, Hockey Night, Canada, SportsNet, NHL host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I think we do have to spend at least a couple minutes here and talk about the Tampa Bay Lightning. What they are doing right now, their 11th consecutive victory last night, a 2-1 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. It's the longest winning streak in franchise history. It's the longest winning streak in the NHL this season. It's wild to think that for as long as John Cooper has been on the job,

he's still able to set franchise marks like this. You would have thought with all the great teams that he's had in Tampa Bay, they would have had a longer win streak. But lo and behold, 11 in a row, I thought the comments afterwards were really telling because he made a point of saying that they'd only won one of their first seven to start the year. And a lot of people were wondering if time was up in Tampa Bay.

He said, great group, leaders, phenomenal, check a lot of boxes, tons of buy-in. And I think that really speaks to his ability to coach when you're still getting that level of buy-in at this stage where maybe the message would wear thin or it would get tired. John Cooper's still an elite coach, and he's showing it right now in Tampa Bay. One of the things that shocks me is that he has never won coach of the year. It's wild, right? I know. Yeah, it is, it's, he almost deserves like just the Lifetime Achievement Award. And maybe this is the year, let's say Tampa wins the Atlantic,

and considering all the injuries they've had, Braden Point, we now know without week to week. He'd already missed the number of games. Hegel's been injured this year. Headman's been injured this year. Vatholowski's been injured this year. I mean, Hedman's only played 18 games, right? He's missed two-thirds of the season.

They're doing it with this mishmash of players that he is getting every ounce out of them. It's been really pretty impressive to watch. And also, Nikita Kuturov, you know, if he was named John, Smith and was from Saskatoon, you have to think he'd have a bit more, we put a little bit more love on his name. You know, he doesn't endear himself maybe to the Canadian hockey fans. We all know what he did in the All-Star game in Toronto, or it's almost like flipping off the fans, basically by just not putting any effort in. And so I think he kind of likes playing that villain role. But my God, is he good, hey? Like, he's just, he scored a shootout winner last night.

He's always amongst the league leader in points. He's just, you know, in fact, he's led the league, know, he was first for the second, you know, two straight years last year. It's just, he's unbelievable, right? A three-time Art Ross winner, and he does have one heart trophy, but he's an elite elite player and one nice, consistent thing when you've had all these other players out for John Cooper's to have Kuchrov there to sort of lean on. But yeah, I'm shocked at what they're doing, and they look like, you know, the power in the East. Will anyone in the East be able to unseat whoever comes out of the West, because we do all agree that the West has sort of the four or five best teams.

The only thing is during the Stanley Cup playoffs, they're all going to beat each other up. And whether it's Tampa or someone else from the east, they might have an easier path to get to the final, and that could serve them well. So you've got the senators at the Rangers at MSG tonight, probably struggling to find storylines to cover there. You're struggling to set me up for tonight.

Yeah, there's a lot to talk about. You could just focus on the senators, or you could just focus on the Rangers because it's been wild for both teams. Listen, there are good storylines. There are storylines. There are just not positive storylines. So the Rangers are the worst home team,

and I know Vancouver struggled, but the Rangers have been far worse than anyone. Five wins in 21 home games. They've been shut out at home, I want to say seven times, which is insane. They come in on a four-game losing streak, including a 10-2 loss to Boston on Saturday. I mean, this team is reeling.

they lost their last game to Seattle at home, and the fans in the second period were chanting fire drury. Like, that's a, you know, that's pretty usually sometimes as they leave the ice at the end of the game, but they have that check going pretty early on in this game. So there's some heat there in New York, and they've got some decisions to make. You know, Artemi Panarin's a USA.

He leads the team in points again, you know, blah, blah, blah. A lot of teams would love to add him and make a Stanley Cup run. What are they going to do with Artemi Paneran? So Chris Dury has some decisions to make. The team is reeling badly. Ottawa, you know, they're only a point better than the Rangers who are dead last in the east. But Ottawa, at least is coming off a win last night, as you guys know against Vancouver. And they're trying to kind of write their own issues with everything that transpire, you know,

both on and off the ice for them this season. So, you know, negative storylines, but Ottawa, I know this is one of those things where if they can just get a save. One thing we're going to key in tonight in our show, guys. Ottawa's goaltending, 874 save percentage. That's the worst save percentage collectively for a team in 30 years. Yeah, it's a crazy. It's crazy. Like, Chavisreen, just get me a save.

We'll win some games. All the other metrics for their defensive play are pretty good. So that's something we're in a key on tonight. The goaltending in Ottawa, maybe we'll see the debut of James Reimer as a member of the Senators and the Rangers. What the heck's going on in New York? Because it's a mess right now.

Yeah, the Senators are so, I mean, they're a stingy team. but I did want to ask you, I want to get your take on the statement from the senators and what you thought about that PR strategy. Yeah, it's a great question. I, you know, thankfully, I don't have to make these types of decisions because I imagine that was a tough decision. I do think they may be brought, they shed more light,

they gave the story more oxygen than maybe it had previous. and I imagine, and I haven't talked to Steve Stales in their management group, but I imagine they were like, look, this is getting out of hand. We don't want this to end up like the Connor Vard, Corey Perry nonsense from three years ago, which got enough legs, you know, that they ended up having to address it as well.

And maybe they just thought, let's get in front of this. I do think, you know, when it comes to, you know, national broadcasts, once you give it light, then you kind of open the door to, you know, Elliot Freeman made it sort of had to, you know, give the news of the day on it Saturday on hockey night, had it just been some internet rumors that never would have gotten on that platform. So sometimes unintentionally you actually bring a bit more air to it. And I don't think that obviously was what they wanted to do.

They wanted to protect their players and sort of put an end of the nonsense. But it did give it a bit of oxygen. I'm not sure it's the best PR strategy, but, you know, they have to do what they consider it right. And maybe the players wanted to like, hey, can you guys say something? like this is ridiculous and they wanted to get out there and say something. David, this was great. Thanks for taking the time to do this today.

We really appreciate it. Enjoy the games tonight. Again, for those that weren't paying attention earlier, there will not be a test. I'll just remind you. It's the Sands at Rangers first, followed by a Pacific Division clash between the Kings and the Golden Knights. Enjoy the games tonight.

It should be a lot of fun. I really appreciate it, guys. Have a great day. We'll talk soon. Thanks, buddy. David Amber Hockey Night, Canada, NHL host here on the Alfred & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So the Kinecks finished their road,

Thursday in Columbus. Then it's hockey day in Canada Saturday and they will be the nightcap of that when they host the Edmonton Oilers to kick off an eight-game homestand which should be interesting. Monday they host to New York Islanders

and I'm wondering of Bo Horvatt is going to be back in the lineup for that because it was a week ago today that the Islander said Bo Horvett is out at least. a week with an injury. We need to start monitoring these situations now because Canada's first game in Italy is now less than a month away.

It's February 12th. Tell us what John Cooper said about Braden Point yesterday. Yeah, so, you know, they said they avoided the worst with Braden Point, who got hurt in Tampa Bay's 10th consecutive victory of the other night. And then, of course, went on to be Pittsburgh last night. So Point traveled with the team to Pittsburgh, but did not play. I guess he could take in the sights and go on the Roberto Clemente Bridge. Yeah.

Do whatever he wanted to do, just not play in the hockey game. Listen to a little Mike Tomlin related sports radio. There's a lot of it going on there right now. Yeah. A lot. He's calling in. He's like, how about some respect for this guy? Yeah, it's Braden from Canada on line one.

So Braden Point did not play. It's an undisclosed injury. We couldn't really tell if it was a knee or an ankle. He got folded up on in that game against the Flyers on Monday. He's considered week to week. Cooper actually took, and this is why I love Coop, when he first announced the injuries, like, look, let's just talk about the elephant in the room.

There's a pretty big tournament coming up that I'm coaching in. And that Braden Point is supposed to play in. And they said they were hopeful that with the week-to-week designation and avoiding the worst, that he'd be okay for the Olympics. But you're right. We're talking fine lines now between being healthy for the start of the tournament because we're less than a month away. Like any injury that's suffered right now jumps to the top of the concern list because if you're not 100%, I don't know how NHL teams are going to react like they did with the four nations.

Because quite famously, you'll remember the Vancouver Canucks and Quinn Hughes sort of came to a mutual agreement. I was never quite sold on it being mutual, but a mutual agreement. I think there was a lot of pressure on Quinn to say no. Correct. But there was a mutual agreement. agreement that he wouldn't go and participate in the four nations with the U.S. Now, I think a lot of guys that were held out or held themselves out of the four nations did so with the idea that, well, I'll still get to play in the Olympics.

Right? I think that was Quinn Hughes. Maybe that was part of the caveat. Like, hey. I think he was feeling the responsibility of being the captain of the Vancouver Canucks. Right. But I remember him saying like, and a lot of the players, I hate this team. Right.

Get out of here one day. Say, maybe we'll make the playoffs. Anyway, I do wonder now. if guys are going to push the envelope a little bit more. I don't know if you saw the videos that were going around of when Bo Horvac got named to Team Canada. Big, big deal for him and his family. It goes without saying.

It was awesome. Right. Awesome. So do you put your responsibilities and obligations to club on the back burner? Because this might be a lot of guys' only chance to go to the Olympics. Yep. You know? David Amber was talking about Steve Stamcoast there in the previous hit.

You want to talk about a guy that's had terrible luck. trying to represent his country on the biggest stage at the Olympics. Go back and look at the Stamco's chronology. Like it was either an injury or he was overlooked or he just missed his window. But he's never been able to do it. And you're talking about an elite player

in his prime that you would have thought would have at least represented Canada once. Like if you're 27 today, four years, you don't know where your game is going to be. And look at the talent that is in the pipeline on its way. Connor Bredd not on this team. Matthew Schaefer, not on. on this team. Those guys are going to be locks for Canada four years out from here.

Have you seen how Sam Bennett has been playing since the announcement? He is on fire. He is basically a point of game guy. Yeah, I have noticed that. I do wonder if he's the first guy to get the tap if someone gets hurt up front. Not Bidard, not whoever else. Yeah. I mean, I do too. Yeah. I would probably take him. He's got a point to prove now. I really want. Sam Bennett on the team. I would be curious what the vibe in the room would be between him and the decision makers. And by that, I mean, John Cooper. He walks in, what's up?

Coupe. Remember when you cut me from this team? I'm back. Yeah. I'd be very curious. Coup will be like, yeah, you're going to be the extra forward tonight. Congratulations. You're on the team.

Go put on your suit. I don't know how this is going to play out with, well, point in particular. Because I got a feeling that that injury is serious. the fact that he's got a week-to-week designation, and the way that it looked, it looked terrible. They're going to hold out... I think it's a coin toss on whether he goes now. They're going to hold out hope till the very end.

And then obviously, that's the thing with this tournament, though, is that every standby player is waiting anxiously to get that call to go participate. So if someone can't make it, no problem. You pick up the phone and you add a pretty good player on the other side. Speaking of on the other side, Frank Seravalli, our NHL Insider from Victory Plus is going to join the program. We will talk to him next about.

the Vancouver Canucks and everything's going on around the NHL. A couple of points of business to attend to before we go to break. One, I need to tell you that you should right now reserve your spot for the big football party at the Clayton Public House hosted by SportsNet 650.

Email info at the Clayton Pub.com The Clayton Public House, good food, good people, good times. Get a hold of them. If you want to go somewhere for the big football game later on in February, again, that email is info at the Clayton Pub.com. First hour of the show is in the books.

You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.