Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Go Duck Hunting Tonight

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason discuss the latest NHL news & notes with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (1:10), plus they look ahead to tonight's Canucks opponent, as Sirius XM Ducks reporter Jonathan Davis (26:06) joins the show.  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.

701 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford and Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff

that can help with anything that you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, four parts. We are in hour two of the program. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money,

then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Just kidding. Let him do that. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec, to the phone lines.

We go. Greg Wyshynski joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on sports net six 50. Good morning, Greg. How are you? Well, I'm an American on election day.

So I think that should probably tell you how, how I'm doing. So you don't want to talk about Bowen Byram. I got, I have to be honest with you and the listeners. It has been extremely hard to do this job, I would say, within the last four to five days. Before that, it's a good distraction.

It's fun. You're writing about hockey. It's a weird season. There's a lot of little places to dive into. The last four to five days, I'm not somebody who's predisposed to having writer's block. And I don't think that you could call it writer's block. But the amount of absolute distraction, the amount of doom scrolling,

watching Twitter feeds that update polling and all of that stuff has absolutely consumed me to the point of paralysis. And the thing about it is that it's, it's the paralysis doesn't subside today because you're probably not going to know who wins for like another week. So it's a,

yeah, it's bad. It's bad being an American on election day right now. Yeah. Is there any way that tonight and the next few days isn't like super, super, let's use a nice word here. Messy.

Like regardless of who wins the mess. No, I mean, I, I, I think there's different degrees of messy. Uh, I mean like there's like,

you know know the international soccer messy and then the mls messy i'm kidding look i'm saying i'm saying that uh you know one side is going to declare victory no matter what we know that and then it's just a matter of but two sides could also declare victory yeah but what well one side's going to declare victory win or lose right we know that right then it's just a matter of whether or not the the electoral map and the vote totals make that claim viable for their followers or ridiculous on its face. And so there is a scenario in which things go really good for the Democrats and it's a blue wave and the polling was off and then the argument from the other side becomes a little ridiculous or it's truly a coin flip 50-50 election. And it is then the 2020 election writ large where you have several states within, you know, the margin of error or recount territory. So it's really scary times. I don't

know, man. It's been very stressful and undoubtedly will only get stressful as the day goes on. Well, let's turn our attention. I don't think I'm going to ask him about Bowen Byram. No. Well, I want to turn our attention to the other issue that's ripping America apart, and that, of course, is the Four Nations USA roster going into February's tournament. They're right up there. The election and then the Four Nations roster is the two most pressing issues across the country. I know that you're going to be doing the Four Nations roster for the U.S. on the drop later this week,

so we won't go and spoil the entire thing, but we just did a bit with Ray Ferraro talking about the Canadian roster and one of the projections from The Athletic that came out recently did not have Conor Bedard on the roster. Again, without spoilers, I did want to ask you, is there any really notable

omission or someone that's on the outside looking in that you've got right now that might either raise some eyebrows or even, dare I say, controversial going into February? So the interesting thing about this team is whether or not you trust the superstar players from this generation of Americans to be able to accept a role on the team. And by that, I mean, Mike Medano told me last year, the reason the Canadian national team is so good is that you have these incredibly talented star players that are willing to swallow their egos and do the little things that's necessary on the team.

Right. If you believe that these young American players can do that and i do believe guys like the chucks for example can do that then you don't have to let's say spend roster spots on players like vincent trochek whom you might need to do the little things that these guys can't and if that's the case then you can go all in and go and bring on some guys that are just pure go, go, go goal scoring offense, like Cole Caulfield. Like Cole Caulfield is a guy that I think is a real bubble guy for me, like unbelievable goal scorer, extremely talented player, not exactly stout defensively. So can you have him on the roster and believe that the other guys on the roster can handle the defensive side of the game a little bit

and play down the lineup? Or do you need to go with more of a veteran role player type like a Trocek to fill out your squad? And I'm really interested to see which direction Billy Guerin goes. So is it more of a philosophical, big-picture doubt than any specific area of the roster? For example, with the Canadian roster,

we know that we're going to be worried about the goaltending. Jordan Bennington, probably going to be the goalie. For the Americans, the starter at least, I think is probably going to be Connor Hellebuck, although there's also Jake Ottinger, Jeremy Swayman. I don't know if Thatcher Demko is going to make it, given his current injury status. But the goaltending looks good.

Down the middle, you've got Austin Matthews, Jack Eichel, Jack Hughes, Dylan Larkin. And I'm looking at that potential first defensive pairing of Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy. That could be incredible. Before, you used to look at the American lineup and go, I don't know about their back end. They definitely don't have the center depth that the Canadians do.

So now is it more of you look at the roster and say, the roster looks good, but can they all buy in? Yeah, I think it's more it's more that um although i do think like i said there there is sort of still that philosophical question about how you want to build this team look this is the first time like you said the americans are going to be able to come with a squad that can stand up offensively against any team in the world, including Canada. They've not had that in a very long time, if maybe ever, the depth of talent they have at forward and on defense. The question is whether or not they still have the brain worms from the Miracle on Ice, where they believe they need to have, for lack of a better comparison, your Ryan Callahans on the roster,

to name an Olympian from a few years back. You know, that's going to be the interesting thing is, is do they, do they just flex with this incredible assemblage of offensive talent or do they feel the need to augment it with guys that are more role players? And, you know, if they do decide to do that, that's very much in keeping with the American aesthetic through the years and how these teams are built. But, but to your point,

like most of the tough calls are not like, you know, the majority of the majority of the roster set. And so the tough calls are around the outside, you know, does Matt Boldy make the team? Does Cole Caulfield make the team? Does Clayton Keller make the team on defense?

Is it going to be Zach Wierenski or Jake Sanderson? These are all sort of nipples around the outside, but the core of the team is pretty well set, and it's a hell of a hockey team. Wish I still remember how frustrated you were, God, I guess it's 10 years ago now, in 2014, when you remember the americans just run and ran and gun their way through the uh through the round robin in sochi and then came up against canada and just like played like they were significant underdogs like they just played they played so scared and did canada win that game like-0 or something like that? Was it?

Yeah. And they just. Real sneezer. And I remember, I remember Wish and a lot of the American writers were like, what the hell was that? Is that the kind of psychology that you're talking about? It very much is. And you can still find that column I wrote after the bronze medal loss or either the Canada loss or the bronze medal loss.

It's one of the single most scathing things I've ever written where I just destroyed Dan Balsma. If it was a YouTube clip, it would have been Greg Wyshynski destroys in all capital letters, Dan Bilesman. Yeah, that's the problem is that, you know, even at a time when it looked like they were getting close to having the type of team that could run and gun and play with Canada, they, you know, they decided to kind of try to win a 1-0 game. And that's insane. I don't think the same thing will happen this time. I don't think you can necessarily look at this roster and be like,

we need to cower in the face of the Canadians unless, unless they feel like their goaltending advantage is, is, is such that they can, they should play that way, which I wouldn't agree with at all. But, but yeah, I mean, that's, that's really the question is, is do you roll with what you've got? Do you kind of kowtow to the american identity of the underdog and and and also to speak to the bedard point with team canada how many kids you want on this team because there are a few young players that might be on the roster in 2026 that

you want to get a good look at in a in a big international spot like this see my line of thinking on it's funny because you talk about like the American ethos and the underdog status. I think it would be very difficult for a lot of, especially the younger players, to adopt an underdog mentality because they've had success internationally at the juniors. All these guys went in and they were singing the USA hockey song at the end of the tournament. They were to think that they would go in with anything other than that

or that, you know, we're fighting and we're scrapping and, like, we need Brandon Dubinsky out here on a national team. Like, I feel like that's gone, right? Like, that's gone. We need Duby out here. I went back, by the way. I like that notion of, you know, this is the generation that has always felt that they're going to be the beginning of American exceptionalism in international hockey. And maybe they don't know any better.

And that's a wonderful thought. I mean, you know, for sure. But they also grew up, you know, watching 2010 and watching Sochi and understanding, you know, that it's not really worked out for the U.S. in these games. And hopefully they take that to heart and be like, it's going to be different with us and not simply another, oh, here it goes again mentality if things don't go well internationally. You mentioned Matt Boldy in there, and I'm glad you did that. So Free John 32 Thoughts was talking about Marty St. Louis, and then he started telling the story

about how the great rift in Tampa Bay when Steve Eisenman didn't take Marty St. Louis for the Canadian team at the Olympics, and then it just completely fractured the relationship. He eventually did add St. Louis, and then St. Louis went, and then everyone thought it was going to be good. And then Marty St. Louis came back to Tampa Bay.

He's like, and now you'll trade me. And that was it. It was over. I wonder, I wonder if we could get a similar situation if Garen leaves Boldy off the team. I love, cause I love, you know, divorces and fractures and these things that pop up like that. Because if you look at the numbers, like Boldy's been great. He's over a point a game. He's 13 points in 11 games.

Minnesota's been great. It's him and Kaprizov carrying the mail. I'm pretty sure Faber's going to be on the team, but I am curious about that dynamic because Garen's got a tough job ahead of him. Like this is not going to be an easy roster to select, and he might have to leave one of his own guys off it. Yeah, that's i mean that like you said i think faber is probably going to be on the roster which means they don't have at

least one minnesota wild player that he's selecting for the team uh the boldy dynamic is real interesting i mean it could be a situation of hey you know we're not gonna have you here but you know come see us at the olymp Wait your turn. Yeah, yeah. But that's a fascinating dynamic, and you have to navigate it in a pretty sensitive way if you're the GM of the team that you're making that decision on. Guerin, by the way, had his own situation back in the day, if memory serves, where he's with the Devils. He's got a contract dispute with Lou Lamorello. And if I remember correctly, Lamorello kind of

held Olympic participation over his head because Lou was running the team at that point. And so he used that as leverage. So Guerin, more than anybody, probably understands the dynamic of what happens in the NHL or what happens internationally can impact what happens in the NHL. Do you think Bedard will be on Canada? I can't imagine he's not. It's crazy to me that he wouldn't be. Even if you want to have him as a reserve, just to have him as part of this. And then the other dynamic, too, you have to remember is that this is this is not i mean this is an nhl presentation like nhl

nhlpa presentation um they want people to watch these games and so i know that these gms are probably building these things independently i'm not saying that like gary betman and bill daly have final say on these rosters but at the end of the day it's replacing the all-star game for a reason you know it's an. But at the end of the day, it's replacing the All-Star Game for a reason. You know, it's an entertainment tournament ahead of the real international stakes in 2026 at the Olympics. So I imagine there might be, I don't know, like a strong, strongly worded, you know, influence from the league to say, hey, maybe get the best young player in the league on this roster so people will get excited for it.

Yeah, I was just wondering about that reserve spot too, just so he can experience, you know, being in a tournament with Crosby and McDavid just ahead of the Olympics Olympics which is the tournament that really matters not that the guys aren't going to be trying but I think thinking of the four nations as a warm-up for the Olympics is the perfectly fine way to look at it it still matters but what you're setting the table for is the Olympics it is but I I think listen I don't know where the buzz is for this thing right now I think it's still pretty early't know where the buzz is for this thing right now. I think it's still pretty early.

I think once the rosters get named, maybe there's an uptick in interest. I don't know how much debate and passion there is for, like, you know, is John Carlson going to make Team USA kind of stuff. Yeah. When the rosters get named, I think there'll be an uptick in it. And as we get closer to the tournament, there'll definitely be more interest because, again, I think here in the States at least,

people are really sleeping on how huge that USA-Canada game is going to be. I mean, every hockey fan is going to watch it. I think it's going to cross over to the casuals because if there's one thing you can sell, it's the U.S. on an international stage against a rival. I think the NHL knows they've got something. I mean, the entire tournament exists for that game, let's be honest. So once we get there, I think it's going to be enormous.

But I think right now, maybe because of it being new or whatever, people are kind of having a hard time wrapping their arms around this thing at the start. Hey, I wanted to ask you about the Boston Bruins. Jim Montgomery yelled at Brad Marchand and the bench, and then he benched David Pasternak for a period. It was a good weekend for the Bruins because they had back-to-back shutout wins. But they're 6-6-1 with a minus-8 goal differential.

What do you make of what's happened in Boston so far? I think any criticism of Montgomery is insane. First of all, the things that he's doing now quite publicly, you know, yelling at Marchand on the bench because of a turnover, benching Pasternak, they're all in service of trying to get this team's attention early because he doesn't have a contract beyond this season. I mean, let's be honest. He's coaching for his job or maybe even coaching to the point

where he knows he's not going to have one. And, and, you know, like in the pantheon of, of bad decisions by Boston management, having a lame duck coach is, is probably one of them. So I don't mind any of the things that he's doing now. I also don't think it's Jim Montgomery's fault that the best goaltending tandem in hockey was broken up and insufficiently replaced with

Corpus Allo over Allmark. I don't think it's Montgomery's fault that his starting goalie didn't have a training camp, and now Swayman's got a save percentage under.900. And I don't think it's Montgomery's fault that the team, A, didn't replace DeBrusque's offense

and then b went out and got themselves what I consider to be a complementary second line center versus a top line center in this league in Lindholm so there's a lot of of construction over coaching on this Boston team that's coming home to roost now. And undoubtedly Montgomery is going to pay for it with his job. But I think that's a little unfair. Do you think the Ottawa Senators have a legit chance to beat out the Boston Bruins for a playoff spot? I mean, I think there's a long way to go with all of those teams in the Atlantic. Like, you know, There's some fundamental stuff

about the Buffalo Sabres that stinks, but there's also some stuff you can point at and be like, well, if their power play improves, their defensive metrics are actually pretty good. If they can get average goal sending, maybe they can get back into this. I think Detroit

is another team whose offense is absolutely atrocious right now at 5-on-5. If that upticks, what does it look like? I don't think anything in the East is really well unsettled right now, even though there is a decent amount of separation between the top, let's say, seven teams and the rest of the conference. But Ottawa's got as good a shot as anybody, and especially with their goaltending, you know,

stabilized in a way that it certainly wasn't last year. We're speaking to Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Greg, I wanted to finish by asking you about Nashville because I feel like this is a team that's in serious trouble right now. It was a 3-0 loss last night to the LA Kings. Darcy Kemper had to make a grand total of 16 saves for the shutout, and this was in Nashville.

The Predators have played nine of their first 12 games at home. They have a 3-6-0 record at home. They had that terrible start to the year. Then they ripped off a couple of wins. Now they've lost three of their last four. I know you saw them for the Steve Stamkos reunion game in Tampa Bay. I'm curious what you saw that

night on the ice from them and then if you've managed to watch them since because it just seems like a team that is so frustrated right now, knows that it should be better but can't figure out how to be better. Yeah, they had one good period in that Tampa game where they were really flying

around and playing the kind of hockey that Andrew Burnett gets out of his team. And in talking to guys like Ryan O'Reilly and Forsberg and a few others, there was this notion that they were finally kind of starting to put it together around the time of that Stamkos game, and then the momentum hasn't really carried through in any way. Yeah, they're a mess. I mean, there's no way to go about it. When you add that much offensive pop in the offseason to a team that scored pretty well last year, and you're, I believe, in the bottom three at last check in goals per

game in this league like that's there's some major malfunction happening on that roster right now and uh and like you said i don't quite know where the fix comes other than just trying to play through it and um that's tough right now in the Central because you've got some teams that are off to great starts. One in Winnipeg off to a historically great start. And for teams like Colorado and Nashville that are in the basement, you've got to turn this thing around real quick. The difference being is at least Colorado has the excuse of injuries and really terrible goaltending, and at least one of those things are obviously going to change pretty quickly with Lekkonen and Nikushkin getting back in the lineup.

Nashville adds Stamkos, they add Marcheseau, and they are the fourth lowest scoring team in the NHL right now. It's crazy. Wish, thanks for doing this today, bud. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Tuesday. Alright, thanks, boys. Thank you. Greg Wyshynski. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Tuesday. All right. Thanks, Wish.

Thank you. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. A little bit of news out there. Austin Matthews will not play for the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight against the Boston Bruins. That's a big game for those two as they meet again. Matthews has an upper body injury as is considered day to day. Yeah.

It's a big night on the NHL calendar, actually to distract from the U S election. Gary Bettman was like 11 games. Here we go. So there's a lot to get, look forward to tonight. And I saw that as well. The Canucks will play the Anaheim ducks tonight.

A reminder. It's a seven o'clock puck drop from the Honda Center in Anaheim. It's a brief sojourn down to California. It'll end on Thursday in the game against the Los Angeles Kings. So coming up on the show, our next guest, perfect guest for the next few days, Jonathan Davis

from SiriusXM NHL Radio is going to join us. He is sort of a West Coast California hockey guru. We will talk to him about the ducks. We can talk to him about the Kings who are playing some very good hockey as of late and got a three, nothing shutout win over Nashville last night.

We'll look ahead to the opponents for these final two games of the Canucks road trip through California. And then at eight o'clock, the guy that's on the call tonight for the game, Brendan bachelor play by play voice of the Vancouver Canucks, he's going to join us at 8. So there's a lot more to get to as we hit the midway point of the show. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 731 on a Tuesday. It's a big bad Tuesday here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for,

sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. Jonathan Davis from Sirius XM Satellite Radio. NHL coverage is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off, or sorry, at the midway point of Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

I am being sarcastic. You should let Jason do that. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. The Vancouver Canucks are in action tonight, 7 o'clock from Anaheim. Then Thursday tonight, 7 o'clock from Anaheim. Then Thursday night, 7 o'clock from Los Angeles. 7.30 actually on Thursday night. It's a late night start.

I don't care for the 7.30 games. That Wednesday night game where the Devils came in and beat the Living Daylights out of the Canucks was a 7.30 start. Yeah, I just go old school on those. I wake up and find out who won in the morning. Oh, they did it. Good for them. Admittedly, I never leave sporting events early,

but I left that one early. Only out of due diligence for this show because I wanted to get home and do the notes. I got in the elevator and it was 4-0. I'm pretty sure by the time I got to the ground floor, it was 6-0. I don't know how it happened, but it did. Anyway, Canucks playing the Ducks tonight.

For more, Jonathan Davis joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Jonathan. How are you? I'm doing great, gentlemen. How are you? We're good. I was trying to get a good read on this Ducks team. Tell me if I've got an accurate snapshot here.

Very young. Don't score a lot of goals. Get awesome goaltending. Did I miss anything? Yeah, it's pretty much go stall and pray for rain, I think is what they are. To what do we owe this complete lack of offense?

They're the lowest scoring team in the NHL, both in terms of overall goals, 24 and 11 games. Lowest goals, four per game as well, 2.18. They've got good, young, offensive-minded and creative players, lowest goals four per game as well, 2.18. They've got good, young, offensive-minded and creative players, but it's just not translating on the ice. Why is that? There really seems to be a learning curve.

I think that Leo Carlson, for one, has looked good at times and I think has struggled in many instances at the face off dot. I mean, it's still, it's a team in progression. And I think that, you know, I think there was a lot, there was definitely excitement or, you know, I think we felt Ducks fans felt building off of last year that they were going to take a step up, but yeah, they are, they are really scuffling to score goals. And I think, you know, part of it also was that, you know, guys like Frank Petrano may have played above their weight class last year.

Not a bad goal score, but, man, that shooting percentage was rather high. And, you know, those things tend to even out from year to year. Having covered this team for a little while, were you anticipating Lucas Dostal to be this good this early? I know he was a third-round pick, so some pedigree there, but still relatively young. He's only 24 years old and I know he's in there largely because Gibson is hurt, but was this at least expected that he had this kind of ceiling or is this completely catching everyone by surprise? No, I think there was an expectation that he had this ceiling. I mean And you remember, you know, it came off the World Championships.

What was it, silver? Was it silver or gold? I can't remember anymore. Outstanding performance by Dostal at the World. You know, we saw signs of it last year. I mean, I look to a game, you know, the one game that sticks out in my mind was a game against Toronto where I think he made 54 saves. And I think Anaheim ended up losing in overtime.

Shocking. So, no, not a surprise. And, you know, when you look at what he's done this year, I mean, they've had three games this year where they've gone to overtime, or no, three games this year where they were outshot, what was it, 136-64. And they're 1-0-2 in those games, thanks to Dostal. I mean, three games with 40-plus saves. He has been everything.

So, yeah, not a surprise. I mean, you know, the easy part or the prevailing thought was that, you know, they were trying to move Gibson in the offseason. Patrick Beak reportedly wasn't willing to eat a lot of salary. Then Gibson goes down, and now they've got Reimer. So, you know, I think the one part about wanting to keep Gibson was to take some of the pressure off Dostal of having to carry a heavy load. But I think ultimately, you know, we saw that here in Anaheim that this guy

has the potential to be a number one and now having Reimer as his backup, I think, you know, will help ease that transition even more. Is there any way the Canucks might see Reimer as his backup, I think, you know, will help ease that transition even more. Is there any way the Canucks might see Reimer tonight? Because I know Dostal's played three straight games, and he played Sunday against Chicago, allowed four goals. Jeez, Louise, and a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. I'm sure, you know, look, the guy's got to be exhausted with all the rubber he's been facing. Yeah, I mean, there is a chance.

I mean, we'll get a better idea, obviously, after today's morning skate. So I think the guy could use a rest, especially, you know, the Chicago game to me was an indication that, yeah, you know, he is tired, and I think that this would be an opportunity to rest Ostal against the Canucks. Where is Trevor Zegers' game right now? Well, that's a good question. I mean, early on in the year, guys, it was in a better place than it was a year ago.

And I say that because, you know, early on, they had a game against San Jose at the beginning of the year. They won 2-0. It was a 1-0 game with about a little over a minute to go. And there's Trevor Zegers on the ice to defend a one-goal game and scored an empty netter. And a year ago, you know, I talked to Zegers after that, and he said, yeah, there's no way I would have been on the ice.

But he's trying, you know, he is making that commitment to being the 200 foot player. So we're seeing changes in his game, but he's the veteran right now, in some respects on the team at 23 years old. It is a little disappointing that he hasn't been able to do more for this team. Yeah. But I mean, look, right now the way things are going, I mean, you know, kind of, you know, he's kind of in line with everybody else.

I mean, no one's scoring. And yeah, when you're looking at ones from so many players across the board here, I mean, yeah, Zegers' only goal this year didn't go past the goalie. So how did they get out of this perpetual rebuild? They've missed the playoffs for six straight seasons now. Last time they made it was 2018,

and everyone worries about becoming the next version of the Buffalo Sabres, and it doesn't look like the Ducks are going to make the playoffs this year. So is there some impatience surrounding this team now? I don't think, you know, I think in this market, guys, you can afford to be, take a little more time than you would in a lot of other markets. Couldn't do this in Vancouver for sure. But in Anaheim, you can.

Now, in saying that, Pat Verbeek did take some swings, you know, according to Elliott Friedman, at free agents like Marcheseau and Stamko. So there was the desire to try to add, you know, guys like that to this roster, and it didn't happen. So now it's really up for players like a Mason McTavish, like a Leo Carlson, to go through, I guess, some of these growing pains. But, look, I think the feeling was for this year that they were still at least two years away from challenging for a playoff spot.

How would you classify the health of the organization and the market? Because, you know, you always wonder when a team in a quote-unquote non-traditional market doesn't go to the playoffs for six consecutive years, there's obviously not a lot of winning, and winning is often what gets people in the door i mean i remember watching the opener this year where they beat utah in overtime and i remember thinking the building felt and looked pretty electric which is

a good thing for a team that's been kind of irrelevant for the last few years but i'm always curious about anaheim particularly when it comes to health of market how would you classify it well i'll tell you opening opening night against Utah was spectacular. I mean, it was as close to being at a game in Vegas for me that I've seen in Anaheim for quite some time. They are trying to really improve the fan experience. There is no question about it. But, look, we've seen this in years past with this team

that attendance does fall off as a team struggles. So, yeah, you know, as they say, you know, if you're going to suck, don't suck at home. And unfortunately, they're stinking everywhere they play. You know, they're really trying to do their best at continuing to build hockey in this community, in the, you know, in the Anaheim community. and they do a great job with the programs out here. I mean, you know, BX has got his team out here. And so they've done a really good job on the grassroots level, but sure, ultimately, if this team continues to struggle, yeah, you're going to have a lot of, you know,

empty seats in the building, and that's unfortunate. Because, like I said, I think the future is really bright when you look at this roster, but they do need to try to find some more guys uh with you know nhl experienced guys because if not you know players like a vetrano are going to be sold off come the trade deadline we're speaking to jonathan davis host of the ice cap on sirius xm nhl radio here on the alfred and brett Show on Sportsnet 650. The Canucks will be in Los Angeles on Thursday night, Jonathan, so I wanted to ask you a couple of Kings-related

queries as well. The first of which is that they're 7-3 and 3. Very good start to the season. They've done this largely without the, almost entirely without the services of Drew Doughty on the back end and I thought that might have been a death blow for them going into the year. They had the issue with Kevin Fiala and the healthy scratch. And I thought that might have been a death blow for them going into the year.

They had the issue with Kevin Fiala and the healthy scratch. It seems like they've really been able to stare adversity in the face, be okay with it. And as a result, got a seven, three and three record through the first 13 games of the year. Yeah. But guys,

seven, three and three is seven and six. And I think that, you know, not to me, not all losses and wins, you know, you can really assess the same way. I'm sure, you know, look, you guys do a great job at dissecting,

you know, the Canucks team. You take a look at, look, Saturday's game against Chicago was so typical of L.A. They're up 2-0 against the Blackhawks. They can't put them away. They end up losing 4-3 in a shootout. Jim Hiller said after that game that in his opinion, they lost that game in the first 10 minutes,

not blowing Chicago away after the first 10 minutes. And I'm like, I said to Hiller, you still had. You still had a 2-0 lead, and you had 40 minutes to adjust after that first period. I mean, they've had games against San Jose. They lost once to San Jose in San Jose, and they squeaked out a 3-2 win against San Jose. They've done the same against Utah.

They've traded wins and losses their last five games. I mean, last night was probably one of the better games that they played. The Vegas home game was a really good game. But it's a team that, I mean, they continue to be an enigma. There's been some bright spots. I mean, Brant Clark has flourished with the absence of Drew Dowdy. Alex Laferriere looks kind of like a poor man, Zach Hyman. He's been the Kings' best and most consistent player all season long.

But the big problem in Los Angeles, guys, is Quinton Byfield, at least on the goal sheet, has gone MIA. And this is not just a problem to start this year. It's been two goals, I think, in the last 40 plus games. And one of those goals came in the final game of last year against Chicago when the Kings were doing everything they could to get him, I think it was a quarter of a million dollar bonus for hitting the 20 goal and point mark. I mean, so there's definitely some concerns here in Los Angeles, despite a start that has him above 500. Okay, a few things there. One, what's the issue with Byfield?

Well, you know, I think, you know, last season he talked about he was dealing with some illnesses that really limited his practice time and struggled and contributed to his struggles down the stretch. This year, it's been kind of baffling. I mean, he had a really good preseason. They talked all summer long and all preseason about how he's going to be one of the three centers.

That experiment lasted four games. And then they move him back to the top line to play alongside Kopitar and Kempe. It doesn't really, not a lot happens. He has a game against San Jose where they move him back to center midway on a line with Laferriere and Fogle. Lines played really well. He hasn't scored. But I really think they're,

I just think for him, I don't know, my head would be a little messed up because I'm told I'll sum it up. I'm playing center. I get moved to the wing. Now back to center. He doesn't get to play

number one power play time. I don't get it. Like you've got a body that's six, you know what, six, two, six, three and over 200 pounds. Park that guy in front of the net. Find him, you know, give this guy opportunity. I think's six you know what six two six three and over 200 pounds park that guy in front of the net find him you know give this guy opportunity i think that you know i don't think

they're helping his cause um but you know we're obviously we're in this you know in a results oriented business it's just la guys has i can't you know it's been quite some time since they've really developed a forward it took a long time for Adrian Kempe to get there, and we're seeing the same thing with Byfield. And I think instead of kind of knocking him down at times, they really need to try to build this guy up. He is, you know, supposed to be the, you know, this is the franchise. I mean, this was the prospect pool that was number one a couple of years ago.

Well, that was based on quentin byfield in large part and i don't know i just think it's it's it's disappointing to see where things are at but i think both sides really have to look at themselves in the mirror is hillar still implementing the same uh conservative style of play in los angeles we've gone from no we have gone to the one two two um i i don't yeah i you know but at the end of the day it's still the same team and it's still a team that's got darcy kemper and david riddick as their two goalies i mean that's not you're not hoisting the cup i mean now look kemper has had he's had a couple of games where he's played really well riddick who uh will get

the start tonight in min, has played six games, four of them against, two against San Jose, one each against Montreal and Anaheim. He's given up, I think, a total of six goals in those games, but he's given up 10 in his two games combined against Vegas and Toronto. Tonight, he gets the wild. I don't think, I think the Kings continue that pattern of win-lose following tonight's game. And finally, when is Drew Doughty expected to be back in the lineup? Will he have enough time to get in, get fit,

get healthy, and then possibly represent Canada at the Four Nations face-off? Well, I think that, you know, Doughty will go into the management office of Canada and say, you are playing, you are,

you are taking me. I mean, I think we're targeting, you know, daddy will go into the management office of, of Canada and say, you are playing, you are, you are taking me. I mean, I think we're targeting, you know, the end of December is what you keep hearing. So we'll see. I mean, look,

if there is a will, there's a way for drew to be out there. There's no question. I mean, you know, he is still one of the best defenseman league last year. The number, you know,

the offensive numbers weren't there, but defensively man, true is as offensive numbers weren't there, but defensively, man, Drew's as good as it gets. Jonathan, this was great as always. Thank you very much for doing this. We've got a two-for-one here. We've got a Ducks preview, and we've got a Kings preview. This was great. Thanks for doing it. Enjoy the games this week. We'll do

this again soon. All right. Take care, guys. Thanks for having me. Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's Jonathan Davis, host of the Ice Cap on Sirius XM NHL Radio here on the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. You had a question for me? Yeah, is Doughty on the Team Canada Four Nations face-off roster from the Athletic, courtesy of CJ Chris Johnson?

He is not. Oh. Here's the right defense. Kale McCarr, Alex Petrangelo, Evan Bouchard, McKenzie Wieger. Hmm. Alex Petrangelo, Evan Bouchard, Mackenzie Wieger. And then the left defense is Devon Taves, Shea Theodore, Josh Morrissey. I don't love Canada's defense as much as I used to love Canada's defense. Still good. It's still good.

Don't get me wrong. It's still good. But there was something about Shea Weber in his prime, Duncan Keith back there. You know what it was? Drew Doughty. I said this before, but I think USA is the better team overall. They just don't have the game breakers.

Down the middle with Canada having McDavid, Crosby, Braden Point, that's pretty good. Nathan McKinnon in the athletics roster is a right winger. Yeah. Yeah, Canada has the game breakers. That's their strength. So too does America. Well, yeah. What do you mean by a game breaker?

A guy that's going to score a big goal or something like that? Yeah, like a McDavid or whatever. Kachak, Matthew Kachak. Remember when he scored, like, all those big goals? No, no. Hey, USA has some. And Matthews. Like, the USA has those guys as well. I'm just saying I would put Canada's top end talent ahead of the USA's, but I would say USA is the more well-rounded team. To Jason's original point, though, when you were talking about the Canadian blue line with Weber and Keith

and Dowdy and everyone, part of it was the group that they had, but part of it was that they were so much better collectively than everyone else's defense. Pretty much, yeah. Go back and look at the USA defense at the 2010 olympics in vancouver yeah like ryan whitney uh who brooks orpik right tim gleason yeah it just wasn't even comparable and down the middle they didn't have it down the middle now just look at the blue the u.s blue right now. This is the NHL.com one that came out four days ago. I mean, you've got Quinn Hughes, obviously,

who is the best defenseman in hockey, Charlie McAvoy, Adam Fox, Jacob Slavin, Zach Rorensky, Brock Faber, John Carlson. The point where they are leaving off the likes of Keandre Miller, Noah Hannafin, and a handful of others. So the blue line is caught up. That used to be Canada's bread and butter.

We had a better defense than everyone. It's still a very good defense. Well, and down the middle too, you got Austin Matthews, Jack Eichel, and Jack Hughes, and Dylan Larkin might be your 4C. I know that Canada probably has the edge just because they have McDavid, and there's no comparable to McDavid.

That's the thing. But in terms of collective depth, the U.S. ain't that far behind. They are right there. And on the blue line. I'd say they're better. Down the middle? Depth-wise. Yeah, but you give Canada the nod because Canada has McDavid.

Yeah, I know. The game-breaker, sure. But I'm just saying defense, goaltending, forwards all together. And then we're not going to do the goaltending because it bums me out. It doesn't even count. Because it bums me out. It really bums me out. I don't like it at all.

Can you imagine a line with McDavid and McKinnon on it? It's too fast. Oh, man. Well, I just can't wait to see their power play. Zach Hyman's out there like, wait up. I can't do this. USA takes one penalty. Ah, crap.

No. The speed line is... As we get closer to the tournament, I think this is going to be the fun part is where you start toying around with what the actual combos will look like. Canada's power play will just be an auto goal. Just give it to them.

I don't know, man. Just give it to them. I don't know, man. Unless their goaltending stands in their head. The Americans have some good goalies. They do. By the way, on the athletic Four Nations roster preview,

Petey is the 2C for Sweden. I saw that. So he's going to have to up his game a little bit. So when he wasn't named to the core six or whatever they called it, the first six. Yeah, that was Forsberg, Zibanejad, William Nylander, Victor Hedman, Eric Carlson, and Gustav Forsling. I remember it kind of drew my attention because I was like, that's a bit of an indicator.

For me, anyway, it was a bit of an indicator, especially when they put Zibanejad on there ahead of him. That was a bit of an indicator to me where he was at current time. I bet if it was a year ago, it would have been different. I bet Patterson probably would have been in that original six or however you want to phrase it. Now moving forward, I know we joked at times that, you know, he's going to play himself off the roster.

He's not going to play himself off the roster. But I will be extremely curious for two things. One, to see where Sam Hallam slots him into the lineup. And two, what his game looks like playing internationally with Sweden as opposed to what it looks like playing with the Vancouver Canucks. Just out of curiosity. Pure curiosity. I'm not going to read too much into it.

I'm just a fan of the sport, and I want to see what it looks like. That's all I'm going to read too much into it i'm just a fan of the sport and i want to see what it looks like that's all i'm going to say about that so brendan bachelor is going to join us next uh i get a few questions for batch lankan in again tonight i think so yes i think you gotta go with lankan in again um now on defense derrick Forbert got shaken up at practice yesterday. So I guess he's questionable for today. Branstrom was paired with De'Arne anyway. Yeah. And that was before that Forbert got hurt. Forbert was with Julsen and according to Harm, that was the fourth pairing.

So we'll see if De'Ar A gets back into the lineup. I think the power play is going to continue to be a major talking point for this team. It is not scored, I think, in four straight games and it is scoreless in six of the last seven Canucks games if I remember that information correctly. They did score twice against Chicago but scoreless in six of the last seven games Canucks games, if I remember that information correctly. They did score twice against Chicago, but scoreless in six of the last seven games.

The Ducks gave up two power play goals to Chicago in their last game, so perhaps they are vulnerable in that capacity. 72%. It's a bad kill. Yeah, but they also don't take many penalties. I guess, arguably arguably the biggest question is,

can the Suter-Pete Garland line build on their finish to the San Jose game? Will they definitely be together? Because the Canucks would have to call up a center, maybe Atu-Ratu, in order to put Suter up onto that top line because I don't think they're going to have Arsh Baines as their foreseeing. I think actually they asked Baines about it, and he too confirmed that he's not ready to play center. Yeah, Talkett said like, no.

I hope they keep Suter and Petey and Garland together. Yeah, call up Ratu. Yeah, I think that if you find something that works, and I'm, honestly, since the day that Suter has joined the Vancouver Canucks to now, been nothing but impressed with what he's given the team, given when he signed late in the summer,

how much he signed for, 1.6 million per. And everyone, everyone on the team, coaches and players otherwise that talk about him, talk about him in very complimentary terms, aside from his foot speed, but they do talk about him in very complimentary terms.

I think he's been a great addition to the team. And if he's got a look where it seems like it's going with Petey and Garland, don't overthink it. Just let it ride. See if you can get some chemistry. We've seen duos and trios work where you normally, you just wouldn't expect it. Just let it ride. See if you can get some chemistry. We've seen duos and trios work where you normally, you just wouldn't expect it. I don't think anyone going into the preseason

had the Suter-Pete-Garland line as a thing, but if it works, just roll with it, right? That's how they found Garland and Joshua and Bluger last year. Just came together. Just keep rolling with it. We'll talk more about this with Brendan Batchelor on the other side of the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.