Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Lost The Draft Lottery

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the NHL Draft Lottery results (3:00), plus the boys talk the Stanley Cup playoffs with Sportsnet's David Amber (29:59). 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 Halvard and Brough. The number 12, the Toronto Maple Leafs have won the NHL draft lottery. No, crazy. Yeah, I knew we wouldn't win. But why didn't you tell the rest of us? Why didn't you keep it a secret? The sharks are going to pick second overall. with Vancouver dropping to position number three.

This is my nightmare. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios

in beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adah, good morning to you. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

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You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. You look like an absolute giant on screen right now. Oh, oh my God. Geez, I got to move back a little bit. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Steps strong with orthotics and foot. from Kintech, if you want to text into the show and perhaps say you look like a giant on screen right now,

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I'm sorry. What are you doing later? We got a lot to get into on the program today. Let's start with our guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada. Sportsnet NHL host is going to join the program.

As you heard, the NHL draft lottery is in the books. As you heard, the Vancouver Canucks to not win it. There was one game in the playoffs last night, two games tonight, including the start of the Montreal and Buffalo series. David is going to join us at 630 to talk about all that. 7 o'clock, Frank Sarah Valley, our NHL insider from Victory Plus. Big news for the Canucks yesterday is Jim Rutherford announced he would be stepping down as president following the draft. There's also that still ongoing Canucks GM search we can discuss.

Frank is going to join us at 7 o'clock to talk about all that. 8 o'clock Randy Jand is going to join the program. Canucks color analyst Sportsnet 650. So the Canucks will draft third overall in June. June at this year's entry draft. Who will be on the board at three? Who should the Canucks be targeting? How disappointed was Randeep yesterday?

Well, we can ask him at eight. I assume some of his disappointment was mitigated by Arsenal's advancement to the Champions League finals. So Randeep is going to join us at eight. We have so much to get into on the program today. Let's get right to it. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night?

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how much. 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.ca.ca. Well, the Toronto Maple Leafs went and did the damn thing. They captured the first overall pick at the 2026 NHL entry draft last night,

leaping four spots to capture the first overall pick. And the first time they'll get it since Austin Matthews back in 2016. For the sake of torturing our audience this early in the morning, let's hear it yet again. John Butchagross, who I don't ever want to see again after last night, nothing personal, Butchie, but he was on the call for an incredibly disappointing night

for the Canucks. Here's what it sounded like when the number 12 ball came up and the Toronto Maple Leafs won the first overall pick. Who gets the first pick of the draft? 12. Wow. number 12.

The number 12, the Toronto Maple Leafs have won the NHL draft lottery and Matt Sundeen is smiling ear to ear. The Leafs had the fifth best odds of grabbing the top selection,

yet managed to do so much to the chagrin to the hundreds in attendance at both the Shark Club and the sports bar at Rogers Arena yesterday. And after that lottery, I felt like the gut punch, kind of carried over to the second lottery, which of course gave the Canucks an opportunity

to at least win the second overall thing. The least nearly won that too. Yeah. I was like, how can they do that? They would have had to do a redraw, but they nearly won that too. I was watching it. Why are they still in it?

How does this lottery work? I had no idea how the lottery worked, by the way. Betman was yelling at his staff is like, you idiots, we don't need to rig it twice. I like when he yelled at them to draw, pull. It's like when they do ski shooting at the Olympics. I enjoyed watching the balls flying all over. Oh, man.

Uh-huh. I know you that. You also like the lottery. Balls flying all over the places. You've used that joke before. During the commercial break. So like the ads were going on, you still see the balls like going everywhere.

That's called transparency, Andy. It's just very funny. So after losing out on the number one overall selection, despite holding the best odds, the Canucks still had an 18.8% shot at the second chance, but San Jose Sharks, again, leapfrogging all the way up, had a 5.2% chance of selecting second,

which they did. They now draft second overall. Your Vancouver Canucks finished with the third. at overall selection. We've got a bunch of these texts in here today, and I'm just going to laugh. I'm not going to lecture. I think it just points to where

Canucks fans are at right now. Mad and Surrey texts in. It was rigged. If it wasn't, they would have not went to a commercial break before the last ball. Everything else live, you can't argue it. I can, but I won't. If it makes you feel better to think that

the draft lottery is rigged. Go for it. It's all rigged. Go for it. Yes, Mr. Sherman. It's all rigged. I understand everyone's disappointment. We made a conscious effort last night when we were planning out the show and yes, we do that.

I think that your line was let fans fans. Fans are going to fan. And the sense of frustration yesterday, even from broadcasters, I heard sat, you know, broadcasting live from the Shark Club in the aftermath, the disappointment was palpable. This was a unbelievably disappointing year for the Vancouver Canucks on the ice and the one shining light at the end of it was supposed to be, well, don't worry, they've got a great shot of getting the first overall pick.

Okay. What was the worst part? Was it? About draft lottery. Not getting the first overall pick or specifically Toronto getting it. Oh, the leaves, easily. No, can I just say, I didn't even really care that much that it was Toronto. I was way more upset that the Canucks did. didn't get it. Oh, no, man. For me, it was for sure. At that point,

nobody was like anyone could have got it. I didn't, I didn't, I mean, Toronto obviously deserves nothing. And I want them to have zero success moving forward. But, um, I, I don't know, maybe it was just a visceral reaction, like in the moment. All I really cared about was the Canucks weren't getting it. But don't get me wrong. Watching Toronto

get it didn't make it any better by any stretch of the imagination. How did you feel about it? I think in the moment it was the frustration that Toronto got it. But I think, um, Big picture wise, it is the cumulative bad luck that the Canucks have had in the draft lottery. You know, there were a number of accounts online yesterday that kind of went through all the stats. All the years that the Canucks not only lost the draft lottery, but, you know, like they fell because

of that. and I think it was big head hockey calculated that in total there's like a 98.5% chance that they would have won at least one time across the last 10 lotteries. They're oh for the draft lottery since they began. They've never moved up. The Knicks have never moved up in a draft order. Which is wild to think about how many shots they've had. Because, hold on a sec. Because in a vacuum yesterday went as expected if you follow the probabilities.

Correct. We said this multiple times on the show. And in some ways it was done to like, hey, just so you know, the chance that favors the Canucks the most in this draft is to pick third. And it was the probabilities were consistent. suitable that they would pick third. 55% that they would pick third

and then, you know, first was 25%, second was whatever the difference is between everything there. So it was unlikely they were going to pick first. It was unlikely they were going to pick second. It was likely

they were going to pick third and that's where they picked. But if you add up all the lotteries that the Canucks have been involved in, It is unlikely, very unlikely, that they didn't win at least once. It's true. Right? And I think that's where, first of all, my emotions, but also, like, my brain registered and rightly so,

how bad the Canucks luck has been in the draft lottery. Because yesterday, you can't say, like, in a vacuum, you can't say, oh, that was bad luck for the Canucks. Well, not really. It was just the most likely scenario. but overall, this is getting a little ridiculous. So the NHLs began in various forms juggling the picks as opposed to going with the inverse order of the standing since 1995. And there's been, I don't know how many iterations of the draft lottery since then.

They've rejigged it several times. But the Canucks are over in the draft lottery since 1995, which is an amazing stat. You're right. It's almost so improbable. You wonder if it's rigged. Yeah. But I'll leave it be.

A couple of more questions I've got. Regarding the draft, I do want to get to Jim Rutherford's audio. Is there any way that McKenna falls to the Canucks? What if the Leafs prefers Stenberg? What if they see him as more NHL ready? Yep. And then San Jose gets to pick and they're like, we need defensemen. Is there any chance that that happens?

I don't really see it because I think in Toronto, the marketing abilities around, Gavin McKenna are massive and I also think even if McKenna isn't quite ready for next season they're still going to play them he's still going to be a help on the power play

and I don't think if you've got Austin Matthews and you really want to keep that guy how about putting him with one of the more elite playmakers that we've seen in the

in the NHL draft in the last few years. Like, you know, McKenna may not be McDavid in the terms of his skating or his ability to, you know, beat guys one-on-one. He's a terrific passer, though. And that's why I was kind of like, oh, man, I hope San Jose doesn't get him, pair him with Celebrini. I hope Chicago doesn't get him. Pair him with Bedard. I mean, Austin Matthews, they're trying to convince him to commit long-term to the club, right? And we talked about this yesterday. McKenna, in theory, could really help. He could essentially be the new Marner.

Can I just add one thing onto this conversation? This was other news that happened yesterday, but got lost in the cascade of other news that was happening yesterday. Gavin McKenna is not going to play for a candidate at the World Hockey Championships. Now, the reason given, and this is where it starts to get fishy for me, since we're going down the road of conspiracy theories, the reason given is that he wanted to focus on the NHL Scouting Combine and the pre-draft process. Now, two things on this.

One, we're not talking about the NFL scouting combine here. They're dramatically different things. It doesn't really matter, honestly. I've never seen anyone's draft stock rise or fall significantly based on the NHL Scouting Combine. Sam Bennett went there and couldn't do a single pull-up and he still got drafted. Right? Like, it just doesn't really matter. secondly is Gavin McKenna.

I think he's got a pretty good idea of where he's going to go with the draft. Can you really think that a guy who's been, at the very least, a top three lock, probably for most, the number one lock for the better part of a year, thinking that the last few weeks of the draft process are going to actively change his draft status? Here's my thinking. He's scared. I bet they're like, he's not ready to do this. Do you remember when Connor Bedard went over as a rookie to the world?

and he basically sat the entire tournament? Yeah, I don't think he is ready. And it brings me to another question that I've got is, how is McKenna going to handle the spotlight in Toronto, if the Leafs do, in fact, draft him? It's a big old spotlight. How's he going to do? You know, this is good, this is, he's going to,

he's going to come in there as another first overall pick. And the smart hockey fans will probably think, okay, it was going to take a little bit of time. He's not going to have the same immediate impact that Austin Matthews had. I remember Austin Matthews had. I remember Austin Matthew's first NHL game scored four goals. That was an immediate effect.

I'm just curious about him. You know? There are... I'll frame it this way. There are not always... I'll frame it this way. There are not always the most glowing reviews of Gavin McKenna's game

and his habits on the ice and his maturity level. I don't think yesterday was about losing Gavin McKenna. I think yesterday was about losing the first overall pick. Does that make sense? Yes. That's how I would frame it. Well, that's the silver lining, though, is that at least this is a draft year where the first overall pick isn't like... McDavid.

A gangbuster. It's probably going to be McAdain. Like, this is one of the weaker drafts in quite a while. So if you are going to lose a draft lottery, this is not the worst one to lose, I guess? Like, that's the only... Like, the third overall pick may be the best player. People have said it's a very deep draft. There's just not a clear...

I don't think it's a bad draft. It's bad in terms of, like, there's no, like, star power, like, up at the very top. In terms of, like, a McDavid or even a badard or a... Celebrini. Like it's not one of those kinds of drafts. Although you never know, right? You just never know. Some first overall picks you think are going to be really good and they're busts and then other ones like, I mean, you just mentioned Celebrini, right?

And we thought he was going to be a good player. We didn't think he'd be this. We also have to wait for John Scheika's brain scan of the prospect before we truly figure out how good they're going to be. Okay, let's, uh, there's a couple other things that we can get into the draft later in the show. But I do want to go through Jim Rutherford's media availability yesterday.

He started out by saying, you know, it's a really strong draft, so no need to be overly upset with the lottery results. He conceded that you never really know how the draft is going to fall. And he threw it out there that, you know, there's a lot of really good defensemen in this draft. Maybe one of these defensemen goes first overall. And he said, look, regardless, it's going to be a great building block for the Canucks, whoever they pick.

Although Rutherford himself will not be the one to decide on the players picked. He later added that this draft could be a game changer for the Canucks if the staff hits on three or four players, which is a big ask. It should be noted. The Canucks have four picks in the first. what? 41. 41 or 42 players. So, you know,

you can tell all year that when Jim Rutherford talks about the draft, he's like, you know, this is, this is massive for the organization.

And part of me wonders if part of the message from Rutherford to ownership has been like, hey, don't worry, we'll only need to do this once. I didn't even,

you know what, This is going to sound weird. We'll only need to do this once. I hated that he called it a game changer, a potential game changer. Because I don't think you should look at it like that. I agree. This shouldn't be about having that many picks at the top

should be like, our goal here, and the sole purpose here is to emerge with the most NHL talent we could possibly squeeze out of this draft. And then when we go back next year, the goal is the exact same thing. It shouldn't be any more and it shouldn't be any less. They shouldn't change anything of the, the course moving forward.

It should not, what happens that this year's draft should not dictate at all what you're doing next season going into it. This is a multi-year process. And who out of this year's draft is going to be playing on the Canucks next season? Possibly none of them. Brotherford went on and said

they've interviewed a lot of people for the GM position, a good cross-section of people in the hockey world. The list is narrowed down to five now, and they're digging deeper and deeper into the remaining candidates. A decision should hopefully come by next week. Ownership, according to Rutherford, is very active in the search process, along with Jim

himself. He said there's been a lot of interesting people, a lot of interesting ideas with how those candidates would approach things with the Canucks and said it's going to be a tough decision. Now, I want to play some audio. and this was Jim Rutherford getting asked if he's gained intelligence, not like brain intelligence,

but information during this search process. And here's what he had to say. Oh, yeah. I mean, everybody gives us, that's one of the questions. Where's the Canucks now? What do you think? How long's a rebuild thing?

Take all those things. and different answers on, you know, I mean, some people felt that where we are in the rebuild, that we are, you know, through a rougher patch of it and start to take the upswing on it. I think all of them acknowledge that there are some good young players here, but in a rebuild, there's still lots of work. one of the things we interviewed some people that could fall into where we draft and you know of course we asked them about the draft and the few people that were in that position

respectfully declined to give that answer which I really thought was great they protected their own team they protected their own area but overall the guys were very upfront very honest and clearly, you know, we learned a lot of stuff. Can I just say that if I was interviewing people and someone came in and said, you know, I think you might be through the rough part of this rebuild.

You might be out the other side. I would immediately disqualify that person. Yeah, it would end the interview. I mean, get out. Get out now. But here's the big worry. We're not going to validate your parking. But here's the big worry, right? I mean, how many times have we said this before

where the Kinnacks have quite oftentimes heard what they want to hear? there's always these weird constant illusions to like well maybe there's a shortcut somewhere maybe we're not looking hard enough yeah is there some sort of secret path yeah is there a map somewhere they're all they are always looking for a shortcut they can never just i mean oh yeah oh yeah i mean but that's the way we've been covering this team for last little while and we we we kept wondering and hoping is this season where you know you were by far the worst in the league. Quinn Euse is left.

Rick Tocket is left. You've been forced to trade away J.T. Miller. Elias Pedersen is a shell of himself. Could this be the year where you're like, maybe we need to change some things up. Maybe we need to change our thinking a little bit, right? In light of what you've just said, maybe, and I'm going to give the most benefit of the doubt you could possibly give someone.

Maybe someone framed it like that. Like, hey, you went through all of these significant franchise. body blows. It can't get any worse than this. Okay. But I would very much hesitate to say there's brighter days ahead in the not too distant future because you have to go through multiple years

of bad finishes and draft lotteries and subsequent bad draft lottery luck to come out the other side. They just don't have enough. It is painfully obvious. Anyone that tells you otherwise is just telling you what you want to hear so they can get a job. Yeah. Don't hire that guy. Don't hire that guy.

we're not going to play the audio here because we don't have time but he did talk at length about how the young players did a great job changing the culture and we'll see about that right i mean so the last few months had a bit better feel in the dressing room and you think that you've you've dealt with some of the issues that were in the dressing room let's see if it's let's see if it lasts you know because that's a lot to put on the young players to change the culture It's going to take a while. It's going to be a process. Now, speaking of the culture, Patrick Alvinan was asked about the culture once. He was. He's no longer the general manager. He's been offered a position, I believe, in the organization. Not sure what that position is.

But according to Rutherford, Alvin is still undecided on whether or not to remain with the organization. Rutherford said they will miss him at the draft and everything he brings to the draft and he praised his draft record in Vancouver. But there are, you know, still reports. that he's submitted on players, so they still have access to that intel, even if he moves on. Speaking of moving on,

here's what Jim Rutherford had to say about his future in Vancouver. Think about it a lot. And I'm going to get away from the day-to-day operations. I'm going to stay with the team as an advisor and an alternate governor. But as far as the day-to-day operations, we're going to put together a really good staff here going forward.

And this is something I've thought about anyways for a couple of years, but it's time for me to do that. I feel bad that I have to do it at such a young age, but I decided to do it anyways. That was pretty funny. That was good, no one in the room laughed. They should have laughed. There was a lot going on yesterday.

That's a joke. That's the joke. Rutherford got to slid that in. the whole I'm going to step away. And if you look, if you just go and do a cursory search of the Canucks on any major news site, one of the lead stories is Canucks president of hockey up stepping down. Like that's supposed to be a big story. But it kind of back channeled it there by talking about everything else first.

My question is, is the way that he framed it not being the lead story and kind of saying like, I'm taking a step back? Is it really him stepping back? Well, he says he's going to stay with the team. as an advisor. And I think that probably depends on whether or not they hire a president of hockey ops. And also, if they don't, the experience level of the general manager that they hire. I don't think they're going to bring out someone who has no experience in the NHL at an executive level and be like, you're the guy and you're the only guy here.

I would think that would be, that would be, first of all, that would be. insane. It's asking a lot of the new guy. But, you know, like, is Rutherford going to do press conferences as an advisor? I don't see that. Alternate governor. You know what I mean? If I had to bet right now, I think they're going to hire two people.

Can I just say, though, we've heard variations of this reduction in role from Rutherford before. Have we not? I mean, not in this way. He said, you said, At times he's going to step back from publicly speaking, but he wasn't saying I'm going to step back from president of hockey. Right. But narrator, what happened when he said he was going to step back from public speaking?

He came back. Yeah, right? Yeah, yeah. I feel like... The gym came back the very next day. Sometimes not even the next day. He was just there. He never allowed. He was a goner. But I do wonder, I do. And look, this is, I know this could get into like, well, he said what he said. And I understand that. but I do wonder if this is a case of until the individual is gone and the role is entirely vacant, if you can truly say that his influence is not going to still dictate what the organization does moving forward. Just to wrap up this segment, Brotherford said they haven't decided yet on whether there will be a president.

So we'll have to wait and see on the new structure of the hockey ops department, which I suppose we could find out next week. He said, hopefully a decision will be made then. Now, will that be the full decision? Will there be two people hired? Or do they do something like, we're going to hire a GM and maybe a president later? Right. You're like, another terrific process, guys.

You guys really knocked it out of the park. Or are they going to have all their ducks in a row and say, this guy does this? This guy does this. Let's get decided on things. Because they got a bunch of things to decide on. You want to keep the coach, Adam Foot? How's the draft lottery impact?

Mani Mahaltra's situation. That's another thing to discuss. And you're going to have to have conversations with your players. You know, the Elise Pedersen speculation. It's May 6th now. The draft is at the end of June. We're going to be talking about that guy. And that new GM,

new president of hockey ops or both or whoever is new to do organization, we'll have to come in and figure that thing out. We've got to go to break. But before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro. reliable cleaning, clear communication, and service you can count on, that's JanPro. Start clean, stay clean. Visit them online at Janpro.ca. David Amber is going to join us next.

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Rick from Colonna text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line and he asks, are you guys going to unpack the Pierre Dorian story from yesterday? We will. I did a detailed chronological rundown. I called it Dorian Day. Okay. There's a lot to unpack. Yeah, there is.

So we'll do that later in the show. we've got an open segment at 7.30. So perhaps we'll do it then. Okay, let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline. Our next guest is a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor. It's David Amber here on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, David. How are you? Hey, guys. I condolences to Canucks Nation. That was a tough one. Another example of why live sports is the best reality TV there is, because that was a dramatic a dramatic turn of events last night.

Dramatic for some, David. Dramatic for some. Look, I'll try and put this in perspective. We have been bombarded with about 150, 200, angry, irate, disappointed, frustrated text this morning in the first 25 minutes of the show. So either people woke up angry from the disappointment of last night or they never went to bed.

One of the two, but they're irate, they're livid. There was the conversation about whether Toronto winning the first overall pick made it better or worse. There's just a ton to unpacked from yesterday. I guess from your perspective, how shocked were you when it was the Toronto

Maple Leafs and that number 12 ball popping out of the lottery machine to win the draft, not just win the draft lottery, but in a week in which the franchise has been embroiled in so much turmoil. I mean, it was shocking, right? First of all, I like

the format. I like the way they had clarity because before things were happening in the drop I had no idea how it was working. I posted that show before and I didn't understand how it was working. I did like the clarity of like your team is Vancouver. You want the one, the seven, the 14 or whatever it was, you know, like understanding what you're rooting for. So I did like that part of it. Yeah, it was dramatic. I mean, it's been a massive news cycle here in Toronto and mostly negative and certainly a lot of question marks, a lot of hand-wringing, a lot of frustration, and that all turned. When that number 12 popped up, I mean, people are going nuts right now.

And they're like, all right, next year, where does McKenna fit in with Matthews? I'm thinking on the left side, like, you're already getting into that sort of fandom of it. So it's an incredible turn of events in that sense. And, you know, let me just say one thing, and I work a lot with Jason Buchula. I'm sure you've had them on your show before. He, you know, if there is one sliver of, like, hope here. This isn't one of those one and done drafts where it's like, if you don't get the first pick overall, you know, you're getting nothing. They've described it both Jason and Sam Cousinino and, you know, and the other insiders at other networks who follow the draft has said this is a good, very strong, good and deep draft.

So if there is a tiny sliver of hope there, when you think about the Canucks, fortunes is they're going to get a very good quality player. And sometimes, you know, and I'll use the, you know, Tim Stutzler went third overall when Lapprent here went first overall. And quite frankly, I imagine most people would want to have Jim Stutzler right now over Lappan year. So, you know, there are those cases where, you know, sometimes a third pick or fourth pick or a fifth pick ends up being just as good as the

first pick. So there's that to be considered. But having said all that, there's a lot of. excitement in Toronto, the fact that you now control the situation. You can get your guy. And more importantly, for a lot of Leaths fans, it's Boston is not getting the sixth

overall pick and you have egg on your face, you know, and I think that's a big factor in what there was a sense of joy in Toronto for the Leaf Nation, but it was more a sense of relief. David, you're such a nice guy, but like how many times, it's not a bud,

but like how many times do you think in the last couple of years that you've you've come on the show and tried to make us feel better about the Canucks. Like it's just like it's it's it's crazy. And in some ways it's like infuriating to constantly being like it'll it's, don't worry about it. Think about it this guy.

Think about it this way. Guys like, you know, again, it's not a criticism because you're just, you're just very nice and you look on the positive side of things and, you know, that isn't really what our show does. but how many like it's just it's it's it's it's it's crazy how many times we've either had to um like talk ourselves into maybe this isn't the worst thing but it just it just keeps being the worst thing david and it's been really hard for kinnucks fans i think yeah my uh therapist said i should have some more positive talk in my life and it would just

you're a therapist says that my god what if what if i said that what if what have i said that what What if I went to that therapist? Listen, I'm not trying to paint, you know, lipstick on a pig. I would be absolutely incensed last night as a Canucks fan, just knowing not because it's a one and done, it's the history of the franchise. Every time you're supposed to pick first, you haven't had that opportunity.

And you didn't just finish last. You guys lapped the field in finishing last. Like, I understand all the frustration. And the whole idea was, I can stomach all these losses in January and February knowing that we have the best chance to get the first overall pit and the promise that, let's say, Gavin McKenna, you know, wearing a conduct sweater for the next 15 years.

Like, I get all of that, and that all goes into the toilet. And, you know, I'm not trying to paint a picture that's unrealistic. I'm just saying it's not over yet. You know, you're going to get a quality player, and you're right. Sometimes when someone's kind of patting you on the back and saying don't worry about it, things will be all right. It's actually worse than saying, man, you're right. You're in a false situation.

So I see when you're coming from, man. And it's been a long time coming. And listen, and I know Vancouver's history, you know, as well as most hockey people, right? 94 stuff things. You know, 94 was right there. I work with Kevin B. Exa. We talk about 2011 a lot. So I understand all of it, going all the way back to Richard Broder in the 80s.

Like, I get it. It's been a long, suffering, horrible, you know, just the disappointing existence for a long time. Are you, that's better? That's better. That's better. Rager texted him to the show and he said, if I go through a divorce, I'm calling David Amber to make me feel better about living in my car. Yeah, that'd be good.

You can be like, Rager, think of the freedom. You can just, you can drive that car anywhere. You can sleep wherever you want in the city as long as there aren't parking restrictions. then you might get into trouble. Okay. Is McKenna, is McKenna the sure thing in Toronto? Do you see any way that they pick anyone else? But Gavin McKenna?

And this is where there's the intrigue. You now have this whole new management group, right? Where's Matt Sundeen from? Hmm. Well, he's from Sweden. Yeah. Where Stenberg's from. And he's made a point of saying,

I've, you know, he's not there just to be shaking hands, kissing babies, in an ambassadorial role, which we've seen other former players provide that to try and link the community with the team. He's there to make hockey decisions. He's made that very abundantly clear. So

that adds a massive wrinkle. Is there a bias towards Gavin McKenna? A hundred percent. We're Canadian. We've kept an eye on him. We watched him at the World Juniors. We know Gavin McKenna. He's a known entity. We watched him in the WHL.

And we followed him really since he was 12 13 years old when he was sort of dubbed the next great one. Stenberg doesn't have that background. Having said that, you guys watch the draft lottery show. You saw Jason Bucola, who I just referenced before, and he actually says he got Stenberg

picked first overall. So I wouldn't say it's a slam dunk. I would say right now, Gavin McKenna, you know, this is a team that needs some positive PR. If they're going to take Stenberg, they're going to have to have a really good explanation to the average fan, wide

passed on Gavin McKenna. It wouldn't have to be selling the fan base on Stenberg as much as it is. Why wouldn't you have taken this guy that's been sort of dubbed the sure thing for many years now? So I would put McKenna as the leader in the clubhouse and then one add another wrinkle to it. There's all this conversation. The Leifes have many holes to fill. They have no elite prospects. They have no draft picks.

They don't have a first round pick for the next two years. What is some in it four or five or six? You know, I won't say the Canucks hit three because I think the Conneman. need that player and, you know, aren't going to be, don't have assets themselves to give up. But what if four, five, or six was offering a couple of picks and a player and whatever, you know, including their fourth pick, let's say, to get the first pick, there's going to be a level of intrigue out there about the possibilities for the leaps because this could be a case where you can restock the shelves a little bit in one fail swoop.

As long as you're prepared for, you know, the possibility of giving up that first pick and that player becomes an absolute superstar and you've let that player go. And I'm not sure the new management has the stomach for that either. So it's going to be a really intriguing lead-up in the next six weeks to the draft in Buffalo. If they do take McKenna,

it's also going to be interesting to see how he starts in the NHL because we were talking about Austin Matthews' first game in the NHL and he kind of set a high bar with four goals. And he was ready to go, right? There were no question marks about whether or not Matthews was ready for the NHL. I think there are

legitimate questions about whether Gavin McKenna is ready for the NHL. A hundred. Two different players. I mean, I interviewed Austin Matthews. I sat down with them. Do you remember before he played an NHL game, he played in that World Cup thingy Team North America? You remember that whole thing?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, I interviewed him, and he walks into the room, and I'm like, Jesus, I go, you know, you should down I go and he's 18 year old kid I go how much do you weigh he goes 160 pounds and I'm looking at him and you know I'm worth 210 pounds I'm like man like this is this is a big boy 216 pounds as an 18 year old and just physically he was

completely ready Gavin McKenna is about to go to the combine and he's he's not that and he has some strength to put on some weight to put on yeah there's so it's funny you know Jason Buchla again went as far as to say Stenberg will be playing chances are night one of the NHL season next year. And he said, I'm not sure, Gavin McKenna will be. So that's another question. So you've hit it right on the head. Gavin McKenna is going to be a bona fide star in the league.

All signs point towards that. However, you might need a bit more seasoning compared to Stenberg and some of the other prospects at the top of the draft list. Yeah, Matthew spent that year in Switzerland, too, where he played against professionals like Stenberg has been doing over in Sweden. Yes.

We're speaking to David Amber Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet, NHL host here on the Halford and Breft Show on SportsNet 650. Let's turn our attention to the Stanley Cup playoffs, which we have not mentioned once this show yet. Is that still going on? For a variety of reasons, there was only one game last night. But it gets a little bit more exciting tonight because the lone remaining Canadian team, the Montreal Canadiens gets their series underway in Buffalo against the Sabres. I wonder how many Habs fans are going to make it to Buffalo. What do you think, David? Let's start there, David.

Well, I'm driving to Buffalo right now, and I'm running for the HAB, so there's that. I'm on my way there. I'm on my way to the morning skate. I just got through Hamilton, Kevin BX's old stomping ground. Yeah, there's going to be some HABSA fans there. But unlike previous years where the Sabres fans, when they were horrible, would sell off all their tickets to HABS fans, to Leafs fans, you know, probably to Kinnux fans for the one visit a year.

Whenever a Canadian team showed up in Buffalo, it was wall-to-wall fans of the road team. I'm not sure that's going to be the case. I think Buffalo fans, they have an insatiable appetite. They are very passionate. In fact, I'm really excited that, you know, Ellie and I are going to be kind of in the middle of this tailgate. It's more like an NFL or an NASCAR crowd than a hockey crowd.

Like, they really go crazy, and the beer sales are through the roof. I'm interested to see, you know, the fan base. I don't think they're just selling off their tickets as they had in previous years. They've waited a long, long time for this. There'll be some has fans because, you know, it's the habs, and they have fans everywhere. But I don't think it'll be anything close to, I've been there for Leaf Games in the last 10 years,

and it's literally 70% Leaf fans and 30% Sabre fans, because the Sabre fans are like, this is my chance to sell off my kids and pay for my tickets, basically. it's going to be a great series though guys really interesting we've seen already like Minnesota grinding it out with Dallas and now they're playing Colorado it's a completely different look to the series you know Anaheim it's a different feel against Vegas a slower plotting you know methodical game compared to when they were playing Edmonton it's going to be a change like Tampa was grinding everything out of Suzuki and Caulfield and the guys

and their top players and now it's going to be a very different feel so I'm interested to see how it all goes. We'll feel it out in game one tonight. I don't know if there's I can't, I don't know who the favorite in this. Series prices. Canadian Sabres. Both of them are minus 110. It's dead even. So it's dead even. Yeah. The most perfect market signal that it's like, there's just a pick-em series. Yeah. I mean, what do you think, David? I mean, after that Montreal

Tampa series, which was one of the closest series that's ever existed in the Stanley Cup playoffs, do you have an opinion on who should be favored between Montreal and Buffalo? Man, I mean, they were dead even in the regular season, and if you start kind of breaking it down, it's so incredibly tight. You'd like to think home ice would mean something, but it really hasn't. Buffalo was one and two versus Boston in the first round. Montreal was one and two at home versus Tampa in the first round. So home ice has not meant, you know, what it should be.

To me, the most compelling storyline going in, if you're going to break it down by position, in net. You know, who would have thought, you know, Jacob Dolbisch and Alex Lyon would be the two guys you're leaning on in the second round of the Stanley Cup last. In fact, you can kind of apply that around the league, guys. It's something I was talking to our producer about last night. Look at the final eight goalies.

Like, look, there's no Vesna finalists. There's no smite guys. It's just a bunch of guys, really. Like, you know, Freddie Anderson's been resurrected. He's never been steady Freddie, you know, in the playoffs until we're. right now. It's just, it's really funny to see the remaining goaltenders, and I think maybe that's the biggest

storyline. Can Alex Lyon continue what he did against Boston, where he outplayed Jeremy Swayman? Can Dobish do what he did, where he basically played as well, if not better than Vasilevsky? You know, it's, where does that lead you? And can they maintain that? I am looking for that Montreal top

line to see what they can do. When you have Slopkowski and Coffield and Suzuki, they can buy for 110 goals for regular season. Get one five-on-five goal in that whole series versus Tampa. They're going to need more than that because you have a feeling, Tuck and Thompson and the top guns on Buffalo, they just seem very tuned up.

They were very good against Boston. So to me, that's where we are. It's sort of which team can kind of find their game quickest and which star players can be the difference makers. earliest in this series. So it's going to be a compelling theater. And one thing I guarantee you guys is the atmosphere at both Key Bank Center and in Montreal it's going to be sensational.

It'll be definitely loud based on what we saw in the first round. So it's going to be really exciting. Real quick here, do you think of the three Suzuki-Kofield and Slavkowski Caulfield's the one that they need a lot more out of? I mean, Slavkosky had that game one was pretty good. Suzuki plays in all situations, so he's going to be effective in some way. But Coffield, I just really didn't notice enough in that series.

Well, a couple things. First of all, they move Slavkovsky off the top line, they put them on the second line for a while. So I wonder if they're going to reunite that top trio. I tell me we're going to keep an eye on tonight, because Lindy Ruff doesn't line match the way that John Cooper line matches, so maybe they can kind of feel comfortable with the matchups. I would say Suzuki, and Suzuki does so much more than put points on the board,

but at the end of the day, he was a hundred point guy. I believe he only had, I think, eight shots on goal in that entire series. And if you're playing 23 minutes a game, you're going to need more from your top score. As much as we say, yeah, Cawfield is, Suzuki's their leader. He's their captain, and they're going to need a bit more offensively from him. Cawfield is going to have to pick his spots. and we see this happen with 50 goals scores sometimes when they get to the playoffs, depending on how they scored those goals.

A lot of those were 3003 goals. You're not going to see that in Stanley Cup playoffs. A lot of those were power play goals, and the power play will have to click, and they'll have to be a big part of that. But I think Suzuki from a first shift to last shift, his impact has to be a little bit greater in this series offensively for Montreal to get through. David, this was great.

Thanks for taking the time to do it. Enjoy the game tonight. It should be a lot of fun. Buffalo, Montreal, 4 o'clock, our time. Thanks so much, guys. Be well, and we'll talk soon. Thanks, David. David Amber, Hockeynank, Canada, SportsNet, NHL host here on Sportsnet 650, a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor. Pick up a 15 pack of Budweiser this month at Angry Outer Liquor and get a free retro NHL hat for your collection while quantities last. More at Angry Outerlicker.c.cr.s.

That was kind of sad when I was like, David, you're always trying to make us feel better. Just just stop doing that. Even at the end there, be well. David, we are not well. We are not well. Yeah. That segment of the show was brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a due deal

and nobody has since 1926. Visit Duke Jam on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown. Visit them to Richmond. Visit them online at the dukeatogroup.com. Bruff would make David Ambers, therapist, cry, guaranteed. My God.

Be like George Costanza trying to get the apartment. Yeah. When Dr. Melfie's, that she can't see Tony anymore. That'd be him. And you continue to support this team? Yeah. That would be your therapist.

Okay. We're going to put the first hour of this show. You need to set some boundaries. We're going to put the first hour of this show mercifully in the books. Hour two is on the horizon. Frank Sarah Valley is going to join us on the other side. We can talk to him about the Canucks GM search.

We can talk to him about the plan and maybe a replacement for Jim Rutherford. Anything else you want to get into on that front? We can with Frank coming up at 7. The 7.30. We got an open segment. We're going to recap. the day of Dorian.

And we'll talk to Frank about this as well. Because obviously the news fans bullied the Knuck's into not hiring Pierre Dorian. Did that happen or not? Did it happen? Did Canucks Twitter finally do something useful? After years. Okay, okay, we get it.

You don't want them. Screaming into the void and avoiding the opposite sex. Have they finally done something useful? We will answer the question on the other side. You're listening to the Halpert-embroft show on SportsNet 650. Oh, yeah.