Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Need To Start Stringing Some Wins Together

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they preview tonight's Canucks home matchup versus the Blackhawks (3:00), plus they discuss the top hockey stories of the day with Sportsnet NHL host David Amber (27:36). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Back to Caprice. I've hacked it in front on it and puts the net off. They score! They score! They're going to give it a good goal to the wild. Now, Clayton Keller, try to go to the neck. Keller. Shoots, he scores! Clayton Keller, Platon Plutts. You're a Blu-Jay fan.

You're vomiting right now. That is bad. I don't care what you say. Oh, my God. That's bad. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-01 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford and is Brough at SportsNet 650.

We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and brought to the morning is brought to you by Sam. and associates score a dead freedom hat trick one no more interest two much lower payments

and three financial peace of mind visit them online at sands dash trustee dot com we are in hour one of the program hour one is brought to you by north star metal recycling Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal north star metal recycling they recycle you get paid visit them at 1170 Powell street in Vancouver we are coming to live from the kintech studio kintech footwear and orthotics working together with you in Step. Lots to get into on a Wednesday. It is a Canucks game day guest list. Today begins at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, SportsNet NHL host is going to join the program. Five games on the slate tonight, including the Wednesday night Sportsnet double header at 4 o'clock.

It's the red hot Utah mammoth going to Toronto to take on the Leafs. Then it's seven. As mentioned, it's your Vancouver Canucks hosting Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Arena. David's going to join us at 630 to talk about all. that. Seven o'clock, Frank Sarah Valley, our NHL insider from Victory Plus, speaking of Connor Bedard. We're going to ask Frank about his contract situation in Chicago and his chances to make Team Canada at the upcoming Olympics. We'll get into a whole bunch of other NHL's news with Frank at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30. Mark Spector is going to join the program. Oilers reporter for Sportsnet. Not great times for the Oilers right now. Have lost two in a row, five of our last seven

lost last night in Dallas. I also want to see. see just how truly bad this season has been for Evan Bouchard so far. We'll talk to Speck about all that at 7.30. Finally, at 8 o'clock Randi Bjanda, Canucks color analyst right here on SportsNet 650. As mentioned, Canucks Blackhawks

tonight, 7 o'clock from Rogers Arena. You can hear the call right here on SportsNet 650. We are giving away ACDC tickets later in the show. 8 a.m. The show is not until next year, August of 2026, but we're giving away tickets every day this week.

Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. 604-280650 will win a pair of tickets to see ACDC next summer at BC Place. That is what's happening on the program today, all of 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 busy your life can be.

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

Yesterday for the Vancouver Canucks, a quiet one, they flew home from Nashville, had the day off as they returned to Vancouver. Today there will be a 10.30 a.m. game day skate. And then, of course, the game against Chicago. Tonight's 7 o'clock Rogers Arena, the Canucks, and the Blackhawks. There was some news, and we'll get this out of the way, so we can never speak of him again.

Vitelli Kravsav's time in Vancouver has come to an end. The team announced Tuesday that the Russian forward was placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. He then apparently signed a deal back in the KHL with. Tractor Chelyabinsk, I worked on that one in the intro. Say farewell to the 25-year-old Kravsov. Jason, I know you will miss him dearly.

Well, that's twice now that we've taken a chance, It's taking a flyer on a guy. Nothing to lose. Except our valuable time as human beings being alive on this planet. I'll never forget where I was when I heard the news that they let him go. For the second time or the first time? Yeah. I remember he came over to the Rangers in a trade a couple of years ago during garbage time for the Vancouver Canucks season.

And I remember having a bit of a – I had a bit of her temper tantrum when that happened because it was like, oh, God, the Canucks are the team that does this. They just take this guy, you know, and like, you're watching him. It's like, this guy's not an NHL player. He's never going to thrive in this league. So he goes back to Russia. He does well there. And then they bring him back. He wants to give him another shot.

So we got to waste time talking about him in training camp again. And, you know, we see him in the preseason. And like right away, he makes like a terrible mistake out there. It was some preseason game where I think there was a guy like standing right next to him. and he was just, like, talking to him, basically. Like, do you remember that? No, I believe I blocked it out of my memory. Yeah, yeah, like, he was just standing right next to him,

and then the guy ended up, like, he wasn't talking to him, but he might as well been, he ended up, like, tipping a puck home, and it was like, okay, well, that's it for you. You're never going to get a chance. He ends up down in the H.L. Where he doesn't want to be, and this was probably always going to result in him going back to Russia, which he has, and that is the end of Vitelli Craftsoff's time in Vancouver.

I am more curious about tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. They got Quinn Hughes back against Nashville in Nashville, and that made a big difference, although everyone contributed to that win down in Nashville. Now we're waiting on a bunch of the other players, including Connor Garland. Now, Garland has been skating. He didn't go on the trip.

He's been skating in Vancouver. um we've wondered if he might play tonight but the connects haven't had a practice and if this is i mean the connects haven't come out and said it but i think a lot of people wondered is this like a concussion thing after he got hit uh in the rangers game and if it is you wonder if he's going to need a full practice with the team before he returns if it isn't maybe he doesn't i i don't know but uh we'll see if Connor Carlin will be back tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. Connects were out without their two main

play drivers, as you all know, if you've been listening to this show. Hughes is back and they're waiting for Garland. Teddy Blugher might be back soon as well, probably not tonight, but Adam Foote said, you know, Connor Garland's probably, Connor Garland is close,

and then after Garland, Blugher's probably the next one. And the Canucks Pek could really use Teddy Bluger. Well, and then after Bluger, Derek Foreboard has also resumed skating. And he'd be number three in the power rankings of guys likely to return. You're right that Foote said that Garland was close on Monday yesterday. On my favorite show, Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV,

Dolly reported that Garland is expected to be back on the ice. But I think that meant for the morning skate and whether or not he'll actually participate in the game tonight is still very much up in the air. But signs are pointing in the right direction. Overall, the team is starting to resurgence. return to health and that it has managed to keep its head what's the term when it's not above water and it's not below water is it at water because they're seven and seven so they've done a

good job they're treading water they're not drowning and there you can say that for the team and they are going to doggy paddles i think yeah they're doing the doggy paddle to seven and seven and you bring up a good point with the penalty kill getting bluger and forebord back would very much bolster a unit that's been under fire over the last week in a half and really hasn't done a good job keeping the puck out of its own net. There's a couple of good discussions to have. One is how do the Canucks deploy their goalies over the next four games

at home? And the other one is when Forbort is ready to come in, who does he replace? Is it D.P.D.? Is D.P.D. coming out of the lineup? Because you got Quinn Hughes, Philip Peronik, Tyler Myers, Marcus Pederson, the vets. I probably aren't coming out. And then you've got Tom Veelander, who's been playing really well on the right side as well.

So maybe you could have a pairing of Derek Forebort on the left with Tom Vielander on the right. And wouldn't that be a somewhat unexpected story if Tom Velander, his play, which has been very good, and I think the Canucks have welcomed his skating, if he were to replace D.P.D., who's been a fixed. sure in the lineup so far this season. Yeah, and if you look at the ice time from the Nashville game, it's kind of followed suit with what Foote has done a lot this year, which is play the top two pairs a ton, and then use that third pair sparingly.

Although Vellender and Pedersen both registered assist in that game, so good on them both for doing it. But DPD only played what? 1143 and 1052 are the ice times for both of them. So they weren't playing much at all, the two of them, right? So I'll be curious to see that. The goalie deployment is interesting for sure because it's been a heavy start to the season. And you've kind of seen Thatcher Demko over the last few games not put the heroics forward.

He hasn't played badly by any stretch of the imagination. Don't get me wrong. But he hasn't put forth the heroics that we saw earlier in the year where on a lot of nights he was the only reason the Canucks were in the game. And you do have to say like Lankinen for his sort of mid as his start to be the season has been the last game out. which I believe was the 4-3 shootout win over St. Louis, which he's nails in the shootout. He did make a lot of saves. Yeah.

A couple people took issue with Umbridge, if you will, with some of the goals that he led in during regulation, but he still finished with, I think it was 36 saves, and was good in the shootout. So the goalie rotation will be interested in watch moving forward. Demko's played the last two games, for those of you that might have forgotten the games in Minnesota and Nashville. The Canucks have an interesting schedule.

They host the Hawks tonight. Then they get two days off. they'll presumably practice at least once and that will be the opportunity if you know garland doesn't play tonight or maybe they get some players back at practice after tonight's game then they get Columbus and Colorado back to back this weekend followed by Winnipeg on Tuesday so you can almost think about it in two chunks one chunk is solely Chicago tonight sure and then the other one is three games and four nights against Columbus, Colorado, and Winnipeg.

If I'm going to bet, I'd probably go Demko tonight, even though that'll be three straight starts, then Lankinen against Columbus. Yeah, I'm with you so far. Demko, do you want to have for Colorado? Sunday night, Colorado? Hell yeah. And then Lankin for Winnipeg on Tuesday, and giving Lankin that start on Tuesday, would allow Demko to get a pretty good break between playing Sunday against Colorado and then going out on the road again. Yeah, it's like they don't play again until Friday in Carolina. So that's like

almost a week off right there. So I mean, that's just me wondering. I have no information on it. Pretty smart. They'll probably do the complete opposite. By the way, I watched Colorado play last night. Can confirm still very fast. Yeah, they're still very fast. Got a good, got a good team speed there. You know who looks slow? The team they were playing against, the Tampa Bay Lightning. yeah the lightning man there's something off there right they look old they look old and they look slow maybe a bit stale yeah all the all the above it looked like two teams playing at two very different speeds it was a close game and brayden points scored a really nice backhander uh to make it three to and make the end of the game really tight but it looked like there were two teams playing at two different speeds

i watched a bit of anaheim last night you know that looks good cutter goche they're a good team i'm not ready i'm not ready for the anaheim ducks to be relevant again i needed another year this is weird they're eight three and one I don't know if it's I don't know if it's sustainable you know they score a lot of goals they score a lot of goals

they're a good team and the Pacific Division is weak right now it's soft and I you know again I went back and looked the last time that Anaheim made the playoffs you know who's playing for the team Kevin BXA and Ryan Miller

like that's how long ago it was and you know who else was on that team? No he was gone at that point But you know who else was on that team? A 21-year-old rookie by the name of Marcus Pedersen. Unbelievable. That's how long ago this was. It's crazy.

Anyway, you want to do the White Caps thing? Yeah, we can get into the rest of the NHL story. Maybe in the segment where we talked to Mark Specter, we'll keep Mark for 10 or 15 minutes, and then we'll get into the rest of the NHL story from last night because I do want to keep it local here. And this is going to be a big story over the next few days because Don Garber, the MLS,

Commissioner is coming to Vancouver. He's going to have a press conference on Friday. And he's going to be coming to Vancouver to speak to some politicians and some business people about the stadium situation in Vancouver. And he had a quote, I think it was the Canadian press he spoke to. And he said, the club isn't sustainable in a situation where they're in a building which they have no control over and they have minimal participation with. revenue. Another issue is the lack of schedule flexibility, which BC Place would probably take

umbrage with. But he went on to say this team is no different than any other professional sports team. Having the ability to capitalize on all aspects of what a stadium could deliver both for fans, for corporate partners, hospitality value, and also for schedule flexibility is something we hope to be able to make some progress on. So we all, the big boss is getting involved is what's happening and sorry i cut you off there did you want to well we all know the situation with bc place um the white caps pay some rent it's not very much rent um but their only revenue source is really some sponsorship opportunities and ticket sales they don't get food and beverage which is huge they don't um they don't get any parking or anything like that they don't control the

stadium because BC Place, which is owned by the province, controls the stadium. And the Whitecaps lease at BC Place ends in two months. One month. It ends in December. Yeah, it ends at the end of the year.

So it is two months. We got November and December. And then the lease is up. And there's no, you know, there's no worries that the White Cups are just going to leave in two months. Like they can figure something. They can kick the can down the road on something, but there's a lot of things coming to a head, I think, with the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The current ownership group has essentially said the team is for sale. Now, is that a serious, you know, is that we're definitely selling the team, or is that like, we've got to sell the team because the stadium situation to use Don Garber's words isn't sustainable. and we don't really want to be the ones to frankly move the team if we have to. I wonder which public officials Don Garber will be meeting with because, again, BC Place is a provincial asset. But the discussion around a new stadium at the P&E, those discussions have been with the city of Vancouver. the big question I've got right now

because to me right now that stadium at the P&E is I don't want to call it a long shot but man it's a lot of work shot like there's a lot of things that would have to happen it's a long ways away let's go that way so the big question I've got is would a renegotiated lease at BC Place

make it sustainable for the Vancouver Whitecaps in this city. Now, if the answer is no, then you've got to talk about a new stadium. But if the answer is yes, how much is BC place willing to negotiate with the white caps? Are they willing to lose them as a tenant either to a new stadium at the P&E or to relocation? Do they think those possibilities are real or are they bluffs either by the white caps or

MLS? What would be the political ramifications of essentially giving the white caps a piece of the stadium if they did? Because it's a provincial asset. And a lot of people might be like, this is essentially a wealth transfer from the province to the owners of the white caps. But what about the political ramifications of losing the team? I don't know if you've noticed, but the white caps are becoming more and more popular in the city. And I was speaking with the caps yesterday, Nathan Vanstone. And he was saying that they've sold over 43,000 tickets for this game against LAFC. So I expect this game to be a sellout, much like it was against Inter Miami and Messi. I mean, that was an incredible night for the Vancouver Whitecaps. And then I would say

another question I've got is, how is Don Garber going to handle this? Is he going to draw a hard line on relocation and say, no, we're not relocating the white caps? or is he going to throw out the possibility of it happening? Because he's done that in the past. If you look at what happened with Columbus, they nearly moved, but they got a new stadium built and they got new owners. But if you look at San Jose,

they actually did move to Houston and then they built a new stadium there and they got another team. So this stuff has happened before and Garber has said, we've been through this before. Garber's, this is out of his playbook because he's done this before where I guess

the situation reaches a point, I don't want to call it a breaking point, but it reaches a point where like I said, the boss needs to get involved. And that was the situation over a decade ago in Columbus where the owner at the time put up the threat of relocation

with a press statement that included Garber's blessing. So fans in Columbus hate Don Garber now because Don Garber essentially signed off on the idea that they were going to rip the team out of Columbus, right? But that got a new stadium. It's a beautiful stadium. In a very weird roundabout way, the situation in Columbus worked out for everyone.

I won't go down the road too far because it's kind of, it doesn't really, a lot of the particulars don't pertain to this situation. So let's talk about your questions. How much is BC Place willing to negotiate with the white caps? Great question. Historically, they haven't really felt the need to because while it is an anchor tenant, the white caps. yeah there's never really been a threat of what are you going to do otherwise right there's never been that and oh you're going to build a new stadium good luck with that and a negotiation is always a negotiation like even if you're friends you're still doing business and i would

suggest the relationship between the two isn't always necessarily friendly at times it could be adversarial which is probably par for the course with any tenant and you know operator owner what have you. But for the longest time, there's never really been a need to seed anything to the white caps. Because why would you bother? Right. They're being a provincially owned entity. I hate putting it this way, but they don't really owe the white caps anything, right? They've got obligations to other people that aren't one of their tenants. It's always a very, uh, tricky situation for the politicians because you don't want to be the politicians that are essentially handing public money over to right billionaires now they own they own teams not millionaires but you

also don't want to be the politicians that lose a team not on your watch not on your watch yeah now this was another interesting thing with the columbus situation because and again it is very playbookish but right after don garber signed off on potential relocation the threat spawned a big reaction from a lot of politicians, right? The governor who's, sorry, it was the Attorney General who now the governor and the mayor of Columbus jumped on board and we're like, we can't let this happen.

And they got behind one of the fan movements called Save the Crew. And all of a sudden it became no longer just a sports issue, but a political issue. Now, is that what Garber's first step is here in actually getting boots on the ground in Vancouver and talking to local politicians is to kind of gauge

the temperature of who am I able to get on my side? Because make no mistake. Garber does not want the team to relocate. Relocation is not good for MLS and it's not good even though the stadium situation is as he puts it like untenable, they still want to keep the foothold that they've got. They don't want to move the Whitecaps, man.

They don't want to move them. Here's a great soccer city and they know that. You know, that's why they decided on Vancouver and look at the excitement in the market right now. Whitecaps are top 10 in attendance in MLS. That's good. The bad part is that they are right near, the bottom of the league when it comes to food and beverage revenue.

Well, no, they have no food and beverage revenue. Right. So right near the bottom, they're at the bottom. Just revenue. Yeah. There's nothing coming out of there. It's a revenue play. So Tim and Imo text saying is what is the difference between the BC Place leasing agreement with the BC Lions and the White Caps? Do the lions have a better deal? I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think they do. I think you, everyone needs to understand, though, that MLS now is very different from the The CFL. The CFL is much, much smaller than MLS. And you might be like, really? I think more people watch the Lions than the White Caps. Look at franchise values. The Lions are probably worth, I don't know, at their best $20 million, something like that. And, you know, I don't know what a Mark Dolman paid for them, but they weren't worth that at the time. The White Caps are worth half a billion. Like, it is very, very, different and you're just looking at the future of the leagues and also again the revenue potential

the lions they're going to get their ticket sales they're going to get some sponsorship you know they're going to get their tv money from tsn right now and that's another negotiation that has to take place that's going to be very important for the cfl coming up but mLS like you've got a league that wants to be a top five soccer league in the world. And frankly, they probably want to be a top three soccer league in the world. And they've got billions of dollars behind them. And the final question that you have listed here. I think that's the biggest one in the immediacy out of this week is will Garber draw a hard line on relocation?

Because when he was asked about this situation at the MLS All-Star game and shout out to local journalist Hard Joe Hall, who asked the question at the media availability, he did not bring up relocation. He was like, his big takeaway from that was we're going to get it fixed in Vancouver. We're going to sort it out in Vancouver. We want to stay in Vancouver. If by the end of this week

and when that press conference rolls around on Friday, relocation is mentioned from the commissioner, that's a big move. And it could just be, like you said, the idle threat of it or the possibility of it. This might be chapter one, right? He might come in and say, he might not draw like,

He might not just be like, we're moving this team if we don't get a new stadium. But I think he's going to try and heat this process up because I think he's looking at the white caps right now and be like, hmm, I got a big playoff game. Everyone's really excited about this white caps team. Thomas Muller's there. And, you know, like, again, that game at BC Place, when they sold that thing out for Inter Miami and Messi and they won that game. I mean, I sound like Dollywall here is like, you don't think they noticed that?

Yeah, right. They noticed. You know, that everyone noticed that and they got the World Cup coming up in Vancouver is a host city. We are a great soccer city. And now the commission is going to come in and hint that we better get something done or this team is going to move.

Okay, we got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up on the other side, the hockey talk will recontive David Amber Hockey Night in Canada, SportsNet, NHL host is going to join us. Double header on SportsNet tonight. It's the Leafs and the mammoth

followed by your Vancouver Canucks taking on Connor Bardard and the Chicago Blackhawks. That's coming up next. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Halford Inbruff show on Sportsnet, 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Richo and Saty R.

Shaw, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. It is time for David Amber. He is on the hotline, baby. It is time for David Amber.

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It is. It's David. He's on the hotline. 6.34 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Only a license insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees to learn how. Visit them online at Sands.

That's trustee. dot com. We are in Hour 1 of the program. David Amber Hockey Night in Canada, SportsNet, NHL host. It's going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of Hour 1. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest

prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go, he's on the hotline. David Amber joins us now on the Halford & Breath Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, David. How are you? Doing all right, guys. I was just telling

Andy still a little bit numb out here in Toronto after what happened on the weekend but life goes on. I was going to ask, how is the Blue Jays hangover going? Think about your worst actual hangover you've ever had and then multiply it by 10 and that's sort

of the haze that people are walking around with in the city still. It's just shaky just people like kind of hits you at you're thinking about other things always trying like, man, the Js should have been world two champions, what happened? Yeah. So, you know, it was great theater.

I've always said a million times sports is the best reality TV because you just, it's unscripted, you don't know what's going to happen. And that was another perfect example, but man, and, you know, many cities have gone through that sort of heartbreak. Obviously, you guys in 2011 with the Canucks. But this felt, it felt even bigger because there was, you know, the whole country really seemed to gravitated to this specific team. We're really likable group of guys and so many good stories.

so much resilience and you know man it's a tough one. Don't worry about it you know having experience 2011 it'll only take you about a decade to get over it probably about a decade and then you won't be officially over it but you'll

learn to accept it but man that's what that one's going to stay with especially the hardcore J's fans that one's going to stay with them forever I would imagine that's a tough way to lose it must have made some ripples out I mean, it was, I've talked to friends across Canada. Oh, man, Dave, David, but we spent the whole first hour on, like, we ignored the Canucks over the weekend.

Our whole first hour on Monday was Jays. We went through the ending of the game, and then we had Dan Shalman on to talk about it. And, yeah, you know, it was painful to go, you know, go through all the chances that they had and all the moments that just didn't quite go their way at the end. But it was one of the most fascinating. and cruel games I've ever seen in my life. And then the Leafs went out and played, and they're in action tonight against the mammoth. And they looked awful against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

They fell down 3-0. But they came back to win that game. So after that game, might as well talk about the Leafs because they don't have the Blue Jays cover anymore. After that game were people like, great job coming back. beating the penguins or were they like what the hell was that for the first two periods

yeah that's a great question it's a bit of a head scratcher i mean that was as bad as i've seen the least look this season just completely i mean they were outshot 28 to 12 and i didn't even i didn't even really tell the whole story like they were getting dominated by pittsburg badly and look so disinterested so disjointed broubae i guess tore an absolute strip off the team between the second and third, and it was some type of wake-up call. He then moved Nielander onto the top line with Matthew Nisen and Austin Matthews, and instantly they started to make some momentum and scored a quick goal. And in 10 minutes, they had scored four goals and held on to win in regulation.

It was the first time in about 50 years, the Leafs had a three-gold deficit in the third period, came back and won in regulation. So, you know, it was something you just don't see very often. You know, they just, they haven't put together sort of a full game. It's been very few and far between where they played meaningful, purposeful hockey in a long, you know, swath of stretch of time. And you're right about the Jay's cover. They have sort of quietly gotten by without a ton of criticism from the fan base

or from the media simply because all the attention's been on the Blue Jays, but that has changed now. So it was a wake-up call. We'll see what we get tonight on Scotia Bank Wednesday Night Hockey. We have them in Utah. Utah is obviously a good young team. So there's some interest whether they'll keep the D-Lander, Matthews, and I's line together. They probably will. But Brad Trey-Living is in great search, kind of like Vancouver and a few other teams for another top six forward to help complement his group.

Where's Austin Matthews game right now? Yeah, it's not where he wants it to be. It's not where the team wants it to be. It's been uneven at times. They've tried so many different players on that top line with him and Knives to try and find the chemistry. And they didn't want to move Nielander up there because it's become so top heavy, right? And, you know, you want to have Neelander with Tavares and have sort of a top six with some balance. But it's been uneven.

He scored his second even strength goal of the season in that comeback win versus the last game they played versus Pritzburg. Yeah, it's just, it's been uneven, guys. I don't know to say, the one thing about Matthews, though, unlike, you know, some other stars when they don't have their game, he's on pace for 45 goals, right? He has empty-net goals, he has an overtime goal. Like, he's still on pace for 45 goals, which, you know, 95% of the guys in the league would be like,

oh, my God, that's, you know, incredible. But it just hasn't been as, you know, he just hasn't been as dynamic. You haven't noticed him. You notice when Connor McDavid is on that ice. You notice when Leon Drey said, you notice those. It hasn't been, hasn't been as much.

for Austin Matthews so far this year. It doesn't mean he won't find his game, but there's a lot of focus on him without Mitch Marner in the lineup this year. So maybe that'll be a catalyst because he did look really good in that third period and maybe he'll find that spark with Neelander and kind of get his game going

and get his confidence up to where it needs to be. Well, there's going to be an interesting matchup in Vancouver tonight because Elias Pedersen has been hard-matched against all the other team's top lines and Adam Foote has been, you know, quite, quite, what are you saying? He's been saying good things about Elias Pedersen and in his defensive play. His offense isn't there, especially at five on five.

But he's going to get another interesting assignment versus Connor Bedard, who suddenly has 16 points in 13 games. And people are wondering about him and Celebrini for Team Canada, which just goes to show how well they're playing. Is that kind of going to be the spotlight for you guys tonight, Badard versus Pedersen? Yeah, I mean, that's going to definitely be part of it. You know, Connor Bedard made a lot of strides in the offseason. He worked on his skating, and it really improved.

And he's a year older. I mean, he's just 20 years old, but, you know, he knows the league. He's been through it now twice, and I think he's getting a better sense of what he needs to do to be successful through an 82 game season and he's looked quite good so far. You know, we keep having this debate is the room for both Celebrini and Bedard on the Olympic team.

And, you know, I don't know if there is because, you know, Mark Sheifley to me has to be on that team. Nick Suzuki to me has to be on that team. So, you know, there's got to be some subtraction if you're going to do all this addition as well. You know, Celebrini probably has the inside

line to being on the team and I talk to certain people who are just like Celebrity has to be on that team. So I'm not sure Connor Bedard might be sort of the odd man out if you want to put it in those terms but he's certainly making an argument to be under consideration. There could be some

injuries, there could be some other opportunities that arise. Bedard's playing the best hockey I would say of his young career. Celebrini's a fantastic superstar and the guy to keep an eye on that's sort of an interesting one here is Matthew Schaefer Like, I don't know. Have you guys had a chance to watch Schaefer all out of them?

Well, I watched Nikita Zadoraoff almost take his head off yesterday. Yeah. Do you see the whole team jump in? It was so good. That would do you think that was a BS move by Zedorov? Like, that's, that's, I mean, there's, I get, you know, you've got to be a bully in hockey and he's a big guy. But, man, that was, that seemed rather unnecessary. Maybe I just really like Matthew Schaefer.

He's so likable. I honestly think you might be the face of the league in six or seven years. and I know you kind of go, well, a defenseman, it's hard to be the face of the league. But if he continues on his path, what he does on the ice, off the ice, he should be the face of the league. He could be. Like, he's a guy who embraces it. He loves it, you know. He's the kind of guy.

You could put him on a late-night talk show. You could put him on Good Morning America. You could put him wherever, and he's going to be comfortable. He just has so much charisma, so much personality, so much maturity. He just turned 18 in September. He was one of the youngest players at the draft. he's playing 20 plus minutes a game he leads the entire league for defensemen goals

he has five goals but more than McCar more than Quinn Hughes more than any other defenseman like this guy is incredible and there are some people saying maybe just maybe he's going to work his way onto the Canadian Olympic team which would be just a fantastic story I mean it's it's interesting to watch around the league because you know Schaefer especially playing defense

you don't expect a youngster to come in and have the kind of dominance quite frankly that he's had so far You actually know what? Going back to tonight's game, as I was parsing through Chicago right now, the blue line they have, it is unbelievable how young their regulars are on that blue line. I think it's Lev Shinov is 20. He doesn't play a ton, but he's a regular fixture. He plays every night. Sam Renzel's 21, Wyatt Kaiser's 23, Vlastic is 24. So four of their top defensemen are 24 or younger. And then you go to the forward group, and they're equally as young. And, you know, after we just had this conversation about Schaefer and Celebrini and, of course, Bedard, who will see tonight, you know, I know it's early days and everything, but it does feel like there's a lot of youngsters across the league right now that are thriving in the early stages. I don't know if they're necessarily going to make their mark for the Olympics. Cutter Goce should be at the Olympics.

Ketter Goce is one of them as well. There's been a lot of good young guys that have really done the business in the early stages of this season. 100%. And you know what's funny is you want to have some guys get that experience. Remember, there's going to be a World Cup every two years and the Olympics every other two years. So in 2020, whatever we, 2025, in 2028, there's going to be a World Cup. You want to start getting guys into the program at the highest level. It's not a training ground by any means, but you don't want to have a team filled with 33-year-olds and 35-year-olds.

You've got to have some youth there to sort of pass the torch to. So how many guys will be in that position will be really interesting because a lot of the young guys in the league are making a huge name for themselves right now. So it is fun to watch. And you brought up Pedersen, by the way, and that's not actually, you know, just to throw a comment in there. Yeah, and I understand why Adam Foote's giving him praise

because he is blocking shots. He is doing a lot of, you know, making sacrifices defensively, which is great. But at the end of the day, when you're paying a guy $11.6 million, you need him to be, you know, it might not be that hundred and three point guy from three years ago, but he can't be a 50-point guy either. There is a big wide golf between those two.

You need him still to be the offensive catalyst from the forward position. You have Quinn Hughes who can drive a lot, but you definitely need Paterson there as either a finisher or a catalyst or a driver, and he has to be that 80 to 90-point guy. And just for the Knoch's to have any semblance of success, that's a non-negotiable. He has to be that guy, especially with the amount of injuries the team has up front. He's not even close at five-on-five offensively.

David. And I know, like, Foote's saying, like, we're giving him a tough matchup every night, and he is blocking shots and all that. I looked at some underlying numbers yesterday for Petey, and he's played 14 games. At 5 on 5, he has 11 shots on goal. That's it. Oh, my goodness. You know, a couple years ago, he was double or even triple that pace. So at 5 on 5, and he's been missing Connor Garland, for the last couple of games, but the fact that they had to put Garland up on that line also speaks volumes, I think. He is not, at five on five, he's not driving play. He looks okay on the power play. He looks a little more confident on the power play,

but that's when you have time and space, right? And you can slow the game down a little bit. Defensively, he's good, but I also feel like Pedersen for the last, you know, year or so has been almost like, you know, in football, you've got like a prevent defense you're like in the nickel or whatever and you're just like keeping guys back that's almost how he plays he like plays quite conservative because he's like

my offense isn't here right now so I'm going to at least make sure that I'm F3 or whatever I'm the guy back all the time making sure that I'm good defensively which is you know look understandable considering your situation but I think the point that you're making is like if you're going to be paid that amount and if you've played at this level before where you're good defensively and you're very dangerous offensively, then it can't really be acceptable that you're basically just, you know, like reinventing yourself as, I don't know, like Giacarbono or something. Yeah, I mean, and think about three years ago how every time he was on the ice, the

other team was back on its heels, you know, with his speed and with his shot and with his creativity, it forced the other team to go into a defensive mode. Let's just get off the ice even against this line and see what happens on the next shift. And if that's completely, you know, done a 180, that's not where you want to be. So that's of concern. And I get it. Adam Foote needs to kind of walk delicately through this and make sure he keeps the guy's confidence levels up, especially during the spat of injuries.

But I really, you know, as you guys know, Pedersen in the preseason sort of said, I got a chip on my shoulder. I have something to prove. And I thought, okay, great, you know, this could be a really good turning point for after all the miserable, you know, situation that he went through last year. And it just hasn't started out in that fashion. It doesn't mean it won't turn, but the Canucks need it to turn. Really gutsy win against Nashville a couple nights ago, which was awesome.

But, you know, you're going to need your best players, as every coach says, to be your best players, and Pedersen's got to be one of those guys specifically offensively. David, this was great, as always. Thank you for taking the time to do it tonight. Enjoy both games tonight, but especially the Canucks and Blackhawks. We'll do this again next week. Yeah, looking forward to it. Thanks for having me on, guys.

Take care. Yeah, thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. David Amber, SportsNet. Hockey Night in Canada, NHL host here on Halford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650. I carved out a little time here at the end of hour one because Greg Ballick, who in addition to being a diehard Blue Jays fan, is also a diehard goalie fan.

He's got some beef to raise with the National Hockey League. And what happened last night in the craziest game of the night between the Minnesota Wild and the Nashville Predators, two teams not known for their craziness, but the craziest part of this game wasn't the fact, wasn't the fact that Steve Stamcox scored the game-tying goal with 0.3 seconds left in regulation. You would have thought, like, if someone scores with that little time left in regulation, that would be the craziest part. But no, I'm going to walk you through it, and then we're going to play the audio, and then we're going to let Greg go off. at 338 of overtime in this game after Stamco's ties it with 0.3 seconds left.

Marcus Johansson scores what appears to be a game-winning goal in overtime. Just one problem. Marcus Johansson didn't actually score. After Predators goalie Eustace Annen and knocked the goal off its moorings, Johnson's initial shot hit the left side of the net. The net then came off, and then he then tapped the puck into where the net should have been. Video review by the NHL Situation Room said, that's a goal, despite the fact that the puck never actually went in the net. Like, let's just make that abundantly clear.

I'm going to play the audio of the call. It doesn't really do it justice, but I want to give you an idea of what it sounded like in real time. Here's Marcus Johansson's game-winning goal yesterday over the Preds in overtime. Caprisov with Johansen driving the net. Faber, Caprisov, Johansson, and he scores. Marcus Johansson with a winner for the wild. And the horn kicked.

Oh, you missed the kicker. That was the end of the clip. Oh, the color guy at the end says, I think they're going to look at this. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to look. How did the play-by-play guy not mention that the net was like way off? And the fuck didn't go in the net. It crossed the goal line where the net should have been.

It was a wild sequence. It was bizarre that he wouldn't. Like, that's the first thing that you notice on the play, that he missed the puck. It wasn't like the net came off a little bit. No. The net is blew up. Now, I think the play-by-play guy was following the lead of the referee who

signaled a goal on the ice. So keep that in mind that on the ice it was considered a goal and called the goal, even though the puck never went in the net. Now, Laddie, this is where I let you take the mic. you spit hot fire you're very irate about this well first of all first of all by the letter of the rule yeah if they're deemed to have pushed the net off

on an imminent scoring chance it is ruled a goal I 100% get that he missed on that first imminent scoring chance right he hit the side of the net recollected the puck and then put it into the net and by the time he'd put the puck in the quote unquote net the net was off long gone and it had knocked it off long gone but get to get to the point about I mean

And they'll say that he intentionally pushed the net off. Because he pushes the net as part of being a goalie. And the system of the post is called the marsh peg system. There's a little tiny green peg inside the post. I'm sure you've seen it if you've been to NHL games. You've seen them working on the nets. If that little green peg gets pushed up into the post, that post is coming, sliding off. You just touch it and it's sliding off.

If it's in there properly, you should be able to shove on that post with all. your might. You can watch clips of Thatcher Dempco in practice, 200 plus pound goaltender pushing all his weight on that post. It ain't going anywhere. But it looks like his left arm pushes it. Like normally you're pushing with your leg, right? You want to get your boot of your pad onto the post first. Does it not look like he pushes with his left arm as well? Well, he's trying to get sealed on the post. He's trying to put his arm up against the post. So do you put your arm against the post as well? Sometimes you do, yeah. And you're saying that shouldn't matter. And the reason his arm starts to push it is because

the net starts to slide on him and it's sort of reactionary you put your arm out like whoa and that's what happened because it's the overhead view when you see his left arm you know extending behind him

so you know some people will look at that and say oh he's intentionally pushing the net he's trying to use the net he's trying to use the net for he's expecting the net to hold because he pushes hard on it it is kind of comical to think that like

instead of trying to make a say of Jusis Annan and it's like what if it was an equipment What if I just pushed the net off and then saw it out? You're not thinking that in the moment. I was surprised. I asked you in the break. I was like, did Annen say anything after the game?

And I don't know if he spoke or anything like that. No one really pushed back. Brunette had a little quote, but yeah, he didn't really. The Preds didn't really push back at all. And I was shocked. I'm like, I feel like you should argue that. So first of all, I have an issue with the people saying Annen did it on purpose. Like, yes, he's pushing the net on purpose.

Yes, that's correct. In the process of playing his position, though. Sure. That net should hold in that kind of scenario. And the bonus fact that the initial scoring chance didn't even go in the net. Hit the side of the net. That's the one that got me. Kills me.

But they called it a goal. And everyone was like, well, I guess that's just how that ends. And they just went away. Bush League that they reviewed that. And that's the conclusion. No one in the review booth talked to one singular goaltender to say, hey, does this look like he did this on purpose? Or is this in the course of actually playing his position? Because every single goalie you talk to says, yeah.

You're supposed to slide into your post there and push off and go back the other way. We need to turn this into a more Laddie forward show. Between the J's. Oh, and stuff like this happens. I look at that, so I'm like, I don't care who won between Nashville and Minnesota. And I'm enraged over here. No one has ever made a Nashville, Minnesota game more interesting than you just made it. So good on you, Greg.

Good job, Laddie. I hate when goalies get picked on for no reason, for other than playing their position. All right, that's enough. Get him a snack. I think his blood sugar's low. Get them one of those. What are they called? The uncrustables.

I have one in my bag. All right. Nice. Okay. Okay. We got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Brough show. Get you some arrowroot cookies. A lot more to get to on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650.

Other side of the break, Frank Sarah Valley is going to join us at 7. Mark Specter at 730. Lots of hockey talk on the horizon. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Before we go to break, though, I do need to remind you that it's a Knex game day. And that means it's time to talk about panicky. go for the win by two medium panago pizzas and score free cheesy bread if you use promo code connects deal at panago.com you will get the aforementioned cheesy bread you should pan to go for it restrictions apply game day only you're listening to the halford and breath show on sports net 650.