Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Won The Road Trip Despite Missing Key Players

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

In hour one, Mike and Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk last night's OT Canucks loss to the Wild (6:00), plus they go around the NHL with Sportsnet's David Amber (28:28). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- And it bounces back the other way. Two on one for the Wild. Marco Rossi has Kaprizov with him. Rossi to Kaprizov. He scores! It was good. It was good. It's good to get home, though. It was nine points out of 12. It's a tough trip. I live between two worlds of the extroverted and an introverted lover of silence.

How was that? Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Alfred. It is Bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Bruv of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafit, what are you waiting for? Kintec, big show ahead on a Wednesday, 6.30. The guest list begins. David Amber,

Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host is going to join us. A four-game night in the National Hockey League. Headlined by the Leafs taking on Steve Stamkos and the National Predators. We'll also look back on all last night's games. Ten games in the NHL, including the Canucks' overtime loss to Minnesota. So we'll talk to David about all that at 6.30.

7 o'clock, Frank Cerevelli from Daily Faceoff. We'll try and get some updates on everything that's going on with the Vancouver Canucks away from the ice. JT Miller, Philip Roenick, everything else there. Frank's going to join us at 7, our NHL insider from Daily Faceoff. 8 o'clock, Randeep Janda. He was on the call last night for the aforementioned 3-2 overtime loss for the Canucks, ending a relatively, dare I say,

incredibly successful road trip for the Canucks last night. So, working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock, it's Randeep. 7 o'clock, it's Frank Cervalli. 630, it's David Amber. A reminder, for the third day in a row, we are giving away a pair of tickets to see ACDC live April 2025 at BC Place. We're going to do callers again.

It worked well yesterday. Andy loved talking to the listeners. Caller number 10 at 815 this morning. 815. So those of you that listen on delay or listen on podcast, you'll have a chance to call in 815 this morning. Caller number 10. The phone number 604-280-0650.

That number again, 604-280-0650. If you want to see ACDC next April, call in at 8.15 this morning and be caller number 10. Okay, that is what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? You missed that? 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 or resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Kirill the Thrill Kaprizov. Scored with 24 seconds left in overtime on Tuesday night. The Wild get their fourth straight win. 3-2 in overtime against your Vancouver Canucks at the XL Energy Center on Tuesday night.

Yeah, the Canucks didn't win, but getting a point off the Wild at the end of a road trip when you know you're headed home and you've already had a pretty successful road trip, given all they've been through lately, I think that's more than acceptable for the vancouver canucks who return home now that's that's the hard thing they've been so good on

the road but now they they got to go home and you know it's an opportunity for them to you know improve their home record and and show the fans that uh i don't know they respect the hundreds of dollars that they spent on the hockey tickets because they've just had some dreadful performances at home. Tequila sodas are 14 bucks a pop. Yeah, come on. Give me more than that. Come on.

So the Canucks will play Columbus on Friday and then an afternoon affair on Sunday with the Tampa Bay Lightning. But I feel like there might be some more talk before those games, but we'll get into that a little bit later. As for last night's game, my first takeaway was it was an eventful game for Elias Pettersson. I haven't talked much about Pettersson lately.

I've kind of missed it a little bit. Let's right that wrong. He was on the ice for all four goals during regulation time. Two for the Canucks and two for Minnesota. He earned two assists on goals by Quinn Hughes and yet another goal

for Jake Dabrusk, who also has to do something at home. He's a road warrior, too. He hasn't scored at home yet. But Pedersen, I guess you could say he also teamed up with hughes to turn the puck over on minnesota's first goal it was a costly miscommunication between the two canuck stars it ended up with hughes handing the puck over to the wild and pd getting caught flat-footed in the neutral zone yada yada yada the wild scored the other minnesota goal came

after petterson tried to clear a loose puck in front of Lankanen but it ended up going straight to the point where Jake Middleton was standing and Jake Middleton not exactly known for his offense but he makes a nice move and Pettersson you know flew out there and he tried to block Middleton's shot but it beat beat Petey and then Lankanen. So, yeah, a busy night for Pedersen, although I guess he had nothing to do with the OT winner. That came after Brock Besser on a two-on-oh with, I think it was Suter, hit the post, sending the Wild back on a two-on-one on Quinn Hughes.

Marco Rossi did a good job to hold off Besser's back check, and Besser did a good job to get back into the play, but Rossi was able to get it over to Kaprizov, who made no mistake. The guy is a good player, and I'll be the jerk to say that Hughes did not play the two-on-one particularly well. In fact, I'll be the jerk to say that Quinn Hughes didn't have a terrific game, although he did score. He was minus three on the night. It's okay, though. We forgive him. We forgive him. He's been through a lot lately. You know, he's got a high bar. He's a high standard for Quinn Hughes. And, you know, even Elias Pettersson after the game was talking about how he liked the battle from the team, but he owned a few of the things that went wrong on his line yeah I really liked the battle I think we I don't know a few minutes

in the second period when I think they really had pressure on us other than that I think we really liked our effort well I think we did enough to win, but a few mistakes by our line and me in the D zone. We gave up the lead. You say a couple of mistakes by you. Anything you're just looking maybe more specifically to clean up heading back home? Yeah, I mean, we have a 2-1 lead and then their goal. I missed a block, and then when I missed my block, I screened Lankanen to even see the puck.

So just small details, but yeah. But hey, you know what? Petey is piling up points. And his first assist last night wasn't anything spectacular. It was the Canucks power play, and it was the typical Canucks power play. I'm like, we'll pass it around on the outside for a bit, and then, I don't know, Quinn Hughes is like, how about I just fire it on net?

Okay. Jake DeBraska's like, how about I pick up the garbage? Well, no. I mean, Hughes scored that one straight in. And the second goal, Petey actually made a really nice play in front of the net. He was battling there in front of the net. It was a loose puck, and then Jake DeBras went and picked up the garbage. So if you're looking at Pedersen's last even just four games,

you want to go seven points in his last four games. Production's way up, which is great. And he is almost a point-per-game guy now. He's got 23 points in 24 games. So I think it's funny because I hear everyone say the same thing about Petey. He's still not 100% back, but he's producing. Yeah, the production is fantastic. And that's really important.

He's finding a way to contribute offensively. But I think you're watching him and going like, why are you so deferential? You just always want to pass the puck off, right? And you're still not really attacking the net, and you're not attacking the other team. But hey, you know what? Maybe he's not 100%.

Maybe he's just not feeling it quite yet physically. So at least he's finding ways to contribute. He's unselfish. He just wants to make his teammates better. I described it on Twitter as he's not exerting his will over his opponents yet. Like he used to do when he was superstar level. He just controlled the flow of the game.

Yeah, but everything's trending in a real good direction. Oh, yeah, yeah. And the production. But also, the big sigh of relief for me is that him and DeBrusque have found chemistry. Because that was a very obvious fit that the Canucks wanted to happen. And I didn't want it to get to the point where they were going to continually force it. Like, you can't make it happen.

You can't make the thing happen. It has to happen on its own. And it really is now. DeBrusque, in the most weird stat line, although it's very befitting of this team, all of his goals on the road. And so many of them coming in these big chunks. We're used to seeing Jake DeBrusque be a streaky scorer. I don't think

anyone's used to someone scoring all their goals on the road. It's a very weird split. The Canucks also should have had a power play in overtime. Garland clearly got tripped. A lot of people didn't like the officiating last night. They're weighing in. A lot of expletives being thrown towards Kelly Sutherland right now. You know me, I don't complain A lot of expletives being thrown towards Kelly Sutherland right now. So you know me,

I don't complain about the officiating much. So when I do. One thing you don't. It holds sway. It's true. And I thought the Canucks got hosed on a bunch of calls

on this road trip. I thought they got hosed on a couple at the end of the Pittsburgh game. But you know, the Pittsburgh game, Sealoves was in there and he didn't play well

and the Canucks didn't play well in front of him. It wasn't the referee's fault that the Canucks were down 4-1 after the first period. But, you know, I did think that, you know, they did try and mount a comeback and they nearly did it. And there was a couple of calls that didn't go

their way in the end of that game. You know, I'm not going to complain about officiating and wins. So they beat Buffalo and they beat Detroit. You know, last night there should have been a power play. And I bet you if that game was in Vancouver, that arm would have gone up. Right. Yeah. I mean, that's a decent thing to throw out there.

I mean, God forbid we suggest that maybe NHL officials are swayed by what rank the games are being played in. Minnesota's very physical. That third period, there was a lot of big hits landed. There was one on Max Sasson in the corner. I think it might have been Middleton that threw it. Foligno's a big boy. He was throwing his weight around.

I actually really admired the way the Canucks played in the third period. I know that might be a strange takeaway because it wasn't really a great third period. They played a while, man. They're at the end of a road trip. You'd expect Minnesota to be the team that was pushing. And they did. Yeah. At the start.

But the Canucks held their own. They didn't get rattled. They didn't get rattled by the early Middleton goal. They didn't get rattled by the physicality. They kept things territorial. And the chances they were generating weren't great a's by any stretch but they were getting offensive zone time and it was almost like they understood like the more we possess the puck and the more that we're cycling and keeping the puck away we can get this thing

to overtime like i call it like a mature response from a team and you know patrick alveen was talking earlier about what was the quote the lack of humility that lack of humility they went into the season with. I think this road trip was a really good response to that because they scratched and clawed and fought. And I know this might sound weird, but it's almost like they were like they weren't afraid to say, hey, we got to get in the mud to scratch out two points against the Buffaloes and the Detroit. It's like we're not better than these teams. We might be better in terms of the standings, but there's no easy games in the NHL. And if we have to go and have kind of a weird affair in on Sunday

morning in Detroit, where it's a, you know, we give up four goals and we're fighting it a little bit because it's early and we're a little off kilter. You have to score a late goal to tie it. Jake DeBrusque forgets what the score is. Like all these things, right?

We're like, okay, are we going to get out of here with two points at the end of the day? Because here's the thing. When they say winning is tough in the NHL, they're often pointing to the teams that can't do it with regularity. The Ottawa's and the Detroit's and the Buffalo's. And we'll get the Buffalo in a second. They understand how hard it is to win they don't do it very often so when you can go somewhere and scratch out two points or in the case of last night scratch out one I think that's why talk it was so complimentary after the game we don't need to play the audio it's fine but the head

coach was very complimentary of his team he knows that they're fighting it right now in terms of the guys that aren't in the lineup and they did really really well on that road trip. It's not going to get any easier for this team because Hronik's going to miss a couple of months, it sounds like. And we'll talk about that in just a sec. But we don't know if Demko's going to be back anytime soon. I think we were all hoping that it was going to be Friday against Columbus. And I guess it should still be. I guess it could all hoping that it was going to be Friday against Columbus, and I guess it should still be. I guess it could still be that,

but a couple rumblings that he might need more time. There was talk that they didn't practice enough on the road. They weren't able to practice enough, so Demko wasn't able to get his work in. So I don't know. At some point, it's kind of like, yeah, I mean, I get the whole don't rush him back, but this is very concerning. You just need these ideal situations for him to make his return.

And then JT Miller, we don't know when he's going to be back. Nope. So they play a lot of games in December, and they're spread out nicely. It's not like a ton of back-to-backs or anything like that, and there's a bunch of them at home, but it's a lot of games. And, you know, typically what you see when a team is shorthanded, you know, the good teams will hang in there,

but oftentimes it gets harder and harder as the the longer you go and the and the more that some of the players who aren't used to playing the roles that they're playing you know they wear down a little bit well you know like they're they're running on um you know whatever and and then suddenly it's just kind of like this is getting too hard i think this team is well-equipped to deal with the absence of JT Miller because the forward depth is so good. I think they're capable of dealing with the Demko delay

because Lankanen has been so good. The one that I think what you're talking about, the real test now in a tough month of December is going to be the blue line because yesterday the Vancouver Canucks did announce that defenseman Phil Peronik is going to be out for approximately eight weeks after undergoing a successful lower body procedure. Now, if you're hearing that and saying lower body, I thought the shoulder was in the upper body. You were not alone. A lot of people

were trying to say, wait a minute, is that a typo in the release that the Canucks put out yesterday? Why is he getting a lower body procedure? Well, they did confirm that he has an upper body injury that won't require surgery, but I suppose, and this is just me speculating, that if he was going to be on the shelf for a length of time recuperating from the shoulder injury, they were going to go get something cleaned up in the lower body. That's my guess on what happened. But all we know right now is that he's going to be gone for two months. And God bless what this blue line was able to do over the last three games of the trip

where Hronik wasn't there. But Hughes' minutes are routinely in the 30s or above. I think he might have been a little lower last night. And Noah Juleson's out there blocking shots with every body part imaginable, and they're trying their best. But if there's one area where they're not really equipped to deal with the loss of a front-line guy, it's on the blue line.

Yeah. There were not many details released from the Hronik update. I think you're right, though. They decided, okay, well, listen, we're not going to do surgery for your shoulder. Let's assume it's a shoulder. They call it an upper body injury. Sure. But your rehab is going to take a long time.

Eight weeks. So why don't we just go in and, I don't know, give you your vasectomy or whatever you do with a lower body injury. Just a speculating. Who knows? He's just kind of, I don't know, maybe it's like a sports hernia or something like that.

Do you need to go to Germany? Yeah, something. So they're like, do that, get it out of the way, and then you're still going to be rehabbing your shoulder. I wonder, and I kind of wondered this on Twitter last night,

is Patrick Alvin going to speak to the media soon? Is he going to hold a bit of a press conference? Because it's all well and good when they're on the road. But now they're back home and there are some major pressing questions. And I know he's not obligated

to talk to the fans. I mean, part of it, you could say he is because it's a public-facing company and the ticket-buying customers want to know what's going on with the team. But it's not like a law. But listen, I got a lot of questions right now. Let's start with Hronik.

I mean, these are the easy ones. What are you going to do about it? How confident are you that his shoulder will return to full health without surgery? I'd like to know as a fan, what went into that decision to not do surgery because we don't want this cropping up again. Yeah.

Seems like Horonix had some sort of upper body injury pretty much the whole time he's been in Vancouver, whether it's a shoulder or an elbow or whatever. He wouldn't admit it though. No. Not to J-Pat anywhere. What is up with Demko? Where is he right now in terms of his rehab?

What is the ideal situation to get him in there? Do we expect to see him on this homestand? And in the meantime, what's the plan with Seelovs? Like, can you play him? Is there another goalie that you've got down in the AHL that you might want to bring up? What is up with Miller? And maybe he'd just give a no comment,

but, man, that is such a big elephant in the room. That's not in the room. It's just crazy. One of the team's best players and arguably the most popular player for a lot of people you know i mean the jt miller chance we're at wrestling you know he just left the team and there wasn't really an explanation other than you know we're glad he's going to get the help you know he needs and he's going to be a better team and a better person or whatever you. That's pretty random. And meanwhile, there's all this speculation going on.

There's all these crazy rumors going around. So can you add anything more to that? Can we expect to see this guy anytime soon? There's other stuff. How does the team feel about Nils Hoaglander's season to date? I noticed they actually played decent minutes last night. There's lots of questions, and I just wonder if, you know, he's going to answer any.

They're at a really interesting inflection point as an organization because you could make the argument, well, not make the argument, but if you wanted to classify it, it's you're without your Vezna Caliber goalie, you're without your emotional leader, and you're without your second-best defenseman that you just signed to a lengthy extension. We'd like some updates on all of them. I don't know. Actually, I think I do know.

I don't think that the organization is going to come forward and say anything, as a matter of fact, because they're just going to see it as, well, we just got off a road trip where we got 9 at 12 points. And it's also not their way. They're not huge on explaining a lot of things i mean i think part of the mo is we're just gonna put something out there and we'll let the statement speak for itself and if you want to speculate speculate but we're not going to offer anything um one of the you know if you want

to talk about holding up your end of the bargain that one press conference where jim rutherford was like uh it's been told i might be speaking too much so i'm not going to speak anymore well good on him because i haven't even heard from him aside from the year end media availability. Like he's been very quiet and Alvin is not the most outgoing, loquacious guy. I think he really he's from the Kevin Shevelday off school of try and say as much as you can without saying anything at all when you have to talk. So I don't expect anything there.

But you're absolutely right to be asking the questions because the team did, this would almost be the time that you want to get out there and say, hey, I would like to take a minute to commend our guys for battling through all of these things, right? The guys that are playing right now and the guys suiting up,

that is a very good road trip and a very needed one because that homestand that they came off of was brutal, if you want to look back on it. They got four of 12 points on the homestand. They got nine of 12 on the road. And they played some bad games, man. Yeah.

The one question that I would ask is, like, do you have any explanation, any explanation to the home and road splits this year? Because it's not that they just have failed to get points at home. Some of the worst outings, not just this year, but in recent memory, have happened at home. 6-0 to the Devils on Huesapalooza night was terrible. It's got to be a preparation thing, right? I don't know, because they seem to be able to prepare fine on the road. But I mean, a preparation thing at home. You prepare differently at home than you do on the road, potentially. Yes, I don't know because they seem to be able to prepare fine on the road. But I mean, well, a preparation thing at home, you prepare differently at home than you on

the road, potentially. Yes. I don't know. I don't know. The distractions or whatever. I don't know. Is it because your family's not around? I don't know.

There's got to be something. There's good stuff on the hotel televisions. I don't know what really got me fired up. They were playing Band of Brothers. I was ready to go. I don't know. It's nice to have time to watch. Yeah.

No one interrupting me. The kids aren't asking for the iPads. I don't know. But's nice to have time to watch it. Yeah. No one interrupting me. The kids aren't asking for the iPads. I don't know. But I just, it's crazy. You know what? Another like huge downer this season was the Saturday night blowout of the hands of Edmonton where they lost 7-3. Like that was a much ballyhooed game coming in after last year's playoffs and they got

skunked out of their own ring. So I don't know. I can't explain it. I think that maybe. We could have a great debate about which Canucks loss at home has been the worst. Take your pick.

For me, it was the Islanders one. Well, okay. I thought the opener stunk when they blew a 4-1 lead to Calgary. The Islanders game was terrible too. The loss to the Predators where the Predators weren't scoring any goals and they came in here and scored five.

I think it might be the Hughes one for me just based on the pomp and circumstance around it. Hughes-a-palooza was bad. Hughes-a-palooza should have been, they should have come out better for that. So I forgot about the Islanders one.

That sucked too. I do want to discuss Plus 5-2 to the Islanders. I do want to discuss a little bit more maybe during the show and I'd like to hear from the listeners too.

You can text it into the Dunbar-Lumber text line 650-650. How do you feel about being kept in the dark about some of the things going on with the Canucks? Because I'm curious, because some people are like, they don't have to say anything. I just want them to do whatever they think is best, and I will just sit here in the dark and be happy about it. But other people, you know, there's people texting in. It's time for some transparency, right? And, you know, they need to provide some clarity on the Miller situation.

Otherwise, the speculation will run rampant. I'd be just curious. Like, I don't even have an opinion. I'd be curious to know their strategy in all this. You're kind of rolling your eyes a little bit here. Oh, I think I know their strategy. That's why. We just say as little as possible and just leave it be.

Doesn't that just make things worse, though? But does it? I don't know. If they're winning, I think it does because it leads to speculation. If you don't tell people what's going on, people will just naturally speculate. But what if the thing that's gone wrong is not good? No, I get the reasoning for it, but I'm just saying they have to understand that by going this route,

it'll lead to speculation. That's just natural. Some of the rumors that have come in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line, and people send them with 100% confidence. It feels like JT Miller is actually a super spy. He is James Bond. It is crazy. And I'm genuinely curious what the organization thinks about that stuff being out there in a place that,

I don't know, how many crazy rumors have we heard in Vancouver over the years? So, nice drop. It's so sad that this is what it comes down to. When you're winning, it's like, yeah, they do a good job of protecting their players and shielding them. And then when they're losing, it's like, they're messing everything up and we need more transparency. And I go back. Well, yeah, because they're home now and they're going to start losing. Right. You better win some games at home.

I'm telling you this right now. Win your home games. Starts on Friday. Maybe a Demco start, although I have no idea if that's going to happen or not yet. We're telling you this right now. Win your home games. Starts on Friday. Maybe a Demco start, although I have no idea if that's going to happen or not yet. We're going to go to break. We're going to come back on the other side. David Amber, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host is going to join us.

We can talk about everything that happened last night in a very busy night in the National Hockey League. Ten games across the league. We haven't even mentioned the Buffalo, the latest collapse in Buffalo. Maybe we can get to that as well. And then tonight, Wednesday night, Scotiabank Rogers hockey. We've got the Leafs and we've got the Preds on national TV.

So we'll talk to David about that. It's all coming up next on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, 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. Here comes the drop. That's what the kids call it. No, I know.

Yeah. I'm just trying to enjoy it. That's what all the kids do. If I went to a concert with you, I'd be like, here comes the drop every time. Hey, it's coming. The drop. Just leaning in, whispering to his ear, whisper into his ear. This is the drop. This is the drop.

You're ruining the show for me. You're listening to the Halpern and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halpern and Brough in the morning is brought to you by

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anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour one of this program 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 Powellell street in vancouver here comes the drop borderline creepy hey here's the drop it's coming just walking around a concert whispering in people's ears it's drop time your dad your dad is here. Let me tell everyone the drop is coming. Your parents know where you are? You should call your mom. Okay, to the phone lines we go.

David Amber, Hockey Night Canada, Sportsnet NHL host, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, David. How are you? Jason, Mike, get that music going. I'm dancing in my kitchen right now. You should be fired. You've got a big day ahead of you.

So not only do we have Wednesday Night Hockey, the lead in, the appetizer to Wednesday Night Hockey, you guys are going to announce the Four Nations face-off rosters for Canada and the U.S. What are the times for everything, David? I'm going to put you on the spot here. Okay, so in Pacific time, to keep it perfect for your audience, 3.30 is when our show begins.

At 3.33, I believe we announced Team USA. And at 3.40, we announced Team Canada. And we're going to hear from Don Sweeney, the architect. Doug Armstrong's overseeing everything, but Don Sweeney, I think is considered the GM of this group. We're going to hear from John Cooper, who's the head coach of the team. We will have Connor McDavid join us as well during the evening. So yeah, we're excited. This is, this is fun. And I hope, you know, we've been talking about four nations for a while. I hope people are starting to get a bit more interested. I think it'll be really cool. And the Canucks,

I'm sure will be pretty well represented certainly with Pedersen. And I would imagine JT Miller and obviously Quinn Hughes. And it's unfortunate Demko's not well enough to be part of this I guess but it's going to be really cool. Is there a player in particular on either roster but maybe the Canadian one that you're particularly curious about like you're not sure if that player is going to make the team but you'll be curious to find out if he does? Yeah, I mean, the name that I've brought up a lot and some others have as well is Tom Wilson. And to me, he just provides that nuclear option, you know,

knowing the Kachuks and potentially JT Miller and, you know, what the type of player that could be on the American team to have that ability to counteract that, you know, not that there's going to be a fighting and all that, just to have the threat of, of a big power forward is Brian Burke. So he's described Tom Wilson as this unicorn. He's played with great players, uh, Baxter and Ovi and Oshie he can finish.

He's what a three or four times 20 goal score. Uh, and he's still one of the more intimidating players in the league. So I'm intrigued to see what happens. I don't know if he's going to make it. He's certainly one of those bubble guys. But to me, that's a guy I certainly wouldn't have a problem at all if he were on Team Canada, and I think you could use a guy like that. And if not him, then, you know, maybe there's some others.

Sam Bennett might be a guy who could fill that role. But I do think you need to have some sort of physicality option knowing that the Americans are going to have a big rugged forward group yeah you got to think that the Canadians are going to put together at least one line that has physicality like you mentioned if it's Bennett or Tom Wilson or maybe Travis Konechny maybe their center could be Sorelli or something like that like you got to imagine that there's going to be one energy line. The guy I always point back to is Brendan Morrow in 2010 and how good he was for Canada.

Yeah, someone who'll hit everything that moves, can check hard, can forecheck hard. You're going to have guys to play roles, and that's the thing. That's what makes it interesting. There's going to be superstars, I imagine, left off both the canadian u.s team 40 goal scores 50 goal scores guys who are you know perennially you know rocket richard candidates etc but you can't it's something you can't have too many of those or you can have too many of those but it's like you need to kill penalties at some point right and that's why when i was making up my u.s team i was like well i hope

alex tuck is there there's a guy who can kill penalties he should be there yeah uh you know i hope travis connect me is given consideration certainly sam reinhardt has to be there because he can score 57 goals like we saw last year and he also can you know he leads the league in shorthanded goals like there is a guy who can play roles mitch marner kills penalties for the least you want to top guys and put them into positions that they're comfortable and already have shown they are capable of. But yeah, I think you need some grind-em-out kind of guys. It can't just be 12 guys

who are used to playing on the first power play and getting the puck on their stick. It has to be guys willing to play other roles. So that's going to be part of the equation. We'll obviously ask Don Sweeney about that and how much consideration was put into that as they put this team together. You know the guy I'm really curious about? Evan bouchard and whether or not he makes the team and also even if he does whether or not he plays because my understanding it's it's nhl rules right like you've got 12 forwards

that are going to dress and six defensemen that are dressed. So there's an extra forward and an extra defenseman. If you've got a right side that already includes Kael McCarr and he's going to get the power play time, is Bouchard a little bit redundant? And do you want to accept the fact that he might make some mistakes defensively? Or would you rather just go Makar and then say Petrangelo and Wieger on the right side? Or even Chris Tanev, who knows?

Yeah, I mean, I lobbied for Brandon Montour as well. I think he's had a sensational year quietly in Seattle. He played 23-plus minutes during the Panthers' Stanley Cup run. This is a guy who's used to 10 hockey and he's been incredibly good I do think based on Canada's goaltending question marks and the fact that we will definitely go into this tournament Canada will with considered the worst or least you know strong if you want to put it that way go goaltending trio, and no clear-cut number one for that matter, certainly not at this point,

I think you have to err on the side of defensive hockey. And there's so many guys, you mentioned, you know, like Theodore, Petrangelo, you know, Taves, you mentioned Tanev, Pareko, you know, Montour. There's so many guys who clearly just Uyghur you know and I hope Uyghur's on this team someone who can can you know get the puck to this great group of forwards you have and defend and make life as easy on your goaltending as possible I think that has to be at a premium and based on that to me Evan Bouchard's not on this team it's funny to say that because at the

end of the playoff last year he was 100 a hundred percent on the team, in my opinion, but we've seen some of the defensive breakdowns and liabilities, and you can't have that in a small tournament like this. You can't afford those opportunities to Jack Eichel and Austin Matthews and this incredible group of forwards that are going to be coming in on you. You need to err on the side of defensive hockey. And I think from a defenseman standpoint, I think you have McCarr,

you probably have Morrissey, you don't need another power play person, you need guys who will defend. Hey David, Conor Bedard was in Toronto on Monday

and didn't do much in the game, didn't even register a shot, he was a minus one in a 4-1 loss to the Leafs and we all recognize that Bedard doesn't have

the greatest team around him. But it feels like it's more than that right now. I didn't actually have time to watch the game. Was Bedard noticeable at all? Because when he came to Vancouver, he really wasn't noticeable until right at the end when he made a giveaway and the Canucks were able

to score an empty netter off it. My takeaway, guys, and I say this with a sigh because Bedard is just such a fun player to watch, but he is so incredibly frustrated right now. I think this is probably the first time in his very young career that he's feeling the weight of not having the team success slash personal success he's used to. He was on a very middling regina team in the whl but

he scored 74 goals in 74 games in his final year like he and he led them to the brink of almost knocking off the top team i can't think it was saskatoon or whatever in the first round he he was carrying a team in his rookie year he had that injury but he still you know was the rookie of the year he still put up great numbers he still was dynamic I think he feels a bit on an island right now and I think there's a level of frustration that's setting in there and it's hard to watch you know it's hard to see him you know he's beating up himself and from everything I've heard he's the one who's watching tape over and over and over he's the one staying extra long on all the ice sessions so it's it's in his head too he

probably just needs to get away from the rink for a couple days if anything if he doesn't make t canada it'll probably be beneficial to him to go for 10 days get off hockey apps like go and just enjoy yourself and get back to sort of finding yourself a little bit and then get back to the rink i think he needs that escape right now it just he looks really weighed down and burdened by everything that's happening around him and i think he hit it on the head right off the top there guys is look look at the team with him i mean it's there's not much there and it's incumbent on kyle davidson they have all these draft picks they have you cap space. He better go out and really find some bona fide players to help elevate this team because it's not in a good place right now.

It must be really difficult for him because he's still very young. And throughout his hockey career, I mean, I didn't follow him on a game-to-game basis in junior, but I don't imagine there were any stretches that came close to this. Yeah, I mean, mean listen losing is tough they had what the second worst record in the league last year they're going to be probably sniffing out that first overall pick yet again and here's the other thing remember they not that any of these guys necessarily would have been instant relief but they opted with the second pick overall to take a defenseman, which I get, but man, you know,

they left the T. Jaginlas and the Beckett Senecas and, you know, the Demodas. They left a whole slew of potential running mates for Bedard on the table. And I wonder, and Lev Shanoff, who they took second overall, you know, a lot of people understood that pick and he's going to be this great lockdown defender and he could be Victor Hedman and, and that could end up being great but uh if it doesn't end up being great you you caught you know a situation where it would have been really nice probably for bedard to feel there's some help on the way uh the level of frustration really seems to be there i mean

you mentioned how young he is he could play on the world junior team right that's how young he is and some people were laughing to say maybe get his mojo back send him to captain the world junior team come back with the gold you know score 15 goals in seven games be a canadian hero like we laugh about it clearly that's not going to happen but um but part of me says psychologically that'd be the best thing to happen it wouldn't you know it doesn't make sense because he's on a whole other level. But he needs to get some positive energy going. And hopefully some of the guys on that team, some of the veterans can help him through this. The Folinos, the Halls, etc.

But right now he looks really, really frustrated. And he's not loving his professional life right now. And it's hard to see that. Okay, on to better news. How cool is it to see Patrick Laine score last night? Oh, it's awesome. I was in Montreal a couple of weeks ago doing ringside and I had a chance to talk to him and he said, I'm close. I'm close. And I said, how are you feeling? He said, I'm feeling really good. And that's the story. Listen, JT Miller's out right now. We don't know the

circumstances, but it could be a mental health situation. We got to remember these guys are people, right? Like, they have lives. They wake up, and I know they're making millions of dollars and all the rest, but they struggle like the rest of us. And the fact that he's made it back this far, and he's been really open about it. He said yesterday in the post, I was talking to my therapist, and he thought it would be really helpful once I put that jersey on, the feeling it would give me, the boost it would give me.

Like, this is a real human story here and the fact that he was able to come back after a year away and score in his very first game and the ovation at the Bell Centre was tremendous. It was a really, that and the Johnny Goodrow, Matthew Goodrow ceremony in Calgary last night were

two really beautiful moments and yeah, it was just really good to see. Alright, back to the negative. Enough of that positivity. How about those Sabres last night? 4-0 lead on Forgiev, I mean, Georgiev on Colorado. And the Sabres are at home, and they find a way to lose the game. They lost 5-4 to Colorado.

And the Sabres fans have been through a lot. A lot. And they were playing fans have been through a lot. A lot. And they were playing a little bit better this year. But it's losses like that that just, it's hard to be a Sabres fan. And you say the Sabres fans, one thing that caught my eye, I'm watching last night in the studio with Sam Cosentino,

there were a lot of empty seats in Buffalo. And I know they had that caught my eye, I'm watching last night in the studio with Sam Cosentino, there were a lot of empty seats in Buffalo. And I know they had that massive snowstorm, but the fan base, it's 13 years, guys. And we've seen this even in great, and it's a great hockey community, Buffalo, but it doesn't matter how strong the community is. At a certain point, the losing just takes its toll, not just on the fan base, but on the player base too.

And you have players, some of them have been there six, six seven years it's been a long stretch of these types of losses you know i do wonder what's going to happen here because we kept saying what was the whole narrative at the beginning of the year in the atlantic division who from ottawa detroit and buffalo are going to step up and grab that spot that narrative for three years i think yeah and they sit collectively ottawa 15th detroit 14th buffalo 13th currently in the eastern conference like it's not happening and buffalo's the the you know i don't know what to say guys it's hard to watch uh it's frustrating and the collective group isn't as good as the individual parts and i do wonder just like i said this earlier about you know the ottawa

senators if they don't make the playoffs if buffalo doesn't make the playoffs again do they have to the individual parts. And I do wonder, just like I said this earlier about, you know, the Ottawa Senators, if they don't make the playoffs, if Buffalo doesn't make the playoffs again, do they have to just start saying, we like these parts, but we have to move some of them. And I don't mean

the periphery stuff. I'm talking about the inner core, you know, because you look at the, you look at the Paige Thompson and obviously Rafa Salim and Owen Power. They have all these

pretty dynamic players, but collectively it just hasn't worked out. And do they have to make like a bigger move and just say, we can't win with this nucleus as it's currently constructed? Because they've changed coaches almost every year. So it has to be something else. So I do wonder, and then listen, there's plenty of time left,

but you're right, losses like that. If Buffalo misses the playoffs by a point or two, let's reflect back to December 3rd, 4-0 lead at home versus a listless Colorado team, and you just let it all slip away. So let's just, you know, bookmark that one from last night, guys. Okay, Dave, before we let you go, we previewed

the Four Nations face-off roster announcements that you guys are going to do tonight. You've also got a pretty interesting game on tap. I imagine when the schedule came out, the National Predators coming to Toronto with Steve Stamkos and Jonathan Marshall, so added to a playoff team was a pretty marquee matchup. And now, I don't want to say it's the exact opposite,

but the Predators are probably the most disappointing team in hockey right now. But still, they're in Toronto tonight to take on Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner and the Leafs. Set this one up for us. Yeah, I mean, that's a good setup, right? This was a National team that many of us, including myself, they won the offseason.

Brady Shea, the first team ever to add. Stamkos and Marchessault, 240 goal scores. The first team ever to do that. And, you know, I guess if you kind of look a little deeper, you know, a bit of redundant skill, you know, right-handed shots, power play specialists. You know, Stamkos has seven goals. Six of them are with the man advantage.

And, you know, they look collectively as a team slow to me in a league that's so caught up on speed. They look slow. And they're old, right? The league keeps getting younger, and Nashville went out and got a lot older. So it hasn't worked out thus far. You you know they've had some bad puck luck too you know like vancouver last night could have easily won in overtime but they lost well that's happened many many times to

nashville they're one in six in overtime so could they conceivably have another six seven points yeah they could be a lot better it could be a different narrative but it just hasn't happened so far. That's a big part of the storyline. And then the other part of the storyline from the Maple Leafs standpoint is, you know, they're injury riddled right now. They're still missing a lot of key players,

but somehow with goaltending and defense, I can't believe I'm saying that because that hasn't been the narrative around this Leafs team. Goaltending and defense has led the way for this Toronto Maple Leafs team. So it is intriguing. And then obviously the backdrop, the roster reveals at 3.30 Pacific time

is really kind of sort of, I think, carry the night. But it is definitely an intriguing matchup. And whenever Stephen Stamkos comes home, you know, he does bring his best. So maybe expect him to do something a bit more special and vintage Stamkos tonight in front of his family. David, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. I'll remind all of our listeners, 3.30 our time.

Flip it over to Sportsnet so you can hear the announcement of the rosters for Canada and the U.S. for the Four Nations Face-Up. Thanks, bud. We appreciate this. We'll talk to you next Wednesday. Thanks for the plug. Enjoy. We'll talk soon. Have a great week. You too. Thanks, David and Amber. Sportsnet Hockey Night in Canada NHL host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

So, you know what was even worse for the Sabres last night? What? That was their fourth straight loss. Yeah. They've only managed one point in those four games, and that was the overtime point they got off the Canucks. The Canucks handed it to them. They said, you're in the Eastern Conference.

You can have an overtime point. So, they played Minnesota before Vancouver, and they got goalied by Gustafson. Played pretty well. Lost 1-0. Then lost to the Canucks. And if you're looking at the team that came in there, the Canucks team that was missing a lot of players, maybe that's a one where they should have won.

When they go to the island, lose 3-0 to the Islanders, who aren't a great team, right? And then they come home and what a great start. They're up four nothing and all the Avs fans are like, what are we doing here? Why is Georgiev even getting starts anymore? Just play Wedgwood, which is rock bottom, right? Just like, we need Wedgwood, Scott Wedgwood to be good. The Wedge wall. The Wedge wall. And then Wedgwood, Scott Wedgwood to be good. Wedge wall. The wedge wall. And then Wedgwood does go in there after they change goalies and the Avs put five goals up. This is in Buffalo.

And yeah, I looked at the attendance and it was about 14,000. So there were a bunch of empty seats. The Sabres, who before the stretch, they were doing okay. They'd won a few in a row. They'd gone to California. They'd swept the Kings, the Ducks, and the Sharks,

and they improved to 11-9-1. You look at the standings, and the Boston Bruins seem vulnerable. Now all of a sudden you lose four in a row. They're 11-12-2. Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins, I don't know if they've officially found their game, but they're probably going to improve. You might have just lost this opportunity to make up ground on the Boston Bruins,

and if the Bruins get some momentum, they're going to leave these teams in the rearview mirror. It just must be so frustrating to be a fan of one of these teams. They're just so annoying because there's talent there. There's talent on all three of those teams, but I'd especially say there's talent on Buffalo. Well, when it rains, it pours in Buffalo because last night, the Buffalo Sabres

also lost Rasmus Dahlin to a back injury, back spasms, an injury that's been plaguing him since the first day of training camp. He exited in the third. He played one shift in the third period, exited the game, did not leave. More concerning, Lindy Ruff had no update after the game as to his health. Really quickly before we go to break, I want to run a 10-second clip of a very frustrated Alex Tuck yesterday in the aftermath of that game

because Tuck summed it up pretty succinctly in 10 seconds what he thought of the Sabres' effort last night, blowing a four-goal lead and a 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. It sucks. It just sucks, honestly. We have to be better. Each and every guy has to be better. It's honestly ****.

Sorry. Pardon my French. Swearing. Nice bleep my French. Swearing. Nice bleep though. Good job. Swearing. Okay. We got lots of good texts

into the Dunbar Lumber text line when we asked you, the listener, if you feel like the Canucks should provide some more clarity on the JT Miller situation. A bunch of texts came in

on each side of the argument and we'll read them on the other side of the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay.