Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Petey & Miller Trade Noise Isn't Going Away

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports (3:00), they chat Friday's Canucks shutout loss to the Preds (6:00), things get heated as they discuss the trade noise swirling around JT Miller & Elias Pettersson (12:00), plus they talk with Sportsnet Canadiens reporter Eric Engels (28:00) as Montreal gets set to host the 'Nucks tonight.  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- We're cutting in centers. Shot by Nyquist. Whoa, by Lykken. And with the left hand. Nyquist can't believe it. It was great playing here, but I'm opening the door tonight. I'm out, bro. Sucky, sucky. It was a sucky weekend in terms of sports day. We're the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked. And I'll thank you guys. You come to the show every day.

You just suck. Good. Barney MacGoover, 601 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody, and I'm Monday. Happy Monday everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough, 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. Hey dog, good morning to you. Good morning. Regular Zach, good morning to you as well. Good morning. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought

to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service or parts. We are also in hour one of this program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Well they pay the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soraphi, what are you waiting for? Kintec. We got a lot to get into on the show today. We have a bunch of stuff to cover from the weekend. We have a bunch of guests to talk to. It's a Kinect's game night on Amazon Prime. So we got a lot to talk about here. Guest list begins at 6.30. Eric Engels, Sportsnet Montreal is going to join us. It is the Canucks, it is the Habs. 4.30, note the start time from Montreal tonight on Amazon Prime. Of course, you can hear everything right here on Sportsnet 6.50.

The Habs are red hot, red hot Habs. They have won games on the road in the last week and a half against Vegas, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Colorado. The last four Stanley Cup champions, the Habs have beat them all in their own barns. And now they get to go home to Montreal. Just in time for the Canucks. So we'll talk to Eric Engels about that at 6.30. Seven o'clock, Mike Tanier, our NFL insider,

two deep zones, sub stack, NFL regular season. It's in the books. That's it for football, man. We only got the post season left. Tampa Bay and Denver clinched the last two playoff spots yesterday. That was a bad final weekend. Yep. Lot of complaining, trying to make the best of Tampa Bay or Atlanta, not choking and then just like, okay, I guess this game for seeding between the Vikings and the lions. And it was a bad game. Denver with a nail biting 38 to nothing win to clinch its playoff spot. Detroit locked in the number one seed in the NFC.

We'll talk to Mike about all that at seven o'clock, 730 Adnan. Virk is going to join the program. He of course is working for Amazon. He in Montreal covering the game tonight. I believe he is going to be speaking to Rick Tauke this morning, either before our show or if not after our show. So we'll talk to Adnan, set up tonight's game from live from Montreal. And then at eight o'clock Satyar Shah is going to join the program.

So get this, today, because of the start time, on Sportsnet 650, we have Canucks Talk with Dranson Dodd from 12 to 2. Canucks Central with Sat and Dan from 2 to 3 Canucks pregame show from 3 to 4 30 puck drop at 4 30 with Batch and Randy post game show takes you through to nine o'clock. That's count them up. Nine consecutive uninterrupted hours of Canucks coverage. It's too much really. We can think about it. You can only get it here on sports that six fish. It's just a hockey team team the lifeblood of this station There's a pickleball show at the end though. That's right. Yeah, Josh is doing a pickleball show. Yeah, nine to ten Yeah, okay. So that's what's happening on the program today

Let's tell everybody what happened Hey, did you guys see the game last night? What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? 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. We go all the way back to Friday night, a game Jason Bruff was in attendance for. Steve Stamcoz scored the eventual game winner late in the second period. UC Soros, 27 saves for the shutout, the Preds blank, the Canucks three, nothing on Friday night at Rogers Arena.

So maybe it was just the fact that I was there, I had pretty good seats and I was enjoying the night that I thought it was actually a pretty good game for the first part of it. Each team had chances and I was right in front of Lankanen and saw him make some incredible saves and at the other side, Yussi Saros made some spectacular saves. But the game went from fairly entertaining in my opinion, at least, to extremely frustrating after the Preds opened the scoring late in the second on a three on two rush that Steven Stamkos finished off. That goal started when Sherwood fell down as the third man high on the forecheck and that's never a good

thing. Now, Brizbois tried to help Sherwood out but it was a bad gamble because he couldn't get the puck deep and it set the Preds off to the races against Vincent De Arnay. Yada, yada, yada. Forsberg fed Stamkos for a one-timer that one, De Arnay couldn't block and two, Kevin Lankanen couldn't stop. So it's one-nothing Preds and in a vacuum, the goal shouldn't have been the end of things, but the Canucks missing a few key players, as we all know, uh, Quinn Hughes and Elias Pedersen couldn't crack Uc Saros, who was very good on the night. And that was despite controlling most of the third

period, the Canucks did at least. The Preds added a couple of empty netters and that was it. JT Miller shouldered a lot of the criticism after the game. He did have some chances, including a breakaway, but the puck just isn't going in for him right now. In fact, the last time he actually beat a goalie, not counting the

shootout was all the way back on October 26th versus the Penguins. He does have a couple of goals, but they were both empty netters since then, October 26 versus the Penguins, the last time JT Miller. It's last year. Man. And he said, clearly I'm a little snake bit right now, and he said, the hard thing is you don't

want to try too much. I always find that the easiest thing. Trying too much? Is not to try too much. Oh, not trying too much. Yeah, too much. I always find that the easiest thing. Trying too much? Is not to try too much. Oh, not trying too much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I find that the easiest thing. It's fun too.

Easiest thing. I do it every day. Is not to try too much. And he said, you have to kind of let the game come to you, get on the inside and score some ugly goals. And I think get on the inside is a message for the entire team, not that JT Miller is trying to send it. I'm trying to send it because watching

that game, I was like, is anyone going to get on the inside and get some chances or is it constantly just going to go back to the point and they're going to try some sort of wild shot on goal, hope for a tip, hope for a bounce, hope for a screen. Like I get it. That's how goals, a lot of goals are scored in the NHL, but it can't be the only way. It just can't be. You have to have something else in your arsenal. And right now it's, it reminds me of, well, frankly, all seasons

remind me of the playoffs. So like, you know, like how hard it was for the Canucks to generate quality chances. Sometimes just shots on goal, just get a shot on goal. A lot of it is just, all right, defer back to the point, you know, try and get one through all the bodies and hopefully it'll go in. And it's just, it's not, it's not enough.

It was hard getting. It's not enough right now. It was hard getting shots for them on the power play when they had a man advantage. There was the two in the third period. They failed to record a shot on that in either. And it's, you're right. Everything is a slog right now. Everything is a struggle. Everything is, there's real team candidate, the world juniors vibes, maybe not necessarily. I was going to say that. I was going to say that. Yeah. Not necessarily the style of play play but it's just like you're just gritting your teeth and you're like this is tough to watch it's really slow it's predictable but not in the good rick talk it predictable way the game was pretty quick actually to start but that when it when it when it slogs yeah

just like oh my god like they had chances to beat Soros Garland had an amazing chance. He really should have scored. Yep, yep, yep. And Soros was good, but that's not enough, right? That's not enough to just be like, hey, there was that one chance that they had was really good. I mean, JT Miller had a breakaway that he couldn't score on.

A breakaway early too, right? Which I thought was going to be a tone-setter. But I think the frustrating thing was when they fell down 1 nothing against Nashville and playing at home, it looks so difficult to create chances. And Nashville isn't exactly the old Barry Trotz Nashville. They can't, I mean, how many goals did they give up in the games preceding that one? I will say that was UC Saros' fourth shutout of the year,

which puts him second in the NHL, I believe. But I think he has like 13 wins or something like that and four by a shot. Yeah, Donny and New West text in on the Dunbar Lumber text line. Shots on goal would be nice if they could hit the net. I swear they miss the net more than any team in the NHL. Yeah, and sometimes it seems like it's intentional. They're taking an angle on the shot.

And it's just, man, it's tough to watch, it's tough to watch and looking ahead to this road trip, let's talk a little bit about this road trip because it starts tonight in Montreal where you kind of mentioned the Habs have improved all the way to NHL 500 with seven wins in their last nine tries. And we'll talk to Eric Engels about that. How are they doing that?

Uh, and then it gets a lot harder after that with stops in Washington Wednesday, Carolina Friday, and Toronto Saturday before the, the trip concludes Tuesday in Winnipeg. So Montreal's the easy one on the road trip and the Habs are red hot. And then Washington, the surprise team of the NHL, I would say.

Carolina, Friday, and then back to back Toronto, Saturday. And then the best team in the NHL, that's how the Canucks end their trip next Tuesday. Canucks are going to be underdogs in all five of those games. Yes. They were significant underdogs actually, if you looked at the betting line against Nashville

at home because of all the guys that they're missing and their form. If Hughes and Pedersen aren't ready to go tonight against Montreal, they'll be underdogs against the Habs and frankly even if they were ready to go, they might be underdogs. It sounds like Hughes is more likely to play than Pedersen tonight. Both the guys practiced, but it was Hughes who was more involved in the special teams practice, i.e. the power play. So a lot of people thought, okay, well that, that

might be a signal that he's more ready to go. Also of note from the practice yesterday, Thatcher Demko practiced with teammates for about 20 minutes on Sunday, uh, before departing and yielding the crease to minor league call up Archer Silov. So I'm just reading that right off the article from Ian McIntyre.

If you want to read that it's up on sportsnet.ca. Who knows when Demko will be back, but hopefully it's soon given the games this week and the fact that there is a back to back in there. Yeah. I mean, you would hope that especially, I mean, it's the Friday, Saturday, Carolina, Toronto, which is going to be extremely difficult given you're on the road. You've got to travel in between. You're going to need two goalies in those ones.

Cause you do run the risk of like burning out Lankton. If you're going to play them excessively over the next little bit, by the way, friendly reminder, before we move on to the other news of the weekend, uh, eight30 this morning, our time, 1130 Eastern, the Canucks are gonna skate at the Bell Center for their morning skate and then Rick Taukett's gonna meet with the media for his usual meet availability. The only reason I mentioned that is we'll probably get word if Quinn Hughes is gonna play tonight. Right. What did you think of JT Miller's game on Friday? It was there. Well, you had chances, right? You had chances. I wasn't as,

I wasn't as upset as some people seem to be. I saw a lot of people, a lot of people on social media in particular, using the phrase checked out when they came to JTMill. Yeah, I didn't see that. I didn't think that was fair or accurate. I didn't see that. I thought he had his skating legs early on in the game,

but I think it's a lot of, it's like he has these bursts of energy and then the energy just goes away and he could be out there just totally straight legged. Anecdotal. Or he'll just like, he'll take like a weird shift, right? We'll go go crazy. And then just like halfway through the shift at a totally weird time in the shift, he'll just be like, I'm changing. Anecdotally, I don't believe there's a day that

goes by now where I'm not asked, Hey, what's going on with JT Miller? Yeah. Every day now, every day I run into either someone I know or someone that comes up and introduces themselves every day. I mean, we talk about body language with this team way more than we should, but JT Miller's

body language sometimes is off. And we talked a lot about Elias Pedersen's body language and we have forever it seems. And the situation with Miller along with Elias Pedersen remains the talk of the league. And Elliot Friedman said Saturday that all options are on the table. And I saw on social media that some people were

kind of poking fun at Elliott because he was like, he was like, here are the options here. You know, like they trade both of them, they trade one of them, or they trade neither of them. And people were like, yeah, obviously those are the options. But the fact that these options are all on the table, I think that's the point that Elliot was trying to make.

Like they are on the table and it's gotten to the point now where we're hearing about what the Canucks might be targeting in a possible return in a trade. Here's what Elliot Freeman had to say. I think if the Canucks do make a trade, they're going to need a center in return. I know the Canucks fans right now are concerned about the defense with Hughes and Ronek injured,

but I believe the team has prioritized center in a return more than the blue line because obviously they'd be trading a center if one or both was to go. So as part of the package, and I would assume it would be a package back for either of those two players, a center would be the priority as part of it. And Ron, one other thing, there have been some reports that maybe someone in Vancouver

has asked for a trade. I can find no proof of that at this point in time. Okay, I know there's a lot of Canucks fans that are exhausted by all of this and they don't like that we're talking about this every day. But it ain't going away until A. there's an actual trade or B. the team comes out and says there won't be a trade. When the GM comes out and entertains the possibility of trading Pedersen, it's going to get discussed. They could easily put a statement out. Miami Heat did it actually with Jimmy Butler about a month ago. How'd that work?

Not so well. Not so well. But they came out and they said, we're not trading Jimmy Butler. And then things died down a little bit until they didn't. And now they have to trade Jimmy. Now they have to trade him. But they could do that. They could throw water on all these reports,

but they haven't. And here's the thing. I think that's the point. I don't think they want water thrown on anything. They wanna put these guys feet to the fire. They wanna see how they respond to this. And if they don't respond, I think we're going to see a trade. I made a poll question last night on X. I saw it. I retweeted it. That's what they call it in the biz, retweeting.

And I said, what do you want the Canucks to do? Not what you think they're going to, or what they should do. What do you want the Canucks to do and the options as Elliot Friedman laid out for us. One was trade Miller, one was trade Peterson, one was trade both and one was trade neither. Trade neither won this poll. Yay. With 40%. Trade Miller was close at 38%.

Trade Pedersen was last at 8%. And trade both was at 13%. Now I think it was interesting that some sort of trade won. Like that was- Trade either barely won those. What, three, 2%, 3%? Like that's like a lot of fans trade both trade Miller

But it's basically you're saying I'm sick of this like just get rid of both them cuz trading both is but it was super Oh, there's a top season. Yeah, it's it's funny like people asked well, what did you vote and Democrat yeah, I Had a write-in vote for give me a new team The thing is like I get all the options here like that some of them are some of them are more I guess convincing to me than others, but

Let's face it like trade neither is the one that should happen. Right? Like figure it out, play better. I don't know if it's the rift that's keeping these guys down or something else, but whatever it is, figure it out. Because, you know, with these guys at the top of their game, the Canucks would be the envy of most teams in the league with the one, two punch down the middle. But it hasn't been like that for almost a year now. But like I would probably vote if I had to vote, if you said, make me vote on this, I'd say trade Miller because he's the older player

and he's almost 32 and who knows, you know, this might be the start of a decline that happens at this age in a lot of players. And I also think, you know, they just, they have to do something at some point. And if they're going to do something, I would rather trade the older player. Now does that make me feel good? No. other trade, the older player. Now, does that make me feel good? God no. Pedersen has been playing well below his potential for almost a full calendar year. Now it goes all the way back to the all star game in February, which I always

point out just happened to be the time that the Canucks started leaning on him to sign a long-term contract. We still don't really know why Pedersen's game has fallen off so much. There are people I know on social media that are absolutely convinced that he's injured. And now he is injured. But they've been convinced that this knee tendonitis

has been a thing for a long time. And they say, look at his skating stats. They're well below. It has to be an injury. I don't know, maybe, but I don't think it's in the team's interest to force someone to play through an injury. And if he would come to them and be like,

listen, I'm injured. Like you have to give me some time off. They go, no, no. We want to bury this massive investment we made. I don't see that happening. I just don't. And people are like, well, they're dinosaurs. The way they, the way they deal with it.

I was like, yeah, look at the way they handle Demko. They were super careful with Demko. So I have concerns, frankly, about the character of each of these players. And so it gets me to the point where I'm like, as hard as it would be, and as much of a hole as it would create, there are times when I think, just trade them both. Cause I can't deal with the body language. I can't deal with the, the post game interviews where they look so hard done

by and they look just like, you know, like I, I, it just really, really bothers me that these guys are playing for the team that I like. And they look so, so bloody miserable all the time. Yeah. I'm coming in hot on Monday morning, but I'm getting sick of it. Like not tired of it, I'm getting sick of it. Something's gotta give here

because I'm not enjoying watching this team right now. You know who is probably equally frustrated, maybe not coming in as hot, although in a recent interview with our very own Ian McIntyre kind of did, is the general manager of the team. That was hot for Alvin. That was pretty, okay. I'm just gonna look, if you wanna know the crux

of this entire thing, I'll just reread this section of his answer when asked about Elias Pedersen. This is Patrick Alveen talking to IMAC back on December 31st. You can see the article. It's up now at Sportsnet.ca. Petey has shown up to this point that he is an extremely talented quality player that could and should be a number one center. I believe in him. I believe that he's capable, but he needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations

and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don't go well. Is a trade possible? I guess I would say anything is possible. To me, this is all about a general manager who's reached the end of his rope with a player that he, here's the key to the whole thing where he says, could and should be an elite number one center. And I believe in him. They didn't believe in him. He didn't think that he could get there. It'd probably be a lot easier to cut

bait with them. Right. Well, he signed them to a contract for a reason. If you work with someone long enough and you understand what they are and where their ceiling is, you know what you've got. And I think Patrick Alveen fundamentally believes that Pedersen is a bonafide top 10 elite center in the NHL. And that's why they paid them accordingly. Now what he's saying is when you get to that level and you get $90 million from

an organization, life does not get easier for you. You got paid and you're rich now but that doesn't make your life easier. There's more expectations, there's more weight on your shoulders and as he said you need to mature and you need to understand where those expectations are. He's weighted through last season, right? The organization was pretty patient. They worked out the contract extension. There wasn't any huge criticisms of him when he didn't show up in the playoffs. The team went out and addressed the winger problem. They shipped Ilya Mikhailov off to Chicago. They brought in Jake DeBrusk. Remember, that was my, I

stood on that one for months in the spring, very hard to have Pedersen playing at a level when you've got these wingers weighing them down. They went out and did every single thing imaginable to make sure that he could have the type of success they envisioned he would have. And now it's not happening. And look what's happening.

They, the management is like. Are you taking the baton for me on the, on the rip Petey? No, no, no. I'm, I'm, I'm happy for you to take it. I'm not pointing out anything other than what's blindingly obvious. The general manager could have easily said.

Was it not blindly obvious just watching his game? But here's the thing. They never took this tax before. They didn't, I wouldn't say it was placating him, but they definitely were making as many moves as they could to make sure he was comfortable, financially paid, and surrounded by better players. And then when, I remember saying after they made

the brusque signing, I'm like, well, you're kind of running out of excuses for the player. Now the management group appears to have gotten there. They're like, this is now firmly on 40, number 40. Like it's on him. Like there's not much more we can do here, right? And that's why there are- I'd be furious of his management and ownership watching both these guys play.

And how they're carrying themselves. But I do think there's a difference between Miller and Pedersen in terms, in their eyes. I don't think they view them as the same. I think they view them as like, at least Miller has given us something after we signed them to a contract. And we have not received any of that with Pedersen. I also think- I think they're pretty frustrated with them right now.

I also think that if you're going to say who's the bigger let down of the two, I would say it's probably Pedersen. And I think that's because they anticipated that everything was going to move forward. I think in the back of their mind, the recesses of their mind, they knew that at a certain point, Miller was probably going to regress at some point. And I'm not saying that's what's happening now, but it might be. But with Pedersen, I think that there's a high level of frustration starting up high with Rutherford and Alveen and it's trickled its way down. OK, we got to go to break. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Rogers Xfinity TV. If you're looking for your favorite culinary content, look no longer.

Food Network has all new seasons of your favorite food shows on Channel 410 on Rogers Xfinity TV. Coming up on the other side, we're gonna go to Montreal, the site of tonight's game, Canucks Habs 430 on Amazon. Of course, you can hear it all right here on Sportsnet 650. Eric Engels from Sportsnet is going to join us next. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshah, 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. 632 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough 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. Eric Engels from Sportsnet in Montreal 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 Powell Street in Vancouver. We do have some news. It's been a very, very busy morning here. Uh, we are awaiting to hear from Rick Tauke at the Vancouver Canucks. They're going to skate at 1130 Eastern, 830 our time this morning.

Rick Tauke is going to meet with the media after. Uh, the Canucks have just announced that Dakota Joshua has been placed on injured reserve. That's retroactive to January 3rd, which is Friday when they played Nashville. Yeah, he got hurt behind the net. More interesting. With the question.

Also, the Canucks have recalled Jonathan Leckere-Mackie from Abbotsford on an emergency basis. Well, Abbotsford was just out in Laval, weren't they? So it's close. Yes. So there's your most recent development on the Vancouver Canucks front. We're off the air at nine o'clock this morning so we probably won't get any of the audio from Rick Tauke at following the morning skate but keep it

right here on Sportsnet 650. We will have all the latest. Let's go to the phone lines now. Eric Engels from Sportsnet in Montreal joins us on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Eric, how are you? I'm great. You guys are great teammates. Why don't you break the news? The other one breaks it down in two seconds. So we're good to go. We are good teammates. Yeah, we are.

I'm the better one. Better than Miller and Peterson. Eric, how are the Habs doing this? They won what? Seven of their last nine. They're up to NHL 500. I'd kind of written these guys off. Uh, yeah, well you wouldn't be alone if you did that.

I think they're, if they're not the hottest team in the league, the second hottest team in the league, I think they just beat the hottest team in the league in Colorado under what I would have termed impossible circumstances. If I was a betting man, which I'm not, I probably would have put a number in the thousands on them losing to Colorado after flying there from Chicago. They were on the most ridiculous, I've covered the Canadians for 17 years. Yeah, that was the most ridiculous we structured road trip I think I've ever seen and I was on half of it and it was enough for me. Uh, they started in Florida against the reigning champs, uh, an afternoon game, drove straight

to Tampa to play an afternoon game there, flew to Vegas to go three hours backwards in Pacific time, play the golden nights for a third game in four days at noon Pacific time. Uh, they won all three of those games, which was remarkable. And then they flew to Chicago and played at, you know, 7 p.m. Central time and landed in Colorado at altitude at three in the morning to play a game that was basically less than 24 hours later in mountain time and beat an avalanche team

that was 10 of its last 12 and basically had been crushing teams on home ice, scoring at least five goals in each of their last four games. Like I would have bet so much money, that's why I don't bet on the Canadians losing and really they didn't just pull out a win, they were the better team. It was, it says a lot of where, about where they've come from, which is the bottom of the

standings to where they are now. So this isn't just about a goalie getting hot? No, no, because, and listen, this is, this has to where they are now. So this isn't just about a goalie getting hot? No, no, because, and listen, this has been over about five weeks. Going back to the first week of December, they lost their first game of December against Boston. Then they came home for a five game stand, Patrick Lina returned to the lineup and they really started

to build up their game. And the thing with Lina is, is okay everybody saw him come back and score those power play goals not denying the impact that that had on them getting an extra goal a game it's huge but his mere presence on that second line pushed certain guys into their respective roles and not only that accentuated the strength of this team which is that that, yes, they pay too much to have guys like Gallagher and Anderson and Evans and Armia and Dvorak in their bottom six. There's a lot of money going out there. But the thing is they can afford to pay that

with the way their salary is structured throughout their lineup. And that was always meant to be a strength. It becomes a bit less of a strength when you don't have a guy like Lionel on the second line and then you have those two first lines that attract so much attention that the other two start to win on their matchups. And that's basically what's happened here. You've got a four line wave coming at you

from the Canadians. They figured out how to play. They figured out how to incorporate a lot less risk into their game and play with the heavies and big teams of this league. And it's, uh, it's produced 10 wins in their last 15 games. And you look at those five specifically against Florida, Tampa, Vegas, they lost to Chicago in a game where they threw 40 shots on net, which was a season high. They were by far the better team.

And then against Colorado, they were the better team in all five of those games. So the goaltending has been there, no doubt. Montalvo's done his job. Dobish, an incredible start to his career. But the Canadians are full value for what they're doing right now. So they just played in Denver. I'm going to bring the Broncos into this. It'll make sense in a sec, I swear.

So yesterday, the Broncos made the playoffs for the first time in eight years. And after the game, they had a video of Sean Payton kept telling them, he's like, young and hungry is dangerous. And that's what he said. He said, we're the youngest team in the NFL and we're hungry and we're dangerous. And I know they're going into Buffalo

and they're huge underdogs, but they believe that because they're young and they're hungry, they're dangerous. Then I was reading your piece and Marty St. Louis kind of saying the same thing about his guys. The line was, it's a big difference between not eating and being hungry.

And right now we're hungry. So I got to ask you, like, who are these guys that he's talking about that have this insatiable hunger for the Habs right now? Guys that have been there for the last, you know, two and a half years of what they knew was going to be a losing proposition, right? And that have put in for the last, you know, two and a half years of what they knew was going to be a losing proposition, right? And that have put in really respectable efforts.

And that was a big factor in Marty being the coach here. He's, you know, he was able to drive this team to work a lot harder than it probably wanted to, given that they were under man to, to accomplish that type of results they're getting right now. And over that period, you know, there was this culture that got installed that if we had spoken at the beginning of the year, I would have told you, this is the one thing, you know, I look at Montreal and stacked them up against going back to the beginning of the season, stacked them up against Ottawa,

Buffalo, Detroit, and this and that. And you might look at their lineup and say, OK, they may be a bit behind here. But culture wise, I would have suggested to you they were way ahead. And it's because they have never had a mentality of, okay, they may be a bit behind here, but culture wise, I would have suggested to you they were way ahead. And it's because they have never had a mentality of, okay, we're going into a rebuild, but we're just going to toss in games like the players, the coaches never allowed that to seep into the room. In fact, it was the complete opposite, which is, you know, the Canadians were in the most one goal games in the league last season, had they won a few more of

them, it would have been a different result, they didn't because they were young and undermanned and just inexperienced. And that's what happens. But they all felt that they were building something special. And so to start this season, the way they did, which, you know, was precipitated by Patrick Lyon and going down. And, and I just told you the emphasis and the importance of that player in terms of him just being in the lineup, what it means, you know, for them to, it was so

frustrating for them to go through that at the beginning of the year because they believe they were something better than that based on what they had built over the last two. And so that hunger that St. Louis is referring to, I think it's really about, you know, this is our time to start piling on wins. And look, I'm not going to sit here and tell you, okay, the Canadians are going to make the playoffs.

So like there's a half a season to go and a lot can happen unless they're scheduled from December all the way through the end of January and almost leading up to that four nations tournament is, is beyond difficult. So there's a lot that needs to happen, but we've gotten a glimpse of what they can do when they're healthy and that hunger has been there for a long time and it turned into a starvation from what happened at the beginning of the season. So I see what he's talking about and I see it in their room and it's a different vibe, right?

Like they're winning games, it's a very different vibe. So I know the trade deadline's a ways off, but are you starting to think that it might be different than you thought, say a month or two ago? Because I know Kanax fans have even wondered about some of the players on the Montreal Canadiens, a defenseman like Mike Matheson, for example. Yeah. Perspective on Matheson specifically hasn't changed at all. I didn't think the Canadians were ever gonna trade him this season. Like that's just not gonna happen. He's too important to them because the guy plays 25 minutes a

night. Has his play been a little more up and down than we've become accustomed to over the last two years? Yes. Do they have a player that can step in and replace what he does for the team immediately, no. My perspective in general on what they might do at the deadline, honestly, if it had kept going the way it had in October, then a few more things would be on the table. I think some people might look at them and say, okay, you know, if they end up going through another losing spell, even if it's four out of five games or something like that, they get too far behind the eight ball and you have to start trading off assets.

The thing is, when you talk about that culture that I was just referencing, I think what was key for Kent Hughes, for Jeff Gordon is for these players to to be in an environment where wins were more possible, not necessarily achieved, but more possible. And I think they see that as a key tenet of development and the progress of their young players. And that's why they traded Justin Barron to go get Alice Carrier. That's why you look at guys who are unrestricted free agents like David Savard, who's going to generate a lot of buzz between now and the

trade deadline. Because let's face it, like the defense market is pretty weak. It's borderline pathetic actually. And I don't think David Zavard is worth a first or second round pick. Just based on the way he's played in his age and where he's at in his career. I'm not taking anything away from what the guy does. He's willing to block a shot with his face and he's right handed and he's heavy and he plays hard in front of the net and in the corners and playoff teams will put a certain value on that. But I think the Canadians will look at a guy like him and say his value to us

even if he expires as an unrestricted free agent is greater than picking up another fourth round pick on the market. I think, you know, that's that that value is that David Savard is playing next to Arbor Jack guy and stabilizing Arbor Jack guy and helping him progress to get to the next level. It's why they brought in Carrie to play with Caden Gouly so that he can stay on the left side and not be overtaxed playing on the right side against some of the best players in the world. And he just gets to play his game and he's developing better. And Mike Matheson is doing the same for a guy like Lane Hudson, Jake Evans.

What a season this guy is having. He's creating a market value that might be higher than, than what his value could be to the Canadians in the end. He might be pricing himself out of here, but I think if the Canadians can come to terms with him on a deal, they probably will. So what are you left with in terms of the deadline? You're looking at a guy like Yoel Armia, who I think may be willing to let his contract run its course and maybe even try to convince him to come back for one year on a very low

number, which he might price himself out of. And Christian Dvorak, who's a guy that probably won't be back here regardless, so maybe he gets traded. But if the Canadians are in it and they continue to be in the mix right now, they're a point out of a playoff spot, I don't know if they'll be doing anything and potentially they could look at adding. Where are the Habs with some of their blue chip

prospects because they've got quite a few in the system. Well, I mean, I'm sure you guys have seen some highlights of Ivan Demidov. Like I was joking around yesterday on Twitter, I refused to call it the other name. Like does this guy ever score a goal where the puck just goes off his shin pad and into the net? Like, and I don't like judging players and assessing

their futures based on YouTube samples and highlight reels but man the highlight reels are very revealing about this player like he is incredible his talent level is huge he's coming next season Michael H is the highest scoring freshman in college hockey. The Canadians drafted up, moved up in the draft to take him 21st overall. Big right-handed guy who if he's not coming at the end of the season to turn pro and I know wouldn't suggest he's jumping into the NHL right away. He's one year out. Owen Beck has been phenomenal. I mean I don't know how many

Canucks fans were watching Abbots for LaValle over the last couple of games, but wow. I mean, this, this kid has pro details all over his game. The scouts rave about him. He's a guy that could step in and immediately replace a Dvorak and won't be here next year. Uh, they've got Jacob Fowler in college who might be the best goaltender outside of the NHL. Dobish who's starting his NHL career on the highest note possible making history with what he's done. I'm leaving guys out. I won't run through the entire prospect chain here but there is there is a lot to be excited about for Canadian fans that that would make you feel that this

rebuild is headed, uh, that they'll be transitioning out of it sooner than later. Uh, we're speaking to Eric angles from sports and in Montreal here on the health and the breath show on sports net six 50 Eric, before we let you go, I got to ask what the two guys that top the scoring leaderboard for the haves, that's Nick Suzuki and Cole Caulfield Suzuki's appointed game guy. Caulfield's ninth in the NHL. I want to say he's got 21 goals through 39 games. I love a good narrative here.

And the obvious one is that both were snubbed from their respective teams for the four nations in the beginning of December. And now if you look from the beginning of December, the Habs have really sort of taken off. Did these guys really use that snub as like the Michael Jordan meme? Like I took that personally.

And now they've kind of responded with these great seasons. I mean, you know, so They happen recently in these seasons have been going, you know, Caulfield started with what? So I was like 12 goals in the first 15 games or something. He was leading the NHL in scoring He is the current leader in the NHL and five on five goals with 14 Have their have their games elevated a little bit since the snubs? Yeah, I guess you could say that considering the success that's been driven. But, you know, at the same time, I

think it's a full team thing that's going on. And that's, I don't think any team in the NHL gets these types of results over the last over a five week period without like everybody going to a certain degree. Look, both those guys may not be on this team coming up for four nations, but they are making a very strong case to be on the Olympic one. And I think there's still time between now and four nations. Um, probably more so in Caulfield's case than in Suzuki's that if an injury hits, you know, the first phone call comes and it's to them.

The one thing I really like about Cole and his game is at the beginning of the year, he was scoring all those goals, but the five on five, 200 foot game that we kind of saw installed last year in the process he went through with St. Louis wasn't quite at the level that you would hope for. And he has, if you watch him play, if they were scouting him closely his play away from the puck has been phenomenal he has really stepped up his game and become a really strong player at both ends of the ice and Suzuki already had that baked in I think the thing that really hurts Suzuki is you know he didn't

go to the World Championships over last summer and right I you know you can make of that whatever you want I know this Nick Suzuki has never missed an NHL game and any player that you talk about that is in that type of, that you could put in that type of sentence, it's not because they're, they're traveling through these games unscathed. I'm sure he was relatively banged up before making a decision to rest at home. So it is what it is, but I think both those guys can be on the Olympic radar. Eric, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. It should be a good one. Well, you guys keep completing each other's sentences. Okay. Thanks. I will. Eric Engel sports net abs reporter here on the Halford and Bref show on sports net six 50. Have you seen the standings in the east? The wild card, the wild card, Eric Engel, Sportsnet Habs reporter here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Have you seen the standings in the East? The wild card chase. The wild card chase is hilarious.

It's wild, Jason. Pittsburgh has the spot right now. Pittsburgh is in the second wild card spot. They've played more games than other people, but still they're one point up on the Sens, Sens have three games in hand in them, on them, but teams between 42 and 38 points are Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Columbus, Montreal, Philly, and Detroit. Detroit is playing better. Yes, they are. Since the coaching change.

The old Todd McClellan bump. The Rangers have fallen off so far. They've got 37 points. So they're still technically still in it. They're still within reach and so are the Islanders, but I'm not too bullish about the Rangers based on the way they're playing right now. All these teams have just hung around like the Flyers and the Habs and the Blue Jackets. The Sens, if they don't, man, if they don't make the playoffs, All these teams have just hung around like the flyers and the Habs and the blue jackets. The Sens, if they don't, man, if they don't make the

playoffs this season, what a disappointment because the Rangers falling off has really opened up that opportunity. The Tampa Bay Lightning got the Jason Brough curse because last week I said, you know, like, I think the Lightning are kind of underrated. They've since lost four in a row. Yeah. And they've gone out to the West coast and

they've lost a few games. But nobody, nobody that I've played fewer games than the Tampa Bay Lightning so far. Yeah. I mean, some people might look at that race and go, wow, what an awesome race for the playoffs. And other people are just like, oh, there's a lot of mediocre teams mushy

middling around for that final wild card spot. The thing with the East is that there have been some years in the last little while where the playoff race has been honestly determined by Christmas, essentially, like there's the eight teams that you know are going to make it. So at least there are some, you know, at least there's some competitive races down, down the stretch this season in the Canucks conference, in the Western conference, the Canucks are holding

on to that second wild card spot. They're 18, 12 and eight. So they're, you know, the record still isn't, it still hasn't fallen off super hard. Like there's six games above NHL 500. Although if you want to look at it the other way, they've, most of the games they played, they've lost some of them in overtime. I mean, eight overtime or shootout losses for the Canucks.

That's a lot of points that they've left on the table. The Flames are one point back of them. And then you've got St. Louis and Utah there in the race. I think those are the only teams. Like if you, for the final wild card spot, it might be one spot for the Canucks, Flames, Blues and Utah. You know who's actually played really well lately? And this is stunning because now they're only six points back at the Canucks

for that last playoff spot. The Anaheim Ducks, you reversed Jinx, Greg Cronin, when you thought he was going to get fired. Not only did they have turned it around a little bit, they've won seven of their last 11. I don't know how, but they've managed to do it. But they had such a bad start that they're still quite a ways back. I don't count them as an actual contender. I would like to see a more bonafide playoff chase than what we've gotten over the last couple of years. I'd like to see a more bonafide playoff chase than what we've gotten over the last couple of years. I'd like to see three or four teams in both conferences stick around.

I think the East is the more likely of the two, just because I think there's a larger mushy middle. Like I keep looking at the West and I'm not a hundred percent certain that Seattle's gonna stand the test of time and be around when it comes to March. Like I think they'll drop off. I just don't think Seattle is very good. I think it'll end up coming down to Calgary, St. Louis, maybe Utah. I'm still undecided on Utah,

but that's it. As opposed to the East where you're going. Pitch for- Of all the teams I expect to fall off, Calgary might be the one. Yeah. Or the Canucks. Well, I think Utah's got that young and hungry vibe to it too. They do. But that can be an issue too.

Sometimes the team is just young and immature. I just don't know if their goal-tending is going to be good enough. But with, excuse me, just going back to the East for a sec, I would love to see Montreal and Ottawa make a legit push to try and be one of those teams. I mean, it would be fantastic if you could have both in the playoff picture and it's not out of the realm of possibility. Maybe one of them against Toronto. Yeah, like that would be great, right?

Cause it's been too long where it's just been Toronto and you know, like Ottawa has been so far off it for the last little bit and so to have the Habs. So yeah, I'll be very curious. I'm quite interested in this game tonight because I want to see exactly what, everything I know about Montreal this year, I'm gonna be dead honest, is like, I haven't watched it. I know at the beginning of the year, there was a lot of heat around Marty St. Louis

and he got real defiant about it. And now they've recovered. I know they've gone on this great winning streak in December, which is vaulted in the back end, but I wanna see it for real. I wanna see Suzuki and I wanna see Caulfield and I wanna see what these guys are all about. Okay, before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro, the leaders in commercial

cleaning and janitorial. If your workplace demands a clean environment, contact Jan Pro for a free no obligation quote, visit them online at JanPro.ca. We're going to go to break hour. One is in the books. We're going to come back with some NFL talk. Regular seasons in the books. We'll lay out next weekend's AFC and

NFC wild card schedule and we'll talk to Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the 2 Deep Zone Substack. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.