Halford & Brough in the Morning - Too Many Loser Points

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk yesterday's Canucks OT loss to Washington (6:00), plus they go around the NHL with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (26:23).  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- Johnathan Laker-Mackey! Two goals in succession! And the Canucks have a two goal lead! And then what happened? You blew it! You lose! Good day sir! I couldn't care less about the team struggling. Good morning Vancouver! It's 6 o'clock on a Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday everybody! It is Alfred, 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. Adog, 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, sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. This is exciting. We have a new Kintec read.

We're broadcasting. broadcasting, broadcasting, broadcasting live from Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. I like it. I thought you were going to be like, Kintec, Kintec, Kintec. Oh wait, no, I don't know what to do. New script. Got to work out the kinks. You're gonna be like good tech New script gotta work out the kinks got a lot to get into on the show today big guess You should just keep yelling kintech regardless in that spot arbitrarily barking the word kintech Let's try it. We're broadcasting live from kintech studio kintech footwear and orthotics working together with you in step kintech

Like we like that All the listeners are like couldn't you guys have done this before the show? No you do it in the middle of it Okay We got a big show ahead lots to get into from last night's loser point night another loser point night for the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 Lost in Montreal in overtime guest list today begins at 630 Waszynski, our NHL insider from ESPN, is gonna join the program. 10 games in the National Hockey League tonight. We'll look ahead to some of those.

And I suppose we can let Greg gloat about in the US, winning the World Juniors for the second consecutive year. I will warn you about that right now. Or we just don't bring it up? I bet it's gonna, I bet it'll be brought up. We're not gonna bring it up though. I bet he'll bring it up. Okay. Yeah. Ray is gonna join us. Ray Ferraro that is. It's 7.05 this morning. We'll talk about the Canucks with Ray. Ray is working this Saturday. Big game. It's the first NHL on ABC game of the year. It's an afternoon affair between the Bruins and the Panthers. Good playoff rematch there. He called a bunch of Rangers games on the weekend as well so we

can ask him about that but we'll talk about the Canucks as well. That's at 7.05, 8 o'clock. His son, Landon Ferraro, it's a Ferraro Tuesday here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650, is going to join us. We will further break down the Vancouver Canucks' latest overtime loss, this one 5-4 in Montreal last night. So that's it, working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock, Landon Ferraro, 7-0-5, Ray Ferraro, and 6-30, Greg Wyshinski. That's what's happening on the program today. Zach, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing shots. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? I missed all the action because I was in shock. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened?

What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Nick Suzuki scored a power play goal 48 seconds into overtime. To give the Montreal Canadians a five, four win against your Vancouver Canucks at the Bell Center on Monday, Suzuki scored on a pass from Lane Hudson. Very impressive rookie Lane Hudson after yes, unfortunately Nils Hoaglander was still in

the box after being penalized with 36 seconds to go in regulation. Soft call, not a good call, but a call nonetheless. Canucks lose, but in a familiar refrain for this team, still managed to scratch out a point in Montreal. Well, it was entertaining at least, but at the end of the day, Canucks blew another multi-goal lead and only got one point out of the effort.

I was reading IMAX column on it, and here's a paragraph from it. This season, no lead is safe. Monday was the sixth time in 19 games this season. The Canucks lost, albeit all six defeats with loser points after taking a lead into the third period. Lot of loser points. There's their ninth loser point of the season, the most in the third period. A lot of loser points. There's their ninth loser point of the season,

the most in the NHL. They're the best at the loser points. But that's- We're number one in loser points. But that's a, sometimes that can be a good thing. So you're like, wow, you guys are getting a lot of games to overtime at the very least. But as IMAAC know, so many of these loser points

have come after they've taken a lead into the third period. So it's kind of like, well, we still got the loser point, I suppose. It's not like they've battled back to get the loser point. On the bright side, it was a classic gun slinging performance by JT Miller and he really needed this performance and so did his team.

His first goal on a nice pass from Nils Hoeglinder, who will enter the game story later on, was absolutely ripped past Montembeau. If you're going to score a goal to break a streak of not scoring on a goalie, that's a pretty good goal to score. It was the first time he'd beaten a goalie since late October.

He beat Montembeau again. Team Canada goalie Montembeau. In the second period after picking up a rebound off of Lekker-O-Mackie's flub shot, and Lekker-O-Mackie was playing on a line with JT Miller and looked pretty good actually. A few seconds later, Miller also started the rush on Lekarmacki's goal. Then in the third, Miller fed Jake DeBrusk after a perfect shot fake for Vancouver's fourth goal. That was on the power play. So JT Miller was involved, heavily involved on all four of Vancouver's goal. Lankton, he was in

there again. He allowed five goals on the night, but you got to say he had some hard luck on some of them, especially the fourth one that bounced in off of Quinn Hughes, Lankton had still made some great saves despite getting just 24 shots against. Would you like to see some more saves? Yeah, of course you would, but I don't know if anyone after that game was sitting there going that's on Kevin and Lankton. He didn't hear the post game show. was sitting there going, that's on Kevin and Lankton. He didn't hear the post game show.

So, oh really? A lot of people on Lankton. Uh, the Cleavers were, I look. The Cleavers were out for everyone. Very quickly on Lankton. I get it. Uh, there was another goal from distance in which he was having problems tracking the puck.

And yeah, the second goal. Yeah. Uh, but, but you know what? I will say that Tauke wasn't putting that one on Lankton and he was putting it on his team because that was a long shift by Montreal. Agreed. In the Vancouver end and there were opportunities

to make plays and they just couldn't do that. My line, I think it would be this, is if you're a goalie, anytime you allow five goals on 24 shots, you're probably not thrilled with your performance. Even though, and this is in the case of Lankton last night, he made several high-end quality saves. Yeah but even the first one on Caulfield right like it was a great shot he's he can really rip

he's got a great release but five goals is five goals but it's and it's also a shot that you know you you wouldn't be shocked if it if it got saved so you kind of mentioned this early on was it a penalty on Hoaglander at the end? I kind of disagree with you. I was like, yeah, probably it was a penalty. He was running around without a stick and that'll get the refs at least watching you the way he was running around. He didn't have a stick as soon as he hit Anderson. And that's when, when the penalty came, it wasn't his hit on Hudson. It was on Anderson. It was as soon as he hit

Anderson. I wondered, I was sitting on Hudson. It was on Anderson. It was as soon as he hit Anderson, I wondered, I was sitting there watching, I was like, oh, don't call that. And the referee did call it. Was I sure he'd get called for it? No, especially not at that point in the game. But it was, I guess, I guess the word was, it was like, it was kind of an unnecessary risk.

And what was kind of the point? He just, like, he didn't have a stick, so he wanted to do something. So he knocked down Josh Anderson, which is easier said than done because Anderson's a big boy. Not the kind of thing that Hoaglander should really be doing given his precarious spot on the team and given all the ill time penalties he's taken this season, often in the offensive end. His game has been coming along too. I think he's been playing better. I mean, I made a nice pass to JT Miller earlier in the game

to the point, you know, where he was out on the ice in that situation. So when you're that player and you get entrusted with being out on the ice in that situation, don't take a penalty. Here's my thing. Don't take a penalty. Here's my thing.

Okay, here's your thing. Here's my thing. In a game where there were, what was it? It was three penalties a piece called, one in each period, a very neat, tidy fair. And in the third period where outside of the Caulfield slash, pretty much everything was like, oh, I guess there was this the slash on Sherwood at the same time. It did not feel like that call was

justifiable in that situation, knowing that if you give someone a four on three power play in overtime, you're cooking the team that's going to three men. So you want the refs to manage the game now. I would like. Now you want the refs to manage the game now? I would like- Now you want the refs to manage the game? If they've set the precedent during the game- How did they set the precedent?

Cause there was nothing being called. Yes there was. No there wasn't. You just mentioned two slashes. There was a penalty called per period on the teams. Each team had three penalties going into the final stages of the game. There was not a penalty filled affair.

There was a lot of stuff that got let go. Okay. Fine. I'm not going to argue too much. I didn't love the call. I did not. I just thought it was kind of like if of all the guys to get that called on, it was, you know, I would also love man, hoagie, buddy, hoagie.

Come on. The, what we're doing right now is very reflective of what was happening in real time on Sportsnet 650 yesterday because I don't know if you listened to the radio call. I'm old school, I love the radio. I was also driving. I was listening to Batch live, just eviscerate the officials for the call.

Like hated the call. Did you think it was on Hudson though? No, I mean, he had the opportunity to look at it between the third period and overtime. And even when they came back for overtime, still referring to it as a penalty that shouldn't be called. And he brought up the fact that of the stuff that's been let go in this game to call that with 36 seconds left.

On social media, Sat was like, that's a penalty. Right. Sat and Bic then went to the, they threw to the studio and they're like, well, tough penalty on Hoaglander, but it was a penalty. So I get it. I get it. It's the, and here's the thing. You can argue these penalties for days and days and days.

It's red meat for Sports Talk Radio because, you know, one man's, well, that's clearly a penalty and you could make that argument, is another person you should never call that in that moment. There's lots of other things we can discuss in this game as well. The line of DeBrusque, Souter and Garland at five on five got absolutely dominated out there.

I think they faced the new hook with Doc line and there was kind of a rotating cast of wingers, other wingers there, but it was Alex Newhook's line for the most part. Souter is playing up in the lineup while Elias Pedersen recovers from his injury and it's not going all that well. Ideally, Suter is your third line center or even on

the wing or even the fourth line center. Which makes me wonder more and more if Elias Pedersen is going to be ready to play Wednesday in Washington. He did practice the other day, but he's not quite ready to go. They need him back and they need him back to play at a fairly high level considering the competition that the Connex are going to continue to face on this road trip. And if you've forgotten, they play Washington on Wednesday. Capitals are a good team this season. Ovi's gonna be trying to score another goal

to chase down Wayne Gretzky. Then they go to Carolina on Friday, Toronto on Saturday, and Winnipeg on Tuesday. So they need all the help they can get at the end of the day. I wanna play some audio. Do we have Rick Tauke talking about playing under pressure and how some guys are just kind of slapping the puck around? Here's the head coach after the game, after another game where the Canucks blew a multi-goal lead and only ended up with a loser point.

Well there's just, yeah I think there's confidence. I think there's moments when you need a guy to make a play. Seems like when a team puts pressure on us sometimes we just start slapping pucks around when you should want the puck. You know if some, your buddy has the puck you got to hang in there for him and want the puck. Sometimes there'll be some contacts where you're going to have to go to an area and have contact to get it out. I think sometimes we're a little shy going to that area sometimes, but you know, we're, we're working on it.

You know, we'll continue to work on it. We got a point, disappointed to give it up, but we got to move on. At the end of the day, Tauke wants guys to step up on this team. You could argue whether or not they have the ability to step up, especially some of the defensemen. You know, make a play. They're like, we're trying. Yeah.

Which guy does he want to do that? Uh, I don't know. He just wants, he wants more, he wants more guys. And it's not just the defenseman, right? He wants the forwards to make plays to be available for the defenseman to pass it to them. Even if they put them in a self in a situation where they might get hit. He wants someone to make a play with the puck or take a hit to make a play or

literally step up, you know, step up and close down the gaps instead of skating backwards on defense. You know, if you skate backwards through the neutral zone or you're skating or you're backing up too much when the other team's coming at you, that's not helping. You know? Now the problem is sometimes you need some courage in order to close that gap because if you close that gap and the other guy gets around you, you feel kind of foolish. That's called getting locked.

Yes. Um, or maybe step up and stand up for a rookie when he gets crushed with a huge hit. Oh, now you're really giving me the red meat. Well, now you're really, I was laughing at the post game show because they were breaking down Rick Tockett's answer to IMAX question about whether someone should have done something when Leckermacky got hit by the ghoul. Kaden Gouli.

Kaden Gouli. That was a great hit. He stepped up. He did step up. He stepped up and the Habs are stepping up all night and making hits. They're a confident, young, hungry team and they played like it, stepped up early in the game,

smoked Leckermackie, and then... Nobody did anything. Take it from here, my friend. You're the old school guy tonight. Nobody did anything. Let's play the audio first. So, first period of the game, it's a big hit. It's a big open ice hit. It's clean, but as we've seen in, I don't know, every other NHL game this year, when a hit like that happens,

there's an automatic response. Now, I'm back to his credit, asked talking about this in the post game. And I wasn't sure if talking was going to get asked about this. I was waiting for someone to ask, talk it about the whole Glender penalty and nobody did, but good on IMAQ for asking about this because someone I brought up on a number of occasions this year is like, hey, it seems like oftentimes the Canucks are on the receiving end of a very big hit, legal or otherwise, and there's not that instant reaction that you see from countless other NHL teams. IMAQ asked Taukett about it.

Here's what Rick Tocket had to say. I think, you know, he's the next people. Like it's not even about, you know, the fighting. You just gotta do something hard. Whatever the next shift is, do it hard. That's what you should do. But we grabbed the three-one lead, so, you know, maybe, I don't know.

Yeah. That's what you should do, maybe, I don't know. Yes. That's what you should do. Maybe. I don't know. That's what I took from it. Look, and I'm dropping an early look here at 617 in the morning. I went back and looked at some of the instances this year and I couldn't find them all, but there was a couple that really jumped out. When the Canucks played the Islanders back in mid-November, Siplikoff stepped up and

absolutely collided with Quinn Hughes in a similar fashion. Clean hit, good hit, right through the chest. But you've got your captain on the receiving end of a huge open ice hit, and there is no response. The Tanner Janot hit, which landed him a three game suspension for concussing Brock Besser, went back and watched a video on that one. No response. Stop making that sound.

No response. Nothing. No response stop stop making that sound No response Nothing, and I don't mind if your mentality is okay We're gonna punish him on the scoreboard. We're gonna take it. We're gonna wait. Well. He did score a goal as vengeance Yeah, they scored a goal as vengeance. Yeah, the caramac. I mean they point you got the last laugh himself I mean they point you got the last laugh. Yeah, of course. I'll come for himself. I like of course like really Cancel that out. I just I watch a bunch of other games across the NHL. Nobody does this

Nobody lets there and it's not like it's key for sure what on the end It's a little different when it sure would be a sure what's out there. I think he's already at 220 hits this year I'm not making that number up. It's crazy. I think he's at 220 He's gonna have 500 hits by the end of the year. It's wild I will say it does annoy me when a fight breaks out after a clean hit I'm like, oh, it's a good hit just keep playing it was awesome But then when it happens to your own team, it's like I kind of wanted to guys I've changed my opinion on that. I used to be that opinion and now it's your own team Let me finish for once

The Let me finish for once The Now I've lost completely lost my train of thought I'll keep finishing I Used to be like there doesn't need to be a reaction, but then the other thing is like it's your team Do what you feel is right? Yeah. You know, it's your team. Like even if it's a clean hit, we're not, we're not sitting here sticking up for justice, right? Like we're, we're sitting, you're sticking up for your teammate. Do you like that your teammate got hit? Yeah. Hopefully not.

So what are you gonna do about it, right? It's like, some people will say, well it was a clean hit so you shouldn't, it's not fair to the guy that hit you that he would have to fight. Who cares? He's not on your team. Do what's right for your team. Even if it's not, you know, even if a judge would look at it afterwards and be like, well, it was a clean hit, so he didn't need to fight. Who cares? So he's not on your team.

I also went back and looked, and this is December of 23. This is shortly after Zdorov joined the team. And there was this game in Chicago where Reese Johnson flattened Elias Pedersen. And if you watch the replay, Reese Johnson gets about, I'd say six seconds after the hit before Zdorov B lines for him and drops him. And it's like, it's go time. Yeah, that was awesome.

You hit Pedersen, there's no questions about it. Like I'm not really worried about the ramifications. It's a December game against Chicago. Yeah. It's go time. And it was funny because Peders really worried about the ramifications. It's a December game against Chicago. Yeah. Where it's go time. And it was funny because Pedersen actually had a quote afterwards. He's like, he didn't need to do that, but it's awesome that he did.

I want to read. I want to. That might be the sentiment that I'm trying to get at here. I want to read some texts into the Dunbar lumber text line, cause it might be a bit of a theme on the show today. Just once, what I love to see the coach show some emotion,

stand up for the boys, um, to the refs, even if it was a call or not a call, just to stand up for his boys once in a while would be nice. He'll see something and say, and, and, and bat and say, and shrug his shoulders. And off it goes. It's okay to be pissed off sometimes. And he doesn't do that. Why would any of the players respond like that when their coach won't respond like that?

So this is the theme of the show, I think. And because I was asking Halford last night and I was asking a few other guys in the media, are you surprised at how much venom quite a few members of the Canucks fan base seem to have for Rick Tauket? This is a guy that one coach of the year last season and came in and a lot of people, the narrative at least went that he helped return

respect to the Canucks organization and to the jersey on, or to the logo on the Jersey. And he came in and he did some things that were pretty, I don't want to say heavy handed, but he took control of the team and he fixed a lot of the things that need to be fixed. And now halfway through next season, I'm seeing a lot of people ripping the coach, like ripping the coach and saying, you are no longer welcome here. And I just find it curious.

And I understand that some of it comes from maybe the style of play that the Canucks have, or maybe some of the struggles of the key players, like a guy like Elias Pedersen. But I'm surprised. I'm just surprised. I w I wouldn't have predicted that halfway through this season, there would be so much venom for the head coach and so much criticism of the head coach. This coach that won coach of the year last

year was a great story. A lot of people enjoyed him just talking about the game. So text into the Dunbar lumber text line at 650-650, any thoughts on this? To criticize the coach, to stick up for the coach. I want to talk about Rick Tocca today because there's no guarantee that Rick Tocca is back. Needs contracts.

The club has an option on him, but I don't think that's going to be, I don't know if that's enough for him to come back next season. There's a ton to unpack here, by the way. And yeah, I would love to know the listeners' thoughts. Because again, social media is one platform. I think the live radio listeners- Oh, it's a platform, all right.

It's a platform, and you're going to get some certain responses. I think there's a real sense of the immediacy and the anonymity, which creates success pool times. Text in, Dunbar number text line is 650 650 Does the Canucks current style of play? Like for example how they were held to 20 shots in Montreal last night And that was the eighth time in 39 games that they've had 20 shots or fewer in a game this year Does that annoy you does that bother you Do you need style points and results?

And is that realistic with the current crop of Canucks that are out there right now? Because remember, this is a team that's still without, and especially last night, Pedersen, Kronach, Joshua, Demko, take your pick. We've got a lot more to get into on the program. Greg Wyshinski is gonna join us. On the other side, Ray Ferraro at 7.05, Landon Ferraro at eight, lots more Canucks talk to come. We got a lot of text pouring into the Dumbartumber text message in basket already.

So we are here until nine o'clock. Quick break, we'll be back on the other side. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about HGTV. That's right, HGTV has a new address. All the latest HGTV shows are now available on channel 409 on Rogers Xfinity TV. You're listening to the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650.

Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 631 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford and 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. Greg Wyshinski from ESPN is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of hour one. 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. So we got a lot of your texts into the Dunbar Lumber text line about Rick Tocket and we will read them later on in the show. We're going to talk to Wish and then Ray Ferraro and then hopefully we'll have some time to read them because there's a lot of good thoughts on the head coach. And you know, I just find it curious how much criticism he is taking after winning coach of the year last season in the NHL. To the phone lines we go, Greg Wyshinski joins us now on the Haliford and

Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Wysh? Why is he taking criticism? This is why I come on the show. Cause as you know, as someone on the East coast, I never stay up to watch Canucks games. So I need to get most of my information about the team from you guys.

Why is he taking criticism? Honestly, that's what we're trying to find out too. Seriously, we're like he's, you know, a lot of maybe it's the style the Canucks play. I mean, there's no secret that they're having trouble generating scoring chances, but you know, I look at some of the personnel on this Canucks team and the defense really has trouble moving the puck. You know, they've been missing Kroenach for a while. They had been missing Quinn Hughes and when Quinn

Hughes isn't on the ice, it's, it's tough. And I think some of their star forwards have struggled this season. So I don't know if I, if I put that on the coach, but, um, some people do, I guess. Um, so we're trying to, we're trying to get to the bottom of this wish. We're all trying to get to the bottom of it. Uh, the,

so you're telling me that the guy who was criticized by some me, uh, for having very, very offensively challenged teams with the Arizona coyotes, despite always sort of being near the, around the bubble because they played a defensive style that helped insulate their goal tenders, but they would shoot like 4%. Like you're telling me that the Canucks are having a little trouble generating offense under this guy. Yep.

Is that what you're telling me? But they're not shooting 4%. They're not, they're just not getting, they're not getting many chances. Nor should they with the talent on the roster. But listen again, like you said, I mean, Quinn being out of the lineup has certainly impacted what was it, like, seven goals in the games in which he didn't play, the team generated. So, I mean, let's not get over our skis here. I mean, he's going to come back and they're going to be better and everybody's going to be somewhat happier. But again, if we're looking for this team

to be some kind of offensive juggernaut under Rick Tocket That's never been as it is his modus operandi as a coach. I mean the other element of this too is that There's been such Dysfunction with Pettersson and Miller both in terms of the lack of production their rift and both of them missing Extended periods of time. I feel like it's hard to pass judgment on what the coach has done when he's dealing with all these other circumstances underneath him. Some of which are clearly out of his control. Well, some people will push back and say like, a coach should be able to control all that

and a coach shouldn't let that happen. But I disagree with that. I don't know. You know, that's a tough one for me. I don't know if you guys know, but I've never been a professional athlete. What? And I don't quite know where the line is drawn in so far as how involved a coach

should be in player versus player rifts. Is he, is he like a middle school teacher where he sits in both in the office and has them hashed out? Or, or is it something where a coach, this is where a situation where a coach is on the sidelines and it's the room that kind of has to figure out how to handle this beef and ultimately it's the players that have to figure it out and ultimately is it on the general manager to facilitate something if things aren't clicking chemistry wise as a team. I don't know the answer and I mean obviously like it's an issue they're all cognizant of it but I truly I'd be curious to find out from other guys

that have played the game for a really long time, like what is the coach's role when you have a personality conflict and a player versus player beef inside your locker room. And oh, by the way, it's like two of your most important players. Well, I'm sure he's tried to address it. I mean, I don't think he's been like, wow,

I heard those guys don't get along. Well, I hope they figure it out. It seems to me that right now the organization's plan is to air out a bit of dirty laundry and Patrick Alveen, the general manager, did an interview I'm sure you've read where he laid into the top stars, especially Elias Pettersson, and basically just went like, well, we'll see how they deal with it now. And it seems to me at least that they want the fans

and the media talking about this because they want a response from these players. And I guess at the very least we got one from JT Miller last night in Montreal, who had a great game, two goals and two assists, even though the Canucks could only get a loser point out of the game. JT Miller last night in Montreal, who had a great game. Two goals and two assists, even though the Canucks could only get a loser point out of the game, JT Miller was really good. Can you ever remember a situation where an organization said, all right, well,

we can't solve it in private, so we're going to air it in public and see how the guys respond? Not really. Not, not as far as like, like a, like a personality conflict between players or some sort of like, you know, inner strife. Um, you know, occasionally I think that the teams will acknowledge the tensions in a room and, uh, and usually it's, it's, it's after

something has been public, like a fight and practice or two guys yelling on the bench or whatever, you know what I mean? So like never like this, but I mean, I, you know, I, I give them credit because they're just kind of acknowledging what's in the ether. They're kind of acknowledging what everybody's talking about. And rather than trying to be Pollyanna about it and hoping, hoping that the Vancouver media stops seizing on a player versus player feud on the Vancouver Canucks. Uh, I think they did the right thing and just kind of trying to put it out there and and like you said maybe

Ultimately by by putting some sunlight on it Then then maybe that the issue can sort of not if not resolve itself Kind of not be as impactful in the season as it's been we talked about this yesterday But if there's an Eastern Conference version of the Vancouver Canucks, it may very well be the New York Rangers who are also in the midst of a variety of crises, both big and small, and it's shown in the win-loss record, especially since, oddly enough,

they beat the Canucks to move to, I wanna say 12-4-1 in November. Ever since then, they've absolutely fallen off a cliff, and there's been a lot of reports of lack of harmony in the room and dysfunction between the executive and what's going on on the ice you wrote a big lengthy piece on ESPN a few days ago can the Rangers be fixed what sort of answers did you come up with? Yeah I mean I think the short answer is that they can be fixed I mean first of all they're only

four points out of a playoff spot this year. I hope they take the right lesson out of the season where if they do sneak into the playoffs and lose in the first round, it's not like they think the ship's still pointed in the right direction. This is a team that has systemic problems. The one thing I took away in talking to a former player about this and also a current team executive about this is both identified their five on five plays being an issue. And it's been an issue under Peter Lavillette. It was an issue under Gerard Galant. This team is just not built necessarily to win at evens. And that's not something that you can have in this league if you want to win a cup.

So look, they have a very sturdy foundation on which to build. They've got, you know, Shachirkin locked in long term. One of the best goalies in the world. I think the world of Adam Fox, I think he's top five defense potentially, you know, and so when your basis is those two guys, and then you have a ton of really good young players, I think also coming through the system as well. Will Cooley is a guy on the roster now that I really like, and obviously, gay pro did showed his words in World Juniors the Americans so like I think they're gonna be okay on top of the

incredible attractiveness of playing in New York for for certain players in other cities and the endless amount of James Nolan cash they have at hand this season is a disaster they need to change over the roster they need to figure out how to do it with guys that have lengthy contracts and trade protection, but you can find a way around those issues. I mean, ask Jacob Truba how you can find a way around trade protection. So I think they'll be all right, but I do think that this season is going to have to be a write off because I just don't think they're good enough to succeed.

What has happened to Mika Zabanajad? So that's a dicey one. I wrote about that in the piece on the Rangers. Like there is a certain amount of, at his age, do his numbers fall off, but they've kind of fallen off a cliff. There's a certain amount of chatter around the team about there being some tensions between him

and Peter LaVulette and he's just not a happy camper. And then, you know, I don't like bringing this up cause I don't think it's fair to him and certainly isn't fair to his family, but I'd be remiss if I didn't say that like being around MSG, you also hear the fact that his life changed pretty dramatically when he had a kid. And you know, there's some thought of, okay, well this life, life event happened and now look where his stats are now. Again, this is just speculation and I don't,

I don't know if it's necessarily causation, but it's definitely something that's been bought up around him. And so far it's like why his season has gone the way that it has. What about the jury factor? Cause I know that it's probably easy for a lot of people to point to the fact that he made these big, sometimes controversial moves specifically with respected guys like Goudreau and Jacob Truba.

I know in the piece that you talked to a former player, and it was kind of funny, he said like, I've never once in my NHL career gone out and said, I'm intentionally tanking because I'm mad at the GM. I get what he's saying, but at the same time, it does feel like these very, you know, I guess controversial moves that Drury has made have had some effect on this dressing room.

Yeah. I, I, I understand what that, what the player was saying. And I, and I don't, I don't disagree that in most cases, these guys really have a, it's a business and trades happen kind of mindset. I think they have to have that because they know inevitably that the, the dude they roomed with or you know the family that their neighbors with is eventually gonna have to leave because it's the nature of the business. But I think in this case you know the way that he's gone

about it has certainly ruffled feathers in that locker room amongst veteran players. I mean you know the Barclay- Goudreau situation was not something any player wants to go through. And then the, the Truba thing where they couldn't trade him in the, in the summer. And then he comes back and he's a completely ineffectual captain. I mean, like that's also something that veteran players look at. And they're like, they just, you just cut the knees out of, of our captain by not trading them in the summer and having him twist in the wind

like this. And then, you know, of course, doing the same thing they did to Goudreau to Truba to get him out of town. So I do think that that had an impact in that room. I do think that there are veterans on the team that did not like the way that business went down. But ultimately, you know, like I do agree that it's not as if they're walking into the room every day and being like shaking their fist and being like, damn that Chris Drury, they've got bigger fish to fry in the sense that they're a team that was supposed to have Stanley Cup aspirations.

They can't get their act together on the ice. So one thing that the Rangers fall off has created is a pretty interesting playoff race. All right. Now that second wild card spot, Montreal with the win over the Canucks last night has that second wildcard spot. Now they played a few more games than some of the teams like Ottawa, which had that spot, but Pittsburgh has found a way back into the race. Columbus and Philly are hanging on and now Detroit with the coaching stage,

they've won four in a row and they're back in the race. What do you think of this race? It's kind of a race of mid teams, but it's a little bit more of a Now Detroit with the coaching stage, they've won four in a row and they're back in the race. What do you think of this race? It's kind of a race of mid teams, but it's a race all the same. And I recall a few years in the East where essentially the eight teams were decided by Christmas. Every time I look at the standings, I don't know if it's an argument for or against playoff expansion because I'm a playoff expansion guy. I find it to be absolutely ridiculous that we only put in 16 teams in the 32 team league. But when I look at, you know, the teams that are involved in this

wildcard race right now, like, do I really want to make room for Columbus? I don't know. No, it's an interesting dynamic. And then the part of it too So the top three in them in the metro are probably going to be the top three in the metro like Jersey Washington Carolina, they're all a pretty significant distance away from the wild card. They'll they are all still playing pretty well I think obviously Toronto and Florida you can you can cement them into playoff spots Then it gets really interesting because the third place team in the, in the Atlantic is Boston. And while Boston has played okay since the coaching change, um, there are only three points up on, on, on Tampa and Tampa's got a world of,

of games in hand on them. So I, I'm a little bit concerned about the Bruins and this schmoz in the wildcard, uh, because they've not been a team that has shown that they can really find a consistent game this season. So, you know, the fact that you have so many teams that are in the mix right now and we're all waiting for at least one of them to kind of break out a little bit could be an interesting thing for Bruins fans to look at later in the season. The one that's really fascinating and I kind of goofed on him before, but I'll be honest about it right now. Columbus' story is amazing. Dean Evison getting what he's getting out of that team, the team itself playing through unimaginable grief with the

death of Johnny Goudreau before the season. They've been playing really good hockey. They're a competitive team, they're hard to play against. They've got a decent mix of, of young players on that team. And one guy in Zach Warren ski in the blue line, who in our awards watch that we published today is, is in the top three from the Norris. Like they're, they're a great story. And, and I would be, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that I'm kind of like hoping they find a way in. But it just goes to show you how wild the East race is that they even have a shot right now. Um, how much talk is there about the New

York Islanders back East? I'm looking at the bottom two teams in the conference and I see Buffalo down there and I know there's always talk about Buffalo, but New York, at least where we live, doesn't get a lot of attention and I, like how long, how much longer is Lou gonna run this team? Well, I mean, it's, it's, I mean, they are the back page

of the, of the New York post every single day. No one's talking about the New York Jets. No one's talking about Juan Soto. It's all Islanders, Islanders, Islanders. And we're just like enough with these Islanders already. No one talks about the Islanders here. Like they are, they are a persona non grata team. They're, they're a team that even when they're good, doesn't really register much in the, in the New Allenders here. They are a persona non grata team. They're a team that even when

they're good doesn't really register much in the New York landscape here and when they're bad, I mean they might as well be playing on Mars. This is a team that has run it back with the same group of veterans several times to diminishing returns. I saw them the other night take a loss against the Leafs and it was just such a pedestrian effort. You know, they've got obviously Horvat and Barzal and a few other guys that could put the puck in the net, but they're not dangerous offensively. And there's only so much that Ilya Sorokin can do. So I don't know, man. Like it brings up the very dicey conversation It brings up the very dicey conversation of what you do with someone like Lou Lamarillo, who is the ruler of all he surveys as an executive on a team. Because firing him is, you run the risk of, I don't know, running afoul of the rest of

the NHL if you fire a guy like that, I think ultimately it's probably a kick upstairs things for them. But then you wonder whether or not you could really kick them upstairs and turn the page and try to go in a different direction. Or if, you know, his son becomes GM. Like, I don't know how you approach it, but it's clear that the way that they've built this roster and run it back year after year just hasn't worked out.

We're speaking to Greg Waszynski from ESPN here on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Greg, you mentioned that in your latest NHL Awards watch, which did publish earlier this morning, go to ESPN.com everybody to check it out, that Zach Kurenski had moved into top three in the Norris. I assume that means that Quinn Hughes is number one on the list, right? So Quinn Hughes is not number one. In good news for my friends in Vancouver,

he's gaining on on Kailh McCarr. McCarr's lead. Last month, we had 75% of the first place votes. He only has 58% now. I disagree with my fellow voters. And again, the gimmick with this is that we do survey a couple dozen voters from the PHWA and grab their votes and grab their ballots and see what they're actually thinking

and where the wind's blowing on these awards. I think Quinn's got an argument for MVP and certainly should be the Norris front runner right now. I think McCarr has been feasting off of what he accomplished early this season where his scoring rate was threatening that of Bobby Orr's. That's something I think lingering in the minds of a lot of people still. Some people mentioned Quinn's injuries being a factor in this and maybe ultimately not having the same number of games as McCarr could come into play. But just everything he's done from a scoring aspect, a defensive aspect, just a play driver.

I mean, everything that Quinn does for this team is remarkable. And I just, I mean, he's got minor Norris vote, but he's still trailing behind Macar overall amongst the voters. Right. Quinn Hughes also doesn't have Nathan McKinnon who he's got an eight point lead now atop the scoring leaderboard. Like he's just been phenomenal the last 13 games or so. He has. And again, like Quinn's the leading scorer on the Conoxys leader, a nice

time and he's kind of doing everything for them. McKinnon is interesting. So we also obviously talked about the heart trophy and the awards watch today as well, and I fully, fully expected McKinnon to be the leader for MVP, but he's not, it's still, it's still Carl Capri soft, which is, was a surprise for me. I mean, based on the December McKinnon was the player of the month of December. He was just absolutely murdering it.

Um, but I think that, you know, the player of the month December. He was absolutely murdering it. But I think that you know the perception of the Minnesota Wild is well they've got to be good for some reason and this guy's having a career year so it must be his. He's the reason and even though he's been out with an injury lately he still has a lead for the for MVP with with Nathan McKinnon and Leon Dreisaitl right behind him and Drysidle to me a really interesting one. If you look at the advanced metrics, the Drysidles had an insanely good season. He's the leader in expected goals above replacement. He's using great. He's carried the the Oilers in a season where

McDavid's been good but not up to McDavid's standards on a lot of nights. There's a lot of nights. There's a lot of Edmonton fans that hit me up this morning and they're like, how is Dry Cytl not leading for MPG? And I don't think necessarily a lot of people would look at McKinnon and look at Chris Kaprizov and say, oh, they should definitely be taking a backseat to Dry Cytl, but there's an argument to be made. Is Rantiden gonna be tricky to resign at all

or is he just gonna get like $50 less than Nathan McKinnon's cap hit? I think that's the question we all have is if you go by market value, he should make more than McKinnon. If you go by what we look at on the cap sites and how much McKinnon makes and how much McCarr makes and how much the Avalanche probably want Rantan to make. He's not going to make as much as McKenna. Um, yeah, I bought up the Rangers earlier. Like that's the kind of team you worry about.

I think if you're Colorado, is somebody taking an insane swing and trying to sign Ranton into a contract that you don't want to match. Um, and maybe that's what he's waiting out. I mean, maybe he's, he's trying to see what the market scares up to really make a compelling case to the avalanche of you've got to pay me this amount to keep me. So we'll see what happens there. I honestly don't know. I'm still a little surprised that Penn hasn't been put to paper to keep him with that team because it just seems like the smartest thing to do is to keep that Holy Trinity of McKinnon, Brantman and McCarr together as long as you

possibly can to keep your contention window open. On the subject of the Hart Trophy for the most valuable player in the NHL, should we be talking more about the season Jack Eichel is having in Vegas? Well they're talking about it. Yeah, I know they are. I got hit up a couple times from Vegas people chatting up Eichel as a Selkie contender because I think they've been really happy with his defensive game and he's played really well. His numbers are very strong, he's been killing penalties. He did receive at least a Selkie vote, first place vote from our

voters. But yeah, he's had an insanely good year, he's had a career year, he's carried that team through some real injury adversity and they are currently, last that last check, the best team in hockey versus a five points percentage. So I think the drum beat will grow for Eichel. I'll say this though, because I think Eichel is in the same boat as a couple of guys that are in the awards conversation, including Anthony Cirrelli. I'm wondering how much of an impact Four Nations is going to have on all these races. I know that it's not an NHL regular season tournament. I mean, it shouldn't impact what we base these awards on vis-a-vis

regular season accomplishment. But there's no denying like what Ryan Miller did in the 2010 Olympics had an impact of it on his on how people viewed him in the NHL yeah and and I think the same could go if Eichel has an insane four nations it may be a few more people taking a look at what he's done her Vegas this year and saying oh that that's a heart trophy winner you know it could be if Anthony Starelli shuts down Austin Matthews into USA versus Canada games There's a bit more of a reconsideration of his selkie, you know status. So that kind of thing could happen With the spotlight as intense as we expected to be a four nations And so I'm intrigued to see if there is a sort of four nations effect on any of these guys in the awards races

Wish you're the best. Thanks for doing this today, bud. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Tuesday. Anytime. Take care. Greg Wyshinski from ESPN here on the Hellford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. OK, we got a lot more to get to on the program. Ray Ferraro is going to join us on the other side. I should have mentioned that in addition to all the work

that Ray did over the weekend, he called the Washington Capitals when they took on the New York Rangers. So he's recently seen the Canucks next opponent because of course the Canucks will be in Washington tomorrow night. We'll also ask Ray about what he thinks about the job that Rick Tauket has done in Vancouver. A few people have texted in and said, that's a

great question for Ray with regards to what should a coach or what can a coach do when there is a disharmony in the dressing room. Finally, before we go to break, I need to tell you about Rogers Xfinity TV. HGTV has a new address and all the latest HGTV shows are now available on channel 409. You can check it all out on Rogers Xfinity TV. You're listening to the Halford and Breff

show on Sportsnet 650.