Halford & Brough in the Morning - We Discuss The Three P's (All Three P's Are Petey)

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they discuss yesterday's OT Canucks loss to the Blues in what was also Thatcher Demko's return (6:00), they chat Tocchet's comments on Elias Pettersson (15:00), plus they go around the NHL with Sportsnet's David Amber (28:30). 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.

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I'm on the hotline, baby. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. This is Halford. 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. This is Halford. It is brought to you by Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes of Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brother 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,

four parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfite, what are you waiting for? Kintec. We've got a big show ahead on a Wednesday. Lots to get into. We'll start with the guest list. Begins at 6.30.

David Amber, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host, is going to join the program. We'll talk to him. Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey. It's the Sens and the Ducks. Classic rivalry. 07 Stanley Cup final all over again. Oh, yeah.

We'll talk to him about what's going on off the ice with Ottawa. We'll also talk about everything that happened in the NHL last night. We'll do the same with our 7 o'clock guest, Frank Cervalli, from Daily Faceoff. Get into some trade chatter with him. Talk to him about JT Miller's return to practice yesterday for the Vancouver Canucks. 730, Mike Silver's going to join the program.

Longtime chase here. Maybe the best NFL writer in the business right now. He's got a new book out. He also had a really cool feature piece for The Athletic at the end of November on Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions. That was the one that got me to tell Andy, we've got to chase this guy because that Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions. That was the one that got me to tell Andy, we got to chase this guy because that Jared Goff piece was terrific.

And I think Jared Goff is a pretty interesting story and a pretty inspiring story, to be honest with you. Do you remember when he used to play for the Rams? And I'd be like, don't worry, Jared Goff will make a mistake. And he did. And he would often make that mistake. Now in Detroit, what's he known for? As a guy that's like pinpoint passer, right?

Like on a team that could very well win the Super Bowl. Imagine if both Matt Stafford and Jared Goff win Super Bowls. Does that make it the greatest trade in NFL history? Yeah, we liked it for both teams. Yeah, both teams. Quite a lot. Both teams won. But I don't think the Lions expected it to play out like that.

I think they were obviously like, fine, we'll take off. And then he started playing well for them. And then they're like, I mean, why would we try and get another quarterback here? So Mike Silver's going to join us at 7.30 to talk about all that and a bunch of NFL talk. 8 o'clock, Randy Janda, who was on the call last night for the Canucks 4-3 loss in overtime to the St. Louis Blues. We'll talk to Randy

about all that. We are also, apparently, while I was away, giving away tickets to see Creed and one of my favorite bands of all time, Big Wreck. Love Big Wreck. I love that song. What's that song called, Andy? That song. Yeah, so we're giving away tickets to the Summer of 99 tour. Creed,

Big Wreck, Saturday, August 16th, 2025. If your calendar's open for August 16th, 2025, be caller number 5. 1-2-3-4-5. Caller number 5 at 8-15 this morning. The phone number here at Sportsnet 650. Yes, we do have a working

phone. [phone]. Oh, hold on. Let me check. That number again. Okay, it is working. That number again, 604-280-0650. So for everyone that complains that they don't listen live

and they can't get in on the contest, call our number five at 815. 815 this morning. It's a rotary phone, so bear with us. We will be giving away a pair of tickets to see Creed and Big Rec next summer. That's the show. That's what's happening today.

Laddie, without further ado, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? You missed that? What happened? 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. Dylan Holloway scored 1 minute and 40 seconds into OT last night to help the St. Louis Blues ruin, ruin Thatcher Demko's return after 233 days away from the team.

Blues win 4-3 against the Canucks at Rogers Arena in overtime on Tuesday night. Yeah, so we'll get to the Thatcher Demko conversation in a bit, but just to recap the game in case you missed it or in case you want to relive it, it wasn't the prettiest game, but I guess enough stuff happened to keep it interesting, to make it interesting enough to talk about the next day

uh the Canucks did open the scoring when Connor Garland beat a flat-footed Ryan Suter along the boards I think Suter was waiting for a teammate of his possibly Colton Pareko to you know get off the ice otherwise he would have been called for too many men on the ice and Connor Garland said well while you wait I'm gonna take the puck and puck, and I'm going to go around you. I'm going to create a two-on-one with Dakota Joshua. Garland feeds Joshua, and Joshua scored his first goal of the season, which was very nice to see. Not nice to see.

The Blues' first goal, which came just a minute later after Demko threw it around the boards to, unfortunately, a member of the St. Louis Blues. Dylan Holloway fed it quickly to Zach Bolduc, who I'd never really heard of, found a soft spot on the ice between Hughes, Hoaglander, and Sherwood and ripped it past Demko to tie the game. Bolduc was the Blues' first-round pick in 2021,

and it appears he can shoot the puck pretty well. The Blues' second goal came with the Canucks on the power play when Garland gambled at the point and he lost badly. You have chosen poorly, Connor Garland. That gave Robert Thomas a breakaway, and he made no mistake beating Demko cleanly. Suddenly, the Canucks were trailing the game after earning a power play to try and, you know, take the lead.

Not a great way to end the first period. Well, they were down 3-1 when the Blues' third goal was the result of an awful trip and call on Brock Besser. Boo referees. Besser was guilty of absolutely nothing on the play on the resulting power play. Kyrou, Jordan Kyrou, took a perfect cross-scene pass from Thomas. Thomas was good last night. And one-timed it past Demko.

It was a nice pass, I suppose, but the hole in the Canucks' PK structure was pretty, pretty glaring. Anyway, you knew after that terrible call the Canucks were going to get a power play of their own, and it happened almost immediately when Brandon Shen got called for holding on Jake DeBrusque the Canucks pressed hard with the man advantage and finally broke through when Pedersen's net side pass to Garland was deflected into his own goal by Team Canada defenseman Colton Pareko not a good day not a good showing for Team Canada there Pareko Petey tried to pass it but the hockey god said actually it was a shot and it went in

now you'd think the Canucks would press even harder in the third period you'd think given they were trailing by a goal and playing at home but you'd be wrong I mean

I guess they tried to press they tried but the Blues were playing a pretty good road game or the Canucks are having trouble generating offense you choose until about four minutes left in the third, or the Canucks are having trouble generating offense. You choose.

Until about four minutes left in the third period when the Canucks finally woke up. Eventually, they pulled Demko, and what do you know, they tied it when Pedersen made a nice play down low to feed DeBrusque out front for his 13th goal of the season. Pretty impressive considering his start, that he's got 13 goals. It wasn't a five-on-five goal by the top line.

It was a six-on-five goal, but it was sure a timely one. Sadly, the Canucks would only earn the single point on the night as Dylan Holloway won it for the Blues in overtime. Tenth of the year for Holloway, whom the Blues ripped away from Edmonton this offseason. They ripped away. He's been good. He's been really good last night, too.

Not the best effort by DeBrusque to defend Holloway on the play, but you know what? The Canucks didn't deserve to win the game anyway. At least they got a point. Yeah, so a lot of talking points from the game, obviously. The first one, I mean, even though the Blues did win and there was a lot of reasons why they won it, you have to look at the fact that Thatcher Demko was back in,

got his first start in 233 days. Looked fine. Made some big saves at times. Wasn't thrilled with his performance in the aftermath. Laddie, let's play some quick audio from Thatcher Demko. Here he is after allowing four goals on 25 shots and a 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Laddie does not have

that audio at the ready. Demko essentially said he wanted a couple of the goals back. He felt a little bit rusty. And overall, it was a frustrating night for him. So it's good that in his first game back, he got to feel the frustrations that have plagued this team.

Let's try this again now. Here, Thatcher Demko following the loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. Felt rusty for sure. Obviously, it's frustrating losing. I thought I could have played a couple goals differently. I'm sure that there's stuff that I can pull

to keep building. But obviously it's frustrating right now. I know the story was Demko last night. I'm happy to talk about it. He didn't get hurt. He did not last night. I'm happy to talk about it. You know, I thought... He didn't get hurt. He did not get hurt.

Well, I thought he played fine. He was bound to be rusty, you know? He did make a bit of a mistake through the first goal, threw the puck around the boards to a St. Louis Blue, and then, you know, had to get set really quickly, and the Blues fed it quickly to Bolduc in the slot, and he beat him. Maybe that's one of the goals that he would want back.

But look, the Canucks did not play super well in front of him. They gave up four or five breakaways. Demko still managed to make a number of big stops. He made some good saves, and I think that's a performance you can build on. I'll be very curious to see how he feels this morning. Yeah, that was my only real concern. I was like, how's the Popliteus?

Are we good with the Popliteus? Is the Popliteus still intact? Answers to all those was yes, he's okay. Yeah, so I think on that side, I would err on the Demko performance being encouraging. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so, you know, look, unless he wakes up. Remember, he played one game of the playoffs. And then the next day it was like, oh, he's injured. Like, yeah. Okay? So, you know, look, unless he wakes up, remember, he played

one game of the playoffs and then the next day it was like, oh, he's injured. Like, what? What? You know, like, this thing has been

such a long soap opera that maybe you wouldn't be surprised if there's a few more chapters to it. Oh, yeah. Let's put it that way. But so far, I think right at this moment,

happy with the Demko return even though they didn't win the game. I thought he looked good enough and I think you can expect a little rust and you know Thacher Demko, he's going to work hard try and fix the things that he needs to fix with Marco Terranes and we'll see how that relationship

blooms. Key stat of the night for me, Quinn Hughes played 29 minutes and 50 seconds, and he was very good in that pretty much half the game that he played, although there was overtime. The Canucks' defense outside of Quinn Hughes continues to be a massive problem, and I think probably in everyone's head,

you're going back and forth. Like, it's good that the Canucks are finding ways to get these games to overtime and get a point or maybe two points here and there. You know, it's good that they found a way back from a 2-0 deficit against Columbus and a 3-1 deficit to St. Louis on home ice but then the other like the Mr. Negative side of your brain is sitting there going like yeah but like that first period against

Columbus was dreadful and last night against St. Louis a team that I realize is playing better under their new coach and they did play well but at St. Louis the Canucks are at home Thatcher Demko is making his return to the crease I don't think they played well no I don't I wasn't watching that game and going man they're playing really well like I I think the defense is it's it's a personnel problem with with the defense they're just they're not good enough there's there's three or four guys on the ice that just are not good enough. And there are other guys like Tyler Myers or Carson Soucy that are playing too far up in the lineup.

You know, like who are their bottom three guys last night? What was that? Juleson, Darnay, and Friedman. I mean, Friedman's in there, right? He's playing his offside. I mean, he had a bottom pair of Friedman and De'Aaron A. That's not going to be good. So even before the Canucks lost Hronik for almost two months, they needed to add another defenseman. Now they've lost Hronik for two months. This is what we can expect. Now, that is obviously going to affect your ability to create offense when

you really have trouble moving the puck I mean you see the difference in the chance generation when Quinn Hughes is on the ice versus when he's not on the ice that being said I thought the top line at five on five was way too quiet last night like way too quiet you've got DeBrusque, Pedersen, and Besser together. And yeah, Petey, he scored the goal on the power play. And I think even if Pareko hadn't knocked that in, it was going to be a good pass to Garland, and Garland was going to score. And Petey made a very nice play to DeBrusque out front

to tie it when it was six on five. That was a five on four and a six on five. It's great that Petey is finding little moments to produce, but I think we all know that when we're watching him play at five on five, he's not dangerous out there. He's not generating chances, and I think what I'm seeing right now is why Rick Tockett was frustrated with the question about Elias Pettersson. Petey is producing points.

He is not playing as well as we all know he can play. Okay, so let's play the audio from last night, because this got interesting in Rick Tockett's post-game remarks following the loss to the St. Louis Blues. It started with a line of, I'm going to say, three consecutive questions about Elias Pettersson. We're going to jump in and start the audio, where Tuckett kind of starts to get frustrated with the incessant PD questions.

We'll let it roll because it's a back and forth between Tuckett and Farhan and a couple of the Canucks reporters. You classify this however you like. We're going to play the audio. Here's Rick Tuckett following last night's loss to the Blues on Elias Pettersson. Yeah. I mean, that's what you expect them to do, right? He's doing a good job producing.

I don't know what else to say. You guys are obsessed with PD, huh? It's PD, PD, PD every game. Sorry. Sorry. You get paid a lot. You're always going to be part of the story. I know, but every game, I got to.

You guys are good at it. Like, you analyze the game. Why do I have to, you know, when I ask questions at TNT, I never always, hey, this player, you know, that's just. I know what you're saying. It just gets, I love you guys, but it gets old, like, every time. Petey, Petey. I know you wanted to say the wrong thing.

That's why. I'm not falling for that trap anymore. I got full of it. I'm joking. That is a legitimate question. He's producing. I'm screwing around with you. Like, he's been producing that JT's been out.

Hopefully, with JT coming back, those guys will both produce like they did last year for us. So, yeah, one-two punch. Brother, I hear you. It's getting old. It's getting old. Tell me about it. But he's not playing well. He's not playing like an $11.6 million player.

He's not. Did you see the goal McDavid scored last night? It was incredible. And I know that's a high bar when you're comparing Pedersen to McDavid, but Pedersen isn't even in the same stratosphere as McDavid right now. Look at some of the players around the league. Look at Kaprizov. Look at the guys that came in for Tampa and played for Tampa Bay.

I absolutely refuse to drop the bar for Pedersen. All these people that absolutely think that, you know, like, Petey, one of the best players in the nhl he was at times yeah but he's not right now he's not even close to one of the best players in the nhl right now i'm sorry he's not the you watch him play just watch him play he did he he's he's not creating anything at five on five nothing like that line last night at five on five did nothing i thought the whole sequence with talk it last night was super interesting i'm still trying to wrap my head around exactly what it was because he was clearly frustrated and then he the tiny little

part tiny little part without parsing words too much but the tiny little part, tiny little part, without parsing words too much, but the tiny little part where he said, you guys are trying to trap me into saying the wrong thing, is the kicker to the whole thing. Because he knows what he wants to say. That's right. He knows what he wants to say. That's right. He knows that if he was being 100% honest,

he would say exactly what I just said. But if he did that, he would be stepping in to a crap storm. Because, again, and this is why he keeps pointing out the word production. Production, producing, producing, production. Pedersen finishes last night with 23 minutes of ice time, a goal and an assist, and a team high, sorry, forwards high, five shots on net. So box score-wise, if you didn't watch the game like you were seeing, you'd be like, good night from Pedersen.

Two points, five shots on goal, played a lot, right? Assisted the goal that got them back into it, made a nice play where Pareko put in his own net and then had the, ah, I can't believe I did that reaction. And then there's the eye test part of it. And I think Talkett is savvy enough, while also showing a hint of frustration last night, but savvy enough to know that it's just not worth going there because the dynamic is so odd.

And the dynamic is about to get more complex on the head coach because uh Miller's coming back right so the other big development from yesterday was that JT Miller took the morning skate with the Canucks and then Rick Tockett spoke to the media after that we don't know exactly when Miller's going to come back into the lab it could be as soon as Thursday but that adds so many different layers and wrinkles to the team. One of them is that from a lineup standpoint, minus Hronik, the Canucks are going to be as healthy as they've been this year. That's as close to their ideal starting 23-man roster

as they can have, right? Because they've gone long stretches this year without Demko, without Joshua, without Miller, and now without Hronik. But with all these guys back, you can't be complaining about lineup exits at that point or guys that are missing from your

lineup. There are teams that are in way worse shape in terms of availability. And there's also the dynamic of you have to now have life with those guys both back on the team and in the lineup. And what that's going to look like. Glass half-full guy, like Talk talk it said is that we got the one to punch down the middle back and ideally that's what you're hoping that there's shades of last year but when they were both in

the lineup earlier in the season it wasn't going great it wasn't going great they never really played they might i think there's like one game where they both played well i want to read a text into the dunbar lumber text line because there's a lot of people texting in. I'm not going to read the ones that agree with me. There are quite a few that agree with what I just said about Pedersen. But here's the thing. Here's another guy. Bruff, drop the Petey thing.

He is overpaid. He will never be worth 11.6 with this cap. When it gets to 105, the cap, he will be. Until then, he's overpaid and good for him. You and I would love to be that much overpaid. I am overpaid. It's exhausting. I don't even get to pay that much.

It's exhausting, this texter says. He isn't performing. Get over it. Move on to the next thing. How can you get over this issue? How can you? It starts with this issue. Now, there are some other equally big issues.

Like the defense is a massive issue right now. But if you're talking about getting over the fact that the Canucks have committed a massive eight-year contract to Elias Pedersen. I will not get over it in what game what is it 30 of the contract? Yeah. I'm not getting over it. I'm sorry. There's a massive issue and guess what? He doesn't have a no-move clause until next year. So in theory, the Canucks have a decision to make still. They've signed this guy to a big contract. Is it working? Is it going to work? Because what I'm seeing right now is not encouraging.

Some people texted in and said they're starting to feel some seismic activity around Mount Brough. Did you see Mount Tockett nearly blow yesterday? There's a reason he got frustrated with that question. We are obsessed with Pedersen for good reason. Yeah. I also want to say that there's a lot going on with this team right now, and it's a very interesting moment in the season

because you've gotten past American Thanksgiving. I keep coming back to what I mentioned earlier is that they are getting closer and closer and closer to that sweet spot that they hit last year where everyone was healthy and active and in the lineup and playing, right? There were no excuses needed last year because they were playing great and they had everyone available.

Every time that we've looked at wobbles and some questionable performances, blowouts at home, the lousy home record period, and we've been like, well, again, don't have their Vezna caliber goalie. Don't have the emotional heartbeat of the team. He had to take a leave of absence. Dakota Joshua wasn't available in the lineup. Now, I understand that Hronik is out, and I can get to that part in a sec,

but the rest of it, it kind of feels like it's go time. It's like, okay, we got our guys. We know what we're doing here. Let's go. The hiccup to that for Talk It moving forward is that I know Mount Brough was about to erupt on the Pedersen thing, but I want to circle back

to the blue line because right now I don't think that you can be a competitive NHL team playing and I hate pointing out three guys, but playing Deharnais, Friedman, and Juleson on a regular basis. I know there

was a switch in and out and Brandstrom was out and Friedman was in. Why was he out, by the way? Was there any concrete reasons for that? Talkit said he just wanted to have a rotation. He just wanted to get him in. Talkit likes Friedman, because Friedman can skate and play this super simple game. He's not awful.

I mean, yeah. I think we all got a little bit drunk on Brandstrom. He's good, though. Has he made any glaring... I'm trying to think. Yes. What is his glaring mistake? Some guys beat him. He's not a great... Yeah, but that happens to trying to think. Yes, yes. What is his glaring mistake? He's had some guys beat him.

He's not a great... Yeah, but that happens to all of them. No, I know. Other than... I know. Well, I'm just saying. I mean, it's like, I can't think of like a single thing,

unlike, let's say, Deronay, for example. Listen, last night, I get it. I would have rather seen Branstrom in there than some of the other guys. Much rather.

Yeah, yeah. But the fact that this is even like a thing that's happening where you're putting in Mark Friedman, who guys. Much rather. But the fact that this is even a thing that's happening, where you're putting in Mark Friedman, who played a handful of games in the American League this year, and would have probably been 9 or 10 on the depth chart. And he's playing, and then he jumps,

and he's playing more than Desjardins in a game last night. The blue line right now. It's bad. When Hughes is on the ice, they're an NHL team. When he's not, they're an NHL team. It's such a stark contrast. I also think that it's either mentally or maybe this is a direct approach from the coaching staff is that

there is such a focus on getting Hughes the puck and having Hughes out there and making Hughes be the sort of central force and driving force of everything I do wonder if it's skewing the way the team is attacking and playing because it's point I do wonder if it's skewing the way the team is attacking and playing because it's point shot city.

Oh, it's always been like that, though. Yeah. I mean, that's one issue that talk-it system, if that's part of the system, and I imagine it must be because we see it all the time. They need to work the puck down low a little bit more. The point shots are just, I mean, listen, I mean, you're kind of alluding to this.

Half the time it seems like their plan, and that includes on the power play, is like give it to Quinn and see what he does with it. Yep. And half the time I'm like, that's the right move because you guys aren't, the other guys on the ice aren't creating anything. I mean, it's, I get what's kind of going on is there was a there was a sort of push to reinvent and rediscover and reimagine what the offensive attack was going to look like and they tried it earlier in the year to mixed reviews because I do think part of the the you know bloated goals against had to do with the fact that there were maybe guys maybe blowing the zone or maybe trying to be more aggressive in a mindset approach and that allowed chances going the other way whatever

the case um right now i think there's a real sense of frustration that they can't generate at five on five and it kind of goes back to what you're saying about petterson is that when it's just sort of like do something guys go out there and produce and make things happen and do something, it always comes back to the same thing. Get the puck back to 43 and he's going to be the one to do it. Could you imagine how good the Canucks would be if Pedersen was playing as well as Hughes is? Yeah, A-Dog.

That's the frustration. That's what everyone's getting at. I know. Right now, would you agree with me that Garland is their most energetic, effective forward? Non-Sherwood division, yes. Yeah. Non-Sherwood. Garland is the guy that will get the puck going the other way.

Right? Garland's the guy. Is anyone else doing it right now? They need Miller back. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650 and possibly yelling at your radio while you do it. David Amber, who was watching the Canucks game and all the other action last night,

will join us next on the show. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post-game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.34 on a Wednesday.

Happy Wednesday, everybody. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. 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 1 of the program. David Amber, Sportsnet, NHL, Hockey Night, Canada host is going to join us in just a moment here. Highlight of Hour 1.

Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler, pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. David Amber joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, David. How are you? Good. I was having some flashbacks to like a Richard Simmons workout or something

in the 1980s with the music there. Four more. Three more. It is a good tune. It is a good tune. We still do aerobics in the morning here. Just to get started in the morning, you know? It's just a good way to get lifted in the morning.

Oh, man. You guys are getting up early. You got to stretch out the brain, stretch out the body, right? Yeah, well, we spent the first half hour of the program talking about last night's Canucks game. A 4-3 loss in overtime to the St. Louis Blues. I know it was a busy

night for you at the Sportsnet Studios. The Canucks game, along with a bunch of other Canadian teams in action last night. But let's start with the Canucks. Your thoughts from that 4-3 loss to St. Louis last night at Rogers Arena. Well, I mean, first of all, those are two, and I say two, really good stories.

Obviously, the main story, Patrick Demko's been out for, what, eight months? So that's great to have him back. And he settled into the game, I thought. You know, I think, you know, Jason Buchel, who I was working with, sort of said he used the word, he looked a little nervous at first. And that's just understandable. I don't even know if he was nervous, but you get that excitement. Like, man, I'm back, finally, this is awesome.

And you sort of sense that a little bit when he misplayed the puck uh behind his net a little bit and you know he's just getting settled in but it was great having back and the other storyline that maybe gets lost a little bit simply because of thatcher dempo's return is you know dakota joshua scores the goal his first of the season and he was such a big part of what the canucks were about last year and their identity and their success. And coming back from testicular cancer is no joke. So I thought those were two awesome storylines, and I know ultimately they didn't win, but they certainly showed some guts coming back from a two-goal deficit

against a much-improved St. Louis team. So I thought it was a pretty decent, well-earned point. Yeah, I mean, we were talking about a variety of things. Elias Pettersson, Thatcher Demko's return, Joshua. And then, you know, the other one there is that JT Miller did take to the ice for the game day skate ahead of the game, and it seems like his return is imminent. So we started looking around, and we're like, you know, for a team that has dealt with a lot of adversity through the first 25, 30 games of the season

and a lot of absences, outside of the heroic injury, they're on the verge of being as close to as full strength that they've been all year. And that leads us to hope, and I stress the word hope, that they're going to figure this thing out, especially at home, and start getting some more results. Because right now it does kind of feel like they're just in salvation mode. Like, it's not cratering.

They're scratching and clawing out points, but it hasn't been that same level of impressive play that we saw last season. Yeah, listen, it's hard to put your finger on the Canucks this year. You know, last year they really had that true identity and they sort of just played true to that, you know, seemingly from start to finish. It just sort of became who they were. This gritty, grinded-out team with a lot of high-end skill.

This year, it's been ups and downs and less consistent. But I think if we were to say, look, you're going to miss Demko, you're going to miss one of your defensemen at Roenick, you're going to miss JT Miller for now, what, 10 games? That's not insignificant. You're going to have Pedersen really underperform in the first 20 games. How do you think this team will do? if you can't, you know, and you're going to have Pedersen really underperform in the first 20 games, you know, how do you think this team will do?

And I'm sure most people, if I said, here's the record based on all that, I think most people would take it. Most Canucks fans should take that. So I would still be very optimistic. I think you guys should be bullish on the team. It is good to sort of see, like, what the real true iteration will look like.

And let's not forget, I'm sure there's going to be some movement before trade deadline and um you know i i have nothing but high hopes for the for the canucks team but i understand what you're saying i think this six game homestand was hopeful to provide some traction uh baby steps though like get the team fully healthy uh then get the traction going and start to really, you know, impose the identity that starts with the head coach, Rick Talkett, and go from there. So I think that's, you know, something that's going to maybe take time. And it's an 82-game schedule. And one thing we've learned is, you know,

you want to finish as high in the standings as you can finish. But at the end of the day, we kind of see what the Western Conference is made up of. They're made up of a bunch of strong teams, and even if you end up winning your division or winning the conference in the regular season, ask Dallas about that when you have to go and face Vegas in the first round. There's no easy

path. So to me, I wouldn't say it's about peaking right now in December. You really want to be peaking closer to March and April to have some more genuine playoff success, and we saw that with the Oilers last year. So no panic. And it's great to see Demko back.

And it'll be really exciting to get JT Miller back as well. Speaking of the Oilers, how about that goal McDavid scored last night? I marvel at his stride, his skating ability. And I tweeted out yesterday, I tweeted out the video of his goal where he skated through pretty much the entire Tampa Bay Lightning team. They gave him a hole and he went right through it. He's got such a wide stride

and yet he's still able to generate so much speed when his legs are super far apart. I mean, it's really really incredible to watch well the funniest part of that if you take a closer look again is um dry saddle got some of puck and i think he's like this is going in he doesn't even barely skate like he was basically going to the face off dodge for the for the face off after the goal you know how many guys can do that mcdavid and mckinnon are the only two that really come to mind as guys who can literally put on that ea sports video game mode and just do that? McDavid and McKinnon are the only two that really come to mind as guys who can literally put on that EA Sports video game mode

and just do that. It's cool to watch. You know what? It's funny. It only showed up as a 2-1 Oilers win, but McDavid actually had another breakaway. It wasn't quite as scintillating as that one. He didn't score on it, but he still put on the Jets and was denied by Vasilevsky.

Drysaddle had two breakaways. So, you know, they have that ability to score on the rush like that. And McDavid's just, it's, I can't wait till Four Nations. And if he and McKinnon are on a line together, think about the options there. I just, I know it's just going to be fun to watch. So, yeah, McDavid's cool. And Matthews, he scored a really cool goal. Less, it was an overtime goal and it was less about speed,

but it was about sheer brute force, really, where there's a loose sort of 50-50 puck between him and Brett Pesci, who's a very good defenseman. He out-muscles and kind of angles Pesci's body away from the puck. And with Pesci kind of draped on his back, he kind of does a little shimmy and then tucks it home on Markstrom. It was, you know, it was pretty good. And the game at least had no business winning at all.

They were outshot badly and Stolarz was fantastic, made 38 saves. But it was kind of a cool night. I said that in the intermission, you know, I have all these captains sort of stepping up and I thought maybe Quinn Hughes was going to step up and score a big goal for the Canucks in the third period. I know that didn't happen, but yeah, it was pretty cool to see McDavid last night for sure.

So that game you're talking about, that Leafs-Devils game where the Leafs won 2-1 in overtime, they were outshot 26-6 through two periods. Stolarz was fantastic. After the game, Sheldon Keefe, who you'll remember used to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs, said this was the exact quote, they have the best goaltending in the league on the other side of the ice. I don't know if Keefe

was doing this intentionally or he was putting a little bit of mind games, but great quote anyway. I'm not sure I'm prepared to live in a world where the Leafs have Vesna-caliber goaltending. Yeah, and that might be, and I don't know if it is or if it isn't, that it almost could be like a veiled shot at, you know, like, wow, I wish I had that goaltending yeah and that that might be and i don't know if it is or if it isn't that it's almost could be like a veiled shot at at you know like wow i wish i had that goaltending when i was the head coach in toronto we i'd probably still be the head coach in toronto um yeah i don't know

if they have the i mean listen the numbers will bear out that if you look at the save percentage of the team uh it's in the top two if you look at the goals against it's in the top two uh you know i think they've had 17 games or something like that this year where they've allowed two or fewer goals last night was perhaps the best performance we've seen from anthony stolarz because he was forced to be the first star of the game um having said that uh you know it's it's one of those things where I wonder, you know, we were talking about this behind the scenes last week with Justin Bourne and Sam Cosentino and Elliott. Would you rather have two, like 1A, 1B, or would you rather have a Demko

or a Conor Hellebuck or a Vasilevsky, et cetera, or a Bobrovsky, however you want to put it? And that's the big question. Come playoff time, you're going to really write one guy, unless you're forced into a situation like the canucks were last year where you have multiple guys right so you know that being the case i wonder how this is going to play out stolarz has emerged as though as the number one yeah but he's never he doesn't have a track record fellas he's never played more than i don't i don't think he's ever started more than 28 games in his career something like that 26 or 28 games.

You know, what's going to happen in March and April when he's at, you know, start 45 and can he carry that through? That's what remains to be seen. Doesn't mean he can't do it and he's been sensational so far, but that's the big question. Can you ride him the way Hellebuck? You know, we can start 60 games and you're not concerned. And Demko, you know, has a track record too at times to be able to put up those games. So you just

want to make sure that they have that ability when it really matters. But right now this sort of tandem is looking really good. We're speaking to Sportsnet NHL host David Amber here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Another Canadian team in action

last night. Calgary beats Nashville 4-3 in Nashville. It's the Predators' eighth loss in a row. It's been a disaster season. Hey, we've already seen three coaches dismissed this season in the National Hockey League, and after

what happened last night and what Andrew Burnett said before the game about how he could help me scratch every player on his team, I do wonder if we might have our fourth coaching change pretty soon. What a quote, huh? I could help me scratch every guy on the team. All right, boys, go out there and win one for me. Yeah, right?

Here's an uplifting speech for you guys. Go win a hockey. Thanks, Coach. And I think that's a guy the frustration is seeping through. I mean, Andrew Burnett's been dealt a pretty bad hand, right? He was in Florida, leads them to that incredible season they had, gets summarily dismissed there, goes to New Jersey, is on the bench. Like, he just has been sort of bounced around.

And, you know, all he's done is shown to be a pretty good head coach. And by all accounts, everyone I talked to in the hockey community, and I've dealt with him a few times, he seems like a genuinely great guy and a smart guy and a guy that players would rally behind. I don't think this is about the coaching but at the same time you have a feeling the players are there and they're kind of waiting for something to happen they're waiting for a massive trade to take place they're waiting for a coach to be fired they're waiting for some sort of shake-up they're almost paralyzed right now

what you know they're dead last in the NHL think about that that. This was a team a lot of us said, wow, look at the moves. They're in the offseason. They won the offseason. Well, they're not winning the regular season. I can tell you that. They're dead last in the league right now. They're dead last in goals scored, which is shocking. Just shocking to think they're on this epic eight-game

losing streak right now. I mean, it's a complete mess what we're seeing with the National Predators. I thought, and I think complete mess what we're seeing with the national predators. And I thought, and I think I said on your show last week, you know, if they lose the Canadian road trip, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, and they did, they got swept. In fact, it was, I did say that because it was Wednesday night, we had the Leafs game. And then Thursday, they went into Montreal and lost. And Saturday, they lost in Ottawa. They didn't get a single point in those games. And I said, I wonder if that'll be it for Andrew Burnett. And I wasn't hoping for it. I was more

just saying, you know, is that sort of the end measuring stick? And it wasn't. He survived to coach last night. But I really think the players are sort of waiting for something significant to happen. And, you know, Barry Trotz probably doesn't want to do this, but Barry Trotz very well could, you know, remove Andrew Burnett and go down to the coach and go down and coach himself. Right. And that seems to me like that would be the, you know, the biggest possibility. But at the same time, a lot of the, you know, a lot of the blame here has to lie on Barry Trotz.

He's the one who brought in these guys and it hasn't worked. And now come and digging out of this problem is going to be really interesting to see because those are some different you know older contracts and what are you going to do that's the question i want i'm really curious how are you going to change the look and feel of this team uh in a way that you know has you moving forward and progressing i don't know what the answer is to that uh real quick before i let you go wednesday night hockey tonight there's only two games in the NHL, you've got one of them. It's Anaheim in Ottawa, maybe not the most scintillating matchup

on paper, but you do get an Ottawa team that always manages to stay in the headlines. I always respect the Sens for always giving us content, and they did it again this week. I've heard teams are calling on Brady Kachuk, is he available? Yeah, it's funny. I like, yeah,

that's turned into something pretty interesting. And, you know, Michael Anlauer was quite, you know, angry about the idea that there had been some interest shown by the Rangers.

And that, I guess, would be, you know, quote unquote, tampering if they're certainly going through the media in that respect or going through agents or whatever the case may be,

which, you know, New York is denied. But it's interesting. Listen, what I'll say about this tonight's game, the Sens is a really important game. They play Anaheim at home. You've got to win this game in the sense of 10 of your next 11 are on the road. The World Junior Championships are coming to Ottawa. Think about that.

Like 10 of their next 11 are on the road and they can really bury themselves in a very tough Atlantic division when you have Toronto, Tampa, Florida, and Boston still, you know, the creme de la creme of that division. So they want these points tonight. They need these points tonight. All eyes will be on Tim Stutzla, and all eyes will be on Brady Kachuk, and we'll see what tonight holds.

We're excited for it. You know, as you said, it's not a marquee matchup, but there is some intrigue, especially with what's transpired in the last few days. David, enjoy it tonight. Have a good one. We'll do this again next week. Guys, thanks so much.

I appreciate it. We'll talk soon. Talk soon. Thanks. That's David Amber from Hockey Night Canada, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Do you know the Flames are now tied in points

with the Canucks with that win over the Preds? The Canucks have two games in hand. But you know what? Maybe the Canucks should be worried about St. Louis. Because they look good. St. Louis has a history of starting out badly and firing the coach and then doing some decent things. Last year when Vegas was sputtering down the stretch,

I was like, oh, please, whoever can catch them. And St. Louis was that team that looked like they might. And you're right. They do have a history of the late push. By the way, Calgary had lost six of their last seven prior to beating the Preds last night. So it's not like they're on fire. Just the Canucks are kind of middling along here.

And it is concerning. I know that there's enough positives to point to. And I think David brought up a pretty decent point that you do want to peak later in the season. Yeah, but you also want to stay in the playoff picture. And the Canucks are there, and they built themselves. I don't know if you'd call it a cushion. They had built themselves a cushion.

They're using some of that cushion now. But if you look at the LA Kings, they've won six in a row, and they're pulling away from the Canucks. The Edmonton Oilers, they've won three in a row, and they got off to another slow start, but they're starting to put it together. They're a point up on the Canucks, so the Canucks might be in a situation where realistically, the more likely position they're going to finish in is the wildcard position. Yeah. Just the way they look. I know they're going to get JT Miller back,

but they're not going to get Hronik back for a while. And even before they got Hronik, the defense, everyone looked at it and said, this defense isn't good enough. I refuse to believe that this management group, knowing what we know and seeing what their track record has been, is going to hold the fort on the blue line. You can't.

Yeah, it's just really hard to find a solution. That's what they're paid to do. I know, I know. I agree. You cannot tell me right now, listeners out there in 650 land, you cannot tell me right now that a blue line regularly playing Desjardins, Juleson, and Friedman is good enough to be a playoff team. No matter what you've got up front, no matter what you've got in net.

Right now you've got a number one defenseman, and the best defenseman in the NHL, yes. Then you've got two third pairingpairing guys in Myers and Soucy. And then you've got three guys that are probably fringe NHLers on a good team. Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to disagree with that. That's it.

But at least the Canucks didn't get beaten 8-1 last night. That was bad. The Bruins have been blasted multiple times this year and if you look at their goal differential which I always do it's funny and it's kind of glaring because they're in third place in the Atlantic 15 12 and 3 which is decent minus 19 goal differential. Laddie, what is the reaction when a goalie gets let in or kept in for all eight goals in an 8-1 loss? Wow, it depends on the scenario. Sometimes you have an injured backup goalie

or someone whose coach is not comfortable putting them in. So it might have been a scenario like that, but it's not a good feeling, I can tell you, as a goalie who's allowed eight goals on a few occasions. It's not a great feeling. At a certain point, you just want out. You're like, it's not happening. Well, yeah, especially when they're, like, most of my beer league games, there's no out. You're kind of trapped.

But back in the day when I was on an actual team with backup goalie, yeah, you're kind of looking to the bench like, get me out of here. I clearly don't have it tonight. Patrick Waugh asked out and then asked out. Yeah, he really asked out. Because we are always about context here at the Halford & Brough Show. Always about context.

We never post videos on Twitter that are out of context. Never. This is a shot at me. Oh, you're listening. They do have to play back-to-back. They're in... Oh, no, they're not, actually. They're in Seattle tomorrow night.

So, yeah, it's not like it was a crazy scenario. Right? They would have had a night off. Maybe the coach just hated the goalie. I don't know. It just seems crazy to me that of all the guys too, with how tumultuous the start to the season has been for Swayman, it felt like a message in a weird way.

Sacco was too busy mixing it up with Scott Arneal behind the bench. That was crazy too. You don't get a lot. But did you see that? I miss it. Yeah, they were yelling at each other. But he wasn't really. Arneal was yelling at Sacco,

and Sacco had the most confused look on his face. He's like, what? Well, he was accusing Sacco of yelling at the players. Yeah, I know. But Sacco was like, not I. I'm merely an interim head coach. Sacco forgot he was the head coach. Why are they yelling at me?

All right, I'm the coach. He's like, Monty, go talk to this guy. Oh, wait. So the Canucks have played half their six-game homestand, and here's how it's gone so far. They beat Columbus but had a dreadful first period and had to come back from 2-0 to beat Columbus. Thank you, Elvis Merzlikens, in that one. They lost to Tampa Bay 4-2,

and they lost last night to St. Louis 4-3 in overtime. I don't think you can say they played well in any of those games. I don't think they played well in Columbus. I don't think, you know, Tampa is a good team and I think Tampa played better than them. And I think last night St. Louis deserved to win that game. You know, the Canucks, credit to them. They came back and beat Columbus after being down 2-0

and having that bad first period. So that's good. And credit to the Canucks for coming back from another two goal deficit last night. You know, they seem to be doing this, right? They're getting games to overtime. They're finding a way to get a point here or two points here. That's good. Florida's in town tomorrow. Okay? Good team. Florida probably wants revenge on the Canucks beating them earlier in the season when Florida was super shorthanded. The Boston Bruins on Saturday. And say what you will about the Bruins, goal differential,

you know, I think they're still a capable team. And then on Monday, the final game of the six game homestand, you got Nathan McKinnon, Rantanen, and Makar coming in with the Colorado Avalanche. And McKenzie Blackwood. And all the Woods. Yeah. And all the Woods.

I wish we were capable to explain what the hell is going on at home for the Canucks this season. I can't make any sense of it. There's no logic. There's no reason.

I don't know. A lot of people are saying talking needs to do a better job of getting the guys ready to go at the starts of games and the starts of periods. They seem to have figured something out on the road that they can't do at home. I don't know what it is.

Well, if you got any ideas, text them into the Don Bar-Lumber text line at 650-650. We're going to talk to Frank Cervalli next, and we'll talk about the pending return of JT Miller, who the Canucks could really use to the lineup. Maybe it happens. Maybe? Maybe?

Maybe it happens tomorrow, and maybe, maybe he speaks to the media today. You're listening to the Halford &bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. What a quote, huh? I could probably scratch every guy on the team. Wendell is cut. Rudy is cut. Janie, you're gone. Steven, I like your hustle.

That's why it was so hard to cut you.