The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Jeff Paterson

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

Jeff Paterson and Jeff Marek discuss the JT Miller trade, Vancouver acquiring Marcus Pettersson, Carson Soicy on the trade block, and much more...Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And here we are talking about the Vancouver Canucks again with our good friend Jeff Patterson. He is the host of Rinkwide Vancouver, part of Canucks Army, and you watch him regularly and hear him regularly on the Securitism Price Show. Jeff Patterson joins me now to talk about the Vancouver Canucks. Jeff, and I feel like we need one more Jeff because there are three Pettersons in Vancouver. We need three Jeffs on this program. Nonetheless, thanks so much for dropping by today. Much appreciated.

Yeah. I hope those are transition lenses that will darken a little as I got the jumbotron over my shoulder here at the, at the lodge. So I thought I'll set up with the, I'll set up with the press box. So, you know, try to find a good backdrop, but, uh, didn't count on having the big jumbotron going the way that it is. Uh, that's okay. I just, I w whatever I see a reporter at the rink, I always want that ambient sound of pucks

hitting glass, pucks hitting crossbar. Like it's, to me, I don't know. We've got a couple. Have you had a couple? Yeah, a couple. You know, a couple Colorado Avalanche, the stragglers are still out there wrapping up their morning skate here. So we're just about through the morning festivities, but there are, I think there's three avs skaters and a couple of coaches. So you might hear

the odd buck rattle off the post to the glass. Just as an aside, my favorite sound in hockey is the puck off bar. Some it's the freshly sharpened skate on a fresh sheet of ice. Do you have a favorite sound in hockey as you're right there? I do like a good ping off the post. There's no question that the way that these guys zip it around and they can all shoot in an empty building like this when you come in for a morning skate or a practice and there's only a handful of people and all those noises seem amplified

and yeah, when guys are picking their spots and ping! So yeah, put me down for a ping off the post. All right, so both Jeffs on the put me down for a ping off the post. All right. Uh, so, uh, both Jeff's on the program here today say the ping off the post. Or there's crossbar or there's pole. Doesn't matter. Uh, we'll take it. Um, really quick, um, update on Quinn Hughes.

I understand no Canucks captain for the game tonight. True or false? Uh, that is true. That's two straight games now. And of course he missed four out of the Christmas break. So this will be the sixth game, uh, since the holiday break that the Canucks have been with other captain and their best player and they're leading scorer and they're a different team when he's not in here.

Now he did skate this morning. We got a glimpse of him, put our eyes on him, uh, out with the skills coach ahead of the group, but when the team, uh, actually hit the ice for the morning skate, Quinn took the side door and he was gone. We didn't get a chance to talk to him. What's interesting, Jeff, is that Rick Tauket was asked a whole bunch of questions

about Hughes and his status and of course, Four Nations next week. Yeah. And he answered them all. And in the middle of one of his answers, he said something about missing these games this week. So some took that to mean these two games, they still got two to go.

They're in San Jose on Thursday and then the Leafs are here on Saturday. And so there was some, nobody really asked for clarification, but there was some question about, did he mean the two that he's missed or are they going to sit him here for the rest of this week? Because something happened in Dallas on Friday,

started that game, first couple of periods, everything looked fine, but in third he was laboring without a doubt, didn't play much in the third period, it was into garbage time, they were down and weren't coming back in that hockey game, but yeah I mean he plays so much and in all situations and has just led by example and had this hard calibered season, you feel ripped off when he's not out there, everybody wants to see Quinn Hughes, it was gonna be Hughes and McCarr separated by a single point in the Derby for scoring among NHL defensemen.

So that storyline gets ripped away from us as well. There's still Nathan McKinnon to watch, but yeah, it's the Canucks just aren't the same when Quinn Hughes is not in their lineup. It's the definition of the MVP, right? Like sometimes we confuse it with who's the best player. We'll give that person the hard trophy. If you just look at the definition, I MVP, right? Like sometimes we confuse it with who's the best player, we'll give that person the hard trophy. If you just look at the definition, I mean, the Vancouver Canucks just look profoundly different

with Quinn Hughes or without Quinn Hughes. He could, even if he doesn't end up winning the Norris, he can still make the case that he should win the hard trophy or at least have a strong case here. You know, this must feel, given everything that's already happened, and there may even be more shoes to drop here, you're there all the time, you're around Quinn Hughes. You can tell me whether you think he has a really good poker face or not, or you can tell me whether, you know,

he's earned some deeper lines, even though he is quite young on his face through all of this. But this must feel like the longest season that Quinn Hughes has ever had. The off-ice situation with Miller and Pedersen, the injuries, the carrying the team, the question marks, the noise. It's not just a localized Vancouver story. This became a legitimate NHL story. Every market having a peek at this one.

This one jumped off the Vancouver hockey page. If you're Quinn Hughes, how long, and we're only here February 4th, how long a season does this feel for the captain? Yeah. And I think context matters here because everything that could go right, went right through the Canucks last year, right? 50 wins, 109 points, all these career bests, Hughes getting the first Norris of his career career like everything came up roses for the Vancouver Canucks and then to start this year there was the Demko uncertainty there was Dakota Joshua diagnosed with testicular cancer on the eve of training camp and that

just kind of set the snowball rolling down the hill that led to JT Miller stepping aside for 10 days or 10 games rather Alias Pedersen missing time out of Christmas, Quinn Hughes on the shelf as well, Philip Peronik missing the 21 games that he did. So yeah, last year as we have come to learn here in Vancouver, every year is different. Last year is now very much last year. It's in the review mirror. What happened was fun. The two rounds of the playoffs, all that game seven against the Oilers, but this is this year. And yeah, I mean, through all of that, the fact that Quinn Hughes has been able to elevate his performance and has been better, markedly better than he was last year when he put up

92 points and won the Norris. The fact that he leads the Vancouver Canucks in scoring by 25 points as a defenseman. Connor Garland, now that Miller's gone, Garland's their highest scoring forward, and Quinn Hughes has 25 on him and hasn't played every game. So any metric you want to use. It doesn't matter whether the traditional box score numbers or underlying numbers.

He tilts the ice. It's his superpower. He defends by going on offense. And he's just you know he's just a blast to watch if people haven't put in the effort to watch Quinn Hughes they should he's worth every dollar if you're spending your hard-earned money to go and watch the National Hockey the game if the Canucks are coming through your market and I just think it's cool that you know he's

part of this golden age of puck moving defensemen with Kale McCarr and shame what happened to Miro Heiskenen and Rasmus Dallin and now to see Lane Hudson basically as a mini-me of Quinn Hughes doing all the things that Quinn Hughes has done in his time shell. So, you know, you could be a defenseman and still impact the game so heavily and Quinn Hughes absolutely is proof of that. Did we learn anything about, again, I, I, the nature of being a captain, trying to grab a handful of water here, you know, show us how you're a captain, show us the things you did as a,

it's so hard unless, unless you're in that room, but is there anything that we've learned about Quinn Hughes, the captain through this season that we didn't know previously? Like I'll tell you, like throughout this entire season so far, Jeff, I've, I've always wondered at myself at all these different stops that you mentioned where there's like, okay, now there's this issue

to deal with, now there's this distraction. Now there's this situation. Part of me says, okay, I'm curious to see how Hughes handles it. And then the back of my mind, I always think, okay, how would Bo Horvat have handled this? Right? Like, is there anything that we've learned from one captain to another about Quinn Hughes that perhaps we didn't know before?

I think anytime a youngish player and he is 25, but has been around here for a while now, I think anytime they're thrust into a leadership role, it's sort of like the onion you're peeling layers away. And yeah, you're picking up things from time to time. Before he was captain, and maybe this was sort of the biggest tell that he was going to be the captain was the night in Tampa when he was asked about Tanner Pearson and the hand injury and the way that it had been handled by the organization. And, you know, just real passion sticking up for a teammate and sort of questioning

the organization and, you know, questioning the man, essentially things that you just don't see generally from hockey players. But man, did he go to bat for a teammate who had been wronged ultimately. And that was the first kind of indication that, hey, like, you know, to that point, he had just been this incredible young player that was sort of finding his way in the NHL. But that one really, I thought, sort of separated himself. You know, I asked him in that clip that kind of went viral right before Christmas when the JT and Elias Pedersen thing was at its hottest. I just asked him about the fact that as a leader, were his leadership skills being tested

through sort of this interpersonal dynamic that just couldn't be solved. He knew exactly what I was talking about. I didn't name names and he just said, like, let's not beat around the bush. And then got right into his answer. And again, he's not afraid to take things head on. He's not the biggest raw raw guy. I don't think there are these great speeches before games, but when the puck drops, there is

nobody, nobody in this Canuck roster that's as dialed as he is on a nightly basis. And so most of his leadership's by example, but I think as he grows into that role, knowing what a C means in a Canadian market certainly hasn't shied away, and I think was very much the right choice to be the captain of the Vancouver Canucks.

I'm curious about the cascading effect here now that the J.T. Miller deal is done. Everybody, make sure you don't have plans on Fridays. That's when big deals get done here in advance of trade deadline. Clear your schedules. What's the cascading effect in Vancouver? Now the JT Miller's deal is done and the subsequent trade with the Pittsburgh

Penguins is done. Is it now relevant? I mean, I know it's never really calm. It's a Canadian markets. But is there more of a calmness now in the marketplace? I mean, sometimes it's torches at the Castle Gate. Sometimes it's they can't keep enough champagne in the liquor store. So there's various moods that you go through, but what's the effect now that Miller's,

the Miller's deal is done and he's now a Ranger? I know Rick Tuckett spoke at length post game on Sunday, the overtime loss of the Detroit Red Wings about a freshness. Now the deals went down Friday before and after their game in Dallas. They overnighted in the Lone Star state. They flew home Saturday and it was an earlier than usual start here on Sunday, a 5pm start. So there wasn't a morning skate.

Then they had a day off yesterday, which surprised me a little bit. You got all these new bodies in, you throw them into the lineup on Sunday, but then you don't have a practice on Monday. So there really have been few opportunities to, uh, talk to the new guys, to talk to the veterans, certainly haven't had access to Quinn Hughes because he hasn't been around since the trades went down. I know he spoke post game on the telecast on Friday, but I haven't had a chance to talk to him.

So, you know, it is hard to truly gauge. We're just kind of going off vibe checks here. Yeah. And the guys that stepped in played pretty well. Heedle scored. Marcus Pedersen was his advertised. I think Drew O'Connor, not a lot of people know the book on Drew O'Connor, but big body that skates well and got in on the four check and did all of those

things. It was funny when I talked to him on Sunday morning and asked him about getting traded for the first time. And he just looked me in the eye and he said, you know what? I really haven't even processed this yet. Like on Friday night, I get a call from Kyle Dubas and on Sunday morning I'm trying on new gear in a new city and a new country.

And now I've got to go and play. So just trying to play on instinct. I think that's all these guys can do in the first game. And some of the system stuff will come. You know, I think for the new guys as well, there's tonight and two more games before the Four Nations break. And so you just treat it as a road trip, essentially.

Get through this week, and then you can step back and recognize that your whole world's been turned upside down. But from a Canucks perspective, yeah, I mean, they're hoping. They're not a better team without JT Miller. When JT Miller is on and dialed, there aren't many guys like him in the National Hockey League. They're going to miss that. Marcus Pedersen, I think, makes their defense core better. They're experimenting and auditioning right now on the back end.

You know, you made the joke that there are three Pedersens here, and one of them is the other, the Elias Pedersen, the Ricky defenseman who's looked really good in three NHL games. He's 20 years old. He was a third round pick way ahead of schedule in terms of getting to the national hockey league. He's going to play again tonight. And that now leads into the latest storyline that you touched on as well,

that Carson Susie is going to be healthy scraps for a second straight game. We believe he was certainly on the fourth pair at the morning skate here this morning. storyline that you touched on as well, that Carson Soussi is going to be a healthy scratch for a second straight game, we believe. He was certainly on the fourth pair at the morning skate here this morning. And it's unfortunate because he's such a pro. He's just a good guy as there is in this business, low maintenance, but Rick talk, it's talked about, he hasn't been very good

this year, he hasn't. For whatever reason, Carson Soussi has really struggled and right now is on the outside looking in. And so, you know, you ask about turning the page for Miller only in Vancouver, would you turn the page for Miller and then, you know, right back into another pressing burning issue. It never goes away, Jeff.

It just, at least in this market, it never dies off completely. It's playing whack-a-mole. Like that's what it is. Like you're always playing whack-a-mole. I that's what it is. Like you're always playing whack-a-mole. I get it, like, okay, welcome to a Canadian market. That's why some players, I mean, I always tell the story. Brian Burke, who I've worked with for a number of years here, Jeff will always tell me,

when he ran the Toronto Maple Leafs, he said, you would be surprised how many Canadian players have all the Canadian teams on their no trade. Dude, I am not going just because of you know, it's it's whack-a-mole. It's every day is a different drama. Every day is a different Situation I want to ask about about another and that the other Patterson Marcus Patterson Given what okay, I am how we differentiate here Which between all of these and by the way, I have I have to assume we're gonna get to a Lewis Petterson Given what, how we differentiate here, between all of these, and by the way.

I have to assume we're gonna get to Elias Pedersen at some point because. We will, we're gonna get there. I'm saving him for the main event. Jimi Hendrix goes on last, the who goes on last. Climbing the ladder of Pedersen's, if you will. And you know, Rick Tocket, I said this the other day, Rick Tocket owes something to hockey here

Like there's some moments where you like you owe the game something tell me he doesn't owe the game Putting on all three Pettersons in overtime together at least once At least once does he owe that does he owe that to the game and just a tort torture John Shorthouse Well, there's that certainly and I'm here for that all day. There's also the fact that they are three and ten in games that have been settled in sudden death overtime so throw anything whatever you've been doing that out the window yeah go for the yeah the the three Pettersson approach I like it I'll pass that along to Rick. Okay all good let me

um let me ask you this one about Marcus Patterson. Given it was a pretty juicy price to pay, was this the right style of defenseman for what this blue line needs? Like, I get it. Like, puck movers aren't going. No one's letting go of these guys. But at the same time, that's a real, that's a, first of all, that's a nice bit of business by Kyle Dubas.

I know a lot of people like to do takeout pieces on Kyle, but that's a nice bit of business for that player. Was he the right defenseman? Again, not knowing the full marketplace, not knowing what options Rutherford Alveen had here. He had a first round pick, a good one too. Was that the right move for that type of defenseman? When they traded Bo Horvat a couple of years ago, Was that the right move? Like for that type of defense?

When they traded Bo Horvath a couple of years ago, and it's wild that three straight, like either January 30th or 31st, three years in a row, same basic day on the calendar. Hordador last year, Lindholm came in, and now you've got JT Miller and then the subsequent deal. So yeah, late January, and even if you push it back. When did Rutherford make the recce deal?

Going back to like, was it the same time? Or was it December? Was it January or December? I think it was early January. If I'm not mistaken. But yes, it's got the hallmarks of a Jim Rutherford and no question about it. So as for Marcus Pedersen, looked good the other night.

They played a lot, almost 26 minutes. Now Quinn Hughes wasn't playing. And that's part of this too, even when you asked the question about freshness, not having all the pieces in place, it's kind of hard to gauge in the, you know, so soon after all these trades went down, but we can only, you know, analyze what we see in front of us. And so we have one game to work with and then a tough test tonight, you know, trying to slow down, sure.

McKinnon and H.S. and, and Kyle McCarr. Um, the other piece here is we don't know ultimately what it's going to cost the Canucks to retain Marcus Patterson. And so that's still where some of the dust is going to settle, right? They make the move to get a, an unrestricted free agent. You have to think that they have a pretty good idea of the framework it's going to take.

Uh, there's suggestions that, uh, if they haven't already, that they're going to start working on that sooner rather than later. But yeah, I think you can see what the Canucks are trying to do. You have Quinn Hughes. He's here for two more years at least at just one of the great bargains in the National Hockey League and 7.85 million bucks. They went out, they made the Philip Herodic trade when he's healthy. He gives them a right-side guy that's certainly a top four defenseman and now they've added a guy that's gonna on the left side slot in behind Quinn Hughes and so

you know all in their 25 to 30 range you can sort of see that they're trying to use that as the foundation of this defense core. And then we talked about DPD, the young defensemen. They got, you know, they have a couple others in the system that they didn't want a part when the other teams were calling on some of these trades. Sawyer Mineo, Kirill Kudratsev, who was a seventh round pick. But yeah, Liggin Ab. You know, in, yeah, like in Abbotsford, uh, probably not a name that a lot of people know, but played in the O obviously. And I think they think they've got a pretty good one, uh, there. Um, so yes, just in terms of a guy that is able to, you know, move the puck,

don't spend as much time as some of these defensemen have the season in their own zone, uh, try to get it to the forwards. That's been part of the issue here as so many of the forwards have struggled. I think a big part is the transition game has been brutal, off the glass and out, or just high flips to center and basically turning the puck over. That's happened way too many times. So, you know, with Pedersen, not flashy necessarily, but a big guy that come in, they hope that he just kind of settles down the second pair and we'll see where it goes.

So again, this defense is in the state of flux without a doubt, but what they've had on the ice this year has not been good enough. And so something had to give. They paid a price. Jim Rutherford has acquired this player twice now, got him into Pittsburgh from Anaheim and now gets him to Vancouver from Pittsburgh. So he's familiar with them. He likes them obviously.

And the early reviews from McTucket were favorable certainly so let's see where it goes from here for Marcus Patterson just trying to build up that body of work in a new city. I like the way you frame that, Jeff. He's kind of like Jim Rutherford's new Matt Cullen. Like for every reason, Rutherford would always go, wherever Rutherford went, he was always trying to find a way to get Matt Cullen back.

Marcus Pederson, the new Matt Cullen. We've got a couple of questions in the chat, Big Willie Styles and Jessica L asking about the Sedines, but I want to bracket that for one second and get to Elias Pederson in the short amount of time that I still have left with you here. There is very much a feeling and it's inevitable that, okay, EP 40 over to you now, you got what you wanted, we suspect. Now show us what you're got. Show us what you got.

Is that fair or not for Elias Patterson? Does that, this idea that, okay, now, now it's show time. JT Miller is out of the way. Do it. Fair or not. Yeah. One of the earliest lessons my father taught me was life isn't fair, Jeff. And when you're getting 11.6 million bucks, I think it's fair to have

expectations on a guy to perform, especially a player that's been a 102 point producer before the age of 25. Like there aren't that many guys in the annals of hockey history that have put up 102 points before their 25th birthday. And most of the guys that have end up skating through the front doors of the Hall of Fame. So I don't want to get ahead of myself here

with Elias Pettersson, but the track record earned him this contract. And it's not just this year. It really does go back to the all-star break last year and nobody can really put a finger on why but that's such a clear demarcation point that last January, January 2024 he was tied with Sam Reinhart for the league leaving goals he had 14 and was one of the NHL's three stars of the month and then the calendar flipped to February and it was like he forgot how to play the game.

And it's been going on a year now. And so there was real concern. Was it the angst around the contract? Was that on his mind? Was some of this stuff that's been reported around JT Miller, was it starting to heat up behind the scenes and we just really weren't latching onto it there? And then it carried into the playoffs

where he was a disaster. Like they got to game seven against the Edmund Noylers in the second round and he barely made a dent on the score sheet through the 13 playoff games that they played. And you don't get anywhere in this league without your stars. You go as far as your stars can take you and they've got to be surrounded obviously by better players.

And so the hope was, all right, maybe there's alerting there, you got 13 games, you know, the only other playoff experience he had was in the bubble, which is the most unique experience any of these guys will ever have. And yes, they played playoff hockey, they didn't have to go into hostile environments, they didn't have to deal with a lot of the variables and uncertainties that come with the Stanley Cup playoffs. But he got a taste and he wasn't very good. that didn't have to deal with a lot of the variables and uncertainties that come with the Stanley Cup playoffs. But he got a taste and he wasn't very good. And so the hope was, all right, the contract settled, take what you can out of this, go home for the summer, work hard, come back and be that player that we think he can be.

And then basically tripped out of the starting gate and hasn't been able to find his game again. He's got 33 points, it's February, and he's sitting on 33 points. And I think a lot of people point, and the world we live in with all the data that's available to us, like his NHL edge numbers, his skating speed, top speed, but his bursts,

and his shot velocity are all so far off what they have been at other times in his career. And even this year, like the top skating speed and the hardest shot came in the first couple of weeks of the season. Like he hasn't come anywhere close to matching that since. So again, he's a unique individual. He doesn't invite us into his world very much. And so, you know, he doesn't like to talk about his very much and so you know he doesn't like to talk about his shortcomings. Pro athletes are conditioned that way, I understand it, but you know we've all tried to poke and figure out like what's

going on with EP 40 and he just doesn't want to play that game, but the game that he does play is on the ice and it hasn't been anywhere close to good enough for a guy being paid what he's being paid. You know there's a, as I mentioned, there's a couple of questions about the Sedines, um, in the, in the, in the chat, Big Willy Styles and Jessica Elbin asking this kind of take, starting to take on a life of its own in the chat. But I want to, I want to ask you about the

Sedines sort of under the umbrella of Elias Patterson. You tell me whether this is, this is fair or not. So I've always believed that the Sedines were a couple of the toughest players I ever saw in the NHL. Like there's two ways to be tough. You can be you can physically exert yourself over somebody else or having the ability to absorb punishment and not change your game. I always admired the Sidneans because they would get punched and slashed and cross-checked and abused non-stop and they never changed the way

they played. They played as hard as the shift where they were getting abused. Like the next time they would come over the boards it was as if nothing ever happened. I think and rightfully so we should all be impressed by that. You could not, it was like Salming in the seventies. You could do anything you want. Mel Bridgman, you know, should have been in jail for what he did to Salming. And, uh, you know, it never changed his game. The Sedin's were the same way.

It's endure, endure, endure. And kind of in a lot of ways, kind of a Canadian ethic that Margaret Atwood would write about in, in survival. Um, that to me is tough. That's a certain type of toughness. I'm curious. kind of a Canadian ethic that Margaret Atwood would write about in Survival. That to me is tough. That's a certain type of toughness. I'm curious, do we know how the Sedenes feel about Elias Patterson? I'm not expecting him to have that same type of toughness and grid it out because that's

really maybe unique to the Sedenes. But is it fair to wonder, you know, they're so involved in player development here. Do we know how the Sedenes feel about Patterson? Like we've heard Rutherford talk about him, we've heard Tohtaka talk about him, we've heard Alveen talk about him. Do we know how the Sedenes feel about him? Not really. And let me just add to your definition of toughness. Like when you're a star player, you're seeing the other team's best defensemen, like you're wearing them on your back essentially all night, right? These guys like, they came out, what, Prauger was in the West, Brent Seabrook, Shay Weber, like all of them. Duncan Keith wasn't very gentle.

No, and ultimately probably, you know, derailed that, uh, 2012 team, the elbow to Daniel's head. Yeah. Um, but yes, like that's just, I, I'm with you. Like it's so easy to say, oh, these guys, you know, they don't go into the corner. No, they went into the corner. Absolutely. They went into the corner and they came out with the puck and then made things happen. Like they lived on that cycle.

So, um, no, I'll defend those guys to absolutely, uh, to anybody that doesn't think that they were tough enough. They, they're in the hall of fame. Um, but no, to answer your question, uh, the Sidines are around, they are in player development, they're on the ice, uh, a lot of practices and game day skates. They go to Abbotsford and work with the

Cadet prospects out there. Uh, they seem to be enjoying, uh, their lives and, and sort of the roles that they have finally slotted themselves into here. But, you know, a lot of people said, like, how come Daniel and Henrik couldn't get locked in a room with JT Miller and Elias Pedersen and just sort this thing out? And obviously nobody here was able to, and now JT is no longer a member of the Vancouver Canucks. So I think people are expecting the Sidians to be miracle workers. If they couldn't solve that one, how come

they can't, uh, you know, get through to Elias Pedersen? I think they have, like, I think they've tried, I mean, I certainly have seen them in discussion on the ice with Elias Pedersen. I don't know what happens behind closed doors, uh, before games and after practices, but no, I mean, absolutely they're in the

organization, their resources. Uh, and if they could, I'm sure they would, uh, do whatever it takes to get this guy back on track. But here we are talking about a player with points, uh, um, you know, and I'm really curious, you know, he's going to Sweden or going to the four nations to play for Sweden.

There are some that think this is exactly what he needs that just step out of the Canucks and out of this market and go join your countrymen and put on the Trey Kroner and, and, and, you know, suddenly, uh, everything's going to be cured. I'm not convinced because it's such a short form tournament that teams can't wait for guys to find their games. So I'm really interested in the role that he's going to play for Sweden. And what does he look like? And of course there are people here that are already looking to USA

Sweden, James Miller on one side and Elias Pedersen on the other. I was going to ask. Yeah, well, I mean, it's going to happen. So let's see what that brings. But yeah, you know, so can a change be good for him? Maybe we'll find out, but I think there's so many people that are at a point with Elias Pedersen that they need to see it. And even Rick Tauke, like he gets asked questions about Pedersen every day.

And his answer now is like, I'm kind of done talking about it, I need to see it. And I don't blame him that JT Miller's not here anymore. The floor is yours, Elias. Do with it what you can. And the hope is that yes, he's going to somehow figure out what's made him successful in the past and get back to doing that. But, you know, he's in a bit of a funk offensively. Jake DeBrosque, who is remarkably streaky, is in one of those streaks in the wrong direction right now with one goal in 11 games.

And Evrock Besser, I think there's a lot of noise around Brock, obviously, a pending unrestricted free agent. And he just hasn't been as productive as he was last year in his career year with 40 goals. So, uh, the three of them are playing together, but that's not necessarily a great thing in the here and now because not any one of them, uh, is necessarily feeling it, uh, in the moment. Let me, let me, let me close by asking you about Rick's hockey. You mentioned the Vancouver coach there a second ago.

Now we've heard Patrick Alveen say things like, well, you know, you need two signatures on a contract to make things work. You have a thought on what's happening with Tauket now, and maybe you have a thought on speculation about Rick Tauket in the future with Vancouver. Yeah, look, he's been an absolute joy to deal with from a media standpoint, not just quotes, but I have, and I've been at this a while, and have had decent working relationships,

go back to Mark Crawford and the L'Envinio and even torched in his year here. But I haven't been around a coach that wants to instruct and teach the media as much as Rick Taukett does. And he's not doing it because, because like you guys don't know, he's just a teacher at heart. And if you ever have a question, a tactical question, you know, he's not guarded about some of the things that he's working on with his group. Like he'll pull you aside and you know, drop diagrams on the wall or whatever it is. In fact, I remember one great example when they practiced out at UBC one day and you know, it's an old rink and small locker rooms and there's this little hallway where we did the media

and Rick Pocket was setting up, there were about six of us and he was at, you stand here and you stand there and he was basically, you know, oh, you want sounds, there you go, you got the horn going here. There's the horn, check the lights. It was, yeah, exactly. got to get out of here. But it was just incredible to see Rick talking,

basically using us as props to try and diagram for us. It was an incredible moment. I'll never forget that. And I do think he loves the teaching side. It's been a trying year for everybody. He's the reigning coach of the year. He hasn't forgotten how to coach. But there is a movement out here in Vancouver

that looks at Connor Garland with 34 points and the Liz Patterson with 33 and Brock Besser off his pace and the fact that they're one of the lowest shot generating teams in the national hockey league and people are, you know, look at what he did in Arizona. He couldn't get teams to score there. And now last year was the perfect storm. I think the counter to that is, then how come Quinn Hughes is at a level higher

than he was last year? He's not telling Quinn Hughes to get the center and dump it in, and I don't believe that he's telling Ulias Pedersen and Jake DeBrusk and those guys. He doesn't want them wasting shots. He's made that clear that he is a quality over quantity when it comes to shots. So yes yes there is a rec talk at system I think he loves coaching and I know he had a pretty good gig going to DMT and and good friends with all those

guys on the panel there that's always there that's always there so always there I think my sense having been around him now for two plus years is he was brought in to do a job. There was unfinished business here. They got a taste of it last year in the playoffs. He saw this city come alive. It was electric. It was the first time fans had a chance to embrace playoff hockey in Vancouver since 2015. So it had been almost a decade and the fans, they showed up. And the energy in this building was incredible. You know, I think he wants more of that.

The fact that as we sit here, they're below the playoff bar, you were talking about, can you believe Tampa and you know, it is, it is odd. And it's really weird here in Vancouver with the expectations, the players they had assembled to sit here on the 4th of February and know that they are below the playoff bar looking up at the Calgary flames of all teams. But credit to the flames and I got all the time in the world for Ryan Huska going way back to our Cameloo's days together. So I'm glad to see Ryan Huska having success, but it's coming at the expense

of the Vancouver Canucks who have 30 games remaining. So there's time, 10 before the trade deadline and 30 overall, but they've got a difficult schedule. In terms of strength, the schedule, they're one of the toughest in the National Hockey League. So that's not going to make it easy for them. But I think Tuckett's here. My sense is as I sit here and talk to you on February 4th, I think Rick Tuckett will be the head coach to start next season. That said, we know it's incredible. He's been on the job for two years and he's already in top 10 in tenure in the National Hockey League. That's just ridiculous. So I think he starts

next year, but does he finish next year? Who knows how things go from there. But I don't see Rick talking to the guy that's just going to walk away on his own accord. I think he still thinks he's got some work to do here. Real quick, how long did you call Blazers games and who was the best player you saw? Five years and I have the incredible... I got so many good bounces early. My first year on the job, 1994-95, they won the Memorial Cup at home. So I was a kid Rod Kessler. They won the Memorial Cup on full ice with Jerome McGinley, Shane Doan, Darcy Tucker, Ryan Husker was there. Nat Donna Kelly was an incredible junior player. Niedermeyer?

Defense four that had Nolan Baumgartner. But Scott had already moved on by then. He had moved on, okay. Yeah, but this was the third of the three Memorial Cups that they won in four years. Yeah. But the defense scored Jason Strudwick and Nolan Baumgartner were their top pair. And Jason Holland had a cup of coffee in the National Hockey League. I think they had 10 guys on that team that ended up playing in the NHL.

But for a young guy cutting his teeth in the biz, getting the chance to call, first of all, but then knowing that they were gonna be the host team City of Kamloops did an incredible job But putting that tournament on and then they just blew the doors off the Detroit junior red wings in the final Trick junior red wings coached by Paul Maurice all the race and Pete DeVore. Yeah Darcy Tucker center on that line that don't again the line Yeah Darcy Tucker sent her on that line, that Donoghilla line. One of the best lines in the history of junior hockey, hands down. And Darcy was so good then, most competitive guy I've ever been around. Just in a hockey sense, outside rank, great guy obviously, but when the puck drop, look out,

like it was win at all costs for him. Tyson Nash was another guy that was on that team, gotta mention him. Yeah, just a ton of fun to be around and all they did was win and Don Hay took the 20 regulation losses that they had over the course of the regular season. He took them all personally. You didn't want to talk to him in the hours after, again, they lost 20 times in regulation and, uh, yeah, each one just lingered with him, uh, cause he was another guy that, uh, just, it was all about winning and he did a lot of it. Certainly true. Uh, golden days for the Camloose Blazers.

Uh, Jay Pat, thanks as always, uh, for stopping by much. Please enjoy what should be another eventful Vancouver Canucks game tonight against the Colorado Avalanche. We'll catch up soon. Thanks, pal. Thanks for having me on. I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day Guess you can call it a ride I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah man, that's fine

I'm not against those methods, but I knew It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind Two on the record I turned on the music It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixin' my mind I do wanna break it I turned on the music I do wanna break it I turned on the music It's turned up, up, up That you sometimes lose it Helping on the days that went wrong