It doesn't get ANY easier... | ft. Adnan Virk

Montreal came off another tough loss, but the bad luck is really one of the big stories coming out of this. When Montreal has continued to improve at 5-on-5, we got some interesting updates from practice today. We have to dive deeper into what happened yesterday on the wonderful game Wednesday Night Hockey on Prime, and to discuss it, we have Emmy Award winner and host of Prime Hockey, Adnan Virk, back on the show. Adnan, it's fantastic to get to talk to you again. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to come on our show. It's been an amazing season so far and even if Montreal can't quite get the win last night of course so it's my pleasure to come back again i know we spoke back in january so good to return and yeah i wish i had i'd gotten the two points but a wildly exciting game uh you know we talked so much about the Hudsons going into last night and the fact that both Lane and Cole showed up and looked great obviously lane scored cole had an assist both those guys plenty of opportunities uh yeah i wish Montreal been able to get the win don't wish a couple of goals i think you'd like to get back but other than that exciting performance no doubt and what do you like in so far about the Montreal Canadiens game so far this season Adnan and what do you feel needs to be improved well I special teams is a really interesting focus if the penalty kill is really impressive and I talked to Martin Hanejish early in the morning at practice um sure they didn't have a morning skate we just spoke from the hotel and I said it's pretty impressive when you look at Tuesday night, their penalty kill went 0-4, but they didn't allow a single shot on goal. And when I said that to Marty, he's like, really? I'm like, yeah. I go like, it's one thing to go for four, but they didn't give a shot. I'm like, yeah. So he said, well, we revamped our penalty kill this offseason, and we've implemented some new plans. Now, he says, nothing that anybody in the NHL isn't doing, copycat league, but it is different from what we were doing previously. So he said, we revamped it, and, you know, just forcing players to play a little bit more. So he was very happy with that. and obviously those kind of results have been good so far excuse me i think the concern is in the power play though power play has not been good again didn't look good yesterday so that's something that you definitely like to see shorn up and obviously the back of goaltending as well you want to see a little better from uh Jakub Dobiš especially because he played three straight nights second night of a back-to-back it made sense to get Dobiš a shot but like i said he uh could use a little bit of improvement and there's actually some frustration as you guys know yeah when it comes to the star players, Sopkowski etc, hoping to get those guys well obviously them being out is not ideal but um star players need to step up shortly yeah the star players like i was hoping to see maybe a little more but now to be fair Lane did show up had that beautiful goal and Nick Suzuki did score that goal late and I thought we were going to see some more late game heroics from this team but one interesting thing too especially with Demidov being out is the Habs depth right and we did get an update today again Oliver Kapanen second straight day on the ice spent another 30 minutes on the ice at practice this morning he's been another guy that has played a lot of top six minutes for Montreal they're also missing him and I know Marty San Luis has had so many tough decisions whether you know it's with the defense whether it's Enstrom or even Reimbacher who was around yesterday the forward group Florian Jack guy then he goes out you call up Owen Beck managing these kind of things cannot be easy and with a guy like Kapanen coming back with a guy like Beck playing well I mean how do you foresee Montreal and Marty San Luis in particular managing this moving forward especially with so many guys trying to prove their worth? Yeah it's a great point and especially I can still have a Kapanen back I mean there's only so many you know Rumorel and Kapanen so many mouths to feed so Marty I think is always pretty good at juggling things and what I think is really important about him is he's the outstanding communicator you know he uh in our own the same build and you know one of us is a hall of fame player and an outstanding coach and one of us is driving right now back from Washington to New Jersey so Marty always got the most out of the life i think you know just out of his own abilities and with that kind of confidence and skill level and he's got real presence you know wherever he walks into a room people immediately pay attention to him and that goes to the players and i do think that when you're trying to manage a situation and what you're trying to manage minutes to make sure Everyone's happy, and all those mouths are fed. You have to have an excellent communicator. It's somebody that can explain the situation to each of those players. And so even saying, hey, it's your night out tonight. You're a healthy scratch, but here's why. Keep doing more of A, B, and C, and we'll get you in there. And if not, we can look to make a trade. Whatever it might be, Marty's been there. And it's very rare to have a Hall of Fame player who's that good a coach. Normally, great players do not make great coaches. No matter the sport, that's never been the case. And yet, in Marty's case, he's a hall of famer, and he's able to relate to these guys and get it done. So there's no doubt they're going to have a roster crunch, and they'll figure things out. But they've also got a really good brain trust. Jeff Gordon, of course, the Habs president, my former colleague at NHL Network, great guy. Ken Hughes, we had on set yesterday, general manager of the Habs. And Ken was saying, we have a little pub we go to, the 50-plus. He and Gord get there, we figure things out, and they hash it out with Marty. So I do think it's very important that they have three people whose philosophies seem to align. Now, I'm sure they disagree at times. I'm sure there's arguments here and there, naturally. But I do think the fact that Gortz and Kent and Marty all seem to share a similar vision and really care about winning, that will help, I think, in terms of managing minutes, which is very, very important. And one player we know that doesn't need to worry about his minutes, gets plenty of that, is Lane Hudson. And you mentioned Cole Hudson, his brother earlier. I'm curious, Adnan, just to hear your thoughts, because there was many moments of yesterday's game where it seemed like the Hudson brothers were the best players on the ice. Now, tell me your thoughts on each player and how they individually impact their teams. Well, first, I'll say about Lane. Again, I told you Marty's about my size. Lane Hudson is, again, not much taller than me and Marty, but he's so skinny. Like, it is crazy. When he walked in to talk to me at the hotel, I could never get over it. He looked like a 22-year-old college student who should be going to McGill or Concordia. He doesn't look like a guy who's one of the best athletes in the sport. It's remarkable. I'm not kidding. He's just like a... And I don't want to call him scrawny because he's strong in the pocket. He can make moves. But I mean, he's a pretty skinny guy who's slight of build. And yet when you go out there, I'm like, my God, this guy's just an incredible hockey player. skating, his speed, his agility and just his puck move with stickhandling, like he's got it all man and I completely agree with your point, at times it felt like they were playing one on one against each other and you see the shots, the parents in the crowd and obviously it's stressful and mom is biting her nails naturally, but yeah it was very much like a game of anything I can do, you can do better and both those guys they had never played against each other at any level, so it was very cool I think for both of them and again, Lane's a pretty quiet guy, he's not going to say anything demonstrative, same for Cole but you know they have an older brother who's playing hockey they have a younger brother who's draft eligible in 2027 this is the middle two guys and Cole is 28 months younger than Lane who's 22 so Cole just turned 20 and uh it's remarkable to think imagine if we got four Hudson brothers playing in the NHL remarkable to think about but in terms of their skill and their talent level both those guys are awesome and again that's what you guys focus on the halves we see so much of Montreal but I'm telling you Cole Hudson last night was fantastic every time he touched the puck you felt like something special was gonna happen yeah it's weird to be on the other end of that because now I know what people felt like when they were watching Lane on our side right because I see the similarities when they're on the ice the creativity that I think they really can only get from playing against each other and Cole Hudson miked up saying watch the chest talking to his teammates about defending Lane Hudson right it's it was so fascinating to get that glimpse into another set of brothers in the NHL there have been a lot of great ones uh but i want to shift gears just a little bit Adam because one thing that i know a lot of fans have loved this year is the fact that Prime is now being broadcast in English and French you guys have a crack team unbelievable team yourself included as well and just to end things off i was curious how things have been going this season how you like appreciate the French team alongside the English team because i know as fans especially here in Montreal we really really appreciate it and everyone has done such a fantastic job to start this year no i appreciate saying that and honestly it's a great great crew we got to meet all the french-speaking broadcasters in new york a few weeks ago and maxine the host came up to me said hello so i was happy to meet him i said already you got a better looking french show so that's good news there for you guys and uh he's a very charming guy and i obviously i know Jean-Luc Prompierre because he's a former NHL player he's working the blue jackets i've had him on NHL network before and then the other guys i mean it was It's good to meet them. And just, you know, Guillaume Latrace, of course, is a great player, tough guy. We had a video of him fighting Shane Knighty, who's one of our members of our crew. So it's really great to see. And again, I grew up in Kingston. You know, I had a lot of friends who are bilingual, French immersion as a kid. I stopped taking French in ninth grade. I wish I'd stuck with it. It would have been nice to still be able to be bilingual. But I have great respect for the French language and French culture. And I love going to Montreal for that reason, just hearing the French around me. It's awesome. I love the passion for the sport. and um you know i've asked people my buddy victor who does the Habs games on the radio in English she was telling me the numbers are still huge for French language radio even for English speakers and I said think about that these are people who do not speak French if they love listening to the French call radio because of passion with which they love the sport and uh it's remarkable to think about I mean that that's like a baseball fan listening to a call in Spanish and go well I don't understand Spanish but I just like the way that they call the game that there could be no higher compliment. So, I'm sure the guys on the French side again, I'm doing the broadcast, so I'm not able to listen to them while I'm working it, but as you guys said, the reviews have been great, and they're all good dudes, and I wish them well. I wish they were with us on the road more often. I know Mark Andrew was there yesterday, along with Andy, doing the interviews, but I think in Montreal we're definitely going to see them, because that's what Max told me. We're not traveling. We're always going to be in the studio in Montreal, but the Habs game in Montreal is December 2nd, so we'll definitely see the boys there and try to convince them to take us out for a meal at Joe Beef, which I hear is the best restaurant in Montreal. I think that'll be a great day. It's marked on our calendar for sure. I know the Habs' next game on Prime Wednesday Night Hockey is coming up pretty soon in November against the New Jersey Devils, but hey, we're going to keep an eye out. But thank you so much once again, Mr. Burke, for coming on the show. We're so excited for the rest of the season. Prime Wednesday Night Hockey. Make sure you guys tune in. The next Habs game, November 18th. First one at home, December 2nd. Thank you, Ivan, for coming on the show. It's been a real pleasure. Josh, Jesse, my pleasure, boys. Anytime. Thanks so much. This was fun.