Halford & Brough in the Morning - Are The Canucks Actively Shopping Quinn Hughes?

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the latest Canucks trade rumours with Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli (1:16), plus the boys look ahead to tomorrow's matchup versus the Sabres with WGR Buffalo's Paul Hamilton (27:05).  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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7703 on a Wednesday Happy Wednesday everybody Halford Braves Sportsnet 650s 50. Halperinbrough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com.

We are now in hour two of the program. Frank Sarah Valley from Victory Plus, our NHL Insider. It's going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is brought to by Jason Hominock at Jason. If you love giving the banks more your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. dot mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Now is the time to maximize the

benefits of custom orthotics before the year runs out. Visit kintech dot net. To the phone lines we go, our next guest is a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor. It's Frank Sarah Valley from Victory Plus here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning Frank, how are you?

Pretty good. How are you guys doing? We're good. We are waiting through the sea of Quinn Hughes' trade speculation and trade packages and news and notes. Do you have anything new on this front has anything been percolating over the last 48 to 72 hours with regards to the Vancouver Canucks potentially trading Quinn Hughes or I guess potential suitors for Hughes?

No, nothing new. Look, everyone's trying to parse through and read into this as much as possible. I understand it. I want to reiterate what I said earlier this week with Sat and Bick, which was I have zero indication that the Canucks are actively working to engage in any sort of. discussion about Quinn Hughes and his availability right now. I think anything else that's been out there has been, I think, in some ways putting the card before the horse.

What is the focus in Vancouver right now? The focus in Vancouver is to try and chart a path to being as competitive as possible. And in the meantime, might actually include adding as opposed to subtracting. Look, the needs are clear. The mission and management, mandate in terms of moving out pending unrestricted free agents still very much part of it but the goal for this team is to try and get to a position where they can compete and perhaps change the narrative that's existed around the team for the last bit um compete i mean do they still think they're in the playoff race i don't think this year i mean look the mass isn't mapping and

everyone can see how this is played out. I mean, I'm talking 35,000-foot view of where this team's heading for the future. What would an ad look like? Just still looking for that second-line center? Is that mostly? Yeah. Can't compete with that one. So, I mean, who's that going to be? I feel like we're banging our heads against the wall a lot in Vancouver

because there's a lot of teams out there looking for a second-line center. and have we not gone through the list already? Have they not gone through the list already? No, they've gone through it. I mean, they were one of the teams that inquired about Phil Dono. I mean, like, go through the entire, any relatively big name impactful center that's either been rumored or been talked about,

they've checked in on, and they've done their homework. Do you think they believe that the Philippeal injury was not just significant, but massive? I mean massive in the sense of now look at the trickle-down effect and that you've got camp playing in a role way above his head

I mean there's a guy that was playing in the minors and is now your second line center on paper I mean yeah the effect has been significant but it's this is not just one injury. This is multiple years of erosion. This is a team that at

one point in time had Horvatt, Miller, and Elias Pedersen, and now just has Pedersen. So it's been a multi-layered process to get to this point, but does the injury help? Of course not. It's

big, but the Caducs also acknowledged that they knew going into that deal exactly what his injury history was and how that might change on a dime. Well, you talked about the erosion down the middle, and I'm sure management will be like, that wasn't all our fault.

The Pedersen Miller thing. Could we have seen that coming? Oh, I'm not even putting any blame on anyone. I'm just, it's... Yeah, no, no, I might be. But the question I wanted to ask is, have you heard any rumblings? Because I've heard a few rumors,

but I never know what to believe in this situation, like of potential, regime change in in vancouver new management coming in because if you're the owner and it's gotten to the point where you don't know if queen hues is going to stay rick talk had already left last season despite the fact that management wanted to keep him um the you know i'm going to be really curious to see what the crowd is like tomorrow against the buffalo sabers there are a bunch of unsold seats as of yesterday and you might be like hey i don't know if these guys have done their job yeah i mean i think a fair question to ask in in general knowing that no matter what

no one was really expecting jim rutherford who arrived four years ago to the day yesterday at the age of 72 that he'd be in the position for a decade. So the question is a fair one overall. I have not to answer it, though, I have not heard any rumblings about any changes at the management or front office level. And I think there's a curiosity that exists around the league in terms of how things work in general.

rule, meaning Jim Rutherford is a guy who does still manage a lot of the trade calls. And there is, you know, the, I'm trying to think of the proper way to phrase this, the delineation of role and how exactly business is conducted, I think is certainly of a curiosity to many other front offices in terms of how this all works. comes together, but I haven't heard of any speculation of changes or something around the corner. It is an interesting dynamic. It's a unique dynamic for sure, at least publicly facing, because there have been times

over the last few years where the public face and the public speaker is flip-flopped. There was a time where Alvin would do all of the public addresses, all of the media, and he seemed like the front-facing guy when Rutherford took a step back. But then you'll remember, like, prior to the J.T. Miller trade, who was the one conducting the big interview with Gary Mason that set the table for what was to come. It was back to Jim Rutherford again. So it's interesting that there's that, as you put

it, curiosity across the league, because I think there's a curiosity still four years into it for Canucks fans and people that cover this team that it's never that delineation that you talked about. It's never really been clear, and it doesn't seem like it's any clearer today than it was four years ago. Well, and I think

to me that highlights the issue with having a two-headed monster running your team. and some might respond to that maybe even in the Canucks front office and say no no hold on there there's just one and it's Jim Rutherford and everything else that happens after that is at his direction but when you do have two different voices that are speaking publicly when you do have two different voices that are speaking to teams and to agents at times that is or can be problematic and I mean you don't

really have to look very far out of Vancouver to understand how difficult that can be. Because look at Don Maloney and the boiling pot of hot water that he stepped in twice this season already with messaging, only to have the general manager and Craig Conroy come out a week later and say all the things that fans wanted to hear to begin with, that had he been the only one speaking, the proper message would have been sent and understood and received. And so I do think it can be a challenge. And I think to ask the overall question, and this isn't me pushing anyone out, but at 76, what is the game plan?

What's the future? And who exactly is going to be running and steering this ship moving forward? Yeah, that's a big reason why I wonder about potential regime change, because I mean I think you made the point earlier like nobody when Rutherford took this job nobody expected that he'd be here for long and he had to be talked into taking the job there was the whole story of Francesco Aquilini

flying down to to his home in North Carolina and saying like you know like do you want this job and he took it and then you know he made Alvin the general manager I think with the hopes of growing into the role and eventually taking on more of the responsibility.

And here we are now four years later. You can't do that. You can't do that when you keep the training wheels on him. And that's the view from around the league is that he has not, he doesn't have the autonomy that most other general managers would. Yeah. Like he would get the, what I've heard is that he would get deals down the line. You know, he would, he would talk about. something and then Rutherford would kind of step in.

I don't know if you've heard the same thing, but it sounds like we're talking about similar things and teams around the league were kind of like, well, who's making the call here? Who should I be calling? Because I don't want to waste my time with one guy if he's not even the decision maker here. Right, you only want to really deal with the decision maker. It's kind of like when you go to the car dealer and you have to deal with the salesman who then runs back to the manager every five minutes in the conversation, it just gets really annoying right like let me just deal with the actual guy um and so yeah i i understand that part of it

and i think again highlights for me the in only in very rare situations do i think having the president of hockey ops and its and its separate general manager actually makes sense and in this case i i just have a hard time with it and i so then you mentioned francesco aquilini so then Like, let's take this one step further, which is, to me, when you look at the entire Canucks operation over the last decade and a half plus, it starts at the very top and how business is conducted and it trickles down from there. And so if you think Patrick Alvin's job might be difficult as it is working in the confines that we just figured out or discussed, then now add in the owner who is very hands on also having a say above your president of hockey ops. And it becomes this impossible thing, I think, to wrangle with on a daily basis where like I'm not I'm not being funny. here, I think authentically Patrick Alvin might have one of the hardest

jobs in the league. Yeah. I don't doubt that either. This might be coming out of left field, but I saw Brendan Chanahan doing media at the Board of Governors in Colorado Springs. He had a stand-up interview with Gino Redda. I was calling like, hmm, that's interesting

that he's doing media. And he said, at the end of the interview, Gino asked him about his future. And he said, yeah, the competitive competitive fire is still burning and if, I don't know, maybe if the fit is right, the time is right. And then he kind of trailed off, he said, we'll

see. Do you think we'll see Brendan Shanahan running an NHL team again? With zero doubt. And I, in some ways I would be surprised if it doesn't happen in calendar year 2026.

I think there's an interest. I think there's a hunger. I also, I don't think he's alone. Like, I don't think it's a coincidence that Lou Lamarillo also at this, I saw him at the same board of governor's meeting in Colorado Springs the last two days. He's still there as a governor for the New York Islanders, but this is his first year since the late 1980s that he's not managing a team.

And even at his age, I don't think it's a coincidence that we saw him pop up. on a podcast yesterday. So I think there's plenty of people around the league that believe that, and I don't know, maybe even the two of them together, given their long history, that there is interest in, you know, former executives diving back in again. I got to ask the follow-up, Shanahan to Vancouver. Is it possible? Definitely.

If they decided to make a change So let me reframe the question for you Are you asking me Do I think Brendan Chattahan would be interested In the Vancouver Canucks If the job was offered to him The answer is yes In hindsight

With all that happened in Toronto Where do you think He would look back and say I wish I had handled that differently oh god how long do we have I mean there's a lot I mean you could even go back

and like the choice to have Kyle Dubus lead the team yeah I was going to say that was that was that the right choice at the moment in time or would Mark Hunter have done a better job? Yeah.

And so you could start there, and then you could go into how contracts were managed and the salary cap and the unfortunate timing of COVID for a team that was jammed right up against it and found no salary cap relief for like four years of time based on a pretty methodical plan.

you could talk about trades that were nixed and deadlines that were screwed up. I mean, you could go on and on. In the end, I think the legacy is complicated because the Leafs for a long time before Brendan Shanahan got there were a laughing stock. And he put them back on the map, gave them a sense of tradition and history that had been missing and put them in a really competitive place for eight years that they just didn't get the job done. Yeah.

Do you think he regrets being overly loyal to the core for? You'd have to ask him that, but I think that's a really fair question and one that I don't know how you wouldn't have some semblance of regret to have. I mean, you look at their repeated playoff failures and their impact on the cap and inability to build in other ways because of the contract sign that, I mean, you mentioned banging your head against the wall for the Canucks trying to find a center. I mean, continuing to do the same thing over and over again with the same leaf team and spending significantly leveraging future assets. The Leafs have arrived now at this sort of existential position of, yeah, they've actually looked a little better here in the last 10 days or two weeks, but let's say they don't make the playoffs this year. Where do they go next? And how do you dismantle this to re spool it up to becoming competitive again?

It's a fascinating question. All right, Frank. We'll chat again next week. Thanks for joining us today, buddy. Yeah, have a going, guys. See you, Frank. Thanks, Frank. Frank, Sarah Alley from Daily Faceoff.

From Victory Plus here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Frank, of course, is a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor. Plus program members save for game days at Angry Otter Liquor. This month, score big on 750 milliliter bottles of Crown Royal and absolute vodka. Stock up before puck drop, visit them online at Angry Otterlicker.c.cr. Yeah, I don't want to create any rumors or speculation, but... Too late. Yeah.

I did perk up when old Shanney did an interview yesterday at the board of governor. So I was like, oh, that's interesting. And I'm watching it. And I'm like, I bet they'll finish with a question about what his future is. And he did. And he said, you know, like I said, he said, I've still got the competitive fire. And when the time is right, if the fit is right, we'll see. I'd be curious to see Shanahan back in a major Canadian market.

just to see what he took from his experience in Toronto. Sure. Now, just because I'm curious about something doesn't necessarily mean I'm endorsing it. I haven't really thought about it enough. I'm curious about a lot of stuff. I'd like to see a lot of stuff. Doesn't mean I'm endorsing it.

Video idea. Brough says Shannon will be the next Canucks General Manager. President of Hockey Ops. I would like to see you and Lattie like in a knife fight, right? Just because of curiosity, right? just curiosity, I would take him down so quick. See, I think you would too, but I'd be

curious to see if a dog could maybe pull a fast one on you and... I'd use my hacky-sack skills and kick a knife up in the air. But look, it doesn't mean I'm endorsing that because I don't... Sounds like you are. Well, okay, maybe I am. It just got me thinking yesterday

when I saw Shanahan talking and one thing I would really value if the Canucks did do regime change is experience in a Canadian market often wonder if Rutherford really appreciated before he took the job

what it was going to be like in a Canadian market remember when he had to, I mean you made the great point with Frank just like you never know okay you don't get credit for it just like you never knew who's the spokesman like remember when he basically said like I got to take a time out because I'm talking too much and think of all the

tire fires that have burned under Rutherford's watch and a lot of it was self-inflicted with some of the comments that were made now the Leafs obviously didn't handle the postseason pressure very well under Shanahan's guidance and I know there would be skepticism if the Canucks hired him or were interested in him and rightly so but I bet he learned a few things maybe something about being overly loyal to the same core Do you think he learned that? I wonder if he learned about giving the same court chance after chance after chance. I wonder if he learned about the type of players that thrive in pressure

and the ones that shrink from the pressure. You know, when he went into Toronto and one of the first moves that he made, well, there were two big moves that he made. One was hiring Mike Babcock as the head coach, and he threw a bunch of money at Babcock and the other one was trading Phil Kessel right? Like Phil

was the amazingly the Leafs at one point had decided to build around Phil Kessel and Dion Funnuf and when he when he traded they made the decision to trade Kessel I just want to read the quote that he made because

I know right now that there are so many Kinnock's fans that are dying for someone to come in and say this This is really about a recognition on our part that what we've been doing here and the group that we'd assembled here wasn't getting the job done and it wasn't good enough. We are here to build a team that is capable of winning a Stanley Cup.

There are no shortcuts to going around doing that. We didn't see that this group was going to get a whole lot better in getting us towards that goal. Okay, can I, you know how earlier we were talking about reading the tea leaves and where there's smoke, there's fire and all these other things. I'm going to lay out some, these are straight facts. This isn't speculation or suggestion, okay? The reason Brendan Shanahan is at the NHL Board of Governors meetings,

he didn't just buy his own ticket and fly there. He's like, hey, I'll pop by. Recently, he took a job with the NHL, retook a job, essentially. He went back to the NHL, he's working in the Hockey Operations Department. As a consultant, which is a very temporary job. You'll remember previously he was working in a similar capacity with the NHL before he left to take the Toronto Maple Leafs job. So there's already been a previous existence stepping stone

from the NHL's front office to an HL team's front office. Now here's the thing. And the NHL often makes recommendations for like, why don't you consider this guy? Post media, about a month ago, when Shanahan was rehired as a consultant, reached out to Bill Daly to ask for confirmation of the hire. Here's what Bill Daly said in response.

We are excited to have Brendan back. We understand that this may not be where he stays long term, but Shanney's overall level of hockey knowledge and experience is hard to duplicate and it will clearly add value. So there's the NHL's deputy commissioner saying that Brendan Shanahan is here for a good time, but maybe not a long time. Because these are natural stepping stones. work in the NHL's head office.

It allows you to talk to 32 NHL teams. You have a straight line to all of them. You work in the league. You work for the big cheese. So you have a lot of connections and a lot of conversations with a lot of different NHL clubs. After Shanahan got that job at the NHL head office, there was already speculation about which job he might take.

And guess what was one of the first ones that popped up? The team that the Vancouver Canucks are going to be playing on Thursday night, the Buffalo Sabers. He's the Buffalo Sabres have never really had that president of hockey ops there, right? It's always been Terry Pagula with a straight line to the general manager. So now you're talking about could there even be a bit of a race to see who gets Shanahan back in the door? So all of these things are fact. And that's where you start to read the tea leaves and say, huh, does an NHL club right now have a president of hockey ops that's closer to the age of 90 than he is to 60?

Is there one like that out there? Well, maybe Shanney goes to Buffalo. We'll talk to Paul Hamilton about the Sabres who went into Edmonton yesterday and got to win in a crazy game, overtime winner. They give up a 3-0 lead in the third. The Sabres,

Sad Club Brethren, the Vancouver Canucks, are in town to play the Canucks. Thursday at Rogers Arena. Paul Hamilton is a great guest. Knows lots about the Sabres. We'll talk to him next on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance.

Get your daily dose of Canucks Talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 734 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford and Brubb in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal can get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at Sands-trustee.com. We are still in hour two of the program with the midway point of the show.

Paul Hamilton from WGR Sports Radio 550 and Buffalo is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason Homunuch at J. Jason. Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Dom Mortgage. To the phone lines we go, our next guest joins us courtesy

WGR Sports Radio 550 in Buffalo. It's Paul Hamilton here on the Halford & Breath Show. On SportsNet 650, my computer's going crazy. What is going on? Do you not know how... There it is. I apologize to everyone including our next guest. No, I don't.

Professional radio broadcast, folks. I tried to turn the volume off on the computer, and then I hit my volume button and turn my microphone off. Someone clip that. Don't worry, Justin, and he's band. You know, there's just a button on your laptop that you can just hit. I hit the wrong button. I panicked in the moment, and I hit my microphone button,

which did nothing for nobody. Alas, we move on. Paul Hamilton joins us now on the Alfred & Breft Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Paul. How are you? Sounds like the Buffalo Sabers. the Vancouver Canucks. They all panic in the moment. Well played. I deserve that. That's well played. They did panic last night to a certain degree, racing out to a 3-0-0 lead in Edmonton before surrendering the 3-0 lead, including a goal by Connor McDavid with one second left.

But the Sabres rallied in 33 seconds in overtime. Alec, Tuck wins it. Wild Night, you classified as a gutty win in Edmonton, and I guess the Sabres kind of needed that after a lacklust of performance in Calgary. Yeah, they did. They only had two roe. wins all season, which was worst in the league and have not played good hockey on the road. And the thing is, even, like, for five periods, they had basically shut McDavid totally down. The game in Buffalo, a 5-1 Sabre win, I've seen Connor McDavid play a lot of games. And that by far was the worst game I ever saw in play. The Sabres bracketed him.

And by doing that, he couldn't get rolling. He couldn't get the speed going. and he got very frustrated and couldn't make plays. He was starting to turn the puck over. And it was really a brilliant strategy by Lindy Ruff. And what also helped is he had the last change, which he didn't have last night. But for two periods, McDavid really wasn't, you know,

what you would expect McDavid to be at a couple of bursts, but, you know, nothing great. And then 10 seconds in the third period, he became McDavid again and scored a really nice goal. And the, you know, and, you know, about a minute, a 3-0 lead became a 3-2 game, two minutes into the third period. Then the Sabres settled down a little bit, and what I liked what they did is they still took two more penalties.

As you know, the Edmonton owners are the best power play in the National Hockey League over 30%. And Buffalo killed both penalties. Edmonton went 0 for 4 on the power play. Now, the Sabres are second in the league in penalty killing, but still, I mean, that's a potent power play that they killed and, you know, lived to see another day in the third period until that goal right at the end. And, you know, it bounced out and lion was out of his crease a little bit and down. Lindy Ruff wanted goaltender interference, but he was out in front of the crease. He really wasn't in the crease, but there was no way he was getting over.

And sure enough, the puck comes out, bounces out, and whose stick is it on? Connor McDavid. I mean, and he's got a wide open net. to shoot it in. I mean, the puck could have gone anywhere if you're a Sabre fan, but it has to go to his stick and it winds up in the net. But, you know, still in the overtime period right off the bat. You know, Alex Tuck goes into the zone. He out battles Bouchard for the puck. They get possession. And Ryan McLeod, the former Edmonton Oiler, winds up with the puck, throws a perfect pass to Tuck who's by himself in front of the net. And they win the game in overtime. And

if you're an Eastern Conference team, it really makes no difference that you. gave the oil as a point. They're not your concern. They're not in your conference. You know, so, you know, as long as you walk away with two points, you know, you've done your job. But it was gutty just for the fact that before the game even starts, you lose Jason Zucker, who is a glue player for them, a very good veteran, better than I ever thought

he would be when they signed him to start with. He has like two injuries now. I was all right. Now you don't have him in your lineup. And then Norris is out in warm up. They don't really think anything is wrong, but he feels awful, basically. I guess it didn't really say anything to anybody. And then tweaks something.

So now he leaves and warm up, and now you've lost your best centerman. And then the first period isn't quite over, 19 minutes in. Colt Nellis, the goaltender, gets run. He gets elbowed in the head. Well, that's the end. to him, concussion protocol, he goes, and now you've lost your gold hinder, who beat the Edmontinole was 5 to 1 in Buffalo, and then held them scoreless in the first period where the Sabres held a 1 to nothing lead. So that's what I liked from the Sabres is they had a lot

of things, a lot of adversity, the third period is adversity, 3-0 becomes 3-3, and still came out with two points. I think the problem is, if you're a Buffalo Sabers fan, you have to be asking yourself, why don't you see that on a regular basis? The Sabres have not won more than two games in a row all year. They don't usually play like they did last night. You know, their best players were their best players last night. That's not always the case. I can't tell you how many times on post games, I've said to our host, Brian Cozy,

look at their best players just weren't up to it tonight. They weren't their best players. and if your best players are not performing, you're not going to win hockey games. So 14 years not in the playoffs, you see what the team, if you're a fan, you see what your team is capable of doing on an occasional basis, but they don't play the way Lindy Ruff wants them to play, I would say even a majority of the time. They did last night.

They didn't in Calgary. I mean, every time Buffalo scored to make it a one-goal game in Calgary, within a minute or so, Calgary would score and I'm going to make it a two-gold game. It happened four times. I mean, you're not doing well if it happens once. It happened four times that they gave the flames a goal immediately after making it a one-gold game.

That's just not good enough. And there's too many games where they're standing in the locker room going, well, there are no moral victories. It just isn't good enough. And the frustration sets in. And I'll tell you what, if things don't change in somewhat, if there's not a new general manager putting this team in a different direction, I mean, it's astounding that this one is here for six years.

It's insane. The team's worse than it was when he started. It's insane to me. I am blown away by that. But anyway, if it just is status quo and they resign him to a new contract or whatever, it'll be a mass exit of us out of there. I mean, they'll all be asking to be traded. they've had enough

and they need a different direction in order I think to stay Paul you've been so generous with your time for a number of years now and you're always the first guy like Buffalo's in town get Paul Hamilton and you know this goes back to us being at a different

station and I think we've been asking the same questions each time it's like why are they still this way it's 14 years you realize there are kids if you're 20 years old, you have no recollection of the sabres being in the playoffs. None. I mean, that kind of puts it in perspective for you.

I mean, it's an NHL record. No team has ever gone 14 years. Well, it's going to be 15 because they're out of it now. They're not mathematically out of it, but they're out of it. I mean, you can't string three wins together. How are you going to get back in the playoff? Yeah. And the crazy thing is it's in a league with a,

with a hard cap and a floor, this isn't Major League Baseball where you're like, well, how are you going to compete with the Dodgers, right? You know, it's not that sort of situation. It's in a league where, you know, like most leagues, you're rewarded for being bad with getting a first overall pick. I was just going through the Sabres lineup,

and I'm like, oh, yeah, Owen Power was the first overall pick. Is he that good? you know what I mean like I'm not saying he's bad but the number of times No you can say that Yeah but yeah okay The number of times that the sabers have drafted

What should be a significant difference maker I mean it's off the charts And they're either still in Buffalo And not thriving Or they're somewhere else And absolutely thriving How How do you explain

I don't throwing a lot at you But how do you explain Why Kevin Adams is still the general manager Because when, first of all, Terry Pagula has not spoken to the media since the day he fired Jason Botryl, which would have been 2020. So he does not hold himself accountable as the owner of the team. He makes other people speak for him, like GMs or presidents of the organization. But that day he said with Jay, they had given Jason Botryl a vote of confidence with. within a month before they fired him.

And then Terry Pagula wanted the hockey department gutted. He didn't want to pay all those people. He thought you could scout by video and all that. And Bouchroll wouldn't do it. And so that was the end of him. Kevin Adams, first thing he had to do was, first day as GM, is fire most of the hockey department. So that gives you an idea what Kevin Adams is about.

He was willing to do that just to get the job, had no experience whatsoever as a GM. and, but as Terry Pagula said, we felt we weren't being heard. That told me a lot, that it is more important to Terry Pagula to be heard, to be kind of one of the boys, to be considered a hockey man. Kevin Adams told us a couple of years ago that before the draft, he sends clips of the players to Terry Pagula, like Terry Pagula is some scout. or something.

It's like that would be like him sending clips to you or me. I mean, how are we qualified to be, you know, that's what he wants. Now, if you have a bonafide GM, who is maybe one Stanley Cops,

do you think he's going to waste his time, sending Terry Pagula clips of players? Do you, you know, he'll let Terry Pagula know what he's going to do, but he doesn't. doesn't need be asking permission to make a trade and get his opinion on it. You hired a guy to do a job, let him do the job, and let him try to turn your team into a winner.

But, I mean, you know how long the Buffalo Sabres have been in the NHL because the Vancouver Canucks have been there the same year. In the history of the Buffalo Sabres, only two general managers were hired with NHL general managers experience, two. since 1970, and one was their first one, Punch Imlack, who was the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs before Buffalo. The other was Scotty Bowman, who was the GM of the St. Louis Blues in expansion. That's it.

Not one GM has been hired by the Buffalo Sabres other than those two that has been a GM in the National Hockey League. We're speaking to Paul Hamilton from WGR 550 Sports Radio on Buffalo here on the Halford and Breft Show on SportsNet 650. You brought up his name. We went off topic, not off topic, but we went away from the topic, but I do want to circle back to it. Owen Power.

So he's the first overall pick in 2021. He makes his debut in 2022. He's got three full seasons under his belt. He's now 23 years old. He's got 29 games this year. So almost 300 games played at the NHL level. Where is his game at right now? It's regressing.

I mean, I thought at the end of last year, it seemed like he was starting to get it a little bit. But, I mean, especially offensively, you know, joining the play and showing a little bit of offensive flair, he's on their number two power play. And until the game before Calgary, it was the first time I'd seen in two years that they finally took him off to power play. He doesn't get power play points. I mean, he just, but they keep rolling him out there trying to give him confidence.

the biggest thing with him is he figures out the play and gets there like in front of the net or in the middle of the ice. Watch the goals where he's on the ice. He's there, but he's not doing anything. He's not tying the guy up. He's not taking the guy stick away. He's not in position, but he's there. He figured out that he needed to get there, but he hasn't figured out how to tie the guy up. So he's normally standing next to the goal score watching him score.

And it happens time and time and time again. Calgary, I mean, Buffalo, it just scored. Owen Power, by the way, just scored for the first time in 15 games. And within 30 seconds, he's standing around, has no idea that Cadry had gotten him around him. None. And next thing, you know, Cadre just got the puck and it's in the net. And he's standing there going, what happened?

He was completely oblivious to the fact that a player had gotten around. around him and in position to score a goal. And that's, you know, just the problem that, you know, people in Buffalo say, see the big guy and they want him to put people through the wall. Well, that's not what he does. And that's not what he's going to do. But he's not a weak guy. He can use his strength to lean on people, which sometimes he does and sometimes he

doesn't. But it just seems like this year he's going backwards. So is Bo Byram, a fourth overall pick. That was the next guy I wanted to ask you about. actually, so that's great. Yeah, because he's always of interest to us here, right? So tell us what's going on with Byram's game this year. Yeah, and, you know, he's won a Stanley Cup and signed a two-year contract to stay with

the Sabres when many thought he wanted to be traded. And it's turnover after turnover after turnover, and his confidence right now is shot. I mean, he has scored some goals recently, jumping into the play. But defensively, he gets pressured. and the next thing, you know, he caught the puck up and it's in the net. And it's really turned into a problem for them that you've got two guys who are high picks. Well, you have a third in Rasmus Dahlene. Now, he has, it took him a while, but, you know, he has become what you would expect out of a number one overall pick.

So there you go. There's three or six defensemen. Two are number one overall picks, and one's the number four overall picks. He's one of Stanley Cup. How's the blue line? Still a work of progress. That's crazy. How do you have a goals against that is like second or third worst in the NHL?

When all offseason, all you did is tell us that we need to be better defensively as a team because you can't win when you're 30th in the league defensively. Well, guess where they are? They're no better than they were last year after they spent a whole offseason, quote, getting better at it. Paul, it's always fun to catch up with you. a bunch of people texting into the show is like this makes me feel somewhat better about being a Canucks fan

I don't know this is going to be the sad club showdown on Thursday at Rogers Arena between the Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks Paul at some point in my radio career I would love to call you up and be like

how do you think the Sabres are going to fare in this first round series but yeah i remember i remember covering the buffalo savers and dallas stars in the stanley cup finals i was a young boy back then but all right paul thanks for taking the time to uh join us today and we'll chat again soon take care guys see you all paul hamilton savers reporter for wGR sports radio 550 in buffalo here on the halford bruff show on sports nine 650 so the history of general manager hires in Buffalo. I don't think

anyone truly understands how crazy it's been. Because as Paul pointed out, the only guys that they've ever hired, in case you missed it during the hit, the only guys they've ever hired with GM experience were hires in the 70s. Punch Imlack and Scotty Bowman. Everyone else

that they brought into that job, that's been their first general manager job in the NHL. Some of them been done okay though. The Sabres had good teams. Sure, but it just kind of, it's an organizational trend which you kind of ask why you're like why are you doing this is it intentional is it just like pure luck like you found a candidate that you really like did he just so happen to never have is he malleable yeah that's what he was suggesting that's what the that's what you're saying

is he play ball with the owner are we hiring the best man or we hiring a yes man i mean that's what you're asking those are questions to go right to the top of the organization and the Pugula ownership situation there is another wild development because he's done so much good for the Buffalo Bills who have been a perennial playoff team. I know that there's some issues with them but

overall the health of the franchise in terms of winning regular season games and getting to the postseason is strong and now you've got a team that hasn't been to the playoffs in 14 years and it's probably going to be 15. I look at their roster too and considering all the draft pedigree they've had

now you look at it and you're like Because a guy Like Owen Power He's the first overall pick And they signed him to a long-term contract They made a bet on him And he could still turn it around But we didn't have time to get into it with Paul

But I really wonder What it's like as Sabres fans And to see so many guys go Away from the team Like Sam Reinhart when he was with Buffalo People were like, I don't know about this guy right and then and then you hear about well bull and by him he's he's you know tons of turnovers i was like yeah yeah the team stinks you naturally when you're in this position

of not being in a winning environment and not having a good culture and probably not knowing who your leaders are you know who's who's really leading the organization it's just it's like a depressing situation and come to work yeah your game's not going to be sharp and when you give the puck away, you're probably like, eh, you know, I was just trying to make something happen out there. That's what happens a lot to these teams. They don't play within

a system, they don't play within a structure. So you go out there and you're like, man, I'm going to try and make something happen. But then you're not playing a team game. Because you probably don't even know what the team game is. Do you think we've seen that a few times from the Canucks this year? Just a couple. Maybe we'll see it again on

Thursday. Who's to say? It is the Canucks and Sabers on Thursday. What do you, have you been coining it? The sad club showdown. Sad club showdown. Thursday night. Lots of tickets still available. Trust me on that one. Okay, we got a lot more to get to on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up

in the 8 o'clock hour, Randy Janda is going to join the program. We'll talk to him about the big news from the Canucks yesterday by the way, in case you missed it, Thatcher Demco declaring himself fit and ready to go when the Canucks take on the Sabres Thursday night. Before we go to break, I do need to remind you that this segment of the show was brought to you by the

Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal since 1926. Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive, visit them downtown, and visit them in Richmond. You can also visit them online at the duik Auto Group.com. Finally, finally, before we go to break, I need to remind you that in five minutes time, call in to win today's Halford & Brough's 12 days of Christmas contest.

We're giving away stuff every day until December 16th. We've already given away some very cool stuff, tickets to sporting events, restaurant gift cards, etc., etc. Be caller number 5 at 8 a.m. 604-280.0.0. 650. That number again, 604-280-0-650. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. will be today's winner of Halford & Brough's 12 days of Christmas. You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.