Halford & Brough in the Morning - Does Brock Boeser Stay In Vancouver?

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with NHL analyst and Fan 590's Kyper & Bourne host Nick Kypreos (3:20) about his list of NHL trade targets and what the future might hold for Brock Boeser, plus they hear from Florida Hockey Now's George Richards  (25:50) ahead of the Panthers road matchup tonight versus the Canucks. 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.

🎵 702 on a thrash Thursday here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. That's Andy on the synth, by the way. Digging the synth. You don't get a lot of synth. Oh, it's great when it's used. You are listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650

Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda North Vancouver's premier destination For Honda vehicle sales and service They have a friendly knowledgeable staff That can help with anything you're looking for Sales, financing, service Or parts. We are in hour two of the program

Nick Kiprios is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominick from 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 him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider

powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec. I've sort of stopped paying attention to Twitter. I kind of mute everything now. But every now and again, I'll check my notifications. And there's a guy or a gal, who knows?

It's Ty95823860. One of my favorite handles on Twitter. First name, bunch of numbers? And so he's calling me out in consecutive replies talking about how I'm like an old man ranting and I can't admit that I'm wrong and I'm doubling down. On what? That does sound like you. I like this Thai guy already.

He seems to be on the right path. So I was reading this out to Bruff. I can't read it on the air because there's too much swearing. Well, what's it about? Holy blank. Okay. Mike Halford cannot admit he's wrong, but he doubled down just a second ago,

basically calling a listener dumb and to re-listen to Talk It's media. Oh, yeah. That was me. That was you. That was me talking about how Talk It on the Pettersson thing. Listen to it on hour one. Tie 958-238-60 if you're still listening. I'm the dumb old man. I cannot

take you seriously as a Twitter account if you are misidentifying who's Halford and who's Brough. It's unbelievable. Anyway. He just woke up today and wanted to yell at you. I guess. Anyway.

We got a lot to get into in the second hour of the program. Nick Kiprios is going to join us in just a second here. George Richards is going to join us at 730 from Florida Hockey Now to preview tonight's Canucks-Panthers game, 7 o'clock Rogers Arena. But now, joining us from the Fan 590, host of the Kipper and Bourne show, and the author of his most recent trade board, it's up now at Sportsnet.ca.

Nick Kiprio is here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Kipper. How are you? Hey, well, guys. How are you? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So trade taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. Tradeboard 1.0 is up. A lot of really intriguing names. If you start right at the top, we're actually

going to see two of these guys that top your list right away. Tonight in Vancouver, Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers and, of course, Brock Besser of the Vancouver Canucks. Let's start with what you've got on Besser here. The contract asks at least what's floating out there in the ether in terms of reports and what the Canucks might do

if they can't match that price. What do you have on Brock Besser for us, Kipper? Well, what we got is a 27-year-old in his prime considered a very good goal scorer. So as we know, Jake Gensel kind of reset the market a little bit with his recent contract. And not that we believe that Brock Besser is as good as Jake Gensel right now or as valuable as him, but what's the next best thing for him?

And right now, I think the premium on great goal scores or good goal scores in the National Hockey League, and we know Brock is one of them now, will command a lot in UFA if he gets there. That's Vancouver's challenge right now. Do we take him to what we think the market will be on him, or do we flip him right now? That's the dilemma.

So are you hearing if Vancouver is leaning one way or the other? I would believe, though, when we are talking about players like Sam Bennett as well, who, if I'm not mistaken, is 28 years old it's it's getting harder guys for for players of this you know this magnitude to to just let walk out the door for nothing and you know depending where you are and I'm sure Florida's got a similar situation where they look at a Sam Bennett and then there's the pros and cons of defending a Stanley Cup championship and to the point where you know can we can we can we keep them and then just rent them to ourselves and take another crack at this thing or do we want to get something out of it if we feel like we cannot sign them so the one thing that i hear that's consistent between sam bennett uh you want

to go down the list of brock besser you want to go down the list of ranting in uh all these top players is that the negotiations between what the teams want to offer right now and what the player wants is the size of a football field. That's the gap right now. So, again, when you're talking about guys in their prime, young player, Brock Besser, 27 years old, are we prepared to let him walk out the door if we're not willing to pay him $8 million plus? And that's where Brock feels like he can get to, you know, with a strong finish to this season.

Yeah, the Canucks insinuated in the offseason that if Brock Besser starts the season well and it looks like he's carrying on his performance from last season, which was a very impressive performance, then they would sit down with Brock Besser and talk contract. Have they actually done that yet? Like, have they exchanged offers? I guess what you're saying is they have. I don't necessarily, you know, I can't give you details on what's been offered

and what's been rejected. They talk constantly. And when they feel like they need to revisit it, they revisit it but right now it all i hear that it's it's it's not a hot topic discussion right now they're not trying to bridge anything together they understand where the gap is and then it has to come to decision time on on vancouver on on one of a couple of. Do we want to try to get this thing closer? How close can we get it? And if we don't get it close, do we think about moving the assets

before the trade deadline expires? That's where they're at right now. Yeah, it's funny. I was talking to Halford earlier in the show and I was just like, I'm just having trouble imagining them actually trading Brock Besser at the deadline if they're in a playoff spot, knowing how important he is to the team, knowing how much they want to make the playoffs and do something in the playoffs. And I'm having trouble imagining a return that wouldn't weaken the team significantly in the short term is there a way do you think that they could trade a guy like Besser and I guess the same goes for Sam Bennett and the Panthers where it's not just prospects and draft picks which is kind of what we're used to with

these rental uh trades but maybe it's something that helps shore up something else on the Canucks, because I don't know if you've heard, but the defense is a problem for this team. 100%. So again, I'm going to lump everybody in here, including Sam Bennett, Rantanen, Marner, Brock Bester. No matter how good of a player you are, there's only a small amount that a team would be willing to pay for trading these type of players without any reassurance that they're going to stick around after the season ends for them meaning that i think we might be able to see maybe one of these names moved in in march but it would have to be a sign in trade meaning that they get their eight years out of the vancouver canucks and then you flip the assets and then you treat it like a real hockey trade where you've got something significant coming back that can help you right away. Plus maybe a first rounder, plus maybe a prospect.

Then it becomes a hockey trade. But up until a player is not committed to next season and still might go down a UFA path, you're not looking at much more than a first rounder. Maybe a first and two seconds a first and a prospect i mean there's just that that small window which doesn't necessarily i think make vancouver canucks feel any better much more than it would help the toronto maple leafs or colorado avalanche with ranson and um it has to be a sign and trade. The player gets his eight years. He picks a team that he wants to go to, and that team's willing to give up significant assets

that would satisfy Alvin and the Vancouver Canucks fan base. Listen, I mean, they may all very well keep their players and rent them, or they may sign them. But this is why I did the list, and this is the reason why I find it so intriguing. Speaking of intriguing, how closely have you been following the JT Miller situation? And as a former player, what do you think about it?

Well, yeah. Listen, I'm 58 years old, right? So I still have a lot of old school in me. And then there's that dad, wake up, dad. It's 2024, right? I get that at home a lot so i think players that need time to get their head on straight or find themselves in a good place to perform again we have to be respectful but you know obviously there's a fine line between paying a player top dollars to perform and being patient with it and then getting to the point where, you know, let's go.

You know, this is why we paid you and this is why we want you to perform for us. So, I mean, it's a hard situation. We don't see it that often, guys. But in today's day and age i think you have to you have to be respectful you know in in jt miller's case and i think the vancouver canucks have have done that and and more do you think the canucks are going to be aggressive when it comes to their defense or are they in a bit of a wait and see mode, get Miller back,

get Demko up and running. They're not going to get Hronik back anytime soon, but maybe they want to see what they want, what they've actually got with this team before they commit to, you know, spending significant assets to upgrade the defense. Yeah. The problem is guys is that there's just,

and I know we have 32 teams in the league, but the availability of a quality defenseman out there, there's 12 teams looking for one guy, right? And how high do you want to bid on certain guys? And if you really, truly go down the list uh you know i mean kind of get slim a little bit on the pickings um russo uh uh russel lane and his one name that i dropped who had tremendous upside early in his career and has never really hit the high mark uh but he got a pretty good contract in Philadelphia.

And that's a name that's out there right now. But it still won't be cheap to go get him. And at the end of the day, you're really truly not sure exactly what kind of player you're going to get. But that's what Vancouver's looking at. That's what Edmontouver's looking at that's what edmonton's looking at that's what ottawa senators want and i think i think philly's in a pretty good position to ask for uh for something significant for something that's uh is right now in very high demand so knowing jimmy rutherford and his history over the last half a dozen years, especially in Pittsburgh, man, if it's one guy I'm banking on to pull the trigger

sooner than later, it would be now Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvien. Hey, Kipper, what have you got on Cam Fowler? We spoke to Frank Cervalli about him yesterday. He said that he thinks it's an intriguing fit with Vancouver. He's just not sure of the plausibility. It seems like a pretty decent conclusion that Fowler won't end the year in Anaheim, given all that's going on there. But what do you have on Cam Fowler out of the Ducks?

Yeah, he's kind of growing impatient. I think Gibson, the goaltender, has been a little impatient. I don't think it's a secret that those guys would like to move on and revitalize their careers. I watched him the other night in Montreal. I'm going to watch him

again tonight when they play in Toronto. I think he's pretty steady. I think he's legitimately an 18- 20-minute type of guy, and I think he would be an upgrade for a lot of teams. As a guy that can come in and maybe alleviate a little bit off of Hughes, I think he's a guy that Vancouver Canucks should target. I do want to ask you about the Buffalo Sabres because I watched them

lose again last night. The New York Rangers on the bright side got a win. They beat the Sabres 3-2, but the Sabres have now lost, what, seven or eight in a row? Eight. Eight in a row for the Buffalo Sabres. They got Jack Quinn, I think, was a healthy scratch last night. Owen Power has struggled at times. Byram had a couple of tough moments yesterday. And I just wonder what's going to happen

with the Buffalo Sabres because it seems like this is a team that really needs to do something significant, shake something up there. I know they did it a few years ago when they traded Jack Eichel, because it seems like this is a team that really needs to do something significant, shake something up there. I know they did it a few years ago when they traded Jack Eichel, but I guess we've been saying something needs to change in Buffalo for, what, 14 years now? But something still needs to change in Buffalo.

Yeah, and I don't know where, you know, Gould is the owner there. Of course, he owes the Buffalo Bills as well. I'm not sure he's as engaged on the hockey side than he is the football side. So, you know, for me, guys, it really starts at the very top with the ownership group. And then it trickles down, know to kevin adams and we know that kevin adams met the media the other day and started talking about the things that aren't attractive uh to to go play in buffalo i i don't think kevin adams did himself any favors at all i had heard guys uh on the team uh were not happy with the way Kevin Adams portrayed playing in Buffalo. Some of the players actually felt that it embarrassed them, you know, and I think there's

a lot to be decided above Buffalo or above the players, including ownership, including, you know, you want to keep the team, you want to sell the team. You know, how engaged are you on what goes on on a daily basis? Is Kevin Adams still the guy to make the decisions? Does that need to be, you know, revisited before you even get to to moving players i think you got to be real sure that if if it is kevin adams making these trades that you're committed

to them you know moving forward so i'd like to hear a lot from ownership or or or even you know kevin adams to say i'm i comfortable here. I've been reassured. I'm not going anywhere. And we're still very committed to building this program. But that's, to me, where it starts for the Buffalo Sabre organization. Kipper, this was great. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it.

Enjoy the game tonight and the rest of the week. We'll do this again soon. Absolutely, guys. Have a great one. You too. Thanks. That's Nick Caprios from the Kipper and Bourne Show on Fan 590. And go check out

his Tradeboard 1.0 at Sportsnet.ca. Who starts in goal tonight? I was wondering. You know what? I was going to ask you that. I don't know. I always assumed it would just be they'd go to Lankanen. Like Demko would have his... Lankanen. Like Demko would have his.

Lankanen's already beaten the Florida Panthers once this year. More just that Demko had his game. Let's just give him a few days off and make sure that everything's good. You don't want to start your Vesna caliber goaltender is what you're saying? Attaboy, Greg. Atta boy. What do you think, Laddie? I think enough time has passed. If he's feeling up for it, I wouldn't be against starting Demko again.

But better be safe than sorry. If you want to start Lankanen, that's not a bad choice either. I think you couldn't go wrong. You got to ride that Popliteus. Yeah. You got to see what it's got. If you're that worried about his Popliteus, then give him a day. I think they are that worried about his Popliteus.

Yeah, probably. I don't know. It is a really interesting debate because at some point, you're going to have to test him as like, this is what it's going to be like, full-fledged NHL workload. He's your starter. Is it the appropriate time to do it after his first start in 233 days? Some would say no, but others would say, hey, if you're feeling it and you're feeling good and i guarantee you given his competitive

streak he wants back in because he was not happy not happy after that blues game yeah he said he felt rusty and he said he felt like he could have kept a couple of those pucks out so i know that he wants back in and now it just becomes one of those things where it's like, who's calling the shots here? Is it Demko? Is it Marco Terranius? Is it Rick Tockett? Is it a collaborative approach?

Well, these next three games, I mean, they're all big games at home for the Canucks. Tonight you got the Stanley Cup champs. Saturday you got the Bruins, and it's Saturday night. I know the Bruins aren't quite as good as they used to be, but they're still a formidable challenge, I think. And then Monday might be the biggest challenge of them all, considering the way some of the games have gone defensively and details-wise for the Canucks, when you've got McKinnon and Rantanen and McCarr coming to town.

I think, okay, all due respect to that game, because I think you can score against Colorado. I think tonight is hands down the toughest game that the Canucks have had at home this season and will have in the not-too-distant future. Go look at the results that Florida has put up recently. They are cooking with gas. They have, I mentioned this earlier,

won six of their last seven. Their loss was in overtime, so 13 of the last 14 points. They're on a difficult swing, right? They got to go, they were in Seattle two nights ago. They beat the Kraken 2-1 in a shootout. And then they've got this Western road swing now. So this Vancouver game is smack in the middle nights ago. They beat the Kraken 2-1 in a shootout. And then they've got this Western road swing now. So this Vancouver game is smack in the middle of it.

But this is a team that is firing as close to, when you say full cylinders, as they have all year. Do you remember how physical that game was in Florida? From both sides. The Canucks played well. They played really a physical tough game and I think we'd all love to see them bring that sort of game to Rogers Arena tonight um they won't probably have JT Miller there but you know I just I don't know this is this is just like Spidey-sense stuff, but yesterday seemed just, and after Tuesday, it seemed tense.

Like it was just an overtime loss to St. Louis. It wasn't the biggest deal in a vacuum by itself. But I think when Talkett had a bit of a spicy post-game avail and just the fact that the first three games of this homestand, the Canucks had managed to get, what, three points out of six? But it hasn't been great. And we realize they're missing players, but it still hasn't been great.

Even if you are missing players but it still hasn't been great even if you are missing players you shouldn't get outshot 16 to 2 in any period by the Columbus Blue Jackets credit the Canucks they came back and won that one but I think they were deserved losers against the Tampa Bay Lightning and I think they were deserved losers against the St. Louis Blues although they got a point from that. So the trend hasn't been great. And now you've got better teams coming in. Now you've got Florida and now you've got Boston and now you've got Colorado. So you can look at it in two ways.

You can look at it as, wow, what a great opportunity for the Canucks. You know, up your game, shut guys like me up, and show that you've got something to this team, right? The alternative is that, you know, this thing gets dicier because there is definitely that potential.

These games seem more high stakes than usual for December games. Maybe that's just me hyping them up because that's my job to hype them up, but I don't think so. Speaking of tonight's game, the Florida Panthers are in town. George Richards from Florida Hockey Now is going to join us next to preview things from one of the hottest teams in the NHL, the Florida Panthers.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Vic Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. 7.32 on a Thursday. Thrash Thursday. Going places I never imagined.

You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Don't blame us. It sort of sounded like metal James Bond. Blame A-Dog. Blame me for the awesomeness? No, I was going to say, don't blame us if the Canucks don't come out with their hair on fire tonight. We did our part. That's true.

You see, if this was their goal song, they'd win every game. This should be played. That should be their goal song? It takes like 10 minutes to get going. Well, not this exact song, but like should be their goal song. It takes like 10 minutes. Well, not this exact song, but like a pump up song. Talk it to just go in the room and just play this at the start of every period.

And then you're like, go. Yep. Wait for it. Alfred in front of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for,

sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. George Richards from Florida Hockey Now is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour 2 is brought to you by Jason Hominick at Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. I am joking. Let him do that. Visit him on the internet at Jason.mortgage.

The Florida Panthers are in town. Joining us now to preview tonight's opponent, George Richards from Florida Hockey Now here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, George. How are you? Good morning. What's going on, fellas?

Not much. Taking a look at this Florida Panthers team. They're winning a lot of games lately. They're almost, I think they are at complete full health. They got a bunch of guys with 20 or more points this season. They got the second leading goal scorer in the

NHL in Sam Reinhardt. They have a bunch of guys going to represent their countries that the four nations face up. It feels like things are rolling pretty good for the Florida Panthers right now. Yeah, it's been a good couple months for the Panthers, right? You know, they came in, there were some question marks after, you know, they lost a couple key guys during free agency, you know, due to cap reasons and whatnot,

but they've been able to keep things going. And like you said, you've got plenty of core guys here, like Sam Reinhardt, Sasha Barkov, you know, Sam Bennett. And they've been able to, you know, just keep a steady hand on things. They're coming tonight with a seven-game point streak, 6-0-1. That came after a little bit of a rough stretch in November where the team, you know, looked a little lethargic, maybe road-weary after doing the five-game road trip, which included a week in Finland. But yeah, they looked, like you said, full strength, no injuries, and that always helps.

What's it been like watching these last two years of Sam Reinhardt just absolutely take off? There was obviously 50-plus goals last year, wins the Stanley Cup, gets paid, comes back this year, and is now right up there with Leon Dreisaitl in the NHL leaderboard in terms of goals and points. Buffalo must be so happy for him. Yeah, I know.

What an unbelievable – we should have kept him. Yeah, well, I don't think that was an option. But, yeah, no, Sam Reinhardt just, you know, Paul Maurice, anytime you ask him about Sam Reinhardt, just talks about, you know, his hockey IQ and says, you know, hey, listen, if Sam Reinhardt wants to be a GM in this league, you know, he will be that. That's, you know, that's what Paul Maurice thinks of Sam Ryan. And then you've got the skills, which are obviously off the chart.

You know, you, everyone thought, you know, after getting 57 goals, and then he got 10 more in the playoffs, let's not forget, including the game winner in game seven, that there was going to be a major regression and there just hasn't been, I mean, he has just been unbelievable, whether it's with Sasha Barkov or when Sasha Barkov was hurt. They put him back with Anton Lindell, who he had a lot of success with in his first two seasons here in South Florida.

Either way, you know, we didn't think that, you know, when Barkov came back, that Maurice would split up Lindell and Reinhardt because they were going so well, and he did. He put him back with Barkov, and boom, kept on running. So, yeah, Sam Reinhardt's been absolutely unbelievable for the Panthers. We just spoke with Nick Kiprios, and I'm sure you read his piece on sportsnet.ca, and it was a trade potential list. And Sam Bennett topped the list, and that was certainly eye-opening for me

because I figured even if Sam Bennett is a pending UFA, which he is, they're not going to trade him before the trade deadline because they're going to take another run at the Stanley Cup. What have you heard on Sam Bennett and whether or not the Panthers are going to be able to afford to keep him? Well, I didn't read the article, but no, they are not trading Sam Bennett. Just like Sam Reinhardt was atop all of those lists last year. You knew the Panthers weren't trading Sam Reinhart at the trade. What are you

going to get? Second of all, they think that he's going to come back. They're going to be able to sign Sam Bennett. He wants to stay here, and they'll work out a deal for Sam Bennett. I don't think that's a concern. They signed Carter Verhage on opening day. He got his eight years. Sam Bennett's going to get his paycheck, and it's going to come here in South Florida, I would think. You know, these guys just, they all want to stay together. The Panthers have been able to lock down their core. They've been able to keep these guys together.

You look at the deal that Sam Reinhart took last year. Everybody was talking about how he priced himself out of South Florida, but he didn't want to chase the money and go play for a team that's, you know, 10 points out of the playoffs. He already did that in Buffalo, and he was miserable. Sam Bennett loves playing with the Panthers, and even if the Panthers didn't think they could sign him, even if Sam Bennett's agent told him, hey, guys, he's going to test the waters and he's probably going to leave, like you said,

they are not going to trade him before the deadline because he's such an important piece of this team. And this is a team that, you know, they're not just treading water. They're atop the Atlantic Division. They're near the top of the Eastern Conference standings. This is a team that's going for the Stanley Cup again. You don't trade Sam Bennett when that's what you're doing. I guess the same would go for Aaron Ekblad.

Sure. Or is it, is there, are there any differences in the story? Like who is more likely to re-sign, Sam Bennett or Aaron Ekblad? Both. I think they both come back. But they are different situations, right? I mean, Sam Bennett is looking for his first, you know, big, big contract in the NHL. Aaron Ekblad already is in the middle, is at the end of his. I mean, he got an eight-year deal from the Panthers,

seven and a half million dollars per season. You know, then the panthers sign you know gus forsling you know his defense his his partner on that top defensive pairing um to just under six million so um i think that aaron eckblad signs um he's a lifelong florida panther the number one pick of the 14 draft um his life is here now. He does not want to leave. He's not going to leave. The Panthers and Aaron Eckblad will work something out, something fair to both.

But if you had to judge one or the other, I mean, I don't know. I think they are kind of lumped together, although their situations are different. Is anyone going to get squeezed in Florida? Is this going to be a thing where guys just take less to stick around and with the cap going up and with the no tax thing that they just don't really run into the cap problems that everyone else is going to have? Well, they're in cap.

They're in cap problems right now. I mean, they, they, they definitely have, you know, the other day, uh,

Sergei Bobrovsky stayed behind, uh, you know, cause his wife was given birth to their second child. Um, and the Panthers had to send Mackie Sam Skevich down to the minors just to, Jodorowsky stayed behind because his wife was giving birth to their second child, and the Panthers had to send Mackie Samuskevich down to the minors just to call up a backup goalie. So right now the Panthers are in a little bit of a cap situation, but nothing earth-shattering.

But they still have to work around some things. But, yeah, the cap going up is going to help a lot of teams, especially the Panthers because, again, the cap going up is going to help a lot of teams, especially the Panthers, because, again, they've got those two players that they need to sign. But aside from that, I mean, they signed Anton Lundell to a six-year deal. They're like Carter Verhage got his eight. Pachuk, Barkov are all signed. Forsling is signed.

So, you know, as the cap goes up, the Panthers are in good shape to keep their team together, keep the band together. But what it does do is it kind of affects how they add to it. And, you know, they're starting to get their draft stock back. Although, you know, they haven't had a first round pick in a couple of years that, couple years. That's starting to come back into play so they can make some deals. But, yeah, guys, again, guys want to be here. I mean, this isn't the Florida Panthers that we remember from 10 years ago where they had to overpay just to get some middling free agents to come here. This is a destination now.

This organization has shown it's serious about winning. It treats its players well. They built a training facility near where the players live just so the players could be close to it. I mean, that gets noticed around the league. Tell us about the goalie situation because you've got Sergei Bobrovsky who's 36 years old. He's got, after this, one year left on his deal, $10 million cap hit.

So that's sizable. But you also got Spencer Knight who's had his ups and downs as a professional, 23 years old. He's got two years left on his deal, $4.5 million cap hit. So a lot tied up in the two goaltending. He's a pending RFA after next season as well. So I guess the Panthers are pretty soon going to have to make some decisions about the future of their goaltending. Yeah, for sure.

And that's one reason why the Panthers have stressed their goalie department led by Roberto Luongo, if you know who he is, the Hall of Fame guy. I don't know if you've heard of him, but Lou kind of runs the goalie department, and that's something that they keep in mind. I mean, every year Bill Zito gives Roberto and his crew a draft pick, and they've been able to kind of, you know, add goalies throughout. You know, nobody out there that's going to, you know,

make a run at Spencer or Bob. But, yeah, there is a decision that has to be made because, you know, Sergei's still playing very well at his age. And that, you know, all of a sudden now we don't talk about his contract. We did when it was in year two and three and four, but we haven't lately because he's been such a gamer in the postseason. But again, you've got Spencer Knight, the number one draft pick in 2019, just a week before they signed Bobrovsky to that big deal. They draft Spencer Knight. So those two have kind of been tied at the hip together for the last couple years.

We'll see what happens, but you look around the league and some teams just can't figure out the goalie situation. Some teams just end up signing guys and they become superstars. Listen, the Panthers have had pretty good luck the last couple years of adding guys as, you know, number twos behind Bobrovsky. You had Alex Lyon a couple years ago. Last year, Florida had Stolarz as their backup goalie, and look what he's doing in Toronto right now. So the Panthers have been very good at identifying goalies, you know, for secondary concerns. And I think, you know, moving forward, they feel pretty confident they can do it, you know, looking at their future, future in net. How's business for the Florida Panthers these days? Like what is the Stanley Cup meant to the franchise? I know

their attendance was good last season, but I'm just wondering about the attention that the team gets now in a pretty crowded sports market. You win the Stanley Cup. Have things changed significantly? Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I'm sure we've talked about, you know, the trust factor that came in this market

and, you know and people had grown tired of the constant rebuilding here and you look at the Miami Heat and how the Miami Heat could have a really rough bad record but they had that trust in Pat Riley running things no matter what happened with the Miami

Heat you knew Pat Riley's going to get it right and now the Florida Panthers have that. Everybody, hey, whatever happens, you know what? I trust Bill Zito to get it right. The Panthers have that kind of credit here in South Florida. And yeah, business has been very good for them. They've sold out their season ticket allotment this year. You know, every game is, you game is at least 18,000. There's some no-shows and stuff, but listen, that's pretty good for South Florida.

It's pretty good for anywhere really early in a season because we really are just now getting into when the U.S. starts paying attention to stuff because they are competing with the Dolphins and the Hurricanes and the Heat. Not so much the Marlins, but, you know, the other teams down here. It is a busy market, and it is a market that's a transient market with a lot of tourists, a lot of people from other places. But now you've got kids who are growing up with the Florida Panthers who all they know is winning, right?

They've only been good since the kids have been little. And that's something huge because you talk to some of these guys, you know, some of these guys who grew up down here and who are now professional hockey players like Chikrin and Gaustus Spear, those guys grew up with crummy hockey and they still grew up to love the game. Now you've got a winning product on the ice, and you've got more ice down here than ever before. The youth hockey is just exploding down here.

So business is good in any metric you want to look at it. Panthers are doing pretty well down here. I got one more question for you, and it might be one you've you've got before but I'm curious about the day-to-day life of players on the Florida Panthers like you know this morning as I was scraping off my car from frost I was kind of thinking oh we got George Richards from Florida on the show today like I wonder what he's doing this morning probably not scraping off his car

because of the frost. Do the players, we hear so much about the low tax and we hear Florida's a destination now because people do want to go down and win and have success and win a Stanley Cup. What do these guys do during the day?

Are they on the golf course? Do they go right from practice to the golf course and that sort of thing? What is life like for these guys? Or to the pool, right? I mean, all right, first off, these guys drive golf carts to practice. Or, like, Sergei Bobrovsky, he rides his bicycle.

Or they take mopeds or whatever. I mean, yeah, I mean, you know, it's flip-flop city. You asked me what I did today. I put on a long-sleeved T-shirt and went to breakfast because it was, you know, 55 degrees here and sunny. But I had to wear the long-sleeved T-shirt, no sandals today. But, yeah, these guys love life. I mean, they all live, again, near or on the water. The Panthers built their training facility, which has everything they would ever want,

about a mile and a half away from the Atlantic Ocean. I mean, Sasha Barkov talks about, you know, just, you know, when he's after a workout, he'll go to the beach and take a dip in the ocean. Matthew Kachuk goes for a swim after morning skate, which is, you know, at the facility. Yeah, these guys are digging it, man. It's a pretty good life. It's not the life I'm living now.

Come on now. I live closer to the arena, so I'm out in the Everglades, you know, with the alligators. These guys are living life at the beach. George, this was great, man. As always, thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the weather. Enjoy breakfast if you haven't eaten it already.

Careful of the gamers. Yeah, it's over. It's lunchtime now. But yeah, thanks, fellas. Appreciate you. Nice catching up with you, George. George Richards from Florida Hockey Now here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. He's a good guy. I like George. We've hung out with him before. Yeah.

Are you jealous of those guys? Sorry? We could tell. That we've hung out with George before? The camaraderie going on. Yeah. we hung out at the bar a couple nights. Yeah. George is good people. He's a good guy. Yeah. So what do you think players that play in Winnipeg or Edmonton

or even Vancouver or even some of the cold – so Ray texted me yesterday. We were just texting back and forth. He said, I just landed in Minnesota. It is minus 17 here. What do you think those players think when they hear from the likes of Kachuk and Barkov, and they're like, I drive a golf cart to practice? Yeah, I know that there's players that –

And they can probably buy a lot more house than they can in, for example, Vancouver. I know having spoken with guys that played in LA, a similar thing. The guys that were on like Redondo or Manhattan Beach and had places on the water. I remember Daryl Sutter raved about it. They were all in the beach towns like Manhattan Beach or Hermosa or whatever. So it was one of those things where like even daryl sutter's you think i would miss like the the cold winter air whipping through the prairies but he loved being outside in the warmth on the beach it was being outside it was just different climate so i there's absolutely

guys that would love that and i i think it does play a role when you're able to win there and that's kind of what they've done in florida They've created this team that has all the hallmarks of what you need from a Stanley Cup contender. Big, physical, hyper-competitive, nasty, and fully engaged in winning. No one's there for a vacation. No, and that's the way it used to be for the Panthers. People were like, oh, okay, well, I'll go to Florida.

At least the weather's good. Yeah, and I think what it shows, or maybe the understated part of all this, is that culture is portable. You can move it anywhere if you've got the right guys carrying it. If you have Kachuk, Bennett. Barkov. Barkov.

Yeah. Guys that are hardwired. Starts with Barkov, in myoff. Yeah. Guys that are hardwired. Starts with Barkoff, in my opinion. Yeah, guys that are hardwired to win and have that DNA that's really going to be more beneficial in the playoffs than in the regular season. And it doesn't really matter where you're playing hockey. You know, we talk, I mean, yesterday especially,

there's a lot of talk about market and the impact that it has on players and everything. And I do still think there is some merit, and there always will be, to how much it means to a Canadian market more than an American one. I don't think that'll ever go away. I don't think you can ever replicate the amount of joy and the legendary status that you would achieve in Vancouver as opposed to winning a Stanley Cup. That's what you have to sell. That's what you have to sell.

That's what you have to sell, the potential for glory, true glory. The question moving forward is how big a selling point is that going to be for guys? Yeah, who knows, right? But I think that would be the main selling point. But you've got to have a team that has the potential to reach that glory. My selling point moving forward would be come home

and play for the team that you cheered for, Macklin Celebrini, Conor Bedard. Those would be the guys that you would target. It's going to be a long way away, though. I'm just saying, if we're talking in terms of where markets are going to evolve to. If Toronto can do it with John Tavares, then why can't we do it with Macklin Celebrini

and Conor Bedard? It would be the John Tavares-Toronto pitch all over again. What's the hook that you have? It's not the weather. Did you have Canucks pajamas? It's all over again. Yeah, yeah. What's the hook that you have? It's not the weather. Did you have Canucks pajamas? It's not the weather. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right? But that's what you do have to sell. You can whine and complain about, oh, they got better weather and they got better taxes. Find out what your advantage is and then sell that to the best of your ability. By the way, I know that we are two hours into the show and we haven't even mentioned, and let's be honest,

it's the biggest story in sports right now. And that's that Bill Belichick is going to coach the University of North Carolina. Not the basketball team. Take that, Jamie Dodd. Yeah, so I missed this. What did Dodd say? So I had it as a what we learned that Belichick is having in conversation

with the University of North Carolina, and Dodd kind of brushed me off. He took a page out of Drance's playbook and brushed me off. He dismissed you? It was very dismissive. He's like, I don't even know why we're talking about this. Why? It's never going to happen. This is not going to happen.

You think Bill Belichick is going to go to the University of North Carolina? And then I sold him the dream. I sold him the dream. But he wasn't buying it. And it was like, hey, what if you could go to a college program that has really no reputation for football? You know, North Carolina is a basketball school. Yep. Great basketball North Carolina is a basketball school. Great basketball school, but a basketball school. What if you could go to a program like that

and build it up into a powerhouse? What could that mean for your legacy? Yeah. And especially in this era of transfer portal and you can build a team a lot faster than you used to in college look what Deion Sanders did at Colorado yep I think Bill might have a slightly different style than Deion Sanders and I don't know if it's going to work in college I don't know if it's going to appeal to players I I think there's a lot of people that are very skeptical that Bill Belichick

will be able to recruit and will be able to coach. He's never coached at the college level, and it's a different game. But some guys have been successful at both. I know you see Pete Carroll down at USC and then came up and won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks. But Pete Carroll is a very different personality than Bill Belichick. Will Bill Belichick appeal to younger players? I mean, he can be very hard on players, but if you get the type of person that is

very serious about an NFL career, about a professional career, then Bill Belichick is going to have, I think, an appealing pitch to you. And North Carolina, it's a beautiful area. It's a hotbed of high school football talent yeah and it's also a global brand even though the football program isn't the tar heel carolina blue all that stuff is it's a worldwide recognition whether he succeeds

or fails i'm glad he's doing this i think this is really really interesting and intriguing like as opposed to him being like i'm gonna coach the bengals or something right like that would be interesting don't get me wrong but i also think he's gonna do this for a year and then quit to go back to the nfl but we can discuss that well 26 i also wonder is this a dad trying to set his son up for the future? Possibly. And is that going to be kind of the unspoken agreement or maybe a spoken agreement that when he leaves the program, because he is in his early 70s now, his son will take over. oldest head coach in college football now and he's replacing Mac Brown who was previously the oldest head coach in college football well next up for them president of the United States

Thomas where to go Thomas Jansken to join us next on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.