Halford & Brough in the Morning - Elliotte Friedman On What The Canucks Will Do With Boeser & EP40

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

It's Trade Deadline Day! In hour one, Mike & Jason chat with Elliotte Friedman (6:32) about what the Canucks will do with Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson today, plus they look at the other trades around the league thus far with NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen (26:50). 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.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- Shoot, save, and a look and a score! On the rebound, Oliver Bjorkstrand! Welcome to the Lightning! I'll trade you this delicious doorstop for your crummy old Danish. Done and done. Go! Blue's Captain Braden's Shed and Possibly available. You can trade it all in for what's in this box. The box, the box! Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend.

Woo! This box. The box. The box. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Bankers. 6.01 on a Friday. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford, it is Bruff, it is Sportsnet 650, and we are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Bruff in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can know with anything you're looking for,

sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of a four hour program today for trade deadline day. Hour one of this program is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

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only at AJ's Pizza. AJ is gonna be joining us on the show today, one of eight guests we have for your listening pleasure today, four hours, eight guests. We are going over the top with hockey coverage as we get closer to the actual NHL trade deadline, which is noon today. Our guest list begins in about three minutes time. Elliot Friedman from Sportsnet is going to join us right off the hop. He will be followed by Dan Rosen of NHL.com at 6.30. Seven o'clock, we're going to talk to AJ's. We are going

to do Ask Us Anythings. And a reminder, the best Ask Us Anything today gets a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. 7.30, we're gonna do our usual hit with Bob the Mojmar Janovich. Eight o'clock, Rick Dollywall is gonna be the first of a run of Canucks guests that we're gonna get, beginning with Dollywall, Satyarshah, Dan Murphy, Annie and McIntyre. So we're going Canucks guests that we're gonna get, beginning with Dolly Wall, Satyarshah,

Dan Murphy, and Ian McIntyre. So we're going Canucks heavy. The big four. Yeah, in the latter half of the show, as we get closer and closer to noon, there's about a million things we need to get into. I'll remind you, the $100 gift card to AJ's is up for grabs starting right now.

Get your text in. The Dunbar number text message in basket is 650-650, hashtag it WWL or AUA and put a pizza emoji into your text. The winner will get a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. It is a four hour show. Halford and Bruff here with you until 10 a.m. this morning as we take you through the early stages

of Trade Deadline Day. Now I will say, one, this show is gonna look and sound kinda different than our normal shows. Things won't be in their usual places at their usual times, that's fine. Also, we will be reacting to a lot of trades in real time, talking to guests about what's kinda percolating. History has shown that the first couple of hours

of these shows that begin at 6 a.m. on Trade Deadline Day can be slow. You don't get a ton of these shows that begin at 6 a.m. on trade deadline day can be slow. You don't get a ton of trades really this early in the morning. There is some news percolating out there. So I would say for the first couple hours, we'll be talking to a lot of guests, looking ahead to what might be happening and looking back on some of the trades and some of the scores from last night in the National Hockey League. But hopefully we'll be checking in with the trade desk brought to you by Tiltown.

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is we'll play our usual What Happened music just to keep some familiarity on the show. Laddie, without further ado, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was.

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We are waiting on Freage still, Adog, is that correct? We're still waiting on Elliot Freeman who is incredibly busy this morning. He's going to be joining the program Hopefully shortly, but we do have some things to run down yesterday We'll talk to Freage about everything that canucks might do today yesterday The Canucks did make a move of notes sending defenseman Carson Susie to the New York Rangers for a 2025 third round pick which actually belongs to the San Jose Sharks I can go through the lineage of how that pick got to New York, but it doesn't matter. No thanks.

It's now belonging to the Vancouver Canucks. So, fare thee well, Carson Sousi. We'll always remember you for cross checking Connor McDavid in the face. A good job by the Canucks moving out a struggling player. I think that's fair to say with a contract that didn't work for them anymore. And a good job by, and this was reported by Rick Dollywell, by JT Miller of convincing Susie to waive his no trade clause and join the Rangers. Uh, Susie, he simply became the odd man out,

uh, after, well, he struggled earlier in the season and then the Canucks added the two Pettersons to the backend, Marcus Petterson especially, but also, um also Elias Pedersen. I think Fourboard has also been more reliable than Susi this season. And I wouldn't, I wouldn't actually be surprised if they eventually gave Fourboard an extension,

if the price was right. Don't forget that Willander is expected to sign this season. So that would be another guy that Susi would have had to battle for a spot with. We're going to pivot now to the phone lines. Very happy to be joined by our next guest. Sportsnet's Elliot Friedman joins us now on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Freage. How are you? Mike, there's no way you're really that happy. No chance.

I love being at work early in the morning. I'm just really excited to be here. I gotta ask you, I did not sleep much last night but I imagine it's more than you. Did you get any sleep last night? Three hours. Nice. It was actually more than I thought. Okay. Yeah. So in those- Yeah, more than I thought. In those three hours, apparently,

the winds of change have shifted on the Miko Rand in front yet again. This is one of the more complex and more diverse- I don't know about that. Okay, just go ahead. Tell me what's going on. I don't care what anybody says. They have a trade. Okay, just go ahead. Tell me what's going on. I don't care what anybody says. They have a trade.

There's a trade done and, uh, uh, and now it's just contingent on getting the extension done. We'll see. There's time. I mean, uh, I've been through enough contract negotiations to know that, uh, that, you know, these things are a grind and especially when it's tight and there's a deadline on them, we'll see. But for anyone to say there isn't a trade

that's done pending this, it's a joke really. Okay, so just for everyone out there in ListenerLines so that they know, overnight in case you were sleeping and maybe you're just waking up, it does appear as though that Caroline is on its way to sending Miko Rand into the Dallas Stars. We're still waiting on a return and what the contract extension in Dallas will look like.

But before we get into all the Canucks stuff, I do wanna ask one, what exactly happened at the end for Carolina ultimately to decide that they didn't wanna risk it and they were gonna flip Brandon? I just think they were concerned that he wasn't gonna sign there at all. He was definitely not gonna to sign by today.

And I think they were beginning to worry that he wasn't going to sign at all. I think that they canvassed around the league. There's definitely a feeling that Randon would be willing to go to Dallas. And I think too, like one team that, uh, Talk to, uh, Carolina indicated to me that they wanted some, like they really wanted like when you look at what they gave up, they wanted, I don't know if the comparables the right word, but they wanted something that really, they really liked back. Like they really wanted a good player back and the the stars and the Hurricanes are being very careful about talking about what's in this potential deal

because just in case it doesn't happen, but from what I understand, there's a player there that the Hurricanes are really happy to get. I think there were a lot of other teams that weren't willing to do this kind of deal because they couldn't guarantee that they could get Rantanen signed. I don't know how many places he's really interested in signing, but I think that's kind of where it stands.

So this won't come with an extension for Rantanen, but maybe it'll come with, hey, he's at least maybe interested. No, I don't think so. I think they have to get the extension done. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, or at least to a point where Dallas is like, this is going to get done. After what we've just been through and what Carolina's just been through, I don't think you can do any less than that. Would it be an eight-year extension? Is it a sign and trade or is it trade and sign? Well, you can trade. It doesn't have to be a sign and trade, like as long as Dallas has them on the roster by three o'clock today, they can sign

them to an eight year deal. Okay. Three Eastern, I should say. Okay. Any, anything more to add on the ranted in front? Not really. I like it, like these things, uh, I mean, we've all done contract negotiations before.

They're roller coasters. Yeah. Uh, okay. Vancouver Canucks, what is the goal for the Canucks today? Well, that's a good question. Um, I think they'd like to move their, uh, UFAs if they could.

Um, you know, I, I, I know they feel that they would love to get, and it seems like everybody's always talking about this, I know they'd love to get their hands on a center with team control if they could. I don't know what the chances of that are. Look, I think they feel they took care of a big thing in goal by getting Lankton and signed. They feel much better about the overall state of their defense moving ahead. They've got obviously Hughes, they've got Roenick, they've got Pedersen signed now. I heard you guys talking a couple minutes ago, hoping to get Vlander this season. You know, Susie, I think Susie, like, I think Susie handled himself extremely well. But his time there in terms of being a regular was coming to an end and his money is off

the cap for next year. So I think they feel they've done a lot of work that they like on the blue line. I think they would love to add a center if they could. But that's a hard thing to do. Everybody's look at what Colorado had to pay for right now, a player who's a rental center. That's a big price. So those are hard to find. What is the market for Brock Besser right now? You know, I think right now, I think the, I mean, we'll see.

I think there's a lot of players and I think Besser is in that category where, you know, teams kind of know what the price is and they were kind of waiting to see how everything fell and then made their decisions today. Besser, I think Vancouver is willing to retain. I think they're looking for the best possible asset they can get and we'll see how things fall. I think the thing too is that if you look at what's going on out there, these are really high prices. So I'm very curious to see if teams don't get what they want. Do they simply say, you know what, we're not,

we're not doing that. So I think that's, I think Vancouver's probably at the mercy of some other teams right now that have to make some decisions. Elliot, I don't want to get you radioed here, but do any obvious names come to mind when you're thinking about centers with term that could be uh, on the move today? I actually have to say, I really haven't

thought a lot about it. I mean, the obvious name is Cousins. Um, but I don't know what to expect there. I mean, we've been, you know, uh, Jason, we've been talking about him all year. Yeah. And, uh, you know, what was wild is, uh, I didn't really get a chance to watch a lot of their game

last night, but I saw clips like, uh, it was really, it was skewering them. Yeah. Yeah. You know what? Like, like he told no lies as the kids say, right? Um, uh, so it was, it was just really interesting. I mean, Cousins is the name we've talked about all season long. The one thing I absolutely know with a hundred percent certainty

is that the Sabres have told everybody all year that that's a hockey trade. Like they're not doing that for futures. They're doing that for players who can help them now. So he's one of the names that absolutely jumps out at me. And you know, if anyone, I mean, I was, I was laughing the other night, watching the end of the game, watching Zegras fight Connor Garland, that probably didn't hurt Zegras' market value at all. Yeah. So since you, you brought up Cousins, at times that's been connected to a possible trade with the Canucks surrounding Elias Pettersson.

Do you think Elias Pettersson is possibly moved today or has that gone pretty quiet? Because we kind of heard some mixed reports. I've always heard that it was unlikely. And, you know, I know, uh, Jason, you'd like a better answer than that, but I go with the best source I have and the best source I had told me unlikely. Now I know that there was some reports yesterday about New Jersey. I think the thing that makes sense about that, just from a purely informational point is that I think New Jersey with huge

injuries looking at every center option they can, Like there's also a report yesterday talked to O'Reilly like I just think that's the devil's doing their due diligence. So you know for someone to suggest that maybe New Jersey was looking at Pedersen I bet you they probably called the Canucks and asked but I I've been told that like the best source I have has said unlikely so that's what I'm sticking with. So there and asked, but I've been told that the best source I have has said unlikely. So that's what I'm sticking with. So there is some consternation in the market,

as there usually is in Vancouver. Yeah. With the idea. Why is that not the case? It's kind of a 365 days a year type of thing, but with the idea that the Canucks might keep Brock Besser and Pugh Suiter because making the playoffs is important and maybe there isn't the right deal out there.

Um, first of all, the chance of that happening, what do you think the chances of that happening without an extension for Brock Besser, thus risking him walking away for nothing in the off season? I think it's possible. I don't know that I would, I don't want to put a percentage on it. I think it's possible. There's a couple things you have to realize here. Number one, cap space matters. And so if they lose players and they create the cap space, I don't think that's the worst thing in the league. The other thing too is, and I've really learned this over the years, is that if

you're someone and sometimes you get forced into a corner, I don't think the Canucks are as far as I can tell. When, when you say, here's my price, here's my price, here's my price. And then you panic or at the deadline, you drop that price and you just basically give someone away for much less, especially in a year like this one, you get that label. You get that label as someone who, you know, you can outweigh them and they'll bend to your will. And you know, unless you have someone who steps up like a, and I'm not saying that's happening here,

but I've seen it happen before. Unless you get someone like an owner or someone who says, look, you have to get rid of this person. I have learned enough from dealing with these GMs over the years that you do not want to be known as the person who caves under pressure at the last possible second. So I do think that's a possibility.

I'm having a Dan Hamhus at the deadline flashbacks here because I remember that. I don't remember what that was to be perfectly. That was Jim Benning being unable to move Dan Hamhus at the deadline and not being willing to essentially accept a third round draft pick in return. Just because you didn't want that reputation as a guy.

I think Burke, Brian Burke used that line a few years. I'm not saying it's a line, like I understand it. But I think Canucks fans would be really disappointed if they trotted that out today. You know what? Okay, look, I think the one thing is I respect fans. Fans are entitled to, to feel how they feel.

I have no issue with that, but I do think that's a thing. Like, uh, I, as I've done this longer and longer, I have grown to believe that that is a very real feeling and a very real thing. And when you are dealing with these general managers, you're dealing with sharks in the water and you have to, you can't be, you don't want to be the piece of bloody meat that they're all circling, Jason, put it that way.

Yeah, no, I get it. I get it. Rutherford's been doing this for a long time. A long time. He's one of those old sharks that swims around and he's like that guy's been through the wars. Yeah, that guy, he is a shark. Elliot, making the playoffs is obviously important for the Canucks.

They went into this season very much expecting to make the playoffs and right now they're on the bubble. Do you think the, the economic, let's call them economic headwinds against the Canadian teams, especially right now makes it doubly important that there's some playoff revenue? I think it always matters. Like I do.

I mean, look like, you know, I think people want to make the playoffs. You know, I, I do. I mean, I, you know, I think like players want to play in the playoffs. I don't think you should ever discount this. It's another thing I've learned over the years is that we may look and say, Oh, a team's number eight, no chance. But a player looks at it as a player looks at it as we've got a shot at this. Like, why wouldn't we want to do that? So I, you know, I think it's a lot of things.

So I think revenue matters. Yes, absolutely. Like I'm sure season ticket renewals and things like that are always better when you make the playoffs, it just makes sense. But I think at the end of the day, your players want a shot to compete in the postseason. And I do think like, I do think it reflects badly on teams when they consistently don't make the playoffs

or they don't make the playoffs to players in the room. They don't like it. We're speaking to Elliot Freeman, SportsNet NHL insider here on the Haliford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Okay, I want to touch on a couple of these other non-Connex big stories that are percolating across the league. What's the likelihood or possibility of Brad Marchand actually being moved by Boston at 3 p.m. Eastern today? As of last night, it was 50-50. Okay. 50-50, I would say.

How much pressure is there in Toronto to make something happen in light of what Florida and Tampa Bay have done, and does that end with Braden Shen becoming a Toronto Maple Leaf? Well, I would say that the pressure wasn't forcing me, gravity wasn't forcing me to the sidewalk this morning as I walked over to the studio. But you can feel it, and I think they do too.

The Shen price is big. I've heard it's, I've heard they're not, like I've heard they're really wrestling with it. I think Lawton might be more likely, but I think they're also looking at Dee. Edmonton made the move last night. I believe it's been finalized now that Jake Wallman is- Yeah, they announced it at about 10 year time, maybe 11 year time. Are they done? And what happens with the Vander Cane? I think the Cane thing, the move they made last night seems

to indicate to me that they've got some clarity that Kane may not be back until the playoffs. It's a tough move for them to make otherwise. So I'd have to see there. I have to see what that is. That indicated, doing Wallman last night indicates to me that they think they've got some freedom because I think they took his full salary. I'm sure they're looking around, but I know that Frederick and Wallman were like, those kinds of players were top two on their list to get done. Was that Kane's situation a little bit unusual? It was like, I think it's honestly, Mike, I think it's this, it's that, you know, Kane missed the last five games of the Stanley cup final last year.

And I think he wanted to prove to them that he could be a factor in the playoffs. I think that's one of the reasons he wanted to play on the regular season is just to show that like, I think one of the things he was most concerned about, uh, and I heard this second hand was, you know, what if their team goes on a run at the end of the regular season, he shows up in the playoffs and they're like, we don't need you right now. Like we're good. So I think he wanted to prove that he was ready and I understand that. Fridge, you had a big day ahead with that. We will let you go. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this this morning. We really do appreciate it. Enjoy the

next few hours. It should be a lot of fun. All right, boys. Have a good day. You too. Thanks for each. That's Elliott Friedman, Sportsnet NHL insider here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What are your expectations for the Canucks today?

My optimistically, I hope that they are very, very busy and very, very active and there's a lot of different moves, pieces being moved on the chessboard. I just want- That's kind of where I'm at too. I want to see some wheeling and dealing. Even if they just play facilitators and some trades. Sure. Use your cap space when you have it.

This is a very vague description. I just want to feel better about the Canucks after today. And if they don't do very much, I don't think I'm going to feel better about them. Get aggressive out there. Don't be afraid to make some moves and don't be afraid to make some changes because I don't think this team right now is, it might be a playoff team, but I don't think it's a Stanley Cup contender.

It's got a lot of work to do. Yeah, I think there's the possibility, if you just look at the raw numbers, that you could be active today and you could be busy. Uh, I hope that flipping Carson Suess yesterday, although it's an entirely different scenario than other pending UFAs, I hope that that mentality where it's like, we don't want to let

this asset walk for nothing, nothing rules the day. Also. Well, they got so much cap space. They got so much deadline cap space. Use it. They've been accruing all year. Yeah, exactly. You can't just accrue and then not use, right?

You haven't sent Nils Oman down to Abbotsford 13 times this year for nothing. You gotta use it. You gotta use it. Okay, a friendly reminder that all of our trade deadline coverage today is brought to you by the best pizza place in the world. AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, 325 East Broadway or online at ajs.pizza. If you want to go check them out, go anytime this weekend.

There's a game tonight and there's a game on Sunday, Vancouver hockey night, $6 pints of Pilsner. So go check them out. We'll be mentioning AJ's throughout the show. AJ's going to join us at seven o'clock. Maybe noted NHL insider Jimmy Aces will have some more to join us at seven o'clock. Maybe noted NHL insider, Jimmy Aces will have some more information for us at seven o'clock coming up on the other side of the break though. Dan Rosen from nhl.com.

He's running their trade deadline day tracker. We'll talk to Dan about all the moves that have been made, including some late last night, and then look ahead to what might happen on trade deadline Friday. You're listening to the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's a Fiesta Friday.

It's an Ask Us Anything Friday. It's Trade Deadline Day Friday here on the Haliford & Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. All of our administrative nonsense coming together into one four hour show. That's right, dear listeners. It's a four hour Haliford & Bruff special today on this particular Friday.

Muy caliente. It is. It is great. I stole your line. Dan Rosen from NHL.com is going to join us in just a moment here as we continue our Trade Deadline Frenzy coverage. You are listening to the Haliford & Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford & Bruff in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go is the senior writer at NHL.com.

Dan Rosen joins us now in the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Dan, how are ya? Good morning guys, what's going on? Not much, we're working on very little sleep. Not much is right right now. Yeah, it's slow. We've done this song and dance before.

We know the first couple hours when you get in this early in the morning can be slow and then things start to pick up. But there were some deals of note last night and I want to begin with the biggest one of them all and that's the New York Islanders finally parting ways with longtime Islander Brock Nelson getting a pretty package in return as well flipping him to Colorado. Let's start with what Colorado is getting here though. Brock Nelson is very good, very consistent.

He's on the wrong side of 30, but he's still a productive guy, and of course was a member of Team USA at the four nations. So what exactly are the Avalanche getting here in Brock Nelson? Well, they're getting a guy who's a second line center, and that's likely where he slots in for them. He's kind of, I remember talking, I've seen him play a bunch, obviously,

and had this, you know, this theory of my own but I talked to Billy Guerin when after he was named to Team USA, Four Nations, Billy was just like, he's on the team because this guy's a Swiss Army Knight, like he does everything. You want him to kill penalties, he'll do that. You want him to play on the power play, yep, he does that pretty well. Play second line center, sure. Want him to play third line left wing? He could do that too. You know, like, so it's one of those things where he's kind of all over the place and

it's options for coach Jared Bednar there in Colorado. He's got so many options now with Brock Nelson, what he could do with him. I see him as the second line center. He hasn't quite worked out with Casey Middlestad in that spot right now. Maybe Casey Middlestad's better in a bottom six role, you know, for this season. Right? So we'll see. but I like the addition for Colorado. You know, as Nate McKinnon said last night, right? I mean, we have to. This is what we have to do. We're not a rebuilding team yet. But they're not. They got to go for it. This is going

for it. Listen, this wasn't, this was a pretty price to pay for Brock Nelson. This tells you, to me it tells you the type of seller's market we have this year with so many teams believing that they're in it. It's a seller's market and they were able to, the outers I think did really well with Callum Ritchie and the guarantees of Callum Ritchie in a first round pick. So there is the potential, I suppose, if this Rantinen trade goes through with Dallas and Colorado, frogs, Minnesota for the third place in the central division, we've got a

chance for Rantinen to be playing his old squad in the first round of the playoffs. What do you think of that? I love it. It's chaos, right? I mean, that's the chaos. We love to see if you're not involved in invested, you know, in a team.

Certainly when the Colorado avalanche on June 24th traded Miko Rantanen or came to the decision that they have to trade Miko Rantanen, the idea wasn't to have him playing against them at some point in the playoffs this year. So listen, we don't know where this is going with the Dallas Stars and the Carolina Hurricanes, but Colorado is certainly a factor in all of this and they get Brock Nelson and that's great for them. But you know, if Miko Rampen and gets traded back into the central division to Dallas and signs a contract

with them, then Miko Rampen is going to become a nemesis of the Colorado Avalanche for years to come. And that to me is just a fascinating part of this whole thing. Cause you know, like I said, when the Avalanche decided to trade them, they didn't want to trade, they certainly didn't want to trade them in the Western conference. They absolutely didn't want to trade them in the sent into the team to essential division team. Right? So now he could be back.

Uh, so which is very interesting. Okay. Talking about today, I know the Islanders already made a big move, but, uh, the three teams you see a lot are the Islanders, the Rangers, and the Devils. Who do you think is going to be the busiest today? Well, it's really, well, the Islanders, we know they made that move and I think it's going to be

interesting to see what they do with Kyle Palmer right now. Do they re-sign him? Do they trade him? He's a USA to be, he's a fifth heir of Long Island and I can understand the intent to want to re-sign him. But like I said, this is a seller's market and the Islanders have to get younger and Cal Fulmer is 34 years old. So we'll see where it goes, but I'm not, for me, I'd lean more towards trade right now, but I'm clearly not running the show there.

And the guy who is, is not gonna let me know what he's doing. He doesn't let anybody know what he's doing. In Long Island, the Rangers have been quite active already. They get Carson Soucy, right? I mean, you guys tell me what you think of him. He's had a tough season here in Vancouver, but he's a good player. No, no, no, he's a good player.

He was good last season, but I don't know if it was a confidence thing or just, I mean, it's been a little bit noisy here in Vancouver. I don't know if you've heard. Yeah, a little bit. But so like that's a classic, just needs a fresh start type of guy for me. I tell, I look at it too.

I really do. And I think it's a fit there for the Rangers. They need a big defenseman like him. And if, like I could see it with Adam Fox comes back to Suzy gets that spot next to Adam Fox. And you know, Fox is not a physical defenseman. He's physically limited in, you know, in that capacity of the child, that type of game. But Susie can do a lot of that stuff the way Ryan Lindgren did.

It's a Brian Lindgren's not a big guy. Susie's a big guy. He's more durable. He can handle more of it, right? So that's kind of how I see it. And they were, they thread that needle to Rangers by get, you know, trading the guys they weren't going to sign and getting a guy in who they believe can be a part of it next this season and next for them at a very reasonable cap at a 3.25 if the Rangers are gonna make another move that's the type of move I see them making nothing to break the bank but a move that will help them right now and then it's a guy that's gonna be with them next season too because they're

not re-sooling or rebuilding. The Devils are an interesting one. Obviously the Jack Hughes injury is huge and it makes you think that, I already thought the New Jersey Devils needed another center and that was before Jack Hughes got hurt. Now he's out and I wonder if they go bigger with an eye towards the future too, right? So the name out there for me is Ryan O'Reilly. I don't know if Nashville's trading them on all three ones out or anything like that, but you get Ryan O'Reilly, he'll help you right now and maybe even go with the Devils and win a round without, you know, without Jacquees, especially, you know, if Carolina's

sort of in flux a little bit, right? And that ends up being the matchup. But then you'd have that player, I'm naming Ryan O'Reilly for it, coming back next season and your center depth is Jack Hughes, Nick O'Heesher and Ryan O'Reilly. To me, that's great, right? So that's the move I would, that type of move, maybe not that specific player, but that type of move is what I'd be looking at for the, for the devil. Uh, one more thing on the devils before we pivot off to other, uh, trade deadlines stuff, this is the second consecutive season that Jack Hughes'

year has ended with shoulder surgery. How much concern is there internally or maybe externally from the fan base and media or whoever else covering the team about his durability, given that it's not necessarily a chronic injury, but shoulder two years in a row he's a diminutive guy he does take a lot of bumps and it's a physical sport the future of Jack Hughes as it pertains to his health and his shoulder. Yeah I mean I think it has to be a question right but you know you just look at his size and the way he plays and there was already a question right so this one was

unfortunate it kind of tangles, you know, click skates, it looks like to me a little bit with Jack Eichel on that play and then just, you know, at the wrong place on the ice to do that. And, you know, goes in the wrong way into the boards. And I'll be honest with you, if that's reversed and Jack Eichel is clicking skates with Jack Hughes and he goes into the boards, Jack Eichel's a big dude. He probably hurts his shoulder in a big way on that

type of play too. Just you know that's a hard collision. But I see what you're saying with Jack Hughes. Listen, you know he's not a big guy. He tries to play bigger than his size. He's gonna get hurt at times. We're seeing it. I don't think the Devils can be bubble wrapping him or're seeing it. I don't think the Devils can be bubble wrapping him or anything like that. And I don't think he needs to change his game, but it is certainly alarming that it's back to back here. We are speaking to Dan Rosen, NHL.com senior writer

here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Dan, I know you're writing away furiously on the trade deadline live blog at NHL.com. You got articles going up throughout the day. Have you put together like a rough draft or a bare bones post on a potential Brad Marchand trade out of Boston? I have not.

I wrote last night, you know, obviously the Marchand situation is very interesting. Well, you know, I find it hard, right? Like, I don't know. Like, for me, you know, it was part of, it's up on the site now and my trade deadline blog, the, you know, the 1230 AM entry. Um, you know, I would keep Brad Marshand. I think you trade him and it's just, it's, it's a culture changing trade, right?

He's the culture center. He's the guy that's there. The extension of Chara to Bergeron to Marchand. I would try to refine him. And the other thing that I would do here with Brad Marshall, the other thought I have with Brad Marchand is you get him back in, I don't know what the contract is. So say it's a two year deal. Maybe he wants to, right? But you get him back in, you're going to get a super motivated Brad Marchand at the start of next season for two reasons.

One, he doesn't like what's happening this season in Boston, obviously. So there's going to be that motivation. But two, this guy wants to play on Team Canada at the Olympics and he wants to play there in a bad way, right? He loved the four nations face-up. You're going to get a really motivated Marchand and hopefully you're going to get a Marchand that's not coming off of three surgeries in the off season too, right? So I look, I know there's a lot of wear and tear on that little body that he's got. He's banged it around for years in the national hockey league, but I think for Boston, if you trade him, that that is a significant move,

signifying a big culture change with the Boston Bruins. I don't know that they want to go there. Hey, speaking of motivated players, what does JT Miller meant for the Rangers? He's been terrific with the Rangers. He really has been. Not surprisingly, but you guys saw it. He's a play driver. He's a drag you into the fight kind of guy.

Uh, and he's, he's been absolutely terrific with them, but most importantly, I think too, from, from an ancillary perspective from the Rangers is the fact that it's allowed Mika Zabaniad to move over to the right wing. And so Zabaniad will take face-offs on his strong side. Miller will take face-offs on his strong side. And Peter Lavielet will say like, all right, whoever takes the face-off is pretty much the center, but it's taken a little bit off of Mika's plate in that way.

And I've seen a much fresher, better Mika Zyvanajad playing with J.P. Miller and Will Cooley's got that drive to play with Miller too. That line has been really good and Miller's just been spectacular for the Rangers. I'm just wondering, like about the team, because earlier in the season, the Rangers were getting the results, but there was a fear that they weren't playing very well. And then Chris Drury kind of put it out there.

I can't even remember exactly how it went, but it put it out there that some guys might be available and then they completely went in the toilet for a bit. Um, are they playing like legitimately good hockey right now because they might sneak into that, let's say they sneak into that second wild card spot and they get Washington in the first round.

If I'm the capitals, I'm like, I don't really love this matchup. No, yeah. I have somebody tell me the other day, if the Rangers end up getting that second wild card and playing Washington, they'll beat Washington. Well, we'll see, we'll see on that. I mean, listen, it's a why not us Eastern conference, right?

I mean, there's not a dominant. If Florida may be the dominant team in the conference, but they also got a lot of, they got a lot of miles on them from the last couple of years, Washington's really good and they're very resilient, but they're not like a dominant good and they're very resilient, but they're not like a dominant team. The Rangers played Washington the other night. They played them pretty well. They had a 2-1 lead going into the third period. They lost the lead.

I don't know, Bechshund Power played goal and they ended up losing the game in overtime. But it was a strong game for them and that makes a couple of strong games in a row defensively for the Rangers. They were really strongly against the Islanders defensively. They were really good against the Leafs defensively, even in a three to two loss. So they're, they're playing better. There's no question about it. Uh, it's consistency, you know, it's can they, can they continue on the physical, hard game, defensive game consistently

for the next 20? And if they can, I do think they'll find their way in. But we haven't seen that consistency from the Rangers this season. And though this is now a different Rangers team, when you think about it with JT Miller and Will Borgen and Vakkanainen and now Susie, I mean, it changed around a lot of different things,

especially on the back end. Okay. I'm going to group another three teams together and that's Ottawa, Detroit and Buffalo. And those are the three teams that, uh, you know, we're hoping to break through and finally make the playoffs after a while out of the postseason. It remains to be seen if any of them will. Buffalo definitely won't, uh, but Ottawa and

Detroit might. Um, any thoughts on any of them will. Buffalo definitely won't, but Ottawa and Detroit might. Any thoughts on any of those three teams? Well, I think Detroit and Ottawa are in different places. Buffalo, I agree with you. Okay. So let's put them to the side. I don't see that happening this season and I don't know where it goes beyond the season, I don't think anybody does.

It's clearly not working. Again, I feel terrible for the fan base there. Such a good fan base there and they just can't seem to do it. Right? So, but I look at Detroit-Nadua in two different places. Detroit is not a young team. They're not a team. They have some young players that have to experience things, but they're not necessarily a very young team. They to me need to be a team that pushes. Like they can't, they haven't made the playoffs in nine years and they're struggling right now. We've lost four games in a row. This can't, they missed by a tiebreaker last year. This can't evolve now. On the Detroit Red Wings, what it was such a strong opening couple of months

under Todd McClellan. I think that's gonna be interesting to see what they do today. Andrew Popp is out, right? He's a nice player for them. He's out for the rest of the season. Can they replace him? Can they do something here to get another center in

and make a push here? Because I think that team is owed it and needs it. The senators are still in that we're pushing our way up team, right? Now, and I think Montreal is in that way too, and these things are so bunched together. I would like to see the Ottawa senators make a move to try to push themselves over the top,

but I think it's more incumbent if you can gauge it, on the Red Wings to do do it based on the situation there. One final one before we let you go, defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers have been busy. They made the Seth Jones trade. They put Matthew Kachuck on LTIR. Are you expecting anything else out of Florida

as we get closer to the 3 p.m. Eastern trade deadline today? Well, I mean Billy Vito is one busy man, right? Yeah. He just never stops. It's Well, I mean Billy Vito is one busy man, right? He just never stops. It's like, somebody texted me the other day, they were like, Bill, stop! Stop making trades for a moment, you know? They don't have to, you know, but step, step, step, right?

I mean, you can continue to add it and you find ways to do it. He said, I forget where he said it, but it was recently I I've heard him say that the room in Florida is so strong right now. The players in that room, the leadership core in that room, they're so strong right now that it can withstand anything that goes on in that room, minus like trading bar top or pitch up, right?

But that's not happening. Or Reinhardt, right? That's not, or, or right. Right. That's, that's not happening, but that they'll be able to, so they bring in Seth Jones and it's just like, he's now part of the room, he just fits in. He doesn't have to do anything more because he's just part of it and can walk in there and who's going to walk into a room for a team where it's core is not in the Sanica final last two years. And one last year and try to disrupt the chemistry in that room.

But nobody's gonna do that. So they can, so do they make it on their move? They could for more depth because they know how hard it is to get through an entire, to get 16 wins in the playoffs. Absolutely they could do it. Do they have to? Probably not. Dan, I know you got a big day ahead.

So with that, we'll let you go. Thank you very much for taking the time to join us today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy trade deadline day. It should be a lot of fun. All right, guys, appreciate it. See you, Dan. See you, Dan. That's danrose at nhl.com, senior writer,

here on the Haliford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. So it's gonna be really interesting. So still haven't gotten any clarity on what's going on with ranting in between Dallas and Carolina. Sounds as though it's still being moved along. Everyone's kind of pointing to what you were suggesting that if and when it gets finalized, you could have a matchup where Rantan's going up

against his former team, the Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs this year, which would be a delicious storyline. Colorado, you know, it's interesting because Brock Nelson was long considered one of the big pieces at this deadline. They paid pretty significantly to get Nelson in the door,

which kind of underscores a couple things. One, how pricey some of these deadline acquisitions, even just the rentals because there's no guarantee that Nelson's going to play beyond this year in Colorado. But two, how much of an arms race it's going to be. Like the West right now, I thought we were gonna focus on the Atlantic division,

how especially Florida and Tampa Bay were beefing up, but now you look at some of the contenders in the West. Nelson goes to Colorado. If Randall gets finalized and goes to Dallas, it becomes real tough at the top end. Then you start looking at what more could Edmonton do? Winnipeg's been awfully quiet. What are they gonna do?

And it's gonna be really interesting to see what happens as we kind of tick further and further along to noon today, by the way, which is three Eastern, the NHL trade deadline. Okay. We're going to talk to AJ really quickly in a few minutes and then we'll have an open segment on the other side.

We'll talk about what the Canucks might do. And I've got a few thoughts on what I'd like to see them add to the lineup. Uh, let's do a few Ask Us Anythings first into the Dunbar Lumber text line. It is Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford and Brough show. $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on the line for best.

Ask Us Anything. This one comes in from Oz in Squamish. Ask Us Anything. Every sports fan has that one trade or transfer, soccer, that really stuck with them for good or bad reasons. What are some of the most vivid ones for each of you? Well, I personally remember the Gretzky trade and how crazy that was, but from a Canucks

perspective, honestly, since we were just talking about him, when JT Miller was traded to the Vancouver Canucks, that was in my mind, like it started a, a love affair between, uh, JT Miller and sports radio, because it never seemed like the debate around that player ended. And when the Canucks made the trade, there was not only people kind of clamoring to find out what JT Miller was all about.

There were people that were immediately like, what are you doing? You're not in the right position to make this trade, take the first round picks, build through the draft. And it just became so emblematic of the way the Canucks went about their business and that they weren't going to draft and develop into a contender.

They weren't going to go that route. They were going to be aggressive and they were going to try and make some trades and, and, and build themselves into contender status. The one that sticks out for me, now good or bad reasons, right? Oz pointed this out, it's not necessarily one or the other,

but just one that really stood out. When Roberto Luanglo got traded to Vancouver, to Vancouver, I remember very distinctly walking into the Cactus Club on Schoolhouse Road in Coquitlam, and the person that sat us asked me about it. The person that sat us asked me about it. The person that served us asked me about it. And I remember thinking, and everyone said the same thing. It was that, Oh my God, the Cucks finally have a real goalie, like a real high end

talented goalie, because for the youths out there, the youths won't remember that this was a goalie graveyard for the longest time. We've had 15 plus years of pretty solid goal tending in Vancouver. And were, were goalies more important then? They played more. Like the. Luongo was like having a.

70 starts a year. Having a number one guy seemed more important back then. So, and people also forget the year before they got Luongo, they rolled out five goalies in one year. It was Alex Auld, Dan Cluchet, Mika Nornin, Maxime Ouellette, and then some guy named Rob

McVicker who played one game. Um, it was bad times and we were coming off the Cluchet era, which was earmarked by several bad goals. And no one really believed that Alex Ald was going to be the guy. I just remember Luongo coming here, being like this end of, and it felt like I was side of Kirk McLean and Richard Brodeur,

like a franchise long existence of like lousy goaltending and Luongo was just, it was a big thing. It was such a big deal at the time. Everybody was excited about it. And then the first year in Vancouver. This is so good. He delivered. Yeah, he was incredible.

He was the entirety of the team. He was incredible. He got ripped off for every award that he didn't win that year. He should have been the heart trophy winner. He should have been the Vezna winner. He should have won every award. They would have been nowhere without him.

That's how good that he was. Okay. Uh, we're going to talk to AJ for a bit, uh, coming up next and then, uh, coming up next. And then, uh, we can do some ask us anythings into the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650, 650 Metro Vancouver's Trusts of Choice for contractors and rental warriors. For over 50 years, visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com.

I've got some thoughts on what I want to see the Canucks add today. Um, we'd love to hear your thoughts as well on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Friendly reminder that all trade deadline coverage today on Sportsnet 650 is brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. For diehard pizza people, order online at ajs.pizza.