Halford & Brough in the Morning - Farewell, Tyler Myers

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the Tyler Myers trade and last night's Canucks loss to the Hurricanes (3:00), plus the boys look around the NHL as Friday's trade deadline approaches (27:00). 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.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. You can lose games, but you're going to play the right way and you're going to compete, and that's what I want to see from my group here. Kenerson gets a back left circle. In front for Holglander who scores! I'm singing about to hug you. Falkin, it feels like I've been waiting for that a little bit now, so nice to score. Take it 6 to 4 and the Knox have lost seven in a row.

Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning?

Good morning. And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80%. with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com.

We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 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. We are coming to live from the Kintech Studio, New Year, New Opportunity for Comfort with Orthotics from Kintech. Trade deadline coverage on SportsNet 650 is brought to you by pastime,

Sports and Games, home of the largest collection of signed jerseys trading card and sports memorabilia in Western Canada. Visit them now at pastimesports.com. Do we have a lot of trade coverage to get into today? Things really kicked off yesterday and last night as we get closer to NHL trade deadline on Friday.

But today on the show, I got a lot of guests that we're going to run through everything that happened last night, everything that's going to happen today and tomorrow. It is the Doick Morning Drive, our morning guest list brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 7 o'clock. Dan Rosen, Thunder Dan Rosen, is going to join the program at 7 a.m. this morning, senior writer from NHL.com. Things are indeed heating up. There was a flurry of trades yesterday, so we get closer to Friday's deadline. Also, eight games on the slate tonight. So there's lots to talk about with Dan Rosen,

who will join the program at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30, Araf Dean is going to join the program. Aves Beat Writer for Colorado Hockey now. The Aves have the best record in the NHL. They're the odds on favorite to win the cup at several sports books. What are they going to do ahead of Friday's deadline? Will the Nick Blankenbird pick up be all that they do? I highly doubt it. We'll ask Araf about all this at 7.30 this morning, though.

8 o'clock, Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver, and Canucks Talk is going to join us on the program. Canucks, of course, swung a trade of significance yesterday, sending veteran D-man Tyler Myers to Dallas in exchange for a pair of picks. Oh yeah, there was also a game last night, as you heard in the intro. Fairly interesting night at Rogers Arena last night. Canucks lost again, 6'4 to the Carolina Hurricanes,

but they had some fun along the way. Dran's going to join us at 8 to talk about all that. Speaking of 8 o'clock, that is the time this morning that we're going to give away a pair of tickets to see the Vancouver Giants host the Colonna Rockets this Sunday, March 8th at the Langley Events Center. Now, that's a 4 o'clock puck drop. So if anyone wants to bring young kids to the game, nice little Sunday matinee, good time to do it.

Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning is going to win a pair of tickets to see the game. 604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-0-650. We got a lot to get into on the show today. No time for running in reverse. Without further ado, Laddy, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy you were like. What happened? Is this? You missed that? What happened is Bratty by the BC Construction Safety Alliance.

Making safety simpler by giving construction companies investing tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. After a long wait and many games sitting on the sidelines, Tyler Myers has finally moved along. He was traded to the Dallas Stars yesterday morning. Literally minutes after we got off the air. Myers goes to the Stars. The Canucks get a second round pick in the 27 NHL draft,

a fourth round pick in 2029. I have heard good things about the fourth round of that 2029 draft. The Canucks are going to retain 50% of Myers's remaining contract, and the big man moves along, goes to a familiar place. He, of course, was originally from Texas. And it's happy trails to a guy that was a good veteran, was a good leader, and got the Canucks a pretty good return, I would say, given where they're at and what they need.

in their rebuild. Yeah, and good job by everyone to get this deal across the finish line. You know, originally Detroit made the offer for Tyler Myers and Tyler Myers said, I'll think about it, but I'm hoping to go somewhere else. And he got his wish because the Dallas Stars came up with a trade that was acceptable to the Vancouver Canucks. Tyler Myers did make sure to make sure to mention. He never actually said no to Detroit. Yeah, I noticed that. He was just using the time.

And a lot of people wondered what was going on. Well, that was what was going on. They were going to see if Dallas was going to step up and make an offer or another team that Tyler was more willing to go to than Detroit. Of course, we all know his family

situation. He wants to be close on the West Coast, but he's also got family down in Texas. So good luck to Tyler Myers, who I think his narrative in Vancouver was an interesting one because he went from a guy that was rumored to be signed by Vancouver and people are like, no, don't, don't do that. Most people don't do that. And then they did it. And the Kinnock's didn't have a ton of success with Tyler Myers in the lineup over the years that he played. But I think two things happened.

Number one, he played really well in the playoffs. And under Rick Tockin in general. He was good under talking. When there was structure and when there were systems and when it went to the playoffs and the referees were like, I'm not going to call that. You know, he was very effective. He played so nasty in those playoffs.

He was really, really good. And the other thing is like, he's a good guy. and there's been a shortage of those in Vancouver. Yeah. They really have been, you know, now they're going to lose one. I think that's an interesting point to bring up because a lot of people, prior to this trade deadline and prior to the last week, never really saw Myers as a guy that was going to go anywhere, right? He had his family in Vancouver.

He kind of made it pretty clear that he wanted to continue residing in BC. But as we got closer to the trade deadline, a few things started to materialize. One, the need for red-handed defensemen on this market was pretty dire. Like there's not a lot available and there's a lot of teams looking to get them. And once I think the door was opened, presumably by Detroit first, about the possibility of acquiring Myers, the Canucks realized that, you know, good mentor or no, good guy or no, guy that wants to stay or no, this was an opportunity to jump on something and to make business happen. And they did it. They did it in part by retaining to bring what was already a pretty, like, stomachable cap hit to an even better total for Dallas. I also think Dallas came into Vancouver and played the Canucks on Monday night.

And the stars were like, God, look at these guys without Tyler Myers in the lineup. They're lost. The worst team I've ever seen. That guy must be, you know, pretty good. Hopefully Carolina was taking a look at PD last night because he had two assists. Maybe we work in the inverse there. But anyway, to my other point there, it was easy. now that we've got sort of the full 2020 vision on this,

it was easier to move Myers because of the cap hit, because the market was calling for guys, and because he does bring a certain element, especially in the postseason the guys don't have. It's starting to sound like it's not going to be that easy for a lot of these other guys because the value that Myers had is not really translatable to some of these other contracts that they've got.

Like Myers was a pretty appealing, piece, I would say, for Detroit. Dallas, I guarantee you there was other teams that were in on him as well. He can play heavy minutes in the playoffs. And it costs a lot of money and you get a little bit of term on his contract. And he takes a lot of boxes. Some of these other, you know, pieces that I think people are just assuming are going to get moved now.

Like, well, Myers is on the move. Let's start moving the rest of them out. I don't think it's going to be as easy to be perfectly honest. I think this move was relatively easy to pull off. I don't want to discredit the Canucks for, you know, pulling the truck. trigger. I think they deserve credit for getting it done, but I also think this was a move that was pretty easy to make. As a matter of fact,

once Myers said, yeah, I'll go. Patrick Alvin pointed out yesterday, like on the drive-in to work, he actually got the call from Dallas while driving over the Burrard Bridge, and then it was shortly thereafter that they accepted. So it wasn't like this,

the toughest part was getting Myers to accept the move, understand, like, I will be willing to go, let's see what kind of flushes itself out in terms of a deal. Garland's not going to be as easy. Bessor's maybe even more difficult. Patterson, it goes without saying, is incredibly difficult. Kane, it sounds like it's not going to be super simple to move a guy that's an unrestrictive free agent at the end of the year.

I hope, I really hope, that they're able to orchestrate more of these deals because the Myers deal was a good return and it was a good piece of business. And it's the kind that you need in this stage of the rebuild, where it's dark times and nothing is going right. You need some of these sound. future assets accumulation type deals to make this all worth it, quite honestly. Because right now, right now the Canucks have seven picks over the first two rounds of the next two drafts.

They have three firsts and four seconds. That's a very, very solid base that you can get out of these next two drafts. But you need more, man. You need more. You need more. And you need more. Have you seen what, I mean, we've gone over in the past what teams, I don't know, like Chicago have done?

with how many picks that they've got. I mean, Calgary must have a bunch now. Calgary got three firsts for McKenzie Weeger. So, I mean, you know, for Vancouver, it's a lot of picks because we're used to in Vancouver, just trading all the picks. But yeah, look at Calgary. I mean, Calgary's in a rebuild.

They've got two first this year, four seconds. Thanks that McKenzie Weiger trade. Two thirds. And then in 2027, they've got two firsts. So, you know, Calgary's rebuilding, Vancouver's rebuilding. I would say they're almost at similar stages. Yeah.

You know, like they've got, you know, they've got Zane Perak. They've probably got more prospects, high-end prospect. They had two first round picks last year, Cole Reshney being one of them. So, you know, like the rebuild race is on. Yeah. Now. And the race is on.

You know, and, you know, some people, there's like, an arms race at the trade deadline for actual players. This is where the rebuild teams start. And, you know, Calgary's got Nazim Kodry that they could trade as well. So, you know, like that might be the team that you're competing with, hopefully, in five years. And you'll see, all right, who did the rebuild better? Yeah. Okay, I want to hear from Tyler Myers now as sort of farewell to Vancouver because he was a good guy,

despite that one texter, Mike, who's an annoying individual. and I wish you would stop texting into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. The rest of you send him in, though, 650, 650. Myers said goodbye and did it in his usual good guy way yesterday, talking about how his emotional lead Vancouver. It was tough near the end, losing as many games as they have. Here's Tyler Myers' farewell as he now heads off to become a Dallas star. You know, we look at it like this.

You know, we've been fortunate enough to spend almost seven years in Vancouver in one place. And, you know, not a lot of guys get to experience. that. And, you know, we didn't want to pass up on an opportunity just because of comfortability. And, you know, we're extremely excited to be joining the stars. You know, I say we, I'm talking about, you know, my wife and our family, because that was a big part of the decision. And, you know, we're very happy with, you know, how things played out and the result we got. Now shortly after the Tyler Myers trade was consummated, Patrick Alvin met with the media yesterday. And the audio around the Myers trade wasn't all that enthralling.

It's kind of a paint by numbers trade. You know what you sent out the door. You know what you got. There wasn't a lot of analysis. There were two things that I thought were really interesting from Alvin. I want to play his remarks on Elias Pedersen first. So it's been a pretty, again, eventful emotional roller coaster for, Elias Pedersen

the last 24, 48, 78, 72 hours. There was the scrum with the media members. There was a subsequent interview, brief interview, a one-on-one with Patrick Johnson in which Johnson wrote an article that caught a lot of people's attention about just the turmoil and struggle that Pedersen is going through

with his on-ice play right now and how he can't find the answers. There was a lot of talk outside the market too. There was a heck of a lot of it. They noticed that. But fortunately, Pedersen said he doesn't read or listen to anything that said, which is weird.

because he always says he doesn't want to create a headline. So if you don't want to create a headline, then why doesn't matter? Because you're not reading or listening. There's a little disconnect there. There's a little bit of a divide. Yeah. And then his general manager... I feel like he reads everything.

For the sake of his teammates. I wonder if he read or heard what his general manager had to say yesterday. Now listen closely to the entire... It's about a minute of audio from Patrick Alvin. He takes some interesting turns in here. It's not a, you know, full-throated defense of his player. not an absolute critique either, but I think it's a pretty frank,

straightforward, and honest assessment of where the player is at. Here is Patrick Elvine on Elias Pedersen yesterday. Well, I don't think his production is where he wants to be or where we want to be. I do think that he's been working on his two-way game.

I think he stretches where he has played really well, two-way hockey. But again, a player like that, you know that his capable of so much more where his talent level is and whatever he expressed to you guys. I'm not sure that where I believe that he was probably pretty honest and saying that his game wasn't where he wanted to be. That being said, it's easy to say that you're going to be better,

but what are you actually going to do to be better? And I think that action is something we want to see and we want to see the players working with. And for Elias, I mean, it's all starting by being prepared and pushing himself every day to get better. There is no doubt about his talent level. We've seen that. But hopefully he finds it and hopefully continue to work on it. So there's a real change, I think anyway, in some of the messaging, and I think it's born out of exasperation.

I think the player is frustrated and tired. and out of answers. And I think the organization, and I don't want to read too much into what Alvin said there, although there was a couple parts of that interview that were different than other ones. And what it was was they used to always punctuate everything with,

but we're sure he'll get it back, or we know he's got it in him. And now it's gone from knowing to this sort of, you know, naive, hopeful part of it, where he needs to do the work. We, the kicker is there no longer saying, and we know he'll put it in.

Or, you know, he's got this immense talent and we know it's going to come shining through. And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they've answered this question so many times. And quite frankly, I bet if you were to get them in a quiet moment where the microphones were off and there are no cameras around, they would cast serious doubts that Elias Pedersen that we once knew is coming back in any semblance

or any resemblance of what he was prior. I bet they really, really internally doubt that. This is what they'd say. he doesn't work hard enough. That was the subtext of what Alvin put out there. He doesn't have the obsessive passion for the game that you need. And the follow-up question to that for the journalist would be, then why did you sign him?

And I said yesterday, there were people in that organization that said, he doesn't love the game enough. I wouldn't sign this guy. I don't think we can win with this guy. and they went ahead and signed him anyway because he's immensely talented. And I think they thought, if we can just get this guy dialed in,

locked in, get him to work hard, find the passion. Maybe he lost his passion a little bit. Find it again. Then we're good. And now a lot of people are like, why does Kinnock's management run him down like that?

And I get it, right? Because there might be some GM. that are like, geez, like, it's been multiple years of this. If that can't convince him to work, you know, can we? But there might be a GM out there that's like, I'm a pretty good motivator. I'll get this guy working. And if, you know, if he comes into our organization, we've got a better culture here, we've got a practice facility and everything.

I bet with a change of scenery and a fresh start, Like to me, you know, you might, it's kind of like buying a stock, right? Let's say there's a company that's going through hard times, right? Some people look at that company and they're like, that thing's done. It's never going to have a chance again. Others say, oh, you know what? That company has some brands that used to be pretty good. And I think we can reinvigorate that company, you know?

We'll make a lot of layoffs. Yeah. And then we'll try. Like red lobster. Yeah. It's like private equity guys, right? We'll load it up with debt and, you know, whatever. Other people's money.

But anyway, my analogy is going off the rails here. Some might see PD as a fixer-upper because there's always that, like, remember that Simpsons where it's like, we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas. What are we going to do? Like, I'm not saying the Canucks have tried nothing. but like when you say they have tried something though when you say

like PD just looks like he's just like out of answers and he doesn't he just like doesn't know what to do anymore I think what the Kinnock's serving like go to work work

work obsessively and you know as much as people will say like he worked hard in the off season not like others though. Not like others.

You got to tell Pete you to stop slacking. That's like telling Gene Krupa not go boobah da batta boobababah. I know you get that one. I'm telling you though like and this is a very... We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas. It's just the deepest of Simpson's cuts this morning.

But the Cucks have done one thing with Patterson and it has been... Run them down? Well, no. But I think here's what I think they tried. I never got to say it. Okay, go. they've been incredibly patient with the player.

They have. They've shown a remarkable amount of patience more than anybody in their right mind should have. Everyone else is freaked out. That includes... Well, it's because they have 11.6 million... I'd get him going. But they've had opportunities to move off him.

They had a deal on the table from Carolina. They've had opportunities to move off this player. And I'm not talking... I mean, think about the people that got frustrated with him. Miller got frustrated with him in a boil. over. Talk it got frustrated with him and it boiled over. Think you can make an argument that Quinn Hughes to a certain degree got frustrated with him and eventually was like, you know, let's try something else.

There are a lot of people around 40, EP 40, that have seen their frustrations boil over and either reach a breaking point or take off. And the brass of this organization has shown a remarkable, I would say almost foolish amount of patience. But part of it has to do with the fact that they're the ones assigned to the gargantuan contract. And they wanted to work out. And the other part of it is I think that they've got,

or maybe they had, and I'll use past tense here, had a sense of belief that it was going to come back. And with every passing day, that became more of like a hope and a prayer, there was less tangible evidence that it was ever going to come back. You know how some kids,

you've done some coaching. Some kids will respond to, you're not playing very well, are a stern message, right? And they'll say, I'll show you. I think, by the way, that percentage of kids seems to be going down and down and down. Maybe we're just getting older,

and that's an old man take. But more kids than not respond to compliments and you're doing well, and they get enthusiastic because of that. Yep. I think the Kinex had an old school mentality with Pedersen, and they tried to bring the fire out of him, by, you know, holding him accountable in old school ways,

i.e., you know, here's J.T. Miller to yell at you. Sure. Right? Or we're going to question you in the media. And we're going to say that there's more to give, et cetera, et cetera. And I think he responded exactly the opposite way. I think this is the version of like shutting down. Could be.

No, I'm almost 100. percent certain of it. You lose you, like if you're the type of person that responds to compliments as opposed to I'll show you, you know, you're just going to be like you get that dismissive attitude, you know, just like, whatever, you know. And I think that's where he's at right now. And I think the Canucks have failed the, you know, a lot of a job of an organization. is to keep guys psychologically motivated.

Yep. You know? And I think they have just clearly failed in that. He played a little bit better yesterday. Two points. Someone texts in, I think it was Keith the Grip, he said, that's the best game I've seen him play in two years. I mean, the things with PD that he does well,

he did well in that game, but he's still got terrific vision. Right? But like the two passes that he made were when he was stationary. You know, the pass on the power play. It was a nice pass to find Rossi down low. Rossi broke into space and Petey was up at the point.

Petey didn't have to move. He just had his head up and he's got good vision. And he passed the puck to Rossi. And the other one was a really nice pass to Nils Holglander. You know, like that's, he's fine, stationary. That's why he can put up points sometimes on the power play. Because he's got the time and space. He gets the puck.

He looks up. He'll make a nice seam pass sometimes and he'll get points that way. When it's actually in the play, though, it's a struggle and a lot of the reason is, and I'm sure if you ask the Canucks is, he's not strong enough. And I mean, the general manager said it yesterday.

Patrick Alvin said, as clear as day, there is so much more to give. And it's not being given right now. Okay, we've got to go to break. When we go back on the other side, we'll get into the rest of the story. There were a bunch of trades yesterday after Tyler Myers got dealt

to Dallas. some of significance, and there are some trades that are still trying to be worked out as we get closer and closer to Friday's deadline. It is another half hour of uninterrupted Halford & Brough coming up on the other side. Don't go anywhere on a reminder. If you want to weigh in on anything or get a what we learned in, the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket is 650, 650. Hashtag at WWL, tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports, or weigh in on anything that's going on locally with the Canucks or across the National Hockey League as we get closer to Friday's trade deadline. You're listening to the Halford and Burrard and Burr.

Rough show on SportsNet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drans. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcast. 632 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, SportsNet, 650. Halford Brum of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Do you have credit card debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands. That's trustee. We are in hour one of the program. An entire uninterrupted hour of Halford and Brough. Ryan from Richmond loving it right now. Hour one of this program is brought to 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 in 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. I want to start this segment, not by pivoting off the Canucks, but one more bit, as we can talk about last night's game. But as it pertains to another thing Patrick Alvin had to say yesterday when meeting with the assembled media after the Tyler Myers trade.

Now Alvin said that there is a specific way he wants his team to play even though they're going to lose a lot more games than they're going to win and even though they're in the middle of a rebuild. There's a style. There's a heart. There's a passion they need to play with. There's a lot of things that they still need to do while they're losing all these games en route to a high pick this year and presumably next year.

And they need a lot more fight in their game. Here is Patrick Elvine from yesterday about what he wants to see out of his group ahead of a spirited effort against the Carolina Hurricanes last night. I want to see more fight in the group. I think Adam pointed out the game yesterday and the game against Sam was here. I didn't see the fight in urgency. It's their job, the player's job and our job, to prepare. every night for the fans and playing for the crest and you can lose games but you're

going to play the right way and you're going to compete and that's what I want to see from my group here moving forward and I want to see us getting better areas of our game the details of our games that I want to see improvement in and losing games is not great for anyone and we we owe it to the fans here that have been great in Vancouver and or players should play hard every night. So, you know, the fight and the energy and playing hard is one thing. Alvin also said, you can lose games, but you're going to play the right way. I want to see us getting better and I want to see us working on the details of our game.

And I keep bringing this up and I know I get a lot of pushback from a lot of people because they think that Adam Foote is the ultimate tank commander. And this is the best thing that could possibly happen to this team. I could not be more, you know, emphatic and saying, like I think it's the wrong thing that they've done here. They had an opportunity to move off a foot and bring in someone that could instill a lot of different things including the finer details of the game

that the general manager just called out, just said that we need to work on and we constantly need to be working on that and that we need to play the right way. And I know that the most easy and obvious answer to all of this is like you need to stop complaining, Halford, this is a rebuild, this is a tank, and this is what it looks like.

And I will push back on that as much as humanly possible because I do not believe that at this high a level where the competition is so fierce and there's so much to learn about the professional game to be really good at it and be a contender that you can just throw games away and throw seasons away without having anything in terms of education and growth

and learning on the job. And I feel like at times, Foote's coaching style, which can be a little erratic, is a detriment to that. I 100% agree with you. Everything you're saying, too, just because a rebuild, you can tank if you want, just put together a roster that can't win. And the young players are part of that because the young players aren't ready to win in the NHL. but they still need to be taught how to play

because eventually, and here's the hard part about a rebuild, you have to transition from being a bad team to a good team, and you can't do that by snapping your fingers. It starts with the real basics in teaching. And I always point to Montreal in this instance, and they took a gamble and brought in Marty St. Louis in the very earliest stages of their rebuild,

and he's a teacher. first and foremost, because he had very little head coaching experience. I mean, honestly, it was like coaching like a U-4 team in Connecticut or something like that. But they understood that he was going to provide the kind of tools to a bunch of young players that was going to give them the knowledge, the know-how, and at certain levels the confidence, so that when the game started to matter and it was time to make a push, these guys knew how to play. I also want to point out that the Vancouver Canucks put Adam Foote in his head coach

with an entirely different trajectory for their team. Their intended end game with Adam Foote was not to have, what are they going to finish with, 55 points in the dead last worst record in the National Hockey League. When he was brought aboard, it was an entirely different landscape. Entirely. I can't emphasize this enough. when Adam Foote came aboard Remember the now

sort of like infamous slash hilarious golf trip where he got the leaders of the team together and you know they were all on the same page and they were going to improve the vibes and Petey flew over from Sweden and we really appreciated that and on the strength of those vibes

in this veteran group and Quinn Hughes and a healthy Thatcher Demko and everyone else they were going to push for a playoff spot this year and it all cratered and when it cratered you know I feel like the last three months of the season

two months of the season anyway have been essentially just wasted. So what do they need if Adam Foote isn't the coach next season? I think if Manny was the long-term guy, and given how what a nightmare it's been in Avids for it anyway, I thought they should. Mani has enough coaching experience now? Like, is he, like, I think.

I mean, I just pointed to St. Louis as a guy that had no coaching experience, and it's gone pretty well because he's a teacher. Man, he's a teacher. You are going to have to teach D.P.D. and Z. Bouillon and Tom Blander, and take any guy you want up front, one of the young guys, it's going to be around for the long haul. And just because you have knowledge, just because you've been in the game,

doesn't mean you're a great teacher. And I think if we hear any little tidbits about Adam Foot coaching, is like he knows. Communication, though, and clarity is maybe not his strong suit. And that's something that you need as a teacher. you need to make sometimes complex things easier and easy for these guys to understand and you know usually it's just short answers but very clear you know if you have these long answers that kind of ramble a little bit you know people are like what what's going on

what you just say yeah I mean well how many times do we listen to an Adam foot presser and been like, what was that mean? You know? Yeah. And he probably talks the same way impressors as he does when he's coaching. And you need to have, and I think your point about him being brought in with a very different objective and goal for the season is very relevant. The Canucks didn't hire Adam Foote to be the coach of all the kids. And in fact, Adam Foote earlier in the season seemed a little push.

out that there were so many kids in the lineup because he kept blaming them. Yeah. And again, some of this is not at the pardon the pun feet of foot. It's not his fault in a lot of this. I don't think that he signed up for what he was about to go under, which is night after night watching a bunch of young players make the same mistakes over and over again. But you'll notice when he talks to the media, most of the times in his post-game availability

the song and dance is pointing out the mistakes that players are making and I'd say 70 to 80% of the time pointing out the mistakes that young guys are making and then acknowledging that that's what they have to do en route to getting better but at a certain point you want to see some level of improvement or some acknowledgement

that the mistakes are being addressed and we are trying to fix them like making the mistakes over and over again is one thing learning from them I'm just not sure it's happening in a way that this team needs to forge forward. Look, big picture thing here. It sounds like a lot of complaining, quite frankly, because it is. But this is a awful team and organization right now, and it's going to take a lot to get out of it. And when you're as low down and as deep in the mud as the Canucks are, you need a lot of things to go your way to pull yourself out of it. Which means there can't be any wasted opportunities. Every draft pick matters. Every trade matters.

Every game should matter to the group because it's an opportunity to get reps at the NHL level and get better. A lot of things need to go right. Luck is a huge element of that, but you can also position yourself in what kind of luck you're going to get by making smart decisions, by not wasting time, by having good people around that are going to foster and help this rebuild as it's in its very early stages.

Just because it's in the early stages in the tear down, it doesn't mean that you're still not trying to do everything to the highest of your abilities and not trying to get better every day. That's a big part of this. Tearing it down doesn't mean that everything has to be miserable. They're going to still be bright spots

in the midst of a rebuild. I think Linus Carlson has been. Like for example. Linus Carlson is such a reliable forward for them now. Yeah. He does a lot of good things out there. And he's the guy that, and this goes to player development too.

He's a guy that has taken the long route and he's worked really hard on his craft. and he's maybe always going to be limited somewhat by his foot speed, but he just finds a way. So they need more of that, more of that development. Yeah, you're going to get some guys through the draft that are just naturally talented and hopefully they work as well, but they just kind of get it. Like you honestly don't need.

I'd be curious to know how much coaching a guy like Sidney Crosby has ever really needed. because he just wants to learn anyway. Would he even be coaching or just working in tandem with him? You know, it would be like, what do you think about that? And like, he wants, guys like that want to learn, right? They don't need to be dragged into being coached. Others kind of do. What else is going on in the NHL?

Yeah, so there were a bunch of deals last night that we need to get to. The biggest one of the day slash night yesterday definitely had to be Utah acquiring Calgary defenseman McKenzie Weeger really beefing up. up their blue line as they look to get back into the playoffs and actually get into the playoffs for the first time as the newly recreated Utah Mammoth. They paid a fairly decent price for it. Olimata goes to Calgary along with a prospect. Jonathan Castagna, three second round picks in the 2026 NHL entry draft for Weeger, who is having a down year in Calgary. If you look at the numbers, it goes without saying, but widely regarded as a good veteran

defenseman, a guy that's going to go into Utah, be a top four guy, one of the best defensemen available on this market. And it's a boon for a Utah team that prior to making this deal, a lot of the NHL insiders said, like, watch out for Utah. They're ready to make a move. I would not be surprised if Utah is ready to load up some more of that draft capital or some of their prospects to make another move of the significance as they look to, again, as I mentioned, become a playoff team for the first time since moving to Utah. Utah has built his defense, what, almost purely through trades. It's been, Mikel Sergachev, well, Ian Cole was a signing. Yep. He went there after his one year in Vancouver. Surgachep was a trade. Dersie was a trade. Dersie was a trade. Dersie

was a trade. And they got Nate Schmidt and John Marino as well. Yeah. So yeah, Utah's, does Utah still have the ability to make another big deal or was that theirs? I think that they could add another piece up front, which I think is what a lot of people were talking about that would sort of complete the set for them. But getting help on the blue line, because that's kind of what hurt them last year, was they suffered some injuries on the blue line down the stretch, ultimately missed the playoffs because they didn't have the depth there. So you never have too many defensemen if you're going into the playoffs and you have aspirations of making a run. And right now, Utah's just got the aspirations of getting in. Okay, we had Jeremy Rutherford on

the show yesterday talk about the St. Louis Blues and all the potential moves they could make. Have they made a move? Buffalo? No, with like Pareco. Like, what's going on there? What's going on there? The Pareko deal is hanging in the balance right now. Did they leak that move and then put pressure on him to do it?

We have seen a trend at this year's deadline. This is the third deal now, if you want to count Myers and to a certain degree, Weeger, where the trade and the trade details have been leaked prior to the players waiving their no trade clauses. So we saw it in Vancouver, obviously, with the Tyler Myers deal. The original one, of course, was the Detroit offer, which got leaked prior to Myers, waving his no trade. According to everything I read out of Calgary yesterday, the Utah deal was ready to go before Weger had made the decision to move on.

And it didn't take him very long to kind of agree to do it. Now, this Pareco deal is really interesting because the parameters are in place for Buffalo to acquire Pareco. he just hasn't waived yet. He's still deciding whether or not he wants to go to Buffalo. And this one is kind of hanging in the balance. And it all depends on whether or not he wants to wave. His no movement clause.

Now this was interesting because we had Jeremy Rutherford on the show yesterday. Are they going to have him to tell them? It's like, I know Buffalo is typically been on everyone's no trade list, but like they're actually kind of good now. Yeah. And he's like, no, no, they're not. You're trying to trick me. Yeah.

He's also in the fourth year of an eight-year deal. So, you know, if you move, if you wave your no trade gloves and you move over, you're kind of signing on to play for Buffalo for a while. It's not like his deal is going to be up anytime soon. I suppose he could try and force a trade out later. You should see the size of house you can buy in Buffalo. And he probably was like,

I've got a big one in St. Louis. So this is another example, too, of a right shot defenseman being highly coveted on this market. Now, the one thing that we don't have is the parameter, when speaking about the parameters of this deal is what the return was going to be. We do know that according of multiple sources, and this came from ESPN's Emily Kaplan, the Blues and the Sabres

have been in discussions for the past couple weeks, but originally the deal was about Buffalo acquiring Robert Thomas from the St. Louis Blues, and that was one of the guys that was rumored to be on the move. That is yet to happen. So, right now, if you want to start piecing this together,

it sounds like Buffalo and St. Louis have been in a lot of different conversations about a lot of different guys. I'd be shocked if something doesn't get done between the two. I thought, Pareko was interesting, though, because we talked to Rutherford yesterday, Jeremy Rutherford from the Athletic, and I think we talked about every St. Louis Blue, except for Colton Pereco. We talked about Robert Thomas and Jordan Tyroo.

I think we kind of mentioned him, but not, he wasn't like a main focus. Talked about Jordan Bennington and Brayton and Justin Falk, but I think it just goes to show how in this market, if you're willing to sell, I know some people tried to classify it as a buyer's market, but if the teams are stepping up willing to sell, you can get a pretty good return on some of these guys. So Halford, Kiefer Sherwood, signed his deal. We had a bit of a disagreement the other day when I said, you know, they either got to sign them or trade them. Now, we don't know what they would have done if he hadn't signed, but, you know, they needed to get him done.

Yep. Because they're not guaranteed to make the playoffs. And to rent Kiefer, to essentially throw away two second round picks, even for a team that has plenty of. of future assets, you still don't want to do it. Treating things like, treating your, when you have the future assets and you say, wow, whatever, we got lots of them. That's how you eventually have none of them, right? And I think the intention with Kiefer Sherwood was always to get him signed,

but it maybe just took a little bit longer than the sharks expected or anyone expected. but he gets the five-year contract extension with a cap hit of $5.75 million. And you know the first guy I thought of when he signed that deal because people were like, whoa, that's a lot of money for him? Who? It's not an exact comparable.

Tom Wilson. Interesting. Now, Kiefer Sherwood is never going to be as physically as imposing as Tom Wilson, but when Tom Wilson signed the contract, what he was on, people were like, what? Like, look at his, look at his production. Like, it doesn't meet

these numbers. But I think Tom Wilson has shown the ability, first of all, to score. Yeah. But also the ability to be so much more than a score. An interesting comparable, Jason. Yeah, like, it's not perfect. It's not perfect, but, you know. But none of us are.

None of us are. Well, I'm close. But, but Kiefer Sherwood, you know, is, is he's going to have to hold up his end of the bargain now because the concern would be, and I don't think Sherwood's wired like this, but the concern would be like, here's a guy that's never gotten paid in the NHL. Now he really gets paid in the NHL. Is he going to be leading the league in hits,

or is he going to be like, you know what? I feel it tonight. Sometimes, you know, when you hit guys, they get their stick up or whatever, and it's like kind of annoying, and I'm just, you know, I'm just going to do a couple. I'm going to introduce the old Kiefer Sherwood fly by. At $29.5 million in his pocket. I don't think he will, though.

So first things first, I think this is awesome. Good for him, man. When the Canucks acquired Sherwood, I was intrigued by the signing, pretty happy about it because I really liked his game in Nashville, blown away at his abilities offensively, based on the role that he was playing as a predator, and then what he was able to do,

given more opportunity and responsibility in an idea. time in Vancouver. It was great. Kind of disappointed that we didn't get to see him for longer and didn't get to see him in any sort of meaningful postseason action where I think he really could be a weapon. But this is a great story that at 30, 30 years old, and you got to remember, in 2023, so just three years ago, still was logging pretty significant minutes in the American hockey league. Not that far removed from it. At 30, this guy's able to, as the kids say, and Thomas Trance

secure the bag for $30 million. I know a lot of people were gobsmacked at the sticker on this one. It's a big price tag for a guy that again has 30 years old. It is.

That said, as I referenced Trance yet again, he brought up a good point. We have no idea what these mid-tier contracts for these kinds of players are going to look like as the cap continues to escalate. Honestly, and all of these

come with the if he can continue to do it. But if Sherwood continues to produce at the level that he's at, that $5.75 million hit is not going to be onerous at all if the cap continues to go the way that it goes. I mean, it might be a problem in a few years. He's 30 years old. Yeah. Have you ever looked at the shark's cap situation?

It's fascinating because, you know, in a couple years, they're going to have to try and negotiate an extension with Macklin Celebrini. and a couple other young guys too and that's going to be real interesting but I think the most interesting thing look at their blue line they're going to have to turn that entire blue line over they've got four pending

unrestricted free agents on the blue line like that's that's that's insane and I know they've drafted a few but you can't expect all those guys to you can't just draft your way into a new they've got Orlov and Klingberg and

Lil Jigrin and Vinnie Darnay, like it's crazy. The fact they've been able to do what they've done this season and by that I mean, stick around and they're very much in the playoff hunt. The ability to do it with the blue line they have is hilarious because their blue line is just this weird mismash of veterans

and guys they picked off the scrap heap. A couple of has beens, couple never wears. Orlov's a good player and he's the only guy they've got under contract for beyond this season. 34 though, right? Yeah, he's their best defenseman. Now, I know they've got other guys. But that's going to be such a massive challenge if you want to turn them into a legit cup contender. I think what this really says, though, is how amazing Celebrini is.

They're way ahead of schedule. Let's just be clear. They should not be in a playoff contending role right now, especially with the blue line. They haven't quite honestly, their goaltending's been very erratic as well. But they're ahead of schedule because Celebrini has grabbed them by the scruff of the neck and drag them this far. There is no question He's a finalist for the heart trophy in my mind No question

This team is not This team is so far ahead of schedule And they're not really ready to be in the playoffs And if they get in, it could be a really short dance in the postseason For sure But I mean, you know, you said you look at their blue line And I kind of, I look at it

I'm like, yeah, I see exactly what you're seeing They're an unfinished product. Like there's not a lot of answers on that blue line They've got young guys that they're going to try and bring in I'm not launching a criticism criticism at them, I'm just saying it's going to be very interesting to see how they fill that blue line out. It's going to be very difficult. When you rebuild and you draft players and sometimes you get to the point, you know, three or four years after you do the rebuild, you've got

some good young pieces, but you're sitting there going like, ah, we didn't fix this one area, though. And then everyone in the league knows it. Looks like we got a deal on the horizon here. We're just waiting for confirmation of it, but it seems like the Washington Capitals are sending former Vancouver Canucks legend Nick Dowd. Nick Dowd, everybody is on his way to the Vegas Gold. Yeah, the person in the trade is

Nick Dowd. It is wild how effective Nick Dowd has turned himself into a player in Washington. I did not think he was, when he was playing in Vancouver, I'm like, I'm not sure this guy's long for the NHL, and he's forged out a pretty good career. Was that who Jay Beagle replaced? Yes.

Jay Beagle was the Nick Dowd replacement. That's Right. And then he went to Washington and he was like, is he better than Jay Peagle? He was a very, very, like, serviceable 4C for a long time for the captain. Now, again, according to reports, the deal is not done yet, but Nick Dowd is on his way to the Vegas Golden Knights as they continue to make minor moves ahead of Friday's trade deadline. Dan Rosen's going to join us next. Talk a little NHL trade deadline on the Halford & Brough show and Sportsnet 650.