Halford & Brough in the Morning - Frank Seravalli On What's Going On With Tom Willander

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the latest NHL news & notes with Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli (1:18), including an update on Brock Boeser, Canucks defensive prospect Tom Willander & head coach Rick Tocchet, plus the boys dive into the text message inbox and answer some listener questions about the Canucks (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.

Frank! Sarah Valley, Sarah Valley, Sarah Valley, Frank! Sarah Valley, Frank! Sarah Valley, Frank! Cerebelli! Frank! Daily face-off! Frank! 703 on a Wednesday! Happy Wednesday everybody! Frank! Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

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To the phone lines we go, Frank Cerfali from Daily Face Off, a presentation of angry outer liquor joins us here on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Frank? How you doing, guys? We're good, thanks for taking the time to do this as always. We appreciate it. So we do want to start with Rick Tauket

and his coaching future in Vancouver or elsewhere. Jason earlier today, you guys can all watch the video, by the way, it's up now on social, put out there that he's heard that the Canucks have made Rick Tauket an offer that they like, and that they're obviously hopeful that he will accept. What do you know and what are you hearing on the Rick Tauket front these last few days?

Honestly, haven't heard much new on that front. It's a situation where obviously this is something that the Canucks are hoping gets managed and handled in very short order so that they can put this to bed and move on, But, um, I have not gotten to that point yet where I've heard exactly what that report has. Uh,

what about the coaching carousel right now as it relates to potential jobs that Rick talk could look at elsewhere? Obviously there's three interim coaches that, you know, those jobs could be interviewed for, and there could be other guys brought in. There's going to be guys dismissed at the end of the NHL regular season. We all know that. How does the coaching landscape look in terms of availability right now?

It looks pretty healthy. If you're looking for another stop on the carousel, this is going to be a way larger coaching class. There's going to be more turnover than I think a lot of people had anticipated even going back a couple months. So you mentioned the three interim teams, Philly, Chicago and Boston. But then you've got, well, potentially if it happens, Vancouver, you've got Nashville

as a potential, the New York Rangers, the Buffalo Sabres, a lot of people are wondering about Mike Sullivan's future in Pittsburgh. You've got Patrick Waugh and Lou Amorella have been seemingly at odds for a while. Potentially the Seattle Kraken, even after just one year of the Dan Bilesman experience. I mean, there's a lot percolating behind the scenes at this moment in time that to think that there could potentially be six, seven, eight openings in a year

after so much turnover is pretty surprising. Are you expecting that the Rangers are gonna move on from Peter LaVillette? I am, yes. Go ahead. Did I mention them? Sorry? Did I mention them as part of the group?

Yeah, you did. I'm just wondering as it relates to, let's be honest, talk it, I'm looking at the jobs that, if someone was to take a gig right now, and we were kind of, I was stacking it up as what would it be like the future in Vancouver and what would it be like the future elsewhere? The thing that's really one of those classic

pro and con lists. Yeah, and it comes, if you look at, I think the issue with Philly and Chicago is they're still a ways away from contending. Now, if you look at Boston, that one is one where it's like they've got some good pieces there, but they are getting old and this was a really forgettable year for them. The Rangers, given where they're at in terms of, you know, still have a lot of talent on the roster, clearly Chris Jury wants to do some things to change this around and I think it's fair to say that this was a very

dysfunctional year for the Rangers. I'm having a hard time kind of balancing the pros and cons in terms of identifying that job as one that's desirable or not. Well, first off, it's the Rangers for one. So that instantly makes it desirable. Two, this is a team that to your point, last year won the president's trophy and there's obvious talent at a lot of different positions and three I think not all that dissimilar to the Canucks I'd want to hear from Chris Brewery specifically what's your game plan how aggressive do you plan to be to remake specifically the defense personnel of this team because it's that's the biggest question mark facing the Rangers for the last few years. It's, it's not that they can't score or they don't have quality

forwards. And to me, it's not even about the idea of moving on from the contracts of the Banajad and Crider as they continue to age. It's how does this team find a way to defend better because this has spanned multiple coaching staffs. Now you've got one of the best goalies in the world in Eeyore Shesterkin. If you can't get better personnel to defend, you're not going to have an opportunity to win the Stanley cup. And that's, I think ultimately the message that emanated from that team losing to the Florida Panthers last year in the conference final. They've got a decent group, but they need to

defend better and they tried to start that last summer by moving on from Jacob Truba, who by the way, the Anaheim Tucks got a lot better. If you look at their record after Truba arrived, um, they need, they need personnel changes. What about, uh, general managers on the hot seat? Uh, I saw that the Sabres are going to have the end of season press conference with Kevin Adams and

I think Lindy Ruff on Saturday. You mentioned Chris Drury there. I'd be curious to know, I think he's probably, from what I've heard, at least he's got the ear of the owner, James Dolan, but James Dolan can be kind of unpredictable at times. And I think. Mercurial?

Yeah. And I also think that surely part of the Rangers struggles has to be, I don't want to call it mutinous, but I don't think they were very happy with Chris Jury at times this season. So what do you think about some of the GM jobs that could in theory be available this off season? I'm not expecting a change for the Rangers

in their front office. Um, I think there had been some discussion about that at varying points this year, particularly after what you were kind of hinting at. There's a team that started 12 and four, they were 12 and seven at the time of Chris Curry's memo sent around the league about Chris Crider and Jacob Truba's availability. And they sunk like a rock after that in the standings. I mean, it's clear as day.

And the fact that the Rangers even had a sniff to be in the playoff mix over the last couple weeks, it shows you the value of a great start to the season because no matter what, it's so hard to turn up points that you're going to stay in the race after that. But that said, outside of Buffalo, I'm not expecting any, at least expecting is the key word, any other significant front office changes? Um, I do think that Buffalo, everyone's anticipating that changes are coming there. We're speaking to Frank Sarvali from daily face off here on the Halford and

brush show on sports net six 50. Uh, obviously being from Vancouver, we follow the exploits of Connor Bredard and what's going on in Chicago pretty closely. Who do the Blackhawks have in mind for their next head coach? They have David Karl in mind. He's the number one target. The guy circled at the top of their list. They've had five months to think about this process. And since Luke Richardson was fired and that's the guy that they want to go after. Here's the thing, given all the other options and opportunities that we just

talked about, David Carl is, he's the it guy, this coaching cycle. He's the guy that multiple teams are going to want to get their hands on. And that's going to give him options. So when you sit back and he's gonna be doing the same thing that you were just talking about, the exercise of, hey, where makes sense for me moving forward? And then you think about some of the parameters

that he's talked about, is not interested in a short term situation, wants to go somewhere long term where, that manager is making a commitment to him so much as he can, that you're gonna be building this thing in lockstep where you, it's not necessarily have a seat at the table

for decisions on personnel, but to do everything in concert. And that part is gonna be really interesting because I don't know that the Rangers, like let's just use them as a hypothetical for instance, I don't know that with their owner they could really make some of those kind of guarantees. They could certainly pay the bills, they could put a big offer on the table multiple years, make him instantly one of the top five highest paid coaches in the league which I think is probably

something that's going to be required to get Carl out of Denver. But I don't know that they can come up with some of the other parts that David Carl is looking for. And I think the Blackhawks are going to be a really intriguing option, not just for Badaard and, and frankly, what we've seen from Frank Mazer to close out the season. But you look at the backend and what they've got going, like Samorin Zell was electric

to close out the year leaving Minnesota. Like I made this comparison before. He's already in the few handful of games that he's played. He's made a bigger impact than Brock Faber did coming out of Minnesota. And that's the type of quality player that we're talking about. So they've got some interesting stuff brewing and Carl, their target, we'll see if they can land him. Okay, Frank, what's going on with Tom Willander?

Okay. So I did get a little ahead of myself the other night in the phrasing of my tweet that they have an agreement in place. They do not, and they did not. So that was an error on my part. But I'm very confident in speaking to multiple sources that that will be the case at some point in time. Now I know, okay, that sounds vague. Great job, Frank. The point is, I believe he's leaving Boston University. There's no rush. He's finishing out this semester

in classes. He was back in the classroom earlier this week after the first board and it's contract that will only- Okay. We're going to get Frank back right in the middle of the wheel and our answer and get him back real quick. And he was just finishing up the part where he said he's going to leave, he's leaving BU, he's finishing up some classes. So he's obviously not going to play a game for the Vancouver Canucks this season, but the Abbotsford Canucks, that's what I want to ask Frank about. Are we going to see Tom Will Ander?

Okay. So Frank, we just lost you when you were talking about Will Ender is going to leave BU and obviously the Canucks play their last game tonight so he's not going to be able to play an NHL game this season, but the Abbotsford Canucks down in the NHL, they finished their regular season on Saturday. They got a pretty good team this year and they're going to be headed to the Calder Cup playoffs. Could we see Will Ender play for Abbotsford in the Calder Cup playoffs? I don't think so. I believe the plan is to finish out this

semester on campus, however long that is. I think there is no rush for him to turn pro and that the expectation is that he'll be doing it in time for next season. I do think that part of what's gone on behind the scenes has been this back and forth in a contract negotiation that for an entry level deal is typically largely formulaic. That back and forth has been specifically, I believe, over some of the bonuses involved in that and that that's what is holding up, putting pen to paper.

So no rush, no concern that this is a guy that will be making a big impact for the Canucks organization moving forward. It's just not going to be today. Let's get back to this talk it thing. I know you haven't heard a lot lately about what's going on, but just what's at stake for the Vancouver Canucks and this Rick Tauke decision. They've come out and said like, we really want him to be back and I've heard that they've made an offer that they feel pretty good about. Now, whether it matches what Rick Taukett wants,

whether it matches his price remains to be seen. Um, but you know, if he signs good for them and good for Rick Taukett will get going on all the other issues that the Canucks have to face. But if he says no, how's that going to look for this management group and how's it going to look when it comes to Quinn Hughes who has come out and said he really, really wants Rick talking back?

Yeah, I think the best way to answer that question is what's at stake is to me, in my view, the fabric of the Vancouver Canucks. Your culture, everything that you want to accomplish revolves around your people. And since Rick Talkett took over, I think there's been a marked change in a really positive way of how that team for the most part thinks, breathes, acts, comports itself, posture, all those things that go into building a winning team. Now there's obviously been a ton of hiccups this year, a ton of issues that I think have, you know, had Rick Tocket had hair, would

have resulted in the loss of some, and certainly some sleepless nights. But when you think to the overall larger parameters and how it might impact this team moving forward, it would be a significant blow if they don't retain the services. And specifically in relation to Quinn Hughes. I mean, this is a player who has talked openly about how much he's enjoyed playing with,

you know, not just under Rick Tocket, but under Adam Foote as well. I've talked about how players around the league have talked about the quality of this coaching staff from top to bottom. This is a, this is a coaching staff that people talk about. They want to play for their energy energized and and interested and That's that's the exception not the rule in the NHL That's this is There's a lot of coaching stabs that people just they shrug or they say, okay

Yeah, that's the guy but will he be the guy a few years from now? This is a destination type coaching staff. It really is. And so not having that, it sets you back in significant ways. And so what does it mean for the management group? Well, I said it before, I think the biggest thing that stands out is

why wasn't this taken care of last year? I don't think that there was any disillusion about, hey, well, there's an option year, we're good, we can take our time. The process should have been, this guy won the Jack Adams, we have a great thing going, let's not let our top end coach coach into the last year of his deal.

And so these are the types of things that you open yourself up to, especially after the way that this year gone and went off the rails, that sometimes it's, I can tell you, I don't think that this is really hinging on money. I don't think that this is all about getting every last dollar

to remain coach of the Vancouver Canucks. I think finances are part of it, sure, but it's about having a strong plan and concise plan in place as to what this team's going to look like moving forward. That's what Rick Tockett's really interested in. I have this question from a few listeners. Would the coaching staff be tied've had this question from a few listeners. Um, would the coaching staff be tied to Rick Tocca? Like if Rick Tocca goes, Adam Foote's gone too, right? I would expect that to be the case, but I don't know that for certain.

Right. Okay. Um, anything more on, is it, is the Brock Besser story in Vancouver? Is this going to be his last game tonight in a Vancouver Canucks uniform or is there a still chance that the relationship can be salvaged? I don't really know that there's a glimmer of hope for that.

I mean, you know, my guess would be not to put a number on it, but we're talking single digit percentages. So it's greater than zero, but it's the writing has been on the wall for a little bit. And I think those comments where it was already probably a tough situation for a big chunk of the year with being limited contract negotiations, the Canucks essentially, you know, to unpack all this again, the Canucks essentially daring him to go out and have another career year.

And then not really coming close on terms for what a new deal looked like, followed by the way Deadline Day was handled. As all of those things were swirling, this guy that has been so loyal to the Canucks, has been so ingrained in what they wanna do that I don't think Brock Besser ever even looked around to see what was happening around him. Like this, the way that this year played out with Miller and Pedersen and everything else going on, I truly believe that as there were some questions that he's probably asking himself about whether or not the team believed

in him moving forward, for the first time ever, he probably in his own head was asking whether he believed in what's happening around him moving forward. Do you think we'll hear Pedersen's name in rumors this off season or do you think the Canucks will try and give him a vote of confidence maybe at the end of season, press her and put any off season rumors to bed? I think you're probably going to hear his name talked about. Look, I don't know that you could say definitively one way or the, like, I mean, I guess if you're the Canucks, you could try and put it to bed and, and give

them the vote of confidence. But if, if you could really, I'm not saying you can, but if you could try and find a way to extract some value, I don't know why you wouldn't consider it. Frank, always fun with you. Enjoy the rest of your week, enjoy the start of the playoffs, and we'll chat again next week, possibly post press conferences for a lot of teams, and we'll have some more news then. Sounds good. See you guys. See you buddy. Thanks, Frank. That's Frank Ceravalli on Sportsnet 650, brought to you by Angry Otter Liquor. Spring into savings at Angry Otter Liquor. Save $5 off 750 milliliter bottles of Road 1374.

More at angryotterlicker.crs. Okay, we got an open segment on the other side, so I wanna hear from you guys, the listeners. Text in to the Dunbar Lumber Text Line at 650-650. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and renter warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. Any thoughts about Rick Tocket and what you want to see from the Canucks? How big a deal would it be

if Rick Tocket says, thanks, but no thanks. I'm going to go do something else, whether that's TV or try and find another job with another NHL team. There was also a question that I got in a DM from Strictly Canucks Talk. And it was actually. Is that a show on Sportsnet 650? No, but it should be strictly Canucks talk. We don't have that name yet. Yeah.

For now. Not yet. For now. Um, and the question was basically in a nutshell, is there a risk in catering so much to Quinn Hughes and his future in Vancouver? So we'll dive into that, into that in the next segment of the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Music 732 on a Wednesday. Eurodance Wednesday is here on the Halferd and Bruff show on Forcenet 650.

Well here it comes. You know the drop's coming now. Oh, I can see. The Molly's kicking in for Halford. Halford and Brob of the Morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest, visit them online at sans-chassi.com. Well read. So close. Not bad. So close. So close.

Okay. The last segment left you guys with a question. I'll expand on that question. And again, this topic came courtesy, strictly Canucks talk on X who DMed me. I don't even know. I don't even have my DMs open. It's crazy, man.

I don't know what happened. And the question went like this. I boiled it down a little bit. If the Canucks cater to Quinn Hughes' needs for the next couple of years, and in doing so they trade away their prospects in their first round picks. And then Hughes still decides to leave. How much damage would this do to the franchise for the next 10 years?

What an interesting scenario Strictly Connect's talk has brought up here. So the reason this question kind of appealed to me is that now there are differences, so just hear me out. When, we're going way back here, when Trevor Linden was named the president of Hockey Ops in 2014, I guess it was, there was a lot of talk in Vancouver

that was like, you got to tear this thing down. And the Canucks came out and said, and I think Trevor specifically had some comments. He said, well, I can't go into the room with the sadeen still there and say, I'm going to tear it down. Like, I'm not, that's not a direct quote, but essentially was the message. And I always felt, and I kept on saying, I was like,

you can't just cater to the player, right? Like no player is bigger than the team. The team is the most important thing, the team. And so I have recently been feeling like a bit of that with the whole Quinn-Yu's thing. Now there's obvious differences. So let me get it out of the way. The Sedenes were 33 at the time and they only had a few years left in the NHL and their play had started to fall off. They weren't the Sedenes that we saw in 2011. Um, Quinn Hughes is right in his prime. He's one of the best players in the world and he

should be for the next little while. So there's a massive difference, but it's still, it's still, there's something about like, do everything you can to make sure Quinn Hughes stays. That gives me a little bit of pause. Like do everything you can to make sure Quinnhugh stays. That gives me a little bit of pause. Um, and it's why we've talked about this before as a management group, I would want to get a little bit of guidance from Quinnhugh's in what he's thinking and what he's feeling.

And I kind of want to just handicap the chances of being able to retain him with an extension, which they can sign as soon as next off season. I don't know if you could, like, I don't know how these things work but could you just be like in your exit meeting with Hughes could you honestly just be like listen Quinn let's cut to the chase here are you think you're gonna entertain signing a contracts extension here do you want to stay here or you are you going to New Jersey to play play with your brothers like could you could you have that conversation could you just cut through all the BS

and just be like, listen man, we got a plan for the future of this team. Do you feel, are you gonna give us, at the very least, are you gonna give us an honest chance of keeping you here? And what does that look like? Like, what do you want? Do you want us to do everything over the next year or two to try and turn this team into a contender

or do you want us to take a more long-term approach? Because if you're gonna sign an extension here and we trade away all our first round draft picks and all our prospects, then you might have to deal with some of the consequences of that if you stay on here. I just threw a lot at you. There's a lot to unpack. There's a lot at you.

There's eight different points. We probably should have broken that up. No. No. I think this is just like a big, massive conversation. The underlying thing is like, how honest a conversation can you have with Quinn Hughes at this point where he isn't eligible to sign an extension,

but everyone is thinking about his future in Vancouver. Okay. So there's, okay, let's try and work through this. Can you, I guess you're asking the first point is like functionally, can you have a conversation with the player? Yeah. Just be like, everyone is thinking this, this is the elephant in the room. Sure. What do we need to do to keep you while also balancing the long-term interests of this team and making sure that we're not doing all this stuff. You're not going to just string us along and then just be like, all right, see you.

I guess if we're trying to look at past parallels, this would be somewhat similar to the Matthew Kichuck-Calgary flames divorce in which he gave them lots of lead time. It's like, hey, look, I know I'm not eligible to sign for another year here, but I'm just letting you know right now, and I think the flames respected the fact that he gave them as much lead time as he did. He's like, I'm not gonna stay here longterm. I'm breaking this down.

Did Kichuck do that? Dubois did it in Winnipeg. And Kichuck did it in Calgary. But he got to RFA though. It was the year before he got to RFA, if I'm not mistaken. I don't think so. I don't think he had one year left.

He was in PD situation. At any rate. Whatever the case, there was enough lead time so that he was able to give the Flames an opportunity to move him, and they got a good return on the trade. I think the point is that you should and can, and it would be very, very responsible

and almost a necessity for the organization to get that kind of clarity, even if it is two years out for Queen Hughes. Let's go back to that. So in that regard, I don't really think there's any debate to that question. It's like, yes, you need to sit down and say, hey, we have a future to plan out. You're a massive part of that future if you're here.

End of conversation. The other really interesting part, but I think the more interesting part of the conversation is do you cater to an individual player? Now in certain instances, you could say no player is above the team. You know, you could you run the risk of upsetting the balance of the chemistry or what have you if you do that. That being said, there are certain instances where you push back on that a little bit. I've, Hughes is, in my mind, a top five player in the National Hockey League. Immense value, a franchise guy, the kind of guy, not just because of his on ice abilities,

but also what he's shown in a leadership capacity. Not quite unicorn status, but pretty close for me. I don't know, they're not maybe it hasn't broken the mold, but it's very difficult to replicate. In that regard, I think that you could kind of say, not necessarily catering to you, but spin it in a way where it's like, we value the attributes that you have so much

that we want as much input as possible and as much guidance from you as possible. And I think you could even put it in a way like whatever, there were times in Pittsburgh where you clearly knew that Sidney Crosby had a considerable amount of say in deals that were going to, like maybe when they signed his good buddy Jack Johnson to a contract, like maybe that was a Sidney Crosby special.

Do you afford Hughes that level of organizational clout? If that's what it takes to keep him around, maybe you do. He's uniquely valuable, uniquely valuable, especially to an organization that's never had this caliber of defenseman in its 50 plus years of existence. I just wonder, I know what you're saying here and they're all good points, but I think my whole question is how honest can you get in this situation? Be vulnerable. Because if you're Quinn Hughes-

That's the thing that kids do nowadays, right? They're vulnerable. Yeah, they're too vulnerable. They are too vulnerable. All their feelings out there on social media. See. That's the thing that kids do nowadays, right? They're vulnerable. Yeah, they're too vulnerable. They are too vulnerable. All their feelings out there on social media. See, that's the problem. We used to just stuff those down inside and then they came out later. Yep, like at the baseball game.

Yeah, at the bar. Remember when daddy hit the referee? Humpire. So if you're Quinn Hughes, try and put yourself in his shoes. And his shoes move faster than yours. So you might be a little surprised by them. Consider it. Right.

But also much fancier. Yeah. So you do want to do what's best for your team, but you also want to keep your options open. Is there a chance that you want to keep your options open? Just in case things get really good or really bad. A lot can change in just a year. Look at the Canucks, right? How much changed in a year. I guess it's also, could be contract negotiation in some ways. You don't want to put all your cards on the table just for that.

And your agent would probably, you know, as much as you can, cause it's, you're in a weird situation with your team in a negotiation because you do want what's good for your team, but you're also going to be negotiating against your team. That's kind of an odd, but you're also going to be negotiating against your team. It's kind of an odd situation that you're in, right? I mean, everyone goes through this with your work.

You want your company to be successful so that they'll continue to negotiate or they'll continue to be able to employ you, but you also need to negotiate against your company because you want to get a best salary for you. Now times that by a million when it comes to like the money and that's involved with professional hockey. Like you've also got to keep in mind again selfishly and personally like I think there's a direct line between quote-unquote catering to Hughes and turning this thing around right away and being aggressive this summer and making moves. As Jay and Calgary texted in saying, F them picks and you go, right?

You're like, right now we have a guy that's won a Norris and could win multiple Norris's, Norris I? Nor I? Nor I. Nor I. We're gonna do everything in our power to get good now. And for me, loving the short term dopamine hit that that brings, bring it on.

Cognizant of the fact that 10 years down the road this could be a catastrophic way of going about your business. Not having a long term plan and just continually having a short term one. Well, I'd actually be encouraged if you're having a conversation with Quinn Hughes and he'd be like, well, are we sure we want to trade away all these

picks and prospects? Then you'd be like, oh, he's taking a long-term view. You have general... I mean... Yeah, what if Quinn Hughes is super pro rebuild? Yeah. He's very pragmatic in his build. Come on guys.

But that's what, that's, look, I don't know what Quinn Hughes thinks, but I think we always defer to players being more short term. Just because of their nature, right? And maybe- Careers don't last long. And here's the other thing. They don't look at this stuff as obsessively

as fans and media do. Not even close. Like fans and media are, you know, like, how many pics do we have in 2028? The hardcore fans and the hardcore media. And Mike and Surrey knows right away. But the players are kind of more just like, hey, can we make the team better for next season?

Because this season sucked. Yeah. Quinn Hughes is a hockey nerd though, so if there was one guy to do it. You know what? You make a great point. He is one of those guys that loves the nuances of the game that some players might not I think Quinn follows the game a lot closer than most players. He does and It's funny, you know, you might assume that all the players know what's going on in the league. They don't those are my favorite

I just don't care at all. They don't they're just like I show up to the rink Yeah, I don't play and they want they want the team. That's good now. I don't check at all. They don't. They're just like, I show up to the rink, I play, and they want the team that's good now. I don't check the sketchy. I love those guys. And you can understand. You can understand. Imagine if you're playing for a team, and you're kind of like, well, if we keep this rookie

that's gonna be down in Abbotsford, for the next little while, who's not helping us right now, if we keep him, then maybe in three or four years, you know, like for the next little while, who's not helping us right now, if we keep him, then maybe in three or four years, we'll be better for it. But if we trade him, we can get a really good player right now. Most of the players are like, yeah, get that player right now. So I'm kind of like that, if we're being honest. I just wonder.

Well, I don't know how much longer I got going. Yeah. Kind of want them to pick the pace here. Right. Yeah. But the problem is they've been to 60 than I am to 30. I know going. Yeah. Kind of want them to pick the pace here, right? Yeah, but the problem is they've been- Closer to 60 than I am to 30. I know.

I know. Well, think about Tauke, he is 60. Yeah. Do you know his birthday is the same? We forgot when it was my birthday, it was also Tauke's birthday. I forgot that we have the same birthday. No, we mentioned it on the show.

So he's 61 now. Yeah. I mean- TikTok. TikTok for Tauke. TikTok. TikTok. TikTok. And you're 60, oh, sorry. I mean. Tik Tok. Tik Tok for Tuckett. Tik Tok. And you're 60.

Oh, sorry. I am, uh, 85 in spirit. It's true. And in age. But I, listen, I, I just think this is just like, I know this conversation has gone all over the place, but. Shocking. I just think of all of the issues that this

Canucks management group has to deal with. And we always say, because we're media, well, this is going to be a crazy off season with a lot of big decisions. Well, every team has big decisions to make, but man, like you have the debate of short term versus long-term thinking, which the Canucks have always, let's be honest, erred on the short-term side of things.

And if you look back at the results over the last decade, you know, Halford, as much as you love those dopamine hits, hasn't worked out very well. They've made the playoffs twice in the last decade, and short-term thinking is a big reason why. But I did get the dopamine hits. You did get the dopamine hits. Jay and Calgary's like, imagine the end of season presser Hughes just comes up to the

podium and just says one thing, tank for McKenna. Everyone's like whoa whoa whoa whoa hey he's like no more comments. Yeah but so there's that short term versus long term debate but there's also you know the Quinn Hughes, kind of shadowing everything, but also their head coach, they don't even know if they're going to have their head coach. Can you imagine if Talk says no and they're like, not only is this a PR disaster and Quinn Hughes is going to be upset, you got to go out and hire a coach. And a staff and it's like, that takes time. You got to interview out and hire a coach and a staff and it's like that takes time. You got to interview all these people.

There's only so much time in an off season and it takes so much energy. So then you got to get the right coach for Quinn Hughes. You got to get the right, and then there's a Pedersen thing. You got to figure out, all right, what are we going to do with Pedersen? What's the plan with Pedersen? Are we going to keep this guy and bet on him? Are we going to put his name out and trade rumors again? And that's the stuff that's already here. They make use of the coach. No, no, but that's...

Quain, we know you got a lot on your plate, but... Seriously, and you're also GM because I think I'm gonna get fired. Yeah. Right? Like, so that's all the stuff that is here right now. What about all the things they have to add? Centers. Well, centers? Well, Brock Besser's leaving, they gotta go find a winger. How are you gonna do that? What if you don't get Nick Ealors? It's almost good that we had this super scattered conversation in this segment because just to make a plan for the off season for the Canucks

is going to be, like, that's time. How much time are we gonna spend making a plan for the off season and then actually carrying through with the plan? You know, I guess. You are basically just describing their job. I'm describing their job, but I don't know if they're, maybe the Rangers, I don't know if there's a team in the NHL or many teams in the NHL

that have as many pressing issues facing them as the Vancouver Canucks, especially following what has been a crazy tumultuous, controversial regular season in Vancouver. Boston just put out a statement, said they're going to try and solve it in free agency. That'll do it. There's a few teams, not a lot, but there's a few teams.

But okay, here's a question for you. What did the Boston statement say? Boston statement, so we didn't ask Frank about this, actually, but he reported earlier in the week that they are sticking with the dynamic duo of Cam Neely and Don Sweeney's general manager and president of Hockey Ops. Right. Despite the fact that this year was kind of a disaster.

So they said, you know, we're committed to keeping that group intact and also we're gonna try and fix this. And they said, we've got unprecedented draft capital. But they also said, we're gonna be active in free agency. Which I thought was a really interesting thing to put in the statement because Sam Bennett would make a good Bruin. Well, they went down the free agency road last summer in a major way.

It worked out so well. Yeah. Like. Now we're in. Free agency is going to be a trap. It is. This off season. Now you're going to get some good players, but

it's going to be a trap. And we see this all the time in the NHL. Whenever there's cap space, GMs go crazy with it and there hasn't been cap space for a while. So they're going to go even crazier with it. It's going to be wild. If I'm a pending unrestricted free agent, I am laughing right now.

Like Brock Besser might be upset about the fact that it doesn't seem like he's going to be able to stay in Vancouver. But I'd be shocked if he doesn't get a big deal. And I'd also be shocked if that team doesn't eventually regret that big deal. Yeah. Like I think that, and as we loop it back into the Canucks, I think that the summer for me it's rife with opportunity to keep making moves. If there's been one signature of this management group since they've come aboard, there have been a lot of trades. There's been a lot of trades, right?

I mean, we mentioned like two, I think it was two seasons in a row where the majority of the trades in the early part of the season were done By the Vancouver Canucks right they move. Yeah, this is because they feel there's two parts to this I think one I don't think they were completely enamored with everything that they inherited from the previous regime and then two They've also had to correct a lot of their own mistakes. Mm-hmm. So that's led to a lot of Transactions a lot of their own mistakes. So that's led to a lot of transactions. A lot of transactions.

Well, they doubled down on two of the pieces that they inherited from the previous regime in Miller and Pedersen and it hasn't gone well. And one's gone. I mean, I talked about this, I think it was two weeks ago. If you can take the huge step back and look at this big overarching theme and narrative, back and look at this big overarching theme and narrative. Alvin and Rutherford, by the end of this summer, could have moved on from Horvat, Miller, Besser and the big one that's hanging out there is Pedersen.

That is a that's not a renovation. That's that's a demolition of the core that they inherited. Yeah. And again, they were the ones that extended Miller and they were the ones that extended Pedersen. They're also the ones that can undo both of those. One of those is already undone. They made a big commitment to Miller and then two years into it, they moved them to New York.

It could very well happen this summer. And then you're looking at it. I think if that happens under an entirely different lens going into next season, which is like, they've really, really dramatically turned this over. I don't know what that says. I hope that this off season with all the cap

space that's out there, you know, we often think about cap space of, okay, well, the free agents are going to get paid. But it also gives you freedom to make trades. Remember how hard it was to make a simple trade during the flat cap era? And to launder Robbie Fabry's money through Detroit or somewhere? It was just a nightmare.

So I think about a team like Buffalo. First of all, I don't know how Kevin Adams is still the general manager. They might not be. Are they going to trot them out for the end of season presser and then be like, thanks for talking, you're fired? Apparently he already gave an endorsement to Lindy Ruff. Yeah. Kevin Adams did. Problem is. Yeah, I don't know what's going on with Buffalo, but you think about a team like Chicago, they better be active this off season. Is this off season the time to explore a big trade like Pedersen?

Oh, yeah. I've said this like countless times. Like I'll just, for example, I would love it if we could get to a point in this league where you were able to dramatically alter the course of your franchise with one or two trades. And short term or long term, whatever. But the ability to do it where it's not you're trading a third liner, and like I said, jokingly, not even jokingly,

having to trade them through two teams twice and retaining 27% in each stop. For a guy who's like, he might be our seventh guy. Right, for example, I look at, so last night, the Golden State Warriors punched their ticket to the matchup against the Houston Rockets with their win over the Memphis Grizzlies. They go into the real playoffs.

They're in the real playoffs. Yeah. You want their season was dramatically and fundamentally altered by a midseason trade when they acquired Jimmy Butler. Now, apples to bowling balls. It's hard to make the comparison because the Golden State Warriors have a all time legend.

And it's also basketball where one player can make a big difference. But conceptually speaking, they made a trade where they went from being a 500 team, because they were a 500 basketball team in mid February, to being a team that is got 48 regular season wins, is now going into the playoffs and looks dangerous going into it.

Conceptually, that's a cool thing, that you're able to turn the tides with some good old fashioned trading and some good old fashioned managing, right? We got to get going here. Randeeb's going to join us next to continue this conversation. I apologize if this was a bit scattered and we threw a lot at you, but it's the Vancouver Canucks

and there's a lot to be thrown around. You're listening to the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650.