Halford & Brough in the Morning - Gold Or Johnson?

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the latest Canucks GM search news as well as a Whitecaps stadium update (3:00), plus the boys talk all things NHL playoffs with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (27:31).  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. Rory, works it loose, one-timer, scoff. He's a dirty player. He's always been. Not very well respected. That's fine. If you want to call me a dirty player, you can just look at my history. I'm not that dirty. Yeah, well, you know, that's just like your opinion, man.

Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford and his breath. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming live for the Kintech Studios in Beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adda, good morning to you. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford, in Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Are you drowning in tax debt? If you are, Sands and Associates can often reduce your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program.

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brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It's our morning guest list here. It begins at 6.30. Greg Wischinsky's going to join the program. NHL, ESPN, Insider. One game in the playoffs last night. Two more tonight. Can also get into all the latest news and notes around the NHL. Which is going to join us at 6.30. 7 o'clock.

Araf Dean, one of our favorites, Beat Rider for Colorado. hockey now. Big win for the a VAS last night in Minnesota, 5-2 victory that puts them within a single victory of the Western Conference final. Araf's going to join us at 7 o'clock to talk about the Aves Wild Series.

7.30. Ryan Rigmeaden's going to join the program. BC Lions General Manager. Training camp is underway in Camloops. We are now just 11 days away from the Leo's first preseason game. The Lions in Langford game Saturday, March, or May

23rd, sorry. They'll be taken on the Alex, we'll talk to Ryan Rigmeaden about all that at 7.30. And finally, at 8.10 this morning, Satyar Shah is going to join the program. He, of course, host of Canucks Central right here on SportsNet 650. We'll talk about Evan Gold, Ryan Johnson, and the Siddins as we hopefully get closer to an announcement regarding the Canucks new front office hires. Just 8 o'clock, not 8.10. Okay, 8 o'clock, even better.

Sat's going to join us at 8 o'clock this morning for some Canucks talk. That's what's happening on the program today. 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'm losing.

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All the greats. All the grades started by sponsoring the first hour of this show. Some of the best ever do it. If you don't want to be that company, well, that's fine. That's cool. All right. Monday was another day of reporting and speculation in Vancouver as the Siddines have reportedly agreed to take on a larger role with the team, although we don't know which role exactly.

As for the next general manager, that still isn't clear. It seemed at times yesterday like it was going to be Evan Gold out of Boston. But then we heard follow-ups that Ryan Johnson isn't out of it quite yet. It's a real horse race between those two. This should get figured out in the next couple of days, maybe even today, who knows. But it's been quite a ride to this point. Remember the whole Pierre Dorian thing?

Yeah. That was a wild day. It was pretty weird. Greg Mishinsky was involved with that prominently, and he's on the show at 6th night this morning. I guess that was a week ago. I wonder how close Dorian really was to getting the job. Was the fan reaction?

Did that cause the Kinex to pivot? to something else, maybe the Siddins, I don't know. Because I'm curious to learn eventually how long the team has been keeping this Sadiens news up its sleeve. I know they went to the draft lottery, okay? Yeah, that's a clue. That doesn't necessarily mean that they were in the mix to take on a larger role. they could have just been sent to the draft lottery because the last time the Canucks drafted super high,

not first overall, that's never happened, but the Cineans went two and three. Still so many questions to answer in all this. Obviously, the structure of the front office is at the top of the list. Dran said some reporting yesterday in his athletic piece where he said,

they're still trying to figure it out. Like the Seneens have accepted a larger role. And I think that acceptance sounds like it came fairly recently. But then they're like, we just don't know what the role is. We know we want you guys in it. We just don't know what it is. You know, other questions that I've got, what is the reporting structure going to be? Who will have the final say on hockey decisions?

what will happen to Ryan Johnson if Evan Gold is the pick? Why Gold and not Johnson, if that is the case? Who else could be joining Gold in the front office? What about Cammy Granato and Emily Castongay? And what about Patrick Alvin? Will he remain with the organization, perhaps in some sort of scouting capacity? Because there's also talk that after this draft,

there's going to be big changes to the scouting department. Didn't Rick say that the Seneens and Alveen were seen together in a stongs or something like that yesterday? Grocery shopping. Are they moving in together? They're grocery shopping now? What is happening with this GM chase? Well, I mean, in the Drance article that you referenced, by the way, that's a problem. of the athletic right now.

You know, he did say that news is getting harder and harder to find as the leaks, whatever leaks there were, it tightened up over at Kanax HQ. With regards to the role that the Siddins might play, since it's not clearly defined right now,

kind of lends credence to looking around the National Hockey League and seeing what other ex-players and franchise legends have returned to organizations to serve in an executive role. And the two, that got mentioned most prominently in a sort of hybrid

presidents or co-president role where of course what Matt Sundeen got named in Toronto and prior to that one I actually kind of forgot about but I shouldn't give it its ties to Vancouver the one that Keith Jones is currently filling in Philadelphia.

Because you'll remember Daniel Daniel Breyer is the general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers but Keith Jones is sort of the almost very reminiscent to a lot of the talking points they had around the Sundeen higher in Toronto where the spirit animal of the flyers a little bit the bringing back like the pride in the orange kind of thing you know he harkening back to a time where he and the rest

of his old flyers mates really carried the culture and the attitude and the I guess the reputation that they wanted to get back to and that's what you do when you harken back to the past. You rekindled some of that. So the Sine's just going to walk around Roger's arena and go and talk about the culture. It's like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. We don't do things that way.

It could be part of their role. It's like I'm making photocopies here. That's right. Yeah, we do them with character. Now, the thing is, double-sided people. Double-sided. With regards to Jones in Philadelphia

and Sunda and Toronto, there is a pretty clear delineation of like who's, reports to who what the stages of the tranches of the levels of the executive are and that I mean at least as far as we know

is still undefined in Vancouver in large part because we don't know who the general manager is going to be Rick Dollywall just tweeted out he's an early bird just tweeted out a very uh how many times have we heard a tweet like this

or read a tweet like this as of this morning the Canucks have not decided on a GM. Ryan Johnson is still in the mix. What is happening here? If I had to guess, they are torn by a very strong candidate

in Evan Gold, but also by an extremely talented and loyal employee in Ryan Johnson. I wonder if they're trying to figure out a role and then keep both them. If they don't hire, they will lose. Not keep both of them. It's probably part of the big thing. Not keep both them. I wonder if they're trying to figure out a way that they can keep

Johnson and hire gold. That was my first. thought that jumped into my head. Yeah. And I don't think it's possible. Do you think it's possible that there's sides are just dug in, uh, in the Konax? Like there's some people that want Ryan Johnson and some people that want Evan Gold. I mean, the way some of the reports were going yesterday, he was like, wow, Evan Gold's got the job. And then, you know, we heard from a few people, including Elliot Freeman. They were like, uh, you know, and he says like, I've been told not to, that Ryan Johnson is out of this yet. So look, there's no sense in us

running around and chasing our tails on this. The conducts still have a lot of decisions to make, I guess. And I just want to reiterate, like, you know, whether it gets done today or tomorrow or later in the week, they got to get this figured out this week. And they got to make some announcements because you get the structure,

you got to have your press conference, You got to, you know, there's all sorts of stuff that happens when there's people getting new jobs, all sorts of things that take time. And they've got to get down to work. You know, they've got a lot of things to figure out before the draft, which is in a month and a half, the coaching staff in Vancouver. Maybe the coaching staff in Abbotsford. You got to have your conversations with players. you got to figure out who you're going to draft. What's going to be your draft strategy?

You're going to try and trade up, trade down, whatever you're going to do, right? There's all these conversations that you have to have. But I'm sure the new GM will want to reach out to Elias Pedersen and guys like Jake DeBrusk and see what's going on there. And then also call other teams, you know, and see, hey. They had a business. What are you up to? That is, it's like, you know, sometimes you start.

start a job and the people will be like, well, we'll just easy in here, you know, well, you can shadow this guy for a little bit. It's not going to be the case with the Canucks. And on top of all that, you could have a fairly inexperienced group doing it, right? The Seneens are not experienced executives. Evan Gold has a lot of experience in an executive role, as does Ryan Johnson, but not at the NHL level, not where they also have the obligations of, you know, a lot more people following this stuff.

The stakes are higher. And also, they have limited media obligations as well. You know, like this is the big leagues now. And you are, you are a general manager of an NHB. team. And with all due respect to being the general manager of an HL team, which Evan Gold was in Boston with Providence and Ryan Johnson, currently is with Abbotsford, the stakes are a lot lower. And it's almost just like, you know, you're also taking orders from the big

club when you're the general manager of an HL team. Okay, let's pivot now to the news from the Whitecaps. This happened late last night and expanded overnight. It has been reported. by multiple outlets that the white caps, BC government officials and several local First Nations leaders are going to meet on Wednesday. This is first reported by Jay Janauer of global news and then subsequently corroborated

by Patrick Johnson of the province. So what we're talking about here is the future of the white caps at BC place. According to the reporting done by Patrick Johnson overnight, there was an original meeting on the book scheduled for this week on Wednesday. And it was going to bring MLS VP of Club Performance and League Growth

Charles Altcheck into town. This came after the meetings with Garber, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and David Eby last week. They said we're going to send up our VP of Club Performance and League Growth to talk about what can be done at BC Place. Those meetings, which were originally on the books, have now reportedly been expanded to include leadership from the Musquim, Squamish, and Sailor-Tooth Nations.

A source of the province said that this is the quote, the meetings will be focused on getting all groups on the same page about what could be possibly rearranging the team's lease and revenue generation possibilities at BC Play Stadium. The idea here, and this was again going back to Jay Janauer's original reporting, is that they would find an extended MOU for the lease of four to five years that would bring in the three First Nations groups in the whole, hopes of maybe at the very least getting a not short term, but mid to long term plan for the

team to play at BC Place, thereby potentially redrawing the interest of buyer groups who would then say, okay, if we were to come in and build a stadium, we know that for the next four to five years, we've got a reasonable situation at BC Place where we wouldn't be losing money hand over fist like the current ownership group is. Yeah. that makes sense. Yeah. It does make sense.

And by the way, there is a media availability at BC Place this afternoon, 2 o'clock. Now, it is ostensibly to show off the BC Place upgrades ahead of the World Cup. Premier David Eby is going to be there. The Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Sport will be there. the president and CEO of Pavko and the general manager of BC Place will be there. And they are, people, the media is going to be like, yeah, yeah, great, looks good. What's going on with the White Cups? Yeah, that'll be maybe question one or if not question one, question two.

An interesting name that was added to the mix, courtesy of Jay Janauer's reporting yesterday. Vic Montaliani, who of course is an East Vancouver native and his current FIFA vice president, one of the highest ranking officials at FIFA. And he has been pretty outspoken in the past about how vital the white caps are, not just to the local market, but to Canadian soccer in general. We've talked about that as well. And also how embarrassing it would be to lose the white caps right after being a World Cup host city. So I'm not surprised that Vic has now gotten into the conversation.

So the meeting on Wednesday, which was already going to be a pretty important one, given the, you know, players and the stakes involved, is now going to be. going to include representatives from the three local first nations, the city of Vancouver, the provincial government, the federal government, the MLS officials that I mentioned, and FIFA VP Vic Montaliani. So it's a big meeting and a lot of stakeholders involved. So we'll see what comes of that. But overall, on the Whitecaps front, this news can only be described as encouraging. Frank Sarvelli tweeted out about a half an hour ago, something about the Oilers coaching situation. Yep.

And he wrote that league sources say that the Oilers have sought permission to interview Bruce Cassidy as they contemplate significant coaching staff changes. Oh my. That would be a big deal in and of itself. And it is. Here's the kicker. Frank says to this point, sources say the Golden Knights have withheld permission from their division rival. Now, Frank ends his tweet by writing gamesmanship. perhaps, mostly unprecedented for role.

Yeah, this doesn't happen very often. It is not very often that a team fires its coach, remember, they fired Cassidy and brought in torts, and then says, and we're not going to let you search for a new job because you're still under contract. It is just largely understood that if you fire the coach, you in fact want that coach to go coach somewhere else because it means you don't have to pay the coach.

Yeah. Right? But it's a very uncomfortable situation for the Oilers and especially Chris Knoblock. I mean, what do you say to Chris Knoblock? You're like, no, Chris, we wouldn't fire you for anyone. Well, for one person, for Bruce Cassidy, but not anyone else.

So last week... They still haven't decided what they're going to do. apparently. Last week, Bruce Cassidy was on the fan hockey show with Futes and Marquesie on Fan 590 in Toronto. And he made it very clear that he wanted to get back into coaching in the National Hockey League right away. As a matter of fact, the quote was, I would want to get back into it right away. And in Edmonton. Yeah. He didn't say that. He didn't say the Edmonton part. However, that was the one that everybody was pointing to for a variety of reasons. So there's a couple really interesting wrinkles to what you were talking about. The understood unspoken gentleman

agreement that you just go and let a coach try and find employment somewhere else. One, it's very clear that Cassidy wants to be employed somewhere else. Two, it's also very evident that the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers are fierce division rivals. And I don't know, I actually don't

know how long Vegas can do this for without raising the ire of multiple parties. I mean, Cassidy being one of them, the Oilers being another one. Yeah. The Oilers can't be thrilled that this is out there now that they are trying to interview you a coach and they're unable to while they still have a head coach employed.

It's a great bit of reporting from Frank because this is going to make what was already a very interesting offseason in Edmonton all the more interesting. And for Cassidy, who wants to work, and less we forget, despite how uneven the Vegas Golden Knight's season was, they were still very much in a playoff position at the time of his dismissal. He's regarded as the top candidate that's on the job market right now. Easily. Easily. Easily. And if he wants to go somewhere,

you would think that he would like to be freed from the contractual obligations of the Golden Knights. Okay, we can get into that more with Greg Wyshinsky in about 10 minutes. The Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild last night, 5 to 2. They now lead that series 3 to 1. It was a fairly dominant performance by Colorado, which didn't look very good in game 3.

and the Wilde won that 5 to 1. They made a goalie change. They came back and more than anything, they just kind of flexed their muscles last night and you saw how talented they are at the top of that roster, but also

how much depth they've got as well. What a silly. So the Wild are one game away from elimination. And I wonder, is it too early to speculate? where Quinn Hughes will be playing next season. I love it. Oh, man.

Because unless the Wild beat Colorado three straight times, they are going to bow out in the second round and fail to reach the conference finals yet again. The Minnesota Wild, not making the conference final, no way. Since the Wilde entered the league in 2000, they've only been to the conference finals once. I cannot remember which year that was. Who's to say, really?

Who's to say? Who knows? Elliot Freeman recently said that he'd be surprised if Quinn Hughes did not extend in Minnesota this offseason. But does a short series against Colorado change any of that thinking? The Wild still don't have an elite center. I know they were missing Eric Seneck last night and have for a while, I guess. Yep, he's been out for a bit. But he's not an elite center. He's a good center. But he's not elite.

They've got some elite wingers. two of the best in the league with Boldie and Caprizov. And I'm sure Hughes enjoys playing with a guy like Brock Fabor, Brock Fabor, but is that enough to convince Hughes that they can win a cup? Maybe he signs a short-term extension, which seems to be all the rage these days. What do you think about Hughes in his future?

Are you fairly convinced that the Wilder are going to be able to re-sign them? No, because I wonder if it's less about what the wild do and more about the division in which they play. Are Colorado and Dallas going anywhere in the foreseeable future? Do you want to sign up for that? There's a legitimate question. Like you, I'm sure he loves his team. It's a great team.

They are very talented. Boldie's great. Caprizov's great. Faber's great. They've got good goal tending. There's no reason not to, except for the fact that you play in the same division as two of the best teams in the National Hockey League.

The way Fridge put it was that Quinn Hughes appreciated the gamble that Bill Garan took. Yeah, I'm sure he does. I'm sure he does. But I don't think that that would somehow erase what the future has in store. Like I look at it and I'm like, hey, if I want to make a run in the Stanley Cup playoffs, I do not want to be in the same conference

and same division as the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas stars. I know Minnesota took care of Dallas in the first round. But to me, those teams are neck and neck. They're even in terms of talent. and I think that when they play in a series, it's a coin flip for me. I know they all play Dallas this year. And you've still got to go through Colorado, who is unquestionably the best team in the National Hockey League, again, in my view.

So if you love the team and you love the organization, can you not say, guys, I appreciate everything you've done for me. I love that you went out and had the big brass ones to make the trade. But if I stay here, it doesn't erase the fact that there are still two really good teams that are massive roadblocks for me getting to a Stanley Cup final. We can continue this conversation with Wish on the other side, but if he doesn't resign. And the way Frege put it, Freedge was pretty confident that Quinn is going to resign with the Wild. But we're going to have fun with this regardless.

Who do you think he would go to? Detroit always seems like the one, right? Everything is perfect for Detroit in the sense that they missed on them once in the draft. They are looking to make a splash. I've got this, you know, decades old now. Playoff drought that is just eating away at the organization. I mean, what was Steve Eisenman's end of your media availability all about? We need to get better players.

Better players. Right? That one to me seems to make the most sense. Would the wild definitely trade him if he said, I'm not going to sign an extension? I mean, given what we saw with Marner and the way that that ended in Toronto, I feel like any team is, it's just reckless. Yeah. Have an asset of that caliber and that worth.

Because you could, max value for it. You could recoup a lot in a Quinn Hughes trade. You could almost match what the Canucks got. Yeah, I mean, they're, they're prospect coverage. They would come with a long-term extension. They would come with an extension. The Minnesota Wilde's prospect cover right now is kind of bare. Yeah.

And you could go about trying to replenish some of that. If you get a sense that, hey, we tried, we took a swing. And I think that's what the conversation would be. It's like, we tried and we took a swing. And we might take a little bit of a knock, but not a huge one. if we turn around and move the player again. That's the decision facing the Minnesota world. Again, assuming they lose that series.

Yes, they're down 3-1, but it's not over yet. It's over. Greg Morsinski is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough 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 Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford, Brough, SportsNet, 650. Halverine inbram of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have debt? If you do, reach out to Sands and Associates during regular business hours, and they'll get back to you within 20 minutes. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. Still in hour one of the program,

Midway Point, hour one. Hour one 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 at 1170 Pyle Street in Vancouver. to the able auctions hotline we go. Our next guest, our NHL insider from ESPN. Greg Wischinski joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

What up, Wish? I appreciate you using the 8-bit ESPN team in celebration of Canada winning its first Stanley Cup since 1993. That's exciting. It's an appropriate use of the technology to reference back to a glorious time for the country that will be revisited. by this Canadian's juggernaut. Hey Wish, we got to ask you,

are you still reveling in the wildness that you unleashed in Vancouver when you came on our show a week ago and said that you think that Pierre Dorian is going to get the job? And by the way, I don't even know if you were wrong on that because I think the Canucks had to pivot.

I think this is one of the most interesting news-making moments of my career in the sense that half of the reaction has been you have no sources, you're wrong, I can't believe I follow you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, like it happens every time something doesn't come to fruition. And then the other half were like throwing flowers and candy at me for saving the city. Pierre Dorian's inept management. And I'll take them both. I mean, listen, you know, sometimes you report out things that don't come to fruition.

I, like you, don't know if it got close and then they got Spooner. There's been some reporting on that locally that might indicate that that's the case. Whatever it is, I stand by my sources. I think that they had an inside track on this thing, and then it went whichever way it did. But, I mean, you know, I think we can all hold hands at the end and say maybe it was for the best, however it worked out. Yeah, we still don't know how it's going to work out. Let's talk about the game last night, Colorado. Fairly dominant win over the Minnesota Wilde to take a 3-1 lead.

What was your takeaway from the game? But ending a guy with your stick doesn't get you five. Right. I mean, that's kind of a takeaway for, I think, everybody last night. I believe it was an attempted butt ending, if we're not mistaken. I think it was an attempted butt ending. Would that have changed things dramatically, though? I mean, they lose a defenseman, right?

I mean, like, I struggle with, and also you get a power play on which you can score as many times as you'd like, you know, too. That's also part of the equation as well. I just don't, I don't get it. I don't get why this happens. I don't understand how anyone can look at that replay and say he didn't hit him with a button of a stick. And he also, you know, glances out at where the officials are like a little sneak before doing it, too. It was so blatant. and I just, there are times of the officiating in this league does things that just boggles the mind.

And I don't think, I don't think an attempt was made. And I think a connection was made between but end and player. But if you're talking about like the overriding feelings that I have for that game, it is exactly the reason why I picked the avalanche to win the cup before the season. Yeah. It's why I picked them to win the series. It is the flex of depth that they can have that it's just startling. you know, a different hero every night kind of mentality,

whether it's Ross Colton and Parker Kelly or the big boys putting the puck in the net. It's just astonishing how efficient they can be and the Minnesota Wild really can't match that. So we were talking about this earlier in the show, obviously, because it's about Quinn Hughes. The Wilder, one loss away from going out in the second round yet again, or at least just not the conference final yet again.

what do you think Quinn Hughes is thinking about his future in Minnesota? Have you heard anything about which way he is leaning, either signing an extension with the wild or maybe going on on the trading block again? Well, Merrick and I had Pat Broussaint on his podcast. I think it was last week. And I took the opportunity to ask Pat. But so there's a lot of speculation that Quinn Hughes might sign a three-year extension, which would bring him up to free agency in 2030, which completely coincidentally is also

when Jack Hughes can become a free agent. And I asked him, I mean, has there ever been any conversations with you and the Hughes brothers about that possibility, about, about them both becoming free agents in the same offseason and kind of choosing their destination to play together? And he fumbled and bumbled and kind of, you know, kind of shrugged it off and said there's something to it. But I mean, logically, if we're going to, if we're going to think about, like, what we know about these guys, we know a couple things.

One, they want to win. Two, they want to play together. Three, maybe, like, well down the list. They're from Michigan. Yeah. So, like, you add up all these things together. And I think the idea of Quinn taking a three-year deal with the wild, you know, understanding that they've got it.

an really impressive assemblage of talent on that team, everywhere but center, you're going to be able to challenge with that team. It's tough in that division, because you know that Colorado's not going anywhere, and Dallas can still be Dallas. But, I mean, there's always a chance you break through, and I think that's a really good team with which to try to do it.

And he's obviously enjoyed his time there. He's got a good relationship with Garen. But I would say, if I were a betting man, I don't think that they offer oddness on like draft kings. But if I were a bet, man, I'd say a three-year extension and then free agent with Jack in 2030. Does he look at that roster and go, the centers aren't great, but when you got Boldy and Caprizov, you should be able to make it go?

No, I think he looks at that roster and said they're going to get a center. Like you cannot compete in this division where if Joel Erickson X gets injured, you're toast, right? You need more in the middle to take on. The Colorado, I still think that Florida top to bottom might have the best center depth in the league when they're healthy. But like it's really right there like 1A is

is McKinnon, Brock Nelson, Nazan Cadre, and Nick Waugh. Like that's an incredible for some. And so when you're going to war against that team and you're a donut like Minnesota is in their lineup, you're not going to really stand a chance to actually outlast them in a series. So I think Queen Hughes looks at that roster and says, we've got a lot of pieces here that are real good. And we have a general manager that has shown a real boldness in trying to improve this team in the short term.

I'm not saying this is how it goes, but I'm saying like if all of a sudden like Austin Matthews showed up in Minnesota, like wouldn't that change the math a little bit if you're if you're, if you're Quinn Hughes? I mean, I don't know. Did Austin Matthews recently spend a copious amount of time with Bill Garron in a secluded place somewhere in Italy? I don't know. Maybe he did. And also there was the Olympics. Yeah. Right.

Besides their time at Lake Como together. No, no. So like, what I'm trying to say is like I think Quinn Hughes probably looks at this roster, says there's all these pieces in place that are very good. And there are probably avenues that Bill Garron can go down to fix. the biggest problem with the team. What do you make of Franks report that the Oilers were hoping to interview Bruce Cassidy and the Vegas Golden Knights have said, not yet, or no.

I saw that. I don't know. He has a number of years left on his contract, doesn't he? I think, like multiple years. If that's the case, then it becomes an interesting situation for the NHL because I don't think you can necessarily prevent a guy from working for, like, in perpetuity. I often, whenever we get in a situation like this, I also don't understand the nuances of just like walking away from the money

versus, you know, do you break your contractor, or there are non-compete kind of thing going on? Yeah. This is a nuance that we need to get into as far as like what the Golden Knights may or may not be doing in this situation. But, you know, if you're them, look, he's removed from the bench, but he's still getting paid and he's still under contract. And that makes him an asset.

And I do recall, like, wasn't there a situation where the NHL changed the rules about being able to, like, send assets to a team to acquire a coach or a GM? I feel like there was some sort of like. There was a rule change. Like you can't, there's no more trades for coaches, I think. Yeah, which is insane. You should be able to, I guess they're maybe doing it maybe because like all of a sudden that's like he's not under the cap. So it's like you're trading an asset that's not under the cap for assets that could be under the cap. And from that aspect, I guess I understand the logic of it.

But, you know, he's an asset. And quite frankly, he's an asset that'd be extremely valuable to a division rival. And the idea that you're not going to just simply let him go with the oilers better, I think is completely logical and completely understandable, despite the fact that it reinforces that the Vegas Golden Knights are the swirling pool of evil in this league that has no nostalgia or sentimentality when it comes to the people they no longer need. Well, they also don't mind spending money

because most teams are like, yeah, interview them and then pay him because we don't want to pay him. Yeah, they're paying him a good amount of money too. I imagine Tortorello's contracts probably pro-rated, right? So, like, they're not breaking the bank to bring him at this point, but if he sticks around, who's to say? But yeah, I don't know, man. Like, it's an interesting situation.

I kind of understand the Golden Knight side of it as much as I'm pro-worker, and I'm sure if it was me, And, well, if it was me and Bruce Cassidy's shoes, I'd just go on television for three years and just like collect money. Yeah. He's, just to be clear, he's only got one year left on his deal with Vegas. When he got hired in 2022, he signed a five-year deal.

And you are correct. He makes 4.5 shmill a year. So, like, it's a good chunk of change to, if he could go and work and do TV for one year and collect two paychecks. My God, Bruce Cassidy, if you live in the dream. You get a paper route, too. Yeah, right. I apologize that.

I must have had him confused with somebody else. But, yeah, I mean, you know, it's one year. The league's not going to care. But, yeah, if I was him, I would, you know, kind of just collect some money and be on TV and maybe not take a job in which your best player is going to leave in two years. They wish, what's going to happen with Mitchkov in Philly? Oh, that's a really good question, because I think Philly is in that place where they're on the precipice of really making a leap.

Like, they've got some really interesting players. already in place. They've got more in the pipeline. And if you talk about teams that might be angling to acquire some of these players that could become available, these like A-listers, I mean, the Novi-Mitchhoff could be a part of any of that transaction. But, you know, it's frustrating, it's baffling. There's many people in Philadelphia that think that Tocke did them dirty. And I think that you can make the argument that Tocket did him dirty by being so public about the reasons why Mitch Koff was being, you know, reduced in minutes and stuff. Like, you don't get out there and talk about a guy's conditioning

because then you're dealing with, you know, fat balloon instead of Pat Falloon jokes for the rest of your career, you know? It's just like, it's just, that's just how it is in this league. So I didn't like that. But, I mean, the bottom line is that, you know, I covered the flyers for two rounds. And there were certainly times when Mitch Koff looked like he was not only ineffective offensively, but also kind of like, lost defensively and not really understanding the pace and not understanding the chances you can and can't take in a series.

And, you know, if sitting him that made the team better, let's talk its call. But at some point, it's going to come to a head with a really young, talented player, not necessarily getting the opportunities he wants in Philadelphia. Yeah, I have a big problem with people comparing Mitch Koff's situation with Pedersons in Vancouver. Like, I understand the similarities. I really do. I mean, right down to the criticisms and the very public criticisms. like you've got to work out harder in the off season. But Mitchcoff is 21.

This is his second season in the NHL. He's been through a lot in his personal life. I mean, I think, you know, I'm curious why the Flyers, maybe they've tried, but how can they not just get the message out that like, this isn't a big deal? This is the development of a player. And again,

he's 21. Yes, he played well in his first year in Philly and his numbers were good. His numbers weren't terrible this year when you think about it. But this was his first playoff experience and the playoffs is different. And this is all part of a development path for a very talented young player. It just seems like both sides almost are at war with each other in Philly. Yeah, I mean, I think everything you said makes sense. and he's not the first young, talented player we've seen

get this sort of treatment. I mean, it kind of reminds me of, like, in some cases, the way, like, say, like, Tororella would sometimes treat his young star offensive players. You know, I think the peters and stuff is just because of its pocket, right? Yeah, yeah. Sort of the through line and in this conversation. I understand it, but I just think there's huge differences.

There are. But I think that, you know, you're saying, why don't they just communicate this, that, and the other? thing to the fan base and the media about about mitchcock and and i think they have but i think that when you're a team trying to thrive and you know become a playoff contender and win series it kind of falls on deaf ears when people know what he's capable of doing and quite frankly like he did have a really good season despite his ice time being reduced by tachet so i don't know it's a situation worth watching i get the sense that there's not like an urgency to like move him out

I don't think he's a toxic player or anything. But obviously we're going to have to kind of see where things go next season where all of a sudden there's more forwards that need ice time like Porter Martone and others. So we'll see where it all heads. We're speaking to ESPN's Greg Wischinski here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of ESPN, up at ESPN.com right now is your article on Taylor Hall. And I read this last night. Excellent work, by the way.

This is such a cool story because, you know, it goes. all the way back to the Taylor versus Tyler Draft and talks about you know, Hall's once MVP for, and I think a lot of people actually forget that Taylor Hall was at one point. Wish doesn't. Wish does not forget that. He does not.

And also, what a weird set of circumstances it led for Carolina to end up with Hall and Stankov and given that they were both kind of directly related to the rant and trade. A really great article, Wish, what were some of your big, or maybe your biggest takeaway from writing it?

I'll tell you who else hasn't forgotten he won the heart. Nathan McKinnon fan. Yeah, that's right. That's the Hall won the heart that year. I think it's a really good example of why Carolines's front office is as good as it is. Yes. Which is, you know, like he was dying on the vine in Chicago. And there was not a whole lot of people looking to acquire Taylor Hall.

Like they thought that maybe his body was breaking down, you know, his stats had sort of gone in decline. and the Carolina Hurricanes looked at him and said he still has the speed. He has the kind of game that fits in our system where he can use his speed to aggressively go after guys with the puck and then also create in the dangerous parts of the ice. And they correctly identified the fact that this is like, I look back at his draft year. And it was Steve Tamblini. There's a name from the past who said this about, about Hall. He said he's the most competitive player I've ever seen.

Like he just got that fire burn when the oilers drafted him. And that doesn't go away. It just becomes dormant. And I think the hurricanes correctly identified that if you put this guy in the right situation with the right line mates and the carrot of potentially winning the cup to the first time in front of him, he's going to find his game again. And I got to tell you, man, like there are a few other candidates right now for Kahn Smyth for sure. But he's near the top of the list.

He's done everything for them. He's powered that line with Stanko. and Jackson Blake. He's delivered huge hits that like knocked Jake Sanders out of the series, for example. He's been incredible for them. And I was really happy to kind of revisit

what's been a very interesting journey for a guy who went from MVP to kind of nomadic life to becoming like in his later years, Corey Perry, except he's a top six forward. It is pretty remarkable the way that Tulski was able to work out of that rant and deal.

And if you look at the driving line for them right now. Two thirds of that line came as a direct result from the random trade. Because I forgot that the Taylor Hall deal was in part like that was Chicago kind of facilitating the trade by eating half of the if I'm not mistaken. That's right. Like they took on some of the money

and then shipped Hall to Carolina in that whole mess. So despite the fact that everyone looks at it and says, you know, the random deal didn't work out for Carolina. I mean, if you look at it now, two thirds of that line came as a direct result of the random deal. That's correct. And then also don't forget that like

that was also the season where Taylor Hall comes back from only playing, like, 10 or 13 games his first year in Chicago. And then he's getting healthy scratched by Luke Richardson, their coach at the time, who's like, who's not even like giving this former MVP the heads up. He's going to scratch him. And Taylor Hall is being informed by the media that he's a scratch. Like it was a really bad situation. And that's one of the reasons why they, they traded him. But yeah, like it was a masterful move in hindsight to be able to determine what was a what could have been a real, you know, thing that blew up in Tulski's face with a ranting situation,

misjudging the fact that you didn't want to live in Raleigh to turning it around and getting that huge collection of assets from Dallas. And I said it before the playoffs, I'll say it again. If you haven't seen Carolina and you think that they're the kind of team that they've been for the last few seasons, their offensive depth is remarkably better than it's been for any team that Brenda Moore's had there. And I'm not saying they can knock off who comes out of the West.

heck they might not even knock off the juggernaut Montreal Canadians boys but but they're really really good a lot of it's going to come down to whether Freddie turns into a you know pumpkin at some point or gets injured again which is two things that seem to happen to him house but right now Carolina's just on a different level than I think they've been in previous seasons Jackson Blake pretty good draft pick too fourth round pick in 2021 he's a really good player he's a really good player he's a really good player The whole line is just really fun to watch because they just play with reckless abandon. They go to all the tough areas.

They throw the body. They're just energetic. Also, though, Jackson Blake told me a funny story about, like, the idea that he's been in the league for two full seasons and potential. And both times now has advanced to the conference final. And like, Taylor Hall took him aside and he's like, it's not always like that. It's just not, you'll end up in Arizona, you know, you'll be in. It's not always like this. I wanted to ask you one more thing

and you kind of mentioned this already but what's the scuttle butt on Austin Matthews? Because apparently John Chaka is going to have a meeting with Austin Matthews in the next couple of days. Yeah, that's overblown. He's going to have a meeting with all the players.

And yeah, you know, I saw this big report of like, well, they're going to meet soon. Well, of course they're going to meet soon. He just became the GM. The GM meets all the players when he gets hired. In this case, obviously the conversation is going to be a little more delicate. Listen, I don't think that Matthews wants to necessarily leave Toronto. I think he really likes playing there. I think that he has a certain amount of pride in trying to see this thing through and win

as a leaf. But I also think he's a realist. And I don't think that he wants to be a party to, you know, what could end up being a rebuild there. And so, like, all of all, I've done some call. I'm calling around on this. And I think the perception of him taking a beat and really evaluating what this team could look like next year is absolutely accurate. There is a palpable chance he's not going to be a leaf when the season opens if he's not feeling it.

If he feels like he needs to get out now and have a little bit of runway on this contract to try to win a cup somewhere else. But there are obviously opportunities for them to lay out a plan and keep him. If this sounds familiar, it's because we did the same dance. with Connor McDavid last year, except his contract was maybe a bit more in a precarious place. But they share an agent. I think that agent's philosophy is to do this at a certain time ahead of free agency and also when teams might be a little bit wobbly as far as what their future goes. And there's definitely a chance he's going to get traded.

I mean, let's not beat around the bush. This isn't lip service. This isn't like rage bait. Like there's definitely a chance that he could ask out. And then if that happens, it gets really interesting. Problem being, though, is I don't think there's a timeline for it, boys. I think that's one of the things that needs to be said. Like, I've seen reports of, like, he'll decide in July.

Well, maybe he will. Maybe he won't. My understanding is that the Matthews camp isn't really concerned about that because they believe that if he becomes available, teams will move heaven and earth to get him, even if they've already done a lot of work in free agency and around draft and everything else. But he's certainly going to take his time,

and there's no, like, deadline on when he's going to, figure out what the heart wants, I suppose. Wish, this was great. Thanks for this, bud. Anytime. Greg Wersinski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of the Halford & Brough show, the Duick Auto Group is the official automotive sponsor of Halford & Brough. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal and why nobody has since 1926.

Visit Duick Jam on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown. Visit them in Richmond. Visit them online at the Duick Auto Group.com. Coming up on the other side of the break, Araf Dean is going to join the program. Colorado Avalanche Beatwriter for Colorado hockey now. That's going to be at 7 o'clock. And then at 7.30. Ryan Rigmeaden, the general manager of your BC Lions,

training camp is officially underway in Kamloops. We'll talk to Ryan at 730. That's all coming up in the second hour of the program. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.