Halford & Brough in the Morning - Is This McDavid's Last Season In Edmonton?

Episode Date: August 28, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk a big Blue Jays comeback win to take the series over the Twins (3:00), plus they discuss Connor McDavid's comments from yesterday regarding his future with the Edmonton Oilers (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 Dun-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-na. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Rect to right-center field, off the wall. Kirk is into score, Springer's rounding third, and he'll score. He's a dog, you know? He wants to compete. Do you know a high lift out to left field?

How much is on it? And it is over the law and gone. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody is Halford. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to live from the Kintech Studios

and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adon, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brought of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Learn how a consumer proposal can get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech, footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. We got a big show ahead on a Thursday. Guest list today kicks off at 7 o'clock. Yeah, 7 o'clock. First hour is all in uninterrupted Halbro. So Adnan Verk is going to join us at 7 this morning from MLB Network.

Big wins for the Blue Jays and the Mariners yesterday. We'll get into both of those in what happened. We can also talk about Shohei Otani, getting his first win as a Dodgers starting pitcher last night. The MLB regular season is coming to a close. Postseason chases are already heated up. They're getting even hotter. We'll talk to all that way.

Lots to get into with Adnan at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30, Brady Henderson, our ESPN Seahawks insider, is going to join the program. Seattle's 53-man roster is set. They're ready to go. And now we're just 10 days away from the Seahawks season opener at home against the Niners in week one. That comes not this Sunday, but the Sunday following. We'll talk to Brady about all that at 7.30. 8 o'clock, it's the Drancer, Thomas Drance from Canucks Talk and the Athletic Vancouver.

Drancer recently conducted an interview with Abbotsford Bench boss Mani Melhotra about what Manny learned en route to last year's Calder Cup Championship. We can get into all that and a whole lot of other stuff. Canucks related and otherwise, maybe we can do the Connor MacDavid conversation later in the show

but also at the top with Dranser at 8am. So working in reverse on that guest list 8 o'clock it's Drancer 7.30 Brady Henderson, 7 o'clock at Nanverk. The first hour of this show is entirely open. If you want to start weighing in now with your what we learn I know it's a tall task.

It's 603 in the morning. Or if you got anything you want us to chop up and chew on. Dunbar number text line is 650, 650. Get in of what we learned. Hashtag at WWL. Tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. If there's anything you want us to tackle, we can do it in the first hour of the program. Guests begin at seven.

That's the layout for today. Laddie, without further ado, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. I got a whole lot of audio from a very entertaining Blue Jays comeback yesterday. A lot of things we got to cover here. We'll start with the big hit of the night.

Addison Barger, a. two-run double in the eighth. Blue Jays rally from three runs down to win 9-8 against the Twins on Wednesday and capture the series. Let's hear what Barger's double sounded like, courtesy Dan Shillman on Sportsnet. Rick to right-center field, off the wall. Kirk is into score. Springer's rounding third and he'll score. And Addison, Barger delivered.

That was a really exciting moment in the game, obviously, not just because the Jays went ahead, but Hoffman had been up in the bullpen. He just felt it. And Dan Sheldman was like, and look, Hoffman's up in the bullpen. And then when the Jays took the lead, he was the only guy in the bullpen.

And the only thing we could conclude is that John Schneider was going to bring him in and in hindsight great move and I think actually at the time a lot of people were like you know what might as well try and go back to him as soon as you can

and against the same team because we discussed it yesterday the options for them in the bullpen are not there aren't many no they're not flushed with options like Hoffman has probably got to be

your closer. Like, I don't, I don't know. If Laddie has any other, if there's any other guys there that could be your closer, like, if it's not going to be Hoffman, you're probably just in trouble. Like I said, the start of the year, there was thoughts, maybe Ariel Rodriguez, but not with how he's been late. I don't know. I might be a Sir Anthony guy from here on. He does have some minor experience. And he got the win yesterday. But to come back to Hoffman, the day after that ugly save attempt, which, turned into a big blown save, you know, I think was a great opportunity for Hoffman, a great opportunity for the Jays. And hopefully, hopefully this can serve well down the stretch

and into the postseason. And by the way, if the Jays had lost that game, it was getting a little slim, the lead ahead of the Red Sox and the Yankees. Both of whom won yesterday. Let's hear the close, the call for the save. Hoffman, 29th save and 36 opportunity. this season. Jay's win at 9-8. Hoffman closes it out. Here, let's go back to Dan Shulman, our good friend, who was on the show yesterday. On the call, courtesy Sportsnet.

Round ball to the right side, Guerrero, Fee, Hoffman, and the Blue Jays win it. 24 hours after one of the toughest night of the season for Jeff Hoffman, he bounces back. and picks up a save. You know, I know he's expected to make that play, but that was a nice play by Vladdy at first.

Yep. Like, because there had been a double beforehand, so there was a runner in scoring position, and that was nice that Vladdy came up with the ball, and Hoffman himself was the guy that made the put-out. Gold Glover. Yep. He's a good fielder.

People forget that, though. I'm just saying it was a good play because I think it was the at-bat after barger it was not a good at bat for Vladdy he was like struck out on three pitches three pitches and like it was just like what was that what are you going to do to redeem yourself yeah it was a nice play

he doesn't have the physique of a guy that you think would be like a good fielder period no and I think he's an average third baseman but he's probably an above average first baseman you know he's good he's got a way better arm than most first baseman have yeah that's that yeah his is underarm yesterday

he doesn't need to eat it The reason I wanted to play all this audio of like the electricity and the noise, quite frankly, from the barger double. And then the Hoffman save is that if it isn't already, it has become a very difficult place for opponents to get wins and for people to play. I think that's 31 wins in the last 40 home games for the Js. And we've often tied a lot of this into how is it going to translate to postseason success. If they're able to get home field advantage throughout. the majority of the playoffs, how much of an advantage could that be? We've got some audio here

from the manager, the gaffer. I'm going to start calling them gaffers. No, I'm not. Just go with manager. John Schneider talking about the electric atmosphere in Toronto as the Jays beat twins and won the series. That was loud. It was pretty electric atmosphere. These guys do

not quit. They do not give it who they're playing against. They don't care what the situation is. I love it. They don't care if I pinch it for me if they've hit a home run. You know, that was a big win today. You know, at this point of the year, it's, there's definitely some things you want to get better at,

but to ultimately come back and win it was really, really big. Other game of note last night that everyone was paying attention to an afternoon affair in Seattle. And shout out to my buddy Chesbig's Padres fan who went down to check out the final game of the M's Padres series. Ems take the series, thanks to Eugenio Suarez, his second three-run Homer in his many days. So the... They had already clinched the Vetter Cup though, right? What? What was going on?

I didn't really follow the Vetter Cup story all that closely. It kept on... I was watching one of the games and, you know, not a star wipe, but every time there was some sort of wipe

by the camera, it was like Vetter Cup, Vetter Cup, Vetter Cup, Vetter Cup. And I think it's just a series between the Padres and the Mariners that probably, for charity for some reason, but

anyway, the Mariners won it. It's the team's competition for the cup modeled after, oh, Vetter's 1963 Fender Telecaster. Okay, okay. I thought he was a Chicago guy. That's what I thought. Like, why are the pod racing? I don't know how San Diego

got into the mix. They put their name for. And the Mariners won it. The game you're talking about is, by the way, for those that don't know this, if you sign up for MLB TV through the MLB app, they have a free game every day. And the other day it was the

M's and Padres game, one of the late games. And then they cut over to the A's and Tigers. And because I was so desperate to watch sports, I was like, I'm going to watch this. Anyway, and you're right, instead of commercial breaks, they just kept flashing the Vetter Cup icon throughout the entire broadcast. Anyway,

M's win yesterday, so they take two or three in the series. They now hold the final wildcard spot in the other, right behind Houston, in the AL West, well. So again, the reason that we're leading off so many shows with this and talking about it with as much enthusiasm as we are isn't just because there's nothing else going on

in the world of sports. We're trying to fill time. Partly because of that. But it's also the fact that the Jays and the Mariners are on their way to the playoffs. And it's very cool for the Pacific Northwest baseball fans because there's a lot of Jays fans in the Lower Mainland, obviously, and there's a lot of Mariners fans here as well. And it's inching closer and closer to both of them clinching their. spots in the playoffs. Could be Mariners

Yankees or Mariners Red Sox in a wild card. Yeah, Mariners Yankees I'd love to see. You know what? I haven't really paid an awful lot of attention to the Red Sox this year. They've kind of become an afterthought for me. I know that they've had a really good second half and honestly, you know what the most we've talked

about the Red Sox this year was the Devers trade. That was, remember? That was it. You know what's more likely actually is Yankees Red Sox. That would be amazing. That would be amazing. Do you want to do the Connor McDavid stuff now and take us through to the end of the first segment because there's a lot to chew on here.

I would rather do Manchester United because a lot of people have texted in to the Dunbar Lumber text line and if you want to text in 650, 650, that is the Dunbar Lumber text line, Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and run a warriors for over 50 years, visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at Dunbarlumber.com. We will get to the Connor MacDavid's up, but I kind of want to leave an entire segment for that. Sure. I want to talk about what is going on with Manchester United that their manager seems to hate them, and they just lost to Grimsby Town in the League Cup.

And Grimsby Town plays in the fourth division. It's actually called League 2. Again, very confusing. Fourth Division, though. So it would be like, I don't know, NHL, A-HL, E-C-H-L. I think it's the S-P-H-L, S-P-H-L, right? S-P-H-L, they're in the S-P-H-L of England.

Right. It's not an example of it. It's not apples to oranges, but like it is, it was a humiliating loss for Manchester United, fell behind 2-0, tied it up, hey, great, the spirit,

but then lost 12-11 in penalty, and I just want to say that my favorite quote, my favorite, and this is the type of player that is playing for teams like Grimsby Town. Oh, yeah. Their keeper, their keeper, whose name

is something like Christy Pym. Yep. Christy Pim said afterwards, and, you know, he's the winning goalkeeper in a penalty shootout win over United. He goes, you know. I got the audio.

of Christy Fim Okay Do you want to hear? Yeah, go Yeah, it's not sunken yet I'm Mani Night fans So I'm half-fuming a little bit Are you?

Yeah, I am, yeah He's a Manchester United fan He's like, I'm so sorry So he's half-fuming a bit That was it Like he didn't expect to win It's like the Larry David meme We're just like

In what in what In what competition Would the player on the other team admit that he was a fan of the team that he just beat. That's great. I love it. So, okay, so let's clear up a couple things here. One, Grimsby Town,

in no way related to the Ontario-based hometown of Kevin B.XA, Grimsby, Ontario, two totally separate things. They're not even in the same country. That's a big starter. This, to give you an idea, and it's funny how this is being framed, because some people are framing it as this,

this is this is why everyone loves cup play because you get these minnows taking on the mammoth teams and it's this great Cinderella story. But the other narrative is that this is another new low in terms of embarrassments and humiliations for this once proud Manchester United organization who has now sunk to this kind of low where they're losing away

and in really embarrassing form. What has happened to them? Have they just, have they lost their culture? Is that what happened? Are we going all the way back to the departure of Alex Ferguson? And I think a lot of it is that they continue to buy and buy and buy players and then kind of expect the players to play the Manchester United way. But the problem is, is nobody knows what that way is. Nobody knows what the style is because they've changed managers so many time.

They've changed personnel so many times. So many big players have been alienated and forced out of the club when they don't perform well enough. They had over $270 million worth of salary on the pitch yesterday. Which is insane to lose to Grimsby Town, which had $30. 30 on the nose, 30 pounds. 30 pounds, though. Yeah. One of their most notable players was a guy who was an international for the Faroe Islands to give you an idea.

Can we play, you know what? I want to play the audio here, though. Okay, so I want to play the audio. It's 11 all in penalties. and one of the big transfer acquisitions for United, Bryant and Bumo, steps to the penalty spot. I'm pretty sure that his wage is triple that of all of Grimsby towns. Yeah.

Like he got signed from Brentford for a ton of money. And he steps up and he hits the cross part now. This is important to know because the call probably makes more sense if I put this out there. Grimsby is a port town on the east coast of England. I believe it's in the East Midlands. And it's known for, among other things, being depressing.

Very depressing. Also fishing. Anyway, I throw that out there now as we play a rather lengthy clip of the penalty miss that secured one of the biggest upsets in English Cup football history. Grimsby Town taking care

of Manchester United. Oh, it's Grimsby's Knights. They've reeled in the big fish. An outpouring of joy at Blundel Park. They thought, surely, when Manchester United came back, that it would be the one that got away. But the story of Carabal Cup round two has been written here.

and a story that will be told from generation to generation in Grimsby. So I actually encourage everyone if you don't do when you're driving. I have to put that PSA out there all the time, but jump on to whatever platform you can find the video and watch the scenes afterward because it was played in Grimsby. Yeah, yeah. In their quaint 9,000 capacity Blundell Park. And it is the greatest outpouring of,

like celebration and emotion all the supporters just stormed the pitch and nobody cares yeah yeah right because I mean the thing is is like there's not that big of a difference between the supporters and the players these players are barely yeah it's like are we're going to see your work tomorrow yeah he's like I'll see you

and what like I mean it's it's a great story and you only really get it in those kind of competitions and what what about the maybe 500 fans from Manchester United that traveled do you think they were like do you think Do you think they're like, I'm glad I came, or do you think this was a bad call?

Okay. I bet secretly they were like, I'm glad I saw that. I'd go back to what I said earlier. Because I hate this team. Right. There's two storylines that are really being driven here from United. It's not one of, like, there are some big clubs that if they were to suffer a shock loss like that, they'd be like, ah, you know. For example, in last year's FAA Cup, Liverpool lost to Plymouth.

Plymouth was at the bottom of the championship and they got rally. It was a big upset. Yeah. But Liverpool was winning things. So they were like, ah, you know, well, let the, let the, let's, let's the, let's, the minnows have their day and they beat us like tip of the cap to them and they might not have played all their players united this is a lot different like united is nothing to hang their hat on right now they're awful yeah and it's an embarrassment for this once proud uh footballing

club so i i i feel like if the fans were away there they might have had a brief moment to take in the the spectacle of it all but they would be embarrassed it's an embarrassing loss there's no other way to say it okay on the on the football tip another one uh leona l messies come to the Pacific Northwest this weekend. He's playing Seattle in what? The League's Cup final. It's still going on. Still happening.

They played the semifinals yesterday. So Miami beat Orlando in very dubious circumstances. He scored though, didn't he? He scored twice. He scored a penalty and then scored an open play after Orlando was down to 10 men. So they punched their ticket. And then Seattle beat the LA Galaxy and the nightcap. So Seattle, in short notice, now turns around, because they played last night to Wednesday.

Sunday, 5 o'clock kickoff from Lumenfield in Seattle. Leonel Messi and Miami, the super team in Miami, traveling up north to take on Seattle, and what should be a very hot ticket, I would imagine. You know, as a Whitecaps fan, I don't think he's that good. No. He's, I don't know, he was a bit overrated. Took care of him twice.

Yeah. Not once, twice. Didn't really, didn't, I don't know. Had him up. Didn't move the needle. Yeah. Had him up here. Didn't see much.

I've only seen him twice. Wasn't that impressed by him. Okay, let's get to Conor McDavid here because this might continue on to the other side. And I will throw out a question for the listeners. What do you think is going to happen with McDavid in Edmonton? And please do not say that this is just a negotiating tactic by McDavid. Because he does not need to negotiate. As many have pointed out, if McDavid were to go.

go to the Oilers and say the only way I'm signing is if you give me the max contract and I'm talking max years max cap hit that is loud under the CBA they'd be like sign here we already have it drawn up yeah yeah okay

there's clearly some apprehension about extending in Edmonton by Connor McDavid so let's do the audio right now and then we can talk about this on the other side because there's a lot to unpack here this is about a and a half of audio. This is from yesterday, from Calgary, Canada's Olympic orientation camp. Three Canadian invitees were up on stage. Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby. And then like, Sam

Reinhardt, do you also want to go? He's like, sure. Yeah, he was wearing his two Stanley Cup rings next to McDavid. Yeah. He was, never was like, someone, you could almost feel both of them on his middle finger. You could feel someone in the crowd being like, it's a bit awkward. Let's just ask Sam a question. And they did eventually. But everyone was focused. Firstly, on McDavid and then on Crosby. And it's Ryan Rishog, if I'm not mistaken, who started off the

interview portion of the afternoon by getting right to brass tacks and asking Connor McDavid about his contract situation. Not about representing Team Canada, not about the Olympics, about his contract situation with Emmettin. I want to play the clip in full, including the questions from Rishog, because

it'll give everyone a much better understanding of why this became a big story yesterday. Here is Connor McDavid speaking about his contractual future in Edmonton yesterday from Canadian Olympic orientation camp. Connor, we'll talk lots of Olympics, but do you want to get

to the contract situation. Maybe just give us a sense of where things sit right now, how you feel about what Stan is done, and you know, if you're optimistic that a deal will get done before the season starts. Yeah, not even a softball Olympic

question for me to start. But that's okay. Right into it. Yeah, no. You know, I said at the end of June, you know, I had every intention just to take my time with it and I still feel the same way. Take my time and go through everything. And, you know, I have every intention to win in Eminton. That's my only focus. Maybe next to winning the gold medal with Canada, but it is my intention to win there. But yeah, taking my time, going through it with, you know, obviously my family, my agent, everybody involved. So we're going through it slowly.

Is it an option for you to go into this season without something done or would it be your preference not to kind of to go into the year without something locked up? I would say all options are on the table, really. You know, as I said, we're going through it. I don't have a preference either way. you know, I want the group to be as focused and dialed in and ready to roll come day one as possible. And, you know, we don't need any distractions.

So, yeah, as I said, taking my time with it. And that's it. So it's the back half of that clip that really caught people's attention. And there was a lot, and I will underline a lot of surprise, the McDavid would consider not signing before the season and go into the year without his contractual situation. solidified. So we will get into this on the other side. We may just play the audio

again on the other side so that we can dive back into it. I wanted to get it out there because it is a huge development. No matter how you slice it, and Elliot Freeman had a lot of thoughts. As a matter of fact, he wrote it up yesterday on Sportsnet.com. So there's a lot to get into on the other side. Before we go to break, I do need to tell you about the BC Lions.

It's another season of hard hits, heated rivalries, and non-stop entertainment. For tickets, visit BCLions.com and get ready to roar as one. We'll be back. in a couple minutes. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 6.50. These guys do not quit. Um, me, they don't care if I pinch it for me if they've hit a home run. It's called playing the percentages. It's what smart managers do to win bowl games.

But I've got nine home runs today. 631 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Since it is thrash Thursday, a musical overtone to the show. And we did have a question lingering from the first segment of the show.

I will answer it now. The Vetter Cup has competed between Seattle and San Diego. Diego the Mariners and the Padres and the Mariners won it yesterday we were asking earlier one it a couple days ago oh they just clinched the series yeah yeah um we were asking why eddie vetter what's the connect we know his connection to seattle but what's going on with the san diego part but i was unaware shout out to tim in vancouver and then later melb.com for confirming that uh vetter

moved to san diego county in his youth where he found solace in music and surfing Not baseball? Not baseball. Not baseball. I thought baseball was going. Nope. Just those two things. Okay.

So there you go. Go pods. Go podrays. Have you done business? Yes. Okay. The other question that's out there is what is going to happen with McDavid in Edmonton? Because he allowed the possibility that he could head into this season as a pending unrestricted

free agent and if you think the Mitch Marner thing was a bit of a distraction in Toronto this would be crazy in Edmonton and I want to read a line from Frege's article on this because he said you know sometimes when Frege writes stuff it makes it seem like he's just writing something but maybe it might be informed,

speculation and he writes until McDavid signs there's something imperfect in his eyes whether effective

youth or strong enough goaltending or something else so everyone knows about the goaltending that's kind of

the front and center thing and the oilers still have the same two goalies as they did last season

nothing has changed there they've got a goalie code Yeah, and that's kind of how they're spinning it. And you know how the Canucks had issues finding a second line center this offseason. It was the same with the Oilers and goaltending. You know, when you don't have goaltending, it can be hard to find.

There weren't really any obvious fits out there. And I do wonder if they were looking at Demko at one point, but the Canucks said, you know, we're going to keep Demko actually. We're going to have Demko and Lankin it together. So the goaltending is kind of the obvious story that everyone knows about. But one thing that we've brought up before is who are the prospects that are coming on this roster? Because some of the key guys are getting a little bit older, guys in their 30s like Hyman and Nugent Hopkins. And then on the back end, a big one is Matthias Atcombe.

I think he's only got one year left on his deal. And he's like, what is he, 35 or something like that? Like he's an older defenseman. Tia Sackholm is the oldest player on the team at 35. Yeah. And he is. So who's going to replace those guys? Now, the Oilers do have a couple of young guys that they are really hoping make an impact.

One is Matt Savoy and one is Isaac. Howard, the guy they got from Tampa Bay in a trade this off season, if you go to various depth charts on the internet, like go to daily faceoff, they've got Isaac Howard playing on a top line with McDavid and Hyman, and they've got Matt Savoy on a second line with dry sidel and Pod Colson. Yep. You know, now they can always bring up Nuge to play wing, but then you've got to find a third line center. You know, they've also added a guy. and Andrew Mangiopani and they signed

Trent Frederick long term and I just wonder if McDavid wants to see what those young guys are all about because if I were him I'd be looking at this team and going yeah I love that there's dry sidel

long term and I like playing with Bouchard especially on the power play and then I'm not sure about anything else because I love Nuge and I love Hyman but those guys

you know if I'm talking about signing a long term extension where are those guys games in two to three years? Yeah right this isn't about this isn't necessarily about this season although part of it is I think it's more about like if I'm going to sign

like I don't want to have two or three years of rebuilding or retooling because like I'm 28 right now or however old he is and I need to win a cup and I don't want to waste any years retooling. So the other thing that Fridge threw out there yesterday

is that all of this is being fueled by how close McDavid got to winning the ultimate grail, the holy grail of hockey without winning it. Like there was no his hunger was not satiated in anyway. As a matter of fact said that numerous people around the situation have told Fridge that it didn't quench the fire

it created even more hunger and that sort of sense of desperation and longing and wanting to get that cup so badly has forced McDavid into this I'm going to be extremely patient and very thorough because that's how important this is to me right now I think he realizes that he's at something of a crossroads in his career because I'm going to be honest

it's very hard to get as close to winning a Stanley Cup as Connor McDavid has over the last two years without winning it. Game 7 and game 6 of the Stanley Cup final. And there is reason to suggest that short of winning the cup, that's about as well as you can play and as much as you can put forth effort-wise without winning it.

The only thing would have been going to two game sevens in a row, maybe going to overtime in one or two of them. I'm surprised that it's not enough to push him over the top to be like, look, two game sevens and I didn't win, like, I'm out of here. This obviously isn't going to work. Well, but yeah, that might be what's going on. Yeah, but I mean, the alternative is

he's obviously on a good team right now. And there's the other part of it. They got to the stand-the-cup final. What I'm looking at? What are the odds they do it again? Where are you going to go right now? What are the odds that any team goes to the step-bun final? Yeah, but I'm just saying like you lose twice in a row in game seven.

Let's answer this question, though. I would, if I was looking for an alternative, if I'm McDavid I would look at a team that has a ton of room to grow frankly I would look at a team like Anaheim or San Jose sure but there's a long way to go

for those two yeah so I I mean that to me would be yeah wouldn't you want to go to a team that's ready to win now but that's the other thing who's that remember because right now you'd say the second best team in the national hockey league right now is probably the Evanton Oilers okay let's let's take

this from a Canucks perspective. Sure. Right? We know what it looks like when a team gets very, very close and then gets old. Okay? We know exactly what that looks like. Yeah. Because that's what happened to the Canucks.

2011, it'll lose the Stanley Cup final. Very next season, they won the president's trophy and lost in the first round. And then they kept kind of making the playoffs. But you could tell they were getting old. and they didn't have anything coming in the system. Yep, right? Yeah, yeah. And some of the losses had taken a bit of a psychological effect on the team.

They just didn't have their swagger anymore. Now, they didn't have McDavid and Drysidal. No. I mean, that's a major difference. But when you don't have that youth waiting in the wings, waiting to fill in, and you seem to have trouble. attracting outside talent and I don't know maybe that's part of that

league wide things like everyone had trouble making moves this offseason it's it's really hard to hang on yeah I just right now I'm hard pressed to think of a situation that's like ready made for him to jump to to be like there's a place where it seems like an ideal well anywhere is going to have a risk

there's an element of risk if he were to change teams. What I think is ultimately going to happen is he's going to sign a two or three year extension. That's what I think is going to happen. And Dry Settle is going to be like, why did I sign for so long? Oh, because of the $112 million. Right, right. That's why I took that. I think that's what he's going to do, though. But I mean, I hope. But I also, but I also think it's possible that he goes into this season and it's such a distraction. And maybe the young kids aren't performing very well. Like Matt Savoy and Isaac Howard, he loves. He loves. looks at those guys.

Like, he's going to be, he's going to look at those two and be like, can I, can I make, can we go to the Stanley Cup final? Not maybe this year with these kids leading the way, but, you know, who, who's going to be that next complementary group that every team needs to win the Stanley Cup? Yeah, and they've lost some of that. The Holloway and Broberg offer sheet, they'd hurt them in a significant way, especially when you see what Holloway did this year and St. And Broberg as well.

And if you want to talk about young guys that are supposed to maybe make I don't know the darnel nurses of the world expendable or a young guy in Dylan Holloway so you don't have to go out. The thing with Isaac Howard, the acquisition is they had to give up a first round pick Sam O'Reilly to get him.

It wasn't like you just jumped aboard for free. They had to give up one of their few first round picks in the system just to get him in because he was closer to being at NHL ready. From a selfish perspective, I think Connor McDavid leaving is the best for everyone. Canucks especially, but you go east, young man.

Yeah, I know that in terms of, if you're going to look at this, you know, from the 10,000 feet above view and take a wide lens look, there is something kind of storybook and at the end would be nostalgic about McDavid and Drysidal having this dynamic duo in a league where we've seen them countless times, you know, stick together and win a cup together. And it does sort of follow in the narratives of a lot of NHL players who have stuck with their organizations through thick and thin. As a matter of fact, the guy that McDavid was on stage with yesterday,

Sidney Crosby, right? There's a guy that stuck with the penguins through all of it. And he, you know, there's a very good chance that he'll retire being a lifetime penguin. And a lot of guys do that. And a lot of guys hold that. And he won a Stanley Cup early on and then had to wait and then won back-to-back cups in a lot of ways because the farm team

created players for it, developed players, but is that going to happen over the next few years for McDavid? Because right now is when he has to make the decision. Well, this is when you bring up the other guy that was on stage with McDavid yesterday. And not Sidney Crosby.

It's Sam Reinhart. And it's Sam Ryanhart and the Florida Panthers. Because right now, with Florida bringing back everybody and everyone's taking a haircut to get there, is it not fair to suggest that anyone that has Stanley Cup aspirations over the next two or three years is going to have a real big challenge

and that is trying to beat the Florida Panthers McDavid goes to Florida then they lose to the Oilers right? Damn! No, like they are the par excellence in the NHL right now. Because anyone, no one disagrees with that, right? Of course, Florida is the Florida is the back Stanley Cup jams.

But this isn't going to be something that like one of these classic textors, they're like oh, there's other teams. Like it is, Florida, I've seen better. There you go. Greg texted it. Now, Florida's the team to beat. Florida is Florida.

And having kept everyone together, which isn't the norm for previous Stanley Cup winners. Like, remember Colorado a few years ago, we thought that they were going to be on a rocket ship to the moon. Yeah. But they couldn't keep it together. Well, part of that was the Landiskeg injury as well. But they couldn't afford Cadry and he left and they couldn't afford Comfer and he left and they've been trying to find a 2C for forever. They made acquisitions at the deadline. that didn't work out and those guys left.

I mean, I mean, the Marshawn one for Florida is a perfect example of a guy that kind of bucked the trend, which is like, I won my cup, and now I'm going to hang around and try and win more. Okay, I'm going to slide some golf talk into this just to annoy some of the listeners, but also I actually think this is a good point. Okay. Keung Bradley didn't pick himself for the Ryder Cup, for the American team. U.S. Rider Cup captain doesn't pick himself.

And a lot of people are saying, that was a huge sacrifice by him because he'd always wanted to play in a Ryder Cup. And because he made that sacrifice, that is going to mean a lot to the American players and especially the guys that were on the bubble that they're going to, I don't know, try extra hard to win the Ryder Cup.

The ultimate show of leadership. The ultimate show of sacrifice of leadership. what if McDavid goes into this season without an extension and it's a huge distraction and it's just there's something off about the team and there's a lot of noise around the team and people keep wondering is he going to stay is he going to go he is the captain

remember and maybe some of the players are like why won't you commit to us why won't you put a ring on that finger? That's true. Freed wrote about that as well. Which goes, actually, kind of goes both ways. Put a ring. That's what I'm trying to do.

I don't put a ring on the finger. Trying to put a ring on my finger. On that note, here's what Freed wrote. I admit I'm surprised that McDavid would consider not signing before the season. I thought he wouldn't want Kyle Bukoskis and Bob Stoff for bothering him all year. We've seen plenty of players affected by uncertainty, but I don't think it will impact McGavis.

David, he's too laser focused. There are two targets this season, Olympic gold and the Stanley Cup. Nothing will deviate him from that path. Frege then goes on to say the bigger question is if it becomes a distraction for the players around him and the guys that are like, what's going on here. Or the coach.

Because of management, not knowing what's happening? As a long-tenured jackal in the media, it's really easy to get around that wall where they put up. They're like, Connor's not talking about his contract situation when we start the season. Because you know who you ask about it instead? Everybody around him. Yeah.

All his teammates, his coaches, his friends, players from other teams, Olympic team members, and teammates. Oh, can you imagine the circus in Milan when all the media are there? It's another chance to ask him about his contract situation. By that point, we'll be in February. I remember in Sochi asking Kessler about his situation in Vancouver. I'm like, it wasn't a distraction. for the American team, or was it because they didn't win? Yeah, they were terrible.

You know, blown out by Finland in the bronze medal game. Yeah. It's going to be a circus if he doesn't get the deal done. And there's still time. As Fridge also wrote in his piece, he could leave Calgary, he could go back to Edmonton,

he could be like, I fired my shot. It's time for you guys to fire yours. And they'll say, this is what we're ready to do and this is how we're going to do it. Sign now. Yeah, but again, the money is not the issue. It's not the money. It's the price.

presentation. It's a slide show. It's all of it, right? Right. It's, this is how we're going to go about this. This is how we're going to have a second wave of young players. This is how we're going to address our goalie situation moving forward. Okay, but how, what that, what does that look like? How are they going to do it? Seriously, like, like, we're going to pull a rabbit out of a half. Yes, that would be it. It's actually just Stan Bowman with a rabbit. Yeah. And they're going to be like, we're going to trade dry sidel. Don't tell them though. Well, okay, let's talk about that. No, no, not trading dry-sitle, but how are they going to create, how are they going to find young, how are they going to fix their goal-tending situation? You don't think they've tried? You don't think they've tried to fix their goal-tending situation? They're not, they're not like Skinner and Pickard aren't back because they haven't tried. It's like they connects with the second line center. They just couldn't do it. I think that, you know, it's not a canary in the coal mine, Clay,

but I do think that the dry sidel extension and the length of the commitment and the money of the commitment leads me to believe that he had some sort of verbal understanding with McDavid that McDavid is not leaving this year. That to me would seem wildly bizarre if Leon Drysidl signed a massive long term, 100 plus million dollar extension. And he's like, I don't know what. is going to do we don't talk about it like that to me seems like that's the biggest indicator that something's going to get done that even if it's not perfect but they're also but

they're also men right men don't talk about things well that's true right you can golf they could golf for four and a half hours one day the conversation of where are you going to play next year we'll never come up yeah everything else will no shot except that good shot oh but don't worry I think it opens up over there but if one of the golfers on the card had already signed I don't know an eight-year deal to stay at his job and his co-worker was sitting there might come up once or twice. What are you thinking about the future?

I don't know. You know guys don't like having conversations. Well, I mean, that is a possibility. Could you imagine? Drysadle's like, I thought we had an unspoken agreement. Maybe we should have spoke about it. I don't know. But it is now the, like, it's the front and center story.

And just to throw it out there, like I'm not, I'm not trying to mix it up here just for Canucks fans listening who might enjoy this. I'm trying to put myself in McDavid's shoes right now and going, I desperately want a Stanley Cup. I'm looking at this lineup right now and I'm going, I don't think this is going to get better. So since you're in McDavid's shoes, at first blush, they go so fast, they move so fast. Where would you go? Where would you have your eye on? Who would you be thinking about? Oh, I told you. Really, you'd think like I'm going to go to San Jose or Anaheim? Maybe. I got a lot

cop space and young young talent yeah but they're so far away you admitton might be far away real quick soon yeah but now right now yeah yeah so am i know i know i keep thinking that there's some team out there well that's why i said what's most most likely is a short-term extension you know the team that keeps getting mentioned is the kings the kings get mentioned all the time because cope he's leaving right and the idea would be they have the assets available and they would gut the team and there's a good structure there and there's talent there. Gretzky went to the Kings. Gretzky went to the King. Can you imagine?

Yes, I can. God, that would be awesome. This is the stuff I want to put out in the ether right now. If there's going to be, if McDavid is going to stand the division, go to the kids. That would be the funniest of all out. It would be great. It would be by far the funniest. It would be amazing, right? Or there's fans who's like, are you kidding me again?

Because here's the thing. If you wait a year, there's a big difference between gutting your team via trade and then waiting and making your pitch in free agency, which is what I think the end game might be here if he is to try the market. Because like Gretzky, when Gretzky agreed to the trade of Los Angeles, he's like, you can't trade the entire organization for me. I need some guys to come with me so that we can actually be competitive. If you were just assigned as a free agent, it would be a team that's clearing the books and clearing the cap space. Is it Kopatars last year in L.A.? and then does McDavid go in there as a free agent? It'd be really interesting because you need to

join a team that's on the cusp, not a team that's about ready to think about getting to the cusp. Yeah, I don't know if I 100% agree with you there. I think, you know, you can go to a team. Like, I think Anaheim is going to take a bit of a step this year. And if you can go to a team that has, look at the talent that San Jose has right now in terms of young talent and the talent that's coming. Yeah, it's just... It'd be a risk. Sure, it'd be a risk. There's, I mean, you got to remember how bad Santa, San Jose is so far. No, I know. I know.

Right? I mean, they were historically bad two years ago and then just tragically bad last year. I mean, the same thing as Chicago. Does Chicago have a wealth of young talent at this disposal? Oh, I wouldn't go to Chicago. Wouldn't go to Chicago. But just I'm talking about like the talent base that they've got. Yeah, yeah.

Right? And you look at a lot of these young teams and there are, there's a level of excitement with all of them. And I don't doubt that that would be enticing. But the idea is, is that. the healthy franchises aren't the ones that completely bought them out and start again. And they're not the ones that get old and then the end of the generation, they're terrible. It's the ones that are able to replenish.

And it's the Tampa Bay's and it's the Carolinas. And it's the ones that find a way to consistently reload so you don't have these periods of where you're winning 15 games in a regular season. Carolina hasn't won a cup in this core. I know. And Tampa Bay hasn't won for a while. Well, I mean, Tampa Bay won three Stanley Cups within the last league. Yeah, but I don't think, but I think their time is done.

Right, but they remain in terms of winning cups. But they remain competitive. Okay, but how are you going to fit Capwise McDavid onto that team without significantly making a week? I'm not talking about McDavid going to those teams. I was talking about the mentality of those teams, which is you don't go bottom and then try and grow your way back up. Because it's tough getting out of the bottom of the league. Like, it's not easy. Tampa Bay did at one point go to the bottom and that's how they got a guy like Edmund.

And then they stayed good for, I mean, the better part of a decade now, 15 years of competitiveness, right? It'd be a tough decision. Like, I'm not, I'm not, I mean, I'm pushing back on some of your ideas here just to play devil's advocate, just to throw out the suggestion that it's going to be really difficult. All I'm saying is that regardless of, I mean, we're going down a road here that might not even get traveled. All I'm saying is that if I'm McDavid, I'm not, it's like, you know, it's like past history

doesn't necessarily dictate future history all the time. I'm looking at this team right now and going, some of the good complimentary players are getting older, who is going to fill those spots? Now, maybe it is Isaac Howard and Matt Savoy, but who's going to replace Ekholm on the Blue Line? Are they ever going to be able to rid themselves of the Darnell nurse contract?

And does McDavid even want that? because he's really tight with darnel nurse. Like it's a complicated situation there. And I think this just goes to show with McDavid saying all options are open. All options are on the table right now that this is not the slam dunk that a lot of people thought in Edmonton because, well, look at his wife. She's opened some like stores downtown. Like it's, yeah, stores can move, right?

Some can operate without someone being in them. Okay, we've got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet, 650. Hour one is in the books. Hour two, our first guest is going to join us. It's Adnan Verge from MLB Network. He's going to join us on the other side. Big wins yesterday for the Jays and the Mariners show. Hey, Otani.

A big win for him is first as a Dodger's starting pitcher. We'll get into all of it with Adnan on the other side of the break. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.