Halford & Brough in the Morning - Is This The Prelude To A Rebuild?

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the reports that the Canucks are making their veteran players available for trade (3:00), plus they go around the NHL with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski.  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 Another blitz coming, young looking over the middle, throws and it's picked off by Brown! No, not Brown, Brown, Brown, Brown. You're saying Brown an awful lot. Ingram puts it on the death. Flies and to end and slam by the notorious B. God free. It could be in Russia in a basement, having cigarettes, cash shoes.

Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adol, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford in breath of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com.

We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit the 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Now's the time to maximize the benefits of custom orthotics before the year runs out. Visit kintech.net. Ah, new read day.

I think what they've done there is now's the time to maximize the benefits. Yeah. Benefits. If you've got benefits and if they cover orthotics, because then it says before the year runs out. Hey, man. Which reminds me, I've got to get three massages. That's right. Eight pairs of orthotics.

Hey, man. It's November 25th. We're just a month away from Christmas now. This year, give her Kintech footwear and orthotics. Kintech, you can't eat that. We got a lot to get to on the program today. It's a good bit, eh, dog. It's a good bit.

It's going to get you fired, but it's funny. It's okay. We got a lot to get into on the program today. Three guests, first guest is at 630 this morning. Greg Wischinski is going to join the program. our ESPN, NHL Insider, lots to get into with Wish after a busy Monday night around the league. Seven games last night, just won tonight.

Edmonton and Dallas. Greg's going to join us at 6.30 for all that. 7.30. Sasha Clestion is going to join the program. He is a studio analyst for MLS season pass on Apple TV. The MLS Western Conference finalist set, Jason. Your Vancouver Whitecaps will head to San Diego this Saturday, November 29th, after San Diego beat Minnesota last night. kickoff 615 on Saturday from Snapdragon Stadium. We'll break all this down with Sasha at 7.30.

8.10 this morning, Landon Ferraro is going to join the program. Sportsnet Canucks analyst, if you missed it, and it's okay if you did because the news broke late overnight and it leaked into this morning. Major news on the Vancouver Canucks front, as it's being reported that in an effort to get younger, that Canucks are willing to listen to offers on veteran players. That news was first broken by Elliot Friedman since followed up,

by Thomas Drance. We got a lot to get into on that front. Landon will join us at 8-10 to talk about all that. Real quick, Guns and Roses tickets this morning, 8 a.m., caller number 5, 604-280-650. I'll remind you again at some point during the show. At 7.30 this morning, another call for another contest, $250 gift card to Golf Town.

Again, caller number 5 at 7.30. The number, as always here, 604-280-650. that number again 604-280650 Welcome to the retirement community Please control the volume of your voice Because they're old now Guns and or roses Okay we got a lot more to get to on the program

That's what's happening on the program today Greg let's tell everybody what happened Hey did you guys see the game last night No I missed all the action because I was We know how busy your life can be What happened? Missed it? You missed that? 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. If you missed it last night, at approximately 944 Pacific Standard Time, Elliot Friedman dropped a frege bomb on the market, wherein he announced, courtesysportsnet.com, that according to several of his sources, The Vancouver Canucks have led it known league-wide that in an effort to get younger, they are willing to listen to trade offers on veteran players.

Yeah, Drance is reporting similar in The Athletic. He just dropped an article and... A trance ball. And he writes that it seems that the Canucks management's top priority now is gearing up to gauge the market for its older players with an apparent focus on considering player trades in which NHL talent will flow outward in pursuit of younger players and perhaps even draft picks.

I love that part. And perhaps even draft picks. So do you want to address the obvious right off the hop? A lot of people will say veteran players, does that mean Quinn Hughes, according to Frege and grants? Right now, no, not at this time. And that goes for Philip Horonick as well, I might add, according to Frege at the very least.

And all this was very interesting because there have been rumblings about guys like Garland Patrick Johnston threw that out there but nobody knows for sure what the Canucks are targeting you know, Fridge reports

it's to get younger and so does Drance. But Dollywall said yesterday they were trying to find a second line center and okay we're going to play a clip from Donnie and Dolly and Rick is doing his usual thing where he gets confused about life. But amidst all that reporting or all that confusion, there is some reporting about what Jim

Rutherford was trying to do. Maybe with a guy like Connor Garland, I'm not saying this is the same for someone like Vander Cain or even Kiefer Sherwood. This is Dolly. you know what Connor Garland's name is out there Patrick Johnson Donnie the province he said over the weekend that Connor Garland's name out there I did some digging into this and someone told me like this is like Jimmy Rutherford Don

playing whackamole I've never played whackamore you said you have How is that possible? I had to Google Wackable Was it at the P&E? Ryan used to be able to play it but apparently not anymore Okay anyways Forget about Wackamo

Where are the Canucks loaded, Don, on the right side? Bassard, Garland, Sherwood, you've got a young kid, Le Caramackie. Carlson's. The Brusks is a play on the right side. Their strength is on the right side. They don't want to trade a... They don't have... Well, apparently it's on the right side.

They don't want to trade a first or Le Caramackie or Coots or... Who's the other... Willander? Could Garland get you... So the Connox is thinking, could Garland get you that second line center? Oh, my gosh. You never know. Don!

It's whack-a-mole. It's think about everything outside the box. You put Sherwood and Garland out there and see if you can get a center. They just extended Garland. His no move does not kick until next year. So as usual, when reports like this come out, nobody's exactly sure what's going on. This might have been some sort of memo that the Canucks sent out to the NHL

because it all kind of, you know, like there was, I don't think that this was supposed to be kept secret or anything. And there's another consideration, right? We have seen NHL general managers let it be known that players are available. And while it may be true that those players are available, it also serves as a, hey, let's go guys. Chris Jury did it last season with the New York Rangers, specifically with Chris Kreider.

Right. And Kreider was available. eventually traded though, right? That's correct. It took a while, but it got done. And so, and was Truba part of that, or had you already done that? He'd already been gone. Okay.

Now, let's name the players that could be moved. Garland and Sherwood are the names we've already heard. Garland does have a contract extension, but as Dolly Wall, reference there, along with being confused by whack-a-mole and life in general, Garland's no-move clause does not kick in until this off-season when his actual contract extension kicks in. Sherwood is a pending UFA. I guess they could throw Evander Cain's name out there too.

He's a pending UFA. I think he does have some trade protection, but I don't even know if he's movable at this point. Bluger as well, since he's a pending UFA, although he's not healthy right now. You know, DeBrusk, he has a full no-move clause. So does Besser, so does Pedy. So do veteran D-Men, like,

Tyler Myers and Marcus Pedersen, that doesn't mean they can't be traded, but it does complicate things and potentially affect any return in a negative way. Big picture. Big picture. What does it mean that the Canucks are willing to listen on veteran players? Dranx reports that the Canucks are not waving the white towel on the season. Oh my god We're having a fire Sale See I don't know if we've gotten to that point yet

Are they just trying to fix the center issues Like Dollywall suggests Is it the prelude to a rebuild Or maybe they're trying to get younger And show Hughes a brighter future down the line I don't know I'm not sure What the plan is

Trading veterans for picks and prospects kind of sound like, sounds like a rebuild to me. Even if they're not calling it as such, I think that's kind of what a rebuild is. Not really. You're trying to get veterans from picks and prospects? You're trying to have a brighter. Maybe you're trying to show.

That's not a rebuild. It's not, you can't call that a rebuild. The start of a rebuild. Maybe. But I think everyone, including myself and you clearly, A dog, everyone, or there's a lot of people that are like, could this be the start of a rebuild?

Could it? And we might be getting ahead of our, ourselves here because there's still a lot of the season left and Halford you might as well jump in here because you're always the one who's like I'll believe it when I see it I yeah and I was it's funny that you mentioned that right off the hop we didn't even plan this but I was thinking do I go with my usual course of action which is until something is actually consummated in terms of a trade do I still have some skepticism here I do still I wonder I wonder if this is going to be a lot of smoke with no fire, if only because two reasons. One, we've seen this move played out from other GMs in the past, right? And as you astutely pointed out at the beginning of the show, it is to announce to the other

31 general managers that you're willing to do business, but it's also a shot across the bow of your own team, and it's a bit of a shake-up in the room, and we know the Rutherford's an old school executive, and this is something that he will do. The other one is, I'm not sure the guy has his fastball anymore. I know that back in the day,

but we're almost talking a decade ago when he was moving and shaking pieces in and out of Pittsburgh to build a contender, it just feels like the landscape might have changed. And it's for some reason or another, and you can count to them, rising cap, people not wanting to part with their assets. Maybe you don't have as good of assets

as you thought that you did bring into the table. Just seems like he's not able to make deals as successfully as he used to. I'm talking about Rutherford at this point. And also, is he going to be looking two or three years, four or five years down the line for the Canucks? It's a great question. You know, is that part of his thinking at all?

If I had to parse it down to one particular takeaway that I'm pretty confident in, it's that the leadership group, and that's Alveen and Rutherford, and maybe Adam Foote, although he's not saying it publicly, they're concerned, dare I say skeptical, that the group is currently comprised can get it done. Like I know Adam Foote, and we've got the audio from yesterday. Well, Adam Foote talks like he's coaching an already rebuilt, like a young team. I know the Canucks do have some young players.

you know they got a couple young defensemen in willander and in dpd and adam foot certainly spends a lot of time on tom vlander although a lot of people will be saying well you know meyers and peterson not exactly knocking it out of the park right now and i know he spends a lot of time saying well i got to teach guys like max sassin and attu ratu the finer details of defending in the n hl and playing in your own zone and they're both centers so they have big defensive responsibilities but like I don't look at the Kanoxon think like, wow, like super, super young team. No, there's a bunch of guys that have been in the league for a long, long time. We'll get into foot's deflections off the major issues with this team in a moment, but I think that it's fair to say that, and if we want to use that Chris Jury, New York Rangers comp, I'll say, remember when he sent out that memo and really tried to shake things up. But I think it was true, though. Like, I mean, you know what I mean?

What was true? Well, those guys were available. Yeah, no. They were eventually traded, you know? I think everyone's available here, too. Yeah. I think the thing is, is it's a, whatever color flag thrown up by management. Off white.

But it's a signal. Off white towel. The egg shall tell. Look up the egg shall tell. Is it? I think it's, I think of the one thing, again, that I can definitively state is it's, it's an announcement from the executive that the team is currently comprised, ain't going to get it done. Like, I mean, they can say that it's injuries and they can say that it's youth and they can say that, you know, there are better times on the horizon. But I think this announcement, this proclamation, this memo or telefax or whatever Jim Rutherford sent out is a clear mark across the league that they don't think that this current group can get it done and go where they want it to go. Yeah, I don't know if this is a related story at all, but Adam Foote was asked about how Philippeal is doing. And he was kind of like, yeah, you know, I heard. skating and you know that's good because you have to go out there and deal with the lights

and you know the ice is sure can be you know white and quite bright on your eyes doesn't sound like a guy that's you know anywhere close to returning right it's saving the season and saving this yeah yeah yeah and um you know there's a lot of takeaways from it dunbar over text message in basket is slammed right now get your thoughts in because this was news that broke overnight, and we will be discussing it a lot throughout the show today. Don Barlamour text line is 650, 650. Get them in, way in on what you think might happen and might be on the horizon. But do you want to play the foot audio from yesterday? Now, we may as well do that because it was another kind of bizarre media availability from the Vancouver

Canucks head coach, where I guess you can call it a deflection. I don't know if he genuinely believes the answers that he's putting forth or if he's just trying to protect his guys, which is the job of an NHL head coach. But I'll just let the audio play itself. This is Adam Foote talking about his team's defensive efforts, his team's

continual bleeding of scoring chances. And maybe some of the numbers that have been thrown out at him when it comes to the Vancouver Canucks and their defensive play. There's a ton of things, everyone thinks I'm just positive, but there's a ton of things I'm really happy about.

I mean, but, you know, I'm more happy with wins. But I'm not going to blow up a kid or something being overanalyzed by no disrespect. People that really don't know, but they're just looking at numbers from people that could be in Russia in a basement having cigarettes, cashews, telling their scoring chances. So we're going to depend on our guys, you know, and really recognize what we believe has to be fixed and what doesn't. But to answer your guys really good questions, you're right bang on about we got to getting guys faster sooner and close it. So according to Russian website, Natural Statrick, classic bot farm. The Vancouver Canucks are giving up scoring chances at the second worst rate in the NHL at five on five. Yeah, I almost feel bad.

I know he said it, so he has to own it. I'm talking about Adam foot here. Yeah. But I almost feel bad, like, using the comment. Like, everyone was punching those comments yesterday. We're not going to, it's kind of played out a little bit at this point. Yeah, at this point, like everyone knows that he's, he's got a job to do. And very clearly that job is to protect the guys that he's coaching.

Because he has not been critical at all from game one to game 20, whatever they're out right now. He actually said, like, he actually acknowledged, like, we have conversations behind the scenes. those aren't going to come out here. Yeah. And I don't blame them. And some coaches are willing to use the media to fire up their players. Adam Foote clearly is not. And I get it in a lot of ways because although some of his comments kind of put the focus on the players

because he really focuses on the young players. Yep. You know, like he really, and even in his comments about like mistakes that happen after. the game, I'm like, oh, that's about VLander. Yeah, and it's funny. That's about Max Sasson right there, because Max Sasson defensively was not very good in the Calgary game.

No. And VLander's made some key mistakes at times, but I think where people sometimes push back is Adam Foote makes it seem like the veterans are all fine. That's fair. When I'm watching, the veterans are not all fine. No, and that's... It's not just the

DPD VLander pair that's given up too many opportunities out there. And it's a assessment from the fans. Although that might be on Max Sasson, when when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, it's, it's Max Sasson are out there together. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's just keep pointing to the young guys. But you can see the, the issue with trying to cover up all of these blemishes is that eventually they're going to come out. If you keep continually harping on how difficult it is to coach and to get the results that you need with all these young players in the lineup. Yeah. Everyone's going to say, well, that must mean, that your young players are playing poorly. So you can't, here's the thing. You can't defend everybody from everything and you can't insulate everyone from all the criticism because when you're not playing well, you're not playing well.

There's no glossing over it. I wanted to play another clip because this is something that got overshadowed yesterday because everyone was focusing on cashews and cigarettes. This came later in the scrum and Adam Foote was asked about Quinn Hughes is ice time and the fact that he's playing so much, you know, 30 minutes a game sometimes. And he was essentially asked like, is that, is that okay with you? Or are you good with that? And Attafoot had a kind of an interesting answer to that. We want Quinn to be out there, but I want it to be different where I don't want him to get 30 minutes with 20 shifts.

Like, and his desire and passion to win, he just wants to keep going and doing more and trying harder and you can't knock him for that at all so we're trying to get him to have 26 to 27 minutes with 30 shifts not 21 and listen we had to reel him in he just wants to win he wants to play and you know he's he's good good guy about it and he wants to do the right thing that's what we hope to keep getting out of him is you know come off let us do the matchups we'll get you back out there and we had a great conversation today about that So they had a conversation in Adam Foote's office about that. And from what I understand, this is an issue that goes back before this season.

As much as they love Queen Hughes and as much as they rely on Queen Hughes, they want them taking shorter shifts. I mean, Adam Foote just, I mean, this isn't just me. Like Adam Foote just confirmed that. He says he doesn't want him out there. 30 minutes a night playing 20 total shifts. He wants 26 or 27 minutes and way more shifts. And the only way you conclude, you can conclude what he's saying is,

Quinn, stop staying out there for three minutes a shift sometimes. Yeah. Right? You've got to get off the ice sometimes and conserve energy that way. And it's not good for you long term. So I'm not going to make this a thing. but

I think it's a thing you know and I'm looking right now and Hughes I mean in the Calgary game right I've got the Calgary sheet in front of me by the way

well in the Calgary game think about the goal he scored the Canucks were down 5-1 and he's like all right I guess I'll just do this myself now he did it and none of us are blaming for

blaming Quinn Hughes for being like well I guess I got to do this myself but I wonder if it does become a problem sometimes there are times where Quinn says all right I'm going to do this myself he doesn't pass to his teammates sometimes it happens on the power play you know he fires shots

and I'm really hesitant I don't want anyone to construe this as like Quinn is a selfish player or whatever like I think he's in a very difficult situation yeah you know he he he sees this team And he's like, he's probably embarrassed that they were down 5-1 at home to the Calgary Flames. And he thought, I was going to do something myself. I know, coast-to-coast and score a goal, and he did.

But I think it was emblematic of this. He feels like he has to do it all themselves sometimes. Do you remember that clip at the start of the year? Maybe it was before the year where he was like, they were talking about the season, the upcoming season. I think he said something along the lines of like, we're going to have a hard time scoring goals or something like that. Sure. This could be a team that's going to have a difficulty scoring goal.

So, like, in his mind, he's probably thinking, like, you know, maybe we're just not very good. And I got to really do a lot if we want to have any chances to sniff a playoff spot. So he's working way harder or doing way more than he should be. I'm a little surprised that foot went that route in explaining it. I think he was trying to be, like, earnest and honest, that, yeah, this is how we'd like to see the minutes be deployed and maybe construe some of his shifts and everything. But it's funny, because if you're going to talk about the issues that this team has this season as to why they are, where they are in their standing, which, by the way, is now only above two teams in the

NHL, Calgary and Nashville, who are an absolute tire fire. You would think that Quinn Hughes's shift length and overall ice time would be pretty low on the list of issues that they've had, right? Yeah, I just think there's something that goes back, this predates, and don't forget Adam Foote was the coach of the defenseman last year. Sure. All I'm saying is, there was. I don't want to call it a frustration.

It was just like something that they were trying to get across to Hughes. But I understand what you're saying. Yeah, I mean, you want to look at that Calgary game in particular. He had three shifts, you know, prior to the end of the game where they were chasing it that were over two minutes in length. And then he was out there for the final 447 at the end. Like he had monster, monster shifts. And I do wonder. He is a bit of, I said this on Twitter.

He's a bit of like a beer league ringer sometimes. Yeah. Like, get that guy out there. We need some goals. And it's kind of true. You can try now. You can try now. Don't just go out there and make some passes.

But then he does it. And you're like, see, it works. That's why we called him 10 minutes before the game. Okay, we got a lot more to get to you. You know, he played Junior B. Yeah, we should get him out again. He's a pretty good player. Who knows him?

Who's got his cell phone number? Okay, we got a lot more to get to you on the program today. Coming up, Greg Wischinsky from ESPN is going to join us. We're going to go around the National Hockey League, check in on a busy night last night, quiet night tonight, just one game in the league. Before we go to break, I need to tell you a couple things. One, this entire segment was brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal since 1926. Visit Duick GM.

on Marine Drive, visit them downtown, visit them in Richmond. You can visit them online as well at duikatogroup.com. Greg Wischinski's going to join us next on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance. Get your daily dose of Canucks Talk

with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 633 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody, Halford Brough, SportsNet, 650. Halford in Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Get out of the penalty box of debt back into the game. with a financial fresh start. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com.

We are in our one of the program. Greg Wasinski from ESPN's going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of our one. Hour one of this program is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

To the phone lines we go. Our next guest, as mentioned, it's Greg Wichin. For me, SBN here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. What up, Wish? Hey, boys, doing well. Doing well down to the basement. Smoking some Cigs, chewing up some cashews, bunching some numbers. I think Down Goes Brown had a great line on social media where he was like, back in the day,

there would be a blog called cigarettes and cashews already with like eight posts by now. You remember when like everyone was like, what should I call my book? blog. Cigarettes and Caches would be an unbelievable name. It would have been up within a millisecond. And Lord knows back in the day, we could have used another Canucks blog back in the day. There weren't enough of them. That down goes round. Brilliant Twitter, really terrible podcaster, I found. He's not very good, is he? It's not very good. Not very good. He's not very good. What did you think of the news that's been reported now by Elliot Freeman, Thomas Drantz has an article up on the athletic that the connects are listening to, willing to listen on their veteran players?

That sounds very much like a motivational kick in the behind for a team that needs one. Willing to listen on their veteran players? That just means they're not hanging up the phone. Every team that's struggling is willing to listen probably at this point. willing to listen does not mean taking trades to your veteran players and saying we are now moving you to Detroit. We are now moving you to any various and sundry places around the team. This is the kind of news that comes out, I think, as a tactic first, and then maybe if things don't turn around, we see it in practice. I know this sounds like a jaded old hockey writer who has seen many a trick of the trade.

but when you start to see this and you know then you get specifics about it's not Quinn it's not ironic you know like it just strikes me as you know if conditions don't improve then things will get serious we don't don't worry you're not coming across as jaded because Halford and I already talked about that possibility that this is just this is just Jimmy Rutherford

pulling one of his many tricks out of his bag it truly isn't and again like I it's funny to me that all the after all these years and and the the industrial hockey rumor complex being as robust as it is, people still don't understand that, like, you know, it is true that teams get calls. It is true that discussions can be had about certain players, but there is a huge chasm between that and negotiating a trade

or having trade discussions or going to an agent and saying that something is imminent and, you know, put your guy in his family on alert. Like that's, I just, put a story up today on the national predators who are terrible. And I talked to Barry Trots about that very thing, you know, because he hasn't had those discussions with his players yet about the potential of moving in the near term. But, you know, he's kind of talked to the agents about what it could look like down

the road. He's certainly getting phone calls from other teams about these guys. but it really is for every team a huge step up the ladder to go from, you know, having talks or listening to proposals to actually doing anything actionable with a player on your roster. And so, I mean, I think we're all right on this one as far as like what it really is, but it doesn't mean that these guys shouldn't have their ears perked up about what could be coming down the pike if the team doesn't improve. I read an interview he did with the Tennessean and he seems pretty set that he's not going to fire Andrew Burnett which I guess could be bad news for Andrew Burnett but like he really doesn't want to do it

and I actually wondered if Brunette would be fired after that trip to Sweden especially the second game against Pittsburgh where they were shut out it wasn't what do you think Trots is really thinking about the coaching situation there So, a good portion of the story that's on ESPN.com right now is about Burnett. And when I went to bed last night at 2 a.m. local time, because, you know, I do stay up to watch the West Coast games. I had the crap scared out of me thinking that they're going to fire this guy like five minutes after my story hits because of how terrible they looked against the Florida Panthers last night.

Now, as far as I can tell, it's not going to happen. I'd be surprised if anything happened before American Thanksgiving, you know, knowing the sentimentality that Trots has for these sorts of things. To answer your question, you've got to first remember who Barry Trots is. Barry Trots is a former coach. So he is going to afford his head coach all the opportunities that he can to turn this thing around. And in fact, has been very emphatic and not blaming Andrew Burnett for most of the things that are going. going on. Barry Trotz was the head coach of the National Predators for the better part of what,

like two decades, thanks to having David Poyle as his GM and has talked openly about, including to me, the fact that the patients Poyle showed with him made him a better coach. So he's got a little bit of history of the GM coach dynamic that I think he's relying on. But the most important thing here insofar as when the predators and if the predators will ever make a change is that no one's asked him to. now that might change like the the predator's new owner could easily pick up the phone today and say hey you know the games like that on our home ice are stuff we can't stand for anymore but as of yesterday when I spoke to Barry he made he explicitly said there's been no pressures on me to even consider making a change yet so all of the conjecture about Burnett is just that right now I'm thinking about a player like Ryan O'Reilly and I look at his contract and I see that there doesn't seem to be any trade protection there. I don't know where O'Reilly's

game is. Right now he's got 13 points in 22 games on a bad team, but you would have to think that with the shortage of centers and with so many teams wanting to add centers, including the Vancouver Canucks,

they might be able to get a decent return for a player like Ryan O'Reilly. No doubt. And I think, you know, depending on how much salary they keep, they can still get decent return on Stamcoast, if the idea is that he needs to change in scenery. I think Marcia So is a guy that could bring back a really hefty return for a guy that has a cons my trophy to his credit, just like O'Reilly does.

You wonder how deep these cuts could go. Like if this is really going to be a prolonged process and Trots has sort of hedged on the idea of it being a rebuild, like does Roman Yosey want to stick around for that? And then the other part of it too is maybe he does because of family considerations in the same sense that Stamcoast might because of family considerations and both those guys have full trade protection. So you're right on O'Reilly. He doesn't have any trade protection, but I understand that whatever they decide to do with him, if and when they decide to trade him, it's going to be something he signs off on. Like there's going to be a certain veteran professional

courtesy of, hey, you were good enough to come here when we needed someone and sign a long-term deal. And we're going to do you right by your next destination. There's not going to be any surprises for Ryan O'Reilly, I don't think. We're speaking to Greg Wischinski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. I wanted to dive a little deeper into this shot across the bow that Barry Trots has kind of done it verbally in a variety of interviews with the National Predators. As we've heard, Jim Rutherford of the Vancouver Canucks, it sounds like there was some sort of memo, maybe some sort of old school telefax sent around the National Hockey League. You got on his mimeograph machine and send it all out? Can we pause on the fact that like if there wasn't memo, it's basically,

a year to the day that Chris Jury sent out the memo about his team. You're so good at this. You went exactly where I was going to go. Vince Murcogliano just wrote about it. The year to the day, almost. It was November 24th,

2024. The official beginning of the mutiny. Right. And it was funny. I think Vince is, I didn't read the whole thing, unfortunately. I didn't have time this morning.

But I think the takeaway was that a year later, there's not a ton of progress that was made from the time when jury sent the memo. I just love the idea of Jimmy Rutherford logging on and being like, how should I motivate this team? And then just seeing like Vince's story and he's like, yaha, a fact. Didn't read it at all, didn't read the conclusion? A memo, yes, we'll do that.

Draft me a fax. Yeah, no, they're not, they're not any better. But I mean, part of the decision that Drury made, I don't think was necessarily going to yield. immediate results. The decision that jury made was we have to remake the core of this team into something other than what it is. And so that was the motivation for the J.T. Miller trade. And that was the motivation for clearing out guys that were angry at Drury for the way that he's treated some other veterans. I mean, the thread that got pulled that unraveled the sweater in New York was Barclay Goodrow being traded to a place they didn't want to go to because

jury basically forced the deal and then that upset Truba and then that upset Crider and then both of them are gone. The only guy that's still part of that core, well, I guess two guys that are part of that core that would be amongst the disgruntled are Mika's advantage at and who knows what his future looks like and Vincent Trocheck who's probably fine. The team isn't better. I think they're much thinner, especially on the blue line, despite getting Garikoff in the in the off season. They're clearly waiting for some younger players to mature in the sense of gay pro and obviously looking for Will Cooley to continue to become the next Chris Kreider.

But overall, I don't think that they have the depth that they had a year ago. And I think that the grand experiment of we're trying to mold and shape this team into the visage of J.T. Miller kind of falls apart when J.T. Miller is getting called out for being stiff-legged defensively by Sean Avery on Instagram. So, like, it's not going great. There are a worst team and a team that seem to place its bets on a player

that may not necessarily be the right guy to lead a team that's struggling. It's instructive on a variety of fronts. I think one is that, you know, just because you send out a memo or you say something, it doesn't always mean that there's going to be trades in the immediacy.

Like, it took a long time for them to move Crider. They did move a little bit quicker on the J.T. Miller thing. Brotherford usually used. moves pretty quickly went on that sort of stuff. But here's the other part of that is if you do move quickly, you have to remember

that you're working within reasonable confines in that you've only got a handful of teams that you're probably going to be able to deal with. Just because you snap your fingers and say, I want to make change, it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get to make the changes you want to make.

You're going to make the changes that are afforded or available to you because some teams are not in the similar position. Like, you know, with Drury and with Miller, I think there's some, yeah, they wanted J.T. Miller and that was the type of guy that they were looking for, but it was also a guy that was available at that given moment. There wasn't like the entire league was available for shopping purposes, right? And you look at it with what the Canucks are doing right now. There is some

caution that has to be preached with reactive moments where you're like, I don't like what's going on. I want to make changes. Let's go see what out there, what's out there, because sometimes what's out there ain't that great. It's not. But I think the ultimate question, and to jury's credit he tried to answer it is like to what purpose are you serving all these moves you know are you trying to get younger are you trying to get faster are you trying to change the makeup of your roster and become a different type of team is it as simple as as trying to get peterson off the team because you've you had all that strife last year and and you feel like you know the other shoe has to drop eventually so you can kind of move on who knows right it's pretty clear that they

they, you know, like Quinn Hughes to be the, the foundational piece of whatever they're transitioning to next and, you know, whether they think that's the right decision or the wrong decision, considering he's probably got the most value of anyone in that roster, definitely has the most value of anybody on that roster. I think I'd probably like to know more about what their grand vision is and potentially moving some of these veterans, because otherwise it just feels a little deck chair on the Titanicie right now. Yeah. The Canucks are kicking off a California road trip Wednesday in Anaheim. Are the Ducks for real? Oh, you know, I haven't checked in on their defensive metrics recently, but the thing that had prevented me from saying that they're for real was in fact that they can't, they weren't defending at a playoff caliber level at least two weeks ago. So what you were getting with Anaheim was Joel Quinville comes in and unlocks a number of the great young talents that they have in that roster. They are steamrolling teams offensively. They're putting up touchdowns against like several different teams this year. But on the defensive end, they're just as bad as they were last year.

I think they were in maybe like the top, the bottom three or four teams when it came to expected goals against. And, you know, what essentially you're getting is a goalender bailing you out. and playing as another level hockey at that. So, I mean, if that continues, hey, great, you know, that's good for them. They'll probably continue to do well, but I don't know how sustainable it all is. We're speaking to Greg Wischinski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Have you been paying attention to the exploits of Miko Randen lately? Now, he won't play tonight.

As far as I understand, he's suspended for one game. for boarding half of the NHL in the last week. In a related story, Romanov's out five to six months or something? Can you, is it not? Yeah, he is. He's out five to six months with a shoulder injury. When I watch that, I'm sorry, boarding half of the NHL got me. That was.

Yeah, well, seriously, like, I'm like, I thought he should have been suspended for the Romanoff hit. He wasn't. And then he went out the very next night. He's like, I've learned nothing. And I'm going to do this again. And I do it. It was funny, too, because after the Romanoff hit, people were like, well, that's not really

Branton doesn't really do that and he's like well I'll show you I do that and I do that all the time right actually the chronology of it they played the Canucks in between and he went boarding free that game remember he did score an amazing goal yeah he went back to doing the things that he normally does but yeah an absolute

menace the guy this is wild he he lulled everybody into a false sense of security that he wasn't going to board anybody before boarding somebody I didn't I didn't really get I didn't since it happened over the weekend I didn't really poke around on

the hit against, what was it, Calgary. Yeah, Coronado. That earned him the automatic one gamer to find out why there wasn't anything more. I know in the situation with the Islanders and Romanoff, I kind of think that the Department of Player's Safety had it right. You know, Glenn Gulletson, after the game, sort of broke it down by saying it was sort of an unfortunate series of events where, you know, skates got tangled between Renton and Mayfield, and he kind of tumbles forward, and he puts his arms out.

out, and then all of a sudden, Romanov goes into the boards. And listen, he'll pay the price for the hit, no doubt, like next time that these two teams play. But I don't think it was necessarily something that rose to the level of supplemental discipline. On this latest one, though, it is curious. I mean, that they decided to just kind of keep it at the one game automatic suspension and then not really have a hearing or anything on the rest of it, because I felt that

one was a bit more egregious. But, you know, I guess they found that the auto one-year-old. game suspension was going to be enough. Here's one for you. How many games of the Colorado Avalanche going to lose this season? Two. Yeah, right. They'll probably lose another one at some point. They're just a machine and

I picked them to win the cup. I certainly didn't think they'd be this level of juggernaut. It makes me nervous now that I pick them because I typically teams that are this good in the regular season don't win a cup. But you know, the fact that they they were able to put together the record they put together and did so getting like all world goaltending from a journeyman and Scott Wedgwood

did so without really having Brock Nelson or Gabe Landiscag be you know significant contributors earlier in the season I mean it's it's all just really stunning how much they've succeeded and how many points they picked up you know more than a few charity points But the record is the record and they're just blown away the competition right now. Are they, if we're going to nitpick here, are they still maybe a bit top heavy?

I mean, the top is very heavy. But do they have enough beyond that? The top is heavy. And I think that the thing that gave pause about them was their bottom six. And so, you know, is that something that Chris McFarland and his group can address at the trade deadline? Absolutely. They've been hyper-aggressive in recent years as far as molding and shaping that roster into what they need. But, you know, as long as everyone in their top six and their top 4D are hitting their marks,

like they're significantly better than everyone else, especially if they're going to continue to get this level of goaltending. Wish, this was great, buddy, as always. you for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Tuesday. All right, boys. Well, I'm off for some Marlboroughs and planters, and I will crunch some numbers and get back to you next week. Enjoy, buddy. Thanks. That's Gregor Schittske from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Just smoking darts and eating nuts. Okay. Yikes. I was watching the Avalanche Blackhawks game over the weekend. And I was I'm thinking, thank God, McKinnon and McCar are Canadian.

Mm-hmm. They're going to help. Thank God we got them, and they're not American or anything. Not American or anything. Or anything. Yeah. They're Canadian. They're ours.

McKinnon has 37 points in 22 games. McCar has 29 and 22. Mm-hmm. So McCar is going to be flirting with 100-point season on the blue line. McKinnon's going to score somewhere in the neighborhood of 150. And this pace will eventually slow down. Will it? I don't know.

Well, they've lost one. They've lost one regulation game. I feel like they might go through a skid at some point. I'm, you know, Wish brought up a fairly good point there, though. These teams that always get shot out of a cannon and go through the first three or four months of the season

losing like three or four games. Remember the Boston team a few years ago? Yeah. They reset all those records in the regular season and then lost in the first round of Florida. I do, you worry about that. A little bit.

Yeah. there's secondary scoring. Well, what if Edmonton just sneaks into the playoffs and they get the Oilers in the first round? Right. That's possible. That's an amazing matchup for the casuals and for the fans. But yeah, it's a nightmare for Colorado. Right? You don't want to go up.

Colorado, they're built. I think they're built a little bit better this year than they have in years past. And you know who's been like really good for them is Brent Burns? Like I know he's a good defense. Yeah, he's also 40. But I mean, he's a guy that's giving them 20 minutes a night and he's going to end up with like 40 to 45 points, which is pretty good considering how old he is.

Okay, we're up against it for time. We got an open segment on the other side, so I do want to read some of your texts into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650, 650. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and renter warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you are online at Dunbarlumber.com. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Janpro, from showrooms to stock rooms and everything in between.

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