Halford & Brough in the Morning - It's A Seller's Market

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they talk yesterday's big hockey trades with Sportsnet NHL host David Amber (27:38). 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. What is happening in there? Mark Strutt, stretch pass. He has Chicago. He's got McDonald's 2 on 1. Do her to monkey. Make the trade. For Byron, one.

Tyrus gone. Christmas Sabre Hood. Back on the half wall for Thomas. Waiting in front, Tyro. To his way. I've been in Reno for six weeks. I miss anything? Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Wednesday.

Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adah, good morning to you. Good morning.

Regular Zach. Good morning to you as well. Good morning. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Are you drowning in tax debt? If you are, Sands and Associates can often reduce your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today, it's Sands. dash trustee.com. We are

an hour one of the program. Hour 1 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. And we are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Step strong with orthotics and footwear

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As Jason mentioned, it's a busy show. We got a lot to get into today. It begins with our guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive brought to by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 630. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet, NHL host is going to join the program. Wild Day across the National Hockey League yesterday. There were a ton of trades.

There was a controversial coaching hire. And we didn't even mean. mention this in our notes, Jason. News of potential expansion in the National Hockey League. Lots to get into a David at 6.30. 7 o'clock. Frank Sarah Valley, our NHL insider from Victory Plus.

Four pretty significant deals yesterday, which regular Zach got all of them into the intro. Well done, regular Zach. Also, when are the Canucks going to get in on this action? When are you going to make some of them trades? We'll ask Frank at 7 o'clock. 7.30, James Sherman. Soccer analyst for

Sports Net and the Footy Prime podcast. Today, 12 p.m. from BC Place. It's Canada. Go Canada. Taking on Switzerland to decide who finishes a top group B at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. James Sharman are Wednesday regular during the World Cup. We'll join us at 7.30. Finally, at 8 o'clock, Randy Jandah is going to join the program. Canucks analyst for Sportsnet.

Now just two days away from the NHL entry draft where for now, the Canucks have two first round picks to make. What is Randip expecting to happen between now and Friday? ask him at 8 o'clock. Also at 8 o'clock, Jason. We are giving away. Get this, everybody. 10 tickets and the chance

to throw out the opening pitch at the Vancouver Canadiens game on August 26th versus Spokane. So all you need to do is be caller number 5 at 8 a.m. Have nine friends, which might be the most difficult for some of you.

And have one of them with the ability to throw out a first pitch. You don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself. You just have to throw it. Not a prerequisites here. I don't know if this is going to work. Yeah. First contest everywhere. We've had zero dollars out of fear. I don't know 10 people.

604-280650 is the number again 604-280-60. You heard me right. We are giving away 10 tickets to the Seas game on August 26th versus Spokane. Okay, that is the guess list. We've got a lot to get into. Without further ado, regular Zach, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it?

You missed that? What happened is brought to you by our good friends at ATS traffic. Start with a career path in traffic safety. Receive competitive wages and training at one of Canada's best managed companies. Visit them online at aTS traffic.c.ca. So so much happened yesterday that I don't think we're going to be able to give. justice to any one topic today. We're going to shortchange them all.

During a slow summer day, we might spend the entire segment talking about, you know, the Chicago trade to get, to get Bowen Byram. But, you know, there's so much other stuff that happened. And we do want to reserve some time to talk about what the Canucks are doing, which is nothing right now, what they could do. so let's just try our best to hammer through everything that happened yesterday in the NHL. I like it.

Okay. Let's begin with Mike Babcock. Hey, why not start there? So yesterday, Mike Babcock was introduced to the assembled media in Edmonton as the newest head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. The audio that caught everybody's attention was when he was asked by Ryan Rishog about what happened in Columbus. I've got the clip here.

Okay. But first, I want to say. You were right. Thank you. You were right. I'm not here to be right, you know? No, I am here to be right, which is why it was so upsetting to me. Not that it affects me, but what I'm talking about here is near the end of the show yesterday,

we threw out the question, will Mike Babcock be apologetic in his press conference? I said, yes, I think he will be. And you said, no, no, no. It's Mike Babcock. He can spell apology. and you were right. Babcock really did not acknowledge he did anything wrong.

The closest he came to, I think he said, it was like, sometimes my tone is off. And then he was like, and we work on that. He said, if you make people feel uncomfortable, you want to work at not making them feel uncomfortable. I was like, was that an apology? Does that count? Is that close enough?

That doesn't count. Let's hear now. And I want to get the question from Rishagin. Here, I think it's an important part, just so we've got the context of what was asked and how it was answered. So here it's 59 seconds in length and audio. The question and answer where Mike Babcock was asked, hey, Mike, what did happen in Columbus? I just wanted to go back to Columbus, just maybe looking for some clarity there. You issued a statement after the guys on the podcast had talked about, you look at players' phones and such.

And you basically said, you know, this was irresponsible of them to be suggesting. there was anything wrong with it. Then within a few days, when the PA looks into things, you're essentially exiting that scenario and John Davidson and saying you made players very uncomfortable. Mike, what happened in Columbus and why did you choose to walk away? Well, I chose to walk away, really straightforward, and I appreciate the question here, was it was very evident before the year started. I hadn't benched anybody, I hadn't talked to anybody, I hadn't sat anybody out, and it was evident that we weren't together as a staff right from the get-go. My wife gave me a call, and she said, it's time to get out of there.

I had been retired. I was pretty good at it. I got back to being retired. Ah, yes, that classic Mike Babcock accountability. Once again, shining through on Media Day in Edmonton. I appreciate the question, and also, I will kill you. But this is what he thinks. He probably doesn't think he did anything wrong.

Oh, it's exactly what he thinks. Yeah. And then he basically, was he insinuating that Columbus did not have his back? Yes. In that situation. Okay. I really, like it's already 10 after 6. So I really don't want to sit here and debate this too much just because there's more to get to.

And I don't think this story is going away. There's going to be plenty of time to talk about Mike Babcock. What I'm wondering right now in Edmonton is what comes next is, Stan Bowman going to run the same roster back, mostly intact with the hope that Mike Babcock can get more out of it, he surely has to at least change the goal tending. Doesn't he? Or maybe my Babcock with some defensive adjustments

can make that look better? I think they're putting most of their eggs in the Mike Babcock basket. Okay. That's the end of the Babcock conversation. Let's go now to Chicago. This one's interesting to be as Chicago still in its rebuild era, although maybe not for long. If the GM keeps moving the way that he is, this also has to do with the local boy.

Bo Byram yesterday, the late night tray that got consummated overnight, as a matter of fact, the Chicago Blackhawks acquired Bowen Byram from the Buffalo Sabres in addition to forward Jordan Greenway. What did it cost them? They sent the fourth overall pick in this year's draft and the 45th overall pick, along with Dman Louis Crevier, to Buffalo. And I was left with quite a few questions about Chicago after this. Specifically, are they in there? Let's step on the gas era of the rebuild.

Yeah. And Bowen Byram is a pretty interesting player. And he's a bit of a wild card. Because in Colorado, we saw when they won the Stanley Cup in that Stanley Cup final. And I bet a lot of people think back to this when they're thinking about picking up Bowen Byram. He was terrific. He's a very good player. But he was always going to be behind Kail McCar in Buffalo or so in Colorado.

He gets traded to Buffalo. And, you know, it wasn't great in Buffalo at times. But there were also times where he were like, oh, his game's coming together. And, you know, this is the Bowen Byram that was a. top draft pick, but in Buffalo, he was always going to be behind Ross Mastalian. So now he's going to Chicago, where he will be behind nobody. And he can be the number one defenseman, and he can get all the top power play minutes. He can be out there in all situations.

And how is he going to manage that? I don't know. I really don't know. I think Chicago's in an interesting situation. They were getting a lot of criticism yesterday for how much they gave up to get Bowen Byram. I want to know what's the latest on Bedard's contract situation. How's he feeling about the direction of the Chicago Blackcocks?

He's already played three seasons and missed the playoffs in all three. His entry-level contract is done. even if he signs long term, we've now seen that it doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to stay all that long unless Chicago puts together a winner. And I wonder, our moves like this being made

because Connor Bedard himself is getting a little impatient with missing the playoffs. You know, he missed a lot of stuff last year. He didn't get picked for the Olympics. and sometimes a player will fall victim to his team. Right? You know, but people were like, well, I want to see him in a pressure situation.

He hasn't played like that in Chicago, right? Well, yeah, because they haven't played any pressure games. As for the other team in this deal, the Buffalo Sabres. What do the Buffalo Sabres do now? Byram is gone. It's widely expected that Alex Tuck could be involved in a sign and trade. Today. Yeah, that's been out there according to...

That's probably going to happen. So that's been out there according to multiple sources. So they would presumably have a fair bit of cap space to play with, how they will address the team with that cap space and what they've got. They've also got a little bit of ammo now going in to today, or to Friday's draft as well. They got two first round picks and a second round selection. That's for a team that broke their playoff drought a year ago,

won a playoff round and we're within one shot of getting all the way to the Eastern Conference final. Interesting times in Buffalo. Let's go to San Francisco. where the sharks have three first round picks, including two in the top 10 after the trade they made with the Ottawa senators. What were

the details on that trade? William Ecklin was traded to the Ottawa senators by the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, as you mentioned. Sands also got another forward in the deal. So in exchange, it's the number nine pick at Friday's draft, which Ottawa had acquired from the Florida Panthers in the Brady-Ca-Chuk trade.

So now all of a sudden, you're looking at a San Jose team that currently has the second and ninth overall picks at this year's draft. And according to longtime NHL insider Chris Johnson, former friend of the program, now that he works on the other side of the aisle, he threw out there yesterday that the sharks might not be done moving around in the first round. Because you'll remember, they traded down in the first round to acquire Kesselring from Buffalo earlier. I think they went from 20 to 27.

now they've added the ninth overall pick and apparently Siege was saying that a lot of teams are calling San Jose on the second overall pick at Friday's draft. There were reports out there as well that the sharks were very much in on Bowen Byram possibly willing to use that ninth overall pick in the trade.

So think about this. Eklun was traded to Ottawa to replace Kachuk. Yes. Okay? most people now expect the sharks if they're going to pick number two and not trade that pick they're going to take Stenberg to replace Eklund right but that still leaves them in need of a defenseman and if they are getting a little antsy about you know okay we had a good season last year right it was didn't make the playoffs but it was good um

And then, but we still, we need to fix our defense. That in Vancouver is like, Heronic, Heronic, Heronic, Heronic, Heronic, why not call them about Heronic? Why not get that ninth overall pick? Plus, plus, right? Because the Byron return was so impressive that, you know, anyway, let's get to the Canucks in two sex, because I want to talk about two more teams.

Okay, where do you want to go next? Calgary, where the fly. Flames took a pretty big swing on Simone Nemich. Another high price for a defenseman paid. Two first round picks. So they flip the pick that originally belonged to Vegas in 2027 and another first rounder from the cadre trade in 2028 from Colorado. So the Flames don't give any of their high end draft capital away.

You're going to assume that picks belonging to Vegas and Colorado are going to be at the, you know, low end of the first round. But still. They kept their picks. They kept Calgary kept their picks. Two first round picks for Nemich. And that is a young, right-hand. defenseman that didn't really ever materialize or pan out in New Jersey. So he gets a second

chance on life in Calgary. Yeah, I guess the flames were spinning it, or maybe they just believe it, that when Nemich came over, he didn't speak the language, he just had a tough adjustment. And then I think the relationship in New Jersey soured. So, you know, his entry level contract is up too. So he needed a contract. And maybe that was going to become a bit of a difficulty in New Jersey. Maybe Nemich himself just wanted to move on. Anyway, I also thought it was interesting that Craig Conroy, the GM, mentioned the new building when talking about Nemich because they do have a new arena coming soon. And I think they want to enter into that new building with an exciting young team that isn't losing all the time.

So there are pressures that way. Finally, I guess we should talk about St. Louis, which finally traded Jordan Cairo. I immediately wondered, is Robert Thomas still available? Was he ever available? We can talk to Frank about that. And if Robert Thomas is available, obviously a center that could fill the needs for a lot of teams, either looking for an upgrade on their 1C

or if they've got a 1C, they need a 2C, I think about a team like Montreal. Does Dylan Larkin need to be traded first to set the market on that? I don't know. I don't even know who the better player is. Dylan Larkin or Robert Thomas probably depends on who you ask. I think those are both guys that are like,

yeah, they're one C's, but I don't know if they're one C's on a Stanley Cup winning team, but if you put them behind a legit one C and you had them as your second line center, you'd be feeling real good about your top six center depth. Hey, Jason, you did a really nice job of running through every single thing that happened yesterday. now we turn our attention to the Vancouver Connects.

And let's do it with a little bit of audio from Elliot Friedman yesterday. This is on Oilers now out of Edmonton. And we'll start with the Friege's report on Elias Pedersen. You know, the one thing I had heard about Pedersen is that when Jim Rutherford was the GM of the team, he was like, we need a comparable center in return. I don't think, and this isn't a shot of Rutherford or anything like that, I think it just shows the different priorities. I think that this new management group,

doesn't see it that way. If they trade, Pedersen, and first of all, somewhere he'll go because he has a say, but I think if they can do something for pieces or players should grow with them, younger players,

high picks, prospects, someone they think can be with them through their rebuild and be an impact on the second page of Vancouver would do that. I think their goal has changed a little bit. I wonder what see, I look at St. Louis with four first rounders. Yeah.

I could be just completely making that up, but if you wonder what they're doing with all that. So it has always been wild to me that, you know, there have been players in Vancouver, whether it's Chris Tannave or Elias Pedersen, where it was like, yeah, if we're going to trade this guy, we need to get basically the same type of player back in the trade. And I was like, that's not how trades work.

but if we trade a center, we have to get a center. Yeah, like that's, that's not how, that's not how it works, right? It's just not. But, okay. So, so I'm glad to hear that the Canucks have changed their tune on that. Evolved in their thinking. Well, Jim Brotherford was just desperate to keep a viable team together. So he's like, well, if we trade Elias Pedersen, we need to get a center back.

But that, what, what? Like, that, anyway, it makes no sense. So fortunately, we're not in. that era anymore. I think this is a selling opportunity that the Canucks really need to take advantage of. It is pretty crazy out there right now. Cap space to burn. Expectations in certain markets being raised.

Teams are out there taking some risks. There is a sense of desperation and urgency in the market. and this this is something that the Canucks have to look at and be, we need to be active in this. I know you got to take things slow

to get there fast, which was you know, the spin or the words from the Steens when they were introduced, but there are also times in a market where you have to look at the market and go this is a perfect opportunity. to be a seller

and that's what the Canucks are. Now there are the matter of the no move clauses. Pedersen obviously has one. He controls where he goes. Is Philip Peronuk absolutely

dead set on staying in Vancouver? And if he is, uh, why? Big question. Why? Why? Why? Why would you want to stay here? you could ask that philosophical question of Philip Peronik, I think, to open negotiations.

They're like, first question for you, Philip, why? Why do you want to be here? Why would he want to be here? Other than the fact that his stuff is here and he's comfortable, why would he want to be here? Does nothing competitively for his career. Nothing. He would be five years.

I would say five years before you've got a realistic chance of being a team that does something in the playoffs. And also looking at the return byram guy, like the return for Veronica could be incredible. Look at all the defensemen. are on the move right now. Like, I mean, I know it sucks. He has an NMC, but the Cucks have to take advantage.

They have to convince him. Yeah. And they have to take advantage of this because they would get a boatload for him. Does he just like having four months off from the off season? I mean, to be honest. Not bad, right? I'm starting to see where this Hirona character is coming from. I appreciate what you're saying.

Adog, I've been yelling it from the clouds for months. But all the reports suggest that it's not there. And this is something that's carried. over, unfortunately, from the previous regime to the current regime. Now, I will say this, information has been strikingly hard to come by out of the new regime. They may be actively shopping Heronik and just doing a really good job of keeping it under wraps. But the insiders that have been working the team for the last little bit haven't heard anything. I know sat through there's something out there almost in a speculative nature saying like, I'm not convinced

that Heronic is not being shopped, but we're not hearing anything in the traditional formats that we used to. After the buyer and deal, though, do you think? think they would be like seeing that return would the Canucks be like ooh maybe we should really look at this if they haven't been I mean who knows who knows buddy um here's a question is any other team in the NHL in the same situation as Vancouver and that situation being the start the very start of what's expected to be a long term rebuild that is going to take years nope I would have said maybe Calgary. Calgary's ahead. Not by much, but they're ahead.

And their evolution, they're ahead for sure. Then they made that trade for Nemich. It's a 22-year-old. But I think they're the closest, and there are a few years ahead of Vancouver, or maybe a year ahead of Vancouver, in their rebuild. Outside of Vancouver and Calgary,

let's even, you know, be generous and put those two together. Okay. Is there anyone at the start of a rebuild, who should be in the phase of tearing things down, and acquiring futures. And that's it. No. You know, like the only thing they should be focused on is selling the assets that they have that

won't be part of the next great team that they hope to build and acquiring futures to contribute to that next great team that they hope to build. I'll boil it down as simply as I can for the listeners. The Canucks right now are the most clear and obvious and determined and focused, sellers in a market that's frenzied right now. That's it. There's no other way to spin it. And if they don't get something done, it's a huge, huge, huge, huge missed opportunity.

Now, I'm convinced that they should be getting a first rounder for Jake DeBrust now, late first rounder. Buddy, I want first rounders for everyone right now. They're going like candy. Everyone's getting first rounders. Everyone should be up to be dealt. And the way the league is working right now, and the NHL is a, in a lot of ways, it's a trend league and it's a copycat league and it's a league where,

someone's a general manager's looking around and seeing everyone else do an action they're like do we need to get in on this everyone wants to get on vacation and go up to moscoka on july second so they're trying to get all their deals done now take advantage get in on the action make some deals okay before we go to break i need to tell you about jan pro cleaner workplaces start with consistent cleaning jan pro helps businesses stay clean day after day start clean stay clean visit them online at jan pro dot ca it is going to be a lot of hockey talk today I apologize to Greg and Ladd-Wason, who wants us to talk about the Canadian men's national team for three hours today.

We're going to talk a lot of footy on the show, both yesterday at the World Cup and what's coming up for Canada. Biggest match the Canadian men's national team has ever played, biggest World Cup match ever played here in Vancouver. We will get to it. There's just a lot going on today. And we talk about it all here on the Halford & Brough show. David Amber is going to join us on the other side.

You're listening to Halford & Brough on SportsNet 650. It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. It is time for David Amber. He is on the hotline, baby. It is time for David Amber. He will talk some hockey, maybe. It is time for David Amber. He is on the hotline, baby. It is time for David Amber. He will talk some hockey maybe.

I'm on the hotline, baby. I write a bit of the streams talking. I remember what I was doing at 23, pooping in my pants. There's a massive butt coming here, guys. No one's fighting Rick Tocket. No one wants to fight Rick Talkin. I'm on the hotline, baby. It is, it's David.

It is, it's David. Amber, it is, it's David. He's on the hotline. 633 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody, Halford Braves. SportsNet 650. Halford for the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. God, Deb.

If you do, reach out to Sands and Associates during regular business. business hours and they'll get back to you within 20 minutes. Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are in our one of the program. David Amber is going to join us in just a moment here. Our 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 Able Auctions Hotline We go. Our next guest is a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor. David Amber joins us now on Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650.

Good morning, David. How are you? I'm great. Can't wait for Canada, Switzerland, and then we have one of the busiest newsweeks in the NHL in the last three or four days, and it's been a wild ride, but it's a fun time. And I love the scene in Vancouver for these World Cup games. It's amazing. So a real buzz in Toronto as well. I'm loving what's happening right now.

We rarely say this, but there's actually too much going on right now, to the point where we got in this morning, and we're about to start the show, and I looked at Brough, and I said, We forgot to mention that the NHL is expanding. Like I just forgot about that entirely. Oh yeah, there's going to be a new team, by the way. Yeah, also they're putting a second team in Texas. I was like, oh, okay, that's great.

But we'll table that for now. We started last segment with the Mike Babcock News. We'll start it again here just because there was so much to unpack from that media and media availability yesterday. What did you think of Babcock not apologizing, not really offering any sort of Mia Calpa, just sort of powering through and deflecting yesterday when I asked about what went wrong in Columbus. Yeah, I was, you know, I don't know if I was surprised, but it's just, I think it's sort of his style, you know, unabashed, unapologetic. You know, he's pretty confident, his resume, you know, he's won a lot.

And I think he lets that sort of give him equity to come out there and be as brash as he may be. and he also maybe doesn't want to feed the fuel. Once you start apologizing for things, maybe in his mind, it's like you're putting yourself in a defensive position and you lose a bit of your authority, you lose a bit of your power. You know, will he operate differently? I mean, he's not a dumb guy. I'd like to think he's going to operate differently.

But I was, like you guys, I was a bit taken aback that it wasn't, there wasn't a bit more contrition, there wasn't a bit more, you know, hey, I've learned, I've grown, I've evolved. It was just, hey, you know, well, circumstantial, this is what happened. It was very matter of fact, which kind of just caught me off guard. What do you think about the move? What do you think about the hiring? Why do you think the Oilers were willing to risk the blowback to hire Mike Babcock?

Well, that's a great question. That's probably obviously better asked to Stan Bowman than me or the ownership group. But, I mean, it speaks maybe to their level of desperation. to win right now. I mean, we can't lose side of the fact. I don't think Mike Babcock, or we know Mike Babcock probably wasn't the first guy out of the gate. It was, you know, probably Bruce Cassidy.

They wanted someone with a winning pedigree. They wanted someone, you know, they just tried Chris Namblog, was his first go. And listen, he got him to back Stanley Cup finals. I don't think we should forget that. But he ultimately didn't get him where they wanted to go. And they wanted to bring in someone with a pedigree who was won before, who has dealt with elite players, who's taken teams to where they want to get.

and I think Bruce Cassidy was their first choice. We all know that that was not going to be in the cards, thanks to Vegas, not allowing them to talk to Edmonton. And then they started looking around. And they probably said, oh, you know, it's almost like musical chairs. When that music stops, you need to have a chair. And they got a little, I don't think they got desperate because they are bringing in a guy who has an incredible background.

But at the same time, with a lot of baggage. You know, you have not heard a lot of players or other GMs or NHMs. shall people come to his defense? I mean, can you name anyone who's kind of come to his defense and all these allegations were brought to light and all these things that have been said about him? So that would be a massive red flag to me. But I think it just speaks again to the fact that they know

Connor McDavid is on a timeline, and there's zero guarantees about what's going to happen. We just saw Brady Kitch, different circumstances, obviously, but we've seen a number of players leave, you know, to different destinations. And they know Connor McDavid sort of given them this two-year window to get things right and to win a championship ultimately. So this speaks to me just to the desperation they must feel.

Yeah. Have you wondered like I've wondered about what was going on in the Oilers room last season? Because for the players to say what they said at the end of the season, and for them, the core players, the leadership, whether that's McDavid, Drysidal, Zach Heiman, to push to get Mike Bauer. I just wonder, you know, is that, is that them saying like, I need to be pushed? Or is it them saying, yeah, my teammates, I'm kind of tired of yelling at them.

So maybe we'll bring in someone who can do that job for me. Yeah, maybe speaks to the division. You got to remember they made a couple of moves, you know, Matt Savoy, what's it, is it, Isaac Howard? Yeah, they traded. Yeah, they were kind of banked. thinking on these young guys. They'll figure it out. They'll fit in with this veteran group.

And it just didn't happen. I mean, Savoy at the end of the season. Savoy was decent at the end. At the end. But, I mean, it was 60 games of going, oh, my God, what have we done? So, you know, and I think the thing about that Oilers team from their first game seven, Stanley Cup Final versus Florida, they were a veteran team, right? Just top the bottom. And they've lost a lot of those veteran guys, whether it's Fogel or Corey Perry or Vander Cain. and they've lost some of that. And I think what McDavid and Drysailen

ultimately want to make sure is that those young guys and the newer pieces and the guys who haven't sort of struggled through a lot of what this oil or core have struggled through are there with them right away. And it's not about babysitting. It's not about feeling it out. They don't have time for that.

And these are pretty hardcore, serious guys. You know, Zach Heimann is the nicest, most thoughtful guy you'll find, but he has his fiercely competitors as there is in the NHL. and he probably, you know, it's funny when we talk about Babcock guys, like some of the antics, some of the things he's done, you know, and I've talked to guys like Kevin BX about this, you know, with John Tortorella.

Some guys, they completely wilt under that type of, I don't want to use the word pressure, but that kind of behavior put on them. And some guys excel. And Zach Hyman's very mentally strong. He probably completely unfazed by anything Mike Babcock was doing. And probably it was just like, I'm going to go out there and play the way I know I need to play, et cetera, et cetera, and some guys completely wilt.

And I think they want to make sure, you know, so I don't think there was much hesitation when it came to some of those guys about bringing in a guy who's going to maybe lead with a more defiant hand in many respects and a more, you know, calculated, you know, cutting edge to the style an approach that he's going to take. So it's not everyone's top of tea, and certainly in today's NHL and in today's society. Mike Babcock seemingly has overstepped that balance previously. But maybe for this group collectively, at least the core group, they were like embracing that kind of style coming into their dressing room. David, are you ready for the draft yet? Could you, could you rattle off

the order right now or with all these first round picks being traded away? Not all, not all of them were in this draft, but certainly the number four pick is now Buffalo, no longer Chicago. This is like, This isn't just because the Canucks are drafting third overall. It's partly to do that. But I have not been this interested in a draft in a long, long time from the order that the players go to what possible trades could occur. This one seems like you're the neutral party here and you've done so many drafts. This one seems wilder than the others, right? it's going to be you know i was talking to one of our executives about this this might be our highest rated show of the year it really might be you know the stanley cup final was an interesting compelling series but at the end of the day it was carolina versus Vegas you know how five canadian teams well actually ottawa just bowed out of the top 10 you have four canadian teams drafting in the first eight spots and what's interesting to me from a conucks perspective guys isn't buffalo at four because Vancouver controls three it's san Jose at two and nine yeah

That worries me a little bit if I'm Vancouver in the sense of two and nine. They might have nine guys they've identified San Jose, and they say we're happy with any of these nine guys. That means that two, we can target the best player. Because we all know San Jose needs defensemen, and there's this group of five elite defensemen that are going to go in the top, you know, eight or nine picks. But they could get themselves Stenberg, let's say, at two,

if at least take McKenna at one, and then still guarantee themselves most likely because you're going to have Malhotra and Diorks go in the top nine as well, you would think, to get one of those elite five defensemen, which is maybe what were the thinking from Mike Greer in that management group was.

It is really compelling theater, and I'm very interested to see how it shakes down. And here's the thing. We're still 48 hours until the draft. There's going to be some more movement. I don't know specifically what, but there's a lot of speculation that San Jose's got something else up their sleeves.

So I was a little shocked by the Chicago trade, quite frankly. You know, talking to Sam Cosentino, talking to Jason Buchua, looking at all the drafts, you know, prep I've been doing, there's a real consensus that, you know, the top seven, eight picks are going to be elite players in the NHL, right? Really elite players. So they sacrificed an elite player in the NHL for Bo Byram, essentially. And you kind of go, hmm, and Bo Barham's a good player, don't get me wrong, but he was the number three offensemen in Buffalo all year. So, Kenny, you know, carry that cloud as a number one defenseman in Chicago,

if that's what they're kind of pegging them to do. Giving up the number four pick was a bit of a surprise. But it's, it's, you said it, guys. The drama heading into this thing is huge. We're speaking to David Amber, SportsNet NHL host here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of defensemen on the move, David, are you anticipating that Morgan Riley gets moved today? Well, I saw the news yesterday, and J.P. Barry, you know, I guess it's,

given the Leafs, according to the reports, sort of four teams that Morgan Riley would be willing to move, to waive his no movement clause to. And it said Western teams, which was interesting. And what does that mean? Western teams? And what's the delineation between West and Central?

I don't know. Yeah, you know, we talked about it last week on the show. Morgan Riley's built a great life here in Toronto. Or maybe it was a different show. But anyway, Morgan Riley's built a great show here in Toronto, guys. He loves the city. His teammates love him. The fan base loves him.

You know, he does a ton in the community. And yes, he's taking a lot of criticism, but it's, you know, it's just, I think, because the expectations have been so high on this team. It could be one of those times. Or just a change could be good for the team and it could be good for the player. And I don't know what Morgan Riley was going through his head. You know, he and his wife has a virtue. You know, he's built a home here in Toronto.

They have a young child. like there's a lot of other factors at play. But the fact now that he has sort of said, okay, well, here's what I'd be willing to do. Does say to me that the road is now paved for a move. And maybe, you know, he's decided that's what he needs, sort of a fresh start somewhere else where he doesn't carry the baggage of, you know, a bad year or two here in Toronto or a year where, you know,

he feels he's underperformed or the team's underperformed. And that could be a great thing for him. Whoever gets him is getting a great leader and a great guy and a good player. And quite frankly, we've seen the script many times in Toronto guys. Goodridden, get this guy out of here. Stanley Cup winner! Larry Murphy! We've seen it time and time and time again.

So he certainly might out greener pastures moving forward, and I'm sure wherever he goes he'll sit in perfectly because that's the kind of guy he is. I do wonder if the Canucks have called on Morgan Riley. He did too. He's a Vancouver guy. He's a quality guy. and I imagine the acquisition cost would not be much. And then if the Canucks, I mean, this is just in my head now,

the Canucks needs a veteran defenseman to play with some of their young defensemen. And everyone here right now is like, why are the Canucks not dealing a guy like Philip Peronick after the return that Bowen Byram gave, you know, trade them to San Jose and target that ninth overall pick? what do you think about just the situation the Canucks are in right now? You know, we kind of concluded last segment that there's no other team like the Canucks right now in that they are at the very, very start of what's expected to be a long rebuild.

And that's the time when you trade everything you can pretty much and focus on the future. And they haven't made any deals yet. There's still time to do it, but they haven't done it yet. Yeah, I would listen, Ryan Johnson is, I'm sure, kicking some tires and feeling his way through this. And he does have an advantage because he's familiar with the people in play. You know, it's not a GM coming over from another organization. I remember Brian Burke always saying, I like to get my feet wet, you know, get into a new organization. I'm not going to make rash decisions off the hop.

Ryan Johnson doesn't have to worry about that. He has seen these players play. He knows these players intimately. So there's a great advantage with that. Yeah, I wouldn't be shocked. you're right. Like if there's one team you're going to identify

in the NHL and say they are clearly rebuilding. You know, it's the team that got lapped by the fields and it's dead last in the NHL by 14 points and clearly, you know, need to be starting essentially from scratch. The timeline isn't next year or the year after

it could be three or four or five years and how can you accelerate that? And you're right, is Philip Roanick going to be where you need him to be in three or four or five years? The one thing I'll say is, you know, you do want to have, you do need to have some players.

You can't have a bunch of draft picks. You can't just have a bunch of draft picks. You do need to have some players. They're serviceable everyday NHL players. And maybe a guy like Morgan Riley would be a good fit. And you're right. You see the return for Byron. And you go, Roanick, well, we probably could have got something close to similar.

Maybe we can, as you say, get that ninth pick. It's interesting. I don't think the last dominoes have fallen. And the real question is, how bold will Ryan Johnson, Mani Mulhotra, et cetera, and the whole staff be? Like how bold are they going to be? Because sometimes a guy wants to sort of feel his way through a situation as well and not feel he's getting taken advantage of, let's say.

I think Vancouver is a real wild card in this track. I really do. I really look at that three spot and go, what's going to happen? Because clearly there's a lot of needs there, but you want to get one of those forwards, right? I mean, are my misgaging this? Would the top priority not be a forward in Vancouver? I think the top priority would be getting the, most talent and best player

regardless of the position available. We've framed the Canucks in this current market and climate as the only team in the entire National Hockey League that's at ground zero of their rebuild. Like other teams are rebuilding but they're further along. The Connucks right now need to get as much talent

in the door, young talent as they can draft wise and move out all the old stuff. Those are the real two priorities right now. And I think beneficial for them is that they've got a market where it's kind of frenzied right now. And with that, we'll let you go. We'll see how this frenzied market takes us in to Friday's draft. Thanks a lot for doing this today, David. We really appreciate it.

Get your sleep. I know there's a lot going on and there's World Cup games, but you need to be sharp on Friday. It's going to be fun and looking forward to watching you in the draft. A three o'clock start is helpful for me today. Absolutely. I'm driving to Buffalo in a couple hours. And yeah, honestly, there's going to be a lot of wheels in motion. I just can't wait to see. And Vancouver could be sort of that swing team at three. So a lot of great

players there and I'm excited for it. Enjoy the draft. Gentlemen, I'll talk to you next week. Thanks, David. Appreciate it. David Amber Hockey N.S.H.N.H.N.H.L. host here on the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. A reminder, David is a presentation of Angry Otter, Liquor. Plus program members, save for game

days at Angry Otter. Score big on your favorite beer, wine, and whiskey. up before puck drop, visit them online at angry otterlicker.cr. So back to the situation and the position the Canucks are in here. Adog has made this our morning video where in the intro we talked about

the opportunity that's at hand. And this is why you need, especially in this league, to be ready to strike at a moment's notice because yesterday came out of nowhere. Right? Once the Kachuk trade happened on Sunday,

day, the domino effect hits for some reason or another, and I've never really quite understood it. It hits the NHL like no other. FOMO. Once, it could be FOMO. I often think it's just because everyone wants to go to the cottage and they just want to get the work done with. There's always been an unofficial holding pattern that you have to wait until the Stanley Cup final is over to make a bunch of these moves. And then when you make them, everything happens in a two and a half week window. Well, I think the Kachuk trade also.

was related to a bunch of other trades. Do you know what I mean? Yes, it was. Like Seattle made a trade that, that contributed to the Kachukh trade, and then the Kachuk trade contributed to other trades, and then other people around the league are like, oh, we got to get in on this, right?

There is a sentiment of, hey, everyone else is making trades, and also are we allowed to make them now? I also just think it's not a unique situation, but it's a situation where there are, teams that desperately want to improve. And there are a couple of teams, I think, about Chicago and San Jose that have already been in a rebuild for a while and they want to get going. Even Calgary.

Maybe they want to get going a little bit. And they add a 22-year-old defenseman. They trade away a couple of first-round picks to get him. And then you've got all this cap space to play with. I mean, let's not pretend that there weren't deals that GMs wanted to make during the flat cap era. They just couldn't do them. 100%. It was almost an impossibility to get these big deals done.

Now there's wiggle room and there might even be some pent-up trades. Do you know what I mean? Like, we've wanted to do this for years. You know, you do hear about the Darnell nurse. situation in Edmonton. They've been wanting to do that for a while. I wonder in Toronto, it's been a little bit the same with Morgan Riley.

And I really wonder where he's going to go. I see them as in similar situations. And, you know, to bring them back to the Vancouver Canucks, when there's things going on and you want to make transactions too, you don't want to be the, like,

we're going to be the contrarian in this. No, just join the action and get things done because you never know when you'll have a moment like this. There are times when teams just get a little crazy and they talk themselves into things, right? I mean, Chicago has talked themselves into Bowen Byron. Okay, this is important. They've taken a big swing. So maybe you can talk yourself into Jake DeBress helping your power play or talk yourself into, I mean, this would be a much bigger topic to talk yourself into,

that Elias Pedersen can be a big contributing part of a successful team, maybe a 1C, maybe a 2C, but that is worth it to at least take a swing. Yeah, like I think you've hit on an important point there, and it's the desperation is in the air. It's thick. You can feel it. There's a frenzy right now. You can smell it. There's a frenzy for sure. Like I like Bowen Byram as much as anyone and I really want a local kid to do well. I think that's a insane move by Chicago.

Insane? Yeah, insane. That is a pretty crazy return for Byron. Let me ask you this. How many number one defensemen in history have been traded three times before the age of 24 and have never been a number one defenseman

in any of the markets that they played in? Well, they're just banking on the fact that they hope that he will become a number one. but there's a very high probability he's like a number four and stays that way. Where's the evidence that he can be a number one? That's just what I want to know. And on top of that, even if that does hit and he does become a number one, then you have to pay him

number one money. And you don't get the ELC and you don't get it. But they'd be happy to do that in Chicago. I don't think that's a concern for them. I think it's a question of how good can he be and can he handle that number one role. I don't blame him for not becoming a number one

defenseman yet because he was playing behind McCarr in Colorado and he was playing behind Dahlene in Buffalo. Chicago is going to give him the opportunity. I don't know if I'd call it an insane trade, but because even the fourth overall picks, sometimes those guys don't work out at all. But the thinking of the draft was that you're going to get

a potential franchise defenseman with the fourth overall pick. And what's Byron right now? Like a four maybe on a team? I don't know. I don't know what he is. He's better than that. He's better than that. He's so inconsistent.

He is. How hard? How hard was it to? break through the glass ceiling to not even be like the second best defenseman on one of these teams. Like his ceiling's a top pair, but he's barely ever before. Like that's the thing with him, right? Like, and I know he's still very young. It's just the Blackhawks are just taking such a huge swing on him turning into that player. Which kind of proves the point that there's desperate. There's some desperation in the air. It's a stinky. You know, Kyle, Kyle Davidson, the general manager there, he did get a contract extension and the ownership had his back.

but I'm sure the ownership is like so like when right and this will happen in Vancouver in maybe three years time and people are like okay well so we went through those tough times and there's a lot of losses and let's go now

by the way I can't I can't wait to see what Chicago is going to pay byron I can't wait to see that because talk about giving yourself no leverage in negotiations they're like oh absolutely Yeah, they're like, hey, welcome to the team. You're our number one defenseman.

He's like, now pay me like one. And away we go. Well, they can't exactly like bridge him either. You've got to pay him like, you're into the UFA years. Yep. You're, you're paid full price for them. Yeah. Now you're going to give them the ticket.

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I'm Frank Sarvalley. Our NHL insider from Victory Plus is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.