Halford & Brough in the Morning - It's An NHL Free Agency HalBro Bonus Hour!

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

In a bonus hour four, Mike & Jason discuss what the Oilers will do this offseason with Sports 1440 Edmonton's Jason Gregor (2:08) as NHL Free Agency officially begins, plus the boys tell us what they learned (22:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

9.04 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Happy Canada today, everybody. Halford-Bruff, Sportsnet 650. You may be wondering, why are these guys still here? What are they still doing at work? Extra hour of Halford and Brough today. Oh, you're done with these guys. We're going to be here until 10 a.m. Pacific. We will walk you through the first official hour of NHL free agency. It's open now. The NHL sent its email announcing all the free agents that are available to be signed. I just got it, as a matter of fact. So we will monitor everything that's going to happen over the course of the next hour.

We've got wall-to-wall coverage here on SportsNet 650 throughout the day. Everything that Canucks may or may not do and everything else that's going on around the NHL. I guess the big news right now is that Demadov extension in Montreal. That is a big one. Eight-year extension. Deal doesn't even kick in until the following season. And $9.125 million dollars per season. And so everyone in Montreal is under that $10 million mark.

And if some of those guys were going to go to free agency today, they would get more than that. Okay. So the couple of the signings that we passed along prior to going to break, the Radco-Gutis deal in Florida officially done, just an absolutely hilarious deal. Six years at $1.5 million per. He's 36 years old.

That deal feels more illegal the more I talk about it. But apparently it's all good because, the team has posted it. There was a very adorable video call with his daughter announcing the deal on the Florida Panthers social media. So that's done. There's a bunch of other stuff still to come. Let's go now to Edmonton and see what the Oilers are up to today.

Joining us now from Sports 1440 in Evanton. He joins us on the Aval Auctions hotline. Jason Greger here on the Halford & Breath Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Jason. How are you? Pretty good, man. You were well. It's been a very eventful morning already.

And we haven't even really technically started. free agency. I guess the dust is, well, actually, I'll ask you, has the dust settled on the Mike Babcock hire? Is everyone at the very least accepted it? Well, I don't know. Like, nothing's really changed. If you were, if you were against it,

I don't think it's going to change just because it's, you know, like it's, you know, I don't think people are going to be picketing outside. No. There'll be a very close eye on Mike Babcock, including for myself. Like, he's got a long history here.

This is not a one-off. So when I hear people say second chance, I'm like, it's not a second chance. It's like a third or fourth chance. So, you know, we'll see how the season goes for the orders.

But now, anyway, you know, you obviously need some players. Sure, you have a coach, but you need players. They only have one goalie, so they clearly have to get a goalie. And, you know,

they've got some other positions. You know, the darnel nurse trade, obviously, is holding up some stuff here because there's teams Anaheim and San Jose that have much better offers than the offer from Philly which is Nick Zeller and retained $3 million.

Like there's zero reason for Merton to make that trade to be an awful trade. So you know what? You can play hardball with Dardell Nurse and just bring him back because next year he only has a 10-team no trade list instead of right now where basically he's got a 28-team no trade list. So how is Stan Bowman

outside of the Mike Babcock hire are going to improve the team based on last season. I know he's brought back Dickinson. He's brought back Connor Murphy, but they clearly need something more. Yeah, I think those two moves are huge, though. Those guys weren't here. You know, like I was looking at your team at the start of the year.

And so if you bring in Dickinson and Murphy from the start of year roster last year, that's a big improvement. They didn't have a third line center. They didn't have a second pair right defense. So to me, that's a big improvement for the team. Now, you know, you can look at their playoffs. and obviously they lost, but are all four centers going to be hurt, right? So there are, Eminton isn't that bad, like honestly.

Like, Eminton is still one of the top eight teams in the NHL for me, right? And if you're one of the top eight teams, like, look at Carolina. They finally won, right? They never, they couldn't ever get to even a win barely in the third round for seven years. But Jason, they continually improved their team and brought in new players and brought in new big players. Okay, but the. point was, did it get any better until the eighth year? Right?

No one, so I look at the orders. Yeah, they got to improve, but they did. They brought in Dickinson and Murphy. I think they're better. The other thing is Carolina was always looking for the superstar. Eminton has two superstars and they have an elite defenseman. That's their advantage. Like the pieces they need aren't at the top.

They need better surrounding pieces, right? They need a more consistent goal tender for sure, but they need better team defense, which I'm sorry, I don't buy for a second that it's just a coach. Because all you've got to do is look at when Chris Knoblock came in. The orders were a top five defensive team, a top five offensive team, the best record in the NHL and went to Game 7 of Stanley Cup final. So when the players actually decide to commit to it, they're bed better. So for me, your top guys got to play better.

I think they're going to play less under Babcock, which I have no problem with. But for me, they need a right shot, fourth line center, which I know doesn't sound like a sexy thing. but in a time where you get to pick which side the faceoffs on in the defense's zone on every penalty kill, and you, the one weakness of the orders over the whole time has been their penalty kill. Other than the miracle in 24 where they were top seven and then they went crazy in the playoffs and gave up like, well, were they minus one the whole year in the postseason?

Like that was an anomaly clearly because the last two years in the playoffs, they've sucked on a penalty kill. So, you know, McKayev would be great because he's a good penalty killer. But man, if you look at some of the contracts, that guy might get $5.5 million. So I don't know. They can't afford them. So Emerton's got to do kind of bargain bin shopping and find good value contracts. No more Trent Frederick contracts, you know, no small fords who can't produce Mangea Pony, Skinner.

Like, they got to make better decisions as management and free agency. We're speaking to Jason Greger from Sports 1448, Edmonton here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. okay, what is the plan for the goaltending position right now? I know there's a lot floating around on social media about who's leaving, who's hitting the market, who the Oilers might be interested in bringing in, and then there's the Tristan Jari of it all. So walk us through what's going on in goal right now. It's 9, 10 a.m. of July 1st.

Well, I do know that Connor Ingram was interested in returning to Emmett, and that has yet to occur. Okay. So he's still in the mix. I think they'll look at Terrace off in Florida. And like look at other teams here. Like obviously you'd love to get an elite goalie. But unless you're going to trade for Hellebuck, which I guess is a possibility.

You know, there's really no elite goleys that I see available. Right. So you may be better off. Like look at the teams that just went to the cup final. Freddie Anderson was 36 and for the first time ever stayed healthy. The other guy, Bussie came in off of waivers and played unreal. The other guy came out of court for a, It's a year and a half and, you know, it was great until the, tell the Cup final.

So I don't like, goaltenders, well, you guys would know. Like, look at Markstrom. From year to year, it's voodoo. Like, great year, bad year, great. And you're like, I think this goal is a pretty good goalie. And then the next year, you're like, what the hell happened? So starts with team defense, but I'll say, realistically, I don't see how you get rid of Jari. Right?

I just, like, it would be a miracle, I think if they could, but I don't see it. So I think they're going to try to find someone who, you know, probably around $2 million bucks and say, hey, can we not overplay Jari and maybe be like a 50-32 split, give or take, somewhere around there, maybe even like 45, 37, something like that? So, you know, Teres off might be that guy because we've seen a lot. Look at Dan Bladar. Find a goalie who's a good number two on another team and bring them to your team and not have to pay him very much. So I agree with you that it starts with team defense. What I'm curious about is how the Oilers went looking so good defensively

in their first Stanley Cup final run. And that, of course, had a series against Vancouver where Vancouver, like, could not get a shot through at times. And the penalty killing in Emerton was unbelievable. And you could tell that they were all, like, locked in on the system and Noblock was new at the time. And then last season, they never figured out their team defense. Now, my partner, Mike Alford, maintains that the roster was different and the roster wasn't as good.

I think it was something different. I think something happened where they weren't, for whatever reason, if they tuned out the coach or whatever, but they just didn't seem to be on the same page. What is your take on that or either? We could both be wrong. Well, I think you're probably both right. I think the roster wasn't as deep. But the other difference was, Paul.

coffee wasn't there to start last season defensively, right? And Mark Stewart ran the defense and it didn't do as good, right? And then basically they had to bring coffee back in during the Olympic break and Stewart, they just kept them on which is kind of typical in

Eminton. Like, you know, they never seemed to make a right decision with their coach. You know what I mean? Like, hey, don't just newer the guy, get rid of them and bring someone else in. And all they did is wait two months and got rid of them then, right? So I think part of it was coaching part of it was just you had a lot of guys

and the players did admit finally at the end of the year that I don't think they took the regular season serious enough. They felt like if we could just get through it, that you know what, then we'll be able to flip a switch at the playoffs. Well, you can't do that, right? It doesn't really work that way. So now you can get hot for the final month of the season and carry that over, sure,

but you eventually have to start playing consistently, and they never really did. So I think there's a combination, some coaching, a combination of the players and just, they just weren't into it. I don't know that sounds really lame, but I watched a lot of the games, man, and it was stunning to me at how some games,

they're down to nothing the first eight minutes of the game. You know, other, or they're playing really well, and then it's just like, boom, they throw a grenade in their own zone and give up two goals in 40 seconds. Like it was, there was no consistency.

So I think it's a combination of a lot of things. I think that's why you've heard from their leads, well, we need to be coach, we need to be coach, which at times, I think it's kind of a cop-out. They know what they need to do. Yeah, it's the coach or the goalie. That's kind of what it's always.

Well, Eminson didn't win because they're goal. They lost two to one in game seven, the cup final. Stuart Skinner was the reason they got by Dallas, for God's sakes. But no one ever, well, but you know what, guys, he got pulled two games against Vancouver. Who cares, right? Because look at everything before and everything after. Wasn't always goaltending. But that's the theme.

And sadly, I get if the fans think that way. But at times it feels like the organization's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's the goalie. Yeah, yeah. the coach everybody else we're great and at some point they got to look in the mirror and say you know what we're collectively not good enough and consistent enough as a group oh i want to jump in though i got to ask one real quick here what was the deal between paul coffee and chris noblock you know what i feel free to speculate too we're really good at that on this show we get you radioed yeah yeah it's funny i i had a i had a conversation with chris nonblock and paul coffee about it like

Did they have a disagreement during the 24 playoffs? Yes. But like guys, think about it. I'm sure you guys have probably had days where you're like, bleep you, bleep you, right? Most days, yeah. Yeah, we sure have. Guys historically can get over stuff I found. I've had it with my buddies.

You get annoyed at someone. Then you talk it out and you're good and you literally move on. And, you know, Chris Knoblock was adamant that him and Paul Coffey had no issue after that. So, you know, it was. It came down to there's a little bit of old, and the hilarious part was, listening now to Mike Babcock and the order of players, when we need to be coached, well, the one criticism was, well, Paul Coff, he was a little old school and too hard on guys.

I'm like, what? So wait a second. That's what you didn't like, but now suddenly it's like, oh, we need coffee. And here's the other thing, guys, just to wrap up the whole Babcock. So as an organization, so Chris Knoblock comes in, look at his record since he took over a team. He went to two Stanley Cup finals. He's got one of the best winning percentages going.

Now, did he, have a down year coaching last year, I would agree he did. And talking to Chris, he would agree he did. He's like, you know what? There's some things I would do different next year. Because I talked to him right at the end of the season. He thought he was coming back because he was on the impression he was coming back. And then obviously that changed a week later.

But they're like, okay, we don't think Chris Knoblock can change and evolve as a coach. Okay, but we're going to hire Mike Babcock because we think he can change and evolve as a guy who's made a complete dick to players. Like, make it make sense to me. Hey, Jason, I just wanted to take two minutes here. And I know the

CFL is not top of mind for many people right now, but what is the state of the CFL in Edmonton? It's coming back, right? Like last year, like the Elks had been a tire fire. When they, like, it's funny, good organizations, man, what one bad decision for leadership, and like the minute they fired Ed Hervey, everything just went down and it was collected, and then they added another bad president, then a bad GM, then another bad present. And there was a lot of problems on the field, off the field, in the, the room. Chris Jones was a disaster.

Like everything wasn't good. And so then they got ownership. And the new ownership, that was step one. Bringing in Chris Morris as a president's being very good. But he spent a lot of time, guys, just trying to mend senses in the community. Yeah. Because there was a lot of them broken. And then you bring Ed Herbie back in.

Herbie's track record, go back and look in the last two decades in Eminton. When he's the GM, really good. Every other time, pre-imposed Herbie sucked. So now, can he be rough around the edges for some people? sure, but he's very direct in what he wants. And now it's super early in the season, but the Elks are actually competitive, right? Like, they're really good.

They've given up the fewest points in the league, right? They take on BC on Saturday. And who knows? Maybe they'd be 4 and O, which would be wild. But even if they're 3 in 1, it's a really good start. And fans like last year, because my son's a big CFL fan. He likes to go to the game.

So I sit in a crowd with them. And last year they had two games where they had legit 29 to 30,000 fans. Because in the lower bowl now you can only fit 32, I think it is, and change. Sure. And it was close to a sellout. If they get some good weather again, it'll come back. It takes time, though, right?

But BC lines are a prime example. For a lot of years, people thought, oh, the lines were dead. They got a new owner. He changed everything. And now you look at that team, the fans are proud of their team again. And that's where Eminton has to get back. They've got to be proud of their team of the fan base, because for many years, they haven't. Well, we're not super proud right now with the start.

No, we're proud of them. than we were a couple of years ago. Yeah. Jason, thanks for taking the time to join us. It'll be interesting to see what the Oilers look like in a week or two. What are the Canucks going to do, fellas? Oh, dude, it sounds quiet right now. Ryan Rushag had a report this morning that there's nothing going on the Jake DeBrust front.

We all thought that was going to be maybe the first thing that gets done. So right now it feels and sounds awfully quiet around here, dude. Yeah, and there's reports right now that Zuccarello has signed with the L.A. Kings, and the L.A. Kings are actually one of the teams we're kind of keeping an eye on for Alex Peders. No, not. Not Jake DeBress. Jake DeBress is a servant. Sure, why not?

You know what? Sure, why not? Take him to. They also signed Eric Halla. Right. Hala. Yeah, so there you go. Okay. Yeah, the King signed Jason, or Jason Halla, Eric Hala and Matt Zucrello apparently. Things are on FAPTUries over here. Do you have the term on it? I don't know.

It might be five years and five mil to rate they're going. Like, what about that Gouda steel? hilarious. I want to just say caps are conventions. I'm glad. Before we had you on, I'm like, every time I look at that deal, it feels more illegal. Yet, it's very illegal, I guess, so I don't know. Anyway, we're up against our time, but thanks for doing this.

Appreciate it. Have a good one. Happy Canada. Happy Canada. Jason Greger from Sports 1440 and Evanton here on the Halford and Breff Show on Sports 9-650. Okay, so this is how crazy this show has been. We just talked about, for some reason or another, the Canadian Football League. We're now going to turn our attention.

Because the Lions are playing the Elks. We're now going to turn our attention to the World Cup where, and I knew this was going to happen the moment I started talking about England playing Mexico in the round of 16. England has already fallen behind 1-0 to the Democratic Republic of Congo in their round of 32 match. Congo scored nine minutes in. So there's that.

It was like six minutes in it. Whatever. So there's that. They're still in the game. I have another crazy update for you guys. this will be very interesting for you, Laddie, as a Blue Jays fan. George Springer's on the paternity list?

Nope. The Vancouver Canadians play a nooner, well, it's a one o'clock, but a nooner, the Nat on Friday. Guess who the starting pitcher is going to be for the Vancouver Canadians on Friday? Who? Max Scherzer.

Really? Yeah, yeah. Because they're doing a West Coast swim. Wait, am I going to say something stupid? Wow. Okay. Max Scher, according to Shai Daviti from Sportsnet, Max Scherzer says he's traveling with the Blue Jays out west and we'll make a rehab start Friday with Vancouver.

Then he's going to rejoin the team in Seattle on Saturday. So Friday, hard lines, Eugene. You've now got to go up against Hall of Famer, Max Scherzerer, a 105 start. The Mariners do it all the time because they play out here, obviously. Probably played against the Cs this year, but it was down in wherever. Yeah, so it's not uncommon for other teams to do it. Not often you get the Jay's players playing in Vancouver. Okay, we got one final segment to go on the Hall of.

Alfred and Brough show. Basketball Phil texted in LOL, CFL talk, but no NBA free agency talk. Okay. I guess on the other side, when we do what we learns, and we're going to do what we learns on the other side, I guess there's some news

about Kauai. Well, that's not, first off, that's not free agency. Second, Phil, you came out with a two-year Norm Powell deal is something we should be talking about. I don't even, I'm upset that we read Phil's text today. I really am. But anyway, yeah, the Kauai trade. We covered it yesterday.

The news we didn't cover is that LeBron is leaving the Lakers, but we had to get to that Edmonton Elks news, Phil. We had to get to it. They're making a comeback, Phil. Okay, so the final half hour of our four hour extravaganza is coming up. We will try and we got to do some kind of recap for everything that's gone on in the first half hour of free agency. We'll work at that over the break.

If you have what we learns, hashtag him, WWL, the Dunbar Lmer text message in basket is 615. 650, send them in, hashtag them WWL, we'll do our best to try and get to them. There is a lot happening right now in the world of sports. A lot. We're both kind of on edge with this England start. Yeah, and to be quite honest, I'm barely

paying attention to half the stuff you people are saying. So, make it loud, make it proud, send it in to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. 650, 650. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show 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. Now for my favorite part of the show, what I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time on the show. 929 on a Wednesday.

Happy Wednesday, everybody. Happy Canada Day, everybody. I have no reads to do right now because no one was prepared for this. Four hours of Halbro. On July 1st, Canada Day? Yeah, that's why we're here. We are going to do what we learns here,

but it's going to be in a little bit of different format. And by that, I mean, Jason's not going to pay attention at all during any of it. He's very fixated on England and the Democratic Republic of Congo. I'll read this right now. Coverage of NHL Free Agency on SportsNet 650 is brought to you today by Beyond Basic Eyewear. Go above and beyond this summer with Beyond Basic Eyewear.

Visit them at 1052 Austin Avenue in Coquitlam or online at Beyond Basic Eyewear.com. I just swear to God, if you ask for just basic eyewear, We will get so mad. We will throw you out. Yeah. I want fireworks coming out of my glasses. Yeah.

It's very damaging to the ocular part of it. Okay. So I also realized we probably shouldn't be doing this without spoiler alerts. We've kind of given away what was a, and it's now that the cat's out of the bag. I wish England had told me that. Yeah. Spoil my day. Very dramatic start to a, what was already a compelling.

match going in one of the nine African qualifiers. So nine of ten African countries made it through to the round of 32 out of the 10 that qualified for the World Cup. This was unquestionably one of the biggest long shots that qualified for the round of 32. And Democratic Republic of Congo got a early 1-0 lead. England has sort of tilted the possession a little bit here, but it's still one-nill for Congo and things are happening. Okay. Um, There's a three-on-three scrimmage tomorrow in Abbotsford at Rogers Form. I believe tickets are free. If you just go to the Canucks social media site on or page on X.

There's links to the three-on-three. The Canucks have a development camp going right now. So if you want to go out and watch Caleb Malhotra and Adam Novotny and Braden Kootz, play a little three-on-three. Google it up. and I think you'll find your way there. All right. Let's get to some of these signing, shall we? courtesy Elliot Friedman.

Mason Marchman to San Jose. Five-year deal at $7 million per. Oh, my God. 35 million for Mason Marchman. San Jose obviously close, personal, an emotional tie to the family, given that Mason Marchman's father, Brian Marchman spent some time in San Jose as well.

to confirm earlier, the Los Angeles Kings have made two moves for veteran forwards. Do we have the details of the Zuccarello deal over there? Can you get them in front of you? One year one mill. That's crazy. Yeah. What is that? It's with incentives, but

What are the incentives? I don't know. Does he get like a million dollars every time he wakes up in the morning? Like, what is going on here? He's pretty old. I guess there's Guido signed that six-year deal. So, L.A. Matt Zuccarello. They also sign Eric Holla to a two-year,

$3.6 million deal. Mackie Samaskavich, who was recently acquired by the Seattle Cracken from the Florida Panthers, the new home of Radcoe Gutus. Samuskavich signs three years, $3.85 million per. So Seattle adds to its exciting

collection of middle six forwards with that. That's not fair. Samiskevich might be all right, but for now he's a middle six forward. Samuel Erson, now, Yeah, I missed this one while I was away. That's so weird. I do not. Multi-year deal.

Ottawa. Is he the backup now? He must be. He's cost the Flyers the last four seasons, 56 goals compared to average. Why is he getting a multi-year contract? Has he not been considered like the number one issue for the flyers over the last few years? I've called him the worst goaltender getting regular playing time in the NHL. Yeah.

Why is he getting a multi-year deal? So let's work through this as a thought exercise. Erison went from Philly to Toronto in the Joseph Wall trade. Toronto then traded him to Ottawa for like a fifth round pick. And then Ottawa was like, let's lock this guy up. Two years, 2.2 million AAV. So that one is done and taken care of. Those are the most recent signings.

33 games last year. He cost the Flyers almost 20 goals. Yep. That's hard to do. He gets 2.2 million. That's difficult to do for a goaltender. Like what is going on here? Okay, so for some of the other deals that we can bring you up to speed with, we started the show.

And in case you're just kind of diving into all the NHL and free agency news right now. Come on. Sorry. Bowen Byram, who was recently acquired by the Chicago Blackhawks, signed a monster extension today. $12.5 million a.A.V on a five-year extension. with the Chicago Blackhawks. If you're wondering, where does that put Bowen Byram on the list of highest paid defensemen at the NHL? Brother, it's right at the top.

Bowen Byram in terms of AAV is now the highest paid defenseman in the National Hockey League. Now remember, Kel McCar will be soon. This deal doesn't kick in until 2027, 2028. So this will change. Yeah. But, you know, for one day and it'll be a few days, Bowen Byron is going to be the highest paid defenseman in the NHL.

another guy that got paid handsomely today Nico Heeshire he agreed to an extension with the New Jersey Devils a six year deal that is an 11.7 million dollar Aavie and we bring that up because that is of course very close to the 11.6 Was it six or five or five? He's sure.

Six year deal or five year deal. What did I say? Six. I don't even know. Okay. Let's just say a multi-year deal. Over four. Yes. This is why we have good chemistry on the show, everybody. in case you missed it overnight Zach Werensky was traded to the Dallas stars.

Just one problem. Zach Wrenski turned down that trade to the Dallas stars. According to Elliot Friedman, who we had on the show earlier, download the Hour 2 podcast if you want to hear that. Werenstki vetoed a trade to Dallas that would have seen him leave Columbus

and go to Dallas in exchange for a package that included Thomas Harley. Now, it appears as though that Werenzky wants to go to Tampa Bay or potentially Toronto. We'll see if that deal gets done today or if Columbus general manager

Don Waddell needs to go back to the drawing board and try and figure the whole thing out again. Another new signing. Jaden Schwartz heading from Seattle to Colorado on a three year $3.25 million deal. Now you were talking about Colorado earlier. I thought I forgot Janice Schwartz was in the league. I guess it was because

he played for Seattle. Seattle loses one of its valuable contributors to its middle six four years. been there for five years, by the way. He's the most mid of the mid players, though. How will they recover? That's the gag.

Sorry, Brummer. That's the gag. All Seattle does is buy and sell middle six forwards. So it's like, you, if you get rid of one, you got to bring one in. So, Chaden Schwartz, who leaves, James Schwartz, who will now promptly score 14 goals and 45 points. for another NHL team.

He's going to do it in Colorado now. Must be tough for the coach in Seattle to, like, number his lines. Like, we're all third lines here. You know what it reminds me? On a good night, second lines. That year in the bubble when the Canucks beat the wild. And I remember we had like two months to preview the series because it was COVID. And our entire assessment was we've never seen a team with better third lines because

all of them were third lines in Minnesota. They had three great third lines. didn't have enough respect for Eric Seneck at that time. We thought he was a third liner. He's a second liner. Yeah. He might have been a first. They didn't have a first line though, but Ryan Hartman could alternate between the

first and third line because they were all third lines. That's Seattle in a nutshell. Okay. Why don't we do some what we learn? Anything at this point other than you gesticulating wildly in studio. England almost scored there, by the way, too. That's why Jason was. England almost scored a couple of times.

England is really piling on the pressure right now. Also, there are six minutes plus added time. halftime. I'll say this. If Congo can get this into the half up 1-0, that is a massive accomplishment given the match statistics here, because England has been all over them the last 15. Okay, let's print out the submissions into the Dunbar Lumber text inbox. It was a five-year deal for Nico Heeshire, by the way. It was six for Bowen Byram. I think I got those flipped. J-Rock in the Okinaw and what I've learned, you guys should always have a four-hour show. The enthusiasm is jumping through the radio. I don't know if this is sarcatic.

or not, because I don't think the enthusiasm is necessarily jumping through the radio. I mean, I'll say this. Doing a four-hour show today is kind of simple. Yeah. There's a million things going on. So given a four-hour show in the depths of August, where it's like, you know, you're going, put it this way. When you're doing out-of-market CFL scores or talking about non-Lions games,

that's when you know that you've gone too far and it's way too much for a four-hour show. the red blacks had a tough night last night. Got a lawn bowling guest in the 9 o'clock hour. Actually, follow a lot of people from Ottawa. They're done with the red blacks. Are they? They're like worst franchise ever. Just they're done with them.

We're not going to do this today, though. There's lots of other good stuff going on. Come on. Yeah, CML talk. Tim, with a good text, he says, with these deals being signed, you cannot tell me that Jake DeBrusk isn't worth a first. My goodness, these deals are outrageous. Yeah, a late first? What would you rather?

or late first? Late first. Late first, right? Yeah, late first. I almost said no, but yeah, late first. The problem is, I don't think they're getting that. Debrusk controls the situation because for now he's got a no-move clause. By the way, and I think this is the third time we've mentioned it, but I'll reiterate it for the new listeners. Ryan Rishog had a report this morning that all is dead quiet on the Jake DeBusk front. He has not been asked to waive his no-movement clause as of yet. And I think that, think Rishog sort of summed it up by saying, as of right now,

Nebraska is staying put. Now, as Jason said, it can all change with one phone call, but it's been very methodical from the Canucks right now. Slow and steady wins the race. The lead up to the Brendan Gallagher, like just executing the trade. It was very much like, and now we will trade Nils Hoaglander. They're really going to test that tortoise versus the hair.

we will say goodbye to him by a statement as he tries his hand in Nashville. And only then will we announce the Brendan Gallagher acquisition. You know, I bet the hair beat the tortoise quite a few times. Probably. Maybe like there was a one-off where the hair fell asleep or got distracted or something and got cocky, got overconfident, got mugged or something. Something happened along the way. You got a stitch.

I still bet that he won more than he lost against the tortoise. That could have been part of the tortoises motivation. It's like, I just need to beat them once. Yeah. He can beat me 99 and I'm 100. I'll be honest with you, my quick twitch muscles, my fast twitch muscles. They aren't where they used to be or where they need to be, but I'm going to keep grinding out here. Okay.

Ask us anything. This one's for you, Halford. All right. Go. The Democratic Republic of Congo is worse than Canada. In England is at least as good as Morocco. Question mark? I actually don't know if this English team is as good.

is Morocco. They have not looked. They have not looked right throughout this tournament. Oh my word. And they were very nearly just now down 2-0. Yeah. There's something off about them. They had a very easy

qualification into the World Cup. They did not look terrific in a few of the friendlies that they played. And you know, at the back, everyone was crowing about their performance against Croatia.

And I was sitting there going, really? Like, because I thought they gave up a lot in that game. And they conceded two goals. And I know they scored four, but they conceded two goals. And that's, I don't know, I think everyone was just so desperate to play a different style under Thomas Tuchel, but you still have to defend. Dodd and Drans are just loving what's going on.

I don't know. I don't know what's happening right now. game. And I'm going to, in the least dramatic pivot of all time, Columbus, who is having a real tough day out there right now with the Zach Wrenski and the Kriel Marchenko stuff, it sounds like they've made amends by landing the biggest fish of them all. Ryan Lomburg. Ryan Lomburg is on his way to Columbus on a two-year deal. Cup champion. Ryan Lombie. Yeah, that's true. Corey Perry back to the Los Angeles Kings, it sounds like. that one is in the hopper.

I don't know if that one's been made. 41 years old. He's setting a good example for Radco Gudis. They got it. So he just goes back to L.A. He's like, all right, you tell me when you trade me. Yeah, pretty much. Anytime.

Yeah. So, what is Ken Holland doing? I don't know. They got really old. Today they have re-signed Corey Perry. They signed Matt Zuccarell and they signed Eric Holla. Bad news for Canucks fans.

Ian Cole has signed with a Chicago Blackhawks. One year, that makes sense. That makes sense. Mill. Eight by eight if you could believe it. Wait, you're joking. Love to spread misinformation on the radio. Trey, the Gulf Island ferry worker, what we learned,

every contract that is signed above 11.6 million today makes Elias Pedersen's contract look more and more palatable each day. Yeah, I guess. But you still got to think about the player. Lots of reports out there that teams are just as confused. as we are. Would you, would you take a chance on the, I wouldn't. On what?

I mean, this is just for, this is just for the listeners or for whoever. Like, would you take a chance on Pedersen? I wouldn't take a chance on him with four million retained. It's unfair to ask me. I'm tainted. I can't be objective here. Well, I probably can't either. No.

But, I mean, like, people say, people say, well, have him as the two C, right? is he getting power play one minutes then is he getting easy second assist by passing it back to Philip Peronick who's going to shoot it on net and maybe DeBress scores like is he getting those he was given I know I realized the Canucks had a bad team I watched it uh huh most of it some of them but like every opportunity to be put into positions where he could get points he was given that

opportunity last season and he still didn't put up that many points I swear to God that season two years ago, I think if Pew Souter had been in Pedersen's position and given all the time that Pedersen was given on the first unit power play and given the pick of the best wingers, which is not a great pick. But still, I think he would have scored more points than Pedersen.

Okay, you guys remember how former Washington Capitals briefly Anaheim Ducks defenseman, John Carlson, who may be the number one UFA defenseman on the market, got acquired by Carolina for a six-round pick. That didn't work. According to Pierre LeBron, Carlson hasn't closed the door on Carolina, but they could not agree to a deal.

So he is now officially going to free agency. It's believed that Tampa Bay and Philadelphia are among the chief suitors there. I got to admit, I'm a bit surprised that Carolina couldn't get that over the line. Maybe they just drew a real hard line in the sand when it came to money. But you'd think Carlson would relish the opportunity

given he wanted to go back east to go back to the east and also join the defending Stanley Cup champions. I mean, maybe Carolina still got that stigma about them. Maybe he just has a team in mind. Well, a couple teams it seems like. Tampa? Tampa and Philadelphia. Doesn't Tampa make the most sense for Carlson? Why would you go to Philly?

Philly doesn't make a lot of sense. Carolina needs to improve their power. Carolina felt like it made sense. But again, maybe you guys just don't want to play there still. I don't know. But think about Tampa, right? I mean, they just lost Darren Ruff. Radish. That's the right shot. Power play guy.

Sentences I never thought I'd utter. Well, he was a big part of the team last season. Prior to this year, I never a trade to announce. Yeah, please announce. New York Rangers have acquired goaltender Jonas Corpus Sallow from the Boston Bruins for a prospect and a fourth round pick. They needed a backup goalie. And they got one.

Okay. No more Jonathan Quick. No. No. Newark. Whoa. A big one? I know the Ian Cole money. Guess 0.75. Yeah, I announced it. That was close.

Oh, you did? I said it when I said he signed. So Dan Milstein just tweeting. I'm blown away at that. Dan Milstein just tweeting, Ely McCabe signs a four-year NHL contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Okay. Things are happening fast and furious.

I apologize for not hearing your total on the quote. Oh, that's fine. Are they looking to up their rebound game or something like that? Pucks on that. Rebounds off the pads. McHiv's a good skater, though, man. I won't go on that. I thought he got way too much hate in Vancouver.

Way too much. I think it was mostly the Oilers series that came down to. He had some chances, yeah. Could not bury anything. Actually, you know what? It was pretty rough. Okay.

So the Canucks have done what today? Nothing? Nothing? Nothing done by the Vancouver Canucks? Good recap. Okay. So Ian Cole is no longer available to be signed. Oh, he's gone.

So that was like the one name that Rick Dollywall came up with Dollywell says it was between the Canucks and the Blackhawks. It came down to the two. Did that break the Canucks budget? I'm going to say yes. So the other guy that maybe you can keep an eye on is the Jeff

Vial. The tough guy. He's a guy. This is where we are right now. What about Bogosian? Remember all that moment to we had earlier? Yeah, I don't know. Sure. And that's the Zeebubium connection, right? That they, I guess he was an appropriate mentor. To be fair, the

Canucks don't really have to do anything. No, they don't. They just completely sit, stand pat, wait for teams to come crawl into them for their players when they can't get what they want. We hopefully signed Landon DuPont today. I do wonder if, you know, that earlier information that we passed along from Rishog, that was like the, there's nothing going on with DeBresk right now until a bunch of teams either miss on their targets or realize that if we're going to pay player X and

free agency, let's just go pick up DeBusk for a contract that's already signed and we got some at least like you know cost certainty there that being said you brought up the point a couple times the breast controls the process because he can decide where he wants to go laying in the weeds probably is a good idea right like you said all these other teams have other things on the front burner wait see if you get a better deal it's not a bad idea yeah if I was RJ like I'd be like yeah we'll just stand

yeah I don't need to do anything when you're when you're desperate you could overpay for our players um I've seen a few people text in to other shows and our show about this, Connor Bedard is not going to sign an offer sheet. Stop thinking about it. Yeah, it's not going to happen. First of all,

the Canucks aren't going to give up four first round picks when they're going to be one of the worst teams in the league for the next few years. They're not going to do that, even for Connor Bedard. And number two, I feel like I have to say this every time that offer sheets come up, if you are signing an offer sheet, you have to make the offer sheet

so poisonous to your team that you are burning that bridge. Shea Weber signed one, which I don't think he expected Nashville to match. His contract has expired today, by the way. Oh, congrats. But a while ago, he signed an offer sheet that I don't think he expected Nashville to match

because he didn't think that they had the money to come up with. There had to be a big cash call in Nashville from all the owners there. And they did come up with that and they matched it. But the relationship with the predators was never, ever the same. And a few years later, he was traded. Yep. I'm not saying that offer sheets can't occasionally be useful. I think the St. Louis Blues used them perfectly against the Edmonton Oilers.

But it is classic, like, I don't know. It's a classic thing to forget that relationships matter. Yep. And if you don't want to leave your team, you are not going to sign an offer sheet. Because it always puts a GM in a bind, right? And then if you match that, I know what happened with Kessler, but whatever, he's Kessler.

Like, for the most part, if guys like their teams, they do not want to sign offer sheets. the only reason they would sign an offer sheet is to get out of that situation. And then here's the thing. There's always the risk that your team says, okay, fine, I'll match it. But life is going to be real miserable for you here. I'm just saying don't forget that angle when it comes to offer sheets because people always throw them out there. Like there isn't a personal relationship involved in it.

So you remember earlier in the show you were talking about how it's been widely speculated. the Vegas Golden Knights and Rasmus Anderson had a handshake agreement on a deal. Well, we now know the details of that handshake. According to Danny Webster out of Vegas, the Golden Knights are resigning Rasmus Anderson to a seven-year contract with a cap hit of $8.5 million. I love this.

I love the new wild spending free agency. Checking in on the Canucks side of things, Rick Dollywall reporting that the Canucks have checked in on Connor Clifton, but he said he's signing elsewhere. That's where we're at right now. Connection news is them checking in on guys. Hey, Connor, you want to come to Vancouver? Basketball Phil is raging right now because we're talking about Ian Cole and Connor

Clifty. You know what? He's right to rage. This is pretty bad. This is pretty bad. This is what we've come. There's a Cole Smith signing in Chicago and I had to look up who he played for last year.

It's all happening right now, folks. The music means we got to say goodbye. Thank you all for listening. And thank you all for contributing. And once again, happy Canada Day to everybody. Enjoy all the sports on the horizon. Enjoy the rest of the programming right here on SportsNet 650. Dranson Daughter coming up next.

But for now, we got to say goodbye. Signing off, I have been Mike Halford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been Adog and he's been Laddie. This has been the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.