Halford & Brough in the Morning - Many Question Marks Surround The Canucks

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they discuss the question marks related to the Canucks' coaching, goaltending, and center depth (6:00), plus they go around the NHL with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (30:11). 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.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- Olmeckin scores! Alex Olmeckin scores on the temple on the left post! It's a must-win. Is it game seven? Pretty close. So game seven tomorrow is our thought process. Where's your solution at center? The solution might be the guy you have there already. Duclair played only a little over 12 minutes. He was god-awful. W was set. Not good. Side-bloody negative about everything.

Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. It is Halford at his broth. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. A dog, good morning to you.

Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Broth in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step.

Got a big show today on a Wednesday. It is a Canucks game day. Note the start time, 730 puck drop tonight against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Arena. Our guest list today begins at 630 this morning. Greg Waszynski from ESPN is going to join us. And you know what we can talk about with Greg this morning, Jason? The fact that Sportsnet has reached a new 12 year agreement for the national media rights to all NHL games on all platforms in Canada.

It starts in 2026-27. So we'll ask the ESPN guy about that? Yeah, he's been talking a lot about it. In a good way? I hope so. We'll soon find out. Anyway, that news... A lot of money, a lot of money for the NHL. That's right. So extending the agreement to over two decades with the National Hockey

League and sports, that got announced this morning. It's big news from a sports business perspective. We'll talk a little bit about it. We can also talk to Wish about those playoff races in the East and the West. Heated up even further last night during a 10-game slate. That's at 630. Seven o'clock Frank Saravalli is going to join the face-off. Talk to him about if he's got anything on the news on the Rick Talk at Coaching Front. That news popped off yesterday. Is Gabriel Landiscock gonna return for the Colorado Avalanche for the playoffs?

Frank had some on that at Daily Face Off. We'll also talk about the Western Conference chase with Frank, he spoke with Mike Russo about the Minnesota Wild yesterday. Minnesota is now in the second and final wild card spot. The Wild are the team that everybody's chasing now, however fleeting those hopes are in the West. Frank's gonna join us at seven o'clock

to talk about all that. At eight o'clock, Randeeb Janda, Canucks color analyst here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I mentioned it's the Canucks in the crack and it's 7.30 tonight. Lots of Canucks news to get into following the team's return to practice yesterday.

So it's Randeeb at eight, it's Frank Zera Valley at 7, it's Greg Wyshinski at 630. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, tell everybody what happened. Hey did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. The Vancouver Canucks returned to practice yesterday and there were a lot of news and notes coming from that practice. Specifically, Rick Talkett's it's post practice media availability. Let's start with the injury updates. Uh,

Elias Pettersson and Phillip Heidel were not a part of practice yesterday. Both have apparently been skating on their own. Pedersen with an upper body injury, Heidel in concussion protocol, uh, no clear signs on when either will return to the lineup. Although of the two, it sounds like Heidel is far more doubtful to return at all this season. Yeah, Taka was saying Heedle is still having good days, but also bad days.

So I don't think there's any sense in returning him to the lineup with eight regular season games left, um, and the Canucks, uh, very much in doubt of, of making the playoffs. Uh, Elias Pedersen sounds a little more optimistic about him returning, but let's say in a couple of games, cause it didn't sound like he's going to play in the next couple of games. Let's say the Canucks are really out of it by then.

Is there any sense in bringing him back for, you know, the final two games of the regular season? I really don't think there is. Can't imagine there is. Nils Hoeglander with an undisclosed injury wore a red non-contact jersey in practice yesterday. So he actually took part in the practice. And those are your injury updates, which really were sort of the main news, but not really the main news from yesterday. There were a couple other things as well. Do you want to get into the talk at contract stuff right away? Well, speaking of the center position.

Okay. What did Freach say about suitor? It was Ladi, you played it in the intro. Good morning Ladi. Um, what, what, what was Freach saying about suitor? Was he basically saying like, if you, if you've got an issue at center, maybe the piece is right there. Maybe it's.

Well. It's resigning Pugh Souter. It was more about the depth that's available, isn't that great? And your best option might just be the guy that's already with your team. I'll be really curious to see if they reignite talks with Pugh Souter.

I don't know if they've made him an offer at all, or if they've just heard his price and they don't really like his price, but I do wonder if they might circle back. But this all kind of, and this is a good way to jump off to the talk of conversation. It's all part of like, Hey guys, what are you going to do?

The direction. The direction of the team because obviously how much money and how many years, the typical things, the main things you talk about in a contract negotiation are going to be important with Rick Tauken. I'm sure he wants a raise. Um, and, but you know, Tauken is 60 years old.

Um, he's probably thinking like this right now is the prime of my coaching career. I would like to win another Stanley cup. Is it possible to do that with the Vancouver Canucks and how quickly are we going to do it? What's the plan with Quinn Hughes? Is he going to stay? Um, how are we going to, I mean, we had, this isn't

just me saying it, we had Rick Tauke on the show and I asked him, you mean, we had, this isn't just me saying it, we had Rick Tauke on the show and I asked him about his comments about Pedersen in March where he was saying like, oh, over the last 48, 72 hours, we've been seeing things, Pedersen doing things that, wow, I've been waiting all year for this. And I kind of asked him, I was like, well, why wasn't it happening all year?

And he said, well, that's something we're going to have to dive into this off season. So that's part of the plan, but a lot of it involves the center position, right? What's the, what's Heedle's outlook? I mean, that's a, that's, I mean, if you, if you think about pretty much every center that the Canucks have, especially at the top of the

lineup, there are major question marks and center is just such an important position that if I'm the head coach, I want to know what's going on with that position. But I also want to know, hey, what's going on with Quinn Hughes? Can we get some, I keep saying this word, guidance on what he's thinking. And another guy we've talked about this week, what's the plan with Thatcher Demko? Is Kevin Lankin in my starter or do I have both guys? So the direction of the team is one major point that Rick Tauket and the management group are going to need to come together on.

The other is the status of his contract options. So from Elliot Friedman yesterday, previously reported by Thomas Drance, the guaranteed portion of Rick Tauket's contract expires on June 30th. Pretty standard stuff. Once it's July 1, coaches like a lot of players go to free agency on July 1, except in this instance, there's a wrinkle. The Canucks do hold a team option for next season, 2025-2026. According to several sources of Elliott Friedman's, the Canucks are indicating that if Taukett is coaching next season 2025-2026. According to several sources of Elliott Friedman's, the Canucks

are indicating that if Tauke is coaching next season, it will be in Vancouver on his club option or with an extension. Their goal is to extend him, Fried explained, but they will exercise the option if it is necessary. I want to play the audio from Rick Tauke at first and then we can dive into this more on the other side. Here's Rick Talkett from yesterday's practice talking about the reports about his contract future and his future coaching in Vancouver. Yeah, it's private. Like, you know, I'm trying to use as much as possible. I honestly am thinking like trying to, you know, get this team in and you know, the direction all that stuff. That's for another conversation, you know, with Jim and Patrick. I mean and Patrick. We go way back, so we'll have those conversations. But right now I'm thinking about how do you beat Seattle?

I really am, I know people don't believe it, it's the truth. So and this is a great city, I walk around the city, it's a phenomenal city, fans are great. So just say that, it's a great city, but there's some things that we'll talk about down the road it's not the right time right now. So the report suggested that the club has exercised its option to bring you back next year whether an extension is done or not has that been communicated to you? At this point it hasn't been exercised but that's not that's not because of Jim and Patrick. It will be communicated when it gets done.

You know what I mean? So, and those guys have been great to me because they know I've been entrenched in this playoff drive. They've been great. So this is some of the Drancer reported last week, but then Elliott kind of reported a similar thing and it blew up a little bit more just because it's freege and he has more of a national reach than Drantz.

What? No, for real, he does. No, serious. But credit to Drantz for getting this first. So I think what's happening here is the Canucks are telling other teams, don't even bother with Rick talking. Back off.

Yeah, he's ours. And then they- Stop with the lightauke. Back off. Yeah. He's ours. Stop with the light tampering. Yeah. And then they hug him. They're like, he's ours. Looking at you, Danny Breyer. Yeah. Looking at you, Philly.

Looking at you, New York Rangers. If you, you know, once you end your regular season and you start your coaching search, don't even think about calling Rick Tauke because he's ours contractually. Is a winky face emoji a light tempering? The big question here, I think it is. The big question here is would the Canucks

really force Tauke back behind the bench next season if he doesn't believe in the direction of the team? I still can't see it no matter what they're saying. I think, again, I think this is a message for other teams, not so much Rick Tocket. I know what the Canucks are saying and again, both Drantz and Freage have reported that their

goal is to extend them, but they will exercise the option if it is necessary. But tell me if this makes sense to you. All right. Listen up. Tell me if this makes sense to you. I am listening. Okay.

If any, if any, if any part you disagree with, stop me. Okay. You can't bring a coach back on a one year deal if he's not all in. That would be insanity, right? That would be insanity. You only said to stop you until you said something wrong.

Oh, okay. Oh, okay. And by saying they would, they've kind of painted themselves into a corner from a negotiating perspective because if they trigger the option without an extension, so they say you're coming back, you don't have an extension, but you're coming back and you're going to be a lame duck head coach whether you

like it or not. That makes it look like he doesn't believe in the plan. That makes it look like he hasn't signed on for a good reason. But if they let him walk, it also looks like he doesn't believe in the plan because he didn't negotiate, you know, like he

didn't, the talks didn't work out and he was like, well, I don't believe in the plan. So basically they have to get him extended. Otherwise it looks like he doesn't believe in the plan. So from a PR perspective, Tauke it has so much leverage here because the Canucks are not going to look good if either they let them walk or they just trigger the option and say,

you're coming back. Right. I mean, they could say, well, we couldn't come to terms on money, but then that doesn't help. It's like, what do you mean? She couldn't come to terms on money. Yeah. Like, what?

You want this guy? You're supposedly one of the big money teams. What did he want? Um, $11 million a season or something like that? Of course you could come, could come to terms on that. The only thing that doesn't make sense is the looming threat of like, we're going to force you to come back.

That doesn't make any sense. Nobody forces a coach or anyone, quite frankly, against their will to work or play or coach when they want to go somewhere else or if they want to go somewhere else. The, the reports that first came from Drantz and then came from Freage about the club will exercise its option if it comes to that.

I can only imagine that it has to be a message to the 31 other NHL teams and probably specifically the Philadelphia Flyers, don't bother. That's the only- Don't even go down that road. That's the only thing that can make sense. Cause what are you going to, you're going to hold him at gunpoint?

When he, if, if a coach doesn't want to be here at the end of the day, even if you really want him and he doesn't want to be here, you have to let him go. You can't force anyone to coach against it. Well, you can't force anyone into doing it, especially on a one year job. Imagine how unmotivated an individual would be.

I was wait this one out and then I'll go elsewhere. So I think the messaging that's out there. And if I, you know, I thought about it last night, Bref and I were talking about this last night and we're like, this doesn't really make sense. Like as it's laid out, it's very, it's like, almost like there's a piece missing somewhere.

Yeah. That would tie it all together because again, you don't strong arm someone into coaching if you can't come to an agreement. You won't sign our contract? Fine. We'll force you to do it contractually. It just doesn't make sense. If it is a warning shot across the league that he's staying here, we're going to get this done. Don't even do as Andy suggests, like sending emojis and light tampering, just leave it alone. Maybe it's to quiet things down, maybe it's to, you know, snuff out any fires before the smoke

raises, I don't know, but the reporting right now, as it stands, it feels like there's a component missing that would tie it all together. Okay, a few people have texted this in, and I don't know if this got, I don't know where everyone's coming up with this, if this was on social media or not, a lot of people texting in, like, could the Canucks trade talk it?

That's gone a long time ago. And get a first round pick. That was gone a long time ago. What's that? Yeah. Like I, that. I got shut down in 2015. There used to be.

No, no, no. I think that's a little bit different. That's compensation, isn't it? Right. But you can't trade a coach. Well, isn't that what they mean? Compensation? It used to be, um, compensation if you were to, uh, acquire a coach.

It was Tortorello and the Blue Jackets. Didn't the Canucks do that though? With somebody? Tortorello was the last one. Yeah. But I don't think it was like trading a coach. I don't know if you could- Because Tortorello was unemployed, but he was still being paid by the Canucks.

Right. And then the Columbus Blue Jackets wanted to hire him. They had to give a compensatory pick and that was the last one. Cause the system wasn't working. I think everyone was like, well, he's not working. Why are we paying a compensatory pick on top of paying him his salary? Yeah. Um, I, I mean, I don't know.

I don't think it's that guys. Like I, I wouldn't give that. I, they want him back as a head coach. Yeah, that's what they want him back in. They're not, they're not, they're not trying to get a draft pick from Rick Tauke. Um. The only thing that kind of makes sense to

me is that maybe they're just trying to, in a season where there has been a lot of tumultuous moments, a lot of noise, as Sat likes to put it, Sat always says they'd like to quiet things down and they'd like to maybe make less headlines and less noise in the media, that maybe this is their way of just firing a shot across the league saying, don't worry

about your thoughts and feelings towards our head coach. Once our season is done, as Rick Tuckett said, I'm only focused on the playoff chase. Once our season is done, we're going to get it. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, sorry, Andy. Uh, I mean, JR and Roslyn is texting in, like

there's been a bunch of these. If he really wants to go to Philly and they really want him, could they say they'll sign them to the one year deal unless Philly gives us a draft pick? This could trade us a pick for future considerations. Again, let's not get held up or, you know, distracted by this idea that they could get a

draft pick for him. Even if that were to happen, okay? I don't want to talk about that much anymore, but even if- I don't think they can do it. But even if that were to happen, that's still optically not good for the Canucks. No.

Because that is a guy that they have said they want back, and he's saying, no, I don't want to be here. Right? That's not an endorsement of the, of the future in Vancouver. If Rick Taka would rather go to Philly than Vancouver. So again, push back on how the Canucks haven't

kind of painted themselves into a corner when it comes to negotiating with Rick Taka. Like if they don't come to an extension with him, do you really see them bringing him back on a one year deal for him to be a lame duck head coach and he's not all that enthused about it? How much you have to be, he always says like, you got to be all in. Like, is he going to be emotionally all in if they've essentially forced him back on the job? And if he walks, if they let him walk, that's

yet another like, oh God, this guy doesn't, this guy doesn't believe in the plan. So maybe the Canucks are just willing to risk that optics or PR disaster, which it very much would be if this guy that they've said is our guy and we really like the job that Rick Taukett has done and ultimately he's not motivated enough to extend with the Vancouver Canucks.

Tell me how that doesn't give a ton of leverage to Rick Taukett in these negotiations. See, I think, I kind of look at it differently. As someone that wants this to go right and would love the team to get back to being in the playoffs and being a competitive team and not have this like very frustrating season that just passed, I hope that this is very much a group that is like, we have certain things

that we want to get done the moment that our regular season is over. And it's a laundry list of things that need to get done. You can go down it, talk it, and then clarity on Pedersen, Besser, Demko. We've talked about them at length. So if the number one priority is getting the deal done, then I don't have a problem with ceding all of your leverage to the coach and just being like, as soon as this is ready to go, we're going to give you what you want to stay here.

It'll be term, it'll be money, if that's what it ends up being, great. If that gets muddled, then we got a problem. If this is gonna be as straightforward as they're making it out to be, which is he's coaching here next year, come hell or high water, whatever way they get there,

if they can get them to an extension, as long as this is done early, and then they can go with the business of, how are we gonna execute this plan? I do wonder how much of a say, Rick talk it's gonna have in the two year, I would say in the immediacy of the two year future of the club, what it looks like roster wise,

what it looks like stylistically, how many guys that they currently employ can he work with moving forward and how many guys can't he? Those are big questions. But in order to answer any of those, you have to have him under contract first. We got another text in, unsigned text. Do you think this management group recognizes this year has had too much drama slash noise and wants to quiet things down moving forward? Or is this just their way of doing things? I mean, there are a lot of similarities to the Elias Pettersson contract

situation with Rick Tauket. Obvious differences, of course. Like you can't threaten to trade Rick Tauket to Carolina, but. He could. You know, it does seem like they're quite publicly. I mean, the similarities is last year with Pedersen, they're telling the media and they're like, we want to get, we want to get some

certainty on Elias Pedersen. We need it, you know? And I remember that stage of it and people were saying like, why don't you guys just let him wait until the off season? Why, why, that's what he wants. And I was like, well, the big deal is that the team wants him to talk now. The team doesn't want him to wait until the off season. Why, why that's what he wants. And it was like, well, the big deal is that the team wants him to talk now.

The team doesn't want him to wait until the off season and they went so far as to, again, threaten to trade them to Carolina, according to reports, you sign this contract, you commit to us long-term or we're going to deal you. And we've got a deal in place. Now you can't do that with Rick Tauket, but you could argue that there's some strong arming

going on here. You could. Like basically saying like, no, talk like you're not going anywhere else and other teams, you're not signing them. You're either basically coaching with us next year or you're not coaching in the NHL. Well that's going to be my question. That's what they're saying.

Well, that's going to be my question. Is a compensatory pick, compensatory pick, is that allowed anymore? Because in 2017 they got a second round of retorts. And that was the last time it happened. Yeah. So I was going to ask, is that even a thing anymore? I think they can't do that after the torts thing.

They stopped doing it after that. Okay. So you actually can't do that. Why are you so focused on this? Oh, I'm just wondering if that's an option that they would actually be like, well, okay, well, let's get a pick for him if he's not going to come back and another team really, really, really wants him like Philly. You know, I was just curious. It wasn't 20, it was 2015 when

commissioner Gary Batman, they did it at the board of governors and they said, we're no longer doing this compensatory thing for coaching. It was a small window where they tried it and a lot of it had to do with the National Football League where it's a lot more commonplace. Like the practice is pretty, I wouldn't say routine, but there's enough moments in history where it's happened that other leagues were kind of toying and experimenting with it. The NHL tried it and they shut it down.

Baseball had a form of it as well, as well. I remember the Blue Jays when John Farrell left got compensation. Basically, it was supposed to try and curb what Andy referred to as light tampering, where you would start questioning a coach while he was currently employed by one team. And the teams that were losing coaches were saying,

he would have stayed with us if not for getting this sort of option or this interest from another team, that should have been illegal. I really want some compensation for it. I really think we're focusing on the absolute wrong thing. Well, we are. By talking about this compensatory draft. Why are you just answering listener questions? I mean, a lot of people are curious about it. Well, I know, but I could be wrong about this,

but I don't think so. I just, I don't think it's a factor. I think they want him back. And they're basically saying to the league and maybe to him as well, like you're not going anywhere else. So even if you're interested in this filly job, you're not taking it and we're willing to swing the hammer

and say, no, you're coming back here. And if you don't wanna come back here, then you can go back to TNT and you can take a year off from being a head coach because contractually, that's what we negotiated with you. It's our option, we negotiated it. You agreed to it. And if we have to swing the hammer, we're going to swing the hammer.

We're not looking for draft pick compensation. We're looking for you to coach this team. Now, the reason they might feel comfortable doing this and they might be able to tell Rick, like this wasn't about you. This was about us really wanting you and telling other teams, this was about other teams, hands off, he's our guy.

And the reason they might feel comfortable doing that is because they have a good relationship with Rick Taukett. And Rick Taukett always says that too. I have a great relationship with Jim and Patrick, we go way back. I have a great relationship with Jim and Patrick. We go way back. I'm sure we'll figure something out here.

And he loves the city. I still would be shocked if, let's say they have this big conversation after the season and Jim and Patrick lay out their plan for fixing the team. And Rick goes, I don't believe in that plan. I, you know, I've, there's great slide shows. Maybe there's a slideshow presentation on what they're doing.

I don't know if they still do slide shows. A lot of props. But you know, if he says, I don't know about this. I don't know if I can be all in on this. I very much doubt they'd be like, well, you're in on it anyway, because we've got this option and you're coming back. Yeah, I see.

I think he would just end up going back to TNT or taking a year off. I think it might be the other way around is that they're like, you are going to be a part of making this plan with us. I think they believe in him that much. I really do. Oh yeah.

But I mean, I don't consider that the other way around, but he might look at it like, how many times have we looked at this situation in Vancouver and gone like, sometimes you're just screwed. Sure. Right? And like,

There's always that one trade. No, no, no, but, or, I mean, what's, Always that one trade on the horizon. Let's be honest here. What's the biggest way the Canucks turn around next season? What's the biggest way the Canucks turn around next season? What's the biggest way the Canucks turn around next season? They dramatically improved the center position? No, Pedersen comes back and plays like he can.

Or you trade him. And damn close to his south end. No, but if you trade him, you are not finding a player that can play as well as Pedersen does when he's on his game. You are not finding it. Not for next season and probably not for the season after that. It's not going to be Sam Bennett. Sam Bennett, you know,

like it's, it's, it's, you got to sign the guy and then he's got to play up to the level that Petterson played up to when at his highest level when he scored a hundred points. But you're, but this entire, and I know we're way up against it for time, that entire argument is on the pretense that he's ever gonna find that form again in Vancouver. But that's what I'm saying. I think it might be better served. But Mike, that's exactly what I'm saying. That's exactly what I'm saying.

If you trade him, the whole idea was sometimes you're screwed. And if Tauke doesn't believe that Pedersen can reach those levels again and he's like, I don't know if I want to go through this again. Why do you think he told us when we asked him like, Hey, what was going on with Pedersen? He said, well, that's something we're really going to have to dive into this off season. He knows that, that, that, that bringing him back and him playing at a high level is the best hope. You trade him, what are you gonna resign

suitor and hope that like, like it's just that's clearly the best case scenario. And all these people that say all Bruff is always ripping on PD and he wants them traded out of here. No, what I want is Pedersen to return to form. That's what I want. And if they can figure out a way to do it, awesome. That would be great. That is the ultimate because if they trade him is going to be very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very difficult to find a center that

could reach the levels that Pedersen has reached before. Uh, before we go to break, I need to tell you about CIBC smart everyday banking helps you easily track your spending with confidence. Get $450 when you make the switch. Visit cibc.com forward slash smart for more. You're listening to the Halferd and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshaw, your destination for everything Canucks.

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Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go, Greg Waszynski from ESPN joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up Wysh? Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning What an exciting time to be alive for a Canadian hockey fan. From one national rights holder to another I say what's up? I'm not gonna tell everyone about the secret handshake and whatever but just what's going on brother? I know for those that missed it by the way, we announced the news this morning that Sportsnet

has reached a 12 year agreement slash extension for national media rights to NHL games on all platforms in Canada. So it starts in 2026-27. That means that it extends the partnership between Sportsnet and the NHL to over two decades. So yeah, it's big news in our neck of the woods today, Greg, even though it's been out there for a couple days. Yeah, I mean, obviously we all knew about it from hearing about it at the Stonecutters meeting that we go to together, the secret society. No, I mean, it's interesting. I mean,

I don't want to get into the analysis and logistics of things and how things might work, but the money was interesting in so far as doubling the Canadian money. And I saw a report, an awful announcing that due to the current exchange rate, it's only about like just over one and a half times the money US currently, but I mean that obviously can fluctuate. You know, it's a massive deal and I think that a lot of us here in the States are curious about how the rights will be distributed further. And so it's good news for's, it's good news for hockey. It's good news for hockey related revenue and, uh,

another feather in, uh, in the commissioner's cap. So sometimes when deals like this get done, other deals can happen. I know in the NBA, they wanted to take care of some business, uh, with their NBA rights. And, uh, you know, here in Vancouver, we've been waiting for any talk on expansion about the Seattle Supersonics coming back. The latest thing to happen was the Boston Celtics

sold for a lot of money and the NBA is kind of trying to digest that sale, but could this TV rights deal, like is there any other major business to be done by the league before they make a decision on expansion? Well, yeah, probably the CBA. Like that's probably the next one. But that isn't expected to be unlikely, it's unusual, but it's not likely to be a tough

negotiation, Jinx. Well, yeah. So Merrick and I talked about this on his show likely to be a tough negotiation, Jinx. Well, yeah, so Merrick and I talked about this on his show yesterday, like the idea of Vettman having a checklist of things before he maybe passes the torch to Bill Daley. And one of them was the Canadian rights deal. One of them's the CBA, one of them's expansion. Maybe there's a couple others that we're not really thinking about, but those are the ones that are short term

on the horizon. He's been candid about the idea that he thinks this is going to be a smoother negotiation than it's been in the past. And I think that what you've seen from the NHL in kind of an interesting way is the full court press to ensure that it's going to be an easy negotiation. Like putting out the cap numbers for the next three seasons, in my opinion, is as much about public relations towards the players as it is anything else. It's letting the players know, look, if there is a scintilla of thought in your brains about trying to push back on the current system, let it be known how fat and happy we're all getting under the current system. And oh, and by the way, in three years, like the cap is going to be beyond even our expectations. So, you know, they've been kind of laying the groundwork for things are going great. Let's

not ruin a good thing. You're going to the Olympics, everything's cool. Don't ask for more money and we can sign on the dotted line and keep labor peace. I think it's something that's been effective. I don't think that the current generation of players has the spine for a real fight on clawing back a percentage of revenue from the owners or rethinking the salary cap system. And so he's probably right that this thing is going to get done

maybe by the playoffs and they'll have a, you know, a happy smiles press conference with him and Marty Walsh at the Stanley Cup final. A speaking of league wide trends and things to keep an eye on, you wrote about why penalties are down in the NHL this season. I didn't get a chance to read the entire piece. I recommend everybody do it, at ESPN. How significantly are penalties and power plays down this year and what were some of the theories you came up with? Well, at last glance, the numbers are kind of historically low. The power plays per game,

obviously if you're not getting penalties, you're not getting power plays. And so it's been a trend that I noticed in January. It's a trend that's only continued as we got through four nations. Like the current numbers, boys, the power play opportunities per game right now is at 2.72 through 1190 games. Okay, so if you go on Hockey Reference and you do a little, a little, you know, searcheroo, that is the lowest amount of power play opportunities per team per game that we have. Like going back to the 1960s. Yeah, like they start tabulating these things in the 60s. Our numbers went back, I think, to maybe like the 80s, and it would be the lowest since

then. But Hockey Reference goes all the way back to the 60s according to their numbers, and it would be the lowest ever, you know, that they've tabulated. So why is it happening? It's happening for a couple of interesting reasons. One is this idea that the game has gotten so fast and everybody's so fast that you no longer have players that feel the necessity to hook and hold and obstruct to kind of, you know, hang with the faster players.

It's four lines of quickness now. There's an idea that the players have just learned not to do certain things. There's a theory that the referees are simply not calling certain things as much as they should be. Although Stephen Walcom, the head of officiating, vehemently pushed back on that idea. He says that the missed calls that they measure on a per-game basis have not risen this season. So he's saying they're doing just as good of a job as they normally do. Take that as you will. One theory from my

friend Dave Jackson at ESPN that I thought was interesting is that because he sees an ebb and flow in officiating over the years insofar as there are times when the NHL wants to exterminate a certain type of play and a certain type of penalty. And so they'll, they'll emphasize that they'll call the cross checking all the time, and they'll call the obstruction all the time. And then the players will figure out what not to do. And then we'll get a few years of peace, and then they'll figure out something else illegal to do. Right? And so Dave Jackson's

theory is that we're just in a dip right now, like they're not emphasizing anything. So they're not overly calling anything. And it's one of the reasons, along with the combination of other factors, that we have a historically low amount of power plays, which by the way, severely impacts scoring in the sense that we have the best power plays we've had since like the mid 1980s, but we're just not getting the same opportunities to utilize them.

Well, at a granular level, there's been a lot of talk in Vancouver about Jonathan Leckermacky's ice time and he's a young rookie that the Canucks have that I don't think Rick Tauke could fully trust some five on five, but he likes them on the power play. The only problem is I'm looking at the last seven games that Canucks have played, one power play, one power

play, three power plays, two, one, two, three. So the last time they had more than three power plays was eight games ago. So it makes it hard to get players like Leckermackie as much ice time as you want to give him because he's more capable on the power play right now than he is on five on five. But I'm thinking about a team like Winnipeg that has an unbelievable power play and do you think

this is going to carry on into the playoffs? It could. I think when you look at the officiating and the playoffs traditionally, the first few games of every series have penalty averages that are equal to the regular season or in some cases eclipse the regular season. And that's important to remember because to go back to the power plays and Winnipeg is a great example of this, the, the, the power play efficiency this season is the highest it's been since 85, 86. Like we're talking the heart of the Gretzky, Oilers, dinosaurs.

And I mean, that's insane. Like that is, that's crazy. So what's happened is because there's been so few out power play opportunities per team per game and these power plays are scoring at like, you know, 30 year highs. The scoring has gone down. So the second consecutive season scoring on average will have dipped. The NHL will probably say that, you know, when you kind of make rounding errors that it's around the same level that it's been for like the last few seasons.

But if you look inside the numbers, it's gone down a little bit. I think that's part and parcel of having power plays that are this efficient that aren't getting enough opportunities. And one other factor too, to speak to your point about Winnipeg, and I think you can obviously put teams like Colorado and Edmonton in that same category too. There's also a theory that if it's a 3-1 game and a penalty is committed against the Oilers and they're leading 3-1, maybe it's the third period and the referee is like I cannot give McDavid and Dry Saitil this opportunity to put this game away this early. Like there's a thought

that the power plays are so good now, that maybe the referees are being a bit more judicious in when they're allowing teams to get a power play because it could be the difference between a competitive game late and a game that's out of reach. Well, one other thing just to add on to that is maybe also coaches are saying, don't you dare take a penalty.

Like go, don't you dare take a penalty. Like go, don't you dare take a penalty. Like, you know, again, another Vancouver example for our listeners, Nils Hoeglinder took too many penalties early on and it got to the point where Rick Tocket, you know, lost a bit of trust in him because he was taking penalties in the offensive zone. And you're like, man, like this is, this is,

again, we're back to eighties levels of power play scoring and you know, we're seeing teams with power plays over 30%. So I mean, you take a dumb penalty. That's like, you're basically giving the other team one third of an expected goal. I mean, that's not a good, that's not a good decision. And players are also sentient creatures and

understand what's happening on the other side of the ice. I mean, like they're also going to kind of self-regulate and be like, we cannot give these guys power play opportunities in this game or else we will not be able to compete with them. So it's a combination of factors, a really interesting story. I was happy I reached out to Wacom before Four Nations to kind of get his his take on this whole thing. And it's been interesting to see how some of his theories played out. And then also interesting to talk to some of the players and and and NHL executives to kind of get a sense of of why they think that's happening. It's a it's on the site. It's good.

It's it's like a long read, but but I think you'll enjoy it. We are speaking to Greg Wyshinski from ESPN here on the Halford and Bref show on sports net six fifty. Something else that here on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Something else that's on the site with your byline. It's not often that Greg writes gamers from Lightning Islanders games, but I noticed yesterday you wrote one in the aftermath, and I want to play the audio here.

After a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning yesterday, New York Islanders head coach Patrick Waugh met with the media and then just unloaded on Anthony Duclair the kind of scathing critique you don't often hear in media scrums we're gonna play it now we'll pick it up on the other side here's Patrick Waugh on Anthony Duclair after a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night. Duclair played only a little over 12 minutes. He was god awful. He had a bad game that's why I didn't play him a lot and he's lucky to be in the lineup Sorry if I lose it on them right now, but that's all I feel just what are you seeing that? He's not doing

It's not skatings that competing is not moving his feet He's not playing up to what we expect from him. Do you feel like that's an effort thing? I Think it's an effort thing I was trying to think what the takeaway should be. If it was about the Islanders, or if it was maybe about how this was such a rarity, because you just don't hear coaches call guys out in that manner anymore.

Maybe he just wants to change the scenery and goes on to his 14th team in the NHL. So many directions to go with this one, Greg. I mean, but here's the thing. I mean, the reason that this is very interesting is that Duclair is in the first year of a four-year contract with the Islanders. Like this was supposed to be the place

that where he wasn't going to no longer be this journeyman player, you know, going from team to team. He was supposed to have found a home with the Islanders. He cut his hair to be with the Islanders. He was reunited with Patrick Wah, who he had a relationship back in junior hockey with. You know, part of the story that I botched putting in the game or last night was the fact that Duclair

has missed time with a groin injury this year. And I think that definitely has to factor into what has been an extremely disappointing offensive season for him. Like if his number is whole, it's the worst on average offensive season he's having, he's had in his career. And that's having started on the top line for the

Islanders earlier this season. So you're right. I mean, we hear soft criticism of players. There was the thing between Sheldon Keith and Kovacevich recently, but you rarely hear this level of, of, of rip city on a guy, a guy calling him God awful and saying he's lucky to be in the lineup, which was a great line.

Wow. Um, you know, like, like you're serving at the pleasure of the Islander, sir, you know, be, be happy that you can even, you know, strap on the skates and wear the crust. That was very Torch-like actually. It was very Torch-like. And I was like, maybe Patrick Wye was like,

well, now that Torch is out of league, someone's gotta do this. Although the Torch method is simply scratching DuClair and then not telling us why. Like that's more of the sports method. So yeah, this was pretty explosive. But again, you also have to put it in, within context of what's happening with the Alliners right now, where they were in the

midst of a wild card race in the East. And I think last night was now five or six straight games without a win. They've had some charity points here and there, but it's like five or six games without a win. They're spiraling and Patrick Walsh watching Duclair not give the effort he's looking for. He plays them for the third consecutive game under 13 minutes. And then this is what happens.

So who knows? Maybe it's 4D chess where the coach is trying to, bring the heat on himself. That's always a possibility, right boys? But in reality, it's probably just a guy with emotional control problems going back to his days as a player, spouting off on somebody in a moment of frustration.

Well, the Isles are pretty much spiraled out of this thing. The Habs have twisted their way into it with some pretty dramatic wins, including a season sweep over the Florida Panthers in a huge win last night. What do you think? What do you make of this Montreal team with their minus 25 goal differential, but a lot of good young plucky players holding that second and final wild card spot looking pretty good right now actually, as the numbers suggest to get into the playoffs. They've got a 51.7% chance of getting in. Yeah.

That's, you know, the Rangers right now are at 19%, the Blue Jackets are at 25%. I've long said I still think it's going to be the Rangers because I mean, like they're the only team with a plus gold differential, I think in the wild car. Plus two baby. But you mean, you know, they, they just, there's just some malfunction with that team right now that'll be addressed in a very dramatic way. I'm sure in the off season by James Dolan and Chris Drury, but you know, when you talk about the wild car race, you've got two teams

that are kind of in the same lane right now, which is the miraculous. I didn't expect you to be her lane. You've got, you know, a literal lane Hudson on Montreal who, man, he's keeping at the right time in the Calder race. Uh, and, and, you know, bringing that level of sort of freewheeling enthusiasm that I think insects the rest of that lineup. And then you have the blue jackets who have defied expectations the entire season and just continue to just when they're on offensively, like they're a steamroller. Like they just poured on Marchenko last night and you know, they just have, it's

really fun to watch them when the offense is clicking. But there are obviously other parts of that team that aren't quite as fun to watch. Is Nick Suzuki. So either of those, yeah. So either of those teams getting in to play the capitals would be a ton of fun. Montreal in particular, because I am somebody who covered the Yaris Wafalac series with the, these presidents went to trophy winning capitals faced the lowest seed Montreal and they lost in seven games. Um, but, uh, but either of those teams getting in would be a lot of fun. Is Nick Suzuki on team Canada at the Olympics has to be right.

I, one of the more interesting conversations I've heard recently, I think was on, uh, Kipper and born was the, um, the conversation about, about Nick Suzuki as a number one center. And I'll freely admit that like I was in the camp of a great number two on a contending team. But I think that kind of, I think that conversation has changed completely because of the way he's played this year. Like I think he's shown himself to be in the number one center in this league in a way that, that maybe a lot of us didn't know he had that next level, that next gear, but he's been, he's been absolutely fantastic for them

this season. I I'm blown away by how good he's done wish This has been great as always. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this We really appreciate enjoy all the games this week. We'll do this again next Tuesday Thank you, right holders You're welcome. We'll meet tonight at midnight. See you buddy money fight Greg was Chinsky from ESPN here on the the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay.

Frank Saravalli is going to join us next. So we'll get into the Rick Tauke at Tauke again with Frank. You're listening. Talk Talk with Frank Saravalli. You're listening to the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650.