Halford & Brough in the Morning - Myers On The Rumours Of Hughes Eventually Leaving The Canucks

Episode Date: July 16, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss Tyler Myers' comments on the rumours of Quinn Hughes eventually leaving the Canucks to play with his brothers in New Jersey (3:00), plus they wonder if any more NHL moves may soon occur, as Sportsnet hockey analyst Nick Kypreos (26:44) joins the show to discuss his latest trade board. 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.

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Good morning, Vancouver 601! On a Wednesday, happy Wednesday everybody. It's Hal Ferdinand Brough, 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, Michael. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And basketball fan, good morning to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver, Jason, good morning. Good morning, Michael. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And basketball fan, good morning to you as well.

I'll copy that, good morning, Michael. Alfred and Bruv for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first, and Trusted Choice for Net Help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step.

Big show ahead on a Wednesday. Guest list today begins at 6.30. Nick Kiprios is going to join the program. Kipper's trade board 3.0 dropped yesterday, so he'll be joining us at 6.30 to break it all down. Some big names on that list, Jason Robertson, Rasmus Anderson Nazem Kadri Eric Carlson Brian Rust Ricard Raquel Jordan Cairo Dougie Hamilton and Marco Rossi just to name a few a Little bit of news for the Vancouver Canucks on that trade board

So we'll talk to kipper about all that at 630 7 o'clock Connor or is gonna join the program He is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. Russell Wilson says he's still got it. So Connor decided to meet him in a New York city park for a game of catch, just a good old fashioned game of catch. And he tried to decide and figure out if we should believe Russell Wilson has a new chapter now with the New York Giants. So we'll talk to Connor Orr about all that at seven o'clock. if we should believe Russell Wilson has a new chapter now

with the New York Giants. So we'll talk to Conor Orr about all that at seven o'clock. So we'll get a good laugh this morning. Maybe it's serious. Maybe, maybe this time it's gonna be different for Russell. Do you think he asked if he wanted to interview him or if he just wanted to play catch? Like you think he was like, do you wanna play some catch in the park?

Hopefully. Oh, and by the way. Also I will be interviewing you. Yeah. Don't forget. He's an overcomer. Also, I will be interviewing you. Yeah. Wilson was probably like, ooh. Wilson was probably like, ooh. He's an overcomer. That's right.

Big overcomer. So that's gonna be at seven o'clock with Connor or senior writer for Sports Illustrate, his new feature piece out on Russell Wilson. 7.30, Christine Brennan is gonna join the program. Famed columnist for USA Today, author of the new book on her game, Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports.

So we're going to discuss the phenomenon that is Caitlin Clark, how she's changed women's sports forever. And also the controversy that Christine was involved in, how the NBA clearly wasn't prepared to deal with the revolution that is Caitlin Clark and- The WNBA. The WNBA, sorry. The NBA was probably fine with it, the WNBA.

And Christine Brennan, a long time journalist, famed journalist, found herself in the middle of a media controversy with the Caitlin Clark story, especially last year in the WNBA playoffs. So Christine Brennan is going to join us at 7.30. Eight o'clock, Thomas Drance from The Athletic and Canucks talk right here on Sportsnet 650. Peace out for Drance. Yesterday, what he's hearing about the Canucks free agent bargain bin plans.

Ooh, the bargain bin and more. So we'll talk to Drance or all things Canucks. You get your Canucks talk at eight o'clock this morning. Working in reverse on that guest list. Eight o'clock, it's Thomas Drance. 730, Christine Brennan. Seven o'clock Connor Orr, 630 Nick Kiprios. That's what's happening on the program today. Ben, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you? What happened? What happened? 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. It was the big Schwab, Kyle Schwaber, three for three in the first ever all-star game home run swing- off last night. The NL beats the AL four three in the swing off after a six six tie following nine innings in what was Jason maybe the most entertaining MLB all star game I've ever seen. It was a lot of fun. I like calling it a swing off.

It was great. Sounds like something like an adult party. Swing-off. Put your keys in the bowl. It's time for the swing-off. I do it in the suburbs a lot. Hi, you're for the swing-off? Yeah.

That impromptu way though is actually important to bring up because they clearly, clearly had an idea of what they wanted to do for the swing-off prior to going into it, but they didn't have a full idea where your pants no one knew the rules He's got gold chains, but no pants the pants were or do we have to wear them as a good? so If you watched the broadcast last night the the games through nine innings was great, right the

There was a six run comeback after the seventh inning the a AAL put up a good fight, scored two in the ninth, including a nice little chopper from Steven, don't call me Cookie Kwan, to score the game tying run. And then at the end of nine, MLB decided in advance that if it was to go extras, because of the lack of pitchers available, they were burning through pitchers almost every inning, a lot of the big stars checked out of the game

midway through, like Aaron Judge and Shohei Otani and Freddie Freeman. We're gonna run out of players. Let's do a swing off. For those that have no idea what we're talking about, each team was responsible for picking three hitters. Three swingers. And that was the thing.

We need to have three best swingers. I'm trying to get through this. That was the thing because it wasn't pitches taken It wasn't how many Jacks you could hit it was how many swings you took Marco over here Kyle Schwerber was the king of the swings if you will Connecting on all three. I want to play the audio from the third one. We played it in the intro. Ben, let's play it again here. Here's Kyle Schwab, we're winning the All-Star Game

for the NL yesterday with his third jack on his third swing. Yeah, rallied in the game. NL has rallied in the swing. Oh, what a swing! With the hat trick! Look out, Chappos! National League takes the lead 4-3.

Unbelievable. So it was the first time this ever happened in MLB All-Star Game history. It's probably going to be the last time it'll ever happen in that format. I'm sure they'll try it again, but this was very sort of haphazard. You know, though, that there's some people watching and there's probably going to be like a media story about this, like like do this during the regular season why not try it why not announce three swingers pregame that will have to finish games if they're tied going beyond the night then the genies out of the bottle anyway

with regards to extra innings do you know what I mean when they when they started to add the runner at second, it was kind of like, well. We're already going down the road. We're already going down the road anyway. It's kind of like the shootout with the NHL. It's funny. And then it was like all overtime during the regular season,

whatever, let's do three on three, let's do two on two, let's do a swing off. The Associated Press story that came out in the aftermath did liken it to soccer. The baseball's equivalent of soccer's penalty kicks, which in a very weird way, I guess it kind of was, but entertaining nonetheless. Yeah, yeah.

For a game that really didn't necessarily mean a whole hell of a lot, but a good moment for Kyle Schwabert. It, I know you wanted to talk about this. It looked good with the players wearing Their jerseys that was great So in case you missed that for the last five years of Major League Baseball All-Star games The players have been wearing uniforms designed specifically for the event this year It's in a throwback to the the late 80s and early 90s The home teams all won their whites and the road teams were, you know,

mostly they're gray, some guys were darks. But the idea was just wear the color and the uniform of the team that you play for. And it created this cool kaleidoscope and it hearkened back to like, they played a lot of clips of Bo Jackson, quite famously, I think it was the 89 All-Star game when Richard Nixon was in the booth on the call.

Yeah, yeah, it was Rick Ruschel on the mound. It was Bo Jackson at the plate. For some reason, Richard Nixon was in the booth on the call. Yeah, yeah. It was it was Rick Ruschel on the mound. It was Bo Jackson to play for some reason. Richard Nixon was there. He's like, Oh, my, I am not a man. They were dragging Duff in his life. Yeah. So it was they were harkening back. There was a great, great, great ceremony that they had involving because obviously the game was played in Atlanta and was the big dumper at the swing off. Big dumper was not in the swing off.

Oh, it was unfortunate. So he was one of the guys that hung around and would have been available for it. I'm not sure why he wasn't chosen. I didn't really understand the selection process all that much, but whatever the case. Other takeaways from yesterday, by the way, because there's a lot we got to get into here.

Robo Ops made their debut during the quote unquote regular season. And I was paying close attention to this because I wanted to see what it looked like in terms of how long it takes to challenge. Did you see any of them? Yeah I saw I saw in the first one by Cal Rowley. Did you did you guys see it as well? They go lightning quick. I was shocked. Robo-Ump's? So, there's no- It's like humanity must be destroyed. What was that? I mean, that was a strike. I hate to disappoint you.

I do hate to disappoint you. I'm here for the swing off. There was no actual robot. It wasn't like Rosie, the maid in the Jetsons. Like there was no, it wasn't going around calling balls and strikes. It shows up on screen. So all they do is, very subtly,

they either tap their helmet or their hat. Hat, obviously, if you're a pitcher and you want to challenge a ball or strike. Helmet if you're a batter. And how many do you get? See, yesterday there was five. I think it was three per team and not all of them were used. But they haven't implemented it

in regular season baseball yet. So I don't know what the rules would be. In the pre-season, it was two per team. The speed in which it was done was the key because it didn't interrupt the flow of the game at all. Right. They had it at the ready and it's, I mean, balls and strikes is pretty simple. They've got a predetermined strike zone, courtesy of the robots.

And then if the ball even nicks the strike zone, there's no debate about it. It's either, yeah, it's a strike or yeah, it's a ball. So they got through them pretty quick. Again, four of the five were successful, so it definitely paid off. And the speed in which they used it does make me wonder how long, how much longer it's going to be before we start seeing this in regular season baseball. I'm sure we'll see it soon. I mean, they had, uh, did you, did you watch any of Wimbledon? I mean, the UMPs are pretty much out at Wimbledon right now. So I, I'm sure it'll be,

it'll be soon. Anything else from the All-Star game? No, I'll get into some of the other stuff later. Pete Alonso had an awesome rule change idea that involves hockey style fighting, but we can get into that and what we learned, because it's a pretty good idea and I want to explore it. Also, Rob Manfred said that MLB players are getting closer

to Olympic participation in 2028, so we can get into that a little later. Cause I know we want to get into the Tyler Meyers stuff. Someone texted in that it wasn't Richard Nixon. It was Reagan, Ronald Reagan in the booth. Oh, it might've been Ronald Reagan. Well, he was president then. Yeah.

I was trying to, I, I, I, it was more about Bo Jackson hitting the jack off a Rick Ruschel, so it might've been Ronald Reagan. Yeah. Yeah. Cause he was a California guy. Yeah, there you go. That probably makes more sense. Richard Nixon would be funnier though.

Okay. Go. That was well prepared though, except for your blunder on Republican presidents. Yeah, I was close. I was close. They're kind of the same thing, are they not? Yeah. We'll move on.

Okay. So yesterday, Vancouver Connects defenseman Tyler Myers appeared on the Cam and Strict podcast that of course headed by Andy Strickland out of St. Louis and Cam Jansen, former NHL-er, to discuss a variety of topics. Two in particular that drew the attention of most in the local market.

Myers was asked about the JT Miller, Elias Pettersson drama from last season. And then the more recent rumors about Quinn Hughes potentially leaving to go play wherever potentially with his two brothers in New Jersey. Let's play the audio first. Meyer's talking about the Miller-Pettersson rift from last year and how he, like some of his other teammates said, maybe it wasn't as big a deal as everyone was led to believe. Here's Tyler Myers on the Miller-Peterson drama from last season. Well, it got I mean, you mentioned it, but it got pretty crazy just publicly last year,

you know, way, way more than what it was. You know, I'm not going to sit here and say there was intention. But, you know, I've been I've been on I've been on, I've been on a team where two players are in a full on fist fight after a game who I know are close friends. So, you know, there's going to be tension, you know, on anywhere you go. But, you know, Millsy and like Millsy and I got close and, you know, it was, it was a lot more than it needed to be made out to be. But, you know, it wasn't anything crazy. You know, we were figuring things out, you know, just like every other team does with different situations. But, you know, our locker room was great. I liked coming

into the rink every day. The guys were really close. And, you know, we weren't too worried about it. Okay. I got a few things to say about that. Like I, I, I respect Tyler Myers and, um, I'm, I'm, I wasn't in the room like him. So he's obviously got a perspective that I don't, but he mentioned, I mean, the first part, he was like, um, you know, I, I remember, uh, seeing two guys getting into a fist fight and they were

close friends. Like, yeah. So they were close friends. Miller and Peders and they were close friends. We're like, yeah. So they were close friends. Miller and Pedersen weren't close friends. And I remember, you know, remember when this was kind of just bubbling to the surface and people would say, well, you know, you don't have to like each other, but you have to respect each other. They didn't respect each other. From what I've heard, they just, they didn't.

And, um, you know, for him to say that it got overblown, uh, Tyler, one of them got traded. Like, so it wasn't, it wasn't overblown. One of them got traded and then your president of hockey ops came out and said that's why. It was because of that and you know I get what he's saying where he's like listen it didn't affect us in the room like people assume. I'm kind of paraphrasing him right now, but he got traded, you know? And the other one was nearly traded to Carolina. So, you know, I get, I would be doing the same thing

if I was in Tyler Myers shoes, I'd be like, okay, let's downplay this because we got to move on from it. And maybe, you know, from Myers perspective, it, it didn't affect him as much. But again, like Pedersen had a really down season and, um, you know, I, I'd have to assume that this whole thing had an impact on Pedersen's play on the ice and where he was mentally.

So I get the downplaying from Tyler Myers, but you know, with all due respect, it was a big deal. Okay, I wanna pivot off that and play the second piece of audio that we've got, because there's another point we need to bring up with all of this. This is Myers on the Quinn Hughes speculation and all the noise emanating from that situation.

Talking about how Huggie doesn't like all that speculation that's out there. Here's Tyler Myers on his defensive mate, Quinn Hughes on the Kamen Strik podcast yesterday. Oh, Huggie doesn't like all that speculation and stuff. He loves his brothers, loves his family like everybody else, but he's not going around the room saying he wants to play with his brothers. I know it's a big story around the hockey world, but everyone um, you know, it's everyone, everyone makes up a lot more than this. So in an interview, consecutive

questions asked about two of the bigger, more tumultuous stories regarding the team. Tyler Myers came out and said, uh, possibly being blown out of proportion. He doesn't like dealing with it. The players don't like dealing with it and it's a lot of noise. To that I would say, a lot of this noise is being started in house, Tyler. A lot of this noise is being generated from the highest reaches of the organization. Well, the next line from one of the guys in the podcast,

I'm not sure who it was, was, well, wasn't this rumor kind of starting from your GM or president of hockey operations? And Myers didn't even respond, he just kind of laughed it off and they moved on. Yeah. But this is where it stems from. So, I mean, this is how Jim Rutherford operates is he conducted an interview prior to trading JT Miller to tell everyone that wasn't a hundred percent sure that there was a big rift and that the only way they were going to solve it was to trade Miller. Then at the end of your meat

availability, he kind of got out in front of the Quinn Hughes thing and just said the quiet part out loud and that, yeah, Quinn Hughes has two brothers, both of whom play on the same team on the other side of the continent. And he's a free agent in not the this summer, but the summer following. And you have to be aware of that. So in a way, Rutherford was addressing what was already out there,

but there is an obvious difference between social media posts and media talking heads and pundits sort of throwing things back around to the president of Hockey Ops openly saying it in either an interview or a media availability. Almost lends credence to it, but it also- Almost, it does lend credence to it. But it also. Almost, it does lend credence to it. And it adds fuel to the fire. It goes from idle speculation into like, whoop, he's on the record. And that means they're thinking about it, as they should be.

And I wonder, I get the strategy. I do get the strategy. You may as well talk about it, it's already out there. But at the same time, when the players kind of come out in this way and Meyers, without saying too much, does kind of take a peek behind the curtain to say, like, there's a belief, at least among some of the guys in the room, that things are being blown out of proportion.

If you listen to enough people that cover this team on the regular, Sat talks about it all the time is that There seems to be an organizational want to Silence or quiet the noise? Mm-hmm. Yeah, there's also a push from the organization To make noise. It's almost like it's counterintuitive at times. Well, sometimes I wonder if They're just prepping Canucks fans for for what might happen. I think that's when they're just prepping Canucks fans for what might happen.

I think that's fair. When Jim Rutherford gave the interview to Gary Mason at the Globe and Mail about Miller and Pedersen, a lot of the insiders came out and said, you know, I think he's prepping Canucks fans for something that's going to happen. And not too long after JT Miller was traded because you could imagine the shock in the market if all of a sudden, like we'd heard some rumors that

things weren't going great. And then of course, JT Miller had his 10 game leave of absence. So maybe that would have caused a little less surprise if Miller was traded after that, but when he came out and shared like the reasons for all this. maybe that would have caused a little less surprise if Miller was traded after that. But when he came out and shared like the reasons for all this, then it prepared Canucks fans for the trade. And then you remember a few of the games that Miller played, it was like, Oh my God, this guy's checked out. And then he was traded. Okay. So I'm not saying that this is the exact same situation,

but maybe they're putting it out there for a reason. Okay. I'm trying to, I get it. I get it. Like there is, there is an element where it makes sense to prepare a fan base for what might come. Absolutely, right? And I think that in the case of trading Miller, very much got ahead of what ended up being a fairly underwhelming return for the player.

I think the issue with that one, if we're gonna take that one in a nutshell and in a vacuum is that they continued to talk about Miller in exceedingly glowing terms after dealing him away. And it continued to add to a narrative that they continued to talk about Miller in exceedingly glowing terms after dealing him away. And it continued to add to a narrative that they built in a very strange way to me, right? It's like continually heaping praise on Miller, and even Meyers said like,

Millsy and I got close, right? Like it was very obvious there were a lot of people in that organization that were fond of him. And sometimes, and I go back to, remember I said if I was ever gonna start up my own PR company, my Calford PR, my single piece of advice would be like, talk less, say less things.

And I know it would be hell for the media because we love feasting on this stuff, but sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all. Because they can't parse nothing. Well, Rutherford himself says, I'm too honest sometimes. And it's why we love him as media, but it's also why at times even in Vancouver, he's had to take a step back from talking.

Unintended consequences are a big part of this too, right? So if you think about the huge part of this equation, you've got a president of hockey ops, he's like, I'm just going to say the quiet part out loud and I'm going to I'm going to address this, brace the fans potentially for what might happen. I do wonder what Hughes thought of that because he hasn't said anything. He's just sitting there. He's like, I'm golfing. Right. Yeah. Jim called me. I didn't answer.

I wonder. I wonder that, too. You know, if he saw that and he was like, thanks. Great. Yeah. Now I get to deal with this all season. Yeah. And that's exactly what happens. Can you imagine the road trip back East to New Jersey? Take your pick. First time he goes to Toronto, first time he goes to Montreal, obviously the first time he goes to New Jersey and he's in the next

Hughes of Palooza against his brothers. It's a story. I mean, you got to remember, Tyler Myers is being asked about it on a podcast based out of St. Louis. Well, everyone is very cognizant of this story. But people outside the Vancouver market, you know, the, the Knots haven't been all that relevant for, for, for a little while. So, except for this, now imagine there was a

defenseman of Quinn Hughes' caliber that might be changing teams in a couple of years outside the market, wouldn't you be interested in that? It's funny you mention that. We talk about McDavid's contract situation. Of course, like Quinn Hughes, Tyler Meyer is another thing he's said, the best player I've ever seen. So, I'm glad you brought that up because

one of the things that stood out for me last season was when Mike Sullivan at the Four Nations faceoff jumped the gun, he's like, Quinn Hughes is coming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was a shot across the tournament, specifically at Canada that was like, hey, we got a game changer on the way. Now, ultimately it never came to fruition

because Hughes wasn't healthy enough to play. But that to me was a real reminder of how much clout and how much respect he has across the league. I mean, it's not like we take Quinn Hughes for granted in Vancouver. I don't think that's it. I don't think we do. I don't think that's it.

And honestly, every game he plays, I'm kind of like, don't take this for granted. This is incredible what he's doing out there. It's just, I think sometimes, you know, Vancouver can be a bit myopic in its view. We don't necessarily look at what's going on around the NHL and understand that a lot of other NHL markets are looking at Hughes on a nightly basis and saying,

that's the best defenseman in the NHL. Or if they're not saying that, then he's saying he's seconding Kale McCarr. By the way, there is also a thought out there that I've heard from a few people that Quinn Hughes may not want to go play with his brothers or may not be desperately wanting to go play with his brothers, but that also doesn't mean that he's going to stay with the Canucks.

Right. He might just want to be closer to family. And we've seen that before. The late Johnny Goudreau left Calgary and went to Columbus of all places just because, well, number one, it was back in the States, and number two, it was closer in proximity to his family. Okay. We've got a lot more to get into on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. The Hockey Talk continues coming up next with Nick Kiprios from Real Kipper and Born on Fan 590 in Toronto.

Kipper's trade board 3.0 dropped yesterday. We'll get into some of the big names on the list and ask what the Canucks might be shopping for, if anything, off that trade board. That's all coming up next on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. 6.32 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. We go now to the Power West Industries hotline. Nick Kiprios, real kipper and born fan 590, joins us here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650.

Morning, Nick, how are you? I'm well, guys, how are you? We're good, thanks for taking the time to do this. I know you got a tee time so we're going to fire through a bunch of this stuff real quick here. I want to start with the Vancouver Canucks. Now you've got them in a sort of tier of teams that are on the outside of the playoffs looking to get in and also looking to make a move. We've heard that they're still trying to work the phones and trying to find some solutions. What are you hearing about the Vancouver Canucks with regards to trades? Yeah, just like you said, they're working their phones. It's not a time to kind of relax and look at a tee time like me, but I'm not paid the

big bucks like a lot of them over there in that office. So they got to work the phones. But, you know, right now I think they look at their cap situation like most teams and they wonder where some relief, some flexibility, does that mean moving out a couple of more contracts, leaving yourself more flexible for the latter part of summer or going into training camp. I think guys, or at least teams now are in a recess mode, reevaluating their cap space. I think Vancouver is one of them. They've already made a couple of moves here, but to free up a little bit more might be in the best interest before pulling the trigger on anything else

I know teams are always looking for centers But can you ever remember an offseason where so many teams were looking for a second line center? Yeah, no, no, and I don't know. I mean I stopped counting yet at 10 and that includes And I don't know, I mean, I stopped counting at 10. And that includes from teams on the outside looking in, like, you know, from say Chicago, looking for somebody that can play with the Darg, right into a contending team like the Los Angeles Kings. It's quite remarkable when you look at it

with the expansion now at 32 teams and now a real focus point on top tier quality type of centerman that can legitimately at least at the very least fall in the two hole and you know a team like a Los Angeles would desperately love to find somebody that could take the torch away from Kopitar and make no mistake that Luke Robitaille hired Ken Holland because he is a here and now guy. Ken's not in it to build something up in the next two or three years. He's supposed to come in and put a stamp on this team right away. So I think he's at right at the top of the list of trying to find something out there that can alleviate some pressure off Kopitar and Bifield who is on the upside, but still not quite sure where he'll ultimately fall in as a top scoring centerman. So maybe the biggest reason why I put Kadri out

on the trade board is that I don't think Calgary's in any hurry much like Vancouver is right now to do anything dramatic. And Kadri to me is really the start of someone to keep an eye on, not just throughout the summer, but going into the fall or possibly right into trade deadline. But you look at again at the teams either on the outside looking in or contending, they're all kind of looking for a similar type of player like a guy like Kadri who's a legit

number two. Like I don't think anybody's trading for Kadri to come in and be the star of the show, but to give a best example of Colorado, they're still searching years after to replace him behind the McKinnon and certainly Middlestadt, and Charlie Coyle didn't get the job done. Well, the other center on your trade board is Marco Rossi.

And that's a complicated one. Just to start with the issue that, you know, Minnesota didn't seem to think he was a 2C in the playoffs. And, you know, he's not the biggest guy and he's going to need to get paid because he got production last season. So what are you hearing on Rossi? Are there teams out there that believe he can be a 2C or is there some uncertainty when

it comes to that? Well, it's can you do it again? And you know, is it a one-off? You know, that's the only question right now is if teams are going to trade for him like he's a legitimate 60-point guy at least Minnesota would try to trade him as if he's that you're still he's still young enough to not really know where where he is but I like them a lot and I certainly would look at him. Billy Garan likes some big boys. He just likes them big and he doesn't service that part of the game for Garan.

Now the key element here moving forward is what's going on with Kiprasov and for a guy that was eligible to sign July 1st and Minnesota's made it very clear to everybody that he's not going anywhere, he's our future and basically will almost give him anything he wants. It hasn't gotten done yet. So where does that factor in Rossi and moving forward here? You've got to be careful giving up the offense guys. It's such a premium right now to find guys that can score 60 and 70 points. If you're going to move them, if you're going to give them up, you know, McCann's names out there in Seattle as a potential guy that could move, but you know But you've already given up some offense already

at the trade deadline if you're Seattle, with Bjorkstad and even Tana for goodness sakes, on a bottom six roll. When you start giving up points and you're not really sure where they're gonna come from next, it could be the difference of missing the playoffs or making the playoffs and and tens of millions of dollars to the owners so you got to be very careful moving forward here on the offensive side and I think

Minnesota is in that position now where it's like, hold on for a second, what's going on with Kipersod? You know, is he not signing because we're holding back maybe an ask of 14 or 15 million, or is he not signed because he envisions himself playing in a bigger market like New York? That's what we got to figure out moving forward. We're speaking to Sportsnet NHL analyst, Nick Kiprios here on the Halford & Bruff show on Sportsnet 650.

No team features more prominently on your trade board, Kipper, than the Pittsburgh Penguins, Eric Carlson, Brian Rust, Ricardo Kell, all on the list. Reported that the asking prices are high. Is there going to be a motivation to make sure that these deals are done at some point this summer? Is Kal Dubis okay keeping that asking price high and letting it bleed into the regular season? Yeah I think the ask will remain high and just to my earlier point

that once you're into proving guys that can perform and provide offense there there's just a marketplace that has to be met and while we all know that Carlson can be a disaster in his own zone he's still a guy that has to be met. And while we all know that Carlson can be a disaster in his own zone, he's still a guy that can drive offense and he's still a guy that every star player would love to play with. So in saying that, a lot of the money that was still owed to him coming off the San Jose deal

has been paid out already, which makes them a lot more attractive in real dollars. So I expect, you know, one for sure gone between now and training camp and we'll see where we're Rustin and Raquel sit. And the other factor I put into my story on sportsnet.ca was, you know, question marks on ownership there and where the Fenway group is at and how's that playing into the bigger picture of possibly alleviating some cap room to the future of Sidney Crosby. So a lot of eyes this summer and going into the next season on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Where is the perception of Carlson's game right now? Because, you know, I think in Vancouver, we saw him play maybe one of the worst games of his career when he, when he was here last season. And like, are you I, Are you sure? Are you sure there's, there's, there's a couple, uh, you know, in the defensive zones that could probably go toe to toe with that game that you watched.

I think this, this, the, the one that was most shocking was actually in the neutral zone. Like he was, he looked like he was just not moving. And I guess I could kind of understand, you know, not being fully engaged on, on, on a bad team, but yeah, you know, it's still, if you bring in Eric Carlson, you know, you're not going to have to pay much to get him except in, in cap space, but he's going to need a

prominent role and he's going to get a lot of attention. So he's going to have to deliver and I'm just not sure. I guess, you know what? He looked decent in the four nations though. Maybe he just needs to be on a better team. Yeah. You know, you make an excellent point and that is really no different than if you're in a situation where you're thinking about trading him. Those exact questions are coming up in the boardroom as well is where is this fit and where is his ability to fit into our team concept and that's always been an issue with Carlson, even in the heydays. And yes, it worked in Ottawa, because everything revolved around him. But that wasn't the case with a very successful San Jose shark organization that spent many years, you know, on the backs

of Thornton and Marlowe getting into conference finals and going deep and always contending for a Stanley Cup. And, you know, it's a different case when he went to Pittsburgh and he had Malkin and, and LeTang and Crosby as well. And now that's the question that everybody asks, where's his fit? And where's, where's his ability to reach to come 50 50 with us to our team concept without taking away his creativity. And I'm not sure about that because there's ample proof that I've heard over the years that says, you know, he can be stubborn and he could only want to play a certain way,

whether it's in his own zone, whether it's zone coverage or man on man coverage, and it's just the way that he plays. So I think to your point, it is quite a gamble on taking him because we know from a talent perspective, my God, this guy's as talented as anybody who can do some amazing things with the puck. But does it fall into what we believe as a team that we do? And Florida does it better than any team maybe that we've seen in the cap era for sure, the very best and one that can actually be compared to other great teams over the course of 50 years is you're no bigger than the team. Carlson has to come in on a trade and feel the same way that I'm not bigger than the

team and tell me what you want and I'll do my best to provide it. That's a question mark for some teams thinking about trading for Carlson still. Kipper, this was great, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the golf. Yeah, I really appreciate it guys. Enjoy the rest of the summer

and we'll catch up soon in the fall, I'm sure. Sounds great. Thanks man. That's Nick Kiprio's Real Kipper and Born. Kipper's Trade Board 3.0, up available for public consumption now on sportsnet.ca. I kind of want to play some audio here, just on the Pittsburgh thing. And then another little bit on a new member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Archer Seelove.

This is courtesy our good buddy, Frank Saravalli, PartzUnknown. Frank Saravalli is one of those masked wrestlers from the 80s. No one knows who he's working for right now, but he's still putting out content on the internet. Here's Frank from his weekly notebook on the three guys that Kipper mentioned out of Pittsburgh that are being made available and the asking price on those guys, courtesy of Kaladoopis. Here's Frank Zarevalli with more. What's going on? What's the asking price for Eric Carlson,

Brian Rust and Ricard Raquel? The answer is pretty high. The Pittsburgh Penguins think about our conversation last week on the stream. There are not many top six forwards available. Rust and Raquel are both coming off of very strong seasons. Both of them more than lived up to expectations. And Pittsburgh is looking at this market inefficiency and saying, no one else can get their hands on these top six guys What we're not going to give them away even if they're older and don't necessarily fit our age scheme moving forward

We need to get real significant value in return so Kyle Dubas has been asking for a ton for both rust and Raquel and He's still asking for a lot for Carlson on the basis that he's going to retain. The Sharks are holding a little more than a million dollars on Carlson's deal. That brings him to 10 million with the Penguins. If they could get him down into that seven to seven and a half range for two more seasons, I think there's a team that would certainly be willing to take a flyer on an Eric Carlson and I think Carolina is one of those teams that spent some time investigating on Carlson this off season, but ultimately decided against it because the acquisition cost is still pretty high.

Fading out, Frank there. So the Pittsburgh stuff is interesting. I spent a fair amount of time by that. I mean, like at least minutes, looking at different players that the Canucks could potentially target. Well, they can't target them now. No, they need to clear the cap space and- Even then, I don't know, they might have to wait

to the trade deadline or a bit into the season. I wonder how many of these guys that are on this KIPP or trade board right now will get moved this summer. I wonder if the freeze or the stuck is going to happen, and it's just going to get kick, you know, the classic kick in the can down the road. I wonder if this is all just going to not get solved in the off season and just carry over to the regular season.

Well, I think it's a good bet that the Penguins won't make the playoffs. So I think you could wait if you wanted to on guys like Rust or Raquel. You know, you bring up the Canucks and you say they got to clear a cap space. They also got to be prepared to give up major assets in terms of futures in order to get a guy like Brian Rust or Raquel when they have term left on their deals. Because you're not renting, even as rentals, let's say Rust was a rental, he would cost you,

I don't know, if the Penguins would probably be looking for a first or a good prospect or I don't know, depending on what they want, maybe both. Maybe both. I don't see the Canucks in this market. I just don't, I Canucks in this market. I just don't. I think they need help down the middle, but I know I would love to acquire a winger,

like Rost or Raquel. I just don't see it for the Canucks. I see other teams being way better prepared and positioned to get those guys. Okay, I also want to play the audio. This is Frank on the Archer Sealabs thing. Little bit of a wrinkle here. I don't know how many people heard this yesterday.

Frank, on the now completed trade Archer Sealabs to Pittsburgh and some other teams, or teams specifically, that might've been kicking the tires on acquiring Sealabs. So, interesting setup here. As mentioned, Oilers were involved. I think there was another team that was in the mix, but just couldn't quite get it done

and the Eulers don't really have a ton to offer. And we're entirely sure that Sealovs is better than what they have right now in Skinner as well as Cal Pickard. So I don't know how much you guys, how much time you guys spent on Monday. I was not here on Monday, but obviously when the trade went down on Sunday, it was met with

a lot of reaction. One, cause it's the dead time of the year and two, it feels like the Sealovs conversation had been growing and growing ever since he won the AHL MVP. Yeah, people loved Sealovs here. You know, he was a fan favorite, especially out in Abbotsford.

And, you know, I think people were not unprepared. Well, they shouldn't have been unprepared because the Canucks could not have signaled more that they were going to trade Archer Silovs. And, you know, if you'd paid attention to the goalie market, you probably weren't all that

surprised with just a fourth round pick and, uh, um, Chase Stillman coming back, coming back in return, which, you know, Chase Stillman is not a highly touted prospect by any means. And a fourth round pick is a fourth round pick. Our conclusion was that Pittsburgh was the perfect team for Silovs just because they can give him an honest chance at the NHL level because let's face it, they don't expect to make the playoffs and they probably don't even want to make the playoffs considering their roster right now.

And the fact that this is the Gavin McKenna draft, you know, I think it's Pittsburgh, San Jose and Chicago are the top three candidates to win the draft lottery next season. We'll see how it plays out. Sometimes teams can jump up the board, just like the New York Islanders did with like a 3% chance of winning the draft lottery and they ended up with the first overall pick. But I always, you know, Frank kind of mentioned it. Um, I always wondered like, you know, I get, I get the idea of

seal-offs to Edmonton, but then what if you give up something and then he goes and maybe you trade away Pickard or something like that and then you've got Sealoffs as your backup and he lays an egg. Like it's, I don't know, the Oilers are in a tough spot because there really aren't that many great goalies available out there that are proven NHL goalies. Detroit got John Gibson out of Anaheim, and then you're like, all right, do we make a

big bid for Jake Allen in free agency? You're like, well, we have other needs as well. Who's to say if Jake Allen's going to come to Edmonton? Then you're like, I guess we'll just fire the goalie coach and bring in a new guy and hope this thing turns around. But man, this is, I'm telling you, like if goaltending in Edmonton is a question mark again, I imagine it will be.

Like people will be like, are you serious? Like last year was the time to change the goaltending and you know, and people will try, like it's cost us two cups. Cause we came in. Like I don't believe that, but people will say that. We came in yesterday and you know, one of the things that we did and what happened yesterday

was talking about the changes that the Edmonton Oilers made behind the bench with Paul Coffey. And then of course, with the goalie coach. And this has been a story throughout the off season about their continued search, high and low and left and right. And again, this has meant is no disrespect to Sealovs. And I know Texter Ozzy Goose has been all over me

for my Sealovs takes over the last two and a half weeks. Bill from Buffalo is not a big fan of your Sealovs takes either. He loves Sealovs. I think the fact that Edmonton even looked in his direction says about how desperate they were to try and address the situation. Cause it did not make any sense to me

when I heard it. When I heard Frank's clip, it made no sense to me whatsoever. He's not a proven NHL backup. They're not the kind of team that needs to take a speculative flyer on a guy that might work out because they're in their cup window right now. And they need a potential starter.

But again, so in light of- Do you know how crazy it was, by the way? Yes. Not to cut you off, but in hindsight, how crazy it was that people during the playoffs were like, is Calvin Pickard healthy yet? Like we're talking about Calvin Pickard. He is a career backup in the NHL.

They were built that way. So I remember when we had Jason Greger on the show and he said, hey, look guys, this is a team that didn't put a lot of money into goaltending. It's the lowest average positional cap hit out of any of them on the team. So there's not huge expectations.

And I understood that, but at the same time, it was still like, well, it feels like a failing going into a second consecutive Stanley Cup final that you're left with the questions from the first one where it's, is this really the guy that's going to get the job done? And in the end, the answer for the second consecutive year was no. Also, there was enough reports prior to July one about how

much of a priority they were going to make that position that not addressing it feels like a failure in the aftermath. And now it just feels like scrambling. I will change a goalie coach, we'll kick the tires on any goalie that's available. It all feels like, it feels like a team that missed, not unlike how a lot of us, I think, feel about

the Canucks in the center position is that the dust is settled on free agency and maybe the trademark. Yeah. And they're in no better shape at center than they were. As a matter of fact, they're weaker because they lost suitor and they got nothing coming back. Uh, Connor Orr is going to join us next. Talk about Russell Wilson, uh, with the New York Giants.

Connor Orr writes for Sports Illustrated and he went on to little catch with Russ, uh, and, and wrote about it. And after Connor Orr at seven 30, Christine Brennan is going to join us to talk about a story that frankly, we haven't talked about that much. It's a real, I would say American culture wars related story. And that is what's going on right now with Caitlin Clark in the WNBA.

And Christine Brennan has been right at the center of that story and she's got a new book out on Caitlin Clark as well. So really looking forward to talking to Connor and Christine in the next hour of the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650.