Halford & Brough in the Morning - Newly Re-Signed Canucks Forward Conor Garland

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with newly re-signed Canucks forward Conor Garland (1:52) about the new contract and the upcoming season, plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

8 o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Hal foruff, Sportsnet 650. So it's Canada Day, happy Canada Day. It's free agency day, happy free agency day. It's Big Band Tuesday. All of our themes are overlapping into one mess of a show here on the Halford and Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650. Connor Garland's gonna join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three in the final hour of this program. Before we get to Connor,

I'm gonna run through some things real quick. Hour three of this program is brought to you by sans and associates BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3000 five star reviews. This is them online at sans dash trustee.com. I also need to tell you about the BC lions. It's the biggest rivalry party of the year lions, rough riders, Saturday, July 19th at 4pm with the watermelon smash on Terry Fox Plaza. Get your tickets to BCLions.com.

Finally, it is free agency day coverage of NHL free agency. Twenty twenty five is brought to you by Holmes by David L. Young of Dexter Realty here, there and everywhere. Visit Holmes by David L. Young dot com. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step guests on Sports on Sportsnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries.

Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at powerwest.ca today. They keep the lights on. Let's go to that Power West Industries hotline right now. Our next guest just signed a six year contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks with a $6 million AAV. Very happy to bring our next guest just signed a six year contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks with a six million dollar AAV. Very happy to bring our next guest on the program. Connor Garland here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning, Connor. How are you? Morning, guys. How are you doing? We're good. First off, congrats. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. How happy are you to get this deal done with the Canucks? Yeah, very happy. I think when you're with the same organization for, I've been there four years now, start to get into a routine, feels like home. And I was very excited when the offer came to be there for an extended period of time.

And just, I had my son there in November and, you know, for him that will be, you know, his first place living and, you know, a lot of his first memories. So we're very excited about it. How is little Quint doing? He's good. He's trying to talk every day.

He's crawling now, you know, sleeping through the night. So he's an easy baby and he's just fun to be around in the summer. What does it mean to you to be considered, and this was in the press release and this was in Patrick Alveen's quote in the press release, what does it mean to you to be a core player on the Vancouver Canucks? Yeah, that means the world to me. I think any player, especially someone who is passed over in a draft and drafted later in the fifth round, usually those are guys who are high end picks.

I've been fortunate enough to kind of improve as a player each and every year and to be trusted with that with a great management staff and coaching staff means a lot to me. But I don't take it for granted. It's something you have to earn every day and perform each and every day on and off the ice. So, you know, I look forward to having that challenge. Do you consider yourself one of the veteran leaders on this team? Like, has there been talk of taking an expanded role in that leadership or is that role already there with you? I think that comes naturally. I think this year I took a step in that direction.

And then this summer playing for Team USA and being one of the leaders there, it helped a lot just continuing to learn how to do that day in and day you know, I think Huggy and I have a pretty good relationship and he trusts me a lot and you know, Myzie in the same sense and Demer, we've been together for a while. So when you have a leadership group that's pretty tight, you know, you can lean on each other and you know, get a message across the room in a great way. You must have been happy to see that Thatcher Demko extended as well. I was very excited. Obviously when you, you know, I believe he's the best goalie in the world and most talented, you know, at his

position and it's obviously, you know, an easy way to win when you have a great goalie, Kandem. So to sign on with him at the same day was pretty awesome. I think we talked recently on the phone and you know we're just really excited to be able to play with each other for a lot more years ahead. Connor, Patrick Alveen also said that your commitment to the Canucks shows how confident you are in the organization's vision and direction. What makes you so confident? Well the management we have, you know, Jim

Rutherford, you know, he's won three cups, he's in the hockey hall same, so you know, we have Adam Foote as a head coach, he's won two cups, you know, gold medal in the Olympics, you know, they're not theorizing on how to win, they've won, so you know, you trust in those people that have done it before, which for me is a huge thing. But then again, I look at our players, you know, I remember, you know, in practice, just thinking about how hard are these to play against, how hard is this to score just in practice, you know, we're a hard team to play against, which you hear from a lot of, from

guys I hang out with in the summer. And you know, I was excited to, you know, be a part of that as well. I consider myself someone who's kind of hard to play against, obviously not the biggest, but I like to be in people's faces in four-checks. So I think our model of hockey and how we play and the talent we have with Petey, Huggy, Demer, some of these young guys coming up,

especially the guys on the back end we have that are young and coming, that I'm just really excited to be a part of that. You mentioned some of the veteran leaders like, uh, Queen Hughes and Thatcher Damco and Tyler Myers and yourself. Did you feel like you guys almost improved as leaders last year because you were forced to, given that, I mean, let's be honest, it was a difficult year, a lot of different ways, including having to kind of keep the team together

during some rocky periods. Did you feel like your leadership abilities actually improved last season? Yeah I think when adversity hits you know you get really tested. We had some you know obviously I believe the noise outside of our rink and outside of our room was a lot louder than you know what it what it was on the inside but there was some stuff we had to deal with and you know I thought we did a good job with it as players just to handle it, you know, move forward. I think last year, a lot of, you know, what was talked about was more of stuff

and stuff in the media and drama. We dealt with a lot of injuries as well. We had some guys come in and step up and play really good hockey for us to keep us in the hunt as long as we could. So, but yeah, as leaders, you know, you also play another year. You matured, you go through things, but, you know, we grew as we could. So, but yeah, as leaders, you know, you also play another year, you mature, you go through, through things, but you know, we, we, we grew as a group and I think it's only going to help us,

you know, later, later on, you know, there's not, there's not much more I think we can deal with. Um, so we'll, we'll be ready for anything. Um, one of your conversations been with Adam Foote since he was named head coach and if, I don't know if you haven't had many conversations, um, like just what do you think, uh, Foote since he was named head coach. And if I don't know if you haven't had many conversations, like just what do you think Foote will bring to the Vancouver Canucks? Well, like I said earlier, he's somebody who's

won, he knows how to go about it. I grew up in Boston as a young kid and Ray Bork was my favorite at a young age. So when he got traded, I was a bandwagon, avalanche fan. So I always enjoy talking to Foody about the stories from those teams and I listened to him talk about that team for hours. So, but you learn a lot of lessons listening to him.

And I think he's gonna bring that from a head coaching standpoint, as a defensive coach in the PK this year, I think he's one of the smartest defensive minds and someone if you listen to, he'll have tips and small little cues that not a lot of people understand. And, you know, I'm just, I'm excited to have that relationship with him as a head coach. And you know, I think, you know, he's someone that if you're playing, you're going to play and you know, that's all you want as a player.

Are you still a big Boston sports guy? Yeah I mean obviously when I got drafted to Arizona I was done being a Bruins fan but I was the biggest Patriots fan for a long time. I didn't love how they treated Belichick going out the door so that hurt but no I still I still watch them and that's probably really the only team I pay attention to now. Have you ever been part of a Boston sports parade? Yes, 2003 Patriots here. They beat the Panthers, I believe, in the Super Bowl. So I went to that parade.

Okay. We're speaking to Connor Garland. Newly re-signed Canucks forward here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. You know, when you talk about all the great teams is they often have an identity that's very clearly you know set out at the beginning of the year and then the players really adapt to it. And I know that's one of the things you kind of alluded to here with Adam Foote is one of the major things you guys are looking in terms of establishing identity moving forward is to be relentless and very difficult to play against and if so are those two things that you think you can really be a leader with on this team? Yeah I think I can I can be a leader in a

lot of sense you know I'm someone who's not overly physically gifted but I you know I'm very addicted to the game and trying to get better each and every day and I take my craft serious. So, you know, I think I'm a leader in that sense, right? Or I like to show how hard it is, you know, to play in the NHL on how hard it is to stay. So, but you know, being hard to play against there's a lot of things that go into it. You got to be able to block shots. You know, you got to be able to stick up for teammates.

You got to be able to be in shape so you can play hard, hard minutes. So that's all things, you know, as leaders, you know, and coaches we're going to be able to be in shape so you can play hard, hard minutes. So that's all things as leaders and coaches, we're going to be pre-training. What kind of training do you emphasize in the off season that gives you that motor that you've got? I just enjoy skating. I think weight training is what it is. I'm not sure how much you can improve as a player from weight training. You can put on strength, you can sure how much you can improve as a player from later you can put on strength in its drawing a new faster

but the player i just enjoy skating and working at my skill and you know yesterday i played no men's league in the morning for two hours and i'm and i'm state that are they can for most of the time though you know i think it is build up that engine in uh... i've been doing that since i've been fourteen so i feel uh... i feel like my cardio from skating has always gotten pretty good in the summer just from being on the ice. I don't think you can replace skating at all.

What happened at age 14, was there something that clicked for you or is that just when you started really taking it seriously? Well, no, I think it was when I started renting ice myself and I would text local college players and actually NHL players. A lot of them wouldn't respond and I don't blame them. I was a 14-year-old can't, but I just enjoyed having good players on the ice and that's how I would train. I would just play against a lot of older and better players and we'd play for hours and

hours and you don't even realize you haven't and we'd play for hours and hours and you don't even realize you haven't been on the ice for two and a half hours, you're going to build up quite the stamina and then you're going to get better. You're on the ice, you're playing games, you're playing in tight areas against better players. So that's how I've always trained and that's how I'll have my son train and hopefully I can still be around skating when that time comes. That is awesome. You were 14 years old and you were texting NHL players to come skate with you.

Did any of them respond? Yeah. Yeah, I always say Keith Yandle came quite a bit. More as the summer went on when he, you know, when it was closer to training camp, which I understand now why, but he always would come and I always give him the most credit.

He would talk and he would tell stories and it's, you know, to my buddy, to run the ice. And he give him the most credit. He would talk and he would tell stories to my buddy who were on the ice and he was just the greatest guy. So that's something I always was very, very grateful for. Would you say that you're addicted to hockey? For sure I am, for sure. I know how blessed I am to be able to play this game for a living, especially with my stature.

And there's not many jobs out there that I could be, you know, having a, having a great life like this without the game of hockey. So I'm addicted. I enjoy it. I love getting better. And you know, it's just the greatest game of the world. So I was, I was lucky to be born with, with the love for it. Do you stay in Vancouver for the off season now, or do you go back to the East coast? No, I'm home now. I left about a week and a half

after the season and I'll stay here for most of the time. I might come out for a few days to look for a place to live this year and that would be it. But no, I don't like to travel too much. I like to stay home when I'm home and I enjoy my little house here. Hey, I gotta ask you, you mentioned a couple times about where you were drafted, the fact that you're undersized by the current dimensions of NHLers. At the same time, I don't wanna say that you've made it, but you've now signed back-to-back contracts with the same organization that's given you $60 million.

What keeps the drive and the chip on your shoulder and not being content? Because you probably have a lot of reasons to be happy with how your career has turned out at this point. Well, it's a great question. I think, you know, for most of my life, I had to prove people wrong and was told no a lot and I was cut a few times. You know, it's a little different now where, you know, I've been trusted and I feel like I have to prove Patrick

and Jim and Foody and the people that I've been grateful enough to get these contracts from, I have to prove them right. So they put a lot of trust in me to be one of the players on their team for the next seven years and I don't take that lightly. So I feel it's a good challenge to be able to go out and prove them right each and every night. Well, Connor, we both think you are very deserving of this deal and we were both very happy to announce it this morning. I can imagine you're pretty happy about it as well. Thanks for taking

the time to do this. We really appreciate it and have a great season and a great few seasons now that you're locked up for the next seven years here in Vancouver. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your summer. We'll see you soon. Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's Connor Garland Canucks forward newly assigned six years 36 million for Connor Garland to six million AAV. It's all right here on the Halford and Bref show on sportsnet 650 no shark question come on man. Love that low-hanging fruit. Hey, Doug right there And you know this is radio, you know, he was waiting for it Yeah, he was waiting with it and dread these

Talks he does love to talk about sharks. I'd rather ask him about it. I'm finally yeah He's like I don't want to talk about that. I have questions That was so smart when he talked about the training with older players like that. It's brilliant It's a lot of gumption it takes gumption But it's the perfect way to get better at your craft is just surround yourself with people who are bigger, stronger, and way better than you at it. Texting Keith Anil. And you will naturally get better. Yeah. So smart.

Texting Keith Anil. What was he, 14 when he texted him? How awesome is that? How awesome is that? That's amazing. That he was texting NHL players and be like, hey, I've got some ice. Do you want to come out? Yeah.

And I was like, what the hell? They're like, who is this? Yeah. What? That's a kick in my shoulder. Is this some sort of sting? What's going on here? There is, I mean, we we talked a lot of different avenues around it, but I think there's a real central driving point there about

the how and I use addicted, but there's a lot of different like phrasings that you could do. You have to have a certain level of infatuation and you also have to have all these different driving forces, be it like an itch that you can't scratch, like that's the addiction part. Or that's why I asked him at the end, like how can you continue to carry a chip on your shoulder

from when you got cut from a team when you were 15? Like that, but that's what he does. And you know it because he's spoken about it in the past. And what does he mention almost every time there's an interview? I was a fifth round pick. I was, I was considered undersized guys like me aren't supposed to make it. And I would say, well, you made $60 million in the sport. I'd say you've done a pretty good job.

Like you've made it, but how do you not be satiated? How do you still stay hungry? And part of it is you have to be completely consumed by the sport. And the other part of it is that you always have to find a reason to be motivated. And whether that's the chip on your shoulder, now he brought up a good point. He's like, well, these guys have invested

and trusted a lot in me. I have to return that. Cause that's what I was talking about prior to going to break, like the Vancouver Canucks have made Connor Garland an extremely wealthy man. They've given him two contracts, 11 years in length and $60 million in value over the course of the two. That's life altering money. That's you've made it in a way that what a handful of people on the planet will ever make it, especially in the sporting realm. It's a big thing. And

if you are able to use that as a driving factor and not use it as something where it's like, I've made it, let's kick back and let's order another margarita. That's probably not in his DNA. No, because he's addicted to hockey. Yeah. He played two hours of men's league this morning.

I know. You didn't, I didn't. I barely got off to do this radio show. What's this damn show? As soon as the show's done, I'm going back to bed. There's a signing just announced. Let's hear it, laddie. going back to bed. There's a signing just announced. Let's hear it, laddie.

Going back to New Jersey for five years. Jake Allen, only 1.8 million cap hit, but five years for the 34-year-old goaltender. Five by 1.8? That's what Elliot Friedman says. That is so bizarre. Interesting. Me like they tacked on a couple of years

to the end of that deal just to get the AAV down. What do you guys think? I don't know, but I also know that there's another deal that we need to pass along with even more local ties. I'll do respect to the Goli brethren that you and Jake Allen belong to. The Carolina Hurricanes have agreed to a eight-year contract extension with Logan Stankoven. The Stankoven gets an eight-year extension with Carolina, eight years, 48 million overall. Interesting deal there.

They just announced it about, I don't know, five minutes ago. So we're still parsing through the details there. But local kid obviously went to Carolina in exchange in the Miko Rand in trade that saw the Canes send Miko Rand into Dallas at the deadline. Logan Stankin, eight years, $48 million contract extension in Carolina with the Canes. Another kind of undersized player.

Yep. Very undersigned. Someone also pointed out that Mike got a great question. I did get a great question. That's a rarity. It is rare. It is rare, but like game recognizes game, right? Garland recognizes when a great question pops up.

He's addicted to hockey, I'm addicted to great questions. It wasn't so much a great question, it was just not a shark's question. So he was like, oh nice. Yeah, Adog was waiting for the shark question the whole time. Adog, do you ever just wonder, sometimes those players are like,

I know these guys know this one thing about me, that I like sharks. So they're probably gonna ask me, and then I have to be like, yeah, I like sharks. So they're probably going to ask me and then I have to be like, yeah, I like sharks. No, it's the other way around. These guys are like, oh, I'm sick of all these stupid hockey questions. After the same question day in, day out, I have

thousands of dollars in sharks books right behind me. Please let me use them. By the way. Let me expand your knowledge on sharks. So if someone came up to you and like let's say Yes, let's say they were interviewing a dog. Yeah, and someone went like so we heard you like the Simpsons Oh, buddy, and what you got nine hours would you really want to answer that question?

Yes, so you'd be like yeah, I do I do so a lot I want to give me one we tell tell you some of my favorite episodes. I caught some lines if you want. Yeah. Speaking of sharks, I was hoping that Garland would bite at the questions about the new head coach and what style they were going to implement. Did you notice that there was a couple couple nuggets in there where he was talking about

how what a great defensive mind Adam Foote was and how he's always giving him tips on the defensive side of things. And I wanted to ask him like, well, we saw it happen in free agency so far. Are you anticipating a more lockdown style next year? When that was the other question I was asking about identity is I wonder

if at the end of the day, we're going to see one of the most defensive oriented teams in the last few years. Like our mantra, our identity, our style, everything is about keeping the puck out of our net as opposed to putting it in the opposition's net. I wonder if that's gonna be a- I still think they're gonna forecheck hard.

I'm not saying- I think that'll- I'm not saying that. Well, you are because like. Four checking is a great brand of defense. When the puck's not in your end, that's defending. Not really because like. Sometimes the best defense is good offense. But if you, there's a difference between

sending one four checker and two four checkers, right? You can have a really aggressive four check and if it gets beaten, you might actually be looking at an odd man rush against, or you can have one guy in there and then four guys back, right? Yeah, no, I get what you're saying. There is a difference. Yeah, I get what you're saying.

But because they're going to have to generate offense somehow. You can have, yeah, we defend well, we've got great goaltending and deep blue line, and that's what we do best. But you still need to score at some point. You're not gonna win any game. And especially in this league now. You know, the Florida Panthers, I was looking at it last night,

and in the playoffs they averaged over four goals. I looked back to 2003 when the Devils won it. They averaged 2.6 goals. It isn't that league anymore. And it is, and it's swimming against the tide to put a team that is like, we're a lock it down team in the current NHL where you see teams, a lot of teams that can just score and score in

bunches. Like the Edmonton Oilers, when they were down three goals, it was like, yeah, no big deal. a lot of teams that can just score and score in bunches. Like the Imminton Oilers, when they were down three goals, it was like, yeah, no big deal. They're still in this game. And that was against some pretty good defensive teams. So if that is indeed the plan and it might be the right plan for this group, it's still going to be tough to pull off

because you still need to score. The power play is going to have to be good. We got to go to break. We're going to try and get Murph right at eight 30 live from Rogers arena. Canucks headquarters on free agency day. Obviously two big deals. Connor Garland getting done in that your Demco getting done as well. Not involving the connects, but it sounds like a trade is close to being consummated.

Sounds like Victor Arvidsson who Freage was talking about on our show this morning when he appeared at 6 a.m. Sounds like Arvidsson could be on his way from Edmonton to Boston. Details still very scant on this one. We're not 100% sure exactly what it entails. Other than the two teams, the parties involved, Boston and Edmonton, and one player so far,

Victor Arvidsson potentially going from Edmonton to Boston. So we'll keep eyes on that. Another signing heavily rumored right about the Rangers and Gavrikov. They're being linked. Emily Kaplan, the latest to report that one. The Gavrikov is on his way to the Rangers?

Wow, going coast to coast from the Kings to the Rangers. Okay, so there's some things that are happening right now. I will remind you that officially, officially free agency doesn't start until 9 a.m., which is kind of a bummer for a show that ends at 9 a.m. But there's stuff going on right now. I recall we had like nine announcements two minutes after we ended last year. Yeah, I remember that.

They all came in right at once, literally two minutes after. I'm very much forward to getting in my car and before driving, checking my phone and realizing that all the deals are coming down. But that's just the nature of the biz. We're going to go to break right now. When we come back, we're going to try and go to Roger's arena to speak to sports net ringside reporter, Dan Murphy. That's all coming up next on the hell for them brush show on sports net six 50. It's Canuck central with Dan Rachel and sati are, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post-game show.

Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time.

On the show. 8.30 on a show. with no more interest, visit them online at sans-trustee.com. Can't hit the post today, we only got one read. I'll try it anyway. Let's do some What We Learns. Now you're probably wondering, why no Dan Murphy? Well, Murph is busy. It's been a busy day at Canucks headquarters. He's on TV.

Yeah, Murph. Who you know from sportsnet, the television version, not the lowly radio version, Murph, was gonna do a hit with us this morning, but we had to bounce him from the 8 a.m. slot because we had Connor Garland on the program. Be sure to download the Hour 3 podcast when it becomes available.

Great interview with Connor Garland. The reason we were interviewing Connor Garland is because he signed a six year, $36 million extension with the Vancouver Canucks. That's not the only extension that the Canucks signed this morning. They also got Thatcher and Emko to a three year contract extension

with an $8.5 million AAV. So unsurprisingly, Murph's got a busy morning at Roger's Arena HQ for all of the Canucks free agency stuff. It's a very busy morning for the Canucks and Murph is a tight up, but I can do one more thing before we dive into the humanoid. What we learned to do our, what we learned as well. I can tell you about the BC lions.

It's the biggest rivalry party of the year. Lions, ref writers Saturday, July 19th at 4 PM with the watermelon smash on Terry Fox Plaza. Get your tickets at bcliance.com. Jason, you have a What We Learned, and this is coming on the heels of our news going to break that Victor Arvidsson is reportedly on his way from Edmonton to the Boston Bruins. I learned that I still don't have a great sense of where Besser is going to end up. Do you? No. Like I know people are thinking, wow, okay,

they cleared the Arvidsson cap space. And I don't, I don't know if there's been any retention on the deal, but. Not that I've heard yet. The only thing I've heard is that it's going to be a future mid round pick that's going from Boston to Edmonton in exchange for Arvidsson. Right.

Nothing on retention. So Elliot Friedman, when he reported the possibility of Brock Besser signing with the Edmonton Oilers, he said there was work to do in Edmonton, they needed to move some salary out. Well, that's what they've done. They've moved out of Andrewer Kane, then they've most recently moved out Arvidsson.

For Brock Besser, you have to imagine if you could make it happen, you'd love to go play with a team that has McDavid, Dreisaitl, Ryan Nugent Hopkins, you know, like those guys. I mean, Brock Besser needs to play with a playmaker. He is not a guy that drives the play all that well. Um, he is a guy that is an excellent complimentary player, but he played well with JT Miller.

And when Elias Pedersen was playing well, the lotto line was good because he had centers that were good at distributing the puck, well, the lotto line was good because he had centers that were good at distributing the puck, creative distributing the puck, and he was able to finish those opportunities. Now that doesn't mean he's going to end up in Edmonton because we've also heard rumors about him going to Winnipeg and they're all like, ah, he's a

Minnesota boy, you know, like he can handle the weather there. We've also heard people wondering if he'll go to Winnipeg. I know there are people in Montreal wondering if he'll go to Montreal. I just, it's weird. You know, normally there's like a clear favourite. Yep. Like even with Michael Grandlin, people are like, yeah, I think he's going to St. Louis.

Right? But with Brock Besser, we haven't really, unless I've missed a bunch of stuff, we don't. Is there a favorite? Maybe. Freage came on and said it like it was. Winnipeg was making the most romantic overtures to Brock Besser in terms of free agency. But the Edmonton Oilers have just cleared all four million of Victor

Arvidsson's contract. It's a fifth round pick in twenty twenty seven going from Boston to Edmonton in exchange for Arvidsson. Now, obviously, the Edmonton Oilers spent a bunch of money yesterday. We haven't even mentioned the Evan Bouchard deal yesterday. Four years, ten point five million there. You mentioned the St. Louis Blues there briefly. The St. Louis Blues have made a trade. They have acquired Montreal Canadians,

defenseman Logan Mayu. Now this is not a trade involving Jordan. Cairo. This is all courtesy of Elliot Friedman. Uh, I believe my you was deemed expendable by the Canadians. Once they acquired Noah Dobson and had a bit of a glut on defense. You'll remember my you of course, he was taken rather controversially in the first round of the 2021 NHL entry draft. Uh, he made his NHL debut last season with Montreal appearing in seven regular season games, not playing in any playoff games.

He was expected to compete for a spot on the Montreal Blue Line, but again, with the acquisition of Noah Dobson, there was a log jam there. Mayu on his way now to the St. Louis Blues, and we're still waiting on what the return might be there. So things are happening at a pretty rapid pace here as we get closer and closer to 9 a.m.,

which is when everything can start being officially named. In terms of signings. Trades can happen whenever they want. It sounds like they're happening right now. OK. Give us a moocow on that. Do any of you guys have what we learned? I'm trying to parse through all of this stuff here. I had the basketball what we learned. OK, go for it.

There's a big deal signed in the NBA today, and it goes to a Canadian. Jay Gilgis Alexander four-year contract 285 million dollars and that seems high how much money four years to 85 is now the highest annual salary in NBA history so all you families parents out there with kids and sports here in Canada basketball You're going to the wrong sport if you put them in hockey apparently and sports here in Canada. Basketball. You're going to the wrong sport if you're putting him in hockey apparently.

Basketball is the way to go. I mean, this is a guy that was once Laddie's backup as the point guard. Right. I can't remember the name of the Hamilton High School. St. Thomas Moreberry. There you go. Home of the Knights.

71 million dollars a year. 71 million dollars a year for SGA. I mean, given the financial climate of the NBA, that's the, it's the richest deal ever, but it's not out of line with what other guys are getting. LeBron's getting 53 million for next year. And SGA just had one of the most impressive, here's the thing, one of the most impressive and

MVP in everything. MVP in everything. Award-filled singular seasons in the history of the NBA. Doesn't matter if he's Canadian or not, he's in a very rare pantheon with Jordan and Shaq and Kareem in terms of the amount of singular MVPs that he won. And now that there's a Western Conference MVP, he actually got that, whereas those other guys didn't.

So a brief, by the way, other NBA news is we're trying to jam everything into this very action-packed show. The Milwaukee Bucks waved Damien Lillard, which I can't get into all the details of it because we just don't have the bandwidth, but that's 113 million player being waved. He obviously tore his Achilles last year. That's crazy. 113 million dollars. He's waivers.

And they turned it right around and they're spending it on Miles Turner, who's going to join them from the Indiana Pacers. So there's a lot going on right now, not just in the NHL, but the NBA as well. What does it mean that they waved him? Like, is it different than the NHL? To be dead honest, I don't know exactly how the machinations of NBA waivers work. All I know is that. Does it have anything to do with the second apron?

I don't know about the second, the third apron. Is there a fourth? A quad apron? I'm not sure. Too many aprons. I know. Way too many. Um, okay. Give us a moocow on that

Of what we learned no, let's press forward. Okay, let's print out some submissions into the Dunbar Lumber Text Line at six fifty six fifty What we learned humanoid edition Bratzio is always by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway three two five and three two seven East Broadway Visit both restaurants go from one to the other. And if you can't make it to either, don't forget, you can always order online at ajs.pizza. Jamie, the Armstrong Fisherman texts in, what I learned, the Blue Jays played an intriguing playoff atmosphere ball game yesterday,

a great outing against AJ's hated Yankees. I watched from the first pitch to the last and it was a great ballgame Hope they can keep it going. You must be feeling a lot better about the Jays laddie Yeah, the last month has been great I can't erase that first start to the season out of my mind as that was horrible. Hey Mac Scherzer He's not in though. He just said he didn't feel great He's just the way he was shaking his hand out. But he was also like sweating like crazy.

He just said it was bothering him. As long as he's ready to go playoff time. Seven Ks yesterday. Looked pretty good to me. When he was pitching, he looked great, but the injury stuff scares me. It's not a good position to be. The Jays are in a wild card spot,

so they should be a playoff team. Well, this is a huge series right now. Like the one against the Yankees they're playing, it's a four game series. There are three games back of the Yankees to start. So they're either, they could have been seven games back of the Yankees or one game up on the Yankees. So, you know, we're at that point in the season now,

it's still too early to draw conclusions, but it's going to be interesting. It's going to be a wild ride, I think, in the AL East with the amount of teams that are in it. I'm going to jump in here. We're now 20 minutes away from the actual physical start of free agency. Technically, it's supposed to start at 9 a.m. our time.

So all of the free agency coverage on the station today is brought to you by Homes by David L. Young of Dexter Realty. Here, there, and everywhere, visit homesbydavidelyoung.com. Marty and Kits, while we learn, Brad Marshawn and Aaron Echlad will be on LTIR in two years. I'm sure the nature of the future injuries was part of the negotiations. Echlad's not that old.

Echlad is, he's got eight years though, right? That was how they managed to knock down the AAV on that one. What he's saying like they'll be on LTIR in two years. Eckblad is still like, God, I want to say he's 29. Yeah, and if he keeps taking those performance enhancers, he could play long into his 40s. Exactly. He'll be all right. Brad Marchand, on the other hand. I mean, the Panthers, the Panthers blue line, the value that they've got over the next at least five years for Cess Jones, who's 30 and Ekblad and Forsling who are each 29. So they've got at least a few years left of

good hockey and they've got Jones at 7 million, Ekblad at 6.1 and Forsling at 5.75. That is incredible. Sorry, not to cut you off. You want to know what's incredible? The following players are signed with Florida until 2030. So that's five years from now. Barkov, Kichuk, Reinhardt, Bennett, Marshawn, Verhage, Forsling, Lundell, Ekblad and Jones. Like that's a 10 person core that's signed for five years. I wanted to ask. And are any of those contracts super concerning? Onerous? Not really.

I mean, Marshawn maybe, but he's 37 years old. Yep. Maybe. That might be a concern. Marshall maybe, he's 37 years old. Yeah, maybe. That might be a concern. Maybe Bennett because of the way he plays, and that's a pretty hefty cap hit at 8 million. If I can see them unloading Verhege at some point. Yeah, I could see that too.

However. But I think he's got like a full no move. I did want to ask. It doesn't seem like people want to leave Florida right now. They're dying to stay. I did want to ask, Freageage or Wish in light of everything that happened yesterday with Florida, is there a sense from a couple NHL teams where they're like, we're just going to wave the

white towel in the next couple of years because that's that's going to be really hard to get through. Unless unless injuries hit that team, you tell me how they're not going to be the favorite to win at least two more Stanley Cups. Well, yeah, but the talkie. There's upsets that happen all the time. Not in the last few years. Injuries could be a big wild card. Yeah, well I just said, outside of injury. What about derails? Okay, what about goaltending? Bobroski's 36 years old, he's got one year left on his contract. He's 36, he's one year younger than Brad Marshall.

Yeah, he's going to sign a nine-year extension. Yeah, why not at this point? Get it in while you can. You're not going to be able to sign those monster deals with the new CBA. Yeah, no, I mean, they're clearly the class of the NHL, but things can change quickly. No, I know what you're saying. Can change quickly in the league. It is very, very scary though.

For the example of the Canucks right now, where they're sort of treading water and trying to get back into let's just be competitive category. I will say the Canucks have really good value on the back end right now. Great value. With the cap going up, did you see what Provarov signed for?

Yeah, that was a lot. Was his cap it over eight? That felt like a lot. Like I think I'd rather have Hronik at seven and Marcus Pedersen, I know some people were pointing this out yesterday. It's a pretty good deal right now at five and a half. Obviously, Queen Hughes, his cap is under eight million for the next two years. That's incredible value. How long the Canucks have him remains to be seen. And if they do keep him,

seen, and if they do keep them, the number is going to be a big one. But right now, look, we all know what the Canucks strengths are right now. Goaltending and the blue line. And Connor Garland. But the forward group is kind of the thing that sticks out like a sore thumb and specifically, I would say the top six.

Laddie, earlier in the show, we were going to show you a few minutes ago, we announced that Logan Mailloux was on his way from the Montreal Canadians to the St. Louis Blues in a deal where we didn't know who was going back the other way. Can you update? Well, you guys were wondering if there'd be more hockey type deals. Well, I think this is one right here because the only player going back to Montreal is Zachary Bolduc, who was the 17th overall pick in 2021 and 19 goals last year for the Blues.

So I like pretty good return. And that's a good that's a good pickup for the Habs. Yeah, he's a good shooter, a great sniper. He's a good player. Not to be kind of what they need, right? Not to be confused with former Canucks favorite, Alexander Bolduc. Right.

This is a different Bolduc. Yeah. OK. Yeah. So that's now you brought up a good point. And this is kind of what I'm hoping here is that more teams in light of the fact that there's not a lot in free agency will just get together for some good old fashion. I know a lot of people hate the term, but I like it.

Hockey trades. And this one was a good one. Montreal had an excess defenseman, a young one, a first round pick that they liked. But there was a lot. There was a log jam there. They flipped him to St. Louis, who needed a defense. And they're thin on the blue line there they still really made up for the Tory Krug and I don't know if Krug's ever coming back and in exchange they got a forward that the Blues liked he was young he was

talented but you got a gift to get and that's a good old-fashioned hockey Montreal gets a player from Trois-Rivieres which they're happy about as well right everything works very nicely there. Okay. We are in the middle of some what we learned. Do we have any other ones here? Aaron with a what we learned. Al Halal shocked the soccer world when they knocked Man City out of the club world cup by a score of four to three, including a whopping three goals in extra time.

I watched it last night. You're not supposed to, or you're not supposed to say extra time, or stoppage? Stoppage? Nope. They goals in extra time. I watched it last night. You're not supposed to say extra time, or stoppage? No, they went to extra time. Oh, did they tie or something? Yeah, it was three-three. Oh, they were tied. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was two-two at the end of regular time. Okay. Yeah, it was a great match, very entertaining. It's been, there've been some exciting, attacking, reckless, almost, soccer games in this Club World Cup. So, the Club World Cup is inherently stupid and at times dangerous and I cannot stop watching it.

I'm there. It's like that, you know, Dana White's slap show where they slap people and knock them unconscious. It's called The Slap, isn't it? I don't even know. I don't even know if it has a name. It's just slap death or something. But whatever the case, probably the-

Slap CTE. Probably the stupidest show to ever exist. On television, it's also great television. I can't stop watching it. The crowds at, I saw a crowd, I think it was in Charlotte. There was like 13,000 people there. And it's like, why would you, I understand it's a knockout stage, so it's hard because you don't know which teams are going to come. So there's like all this last minute ticket selling, but it doesn't look good when it's the club world cup and there's like 13,000 people in a football stadium.

Charlotte was also the unfortunate scene of the extreme weather between Chelsea and Benfica. So they had lightning storms during the match. They had to pause play for an hour and 30 minutes. And then when they came back, it looked real grim. New West Darren with what we learned. What I learned is that the new black seats will be the biggest addition to the Canucks this season. Not yet, not yet.

Still hockey trades out there. I'm holding out faith. Well, a Vanderkeen is a bigger addition than the new seats. Well. I got a question for you guys, and I know you're gonna kinda hate me for it, but I'll ask anyways. Great.

Would you rather have a Vanderkeen or Brock Besser? Now. On the Knucks right now. I need some sort, like what? I wasn't comfortable. I wasn't comfortable. I wasn't comfortable. I wasn't comfortable I would rather have Brock Besser as a player, but I was not comfortable

With signing for one year or two for what is that the part of the key that the allure of Kane was that it's forget the contract That's what I'm just explaining while you're interrupting like like I was not comfortable Signing Brock Besser to a long-term deal money is aside though. I get that I get better I get that's part of it, but money aside. Yeah, Besser Besser That's an easy one But as you just said they're not for the term and the money he wanted no man I mean even I would I would take Besser with a little bit of term over Cain did not play hockey For the entire 82 game regular season last year

No, people will say that's an advantage because he was able to rest his body. I would fundamentally disagree with that analysis because when the playoffs came around, he looked like he had a lot of energy at the start and then it looked like it petered out real fast and he was kind of a non-factor in the series against the Panthers. He was a penalty machine.

And I wonder if it's because he's 34 and- Couldn't keep up. I. I mean surgeries take their toll Yeah, age takes its toll. I do an old friend update Yeah, a couple former Canucks making the news in the last couple minutes here. Jack Rathbone back to Buffalo Sam Lafferty has been traded from Buffalo to the Chicago Blackhawks for a sixth round draft pick He's back with Chicago. Back with Chicago. Is this his eighth tour of duty in Chicago?

The picture that they used for the announcement was him in a Chicago jersey. He's gonna be on the cast of A Bear pretty soon. That's unbelievable. Good on Sam Lafferty and you know, J-Bone too. Did he play at all with the Sabres last year? Can you check that up? I don't know if he's still. He was using a jersey in the picture. I don't know if he's still a tweener Oh, he's still tweener. He's got 63 games with Rochester last year

But I missed it must have got into a preseason game or something Trey the Gulf Island fairy worker ask us anything if you could guarantee the connects will make the playoffs next season Would you consider offer sheeting Marco Rossi? Assuming it was a seven7 million cap it contract. It would only cost them a first and third rounder. I am I never from day one been at all interested in Rossi. Never. I think Rossi is the prototypical solution that's available at the time,

not the solution that's actually going to solve your problem. I think he's too small. I did not, and I underline, did not like how he was deployed in the playoffs last year. I don't care what you think of the way that Minnesota handled it. I think it spoke volumes that he was being deployed as a 4C and even in limited ice time,

I know he had a couple goals, but I think it kind of underscored the type of hockey you need to play late in the season and in the playoffs. He's just not suited for it. I don't know if he's a guy, if you have aspirations of being a good team, that he can be a 2C that you're spending a lot of money on. I think he could be a fine player elsewhere. I don't think he was the right fit here. I wonder if Besser is going to make his decision today. Cam Robinson just tweeted out, despite having limited cap flexibility at the moment, the Oilers remain a team expected to

make a play for Brock Besser. They won't be alone though. LA, Boston, Ottawa, San Jose, he could have double digit suitors. This could be one where he takes a while to make a decision. Maybe Ben Hankinson hasn't been as involved in the tampering as some other agents. Maybe he's like- Kidding me? He's been everywhere. Well, I don't know. Maybe he's the super honest agent. He's telling teams like, well, we'll talk on July 1st. That's what the rules say.

So rules are meant to be followed. A lot of Canadian teams interested in Besser, by the way, right now. So it's Winnipeg, it's Edmonton, Ottawa. That was in a Bruce Garriott piece from last week. The New York Rangers thing has been out there for two weeks. There is some sort of reunion with JT Miller. I wouldn't be surprised if the Los Angeles Kings get involved. Freage mentioned the San Jose Sharks.

I could absolutely see them being a team that would come out of their boots to overpay. Yeah. What do they care? I mean, they're years away from contending and I think they need 20 million just to get to the floor. Are they years away? Yes. Teams can turn around pretty quick. That team is, their blue line is hideous.

Yeah. It's awful. Well, they must have some prospects on the blue line though. They must. Maybe. They must have drafted some guys. They've drafted a lot. Their blue line is light years away from being a contending one, I would say.

We got a text into the Dunbar Lumber text line. Any thoughts on Pedersen's no move clause kicking in? Not really. I just expected this to happen. It became quite obvious over the last little while that the Canucks were not going to trade Elias Pedersen. They liked what they've heard this offseason and I think they weren't looking to delete guys from the lineup. They were looking to add guys from the lineup and you know they to add guys from the lineup.

They said, look, we'll consider offers. We'd be crazy not to consider offers, but obviously they didn't get any offers that met what they'd be looking for, which they probably didn't even know what they were looking for, just like a lot. The line that you're probably going to get about the no move clause kicking in is that it's not that big a deal. And if things go south next season or continue to go south next season, then Pedersen himself will probably want out.

To which I might respond, well, if things have already gone south and they go further south next season, Pedersen might be okay with the trade, but will anyone actually want him? Well, folks, the music means it's time to go. It's been a fun show and there'll be lots of fun to follow all right here on Sportsnet 650. Keep it dialed throughout the day as free agency officially gets underway in about six minutes time. For us, though, we'll be watching from the sidelines. Thank you all for listening and thank you all for contributing, throughout the day as free agency officially gets underway in about six minutes time. For us though, we'll be watching from the sidelines. Thank you all for listening and thank you all for contributing, but we gotta say goodbye.

Signing off, I have a Mike Halford, he's been Jason Brough, he's been A-Dog and he's been Laddie. This has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet at 6.50.