Halford & Brough in the Morning - NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the latest hockey news with Daily Faceoff NHL insider Frank Seravalli, plus the boys are joined by NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly to discuss the start of the regular season. 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.

Sarah Valley Frank! Cerebelli! Frank! Daily Face Off! Frank! 703 on a Friday. Frank! I forgot about that one. It's been a while since we played that song. Also, it doesn't exactly lead into Frank's hair. I realize it doesn't totally make sense. It will next week, though, when he switches to Wednesdays.

You should have dubbed in AJ over top of this. Pizza! Yeah, a daily face-off would have been a tougher one, but anyway. Get her, Ronnie. Yeah, AJ's going to join us. It is tasty. Okay, we get it. We get it.

AJ's going to join us in just a moment here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, followed by Frank Cervalli. Before we going to join us in just a moment here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, followed by Frank Cervalli. Before we get to both of them, business at hand. We are in Hour 2 of the program. Hour 2 is brought to you by Jason Hominuck at jason.mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then definitely don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Visit him at jason.mortgage. This entire show, all of it, is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything

you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands

of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfite, what are you waiting for? Kintec, our next guest, is the owner, proprietor of AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. It's also the namesake. AJ joins us now on the

Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, AJ? What's going on? I thought you guys changed my name to Frank. I know. Just quickly. I was like, what? When we came back from break, I'm like, they're playing the jingle. This is going to be awkward, but we managed to power through it. AJ, are you happy for the Mets, or were you

mad to see the Mets win in such an exciting fashion last night over the Brewers? Totally mad. Yeah, okay. One, I was cheering for Halford. I know he's a Brewers fan. Huge Brewers fan. I can't stand the Mets.

But did you know that we watched history, though, that Alonzo made history last night, which is crazy to me. What's the history? He's the first guy in MLB history to hit a go-ahead home run in a winner-take-all game in the 19th year later wow first what crazy yeah I know that's what I said I couldn't believe it that can't be right well Joe Carter's because Joe Carter's they were up 3-2 right right yeah so this yeah it's wild I mean he basically been around for a thousand years. I can't believe it.

Well, I couldn't believe that the Mets and Phillies had never played in the playoffs before. Dad, you know what? When you said that, I was like, really? I mean, Brough's right. It makes sense. They were in the same division before. And it used to be like nobody made the playoffs. Right, exactly.

That series, I'm looking forward to. I'm not looking forward to any series more than Padres-Dodgers. I think that's going to be great. But Mets-Phillies will be good. I don't think the Yankees are going to have too much of a problem with the Royals, to be perfectly honest. We'll see. I don't know.

I mean, the history of that is, I mean, they haven't played in 44 years, but in the 70s, it was fierce. Yeah, that's true. And then the George Brett-Pintar game, that was against the Yankees too. Right. Okay. Before we let you go, we have a big announcement here on the Halford & Brough Show. We are continuing to grow the partnership between AJ's

and the Halford & Brough Show. You are now the presenting sponsor of Ask Us, not Ask Us Anything, that's last week, this week, What We Learned Daily, starting next week, and then on Fridays moving forward, the best What We Learned is going to get the $100 gift card to AJ's. Yeah, we're excited. I mean, it's just been amazing since the start,

and it's going to continue to grow, and it's been awesome. It has been absolutely awesome. Yeah, same on our side too. It's been great working with you guys. We love coming by. A reminder for everyone listening right now, go this weekend, eat some pizza, drink some beer, and watch a bunch of sports because the sports are the best time of the year.

AJ, thanks for doing this today, bud. We appreciate it. Everybody have a great weekend. Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. The best, the best pizza place in the world. Did AJ mention that it had to be a winner-take-all game?

Yes. Okay, yeah. So that was a stat. So Joe Carter against the Phillies, too. They were trailing. It was 6-5 Phillies. But it was game So that was a stat. So Joe Carter against the Phillies too. They were trailing. It was 6-5 Phillies. But it was game six, wasn't it? It was game six.

It was game six. It wasn't the winner. So the actual stat is Pete Alonzo of the Mets, first player in MLB history to hit a go-ahead home run while trailing in the ninth inning or later of a winner-take-all postseason game. I mean, you're going to get more stats like this now because in these best- best of threes.

Yeah, there's more games. Yeah, there's all, you know, there's all the best of three. The winner take all happens more often. Although we only got one game three. It's kind of disappointing. Anyway, everything gets underway in the baseball tomorrow. Very excited about that Dodgers Padres series. I'm also very excited about the start of the NHL season,

which is now just a matter of hours. If you don't know, now, you know, it is starting today. Very weird because there's a bunch of preseason games tonight, including the Canucks and Oilers at seven o'clock, but 10 AM our time from Prague.

It's the Sabres and it's the Devils kicking off. They'll play today. They'll play tomorrow. And then the regular season for everyone else gets underway next week. So we're getting closer and closer to the start of real hockey. And with that, we reintroduce one of our favorite guests. He's back. He's on the program.

We're happy to have him as a part of the Halford & Brough show. Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on Sportsnet 650. He joins us now. Frank, good morning, buddy. How the heck have you been? Yes, good to be back, Halbro. Really appreciate the welcome back and looking forward to chatting every week. Frank, have I recently told you how much money I have?

You haven't, so please. As we do in Vancouver, we like to show off how much money we have. Yes, I figured that would be coming at some point. So congratulations. You hit the under. You didn't make it to a minute yet. How was that playoff experience for you, Frank? It was really disconcerting.

And I'll say, like, first off, so let's take a rewind back to last year. I come out to Vancouver for training camp, put a stake in the ground, saying the Canucks are going to be really good this year, say they're a firm playoff team. No one else on the national media side is willing to do that. So you guys have a great year. I come out to Vancouver for the first round,

the only national media person following the entire first round series between the Canucks and Preds. And then at some point during the Oilers series, it got declared that I was an Oilers homer and that I hate Vancouver and that I, you know, I hate everyone apparently. And it just, it was just odd. I don't, I had a little fun on an Edmonton radio hit and things get twisted and all of a sudden I'm the world's worst human being, and that's okay. But I could tell you I spent two full springs, four playoff rounds each in 16 and 17 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and no one ever called me a Penguins homer.

Yeah, for some reason I spent three rounds. Because the Canucks didn't play the Penguins in a series. Yeah, I spent three rounds with the Oilers this year, which is you go where the story is and I don't know. That happens. That's the passion

of sports and hockey in Canada, though, right? I would say more than anything, it's the insecurity of Canucks fans. Oh, here we go. That's another thing. Why do you say they're insecure? Well, just show me some security somewhere. It's almost like at some point

everyone's taking down our team. No one believes in us. I don't know where the mentality comes from, but... I think it was more your comments about... I i'm not arguing listen i know i've lived in vancouver all my life i know there is an element of um you know we are like the supercar capital of north america i think there's a lot of nice cars there's a lot of flashiness in in vancouver but i think your comments probably weren't appreciated by all the hard-working regular people in the lower mainland and totally fair and also in good fun like yeah in good fun but that's all the good fun though

like it wasn't mean it wasn't like hey i'm i don't like vancouver i'm out to like nothing i'm not out to get anyone it was just just the back and forth that occurs between fan bases in a playoff series, and I weighed in. I guess we're just used to it, Frank. You don't need to apologize. You were having fun, and we were having fun, and I was having fun with my first question with you. Like, don't worry.

We like you. If we didn't, you wouldn't be back on the show. Well, I'm happy to be back. I'm hoping to mend fences and move along. Okay, I do want to talk about this Robin Lehner situation in Vegas. Now, we've already played some audio from Free Just 32 Thoughts where he goes into it a little bit. But what is your take on this whole situation?

And I suppose, do other fan bases have a right to be upset about how this went down? Well, so I'll answer the second part first. And the answer is maybe. I think part of the angst that comes with this decision is due to the way the Golden Knights have aggressively managed their cap in the past, specifically with relation to injuries in consecutive years to Mark Stone. Then they go out and add trade deadline pieces, and Stone is back for the playoffs. So people are already on high alert.

This situation is different. I can't really get into the details, and it's not because I don't want to share them. It's really more for Robin Leonard himself. He was unable to come to training camp this year to get his medical because he didn't show up. The Golden Knights absolutely 100% had the right to terminate his contract and he doesn't get paid at all, but they didn't want to leave him out of the $4.5 million. And certainly the NHLPA wouldn't stand for that, given that this is a guy that hasn't played the last two full seasons

and no one had any designs on him playing this year, that there had to be some sort of middle ground reached where the Golden Knights, they're solely looking for cap relief to not have to operate an LTIR. And they're also trying to get them paid. So the only way to do that is to come up with the unique circumstances that produce this solution. So could this not set a precedent for other teams? Well, very specifically, I haven't seen the agreement, but I was told that both sides have agreed that this is non-precedent setting.

Essentially, this is a one-off. That's fine. Sorry, I'm just a bit confused. It's fine that those two parties have agreed upon it um it just feels like it's good i say this without saying that they need to make everything public because i'm sure there's some privacy issues here but um i'm trying to understand where the line would be that this is so unique and so unprecedented that nobody's going to be able to use it as a blueprint to get out from under a contract before or again. And I know that there's obviously something going on with Robin Lehner

that is probably one, serious, and two, not necessary to be in the public sphere. But at the same time, the optics around it are always going to be awkward because of what you mentioned, like the way that Vegas has handled its salary cap before. And there are a lot of people that are like, it doesn't feel like it's just a coincidence that one of the most unique and unprecedented salary cap mechanisms recently also happens in this particular market where this team is known for, I'll just say it like cap shenanigans. Well, here's the one difference, though. I think people are getting riled up about something that's really not a season-altering deal for the Golden Knights. Basically, they're getting cap relief from Robin Leonard's $5 million cap it anyway.

It's just that now they will be able to actually accrue space, which they can bank towards something later in the season. But that's meaningful. Either way, they were able to replace his $5 million, so that part hasn't changed. There's not a net. It's not like they're suddenly operating at, they were operating at, or now they could operate at $93 million instead of 88.

It's just, it's, it's, there's nuance involved here. We are speaking to Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I know that there was a lot covered at the Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday. One of the bigger narratives that wasn't just at the Board of Governors, but throughout this preseason is the preseason. The length of it, the amount that teams are playing, the amount of injuries that have been accrued, the amount of guys that are being held out. JT Miller still hasn't made his preseason debut for the Vancouver Canucks.

What are you hearing about how NHL clubs and maybe the NHL might address the preseason moving forward? Well, they engaged in some conversation in previous years about it. This is obviously a collectively bargained issue and someone at some point is going to need to replace the revenue as part of the pie if you were to shorten the preseason in a significant way. So that part needs to be managed. The NHLPA is canvassing its members during their fall tour,

which began with Buffalo and Prague yesterday. And I think ultimately where it will end up, probably starting in 2026, when the first year of the new CBA is, is something like a maximum of four preseason games. And in exchange for shortening it or essentially cutting it in half, the league will get two additional regular season games to bring it to an 84 game schedule. I think it's in the best interest of everyone.

The NHL is preseason. It's such a farce. 84 game schedule. I think it's in the best interest of everyone. The, the NHL is preseason. It's such a farce. The fact that the, the New Jersey devils have been in Europe for a week yet have played multiple preseason games in North America since then just gives you an indication of how much of a farce it is. Right.

Like how, how insane is that the team is not even on this continent yet quote unquote the team i'm doing air quotes is playing preseason games against the rangers and flyers right come on so it's in everyone's best interest to change this and look at it from you mentioned miller i'm glad you did because earlier in the week maybe on monday or tuesday i was just checking in on miller's injury situation and i i placed a couple calls and the answer i got was did you see drew dowdy get hurt and patrick liney like you know yes jt miller was a little banged up, but why would we, teams are starting to ask the question,

why would we subject our stars to this? And then somehow there's Connor McDavid saying, oh, I'd actually like to play more preseason games. We're speaking to Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. One Canadian team that I'm kind of intrigued by this year, in part because their head coach is Travis Green. He was a former head coach of the Vancouver Canucks.

But also because I'm constantly waiting and waiting and waiting for them to take the next step is the Ottawa Senators. I know you spent a lot of time in Ottawa for this Season 3 premiere of Frankly Speaking. I know that you talked to Brady Kachuk and some others. What sort of sense did you get out of Ottawa about this year and the excitement level going into the possibility of finally getting back to the playoffs? Well, it feels like a different camp, for one.

And I also spent time with Travis Green, and he's putting them through the paces. There is a significant amount of work being put in that I don't want to say there was a sense around the Sens that they needed to grow up. But I think everything needed to be more detailed. And I think Travis Green has seen that. He said one of the favorite things that he's experienced since being in Ottawa is that he's taking on a team that knows that the reason that they haven't had success is on them that they are they have open ears open minds and they're ready to learn which is probably half the battle for a coach at times is getting a group to be in that position so they've made some key additions uh

i think david perron not just from a play, but from a leadership perspective, is going to be really important. They've obviously changed the goaltending situation with Linus Olmark, who needs an extension, by the way. And I'm with you, though. I've been sort of one of the people the last couple years that's picking the sends to, hey, this is finally going to be their moment. And Brady Kachuk actually stopped me in my tracks when he said this is year seven for him in the NHL. It's crazy how fast that goes. It's crazy how little the Sens have had to show for it. I think they're going to take a step, but I just, I don't have them as a playoff team this year because I don't know who to pick that's coming out.

I already have the Lightning missing the playoffs, but I've got Buffalo going in, and I think Buffalo is a ways ahead of Ottawa. One of the teams that could fall out, I suppose, is Boston, given what's going on right now if things go south with Corpus Allo. What's the latest on jeremy swayman and the boston bruins if anything so i'm actually in boston today and i'm heading over to the rink shortly to spend a day with the bruins and my understanding is

for as big a blow up as this week has been the two sides remain in communication it's pretty cordial and they're still talking still working so that part is i think a positive if you're a bruins fan but i gotta say watching their preseason game and seeing that sign up against the glass on the boards right behind the net take 64 or go the bruins have really changed the dynamic in this market for swayman the heat has definitely been turned up and the temperature has been ratcheted up on swayman i i think that they're not insanely far apart. And I know that sounds funny to say, given the commentary this week. But there's a path to get a deal done. And my guess is that cooler heads will prevail at the end of this.

Does it add more pressure on Swayman if he takes the deal? And then all of a sudden, you know, there's some ammunition there. Bruins fans, for example, weren't always the kindest to Tuka Rask, not for anything related to the contract, but it can be a tough city to plan. It can. I think there's going to be pressure there either way. Yeah.

Whether he takes it at 64, whether the number, if that's what it ends up being, the number gets ratcheted up a little bit more than that, which I think is a pretty good likely possibility after Cam Neely's outburst. It's almost like there's going to be a couple million extra dollars for some pain and suffering over the eight-year deal that's going to end up being slid towards Swayman's way. I will say, though, I think he's got a really good chance to live up to it not just this year

but over the course of the deal we have to remember the salary cap environment is going to be changing rapidly by year five of this eight-year deal it's probably going to be in the 105 to 110 million range eight million is going to look a lot different then and beyond that i think the bruins have to me the best top four defense with the addition of zadorov that is outside of buffalo which sounds funny to say which is why i have the sabers making the playoffs but this this bruins team is, I think, pretty significantly improved from last year with Lindholm and Zdorov.

Well, it all gets underway next week, and that'll be the next time that Frank joins us on the program. It'll be a Wednesday hit next week, not a Friday. And Frank, on behalf of everyone here at the show, we're very happy to have you back. The inbox is just like, welcome back, Frank. Great to have you back on the show. They all love you, Frank.

I'm sure that's exactly what it does. Thanks for doing this today, bud. We appreciate it. We'll talk next Wednesday. See you, buddy. See you, guys. Thanks. Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

We said prior to the hit, let's hear them out. And hopefully everyone will come to an agreement that we're all good. That didn't happen either. The anger in the inbox over the Lehner situation has been replaced by anger towards Frank. Coming up next on the Halford & Brough Show, Bill Daly, the Deputy Commissioner of the NHL. Yeah, you're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Hey, it's Jamie Dodd. And Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 7.31 on a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford and Brough Show. Let me tell you, it is muy caliente today. Does Bill Daly know what he's walking into here? Frank Cervalli's my opening act? Alfred and

Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program. As mentioned, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly is going to join us in just a moment here,

live from Prague, where the NHL is in the latest iteration of its global series. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominick from Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, definitely don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Just kidding. Let him do it. Visit him at Jason.Mortgage. To the phone lines for you. Just kidding. Let him do it. Visit him at jason.mortgage. To the phone lines we go. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Bill, or I suppose good evening, Bill, where you are.

How are you? Thanks for joining the show today. Good morning, guys. I'm well. How are you? We're good. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We mentioned to the listeners that you were joining us from Prague, where the

latest iteration of the Global Series for the NHL is underway. The Sabres and the Devils are going to play a pair of games in Prague. My question for you is, with this Global Series, how far or where else is the NHL thinking about going? Because we saw the NFL this year, they went to Brazil.

I realize now that in a month the NBA is going to play a game in Mexico City so you know the globalization of each league is a big thing I'm just curious what the NHL might have in store moving forward yeah great question and you know it's something we think about and talk about every day obviously last year we were able to bring two teams to Australia, which was the first major professional sports league to bring teams to Australia, I think, in about a decade. So we're all out there.

We obviously want to bring our game to places where it matters, places where it potentially could grow our business. And, you know, currently we're in Prague. I think it's the fourth or fifth time we've brought regular season games to Prague. Great response here in terms of people wanting to engage. So it's, you know, it's certainly on our list of things we want to do. When you ask the teams to do it, are they excited or are they kind of like, fine, this sounds like a hassle and it might affect our season, but we will do it. Great question. And I think we get a little bit of both.

Certainly before it was a bigger issue than it is currently. Now I think most of the clubs feel like, one, they're expected to do this, but two, we'll make it work and we'll make it work in a positive way. I mean, the Devils have been here since last week. They played an exhibition game in Munich, opened the building there in Munich. Actually, I'm sorry, the Sabres did that, not the Devils. And it was a tremendous experience for them. So, you know, it changes year by year, but I think for the most part, players and the clubs have bought in.

Bill, we've been talking a lot on this show about the Robin Leonard resolution with the Vegas Golden Knights. I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that Canucks fans aren't entirely happy to hear the news. Penalty's cap recapture in the Luongo situation, and they feel, rightly or wrongly, that Vegas is getting away with it again because they won't have a cap charge on Robin Lehner this season. What can you tell the listeners about this situation? There's not a lot I can tell the listeners about this situation, other than the fact that there are a lot of facts involved here that I can't disclose and I can't

discuss with anybody and that are confidential with respect to the players. Look, at the end of the day, we had to wrestle a situation in the ground. We had to deal with the facts that we were faced with.

Las Vegas had certainly a lot of ability to argue for the treatment they're getting. And at the end of the day, that's where we came out with the Players Association, based on all the facts and circumstances. So, you know, the fact that I can't disclose the facts and circumstances is unfortunate, but I would tell you that the resolution that we ended up with, I'm happy with. Is there any concern from around the league that this creates, or maybe from the league, that this creates a precedent where other teams could use this situation and get out of contract situations that are not good for them? Yeah, no, look, we, look, we face these issues every year,

and we have to evaluate them. I would tell you that, like, personally, difficult situation, difficult issue, difficult resolution, but happy with where we came out. So I don't think in terms of how other clubs have to approach this, they would approach it the same way. And we'd make a decision and agreement with the Players Association. Ultimately, we have to do that. That's in the best interest of the sport.

That's what I'd say. We're speaking to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Bill, we'll maybe shift off the laner part of this, but still stay on LTIR and accruing cap space, and then eventually as it leads into the playoffs

for some of these teams. I know it's been a topic of conversation about addressing it or altering it. I know you also just had the Board of Governors meetings. So I guess it's a two-part question for me. One, what was the tone and tenor of those conversations? And two, who's leading the charge primarily to make some sort of alterations to LTIR? Fair questions. Obviously, I don't even think I reported on this issue to the board, which I think is symbolic of the fact that while it might be an issue of interest to people around the league and potentially the media.

It's not a huge priority for the Board of Governors in terms of dealing with it, which I would tell you means that it's not, you know, it might be an irritant to some clubs and some seasons, but it's not like a high priority item. Having said that, we have canvassed the general managers. I'd say the majority of general managers would like the issue to be at least talked about and addressed. And that's what we'll do with the Players Association at the appropriate time. Could that time be the CBA negotiations?

Because we heard Gary Bettman the other day saying that he'd like to start CBA negotiations in the new year. And he even suggested that maybe we could have a deal done by the Stanley Cup final. Now, he allowed that the NHLPA is also party to this negotiation, so they may feel otherwise on that situation. But my roundabout question is, do you guys want to get the CBA done before you expand because that seems to be how the nba has done things they wanted to get their cba done they wanted to get their rights deal done because in vancouver we've been waiting for the seattle supersonics to come back and um

is that a similar way that you're going to approach things with expansion in the NHL? Well, I guess what I'd tell you, and very honestly, this would be the case. One has never been connected to the other. So would we like to get an extension on our CBA? Yes. Or we have a good relationship with the Players Association. I think it would be great if we had labor stability

for a long time. I think it would be good for our business. I think it would be good for the players. Has that ever been tied to expansion or our view of expansion? The answer is no. So obviously we have received various people who want to engage with us on expansion, potential possibilities in cities and the like.

We listen to those. We'll continue to listen to those. But none of that is tied to, at least currently, none of that is tied to CBA. Bill, if the NHLPA were to come to you in negotiation and say, we want some of that expansion money, would the relationship between the NHL and the NHLPA still be good? That's a fair question.

It has not happened. Okay. And to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what our reaction would be to that, but it hasn't happened at this point. Okay, but is it fair to say that the NHL would not be particularly enthused with that suggestion? Well, it's not something that's ever happened before in any sport, so I would start there. And then, you know, we'd figure it out.

Look, we have a good relationship with our Players Association currently and want to keep it that way. And we're willing to discuss anything. But that would be unusual for sure. What do you base the good relationship on? Why do you say that? Look, I think we have leadership in place at the National Hockey League Players Association that is conducive to wanting to work with us and move forward. I think they understand probably for the first time ever that our system is such that they should be trying to do everything within their power to help us maximize revenues. And when we maximize revenues, it's good for the players and it's good for the owners. So I think we finally reached that stage in our evolution

that that's where the Players Association's mindset is at, and that's a good thing for us. So when you say that the players are helping out with the maximizing of revenues, does that include things like participating in the documentary that Amazon has? Is that what you're talking about? 100% yes.

The answer is yes. I think our players and our players' association stepped up because obviously this was done with the players association, um, that, uh, the players wanted to cooperate, wanted to be, um, parts of this series, um, and wanted to help promote the sport. So, um, a hundred percent, uh,

that's part of it. And they want to do everything they can to try to reach new fans and grow the sport and grow the popularity of the sport. And that's going to be important for us, for sure. I wanted to ask you about some of these tech companies that are getting involved with Major League Sports, whether it's Amazon or, or Apple, we've got the Vancouver whitecaps in town and in MLS. And a lot of people have actually complained about their deal with Apple

because, you know, it takes the, takes the team off of quote unquote regular TV and you have to pay an extra price for whatever they call MLS seasons pass on on Apple you're going to be renewing or redoing the Canadian TV rights deal in a couple years and I got to be careful how I put this because I work for Rogers but do you have to be or are you cognizant of the fact that it is actually quite a bit more challenging for fans to be able to watch all the sports that they want in terms of the financial outlays like mike is a huge soccer fan and how many subscriptions do you have to watch soccer

five you have five subscriptions to watch soccer is that something something that you guys discuss when you go into these media rights negotiations? The answer is yes. Obviously, we're cognizant of that. It's important to our fan base. We have to be at least cognizant of what they're dealing with, what they have to deal with, what they will have to deal with in terms of whatever we agree to. Having said that, I guess I would say, you know, we're not the first league involved in that analysis and discussion. discussion and the National Football League and Major League Baseball and the NBA all have to deal with the same issues. So I guess what I'd say is, yes, we're cognizant of it. We're respectful of it. But at the end of the day, you know, we have to do the best deals in our judgment that are good for the clubs. So I guess that's where I'd leave it. What's it been like working with Amazon?

Is it a different attitude that these tech companies bring? Are they, you know, do they have some new ideas that maybe you'd never even considered? Because they are massive companies, and they have a lot of smart people working for them, and they're obviously revolutionizing the way business is done around the world. Yeah, I'm not sure, you know, much different than dealing with any other entity that wants to own your rights and distribute them. You know, they have different ideas, for sure. They have a different context in which they're coming from.

But at the end of the day, you know, they're not much different than other rights holders who want to distribute your product. So it's been fine, good. I welcome the fact that we have different players at the table. I think that's helpful for sports leagues. I think it's helpful for fans. So it's all good. And we'll see how it plays out.

We're speaking to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. When the season opens up on Tuesday, the North American version, of course, there's going to be a very interesting game in Utah. It's a 7 o'clock puck drop our time. It conor mcdarden chicago blackhawks in utah for the first ever game in utah regular season version uh again another two-parter um how regularly are you checking in with the progress of the utah hockey club and how would you classify the progress of the

utah hockey club up to this point so I'd say regularly we're plugging in. Having said that, I would say to this point, you know, our check-ins have been what we would have hoped they'd be, which is kind of progress reports toward an end resolution. We have no reason to be concerned about anything they're doing. And quite to the contrary, we're very excited about what's going to happen next Tuesday night on puck drop. So they're ready to go.

It's been a fantastic transition, and we're looking forward to the results of that. Is there any irony in the fact that you went for, I know they aren't technically the same franchise as the Coyotes, but you started in Phoenix. This was a while ago now at America West. Was it called America West? And it was a basketball-only arena,

and that necessitated the need for a new arena, and we all know what happened with that search for the arena. You did get one that didn't work out in Glendale, and then you went down some other avenues. Ultimately, you end up in Utah, and now you're starting at a basketball-only arena. That actually reminds me of America West Arena. What are the plans for a new arena in Utah? Because obviously you don't want to be, for the rest of the Utah future in Salt Lake, you don't want to be in this arena.

So fair question. Actually, the non-NHL-specific venue issue, a lot different in Delta Center in Utah than it was in Arizona, where the arena floor was too small to accommodate hockey. Totally different in Utah. The issues are different. What I would say is not only am I not concerned about them, but the renovations that need to accommodate hockey-specific fans are like one-third done. So we're already one-third into the renovations they need to make to accommodate hockey fans.

I'm not really concerned about that. And quite frankly, they already have beaten by a large margin what Arizona would have accomplished this year in terms of revenue. Bill, we both want to thank you very much for taking the time to do this. Before every season, you always carve some time out of your schedule to speak with us, and we just want you to know it is very much appreciated. Enjoy your time in Prague, and best of luck on another NHL season. Thank you, guys.

I appreciate you having me. Thanks, Bill. That's Bill Daly, NHL Deputy Commissioner here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So, I know. You didn't get the answers you wanted. Bill Daly. Well, no one's going to get the answer they want because they're not going to get the

answer they want. Yeah. What's the answer they want? We favor Vegas. Yeah. Vegas will no longer have a salary cap. You got a sat one team, though. Between...

Well, I give them credit for admitting it. Between Frank and Bill. Wow, I give him credit for admitting it. Between Frank and Bill, between Frank and Bill, and then the audio that we played from Elliot Friedman, cannot give you, the listener, more information, more reasoning, and more explanation than that. If you're not happy with it after all that,

okay, I'm not going to try and cram more information down your throat. I do wonder if this could be precedent setting in some sort of way. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and say like, yeah, this is all understandable and anyone who's angry about this has no right to be angry about this. The cap recapture penalty that the Canucks got hit with was vengeance from the league. It really was.

It really was. I will get my revenge. They signed Luongo to a contract. They were told not to sign. Yes, but it was legal at the time. They signed it. They were upset that certain teams, including the Canucks,

were taking advantage of what they saw as a loophole. And then they got back at them. So if the NHL is shocked that Vancouver sometimes thinks that it's the victim in this, they shouldn't be. Well, okay. Let's moving past that. Cause I, to be fair, I don't think the Luongo recapture is,

it's all part of the same thing though. No, I know, but it's all part of the same thing, but it's bringing up past ghosts. Yeah. If you want to focus a lot of ghosts, but if you want to focus on something tangible and real, that would be looking forward as opposed to looking in the past, you hit the nail on the head. Would this set a precedent? And the one loophole that I see right now is everyone seems to say that Vegas and the NHL agreed that this was unique and non-precedent setting.

And my immediate response to that is like, what about the 31 other teams? Have they agreed to it? You would seemingly have to have sign-off from everybody for it to be non-precedent setting. You know what? That's the next element of reporting that I want to hear is what do other teams think about this? That brings some cap relief for the whole class.

The reason that I asked Bill, we're on a first-name basis now, the reason that i asked bill we're on a first name basis now the reason that i asked bill about um who's leading the charge with altering ltir at all is because i'm not sure exactly who is pushing back against it i know the teams that are in favor of keeping ltir as it is right now but i don't know the oilers with a vander can they're like i like the rules you know what i mean he did say the majority of GMs do want it adjusted. And I think the- He didn't say the majority.

He did. He just said GMs. He said- He didn't say how many. Do you think the solution is going to be related to, like, remember when they brought in the rule about you skip the All-Star game and you're not hurt, you don't have a good reason, then you got to miss the next regular season game? Do you think that'll ultimately be

what happens here you if you finish the season on ltir then you have to skip the first one or two playoff games do you think that's how they do it here's the thing if you spend the last three months of the regular season on ltir helping your team accrue all this space so they make up and i would if i was a GM, I'd be like, you're sitting out game one. No problem. It would have to be something punitive. One game of the playoffs.

It'd be something, though. It'd be something. There would have to be a math, like an equation involved. Something involved where it's like the amount. That'd be bad for you, buddy. Two games is pretty punitive. That'd be bad if the math had to.

I don't think you can play at all. I think the system is too complicated for you already. There's going to have to be a ratio of how many regular season games you miss to how many playoff games you miss. I think they're going to do something with LTIR in the new CBA. They could always do it before the CBA is negotiated, but it would probably be just convenient if they did. Speaking of getting confused by math,

Rick Dollywell is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.