Halford & Brough in the Morning - Shoot. The. Puck.

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports (3:00), they talk a disappointing Saturday night Canucks loss to the Kraken (6:00), plus they discuss potential moves ahead of the trade deadline with Sportsnet NHL analyst Nick Kypreos (26:49). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- Stevenson Nista comes right point, but turn with a drive, he scores! It's one of those things, you know, the moments are there, we just couldn't capitalize. Good morning Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Monday, happy Monday everybody, it is Alfred and his bruv, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Lydie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halifred and Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. We got a lot to get to on the show today.

No messing around. We have a ton of things that we need to discuss from the weekend that was. It is a hockey heavy show on a Monday as we get closer and closer to Friday's NHL trade deadline. The guest list is gonna begin today at 6.30. Nick Kiprios, yes, Kipper, from Real Kipper and Born on Fan 5.9, he is gonna join us.

We'll ask him what he's hearing about the Vancouver Canucks heading into the March 7th trade deadline. We can also get his thoughts on the flurry of activity over the weekend. Lots of deals went down, including that big Seth Jones to Florida deal. Nick Kipper, he was at 6.30 this morning. 7.30, Eric Francis from Sportsnet in Calgary is going to join the program. The Flames are struggling right now and they're struggling to score, but they did enter the weekend holding the second and final wild card spot in the West,

snatching it away from your Vancouver Canucks in the process. So we'll ask Eric what the plan is moving forward, what their plan is moving into Friday's deadline. That's at 7.30. At eight o'clock it's Satyar Shah. Sportsnet 650's very own is going to join us at eight o'clock it's Satya or Shaw. Sportsnet 650's very own is gonna join us at eight o'clock. We will reflect on Saturday's 6-3 loss in Seattle,

which capped off a lousy road trip for the Vancouver Canucks. Halford, are you seeing the Dunbar Lumber text line already? 650, 650, if you want to text in. Oh my. Like it's, we're two minutes into the show. Oh my. Like it's, it's, we're, we're two minutes into the show. Oh my. A lot of positivity.

And it's just filling up. It's just like, first one I look at, just wondering, when do we burn this team to the ground? Morning boys, you guys need to rip into the management. And then this one, please don't talk about the Canucks today. Well, failed on that third one, I'll tell you that. I already mentioned them a couple of times. And here's Phoenix, Mount Brough, Mount Brough,

Mount Brough. I'm not going to Mount Brough over this team. He's got three clap your hands. We are beyond that right now. Sat is going to join us at eight o'clock. We'll look back on everything that happened in Seattle and then the road trip at large, which was just a disaster coming out of the four nations face off. That's at eight o'clock. Eric Francis is at 730. Nick Kiprios is at 630. We got a lot to get into with the Canucks and around the National Hockey League as well. So without further ado, laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action

because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed it? You missed that? What happened? the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Despite that one text that suggests that we don't start with this, we are going to start with the Vancouver Canucks. Ely Tolvinen scored two goals for the Seattle Kraken in a 6-3 win on Saturday night at Lemon Pledge Arena

in the L.A. in the L.A. in the L.A. in the L.A. with the Vancouver Canucks. Ely Tolvinen scored two goals for the Seattle Kraken in a 6-3 win on Saturday night at Lemon Pledge Arena in Seattle. While Pugh Suter, Phillip Heidel and Dakota Joshua did score for the Canucks, it was not enough.

And as a result, the Canucks are yet again on the outside looking in at a playoff spot with roughly 20 games to go in the regular season. Suffice to say this team is in a bad way. They have one game left before Friday's trade deadline and if you're management, you've got to decide now how important it really is to make the playoffs. I've got a spoiler alert for you though. Making the playoffs has never not been important to the Canucks under this ownership group.

They have never suggested that making the playoffs isn't a priority. It's true. Even during what's remembered as the rebuild, they were doing their best to ice a competitive team that could play in the postseason. So I'm not sure why things would be any different now, based on what I've heard, the Connects are

trying to bolster their forward group. How do they go about doing that? I don't know. Do they trade better and use the return to acquire somebody else? That's kind of a move that they like to make. Do one trade, get some futures, and then people are like, oh, what's going on in the draft?

Well, don't bother. Cause we're using that first round pick, we're sending it out the door. Do they use their actual first round pick? It's also possible. Don't shoot the messenger texting into the Dunbar Lumber text line. Until the philosophy of the Canucks changes, I

think we should expect the same philosophy that they've always had, which is to never wave the white flag on a season, especially one where the post season does remain a realistic destination. Now, does this last road trip change that philosophy? Possibly. If ever there was a reason to wave the white flag, that road trip combined with the fact that Quinn Hughes

is nowhere close to a hundred percent, and we'll get into that in a bit. Yeah. That was it. Saturday's loss in Seattle was downright ugly. People can say the Canucks played well, they dominated the Kraken fine. They lost six to three to one of the worst

teams in the NHL. In the final two games of that road trip, the Vancouver Canucks were outscored 11 to five against two of the worst teams in the NHL. In the final two games of that road trip, the Vancouver Canucks were outscored 11 to 5 against two of the worst teams in the Western Conference. And yet again, Elias Pettersson found himself in the crosshairs after another, let's call it a concerning performance. We're going to play two clips from Rick Tocquett's availability Sunday after practice.

We're going to play two clips from Rick Tuckett's availability Sunday after practice. Pedersen wasn't named directly by Rick Tuckett, but it's obvious who he was talking about. Okay. This first one, um, was about Tuckett when I started his availability talking about moments. And he said that hockey is a game of moments. And he's saying, look, I'm into analytics.

I think that, you know, that's important. You got to add up your scoring chances for, and add up your scoring chances against, and the teams that, you know, end up in the positives of those categories typically do well, but you also have to own the moments and we're just going to play this back and forth and we got the question in there too,

right? So here's a question and it was basically about, um, the Canucks went up three, two in this game on a shorthanded goal and that in theory should have been a big moment for the Canucks. Rick, when you talk about moments, like a shorthanded goal to go up three to two felt like it probably should have been one of those moments last

night. Is that sort of disappointing that you weren't able to harness that and use that as momentum? Well, yeah, of course. Anytime that something good happens, you want that momentum, but you know, you lose a draw, but you still got to make sure you know, you, you know, you, uh, we call it stunt your man or stay with your man you leave your man they get it like these little moments that you know they tip they had three tip pucks last game you know whether it's bad luck whatever we

still gave it to him so yeah moments in the game Halford yes Jason who lost the draw oh, was it Elias Pedersen? Who didn't stay on his man? Yeah, they spot shouted it after the game. Yeah. Jujuce and Gazdik, I won't even say his first name because it draws the ire of locals, although the last name will as well. The panel spot shouted it after the game, like right away. Okay. We're going to play a, another clip here. Um, and this is about, uh, needing to shoot the puck. And I want you to hear the whole thing. Okay.

Um, because this is another comment directly aimed at Alias Patterson. You know, I just think, uh, you know, I just think what you know We had a couple of guys like you're down the pipey how to shoot the puck You know, there's no reason to pass and that's why I have a tough time of confidence Like I rather just guy just rip the shot but rip it and hit the net we have people going to the net That's how you get back and that's how you that's how you get out of slump It's you know from my experience and even my career You're not gonna get a pretty goal to get out of a slump.

It's usually off of your skate. It's a three foot rebound goal, but you gotta get there. And you gotta be willing to have the courage to shoot those pucks, you know? But you gotta move your feet. You know, like I said, everyone's all these fancy offensive system. I just came from Four Nations.

Conor McDavid just attacks and he shoots the puck. There's no like a tic-tac-toes. It's the same thing with us. You, you, we got to deliver pucks to the net. You got to be willing to get there and you got to be willing to rip pucks and have all those details to do that. That was the story of the season right there in a minute.

There was a lot in there and it all came from maybe the most discussed play of the night, which came near the end of the first with the Canucks on the power play. Pedersen had the pocket of the point with tons of space to attack. He started towards the net, looked like he was going to shoot and he just couldn't pull the

trigger on it. There was traffic in front of the net and a clear shooting lane, despite what some people said on social media. You're never going to get the most clear shooting lane, but that was about as clear as it. And if you move your feet, you can find that shooting lane.

I also want to just point out. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're talking about like, it was a clear shooting lane. I think we should also point out that deferring was an awful option. There was too many bodies and there was too many people in the way. Like shooting was the only option in that instance.

I mean, he never, he never actually found anyone to pass the puck to. No, because there was no one to pass the puck to. Just shoot the puck. It doesn't have to go in, but you got to shoot it. That's where we're at right now with Pettersson. And anyone who watches that play and thinks, well, he's clearly injured.

I think we'll just have to disagree there. This is a confidence thing and it's playing out in front of our eyes. Um, that line about everyone wants a fancy offensive system, Tuckett has clearly heard the criticisms. He's basically saying, you can drop the fanciest system in hockey history. It can be running gun, it can be,

you don't even have to play defense. If your star forward isn't willing to shoot the puck when he's got the chance to shoot the puck, it won't make a lick of difference. And if you go into the Canucks account on Axe, and you watch Rick talk it, he's beside himself. He's just like, ugh, everyone wants an offensive system. And he's basically saying, look,

I just came from the Four Nations. Connor McDavid, when he finds the space to attack, he shoots it, because it said the same thing about Nathan McKinnon. That's how he won the tournament. You just want to shoot. That's how he won the tournament. Shoot in the puck.

You know, and I, this whole thing too is like, it begs so many questions about what are the Canucks going to do at this deadline? Like I hear they want to add a top six forward. Is that going to make Pederson shoot the puck? Yeah, is Ricard Raquel going to change things for this team? Seriously, like that's got to be top of mind there.

You know, now some of that criticism might have been directed a little bit Brock Besser and we can talk about him, but it's so clear right now that the Canucks are not going to have a dramatically different offense unless Elias Pedersen dramatically changes himself. And everyone that wants to put this at the feet of the head coach, I will say again, is woefully

wrong and it's inaccurate and it's misguided and it's off target. It just, I don't know how you can watch what's happened this season, especially with some of the higher paid guys and say that this is a coaching and system and deployment issue. And even if you do,

then go back and tell me which coach of this particular core of players has really unlocked the mystery, really figured out exactly how to get the most out of this group You know was it was it Bruce Boudreaux? Was it Travis Green because all of them tried and all of them tried different things and none of it led to sustained game over game

season over season success Right. I think that's an important thing to bring up when some people push back on talking. Like, well, other coaches have tried with this group just as hard with totally different philosophies and it hasn't worked. So at a certain point you do have to start looking at the roster construction of the players and putting the focus solely on them. And I think starting to redirect more and more criticisms

towards management with, which for me is probably eating some humble pie because I've been very complimentary of this management group, which for me is probably eating some humble pie because I've been very complimentary of this management group, but this year has been a genuine struggle for them. And their ownership of the Pedersen contract needs to be, I would say more emphatic, like they need to embrace that this was a mistake.

And if they're gonna salvage, if there's anything left to salvage, they're gonna need to figure that this was a mistake. And they, if they're going to salvage, if there's anything left to salvage, they're going to need to figure out a way to get out from under it, because I don't understand how this could continue to go forward the way that it is right now. Like to me, to me, the path of no resistance

here is the most insane one. The path of throwing your hands up and being like, well, that's what $11.6 million is gonna get us on a nightly basis. Let's hope it gets better. Seems like the most insane thing. It would make more sense right now to shut the player down and play out the rest of the season and say,

if it's health, physical or mental or both, go get it sorted. And maybe there's a chance of salvaging it, but having them play through seems like the least positive thing for the team because they're losing and the least positive thing for the player, because he's got nothing going forward. Like there's, there's no product at all.

I mean, they seem to be thinking that they just get, you got to work your way out of it. You got to work your way out of it. Well, I mean, they seem to be thinking that they just got, you got to work your way out of it. You got to work your way out of it. Yeah, I guess. There was- I guess. There were reports that Pedersen stayed on the ice late yesterday after practice and hopefully that's a start, but work, work, work, work, work your way out of it.

Sure. Go shoot pox and you know- But here's the hold on, but like keeping optimism for something that historically has never come to fruition seems crazy to me too. Like waiting for that next great thing or the next light bulb to switch on or. Are you talking about the core or are you talking about Pederson himself? Well, Pederson. Like he's got to keep working.

Pederson, Pederson himself, for sure. So what, stop working? Well, I mean, they gave another player. Go on a huge bender? They honestly, they gave another player a, uh, mid game, 10 game break to go figure some stuff out. So I don't know. Now that the precedent set there, why not try it again at this point?

Honestly, why not? It's just right now, I don't know if any of this is doing anybody any good. It's certainly not doing the team any good because they're losing hockey games with regularity. And I don't know if having Pederson in the spotlight, like the post game Saturday was a bloodbath.

The post game Saturday was a bloodbath. It's brutal. Right? You could spot shadow. They got a bunch of games at home coming up too. Like, is that going to get ugly? You could spot shadow every single moment on the ice where he looked like a shell of what he once was. And it's all out there for public consumption and everyone has the same take on

it. It's like, what is wrong? What the hell is going on? Right? We didn't even point to the ones that we were in our texts, right? Like he got bodied behind the net by Brandon Tanev. And then I think upon trying to get up, someone else just shoved him to the ground, like the old high school bully thing where you throwing a guy in a locker, kind of like kick him when he's down. It's, it is a tough watch.

You know, the kick me sign was a little much. Right? Right? Who even made that? He just patted his pants. Tannin did the entire time. And then to top all of this off, Friday is the trade deadline. And I am equal parts thrilled and terrified that I don't know what direction this team is going to go into with the

guys that are at the wheel, right? With Rutherford and Alveon at the wheel, you know that there's the possibility for some fireworks and for some major deals. I just don't know what direction they're going to go. Well, we're going to have to get to the Quinn Hughes injury at some point, but I do want to dip into some other stuff because everyone out

there knows Quinn Hughes is injured and maybe that does affect the Canucks strategy, the trade deadline. Who knows? Brock Besser is slumping as well. I don't know where Brock's head is at. I, you know, maybe he's checked out, maybe he's having trouble focusing five straight games on that road trip without a goal during which he's

totaled just five shots. And I think when Tauke says there's a couple of guys, one of them is definitely Pedersen, but the other one could easily be Brock Besser. He's also a team worst, minus 19 now. Don't like that. And again, here we are, don't shoot the messenger. That number I have heard does not sit well with management. Nor should it.

Plus minus is a flawed stat, even though Halford loves it. Love it. But when you've got Quinn Hughes at plus 10 and Besser at minus 19, it is tough to look past the discrepancy on that. So when are the trades going to happen? I'm a little surprised actually, we got through

the weekend without some sort of press release because I heard late Friday that there were a couple deals they were working on. Now the Canucks don't play again until Wednesday. So it's not like they had to get something done because they had a game Monday or whatever. I haven't heard anything since Friday. So your guess is as good as mine as to what happened to those potential deals.

The one thing I will say is I doubt Pedersen gets moved. If you're a playoff team, you can't make that move now. I mean, you could, but you'd be crazy. And if you're not a playoff team, you might want to just wait until the off season before you seriously consider taking that gamble. At this point, you'd have to be getting

Pedersen at a serious discount. If you're willing to shoulder the risk of his contract, it has gotten that bad. And the Four Nation showed everyone who was watching hockey, where his level was compared to the best players in the world. And obviously it was nowhere close and it's gotten worse since then.

So I think there were probably a lot of fan bases out there that before the Four Nations were like, and I know the fans don't make the trades, but the fans were kind of like, yeah, get Pederson out of Vancouver, it was JT Miller's fault or whatever. I haven't watched a Canucks game in five years, but I've heard he's pretty good, you know? And then they watch the Four Nations and they

hear about it a little more. They're like, actually, maybe not Pedersen. I've got a JT Miller update for later in the show as well. We'll table that one though, because since we are doing all Canucks stuff in the first half hour and you mentioned the injuries, we should probably give everyone an update.

I know a couple of people have already texted in to the Dunbar Lumber Text Line at 650-650 asking what's going on. So insult to injury or injury to insult I suppose over the weekend was that in the Vancouver Connucks 6-3 loss in Seattle on Saturday, Queen Hughes did not play the final half of the third period. He sat out the final nine minutes and five seconds of the third and yet again Hughes' health came under the spotlight because there were numerous camera shots of him

getting knocked to the ice and then laboring on the bench and then trying to stretch whatever was ailing him out but ultimately wasn't able to return for the last half of the third period. On Sunday at practice, the Canucks said that Hughes has listed his day to day with a new injury not related to the oblique strain that kept him out of the previous six games before the break and then of course all of the four nations.

Rick Taukett said that Hughes quote unquote tweaked something else and that his absence in the third period was precautionary. And then he said he's hopeful that he will be able to skate on Tuesday. So don't anticipate anything today, which is Monday of course. We'll see if Hughes can return to the ice on Tuesday.

Even if he does, I think it's safe to suggest that whenever he returns to the lineup, he will not be anywhere near 100%. That's your Demko for those that are wondering on his health. Quick recap in case you forgot, Demko has been out of the lineup since February the 8th and it is now March the 3rd. So we're coming close to a month from Demko being on the ice practicing with the team undisclosed injury Prior to the break when he got hurt against Toronto the team said that they were He wasn't gonna travel on that five game road trip, which is now over But they were hopeful that he'd be available to practice once the five game road trip was over. Well

They practiced on Sunday that your Demko wasn't there. Rick Tauket said it shouldn't be long before Demko is back on the ice practicing with the group, but they don't know when that is. He said Demko started skating a few days ago, so if you want to work in reverse from Sunday, you can try and figure that out. But Tauket said he's not exactly sure when Demko is going to return just to practice, nevermind availability for games. So does this cloud things going into Friday's deadline, the fact that Quinn Hughes is extremely banged up

and Thatcher Demko might not be playing for another week or two weeks? I don't know. I have no idea. No idea where this management group is at other than they feel like they want to make moves going into Friday. And as you pointed out right off the hop of this show,

there's sort of been an organizational mandate for as long as we can remember. The playoffs matter. And the Vancouver Canucks would like to participate in them on an annual basis. So what's the latest on the playoff picture? I mean, honestly, the weekend wasn't terrible in terms of scoreboard watching. Like Calgary, to give you an idea of how bad this race is, Calgary is playing lousy right now.

Calgary has one goal in its last three games. They got a tough, tough road trip. They did, but they scored no goals. They got shut out in back to back games in Florida. And then they lost two one in overtime to Carolina on the weekend. But that overtime point. That got them right back into the playoff spot baby.

And now you're looking at a Calgary team that had, they had a stretch that went I think 141 minutes, which stretched over four games where they didn't score a goal. Yet that one goal was enough to propel them one into overtime and then two past the Vancouver Canucks for the second and final wild card spot in the West Utah and St. Louis because Calgary and Vancouver haven't played very well lately, have been able to catch up and make this thing kind of close. Um, as of this morning, the blues are one point back of Calgary, uh, for the final wild card. So it goes Calgary, Vancouver, St. Louis,

the blues have more games played than anybody in the West though with 62. Utah also racked up a few wins over the weekend, although they lost on Saturday to New Jersey. So they're right in this as well. They've got 63. So they are two back of Calgary and Vancouver. They played 61 games. So in a very weird way,

the West has gotten more teams into the playoff chase, but they're all sort of like backing or midding their way into it. All the blues are playing well. They're six, two and two in their last 10. And I think Utah is playing well. They're playing okay. Yeah.

It's not lights out hockey. It's not like they're ripping off eight or 10 game winning stories. No, no, no, no. And both of them lost over the weekend. That's the funny part is that everything got close despite the fact that Calgary, Utah and St. Louis all lost their last game. So it's a bit of a turtle Derby in the West, but the connects are rightgary, Utah and St. Louis all lost their last

game. So it's a bit of a turtle derby in the West but the Canucks are right in the middle of it. We'll see how this week goes. They don't play again until Wednesday. We got a lot more to get to on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Nick Kipraos is coming up next. We're gonna go around the National Hockey League, look at some of the big deals that happen over the weekend and some of the big deals that may happen this week. Of course, it's 730. We're going to be joined by Eric Francis out of Calgary. And then at eight o'clock, Satyar Shah is going to join us for more Canucks talk. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show listen 4 to 6 p.m. Weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app 6.32 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halford Bravo Sportsnet 650. Halford Bravo the morning is. Halford Bravo of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Nick Kiprios from Real Kipper and Born

Fan 590 is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 1. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Friday's trade deadline is just creeping up on us. For more on what's going on around the National Hockey League trade-wise, Nick Kipperhills joins us now on the Halifogenbreath Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Kipper, how are you? I'm good. I'm good.

How's everybody out west? Angry. Angry. Angry. Not panicked, no. Some panic. Define panic. Define panic. Yeah, mostly frustration. I heard Friday that the Canucks were working on a couple of things, maybe looking to add

a top six forward, haven't heard anything since. What are you hearing on the Canucks? Yeah, I think what I'm hearing is I don't expect them to be ultra aggressive, but I don't expect them to wave the white flag either. So I don't know what that means. Maybe a few tweaks here and there outside of, you know, making a huge trade. Just the decision on Brock Besser again, will dictate a lot here to make a big trade and, and trade Brock Besser to

me, doesn't make any sense at all. I'm starting to lean towards maybe not getting a deal done by the end of the week for Brock Besser, but, but keeping them anyways. Doesn't that just give Besser more leverage in a negotiation? If you give him the opportunity to walk away for nothing and make management look real bad?

Yes, yes. But if it's enough to get them in the playoffs and possibly allow ownership to make a few extra bucks. I think it might be probably a path that they they're willing to go down. Um, playoffs are important this year too, to, to, uh, ownership, I think as well. So I think with it still wide open, the fact that they are losing and yet still very much in a playoff position, I cannot see them waving the white flag at this point. We're speaking to Nick Kiprio, SportsNet NHI Analyst here on the Halford and Bruff

Show on SportsNet 650. We saw the Seth Jones trade go down over the weekend, Kiprio, very, very big move by Florida who might not be done. So for those that missed it, the Jones trade happened and then shortly thereafter they put Matthew Kachuck on LTIR, you know, seemingly opening up his cap hit if they wanted to make another move and keep him on LTIR till the playoffs. That trade, when you heard it go down and then you were talking to people across the league, how big a reverberation did that one make?

Because that's a big ticket guy, that's a big contract going the other way, and Florida paid a pretty big price to get him in the door as well. Yeah, you know what, I can't, I don't think it's that big. I really don't. I think it's one of those trades where, you know, when we're talking about teams giving up a bottom third first round pick,

you know, you can go from you can go from the 20th overall to the 50th overall and the margin between those two players is minute so it's it's arguably a second rounder right that they're thinking of and Spencer Knight is one of those hot goaltenders that your dream that's coming out of college, that's the greatest thing since sliced bread. And, you know, he's battled. He's battled on the ice, he's battled off the ice. Chicago thinks they may have gotten their goalie

of the future, but he's a little risky, in my opinion as well. So once you get past a potential late first, second round kind of guy on a draft choice and a goalie, we're still not sure how great he's going to be. I think it's a terrific move by the Florida Panthers without giving up too too much here and it really reiterates that they're going for back-to-back Stanley Cup seasons moving forward and as you mentioned with Kachuk gone till at least the playoffs it may free them up to go get some more help. The team that Florida beat in last year's Stanley Cup final the Edmonton Oilers we

did a you know check in on Edmonton last week with Jason Greger and it's been a tough go for them. For Connor McDavid, by his standards, all season, but they've had some really, really consecutive, they've strung together consecutive losses after the Four Nations face-off break. What do you make of McDavid's season? And again, like by normal people's standards, it's still a great year, but by McDavid's standards, even he said it, he struggled a little bit. And the Oilers don't feel like

they're in a great way right now. And they've also got this Evander Kane situation to deal with. Yeah, that's a lot on the plate. But let's just deal with Connor, first of all. And the ask that's constantly on this guy from the Edmonton Oilers to the league to carrying a Four Nations tournament to doing all Oilers to the league to carrying a four nations

tournament to doing all the interviews to the publicity and all of it. I see a brick wall that he's hit mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, say what you will, but this guy, I cannot believe the Edmonton Oilers didn't give him the weekend off coming off the four four nations Thursday night game back to back one o'clock starts. I think they're trying to get blood out of a stone right now and we know between him and Leon that that that they got it they've got to carry the bulk of it every night they're not allowed to be, or they're not allowed to have an off night on that hockey club, which again makes it very difficult

to continue to carry that weight on his shoulders. Now Leon certainly looks like he had a vacation. He certainly looks refreshed. You know, I'm watching him carry guys to the net on his back and still find ways to score. And he looks good, but Connor, unfortunately, not so much, but that's, that's the realities of, of the salary cap and balancing your great players to your, your seat fillers.

And Edmonton's got to deal with that between now and Friday on what they could do. As far as Evander Kane goes, this one's awfully strange to me. It's really strange. The whole thing is odd, right? It is because they could use his help. They could use his power, they could use whatever, you know, he brings to the table. And yet it doesn't sound like, you know, he's, he's a guy that they have big plans for between now and the end of the year. So are they trying to trade his rights? We heard from our Elliott Friedman on the weekend that there could be in a position to shop him around, but guys tell me, who's taking a Vander Cane right now?

Hasn't played a lick in what, nine months, 10 months? I don't even think he's had a practice yet. Who's going to trade for a Vander Cane? Well, the thing that confuses me is this notion that's out there that the Oilers don't know if they can spend the LTI space because they're not sure if a Vander is going to come to them with like five

games left in the regular season and be like, okay, I'm healthy, I want to play now. Like how has there not been some sort of agreement between the team and club? Are they pulling in the same direction or are they, does Evander Kane like, what's the relationship between player and team there? Because I mean, this wouldn't happen in Vegas.

No, you're making an excellent point that it's, it sounds like there's two different stories going on and it's almost as if a band are saying I'm healthy and ready to go now and they're going well we're not ready for you right now but where who's who's the deciding vote who gets to say who's healthy and who's not. Like if I'm the Edmonton Oilers, I'm sitting there going, I need more. I need more proof. How about practicing for two weeks or three weeks or how about a stint in the miners, a two-week conditioning stint where you go down and we start looking at you or, you know, I want 30 days of of practices you just can't drop in our lap and deem yourself healthy and ready to go so I'm wondering where this goes from here on end is

it a PA issue is it a league issue who decides who's healthy and who's not healthy. I want to turn our attention to another guy that's got some uncertainty about his playing future in an entirely different way but a lot of questions still bound about. Miko Rantan in Carolina. This one to me, not as weird as the Evander Cain situation, but still strange because it sounds like the Carolina Hurricanes are ready to give him pretty much whatever he wants financially, but it's hard to gauge whether this is a guy that says, I just want to take my time and I want to get acclimated and I want to figure this out,

or if it's a guy that is not entertaining extension talks because he doesn't want to be there, you're getting sort of mixed messages across the board. What are you hearing on the ranting in front? I'm hearing nothing's going to change this week. So ultimately the ball is in Carolina's court. What do you do? It's your move Carolina, Keep them or trade them. But let us know by Friday 3pm. And that's it in a nutshell. And again, gotta go back to Carolina Carolina making the move without really discussing the chances of signing him long term.

What a gamble. Like he went through it. Tom Dundon went through it with Gensel last season, guys, and got stuck with nothing. And there's a real possibility if he keeps him that that can happen again and what's what's Dundin's next move to go from a 12.5 AAV to 13.5 AAV or 14 match Leon Drysidles number one that's not his style okay that's not the way he conducts his business is just bringing the money up until he gets the guy. If that's the case, it wouldn't have taken Rod Brindlemore like two years to sign a new contract. So we are talking about baseball, football and basketball where the difference could be 25, 50, $100 million between different

offers from different clubs. We're talking about half a million dollars one way or another. So it goes back to does the guy envision playing the next seven years of his career, the bulk of his prime years with the Carolina hurricanes, were they ever in his plans? Were they ever an option for him in the off season? And as of now, the answer is no, I don't think so. You've had a month to sign him, right? And he said, and he hasn't signed.

So is anything going to change between now and July 1st, if you keep them on the hopes that he can change his mind? I'm not saying it's impossible guys. I'm not saying that he can't love Carolina if he stays and goes through a playoff series where they end up in the conference final and they're wheeling out a pig on a, on a wagon. Right.

Remember that? Yes. So like, you know, Hey, Tom, give it a try. Give it a try. That's, that's the best option you may have. Oh man. Okay. The trade deadline is Friday.

We'll figure out all the pig on the wagon and everything else. Then we got the week to go over it. Uh, Kipper, I know you're busy this morning. So one, thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. And two, enjoy the rest of the week and enjoy everything on Friday. Okay. And, and somebody, some listener out there, do your homework on the pig on the wagon. He had a name Ron McLean. I remember on hockey night. It was Ron McLean. Well, no, no, Ron McLean, Ron McLean did I remember on hockey night. It was Ron McLean. Well, no, no Ron McLean. Ron McLean did a whole segment on this pig on a wagon in Carolina.

You're in the playoff. Hamilton, Hamilton the pig. His name was Hamilton. Yeah. Thank you very much. I'm not crazy. Did Ron interview him? Kyle Vukoskis interviewed him.

Yes, Kyle interviewed him. Thanks Kip for inviting me. Say hi to Bourne for us. See you, Kip. See you buddy. I will. Thanks guys. See you.

Nick Kiprios here on the Alfred and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. What a pull. I totally forgot about Hamilton the pig. That was pretty good. Uh, we got a text in here. Do you think Ranton might want to go to free agency so he can go back to Colorado? I don't know. Maybe. Yeah, maybe. We got a text in here, do you think Ranton might want to go to free agency so he can go back to Colorado?

I don't know, maybe. Yeah, maybe. We always joke about that. Remember when guys get traded in the deadline and then they want to go back. But with this one, you got to wonder. He seemed genuinely disappointed and shocked that he got moved. Well so did McKinnon and so did Bednar. I mean it would be the greatest coup of all time from McFarlane in Colorado if he was

able to pull this off. Like you get Marty Natchez in. Have you met Marty? Yeah. We got him for you and now you're back. That's cool, right? It would be an amazing move. Um.

I don't know if they've got the cap space to do it. Who knows, but man. Here's the thing. They might. Like the one takeaway that I. Caps going up. The one takeaway that I had after the r going up. The one takeaway that I had after the Ranton

and trade was that Ranton came out and said, all of these reported asks and how much money that I wanted, it wasn't really that close to the truth. He was willing to negotiate, not necessarily take a hometown discount, but to make the money work so that he could play alongside Nathan McKinnon. Yeah, yeah.

You know? So it would be an amazing move by Colorado. Even though they're in the Western Conference and thereby one of the many roadblocks that the Vancouver Canucks have to go through, I wouldn't want to see it from that competitive angle, but in terms of playing chess, that would be an amazing, amazing managerial move. I'd be really impressed with that. Okay. We do have an open segment on the other side.

We've got a few minutes left in this one, but we do have an open segment on the other side. So if you've got any questions or comments, please text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650 Metro Vancouver's Trust of Choice for Contractors and Rent-A-Warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com.

Juan from Comox texts in and says, boys, can you address Rick Tocket? Give us a reason why he would resign after this disastrous season. Yeah. I mean, there's a little bit of confusion about his contract. You know, it's been reported that it's a team

option, but some people are reporting that he could still walk away from that if they say, all right, we're going to, we're going to say yes on the option. You know, without an extension, that would be a real slap in the face in my opinion, to Rick Tocket. Um, they say they value him so much, but a reason why he would resign after this disastrous season, money, if they unloaded

the Brinks truck. But right now, I mean, we just played Rick Tocque's audio from practice yesterday. And though he didn't name him, he basically, that whole thing was pretty much about Pedersen. So can those two coexist? Like it's getting to the point now where, you

know, if he had any hair, he'd pull it, he'd have pulled it out all out by now because he's probably like, am I taking crazy pills right now? People are blaming me for this? My star player is literally scared to shoot the puck. What am I supposed to do about that? And the other guy that was racking up points for us is now a member of the New York Rangers.

Right. And he's now racking up points for the New York Rangers. He has 12 points in 10 games. He had a goal and assist last night. Rangers beat the Preds for nothing. We're talking about JT Miller. And Miller also, his absence affects another one of their guys, Brock Besser. That was his running mate.

There are two interim coaches in the National Hockey League right now. One is Anders Sorensen in Chicago, and the other one that you're going to want to keep an eye on as it pertains to Rick Tocket is Joe Sacco in Boston. Their general manager of course is Don Sweeney, who of course was the general manager of Team Canada at the Four Nations faceoff. And Team Canada of course is Don Sweeney, who of course was the general manager of Team Canada at the foreign nations faceoff and Team

Canada of course brought Rick Tuckett onto the coaching staff as one of the assistant coaches under Don Sweeney for Team Canada at the foreign nations faceoff. I don't know if the roster in Boston would be enough to sway someone to leave a job and to take another one. Like Boston's in a bad way right now. Oh, that's cool.

Go from a team with no centers to a team with no centers. But I mean, you could make the argument that looking at the Canucks roster, you're not super, beyond Quinn Hughes, you're not super enamored either, right? That's fair. Yeah. You know? I think those are a wash, in my opinion.

What's that? Going from the Canucks to the Bruins. Sure. You're going to have the same issues. I think the point of that exercise is that the man would have options. I think Boston would hire Rick Tauke in a heartbeat if they could.

There's probably a reason that Joe Sacco is still wearing that interim tag on it. He wears it every game. He's forced to wear it. Does he have to wear it? He has to wear it so everyone knows that you're the head coach, but kinda, or you're the head coach until we get a real head coach.

And their season's pretty much cooked. I want to say. If you missed it over the weekend, Brad Marchand suffered a pretty significant injury and then missed their subsequent game. Um, they're obviously without Charlie McEvoy. They're obviously without Hampus Lindholm. They're out of the playoff picture right now.

And Sweeney's kind of already said, we're going to be more cautious at this deadline than we have in previous years. So it doesn't sound like they're going to do a bunch of, a flurry of trades to try and put them over the top and sneak into the playoffs. It sounds like it might just be resigned to their fate this year, ain't it?

I want to just comment a little bit on the Evander Cain situation in Edmonton. Sure. To me, this is wild that they don't seem to be on the same page. And there's all these reports about like, if they have Kane's LTIR available or if not, can you in your memory of hockey news in the last little while,

LTI is only, I think it's a fairly new thing. Ever remember a situation where a player was essentially threatening to say, I'm healthy and the team didn't really know if he was going to be healthy? Like, I mean, do we do, if this was going on in Vancouver, people will be going ballistic. Like that's what, five and a half million, is that his cap hit? Five and a half million of space, the oilers desperately need help.

Whether you want to bring in something else for the forward group, or you want to bring in some defensive help, they need help. I know. And they potentially got this LTI money, but not if Evander Cain, after the trade deadline goes actually I'm healthy and I'm ready to go and I want to play. And if I don't play, I'm going to make this thing a thing. I think that would be one of the most selfish things we've ever seen in the NHL.

Right. Because there was a, like an implication, you know, that maybe the reason he got his surgeries when he did, which was very late in the game. Like it's not like right after the Stanley Cup finally went out and got the surgery. Do you remember, do you remember when was it? It was in September and like, I think of Anderkin was just on like a golf tournament.

It was, it was the Scottie Pippen that I refer, remember Scottie Pippen quite famously when he got hurt in the playoffs with the Bulls and then he didn't get surgery until the starting training camp. And they asked him why. And he said, I didn't want to F up my summer. Right.

Like good answer. Good answer. But in, but in some ways I was actually wondering if that's the Oilers. Like take your time. We don't want you. I think, and I think. We don't want you around this team.

And then I think the agreement was- This is a Costanza situation. And the agreement- This is crazy, man. The agreement was from both parties to be like, okay, wait, right? And now I do wonder if Evander Kane's like, I did what you guys asked me to do, now you guys have to kind of reciprocate the favours that we're doing for one- Like I also get if you're Evender Kane, you want to play hockey.

He's got a you know, like this is I need to make some money. I've heard he needs to make some money. Right. Yeah. And if he's got one year left on his deal after this, and if he wants to perform in the playoffs, he probably wants some runway into the playoffs. But man, for this team to just be like, I don't know if we have that LTI space, it is truly bizarre.

I'm gonna say this, because we gotta put a bow on this conversation, but year one of the Stan Bowman era in Edmonton. Not going well. Has done nothing to validate his hire at all, right? The Holloway and Broberg thing has turned out to be a major headache for this team, because they could have definitely used both of them the two acquisitions that he had the the sort of premier signature ones in Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner have been

complete failures and It sounds like sounds like if he inherited a mess with in Vander Cain He didn't do a good enough job of cleaning it up because they're in a real situation there now. So Stan Bowman era in Edmonton, not off to a great start. This show's been off to a great start though. Hour one is in the books, hour two is coming up. We got an entire open segment.

We're gonna go around the National Hockey League. Not just bad news for one Hughes brother, health-wise over the weekend, but for two of them, we can get into that. There's a lot more that happened across the league as well. 730 Eric Francis out of Calgary, eight o'clock, Satyar Shah out of here in Vancouver.

You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Ron McClain did a whole segment on this pig on a wagon in Carolina during the playoffs. Hamilton the pig. Hamilton the pig? His name was Hamilton, yeah. Thank you you very much I'm not crazy Ron interview him hey the pigs acting kind of funny and mr. Simpson split a case of malt liquor

guys he's really sick hello that sounds like a pig fainting