Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 10/07/25

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk the Connor McDavid signing, plus they chat with NHL Deputy Director Bill Daly ahead of the start of the NHL season today. 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.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Trailer fell down on the play. Now he's going to try and run it. He did it. He was on touchdown. To the way here. Tommy Edmund, low throw, Freddie Freeman, with the scoop, and the ball game is over.

Pitch and a fly ball to center. Get well, PCA's back at the track. Whoa! Go on! Good morning, Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This Halford, it is Ralph. It is SportsNet 650.

We are coming alive from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Hey, dog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halifred and Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest. Two, much lower payments. And the Hattie, financial peace of mind. Visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are an 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 the Middle 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech, footwear, and orthotics working together with you in step. Well, it's NHL opening night, everybody. Well, here it's NHL opening day because the first game gets underway at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Pacific time. Happy NHL opening day slash night from the Halford-imbrough show on SportsNet 650. Our guest list day begins, fittingly, with Greg Wischinsky. ESPN NHL coverage.

Things get underway, as I mentioned, 2 o'clock our time today as the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers. Raise the banner also will host Connor Vardt and the Chicago Blackhawks. Then at 5, the Rangers and their new captain, J.T. Miller will host Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Then the nightcap at 7.30, Anze Kopitar's farewell tour begins as he and the Kings host Nathan McKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche. You can only watch one of those games.

What are you choosing? Ooh, good question Got to watch the Blackhawks I got Rangers Penguins Because the Rangers Better win that one First game

JT Miller Announced Captain In front of the home fans Is he healthy? Is he healthy? I think he's healthy enough to play Which teammate is he going to yell at tonight We'll have to tune in to see

But that's in theory That's a layup For the Rangers The Penguins are supposed to be One of the worst teams In the NHL this season Better win It's a very busy

sports night, by the way. Lest we forget, J's are in action, Mariners are in action. There's a lot going on tonight. So it's a wonderful time of year. I thought the Jays already won that series. Not yet. Not yet, my friends. I thought they won it with the weekend. No, the B. Oh, okay. New rule. They scored enough runs, so they just canceled the rest of the series. They merced the Yankees. Like a slow pitch softball tournament. They're like, don't show up Monday. Please no more. Please. 7 o'clock. Brendan Batchelchler, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks is going to joined the program. Yesterday, the Canucks made their 23-man opening-eye roster

official, highlighted, of course, by 18-year-old Braden Coots officially making the cut. We'll talk to Batch about that. We'll also set up Thursday's game. I did not realize how short-handed and tired the Calgary Flames might be. Tired? Yeah, they play

Wednesday. Oh, yeah. The Canucks get them on the same. The Canucks better win their first game. Forget about J.T. Miller and the Rangers, the Canucks better win that game. I had to double-check the schedule like six times. I'm like, are you're really getting them on the second of a back-to-back the first game of the year? It's amazing. The Kings play a back-to-back to start as well. They do. You're right. Because I was watching

the baseball yesterday and T&T was broadcasting that the King's game, I think they might be playing Vegas on Wednesday. And it's like, he started, who starts with a back-to-back? Apparently a couple of teams. Is that not a buzzsaw of a start to the season? You get Colorado and then you get Vegas. But anyway,

so also with the Calgary Flames, Jonathan Hubert was on IR from that injury that he suffered, running into Cavend-Lank, late in that 8-1 loss the other night. That's too bad for him. Yeah, it's brutal. Yeah. So we'll talk to Batch about that at 7 o'clock.

7.30, Julio Caravetta is going to join the program. Former BC Lions QB. Now, of course, on the Lions radio, he's a color analyst. We'll look back on Saturday's big win against the stamps at BC Place. We didn't talk a lot about it yesterday. It was a very busy day on a Monday here. Lions are on a buy this week before they return to action on Friday, October 17th, with another home date at BC Place, this time against the lowly Elks of Edmonton,

And we'll talk to Julio about all that at 7.30. Finally, at 8 o'clock in what has become a tradition here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly is going to join the program. Every year since we've joined SportsNet 650, Bill joins us to preview the NHL campaign, either on the day of the regular season or the eve of it. We can discuss the news and business from across the league, expansion, upcoming Olympics. Maybe Bill has some thoughts on the Connor McDavid extension in Edmonton. We certainly do.

So we'll talk to Bill about all that at 8 o'clock. So working in reverse on that guest list, 8 o'clock, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. 7.30, it's Julio Caravetta. 7 o'clock, it's Brendan Batchelor, 630, Greg Wushinsky. Loaded show today. Lots to get into. So without further ado, Laddy, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss it?

You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca. While this is your home of the Canucks Sportsnet 650, we are going to begin the show, not quite local. Keeping it in Canada, though, the biggest story across Canada yesterday and across the National Hockey League is that Connor McDavid signed his much and long-awaited contract extension with the Edmonton

Oilers, two years, 25 million, a 12.5 million dollar AAV to stick in Edmonton for this year and the two years following a shot to the Oilers organization saying, yay, we got the best player in hockey and he didn't ask for a raise, but now the pressure is on to win a Stanley Cup. So I'm sure group chats were going crazy yesterday. By the way, I think everyone has just moved their discussions off of X, and gone into their own private group chats. Just safer that way. That's my theory. It's a safer space.

And my particular chat had all sorts of stuff. There was some bitterness from the Canucks fans in there. There's one that went out that said, the Oilers get the best player on the planet for $12.5 million, and we get to pay OEL 5 million to not play for us. Connor McDavid is not even the highest paid player on his team. Again. And then there were a bunch of,

this wasn't necessarily in my group chat, but I did see it on social media with people saying things like, oh, the NHLPA must hate this. And my response to that was, I don't think the NHLPA as a collective cares. No. Again, it's 50-50 revenue split.

The players get 50% of the revenue. you. Now, the people that I would imagine might have an issue with this are the big, powerful agents that have big name guys that are about to sign big contracts. Because fair or not, fair or not, how does Caprizov look right now? A little big, I mean, look, I don't think this is fair? It's not fair. But there are people that are going to be saying, well, he's greedy. He doesn't want it as much as Connor McDavid. Some leader he is. Look at what Connor McDavid

did. Now I think as an agent for a player, maybe an agent for someone like, I don't know, Quinn Hughes is suddenly going to be in this position of like okay, how do we how do we negotiate this? Because we do want to get the most money for

our player. Is it that everyone that makes more than Connor McDavid that signs a deal now is greedy? Is that fair? Is that right? Is that legitimate? Is that accurate? It's all of the above. I think it adds to, and everyone will look at this differently, right?

I see it, I think it adds to the challenges, is what I would say, of deals that are already challenging. I think this is a very unique situation. I would agree. And one that might not come up too often because I think Connor McDavid, everyone looks at money differently. There are some people in the world that money is the most important thing. Look at the richest people in the world. They've got billions of dollars and what do they want? Billions more, right?

Sure, sure. There are some people, you know, that text into the show and all they care about is, if they were trying to put themselves in the position of the players, it's like total dollars, total money. That's all I care about, right? McDavid has the pressures of being. being McDavid. And he is a very competitive guy, and I'm sure a lot of that is internal.

I'm sure some of it, though, is the external expectations that are placed on a phenom like him. Sid had won a cup by now. Gretzky had won a cup by now. Lemieux had won a cup by now. Where is yours, Connor? But doesn't this, isn't that sort of the secondary, dare I say tertiary issue with all of this? isn't the biggest issue that the best players feel an obligation

to not make every available dollar because they have to save it for the rest of the team? Why is that on the shoulders of the best players? Kudos to the owners for creating this system. Ken Hughes came out. Seriously. Well done. They're smart.

Ken Hughes came out yesterday in a totally unrelated but very much related conversation about Lane Hudson in Montreal. Because right now they're kind of in the midst of a conversation. contract discussion, I would say, negotiation, if you will. And he pretty much said, star players in this league understand about sacrifice. And part of that is a financial sacrifice. Now I'm paraphrasing what are you saying.

But essentially it was if you want to make every max dollar go right ahead. But understand that's going to make my job more difficult as a general manager under a hard game. Now, it's a long time ago, but Ryan Kessler said the exact same thing. Now, it's a fair statement from a general manager because he's working within the confines a hard cap. Alan Walsh yesterday on Twitter, who's a very polarizing agent and is very outspoken, and I'm going to trust that he is relaying the words from the late Bob Good Now accurately

and not just doing this for Twitter. Alan wrote, it was the late Bob Good Now who led the fight for NHL players against the hard cap. Why? Goodnow predicted that clubs, media, and fans would label the best. players greedy and selfish if they didn't take a discount in order to leave something for the other players. So if good now, the late Bob good now, saw 20, 30 years into the future that this was the dynamic that was going to be at play, that it was the best players that had to take a haircut

so the rest of the guys in the PA could get theirs. A very sage look ahead. It's small time. It's embarrassing for the league. Honestly, can you imagine any other player from any other League doing this? Well, here's the thing. Now hold on. No, hold on. Not happening. That being said, McDavid could have got anything that he wanted. Yeah. And they would have given it to him right away. Can we play the, you know what? Now's probably a good time to play the audio from Stan Bowman, the general manager in Emmington. He made it abundantly clear in his remarks yesterday that this was McDavid's idea, McDavid's pitch, and they sat back and listened to their star player and took his lead. Here's Stan Bowman,

Edmonton GM from yesterday after signing Connor McDavid to a two-year, $25 million extension. That was what Connor wanted. And it was not like we made a pitch that he should sign for that amount. That was never, it never really, we never had those conversations at all.

So, you know, I think when it came down to it and, you know, we're just excited to get ourselves to where we are today. This is a obviously, it's a very exciting day for our organization and for the fans in Edmonton and our team. You know, I've been able to run into some of our players here today,

including Jake Wallman when he was here. And like the players were shocked as well. Like, holy cow, what a leader this guy is. And I think everyone probably had the same reaction. But, you know, I guess getting to know Connor, how I have, you know, over the last year, he is, he is so one of a kind. guy like he's so such a tremendous leader and so motivated to try to try to win and i think that's a testament to who he is as a person so a lot's to unpack there by the way i just want to remind

everyone of the ages of some of the key players on the oilers roster i'm just this is in no particular order but zach heiman who's going to miss the start of the season because he's injured, is 33. Nuge, 32 years old. Mahjia Pani, who they just acquired, 29 years old. Darnel Nouris is 30. Matias Atcombe is 35.

Newly signed Jake Wallman. Did you mention him? He's 29. Yeah. He's got a seven-year deal. So McDavid is looking at this in a pretty smart way. And he's saying, look, I'm not saying I'm not going to resign after this contract, but I need to kick the can down the road a little bit because I think I can win a Stanley Cup with the guys here right now.

And even though some of them are getting a little bit older, you know, I think they can still do it. But I need to see a refresh. And they got a couple of young kids in there, Matt Savoy and Ike Howard, who they picked up in a trade with Tampa Bay. and those guys will be part of the next group for the Oilers but and I'm sure McDavid was talking to Bowman about like hey man if you want me beyond this

you better refresh and that's a huge challenge to do when you're a good team when you're winning and you get to a trade deadline and you're like okay well do I trade away the first round pick or do I keep it because McDavid like that might

affect my ability to re-sign Connor McDavid or do I go for it because Cardham and David really wants to win a Stanley Cup. You only get so many assets. Right, but the point I hear is that McDavid gave them this. I mean, I would call it a lifeline.

Like, not only did he say, I'll stick around, I'll give you three more kicks at the can, three more years. I'm also going to do it at the exact same cap hit that I have right now. Like, I don't mean to... Is it a lifeline or is it... Or is it like is it a warning? Well, what's the warning? It's three years.

It's a lifetime. I'm gone after that if you don't refresh. That's not a warning. That's like I, that would be over a decade with the organization. That's more than enough servitude from a player. And at that point, I don't think a single person, if he decides to leave after this next contract, could hold it against him. Because what he's done right now has not only. Maybe that's what he's setting up.

That's exactly what he's setting up his exit, a lot of the same time giving himself the best chance to win in Edmonton. Put it this way. If he had gone this year without a contract and left in free agency, there would have been bitterness without question and a lot of it from the Edmonton Faithful. Right now, I don't think, even if they fall short of winning a Stanley Cup, here's a question. How could you ever blame Connor McDavid for what he's given to that organization right now? Well, you couldn't.

You never could. You couldn't. No, you can't. Because he has given you two more years. I mean, if you count this year, he's under contract, but two more years at the exact same salary that he's. already making when the salary cap like fried was throwing it out there yesterday it could be between 104 and 107 million soon so he's giving you that he's also saying to management hey with all that cap space go get the job done yeah and that's a remarkable thing I do think he deserves credit for

that as caustic and as jaded as I can be about the dynamics of the NHL and you know how the salary cap works there is something I'll say it There's something noble about the way that he approached this. Yeah. And you can talk about, you can take a step back and look at the big picture and say, well, the system is flawed. Well, McDavid is operating within the system. He's playing the game, right?

But no, in all, he's playing the system. He's within the system, he's giving the Oilers the best chance to win a Stanley Cup. But let's also remember that money isn't the most important thing, or it shouldn't be. McDavid is also giving himself something here. He's giving himself a better chance to win the Stanley Cup. And that's what he wants. Yes.

That is what he wants. A Stanley Cup to Connor McDavid would be worth $100 million. Because guess what? He's already got $100 million. If he wants to go buy a Lamborghini, he just goes and buys a Lamborghini. He lives in Edmonton, right? It's like there's only so much you can spend on in Edmonton. If he wants to go for a nice vacation with his family, guess what?

He can go for a really nice vacation with his family. Well, he's just doing the New Crosby, right? consistently taking less than market value to try and win a cup. The only difference is that for the most part Crosby signed, when he was at this stage his career, he signed long term. Yeah.

He didn't do that. Yes. Because the two years, the two years gives McDavid the opportunity to hit free agency and then score a mega deal. But it's still crazy low A.A.V. For his caliber. I also think that this sacrifice,

and I think Stan Bowman alluded to this, might help lure some free agents to Edmonton. where people are like, oh, I want to play with this guy. Yeah. I want to play with this guy. But it's in Edmonton. Okay, well, you know, I still want to play with them.

Gert from Surrey texted in. And this is what we were talking about earlier in the show, but I did want to bring this back up. So Gurp writes, I wonder if Quinn Hughes would do something along the lines of what McDavid did. There are going to be some individuals. Hughes just asked for a max value. That are going to position this move as,

the ultimate sacrifice in which all other NHLers should follow. And then there's going to be others. Yeah. And I think the others are going to be the right ones at the end of time. We're going to say, you can't use this as a blueprint or a precedent for anything because it's unique and he's one of one. And the oilers are so close. So close. They're so close.

It's one. This is a one of one situation. Yeah. I don't remember anything like this happening in the NHL for a good long while. I know there has been prolonged contract negotiations that have been tied up on the eve with the regular season starting, but not like this, not with the stakes in.

Sean Texan, one thing is for sure. McDavid is not taking any kind of discount on his next deal when he inevitably signs with a new team. How do you know? How do you know what drives McDavid? What if he doesn't win a Stanley Cup in the next three years?

and then he's like, okay, I got to pick my next team. Is he just going to go to the place with the most cap space? Well, to answer, you can't, you can't know that right now. To answer Sean's taxed, it makes the path for leaving a lot easier. But what he's talking about, Sean is saying, Sean is still of this mind that, like, McDavid money is going to drive him. No, it's not. If McDavid doesn't win a cup in Edmonton,

and let's face it, it's more likely that he doesn't. just because there's a lot of teams and plenty of Kibble of winning the Stanley Cup I don't think there's an obvious favorite this year but whatever. Yep. But if he hasn't won a Stanley Cup in the next three years,

do you think he's going to go to a new team and make it especially hard for them by signing a massive contract? No, he's going to go to a good team. He might retire. I find it a fool. I find it a fool's Aaron to try and think what's going to happen three years from now

because so much can change. Nobody saw this coming, by the way. I was going to play audio from Fridge yesterday. He went on Fan 590 with Matt Marquesi and Mike Fuda right after our show, which is when the Connor McDavid News broke. And he said he was shocked, shocked at the dollar value. Well, I think a lot of people saw a potential short term, but I don't think anyone saw him not getting a raise.

Taking a 0% raise. Zero percent raise. Yeah. And, you know, I understand that everyone flooded to social media yesterday to get their spiciest takes out there. galaxy braining what this means because it is a big deal and it is a big story and there's a lot of different ways you can go about it go about it i wanted to come in this morning and try and present the entire picture because i don't think that this is um i don't think this is a like a harbinger

for the future and i don't think that this signals anything about future i just don't think that's it i think we got a snapshot in a moment in time where a guy that had all the leverage and could have done whatever he wanted. I think the only thing that I'm really, like, my definitive stance on this is that a guy that could have got anything you wanted and signed anywhere for anything did make a real big personal sacrifice. That being said, do you want to be the next big superstar to sign a contract? I don't want to be Caprizov right now.

Caprizov, and that's not fair to him. I do. Well, I'd like to have the money, right? But I would absolutely love to have the money. I was like, I regret nothing. Yeah, totally. Yeah, but. I don't speak English.

Sorry. But here's what's going to happen. He's going to play for Minnesota. And even if he has an amazing year, it's still going to, they're going to side-eye that contract. Because they're going to say... I don't think NHL stars are going to...

Whatever. Pay me what I'm worth. No, Peter. Well, Connor McDavid just did not do that. I'm just saying other NHL, like Hughes, for example. I don't think Hughes is going to do a McDavid. You don't think Hughes wants to win, man? I don't know.

No, I'm saying I don't think Hughes is going to do a McDavid in the sense that he's going to get... Well, not ask for a race. You're bringing up an interesting. point here. Most NHL stars will ask for a raise is what I'm saying. I wouldn't be surprised if he'll have left money on the table though. Yes, I absolutely could see that but I don't think he's going to not get a raise. Like most NHL stars would. You're bringing up an interesting point here because moving forward. Hughes doesn't ask for a raise. Seven point

whatever you think. I like what I like. No, you're bringing up a good point here because the pressure is going to come from general managers, owners, and now, and I don't know how much just matters, but it's going to be out there, fans. Yeah, but the players, they don't care. They have the power. You sure about that, right? Yeah, no, I think most guys would probably do a caprice of, to be honest. Well, like, you'll just like pay me what I'm worth.

Right, but McDavid didn't. Well, yeah, it's special. And right now, that's the bar for, you understand what I'm saying. I do understand what I'm saying. I do understand what I'm saying. The argument. Yeah, yeah. Right now, that's the bar for in the NHL with the way the players act and the sort of code of the

league right now what McDavid did is considered the ultimate leadership move like we played that clip from Bowman how many times did Bowman mention leadership in that clip three times right that's the new leadership when they talked about Crosby's been doing this forever nobody's it had didn't change their contracts what do you granted not the length what do you think I think that there's a bit of Crosby in this contract yes I think that McDavid yeah that's the comparison I think the McDavid looks at Crosby is as the forefather of this thing yeah and so now moving ahead if you're a young player and you're a superstar but you want to be the leader that your predecessors were what's the thing that Crosby and McDavid have in common now

is they left money on the table selflessness selflessness right and it used to be and they took briefcases of cash yeah on the side yeah on that tree planting job but it's a really lucrative endorsement deals that may or may not be legitimate that's the thing how many people made that joke online I did like you talk about leadership and it's like they'll play through injury and they'll get down and block a shot with their face to win and they'll you know he'll play on crutches now what is it the oilers bought the west edmondton ball for him and now that's where he lives now he lives in the mall now you have to add a part to that leadership thing where it's like he took less money than everybody else

you're listening to the best of halford and brough you're listening to the best of halford and brough joining us now on the halford and bruff show on sports net 650 very happy to have him on the program. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly joins us now on SportsNet 650. Good morning, Bill. How are you? Good morning. Happy NHL season.

Yes, happy NHL season indeed. We were kind of wondering, given that you're based out of New York, and there's a possibility of a very big baseball game going one of two ways tonight. Will your attentions be divided this evening? Are you solely focused on what's going on at Madison Square Garden and everywhere else? well actually the commissioner will be in florida i will be at madison square garden believe me i'm more interested in what's going on in madison square garden than i am up in the bronx i'm not a yankee fan never have been a yankee fan uh and to your earlier point uh clearly i'm rooting for the blue jays

tonight okay all right that's on the record okay things are things are pretty good for the league Would you, I mean, you got through the pandemic, the CBA is done, signed and sealed and delivered. You got a bunch of major TV rights deals done. What's going to keep you busy now? Yeah, it's pretty much like I can take a vacation. Yeah, yeah, totally. You should. You should ask Gary that.

A legal run itself. You know what, it's, we are, there are good problems to have. we want to see a successful launch of the season. We're excited about all that's going to transpire this season, including the Olympic participation by our players for the first time in 12 years, which is something I know they're very excited about, but we're excited about it as well. Obviously, more international games,

and we have two outdoor games in Florida, which I don't think I ever would have thought about 20 years ago. So, yeah, no, you're right. We're very, very excited. Another great season on its way. What does the league think when it sees games like, speaking of Florida, the Florida Tampa Bay games recently, which have been, I don't know, old school hockey?

We're really happy about it. We obviously were in touch. over the course of the weekend in the last several days, culminating fines that were issued yesterday with both clubs. And, you know, it was strange scheduling pattern that may have led to odd results, but not something we like to see, and certainly something we like to discourage going forward.

How does a league lean into and kind of wrap its arms around a rivalry, which is done in the past in the National Hockey League, while also, I guess, keeping in arms distance from the violence and stepping over the line that we saw in those games between the Lightning and the Panthers? Well, I mean, obviously, there is a fine line and a balance you have to make and the role of the on-ice officials,

the role of our Department of Player Safety, the role of the league office, in looking into those circumstances and understanding why what happened happened. And so you don't want to take out the competitiveness that those rivalries sometimes create, but certainly when you go that far afield that it's not really about the game at all, that's something that we should be discouraging. Let's talk about the salary cap and the fact that it's gone up,

and the pandemic was obviously a very tough time from a revenue perspective, but you're through that now and the estimates are that the salary cap is going to go up a lot over the next few years. I guess this is another opportunity for you to talk about the great business of the NHL, but what's behind the rising salary cap? Well, what's behind the rising salary cap is the fact that we had the controls on salary cap growth coming out of the pandemic, which kind of delinked it from our 50-50 revenue deal with players association in the players. So while they were getting their 50% share, they weren't doing it in the form of salaries necessarily. They're doing in the form of shortfall payments that are made by our clubs.

So what you saw in terms of the scheduled rises of the salary cap was us sitting down with Players' Association, and saying, let's transition back to what kind of our understanding had been and what the agreement was. And we need to implement increases in the salary cap to do that. And we did it over a three-year period. And so we're transitioning back to the original deal that we cut back in 2012-13 with our 50-50 share of revenues. Are you confident that all teams in the NHL can – keep up to this growth? Well, I mean, you can't consider in isolation.

You have to consider it in conjunction with all other elements of the system, which include revenue sharing. So the answer to your question is, yes, the system's designed such that clubs should be able to afford competitive payrolls. That doesn't necessarily mean they have to spend the cap to be competitive. but all clubs should be able to afford competitive payrolls, and that's how the system's really designed. Okay, I want to talk about expansion,

and Bill, if you'll allow me to get a little bit personal, I've been a Vancouver Canucks fan for almost 50 years now. Never seen them win the Stanley Cup. When I was a kid, there were 21 teams in the league, and it looked like, okay, they'll probably get one at some point in my life. Now we're talking about expansion that could bring the league to 34, 35, I don't know, 36 teams. How big could the NHL get?

And is there any, like, I can't think of any major leagues around the world that have 36 teams. Is there a challenge in getting that big in terms of the number of the teams? That's a fair question. I'm not sure I've ever been asked that particular question or specific question. I approach it with kind of the first thought of being, you know, do we have enough talent to stock teams, right? Are we concerned about the dilution of talent? And I think there, whereas I may have answered this question differently when I joined the league almost 30 years ago, I think there's more than enough talent to stock additional teams at the NHL level.

The talent has never been better, has never been greater. it comes from more sources. We have good players. There are good players, and there are good players who aren't in the NHL, but can be in the NHL. I truly believe that. So I don't think we have a dilution of talent issue. The second question becomes whether you're

adding to the value of the league. And that's ultimately a decision that has to be made by our owners, not necessarily by the league office. And it involves a number of of aspects, you know, obviously location, city size, you know, arena, quality of ownership. Those are all factors that our owners take into account when considering whether adding an expansion franchise really adds to the whole. And what I've admired with respect to the last two expansion transactions is that's what our

owners were focused on. why are we expanding and if we are it's because we think it adds to the overall value of the league which they obviously own at this point 132nd of so it's that's the equation you know I certainly trust their ability to make that assessment and you know I'm not speaking as if we have you know expansions clearly coming because while we have a lot of interested parties None has really progressed to a point where we bring it to the board for their consideration. So we've got ways to go, but we're open to it. What has to happen for it to progress? Is that more on the expansion groups where they are in their process, or does it more have to do with the NHL and where they are in their willingness to accept some franchises? Yeah, no, I think it really sits with potential investors, people who want to bring expansion franchises to new communities.

You know, they come in over time, they talk to us over time. We, you know, we have an open-door policy with respect to their ability to generate meetings with the commissioner and myself. But it's really up to them to put a kind of comprehensive plan in place. that they can share with us that we in turn can do our own due diligence on. And so at this point in the process, it tells you how early on we are, you know, it balls really in their court. We're speaking to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of Breaking Ground and New Markets, Bill, Utah, I did want to ask, and I'll just put this candidly, prior to with the situation in Arizona, maybe the most problematic ownership group in the league.

And then you go to what Ryan Smith and the Utah group have done. And again, we're not trying to power rank ownership groups. But I got to think that the league has been happy and pleased with how things have gone. We should power rank ownership groups, though. We could do it. I mean, we've got the time and we have the resources. I just wanted to ask, from a league perspective, how pleased are you and Gary with how things have gone under Ryan Smith's ownership in Utah?

I mean, we're really thrilled, obviously. I think what they've been able to accomplish in a very short period of time has been nothing short of amazing. And, you know, that continues to this day in terms of all the money they put in and all the time and the investment they put in in making this a hockey market suitable to the players and the team. brand new practice facility which just they just opened recently what they're doing with the delta center of the building totally renovations designed to accommodate hockey and hockey spectators on a regular basis really committed to the community with everything they do not just with respect to the hockey team so it's been a it's been a great development very, very fortunate for the National Hockey League to have them.

Is this Ryan Smith following through on promises made to the tour of you, or have they exceeded expectations in terms of the timelines and how quickly they've been able to get all these goals accomplished? That's a fair question. I mean, obviously we had the conversations over time and what they envision, what they plan, what they hope to accomplish. You know, the amazing thing is, you know, a lot of those are aspirational, yet to this point they've been able to accomplish everything that they've suggested they would.

We're speaking to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Obviously, this is an Olympic year, Bill. I did kind of want to jump ahead, though, to the next international competition after the 2026 Olympics in Italy. That's the World Cup of Hockey returning in 2028. Do you have any updates for how that tournament is shaping up? Yeah, I guess I do. we're in the process of a request for bid process where we have cities both in North America and in Europe who have submitted or are submitting.

Actually, we've gone through an expression of interest process first, but we are expecting finalized bids by the end of this month from a number of cities. The interest is great, as you might imagine. the North American cities involved. I think we had 15 active applications that moved on to the bidding stage. And we have 10 applications in Europe. So the interest is high. We continue to work with the double IHF to work through some European logistical issues. Certainly very confident that there won't be any unclearable.

hurdles there. And, you know, so the process is well underway. We're working very closely with the Players Association. It's another very collaborative effort that we're doing around the World Cup of hockey and we're excited about it. On that note, what about Russia's participation potentially in the 2028 World Cup of Hockey? Because obviously there's a lot of Russian players in the NHLPA.

Yeah, I mean, look, in a perfect world. You know, if the world's situation were to change and be different, we would love to have Russian participation. As it currently sits, we don't feel it's appropriate to have Russian participation. So, you know, to some extent, it's a waiting game to see how world events unfold. Having said that, you know, obviously the Olympics, the IOC, and the AAHA have made their decision with respect to the upcoming winner. Olympic games, we have two more years to make our decision, two and a half more years. Obviously, not that much time, but we feel like we still have time. And hopefully things will fall into place such that they can participate.

Do you take cues from the IOC and the WIHF, or do you just as a league get together and say, this is what we want to do? It's more the latter, but obviously what others in similar circumstances, situations do is always instructive and want to understand the thought process. And, you know, I think it's been written about. We have a lot of European federations who have very, very strong feelings about the Russian aggression in Ukraine. And we have to take into account their concerns and their considerations as well. So there's a lot to balance in making that decision. And like I said, I guess we feel fortunate

that we're not in a position where we have to make that decision today. I want to talk a little bit about the hockey Canada players. How did you go about the reinstatement and the decisions that you made that said, okay, they can sign, but they can't

play for a little while? Well, we made efforts to meet with each of those players almost immediately. after the verdict came down at the end of July, and all those players met

with us. We're very open, cooperative in the process, met with Commissioner. And then, you know, it was really the Commissioner's decision with respect to what to do with the players

and where to be from a league perspective. I know he gave it a lot of thought. There was a lot of discussion internally, obviously, but ultimately, and with the Players Association as well. And ultimately, that's where we landed.

We landed, the players can sign as of October 15th and can play as of December 1, but not before. So, again, as with everything, you know, they're, you have to balance a lot of different issues, a lot of different arguments.

come down what you think, right. You know, just I'm trying to, I know it's complicated, but to boil it down, is it fair to say that the NHL said, no, according to the courts, these players didn't do anything illegal, but in our opinion, they did do something wrong. Yes, I think that is fair. And when you talk to the players was, and I don't want to put you in, the position of talking on their behalf, but did they express regret over the, not that they just went through all this, but that they did something wrong?

Yes, I think they did. We're speaking to NHL Commissioner Bill Daley here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. I kind of wanted to circle back to something that we talked about off the top. We're talking about labor peace and labor negotiations. How would you classify now the relationship between the NHL and the NHLPA? I think we have a solid relationship, very functional, is what I'd say. They're very, the new administration is very responsive, and I can't always say that that's been the case.

But, you know, we deal with issues on a regular basis and have good dialogue. And obviously, you can imagine there are a lot of things. things we don't agree on, but we find a way to get to a place where we both can live with the result. And I think that makes for a healthy relationship. Obviously, Gary and Marty have established a very open line of communication where each of them feels free to reach out on big issues all the time. I'm more active on day-to-day issues where we need player associations' views. and cooperation, and that's going well as well. So it's, I think, our overall relationships in a good space,

and I think that's very helpful. You know, we talked about how things are going in the NHL generally. I think the fact that we have that productive working relationship is part of the reason we see what we see on the ice every night and how successful we've been in recent years. Because we've had Marty Walsh on the show a handful of times here, and every time we speak to him, There's a couple takeaways I always have.

One is he's got such a unique background, given where he's worked, the Secretary of Labor and everything else. But also the way that he speaks about negotiations is he's very collaborative forward. Like he's always saying like the goal is to try and find a middle ground and find some sort of compromise instead of it being adversarial. So I guess is having a figure like Marty Walsh in there, does it make the relationship easier because of where he's come from and what his experiences are?

yeah obviously his um his background and experience uh is is really part of how he approaches what he does with us and and i think it's been beneficial for sure um how you described it uh is how i would describe it um you know we we did our collective bargaining negotiation you know over you know a three and a half month period. It involved a number of meetings, obviously. They were small group meetings where there were three people on our side of the table, three people on their side of the table. Obviously, we needed the support of people with expertise in certain areas

that we each went back to our constituencies for. But I will tell you, all those meetings, I never left a meeting thinking we had taken any steps backward in the process. I always left each and every one of those meetings with a sense that we have made forward progress. And that's not something I can say with respect to any other collective bargaining negotiation I've been involved in, ever. You know, that's both the place and the officials and the other collective agreements I've done. So it's very unique, but it's positive unique. One final question, Bill.

I'm sure you've read and are familiar with the allegations in the NBA regarding Kauai Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers. I'm not going to ask you to comment on that specifically. But I'm curious, what processes are in place to make sure that there aren't any shenanigans like that in the NHL? Fair question. I mean, I do think we have various checkpoints along the way with respect to

representations and affidavits that club actors have to file on a regular basis you know obviously outward circumvention is something where you know is easy to spot and to focus on and to detect

and to punish as necessary more elaborate circumvention that that that could happen behind the scenes is tougher to police there's no doubt about that but you know once if if there were allegations if there were things that didn't look right if there was smoke in certain places we have the processes and the authority to do what we need to do to investigate those and make sure that we're satisfied that everything is compliant with what we have in the CBA does a story like this

ever you know nudge you guys to be able send out like a reminder like hey don't do this or we will come down with the fury of God well we do we do send out a lot of reminders on those types of things not this big obviously

you know and again I only know limited I only have limited information as to what what went on there and what is being alleged to have gone on I do think we would have had the ability to properly investigate and potentially smoke out, for lack of a better term, what was happening, whether it was kosher or not kosher, in advance of when this came out. So at least I hope that's the case. I think we have a pretty sound and good enforcement system on our CBA. Certainly that's my belief.

Yeah, you could always just hire Pablo Tori to do it for you anyway. He seems to be pretty adept at it. So, Bill, thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the start of the NHL season and go Blue Jays. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

And enjoy the hockey. We will. Thanks. That's Bill Daly, NHL Deputy Commissioner here on the Halford & Bruff Show on Sportsnet, 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.