Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 10/4/24

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

Mike and Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they chat with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, plus they preview tonight's final Canucks pre-season matchup with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. 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. Swing and a fly ball to right field. Pretty well hit. Freelick back at the wall. He jumps. It's gone. He right field. Pretty well hit. Freeland back at the wall. He jumps. It's gone. He did it.

He did it. Pete Alonso with the most memorable home run of his career. And they're going to gun it, and it's caught to Daryl Hodge. 35-30. Take it, baby. 20, 15, 10, 5, 10. Drive home safely. Oh, my goodness.

Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Friday. Sweet, sweet Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. It's Alfred. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Lanny, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda,

Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in our one of the program.

Our 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 getcler 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, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfee, what are you waiting for?

Kintec, what a night in Sprotz. Man, was that something else? Even though my beloved Milwaukee Brewers, who I've loved from day one, are now out of the playoffs. Day one of the postseason. Right.

That's been three days ago. It was a terrific sports night. Amazing football game. Amazing baseball. Great theater. It really wet the whistle. An amuse-bouche for the weekend because we got a lot to get into.

Sports galore over the weekend. The NHL season starts in a matter of hours. How about that? We've got a big show ahead here on the Halford & Brough Show as well. Guest list begins at 6.30. Brady Henderson, ESPN Seahawks insider is going to join us. The Seahawks host Danny Dimes and the New York Giants

this weekend. The Seahawks are six-point favorites. I've got a question for Brady right off the hop. I want to know how upset defensive guru and now Seahawks head coach Mike McDonald was with his defensive performance on Monday Night Football and how they're going to fix it against the Giants. So we'll talk to Brady about that at 6.30. 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

A reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday on the program. Best Ask Us Anything gets a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. It is the best pizza place in the world. Get them in now. Dunbar-Lemur text line is 650-650. Hashtag AUA. Throw a little pizza emoji in there too, okay? And make it a good AUA.

705, Vancouver's favorite son, not named Luke Gazdik returns to the program. Frank Saravalli from daily fates off is going to join us. Lots to get into with Frank news and notes around the national hockey league. Speaking of news and notes around the national hockey league. How about our seven 30 guest NHL deputy commissioner, Bill Daly is going to join the program. Big get. He's going to join us live from Prague.

He's over there on a gap year. Just kidding. He's over there because the NHL starts trying to find himself. He's just, he's exploring the world and himself. The NHL season begins again. I mentioned it in four hours time. It is the Sabres and the Devils from the O2 arena in Prague.

Bill Daly is going to join us at 7.30. We will ask him about the Robin Lehner situation. We don't know what kind of answers we're going to get, but we will ask a couple of questions at the very least. We've also got some hot audio from 32 Thoughts. Elliot Friedman, Kyle Bukoski is talking about what's going on in Vegas as well. We're going to play that at around 6.45. 8 o'clock.

Yes, the guest list continues. Rick Dollywall, Canucks Insider. Jason, I don't even know what Dolly's going to talk about. That's your department. That's a brough job. We call them Halfer jobs and brough jobs. You're sort of like Rick's handler, sort of his agent. Yeah, he sends me what he wants to talk about for one of the situations.

He deciphers the text messages. I mean handler in a very, very literal sense. So here's how Rick put it in a text yesterday. He goes, can the Canucks get Yuri Patera back? There is a way. I was like, oh, is there anything more interesting? There is a way. That is exciting, Moderately exciting.

It involves diving deep into the CBA. Oh man. There is a way. Did he use the eye emoji? He probably doesn't know what that is. I would like to imagine that Rick used the eye emoji. So Rick also wants to talk about the goalie situation in Abbotsford as

related to Yuri Patera. He's got all the hits this week. It's on the Patera beat. He might also have something to say about when this actually is interesting, when Dakota Joshua might be back. Okay, so we're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's guest list in reverse. 8 o'clock, Dollywall. 7.30, Daily.

7 o'clock, Sarah Valley. Or 7.05, Sarah Valley. 7 o'clock, AJ. 6.30, Brady Henderson. That's what's happening on the program today.05 Sarah Valley 7 o'clock AJ 6.30 Brady Henderson that's what's happening on the program today 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 that 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. So if you've listened to this program for any length of time, you know that I am a cradle to grave, diehard Milwaukee Brewers fan. I love everything about them. The Milwaukee part, the Brewers part, I love it all. Spell Milwaukee. I don't want to do The Milwaukee part, the Brewers part. I love it all. Spell Milwaukee. I don't want to do that right now. It's actually Milwaukee. Anyway,

they're out. The Milwaukee Brewers. Honestly, we don't normally start with baseball here, but what a game. What a game last night. Decisive, pivotal game three. Winner goes on. Loser goes home between the Mets and the Brewers. And I'm just going to fast forward right to the seventh inning

because things were looking awesome for my beloved Brew crew in the seventh inning. I'm going to play you through the audio. Inning starts. Jake Bowers steps up. Pinch hitter. I'm thinking, alright, whatever. Maybe he gets on board. Lead off guy gets a board. Maybe we can squeeze in a run. Then, Jake Bowers.

Huh? We. Yeah, we. Maybe we'll get a guy on board. Maybe we'll scratch a run. Then, we get this. Huh? We. Yeah, we. Maybe we'll get a guy aboard. Maybe we'll scratch a run. Then, we get this. 3-2. Swing and hack my ball. Right field. On its way. Yeah!

Pinch hit over Jake Bowers. And the Brewers have the lead here in the 7. Amazing. It's 0-0. Boom. Bowers goes yards. It's 1-0. Boom. Bowers goes yards. It's 1-0. We got a lead in this decisive Pivotal Game 3. Late, too, and the pitching staff's going crazy. So this is awesome, right?

Then, Sam Freelick comes up to the plate. First pitch after the Bowers' home run. Top of the seventh. This happens. And now it's Freelick. That one's out of here. Sal Freelick. Back to back. And it is 2-0.

Oh, my goodness. Just to further accentuate my Brewers' knowledge, I called him Sam Freelick. Sal Freelick goes yard. Amazing. Brewers are up 2-0. I'm like, okay, this is good. You texted me. You're him Sam Freelick. Sal Freelick goes yard. Amazing. Brewers are up to nothing. I'm like, okay, this is good. You texted me. You're like, this is amazing.

I just turned on the game at that point. It was pretty great. And it was like, wow, this game is exciting. I guess it really hadn't been up until that point. It was kind of boring. It was a 0-0 game with a lot of good pitching. So I'm thinking, all right, we're good. No big deal.

We get all the way to the ninth inning. Hey, we're in good shape. Our all-star closer, Devin Williams, is on the bump to shut this thing down. It's 2-0. No problem. Brew crew going to the next round. But then a couple runners get aboard, and then Pete Alonzo comes to the plate, and then this happens.

The pitch. Swing and a ball drilled. Right field. Freelink back. and a ball drilled. Right field. Freelink back. At the wall. Out of here! It's out of here! Alonzo on the opposite field. Her run and the Mets have the lead!

And then the Brewers, making their sixth playoff appearance in the last seven years, yet again, still fail to win a series. They lose 4-2 because the Mets tacked on an extra run. And they are out. They have not won a playoff series since 2018, my beloved Brewers.

Say goodbye. So take your Brewers hat off for just a second and pretend you're not a Brewers fan. Pretend you're just a neutral... I was kind of pretending I wasn't. It was real easy to pretend. Keep more pretending there, pal. Is this a bigger story for the Brewers or the Mets? The Mets.

Yeah, the Mets were an incredible. Come on. The Mets were an incredible story this season. Halfway through the season, they were, what, around 500? Mm-hmm. And their fans didn't really like them very much. Ever since Steve Cohen bought the team. They've been an unlikable team.

Well, just because they've spent a lot of money and haven't had any success. There's nothing really like underdog or I can't believe these guys did it. They got a gigantic bloated payroll. They got really good players. They just underperformed until Grimace. Until Grimace came. Grimace from McDonald's. What happened?

Did he show up to a game? What's the story? Did he throw out a pitch or anything? He did both those things. Did he really? Did he throw out the first pitch? Grimace? Yeah. Remember we covered this in the summer when we had nothing else to talk about. I know, but I can't remember. I know there was a story about Grimace in the Mets, but I couldn't remember exactly what he did.

Did he fight someone? You just threw out the first pitch and then sat in a seat, which is now the Grimace seat? He stabbed the Hamburglar? No, he was there. He came to the game. He threw out a pitch,

and then they sort of immortalized him with a purple seat at the stadium. The Grimace mats are a thing. It kind of fell away, and then they also brought Hawk to a girl out to throw out a first pitch. They did everything. Hayley Welch. They did everything they could to change the vibes this year. God bless them at work because now they're on their way.

They're on their way to the NLDS. They're going to play the Phillies. How many times do you think the Mets and the Phillies have played each other in the playoffs? They're on to round Hawk to a? You tell me. You tell me. Laddie. Get out.

Turn your mic off. Just walk out. Okay. One, they are indeed on to round Hawk Tua. Keep going. How many times have the Mets and Phillies played each other in the playoffs? Eight times. Never. Really?

Never. Heated rivals. Two of the biggest markets. They've never played each other in the playoffs. Wow. Yeah, this is pretty cool. I mean, this whole way of doing the playoffs hasn't been around for that that long, so it's not all that surprising.

They're not surprising. You just think like the Mets. They used to be in the same division. It'd be like, you win the division, you go to the playoffs, right? If the Mets win the World Series, does Grimace get a ring? Yeah, and Hayley Welch.

They both do? Hayley Welch gets one as well. They get married, actually. That's the spoiler. And then the Hawk Tua girl goes to Grimace. She's like, what's up? Yeah. Hey.

You want to get out of here? So there's your baseball story. The playoffs take a day off now, and everything begins tomorrow. Welcome to the Padres bandwagon, by the way. Yeah, so it's a real quick transition for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Brewers, you're gone. Sad Club Brewers out.

Sad Club Padres still in, starting their series with the L. Sad Club, Brewers out. Sad Club, Padres still in, starting their series with the LA Dodgers on Saturday, and that is going to be a really good series. Okay, there's quite a bit to get to, so let's talk very quickly. Unfortunately, we have talked very quickly about that football game last night. Incredible finish, sloppy finish.

I don't know if Al Michaels noticed how incredible it was. He sounded bored throughout a lot of incredible plays, but the rest of us were pretty darn excited with how that thing finished because there was no excuse really for Tampa Bay not to be able to finish that off. Ridiculous. But they found an excuse, and Kirk Cousins is now a primetime hero. Kirk Cousins won a dramatic game on primetime Thursday night football, which has never happened before.

But he's starting to win in primetime now. He threw for 509 yards. He smashed the Atlanta Falcons all-time single game passing record in his fifth game as an Atlanta Falcon. And he beat Matt Ryan's record. Matt Ryan went into the Falcons ring of honor last night what a game everything happened it was a 36 to 30 overtime victory uh let's just hear the audio because we're playing some good exciting audio this is not the Al Michaels version correct we have some actual excitement on the call here this is the uh Atlanta Falcons radio

network because you were right Al Michaels was a little subdued, a little demure in his call. Here now, Falcons win at 36-30. Walk-off touchdown from Kirk Cousins. Here's Mooney in motion with Cousins, and they're going to gun it, and it's caught to Daryl Hodge. 35-30. Take it, baby. 20, 15, 10, 5, 5.

Drive home safely. Oh, my goodness. Welcome to the game, Kaderil. Are you serious? A walk-off for Kaderil Hodge and the Falcons. So with less than two minutes to go, and when Kirk Cousins threw a fourth-down pick and Tampa Bay had the ball at, what, the Atlanta 31 or something?

28. 28. The 28-yard line. Would you say half the stadium would have left? Yeah, someone posted the likelihood for a Bucs win at that point. You know those ESPN? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like at 97%.

Like, it was crazy that they blew that. I'm actually surprised it wasn't higher than 97%. Yeah. Because they ended up, what ended up happening was they went backwards to the point where- They went aggressively backwards. They went aggressively backwards. They had a couple small losses,

but they also had a penalty or something like that. A holding penalty for 10 yards. So they actually went from the 28 of Atlanta and had to go back and punt. Yeah, because they went all the way back to the 41. They had to go back and punt. Yeah. And Tampa Bay gets it.

They nail a field goal to take it to overtime. With no timeouts. Yeah, and then they win it in overtime. So you can get back on ripping Baker Mayfield again? No, I don't blame that on Mayfield. He was good last night. Okay. But, you know, if you want.

I mean, it was a comedy of mistakes down the stretch. They were running the ball to run at the clock, the Buccaneers were. And there was a very costly fumble by Bucky Irving that gave the ball back to Atlanta. But if you look at the numbers, everyone's going to be talking about Kirk Cousins because he threw for 500 yards and four touchdowns, but Baker Mayfield had an amazing game.

Statistically, he was great. Okay, so you're still good with Baker. I'm still good with Baker. Baker's my guy, MVP Baker. Okay, let's talk about the Canucks for a bit in this segment because they have their, they had the day off yesterday. That's what happened to the Canucks yesterday, but they have their final preseason game tonight against the Edmonton Oilers.

And I know we're all kind of tired of the preseason. We're usually tired of the preseason about five minutes into the preseason. But there are some storylines to watch for tonight. And one of them is that JT Miller is expected to play. It will be his first preseason game. And, you know, IMAC noted that in the first 42 seconds of his chat with reporters on Tuesday, Miller used some version of, I've just been taking care of myself and not forcing it, and I'll be ready to go Friday. So he's obviously been dealing with something not major, but

something that he's like, this is not worth the risk of me playing these preseason games. But I do think that he'll want to play one preseason game. And I hope the Canucks get a few power plays tonight because

I thought we'd spend a lot of time talking about the power play at training camp and in the preseason, but other stories just took over. Obviously, there was the Thatcher Demko situation that took over early on. And then once we got used to that and Kevin Lankanen came in and we got used to the new normal with Thatcher Demko. Then it was the stories of some of the young players like Atu Ratu that took over. And, you know, the five-man first-unit power play has not been out at all together in any of the games because JT Miller hasn't played.

But tonight, they should be all out there. JT Miller, Brock Besser, Quinn Hughes, Elias Pedersen, and the new guy, Jake DeBras. So I'll be curious to see. Listen, I'm not going to determine anything, but I'll be curious to see if there's any new looks to it, any new emphasis on it, because this is important. The Canucks power play should be a good power play

based on the personnel that they have, but it wasn't down the stretch, and it certainly wasn't in the playoffs. And just because you've got good personnel doesn't necessarily mean that you're automatically going to have a good power play. Take a look at what happened to Pittsburgh last season. That was the main reason that the Penguins didn't make the playoffs, and they got some power play guys on that team. The other top six line besides JT Millers,

who he's going to play with Brock Besser and Danton Heinen, it'll be, I guess, interesting to see how those three look together. But I think the one line I'll be most curious to look at is Petey's line with DeBrusque and Sprong. Huge opportunity for Daniel Sprong. He needs to make the most of it. And that line as a whole needs to be a major advantage for the Canucks, especially given the financial investment

for two of those players on that team. Both of them made recently Elias Pettersson with his big extension. And then Jake DeBrusque was the big free agent acquisition over the offseason. And then there's also this whole idea of who's going to make the cut. It's possible. It's possible. There's only one roster spot for Atu-Ratu, Arshdeep Bains, or Nils Amon. The deadline for teams to submit their opening day rosters is Monday at 5 o'clock Eastern, so that's 2 o'clock our time.

Teddy Bluger is a factor in this. Is he going to play tonight? He's been a full participant at practice, but said Wednesday we'll see when asked if he play Friday and insinuated that it's not just his decision to make. It's possible. I could see this happening. It's possible. And maybe we'll know when the Canucks have their morning skate at around 1030 this morning. It's possible the coaching staff could just say, Teddy, take the game off.

We do want to look at some other guys, so just let's play this safe. Go sit with JT. He's also taking the night off. No, JT will play. You can sit with Pew Suter, who will almost certainly not play tonight. He's day-to-day with an injury. So they sit Bluger, they sit Suter, and they go with a bottom six of, say,

Hoaglander, Ratu, and Garland. So you get another look at Ratu, and that line has been arguably the best line of the Canucks in the preseason. Hoaglander filling in for Dakota Joshua, Ratu filling in for Bluger, and Garland where Garland normally is. And then you could have a fourth line where Amon could center it,

Baines could be the winger, and then Sherwood could also be there. And Sherwood would be like, don't screw it up, Daniel Sprong, because I'm coming for your spot on the line with Petey and DeBras. Now, I'm just speculating there. They might want to get Bluger into the game. They might want to say, listen, Teddy, you haven't played yet either in the preseason because you had a minor procedure before training camp and you had a lower body injury.

But if they want to take a look, one final look at all three of those guys, there is a way to get them into the lineup. So those are the storylines to watch for. Which one are you most interested in? Sprong, for sure. Because I think that that's, I mean, that's the key to unlocking all of these offseason questions that we had for Petey,

is that you knew that DeBrusque was going to be in there, so that kind of ticked one of the boxes. And if you were going to try and eliminate, like I've said numerous times on this show, if you were going to try and eliminate one of the key narratives as to why Pedersen struggled last year one of them was and one of them that the club could control is who he gets to play with right it was always a baked in part of the excuse recipe right that well you got to remember who was he passing the puck to or who was he lined up with and I understand that it was i think a piece of it not necessarily a big piece or a small piece but definitely a piece that needed

to be addressed and they did now it leads you down the other narrative roads of well what happens if this doesn't unlock or solve what was you know petterson's funk last year it's a very concerning thing i like to look at a glass half full i'm very optimistic about this you want to i mean i think sprung's got the potential to be a real dynamic offensive force and maybe not be relied upon that much defensively yeah which could be a good thing for him also um it's going to be a line that if they can score with regularity and they should be able to with de brusque who's a career high 27 and sprung career high 21 they should be able to score with regularity, and they should be able to with DeBrusque, who's a career-high 27 and sprung a career-high 21, they should be able to score with regularity,

meaning that you've really got to account for two lines when you play the Canucks now because you've got to account for the Miller-Besser line and whoever their winger is going to be, probably Heinen. And then you've got to account for a second line that's got two much better scoring wingers on it than it did in previous iterations, especially in the playoffs. Honestly, I'll go not glass half full. I'll go glass entirely full with the Canucks forward lines. If this works with Petey, DeBrusque, and whoever, Sprong,

let's say the Petey line is good. I think you like all four of these lines. I mean, you have potential to have the third line back or at least a reasonable facsimile of it because I think Dakota Joshua will be back sooner rather than later. Now, whether Ratu is going to be the center or Bluger is going to be the center, I don't even really think it matters. If you got Joshua and Garland together, you like that line.

And then the fourth line, I think the fourth line could be one of the best in the NHL with Sherwood there. And maybe Ratu replaces Amon on that line. And you've got some pretty good players on that fourth line as well. Now the only – Like Hoaglander could get dropped down to that fourth line once Joshua is back. And you could have a fourth line of, let's say,

Ratu between Hoaglander and Sherwood. Yeah. That's a good... I mean, that's not bad. I think, you know, clearly heading into the season, on paper, because Thatcher-Demko's hurt, because we still have a few worries about the second and third defensive pairs, the forward line,

forward lines, the forward groups on paper, that's the strength of the Canucks. Yeah. But Petey's line has to work. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on Sportsnet 650. He joins us now.

Frank, good morning, buddy. How the heck have you been? Yes. Good to be back, Halbro. Really appreciate the welcome back and looking forward to chatting every week. Frank, have I recently told you how much money I have? You haven't't so please as as we do in vancouver we like to we like to uh show off how much money we have yes i figured that would be coming at some point so congratulations you hit the under you didn't make it to a minute yet how was that playoff experience for you frank it was really disconcerting and i'll say like

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

between the Canucks and Preds. And then at some point during the Oilers series, it got declared that I was an Oilers homer and that I hate Vancouver and that I, you know, I hate everyone apparently. And it just, it was just odd. I don't, I had a little fun And it just, it was just odd. I don't, I had a little fun on an Edmonton radio hit and things get twisted and all the sudden I'm the world's worst human being. And that's, that's okay. But, um,

I could tell you, I spent two full Springs for playoff rounds each in 16 and 17 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. And no one ever called me a Penguins homer. Yeah. For some reason, I didn't play the Penguins in a series. Yeah. I spent three rounds with the Oilers this year,

which is, you know, you go where the story is and I don't know. That happens. story is and i don't know that happens that's the passion of sports and and hockey and canada more than anything it's the it's the insecurity of canucks fans oh here we go but that's that's that's another thing why do you say they're insecure well just show me show me some security somewhere it's almost like at some point everyone's taking down our team no one believes in us it's i don't know where the mentality comes from but um i think it

was more your comments about not to i'm not arguing listen i know i've lived in vancouver all my life i know there is an element of um you know, we are like the supercar capital of North America, I think. There's a lot of nice cars. There's a lot of flashiness in Vancouver. But I think your comments probably weren't appreciated by all the hardworking regular people in the Lower Mainland. And totally fair. And also in good fun. Yeah, in good fun.

But that's all the good fun, though. It wasn't mean. It wasn't like, hey, I don't like Vancouver. I'm out to, like, nothing. I'm not out to get anyone. It was just the back and forth that occurs between fan bases in a playoff series, and I weighed in. I guess we're just used to it, Frank.

You don't need to apologize. You were having fun, and we were having fun, and I was having fun with my first question with you. Like, don't worry. We like you. If we didn't, you wouldn't be back on the show. Well, I'm happy to be back. I'm hoping to mend fences and move along.

Okay, I do want to talk about this Robin Lehner situation in Vegas. Now, we've already played some audio from Free Just 32 Thoughts where he goes into it a little bit. But what is your take on this whole situation? And I suppose, do other fan bases have a right to be upset about how this went down? Well, so I'll answer the second part first, and the answer is maybe. I think part of the angst that comes with this decision is due to the way the Golden Knights have aggressively managed their cap in the past,

specifically with relation to injuries in consecutive years to Mark Stone. Then they go out and add trade deadline pieces, and Stone is back for the playoffs. So people are already on high alert. This situation is different. I can't really get into the details, and it's not because I don't want to share them. It's really more for Robin Leonard himself. He was unable to come to training camp this year to get his medical. Because he didn't show up, the Golden Knights absolutely 100% had the right to terminate his contract and he doesn't get paid at all.

But they didn't want to leave him out of the $4.5 million. And certainly the NHLPA wouldn't stand for that, given that this is a guy that hasn't played the last two full seasons and no one had any designs on him playing this year, that there had to be some sort of middle ground reached where the golden Knights, they're solely looking for cap relief to not have to operate an LTIR. And they're also trying to get them paid. So the only way to do that is to come up with the unique circumstances

that produce this solution. So could this not set a precedent for other teams? Well, very specifically, I haven't seen the agreement, but I was told that both sides have agreed that this is non-precedent setting. Essentially, this is a one-off. That's fine. Sorry, I'm just a bit confused. It's fine that those two parties have agreed upon it.

It just feels like it's good. I say this without saying that they need to make everything public because I'm sure there's some privacy issues here. I'm trying to understand where the line would be that this is so unique and so unprecedented that nobody's going to be able to use it as a blueprint to get out from under a contract before, or again, and I know that there's obviously something going on with Robin Lehner that

is probably one serious and two not necessary to be in the public sphere. But at the same time, the optics around it are always going to be awkward because of what you mentioned, that one of the most unique and unprecedented salary cap mechanisms recently also happens in this particular market where this team is known for, I'll just say it, like cap shenanigans. Well, here's the one difference, though. I think people are getting riled up about something that's really not

a season-altering deal for the Golden Knights. Basically, they're getting cap relief from Robin Leonard's $5 million cap it anyway. It's just that now they will be able to actually accrue space, which they can bank towards something later in the season. But that's meaningful. Either way, they were able to replace his $5 million, so that part hasn't changed. There's not a net.

It's not like they're suddenly operating at, they were operating at, or now they could operate at $93 million instead of $88. It's just, there's nuance involved here. We are speaking to Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I know that there was a lot covered at the Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday.

One of the bigger narratives that wasn't just at the Board of Governors but throughout this preseason is the preseason. The length of it, the amount that teams are playing, the amount of injuries that have been accrued, the amount of guys that are being held out. JT Miller still hasn't made his preseason debut for the Vancouver Canucks. What are you hearing about how NHL clubs and maybe the NHL might address the preseason moving forward?

Well, they engaged in some conversation in previous years about it. This is obviously a collectively bargained issue, and someone at some point is going to need to replace the revenue as part of the pie if you were to shorten the preseason in a significant way. So that part needs to be managed. The NHLPA is canvassing its members during their fall tour, which began with Buffalo and Prague yesterday.

And I think ultimately where it will end up, probably starting in 2026, when the first year of the new CBA is, is something like a maximum of four preseason games and in exchange for shortening it or essentially cutting it in half the league will get two additional regular season games to bring it to an 84 game schedule i think it's in the best interest of everyone the the nhl's preseason is such a farce um the fact that the the new jersey devils have been in europe for a week yet have played multiple preseason games in north america since then just gives you an indication of how much of a farce it is right like how how insane is that the team is not even on this continent yet quote unquote the team i'm doing air quotes is playing preseason games against the Rangers and Flyers.

Right. Come on. So it's in everyone's best interest to change this. And look at it from, you mentioned Miller. I'm glad you did because earlier in the week, maybe on Monday or Tuesday, I was just checking in on Miller's injury situation. And I placed a couple calls and the answer I got was,

did you see Drew Dowdy get hurt and Patrick Laine? Like, you know, yes, JT Miller was a little banged up, but teams are starting to ask the question, why would we subject our stars to this? And then somehow there's Connor McDavid saying, oh, I'd actually like to play more preseason games. We're speaking to Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

One Canadian team that I'm kind of intrigued by this year in part because their head coach is Travis Green. He was a former head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. But also because I'm constantly waiting and waiting and waiting for them to take the next step is the ottawa senators i know you spent a lot of time in ottawa for this season three premiere of frankly speaking i know that you talked to brady kachuk and some others what sort of sense did you get out of ottawa about this year and the excitement level going into the possibility of finally getting back to the playoffs well it feels like a different camp for one. And I also spent time with Travis Green and he's putting them through the paces.

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

I think David Perron, not just from a play, but from a leadership perspective, is going to be really important. They've obviously changed the goaltending situation with Linus Olmark, who needs an extension, by the way. And I'm with you, though. I've been sort of one of the people the last couple years that's picking the Sens to, hey, this is finally going to be their moment. And Brady Kachuk actually stopped me in my tracks when he said this is year seven for him in the NHL. It's crazy how fast that goes. It's crazy how little the Sens have had to show for it.

I think they're going to take a step, but I don't have them as a playoff team this year because I don't know who to pick that's coming out. I already have the Lightning missing the playoffs, but I've got Buffalo going in, and I think Buffalo is a ways ahead of Ottawa. One of the teams that could fall out, I suppose, is Boston, given what's going on right now if things go south with Corpus Allo.

What's the latest on Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins, if anything? So I'm actually in Boston today, and I'm heading over to the rink shortly to spend a day with the Bruins. And my understanding is for as big a blowup as this week has been, the two sides remain in communication. It's pretty cordial. And they're still talking, still working. So that part is, I think, a positive if you're a Bruins fan.

But I got to say, watching their preseason game and seeing that sign up against the glass on the boards, right behind the net, take 64 or go, the Bruins have really changed the dynamic in this market for Swayman. The heat has definitely been turned up and the temperature has been ratcheted up on Swayman. I think that they're not insanely far apart. And I know that sounds funny to say, given the commentary this week, but there's a path to get a deal done.

And my guess is that cooler heads will prevail at the end of this. The phone lines we go. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Bill, or I suppose good evening, Bill, where you are. How are you? Thanks for joining the show today. Good morning, guys. I'm well. How are you? We're good. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this today.

We mentioned to the listeners that you're joining us from Prague, where the latest iteration of the Global Series for the NHL is underway. The Sabres and the Devils are going to play a pair of games in Prague. My question for you is, you know, with this Global Series, how far or where else is the NHL thinking about going? Because we saw the NFL this year. They went to Brazil. I realize now that in a month, the NBA is going to play a game in Mexico City.

So, you know, the globalization of each league is a big thing. I'm just curious what the NHL might have in store moving forward. Yeah, great question. And, you know, it's something we think about and talk about every day. Obviously, last year we were able to bring two teams to Australia, which was the first major professional sports league to bring teams to Australia, I think, in about a decade. So we're all out there.

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

but two, we'll make it work, and we'll make it work in a positive way. I mean, the Devils have been here since last week. They played an exhibition game in Munich, opened the building there in Munich. Actually, I'm sorry, the Sabres did that, not the Devils. And it was a tremendous experience for them. So, you know, it changes year by year, but I think for the most part, players and the clubs have bought in. Bill, we've been talking a lot on this show about the Robin Leonard resolution

with the Vegas Golden Knights. I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that Canucks fans aren't entirely happy to hear the news. They feel like, you know, in the past, the Canucks have paid salary cap penalties, cap recapture in the Luongo situation, and they feel, rightly or wrongly, that Vegas is getting away with it again because they won't have a cap charge on Robin Lehner this season. What can you tell the listeners about this situation? There's not a lot I can tell the listeners about this situation,

other than the fact that there are a lot of facts involved here that I can't disclose and I can't discuss with anybody and that are confidential with respect to the players. So look, at the end of the day, we had a Russell, a situation in the players. So, look, at the end of the day, we had to wrestle a situation in the ground. We had to deal with the facts that we were faced with. You know, Las Vegas or Vegas had certainly a lot of ability

to argue for the treatment they're getting. And at the end of the day, that's where we came out with the Players Association based on all the facts and circumstances. So, you know, the fact that I can't disclose the facts and circumstances is unfortunate, but I would tell you that, you know, the resolution that we ended up with, I'm happy with.

Is there any concern from around the league that this creates, or maybe from the league, that this creates a precedent where other teams could use this situation and get out of contract situations that are not good for them? Yeah, no, look, we face these issues every year and we have to evaluate them. I would tell you that, like, personally, difficult situation, difficult issue, difficult resolution, but happy with where we came out. So I don't think in terms of how other clubs have to approach this, they would approach it the same way.

And we'd make a decision and agreement with the Players Association. Ultimately, we have to do that. That's in the best interest of the sport. That's what I'd say. We're speaking to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Bill, we'll maybe shift off the laner part of this, but still stay on LTIR and accruing cap space. And then eventually, as it leads into the playoffs for some of these teams, I know it's been a topic of conversation about addressing it or altering it.

I know you also just had the Board of Governors meetings. So I guess it's a two-part question for me. One, what was the tone and tenor of those conversations? And two, who's leading the charge primarily to make some sort of alterations to LTIR? Fair questions. Obviously, I don't even think I reported on this issue to the board, which I think is symbolic of the fact that while it might be an issue of interest to people around the league and potentially the media, it's not a huge priority for the Board of Governors in terms of dealing with it, which I would tell you means that it's not, you know,

it might be an irritant to some clubs and some seasons, but it's not like a high priority item. Having said that, we have canvassed the the general managers i'd say the majority of general manager would like the issue to be at least talked about and addressed and that's what we'll do with players association at the appropriate time um could that time be the cba negotiations because we heard uh gary bettman the other day saying that he'd like to start CBA negotiations in the new year. And he even suggested that maybe we could have a deal done by the Stanley Cup final. Now he allowed that the NHLPA is also party to this negotiation,

so they may feel otherwise on that situation. But my roundabout question is, do you guys want to get the CBA done before you expand? Because that seems to be how the NBA has done things. They wanted to get their CBA done. They wanted to get their rights deal done because in Vancouver,

we've been waiting for the Seattle Supersonics to come back. And is that a similar way that you're going to approach things with expansion in the NHL? Well, I guess what I'd tell you, and very honestly, this would be the case, one has never been connected to the other. So would we like to get an extension on our CBA? Yes.

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

We listen to those. We'll continue to listen to those. But none of that is tied to, at least currently, none of that is tied to CBA. Bill, if the NHLPA were to come to you in negotiation and say, we want some of that expansion money, would the relationship between the NHL and the NHLPA still be good? That's a fair question. It has not happened. Okay.

And to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what our reaction would be to that. But it hasn't happened at this point. Okay. But is it fair to say that the NHL would not be particularly enthused with that suggestion? Well, it's not something that's ever happened before in any sport. So I would start there um and then you know we'd figure it out look we have a good relationship with our players association currently and um want to keep it that way and and we're willing to discuss anything but uh but that would be unusual for sure.

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

Association's mindset is at. And that's a good thing for us. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.