Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 12/15/25

Episode Date: December 15, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, including a big Canucks win yesterday which was the first in the post-Quinn Hughes era, plus the Globe & Mail's Gary Mason joins the show to discuss the Hughes trade.  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. Whoa. Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose a fucking Canucks?

Da-na-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Garland to the brus side And the goal goes back, head to four-hand, stop by Marksrup, but he scores on his own rebound. It's just a really different feeling that I guess you will call it the noise What you said is gone.

Kick is away. The fans just told you Jason Myers with his sixth field ball of the day. And boom goes to dynamite. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halpert.

It is Brought, it is Sports Net 6th. 50. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Ada, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Bruff in the morning is bratsy by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are in our one of the program. Hour one is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they you get paid, visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Now is the time to maximize the benefits of custom orthotics before the year runs out. Visit kintech.com. My, oh my, what a weekend. So profound that we had to come in here on a Friday night. Friday night. Yeah, just to break down the Quinn Hughes trade. I'd be curious to know where everyone was when they found out that Quinn Hughes had been traded.

Where were you offered? I was in the kitchen eating hummus and crass. Crackers over the sink. Oh, okay. Hey, dog? Where were you? In the shower? You were in the shower?

Yeah. And you had your phone in there or something? And then you learned? All that could be over is, Oh, my God. What about you, Lattie? I can just woke up from a nap or something. I don't even remember.

Yeah, I was at an elementary school play. That's right. Beauty and the Beast. Did you fall to your knees had an elementary school play when you heard the news? No, I was like, I was like, hmm. Okay. Why is my phone going off every 11 seconds? Yeah.

I was like, first of all, I shouldn't be checking my phone. during the elementary school play. But I did once, and I'm like, I don't have a, I don't have like a beep or a buzz or anything that goes off. So I just kind of open up my phone. I was like, oh, my God, something is happening. I'm going to drop an F-bom in the audience? So, despite the fact that we did a show on Friday night,

going two hours on the Quinn Hughes trade, we still have a lot to get into on the program today, a ton to cover from the weekend. We do have a guest list as well. It is the Duick Morning Drive brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 7 o'clock. Mike Tanier is going to be our first guest. Our first guest will be an NFL guest.

It was a very eventful and very newsworthy Sunday in the NFL. We'll go through the Seahawks gutty win over Philip Rivers and the Colts yesterday and an absolutely awful day for the Kansas City Chiefs. All that and more with Mike at 7 o'clock. 7.30, Gary Mason is going to join the program, columnist from the Globe and Mail. I assume now that any time the Canucks make a major trade of significance, it has to be preceded by a Gary Mason article. Those are the rules. I don't make them.

That's just what happens. Every time he writes an article on the Canoxus and they're like, oh, God, who's out next? It's like a, it's a bell, basically. Like, you know what the trade is coming. They have rung the Gary Mason Bell. Gary's going to join us. Gary Mason Bell. That's it.

Gary's going to join us at 7.30 to talk about Friday's massive Quinn Hughes trade and the aftermath. That's coming up at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Satyar Shah is going to join the program. Canucks talk host, Canucks pre and post game host right here on SportsNet 650. A lot of Hughes talk, obviously, was sat. but we'll also go through some of the new guys on the team who helped the Canucks beat the Devils 2-1 yesterday in New Jersey

in a matinee affair. Sat's going to join us at 8 a.m. for some Canucks talk. More giveaways this week on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650, starting with every day this week a $250 gift card to Golf Town. Holidays are right around the corner in Golf Town is the perfect gifting destination for the golfer in your life. Caller number 5 at 730 this morning, 604-280.

0.650. Speaking of calling in, it is the penultimate day, the second to last day of Halford & Brough's 12 days of Christmas. We will do giveaways today and tomorrow. By the way, on Friday, we forgot to mention it. We gave away a signed Trevor Linden jersey, a real Vancouver captain and a real Vancouver captain's jersey. We gave away. Wow. We gave way. There's going to be some slander today, just so everyone. We're already here, eh? This is how we move on. You are dead to me. Yeah, we did the night of morning.

That was Friday. That was Friday. Halford and I are bad breaker uppers. As soon as he scored that goal, I'm like, I now hate this man. Friday morning is always followed by pettiness Monday, which is about what you're going to experience on this show. Anyway, we gave away a sign Trevor Lyndon, Jersey, courtesy of our friends at pastime sports and games on Friday. Today, again, it's a secret as always.

Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. 604, 280650. will win Halford and Brough's 12 days of Christmas. Okay, there's a big rundown. It's the morning drive brought to you by the Duock Auto Group. We got a lot more to get into. So without further ado, Laddie, 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? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance,

making safety simpler by giving construction construction Companies, the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.com. We will start with the actual game on Sunday, because, of course, it was the first game that the Vancouver Canucks played since the Quinn Hughes trade. And it was the new guy, Zeeve Bouillon, and his first game is a Vancouver Canock,

goal and an assist. Thatcher Demko, 25 saves on 26 shots facing the Canucks, 1 in the post-Quinn Hughes era with a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday. Yeah, no Hughes, no petter. No problem. Petey was out again. He's on retroactive IR. It wasn't a dominant performance by any means. The Connect kind of jumped on a New Jersey team that has apparently had a habit of bad starts. But they held on. And it was nice to watch a team that didn't appear morbidly depressed. There was some, there was a different feel to it. And I think the head coach Adam Foote afterwards said so. He said, the story was starting to affect the team and how couldn't it? Do we have any audio from the game? It was a, it was a, honestly, like, okay,

so I know that a lot of people think, and this is probably true, I probably agree, that the best thing for the Canucks is to lose a lot of games down the stretch. But yesterday I found myself cheering for the Canucks way more than I have for most of this season, just because of the guys that were out there. I think yesterday was one of those games where you're rooting for the team

and you're rooting for the guys and you're hoping, even though big picture, it might be more beneficial to lose as many games as possible, that meant something. Yes. Now, I'm not exactly sure what. I know I'm on the radio and I talk for a living and I should have a word to describe it, but I'm not sure exactly what it was.

but in its individual component parts it was definitely important for the three guys making their debut to get off on the right foot and have a good start Zeev Bouillon certainly did Yeah right booleum two shots on goal in just under 20 minutes of ice time So no Quinn Hughes 30 minutes for him yet Yeah I say yet I thought Rossi had some moments as well

Rossi played 1816 Yeah as sort of going in as the not even the de facto But just the one C You hit a post too right Yeah you know who I hope he is a bit like is Zuccarello. I've always liked Zuccarello and hopefully he can be that creative type of player. If you go back to his junior stats, he played for I think the 67, 6-7 in Ottawa. And he had 120 points one season and the next, the second highest score had 90. So he was clearly the guy and which was why he was what ninth overall in the draft. He was a high, it was a high pick. That's that's that. that's now on the Canucks and still only 23, I think, or 24. Yep, and the other new guy, Liam Ogre in the grand age of 22,

played just under 12 minutes in a very, very complimentary role, as most will be expecting over the next few days. But collectively, I thought there was a certain level of dig in and pushback and a little bit of defiance from the team, although they were under siege and they only managed to put one shot on golden in the third period. So they still got some of their old characteristics there. They had two great goalies, Thatcher DEMCO and Tyler Myers. Tyler Myers made a really nice save at the end.

But you're right, they did dig in, and they were sacrificing, and they were under siege. And without Queen Hughes, I think we're going to see this team under siege a fair amount down the way. Now, we can talk more about what's coming next for the Vancouver Canucks and how the roster looks and whether or not with a with a with a center like rossi which is something they've been looking for for a while now once a leas peterson comes back and if that's your damn go stays healthy like is the tank in jeopardy we can talk about that later but i do want to go back

a little bit and talk a bit about the timeline around the quin hughes trade because with what's being reported it all checks out with what we saw on the ice and i know there were some people that thought oh everyone's making too much of a deal about Quinn Hughes's body language and whether or not he was giving up on plays

you know it was a long shift he was tired but Hughes reportedly of being a Canuck yeah Hughes reportedly told the Canucks he wasn't going to resign around US Thanksgiving which lines up with some of those body language issues that we saw in games against San Jose which I believe was on the Black Friday

and Colorado which was a few games later and again body language I don't even like the body language like for me calling it body language underplays it. He was giving up on plays. And there are some plays where you're kind of like, yeah, he was tired. And other plays where you're like, man,

there's something going on there. That wasn't normal. You know, that wasn't normal what we saw. And it's why people made a big deal out of it, despite others trying to downplay it. And I actually wonder, the way Hughes went out, does it affect his legacy in Vancouver?

Hoover. You're good, Halford, you're good at turning on guys as soon as they leave. And what do you think about that puck hog being in

Minnesota now? Oh, you mean? I'm good at turning on guys too. Are we talking about Quit Hughes? Is that the guy that we're discussing now? Yeah. Quit Hughes? He knows he used to have a coach Rick Toquit.

Yeah. I also want to add that this endeavor has made a lot easier. by the fact that he now plays for the Minnesota Wild a team that quite frankly I've never liked and I don't think I ever will if he had gone to a team with some semblance of likability

this might have been leaving even the slightest bit more difficult. Some people were like does he look good in a wild jersey or bad? I think he looks dumb. Yeah. It's a dumb jersey. Boring? Boring? Yeah, yeah. I mean they look pretty good against the Bruins. They look fantastic but we'll ignore that.

I mean I was as long as I'm doing sports for a living and I understand that there is still a component of this. This is supposed to be entertainment and fun. When you're with us, you're with us. And when you're not with us, you're against us. Like that just goes across the board. That is a universal truth, right?

So now that Quinn Hughes is a member of the Minnesota Wild, one of the more unlikable teams in recent memory in the National Hockey League, and I got a lot of different instances over the past 20 years that I can point to, yeah, I have no problem having fun with the Quinn Hughes moniker and all these sorts of things. Now, I will say this, the events leading up to his trade, I think that those will, over time, as more and more details come forward, then we're getting a lot of details and we will get into them in a second here.

Once the picture is fully painted, I'm with you. I'm going to be very curious to see what the rest of the fan base's response is. Because here's what we know right now. and we'll throw to some audio for this, including Elliot Freibin's 32 thoughts overnight, which had a lot more detail. American Thanksgiving is when he sort of officially told the team, I'm not resigning this summer,

and then things move pretty quickly from there. And then as you mentioned, the aforementioned body language issues, right? I think it's the way it's being described as he didn't exactly ask for a trade, but that's kind of semantics. And I think his play on the ice, frankly at times, that was a trade request. Yep.

Or the resignation that he knew it was coming. And he's like, well, I'm just going to go out here and kind of do whatever. Like there was no one was denied. And then just kind of. Look at my possession stats. I've had it for four minutes. I'm like, yeah, a lot of guys were open. I like to classify it as wearing the frustration and disappointment on the outside.

There was no effort to try and internalize it. There wasn't. And let's go now to Fridge. So this is from 32 thoughts. This is talking about the timeline, the American Thanksgiving thing, and how quickly things moved after Hughes told the organization right around American Thanksgiving that he was not going to sign an extension this summer. Elliot Freedman from 32 Thoughts.

And I believe that the real true countdown clock began sometime before U.S. Thanksgiving, Quinn Hughes finally informed the Canucks. He was not going to be resigning. And I think at that time, his agent, Pat Prasanne, And the Vancouver Canucks said, this is going to get out, it's time to move. So did he make a formal trade request? People swear no. That did not happen.

However, once he said he was not resigning, everybody worried that that would get out and it was time to move. Okay. We've also got, now this, there's a couple interesting things here. I was really curious on Friday and we didn't get all the details of it what the other packages might have looked like because Hughes in his audio speaking after Minnesota 6-2-win

over Boston last night which he scored in his debut he talked very much about him and his agent Pat Brouson working with Jim Rutherford to find a place where he would be quote-unquote comfortable so everyone understood that there was a lot of suitors for Quinn Hughes

at this moment I was trying to figure out on Friday what some of these other deals looked like someone floated the parameters of what a Washington deal would look like and it involved Connor McMichael there was Detroit and there was Carolina I think free jes more did you want to jump in here no no we can play freege audio but I do want to talk about one thing afterwards okay here's freege on what he believes were some of the other offers given to Jim

Rutherford in exchange for Quinn Hughes a couple of the teams first of all Detroit and you know as I'd said I think there was there was always a match there if the two teams wanted to do it. You know, it takes two to tango. You've got to get it done, but you looked up and down to Troy's roster and you said they could do this. I heard

that really didn't get far because there was something Vancouver wanted from Detroit that the Red Wings would not include. And I don't

know this, but I have wondered if that was Edvenson. I don't know it, though. But I just heard there was something that Vancouver said would have to be in the trade with Detroit that the Red Wings were not willing to do. And so I don't think it ever got as close as I thought it could.

My suspicion is Edvinson. I just don't know that. The other team I'm kind of wondering about here is Carolina. as I wrote on Thursday night slash Friday morning I think Carolina is a team that when a star player Like they've got that philosophy When a star player is available They're in it

They want a star and also they recognize That when a guy like Quinn Hughes becomes available How often does that happen So we better get in there That's kind of their philosophy Which I think is a good one I don't know what it all was

but I heard they gave it a real shot I don't know how close they got but I think they gave it a real shot I heard Carolina was legit so I don't know if Quinn was given a choice on where he wants to go but clearly they were working with him to get him to

a situation where he was going to be happy. Yep. And you might ponder the question, why did they care? They didn't have any trade protection. They didn't have to work with them. And I think maybe there's some semblance of you do right by your former captain. Sure. But I also wonder how much this has to do with agents. Ah, yes, Pat Brousan. Is he a power agent? Yeah. You just, you know, like, you want to have a good relationship with a guy like Pat Brasson because you might have to work with him on some other stuff later and he might be like, you know what? I had a client once that you totally screwed. You sent somewhere he didn't want to go and he's a superstar and that's going to affect my

relationship with you. I'm glad you brought this up. So it's funny because you think like the iron cladness of a no trade clause, the inverse of it is like when a guy doesn't have one, you're like, well, this is great. The handcuffs are off. We're free to send. them wherever we want we can feel the best offer it's that is a very naive and rose-colored way of looking at it because as you pointed out you when you're talking especially

a player that magnitude he's almost got his own unwritten no trade clause really in some ways in some ways if you think about it you know he's got this guy pat yeah like you're just you're you're wielding the power in a totally different way but you still got it and it's funny I was reading an article

yesterday from the New Jersey side of things and one of the things that they talked about is that they felt there's some reporting from New Jersey that they were also in the ground floor and trying to get Quinn Hughes and that what held them up was the fact that they couldn't move enough pieces out to make it happen

because no other general manager in hockey has given out more no trade clauses than Tom Fitzgerald. They said he's got 15 of them on the books. I think he's got one more than two of the other leading teams and he gives them all like candy to everyone. They're like, why does Andre Palat have a no trade clause?

Like what was that for? But the interesting thing here is that you can either give them out when you're signing a guy to a contract or if it's a player of significance you cannot give it to him and then when it comes time to eventually deal them you're you're dealing with that situation anyway right where the agent gets involved and

all of a sudden this pool of 32 teams gets narrowed down to 10 or 11 I mean as far as the return went I mean I thought that the Canucks did really well getting the amount of assets that they got in return great they did great yeah every I think they got the best defensive prospect in the And quite frankly, I'm actually shocked they were able to get that much because I thought I felt at times they were dealing from a position of weakness. Well, and if you hear Jim Rutherford talking about talking about it, he was like, I was worried for months that we were not going to be able to get the deal that we needed to. Yeah.

And look, all the, it's, there's still risk in trading way a sure thing like Quinn Hughes. Zeev Boullium obviously looks very good. Yes. He's a great skater, had a good game. It's got a lot of swag. That's what Adam Foote said after the game yesterday. He's a very confident guy. Swag or swagger?

See, I think... He's got a nice smile too. It was nice to see some smiles out there. It was nice to see some smiles out there. That's all I got to say. His ceiling is Hughes or McCar. So, I mean, the Canucks took the swing on the guy. You're going to right...

The rush to the top. Well, I'm just saying, if you're going to trade Quinn Hughes, you might as well get the guy that has the highest percentage chance of becoming that player. Not to say that he will, but I'm just saying they got that guy. Did you say his ceiling is Hughes or McCar? It is. It is. Yeah. He's the best defensive prospect in the league. By far.

All right. I think there's a lot of those. No, he is the best defensive prospect. Like, you look at the top defensive prospects in the league. He's pretty much the number one across the board. And I'm not saying he will be either those defensemen or Norris trophy winner. But I'm just saying, if you want to look at the glass half full, the Canucks, you know. I think that's the glass full full.

Yeah, it's over four. Overflowing. Overflowing. Zeeving all over the edge. Yeah, Ross is going to be, he's a good player. He has his limitations as, you know, and that he's going to have to overcome because he's not a very big guy and really helps to be big when you're a center, especially defensively.

But he definitely has some talent and some playmaking ability. And then we'll see about Liam Mogran. It doesn't look statistically like he's off to the best start of his NHL career. And I wonder if they will send him down to the AHA. for a bit but we can talk about that in the next segment because I do want to talk about a couple of things. What's next for the Canucks? Yeah. Um, roster wise. Could there be more trades coming? Uh, could there be some demotions to, uh, the HL? Um, because they had to

scratch some guys yesterday just to get all the new guys into the lineup. Um, and they've got poor games left on this road trip before the Christmas break. I also want to, you know, leave you with this for Sarah from Edmonton. So many questions after this weekend, she texts in. Mostly I've been pondering the culture one. In light of the best player to put on a Canucks jersey in recent years being gone because he wants to win, what does that say about other players? And Sarah, I'd add, what does that say about the organization?

I don't know if everyone heard. I asked a bit of a question of Patrick Alvin on Friday. And it was about the culture, and it was a pretty direct question. And I just said, well, you know, do you think you guys have a bad culture? And I was surprised a little bit that he seemed so shocked at the question. It was like, on our team? I was like, yeah, because in the last year, you've had two of your leaders, Elias Pedersen and J.T. Miller have a big fight, and one of them had to be traded.

And then a head coach that you really liked said, nah, I'm going to go somewhere else. and now your captain also wants out so I feel like that's a fair question to ask and I don't know if I'm going to be allowed in Rogers Arena for a little while but it wasn't that scathing a question no but but but like I well first of all no it wasn't it was a little bit scathing it was a very straightforward question but I think it took him by surprise it did that because it was quite direct

both things can be but I have to say not toot my own horn here But I had multiple, multiple people come up to me over the weekend and say, thank you for asking that question because that's exactly how I feel. I was in the room with you. And I thought it was a very smart, very direct and important question to ask. No, like there was no two ways about it. And I'm glad that you asked it. And I think the response, sure, Alvian looked like you wanted to murder him, but besides the point.

Yeah. But I think it was a good thing to ask. And I think that the response, or maybe like that. there of was kind of telling. Halford, you're good at turning on guys. Hello. Halford. You're quite good at turning me.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Adog said that Zeebueh is the unquestioned top defensive prospect of hockey. Ceiling is McCar. He is. Peace out Matthew Schaefer. Then I said Matthew Schaefer. I will admit I didn't forget about Schaefer.

Yeah. Just because he's a rookie. Okay, good. Oh, you just forgot about the first overall thing. I completely forgot about him. The first of all pick. Yeah, it plays for the Islanders. Who cares?

I don't know if you're completely dialed into the rankings. I don't really care about the Islanders. Who said he was the, like, what do you mean by the top defensive prospect? You just Google top. It's usually between Zeev and the Hurricanes guy. You're not wrong. The Keyesian, you're not wrong. The Keesian, right?

You Google. So if you Google like top NHL, NHL, yeah, pretty much every prospect's ranking has Zeev and the Keesion is one, two, and you could debate that. But of course, then Schaefer, this is. Chat, GPT, told him. Enter the chat. But nevertheless, he's a very, very good defense prox chat gbtv told you that is a great question that is a great insightful question

eight august the best okay uh let's continue the conversation here reminder if you want to weigh in tumbar lor text line is 650 650 i want to play some audio from quit hues this is from yesterday following he did nine minutes of media yesterday several people pointing this out which is understandable because it was because normally he's just a puck hog on the ice Now he's being a bit of like a bit of press hog microphone hog Yeah

So I'm not going to throw shots In him for doing as much media as he did Because it was twofold It was like his first chance to meet the media period And it was after a game But sure Someone just texted in I apologies for not having the text in front of me

They said did you notice In his post trade message to the fan base On social media Quinn Hughes didn't mention Patrick Alvin. And I said, I got, I'll take this one step further. We're going to play one of his answers talking about the lead-up to the trade out of Vancouver and the amount of appreciation he showed for Jim Rutherford and Patrick Brasson, his agent. And those were the only, so like, well, the Aquolini family.

And the Ackolini family. Do we have this audio at the ready? This is Quinn Hughes in the aftermath. On how the deal came to be? Yeah. This isn't the one where he said he knew his last game was going to be against Buffalo on Thursday night. So that gives you an idea of how long this trade was in the hopper. But let's play this clip first. What a legacy game to go out on. Yeah, it was unforgettable. I actually forgot that what it was, I was

like, did they win or lose? Anyway, Quinn Hughes, this is as his first game and post-game media availability as a member of the Minnesota Wild. How involved were you, Quinn, just in this process and coming to Minnesota, Jim made it sound like you wanted to accommodate you as much as he could? Yeah, honestly,

I mean, I don't know how much I'm allowed to say, but I have, you know, the ultimate respect for Jim Rutherford and Francesco Aqualini and the Aqualini family. I mean, they were first class with everything that was going on, and obviously it was a tough situation, but it felt like it was time, and I think Jim did too. But Jim was, you know, Jim and Pat Pappersonam agent, he was, you know, obese, I'm very lucky to have him, but they were kind of talking a lot about places. is I might feel comfortable. And, you know, Jim was amazing with that. You want, you know, he cared about the person.

He wanted me to go where he thought, you know, thinks I would be happy. And, yeah. So there's a dynamic that we discussed on Friday's show. And I think as we get more details coming out about how this trade came to be, it's becoming really apparent that Patrick Alvin has entered, what do you do around here,

territory because on Friday, for those that missed it, Patrick Alvin did a Zoom call in which you asked about the culture, the potential culture problem or perceived culture problem. And then he came on SportsNet 650 and did an interview with Jamie and Bick. While all that was going on, Jim Rutherford was also conducting his own individual media availability with select reporters, including Sportsnet's Dan Murphy. So when we got on the air at 7 o'clock How many reporters were on that call? Three.

Three? And then a fourth joined after. Oh, it was like Murph, IMAQ, and Farman? And then Harmon Dyle from the Athletic joined right after. So it was exclusive company. We didn't get the invite to that. Did not. We didn't get the invite to anything.

No. Except to come on the air and work for free, which we did, by the way, if our bosses are listening. So. Now that you're bitter about it, right? We're not bitter. I just, exciting. I was going to make a joke. I'm like, we're only doing one hour today on the time.

I don't know we did two three ones on Friday. Excuse me, I'm at the theater. Also known as the elementary school play. Yeah, how many of you were watching? It's Beauty and the Beast, right? How many of you were watching Beauty and the Beast right now? Anyway, Jim Rutherford, as that clip suggested, as the countless anecdotes that have come out in the aftermath of suggested, and as his media availability suggested, was the driving force, the move maker when it came to conducting the Quinn Houston. trade, which I will remind you is probably the biggest trade in franchise history.

How does that work? He said something like Patrick had a lawn on his plate. I was cackling, but I heard that. Patrick had a lot on his plate, so I'm going to take this franchise defining trade off your plate, and I will just handle that all by myself. Patrick, you look kind of busy right now, so let me just deal with this slight little problem that we have. Just do the rest of stuff.

I'll handle the use thing. Don't worry about it. It's fine. You keep, I don't know, searching for it too. or something. You keep doing your thing. So yeah, Noon and in Richmond just texted in. Didn't Jim say that Patrick had too much on his plate for this trade? He did.

He absolutely did. So when we came in on Friday and played the audio of the Jim Rutherford Media Availability, I was like, this is the guy that should have been fielding all the questions. This is the guy that should have been fielding the question about, is there a culture problem? Why did Quinn Hughes

want to leave? Because you apparently were dealing with this more than anybody. Right? And it is a, it's always been an interesting dynamic, the Rutherford-Alveen dynamic. Well, we've always been interesting. We've had guys like Frank on the show that said around the league, people wonder

who should I talk to. And I'm, that's a fair, fair thing, because at times over the last four years. There's a, there's like a receptionist that's like, uh, do you want to talk about Quinn Hughes or Kiefer Sherwood? Okay, Sherwood's an Alveen. Right. It's like the office thing. Remember the

office episode where they ended up having two managers, co-managers? Yeah. And like Michael Scott was the big picture, and then, like, Jim was the day-to-day. That's what this is. This is that office episode. It's very much what it is. Yeah. Now, Alvian handles day-to-day.

JR, big picture. But it gets a little confusing when the cornerstone of your team, Norris Trophy-winning defenseman, and captain, who you could argue is very much in the day-to-day because he's playing every game is also, that's almost beyond the scope of the day-to-day general manager. I don't, you know, you know what, I'll say this, though. It's a good return. It is a very good return. And some people, now there have been some people that have texted in and have said, are you surprised or do you think it was an improper practice to take the first offer that Bill Garen gave?

Now, if you have no idea what we're talking about here, Garen, and his media availability said that this was his first salvo, his first shot fired at the Canucks. But he framed it as I'm going to put all my cards on the table right away to show I mean business. I'm not going to try and haggle and I'm not going to hold back one of these guys and then later include them. I think the Kinex essentially set up an auction just like give us your best bid and then we're going to choose one.

Now I'll say this. We probably offered a boo-ium and then Rutherford was like, really? Like, are you kidding me? That's insane. You probably didn't expect that. When that offer comes through, it's obviously going to grab the attention of any executive that's working because it's the equivalent of four

first round picks. And I know two of these guys have already been exposed to the National Hockey League so you've got a better idea of what they're going to look like in Rossi and Ogrin. But it was a big fundamentally franchise altering move

for Minnesota. I mean, I dove into Minnesota Wilde social media and listen to the reporters and they're like, that's our entire prospect cupboard. There's not much after that. They're going for it. And they're going for it.

They're going for it. Yeah. Thank God, at least, you know, one GM has some, you know, risk tolerance. It would be very exciting for the wild. What now for the Canucks, though? Reichel, do you remember him?

Lucas Reichel? Yeah, he cleared waivers. I don't know what the plan is for him. I'm sure they're trying to trade him. Petty was put on retroactive IR to make room for the new guys. Pedersen could still return to the lineup on this road trip, which I imagine they'd have to make some other moves. I know a lot of people didn't like that Ratu was a healthy scratch yesterday,

and I agree that he should be in the lineup continuing to develop. But who are you going to take out? Sasson and Kempf are definitely options and it's worth noting that Sasson does not require waivers to be sent down.

I haven't been impressed whatsoever with David Kempf. Forget the lack of offense. There's nothing there. Has he even been, I know Adam Foote said he's been unbelievable defensively. I was just going to bring it up. That, really? You've seen that?

Because I saw him ice the puck yesterday at the end of a game totally unnecessarily. And I haven't exactly noticed that he's been winning every single draw he's been taking. So we had a detailed breakdown of Adam Foote's post-game media availability in text form. Yeah. It didn't listen to the clip. And at the end, he talks about David Kompin. He says, no points, but he's playing unbelievable defense in doing his job. Okay.

Now, I have a, again, maybe the coach has a different checklist of things that he wants to see. Sure. But I'm kind of with you. I was very surprised that Ratu was the guy sat down for that game because I think... I actually wasn't because if you look at the 12 guys that were in there, maybe the only guy that I might have said, you could take him out was Sassan. Yeah. But Sasson brings speed to the lineup and they need they need speed.

Maybe they need a little less now, but they need speed. My question to that would be to what end though? Like what are you trying to accomplish here? Well, I think they wanted to get O'Grathen. into the lineup too. No, no, I would suggest if you were to make it between Sassan and Ratu, and it's amazing that we're actually talking about these lineup decisions like they matter. Well, they do long term.

Yeah, long term, I would say it's more beneficial to have Ratu playing games than Sassin playing games. You think Ratu's going to be the better player? I think so too. And I think they have more invested in them. Like, with no disrespect to Max Sasson. I wonder if O'Grid needs some more time in the H.L. Maybe send him down and see if he can build some chemistry with his old Swedish teammate Jonathan

Lekker-O-Macki, who apparently is playing really well right now. Yep. Scoring a lot of goals for Abbotsford. What about pulling the trigger on some more trades? That's got to happen now. I actually thought the Sherwood, Drew O'Connor, Evander Kane line was pretty good against the Devils,

but I mean, I'm not sure if that really matters at this point. They're like, well, we can't trade one of these guys. They're developing some chemistry. Sherwood and Kane are unlikely to finish the season with the Canucks. Sherwood will almost definitely be gone. And hopefully for another first round pick, you know, could the Canucks have four picks in the first and second round? Like four picks in the top 50?

That'd be amazing. Right. And that's kind of where we were going on Friday when we were talking about, okay, this is the first step. And they did get a first round pick and return. You got two picks now at the upcoming draft. Keep going. Keep going.

Keep going. Like when we broke down the center position on Friday night, looking forward. And we're like, well, if Coots can project. to this and Rossi can be this and Pedersen can be that and I remember jumping in I'm being like make sure you have more options don't put the entire weight of something on

get a little wiggle room in there yeah our next guest as mentioned courtesy the Globe and Mail Gary Mason joins us now on the Halford & Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650 Good morning Gary how are you Good morning fellas

So the Quinn Hughes trade Is it fair to suggest that you might have seen that one coming Yeah I think so yeah no I mean there was no question that we were building towards this moment I mean you could you could tell something was up at the beginning of the year and then you know we saw a version of Quinn used that we hadn't recognized before on the ice and even off the ice too a more sullen version a more

uninspired version on the ice at times so I think I mean I mean, all the body language suggested that, you know, he'd kind of had enough and it was time to move on. And that's indeed what happened. Do you think he would have been gone regardless when he had the opportunity or if the Canucks were in a better place? Do you think he would have been willing to sign an extension? You know, I really thought a lot about that question. And here's where I land on it. I think if the Canucks were a team right now that the league was talking about.

Like if it was a top team in the league and it was a team that still had like a bit of a runway ahead of it, like, you know, it was still young enough, like the core group was mid-20s and you could see a runway of, you know, four or five years. Then I honestly don't think we'd be talking about this. Having said that, having said that, you know, Quinn is a very American player. I mean, he loves everything about the states. And I think, you know, I think, you know, often he could cast his eye down there and see what his brothers were doing and what they were capable of doing,

living in the states and living in that area in particular and probably was quite envious. And, you know, it made it even worse, you know, being stuck here on a team that was going nowhere after a season that devolved into something, you know, that he couldn't probably have imagined in his worst dreams, you know, going through that whole debacle with J.T. Miller and Pedersen I mean, you know, for a young captain to be thrust into that situation, it must have been just gut-wrenching for him, you know. And so that took a lot out of them. And of course, so my personal theory is, and I bet you I'm right, that he knew at the end of last season, he wasn't resigning. Yeah.

And I think, I think Talkett probably had conversations with him and Talkett knew he wasn't coming back, which made him. his decision to move on, you know, a lot easier. If not, it was the impetus to move on. I bet you if Quinn Hughes was committed here for the long-term future, I bet you Rick Tocke would still be here. So I think there's a connection there. So, yeah, I just think, I just think, you know, there's a confluence of factors that have, you know,

play a role in what ultimately happened here. With all the bad things that have happened to the Canucks in the last year or two, why is there still confidence from ownership in Jim Rutherford and the management team?

Well, I mean, I think probably because of what we just witnessed. I mean, I think generally, you know, from my reading, everyone in the hockey world thinks that Jim Rutherford, you know, hit a home run in terms of what he got in return for Quinn Hughes.

I mean, for somebody who was in a pretty crappy situation, having to, you know, give up his best player and one of the best players in the league, he did pretty damn well in terms of the return. And Z. Bouillon is obviously the key. And some people that I've talked to or some people that have sent me emails suggest the upside that this kid has is, is significant. And so I think, you know, well, you don't know exactly how this plays out, you know, I mean, and we don't know in a couple of years.

I mean, if the Minnesota Wilde lose Quinn Hughes in two years and they don't win a Stanley Cup, and the Canucks are building into a contender around Bouillon and Rossi and, you know, The kid that they got in Seattle, you know, the center, Braden Coots, and, you know, and whoever else they might get in this draft, unless they blow it and start playing well right now, which would be terrible. But, you know, so, well, I, so I think that, you know, I think even though you can look at things in sort of in pieces, you know, and say, oh, you know, you blew that. blew that. But I think that Jim Rutherford still is a really highly respected person in this league. And I think he's still kind of, and Patrick Alvin is too. I mean, so I don't know who you're going to go out, you know, like, you know, when amid this whole discussion, you know, I could, you know, you could see things like maybe they should bring Brendan Shanahan in.

Like, come on. Like, this is ridiculous. I mean, you're going to, I wouldn't, I wouldn't make that trade any day. I think, anyway, I just think that Aquilini, you know, has always had faith in Rutherford, and I think he remains confident in him. And so we'll see how this plays out. I know that Rutherford is a pretty stubborn guy, and he wants to see this thing through. You know, as I said in, I think one of my columns recently, you know, he may not be here when the Canucks

want to stand the cup, but he could certainly play a role in setting them up to win one, you know, depending on what he does in the next year or two. So I like, I like maybe he's motivated by revenge to get back to all, for all his critics. And I like that. Yeah, Gary, we were chatting this, chatting about this, or texting about this. We are both huge Seattle Seahawks fans. Yeah. And it looked a few years ago, like the Seahawks had lost their wall.

I think Pete Carroll lost the room What do you think And now look at them I mean they're they're Super Bowl contenders They really are What do you think the Canucks could learn from the Seahawks

Well I think What happened there was They got a new coach Who you know helped establish an identity With the team

And the identity became their defense Which is what they were known for, you know, the Legion of Boom Days, you know, Seattle's identity was their defense. And the whole thing about the defense was the culture was this culture of accountability. You know, you had to be accountable for what you did. And if you screwed up, you had to, you were held accountable by your teammates. I mean, and that was, that was a huge part of the culture, the winning culture, Seattle built during its heyday, and I really believe that that's what's happening now.

I think that there is an intense culture of responsibility and accountability that the Seahawks have built up, you know, thanks to certain veterans, high integrity veterans like Jaron Reed, Leonard Williams. Those are the guys that, you know, have the respect of the room and have, you know, the young guys are looking up to and they listen to. So that's why I think with a young team that, you know, the connects are going to have again, it's so important to have high value individuals in the locker, high integrity individuals in the locker room,

who the young guys are going to listen to, look up to, learn from. And, you know, Beau Horvath had the Sadiens. I mean, you couldn't get two more high quality, too high, more high integrity individuals than the Sadiens, who really showed him what it meant to be accountable after losses, you know, especially for the captain. And, you know, you had to stand there and you, you didn't sulk, you didn't, you know, whisper words.

You stood there and answered questions in full sentences, you know, whether you like the questions or not. And, you know, for all his incredible, you know, abilities on the ice, I thought at times that Quinn failed that test. I thought he showed his youth and immaturity sometimes. He just didn't seem like he wanted to be there answering those questions and didn't really, I didn't think he liked the role very often. and maybe it wasn't fair, you know, and maybe it wasn't fair, you know, to put them in that position.

I don't know. That's why I think it's really, really important that the Canucks get this room right and they get the culture right because this is, you know, culture can destroy locker rooms. It can destroy teams if you don't have the right culture. And if you have bad actors in that dressing room that are not reflective of the culture and the identity that you want as a hockey team, then it'll eat away and it will have an impact. So I think the Canucks have to look long and hard. And I think they do have a lot of high integrity. Tyler Myers is a great guy, Connor Garland.

You know, those are the kind of people, Philip Ronick. You know, those are, you know, NHL veterans who, you know, know, know how to be professional. I'm not sure, personally speaking, Evander Kane fits the mold of somebody I want my young players learning from or looking to as an example of the kind of identity or culture you want in the dressing room. So I hope the Canucks look at that and take a look at who these kids are going to be learning from. Do you think they have, I mean, Evander Kane's an easy one because he's a pinning UFA and he's not going to be back anyway.

Yeah. Do you think they'll look at Pedersen and whether or not he demonstrates the values and, the habits that he wants the young players learning from. He's the highest paid player on the team right now. Yeah. I think Pettersen, I think that that is the big question mark left on this team is, you know, his role and identity. I mean, he seemed to play at the beginning of the season, you know,

in the early going with a lot of, you know, renewed interest in the game, renewed bigger, blocking shots, winning face-ups. I mean, there's some value there. I mean, he hasn't certainly played to the level of his salary. But, you know, I just not sure what you can do with him. I mean, do you move him and retain some of his salary? I don't know. I don't think the Canucks are prepared to even think about that right now, you know.

No, I mean, they do have a math thing. Yeah, maybe. I think they've got to give him the full season, see how he responds to, you know, kind of being the centerpiece now in some respect that this team, now the Quinn Hughes is gone. I mean, there's going to be even more focus on him. I don't know whether he's going to like that or not, you know, whether he's going to respond to it well or not. But, you know, the other thing is, you know, we kind of joke about it, but you don't want this team to start winning a bunch of games.

I mean, and you do have some assets that you would think the Canucks are still going to be dangling. You know, Keeper Sherwood, maybe Teddy Blugher. Keeper Sherwood would seem to have maybe the most potential to get something, back in return of some significant value. I don't know whether you'd even entertain trading someone at Connor Garland just because, you mean, you still have to have some pieces around, some people who are good, solid pros that you want in the dressing room. Brock Besser, I mean, is there any interest in Besser?

Would you even think about moving him? I don't know. You know, there's a lot of questions here. And, I mean, I don't think you also want a team that's just all 21 and 22-year-olds and 23-year-olds. I mean, you have to have some adults in the room. How long do you think... I'm not going to ask you how long do you think

it's going to take for the Canucks to return to a playoff team or even Stanley Cup contender, but how long do you think this management group and ownership is expecting it to take? That's a really good question. I mean, I think that you probably... And I'm not saying Jim Rutherford's going to be here, you know, three or four more years.

I mean, the guy's going to be 77 in January. So, I mean, but, you know, he's in good shape. And, you know, I think the job invigorates him, even at the same time, he probably ages him too. I think he loves it, though. I think he loves it, though. Yeah, I think he loves it. Yeah, I think it probably keeps him younger.

I don't know. Like, I think they have quieted the noise around the team right now for, for the foreseeable future, I think people are going to give them the benefit of the doubt that, you know, I think that they, if they had, let's put it this way, they had completely bombed on this trade and the universal reaction was, oh my God, what did you just do? It would be completely different. We might be having a different conversation this morning about Rutherford and Elvine. I think that they certainly at least have bought themselves some time, you know, this year and probably next year to see what, you know, see what they can build, you know, I think, you know, they, I would say like two years, we're, I think we'll know in two years what they have, you know, a big, a big question will be, a big factor will be what they get in this, in this next draft. Is it going to be like a top three player? That, you know, that has a huge impact on, on the future of an organization, like massive. So I don't think we, we can answer that question. Yeah. But I, I would say like two to three years, they have to have a team that people see. you know, can see the broad outlines of a team that can contend, if not in, like, in a year or two down the road from that, you know, very soon after, I think, you know, if they're still fumbling around in two years and, you know, certain players haven't panned out or, you know, Bouillon doesn't want to be here. Well, then you've got, you've got bigger problems.

He is the one that writes the articles before the trades. Gary, thank you for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the holidays. This was a lot of fun. Okay, pal, enjoy, too. Thanks very much. I really appreciate it. Thanks, Larry. That's Gary Mason from The Globe and Mail here on the Halford & Brough show on Sports9-650. You're listening to The Best of Halford & Brough.