Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 3/3/26

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss last night's Canucks 6-1 loss to the Stars as well as Elias Pettersson's comments, plus the boys look at the latest 'Nucks trade rumours ahead of Friday's deadline.  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. Coover falls tonight on home ice by a final score of 6 to 1. We've got to find a way, like, we can't just fall down and die, you know? Well, would it be all right with you if I just laid down in the street and died? Yes, that would be acceptable. Marchenko holding shooting! It's Krush.

Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford and is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you.

Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford, abrupt in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour 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 recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming live from the Kintech Studio, new year, new opportunity for comfort with orthotics from Kintech. And just a reminder, the 33rd annual RBC JCC Sports,

Dinner is coming up on March 3rd. What? That's tonight. It's tonight. Featuring guest speaker Steve Nash. Even if you can't be there, you can still score big with the 50-50 raffle, which is open to everyone. Estimated jackpot is $20,000 with proceeds going directly to programs serving people of all ages at the JCC. Get your details now.

Get your tickets now at JCC SportsDenner.com. Okay, let's get into the show today. It is our Dewick Morning Drive, our guestless running. down brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 6.30 this morning. Greg Wasinski is going to join the program, our NHL insider from ESPN. We are now just three days away from the NHL trade deadline. Can't quite say that things are heating up.

They're getting warmer. We are getting some moves and a lot of chatter across the league. Which will join us at 6.30 to discuss all that. 7.30. Mark Specter's going to join the program. Oilers reporter from SportsNet. Speaking of trades, the Oilers did make one yesterday, acquiring Connor Murphy from Chicago.

Is that enough to fix Edmonton? Are there more moves on the horizon? Also, the Oilers host the Sends tonight in a big, big, all-Canadian matchup. Huge playoff ramifications for both clubs. Speck is going to join us at 7.30 this morning. At 8.10, Landon Ferraro is going to join the program. Canucks analyst from Sportsnet. Landon was on the panel last night.

So the Canucks got drubbed at home, 6-1 by the Dallas Stars. another tough outing for the Canucks on what was a pretty tough day overall for the Canucks, including one particular Canucks, Elias Pedersen. Landon is going to join us at 8-10 this morning to talk about the current state of the Canucks and we'll do some Pedersen talk as well.

That's it for the guest list. It's a three-guester today. Without further ado, Laddy, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best of tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. Leon Bischel, Bish, please, had his first two-gold game in the National Hockey League.

Dallas won their ninth game in a row. Canucks lose 6-1 on Monday night at Rogers Arena. I don't know how many more times the Canucks can embarrasses. themselves in front of their own fans to you. I mean, they've got 12 more home games to go, so maybe it's 12 times. That's the math. 12 times they can embarrass themselves in front of their own fans. They are now 6, 18, and 5 at home. Their play in the first was fine. Their play in the second was bad. Their play in the third period was some of the worst hockey I've seen this team, franchise play ever. It's like they were, hey, we all know we're in 32nd place and we're

tanking. Let's try and move into 33rd place in the league. And then people would tell them, well, there's only 32nd, so you can only finish 32nd. And they said, that's what winners say. We are losers and we are the greatest losers of all time. And we are going to find a way to finish in 33rd place. Undeterred. They pushed on. That's just the type of tankers they are. They've seen others in the past.

And they've said, you know, not only do we want to finish 32nd, we want to be the worst 32nd place team ever. They're getting there. They're getting there. Guys. And by the worst, it really is the best. Guys, I'm being a little facetious. No, you're not.

I just want to tell you, I'm being a little facetious. Now, people will say, well, they are tanking. And it's, look, it's true, the results are a good thing. But, you know, I watched that game last night, and we'll get to Pedersen. But, like, you've got Marcus Pedersen on the ice, Philip Peronik, Connor Garland, Brock Besser, you got veterans out there on the ice. Is it not mortifying for these guys? I mean, there's losing games because you're not good enough, right?

And, you know, as a kid, I watched the 80s Canucks, and they would play the 80s Oilers, and it would be like, well, they're not going to win this game. But then there's losing games because you play with no discipline or cohesiveness or structure. And you know what they lacked last night? Zip. No zip.

Not a lot of zip. Zippless. No zing or pap either. This team can deny it all they want, but they have a major, major culture problem. And, you know, I am concerned for the young players in the organization. We spoke with Braden Coots yesterday,

and do we want Braden Coots next year? reason to be part of this group. If some of this, if, if, you know, some or even most of the veterans that are under contract long term are still on this team, if this rebuild is going to be successful, there have to be leaders. There has to be pride in the logo. There has to be structure and non-negotiables and accountability and zip. There has to be much more zip out there. just a little like just just much more the zipper 60 again low it's a problem it's a problem okay okay on this note before we move on to the peterson stuff so i put out there a couple weeks ago

and tried to draw the parallels between the last vestiges of the bruce budro era and what's going on with adam foot right now and i tried to compare them in the context of what was the management group thinking at the time because when the conucks at the last days of bruce buddra were floundering and looked like they had no structure. It was of the utmost importance to get Rick talking in the door, to teach the team all of these non-negotiables and the structure and everything that the team needed just the bare basic minimums to be an NHL team. Right.

But the management has clearly accepted this season that there's going to be losing and they don't really care about structure. That being said, I think that's a dangerous way to go about your business. When you've got young players that are trying to learn their craft and understand not just what it is to be in NHLer. But here's the important part, what it is to be a Vancouver Canuck and what the organization stands for and what you stand for as a team. It's hard to snap your fingers in this league and change everything at the start of another season. It's like it's going to be different this year. Because when the guys have the habits and the repetitions and the practice where, and we've said this a number of times, they don't look like they know what they're doing on a number of occasions.

and some of the turnovers last night, especially in the third period, we're egregious by any standard. Horrendous. Agreed just by, I don't know, what you would be doing on a Tuesday night at 11 o'clock at night and a really bad puck drop time

at A rinks or whatever. Yeah, no, I agree. You know what I mean? Yeah. It was horrific. And now people are going to push back and they're going to be like, shut up, Alfred.

This is all part of the plan. This is how you tank. This is how you get to the bottom. And you do it again next year so you can get land in the pond. Folks, they are at the bottom. There's no getting out. I don't think that with the greatest structural improvement in the world

that this group has the talent enough to climb itself out of the basement. 32nd, as you kind of facetiously slash, not facetiously put it, is locked in. If there was a lower spot, they would have it. There are ways to go about this. And I know that the organization had a hard pivot midseason when the Hughes trade was consummated, that they were going to go full nuke mode. And that meant doing it with a lot of the aforementioned veteran skaters that you have.

And they're probably not happy with their position. And yeah, some of them are mailing it in. But I feel like every day that goes by and every game that gets played where there's an effort like that, and that's all it is. The score doesn't matter. The result at the end of the night doesn't matter. But the effort and the way that you're going about it, I think it does. If you go back and you look at a lot of the...

The effort in the end, I think like that includes like, mental effort. You know, we talk about, you know, how hard are they skating and that sort of thing, but also how hard are you locking in mentally? Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Because last night, like, I always, I always think, you know, like, you know, there were, it's really obvious when an NHL player quits, and we've seen it a few times. We saw it with J.T. Miller right before he left, and we saw it with Quinn Hughes. I saw it with Los Angeles Kings last week and that A1 lost to Edmonton, their coach was fired 48 hours later. Yeah. Like, you can see it.

I wouldn't put last night as a like a physical quit. I put it as a mental quit. You know, like just checking out or just trying to do it all yourself, you know. I mean, the Marcus Pedersen turnover was egregious. Don't get me wrong.

If you don't have anyone to pass to, just put it hard off the glass and get it out or eat it or something. Just don't throw it up the ice. But like, I'm also sitting. they're going and they showed a view from what Marcus Pedersen was looking at. And like Besser's got his back turned to him. Yep.

Yep. He's like, who's he supposed to pass to in that situation? There was no one available. So, like, where was Bester going? What was he doing? He was like, what, pass it into the back of my skates? That's usually good. Don't worry, I'll just kick it up to my stick.

It was pretty good. Are you guys unhappy with the way they're playing right now? No, I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it when you're trailing by multiple goals in the third period. You're still somehow a shot 50 to 3. This is tanking though, man.

You got to embrace this. And hopefully do it for another year. But it's not. It's not. This it is. No, it's not. Losing is tanking. Yeah.

Okay, so you want them to lose, but still try hard. Yeah, Andy. I would like to see some of the players show one motor development. Did you not? That's risky though. Did you not hear the part where I said there's losing because you're not good enough? And then there's losing because. because, you know, you've lost all semblance of discipline and cohesiveness and camarader.

I think this is a worthwhile exercise because you're reflecting a lot of what the people in the ambassador. But it's because like those things are the, I mean, to me, like the way I look to see it is it's the same thing. Like this is just this is just a result of how bad they are. I'll give you an example. I'll give you an example. You go over to the Olympics and you see some of those teams that ultimately lost but brought an effort and had a game plan. And they tried to exert the game plan. But there were teams like the Canadians and the Americans and their talent level was just so good that those teams broke through. Right. And they ultimately met in the gold medal game. That's the type of losing

you should be doing. When your talent just isn't there. And the Canucks talent very much isn't there, but you can tell when a team is checked out. Is lacking talent and also has no pride versus, you know, like the, versus the way, you know, some of the teams that didn't have the talent, not even close to the talent of the Canadians or the Americans of the Swedes.

The guys weren't even in the NHL. But they still had pride. And they still went out on the ice. Yeah, sure. And they still. Well, the Olympics, too. I mean, that's part of it. I know.

Playing for your country. I mean, it's an honor. I agree. I agree. I know what you're saying, though. That's just an example. That's an example. Like there doesn't seem to be,

there doesn't seem to be the pride in the logo. The pride in playing for the Vancouver Canucks. And I'm not scapegoating one person here because there's a lot of them that deserve this. But I think it is best exemplified. by the scrum that Elias Pedersen gave yesterday. That was even brought up in the broadcast by the likes of Landon Ferraro and Tyson Barry, who we're going to chat with Landon later in the show.

You know, usually those guys will focus on the positives. They'll be like, Leonis Carlson is having a good season, right? You know, and I think for that to be brought up on the TV broadcast as opposed to the radio where we'll just complain about anything. It's true. You know, like I think that was a very significant moment and good for Landon for doing it. So let's play some of the audio from Elias Pedersen's, I guess sort of now infamous scrum yesterday, because it did make waves obviously locally, but across the National Hockey League as well as we get closer and closer to the trade deadline.

And Elias Pedersen's name is further and further embroiled in trade rumors. We're going to play the last minute of the scrum because this is when things got maybe a little bit more confrontational. in terms of a back and forth. And it started with a batch asking Elias Pedersen about the trade deadline. And the noise around the team and his name as we get closer to Friday's actual deadline. I don't know if we have the question or not in the clip, but we'll play the whole thing. And then there's other reporters jumping in with questions back and forth. You can listen to the answers.

You can hear Pedersen's tone. Draw your own conclusions about what you think. Here's Alias Pedersen talking about the trade deadline, his play. living or not living up to his contract, all of this ahead of last night's game, and of course, ahead of Friday's trade deadline. How challenging do you expect the next few days to be before the deadline with all the noise

around the group, and how do you sort of manage that as a team and as an individual? No, I mean, there's always noise. I don't read or listen to any of it, so it's nothing new. Today is the, I think, the two-year anniversary of you signed in your contract. Did you think two years later,

Are you surprised few years later to hear your name in trade discussions and rooms? I mean, do you see you guys who makes a trade rumor? So ask yourself. Has it made it harder just to be a player because you have that number attached, do you know? Yeah, I mean, I mean, who wouldn't? I mean, I haven't lived up to expectations of the contract, and I'll be the first one to say it. Obviously, I wish I would be different.

I'll have play better, a lot more points, but it is what it is. I'm trying to play a good game tonight and see what happens. And that's where it ended. So there was a lot to take away from what wasn't a lot of answer, to be perfectly honest, but I think most importantly. You give it, and it is what it is. That was a throwback.

Yeah. Nice. The one line that a lot of the national. Contract sucks. That was, when he said he wasn't living up to the contract, that's what a lot of people ran with nationally. And I guess you could construe it as the player admitting that he hasn't played well. And oh, look, he said it, that sort of thing.

But my biggest takeaway from that entire thing was, this is a guy that is so done with all of it. He's done with answering questions. he's done with talking about it. I think to a certain degree, he's done with trying to live up to the contract. I think that this, if it isn't already, further illustrates that this is the worst single contract

that the Vancouver Canucks have ever handed out in their 50 plus years of existence. Because not only is it an anchor on the team when they're presumably trying to move him, the player is now essentially been crushed under the weight of whatever he sees that contract is and he's fully cognizant of the fact that he's not living up to it. Here's the scary part. There didn't seem to be a lot of reflection in that answer about wanting to get better

or how he's going to get better or the ways in which it's going to happen and he's going to start to live up to the contract. The question very ominously ended with, yeah, I haven't lived up to it. Um, if you were to read a transcript of that article or, you know, um, if you were to read the headline on sportsnet.com, which quotes haven't lived up to expectation, uh, connects Pedersen reflects on extension. You may like, wow, you know, he's holding himself accountable and owning up to his poor play. but, you know, if you understand human behavior, and if you can listen to someone and go,

if you have the ability to be like, you know, I don't know if I fully believe you. Like if you have that ability as a human being, you know, and you watch the actual scrum and you listen to his answers, he wasn't holding himself accountable. He was just going through the motions. And it was hard to watch.

You originally texted it to the group and you said something like, this is brutal. Just the whole thing. Just to jump in, all of it. The reporters, and what I thought was doing their best to rephrase the same line of questioning 18 times

to try and elicit some interesting answer, some level of accountability. Some actual reflection. Some actual reflection that went beyond just like, I've got to be better. And he didn't want to do it. The questions were really not that difficult. They certainly weren't.

aggressive in nature. God, I find it hilarious when people say that the beat guys are so hard on this team or so hard on Pedersen. Listen, actually listen to the way they ask the questions. They tiptoe around the guy. They almost apologetically ask him questions. Like Brendan Batchelor, who could not be a nicer guy. It's true. Asked him a very, very easy question right off the hop. Are there any particular areas in your game that you're looking at? at. And Pedersen just mumbles an answer like, like a few, you know, create chances, better defense. Every answer is just so short and dismissive. Nothing he says is said with conviction. And that's, by the way, how you say something with conviction. You say nothing. You emphasize it. He says,

is said with conviction. I know it must be very, very difficult for him. And believe it or not, I do feel for the guy. But you cannot act like a moody teenager when you're 27 years old and you've said you want the pressure that comes with the big contract. Well, this is the pressure. You can't play the victim when you're banking more every two weeks than most people earn in a decade. I got a bunch of texts from people outside the market who saw that scrum were like, wow, this is really bad. I was like, mm-hmm, it's been going on for a while now.

Yeah. It's the dismissiveness that gets me. Where is the fight in this guy? Where is the F you all show you and him? He doesn't make me want to root for him. And I don't know if, you know, anyone listening is like, I'm really rooting for PD. I hope he gets through this.

Because from what I've seen from the text inbox, we have more and more people that say, I used to be a PD defender. You know, I hated when the media would criticize them. I'm out now. I'm out. Get this guy off my hockey team. Yeah.

Well, there's the possibility of this turning around. I mean, I've got it at nil right now. In Vancouver. In Vancouver. And it has to do with the fact that there have been countless examples, although none quite this egregious in terms of a guy going in the tank, but where you just understand. that it's run its course in a particular place.

And I'm actually shocked that there hasn't been more of an impetus from the front office to move on from the player given how bad this has gotten. How many more coaches can call the guy out directly or indirectly? How many more times can the player go up there and sound disinterested and then go out on the ice and act disinterested? How many more times can the same song and dance go on before, apathy sets in and never leaves. Well, maybe yesterday's scrum is the tipping point.

There's no tipping point. I don't think I've seen anything quite like that. There's no tipping point. There's no tipping point. That's a thing. That's a crazy part of it. Al from Nelson texts in and he said, guys, the team pretty much forced this contract on him. He desperately wanted to wait till the off season to get it done. Seriously, this entire situation falls at the feet of management and ownership. Okay, I don't think the entire situation because he always could have just said, uh, no. I'm still not signing it. But Al from Nelson, I do agree with you that management has to own this contract.

They did strong arm him into signing the contract. And look, I will tell you one thing. I'll tell you one thing. I'm not going to say who supported it and who supported and who didn't support it. There were key figures in that organization that had an opinion, raised their hand and said, I don't think we should sign this guy long term. I'll say this.

There was not universal agreement on whether or not the organization should put all their chips in on Elias Pederset. It was a wild, wild gamble. And oftentimes when you take a huge, shot in the dark like that and make a huge gamble and make a huge risk,

there's the possibility of it blowing up spectacularly. Safe bets or safe bats. This was not. And it's why I say when it's the worst contract in the history of Vancouver Canucks 50 plus years, I'm talking about everyone involved with it. I'm not talking about the player that signed it. And I'm not talking about the organization that offered it. The entirety.

Everyone involved with that should, and I hopefully will wear it as a scarlet letter or a stain on their resume, that that's the worst contract that this organization has ever, ever put to paper. Because the ramifications are. so deep and so varied. And it's led to the point where you're looking at one of the worst teams, worst teams in the franchise's history, two years after handing out the most onerous contract in franchise history. And those two things are,

there's a direct line between the two of them. And it's an impediment to the rebuild. It's a massive one. It is. I mean, if you don't believe that culture is a problem, then fine. but when the young guys come into the team and be like what's up with that guy doesn't he make a lot of money

I was like you know what's going on there it's like well it's just kind of the way we do things here yeah culture and leadership and you know whether you like it or not or whether it's fair or not you sign that contract that's going to be foisted upon you you pointed this out earlier Pedersen has said before he wants the contract and the pressure that comes with it

all of the things that come with being a highly paid the highest paid player in a frenzied hockey market. It'd be funny if he was like, I'd like to clarify that. I only want the good things. Yeah. Just the stuff that is fun. Like the good stuff. The fun stuff.

Yeah, what happened to that? It's long gone. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sports 9, 650. So we did a lot of Vancouver Canucks talking the first half hour of the program

before we spoke with Greg Wyshinsky, spent a lot of time talking about two things. One, last night's game, and then two, the Elias Pedersen Scrum and his answers to the assembled media from yesterday. One thing we didn't touch on in the first hour of the program, some more trade rumors out there percolating as it pertains to a couple of Vancouver Canucks.

According to James Murphy, Jimmy Murphy, out of Boston, sounds like the Boston Bruins have kicked the tires on a couple of Vancouver Canucks players. One, perhaps more aggressive. aggressively than the other, Connor Garland. So the way Murphy reports it is that the Bruins and the Canucks had conversations about Garland and Keefer Sherwood prior to the Sherwood to San Jose trade being consummated in January. Now, Garland makes a lot of sense for the Bruins for a variety of reasons.

Obviously, I think he probably maybe welcomed the return to go play in the United States and specifically in Mass. Massachusetts. Garland, despite his lack of production this year, very good player, heart and soul guy, would be a nice pickup for a playoff bound Boston team. It's also being reported, kind of whispered about that the Ottawa senators who are still hanging around the fringes of the playoffs and maybe looking to add a different dynamic to their team would also be interested in acquiring Garland. And that dates back to the relationship that Travis Green, the head coach of the Ottawa

Senators had with Connor Garland, apparently a big fan of Garland's play. Is it Garland? Because there are, Fridge has been reporting that he thinks there's something going on between the Canucks and the Sends. Yeah. Is it, is it obviously Garland or could it be someone else? There's been some connecting of dots and putting pieces of the puzzle together on that one. But a couple of people have astutely pointed out that, yeah, Green's got experienced with Garland. He was a big fan of his play while they had him.

So, I mean, here's the thing. Garland right now would have a lot of suitors around him because there's a guy that you could say having a downtime in Vancouver right now health has been a concern but we've seen the best of Connor Garland

and for a team that's got aspirations and can put him in a lineup that's a lot more dynamic I mean Garland's something to play for too I do not notice him on the ice nearly as much as we have. I think a lot of Connor Garland's effectiveness is predicated on having something to play for.

Right? There's got, like, he can be a dog on a bone. Yeah. But when the dog's got nothing to fight for, like, it's not there, right? And I thought Garland was a very good performer in the playoffs last year. I think his ability to hound and retain pucks,

especially in the postseason, is him into playoffs last year? Two years ago, sorry. Man, everything bleeds together. Yeah, two years ago. when they made their... Yeah, I thought he was an effective player. I mean, I think at times

over the last couple of years, he's been their best forward. For sure. But I don't know who that is right now. Like, he's blending in right now, and he hasn't scored in forever. Like, when Garland said... But, you know,

if I were the GM of a team that, you know, wanted to add something, I'd be like, yeah, he's a good player. When Garland went on after hours, and this was, before the Connock's, truly hit the skids this season over the last couple months and said, I signed here,

I want to be here long term, I want to be here, and I'm paraphrasing, but for the rebuild and when this team gets back to the playoffs, I remember thinking two things. One, it's noble that he said it, and it's great if he actually does that. But given his age and his style of play,

I'm not 100% sure he suited for a team that has no big games on the horizon for the next two years, three years at a minimum. But if you were Garland, how would you play this? Because, okay, no, no, no. I know. I would go through the exercise. And I think the same is true with Tyler Myers.

Okay? We'll start with Tyler Myers because I think that's a little bit easier. Okay? Well, maybe not. But Tyler Myers, right now, I think there must be a bit of a bluffing slash poker game going on right now. Okay? Yep. So there's an offer on the table.

table from the Detroit Red Wings. Yes. Right? Okay. Reportedly a second round pick, which a pretty good offer. Okay. For Tyler Myers. He doesn't want to go to Detroit, clearly.

Or the deal will be done. Sure. Right? So he wants the Canucks to go find a better offer from a place that, or, you know, an equal offer from a place where, you know, he'd like to go. Let's say it's Dallas, whatever. Sure. You know?

Let's say it's Dallas. Yep. But one of Dallas is only willing to give, I don't know, a fourth round pick, something significantly less than Detroit. Now the Canucks could say, all right, fine, we'll take the deal with Dallas and we'll go. And that would mean Tyler Myers won that bluff or won the poker game. Okay. But let's say they go, okay, Tyler, you're not going to be traded this year.

but once your no move clause becomes a team like a limited no trade clause 12 teams you can say no team then all of a sudden you know who knows where you're going to end up you're going to have some say in the matter and there are going to be some teams that you can say I'm absolutely not going there and that's fine but you won't have the choice as much

you know it could be you know and maybe maybe Myers is going like okay well how many more places are worse than Detroit right You know, I don't know. And that's a very personal decision for him. It's a conversation that he has with his family. But the Canucks are also in a position of risk, too. If they say that to Myers and you say, okay, well, we'll wait to July 1st until your no trade clause becomes different.

First of all, that's strong-arming, you know, a guy who's relatively well-liked. Yes. you know, and a, you know, like a good guy, right? And teams really don't want to be seen as a team that treats players like that. But also, maybe they don't even get a good offer in the off season. You know, who knows? Who knows, right? Like, who knows what happens down the line?

Okay. So maybe Garland's situation is actually a little easier, right? So Garland's situation is, you know, once July 1 comes, he's got the full nose. move clause. Now let's say just for the sake of this argument, let's say that Garland actually really wants to go. He does not want to stay

in Vancouver. He doesn't want to be part of this. Right? How would you go about that? I would be on the phone in the next 72 hours trying to get the best deal I can for Connor Garland. If there's something out there right now.

No, if you're Garland, how would you go about it? Because Like, you could make the argument that you do it like this. You go, please don't trade me. I really want to be part of this. And then you get to July 1st. And you're like, trade me. And now I have full control.

Yeah. I mean, you understand? Yeah, but nothing should stop the Kinnock's from moving either of these guys. Nothing. No matter what they say, no matter what heartstrings they tug at, no matter how good a guys they are or whatever. Garland, you're going to take the optics and the PR, hit of trading a guy months after you signed him to a long-term extension. And there might be

ramifications from that. Fair enough. But you cannot let players dictate this process in a rebuild. I'm pretty definitive on that. Yeah, yeah. Pretty definitive on that. Right. I was just more thinking of Garland from if you're from Garland's perspective. I think you, if you're the Connoxon, you get an offer that you like and you can move him out, you have to move him out. And you have to say, hey, we liked you. We thought this was going to go differently. But this season did a Total 180 on us and this is the price of business. But that team has to be careful in acquiring him. Because then all of it, like if you get, if you trade him to a team and he's like,

I don't want to go here, then all of a sudden it becomes ugly for that team. Because maybe he gets to July 1st and he's like, I never asked to be traded here. I thought I was going to be with the Canucks. Right. And I want out. Yeah, I mean, you know, like, you know, we know, we know, those things can happen. Those things can't happen. But I think because that team,

I think the acquiring team is going to want to have a conversation with Garland first, if that's possible and just be like, hey man, like that's not the Canucks problem. No, not at all. But like, but I do wonder how that's going to play out.

That's all I'm saying. I wonder how both these things are going to play out because there are always angles that people don't really see and there's always ways you can create leverage. Yeah. But if you want like a clear direct path forward for the organization, and I think this should stop right, start right at the management,

managerial level. It should be every single thing we do matters right now. There's no wasted days. There's no wasted time. There's no wasted assets. Every single thing we do now moving forward has a real sense of importance and not urgency in the sense that we want to turn it around quickly, but urgency in the sense that everything matters. Yeah. Right. And that's why what I see on the ice all the time bothers me so much because it's a lot of wasted reps for guys, especially young guys who are going to be a part of this rebuild to hone their craft in a better way, in a more positive environment and learn in what it takes as opposed to floundering on a nightly basis. So when it comes to Myers and Garland and everybody else, there should be a sense of, hey, we like you as an

individual. We locked you up and gave you the terms of your contract because we believed in you. But unfortunately, things have changed. At the end of the day, this is business not personal. I feel awful for Myers in his situation, right? I think Myers, like, we don't know that he definitely wants to stay. But here's the thing. We really don't. But this is so cliched and so trite, but the front of the jersey matters more than the back, right? The players, they will come and go. So you kind of have to act accordingly. How much easier would it be If there was a different management group in charge?

I think that should be almost priority number one. So how do you do the timing on that? I mean, it probably should have been done already. Yeah. To trust this group To clean up a lot of the messes that they created, it's a lot. To give this group another opportunity to hire another head coach is a lot.

Yeah. I also think like the, you know, when, when Jim Rutherford said, well, we're not going to just give away these players, you know, I realize the asset management argument for, well, hold on to these guys, maybe their value, some of their value will, will bounce back a little bit. I'm at the point with this team is like, give them away. Fire sale it. You know, like, you cannot, you cannot have, you cannot, you cannot, you cannot have, you cannot, you cannot have, you cannot have. a lot of these veterans coming back next year. You just can't. You can't. And from a marketing perspective, who are they going to put on the posters? I do.

Okay. Here's a good question. If you were a fan right now, whose jersey would you get? Oh, that is a good question. Tolo. Who's...

Tolo? Whose jersey would you go out and be like, I'm going to buy this jersey, and I know that this person is not only going to be like a good player and I'm a favorite player. He's going to be here for a while. I would like to take a brief pause to ask this.

Are we doing Zeev Bouyeam? I would like to take a brief pause to ask this of the listenership. Dunbar Lumber Text Line is 650, 650. Very interesting question. And think about it in its entirety. This is going to be something of an investment. You're going to buy a Canucks jersey and you're going to try and wear it maybe for a year or two, at the least.

Whose jersey do you buy? Way in right now. Don't know our Lumber text message in basket, $6.5. One from Comox, Coots, Jeff in Eastville, hands down boys, Liam Ogrins. That's the first hands down Liam Ogrin I've ever seen in my life. I like Liam Ogrin. He's got some pace.

He's pretty physical, but that's hands down. Ogris's probably like, really? Really? Cool. That's pretty great. It could have been Liam Ogrin texting in. We don't know. Do you know how long it took me to score in the NHL?

Kurt, he's a big listener. Couple Tom Velanders coming in. Yeah, and a lot of McKenna's. A lot of McKenna's. Whoever they draft this year, I could see that. Can I also add another thing? Well, I guess I can. It's my show.

Bob and I almost said Pavalbury. Not sure he's quite understanding the concept of the argument or the exercise that's going on here, but that's fine. Has this show as a collective prepared ourselves for the very real possibility that the Canucks draft third overall? Oh, yeah. I don't think we have. Well, you should. I don't think our show. has actually considered what it will be like if the Canucks fall back two spots,

which is the statistically most likely scenario to happen. And they would not, you know, the McKenna Stenberg debate out the window, it does not matter. And then not only, you know, listen, Keaton Verhoff, nice player, if he goes third. Okay? But this franchise needs a hero. this franchise needs the

you know super super super elite player and then it needs a lot more and you finish dead last and then who would be the team that sneaks in there imagine if it's like oh the Toronto got first overall like the island pulled an islanders from last year

well they said vera might be the next year hey Weber or okay that's not really that's not really the good be the next Akito Hirosei that's not really the point of the exercise it's just like I think there's some Canucks fan

that are like, well, you know, they're going to get McKenna or Stenberg. And it's like... They have a 55% chance of drafting third. Yeah. So more than half percent. Most likely. Yeah. It's got to be ready for it.

Okay. So you bring up a pretty interesting angle to this conversation here. I suppose at times I haven't really emphasized these particular points of it because I just always thought it was an eight. You've noticed that I've been somewhat flippant about. The endless speculation about the drafts. and who they're going to get and bringing on draft experts

to talk about let's have a 25 minute deep dive on Ivers Stenberg's puck retrieval skills and let's have another 25... That's not our thing. That's fine. No, no, no. But part of the reason it's not my thing is because I inherently understand

what we're banking on here, right? In this absolutely lost season where the connectives have sunk to the bottom and so many people are applauding them for the tank, I want everyone to remember that the number one lottery pick odds for the worst team in the NHL is 25.5%. Right? So if you've gambled it all in your life or you understand statistics at all,

there's a very real chance that it doesn't become you. Just because you finish at the bottom, it doesn't always work out that way. As a matter of fact, quite often, it doesn't work out that way. It has on occasion, but it doesn't. So it's hard to put a lot of stock and emphasis in this grand debate when you inherently know that you might not get it, which is why I don't do it.

My whole thing is, and I know that, you know, we got to fill air time, and there are some people that are interested in the prospect scheme, but tell me when these guys are part of the organization when they're ready to play, right? Tell me when they're ready to be in the NHL. That's when I want to know. That's when it's going to make a difference.

And if it's this year, great. If you get a really high-end guy or the first overall pick and he's ready to jump in, then I'm in. But until then, it's a lot of speculating. It's a lot and emphasize on a lot where you're just kind of waiting and hoping on something that you have no control over deciding. Lottery odds are a big part of it. J-Dog, the Carhawk texts in, that's okay.

Lawrence or Verhoff will be fine too. I don't think that's like that's the point. You know, Canucks fans right now are like, well, at least at the end of the season, there will be a reward. And third overall is good, you know, but not when you have a really good chance at first or second. It's just not. It would be the final kick in the nose for Canucks fans on this season. Sure. It just would.

Because there would be a couple teams also that would leapfrog. You'd be like, them? Like they didn't go through what we did. Look at what Schaefer's done for the New York Islanders. I mean, it is incredible how much they've turned. things around in terms of the future outlook because not only did they get Schaefer who might win a Norse trophy one day and seems like a really good kid they were also able to turn Noah Dobson into a couple first round picks right was it a couple first round picks

they're a very interesting team they they with with you know just a little bit of just a little bit of luck just a little bit of luck a lot of bit of luck but you know the fortunes of that team, and let's face it, the Islanders were just like, you know, they had some guys. I mean, for the Canucks, it was kind of like, for Canucks fans, it was like, yeah, they were interesting because they had Horvatt,

and, you know, they got Barzell, who's a B.C. kid, who's a local kid. So we kind of found them maybe a little bit more interesting than average, but like they were, Lou Lamarillo had locked them into being mid, and then they get that, that one

that one big piece of luck, but also make like a ballsy trade to trade Dobson. Let's just make this abundantly clear that I know Schaefer is amazing and he has really altered the fortunes of that franchise. But let's not forget, the pieces that they had in place,

I mean, I know that they were tracking to be somewhat mid, but they've still got, Laddie, are we going to say that Sorokin's the best goalie in the NHL right now this season? He's up there. Yeah. It's hard to say a definitive definition.

Likely, Likely, Vesna winner. If not, he's a candidate. You're talking about elite-level goaltending. You're talking about the Horvett. I don't know if I want to call it a glow-up, but what he's been able to do since being acquired by the Islanders has been great. Settled into a nice role with the team.

Yeah. I think the really interesting thing here is that we're talking about back-to-back, first overall picks in Schaefer and Celebrini, who have had instant early dramatic impacts on their organizations. and, you know, in the cases, year two of Celebrini's been phenomenal, year one was good, but the wins weren't necessarily there.

And then Schaefer has been fantastic, without question. Great story. Has exceeded a lot of expectations by far, but he also fell into a team where the possibility for them in a weakened Eastern Conference was always there to be, to punch above their weight

and be a better team than they were. That has been a great story collectively for the Islanders, but a cautionary tale that it's not necessarily a quick turnaround for them. It's a lot of things fell into place, but they had some pretty decent building blocks in place. They had three first round picks last year. I think that's pretty key.

Yeah. You know? You can do, I don't even want to say the words, a hybrid. You can do these things. But you have to get a lot of luck. I don't even necessarily think you need to put a tag on it. It's just like make sure that everything's important, right? Make sure that while you're trying to be competitive,

you're also keeping an eye on the draft and you're making sure that there's still players coming in and maybe mortgaging a lot of stuff for the future when you're not 100% certain that you're a playoff team or Stanley Cup contender isn't the way to go. There's a lot of different ways to do it. I think you are, I appreciate your argument.

I think you are understating how lucky they got. Oh, I was just going to get to the luck part. Also, a lot of things need to go your way. To get Matthew Schaefer. and then all of a sudden if you get a player like that who's a franchise player who's a difference maker all the other kind of good stuff

seems so much better then the flip side of it we talked about this yesterday with Dennis Bernstein look at the Los Angeles Kings numerous picks inside the top five a second overall pick in Quentin Byfield hasn't turned out at all they've been flat right

and now you're seeing what happens when draft and develop doesn't work there's a lock element involved this to such a degree. Look at the luck element that the Canucks had in getting Quinn Hughes. Now, I know it didn't end well for Quinn Hughes, but the luck element of getting Quinn Hughes. First of all, you had teams like Detroit and Arizona that made curious decisions and didn't draft Quinn Hughes. And second of all, you know, you had people that were like, I don't know if he's big enough. I don't know if he's that good, you know? And he falls all the way to, what was it? Was it

seventh? Yes. Right? Zadina 6. Seventh overall? You know? So, I don't know. Like,

I, my whole point of this to start was, I don't know if this market is actually prepared to fall to third. Like, because we just, it's like, well, McKenna, you know, how many people text in? When we asked jersey names, people text in, I'm going to get a McKenna jersey. Well, you're probably not going to get them. Hold the phone on that. On your team. Right?

And there will be a huge, you know, massive disappointment. If the season, this season ends with them also losing the draft lottery, maybe they'll win it. But if it also, and then, you know, like you said, and then you get into the, well, you never know. Maybe McKenna will be a bust. They still have the best. And you'll avoid that. Who knows, right? The Canucks, at the end of the day, they need some more luck.

They need to pull themselves together a little bit, but everyone needs a little bit. bit of luck in order to be a successful NHL team. They just do. It's worth noting, even though they have the best odds to draft third, they also have the best odds to draft first. So they still have the best chance at getting McKenna by, I can't remember the percentage, but it's a decent amount, as well as the best chance of getting third. So there is still hope.

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