Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 3/5/26

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they discuss the Tyler Myers trade and last night's 'Nucks loss to the Hurricanes with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance. 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. You can lose games, but you're going to play the right way and you're going to compete. And that's what I want to see from my group there. Kennerson gets a back left circle. In front for Holgander who scores. I'm singing about to hug you. Falka and it feels like I've been waiting flat a little bit now, so nice to score.

The Hurricanes take it 6 to 4 and the Knox have lost seven in a row. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough. It is Sports Net 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning?

Good morning. And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halpert and Brubb of the morning is brought to you by. Sands and Associates. Do you have CRA debt? If you do, Sands and associates

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North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to live from the Kintech Studio New Year, New Opportunity for Comfort with Orthotics from Kintech, from Kintech. Trade deadline coverage on SportsNet 650 is brought to you by Pastime Sports and Games,

home of the largest collection of signed jerseys, trading card, and sports memorabilia in Western Canada. Visit them now at pastimesports.com.com. Do we have a lot of trade coverage to get into today? Things really kicked off yesterday and last night as we get closer to NHL trade deadline on Friday. But today on the show, I got a lot of guests that we're going to run through our everything that happened last night, everything that's going to happen today and tomorrow. It is the Duick Morning Drive, our morning guest list brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 7 o'clock.

Dan Rosen, Thunder Dan Rosen is going to join the program at 7 a.m. this morning, senior writer from NHL.com. Things are indeed heating up. There was a flurry of trades yesterday as we get closer to Friday's deadline. Also eight games on the slate tonight. So there's lots to talk about with Dan Rosen, who will join the program at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30, Araf Dean is going to join the program. Aves Beat Rider for Colorado Hockey now. The Aves have the best record in the NHL.

They're the odds on favorite to win the cup at several sports books. What are they going to do ahead of Friday's deadline? Will the Nick Blankenbird pick up be all that they do? I highly doubt it. We'll ask Araf about all this at 7.30 this morning, though. 8 o'clock. Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk is going to join us on the program. Canucks, of course, swung a trade.

of significance yesterday, sending veteran D-man Tyler Myers to Dallas in exchange for a pair of picks. Oh yeah, there was also a game last night, as you heard in the intro. Fairly interesting night at Rogers Arena last night. Canucks lost again, 6'4 to the Carolina Hurricanes, but they had some fun along the way. Dran's going to join us at 8 to talk about all that. Speaking of 8 o'clock, that is the time this morning that we're going to give away a pair of tickets to see the Vancouver Giants host the Colonna Rockets this Sunday, March. 8th at the Langley event center. Now that's a 4 o'clock puck drop.

So if anyone wants to bring young kids to the game, a nice little Sunday matinee, good time to do it. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning is going to win a pair of tickets to see the game. 604-280-0-650. That number again, 604-280. 0650. We got a lot to get into on the show today.

No time for running in reverse. Without further ado, Laddie. Lettie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? Missed it? You miss that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies to best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. After a long wait and many games sitting on the sidelines, Tyler Myers, has finally moved along.

He was traded to the Dallas Stars yesterday morning, literally minutes after we got off the air. Myers goes to the stars. The Canucks get a second round pick in the 27 NHL draft, a fourth round pick in 2029. I have heard good things about the fourth round of that 2029 draft. The Canucks are going to retain 50% of Myers' remaining contract. And the big man moves along, goes to a familiar place.

He, of course, was originally from Texas. And it's happy trails to a guy that was a good veteran, was a good leader, and got the Canucks a pretty good return, and I would say, given where they're at and what they need in their rebuild. Yeah, and good job by everyone to get this deal across the finish line. You know, originally Detroit made the offer for Tyler Myers, and Tyler Myers said, I'll think about it, but I'm hoping to go somewhere else. And he got his wish because the Dallas Stars came up with a trade that was acceptable

to the Vancouver Canucks. Tyler Myers did make sure to mention that he never actually said no to Detroit. Yeah, I noticed that. He was just using the time. And a lot of people wondered what was going on. Well, that was what was going on. They were going to see if Dallas was going to step up and make an offer or another team that Tyler was more willing to go to than Detroit. Of course, we all know his family situation.

He wants to be close. the West Coast, but he's also got family down in Texas. So good luck to Tyler Myers, who I think his narrative in Vancouver was an interesting one because he went from a guy that was rumored to be signed by Vancouver and people are like, no, don't, don't do that. Most people don't do that. Sure. And then they did it. And the Canucks didn't have a ton of success with Tyler Myers in the lineup over the years that he played. But I think two things happened. Number one, he played really well in the playoffs and under Rick

talking in general. He was good under talking. When there were structure and when there were systems and when it went to the playoffs and the referees were like, I'm not going to call that. You know, he was very effective. He was so, he played so nasty in those playoffs. He was really, really good. And the other thing is like, he's a good guy.

And there's been a shortage of those in Vancouver. Yeah. They really have, there really have been, you know. Now they're going to lose one. I think that's an interesting point to bring up because a lot of people, prior to this trade deadline and prior to the last week, never really saw Myers as a guy that was going to go anywhere, right? He had his family in Vancouver. He kind of made it pretty clear that he wanted to continue residing in BC.

But as we got closer to the trade deadline, a few things. started to materialize. One, the need for red-handed defensemen on this market was pretty dire. There's not a lot available and there's a lot of teams looking to get them. And once I think the door was opened, presumably by Detroit first, about the possibility of acquiring

Myers, the Canucks realized that you know, good mentor or no, good guy or no, guy that wants to stay or no, this was an opportunity to jump on something and to make business happen. And they did it. And they did it in part, by retaining to bring what was already a pretty stomachable cap hit to an even better total for Dallas.

I also think Dallas came into Vancouver and played the Canucks on Monday night and the stars were like, God, look at these guys without Tyler Myers in the lineup. They're lost. The worst team I've ever seen. That guy must be, you know, pretty good. Hopefully Carolina was taking a look at PD last night because he had two assists. Maybe we were working the inverse there. But anyway, to my other point there, it was easy

now that we've got sort of the full 2020 vision on this it was easier to move Myers because of the cap hit because the market was calling for guys and because he does bring a certain element especially in the postseason the guys don't have it's starting to sound like it's not going to be that easy for a lot of these other guys

because the value that Myers had is not really translatable to some of these other contracts that they've got like Myers was a pretty appealing piece, I would say, for Detroit. I guarantee you there was other teams that were in on him as well. He can play heavy minutes in the playoffs. And it costs a lot of money and you get a little bit of term on his contract. And it takes a lot of boxes.

Some of these other pieces that I think people are just assuming are going to get moved now, like, well, Myers is on the move. Let's start moving the rest of them out. I don't think it's going to be as easy. To be perfectly honest, I think this move was relatively easy to pull off. I don't want to discredit the Canucks for pulling the trigger. I think they deserve credit for getting it done. But I also think this was a move that was pretty easy to make.

As a matter of fact, once Myers said, yeah, I'll go. Patrick Alvin pointed out yesterday, like on the drive-in to work, he actually got the call from Dallas while driving over the Burrard Bridge. And then it was shortly thereafter that they accepted. So it wasn't like this. The toughest part was getting Myers to accept the move, understand like I will be willing to go let's see what kind of flushes itself

out in terms of a deal Garland's not going to be as easy Bessor's maybe even more difficult Patterson goes without saying is incredibly difficult Kane it sounds like it's not going to be super simple to move a guy that's an unrestrictive free agent at the end of the year I hope I really hope

that they're able to orchestrate more of these deals because the Myers deal was a good return and it was a good piece of business and it's the kind that you need in this stage of the rebuild where it's dark times and nothing is going right. You need some of these sound future assets accumulation type deals to make this all worth it, quite honestly. Because right now,

right now the Canucks have seven picks over the first two rounds of the next two drafts. They have three firsts and four seconds. That's a very, very solid base that you can get out of these next two drafts. But you need more, man. You need more. You need more. And you need more. Have you seen what?

I mean, we've gone over in the past. what teams, I don't know, like Chicago, have done with how many picks that they've got. I mean, Calgary must have a bunch now. Calgary got three firsts for McKenzie Weeger. So, I mean, you know, for Vancouver, it's a lot of picks because we're used to in Vancouver, just trading all the picks. But yeah, look at Calgary. I mean, Calgary's in a rebuild.

They've got two first this year. Four seconds. Thanks that McKenzie Weger trade. Two thirds. And then in 2027, they've got two firsts. So, you know, Calgary's rebuilding. Vancouver's rebuilding. I would say they're almost at similar stages.

Yeah. You know, like they've got, you know, they've got Zane Perak. They've probably got more prospects, high-end prospects. They had two first round picks last year. Cole Reshney being one of them. So, you know, like the rebuild race is on. now. The race is on.

You know, and some people, there's like an arms race at the trade deadline for actual players. This is where the rebuild teams start. And, you know, Calgary's got Nazim Kadri that they could trade as well. So, you know, like that might be the team that you're competing with, hopefully, in five years. And you'll see, all right, who did the rebuild better? Yeah. Okay, I want to hear from Tyler Myers now as sort of farewell. to Vancouver. Because he was a good guy, despite that one texter, Mike, who's an annoying individual,

and I wish you would stop texting into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. The rest of you send him in, though, 650, 650. Myers said goodbye and did it in his usual good guy way yesterday, talking about how it was emotional leave Vancouver. It was tough near the end, losing as many games as they have. Here's Tyler Myers' farewell as he now heads off to become a Dallas star. You know, we look at it like this. You know, we've been fortunate enough to spend almost seven years in Vancouver in one place. And you know, not a lot of guys get to experience that. And, you know, we didn't wanna pass up on an opportunity

just because of comfortability. And, you know, we're extremely excited to be joining the stars. You know, I say we, I'm talking about, you know, my wife and our family, because that was a big part of the decision. And, you know, we're very happy with, you know, how things played out and the result we got.

Now, shortly after the Tyler Myers trade was consummated, Patrick Alvin met with the media yesterday. And the, you know, the audio around the Myers trade wasn't all that enthralling. It's kind of a paint-by-numbers trade. You know what you sent out the door. You know what you got. There wasn't a lot of analysis. There were two things that I thought were really interesting from Alveen.

I want to play his remarks on Elias Pedersen first. So it's been a pretty, again, eventful. emotional roller coaster for Elias Pedersson in the last 24, 48, 78, 72 hours. There was the scrum with the media members. There was a subsequent interview, brief interview, a one-on-one with Patrick Johnson

in which Johnson wrote an article that caught a lot of people's attention about just the turmoil and struggle that Pedersen is going through with his on-ice play right now and how he can't find the answers. There was a lot of talk outside the market too. There was a heck of a lot of it. They noticed that. But fortunately, Pedersen said he doesn't read

or listen to anything that said, which is weird because he always says he doesn't want to create a headline. So if you don't want to create a headline, then why doesn't matter? Because you're not reading or listening. There's a little disconnect there. There's a little bit of a divide.

Yeah. And then his general manager. I feel like he reads everything. For the sake of his teammates. I wonder if he read or heard what his general manager had to say yesterday. Now listen closely to the entire, that's about a minute of audio from Patrick Alvin.

He takes some interesting turns in here. It's not a full-throated defense of his player. It's not an absolute critique either. But I think it's a pretty frank, straightforward, and honest assessment of where the player is at. Here is Patrick Elvine on Elias Pedersen yesterday. Well, I don't think his production is where he wants to be or where we want to be. I do think that he's been working on his two-way game. I think he stretches where he has played really well.

well, two-way hockey. But again, a player like that, you know that is capable of so much more where his talent level is. And whatever he expressed to you guys, I'm not sure that where I believe that he was probably pretty honest in saying that his game wasn't where he wanted to be. That being said, it's easy to say that you're going to be better, but what are you actually going to do to be better? And I think that action is something we want to see. We want to see the players working with.

And for Rilias, I mean, it's all starting by being prepared and pushing himself every day to get better. There is no doubt about his talent level. We've seen that. But hopefully he finds it and hopefully continue to work on it. So there's a real change, I think anyway, in some of the messaging. and I think it's born out of exasperation. I think the player is frustrated and tired and out of answers. And I think the organization,

and I don't want to read too much into what Alvin said there, although there was a couple parts of that interview that were different than other ones. And what it was was they used to always punctuate everything with, but we're sure he'll get it back, or we know he's got it in him. And now it's gone from knowing to this sort of,

of, you know, naive, hopeful part of it where he needs to do the work. We, and the kicker is there no longer saying, and we know he'll put it in. Or, you know, he's got this immense talent and we know it's going to come shining through. And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they've answered this question so many times. And quite frankly, I bet if you were to get them in a quiet moment where the microphones were off and there are no cameras around, they would cast serious doubts that Elias Pedersen that we once knew is coming back. in any semblance or any resemblance of what he was prior. I bet they really, really internally doubt that.

This is what they'd say. He doesn't work hard enough. That was the subtext of what Alvin put out there. He doesn't have the obsessive passion for the game that you need. And the follow-up question to that for the journalist would be, then why did you sign him? And I said yesterday, there were people in that organization that said, he doesn't love the game enough.

I wouldn't sign this guy. I don't think we can win with this guy. And they went ahead and signed him anyway because he's immensely talented. And I think they thought if we can just get this guy dialed in, locked in, get him to work hard,

find the passion. Maybe he lost his passion a little bit, find it again, then we're good. And now a lot of people are like, why does Connox management run him down like that? And I get it, right? Because there might be some GMs that are like,

geez, like, it's been multiple years of this. If that can't convince him to work, you know, can we? But there might be a GM out there that's like, I'm a pretty good motivator. I'll get this guy working. And if, you know, if he comes into our organization, We've got a better culture here. We've got a practice facility and everything.

I bet with a change of scenery and a fresh start. Like to me, you know, you might, it's kind of like buying a stock, right? Let's say there's a company that's going through hard times, right? Some people look at that company and they're like, that thing's done. It's never going to have a chance again. Others say, oh, you know what? That company has some brands that used to be pretty good. and I think we can reinvigorate that company.

You know? We'll make a lot of layoffs. Yeah. And then we'll try. Like red lobster. Yeah. It's like private equity guys, right? We'll load it up with debt and, you know, whatever.

Other people's money. But anyway, my analogy is going off the rails here. Some might see PD as a fixer-upper because there's always that, like, remember that Simpsons where it's like, we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas. ideas. What are we going to do? I'm not saying the Canucks have tried nothing,

but like when you say... They have tried something, though. When you say, like, Petey just looks like he's just like out of answers and he just like doesn't know what to do anymore. I think what the Canucks are being like, go to work, work, work obsessively. And, you know, as much as people will say like, He worked hard in the off-season. Not like others, though.

Not like others. You got to tell Pete you to stop slacking. That's like telling Gene Krupa not go boobah, bab, bab, bab. I know you'd get that one. I'm telling you, though, like, and this is a very... We've tried nothing, and we're all out of ideas. It's the deepest of Simpsons' cuts this morning. But the Canucks have done one thing with Pedersen, and it has been...

Run them down? Well, no. But I think here's what I think they tried. I never got to say it. Okay, go. They've been incredibly patient with the player. They have. They've shown a remarkable amount of patience.

More than anybody in their right mind should have. Everyone else is freaked out. That includes. Well, it's because they have 11.6 million reasons to get him going. But they've had opportunities to move off him. They had a deal on the table from Carolina. They've had opportunities to move off this player. And I'm not talking.

I mean, think about the people that got frustrated with him. Miller got frustrated with him and it boiled over. Talk it got frustrated with him and it boiled over. Think you can make an argument that Quinn Hughes to a certain degree got frustrated with him. And eventually it was like, you know, let's try something else. There are a lot of people around 40, EP 40, that have seen their frustrations boil over and either reach a breaking point or take off. And the brass of this organization has shown a remarkable, I would say almost four. foolish amount of patience

but part of it has to do with the fact that they're the ones assigned to the gargantuan contract and they want it to work out and the other part of it is I think that they've got or maybe they had and I'll use past tense here had a sense of belief that it was going to come back and with every passing day

that became more of like a hope and a prayer there was less tangible evidence that it was ever going to come back. You know how some kids you've done some coaching some kids will respond to you're not playing very well

or a stern message, right? And they'll say, I'll show you. I think by the way, that percentage of kids seems to be going down and down and down. Maybe we're just getting older, and that's an old man take. But more kids than not respond to compliments

and you're doing well and they get enthusiastic because of that. Yep. I think the Kinex had an old school mentality with Pedersen, and they tried to bring the fire out of him by, you know, holding him accountable in old school ways. I, you know, here's J.T. Miller to yell at you. Sure. Right? Or we're going to question you in the media.

And we're going to say that there's more to give, et cetera, et cetera. And I think he responded exactly the opposite way. I think this is the version of like shutting down. Could be. No, I'm almost 100% certain of it. You lose you, like if you're the type of person that responds to compliments as opposed to all show you, you know, you're just going to be like you get that dismissive attitude, you know, just like, you get that dismissive attitude, you know, just like, whatever, you know. And I think that's where he's at right now. And I think the Canucks have failed the,

and a lot of a job of an organization is to keep guys psychologically motivated. Yep. You know? And I think they have just clearly failed in that. He played a little bit better yesterday. Two points. Someone texts in, I think it was Keith the Grip,

he said, that's the best game I've seen him play in two years. I mean, the things with Petey that he does well, he did well in that game. But he's done that. He's still got terrific vision, right? But like the two passes that he made were when he was stationary. You know, the pass on the power play, it was a nice pass to find Rossi down low. Rossi broke into space and Petey was up at the point.

Petey didn't have to move. He just had his head up and he's got good vision and he passed the puck to Rossi. And the other one was a really nice pass to Nils Holglander. You know, like that's, he's fine, stationary. That's why he can put up points sometimes on the power play because he's got the time and space. He gets the puck. He looks up.

He'll make a nice seam pass sometimes and he'll get points that way. When it's actually in the play, though, it's a struggle. And a lot of the reason is, and I'm sure if you ask the Canucks is, he's not strong enough. And I mean, the general manager said it yesterday. Patrick Alvin said, as clear as day,

there is so much more to give. And it's not being given right now. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. What we just have to call Thomas Dran's erotica. Thomas Grants erotica. Coorsy. Thomas Grants erotica.

Expect the goals. Thomas Transerotica. Dog model. Thomas Brands erotica. Run Rush. Thomas Grand Ronica. P.D.O. Thomas. Drenzeronica.

802 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halpert Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halpert & Brough for the morning. This is brought you by Sands and Associates. Are you getting collection calls? If you are, Sands and Associates could stop the collections and stop those calls. Visit them today at Sands.

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To the Able Auctions hotline we go, our next guest from the Athletic Vancouver and Kinex Talk. It's Thomas Dranz here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. What up, Drandser? Gentlemen, good morning. What are we hearing? latest having with the Canucks having already traded Tyler Myers.

What's in the hopper here, Drans? What's coming up for the Vancouver Canucks as we get closer and closer to Friday's trade deadline? Well, we'll see. I mean, I don't have like a ton of intel on what the market looks like for Teddy Blugher and company. I do sort of wonder yesterday we saw, you know, the Canucks make the Tyler Myers trade after the, like, so the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday make the trade for Connor Murphy. The Canucks sell Myers in the morning and then the arms race for right-handed D

sort of unfolds throughout the day, right? With Uyghur moving and the Pareko deal, whether or not that ultimately is consummated, getting agreed to, at least the framework between the two teams. Then late in the day we see Dickinson move. Looks like we're going to see Nick Dowd move at some point today. So I do sort of wonder if now, like, yesterday was defensemen

day. I wonder if today's center day. Bluger. And then we'll see Friday sort of be like Remainders Day, which is the non-premium positions, right? Right-handed defenders and centers are just different than everyone else. That's how this works now. But yeah, in terms of what I'm hearing, I mean, much the same, really. Like, I think the Canucks are motivated to move those pending UFAs. But, um, What does the cane market look like? I don't know. I think there's, I don't know, I get the sense of, like,

I get the sense that there's never been a lot of enthusiasm on the market for him. There's been some talk that that might emerge, but I think the reality is that the market's always been lukewarm for his services. And then, you know, I would expect Bluger to net something. Does David Kamp? I mean, at some point you probably are just better off shedding the deal, even if it is like a 2029-7th, 29-20-20-20-6, right? Like, whatever. I mean, it's better than nothing.

I think he's been fine. He could be like an extra center on some team. He made a great save last night, batting a puck out of the air. You know, the game's not interesting in the final stages without that play, right? That would have made it six three and really been curtains on a third period that ended. up being, you know, perhaps a little bit fun. So, yeah, no, I mean, camp's fine. Totally fine.

But I also think if you're the Canucks, like, you're better off just having the open contract slot, even if that's really all you can get and a late round pick and playing Atu Ratu down the stretch here. And, you know, to be totally honest with you, if you're not able to move comp, I wonder if you're better off pivoting and seeing if you can get something for Ratu, right? He's that minimum next year. He's still young.

He's a center. He wins draws. I mean, if you're not going to use him as the 32nd place team at the tail end of a lost season, like that's kind of a tell in terms of what, you know, your organizational assessment is. And you may as well consider monetizing him, frankly, if you're not able to move comp. So we'll sort of see exactly how this all plays out. And if the Canucks can do another bigger elective rebuilding move where they shed more salary, right? that would be very welcome, I think.

I mean, those deals are going to have to come. That's just the logic of where this club's at. So I don't know. I'm at this point just sort of focused on the UFAs and we'll see if they can get any additional assets for those gentlemen in the wake of the Myers deal. Drancer, when it comes to Connor Garland, I feel like we had kind of this conversation a while back,

but would they work with him to find him, to find a destination that he's happy to go to simply because they did just sign him to a contract extension and they did give him a no move clause. And I do wonder if any acquiring team would also like to know, like, this guy isn't going to be like super mad if he shows up here, right? Yeah, I mean, I think you'd, I think you'd want to at least take care of some, you know, general outline of his preferences.

I mean, he's an East Coast guy, right? I think sending him to a Western Conference non-contender would probably be suboptimal from just a relationship management perspective. Teams manage that stuff. The Canucks managed it with Hughes very carefully. Now that's a different caliber of guy, but nonetheless. So, yeah, I mean, I would expect there to be at least some nod in that direction in the event that they do move him, whether it's ahead of the deadline.

Excuse me, ahead of the deadline or ahead of the draft, but, you know, you can't let that shape everything, right? I mean, at some point, you've got to begin to make moves. One thing about this no trade clause, no move clause thing, and the fact that so many trades got reported well before the players had agreed, we saw that three times yesterday, right? in addition to what we've experienced with Myers in this market across the last week where he was removed from the lineup

and it took him seven days to wave his no move clause once a team that he actually wanted to go to and not that he didn't actually want to do the other one but he preferred to go to Dallas sort of emerged with an offer right but Pereko Dickinson and Weeger those trades all got effectively leaked before the player it's signed off. And so now you've got this conversation about team strong arming players and whatnot.

Personally, in my view, you know, what the no trade clause, the no move clause earns you is the right to press send on a deal you're involved. It doesn't spare you from a team applying pressure, right? Like that's not the designation. The designation is not and you should never face any scrutiny or be put in an awkward position. You know, like that's not what these clauses do. That's not what they're designed to do. They're designed to give you the ability to hit send or not. So for me anyway, that discussion is a little bit like too cute for me. But I do think that we should consider what the implications of the cap growth error are going to be from the perspective of teams having more flexibility and not needing to lop off the extra million or a million and a half a year

that they've been lopping off in order to give these players some measure of control on the contracts that they sign. Now, look, when you're talking about the top UFAs, when you're talking about the really tough to recruit guys who have a million options, that's one thing, right? Because in doing those sorts of agreements,

like that's going to be market price. These players are going to get the Ferrari of deals, and that might include a no-move clause, and it's probably going to include a signing bonus structure and on and on. And that's just the reality. And if you want to play in that market, that's going to be the cost of doing business. But in a lot of instances, you can pay the extra money and maintain more flexibility. And I do think that probably the most efficient way of doing business in this era of cap growth is going to be to lean toward maintaining your flexibility.

Like, I really think the way that this system. should function where trades are easier to make, where you've got 17 teams with 10 million plus in space at the deadline, because that's the situation we're in right now, right? The system doesn't practically function in that manner because of the playoff cap now, but nonetheless, like the buying power around the league is virtually unlimited. The numbers, the cap numbers are secondary, whereas before it was like more important to understand what a team could spend or could add than it was. to understand what their hockey needs were.

Like three years ago, that was the conversation at this time of year. And now it's like, how does a player fit, right? For the most part. There's a few situations where things still get crunchy, like the Edmonton Oilers. But for the most part, teams are able to add. They have flexibility to add. And in a world where cap space is that, you know, in that sort of supply, right, the ability to make trades, the ability to have tradable assets,

the flexibility to solve problems using talent, I think becomes critical. And so, you know, are teams willing to sign more expensive deals? Are they willing to take the hit money-wise? Are they willing to take the hit cap flexibility-wise in order to maintain the flexibility to make the sorts of deals that they want to make? I would think that's probably the most efficient way to go about team building now. Like I really, I'm really curious to see the fallout on July 1. And as we sort of go forward with teams signing players to extensions,

like to what extent our team's going to be willing to pay closer to fair market rate in order to have the flexibility to make the moves they actually want to make, especially with, you know, the Panarin deal, right? And how little the New York Rangers were able to return for him. You know, I'd even add Myers into that equation, right? A second and a fourth is a good outcome. but we're talking about 1.5 million of Myers for two years. Like that's pretty good, man.

Like that's a pretty appealing asset. Even if he struggled this season, one and a half million for a six foot seven right-handed defender and the stars acquired it for a second and a fourth at the end of this decade. Yeah. And his game really excels, I think, in the playoffs when the referees changed the rulebook a little bit. And maybe he's even going to thrive even more in a more structured environment.

right I mean that's a that's a you know so these things do inhibit your ability to get full value or to optimize value in any event right and so you know what I think they're I'm really curious to see if teams are more scrupulous about attempting to avoid you know the sort of three-dimensional sophisticated or more complicated type of scenarios that you have to manage more delicately going forward I think they probably should be I think that's probably going to be the more efficient way of doing business here. Dranter, I think we can all agree that Canucks management could use a win this week. You know, Friday the deadline closes and Canucks fans aren't furious with what's happened.

And, you know, with various management groups, including this one, the trade deadline has not always gone well. And sometimes it's been downright embarrassing. Now, I want to ask you about something you wrote recently in The Athletic. And you wrote, it should come as a. no surprise that I've heard a variety of league sources wonder openly about the future of Canucks hockey operations leadership. Given how calamitous this season has been and how much high profile talent Vancouver has

bled over the course of the past 24 months, you have to wonder how much rope Rutherford and general manager Patrick Alveen have remaining. Is there any way you could share, I know this is tough sometimes, a little bit more about some of the things you hear because like wondering about the future. I think everyone is wondering about the future of the Canucks management, but is it more than just wondering? Is it, is it informed wondering? Yeah, I think there's some informed wondering going on. The, you know, and I think dating back to even before the season, to be totally honest with you, I think there was questions about questions about sort of, you know, Rutherford's timeline specifically, right?

He has not sort of been very committal, right, about sort of how long he intends to do the work, right? Like, just flat out, you know, generally speaking, he seemed to be open to next season, but beyond that, there's question marks. I think there's significant question marks in the end. industry about what this might look like, you know, is it as simple as Rutherford moves on and Alvin has the sort of weight internally to continue. I think there's big questions about that. And then, of course, you know, this season's gone to hell in a handbasket. I mean, that's unavoidable.

You know, we haven't heard from Canucks management or sorry, from Connux ownership, right? Like, this team's launched a rebuild. And I mean, pretty, get ownership communicating with this fan base in any material way, like a press conference or even a letter, right? Like, that hasn't happened. So we haven't heard from the club at all, really on sort of an overwhelming change of direction. Even Rutherford hasn't done a press conference since the opening of the season, right? I mean, there hasn't been like an open question period. There was sort of a select conference call after the Hughes trade, but so, you know, there's not like a ton of public clarity on that front.

And, you know, privately, too, Canucks ownership tends to be pretty inscrutable. But yeah, I mean, there's been chatter around the league, people wondering if, you know, but before the deadline, the Canucks might be in a position to hold an auction for what they can sell and that this management group has enough weight to be trusted to optimize Vancouver's holdings. and then beyond this season, you know, question marks about what that might look like. Now, the organization is certainly functioning as if things will continue beyond this year. I can tell you that. But yeah, I mean, there's informed, there's definitely informed speculation in league circles

about whether or not, in fact, there may be more significant changes after this year. And given how things have transpired, I mean, how could that not be at least a consideration? In your opinion, knowing all the management groups as you do, as you do and, you know, some of the young up and coming management types, are there some strong candidates to take over the Canucks management if the Canucks were to choose to go with, you know, maybe a lesser known name in leading management? Yeah, I mean, I think there's lots of smart people around the league. To be totally honest with you, Jason, I think there's a variety of people I'd be interested in chatting with.

If I were, you know, in Canucks ownership's shoes, you know, some probably less well-trod names too. I mean, I'll give you an example of guy that I was thinking about just from the context of, like, I was thinking about the Pedersen answer from Alvin yesterday a little bit, right? This idea that, you know, talk is one thing, but we need. to see the action, right? And this idea that like, you know, of course, right? And at the end of the day, there's some measure of personal accountability that players have to have, but also finding a way to get Pedersen back on track has to be an all-in,

holistic organizational priority. And player development generally, right, is something that, you know, the best organizations do incredibly well. I mean, you were watching that Carolina Hurricanes game last night. I'm sure, right? And it's guys like Jackson Blake. Like, how gets Jackson Blake? He's a fourth round pick from like four years ago.

You know, the best organizations are incredibly, I don't know if you've been watching a lot of lightning games, but there's this gentleman named Dominic James. He's like a six three center who's like dynamic off the rush just kind of out of nowhere. And it's like, how did the Tampa Bay Lightning always have this? Like, how does Victor Hedman get hurt lose a step over the course of the season? And we're already at the point like that, you know, I mean, they're, there were these games where the lightning had a completely anonymous assortment of defensemen, like Dastu and like all these, you know, players who you'd never heard of.

Declan, what's his name, Carlisle, right? And now they're at the point. You could just make up a name and people would be like, yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mark Edward Dasstu, yeah. Or Radish, Darren Radish. And then it's like, he has 25 goals. It's like, what?

but I mean they're at the point where you know headman hasn't bounced back I'm not sure he's actually one of their seven best defensemen and that team's the best team in Eastern Conference right like these guys didn't just patch the like didn't just sort of build a bridge until they got healthy so what are they doing drance that the Canucks aren't well I think they have a and how does it relate to the PD answer

sorry so well because I think there's an element to which on on I was thinking about the PD thing I was thinking about the accountability that the player has himself but also the accountability that an organization has them has themselves to help a guy figure it out to provide some answers right to work with a guy like okay you're not training right what does training right look like um you know maybe maybe you're not going to return to being as fast as you were. How do you win and generate offense and play defense? You know, there's praise for PD's defense, but it's not the sort of defense that creates offense, right? Like it's a stand back type of defense. Yes, thank you. I call it the prevent defense. Right. It doesn't help. He's in the

nickel. Well, lots of teams operate in nickel as a base defense these days, bro. That's the advantage of having a Nick E. Menwari. Anyway, um, the the, sorry, so, you know, the Lightning, for example, we'll have like five or six developmental specialists who are like constantly interacting with prospects. And, you know, they've had players like Stephen Stamco's have their games evolve or change because of, you know, aging and on and on.

And they seem to always be finding answers for these guys, right? And I think that's sort of part of it. Anyway, I go on this sort of soliloquy because Tampa Bay Lightning have a guy, an assistant general manager currently who was in player development. Like that's sort of what his, he's kind of taken over the old Matthew Darsh profile with local ties named Jeff Tamblini.

That was a name that I just like was thinking through the other day. I was like, man, this guy, you know, built the trail smoke eaters into a BCHL powerhouse. And then it was in Tampa Bay as a pro scout, worked in player development for the Cracken a couple years ago, went back to Tampa Bay. like, I don't know, that's the sort of organization whose brain I want to pick,

especially if I can pick their brain with a guy who really understands this market and what hockey means here. It's a good show. You know, so there's like a ton of guys like that, you know? I mean, yeah, I think there's a lot of smart people around the league. I think there's a lot of smart people in the agency line of work who are extremely bright. You know, I think if this organization was curious enough to, compile a list of 12 or 13 of the smartest people around the business, you know, I think,

I think ownership could learn a lot and benefit a lot from going through that process. It's not a process they've done. Like, it's just not a process they've ever done in 20 years, right? I mean, their hires when Burke left, NONIS, his lieutenant got hired. When Burke, or sorry, when NONUS left, Gillis was handpicked, basically, and by the way, came from a totally non-traditional off the radar point of view. He was probably the most successful. He was the most successful general manager in Canucks history. Linden was basically hired before Gillis was gone, right?

And then, I mean, Rutherford took the job, what, four days after they fired Jim Benning? Yeah. So, I mean, they've never gone through a search. You know, I don't, like, I'm not going to sort of, the Tamblini name just occurred to me, like, while I was walking to the rink the other day. It's just like, that's the sort of guy that I'd want to sit down with. I'm not saying he's ready. Yeah.

But like, he's the sort of guy I'd want to hear from, right? Like, what does Tampa do well? You know, I can tell you what I think they do well, but I guarantee you he can give you a much better answer and a much clearer line of insight. And, you know, if you have a jam job and a multimillion dollar salary tied to it, like, you're going to learn a lot. If you just talk to, you know, the, the, um, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, as people around the league.

So I would do that. Like more than anything, I don't know that I don't have the answer in terms of who the Connucks should hire or who, but I can definitely tell you 10 or 12 people that I'd be interested in picking their brains. And I don't think there's anything. Connucks ownership needs to do more than solicit those types of opinions. And, you know, not the Brendan Shanahan's of the world, right?

But like, the really smart people executing in practical terms for some of the, the best NHL teams around the league. Ross Mahoney would be a name out of, out of Washington on the, on the amateur scouting side, right? Like, guys like that, what are the smartest, most efficient teams doing?

How are they doing it well? And if you're, if you get an opportunity to talk to a half dozen of them to a dozen of them, right? Like six to 12 of them. You know, I'm pretty sure you'll have a pretty good sense of sort of what you want to emulate best. So, yeah,

that's what I think the Kinnock should do if they ultimately decide to make a change. All right, Drancer. Sorry, we got to get you out, buddy. No, no, I know. I start rambling. A dog's in my ear. All good.

A dog, honestly, is a lot meaner than you think he is. Really? Yeah. Well, not really. That surprises me. Not really. A man who produces such happy jingles? There's anger behind those jingles.

All right, buddy. Cheers, boys. Bye. See, pal. Thomas Trans from the Athletic, Vancouver and Kinextuck here on the Halfen of Rough Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of how. Alfred and Brough.