Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 4/22/26

Episode Date: April 22, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they discuss the Canucks GM search with Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli & analyst Randip Janda. 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. Lozer, shoots. Scand a floater. Are you kidding me? Toward Luchin and it bounced through him. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Wednesday.

Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford and is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you. Hello, hello. And intern Jordan, good morning to you as well.

Good morning. Halford in front of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on

crap metal. North Star Metal recycling. They recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. Want to text into the show? Maybe you've got a list of GM candidates for the Vancouver Canucks. Text into the Dunbar Lumber Text line at 650, 650 trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online today. We got a lot to get into on the program today. We will begin with the Duick Morning Drive.

It's our morning guest list brought to by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 6.30. David Amber, Sportsnet, NHL, Hockey Night and Canada host. It's going to join the program. Another great night of Stanley Cup playoff action last night. Four games. Two of them decided in overtime. One of them probably after a lot of you were in bed.

And the second one, second time in as many games. Tampa Bay and Montreal go to overtime. David is going to join us to talk about it all at 630. 7 o'clock Frank Sarah Valley is going to join us. Our NHL insider from Victory Plus, we're hearing lots of names. As you mentioned, Jason, attached to the vacant GM job in Vancouver. Lots of names, lots of lists. A lot of lists. Not one, not two, but three, a mystery list.

Maybe Frank can tell us about the third mystery list. We can also get updates on the GM searches in Toronto and Nashville, maybe as they pertain to Vancouver. and maybe just maybe we can preview the three games, not four tonight, but three games on tap tonight and the Stanley Cup playoffs. I know. Frank's going to join us at 7 o'clock. 8 o'clock, Randibe Janda is going to join the program.

Knox analyst for Sportsnet. We've yet to put a bow on this season with Randeep, who did join us diligently throughout the regular season. We can talk to him obviously about the Canucks GM search as it is underway. And on Hockey Night Punjabi, in which of course he is a part of the panel, Cain Sends, they're covering that one so we can talk to him about what's going on as the series now shifts.

The Ottawa Randeeb's going to join us at 8 o'clock. We got a lot to get into on the program. Big show ahead, big guest list ahead. So without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was.

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training, visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca.ca.com with all due respect to another exciting night of Stanley Cup playoff action. I think we have to start with the Vancouver Canucks general manager search here because

it's heating up. Names are flying around and there are lists. Plural Jason lists. Yeah, we'll get to, we'll get to the list stuff soon. And Laddie, let us know when you've clipped the latest 32 thoughts because there's some more information coming from Elliott Freeman's podcast. Yesterday's, I guess, big report was that the Canucks had asked permission to speak with former Sabres GM, Kevin Adams, and just imagine if someone had told us this in December, we wouldn't probably be all that surprised at the Canucks were looking for a general manager, but maybe we'd be surprised by the name of Kevin Adams because he was the one that was finally fired

by the Buffalo Sabers when he was let go. Everyone was like, man, what took so long because the Sabers are still a disaster? Now, of course, the Sabers, almost as soon as they fired Kevin Adams, caught fire and are now in the playoffs for the first time in forever. And we joked a lot in January and February, whenever the run started, we're like, have ever seen a new GM bump before? Like, what the hell was Kevin Adams doing in Buffalo? It's pretty funny that in hindsight, people are like, actually put together a pretty decent roster,

right? Made some good trades. Uh, you know, this is, this is his team on the ice. But Halford, Wasn't a terrible culture one of the big things that was held against Adams in Buffalo? It's kind of funny to look back on some of the culture-related quotes from a year ago when Kevin Adams went up there with Lindy Ruff after yet another season where the Buffalo Sabres failed to make the playoffs and said things like, culture is earned in terms of your daily habits and the things that you do. And what I believe we need to probably reflect on and do a better job of, and I shared this with the players over the last couple days,

is more of our players starting with looking in the mirror first. That starts to build a culture of accountability. So there were issues going on in Buffalo. And was it not Kevin Adams that had a major PR blunder with his infamous palm, tree's remark? That was him. What did he say? He said, like, we don't, nobody wants to come to

Buffalo. We don't have palm trees or something like that. And then... It's a fairly decent paraphrasing. It wasn't as sharp. But yeah, that was the idea was that it was Buffalo. It was tougher to attract players and they don't have the palm trees that some of the other places have like Florida. That was a reference to Florida. Yeah. And so Sabres fans

immediately galvanized around that quote and started bringing inflatable palm trees to Sabers games. And stadium security was like, I don't know what we're going to do with all these palm trees. Now, the one thing he did do well in Buffalo was follow orders from ownership. And I'm just going to read a paragraph from the athletics report on the Kevin Adams interview. And I think this part was probably done by Matthew Fairburn of the athletic.

I'm just going to read it here. Sabre's owners, Terry and Kim Pagula, made a surprising decision to fire general manager Jason Botterall in June of 2020, a few months after the pandemic put a stop to the NHL season. They replaced him with Adams. During his first day on the job, Adams was tasked with firing more than 20 people in the organization, including scouts, longtime executives, and AAHL coaches. Yep. So he's willing to do when ownership is asked of him.

He is, I guess, an unsurprising candidate only because, Well, one, it's been said that the Canucks were going to do an exhaustive process in terms of creating a list of potential candidates, interviewing a lot of different people, and from all different genres of experience. People that have a ton of experience, people that don't. People that have served as a GM before, people that haven't. So that part, I guess it's not that surprising. What is surprising is that anyone would be interested in Kevin Adams after the way things ended in Buffalo purely from an optic standpoint. know that he put together the foundation of the roster that is currently now tied 1-1 and its opening round playoff series with Buffalo.

But if you go and you dig a little deeper and look underneath the hood of what happened in Buffalo, a lot of people said that there was a clear, clear shift in organizational seriousness and discipline after Adams left and went Keckleinen took over. The record bears that out. I mean, you can't ignore these numbers. on the day Kevin Adams was dismissed in Buffalo, the Sabres were 14, 14, and 4 and tied for last place in the Eastern Conference.

Since Adams got fired, the Sabers have gone 36, 9, and 5. They won the Atlantic Division, and they made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. We're talking to a dramatic turnaround. There was a quote from Alec Tuck about, I'd say a month into the Kekeleinen rain in Buffalo, where he said our group has responded.

There's a maturity and development. in this group now, we're a hard team to play against. We're now miserable to play against. And a lot of people were pointing to the fact that Kekkelaining came in and was sort of a no-nonsense. We're not screwing around anymore. It's time to take this seriously. And they never got that vibe under Adams.

So is it the right kind of higher? Well, we're not at that stage yet. Yeah. I would- It's okay to interview them. Yeah. I would say that interviewing a lot of people is always the way to go. You can pick people's brains.

you can get intel. You can also find out what outside people think about your organization, right? Are people going to come in and they are going to blow smoke up here? You know what to try and get the job? Are they going to be honest with you? All those things matter. I think it would be very useful to interview Kevin Adams. I mean, I'm kind of torn down in the first part,

but that's just because, like, it's hilarious that the connects are actually interviewing him. I just think it's funny that in a few months we've gone from, he's fired in Buffalo and the Sabres are still a disaster to like maybe he could be the Canucks next GM. Well, he was one of the biggest main character general managers in the league this year. I mean, there's no way to ignore it. He was a huge story, not just in Buffalo, but across the National Hockey League. Buffalo could actually directly or indirectly provide a couple of candidates because Sam don't call me Ace Ventura. I think he's an analyst guy.

That actually has a history with Rutherford going back to Pittsburgh. A lot of people have wondered. if he might one day get a general manager job. And then there's Mark Bergevan. Yeah, he works for the Sabres right now. He was brought in by Yarmou. I can't remember what the role is, but he's with the Sabres right now. And I know, Ben Coosma wrote a piece for the province speculating on whether or not

Mark Bergevan could be a fit for the Vancouver Canucks based on his experience in Montreal in a pretty tough Canadian market. Now, Elliot Freeman went on Edmonton radio yesterday, Oilers Now, and made some comments about the Canucks having two or three different lists of candidates for general managers. And I think a lot of people are like, what? I don't, why don't they just have one list? Probably makes it easier. And Freed said there's Rutherford's lists.

There's an ownership list. and there might be another one. Ooh, a third list. And I think a lot of us were kind of like, did Finn put together a list? I like them. I like them. They have a secret list.

That's cool. Yeah, I knew you'd like that. The mystery list. Yeah, I knew that would be the first time you chimed it. I'm glad you did. It's in a big box with a bunch of question marks on it. The one thing I was wondering is if they

they reached out to someone outside the organization and had them put together a list. Actually, that's the second thing I thought. the first thing I thought was Michael Bublai's list. But the second thing I thought was that it was definitely a consultant's list. Okay. So, Frege, and the one thing that, or another thing that Frege said yesterday on Emerton Radio was, I think if it was Jim Rutherford's choice, it would be Ryan Johnson.

Currently with the organization, an associate assistant GM or associate GM, I can't remember what his title is, but he is the general manager of the abominious. for Canucks and we all know about Ryan Johnson. So here is Fridge with an update on the Canucks situation. And this is from the 32 Thoughts podcast, which published this morning. So Rick Dahlilwell reported Ryan Bonas. Matthew Fairburn reported that they want to speak to Kevin Adams.

I believe that they are interviewing formerly Ryan Johnson this week. And there's more. And so again, I had some people ask me about Oilers now and I said there was two, maybe three lists. I think Rutherford has a list. I think ownership has a list. I don't know if it's as simple as saying that Rutherford is interviewing some newer people and ownership is interviewing some more experienced people. But I do think that that's kind of the way.

It looks. Because I've heard that there are some fresh names here, ones that may not have been connected to any other search, working on those. And I think there's some experience names there too. And that's kind of how I heard it was being split. I did mention that it's possible there's a third list. I'll see if I can figure out if that's true.

But I did hear it on Tuesday. Should it be concerning that there are separate lists at this stage of the process, or is that kind of normal? I don't know that that's normal, but I'll tell you this. This has been a year for very, very unusual searches. There's things about the Nashville search that have been a little bit unusual to me. there's things about the Toronto search that have been a little bit unusual to me so I can't say I'm hugely surprised

that there's things about this Vancouver search that sound a little bit unusual to me like if you're one of those people who's like the NHL has been doing the same thing over and over and over again and it's time to do things a little differently well we're setting new records for that

this time out Not all at once, everyone. Not all it was. Yes. We're definitely, if you're one of those people who's like, Angel has to do things a little differently, you've got to be ecstatic right now because there's stuff I've been hearing that has been way out of left field.

And I will say this, like this whole Vancouver thing, I will say this until I'm blue in the face. I think if it was totally up to Rutherford, he would promote Ryan Johnson, and that's where we'd be. So what is going on here? I'm stealing this from Laddie, but like, I'm getting reports now that there is a fourth list. There is a fourth list.

Well, apparently the trend across the league with the teams that are looking for general managers is that things are upside down. Left is right, right is left, down is up, up is down. Everything's different from the traditional ways. You know, when people said that they, you know, when people say when, you know, I wish the NHL would do things differently, I didn't hear anyone say like, yeah, like, you know, when they. put together lists of candidates for general managers, why not have multiple lists?

I wish, I wish. No, but nobody has, nobody has said that. And, um, this is a, this is potentially a very weird dynamic. If Jim Rutherford has one list and he's doing interviews of those guys and Canucks ownership has another list and they're doing interviews of other guys, I thought this was going to be a in tandem thing. And that's what Jim Rutherford suggested on Friday. at his press conference when he said,

yeah, I'm going to do some interviews. And if ownership wants to sit in, they can do those. If they want to ask some questions. And, you know, I know it's been reported that the final decision on this, I think it was Drager that reported it. The final decision is going to be Aquilini. So what is what is Rutherford's role in this? Like, this is bizarre.

Yeah, but I have no idea what's going on because if we're to take whatever. And Frieger's obviously light on some details. And I know with these situations, when you're trying to get inside information, get people to talk off the record, people are obviously going to either speak in code or not give away everything that they've got because it becomes quicker and easier to identify them as the leak or the mole. But I do wonder if part of this is maybe there's an unprecedented level of active employees that are being asked to interview and you're needing permission to speak with them.

I don't know if that's part of it, but it sounds like that's definitely something that's happening, not just in Vancouver, but also in Nashville and in Toronto. I don't know what makes Nashville and Toronto's searches so unique in their own rights either. I don't know if they've also got multiple lists coming from ownership and the president of

hockey ops. It seems all very strange, but also... Well, there isn't a president in Toronto. Right. So there's not even a guy to put together a list. But also, I don't really care. All I care about is who the higher ends up being. Like, however you want to go about

getting the guy in place. Part of it is the way... I care. I care about this just because what is going on with this process. Are Rutherford in ownership not working in tandem here? And I'm not saying...

Well, maybe they divvied up the... Maybe they're like, you take that side of it. You take that side of it. That's what it could be. We don't have a ton of time. You got the, like the young analytics guys or I'll take the retreads over here. You take four guys golfing.

I'll take four guys to a restaurant. Like that's... It could be. treat off their lists and then they match up the names that are on each list. And then the third list is the matched up names and those are the names they talk to. I think the most important thing is that, right? It could be. It's like we have no matching names.

Yeah, we're in trouble. At the end of the day, I want them. This guy's dead. The one thing that- Ross him off. The one thing that I am. The one thing that I am kind of optimistic about is that it sounds like they're actually interviewing a lot of candidates.

Right? What's the one thing that, you know, and Frege brought this up, and other people have brought this up. They've always sort of hand a handpick successor ready to go in a lot of these executive roles. And we often wondered, did you do your due diligence before putting Jim Benning in place or before putting Jim Brotherford in place? How many people did you interview? How many different individuals did you talk to you of potentially taking this job? So if they're doing a lot of interviews, the methodology I can kind of put to the side.

I'm very glad you can put it to the side because I cannot. I mean, this is a very, very important hire. I want the process to be functional as opposed to dysfunctional. Brock from Vancouver throws this out there. This is just, we're all just speculating because this is just a weird situation. Maybe it's not, but it sounds weird. Brockford, Vancouver says, I think there is way more with this situation. I think JR is interviewing potential new GMs.

I think ownership is interviewing potential new presidents or GMs. Sure. That could be it too because we don't, I mean, that, maybe that makes sense because Rutherford would not be, would not be hiring his replacement. No, right? He's hiring Patrick. Maybe ownership wanted, yeah, maybe that's how they divvied it up. It's possible because we have heard that there could be two hires and they go with

the president of hockey ops and a general manager. Okay, so that's all we know on the Canucks GM search. Maybe it's dysfunctional. Maybe there's a perfectly good reason for these multiple lists. Let's go to last night's action in the Stanley Cup playoffs. We've only got a few minutes here, but we'll try and get through as much as we can. Sure, we've got an open segment of the 7 o'clock hour as well,

which we can get into some of these. But let's start with what in my mind, in my estimation, has been the best series thus far. And that's been Tampa Bay and Montreal. Two games of two have gone to overtime. Last night, J.J. Moser scores at 1248 of O.T. to give the Lightning an all-important victory, evening the series at one.

And here's what it sounded like in overtime. To win the game for Tampa Bay, Moses shot it. The series at one. So that was a huge win for the Lightning, obviously. Might have been a season saving win for them. Well, you know, when I go down to nothing, heading back to Montreal, going to be absolutely insane. And the habs are good. If they get goal tending, the habs are very good.

The one thing I will say about the lightning is they are lucky that they won that game because for the first half of that game, I would say that they were playing like a bunch of idiots. Well, at the end, too. Well, look, they won the game, though, right? So, you know, Corey Perry goes out there and takes some penalties. He basically took the lightning off of a power play and put the habs on one with his decision making. And I get that's their identity, right? Like, we're the new goons, right?

Like, I understand it. Florida changed them, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I think Columbus too, right? Like, like going back to getting eliminated all those years ago, they decided we're going to bring in some toughness and they've really run with that. but Kutrov was playing like an idiot for the first half of that game and he was lucky that he didn't get called for multiple penalties.

You know, there was, I think it was Josh Anderson. It was a blatant interference call and no reason to do it. And it should have been called. There was another slash slash the players stick out of his hands. It might have been a bit of a soft call if it got made. But they were playing with fire. And then the HAB's inexperience started to show. Like there was a bit of a, there's a bit of trend of plays.

There was one play where Demadoff didn't even come close to gaining the center line and iced it. Like he either should have tried parter to gain the center line or one of your favorites. Just do a soft dump into the corner. Instead, he just blatantly iced it. Now, the Habs didn't pay a price on that one. But for me, it kind of started to show a bit of a trend. Slavkovsky, who was such a key player in game one. And to his credit, I suppose, earlier in game two,

dropped the gloves with Brandon Hagel, who then dropped him. But he fought. He also had a really bad giveaway that led to a Tampa goal. And then- Kirby Doc. And then Kirby Doc had a similar play to, I guess, to Demadoff, where he didn't gain the line. and he iced it, and it caused a goal against.

So the game kind of flipped from the lightning, I thought, playing somewhat recklessly and running around and not looking all that organized. And Montreal, you know, after the first period, I think at a 12-6 advantage on the shot clock, and they looked like they were going to take a 2-0-0-win. And then all of a sudden, I guess the lightning pulled it together and Montreal showed a bit of inexperienced.

That's the way I saw it, at least. If you're Montreal, you're absolutely fine with what happened over the first two games in Tampa Bay. You got the split. You were an overtime goal away from taking a commanding two nothing lead on the road. You're good. If you're Tampa Bay,

you've got some concerns because they really, you talked about the stupidity, and that's what John Cooper called it after the first game when they took all those penalties. You really didn't see them clean up the stupidity. The penalty by Sabrin.

And by the way, John Cooper's got to own some of this. Why on earth would you have fourth liner Scott Sabrin out at the end of three on, a two-two tie in regulation with minutes to go. Why would you even put him in that position? He takes the penalty on Anderson,

which was a clear retaliatory penalty because Anderson's been running around nailing guys the entire series. And scoring goals. Yeah. So I don't know exactly what to make of the Tampa Bay side of things. I think that they're going to be super energized from that goal by J.J. Moser,

goes without saying. But also, if it's not Slavkovsky, the best player in that series right now is Hegel. and it's not even considerably close. And I actually think right now, if you were to ask me, I'd say Hegel's been better over the course of the two games than Slavkovsky. If you're Chicago, I know Chicago is still in a rebuild and they got a good return for Hegel,

but do you think there's any way they thought he would become the player that he is right now? Probably not. You know, where he's on Team Canada and, you know, actually a pretty good player for Team Canada. Terrific. And you watch him now, and he clearly stands out. Like, I think it was said on the broadcast yesterday, and I agreed with it. He's the heartbeat of the lightning right now.

Yeah. They identify. They do a good job of that, is identifying guys that might not fit the age curve of a particular team and then try and get them, like, they like getting guys that are in their RFA years too. Like, Hegel's going to be 28 this year, right? And you're talking about a Chicago team that going into this new season in the fall when Hague will be 28, probably isn't a playoff team again. So was it a good

move for them? Yeah, I'd say so. I mean, it's not unlike the conversations we're having about Heronic right now. Great player. You love to have them. Does he fit your age curve? Probably not. But you also have that conversation about Detroit. You know, should they have traded them away? I agree. Should they have traded away? Could they have used them?

Probably. It wouldn't have had to blow their brains out on Justin Falk then, which was really dumb and could cost them even more in the draft lottery. Yeah, the lightning going for I know we've got to get going here, but the lightning going forward are going to be really interesting because they play with a certain edge. And it is part of their identity. And I personally, I love it.

Yep, that's good. I think it's great. I think it adds a lot to the league. I think they have turned into the villains of the NHL in some ways, which is hilarious because coops their coach. And you're like, coops like this, but he is. Like, he's a Prince George guy. He embraced this sort of stuff. So, you know, it's part of their.

identity, but when you have an identity like that, you have to balance things and you have to know when the right time to mix it up is and when the wrong time to, you know, play on the edge and play a little recklessness because, you know, it really could lead, could have led to them being down to nothing in this series, especially if the HABS had scored on that late penalty in regulation. you know, it would have been the first game. They gave up three power play goals and Coops after is like, we've got to take less penalties than the second game. Can you imagine if they had lost that on a dumb penalty

with two minutes left in the game? You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Our next guest is our NHL insider from Victory Plus. Frank Cerrvelli joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Frank. How are you? Pretty good. How are you doing? We're well. Let's start with the Vancouver Canucks GM search.

Let's start with the names before we get to the lists, which is a thing. What are you hearing about the names of the guys that the Vancouver Canucks are interviewing for their vacant GM position? Well, the process is still really just kicking off in the list. There's names being added to it, I'm sure, on a daily basis. I think, well, not I think. I can tell you what I know is that the thought, around the league is that the Canucks are searching for someone with prior GM experience. So you can kind of chop up the list from that perspective moving forward.

Kevin Adams, which was of course reported yesterday, and his tenure in Buffalo certainly has a different look based on the Sabres, consequentially winning the division. you've got some of the other recent candidates who have been in the mix in other markets including Peter Shirelli, Mark Bergevan. You could probably, like, if you go really through the list of anyone who's been a general manager recently, like, you could probably even add in a, I'm sure there's calls being made for a Ron Hextall or like, go through the whole smorgers board of candidates that have

experience. So that's an easy exercise. And then I think to contrast that, the real question is, where does Ryan Johnson fit in with all of this? And if Ryan Johnson was the top candidate, why has there been a hesitation to make that switch? Would that process not have already been completed last week as this change was set up from the beginning with Patrick Alvin being fired. So I think that looms large over the whole process to me is this push and pull between experience, someone who's done the job, and someone who, you know, at least by the view that Jim Rutherford presented last week, that he's not long for it, that maybe it's kind of becoming clear from ownership that they'd prefer someone if Jim Rutherford's gone that has done this before.

Frank, Elliot Friedman has reported that there are two lists, at least two lists, and that ownership is interviewing experienced candidates, and Jim Rutherford is interviewing newer or younger candidates, less experienced candidates. Is it possible that ownership has a list of Jim Rutherford replacement, and Rutherford has a list of Alveen replacements and the Canucks could actually be hiring not one

but two new members of the hockey ops department. Possible, yes. But let me ask you like a dead serious question. If it's so disjointed from the jump, why is Jim Rutherford still involved at all? I mean, we have that question too. I don't understand. I don't understand.

It doesn't make any sense to me. Okay, so Jim Rutherford wants to do his thing, and ownership clearly prefers something different, if this is all accurate. Now what? Like, how do these two things mesh? And again, where does Ryan Johnson fit in and all of this who appears to be a well-qualified internal candidate?

Is it possible that ownership would be more comfortable with Ryan Johnson as the general manager, if they also brought on a more experienced person that would replace Jim Rutherford because I personally don't think it's a very good idea for Jim Rutherford to stick around after this hire is made. As you put it, it might not even be a good idea for him to stick around right now. That's how I see it. I mean, and it's not to diminish Jim Rutherford.

his career demean his accomplishments. I'm judging based on a couple things. One, the notion that there seems to be a clash in terms of what this looks like moving forward. And two, just based on a pure meritocracy, why, like over these last four years running the Vancouver Canucks, as this organization has been plunged into further chaos, and some of it unpredictable, some of it entirely predictable,

and some of it due to the Canucksone doing, that what's, like, why should Jim Rutherford be afforded the opportunity to pick his successor, or at least someone that for the very beginning stages is someone that he's comfortable working with? If he's not going to be here anyway, what's the difference?

Just get out in front of it and make the decision that you think is best. How much of... Oh, sorry, keep going for it. No, I realize that me saying that about Kodok's ownership, make the decision that you see as best, sends a shiver up the spine of Kinnock's fans. But, I mean, it can't be any worse than the job

that Jim Rutherford has done to this point. Right. I mean, I'm not trying to advocate for the way that things are going. I also think that it gets very muddled when Rutherford's sticking around for what feels like an indeterminate length of time. Like if you're going to make the change, why not just make the change? But

just to play devil's advocate here. How much of this might have to do with trying to talk to as many candidates as possible, interview as many individuals as possible, and maybe not even necessarily for job candidacy, but just to, you know, when you pick the brains of people

to get the idea of what people think of your organization, what the outside view is of your team what people are willing to tell you and maybe what people aren't willing to tell you in the interview process. I'm always a big advocate for a fact-finding mission and to learn as much about how the perspective on the outside views your organization.

I think there's a ton of value in that. I just don't necessarily see that being a logical explanation for the potential, difference in past based on what we're talking about. Sure. You know, the Canucks have really never been big on outside influence and league view. Because just look at their searches over the last number of ten years.

They generally tend to be pretty short-lived and with a small pool of candidates that some of it seems predetermined from the start. like when when jim rutherford was brought in like we didn't there wasn't like a big wide ranging net that was cast around the league like they made the choice Francesco aquilini met and went with with with jim rutherford and convinced them to come out west and take the job it's kind of as simple as that so now to think that there's going to be this hey we're going to do this totally differently than we've ever done it before I don't know if I buy that.

You're right about that, Frank, because, you know, I think that goes back to even before Jim Rutherford. Yes. You know, John Tortorella, when he was hired, I don't know how many other candidates the Canucks were looking at then. And then I remember Trevor Lyndon named President of Hockey Ops, and we almost immediately heard Benning and Willie DeGarden. And that's how it played out.

Lyndon went out to interview Benning, and he was the gentleman. manager. Yeah, and Bob's your uncle. I mean, that's basically how it's worked. I don't, and, and so that's why when we initially heard Ryan Johnson, you thought, okay, maybe this is a fate of complete, maybe this is just something that's, that's preordained to happen. But I would argue the fact that it hasn't happened already clearly means that there's some kind of wrinkle here that we're not seeing or not understanding, or maybe they just don't think the time is right, and they're going to have to wrestle with all that.

And then I'm just thinking moving forward. Like, I personally believe that Jim Rutherford's shadow that looms over this process with both the indeterminate amount of time that he's going to be in the position, as well as the fact that the last guy that was here didn't actually make very many hockey operations decisions and yet was thrown on the tariff. Mac, I don't think that's a good look either. And I think, yeah, look, it's one of 32. Are you always going to have someone that that's willing to sign up for that pay scale and for that opportunity to have the title as general manager? Of course. And it doesn't matter how dire the circumstance is or

how bleak the picture is in terms of the roster build, working for this ownership group, all those things, someone's always going to be willing to do it because someone's, you know, they're climbing over dead bodies all the time to try and get to the top. Um, but I, I think that that, the entire scope of this opportunity, it, it changes in my view based on Jim Rutherford still being part of it. Um, let's talk about the Leafs job search. What's the latest there? So they're getting closer.

Um, They've got three candidates in this week as quote-unquote finalists for the general manager position. And with that, I think what remains to be seen is the true machinations of the entire front office hierarchy. I mean, is there a president of hockey operations? Yes or no? is Matt Sundeen part of it? Yes or no and what's his title? And how do all of those positions

then intersect with Keith Pelly as CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and what kind of role will he have in all of the decision-making process moving forward given that he had a big role over the last year? What has Sundeen been doing since he retired? What is what? What has Matt Sundeen been doing?

He's been in Sweden, just raising his family. And anytime we've been over there for Global Series, I've seen him at the rink. I think he's been doing some community work with the Leafs and making a couple trips over a year for different promotions and things like that. But for the most part, I think he's been enjoying life in Sweden.

And that's the big question is, my understanding is from people close to Matt that he is he's willing to uproot his family and relocate his life to Toronto for a meaningful role for the right job but I don't think he has very much interest in collecting a check to be a figurehead. Right.

Like it's either I'm going to dig in and actually do the work and I'm going to be totally bought into the process or I can just continue to do the typical community stuff that I've done as a former captain and player with his number retired. This reminds me of the Trevor Lyndon situation because there were plenty of questions also about, you know, how much has Lyndon been following the NHL since being retired?

And people would say, well, you know, he had some, you know, some experience in the NHLPA and maybe that could be helpful. And I just, I think there was a big time catch-up mode for Lyndon when he took the job. Because as I always pointed out of the time, he wasn't named president of the organization. He was named president of hockey ops. And I think that's important to clarify because, you know,

then ultimately all the hockey decisions, in theory, stop with him. Is that going to be this? And I guess that's what you're getting at with Matt Sundin. Well, I also don't know if that's the level of role that they're offering him. It might not be that. It might be somewhere in between GM and president. It could be some kind of special advisor.

But I think regardless, your point is really well made that no matter what, there's going to be a massive catch-up required, even as someone who is just like Trevor Lyndon, not insanely far removed from playing. But living in Sweden, like, almost impossible to follow the NHL on a night-to-night basis, given the time that games are played. So unless you're really waking up and watching hours of video, like you're missing every game for the most part unless it's a weekend afternoon game. And I can't imagine that that person

even with a, you know, a Hall of Fame level caliber career would think that they have enough knowledge or foresight to step into a role of that magnitude without having to put in a lot of time to catch up. Randipe Janda here on the Halford and Brush Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Randee. How are you? Hey, let's turn our attention to the Vancouver Canucks now. Your thoughts on everything that's swirling right now regarding the Vancouver Canucks general manager search.

Yeah, so, you know, you look at, I guess, depending on where you start, right? Obviously, I think with the multiple list conversation that's going on right now, which I know as listeners and people that probably cover the sport. It sounds a little confusing from what we heard from Elliot Friedman. But I think I want to use a Jim Benning quote here, boys. We don't have all the information.

We don't know what, you know, Jim Rutherford's focus is. We know he focuses the general manager. But, you know, ownership, are they looking at potentially another replacement for Jim Rutherford? Rutherford talked about how he's, you know, focused on the draft and kind of take it from there. or so are there two simultaneous searches going on right now? And for me, the question is timing. Are these things happening at the same time? I think there's probably one focus on one job right now,

but maybe perhaps, you know, there's two things going on at the same time. What do you think about the idea of hiring not one, but two new people into the front office? Yeah, I think, you know, with Jim Rutherford and where he is in his career and where he's in his life, let's be honest, you know, this is something you do have to consider. An ideal situation would have been, you know,

Rutherford has success and he can call his own shot. That hasn't happened here. So whether it's Rutherford on his own essentially saying, I want to look at my future or whether it's, you know, essentially the ownership or the organization saying, hey, before you, you know, we haven't liked what's going on here in the last little bit, but we want you to stick around to kind of prep the table for the next meal, so to speak. I think it has to be a part of the conversation, boys, whether it's short term or long term, right?

When you have an executive that has been heading the organization for the last number of years that is older, you have to have that succession plan. And I think, you know, having multiple searches going on is not a bad thing where you're saying, even if Brotherford sticks around for a couple of years, let's say that if that happens, happens, you still need to know, okay, if this current GM that you're hiring for, what is the trajectory there? Are they able of taking the top job? Are there, you know, is that experience not there? Or do you have to look at somebody else that might be more of a VP role for maybe a year or two that can step up into a spot that can eventually take over for Jim Rutherford? Because, you know, that's in really, it's in front of us, right? Like, this is an older gentleman that is a Hall of Famer, but he's not going to stick around forever as far as this job. job is considered. Let's be honest, this was a conversation point when he took the job, and it has been ever since. So, you know, I have no issue with two things being looked at right now, but you do have to do it in a way where you have to make sure you get, you know, the right

people in both jobs, and you have to make sure you use a thorough search because if they're heading the organization, if one of these people will be your president of hockey operations eventually, you know, it is a very, very important decision to look at, not only two, three years down the line, but we might be talking a decade of Canucks hockey. Why do you think there's been such a negative reaction whenever Mark Bergervan's name comes up? Yeah, I think a part of this conversation is because, you know, anytime you go through a list of individuals that have been there in the NHL,

I'll call them a retread if you want, there is always that sort of thing. And Bergervan was bold, right? let's go back to his moves in Montreal and not all of them worked out. One thing you cannot say about Mark Bursman is that he just sat on the sidelines and didn't make things happen. Now, there are other GMs as a part of this search that I think could be criticized for not doing enough, right?

Like Tom Fitzgerald in New Jersey was a GM that people were saying, do more in New Jersey. You got to make this move happen whether there's a Quinn Hughes deal or another deal. I think with Bursman, it's the opposite. There's, you know, that kind of, Brett Farb gunslinger mentality that he had in Montreal. Now, the other aspect to this is with Mark Bergevin, is that something that is justified because that job had a different ammo.

That job was not at the same situation. It's what led to the rebuild. Now, if you're looking at him for this job, the mandate has to be completely different. So I think a part of the reason that you have maybe this negative reaction to Mark Bergeman is that, yes, he took a lot of swings in that job with Montreal. but you know that was that was a very different job also yeah you know I know I know a lot of people blamed him for not getting you know what he could have got I suppose in in the trades from suban and surgachev you know suban went to Nashville for shea Weber and surgachev

goes for jonathan drewan which was definitely a risky move and and ultimately a bad move but he did pull off the Suzuki trade and Suzuki has turned into one of the best centers in the NHL and I think with the Suban trade and I think he was doing that for team culture reasons as well, don't you? Yeah and those are the types of things where you're essentially saying he's not going to sit back and I think he's a GM that's shown that he doesn't

waiting is not a part of his thing and that's a pro and a con guys right like when we're talking about potentially if there's locker room issues if the the locker room doesn't like what's something that's going on you know that can be a pro but then again also you get a little bit of antsy you talked about some of the trades you know

the Nick Suzuki contract which is another one that when he signed in 2021 that contract looks great it's an eight year deal until 2029 Mark Bergervan correct me if I'm wrong would assign that one as well for Nick Suzuki so

We're talking about, you know, him making some rash moves. And I'm not saying, you know, he's the answer for this job. But looking at that Montreal job in isolation, of course you have to look at the moves he makes. That's on his resume, in addition to the Surgachachiev deal, in addition to, you know, the P.K. Suban deal. But at the same time, you know, the mandate with that job was, all right, go stock up, you know, sell some of the older players, get some younger ones. So there's an element of Rehabil, no doubt. but there is also a, all right, we need to make some, you know, big moves to act now to be competitive, which I think for Vancouver, certainly they're not there yet.

So the mandate would be a little different. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.