Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 4/23/25

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they discuss the latest NHL news & notes with Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli.  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. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na He's through! Dolby scores! Max Dolby's the overtime hero in game two! The front of chance and they score! It's Matthew Kachaka the power play! Martinus up high and he scores! I love these lazy Saturdays. It's Wednesday, Homer! Good morning, Vancouver! Six o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, Homer. Ah! Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Wednesday.

Happy Wednesday, everybody. It's Halford and his bruv at eSportsNet 650, and we are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning.

Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and bruv for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step. Big show on a Wednesday, hump day, am I right everybody? Guest list today begins at 6.30.

David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host, is gonna join us. A relatively light night in the National Hockey League tonight, only three games. I was used to four games a night. Only three games tonight. Washington, Montreal game two. Colorado, Dallas game three.

That series shifts back to Colorado. And then of course, Edmonton and LA in game two from Crypto.com Arena. We'll look back also on the four games last night, including, as you heard in the intro, Max Domi providing the heroics as Toronto took a two nothing series lead over Ottawa in the Battle of Ontario, so that's at 6.30.

Seven o'clock, Frank Ceravelli is going to join us from Daily Face Off. We should talk coaching openings across the National Hockey League with Frank. Something that we, Jason and I, will discuss in relation to Rick Taukett in the first segment this morning. You know who Frank spoke with recently? Forgot about him, Jay Woodcroft. Oh, okay.

You had him on a recent. He must be in the mix for some of these jobs. You'd think. So we'll talk to Frank about that at 7 o'clock. Also, The Isles decided to part ways with Lou Lamarello yesterday in case you missed that so we can ask Frank about the ramifications from that as well. 8 o'clock, Randeeb Janda is going to join the program It's our final hit of the season with randeep our beloved Canucks color analyst here on sports net 650 We'll put a bow on ah this phase of the offseason Which of course was the Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen media availability We'll get randeep's thoughts on all that and look ahead to what should be a very busy offseason Phase two for the Vancouver Canucks so working in reverse on the guest list, eight o'clock it's Randy Janda,

seven o'clock it's Frank Saravalli, six thirty it's David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Greg, tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that?

What happened? What happened? What happened is Bratz-Evi, 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. We are going to try and still ring out whatever's left of Canucks News here on the Haliford and Brough

Show on Sportsnet 650 as we stare further and further into the off season abyss. It was a quiet day for the Vancouver Canucks. No tampering as far as I could tell yesterday. It was a tamper free day from the Canucks, but we're still waiting on a decision on Rick Dawkins. Well, on the tampering, Rick Dulliwold reported that the NHL will not be doing anything about that.

I joked on social media that they probably looked at the Canucks and they're like, there's enough on your plate. You know what? We'll give you guys a pass on this one. We'll give you a break. Yeah. I think we're all expecting a decision on

Rick Tauket by Friday at the latest. The Canucks have a lot of work to do this off season and if they need a new coach as well, they'd obviously like to know as soon as possible. Jim Rutherford hinted, well, he didn't even hint. He said, like, I think we'll have a decision by the end of the week. So it's Wednesday.

So we're halfway through the week. So they still got a little time. Okay. So how many openings around the NHL are there? We're not necessarily saying like, oh, maybe talk, it's thinking about some of these openings, but we're not, not saying that as well. Um, so Anaheim, Seattle, and the

Rangers all have official vacancies. Nobody has the job, interim or otherwise. Blackhawks, Bruins and Flyers all finished the season with interim guys. Including Jesper Sorensen's brother, Anders Sorensen in Chicago. That's not his brother. That's not his brother.

Okay, so which of those jobs do you think would be the most appealing? Not necessarily for Tauket, but for any coach. And I think we should do it in reverse order. So we'll eliminate some of these teams and then we'll settle on one final team. I don't think I'd want the Rangers job or the Bruins job. Although they are original six teams and you probably get

lots of resources if you go there. It's kind of cool to coach an original six team. Both those teams have some veterans that have had some success in the NHL. But for me personally, you know, you can push back on this, but for me, I think I would look at those and go, those are teams on the way down. You would get the opportunity to coach JT Miller once again, hypothetically speaking, if you were a coach that had coached him before.

We're not pointing to any particular coach, right? We're just saying in general. Oh, it seems like you're pointing to a particular coach. I'm just saying, maybe if you're- Because you said coach again, and then I'm like, okay, well who's coached JT Miller? Okay, let me rephrase. Because Coop coached him, but I don't think Coop's leaving the Lightning. Yes, that's true.

So what are you talking about? Well, I mean, LA Invenio also coached him. Oh, that's true. Yeah. Okay, all right. You can always go back to the Rangers. You seem to be suggesting that Rick Tauken would maybe go to the Rangers. You know, I'm just talking about JT Miller here just purely talking about JT Miller maybe a coach would like to coach him for the first

time whatever the case that I put it this way I'm with you on those jobs maybe being the least enticing because it does feel like teams that are going in the wrong direction of the two I think that the Rangers probably have a better chance of resuscitating their lives because of Igor Shusterkin, but I understand why you'd address both those with some trepidation. The Boston job to me seems like rife with the potential where you walk in there and then all of a sudden it's like. Well, especially if you're talking to your like, I know how important centers are. Yep.

What's going on in Boston with their centers? Oh, well I know Lindholm. The chance to coach Lindholm, or for the first time. Zadorov again, or for the first time. Start it out there. Okay, well, we got to eliminate some teams. So I'm eliminating the Rangers and the Bruins. That's fine. Seattle I'm eliminating because I just think they're boring. I wouldn't love that job. I wouldn't love that job. That'd be like the job that you said. What would be special about getting the cracking gig? Nice arena. They did pledge towards climate.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, no, but like, you know, like if, if you're talking about either it's cool to coach the Rangers or the Bruins cause they're, they've got some good players. I mean, like, you know, like Bruins have Posternak and then yeah and McEvoy they got they got good players In both those teams have decent goalies, right? Yeah, maybe even more than decent, right? But Seattle would you be like, oh, I can't wait to coach who Chandler Stevenson. Yeah Shane, right? Yeah, right like so you're writing Maddie, but I'm gonna be the and that's not really I mean this is this is this is

Kind of the problem with Seattle right now, right? Like what do you what do you talk about? Oh, they're a new team Oh, yeah, what else their marketing team must have a rough go. I yeah, like how do you promote this team? What's interesting about them? I would liken taking the Seattle job to the ING insurance job that I took out of university when I didn't have a lot of job prospects, but there was one. Yeah. And what are you excited about?

Having a job? Yeah, right. Getting a paycheck. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So let's eliminate. Alfred said the job was fine. Yeah, no.

So let's eliminate that one. So let's eliminate the Kraken. So it's down to the Ducks, Blackhawks, or Flyers. And all three teams are in a certain stage of a rebuild. I think there's long-term potential for all of those teams. But look, if I'm making a decision, me personally, and I don't think I'm going to be up for any of these jobs, but I probably have to defer to coaching Connor Bedard. And the Blackhawks, I know they've been a disaster.

And all of these jobs would come with significant risk because you could take them and maybe you've got a bunch of young players and maybe you don't get the right surrounding pieces or your young players aren't serious enough about, about the game. But, um, the Blackhawks also have a bunch of blue chip prospects to come. Plus they've got cap space.

Again, it would be a huge challenge and there's a risk that it could go really badly. Um, but it's not supposed to be easy. And I'd probably just take Chicago because I think Connor Bedard, I think he needs me. I think he needs my guidance. That's fair. So I was thinking, I saw you pass this along

last night, so I started thinking about it and I started thinking about Montreal because of course Montreal made the playoffs this season. Uh, Montreal obviously underwent a rebuild. It took some time, but you're seeing the fruits of all of those negative moments now. And it's interesting because if you look at what Chicago's done, it is very much the Montreal model.

It's stockpiling draft picks in the span of three or four years, a ton of first round picks, and then they're sort of at the point of ascendancy where Chicago, I'm saying, where they have to move forward. No one's going to be okay if they come back with another 30 or 31st place season. This year was a disappointment in Chicago. I think, I get, I, I, I, I, again, there's not going to be a perfect comparison, but Montreal seemed to do a better job of keeping the enthusiasm and maybe we're over, uh, reading how sad Connor Bedard looked all, all last season. And Montreal, by the way, never had a Bedard. You know what I mean? Like they never had that, but they always had like some veterans

around that are still there. Guys like Brendan Gallagher. Montreal also, and we've had Eric Engels on the show before talking about this, that is a very savvy, nuanced hockey market that understood what they were trying to do. Yeah, yeah. So they got behind this young core right from the

start and said, Hey, we know you're going to go through some tough times and take your lumps, but we understand that that's part of the process. In Chicago right now, it felt like everyone, fans, the front office, and even Bedard to a certain degree, felt like the acceleration had to happen this season and it didn't. And instead of being like, okay,

we're still gonna push through and everything, it just seemed like there was a real, there was like a toxic nature around that team. So that's a problem. However, if, if Badaard smiled more, would we be thinking differently about the organization? Yeah. And maybe because I watched Celebrini play in San Jose and the sharks were worse.

They were, they were a worse team than Chicago. They had, they had an over 100 goal Yeah, they were different. They're like they're differential like they were they were a terrible team, but they seemed to play with more Joy, right. I will say at the end of the year like even Tyler to Foley had some remarks publicly He was like, okay, like it's fun, but we make stupid mistakes every night. Yeah Yeah, right. Okay. So who would you choose? Cause we got, we got to move on here. Be grudgingly. I would have to choose Chicago. It just makes the most sense.

The reason that I wanted to bring up the Montreal comparison is that while they didn't have a coaching change, if you were an available candidate right now, you'd look at that group and say, it feels like they're kind of ready to make that next step in large part, because this year was so bad. Chicago? Yeah. Who's there?

Well, they got Rinzel that came up, and remember Frank was talking about him glowing. All these guys, these first round, I'm not saying they're gonna make the playoffs, but they could go from being the 30th place team to the 22nd place team. And if you're the coach that gets to take them to that step where they're still going to miss the

playoffs, but there's some improvement moving forward, you're also kind of looked at as, oh, you're going to be part of this next wave. Like you're going to be part of the evolution of the team. I'd also want to know what the plan is. Like, what are you guys going to do? You know, the same thing that I would want to go through the process with the GMs.

Um, I wonder if there's going to be a coaching opening on the Island because the New York Islanders are moving on from Lou Lamorello. And we'd wondered about this for a while now with the Islanders, but it's always been tough to get a read on what the Islanders are doing because of Lou Lamorello. He is not going to be back leading that team.

And I wonder if Patrick Waugh is safe. Would a GM go in there, a new GM and be like, all right, you're our guy? Who knows? But I mostly wonder how aggressively the new general manager of the Islanders is going to dismantle what Lou built. You've got to imagine there will be significant changes. Otherwise, Lou would still be charting the course. Which brings us to Barzal.

Bring him home, baby. He, his name was trending across Canada on social media yesterday And it still was this morning because there are a bunch of fan bases including the Canucks fan base But also the Montreal fan base that is looking at Barzell and going hmm I wonder if I wonder if he'll move because you know the talk out of the island is that maybe he needs a Change of scenery mm-hmm. You know I look at this and I think that if the Canucks can move on a guy like Barzell, they should be all over it. I think he is a really great by-law candidate

because things have gotten so stale in New York. I don't know if you saw those clips last year of him sitting on the bench in a Cotter-Bedard-esque way, kind of lamenting the lack of energy and enthusiasm around that group. And it's because that group was designed to win about four years ago. Yeah. Right?

How many times can you trot out Casey Zekes and John Gabriel Pagio and Kyle Palmeri and Anders Lee and all the same guys over and over and over again, knowing that your best years are behind you because all those guys are in their early to mid 30s now. Barzell's the youngest guy in that forward group, and he's 27. I just wonder if the change of scenery combined with the homecoming angle, now I have no intel as to whether or not

Barzell would be energized or terrified of a trade back home. You gotta wonder about his health too, right? He only played 30 games this season. That is a concern. That's also a reason, I I think why you could maybe get him at a price that would be more appealing because there are, there's flags.

I don't know if they're gigantic red flags or tiny little ones, but there's still issues around the player. And if you're talking about maybe doing a swap and you want to entertain the idea of, you know, is Pedersen a guy that could go the other way? I mean, it has to be said, there's a connection there in New York for him, right? Yeah, I wonder if Horvat would go to bat for him.

That'd be interesting. You know, like I wonder if the Islanders went to, we're doing a lot of speculation here. That's what we do here. There's a lot of speculation, but- Well, we're not complaining about Pederson. We're actively trying to trade. But look, yesterday we were talking about,

is Pederson even tradable? Like who would pick him up? Right? You usually need someone to go to bat for you. Right? There's got to either be a general manager that's like, I believe in this guy. Sure.

I know things are down, you know, someone in Washington believed in Dubois and then they brought him on and there was a belief there and it's worked out pretty well for the caps. You know, Carolina, I don't know where they are on Pedersen, but obviously they've had some interest fairly recently. You know, if it were to come to the Canucks picking up the phone and talking to whoever the new general manager is, with the Islanders, whatever that name may be announced, you know, and let's say they discuss this trade.

And I don't think it's ridiculous to say they'd at least discuss it. Would Horvat go to bat for Pedersen? And I think there's a good chance he would. Yeah. Again, if you want to talk about bounce back and buy low candidates, if you can spin a nice enough narrative, and you'd have to be pretty grandiose at this point around Pedersen, it could be a thing. I think the bigger idea here is that if you start

looking around the National Hockey League going into this off season, traditionally you kind of do, does this team tick the boxes of one willing to make a big move? And what you need is traditionally a team that misses the playoffs or gets bounced in the first round. Those teams often have some disappointment as well. Is it a team that's undergoing a managerial change? Is it a team that is looking to move on from some of its core players because they've had some futility in years? And if you do the, you know, tick the boxes here, some futility in years. And if you do the, you know, tick the boxes here,

two keep coming up and it's Detroit and now it's the New York Islanders. And both those teams have guys in Barzell and in Dylan Larkin who have been around for a while, who in recent years haven't had a ton of success, especially in the post season and guys that are- In the post season, they haven't been to the post season. Right, Barzell's gotten there more recently than Larkin,

obviously, but, and then you start looking at it and you're saying, is there a match there? Is there a fit there? Oftentimes in the National Hockey League, timing is everything. It's when do you want to do business and when are other general managers and teams open to doing business in that same window, right?

There are trades of convenience sometimes. Okay, any questions or comments you got, text them into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. I do want to talk a little bit about what happened last night, especially in Toronto. Um, was that the chance that the Sens had to make a series of this, or do you still give them a chance with the series heading back to Ottawa? I, I, man, Batherson, like I. Batherson. Look, that was a nice goal by my Max Domi.

Nice move, nice shot, but Batherson. Batherson. Yeah, yeah, Batherson. Oh, what kind of giveaway was that? That was Travis Green on the bench yesterday. Oh, what a fly by. It wasn't good. So he made two pretty big mistakes on that. And it's funny because those were the type of mistakes

that the Leafs would make in overtime for years. And now the Leafs are like the grizzled playoff vets and the Sens are the ones that are making those types of mistakes and seeing them come back to bite them. Um, and overall the Sens at five on five have not played badly in this series. And a lot of people noted, uh, coming into the

series that Toronto was like on a PDO bender where they weren't getting many shots and they're giving up a lot of shots and that's kind of continued, but they've been winning. They've been, they've been winning. And one of the differences has been goaltending in that Allmark has not come up with enough saves considering, um. He's been outplayed by Stolarz.

His pedigree and Stolarz has played pretty well. Um, and, uh, now the Sens are in a hole headed back to Ottawa where you'd hope they get a lift from the home fans, but you also know that there are probably going to be quite a few Leafs fans there. Yeah, I'm hesitant to say that they're done mostly based on the old adage of you're never dead until you lose a game at home in the playoffs. But that game last night really felt like the opportunity for them to steal one in Toronto. It would have been probably somewhat just if they had been able to do it because I thought, I thought they played reasonably well over the two games,

but over the two games, the one common theme for Ottawa, a young team that doesn't have a lot of playoff experiences, kind of like what you were alluding to, they're the ones making the mistakes. They took way too many penalties in game one. The sequence by Batherson in game two in overtime, it's just, it can't happen. You need to mean, the turnover in the offensive zone is one thing, like it's a lazy pass

to the middle of the ice, but kind of giving it the flyby on the back. The flyby was even worse. You can't do it. The flyby was even worse. You can't, you know what Takedo always says, right? You can make one mistake, but don't pile them up. And that's a young player that maybe didn't understand the importance and the impact of

the situation and the scenario that you can't even give up half chances in that instance. You just can't. He didn't, I mean, he made the cardinal defense of sin in that he didn't get his stick on a puck. Right. And he didn't put a body on the player. Yeah. Not even close. Like he didn't even chip the player.

Yeah. Okay. He just let Domi go by and Domi, I guess credit to him, he ripped the shot past Almark, but at the same time, it's like, man, like how does that happen in overtime? So the other scores from last night, in case you're wondering real quick, It's like, man, like how does that happen in overtime? So the other scores from last night, in case you're wondering real quick, we'll rip through them. The Carolina Hurricanes continue to take business,

take care of business in their series against the New Jersey Devils. They won 3-1 in game two of their first round series. That thing is looking more and more like a sweep as we go along. The Battle of Florida got underway last night. Really disappointing. If you're a Panthers fan, you love it because the Panthers won 6-2 over the Lightning, but none of the bad blood that we would expect from the

Battle of Florida, these teams having met in the playoffs so many times in years past. Yes, Matthew Kichuck made his return to the lineup after not playing since the Four Nations face off pair goals on the power play for Kichuck in that one. And then in what was probably the most surprising not playing since the four nations face off pair goals on the power play for Kichuck in that one. And then in what was probably the most surprising result of the night, the Minnesota wild in game two in Vegas, we in five two, despite not getting a lot of shots on net, they made good on the ones that they did.

Another big game from Matt Boldy, a goal in an assist great night from Philip Gustafson, 30 saves for the wild goalie. So they now even up that series of 1-1. They steal the game they needed to steal in Vegas, and they go back to Minnesota. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Frank! Cira Valley Cira Valley Cira Valley Frank!

Cira Valley Frank! Cira Valley Frank! Cira Valley Frank! Dealey face off Frank! 70aly face-off! Frank!

7.03 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford, Bruv, Sportsnet 650. Frank! Halford and Bruv of the Morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Frank! Visit them online at Sands-trustee.com. Where did that one come from?

Are you guys trying to throw me? Is that what's happening? I am the consummate professional. Well done, sir. I thought that was going to totally throw you off. Can't fool me. You're like, it's like the Matrix. Just dodging Frank bullets.

I'm seeing if five moves ahead We are in our two of the program our two is brought to you by Jason hominik from Jason dot mortgage if you love paying Too much for your mortgage then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you Visit them online at Jason dot mortgage We are coming to you live from the kintex studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. To the phone lines we go. Here's a presentation of angry Otter liquor. Frank Cera Valley from Daily Face Off joins us now

on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Frank, how are ya? Good morning boys, how you doing? We're good. We wanna start with Rick Tauket and then we'll pivot into Monday's media availability from Patrick Alveen and Jim Rutherford. But Rutherford did say on Monday that he expects a decision on Tauke it by the end of the week. Do you have anything on where the winds are blowing on this one?

Do you expect Rick Tauke to be the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks come the end of the week or will he entertain one of these now six available jobs across the National Hockey League after Seattle got rid of Dan Baezma? It's still too early to say. I think we've not gotten enough traction one way or the other to really be able to accurately predict which way this is heading. And it's interesting that you mentioned will he entertain one of the other job openings? That's the other part of this too, is Rick Tocket remains under contract through June

30. So given that that option will not be exercised, which was one of the most important points of Jim Rutherford's press conference, in fact, they've got, obviously the clock is ticking, no doubt, but it's not like he can, if he isn't accepting an extension, it's not as if without release, he, he can just immediately begin talking to other teams for an opening. Would they, would they keep them? Like, let's say he says, I don't want to be back. Would they be like, all right, but you're here until June 30th.

I would hesitate to offer an opinion on that too. I mean, I think it would be. What are they going to get him to do? Like odd jobs around the office? Like it would just to be, it would just to be, I don't know. I mean, it would come across as spiteful. Yeah. To be vindictive. But like, here's the thing, that isn't the first time or wouldn't be the first time that something like that would be held over someone's head in

negotiations. The Calgary Flames tried to do this with General Manager Brad Treeliving before he left for Toronto and it took media reporting they were saying the same thing we're gonna hold you out until the cycles complete and and then good luck getting a job I mean sometimes you never know how if things go sideways that's how it plays out and I'm again I'm not predicting it I just think an important thing to remind everyone like he isn't a free agent right now, unless the Vancouver Canucks say that he has the ability to be one. Yeah, it's good information to have because we've

been all a little bit confused on, on the option and when, or if he can speak to other teams. Um, what did you make of the, uh, Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen availability earlier in the week? And let's be honest, it was 90% Jim Rutherford. Yeah, a couple awkward laughs there from Patrick Alveen trying to distance himself after the Quinn Hughes brother comment.

I thought it was a fascinating window into what to expect from the Canucks moving forward. I thought it was an opportunity for Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen. They took it to reset expectations in the marketplace. Like, look, there's a lot of turbulence that this franchise is facing. And they touched on almost all of them, from Rick Tocket's future, which we just covered, to the quest to get a number one center to replace JT Miller to what happens next with Elias Pedersen and some really damning commentary about his inability to properly prepare for a season. And then add in the Hughes factor and

that looming situation. I didn't even mention Satchar Demko. Like there's a whole lot cooking and we've known that for a while, but to hear them frame all of it in exactly the way that they did, to me, it was a chance for them to take down the temperature in the market to say like, Hey, things might not go so well next season. And they've got a chance to pull a couple of rabbits out of their hat and say like, hey, things might not go so well next season. And they've got a chance to pull a couple of rabbits out of their hat and maybe make some things happen this summer on the market, trade market. But short of that, to me, I read it as this is a team that doesn't really know what it's

going to look like for next season. What do you think they'll do with Elias Pettersson? team that doesn't really know what it's going to look like for next season. What do you think they'll do with Elias Pettersson? I think listening to that press conference, if there was any thought of going into it saying, hey, this is our guy, we're going to work with him and we're going to fix this and we're not entertaining any trade talks and we're locking him in as our, as our future number one center for the next seven years. I mean, that, that went out the window pretty quickly.

And I think what it signaled is that they have an openness and a willingness to move on if they get the right deal. And I think right deal is the perfect caveat because I don't know what the right deal in their mind looks like. Maybe it's just moving off of the contract and valuing the space and not the risk. There's a lot of different ways to view it. Do you think there are teams out there that would take on the contract

and take on the risk of Elias Pedersen remaining the player that he has been for the last year and half, or do you think there are some teams out there that would say, man, we've got the potential to get a hundred point player for not much. Yeah, I do think that there's some teams out there that are curious for sure, that they see how incredibly difficult it is to find difference makers and see that at one point in time, although not recently, that this player was one and that the contract pays him

appropriately for that level, but hasn't gotten there in a while. And maybe they think that they can unearth it or unlock it again by getting them into a new setting, new environment and take whatever shackles are on Pedersen in Vancouver off. Someone sent me an article from the province and it was from last June and it was an interview Rick Tauke did with Mike Halford who's sitting right next to me, but I was on vacation and so Jamie Dodd was filling in.

That's when he does his best work. For me, yeah, no, no, no, I know. It was a great time to be alive. And it's funny because it's quoted in the province and Tauke talking about Ilyas Pedersen saying, this is a big summer for him. I'd like to see him top three, one of the best shape guys. And then obviously he showed up, not one of the best shape guys.

Now, a lot of people will point out that Pedersen was dealing with some knee tendonitis, but I asked Patrick Alveen about that knee tendonitis and his answer was to paraphrase him, a lot of guys in the NHL deal with little injuries, essentially. He did not seem to put much stock in it and he also seemed to suggest that Pedersen didn't really seek out any resources that would have helped him with that. So I just wonder, you know, are they going to risk another September or October of being disappointed? The long and short answer is they might have to. Again, what does the right deal look like in their eyes? How much value are they trying to get or where do they perceive the value to be? I don't have the answer to those questions, but they clearly like they did not sugarcoat at all What they think of of Pedersen and where his game is at at this moment in time from a number of different standpoints from you know how hard it's gonna be to get that back to the to the

from how hard it's going to be to get that back to the professionalism and training that's required. We're talking about really elementary surface level things, like givens, that should be for any NHL player, not just a superstar or at one point in time budding superstar. These are non-negotiables. And the fact that, at least in the team's eyes, that those are not being met, that's hugely problematic. Okay, well let's move on to the New York Islanders and the decision they made to move on from Lou Lamarello. Obviously, Canucks fans who are

wondering about this centre that the Canucks are going to be targeting in trades, which Alvina and Rutherford very strongly hinted at, wasn't even a hint, they just said we're going to be targeting a centre. What do you think the future holds for the Islanders and that includes Matt Barzell? future holds for the Islanders and that includes Matt Barzell. It does and it's difficult to answer that question until we understand who the next general manager is going to be. And I think the whatever that list looks like is going to be fascinating because I spent a long time last evening, you know, canvassing the league. Who do you think is, is in the running?

Who are the front runners? Who would be on your list? And it ranges anywhere from Yarmouk Heklin and Mark Bergeron to some up and coming assistant GMs to a veteran potential president of hockey ops and Ken Holland. Like it's, it's all over the map. So I can't properly give you an answer on what that looks like until we know who's steering the ship. Like how, how, what's their vision for how the Islanders fix their issue.

And, you know, I know you mentioned Barzell and there's obviously the Vancouver connection, but if we're talking about, and I think for such a huge chunk of this league, again, going back to the well of the name of the game is to find drivers and difference makers, the Islanders only have a couple. And you're trying to get your hands on as many as possible. It's hard to envision a scenario in which they turn around and say, you know what, we're tearing it down to the studs and we're moving everyone,

including Barzell and Dobson and Sorokin. I don't know that that doesn't seem like a likely path, so I would say more or less scratch him off the board. Early days, but who are some of the candidates to replace Lamarello with the Islanders? Yeah, so I just named a couple of them. Berger van, Yarmouk Hekalainen, Ken Holland as president of Hockey Ops.

You've got a group of assistant general managers, including Evan Gold in Boston, I would think. When it comes to Tampa and Matthew Darsh and the success that they've had, you'd probably have to look at Brandon Pridham in Toronto as an assistant GM known as the cap guy, but might be one of those guys who gets a shot. It's wide ranging and all over the map.

Are they going with an up and comer, a young guy that doesn't have any true, you know, I've been in the chair experience. Are they going with the veteran that can then mentor a younger guy? It's. Look, I've put the Islanders in the category of only God and Lou know forever. And, um, that's changing now, but still don't have a real clear view of that yet. Did you hear anything about the decision to move on from Lou Lamarello?

Because Alfred and I were joking earlier in the segment, we never really hear much out of the Islanders because of Lou Lamarello. Yeah, I think there's a ton of respect for the process too, in this case. I mean, given his Hall of Fame resume and the way that he's operated the organization with class, that there wasn't much leaking out. I did see some reporting that this decision was made and he was informed before the end of the regular season. So obviously, if that was the case, they did a real good job keeping it secret

because the day after the regular season ended, or maybe on the final day of the regular season, I had a list of 10 questions for the off season. And the first one of them was, does the New York Islanders ownership have a pulse? And given where that team has been at, swimming in mediocrity for the last handful of years, they like change, it was time for change. And the other thing I'll say, just to put a bow on the Lammer Ella part of the conversation,

I've seen a lot of people saying, Oh, well, this is likely the end. Congratulations on an unbelievable career. We thought that that was the case when Ray Shero succeeded him in New Jersey 10 years ago. And then after he was leaving Toronto, people were saying, oh, this is probably the end. What a career, unbelievable. And then he's got another handful of years at the helm on Long Island.

So 82 sharp as ever, like I would not, I would not say that his career is over just yet. It's funny because we had a very similar conversation about NHL coaches the other day. I think it was with La Violette where we were like, ah, you know, maybe hard to see him getting another job and then two seconds later we're like, well, I do want to ask about. Look at the list. Look at the list of teams. There's very few really qualified, excellent veteran coaches that are available. It's not out of the realm of possibility

that he jumps into another job. Yeah, that's why we quickly preempted ourselves there. We're like, well, hold on a second. That's what I wanted to ask you next. Because as it relates to, we've talked about Rick Tauket, we've talked about job availability, but we should also mention that a big part of the equation is other coaches that are available,

and it's an interesting mix. I know you recently spoke with Jay Woodcroft, who's a guy I actually haven't thought about in a minute, and I suppose he's gotta be one of those guys. I don't know if he's at the top of a lot of lists, but I imagine he has to be on a lot of lists with the jobs that are available. Yeah, and I'd imagine that given what we were just talking about how the list of, well first off the list of

bright up-and-coming guys isn't super long either. I think he's gonna be in a really good spot to get one of these six or seven openings. I think he's going to be in a really good spot to get one of these six or seven openings. Um, the 683 points percentage through one full season, two different playoff runs with the Oilers, like pretty solid job, all things considered. And that poor start, three, nine and one, that leads to him getting fired. Like just the fact that that team rebounded and went to game seven of the Stanley cup final probably indicates that it wasn't necessarily on the coach that this team just had a poor start and probably would have gotten there either way.

Um, that said, when you look at some of these other openings, like David Carl, I think, and Rick Cockett in a lot of ways, I think the reason why we haven't seen teams attempt to or move a little bit more quickly is, I think everyone is real curious to see what happens with Tocket. Like I think the New York Rangers are one of those teams, and I mentioned them before, they're not jumping into anything until they understand

is Rick Tocket available or not. What are you hearing or what would you say the percentage chances are that Chicago ends up with David Karl? I mean, he's their number one target. He's the guy that they've circled and underlined. That's who they're going after. And they don't really have a second, third, fourth choice. They're gonna regroup if they don't really have a second, third, fourth choice, they're gonna regroup if they

don't get Carl and then be in the process and take their time. But percentage chance, I think it's hard to say because like they're also competing with some other teams that are in the mix. And Carl, similarly, is somewhat patient because he wants to have a full view of the chessboard before he starts making moves. So is there another shoe to still drop? Like has anyone marked the Buffalo Saber safe? I know that Kevin Adams said that Wendy Ruff is coming back and he's his coach, but has anyone formally declared,

I don't know if that's a, do you need to do that? But is Kevin Adams definitely coming back? I think they should do that just for all of us who are wondering. And it was like, is he really coming back? Really? It's like Facebook. Like I've marked myself safe. Like just please, please do that. Because it's, it defies logic, honestly, how poorly that team has worked the last few years. But nonetheless, is this it? Is what we have now, are there no other changes coming? Is nothing happening in Nashville, for instance? It's all important questions to ask. Hey, Frank, you've-

And then by the way, the Islanders too, What happened to Patrick Waugh with the next GM? Yeah. I wondered about that too. Frank, you've, you've hinted pretty strongly that there are some other teams that, that would be interested in Rick Tocket if, um, if he became available, is it, is there one team in particular that, that you're thinking about? Yeah.

I mean, to me, the team that would stand out the most is the Rangers. Like I think they're the team that would stand out the most is the Rangers. I think they're a team that having achieved the President's Trophy a season ago and gone to two conference finals in a three-year span, that there are obviously really attractive pieces there. And beyond that, it's Broadway. It's an original six team, big money. I think they check so many boxes outside of the volatility

of the position, like Gerard Galan and Peter Lavillette didn't last very long. And that said, I just think the Rangers have some real upside. People look at their contracts and say, well, what are they gonna do with Kreider and Zabantajad? And then you hear from Kreider after the season and all the different things that he went to from a broken wrist to a vertigo and everything else in between. You're like, man, like sometimes you never really have a full grasp

of what these guys are dealing with, but Fox and Shisterkin and like, they've got a lot of intriguing pieces that I would think a really strong coach and some solid moves by the general manager this summer puts them right back in the playoffs and, and competing with everyone else. Frank, this was great, man. As always, thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy all the games tonight and the rest of the games this week.

We'll do this again next week. Thanks. See you guys. Yeah. See you later. That's Frank Saravalli from Daily Face Off here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.