Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 5/2/25

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they get a Canucks update from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. 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-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da Now you got it Willie! Now you got it! Penalty coming! Scars! Happy Birthday! Get it! Sets it in front, loose pass! Slams away by the starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard starboard star Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody. It is Halford at his brough. It is Sportsnet 650 and we are coming live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Lydie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halvern and Brev, in the morning,

is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Go get a consumer proposal which will keep you debt-free and get up to 80% of your debts solved with no interest. Visit them online at sans-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. 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. You got a big show ahead on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody. The weekend is here. The guest list

today begins at 6.30. James Myrtle from The Athletic is going to join us. We'll talk some Toronto Maple Leafs with Myrtle. The Leafs beat the Sens in game six last night. They took their first round series against Ottawa. It is just the second series win for the Leafs since 2004. And they will now face the Florida Panthers in the second round. Florida and Toronto of course, have played in the playoffs once before, back in 03. Remember that when they said, we want Florida. We want Florida. And then Florida beat them in five games.

We'll talk to Myrtle about that at 6.30. We made a mistake. Yeah, oops. Seven o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza is gonna join the program. A reminder, $100 gift card to AJ's today for the best Ask Us Anything or What We Learn. Bruff said to me before the show,

hey, we should do more Ask Us Anythings today. I think he's right. Dunbar Lumbertec's line is 650, 650, get him in, hashtag AUA. You can ask us quite literally about anything. Doesn't have to be about sports, doesn't even have to really make sense. Just send him in, we will answer them throughout the show. Best one gets a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. After AJ at 705, Jonathan Davis,

not the lead singer of Korn, but from Sirius XM Satellite Radio, NHL Radio, is going to join us to talk Los Angeles Kings. The Kings were eliminated last night after a 6-4 loss to the Oilers. I believe this is what the kids nowadays called crashing out. Is that right? Did the Kings crash out? Like Ned Flanders after the hurricane. Yes, exactly. They crashed out big time.

How? Tell me how. After you go up two nothing in a series and you chase the starting goalie of a team, you then lose four straight to the backup goalie while the backup goalie is posting an 893 save percentage. Hey, that's the generational talent. They've done this before too.

They've had the Oilers in a tough spot in that series and they've blown it. This was a special kind of collapse that we'll talk to you, Jonathan Davis about that. Maybe we'll talk about Joel Quenville being potentially hired in Anaheim as well. 730, it's the Moge, the Moge laddie. Hey you know what happened this week that we didn't talk about but we can talk about with the Moge? The CFL draft.

Return you to exciting 15th round action at the Canadian Football League draft. And so the Saskatchewan Rough Riders who scored only four rouges all last season Jack Is that all they have the only they didn't get not many rouges for the writers They always tally up the rouges at the end of the year. Okay, classic We'd also probably ask the motion with the NFL draft and the Shader Sanders thing and all that that's gonna be at 738 o'clock It's Rick Dollywall. I'll turn to our resident Dolly Handler Jason Brough. What are we gonna talk to Dolly Wall about today? I mean, we're gonna talk about talk it and we might talk a little bit more about Adam Foot and whether or not Manny Mulholland is a serious candidate to be the next head coach of the

Vancouver Canucks. Working in reverse on the guest list, eight o'clock, Dolly Wall, 7.30, it's the Moj, seven o'clock and 7.05, Jonathan Davis and AJ, and then at 630, it's James Myrtle. That's what's happening on the program today. 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? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca.

We were going to start with our pre-written notes, but right now we have a bit of breaking news out of the National Hockey League, courtesy of Elliott Friedman, regarding the the New York Rangers coaching job, Jason. Yeah, Frieds just broke this a couple of minutes ago and the New York Rangers have made it official. Mike Sullivan is the 38th head coach in New York Rangers history. Salé. A long coach, long history I think of 38 head coaches. This was not unexpected.

As soon as Sullivan left the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was widely expected that the New York Rangers would make a really big push. It was reported by ESPN yesterday that the deal is expected to be one of the richest coaching contracts in NHL history. Now, I don't know if it will eclipse what Mike Babcock got with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but you remember

that deal was signed by Babcock and then a bunch of other coaches got paid. And then I don't know if this kind of went hand in hand with the pandemic and revenues being down, but a lot of the teams were like, no more of this stuff. We're cutting back on the coaches. Um, there was a market reversal. Yeah.

And now there's been a bit of a bounce back and we'll see if, uh, Rick Tocket can take advantage of that, uh, market bounce back. Um, it, ESPN also reported by the way, that torts is a strong possibility to rejoin the Rangers organization. Of course. And of course Torz and Sully were together on the Rangers bench for a long time. Well, NHL long time from 2009 to 2013 when Torz was

the head coach and Sullivan was the assistant coach. And then of course those, that duo came to Vancouver for one glorious year. Unforgettable. After they were done in New York with the Canucks and the Rangers switched coaches. So. And now Sully and Torz are switching positions.

Well, I think Torz might be in executive position there. I doubt he'd be on the bench. Right. I'm just purely speculating here. Torz as an assistant coach would be hilarious. Torz as an assistant coach would, I don't know. You know, he'd just be like, all right, Sully, get out of the way. I'm in charge now. Everyone will be looking over their shoulder like he's going to say

something. He's going to be the calmer version of Torzis. He's going to take players under his wing. I think you are. And the players are like, I'm not comfortable with this. I'm not comfortable with you being the good cop. I think you are right, though. I think it'll be in more of an executive role. Yeah. And it's interesting. I'm not going to lie. I good cop. I think you are right though. I think it'll be in more of an executive role. And it's interesting. I'm not gonna lie.

I know that it was reported and I believe ESPN's Emily Kaplan was the first to really break this story wide open yesterday. But I'm still kinda surprised that Sullivan is diving straight into another job. I know it's on the East Coast and it's a pretty high profile marquee job. So it's not like the, um, the references we keep

making the torts taking the Vancouver job. It's not that. Yeah. But it's still a guy that's been coaching for over a decade in the same spot. And you know, things just sort of burnt out at the end, like it's not like he had this great, uh, final few seasons and got to leave on a high

in Pittsburgh. Maybe he's super great final few seasons and got to leave on a high in Pittsburgh. Maybe he's super motivated then to go to a team that has a better chance than currently Pittsburgh. Not that there aren't issues in New York, but I think the Penguins just got to the point where it was like, man, we've got Sidney Crosby here, but not much else. Yeah.

And I understand that part of it. That could be a motivating factor, but 10 years on it years on the job in the NHL is a long time. So if you're wrong about that, maybe you're wrong about Cooper wanted to take time off after getting let go by Lightning. I wasn't wrong about it. And you really want to go to the Canucks now. I wasn't wrong about anything per se, because

I didn't necessarily think he was going to step away. I just thought that that might be the better course of action because we've seen coaches before get burnt out. Some guys just up and leave. That was the famous Paul Maurice in Winnepeg. Yeah, he got burnt out. He was done. He had been there for too long. Of course, he also resurfaced much faster than anyone thought he was

going to. And when you have a big money offer like the Rangers obviously gave Sullivan. That probably helped, right? But it's hard to say no, but is your heart really, really in it? So we'll see. I mean, probably is, right?

I mean, when you go to coach the New York Rangers, it's pretty cool. You're at Madison Square Garden. Yeah. Let's just say it moved them to a bigger house. It can get, yeah, in the New York area. Joe Haggerty tweeting out, of course, Joe covers the Bruins and the Bruins head coaching search

continues because Bruins fans were Bruins head coaching search continues. Because Bruins fans were hoping to get Mike Sullivan. I don't know if Tauket is a contender for the Bruins job, but Tauket has, he'll be in the mix now. I know I'd be shocked if he's not coaching in the NHL this season.

I still think he's going to take the Philly job. Speaking of Tauket and the Vancouver Canucks, I guess you can file this under, you know, things are bad when, there's a speculation by Nick Kiprios that the Canucks might be put up for sale at some point. And then yesterday after our show went off the air, you know, the Canucks spent a lot of their day denying those rumors.

Our own Satyar Shah was one of the people that reached out to the Vancouver Canucks and they were like, no, the team's not for sale. Noah Strang from Daily High have also reached out to the Vancouver Canucks and a spokesman also confirmed that they are not up for sale. For the record, I have never heard anyone in the know suggest the Canucks are for sale.

In fact, whenever I've asked the questions of people in the know, they immediately shoot it down and say that owning the team is very important for the Aquilini family. It's more than just an investment, although that investment has done very well in terms of franchise value. I've been told that a few times.

It's very important to the people in that family that they own the team. Now that doesn't mean a sale will never happen. It's a family business and families can disagree on the direction of the business sometimes. We work for a family business. There have been no disagreements here though. Nope, none.

It has been totally calm. I haven't done, haven't been any like books written about the family disagreements here. Not one. This place, the family is all together. Rock solid. At any rate, I don't think, I know there's some like hopeful people out there, you know, maybe a

new owner, things would change. I don't think you should expect any change in the way the Canucks go about their business until they tell us or show us that they're going to operate differently. You will waste a lot of energy hoping for things. I know that talk at leaving was a gut punch to the organization and we talked about it on the

air and we said, God, you know, maybe is this gonna, is this gonna make them do some soul searching and say, you know, is it us? Is it, is the way we're doing it? No, it's the children who are wrong. But I, you know, I still expect them to be aggressive this off season to add to their forward group. I still expect them to do everything they can to

convince Quinn Hughes to stay. And here's the thing, because I hear a lot of people go, well, when Hughes leaves, and they got nothing left here, they, you know, they'll be, they'll be forced. They'll be finally forced into one of these patient methodical rebuilds. Uh, uh, uh, I expect the Canucks, if that were to happen, to keep trying to make the playoffs every year.

We're going to retool even harder. No appetite for a longer methodical rebuild until they tell us otherwise, until they say that, you know what? We've operated in a certain way for a while and that every year it's important for us to make the playoffs. And that's something that's kind of been rewritten

in the whole, you know, all those years that they didn't make the playoffs from, you know, whatever it is, 2015. Because they made it with Willie in the first year and then they missed a bunch of years in a row. And people are like, oh, that was their rebuild. I was like, they kept trying. Like they kept trying to make the playoffs. Sure.

You know, it's not like they just spent to the cap floor and we're like, we're okay with this. Important, because in March. Very, very, very different than what a team like say Buffalo did, where they said the fan base is going to suffer for a bit and hopefully we'll come out the other end in a good way. The fan base is going to suffer for a bit and hopefully we'll come out the other end in a good way. Now, neither strategy worked out for Vancouver or

Buffalo, which just goes to show you how hard this is. Yeah. And how there is no one right way to do it. But I would just suggest to the fans who are in, maybe this will change things territory because talk at left. I think this off season, especially they're going to be very aggressive because they know

they don't want to lose Quinn Hughes. Oh, I don't even think there's a question with that. And if you heard Jim Rutherford's post talk it media availability, I mean, he said like, if it's a gut punch, well, we can take a knee and a standing eight count, but we got to get back up off the canvas and punch right back.

That was the mentality. And that's the way the mentality is going to be. So. Like the fight is over. Yeah. Not in our minds. Not in our minds. You are talking to the water bottle.

Okay. Oh, we can do it. Okay. Let's get, turn our attention to the Stanley Cup playoffs right now, because three teams saw their seasons come to an end yesterday. We will begin

with the Canadian teams that were in action including two facing off in the Battle of Ontario which is now over. Max Patchouretti, yeah Max Patchouretti scored the tie-breaking goal with less than six minutes remaining. Toronto beats Ottawa 4-2. I want to replay Joe Bowen's call of the William Nylander empty netter which made it 4-2. One of to replay Joe Bowen's call of the William Nylander empty netter which made it 4-2. One of the all-time calls from an all-time radio guy, Joe Bowen on the call as the Leafs eliminated the out Willie now you got it Willie now you got it totally coming Happy birthday

Happy days are here again the sky is blue and clear again We will drink a cup of cheer again happy days are here again and it goes on like this that was amazing aside from the last part none of that was doctored that was the call Joe Bowen Leafs win second playoff series win since 2004 We'll put a bow very briefly on the Ottawa Senators season Good job Ottawa way to make the playoffs way to push when you were down three nothing in the series

but I remember on the show yesterday I even said as Delicious and as fattening as it would be to watch the Leafs Lose game six and then go to game seven with all the ghosts of past playoff performances. I didn't have any faith that Ottawa was gonna be able to get it done. And the other, you know what, I will say this. Kudos to the Leafs because when David Perron

scored that funky goal to make it two-two off Stoller's neck bone and head, I thought, oh, here it is. This is the collapse right now. The inevitable collapse is going to happen right now because the Leafs have blown a two, nothing lead in this game. Of all the people to score the winning goal to

patches, I was kind of happy to see him do that. He hadn't scored for a long time. He'd had incredible chances and should have scored. He also had some giveaways in his own end. And I actually wondered at one point in that game, if Pacioretty was going to be benched for the game. Yep. And he only ended up playing 13 minutes in 49 seconds.

Um, and this is a guy that, uh, you know, we, I, I still remember him as a, as a hab. Yeah. I think, I guess some people remember him as a Vegas golden knight, but yeah, he hadn't scored in a long time and that was just a perfect shot by him. And I was not happy that the Leafs won, but I guess if they're going to win, I was happy to see patches

win or patches get the goal. And he sounds like a dog, doesn't he? When you call him patches. Good boy. Um, in the first period, the Leafs had a power play late in the period and everyone was talking about that. I haven't scored a power play goal in a, in

elimination game forever. It was like, what was it like? Oh, for 31 or something like that. And I'm like, they're scoring right now. They are scoring guaranteed all this conversation about the lack of power plan. Then Matthew slid one in. Gets who it was.

With a really smart shot. Yep. Gretzky scored like a hundred of those, sliding them along the ice. And then the goalies were like, what if we took away the bottom of the net? And then they said, no, just going to let it in. Yeah. like, what if we took away the bottom of the net? And then they said, no, just going to let it in. Yeah.

150 times over for Wayne Gretzky. Nylander was excellent. Yeah, it was great. He scored the second goal and then made the key play. Watch that one, Quentin Byfield, that's how you take advantage of an empty net. You know who got the shot block on the Nylander empty net or that Joe Bowen was going mental about was Scott Lott?

Scott Lott, yeah. And he was like, oh, he did something cool. Much maligned Scott Lott. Anyway, you mentioned that Pat Treta used to play for the Vegas Golden Knights. So we'll pivot over. Florida, Toronto now in the second round, as I mentioned, but the other game last night of four,

the Vegas Golden Knights. Real quick, because I paid zero attention to this series and it was probably the most competitive six game series you could have got from the two. Ikel finally got on the sheet, Ikel and Stone as the series went along got better and better and played at their best last night. 3-2 win for the Vegas Golden Knights over the Minnesota Wild in game six. That series was sort of earmarked by the fact that after Minnesota got out to that 2-1 series lead, they lost three straight. But the games that they lost, two of them were in overtime and last night's was a 3-2 game. So it was about as close as you can get in a six game loss. But Minnesota, a couple things happened. They did a good job of silencing Stone and Eichel in the first half of the series

and then they kind of got their legs and started scoring in the second half and It came down to big moments that Ryan Hartman goal that was disallowed in the previous game was probably a bigger gut punch than everyone thought it was and Vegas moves on now to face the Edmonton Oilers now we need to talk about this series because Even though it's over and even though it was entertaining, I wish it would never end. I wish the LA Kings and the Edmonton Oilers just played this series infinity for the rest of time. The Kings are like, please no.

I disagree with this idea. I never want to see the Edmonton Oilers again. Do you think, you know who I was thinking about after they lost for the fourth straight time in the first round? One of the olds. Doughty and Kopitar. One of the olds. Doughty and Kopitar. Two of the olds.

How mortified they must be by losing in this way. And there's been a couple series where like the first one went seven games, right? And the Kings played well and I think McDavid ended up putting the team on his back to win that series. And then last year, the Oil on his back to win that series. And then last year, the Oilers just dominated the Kings. Those are the two series that I don't really think about much, but it was the one- Don't be thinking about this one for a while, though. It was the second series where they had a 2-1 series lead, game four in LA, had a 3-0

lead in that game, blew that lead and lost in overtime. That was the Jim Hiller challenge game. And then, no, no, no, I'm talking about three years ago. Oh. Okay. They had a two one series lead, game four in LA. They had a three nothing lead in that game and they blew it and lost it and then lost games five and six and they lost the series in six.

And then this year, very similar. Had a two nothing lead in the series. Game three, things are looking good. Jim Hiller challenges after the Oilers had tied the game and then loses the challenge and the Oilers score right away on the power play. And then game four, they had a three two lead. I thought this was worse.

Three two lead, 30 seconds left. Byfield has the puck, the net is empty. He doesn't need to score into the empty net. He just needs to get it out, holds onto the puck. Evan Bouchard of all players makes a great defensive play, although he's probably used to just like recklessly pinching. That was like, this is where I, this is where,

this is where I really stand out. Um, of course the Oilers go and score and win in an overtime. And then the Kings, they were done. Too many self-inflicted wounds in this series for the Kings. They were done. So you look at that series three years ago and

you look at that series this year, very similar. The Kings had the Oilers in a position where they shouldn't have been able to let them off the mat. And combination of the Oilers have some pretty good players, including McDavid and Dryisaddle, but also just, I don't know, careless mistakes. And I think that's what Doughty and Kopitar must be like, come on guys. Like these, these guys are, they've won two Stanley Cups, you know, and they, they won it playing Darrell Sutter hockey, which is very responsible and very,

um, it's just like, it's very tough hockey to play, but also to play against. It's the definition of hard to play against and I'm watching this series and the Kings are just, they're just loosey goosey. Well- Like how can you let that, how can you let that happen to you? I mean, look at some of the scores in this series, six five, six two, seven four, six four. Like there were multiple games where, and I know the panelists like Derek Lalonde and Kevin B.

Exxon Sports Network were calling it River Hockey repeatedly throughout the series. Like they let this break into River Hockey and they let this get into River Hockey, which obviously. That's the Oilers game. Obviously suits the Oilers. They've got defensive inefficiencies.

They've got their backup netminder in. They want to get into games where the scores are six, five, seven, six, whatever, because that'll allow them to outscore their problems. And LA after doing a reasonably nice job in the first two games, exploiting all of the oilers, defensive inefficiencies and not making any mistakes themselves, then it just, the collapse happened and it happened fast. We're going to talk to Jonathan Davis

from SiriusXM NHL radio in the seven o'clock hour. And I do wanna ask him if they can run it back after what happened over this last week and a half. Because there's collapses on their own in a vacuum. And then there's one where you collapse against a team that has beat you in three previous playoffs, where you're mentally and physically and emotionally prepared to finally get over that hump,

and then you think you're halfway there, going up two nothing in the series, carrying a lead into the third period of game three, and then the bottom falls out and you never regain your footing. They never really came back after those self-inflicted wounds by Hiller and Byfield in those games. Who's got a better chance to advance to the conference final, Edmonton or Toronto?

They both got very tough matchups. Oh, Edmonton. Edmonton's got Vegas, Toronto's got Florida. Toronto's not getting past Florida. Toronto is not getting past Florida. Just to play- If Toronto somehow gets past Florida, they might win the cup. Yeah, that's why Toronto is not getting past Florida.

So they can't do it. Just to play devil's advocate. I agree with you. But I still, I'm bearing regret saying this in a few weeks, I still can't see the Oilers winning the cup with Calvin Pickard as their goalie. No, they could go back to Skinner at this point. I think they just can't. I think, I think. Or that blue line, frankly. I mean the blue, although John Klingberg last night. David and Dry's title would have to like find another level which I don't even know if that's I like I like the Leafs blue line a

Lot more and I like their defensive game more than the Oilers Yeah, yeah, but yeah, but that I mean that's secondary to me. The the primary issue is the matchup like I watch This is pretty good, man I think like you might be I think I think Florida is like different also, as the kids like to say, especially for this run. And I watched that series against Tampa Bay, which on paper and really in reality should have been a much closer affair. And Florida was big, nasty, tough and physical.

Seems like they have a lot of the attributes with their key guys that the Toronto guys don't have. And I'm looking at them, I'm like, where would you give the tick to Toronto over Florida in a series? Maybe in terms of offensive firepower, like high end scoring, but even then it's not, even then it's not a huge advantage. Other than that, you go down the list,

it's like Florida, Florida, Florida, Florida. So I also, I want no part of the Leafs advancing past the second round. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Our next guest needs no introduction. It's Rick Dollywall here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Ricky D? Gentlemen, let's go Friday.

It's been a crazy week for the Canucks. Let's start with Tuckett's departure. I'm sure you've been talking it all week and I don't know how many details you have left to share, but just overall thoughts on where this leaves the Canucks. Well, first of all, the Canucks made Tuckett a great offer.

Let's get that out of the way. But unfortunately for them, it came in the eleventh hour the question many are asking where was that offer to three months ago where was a six months ago the offer came when there were seven n h l openings they had to make a great offer because they knew the target had a ton of options if they made this offer a year ago or at thanksgiving if the canucks were on it earlier, it

would have never come to this. For sure. Is that for sure Rick? Because we've had a few people texting in and I'm sorry to cut you off there, but some people have said like, are we sure that Tauket wasn't the one holding up talks last off season, for example? No, he wasn't.

In fact, his camp was like where was same with Besser. Why not attack these guys last summer when you could talk to them and and get it done in the summer. The Canucks needed to sign pocket when no one was looking. Get ahead of it. But instead they waited and they waited and they waited and they lost the coach they really wanted to stay. But at the end of the day, forget about the 11th hour contract, Tauke was exhausted. The chaos, the drama, the soap opera, the dysfunction, it all wore him down. I don't buy the notion he quit.

That's not in his DNA. Look at the way Tauke had played the game of hockey. He spent a career defending teammates, being a team player, character guy. He didn't quit when the Canucks traded one of his favorite players, JT Miller at the deadline. He didn't quit when his number one center decided to be below average, despite making 11.6 million a year. He didn't quit when his starting goaltender got a long-term injury. He left when his deal was up. He had a choice. he decided he wanted to change the scenery he's not walking away from a contract it was at

the end of the contract he had a right to leave to see if there is a better situation for him he had the right to return or explore other opportunities the same applies to us in the final year of our contracts now we got a decision to make when our contracts are up the curry you go and you stay at the current radio station Or you go elsewhere it happens every day in society contracts are up is Brock Besser a quitter if he leaves July 1st like pocket Is he a quitter he has a decision to make in the final year of his to his deal Besser does as well decision to make in the final year of his deal, Besser does as well. Tuckett's heart wasn't in it. He wanted a fresh start. You don't want a coach here whose heart wasn't in it. And Tuckett isn't the type of guy to collect a check and not have his heart in it. And the notion this was a hundred percent

about money, I'm not buying that as well. There was a lot of factors. The Canucks need to do some serious soul-searching. A coach that was brought here by this regime decided it was better to leave than resign. Tukutz got a great relationship with Jim Rutherford, but that wasn't good enough to keep him here. The Canucks need to do a deep dive into what were the reasons why he left. into what were the reasons why he left. Um, what do you think were the main reasons? I, I, I, I think the grind of this past season got to him. And I think that the starter defenseman might leave in two years.

I think that you have a number one center man who is locked up for seven years. He's not a talk a tight player. Um, if you ask talk it privately, can you win with Pedersen? I think we know what the answer is. That's not his type of guy. JT Miller was his type of guy, hard skill. JT Miller, they must have killed him when he was traded. They said that. Even Rutherford said, we didn't want to move him. You know, they probably, we know they traded the wrong guy. But you know, the chaos, it just, it was, and I think Miller-Peterson, I think that feud took a lot out of the organization. And I think this organization is going to pick, look who's been gone in the last two and a half years, Horvat gone. He didn't want to go.

He was the captain Miller gone. Talk it gone. Besser in about eight weeks could be gone. Hughes could be gone. Take a look at those five and tell me that there's not something wrong when your guys like of that Statue are leaving your organization. So Rick, if Tauke wasn't a Petey guy and he was

more of a Miller guy, why did the Canucks do what they do? Why did they do what they did? Well, okay. Then go back to the potential deal with Carolina for Netches. The Canucks thought they were close on that. And then Carolina flipped to the potential deal with Carolina for netches Canucks thought they were close on that and then Carolina flipped at the last second and did the deal for ranting it

That could have changed and altered everything but the bottom line is Jason those two couldn't get along But this regime signed both those two guys the long-term deals knowing they didn't get a lot. Um, they knew that because when Horvat was signed internally, not everybody wanted Miller signed. They wanted Horvat signed and they signed, uh, Miller knowing him and Pedersen have issues. Pedersen Miller issues go back to Travis Green. Those two guys, I, I just like, I, I, I just think that they have left this organization in a real, real tough spot. That feud really took a lot and that feud and the Miller-Leave took a lot out of two guys, Tocket and Hughes. Both those guys tried and I know management did too. They really tried to fix that but so much time was spent on those two players and so much time and energy and focus and

wasteful time honestly on two highly paid players to try to fix something and then you know Tauke to Pettersson move your feet, train better, practice better like and then Tauke was going to go to Sweden to check in on Pedersen this summer. Do you think Colorado is sending someone to check on McKinnon in the summer to see if he's training properly? Do you think the Penguin sent someone to check on Sidney Crosby to see if he's training? There's no trust with Pedersen. The organization doesn't trust them.

They kept them in town, and now they were going to go check on them in Sweden. Like, why are they doing these things? These things should be natural for your highest paid player. Yeah. How do you think ownership is feeling now that it's seen speculation about its future come up? Yeah, well, that wasn't a story to me. I think everybody knows, we've known for a long time, the Canucks are not for sale. That's not a story yesterday, but I will tell you this. It took a guy from Toronto to write it, and yet it becomes a big story in Vancouver. When teams are up for sale now, they do what the Whitecaps did. They send out a release saying, we've hired a party to look for investors that's how it's done now

but unfortunately now with social media and everything else uh... you know somebody can say something kalamazoo about the connects ownership and everyone reacts to it is just sadly the way our industry is going that did we know we've known for a long time it's not for sale and i don't think uh... we we know we've known for a long time it's not for sale and i don't think uh... it is going to be for sale and look look look at what the hockey clubs worth look at me

i is it is it approaching two billion and what do they pay for two fifty two hundred fifty million when he bought out the final per fifty percent from john mccaw uh... it why would you tell why would you sell? Why would you sell? Now, I do believe this. I do believe the family hears the negativity. I do believe they know they're getting ripped

in the market. This is eight years out of the last 10 with no playoffs, but I don't even count, I do not count the bubble year as a playoff year. They lucked out because the NHL stopped, stopped the season at a certain date and they got in by the, you know, really, really by the, you know, barely got in. So that was just kind of like a fluke getting in. But, you know, this is eight years of no playoff hockey in 10 for a fan base that is one of the

best in the national hockey league. They, the fans, as Donnie said yesterday, the fans, that's who he feels for. Of course. Yeah, it, it, this, this fan base does, this fan base who pays ridiculous money for tickets and jerseys and, and beer at the games and parking, they've had eight years and essentially could have been nine out of the past 10 with no playoffs. You know, the owners got to be better, the management's better, it got to be better. The players got to be better. The coaches got to be better. Everyone's got to be better, the management's got to be better, the players got to be better, the coaches got to be better, everyone's got to be better. But this is not the fan base to hand a decade

of hockey like that to, it just isn't. Has the philosophy of, is the organizational philosophy ever going to change? Is this a moment where they could be like, hey, maybe this wasn't the greatest, like maybe our strategy needs to change. What, what, what, if I were the owner, I would look back on this past decade and not only would

I look at all the, the missed playoffs and the missed opportunities to make playoff revenue, but you know, win a Stanley Cup, I would look back at all the wasted money. Like how many millions of dollars were just wasted, whether it's in free agent contracts or you know, the Ekman-Larsen trade was just, I mean, it was a devastating move for the franchise.

And you think about how much money they had to pay to buy that out. That's what I'd be furious about. And I'd be like, so not only have we wasted millions of dollars being too aggressive, trying to make the playoffs every year, it hasn't worked. No, no. And I think of, you know, keeping Jim Benning

an extra three years was a big time problem. But we all know why he was kept as long as he was, because the owner got to play GM. But that's not the case anymore, because Jim Rutherford, you don't tell him what to do. The silver lining in all this is they do have a really good hockey guy here that could turn around with a really good summer and that's Jim. They do have a really good hockey guy here in Jim but you don't tell Jim what to do but you could tell Jim Benning what to do but you can't tell Rutherford what to do because he would just walk. But you know you ask the philosophy well if the owner did interviews Jason wouldn't you get a philosophy? I can talk to Ron Toygo and Ron Toygo was on our show last two weeks ago.

The owner of the BC Lions is accessible. You guys can call him up and get an interview, right? If the owner did interviews and explained the past 10 years, you would get insight into his thinking, but you can't get an interview you can't you know the Giants made a GM change yesterday you know a Barclay is no longer you know the GM the Vancouver Giants you know I called up Ron Toygo we had a good conversation about you know what happened you know we're going to have him on the show next week. But we can only speculate about the owner because you don't get insight from him. And that's a problem.

When I look at the future and all we can do is speculate that the owner is going to do this and do that. When the owner doesn't do interviews, you never get insight into the direction. You get glimpses of it from his people like Rutherford, but you don't get it into the direction. You get a glimpse of it from his people like Rutherford, but you don't get it from the top guy.

Um, okay. If I, if you were to make a prediction, would it be, would a fair prediction be that Rick Tocket and Adam Foote end up in Philadelphia? Great question. Um, when I, I, what happens with Adam foot for foot and talk and have a great relationship. This obviously we all know that they also

share the same agent. As I reported earlier this week, foot's contract is up and he's got permission to talk to teams. There is good interest in foot. He's young upcoming coach, good for developing defensemen and blue lines. Teams noticed how Elias Pettersson, the defenseman, made a quick transition from the American League to the NHL at such a young age. If Foote's not going to cost you a ton of money, he's a hire for a team being patient, right?

Head coach or assistant coach? Head coach or assistant coach? Head coach. Okay. He said he's not going to cost you a ton of money as a head coach. He's a hire for a team being patient for two to four years. And this gets into the Canucks coaching search. Jason, the biggest question for me is, are the Canucks going to pay big money for the next coach or are they going to go cheap?

Are they willing to give a new coach the same contract they gave Tocket or are they going to go the cheaper route? Do they go to their American Hockey League affiliate? Last time they got a coach from the farm was Travis Green. Manny Maholtra has impressed in his first year in Abbey. The most impressive thing Maholtra trip did go to the end of the year, six or seven of his players, top players were in Vancouver playing for the Canucks. That team in Abbotsburg, minus six, seven guys was still winning without many key players.

That was massive. He went 16, one and one down the stretch with a ton of his players in Vancouver. That, that was noted, duly noted. When you talk to people in Abbotsford, they rave about his tremendous attention to detail. He's a very positive person. He's a new school coach. He's not a yeller and a screamer. He's a teacher. Mulholter makes people feel good about themselves. His work ethic is second to none. Like you would have a tough time finding someone saying anything bad about Malholtz on the hockey world. You

really would. I believe Malholtz is going to get serious consideration here. Some of these guys who interview for the Canucks job may end up interviewing the Canucks and I'll tell you why. Candidates are going to want to know is he was going to resign? Why did Pederson have such a bad year? How are they going to fix the top six? Why so much drama in the organization? And you can take it to the bank. The Rick Tocket is going to get calls from candidates as well saying, Hey,

why, why would you not resign in Vancouver? I'm convinced if Mike Sullivan was willing to sign with the Canucks and come out west, he'd be new coach of the Canucks. Sullivan and Rutherford, very good friends. A serious mutual respect there, but we know he got the massive deal with the Rangers. Another guy, Rutherford friend is Mike Vellucci, the two go back to Carolina in 2014.

In fact, Vellucci was considered for the Abbotsford job when Jeremy Collison got it. Vellucci was considered for the Abbotsford job when Jeremy Collison got it. Vellucci was considered to be one of Bruce Boudreau's assistants, but that job went to Mike Yo. Um, I want to say something about Mike Yo. People keep saying he left Vancouver because of money was not 100% money.

Money was a part of it, but there were other things at play as well. You know, there were other things at play as well. You know, there were other things at play as well when it came to Mike Yo and him leaving Vancouver. What happens now is the big question is, are they going to buck up for a coach? Are they going to take the cheap, cheap way? Um, Halford and I and Adog was a, especially

big of this idea. Manny Malholtra is head coach with the Sedines on staff as well. Yeah, that would make, well, if they do go. Yeah, why not? If they do go the Manny route, they're going to have to get some veterans surrounding him with NHL experience.

You have to, you can't go with a rookie coach and then rookie assistance. I, you've got to insulate him with good NHL veteran assistance. I think if you go the manny route. Could that be Vellucci? Could they make him an assistant or would he be more interested in being a head coach?

Yeah, that's a great question. But I mean, they do hold Vellucci high regard because he's got a great relationship with Jim Rutherford they go way back and so again your new coach of the Canucks will be decided by the salary that they are willing to give and You know, I I don't think Vancouver is a destination right now for a lot like I I July 1st, I I do not think the top free agents on July 1st have Vancouver on their list.

I just don't. It's been a chaotic year and maybe there are some coaches that may stay away too. It's just not a destination. They've got a lot of repairing to do, uh, just from the season of drama that was. And because a lot of people around the NHL noticed it and it just, it wasn't good from that. Okay. Well, let's get to something positive. What's going on with Tom Willander? That is not positive. It's a nice one there. You had me going there. I go, what the heck?

This is a head scratcher. If you go back to 2010, the Canucks have drafted one right shot defenseman in the first round. 15 years. One right shot D in the first round and I think two in the second round. That's Tom Olander. This club has not developed a right shot defenseman in 15 years. They finally get one and they can't sign them. I can't remember the last time the Canucks did this with a high draft pick. I can't remember the last time they did this

with a player out of the NCAA. You talk to people around the league and they're just baffled. I was told that the advisor for Willander Tom Diamond and Canucks GM Patrick Alveen met, talked at the U18 in Dallas two days ago. Still not hearing of any progress, but at least the two sides are talking.

Willander is playing games this weekend for Sweden's national team and you can bet a lot of teams in Europe will be watching Willander in hopes of landing him for next season. He can go back to Boston university or turn pro in Europe if he doesn't sign with the Canucks here soon. What about NHL teams? I mean, we're talking about an off season where

the Canucks are expected to make some big trades and be pretty aggressive in trying to remake their top six. I mean, they don't have much to trade other than, you know, first round draft picks, blow some more of those out the door and their prospects, if they can't sign Will Ander, could he be part of a trade package?

And, and, and I, that is, I was just going to get to that and Jason, let me tell you the delay continues to be the A bonuses. And apparently the Will Ander side isn't even asking for the max in bonuses, which makes the situation even more of a head scratcher. When there is a fight with an NCAA player, it's usually the max the agent or the advisor will say my guy deserves max The team says no if this continues much longer

Which side is going to get frustrated first do the Canucks put Willander in a trade to get a top six player? Does Willander sign with a team in Europe where the Canucks lose more time developing him. Listen to me, he should be in Abbotsford right now with them in California. Even if he's a black ace and you don't think he's willing to play, no you don't think he's ready to crack their top 60, he should be in California with Abbotsford as a black ace working with the staff, Manny Mulholland, the Sidene twins, all these guys, he should be in Abbotsburg, but he's in Europe playing for the... it's just... it's not a good spot right now, and I've been saying this for weeks, it's not a good spot. That kid should be in Abbotsburg with the Canucks,

with Manny and the coaching staff, and he's not, and it's just's it's baffling to a lot of people a lot of people. Ricky D you're the best buddy thanks for taking the time to do this today as always we really appreciate it. Hold on I want to give your white caps a ton of credit. Yeah buddy. I caused a bit of a stir yesterday I said that the 79 soccer bowl was more important than what the Whitecaps are doing right now. And that's just my old guy because I was 11 years old when the Whitecaps won the soccer bowl. That was a massive deal. That was a big deal. It's not going to be a parade if the Whitecaps win this. One of the fundamental problems of our industry is we're always trying to pit one versus the other. Trying to do Mount Rushmore, trying to do power rankings.

Sometimes people's histories and age and experience and what, yeah. I get what you're saying. Soccer Bowl was huge in the moment. This by nature of the competition was, it's just bigger because it involves more teams and more countries and there's a bigger prize at the end. But that's not to diminish what the 79 Whitecaps did in the soccer. No, no. Well, at least the 79 soccer ball wasn't on,

it was on ABC, right? Ah. So that's important. Buff, and that's a big issue. Like it took me an hour and a half to find this prime one or whatever the stupid kettle is on. Why are we in 2025 spending an hour to find a soccer game?

Right? The game is half over by then. Why is my cable package not good enough to have the white, this is where the whitecaps have dropped the ball and they're losing a lot of people on the outside. The soccer fan and the season ticket holder will find that whatever it's called soccer one or one soccer but you know what i i i shouldn't have to spend our to find it it's bs

and in the seventy-nine soccer ball the games are on tb trevor weimer to two goals against tappa bay it i will never forget and i told you guys one of my favorite all-time teams is the seventy-nine white caps eighty-two conox eighty-five lines punch mccrane i keep saying, one of my favorite all time teams is the 79 white caps, 82 Canucks, 85 lines, punch, McCrane. I keep saying it. Those are my favorite teams, but Bronf you nailed it. It, it,

and all for it. It's hurting the white caps that you have to go and find these games. It's ridiculous. We had Paul Tenorio on from the athletic and he was at the MLS board of governors meetings and the, the Apple MLS TV deal came up and we asked them about it, right? We said like, what are the owners and what does the league think about this? And they said there's like, there's kind of a push

to get back on traditional linear TV because how many non diehards are tuning in on a Tuesday night to see the Columbus crew take on. But the white caps, the white caps don't really have control over that. The white caps don't have control over it. This was an MLS decision. And you know, I appreciate that it was bold and innovative and everything,

but I'm not going to argue with you here, Rick, when you can't have, especially with the year that the Whitecaps are having where everyone's like, hey, I hear the Whitecaps are doing great. They're winning all kinds of games. They got this new manager. They're playing this exciting style. Where do I see it? MLS has kind of put it behind this very difficult paywall. I mean, I will not argue with what you're saying here because you're not alone in voicing this complaint. I wish that the league maybe necessarily hadn't gone all in on the MLS Apple TV deal right

away. Not good, not good. And this game, the final in Mexico, what's that going to be on? I hope someone will pick it up. I really do. The broadcasters and everyone else has a month to try and figure this thing out because it doesn't kick off until June 1st. So I'm with you. I hope that someone can figure this out. Well, the whitecaps are the best thing in town and give them credit and everybody should be jumping on their, uh, on their bandwagon, but damn, fix the television. Yeah, where's the bandwagon? We can't find it.

I hear you, buddy. All right, Rick. Thanks, man. It's fun as always. Have a great weekend, buddy. There it is. He hung up on us. For that.

Cut. He didn't want to go. He was the captain. Miller. Cut. Tuckett. You're gone. Besser.

In about eight weeks, could be. Cut. Hughes. I like your hustle. That's why it was so hard to cut you.