Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 5/6/25

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including an action-packed game one in the Leafs Panthers series, plus the boys discuss the NHL draft lottery results and if the Canucks might trade their 15th overall pick. 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. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa dana dana dana dana dana dana Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet, they're about to announce a lottery number. Please release the balls. And the first overall selection in the 2025 upper deck NHL draft belongs to the New York Islanders. They're down by one, Courtney got it! Aaron Gorton with a deep shot!

Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Aaron Gorn with a deep shot! Good morning Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. It is Halford at his breath at his Sportsnet 650 and we are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Hey dog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford at breath of 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 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, 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. Lots to get into on a Tuesday show.

Loaded guest list. Two games in the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight. Guest list today begins at 630. Greg Wyshinski, our insider, our NHL insider from ESPN, is going to join us. We will recap an eventful night in the National Hockey League last night. The Islanders, as you heard in the intro, they won the draft lottery. The Leafs beat the Panthers in the opening game

of their round two series. And we've already got controversy, stemming from the Sam Bennett Anthony Stoller's incident from last night. We'll talk about all that. We'll talk about all that with Greg at 6 30 this morning. Uh, 7 30, Jason Gregor is going to join the program from sports 14 40 in Edmonton. As I mentioned, two Stanley cup playoff games tonight on the slate,

including the nightcap, the Oilers and the golden nights in Vegas, round one of their series. How different a challenge does Vegas present to Edmonton over the Kings? We'll talk to Jason Gregor about that at 730. Eight o'clock, Jesse Grainger is gonna join us. Vegas Golden Knights reporter from The Athletic. We'll get the flip side of that series, talk to Jesse about a Golden Knights team that quite frankly we have not spoken much about this season. Didn't talk a lot about them during the regular season,

barely talked about them during their round one win over Minnesota. Yeah, because it was like, they're still good. Yep, they're still good. All right. They ticked all the boxes, and they just won a bunch of hockey games. So we'll talk to Jesse Granger about them ahead of tonight's game.

Edmonton, Vegas, the other game tonight, of course, is Carolina. And Washington. We have a giveaway today, everybody. A ticket giveaway. Vancouver Canadians, the Seas, and the Everett Aquasocs at the NAT on Saturday, May 17th. It's a Sportsnet 650 presentation.

Women in Sports Day, special guest appearance by Sportsnet's very own Hazel May. Game time is 1.05 p.m. on the 17th. Caller number five this morning at 8.15. Again, caller number five at 8.15 will win a pair of tickets to the Seas game on Saturday, May 17th. The phone number is 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650.

Call it 815 today. It'll be right in the middle of the Jesse Granger hit this morning from Vegas. Okay, I'm not even going to work in reverse on the guest list. We've got so much to get into. So without further ado, Lattie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed that? 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 in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca.

We got a bunch of NHL stories we need to get into from yesterday. Let's begin with the action on the ice. William Nylander, another two goal performance from Willie Stiles. Also an assist all in the first period. Toronto Maple Leafs hold off the Florida Panthers 5-4 in game one of their round two series. But the big story, Jason, the biggest story of them all happened midway through this game when Sam Bennett, do we call it accidentally on purpose? Sure, why not? Glanced Anthony Stollers with his elbow. Anthony Stollers stayed in the game for a short while, but later skated

over to the Toronto bench where he vomited, then exited the game with concussion symptoms left the rink after the game and went immediately to local hospital for further evaluation and now the controversy ignites. Will Stollers be around for the remainder of the series? Will Sam Bennett face supplementary discipline for his hit? No penalty on the play by the way. It got fireworks early yesterday in game one between the Leafs and the Panthers. I've watched this replay approximately a hundred times and I'm not joking about that because if

you go on social media, you can watch it, you know, a very short clip and it just gets played over and over and over again. With a hundred viewings, did you come to a conclusion? It doesn't... I'm going to get yelled... Thank God I'm not in Toronto right now, but it doesn't seem like a lot. Like I know he like ran into him.

You monster. Like it's goalie interference, but I mean, what do you see when you see it? It just seems like he, like there's definitely. I see a dirty player. There's definitely contact, but you know, compared to an elbow that you would see in like a body check or something, like I'm sorry, I just,

I'm trying to look at it and you said he glanced him, that's the way I see it. A glancing blow. But like, but an intentional glancing blow. Okay, Mike, be serious. Have you looked at it over and over again and what do you, do you see like a crazy dirty play? I see, you know what my biggest issue is with it? Is the guy that delivered it.

I'm gonna be dead honest. If it was anybody else, I'd maybe- Talk about the actual, talk about the actual the contact to the- Whatever it is. Side of the head, back of the head, I don't even, like it looks to me like he goes through- It's not brutal.

Like it's not a crazy brutal elbow. It felt like it could have been avoidable. But it was avoidable. It definitely still was avoidable. Yeah, obviously, during the day. That's what I'm saying. But here's the thing, it's not a crazy brutal elbow. It felt like it could have been avoidable. It was avoidable. It was definitely still, obviously dirty. It was avoidable, that's what I'm saying. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. The way the Department of Player Safety looks at these things is they go, okay, they don't

start with the injury. Remember, they don't start with the injury. They go, does this play rise to the level of a suspension? Correct. Right. So it has to start with that and then they go, okay, if it does, then they start determining the injury, right? It had the number one thing is does it rise to the level of supplemental discipline?

And for me, that's kind of like, oh, if there was a goal score there, they'd review it. And then they call it back because it's goalie interference, right? Like maybe a little bit more than the average goalie interference. I want to ask Laddy this, because he knows what it feels like to be a vulnerable goalie in that position. What did you think when you actually saw the play? Am I crazy? Like, am I, am I, am I, I mean, yes, but. It sounds like you're saying that it's okay to do these kind of things as long as you're sneaky dirty enough It doesn't look as bad

That's what I heard I'm not saying that at all As long as you get away with it is fine for me. It's the intent intention It's the intention he did mean to go through and he did mean to bump stole ours And it's not a bump well it's and if when you're in that position It's not really about the quickness of the head or how hard the guy hits you it's the angle that they come in on he's a six foot two two hundred plus pound man flying through the lip of the crease and when you get your head clipped like that when you're down in the butterfly you're in a very

vulnerable position you said it yourself and it's about the angle that you're kind of your head is it's like a whiplash on this effect Okay, does it look like much but it's extremely dirty and it sent him to the hospital This is interesting because I think that alone sent him to the hospital or was there he took up He took a puck off the mask earlier in the game, right? What he said actually might strengthen your argument because you're talking about there the intent of it all You're talking about the actual execution of the play. And if you watch the play over and over and over again,

like you said a hundred times, no one's gonna say it was egregious, it was intentional, it was filthy because it wasn't. There's a lot of different factors that go into it. And the one that I keep coming back to is I'm like, it's Sam Bennett, right? Sam Bennett is a line stepper. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

But then you bring up a good point by saying that that wasn't the first bit of head contact that Stoller's received in the series. Whatever the case, here's what I know. This set the tone for the series, not unlike what the Florida Panthers did in round one, which was be the physical aggressors. Again, cross that line habitually. Aaron

Echblad is now served a suspension from the previous round for his hit. Matthew Kichak also delivered a questionable hit as well. This is what they do. This is what they do. They'll go into areas, they'll go into situations and they'll put themselves into collisions where these effects and these outcomes can happen. That's kind of Florida Panthers hockey. I mean, they don't make any bones about the fact that sometimes they're out there and they're out there to hurt, they're out there to hit

and they're out there to hurt. And in this instance, this could dramatically alter the series because I know Joseph Wall got thrown into a tough situation last night. Like, you know, one minute he's laughing on the bench with Stollers, the next minute he's not laughing because Stollers is puking. And then the one minute he's laughing on the bench with Stoller's. The next minute he's not laughing because Stoller's is puking. And then the next minute he's in the game. So there was a real 180 there, but he did not look great. I think everyone can agree with that. He actually

said in the post game he was just chilling. He was just chilling. He was having a laugh. And then all of a sudden he's like, wait a minute, he's throwing up. This is getting more serious by the minute. Why don't we play some audio? I'm sure we've got some audio of what I got. What the coaching staff had to say. Well, I got Paul Maurice's reaction. OK. Your vantage point of a play involving Sam Ben and Anthony Stolar is dollars obviously leaving the game. Not nearly as good as the referees vantage point. Standing right there, he saw it.

So coaches coach. You know what? It will hold for Anthony and his help, his health, like we love that guy and we hope he gets better real fast. I've answered one on it. I understand that you're late. The referee is standing right there when it happened and then you will do your thing and the league will do its thing and I'll coach the next game. So everyone's got their opinions on this.

Like, uh, you know, it's, it's funny coming into the Dunbar lumber text line. There's, there are totally divergent opinions on this. Some people see it like you, Mike, like it's, it's a, it's an elbow to the head. He got hurt. Um, and I assume you think he should be suspended and other people are sending, texting and saying like, I, I like, I'm basically echoing what I'm saying, like I, I didn't, I don't see the egregiousness of it. Like, was there contact? Was it a penalty?

Was it a minor penalty for goal interference? Yes. Yeah, but they didn't call that either. And as Paul Maurice pointed out, there was a referee staring right at it. It was also a blindside headshot though. Like when say blindside headshot what people would imagine is not what what you would see on The video I'm sorry what it was so that's what you describe it the delicate day I would describe it as a player skating through the crease and unintentionally unintentionally But like accidentally on purpose

Oh, what you can see they're making slight contact. Oh whoops didn't see you there. Making slight contact. Oh there's goalies in the crease now? Wow. What did they put those there? What is your head doing in the way of my elbow? Sam Bennett actually said whoopsie. Just because you intentionally did something

does not mean it rises to the level of suspension. I'm sorry. I don't think he's getting suspended. It results in the guy going to the hospital. Yeah, I don't think he will be suspended for this. I will I will say this, the delicate dance of the national hockey league and its suspension system is full blown right now. So here's what we know after the game. We already played the audio from Paul Maurice.

Craig Barube said, elbow to the head. Clearly clear as day. And his very brief remarks about what he thought about the hit. So much like that first round series in Tampa Bay with between the lightning and the Panthers, you've got the two head coaches at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Obviously it's they're doing their politicking, right?

They got to get out there and they've got to try and make their message very clear. Um, I want to talk about the actual game though. Yeah, let's do it. And here's a quick, here's a question I have for you guys. Okay. Is it harder to protect the lead in the playoffs?

Now it is. We just saw it over the weekend. Two games seven. No, compared to the regular season. Compared to the regular season, is it harder to protect a lead? Because look, was it the last Canucks game, or one of the last Canucks games

where they had that crazy comeback against- A historic Dallas comeback. Against the Dallas Stars. So that was the regular season and that was about as meaningless a game as possible. But two factors I think could play into the answer being yes, could. This is just a theory I've got.

Number one, obviously you've got more desperation from the team that's down. That's the most obvious point. But number two, I wonder if psychologically the team holding the lead feels more pressure to just, or more of a urge to sit back a little bit more because the stakes are higher and they get into more of a conservative mindset out there.

Like, you know, when you, when you, when you've got the lead and your coach is saying like, don't stop attacking, you know, don't go into a shell during the regular season, you're like, okay, yeah, no problem. But when you are protecting the lead in the playoffs and you know how important it is, your instincts are going to tell you to not take a

crazy risk. You don't want to be, for example, Quentin Bifield, who made that ridiculous mistake against the Edmonton Oilers. You don't want to be that guy. So you are more probably willing to just go, okay, I'm either going to dump it in deep and get off on a line change or you're going to put it off the glass.

And it's just, I don't know, it's just a theory came up with a, it could be totally wrong. I'm sure, I'm sure people could crunch numbers if they wanted to on, on leads in the playoffs versus leads in the regular season. But to me, these last few games that we've seen, I mean, the Leafs, yes, there was another factor in that. Another goal he had to come in yesterday, but the Leafs nearly blew that last night. So.

Four one lead. I was waiting for the, it was four one takes on social media. They never, they never manifest. I think I saw a couple actually though, but okay. So there's a couple of interesting theories on this back in 2022, the athletic did a huge deep dive on multi-goal comebacks in the National

Hockey League, both regular season and postseason. Postseason, it obviously is more magnified because there's fewer games, everybody's watching. And there was a sort of old trope or theory that, you know, you get a one goal lead in the playoffs and then they're not calling any penalties. So you just batten down the hatches and you can choke the life out of a game.

Not so much anymore. One of the theories that former Kings head coach now, Red Wings head coach, Todd McClellan has, was that in the modern game, there's way more talent throughout the lineups. So you don't necessarily just have like two top lines that you can score, you have four. So when you're rolling lines out,

especially in a third period, you can load up the ice time for your top guys, but you can also give your third and fourth lines minutes and they can score. So that's been an uptake in the scoring overall. Another one, and this was interesting, especially with playoff comebacks late, and we saw this specifically with Winnipeg

or the St. Louis Blues, is the advent of pulling the goalie way earlier in games than previous, right? Like having the goalie out with three, three and a half minutes left, having six attackers on the ice, sometimes all six being forwards, like if you're getting really desperate, right?

And then you look at what Winnipeg was able to do against the St. Louis Blues, for example, on Sunday, when the game tying prophetic goal came about, it was like Elers at the point, you were able to load up that entire unit with your best offensive players. And again, you want to talk about depth and scoring. You know, it wasn't Kyle Connor, it wasn't Nikolai Ehlers getting the goals. Cole profetti scoring the game tying goal with less than three seconds left. So there's a bunch of different theories as to why.

I will say this, the other side of the coin, very much, I think it's harder to defend leads now than it ever was before. I mean, if you go back to when Bref and I were young men in the 1940s, but even later than that, go watch a playoff game from the 2000s. If it was a two-one lead going into the third period, chances are that game was ending two-one. It would be clutch, it would be grab,

there would be no penalties called, there wouldn't be a lot of power play opportunities and you could salt away a one goal lead in the playoffs used to be not insurmountable, but close to it and that's way different now. Derrick in the Ridge texted in and said, "'Bruf, you're echoing exactly what Drew Doughty said in the exit interviews yesterday.

It never was a conscious decision to sit back and protect leads." It, it just happened. That's what Drew said. LA was guilty of that on a number of occasions in that series, getting up and kind of having the foot on the throat and then not being able to finish the job. I don't know if that's a coaching thing.

I don't know if that's a mentality with the players. I think that's an instinct that kicks in, especially when you got McDavid and Dry-Sidle out there. Just soak up the pressure. I think that's an instinct that kicks in, especially when you got McDavid and Drysidle out there. Just soak up the pressure. Yeah. Well, don't, don't, and I also think maybe that the byfield mistake might've played into it as the series wore on.

Sure. Right? Like you're like, okay, don't do something dumb like that. Don't try, you almost like don't try and make a play if there's an easy chip out, but the easy chip out taking that route sometimes gets you into trouble. Did you see that Byfield was asked about his gaffe?

What did he say? He said he's going to be thinking about it all summer. Yeah. So it's still sticking with him. It's just, I mean, sometimes you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. You just have to, you know, what is the right

play in that scenario? Well, if Byfield would have beaten, was it Bouchard at the point? And he got it out and he put it into an empty net. That was the right play, right? But it's not that black and white, right? Yeah. You know, but because Bouchard ended up making

actually a nice play on the pinch, the right play was chipping it out. The right play is the one that helps your team. The one that works. The right play is the one that works. And sometimes we try and put the players in a box and say, no, you got to do this every time. You got to do this every time. And it's like, well, that's not how hockey works.

That's not how sports works. The only thing you should do every time is the successful play. Yeah. This is right. You are a hundred percent right on that. Right? Like, I mean, maybe there was something you could say about, um, the w w okay.

Take the decision out. Maybe the it's in the execution. Well, if you're going to make that play, make sure you protect the puck. Yeah. You know, shield your body. So as talk says, buy them a big. Yeah. You know? Shield your body. As talk says, buy the big body position guy, right?

Get your body in the right position to shield the puck and don't let Bouchard stick get in there. I'm going to miss that. All the, I'm a big blank guy, big not going in the room guy or not a big going in the room guy. I'm going to miss all that. Okay. New York Islanders yesterday won the NHL draft lottery, moving up a whopping 10 spots.

And it was also the NHL's first ever live televised draft lottery drawing. The Isles had a 3.5% chance of securing the first pick. They had the 10th best odds out of the 16 teams. And they will now select for the first time since 2009 when they took John Tavares first overall with the pick. So the Islanders jump from 10th to first as the biggest ever involving a team winning the number one pick.

Big moment for the New York Islanders. Did you happen to watch the broadcast last night put on by John Buchagras and Gary Bettman and Bill Daley and everybody else? I did not, how was it? I'll give them credit. The transparency was absolutely there. My favorite character of the night

was the guy that wasn't allowed to look at the ball machine and could only look at the clock. So there's a clock that counted down from 30 every time. And then at the end of 30, he was the one responsible for telling them to draw a ball. That was- Please release the balls. And then Gary Bettman said that. It'd be a good. Please release the balls. And then Gary Bantman said that.

It'd be a good magic trick if after they were like, okay, what you have just seen was rigged. How did he do it? Well, if you see some of the top illusionists or whatever, you're like, how did they do that? You know what? Actually, that would be very funny. If a magician, name a guy like David Blaine, okay Ravine, you know, it'll be really funny David Blaine

Does the NHL draft lottery that would be pretty good and he rigs it and then all of a sudden like you see in his hands It's like I'm holding the Chicago Blackhawks. Okay, so That's funny because there was how did he do it there was a ground Wow, there was a groundswell of people who are like this has been gifted to the Islanders because they were supposed to have next Year's all-star game, but now obviously that's been oh you turned upside down those are equal. Yep So like here you go take the first overall pick also the broadcast featured one of my favorite moments Islanders legend Ken Moro Was the one that was, I think, forced, honestly, to be on camera

because they don't have a general manager, right? Lou Lamarello's not there anymore. So they did the multi-cam view with all the different boxes on screen with Ken Morrow there. And he was sitting there in his suit and everything. And then they cut away, and then the Islanders won, they came back, and Ken Morrow was wearing a hat.

It was like, all of a sudden they're like, okay, now this is gonna be better because now you're gonna be wearing an Islander's hat. And he was all happy and talking about how it was great for the franchise. I'm like, who put the hat on him? Who made that decision? Was it a lucky hat?

No one will ever know. But the Islanders win the draft lottery, again, first time since 2009. The Canucks, in case you're wondering, will draft 15th overall, I suppose, not moving anywhere, staying in the spot that they went into the lottery with. Okay.

Um, in the seven o'clock hour, we've got an open segment, the first segment of the second hour, um, we're going to talk to Greg Wyszynski next, um, but in the second hour of the show, I want to talk about the Canucks, not so much who they're going to draft 15th because they're not going to draft anyone. They're probably going to trade that pick.

That's right. But I just want to talk about the last few years and how relatively few draft picks the Canucks have actually made and in particular in the first and second rounds. And one of the things, there's a number of things I want to talk about, but one of the things I want to ask you, the listener, is do you feel more of a

connection with players who are drafted and developed by the Canucks? We're not talking about trying to make a better team here, right? It's not necessarily, it's not a, it's not necessarily a debate about whether you should use all your draft picks or if it's okay to trade away some of these first or second round picks.

I'm asking you, the listener, if you feel more of a connection with the guys who are drafted and developed by the Canucks. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Penalty done, Stoller is down. You know, I get it. They missed calls, but clearly a penalty.

Hopeful for Anthony and his help. Love that guy. And hope he gets better real fast. Seven o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Quite the musical selection. Explains the first half of the, first hour of the show, doesn't it?

It's a lot of trumpet go. Couple of coaches talking about a very serious and significant head injury. We're coming through with the clown car music. The anger from the Toronto fan base right now on social media. It's one of the bonuses of a player getting injured. It's true. Silver linings everybody. I hope Stoller's is okay because he's been very good for the Leafs, but it is really

funny to try and see Toronto fans concoct these like conspiracy theories too. It's like you're the center of the hockey universe. Now granted you're a Canadian team and we all know Gary Bettman doesn't want Canadian teams to win. So he probably texted the department of player safety and said, by no means should Sam Bennett be suspended for that play. That if there was no injury, there's no way

there would have been a suspension. Should we also point out that the assistant general manager of the Florida Panthers is none other than Gregory Campbell? Just throwing it out there. We should just throw it. Got any more conspiracies? Fuel on the fire right now. I mean, did anyone else notice that Matthew Kachak was not suspended in round one for his questionable hit?

Yeah. He wants these Sunbelt teams to continue to do well because Gary Bettman is only thinking about his legacy right now. Is he not set to retire in the not too distant future? Where do you go for retirement? Florida. Is he not a lizard person?

Don't play the music. We've gone too far. You are listening to the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Breff of 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 sans-trustee.com. We are in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Homonuck from jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit

him online at jason.mortgage. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. So prior to the break, Jason threw out the question in light of the Vancouver Canucks securing the 15th overall selection at this year's draft. In a world, in a future where they actually make the pick, we thought it'd be worth asking

a question along the lines of, do you feel more of a connection with players who are both drafted and developed by the Vancouver Canucks? Okay, so I'm gonna go through a bit of background here before we start answering people's texts. I love background. Okay, I was thinking, you know how sometimes we think of funny slogans for the Canucks?

I would say here's a funny one. The Vancouver Canucks, in for a penny, in for a pound. You know, I've never understood that saying. Can you explain it to me? It's got math and money, neither of which I'm good with. Humor works better when the audience isn't dumb. Are we talking about the English pound, the currency? Yeah. So if you're in for a little bit, then you might as well be in for all of it. Ah.

You know? That makes more sense. God, you're dumb. Uh-huh. I have neither financially literate nor regular literate. A crazy stat that Thomas Drantz included on his latest piece in the athletic, the Canucks have only selected in the first or second round, three times since 2020. They ended up with Willander, Lekkeramacky, and Klomovic was the second round pick.

Right. A few years ago. Now there were some quality picks elsewhere, including DPT in the third round But it would be nice at some point to get a larger pool of prospects, especially the blue chippers but Maybe that's what they'll get anyway if Hughes doesn't resign and they're forced to rebuild Just kidding. They'll probably keep trading away picks

another stat build. Just kidding. They'll probably keep trading away picks. Another stat, the Canucks have a minus six pick differential since 2020. So what does that mean? Well, you get seven picks a year, right? Yeah. So if you add it all up, they are at minus six since 2020. That's not good. They haven't drafted more than the allotted seven since 2009, which means they actually acquired a surplus in 2009. And it's possible if you look at the draft that they don't get a single NHL player

from the 2020 and 2021 drafts combined. Now by itself, this isn't necessarily necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes trading picks for established players is the right move. But when you find yourself in the position that Canucks are currently, and you look back on the last few years and see one postseason series victory, clearly the strategy has not panned out. You can look back and be like, yeah, it probably wasn't working with it.

Maybe there was another method to build this team. Um, at this point, I do want to go into the Dunbar Lumber text line and and read some of some of your your some of your texts. Now this is an interesting one. Unsigned, if on balance they feel Quinn Hughes is not going to stay they should just make the pick this year. They cannot cut corners and hope. If they are sure he will resign, then fine. Trade the pick. Greg and Ladd Watson.

It would be disappointing to lose Hughes, but it's never too late to start doing things the right way. I want to see this team build something and continuing to purge futures is not the way. I want to see this team build something and continuing to purge futures is not the way. We need to keep the pick and also keep our best youth. I mean that's something that we brought up a few times, what I feel like doesn't get discussed enough. If you're Quinn Hughes, do you want to resign with a team that has empty cupboards? Right. In the prospect group, right?

Like it's all well and good. And I know we're all such short-term thinkers. Um, and well, certainly the Canucks have been. So you're kind of like, yeah, well, the Canucks right now need a few forwards for their top six, especially a top six centre and they don't have many assets that they can trade. So Patrick Alveen and Jim Rutherford have made no secret of this and Ian McIntyre wrote an article

that you can read at Sportsnet.ca and Ian I guess asked Patrick Alveen recently like, okay, is this first round pick in play? And Alveen told him, I guess asked Patrick Alveen recently like, okay, is this first round pick in play? And Alveen told him, I think those are the options that I'm discussing with Jim. Based on where some of the conversations go with other teams, if we feel that we could impact our team in certain boxes right away, right away, then

I definitely think that that would be something we have more in depth conversations about. That is a very Patrick Alveen quote, and I will paraphrase it for you. Yes, we are thinking about trading away this first round draft pick. Right, so it's interesting because the minus pick differential that you alluded to is a big deal.

So the other day, I don't even know how this ended up on my feed. I guess it's not that big of a stretch cause it's sports, but there was an interview that Baltimore Ravens executive, Eric Dacostes, their general manager, he did it about the NFL draft. It's like an hour and a half long sit down. It's kind of like a hybrid interview slash podcast

because of its length. And he talks about his philosophy in the draft because the Ravens have done a really great job of drafting and developing. And he said, what you need to remember is that all of us at the draft, we're all trying to accomplish the same thing. We're all looking at the same players.

We're all trying to land the same thing, which is good football players. That's at the end of the day. Like you might have different profiles, but he said, there's no one going way off the board in the NFL draft. Everyone, you know, first and second round picks kind of has the same idea of who they want, right?

Maybe you'll get a bit of a reach, but other people know the player that you're taking. It's not like you're taking anything on the left field. He said, the only rational approach where you can guarantee any level of success is to pick more. Take more swings, land more players, give yourself a higher chance.

Because there's no guaranteeing that if you draft, let's say you draft first overall and you draft 25th overall, no one can tell you definitively that the number one pick is going to hit with a higher likelihood than the number 25 pick. The numbers suggest that it will, but there's not a scout alive despite all of them that suggest that

they can. They can tell you that it's a hundred percent going to work out. So when you hear that. Yeah. And I think you agree with that sentiment. Yeah. Now, what do you think about the Canucks getting nothing for Brock Besser or Pugh Suter at the And I think you agree with that sentiment. Now what do you think about the Canucks getting

nothing for Brock Besser or Pugh Souter at the trade deadline and then missing the playoffs anyway? Pretty big miss, pretty big miss, pretty big gaffe. Especially from a management group who in the past has made it very public and very definitively clear that they don't do that. They don't let assets walk for nothing. They don't let UFAs go to term and then say,

you know, we appreciate all the things you did here, but not only are we not resigning you, we're getting nothing in return for you. I can live with moving the first round picks to bolster the active roster so long as you're backfilling with picks. Because the Dacosta approach does make sense to me. He had a, the analogy I don't think was perfect,

but he said, imagine you go to a restaurant with 20 of your buddies and you're all excited to try this restaurant because it's new and it's hip and it's cool and there's fancy lights. I don't know anyway So chances are when you look at the menu you and your 20 buddies are Probably not gonna order 20 different things. You're probably gonna order Three or four things that look really good or you know, yeah, whatever like I'm here with my buddies. Everyone's getting a steak, right?

20 steaks No one's ordering the vegetarian option. everyone's getting steak. His steak, right? 20 steaks, line them up. No one's ordering the vegetarian option. Everyone's getting steak. So he kind of likened that to the draft process. Ideally, if you want to get the full scope of what the restaurant has to offer, you'd either need more trips to the restaurant, right?

You'd have to go back. I'll try it. Maybe I will try the Ratatouille next time. Or you need an even larger group. Either way, the idea is volume matters in these moments. So if the Canucks aren't going to draft high, fine. Rob Peter to pay Paul at the high end, but you got a backfill with prospects. And even if it has a 5% chance of hitting 5% is a greater percentage than zero.

That's math. That's math. That's math. That's Alfred math right there. I'd rather have more for picks in the first and the second round. But let's, but we also need to acknowledge that that might be a pipe dream. Because.

Well, it shouldn't be a pipe dream for a team that continually misses the playoffs. However. Uh, Trendviz and Chilliwack, uh, I feel that I have a better relationship with players the Canucks have drafted and developed in house. But my God, how that relationship can turn toxic when they get paid and stop playing well.

Not speaking of anyone in particular, I do think there's more of a relationship between fans and the players that are drafted and developed. You see them come in at 18 years old, you see them go through their various development, whether that's fans and the players that are drafted and developed, you see them come in at 18 years old. You see them go through their various, um, development, whether that's, uh, going back to junior or going back to college, or maybe in some

cases coming right away to the team, uh, too early in, in, in some cases. Sure. You know, Tremvitz does make a good point about what happens when, when players, when players underperform after there has been a relationship built. I mean, the same thing happened to, I guess, a lesser extent with a guy like Jake Furtanen.

Old shotgun Jake, those were fun days. And then that didn't turn very well and Jake ended up blocking me on Twitter. Decided it was fun. So, and the only reason I ask that is just from a marketing perspective, if that matters to the team. You know, a lot of people are not going to be happy to see Brock Besser move on from the Vancouver

Canucks and they could probably acknowledge like, well, I don't know if it's worth the money right now. The connects do need to get, get faster, but they'll come back with like, yeah, but I like the player, you know, like I like that we've had this relationship with Brock Besser and I don't want them to go to another team, you know, it's not, it's not real life. Like we haven't gone through everything with Brock Besser, but that's part of what makes your team your team, is the players that you actually like

and you've seen grow up in front of your very eyes. Well, Besser's the perfect example for this question of do you feel more of a connection with players who are drafted and then developed by the Canucks because, um, we were, I mean, we've worked, we've been doing this for a long time now, but you know, we were right in our writing slash radio hay day when Besser was drafted. Yeah. And then you do watch a guy quite literally grow up in your organization. You're watching, you know, pirated streams of North Dakota games. And I remember watching at the end of his final season at North Dakota with almost equal interest to Canucks games at that time. Are they going to lose? Is he going to

turn pro right away? When will he make his debut? Those are exciting times. And it's, it's innocent. Like he can do no wrong. As soon as Ekman Larson, for example, was traded here, as soon as JT Miller was traded here, he was under the microscope right away. Sure. There was like, all right, start doing stuff right now. Louis Erickson, start doing stuff right now. I don't know you. I don't know you as a person.

All I know is that you cost us a first round draft pick or you cost us this cap space. You've been in the NHL for a while. You start performing right now, go. And then there's the inverse where Besser talks about, I always will consider this home, his girlfriend, fiance, whatever it is, is from Vancouver. This is- Dogs love the wilderness here. Dogs, yeah. They love it.

Love the beach, right? I mean- They love the mountains. There's all of it. And so that's a special connection. And that's a special thing in part because of, you know, the NHL's collective bargaining agreement, the way contracts are set up, it's designed to be like this. You're designed to be drafted by a team

and you gotta put in years with that team before you're able to shake loose. Right? You mean, that's the way it's supposed to be. The very least, five years minimum five or six years you're supposed to be drafted, be part of the family, they talk you up, they do all the things at the developmental level to get you ready for the next step and when your dreams come true of making the NHL it's supposed to be with this team that's invested in you and you in turn have sort of developed an affinity for the team and the

market and whatever else. So I mean, I think there's something to it. And I think it all goes back to the notion of, if there is this like little bit of like magic and specialness to it, why don't they draft more? I want to read a text from Nate in Richmond. And we kind of hinted at this idea that Nate is getting at his text starts. Hughes isn't dumb. If we go all in and mortgage our entire future for a couple of chances at it, but

then years three to eight of his deal would look bleak again, he's not going to sign. We still need to maintain a long-term focused approach. Do not make panic moves this year. Keep your assets and sell Hughes on competing long-term, build another year of assets. Hell, even trade Chronic for your center depth.

Oh, the irony. And go for it in 2026, 27. Next year is such a stretch. I don't disagree with anything that Nate wrote there. I don't. I push back on one thing. I think you're downplaying the immediacy factor, Nate. I think you're downplaying how some,

and by that I mean almost all, players are wired, which is the now. I go back to what Dylan Larkin said in Detroit in his end of year media availability where he essentially threw his general manager under the bus because they didn't make moves at the deadline. Like he wasn't saying, oh, I understand that it might be more pragmatic if Stevie Y didn't go all in at the deadline because we didn't have a more than greater than 50% chance of making the postseason. Like he wanted them to make a move right then, right now to push them just into the playoffs.

Nevermind winning in the playoffs, just getting in. I don't know if Fuse is wired like that though. I think I could see what he's saying. I think all pro athletes are wired to win now. I don't think a lot of them have a lot of patience. If he's gonna be signing a long-term deal though, I think he would be looking at it long-term. What would give you the idea that he's different

than any other player who wants to win like right now? Cause he's smart and he's, he's a hockey guy. Like he's not a hockey guy in the sense of just like, you know, you're a hokey. But I mean like, he's like a. I agree with you Doug. He's an intelligent, like he's a student of the game. Yeah. I know what you're saying, Halford.

Like, like the players spend on average less time than we do. Yeah. Extrapolating the long term, right? And apparently so do the Canucks. But I do think, so I agree with both of you because when it comes to Adog, I think Hughes is the type of guy

that would take more into account. Especially if he's signing a long deal. And especially since he's the captain of the team. Right? He's like, okay, well, what is this going to look like for the rest of my career if I sign on here for another eight years, which the Canucks will want him to do. Now there's always, I guess, a chance that he could sign on for less. Moston Matthews signed on for less in Toronto. He could go that route if he sees a little bit of promise. He's still gonna still gonna get a big contract once that one's done

I have no faith that the Knaucks are interested in thinking long-term though. Like I just don't have any faith in that I don't think yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I just don't think that's the thing like it's I mean, I I wish it was I really really wish it was I just don't see it. I think they want to Keep pushing for a playoff spot and getting into that final seed. But you say that, but I'm more excited at the prospect of trading the 15th overall pick than I am having them select it and waiting. Oh, I don't mind that.

This is a much weaker draft than next year's. Like, if you were theoretically to trade a pick, this would be the draft to do it in since it's not as deep. So you might as well trade it at that point if it's number 15, because who knows if that's even a name for player necessarily. And next year's draft is supposed to be, well not supposed to be, it is terrific.

Someone also astutely pointed out in the Dumbarlumber text line at 650 650 that by calling Quinn Hughes smart and intelligent earlier, you essentially were calling Dylan Larkin dumb. Well, you know. Now what do you gotta say for yourself? Maybe he is, I don't know. I don't know Dylan Larkin dumb. Well, you know. Now what do you got to say for yourself? Yeah. Maybe, maybe he is. I don't know.

I don't know Dylan Larkin. Brandon in Vancouver, the only time Canucks and long-term are in the same sentence are if the words don't think come between them. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like if, if again, you look at their draft history over the last little while, and I realize along the way they've got some decent players by trading away

first round draft picks like JT Miller and Philip Peronick. But I think the question you should always ask then is to what end, like what did it result in? And that was always going to be the question with JT Miller, right? When you, when you, when you got him at the age that he was and you thought about, okay, you got him for the prime years and the price was paid.

Okay. He played well for the most part in Vancouver. Played very well. Right. But they had minimal postseason success. To what end? Yeah, I know. They're in a conversation with the Bostons and the Tampa Bays of the world, who are like,

when you have that conversation about what NHL teams have the fewest first round picks over the last five or six years, Vancouver's in a conversation with a bunch of teams that have a ton of postseason success have a ton of post-season success and a ton of post-season appearances. And so you're doing like, which one of these things is not like the other? It's the Canucks, who have missed the playoffs in eight of the last 10 years.

It's problematic, but again, at some point, I just want to stop banging my head against the desk, trying to come up with an approach that, quite frankly, no one in that organization is interested in. Well, here's the thing. It has to come up with an approach that quite frankly no one in that organization is interested in. Well here's the thing, it has to come from ownership. The direction, whether it's long term or short term, has to come from ownership. That has to be the message given to management. Because if you are Jim Rutherford or if you are Patrick Alveen and maybe you've received a message like, boys if you don't turn this thing around, we're gonna find someone else to do this job.

Ownership has already said that they made a mistake in keeping Jim Benning too long. So that's their thinking with this management group. You don't want to keep guys that are running this thing and you don't want to give them too much leash. They already said that. So if you're Patrick Alveen right now, are you thinking five years down the line? Nope. That's why the messaging has to come from the top.

We are a long-term organization and this is the way we do things. Don't make moves to save your job. In fact, if you make moves to save your job, then you're moves to save your job. In fact, if you make moves to save your job, then you're going to lose your job. Okay. That message has clearly not been sent to any of the management groups.

It's like, Hey, we got a problem. We need this fixed by last week. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.