Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 5/6/26

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the latest Canucks GM search news with Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli, plus they chat Draft Lottery results with 'Nucks analyst Randip Janda. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. The number 12, the Toronto Maple Leafs, have won the NHL draft lottery. No, crazy truth. Yeah, I knew we wouldn't win. But why didn't you tell the rest of us? Why didn't you keep it a secret? The sharks are going to pick second overall.

We're Vancouver dropping to position number three. This is my nightmare. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is Portsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adon, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford in Broth in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Hey, are you? you drowning in tax debt? If you are, Sands and associates can often reduce your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to 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. You look like an absolute giant on screen right now. Oh, oh my God. Jeez, I got to move back a little bit. We are coming to you live from.

The Kintech Studio, Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech. If you want to text into the show and perhaps say, you look like a giant on screen right now. You can text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650, 650, trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online today. This was the largest automobile I could afford.

Look at his shoulders. Lay off the nerve tonic. They fill out the entire screen. Oh, I've got broad shoulders. I've got broad shoulders. I'm sorry. What are you doing later? We got a lot to get into on the program today.

Let's start with our guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 630. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada. Sportsnet NHL host is going to join the program. As you heard, the NHL draft lottery is in the books. As you heard, the Vancouver, for Conucks did not win it. There was one game in the playoffs last night, two games tonight,

including the start of the Montreal and Buffalo series. David is going to join us at 630 to talk about all that. 7 o'clock, Frank Sarah Valley, our NHL insider from Victory Plus. Big news for the Canucks yesterday is Jim Rutherford announced he would be stepping down as president following the draft. There's also that still ongoing Canucks GM search we can discuss. Frank is going to join us at 7 o'clock to talk about all that. 8 o'clock, Randy Jan is going to join the program. Canucks color analyst Sportsnet 650. So the Canucks will draft third overall in June at this year's entry draft.

Who will be on the board at three? Who should the Canucks be targeting? How disappointed was Randeep yesterday? Well, we can ask him at eight. I assume some of his disappointment was mitigated by Arsenal's advancement to the Champions League finals. So Randeep is going to join us at eight. We have so much to get into on the program today.

Let's get right to it. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happens? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

Missed it? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. Well, the Toronto Maple Leafs went and did the damn thing. They captured the first overall pick at the 2026 NHL entry draft last night,

leaping four spots. to capture the first overall pick and the first time they'll get it since Austin Matthews back in 2016. For the sake of torturing our audience this early in the morning, let's hear it yet again. John Bucigross, who I don't ever want to see again after last night, nothing personal, Butchie, but he was on the call for an incredibly disappointing night for the Canucks. Here's what it sounded like when the number 12 ball came up in the Toronto Maple Leafs won the first overall pick. Who gets the first pick of the draft? 12. Wow.

The number 12. The number 12. The Toronto Maple Leafs have won the NHL draft lottery, and Matt Sundeen is smiling ear to ear. The Leafs had the fifth best odds of grabbing the top selection, yet managed to do so much to the chagrin to the hundreds in attendance at both the Shark Club and the sports bar at Rogers Arena yesterday. and after that lottery,

I felt like the gut punch kind of carried over to the second lottery, which of course gave the Kinexon opportunity to at least win the second overall thing. The least nearly won that too. Yeah. I was like, how can they do that? They would have had to do a redraw,

but they nearly won that too. I was watching it. I'm like, why are they still in it? How does this lottery work? I had no idea how the lottery worked, by the way. Betman was yelling at his staff is like, you idiots, we don't need to rig it twice. I like when he yelled at them to draw, pull.

It's like when they do ski shooting at the Olympics. I enjoyed watching the balls flying all over. Oh, man. I know you did. You also like the lottery. Balls flying all over the places. You've used that joke before. During the commercial break.

So like the ads were going on, you still see the balls like going everywhere. That's called transparency, Andy. It's just very funny. So after losing out on the number one overall selection, despite holding the best odds, the Kinnock still had an 18.8% shot at the second chance, but San Jose Sharks,

again, leapfrogging all the way up, had a 5.2% chance of selecting. second, which they did. They now draft second overall. Your Vancouver Canucks finished with the third overall selection. We've got a bunch of these texts in here today and I'm just going to laugh. I'm not going to lecture. Yeah. Because it just, I think it just points to where Canucks fans are at right now. Mad and Surrey texts in. It was rigged. If it wasn't, they would have not went to a commercial break before the last ball. Everything else live, you can't argue it. I can, but I won't. If it makes you feel better to think that the draft lottery is rigged.

Go for it. It's all rigged. Go for it. Yes, Mr. Sherman. It's all rigged. I understand everyone's disappointment. We made a conscious effort last night when we're planning out the show. And yes, we do that is, you know, I think that your line was let fans fans.

Fans are going to fan. And the sense of frustration yesterday, even for broadcasters, I heard sat, you know, broadcasting live from the Shark Club in the aftermath. the disappointment was palpable. This was an unbelievably disappointing year for the Vancouver Canucks on the ice, and the one shining light at the end of it was supposed to be, well, don't worry, they've got a great shot of getting the first overall pick.

Okay, what was the worst part? Was it about draft lottery? Not getting the first overall pick or specifically Toronto getting it. Oh, the leaves, easily. No, can I just say, I didn't even really care that. much that it was Toronto. I was way more

upset that the Canucks didn't get it. Oh, no, man. For me, it was for sure. At that point, nobody was like anyone could have got it. I didn't, I didn't, I mean, Toronto, obviously deserves nothing. And I want them to have zero success moving forward. But, um, I don't know, maybe it was just a visceral reaction, like, in the moment. All I really cared about was the Canucks weren't

getting it. But don't get me wrong. Watching Toronto get it didn't make it any better by any stretch of the imagination. How did you feel about it? I think in the moment it was the frustration that Toronto got it. But I think big picture wise, it is the cumulative bad luck that the Canucks have had in the draft lottery. You know, there were a number of accounts online yesterday that kind of went through all the stats. All the years that the Canucks not only lost the draft lottery, but, you know, like they fell because of that.

and I think it was big head hockey calculated that in total there's like a 98.5% chance that they would have won at least one time across the last 10 lotteries. They're oh for the draft lottery since they began. They've never moved up. They've never moved up. The NHM is wild to think about how many shots they've had. Because, hold on a sec. Because in a vacuum yesterday went as expected if you follow the probabilities. Correct.

We said this multiple times on the show. And in some ways it was done to like, hey, just so you know, the chance that favors the Canucks the most in this draft is to pick third. and it was the probabilities were considerable that they would pick third. 55% that they would pick third and then, you know, first was 25% second was whatever the difference is between everything there. So it was unlikely they were going to pick first. It was unlikely they were going to pick second. It was likely they were going to pick third and that's where they picked.

but if you add up all the lotteries that the Canucks have been involved in, it is unlikely, very unlikely, that they didn't win at least once. It's true. Right? And I think that's where, first of all, my emotions, but also like my brain registered and rightly so how bad the Canucks luck has been of the draft lottery. Because yesterday you can't say like in a vacuum, you can't say, oh, that was bad luck for the Canucks. Well, not really. It was just the most likely scenario, but overall,

this is getting a little ridiculous. So the NHLs began in various forms juggling the picks as opposed to going with the inverse order of the standing since 1995. And there's been, I don't know how many iterations of the draft lottery since then. They've rejigged it several times. But the Canucks are over in the draft lottery since 1995, which is an amazing stat. You're right. It's almost so improbable. You wonder if it's rigged. Yeah. But I'll leave it be. A couple of more questions I've got regarding the draft.

I do want to get to Jim Rutherford's audio. Is there any way that McKenna falls to the Canucks? What if the least prefers Stenberg? What if they see him as more NHL ready? Yep. And then San Jose gets to pick and they're like, we need defenseman. Is there any chance that that happens? I don't really see it because I think in Toronto.

the marketing abilities around Gavin McKenna are massive and I also think even if McKenna isn't quite ready for next season they're still going to play him he's still going to be a help on the power play and I don't think if you've got Austin Matthews

and you really want to keep that guy how about putting him with one of the more elite playmakers that we've seen in the NHL draft in the last few years. Like, you know, McKenna may not be McDavid in the terms of his skating

or his ability to, you know, beat guys one-on-one. He's a terrific passer, though. Yeah. And that's why I was kind of like, oh, man, I hope San Jose doesn't get him, pair him with Celebrini. I hope Chicago doesn't get him, pair him with Bedard. I mean, Austin Matthews, they're trying to convince him to commit long term to the club, right? And we talked about this yesterday.

McKenna, in theory, could really help. He could essentially be the new Marner. Can I just add one thing onto this conversation? This was other news that happened yesterday, but got lost in the cascade of other news that was happening yesterday. Gavin McKenna is not going to play for a candidate at the World Hockey Championships. Now, the reason given, and this is where it's 13th, to get fishy for me since we're going down the road of

conspiracy theories. The reason given is that he wanted to focus on the NHL scouting combine and the pre-draft process. Now, two things on this. One, we're not talking about the NFL scouting combine here. They're dramatically

different things. It doesn't really matter, honestly. I've never I've never seen anyone's draft stock rise or fall significantly based on the NHL scouting combine. Yeah. Sam Bennett went there and couldn't do a single pull-up and he still got drafted. Right? Like it just, it doesn't really matter.

Secondly, is Gavin McKenna. I think he's got a pretty good idea of where he's going to go with the draft. Can you really think that a guy who's been, at the very least, a top three lock, probably for most, the number one lock for the better part of a year, thinking that the last few weeks of the draft process are going to actively change his draft status? Here's my thinking. He's scared. I bet they're like he's not ready to do this

Do you remember when Connor Bedard went over as a rookie to the world And he basically sat the entire tournament? Yeah, I don't think he is ready And it brings me to another question that I've got Is how is McKenna going to handle the spotlight in Toronto If the Leafs do in fact draft him It's a big old spotlight How's he going to do?

You know, this is good He's going to come in there as another first overall pick And the smart hockey fans will probably think Okay, it was going to take a little bit of time he's not going to have the same immediate impact that Austin Matthews had. I remember Austin Matthews first NHL game, scored four goals. That was an immediate impact. Kind of set a high bar there.

I'm just curious about him. You know, there are, I'll frame it this way. There are not always, I'll frame it this way. There are not always the most glowing reviews of Gavin McKenna's game and his habits on the ice and his maturity level. I don't think yesterday was about losing Gavin McKenna. I think yesterday was about losing the first overall pick. Does that make sense? Yes.

That's how I would frame it. Well, that's a silver lining, though, is that at least this is a draft here where the first overall pick isn't like. McDavid. A gangbuster. It's probably going to be McHenna. This is one of the weaker drafts in quite a while. So if you are going to lose a draft lottery, this is not the worst one to lose, I guess.

Like, the third overall pick may be the best player. People have said it's a very deep draft. There's just not a clear. I don't think it's a bad draft. In terms of like, there's no like star power like up at the very top in terms of like a McDavid or even a Bedard or a Celebrini. Like it's not one of those kinds of drafts. Although you never know, right? You just never know.

Some first overall picks you think are going to be really good and their busts and then other ones like, I mean, you just mentioned Celebrini. Right. And we thought he was going to be a good player. We didn't think he'd be this. We also have to wait for John Shike's brain scan of the prospects before we truly figure out how good they're going to be. Okay. Let's, uh, there's a couple other things that we can get into the, into the draft. later in the show, but I do want to go through

Jim Rutherford's media availability yesterday. He started out by saying, you know, it's a really strong draft, so no need to be overly upset with the lottery results. He conceded that you never really know how the draft is going to fall. And he threw it out there that, you know, there's a lot of really good defensemen in this draft.

Maybe one of these defensemen. goes first overall. And he said, look, regardless, it's going to be a great building block for the Canucks, whoever they pick. Although Rutherford himself will not be the one to decide on the players picked. He later added that this draft could be a game changer for the Canucks if the staff hits on three or four players, which is a big ask. It should be noted.

the Canucks have four picks in the first, what? 41. 41 or 42 players. So, you know, you can tell all year that when Jim Rutherford talks about the draft, he's like, you know, this is, this is massive for the organization. And part of me wonders if part of the message from Rutherford to ownership has been like, like, hey, don't worry, we'll only need to do this once. I didn't even, you know what, this is going to sound weird.

We'll only need to do this once. I hated that he called it a game changer, a potential game changer. Because I don't think you should look at it like that. I agree. This shouldn't be about having that many picks at the top should be like, our goal here and the sole purpose here is to emerge with the most NHL talent we could possibly squeeze out of this draft. And then when we go back next year, the goal is the exact same thing.

It shouldn't be any more and it shouldn't be any less. They shouldn't change anything of the course moving forward. It should not, what happens at this year's draft should not dictate at all what you're doing next season going into it. This is a multi-year process. And who out of this year's draft is going to be playing on the Canucks next season? Possibly none of them. Brotherford went on and said they've interviewed a lot of people

for the GM position, a good cross-section of people in the hockey world. The list is narrowed down to five now, and they're digging deeper and deeper into the remaining candidates. A decision should hopefully come by next week. Ownership, according to Rutherford, is very active in the search process, along with Jim himself. He said there's been a lot of interesting people, a lot of interesting ideas with how those candidates would approach things with the Canucks and said it's going to be. a tough decision. Now, I want to play some audio. And this was Jim Rutherford getting asked if he's gained intelligence, not like brain intelligence, but information during this search process. And here's what he had to say. Oh, yeah. I mean, everybody gives us, that's one of the questions. Where's the

Canucks now? What do you think? How long's the rebuild thing? Take all those things. And different answers on, you know, I mean, some people felt that where we are in the rebuild, that we are, you know, through a rougher patch of it and start to take the upswing on it. I think all them acknowledge that there are some good young players here, but in a rebuild, there's still lots of work. one of the things we interviewed some people that could fall into where we draft and you know of course we asked them about the draft

and the few people that were in that position respectfully declined to give that answer which I really thought was great they protected their own team they protected their own area but overall the guys were very upfront very honest and clearly, you know, we learned a lot of stuff. Can I just say that if I was interviewing people and someone came in and said, you know,

I think you might be through the rough part of this rebuild, you might be out the other side. I would immediately disqualify that person. Yeah, would end the interview. I mean, get out. Get out now. But here's the big worry. We're not going to validate your parking. But here's the big worry, right?

I mean, how many times have we said this before where the Kinnacks have quite oftentimes heard what they want to hear? there's always these weird constant illusions to like well maybe there's a shortcut somewhere maybe maybe we're not looking hard enough yeah is there some sort of secret path yeah is there a map somewhere they're all they are always looking for a shortcut they can never just i mean oh yeah oh yeah i mean that's the way we've been covering this team for last little while and we we and we we kept wondering and hoping is this season where you know you were by far the worst in the league.

Quinews is left. Rick Tocket is left. You've been forced to trade away J.T. Miller. Elias Pedersen is a shell of himself. Could this be the year where you're like, maybe we need to change some things up. Maybe we need to change our thinking a little bit, right? In light of what you've just said, maybe,

and I'm going to give the most benefit of the doubt you could possibly give someone. Maybe someone framed it like that. Like, hey, you went through all of these significant franchise. body blows. It can't get any worse than this. Okay. But I would very much hesitate to say there's brighter days ahead in the not too distant future because you have to

go through multiple years of bad finishes and draft lotteries and subsequent bad draft lottery luck to come out the other side. They just don't have enough. It is painfully obvious. Anyone that tells you otherwise is just telling you what you want to hear so they can get a job. Yeah.

Don't hire that guy. Don't hire that guy. we're not going to play the audio here because we don't have time but he did talk at length about how the young players did a great job changing the culture and we'll see about that right i mean so the last few months had a bit better feel in the dressing room and you think that you've you've dealt with some of the issues that were in the dressing room let's see if it's let's see if it lasts you know because that's a lot to put on the young players to change the culture It's going to take a while. It's going to be a process. Now, speaking of the culture, Patrick Alvinan was asked about the culture once. He was. He's no longer the general manager. He's been offered a position, I believe, in the organization.

Not sure what that position is. But according to Rutherford, Alvin is still undecided on whether or not to remain with the organization. Rutherford said they will miss him at the draft and everything he brings to the draft and he praised his draft record in Vancouver. But there are, you know, still reports. that he's submitted on players, so they still have access to that intel, even if he moves on.

Speaking of moving on, here's what Jim Rutherford had to say about his future in Vancouver. Think about it a lot. And I'm going to get away from the day-to-day operations. I'm going to stay with the team as an advisor and an alternate governor. But as far as the day-to-day operations,

we're going to put together a really good staff here going forward. And this is something I've thought about anyways for a couple of years, but it's time for me to do that. I feel bad that I have to do it at such a young age, but I decided to do it anyways. That was pretty funny. That was good, no one in the room laughed. They should have laughed.

There was a lot going on yesterday. That's a joke. That's the joke. Rutherford got to slid that in. the whole I'm going to step away. And if you look, if you just go and do a cursory search of the Canucks on any major news site,

one of the lead stories is Canucks president of hockey up stepping down. Like that's supposed to be a big story. But it kind of back channeled it there by talking about everything else first. My question is, is the way that he framed it not being the lead story and kind of saying like, I'm taking a step back?

Is it really him stepping back? Well, he says he's going to stay with the team. as an advisor. And I think that probably depends on whether or not they hire a president of hockey ops. And also, if they don't, the experience level of the general manager that they hire. I don't think they're going to bring out someone who has no experience in the NHL at an executive level and be like, you're the guy and you're the only guy here. I would think that would be, that would be, first of all, that would be.

insane. It's asking a lot of the new guy. But, you know, like, is Rutherford going to do press conferences as an advisor? I don't see that. Alternate governor. You know what I mean? If I had to bet right now, I think they're going to hire two people. Can I just say, though,

we've heard variations of this reduction in role from Rutherford before. Have we not? I mean, not in this way. He said, you said, times he's going to step back from publicly speaking, but he wasn't saying I'm going to step back from president of hockey. Right. But narrator, what happened when he said he was going to step back

from public speaking? He came back. Yeah, right? Yeah, yeah. I feel like... The gym came back the very next day. Sometimes not even the next day. He was there. He never lied. He was a goner, but... So I do wonder... I do, and look, this is... I know this could get into like, well, he said what he said. And I understand that. But I do wonder if this is a case of until... the individual is gone and the role is entirely vacant. If you can truly say that his influence is not going to still dictate what the organization does moving forward. Just to wrap up this segment, Brotherford said they haven't decided yet on whether there will be a president. So we'll have to wait and see on the new structure of the hockey ops department, which I suppose we could find out next week.

He said, hopefully a decision will be made then. Now, will that be the full decision? Will there be two people hired? or do they do something like, we're going to hire a GM and maybe a president later. Right. You're like, another terrific process, guys.

You guys really knocked it out of the park. Or are they going to have all their ducks in a row and say, this guy does this? This guy does this. Let's get decided on things. Because they got a bunch of things to decide on. You want to keep the coach, Adam Foot?

How's the draft lottery impact? Manny Mahaltrow's situation. That's another thing to discuss. and you're going to have to have conversations with your players. You know, the Elise Pedersen speculation. It's May 6th now. The draft is at the end of June. We're going to be talking about that guy.

And that new GM, new president of hockey ops or both or whoever is new to do organization, we'll have to come in and figure that thing out. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Frank Zara Valley joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet, 650. Morning Frank, how are you? Doing pretty well. How are you guys,

John? We're okay. The listenership, not as okay. It was a tough development yesterday. There's actually, it's a two-parter because there was the disappointment of losing out on the draft lottery. And then there was a massive newsday on the Vancouver Canucks

front as well. There was the entire Pierre Dorian discourse. And then of course, right before the draft lottery, Jim Rutherford goes to the podium. And, you know, as per usual, a million things to unpack from Rutherford's media availability. So I don't even know. Where do you want to start here, bro?

Let's start with peer. Well, let me, can I, can I start? Yeah. You go. Yeah. All right. So let me just, as the ray of sunshine that I usually am, let me just paint a different picture for Canucks fans as they wake up this morning.

Okay. I just did my first mock draft. And I know that sliding two spots is not what anyone wants. you want your pick of the litter. But I envision a path in which the Vancouver Canucks still end up with Gavin McKenna. And it starts with the Toronto Maple Leafs not selecting the highest skilled winger in the draft, but going with the best two-way winger in the draft, and that's Ivers Denberg. I don't think they need Gavin McKenna.

I think they need Gavin McKenna like a hole in their head. They've got Austin Matthews and William Needs. Nielander. I don't know how much more high-end skill you want in your lineup. They had Mitch Marner. This guy is your Mitch Marner replacement and is thicker and still has a lot of high-end potential. That's the way I see it. I know teams have been drooling over Ivers Denberg, and there are a number of teams that if they won the number one pick, they would be picking Ivers Denberg, so not a reek. So then that brings us to the San Jose Sharks, who I have, I'd be absolutely floored. if the sharks don't take a defenseman here.

They have none. None in their pipeline. They have two on their NHL roster sign for next season. Two. They need a D-Man. So I've got Keaton Verhoff, right-shot D going to San Jose. That leaves the Canucks with their ability to select anyone they want remaining, and I've got them taking Gavin McKenna.

What do you think the reaction in Toronto would be if they passed on Gavin McKenna? Do you want the most points and most? individual awards or do you want to win? That would be the question I would ask if anyone's upset. Not saying that they can't win with Gavin McKenna, I just think as you're building a team, not a collection of superstars, that's what you need. I would think that Austin Matthews would be pretty excited

at the prospect of playing with a guy like Gavin McKenna who may not be a burner like Connor McDavid, but I mean, his passing, his ability to get his teammates to the puck, his vision, at least that's what stands out the most to me. And I would think that Matthews, especially after losing Marner, would welcome and love to have a player like Gavin McKenna come into the system. Sure, sure. There's no doubt.

I would also present the case of the best teams and hockey aren't one-line teams. They're the deepest teams. You need play-driving players. and Ivers Denberg is a play-driving winger. There aren't that many of them. Yeah. Have you gotten a sense of, sorry, go ahead. No, I was just going to say, I think it's,

this is not like crazy world that I'm presenting to you. This is going to be a real, a very real debate that the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have to have. I was just going to say, and of course, adding to the intrigue of this discussion is the fact that they've got a newly minted managerial duo now coming in. And it is, even though it's Toronto and, you know, Vancouver loses out to Toronto, there's that dynamic.

If we're able to put that part of it in a vacuum, it's an incredibly fascinating dynamic at play that you've got this under fire, new hire general manager in John Chike. And by the way, nice job with the tampering on Monday. That was a nice precursor to his media availability. You've got him, you've got Sandin. A lot of people have already pointed out that Sundin is intimately familiar with, you know, having lived in Sweden, probably knows Stenberg's game pretty well.

Well, you've got Shake his history of what he's done at the draft and the way he's prepared for drafts. It certainly presents an interesting dynamic and maybe not necessarily just that we're going to go up there and take McKenna like so many people expected. Yeah, and look, here's the other part. And I've kind of touched on this a little bit, so you've got all those elements. But like you've also got other teams that viewed Ivers Denberg as their number one choice long before the ping pong ball started bouncing. Like this is not a crazy off-the-board idea that I'm presenting to you. A lot of teams see him as the most complete player in this draft. And it's not that, you know, the two-way game is absolutely what stands out.

It's just that they also think the high-end offensive function isn't crazy far off of what McKenna brings, who doesn't have the other end of the ice in his toolbox. Are there concerns about McKenna? I think there have been. The slow start to his productivity at Penn State this year raised some eyebrows. World Juniors, you saw a lot of high-end production against some of the weaker competition. When things got tough, wasn't as productive or as noticeable. I think his temperament and the way that he flew off the handle a couple times,

both in World Juniors and obviously that incident at Penn State. It's just done enough to raise some questions about, you know, his total profile and package. That's all. I think this is the highest skilled player in the draft and there is not a close second. There's no and zero debate and doubt about that. It's just as you're building a team, it's the exact question I asked. Are you building a collection of players or a team? and I think you have to manage different roles

and Stenberg fills one almost automatically that the Leafs just don't have. Okay, let's talk about Pierre Dorian. What is your understanding of his candidacy in Vancouver? It's a difficult one to describe because of the reaction and visceral reaction over the last 48 to 72 hours. I believe he remains in the mix.

I would say at this point he's probably an unlikely candidate, but is there nonetheless. Do you think that the reaction from the market in the last 24 hours actually changed perceptions at the highest levels of the organization? I do believe it had an impact, and I'm not going to say that it's the ultimate decider. but I believe it had an impact because

like any front office and ownership group around the league, they watched the Toronto Maple Leafs press conference introducing John Chaka and Matt Sundeen. That was about as negative a reaction in a marketplace as you could get. And I don't think anyone wants to start off such a critical stage in their franchise with exactly that type. It's not just a reaction, but it's the track record that you look at that really stands out.

My question would be, how would they have possibly thought that there would be a positive reaction or not a significant negative reaction to the idea of Pierre Dorian taking over in Vancouver? Well, of course, it's something that they thought about. I don't think that they expected it to be as swift, and visceral as it's been.

That's for sure. Yeah. So let's talk about the candidates that are maybe a little bit further ahead in the race. What's your understanding of where things are at in terms of leading candidates? I guess it's a list of five. And then when might we actually finally get a decision on this?

Yeah, it's a really good question on the timeline. Jim Rutherford mentioned, of course, last night, that they're not in a rush. And it's been suggested that even Jim Rutherford's own timeline as he prepares to, you know, transition to a different role, that may be sped up depending on how this works out. Now, what I don't have a handle on really is this notion that the Canucks might not just be hiring a general manager, that there might also be a two-headed monster structure at play here with another president of hockey operations.

I don't really have a good line of sight on who that might be. Based on some of the in-person interviews, it would seem like a lot of people that they've been talking to or advancing to the next stage are more in line with GM candidates. So where would this president of hockey ops be coming from and how would this all work? Is Shane Don't out? I can't say that with any degree of certainty.

I had heard that he was, but I don't have that confirmed. Okay. I'd heard Shane Donne and Ray Whitney were both out, but I don't have that confirmed. Okay. And it's possible the Canucks don't know themselves how they're going to structure this. I mean, Jim Rutherford kind of said that yesterday. We all like to think that they've got more of a plan than they're letting on, but maybe they're still very undecided.

It didn't know either 10 days ago. So it's not unusual, really. It's Randy Janda here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Randy. How are you? Good morning, gentlemen. I'm not literally hungover, but the draft lottery hangover is real, boys. All right. I was going to say, where do we start?

Do we start with Pierre Dorian being named general manager and getting dismissed by the general public in one day? Do we start with Jim Rutherford stepping down as the president of hockeyups? Or do we start with the Canucks losing the draft lottery? I think I know where we have to start, now given your hangover. How do you feel hangover aside of what happened yesterday at the NHL draft lottery, Randeep? Yeah, listen, it's disappointing for a franchise that has never won this thing.

Guys, for every hit that I've done over the last year with you guys, for every post-game show, pre-game show, what the Vancouver Canucks need. And it's still possible is a game-breaking talent. At number one, you can almost guarantee that you're going to get the best shot at getting that player. You don't win the draft lottery, and, you know, it creates a massive question mark there. And listen, one draft lottery does not change the game. You need four or five impact players at the top of your lineup, whether it's defense, whether it's a centerman, whether it's a winger, to make it happen. So not winning here is not like, you know, the end of the world, but when you get the highest odds and you don't win the draft lottery, it certainly hurts.

And then on top of that, the Toronto Maple Leafs win, right? like that's the real kick in the groin for Hans Mulman, right? Basically ball in the groin. Like that's the moment where you're essentially saying you don't win and the arch rival on the East Coast does. So it's certainly, you know, I think there's intrigue going into the draft. I don't think it's a slam dunk of, you know, which players are going to go where. But certainly, you know, less than what, if you want to say just over 12 hours later,

about 16 hours later, it still hurts in the sense that the conducts don't win because you need players, you need really good players, and you probably need four or five of them. Do you think San Jose is going to pick a defenseman at number two, which would leave either Stenberg or McKenna for the Canucks? Yeah, that's the game-changing pick for me, where at number two, they do need the defense, right? Look at, in the short term, they don't have many defensemen.

In the long term, outside of Sam Dickinson, Shakir Mukmadula, in a couple of second-round picks they made over the last two years, they don't have much coming, you know, through the ranks either. So that's the team that if they go for Keaton Verhoff, if they go for Chase Reed, and I think Chase Reed would make a lot of sense in San Jose, just giving where they're at right now and what they need,

that's the team on two fronts, guys, that can really shake up the draft. A, if they take a defenseman, and B, if there's a team, maybe in the three, four, five slot, that really loves Ivers Stenberg. and they want to move up, if you're San Jose and saying, hey, do you want to give us an extra pick?

We'll move a spot or two down if you really like this guy. Like, I think on two fronts, if they're interested in defense, and they could absolutely shake up the draft by taking somebody there or even making a move back one or two steps. Is there an argument to be made that the connects should look to do that?

In terms of moving down? Yeah. Moving down, yeah. Moving down. I think a part of it is, you know, dependent on is obviously Stenberg there at number three. Like if you have a chance to take him, you still need that game breaking talent. Now, if that's not the case, if you're comfortable with a player, maybe a couple of steps back. Let's say the Rangers and Chicago was really interested in the player at number three.

I think you have to consider it because, you know, as we know, the top two players in this draft are the ones that everybody's watching, are the ones that are looking at and saying potentially, not to the level of McDavid-Matthews that level, but still franchise players at the wing position are at least going to be a part of your top two or three players moving forward. Now, if you can't get those guys, we know draft lists are varying, right? Some people see Chase Reed up there, some see Verhoff,

some you can see Caleb Milhotra at number three. So, you know, if one of those players, you're pretty confident that a team is going to get somebody else at three, I would consider it, Jason, just because the Vancouver Canucks need more than, you know, one player. Now, if you can't get that one player or three and you have an opportunity to move back one or two steps and you can still get the guy you want, I think you have to, at the very least, consider it if you can stockpile some draft picks. We've talked a lot about the draft. We've talked a lot about what the Canucks front office could look like.

We haven't really talked much about the coaching situation. does the way the draft lottery went make the Manny Malhotra situation even more pressing now that the Canucks easily could take a player like Caleb Malhotra third overall? Yeah, this is a challenging one because I think on merit alone,

Mani is worthy of a coaching job in the NHL, right? Like a head coaching job we've seen at the H.L. level what he was able to do. We know across the league he's got a lot of fans and it's going to come one way or another. Now, how much is it tied to his kid? I don't see that.

To me, if he is the guy, I don't care if you're taking Chase Reed at number three. I don't care if you're taking any of it number three that the situation doesn't necessarily change for me in the sense that if you're believing him as the next guy,

I don't really, you know, know, to me it doesn't matter who's available at three there. So could it be an interesting story if they truly see, you know, Kelo Malhotra as a player that can feature to be a leader on this team, a two-way centerman, and he is better than everybody else? Yes, but I don't think it really, you know, makes anything clearer or makes anything more confusing because with Nanny, his merits are there, guys. And, you know, with his kid, a heck of a player.

Unfortunately, lots of the Barry Colts in the O.HL playoffs. but you know another player that is going to feature now the fear that i have and it's not specific to calum it's also up to you know any other centerman is the premium position matters but you don't want a situation where it feels like just because it's a premium position you're looking at number three because he's a centerman you know we go through the barit hayton conversations the yes very kenei conversation in that draft year of course it's a premium position but you don't want to feel like you're reaching to get that centerman. This is a multi-year process with the Vancouver Connection.

You have to treat it that way. So if there's a better defenseman or a better winger available, it doesn't matter who the coaches. You have to take that best player. And I understand the center position is a premium position. I'll leave that to the draft analyst to talk about whether Caleb is the number three or not. But I think you have to be very careful because we've seen that. You know, the reason Quinn Hughes fell to the Vancouver Connection was because some teams

were reaching on centermen that probably needed to go a little lower and benefited the conducts there. But you got to be careful at number three because it's such an important pick. I know the CHL has become slightly watered down with a lot of good players going down to the NCAA and it's a real challenge for scouts and journal managers at the draft to look at the production of a guy like Caleb Malhotra

in the OHL and go, okay, would he be doing that five years ago or whatever. But I got to say 15 playoff games, 13 goals, and 13 assists. I mean, that's very, very impressive. And I would like to know the full story on Caleb Malhotra.

Like, how was he in the BCHL last season not really making a huge impact, at least points-wise, goes to the OHL and becomes one of the stars of his team? Like one of the leaders, I remember when Kail McCar was drafted, and he had just had this, like, crazy run-up. Like, nobody really heard of this kid playing in, like, the Alberta Junior League. And then all of a sudden people are like, there's this kid in, where was he, Brooks or something like that?

Brooks Bandits? And it's like, you got to watch him. And then all of a sudden, you know, like his stock just went right through the roof to the point where he was taking and fourth overall right before Ilius Pedersen. And, you know, I have a lot of time for this story from Caleb Mahalachar. I'd want to know more about it, obviously. I'm not a scout. It's not my job, but I would, they got to find out about it.

But I also think you just have to consider the lineage that Caleb Malhotra comes from. I mean, his dad was a professional hockey player. He's now a head coach. Like, that tells me that he's going to know the game pretty well. and his dad, high character guy, and by all accounts, Caleb Mahauter, high character guy. His mom is Steve Nash's sister, and she was a great athlete. Like, genetics matter. You know, like, it's not controversial to say that.

You know, you look at Cell Labrini, pretty athletic parents, right? And I just think it's, I think he's a really enticing story. I don't know if he's good enough to go third overall, but I really want to know more about him. Yeah, the range is kind of interesting because you've gotten him at three on some boards. You know, I see our colleague Sam Cossentino has him. Going to the Vancouver Connection is updated mock drafts all the way to number 10, you know, to another team, right? So what's intriguing about him is, yes, he's got the lineage, which if anybody's talked to Manuel Oetra, I've had a conversation with him. You know, he's a high character guy, and it seems like Caleb is very much that as well.

well, six foot two, over 180 pounds. Like, he's 17 years old, but he is, he's very much growing into a man's body. You start talking about his production at the regular season level to put up 80 plus points in the 60 game season. Sure, right? Like that production kind of came out of nowhere because you're right. With the Chilwack Chiefs, he didn't have that. But what's interesting is his clutch game ability. He scored eight game winners this year, which speaks to, you know, doesn't shy away from the moment.

the other aspect is the playoff goals, right? Like when you're trailing Eric Lindross in terms of goals in the playoffs with, you know, Caleb had 13, Lindross had 18. I think Brian Bellows had 14. Also a very high-skilled player back in his day. That tells you something.

Now, the question I have, Jason, is when you started off with, the point you started off with, what is the OHL compared to four or five years ago? Yeah. How do we look at these numbers? And, you know, I think saying Caleb Malhotra is a very good player, is not wrong.

He is a very good player. But when we're talking about, you know, in relation to a Chase Reed, in relation to a Keaton Verhoff, players who are, you know, playing at a different level, obviously. You know, I think with, especially with, you know,

Verhoff, who's obviously doing the collegiate level, you've got, you know, individuals that are able to play, and I know Chase Reed play at OHL hockey, but his profile is a little different and his trajectory is different. too. Remember, he played in the U.S. HL. He's got two years in the OHL. With Caleb, he doesn't have that sample size. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.