Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 5/7/25

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the latest hockey news, including more info on the Canucks coaching search, with Daily Faceoff NHL insider Frank Seravalli, plus they chat with Abbotsford Canucks GM Ryan Johnson about the team's ongoing playoff run, and the future of Manny Malhotra within the organization.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na And they score! Jacob Slaven through a screen! Carolina wins game one and overtime! Gained across to Hyman and shot! Scores! Zach Hyman! Hockey's a physical game and that's part of the game. I moved on from it. It's over. Good morning, Baker. It's 6.01 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford at his broth. It is Sportsnet 650 and we are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios, a beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. We've got a lot to get into on a

Wednesday show for guests today on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Guest list begins at 6 30. David Amber is going to join the program Sportsnet Hockey Night in Canada, NHL host. We will look back on the two series that got underway last night. The Canes beat the Caps in OT. You heard the Jacob Slaven OT winner in the intro.

Oilers beat the Golden Knights in Vegas. Huge comeback for the Oilers there. Awful second and third period for Vegas. We will also preview tonight's games, games two, sorry, game two of the Toronto Florida series. Toronto holds a one nothing series lead there. And then at six 30 our time, we get our first look at Winnipeg Dallas. That's David Amber at six 30 seven o'clock.

Frank Sara Valley, our NHL insider from daily face-off, although not for long. On Twitter last week, Frank announced that he's leaving daily face-off. And like so many NHLers, will also become a free agent on July 1st. Get this, Jason, today, it's also Frank's birthday. He's turning 22. He doesn't look a day over 64.

Adam Mares is going to join the program at 730. He is our NBA insider from the All City NBA podcast. What a crazy last 48 hours we've had in the National Basketball Association. Last night, Pacers stunned the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland with a Tyrese Halliburton game-winning three in the dying seconds. The night before that, the Nuggets stunned the Thunder with an Aaron Gordon game winning three in the dying seconds.

So we'll talk to Adam Maras about all that. NBA talk at 730. 8 o'clock. Very excited to have Ryan Johnson on the show. Canucks assistant general manager, general manager of the Abbotsford Canucks. Abbey returns to action tonight. Their series is tied 1-1. Their Calder Cup Pacific Division semifinal against the hated Coachella Valley Firebirds. The best of five, it's tied 1-1. The remaining three games are in Abbotsford. They're tonight, they're Friday,

and then if necessary, game five on Sunday. So we'll talk to Ryan about that. Also, of course, Abbey head coach Manny Malhotra, who may soon become the head coach of your Vancouver Canucks. We will begin with the late game, the second of the Stanley Cup playoff doubleheader last night. The Edmonton Oilers rallied from a two nothing deficit to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2. Zach Hyman, as you heard in the intro, with the go ahead goal late in the third period. And the Edmonton Oilers take a one nothing series lead and wrestle home ice

advantage away from the Vegas Golden Knights in the process. I was concerned with how good the Oilers looked. I too. And if you're an Oilers fan listening or you're cheering for them, take that as a compliment. I am not cheering for them. I do not cheer for Canada's team. Even when we're having some issues with the

United States, I believe that cheering against other Canadian teams brings us together as a country. Yeah, it's part of the fabric. And I'm getting a little bit worried about what's going on right now because the Leafs are up in their series against Florida. The Oilers are up in their series against

Vegas, Winnipeg. We'll find out tonight. Still to be determined, we'll see how they do against Dallas. But it's funny, I'm kind of looking at Florida and Dallas in their respective conferences as my saviors right now, my personal saviors. Listen, look, I'm not going to argue with you. If you want to cheer for the Canadian teams,

then go right ahead. I am a damaged, damaged Canucks fan that doesn't want to see success for any other Canadian teams. That's me. That's my problems. That's my issues. I know a lot of our listeners have the same issues as me. When I was watching the Oilers last night, the one thing I thought of was first of all the Oilers after a rough start

They really battened down the hatches and Checked well against the Vegas Golden Knights and maybe there it was the reaction. I was like, oh, yeah, we got pickered back there to nothing for Vegas, let's Let's dig in boys and take over this game entire and They took over and the other thing that stood out to me, Vegas looks slow. That was a concern. Vegas looked slow. Vegas had the boost of Nicerous to start the game.

What a freaking boost. In large part because they were opening at home and playing in front of the Vegas faithful and they had energy to start the game. And they got out to that two nothing lead. The craziest stat of all the stats that's stated last night. Five of Vegas's six shots in the third period came on the power play.

So that means how many came at even strength? One? In the second period, the Vegas Golden Knights also had one shot at even strength. So over the final 40 minutes of the game, the Vegas Golden Knights had two even strength shots. 40 minutes, two even strength shots.

Did they score on them? No, no they did not. Their shooting percentage was zero. It was a remarkable, a collapse in a game that was tight, because I thought it was going overtime before Hyman scored with about two and a half, three minutes left in the third period. Vegas didn't do anything in the second and third periods,

and Edmonton really took it to them in a very thorough fashion. Okay, I want to read this text from 3putt Shane. Okay. And he just says, constantly playing from behind will catch up to Edmonton. It's too mentally taxing. Um, here's the thing though.

I was thinking this during the game. I'm like, is it the worst thing against the Oilers to get a lead? Because then you, we talked about this yesterday. You're, you know, you're, I'm sure you're being told don't stop against the Edmonton Oilers. Try and keep pushing. Don't go into a shell because if you go into a

shell and start playing too defensively against the Edmonton Oilers, they're just going to come at you, come at you and come at you. And what happens in a lot of those games is that McDavid and Dreisel just play more and more, right? Which is smart. Yes. Smart coaching.

Put those guys out. They're pretty good. Um, and you know, we, we talked about what Drew Doughty had to say about playing the Oilers and trying to protect a lead against the others. They're like, it's like, we didn't want to do it. It just kind of happened.

Yep. And that's what happens against the Oilers. Now I'm not suggesting that teams don't go out there and like try and get a lead, but maybe I am. Right? It's just, it is, I understand that it might be playing with fire with your, if you're the Oilers, but man, like no lead is safe.

I don't think anyone last night after Vegas went up to nothing on that Mark Stone goal, which was really nice. I'm not sure what Corey Perry was doing defensively there. But he made up for it. But he did make up for it. You know, I don't think anyone was sitting there going like, well, the Oilers are in trouble. You know, like, you know, there's maybe a few people, fools,

were doing that, but that team has the ability to score in bunches. And it is on top of that, it's the new way in hitting shell, right? Yeah. You know, like I still feel some people's mentality is stuck, you know, five, 10 years ago when a two nothing lead in the playoffs, man, that's going to be tough to overcome.

We, we see it every night. Now we see two goal leads blown. We see three goal leads blown. We see three goal leads blown. We see them blown mid game. We see them blown with two minutes left in the game with six on five. Goals are out there and the Oilers can score them. In my head, it still goes like they're not going to win the cup with Calvin Pickard. They're not going to win the cup with Calvin Pickard. But then I watched them play a game like they did last night and they didn't give many shots up.

And maybe they're going to win the cup with Calvin Pickard. Well, I'm not ready to go there quite yet because I think that on their blue line, they still got too many deficiencies to make a deep run. However, a couple of things that are very worrisome if you don't want to see the Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup. One, Evander Kane and Trent Frederick

have made a difference for this team. That forward group is a lot more dynamic when those two are going. We had Jason Greger on the show yesterday. He mentioned it, how much depth they have at forward. The other thing now is you have to look at it, and if you take away the first two games of that LA series, which I will refer to

as the Stuart Skinner games, where he gave up 11, sorry, 12 goals in two games, games that L.A. series, which I will refer to as the Stuart Skinner games where he gave up eleven or twelve goals in two games. They played a lot better in front of Calvin Pickard and two of their last three games, I don't want to call them defensive master classes, but they completely dominated L.A. on the shot clock in the three one winning game five, completely dominated LA. 3-1 probably wasn't as indicative as one-sided as that game was.

And then yesterday, you look at what they did after the first period and it wasn't one of these furious late game third period where scoring two goals with the goalie pulled comeback. They went down two nothing and then they just promptly flipped the game on the Golden Knights and gave the Golden Knights nothing. How about that goal by Connor Brown?

Yeah. They were shot out of a cannon. That was unbelievable. Yeah. The depth of the Oilers, if the depth is going to step up like this, maybe it can overcome any defensive deficiencies on the Oilers blue line and some question marks in goal.

Okay, let's go to the other game last night. We mentioned it, we played the audio of the Jacob Slaven winner in the intro. Slaven scored at the 306 of overtime, so we did get some excitement last night. That gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 2-1 win against the Washington Capitals in game one of their series in Washington.

I gotta say this, one of the most boring playoff games that finished in overtime that I've seen in recent memory, it was a snoozer. The Washington Capitals had absolutely nothing going all night, they could only muster one goal of offense, they were trying to get under the skin of the Carolina Hurricanes. Tom Wilson had a moment where he tangled

with Sebastian Ajo and grabbed his mouthpiece out of Ajo's mouth and threw it on the ice. Yeah. That didn't even get them going. The Carolina Hurricanes just went out and did a, they played Carolina Hurricanes hockey. They tilted the shot clock in their favor. They kept possession.

They just kept going and going and going. And then their theory that eventually one will go in proved right in overtime because Slaven scored early in overtime on a bit of a seeing eye shot. That game deserved that type of winning goal. There was no, it's like, it's a shot, it's in. And it was on the road, so no one celebrated.

It was quiet in the Capital One arena. It was a very boring game. Spencer Carberry was pissed off. I watched his post-game media availability. It was all sort of two and three word answers. Isn't he always kind of just pissed off? Isn't that like his neutral state? He's really eloquent and verbose.

Like he likes talking, Carberry. And when they beat Montreal in round one, we couldn't actually play the audio because it was too long. He had a three minute uninterrupted answer talking about what he sees in the future for the Habs. Like he's very eloquent. Yesterday, it was, it wasn't good. That's the bottom line.

Entire game, not good. We'll regroup. He was, he was choked and he had a right to be, he had a right to be choked because that was a really lousy performance from the Caps. And now they've freddered away home ice advantage. Can we use Spencer Carberry as a, because he's a rookie NHL head coach, as a bit of a jumping off point to having a short discussion on Manny Malhotra since we are going to talk to Ryan Johnson later in the show. Experience behind the bench. Let's do it.

Yeah. Well, I guess the discussion question, if there's going to be a discussion question, does Malhotra's lack of head coaching experience concern you if he becomes the next head coach in Vancouver? Now, Carberry and Malhotra are pretty different when it comes to their head coaching resume. Carberry was a long time head coach in the ECHL. He had a head coaching stint in the OHL, three years of head coaching experience with the Hershey Bears in the AHL.

Then he came up to the NHL for a couple of years, was an assistant with the Leafs and then was named head coach of the Washington Capitals. Malholtra, a little bit different, didn't do the ECHL, but he was named head coach of the Washington Capitals. Malhotra, a little bit different, didn't do the ECHL thing, like didn't do the junior thing, you know, because he was in the NHL, he was playing hockey. And eventually ended up as an assistant head coach in Toronto and Vancouver, so spent time behind the bench in the NHL, in

major markets, major Canadian markets. And now he's the head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks and according to Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen will be on a short list of candidates to become the next head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. So we're looking forward to talking to Ryan Johnson and just tell us about Manny Mulhulcher as a head coach. Talk Vancouver Canucks. So we're looking forward to talking to Ryan Johnson and just tell us about

Manny Malholtra as a head coach. Talk about Manny. Talk about Manny. Um, now his lack of head coaching experience, Malholtra did see a lot as a player in the NHL. And he's been, like I said, on an NHL bench a lot since he retired, but only this season as a head coach and that's in the AHL. I do think there are times when experience is valuable, but I also think that sometimes we

overrate it. The one thing that's nice about Malholtra, if he's going to be a candidate for the Canucks, is that he knows the market and he knows the team. Because I do think that dealing with the daily grind of talking to the media and managing the day-to-day issues that crop up can be hard when

you play for a team like the Canucks or coach a team like the Canucks. I thought Talk It Overall did a really good job of it, but you could see it started to wear on him a bit, especially when things weren't going so well. You have to accept and you have to have the ability to accept that sometimes your words are going to get used against you or misconstrued or

exaggerated, or maybe the same thing is going to happen to the players that you coach. In Tauke's case, when he said on this show that he was trying to reprogram Elias Pedersen, all his critics went bananas. And he mentioned that. He kind of joked about that, but it was kind of a half joke, half like I'm serious guys,

that was ridiculous. Personally, I mean, I've got a talk show, Halfords got a talk show. Um, it's the same show. It's a Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. What was I going to say? Um, I hate it when my, my words are misconstrued or taken out of context, but I also know that it's going to happen.

Like I've been doing this job long enough that I know it's going to happen and I've generally made peace with it. Malhotra strikes me as a guy who's pretty chill and pretty confident in who he is, but I guess you never know how you're going to react until you're in the crosshairs. And let's face it, Malhotra has never been in the

crosshairs as a coach. Right. People assume we know what kind of coach he is. He's like, well, he was a defensive third line center, like he was a checker. So he's probably got a pretty defensive philosophy, but we don't really know all that much about him. We haven't seen him interviewed on a day to day basis.

We don't know if he has any, you know, I'm sure every coach has something that they harp on over and over or has ways that they say things, you know, we used to poke fun at talking for years, like I'm a big this guy or I'm a big that guy, you know, I'm a big body position guy. Like maybe Malhotra has something that he does like that.

Yeah. Um, but he has seen other coaches in the crosshairs in Vancouver and Toronto, but again, it's, it's, it's different when it's to you. Yeah. And he doesn't have the experience of you. Like you're the guy pointing to Manny now, Manny, you're the guy. Manny's the guy. And that does concern me a little bit, not necessarily for what I think

is coaching Acumen will be my biggest concern with this would be the particular job that he would inherit. My biggest concern with this would be the particular job that he would inherit. I'm not sure that this is the ideal opening for a guy that's going to get his first head coaching job anywhere. I think there's some that are. I'm not sure this is the one. Here's why. One, there's going to be a push to get back into the playoffs next year. I'm not sure if Jim Rutherford is going to get on the microphone at some point in the preseason and say that we're going to be a playoff team if everything goes right, but there's going to be pressure to bounce back from a disappointing year last year. In a big way.

And the bounce back generally includes being a playoff team when you weren't the year before. Now that's a lot to put on a first year head coach who you gotta remember is going to make some mistakes along the way that probably a veteran head coach maybe wouldn't make. I'm not saying a bunch of mistakes, but there will be learning moments as we like to call them. That's what positive people call mistakes, learning moments. Yeah.

Negative people call them. Gaffs. And talk and call them learning lessons. Right. Which I thought was redundant. Right. It's just a lesson. Its and talk and call them learning lessons. Right. Which I thought was redundant. Right. It's just a lesson. It's just a lesson. Good alliteration though.

Yeah. It was a big learning lesson. No, it's a lesson where you learn though. Yes. As opposed to the ones where you don't. So, I'll bring it back- Once you're done in school. Yes. All the lessons I've learned.

I'll bring it back to Carberry because this was the jumping off point. Was it true that he had zero NHL head coaching experience before taking the Capitals job? Yes. Was it it true that he had zero NHL head coaching experience before taking the Capitals job? Yes. Was it also true that he had a bunch of head coaching experience period prior to taking the Capitals job? Also, yes, he was a head coach in the ECHL. He was a head coach in the OHL. He was a head coach in the American league. Those things matter because it goes back to what you said. There's a difference between being a support staff for the guy and then being the guy. I would also say it's very different being a head coach in the AHL, which Manny is right now compared to the NHL.

In the NHL, the talent is better, the egos are bigger and the stakes are much, much higher. 100%. And suffice to say, it's a lot easier to game plan for the top players on Coachella Valley than for say the Edmonton Oilers. Fair. Um, one other thing we should consider in this, and I'm sure management is considering, the

Canucks leadership group. Who comprises the Canucks leadership group right now? A solid leadership group can do a lot of the heavy lifting for a head coach. Do the Canucks have one? Do the Canucks have us? We know Quinn Hughes is part of it. Tyler Myers is probably going to be part of it,

but you know, Moj asked a question and this is something that I know Moj has been talking about a lot, and it came in the wake of losing a guy like Ian Cole last year. Does Jim Rutherford go out and get some guys that are sort of like Ian Cole? Even if they don't wear a letter, they're going to be part of the leadership group. Because remember the leadership group last season, it was a problem. It was a problem. A big problem.

Quinn Hughes, not a problem. Other guys that wore the A, Elias Pedersen, JT Miller, major, major problem. And, uh, you know, to the point that these guys, I mean, that was honestly, just to come back to it, like forget having two guys fighting on your team and one of them has to be traded. These guys are part of your captain's group. They wore letters and they still couldn't get along.

Just ridiculous. Yep. Um, but if you're not sure about your leadership group, does Malholtzscher have a commanding enough personality to achieve the buy-in that every team needs to be successful. And this is a big deal. You might think, wow, this is just like, the stereotype stuff.

But I remember when Willie Desjardins was hired as the head coach in Vancouver, a lot of people wondered, does he have the right personality to command an NHL team? Presence. That was, that was the word that came up. Does he have a presence? Um, it's different coaching in the WHL as

opposed to the NHL. And, um, you know, I thought Willie did a good job in his first year, but you know, the Canucks did lose a bit of their culture while Willie Judgeardum was there. And a presence like Rick Tauket, where you look at him and he's kind of physically imposing, but also you know what he did in the NHL.

He played a long time. Hopefully you were told. And he was tough as nails, right? Um, Manny Mulcher was a very good player and he was tough too, in a different way than Rick Tauke. He was tough. But does he have that commanding presence

where you know that when he speaks, you better listen because the Canucks, again, what is the Canucks leadership group right now? I don't even know what, like it's Quinn Hughes and who? Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers. Yeah. Could be the two guys.

Like who else? Conor Garland. Maybe Conor Garland, not even joking. Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers. Yeah. Could be the two guys. Like who else? Connor Garland. Maybe Connor Garland, not even joking. Maybe Connor Garland. Yeah. But are those the guys that you're like, well, that's our culture, right? Like I, you know.

Yeah. That's it's an issue. And I think when you put that at the, you know, that's going to be one thing that Malhotra or whoever the new head coach is going to be in Vancouver, if it's Adam Foote or whoever, Todd Nelson, hadn't heard that name in a while now I'm hearing it.

Remember him? You know, that's going to be the job. And Tauke said a lot when he came in, he said, I need to empower the leadership group. And that means not only coaching up the leadership group and telling them, Hey guys, you got to take control of this locker room, but also making sure that everyone on the other team knows who the leaders are and you

better listen to them and you better buy in and you better fall in line. Otherwise, I don't know. A few people are texting in, Marcus Patterson should also be wearing a letter and be part of the leadership group. I do wonder if the plan might be just to make your leadership group and everyone wearing a letter exclusively blue liners and then the identity of your team is for defense first and that's where they can focus next year. Maybe they could even give a captain seat to one of the goalies. What do you think of that Greg? That never goes wrong. And also not allowed by the

rulebook. Not technically. You can put a little one on there. Yeah, Luongo did that. I would be very curious to see what the leadership group would look like under Manny and then maybe a different head coach. I do wonder if it would differ. I'm not 100% sure that it would, but this is gonna be really interesting because the coaching carousel is in full spin

across the NHL. I don't think we're quite done yet in terms of vacancies. I still think one or two might bubble to the surface. I'm kind of looking at LA, still kind of looking at Colorado. So there's a lot of different moving pieces. There's a lot of candidates and there's a lot of openings. And you know, with Manny,

Manny's got a priority at hand right now. And that's the Calder Cup playoffs with Abbotsford. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Daily Face Off's Frank Saravalli joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning Frank, how are you? Pretty good. How you guys doing? We're well. Thanks for taking the time to do this. So are you hearing anything about Philly and the head coaching position there is, does the word talk it come up in anything you're hearing? I'm a little surprised we haven't heard anything about Rick Tauket and the Flyers lately.

Yeah, I don't think Rick Tauket has been in an incredible rush, I think to your point and the question you just asked, there's still elements to this that needed to unfold. Like we got word late last week that John There's still elements to this that needed to unfold. We got word late last week that John Cooper was remaining in Tampa. That crossed one off the list. You've got what happens with LA next.

Then you've also got what's the potentiality of the New York Islanders position and Patrick Waugh. Is that another potential opening on the list. So I think he's been in contact with multiple teams. Um, I haven't gotten to the stage where I can report it quite as fact yet, but I believe he had an interview with the Seattle Kraken, which would be, um, an interesting development for fans in the lower mainland. an interesting development for fans in the lower mainland. And I think, um, this is still got a little bit of ways to go.

Well, if he, if he, if he ever takes the job with the Seattle crack and that would kind of push back on the narrative that he wants to go east. Yeah. And I think that's probably a bit of a long shot. Um, I still wonder about his ties to Pittsburgh and the success that he's had there as a player and an assistant coach and his connection to Sidney Crosby. Like I think that's also a logical potential option. What are you hearing about Adam foot? A lot. Um, he's a name that ever since Rick Tockett made the decision that he is going to not return as Canucks head coach that that's when his name really

began to start to circulate as a head coaching option. I think he's got no fewer than four to five different potential expressions of interest. And I know that sounds vague. I just, I don't know how far it's gone in terms of confirming interviews or anything like that. But definitely with this number of openings, a legitimate candidate to spread his wings

and become an NHL head coach for the first time, really highly thought of. And I would imagine of course that one of those options would remain staying in Vancouver as head coach so the Canucks are working through their process but as I mentioned earlier this week in my conversation with Dan and Sat, he also like Rick Cockett had a front row seat to some of the drama and goings on. We're speaking to Frank Saravalli from Daily Faceoff here in the Alfred and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. So kind of continue on that way, Frank, do you think that would make him more of a candidate for the Canucks or less of a candidate for the Canucks because like Rick

Taukett, maybe he doesn't want anything to do with it. It's really hard to say because I think in a realistic sense, you would think that it makes him less of a candidate, but if it's one of 32 and it's the only one you're being offered, if it comes to that, it's probably a really lucky opportunity. So it really depends on the way the rest of the market shakes out.

I think you have to understand and weigh the optionality of everything involved. And I don't think there's ever such thing as it being a bad choice to continue to link yourself to Rick Tocket and say, Hey, you know, this isn't the right time or I didn't get an opportunity here. Uh, I'm just going to remain as an assistant or associate coach and see what another year brings me.

Frank, you mentioned, uh, Pedersen and when you were talking about, um, just looking at your team and wondering if this guy is the right guy for you, even though you've made the decision to lock him up long-term. Have you heard anything about maybe other teams out there that might be willing to take a chance on a guy like Pedersen? I mean, we thought maybe it's Buffalo because, you know, they lost the Jack Ico deal.

Maybe they could win a similar type deal where they get the player that wasn't thriving in his current environment. Yeah, I mean, look, it's, I think it's still really too early to handicap this situation and where it goes. I think we're all fascinated to see, obviously, the Canucks are open to engaging in those discussions. I think on a private level internally but also around the league to understand what that value looks like and what options they have on the table. And then I think

there's also probably a check-in a few weeks from now with with Pedersen himself. What is your plan for the off season? How is it going? And what is your level of commitment to this team? I don't know if it's possible to gauge that in a conversation or a visit, but that would, I think would be the first order of priority. The second that you have the next head coach's signature dried on a piece of paper, is how quickly can you book a ticket to Sweden and get in front of Pedersen to understand where he's at?

Frank, this was great as always. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. Enjoy all the games tonight and for the rest of the week we'll do this again next week. And Frank, good luck in free agency, buddy. Yes, good luck in free agency. Oh, thank you guys. Have a good one. Yeah, have a good one Frank. Thanks That's Frank Sarah Valley from daily face off for now here on the hell for them brush show on sports net 650 Abbotsford returns to action tonight as I mentioned tied 1-1 in their Calder Cup Pacific Division semifinal with Coach Ella Valley It's the best the five two games already on the road Those are done the final three all in Abbotsford tonight Friday And then if necessary the deciding game five on Sunday night

Joining us now to talk about all that and a whole lot more Ryan Johnson here on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650 morning Ryan. How are you? I'm doing good. I'm good. How are you guys? We're well. Thanks for taking the time to do this So walk us through the first two games of this series on the road down in Coach L Valley You guys do get the split. Uh, let us know how everything went and what we can expect from games three, four, and possibly five in this series. Well, obviously Coachelle has, they've been to the Coler Cup final, uh, the

last two seasons and not all of their group, uh, was a part of that, but a good chunk of them and, And with that comes experience, especially playoff experiences means more than anything. So they're a resilient group. I think game one, we really played well the first part of the game and then got away from it and still managed to get a win out of it and then flip that the other way.

We didn't start very well in game two and had to chase the game a bit. And even when you come back and get a lead late, it's just not the way you want to play chasing the game. So we feel we've had really, you know, some good moments throughout these playoffs. I think game three against Tucson was probably our most complete game,

but we really have to put games together here to, like I said, I guess a very good Coachella team. And as you get into the, further in the playoffs, you can't play partial games. You have to play complete games from the goaltender out to give yourself a chance. What's the key to that?

What's the key to starting a game well? And what are some of the lessons that some of your young players are going to be able to learn in this experience? Well, I think it's something that as we've dealt with all season, there's a little bit of inconsistency within, within 60 minute games. And, and often this, this, this group we have

has always showed a calmness and the game was never over regardless of the score. But again, you end up chasing a game and getting away from some of the foundational pieces that make you good. We've had a few days here to regroup. We traveled day Sunday and took yesterday as just a Monday to take a deep breath. day and took yesterday as just a day to take care, or sorry, Monday to take a deep breath, good high temple practice yesterday and expect us to be ready to fire a good one here tonight. Have you got a health update because I know it's a

long list of injuries right now. Yeah, we've got some guys that are pushing to play tonight, but we'll make a decision based off of the, you know, if they're not close to a hundred percent, that are pushing to play tonight, but we'll make a decision based off of the, if they're not close to a hundred percent, we are very trusting in the group that we have. We've got some good players that have been a group all season that have been sitting on the sidelines

throughout the first part of these playoffs. And we've always felt with injury, or if we were able to keep playing further into these playoffs that if we lost some bodies, we got more than capable guys ready to go. And I think even that's held an accountability for our healthy players to know that you can't take a period or two off because we've got some guys that we have a lot of belief in that have been sitting watching right now and we may see a few of them tonight if guys aren't ready to go.

We're speaking to Abbotsford Connects General Manager Ryan Johnson here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. You know we talk about the American Hockey League as being a developmental league and at times a teaching league but it's also a winning league when it comes to the playoff and by that I mean you can learn a lot by winning and having success in the playoffs. Those, you know, memories and those experiences often make a good young impression or make an impression on the, on the younger players.

You need veteran guys to sort of instill some of those lessons though. Two guys in particular for you. I know Jujar Cairo, the hometown guy, and obviously there's a nice feel good story there. Sammy blaze an interesting one too, cause this is a guy like less we forget was a member of that St Louis blues team, the one that Stanley cup in 2019. So he's tasted postseason success at the highest level. Do you have regular conversations with those guys about making sure that in addition to going out and doing their jobs and performing at a high level, they're also like teaching the young guys how and what it's like to win in the postseason. Well absolutely it's utterly important. I always say we we win to develop and then we develop to win. We want to develop young players that expect to be playing into the middle of June. When you get into the especially the early part of your career and you're, you're calling your buddies back home the third week of April and say, Hey,

I'll let you know it's exciting. I'm coming back home, but it eventually gets to a point where it gets embarrassing and you don't want to go home because you, that means you're out and you're not playing any important games. And guys like Sammy Blaze, Phil DiDecepi and Jujar Cara, these guys, they, they talk about it all the time. The way they carry themselves or the expectation or the compete. I mean, Jujar the other night, Jet Wu gets hit from behind.

He challenges a very tough guy at center ice. He scores two big goals for us. He plays a heavy game and that's why I brought him in here. I wanted to add another physical body to help our kind of young group. And he's an outstanding human being. Sammy Blaze has been an ultra competitor all year. He hates to lose. Um, and, and in these big games, he seems to be at his best.

And Phil has just been a quiet leader for this group, uh, ever since he's been in the organization. So those guys are, are, are really, they set a standard and then we've got a group of young leaders as well that gives us a really good mix of guys that this is a group that I've seen since we've been in Abbotsford that they don't want to go home. They want to keep playing.

We're speaking to Ryan Johnson, the general manager of the Abbotsford Canucks. Ryan, we've been speaking a little bit, talking about Manny Malholtra because Jim Rutherford said that Manny Malholtra would be on the short list of candidates to become the next head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. Tell us about the job that Manny's done this

year in Abbotsford. Well, he's done an extremely good job coming into American league that he didn't know a ton about in regards to the day to day and some of the swings and roster changes and travel and all these different things. I think our group as a whole, if you look at, from a coach's standpoint, had to hire five

complete new coaches that didn't have experience working with each other. It takes a lot of similar values, time, a lot of time connecting and leadership to be able to bring that all together in a very short amount of time, be able to put, develop this young group with a focus and a day to day checks

of are we hitting our measurables? Are we, there was a lot of new going on with this group, but I was excited about it. I knew it was going to take some time, but Manny's done an outstanding job adapting, leading this group, getting our players as a whole to play organizationally the way we want to play, to play north, to play fast, to compete the details of the game. And just very fortunate, all our coaching staff, our trainers, Ben Goodman with our travel and the little intricacies of what the American hockey league goes on. We've got a very good group there and have it.

What are some of the shared values of this coaching staff? Well, it comes back to very, very basic things that we talk about with our group here in Vancouver. That's our wall play, our management of the game, our desire to play fast and play North. We want to win 50, 50 pucks all over the ice inside our blue line, outside the blue line, down in behind in the, in the bottom of the ice and below the tops of the circles. Those are, they sound very, um, they sound very simple, but, but they're hard to execute every day who it's something that's the main focus of our

group is, is not necessarily how we play, it's how we practice. The games are easy when the practices are hard. And that's something that we've really challenged this group right from day one in Calgary was the iron will sharpen the iron. You guys are going to make each other better by the way you practice, the way you push each other in the gym. And I think that has really been the anchor of this group is how they approach and have a plan for each day, as opposed to just hoping and wishing that things go well.

The Sedines must be helpful in those puck battle lessons that are taught on the ice. Those guys weren't the most physical players, but man, they came up with a lot of pucks along the wall. Sure. And when those guys are able to pop out and be a different voice or have a different view on something or grab a guy out of a line and something that they're noticing, it's always a big help to have the support and the resources we have. Tell us a bit more about what kind of coach

support and the resources we have. Um, tell us a bit more about what kind of coach Manny is, like if you, if you have someone to describe, like what kind of, you know, what, what comes to mind first when, when, when you're talking about Manny Malhotra? Well, he's very detailed. He's very focused. He's, he doesn't, uh, he doesn't mince words

with players, with staff. He he's got a plan, but he's very good at delegating and trusting staff. Like I said, a lot of new staff that we were getting on. It felt like every week of the summer we lost somebody. We kept on losing bodies and it was like, okay, we'll get this group together. We'll get them on board, get into Penticton, get up and right, but he's, he's, again, his focus starts early in an AHL schedule early in the week and how we practice and the things that were, that, that are a daily conversation.

And then the games, it just kind of bleeds out. So he's, he's very thorough communicates, but doesn't waste, there's not wasted words or wasted time. It's to the point, let's get the work done and get out. And I think our, you know, even for some of our guys that when there's change in the coaching staff, every, it's not easy. But I think we've been very fortunate with some of

the coaches that we've had in this group, certainly this year, I think has ignited something in our group. How has Manny dealt with being like the chief voice on the coaching staff? Because, you know, he was, he's always been a leader when he's, when he was a player on teams and he was part of coaching staff in Toronto, Vancouver, but he's never been the main

voice. Yeah. And that's something I was very well aware of in my conversations with him last spring of being, you know, a sys coach for seven years. But, but nothing that, uh, I never had a doubt in my mind from, from knowing Manny just as a player of competing against him and knowing

him here, uh, as a coach, uh, when he was here with a group of Vancouver. That has really crossed my mind and he hit the ground running. Like I said with Jordan and Harry, Andrew and Pogues that he's got in a support staff there, those guys are very vocal. He hands a lot of responsibility to them and trust them and And at the end of the day, he makes the final decision. But he's got a very good support staff there too, that they speak as one.

Don't always have to agree, but at the end of the day, man, he makes a call, you move on and you trust it and move forward. We're speaking to Abbotsford Connects General Manager, Ryan Johnson here on the Halford & Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Ryan, as a former former player yourself I did want to ask you this. What sort of let's call it added presence does it have when the guy behind the bench has has distinguished a playing career as like yourself or Manny Malhotra had like close to a thousand

games played for Manny was in the running for a Selke a couple years finished as high as fifth in voting you know the resumes there and then of course there was the comeback you know after the sort of horrific eye injury making a comeback grinding his way back to play more NHL games what sort of presence and element does that bring when you're behind the bench as a coach? Well I think you see it all over the league and in all sorts of positions. I think there's always a relatability of talking about being in the fire when somebody has been in the fire and not that that's the most, you know, that's not the biggest qualification when it comes to whether it's coaches or development or it doesn't always have to be that way,

but it does certainly, there is some relatability. And now in saying that though, I also don't think a young generation necessarily benefits from, well, when I did this and I did that, I don't think they really care about that. But I think you can use your experience to relate and speak a language that means something to them. But I don't necessarily think, wow, when I played game FI, I think you lose them really

quickly. So I think it, I always encourage, whether it's developments or do not speak in that way, use your experience and find a language that you can have a common conversation about. And I think that it certainly helps in that regard. How do you motivate young players? Well, it's, every player is different. And that's what I think is hard on a coaching staff at

all levels is to, in order to motivate, you have to build a safe space and you have to build a relationship and a trust, whether you're a coach or manager from a medical team or anybody, you have to build the safe space to have honest conversations. Sometimes it takes time. You can get in development camp and try to get in a guy's ear or to rev him up. But sometimes you got to step back, build that relationship first and build a trust that safe space. And all of a sudden, slowly there's conversations and some guys self-motivated, some guys need you to get into their personal life or they want you to understand them and know what is necessarily deep inside them before you can have those conversations to kind of challenge them or

to say, hey, this is not good enough, we need you to get to this place, but they're all different. And that's the beauty of it. In my opinion. I don't want to overly generalize, but are there fewer players that you can motivate in a way where they end up going, well, I'll show you. So essentially you give them some tough love and they'll say, okay, I'm going to show this coach up. Are more of them motivated by, I guess, lack of a better way of saying it, positivity and just

general encouragement? I think there's a space to that. I definitely do. I think there's levels of encouragement and positivity. Yeah, I think the one thing that has to exist through that is honesty. Anytime a player feels like you're in genuine or feeling like you're asking them to do something for the benefit of you, you lose them very fast. When they know the journey you're going on with them is really for the betterment of them and their career. You can get to that place with them when they feel, I don't know if I'm being told the truth here, but whatever they need from me, they want it because they're going to benefit from it.

And that's where I try to encourage your staff and that this has to be about them, but also them understanding how they fit into the team. And when they start doing things because they don't want to let the team down and they want to, they want to, they want to be better because the guy's sitting next to them. They want, they want those guys to be proud of them. Then you're starting to, to Then you're starting to shake something up in there

that makes sense and that something not just short term, but long term that they can come back to. So this might be a tough question for you to answer, but you're better answer it than I am. What's the main difference between being a head coach in the AHL and head coach in the NHL? Well, obviously there's a lot more moving parts, correct?

You're bigger staffed, there's more going on, more components to your playing group. Travel is different. You're right back at it. American Hockey League often were Friday, Sunday, you have time to kind of regroup a lot more kind of practice days and did the American Hockey League or the National Hockey League. Obviously, you've got bigger staffs, you've got a bigger facility, you can lose

people in the hallways. They're in Abbotsford. We've got one hallway and five rooms and that's the way we wanted it. We didn't want, we didn't want anybody to be, to get lost. Uh, we wanted to see everybody and that works at that level. But now national hockey, it's just, it's a bigger monster. There's more to bigger staffs, bigger everything and less rest, quicker turnaround. Uh, so it's, uh, it certainly is a different monster. That, that time to regroup thing, I've, I've

never actually thought of that, but that must be big, especially as a coach, when you've got all these, um, demands on, on your time, whether it's coaching video work, and then you got to deal with the media and, uh, just all, just all sorts of things. It must seem like in the NHL that it never ever stops. Maybe it's a little different in the AHL.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's a, that's what being a development league, it really adheres to that where you can, you can use some days to have skill days or to, uh, have just a special teams day or you can break, break it up. Uh, sometimes you're playing a Saturday night and don't play till Friday.

Well, you, you go into development mode and okay, how do we use this week to get some great, some, some work in the, uh, the weight room and, and so it is, it's, it's a different level of, uh, which is great for the American league with these young players that we're trying to still make games and off ice and, uh, but it, but it's much more difficult to do, obviously, at the National Hockey League level. Ryan, this was great. Thanks for taking the time to do this today on a game day, no less. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. Good luck in the remainder of the series. Let's do this again, maybe even in the next round when you guys get past Coachella Valley.

For sure. And let me just say, if there's anybody in the Fraser Valley that's thinking on the fence about coming tonight, these guys are ready to hope, aim tonight. So come cheer these guys on. And if you're in the greater Vancouver area and you're thinking, yeah, that's a dread, love to see you in the building.

So it's been a great atmosphere and we'd like to keep that going. Seven o'clock tonight, Abbotsford, go get them. Thanks, Ryan, appreciate this. Thanks for having me, guys. Appreciate it. That's Ryan Johnson, Abbotsford Connects General Manager here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.