Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/1/26

Episode Date: June 1, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, plus they discuss the latest 'Nucks news with Canucks Central host Satiar Shah. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Robinson's going to get to it. Robinson's going to go. Ovo Center. What else you got for us, Rick? I don't think George Washington will ever be the same.

Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough. That's 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. Good morning to you. Hello, hello. Albert and Broughton the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. They're open seven days a week and they're open late to help you get debt free. With no judgment or upfront fees, visiting today at sands dash trustee.com.

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Lumber online today. Let's get into our morning. guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 6.30 this morning. Our good buddy Chris Peters is going to join us. Content manager, flow hockey, NHL draft and prospects analyst. The NHL draft combine

begins today in Buffalo. And this is important for your Vancouver Kanox, who, in case you forgot, have 10 selections in this year's draft highlighted by four picks in the top 41, including a pair of first round picks. Chris is going to talk to us all about the NHL draft

Combine, which goes all this week, he'll do that at 6.30. 7 o'clock. Joel Lorenzi is going to join the program. NBA writer from the athletic. The NBA finals are set. Over the weekend, the Spurs upset O KC to punch their ticket to face the Knicks and the finals, a rematch of the 99 NBA finals, also, which I don't think a lot of you know, a rematch of this year's Emirates Cup final. Did you know that? Emeritus Cup final. Oh, is that the NBA thing? That's right. It's now the Emirates Cup. I was like, is that the NBA FA Cup?

That's a good call. Joel is going to join us at 7 to preview the NBA finals. 7.30, Joshua Cloak is going to join the program. Canada's soccer writer for the athletic, busy weekend, and not a great one for Canada soccer. They named their 26-man roster on Friday. Then Saturday, they lost one of those 26 men to a pretty nasty knee injury. We'll talk about that.

We will also talk about the fact that Canada is in action tonight, taking on the Uzbekistanis. in one of their two World Cup friendlies. Josh is going to join at 7.30 for some Canadian soccer talk. Finally at 8 o'clock, Satyar Shah is going to join the program. Canucks Central host on SportsNet 650. I think there's going to be a lot of scouting talk today and this week as it pertains to the Vancouver Canucks.

As mentioned, NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo. Also, a former and prominent Vancouver Canucks scout has just joined the Maple Leafs in a pretty elevated role. We'll get into all that. sat here shot 8 o'clock this morning. So we got a big show ahead. We got a lot of guests to. Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed? You miss that? What? We will begin, however, with the Stanley Cup final. And it was cemented on Friday when Taylor Hall and Logan Stankman, the Stank of and each had a goal in two assists. as the Cains finished their wipeout of the HABs 6-1 on Friday night at the Lenovo Center to punch their ticket to their first Stanley Cup final since 2006.

Consider this. After the opening 6-2 loss in that series to Montreal, Carolina ripped off four consecutive victories and did so outscoring the Habs 18 to 5 over the final four games of the series. Yeah, the Habs ran out of gas after a couple of seven games series. the Carolina Hurricanes are very, very good team. The HABs are still opening their window into Stanley Cup contention. The canes have been in their window for years now and just finally go out over the hump

and out of the conference. And you texted me after the game and said that, oh man, the internet is not being kind to Montreal or Martin Saint-Louis. And I'll be honest with you, I turned the game. off and I was watching a movie. That's fair. Because that game was done, right? It was.

They were cooked. Some said it was done before it even started. Yeah, I did. I mean, it was, it was clearly. That was the perfect case of the dead man walking team. Bill Simmons came up with that years ago and the Habs were never going to be in that series. They, they just, they were out of gas. And, you know, I didn't understand it.

I didn't understand any criticism of Montreal or Martin Saint-Louis. What they did this year was terrific. they're not ready to go to the Stanley Cup final. They've still got some things to do. Carolina, on the other hand, I mean, they've been at this for years now. And they, the players deserve a ton of credit

for buying into Brindamore's system. It's not for everyone, Brantanin, for example, but the guys that are playing it right now are playing it to perfection. And Carolina management deserves a ton of credit for finding the right type of players for the system.

I think we can also acknowledge while giving Carolina a ton of credit that the Keynes have had a relatively easy path to the Stanley Cup final. That's fair. Thanks in large part to Florida missing out. But that's the type, here's the thing, that's the type of break you can get

when you're repeatedly a playoff team. You know, some years, things won't go your way. But if you hang in there long enough and you're a good team, You're a good team, you're a good team, you're a good team. Eventually, you get some breaks. I think about a couple of the times that the Canucks made it to the Stanley Cup finals

and the breaks they got along the way. In 1982, the Oilers got upset by the Kings, the Miracle on Manchester series. In 1994, San Jose and number eight seat upset Detroit, helped them get to the Stanley Cup final. You know, that being said, it's pretty wild that Carolina is 12 and 1 in the playoffs. Yeah, that that that is insane. And, and in terms of offensive production,

they really haven't had much from, probably if you were to ask people, hey, who are their three best forwards? Aho, Svetnikov, and Jarvis. But that trio of Hall, Stankovin, and Jackson Blake is testament to the way the hurricanes do business in the way they've been able to mine value in trades or via the draft. I mean, you know, like Taylor Hall was kind of like, yeah, yeah, he's fine. He was an afterthought for them when they picked him up for Chicago.

Total afterthought. And now he might win the consulate trophy. Stan Kovin was like, well, Ranton and didn't want to be here. So we'll get Stan Kovin, I guess. right and Jackson Blake is a fourth round pick now I know a lot of people were more excited about Stancove and then than I'm suggesting there but the stank of an erasure on this show but I'm just saying like you know that they originally wanted

ranting and rantonin didn't want to stay and the way they pivoted was was incredible and the decision to put stancovin at center has been absolutely massive where would they be if they hadn't at the beginning of this season gone you know what listen we we prefer jordan stall as a three c sure we've got aho as a one c do you want to try this and to his credit he was like yeah sure yeah and he's been he's been incredible yeah you know it's it is a really there's such an interesting case study because of and i hate like banging this drama or whatever but i'm going to keep doing it they're an interesting case study because of where they play and how they

exist. Carolina I'm talking about is I don't know if they're a unicorn or an outlier in the sense that no one else could replicate this, but there are certain things that quite honestly, I think that they can do that other markets would have a harder time doing it. They wouldn't be totally unable to do it. But running it back year after year, especially after the playoff failures that they've had, without that. You got to fire this guy. Look at Jared Bettner in Colorado right now, right? You know? I know. And that's what I'm saying. Like, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Carolina has the benefit of just existing. Part of not being in a not frenzied market is there aren't these massive calls.

You aren't the center of attention. Your long offseason doesn't feel as long because there's not media and fans and scrutiny and everyone analyzing what went wrong and why it went wrong. Tulski's, I mean, there's, there is an element of we're going to continually punch our ticket to this kind of lottery in the sense that there's so many unpredictable things that can happen in the playoffs. Eventually things will break our way. But as long as we're good enough to get there, and let's be clear, good enough to be a real contender year after year, not punching your ticket in the sense of let's get in and see what happens.

This is a Keynes team that year after year is 50 wins, 100 points. They're a top 5 to 8 team in the NHL. and they're built in a way that they know what they want to do, they know how they want to play, and it makes it a little easier to run it back year after year because there's no real unpredictability on that team. You know who the head coach is going to be. You know what the makeup of the group is going to be aside

from that one big splash that they made with Brandon. They'll change things around the edges and they'll make moves. But it is a, in a way, almost like a model franchise that is very hard to replicate. because it's so unique, right? Dundon's a unique owner. Tulski's a unique general manager. It's a unique hockey market. And now I think that's one of the big stories you're going to see going into the Stanley Cup final.

I think another question to ask, though, is like, either what are we cheering for in this series or what are we looking forward to in the Stanley Cup final? Well, the consensus is that this is not a series that many people are looking forward to outside of Vegas or Colorado or South Carolina. And that is fair. I think, you know, I'm mostly just cheering against Vegas. But I'm not particularly passionate about it. It's not like, you know, years past when we were like, if the Oilers win this, we're going to be...

My summer is ruined. My summer is ruined. Or I really don't want the Leafs to make a run or anything like that. I don't think I'm going to care either way, really, who wins this series. And I hope this series delivers more than I think it will. In terms of, in terms of outside interest, you know, I think the hockey is going to be fundamentally sound.

Hockey and... Do you like structure? And very, well, and very competitive. Yep. And hard fought. But I'll be curious, put it this way. Can't wait for the commercials. Fundamentally sound.

Yeah. Well, I mean, look. Look, you have to credit, you need to check in hockey. Like, Torz will always say that. You got to check, right? And you do. But both these teams check really well. And, you know, I think Carolina's the better team.

But Vegas has proved me wrong, you know, since Torz took over. And again, there was a reason they fired Bruce Cassidy. Like, the team was not going well. And the reason they did it was like, We should be better than this. Yeah. Because you look at the roster and they should be better. And they very much are.

We spent so much time focusing on the oilers issues this season just because, I mean, the Oilers are closer to us. I think we're more interested in the Oilers. There's the Connor McDavid factor. But Vegas had very similar issues, especially with their goaltending this year. And the team was just kind of like,

me, right? a lot of it was goal tending and the analytics people will say listen and weren't getting saves but their underlying numbers were pretty good torts has taken over um they've really done well with the torts style

and uh you know they by the end of that Colorado series Colorado had they were out of gas you know mentally maybe but also physically because they were banged up I think they had their spirits broken in that series. Yeah their spirits broken in that series. spirit's broken.

Game three, when they were up three nothing, and they blew that three nothing late, I think that broke them. And I, and I don't think they made the right adjustments to whatever torts was, was doing. Now,

that's easier said than done. Oh, adjust, just adjust. You know, when the other team is locked in defensively, and the team is like really enjoying playing good defensive hockey, even though it's hard in the playoffs,

you can get to really enjoy. it because you're like these guys are on the I'm talking about the other team they're so frustrated like this is fun to play defense this style because Nate is freaking out you know like you can tell and Carolina was having fun

too like Montreal had had nothing at the end of that series and part of that was I think fatigue for Montreal but the other part was just like they were playing the system to a team but right now if you compare Stanley Cup finals

and the NBA finals? That's tough. There's no comparison. The NBA finals are about a hundred times sexier. Yeah, it's more compelling. Than the Stanley Cup final?

Like you've got, you've got the New York Knicks playing in the basketball mecca, Madison Square Garden, back to the finals for the first time since what, 1999, looking for their first NBA championship since the 70s or whatever.

it is. And then on the other side, you've got the San Antonio Spurs with Wemagnana, who was like this incredible talent, this phenom, this freak. Like, who's going to win? The Spurs are the favorites, but nobody expected what we've seen from the Knicks in this playoffs

in terms of their dominance through the runs. And then in the NHL, you've got like two teams that know how to check. Yeah, that's right. They're going to keep it tight to the vest. Seven games, tight to the best. It is, and there was a lot of this conversation over the weekend as well because people are already doing the retroactive look at the Stanley Cup playoffs. And folks, this was a tough year for the National Hockey League when it came to its postseason. Gary, that's Batman, he might, might concede, not publicly, maybe privately, that what the biggest issue that this format has had now, and there's proof in the pudding is that we are.

We're on a run now where the conference finals have been atrocious. Like this year's conference finals, it just, and part of that was it didn't manifest itself with, you had a good matchup with Colorado and Vegas, but it, I mean, it just goes a wipeout. I think this is the, what, third year in a row where we've seen that the four teams battling to get to the Stanley Cup final. It's come up real flat. And in previous years, you could kind of erase it away because the opening round was so compelling. but we did not have that this year. What's been the best series

of all this, Tampa Montreal? Tampa Montreal? Yep. And what are the memorable moments? Like I, Tampa Montreal, the entire series was terrific. But like memorable moments, I think of the Buffalo comeback against Boston. Yep. You know, they're back in the playoffs.

The new hook goal in the second round. That was big, right? Yeah. Carolina hasn't had any moments along the way. No, just because they've been so dominant. We've had a lack of game sevens. We've had a lack of lengthy overtimes. But the conference finals were a massive disappointment.

There's no other way. There's no other way to spend that Montreal series. And that's the only thing. I turned off a lot of the Montreal games just because they were cooked. They were done. Yeah. And that's fine. But you should not have, and I know that they won a game. So it's very hard to argue this is lopsided.

But you should not have that lopsided a series in the conference final. No, it's not hard to argue that it was lopsided. at all. It was one of the most... It wasn't a sweep. But it was one of the most lopsided series that I've ever seen in the conference finals. Like at least you could say in the sweep between Vegas and Colorado, the games were tight, right? There wasn't this like turn off the game.

This thing is over. Put it to bed between Vegas and Colorado. There were times in that Montreal series where after they won that first game, where you kind of started to wonder aloud and openly. if the haves were anywhere close. And you almost kind of wondered, like, how badly did Carolina play in the first game just to give Montreal a win?

Because if you dig deep, and I know a couple of, especially a Domal's decision from the athletic was getting a ton of heat because he was really ripping into Montreal, but he's like, if you look at expected goals, shot share, possession metrics, it was one of the most one-sided series. Never mind a conference final, dude.

Like, one of the most one-sided series ever in recent playoff. Well, and the salary cap era probably. Yeah, and that's coming with the chance to go to the Stanley Cup final. That's tough. Okay. The NHL Combine starts today. When Sat joins us at 8 o'clock, I think we'll talk to him about the Canucks scouting staff, especially in the wake of the news out of Toronto regarding Judd Brackett.

And Judd Brackett is going to join the Leafs. And he's going to be an assistant general manager. Judd Brackett used to be the top amateur scout in Vancouver until he left for Minnesota six years ago. Todd Harvey has been the top amateur scout in Vancouver since Brackett went to the wild. And the results have not been terrific under Harvey. But it should also be noted that the Canucks have not given their scouts

much to work with. What's the chef going to do? They've only had, they've only had the connects have only had three first round picks in the last six years it's because they were in their cup contention window so they're trading away all their picks obviously right those big playoff wins we had it was worth it they've also traded away their fair share of second round picks third round picks sometimes they've picked up a prospect in the draft and they've immediately traded him on away what was his name hunter briskevich oh brusky yeah brusky yeah Lots of 10. The three first round picks that they've had are Lecker-O-Macki, V-Lander, and Coots. Things are not looking good with Lecker-O-Macki. V-Lander and Coots still a lot to be determined there.

I think mostly we're feeling okay about those players. Well, Drance and V-Lander and don't get along. but but uh you know v lander was playing games in the nchl this season and frankly i i'm not going to judge too harshly any of the young defensemen this past season considering the way the team frankly was coached i'll be very uh interested to see how much how much they can improve under a new coaching staff and a new direction from the organization and uh braiding coots and you know we'll see about him he he played any HL games this year, which was also reflective of an organization that was, you know, if they made a decision, it was going to be a bad one.

Yeah, probably wanted to do over on that. Yeah, and had no, I mean, they had issues down the middle, right? You know, I think next year is a huge year for Braden Coots, even if he might not be on the Canucks. Because I'd like to see them in the HL. Like that. And I'd like to see him dominate at the world juniors. so we'll see about him but overall

the drafts you know what what pick what pick in the last six years here I'll throw it out I'll throw it out to the listeners what pet what pick in the last six years do you really love

where he was like man that was a really good pick now you could pick maybe DPD who was a third round pick and I was already playing games in the NHL you know, we'll see about his future. I think you could use some better coaching. Carol Kudraadsev was a seventh round pick,

and he's played five games in the NHL. I mean, that's almost a win already. That's an incredible pick. But, you know, you need players that can actually be, you know, really good and really important players in the draft. And the Canucks have actually not picked a player, have not picked a player, think about this, they have not picked a player that you're like, that's a surefire NHL or star level player since Quinn Hughes.

Yeah. That's the last time they picked a player at that level. We talked about this at length. They are so far behind when it comes to where you start a rebuild. A lot of other teams when they've started, they've at least, at least had a cupboard full of intriguing prospects that they can, and with the knowledge that not all of them are going to turn out. Kind of the reason why, and I hate saying it because I don't want everyone to have this idea that it can get turned around in one draft because let's be real, it cannot.

You can't just turn the fortunes around in one draft. It takes multiple years. It takes a lot of chips at the table to use the poker analogy. But this year, there is an opportunity for this team to step on the gas a little bit because they've got 10 picks, four in the top 41, and two of them in the first round. Now, the nuts and bolts of what's going on in Buffalo. The combine is at the Key Bank Center,

56 forwards, 29 defensemen, and five goalies. All of them are either on the central scouting or North American top-rated skaters slash goalie lists. Teams can start doing one-on-one interviews with prospects today, and they can do that all the way through June 5th. And you can imagine that the Canucks are going to be one of the teams at this combine that are going to be more invested and probably more interested

in talking to as many players as possible, perhaps more than any other team. There are teams that have more draft capital at this draft. I think a couple teams have 12 picks. But with the amount that the Canucks have, let's just call it in the top 40, this is going to be a fundamentally important draft for them.

So this is a fundamentally important week in Buffalo for whatever brass is going and whatever parts or all of the scouting staff are going. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Well, it's time to chat with Santee R. We'll talk about the hockey now. Let's chat with Sattier, checking in on the Canucks.

Well, it's time to chat with Santee R. We'll talk about the hockey now. Checking in on the Canucks. Talking hockey now 8.04 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford, Braves, SportsNet, 650. It's going to be tough.

Yeah, don't get, don't get caught. It's coming. Alfred and Brow from the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. No, it's not 40 seconds in. They are open 70. There it is. Tripped you up. You tripped me up.

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stupid fat head. It's glandular. Gigantism. Okay. Everyone take a deep breath. It's 805 now on a Monday. Do you want us to play it again? You can try one more night.

I don't. I don't want you to play in the first place. Hour three of this program. First off, we're brought to you by sounds and associates. They're open seven days a weekend, open late to help you get debt free. With no judgment or upfront fees. visiting the sands dash trustee.com. Hour three is brought to you by the BC

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Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline. You're so good at that. Yeah, I know. Everyone's interrupting everyone. right now. Our next guest is the host of Canucks Central right here on Sportsnet 650. Satyars Shaw. joins us now on the Halford-Inbreath Show.

What up, Seth. How are you doing? I'm doing good, man. How are you guys doing? Very well done. I'm sure you've seen the Brendan Gallagher news on social media. He says he'll be

looking to move on or probably moving on from the Montreal Canadians and said he'd be open to a move to Vancouver. Is this a slam dunk for the Canucks, especially if they can get something out of the HABs, a sweetener to get off of Brendan Gallagher's cap hit? Oh, I think absolutely.

I mean, whatever it is you get, even a mid-round pick and whatnot, not to say that you could necessarily flip him for something, but just getting him for the leadership and getting something out of it. And the other part of it, too, is we know the Canucks are getting closer to the salary caps lore. And if you're starting to move out guys like, say, Jake DeBusk and another player that makes a little bit of money,

you're going to get to a point where you're going to have to get to the salary cap floor, which you can always do by giving free agents contracts and whatnot. But here's the perfect one, a guy who has one year left on his contract, six and a half million on the cap hit. It easily flows you to the floor if you do go underneath it. Plus it brings the leadership. I think it's about as good an addition as you can make outside of getting a higher draft pick. like the halves, for instance, have an extra fourth round pick this year. And do you get something like that in return or even a later pick and whatnot?

But regardless, I think just getting him for the leadership, the character side of it and not paying anything for it, I think is about as easy a move as you can make. Does it matter if he comes to Vancouver and is an occasional healthy scratch? Because, you know, he's going to be one year older next year and he wasn't a regular for Montreal. And his production is, well, wait. down. I think he scored like seven goals this year or something like that. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think that's something that you would probably want to figure out with his agent. But given where he finds himself right now and the fact that he has another year left on his contract, I don't think there's a lot of leverage here for Gallagher.

Like there's not going to be a team that's a contender that's going to be trading for him right now. Now maybe he comes back and he plays well and he gets more opportunity. And next thing you know, when he hits free agency, some contender gives him one year deal. and he has a little bit of juice left in the tank. But I think that given how hard he plays and given how he's always ready to play, I would be surprised if he gets healthy scratched a lot. I guess things can always happen.

But he's only a year removed from scoring 21 goals as well. And this year, the haves obviously had a lot more young talent guys stepped up and they added more players to the fold. So he did get squeezed out. I don't know how much of that was he really lost the step on how much of it was the competition, probably a little bit of both. But I do think there is enough juice in the tank, and I think there's probably enough motivation that he would want to go out on a high.

So I'd imagine that he would be a good teammate. We saw that with the HABS. I think that's how he's wired. But I would be shocked if he comes here and ends up being healthy scratch a lot, to be honest. Okay, it's the NHL Scouting Combine this week, a big week for scouts. It was just announced that Judd Brackett, who we're still talking about in Vancouver, is going to join the Toronto Maple Leafs as an AGM moving on from Minnesota.

Now, when Judd Brackett left Vancouver, Todd Harvey became the top amateur scout in Vancouver. How has the Todd Harvey tenure been in Vancouver? So I think it's honestly the biggest criticism for the scouting department the last few years is probably not having had enough draft picks. And it's, you know, more than anything else. And I'm not saying the Canucks have nailed every pick, and then they've done a fantastic job. I mean, if you look at the last few first-round picks they've had,

the jury's still out on Johnson-Lekar-Mackie, of course. Tom Yolander is playing game, showing some promise. Braden Kutz, it seems like people have some level of hope that you can do something. And then before that, the last first-round pick they had was in 2019, right? So then, you know, you go back and look at the Dinole-Klimovich pick. You want to look at that and say, okay, do you want to put that on Harvey? Do you want to put that on this account? counting staff, how do you go about viewing that?

Not a single player to come out of the 2021 draft. They only had the highest pick they had in 2020 was a third round pick, but nobody came out of that draft. But then since then, Hunter Brustavich ends up being a decent asset. He's showing some promise with the Calgary Flames. They keep talking about time Euler all the time, right?

DPD is the first third round pick who's had, who's been of any consequence since Alex Edler was a third round pick many moons ago. Curricudrya shows a little bit of promise. I know they like sort of menu, for instance. And, you know, we'll see what the picks they had last year. But the year prior, the highest pick they had in 2024 was a third round draft pick.

Now, Riley Patterson was a fourth round pick that year that they have some level of intrigue in. But most of these players that were mentioning outside of whether it's Coutts or Villan or perhaps like Grimacki, taking a step of becoming, you know, four players or top four, top six caliber players. Even the guys who made it are more of the supporting cast types, which is still. good when you're talking about getting draft picks out of the first round. So I do think it's a bit of a mixed bag. At the same time, I think it's somewhat hard to truly evaluate when you've had, you know, three drafts without a single first round pick and a couple drafts without even a second

round draft pick. So I think if you're just looking at the mid to late round picks, they miss on all these players, well, generally you miss on most those picks to begin with. And I do think just because Harvey is back, I don't think it means that Harvey necessarily has the utmost confidence forever moving forward. I do think part of the way they're moving forward here with me asking around is they're giving certain guys a chance. They don't want to make too many changes right away,

but they're not going to promise that they're going to stay here beyond next season or even through next season, depending on how things kind of go, and that they're still open to making more additions to the scouting staff. So I think in evaluating to Harvey, if you look at it from how many players have actually made it, you don't see a ton. But when you look at it through lens of what have, they had to work with, it's a bit of a mixed bag.

But it's not as bad as say some would make it seem, but at the same time, it's hard to sit here and say that the Canucks have had, you know, one of the top 10 scouting staffs or player development staffs based on players who've made it through over the past five years. So you might have just answered this, but what was with all those reports not too long ago that there was going to be a big shake-up to the scouting staff? So I think it depended on a couple of things.

One, if there was somebody other than Ryan Johnson coming in, let's say if it was Evan Gold, I do think that he would have made more changes. I think he had a plan and idea of bringing together a few more people that he had. He had a vision of what he wanted to do, and that would have entailed a lot of bigger change. And I do think that ownership, when they were going through the interview process and talking to candidates, that they had insimated that they were open to suggestions and open to making change and open to allowing people to come in and do what they wanted. So people gave ideas.

And I think part of it was them being open to these possibilities that kind of got out. And I do think that as much as there was talk about all the scouts having their contracts up, and there were a number that have their contracts up. But I do think a number of quite a fair amount of them also didn't have their contracts up. And one thing that I was also told over the last little while was, you know, they've made some changes in the scouting staff over the years. They've made additions.

They've had some people leave. and that they have turned it over a little bit and people just don't know about the names because they don't go out and talk about it. They don't really release the details about how the staff is kind of working out. So they would kind of stay behind the scenes that they've made some changes.

And at the same time, the message I got was just because they're keeping these people around doesn't mean they're going to be here forever. And it was kind of compared to me in terms of, you know how sometimes a new GM comes in and they don't make changes right away? They kind of let things play out a little bit And then after a year, they'll make some changes.

Now it's a lot different when somebody's already been in the organization, like RJ. You would say he wouldn't understand who does what and what's going on. So perhaps he has more insight on it. But that just because the staff is the way it is now doesn't mean it's going to be like that forever is what I was told. But I do understand this idea of why not make bigger changes when you have the chance to make bigger changes. And I think the simple messages, they probably believe in the people they have within the organization. more than the people outside the organization do. Could also some of it be like, we don't have time.

We've got a lot of things on our plane. Like I always chuckle a bit about the people complaining that the Canucks haven't made any analytics investments yet. It's like, these guys have been on the job for two weeks. They've got bigger things to do, and this is going to be a long rebuild. There's time to address the analytics department even later this off season. But for now, I mean, they still don't have a head coach. They've got to fill up the staff of the head coach.

And then they've got to hire a replacement head coach maybe in Abbotsford, a replacement GM in Abbotsford. So they've got to figure all that stuff out. And then they've got to have conversations with their players, like maybe a guy like Jake DeBresk, potential trade. Maybe they're going to have to make a call to Montreal about Brendan Gallagher. And they've also got to prepare for, you know, one of the biggest drafts in franchises.

history, do you think that could be some of the, I guess, the lack of additions to the organization that people are, I think rightly curious about, but I just feel like it's kind of crazy to demand those changes right now with all the things that they've got on their plate right now. Yeah, I don't disagree with that. I think, you know, what people want to see and I understand. Like there is skepticism and there's our questions about how willing is the organization to spend, you know, outside of just on player salaries. Are you willing to make the investments necessary?

And I think we are waiting to see signs of that. I think over time, we need to see signs of it. But to your point, you can't answer every question right away. It takes time, right? And I think the other part is to your point about you have a lot of big decisions coming up. And that's one thing that I was told, too, is do you want to create a ton of upheaval right away as you're trying to navigate through these early stages? So I think a lot of stuff that we're seeing now is kind of a hold.

And also in some ways, a bit of a trial, I think, for some people, some individuals, whether even in the front office, it's like, we'll give you more opportunity. We will give people a bigger seat at the table and let's see how it goes. And let's see if you have what it takes to do more. Because we talked to this before, but when Rutherford was running the ship, and I don't think it was necessarily, you know, this authoritarian regime that was striking everybody down that spoke up. I don't think it was quite like that, but he was very much the guy to make the decisions. And there were many times where, you know, he would kind of just make a decision on his own. Like he wouldn't, you know, ask around in terms of what do you think? And sometimes you would just kind of take charge of a situation.

I think some people felt that they could offer an opinion, but they weren't being heard at a ton. So I do think there is a sense that there are people inside the organization that people do believe in. Now, maybe you believe with them because you're already paying them salary. You want to see how it works out. You can be skeptical about these things. But I do think from the people I've talked to, there is this earnest idea that there are certain individuals, especially people in the analytics staff, that are smart, know what they're doing, that if you give them more voice, if you give them a bit, you know, a bigger seat at the table, they can maybe help you out a bit more. And perhaps even with an AGM on in the front office as well, perhaps give that person a bit more and see what they can do with it. Because I do think a lot of people kind of stayed in their lanes and weren't allowed to grow as much.

And now with RJ, because here, if you go back to when RJ was working under Jim Benning, you had RJ, you had Judd Brackett, you had guys like Kriski or you had Jay Wall. And I know you can always talk about people's acumen and whether they're as good as people made them out to be. But those guys didn't work together really well as a collective group, especially when Lyndon was there. He wanted to make sure that people work together. And they worked together. And I think RJ was part of letting people be empowered and have bigger voices. And as he's seen how that's work.

And I do think an idea that he has here is to give people, to empower his staff a bit more. And it's kind of like, okay, here's a tryout. Let's empower the staff we currently have. Let's see what they have. If they're the right people, great. If not, we'll make some changes. And that's something that's going to take some time to determine. I just wonder also in the last few years, the way things have been going for the Kinnocks or had been going for the Kinnocks.

If Jim Rutherford was like, I don't want to hear your ideas. I'm in control here. We are panicking. There's like, this is, this is crazy. This is not the time to empower our staff. Now, maybe it might have been, but I can see, you know, sometimes the dictator really comes out during crisis moments, and it feels like the Canucks have been in crisis for the last few years.

It feels different now. What are you hearing on Mani Mahaltra, if anything? Well, so honestly, I thought we were likely going to get an announcement for him to be the coach last week, and I wouldn't be shocked. People thought that would happen as well, like, internally. And I'm not saying it's for sure happening this week, but I think we're getting a lot closer. And I do think they've at least, like we talked about before, put together a list of individuals that they would talk to and interview if it doesn't work out with Manny. So I think

they've done some due diligence. But I think they're at the point now where probably something will get done this week. Like I've heard nothing to suggest that Manny's not going to be the coach. The closest thing I heard to any doubt was the fact that they've actually considered who their other options are going to be. If it doesn't, end up being Manny, but I think that's, you can just chalk that up to due diligence and making sure that you at least have your work done and for whatever reason, things don't work out with Manny. And I think the other part was talking to other individuals, part of his staff, and to your point earlier, about how busy RJ has been and the Siddins, I know, you know,

one of the twins was in Sweden or was in Europe for the world championships. We've seen RJ be very busy in terms of getting his own affairs in order, but also talking about AGM possibilities. And I do think a lot of these things have kind of delayed the process of some degree. So I don't think there's necessarily anything we have to look at and say, oh, man, he's demanding $5 million per year and he's not signing here or whatnot. I'm sure he's negotiating pretty hard because he should be. You are probably going to be looking to get some security,

especially after the last head coach only lasted one year. Whether there are extenuating circumstances or not around Adam Foote, I think that always gives the next head coach a bit of leverage saying, hey, the last guy only lasted a year. Like, why do I, why should I feel good about a three-year contract, right? I think that's just a natural leverage point that anybody coming in would use against the organization in terms of negotiating a contract. So I'm not sure that any of these negotiations have gone to the point where I think that people,

like say, Mani is not truly interested in the job. So until that changes, I'm going to operate under the assumption that Mani will be the next head coach. And I would imagine it would happen this week. Okay, Sat, real quick here. We've just got a couple minutes left, but what are you feeling good about when it comes to the Canucks? And what are you still, let's say, skeptical about? I'd say they have the third overall pick.

That's the thing I'm most excited about. Like, you actually have a high draft pick. You have some good, you have a second round. You have a second first round pick this year. I think just the collection of the selections themselves are the ones that feel the best about. My biggest question is just, honestly, is just the patience of seeing this through over the next little while.

You know, like it's easy to say all this stuff now. It's easy to do all this stuff now. It's does, does ownership truly have the stomach and desire to go through this methodical long process? And that's something we're not going to find out. Now, I don't think there's any question I have in the short term that's truly going to be answered by any actions that they do. Because everything's going to come down to what's going to be happening in long term. But the more I deal with the draft, the more I look around for the players that might be available at 20, and even at 33 and 41.

Like this is a really nice draft where, yeah, they don't quite have maybe the same depth on the high end that would say go down to the end of the first round. But that swap of players from, say, 20 to all the way to 50 to 60 is really interesting. And I think there are some really nice players available. And I'm not saying this draft is bulletproof in terms of getting those players there.

But I do think there's a real unique opportunity here to get some really nice high-end talent into the fold, with their four highest draft picks this year. Have you ever figured out the math or maybe there's not math and that's why it doesn't happen about moving up or down at the NHL draft and why it's so hard to get a handle on it? Because it seems like it's commonplace in almost every other draft. And when we get to the NHL draft,

we always talk about packaging picks to either move up or down, but it never really seems to play out like we think it would. Honestly, I just think GM's in the NHL are too scared. Yeah, I think it's as simple as that. I think it's as simple as that. And we hear it all the time about like, well, if you make a big move on a draft pick, that can cost you your job. And, you know, I think there's a real reluctance.

And I think especially when you're talking about 18-year-olds and I know in the NBA, you're drafting similarly, similarly age players too. But generally, they make an impact right away. Guys don't sit for years before they become like you kind of know right away, whether a guy's going to be a player or not. And the NFL, they're a lot more advanced, obviously. And the NLB is just a bit of a crapshoot. But with hockey, we talk with 18.

year olds like there's so much variance and i think there is this this risk aversion to say well why am i going to make such a big bet to go up two or three or four spots for an 18 year old who still has a 40 percent chance of now working on in the first place and i think those those factors create a lot of risk aversion when it comes moving up and down the draft and i think generally the price is so high to do so so it needs a circumstance like we saw in 1999 or even in 2008 when national and the least traded from seven to five in the Luke Shen trade that you need to view a draft as being not quite as high or not quite as good and perhaps people are a bit sour on it and that would allow people to perhaps be a bit more cavalier to trade these draftics and this year's draft is

it's kind of funny because you would think of it it would be one of those where teams should be open to making more moves because there seems to be more variance but there is enough love for these top eight nine players and I think there's enough they're close enough in terms of their overall talent, that somebody may not want to pay the price to begin with. And if a team's only getting a second or third round pick to go down two or three spots, sometimes you're reluctant to do so in the first place.

Yeah, because you watch the NFL draft and it's like, oh, we need to, you know, someone in our secondary to start next year and, you know, falls to you. You're drafting at 18 and the guys there at 17. Like, that makes sense. That dynamic doesn't really exist in the NHL at all. Really, yeah. Okay, anyway, sat, we're up against our time.

You don't want to trade up for a kid that's going to be like a bust. Well, yeah. It's the worst thing, right? We just don't know. We trade it up for him. It sucks. Yeah, you'd have to be so enamored and so in love with one particular prospect that you're willing to sell for him. Otherwise, you're like, I'll just take one of the, like you said, one of the eight kids that we really like at this spot.

Yeah. Yeah, usually is how it goes. Yep. Sat, thanks for this, buddy. Appreciate it. Anytime, boys. Have a good one. That's Saty R. Shaw here on the Halford & Bruff Show on SportsNet 650.

There's no way. There's no way. And I hope I don't jinx it here. But there's no way they're going to lose to Bosnia and lose to Qatar. I don't see that I don't want to say this out loud but I'll take a step further I could see them having two disappointing draws

in the first two matches Yeah And needing a win Putting unnecessary pressure and emphasis On that final group stage match Against Switzerland I think they'll beat Qatar Bosnia I'm less certain about

If you go into that I think they'll beat Qatar I'm fairly comfortable with that I think that they'll be fine But I am throwing out the possibility of it not all going according to plan Because right now you know what the plan is and it's to get to the Switzerland match on six points.

Yeah. Now, if you go into the Switzerland match on four points, you're probably still in decent shape, but that means that you've probably drawn with Bosnia and beaten Qatar. Yes. And let's be honest here, every team not named Qatar in that group is thinking about taking three points off Qatar.

Yeah. Okay? You don't want to leave an awful lot to chance in that Switzerland match, which is why opening against Bosnian. Bosnia is going to be so important, and which is why putting the boots to Qatar is going to be vitally important, right? By the way, a lot of people that are looking on this from the outside and haven't been invested with all the World Cup qualifying. People might wonder, well, wait a minute. Bosnia beat Italy to qualify for the World Cup.

So why would Canada be favored against Bosnia? Well, I mean, if you watch the Bosnia-I-I-I-I-Match, first off, it was a draw. I went to penalties. It's not like they beat them in regulation or extra time. But, I mean, it's a draw, technically speaking. They went to the coin flip of penalties. They defended very well. They scored the one goal that they needed.

Italy was wildly disappointing. And if you look at... And they were in Bosnia, too. I think that matters. Right. But if you look at prior to the Italy match, Bosnia's form. was not scintillating. To get to the playoff,

get past the semi-level, get to the final playoff against Italy. They also needed penalties. Right? Against the team, a Welsh team that was just fine, but I would say in that match, also largely carried the run of play.

If you look at their form prior to that, not a lot of wins. Look, they're a proud footballing nation, and they do have some talent, but their best player might be Edin Jekko and he's 40 years old. and they have a minimal amount of talent. I don't think they have the depth that Canada has,

although that would be when Canada was fully healthy. Now, that being said... Canada is like three healthy guys right now. That being said, you've got to understand with a lot of these, like, quote unquote, smaller European countries, they have players that are routinely playing in like the Bundesliga, the Austrian league,

very good leagues and these guys are all playing their trade with regularity. So the non-household names are still very good players. They've also been tested in quality. Well, that's a big thing. That's another thing. And I think we're all, when was the last high pressure game that Canada played? High pressure. It wasn't a gold cup.

It was probably two years ago at the Copa America. Yeah. By the way, there's more on Brendan Gallagher here. Okay. Gallagher himself has said that he'd be open to going to Vancouver. I'll just review. Yeah. I'll just review what Eric Engels wrote.

Gallagher says if we're up to him, he'd stay in my mind. Montreal for the rest of his career, but at least he'll have a say in where he goes. He was asked specifically about the opportunity to go home to Vancouver, and he made it clear it's one he would welcome. Let's do it. He will discuss with his wife and agent about destination. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.