Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 6/13/24

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they chat the latest 'Nucks news with The Athletic Vancouver & Canuck Talk's Thomas Drance, plus the boys tell us what they learned.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Jalen Brown with the flush! A savage slam from Brown. I think they would love to get canceled. It's Rutherford, man. He's aggressive. If Elias Patterson next year shows up and this is what we're going to get, I mean, that changes the entire complexion of where this team is going the next four or five years.

Oh, no! We suck again! Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. This is Alfred and his brother, Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brother of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for honda customers they have a friendly knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for be it sales financing service or parts we are in hour one of the program hour one is brought to you by north star metal recycling vancouver's

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We have a big show ahead. There's a lot to get into. Our guest list today begins at 6.30. Sportsnet golf analyst Adam Stanley is going to join us because the U.S. Open is underway from Pinehurst, numero dos. That's number two. How many Pinehursts are there again?

There's like 10, I think. Pinehurst, number two, the host of this year's U.S. Open. Look at the leaderboard. Tiger Woods just one off the lead, one under through four. We'll talk to Adam Stanley about all that and more coming up at 6 leaderboard. Tiger Woods just one off the lead. One under through four. We'll talk to Adam Stanley about all that and more coming up at 630. You want to ask him, I bet, about Rory McIlroy. And I want to ask him about Jon Rahm and his toe.

Jon Rahm has a toe problem. He didn't play. What more do you want to know about it? Which toe it is? Has Jon Rahm ruined Jon Rahm by going to live was that where you got the toe injury that's where you got the toe infection from sand yeah the sand i thought it was goat it might be goat we don't know a lot of deli too many deli meets yeah he's rolling around on a rascal so 6 30 adam stanley's gonna join us for a little u.s open talk seven o'clock

adnan verk our mlb insider from mlb network uh eight o'clock, Thomas Drance from The Athletic Vancouver. On the latest on the Vancouver Canucks, we have a little bit of news and notes and some audio from Elliott Friedman about, among other things, Jake Gensel. So we'll talk to Drance about that at 8 o'clock at Nantverk at 7. Adam Stanley at 6.30. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving

construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Last night in the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics took a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Dallas Mavericks. In that final, a 106-99 win in Game 3. The Boston Celtics are now one win away from a record 18th NBA title. And that's the most exciting thing,

me talking about it in that kind of fashion that has happened in these NBA finals. Yeah, I was desperate for some sports last night, so I sat down and watched this game from the beginning to the end. And credit to the Mavs, I suppose, for making it interesting in the end. But this series is over. The Celtics are going to win this series.

Yes, they are. And it's been a disappointing series. It's been pretty bad NBA playoffs, to be perfectly honest with you. Not for the Boston Celtics. If you're a Boston Celtics fan, you're very happy, but it hasn't been very competitive for them along the way, right?

A lot of people are going to make a big deal out of the easy path that they've had, considering some of the teams that they played or maybe some of the teams that they haven't played or the injuries that certain teams had, like the Milwaukee Bucks. But I think you have to look at how good the Celtics were during the regular season and the fact they were locked and loaded to get to the NBA Finals and win the NBA Finals, and that's exactly what they're doing. A lot of talking points, actually, despite the fact that the series has been so lopsided and has really lacked a lot of the things that we thought it was going to have going into this.

Yeah, the Kyrie element of it has fallen short, and that's just because Kyrie didn't play along I suppose right like you know like well he was also bad in Boston he had 16 points in game 1 12 in game 2 so he didn't even put up a valiant effort that's sort of in the second part of the equation but he didn't he hasn't acted out no he he's been sort of eh which is kind of the same like shrug of the shoulders I'd give to the entire Dallas Mavericks performance. Through the first three games, they've tried. They've fought at times.

But the reality of it is, there's an early reality of it is, they needed Luka and Kyrie to be on point, all guns blazing every game. And they haven't got it yet. Do you think the Milwaukee Bucks might be thinking, hmm, maybe we shouldn't have been so haphazard with the way we traded Drew Holiday to Portland, and then Portland just trades him to Boston?

I think so. I think there's a lot of teams right now that are looking at this postseason with, well, regret, because anytime you don't win the title, you've got regret. But there was a road there for a lot of different teams. I mean, I look at the Denver Nuggets. Like, what if the Denver Nuggets didn't banana peel it now against the Minnesota Timberwolves in their playoff series

and then had a better, I mean, look. But they did, right? Right. But they did. Denver would have been a much more interesting opponent now with the benefit of hindsight than the Dallas Mavericks in this NBA final. So there's a couple things that I want to get to here, though.

The Luka Doncic conversation. If you want to talk about a star player that's going to go through a very rough offseason, look no further than the very talented, but at times mercurial Slovenian star who last night fouled out with about four and a half minutes remaining for the first time in his nba playoff career luke has never fouled out of a playoff game before and he decided to do it in game three of the nba finals kind of started early i remember

you took like a bad his first foul was just careless the knock on luca has always been brilliant offensive player amazing passer tremendous, can score in a variety of fashions. Not all that interested in playing proper defense and maybe doesn't have the discipline and the physical makeup to do it. He's the guy that likes to get his points and likes to play offense. Yeah. He's an artist. He's a magician with the basketball. The defensive part of it is more like a chore.

Yeah. That's more for guys like, I don't know, Drew Holiday. There you go. That's more for guys like, I don't know, Drew Holiday. There you go. That's a guy that plays defense. Anyway, I bring this up because yesterday Luka files out.

Now, if they were going to win this game and if they were going to make this a series, Luka and Kyrie were going to have to have the kind of game

where both went off in the same game. It didn't happen in Boston. It was kind of shaping up last night because Kyrie had a very good game. But Luka fouled out with four and a half left. So he wasn't able to be that foil down the stretch to play off whatever Kyrie was doing, which is what makes the Mavericks a very tough opponent. After the game, Luka did not shoulder a lot of responsibility about fouling out.

As a matter of fact, he kind of put it on the referees. Here's what Luca Doncic had to say after fouling out a game three as the Mavericks went down 0-3 in the NBA Finals. Just take us through your emotions when you foul out of the game and you see your team trying to fight back into it. I mean, yeah. We had a good chance.

We were close. Just didn't get it. I wish I was down there. Any other questions for Luca? We've got Tim right here, first row. Tim McMahon, ESPN. Luca, what did you think of the whistles that went against you in the fourth quarter?

I mean, I don't know. We couldn't play physical, so I don't know. I don't want to say nothing, but, you know, six fouls in the NBA Finals, where I basically am like this. Come on, man. Better than that.

Six fouls in the NBA Final. Come on, man. Better than that. Six fouls in the NBA final. Come on, man. Be better than that. That's a shot at the officials. Now, this clip was making the round. You know who else probably bears some responsibility there? Luka Doncic? The guy who took six fouls?

Yeah, yeah. It was a choice. He made a choice to go up there and speak the way that he did now the biggest murder of the night happened uh shortly thereafter when espn basketball analyst and reporter brian winhorst went on sports center with scott van pelt and absolutely destroyed luka donchich and his approach to game three here's what it sounded like i thought it was perfect that luka fell onto the ground there in an unacceptable position to put himself in with four minutes left with five fouls and then immediately looks at the bench and says you better bleeping challenge it

as if it's the bench's fault that he just made a terrible play. I'm standing here in the Mavericks tunnel. Over there is the Celtics tunnel. That's where the winners are. If Luka's ever going to be a winner coming out of this tunnel here, he is going to have to use what's happened in this finals as a learning experience. His defensive performance is unacceptable. He is a hole on the court. The Celtics are attacking him. They are ahead

in this series because they have attacked him defensively. And you've got a situation here where Luka's complaining about the officiating. They have begged him. They have talked with him. They have pleaded with him. He is costing his team because of how he treats the officials. He's a brilliant player. He does so many things well. They are here because of how he

did. His performance in this game is unacceptable and the reason why the Mavericks are not going to win. He's got to get over this. The fact that he came out after the game and blamed the officials showed me he's nowhere close yet. So maybe over the summer, somebody will get to him because nobody with the Mavericks or anybody else in his life has, and that's where the Mavericks are at this point.

They're never going to get to this tunnel with the trophy if he doesn't improve those aspects of his game. Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave? It was a big bomb to drop on a guy that, let's be honest, is probably the major reason why the Mavericks are here. It's him and Kyrie, but he's the guy in Dallas, and he's been for a long time. But that is a real, real slap in the face, a cold slap of reality for Luka Doncic last night.

So the Panthers finally got to Edmonton ahead of game three tonight against the Oilers, and a lot of people are wondering, could this be a break for the Oilers that the Panthers had these travel issues getting to Edmonton? They chose to fly out on Wednesday instead of Tuesday. And Paul Murray said, we didn't like the idea of getting them up early enough on Tuesday

to get in at a reasonable time in Edmonton and he said we did not see a value in it he's like we don't want me in Edmonton let alone get up early to be in Edmonton um but then Wednesday rolled around there were all sorts of weather issues around Fort Lauderdale and then they didn't get into Edmonton until I guess later yesterday um and I I think in Edmonton right now the Oilers are looking for anything that might help them because game one went fine the Oilers lost it but the Oilers played well in it. Game two did not go well for them. And it looked like they were running out of gas. Guys like Darnell Nurse, Evander Kane. I mean, Nurse got banged up early in the game and could barely play.

Evander Kane has been injured for a while now and could barely play. Warren Fogle got tossed, and that didn't help the fact that they were already injured. The ice times were all over the place. Evan Bouchard had to play a ton, and he had a rough game, had a bad giveaway. It just looks like in that game, too, that the Panthers were kind of on their way to winning this series so you go home

now and you're and you're the Oilers and you're hoping number one that the Panthers are maybe a little out of sorts because of the travel issues granted there were two days between games because so I'm not sure it's a it's a huge huge deal um you're hoping that some of the guys get a little rest with the two days off. You hope you get a boost from the crowd. And I think maybe the one that might actually have something to it is that you go home now and if you're Chris Knobloch, the head coach, you might be able to get some of your top players away from guys like Barkov and Forsling.

These defensive aces, these defensive gems that have been so controlling of the other team's best players in these playoffs. And lest we forget that McDavid has but one assist in this series, and Dreisaitl has no points over the first two games. Yeah, and Corey Perry sounds like he's going to draw back into the lineup tonight in Edmonton for game three. So Knobloch making yet another move. I think it sounds like Darnell Nurse is going to play. He's going to play. Yeah, I don't know how effective he's going to be

or how much he's going to play. Yeah. And I guess there's the decision with do you dress an extra defenseman and put Cody Ceci back in the lineup, which probably makes sense, but... I don't know, man. It doesn't really matter, because the point is,

the Edmonton Oilers are going nowhere in this series if Drysaddle and McDavid don't get going points-wise. Yeah. That's pretty much it. This is a real... They've had one goal over the first two games, and it came from Matthias Ekholm.

It's real simple. It's real straightforward. Actually, if you go back, and you do the benefit of hindsight being 20-20, Edmonton's looking back, and it was a blown opportunity in game one. That was their opportunity to steal a game. They really weren't that good in game two. They were much better in game one. And the crazy thing about it is, despite being, I'd say,

the better team by a good margin, they failed to beat Sergei Bobrovsky a single time. And that's going to be an issue. If they can't get their offense going, they will have energy tonight, no doubt. I don't know if this whole flight pattern thing is going to be a big deal. Mostly, it's comical because the subtext to all of it is that Florida wanted to spend as little time in Edmonton as humanly possible. If they could have flown in the day of the game today,

they might have. Well, think of what the atmosphere is like in Edmonton. Even if the Panthers are staying at one of the hotels around the arena, which I believe they will be, do they really want to go into a city for an extra two days that is pretty pumped for these finals? So all told, the Panthers are going to be, they arrived 22 hours before puck drop,

which is probably less than ideal with your biorhythm coaches and your sleep doctors and everything else. But I think it's more about the day yesterday that they had that was probably just a lot of wasted time. So they were delayed over three hours by monsoons, monsoons in the Florida area. And actually there was a bunch of, you know, sort of plebes like the beat writers and stuff that had a real tough time

getting out of their period because they had to fly commercial and they didn't have the benefit of having a PJ to take them all the way to Edmonton. So it's been a bit chaotic. I got a feeling that Edmonton, I mean, if I had to throw money down on tonight's game, I'd probably throw down on Edmonton. This is besides the fact that their backs are completely up against the wall. We all know that I don't want the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup,

but I also don't want this series to be a dud because when I watched game one, I was like, I think this is going to be a good series. This is entertaining hockey. There seems to be quite a bit of passion here. And I don't want it to end up like the NBA finals where the Celtics won the first two games at home. And then they went to Dallas and it was, you know. Again, Dallas kind of made it interesting in the end. But for most of the game, the Celtics were in charge.

And when the Celtics hung on, it was kind of like, all right, the series is over. I don't want that to happen for this series. I want an entertaining series. I want Florida to win it in the end, but I want an entertaining series. Well, this could be a referendum of sorts on McDavid because you spoke at length over this entire season

about how Connor McDavid's never played in any big games before. Well, this has been the playoff run that has, in part, reshaped that narrative. But if McDavid goes into a Stanley Cup final and does not have any sort of tangible impact offensively on this series. Well, people will bring up all the great players of the past that had a tough time the first time they got to the Stanley Cup finals. For sure. Wayne Gretzky with the Edmonton Oilers against the New York Islanders.

The Oilers lost that series and then had a rematch the next year and they won it and they went on to win four of the next five Stanley Cups. So I don't think it's a – I think that's the wrong word, but I think it would add to the narrative of Connor McDavid and frankly, this Oilers team as a whole that even though they got to the Stanley Cup final, they're not quite there yet. Now, all this could change if they win tonight.

Well, they have to win tonight. And it's not going to be easy, but they easily could. You could easily see that the Oilers win that game. What's going on in st louis well the st louis blues at 8 a.m our time this morning are scheduled for a major announcement regarding their front office personnel uh the only reason this really became intriguing last night well i mean it's the st louis blues they're marginally intriguing on their own but nobody had any follow-ups for hours as to what the move was going to be. All of your regular St. Louis Blues beat reporters,

including Jeremy Rutherford from The Athletic, silent on social media after the announcement came out. And then there was nothing from the likes of Elliott Friedman or anybody as to exactly what this is. Now, all the Blues said is that the owner, Stillman, and the general manager, Doug Armstrong, would be speaking to the media. So the fact that Armstrong was up there kind of played down the notion that he was going to be fired.

I don't think a lot of guys get to go up there and announce their own firing. They're like, I am dismissed. I've had a good run. Didn't do a great job. Yeah. I think this,

what were you suggesting, Laddy, that this might be an assistant general manager coming aboard in the form of Alex Steen? I've seen that making the rounds as well. New mascot. Jeremy Rutherford is suggesting a new title for Steen. Yeah.

And you know what? If that's the case, then we should all suggest to the St. Louis Blues that you're not allowed to do this. Yeah. Should we carry this live and just bring it to answer? You can't say, like, press conference, major hockey ops announcement. Major's doing a lot of heavy lifting there, St. Louis Blues. Unless they're kicking Rutherford to be president of hockey ops

and they're announcing a new general manager. Armstrong. Oh, sorry. Jeremy Rutherford's the reporter. Right, right. That would be a story. Jim's not going anywhere. Jeremy Rutherford's the reporter. That would be a story. Jim's not going anywhere. Speaking of Jim Rutherford, let's finish the opening

segment in which we subjected you all to about 13 minutes of uninterrupted NBA talk with some Vancouver Canucks stuff, okay? This is Elliott Friedman yesterday on the Jeff Merrick Show talking about the latest in the Jake Gensel rumor mill and where the Vancouver Canucks sit should Gensel and when Gensel

and everybody goes to market. We got about a minute and a half of audio here. Freed on the Jeff Merrick show about Jake Gensel and the Vancouver Canucks. I still think it's too soon to proclaim a winner on this, but I do think the Canucks do look at it in a very real way. I don't think it's easy for them to do. I think what this says to me, and we talked about this the other day, is I think the Canucks are conceding they won't be able to do Lindholm.

I never want to say never, but as it stands right now, I think they're moving on and saying, okay, who's our next target? I think they would love to get Gensel. I don't think it's easy. I don't think it's impossible, but do I think they're looking into it? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that.

Look, it's Rutherford, man. He's aggressive. Of course, he's going to look into it Well, they better get someone They better get Someone that gets The fan base excited And more importantly

The team excited, because Right now we're hearing That it's unlikely that They're going to re-sign Lindholm. And I think that's fair enough. I would have a lot of hesitation about giving Lindholm a big contract at his age. I thought, just to jump in, I thought the Lindholm thing was always like more a figment of people's imagination than reality. Well, I think the Canucks tried.

I'm sure they tried. Yeah, but I think if they went to 7x7, that's trying pretty hard on Lindholm. And then Zdorov, another, well, Zdorov is a fan favorite in his own right. I think people were impressed with Lindholm, with what they saw, especially in the playoffs, or maybe only in the playoffs. But Zdorov, a lot of people wanted him back just because he's that big, tough, physical defenseman who played very well in the playoffs. He's got a great personality, sticks up for his teammates.

Who wouldn't want a guy like that on their team? But let's say that the Canucks strike out on those two in terms of bringing them back. Dakota Joshua, if I'm Dakota Joshua, I'm going to market and I'm trying to get as much as I possibly can. So let's say they don't get him either. He's too rich for the Canucks blood. Yeah. And, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if Toronto went after both Joshua and Zdorov.

Right. Craig Berube gets a couple big dudes in the door. Yeah, yeah. He's 10 years late, said coach. They better get – all I'm saying is they better get someone. You know, I think Jake Gensel is realistic, but also there's going to be all these other teams trying to get Jake Gensel. It's kind of like when Martin H.S. became available through trade.

Still is. Through reports, you know, like everyone in the league was calling Carolina on that guy. So, you know, there's 30 other teams besides Vancouver and Carolina. So the odds of getting the HS, not high. And I think it's probably a similar story with Jake Gensel. Like there's going to be a lot of, there's a lot of cap space now. Yeah.

This flat cap era is over. And while the Canucks do have's a lot of cap space now yeah this flat cap era is over and while the Canucks do have um quite a lot of cap space some of that's going to be earmarked still for Filip Peronic and we'll see if the Canucks can get that one done um all I'm saying is I hope they're doing a lot of tampering because they need some plan A's plan B's C's, because it's going to be real disappointing if the Canucks follow up that really great season with like, we ran out of time. We're back to the old era. Well, when it comes to Gensel, there's a real opportunity. Bubble team part two, right?

When it comes to Gensel, there's a real opportunity to do some good old-fashioned tampering because you know who his agent is? Ben Hankinson, the same agent that represents Brock Besser. So I say, you know, Rutherford, Alvin, do the tampering. Just don't get caught. And if you get caught, make sure it's a monetary fine and not a draft pick. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. And what we just have to call Thomas Grant's erotica. Thomas Grant's erotica. Course. Thomas Grant's erotica. Expecting goals. Thomas Grant's erotica. Expected goals. Thomas. Trans-erotica.

Top. Bottom. Thomas. Trans-erotica. Regression. Thomas. Trans-erotica. PDO.

Thomas. Trans-erotica. 801 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford and Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

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To the phone lines we go. Thomas Drance from Canucks Talk in the Athletic Vancouver joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Drancer? Good morning, gentlemen. So let's run through this. Nikita Zadorov seems like he might be gone. Elias Lindholm sounds like he might be gone. Elias Lindholm

sounds like he might be gone. Jake Gensel sounds like the Canucks are interested in him. We missing anything else here, Drancer? I think those are the big notes, you know, and all of it within the context of Canucks have yet to sign one of their many pending unrestricted free agents. And if that's sort of how this proceeds, like if we're just waiting to see what a relatively team-friendly Myers deal looks like, the Canucks are going to have a lot of purchasing power at the draft, right, on the trade market and come July 1. What would a team-friendly Tyler Myers deal look like? Well, the most team-friendly possibility, right? Is that, you know,

everyone agrees like, Hey, look, we're going to do a deal. It's going to be worth around this much. And let's sort of see how it fits, right? Like, let's see how it fits. And we kind of do it once we see exactly where the other chips fall, right? Like that's the most team friendly. The most team friendly is the, is the work together with the guy, and then it's like, yeah, you know, if we need the cap space, we'll tack an extra year on and bring the cap hit down, right? And at that point, you'll be 38 or whatever, 37. So that would be the most team-friendly deal.

But, you know, I mean, it's hard for me to imagine, like, you think about what Myersers did last year right roughly 30 points played top four minutes right-handed six seven like it's hard for me to escape the the conclusion that his contributions were probably worth somewhere like 5.1 5.5 million right i know that sounds that sounds wild, but it's, but it's genuinely just true. Like market value for players that produce like that, it's probably four and a half plus maybe, maybe five and a half. So like he was almost, he was almost a fair market deal at a $6 million cap it. I'd assume that his next deal is at least half of that, but I don't think it's a lot less than that, right? Like, I still think you're talking about $2.5 to $3 million,

given that the market would for sure bear that if Myers was open to moving and hit the open market and received sort of open bids. So I would think something like 3 times 3, maybe 2.5 times 4, something like that. I think that's in the offing. Another right-shot defenseman that the Canucks have to figure out what they're going to do with Philip Hronik.

In your opinion, is that more likely to be done before the draft and before free agency so the Canucks can know where they stand with him and then they might have to react in a certain way in free agency, depending on what happens with Hronik. Yeah, this is a tough one because I do believe, like, you know, I heard Satyar Shah talk about the Canucks. If the deal's not done by the draft, is there a possibility that he gets traded?

And, you know, we know that there's certain hardball tactics that this management group will use, and bringing up the possibility of a trade is one way that they've gotten really high-level star players to the table, including Elias Pettersson not too many months ago. So, you know, I think that intel's good, and yet I know that the Canucks' preference is going to be to get Hronik done, and I know that their preference is going to be to get him done long-term,

not sort of drag this out with a one-year deal and kick the can and on and on. And so where they're going to probably end up, I suspect, me reading the tea leaves and just sort of understanding how these negotiations typically play out is, ahead of the draft, they're going to have to ask themselves whether they're prepared, most likely, to make a non-emotional decision because these deals with restricted free agents who have a ton of leverage, they typically last into July. They typically wait because leverage points shift as you get closer to an arbitration hearing.

Hronik has a lot of leverage, but? But one thing he almost certainly does not want, given his success last season, is a one-year deal, right? When you have a season that's, you know, 20 points higher than your career high, and you've played top pair minutes, and you've been a major contributor on a winning team, a team that won 50 games and won their division, I mean, that's the sort of season you want to get paid off of, right?

Especially if you play defense, especially if you block shots, especially if you spend a lot of time along the wall with some big hulking forwards in this league. Like, you want security, right? So there actually is a moment right ahead of a hearing where the leverage kind of shifts. It's like, if we step in that room, you're on a one-year contract. You're another year away from having that sort of generational wealth and security

that you could have now if we do a deal, right? But there's also a lot of cards, obviously, that are in Heronix's hands, right? He's got a fabulous arbitration case, on and on. He's got the possibility of hitting the open market if he plays out next year as a 27-year-old right-handed defenseman who's probably going to have another 40-point season. And the cap might be, you know, 93, 94 million, right? I mean, that's a nice spot to be in if you're willing to wait that year. And yet, you know, we know that that's a level of risk that players don't typically court, right they're typically pretty hesitant to roll the dice on.

So these deals are deals that typically get done as the leverage points shift ahead of arbitration, sometimes in early August, sometimes in late July, sometimes in mid-July, and that's well after the draft. So I think the Canucks are going to be faced here with a key decision, which is, you know, are we prepared to wait? Like, are we prepared to wait?

Are we prepared to earmark nine-ish million, you know, knowing that Heronic's deal probably comes in well under that? And, you know, we might have an extra one and a half or two million in cap space to play with, but at a time when there's, you there's less sort of juice on the market, less things to spend it on. I think that's the key dynamic here. And, you know, of course, if things pace a certain way,

I'm sure the club will consider its options. But I do think expecting it to get done before the draft is as hard as the team might work on it. You know, this is the hardest moment, really, of the offseason to get done before the draft is as hard as the team might work on it. You know, this is the hardest moment really of the offseason to get that deal done. It feels like the other side of it is sort of going to be more fruitful, especially if agents have been being like, why would we sign with arbitration rights before we see what, you know, the top defensemen on this unrestricted free agent market go for? That could also shift

things. It's pretty tough to get a deal done over the next two weeks, two and a half weeks. I feel like it becomes a little bit easier. The leverage tilts a little more in Vancouver's favor right on the eve of an arbitration hearing in the summer. Taking into account the season the Canucks just had and the momentum this team has in the market and all the free agents that they have to deal with is this one of the most complicated off seasons in Canucks history you know what I actually think it's not I think it's high stakes but the club has so much flex that I don't think it's as complicated even as last offseason, to be totally honest with you, right?

Like, they entered, this time last year, the Canucks were over the cap. They were entering the offseason over the cap, and it took, you know, the Oliver Ekman-Larsen buyout primarily, and then a variety of, like, bargain shopping, and then a series of moves during the season to construct the team that we ultimately saw in the playoffs, right? Like, they had to reallocate basically $9.5 million from the wings to the defense and the center ice position as the season went along, in part because of, like, Beauvilliers and Kuzmenko and, like, some bets that they'd made that didn't work.

And, you know, they exercised the largest buyout ever, and they had to, you know, scrimp and save in free agency, right? A bunch of one-year deals, And then Pew Suter in August. And, like, to me, that's a more complicated series of moves because they were so restrained in what they could actually execute by where they were positioned cap-wise. What we're seeing this summer, I mean, club has a lot of holes to fill. Don't get me wrong.

There's, you know, 14 one-way guys basically in the organization right now or or um two-way guys like phil d giuseppe who i think we can reasonably expect to play games for them next year uh so that's you know nine jobs there's a lot of work to do but they have 27 and a half million to do it with i mean that's that in some ways that's not complicated that's conventional that's just you, try to use that space as efficiently as possible. Try to land as many good players as you can with that space. And try to do it in a way that doesn't, you know, like, take on too much long-term risk. To me, that's almost more straightforward stuff. But the stakes of getting this right are huge, given that, you know, this team needs to keep improving, right?

Like they have to be better than they were last year to repeat what they did last year, right? Without doubt, I mean, they're not going to shoot a historic percentage for 50 games again, most likely, right? It's hard to be at the top. So, yeah, I mean, it's a high stakes summer. There are some complications,

but it doesn't feel as complex in some ways as like most of the last five off seasons, in part because the club actually has, you know, untangled to some extent their salary gap situation and can kind of behave a little more conventionally this summer, which is, you know, a nice relief, I think. Do you like their chances of landing some sort of difference maker, whether it's Jake Gensel or some other legit top six winger? Yeah. I mean, Jake Gensel, the thing we – so I want to try and say this without being like, oh, Jason, be more careful, because I'm not doing that. But top six winger is not what Jake Gensel is for me, right? Like Jake Gensel is a top of the lineup star, Jake Gensel's a top-of-the-lineup star, right?

And I think there's a material difference there that's, like, really important that I want to obsess over here because a top six winger is not going to cut it, right? Like, Tyler Toffoli's a top six winger and a really nice player. And I think if the Canucks signed him, I think Canucks fans would be excited about that. And yet, that's not really what the Canucks need. What the Canucks need is their answer to Kachuk, Hyman, Robertson, and Panarin. I'm just taking the final four teams. They need that game-breaker, star-level contributor who plays top of the lineup, not just top six guy.

And so you look at the unrestricted free agent market, and it's like if Sam Reinhardt doesn't change teams, and maybe he does, but it seems like there's a widespread expectation that Florida will move heaven and earth to make sure he stays. There's Jake Gensel, and there's nobody else that matches that description. So one of one. So you need to win the bidding for Jake Gensel. And look, the Canucks will have familiarity there, right?

They obviously have a management group and a coach that worked with Gensel in Pittsburgh. Maybe that helps. You know, I'm not going to count them out by any means because this is an aggressive front office and they tend to find ways to land big fishes when they chase them hard. But Gensel's also going to have a lot of bidders, right? Like, you know, you can talk about a $7 million or a seven-year, $9 million valuation or something, but it's like, what if Chicago comes with $14 million times three? Like, there's some weird stuff that could happen

in the marketplace this summer, given some of the odd needs of teams, especially Utah and Chicago, who have virtually unlimited cap space and, you know, unique incentives. Their odds of landing a top star-level player, you know, I think the fact is, is if you are able to land Gensel,

that's exactly what this team needs. I think that's a real, like real evidence of this club to understanding the assignment, right? Which is that you have all this cap space, you have this dream season, you know, you want to be protective of what worked, but you also need to get better, right?

Like it's not enough to just double down on this team. You need to improve it if you're going to get to that next level as a club. And so, you know, with Gensel, yeah, I mean, it would be a huge ad, would be exactly what they need in my mind. But you are going to have to emerge at the end of like a pretty significant gauntlet of teams that will also be chasing and that will have equal or more resources and a variety of other things in their favor. So, you know, I do think there's going to be like they need to be able to proceed with the flexibility of chasing. And yet I still think that's the level of peace

they're going to need, even if they can't win that swoop sticks, right? Like even if Gensel decides to go elsewhere, I still think that's the type of peace they need to find. And you're not finding that in free agency. Like if it breaks down like that, that's where I think you need to look to the trade market. And there are names that, you know,

I think are going to be available in that tier of player over the course of the next six to eight months, whether it's Nikolai Yielers or Mitch Marner or Trevor Zegers. And, you know, I just think it's like, you, you want to use the use unrestricted for agency, but I don't think you want to pivot from Gensel. If you lose on it out on him to to the next best target on the open market. There's only one of those guys on the open market.

The others are going to have to be acquired perhaps a little more creatively. What do they have to offer in a trade? Well, they have two blue-chip prospects with meaningful value, right? They have a couple players, anyway, under contract who I think would interest teams, some younger players, Hoaglander types. You know, they have a salary matching piece, obviously, in Ilya Mikheyev, although that doesn't like help juice your offer from the rival team's perspective, most likely. And then they have the 2025 first round pick. I mean, those are the those are the big chips, like those are the big assets that you could play.

And, you know, you don't you don't love to hear it, right? No one wants to spend, but if you're talking about an Ehlers quality piece coming back, at least a couple of those are going to have to probably hit the table. We're speaking to Thomas Dranz from The Athletic Vancouver and Canuck Stock here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Dranz, I wanted to circle back to one of the teams that you mentioned in what could be a very interesting offseason, and that's Utah. I think the reason that I'm so intrigued by this is that it's a very unprecedented moment here in professional sports. Never mind just the NHL of the way that one team became inactive and then moved and then it goes to this market.

And it's not an expansion team. It's a fully functional NHL team with players and everything. And you've got an owner that probably wants to make a splash. So to me, unprecedented means unpredictable. And unpredictable means exciting. Do you see it in a similar vein? I do, yeah. Well, especially because when Ryan Smith took over the Utah Jazz,

within four or five months, they'd extended both Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell to max term contracts. Right. I mean, like max, max, NBA max deals. Like, we're talking 250 plus million in contracts handed out to those two gentlemen within four months of Smith taking over the Jazz.

That's spending power, baby. Like that's, that's a, that's a fair departure from what are the coyotes going to do this off season? Right? Like which LTI retired guy are they going to acquire? Right? Like how's the NHL's designated laundromat going to run itself? Now in, in, with the jazz, they ultimately had to pivot, right? He Smith hired Danny Ainge. Danny Ainge has locked himself into a rebuilding mode, basically. Gobert and Donovan Mitchell are both gone.

So, you know, things changed. Was evident immediately. Like, you could feel Ryan Smith's fingerprints on the spending profile of the Jazz immediately and it was at you know top 10 NBA levels um that's that's that's a big deal for uh the you know the 32nd NHL franchise and the team that's been like finding creative ways to hit the cap floor if they're spending to the upper limit, I mean, that's a massive change. That's like, you know, 40 million effectively being inserted into the system that we typically would wait and like sort of watch and expect to go unused or to be used creatively,

you know, through like accounting hijinks to, to in order to hit the cap floor. So, you know, not only do I think Utah will probably behave pretty aggressively, especially with defensemen, right? They have no defensemen under contract for next year behind a pretty promising group of forwards. But, you know, I think there could be like real ramifications from that in terms of inflating player salaries,

like in terms of driving market prices in a way that we're not used to just because there's another you know there's another hand at the table like i honestly think it's going to meaningfully shift things just because the coyotes have been you know so skinflint in their approach to filling out their roster over the years this is going to be like the summer of quantitative easing in uh the nhl market or something like that like that's going to be like the summer of quantitative easing In the NHL market Or something like that We're going to juice inflation Alright

Great we already had to deal with a lot of inflation Now we got to deal with it in the NHL Perfect Tranter good chatting with you buddy Thanks guys bye Thomas Trance from the Athletic Vancouver And Canucks Talk here On the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We've got a couple of what we learned.

I think we should probably do them prior to going to the break. We've got news out of St. Louis. We've got news out of San Jose as well, both pertaining to coaching in front office. Jason wants to do one. Laddie wants to do one. I think I'm going to turn my attention to Laddie.

Laddie, what did you learn over the last 24 minutes in sports as it was announced? Well, there's a new head coach in San Jose, Ryan Warsofsky. He's three years older than me, guys. He's 36 years old. Youngest head coach in the NHL right now. Head coach in the NHL.

So he's taken the Jeremy Colleton path. If you don't know much about him, he didn't play much hockey. He played a little bit of low-level pro hockey in his day. A product of Curry College. Curry College. Curry College. He was...

And Sacred Heart University. A few tidbits about him. He was neighbors with Mike Sullivan, who told him not to get into coaching. Mike Sullivan's parents are his godparents. Wow. Really? His brother plays in the NHL. He's had a cup of coffee with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

And also, he was an understudy of Spencer Carberry when he was coaching in the ECHL. So there you go. I mean, this is crazy how quickly he's gotten this job. He was in the ECHL as a head coach with the South Carolina Stingrays in 2016 to 18. Then he went to the AHL with the Charlotte Checkers, the Chicago Wolves. He won a championship with the Chicago Wolves in 2022, became an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks

for the last two seasons, and now he's the head coach. That's like kind of John Cooper-esque, isn't it? Very much. I was shocked. I don't know if he's the head coach. That's like kind of John Cooper-esque, isn't it? Very much. I was shocked. I don't know if he's also a lawyer. I don't think he is. He's from North Mashfield in Massachusetts. Mashfield.

He is. I was shocked when I saw this. I knew that he was the assistant coach because I remember his brother. My favorite headline that Jason Brough ever wrote back when we were pro hockey talk was his brother was David Warsofsky. Is that actually his brother? Yeah. Oh, okay.

And he was a farmhand for the Boston Bruins. Yeah, he was an undersized puck moving defenseman. And we used to yell at our underlings at NBC. We're like, you can't just write these boring headlines. You have to spice them up a little bit. You have to draw the reader in, right? So the headline is

Worsofsky to make Bruins debut is boring. So Jason, he's like, you gotta explain to people who Worsofsky is. So he came up with the phrase Krug-like Worsofsky, which I don't know why I love it so much, but the idea was he was like a Torrey Krug-like.

He was a tiny, diminutive defenseman. Torrey Krug was playing very well for the Bruins at that time. I used Krug-like Worsofsky way too much. When I saw his brother became a coach, I'm like, oh my God, it's Krug-like Worsofsky. Anyway, the rise to becoming a head coach in the NHL, as mentioned, very rapid.

I don't know how many guys have gone from being a head coach in the NHL, as mentioned, very rapid. I don't know how many guys have gone from being a head coach in the ECHL to a head coach in the NHL in five years. To be fair, the Sharks are pretty much an ECHL team. Well, see, now there is part of this. Like, this guy might just be David Quinn 2.0. It's like, you're here for a little while. They're probably just like,

yeah, it can't get any worse. Maybe this will work out. I think he's been highly touted as a young up-and-coming coach. For sure. And they're in a position where they're willing to do something.

Sure, why not? Yeah. You know, why not? That's the other question. Why not? Like,

what are you going to lose? David, when we talked to David Quinn, I think their budget, I know they've got a super rich owner, but if they're running on an annual budget there,

which most, you know, companies do. Sure. They're probably like, attendance isn't great right now. And as much as we might get a bit of a bump from drafting Macklin Celebrini, I don't think it's going to be the same extent

as Chicago got with Conor Bedard. No chance. No way. I mean, there's so many different... I mean, the market itself. When Bedard went to Chicago, there was a real sense of generational player going to Original Six, big market Chicago. Celebrini and... Yeah, his dad works for the Warriors.

Right. It's not that. It's a cool story. Yeah, yeah. And he's going to be a terrific player. But it's just not the same. And I do wonder if this has to partly... I get the fact that he's probably a young up-and-coming coach.

Maybe they wanted to jump the queue a little bit, but also he was already working there. He knows where the bathroom key is, all that stuff. It might just be the easiest thing for a team that's going nowhere in the next couple of years anyway. Okay. Give us a Muco on that.

We will go to break. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.