Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/20/25

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk the Abbotsford Canucks being one win away from a Calder Cup, they discuss Connor McDavid's ominous comments, plus they get a Canucks update from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. 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. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Shepard just gets it off. It's good! It's good! At the buzzer! We suck tonight. We have to learn the lessons. And we have one game for everything. Much like in Police Academy. No more. It's sad that we're going to have to institute a rule where we can only have one Police Academy reference a show. And now, the black guy from the Police Academy movies, a robot.

Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning Vancouver, 6 a.m. on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody, sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford and his brother at 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. Good morning. Lattie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brent for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio.

Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Lot to get into on a Friday show. Big guest list ahead. Begins at 630. Second time on the program, former NHL-er, now Dallas Stars podcaster, Craig Ludwig is gonna join the program from DLS Sports in Dallas. He of the gigantic shin pads.

Busy day yesterday for the Dallas Stars. They extended Matt Duchenne, news that broke while we were on the air. Then later in the day, they traded Mesa Marchment to the Seattle Kraken. And it doesn't sound like the stars are done shedding salary yet either. And oh yeah, they still need to hire a head coach. We'll talk to Craig Ludwig about all that at 6.30.

Seven o'clock AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. A reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday. So the best Ask Us Anything wins a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. AJ apparently has an Ask Us Anything for us today, Jason, that also might double as a What We Learned. Ooh, intrigue. Is it Are the Yankees Done?

Did they lose again last night? No, they won. Ah, damn. That would've been seven straight losses. Yeah, it would've been great to have AJ on. With Aaron Boone getting fired? That would've been great. It didn't happen, though.

A What We Anything? AJ's gonna join us. And Ask Us want we anything AJ's gonna ask us learned Hey, J is gonna join us. What I think I called him anus AJ is gonna join us at 7 o'clock this morning I'm pretty sure I called them AJ. I think you just called him Enos a enos, you know like Dukes of Hazzard Hey, J from anus's pizza. No, that's not it 705 Tyler your own Chuck from Oilers Nation and daily face-off is gonna join us it was another eventful day in Edmonton yesterday Connor McDavid did his end of year media availability and with it left

the door open for a future outside of Edmonton I like how wish called it the that being said heard around the world. So great. That was pretty funny. Everyone, two thirds of the way through the clip, everyone was like, this is great. That being said. What? That being said, Toronto also has heated driveways. Hold on. So we're gonna talk to you, Tyler, your Remchuck

about all that at seven o'clock, 7.30. That being said, ultimately. Oh. There it is, there's a little teaser. I don't even know, what did he say afterwards, who knows? Find out. Edmonton knows.

730, Bob the Moj Marjanovic is gonna join the program. The BC Lions are back in action tomorrow, four o'clock at BC Place with a rematch against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Nathan Rourke officially listed as questionable for Saturday's game. We'll get a health update from Moj and we'll hear what he saw at practice this week from the BC

Lions that's at 730 8 o'clock. It's Rick Dolly wall from Donnie and Dolly on check TV Noted Dolly handler Jason breath will let us know what Rick is gonna give us updates on this week We got a we got a new a Jules and update nice. Yeah. Yeah, really? I Think so. No, I think he's gonna talk about Yeah. Yeah. Really? I think so. Oh my God.

No, I think he's going to talk about. Wait, really? Well, he probably will give a Noah Jewels an update, but I think he's going to talk about Matt Duchenne. Okay. And how that guy was kind of targeted for, by the Canucks. Oh, that's tough. And strike him off the board. That's going to happen a lot this off season, isn't it?

Yeah, maybe. Oh, we really like that guy. Oh, nevermind. Well. Oh, well. What's this guy? Oh, no, he's it yeah, maybe oh, we really like that guy on everyone well Oh, well, what's this guy? Oh, no? He's gone to now damn. We're down to number 18 What's Ethan Bear doing? Yeah, maybe he's got an Ethan Bear update Rick had one earlier in the week. Well, we'll talk to Rick at 8 o'clock Finally before we go to break I need to ask you all a question Have you bought your tickets for the Sportsnet 650, Jays Care

50-50 for Challenger Baseball yet? If you have not, buy your tickets now. JaysCareGolf.RaffleNexus.com. That URL again, JaysCareGolf.RaffleNexus.com. Buy your tickets now. You've got a chance to win some cash. Obviously it's a 50-50 and you get to support a great endeavor in challenge your baseball First of all, yes by some 50-50s. Did you say we were going to a break? Nope. You did Yeah, I said we're gonna break. Yeah, when before we go to break I have to tell you before we finish the run That was weird. It's okay. I'm not gonna break. We're doing this new thing when we break every five No, what I'm kind of into it. We have 40 segments in the show. Let's go to read a lot of bathroom breaks Well, we gotta talk about habits for let's go. Okay, so J's care golf Dolly at 8 mode

You'd 730 tire your rim check at 7 AJ at 7 o'clock and Craig lug weight at 630 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? 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 or resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We are going to begin in Abbotsford and it was Jonathan Leckere-Mackie stealing the show, scoring twice. RDC loves 32 saves. Abbotsford moves within one win of a Calder Cup Championship with a 3-2 win over Charlotte at a sold out Abbotsford Center on Thursday night. You know that's just just good coaching by Manny

Malholtra. He needed to keep Leckermacky out for a bit, get him rested up. You know, maybe just calm down, calm down, Leck. Got him back into the lineup once he's back in Abbotsford and possibly did that because, you know, you can control your line changes a little bit more when you're at home.

And what do we get? Two goals from Jonathan Leckermackie last night on some really nice finishing by Jonathan Leckermackie, but also some really nice passing plays by the Abtsford Canucks. Um, one win away. I heard, I heard though, we want the cup chance in Abbotsford. That's cool, man. That's cool. They've really, really embraced this team. And it's like, I see the pictures online or the

video online of all the towels. And I'm like, that's a, that's a mini Rogers arena right there. Like it looks, it looks legit. And everyone who's going out there and, uh, watching this team win a lot of games in the last little while, like they went into the playoffs playing really well, and that has continued and it's nice to see, um, different guys playing the hero on different nights. And it was really nice to see Jonathan Lekeremaki playing the hero last night. Attendance was 7,161, the fourth sellout of the series and the largest crowd ever, ever for an AHL game at the Abbotsford Center.

Let's hear that three-nothing goal now by Lekker-Mackie, which eventually stood as the game winner. Charlotte did rally late, but the Abbotsford Canucks hold on for a three two win. Here's what the game winning goal sounded like. Let her work the free Asplen shot stopped by Shelal as he took it in the chest. And Mueller gobbles a rebound

and brings it the other way for Blake. He's got Lekker-Mackie in front. He's it all on and he scores! So the biggest story last night, aside from the win itself, and Abbotsford moving to within one win of the Calder Cup final was Leckermackie. Now he had been a healthy scratch in five consecutive games in these playoffs, but as Jason mentioned, got drawn back into the lineup for game three, which Abbotsford won and then played a huge role last night. And it is a tip of the cap to the youngster for sure.

Perhaps more importantly, it's something that I saw in a number of the post game recaps and on social media last night. A great move by Manny Malhotra, who many people have pointed out has had a borderline coaching masterpiece in this Calder Cup final, pushing all the right buttons, making all the in-game adjustments. Yes, Avettsford did get outshot again last night, although some of that probably had to do with score effects with Charlotte trailing through the nothing and then rallying in the

third period with a bunch of shots. They did make it three-two and made it tight at the end. Yeah. And Malhotra said after the game of Leckker Mackie, to me, that game sums up. Lekki, he calls him Lekki. Lek. The kid has ice in his veins. He doesn't shy away from these big moments.

And you can see tonight, he had two quality looks and he made them count. And I think composure with the puck is actually one thing that impressed all of us when he was with the big team this season. When he was out on the power play, he looked comfortable. He looked like he wanted the puck on his stick and he wanted to make plays. And that's important, as to use an old Rick Toggin phrase, he wasn't deferring. He wasn't just passing the puck away. He wanted the puck on a stick and he wanted to try and make plays.

He wanted to use that shot of his. And I think that's probably what Mahocha is getting at a little bit. Like ice in his veins means you're comfortable in those big moments. You want the puck on your stick. I do want to read a uh, a few texts that came into the Dunbar lumber text line from people who were at the game. Um, superintendent Steve texts in and he said,

I was at the Canucks game last night. It was probably the best hockey environment I've been a part of for a long time. Yeah, it looked like it. I mean, it's not 20,000 people, but it is jam packed in there. And I think when in the smaller rinks, you got the, you got the lower ceiling, lower roof, and it's probably pretty noisy in there. Another one from JD and Coquitlam, I've watched every game of the Calder Cup final and I got to say, Kudryadzev looks like the real deal.

Wouldn't be surprised if he pushes for a spot on the big team next season. Yeah. I mean. Another defenseman. What an embarrassment of riches. The reviews, the positive reviews and I saw some analytics that are crazy on Kudryadzev.

Like he's barely on the ice when the other team scores. Um, I don't, I don't, I don't know where he would slot in on the connects. I would still have him at, you know, like seven, eight defensemen right now, but. You know, injuries happen and maybe outplay some guys and he gets in there. He seems to be really steady. And steady is good. Yeah. For an NHL defense. You know, I'll say this. When we talked about Abbotsford throughout the season, prior to this magical

Calder Cup run, we were inherently focused on the young guys and the prospects and the guys that could make a mark at the NHL level. If you look at last night's game, you've got one of the top prospects in the organization, Jonathan Leckermackie having a great night, scoring two goals, including the game winner. How about Archdeep Baines right now who had a, let's be frank, he had a real rough first two thirds of the playoff run. Like he could not find the back of the net. He was absolutely snake bitten a goal last night,

six goals in the last six games. Like talk about picking up your game at the right time, the tail end of the Western conference final. and then throughout this Calder Cup final. He's been a goal a game guy Ty Mueller another guy young prospect that the co-organization is bringing along registered to assist I don't know if everyone saw the hit that Tristan Nielsen laid on a Unfortunate Charlotte checkers defensive who may be dead after that. I don't know. I don't know if he recovered after that It was an absolutely massive hit in a call. They're probably alive. That would have been a story. I said, you know, who knows? It was loud.

They probably could have ushered him out of there. Nobody would have known. It was a great, great night, not just for Abbotsford, not just for the Canucks organization, but a lot of these young guys. And I said the Leckermack. It was the big story last night, but the big story throughout these playoffs. And if and when Abbotsford does win the Calder Cup, they have a chance to do it in their next game, of course, game five,

which will be at the Abbotsford Center. I mean, it's our, Archer Siloves has just had an unbelievable playoff. If he's the Calder Cup. He's gonna be the Calder Cup MVP. If he's the Calder Cup MVP, gets a little more dicey when you're talking about waivers next season.

32 saves on 34 shots last night, including a barrage in the third period. I know we've discussed this before. Um, do the Canucks need to trade one of Sealov's or Demko? And you know, we, we threw out there that, look, the thing with waivers, especially around, right before game one of the regular season is that most teams will have their goaltending situation settled.

It's not like they'll be like, well, I hope someone shakes loose on waivers. But laddie, maybe I'll bring you into the conversation here. Could you see there being a situation where there's a team out there, maybe not a super competitive team. I don't know who San Jose's goalies are or Chicago's goalies, where Sealov's goes on waivers because they've got Lankanen and Demko and they want to get them down to the AHL. And there's some team out there, maybe with a goalie that is waiver eligible on their team or a

goalie that won't get picked up on waivers. And if he does, they're not all that concerned. C-lobs goes on waivers and they're like, we're going to make a bet on this guy because he's the Calder Cup MVP. Yeah, I think, I think there are a few examples of teams that would probably take a flyer on a guy like that and have flexibility to do that.

To do it, maybe they could carry three goalies, you know? Like if they want, less likely. Not ideal, but yeah. But they could probably just be like, yeah, we're gonna take this guy. Well, at the start of the season, that's why you see the whole, you know, the musical chairs, the goalies,

because teams try to sneak guys down during those busy periods and sneak a guy without other teams noticing Almost because there's 18 other you know players on waivers that day So I could see them kind of sneaking them in in a situation like that But certainly that yeah, there's there's gonna be teams that have some kind of interest in whatever the case Yeah, whatever the case. Let's just say this, really good on Artie Seeloff. He deserves a ton of credit because it would have been very easy for him this season to have his confidence shaken beyond belief because he was unplayable at the NHL level. And let's be frank, I'll be frank, not Mike, but Frank. Everyone knew. Everyone in the Canucks organization knew.

Everyone in the media knew. I'm pretty sure Artie Silov's knew at a certain point that he's like, I am unplayable right now at this level, unless it's Chicago. And the Canucks made moves accordingly. To be able to rebound from that, to have the kind of run that he's having right now, Guy deserves a ton of credit.

And a couple of nice feathers in his cap right now, right? Like being named to that Latvian team is one Of the first six like say what you will about it like it means something I have a question for you guys are the Canucks going to regret not making Manny Melholtz or the head coach This is that's a fair question. This is of course assuming he wanted it I mean, I don't know maybe he didn't want it and maybe declined it But if for example Manny was interested in coaching the NHL Canucks and maybe he wasn't but if he was are they gonna regret not going that route They're gonna regret it if they lose them. Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah

I mean if he sticks around for another year, obviously not well They're not gonna regret it if they lose him and Adam foot does a great job No, yeah, of course, but I'm just saying looking at Mal Holter's body work Does a great job like it's the other side of the coin Yeah, like if he goes somewhere and it turns out to be the next great new young NHL head coach Yeah, when's the Jack Adams next year or something? You know the connects miss the playoffs next year and his teammates was fired after a year Yeah, Hughes leaves like we should have kept Manny. I know

You see what I'm saying though? You see how this plays out? It was all over socials last night because Well he's done such a great job this playoffs. It's been a great run. And really, we've had Brandon Astle on the show a handful of times talking about where they were at the early and middle stages of the season. They were a 500 hockey club at best. Manny really flipped the switch and got

them playing a certain style and had the buy-in. And he made adjustments along the way because obviously the way things were going in the first part of the season wasn't working. And yeah, he's got some good talent at his disposal, but it's not an overwhelming amount There's other good AHL teams other the run that they've gone on has been very very impressive jobs not done yet They still got one more game left But last night in Abbotsford a special night for everybody involved we should now turn our attention to the Edmonton Oilers though Yesterday in case you missed it Connor McDavid addressed his future with the Edmonton Oilers in his post end-of-year media availability

He made it clear that he's in no rush to sign a new contract and what's more twice Twice in this media availability. He made it clear that when it comes to signing a new deal, the number one priority is doing what's best for him and his family. And play the audio in case you haven't heard it. I know many Vancouver Canucks fans find this muy delicioso what he had to say. Here's Connor McDavid from yesterday's

end of year media availability. This core has been together for a long time and we've been building to to this moment You know all along The work that's gone on behind the scenes the conversations the endless, you know

disappointments and and and you know some good times along the way obviously as well Yeah, we're We're all in this together and some good times along the way, obviously, as well. Yeah, we're all in this together, trying to get it over that finish line. With that being said, ultimately, still need to do what's best for me and my family, and that's who you have to take care of first. But of course there's unfinished business here. If I was an Oilers fan I would walk into traffic.

That long pause after the that being said. The long pause is even worse than the that being said. With that being said, and just to look at everyone for a few seconds, I would do what's best for my family. Two and a half seconds. And then all the Edmonton media was like, he said unfinished business, let everyone for a few seconds. Two and a half seconds pause. Two and a half seconds. And then all the Edmonton media was like, he said unfinished business, let's run with that one. Yeah, this is fine.

We got unfinished business, you stand for. You know what word, internet word I've come to like? You know how most of the phrases and stuff like I hate, especially the ones that people overuse and overuse. Let's go. Like let's go for example, I love copium. Yeah, copium's great. Copium is, our world is absolutely overrun

by people telling themselves lies to feel better. Yeah. And we all do it to a certain extent, but Edmonton was a copium den yesterday. Yeah, they overdosed. I read one article that suggested that there were very few places in the NHL that had the cap space and the roster to give McDavid a chance at the cup. Edmonton was one of the few places apparently. Like what are you talking about? If McDavid's ever available,

Like what are you talking about if McDavid's ever available? Especially in free agency. Yeah teams will make the cap space Mm-hmm, and yeah, a lot of teams would still have the roster to compete because McDavid is that good Here's my prediction he'll resign But it'll be a shorter term contract That's fair because maybe I just missed the memo where it explained all the amazing bargains on the Edmonton roster. That's going to allow them to thrive with two really big cap hits for Dry Cytl and McDavid.

Bouchard, not going to be a bargain anymore. Skinner's a bargain because he's not very good. Right. Nurse has one of the worst contracts in the league and it's going to get worse. They've gotten some decent value from guys like Hyman, Nuge and Ekholm. Past tense, they've gotten great value from those guys. Those guys are also getting old.

Ekholm's last year of his deal is 35, looked like he'd lost a step in the playoffs. So how do the Oilers plan to phase them out when McDavid's extension kicks in? Let's say he does something silly like sign an eight year extension, which I don't think he'll do. Like you've got the potential for, like they're the oldest team in the NHL right now, they don't have many prospects and some of their key complimentary players are

getting older and they still haven't figured out the goaltending and a guy in Bouchard who was a good value is not going to be a good value. He'll be, I don't know, fair market value. If you like Evan Bouchard and he'll be one of the worst contracts in the league. If you're one of Bouchard's critics, again, I'm not saying he won't resign.

He's a hockey player. He'll probably stay in Edmonton forever. But if McDavid truly wanted to give himself the best chance to win a cup, if it was only about winning nothing else, he wouldn't stay on the NHL's oldest roster with no great prospects coming. He'd move on to an up and coming team that was packed with blue chip, young talent and enjoy the prime years of those guys. You know, would it be hard to say goodbye to dry saddle?

Probably, but McDavid's pretty good. He can probably find another running mate somewhere else. Um, I, I think this is going to be really interesting. I do think he'll resign. That's where I am right now, but I think it could be like, yeah, I'll resign for like, I don't know, three or four years and we'll see how it goes in terms of. Could he not wait until the end of next season though, to see how the others are looking? He could. Like, I mean, if I was him, I'd be like,

maybe just to see how next season plays out, because he doesn't have to make the decision right now. He's in the ultimate driver's seat right now. He said what he said yesterday. And, you know, some of the Edmonton reporters that were possibly ODing on Copium did acknowledge that one, Leon Dreisaitl said very similar things shortly after the season ended last time. Then he went out and signed his massive extension. And two, it is a negotiation. McDavid should be putting things out there like

this, because the idea is you want to maximize everything you know you want to maximize your contract value and he's gonna get paid the max probably wherever he wants to go but he wants to maximize leverage how long or short he wants to he wants to maximize his control and sway if he doesn't have ultimate sway and control already so Tim in Vancouver Texan McDavid could tear his ACL tomorrow or play a single shift again until a UFA and then play on any team he wants for a seven by twenty million contract in 2026. I think what he's getting at is I think he could get injured. Yeah I'm sure he's insured. Yeah like I'm sure he's insured. I think we're seeing guys not take the maximum extension around the NHL and betting on themselves to have another big payday, but also taking that chance and

just staying flexible with your choices. Austin Matthews did in Toronto, he didn't sign the max, he signed five year extension. Well, you saw that report. And he's the guy that should have, if you're talking injuries, that guy's like a walking injury. You saw that report courtesy of Chris Johnson yesterday, that they might even be adjusting the contract length max in the next upcoming CBA. Now I think there's two minds on that one. Maybe McDavid wants to get in on the max eight year deal. They're thinking about trimming it to a year off, basically. So the team currently employing the player can do a max of seven.

Whereas if you were to go to free agency, you could do a max of six. So it's not like a huge adjustment, but an adjustment nonetheless. But it does speak to a few different things, maybe a shifting landscape on how long these contracts should go. And then with regards to players, you know, we saw it, like you mentioned with Austin Matthews, being able to hit free agency twice, not locking yourself up. So when your deal expires, you're 37 years old or whatever it is. There's a lot of different options out there.

And I think we're moving into a new era of player emboldened and player movement. Like player movement is a good thing. I'll say this. I think Connor McDavid leaving Edmonton is better for everyone, especially Vancouver, but everyone, than Connor McDavid staying in Edmonton. That's just my personal opinion. For the league.

For the league, for interest, for the market that gets him, for the intrigue period. Yeah. When's the last time that, I mean, again, I know we can't do the comparisons to the NBA all the time, but when a star player leaves in the NBA, it really drives up intrigue league wide. Well, there was a ton of interest when

Tavares left, it created two great stories. One with the Islanders. Yep. And one with the Toronto Maple Leafs and when Gretzky left Edmonton. And I'm sure for a lot of older Edmonton fans, that's in the back of their minds. Like, don't be so sure a player won't leave.

Even the great ones. We gave those to the Kings. Yeah. Well, I mean, that again, that created two great stories. What was Edmonton going to do without them? And by the way, they won a Stanley Cup without them in 1990. And how would that affect the market in Los Angeles and the United States? I mean, that was, that was good for the. I mean, that was good for the league.

100%. It was good for the league. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dollywell joins us here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Ricky D.? Good morning, gentlemen. First question, the most important question,

do you want to start or end with the no Juleson update? important question. Do you want to start or end with the No Juleson update? No, I want to save Juleson because I want the anticipation to build and I want Brough to get ready and there should be some music going into the Juleson update. I just want Brough to brace himself for the update on Juleson. Okay, well. Let's wait. Let's start with Duchenne then. Duchenne going to Dallas and what that means for the Canucks' plans. Oh boy. There is no question.

Duchenne was on the Canucks' radar big time. If, I mean capital letters, if he would have hit July 1st. Duchenne got four years at 4.5 million per in Dallas. This one hurts for the Canucks. Some feel he was Vancouver's number one free agent target. If the Canucks would have got a shot at him on July 1st, they would have had to do four years at 5.5 million, maybe even six a year. If they got into the Duchenne sweepstakes in July, he was going to get more than 4.5 million on the market. The feeling is as soon as Duchenne got the fourth year in Dallas, he couldn't sign fast

enough. That tells me the stars were sitting at three years for a while, and they finally moved to year four. As a 34-year-old, four years is great security. We are now seeing more and more players in their mid-30s get termed. Remember last year Chris Tanev, Dushain now at 34, gets four years and quite frankly, I think you guys should start getting used to this. Players who take care of themselves and continue to play at a high level are now starting to get terms, starting to get term in their 30s, which we never saw before.

Now not long ago the Canucks said the Philippine is going to be the third line center. If they don't land a top six winger via trader July 1st, they are okay now moving him up to second line center. And you know what? That's what happens when the prices are too high and you have to go to plan B, C and D. If there is a top six player available in the NHL, the Canucks are in on them. You don't need the media to tell you that the Canucks are in on a certain player. If top six help is available, take it to the bank, the Canucks are in on it. The problem for the Canucks is too many teams are looking for the same things. Too many teams are buyers trying to get better. There's not enough sellers. The Canucks don't have the best prospect pool, let's be honest, and they don't have the best

draft capital or the cap space, to be honest as well. So Buffalo's trying to move JJ Peturkin, Boam Byrom. They want very good players in return. They don't want picks and prospects. So what can the Canucks offer? They already are missing too many top six pieces. When I connected the Canucks to Boehm Byram a couple of weeks ago, most didn't understand.

But that's a young top four defenseman who could help the pain if Quinn Hughes leaves some day. I saw some Vitaly Kratsov rumors, he's still property the Canucks that he might come back to the NHL Milstein told me Dan Milstein told me this week no talks with Vancouver 58 points in Russia but I that's not the solution he's got six goals in 64 NHL games I I'm not sure that that guy's on the Canucks radar hey by the way there is not one team that the Canucks have

talked trade with more than Buffalo this season. Paturka, Alex Tok, Dylan Cousins, Bo M'Byram, it has been a year-long pursuit by the Canucks on Buffalo players and it still hasn't stopped. You know, they're in on Paturka on Byron. So it's just amazing. You know. They should do a 30-30 on contract, or sorry, trade talks between Vancouver and Buffalo this season. Well, something has to actually happen in order for that to be a good documentary. It's just amazing how these two teams had just been linked. Honestly, Jason said September and here we are, the end of June and they're still being linked.

I'm having trouble working out in my head what a deal would look like between those two teams. Yeah. And, but you know, and they talk so much, Jason. It's like, how have you not done a deal? Like how have you not looked, how does Buffalo not know all the prospects on Vancouver and the players they would want?

The fact that Canucks haven't coughed up what they wanted, it just makes you wonder, how do you guys not know, how does Buffalo not know what Vancouver's offered? Why would the Sabres want prospects anyway? They need NHL players. They do and I just said that. Right now, they haven't made the playoffs in 14 years. They can't sell to their fan base, we're going to trade Paterka

and we're going to get picks and prospects. You can't sell that. Their trade of cousins was really good because they got a really good player back. That's a good player for player hockey trade. You can't sell in Buffalo picks and prospects anymore because it's been 14 years. The fans are getting tired. You know, so it's just amazing.

Jason, if the Canucks don't get some serious forward help, that's not going to help the rookie coach and the star defenseman who wants to see improvement before he signs long-term. Like I know Durantz reported yesterday that Canucks might be looking at a not-so so great July 1st and a not so great trade market. But boy oh boy, if you don't improve that top six, your rookie coach is not going to be put in a good position.

And I'll tell you something else, you're a star defenseman, you're going to make his decision a lot easier to stay or go. Well, management is going to look terrible too, because they said at the end of season press conference, we're going to make his decision a lot easier to stay or go. Well, management is going to look terrible too, because they said at the end of season press conference, we're going to do it. And I kind of thought I was like, man, they're kind of saying that dismissively, like they're just, they'll make it happen. And I thought like, are you guys underestimating how hard it's going to be to fix this forward group in the environment that we're heading into where there's going to be a lot

of cap space and a lot of aggressive teams. And just with what the Canucks have to offer, I mean, we hear Elliot Freeman on 32 Thoughts who says, I wonder if the Canucks will do an extension with Connor Garland, which means they're considering it for sure. And they can do that on July 1st. Well, there is an NHL player that they could have

thrown into a deal and might've been appetizing to some teams. But, you know, I also understand the situation the connexor is like, we don't want to create more holes in our forward group. Connor Garland was one of our best play drivers last season, but if you're also not willing to trade those guys and you only have picks and

prospects to trade, then there's going to be a lot of teams who are like okay well we'll just make a hockey trade with someone else then. Yeah no they're having a tough time there is no question prices are high and you know here's another one for you I was talking to a prominent agent this morning and he said Vancouver is just not a destination for players just too much drama this past season and last three, four years as well. And that's the other thing, Jason. You know, you look at July 1st, and Rutherford said it himself two, three weeks ago that

Vancouver is not a destination. And this prominent agent told me this morning again, it's just not a place where free agents want to go right now. It's not. And there's a lot of work to be done by the Canucks to change that perception. And you remember 2011 and the year after, Vancouver was a destination. They were doing things right. And when you do things right from ownership all the way down, you're a destination. But when you have the crappy year like they had and so much drama,

guess what? You're not a destination for the top three agents. And I think like, okay, so we just keep saying, oh, the Canucks were going to be on Duchenne, but there's no guarantee that Vancouver was on Duchenne's list. We don't know if he would have picked up his family all the way from Dallas and moved to Vancouver. There is a perception about this team, uh, that has to change in a, in a lot of people's eyes. And it's just not a place where a lot of people

want to be right now. Okay. Well, let's have some excitement here. Give us the Canucks UFA updates, including Noah Juleson. You want Juleson first or do you want me to? I'll save it for last man. You want Juleson last?

Okay. No problem. Yeah. He's a local kid for crying out loud. I like Noah Juleson first or do you want me to? Oh, save it for last, man. You want Juleson last? Yeah. Okay, no problem. Yeah. He's a local kid for crying out loud. I like no Juleson. It's a fun little bit that we do. What's your problem? He's a local kid.

I mean, you should be happy. He's a good kid. He's a good guy. I'm a local kid too and you treat me badly. Yeah, no kidding. He's engaged in a rough update. Let me start with Besser. So the Canucks have had 11 months to sign Besser

and here we are, where are we in the 11th hour. Unless there's a miracle phone call Besser will not only end up going to July 1st but he's going to be in a good spot. Lots of teams looking for goals scoring on July 1st. Besser and Mitch Marner, the top two right shot right wingers on the market. Marner is obviously the top guy, but teams who don't land him most likely will and could turn their attention to Besser. I get the feeling that the good teams will offer

Besser shorter term and I get the feeling that the weaker teams will offer more term because they're always the more desperate teams. The teams with all the cap space, unfortunately, for guys like Besser are the weaker teams. Besser will have to make up his mind. Do you want to go to a winner or do you want to go for the money? And look, those are two big things for really good free agents on July 1st.

I look at a team like San Jose, they can offer playing with really good young players and they got a star center in Macklin-Celebriani. Less media in San Jose, you get to play in the sun, it can be appealing to free agents. The Kings tried to get Besser at the deadline but they settled on Kuzmanko. If Kuzmanko doesn't resign

in LA, will the Kings go after Besser again? You got Travis Green and Rick Tuckett out there, they know Besser inside out. We'll be surprised if those teams don't check in on Bessar on July 1. Bessar will do fine on July 1. There is no question in my mind.

Pia Suter. Pia Suter's agent has seen Matt Dushain, Brock Nelson, Ryan Donato taking off the July 1 market in the last week. Yeah. That's going to help the agent big time. The market for centres keeps going andst market in the last week. Yeah, that's going to help the agent big time.

The market for centers keeps getting weaker and weaker as we approach July 1st. That is good news for Souter. But there hasn't been much talk between the Conox and Souter, the agent lately. Souter's market is going to be strong. I am convinced of that. There is no question in my mind. He should get his 4 million plus on July 1st. That's a number I don't believe the Canucks are willing to go to right now.

The suitor camp is still open. They're still open to talks with the Canucks. I know that Thomas said that the Canucks are expecting both suitor and best or to hit July 1st. But we also have to say one phone call could change anything. All right, here we go, the Noah Juleson update. Let's hear it. Da da da da da.

Da da da da, where's the music? Anyways. There we have it. We got some epic music here. Oh yeah, I like that. Oh yeah, that's good. It's not Black Betty, but it's good. Anyways, um, there has been initial talks between the Canucks and the

Juleson camp, there's going to be a lot of, there you go. They've talked. Uh, you know, you guys know Rick talk. It loves him. I'd be surprised if Philly doesn't check in on Juleson if he hits July 1st. But here's the key. I think Juleson is looking for a one-way contract. If you give Juleson a one-way contract,

does that hamper the development of Will Lander and Mancini? If you let Juleson walk, there's no NHL experience in the third pair on the right side. And I don't see, and I don't know if you guys are foreseeing I don't see any defensemen in Abbotsford that's going to walk in and and grab a spot at camp and I could be wrong on that but if you let Juleson walk you're going to have to get a 6'7 experienced guy and Ethan Bear is going to hit that July 1st market if If you lose Juleson, I wonder if the Canucks

would think about Ethan Baer again. But the key with Juleson, I think he's looking for a one way deal. I don't know right now if the Canucks can do that. Okay. That was thrilling. Are you happy? Yeah.

That was actually. Are you happy now? Yeah, that's pretty good. That's good information. That's good. That was good information. You're just doing your job. You're doing a great good. That's good information. That's good. That was good information. You're just doing your job. And you're doing a great job.

That's good. Okay. We were talking earlier in the segment about if Archer Siloves wins the Calder Cup playoffs MVP. And before we've kind of shrugged at the idea of him getting picked up on waivers, you know, at the start of the season, just because, you know, like most teams will have their goaltending set by then.

Now I'm starting to get a little worried. If he gets the MVP, do the Canucks have to trade one of Demko or Sealovs? Do you have any information on any of the goaltending situation in Vancouver? Yeah, first of all, Sealovs is doing himself a lot of favors. His play has been noticeable. His play has been noticed around the league and you make a good point if he wins the MVP, holy smokes.

Jacob Markstrom was 24, I believe, when he took Utica to the Calder Cup final and Seelovs is what 24-25 same thing. hey, look, he's in a good spot, but my gut tells me that Canucks want to do, try and find out with Demko first. Lots of teams are looking for goalie help. There's a team in Northern Alberta that is gonna be looking, you know, and I see a lot of national people connecting the dots and thinking the order is gonna make a pitch for Demko.

I can't, I don't know about you guys, I can't see the Canucks trading Demko in the division. If he goes to Edmonton and regains his Vezna form, he's going to haunt this team for years. And then you got to, in your division, you got to play him four times. You know, I just don't see him going in the division. I would be shocked. But what do the Canucks do with Demco? You either extend them, you trade them at the draft or you decide to keep them a next year, regardless, you would think the Canucks preference is to keep

Demco on a shorter term, like three years. Like I think three years at 6 million could work for the Canucks, but that's not going to fly with the Demco cap. Time will tell. I am not hearing of any hot and heavy contract talks with Demko yet by the Canucks. This could drag on into the summer. The great thing for the Canucks on Shelove's Demko is you don't, there's no deadline next week or the week after the week after or next month.

They can take their time on dealing with this. It doesn't have to be done tomorrow at nine o'clock. One more thing on dealing with this. It doesn't have to be done tomorrow at 9 o'clock. One more thing on the goalies and I had a couple of people reach out and ask if the Canucks would trade Kevin Lankenen because his no move does not kick in till July 1st. I have been told Lankenen will not be moved under any circumstances so get that thought out, get that thought out, um, get that thought out that there's a possibility Lankinen I've been told he will not be moved under any circumstances.

So that's that. But, um, the goalie situation, you guys, uh, it's good first find out, first find out, can you do a deal with Demko and then you can decide what the, what you're going to do with the Sealoffs. Okay. Let's end this with some good news and that is Jonathan Leckermacky had a great performance last

night for the Abbotsford Canucks. Two goals, really showed some good composure with the puck, buried his chances. Manny Malhotra had a lot of nice things to say about Jonathan Leckermacky after the game. I know you were going to come on the show today and talk about his struggles in Abbotsford, but you know, after that performance, feeling,

I think everyone, including Jonathan Leckermacke is feeling better about his season in Abbotsford and how it's ending. Well, actually what I was going to say about Leckermacke today is I'm told the Canucks are not worried as much about La Caramacchi as maybe the media and the fans are. Of course, he scores two goals last night, beautiful by the way, and you just love to see it.

But the Canucks feel La Caramacchi struggles in the playoffs have been a more physical thing. He's only 20 years old and he's not the biggest guy in the world. I believe when he was a healthy scratch the Canucks worked with him, I'm talking about the Abbey Canucks, the Abbey Canucks worked with him on the physical side. He's going to need time to physically mature. We know what's there. Great shot, you saw it last night, good hockey sense. We see all the reasons, we know all the reasons why he was a first round pick, but the physical maturity, I can't sit here and tell you he's going to put on 20 pounds by training camp. I can't tell you. And now because of this Abbey playoff run, his window to actually put the

necessary weight and muscle on is actually really, really small. and he might not be able to put on the necessary weight because of this playoff uh... right uh... let me tell you something is last year in sweden what which was last year he played forty six games this season he has played seventy three twenty four in the n.h.l. this is going to grind for him with the travel the games and people just don't

realize how hard the american hockey league is you know they just uh... i i think people don't realize it's a war out there and you got twenty seven twenty-eight year olds that are putting food on the table for their families that only care about a first-round pick in vancouver they'd you know are working their ass off in the american hockey league it's a hard hardly i think

that the care mackey's going to be fine but I understand why he hit a wall. He's never had this before in his in his hockey. He's never had this type of hockey with this type of travel and schedule so I think he's going to be fine but I think that don't be surprised if he probably starts in Abbotsburg again next year but I'm really going to be interested to see how he shows up in training camp, but what he looks like hey Rick Can I throw one last one? I totally got the board. Okay, speaking of the Abbotsford Canucks Yeah, is it fair to speculate given that the Dallas Stars? Still don't have a head coach and every day that they go without one and every day that we get closer to the end of

the Calder Cup final. Are they waiting on Manny? Just maybe even to talk to him? I looked into that this week and I, and I, and I'll tell you this. Um, I don't get that feeling, but I'll tell you one thing about Dallas. They love their American hockey league coach. Like that guy is held in high regard by the Dallas stars. They really like him.

I just would find it weird that they would bypass their American Hockey League coach and pick Vancouver's American Hockey League coach. Mike, it's a great question. I myself have looked into it but I don't get the indication they're waiting for Manny. I get the indication that they're interviewing a lot of people internally on Peter DeBoer's staff. There's the guy with the long last name I'm not going to try because that guy they've interviewed him they're obviously going to interview their American Hockey League coach who took

them to the Western Final and they like him a lot. I just I haven't been able to have anybody tell me that Dallas is waiting for Manny Moulstra. I just I asked around this week and I just haven't got that feeling. And you know, and I, and another thing that, now that you brought up Manny and the coaching, I find it amazing these guys on Twitter, and you know the group that I'm talking about, that are already accusing the Canucks

of making a mistake of picking foot over Manny. Like how do we, how are we even judging that when neither one of those guys have coached a national hockey league game? Like I'm really, I think the job that Manny's done is gone right around the NHL, everyone's noticed. But to say that the Canucks made a mistake by signing foot and not Manny,

like how would you explain that? How? And I do think economics played a role in Adam Foote's hiring. I do because they went from 4.5 million to talk it to 1.5 million for Foote. There was a lot of factors. This guy was in the American Hockey League playoffs. I just don't get that. But I will just say this, Manny Maholtz to a stock is on the rise there is no question the connects uh... should try and find every possible way to keep this a guy in the organization look what he did with defensemen

here's another one for you he is on the verge of winning the call to cup without the defenseman ellis peterson he's on the verge of winning the call to cup without his number one center at two rat two uh... there's some really damn good coaching going on in Abbotsford. There's no question in my mind But I think the connect and could dry at staff The work he's done with him and the Canucks the way they like him and tie Mueller and and Sasan and all these guys He's done a really good job, but Mike to answer your question. I just I I can't get anyone to tell me they're waiting on him

don't worry don't worry about those guys the same five guys on Twitter they get up in the morning to work together they got an agenda they're not hard to figure out you and I know who they are one of them is drance I think. Oh I know hey don't get me going or I'll spill the beans. I'll spill the beans. I love it. I love it. Alright Rick before we do any more damage see you buddy. Rick Dollywall. Leave him before he gets himself in any further trouble here. What beans? What is he threatening us with? He knows. He knows stuff. He can't tease us like that and just hang up. It's the same five guys on Twitter. Same five guys. They got an agenda. All five of them. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.