Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/24/26

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the latest trade rumours with Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli, plus the boys talk what the Canucks do ahead of Friday's draft (if anything) with analyst Randip Janda. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. What is happening in there? Mark Strz. Where is a monkey, make the trade. For Byron. Thomas, waiting in front, Hyro. You know for six weeks.

Did I miss anything? Vancouver 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live. from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adah, good morning to you. Good morning.

Regular Zach. Good morning to you as well. Good morning. Halford and Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Are you drowning in tax debt? If you are, Sands and Associates can often reduce your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycle. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

And we are coming to you live from the Kintech studio. Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech. If you want to text into the show today, oh my God, there's a lot going on right now in the world of sports. The Dunbar Lumber Text Line is 650, 650 trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online today. As Jason mentioned, it's a busy show.

we got a lot to get into today. It begins with our guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive, brought to by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 630. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet, NHL host is going to join the program. Wild day across the National Hockey League yesterday. There were a ton of trades. There was a controversial coaching hire. And we didn't even mention this in our notes, Jason. News of potential expansion in the National Hockey League. Lots to get into a David at 6.30. 7 o'clock. Frank Sarah Valley, our NHV. Insider from Victory Plus. Four pretty significant deals yesterday,

which regular Zach got all of them into the intro. Well done, regular Zach. Also, when are the Canucks going to get in on this action? When are you going to make some of them trades? We'll ask Frank at 7 o'clock. 7.30, James Sherman. Soccer analyst for SportsNet and the Footy Prime podcast.

Today, 12 p.m. from BC Place. It's Canada. Go Canada. Taking on Switzerland to decide who finishes a top group B at the 2026. FIFA World Cup. James Sharman are Wednesday regular during the World Cup. We'll join us at 7.30. Finally,

at 8 o'clock, Randy Jand is going to join the program. Canucks analyst for SportsNet. Now, just two days away from the NHL entry draft where, for now, the Canucks have two first round picks to make. What is Randeep expecting to happen between now and Friday? We will ask him at 8 o'clock.

Also at 8 o'clock, Jason. We are giving away. Get this, everybody. 10 tickets. the chance to throw out the opening pitch at the Vancouver Canadiens game on August 26th versus Spokane. So all

you need to do is be caller number five at 8 a.m. Have nine friends, which might be the most difficult for some of you. And have one of them with the ability to throw out a first pitch. You don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself. You just have to throw it. Not a prerequisites here.

I don't know if this is going to work. Yeah. First contest everywhere. We've had zero callers. out of fear. I don't know 10 people. 604-280-0-650 is the number. Again, 604-280-60. You heard me right. We are giving away 10 tickets to the C's game

on August 26th versus Spokane. Okay, that is the guess list. We got a lot to get into without further ado. Regular Zach, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by our good friends at ATS Traffic. Start with a career path in traffic safety, receive competitive wages and training at one of Canada's best managed companies. Visit them online at ATSTraffic.ca. So so much happened yesterday that I don't think we're going to be able to give justice to any one topic today. We're going to shortchange them all. During a slow summer day, we might spend.

the entire segment talking about, you know, the Chicago trade to get, to get Bowen Byram. But, you know, there's so much other stuff that happened. And we do want to reserve some time to talk about what the Canucks are doing, which is nothing right now, what they could do. So let's just try our best to hammer through everything that happened yesterday in the NHL. I like it. Okay.

Let's begin with Mike Babcock. Hey, why not start there? So yesterday, Mike Babcock was introduced to the assembled media in Edmonton as the newest head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. The audio that caught everybody's attention was when he was asked by Ryan Rishog about what happened in Columbus. I've got the clip here. Okay, but first, I want to say, you were right.

Thank you. You were right. I'm not here to be right, you know? No, I am here to be right, which is why it was so upsetting to me. Not that it affects me, but what I'm talking about here is near the end of the show yesterday, we threw out the question, will Mike Babcock be apologetic in his press conference? I said, yes, I think he will be. And you said, no, no, no, it's Mike Babcock.

He can spell apology. And you were right. Babcock really did not acknowledge he did anything wrong. The closest he came to, I think he said. said it was like sometimes my tone is off and then he was like and we work on that he said so if you make people feel uncomfortable you want to work at not making them feel uncomfortable and i was like was that an apology does that count that does that close enough that doesn't count let's hear now and i want to get the question from rishogging here i think it's an important part just so we've got the context of what

was asked and how it was answered so here it's 59 seconds in length in audio the question and answer where Mike Babcock was asked, hey Mike, what did happen in Columbus? I just wanted to go back to Columbus. Just maybe looking for some clarity there. You issued a statement after the guys on the podcast had talked about, you look at players' phones and such. And you basically said, you know, this was irresponsible of them to be suggesting there was anything wrong with it.

And within a few days, when the PA looks into things, you know, you're essentially exiting that scenario and John Davidson and saying you made players very uncomfortable. Mike what happened in Columbus and why did you choose to walk away? Well I chose to walk away really straightforward and I appreciate the question here was it was very evident before the year started I hadn't benched anybody I hadn't talked to anybody I hadn't sat anybody out and it was evident that we weren't together as a staff right from the get-go my wife gave me a call and

she said it's time to get out of there I had been retired I was pretty good at it. I got back to being retired. Ah, yes, that classic Mike Babcock accountability. Once again, shining, shining through on Media Day in Edmonton. I appreciate the question and also I will kill you. But this is what he thinks. He probably doesn't think he did anything wrong.

And then he... Oh, it's exactly what he thinks. Yeah. And then he basically, was he insinuating that Columbus did not have his back? Yes. In that situation. Okay. I really, like it's already 10 after 6.

I really don't want to sit here and debate this too much just because there's more to get to, and I don't think this story is going away. There's going to be plenty of time to talk about Mike Babcock. What I'm wondering right now in Edmonton is what comes next. Is Stan Bowman going to run the same roster back, mostly intact, with the hope that Mike Babcock can get more out of it? He surely has to at least change the goaltending. doesn't he? Or maybe my Babcock with

some defensive adjustments can make that look better? I think they're putting most of their eggs in the Mike Babcock basket. Okay. That's the end of the Babcock conversation. Let's go now to Chicago. This one's interesting to be as Chicago still in its

rebuild era, although maybe not for long if the GM keeps moving the way that he is. This also has to do with the local boy. Bo Byram yesterday, the last late night tray that got consummated overnight, as a matter of fact, the Chicago Blackhawks acquired Bowen Byram from the Buffalo Sabres in addition to forward Jordan Greenway. What did it cost them?

They sent the fourth overall pick in this year's draft and the 45th overall pick, along with D-Men Louis Crevier to Buffalo. And I was left with quite a few questions about Chicago after this. Specifically, are they in there? Let's step on the gas era of the rebuild. Yeah, and Bowen Byram is a pretty interesting player, and he's a bit of a wild card, because in Colorado, we saw when they won the Stanley Cup in that Stanley Cup final, and I bet a lot of people think back to this when they're thinking about picking up Bowen Byram, he was terrific. He's a very good player, but he was always going to be behind Kilmaccar. in Buffalo, or so in Colorado.

He gets traded to Buffalo. And, you know, it wasn't great in Buffalo at times. But there were also times where he were like, oh, his game's coming together. And, you know, this is the Bowen Byram that was a top draft pick. But in Buffalo, he was always going to be behind Rosmastalian. So now he's going to Chicago, where he will be behind nobody. and he can be the number one defenseman and he can get all the top power play minutes

he can be out there in all situations and how is he going to manage that? I don't know. I really don't know. And I think Chicago's in an interesting situation. They were getting a lot of criticism yesterday for how much they gave up to get Bowen Byram. I want to know what's the latest on

Badard's contract situation. How's he feeling about the direction of the Chicago Blackcocks? He's already played three seasons and missed the playoffs in all three. His entry-level contract is done. Even if he signs long-term, we've now seen that it doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to stay all that long unless Chicago puts together a winner.

And I wonder, are moves like this being made because Connor Mard himself is getting a little impatient with missing the playoffs? You know, he missed a lot of stuff last year. He didn't get picked for the Olympics. And sometimes a player will fall victim to his team, right? You know, but people were like, well, I want to see him in a pressure situation. He hasn't played like that in Chicago, right? yeah, because they have any pressure games. As for the other team in this deal, the Buffalo Sabers,

what do the Buffalo Sabers do now? Byram is gone. It's widely expected that Alex Tuck could be involved in a sign and trade. Today. Yeah, that's been out there according to- That's probably going to happen. So that's been out there according to multiple sources. So they would presumably have a fair bit of cap space to play with,

how they will address the team with that. cap space and what they've got. They've also got a little bit of ammo now going in to Friday's draft as well. They got two first round picks and a second round selection. That's for a team. They broke their playoff drought a year ago, won a playoff round, and we're within one shot of getting all the way to the Eastern Conference final. Interesting times in Buffalo. Let's go to San Jose where the sharks have three first round picks, including two in the top 10 after the trade they made with the Ottawa Senators. What were the details on that trade? William Eklund was traded to the Ottawa Senators by the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, as you mentioned.

Sands also got another forward in the deal. So in exchange, it's the number nine pick at Friday's draft, which Ottawa had acquired from the Florida Panthers in the Brady-Cachuk trade. So now all of a sudden, you're looking at a San Jose team that currently has the second and ninth overall picks at this year's draft. And according to longtime NHL insider Chris Johnson, former friend of the program, now that he works on the other side of the aisle. He threw out there yesterday that the sharks might not be done moving around in the first round. Because you'll remember, they traded down in the first round to acquire Kesselring from Buffalo earlier.

I think they went from 20 to 27. Now they've added the ninth overall pick. And apparently Siege was saying that a lot of teams are calling San Jose on the second overall pick at Friday's draft. There were reports out there as well that the sharks were very much in on Bowen Byram, possibly willing to use that ninth overall pick in the trade. So think about this. Eklund was traded to Ottawa to replace Kachuk. Yes.

Okay. Most people now expect the sharks, if they're going to pick number two and not trade that pick, they're going to take Stenberg to replace Eklund. Right. But that still leaves them in need of a defense. And if they are getting a little antsy about, you know, okay, we had a good season last year, right? It was, didn't make the playoffs, but it was good.

And then, but we need to fix our defense. That in Vancouver is like, eronic, heronic, heroic, heronic. Why not call them about heronic? Why not get that ninth overall pick? Plus, plus, right? because the Byron return was so impressive that, you know, anyway, let's get to the Canucks in two sex, because I want to talk about two more teams.

Okay, where do you want to go next? Calgary, where the flames took a pretty big swing on Simone Nemich. Another high price for a defenseman paid. Two first round picks. So they flip the pick that originally belonged to Vegas in 2027 and another first rounder from the cadre trade in 2028 from Colorado. So the flames don't give any of their high end draft capital away. You're going to assume that picks belonging to Vegas and Colorado are going to be at the low end of the first round.

But still. They kept their picks. Calgary kept their picks. Two first round picks for Nemich. And that is a young right-handed defenseman that didn't really ever materialize or pan out in New Jersey. So he gets a second chance on life in Calgary. Yeah. I guess the flames were spinning it or maybe they just believe it that when Nemich came over, he didn't speak the language.

He just had a tough adjustment. and then I think the relationship in New Jersey soured. So, you know, his entry-level contract is up too. So he needed a contract and maybe that was going to become a bit of a difficulty in New Jersey. Maybe Nemich himself just wanted to move on. Anyway, I also thought it was interesting that Craig Conroy, the GM, mentioned the new building when talking about Nemich because they do have a new arena coming soon. and I think they want to enter into that new building

with an exciting young team that isn't losing all the time. So there are pressures that way. Finally, I guess we should talk about St. Louis, which finally traded Jordan Kairu. I immediately wondered, is Robert Thomas still available? Was he ever available? We can talk to Frank about that. And if Robert Thomas is available,

obviously a center that could fill the needs for a lot of teams, either looking for an upgrade on their 1C or if they've got a 1C, they need a 2C, I think about a team like Montreal. Does Dylan Larkin need to be traded first to set the market on that? I don't know. I don't even know who the better player is.

Dylan Larkin or Robert Thomas probably depends on who you ask. I think those are both guys that are like, yeah, they're 1C's, but I don't know if they're 1C's on a Stanley Cup winning team, but if you put them behind a legit one C and you had them as your second line center, you'd be feeling real good about your top six center depth. Hey, Jason, you did a really nice job of running through every single thing that happened yesterday.

Now we turn our attention to the Vancouver Canucks. And let's do it with a little bit of audio from Elliot Friedman yesterday. This is on Oilers now out of Edmonton. And we'll start with Friege's report on Elias Pedersen. You know, the one thing I had heard about Pedersen is that, When Jim Rutherford was the GM of the team, he was like, we need a comparable center in return. I don't think, and this isn't a shot of Rutherford or anything like that, I think it just shows the different priorities.

I think that this new management group doesn't see it that way. If they trade, Edison, and first of all, somewhere he'll go, because he has a say, but I think if they can do something for pieces or players should grow with them, younger players, high picks, prospects, someone they think can be with them through their rebuild and be an impact on. I think they're in Vancouver would do that. I think their goal has changed a little bit.

I look at St. Louis for four first rounders. Yeah. I could be just completely making that up, but if you wonder what they're doing with all that. So it has always been wild to me that there have been players in Vancouver, whether it's Chris Tanev or Elias Pedersen where it was like, yeah, if we're going to trade this guy,

we need to get basically the same type of player back in the trade. And it was like, that's not how trades work. But if we trade a center, we have to get a center. Yeah. Like that's not how it works, right? It's just not. But, okay. So I'm glad to hear that the Canucks have changed their tune on that.

Evolved in their thinking. Well, Jim Brotherford was just desperate to keep a viable team together. So he's like, well, if we trade Elias Pedersen, we need to get a center back. But that, what? What? Anyway, it makes no sense. So fortunately, we're not in that era anymore. I think this is a selling opportunity that the Connucks really need to take advantage of.

It is pretty crazy out there right now. Cap space to burn. expectations in certain markets being raised, teams are out there taking some risks. There is a sense of desperation and urgency in the market. And this is something that the Canucks have to look at and be, we need to be active in this. I know you got to take things slow to get there fast,

which was, you know, the spin or the words from the steens when they were introduced. But there are also times in a market where you have to look at the market and go, this is a perfect opportunity to be a seller. And that's what the Canucks are. Now, there are the matter of the no-move clauses. Pedersen obviously has one. He controls where he goes. is Philip Peronik absolutely dead set on staying in Vancouver?

And if he is, why? Big question. Why? Why? Why would you want to stay here? You could ask that philosophical question of Philip Peronik, I think, to open negotiations. They're like, first question for you, Philip, why? Why do you want to be here? Why would he want to be here? Other than the fact that his stuff is here and he's comfortable, why would he want to be here?

Does nothing competitively for his career. Nothing. He would be five years. I would say five years before you've got a realistic chance of being a team that does something in the playoffs. And also looking at the return by him guy, like the return for Corona could be incredible. Look at all the defensemen that are on the move right now. Like, I mean, I know it sucks. He has an NMC, but the Canucks have to take advantage. They have to convince him. They have to take advantage of this because they would get a boatload for him.

Does he just like having four months off from the off season? I mean, to be honest. not bad, right? I'm starting to see where this Hironic character's coming from. I appreciate what you're saying. I've been yelling it from the clouds for months, but all the reports suggest that it's not there. And this is something that's carried over,

unfortunately, from the previous regime to the current regime. Now, I will say this. Information has been strikingly hard to come by out of the new regime. They may be actively shopping Hironic and just doing a really good job of keeping it under wraps. But the, insiders that have been working the team for the last little bit haven't heard anything. I know sat through there's something out there almost in a speculative nature saying like,

I'm not convinced that Heronic is not being shopped, but we're not hearing anything in the traditional formats that we used to. After the Byram deal, though, do you think they would be like seeing that return with the Canucks be like, ooh, maybe we should really look at this. If they haven't been, I mean, who knows? Who knows, buddy? Here's a question. Is any other team in the NHL in the same situation as Van Gogh. Vancouver in that situation being the start, the very start of what's expected to be a long-term rebuild that is going to take years. Nope. I would have said maybe Calgary.

Calgary's ahead. Not by much, but they're ahead. And their evolution, they're ahead for sure. Then they made that trade for Nemich. It's a 22-year-old. Yeah. But I think they're the closest. And there are a few years ahead of Vancouver or maybe a year ahead of Vancouver.

in their rebuild. Outside of Vancouver and Calgary, let's even, you know, be generous and put those two together. Okay. Is there anyone at the start of a rebuild who should be in the phase

of tearing things down and acquiring futures? And that's it. No. You know, like the only thing they should be focused on is selling the assets

that they have that won't be part of the next great team that they hope to build and, acquiring futures to contribute to that next grade team that they hope to build. I'll boil it down as simply as I can for the listeners. The Canucks right now are the most clear and obvious and determined and focused sellers

in a market that's frenzied right now. That's it. There's no other way to spin it. And if they don't get something done, it's a huge, huge, huge missed opportunity. Now, I'm convinced that they should be getting a first rounder for Jake DeBrust now, late first rounder. Buddy, I want first rounders for everyone right now. They're going like candy.

Everyone's getting first rounders. Everyone should be up to be dealt. And the way the league is working right now, and the NHL is a, in a lot of ways, it's a trend league and it's a copycat league and it's a league where someone's, a general manager who's looking around and seeing everyone else do an action,

they're like, do we need to get in on this? And everyone wants to get on vacation and go up to Muscoca on July 2nd. So they're trying to get all their deals done now. Take advantage, get in on the action, make some deals. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Frank Saravaleigh from Victory Plus.

joins us now on the Halford and Bruff show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Frank. How are you? I am surviving. How are you guys? What was yesterday like for you? Unrelenting. And at one point,

the funny part is I was like, obviously sitting at my desk for a long time. So I got up. I was like, oh, maybe I was go outside and just, you know, clean up and I dropped my phone in the pool. Oh. Which was while I was on it, which was electric, I had to go in with my clothes on to get it out and then got to the bottom.

And I picked it up. I'm like, you're still there? And he's like, yep. Wow. Sweet. So did you dive head first into the pool and all your clothes? No, I just like casually waited in to pick it up off the bottom. But it was, yeah, it was great. It was a great day.

Well, I'm glad your phone is okay because you're going to need it over the next little while. As it was floating to the bottom, you should have seen me. I was like, no, draft week. Frank, we spent the first hour of the show going over everything that happened yesterday. Canucks fans are getting a little bit antsy. They want in on the action. Are you hearing anything about the Vancouver Canucks? I am, yeah, I think they're interested in continuing to pare down this roster.

I think they're trying to deliberate the best pass on how to manage the Elias Pedersen situation. And I fully expect that over the course of these next three days or so, that we will see some activity on the Canucks front to whether it's Jake DeBrusk or whether it's Pedersen or maybe even Brock Besser, the plan is very clear in place that they are going to take this thing to the studs. Will the Canucks be willing to retain on an Elias Pedersen contract? I think to a certain extent they will. It's limited, but I do think for the first time that they're open to it. simply by way of like let's be real with the math. Like if we're looking at the course of the next five years, for instance,

and you're saying that it's going to take almost that long for the Canucks to be competitive again, think about how many years they're going to have to hit the salary cap floor in that stretch. And whether you're paying Pedersen, 2 million of that, or give or take three, whatever the number ends up being. Or whether you're acquiring a dummy contract from someone or somewhere else, at some point you're going to need, and let's add in the brusk factor. If you're taking additional salary off of this team, which is likely, you're going to have to spend at some point either way to get to the floor.

So whether you do it by keeping some from Pedersen, whether you take on a bad deal from someone else, whether you acquire the next Ryan Ellis contract or you know what I mean, go through the list. Sure. Any which way you slice it, you're going to have to use your calculator to get to the floor. And so I think they're open to that possibility for that reason.

I keep thinking about the Kings as a potential destination for Pedersen. Yep. Is that one of them? And are there any others that immediately come to mind for you? It is one of them. for sure. Look, the Kings are focused on, and they're one of many teams that are trying to land the center. They're looking for their Angey Kopitar replacement. They're thinking that getting Pedersen potentially out of Vancouver and out of the spotlight into a place where obviously it

doesn't really burn that bright in Southern California. Maybe have him be a little bit more relaxed and he can get back to being the player that we all saw at one point in time. So I think the Kings are on that list. I've seen people mention the Toronto Maple Leafs. It does not compute for me, like, from both a team-build perspective and just like taking a Pedersen from Vancouver and dropping him into Toronto with the speculation and everything else. I just feel like you'd be setting him up for failure.

So I think the possibilities are, it's not an incredibly long list, but I think there has been real interest. Is Jake DeBrus going to be relatively easy to trade? Yes. First off, it's a seller's market. Second, it's a player who is like kind of set it and forget it. He's like an easy bake oven for 25 goals. Right. Like he just does it and his cap hit is very reasonable.

If you're looking for, you know, top six, middle six scoring winger, like he's on the list and he's definitely being talked about. Let's go back to the center market because we all know that Dylan Larkin has requested a trade out of Detroit. And when Jordan Kairu was finally traded out of St. Louis after years of rumors. I immediately wondered, okay, what about Robert Thomas? Is he available? Has he ever really been available? I've always felt that St. Louis would definitely trade Kairu, but I wasn't so sure about Thomas. Yeah, so Thomas is not available. The St. Louis Blues have told teams, and including teams that they had engaged with previously that they're not moving Robert Thomas. That one never really made sense

to me either because when you take a player at a premium position like that who can be or had gotten close to touching a point per game at that age with that contract, if you delete him from your group, the next thing you're doing is trying to find that exact player. And we all know that the draft is an inexact science. So good luck trying to replicate that through futures. So not really a shock, but Thomas off the market. So you mentioned Larkin. There's Mason McAvish. There's Vincent Trocheck.

We talked about Pedersen. There's Tomash Hurtle. There's a couple younger guys that if teams are really trying to get excited and make something happen to improve their team, I could see Minnesota and Seattle moving on from Danili You're off and Shane Wright. If you're looking for a depth center, you've got Morgan Frost. If you're looking for a fourth liner, you've got Sean Corrally. That's how I see the center market at this exact moment in time.

We're speaking to Frank Sarvelli, our NHL Insider from Victory Plus here in the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Are you hearing anything, anything Frank on Phil Pironic? Yeah, I am, actually, that he's not going anywhere. Yeah. that the Vancouver Canucks plan to make Philip Oronick part of the leadership core of this team wouldn't be surprised to see him named captain

and he's someone that they're going to depend on and rely on here moving forward. He's the one guy that's staying. All right. I'm going to stop asking about Heronic then. I know that collectively in the room, the studio here, we're all kind of hoping that in light of the price is paid for some other defensemen, Heronic might be a guy move,

but we'll table that. Randy Janda joins us here on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. I don't know if you were listening to the show earlier, Randy, but if you weren't, I'll get you up to speed. We had Frank Sarah Valley on the show earlier, and we asked him about all the Kinnock's topics, including Philip Hironick. And his report that the news that he's got on Hironik

is that the Kinnucks are not shopping him and that he anticipates that they're going to potentially name him captain and keep him around. I haven't checked, but it might be lighting the internet on fire right now. Your thoughts on the report from Frank about the future of Philip Hironic in Vancouver. Yeah, a couple of ways to look at this, guys. And I think we all agree that Philip Hironic could be a meaningful piece for the next couple of years. Given his age, obviously you want a veteran player around.

Does it have to be him with these prices on the market is the question, right? With Philip Peronix, the prices that are being paid for defensemen, I know their younger defensemen, Bowen, Simon Mennitz, but, you know, if you can get a minute-eating defenseman, on the market, I think, yeah, obviously you have to explore that. So if the report from Frank is, you know, they're not looking to make that move, this is a player they want to hang on to, I can understand the value with that in the short term.

But this is somebody who's in his late 20s. At some point in time, you have to make that assessment. If you're stripping it down to the studs, I think at the very least, you have to explore what the market says. Now, you know, the Kinects may be doing that, right? like there's a lot of new things that are going on with the regime. We know Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvin felt a certain way about Philiparonic. They wanted to keep them long term.

The Siddins and Ryan Johnson, like that's very much a, still a question out there for me. So, you know, obviously with the trademarker right now, I'd like to see at least what that return could be. Because if you are going full-scale rebuild here, which the Vancouver Canucks are, there's a lot of value tied into that player. So to me, I think that question is still out there with this regime because there's so much we don't know about these three individuals. Okay. I think there's four individuals that I'm thinking about. I don't think they're going to trade Heronic. I do think they're going to trade DeBrusk.

And I don't know about Pedersen or Besser. Do you have a good feeling on those last two, Pedersen or Besser? It feels like we never even discussed Besser. but I guess his name is out there as well. Well, let's start with Brock because his name is out there, but this has always been down to Brock Besser. He had an opportunity to leave, and maybe at the time it was seen as that

he felt like he was kind of just kind of left for the free agency market, and he still circled back and ended up signing with Vancouver when they made that offer last second or as the market opened. And so going back to what Brock has said, because that's what we can base our conversations on. He said he wants to be a leader. This is the first time he's going through a rebuild.

Now the question is when those comments were made, and this is where, you know, I think for a player that calls his own shot, who's got real links to the city, you know, the question is, were you anticipating the level of rebuild, you know, stripping it down to the studs to be to this level? You know, when you made those comments around the trade deadline. Like, I see Brock Besser as a piece that you can have in Vancouver. He takes pride in the crest.

And remember, that is something that is really important to this management team. They want individuals that want to play for the Vancouver conducts and understand what it means to do the Connacht. So, you know, ultimately it will go down to Brock on, is he wanting to go through a rebuild? He said it himself. This was the first time he's doing it. Not sure how to feel about it,

but he's never questioned whether he wants to be Vancouver Canucks. So for that one, I think I don't anticipate a move, but, you know, stranger things have happened. Elias Tederson, the one you mentioned before, we've talked a lot about this over the years, guys, right? You know, we know what the production has gotten down to. His defensive game is good, but offense is what you're paid for in this league, and he's making real good money.

Now, the question for me is similar to Brock and away, does the player want to go, and where does he want to go? And the second question here is the retention question. And that's big, right? Because if you are looking across the league right now, I don't think there's a shortage of teams that are looking for centers, but they also understand the asset that you're talking about right now is not the same one.

We remember from three or four years ago. It is a diminished asset. So are you going to take it at full freight? Probably not. So what is that, you know, conversation within the Knoff's organization to say, are we going to eat some money and how much you're going to eat? So I think with Elias Pedersen,

It's a very different conversation. But one thing is for sure, the Vancouver Canucks, they're looking to add picks, they're looking to add up salary, and this is for sure a full-scale rebelled. And you have to consider both of those moves. To me, Pedersen is more realistic than Brock. I had never really gotten it from Brock that he wants to leave.

Yeah. We were talking about this yesterday, how odd this off-season is in terms of, normally we'd be at this situation heading into free agency and be like, All right, what do the Canucks need to fill out the roster? You know, they need a winger, you know, or they need a second pair of defense win or something like that. Have you been doing any of that in your mind even?

I haven't done that at all. I think the last time I did that was on maybe this show two weeks ago when we were talking about potentially depth players that they could pick up and maybe insulate some of the young defenseants. Like, that's really the only conversation that I've internally had about it. And if you're talking about needs right now for this team, guys, it's draft picks, right? There's a reason we're talking about Jake DeBrus. There's a reason that Philip Roanick's name is popping up. You've currently got two first-round picks.

So I think understanding where this team is and where they understand where they're at as well. You have, you know, five picks in the first three rounds. Can you add to that? because where this organization is at, you know, you will be making signings on probably maybe one or two on July 1st, depending on how the market looks, but you might be more of a team that's hanging around July 2nd or 3rd or maybe even beyond that. So, you know, I haven't, a part of this is going to be, okay, what can you get in the draft? It's more of a long-term approach at number 3.

You probably have to wait a year or so before you see that prospect. But, you know, you're going to see depth signings. You're going to see guys that can keep, you know, those young players accountable. So there are needs, no doubt. Like, you look at that center position, there will be a need. There will be a bigger need if Elias Pedersen's not on this team. The winger spots, yes, there will probably need, but you're not going to be spending a lot of money. You'll probably be looking at depth signings and giving some of those young players an opportunity.

But Jason, I think that assessment has to come once you see who's, you know, potentially still on this team, right? Like we talk about four or five players. Let me throw you another name, like a death player. like a Drew O'Connor, you know, if a team likes them and they want him for the full season, like he's on the final year of his deal. And that's an easier player to replace three young players throughout Oxford. But like there are other players outside of the big four or five that we've talked about that could potentially be on the move as well, depending on what the market can bear.

I want to come back to the erroneous thing just because I think this is going to be the first topic that's really, you know, the fan base is, if Frank's reporting is accurate and the Canucks want to keep chronic and they don't intend to trade them and they're even considering making him captain, this is the first real PR test for this Canucks new management group because I think for the most part, people have liked what these guys have said and what they've done.

And this one might be the first one where the fan consensus differs from their consensus. And you're right. Frank's reporting, we'll have to wait and see because, you know, I think the style of communication is very different from this regime compared to the past one. And we've discussed Ryan Johnson's style in the past. Is this essentially a report that you can, you know, buy into because it is true? Or is it, you know, it's also smokescreen season, right? Like if you're trying to extract a little bit more, we don't know the tact that's being employed right now by this regime. It's so early. So what I'm saying is

when I see that report and when I hear that report, absolutely. You have to pay attention to Frank's a trusted source on this league, but there's a lot we don't know about this regime. So it is going to be, I think, an interesting talking point in the city of Philopronic is a

untouchable player for this regime. I think a lot of fans, a lot of pundits will question that based on the age of Philopronic. Not that he's a good leader, not that he's a good player. It's more of the the build, so to speak, right? Like, you know, if you've got a four or five-year window, where does he factor in?

What is the best time to maximize? So I agree in that, you know, it could be a talking point, but I will also say, and I'll also caution is that the communication style, the way that this regime conducts business compared to the previous one may be very different. You know, what you hear may not be the truth. So I think that's going to be an interesting exercise here of just saying, all right, does this turn out being true? Or is this something that's being, you know, one of those conversations.

that you hear during draft time or around free agency, but it may not be the truth. Yeah, I also do think, though, that this group has talked so much about culture, culture, culture, culture. And that's the start, right? You have a different environment, and the culture needs to get changed first. And maybe, you know, we should just take these reports at their word

and they like what Horanek brings to the room. They liked his attitude down the stretch when things apparently the culture in the room got a little bit better. He's willing to buy into the plan. You know, maybe they just think that is more important than extracting every little bit of asset value out of this veteran group. Well, one area that they talked about at their introductory press conference, even the owner of the team, you know, talked about it in his statement as well was just being a team that is, you know, you're going through a rebuild,

but you're going to play hard every single night. There's going to be a compete. And Philip Ronan brings that, right? Like we saw, you know, when he was playing with Quinn Hughes, there was a point production. But if you look away from the puck as well, he's competing, he's fighting in the corners, he's battling in front of the net.

And one of the things we talked about a couple of weeks ago, guys, was insulated and young guys and making sure that there's a level or a standard there that they're able to, A, you know, there's veteran players that are able to help them out, but also show them how things are done at a high level. I'm not talking about a depth defenseman on a third pair. I'm talking about a defenseman on the top pair, you know,

that might be able to show them the way. So, you know, that could be something that this regime looks at and says, hey, we've got some good players like Marcus Pedersen, but he's more of a three-four at this point. You know, we've got some other young defensemen coming up. And there might be a veteran gap at the high end where you want him playing next to Zee, Booiam. So, you know, if that's your case, I can understand that.

But in my opinion, everybody's got a price. Like, I like having that, you know, that competitive factor. I like having a high-skill guy with Philip Ronik is. He's made some unbelievable plays over the last few years, shown his vision in passing as well. But in this league, especially at the right shot in defense mineral, there is a price. Like, at some point, you've got to say, we love this guy.

But if you're getting, you know, a king's ransom coming back the other way, you have to at least consider it. You know what? I can't do the devil's advocate thing anymore. I can't pretend like I would try and try and like, oh, well, let's see the other side of this or let's try and make it

logical from their perspective. Like, well, one, we've already granted the new regime a lot of good grace and part of it has to do with the fact that they came in and they said all the right things and they validated us. Yeah, right. They did. They really did. Daniel came into studio.

That was a nice gesture. Good times over pal no like i don't i just i look at this i'm saying if we're if we're going to be as critical as we have been of the previous regime for all of the static moves that they they made and you know i feel like we've got to continue to say and not try and explain away what seems glaringly obvious especially in this market of teams are desperate defensemen are going like hot cakes for really, really good picks in return. And we've hit this sort of sweet spot where

general managers that have been, had their hands tied for a long time, now have cap space to move. And suddenly, the winds of change have blown to where guys don't seem as desperate to hold on to their first round picks anymore. Yeah. It's an opportunity.

And they might not come around all that often. So when an opportunity presents itself, you got to pounce. Even if you want to take it slow and steady, sometimes the market dictates where you move and how quickly you move. And I think this is one of those situations. I'm sorry, but I do. No, and you know, a couple of things.

I do want to talk about, you know, what the market can bear, right? Like, you look at a team like a San Jose Sharks right now. They're probably going to take a defenseman in the top 10, which, you know, that deal where they've got two picks in the top 10 essentially tells me that they're going to take Stenberg and

whatever defensemen they can get their hands on at number nine. But they're also still looking for veteran defensive and probably a veteran defenseman to add to their top four. Like, this is a team that is aggressively looking, and they won't be the only one. There's going to be other teams that are looking for right-shot defensemen. And guys, it comes down to me.

Listen, I love Philip Ronick as a player. You know, if my team's window was open to be a playoff contender or a cup contender, yeah, I'm paying a lot to get them, but this is a question about windows for me. The Vancouver Canucks, you know, in his age 28 season, basically, does it jive with their timeline? And this is a team that's going to take three or four years to become that team. By then he's 31, 32 years of age.

And they could trade him any year. They could trade him at the deadline. But if now is the time when teams are saying, hey, we need those players. We have cap space. And we're giving away graphics. You know, I think, Mike, I agree with you in that sense where, you know, you have to look at this time right now.

So the justification of, you know, why you would keep them, I think there's a pros list there, but it all comes down to if you get that call and there's another first round pick and then, you know, more as well because you start looking at what other defensemen were able to get. And those guys, I think in a lot of ways, are aspirational defensemen, right? Bowen Byram has to show that he can be a number one defenseman in the NHL. Simone Nemitz has to show that he can be a consistent player at the NHL level in a top four. With Philophron, yes, he's older. but you know he can play at the very least as a complementary defenseman on the top pair.

So I'm with you. I think the timelines don't match up, but I also understand where GMs are saying, hey, we can't have a bunch of young guys in our four of our top six defensemen leading away because not all experience is good experience. You need that insulation to a certain degree. So knowing how management teams work,

that will be something that they have to address. Either you get a defense and back in a deal, maybe that can play that role for a year or two, maybe it helps so with salaries, but you know, you need players in that lineup that can fulfill that rule to a certain extent as well, whether that's free agency or trade. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.