Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/26/25

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they hear from Patrik Allvin and Elliotte Friedman on the Evander Kane trade to the Canucks, plus Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance gives his thoughts on the move.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na With the first pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Dallas Mavericks select Cooper Flag from Duke University. It's really amazing. It's a dream come true to be honest. Again, I have no problem with personalities as long as they perform on the ice. They're going to bet Kane is going to be motivated to be as positive as he can be. This is the worst day of my life. Good morning Vancouver, 6.01 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. It is Halford and his bruv, it is Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and bruv of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for net help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at sans-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. He's 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. We got a lot to get to on the show today. It's a big Thursday show. We're one day out from the national hockey league draft.

We got a lot of news and notes and trades happening across the NHL, but our guest list today will not begin until seven o'clock and we are going to begin with a little bit of baseball. Adnan Burke is going to join us at 7 a.m. from MLB network. We're going to talk a little Max Scherzer, Kettle Marte, Cal rally, the trade deadline. Here's one for you. What happens if the Tampa Bay Rays make the playoffs and they're forced to play in the 11,000 seat Steinbrenner field?

You mentioned Scherzer. MLB. Yeah, man. I forgot he was a Blue J until yesterday. How many months was that between starts? Three? It was like first start of the season and then that was it. Yeah, so he said the thumb felt good, he felt rusty, and I got walked off.

Classic J's. We'll talk to Adnan about all that at 7 o'clock 7 or 8 o'clock 730 we're gonna do what we learned today 8 o'clock Thomas Drance who I misspelled in the notes as DRACE which is the white Drake Thomas Drance is gonna join us at 8 o'clock drop some bars He's gonna react to the Ev Evander Kane trade from yesterday. Also, what does the future have in store for Thatcher Demko? We're hearing some rumblings on that front

that it's close to a contract extension in Vancouver for Demko. And if that happens, what becomes of AHL MVP, the Jack Butterfield Award winner, Ardur Siloves. We'll talk to Thomas Drance about all that at eight o'clock. And then at 8.30, yeah, you're going to want to listen to the eight o'clock hour of this show. The general manager of the Calder cup winning Abbotsford, Knax is going to join the program.

Ryan Johnson will be here on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. We'll talk to Ryan about Ardur Seelovs, Linus Carlson, Manny Malhotra, what the future has in store for his Calder cup winning coach. That's at eight 30. So again, eight o'clock hour, know what we learns. We're going to talk to Drance and then we're going to talk to Ryan Johnson. We'll try and do some, what we learned at seven 30 Adnan's going to join us at seven. But before we get into any of this, I yet again, ask the public,

have you bought your tickets for the sports net six 50 Jays care 50 50 for challenge yourball yet? You know who did this morning, Jason? Who? This guy who has two thumbs and didn't cry this morning. Me, I also bought Jay's tickets. 5050 Raffle Tickets. You also cried.

I also cried. So if you haven't bought them yet, go now to jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com. Buy your tickets, support, challenge your baseball. It's a very worthy endeavor. Get a chance to win some money. We're almost up to 10K, which is good. We still got a long time to go in this thing.

This is all supported by Tiltown, proudly Canadian owned and operated since 1971. Visit mytiltown.ca. Again, jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com. Jason demanded that I show proof of my purchase. So I sent him two screenshots. I'm an old man. I didn't take an actual screenshot on my phone.

I took a picture of my laptop. You love doing that, eh? I do love, I love filming off the television and then putting those videos on X and I love taking pictures of my laptop screen. It's the oldest boomer thing I can do. The best thing to do when you're filming off the TV is to have something for people to look at of your reflection. Like what's going on in Halfords room today? A little bit of hand tremble always makes it nice. Maybe some noise in the background,

maybe someone doing the dishes. And then if you're really close to your television maybe a small ornament that sits on your coffee table or a book. Okay we got a lot to get into on the program today. Working in reverse on the guest list 830 Ryan Johnson, 8 o'clock Thomas Drance, 7 o'clock Ed Nanverk. That is 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 last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that?

What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Unsurprisingly, the majority of yesterday focused around the Evander Cain trade. There was a lot of reactions from a lot of different people,

including the Canucks brass. Patrick Alveen did his media availability in the afternoon. Countless articles written, countless standups done, countless opinions spewed. It was all about Evander Cain yesterday. There was another trade in the NHL last night, by the way, in case you missed it, it happened late. JJ Baterka has been traded to the Utah Mammoth, but we'll get into that later because yesterday, especially on these airwaves,

it was all about a VanderKane. I kept on turning on the radio to see what each show would have to say, and I kept on hearing, Mount Brough. Sure, you can go Mount Bruff about this. So, but have you considered this? Maybe there's a reason why news doesn't get broken on our show ever. Maybe there's a reason why they hold off

for five minutes after we're off the air. It's because they know that we're gonna bring the heat and a visceral reaction. It was a reaction in the realest of real times. I know I throw around real time a lot, but we were both, and I can say this this gobsmacked when it actually happened. We thought maybe and again, I said it yesterday in the dark recesses of our mind. We thought they might go there, but to actually see it come to fruition right in front of your face while you're on the air, it was a very big surprise, a very big shock.

And yesterday everyone was dealing with the aftershocks, I suppose. I want to play first some audio from Elliot Friedman who appeared on this station yesterday. And Fried sort of boils down to one of the things that we talked about yesterday, that this is what the Canucks are gambling on. It's not just the Evander Kane,

but it's the time in the era and the lifespan and at the end of the contract when they're getting Kane. It's a gamble, no doubt. It's a risk, no doubt. Is it a calculated risk? Well, based on what Fried says here, maybe. Here's Elliot Friedman on the Evander Kane trade for the Canucks.

The thing about Kane is, he's playing for a contract. the standard game trade for the Canucks. The thing about Keane is, um, like I, you know, he's, he's playing for a contract. Um, and if you're ever going to go after a player, you, you go, the one of the best times to go after somebody is when they are playing for that next deal and you know, Keane's coming home and he's going to be playing for his next contract. And I think if you're going to take that gamble,

those are the kinds of gambles worth taking. The Vancouver Canucks are clearly going to believe that a Vander Kane is going to be motivated to have a big year because financially his NHL future depends on us. Can you leverage it? Well, you're gonna try. I mean, here's the thing. Yesterday, having sat there and taken in all the information and everyone's different opinions,

my original thought really hasn't changed. It's still a pretty, pretty big damn risk to try this. But God bless them, they're gonna try it. Those crazy kids at Canucks HQ, they're gonna try it. Those crazy kids at Canucks HQ, they're gonna give it a shot. Yeah, I mean, look, to be fair to the Canucks, I don't think it's fair to say like, you had a chance to bring back Besser,

and instead you're gonna bring back Kane. No, that's not fair. I think those are two totally different scenarios. With Besser, you're talking about, first of all, a higher cap hit than cane, more term. And that's the same with Souter or cane. Souter is going to demand term. So there's term risk there. There's no term risk with a van der Kene.

I just think there's term risk there. There's no term risk with a Van Der Kene. Um, I just think there's culture risk. So, um, let's hear what, uh, let's hear what Patrick Alveen said about the, the risk of, of culture, because he was asked about it a lot by reporters yesterday. Don't forget, this is a team that, uh, had a few issues in the room last season. And, uh, you know, they were, they're hoping to issues in the room last season and they're hoping to move past those issues and they're hoping to develop a new leadership group under Quinn Hughes and

now they've added Evander Kane to the mix. So does Patrick Galvin think that could be an issue? So we've got a couple different clips here. Let's start with the one where he talks about, the past is the past. That was the one that sort of grabbed a lot of people's attention because when Alvin said it, and I was watching the interview in the aftermath, he really made a point of stopping and looking at whoever asked the question,

talking about they feel like they're moving forward. This is Patrick Alvin on Evanderkeander Kane talking about how the past is in the past. Well, I think the past is the past with Evander. Uh, the last couple of years in, in Edmonton, I think he, uh, contribute to, uh, um, the office stuff and, and helping out in the, in the society there. And, uh, having three kids here now, I think he has matured. I do believe that this gives us a chance and him a chance

to see if this is a fit moving on there and I'm sure hoping so after this year. There was also a real impetus made about the Edmonton phase of his career. I noticed that if Patrick Alveen did have his talking points, one of them was like, well, we think that overall, the situation at Edmonton went fine, and we're gonna go on.

What do you think the difference in the Edmonton room might be? I don't know. Maybe. A lot? Maybe 97 and 29? In like, Corey Perry and other veterans that have been around. Hey, I'm not, I'm not. Lots of Oilers fans yesterday in my mentions be like, he's yeah, you know like other veterans that hey I'm not not oilers fan yesterday my mentions be like he's changed. We love him

He was great in Edmonton and he heard that a lot But then you'd also hear from other oilers fans be like well He didn't really change until Corey Perry publicly called him out and then he changed so he was great last season when he wasn't with The team yeah, so I mean Sides to it and and the oilers fans as well seem a little now gentlemen in the interest of Fair journalism which we're all known for here not so much to journalism or being fair quite frankly We I'm not trying to

Defend or categorize anything that Patrick Alvin said yesterday I wanted to look at it and say what how are the Canucks going to explain a lot of this away? Because there was a lot that needs to be explained away with Kane, there's no question about it. I don't even think even the most ardent Kane supporter can deny that when you're addressing the acquisition of that player, you're gonna have to do some explaining. So there's another clip here

where they were talking very specifically about not training for Evander Kane and his checkered history, but trading for Evander Kane in the last two years that he had in Edmonton. Here's more Patrick Alveen from yesterday. Well, based on his last two years in Edmonton, uh, there hasn't been any, any issues. Uh, I would say almost opposites that, that he's a well-liked guy and I also know that we did our due diligence here in terms of talking to players and previous staff members as well. You talk to your own players to see how they feel about it? I know they don't want to play against him. I think that's where Evander is one of those guys that you hate to play against and you love to have him on your own team. Obviously,

Adam Foote was involved in this process. I did not talk to any of the players. So I'm not going to editorialize much more about this. I'll give Kane a chance to prove me wrong. Uh, that's the only fair thing to do. He's here and, uh, we'll see how it goes, but I do think it's going to be fascinating to see just how this team comes together overall. Can they build themselves back into a real team? I think Adam Foote's remarks on our show about needing to spend more time together as a group are very telling.

Remember when we asked that question, you could, I don't know if you can hear someone's eyes light up, but you know, when we brought up the notion of team building, he was like, yes, I'm so glad you asked this question. Adam Foote was there last season. He knows that there were, there were factions in the room. And, uh, I thought he made a curious remark about, um, you know, I don't think

any of the young players should be eating dinner alone, right? Maybe, maybe he saw that happening once and he wants that to change. And he knows he's got a challenge here or if he doesn't, he should. Because you've got a captain, a very popular captain and one of the best players in the NHL, except his future with the team is very much up in the air.

Your most highly paid player got bullied last season to the point they had to trade his tormentor who was also a very popular player in the market and on the team, especially if he has the Canucks. And now you add a guy with the history that a Vander Kane brings. I mean, it's almost so crazy. It might just work. So in this case, it could work for us.

Now it might not have worked elsewhere. But you know, you know how we always look for Canuck slogans could that be sure it's almost so crazy It might just work. I think at the arrested development clip up ready to go Well, there was a may delude themselves into thinking it might work for them classic Haliford always bringing it back to the football back in the 80s and 90s Wimbledon not the tennis court. They also have a football club, had a group called the crazy gang. And it was basically like, we're going to put together the biggest bunch of nutters and psychos imaginable.

And we're going to see if it works like we're going to make a room so toxic. It might just cancel itself out. Oops around. Yeah. And, you know, I'll say this. This, from a very crazy perspective, this does make sense what they've done here. We said it yesterday. There's a tacit acknowledgement

that what they did here makes sense because you got a distressed asset on the cheap. It didn't take anything off your active roster. It barely made a dent in your pick pool. And you got one year of term at five point one. If it doesn't work out, chances are it wasn't going to work out anyway. I mean, there's not a ton of optimism going into this season to begin with. No.

So it's a flyer on it. Now, the crazy part is openly acknowledging and leveraging the fact that the player needs to keep his house in order because he's got a future that he needs to play for. And I mean, Alveen alluded to as much yesterday. It's very rarely that you're like, well, we think it will be self-policed because his NHL future is on the line.

But that's the reality of the business. Did Alvin really suggest that they might sign him to an extension? I didn't, I didn't get, I didn't get, I mean, he talked about like and beyond, right? But that's a very- Maybe they're just trying to motivate him. They're very, I mean, here's the thing.

You may as well say it now. Okay. Why not? I mean, you always renege on it. I regret saying that, or we were never gonna do that. But yeah, you can't bring a player in on the pretense that this is a one year stop for you. You have to leave the door slightly ajar

to extending it beyond. But I would think it comes down to this. If they can bring him in and the headaches are minimal And he can put now this is the biggest thing for me if he can play the majority of the regular season and There's not a lot of proof right now that he's gonna be able to do like people are talking about The playoff run and I was like, well, did you see the second half of the playoff run? Some of that for sure was I don't think he had, um, the endurance or the match fitness to play that extended, like he

needed, he needed a break basically. And that's fair. He didn't play for almost an entire calendar year, but the playoff run started great. But like a lot of guys that don't have a ton left in the tank, it petered out near the end. So I would be tapping the brakes big time on the, the notion that Evander Kane is fully healthy and

fully back and is going to give you 82 games of solid production. Like, I mean, it's, he's 34 with it coming off a lot of surgeries. Okay. So, um, here's a good way to seg to the next topic. Are we going to be holding our breath next season for Kane to stay healthy, Hedal to stay healthy

and Demko to stay healthy? Because that's a lot of breath holding and we can't really afford to drop many more IQ points. And, uh, you know, Kane has a very big recent injury history. Hedl, we all know has a concussion history and it sounds like they really want to bring Thatcher Demko back and based on some of the reports that you can share with the listeners, a deal between the Canucks and Thatcher Demko is close. So lost in the chaos of yesterday were a couple of reports that Thatcher Demko could have a

contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks as soon as the end of this week. And since it's Thursday, that means tomorrow. Rumbling started yesterday with a Darren Drager report saying that, quote, it does sound like progress has been made on a multi-year extension for Thatcher Demko with the Canucks. An extension is far more likely than a trade at this point. That was followed up by additional reporting from Rick Dollywall. You know Dolly, don't you? He said, quote, there is indeed a pathway

to a Thatcher Demko extension in Vancouver by the end of the week. Not done, but a pathway. Now in that same report from earlier, Dreger also suggested that a hypothetical slash potential Arthur Silov's trade could very well be a possibility because of two things. One, they're not going to carry three goalies on the active roster. And two, if they don't carry three goalies, there's a very good likelihood he won't clear waivers. So there's a lot to unpack there from the goaltending front for the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, I thought it was interesting that

Patrick Alveen shouted out Tolopilo and Tai Young. If I'm management, I'm trying to bring Demko back. If he can stay healthy enough to split 82 games of Lankanen, I think the Canucks will really like their goaltending. Big if, their own health. That'd be the best goaltending tandem in the league. Yeah, one of them. I would feel a lot less safe about betting on C-lobs, with all due respect to what he just did in the Calder Cup Playoffs, which was amazing.

Agree. Do we have any audio that we want to play from Patrick Alveen on the Thatcher Demko situation? No, just keep going on the goaltending for now and then we'll catch up on it. That's all I got. I just think it sounds like they want to bring back Demko. Wow. And okay, I got one more thing. One more thing. Remember when Adam Foote came over or Petey came back to play golf with Adam Foot and Quinn Hughes and who else?

Thatcher Demko. That was a sign, right? I think so. That was a sign that that's in the, in, in Adam Foot came on and said it was, we had a great time. We had a couple dinners out and we talked about the future. I mean, Thatcher Demko is going to be part of this

leadership group. It sounds like. I'm the biggest question. That was a big tell for me. Yeah, I agree. Can you imagine? There's like, hey, do you wanna join us? We're gonna trade you, but we like your company.

Why do you keep calling it my farewell round? What? Demko comes back, what if he has another injury plague season, what's the backup plan? What, is it Sea Logs and Lanken? Is that what we're going with? Yeah. It's a huge bet they're gonna make either way. It's a huge bet they're gonna make either way.

It's a huge bet they're gonna make. It's a little worrisome, a little worrisome. Okay, so there's two things on a potential contract extension. One, what the number's gonna come in at. Because right now, for next season, they've got Demko and Lankenen at a combined nine and a half million. Which is good.

That's great, right? I mean, if you're paying your goaltending tent or your goaltending department in a hole under 10 million and you're getting top flight goaltending, which I think is the expectation, great. Good job. With the cap going up, you could probably spend closer to like 12 million on your goalways

and that's perfectly normal. Absolutely. Yeah. The question is, have they found the secret recipe in terms of workload for Demco? Because now correct me if I'm wrong, but it definitely feels like there's a straight line drawn between Demko's health and the amount of workload he's putting on his body. Like when Demko was in the Ian Clark regime and going crazy with the training and, you know, practicing like a madman and carrying a heavy workload,

his body started to break down. His habits were probably the best they've ever been, but his body started to break down. Right. Yeah probably the best they've ever been, but his body started to break down. Right. Yeah. If they think that they found that, I mean, again, if everything goes right, I don't know where we've heard that before, but if everything goes right,

the goaltending duo becomes a real area of strength on this team. Behind a blue line, which is also an area of strength on this team, you sort of get the idea of why they've got optimism and why they think that they can be competitive next year. Such a thin line though, with that injury worry hanging over the entire season essentially. It could happen in the playoff.

You never know when it could happen. Would you risk trying to get C-lobs through waivers? I think you have to. Really? I think you have to. Can you imagine what idiots they'd look like if you got picked off? Is it better to flip them for a mid-round pick?

It honestly would be, yeah. Cause that's all you're going to get for them, but better than nothing. Yeah. Right? I mean, you can be part of a larger trade package and we can talk- This is a good problem though. This means you have an overflowing goaltending pipeline. This is what you want.

But like right now we're looking at a scenario where the Canucks could have amazing goaltending if they keep Demko and he can stay healthy and they've also got Lankanen and those guys can split games. You've also got the scenario where they could have some of the worst goaltending in the NHL. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

If, if Demko gets hurt and they're forced to play, I don't know, total pillow because they've already moved sea lobs and then Lankanen is overplayed. Yeah, you play the wheels off Lankanen. Yeah, you play the wheels off. I like it. It is, I mean, there's a lot of bets going on right now with this season. So I want to hear from the listeners, text in to the Dunbar Lumber Text Line 650, 650, Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and

rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. It is the Dunbar Lumber Text Line. Again, 650-650. We still got to talk about one more topic when it comes to the Vancouver Canucks and Patrick Alveen's availability.

And that is, yeah, they've added Evander Kane, but you know, he talked about Evander being a middle six top nine guy. They still need more upfront. They still want to go out and get a second line center and they probably want to get another winger. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

We just have to call Thomas Drance Erotica. Thomas Drance Erotica. Course. Thomas Dranceerotica Corsi Thomas Granzerotica Expected Goals Thomas Granzerotica Doth Model Thomas Granzerotica

Regression Thomas Granzerotica P.D.O. Ruh-rushin' Thomas Drance Pee-dee Oh Thomas Drance Droneka 802 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday

everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first entrusted choice for net help with over 3000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are now in hour three of the program. Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off our three.

Our three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers, trustee expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit themraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. Helfer, just so you know, the Dallas Stars announced the Jamie Ben extension. Yes. With one letter.

What do you think that letter was? C. Yeah. So I don't think he's going to be stripped of his captaincy. Yeah. They just sent a press release out courtesy of the team's PR department.

No, no, no. They were grading his performance from last season. Feels a bit high. C plus? Star's captain, Jamie Ben signs a one year, $1 million contract extension. So we don't have that drama to look forward to. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Guests on Sportsnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at powerwest.ca today. They keep the lights on. Just so we're clear, everybody,

I was not publicly calling for the stripping of Jamie Vance. Yeah, you're just wondering. You're just wondering if they're- Well, look, there was an article written about it. An article was written. An article. An article was written in Dallas And the only reason I mentioned it in Dallas is because all the articles there that have to do with hockey are always fed from the front office

Not all most of them clearly not this one It's when Jim lights calls my he's like you guys want a story idea and they're like yes, yes, we do Lights I was acting like the report. Yes, we do. Lights. I was acting like the reporter. Oh, you were doing the reporter bit. You were being the Tim Coleshaugh in this one. That's good. I didn't know what you were doing. Are you with the Cowboys? Is this about Dak Prescott? Let's go now to the Power of West Industries hotline. Thomas Drance joins us here

on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Drance-er? Gentlemen, good morning. Good morning to you. Guess where we're going to start. Yeah, we had no opinion on what happened yesterday with the Canucks. We were just kind of like, eh, maybe it'll work.

Maybe it won't. Sounds like fun. I know you've been talking to your sources at the Canucks and what were they thinking bringing in Evander Cain? Yeah, look, in contrast with the public reaction in the eruption of Mount Bruff on these very airwaves 24 hours ago, I don't think the Canucks

viewed this as an especially high risk maneuver. They viewed it as an opportunity to buy low on a rare player type, right? That everyone knows that this team needed to get heavier, needed to get bigger. They see Evander Kane as being able to do that at the top of the lineup, which is incredibly difficult to find, right? There's only one Tom Wilson in the NHL. There aren't very many players that profile this way. And, you know, look, I mean, I understand viewing it that way, I suppose, right? This team did need to find a top six forward. They did need to find a way to get heavier and bigger. And there aren't very many options to address that anywhere.

Like, I mean, there's not a lot of players like that period. There certainly aren't any that are poised to hit the open market on July 1st. And, you know, if there if there are options who could be dealt, like, you know, maybe Vegas deals, Ivan Barbachev, because they need to clear money to sign Marner. Like maybe something like that could shake loose. Well, okay, great. Vancouver's probably on his no trade list.

So, you know, it's not an easy thing to do. I understand all that, but I do think there is risk, obviously, material risk. There has to be. Given what we know about of Andrew Kane's lengthy history. And, you know, as much as anyone wants to say like, oh, well, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, he was a model citizen in Edmonton off the ice.

Um, okay, great. We, we all saw him come unglued in the Stanley cup final, right? We all saw him take five first period minor penalties and, and, you know, slash Matthew Kachak in a tantrum at the end of game six, right? I mean, not that that's connected to the long history of controversy off ice that surrounded, you know, the, the Vancouver born power forward, but I mean, this is clearly a player who has a long history of volatility off the ice and on it, and this is a volatile situation and we all know that. So, you know, I don't think this is one where it's like the team

feels this way, the public feels this way, and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Like, no, I completely, I think this is a massive swing, a massive gamble, and I think there's another side to this too, which is that. You know, you only have so many resources to try and create value. If you're the Vancouver Canucks. And when we think about what this team needs this season, you know, this feels to me like a move that positions them to be like in that realm of, Hey, if we make the playoffs, we've got this big heavy winger who had

six goals on a, on a run to the Stanley cup final last year and has gone deep with the Oilers the last three and it's tough to match up against and can impact the game within a game in addition to scoring, like it feels like, you know, an effort to construct one of those teams where you're trying to tell yourself that if you win anything or if you get in, anything can happen. And in this NHL that we live in right now, I don't really buy that. I think this is a league where you have to have an absolute great team. I think the gulf between the great teams in the middle

is widening if anything. I think you saw that with back to back Stanley Cup final matchup. I think you saw it in the conference finals in both conferences where it was like, wow, Dallas, they're really far back of Edmonton and wow, Carolina. They are not in Florida's weight class, right? And those are the teams that got through their division, won two rounds only to

fall well short once they bumped into the truly teams. So, you know, I just sort of look at it and think, man, like there wasn't there wasn't ways to create more value than spending a fourth round pick and five million dollars on a player who's got an elite profile or a unique profile, excuse me, definitely not an elite profile, but a unique profile, as opposed to finding X, Y, Z way to bring in multiple valuable players, ideally younger guys who aren't 33 and turning 34 and who aren't going to expire and become UFAs.

Like, I think that's sort of, from a hockey perspective, anyway, one of the things that I kind of worry about is this just feels like a pretty low upside utilization of the team's resources and the big picture in terms of actually creating long-term value. Because of course, even if Kane's awesome, right? You've helped out the best team in your division cap wise and if it works well then now you've got a 34 year old UFA to negotiate and that's gonna be a wildly

risky contract so I don't love it I don't love it boys for a variety of reasons but the club sees this as just a need, something they absolutely required and they feel like they achieved it at a low cost given the opportunity ahead of them and that allows them to go focus on landing the center that they're really thirsty for over the next 24 to 48 hours. I like this text that just came into the Dunbar Lumber text line, Drancer.

He said, I don't think we are at risk of Kane coming unglued in the Stanley Cup final. Right. Drancer, what else do the Canucks have cooking because they still need to address the second line center spot. I don't think, I know you've reported that they've, they've, you know, they're maybe realizing that they

might have to have Philip Heidel as their second line centre next season. But man, what a risk that would be with his concussion history. Plus you would add a Vanderkeen's injury history and Thatcher Demko's injury history. You know, I think they want something a little more certain at 2C.

Well, and I hope something a little higher upside, right? I hope something a little... You know, you find something... Well, look, it's going to be really hard to find something, and there's not going to be a perfect player, almost certainly. We're not going to see those types of players move, and I still think... I know everyone had reverse sticker shock from the JJ Paturka trade. But like,

that's still a pretty big package in terms of asset quality, right? I mean, I think given Don's defensive ability and physical play, you know, I think that valuation is something like Neal's Hoaglander equivalent.. And you know, Kesselring, I mean, people were trying to put together comparable Canucks packages. And it's like, imagine Tom Volander had produced a lot more at BU and maybe you'd sort of have something analogous with to Kesselring, right? Yeah, Kesselring's a good young defenseman. Dude, he's six foot four, right-handed, puck point four million dollar salary had thirty points and played a lot of top

Pair for them when derzy and merino got hurt and and and crushed it That's a really attractive profile the teams like there's no there's no analogy for that on the Canucks books, right? Like it's not like the Canucks could have woken up and easily match that on the Canucks books, right? Like it's not like the Canucks could have woken up and easily match that, you know, trade package. Like the truth is, is that Kesselring would have more exchange value in cache for teams than frankly, both of the Lander

and Elias Pettersson, the defenseman, right? Like imagine Elias Pettersson realizes the absolute maximum, like the 95th percentile outcome across the next two seasons for the Canucks. Okay. Imagine that happens now. Imagine he was right-handed. Now he's Michael Kesselring is trade asset. You know what I mean?

Like that's, that's what we're talking about here. So, um, you know, and, and Paturk is aware. Like Paturk has not even a center. So I mean, that's what we're talking about here. We're talking about significant assets. The Canucks are going to be hunting for this. There are some unique opportunities out there, I think. You know, I'm still certainly interested in what happens with Marco Rossi. I wouldn't be stunned if the Canucks were in on that. In fact, I think the Canucks are gonna be in on a lot of things, whether or not they can actually

bring it about will be fascinating to watch. And obviously they only have about seven million in cap space remaining. So there's a possibility to, and a willingness to potentially clear out some mid range veterans, in that sort of Dakota Joshua, Teddy Bluger type tier in order to create the space required to go get a center and still have the flexibility to bargain hunt

in unrestricted free agency, something this organization has done very well across the last few years. So, for now though, the bargain hunting side of this, that's not the priority. The priority is the second line center and this team is going to fire all weapons and turn over every stone in that search. Uh, Patrick Alveen made that clear yesterday and that's what I'm hearing as well.

Agree or disagree with this? Like whether it's a center or a winger, what the Canucks need is a creative playmaker up front. They need to add that because let's say Petey comes back to form and he's creating out there like he used to, that would be great. But they would still need someone on their second line to do the same thing.

If you want to have Garland on your third line driving play, like they need, they just need someone who makes something happen. And Evander Kane does a lot of good things, he's got a great shot, he scores goals, he hits, he fights, but I don't think you would describe him as a playmaker. No, North-South.

He's a North-South, you know, he's a good offensive player, but a bit of a blunt instrument in that regard, right? So yeah, I mean, look, I look, I would call Garland though, a pretty good playmaker, right? Like if you, if you. Yeah, but I've got him on the third line. Oh, okay.

You've got him on the second line. Okay. Well, I mean, I, I think he's a fully capable second line player. You know, if you, if you end up having to build a second line that, you know, is built around Garland with a Vander Cane and you're lucky enough to have Heedle in the middle or an upgrade on that, I think that's fine.

I think that's a well above average second line if you were to build it out that way. I don't know that they would, right? There's a whole host of different considerations that would go into that. And there's obviously other options. But yeah, I think, I think that would be fine. Like, I'm not worried about that. But yeah, I don't think it's so much about landing like a specific like East-West playmaker for me, Ruff. It's just, add the best player you can find, you know, like, and add a player with a chance to be like, you know, this team's biggest need in my mind is like another elite player, you know, and, and you can say, you can say, well, they lost one in JT Miller and I, you know, I think we can quibble over that, you know, how, how exactly are we defining elite? Like how good is he really like on and on, but yeah, I mean, he was in that, he was at

least debatable as like another real top of the lineup impact guy who certainly had put together seasons of elite performance in his Canucks tenure, even if that wasn't the level that he hit year after year after year. And that gave them an upside case that mattered, right? Like that really did matter, especially given his uniqueness and sort of overall profile. You know, in the wake of that deal, I still think the connects are like I think even with JT Miller, I would have said, man, they're still short, like another top six guy.

So you lose Miller, maybe maybe Vander Kane is that incoming top six guy. But to me, that still leaves sort of a hole where if you're going to be, you know, like more than an average forward group, right? Even if Pedersen bounces back right now, even if Pedersen bounces back right now and Evander Kane's like a 20 goal guy who gives you 70 good games, right? But you're losing Besser, you're losing Suter, you dealt Miller. I think we look at this forward group and should say, Hey, that's like one of the 10 worst in the league.

And that's if things break their way on the Pedersen file and on the cane file. Right. Yep. Um, so, you know, you, you get another like impact top six guy, you got a Marco Rossi caliber dude, you're still below average, right? You're still below average, right? You're still below average upfront probably. And so there's just so much distance for this team to, I guess, close between them and, you know, the great teams in the Western Conference. So, you know, I just think you land the highest end

player you can. That to me is what matters here. And ideally you're able to land them in a way that's and then structure the bet in a way where you're, you know, positioning yourself to potentially realize some, some like top end upside over, over the long haul, right? Uh, you know, getting, getting one of those expiring RFAs and signing them to their second contract. And it's a long-term deal. Like to me, that's the sort of move that would move the needle that would really get me looking at this and thinking, okay, maybe they've,

maybe they've seized a unique opportunity to sort of pry this window back open, uh, and, and give what's, you know, become a hugely underachieving core group, uh, shot to sort of change the story, the story that it feels like is largely already written about this era of Canucks hockey. Um, Russo at the athletic, your colleague at the athletic, um, has an update on Marco Rossi and he says that Garin, the Bill Garin, the general manager

there continues to tell teams he is not trading Rossi without a significant center or equivalent winger from a production standpoint as the main return. Several teams have shown interest in Rossi but on a league where the cap is rising and plenty of teams have added cap space the playoff contenders interested in him are mostly offering futures and it sounds like the Vancouver Canucks are mostly offering futures because there aren't many players that that useful players that the Canucks could, could, you know, add in this trade because

they need those players. What, what do you think, or do you have any information on, on the Canucks interest in Marco Rossi and whether they can achieve this trade? Yeah. I mean, I do think there is interest. Um, I do think there is interest. I do think the, you know, uh, Canucks preference obviously is to build a deal around the 15th

overall pick. Uh, but, but as you know, Russo's reporting interests are a fleeting interest to the Minnesota, Minnesota, sorry, futures are a fleeting interest to the Minnesota wild. Um, you know, again, like would the, the, the wild love size, right? They care, they value size highly. Um, if we're talking 15th overall Dakota, Joshua, and a player like Mancini, does that give the wild something to think about or is that still too late? Right? I mean that to me would be the sort of thing that I'd be watching for in the 36 hours leading up to the NHL draft. Russo also reports that he expects the Minnesota Wild to make Brock Besser a contract offer on Tuesday, on July 1st,

but he says this is not the done deal that has been reported. Does the Evander Kane acquisition, does that officially close the door on Brock Besser returning to the Canucks? Oh, I think the door officially closed a long time ago. Yeah, I think that, I mean, I don't think, I

don't think the Canucks are bringing Brock Besser back. I think Besser is going to July 1 and I think he's going to have some pretty interesting options to sift through. I just don't think that this was ever going to be a match for his career in Vancouver to continue. And so it goes, a tough one. Besser was a classy representative for this team and scored some really clutch goals for this organization in the playoffs last year.

I think he had some great moments, uh, in a Canucks Jersey, obviously. Um, you know, I kind of respect for the way that he sort of put some early career durability issues behind him and, and evolved as a player during his time here, right, becoming a credible defensive option to the point where he was a first choice matchup guy for coaches like Rick Tuckett, who care a ton about details like that. That speaks to his professionalism, his work ethic, the details that he was able to graft onto his game, becoming like an absolute monster at the net

front and not on deflections and going from being this sort of one shot goal scorer early in his career to the like below the hash marks puck battle winning dirty goal scoring expert that he became. Um, you know, that that's the sort of guy, um, that I think organizations need to have, right? Like that's the sort of profile that you want to see when you draft a guy in the late first round and they have success at the NHL level.

So, you know, I think Bester will be remembered very fondly in this market and he should be. But yeah, I don't think there's been a path for him returning and I think that's been evident for months. Dr. Answer, this was great, but thanks for taking the time to do this. As always, we appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend.

It should be entertaining kicking off with the draft on Friday. We'll do this again next week. Cheers boys. Bye. Bye. Thomas Drantz from the athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk here on the Haliford and brush on sports net six 50 one real quick note that I wanted to pass along. I didn't get a chance to earlier. The NHL and NHLPA have announced the launch of the host city selection process for the twenty twenty eight World Cup of Hockey. Jason, you get you can put in your bid right now.

As a matter of fact, I don't know how to do it. I think you just send an email. So I'd like to host it here. We got an arena and everything. And Surrey. I don't know, you could do it anywhere you want, but they are looking for all the different host cities, both North America, Europe, and then they also offered up international as well.

So outside of North America and Europe, that's exciting. What is it, like the President's Cup team? Yeah, I don't know. Eight nations. They're gonna go East Coast and Europe, though. Right. I would imagine. So this is courtesy.

It was courtesy of Wyszynski, who broke it all down. Eight nation tournament expected to feature around Robin and quarterfinal games in two host cities, semifinal and final in one city. 12 days, 17 games at 20. So three host cities total. Is that it? Sounds like it, but it sounds-28. So three host cities total? Is that it? Sounds like it, but it sounds like the details

of the host cities are still up in the air. Vancouver isn't gonna get any of these games. Your first instinct was probably right. Yeah. East Coast, the US, East Coast, sorry, North America. Mm-hmm. And then a couple of Europe. Montreal, Toronto, or New York,

Boston. Vancouver, Philly, or sorry, not Vancouver, New York. Boston. Boston, Philly, yeah. And then Stockholm. You've got the Woodcroft news, don't you laddie? Woodcroft is joining the Anaheim Ducks. Yeah, he's the assistant coach to Joel Quenvo.

Okay, so we got news and notes happening across the National Hockey League. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.