Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 6/28/24

Episode Date: June 28, 2024

Mike & Jason look at the previous day in sports, including Quinn Hughes winning the Norris Trophy plus the Canucks re-signing Dakota Joshua and Tyler Myers, they get an update on the 'Nucks ahead of Free Agency on Monday from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal, plus the boys tell us what they learned.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. The James Norris goes to... Quinn Hughes. You can't do it alone, and you need really good players around you, and I certainly have that, so thanks, fellas. And Springer gets into another one! Way out of here!

You're the sucker. You're the loser. How are the 14-year-olds? Don't flip that. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford and his brough for the Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adol, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. they recycle, you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfite, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. We've got a big show ahead on a Friday. It is NHL Draft Round 1 night.

And we've got a lot of Euro stuff over the weekend. We've got a million things that went on in the world of Sprott, specifically the NHL draft round one night. And we got a lot of Euro stuff over the weekend. We have a million things that went on in the world of Sprott, specifically the NHL yesterday at seven o'clock. We'll talk to AJ from AJ's pizza because it's ask us anything Friday on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. The premise as always quite simple. You ask us anything. We will answer that anything.

And the best ask us anything will get a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, the best pizza place in the world. At 7.05, here's a get. Rick Celebrini is going to join the program. The director of sports science for the Golden State Warriors, also

the father of the projected, I'll say projected first overall pick in tonight's NHL entry draft, Macklin Celebrini. Rick's a local guy. Mackie's a local kid. So we'll talk to them at 7.05. Have you come across Rick Celebrini at all?

He was a soccer player. I am friends with his brother, Randy. So I don't meet Rick's in Golden State, so it's not like we cross paths a lot. They are both legendary local soccer players. Rick was a very good soccer player back in the day. And I'm very excited to talk to him, which should be a big night for the family. I was just thinking how incredible it is that Rick Celebrini famously works for the Golden State Warriors.

And San Jose is going to be the team that gets the first overall pick. And his other son was drafted by Vancouver. That's cool. One of his sons gets to play with Jake Wallman now. That's really exciting as well. That is pretty cool. 7.30. I'll never forget where I was when I heard the news.

Bob the Moj. Marjanovic is going to join us on a rare Friday hit that doubles as a post-game hit. The Lions squeaked out a win over the Edmonton Elks last night at BC Place. So we'll talk to Moj about that. It wasn't exactly the most impressive win, but hey, they all count. And the Lions have won three straight. Moj will join us at 7.30 to talk about that.

8 o'clock, Rick Dollywell. I assume you've already been in contact with our intrepid Canucks insider about what we'll talk about today with Dolly. Yeah, we'll just talk about the signings that the Canucks have done and the ones that they might possibly do. The same sort of stuff that we'll talk

about until July 1st. Zdorov, Tanev, but actually the one thing that I find interesting and a bit of a curveball is what Dolly says in his text to me, the quote-unquote goalie situation. Which is, why

are the Canucks apparently circling back to talk with Casey DeSmith? Why is that? That's very interesting. That is very interesting, actually. I want to get to the bottom of that. You're not even sarcastic. No,

no. Why would I be sarcastic? I'm genuinely interested in that. So Dolly's going to join us today to talk about that and more. Mojit, 730, Rick Celebrini at 705 and AJ at seven. And a reminder,

it is ask us anything Friday, get your AUAs. That's the hashtag into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650, 650. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Yesterday was a huge day for the Vancouver Canucks and for fans of Vancouver Canucks news. So let's start with the most recent development last night and work our way backwards. Quinn Hughes. Congratulations to Quinn Hughes. He was awarded the Norris trophy as the NHL's best defenseman that's right fire up the rap horns uh how long have I been waiting for this uh your entire lifetime yeah I was actually thinking of you when I saw Quinn Hughes get

it rough because I was like it was like the first time in franchise history Canucks finally have a Norris trophy not only I I was I was before I would have I would have settled for Norris trophy. Not only, I was, before I would have settled for Norris trophy caliber. Sure. This one's actually a Norris trophy winner. So he was the first ever Norris nominee in franchise history, and it is now the first ever Norris winner

in franchise history. So kudos to him, 27th player to win the trophy. He won it at the ripe old age of 24. Here's some audio now of Quinn Hughes saying just how special it is to him to win the Norris. Yeah, it's really special. I mean, something that I was hoping I'd have the chance to win in my career and to do it at 24, I'm honored.

And like I said, there really is so many great defensemen in the league, so it's incredibly tough to win and to do it through a full season, 82 games. So I'm proud. I'm proud of the year. We had a great team, and I played with great players that allowed me to continue to get better. I'm just a little surreal right now. I'm trying to take it in, but just really happy with the whole year,

and hopefully we can continue to get better. So there's still room to grow for Quinn Hughes as a player. Heart trophy. Heart trophy expert. Well, no. What I'm thinking about is the knowledge that he gained in the playoffs and the knowledge that he gained that things are going to be different for him in the playoffs.

It might be different going forward based on the blueprint that, you know, we saw in the playoffs of the opponents and how they play them, play them, play him. It wasn't like he was completely ineffective in the post season, but I think what Nashville did in terms of not just chasing him down, getting some big hits on him. And then the Edmonton Oilers kind of followed that same blueprint.

That is an experience that Quinn Hughes is going to take and he's going to go into the offseason and go, hmm, I'm not just a regular season player now. There will be expectations that my team makes the playoffs and does something once it gets there. How can I be better in those situations? And some of it's going to be getting rid of the puck quicker or just figuring out different ways to avoid the pressure

because I think Nashville did a really good job of getting in on the forecheck and actually putting the body on Quinn Hughes. And I think that carried over into the Edmonton series and he was slightly less effective in the playoffs than he was in the regular season. I think we can all admit that, and there's nothing wrong with it. To give you a historical context, so the award has been handed out

for the last 70 years. It was actually the 70th year birthday for the James Norris Trophy yesterday. So 70 times it's been handed out. Only 27 defensemen have ever won the award, which is kind of crazy. That is crazy. I never thought of it because like bobby orr won 10 of them yeah and nick lindstrom as well right uh hughes dominated the voting uh of the 172 uh first place votes i believe it was 87 or sorry of the he got 172 votes

i believe it was 87 88 percent of those so it actually ended up being more of a landslide victory than some might have thought. And that is against a pair of former Norris winners in Roman Yossi and Cale McCarver. So some very stiff competition. Hughes was also named a first team all NHL all-star, the first to do that since the Sedins got it back in the day. Just do a quick rundown of who else won the award

so we can get into the news yeah yeah so colorado avalanche center nathan mckinnon won both the heart trophy as the league mvp and the ted lindsey award as the league's most outstanding player uh chicago blackhawks conor bedard was named the nhl's top rookie, and it was not Thatcher Demko, but Connor Hellebuck winning the Vezina Award as the league's top goalie. Demko did finish second in voting, even though he didn't get a first-place vote. Very confusing.

I won't go down the road of it, but Connor Hellebuck won it in a landslide, so not really surprising there. And I have no problem. I think that's the way it should have been. Hellebuck should have won the V vesna and nathan mckinnon in i'm curious if you have the voting in in front of you because i'd be curious to know how close that vote was it was a landslide really isn't that interesting though because we went through this whole season talking

about this crazy heart trophy race and and how close, how many candidates there were. We had, when we talked about, oh, and don't forget about Kucherov in Tampa Bay, what he's doing. Overall, it was a terrific Hart Trophy race, but I think the voters got the right guy. Nathan McKinnon was incredible this season. He really had to put, at times,

he had to put the abs on his shoulders, and he did that. He had 137 first-place votes. Kucherov was second with 50. So it was a wide gap between first and second. And then nobody else really got first-place votes after that. McDavid got one. Matthews got two.

Panarin got three. Like, that's it. So it was... Only two for Matthews. I thought he might have gotten more, considering how many goals that he scored. Same. I was surprised that that many first-place votes went to McKinnon.

I thought it would be way more split, but it wasn't. So McKinnon wins it in a bit of a runaway. Did anyone watch the awards ceremony? Did anyone? And how many times did you cringe? What was the cringe per 60? There was a lot of cringe. Was it a high cringe per 60?

There was a bit where the host, what's his name? Matt Friend, I want to say his name was. He wasn't a friend to Nikita Kucherov. He came out wearing a fake beard. I have the clip. Do you? It was so brutal.

Okay. I can't believe they greenlit it. It's 30 seconds of complete cringe. I'll just, okay, let me set it up just in case people don't know what's going on. He kind of did a bit where he was acting. I thought it was supposed to be Nikita Kucherov, but it ended up just being a generic.

They had the name bar. It said Nikita Kucherov. He was trying to do a Kucherov impression. Mike, the urologist from Brockville, sent in an early What We Learned. He said the weird Borat-style Nikita Kucherov interview was a perfect demonstration of how terrible the NHL is at executing things like award shows.

Was it Borat? That's pretty insulting, actually, if he's trying to be. We're going to put it out there. Actually, Kucherov is super friendly, and he was able to play along. We're going to put it out there. The listeners can have their take. This is, I don't know what, Borat interviewing Nikita Kucherov with Borat being Nikita Kucherov.

Here's the clip from the NHL award show. How we doing, man? We feeling good? You look like number one bull crap. How's it feel, man? Yeah, I'm good, man. For some reason, you sound more Russian on YouTube. But anyways, this would be your second hard trophy win. Do you know where you put the other one, or what do you do? Yeah, it's at my office.

So much enthusiasm from Kucherov. I'm loving it up the top, man. What are your predictions for the next season, Nikita? What do you like? I'll try to win the cup. That is such amazing advice for hockey players, man. Wawa wewa. Anyways, when we come back, we'll find out who wins the heart.

Nikita Kucherov, everybody. What the hell are we doing here? You dropped a wawa wewa. You know what? I did like the wawa. I actually like the wawa wewa. Yeah, because you love Borat. I do love Boratat right in front of his face and kucherov sitting there just stone face the entire time um i i why does the nhl succeed in making us cringe so badly

number one cringely is it is it is it the combination of kind of okay talent, but not elite talent, not star level talent, and I'm talking about the hosts, combined with the fact that hockey players never want to play along? Like they never want to play along. No, I don't know why they do it. I honestly don't. Don't even try.

Okay, so they parsed it down last year. It was an hour-long program. They cut out half the awards they normally do. So like, sorry, Lady Bing winner, you don't get the big stage. They tried to fire through it faster. They cut down the amount of skits, but they still tried. And I think this is Homer Simpson advice time. It's like, the lesson is don't try.

Never try. Like, just give out the awards. Give out the awards. No one, and I mean no one, is going to, the lesson is don't try. Never try. Just give out the awards. Give out the awards. No one, and I mean no one, is going to miss the NHL award show. Do the other leagues have award shows? Oh yeah. The NFL has a big, glitzy one. Yeah, really like... I never remember that. I can't even think of

that. I can't even think of a single time that I've watched the NFL award show. Well, there was a great Norm MacDonald bit. I think it was... No, that was the ESPYs. Yeah, that was the ESPYs. That was the ESPYs. That was the ESPYs, right, right, right. Yeah, that was the ESPYs. The NFL has a very glitzy award show.

Okay. It's, you know, it's better than this. Yeah, yeah. But it's also an award show at the end of the day. I just think that. But the players never want to play along with this thing. Not really. They're embarrassed.

And some of the responsibilities on them, like we all know hockey players have that too cool for school kind of attitude sometimes. You know what I mean? At any rate, let's move on to what the Canucks did yesterday because it was significant. And we will start with Dakota Joshua resigning. The Vancouver Canucks resigned Dakota Joshua yesterday

to a four-year, $13 million contract. He was slated to become an unrestricted free agent on Monday. So kudos to the Canucks for getting that one done just under the wire. According to Freed, that's Sportsnet's Elliot Friedman, Freed reported late Wednesday night that the Canucks circled back on trying to sign Joshua right after they traded Ilya Mikheyev to Chicago. And it didn't take very long after getting Mikheyev's money off the books to come to a deal with Dakota Joshua.

The quote from Canucks General Manager Patrick Alveen, Dakota had a strong season for us and took some big steps forward in his game. We really like his side speed and physicality. He fit in well with our system and the way we want to play hockey. And I think it's worth noting that on the day that Dakota Joshua re-signed, we were talking to his linemate that had

also recently re-signed Teddy Bluger. So the third line... The third line. The third line is back, baby. The whole thing is back and I couldn't be more excited. Now they're going to trade Garland to make cap space. Don't trade Garland. Just let us have this for a little bit. Well, I wonder what the expectations will be for Dakota Joshua going forward. Will he be tested out in the top six?

Of course, that will largely depend on what the Canucks do in free agency and trade-wise and how everything shakes out as they head into training camp in the fall but um you know it would be easy enough and fine if the connects just keep dakota joshua in that spot where he excelled i mean he was he was he was a 3.2 million dollar player this this year no question about it um so you hope that he maintains that level at the very least and he comes into camp in shape because that would be one hint. If he doesn't come into camp in shape, and the only reason I say that is because Rick Talkett

was a little disappointed with Dakota Joshua and his fitness levels at training camp. So if he comes into camp in shape, that's great. Right? That means he's not going to be like, well, I got paid. Now I can relax a little bit. Because we all have to remember just how hungry Dakota Joshua was coming into this season, or should have been.

The fact that he didn't come in shape really was a little bit confusing to me. But regardless, he played really well, and he finally got paid. He hadn't made much in the NHL until this season, and he's not like 22. He's 28. He's 28 years old, and this was his big payday. If he's careful with his money now, he's set for life.

He really is, right? If he can get $10 million out of this careful with his money now, he's set for life. He really is, right? If you can get 10 million bucks out of this contract with tax, well, he probably won't, but you know, you still are set for life. But now you're going to be expected to play a big role. Now you're not just a good story and this found money.

Now you're a guy that the Canucks have made a commitment to and you're going to have to be, at the very least, a really good third line player. And and you're going to have to be, at the very least, a really good third-line player. And sometimes you're going to be asked to go into the top six. You're going to have to continue being a really good penalty killer, and you're going to have to continue being a physical present on a nightly basis.

Every time you're on the ice, you're going to have to be expected to be consistent because it's not like, well, he's just a guy who's bounced around the AHL. Sometimes he's in the NHL. Now you've been paid like a regular NHLer and you have to bring it

every night. Yeah, I think that's going to end up being the biggest challenge for him. I've seen this before in the National Hockey League where we covered it for a long time. There's guys that get these sorts of paydays where they go from being fringe guys making less

than a million a year to getting that big payday. There is an inherent pressure to elevate your game. But if this makes sense, elevate but not change. Right? They want you to do

all the things that earned you the $13 million. They just want you to do it better. that earned you the 13 million dollars they just want you to do it better right you so here for example joshua finished with like 250 hits during the regular season and he was like third in the league still at the end of the playoffs even though he only played two rounds with 74 hits in the postseason none of that can go away but they're had yeltsin has to add elements to his game like he can't start sacrificing physicality to chase points exactly exactly but some guys have a really hard time wrapping their head around that because there's pressure involved now you're a three million dollar a year guy speaking of three million dollar a year guys uh tyler myers is now one of those tyler myers also

signed yesterday the veteran d-man agreed to a three-year deal for $9 million collectively. That's $3 million AAV. And I want to address, there was some pushback, which I thought was odd, including right now into the Dunbar-Lumber text message in basket. Do you think it's odd that there's pushback that Tyler Myers got a three-year deal considering his tenure in Vancouver? The term I could see some people having a little bit of issue with, but for $3 million a year going down from $6 million, looking at what the

defenseman market is, my answer to all these people is what did you expect? What did you honestly expect that he was going to take? Because he could have gone to market and I guarantee you there would have been teams that would have paid him. More. More. Yeah. I mean, it's just the reality of the open market right now.

You nearly said the reality of the situation. The reality of the open market. There's not a lot of defensemen, period, right or left-handed. There's not a lot that are out there. It is crazy, though, that looking back even just a year ago, when people were looking at Tyler Meyer's contract and going, only one year to go. Sure.

Only one year to go. And a lot of people were going, well, okay, the signing bonus has been paid. Maybe they can trade him now. They were just looking forward to the end of it. And now there's three more years of Tyler Myers, albeit at a different cap hit. Half the cap hit that he was under. A 50% decrease. And I thought, especially in the playoffs, I thought he played really, really well.

They signed Ian Cole last year for one year, $3 million. At any point, did you consider that cap hit to be onerous or inflated? Even when Cole was struggling, I was like, $3 million for a reliable veteran. Number five defenseman. That's fine. Look around the league. Myers basically had Jalen Chatfield's contract, right? But it does put pressure on the Canucks now to go and find a defenseman that keeps Tyler Myers in that third pair role.

Or at the very least, it's the bottom four, right? If you're going to keep Hughes and Hronik together, and I think that's a big if because I still think that there's elements in the organization that they say, well, we should break this up if we can. But Tyler Myers needs to be playing 16, 17 minutes a night. Right. Once he gets into the 20s, then it becomes problematic. He was at 19.30 last season, I want to say.

And in the playoffs, I think I got closer to 20. In the playoffs, sometimes it's different, though, because if you look at the averages, overtimes are baked into those. But I'm fine with that deal. I really am. And I understand that people will side-eye it based on... And fair enough.

The majority of Tyler Myers' initial contract in Vancouver was a disappointment I think it's fair to say that I would also he was being asked to you know his first season in Vancouver his average ice time was 21 30 there's a significant difference between that and the role that he played last season yeah and I don't even think it's recency bias I think that you had a head coach and more importantly a guy running the blue line in adam foot that kind of understood what they could get out of myers and asking him to do what he can i think more importantly not asking him to do what he couldn't that's a big part of this and telling him what to do you know the uh god who was that oh it was et Baer before he left the organization was talking about what went wrong with the Canucks, not for him, but just the team.

And he basically insinuated that the guys weren't being given much direction and they didn't know where to be on the ice and what plays to make. And Rick Tockett came in and he said, I'm going to tell you exactly what plays to make. And there was less freedom in terms of how to play and what to do with the puck and what to do in certain situations. You know, that whole thing like Bruce just lets them play. That was the problem. Yeah. Some guys aren't. No, no.

That was the problem for the whole team. Sure. And I think, listen, management was right. You need a structure. You need a hard and fast structure that you can turn to when things, you can turn to at any time, right? Especially when things are going tough for you. It's like your security blanket. And that's what some of these players needed.

That's what Tyler, you didn't want Tyler Myers going back with the puck and Bruce yelling from the bench. I believe in you. Yeah. Right. Right. Like you can do it,

but, but what should I do? That's up to you. That's where you find the magic turnover, right? It's, it's, it's,

it's, it's that's, I think that was a, that was a big deal. Once those players were told, this is what we do. This is how you play, go do it,

you're going to play more confidently because you just go do what you're told to do. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dollywall Rick Dollywall It's time for Rick Dollywall Rick Dollywall It's time for Rick Dollywall Rick Dollywall It's time for Rick Dollywall Rick Dollywall It's time for Dolly

Rick Dollywall It's time for Rick Dollywall Rick Dollywall It's time for Dolly Rick Dollywall It's time for Rick Dollywall Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall.

802 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Half and Brough. Sports 9, 650. Half and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts parts we are in our three of the

program rick dollywall is going to join us in just a moment here the crown jewel of our three our three is brought to you by campbell and pound real estate appraisers trust the expertise of campbell and pound visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today we are coming to you live from the kintec studio kintec canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. What do we got, Jason? We're going to play some audio from the most recent episode of 32 Thoughts, and that's going to lead us into our interview with Rick Dollywall. Here's Elliot Friedman delivering an update on jake gensel carolina wants to get gensel done before the draft really seriously they've been aggressive

and they're attempting to do it there are several teams who think it's going to get done nothing is done until it's done i always say young merrick but there are several teams who believe it's going to get done they're one of the theories about vancouver's decisions the other day in terms of resigning a lot of their own players is that maybe there'd been some intel out there that the cancel situation was trending in that direction. We'll see what Friday brings, but one of the other teams that was rumored to be into Gensel was Tampa. I have no idea how they'd make that work, but it fits their MO. There was some suspicion that Tampa was in on Gensel.

Again, Carolina was trying to close this, and as of Thursday night, there was zero confirmation. But there are teams who believe Gensel's going to get done in Carolina. Well, it is now Friday, as Freed alluded to. So let's get more information now. Joining us, Canucks reporter,

Check TV, Donnie and Dolly, Rick Dollywall here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Rick? What's going on, boys? We want to know what's the latest with Jake Gensel. Well, first of all, I told you guys a week ago, pump the brakes on Gensel.

And one of the reasons why I said it was not because the Canucks had backed off in their pursuit of him. It was because I was hearing last week, Carolina is really going to try hard. They don't want to lose this guy. And they've got something in their arsenal that no other team in the NHL has got. They can offer that eighth year. That eighth year makes a massive difference for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Yes, he's still target number one for the Canucks. There is no ifs, ands, and buts about it. Number one on the Canucks. There is no ifs, and no ifs, and buts about it. Number one on the Canucks list for July 1st is canceled, but it's just, you just keep hearing every day, and Elliot, just again, it's Carolina is just, they are hell-bent on signing this guy, and nobody will be surprised if the Carolina Hurricanes sign him. Tell us how the Joshua and Myers signings came together. Isn't it amazing what happens when you free out $4 million? I'm going to tell you something right now. It was very grim, not looking good for Joshua to return,

and then boom, the McCabe trade and the Canucks get Joshua right away. The Canucks' first offer before the playoffs to Joshua was $2.5 million. They kind of raised it to $2.7 million, but they wouldn't go to $3 million until this week. And they were made very well aware that Agent Rich Evans was not going to accept anything. That did not start with a three. They knew they had to get to three, and they were not getting to three without the Mikheyev move. Now, with Evans in Las Vegas at the NHL draft, the Canucks worked hard yesterday morning. They closed the deal with Evans.

Numerous, numerous teams were showing interest in Joshua if he was to hit the free agent market. There is no question that Joshua left money on the table to sign with the Canucks. He took less to continue having success in Vancouver. And you know why? Because he loves the city. He loves his teammates, and he loves Coach Rick Talkett. He also wants to win. That was a big in his decision of re-signing with the Canucks.

He had told his agent, I want to win. I don't want to go to a team where I'm going to be put not in a good situation to be successful, and the team's not having success as well. I think Rick Tockett was a big, big factor in this. Rick Tockett's played a big role in Joshua's development. He wanted to stay with him. I was told that Tockett called Joshua a couple of weeks ago, two, three weeks ago, just to have a nice chat, how's it going, yada, yada, yada. I think these two guys have mutual respect for each other.

And I think it was a big reason why he signed. What about Tyler Myers coaching staff? I imagine a big influence on his decision to stay in Vancouver. You are correct. But I want to tell you first, the Myers negotiations did not start great. Just like Joshua, he got a very low offer from the Canucks. The Canucks started in the low twos, then got to 2.5, then came all the way up to 3 million. Myers was at that number all along. His Asian J.P. Berry didn't budge. It was the Canucks who had to move up a ton, and they did.

Berry knew he would get more from Myers on the market. He was in a very good spot, and the Canucks knew it. It was the Canucks that went up, not JP. JP Berry didn't go down. It was the Canucks that went up to get this deal done. You might have issue with the term, Jason Myers, 34 years old, but he's coming off a great year and really benefited from the coaching. You nailed it. He really likes gone char and foot. He told JP, I love this coaching staff. He's got the house in Kelowna. Look, this was supposed to be signed many, many weeks ago. Something Canuck started out with some low ball offers. And this is the reason why we're in the 11th hour.

Look, I'm going to tell you this. Rick Tockett's biggest fear going into July 1st was losing too much size. Myers, Ador, and Joshua in 24 hours. Rick Tauk had got the majority of his size back. That is massive. That is massive because, you know, size. Rick, what about Zdorov? Where are the Canucks? If they were willing to bump up to meet the price for Joshua

and bump up to meet the price for Tyler Myers, are they going to be willing to do that for Nikita Zdorov? This one's going to be tougher, Jason. Really, really tougher. Where does this leave the fan favorite, Zdorov? As Agent Dan Milstein told me last night that he's going to put the Zdorov talks

with the Canucks on the side because he's got 15 players that are going to go in the NHL draft this weekend, including possibly six in round one tonight. The plan is at some point this weekend for the Canucks and Milstein to sit down and talk about Zdorov. But the dynamics of Zdorov are totally different than Myers and Joshua. Because we're talking about a number that's closer to 5 million as opposed to a number that's at 3 for Myers and Joshua. The dynamics of Zdorov

are totally totally different and if we are to believe that the Canucks have Chris Tanev high on their list on July 1st not sure how you can do Zdorov yeah what if the Canucks were to get their pick who do you think they would choose let's say the contracts were equal would they choose Zdorov or would they choose Chris Tanev? Tanev, not even close. Can you imagine a right side, Jason, of Hronik, Tanev, and Myers? Yeah. That's one of the best right sides in the National Hockey League,

would you not think? I mean, okay, so let me tell you a couple things about Tanev. Yes, he's high on the Canucks list, but it's also a wish list, right? Gensel's a wish list. Tanev's a wish list. We don't know if these guys are going to hit July 1st. It's just a wish list. We don't even know they want to be Vancouver Canucks.

We know that Zdorov would like to be a Canuck. No, no, no, no, no. I'm telling you, both these guys would love to be in Vancouver. Zdorov, why do you think Zdorov's waited until the 11th hour? He could have – remember I told you guys he and Cole's going to hit the market? Because the Canucks asked him to take a 50% pay cut, and he said, I'm not doing that. I'm out of here. Zdorov hasn't done that.

Him and Milstein have been very patient, and I give them credit. They could have hit the market. They could have – because they've got to have a ton of suitors, too. I'm going to tell you something, Jason. Well, they can't hit the market yet. I mean, they might as well. What I'm trying to say is they know they're going to have a ton of interest in July 1st. They could have easily said, okay, guys, uh, talks broke down with Vancouver and we're going to hit the market. They haven't done that. They haven't done that. And I give them credit for both doing that. Let me get back to TANF. Dallas is still talking to Tanev, but I'm not sure that gets done.

He loves Vancouver. Ottawa and Toronto, his home province, mom and dad in Toronto. That's really going to be hard for Chris to really pass up. Tanev, I will tell you, has a very soft spot for Vancouver in his heart. Never wanted to leave.

Has close friends in the Canucks dressing room and close friends off the ice in Vancouver. He is so loved by the Canucks organization, but the one thing I was told about Tanev is the Canucks are looking for a shot suppression player. Tanev tops the list. Nobody eats pucks like him. Great person, great human being, great teammate,

best defensive defenseman in the NHL. No shortage of reasons why the Canucks want Tanev, but it's just going to be incredible competition if he hits July 1st. And both the teams in Ontario, oh, my God, they're going to be both after him big time. And I'm going to tell you something else I was told about. Vancouver can't get into a bidding war for Tanev. Yes, they love him, and he's high on the list, but they can't get into it. I've been told internally that they love Tanev. Yes, they love him and he's high on the list, but they can't, they can't, they can't get into, I've been told internally that they love Tanev, but they just can't get into something like 5-5-6 or if it gets crazy, you know what I mean? They probably have a number for Tanev,

but they just can't get into a bidding war for him. So the Canucks have 15.5 million to play with, four skaters and a backup goalie is what they're looking for. Well, tell us about this goalie situation, because I think most people in Vancouver assumed that Casey DeSmith would move on and Archer Seelovs would be Thatcher Demko's backup next season, and they'd figure out what they want to do in the AHL. But now apparently we're hearing that the Canucks are talking to Casey DeSmith. What's going on there?

So I do have a DeSmith update. Let me sort out the goalie situation for you first. The Canucks have had no contact with Casey DeSmith's agent in months before the season ended. That was until yesterday, okay? Up until this week, the Canucks had confidence in Archer, Silov's back, and up Thatcher Demko, especially after the playoff run, right? Silov's had. Something changed this week, the Canucks had confidence in Archer. She loves backing up Thatcher Demko, especially after the playoff run, right? She loves that. Something changed this week.

The club has restarted talks with DeSmith, okay? They feel they need an NHL veteran to back up Demko. They weren't looking for a backup last week or the week of NHL veteran, although I'm not fully confident what's going to happen with DeSmith. What I was told, Deismith's agents in Vegas right now, there is contact with them. I'm hearing contact with Dismith's agent, but I am not sure how much progress will take place this week with Dismith's agent. That's what I was told this morning, but there has been contact after months and months of no contract. Now, here's where I

think something happened. The Canucks did have worries about a Demko-Silovs pairing. If Demko gets hurt, did they have a goalie in Abbotsford that could be an NHL backup to Silovs? Tolopilo and Sochenko ended the season in Abbotsford. Up till this week, the club had very positive

talks with Sochenko, and then there was a change in direction, and they told him we're not going to resign you. Is the club worried about Thatcher Demko coming off two series back-to-back knee injuries? Do they just want to have security, a backup plan, you know, and just let Demko get into the season, training camp? You know, he hasn't played in a while. He did have two series knee injuries.

So many factors to consider when it comes to the goalie situation. I do want to say there's one goaltender I think the Canucks have liked for a while. That's Samsonoff in Toronto. But I think that guy's going to be too expensive if he hits the market. But I did hear this morning contact continues with DeSmith in Vegas. But I am not sure how much progress is going to take place there. I know you wanted to talk about some guys down in Abbotsford, Klimovic, McDonough, and Wu. What are the updates on these guys? Okay, so Danilo Klimovic's development, Jason, you know,

has not gone great. This has not been a good year for him. He rarely got in the lineup at the end of the season, and I mean rarely. I am told the team is not going to give up on him, and they are looking forward to Klimovic working with new head coach Manny Malhotra. Look, this is the only second-round pick the Canucks have in the last six years that's still with

them. This is it. They've got to make this work with this kid. The development has not been good. A lot of people say he shouldn't have been put in the American League after being drafted. He should have gone to junior. Ripped it up there, get his confidence up, score 50 goals, but they put him in Abbey, and now the kid's going backwards.

And that's a Milstein client. And I don't think anybody was happy with his development, but what I've been told, they're not giving up on the kid, and they're really excited about Klamowicz working with Manny Malhotra okay so Aiden McDonough this one oh boy it's surprising they're not going to qualify him very surprising considering they don't have many goal scores in Abbotsford they worked so hard to get this guy you remember when McDonough said and he's going to play his final year in the NCAA and the Canucks weren't happy about it, Alvin. And then Alvin goes a year and a half ago to Christmas time to Boston,

has dinner with the parents, has dinner with the agent. And after that dinner, McDonough said, you know what? I'm going to sign a Vancouver. And it wasn't long after he signed a Vancouver. Now, I've been told this was not an easy decision. You're giving up goal scoring. He had injuries this year. They don't have many young goal scorers in Abbey. Look at the playoffs. Six games in the top point getter for Abbotsford

at four points. That's it. Canucks also ran into a contract situation. There's not many left. That was a factor in McDonough as well. I'm a little surprised they gave up on him, but this is, they gave up on him. It's time to move on. He's going to have interest on July 1st, and we'll see what happens there. What about Jet Wu? He's such an interesting story because he came in with such high hopes and then had some issues with his development,

but then took a step, and we wondered if we might see him in the NHL this season. We never did, and I thought the end of this contract might just be it. And then Jet Woo would try and, you know, go to another organization, get a fresh start somewhere. But apparently that's not the case. No, it's not, Jason.

He actually had one of his better years points-wise. I think he ended up with 37. I have to double-check that. But the Canucks are going to qualify Woo this week. And do not be surprised if they announce a new contract today or tomorrow for Jet Wu. Do you remember a year and a half ago that Trent Cole had Jet Wu playing

as a forward, and he was their best right shot? At the time, he was their best right shot defenseman prospect in Abbotsford, and Trent Cole was playing this kid as a forward. You know, as a forward. And his development, just like we talked about Kolmovich, it wasn't going right. But give the kid credit.

He has changed agents. He has done everything to work hard in the offseason. And he has earned himself a new contract, Jason. Look, the top two right shot development, right shot prospects in Abbotsford are Jet Wu and Cole McCord. And we know Tom O'Lander is coming. So they didn't want to give up on this kid. He's 23, right shot, you know, and they just don't want to give up on him. And he's too young to give up on him.

Plus, he's a right shot. One more. I might throw you on the spot here, but Austin and Langley Texan, can you ask Rick if the Canucks are shopping Lindholm's rights? I guess it's worth asking because they shipped Lafferty's up to Chicago. Yeah, I haven't heard that, but I don't know. What would you get for him? I don't know if you'd get much for him because everyone thinks he's going to Boston anyways, right?

Yeah. Everyone thinks he's going to Boston, who's lost their top two centers. If Lindholm and Pavel Zaka can be the top two there, I think they'll be fine. But I have not heard that, that they're shopping any of their... Like Zdorov, I haven't heard they're shopping his rights. I haven't heard anything like that. But they've done a good job here this week, guys. Remember they had a list of seven to eight guys that were UFAs?

They're down to two. And that's Nikita Zdorov and Casey DeSmith. And from what I was told this weekend, I'm not hearing too many promising things on DeSmith this morning. But we'll see. Things change. Hey, look, I told you guys it was grim with Joshua earlier this week. It really was.

And then one phone call, one trade changed everything. It was grim with Joshua earlier this week. It really was. I mean, and then one phone call, one trade changed everything. So this is the time of year you can only report on things that you hear on a certain day. And then two hours later, everything could change. And give the Canucks credit. With that $4 million, they went out and they did some good work. They got Myers back. They got Joshua back.

And they got a ton of size back. And they're going to be harder to play against. And also, the other one I want to mention to you guys Lafferty's gone so keep an eye on Tyler Mott and Lomberg they're going to be looking for fourth line speed yes they need it they need it yeah yeah so keep an eye on them improving the speed on the fourth line there's guys out there there's guys that are cheap out there. But a lot of these are wishlist guys that they want to get. We just don't know what's going to happen on July 1st, who's available, who's not. But it's setting up to be a great weekend, guys.

Rick, we got a text in before your hit, unsigned text into the Dunbar Lumber text line. It said, I've got, quote, one call can change everything on my Dollywall bingo card today. And you delivered right at the end. Maybe one call can change anything and everything with Nikita Zdorov

in the coming days. But we shall see. Rick, enjoy the weekend. I'm sure it's going to be a busy time for you. Hold it, hold it, hold it. This is my last hit with you guys. Oh. Because Donnie and I are going on holidays for two months on Wednesday.

So I just want to say this first year with you guys and being back on 650 and with Jamie and Thomas on Wednesdays, it's been great. You guys know how much I love radio. It saddens me that another AM radio station folded in Vancouver this week. I'm a really, I love radio. Radio has been a big part of my life. It's been a huge part of my life. And, you know, when I see these stations folding, it just freaking kills me.

It really, really bothers me. But being back on 650 with you guys every Friday, you guys are great. I just love it. I love preparing for the show and DMing Brough every Thursday night on what's on the agenda. And you guys are the best. I just love being on the radio. And I just wanted to say thank you for having me. Rick, we love your enthusiasm.

We love your information. We love your personality. We love your information. We love your personality. We love you, Rick. You are loved. Yeah, one call can change everything, but in your call changed us for the better. Now give it a real good end of season, last call, hang up.

Oh, okay, hold on. Let me move my chair. Okay, I want to make this. Just make this like. Hey, if I do this too hard and I bust this phone, you guys are paying for the phone. Fine. Okay, here we go. Three, two, one.

Nailed it. That's Rick Dollywell, everybody. That's the loudest slam I've ever heard in my life. You sound like you got hit over the head by a chair. I can't confirm the phone is broken. Okay. A reminder, the draft is tonight. We didn't even get, like, that's the first, no, no draft talk.

I knew it'd be loud. I didn't think it'd be that loud. No draft talk with Dollywall today because the Canucks, I don't even know if they're going to go. They might just show up tomorrow. Anyway, draft coverage on Sportsnet. Yeah, do they even need a table for the first round? Like, do you just go because it's the last one and it's at the Sphere

and you just want to hang out? Or do you save money and just go tomorrow? Just no table? Or just red-eye it overnight and then leave after the rounds two through seven are done and then just go home. Do you know when they take attendance, the roll call at the beginning? Do you imagine if the Canucks are just not there? Vancouver!

You have to say here. They got to send one guy the intern yeah we're here we're fine present he's just got a stack of papers NHL draft coverage on Sportsnet 650

is brought to you by Oxygen Yoga and Fitness not your typical yoga studio I'm going to do a what we learned real quick to get the ball rolling before we go to the final half hour

where we do what we learned and ask us anything okay so in addition to everything else that the NHL is trying to cram into this week, they are announcing the first six for the international teams that will compete in next year's Four Nations Face-Off. If you're unfamiliar with this, the Four Nations are Sweden, Finland, Canada,

and the United States. Earlier this morning, Finland announced its first six players. They are Yussi Saros, Isa Lindell, Miro Heiskanen, Alexander Barkov, Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho. Finland was followed by Sweden, who announced Victor Hedman, Erik Karlsson, Gustav Forsling, Philip Forsberg, Mika Zabinijad, and William Nylander. Yes, that's right. No Elias Pettersson for the Swedes. Now to Canada.

They just announced the six first players for the roster. They will be Sidney Crosby, Nathan McKinnon, Connor McDavid, Kael McCarr, Brad Marchand, and Braden Point. Five forwards and a defenseman. I love that Brad Marchand is now like a top six pick for Team Canada.

At first blush, I expected him to be in this group. Yeah, yeah. At first blush, I thought Braden Point, but then I looked at it. There's not really someone that you could make a compelling case to be there over him. He's such a good player. I know he's a very good player, but you're thinking,

God, Canada's got such a stack. He gets overshadowed sometimes. Canada's got such a stack team and a stack roster. Go look at the other guys that are going to be on the team. You wouldn't say that there's a major contender to bump any of those guys out of the first six. I actually think the Americans might be better on paper. Well, the American roster comes out at 830. The big question there locally is, will Quinn Hughes be one of the six?

Well, will they pick a goalie in that group of six? Because if they do pick one goalie in that group of six, we know who's probably going to be the starter. Who? Well, that goalie. Oh, sorry. Demko, baby. How about give me the name of the person? I see what you're saying. Well, don't you. Oh, sorry. Demko, baby. How am I going to give me

the name of the person? I see what you're saying. Well, don't you think it's got to be Hellebuck? Hellebuck's got to be in the driver's seat right now. It's got to be. You're going Demko, baby?

I don't know. If Demko remained healthy this year, there's a slight chance he edges out Hellebuck for that Vezno. Are you a big Demko guy? I am a big Demko guy.

I'm also a big Hellebuck. I don't think they can go wrong. I hope the goaltending controversy with the Americans tears the team apart. Just rips them right down the middle of the room. A lot of battling between... Demko and Hellebuck hate each other by the end of it. That'd be amazing.

So only one team has named a goalie so far. Just the Finns. Swedes didn't do it. Canadians didn't do it. Okay. All right. So there you go. Moo cow me.

That screen's still broken. That's okay. The cow got a point across at the end there. Just like Ray. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.