Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/30/25

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, plus they discuss this past weekend's Canucks draft selections plus what they might do tomorrow in Free Agency with NHL.com & In Goal Magazine's Kevin Woodley. 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-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da The New York Islanders are proud to select from the Iriotters, Matthew Schaefer. Here's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays go back to back. Swung on, crushed, left field, this is destroyed. It's on its way, second deck, yes! Mitch Garver, ravaging his former team. Good morning, Maker 601 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios

in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you

by Sands and Associates. There's no Sands and Associates read today. I'm gonna free base it and just try it anyway. You also skipped one of the members of the team today. Well, I was gonna introduce basketball Ben at seven o'clock when he takes over the microphone, but he spoiled it for me, Lattie. Okay, Sands and Associates, one of our 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. Did you say you were gonna free base that one?

Yep, and that's not the right word. That's how you cook crack. Did you mean to say freestyle? Yep. What? Yep. Yep. Free base Yep. Yep. Free bass is how you make crack cocaine.

How do you know that? Sorry? What we learned. What we learned. That's for later in the show. We'll show you later, Adolf. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you

in step. Finally, and we will do it now, we welcome back one of our favorite interim producers. Basketball Ben is back in the studio. Well, well, well. They all come crawling back. Hello, Basketball Ben, how are you? You couldn't keep me away for too long.

I was going to say, I thought you moved on to bigger and better things. You have returned. Michael Jordan statement, I'm back. How are you doing, buddy? I'm doing great. Awesome. Yeah, really looking forward to being here for the next couple of weeks.

Larry, looking forward to having you here. Laddie has taken off on vacation, so basketball then will be filling in for the next couple of weeks. And you know, that's how we're getting golf talk. Golf talk is so back. That is how good of a worker basketball Ben is. Came in just to get refreshed on everything

that is Halford and Brough. A lot going on in our show. And within five minutes, he's like, it's all the same. You guys do all the same bits. Okay, I'll get it. Every day he's gonna do a 20 minute golf report just for Brough. We got a big show ahead on a Monday.

Guest list today begins at 6.30. Sam McKee is gonna join the program. Fan 590 Leafs talk, real Kipper and Bourne. Pretty eventful weekend for the Maple Leafs. They re-signed John Tavares, they re-signed Matthew Nyes, and then they accused the Vegas Golden Knights of tampering in what might be an elaborate extortion scheme. It was all a very exciting weekend for the Toronto Maple Leafs. We'll talk to Sam about that at 6.30.

7 o'clock, Sam Cosentino. Two Sams right off the bat. Gonna join the program. Sam Cosentino, of course, NHL draft expert for Sportsnet. He was working at the Peacock theater in Los Angeles over the weekend. We'll look back on everything that happened on Friday and Saturday from the NHL draft. That's at seven o'clock, eight o'clock. Kevin Woodley, our goalie guru from nhl.com and in goal magazine. Uh,

we had a goalie trade at the draft. John Gibson went to Detroit. The Canucks also drafted a goalie in the second round Alexei medvedev laddies really high on him I Actually don't know that much about him. It was not the just free base a bit on him Yeah, free base a free base when we get to that really excited about it. There's some bleach One of three base after you see the play met to have the fourth goalie off the board second Russian goalie up the board We'll talk to Kevin Woodley about all that at eight o'clock. Third actually. Sorry, he was the third Russian goalie off the board. There was three Russian goalies.

He was the fourth goalie taken. Wow. Yeah. OK. Ryan Johnson's going to join us at eight thirty. General manager of the Calder Cup winning Abbotsford Canucks. We hope it'll work out this time. It didn't work out last week. We'll talk to Ryan about RDC loves Lena's Carlson, Manny Malhotra, everything that happened over that magical run for the Abbotsford Canucks. That's going to be at eight 30 this morning.

So we'll have to find a time probably be in the seven o'clock hour to do some what we learned over what was a very, very busy weekend in the world of sports. Finally, before we go to break, or sorry, before we go on, I need to tell you, or ask you a question. Have you bought your tickets for the Sportsnet 650, Jays Care 50-50 for Challenger Baseball? This is the final week to buy tickets. The sales stop on Monday, July 7th, so a week today.

Then the draw will be shortly thereafter, also on Monday. This whole endeavor is supported by Tiltown, proudly Canadian owned and operated since 1971 visit my Tiltown.ca buy your tickets now jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com that URL again jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com buy your tickets support challenge your baseball it's your chance to win some cash working in reverse on the guest list 830 it's Ryan Johnson 8 o'clock it's Kevin Woodley 7 o'clock Sam Cosentino and 630 Sam McKee that's what's happening on the guest list, 8.30 it's Ryan Johnson, 8 o'clock it's Kevin Woodley, 7 o'clock it's Sam Cosentino, and 6.30 it's Sam McKee. 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? What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened? 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. Let us begin with the NHL draft. It is now officially in the books. And let us begin with the Vancouver Canucks. The Vancouver Canucks selected six foot, 185 pound center, Braden Coots 15th overall out of WHL Seattle. The Canucks did not flip their pick like many expected them to and instead held onto it and took Coots with the 15th

overall selection. So how do we feel about this? I would love to hear from the listeners on the fact that Canucks actually made the pick in the first round. Text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. I want to hear what you guys think about the state of the Canucks one day ahead of July 1st. Now, when it comes to Braeden Koots and him being selected, I'm happy with that because I think the Canucks need every good young prospect they can get right now. And Kutz does sound like a good one.

His point totals don't jump off the page, but if you look behind the scenes a little bit Seattle didn't score much and Kutz actually led the team in points. And the fact he was made captain at 17 years old, I think that's pretty promising as well. Youngest captain in the dub. Here's a fun fact. Kutz was originally named co-captain with fellow Canucks prospect Sawyer Mineo, the latter of whom was traded to Calgary in January, which left Kots as the only

captain. He's like, I'm the captain. I'm the captain. I get major Bo Horvat vibes. I am no longer co-captain. Why do you get Bo Horvat vibes? I mean the leadership stuff, leadership, captain, office, all that kind of, the way they describe him, I was like, every time I heard a description of him, I was like, oh, it's like Horvat. If he turned into a Bo Horvat, that would be great for the organization. Yeah, yeah. How do you looking at a golf shirt. I'm not saying the talent level I'm just saying like in terms of the leadership. Well, what you can go to UBC this week and ask Braden Coots himself. Are you gonna be as good as Bo Horvat?

Are you Bo Horvat? Yeah, my mind can only make comparisons to former Canucks. That's all I know. Explain this in Canucks terms. Yeah. The Canucks development camp is out at UBC, starting today actually, it goes till July 7th. Okay. So, Braden Kutz, we'll talk a little bit more

about him with Sam Cosentino, get a little report on him and I'm sure we'll find out a lot more about him as the week progresses. We'll see some interviews with him out at development camp and see what this kid is all about. But let us be honest here. This was not the plan. Not the plan.

The Canucks were hoping to use that first round pick to add a second line center in a trade. It always seemed like a tough task. And right off the bat we said, how are they going to do this? How are you going to add a young second line center that you really like for like the 15th overall pick and a draft that people aren't very excited about? Maybe you throw in a prospect in there too? How's that going to happen? All the other teams out there, they don't want futures. They want players that can play now.

You know who else wants players that play can play now? The Vancouver Canucks. Yep. It always seemed like a tough task and it's turned out to be exactly that. You really have to wonder at this point, if they circle back on suitor, Brock Besser is almost certainly gone. I know we've heard that the Canucks have kept in touch with Besser's camp, but it sounds by all accounts

like the relationship between Besser and the Canucks isn't exactly 100%, it might even be finished. Yeah, to the point where he's signing in Edmonton. There's even talk out there that the Besser. Could you imagine? Could you imagine? Could I imagine Spite signing? I respect it.. Imagine. Yeah, I could. Could you imagine. I could imagine spite signing. I respect it.

Although Edmonton, I think would have to get pretty creative to make that work. And Besser might even have to take not a hometown discount, but I get to play with McDavid and Dry Cytle discount. Yeah. Maybe he does a shorter term deal with the Edmonton Oilers and sets them up for yet another contract because he would probably produce with one of those two. But to bring it back to the Canucks, all they've done this offseason is add a Vander Cane with one year left on his contract and

they're probably gonna lose Besser and maybe Souter too. That's it. Better get cracking. This was not how the Canucks envisioned things one day before July 1st. I clearly remember Jim Rutherford, end of season press conference, talking about free agency, talking about tomorrow and suggesting the Canucks might not even have the cap space to participate in the frenzy because they would have added enough players through trades. He even acknowledged that Vancouver isn't a hot destination for players these days in free agency, which is why you hear so much talk about drafting players want to be Vancouver Canucks and training

for players who want to be Vancouver Canucks. The Bow and Byron rumours still aren't going away because he reportedly wants to be a Canuck and a Vander Kane wanted to be a Canucks, the Bow and Byron rumours still aren't going away because he reportedly wants to be a Canuck and a Vander Kane wanted to be a Canuck and they, and they got him and, you know, they're probably going to extend, uh, Demko and Connor Garland because those guys actually want to be here.

Now there is still time to make trades. Marco Rossi is still on the wild, but here's the thing, that first round pick was a huge part of time to make trades, Marco Rossi is still on the wild, but here's the thing. That first round pick was a huge part of what they offered Minnesota and what they intended to offer to significantly upgrade the team this season. They absolutely cannot trade next year's first round pick, especially if it's unprotected.

Which by the way, which by the way makes an offer sheet for Rossi risky. Because if you offer sheets someone and they accept and you get the first round pick, you can't protect it. Imagine the Canucks sacrifice their first round pick next year and end up, and this is the year, stop laughing like that. First of all, concerning, also somewhat annoying. Also creepy. Creepy. I know what's going to happen.

That would be the year they would win the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes for sure. That's a big enough nightmare that I'm pretty sure it's going to happen. What do we think about this situation that the Canucks are in right now? They got a pretty good idea of how, I'll say the word insignificant. That first round pick had value wise prior to the draft when the New York Islanders who probably had the most splashy draft night of them all had to send two first round picks and or sorry, I received two first round picks and a prospect forward

all in exchange for no adoption. Like that was the going rate for a roster player. Wasn't one first round pick. It wasn't two first round picks. It was two first round picks and a prospect going the other way. And it just kind of underscored how far off Vancouver was with the one pick at its disposal. Now they could have packaged something along with, as you mentioned, the 2026 lottery ticket for Gavin McKenna, but no one wanted picks.

Like there was no movement on Friday night at the draft. There was nothing going on. Right. I mean, the draft itself was everyone went up and everyone either had the opportunity to trade back for additional picks or they made their pick. Like the Islanders were the only one that made a move of significance on the opening night ahead of the draft. And it costs the Montreal Canadiens a lot to get Dobson.

And I think it really showed what the value of picks were this year, that it was never, ever going to be something that you were going to be on its own. It wasn't going to turn into something tangible packaged. It was going to have to be a pretty sweet package. So what do we think now? Options are running out. Time is running out and it doesn't look super rosy or optimistic going into July 1 for the

Vancouver Canucks. Chef Graham texted in to the Dunbar Lumber text line, this was not the plan, but I'm sure glad it's the way things turned out. We can't compete in the free agent market or trade market. Vancouver is on a lot of no trade lists. We need to build through the draft.

I agree with that, but what does it say that the Canucks have been so unable to make the moves that they want. I mean, I think it represents, now they still could, but it represents a complete misreading of the market for management. Or they overestimated their ability to make moves in any climate, one of the two.

Like they could have just said, yeah, it's a misreading of the market. Yeah, it's a tough, or it's like, yeah, it's a tough market, but we'll be able to get our, see our way through it. And it clearly wasn't the case. Well, maybe they thought this would happen, but they still try it anyways. No, no.

I mean, maybe they're like, well, we know the pick doesn't have super high value and that every other single team in the league is also a buyer. So we'll try and make the move, but. We heard. It pretty much went up there and promised that they'd be adding two to three

Game changers up front not games. It looks significant play. Maybe they're trying to convince themselves. We heard last week I remember you specifically highlighted that quote from Don Waddell the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets Who said that in his many many years of being an executive? He's never seen a market quite like this, but everyone should have seen it coming Everyone should we saw it coming and we're the dumbest show in the world. We saw it as soon as soon as he said, we want to add, I think he put the number at three forwards, right?

And we're not talking about bottom six guys. They wanted a second line center. They wanted a top six winger, maybe another winger, right? Like, and we were like, well, how are you going to do that? How, how's that possible? And there was, there was skepticism right

off the bat and like Adog, like I know what you're saying, but I like about them, well, maybe they thought, well, yeah, clearly. Because I remember this is, here's another quote that we can drag out from Jim Rutherford. He's going to say, listen, this trade is going to hurt in that we're going to give up something that we don't want to give up. Like the 2026 first round pick?

But you know what else he said? He said, it'll hurt more if we don't add that player. Well, you haven't added that player, so I guess it's hurting more. Are they going to go out and, so what are the options here? Are you going to up your and, so who, what are the options here? Are you, are you going to up your, up your, uh, offer for Marco Rossi? Well, how are you going to do that? How are you going to do that? Because you've already traded away your first round pick and Alfred's going to do that annoying evil laugh again. If we talk about bringing in 2026, you cannot, you cannot,

you cannot trade that unprotected the way you want to bet. They won't trade that unprotected the way. You want to bet? They won't trade it unprotected. They won't. I don't know, man. I don't know. It would be so reckless. What's gonna swing the market? What's gonna swing a market?

It's gotta have to, it's a big swing. And that would be the biggest one that this club could take right now. I don't like it any more than you do. And I understand fully the risk involved in it, but I also know that right now they are, they're striking out in their stated goals at the beginning of the off season. So what can they do in free agency?

That's tomorrow. I really don't see them adding a game changer. First of all, there aren't many game changers available. And there isn't much reason to believe any of the game changers are going to choose Vancouver. I think you're going to end up with like, can I interest you in a Jack Roslavik? A right shot center who played for

Carolina last season. Is he a credible second line center? Jack Rosalvick? I mean, he's played there in the past. Yeah, on occasion. That's this is the the consolation prize, the consolation prizes that they end up getting guys that probably need to slot in lower in a good team's NHL lineup and they try and talk themselves into them.

The Grandlands, the Roslovich's. That's a weird one to say. The Carconi's, the Bugstads, those kind of guys. And then it's some sort of weird spin from the front office that, you know, in an elevator role, these guys could give us more. But that's the that's not even a consolation prize. That's a consolation prize is consolation prize. And I don't know.

I again, I mean, you tell me, do you really think that it's that far afield that they would entertain trading that pick unprotected? 2026? Yes. Yes. They wouldn't do that. They would not do it unprotected. If they did, if they did,

it's the most reckless things that this franchise has ever done, if they did that. The way things are trending with this team, the fact that like, let's be honest, this team has train wreck potential next season. What are they, what are they counting on? They're counting on, it sounds like Demko to stay healthy.

Well, what if he doesn't? If Andrew Kane to produce and stay healthy, you know, we'll see. And they're counting on a huge Elias Pedersen bounce back. And they're going to do that with out Brock Besser, who's been one of their most dependable players over the last, what decade? And maybe not. I, and then some second line center that isn't

going to knock your socks off, right? It's it could be Pugh suitor, it could be Jack Roselvick. You know, you don't think that that's going to be your socks off, right? It could be Pugh suitor, it could be Jack Roselvick. You know what? You don't think that that team has the potential to be pretty bad? Well, I think that potentially bad, which is why I wonder if they're going to take that one big cut still.

Now, the other thing is, I'm not sure. The Rossi thing feels like I've said it from last week and going on. It feels like the square peg round hole feels like the guy that's available now. I don't know if there's something lurking in the weeds that they might be able to get in on, but I was very, very surprised and at times alarmed at the lack of movement that we saw inter team movement. There were a lot of guys that re-upped with the teams that they were with. I mean, we talked about Tavara's, Nye, Sam Bennett in Florida. A lot of lot of guys that re-upped with the teams that they were with. I mean, we talked about Tavares, Nye, Sam Bennett in Florida.

A lot of the big ticket guys re-upped. And then we will eventually get to the Toronto Maple Leaf story with Mitch Marner reportedly on the verge of going to Vegas with some light tampering involved or maybe some heavy tampering. But there's been there was a real lack of movement at the draft. That opening round of the draft was short on fireworks. Yet again, I can't remember how many years in a row it is now of there not being a lot of trades on the floor

of the NHL draft, even though a decentralized draft was supposed to bring us more of that. I know I was watching the broadcast right from the moment that it started and you know, Freage came on and said, it's gonna be an exciting night. There's lots of talk and there's lots of chatter going on, but none of that translated into moves being made. The only real move of significance,

and I mentioned it was the New York Islanders flipping Dobson and after that it got really quiet, right? Some teams were able to move down, but there wasn't a lot that happened. And even the usual, in the past years, we have seen some pretty decent action on day two of the draft. And there were some reasonably interesting trades,

but nothing earth shattering, nothing huge, nothing that going to swing the pendulum one way or the other. What are you talking about? The Canucks made a big deal. Right. They traded futures to Chicago for Ilya Safonov. Right. Is that how we pronounce his name? Yeah, it's a 24-year-old KHL forward who-

By the way, as soon as I heard that, I was like, that's Milstein. And it is. You're right. He was a busy guy this week. Yeah. A lot of clients looking for spots. Yeah. Well, he's Kane's agent too, right?

He's everyone's agent. No, he's not. But he's Kane's agent. As soon as I heard that, that's for. Milstein getting the Canucks to do something. Do you think maybe the Canucks have like some secret move in the work, something behind this? Remember like the Heronic thing, which seemed to seem out of nowhere. We're like, Heronic, who's that?

So I could, maybe they have something like that on the back burner. I'll point you back to my earlier lurking in the weeds, but that's what we're hoping for at this point, that there's something hiding out there that none of us have seen coming. I mean they are on I saw someone joking on social media the other day They're like the Canucks must be on to like plan and you know there's plan a Bc like as soon as do Shane went off the board. I think they were like scramble I know that that was one of the guy early It's the Charlie from It's Sunny conspiracy meme. When Duchenne went off the board, I don't think it was a coincidence that they pulled the trigger

on the Evander Kane trade. Right. Um, and, uh, now Duchenne's a center, but he's sometimes he plays the wing. But if you look at this forward group, I know we, we went on and on about, okay, there are three top goal scorers, they're going to lose two of them possibly through free agency because it was Debrecht, Suter and Besser.

Those were their three top goal scorers. So they've brought in Kane and they're going to lose Besser. They might bring back suitor but like that's practically running it back. Yeah, that's practically running the same team back with a Vander Kane with a Vander Kane and no Besser. Yeah, like can you imagine if that's the way they're just no I can't I honestly go and they go into the season is like we were very disappointed about what happened last season.

So we've brought in a Vander Kanee and that's pretty much it. Oh, we lost Brock Besser. Okay. I know we're close to being up against it for time here, but I do want to play some of the audio from Elliot Freeman's 32 Thoughts over the weekend, because we're going to get Sam McKee on the program next to talk about this. So there's a lot of rumblings out of Toronto and Vegas right now that Mitch

Marner is on his way to Vegas. Now he could go there in free agency or the Toronto Maple Leafs could trade his negotiating rights in exchange for a player. Now you might be asking, well, wait a minute, why would Vegas give up a player off their roster when they could just sign Mitch Marner on July 1? Well, there appears to be some tampering allegations afoot. We'll let Friedrich's audio speak for itself and come back on the other side. Here's Elliott Friedman explaining more about the Vegas Toronto situation going in to July 1st free agency. There's been some talk that if Marner goes to Vegas the Maple Leafs will go after Vegas for tampering. As a couple of GMs told me on Saturday they

think the NHL is itching to try and make an example out of someone. Once again, I'm going to stress, I don't have any proof that Vegas is guilty of anything, but if they make a deal with Toronto and send a good player to Toronto, I'm betting any chance the Maple Leafs file for tampering goes away. So all those reasons, getting a Marner faster, clearing cap space, Toronto gets good players and eliminating any possibility of any tampering investigation, which is being whispered everywhere around the league.

All that goes away if this deal gets done. We'll see. To which I said, is that extortion? It feels a little extortive. Is that a word? It's a very interesting scenario out of Toronto. We'll see what happens because of course tomorrow is the start of free agency, July 1, and we'll see if any deal gets consummated. Vegas made a deal late last night by the way, in case you missed it. They flipped one of the guys that some thought might be on their way to Toronto for Marner's

rights Nick Hague they sent him to Nashville in exchange for a couple players that are coming back the other way Jeremy Lozano and Colton Sizzens so the guy that might be involved there is Nicholas Wow you're listening to the best of Halfordford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough for the morning 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. Before I throw over to Jason, quick apology to the listeners. It's been a bit of an erratic show today. That's on me.

I haven't navigated the waters as smoothly as I would have liked. One of the many misses this morning is that we did not get it to enough What We Learns. I didn't rein in the conversation. I didn't move it along. I didn't moo cow appropriately. Didn't fire up the dot matrix. We only read one What We Learned. Someone say you in the conversation. I didn't move it along a moocow appropriately didn't fire up the dot matrix

We only read one what we learned someone say you extended the conversation. I was just glad I was really excited with basketball Ben's optimism and enthusiasm not just for hockey but for life and then we got out we got way off track so Keep sending in your what we learns hashtag him WWL and I promise we will read more in this final hour of the program. This I promise, do your business. 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. Let's go to that Power West Industries hotline right now. Our next guest is a presentation of White Rock Hyundai. Kevin Woodley from nhl.com and Ingo magazine joins us now on the Haliford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning, Kev, how are you? I'm good, I'm good. I'm looking forward to putting the White Rock Hyundai Kona Electric TV test this week out at development camp. A lot of driving in and out of UBC this week. What was the bigger goalie story for you this weekend Kev? Was it the the John Gibson trade to Detroit or was it how many goalies got taken in the early stages of this draft? Oh that's a good question probably the Gibson one because we've been waiting on that one for a while and some

nervousness about the fact it was Detroit because I've been waiting on them for a while to do something right when it comes to goaltending. So, um, yeah, probably, probably the Gibson trade. I'm really curious to see which way this goes. I have a belief that he's better than he had a chance to show in Anaheim. And I wanted to see him on a good team. And my hunch was he would probably have a chance to make some people eat some words, but I'm not sure Detroit's a good team. And my hunch was he would probably have a chance to make some people eat

some words, but I'm not sure Detroit's a good team. And when it comes to making decisions on goaltending, like they just leave me scratching my head on a, on a regular basis. So he goes there. They don't have a goalie coach. If I had their goalie coach, the director of goaltending, uh, development is gone as well, probably tie that one to, you know, speaking of things that happened this weekend,

the decision to take a CHL goaltender, Sebastian Cosa in the first round a few years ago, tie that departure to that. And yeah, there was a lot of goaltending stuff this weekend, but Gibson to Detroit, what that means, their brightest prospect is Trey Augustine and they continue to jam up the depth chart in front of him to the point where he goes back to school for a third year this season. And I would not be surprised if he stays and

walks himself right to unrestricted free agency, just because of the way goaltending has been handled in that organization. What did you think about the Canucks using a second round pick to take a goalie? Well, they wait, I mean, when you wait two years, two full drafts without taking one, you knew one was coming because it just thins out your depth chart. I know people are like, oh, Tai Yang and Akukos Kenbuo and they're deep, but the reality is

these guys, as we're seeing with Shelob, there's a timeframe and it takes time to develop, it takes time till you're ready and there's a really short it takes time to develop, it takes time to be ready and there's a really short window before you got to clear waivers and you risk losing them. And so you need to constantly refresh the pipeline. In Clark's draft record, PICS to NHL is somewhat remarkable. It's over 70%. So when you sort of hear the accolades and the way they see things, and as Todd Harvey told us that, you know, despite being sort of largely diminished in the organization, that's still Izzy and Clark in the scouting role, you're optimistic, right?

I know he was drafted higher than a lot of projections had him. When I started to talk to people and look at film after the pick, there was a lot to like. What is the story with Medvedev? It was, is he Russian born? And then he came up. When did he, do you know when he came over? I believe it's like four years ago. So I think he played two years in the GTHL before sort of playing

Ontario junior, like I'm assuming it's their junior A. I think he played two years in the GTHL before sort of playing, uh, Ontario junior, like I'm assuming it's their junior a, uh, is it go, go J J H L and then the OHL last year. So, um, it's funny. He talked on his zoom about, uh, skating for hours without pucks, uh, as a kid. And that is, you know, when we talk about Russian goaltending and why is it so good? It's kind of that right there. They have, and a lot of the stuff that they do is very old school, very

edge, edge work and there's some Treachy act in it and they've largely done a good job and it'll be interesting to see how long they can maintain this, but they've largely done a good job of not over-coaching at a young age. And I think what you see happen is rather than kids learning the reverse of the H at the age of eight, they just learn how to skate. I've talked to Russian goalies over the years about, you know, like almost quitting because all they did was skate, like no pucks and tears and I want to play hockey. But that's just how they did it over there for years and so that foundation of movement and I think when they get

into their academies and we're seeing that proliferation over here but their athlete academies over there it's not just okay you're a goalie or you're a hockey player and you're a goalie and that's all you're gonna do in this academy and then you go to the gym and you're gonna lift weights for goalies and hockey goalies. They do ballet, they do dance, they do a lot of physical literacy stuff in their sports academies over there that I think lends to some of the skating, that combination lends to some of the elite skating and body control that you see from a lot of these Russian goaltenders.

Whereas the tendency here is to, hey, you're seven, you want to be a goaltender, we're going to teach you the same things we teach NHL goaltenders. So there's a real emphasis on foundation. And like I said, this happens all the time where a country gets on a run with goaltending. And then you see a proliferation of goalie coaches. And when it's on the private side, like it is in North America, it's like, hey, like we have to separate ourselves. And how do we separate ourselves?

By teaching new things and teaching things that nobody else is teaching rather than, hey, the fundamental foundational skating stuff that looks really boring, but might produce more goaltenders like Medvedev. Kev, are you hearing anything on the Thatcher Demko front or the Arter's, Arters, Arters, Archer's Sealov's front?

Do you throw an arty at me? Yeah. Um, it's an arty party. Yeah. Uh, I mean, by all indications, it sounds like this Demko thing is done. So I wouldn't be surprised, you know, uh, Rick reporting the Garland one, like it may just be that the only news we get get but let's just say that I have the outlines of stories for contract extensions for both ready to go for tomorrow morning on July 1st and I think that you know I understand that that means the likelihood of trading Archer she loves but I'm not sure what this market thinks that looks like.

The comparison I would draw you to, because this is a team that I wondered about for him and they went a different way would be the Tarasov trade from Columbus to Florida. Was that over the weekend or just late last week? And that's a fifth round pick. And Daniel Tarasov, I know people in this market that don't know just late last week and that's a fifth round pick and Daniel Terrace off. I know people in this market that don't know go tending or haven't thought about it may not be aware of

this and may not want to hear it. But Daniel Terrace off is a higher regarded prospect. What happened to him was much like our tears actually like they didn't get him in enough games young but for Terrace off the problem was injuries prevented him from getting in enough games professionally and all sudden he needed to clear waivers and the Blue Jackets knew that he would get claimed because he is so highly regarded as a prospect and so they ended up essentially I had this conversation with their goalie coach Nikki

Backstrom this this this year like they pretty much had to bury him like that he wasn't didn't have enough reps that they trusted playing him enough and yet they wouldn't send them to the minor league. So he just never got enough game play. But interesting to me that Florida who I had I wondered if they might be interested in she loves because again, Roberto Luongo, Leo Luongo, a lot of ties to Ian Clark and sort of the the way he views goaltending from a scouting perspective. And they ended up going with Tarasov who is another Ian Clark draft pick. So, but as far as value goes, like you're not getting the second, third round pick out of this.

That's kind of, I would say that might be on the high side of the value, just based on perception around the league comparing Tarasov to Archer Shilov. Big picture with the Canucks. Are you surprised there at this point one day before free agency? With the goaltending or just big overall? Overall. Yes and yet should we be? I think the yes is because there was a lot of talk about how aggressive they were gonna be and let's face it like since this regime came in they backed that and and no because we probably should have looked at the rising cap and had an understanding that teams retaining players rather than letting

get the market might be a part of this and so that's not that's not a fault that's like it's not a you can't blame them for it. It's just the reality of the market and it shifted and guys that in the past would have gotten moved are now being re-signed because teams can fit them. And so it is a market with way more buyers than sellers and very few assets. And so that's inevitably going to be really difficult to make the type of impactful, high top of the lineup moves that the Canucks need to make. And you're surprised just because it's clear they need to. They've been open about it.

They've been so aggressive in the past and been able to pull off big moves. So you just maybe at the end of the season expected, Oh, they'll, they'll do it again. But just the reality of the market, it probably should have been, well, maybe should have been as a little bit of a stretch. Maybe predicting it would have shaped out to this degree was tough.

But in retrospect, this shouldn't be a shock. Okay. I want to ask you a question because we had a debate. That's what I'm here for. shock. Okay. I want to ask you a question because we had a debate. That's what I'm here for. Should the Canucks entertain trading the first round pick next year, or maybe using it in an offer sheet unprotected with Gavin McKenna expected to go first overall, would that be a too big a risk or are you confident enough, like basketball Ben is, like Halford seems to be, that the Canucks can

at least be around the mushy middle and they would never really have a chance of winning the draft lottery. Oh man, that's a, at the end of the season, I thought it was really easy to see how they'd be able to take a step forward from this past season, maybe not back to the level they were at two years ago, but certainly given everything that happened to them this year, I mean, start with Demko, right? Like just never getting on track after missing all that time. And what that did to their goaltending, because when the goaltending was elite at the beginning of the season and Lankton and was performing

at another worldly level, you know, things were fine. That said, that feels like too big a risk to me. Just given how many more teams see themselves as trying to get competitive this season and given the holes that remain in the lineup and given the fact that you're not even bringing it back with the same coaching staff. So yeah, I'm not sure that's a risk I would be willing to entertain and yet we wouldn't be surprised if they did. I mean, that's kind of that was more along the lines of where I'm at with it. Like I just nothing would surprise me at this point because all the chatter

and you mentioned that Ian McIntyre just wrote an article for Sportsnet.ca weaponizing the president of hockey ops own words that, hey, we were we were promised fireworks. When do we get into the fireworks factory? And there hasn't been any. And it's been nothing so far to the point where, although this may have to do more or say more about our prep work than the actual draft, but we did zero prep on the draft because we just assumed that that 15th overall pick was gone.

It was being traded. It had to be trade. Well, the Canucks didn't even go to the I mean mean Alvina Rutherford didn't even go to the combine Yeah, we actually know what I take it back. We had very good evidence They probably met Braden Cootsie. They're like, hey, how you doing Brian? It's Braden. It's fine. It doesn't matter You kind of get that that conversation where it's a lot of hypotheticals going on at once But it's either you take a big risk now with what you've got left or you don't. And it is kind of strange that we're not even at free agency yet. And we were down to one of those two options, but it does sort of start to feel like we're getting there.

Well, OK, but here's here's the other question, though. As much as you're viewing it from the Canucks lens of would you do it? Do you have that much faith that they're going to bounce back based on the way the roster looks today? And maybe this answer changes in 24 hours, depending on what they do in free agency or if anything shakes loose as other teams try to do things in free agency. Because there are still some teams up against the cap that want to bring back players like Michael Grandlin in Dallas that need to make moves in order to do so need to move out money but the amount of teams

in that spot is is pretty slim so the question would be we assume that an unprotected pick in next year and and and if you're another team maybe you want to make that bet and get another chip in that lottery we assume that that's really attractive and that that might net you something in return fair But how many teams how many teams are selling like that's part of part of why we're here Part of why they weren't able to do anything and I think clearly they had hoped to do something with that 15th overall pick I don't I don't think that's I mean Patrick Alvin, you know Indicated on Friday night after they made it that they were,

he has been trying to be aggressive for the past couple of months. How many teams would look at that and be like, oh, I like the Connects, chances of missing, I'll take another swing in that lottery with McKenna. And yet, more of them are like, well, that's not where we're at right now. We don't wanna subtract off our roster.

We think we can compete this year. And so the number of sellers, like, what have you got? Like, like clear cut Pittsburgh, San Jose. Like there's, there's just not a ton of them at the beginning of this season as we go into this. And that's why we're in this spot in the first place. So I, as much as you view it out of the Canucks lens, I honestly can't answer. And I think it would be less than we assume the number of teams willing to part with a really valuable win now compete now asset for that

lottery ticket. Kev, this was great, but thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. I enjoy tomorrow. It should be a lot of fun and we will do this again, not next week, but the week following. You mean you guys aren't coming to development camp today? We'll be able to make it out today. Maybe tomorrow also not tomorrow Okay. Yeah, I'm counting on seeing you out there at one point I usually go out to those and I'm like, yeah, those kids look pretty good They play hockey, you know, they're only

You know good good guys are good skater have fun I don Have fun at camp, Kev, regardless. See you buddy. See you buddy. See you guys. Right. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Engel Magazine here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I promise we do more of what we learned. I got one here from Pierre Lebrun. Not the only Pierre in the news lately. Pierre Lebrun writes that Dallas Stars and Mikhail Granlin's reps are going to reenter contract extension talks today.

Mutual interest in getting something done, but the Stars would have to move out money first to get it done. Yeah, well they already moved Marchman. Yep. Robertson? Who else could they move out? Take a pick.

But I, yeah, well, I think- The Canucks are gonna offer the unprotected first for Duchenne. Let's do it. We wanted that guy. I bring up Granlick, because Granlick was one of the guys that the Canucks were rumored to be targeting,

should he get to free agency, but according to Pierre Lebrun, again, doesn't sound like it might happen. Okay, so I'm sure you've got lots of what we learned flagged in the Dunbar Lumber text line. Sure do, buddy. And in case you don't, I'll give you some time to scamper around here.

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. Kevin from Calgary, hashtag WWL, what we learned. The Canucks are one of those teams other general managers think they can take advantage of in trades, making things even harder for Patrick Alveen. I don't think there's any question that the rest of the league knows

exactly how dire things are for the Canucks right now. That's right. Put it this way. Hey, let's work this conversation another way. If I was a general manager, I'd be calling the Canucks about their 2026 first-round pick and asking if it could be unprotected Unprotected Raw dog. There it is. Please stop. Can we do that? Please do not go down this road pick his raw dog Well, we talked about raw dog. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Can you raw dog raw dog a pick? Oh yeah, you can. You can raw dog a pick. For sure.

All right. Put it on the board. Unsigned what we learned watching the gold cup and club world cup over the weekend. I learned that the world cup is going to be a disaster with fields and delays. Props been all over this. You always ask about the weather and the

conditions and the temperatures. You've asked every guest that we've had and none of them have the farmers all in a heck of it to see what next year's temperatures are gonna be. Well, it's hot and then you get these lightning delays. Yeah, I went to Charlotte as well. It was during the Chelsea Benfica match. They suspended it for 90 minutes to play the final five.

And there were a couple of players that were like, this is ridiculous. It's too damn hot. And the delays too. Like it's not something that were like, this is ridiculous. It's too damn hot. And the delays too. It's not something that soccer players are really used to. They should let them play in lightning storms. Just dance around on the field. Yeah, think of the ratings.

Yeah. I think the fans are a concern as well at Yawg. Yeah, but it would be great television. The fans all, so the fan, all of them. It would be great TV. Yeah, wow, that's getting really close now. He's on a breakaway. Get him, God.

Yeah. Go, go, that's getting really close now. He's on a breakaway get him God So the everyone left the Chelsea Benfica match so when they came back we're like nobody in the stands It was a very odd awkward and uncomfortable end to the match. Yeah they're gonna have problems like MLS obviously plays throughout the summer and a lot of the European guys that have come over and they're like, I can't believe we play in these temperatures. Like if you're playing in LA in July, like it's crazy hot.

Should've taken that Saudi money, it's cooler over there. I mean, that's Saudi Arabia. But it's gonna be a major concern because one of the things that I think did hurt the Canadians was the pace and tempo and energy that they wanted to play out was almost impossible given the conditions. It was too damn hot Here's What we learned from Sheldon you're gonna really I had this one flagged what we learned unless they do something crazy

Over the next two days. This will be the least talented Canucks roster since the 2018-2019 season Sheldon Sheldon. Sheldon. That team featured the likes of like, okay. So Hughes wasn't on that team, right? In the top 10 in scoring on that team were Antoine Roussel, Nikolai Goldoben, Marcus Grandlin, and Jake Furtanen. But he's saying since then, so it wouldn't include that team since then. Yeah, okay.

I don't even like going back to this team. That was the year that Petey Wendler called her. So I think people were still like, they were very excited about that, but that team was terrible. That team that had Biega playing half the season on the blue line. Ben Hutton was an up and coming defenseman.

Like a blue line alone was not good compared to what they've got right now. I mean, I get it when you're saying the least talented since. Again. Well, I kind of agree because it was the very next year that you've added Quinn Hughes and JT Miller to the mix. You know what that year was?

That was the year when Tim Schaller played in 47 games. We're like, I cannot believe that Tim Schaller played 47 games for the Vancouver Canucks. It was a very bad team. Brendan Leipzig was on that team. Good Lord, it was a bad team. There were some dark years. But they had talent.

Yes. I mean, the thing is you looked at that group of players. Miller was 26, Pedersen was just 20, Hughes was 19, Horvat was 24 and Besser was only 22. Vertanen was on that team, he was, you know, people were, he was only 23 and they had guys like Adam Gaudet, who people were excited about. That core, I mean, it is kind of wild.

And also like Thatcher Demko was there as well. Not wild, but it's so disappointing that that core, when you look at it, three centers that have played really well at times in their career in Miller, Pedersen and Horvat. Quinn Hughes, one of, who's turned into one of the that have played really well at times in their career in Miller, Pedersen and Horvat. Quinn Hughes, who's turned into one of the best defensemen in the league. Brock Besser, there's your winger. Demko and Goal, it's like, how did they screw this up so badly? Yeah, they did. Did you watch the Rocket Mortgage on the weekend? Can I throw a golf

what we learned at you? Sure. Okay. This is from Jay and Poco, hashtag WWO, what we learned watching golf at the rocket mortgage on the weekend, a 558 yard par five that was too short. Yeah. It should have been a par four. What?

That's Jay. He put a what in all caps. Yeah. Well, there was this South African kid, so I can't remember or even pronounce his name. It's like pot Geiger or something like that. Good enough. Um, was driving the ball.

He had one drive, 374 yards. Seriously? Yeah. Like 558 yards seems too, too long. I know. Oh, I was watching. I was like, is Detroit at elevation now? Like what, what is going on here?

That's amazing. All right. You're listening to the best of Halford and