Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/5/25

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Mike & Jason look at the previous day in sports, plus they chat the latest 'Nucks news with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Here's McDavid, out and shot and score! Leona Drieschleudel! The Overs with game one! It's a special feeling, it's great for right now, but we've got to look ahead. Clemovitz drag move, backhander shot, SCORES! Let's get out of here! Danila Clemovitz just called game four! The Rockies have won their first series of the year. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Thursday.

Happy Thursday, everybody. It's Halford and his brother at Esports Net 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.

And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and brother of the morning is brought to you by sands and associates BC's first and trusted choice for that help with over 3,000 five-star reviews visit them online at sands-trustee.com We are in our one of the program our one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal North Star Metal Recycling they recycle you get paid visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step got a big show

Ahead on a Thursday so much to get into so much so that we didn't book a guest For the first hour of Halford and brough this morning It's all Hal bro for the first hour as we get into everything that happened on Wednesday. You're gonna regret that. Yeah, I know. Can we get someone last minute? Maybe a 630 guest, 645 even. Guest list today begins at seven o'clock.

Adnan Burke from MLB Network is gonna join the program. Don't look now, but the Jays are seven and two in their last nine. They beat the Phillies last night. They're just a half game out of the wild card. I don't wanna say it, but I'm gonna say it. Let's go. We're also gonna talk to add nice up Yeah, we're also gonna talk to add Nan about the red hot Colorado Rockies Is the hell bro bump a real thing sure feels like it?

I will talk to add in about all things baseball at 7 o'clock this morning 730 Adam Stanley is gonna to join the program. Sportsnet golf analyst, Jason, the Canadian Open is underway. I checked the leaderboard this morning. Nick Taylor off to a not so bad start, although I think he might have dropped now. No, there he is. He's 200 through five.

That's pretty good. One off the lead. I don't know this course that they're playing at. I don't know any courses. Yeah, I don't know that well either. So we'll talk to Adam about that and maybe some of the, we'll talk to him about some of the comments that Rory McIlroy made recently just

because he didn't make them at any other tournaments, he comes to Canada to make his comments. He gets all chirpy and friendly. Yeah. That's the Canadian influence. He's like, oh, maybe the Leafs can win the Stanley Cup one day. That's his Rory McIlroy voice.

Also his Lucky Charms voice. Also his lucky charms. Thomas Trance is going to join us at eight o'clock. We got a lot to get into with Drance around the hockey front. Stanley Cup finals, game one, Kevin Dean, defensive assistant coach reportedly joining the Knax organization. Yogi Sveikovsky, the offensive coordinator. Let's call him that last year as an assistant coach, apparently leaving the organization to rejoin Rick Tauke in Philadelphia.

And what's the next personnel move or moves for the Vancouver Canucks after the four board extension? We'll talk to Drance about all that at eight o'clock. We are once again giving away a fifty dollar gift card to White Spot today. That'll be awarded daily. It's a loud breathing going on. Can you hear that? Oh, no. Oh, it was you. Oh, it was broth. Never mind.

Is there someone behind us? What's going on? He ran to work. Yeah. A little out of breath. It was panting in the background. Hear a strange whistling noise. We're giving away a $50 gift card to White Spot today.

We're doing it every day this week. Hey, write this down because nobody called yesterday. Caller number five at 815 this morning. 604- eight oh zero six fifty that number again six oh four two eight oh zero Six fifty we gotta remind people to this feels like a reminder No, I just I said the phone number a couple times throughout the show and nah these people have short memories They're looking for something to do when drances on the air You've been away all this stuff at least I can do is remember when the contest is. Caller number five at 815 this morning, right in the middle of the Thomas Drance hit.

White Spot, BC Spot to celebrate all of life's big and little moments. Okay, that's the show. That's what's happening on the program today. Let's get into everything that happened. 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? Hey, did you guys see the game last night? 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. Bor were retreated to an excellent game one of the Stanley Cup finals yesterday. Leon Dreisaitl's power play goal with just 31 seconds left in the first overtime. Oilers come back from a two goal deficit. The Florida Panthers do not often lose after leading by two goals in the playoffs. 4-3 for the Oilers in game one. Here's what Dreisaitl's game winner sounded like with 31 seconds left in overtime

Just a beautiful goal to end a pretty fun game. So many Oilers made a play on that goal from Nuge staying patient and protecting the puck at the point before giving it to Perry in the corner who made a neat pass to McDavid who comes out and finds Dry Settle with a perfect pass in the slot. And you know, Dry Settle's going to bury that. One of the best goal scorers in the NHL.

Nuge didn't get a point on the play, but his composure at the point was key. He drew in two Panthers, including Brad Marshawn, by the way, who let Dry Seidel go free in the slot. And if you watch the replay, Marshawn has that, oh no moment. That's my guy. He realizes that, uh, McDavid's got the puck and

dry sidle skating downhill towards the one timer. And oh, it's, it's too late in this place is very, very loud right now. Um, you mentioned that the Panthers did not make a habit of blowing leads. Well, that's what the Edmonton Oilers can do. Against a team like Florida, the Edmonton Oilers, they're like, yeah, I don't care if you close out every game, that's other teams, that's not us.

And maybe the Oilers got a little bit lucky on the second goal. Babowski maybe regretting that one, should have had that one. But after that, like it went, you know, the Panthers had a really good second period and then the Oilers took over and Florida was never able to regain their composure. And I think a lot of people now are looking back at the last Stanley Cup final and going, you know, like dry saddle wasn't a hundred percent in that one.

A Vander Cane was far from a hundred percent in that one. They've got some energy in their lineup. Kappenon was really good. And yes, Pod Colson was very good for the Edmonton Oilers. And if you want to have a debate about whether the Canucks made a mistake there, that's fine. He's playing really well.

He's earned that debate in Vancouver. He's adding energy there. He was in a fourth line role yesterday and the fourth line played very well. Sometimes he bumps up to play with a guy like Dry Cytl, but he's been in a fourth line role lately and doing a really good job of it. And it just feels like the Oilers took over that

game and the Panthers got into position where, and Brad Marchand said this after the game, we were just flipping pucks out and then they would come right back at us. And, you know, it's unfortunate for, it was Nocek that put the puck over the. Poor Tommy Nocek. But like, you know, there was pressure on him. I think it was Pod Kolzin that was pressuring him.

And when you get hit and hit and hit and hit and hit, sometimes you make a play like that and just gets a little careless. You want the puck off your stick, trying to put it off the glass and out. It goes out and that's a penalty for the Panthers and the Oilers power play takes over. Power play had been 0 for 3 up to that point, but you're kind of sitting there going like, man, they're 0 for 3 up to that point, they're taking over the game or they have taken over the game. There's a very good chance that they're going to score on this power play.

And they did. So the couple takeaways from game one for me, they kind of followed the trends that I was following going into the series. One, if you want to talk about who dictated the style, not necessarily the tempo of play, because I think the Panthers did a good job of dictating for stretches, but in the end,

it was Edmonton that played the better game overall. In terms of dictating what they wanted to do, setting out and accomplishing it. Edmonton has been a comeback team all postseason long. The Oilers led the league going into this series for most comeback wins in the postseason with seven. They also tied now a franchise record for most multi-goal comebacks in a single playoff. Right. This is this is their third they've done out where

they don't feel like they're out of it if they're down a goal and they really don't feel like they're out of it down two or three because they have the ability to come back. They've showed it in different series and they were able to do it yesterday. They fell back three one, building got quiet, but they kind of methodically went about their business

and were able to claw their way back into the game. And great composure too. I thought they, I personally thought they got hosed on that allowed goal. I guess technically, technically you could say the referees made the right call. But Bennett did not do anything. He did not make what they would say best efforts to avoid goalie interference. Yeah, he got tripped up a little bit by the Euler's defenseman, but he, he was like, kind of like, Oh good.

I've been tripped up by the Euler's defenseman. Now I'm going to fall into Stuart Skinner. And I was actually a little bit surprised that that goal stood. I understood why it stood, but I also thought the referees might've looked at and said like, yeah, Bennett's still knocked into Skinner intentionally. He almost like took advantage of being tripped a little too far.

I believe the broadcast said that goalie interference challenges this post-season now are a grand total of 0 for 4. Which is hilarious because they talked about it at one of the GM's meetings or the Board of Governors meetings or something, and they went over all these plays and they're like, okay, I think we got a handle on this now.

We know now. Now the coaches are like, yeah, we're still confused. And the fans are too because, and the media as well, because on social media, everyone was like, yeah, that goal isn't going to stand. And I kind of said, like, I think he got to, like in my back of my mind, I was like, I agree with that. But I think he got a little tripped up there. I wonder if the referees will take that into account. And at any rate, like the point stands, ultimately didn't

really matter to others because they because they won, but it does matter big picture. But I think it's a credit to the Oilers. And we've talked about this before, like, I thought we saw two teams in the conference finals that got rattled. Carolina, I think got rattled. Dallas got rattled. Um, the Oilers did a good job to be like, okay, sometimes bad things happen in games.

What are you going to do about it? Are you going to lose your composure, start freaking out at the referees, get off your game? No. I mean, that was a two goal swing. First of all, the goal was allowed. Then the Panthers scored on the power play that came from the failed challenge.

And you're right, the building was quiet. And then later on in the game, it was three to one for Florida. And at that point, you know, some teams might be like, man, I'm still mad about that call. That was like, but the Oilers just stayed focused. They got a bit of a break on the second goal and then they took over the game. And, you know, I'm not saying the Oilers were totally incapable of doing that last season, but I think they've grown in maturity to the point where they know what they can do.

And they definitely did not want to fall behind, you know, in the series three, nothing, and especially with home ice advantage and they deserve to win that game. Yeah. And it's, and it's concerning cause I don't like, it was funny when, when they, you know, I started to wonder, I was like, ah, I wonder if I'll

I'll be cheering at all for the, there's like, it seems to be the trend, you know, in started to wonder, I was like, ah, I wonder if I'll be cheering it all for the Oilers. Like it seems to be the trend, you know, in Canada, everyone's cheering for the Oilers. I'm like, nope, started the game, still desperately cheering for Florida to win this series. Well, I'm kind of in the same boat. And the other thing that really worried me, the second point I wanted to make about the Oilers

sort of setting out their goals and accomplishing them is, and I mentioned this a couple of times going into the series. In each series, when it came time to clch, the Oilers did not mess around. First elimination opportunity they got against LA, and then in the second round, and then against Dallas. All three, Vegas, Dallas, LA, they all took care of business in that first elimination game. Last night, what happens? They get one power play. I honestly thought, I'm like, if they don't score on this power play and the

Panthers can kind of hang on and get it to the intermission, that's going to be a big momentum swinger in favor of Florida. Right. They'll be able to go into the room. They'll be able to get rested. They'll come out and probably kill whatever would have been left on the power play. I don't know if there would have been much, but you kind of fell in that moment because again, if anyone knows anything about hockey, the delay game penalty in a crucial moment, it's almost always in the back of the net. Right. It's like this is a goal coming up.

You just can feel it for some reason or another. Yeah. And Edmonton, it really felt like they knew like this is our chance. Like we're not wasting this. We are going to end the game right here. Very reflective of what they were able to do in the three previous series in elimination moments. By the way, was that the most NHL officiated game? Like it was just classic.

The first period was a ref show and then they're like. Then they got the call. No more penalties. Slow it down. No more penalties. And of course the only penalty that's called in overtime is a puck over the glass. I think there was one other penalty, a high

sticking call or something like that. That was pretty obvious, but it was like, okay, the first period we'll make some calls. The second period, you know, and for the rest of the game, we won't call anything. Did everyone in listener land out there watching the game, did you guys see Jake Wallman openly laughing and mocking Thomas Nocek after he took

the penalty? Not after they scored the goal, after he took the penalty. The balls on this guy, although they did score. So he was ultimately proven right. He went right up into his face and started laughing. And I'm like, okay, confidence there for sure. And Walman's of course the guy that's doing it. But I'm like that, you know, it's bad mojo, especially if you don't score.

But lo and behold, they score. What a great play to you, by the way, Corey Perry turning back the clock. No look behind the back sauce sauce passes, like at 40 years old, no wonder he wants to play another year. Um, the Bruins just announced their newest head coach, 30th head coach in franchise history. It is Marco Sturm, um, a guy that had been rumored for that job.

So the Bruins just now announcing Marco Sturm as the new head coach and the Penguins yesterday announcing Dan Muse. Yep, Dan Muse. I Don't I that was so off the grid So off the radar nobody had any idea that was coming I want to say kudos to Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Management group and the executive for keeping it under wraps But I don't even know if you needed to.

Could have told everyone that you were hiring him. They would have been like, hi. There were a few penguins, just people that were kind of on it, but yeah, he wasn't the leading candidate, I don't think, for too many insiders. So he's 42 years old. He's five years older than Sidney Crosby,

and Josh Yohei's got a great breakdown of the outside the box hire, a guy that's never been a head coach aside from a brief gig in the USHL, largely an assistant or associate coach at every level that he's been to kind of known more as a guy who loves teaching the game. But you'll had a really great breakdown about the passing of the torch from Mike Sullivan to Dan Muse. and what he said essentially was Kyle Dubas had some remarks this offseason that said and I'm paraphrasing But Sully's a guy in this phase of his career that's not coaching to teach he's coaching to win

He's a guy that wants to be competing for trophies Not showing and the joke in the piece was showing 20 year old guys the nuances of the penalty kill. Right. Right. Like you need certain coaches at certain stages of where you're at with your franchise. Now, the interesting thing is that Dan Muse inherits a team that still has the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Chris LaTang and Eric Carlson on the roster. But they're probably like, I think Sid knows how to play hockey.

Sure. The question is, what becomes of the rest of these guys? Like, does this sort of kickstart a, guys, this is the direction we're going in with our 42 year old first time NHL head coach. Yeah. This is how it's gonna be around here. I think they're gonna try hard to trade Carlson

this off season. We've seen this before in the NHL, you bring in a guy like that to coach young players, you teach them how to play in the national hockey league. And you've got a great mentor in Sydney Crosby to assist in that. The other thing Yohei pointed out in that piece is that Sid was adamant in every time that he was asked about this. He's like, I don't want any input on the coach. I want to play.

Kyle's in charge of hiring the coach. Now, I don't know if like hindsight being 2020, I got a little on board. Yeah. It's like Dan Muse. I don't know, who is this guy? It sounds made up. So I think that's it for the coaching carousel.

Dan Muse goes to Pittsburgh, Marco Sturm to Boston, Lane Lambert to Seattle. We barely talked about that, but. And we just did. There we go. There's an analysis. Lane Lambert goes to Seattle, Jeff Blashill to Chicago, Adam Foot to Vancouver, Rick Tauke to Philly and Joel Quenville to the Anaheim Ducks and Mike Sullivan to the New York Rangers. Got a lot

of coaching changes. Let's talk about Abbotsford. Let's do it. Danila Klimovic, highlight real goal. Another overtime winner late in overtime. Uh, 321 into double overtime. As a matter of fact, Lattie will play the audio here. Our guy Brandon Astle on the call. Klimovic scores Abbotsford five, four win over Texas to take a three one lead in the Western Conference final. Here's what it sounded like. Over to Mancini center ice feed. Here's Klimovic trying to pick up speed in the

attacking zone down the right wing. Klimovic. Trying to pick up speed in the attacking zone, down the right wing. Klimovic's drag move, backhander shot, scores! Let's get out of here! Danila Klimovic just called game four! Are you kidding me? So this game had a little bit of everything in it. First off, the only reason it went to overtime is because the Stars scored the game tying goal with

18.7 seconds left in regulation prior to that there were four lead changes Abbotsford chased Dallas's starting goalie Remy Poirier. They had four goals on 11 shots. He got the hook then Helberg Remember him Lanny Magnus Helberg. He came in for the straight equipment Really? Yeah, he's really cool designs on his pads I had no idea and then the game-winning goal comes from this unbelievable solo effort from Danila Klimovic who hadn't played in a single game in this series prior to yesterday So not only does he get to go in the game man He's like hey get out there for a shift in double ot and then he scores this highlight real goal to win it So everything happens again. Who's you who's the lefty man that he beat oh if you watch the replay that lefty man is?

Going to stay in the a HL. I think Something like oof Kyle Kyle luft L. O of Kyle L. O o F T luft He's a little aloofed on that play. Yeah, he's gonna be left in the a HL. It was not great for him Nice play by clemavich. Very nice play. Very nice play. And my guy, Linus Carlson, gets another goal. I'm telling you, man, if if he doesn't have a prominent role on the Vancouver Canucks last year, I will have lost all my faith

in the significance of the Colter Cup playoffs because he has been next year. Amazing. Sorry, next year. He has been amazing, consistent, finding the back of the net with regularity, every sort of scenario. And again, there's other guys on that team that have also had cups of coffee and looks in the NHL and they're producing, but not with the regularity. Carlson's a good guy for that team. Carlson has also worked really hard.

Yep. I've heard from a few people that he's a guy that has taken advantage of the people that are teaching down in Abbotsford, including the Sedines, and he is working hard. And it's great to see that he's getting the results down there. He's the type of player, I mean, the Canucks need

all sorts of players in their forward group, but he's a big dude that can score. I don't know if he can be a top six guy in the NHL, but I know he can be a useful player because just watching him this season, I think most people that watched him were like, there's something there. There's something there with, with Linus Carlsen. He's not the flashiest player, but there's, there's all of these, there's always these guys that, I mean, I personally tend to like notice and like Yannick Hansen

when he was with the Canucks, Tyler Mott when he was with the Canucks and Linus Carlsen is kind of like the latest guy that I'm like there's something there I don't I don't know if he's got top six potentially certainly not gonna change the fortunes of the Vancouver Canucks all by himself but if you get a bunch of guys like Linus Carlson, you're gonna be doing okay. Tristan Nielsen scored twice. Of course, there's another guy that got a look

with the Vancouver Canucks, albeit briefly. Victor Mancini continues his fantastic run of play as well in this Calder Cup playoff with another goal last night. Artie Silov's, the numbers were fine. He gave up four goals on 31 shots, so 27 saves, but he was able to improve to three and oh and overtime games this postseason So he continues to tick a lot of boxes with regards to how important a role he's played in this Calder Cup playoff And I think right now he's got to be one of the three leading candidates to be the playoff MVP

Given how well he's played and how much he's played as well But another great result for the Aventura Canucks. They now take a stranglehold on this series. They're up 3-1. They can secure a trip to the Calder Cup Finals with another win in game five on Friday night. And a reminder, we'll have it all right here on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. What we just have to call Thomas Drantz erotica. in expected goals Thomas Dranser-erotica top model

Thomas Dranser-erotica regression PDO Thomas Dranser-erotica Oh, Thomas, in a four on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, rough sports net six 50. Halford and brother the morning is brought to you by sans and associates BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sans dash trustee.com.

We are now in our three of the program. Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk. We'll be joining us shortly. Andy working furiously on the phones to try and get Drance on it. Our three of the program 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

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. Now would be a good time to mention that the

Sportsnet 650 Jays Care 5050 is live. You could win half the jackpot and the other half supports challenger baseball, a program that helps kids of all abilities across BC thrive through sport. Tickets started just $10 with bundles for even more chances to win. Don't wait, get your tickets now at jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com. You must be 19 years or older and live in BC to play. Let's make a big impact together. This of course also comes courtesy of Tile Town.

So again, get out there, buy some 50-50 tickets, potentially win some money and help challenge your baseball, a program that helps kids of all abilities across BC thrive through sport. We got Drance on the line now. Let's go to the aforementioned Power West Industries hotline now. Thomas Drance joins us here

on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Drance, sir, how are you? Morning gentlemen, how are you guys? We're well, what'd you think of game one of the Stanley Cup final last night? Thrilling. Honestly, I feel like we're in a purple patch of high quality hockey.

I think this playoffs throughout has been incredible. Dating back to the Four Nations, I just feel like a lot of the hockey we're watching, we're being treated to, has been exceptional. And I felt like last night, look, it wasn't a perfect game. I thought the Lions people had a tough night and a small annoyance, but there was some, uh, icing that I quibbled with some, um, off sort of lines officiating, but whatever, that's not going to ruin a good time. And obviously there was a rough show in the first period that I, that I didn't

love, especially because both those teams. And this is to their credit. They're, they're so cagey and cynical and good at winning games in the playoffs that if you call the game that way, um, they will absolutely indulge you by playing a style that benefits them. And so I did feel like it got a little bogged down in the first, but the swings, um, in that game, you know, the, the way that the Panthers took over the second period, the pushback from the Oilers dominating the third, and then even in overtime, right?

You had that sort of withering Panthers push in the first five minutes of overtime, and the Oilers kind of started to generate some stuff off the rush. And then we get this just absolute worldy dry-cidal winner. Just brilliant. Like, I thought it was a fantastic three and a half hours of entertainment. I was completely riveted. Yeah, that was a great goal. So many oilers made great plays on that. Started with Ryan Nugent Hopkins at the point, absorbing the pressure,

making a nice pass down to Perry who immediately added to McDavid. McDavid. Well, did you notice? did you notice after the goal, McDavid did the point, you know, the point that a goal, we usually get it from the goal scorer, not from the setup guy, but the point of credit from McDavid went to Perry after the goal.

Like the goals scored, and if you go watch the highlight, after the goal score, Dry Cytl skates away into the corner and McDavid turns around and gives Perry the point because he was the guy with the quick pop pop pass that was like, you know, cause I mean the, the Ryan Nugent Hopkins Lota sort of high to low pass is exceptional, but it's the, you need the one quick pass to really get Florida's defenders swimming and take advantage of their pressure game effectively.

And it was the Perry pop pass a really quick sort of, you know, not a one touch pass, but pretty close on his stick off his stick. Um, that, that really unlocked that, you know, two on one down low. And I thought it was fascinating that immediately McDavid turns to Perry, the new guy on that unit, right. And, and is pointing and giving him credit for the play. I thought that was a very telling sort of reaction in terms of what matters for this Oilers Power Play 1 in terms of actually getting to the Panthers PK. Did you see Marshawn too? It's like, I feel like I should, is there something I'm forgetting here?

Oh my God, dry sidle and he's wide open and the game is, the game is over. But, but Nugent Hopkins was one of the reasons that Dry Cytl did get open because he drew in the pressure and I think Marshawn was cheating a little bit because it looked like Nugent might've been trapped a little bit at that high point. And I know that because I saw that happen to the

Canucks about a hundred times on their power play this year. Someone not handling the pressure well. And then Marshawn who has scored the odd shorthanded goal, I think he thought, okay, maybe we got a chance here. And then Nuge makes that really nice play under pressure, Marshawn gets caught and if you watch the replay, there's like that, oh no moment for

Marshawn and it's too late. Yeah. The, the other thing I think you, you may be right that he was, you know, had dollar signs in his eyes there, but I also do suspect that when you turn your back on a pressure PK so often, and, and you know, this is something that the twins used to do a

lot whenever, uh, whenever a penalty kill was more aggressive than usual. Um, when you turn your back, the way Ryan Nugent Hopkins did to a penalty killer, um, you know, in that sort of situation, it's usually a trigger to attack, right? Like it's usually a trigger to attack because obviously it's difficult to make a precision skilled play when you can't see who you're passing to. Yeah. And so I think there's probably some level of overaggression from Marchand in that moment, but I also think that's probably how they want to play. They want to take advantage and they want to attack a vulnerable puck carrier in that moment. Okay. Tell us about the latest article you've

written for the athletic, the top 13 trade assets. How did you go about doing it? And what do you see realistically as their top trade chips? Yeah. I mean, so I think their top trade chip, for example, would be Elias Pedersen, but we're not just talking about who'd have the most value, although that's part of it. We're ranking them based on trade value.

But we're then sort of also trying to figure out how movable, right? How untouchable or how available are these different pieces? And then we're sort of getting into the why and the what and what it all means. So, you know, we have Pedersen one, but obviously, you know, that, that would be a franchise, like a franchise direction, altering decision to in fact trade it. Um, you know, this team is desperate for help down the middle of their forward group and, you know, as much as I think this team believes that they can find a top two line center, um, you'd certainly need to, they, they want to anyway, to be

totally honest with you gentlemen, right? Like I think they're, their ideal is to have actual center depth, but you lose Pedersen, you're really talking about trying to replace, you know, not just trying to replace what he was last year, where we're talking about like, uh, guy who scored at a 60 ish point pace over 82 games and played pretty decent defense, even if he wasn't the superstar producer that he's paid to be, that he's expected to be, that he has been pretty regularly throughout his career. I'm talking about like the idea of Pedersen.

Pedersen as an upside case for what it looks like if the Canucks can actually get back on track next season, you know, that blows a hole in your lineup. Like that blows a hole in your lineup, regardless of how you feel about Pedersen's game right now, given sort of the diminished speed, the diminished diminished shot velocity, and then just the diminished overall juice that we saw from him last year. So, you know, we started there, but it's complicated, right?

Like, I don't think I expect Pedersen to be moved over the next month, regardless of what the new season ticket member advertisement, you know, might suggest, right? Like on the one hand, yeah. So we went through that process and just sort of ranked all of the Canucks assets. And I think at some point, like for example,

you think about those three young D, Pedersen, Volander and Mancini. I don't think it's complicated to sort of understand that there's probably a pecking order there in terms of who the club would most want to trade of those three, right? Or be most open to trading of those three. I don't think it's difficult to understand either that, you know, there's a pretty clear pecking order in terms of which players would have the most value among those three. The Connaughts don't want to trade any of those guys. They don't want to trade Sawyer Minio either, right? Like they are really happy and have taken a lot of time and effort and work and have spent a lot of assets to get this Canucks defensive group to a point where it's got real talent coming and real talent in the lineup, right? But it's an obvious area of surplus. And at some point, this team's emergency level needs upfront might require, or will require, some difficult,

gut-wrenching decisions from Canucks management as they look to sort of significantly upgrade it over the course of the summer. So we just sort of tried to give an overview of exactly what that looks like. For me, if I'm ranking it in terms of likelihood of moving, I mean, I think you start at the 2025 15th overall pick, right? Like I think that's sort of a

baseline. That's the one asset that I think I would be surprised if we're sitting here on, you know, Friday, June 26th or whatever, whatever day the draft in LA is and are looking at it as something that the Canucks are still holding or likely to use. I think that would be a surprise for me, but, you know, a lot is going to have to be in play for this team if they're going to be the club that seizes on, you know, some of the unique

opportunities that appear to be out there on the trade market, sort of headlined by Marco Rossi. Well, let's talk about Rossi because I saw you, you had some input on an article on Marco Rossi and you just looked at it from Vancouver's perspective and you kind of acknowledged like, look, it's not a perfect fit, but you know, to paraphrase beggars can't be choosers when you're looking for centres in the NHL.

Um, you know, would they like them to be a bit bigger and faster and right-handed? Yeah, but the guy puts up points and that's kind of what they need at this point. What do you think it would take to get Marco Rossi out of Minnesota from a Canucks perspective? I mean, I think first, the first 2025 first, sort of just trying to construct a trade offer in my head,

like the first Mancini, maybe Hoaglander. Yeah. Something like that. You think that would get it done for Minnesota? Because they'd be like, okay, where's the upside in this? Well, yeah, I mean. For a 60 point center is 23 years old.

Yeah, no, but that's the issue you bumped into, right? Is I don't think it makes sense for Minnesota to trade it. Like I don't think the fact that it's devolved to this point, where this is a realistic possibility, makes sense for Minnesota, right?

But now that it has, you know, the same fit concerns that we'd have are the same fit concerns that Minnesota clearly had in the playoffs when they played them like a fourth line player, right? Um, they're the same concerns that a lot of Pete teams around the league would have. You just don't see a lot of five foot nine top line centerman in this league. I mean, what, Braden point and, but you know, it's a, it, it takes a very special, very highly skilled player to win with that sort of profile, especially when they're not a

burner. I mean, Braden points lethal off the rush in a way that Rossi isn't. Um, so you sort of put that all together. And I mean, I don't think like for example I've been you know following the news or following the hockey Twitter tweaks and speculation like everybody else like you know the Jason Robertson speculation that cropped up this week it's like Rossi is not going to get that sort of package. You know he's not a consistent 40 goal guy. Um, he had a breakout season,

but he also was basically stapled to one of boldy or, um, oh my goodness. Um, Capri's off almost throughout. Uh, you know, I don't know that he's viewed as a, as a top line caliber center, um, by every team around the league. I view him that way. I view him as a super high upside guy, like a gift, you know, the sort of gift that for a team in the Canucks position, you know, as much as I put together that package, like I don't think you have a, I don't think the Canucks should even hesitate to build upon that, you know, like I think you

can go deeper if you're Vancouver, um, in terms of adding assets into that trade and still come out well ahead, just given his age, given your needs, uh, given how, you know, like I think Rossi is the caliber of, of player or the caliber of bet anyway, where you look at the wreckage of last season and what this forward group looks like in the wake of the JT Miller trade and incredibly be able to say something like, man, this team might've come out ahead after all of that dysfunction. And I didn't even think that was going to be on the table for this team this summer, if you'd asked me six weeks ago. We're speaking to Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk here on the Halford

and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Drance, are you want to do a little assistant coach talk here? Sure. Okay. Yogi Sveikovsky out reportedly. No, actually it's official now, right? It's official. Philadelphia just announced it. Kevin Dean in, that's reportedly. What do you got? Talk us through both of them. Well, yeah, Dean, I suppose, reportedly by me, right? So Dean's effectively been hired, but the club's going to wait to complete their assistant, Adam Foote's staff for the 2025-26 season, and then they'll all be announced at once.

Got it. So at some point that'll happen. Club's priority, as I'd heard it earlier this week, is landing a offensive-minded coach, someone with power play experience, right? And I think power play experience overall, trumping head coaching experience. I'd sort of wondered if the club might want, uh, someone who'd done the job, uh, as a head coach in the, in the past to be, uh,

you know, uh, like a compliment to Adam foot, given his lack of professional experience in this role. But I've been told, and my understanding is, is that really it's about the power play from a Canucks perspective. And that makes a ton of sense with Yogi heading to Philadelphia, given his involvement with how the Canucks sort of approached five on four play last season. So yeah, that's sort of where we're at in terms of what Adam foot's coaching staff will look and feel like, at least another big name to come.

And then and then, you know, I don't really know about sort of the like video coaching role and on and on, but I would assume no changes there, which, you know, maybe maybe that's a dangerous assumption, but I haven't heard any movement on that score. I do know that they're still looking for that one additional power play coach. Does the power play need a complete rethink? A complete rethink? Well no, I mean, does the power play ever need a complete rethink in a world where everyone just uses the one through one, right? Like To some extent every team in the league is approaching the power play the same. It's not really about

What you're doing differently. It's about who you're It's not about what you're doing differently than everyone else It's about how well you're doing it how well your players are executing it and how well they're working together You know I about how well you're doing it, how well your players are executing it and how well they're working together. You know, there's some interesting stuff going on, I suppose, with like the Capitals using Jacob Chickren in the bumper and the, you know, I think that's similar to what we're seeing with Florida where you've got Aaron Echblad in the bumper

and you've got two defenders on the ice. Is that something the Canucks could consider given that one of those defensemen would be Quinn Hughes who's just such a ridiculously skilled like unusually skilled offensive presence, have Philip Peronick up top, then you sort of have your answer to the bush bomb, right? You have a bigger, more traditional right-handed finisher at the, at the stem of your umbrella. But Quinn Hughes just creates so much up high and

demand so much attention up high, which should create a ton of space down low. If this team's able to work together, um, more seamlessly than I think they were capable of during the Miller-Peterson era. I think that's my point. It never looked great. Like last season, I know the numbers weren't terrible.

They were middle of the league, 22.5%, which, you know, a few years ago, it wouldn't have been the best in the league, but it's not now. And it just looked janky the whole time. It's not now. And it just looked, it just looked janky the whole time. I think it looked like two guys that didn't really like each other always going through

like my touches, your touches on the flanks. Yep. And I think at this point we can just like say that, and by the way, I don't think that that's just me projecting what we now know happened onto it, um, you know, in, in the wake of sort of what happened last year, I think there was a feeling of that internally.

So. Well, they split them up once. And I remember talk, it's saying like these guys just needed a break from each other. And I would always say like, I wonder what those power play meetings are like. I bet they're not fun. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, the split was wild. It was so wild. Um, yeah. So yeah, I mean, the split was wild. That was so wild. Yeah, so, yeah, I mean, getting everyone back on the same page presumably should raise the floor of what this power play can accomplish anyway. Although man, it's tough. Like I thought JT Miller operating on his downhill side on the half wall was like a pretty special playmaker, orchestrator, quarterback.

Was for Brock. From a five on four perspective. That's Brock too, yeah. And well, and Brock, honestly, I thought more down low. I always thought it was a mistake anytime they moved Brock away from the net front, because even though he sort of came up playing on the flank and had a lot of success there early in his career,

I think the truth is, is that by necessity, he'd sort of taken that to fully roll and become expert at it. That's what I meant. Like Miller going downhill on the left flank with Brock net front. I think that was a great combination. And then Horvat bumper, because that was the other big thing that they lost last year.

So none of those guys are going to be back. So that's why I say, does it need a complete rethink? Like who's going to be back. So that's why I say like, does it need a complete rethink? Like who's going to be the shooter? Yeah. I mean that it has to be Peterson, like has to be. And so I sort of wonder, honestly, I think the one thing that I'd be curious to see is does the success of the capitals power play, granted you don't have a right-handed shooter like a Vetchkin obviously, uh, and the success of the Capitals power play, granted you don't have a right-handed shooter like Ovechkin obviously, and the success of the Florida Panthers power play which functions

with a similar 2D alignment, 1D in the bumper, like it's a 2D alignment but it's not like a spread power play, right? This team's still in a 1-3-1, they're just using a defender in an unconventional spot. Is that something that the Canucks may look to emulate or at least consider trying out, especially given the skill level of their top pair of Hughes and Horonic and sort of how those like, is that the better way to take advantage of how you meet Hughes is? Is Hughes hit like maybe Hughes is the shooter that wrist shots become a real threat. And certainly in terms of like stepping inside, stepping around guys, you know, attacking into the high slot,

like Hughes has that skill for days. Is that one sort of possible solve? So while I rejected your idea of a rethink, I've kind of talked myself into it over the course of this hit. That's what we love to do here. Rethinking things in real time on the Haliford. I was born 7650 kid rats were up against it for time.

We gotta go to break. Thanks. Yeah, see you buddy. That's Thomas Drantz. I didn't get to say goodbye. He just left. He's gone. So it's a great way to do it.

Really eager to end that conversation. That was the Irish goodbye of radio hits. I think I've never seen anything like that. Yeah, it's not bad. Pretty well done. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.