Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 7/9/25

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, the boys wonder if the Canucks will be forced to trade Arturs Silovs, what with the news yesterday of them re-signing Nikita Tolopilo, plus they discuss top hockey prospect Gavin McKenna announcing his commitment to Penn State and what that means for junior hockey in Canada, as FloHockey prospects expert Chris Peters joins the show. 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 deep left field and well gone. Me and my family and everyone who's a part of my circle, we all decided that the best spot for me next year will be Penn State University. This game is time, the game is on the move, the game is on the move, everyone. The game is on the move. Good morning, Vancouver, 6 to 1 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios

and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Gator, good morning to you. Good morning in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And basketball fan, good morning to you as well. Good morning. Alfred and Bradford, the morning is brought to you

by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for net help. With over 3,000 five star reviews, visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. I say this every morning, but we do have a lot to get into today on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet

650 on a Wednesday. Uh, three guests today on the show. It'll begin at six 30. We're going to check in and go to Pittsburgh. Penguin's beat writer, Josh Yohei from the athletic is going to join the program.. Recently Josh has been putting on work. No vacation for him. He's written about Geno Malkin's playing future, trade chatter regarding Brian Rust and Ricard Raquel and of course why Sidney Crosby wants to continue to stay and play in Pittsburgh anytime anything happens with the Penguins we always find it pertinent to the Vancouver Canucks given the ties to that organization so we'll get into all that with Josh Yohei at 6 30 this morning.

7 o'clock Chris Peters is going to join the program. He's the content manager at Flow Hockey. He also doubles as their prospect expert so what a great time to talk to Chris. We can get reaction to the news you heard in the intro. Gavin McKenna officially announced his commitment to Penn State yesterday. Live on ESPN. We now live in a world where college hockey commits are announcing on ESPN nationally across the US. He put the Penn State hat on and everything with Kevin Deghandi. We'll talk to Chris about that. And 95% of the viewers of ESPN are like, who is this kid? What are we watching here?

What's going on? Don't blame them for asking. There's some baseball. Penn State plays hockey? I didn't know that. So we'll talk to Chris about that. Also a very interesting trade last night between Edmonton and Tampa Bay involving the reigning Hobie Baker winner Isaac Howard. So we'll talk to Chris about that. That's all coming up at seven o'clock at eight. We're going to go to Vegas golden nights reporter for the athletic Jesse Granger is going to join the program. Uh, we're going to check in on yet another Pacific division foe for the Vancouver Canucks. After looking at Edmonton and Calgary already this week,

the dust has settled on the Mitch Marner acquisition. Also the news that Alex Petrangelo is unlikely to play this season in Vegas. So how does Vegas look in the aftermath? We'll talk to Jesse Granger about that at eight o'clock this morning. That's it for the guest list. That's it for everything on the show today.

We're gonna be talking lots of hockey. There was a fair bit of news last night. We got three guests working in reverse. Eight o'clock, it's Jesse Granger out of Vegas seven o'clock Chris Peters from Flo hockey and 630 Josh Yohei out of Pittsburgh that's what's happening on the program today Ben let's tell everybody what happened What happened? I missed all the action because I'm moving. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened?

What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We are gonna begin with the Red Hot Toronto Blue J Jays though six strong innings from Chris Bassett That's all he needed a rained shortened 6-1 win for the Toronto blue Jays over the Chicago White Sox Last night in a game that was shortened in the seventh due to a downpour of rain

Not unlike what we had here in Vancouver was all sunny and nice and nice and summery, and then boom, rain, shut the game down last night, no problem for the Jays though. The Jays have now won 10 in a row, their longest winning streak since they won 11 straight back in 2015. Now I bring this up, go ahead. No, go. I bring this up because 2015,

and we're jumping ahead of the narrative here, although I've already seen one article written about it. 2015 was the year, quite infamously, that the Blue Jays pushed all their chips in at the trade deadline. They went crazy. They picked up Troy Tulowitsky, they picked up David Price, which worked out in the regular season, and then the playoffs came around. But everyone right now is eagerly anticipating this year's trade deadline to see if history

will repeat itself 10 years later Jason. It just seems like everything is working for the Jays right now. Like even last night the way they won getting the the range shortened game like they were able to get I guess you could call it a complete game out of their starter so they got to reset their bullpen as well like everything. The White Sox are terrible they looked at they're like let's just call it. Let's just not bother playing anymore and the amps were like fine. That's yeah. Yeah, we'll move on to the next one Do you think anyone stayed at the ballpark and they're like, do you think there's that one person? Yes, so there's always one That was like I paid for my ticket. I'm here I mean if they did probably get mugged if I leave knowing the neighborhood. Well, that's the thing

I'll just stay here for the rest of my life, maybe. I'm never going to leave. It was a 90 minute rain. There's one guy in the stands booing incessantly. Nobody else is there. You know there's always, if you see it, I mean, it's one of the great things about baseball is there's always the one guy, even after a 90 minute delay,

he's like, you never know. They might come back out. Well, I think it's because if you've invested that much time at this point, you're thinking in the back of your mind, if I leave knowing my luck, it'll start the second I leave. So I've, I've trucked it out for this far. I might as well just stay here. But that was not the case last night. So the J's win in a range, shorten game. I'm going to be very curious to see what this team does at the deadline this

year, because that was sort of Alex Anthopolis is signature trade deadline. And that was the year, of course, that the J's beat the Rangers and one of the most electric playoff series in recent memory. Of course, then they went on to lose to the Royals back in 2015, but that, that Ranger series has so many iconic moments from it that I think a lot of people are going to project 10 years ago onto this team, even though they're fundamentally and dramatically different teams. It'll just be really interesting to see if the Jays decide to go all in because

they have not had a run like this in a decade. And the energy is back in Toronto. The idea of playing and not just getting into the playoffs, but maybe the way that they play, making some noise in them. I mean, who knows? There's a real optimism there because this is the best baseball that this team has played in the last 10 years. So good on the Blue Jays for winning last night,

six one over the socks. Uh, we move on now to the other startling news of yesterday. And it wasn't so much the news that Gavin McKenna was committing to Penn State. That was widely out there. Multiple sources had reported the day before, but the fact that Gavin McKenna from Madison had, by way of UConn, was on national television in the US on ESPN with SportsCenter's Kevin Nogandee to announce his college selection.

Ironically enough, 15 years to the day that LeBron's decision aired on ESPN. Equal weight for both, I would say. I really wish he just said, I'm taking my talents to State College, Pennsylvania. I thought he was going to do it. I thought he might. He did not, however, let's play the audio anyway, just so we can hear what it sounded like. This is live from ESPN last night.

Gavin McKenna announcing that he will be joining the Nittany Lions next year of Penn State. Yeah, it was a super tough decision. Obviously there's a lot of great options out there. But I think me, my family and everyone who's kind of part of my circle, we all decided that the best spot for me in the next year will be Penn State University. Yeah, I think Penn State is a great spot for me. I got to kind of get a taste of what it's like there and, um, got to bring along my dad and we both thought it was a great spot for me.

That awkward pause you heard mid clip was Gavin McKenna putting on the Penn State hat on camera. And then Kevin Agandi saying, ah, there, there, there, there it is. So was he just like holding it the whole time? Yep, right off camera in his lap. Kid's a pro already. He knew not to have it on camera before the announcement. Pretty slick, Gavin McKenna.

This is, I never thought I'd see the day where a collegiate hockey recruit was announcing his decision live on ESPN. I know it's the summer. I know it's slow. I know that this probably doesn't make the rotation if there's a lot of other things going on, but it is still crazy to me. I feel like the college hockey landscape is shifting in a big way,

big way, because one thing or a couple of couple takeaways here. One, I did not realize that aside from McKenna, like Penn State has really loaded up. They've got a defenseman named Jackson Smith, who was taken 14th overall by Columbus in this year's draft. They've also got Luke Misa, who's a Calgary Flames prospect. They've gone in the span of just over a decade, 12 years of existence from being a fringe team, a club team

playing in the ACHA or whatever it is, to being a Frozen Four team, and now the landing spot for the biggest collegiate hockey recruit ever. Well, it just goes to show, and this is the lesson that we always like to tell kids, money means everything. It's everything. Follow the money. And Terry Pagula, you know, they money and Terry Pagula you know they

play in Terry Pagula arena there they do made a big donation there and is that named after him yeah okay all Terry Pagula arena yeah yeah I guess if you make enough of a donation you can have named after you well that's the whole idea yeah it's your legacy it's rich guys who don't think they really die. Yeah. Even after I'm gone, I'm still in Arena. Yeah. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this works out for McKenna.

And I know the CHL is, you know, I've seen some people downplay all this. You should not be down like, they're like, there's still lots of good players in the CHL. I'm like, yeah, but the best one just left. So that's maybe a problem. Like you don't, you don't sell tickets to see every player in the CHL, right? Like guys like Gavin McKenna, you know,

they can make a break a franchise or a league in terms of making money. And just the landscape is shifting right now and it seems like the NCAA is the clear winner in all this. Like are they losing anything by the shifting landscape? No. So if they're the winner, you know, leagues like the CHL and the BCHL, you know, they're probably the losers in this. This is quite remarkable because not only is he going to college hockey, but I want to point out like Penn State is making a big deal of the fact that instead of joining a powerhouse traditional

program, McKenna is also writing his own story and writing potentially the history of what could be a taking off point for that program. I like this is it. So how many other schools without a hockey program now go, well, maybe we should have a hockey program because we've got the potential to get all this talent out of Canada.

Arizona states, there's a lot of schools out there with the potential to develop a hockey program. Yeah. You can have a men's program and a women's program, so there's no issues there. It seems like an obvious play. There's a lot of big US schools. Traditionally, look, we all know the ones that kids would go to. And, you know, like it's, it seems like, seems like an obvious play. There's a lot of big US schools. I mean, traditionally, look, we all know the ones that kids would go to, right?

It would be Michigan, Boston College, BU, Denver's had an amazing run lately, North Dakota, Michigan State, but it would traditionally be those schools. I mean, those were the ones that you'd see in the frozen for year after year after year. I just wonder how much this is gonna open up the landscape. The money involved is wild.

There's multiple reports out there that it's gonna be a $700,000 payday for Gavin McKenna when all is said and done. Can you imagine if all those big SEC schools decided? That's the next great horizon on this, is when do you get into the power schools that have lucrative TV money, have like the SEC network is the big one.

And always looking for content. Cause here's the thing, the Penn State athletic director, Pat Kraft had a quote earlier in the year talking about managing all of the money that the athletic department has so that it isn't just NIL and booster money going towards the big programs. Because the big programs, they're going to be fine. Penn State football is not going anywhere.

It's always going to have booster money. It's always going to have a lot of lucrative money behind it. I mean, he was saying, if there's an opportunity for us to bring in the number one fencer in the world to our fencing program, we now have the financial means to do it. And, you know, someone texted in yesterday like Penn State. I was unaware of this, but they traditionally have a really strong wrestling program, and now they're gone out and they've even made it more authoritative by recruiting the best wrestlers from all over the world.

Right. If you can apply that logic of sharing the wealth to some of these other athletic departments at these huge schools in the U S I really wonder what it's going to look like. Like how big could the explosion be? Could you imagine Alabama, Auburn, LSU, embracing those built in rivalries that they have with one another on the ice? And then seeing what Penn State didn't sing, it doesn't take that long to build a program.

Penn State went from being a club team to a final four team in 12 years, frozen four team in 12 years. I was also thinking like Ohio State. Like you build that Michigan, Ohio State rivalry, but on the- Yeah, like it got one, right? Like Ohio State's hockey program.

But like even better. Well, this, that mean Jason brought it out of the point. Like money is gonna fuel all this stuff to the point where it's not just about the names on the front of the jerseys like, oh, Auburn and Alabama, for example, hate each other. They've also got, I don't know, two of the top 10 draft prospects going into 2029 or 2030.

It's a brave new world out there, folks. It could be really interesting. So we talked about this yesterday, all the reasons that Gavin McKenna might make this decision. Um, and he, he mentioned, he mentioned on ESPN yesterday, it's like, oh, I get to play against, you know, bigger, stronger, more mature players. And even mentioned, you know, in the locker

room, you're, you're around older guys. So this is just going to help my transition to the NHL. I don't doubt that's true, but I also know that 18 year old kids are probably like, and it's gonna be so much fun. Yeah, it's gonna be rad. Like, it's gonna be awesome. I mean, the experience of going to a school like Penn State, they asked him, um, you know, you're familiar with the football program and, and he said like, no, this is all kind of new to me.

Sure. New is exciting. Um, but I went and saw the facilities, you know, you go to that stadium, there's a hundred thousand people that can go to that stadium. Um, you know, Penn State is hosting Oregon in, I think October, it's one of the third or fourth games. You know, Penn State is hosting Oregon in, I think, October. It's one of the third or fourth games.

There's going to be like so much hype around that game and so much, it's going to be so much fun. And like the college experience for some of these guys, it's not for everyone, but it's for a lot of people. And if you can go down there, you know, imagine you're, you're a 17 yearyear-old, 18-year-old kid and you've already maybe done pretty well at the CHL level and you've got the opportunity to

go to, I don't know, let's say the SEC gets into it. It'd be wild. Right? And you're like, do I want to do this or do I want to go ride buses across Canada, the prairies in Canada and the Manila winter? Like it's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's not completely different from the conversation we have about, hmm, do I want to go sign in Winnipeg? Yeah. Or do I want to go play in Florida or Tampa Bay

where the weather's better? You know, if the SEC gets into this, I know there has been some talk about it. There has. There will be players that will be very interested in going down there. Yes, for the hockey, because the hockey, you're not taking a step back or anything.

You're not having to sacrifice anything. You're still playing at a very high level. Plus you've got all this other stuff. So on a macro level, can it not be somewhat compared to what we're seeing at the NHL level fully with the Florida teams and wanting to play down and the sunshine and the flip flops and you make some more money, not because of tax reasons necessarily fully but just because there's more money to be made college kids going places where they can avoid taxes and they're

just kind of happier down there I think okay so the I don't know how many people in like north of the 49th and in Canada are familiar with the changes in the NCA landscape. It's the professionalism of collegiate athletics. What was once supposed to be amateur athletics and student athletes leading the day, that's gone. This is now a money making venture for everybody involved, whereas previously it was a money making venture for the schools and to a lesser degree, a bunch of coaches that could move around freely. So Mal in Vancouver, text in to the Dunbar Lumber, text message in basket at 650-650.

Text in if you want to weigh in throughout the show, hashtag WWL for your what we learned. Mel writes, does anybody talk about going to these university programs for educational purposes as well as a great sports program or don't these kids ever really go to school? Um, Mel, I'm going to be honest with you. I think even the window dressing of saying you're going there for the education is kind of

over, like I don't remember it being a talking point last night. I'll, I'll disagree with you on the majority of players. I think the majority of players that would go down there would think about school. Gavin McKenna is going to be a little bit different. Sure.

I think if you're going down to some of these down there would think about school. Gavin McKenna's gonna be a little bit different. Sure, fair. But I think if you're going down to some of these schools and you're just an average player on the team, yeah, it's a nice bonus. And I know the CHL will push back and say, we've got scholarship programs, but- It's not the same. But well, I mean, it's not,

it's just like you get your education now. Yeah. Right, and the CHL, you's just like you get your education now. Yeah. Right, and then CHL, you gotta wait because you're playing hockey. Yeah, I should rephrase. Yesterday, nobody was framing it as Gavin McKenna going to get his like econ degree or whatever. Like it was like, Gavin McKenna's gonna go there

for a year, then he's gonna get drafted, then he's gonna become a professional hockey player. So yeah, the institution is an educational one, but he's not there for the education. If you end up going to Harvard for hockey, yeah, some of those guys, that's a good program. And some of those guys will have a pro career ahead of them. But a lot of them are going to be like, wow, I'm going to get a Harvard education and play hockey. That's pretty cool. I'm probably going to be rich. Okay. Let's turn our attention now to the big trade

that came down late last night. The Edmonton Oilers made a very, very interesting acquisition yesterday, acquiring 21-year-old forward Isaac Howard from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for their first round draft pick in the 2024 draft, Sam O'Reilly. Now, why is this interesting? Well, Howard was taken a few years ago by Tampa Bay in the first round of the 2022

draft. Isaac Howard has subsequently not signed with Tampa Bay and recently informed the lightning that he would not be signing his ELC with the team. Howard is also coming off a year with Michigan state in which he lit up college hockey and won the Hobie Baker as the most outstanding player in the collegiate game. If he had gone back to Michigan State and played out his last year, he would have been free to sign anywhere he wanted after the end of his four year career at Michigan State as an unrestricted free agent. So Julian Brizbois, the Tampa Bay general manager jumped the gun, made a trade right after the trade was consummated,

Edmonton signed Howard to a three-year entry-level deal. And the expectation is, Isaac Howard, the reigning Hobie Baker winner, is gonna be in the Edmonton Oilers lineup for game one next season. Yeah, this is a nice pickup for the Oilers, and potentially a guy that Canucks fans can really hate. Yeah.

He's got a big personality and he's pretty confident. I don't know if anyone remembers when he was drafted by the Lightning, but he wore a white suit with a big American flag as his belt buckle. Blue turtleneck. It was a look. What was his quote? He said he was the best looking guy here, despite being taken almost at the very end of the first round. It would put it this way when I was watching that draft and at the end of the

draft of the round one, you've been there for three and a half hours. You're tired. You just want to get out of there. You're kind of shocked when anything interesting happens. And then Isaac Howard comes strutting down looking like a Miami pimp. And I'm like, well, who is this guy? And then his interview talking about being the best looking guy here and full of confidence. Yeah. They were asked why the belt? He's like, well, who is this guy? And then his interview talking about being the, you know, best looking guy here and full of confidence. Yeah, they were asked why the belt is like, I love America.

Yeah. And I was like, all right, I need to hear the rest of this interview. And he went on and on and on. He also announced courtesy the Spittin' Jekyll's podcast about his intention that he wasn't going to sign in Tampa Bay. And he said that him and the Lightning didn't see eye to eye about his progression to the NHL. There was a very obvious breaking point where he was disgruntled and the organization was disgruntled with him. Next thing we know,

Isaac Howard is now on his way to Edmonton. So, you know, it's funny. You got to think you others are thinking this guy might, this guy's got to play right away. He's absolutely going to play right away. And that was the thing about, yeah, now there's some debate about whether O'Reilly or Howard is the better prospect long-term, but there's no debate about who's more NHL ready. It's Howard. And you can understand why Edmonton was willing to maybe trade futures for the present because

they need wingers and they need guys that can play right now. We talked about this yesterday. Tough couple of days for Michigan State hockey, by the way, because they were hoping to land Gavin McKenna and it was down to them and Penn State. McKenna chooses Penn State. Howard had pretty much announced or had been reported that he's going back to Michigan State because he wasn't going to sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He gets traded to the Oilers. He signs with the Oilers, which ends his college career. Michigan State University kind of loses McKenna and definitely loses Isaac Howard. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Three bits of news from the Vancouver Canucks came out. They announced the signings first of defenseman Jet Wu and perhaps more importantly actually definitely more importantly goaltender Nikita Tolopilo that was on Tuesday morning Wu gets a one-year two-way deal Tolopilo gets a two-year two-way deal now with all due respect to Jet Wu he's 24 years old right now he will be 25 he's yet to make a mark at the NHL level he's gonna probably be an NHL defenseman next year if you see Jet Wu in the NHL level. He's going to probably be an NHL defensive and next year, if you see Jetwoo in the NHL next year, probably means something's gone very,

very wrong on the Canucks blue line. So I know, um, I know Abbotsford just won the Calder Cup and I'm sure that was a good experience for him. He played 22 games in the playoffs, probably likes that group of players. But if you were Jetwoo, you're turning 25 in July and you were a second round draft pick and you've played hundreds of games in the HL, why is he staying with the organization? I'm curious about that.

Like wouldn't you be like, well, maybe another team will give me a, give me a chance. Yeah. Cause I mean, look, you're playing for an organization where their lone strength, their lone strength is the depth that defense. And he's been obviously overlooked constantly. And he's been surpassed by a lot of younger,

more tantalizing prospects already. I mean, and you know, like Mancini comes along midseason. He's jumped them in the depth chart. D.P.D. has a great year where he really blossoms in the American League and then gets NHL reps. Go down the list. It's a it's a crowded blue line. I was of the same mind.

I do wonder if there is a comfort level and a familiarity there where unlike other guys like Sammy Blay and Phil DiGiuseppe who wanted to apply their trade elsewhere, after having good years in Abbotsford, maybe this is just a place where he's comfortable and he wants to stay. There is something to be said, as Greg Wyshinski from ESPN always says,

well, just stay in where your stuff is, right? Like I don't want to leave. There's also something to be said for chasing your NHL dream. Right, and I wonder if that's in the cards for him, if those minutes are ever going to be there. The goaltending situation is one that I feel like the Canucks have really signaled to everyone that they really

like Tolopilo and Ty Young. And it feels like they want those two to be the goalies in the AHL next season. They also drafted a goalie in the second round this season. And it just makes me wonder what the future holds for Archer Silov's because you know, in some ways it might be a good idea to try and hold on to him.

Mm-hmm. Because what if Thatcher Dempko all of a sudden, oh wait, he's not that healthy. Sure. Early on. Sure. It would be nice to have Siloves as an option. I know that Siloves had a tough time in the NHL last season, but I think we'd probably all trust him more than a guy like Tolopilo to be the

backup to Kevin Lankinen. At the same time, Canucks management knows that it'll take a PR hit if they lose Sealavs on waivers. Yep. And that's fair. And then they'd also have a three-goalie problem in the AHL if Sealavs goes through waivers and clears and he's still with the organization. The unfortunate thing is if Seelofs is traded, what are you going to get from that?

Fourth or a fifth round pick maybe? You're not going to get much. 20-27 sixth round pick. And I know some people are now are shaking their fists at the radio saying the Halford and Brush show doesn't know what it's talking about. He's an American hockey league goalie. He had a nice run in the playoffs, but the body of work at the NHL level is still going to skew what his value is worth league wide. There's not, look, let's just be real here.

There's not a team in the NHL that's thinking that they're gonna pick him up and he's gonna contend for their starting job. Like that's not an option, right? There's no team out there. I bet there's not a lot of teams other than think he could be a full time capable one B style backup who's playing 20, 25, 30 games at the NHL, especially especially if you're a team that says we need to make the playoffs this year.

Because the one thing that he's had an issue with is understanding what it takes to be a backup at that level, which is you are going to play sporadically all of C loves his best runs at the NHL level in the American league level has been where he's been run out every single night and has played a lot in a short period of time. I think it's why he succeeded when he took over from Casey to Smith in the playoffs two years ago. And I think it's why he succeeded this year in the Calder cup where you were

playing every other night. He's a guy that needs to be in that rhythm and in that rotation. Some NHL goalies find a way when they get to the highest level to be backups because they understand this is how my life is gonna be. This is my profession now as I play sporadically. And you need to be ready at a moment's notice. Some guys really do well with it, some guys don't.

And CeeLoves in the course of his NHL career is showing that it's tough for him to do that. Now, someone might give him another kick at the can to try it again. That option is still out there. So what do you think happens here? Do you think they- I think they're going to have to trade him. I wish we had, I don't think we, the audio was from last week when Jim Rutherford, president

of hockey ops for the Canucks was on Fan 590 in Toronto, and he said clear as day that C. Loves is going to be the odd man out going into the fall and that they're going to have to, I'm going to paraphrase here, but they're going to have to figure it out, meaning it's going to either be we move this guy for a pick or, and

I think the worst option is you expose them to waivers and risk losing him for nothing. I could see someone plucking off waivers and just giving it a shot. Even if you try and move them early in the preseason, early in the training camp process, I mean, the Connex have had success with that before.

Jacob Markstrom many moons ago. Yeah. They moved them really early and we're able to see them through. But it just takes one team that's willing to say, okay, well, let's say it's, I don't know, San Jose or Chicago. I don't even know what their goaltending situation is. But like those teams aren't going to be competitive next season unless there's some sort of miracle.

So maybe they sit there and go, this guy could be the answer, like we could get a future starting netminer, so let's pick them up. We can carry three goalies for a bit, doesn't really matter. Yep. You know, now some people have suggested, well, could the Canucks carry three goalies?

I guess they could, but it's not ideal. It's not an ideal situation becomes a bit of a distraction and you really want to focus on your two goalies, Demko and Lankton and make sure that they're getting the work at the NHL level and that the practices aren't complicated or anything like that. And it's also, it's also a roster spot.

Sure. That you're taking up with a goalie. Um, so, uh, John Owen Nanaimo texts in, he says, he's that much worse than Askaroff. He went for a first. Yeah. Askaroff was a very highly touted goalie. Sealovs is still a guy that's done well in the

NHL. Yep. I mean, it's not fair. Asgarov hasn't shown a ton of the NHL level, but he was the 11th overall pick in 2020. And those guys have pedigree and their reputation precedes them a lot. And you know, I know that the numbers at the NHL level, especially in San Jose last year, weren't great for a scar off. And I mean, part of that had to do with the fact NHL level, especially in San Jose last year, weren't great for Askaroff. And I mean, part of that had to do with the fact

that he was playing for the San Jose Sharks, but it's at, John, it's almost apples and oranges at that point. Last year, you cannot deny that last year, Sealob's games in Vancouver were, it got to the point where it was, you were worried going into them. Yeah.

There was a trepidation and oftentimes the results weren't great unless he was playing against the Chicago Blackhawks. And it got to the point where he kind of became unplayable. Right? Especially when the team was in the throes of either a losing streak or understood that because they were in a playoff chase early,

which ultimately fell short, that was part of the reason why they had to run out Lankton in so many nights in a row. And part of the reason why Lankton faded down the stretch is because he was you just you couldn't play him at the NHL level. There was too many shots. And the ones from distance were a real problem. Right. The inability to track the puck from distance. There was too many times where the Canucks kind of needed to save

that you need to get at the NHL level that he wasn't giving them. I mean, we're not talking about egregious errors or huge gaffes or where you make misplays of the month on Sportsnet. It was the ones where five goals on 27 shots and they're not NHL level numbers and they weren't NHL caliber goaltending. So Bill from Buffalo, who is a huge Sea LLaws fans based on his, uh, text history, he texts in so his playoff performance with the Canucks that doesn't count.

Well, he played 10 games and had an 898 save percentage. Like we remember that performance more because it was courageous considering the situation he was put into. But at the end of the day, his numbers are the numbers. If you're a Canucks historian, you put that run of where he came in as the number three. And I don't mean to be dismissive of it, but it's along the lines of when Archie Urbay got a run in Vancouver or backup Bob Ascensa got one. You know, it was like that.

It was like it was a cool, feel good story. It was better than expected. And you admired what he did. But he didn't like he made some big saves. Yeah, he made some big saves, but it was the backup to be in the NFL who goes on a little bit of a run. Yeah. And he wasn't terrible. Yeah. Right. Those years where Ryan Fitzpatrick would you know get a few starts under center and you'd be like wow Ryan Fitzpatrick

This guy could really be something maybe we could and then it would stop He'd throw 18 interceptions in three straight games and he'd be back on the bench And again, I know it sounds dismissive and I'm sorry if it does But I think that's really how this picture is gonna be painted the Connacks goaltending though Going into next year. I know we've talked about it at length on this show and with good reason I mean we just had a huge extension for thatcher Demko who is someone astutely pointed out the other day is now one of The highest paid players on the team and he with a eight and a half million dollar cap it not yet though No, but when it kicks in yeah, and it's gonna be to be the year after he, you know, is, he's not in prove it mode anymore.

It's let's make sure that you're healthy and you're ready to go. Cause you've got the contract. It's a huge dynamic for this team moving forward. I know people yesterday were discussing who might be moved out if the Canucks want to clear some cap space just so they have the flexibility to add a center. If, you know, they see something in free agency or there's a trade to be made. And, uh, you know, Joshua is the obvious first

choice, I think, because he's got a, you know, a fairly significant cap hit. And, um, I think there's a lot of people that are very hesitant to move Bluger considering the center depth that they already have right now. I mean, they've got Ratu as the three C and also Bluger was a big part of the PK and they're already losing Pugh Souter from the PK.

So there's some hesitation there. The other candidate is Hoeglinder and I agree with the people that would be hesitant to move Hoeglinder as a salary dump. I think he's really got the potential to bounce back this season. I mean, this is a guy that scored, what was it, 21 goals or something, a couple

of years ago and a lot at even strength. And, uh, you know, I, I, I really hope they don't, uh, they don't give up on Holglunder unless there's a significant upgrade coming. I feel the same way about Joshua. I don't. Why? What's the difference there? I think Holglunder has more talent.

Okay. I can't. Why? What's the difference there? I think Hoaglander has more talent. Okay, I can live with that. I also think that Joshua has better net front presence and better hands in front of the net. Yeah. And I think that that might be something that this team lacks maybe more than what Hoaglander gives them in the sort of like we're lacking in this department. Now, that being said, I think Hoaglander is a better option to ride shotgun to P.D. Yeah. And I think that if the revival and they need his speed, I think they need his talent. Well, I think there's not enough talent up front. I think if there's going to be a revival of sorts,

I do wonder if the Ascension chart might have like Pedersen and Hoaglander kind of going up together. Like they play together, they both have bounce backs together. They both realized that 2024, 25 was a bad year for both of them. Yeah. Hoaglander going from 24 goals in 23, 24 to eight last year.

I think the coaching change might be able to, it might help. I don't think Tauke loved Hoaglander. And sometimes I got the feeling that he wasn't a huge fan of Pedersen. No. There's no evidence to that. Are you sure about that?

Yeah. I mean, Foot's got, Foot does have an opportunity here to still play good cop until he has to play bad cop, which is sort of inherent in being the head coach, but he, cause right now. He's going to be almost a hundred percent good cop to start the season and into training camp. Yep. We're going to have, we're going to have positivity cramped down our throats and for good reason. And

I think it's the right call. Like I'm not being cynical here. I think, um. Three games into the preseason, you smoking darts in the bench. I hate all of you so much. Well, that's the thing. Somehow more than talk, it hated you. Can you imagine the first preseason game where Pedersen's in the lineup and people are like, okay, what are we going to see? Are we going to see? Because that'll be it.

I mean, that'll be the first sign of, okay, well, did he have a good camp and did he, uh, did he find, or not a good camp, a good off season? Did he get stronger? Did he work on his skating? Did he rediscover the magic? And, you know, I think, you know, I think we'll be able to see in that first, like you can just, just watch the game. Well, does he have confidence with the puck? Is he moving with the puck? Is he moving those feet back or, or, or? Back on the subject of foot though, like there is a pathway. Here's the thing, for him on a personal level, in terms of his trajectory of where he's gonna go

and what he's gonna be as a NHL head coach moving forward, there's a lot riding on his first year. Everyone's first job, there's a lot riding on it. The blueprint I think for him right now, especially when it comes to Pedersen, is you almost just kind of do the inverse of what happened last year, right? Like maybe don't publicly declare

that you're in a reprogramming effort with the player. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even if you don't necessarily believe it, don't say it and don't do it because you're in a don't do it, Donnie don't does kind of situation. You're like, I'll just do the opposite of what happened last year.

If every instinct you had was wrong. Then you should do the exact. Exactly like even if you in your heart, you're like, we do need to reprogram them because he can't go like this. The messaging to him is going to have to be one of like we're in this together as opposed to we're two opposing forces, which I think happened between Pedersen and talking last year is there was a lot of push pull. I want you to do this and you're not

doing this. Well, and Petey Miller, obviously. So that's gone too. So there's a bunch of things that are different in that room now. So it's a kind of a real like basic playbook for foot. It's just do a lot of the opposite of what

happened last year. You know what's funny is we went into last season with the excuses are gone for Pederson. They went out and got him, they got him some wingers, they got him, they got him to brusk, all that stuff. It's, it's over. The excuses are gone for Pedersen. They went out and got him. They got him some wingers They got him. They got him to brusk all that stuff. It's it's over the excuses are over and then we found some new ones Mm-hmm, and then heading into this season Definitely the excuses are over like he's healthy. Yeah, you know he's even this time

It's Homer with the and and and talk it's gone and JT is gone. Yep this time and Tauke it's gone and JT's gone. You know, like this, the, no. So what, what, what, what will we need to go back to? If, if he doesn't perform. Oh, you just blame the head coach. That's my, that's the defacto one. I think for most people. He wasn't enough of a change from Tauke.

Yeah, no, he doesn't like the system. And then you go, they never started. He needs a coach that understands him. What's Bud Rowe doing? Our next guest is the content manager at Flow Hockey, also a hockey prospect expert. We've had him on the show a number of times. Happy to have him back.

Chris Peters here on the Haliford and Brush Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Chris, how are you, bud? I'm doing well, boys. Good to be with you on this July morning. Yeah, thanks for taking the time to do this. I'm glad you brought up this July morning because we are coming off a July evening

where I saw something I didn't think I'd ever see and that was a highly touted Canadian junior hockey product going live coast to coast in the US on ESPN with Kevin Nogandhi announcing what NCAA school he was going to be playing at. Of course I'm talking about Gavin McKenna announcing yesterday that he'd be going to Penn State. I've got to get your reaction. You've been covering this sport in collegiate hockey for a long time. What was your reaction when you saw everything unfold over the last 48 hours and how it played out on ESPN? Yeah, I mean, obviously it was, uh, it was different for sure. I mean, you know,

we, we really have never seen this. We see it in, in football and, and basketball when they'll have the, you know, the top recruits on sports center to announce where they're going to school and they'll have like six different hats in front of them and throw like three away. And you know, we, there wasn't much of that, but it was, it was wild to see that. And I think it speaks to the level of interest not only And, you know, there wasn't much of that, but it was wild to see that. And I think it speaks to the level of interest, not only in, you know, the growth of college hockey, but also, you know, the fact that Gavin McKenna has captured, you know, the hockey world's attention

the way that he has, the season that he had. And, you know, I think, you know, anybody that's been around for a minute has seen that, you know, this is the guy that we all expect to go number one in 2026. And with that, you know, there's an opportunity for, for Penn State to really put themselves on the map with really probably one of the best recruits we've ever seen. Now I'll say that there have been really good players in college hockey in recent years. Macklin Sellebrini went number one. Owen Power went number one. You know, Jack Eichel won a Hobie Baker and you know there's been a lot of really good players there but

they usually have committed when they were about 16 years old before anybody really knew they were going to be a thing you know and this is a situation where this is a player that everyone knows and now with this new rule allowing CHL players to go into the NCAA the very best player or the most probably influential player in this group has made this decision in this way CHL players to go into the NCAA, the very best player or the most probably influential player in this group has made this decision in this way. So I mean, it is a, it is a huge deal for where we're going as a, as a landscape and developmental hockey, but it's also, you know, seismic for,

for college hockey to land a talent of this quality at this stage of his career. Chris, why did the CHL allow this to happen? Was their hand forced in some way? Basically, they don't have a choice, unfortunately, for them. So the real thing is that the NCAA operates outside of USA Hockey's governance. So like, you know, if there's no transfer agreement between the NCAA and hockey

Canada or anything like that, there never will be. And so really, it came down to, you know, these players were able to leave to get out of that because their player agreements with CHL teams, you know, kind of entitle them to their education package and different things like that. But it's not necessarily a binding contract because that would, you know, be more professionalized in an amateur league. And so I think that that's part of it. You know, so the reason that they really don't have any recourse here is because there's no transfer agreement. Now, say Gavin wanted to go play in Sweden, there would have to be a lot of paperwork, there would have to be a transfer and all that stuff and that's why we really don't see teenage CHL players go overseas because even if maybe they're good enough to play professionally over there. So that's

another factor in the whole thing. So really, you know, in this new era, there isn't a lot of choice. The only thing that can kind of help the CHL teams is if the NHL team decides to sign the player to a contract after they've been drafted and then either they go into the NHL or they go back to junior like we'll probably see with a number of players that just signed their entry level contracts after the recent draft. And then did the NCAA decide something because it always used to be if you played in the CHL, you were no longer eligible to go to the NCAA because they considered that professional? Am I right there?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so about eight months ago, the NCAA kind of had their hand forced a little bit by a lawsuit that was coming down challenging the legality of barring CHL players from college hockey. And it was basically before that lawsuit could really get any further along, they kind of knew where this was going. And we've kind of seen it for about two years. The sense has been that this was going to happen eventually and the NCAA essentially struck the rule that barred CHL players from being eligible to play in

NCAA hockey. So it really was, you know, kind of a recent thing. Next year is the first year where all of those players are going to be eligible to play. And so we've seen a huge influx of those players committing to college programs. Some, you know, even Penn State got Jackson Smith, who was drafted in the first round just a couple of weeks ago. So really it's very new and we're still trying to figure out exactly how it's going to impact everything. But yes, the NCAA essentially struck down a rule that created what the landscape was for the last decade, several decades.

I'm going to sound like Bill Simmons here, but it's like college hockey having a moment because McKenna, the thing with McKenna, like you brought up a good point. There's been other great players that have played collegiately recently, power celebrating everyone. But this was more about, I don't know. I don't want to like throw around the word defection, but this was more about like establishing himself as a star server knew exactly what he was and then choosing to go play collegiate hockey. Cause I mean the big talking point was he's the youngest CHL player of the year

winner since like Crosby and Tavares. So you can use that as a talking point when say you're on ESPN, you're trying to promote how great this player is. He's like he's on that plane. Right. And you know, Bref and I spent a lot of the first half hour of the program talking about what this could mean from a jumping off point for collegiate hockey.

Like, this is Penn State he's going to. This isn't Michigan or Boston College or North Dakota or Minnesota. Like, it's a program that has about 10 to 12 years of existence and he's choosing to go there. So my question is, like, if they are having this moment, what comes next for college hockey in terms of growth? Yeah, so it's really fascinating.

I think the player pool more than doubled in terms of the number of players that they have available to them to recruit now. Because for so long, these players would make a decision at 16 years old that completely destroyed their college eligibility, and so they were only on one path. And so now the recruiting landscape

has dramatically changed. Now we've had a number of players, Kayden Lindstrom, who went number four to Columbus two years ago, committed to Michigan State, you know, Jackson Smith, who I mentioned, there's talk of could Porter Martone go to school after being drafted, he hasn't even committed yet, but there's, there are some schools that are holding spots open for him. What we're seeing right now and and what will happen next year, is it's gonna be the largest influx of new talent

in the NCAA in its history, which is really fascinating to see. And how it's actually gonna play out is gonna be interesting to watch, because typically, like the age ranges in college hockey, and the reason that there are players that are making this decision now, is they think that this might help them

kind of be the hybrid step between junior and professional hockey, which it has kind of become because college hockey players age and ranges from 17 to 24. So it's a huge age range and you're playing against older, stronger, bigger players, which often, you know, creates bigger challenges. You're also playing fewer games. So it's more time in the weight room, it's more time practicing, it's more time with skill development. There's a lot of other things like that. So those are the reasons that these players are making these decisions at this point.

And now for college hockey, you have all of these top players coming in. Does that mean that all these guys are going to be instantly hit players? I mean, we've seen it. It's really hard to transition even from major junior hockey to college hockey because of the gap in age and strength and all those other things, physical maturity. So, you know, the fact of the matter is we saw James Haggins come into college hockey as a projected number one pick. He had an okay season. He ends up going seventh overall. So that is the kind of the risk that some of these players are going to be experiencing as well. But yes, I would say in terms of, you know, college hockey has kind of had this moment where they have created the perception

over years, and this was not common before, but they've created the perception that this might be the best option for you to take that step between junior hockey and the NHL, probably bypassing the AHL and the process and just, you know, having a, having a chance to step right in as we've seen with so many players in recent years. And of course there's also the money based on your understanding, what kind of cashola is McKenna looking at here in his year at Penn State?

Yeah. So it's really hard to pin down basically like a confirmed number. Sure. But based on talking, we're talking about in the neighborhood of 700 to $750,000 of NIL money in various ways. And that would be substantially higher. The only other higher figure, I haven't heard anything higher in hockey. It's certainly the largest NIL package in hockey. But I

think that other schools were offering in the neighborhood of $250,000 and the fact of the matter is the hockey programs do not have typically that larger pool of money to pull from to pay these players. Now they will do it for certain players but obviously Gavin McKenna is an exceptional difference. And so I think it was kind of important for him to get the most amount of money that he could, because he was the highest earning potential player that does kind of open the avenues, I think for other players, they probably can't ask for that

much, but they, they should be able to get six figure packages from some of the biggest programs. And then that does freeze out some of the smaller programs that will never have the chance to compete with that. So there's a lot of factors in the NIL thing. And the one thing that I would, I would stress is that in hockey, the pool of money they're pulling from isn't close to what football and basketball is getting. And because of that, you know, they have to be really, really smart about how they spend their dollars.

The thing is, Gavin McKenna is going to make millions and millions of dollars of a difference in Penn State's future. So whatever money they're paying him, it's probably not enough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.