Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 8/20/24

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

Jason Brough and guest host Josh Elliott-Wolfe look back at the previous day in sports, plus they get a Canucks update from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Two-on-one with Leine. Leine with two already. And make it another hat-trick. Sixth of his career. I don't want to come back as a 30 goal scorer. You know, I want to come back as a 40, 50. Yider hits one high. Ball. Game.

Over. Go for the thickness, bro. Thickness. Number one. Good morning, Vancouver. 6 a.m. on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday. This is Halford & Brough. No Halford. It's Josh Elliott-Wolf here with you. Jason Brough is here, though. Good morning.

Good morning. I think we've got a busy show today. I think there's some stuff that's going to happen on this show. Things are currently happening, too. But, Adog, good morning. Good morning. Laddie, good morning. Hello, hello. currently happening too but adog good morning good morning laddie good morning hello hello halford and brough is brought to you by the delari family of honda dealers experience the

delari difference today visit your nearest delari honda dealer today text in 650 650 the dumbar lumber text line the bridge street dumbar lumber in lander has moved to progress way in tilbury's industrial park more More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feed, what are you waiting for?

Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Today on the show, very hockey heavy for a reason. There are hockey things happening. 6'30", Sean Shapiro, writer for EP Ringside and also lead goalie scout for Elite Prospects. He's going to join us originally to talk about Yaroslav Askorov. He requested a tradeout. We'll still talk to him about that,

but maybe some other stuff too. Patrick Vlaine and what's going on with the Edmonton Oilers and the offer sheet situation. 7 o'clock, Rick Dollywall, Canucks insider, one half of Donnie and Dolly on Check TV. Does he have scoops for us? He's got something that I think

is going to create maybe not a panic in the market, but certainly curiosity in the market. How's that for a tease? I'm going to panic real good. How's that for a tease? I'm going to tease. That's a tease. Haydog's already panicking.

I'm like, this is going to create chaos for me, isn't it? I'm here for it, though. I'm here for it. It's August. Let's create some chaos. 730, Bob Stauffer, host of Oilers Now and Oilers Call caller commentator, I believe by then we should have the final notice of whether or not the Oilers will have matched the Blues offer sheet. But the latest, Elliott Friedman, and we'll get into it in a moment, Elliott Friedman reporting that it seems like the Oilers will not be matching those offer sheets. So we will talk to Bob Stauffer about that at 7.30.

And then at 8 o'clock, it is Ryan Phillips, BC Lions defensive coordinator and assistant head coach to talk about everything going on with the BC Lions. That's what's happening on the show today. Working in reverse, 8 o'clock, Ryan Phillips, BC Lions defensive coordinator, assistant head coach. 7.30, Bob Stauffer. We'll talk Oilers with him. 7 o'clock, Ryan Phillips, BC Lions defensive coordinator, assistant head coach 7.30, Bob Stauffer, we'll talk

Oilers with him, 7 o'clock, Rick Dollywall 6.30, Sean Shapiro that's what's happening, Matty 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 we know how busy your life

can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened miss 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 bccsa.ca. So we'll start with the latest news. This from Elliot Friedman at 5.13 a.m., almost an hour ago. He said, still 75 minutes until deadline for matching

Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway offer sheets, but judging from the last week's moves, adding a young defenseman and a young forward, it appears the Oilers will not match and will allow both players to join St. Louis, expecting formal announcements from the teams themselves sometime this morning. So this is a bit of a curveball to the general consensus, which was that, oh, the Oilers cleared all that cap space,

and now they're going to at least be able to match Philip Broberg. They got Pod Coles in from the Canucks, so maybe he can replace Holloway. And now when the Cody CC trade was announced, it was like, well, they're going to match one of them, right? They're going to match one of them. I mean, why else would they be clearing the cap space? But perhaps they felt that maybe this is something that could be solved longer term. Like we sit there and, or the Oilers are sitting there going, we don't have to replace Philip Broberg right away.

I realize they did get a young defenseman from San Jose. But what they could do now, if this is accurate, is basically say, all right, Paul Coleson will give you every chance to replace holloway broberg we might miss you a little bit but what we can do is head into the season and they would actually be able to head into the season with evander kane not on LTIR. Yeah. So even if you were injured and on IR, they could accrue cap space and eventually add someone at the deadline or mid season like the Canucks.

They added Nikita Zdorov midway through the season. They added Lindholm closer to the deadline. Those are the types of deals that maybe the Oilers are going to be looking to entertain after they've seen what a guy like, say, Pod Colson can do for them. They don't have to solve everything heading into the season. I do think the issue for the Oilers that comes up, though, is that you look at their defense

and it's already shaky without, like, not that Cody Ceci was a huge piece of it, but he was a piece of it. Philip Broberg was obviously a piece of it last year too and into the playoffs. But they were both shaky parts of it. Yes. Broberg had to get into the lineup for, actually it was Day-R-N-A, who's with the Canucks now, because they needed some puck moving. But I don't know if he, here's the thing with Broberg.

I don't know if they were ever sure that he was going to be like a regular, everyday fixture on the team and certainly not, they weren't sure he was going to be a top four guy. Yeah. But then that offer sheet came in at over $4 million and you're like, oh. He's getting paid like a top four guy. And the one thing that I always say about

offer sheets and I get pushback all the time. They say, that's part of the CBA. You know, the GMs know that's the deal, is when you kind of put your team in a hard spot like Broberg and Holloway did, even though they had every right to do it, every right to do it, still pisses off your GM, still pisses off your team, puts the team in a bad spot,

and in some ways they may be like, all right, you don't want to be here? Screw you. Bye. You're not that good. You're not that good, Broberg. And even Holloway, there were some good flashes of him in the playoffs. He's 22 years old. You'd like to keep him. But if they make that decision to go sign with another team,

basically saying, I'm willing to go to this team that creates hard feelings and the one example i always bring up was shea weber when he signed that offer sheet yeah the preds matched but as the years went on the more and more reporting that came out that said the relationship between shea rubber and the predators was never the same and eventually he was traded. I will say I'm surprised that they didn't match the Holloway one more, or either of them, to be fair. But just because I look at the Holloway one,

and I feel like there's a road to getting more value than a third-round pick out of him. And even if that's just him being on your team in your bottom six, I think that might be better than having a server. But sometimes they don't look at it like that. Yeah. They don't look at it like it's like asset management isn't necessarily the first thing they look at. Sure.

They look at it being like, hey, screw you. Go to St. Louis. But is that the most effective way to build a team that's supposed to be? It depends. It depends. Depends on your room. What if those guys came back in and all of a sudden there was like

some unease in the room around them? Yeah, I guess. And that's something we won't know and we probably will not know because it does seem like they're both going to be playing for the Blues and it looks like the Oilers will be getting a second round pick

for Philip Broberg and a third round pick for Dylan Holloway the other kind of interesting part about that the Oilers don't have any picks in the first five rounds this year and for a team that obviously will want to make moves as the season goes on you don't want to be trading all your future picks to go all in on this year. So that gives you some options. I also just think it's hilarious how this all went down because there were media guys writing and throwing bouquets of roses at Stan Bowman for being able to keep Broberg and Holloway. And then all of a sudden they're like, actually, we're not keeping them.

Everyone expected when they cleared the cap space they're like well they're at least keeping Broberg I do I wonder why they would trade CeCe then was it just like he's not very good he's not I know he's not very good but they seem to like him so I mean the reason they would trade him is because they could start the season now well first, first of all, there's still off-season remaining. Yes. There's still other teams that they could work deals with. You know, the Habs and Jackets made a big trade. There's still trades to be done. But what they can do now is not put Evander Kane on LTIR and accrue cap space.

And that's something that, you know, we've talked about here in Vancouver. Can the Canucks afford to go into the season without Pullman on LTIR? And people will say, well, why would you do that? What would be the point? It's hurt. Put him on LTIR.

It's not, you don't accrue cap space then if you've got a player on LTIR. So that gives you more cap space down the line of the tread deadline or midway through the season. And maybe that's something that the Oilers can do now. Definitely. So elsewhere, a big move yesterday, Patrick Laine traded to the Montreal Canadiens along with a 2026 second round pick in exchange for right-handed defenseman Jordan Harris so line A had kind of wanted out for a while the the jackets were working with him to accommodate that obviously he

didn't play a lot of last season because he was kind of hurt and then also in the player assistance program kind of doing with mental health issues and good for him it seems like he's kind of past that he mentioned yesterday he's in a very good headspace but just under a point per game in Columbus has not crossed the 30 goal threshold since 2019 in Winnipeg and now going to Montreal where he's part of a young core there's probably going to be more pressure on him. And we'll see kind of what he is. The other part of this, Columbus not retaining any salary too. Yeah, I was surprised by that. But they sent a second round pick.

Surely that's part of it. I'm not sure if this is going to work out for the Habs or not. I have no idea. But I'm glad someone took a swing on Laine. And I'm glad it was a Canadian team too, just because you know we're going to get out for the Habs or not. I have no idea, but I'm glad someone took a swing on Laine and I'm glad it was a Canadian team too, just because, you know, we're going to get a lot of coverage. I think he's a compelling figure and in a

market like Montreal, I think that makes him doubly compelling. I read something on sportsnet.ca yesterday about the Habs and the fact that they haven't really had like a big-time point-getter in a long, long time. The last time they had an 80-point season from a player was from Alex Kovalev in 2007-08.

Think of what the Canucks have had, even though the Canucks haven't won a Stanley Cup. But think of the point totals that they've had since 07-08 with the Sedins and Pedersen and JT Miller and Quinn Hughes had more than 80 points for the Canucks. So the Habs were in one of these positions where they needed to take a shot on a guy that had high end potential. And that's what they're doing with Patrick Laine. Um, I do hope Laine is ready to play in a market like Montreal. Um, I watched his press conference yesterday and it sounds like he's actually really excited to go to a market where, where people care about hockey. Um, the expectations are going to be high for this guy.

After the Habs, as you mentioned, took on his entire contract, and even though they did get a second-round pick from Columbus, he's now going to be judged on that entire contract. We've got a couple of clips to play from the line a press conference and the first one um was basically just him talking about where he's at mentally what it's been like to go through the adversity that he's been through yeah i mean yeah it's not a not a secret that it's been it's been a little tough on and off the ice lately, but I think I've learned how to put this. Just learn things about myself, how to handle certain situations. There's always going to be stuff that's happening to you, a lot of adversity and a lot of good things, kind of kind of how to handle that um i always wasn't

the best best at doing that but i feel like now it's how to kind of how to navigate through them how to handle them is is the glass half full or half empty kind of kind of thing and um you know looking at things and like more positive perspective these days and And I feel like the handling and navigating through tough times is kind of, kind of what I've learned mostly about myself these past, past couple of years. So I feel like I'm at a really, really good place and obviously couldn't be, couldn't be excited with,

with the news from today. So, so again, I do hope things go well for line a not because I'm a Habs fan or even a Patrick line, a fan in general. So again, I do hope things go well for Lion-A, not because I'm a Habs fan or even a Patrick Lion-A fan in general. I'm indifferent to him. If only, really, I hope he does well because I think it could be an inspiration

for some people that are dealing with mental health issues that you can come out of a bad place or a dark place. And it does sound like Lion-A was not in a very good place based on another clip that we're going to play. And this is just him talking about how when you're not happy, when things are going,

aren't going well for you in your life, uh, it's hard to perform well at your job. Yeah. I mean, I think most importantly, it's been, um,

just about Patty as a person, um, more than Patty, Patty, the hockey player. Obviously, one thing I've noticed is that when you're not enjoying whatever you do, you're probably not going to be able to perform. And that's kind of where I've been at. You know, I haven't been enjoying myself for a while, but now I'm, you know, happier than ever. Off the ice, obviously. And done a lot of work on myself to get me back to this point where I'm actually super excited about playing. Obviously in a new place, with new obviously, in a new place with new teammates in a new city.

So, yeah, I've learned a lot of things over these last couple of years. And now it's a really good time to put them to test. But, yeah, I'm absolutely readier than ever. So, obviously, a lot of the focus in the wake of this trade has been on the Montreal Canadiens and whether or not Line A is going to be a success there. But I think it's equally interesting for the Blue Jackets because they really needed to make this deal. What a nightmare they had last season

when it started with the whole Mike Babcock fiasco and included the Patrick Line A situation and included, oh yeah, a lot of losing. Now they've got a new GM, a new coach, a new veteran center and leader in Sean Monaghan. And they were able to move on from a guy who didn't want to be there anymore. And they were able to pretty much like cut

strings entirely. Just be like, all right, see you Patrick and good luck. And Don Waddell told The Athletic, and this was an interview he did with Aaron Port's line of The Athletic. We've had Port Sion lots of times on this show. And Waddell told him it solves what potentially

could have been an issue, knowing that the player didn't want to be here, and his teammates knew that too. I don't know how it would have gone if he had to come to training camp, which brings me back to the Oilers situation. When these guys sign these offer sheets, I think it's just something that we need to talk about more when it happens, what it does to not only the room, but the organization. Imagine you're Stan Bowman. You just took that job, and then these guys put you in that situation.

Imagine if you're Jeff Jackson, you're the CEO, and you're trying to put together a team for the future with a chance to win a Stanley Cup. You nearly just did it, and you got to get deals done for Dreisaitl, McDavid, again in a few years, and also you got to get a deal done for Evan Bouchard.

And then these guys who are not, they're not core players. True. And they're like, combined, how many millions of dollars do you think that offer sheet costs them? Three million? Yeah.

Three million dollars, right? In value that they didn't expect or cap space that they didn't expect to have to find, and they were already in a cap crunch, right? You can already say, and these guys put you in that situation. Would you not be tempted if you put yourself in the shoes of Jep Jackson and Stan Bowman to be like, ah, screw you guys, fine?

I'd be tempted, but I do think that in the majority of situations, I just assume that NHL GMs and front offices are just going to be cowards, and they're going to match it, and they're going to look at it and be like, hey, they're putting us in a tough situation, and it sucks that we're in this situation, but we'll figure a way out of it, and they're young players. We want to keep them. So I kind of give credit to the Oilers for being like, yeah, go ahead.

Go to St. Louis. We'll figure it out. I I kind of give credit to the Oilers for being like, yeah, go ahead. Go to St. Louis. We'll figure it out. I don't know if you should give too much credit because they allowed themselves to get into this situation. But at the same time, I don't know, you adapt to it, right? I still, I wonder like how, it's tough because I don't want to say

how big of a loss this is going to be because I don't think it's going to be that big of a loss this is going to be because I don't think it's going to be that big of a loss for the Oilers but that being said like you were a team that was in a situation where you are probably the best team in the league on paper yeah I think and so when you're losing a couple pieces that were part of that that doesn't knock you down a lot but it can be difficult to go out and find pieces to fill that role. Would you rather have Broberg and Holloway

at those inflated cap hits, or would you rather have the picks in the cap space? I'd rather have Holloway, but I wouldn't have signed Broberg to that because I think Broberg is getting wildly overrated right now. We got a text in here. Maybe you're right, Jason, but I think it's more comparable

if those guys were at least getting offered contracts in the same ballpark, but those were massive home run contracts. And I bet every player in the league would sign it with that much of much unexpected income. I'm not blaming the players here. I'm not blaming the players. I'm just saying if I was the Edmonton Oilers, I'd be like, this isn't a team-friendly move that you guys are making here. Broberg has wanted out in the past too. Yeah.

I mean, for him, he hasn't been playing a lot. No, he hasn't been in the NHL a lot. And look, he didn't play all the games in the playoffs. They realized that they needed to bring him in at one point because their puck moving ability wasn't good enough and they were getting killed on the four check. So they brought out De'Arne, who's a big dude. And you're going to see that with the Canucks.

But he doesn't move the puck like Broberg. And they put Broberg in there and it helped them. Now, are you willing to pay $4 million a season for that guy? Well, you might if you think that he's got the potential to turn into something much better, and he might do that. Obviously, the St. Louis Blues feel that he does, and they feel that Dylan Holloway has a lot of potential as well. But Broberg, I think, is their real big bet.

And I don't know if it's going to work out for the Blues to be perfectly honest with you the latest from Elliott Friedman uh minutes ago both Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway have been informed that they are St. Louis Blues the Oilers will not match one thing that Elliott believes is key here Edmonton wants flexibility to add in season so the thing that again it kind of led everyone to assume that the oilers were at least going to match one of these was the cody cc trade to san jose because just timing wise like i can get it if you move cody cc at any point during the offseason he's not a very good defenseman getting overpaid get him off the books if you can but the timing

of it obviously led people to think that there was going to be a match of some sort here. I wonder if getting put in the situation led the Oilers to be like, hey, is there a creative way we can head into this? And we don't have to solve it in a week. We don't have to solve all this thing in a week. And I know someone texted into the Dunbar Lumber text line and said uh i don't know what accruing cap space means but well google it because it's hard to explain it basically as the season goes on if you're under ltir or if you're under

the cap under the cap without ltir yeah you gain a little bit of cap space as the season goes on the more cap space you gain the space that you're not using yeah yeah the more space you have the more space you gain too. So the Columbus Blue Jackets, for example, will have like the ability to add like $300 million worth of players at the trade deadline. And by the way, I do think that's an interesting aspect of the line A deal because the Blue Jackets now have a ton of cap space. I think only Anaheim and Calgary have more than Columbus.

So, um, Portsline wrote in his athletic story that as soon as the deal went down, Don Waddell got a couple of calls from GMs around the league that were looking to shed salary and going, Hey, you know, you just lost this guy. Is there something that you'd want to add now? Because you do have this cap space. And I do think that while there might not be pressure in Columbus to make the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup, they have to be better. And even though line A was not a factor for them last season,

certainly not in a positive way for the team. They are losing a significant amount of potential goal scoring there. They might want to do something about that because they got some good young players and you don't want to keep losing over and over. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly.

Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. 702 on a Tuesday.

Alfred and Brough, no Halpert, it's Josh Elliott Wolfe. Coming to you live from the Kintec studio, you can text in 650-650-DUMBAR-LUMBER. Text line, the Bridge Street Dumbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at dumbarlumber.com. Halford and Brough, also brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today.

Visit your nearest Dilari honda dealer today we are coming to you live from the kintec studio kintec canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star google reviews sore feet what are you waiting for kintec that is what you are waiting for and what we've been waiting for what we have been teasing for an hour is rick dollywall and he has a presentation of Basant Motors. Appreciate you taking the time, Rick. We've been teasing something Demco-related for an hour. Can you tell us what's going on with Thatcher Demco and his rehab? Well, I think his status is very important.

You guys know the training camp's around the corner, and here we are in mid-August, and no one's kind of talking about Demco, what's going on so what I am hearing on Demko is that he is progressing but no timetable as to when he's going to be 100% healthy that means for me I wouldn't be surprised if the Canucks continue to poke around the goalie market again mostly just to protect themselves now the Canucks may need insurance just in case which is a good move on their part this is the season time uh to talk to players agents about PTOs now Demko is coming off the back-to-back knee injuries right so sometimes rehab is fast sometimes it's slow Canucks I've been, have been worried about Demko's rehab

going back to the NHL draft. And I think at that time he had not skated since Game 7 against the Oilers. Remember, not that he skated in that game, but he skated during the day. So that's when they started talks again with Casey to Smith, is when they were kind of worried about Demko's rehab. He hadn't skated. Well, rehab is probably not as fast as some one,

but I'm not hearing any setbacks on Demko. I'm not hearing anything super bad about Demko's rehab, but sometimes you got to be prepared for the unprepared. So I think there might be out there, you know, poking around the goalie market, maybe a PTO, who knows, one of these things. But the Canucks have been all over the map when it comes to the goalies this summer. They tried to sign DeSmith again at the NHL draft after not talking to his agent for three months.

They signed Yuri Patera. He's only got eight games of NHL experience. Archer, Silov, sometimes you hear their confidence in him. They've Yuri Patera. He's only got eight games of NHL experience. Archer, Silov, sometimes you hear their confidence in him. They got confidence in him. Then you hear, is it too early? Is he better off being the starter in Abbey? The last time the Canucks had a backup making under $1 million at the NHL level, it didn't turn out very good with Spencer Martin. So DeSmith, he definitely brought stability behind Demko, but at the end of the day, when they did start talking to him again, they were nowhere near a contract, like not even just miles apart.

So I think lots of questions right now with the Canucks goaltending situation. Most of it surrounds Demko and when he's going to get healthy. I mean, it's concerning because there have been a lot of questions about Demko's health, and a lot of people have wondered whether you're going to have to keep dealing with issues with Thatcher Demko. Do you know if he's had surgery? Do you know if they've considered surgery for this issue? Because sometimes when

the rehab goes a little slow, you go out and you get a second opinion and you go, maybe we need to do something else. It's funny you ask that because I asked that, you know, if he's had any medical procedures this summer and I get absolutely radio silence on the other end. But we have to understand, this is your starting goaltender who's coming off two pretty serious injuries, right? The first one, then the second one in the playoffs after the first game. So he does need time. He's a big goaltender. This is why the importance of a good veteran backup like Casey DeSmith is so

important okay so let's say Demko is ready for the regular season opener let's say unfortunately he gets an injury for four to six weeks or whatever down the road you got to have a good backup and you know I thought DeSmith did a good job but you know now you're you're probably going to go with the young kid in that spot he's not making a ton of money and like i said they tried it before i'm not super concerned about demko i i just think that you have to protect yourself jason in case uh you know i just heard this week there again uh poking around the goalie market just making some calls that's all but it does i'm not the red flag's not out.

He should be okay, but maybe his rehab is not going as fast as some like. You mentioned PTOs earlier. Is it possible they could, for example, say, hey, Marty Jones, do you still want to play? If so, come to camp on a PTO, and maybe we'll sign you if we need you. There's goalies out there. You're right. When you look at the UFA goal you. There's goalies out there, Dad. You're right. When you look at the UFA goalie market,

there's some out there still that you could call and ask for a PTO. Absolutely. There's goalies out there that you can call for sure and just say, hey, come to camp. We don't know. They don't have a date on Demco. That's the thing. I think he's in town, by the way, and they can continue to work with him.

At least, you know, if he's in town, you can work with him daily and go from there. But I do believe they're poking around and maybe, you know, talking about PTOs. There's a ton of guys out there, Jason, for PTOs. This is the season. I'm starting to hear more and more names out there, defensemen, forwards that are still looking for contracts. And if you're not going to get a contract that says it's for one year or two years, well, you've got to go the PTO route and you've got to go prove at training camp that, hey,

I deserve a contract and then go from there. Any names come to mind? I do wonder about a guy like Tyson Berry, not necessarily for the Canucks, just because he's a local kid and I think he's still unsigned. I was just wondering about him. I talked to his agent, Bane Pettinger, Tyson Berry, two good guys out of Victoria.

There are teams looking at Berry in a depth role. He's trying to shake that offense-only stigma. If the Canucks were ever to get in on Barry, they would have to move a defenseman. They have too many one-way deals on the back end. Yeah, not really for the Canucks. It doesn't really make sense. But here's the thing.

When you look at the Canucks' third pair, Jason, what do you see? I don't see a ton of offense. I don't see a ton of puck-moving ability. I don't see, like I see two ability i don't see like i see two huge guys that are six uh six four two twenty i think and we know rick tocket loves big defensemen and this is where i think that they are going to hurt and they're losing zadorov is is to me is is is a big deal um even when you played zadorov in the in third pair, you had a really nice third pair defenseman

who probably thought he should have been in the top four. But look, when I look at the Canucks third pair, yeah, I see a ton of size, but I don't see a lot of puck movement ability or offense. So Tyson Berry, he's out there. By the way, I hear a lot of people say, oh, get Nick Cousins to Vancouver. Well, I asked about Nick Cousins yesterday. I've been told the Canucks have no interest in him at this point. And also I want to let you know, Jason, that Milan Lucic,

his agent is working the phones right now talking to teams. The Canucks are showing no interest in Lucic right now. So there's a lot of guys out there that are, you know, agents are working the phones right now. And, you know, PTOs are PTOs. Some of them, sometimes they work. Most of the time you go to camp and you hope to get a nice look. You hope to get three or four exhibition games.

These agents are looking for exhibition games for PTOs because you don't want to just go to camp and get one game and say, oh, sorry, you didn't make it. These agents want to go to a team on a PTO that's going to promise you at least three to four exhibition games. Let's close out the Pod Colson situation. What did you hear about that trade when it went down? Well, this trade tells me that Canucks didn't have much confidence

he was going to make the team at a training camp. Canucks added four wingers after July 1st. I've got the fourth line as Heinen, Suter, and Sherwood. The third line's got to be Bluger, Garland, and Joshua. So where's the room? Like, just tell me right now, how was he going to make this hockey club? I think the Canucks knew he was in tough. He would have had to clear waivers if they sent him to Abbotsburg.

You know with high first-round draft picks, they get a million chances. He would have got claimed, and the Canucks would have got nothing. So bottom line, he didn't show enough. And just like Vertanen and Ulevi, you can't wait forever for these guys to hit. Sometimes you just got to move on. He needed a fresh start. He got that. It was time for a change.

Canucks tried to move him at the deadline with no success at all. Three coaches he had, Green, Boudreaux, and Tockett, all of them sent him to Abby and all of them made him a healthy scratch. But I will tell you something about the kid. You won't find anyone in the organization that says anything bad about Pat Coulson. Just a great kid. Absolutely worked hard. Very coachable in Abbotsford and in Vancouver you just don't get anybody saying

a bad word about him and another thing I don't buy this notion that the Canucks didn't give him a chance I believe at training camp last year you remember he was on the first line yeah he blew it at training camp for sure yeah and he lasted what two days yeah two days? Yeah. And after he was drafted, he had ample time to make some very bad Vancouver hockey clubs. He didn't, right? And development isn't all on the team. The onus is on the player. The player's got to get better every year and make the big league team.

He didn't do that. He needed to be a difference maker. At 10th overall, there's 32 teams in the league. You've got to be a difference maker at 10th overall there's 32 teams in the league you've got to be a difference maker never mind Vancouver I don't think he was a different baker in the American Hockey League so I think a change of scenery is going to be really really good for that kid and I think it was just time where the Canucks knew I don't think it was going to happen under Rick Tucker. Tell us a little bit more if you, about how they tried to move him at the trade deadline. Was it by himself or was it as part of a package?

And they're just, I remember you reporting, there's two players that other teams want, Lekker Amaki and Will Ander. The other guys, the other teams don't really think much of. Yeah, so he was out there. His name was out there for sure. And don't forget at the the time the Canucks were going for some big fish at the deadline remember Gensel and and all these guys and they didn't want to give up LeCarrin Mackey and the Willander if you don't want to give up your blue chip prospects then you have to put other young guys in you know their names out there and I fully believe that they were trying to move Pod Colson

but look what the Canucks got for him, a fourth round pick. I mean that, you know, when people were like, Oh my God, you only got a fourth round pick. This guy's got four goals in his last 58 games. What did you expect? The first round pick back. If the Canucks know he's not working out as a first round pick, every other team,

all 31 other teams know that he's not working out in Vancouver as well. So like, I'm, I'm actually pretty impressed that Canucks got a fourth for him because I'm pretty sure he wasn't going to make this team and he was going to be sent to Abbotsford, and I'm pretty sure he was going to be claimed on waivers by a team like San Jose. Look, a team like San Jose, these first-round picks, they get a million chances.

You know it, Bruff, and I know it. And he would have got a chance somewhere else, and he did get one in Edmonton. But look at that forward group. You think the Canucks forward group is impressive? Look at the Oilers forward group. How is he going to play in the top nine there? Well, he won't have to be at Out Holloway now.

That's exactly right. It was a pretty shrewd move on the uh orders to to make him the replacement for him but i mean i you hope he gets down there in edmonton and you hope he figures it out he's a really good kid he's one of those kids that you cheer for because he's such a good person right and there's there's players that you know that you know but this kid's a good kid on and off the ice and you certainly wish that he can figure it out in Edmonton. And sometimes you need a new coach and a new GM and a new team and a new fresh start and a new city to figure it out,

and you really hope he does. Hey, Rick, did you beat the traffic leaving the Lions game? I was so disappointed. Look, I'm going to tell you something right now. I went to the Lions game just like everyone else. I expected Nathan Rourke to throw for 300 yards and four touchdowns. He couldn't complete a pass on Sunday, never mind become the savior.

Now, look, he's going to be fine. Jason, more practices, more film, chemistry with some – I'm not worried about Rourke at all. I'm worried about the overall team, but I'm not worried about Rourke at all. I'm worried about the overall team, but I'm not worried about Rourke. Yes, I'm very disappointed in this four-game losing streak for the Lions. I want to get back to Rourke. It was getting cut in Atlanta where Rourke finally said enough is enough with this NFL. Before Atlanta, he was hell-bent on making it work down south. The Lions and Rourke's agent knew the guidelines of a contract

about a month before Rourke called BC after getting cut by the Falcons. That's why they cut the deal so quickly in 24 hours. About a month before, they had a pretty good idea. Okay, if you come back, what are the numbers going to look like? And that was some pretty shrewd work by uh lines gm neil mcavoy but up till atlanta the the lines did not think they were getting this guy it was getting cut in atlanta where rourke finally said you know what i'm done down here the lines better get going because if they want to play in that great cup game in vancouver at bc place this year

four straight losses this is not good now i want to give you a couple of tidbits about the great cup. First of all, tickets are selling really well. 47,000. That is huge. I did this city is stepping up. I remember great cups and you would too, Jason. I remember great cups in the city where they couldn't get tickets away. There was one that had Hamilton in it, I think. I remember all the empty seats there. It was kind of embarrassing, actually.

I remember a Grey Cup in Vancouver was stuck at $42,000. I remember talking to David Braley, and he was at wit's end on how are we going to sell the remaining seats. Well, you don't. And the fact that the Lions have sold 47,000 tickets for the Grey Cup and there's no guarantee they're going to be in it, that is very impressive. That's a very good number to be at.

One final note I want to get this in. Remember the Canucks were criticized for having a home game on Grey Cup Day in Vancouver? I think it's at 5 o'clock against Nashville. Well, I did hear that they're trying to move the game from 5 p.m to 7 p.m to help alleviate the pressure in downtown that day if the great cup game is at three o'clock and the canucks are playing nashville at five that's a combination for chaos downtown so i i did hear there is some movement on trying to move that Canucks game from five to seven.

We'll see if it happens. It's a smart move. Like, first of all, the Canucks should never have had that game at five o'clock. But what I'm hearing through the grapevine, I don't think it was the Canucks. I think that's a television thing more than the Canucks. But I just think that, you know, in the future, if your home city is holding a great cup, I don't think it's smart to have a National Hockey League game that same day, but I think there's people behind the scenes that are trying to fix that.

Move it to 7 o'clock, then everyone can do the double. You can go to the great cup, see the Lions win the great cup, and then, I don't know, deal with your hangover watching the Canucks. If the great cup game is going to have 54,000, 18,000 at the Canucks, I mean, three o'clock, five o'clock.

They've had those, they've had, but they've had those, they've had those days before. I mean, they've had big concerts at BC place the same night as a Canucks game. So it's not ideal, but yeah,

it's not ideal. It's, it's chaos. It's transit. There's people that work. And Jason Jason I think maybe I'm wrong, I don't know, there's people that work at BC Place and Rogers

Reno, I don't know there was a lot of backlash on why the Canucks did that but I think there's people behind the scenes that are trying to alleviate that and try to fix it. Hey Rick, hope you're having a great summer, not too much shouting this morning, I appreciated that. Hey, Rick, hope you're having a great summer. Not too much shouting this morning.

I appreciated that. Thank you. And you know what? Get some better ears. I don't yell. I only yell when you get me going and then I yell. But listen, we're back. Donnie and Dolly, three weeks yesterday, September 9th, we're back and you

got to get a better agent. You need more time off in the summer. I've still got some banked, buddy. You were golfing with your agent at Capilano last week. I was texting him this morning, so I know a lot of stuff. I know what's going on. Don't investigate my life. I don't like it.

See you, buddy. Your agent. All right, take care. Rick Dollywell, always entertaining when he comes on the show. Down to you. Reaction, fellas, to his news about Thatcher Demko, and I guess the headline would be, Report, Thatcher Demko's Rehab Taking Longer Than Expected.

Thatcher Demko, career over. A-Dog always works for the New York Post. My instant reaction was, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic. Honestly, I was expecting worse. So it doesn't sound awful. But, I mean, obviously it's not. You'd prefer him to be further along than he is. If the Canucks are in the goalie market, that's not a great thing.

So it's not great. But, I mean, I guess it could be worse. Well, I just wonder if they went through the offseason and said, okay, we're going to rehab this, but maybe we need to talk about surgery. I think that was very interesting when Rick Dollywell asked, has he had an operation? Then he's like, I got nothing. That's a bad thing.

Because usually if there's no surgery, they're like, no, you're crazy. There's no surgery. Sometimes when there is surgery. Yeah, when they're not saying absolutely nothing. Yeah, sometimes they lie anyway. Yeah, exactly. When they say absolutely nothing, that's not good. I'm not sure if I have anything to add to this other than this is just going to

continue monitoring the situation. You think Shelob's is over there like, guys, I'm right here. Remember my playoff run? It was pretty good. But also, you think other people are like, yeah, look at your numbers. Yeah, yeah. He is not right. Yeah, he is not right. Well, it's the Oilers. I mean, I don't know. I understand why they won't put all their

eggs in one basket on Shelob. He's still such a young goalie. So, I mean, I get why they won't just be like, yeah, Shelob's got this. Well, I wonder if the ultimate move would be for insurance because you don't really want to sign a goalie if you don't need to. No. Right? Because then you've got that contract and you kind of even if you can bury it in the minors,

it's still a contract that, like let's say Marty Jones signs and then, okay, it's okay. Thatcher Demko's fine, right? And Marty Jones is all of a sudden number four on the depth chart behind, you know, maybe Patera and Seeloff's obviously.

Tolopi, look, it's bumped down. Yeah, and then all, but then it's just awkward. Ultimately, what you probably want to do is bring a guy in on a PTO and say, well, if you play well or if we need you, we'll sign you. But then I guess you risk that guy signing with someone else. Yeah. One thing that I kind of have been thinking about,

and obviously Demko has not, it's been more than just one injury with thatcher demko and next summer he's going to be eligible for a contract extension so how much is riding on this season for thatcher demko because i assume if he has even a relatively healthy season he's going to be like okay i gotta cash in now before the next season starts and then you're you're an injury prone goalie trying to get paid. That can be tough. So I wonder how much pressure he's going to put on this season to just try to play as much as possible.

But also, well, I don't know about as much as possible. I just think really well. Yes. And one of the things that he might be thinking is, I don't want to rush this thing so I can play in October and November. It's not where you make your money. It's you make your money down the stretch and in the big games. Yeah.

I guess it depends on the injury and all that too, but it is becoming – he's obviously an injury-prone goalie now, and if I'm the Canucks, there's just a lot of questions about whether I think the Canucks should be the team to sign a long-term. I think a lot of you guys are also underrating the guy that they did bring in already. Patera, Yuri Patera. He has NHL experience. He's 25 years old. He's another definite option. I like him probably in this very moment more than Seelovs if they were going to

go with a guy and that's not Demko so they have some names in there it's not like it's a totally barren wasteland in the goaltending for the Canucks. I want to go back to

the news that Rick Dollywall provided for us and someone texted in and called it like a nothing burger and I'm like did you listen? Like did you really

listen? I mean what Dollywall is essentially saying is, we don't know if Thatcher Demko is going to be ready for training camp. That is, that's not a nothing burger, right? And he may have had a procedure. Right, and he may have had a procedure, but the Canucks aren't saying anything. We don't know where things are at.

Yeah. It's not like his career is threatened or anything like that. I don't know if you expected Rick Dollywall to come on and say that, you know, Dr. Demko doesn't really like hockey anymore. He's going to med school, right?

Like it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't going to be like that. Yeah. He got in. Yeah. Yeah. He had a very high MCAT.

Very impressive. Um, Ian Clark helped him study. Wow. Um, like it wasn't going to be like that, but all of a sudden you're looking at a situation with a guy that people have already started to wonder,

is this guy durable enough to trust as your big name goalie? And you bring up a good point. The Canucks, after this season, have, in theory, a decision to make about Thatcher Dempko because next offseason they could give him an extension. Now, they're going to have to make a Thatcher Demko because next offseason, they could give him an extension. Now, they're going to have to make a decision either way. You either give him an extension or you don't, right? So this is a big season for Thatcher Demko,

and we just don't know what's going on right now. Now, let's go back to the playoffs where we heard things like, ooh, if the Canucks can beat the Oilers, maybe Demko can be ready for the next series. What I want to know is if that was just BS, that they were just saying like, yeah, he might be ready just to, I don't know, throw off a potential opponent like the Dallas Stars

or just throw it out there or was he in a position where this is such a big game that i can deal with the pain but we might have to deal with some stuff later i i feel like it's probably the latter yeah where it would have been like hey i'm gonna play but then i'm definitely gonna need a procedure after the playoffs yeah like i'm gonna play this i'm gonna play this knee right into the hospital um that feels more likely to me and whether or not that would have been the right choice can be argued um the the thing that comes up for me when i look at this and i i mentioned the demco contract but it's also like there's there's an opportunity especially if demco does maybe not miss the start of the season because it didn't sound like dolly wall was saying does maybe not miss the start of the season,

because it didn't sound like Dolly Wall was saying that he would miss the start of the season. But maybe he's easing his way in to start the season a little bit more. There's an opportunity either for Shelovs or Patera to try to establish themselves as someone who can be maybe not a full 1A, 1B situation, but at least someone the coaching staff can trust way more than they trusted Casey DeSmith last year in the last half of the season. Laddie, you're our goalie expert. What's your level of concern right now? If you were Patrick Alvien and Jim Rutherford,

what would you be doing just in case Thatcher Demko isn't ready to start the season? It's majorly concerning because that's basically my only concern with Thatcher Demko is his health. Whether or not he can stay healthy through the rest of his career and we know what his physical abilities are once he's in there.

Yeah, it's concerning in that regard that he has yet another setback or another injury potentially. It wasn't a setback. It wasn't a setback. Oh, sorry. He's just taking longer than expected. It's still not a great feeling.

And like I said, it's something that's on the back of your minds already. So I can see why the Canucks are worried. But I wouldn't jump the gun on any move, right? I wouldn't go out and sign somebody, like you said. A PTO is the clear, I think, where this is heading. A PTO with a goalie that is just still searching for a team. Maybe the Canucks will use him if Demko lingers into the season where he's not ready right away.

But I don't think they should go out and sign someone to a full-on contract. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough.