Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Add Character

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

In hour three, Mike & Jason get a Canucks update from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal (1:37) following all of yesterday's free agent signings, plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). 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.

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It's time for Rick Dolly Wall 8th Thursday that 650. Halford and Brub in the morning is brad to by Sands and Associates. Their clients often say, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me. Don't even say it, brough. If debt is weighing you down, visit them online at sands dash trustee. We are in our three of the program. Why were you sitting up in the first place? Even after I told him not to say it.

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Handsome, Joe. Why are you so damn handsome? Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline. Speaking of so damn handsome, our next guest joins us from the Donnie and Dolly show on Check TV. Rick Dollywall here on the Halford and Breft Show on SportsNet 650, a presentation of Bassan Motors. What up, Ricky, Dee.

Gentlemen, how's it going? It's going pretty well, Rick. I've got to be honest with you. We said a lot of nice things about the Canucks again, and I'm starting to get concerned because we're actually in agreeance with a lot of the things that this new management group is doing. Because there's clarity, right?

And there's a plan, and they're trying to execute it. You know, I'll get into that with the new regime and the old regime, in a little bit, Jason, but I want to get through yesterday. I thought it was an amazing day. It was a lot of fun. I want to start with Marcus Pedersen. So we all thought that Elyish Pedersen was going to be the one move,

and Ryan Johnson moves Marcus. So how did this come down? Well, I was told that Ryan Johnson had been communicating with Marcus' agent the past few weeks. Basically, the agent was told this. We like Marcus a lot. But if we get a deal to knocks our socks off, we're going to come to you. so be prepared. So the other thing I want to get clear,

the player did not ask for this. He did want to stay. He was committed to next year, and he was committed. There were teams that Pedersen would have said no to. The Canucks actually, if you think about it, lucked out in the sense that he thought the Rangers

were an okay situation because Vancouver and the Rangers are both at the bottom of the standings, right? it's not like he went from the 32nd place team to the 10th place team. He basically moved up a couple of spots, not many. So Marcus did not ask out. The Canucks got a deal. They absolutely loved.

They went to the agent. He thought about it yesterday afternoon. He was approached and he said yes. So that's how that came down. But I can tell you, after talking to the agent last night, he did not ask out. This was a situation where the Canucks got a deal they couldn't refuse and they went to him. So when they did the Marcus Patterson trade, then you got to, okay, so who replaces him?

Well, it was Jamie Alexiak. It's really funny because yesterday morning I texted Alexiak's agent and I said, you know what? They can't afford your guy. And they found a way to afford them, the $5 million cap hit for two years. This guy's a giant who throws big hits, can play both sides, he'll drop the gloves. Alexiac had other offers. Not sure he had the money he got from Vancouver elsewhere, but he had other offers. The market has changed in Vancouver.

Most players are not coming here for money or winning. Very particular guys will come to Vancouver because obviously there's going to be a lot of losing up ahead. But soon as they, the good thing about him is, okay, so we traded Pedersen, boom, plan B is in order. And that was Alexiak. Okay, so the big one for me yesterday was the Canucks, I don't think people know this. They went very, very hard after Ian Cole. It came down to Chicago and it came down to Vancouver. He picked the Black Rocks.

Cole was the culture leadership signing. I'm telling you when I tell you this, the Canucks offer was very, very, very strong. This was a player that Canucks had identified who would help that dressing room big time. Now, I'll still remember the quote from J.T. Miller when he said when Ian Cole talks, people listen, it is true. He should never left. When he left, the Canucks offered him a 50% pay cut to stay. He said, see you later. He went to Utah. Rick Talkett felt when the Canucks lost Cole and Zadoroff, that leadership void was never filled. He really missed those two guys. Talk it did. Cole is getting up there in years. People ask me why do you pick Chicago over

Vancouver. Well, first of all, you've got to have to ask him. But playing on a rebuilding team can be tougher for older players. Chicago is going to be a team that's going to be pushing for the playoffs. Ian Cole had the third best statistical year of his career. That's why the agent was able to get a raise from the three million he made in Utah, right? So you'd have to ask him why you picked Chicago or Vancouver, but it was told to me it was a very tough decision for him. Really, really, really tough. Jamie Alexiac is going to meet with the media today, Halford? Is that Alexiac's got, okay.

Him and Paul Cotter, I think. Right. So, I mean, the question for him, and I don't know if you've heard anything from Alexiac's agent, but why did he pick Vancouver? Yeah, you know what? A lot of these guys have, look, at the end of the day, he got a good deal. Did he not? He got 10 million over two years.

It's pretty good. Yeah. Like I said, there were other teams in on Alexiac. I just don't know if the money was there from the other teams for Alexeac like it was in Vancouver. Look, if you're coming to Vancouver, look, Gallagher wants here. You know, his family's here. He grew up in the city. Makes sense.

Luke Shen wanted back. He loved being a Vancouver Canock. Those are some of the reasons why people want to come to Vancouver. You're not coming to Vancouver to win. You're coming to Vancouver, okay, but maybe you come to Vancouver because they're offering more money than anyone else. I don't know. We're going to have to ask him. But I will say this to you.

When I had Alexiac on my list of potential people that Kinex were going to call, I just, I didn't think they would have the money for him, but they found the money for him. And, you know, just like Gallagher, before they got Gallagher, he trades Holglander.

The piece is fit. So I think, look, the end of the day, we'll ask him why he picked Vancouver, but he got a damn good deal in Vancouver. That'd be funny if he was just honest, like,

the money. I love money. Sure, why not? Yeah. But why not? why did Louis Erickson come here? Six times six. You know, like, why do people go to cities?

Like, why do people go to cities? They got 10 offers. They take the best offer on the table. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I don't begrudge him as long as he's a high character guy and plays physical, and I think he will be both. He is. He absolutely is.

I think this is a really good pickup by Vancouver. So after Cole, so Cole says no, I had a good feeling the Connox knew early yesterday morning. the coal was not going to pick Vancouver. They turned their attention to Luke Shen. So this new regime, I've been telling you for weeks, is going to fix that dressing room. Gallagher and Shen, and that dressing room is going to be a whole lot better.

Shen's going to guide those kids like Bouillon and Willander and Pedersen. Also, I would keep Shen in the organization after he retires. I don't know how much playing time he's got, but that's the type of guy. You want your organization in development, you know, just teaching the young defensemen about being a good pro. I would keep Shen around after he retires. When you add players like Gallagher and Shan who want to be here like they do,

especially to start a rebuild, that robs off on other players, especially the young kids. Okay, so what did the Canucks not do yesterday? They didn't hand out big term, unlike last summer. You can't hand out big term in a rebuild. They need deals like Kiefer Sherwood. 3 million over 2 years you build them up gets big numbers

and you trade them for two second round picks. That's exactly what the Kinnock should be thinking. Low-term deals, build up the guy's value and then you get two seconds. Keep collecting as many draft picks as you can. The Kinnocks need to pick top five

or top 10 for the next four years really to set the foundation to get out of this. The Anaheim Ducks picked in the top 10 seven straight years. I think the Kinnock's, they got to keep doing this. It's a painful process. All those people, including the media, the one of the rebuild,

it's a painful process. But here we are. But you can be likable and losing at the same time. I really believe that. Like, as long as you have high character guys on the team and you're out there and you're fighting hard and you're not moping around and, you know, you go out there and you're part of the community.

I think you can be likable as long as there is a plan and as long as the young players are improving and getting better and becoming a team. That is possible. But it is a very difficult balancing act, especially with the young players because you don't want to be a winning team. So I think this is the way I'm going to put it. You don't want to be a winning team,

but you don't want to be a bunch of losers. Yep. You remember the old movie, Bad News Bears. It's the same concept. You don't want to lose 9-1. And he said that. And the other thing is the two biggest things going forward are draft and develop, draft and develop.

So now you got these two great picks in the first round. Novotny and Mahaltra, now you've got to develop them, right? They've got to be in a good environment. They've got to be teaching. There's got to be growing. The biggest place where they should spend the most money is drafting and developing. That's going to be key. from here on end. It's not even debatable. Those are the two most important things going forward.

Okay. Do you have anything to tell us about some of the other free agent signings? Yesterday was pretty well went according to the way that I kind of thought it would go. I want you to go. There's a couple of things I want to get into addition. I want now the Canucks have a couple of big things on their to do list. and one of them is going to be start talking extension with Z. Buoyam. The two sides have until September 15th to do an eight-year deal. Then on September 16th, the rules change.

You can only do seven-year deals. Eight years is out. This kid has got future captain written all over him. He's a huge part of that blue line with Willander. It's going to be a big number. There's going to be a sticker shock. I've already dropped the number nine, and I'm going to stick with that.

Carolina defenseman Alexander and Akishan has played one year in the NHL. That was this season. Some people think he's looking for $8, $9 million. He's 24 years old. There has been some crazy contracts in the National Hockey League the past few weeks. There are guys making $4, $5, $6, $7 million that I have to Google. Like, I have to Google who the hell is this guy. And so there's been crazy contracts, and they're going to continue to be crazy contracts with the cap going up.

So I think that getting Booiam done this summer, if they can do it, nobody says, obviously they'll talk. Has he shown enough to you that he's like a surefire guy that you want to go long term with? I think so. I think you wouldn't have acquired him. Let's put it this way. The Quinn Hughes trade, he's the big piece.

He's young, he's got pedigree, high draft pick. He's done nothing but win. since you know NCAA Tuttle's world junior's world championships he's the guy he's the main piece in the Quinn Hughes he's got to be he's got a hit he can't be a world where he doesn't hit for the Kadax I'm just telling you

the way contracts are going he's going to do really well on his next deal I think that I think everyone's aware of what young defensemen are getting these days and I'll tell you something else so what's the Russian so what's the Russian signing him

a year before his entry-level contract expires? Is it just you're going to get him out a better number now? You lock him up. You lock them up. And here's the other one for you, Jason. The rules change on September 15th from eight years to seven years. You probably want to get that done. And you probably want to lock him up as long as you can.

I think he's going to be a good one. I think he's shown enough in Vancouver. I really do. There's a couple of other things, Jason, I want to talk to you about. I was told some teams thought about Thatcher Demko in Alaska. few weeks. A couple did their due diligence on them. I'm not sure they call Vancouver, but I do know teams poked

around on Demko, and in the sense they did some due diligence on them. And the Canucks should be targeting players like Kent Johnson, Shane Wright, Matthew Nives, guys under 25 who have no trade protection, and that can't block a trade to Vancouver.

Canucks do like right, but the cost acquisition is too much. I don't think Seattle wants to trade that guy in the division. Last thing you want is for right to figure it out, and you've got to play him a ton of times in the regular season. The other thing I want to tell you is the Canucks have interviewed a Memorial Cup winning coach from the Kitchener Rangers, UCA, Cocos, Acos for the Abbasford job. This guy is wanted right now. He's also interviewed for the San Diego American Hockey League job.

He's interviewed for the Abisper job. I don't know if he's going to end up in Vancouver or San Diego or anything. anywhere else, but I do know he interviewed in Vancouver for the Abbotsford job. Have you heard anything about John Gruden, not the NFL coach, but the Marley's coach? I heard one little thing that he might be interviewing for a job in Vancouver. I don't know if it's Abbotsford or for on Manny's bench. That's possible because Manning has a relationship with him. Yeah.

When Mani was in Toronto, Mani's got a relationship. with them going back to Toronto. So you know what? You might be on to something there. You know, what the hockey people do when they hire people? They go back and they associate themselves with people who they're comfortable with. And you know what? But this, I do, that's a good one, Broff. Mani's got a good relationship with him going back to the Marley's days and the Maple Leaf Days. So he would have run into him quite a bit in Toronto. I think by the end of this week, We should find out who the Canucks new coaching staff in Abbey, and Vancouver is.

But again, that Abbisford coach, for me, is going to be very important. Because, you know, we're going to be an Abbisford next year is going to be Braden Coots. And, you know, Coots development, I am convinced that Coots will play in the NHL. I just don't know where his ceiling is. And I've told you guys this before. He's always the first guy at the rank, the last guy to leave. 650 had him on the other day he's just a really mature kid and there's tons of potential but he just he thinks the right way plays the right way

that's a great draft pick even if these guys don't like even if coots doesn't reach you know one C or whatever it is or even if Caleb doesn't uh reach the levels that some people are hoping for I really think it's important that as long as they're good NHL players that those are the young players that the new kids see. Because we always talk about the importance of the veteran players, the guys that are in the 30s and they've been in the league for a while. And I'm not discounting that.

But I also think that you need the young players to be high character guys too, because who are the young players that are, who are they going to go talk to? Who are they going to go associate with? Who are they going to hang out with? It's going to be their, you know, fellow youth, right? And they're going to hang out. And if you've got a young player that acts in a certain way good or bad, you're going to take the lead from that youngster, you know?

And that's why I just, like, I'm really happy that the Canucks have targeted character, not only in bringing them those veterans, but also in the guys that, they've drafted because in some ways those guys are going to set the culture more than the vets. Because those are the guys that the young players will try and emulate and they'll take their cues from. Yeah, big time, big time. And so that's a good parlay into the new regime. I want to say a few things. And you nailed it.

They're going for character. They're going for good quality human beings in that dressing up. So I have to say this. There is a different feel about this regime. Ultimately, they will be judged on wins and losses, but in terms of how they conduct themselves in the hockey world, night and day, better than the old regime. You guys know I talk to a ton of agents per week.

Agents go out of their way. Agents go out of their way to tell me how impressed they are with Ryan Johnson and the new regime. I won't even be asking about Ryan Johnson. and I'll be asking about one of their clients, and they'll say to me, hey, I love the new guys in Vancouver. Hey, I love Ryan Johnson. Gone are the soap opera dysfunctional days of the last two years.

Look at the Canucks Twitter account, wishing the lines the best on their season opener. You know, congrats to the Golden Eyes first overall pick. Great choices by the Canucks on who made their first two picks at the NHL draft. Jen Gardner at the Canucks Development Camp. None of that happened with the previous regime. Anything the Sedeen Twins do, comes with class and family first.

Big change. And the hockey world is noticed. Like when Johnson talks, you get clarity. It makes sense. There's a plan. They're sticking to it. Time will tell if this plan will work. Yep.

But at least they have a plan. Do you know what the plan the last two years was in this city? Signed Quinn Hughes. Signed Quinn Hughes. That was the plan. They gave huge money to Besser Garland Dempcoe to keep Hughes. How did that turn out? now they're trying to move

Besser. It was a disaster. Ryan Johnson and the twins and time will tell how they do with the product on the ice. But they are hitting grand slams in terms of in terms of how to run an organization

with class. Just like you need good people in the dressing room, you need good people in management. These guys are going forth, this regime is giving you more comfort that better days are ahead. I can't tell you how much times over the course of a week that I just get a text saying, hey, these new guys are good to deal with.

Ryan Johnson's a pretty classy guy. You know, again, time will tell on how he does with his moves, but there's been a big shift, big shift in the way this franchise has been perceived in the way they conduct themselves as a team. You mentioned better days ahead there. Let's finish with a look ahead to, I mean, it's only the second day of free agency. There's still stuff out there. What are you hearing?

What do you know? What do you think the Canucks might do now that they were pretty busy on the first day of free agency? They did poke around on tough guys. The mallet guy, where to mallet go? They poked around on him. A lot of the tough guys they poked around on. And, you know, they were in on Veal, Anaheim, but he got one hell of a deal. the Michael McCarron deal in Minnesota changed everything for tough guys.

Like even Curtis Douglas, for Curtis Douglas to get 1.2, you know, well, in Brough, can I talk about Curtis Douglas? Sure. You know, anyways, for that guy to get $1.2 million in Seattle, like the Canucks weren't willing to do that. Nor should they be. And they never made a formal offer to Curtis. They liked them. Curtis really liked Vancouver. He really did.

When I talked to his age and, you know, I think Curtis was disappointed when he found out it wasn't going to happen in Vancouver. But that market changed. A lot of tough guys got paid yesterday. A lot of tough guys got money that usually is not reserved for tough guys in the NHL. And Michael McCarran's deal in Minnesota. Do they still poke around tough guys? I don't know.

Are they done? I don't know. But I do know that they're going to continue to try. I move Pedersen, Besser, DeBrusk, all these guys. And, you know, all those people that ripped the Canucks that Wednesday when there were four trades, oh, you got to make a trade because four other trades were made. They made the trades four days later. You don't have to make it for the sake of me.

You can make deals in July and August. You don't make trades because four other teams made trades. They can work on Pedersen, Besser, and DeBrusk and all these guys. They can work on all these guys in July and August. They got plenty of time to get those deals done. Rick, thanks. this, buddy. Great stuff. No, no. You come in late every Friday,

Holford, and you guys, I want this is my last hit with you guys. I want to do a little spiel with you guys. Okay, let's do it. I just want, I, you know, because I want to say some stuff. This country was built communication-wise on TV, radio, and newspapers.

You know what? Everybody out there support those things. Buy a paper, listen to 650 every morning, Monday to Friday, 6am to 9 a.m. and watch local news on TV. Look, you guys know I'm not a fan of social media. I hate all this new technology. I grew up waiting for the paperboy every day at 3.30,

watching Tony Parsons 6 p.m. on BC TV and listening to Jim Robson on the radio. I miss those days. I will always miss those days. We have to keep mainstream media live so those kids who go to broadcasting school, they have jobs to go to. You guys keep doing what you're doing. I'm in this. This is my 36th year.

in this industry. I still love it. I'm going to keep going till they kick me out. I love coming on with you guys, even though you rip the hell out of me every Friday. But have a good summer and see you in September. Keep doing what you're doing. And keep TV, radio and newspapers alive. That's very important to me. My life. Radio has been a big part of my life. And I want to keep radio and TV. It's been a big part of my life when I want to keep doing it. Rick, love you, buddy. in September. See you, buddy. See you, buddy.

I love you, too. The dramatic pause. I love you too. Would have been an appropriate response, but that's fine. He thought about it. When he started with this, when he started with this country was built on,

I was to be like, oh. I would get the kill button ready. All right. We all have more to get into on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. A reminder. If it was remember instead,

it'd be really worried. Yeah. Oh, no. Where's he going with this? What a tough transition to the home downtown heroes lottery. More options, more cash, more ways to win with BC's bravest. Final deadline is coming up fast. Get your tickets now at London drugs.

You must be 19 plus to play. Know your limit. Play within it. One final half hour of the program on the other side. It's what we learn time. Get yours in. Dunbar Lumber text message in Basket is 650, 650, 650. Tell us what did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650. I'm telling you when I tell you this. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks.

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It's what we learn time. On the show. 833 on a Thursday. Thursday, everybody, Halford Brough of Sportsnet 650. Halford Brought for the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Their clients often say there is no judgment you feel careful and understood. Visit them at sands dash trustee.com. We are in our three of the program.

It is what we learned. Time. Hour three is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies by some tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them at BCCSA.ca.ca. Not bad. Not bad. Not bad at all. I'm going to start what we learned.

Okay. Of all, what do you mean? No. Don't shake your head of me. Well, you're getting some pushback, right? Of all the things that we got into, and I think we did a good job of covering yesterday's very busy July 1, NHL free agency.

There's one thing that we overlooked. An offer sheet was indeed offered and signed yesterday in the National Hockey League. It's a perfect type of player to target, by the way. So, the New Jersey Devils submitted an offer sheet for Utah Mammoth restricted for agent forward Barrett Hayton. You may remember him.

He kind of most famously went ahead in Quinn Hughes in that draft to the Arizona Coyotes who are now the Utah Mammoth. The coyotes went for position. They needed a center. They kind of big brain that pick, hang? The Connax might get Quinn Hughes and everything will turn out amazing. I'm glad

you said big brain because it'll take a big brain to work through the details of exactly why this offer sheet was interesting. The Devils, under new GM Sunny Meta, signed him to a one year, 4.775 million dollar contract. Utah now has

one week to match. If they don't, Hayton goes to the Devils. The Mammoth get a 2027 second round draft pick is compensation. Okay. Okay. Everyone's kind of looking at it and saying, well, 4.775 isn't a killer cap number.

And he had a downseason last year, but he's a 40 point guy. Does a lot of stuff. And everyone's like, well, it just seems really easy to just match it. Now here's the interesting part. Utah has to carefully consider all options when it comes to Hayton. If they match and bring Hayton back, the rules say that you're unable to trade him for one calendar year. if you wait that one calendar year,

that walks Hayton all the way up to unrestricted free agency. Now, there's a little bit more to this that I did not realize, but upon reading about it, this is why they hired Sunny Mehta, I think, is that the idea is that he's kind of playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers. The reports are that he tried to get Hayton

at the trade deadline. And they couldn't get the deal done. What he did was wait for Utah to make a bunch of moves in free agency. You know, they signed Anders Lee. They got Vincent Trocheck in a trade from the Rangers, and they got Kevin Stenland as well. So they had 15 forwards on the roster,

14 of them on one-way deals. They also spent a considerable out of cap space already. That was then when META went and signed Hayton to the offer sheet. Okay. So he really, in a very subtle way, without costing himself a heck of a lot of risk, kind of put Utah on a blender. And honestly, I feel like there's an element of this

where he just wanted to see if it would work. Correct me if I'm wrong, though. Maybe you mentioned this already. There's a lot of details in this situation. But if Utah matches, another thing to consider is that they cannot trade him. Yeah, I mentioned. And then he becomes, and then he goes right to you are.

Okay. There's also another thing you got a little bit of the info wrong. You said that they tried to acquire him at the deadline. They tried to acquire him at the draft. Sorry. Sunny Meadow wasn't the GM. Yeah. You're right.

So it was recent. They tried to get him. But so I think. So is my, my big question is, is Barrett Hayton unhappy in Utah? Because that would be a question that I'd ask. He did sign it.

Is he trying to leave? Well, yeah, because he signed it. But sometimes you can say, well, I'm going to sign this to force a decision. So we're not, you know. Sure. There's that as well. Doing this.

And if I was a GM. and a guy signed and he wasn't happy. Maybe he wants a bigger role. I don't know if he's going to get it in New Jersey where they have Nico Hesher and Jack Hughes down the middle. I don't know. It could be a 3C at either spot. Maybe he can bump to the wing.

Yeah. I don't know. But like for me, and I think we're seeing this with the Canucks, I only want players that want to be in Vancouver. Sure. Right? Yeah.

And theoretically, if you sign somewhere else for whatever reason, there are optics that you want to leave. even if it's to facilitate a move to stay at home, you still sign somewhere else. Now, Ryan Kessler signed an offer sheet a long time back. I hated him ever since. And I'm glad the Kinecks matched it. And, you know, he was an important player for them.

That's enough about Ryan Kessler. But, you know, I think these things are, and I always talk about this, I know people get tired of it, but because nobody else seems to talk about it, like there are relationship issues that come up when a player signs an offer sheet. Because by doing that, and I know you've got to look out for number one and all that,

but you are putting your team in a tough position. And you have made the decision to do that. And if I was a GM, I'd be like, all right, I know you got to negotiate. And I know there are tools to every negotiation, but I don't know about you now, Barrett Hayden. I don't know if you really are a team player. Maybe you're more of a New Jersey type of player and we'll take the second round pick.

We've got a trade to announce. Jake Middleton has been traded to or traded to Calgary from Minnesota. And Calgary is sending Blake Coleman and Olimata in return. Wow. It's not a huge trade or anything, but I'm just trying to figure out why Calgary would want Jake Middleton in particular. So there is a what we learned in the inbox that I want to get to.

So Mukau yours. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then we can discuss this. Okay. Okay. Print off the submissions laddie.

Humanoid submissions for what we learned brought to is always by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. From corporate events to special events. There's no order too large order online at AJ's. Dot pizza. Okay. Arbutus Omar, what we learned, after seeing what the league did yesterday, are Vancouver and Calgary really the only teams in full rebuild mode? There is tremendous opportunity in the next few years for the Canucks to take advantage

with all these teams trying to go for it and most likely winding up in the mushy middle. Is Calgary in a rebuild like Vancouver is? I think they're ahead of it. They're not at the same stage. Maybe not smartly. But I don't think they are in a full, full rebuild. And I know that, you know, they made a lot of draft picks and they're not exactly expecting to be an amazing team or a Stanley Cup winner. And I know that the defenseman that they just picked up in a trade, Simone Nemich is still young.

He's 22 years old. But I don't think Calgary's embracing the rebuild like Vancouver is. I think they've got a shorter time frame that they expect to be competitive because they are building a new arena. It is going to be important to sell season tickets for that new arena. And Alford, do we have any more information on this trade? Because no, that's it. So what's the trade again?

Tell me one more time. Jake Middleton goes to Calgary in exchange for Blake Coleman and Ole Mata. Jake Middleton, the 30-year-old defenseman? Yes. Yes. From Minnesota. Yes. Okay, so.

Shuffling of the chairs. So is there, is there, like, Blake Coleman was supposed to return something fairly decent, right? That's kind of what I was thinking. Yeah. I don't know. Folks, I know you tune in to Sportsnet 650 for instant analysis and knowledge of what's going on in the sports. Holy Mato was weirdly good last year for the 14 points in 21 games. Where did that come from?

All right. Well, let's move on. I'm looking up anything I can right now. Well, the other shows can deal with it. I mean, we don't have to... That's more of an other show problem. Too deeply into the Calgary, Minnesota trade. Is it because Jake Middleton... I mean, Jake Millen's a big dude and he's tough and he can fight.

They lost Lomburg to free agency. Pre-tiss, there's picks involved as well. Yeah, there's got to be something. There's got to be something. There's got to be something more. He's got to be more picks involved. spending a lot of time on Oli-Mata trade here. Hey, this is not the...

This is not the only moderator. Okay, we're moving on. Dut from Camloops. It's got to be picks involved. I learned that the WHL will have a new overtime rule next season. Once a team crosses the blue line, they can no longer carry or pass the puck back into the neutral zone to regroup. If they do, it will result in a face-off in their defensive zone similar to icing.

I love that the dub is trying this. Sure. There's always unintended consequences of rule changes. And there have been a lot of people suggesting this for the end. NHL and I think if it works for the dub, the NHL should bring it in. So they're trying it in the preseason. Yeah. And then they're going to vote at the end of the preseason whether to implement.

So I hate the regroup. Oh, yeah. But I totally understand it. I totally understand it. Because you want to, you want to. Possession is key. Possession is key. And possession with speed.

Yep. Possession with speed is massive. If you're, the whole idea of three on three, my mind is like, make sure somebody beats a guy. like not eat it with a stick or anything like you have to win a one-on-one somehow so you've got an odd-numbered rush so you've either got a two-on-one or a one-and-o that's why you know speed is really important in three-on-three overtime because if you can't beat someone one-on-one if you can't create odd man situations then you're just going to take a shot from distance

and then there's no point in that so hopefully what this rule creates is more turnovers. Yeah. And then more odd man breaks the other way. It's crazy that three, I don't know how it's going to work. It's crazy that three on three devolved to how boring it got. You know what was funny?

Everyone said, though, they're like, the coaches will ruin this eventually. And they have. Okay. So story time with Halford. We were working at NBC. Hey, it's an NBC story. NBC at the time. The first, I remember I was on night shift.

working October 8th, 2015, the first ever regular season game that went to 3 on 3.0.T. Does anyone remember the details of it? I doubt. It was between Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. And the game was won with Tampa Bay defenseman

Jason Garrison, who was at Tampa Bay at the time, getting a breakaway to win it. And I remember I was writing about it for pro hockey talk. Yeah. And I remember thinking that we had revolutionized, the game of hockey because it was so chaotic and so frenetic and nobody had figured it out

like they have 11 years later. Yeah. It was, and I remember thinking like we've just unlocked the greatest thing in hockey because it was complete chaos until Garrison scored. And coaches hate chaos. They hated it. And I remember there was pushback in that first year.

The first few months were like, well, we don't have a handle on this. It's just everyone's going everywhere and there's chances up and down the ice. And guys were like, we love it. And the coaches like, we hate it. You know what the big part? Do you remember when the Canucks, I mean, this was recently, they're like, we're way better at the shootout than we are at overtime.

So we're just going to hold on to the puck and do nothing. It was the most cynical thing I've ever seen. Well, in the early days of the three on three, I remember watching guys figure out really quickly that if you blow a chance at one end, you're completely screwed. Like the risk of going in on a two-on-one or an odd man rush and three-on-three and missing. Yeah, missing the net.

Missing the net was dead. Like falling down on a breakaway? You're done. Because guys were talking. It used to be about chance generation. But everyone realized like the moment that you don't convert on a chance, it's almost game over because it's so detrimental the other way. Anyway, I missed those days.

That was 11 years ago. We have details on the only matter. Yeah, please tell. Jake Middleton swap. The flames are retaining 50% of, Blake Coleman's salary. And the Wild, according to Emily Kaplan, are giving up three draft picks to the flames, the highest being a second round pick.

Now, I don't think the Wild have their second round picks for the next two seasons. So it's probably a later year second round pick. All right. Good to know. Yeah, I figured there had to be something of all. That trade made no sense. Three picks. That's a decent haul for that group.

Are the Wilde still going to be able to be in the Dylan Larkin sweepstakes? I don't know. You'd think so. You'd think that's the... I mean, that destination makes the most sense. from a fit perspective and from the fact that Larkin's super tight with Hughes and everything. But if Iserman is going to do the Iserman thing where he kind of digs his heels in. He'd be the guy to do it, right?

He's stubborn and defiant. Showing up to training camp. I think so. I'm going to tell the fans to boo you. Forcing Dylan Larkin to write a statement at gunpoint, he's like, you tell them that everyone blew this out of proportion. And it's the media's fault. Richard the Hay guy, what we learned, Luke de Fugiole,

one of my favorite names, is a serious candidate for young player of the tournament. Fudge rolls. What a timeline we are in. Does he play in Belgium? For Dender. That's the name of the club. Dender. Yeah.

He's on loan from Fulham. He's a Fulham guy. He'll go back to Fulham. Yeah. This is a, so there was a stage in his career where he had played more for Canada's national team

than he had first team appearances. Okay. Because he was such a bright prospect, but it's, I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but the Premier League is very competitive. It's hard to break it. It's a good league?

Yeah. League. So what they did was they lent him to Dender in the Belgian League to get more first team reps because he wasn't going to get them at Fulham. I think now someone will, one of the white caps nerds will correct me if I'm wrong. I think he actually replaced the guy that came to the white caps.

Yoderick Poupe. Okay. I think that was the swap because he was a centerback as well. So I think he left to come to the caps and he took a spot at Dender. So anyway. Do you think any of these guys will get a lift from their World Cup appearances? to Fusierol. Yeah. Big time. But does that just mean he just goes back to phone? Canadian players? Yeah. Well, yeah, Canadian players.

Promise David, I think, could be on. He's in Belgium as well. I think he could be on his way to a bigger club. I mean, people must look at his athleticism and the size of him and just be like. But here's the thing. I think he was already on his way to a bigger club prior to this because he was scoring bags a goal for it. He's got a lot of promise. Good one. As a dole Donnie Taylor. That's why they pass the moderately size.

Oh. Marion Hosa. Poss a lot of potential. It's very good. A long time ago and I still remember that one. One other guy, by the way, since we're continuing this conversation, I wonder if he'll move to a different European club as Eustakio. Right.

Because it kind of hasn't. Is he MLS now? He was on loan at L-AFC, but he's still property of Porto. Okay. It hasn't gone great for him at Porto. I mean, and that's a big club. They're Champions League and everything. It's a tough squad to crack into it.

He's only 29, so he's not like he's... He's been awesome this World Cup. He really has. He's been great. So I would like to see him go to another big European club. Trey, the Gulf Island ferry worker, what we learned, the Canucks finally had a July 1st that Canucks fans can be excited about. No contracts over two years in length. And the only trade protection was a 12-team no trade for Jamie Alexiak,

which still gives the team flexibility if the right trade offer comes along. This has been a July 1st that I have seen no complaints about. there's been no complaints coming into the Dunbar-Lumber text inbox about what the Canucks did yesterday. Oh, but, okay, the Canucks had a great July 1, but everything pales in comparison to the most amazing July 1 of the mall. San Jose's? No.

Oh. Vincent de Harne. Oh. I was blown away when I saw that deal yesterday. No seventh D-Man in history has ever been paid that amount of money before. Okay, you know who had to be contrarian on this. Yes, I saw. You didn't see that.

that. I saw the Drenth liked it and he said the D'Arne is actually good. I'm fine with that. Like, I could care less about it. Does he remember when he played? So he had a bad year in Vancouver. I think he actually played fine and like lowercase F. Fine in San Jose last year. Okay. All, look, DeHarnet was a good story. He, I think he kind of like walked on at college and worked his way into being an NHLer and now he's making $17 million. Like, I will never hate on a guy for that. It's a crazy deal. Yeah, yeah. Don't get me wrong. But, When I just watched him with the puck on a stick, I was just like,

a puck shouldn't be on a stick. I remember. He's just like, he's long and he's a good penalty killer because he's got that length. Yeah, yeah. But he's 6-7, right? But 6-7. When he tries to move the puck, it often occurs in, you know, results in disaster. It felt like a grenade on a stick at times.

But remember he came on our show not long after signing with Vancouver. Yeah, it's a good guy. And I remember him kind of thinking that he was like, wow, like this is happening. you know like he was because you got to remember when they signed him out of edmonton he hadn't exactly established himself as a full-fledged NHL i know he played a lot at emminton but he was still at that stage well that's why a lot of people in vancouver were like you're going to make this guy a fairly big part of your of your defense and you're going to try and remember that was at the time when the

concks were like all right we did the structure thing and we did well um but we need to evolve right as a as a system and then they just didn't have the personnel to do it. And I think D.RNA was a big part of that failure. So maybe that's why we remember him not so good in Vancouver. Not so good. Well, I'm just like, I'm not watching San Jose games for Vincent Darnay.

That was the worst English you've ever spoken in your entire life. I know. We remember him not good. We remember him not so good. Yeah. Was that the same summer that they signed? Dan Hinen. The Vinnie Day Hardee and Dan Hinen.

I think it was the same, the same quote-unquote class. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Heinen didn't pan out. No, I was real rough. Ian Coquitlam asked a question, is Dallas falling out of favor with players? Why is that?

Robertson wants out, does he? Werensky doesn't want to go there. Is this a bigger story that we're not paying attention to? I think Robertson just wants money, doesn't he? It wants to be paid well. You have 15 mil from Seattle, he turned down. Yeah, so that shows he doesn't want to go to Seattle. all, but who does?

I do have a hard time figuring out what's going on in Dallas, though. It seems like a lot of up people right now. Werenski wants to stay east. Isn't that the whole idea with him? Yeah, he wants to stay in the east. He doesn't want to go to Dallas. So, like, I don't think a contract negotiation with Robertson and Wrenski not wanting to go there is necessarily a sign that Dallas is in trouble,

but you never know. All right. We got to get out of here. Maybe. Maybe they're in horrible trouble. Could be. Maybe the rooms of disaster. or I don't know.

Maybe there's all sorts of problems. Maybe there's a culture problem. Okay. Before we talk ourselves into trouble here, we should go. That's what the music means. Maybe they're all sick. Dandruff. Laddy wants us to go. We got to get out of here for today.

We will be back tomorrow. Thank you all for listening and thank you all for contributing. Signing off. Maybe they're all in a cult? He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog and he's been Lattie. This has been the Alfred and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Thank you.