Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Are Actually...Rebuilding?

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss how the Canucks did on day one of NHL Free Agency (3:00), plus they look at all the other moves around the league with Sportsnet hockey writer Luke Fox (28:39).  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 Halford and Brough. He'll get it across, and it's Luke Shen that'll drive the net. Scores. Luke Shen. It's very familiar, and I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to come back. Here comes Alexia. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

It is Halford, it is Brough. It is Sportsnet, 650. we are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in Beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Their clients often say, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off me. If Dad is weighing you down, visit sands dash trustee.com today. We are in our... It's like you were lifted off them. We are in our one of the... It's ruthless. I'm big bone and it's glandular.

It is hour one of the program. Hour one is... Good luck with the rest of this. Hour one is brought you by North Star Metal Recycling. Do they weigh by the pound? Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to live from the Kintech studio. Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech. guests on SportsNet 650 call in on the ABLE Auctions hotline email sales at abel actions.ca to get your business assets sold and your building cleared and if you want to text into the show today, the Dunbar Lumber

text line is 650 650, 650 trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations find them at three convene in the locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online today. So we only have three guests today as we dive into the

Duick Morning Drive that is our guest list brought to by the Duick Auto Group because we have so many things to get into from the world of Sprott's yesterday. Three very good guests, though, begins at 630. Luke Fox, NHL reporter from Sportsnet is going to join us. On the first day of free agency yesterday, July 1, teams doled out 145 contracts for $911 million in committed salary. I thought you're going to bust into song there for a second.

On the first day of free agency. I was not going to. No. Because the second day of free agency, that money's going to try out. Rema. A lot of them. Many by San Jose. There are also a bunch of interesting trades as well. We'll break it all down with Luke as he

joins the program at 6.30. 7 o'clock Adnan, Verk from MLB Network is going to join us. I want to ask Adnan about MLB expansion to Vancouver. Max Scher's start for the Canadians tomorrow. At NAB Bailey. Bo Bichette's returned to Toronto. And since we're talking about Bo, the

Sad Sack Mets, we can also talk about less we forget, the annual, although it's now a little bit muted, a variety of circumstances. Jay's trip to Seattle is this weekend. It begins on Friday. We'll talk to Adnan about that at 7. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. Intrepid

Canucks reporter for Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. Tons of Canucks news to get into. He wants to talk about the Marcus Pedersen trade to the New York Rangers, the rest of the moves from day one and free agency and this new look approach from our management group here in Vancouver. Could it

finally be Jason? Could it finally be the patience and smart savvy moves of the song of the day. We'll see. We'll talk to Rick about that at 8 o'clock. So we're working in reverse. A rarity here. Rick at 8, Adnan at 7, Luke Fox at 630.

That's what's happening on the program today. Laddy, to tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm moving. We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by our good friends at ATS traffic. is not a shortcut you want to take. From design to execution, ATS traffic is your full service traffic safety provider. Visit them online at aTS traffic.ca.

Canucks General Manager Ryan Johnson called yesterday a good day. And I can't disagree with the additions of character veterans like Luke Shen and Jamie Alexeac and also the acquisition of another first round pick, albeit one in either 2030 or 2013. the Vancouver Canucks under Johnson and the Sene brothers did the things yesterday that they said they'd do when they were hired earlier this off-season. Specifically, those things were start fixing the broken culture and also bill patiently through the draft, however long it takes to do it the right way. The signings of Shen and Alexiak were preceded, of course, by the trade acquisition of Brendan Gallagher. granted they did lose a character veteran in Marcus Pedersen,

but it was a deal they couldn't pass up, given the challenge ahead of them to restock this team with young talent. I think I might actually be happiest for Thomas Drance that the Canucks added that conditional first from the Rangers. He loves a good fade bet. It's a deep fade. Even though he'll admit that it's pretty hard to predict what the Rangers may look like in two.

2030 or 2013. I read his column and he called it The Fool's errand. But right now, as it stands, that pick has the potential to be a lottery pick. It could also be a late first. But the point is the high

upside of the trade. In any successful rebuild, a few things need to go your way. Maybe you win the draft lottery. Okay, maybe not the Canucks. But maybe you trade a veteran defensive defenseman and strike gold in the process.

Johnson said, we've solved some problems. We've made changes. We've got some different faces without having to take on long-term commitments that might have put us a year from now rethinking things. I think this gave us a facelift a little bit. It gave us an opportunity to get new energy and new people. On the Rangers trade, he said, I've made it clear that I'm okay looking into the future on some of these returns.

Way into the future. Which makes you wonder about the potential returns for the likes of Jake DeBress, Brock Besser, and or Elias Pedersen. All in all, it's just really refreshing to see the Canucks take advantage of other teams' desperation as opposed to being the desperate ones themselves. Take the Rangers situation. Chris Drury, the GM there, he is in for a penny, and so in for a pound in New York. Drury doesn't really care what happens in 2030 because if he doesn't turn this thing around soon,

that's going to be someone else's problem. That's desperation, baby. Now, in theory, general managers shouldn't mortgage the future to save their job. A lot of things happen in life that shouldn't happen. and when it comes to GMs kind of going well I don't know I don't even know if I'm going to be around in that year it happens

all the time we see this all the time in pro sports and this is what the Canucks should have leaned into a long time ago and by that I mean the natural ebb and flow of the national hockey league there are always teams with short-term expectations

and those teams often sacrifice the future, not even irresponsibly, but they just do it out of an intense desire, an intense pressure to meet those expectations. And usually those are like, we think we've got a chance to win a Stanley Cup or we think we've got a really good chance to make the playoffs. And that's where smart rebuilding teams come on and come in as facilitators. Now, on the character side. Of course the rebuilding teams can't just be bad for the sake of being bad.

They also have to develop their young players. It's an extremely tough balancing act to be both a losing team for the sake of the draft, but not a bunch of losers. Because the team

has to be a positive environment where the young players can grow. And that's why you bring in the character vets who have done before and done as successfully in the league. Look, there's no guarantee that the Canucks are going to pull this off. It will depend mostly, not entirely, but mostly on the players they just drafted and the ones they'll draft in the next few years. But in the meantime, it seems they're at least going to be more likable for the fans that pay to watch them. Okay, I think this is a good time to

throw to the audio that Luke Shen had yesterday talking about rejoining the Canucks organization. For the third time in his career. Shen made it very clear that this goes beyond just getting paid and extending his shelf life as an NHLer. He very much cares about the direction of this organization. Listen to what Shen had to say.

Is this from Central yesterday? If I'm not mistaken. Oh no, sorry. It was Canucks talk with Dransson Dodd. Here's Luke Shen from yesterday talking about signing on with this project that is the Vancouver Canucks. It feels amazing. I mean, yeah, Vancouver is a place that has always felt like home in terms of, you know,

where I played in the NHL and, yeah, I'm pumped when this opportunity came up. And obviously, you know, I understand where the team is in terms of, you know, where they are right now and where they want to get to and the rebuild and everything. But, you know, the fact that they think that I'm a veteran guy that come in and help and help with, you know, the culture and the young guys and everything, I'm, you know, I'm honored to be a part of that. And it's not just another organization and, you know, just trying to go and finish off another year.

I actually, you know, truly care about the Canucks and the organization and the logo and everything that, what it means to be a Vancouver Canucks. So I'm, I'm pumped to get the chance to do this for the third time. I care about the Canucks. Now, I know we're a pretty sarcastic show sometimes, but statements like that, especially when I actually believe them. mean something to me. I care about the Canucks too. And I care about all their fans because their fans are our listeners

and I want good things for them. I know this isn't like a Disney movie and I know the Canucks aren't going to win a Stanley Cup just because they have good guys that care. So please, like this thing isn't going to just turn around on character and being a good guy. No. talent is going to be a big part of it too.

But, you know, this management group is going to need to be smart, creative, and maybe even ruthless at times to get to the point where they can win a Stanley Cup or compete for one. They'll need the right resources from ownership. We're going to be monitoring that. They'll, you know, to put it one way, they'll need to invest more than just their feelings. Yeah, that's a good way putting it. You know what I mean? But this is all very refreshing to me because I think or I hope we all understand that last season was not just a bad season, A Dog, in a vacuum.

It didn't come out of nowhere. There was some bad luck, sure, some injury luck. But it was mostly a culmination of years of short-term thinking, letting standard slip both on. and off the ice. I think allowing a siege mentality to build in the organization where they felt like everyone was out to get them and any criticism of the organization

was just the market. It's a tough market. And finally, undervaluing the importance of character. And I think they're off to a very good start and turning all those things around. Okay, now let's hear

from the guy who got them off to that good start and turning these things around. The general manager, Ryan Johnson, Lattie. Let's play that clip where RJ's talking about adding vets to this team and what it meant on the opening day of free agency. Important. They bring

a sense of grit. They bring experience. They've experienced a ton through their careers. Obviously, with a young group around them, there's so much that they can, you know, they almost become secondary coaches in a sense of both are

excited to help this environment that I'm trying to put some life into and energy and passion. And both guys are extremely fired up, understand some of the influence that they can have on some of the players we have here. So it's just like I said, both both those guys want to be here. They're ecstatic to be here. They want to get in this building and get going. And that's important to me and the group. So the details of all of the deals, just in case we've had a couple different people text in about the sort of finite detail.

and we should go over them. Sure. Yeah. The Patterson trade to New York. One, it's Marcus, not either of the Elias or Elias. So Marcus Pedersen to New York. Right now, it's a draft pick at the 2030 NHL entry draft, which many of you have pointed out is also the year that RJ Celebrini,

the 14-year-old younger brother of Macklin Celebrini, would theoretically be draft eligible, which is hilarious. But they wouldn't get that with the Rangers pick because that would be top 10 protected. Exactly. Now, if the Rangers. are in the top 10, they decide that they want to keep that pick and let it slide to 2031, then it becomes an unprotected pick, right? And that's where the, I mean, we are talking of it being five years out right now. We don't even know what the world's going to look like.

The draft could be held entirely with robots running it. But there is a possibility for that thing to hit in a major way. So that's the Pedersen trade. The signings, Alexiac, two years, 10 million, so a $5 million Aav. Shen comes in on a one-year deal. at 2.25 million. Paul Cotter, welcome back, Cotter. If only he had signed here a couple times like Luke Shen had. One year, $2.15 million for a fourth line

forward who apparently runs around, can chip in with the odd goal, can fill in at center, can win some draws, has a lot of energy. What are you all? I'm stealing my bit? If they are to flip him at the deadline and bring him back next free agency, have that song ready.

Two guys signed two minor league deals Akeel Thomas and one of my favorite names, Trey Fix Wollanski. Fix Wollanski to AHL deals. What's, uh, what's, how did he fix him? What's wrong with Wollanski? You don't want to know. You don't even want to know.

And why does Trey have to do it? Yeah, what's going on here? Anyway, uh, so there's your day one of free agency for the Vancouver Canucks. And, you know, there's often been times where, when they're not on the ice and they're off the ice and they make some moves. we get some positive feedback into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket, but this feels a little different.

And I think in part because everyone is thoroughly pleased that a management group that delivered on what they promised and the promise was, we're not going to rush this. Everything's going to make sense. And we're going to build towards the future. The Pedersen deal, I think, and I won't use in a vacuum, but in a nutshell, probably encapsulates exactly what they're talking about. they were willing for a larger payoff four years down the road.

Yeah. Then taking a collection of mid picks at next year's draft or the year following. And that to me... It's a little farther down the line. It would be nicer if it was a little closer. But that was the thing. They made the decision and they decided to go with the very high potential upside. I don't tell you what is the thing long term, eh?

Yeah, that's true long term. I don't even, I don't mind. The 2050 first overall. I don't mind that they took that approach because, it could end up being a massive gambit in the end. Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm saying. Like, you can get a couple second round picks for Pedersen probably, right?

Like sit in next year's draft. Well, I tweeted yesterday. The second and the third, whatever. But the ability to have the patience, and honestly, there's some restraint involved. Like, let's book ourselves a lottery ticket for years in advance. Yeah. I mean. Maybe they'll need that shot in the arm at that point.

Ryan Johnson, the scenes might not even be around at that point. Mani Malhotra might not be around at that point. It's very real. It's a long way away. But to have the foresight to say, if you're offering it, we will take this, we will take this opportunity. That is actual long-term thinking. Adog?

I tweeted yesterday the Canucks are actually rebuilding and it's freaking me out. Like I've just never seen them act like this before. It's really strange. I want to read some texts into the Dunbar Lumber text line. This is from Fish Dancer. he's dancing around

fish he says I'm so ridiculously happy RJ turning over the roster bringing in character and raking in draft capital all of Alexiak Shen and Carter will bring back draft picks

at the deadline it's a smart tactful rebuild this is incredible Josh in Mission with Shen Gallagher and even Kayla Malhotra they are adding people

who love this franchise is like we do. And it's so refreshing. And then one final one, this is unsigned. But I like this. And this is what I connect with most. Shen reminding me that,

oh yeah, the Canucks used to mean something to me too. Yeah, that's important. It's very important. And to have someone in the front office, and someone of prominence to validate that for everybody. Yeah.

I think there's been a lot of valid. validating going on in the last little. It's like, I wasn't, I wasn't wrong to not like these guys anymore. And here's that. Okay, okay. I'm glad we're going down this road because, you know, everything you said off the top was like spot on and I agreed

with it 100%. I'm glad to you said it. Validation in our current climate takes on a lot of different forms. I think a lot of people and you see this on social media a lot, keep receipts because they just want to be right. Even not necessarily.

necessarily believing the thing that they're right in. They just want to be proven right. I think with being a fan and watching your team go through the sewers like the Canucks have, it goes beyond just wanting to be right. You've got a real emotional attachment to this. And when you, with all your heart and all your feels and all of it, see something going out the rails and you know why, validation becomes a lot more emotional in that sense. Because you're like, I wasn't wrong. It's not about being right, but it's knowing that you, You weren't just being some sort of psychotic fanatic about this. Yeah.

I wasn't being a nitpicker. I wasn't just being negative for the clicks or whatever. You genuinely felt a connection towards the team and you wanted them to succeed so badly that you put time and effort into thinking about how they could do it. And then when someone comes in, it was like, yeah, I thought about those same things. It can mean a lot. The Canucks are going to lose a ton of games this year. A ton.

And they're probably going to finish in the bottom five of the NHL again. And they're going to be one of the NHL's worst. teams. Yeah. Luke Texan, easy to be all ooey-gooey about it now, but there's a lot of pain coming. We're all prepared for it. Yeah. I'm sure there will be times where the Canucks will lose a game and be like, oh my God, is this going to work or what's going on? But I grew up, my

first years as a fans when I was a kid, they were horrible. But I still liked them. Yeah. And part of that for me was I was a kid, right? I didn't know anything better. But I've told this a few times. And I don't know if anyone feels the same way. But over the last few years, the Canucks have been more of a job for me than actually me being a fan.

I still loved them, I suppose, but I didn't like them. And I wondered a few times. I was like, God, like, never going to feel about this team like I did in 2011? or 94 or when I was a kid where I was actually watching them. I was like, I want the best for you. Sure. Like these last few years, I've been like, I'm like, I want this thing to blow up because it has no chance.

Get everybody out of here. The way they are operating right now, the only way this thing is going to work is through some of some sort of massive comeuppance where they are shocked to their very core. that they completely change their philosophy. And for now, it feels like that's exactly what's happened. Well, okay, changing the philosophy. That's another really good point, too.

So Grimmis and Ladner just texted this in. You can also think of that 2030 pick as ammo, hopefully. By the time the 2030 team is coming into shape, maybe they'll be out of the rebuild. See, that's another thing that is such a bold, brave new world for this organization. moves of intelligence that have layers to them, right? Because here's the thing.

The closer and closer we get to 2030 or 2031, that pick really comes into clarity. The picture comes into clarity about what it's going to be. And that lottery ticket isn't just a lottery ticket for the Canucks. It's a lottery ticket for 30 other one NHL franchises that, let's say there's a team that is bottoming out closer to that draft class and they want to get in on the action. suddenly there's this thing from the Rangers, this really, and I'll be frank, I think it's a really wild

bet that they made, but a wild bet that they made years ago where now it's time to pay the Piper. If you can use that as a trade asset and something you want to build your team with, that's a great option to have. That is a lottery ticket that you buy and you put under the Christmas tree for years to come and you just open that gift when you're ready for it. But it is a, it is a very savvy move. And quite honestly, the kind that we've seen, other general managers and other markets make and we've longed for that kind of movement. And I'm not just talking about just trading Pedersen.

The idea of it. The idea of trying to swing big, but not do it so that it pays off in the floor. Right away. This needs to work right now because we're balancing on a knife's edge here. Yeah. West End Mike Texan, yes, there will be pain, but it will be for a purpose this time.

It's going to be a really tough balancing act, though. When you're losing, it's really hard on the, young players. And that's why these, these veteran guys that will come into the rink every day with a positive attitude and enthusiastic, that's why they made those deals. And I like that they're tougher too, because sometimes if you're not winning on the ice, you can at least win a fight, throw

a big hit. And you don't feel like you got as embarrassed on the S. Yeah, like, okay, for example, I was thinking about this yesterday and a couple people texted me and they're like, what do you think? I said, it sounds weird, but I'm probably more excited to see Shen and Alexiak and Gallagher play next year than I was to see any of the games this year. Because at least you know that they've got that dog in them where there's probably going to be some real scrappiness on a nightly basis. Yeah. It's not going to be pretty. And they're going to lose, but I got a lot of respect for someone who's like, yeah, but we're going to

lose, but we're also going to punch you a bunch of times while we're doing it. Or we're going to make your life hell while you're beating us. We're certainly not going to quit. Yeah, we're not going to play around the edges of a game. Like, I'm going to Gallagher doing what Gallagher does it. How old is he? Anyway, 34.

34. Yeah, he's 35. Gallagher down 8.0. I didn't hear no bell. Yeah, exactly. You know, getting up off the canvas. You know, fighting in front of the net. when he's down 5-1. You should stay down. The doctor should stop this fight. You don't look good.

Getting cross-checked 19 times in front of the net on a power play when he's down 5-1 and be like, I'll get up for the 20th. There's something admirable about that, right? Shan, at his advanced stage, still willing to drop the gloves because someone ran Booiam or D.P.D. into the boards. Alexiak doing the same thing. Like, Alexiak can throw, right? I mean, I think it's very well established.

He's a giant. He's a big dude. and I remember when he was coming up in Dallas, his nickname was the big rig because he played for their HL farm team, the Texas stars back in the day, and all of it fit, right? And he would just throw these massive overhands when he was fighting. So, like, that stuff matters, especially, again, when the team isn't going to be very good. They're going to show some fight and some jam and show a lot of it.

It'll do a big, big, big, heavy lift in winning some of the fans back. Okay, we got to go to break. We got a lot more to get into on the Halperin' Breath Show on Sportsnet 650. all the other NHL news from yesterday, and there was a lot of it. We'll go over that next with Luke Fox from Sportsnet. 145 contracts were signed yesterday for a grand total of $911 million. So we'll dive into all of it, including one of the biggest and busiest teams of the day, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who redid everything, including their goalie position.

We'll talk to Luke about all that coming up next on the Halford-in-buff show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drans. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcast. 633 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Alfred Brubb of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Their clients often say there is no judgment.

You feel careful and understood. Get debt free at sands dash trustee.com. Still an hour one of the program. Luke Fox, NHL writer from Sportsnet's going to join us in just a little. moment here. Hour one of this program is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Entire first hour of the half hour of the program, all Vancouver Canucks and all the moves

they made yesterday. But they were not the only busy Canadian club. John Chaka, his first July 1 as the Toronto Maple Leaf's general manager, two trades, five signings, the biggest of which and one that got the most headlines, Sergey Bobrovsky, three years, 21 million, a 7 million AAV. And that actually reunites him with his old goalie partner, Anthony Stoller. So there's an interesting turn. He had a good year together. Yeah.

So let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline to discuss this further with our next guest, as mentioned, from SportsNet. Luke, on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Luke. How are you? Pretty good. my head spinning a little bit from all the news yesterday, but waking up on July 2nd is always a pretty exciting time for a hockey writer

because most of the news is over, hopefully. Yeah, and like I got to be honest. I was genuinely and pleasantly surprised at how much action there was yesterday. You know, you kind of figured that it would be, well, there's going to be a lot of spending on some very, you know, lower tier talent. But, you know, there was a lot of different moves of major significance. that happened across the league yesterday, including in Toronto. Let's start with the big one, though, the most

obvious one. Sergey Bobrovsky to a three-year, $21 million deal. He's going to the Hall of Fame at some point in his career, and it might be sooner rather than later, because he's pretty far along in his career. What was the reaction when this finally came to fruition? Because it was kind of being

whispered about the Bobrovsky could be on his way to Toronto. Yeah, there was even an image of Bobrovsky in a mock Leaks uniform. I'll post it on Scotia Bank Arena's Jumbotron. And apparently that was legit. Yeah, and it was making the rounds.

And yeah, so it wasn't a secret. And honestly, it kind of reminded me of what happened with the Leafs and the Panthers last year. The Leaf's number one target last year was Brad Marchand. And, you know, there's a lot of like,

well, if he goes to market, he's going to Toronto. And it was the same with Bobrovsky this year. So part of me was always like, does Bob really want to leave Florida? They got, you know, the no-tax state. He won two cups with them. Like, they're going to find a way to keep them, right?

Like, they're going to get creative or he's going to, you know, have some sentimentality and want to stay there. But when, you know, the day before, when they went out and got Jacob Markstrom, that was like, okay, he's leaving. And if he's leaving, he's probably. coming to Toronto. Now, the reaction, I think, is mostly excitement, but, you know, the fan, there is a segment of the fan base that, rightfully so, is being a little bit, are we sure this is the right

move just because of his age? So he turns 38 in, I think, September. So basically they bought his age 38, age 39, and age 40 seasons. Now, the guy keeps himself. in unbelievable shape, but he is coming off his worst year statistically, whether it's save percentage or goals saved above expected. I think he was like a minus 23. So how much of that is father time catching up with them?

How much of it is the Panthers were crappy last year and they realized it halfway through and, you know, as much as you want to be a competitor, you kind of lose that edge. and the other thing to factor in here, he had three straight runs before this season where he went all four rounds. That's a lot of wear and tear. So the bet from the least perspective is this guy's had a long summer.

He can be rested. He can be ramped up and ready to go. And one thing Chaka said that yesterday that really kind of got my attention was that this guy wants to win. Like he still has that fire. He wants a new check. challenge. So that's kind of interesting. I'm sure the money is definitely a factor too, but

he's got some familiar faces in Toronto and he wants to win. And it's a feeling fresh in Toronto, which it hasn't felt like in a while. How much are the least banking on new coach Jim Hiller being able to get these guys to play a lot better defensively than they did last season? Yeah, that's a great, great point, Jason, because they were a disaster. Pretty much. by every defensive metric where it was off the rush or in zone, zone exits. They were a bit of a tire fire, and that was probably the main reason why they tumbled down to fifth last place in the whole league. So to that end, they want to be a team that possesses the puck more, that breaks it out quicker.

You know, they address some of their penalty-killing needs with some of the forwards, you know, less sexy additions, but, you know, guys who are fine playing in their own end yesterday as well. You know, I'm thinking about Teddy Bluger. Yeah, he's a good penalty killer. Yeah, yeah. So they kind of filled in some gaps there and didn't spend too much. But absolutely that's a priority for this team is to tighten up defensively and give

Brobrovsky a better environment in which to work. And, you know, I think the familiarity with Anthony Stoller, Those guys were really tight. And Stolars, as the hockey world knows, isn't a guy you can bank on for 50 starts, right? If you get 35 good ones out of them with his wonky knees and now he's coming off a bad groin, you'll take that. And then hopefully they can share the net and put a little bit less stress on Bobowski. And he doesn't have to start 60 games or something at age 38. So if they can manage their workloads, this could be an effective, effective tandem.

And another thing is if they manage to make it to the playoffs, they have confidence that Bob is like a big game goalie. And they haven't really had one of those in Toronto. Has the blue line changed as much as you thought it would? Yeah, I mean, the Darren Radish edition was pretty monstrous. I think there's still a feeling like Morgan Riley could be out of town. That file doesn't seem to be closed. I mean, I kind of look at Edmonton and how hard they had to grind with Darnell Nurse

and eventually finding a landing spot in San Jose. And San Jose was kind of circled as one of those teams that Riley might accept the deal to. They had cap space. They had minutes that need to be filled. Maybe Nurse basically took Riley's a potential landing spot for Riley there. So that one's going to be tricky. I mean, the Leafs are saying, hey, we're comfortable going into the season with him. And Morgan still loves it in Toronto.

He's not asking out. Has his game fallen off? I feel like they want to switch things up there. Has his game falling off? Like dramatically? No, I mean, so he's miscast. Like, fans are on him because they want him to be a, number one or number two.

And really, he's a three or a four. Right. And primarily he's a good offensive player. One of his biggest strengths was his speed, and he has slowed down a little bit, but he still makes a good pass and still can, you know, eat up 20 plus minutes a night. And he's a great, you know, all his teammates love him. Like, he's not a problem at all in the room. But, yeah, he's getting farther and farther removed.

from his 1 20 goal season now. And, you know, on the power play, he wasn't a threat to shoot from the point. He was a distributor and everyone knew that. So that was a big reason for bringing in radish because now teams have to respect the point shot. And honestly, guys, if the Leafs are going to do any damage, they have to be like a top five power play team. So they've got the potential. Bread and butter. What's that?

They've got the potential. I can't wait to see what McKenna does. I think that might be his one area where he's like, you know, able to hit the ground running in the NHL. I think some of the other stuff, five-on-five defensive play, that's going to be a work in progress. But if you give him time and space and you give him some shooters to set up, whether that's Austin Matthews or Darren Radish or whoever out there, I think he's going to make some plays. Yeah, because he's not the biggest kid. You know, you hope at 18, he's still going to keep growing. But I think that was one of the rude awakenings early in his Penn State year was just like, okay, these guys are checking a little harder than I'm used to.

And the NHL is like five on five. I think there's going to be nights where he struggles or, you know, it's natural, right? It's a learning curve. But I think that's a great point. Power play, it's like that's when you actually have time and space and his skills are going to show. And Austin's been, ever since he lost Mitch, he's been, he's been craving. for that, right? He wants someone to put it on his tape and find him in the right spots, and it never really worked last year.

Zach Werenski, is that, is there still a chance of that happening? Because we were kind of laughing about what if Werenski goes to Toronto and Darren Radish is like, do I still get the power play time? Or they might go to the old school, too on the power play. Like, when's the last time a team rolled that out? there might have been more five forward power plays than two D power plays in the league last season. But one good thing is like Werensky's a lefty and Radish is a righty. You could actually try to make that work.

But the interest from Toronto's side is very real. Yeah. Very real. Kind of a wild drama the way it played out. And then I'm sure you guys saw the statements that Waddell and Werenski released kind of like, oh, it's overblown. We're buddies again. I'm happy.

It's like, all right. I don't know if I'm actually closing this file quite yet. Like, you know, maybe he does come back to camp. Maybe he tried, but the idea of him signing long term in Columbus seems far-fetched to me at this point. I'm sure there's some damage that has been done. And the Leafs will for sure be interested. But this guy calls his own shot. I did find it interesting that Tampa Bay, which was the presumed frontrunner,

if Werenski was going to get traded, went and got John Carlson to run their power play and essentially replace Radish, who they lost to Toronto. So, you know, that kind of told me, hey, maybe it's real. Maybe he's not going to go anywhere just yet. But is he really going to play out all two years? I mean, it's kind of like Quinn Hughes, right? really going to play all two years. And if not, eventually you've got to find the best trade you can get.

It sucks for the team, though. Can I just say that I did not like that statement from Werenski one bit where he said... I wasn't sold. Listen, here's the quote. Ideally, this wouldn't have become such a public thing. But that's the world we live in now. I hate that. Hate that stuff.

And then he said, and everything got blown out of proportion. I'm like, brother, they traded you. Like, they traded you to Dallas. no one blew that out of proportion and then you said I'm not going like if anything there wasn't enough proportion unless that's wrong Zach is that wrong

I was I'm looking at the statement The world today you know the internet I thought he was going to blame social media at some point for this I'm like dude Waddell traded you like Thomas Harley had his stuff packed it's remarkable that guys just I think sometimes

It's society's fault I think sometimes it's just so much easier to take zero accountability and just say well not my fault. I'm just here to play hockey. Like it's, it's so see-through and it's so thinly veiled. I think that's another reason why I'm not buying any of this situation. I think that what L probably just told him, look, we need to clam up and to say,

hey, you're going to play here so I can try and salvage something from this trade situation because it got to be the point where it was a pretty big mess. Yeah. And it's a prepared statement, probably written by his agent or someone. Like, you know, yeah. If it's a sit-down conversation and it's like you could tell by the body language and, you know, maybe I could be sold. But yeah, just floating that out there, it's kind of like, all right. Anyone with half a brain can see through this. But what a mess.

And then what a mess for Dallas who's had a Jason Robertson trade fall through. And now the Rorensky trade fall through. And then if you're Thomas Harley or your Matt Nye's waking up in the middle of summer, you're like, Does my team even want me? Well, I was going to ask you about Matt Nyes and what he's thinking right now because he's been in pretty much every trade rumor around for the Leafs. And at least they're big trade rumors. That's a credit to him.

But yeah, yeah, how is he feeling right now? And why are the Leafs so willing to trade them? Yeah. And at his season ending availability, which is last time us reporters got to talk to him, it was brought up the Montreal trade proposal. And one of the reporters said, hey, like, do you take it as a compliment that, you know, in order to trade for you, they were willing to give away three, four pieces, like great, great pieces. And he's like, no, I don't take it as a compliment. I take it as a crappy thing.

It makes me feel horrible. So that's how he felt back in April. I wonder how he feels today. Yeah, yeah, it's a compliment. Like, you're worth Rorensky, you know, you plus something else. but you know you start to wonder like I committed to this team you know long term at a very team friendly rate I didn't press them and haggle as an RFA I you know I especially with Toronto's history of guys that really did press them and milk them for all their worth I signed pretty easily I've said nothing but good things I played hurt most of the year and now all I hear is is you want to get rid of me it's it's a very interesting situation and you know everyone's going to say the right thing publicly but you wonder how how that guy feels like he motivated i want to stick it to these guys and prove him wrong or is he disheartened

and and yeah it's going to be interesting to see how things go here hey luke real quick i did want to ask you because you've covered this guy before what did you think about the oilers adding freddie anderson yeah um i really like freddie and i think he's matured a lot i had some good conversations with him during this most recent cup run. But the one thing I would say is, I don't know, and I think Carolina experienced it, I don't know if he's the guy when all chips are down and it's the brightest lights. I saw it in Toronto. I just saw it.

And I know he said he had a bad knee, but it's like the biggest, biggest moments. I don't know if he's up for it. So he'll get you there, though. Like, he's a workhorse and he has good stretches, and I think he can help them get them there. But I don't know, it's hard for me to envision a world where this is the guy you lean on in round four and he wins your cup. Luke, this was great, buddy.

Thanks for doing it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of today. Maybe we'll get some more signing. So tomorrow's an exciting day as well. Okay. All right. Thanks, having you on guys.

Take care. Yeah, thank you. That's Luke Fox from SportsNet here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So we should probably talk about that because we don't of an emminton guest. And we have a few minutes until the break. Toronto, not the only Canadian team that redid, remodeled its goalie position yesterday.

The Edmonton Oilers, and we will get to the darnel nurse trade in a second. But signed Freddie Anderson to a one-year, $2.8 million deal. It's pretty incentive-laden and bonus-laden. They also acquired Devin Levi from Buffalo, which puts Tristan Jari, the guy that they acquired last year to be the solution in that as the number three goalie in Edmonton right now. Now,

they still have cap space available to them. I wonder if they're just going to try and keep Jari around and just say this is a deal that didn't go great, but you're not going to be able to play. Will they be able to unload him? Is he going to be in the H.L on the kind of ticket that he's on? I just, I don't know where this goes. Yeah.

But they're very clearly moving on from what was an ultimately failed experiment with Tristan Jari. Yeah. Laddie, what do you think? Freddie Anderson? Can he stay healthy enough to, you know, do the thing? I mean, I just think it's very different playing goal for Carolina than it is for Edmonton. And Carolina, oftentimes, you actually do get tough chances, but you get limited chances.

And I just wonder what it's going to be like in Edmonton. I like them, but like you said, the key risk is him, how much can he play? How often is it going to be on the ice? I know Kevin Woodley raves about the underlying numbers that Anderson's had. his career, not just this past season. I've always said, like, he's a sneaky Hall of Fame debate. And I still think the Leafs made the wrong decision by letting him go.

I think he probably would have been their best option at the time instead of the whole Jack Campbell experiment. So, yeah, I don't mind the move, but like you said, like how much impact is he really going to have? And you really have to have him paired with somebody who can also be a pretty good goal to. One more

major Canadian market goaltending story. Stu Skinner, signing in Winnipeg. Yeah, he's going to tan him with Hellebuck, right? So, are we now just anticipating that Hallibuck's gone? Oh, yeah. That was the emergency stopgap. We need somebody.

We're just going to get our ducks in our roll before we trade Hellebuck kind of move, right? Now, here is he going to Buffalo? Because Levi went to Edmonton as well. Yep. But any trade for Hellebuck were probably involved Ukepeka-Lukinen? I think it would have to, right? Because he's got the contract. Right.

And they seemingly went with him as their guy. And now are they backing out on that? Like, I don't know what Buffalo's plan even is right now. So let's say, let's say. I'm surprised he gave up on Levi so early. Let's say, for argument's sake, that that's the deal. That it's Halibuck to Buffalo and UPL's coming back the other way. We know what it means for Buffalo.

They get an all-world goalie and they're going to be, honestly, I think it'll be a real force, like, if they're not already to contend with. But I'll have to give something off the roster, though. Yeah. well, UPL and something else, but I was almost going to say, yeah, yeah, it's like one for one. I was almost going to say, is Helbeck willing to go to Buffalo, but he's playing in Winnipeg right now and he signed there.

Apparently is. Yeah. So now you've got three Canadian teams, Edmonton, Toronto, and Winnipeg with dramatically different goaltending than they had a year ago. The biggest, obviously, would be Winnipeg is Helibuck's the franchise, essentially. But you've got this entirely new regime

in Edmonton and an entirely new regime in Toronto. in goal I'm talking about. So it becomes really interesting. I know you said prior to yesterday's show, like when we kicked it off, that you were really fascinating to see how the goalie market was going to play out in free agency,

because it had the potential to be the most interesting. And it's definitely delivered. And I wonder, I wonder if they can get, as we always tie everything back to the Canucks, if they can get Thatcher Demco. Yeah, I wondered about this yesterday. Back to hell.

Yep. And back to form what that does for this market. Now it's unfortunate that they weren't able to get in on the ground floor here, or there's all this moving and shaking on day one of free agency. The Oilers are still going to have a lot of cap space heading into the season unless they do something dramatic. And I think there's a few other teams that are leveraged with really good teams that have potential that aren't 100% sold on their goal tend. I honestly don't even think it would take like an entire season for people to believe that Demko is finally back because you could just tell them the story. like you just be like well yeah you had hip surgery

that's that's what he needed he cleared everything up everything I mean even if you're lying I don't know yeah just lie just lie just be like yeah he's good it works he's he's or just say we're like no he never had injuries okay we're up against her time that's hour one in the books and I need to remind

you as we close hour one that the Duick Auto Group is the official automotive sponsor of Halford and Brough find out why nobody beats a Duick deal and nobody has since 1926 visit Duick Jam on Marine Drive visit them downtown, visit them in Richmond or visit them online at the duikato group.com. Coming up in the 7 o'clock hour, Adnan Verk's going to join us for some MLB talk.

We have an open segment so we can get into all the other deals that happened yesterday in the NHL. We can also talk about the World Cup yesterday. It was a wild day with some very, very inspiring comebacks, including England after we left the studio yesterday. And we've got another great slated games today as well, including the round of 32 match at BC Place tonight. And I'll tell you this, I check the tickets this morning. If you want to go see a World Cup match, this is your opportunity tonight because the secondary market is flooded with tickets right now. What do you think you could get in for? You can get in for under 300 bucks. Really? Yep. Yep. You can get in for under 300 bucks right now.

8 o'clock kickoff at BC Place. Think about it. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet, 650.