Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Curious Allvin & Rutherford Dynamic

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they discuss the latest NHL news with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (26:23).  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.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. There's Kachuk. He scores. Hey, hey, what do you say? Brady Kach. The captain gets it done. Horsberg shoots and scores. Philip Forsberg's got two.

Halford, you're good at turning on guys? I mean, Jack's off making time with Tate McCray in the village. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough, it is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Hey, dog, 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. Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest, two much lower payments in three. Financial peace of mind.

Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them in 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming live from the Kintech. studio. Now's the time to maximize the benefits of custom orthotics before the year runs out.

Visit kintech.com. Time now for our guest list. Better known as the Duick Morning Drive, brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Big one today. Guest list today begins at 630. Greg Wischinski, our NHL insider from ESPN. I believe he texted Adog yesterday that he was, quote, so bleeping excited, end quote, to talk to us this a.m. in the wake of the Quinn Hughes trade. So very much looking forward to that. Greg is going to join us at 630. That's Wushinsky, not Ballack. He's not always bleeping excited to join you guys?

More bleep and excited, end quote. 7 o'clock, Brandon Batchler, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks. He's on the call tonight. Canucks Rangers, 4 o'clock puck drop from MSG. Batch will join us for a game-dame preview at 7 a.m. At 8 a.m., Jim Cernie is going to join the program, Executive Editor of Forever Blue Shirts. So Batch is going to join at 7 to preview from the Canucks side.

Jim is going to join us at 8 to preview from the Rangers side. Did you know, Jason? There are only three teams in the NHL right now tied for dead last with just four wins at home. Two of them meet tonight in New York. The Rangers and the Canucks.

Who's the other one? The Los Angeles Kings. Yeah. Oh, right. They haven't played as many games at home, though. So there's an asterisk beside it, but still, there's only three teams in the NHL with four home wins. The Rangers, the Canucks, and the Kings.

At 8.30 this morning, get this. Dale Weiss is going to join the program. Yeah, Dale Weiss. Remember him, former Vancouver Canucks? We're going to talk to Dale Weiss about culture because Dale Weiss has talked about culture. He talked about the culture the Cedine set in Vancouver on a podcast appearance not too long ago.

Has culture been a thing lately with the Vancouver Canucks? Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I was told it wasn't an issue, so I don't even know why we're having Dale Weiss on the show. Totally random, but very cool. Dale Weiss is going to join us at 830. Finally, Golf Town giveaway, $250 gift card to Golf Town. Caller number 5 at 7.30 this morning. And then at 8, it is the final day of the Halford & Brough 12 days of Christmas.

I will miss you, Halford & Brough, 12 days of Christmas. Last day today, last prize, caller number 5 at 8 a.m. For both of those call-ins, 604-280-0-650. That number again, 604-280-6-50. I will do my best to remind the listening audience of the call-ins. the 7.30 contest for Golf Town and the 8 o'clock contest for Halford and Brough's 12 days of Christmas. That's what's happening on the program today. It's a big one. Without further ado, Laddie, let's 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 losing. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss that? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving safety simpler by giving construction companies, invests in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. With his plate now nearly entirely clear of things to do, Patrick Alvin did some media on Monday and over the weekend.

A couple different interviews in the aftermath of the Quinn Hughes trade, including one with SportsNets Ian McIntyre. Yeah, this is an article that IMAC wrote, and a lot of it's on Zev Boullum and what, he's going to bring to the Canucks and Patrick Alvin said of the trade in the addition that I think a lot of people are excited about, especially since watching and play against the New Jersey Devils the other night. He said, hopefully this inspires the team here and the veterans that signed long term and believe in this team and organization and want to play here.

I think it's important for them to see that we're getting NHL players ready to play and impact the team right away. I also hope they trust in our relationship, myself and Adam, with the players and see what we're trying to do. Oh yeah? What are you trying to do? And then Alveen said, we're trying to be aggressive and trying to make our team better. That sounds good. And I need them to lead and guide our young players every day in order to get better. Now, well, hold on. Players signed long term include forwards Elias Pedersen, Brock Bessor, Connor Garland, Jake DeBrusk, and then there's

Horonick and Marcus Pedersen locked up on the back end with two goalies signed, Demko and Lankanin. That's a lot of commitments for a team that hasn't been very successful and they all have some degree of trade protection, all of them. Although Garlands and I believe Demko's don't kick in until July 1st, that's according to puck

The Canucks clearly want to remain competitive, which is to say there's no indication that they will be intentionally bad next season. They're not going to tank. As always with this franchise, there's an urgency to this retool, as evidenced by Alvin's comments on Landon Ferraro's podcast. 100% Canucks podcast. It's about the Canucks. It should be 110%. But I digress. Where Alvin said that it was important for the players they acquired in the Hughes

Trey to be NHL players, not prospects in college or junior. They want guys who can contribute right away, or at the very least, sooner rather than later. And I think a lot of people read these comments right now, and they're like, Impatience has gotten this team into trouble before. So I guess we'll see how they do this time around. But this time, Jason, surely it will be different. Yeah, you know, there's also been reporting from Thomas Durantz, where he has pointed out that even when the Canucks are totally out of the playoffs,

how they finish is important like they want them to win which is which goes against I mean some would say common sense because the worst if you're out of it if you're totally out of it do you care how you finish

because for draft positioning it only hurts but the Canucks aren't a business where you're trying to sell tickets and when I'm not

a season ticket holder, but I think the season ticket renewal date is usually in February. Right. So you need, you want to have something to sell. And the season ticket base is, is your lifeline. You know, that's the lifeblood of any sports franchise. So when you're rebuilding and, you know, like it is, it is harder, I think. Like you want to be able to, what one, one thing I, I pointed out. like a month ago i think on the show and we talked about this for a bit was

the connects are really good at get like talking themselves into the team next season yeah like there's always there's always some semblance of hope you never they never go into a season where it's like yeah you know what like we're we're we're not going to be very good and and that's for the better of the franchise like so just bear with us there's never there There have been from other teams. There have been from other teams. And some of them have done well because of it. And some of them like Buffalo, which we'll get to in a bit.

They haven't done well. But the Canucks have always been like, you know what? There's reason for optimism that we could be a playoff team. And I think a lot of that is a strategy because you don't want to lose your season ticket members. Well, it's also predicated on the very first. the first part of Rick Tuckett's coaching tenure in Vancouver. Remember when he came on in the aftermath of the Bruce There It Is era. And I remember talking to Drance about this.

And there was a lot of importance placed on what Tuckett did at the end of that season, setting the stage for the next year. Like it becomes a lot more difficult. But I don't know how much of that was marketing. Some of that was like the team. But I'm saying both can exist to create a similar goal. Sure. Not only are we going to improve morale and potentially keep some of our season. holders around. We're also going to instill some of the things that we want to do

in the not so distant future on the horizon where we want to try and quote unquote be competitive again. Now they haven't been competitive in two years. This year I think is going to be really interesting because the template is there to make a bunch of moves and subtract a bunch of veterans skaters in light of the fact that you just traded away your best player and captain. The template is there. The template is absolutely there. But I'm not sure that they're going to follow the script. I also want to point out that this is Patrick Alvin saying all these things. So I'm not sure how much weight it actually carries. Can we play the audio from yesterday? So this is from the Spit and Chicklet's podcast. This is Bill

Garan, the general manager of the Minnesota Wilde, who orchestrated the biggest trade in the National Hockey League by far this season. And one of the biggest trades the NHL has seen in the last five, ten years, the Queen Hughes trade. Listen to all of the clip because he makes it pretty apparent right at the start that his initial call was to Patrick Alvin, and then the subsequent call was right to Jim Rutherford. Here is Bill Guerin, the general manager of the Minnesota Wild talking with the spit and chicklets guys about how the deal for Quinn Hughes came together. One of my AGMs, Matt Seld called me.

Matt Sells called me. I was on my way to watch a game at MSG, and he's like, you know, I'm just reading all this stuff about Quinn Hughes. Maybe it's worth giving Vancouver a call. And I'm like, yeah, you know what? I'll give him a call, so I talked to Patrick, he told me Jim was handling it, so the next, you know, the next day I called Jim, and, you know, I just, I made him that offer right away. You didn't bounce it all, you didn't consult any of your staff, or you just. No, I mean, no, no, like, we talked about it, but it's obvious who, listen, they wanted, they needed a center, a left shot defenseman, a prospect, and a first round pick.

that oh we have that that easy well we have that so i mean that's just really the way it worked and um yeah i was walking around uh laguardia waiting for my flight home and jim and i were on the phone i i just offered that to him and you know he he jim's great to work with like he he really just kind of he works through deals with you but there's no there's no bull evolved like uh straight to the point which i which i love and and um you know but he had to take he had to take time because there are apparently there are other teams interested as well so you know he's got to do what's best for for his team so um you know i i had to you know kind of sit and wait but check in with him every once in a while it was it's always a good process with those

guys now it is understandable that patrick alveen was busy and maybe couldn't deal with the Quinn Hughes, because he was, of course, getting the Max Sassone deal across the line yesterday. Yeah, that was the thing on his plate. That was, it took up the majority of the plate. Yeah. Sessone's agent is a beast. Yeah, he's a beast. He's a beast.

Danny the Beast Millstein, they call him. Oh, yeah, that is a Danny Millions client. Yeah. Didn't you see the timeline yesterday? Dan Milstein beat the Canucks to the punch on the announcement by one minute on social media. He posted a picture of him and Max Sassone having a celebratory dinner. And then, of course, the Connucks posted a minute later that Patrick Alvin announced that the club has agreed to terms with forward Maxis on on a two-year contract with a $1 million AAV. Yeah, he got a quote too.

I know. He was quote-worthy in the press release. Patrick Alvin said, Max has made the most of the opportunity presented to him this season and has provided us with some solid play. Solid play. There you go. Better than bad play. It's true. Since signing with the organization on a college, he has shown significant improvement.

using his speed, yes, and skill to build a strong foundation for his future. Max was a key contributor to our championship run last year in Abbotsford, and we're excited to watch him continue to grow as a player. Is it worth noting that Sassone is still waivers exempt and could be sent back to Abbotsford? It's worth noting.

If there's, I mean, there's a bit of a numbers crunch right now with the Canucks. And I don't think Pedersen, is going to play tonight in New York against the Rangers, but I believe I read that he's expected to play at some point on this trip. There's four games left on this trip. They got a few days off after this one, right? They don't play again until Friday against Bo Horvatt and the New York Islanders.

So I wonder if that might be the game that he returns. Give him three more days to get over whatever it is that's ailing them. Are they all going to do some touristy stuff in New York? Yeah, like they got a lot of time. I don't know what they're going to do. They can find a bar to watch a Seahawks and Rams on them. Thursday. Oh, right.

That's important. Yeah. We should mention that the Rangers lost again at home last night. I watched this game, and the crowd was not happy with the home team. They lost 4-1 to the docks, a couple of empty-netters at the end. And were they both empty-netters at the end? I don't know.

I know there was one empty-nettor, and then I was like, I turned it off. And I know that the goalie Shisterkin. and had a bit of a spaz after. He flipped out and smashed his stick walking down the tunnel. The Rangers yet again have an inability to score goals on home ice. Just one last night, as you mentioned there now, 4-9-3 at MSG this year. And last night, they were without the services of Mika Zabinajad. Now, I want to go down the road here a little bit.

This is just something to keep an eye on. Just something to keep an eye on, okay? So prior to the game yesterday, Mike Sullivan got up to the podium and announced that Mika Zabinajad was going to be. scratched, healthy scratch from last night's game against the Anaheim Ducks. Can we play the audio? Here's Sullivan's explanation as to why. Mika will not

play tonight because he violated a team rule. He missed a team meeting this morning. And so he will not play tonight. He'll be available tomorrow. Meek and I had a conversation about it. You know, there are logistical challenges

that this city presents sometimes. But having said that, I think Mika understands, you know, the importance of that the rules that we all expect of one another. So I'm watching this media yesterday, and Sullivan's almost spoke for two minutes about this. I'm like, it feels like an awfully long time and an awfully long explanation for what seems like a pretty straightforward story. Zabinajad misses a team meeting. There's a punishment. He misses a game.

After the game, and I don't know who the report. reporter was, but an intrepid New York Rangers reporter asked Mike Sullivan, hey, wait a minute, is this the first time Mika Zabinajad missed a meeting, or is this happened, and is he a repeat offender? Listen to what Sullivan had to say after the 4-1 loss to Anaheim. Was it a one-time thing for him missing a meeting or hadn't happened before? No, listen, I'm not going to get into specifics on why we make decisions the way we made him, okay? we believe strongly in a process that we've put in place here for our team. And it's as simple as that, that we all believe in

and we have a certain set of expectations that we all hold ourselves accountable to. And at the end of the day, that's what it's about. And we all take ownership and responsibility for it. Meek and I had a discussion. We made a decision and we move on. He's an important player for us. He's a terrific player, and he's a terrific person. Who's the captain?

in there. Yeah. Tighten up that ship up a little bit. I have no idea I'm going on. Here's the thing, though. All Sullivan had to say was, no, but he didn't.

He went on a really weird explanation. That was the first word he said. But he cut himself off. He said no. He was going to... Listen. See? He said no.

I don't think he was going to start saying why it was only the one time, but then he went into it, like you just went in a totally different direction. I don't know what's going on in New York, but I know it's not good. Yeah. And here's what I were, when Matt Barzell got scratched for being late for, I think it was the team bus with the Islanders this year.

I do remember Arthur Stapled jumping onto Twitter and saying generally when this happens, it's not the first time. Like you usually get a pass when it's the first, like if you miss one meeting or you're late for one meeting, generally they don't lay the hammer down. Is Mika coming into meetings 10 minutes late or missing them? They'd be like, ah, the subway again. Like, that's what I'm wondering. Late. Because that, that explanation was great. The number 10 or whatever it is.

They took the L train and he ended up, like, I don't know where, in the Bronx somewhere. Yeah, right? I don't know. But it's, this is a team that's obviously hanging on by a thread in terms of like their season being on the line. Their seventh place in their division. The Miller captaincy and subsequent play has not been great. They have been awful at home. historically bad for that organization at home

and now this happens and of course now the Vancouver Canucks go in there tonight I have no idea what to expect tonight the Rangers are either going to be and Mika Zabinajad in particular are going to be like the most passionate pissed off team ever or they're just going to be what the Rangers have been all year at home which is flat I'm a little more excited to watch games now

oh yeah are you yeah yeah yeah it's more interesting right oh far more interesting yeah there's something to it's not it's not just the same old same old and I'm not saying I didn't enjoy watching Quinn Hughes play hockey. Like, don't, don't, don't, don't use it as that way, right? I appreciated the moments that we had, but there's a curiosity factor to these new guys now. I want to watch more of Zev Bouillon.

I really want to try and get a handle on Marco Rossi as a player too because he's going to be very important for the Vancouver Canucks. There are segments in this organization that I truly believe think that if Philip Heedal had stayed healthy things would be much different right now okay well you got your heedel replacement now so the next thing and all it cost was Quinn Hughes the next thing I'm wondering about now

and if I'm trying to read the T-Lives organizationally is when the Vancouver Canucks either quietly or publicly state that in addition to all the injuries that happened this year that one of the big issues that plagued the team was the Quinn Hughes distraction

that that really was an issue throughout so it's like we lost Heatle, we lost Demko, we had the Hughes Cloud hanging over us for the first 30 plus games of the season. The Hughes Cloud is appropriate because it looked like it was following Quinn the whole time. Because he did, because here's the thing. Did he do everything he could physically and like maybe not effort wise, but was he playing a ton and trying to win games? Yes. There were only a couple of effort issues. It was like five seconds combined. Yeah. Was there a Paul cast over the team also yes i thought when adam foot openly acknowledged and he's like yep it's a thing

everyone knows about it it's an issue he probably knew the trade was coming then i think that's part of it as well yeah and you just wonder how long that was hanging around now there's another very interesting dynamic uh this comes at a time where a god awful team like nashville has just won seven of its last 10 where sometimes sparks happen and it doesn't really make any sense Between Demko coming back, and he did look very good against New Jersey, I thought. And he got through the game healthy, which is a big thing. Between Demko coming back and the Hughes trade being consummated and the new guys, plural, bump. They didn't play all that well against the time.

I'm not saying. I'm not saying playing well. Right. I'm saying, I wonder if there's a run of results where they go like six and four over their next 10. Yeah. Demko has the potential to get them some results for sure. And that's where not only are the leaders of the tank commander, like the tank command going to, like the tank command going to be upset. But that's where the organization might start talking itself into. Maybe we can

turn this thing around quicker. Maybe we can use some of these guys that are still around. And by that, I mean the Bessers and the Garlands and everyone else who's inked long term. And we're going to replenish with guys in that 23 to 27 age range and we're going to give it the old college try. Again, I think that they've got, as we talked about earlier, they've got the template. to do this thing in the right way. You did the big piece of it. You got a really nice return for Hughes. Keep going down that road.

Keep going. You're doing a great job. Don't stop now. The race is long. It's a long one, right? But I can kind of see where this is going. And it's, you know, I think a lot of fans are going to be left frustrated

that what they consider to be a full-scale rebuild is like so many other iterations going to look like a retool. Wish is going to join us next. we'll talk to Wish about the Quinn Hughes trade and he's excited to discuss that with us and we'll also discuss the Buffalo Sabres finally

and I mean finally firing Kevin Adams and replacing him the new general manager is Yarmou Kekeleinen and I've got a question about that and the question is did did the Sabers

essentially do an extensive search for Adams replacement and then give the winner a tryout of sorts. Yes, that's exactly what happened. Because, you know, they said that they did. So Yarmal Kekyllian joined the Sabres as a senior advisor in May. Yep. And they said they did a big search for that and in which Yarmal stood out as their top choice for that position. So why didn't they just make him general manager right away. Did they want to make sure that like everyone liked him when he got in there? You know,

because that would have been a good time to fire Kevin Adams last off season instead of, you know, now. I think they let him sit around and watch everything that was going on. And then at the end, he had to like report a, give a presentation about what he would do if he was the general manager. And they're like, what an uncomfortable situation. Okay, we'll talk about that with Greg Wischinski coming up next on the Halford Abrupt show on Sportsnet 650. Friendly reminder, the first segment of this program was brought to you by the Duick Auto Group.

Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal nobody has since 1926. Visit Duick, GM on Marine Drive, visit them downtown. Visit them in Richmond and visit them online at the duik Auto Group.com. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. 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. 632 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody.

Halford and Brough, SportsNet, 650. Halford and Brother of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Only a licensed and solvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. To learn more, visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are in our one of the program. Greg Wischinski from ESPN is going to join us in just a moment here, the highlight of hour one. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit the Middle 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Our next guest is always excited to join the program, but this week he's especially excited. Greg Wischinski, our NHL Insider from ESPN, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Wish?

Mike, does your radio show have a culture problem? We do. It does, actually. We'll fully admit that. We have an asking questions problem as well. That was, I was so excited. I was so excited to hear Jason ask that question. One, because I think that he should put on his Johnny journalist hat more

and go and do more press conferences because it's fun. Because you have everybody diddling around with these dumb, long questions, and then you have, like, Mr. Blunt come in with just like, Does your team suck and need to get blown up? It's great. I think there needs to be more questions like that. I hate the long, careful, tiptoeing questions. I can't stand them.

Just spit it out. I got to be out. I think one of my talents is to go into a situation of post-game interviews and just ask my question. And undoubtedly, it gets a good answer and I get a news story out of it. I don't know why. I think it's because, and this is some good advice for the young journalists out there,

go into every interview believing it's the last time you're ever going to talk to somebody. Seriously, that's my... I think it might be, you're mine. Yeah, and again, like, you know, if it is, so be it. You know, they're probably not going to be somebody

of value anyway for you going forward. I mean, it's probably the reason I can't be a beat writer because I have this mentality, but like, just go into the situation believing that they'll never talk to you again and just get what you need and ask what you want to ask.

And I think you asked a good question and he gave a touch, terrible answer because there's obviously a toxicity to this franchise that led to them having to trade their franchise defensemen. Yeah. I walk, okay, so to take you behind the scenes, we came in on Friday to do a late night emergency show in the

aftermath of the Q's trade. So we're sitting in our prep lounge and we aired the call with Alvin on our own radio station. So I'm listening to our station and Breft's behind me and then I turn around. I'm like, are you on the call right now? I had no idea he was doing it. And then

so this is all happening in the moment. and then sure enough there's this you know he asks like does your team have a culture problem like this should be good and lo and behold Alvin I don't think he could have been any less prepared to feel that question yeah he was not on our team like yeah

no the BC Lions and then we have a sorry just to have to cut you up but I just want to reiterate I said this yesterday too like I thought not only was it an important and the right question to ask I didn't think it was that hard of a question because

It lends itself to a yes. It did not come out of left field. And it lends itself to a yes or no answer. If you can't answer it, that might be your answer right there. And I think that's kind of what we saw with Alvin when he tried to do it. For sure. So me and Rachel Kreishek, me, Dory, who knows a thing or two about the Canucks, have a dual byline story coming out in the next hour, probably on ESPN.com,

that chronicles everything Quinn Hughes, like the trade, it's like everything you could want and including the mistakes made by the Canucks in the past that led to this moment and the moment is not necessarily the reason why Quinn Hughes is leaving. I still think there's a good

percentage of his decision that is based on the same thing it was based on for Matthew Chuck. He wanted to play in the States. He wanted to be closer to home. These are things that they can't compete with. But there certainly wasn't a counter argument made by this team.

based on the culture, based on the results on the ice, that would compel him to stay. I know there's definitely people around the organization that believe if the team was better, he'd stay. So, I mean, there's something to be said for that. But I do think that there's other forces pulling him in a different direction. And the bottom line, boys, is that, like, now that we know the timeline, and, you know,

Rutherford said a year and a half, Alvin said a year. Now that we know the timeline of when they started to believe that Quinn wasn't going to resign, this is malpractice what they've done with this team. Like from the long-term contracts to hiring Quinn's guy as your, like all of that stuff in service of desperately trying to make the case to have him stay when a year and a half ago you started to believe he wouldn't is insane for this franchise. Yeah, I'll say I tried to give them a little bit of leeway or leverage by suggesting

that going into this season with. Adam Foote as the head coach who may have been personally selected by Quinn Hughes and then the moves that they made was the old one last college try like we got to give it one more shot so I can understand that logic but whatever the case

even if you appreciate the effort it still failed spectacularly so you don't really get that much credit for trying and failing miserably I'd say they get no they get no credit this is like finding out your ex-girlfriend got engaged and then buying her a car it's insane

It's absolutely bonkers if they went down this road. You know, listen, I think they did good on the trade. I really do. Like, I think Booiam's great, both from a non-ice perspective and an off-ice perspective, all the people now coming out of the woodwork and criticizing Quinn for how he handled himself as captain in the community and all this nonsense. We'll love Booiam because I think he's an absolutely charisma machine off the ice. I think Rossi's a good top six center.

The wild didn't like him for various and hundred reasons. I think he's good. And then, you know, the first and, and, and, and, and, and, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a really good return for them being behind the eight ball on Quinn. But it's just the kind of thing that should be of a piece with what is already, should be a rebuild that's in motion. And I know that, you know, Rutherford finally will allow the words to emerge from his mouth or at least his pen in a, in a press release. Um, but, uh, but these, these wheels should have been turned a year ago. And, and, and so that's, that's where the franchise is. What do you think about the dynamic that Rutherford and Alveen have? Because Rutherford handled the Quinn Hughes trade,

and his reason was that Patrick had a lot on his plate, which kind of caused some eye-rolling. And I think there have been various reports here and there that people don't really know who to talk to when they come to Vancouver for a deal and Bill Guerin, I guess, was on Spit and Chicklets, talking about the Quinn Euse trade. And he said he called up the Canucks looking for Patrick Alvin and Patrick was like, actually, Jim's handling the

the biggest trade in franchise history. I got so many other things going on. So Jim's going to handle that. What do you think about that dynamic? So I love the idea of like Patrick Alvin, you know, well, listen, I've got to find a caterer for the Christmas party. Yeah, yeah. So many things.

Well, they just announced the Max Cessone extension here. So that was... Extension, yeah. There's a lot on its plate when... That was a tough one. That was a tough one. A lot on its plate when, you know, you're trying to trade the most important player in your franchise to restart a rebuild.

I actually don't find it to be that weird, to be honest with you. Like, Jim Rutherford came to Vancouver to be the head of the machinery for the hockey operations department. And, you know, like, if you have a... trade that's important, do you want it in the hands of your GM? Or do you want it in the hands of the guy who was the GM for two different Stanley Cup championship teams who has a long, you know, I mean, I know Alvin does too, but Rutherford has a longstanding mentor-mente relationship with Bill Garron and other GMs in this league, including Tom Fitzgerald.

So like, I don't find it to be that weird that they gave him the ball. It's no different than like one lawyer does all the legwork on a case, but then it's like, the guy whose name is on the outside of the building gets to do the case itself. You know what I mean? It's that kind of dynamic and I don't, I find it weird that they like do press conferences at the same time. That's kind of strange. But

I don't find it weird that Rutherford's ultimately the guy that was you know, running point on this. Okay, where do you think this leaves the Minnesota wild because they've got a heck of a player. They've gotten an unbelievable

blue line now. But they've also got, I think, questions down the middle and perhaps more importantly than anyone a very tough path out of their division in the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, that's really the issue, right? Is that now they have somebody who can match Kail McCarr that can ask Muriel Heiskinen.

They don't have somebody that can match Nathan McKinnon or that can match Jack Eichel or maybe even match Wyatt Johnson based on how he's playing Like, there's still a donut of a team up front and even got thinner with Rossi not being there. And so I think the thing about the wild is that you have to assume this is the first step of many. You have to assume that if they're taking this kind of swing with Quinn for at least the next two seasons, that they're clearly are going to find some solution in the middle that will help them compete better with the teams they're going to have to beat in order to play for the cup. and the good news is that they do have cap flexibility to do that

and the good news is that their prospect pipeline, thank you former Kanox executive Jed Brackett, is as good as you're going to find in the league. So they've got the assets to move to try to take a huge swing in the next two years. But yeah, this has got to be the first part of many in trying to create the totality of a team that can play for the cup because I still think, like you said, The real issue is that, you know, you've got Queen Hughes,

but then you also have Colorado and Dallas as, you know, potential playoffs opponents, including in the first round. What are Devils fans saying these days? They got bigger fish to fry. The team is plummeting down the standings and everybody's injured. No, you know, there's two schools of thought on it. I mean, the one is that, you know, this is just a bump in the road to 2027 when Quinn will obviously sign with the doubles and join his brothers and then they'll all be happy in New Jersey. And then there's the other thought, which is the same thought that they had with, it was Detroit leading up to the trade, that these guys will all play together somewhere else.

And so, you know, the fact that Quinn seems really enthusiastic about Minnesota, that he's got an incredible relationship with Garron. that they're top to bottom maybe going to have a better roster in two years than the devil's well in Syria. I mean, they have Caprisoff. They've got a franchise goalie in Walsh, they've got a deep blue line. I mean, he's going to love playing with favor. There's a number of reasons why one could believe that Quinn extends there. And if Quinn extends there, then the idea is that Jack would leave in 2030 and join his brother in Minnesota. You're going to hear a lot, I think, in the next year or so of the idea.

idea that Quinn extends there for three years and then him and Jack become like the superstar free agents we've all craved in the NHL and take their talents as a package of the old somewhere, which ultimately is probably Detroit. But yeah, I think double fans are just trying to wrap their heads around what didn't happen, why it didn't happen, and if it's still going to happen in two years. We will get to the Buffalo general manager situation, but I did want to focus on the New Jersey one for a second. It feels like, and I know, again, social media can be, you know, you kind of curtail and you see what you want to see.

But I have noticed a lot of, a lot of smoke, a lot of fire and a little bit of resentment around the general manager, Tom Fitzgerald, and the amount of no trade clauses that he's handed out and how that might have come back to bite him here. And then I saw a report, I can't remember where it was from. It was from NJ.com about, you know, they've got the full support of ownership. So what's exactly going on at the executive level in New Jersey right now? Well, what's happened is that Arthur Staples, who you guys know, put out. out this notion that there's heat around Fitzgerald. And so then that had to be answered by a bunch of people because Arthur's obviously

been in the market forever and there's a notion that if you put something like that out there that's got something to it, I think it would be asinine to fire the general manager at this point in the season when the team is basically the HL roster. I mean, like missing Q's, missing Meyer, missing Pesci, missing Kofa, like they're missing so many pieces right now that it's hard to really get a handle on what this team is. and by the way, when Jack Hughes was there, they had the second highest points percentage in the league behind Colorado.

So like, there's something there. Like, there's a good hockey team there. It just needs to be all playing at the same time. The criticism of Fitzgerald for some of the contracts that prevented them from making the Quinn Hughes trade, I think is legit. He was the guy that wanted Andre Palat. And he was the guy that signed Andre Palat to a contract

that pays him a pretty hefty age. and gave him full no trade protection. And when you do that, and then a couple of years later, you're stuck with a guy that doesn't really do much for you in the regular season and hasn't really moved the needle for you in the postseason. And you want to move that guy in order to service a Quinn used trade and you can't. Well, that's on you. That's on you for deciding to give that player that contract because that's how you felt

like you needed to lure him to your team. And so I think the criticism of Fitzgerald is real. I still think the devils have not recovered from letting Tyler Tifoli go. and not extending him. And so there's reasons to be critical of him, but there's also reasons to understand that the team is very much still in the playoff hunt despite missing so many pieces,

including their star player. And when all that comes back, probably in January, then we'll really get a sense of what he's built there. We're speaking to Greg Wischinski from ESPN here on the Halpert & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Okay, we'll turn our attention now to Buffalo.

So Kevin Adams is out as the general manager. Yarmot Keckleinen is in, And although, as Jason pointed out in the intro to this show, Yarmow was already in, because he was hired in May as a consultant. And Jason asked the question, was this a situation where the Sabres found, they had like a little bit of a contest to find who got to be the consultant. And then the consultant got a tryout to see if he could be the general manager. And then in December, they finally figured, yeah, now it's time to get rid of Kevin Adams. Yeah, clearly they bring in Yarmow to get a sense of the landscape before giving him. the job, but not in the sense that they wanted him to be, you know, assistant GM. I think having

him being a consultant kind of keeps him out of the everyday function of the team allowing Adams to do his job, but also allowing Kekalina to get a sense of all of the inner workings of the roster and giving him a jumping off point to this new gig. The moment that happened, it was pretty clear he was going to take over the team at some point. Is he the right guy? It's an interesting question because his calling card as an executive before Columbus was he was like a genius draft talent evaluator. He found a lot of players on the St. Louis Blues that really became impactful.

I don't necessarily think that that showed up in Columbus necessarily. But that being said, the thing that I love about him in this Buffalo job is his boldness. Like he made some moves in Columbus that were just like, the blue jackets are doing this kind of stuff.

Yeah, he was great. He was great. That one year, he went all in. Yeah, he made life really interesting for all of us. And so I've said for a while, I think the problem with the savers is that they're way too precious about the young players they have on their roster. And I think that they're at a mode where they need to start really being aggressive in shopping and own power and shopping some of these guys that have just been there. And yeah, you might regret it. You might live to regret not having some of these young players anymore, but you've got to turn them into something more productive.

and something that's going to help you in the now because it's just not working. And I think that Yarmot is the guy that will do that. He has absolutely no hesitation in making those kinds of bold moves and being a gambler a little bit. And I think that's what the franchise needs. Kevin Weeks is reporting that Connor Bedard has a separated shoulder. What are you hearing about his chances of being even considered now

for an Olympic roster spot? Well, I mean, it all depends on his, I mean, his recovery time. I mean, the last thing we heard from the Blackhawks was that they figured January, I think, right, was when they expected him back. So who knows now with this injury, what that means for his Olympic prospects? I, you know, listen, I think that he's someone who has certainly made a case for being on the team, but I don't necessarily know if it's the same case that Celebrini's made. You know, are they going to, would they take them both? I honestly don't know. I haven't, you know, all candor spent too much time.

the Canadian roster in the same way that I've analyzed maybe other rosters. Right. The finish one. But again, like if you're banged up, if you're injured, it doesn't necessarily mean you don't make the team because they can replace them if they wanted to if things don't work out. But it's certainly not great to get injured at this time in the season when these decisions have to start being made. Do you think J.T. Miller's going to be on the American team since you're focused on that one?

I do. I think that his offensive production and the way that he plays is so much in the mode of what Bill Guerin likes to put on this roster that I'd be, even with the sort of wonky year that he's had, I would still be surprised if he didn't make the cut. It's the guys that are a bit lower on the lineup that were on Four Nations that you know, you're Brock Nelson's and your Vincent Trochecks and your Chris Kreider's that you start to really wonder. about. And, you know, again, the interesting thing about this roster is the philosophy behind it, which is how many Cole Cawfields and Kyle Connors do you put on the roster versus those veteran 200-foot guys. And then, you know, we'll get a good sense of what they believe they need to win. Personally, I put all the offensive talent you can on that roster and just, like, have it get to sort out, you know, defensively for some of these guys. Like, I don't think that someone like Clayton Keller, for example, is a complete nothing defensively. It's just, like, not known for that necessarily as much as he's known for offense. So I'm more of the dip your ladle in the deep pool of offensive talent the Americans have now. And I don't think that necessarily is where the management of the team's head is at. Do you think Mike Sullivan is looking forward to getting to the Olympics and to coach a different team maybe? Based on when I saw last line, I wish there was a, I wish Russia was in the tournament,

because I'm sure it's just Shurkin wouldn't bind getting to the Olympics and not playing behind team. Yeah, you know, it's funny. It's hard to really think about the position that Sullivan and John Cooper and others are in right now, where they've got this whole thing happening in the NHL with their teams. And then in the same breath, they've got this moment that very few people in the world have ever gotten in this opportunity, which is to, you know, win an Olympic gold medal behind the bench of your nation's team. It's got to be a hell of a, you know, there's a bunch of Harvey Dentz out there. Just like, one face is the NHL, the other faces the Olympics,

and it's got to be really hard to reconcile that. Wish, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again. Actually, we won't do this again next Tuesday because we're on vacation. So I will wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and we'll do this again in

2026. You're the best. I don't think we need to say, but we love having you on the show. You're the best. Well, thank you so much. And happy holidays and safe and healthy for everyone. everybody out there. It's been a roll one couple of weeks for

my friends in Vancouver and hopefully this begins a process where things start looking up for the franchise. Thanks, Mal. Thanks, buddy. All the best. See ya. Greg Wschinsky from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Before we go to break, I need to remind you, it is

a Canucks game day tonight. It's the Canucks and it's the Rangers 4 o'clock puck drop. You can hear it right here on SportsNet 650. Because it is a Canucks game day, I need to tell you about Panago. Game Day the Panago way. Get any large pizza plus cheesy bread for only 2499. Use code Cadox at Panago.com.

You should Panago for it. Restrictions may apply. And because it's a Canucks game day, well, also because it's, what day is it, Tuesday? It's Tuesday. Brandon Bachelors going to join us next on the Alford & Proff show on Sportsnet 650.