Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Panthers Are Now The Villains

Episode Date: June 22, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the Sens trading Brady Tkachuk to Florida with Sportsnet Ottawa's Alex Adams (1:29), plus the boys talk the latest Canucks news with NHL.com & In Goal Magazine's Kevin Woodley (26:41). 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.

702 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford, Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. They're open seven days a week and they're open late to help you get debt free. With no judgment or upfront fees, visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are in our two of the program, Alex Adams. Senators writer from Sportsnet is going to join us in just a moment here.

Big day yesterday for the Ottawa Centers. Big day for the National Hockey League yesterday. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason Hominock at Jason. Dot Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Dot Mortgage.

We're coming live from the Kintech studio. Step Strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. I got some new shoes from Kintech the other day. I'm not wearing them right now. You just looked at me. We can. Oh, that's interesting. Those look like sandals.

Guests on SportsNet 650. Call in on the ABLE Auctions hotline. Email sales at abelhe auctions. to get your business assets sold and your building cleared. Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline. Our next guest, as mentioned, Senator's writer for SportsNet. Alex Adams joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Good morning, Alex. How are you? It's crazy out here, but I'm having a good day and I hope you guys are too. So I actually jumped on to X yesterday, and I saw that you did an emergency pod in the wake of the Brady-Cadject train. You were all over it right from the get prior to releasing the emergency pod. Let's go all the way back. To when you heard this news, given that you cover the team on a daily basis and you know the inner workings, how shocked were you when you saw that trade come across your desk or your phone or wherever you first heard it?

I was stunned by how sudden and that there wasn't necessarily like kind of any, you know, like Dylan Marken asking out or obviously you guys know with like Quinn Hughes and kind of all the turmoil that surrounded him. But it's not shocking to me. But I was stunned when it came across. And then it's Florida and he's going back to obviously be back with his brother, Matthew, and you're like, oh my God, it's the Bash brothers. And now he's going to be playing against the senators four or five times a year, which I think will be quite interesting to say the least. I'm excited for that first game back in Ottawa. But I think ultimately everything that surrounded him this year from the Olympics, off the ice. He seemed worn down. He didn't seem like the same guy that

was kind of committed to Ottawa. And, you know, he said maybe the right things at the end of the season. But I'm not that surprised that it happened. And I think, you know, Steve Steyos made the right decision. If he didn't have a firm commitment from Brady to Chuck to wanting to stay in Ottawa, you have to trade him now, get as much as you can. And I think Steyos did a pretty good job, all things considered with, you know, his hands tied behind his back with a no move and Brady only really wanting to go to Florida. Did he lie or at the very least mislead Sends fans at the end of the season? That's a good question. And a tough one to answer.

I don't want to be the one click-baited and said that he lied. But I don't know if he necessarily said the whole truth. I think that's what I would say. I don't think that I think I will say you know there's a lot of fan bases and people that have said

oh the whole time he wanted out and he always wanted to leave Ottawa I don't think that's necessarily the case I think this year with the USA the winning to gold the politics of it all like Ottawa you know obviously the capital of Canada

like we feel the politics I think more than maybe other cities in the country and everything with terrorists and we don't have to go into it. But I think that weighed on how the fans reacted to him. I asked him, I remember at the end of the year and said, you know, how much has like the kind of the online Twitter toxic discourse affected you? And he said a lot and he tried to get off Twitter.

And I think just all of that being on his phone and seeing on the negativity, I think, really made him, I think, feel like he didn't feel at home in Canada and in Ottawa, which is a shame because he never got booed. The fans at the games loved him, but ultimately he wanted out. And I don't know if he lied, but he was pretty close to it, I think. And being in the room the day for his exit interview,

you know, I think a lot of sentence fans read it the way they wanted to. But being there, I did not get the sense that that was a guy that was like, keep me here. I want to be a senator for life or for a long time, which he never said. And he kind of dismissed, you know, all the rumors.

But he didn't really vouch to kind of bring a cup to Ottawa or want to be here for a long time. So that was kind of the nail in the coffin, in my opinion. Let's label it Extreme Spin. There you go. Okay. How's that? Okay. Where does this leave the Sends and what are they going to do about it?

So, I mean, Frege has been reporting that they're going to likely use, I don't know, know if they'll use the ninth overall pick, but they might, but they just got. And they'll use some of the picks that they've gotten to go out and get a player. It doesn't seem like Jason Robertson wants to come to Ottawa, who would have thought. So that's

one name that, you know, people were thinking about. I think Stavis is going to be quite aggressive to kind of get maybe not a like-for-like replacement, but go quite all in to find another winger that this team needs. Because they have plenty of centers. They just

basically scoring wingers, which is really hard to find. I don't know if they'll be able to do it. I think this is the real test of the trade, right? Obviously, Ottawa just got picks. So if those picks turn into fairy dust and the sends whiff on the picks or on whatever trades they make, then the trade looks way worse than if they get Jared McCannan, Mason McTavish, and the sends are a hundred point team next year.

And you're like, okay, you know, they don't have a Brady-Cachukka on their team, but they're still a pretty darn good team. So they're going to be really active. I'd expect them to make a trade in the next week for some sort of scoring prolific score. We'll see if they can pull it off. And if not, then the Sins are kind of back a couple steps

in terms of the rebuild and where they're at. Is Jake DeBreska a name that you've heard in Ottawa? I mean, I don't know if I'd call him prolific, but he scores a lot on the power play. He's a good net front guy, really good hands in front of that. net. Yeah, I mean, they've been linked to him. I don't love the fit personally.

I don't know what you guys think. I think it's a great fit, and they should give up whatever they've got. Yeah, Jake DeRest. I think it's, he's, yeah, he's high character, high character. Yeah, it's like the tired versus wired means. But I think, I think Jake DeBrest could maybe make some sense. Maybe you get Fabian Zetterlin back, who's kind of the same. thing except not as talented or as skilled, but can shoot the puck and plays pretty hard and

kind of like almost like a contract swap. I'll take your not so great contract and we'll take back. I think the connects will be looking for picks. The connects are looking for futures. That's what they want. Maybe a second round pick. I don't think the first one pick would be there for Jake DeBresk. If they do, I'm going to critique the senators. But anyways, we'll see what happens. But that kind of player, they probably need two Jake DeBrest-esque players hopefully better, but in that kind of realm of, because they have Tim Sto, they have Dylan cousins, they have Schenka, they have enough centers. So that's not an area of need.

So hopefully they'll be easier for them to acquire than trying to get a second line center, which is like what teams look for forever and never are able to find. But I think they're in an okay spot. The timeline shifts from Brady-Kutchecks, you know, they, he had two years left on his contract. The senators right now have Jake Sanderson and Tim Stoza on really team-friendly contracts until 2031. So five more years, that is their window to compete. And I think if I'm Steve Stato's, I wouldn't go all in for next year,

but I try to put the pieces in place to feel like I can win a cup or get back into that contention window in the next two or three years. And I think it's possible, but it's going to be tough to do, but we'll see. So is Jake Sanderson now going to get the questions? It's like, where are you from, Jake? Do you want to go back there? He grew up in Canada. And I think, yeah, I mean, it's going to happen.

I think the interesting question, like Steve Seos is speaking with us at some point today. And if it's not me, someone's going to ask him saying, hey, you have the ninth overall pick. Let's say on your big board, the best player available is from the U.S. and he's at the U.S. you know, the National Development Center. Do you draft Americans now? Because I think that's the issue.

You guys saw it in Vancouver with Quinn Hughes. There's the Matthews question, the Cachuk brothers, Connor Hellebuck, all those things like, do you, as a Canadian organization, with a top 10 pick draft an American?

I think that is the question that we'll, I think we'll find out. And I think we kind of know where this is heading, which is a shame, but I think it's going to now play into a factor, at least in Ottawa. And I hope it does to some degree. I hope I wish it didn't, but I think at this point, you know, it's clear that a lot of Americans don't want to play in Canada, which I think is absurd, honestly, but it's the reality. And I think that's going to be something that we see moving forward.

Where is the relationship between the Ottawa Senators and Linus Allmark right now? Where's the trust level? That's a great question. I thought if you had asked me that question on March 25th, I would have a very different answer than I do right now. I think right now the trust is like, okay, we're back together. Things are good, but let's see what happens in the next six months. I think that's kind of where they're at. I do expect the senators, especially now that they have so much cab space, I expect them to go get a kind of tandem type goaltender.

Is that a Stuart Skinner? Is that a Connor Ingram, maybe even like an Anthony Solars, although he's always hurt? But that type of goaltender to kind of insulate Allmark, he was unbelievable in the playoffs and great down the stretch. And it coincides, like his play elevated as it seems like he dealt with his mental health struggles. that he talked about quite publicly and honestly, which, you know, give him a lot of credit for. And in my opinion, you know, if you're at peace with your mind, you're probably going to perform better. And it seemed like that happened to Allmark. Will that continue?

I don't know. He's only getting older. He's talked about kind of last summer he came into camp and said, you know, I wasn't feeling great. Didn't feel like I had the greatest summer, which is always a huge red flag. So we'll see what he's like in September. But I think, you know, I don't think he's going to be. huge question mark until the season begins.

And if he struggles again, then we're back to where we were at the beginning of last year. If he's decent to really good like he was in the playoffs, then it goes away. I feel like it's just a result basically for goal tent.

I mean, it's so volatile. So if he can regain his form, the sentence won't really care. Or I guess the better way to phrase it is I don't think it'll be kind of a hot topic. But if he struggles again, then the questions will come back. Senator's general manager, as you mentioned, Steve Steyos is going to meet with the media later today in the wake of the Brady-Kichuk trade.

It should be very interesting to hear what Steyos has to say. Alex, thank you very much for doing this today, man. This was awesome. Best of luck with whatever happens today and the rest of the week. We'll catch up later as we had passed the draft and closer to free agency. Awesome. Thanks, guys. Thank you. That's Alex Adams, a senator's sports writer for Sportsnet here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

So to make that Brady Kachuk trade happened, one of the related deals was the Seattle Cracken making a trade with the Florida Panthers, getting one of my favorite names, Mackie Samiskevich out of Florida, and then the Panthers flipped, I believe, part of that to Ottawa. They sent the 25th overall pick in this year's draft,

and a second rounder to Florida, than Florida, as you mentioned, immediately turned around and sent that 25th overall pick to Florida as part of the Brady Kachuk package. So Samiskevich is a winger and he's an RFA so the Cracken are going to need to resign him. They also

resigned Bobby McMahon, who they got inter-trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs at the deadline and they're going to have to give both of those guys a lot of money. They already gave it to McMahon. now the Krakken said they'd be aggressive this offseason and they held true to their word and they might still have some moves to come. I'm just not sure. I'm just not sure if they're a significantly better team today after adding Samiskevich and resigning McMahon.

They still lack a legit superstar. They're better than they were yesterday because they got a player. Yeah, yeah. They got a player and he was a decent player of Samiskevich. I mean, the fact they don't have a superstar, that was never going to be easy to fix. And you'll remember they tried to get Panarin from the Rangers and he certainly wouldn't have, certainly would have added some talent.

Now, Seattle still has the seventh overall pick, which it could shop this week before the draft. Shane Wright's name is very much out there as well. And they've got cap space. Elliot Freeman, on the latest 32 thoughts, talks about Seattle. but Seattle like they're really out there and they're really trying. I like Samaskavich as a player.

I mean, obviously hours later we saw why Florida did that. They wouldn't have had room for him anymore. But, you know, he's a good, he's a good solid player. And I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to add good players. I think Seattle would like to aim higher. You know, I don't feel like I don't like to bring. it up every pod, but there was the Panarin shot last year. So I think that they will always try to do something like that again.

Like if Tuck gets to market, I have to think they're one of the teams sitting there saying, we want you and we want you bad. We'll see where that all goes. We want you. We want you bad. Bobby McMahon. Now, Zach, you said that Freed said something else that was interesting about the Cracken.

Set it up for us and then play the clip. Yeah, well, so he mentioned the talk from Kelly McCriman had an interesting clip from Vegas talking about Seattle, kind of disparaging Seattle, in well, saying that, you know, you think expansion's so easy, look at Seattle. And so after that clip, Friedman had this to say on that. You know, I got to tell you, like one thing that happened to them last week was they caught some strays. I'm from Kelly McCriman, the GM of the Vegas Golden Knights, who took a real run at them. So, Kyle, I was looking at that, and I was like, if I was the Kraken and I ran them, I would have that quote up in every room.

I would want everybody seeing red every day that someone in the league felt they could publicly talk about us like this. because nothing will kick up your pride worse than that. Okay, so Seattle could still be aggressive. Can I just address that clip for a second? It's mind-blowing to me that a league would exist where it would take that level of motivation to not have your team stink or be irrelevant in market. Seattle players see the quote, he's like,

no, he makes a good point. Finally, finally someone so thoroughly publicly embarrassed us that we're going to do something to be good. That, I mean, there's a lot to unpack there in how the lead operates and works. I mean, we don't have proof that. I mean, it's just, Freach is just saying it. It's not like, hold on.

Freach saying it. Seattle already went into this offseason saying it's going to be aggressive. They're already not happy with where they are. But Freach positioned that very much as this should be a motivator. But also, like, McCriman was, I don't want to say adding fuel to the fire, because that's not quite it. But like, it was like,

McCriman wasn't really saying anything that was incorrect. He just said it out loud. Sure. That's the key part. Here's a overall, right now, I think we're entering a very cool moment

in the National Hockey League where everyone's a little bit more emboldened than they've been in the past. Yeah. Executives, coaches. Remember torts in the playoffs just deciding like, I'm not going to media availability.

Hey, how hard are you going to be cheering against Florida this year? Huge. It's great. It's the best. thing it's going to possibly happen. Me too.

And people can text me and it was like, well, you know, they had reason to do it. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The Kachucks are both on that team. They are the perfect villains for this league. They lean into it. They like it.

They're going to do it even more together now that they're brothers, you know, they're like, why are you so sweaty? Like, we made bunk beds, you know, like it's because they had to think too hard. Give me more of a reason. Right. I mean, this is fun. This is fun. Give me a reason to further hate the Thumb brothers.

I'm like, yeah, this is great. It would be very, very annoying for the team that wins back-to-back cups, gets bad for one year and then wins a cup the year after that. Yeah, it would be the best thing that ever happened to them. I would hate it so much. It gives them a little shot of life. We've talked about this. The league has been very tepid when it comes to hate and rivalry and animosity.

What's the last really good rivalry between two teams that you can remember where two teams genuinely didn't like each other? Yeah. And the fact that one doesn't jump to mind answers. Colorado, Detroit in the 90s? Right. And they're still making documentaries about it to this day. Now, further that, when's the last time that you've had a truly villainous group in the NHL

that not only were cast as villains, but embraced being it? You got two right now. Vegas is going to argue with Florida about, no, we're the real villains. Vegas has had it for a little while, I'd say, but Florida, that ratches it up. But you know what would be nice if some of the Canadians. Canadian players spoke up on our behalf. That's what the next phase of this has to be. I would really like to see that.

Sure. I don't think they will because they'll be like, then you'd get all this hate on my phone. Well, put your phone away. I mean, my biggest concern is that because of the disparity of players from Ontario, that a bunch of these guys are like, nah, screw this. We're going to turn the Leafs into a super team and they all volunteer to go back there, right? Like the worst case scenario here.

Worst case, Ontario, if you will. Yes, thank you. is that someone, and I'm not sure who, but someone decides that they're going to rally the troops in Toronto. No, in Vancouver. Well, Vancouver with the best case scenario. Celebrini and Bedard. And then McDavid to the leaves.

I'm not joking. If the Siddins and Ryan Johnson, if their long-term plan is to keep the powder dry and clear everything out for Celebrini and Bedard to be here, it would be the most magisterial plan. It would be amazing. Celebrating would be a harder sell, I think. Yes.

But Bardard, I could see. I think, well, the Bedard next contract is going to be interesting because he's got to sign it. Chicago doesn't seem to be going anywhere, but at least the sharks have like kind of an upward trajectory. If Badard signs a bridge or even just a short term five-year deal, you're like, you're all over it. You're like, okay. Yeah. Interesting. That's the play, though.

But if you told little Jason in the 80s, like one day, the most hated teams in the NHL will be the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights First you would have been like when did they get teams who? Yeah, yeah. Little Jason would be very confused

at the prospect of hockey down in those places. And it is very good for the league. Look, do I like the Kuchucks? No. And that's the point. Because that's good for the league. You know, it's very good for the league. And those guys they like playing the role of villains.

Now, Brady sounds like he got his feelings hurt a little bit because it's like, they don't like my president. I love my president, right? And I'm sure that's one of the reasons. Sure, it's one of the reasons that he wanted out of Ottawa. And listen, it's just the timeline, right? They go and win the Olympic gold, okay? over Canada.

The president plays a role after the game. They go to the White House. Stuff is said everywhere, you know? And then he's like, actually, I want out here. Connor Hellebuck.

Similar story in Winnipeg, I think. Right? And you get it. Like, I don't agree with it. But I understand if you don't feel welcome anymore, in your city, then you probably want to leave.

Well, Alex Adams made a great point that actually I hadn't even considered. Think of the political landscape of every Canadian city. It's like tenfold in Ottawa. Like, that's what that city is, is politics. Yeah. So imagine you're a U.S.-born player that, you know, agrees with American politics and not so much with the Canadian. And you just happen to be playing in the Canadian capital.

Like, you'll feel it even more than you would in the city like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, whatever. It would be ratcheted up to be more. I don't think the U.S. players like the fact that Canada booed their national anthem. Neither do I. But you know what we didn't like? Everyone can fill in the answers, right? Right?

Yeah. This isn't a show about that. But it is, it is, it's an interesting thing because I think a lot of us are not just wondering, you know, in a hockey sense, we are wondering when it comes to our relationship with the United States, is this a moment in time? Or is this something that in 10, 20 years, we're going to look back on. and be like, we had a little bit of a fight. But now, pretty good friends again.

And we can draft Americans yet again. Yeah. And the Americans will be like, the weather has not changed. It is still very cold. You guys still got taxes up there. All right. Before we go to break, I need to remind you about the BC Heroes Hospital Home Lottery. Our friends of VGH Plus, hometown Heroes Lottery, need your support to help change lives and save lives.

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Get your daily dose of Canucks Talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 733 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford, Brough, SportsNet 650. Halford and Brother of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates.

They're ready to give you the financial fresh start you deserve. When no judgment are up front fees, visit today at sands dash trustee.com. We are in our two of the program. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingle magazine is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason hominock at jason. If you love paying too much for your mortgage and don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you, visit them online at jason.morgage. our next guest is a presentation of White Rock Hyundai.

It's Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingle magazine here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What up, Woods? I'm at the ferry terminal, boys, a little day trip to Victoria, which makes it the perfect day to be in my wife's White Rock Hyundai, which is a plug-in hybrid. It's the best of both worlds guys. You see a little electricity when you're buzzing around town,

and then when you need to do a road trip, don't think twice. Gas works. It's beautiful. Beautiful thing. Nicely done, Kev. Hey, I'm going to start putting you, I'm going to grill Kev right up. but I use your goalie connections from around the National Hockey League.

How soon until Connor Hallibuck gets traded out of Winnipeg? I mean, so it's funny because despite my goalie connection, two people close to Connor, I have no sense of this in terms of anything but the scuttlebutt that's automatically going to arise after the Larkin request and the Kachuk execution. And obviously, you know, people connect that to, his choice words for where the Winnipeg Jets were at at the end of the season.

But beyond that, like, I don't know that I've seen any firm reporting. I haven't been able to get anyone from his camp to confirm in or out. Like, there's just radio silence. And so that, honestly, like, I haven't thought too deeply about it because I don't have any information on it, but I understand why everyone is wondering if he's next. you know but if we take it on its look at it like where is he headed like you know what I mean like when we talk about all these destinations in the states that so many of these players are

are sort of fleeing too I guess Carolina has a ton of cap space and a bunch of cheap goaltenders would they be interested Florida I actually haven't done the cap mask since the kachuk deal like could they pull this off with Bob coming off the books? I just don't know what they can trade. They have seven million. I don't have any first round picks for a while now. They have $7 million in cap space. Everyone seems to think that they could trade, like, I guess, maybe one of the Finns or Swedes, or maybe Lundell and Verhege.

But I don't know if that's what Winnipeg would want. Everybody thought Lundell was going to be a part of the Kachukkutnik too, right? That was the assumption. I wouldn't trade in. I mean, like, are we getting into WHL territory where you're trading for like 2035 first? traffic and people that haven't been born yet. I don't see it happening with Florida. No, I don't either.

So what's a good destination then? Like Tampa's the other one? They got some guy named Basilisky. You know, Minnesota has two goaltenders. They got a goal in the future in Walsh, who's going to get paid soon, and they already got Philip Gustafson making, I think, six on a pretty good contract.

So those are, you know, Carolina, yes. Carolina could pull it off. But if you look at the way they're built, they're not built around $8.5 million gold change. Right? Like, they just want to cut with three guys. Like, they may be setting a trend the other way. They may be the tip of the spirit

towards this concept that you need, that need. And I don't think it's going to be a league-wide trend, but I think we made some more of it. I think we already saw some of it last year. And teams like Buffalo have been making noise that they might continue with this concept of just carrying three.

It's certainly something that conduct might have to consider to avoid any risk of losing of losing Nikita Tolopilo, however real or just however real that threat is, Buffalo, Lenny Rupp talked postseason about how they liked how it worked and they'd consider

running it back to three. We saw Seattle run with three last year. Like, you know, that's the trend I see Carolina being at the front of not the let's spend a ton on goal tendings. So like the teams that, and I could totally be missing,

it's not like there aren't about 20, somewhat other American teams. But, you know, like, those are the ones that typically get thrown out. And I'm not sure I see a fit. Like, oh, like a big market like New York. They got some guy named Chesteriken. You know, there's, I just think, like all things, goaltending, there's just fewer spots. And it's a little bit more complicated.

And the other thing is, I don't know that you're getting the value back. Like, I mean, this guy's a three-time president trophy winner and a heart trophy winner. and yes he won the gold medal but like I still think there's a fit element here do you think he's having success in Carolina where they don't give up a ton of quantity but they give up a ton of lateral and Freddie Anderson went through a season with an 868 expected

like when Connor Hellebock won the hard trophy in the Vesna his expected state percentage was 902 like you don't plug that into an 868 expected and think you're going to have the same result. Carolina may not give up quantity, but they give up a lot of quality and the type of quality that has traditionally been a bit of a

bucket move for Connor Hellebuck, especially in the playoffs. So, like, I don't know that it's the same formulation or slam dunk that it is with other guys. And that's why, to be honest, I haven't dug in as much in terms of sourcing on it, because I just, I don't think it's as likely as a lot

of people are assuming. And I'm probably going to eat those words by the end of the week. Okay, let's turn our attention. We'll stick with Florida. What comes next for Sergey Bobrovsky in wake of all the reporting from last week? Don't we just like, I've always felt like he was just going to resign. Now, clearly the ask is higher than I think they expected because they're not there yet. Well, weren't we just here last year?

Yeah. Coming up a cup wins and they're going to lose this guy and they're going to lose that guy and they're going to lose all these guys. Like my hunch is he still re-signed there. The more interesting one to me is the younger, well, he's not that young anymore, but Daniel Peresoff, who they brought in as a backup last year. Now, his numbers came down at the end of the season, in part because they kind of collapsed defensively as a team once they sort of pulled the plug on the year.

And maybe some of it was work great. He hadn't played that much, and injuries are history for him. Like, he's got a long history of them. but for the first two-thirds of the season Daniel Peresoff produced at you know like a top 15 top 20 level in the national hockey league and he's always been a guy who's had a ton of pedigre

I remember in his draft year and watching him at World Juniors I had people that were you know they were telling me at the time like this is he's a big guy tons of athleticism like this is Peca René with a more refined technical game now injuries killed him in Columbus kept him out of the lineup for way too long

and then by the time he finally got healthy, he needed waivers based on age, and then he ended up rotting on their bench because they were too scared to send him down and lose them on waivers because everybody knew the potential. Like to me, Daniel Terraceoff is the number one target in unrestricted free agency this year. In an admittedly thin, unrestricted free agent class,

he's the number one target. Bob's a unique case. Like, in each of the past three years, including the two cup years, and go back to the year they made the final where Alex Lyons started the playoffs. He's been outplayed in the regular season by his backup based on rate stats. He finished 82nd out of 98 goalies this year in terms of his adjusted save percentage.

And yet in the playoffs, he turns into SuperBob. So it makes all these super high-end, high-danger momentum swinging saves. So this is an interesting one. If I'm Florida, like Florida built out an entire goaltending department. like the biggest goaltending department in the league specifically so that they didn't have to be the team that went out

and spent $10 million on a bomb. What's Longo doing there anyway? Yeah, so like let's get some goalies in there and Dan will tear us off maybe the next one. So that's the one, you know, that's the one I think other teams have an eye on heading into unrestricted free agency and I think there's a lot of teams that again expect the Florida Panthers at the last minute to sort of pull the rug out from under them

and sign both of them. So we'll see where it goes. but like in the unrestricted all the unrestricted three agent goaltenders based on last season alone and Bob obviously has a pedigree beyond last season alone but do you know that there are only two goalies that finished last season with an above league average performance

like above expected say percentage only two out of the entire UFA class so the shopping's a little thin so this is a massive week for the Vancouver Canucks and yet it's kind of been overshadowed because Vancouver is really caught up in the World Cup, and then we had this Brady-Kichuk trade over the weekend. But the draft is on Friday, and then a few days after that, it's free agency.

Do you expect Jake DeBrest to be traded before the first round of the draft? Oh, that's a really good question. And it's one where I will defer to the true insiders in terms of real answers and actual information about how far along something like that might be. I think when you look at some of the big fish that are being chased around the league and you see the trades that Florida made yesterday with Sam Miskavich first and getting the draft picks and then moving them on for Kachuk. I think he moves.

I don't know if it's before the draft because there are other teams that may, he may be ballback plan for other teams as opposed to primary target. And so, and that said, I guess if you're a team like Ottawa that just stockpiled a bunch of picks. You know, and you just took a chuck off your first unit power play. And obviously, like, if you're acquiring DeBrusc as a middle six forward, but expecting output, you also need to have him a spot for him on your power play because that's where a lot of his scoring, at least here has come.

So, you know, maybe, you know, maybe a draft pick gets it done. I guess I would not be surprised at all if it happens before then just because the likely return includes picks. But like I said, you do get the sense in talking to people that a lot of the teams that are to consider themselves in contention are bigger game hunting right now. Yeah. What did you think of the reports that the Canucks are listening and maybe motivatedly listening on not only DeBresk, but Elias Pedersen and Brock Besser as well? I mean, I don't think you can be surprised. It's kind of an anything goes point here, right?

those players aren't helping you when you come out of this. You have to pick which ones they're going to help you in the midst of it, right? And that's the Peders one is complicated obviously because of the money. But given everything we've heard over the past number of years, even though this new management group and team has come in with a softer touch in terms of the way they're talking about is off-season and what they can do to help them and all those things, the reality is the past conversations existed for a reason.

and beyond what he's capable of and questions about a bounceback, if you have to catelprout a guy to do the work you think should be base level standard year to year in the off season, then is that a guy that leads your culture moving forward? I don't know what his off season looks like this year. and I think sometimes because things don't turn out it's not like you didn't work hard last year but you know we just keep hearing these questions

and to me some of these decisions like obviously there's a cash and component to it these guys don't help you when you're ready to compete again so take advantage of them as assets before they depreciate component but then there's also how do they fit in this culture we're trying to build component and there are a handful of veterans

here that, you know, I think of when I hear Ryan Johnson in the city, talking about, you know, your attitude at 8 a.m. There was a line in the Manning Presser, and I think it might, I can't remember whether it was Manning or Ryan Johnson that delivered it, but he talked about how you treat the staff, how you treat trainers. There's some guys in that room that don't necessarily treat them well, or come in and, you know, you have to, the staff feels like they have to wait to see what kind of a mood they're in before they interact with them, right?

like those types of things. And so, like, I think these decisions, as much of those other components I talked about, these decisions also include consideration of what type of people we're dealing with and whether they fit into what you're trying to build here. Are you caught up in the World Cup, Kev? Do you know what? From an excitement, you can sense it. I haven't been downtown.

I'm old. And so most of the celebrations go past my best time. But I see it. I see it on social media. You know, it's funny because amidst all this talk about American players leaving Canadian markets, like this market, we're on the world stage right now again, and everybody's seeing just how fun and gorgeous. Like, it's such a great event town, and it always has been, and it's showing well again.

I'm not as much caught up in it, but I find the juxtaposition of those two things, sort of interesting. Yes, the hockey players aren't here. you know, in the summer when it's at its best as I'm about to board a ferry here on a day where, you know, like, you know, half the, it's a gorgeous day to be on the water. I love taking the ferry on a day like this. It's amazing.

Yeah, and there's like, there's, like, you're going to see wildlife, right? Like, whether it's just seals or you happen to run into a pot of work as going to. Like, it's such an incredible city. But the one part, you know, and I thought your answer had a good piece that I read this morning before coming off with you guys, on with you guys about this, but it's not just the city, you need to build the facilities. And I don't mean to make this about that.

Like, he talked about Montreal as a world-class organization headed towards winning. And obviously, winning is a part of these decisions, but your chances of winning is a part of these decisions. But again, like, it's funny because the first time I started sort of beefing a little bit about the lack of a practice facility was after a visit to Montreal with CCM, where we were on the ice with, and this will tell you how long ago it was. Like the goalies were included Gigare, Mark Andre Fleury, and Corey Crawford. And we'd done a few of those with Carrie Price where we go back.

Like you see the players and the facilities they have. I remember Alex Burroughs when he came. I was at a skate at eight rinks last year where Celebrini and Bedard run the ice with the Kaibo group. And Justin Rye from the Seattle Cracken Runs that. It's just a great skate. And those two get called out, but there's all kinds of other local pros there. Gage Gonzalez, you know, Alex Tuck when he was in town with his wife was out there for a while. Like, just a great skate.

And Burroughs was there with his son to watch it, just to let his son, and then he got to meet the two after. And he's like, man, if this was Montreal, like, we'd have this with all these visiting players. And our players would stay in Montreal and they'd be skating with this group and working with our, like, there's some, on what skills people you can work with in an offseason, whether it can be team staff or not, but sort of a facility where everyone would be watching, there be tons of public there, and all the visiting players are getting a sense of what a great organization you are, the Canadians open up those resources to the players who come back to Montreal to use them,

so that they can see all the facilities and all the things they have access to if and when they have a chance to become Montreal Canadians. there's real value in those things and players like having them. You know what I mean? So this is the part of a rebuild where I know a lot of us are focused and a lot of the media is focused on sort of salary and that leads the discussion about Besser and Pedersen and are they just trying to get rid of salary and dump salary.

Like to me, the spending needs to be done here and where I worry and let's see long term, I'm willing to give it time. You know, I look at Montreal's player development staff and I think it's like the list is like eight or nine deep. on their website, skills and player development coach. Some of them are like guest coaches like Mary Phillip Palin who comes to a training camp, but like the commitment to resources on that level needs to be deeper in a rebuild

so that you give all these young players the resources to improve and also create an environment in this beautiful city where more players want to be here, whether it's in the summer for a visit and then stay long term. Right now you have guys like Zach Benson, talking to some of the other skaters last summer, they said he didn't stick around town because there aren't facilities. He goes back east to skate, right? Like, we have this incredible city showing up on the World Cup stage

and everybody sees it. And, you know, like, I think maybe our Steve Baines and Thatcher, Emcoor, the only two conduct players are actually in Vancouver right now. It could be wrong on that, but I don't think it's a deep list. Yeah. No, it's a rebuild on the ice, and it's very much, hopefully, a rebuild off the ice. Kev, enjoy your ferry ride, enjoy the beautiful weather, enjoy the island.

I'm going to go see, like, what's your breakfast of choice on the ferries? You guys got to give me some recommendations. I think there's like a breakfast burger, breakfast burger that I get. But I'm not... I'm not... That's not my area of expertise.

Get a fruit plate or something. There you go, fruit plate. All right. Black coffee. I'm on it, boys. See you, see you, Kev. Kevin Willey from NHL.com and Ingle magazine, a presentation of White Rock Hyundai.

here on the Halford and Breff Show on Sports 965. You're not allowed to talk. I have three things I have to do. Not one, not two, but three. Okay, I'll just sit here. First off, I need to do the one to watch brought to you by Limitless A.V. This one is in two hours time. Got to watch Lionel Messi yet again. Coming off a hat trick in the opener of the World Cup, they'll be taking on Austria at 10 o'clock. There's your one to watch brought to you by Limitless A.V. Can I suggest another one? Yep. Mike Babcock. News out of Edmonton, reports out of Edmonton. today could be the day they make the Babcock hiring official.

Two ones to watch? Yeah, yeah. The two to watch? Can we do that? Is that legal? I don't know. Will they shoot us? I don't know. Might lose the account. Limitless AV. Vancouver's say two to watch? Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted

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It's a coaching hire, but not the one you were talking about. The Dallas Mavericks, remember they fired Jason Kitt a little while ago. They've landed on their new head coach. University of Michigan head coach, Dusty May. What a great name is going to be on.

Sounds like a wrestler. It does a little bit actually. Dusty May. He's a jobber. He loses every match and he wrestles. Although not in the basketball circles because Dusty for those of you that don't know, is formerly now the head coach of the University of Michigan where he won an NCAA title this past year,

set a school record 37 and 3 record last season, most wins ever by a UM team in a singular season. In the span of two years, Dusty May has gone from being the head coach at Florida Atlantic to the head coach at a

premier program in the University of Michigan to now a head coach, a head coach, in the NBA where he'll get to coach Cooper Flagg, widely regarded as one of the best NBA prospects to hit the league in the last couple years. That's kind of May's thing. He did a really nice job in his two years of Michigan to teach

cultivating elite talent and getting them ready for the league. Now he's going to have a guy in Cooper Flagg. He's got a good roots too. He's like from Indiana, went to Indiana. He was a student manager under the legendary Bobby Knight at Indiana. He was

responsible for giving Bobby a chair to throw and then he would have to go get the chair and bring it back. You know that guy that got sworn at the entire game when he wasn't swearing at players? That was Dustin Matt. That was Dusty Mad. Anyway, that's your He's got a lot of

trauma. A lot of baggage bringing to the NBA, but congratulations on that Maverick's job. That higher is your smart decision brought to you by Crow. Your trusting accounting attacks advisors for over 55 years. Crow, smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at Chromekai.

finally, finally, before we go to break, we need to remind you that the Duick Auto Group is the official automotiv sponsor of Halford & Brough. Find out why nobody beats a duke deal when nobody has since 1926. Visit Duke GM on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown. Visit them in Richmond and visit them online at the duik auto group.com. It is NHL draft week. The Canucks have two first round picks on Friday. Ryan Kennedy from the hockey news prospect expert is going to join us coming up next on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650.