Halford & Brough in the Morning - Thomas Drance On Evander Kane

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance (2:58) about the 'Nucks acquisition of Ryan Johnson, plus the boys answer some listener questions from the text message inbox (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

We just have to call Thomas Dranzerotica Thomas Dranzerotica Expected goals expected goals Thomas Drance Erotica Todd the Model Thomas Drance Erotica regression Thomas Drance Erotica P.D.O.

Thomas Drance Erotica 802 on a Thursday Oh, Thomas. 802 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, bro sports net six 50. However, the rub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and associates BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3000 five star reviews. Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are now in our three of the program. Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver

and Canucks Talk is gonna join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. Hufford, just so you know, the Dallas Stars announced the Jamie Ben extension with one letter.

What do you think that letter was? C. Yeah. So I don't think he's going to be stripped of his captaincy. Yeah. They just sent a press release out courtesy of the team's PR department.

No, no, no. They were grading his performance from last season. Feels a bit high. C plus? Star's captain, Jamie Ben Ben signs a one year, $1 million contract extension. So we don't have that drama to look forward to.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Guests on Sportsnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most, visit them at powerwest.ca today. They keep the lights on.

Just so we're clear, everybody, I was not publicly calling for the stripping of Jamie Vance. Hey, you're just wondering. You're just wondering if they're not. Well, look, there was an article written about it. An article was written! An article? An article was written in Dallas.

And the only reason I mention it in Dallas is because all the articles there that have to do with hockey are always fed from the front office Not all of them most of them clearly not this one It's when Jim lights calls my he's like you guys want a story idea and they're like yes, yes we do Lights I was acting like the report. Oh you were doing the reporter bit you were being the Tim Kalash in this one. That's good. I didn't know what you were doing. Are you with the Cowboys? Is this about Dak Prescott?

Let's go now to the Power West Industries hotline. Thomas Drance joins us here on the Haliford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. What up Drance? Gentlemen, good morning. Good morning to you. Guess where we're going to start. Yeah, we had no, we had no opinion on what happened yesterday with the Canucks. We were just kind of like, maybe it'll work. Maybe it won't.

Sounds like fun. I know you've been talking to your sources at the Canucks and what were they thinking bringing in Ev Vander Cane? Yeah, look, in contrast with the public reaction in the eruption of Mount Bruff on these very airwaves 24 hours ago, I don't think the Canucks viewed this as an especially high risk maneuver. They viewed it as a opportunity to buy low on a rare player type, right?

That everyone knows that this team needed to get heavier, needed to get bigger. They see a Vander Kane is being able to do that at the top of the lineup, which is incredibly difficult to find, right? There's only one Tom Wilson in the NHL. There, there aren't very many players that profile this way. there aren't very many players that profile this way. And, you know, look, I mean, I understand viewing it that way, I suppose, right? This team did need to find a top six forward.

They did need to find a way to get heavier and bigger. And there aren't very many options to address that anywhere. Like, I mean, there's not a lot of players like that period. There certainly aren't any that are poised to hit the open market on July 1st. And, you know, uh, if there, if there are options who could be dealt, like, you know, maybe Vegas deals, Ivan Barbachev, because they need to clear money to sign Marner, like maybe something like that could shake loose.

Well, okay, great. Vancouver's probably on his no trade trade list. So, um, you know, it's not an easy thing to do. I understand all that, but I do think there is risk, obviously material arrest there has to be, uh, given what we know about of Andrew Kane's lengthy history and, you know, as much as anyone wants to say like, Oh, well, what, what, w w he was a model citizen in Edmonton off the ice. OK, great.

We all saw him come unglued in the Stanley Cup final, right? We all saw him take five first period minor penalties and, and, you know, slash Matthew Kachak in a tantrum at the end of game six. Right. I mean, not that that's connected to the long history of controversy off ice that's surrounded, you know, the Vancouver born power forward, but I mean, this is clearly a player who has a long history of volatility off the ice and on it, and this is a volatile situation and we all know that.

So, you know, I don't think this is one where it's like, the team feels this way, the public feels this way, and the church is probably somewhere in the middle. Like, no, I completely, I think this is a massive swing, a massive gamble. And I think there's another side to this too, which is that, you know, you only have so many resources to try and create value if you're the Vancouver Canucks.

And when we think about what this team needs this season, you know, this feels to me like a move that positions them to be like in that realm of, Hey, if we make the playoffs, we've got this big heavy winger who had six goals on a run to the Stanley Cup final last year and has gone deep with the Oilers the last three and it's tough to match up against and can impact the game within a game in addition to scoring. Like it feels like, you know, an effort to construct one of those teams where you're trying to tell yourself that if you win anything or if you get in anything can happen. And in this NHL that we live in right now, I don't really buy that. I think this is a league where you have to have an absolute great team.

I think the Gulf between the great teams in the middle is widening. If anything, I think you saw that with back to back Stanley cup final matchup. I think you saw it in the conference finals in both conferences where it was like, wow, Dallas, they're really far back of Edmonton and wow, Carolina, they are not in Florida's weight class. Right. And those are the teams that got through their division, won two rounds only to fall well short once they bumped into the true elite teams. So, you know, I just sort of look at it and think, man, like there, there wasn't,

there wasn't ways to create more value than spending a fourth round pick and five million dollars on, yeah, a player who's got an elite profile or a unique profile, excuse me, definitely not an elite profile, but a unique profile as opposed to finding, you know, X, Y, Z way to, you know, bring in multiple valuable players, ideally younger guys who aren't 33 and turning 34 and who aren't going to expire and become UFAs. Like, I think that's sort of,

from a hockey perspective anyway, one of the things that I kind of worry about is this just feels like a pretty low upside utilization of the team's resources and the big picture in terms of actually creating long-term value. Because of course, even if Kane's awesome, right? You've helped out the best team in your division cap wise and if it works, well then now you've got a 34 year old

UFA to negotiate and that's going to be a wildly risky contract. So I don't love it. I don't love it boys for a variety of reasons. But the club sees this as just a need, something they absolutely required and they feel like they achieved it at a low cost given the opportunity ahead of them. And that allows them to go focus on landing the center that they're really thirsty for over

the next 24 to 48 hours. I like this text that just came into the Dunbar lumber text line, Drancer. He said, I don't think we are at risk of cane coming unglued in the Stanley Cup final. Right. Drancer, what else do the Canucks have cooking because they still need to address the second

line center spot. Um, I don't think, I know you've reported that they've, they've, you know, they're maybe realizing that they might have to have Philip Heidel as their second line center next season. But man, what a risk that would be with his concussion history. Plus you would add a Vanderkeen's injury history

and Thatcher Demko's injury history. You know, I think they want something a little more certain at 2C. Well, and I hope something a little higher upside, right? Like I hope something a little, you know, you find something, well look, it's going to be really hard to find something and there's, it's's going to be really hard to find something and

there's, there's not going to be a perfect player, almost certainly. We're not going to see those types of players move. And you know, I still think I know everyone had like reverse sticker shock from the JJ Paterka trade. But like, that's still a pretty big package in terms of asset quality, right? I mean, I think given Doan's defensive ability and physical play, you know, I think that valuation is something like Neal's Hoaglander equivalent. And you know, Kesselring, I mean, people were trying to put together comparable Canucks

packages and it's like, imagine Tom Volander had produced a lot more at BU and maybe you'd sort of have something analogous with to Kesselring, right? Kesselring is a good young defenseman. Dude, he's six foot four, right-handed puck moving $1.4 million salary had 30 points and played a lot of top pair for them when Dersie and Marino got hurt. Yeah. And, and, and crushed it. Um, that's a really attractive profile to teams. when Dersey and Marino got hurt and crushed it.

That's a really attractive profile to teams. Like there's no analogy for that on the Canucks books, right? Like it's not like the Canucks could have woken up and easily match that, you know, trade package. Like the truth is, is that Kesselring would have more exchange value and cache for teams than frankly, both of the lander and and Elias Pettersson, the defenseman, right? Like imagine Elias Pettersson realizes the

absolute maximum. Like the 95th percentile outcome across the next two seasons for the Canucks. Okay. Imagine that happens. Now imagine he was right-handed. Now he's Michael Kessler and it's trade asset. You know what I mean? Like that's, that's what we're talking about here. So, um, you know, and, and Paturk is aware. Like Paturk is not even a center. So I mean, that's what we're talking about here.

We're talking about significant assets. The connects are going to be hunting for this. There are some unique opportunities out there. I mean, that's what we're talking about here. We're talking about significant assets. The Canucks are gonna be hunting for this. There are some unique opportunities out there, I think. I'm still certainly interested in what happens with Marco Rossi. I wouldn't be stunned if the Canucks were in on that. In fact, I think the Canucks are gonna be in

on a lot of things. Whether or not they can actually bring it about will be fascinating to watch. And obviously they only have about 7 million in cap space remaining. So there's a possibility to and a willingness to potentially clear out some mid-range veterans in that sort of Dakota Joshua, Teddy Bluger type tier in order to create the space required to go get a center and still have the flexibility to bargain hunt in unrestricted free agency,

something this organization has done very well across the last few years. So, for now though, the bargain hunting side of this, that's not the priority. The priority is the second line center and this team is gonna fire all weapons and turn over every stone in that search. Patrick Alveen made that clear yesterday

and that's what I'm hearing as well. Agree or disagree with this, like whether it's a center or a winger, what the Canucks need is a creative playmaker upfront. They need to add that because let's say Petey comes back to form and he's creating out there like he used to, that would be great. But they would still need someone on their second line to do the same thing.

If you want to have Garland on your third line driving play, like they need, they just need someone who makes something happen. And Evander Kane does a lot of good things. He's got a great shot. He scores goals, he hits, he fights, but I don't think you would describe him as a playmaker. No, North-South. He's a North-South, you know, he's a good offensive player, but a bit of a blunt instrument

in that regard, right? So yeah, I mean, look, I would call Garland though, a pretty good playmaker, right? Like if you, if you. Yeah, but I've got him on the third line. Oh, okay. You've got him on the second line. Okay.

Well, I mean, I think he's a fully capable second line player. You know, if you, if you end up having to build a second line that, you know, is built around Garland with a Vander Cane and you're lucky enough to have Heidel in the middle or, I mean, an upgrade on that. I think that's fine.

I think that's like a well above average second line, if you were to build it out that way. Uh, I don't know that they would, right. an upgrade on that. I think that's fine. I think that's like a well above average second line if you were to build it out that way. I don't know that they would, right? And there's a whole host of different considerations that would go into that. And there's obviously other options. But yeah, I mean, I think that would be fine. Like I'm not worried about that. But yeah, I don't think, I don't think it's so much about landing like a specific like East West playmaker for me, rough, it's just add the best player you can find, you know, like, and add a player with a chance to be like, uh, you know, this team's biggest need in my mind is like another elite player,

you know, and, and you can say, you can say, well, they lost one in JT Miller. And I, you know, I think we can quibble over that, you know, how, how exactly are we defining elite? Like how good is he really like on and on? But yeah, I mean, he was in that, he was at least debatable as like another real top of the lineup impact guy who certainly had put together seasons of elite performance in his Canucks tenure, even if, even if that wasn't the level that he hit year after year after year. And that gave them an upside case that mattered, right? That really did matter, especially given his uniqueness and sort of overall profile. In the wake of that deal, I still think the Canucks are, I think even with JT Miller, I would have said,

man, they're, they're still short, like another top six guy. Uh, so you lose Miller, maybe, maybe Evander Kane is that incoming top six guy. But to me that still leaves sort of a hole where if you're going to be, you know, like more than an average forward group, right? Even if Pederson bounces back right now, even if Pedersen bounces back right now, and Evander Kane's like a 20 goal guy who gives you 70 good games, right? But you're losing better. You're losing suitor. You dealt Miller. I think we look at this forward group and should say, Hey,

that's like one of the 10 worst in the league. And that's if things break their way on the Pedersen file and on the cane file. Right. Yep. Um, so, you know, you, you get another like impact top six guy, you had a Marco Rossi caliber dude, you're still below average, right? You're still below average upfront probably. And so there's just so much distance for this team to, I guess, close between them and, and, you

know, the great teams in the Western conference. Um, so, you know, I just think you land the highest end player you can. That, that to me is what matters here. And, and ideally you're able to land them in a way that's, and then structure the bet in a way where you're, you know, positioning yourself to potentially realize some, some like top end upside over, over the long haul. Right. sure the bet in a way where you're, you know, positioning yourself to potentially realize some, some like top end upside over, over the long haul, right? You know, getting, getting one of those expiring RFAs and signing them to their

second contract and it's a long-term deal. Like to me, that's the sort of move that would move the needle that would really get me looking at this and thinking, okay, maybe they've, maybe they've seized a unique opportunity to just sort of pry this window thinking, okay, maybe they've seized a unique opportunity to pry this window back open and give what's become a hugely underachieving core group a shot to change the story that it feels like is largely already written about this era of Canucks hockey.

Russo at The Athletic, your colleague at the athletic, um, has an update on Marco Rossi. And he says that Garin, the Bill Garin, the general manager there continues to tell teams he is not trading Rossi without a significant center or equivalent winger from a production standpoint as the main return. Several teams have shown interest in Rossi, but in a league where the cap is rising and plenty of teams have added cap space, the playoff contenders interested in him

are mostly offering futures. And it sounds like the Vancouver Canucks are mostly offering futures because there aren't many players that, useful players that the Canucks could add in this trade because they need those players. What do you think, or do you have any information on the Canucks interest in Marco Rossi and whether they can achieve this trade?

Yeah, I mean, I do think there is interest. I do think the Canucks preference obviously is to build a deal around the 15th overall pick, but as Russo's reporting, interests are a fleeting Canucks preference obviously is to build a deal around the 15th overall pick. But as you know, Russo's reporting, futures are a fleeting interest to the Minnesota wild. Again, like the wild love size, right? They value size highly.

If we're talking 15th overall, Dakota Joshua and a player like Mancini, does that give the Wild something to think about or is that still too light, right? I mean, that to me would be the sort of thing that I'd be like watching for in the 36 hours leading up to the NHL draft. Russo also reports that he expects the Minnesota Wild to make Brock Besser a contract offer on Tuesday on July 1st, but he says this is not the done deal that has been reported. Does the

Evander Kane acquisition, does that officially close the door on Brock Besser returning to the Canucks? Oh, I think the door officially closed a long time ago. Yeah, I think that, I mean, I don't think, I don't think the Canucks are bringing Brock Besser back. I think Besser is going to July 1 and I think he's going to have some pretty interesting options to sift through.

You know, I just don't think that this was ever going to be some pretty interesting options to sift through. I just don't think that this was ever going to be a match for his career in Vancouver to continue. So it goes, a tough one. Besser was a classy representative for this team and scored some really clutch goals for this organization in the playoffs last year. I think he had some great moments, uh, in a Canucks Jersey, obviously. Um, you know, I kind of respect for the way that he sort of put some early career durability issues behind him and, and evolved as a player during his time here, right, becoming a credible defensive option to the point where he was a first choice matchup guy for coaches like Rick Tauket,

who care a ton about details. Like that, that speaks to his professionalism, his work ethic, the details that he was able to graft onto his game, becoming like an absolute monster at the net front and not on deflections and going from being this sort of one shot goal scorer early in his career to the like below the hash marks puck puck battle winning, dirty goal scoring expert that he became. You know, that that's the sort of guy that I think organizations need to have, right? Like that's the sort of profile that you that you want to see when you draft a guy in the

late first round and they have success at the NHL level. So you know, I think Bester will be remembered very fondly in this market and he should be. But yeah, I don't think there's been a path for him returning and I think that's been evident for months. Drantzer, this was great, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do this. As always, we appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend. It should be entertaining kicking off with the draft on Friday. We'll do this again next week. Cheers boys. Bye. Bye. Uh, Thomas Drantz from the athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk here on the Haliford and brush on sports net six 50 one real quick note that I wanted to

pass along. I didn't get a chance to earlier. The NHL and NHLPA have announced the launch of the host city selection process for the 2028 World Cup of hockey. Jason, you get you can put in your bid right now. As a matter of fact, I don't know how to do it. I think you just send an email. I'd like to host it here. We got an arena and everything in Surrey.

I don't know. You could do it anywhere you want, but they are looking for all the different host cities, both North America, Europe. And then they also offered up international as well. So outside of North America and Europe, that's exciting. Was it like the president's Cup team? Yeah, I don't know. Eight nations are going to go east coast in Europe, though, right? I would imagine.

So this is courtesy of Wyshinski, who broke it all down. Eight nation tournament expected to feature around Robin and quarterfinal games in two host cities, semi-final and final in one city. Twelve days, 17 games, a twenty three host cities total. Is that it? Sounds like it, but it sounds like the details of the host cities are still up in the air. Vancouver isn't going to get any of these games.

Your first instinct was probably right. East Coast, the US, East Coast, sorry, North America. And then a couple of years ago. It'll be Montreal, Toronto, or New York, Vancouver, Philly, or sorry, not Vancouver, New York. Boston. Boston, Philly, yeah.

And then Stockholm. You've got the Woodcroft news, don't you laddie? Woodcroft is joining the Anaheim Ducks Yeah, is he assistant coach to Joel Quenville? Okay, so we got news and notes happening across the National Hockey League We got to go to break when we come back very excited to have our next guest on the program He's the general manager of the Calder Cup winning Abbotsford Canucks It's Ryan Johnson. He's gonna join us next on the Haliford and Brough show on sportsnet 650 and before we go to break I need to tell you about the Vancouver Giants.

It's never too early to get your Vancouver Giants season tickets. Tickets start at under $19 at vancouvergiants.com forward slash seasons. Tickets you're listening to the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canuck Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshaw, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall

I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall I'm gonna be the one to fall 832 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halperd, brav. Sportsnet 650. You're listening

to the Edge. Sure we'll give you the seat, but you'll only need the edge. I do not care for Thrash Thursday. It's a polarizing day. Negative about everything over here. Yeah, he's not even thrash. What do you like? This is more into hair metal. At the end of the week. Does he even like anything?

I don't even know. He's just a world class hater. Yep. Generational hater. You know, they say there's generational talents Your generational talent is hating. Yeah, I like 80s music. I Mean, this is not out of the road This is not that would have come out around the year 80 1984. Thank you five We are working on getting Ryan Johnson on the body. He hasn't called in yet, has he?

He has not. Okay. Ryan Johnson, general manager of the Calder Cup winning Abbotsford Canucks is scheduled to join us in the final half hour of the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. That's why you're hearing the thrash music. That's why we're not doing what we learned right now. We did them at 730. Still though, it is the Halford and Brough show.

You are listening to the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. The show is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers.

Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. Okay. I'll take the time to read this text from Troy from Abbotsford. Hi, Troy. Who texts in, good morning freaks. Smelling of Troy. Fair enough.

Yesterday, my family and I went out to Browns in Abbotsford and about six to eight of the Abbey Canucks were there with the Calder Cup just chilling. They took several pictures with kids and others while we were there. It was pretty cool to see the support from the fans and the appreciation of what they accomplished. A couple of the players were limping and walking very gingerly after that long playoff run and they didn't have to pay for their meal and drinks. Shout out to Browns. Wow, they dined and dashed.

Oh, that's what happened. They're limping away really quickly. Someone stop him in the walking boot. You see them, please call the police. Yeah, I mean, this was what we were looking forward to chatting with about Ryan Johnson, just how that team came together. And it is sometimes tough to bring a team together in the AHL where guys are, let's be honest, fighting in a lot of ways to, uh, not

be on the team anymore. Yeah, no, it's, it's a valid, valid thing to point out. And they're competing with each other. Yep. For those call up spots. Yeah, there's competition on the NHL roster spots too, of course.

Um, and that's a challenge in bringing people together sometimes when you're, when you're fighting for ice time. Um, but the AHL is such a, the roster changes over so much during the regular season. Um, there's limits on how many veterans you can play. It's a challenge for management and the coaching staff. And when you heard the players talking after winning the Calder

Cup, talking about coming together as a group, it was a real credit to not only the players, including the veterans on that team that we really don't talk about much because they're not necessarily, um necessarily Canucks prospects, but also the younger players for buying in the coaching staff, the management and guys like the Sedines who spend so much time with the players down in Abbotsford. Yeah.

And you know, you read a quote the other day from Ryan Johnson, the aftermath of Abbotsford winning the Calder Cup, talking about the two characteristics slash attributes that he wanted to instill in a aftermath of Abbotsford winning the Calder Cup, talking about the two characteristics slash attributes that he wanted to instill in a bunch of his players this year. And one of them was trying to be the best teammate that you could be.

And I think the anecdote he passed along was like, it's not about. I've got it right here. Taking them out for lunch or buying them a beer. Yeah, that doesn't mean buying lunch or beers after practice, especially when you dine and dash everywhere. That's how hard you push each other in the

decisions you make every day that allows you to have success and win something. The other thing you want to focus on professionalism, how you practice as much as how you play. And we've heard that in Vancouver as well. So it's a really interesting dynamic and exercise here because generally speaking,

when they call the American Hockey League a teaching league, learning league, growing league, all that stuff, the majority of the time you're talking about on ice attributes, right? How to improve your defensive awareness. Maybe you work on your shot. Maybe you work on different structures, strategies,

breakouts, things that are very hockey specific in terms of actually playing the game, right? For what Johnson's talking about is that they are almost teaching culture. And that's a tough thing because as we said, sometimes the notion of everyone pulling the rope in the same direction is the antithesis of the American league, which is I'm gonna pull the rope

in my direction and that direction is on a straight line towards the national hockey. And I hope if we are in a tug of war that I dislocate your shoulder. Right. That means I get a quicker path to the NHL because you're now on injured reserve. I worked for the Vancouver Canadians for a few years in the press box and that was at that time low level single A. So it was a lot of guys that

had just jumped out of NCAA collegiate baseball and it just started their professional journeys. And in the same breath, like they were on a team, they were trying to win ball games and the goal was to win the Northwest League title. But there was the continual struggle of trying to get these guys emotionally invested, understanding that where they were at currently was not the end game for their career.

Was there any way to incentivize being a good team guy? In baseball, it's hard because it's kind of just your stats. Sure. And a lot, and there was a lot of hand wringing about the statistical metrics. And like, let's say that you were called upon to lay down a sacrifice, but in the bottom of the ninth in a one run game to move a runner along. In the context of the team, it's great.

You're helping the team win. The context of your batting average. Well, your average isn't affected though, not by a sacrifice bunt. Not as good as hitting. Right. Right? Not as good, it takes away an opportunity to eat,

to go yard, to try and pound one in the outfield. And guys have to make that, even as insignificant as that might seem, that tiny sacrifice there, it can go one of two ways. One, it can say to your manager that there's a guy, didn't even blink. We asked him to sacrifice for the betterment of the team and he did it.

And then that same guy could be like, yeah, but that manager's not gonna help me get to the next level. You know what is going yard here or going oppo to drive in two runs. Right. Pops out. Right. And that's so there's a lot of different dynamics to play. Now, the reason I bring this up is that

Ryan Johnson and Manny Malhotra will focus on Johnson because he may or may not join us in this segment. But there's an article that Patrick Johnson wrote in the province a couple of days ago, talking about Johnson, sort of getting his due and finally getting some credit for the work that he's done dating all the way back to the time in Utica. And what it talked about was he's a people person, he develops relationships,

but he's also got the knowledge of, I know what it's like to play at the NHL level. And if you remember anything about Ryan Johnson's game, Ryan Johnson's game at the NHL level was the ultimate sacrifice. Blocking shots. I think he had a permanent broken foot. I think his foot was broken for the entirety of his NHL career. All he would do is block shots and get in front of Pox.

Thunder Bay tough. Right. He was the human walking boot before Chris Tanev inherited that moniker. And when you have a guy like that preaching what it takes to be at the next level, I do think there's an element of buy in at the American League level where you're like, yeah, I get what he's talking about. There's a guy that did it at the highest level. And now he's trying to instill those lessons onto us.

What they did in Abbotsford this year was a pretty remarkable thing. What they did in Abbotsford this year was a pretty remarkable thing. You gotta remember that when we would do our, I don't know, bi-monthly check-ins with the American League team at the beginning of the season, it wasn't going great. They were a 500 hockey team. There was some question about Manny Malhoucher

being a first-time head coach at any level, of significance that is, first-time head coach at any level of significance that is first time professional head coach let's say that and the task that he was forced to undergo it was a roster that was in flux remember there was a lot of guys throughout the year that were getting called up to the NHL level think of all the guys that played this year that also played in Avisford for the Vancouver Canucks and some of all the guys that played this year that also played in Avisford for the Vancouver Canucks. And some of them, it was a cup of coffee,

other ones there were significant minutes logged at the NHL level. And then they all put it together at the end of the year and a lot of it, if you hear Manny and Ryan talk about it, it wasn't so much that they had the most skilled group or the most talented group, it was that there was a level of buy-in that's very tough to achieve on a transient team where guys are coming in and out. They also had a top line that they could really rely on. Well, I mean, they had good talents. So I'm not trying to make it sound like they were talentless.

Sassen, Carlson and Baines carried that team in a lot of situations. I wonder how much we're going to see those guys at the NHL level next year. Oh, I'm very bullish on Linus Carlson, as you know. Max Sassen, I really like what he brings with speed. He's fast. Up the middle. And then Baines, listen, I don't think he showed all that well at the NHL level. I don't think he got involved enough.

I don't think he did enough. And I know that he got a lot of criticism in the Dunbar lumber text line, you know, like what, what does this guy bring? And he didn't bring enough, but the one thing about Baines is that be careful about counting those guys out. Sure.

You know, because he has kind of knocked down the door at every level. And I thought it was a real credit to him that he performed as well as he did in the playoffs after going through some struggles during the season. Same as Artie Seelhoffs. Yep. Right. And that's also a credit to the players and the leadership group and the coaching staff and getting those guys to deal with

the ups and downs of a season. And if you're an AHL player, a lot of your ups and downs are the up would be the call to the NHL. Sure. The down would be, Ooh, you're going back. Literally going down. Yeah.

To the AHL. Um, it's interesting because in the aftermath of winning the Calder Cup, man, he's on ice walk off interview. He talked about the resilience of the group a lot. And I mean, I think that really played itself out. OK, let's we'll dive into the number number text message in basket. We're still waiting for Ryan Johnson.

I don't know if he's going to be able to join us today. If not, we'll try it for another day this week. It's no big deal. I want to pass along a trade, not a huge trade, but an interesting one nonetheless, because of the money that's being moved. The Minnesota Wild have traded Frederick Goodrow to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for a fourth round pick. Now, if you're like, what does this matter?

Well, the Kraken just got exciting. That's what it means. Yeah, sure. So the Seattle Kraken have officially become the place where people are dumping their money now. This, right? This was where Mason Marchman's contract went, although they're gonna get Mason Marchman as well to play.

Freddie Goudreau, in case you forgot, signed one of those weird long-term low cap hit deals. You know those bottom six forwards that get them? He signed a five-year, 10 and a half million dollar contract with the Wild that paid 2.1 million annually. He made it through two years of the contract before Minnesota was like, we gotta shed this money.

So they send him off to the Seattle Kraken. Seattle is making a bunch of calculated moves with other teams cast offs, which is as you kind of jokingly alluded to, is in no way gonna make them more exciting. We can get incrementally better. I guess they're improving their depth. I actually really liked Marchman.

I kind of wish he would have landed in Vancouver. I'm not so bullish on Frederick Gaudreau, but hey, here's the thing. Things are happening across the National Hockey League. Moves are being made. We've seen three trades in the last 24 hours, starting with Evander Kane to Vancouver, then JJ Piterka going to the Utah Mammoth, and now of course, the Freddie Goudreau sweepstakes, as nobody is calling them, as Freddie Goudreau goes from

Minnesota to Seattle. Matt from Surrey has a somewhat Abbotsford related question. Could Sammy Blay and Kiefer Sherwood come together for a wrecking ball fourth line? I'd hate to play against them alone, let alone together. The Canucks might just try and if they can't find the scoring talent, they might just be like, all right, we're going to hit. Okay, so the Sammy. We're going to right, we're going to hit. Okay.

So the same. We're going to hit and we're going to be super annoying to play against. You know, Connor Garland isn't going to run you over, but he is going to annoy you and he's, and he is hard to play against. Maybe that's their plan. I'm going to address the Sammy Blay thing.

Cause enough people have mentioned it now in the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. People were tweeting it at me. I think he's going to get a contract with the Canucks. I think he might be in consideration. I think they might look at it long and hard and think about it. That's about as far as I'm willing to go. There are some things that are working against them.

One, he's going to be 30 next season. Two. He's going to get a one year minimum deal though. I just don't know if he's going to be like an NHL player next year is what I'm saying. Yeah, but I, but I, I think. Like he'll be back with the organization. He wasn't even on an NHL contract.

No, I know. So I think he's going to get an NHL contract. He might get a two way deal, but his minor league salary would be significant. What I'm saying is, is we've had people talk about like the run that he's on, he deserves a shot in the NHL. I think he's going to get it. I don't know. I don't know. I think he will. I don't know is that we've had people talk about like the run that he's on he deserves a shot in the NHL He's going to get it. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if that time has passed

I think he was a you'll get a great year 40 points and 51 games during a regular season 19 points in 23 games in the playoffs and if you talk to anyone that followed that team there was sea loves was the MVP Carlson was the best skater forward or defense with the goals that he scored. And play was the emotional heartbeat of that team. Chris Tex in with another question, not related to Abbotsford, but it's funny because

I was thinking about this player yesterday. Chris Tex in, so if the Canucks are taking risks, how about Jonathan Druin? He is a UFA and probably goes for cheap. Yeah. He's not going back to, was it Colorado? Very unlikely per Colorado hockey dows, Arif Dean, who we've had on the show a number of times.

You know, Jonathan Druin has had a very up and down NHL career. Um, I think. I mean, he's really, he's really injury prone at this stage. He's missed a ton of time for injury. He's a playmaker though. He's a creative player.

And this was kind of why this is, you know, I know this is kind of why I was thinking about him because I keep coming back to, you know, Duran's will say, just get good players. And I'm like, yeah, I agree with generally with that, but like, I really do think they need to add more playmaking elements to the roster if they want to score. And also, you know, the power play still remains to be seen who's out there. Sure.

You know, I don't think of Vander Kane was a big part of the power play in Edmonton. Nope. Um, he was during his most probably prolific scoring days in San Jose. Yep. I think he had a year where he scored a bunch of power play goals, but he hasn't typically been a power play guy. So we're still wondering who's going to comprise that first unit. Hughes will be out there.

Pedersen will be out there and Nebraska. Who else? I mean, right now, right now, I think they might have Fronek out there. It might go 2D. 2D, yeah, we talked about that yesterday. But that's an issue. I don't think ideally you want that. I know the Panthers had 2D on their first unit

power play, but their first unit power play, but their second unit power play might have been better with just one. And most teams aren't sending two defensemen out there anymore. Here's the thing, and this is kind of the issue that I had with Kane. If you're gonna take these big risks and big gambles,

I would prefer you do it with someone that's got a better ability to stay in the lineup. There's a lot of different reasons why you take guys that they don't produce or their value is really low because they've fallen on hard times with regards to their confidence. But to me, last season was so disrupted by injury that I'd be very loathe to go back there with a guy where you're counting on him to stay healthy. And so in the case of Kane,

I mean, to me, that's one of the biggest red flags of all of the red flags that are coming in the package. I would also say that Droan would be in that category as well. Like, take- We're already gonna be holding our breath with enough players, Heedle. Like we're already going to be holding our breath with enough players. He'd all maybe going to go with those breath holding.

Dump go. Yeah. Yeah. Throw in Juran. I would be concerned about putting any sort of responsibility or expectation on the guy that can't stay healthy is where I'm saying take a bet on a guy that where the health issue is the least of the worries and go from there. You need guys, they were, I mean, again, there are people in the Connex organization who will point out without prompting

that they managed to hit 90 points last year despite the fact that they were ravaged by injury. And it's a valid thing to bring up, right? Hughes missed a ton of time, Hronik missed a bring up, right? Hughes missed a ton of time, Hronik missed a ton of time, and Demko missed a ton of time. There's not a lot of NHL teams, good, bad, or otherwise, that can withstand missing those guys

for that period of time. The only differences is that the connects at the beginning of the year say, everything has to go right for us. And circled several times is health. Health has to go right for them. So don't bet on guys that have a history of health problems. Now I can hear you people yelling at your radios right now,

but they're doing that with Heedle. They sure are. Heedle's a big, big issue going into this season. Because a couple of people have pointed out, the style that he plays, you love his get up and go and his ability to go one-on-one and driving the middle of the ice. Those are also where big hits and collisions happen.

So fair point. I really hope the guy can stay healthy. I remember we had Larry Brooks on the show and he spoke glowingly about. Heedle sounds like such a, he seems like such a nice kid. Heedle's personality and drive and want and determination, it's just the health. And he's never found an ability to stay healthy.

You know what? Although, I mean, the hit that he got from Dickinson, that wasn't his fault. Not at all. Not at all. That was such a dirty play. All I'm saying is you just do the math on style of play, previous history of concussions,

and where collisions take place is not a great recipe. If he was a perimeter player, doesn doesn't get hit as much. Yeah. Plain and simple. The Dickinson hit had nothing to do with it. It was a dirty, vicious hit that should have been subject to supplementary discipline. It wasn't it? It wasn't.

I thought it was. Dickinson didn't get suspended for that, did he? I'm going to Google it. I think he did get suspended for it, but it doesn't sound like we're going to have Ryan Johnson on the show because there is a one minute left in the show. So hopefully we'll be able to rebook with Ryan.

I hope that Ryan was just out partying again last night celebrating the Calder Cup, possibly at the Browns in Abbotsford where. No penalty, no suspension, no fine. Geez. Kiefer Sherwood said we'll get him next year. Oh, okay. And Sherwood's gonna get suspended.

Well guess who's getting suspended? All right. Yeah, Ryan Johnson will not be joining us today. We'll try and track him down for another day this week. And yeah, that's a tough one. But what are you gonna do? It's the life of a live sports talk radio show. Okay, just to remind everyone, tomorrow, it is a Friday.

NHL draft gets underway and we are doing all our regularly scheduled programming right here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. That includes Ask Us Anything Friday and the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Don't forget that next week, July 1, the free agency show, we'll have some details tomorrow about what we have in store for what's always a big day on the NHL calendar, one of the best days to be working in live radio. But tomorrow we'll be back, regular time, six to nine.

You can hear us all right here on Sportsnet 650. For now though, we gotta say goodbye. Thank you all for listening and thank you all for contributing. Signing off, I have been Mike Halford, he's been Jason Brough, he's been Adog, and he's been Laddie.

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