Halford & Brough in the Morning - Who Will Be Available For The Canucks At 15th Overall?

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason do an NHL Draft preview with Flo Hockey prospect analyst Chris Peters (2:24), plus they chat the tumultuous season for the Rangers and what they might do to shake things up this off-season, as The Athletic New York's Peter Baugh (25:36) joins the show.  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.

Music 703 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halford, bruv Sportsnet 650. How could it not be a happy Monday with music like this? Halford and bruv of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five star reviews. This is them online at Sands-trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. Our good buddy buddy Chris Peters NHL draft and prospects analyst for flow hockey is gonna join us in just a moment here to kick off our two its draft week everybody Jason and I are gonna figure out who's available in this year's draft Roger McQueen

Is he related to Steve McQueen? Yeah. Yeah, and lightning McQueen says it's his grandson. Oh good. Yeah Yeah, yeah, and lightning McQueen says it's his grandson all really good. Yeah Anyway, we are in our two of the program our two is fresh the combine. He jumped a motorcycle over a fence Wasn't Steve McQueen like the godfather of cool leather jackets. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you don't even know the movie that I'm referencing do Great escape. Yeah, I just know bullet bullet. That's awesome. Yeah more timely references from the Half for the brush. Oh, we tried it and then then then Familiar with lightning McQueen and Steve McQueen I watched a lot of cars in the early stages of fatherhood Hey dog, it goes done done done done. I just did that done done done done done. I literally just did that you're like Homer doing that

Do do do do do's off your doo doo doo's or DDDs they sing that during England games. Oh, I know you don't Big England guy over here. Yeah, which sport I don't know tennis, right? How often in rough in the morning hour two is right to buy Jason Homin. I could Jason down mortgage If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around and find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio.

Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Let's go now to the Power West Industries hotline. As mentioned, Chris Peters joins us now on the Haliford & Breff show on Sports 10 650. Morning Chris, how are you? I'm doing alright boys. How are you doing? We're well. It's an exciting week on the horizon It's obviously the NHL draft on Friday

But before any of that we got game six of the Calder Cup finals tonight in Charlotte the series shifts back to Bojangles Arena now Flow hockey of course is the online streaming platform for the Calder Cup. I know you've been covering it along with all the stuff leading up to draft week. What have you thought of this final so far? There's been lots of overtime. Another one on Sunday night.

Series has shifted back and forth twice already. Your thoughts so far on the Calder Cup final between the Abbotsford Canucks and the Charlotte Checkers. Oh yeah, it's been a fantastic series. I mean, I think you got two teams that are obviously pretty desperate here and they keep playing that way. There's nothing that's really given in this series. It seems like you really have to get after it. We've seen two great goaltenders. Obviously, Archer Silas has been unbelievable throughout most of the postseason and had

a little bit of bad luck there in game five on the bank shot that went off of two of his own guys and in. But that game five might've been the best AHL game I've ever seen. Just the lead changes, the pace, the overtime, the chances traded. I mean, it was probably one of the best AHL games that I've seen. But I think if you're, you know, if you're a Vancouver Canucks fan, there is a lot to like about the Abbotsford Canucks and certainly what they've done and what they've shown. There are a lot of those guys like Archie Payne, the Matt Sasson that are guys

that, you know, could potentially be, you know, they have been call ups and you can potentially see them, you know, finding those opportunities again, but to see, and you know, Jonathan Lecker-Amaki really step up in the last couple of games with some goals and, you know, playing well, that's really encouraging. But I mean, Shelov has certainly been the story of the postseason for the whole thing. I think, you know, he's probably the favorite to be the MVP of the entire thing. And it's just fascinating to watch, but I think, you know, he's probably the, the favorite to be the MVP of the entire thing. And, uh, it's just fascinating to watch, but I think it's going to be a very intense game in Bojangles tonight. Uh, it's going to be warm in Charlotte.

So it's going to be warm in the building on that. That adds another element of, uh, difficulty to tonight's game. When did you first start tracking Linus Carlson? Cause he was a third round pick in 2018. So I don't know how much attention he got in, in his draft year. But for me, he's been the most impressive member of the Abbotsford team. And actually I thought even though he only had three goals in 23 games for Vancouver this season, I thought most of the time he, he, he fared pretty well.

And I think most of us in Vancouver expect him to be a fixture in the bottom six and maybe even get a chance in the top six next season in Vancouver. Yeah. You know, he's, he's been obviously outstanding with the goals that he scored, the way that he scored them too, I think is important because, you know, he even mentioned it the other night that a lot of his goals are coming from the same places and that's right near the net. And, you know, that's, he also had that really tremendous shot from distance,

um, that, that we thought may have potentially won the series there for a second, um, you know, for, for Abbotsford, but, you know, he, he really has been, um, intriguing throughout this. And I think this was kind of a make or break season for him. No matter what, once you kind of start getting to that age, 25, you're saying, OK, it's time to it's time to, you know, take that step. He got those opportunities with the Canucks, maybe didn't score a lot. But I do think that there's potential for him to be a kind of a middle

six forward at the NHL level. He's played with power and tenacity and he's been good on the forecheck and he's a fine skater. He's got the shot as well. But I think that this kind of postseason may be the springboard for him to take more of a role next season and maybe fit in there. And I think, you know, as long as he has, you know, a solid summer, it'll be a much shorter summer than most other guys can have heading into training camp. But, you know, that's that's an opportunity for him to see the role. And, you know, he's been a guy that's kind of been, you know,

on the fringes of the radar, I'd say, you know, like he's never really been a top top prospect, but the fact that he's continued to progress the way that he has and has really stuck with it and now has this opportunity and he's, he's set the record for most goals by a Swede in the, uh, color cup playoffs and it just keeps to seem seems to keep building on it. So he's been a really impressive player for them down the stretch. Uh, okay, Chris, let's move on to the building on it. So he's been a really impressive player for them down the stretch. Okay, Chris, let's move on to the NHL draft.

And I have to admit to you that this show has not done a lot of prospect talk, which is weird because the Canucks missed the playoffs, but we largely expect them to trade that 15th overall pick or we have been expecting that. Now things might change. They might end up taking that pick, but for the people, the listeners to

our show that maybe like us aren't dialed in on all the prospects, can you give a general description of this draft class? Like how good is it considered? What is the separation between one and say 10? Is it a tough class to do? For example, you've got your latest mock draft up. Is that a tough exercise

or is it pretty easy to track the talent? It's a really tough exercise. I mean, I think that this year's draft in general has been a difficult class to evaluate in a lot of different ways. I think that I would call it a shallow first round. I think that this is, it's probably shallower than average. The top of the draft with Matthew Schaefer being number one

in a pretty significant consensus at this point. There is a gap between him and the next group, but then you kind of look in, and it's Michael Misa, Anton Frondell, James Hagens. I mean, those guys are really bunched closer together. So the, the unfortunate, the kind of unfortunate thing for the Canucks here is that 15 is really outside of that high value range. I think that really it's 12 to 13 is where some of those most sought after picks could be. But there is always the opportunity that guys fall down

and there's a team that really likes somebody and they wanna trade up and get that player. And so there's always that potential there. But I know we've heard different rumors about what they've attempted to use the 15th pick for, and it's not getting it done. And I think that that's kind of an indication of the value of it, maybe not as valuable as a 15 in other years.

So I think that really the last third of this first round is going to look a lot similar to the kinds of players you'd normally expect to go in the second round. Um, a lot of uncertainty. I've said it this way a lot. There's a lot of players that are easy to like and not a lot of players that are easy to love. So I think that that's kind of the, the, the way that, that this kind of draft is shaking out. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's still, your team's gonna be able to find value. There's always gonna be guys that pop late,

but still, it's been a tough year on a number of fronts, just because I think that the class itself has been pretty shallow. And when you consider the fact that we're talking about as first overall pick that played 17 regular season games this year, it also tells you that nobody really jumped up and, and knock knocked him off of the, of, of that platform. So, uh, kind of, kind of indicative of the whole class.

If you ask me, is anyone worried about that injury? And I would say ditto for, is it a Roger McQueen who's had the, some back injuries in his career? Yeah, I think people are not so nervous about about Matthew Schaeffer's injury. It was a collarbone injury that he did have to have surgery for. Costum is, you know, the second half of the season. Everybody saw it happen because it happened at the World Juniors in the fourth period that he played in the tournament. And, you know, unfortunately it was a long rehab and he wasn't able

to get back in time for the playoffs for Erie And then they got bounced so, you know that was that was certainly, you know disappointing to not be able to see him But that's really not a lingering concern with Roger McQueen. There is absolutely nervousness about his injuries The way it kind of went down this year is he had a back injury Apparently, you know, it was misdiagnosed and so they weren't rehabbing it properly and they got it correctly diagnosed and then that extended the rehab. So, you know, I think the thing is he's a six foot five center with tremendous skill in hockey sense.

People love that, right? Six foot five. Great news. Not if you have a back injury. I think big players with back injuries does scare teams and doesn't help him that last year, Caden Lindstrom went fourth overall and then didn't play a single game this year

until the Memorial Cup with back injuries. So, you know, that's the kind of thing. So there is nervousness about it, but I think that some teams are still willing to take the swing on the potential of what he can be. Are there any other big centers expected to go in let's say the top 10? Yeah I mean I'd say like you know maybe not six foot five centers but Jake O'Brien's a six foot two center that probably will go in the top 10. You know I think that he's one Anton Frontell is close to 6'2".

He's between 6'1 and 6'2, but he's over 200 pounds. He's pretty strong. So there are absolutely options there, which is another thing that I think kind of hurts McQueen and his chances to go higher because there are other options. This is a very center heavy draft. There's a lot of natural centers. Not every one of those guys is going to play center, but if that's a premium position you're looking for, and even at 15, you could probably get that next tier of centers, guys like Braden Coots and

others that could potentially be available there in that range. So there's a lot of opportunity, but yeah, it's, it's going to be really interesting to see kind of where, where it all shakes out. But McQueen is one of those real wild cards where, where he goes can really impact how the top 10 looks. Okay. So you call McQueen a wild card and that's probably a lot to do with his, the status of his back and his injury history.

Is there a prospect on the board that the prospect people spend a lot of time arguing about and then there are some crazy takes like someone will say, I would take him third overall and another guy would be like, for me, he's not even a first rounder. I don't know if it's that extreme, but I think that at least in the public sphere, there's been a lot of debate about Anton Frontondell status as a top prospect. NHL teams love him. The public is kind of split on him.

I have him fourth on my list. And really the thing about it is that he had such a weird season because he was great in all-spen skin this year. He out-produced every player his age on a per game basis. Uh, you know, that includes Willie Nylander, Patterson, uh, you know, Forsberg there's another, there's a number of Philip Forsberg. There's a number of, of players that, you know, are on that list that are behind him on a points per game status. So that's impressive, but against his own age group at the under 18 world, at

the world junior eight challenge, um, 18 worlds at the world junior a challenge Did not make the world junior team He didn't play all that well, you know, he just didn't play he wasn't that impressive When he was playing in his own age group, which was surprising to me now You have to give him a little bit of grace because he did come to the world under 18 directly from the all-spenskin championship series Where he helped you garden get promotion to the SHL, but he arrived two hours before his first game and just played the tournament and just really never got a, never really had an effective game. But the reason teams like him is because he has size, he can play center, he's got good two-way skills, he's physical, he's got skill, he's got

probably the best shot in the draft as well. So there's a lot to like about him. But I know that the public is concerned about the inconsistency and really in all the opportunities that we got to see him live, whether it was World Junior A Challenge, or whether it was the the under 18 Worlds, he just didn't perform as well. So I think that that's that's definitely one of the reasons why I see it. But if you talk to NHL scouts, if you talk to teams, and also if you talk to all the kids in Sweden that played against him growing up, they all think he's pretty darn good.

And it has a chance to be a real special player. And, you know, there's even been talk that San Jose could be considering him alongside Michael Misa as an option for number two, which would, you know, really blow the roof off the place if that's the way it went. What about a small player that piles up points and you get a lot of people saying, look, the guy puts up points and some people saying, well, I don't know if that's going to translate at the NHL level. Yeah, I think Cameron Schmidt is one of the first guys that jumps to mind and, you know, WHL player plays in Vancouver and, um, you know, he's five, just under five foot

eight, uh, five foot eight seems to be like the, the real cutoff for even trying to get into the second round. Um, you know, so he's a guy that he's got speed, he's got skill, he can score a really great release on a shot. He makes a lot of plays, um, had some really good moments, one gold with Canada and multiple events this year and so you know that's encouraging but I think you know you talk to scouts and they are concerned about the size, they're concerned about his play away from the puck and those kinds of things. I know

there are a number of public outlets that have him you know as a potential first-round pick but it seems more likely that you know I would expect him to probably go in the third round maybe maybe maybe the second round late second round um but you know he's one of those players that that I think has a wide range of opinions but there there are actually three guys this year that are kind of similar in size similar in skill and have all those concerns and that's Schmidt, Adam Benach from the Youngstown Phantoms and LJ Mooney from the NTDP, who's Logan Cooley's cousin. He had a tremendous under 18 world championship. Benach had a decent one, but I think those are the three guys where it's like, gosh, they're really talented, but they're all under five foot eight. How does that impact the draft stock? Obviously, it doesn't

help. Hey Chris, while we've got you on the line, I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit here, Connor McDavid, one year away from signing an extension with the Oilers or the very unlikely case he leaves for another team, but a lot of people are wondering if he'll do a short-term deal. And I wonder that too, if only because, you know, you look at some of the key players in Edmonton besides McDavid and Dreisaitl and guys like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, they're getting a little older. Can you tell us a bit about Edmonton Oilers prospect group? Because if I was McDavid, I'd be curious about that because eventually those guys, and even a guy like

Atcoma on the backend, they're going to need to be replaced and I wonder what kind of position Edmonton is in from a prospect perspective to replace those guys in a good way. Yeah, it's going to be difficult. I think that when you're contending team, you're not picking very high, you're not picking very high, you're not getting those, those replenish picks.

They've also had some of these kind of play. They've, they had some swings and misses in the pre, you know, the last couple of years, um, as well. What they've done though, that I think is encouraging. They did add Matthew Savoy, who was a ninth, ninth overall pick by Buffalo. Um, they, he was part of the, the, um, Ryan McLeod trade. They got him back. did add Matthew Savoy who was a ninth overall pick by Buffalo. He was part of the Ryan McLeod trade. They got him back.

I think he had a really great year in the AHL. I think that's a super encouraging player. He's definitely at the top of that list in terms of players that could come in and make an impact. Again, he's a smaller player. There's still doubts about his overall effectiveness at the next level. They did go out and sign Quinn Hudson who's the young the older brother of Lane Lane Hudson had a great year at BU this year he's a 5'11 forward

really good skill you know he's probably gonna play in Bakersfield next year but that's another guy that's kind of in their mix. Dan O'Reilly who was one of their first round picks, probably middle six, maybe bottom six guy at the NHL level. Not a super high end talent, but had 71 points for London this season. So they do have some options. It's not a very deep prospect pool.

There's not a ton there that's going to get you super excited about what the future holds. They have some holes on the back end in terms of what's coming up next and really there's not a lot in terms of goalie prospects so obviously a position of need for the organization not really adequately addressed within their own system at this point. So I think there's definitely if you're you know if you're Connor McDavid you're saying okay what's next really it's Savoy is the most promising but beyond that there's not a ton there that gets you super excited about where it's going. I don't think there's any game breakers any game changers unless Savoy

really pops at the NHL level. Hey before we let you go Chris the most interesting thing for me at this draft is the fact that it's the first decentralized one. And I'm I'm curious to see if this actually makes a difference because I don't know what the differences would be based on people that you've spoken with and draft experts and people that are going to be working this event. Do you have a sense of how much different or if it's really going to be all that different now that it's decentralized for one year? You know, I, I've heard a lot of varying opinions on, on, on what it's going to look like and how easy or not easy it will be to make trades. I think that's probably one area where, you know, it's not like a GM can just walk over to a table and have a conversation or pick, you know, they can still pick up the phone often.

A lot of those deals are done on the phone on the draft floor too. Anyway, now it's just out of out of view but that's one element of it I think the other big thing that teams didn't really love is that you know a lot of work would get done this week on site where they would meet with players have those last second meetings maybe go out to dinner with somebody maybe you know there are some teams that were doing some some last minute testing for guys that weren't at the combine. You know, so there's a lot of different things that happened at the draft that won't be able to happen this year. And so that did put a little more pressure on the combine. I didn't get the

sense that the combine was handled all that differently because of the decentralized draft. Okay. The one thing that I do know is that pretty much everybody hates it, this idea. That's all I know, and I hate it as well. So I think based on everything I've heard, I'm sure this will be a one and done situation unless teams really love the way that it worked. Uh, but I, I could tell you, I think that the scouts preferred it when it was on site, uh, and I think the GMs will probably end up feeling the same way when it's, when all is said and done and the owners are now realizing, Hey, we still had to fly everybody into our home site.

So we didn't really save that much money. Was that the only driving force was to save some cash? Well, I think that was, yeah, I think that was a big part of it. And I think there were definitely some, the other thing, the other thing that was a major factor was the GMs with the proximity to free agency, hated having to kind of like immediately transition.

Like a lot of teams actually just stayed in Vegas last year and did their free agency work from a hotel boardroom. So, you know, I shouldn't say a lot of teams actually just stayed in Vegas last year and did their free agency work from a hotel boardroom So, you know, I shouldn't say a lot of teams but several teams did so, you know Like there there are ways around that if you really want to but yeah, I think that was the other part of it But now that they've seen oh this actually was a good thing that we did and then we ruined it So maybe we should go back and do that. So It's amazing how quickly even before it happened people were like, ah, we screwed up. So, uh, I agree that they did.

Well enjoy this weekend coming and Friday in Los Angeles or wherever you're going to be for this decentralized draft. Again, the first round of the draft goes on Friday. Chris, thanks a lot for taking the time to do this today, but we really appreciate it. Uh, enjoy this week and the next couple should be a lot of news, should be a lot of fun. Yeah, it should always great to be with you yeah thanks Chris that's Chris Peters NHL draft analyst from flow hockey here on the Haliford and Rough Show on sportsnet 650 okay next segment it'll be an interesting one Peter Bahl writes for the

the athletic and he's he's written and published published basically an in-depth story of what happened to the New York Rangers. An expose if you will. The Rangers were the Canucks of the East, which makes sense because they made that big trade. What happened to the New York Rangers? What's next for the New York Rangers? Peter Bahl will join us next on the Health and

Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. It's the biggest rivalry party of the year. Lions, Rough Riders, Saturday July 19th at 4pm with the Watermelon Smash on Terry Fox Plaza. Get your tickets now at bclions.com. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd. And Thomas Strantz.

Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halford and Brev, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brev of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program, midway point of the show. Peter Baw, New York hockey writer from The Athletic is going to join us in just a moment here today. Highlight hour two. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at Jason.mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at Jason.mortgage. We go now to the Power West Industries hotline. As mentioned, our next guest is the New York hockey writer for the athletic author of the most recent piece Inside the Rangers.

24, 25 descent from playoffs to sell offs. No one here is happy. Peter Bade joins us now on the Haliford and Rough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Peter. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. First off, kudos on the article. It is very well written.

It is very well researched. It's incredibly in depth for the listeners that might not have had a chance to read it yet. Can you put into words just how dysfunctional and just how big a debacle last season was for the New York Rangers? Yeah, I mean, I think if you look at what they were in 2023-24, this is a team that won the president's trophy, had a lot of comeback wins. Maybe the underlying numbers didn't reflect the record itself, but it was a team that clearly had the magic and good chemistry and a lot of things going for it. And then this year came around and it was, as you said, a little bit dysfunctional.

And I think the idea of this story, there was a decent, there were parts of this story that were already in the public that had been widely reported at the athletic and on their outlets. But I think what this story wanted to highlight was just kind of the unhappiness that was was within the organization, particularly with the players. So I mean, I think it was a difficult, a difficult year for them. I mean, you see, I think franchises have years like this sometimes, but sometimes, but to go from a president's trophy winner to this was pretty stark with everything from kind of Chris jury's memo saying that

certain players on the team were available to Just the amount of turnover that the team has thought so like a rather big addition with the JT Miller edition It was a team that saw a lot of change and that didn't always respond on the ice Particularly well in a way that responded to wins. And I think it's kind of a, there's some collective blame there from the front office to the coaching staff to the players. Like it was a really disappointing season for them. I mean, one thing that stood out for me from the article was Drury's role and how central it was in all of this.

And it dates back to the way that he dealt with a lot of veteran players. So Barclay Goodrow and then Jacob Truba. And then you mentioned the memo with Chris Crider. And I mean, it's continued on the dismissal of Peter La Violette, the eventual trade of Chris Crider. I guess my question is the trust or the faith that maybe got eroded in Chris Drury from the players who were obviously upset at the way that he dealt with these situations. Has it been fixed or is there still some lingering residual anger there from the players?

I mean, well, I think we'll see. What's interesting is kind of Mike Sullivan coming in because I think this is a person who is a widely respected head coach who's shown he can be a winner and who I think the front office really trusts Chris Durian wanted him for years. He's someone who the Rangers targeted and paid a lot of money to put behind the bench. And I think that when you do something like that and bring in a coach of his stature, you're hoping that that can help provide a stabilizing presence. So these are all things that have to be fixed over time.

It's not gonna be instantaneous. But I think you look at how Drury handled the Chris Crider situation this summer where he kind of gave Crider situation this summer where he kind of gave Crider some autonomy, allowed him to research teams he might want to go to, and then worked out a trade that worked for him. There's a pretty stark difference between that and how some of last season went, or last summer went.

So you could say that's maybe during learning. And I mean, look, the team looks a lot different. A lot of the people who kind of were involved in some of these situations that were upsetting to players are now gone. So we'll see if that trust is there. And the real question is just, is the roster good enough? Are they good enough hockey players? That's the other thing this is going to come down to is, is where does this team stand on the ice stacked up against the other teams in the Eastern Conference? It almost felt like there is a mutinous

environment in New York this season. And as an outsider, what struck me most was some of the absolute eggs they laid at home. I mean, late in the season, I remember there was a game, I want to say it was against the Calgary Flames where the Flames went in there and outshot them. Like the Rangers got like 12 or 13 shots. And then there was a game against Vancouver, which the Rangers somehow won like the Rangers got like 12 or 13 shots. Um, and then there was a game against Vancouver,

which the Rangers somehow won where the Rangers again got like 12 shots. Um, did that, did that stand out to you? I mean, obviously it did when you're getting out shot like that at home. And I guess the question is how much of that was the atmosphere and how much of it was just the roster, maybe the roster was getting a little old.

Yeah, I don't think that, I mean, at least at that point in the season later on, I don't get the sense that players were like trying to lose or anything like that. I, I think that, yeah, some of it was the roster itself was, I mean, look, like this is a team that even when they were winning games at the beginning of the season, when they started 12-4 and won, like they're, a lot of their underlying numbers weren't as good as their record suggested. And there's a reason that Chris Drury, when the team was 12-6 and won, sent out this notes of other GM saying he was willing to make trades and mentioned Trubin Crider. And that's because he didn't think the team was good enough.

And some of the underlying numbers reflected that. So I kind of break the season up into into three parts almost. There's the beginning stage of the season where they get off to this good start. Some of the underlying numbers aren't as good, but they're still winning hockey games. Then there's after this memo comes out where they go on this memo came out two games into a four 15 and Oh stretch. And they, I mean, you just can't convince me that that collection of players was bad enough to go for 15 and Oh, it,

there's definitely a trickle down effect on, on how players were feeling with everything that was going on. And then, kind of after the calendar turns to 2024-25, they're just kind of... When the calendar flips to 2025, they're just kind of okay. Like, they go on some... they have a decent January, they have some good stretches, they win a decent amount of games, but not a ton of games. And to me, that was kind of who the Rangers were at their core, like things had

stabilized at that point. But they just were never good enough to, I guess, fully get into the playoff picture, both because of the hole they dug in November and December, but also because they just never were good enough to strain together wins. Like they didn't have a three game winning streak after November. And it's hard to make up ground if you're not going to go on runs. Tell us what happened with Artemi Panarin and what that might mean for his future. He's got one year left before he can become unrestricted free agent.

Yeah. Well, so my coworker, Katie Strang is one of the best in the business. I will refer to her article that she published in April, which reported that both Artemi Panarin and Madison Square Garden Sports, which is the company that owns the Rangers, paid financial settlements to a Rangers employee last year after she alleged that Panarin sexually assaulted her. And so Katie reported that. It's obviously a big deal. The team has obviously known about this for a while now.

And I think you're right to ask about what happens next because he, uh, that he's eligible for an extension this summer. Uh, he has one year left on his contract and, and we'll, I think we'll just have to see what the team looks, looks out with all of that. I think Chris Drury has shown a willingness to turn over the roster a bit. He brought in JT Miller, he said goodbye to Kreider, to Truba, to I mean I think I wrote that 11 of the 22 players who were on the playoff team who played in the playoffs in 2024, half of them are gone and it's been a little over a year. So I think

that you can totally see that changing with Panarin, especially if the Rangers think they have a shot at a big free agent next summer and cap space is valuable and all of that. But for me, I don't have any firm, I guess, reporting on what this report did to kind of his perception within the front office and, and how they're going to handle that going into, into the summer when he's eligible for an extension. But it's certainly a huge story and I think, um, yeah, it's, it's a big deal. Uh, before we let you go,

just with regards to the future of the Rangers, two other guys I wanted to ask about, uh, potentially being on the roster next year, If you had to guess right now, Mika Zabanich and Kandri Miller, how do you see those two scenarios playing out? Um, I would say if I were to guess, I would say that Mika Zabanich is on the roster and it's all indications are, I mean, like Mike Sullivan flew to his house to meet with him. Um, this summer he has a full no movement clause. If he doesn't want to go, he's not going

anywhere. His contract is essentially buyout proof. The Reigners would save barely any money if they were to move on from him. And also, if you look at the options out there, who are... I know Zabanish had a rough year, but who are they going to get to replace his production? He was still a 60 point player. And even if that isn't what you want from his contract, it's not like just because you have some open cap space doesn't mean you're gonna be able to use it effectively, especially with this free agent class.

So I think all indications are that he's gonna stay. Keon-Rae Miller is a little more interesting. I think it, the league wide sense that I have gotten in talking to people and also just from seeing the reports that are out there that the Rangers are, are really exploring this and are really kind of open to moving him potentially, which I think you can look at it two ways. The Keon-Jae Miller, is a 25 year old defenseman who has already shown he can

play 22 minutes or so a night in the NHL, has had a season where he has had more than 40 points. Yes, he can be a little frustrating, but he can be a horse for your team and play a lot of minutes. And then on the flip side, if they move in, they couldn't, don't have to extend them in restricted free agency and they could perhaps pursue someone like a Vladislav Gavrkova or either Proborov or one of the bigger named defensemen on the market. So I think that of those two, Miller is the more likely one to move and I would bet on Sabanich I'd say.

Peter, this was great. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. I enjoy the next couple of weeks. There should be a lot of news coming out of New York and everywhere else. There always is. I appreciate you guys and have a good rest of your day.

Yeah, you too, thanks. That's Peter Baw, New York hockey writer from The Athletic here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So we've throw out the question to the listeners, besides the Canucks, which teams are you watching, um, this week? And the draft is Friday, Saturday, and then

free agency is next Tuesday. So these next eight days are going to be busy in the NHL. The Canucks haven't done anything yet, but we expect them to do, I don't know what we expect them to do, something. Um, my candidates for others to watch include those Rangers that we just talked about, but

Florida, because they've got some pending unrestricted free agents. Uh, I would say Toronto for the same reasons, and they might be going after some of those Panthers unrestricted free agents. Edmonton almost purely for goaltending. I want to see what they do with their goaltending there.

Um, Anaheim, maybe they provide the goalie and a guy like John Gibson's, but John Gibson, but also I think Anaheim wants to do something big. Uh, Vegas, how is the Patrangelo situation going to affect their plans? It doesn't sound like he's going to be ready to play next season and look, he's getting on in years. There's a lot of mileage on his body.

I would say the same for a guy like Mark Stone. Are they going to do anything big because you know, they always want to be involved. Buffalo, Peturka, Bowen Byrom, maybe Alex Tuck, although the first two I think are more likely to move. Pittsburgh, because they're the only rebuilding team, so is a guy like Brian Rust available, Eric Carlson. It's a long list with all the additional cap space for teams to play with. And I just want to add one more because Elliott Friedman in 32 Thoughts wrote that we should keep an eye on Columbus to do quote unquote

something major. Whoa. And I will say that I think the Connects are going to keep Elias Pedersen, but if they entertain an offer, I've always wondered about Columbus. Could see it. They've never really had the, there are another one of those franchises that have long been in search of a first line center.

For who though? I don't know. Who would they offer? I don't know. Ken Johnson could be part of it, but there would need to be more. But I'm just, don't get too sidetracked by it, but I always just, because Adog, I know something. Ooh, hoo, hoo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do we get any details?

I always just think Columbus would be looking for, to take a swing, but also a guy with term on his contract. Mm-hmm. Okay, so there's a lot of candidates there. I'll be very curious to see what those two teams from the Atlantic division that are seemingly perennially trying to get over the hump are going to do and that's Detroit and Buffalo is I feel like last year was a bit of a, it was a, the bar was raised because Ottawa got there. Remember it was the three

of them. It was Ottawa, Detroit, three amigos. Right. And what happened was, well, here's the thing, Montreal fast tracked it and they leapt ahead of Detroit and Buffalo in that race to get out of the annual non-playoff spot. They're another team to watch too, by the way. They want to add a center like the Canucks do. And so when you get, if you're in this, like the three amigos of failure, Ottawa, Detroit and

Buffalo, and you've all got these lengthy playoff droughts, Ottawa makes a jump and gets out of the group. They're out of like the three amigos of failure, Ottawa, Detroit and Buffalo, and you've all got these lengthy playoff droughts, Ottawa makes a jump and gets out of the group. They're out of that sort of version of the sad club. Then you see a team that is fast-tracked, it's rebuilding, get ahead of you as well. I think that adds an extra layer of pressure for two reasons.

One, you're looking at what your peers are doing. We need to do that. But two, the job gets harder now because if you're a team in the Atlantic division, let's say you're Detroit, you're looking at and you're saying in our division, we've got Toronto, Tampa Bay. Oh yeah. The defending Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers, Ottawa, and Montreal, five playoff teams from our division. Maybe Toronto gets a little weaker this season, but they're probably still going to be a playoff team.

Oh, we'll see. Yeah. But yeah. And the rest of them, you're saying either they're going to reload in the case of Tampa Bay. I think that's what they might do this summer. Florida, they're the par excellence in the league. And then Ottawa and Montreal are on the come up. It makes this summer very interesting for you. And in the case of Buffalo, I do wonder if they look at it and there's another re-imagining on the horizon

because that's what Buffalo does. Well, I think Buffalo right now is just dealing with young players that don't want to be there. That would be. Paturka and Bowen Byram, it sounds like they just don't want a future there and they're in that position where they've got a little bit of control. Even though there are free agents, but they're

restricted, so they don't have to, they don't, like Alex Tuck is under contract to the Buffalo Sabres next season. Um, we got a few texts on this, uh, Logan from Langley texts in, I'm looking at the Buffalo Sabres cause they have all the players and are inevitably going to put another team over the hump into contender status.

Sid in Maple Ridge, Texas, I'd be watching and worried about teams like Utah and Anaheim. They feel primed for a major uptake and could be serious contenders. They could easily pass the Canucks and we fall farther away. Utah is a team that we haven't mentioned yet, but by all accounts, they want to do something big.

Yeah. Like there's just every team, every team wants to do something big and there is the cap space to get creative in hockey trades. And that's the one thing that we've been so short of is cap space and the ability to make these creative deals.

And we've been so hamstrung over the last little, few years from, from the flat cap. And, um, you know, I think the challenge for the Canucks is that there's a lot of teams out there that are just not in the mood to go after futures. The Pittsburgh Penguins probably want some futures, but other players want NHL players or

other NHL teams want NHL players. If they were to look at the Canucks roster, I don't know if they're, I mean, they wouldn't mind getting a guy like Leckar Mackie as a prospect, wait a couple of years for him to really turn into a player if he does turn into a player. But I think more people would be interested in a player like Connor Garland and plug him in right away. Philip Peronek. I mean, take your pick. But the Canucks don't want to create more holes on their roster than they have to fill

because they're already committed to trying to make this team better. And I keep wondering if there's any point in all this where the Canucks go, wow, this is harder than we thought it would be. How much we're going to be able to improve for next season is less than we thought it would be. Should we, instead of just trying to, you know,

like what did Connor McDavid say in the San LeCap final? We had just kept on trying to do the same thing over and over. We got banging our heads against the wall. Maybe you course correct and you call an audible on the line. Now, I think that's very unlikely. I think they're just. That's not gonna happen.

Yeah, I know. That's not gonna happen. But man. I would go back to what I consider it. I would go back to what I said earlier. I think at this stage of the game, you may as well explore what Thatcher Demko is gonna get you in a trade.

And you're gonna say, well, goalie markets softener thing. I mean, you got to remember this is the same league where the Washington Capitals were able to get Pierlou Dubois in exchange for Darcy Kemper. Yes, the situation is entirely different, but I'm just saying you need to look at every single thing. Like I think at this stage of the game, guys like Demko, guys like Garland, guys like Hronik should be in play without question. You have to explore every single thing

that you have available on your roster, not name Quinn Hughes. If that's your ultimate game plan is to keep him around because you have to take big swings and you have to try and win a trade in a significant way. Now that doesn't mean that the other team loses, but you have to be able to fundamentally alter your team so you get better in a significant way. Now that doesn't mean that the other team loses, but you have to be able to fundamentally alter your team so you get better in a major way. And I think everyone's gonna look at the Washington model,

which honestly I don't think is a model, I just think it was a string of good luck, right? But I think that that's what a lot of. You know what that model says? Someone should go after Pedersen. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. But seriously. But they kind of, I guess they could do it by keeping them.

But that trade worked for both parties. That Dubois-Kemper trade worked for both parties. Sure. Right, it was a win for both sides in a very weird way. Like the LA Kings had no problem with how that turned out for them. Kemper was great. He was a Vezna caliber goalie for them.

And they needed that because their goal tending was miserable. And Washington got a revitalized Dubois and solved an issue at center that they desperately needed to solve. So that's what I'm saying. Like would it sting to lose some of these guys? Absolutely. Absolutely without question. But this is a summer where I think where the Canucks are at, incremental gains are the most likely outcome, unless you do something big and profound.

Now, the issue and the scary part of big and profound is it could blow up spectacularly. If you were to entertain the idea of trading Damco, that could, and you do it, that could ruin your season. Your goal-tending could be trash next year. I mean, that's the reality of it. You could overplay Lankton or Lankton could get hurt and you're cooked.

Well, I mean, people will say, what about Sealoffs? You're cooked. So, you look at it and you're like, that's the risk. But the reward factor is you could get a good asset in return for Demko and your goal attendant could stay afloat next year. But all of it is kind of one of two minds. You either make the smaller, less flashy,

more sensible moves that maybe get you, like I've been putting it, like a 96 to 100 point team, or you take a big cut. And the more I think about it, the more I wonder if that big swing is the way to go just to say, hey, we're going for it. We're trying it. We're going to do it. For the Canucks?

Yeah. But what's the big swing look like? What's the big swing look like? What is that? They don't have the assets to do it. I would say moving, Horonok would be a very big swing. Okay. Then you've taken a good defenseman off the team. You understand what that's the big swing right and right moving a big Piece is a big swing like you understand the risk involved with it. That's a big swing I think moving Garland to a certain degree would be a big swing trading PD and Demko would be a big swing either or

Yeah, yeah, you know and saying we're we're really blowing up your core like you were saying last except for Quinn Hughes Except for Hugh. Yeah, they have a lot of options is for big swings but that's the only way do you win those trades so that's the question that's the only way you're gonna do something of significance this summer in a market where everyone's looking to get back as much as I've been critical of Peterson like I don't know if you're gonna get anyone in there that has the upside that Peterson has you won't nope you won't but I don't think I But you might. I don't think this management group will do it. I don't know either.

But you might have to try. That's the key. It's not. Well, they're trying everything, I'm sure. Yeah, it's more the hope than anything else. It's a hope and try. And what a plan that is. Okay, it's 6.58.

We need to go to break. But before we do, I need to tell you about Jan Pro from warehouses to washrooms and everywhere in between. Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected for a free quilt. Visit them online at Jan Pro Dot C.A. Coming up on the other side of the break, we're going to talk to Brandon Astle, the play by play voice of the Abbotsford Canucks Abbotsford in action tonight from Bojangles in

Charlie game six of the Calder cup final. We'll talk to Brandon about what happened over the weekend and preview tonight's game. You're listening to the Halford and Bruff show on sports net six 50.