Halford & Brough in the Morning - Are The Canucks Keeping Elias Pettersson?

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk the latest rumours around the Canucks and Elias Pettersson (3:00), plus they preview game three of the Stanley Cup final with NHL on TNT host Liam McHugh (27:02).  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da No, but Y-E-S! As Toppin pulled it off the front of the rim and flushed it with two hands. The Pacers rallied and were able to finish this one off. 116 to 107. The talking heads on the major platforms, I couldn't care less, honestly. Like, what do they really know about basketball? Good morning, Vancouver. 6.01 on a Thursday.

It is Halford and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 6.15. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason is here, but he's currently in disposed. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. I would have done a bruv impression if you just went along with it. Nah, we'll wait. He'll be here in a minute. Halpern and Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first entrusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com.

We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Jason is now live in studio, so we'll do this in reverse. I've already said good morning to the dogs, Jason, and now I say good morning to you. Good morning. I got too chatty in the break room there.

It happens. You know me. I just love to chat. Loves to gab. Some say he's too personable. Many people say you owe us a Kintec read in a moment, but I can start going through the rundown of our guests today. The guest list today begins at six thirty. Liam McHugh is going to join the program.

NHL on TNT host a reminder that game four of the Stanley Cup final between Edmonton and Florida. You can hear it right here on Sportsnet 650 starting at 5 p.m. after Canucks Central with Sat and Dan Liam of course will be live on location in Florida for a very pivotal game four of this Stanley Cup Final. Do you have all your gear ready to go here?

Should we try and do a mid rundown throw for Kintec? Do you mean the part where I say we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio? Kintec, footwear and orthotics working together with you and Step. That's real good. Real good boss. Seven o'clock Adnan Burke's gonna join the program

from MLB network. How about them Toronto Blue Jays? The hottest team in baseball, 12 of their last 14 games. Our wins, laddie. A sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, laddie. They are now eight games above 500 with a 38 and 30 record, despite the fact that they're missing

maybe their best player this season in Dalton Varsha. Yeah, and do you know who else is on a heater within the Blue Jays organization? Who's that? The Vancouver Canadians. Ooh, tell me more. Yeah, they've won 14 of their last 16 games So the whole organization is just doing great. Well speaking of the Vancouver Canadians laddie at 730 this morning

We're gonna have Pat borders on the show Remember him two-time World Series champ with the Jays 1992 World Series MVP and you're like well, what does this have to do with the Vancouver Canadians that laddie was talking about? borders and Todd Stottlemeyer will be at the Nat this Saturday, June 14th. They'll be on the concourse signing autographs at the seas game. And if you're in attendance for the game, there's going to be a giveaway for a trip to Toronto to see the Jays to wear your Jays gear.

Go to the Nat this weekend. Meet Pat Borders and Todd Stottlemyre, you could win a trip to Toronto. Get this, Adog prior to the show asked if Todd Stottlemyre was somehow related to a Toronto Raptors guard, Damon Stottlemyre. I looked it up. He is not.

Wow. Probably cause they spell their names differently. Two completely different people. Spell and pronounce their names very differently. Yeah. So Todd. You know what I remember about Todd Stottlemyre? His brother Damon. Two completely different people. Spell and pronounce their names very differently. Yeah. So Todd- Do you know what I remember about Todd Stottelmeyer? His brother Damon?

He had a temper. Yep. He was intense. Covered in dirt, big wad of tobacco in his cheek. I can picture it now. And he was a fiery dude. And we had borders with a big wad of tobacco. Stottelmeyer was the one that did the slide and he busted up his chin, right?

Doing my research, I looked up Pat Borders on Twitter and he doesn't have Twitter, but there is an account called Pat Borders Chew. So that made me think, oh, this guy must be synonymous with tobacco. So Pat Borders, sorry, I got confused. I thought you were talking about Todd Stoudelmeier. I was talking about Pat Borders and his chew.

He's gonna join us at 7.30 to talk some J's and everything else that he's been doing long past his career. And then of course, his trip to Vancouver this weekend. Eight o'clock Thomas Drance from the Athletic is going to join us and Canucks talk right here on Sportsnet 650. A couple recent pieces up at the Athletic we can dive into. What is the trade value of Vancouver's 2025 first round NHL draft pick? Considering many think it could be already on the block. They also do the Canucks notebook over the athletic catching up with Manny

Malhotra and Abbotsford's run to the Calder Cup final, which of course gets underway tomorrow night. We are also once again giving away two packs, four packs of tickets to see the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup at BC Place. Tuesday, June 17th, Canada, Honduras, Jesse Marsh has called on us, show up, support your Canadian men's national team. So we're giving away tickets every day this week. Uh, we're retaking calls at eight Oh five and eight 15 this morning.

Caller number five in each instance will win the tickets. The number here, six Oh four two eight Oh zero six 50. That number again, six Oh four two eight Oh zero six 50. Finally, I have a question for all of you. 604-280-0650 that number again 604-280-0650. Finally, I have a question for all of you. Have you bought your tickets to the Sportsnet 650 Jays Care 5050 for Challenger Baseball? If you have not, you need to do it. It is supported by Tiltown proudly Canadian owned and operated since 1971. Visit them online at mytiltown.ca.

Our goal is to raise $100,000. We are a ways from that at 15,000. We're gonna give away a signed Quinn Hughes jersey to spike interest in this thing. Buy your tickets now at jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com. Again, it's the Jays Care Sportsnet 5050 for challenger baseball, a very good cause, a very good initiative, and you get a chance to win some money as well.

JaysCareGolf.RaffleNexus.com. Buy 50-50 tickets right now. Okay, that's what's happening on the program today. We got a lot to get into, so without further ado, laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. Let's tell everybody what happened. What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We are going to start very briefly with the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. We will look back at last night's game and then look ahead to tonight's game. Last night, the Indiana Pacers in their first NBA Finals home game in 25 years

inched that much closer to what would be an all time upset in the NBA finals, giving how big a betting underdog they were a one 16, one Oh seven Victor over the Oklahoma city thunder in game three last night of all the Canadians taking part in this NBA final. It was Benedict Matthew with a game high 27 points off the bench. And that was one of the big stories in this one.

The Pacers bench outscored OKC's bench by a whopping 49 to 18. And then it was one of your favorite players, TJ McConnell, sparking the way on defense, five steals in a game in which the Pacers really dominated on the defensive side of the ball. So this is going to be very confusing for the oddsmakers because this went in, this started as, uh, you know, Oklahoma city was. Favored by massive. It was like a betting fee minus 700 to win the series.

Um, and then they split the first two in Oklahoma city, but the second one, Oklahoma city showed up and, you know, controlled the game. What a pretty, so the odds makers had Oklahoma city as a five and a half point favorite in Indiana for game three, because they figured, okay, well game one was the blip. Game one was just a blip. Something happened. Maybe Oklahoma city was nervous or it was just one of those nights for the thunder. Um, so I wonder how they do things going forward.

Do they maintain this Oklahoma city is a clear favorite because if so, then for game four, Oklahoma city in some way should be an even bigger favorite because you have that bounce back factor where, you know, in game two, I was like, Oklahoma city is going to blow the Pacers out of the arena, and they did. So which way are you leaning on this? Is there something that the odds makers

and the experts didn't take into account in this series? Well first off, I wanna throw this stat at you. That is probably gonna tilt the entire thing. Over the course of the history of the NBA, teams that win game three of a one-one series tie in the NBA finals have gone on to win 80.5% of the time. It means nothing to me because most of the time, sorry.

It means 80% of the time to me. 80% of the time it's right. 100% of the time. But you don't apply it to this series because most series, if it's one-one and and game three like you used to be like well Yeah, the favorites probably won that third game in this case. So maybe Indiana is the favorite Jason Okay, maybe Indiana is the favorite. Well, do you believe that I? Bet you straight up. I'll bet you straight up that Oklahoma City will still win this series. I'll take that. Yeah, okay

Yeah, all right the team with 2-1 series lead. Okay. Who remains unbeaten after all that's occurred. Here's the thing, everything that Indiana has done throughout the playoffs, it feels like everyone is dismissing it and they just kind of keep coming back and doing it. I want to play some audio. Okay, here's the bet by the way.

Here's the bet, here's the bet. Okay. If I win, you buy $ a hundred dollars worth of Jays care 50-50 tickets, but for me and if I win the opposite Probably a catch here somewhere, but we'll see okay. Yeah, that works Yeah, so something goes to charity, but we also have a chance to win even bigger like the way you think bruff. Okay, all right I got Oklahoma City which which kind of sucks for me because I am now what a cheering idiot I'm now cheering for the zombie sonics. Yeah, but you're also cheering for two Canadians

Although I too am cheering for two kids, but we're cheering together For Jays care right challenge your baseball yet directly against one another okay so they have to be called the zombie sonics by the way that's a way better name they're thinking about it sorry I thought about it and it would be cool okay I know right so the talking points going into this were okay sees a huge favorite whoever comes out of the East is just gonna be cannon fodder for whoever comes out of the West Tyrese Halliburton and the Indiana Pacers are both pushing back against that vocally and obviously with their play on the court, because they've been pretty

good through this first three games in the NBA finals. Here's Tyrese Halliburton yesterday taking shots at all the talking heads says they don't know basketball and they don't know these Indiana Pacers. The commentary is always going to be what it is. You know, most of the time, the talking heads on the major platforms, I couldn't care less, honestly. What do they really know about basketball? The commentary is what it is at this point.

It doesn't matter. We're here in the NBA finals two wins away from an NBA championship. So I'm just going to stay with it, put my head down, keep working. And as a group, we just got to keep learning from our mistakes, see where we can get better, and take it a day at a time. There's another team that's two wins away

from its respective championship. That's the Florida Panthers. They're in action tonight, hosting the Edmonton Oilers in game four of the Stanley Cup final. Lots of storylines going into this one. Most of them, I think, seem to focus on how the Oilers are going to respond to getting blown out in game three, six to one, how they're going to handle it emotionally. Are are going to respond to getting blown out in game three, six to one, how they're gonna handle it emotionally.

Are they gonna remain more disciplined and can Connor McDavid and Leon Dryside will get back after two very quiet games each individually in game three. And also the changes that the others are probably gonna make to their lineup. Is Troy Stetcher for sure gonna come in for Klingberg and what is the status of Ryan Nugent Hopkins?

Because that seems. Perhaps. No, he wouldn't do that. He would not start Calvin Pickard. Not this game. I think our guests have been right on it. If this game goes poorly, then we're going to see Pickard. You know, even then though, are you like, I know, I know what the thinking would be,

but in the elimination game, did you go to Calvin Pickard? Six and oh, Calvin Pickard. Yeah, that's why I think they might, I mean, logically speaking, it does kind of make sense to go to him right now, because hey, Skinner's given up 10 goals in the last two games.

I would sooner go to him now., I'm with as opposed to like okay Everything is on the line elimination game Here comes Calvin Pickard in the Stanley Cup for the Edmonton Oilers. No pressure. Yeah Yeah, I think that would be insane. Yeah, you've been injured You got like a handful of minutes last game to try and get you or I I don't think they're gonna do it It's just crazy enough to work though. Imagine the story. Oh, I know.

It's the kind of stuff you dream about as a goalie. Yeah, Pete DeBoer is like, do it. Do it. Yeah. Do it. You should do it. Wait till you're down to nothing. And then Riftskin are out.

And then make a rash decision while doing it. Okay, so there's your NBA look, NHL look. I think what we should do here is start getting into some of the silly season and maybe monger some NHL rumors. Now, Pierre LeBrun, venerable NHL insider from the athletic had a very meaty, meaty notebook up yesterday with Petey, meaty with Petey. He had a lot of different things that we wanted to parse through. Some of them can X related, some of them not.

I tried to get as many sort of connects related or connects adjacent ones as I could, because there's a lot of really good talking points here. And I mentioned Petey. Let's start right there. The reporting on Elias Pettersson. I'll just read these verbatim and then we can spin off them. Never say never. But all signs point to the Canucks keeping Elias Pettersson,

whose full no movement clause kicks in July one. The Canucks are encouraged by Pettersen's approach to this off season. It then goes on to say while his production has dipped over the last two years, and there are teams monitoring him in light of how light the UFA market is, it sounds like Vancouver wants to keep him. This is something that we've heard as well.

Yeah. And the, and the encouragement part is that, you know, one of the things which we reported earlier and had actually had a chat with Adam Foote about was his conversation, Adam Foote's conversation with Elias Pedersen, where he was impressed with what Pedersen had to say and the Canucks are betting that Pedersen, you know, pride

is going to be a factor here and he's going to go back to Sweden and have a great off season and work hard, maybe with some changes to his off season plan, but also that he's going to be feeling like it's a fresh start because no JT. Right. And no Rick Taukett who, like, I don't know if

Rick Taukett and Elias Pedersen ever had like the falling out but I think there was from what from what we've heard Elias Pedersen just didn't feel like Rick Taukett liked him as a hockey player which you know might have been true it's like you know those vibes you're getting, Petey? They're bang on. Yeah, it's not so much a vibe as it is the truth. And so with Adam Foote, I think the feeling is a little bit different. And perhaps that's because Adam Foote didn't have

to be the bad guy last season. And Adam Foote wasn't the guy coming down on Elias Pedersen. He was the guy probably having more friendly conversation. He was a good cop. So that's going to be an interesting dynamic to monitor because Adam Foote is now the head coach and you know, we've had conversations with him about,

you know, now you're not like the good cop all the time and you're not the guy that the players can go talk to after they get, you know, ripped by the head coach, you're the head coach now. So that dynamic will be interesting to monitor, but Adam Foote also knows like, I gotta get through to Elias Pettersson. So I think that relationship is being considered

a positive from the Canucks. They're not actively shopping Pettersson, this is what we heard. They're not on the phone saying like, oh, we've got this Elias Pedersen guy, we'd like to move him. Give us your best offer. But. However.

I also think they're still open to receiving attempting offer for him. Like they're not, they're answering the phone and they're considering it and One of the things that you have to remember is that and they've they've made this pretty clear Like they didn't choose one over the other. Yep So people might be like, well, what do you what are you talking about here? Yeah, they did They traded JT Miller no So people might be like, well, what are you, what are you talking about here? Yeah, they did. They traded JT Miller.

No, ultimately JT Miller came to them and said, trade me. Yeah. It got to that point where Miller came to them and said, I want out of here. Please get me out of here. Okay. I'll go to the Rangers. Yep.

They actually had a trade they thought was done with Carolina for Pedersen. So in their minds, they have actually already pulled the trigger on a trade. Sure. But what happened was Carolina said, Hmm, that's interesting. Let's see if we can shop this package that we're going to give for Pedersen to Colorado for

Miko Rantanen and they did that deal instead. So the Canucks aren't against trading Pedersen because they already in their minds, they've already done it once. It just didn't come to fruition. Um, now some people will say, well, it's going to be a lot different after July 1st if this no move clause kicks in and all of a sudden PD controls the situation.

What they say, and I'm not a hundred percent on this, but what they're putting out there is that if it gets bad next season, Pedersen isn't gonna block any trade. He'll want out too. He's not gonna be like, I'll only go to one place. He'll be as motivated as the team would be for him to move on, would be the idea. Now, the issue I see with that is,

is he then just untradable? Because if you come back and you've said, okay, well, you've had the off season, you've had the, you know, the coaching change, there was the JT Miller trade. So basically all your excuses are gone and you come back and there's no discernible difference in your play, but you've still got this big contract attached to you. No move clause or no no move clause, you might be untradable. There's a big risk.

At that point. There's a big risk in both. I think there is a bit of a moral hazard issue at play here because this current management group knows that Pedersen returning to form is their highest upside bet because if they're trading Pedersen, what they're going to get back at this point does not have the upside that Pedersen at his best does have. Yeah, return wise, it could be a Miller 2.0 situation. Well, return wise, yeah, I don't even know what the return would be, but you

know, you're going to look at the Canucks top six and go, like double, because you're already kind of going, you're kind of already going, you know? So, um, they, they, this management group is kind of like, well, um, you know, that's our best bet. And if it doesn't work out, we're probably not back anyway. There's probably going to be wholesale changes in the organization. So there is that factor to consider. Like if they weren't under intense pressure to return the Canucks to play off form and keep

Quinn Hughes, you know, might there's thinking be a little bit more long-term? It's a great question and a totally viable one for the situation therein with Pedersen, right? Because the situation with Petey is super simple. It's do you bring him back or do you try and move them? And then what you add on to that question is what if your motivation was different? Would your answer to that question be different? What happens if things were a little bit more harmonious? Maybe not necessarily with him and the fallout from Miller and then Tuckett's dismissal,

but there's so much riding on the season that goes beyond just Pedersen getting his game back. All right. I mean, the huge thing, you already mentioned it. There's a real organizational push to be a playoff team, yet again, improve that year one was closer to what this team is actually all about than you. I'm talking about the years of the talk and the game. And it's a great question because I don't know if they would make the same decision

if they weren't on the hot seat, if there wasn't so much pressure coming from all of these. I don't wanna say outside sources like Quinn Hughes is within the organization, but that's, you're not serving the team and the market and your owner at that point, you're also serving your captain and his future and his contractual future,

which is entirely up in the air. Could the reason be that they want to hold on to him now is because the offers also just haven't been good? Yes. He probably just doesn't have a lot of value. These offers suck. We're not going to get back at anyone even close to Pedersen's highest potential, as Bruff was saying.

Why would we risk trading this guy for peanuts when there's a chance that he could bounce back and get 100 points again? Yes. Right. And the counter argument to that is you might not even get peanuts. What's worse than peanuts? If it gets- What's an inferior nut?

Yeah, yeah. I don't- Macadamia, Brazil, those are expensive. No, those are good nuts. Macadamia is like- If PD gets to Macadamia- If there's a Macadamia on the table right now- Yeah, you take it.

Yeah. PD for Macadamia nuts is table right now take it yeah PD from academia nuts Is it your a tree? We can do that walnut over there anything anything okay? Let's you know we're up against for time dang it okay, so we got a lot more to run it You know what we can do is we can chop these up And we can kind of sprinkle them throughout the show maybe before or after we get some of our guests on the line There's stuff on Marco Rossi, and we've got some audio yesterday from sat talking about it as well There's stuff on Marco Rossi, and we've got some audio yesterday from Sat talking about it as well. There's an interesting situation, too, really, to watch in Pittsburgh, about what they're going to do. They've kind of been identified as the lone, obvious seller

when it comes to trades right now. There's also some news out of Pittsburgh about the future of the team with regards to ownership. There's some stuff out of the New York Islanders organization on who they won't move off from. There's some Atlanta expansion stuff as well that we need to get into. So all this remains on the horizon, but coming up next, we're going to go back to previewing game four between Edmonton and Florida in the Stanley Cup final. Liam McHugh is going to join the program. He's the host of NHL on TNT.

We'll join him in Florida ahead of tonight's game for look at some of the major storylines, maybe some lineup changes coming for Edmonton. What's at stake tonight? Obviously, Florida can move to within one game of winning their second consecutive Stanley Cup final. The Oilers could even this thing up at two to so Liam McHugh is coming up next on the health and in breath show on Sportsnet. Six fifty. Stock with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650

or wherever you get your podcasts. 631 on a thrash Thursday here on the Half of the Rough Show on Sportsnet 650. Everyone said the same thing in unison. Real Deftones vibes. Yeah, it's red. All independent of one another too. I thought it. Laddy said it and then Andy, not paying attention to anyone, was like, Deftones. I dig it.

How about those Deftones? How about those Deftones? Great band, man. Very good band. So if this is Thrash Thursday, this is fine. As I was saying, I'm going to explore more genres of metal. Okay. There's like 3000 genres. Thrash is one of them.

Okay. So we'll, you know, branch out. But is it Thrash Thursday? Yeah, we can't call it Thrash Thursday. It is, but it's just, you gotta get, you know. This is Metal Thursday. You gotta explore. Yeah.

Extrapolated Metal Thursday. metal Thursday you gotta explore. Yeah Extrapolated metal Thursday. It's a mouthful. Yeah, our friend Jay swing thinks we should have hair metal Thursday Well, we could throw that in there. You do a day. What's unlicensed hair metal like I'm sure it's awful I can't wait to hear it. Yeah, it sounds a lot like actual licensed hair metal. I would imagine Okay, we do which is awesome. We can do metal Thursday. Okay. And then different genres of metal. Yeah. That might be the solution here.

Yeah. We were saying metal Monday, cause it sounds better. And then we could just do the 80s. No, we're doing 80s Monday. That'd be too much of a switch. We don't need alliteration. No!

Alliteration is important. You are listening to the Halford and Brev show on Sportsnet 650, one of the many important conversations we had on the show. That was one of them. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for net help. With over 3,000 five star reviews, visit them online at sans-trustee.com.

We are in hour one of the program. Liam McHugh, NHL on TNT host, is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of hour one, hour one, is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the Power West Industries hotline we go. Liam McHugh, NHL on TNT host here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Liam. How are you? I'm good guys. Uh, I don't know if I can add anything to the heavy metal conversation.

It's, uh, uh, I've got nothing. I didn't even know there were that many genres of heavy metal. You guys are like Renaissance man out there. Not only do you have to know the genre, you have to know the unlicensed genre Which is you guys are like you serve in the dark web for like different genres of heavy battle figure anything It's quite a cat early

All right, let's turn our attention to something that is a little more relatable to everybody and that's game four of the Stanley Cup final that goes tonight from Florida. I would assume that one of the major talking points for you guys on the panel is the Edmonton Oilers becoming unglued in game three and how they're going to glue it all back together for game four. It has to be. I mean, this is the first time we've seen during this final, the Florida Panthers do exactly what they do and Edmonton falling into the trap and then getting worse and worse as the game goes on. I think a few of the big talking points are, you know, not only just taking penalties, but the fact that it was still a game in the second period because it's Edmonton and because you do have McDavid and Dry-Cytle.

So to me, near the end of that second period to start engaging as if it were five minutes left in the third period and you're getting blown out, it felt premature. I get like late in the third period, games over, you want to send messages for next game so you're not going to be pushed around. But it was way too early. I think, I think Edmonton has capability obviously of resetting. I think they have the star players and they've experienced and they've been in the final. They can get back to their game. You need a Vanderkeen from game one. You definitely don't need a Vanderkeen from game three. I think the biggest difference for me is what I see from the Florida side, which is, you know, the goalie gets run, Bobrowski's on the ice, Sam Bennett's on the ice. He goes right there

into the melee and then doesn't take a retaliatory penalty. And I think two years ago that does not happen. They get to that line, they back off and then to make matters worse, they laugh in your face about it and then score. And that's what gets under the skin of these teams. They're the masters at it. They are the best in the world at getting under the other team's skin, making a team pay for it, and then just sort of skating away with a smirk.

I don't know, it's a huge talking point going into this one. I do think Edmonton will be a lot more disciplined. Can I make a hot take prediction for this game? My hot take prediction is that, and I wish you could bet on this, maybe you probably can somewhere. There will be. It'll be part of busy bets tonight on TNT. There will be, there will be an embellishment

penalty tonight because I think the referees will have looked back at that game three and said, hmm, Bobrowski kind of embellished a little bit on the goalie interference and Anton Lundell, I think embellished twice on the cross check by nurse and then Jake Wallman popped him in the face. You know, was it a cross check?

Yeah. And did Jake Wallman pop him in the face. You know, was it a cross check? Yeah. And did Jake Wallman pop him in the face? Mm-hmm. But there was also acting that went on there. And, you know, beyond that, I'm just really curious to see how the referees call this game because, you know, every first period has been penalty filled and I think they must struggle with how to call the game because,

especially with the Panthers, because they take liberties. So they, they're bullies and floppers at the same time. And that's a, that's a tough team to, to referee. It's extremely difficult. And I think you're right. I would not be shocked at all. In fact, I'm now at the point of you saying that like, I just surprised we don't see an embellishment penalty. I think it'll happen. Uh,

we watched that first period where it was an absolute parade to the penalty box. And I turned to, uh, this was right next to me and he said, you know what? He's like, there could have been twice as many penalties called. He's like, there were plays throughout and that's what the Panthers do to you. It's like the defensive back who constantly puts his hands on the receiver and everyone says oh he's playing great defense. He is but he's probably committing a penalty every play and you're just waiting until the referee says there's the line.

You cross the line and I think the problem is once the refs start going here, they know it's a parade. Like they're human beings and they sit there and say, Oh God, you're in another situation. I might've been a penalty. I don't know if I can call it. Like literally just sent someone to the box. It's so difficult to referee this team. I mean, Sam Bennett on the same shift could have been called twice for

penalties on Leon Dreiser. I mean, held them, grabbed them, you almost tackle them to the ice. But that's the mystery of, of refereeing the series. You want some sort of flow, but here's the thing guys, if I told you that both teams will commit four penalties, four minors in the first period, meaning that Edmonton and Florida essentially have the same amount of power plays, wouldn't you rather be in Edmonton situation?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Right? And that's the weird thing about this. It's not playing out that way. Edmonton needs to destroy them on the power play and it's just not happening. We were discussing this earlier. There's no way that Knoblock is going to make a

goalie change, is he? Like Skinner, Skinner's the guy. Although if you were going to make that change, tonight will be the night because I don't know if you want to go down, let's say you say, all right, we're going to go back to Skinner tonight and he doesn't play well. Then you're in an elimination situation and

then are you going to call on Calvin Pickard in an elimination situation in the Stanley cup final? I couldn't agree with you more. Um, granted I have zero days of experience coaching hockey, but I would 100% but Pickard in tonight and then have the option to come back to Skinner. First up, listen, the team was terrible and Skinner wasn't very good. So you can't just sit there and say like, oh, I love the team. I mean, the first goal, I have a huge problem with.

He's out there, he's swimming his way out of the net and it puts your team in a hole early. But otherwise in that, the game was just a total calamity for the oilers. So it's not on him. Uh, but you have a proven equation, you know, a, that works for this team, which is he doesn't look good. Skinner you go to Pickard, the team rallies, they play well in front of them. And then you can go back.

It's not a big deal. And on top of that, every time you seem to go back to Skinner after a reset, he's much, much better. So I think if you're going to do it, do it now. I don't think he's going to though. I'm with you. I don't think they're not, I don't think they're going to change goalies. I don't see Skinner tonight, but to me, man, I would absolutely do this.

I would have Pickard in that tonight. I keep hearing from people like, oh, well, if it's two quick goals, then they'll go to them. It's like, well, that's too late. That's too late. Yeah. I would do it now and then go back. You don't want Pickard in a must win game, first

game in the Stanley Cup finals starting in Edmonton. I don't think you want that. For the record, I wouldn't put Pickard in tonight. I wouldn't put Pickard in a must win game, first game in the Stanley Cup finals starting in Edmonton, I don't think you want that. For the record, I wouldn't put Pickard in tonight. I wouldn't put Pickard in at all. I just, I mean, I would just say if you're going to do it, if you're going to do it tonight would be the night because, you know, look at what Pete DeBoer, the criticism that he got when he had the

quick hook of Jake Autinger, and then you're all sitting there going like, wait a minute, like you turned to Casey DeSmith with your season on the line? You know, it looks bad, it looks even worse when it doesn't happen. I get what you're saying. It's a tough decision. Stewart Skinner is not Jake Ottinger.

Very true, very true. I get what you're saying,'s, that's the one difference. We're speaking to Liam McHugh, NHL on TNT host here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Hey Liam, if you had to cast a vote right now, who's your favorite to win the Conn Smythe for playoff MVP? It's, uh, it's Sam Bennett. There's, there's no doubt, uh, you know, now can McDavid and Dry Settle come through and just wreck the rest of the series and, you know, breeze away to that award easily, but it's Sam Bennett.

It's every single thing he does. He has an impact every moment he's on the ice and the fact that he's scoring goals at the rate that he is scoring goals. And you know, you're in the States. I mean, I think everybody talks about like your Heisman moment, right? You win a Heisman because you have some great Doug Flutie, Hail Mary, some incredible play. Uh, he had this Heisman moment. Last game, you know, wrecking ball Sam Bennett takes one guy out, same play. Two seconds later, takes another guy out, same play, two seconds later

takes another guy out, five seconds later he's down there, flesh and silk he mits and scoring on a breakaway. I mean that that is a Sam, that is his Con Smythe moment and I think he is that guy and every time we say his name it feels like we're tacking another million dollars onto his contract. So congrats to him, his friends, his family, his agents, and what a playoff it's going to be for him. Cause if he wants to, uh, he is going to make a ton of cash. Cause every single team, right? You guys probably been talking about every single GM's like,

give me one of those guys. That's exactly what I mean. I got two more for you non non Stanley Cup division questions here. So the first NHL on TNT, obviously you guys are based out of Atlanta, so you're somewhat familiar with the city and the market. I mentioned this because yesterday there was an agreement approved by the Forsyth County Commission,

one of my favorite county commissions, a $3 billion project that includes the construction of an NHL ready arena. This is spearheaded by Vernon Krause, who's the CEO of Krause Sports and Entertainment. He is eyeing, of course, an NHL expansion franchise in the Atlanta area. We know the history of the NHL in Atlanta. Like it's, they've tried it twice. It hasn't worked. I'm not really so much concerned about the past, but what it's like in its current state. And I know that you're working out of

there. So without throwing you on the spot about the intricacies of Atlanta as an NHL market, just what the area is like and the potential of building a new arena and a new district and potentially getting an NHL team back in Atlanta for the third time. So I moved down to that area, not Fortine County, but the Atlanta area this past summer, the balloon in New York for a long time. And I think a big thing about the area is, first off, since it's the last iteration of the NHL team, it's grown dramatically. It's a bigger area, it's a place where, much like Florida, there are people from all over the country and certainly people from up north that move down there. So yes, I think there's enough people, I think it can support a team and I think it would

do well. I honestly do. And then the chief complaint that people get now is because there's so many people down there, traffic is horrendous and they don't want to go downtown to a game. Well, you've solved that problem by not putting an arena downtown. So that hopefully, you know, helps that situation. Here's the deal, guys, if they put a team in the West and we have uneven conferences and you have to put a team now in the East to even things up,

where else are you going to put it? Fair. What, what other city in the East is going to be able to support it better than this one? I don't have an answer for that. I think it's got to be this area. And I think it'll do well. I was surprised at how many people were into hockey down in that Atlanta area. I think there's passion for it.

But yeah, I mean, the argument is simple. The argument is, hey, you know, we gave you two strikes already, right? Really giving you another one? And it's a valid argument, but I do believe it could work. So do you think it's gonna be Atlanta and Houston? That's what everyone seems to say. I mean, it is still unbelievable to me

that we don't have a team in the Phoenix area. That just didn't work. Yeah. And that is sort of mind-boggling. So I guess Houston makes sense just from the sheer population standpoint and there is money there that can support a team and you know I think you guys know it all comes out of this so much of it and we see it here in Florida it's ownership and management right. You're the right owner, it's ownership and management, right?

You're the right owner, you get the right management. And all of a sudden you can have not just a team, but you get a team that thrives. And that's what Florida has right now because I mean, guys, for how long were the Florida Panthers a place where it seemed like guys just went later in their careers to almost retire? Yeah. I remember when Luando was traded there, I was like, is that the way he's going to end his career in Florida? That's yeah, that's the immediate response.

You're like, oh, all right. I guess, you know, you play out your days, you know, and no one's really going to pay attention. And now it's a destination. And so if you get the right ownership, you get the right management, it can thrive. And it seems like it's trending in that direction, but who knows?

I mean, these things seem to change day to day, week to week. And I'm too old and tired to keep up with it sometimes. Now I've got my final one, not even a non hockey division. Never mind. I saw that you tweeted out about your beloved US men's national soccer team the other night after the. Yeah. OK, so not like we're you know, we had the gold cup in studio earlier this week. We had Canadian manager Jesse Marsh, obviously an American. And I was paying close attention to that match because two of our beloved Vancouver

Whitecaps said Burrhalter and Brian White got the start for the US. It was Burrhalter's debut. I was like, this should go great for him. Spoiler, it did not go great. They were down 4-0 after 36 minutes. It was not good. It was not good. I'm just curious to hear your thoughts on what you watch, because I didn't get to watch it live. I was just following it on foot mob. It was, it was just horrendous. And it pains me to say that, you know, I love the

sport. I love the team. And I get the data line up out there. That's, you know, is not a lineup that you're going to see at the World Cup. But I thought the fact, uh, Demarcus Beasley at half time, they went to him and he was sitting, he seemed so angry at what he was watching on the field, but he could barely get words to come out of his mouth. It was that like special type of anger where like you get quieter as your comments go because you're so thoroughly disappointed. And I think that's it where it's, you know right now that, uh,

chances are if you're on the field there outside of a few guys, like you're on the fringe and the world cup starts a year later, you have a chance here to make an impact, make a name for yourself. And they just got shredded and a lot of it felt like it felt like efforts and that's a problem. I mean, that's an enormous problem on top of the fact that like, we've been searching for the right coach for a very long time. And it felt like we had them and still may be that way, but not after that effort and at least Pachatino the next day, you know,

he kind of fell on the sword and said, he made these decisions. They were correct. He has to make better ones, but man, oh, it's rough. It is rough right now. And it is going to be a long year of trying to figure out if this team could compete. So we got the world cup going. Hey, listen, you know, Canada looks okay. Right? Yeah. Yeah. You guys got to be feeling pretty good. And, and, and I'd say, I love Jesse Marsh. Uh, like what a great coach, great leader. Uh, I think he, he, that was a, an

absolute home run hire. Um, I mean, I, I, I can, I can sense it in your voice, but what do the American players saying about the urgency level of, you know, you're hosting with us in Mexico, the biggest World Cup ever and the amount of eyeballs and the expectations that are going to be on the host countries, we have huge expectations for Canada,

especially after qualifying for the last World Cup. So this group gets its World Cup experience, didn't go all that well for them at Qatar, but that's the learning experience. And now we expect more. The Americans are well down the line in terms of World Cup experience, at least compared to Canada. There's going to be a lot of pressure on them to

perform and we're a year away from the World Cup and they're getting beaten four nil by Switzerland at home. It's only going to grow and I think you'll hear players say like well we have so many players in Europe who are talented you know weren't there and our roster is going to be different but you know there are also players around playing in these big tournaments leading up and I get that the schedule is crazy and we, I think now with all the soccer that's played worldwide, we are overloading players. But you see it, you see it in the media right now,

where like different sides are, it's sort of like we're eating our own, right? Decisions that are being made are being picked apart. And you know, why aren't certain players playing this? Why are you not committing to this? Um, it all leads up to the same goal. Uh, I mean, the amount of first guessing and second guessing and third guessing that is going to go on with this team is only going to continue.

The expectations should be big. You know, we've invested so much in this country in soccer. We have players that play at major, major clubs and they play major roles on those clubs. I think the expectations should be big. The pressure is going to be enormous. Uh, and I kind of like that. I, I, it should be that way. I'm glad it's that way. My problem is, I don't know right now, given what I've seen that they're going to be able to come close to living up

to it. And that's, that's the difficult part and sort of the depressing part I hope that I'm wrong and I hope that the next year goes a lot smoother than this has and things come together and that they can put on a show but right now I do wonder how they are going to handle the enormity of the moment and if they're able to rise to that occasion, I, I, I think I'm not just not, as you can tell, as I'm struggling to get through this, I'm not convinced. And I think a lot of Americans aren't either guys, why you gotta put me in the mood like this? Why you gotta do this to me?

You know, we were talking hockey, things were going well. I do have a day and then, ah, this isn't going to help, but I do have one more question. What team sport would you say that Americans come together for the most? I'm thinking about obviously soccer, hockey has a tradition. Basket basketball, the Olympics, maybe. National team sport. What's that? It has to be a team sport.

National team sport. Yeah. Like I would even include maybe the Ryder Cup. Cause that's a team sport. But which one, because in Canada it's just so obvious, right? Like hockey, you know, we've got such a history of international hockey, although, you know, we've got such a history of international hockey. Although, you know, we do come together now for soccer and our basketball team's pretty

good as well. But hockey is always the answer. With Americans, it's always a little bit different because baseball, the international count, I don't know, like NFL, there's nothing really. So which one would you say it is? I would say you know Todd I would say I think for me it's I think it's women's soccer Hmm. I really do. I think they do win women's soccer We win and you know what is now guys the games and the game has grown so much globally the women's game That now it's not a guarantee. Yeah. The games are really competitive. Upsets happen. The U.S. women don't always dominate.

So it's a far better watch than it was when they were just blasting people. I think it's why you don't see it for women's basketball, because we destroy teams. Yeah, that's not fair. And those teams are regularly not competitive. And to some extent, men's basketball becomes that too. Men's basketball becomes like, it's like an all-star experience until there's one or two games where it's close.

And I think you get the gold medal game and you get that experience where countries like, like all united cheering for a team, but it's not the whole tournament. For women's soccer, it is the whole tournament. And I think you really do. And it's cool because you get people. I love the fact that my sons are so engrossed and they want to watch this. They're talking about it with their friends because it's definitely not something that I grew up with. It's a really cool thing.

So yeah, it's women's soccer. I'm hoping it's hockey during the Olympics because I think I saw that four nations this year a lot of people I didn't expect to be texting me and call me about hockey Well, all of a sudden all in and I think of a large in a large part because of the Kachuk brothers and they're expecting That see them as like a tag team in WWE So maybe that'll happen. Liam, this was awesome. We started with metal. We touched on the Stanley Cup final thing. Then we got to finish with soccer and the Kachak brothers going WWE.

So we covered it all. Thanks for doing this day, man. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. It should be a good one. All right. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Thank you, Liam McHugh, NHL on TNT host here on the Halford and Bref show on sports that 650 were way up against it for time. That was not AJ from AJ's pizza by the way we should clarify He sounds like getting a lot like like that AJ New York guys not AJ. They sound like New York guys

Liam was also at NBC remember when we were working there. He was in a much more elevated position than Blogger, but he was he was yeah, he was routinely on television So he's any lived in New York as he alluded to On the call. Okay on the other side of the break It's the baseball hour here on the halferd and rough show on sports net 650 at 7 o'clock adnan Burke is gonna join us From MLB Network at 730 Pat borders is gonna join the program. Yeah that pad borders 1992 World Series MVP two two time World Series champion, one of the more lovable Toronto Blue Jays of all time.

He's gonna be joining us at 7.30 cause he's gonna be at NAP Bailey this weekend along with Todd Stottlemeyer. That's all coming up in the second hour of the Hellford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.