Halford & Brough in the Morning - Canada's Team Could Eliminate The Oilers Tonight

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the NHL Olympic roster announcements featuring Canucks captain Quinn Hughes (3:00), plus they preview game six of the Stanley Cup final with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (27:45). 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-da-da-da- Driving left, down the lane to the rim, lacing up the left-handed, Lason-Holme. The Oklahoma City Thunder are one win away from their first ever NBA championship. This is his challenge. I mean, he needs to go to work this summer and put himself in a spot where he's ready to compete at a high level from game one. It's been a growing year. Sweet mercy, girl. Good morning, Vancouver.

6-0-1 on a Tuesday., happy Tuesday everybody. It is Halford in his breath, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning.

And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford in breath for 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 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. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. A lot to get into on a Tuesday show. It's a big night in the world of sports.

Guest list today begins at 6.30. Greg Wyshinski is gonna join the program. Our NHL insider from ESPN live from Florida for game six of the Stanley Cup final. It is the first potentially clinching game of this Stanley Cup final. Who's going to start in goal for Edmonton? We'll answer that and a bunch of other questions about tonight's game with Wishing and live from Florida.

That's at 630 this morning, 730. Buck Pierce is going to join the program. New head coach. Can we call him the new head coach? Yeah, he's still the new. Sure. The new head coach of the BC Lions, two games into his tenure. The Lions are back in action this Saturday, June 21st. That's a four p.m. home kickoff at BC Place in a rematch against Winnipeg. Hopefully we can get a health update on Nathan Rourke. We'll also ask about the challenges of facing a team in back to back games,

especially when that team just beat you the last time out. So Buck Pierce is going to join us at seven 30, eight o'clock at Nanverk MLB networks going to join the program. We moved him from his Thursday slot to Tuesday to talk about two things. One, Shohei Otani making his return to pitching last night. The Dodgers took care of the Padres wasn't bad. Wasn't bad. Just an inning for Shohei, but it was okay. We'll also talk to add an eight o'clock about the Rafael De took care of the Padres wasn't bad wasn't bad just an inning for Shohei but it was okay. We'll also talk to Adnan at 8 o'clock about the Rafael Devers trade and the fallout from that in Boston and then of course

in San Francisco. Also speaking of baseball I have a question for the listeners here have you bought your tickets for the Sportsnet 650 Jays Care 50-50 for Challenger Baseball It is supported by Tile Town proudly Canadian known and operated since 1971. Our goal is to raise $100,000 or more for the kids. Of course the winner takes half. That's the entire premise of the 5050. Buy your tickets now at JaysCareGolf.RaffleNexus.com. When we hit $15,000 we will give away a signed Quinn Hughes jersey.

Again, Jayscaregolf.RaffleNexus.com. Buy your 50-50 tickets now. That's what's happening on the program today, 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 messy your life can be.

What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened? What happened? 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. In terms of what happened yesterday, I know it was early yesterday, but we were off the air. We did get the Canadian and American announcements for the first six for their rosters for the 2026 Olympics in Italy. And as expected, Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks captain, was indeed named to the USA first six for the Olympics,

much like he was for the four nations face-off Which ultimately he did not play in is he the biggest reason that the Americans will go into the Olympics thinking it could be different from four nations He would have been the biggest difference maker not there for the Americans Yeah for nations for sure and I mean I think it was a big reason why he pushed so hard to get there On a personal level I think it was a big reason why Mike Sullivan decided to announce that Quinn is on his way, even though he was not on his way. He's a huge difference maker. I didn't think their blue line was inferior or bad by any stretch.

No, it was bad. But he's the best American defenseman. Yeah, I'm confident in saying that, that he's the best American defenseman. I was not aware that Quinn Hughes has not represented his country, country internationally, also since twenty nineteen. Right. It's a long time for him. And, you know, with all due respect to the four nations, if you were going to stack up the importance of one over the other, when would he have? I just didn't even think about it.

Worlds or something like that, which which was the last time that he went. I just never thought about it. Sometimes you forget how long they really were away from international competition. But good on Hughes. For the rest of the American roster, it actually mirrored the Canadian in a way because five of the six original six from the four nations got named. The only difference here was that Brady Kachuck replaced Adam Fox, one of the defensemen. Actually, I saw there was a big debate on social media about Adam Fox and where he was as a

player. So and I was like, I don't care. Yeah, I know. Some people don't care. Some people do care. I, I understand why they do this. Like a lot of people are like, why are they announcing six people right now? Well, one is to drum up some interest a year out and to get people talking about it. If I'm the NHL, I'm thinking about doing this in August

when there's a dearth of content and radio hosts, maybe like the two you're listening to right now are desperate for things to talk about. They did not need to do this right now in the midst of the Stanley Cup final. I don't know if you saw the anecdote. That's a good point, actually. Yeah, why not?

Give us something. Give us something in August. Yeah, why now? You could spend three weeks on it. Did you see the anecdote with Sam Reinhart when he got the call yesterday? Yeah, why not give us something? Why not wait until August? Yeah, why now? You could spend three weeks on it. Did you see the anecdote with Sam Reinhardt when he got the call yesterday? No. He forgot that they were doing it.

He's like, why is Doug Armstrong calling whoever it was from Team Canada? In the Stanley Cup final. He's a little preoccupied right now. He could name it the Olympic roster. What? We're doing that right now? He was like, obviously. Well.

Have you been watching me? Speaking of the five of six, Sam Reinhardt is the only guy that wasn't a original six from the Four Nations group that is going to be for the 26 Olympics in Italy. He replaces his Florida Panthers teammate Brad Marshawn. You know, I don't know how much time we wanna spend on Sam Reinhardt, but.

No Sam Bennett in the top six, though, eh? No, no, I didn't think he was going to either why I don't know. I know it's recent recency bias. Yeah Yeah, I mean I think that look what Reinhardt's done and how he's raised his profile since going from Florida It only further just it casts this dark shadow over the Buffalo Sabres organization It's not like they didn't get anything in return for him. They got a lottery protected first round pick and Devon Levi. But at the same time when you talk about a franchise that is looking to get out of the darkness and you look at some of the deals that they've made and the guys that they've traded

away and Reinhardt is turned into I mean, he's a premier forward in the National Hockey League right now. Yeah, the worst thing for Buffalo is that more guys want out now. If you're a pending RFA, or you're like, oh, this is my chance to go, this is my chance to leave, maybe we'll talk about Bowen Byrom later on in the show and the connections to the Vancouver Canucks. It was reported yesterday by. Who reported? Adrian Dator. Adrian Dator, who covers the Colorado Avalanche.

Byrom's former team. No Bowen Byrom, that Byrom himself wants to be a Canuck. So we can talk about that later in the show. If you've got any questions or comments, text into the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650, 650 Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to

serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. Is there some sort of deal that the Canucks could do with the Buffalo Sabres? Maybe they get JJ Paterka out of Buffalo as well. I don't know what the Canucks could possibly trade over there. All our first round picks. Unless, well Trevor Linden might have an idea of a guy that could go, but that was yesterday's show. All right, what else happened yesterday? We do have the audio on that. All right, what else what else happened? No, no, it's okay. So I'm done with I am in my I am in my

Give him a chance phase give him a chance, but it is good audio. I'm just saying I'm just saying it's wasn't you can have it for your what we learned if you want. That's true I didn't know you can have it. You can have it for your what we learned if you want. That's true. I don't know. You can have it. You can have it for your what we learned. And then you can have ice cream for dessert. It'll be a what we learned for me as well, because I staunchly refused to listen to the station when I'm not on it. So I don't even know what we're talking about right now. Other things that happened last night before we look ahead to what is a very, very good sports Tuesday evening.

My bet, which again, I'm not upset about because it's all going to charity, but the Oklahoma City Thunder have now taken a firm grasp over the NBA finals, a 120 to 109 win on Monday night. It looked at times in the fourth quarter, thanks to the heroics of TJ McConnell, that Indy might clots way back in. But eventually it was an 11 point loss and perhaps the biggest dagger of them all wasn't even the loss, but it was that Tyrese Halliburton clearly got hurt

at the beginning of that game, tried to gut his way through it, played 34 minutes, finished with four points, all of them on free throws. And he did not look like he was anywhere close to a hundred percent. Yeah. Do you know, you know, the, the website for the, the Jays care 50 50, right? Because I've got it right here. You're going to be making a $100 donation to that soon.

Jayscaregolf.RaffleNexus. Well, it's not a donation. You're buying a 50-50. And by the way- I could win. I could win. Those tickets, when you buy them, are for me to win. Oh.

Not for you to win. Oh, that was the catch. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jayscaregolf.RaffleNexus.com. Buy your Jayscare Golf that raffle nexus.com by your J's care golf 50 50 tickets now. And I will probably be doing so in a handful of days.

I can't remember one game six of that series is I'm assuming they're going to go alternating nights. But so anyway, that was what happened last night in the national basketball association. I mentioned the show. Hey, Ohtani returned to the mound. I won't spend a ton of time talking about this right now because Adnan Burke is going to join us at eight o'clock to talk all things baseball, but Otani gave up a run a pair two strike hits Dodgers won Otani pitch a grand total of an inning the

The spectacle that was watching him take to the mound was hilarious like everyone including his manager Dave Roberts was just standing there in awe of a guy that threw 28 pitches in the first inning ticket price is tripled Yeah, it's crazy for one inning. wasn't funny. It's like first pitch He's gonna need Tommy John Again, no, he did clock on the gun at a hundred point two miles an hour So the arm looks okay for Shohei as he made his return to yesterday It was five me those series with the Dodgers and the Padres, I've always good energy to begin with anyway. Yes, Greg.

I got a stat. He not only hit 100, 100.2 on a pitch, the next time he went up to the plate as a hitter, he had an exit velocity of 105.2. So that's- He's a triple digger guy. Pretty amazing guy still, even though he gave up a run in his first appearance.

Okay. So that was last night. I'm going to throw a question out to the listeners here and again, 650, 650 Dunbar Lumber text line. Which game are you going to be most focused on tonight? Because there's three decent options. Will it be the Stanley Cup final where the cup could be handed out?

Uh, if the Florida Panthers win. Will it be the Calder Cup in Abbotsford, Calder Cup game three, you know, the, the series returns to Abbotsford or it's going to be mad house in Abbotsford tonight. I mean, it's, it's really cool, especially for the city of Abbotsford that you get to cheer on a Canucks team in the league final. Or this is the third option.

Maybe some of you have tickets to Canada's gold cup game at BC place against Honduras. On grass. On grass. Yeah, they brought in the grass. Was it the same grass from from the rexam match? According to everyone that was there yesterday including one of my big sources who took a picture and then sent it to me. Okay, it looks Smells and feels different than the grass from rexam. They didn't get rave reviews for the rexam grass I don't know if you remember that or not. No. So I mean, it's still laid down,

sawed over top of whatever it is, the floor. Right. So it's not going to be a replica of what they're going to do for the FIFA World Cup, where they're going to have a more elaborate grass installation system. But according to everyone that was there yesterday, it's better. And I don't know if this was just the excitement of seeing it in BC. It does look really nice The aerial shot that I got it looks great. I mean Anything especially on camera looks better than the turf sure watch so many MLS games where you look at the turf

You're like, what are they playing on? It's not great. So it's gonna be great that I mean, I'm gonna hand up I'm going to the game tonight For me on a personal level being such a football aficionado, the chance to see Canada in a competitive match a year out from the World Cup was just too good to pass up. And Honduras, it's a fun test. There'll be a good atmosphere tonight.

Justin into Austin, Texas. I'll be flipping between the Stanley and Calder Cup games on my phone while being at the soccer game in person. Me and you both, buddy. That's a sports fan right there. Yeah. I love not being dialed in on any one particular game, but sort of paying attention to three at once.

Tatiana and Langley, going to the Calder Cup game tonight, I'll check the score for Oilers versus Panthers and just hope they go to seven. Yeah. I'm going to be all over the Oilers tonight, unfortunately. I hate it. I hate it. But the reality is I need a she came I need to see no I want the others to win tonight. I want them to I want this thing to go to seven The entertainment value of the Stanley Cup final has actually to be honest Saturday's game was the worst of the bunch I thought even the 6-1 blow it at least there was

Some fisticuffs and some antics at the end of it. And a blowout does make for a compelling narrative. Like that one, that was just a stifling, suffocating performance. So is it going to be, what's going to be different tonight? Are the Oilers going to come out with their hair on fire? Because. Stuart Skinner is going to start a net. That's going to be the difference tonight.

Do you think he will? Yeah, I think he's going to. Really? I think you have to. I think you have to. I think you have to, I mean, it's just, it's a change up. If you have the card to buy. You don't want to go down with Calvin Pickard and goal.

No. Although you don't want to go down with Stuart Skinner and goal either. It's a tough situation though. I think though, like in an elimination game, I think you got to go to the guy that's your number one. I think the change up has worked for them in the past, right? Like they do get this weird sort of bump every time

that they switch a goalie. I think eventually it'll run out and tonight might be the night, but every time they've gone to Pickard, it's always felt like this is never gonna be the long-term solution. Like whether it's gonna be four a game or maybe two games or whatever, you're in until you lose.

And you know, Stuart Skinner is their number one, nominally or whatever, he is their guy. I don't love the situation either way. I think that what we talked about yesterday, that if they lose in the Stanley Cup final, they might need to actually address this in a meaningful way. I think that's what's gonna ultimately happen.

What if I tell you it doesn't matter? That's what I was gonna say. For me, the choice between Skinner and Pickard is kind of a wash. They both led in three goals. What I, what I want. He's got a date 86, the other's got a date 91. What I want to see is what the Oilers do in the first period and whether or not they can summon the

energy and the creativity and I don't know, I'll throw a Rick Tauke word out there, courage to go into Florida and try and take it to them. I mean, Florida is going to have something to say about it, but the Oilers have the, I mean, the Oilers have the skill and the talent to be able to come out strong tonight. They should be, I mean, I hope they are.

They're the desperate team in all this. I think a lot of people expected the Oilers to get off to a better start in game five because they just kind of escaped game four after a bad start. But maybe the Oilers were like, well, we don't really have to, you know, like we won the last game and we got off to a bad start. We're resilient. We're super resilient.

It doesn't matter if we fall behind. You know, you obviously wouldn't go out with that intention, but in the back of your mind, you know, I, I just, if the oilers, you know, come out tonight and they don't have, if it's the same performance as game five, I think I'll be a little bit surprised. They can't have, I mean, the problem here is that they've had a slow start in every single game in this series. The stats are so one sided. I think I said yesterday on the show that the goals are 11 to four

in favor of Florida, and they've scored two in almost every single first period. So far, it's just been a nightmare start repeatedly for the Oilers. That being said, they can be buoyed by a couple things here. One, if they want to look at recent history, Florida had an opportunity against, you'll remember the Toronto Maple Leafs to finish it out in game six in that series at home. And Toronto went down and did the business.

And very methodically too, you remember that game? It was just one of those very straightforward, forthright, we're gonna clamp it down, we're gonna take advantage of our opportunities, kind of win. I think Edmonton more than has that in its bag, it just hasn't really shown itself a lot in this series. The other thing I think we really have to consider is what a super desperate McDavid looks like because he has been quiet the last couple games by McDavid standards and understanding that

all the cliches back against the wall, it's do or die, your life is on the line, staring in the face the possibility of losing a second consecutive Stanley Cup final. I do wonder what a jacked up McDavid is going to look like tonight. There is a chance he could go nuke. Now the problem is, is that if he expends everything in game six, there still is that game seven on the horizon. So it's tough to kind of ratchet up that desperation two games in a row. Well, here's Matthew Kachuck talking about playing against Connor McDavid. Yeah, well, it's going to be a tough test. You know, he's desperate to win a cup.

So are we. You know, we've it's you know, we've worked so hard this year and and gone through so many ups and downs and so much. It's been a grueling year. It's been a tough, you know, guys fighting through injuries, guys, you know, up and down years. And, you know, for us to be in this position right now, like we've worked so hard for this. And so is he and the rest of the rest of the Oilers as well.

You know, we're all here for a reason, but, you know, he's obviously a talent like nobody else in the league. So it's so hard to, to, to shut him down. I don't even, I don't think you can shut him down. You can just try to limit as much as, as much as you can. So we've got guys in there that I, I hope are ready for the challenge because it's going to be a, it's going to be a big test for us and we're all ready for it.

So who knows what happens in tonight's game, but what strikes me is that there are two guys on Edmonton who you're like, okay guys, you got to get it done. How many are on Florida? A bunch, right? Like so many guys have contributed. I know think of, you know, we're talking about Sam Reinhardt, we just played a clip from Matthew Kachak, but they haven't even been the heroes, it's been Sam Bennett and Brad Marshon. And the

guy that's been kind of quiet, offensively at least, is maybe their best forward overall and that's Barkov. Florida, I think we it just, there's Florida, I think we're all coming to realize and have realized over the last couple of years, they're just loaded with players. Yeah, the work Bill Zito did this season was really, really strong. There's so many guys that could go out there and

play the hero for Florida and Edmontmonton you're like, all right, McDavid or Dry Settle and maybe Newt. Yep. And other than that, I think that's still the issue with Edmonton. Edmonton's obviously a very, very, very good team. They made the Stanley Cup final two years in a row, but everyone's just looking at McDavid and

Dreisle right now and based on their ice time, and their ice times are ridiculous. Yeah. They're like playing 25, 26 minutes a game and these aren't overtime games. First pair of defensemen numbers for those games. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think that says a lot.

Yeah. You know, and I think if, if the Oilers don't get it done this year, they're going to have to have a real think about the depth that they've got upfront. They miss Zach Hyman for sure. And that's unfortunate. Maybe they'll look back as, you know, as we do as

Canuck fans and go, ah, if Dan Hamius had survived game one against the Bruins, maybe things had gone differently. And I think possibly maybe that's going to be their Dan Hamhus. But the goaltending, obviously if the Oilers don't win, they're going to have to look at that. And, but more to that, I just, they just, and it's just been the same story for a long time.

Like they just need more than McDavid and Dry Settle there. So we mentioned that it's a pretty huge night in the world of sports I'll remind you that right here your home of the Canucks Sportsnet 650. We're gonna have a pair of games tonight on our airwaves We're gonna start right after Canucks Central with the Oilers and the Panthers game six Stanley Cup final As Jason mentioned the cup could be handed out tonight in Florida. We're also going to be carrying game three, Abbotsford, Charlotte from the Calder Cup final in Abbotsford.

Now, for those of you that are unaware, the Calder Cup final is a slightly different format than the Stanley Cup final. It's of the two, three, two variety, meaning that the next three games of this thing are going to be played out in Abbotsford. And that's why the Canucks getting a split in Charlotte to start this series was so important.

Theoretically speaking, the Abbotsford Canucks could win this Calder Cup on home ice if they take care of business in these next three games. And I'm bringing this up because the city of Abbotsford and the Abbotsford Canucks fans have turned that place into a very difficult rink to play in. The Abbotsford Canucks have an eight and two record at home in these playoffs. If you go all the way back to the regular season, they've won 14 of their last 18 on home ice.

I have noticed throughout these Calder Cup playoffs, if you look at the teams that have to go on the road for these three game sets, it's very difficult to emerge with wins. There's a travel component involved. There seems to be a big home ice advantage, especially if you look at what Charlotte was able to do in Charlotte. I know they only got a split, but they thoroughly outplayed and outshot the Canucks in those two games. Yeah. Is that home ice advantage though, or is that just Charlotte being a pretty good team? Charlotte's a good team.

Charlotte rolled through the playoffs. Yeah, and they had a really good regular season as well. They were, I mean, there was only about five or six teams in the AHL. They had 90 plus points and 40 plus wins and they were one of them. So do you think Leckermackie gets in? No, I mean, that's been one of, here's the thing. Like if you're going to make a change after those first two games. I can't see it. Yeah, I really can.

Is it just too late for that now? Has he been on ice for too long? He's been a healthy scratch for five straight games. Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean. It's just a lot not on the ice on ice. Yeah. He's only played in 12 of the 19 playoff games period. So it's not like this is just a recent run. He did have a nice goal scoring total and had a good run in the regular season

and obviously got to look at the NHL level. But I think right now, if you're going to make a case for development, taking a backseat to winning, that could be one of the situations. Whereas like, does it benefit the club more to have the 20 year old youngster in the prize prospect even struggle his way through, but learn his way through a cup final, probably. But you also, there's a service to the guys that deserve to be out there.

And if the coach decides that a veteran skater deserves to be out there more than Lechromachy, then you go with the veteran skater. I mean, this is an opportunity for a lot of these guys. It's gonna be the zenith of their career, right? This is the pinnacle is winning a Calder Cup. So, but the Lechrom Mackey story is definitely worth following. It's weird because you're rooting for everything to be, you know,

a positive story in this situation, right? You're rooting for the city of Abbotsford. You're rooting for the fans. You're rooting for the organization. You're rooting for a lot of guys that maybe aren't going to be significant contributors at the NHL level. But at the same time, everyone knows that an HL team, a farm team, its primary responsibility is to feed players up to the NHL level.

So when you talk about that, you say, well, who's their most prized prospect? Well, on that roster right now, it's probably Leckar Mackie. And what's going on right now, he's not a part of this, which is unfortunate because this would be a great learning opportunity if he was out there contributing on the ice. But again, he's been a healthy scratch for a while now. So we'll see what happens tonight. A reminder, the game is right here on Sportsnet 650. We got to get going to break when we come back.

The Stanley Cup finals talk continues. Greg Wyshinski from ESPN is going to join us live from Florida ahead of tonight's game six. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts.

6.33 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halpern De Bruyff, Sportsnet 6.50. Halpern De Bruyff of the morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Greg Ryszynski from ESPN is going to join us in just a moment here, live from Florida, head of game six of the Stanley Cup final.

Hour one of this program 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 phone lines we go, the Power West Industries hotline. Greg Wyshinski joins us now in the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Wysh? Hello, friends.

I'm in my car with the air conditioner on. Nice. Outside of the practice ring right now, because it's it's very humid and I'm in a suit. So here we here we are. I remember those days we got lost in the parking lot outside of the Panthers Arena. It was me. It was Brough and it was Thomas Drance. And I couldn't remember where I parked the rental car.

Yeah, it's a big it's a big, big lot. Yeah. And we walked around. Like for those who don't know the geography, like the Panthers rink is by a giant mall. And you can stay in a hotel at the other end of the mall. And during the day, it's dope because you literally are just walking through a shopping mall to get to where the arena is. But then at night the mall closes and it is, you need a Sherpa to figure out how

to get back to your car or the hotel. And it's a whole different vibe. But there's a big swamp by it too, right? There's a giant swamp and there'd be gators in that swamp. Oh yeah. You know, and so like it's an interesting place. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point

the team tries to like build an arena in Fort Lauderdale, like closer to where the population is. I think they've probably had their fill of sunrise. And now that they're, you know, the flavor of the month in South Florida, Matty Kachuck said a couple of weeks ago, they might be the most popular team in South Florida. I don't think he's wrong based on just like what you see on the ground for this franchise now. It wouldn't surprise me if they either moved, built a new arena or maybe had more of an

identity with the Fort Lauderdale area than the sunrise area? God, I remember a few years ago when I was convinced that the Panthers were going to move. Like they just had nothing going for them and look at them now. We were talking just about, you know, for the Oilers, we're all looking to see what McDavid or Dry Seidel brings tonight and it's kind of like up to those two.

I know Nugent Times has played well and Evander Cain once in a while has chipped in, but let's be honest, we're all looking at those guys. For the Panthers, it could be anyone. Their forward group is ridiculously deep with quality players. And I just think about how far this franchise has come in the last few years where, you know, everyone's arguing that they've got an unfair advantage because of state taxes.

So as you guys know, like at the end of the series, of any series, the minute the final buzzer goes, they hit the hit, they push publish on a giant Greg Ruszynski opus at the end of the series. So I've written mine for the Panthers, I have one half done for the Oilers in case this goes a different direction. But the inflection point for this franchise and really thinking about the Panthers for like the last 48 hours is 2022. They win the president's trophy.

They get swept by the lightning. They don't bring back a brunette. They hire Maurice. Everyone yawns because he's a journeyman coach and he ends up being the guy who teaches this extremely talented group. If you look at the names that were on that president's trophy team, a lot of them are still here. And then they added more. How to play defense and how to play playoff hockey.

And also if you ask around the league, the concept of hit them high, hit them hard. Like just the kind of play that the Panthers have comes from Paul. And it's something that GM Bil Zito kind of indicated to me that, you know, the, the aggressiveness that they have comes from Paul. But the other thing that happened to 22, 22 one month later after they hired Maurice was they traded for Kachuk. And, and now you have a guy that can teach you how to play well in the playoffs. And now you have a guy in Kachuk who can teach you how to be swaggery and how

to be cocky and how to have the attitude and carry yourself. And, and, and all of the stuff that we now associate with the Panthers comes from two people. It comes from Paul Maurice and it comes from Matthew Kachuk and they both arrived within a month of each other in 2022. Yeah, it's incredible.

I remember talking a lot about Paul Maurice when he was the head coach in Winnipeg. And I sometimes wondered if that Winnipeg Jets team played with almost a lack of discipline. I know they were aggressive, but they took a lot of penalties and they were kind of their own worst enemies sometimes. But I think the Florida Panthers are really good for hockey because they've brought back that nastiness that I personally thought was gone from the game for a little while.

Um, what do you think just about what they've done for hockey and how people see them? Because some people see them as this great team, but others see them as kind of villainous. Which is funny and it's part of the thing I've written is that they don't see themselves as villains, which obviously is what a villain does. But they just see it as them playing hard

and them playing, you know, when they get physical it's because they're trying to own what they believe is their space in the rink and things like that. I don't know if that's just rationalization or if it's actually how they play, but that's how they feel about it. The thing that makes them really unique and makes them something beyond, you know, taunting and Bennett falling on goalies and all that other stuff is that they're just incredibly effective. I mean, this is the best road team we've ever had in the playoffs.

Like they're tied for the most road wins. They're 12 goals ahead of any other team and goals scored on the road in NHL history. And when you think about what the Oilers are up against in this series, you mentioned McDavid and Dreisaitl, like they're going up against the line with two guys that were up for the Selkie this year and they're on the same line.

Like that is an advantage no one in this league has you know Kuchuk and Bennett the Martian thing now making that third line maybe one of the best in the playoffs the Seth Jones thing where you know they had Ekblad and Forsling and now Jones and Mikula are better than Ekblad and Forsling in these playoffs like it's it's insane how how well managed they are and it's insane how well managed they are and it's insane how deep they are and I had a player, I was talking to a current NHL player the other day about the Panthers and he said something that really

resonated with me which is that they don't want to just embarrass you physically, they want to embarrass you on the scoreboard and it all comes back to that sense of taunting and trolling and domination but they could just do it not only with their physicality, but also just like at the end of the day, it's five to two and they've, they've lifted the cup. We're speaking to Greg Wyshinski from ESPN here on the Halford and Bref show on sports net six 50. Greg, speaking of things that you've written about for ESPN, uh,

one of your articles up oilers knob block declines to name goalie for pivotal game six. This was from yesterday. A two part question for you here. Do you have an inkling on who might start in net for Edmonton? And the more important part of the question, does it even really matter who starts? I got to believe it's going to be Skinner just because I think that if you think about you close your eyes and imagine there's a pass back to the Whalers in the series it's it's Skinner and Goal like it's him coming in here and the Panthers letting their foot off the gas and then they get shut out like they did in game six against the Leafs like it's not gonna be Pickard I actually I

still don't understand why they made the change because the rationale that Chris Knobloch is using for Pickard now, which is that the goals weren't his fault in game five was the same rationale he used for Skinner in, in game four where he got a barrage with 17 shots on goal in the first period. I think it was a panicky move. And now I think they're in a pickle because, you know, you went away from your starter. Um, you could frame that maybe I wanted to give him a breaker breather, but you've kind of cast your lot with Calvin Pickard.

So if you go back to Skinner, I mean, I just think that the whole thing is, is a show of weakness right now. Here to answer your other question. I'm interested to see what the fallout is. If the oilers lose the series. Because I think there's going to be a lot of discussion about McDavid's goal total and, and other things like that like that. But to me, it's three things. If you had a healthy Zach Hyman, which they don't, and they lost, I mean, he's extremely important in this series,

not only with the way he plays, but with the way he helps their depth, because it impacts them greatly when they have to put McDavid and Dryosaddle together, exposes the rest of the lineup. greatly when they have to put McDave and Dryosaddle together, exposes the rest of the lineup. If they had a goalie, that's not Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard. Like if John Gibson's here, he might be having a completely different conversation right now. And the third thing, and this is the toughest one to really wrap your arms around, don't play the Panthers. Like the Panthers are just built to beat this team in the same way

The Oilers are built to beat the LA Kings Yes And maybe the Kings would be in a different place in the world right now if they didn't have to play the Oilers every first Round and the much in the same way the Oilers might be in a different place right now if they didn't have to play the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup final like this team From from having you know Barkoff and Reinhardt to be able to D.F. McDavid to Bob Ross, like all of it. They're just built in a lab to beat the Oilers and that could just be the thing.

And I don't know how you take that other than hope somebody beats the Panthers in the Eastern Conference. Because if it's anybody else, the Oilers probably win the cup this season. Have someone just texted in, we are writing off the Oilers, eh? And I'm like, I'm not quite comfortable writing off the Oilers.

But I do wonder, I'm curious, Wish, were the Panthers asked about game six against Toronto and how they can avoid a similar fate in game six against the Oilers? The only re there are two reasons why I still think there's a chance I will be on a flight to Raleigh and then a flight to Calgary and then a flight to Edmonton tomorrow, which again I'm not looking forward to. Because I think I have a middle seat on at least one of those.

The reason it could happen is twofold. One is that the Florida Panthers have a chronic problem in closing out series It's not just game six against Edmonton They also had a 3-0 lead against Carolina and got shut out in the same way. They got shut out against Toronto They lost three straight elimination games for the Florida Panthers to be a bit earlier was quite famously last year They have a closed out problem Which brings me to my second point to the to the texter. I am writing off the Oilers because I don't think anything they do matters.

I think the times in which they've won in this series are the times in which the Florida Panthers have taken their foot off the gas and they've given up multi-goal leads and the game goes over time and somebody makes a play. Like that's that. I mean, Florida Panthers have led in this series for over 200 minutes. The Edmunds and Oilers have had a lead in this series for 33 minutes. Like every rational reading of what's happened in the Stanley Cup final is that the Panthers, when they decide they're going to close out a game, are going to close out a game. Game five was a game in which they didn't take their foot off the gas. And look what happened.

It was total domination. So it's not so much writing off the oilers as it is taking a rational look at the series, which is that even if they come with their a effort, it's still not good enough to beat the Panthers. But if the Panthers come with a B effort, then they were going to game seven. Is Sam Bennett going to win the cons cons miters that's still up for grabs So I got a vote this year. Hey good for you Yeah, it's weird the I

Guess the president decided to do do me a solid This for a long time. I would consider you in the upper echelon of guys that earned and deserve that vote Yeah, you're still yeah blogger to me for a long time I've deserved it for a long time but just curious I get one under under under a certain regime yeah we're that's neither here nor there I honestly go into today not knowing who I'm voting for like I think that Bennett the true joy of the cons might is that it is a playoff long award. And when you get a guy that has 15 goals, that's played as well as Bennett has. And that while it can't go on the official resume, took out the Leafs goalie and

then crashed the Carolina goalie and then messed around with Skinner. Like all the nefarious stuff that Bennett has done is not something that you can ignore as a voter because it's all a net positive for the Panthers, even if it's like dirty and underhanded, some of it. But the problem that I'm struggling with, besides Marchand being a better story, is that I do think that you can make the argument that the guy who has the strongest final series, that makes it a little bit more important than what you did in the first round. Sure. And that might be right or wrong, but that's kind of how I view the award. And

Marshan having the best playoff series of his career right now, and he's the leading scorer in the final, he's done amazing things in the final. And the other part of it that's important to me as a voter is that he's got seven points in the games after losses for them, including two overtime winners in the games after losses for them. So I might be slightly leaning March and, but I don't know if I'm going to go there ultimately because of how the goal total that Bennett has and everything that he's done for them I know we asked you this before I think we did

Do you think Marshawn is going to strongly consider staying with the Florida Panthers or do you think he'll go elsewhere? I Think I think last time we talked about this nothing's changed where he's going to go and get the term that he wants and maximize his financial return because he believes he was underpaid in Boston. And so that was voluntary because if Bergeron takes less money, you got to take less money to that kind of thing. Um, it's his last kick at the can. He's going to get the biggest contract that he can get. Um, I, I don't necessarily know if that's gonna be in Florida.

They're obviously gonna pay Bennett and keep Bennett. I'm pretty sure of that. Ekblad, I think they would love to have back if he would come in at the right price point, but being a mobile top pairing defenseman, there might be someone else that will throw a lot more money at him and then it's gonna be on him whether he wants to stay or not.

But Marshand, I'm telling you, man, I put it at like 40% that he's a Maple Leaf next year. Yeah, that's what I've been wondering too. I mean, True Living goes out there and says we're going to change the DNA of the team, what better way to do it? And he comes out and says he grew up a Maple Leaf fan at a press conference after that series and you know if they're willing to give him the years he's looking for and they're willing to pay the money he wants, I mean, I think the issue right now, obviously is his age, the miles on his tires and the fact that whoever signs him is not going to cast them in the same way that Florida

has cast him as a third liner where he's perfect. Exactly. Um, so we'll see what happens but My my least plan by the way boys because we all have to have a leaves plan sign March and so you take your your ultimate Tormentor off the table and then how about this? Fix the karma Mend the ills of the past trade

Nauzum Kadri. Oh my That is impressive, right? That is impressive work. I like that. That is impressive trade for Nauzum Kadri. Oh my. That is impressive. Right? That is impressive work. How do you like that? That is impressive work from you. I mean, true living, right? Like, yeah.

True living, love them. Yeah, and honestly, like, I mean, just bring them back. Be like, hey man, you know. Right the wrongs. It was sort of your fault for losing your mind and getting suspended all the time against Boston. But ultimately, it kind of wasn't your your fault and what you did for Colorado shows us that you're the exactly the kind of guy that we need on this team.

So that would be my master plan. Sign Marshand, to take your tormentor off the board and then fix the ills of the past by bringing Nazem Qadri back and the ultimate vibe shift for that franchise. Hey Wish, real quick here and and speaking of Kaudry, someone texted in and said, which team is better? This current version of the Panthers, so that would include the one with Marshawn and Seth Jones, or the 2022 Colorado Avalanche, who I've always maintained, were the best team I've seen in the salary cap era. Um, you can debate that if you want.

Um, but like this Panthers team is giving that team a run and just how deep they are and how dominant they've been. So real quick, I think, I think the Panthers went on depth. They don't have a McCarr and they don't have a McKinnon. But I'll take Bob every day over Kemper. Kemper played fine. He was good enough to win a cup, but the stats aren't always there.

And I hesitate to, in case Durant is listening, I hesitate to even bring this up because that guy becomes you know Patrick Bateman from their American psycho and he had me try to give up Rossi any credit But like you watch this Panthers team and there are definitely moments in which It could go a completely different direction and Bob makes a save Yeah, and he sort of the secrets off of this team The stats will never tell the full story of how important he is to this team.

But I think that might be my point of demarcation between the two teams is that even if the Panthers don't have McKinnon and McCarr, they do have Bobrowski. And I think that's, that puts them maybe a little bit ahead of that Colorado team. Well, Wish, hopefully for your sake, Bobrowski doesn't get lit up tonight because you'd probably hear from Drancis if he is listening right now. And I know it can be a lot to deal with Trance, to try dealing with him every day. It's too much.

Well, I mean, on this particular topic, it's too much. It's the most bizarre thing I've ever experienced in my conversations on any radio station is like, you know, like Bob Rouske's name comes up and then you hear a sump as he drops a dossier on the table. All the reasons why this guy's a fraud. Talking Anthony Stolarz could do the same thing Bob does. And I'm like, how do I even, how did I get into this mess?

Yeah, just hang up the phone. I think Panthers probably close it out tonight, but like I said earlier, if they open the door, even a crack, like the Oilers can still walk through and extend this thing to seven. All right, buddy. Well, uh, maybe for your sake, so you can avoid that flight, uh, hopefully the Panthers win tonight, but,

uh, for entertainment purposes, uh, game seven would be cool and regardless, the next time we chat with you, the Stanley Cup final will be over and we will be talking about all the crazy trades that are hopefully gonna happen in the NHL this off season. Enjoy the game tonight, buddy. I also have to learn more than four guys in the draft at some point.

I think that's the other thing that has to happen. We don't, the connects are for sure trading that 15th overall pick. All right, see you, pal. Take care. Greg Wyszynski from ESPN here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, quick reset on what's to come on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Hour one is in the books. Coming up on the other side of the break, we've got an open segment. We can get into anything the listeners would like to talk about. If you want to weigh in, Dunbar Lumber, Tech Slime is 650, 650. Again, it's a huge night in the world of sports. Stanley Cup Final, Game 6. huge night in the world of sports. Stanley Cup final, game six. Calder Cup final, game three.

And Canada playing in the gold cup right here on the grass. Yeah, grass at BC Place. Anything you wanna weigh in on, do it now. Dumbar Lumbertex Lime is 650, 650. At 7.30, we're gonna talk to BC Lions head coach Buck Pierce. At eight o'clock, we're gonna talk to Adnan Virk, a little baseball, recapping everything that's happened over the last 48 hours. It's been a busy time for Major League Baseball.

8.30 we're going to do what we learns. Get those in as well. Dunbar Lever, text line is 650 650. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know. It's your chance to be on the radio. And finally, before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. School's out and summer's here.

Kick it off with the BC Lions Summer Camp Game Saturday, June 21st at 4pm. That's this Saturday. For details and tickets, visit them online at bclions.com. You're listening to the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650.