Halford & Brough in the Morning - Canada's Team Has Won The Stanley Cup

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk Roberto Luongo's Florida Panthers winning the Stanley Cup in seven games over the Edmonton Oilers (6:00), plus they look back on a very memorable series with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- The Panthers have won the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history. Yeah! Yeah, it sucks. It sucks. It's a damn shame. A damn shame. Oh, that's a shame. Good morning, Vancouver.

601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This is Alfred. It is Br Vancouver. 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This is Alfred. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. And we are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios, the beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Hey, dawg. Good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help you with anything you're looking for,

be it sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. See him wearing my Canucks hat? He's back,

baby. Yeah, because all the standings are tied now. Everyone is at zero. Everyone's back to square one. Florida Panthers had their day yesterday. Yep. That's it. Draft is Friday. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite

orthotics provider. Powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider. Powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfie, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Folks, sometimes everything does go exactly as planned. I'll just leave it at that. We've got a big show ahead today on a Tuesday.

Our guest list begins at 6.30. Greg Wyshynski, ESPN NHL Insider. I'm assuming that both our 6.30 guests, Greg Wyshynski, and our 7.30 guests, Luke Fox, will still be live on location in Florida. Big scenes last night. The Florida Panthers are your 2024 Stanley Cup champions. We'll talk to Greg at 6.30 about that.

Luke Fox from Sportsnet at 7.30 about that. Brendan Batchelor is going to join us at 8 o'clock. It's a big hockey show. Obviously, we're going to talk a lot about what might have been the best Stanley Cup final series in NHL history. There's a lot to get into. There's a lot to unpack. So I'm not even going to run through the guest list again.

I'll just tell you 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 busy. We know how night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that?

You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the B.C. Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. They avoided the collapse. They won Game 7. They hoisted the big silver trophy.

And perhaps most importantly, they forever avoided the sad club. The Florida Panthers won their first Stanley Cup on Monday night, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7. And again, is what I said, what might have been the best Stanley Cup final in NHL history. And a terrific game is what I said, what might have been the best Stanley Cup final in NHL history. And a terrific game to end, said amazing Stanley Cup final. I know it didn't have a dramatic ending or anything. In fact, it ended with like a 10-second scrum in the corner.

Yep. And it only had three goals, but that was a great game. Awesome game. You do not see games like that in the regular season, only in the playoffs, because you could feel the intensity on the ice. You could feel that everyone knew that one mistake could change this thing.

There's a reason the cliche of fighting for every inch of the ice exists, and it was games like that. In the end, the Panthers outgrinded the Oilers. Yep. They took a one goal lead into the third and did what they always do in that situation. They suffocated their opponents.

They barred the door shut and they won the game. And it took a lot of mental fortitude and physical fortitude to do it for the Florida Panthers after losing three straight to the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers hung in there. I thought they played well. I thought both teams played well. Yep.

There were chances for the Edmonton Oilers to tie that game. Connor McDavid had chances. Leon Dreisaitl. There were chances. Bouchard hit the post real hard at one point in the game. It was a very close game and ultimately the Florida Panthers won it. And as a – well, I call myself a neutral, but I was cheering pretty hard for Florida.

You know, as a guy who didn't have his team in it, there were times – I kid you not, there were times when I was like, oh, wait a minute, I just went a minute without breathing. That was the most glued I could be to a game that doesn't involve the Vancouver Canucks. Honestly, that's about as close as it is. Unless it's international hockey. Yeah, it's not the same, but it's close

because that series delivered. Very rarely do finals deliver. I mean, look at the NBA finals this year. If you want to hold them up against one of the most recent example of another league that had a best of seven, it wasn't even close. The drama at the end, the storylines throughout the comeback that Edmonton, I'll give them credit. They deserve a ton, a ton of applause for pushing that thing to set.

For sure. Of course they do. Yeah. But from someone just texted in, congrats on winning the Schadenfreude Cup. Yeah, like that was always the destiny. I came in this morning and A-Dog sat down and I was like, well, well, well, A-Dog, what do you got to say for yourself now?

You doubted me. Just like you wrote, I always doubt you. You doubted me. I know. Well, people should doubt you. You said I was flying too close to the sun. You're doubtable. It's true.

Nothing ever comes true. The master of hot takes wonders why he's doubtable. So overall in these playoffs, just to throw this out there and we'll get back to last night's doubtable. So overall in these playoffs, just to throw this out there, and we'll get back to last night's game. Sure. Overall in these playoffs, pretty good, right? Certainly better than the NBA's.

The NBA's was a disaster. And we had a Canucks playoff series win, which is huge for us, considering the past few years. We had them going to game seven against the Edmonton Oilers. Unfortunately, it didn't go their way in that game, but you had a very exciting Stanley Cup final. You had some terrific schadenfreude with the Oilers losing in game seven.

And doesn't it seem like a hundred years ago that the Leafs lost in seven to Boston? I couldn't even remember it. I was like, how did they lose? Oh yeah. Pasternak scored in overtime. I'm kind of like,

yeah, my kid, my kid asked me a couple of days ago that he's like, what happened to the Maple Leafs in the playoffs this year? And I was like, I don't remember. I think they lost to Columbus or something. I think they lost to play Tampa Bay again. I was lost to Tampa Bay. Did they play Tampa Bay again?

No, they lost. It was one of the better game sevens in recent memory because of the way that it ended. And it's funny because this is the 30th anniversary of a very famous and iconic Sports Illustrated cover. It was after the Canucks lost to the New York Rangers in game seven of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final. I don't know how

many of you youths out there know about this, but the olds will remember it. They put out a cover of Sports Illustrated that said why the NHL is hot and the NBA is not. Are they going to do that again now? I don't know. Sports Illustrated doesn't run.

Yeah, do they even print magazines anymore? Kids, do you get magazines anymore? Maybe someone will do a TikTok. My point being, this was a banner year for the National Hockey League. There's a lot of metrics that I don't really need to go into about how television ratings went up by like 30% to 40% because they had a big footprint with ESPN and TNT this year. The gate revenue, attendance was at like 97 percent or something like that.

I think the important thing is that they had momentum from a playoff. And I'm not trying to position the NHL against the NBA. But the reality is the seasons mirror each other, the playoffs mirror each other in terms of timing, and the NBA Finals always run up against. They had a great, great season. That was a tremendous playoff. It couldn't have ended any better, because

then, for locally, we had the Shattenford aspect, because the Edmonton Oilers got as agonizingly close as you could possibly get. Outside of that game going to overtime yesterday, that was as close as you could possibly get. Outside of that game going to overtime yesterday, that was as close as you can get to tasting the championship and winning the cup. Did you think they were going to tie it?

Yes. You did? Yes. Yes, because the ice was so tilted in the third period. Although, when McDavid missed, it wasn't missed because he had the, Forsling had the good stick check on him, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Dreisaitl actually had that opportunity.

When those didn't go, and I realized that Florida was so committed to blocking shots at that point. McDavid had that fly-by tip. Because I'm going to be honest. That I thought was going in for sure. I'm going to be honest with you here. Bobrovsky didn't actually make that many unreal saves last night. Nope.

Like, there were scrambles in and around the net where you're like, oh, what a save. But then you'd see it on replay and it was either the puck got shot wide or like Kulikov bent like a pretzel to get the puck out. Don't you think it was just overall a well-played game? You know, the teams were working hard to score. They were working even harder to block shots.

And, you know, someone made fun of me. Paul texted in. They suffocated the game. It was a great game. Hashtag hype. What I mean by that is that you could tell how hard everyone was working out there. And that's actually the type of game that I like because you can tell, you can feel it through the TV how hard everyone was working and how desperate they were.

That play in front of the net where you had Forsling going over to McDavid and what's the guy's name who blocked the shot, a dry sidle shot? He's got the long finish name. Lusterinan? Lusterinan, yeah. Like he made a terrific play on that.

And you could see the desperation in the Florida Panthers to bar the door shut. And you could see the desperation in the Edmonton Oilers to try and get one through. For me, that is one million times more compelling than a high-scoring regular season game where people aren't all that interested in playing defense. There's a point to be taken here.

Both teams needed and had the energy to put forth that kind of effort in Game 7. Freed and Merrick were talking about this. They did a 32 Thoughts overnight. I listened to it on the way in. Freed said, look, there's a lot of people that were rightly complaining about the way that this series was scheduled. It is June 25th. This is a long time to drag it out. rightly complaining about the way that this series was scheduled. It is June 25th. Yeah. Right?

This is a long time to drag it out, but you probably don't get that kind of effort and intensity and energy without the extra day of rest in between Game 6 and Game 7. It was a good thing in the end that it went to June 25th because they allowed the product on the ice to be better. I mean, after we got off the air yesterday, we were talking about 2011 and the schedule between the Bruins and the Canucks, which also had a similar length of travel

between the two cities. And you could make the argument that that series suffered because there were too many just one-day breaks in between games. So we went into last night's game, and we were talking about it yesterday. We were asking, okay, who are you thinking about um ahead of this series either you know this guy must be really excited or this guy must be really worried and one of the guys we talked about one of the first guys we talked about was the head coach of the Florida Panthers in Paul Maurice and Paul Maurice has been a head coach in the NHL and spent a lot of time in the NHL.

Over two decades, he's been to a couple Stanley Cup finals, and he had lost them both before his third trip with the Florida Panthers. And we were thinking, nobody wants to be the head coach of a team that blows a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup final. I don't know if Paul Maurice would have been back as head coach of the Florida Panthers. I mean, there's even talk right now that he might retire. I don't know. I don't know if there's anything to that. It might just be people saying, wow, what a way that would be to go out.

But here is a Paul Maurice interview, and Phoenix texts in, I thought Paul Maurice's post-game interview was incredible. So did I. Here's Paul Maurice after winning the Stanley Cup. Okay, alongside Paul Maurice. Paul, you said you needed to win one, and you've got one now. So what's it feel like?

It's just brilliant, right? I've never hugged so many sweaty men in my entire life. I'm not sure I'm going to do it again, but I'm going to do it tonight. So, you know, it's not what I thought it would be. It's so much better. But it's the hugs, man. I saw Sam Bennett smile today. First time in two years.

It's brilliant. You know, it's for my mom and dad in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. My brothers Mike and Shane in Sault Ste. Marie and Waterloo. The whole Angloise clan in LaSalle, Ontario. All of the people that suffered through 30 years of me losing, making excuses. Mom and dad, especially. Hey, dad, your name's going up with your heroes Melovo Richard Hal Lindsey Maurice

last one for you after your time in Winnipeg you were prepared for a career in fishing but I wonder if there is a better catch than Lord Stanley well I was just lucky you know what it was

so if I could have one thing more, it'd be for the Winnipeg Jets to win the next Stanley Cup. Paul, congratulations. Thanks, Scott. So last night, Paul Maurice did a shout-out to Winnipeg. Yeah. Matthew Kachuk had a shout-out for Calgary, and he said, all my fans in Calgary,

you didn't think I'd let the Edmonton Oilers win. Something along those lines. And then Roberto Luongo, one of the people in Vancouver, were excited to see hoist the Stanley Cup. Had a shout out for all the people in Vancouver that were offering him support. Truly Canada's team.

Yeah. Florida Panthers. Yeah, right. They did it for all of them. Truly, truly Canada's team. Yeah. The Florida Panthers. Yeah, right. They did it for all of them. Truly, truly Canada's team. They did it for all of Canada. Except for Edmonton. Adoc, how did you feel watching Lou hoist the cup?

Oh, it was awesome. It was like, first of all, I was kind of memeing on him a little bit at the start of the game because he was so... You were what? You were what? I was memeing on him. What?

I was, okay. I'm with it. I was kind of poking I'm with it. I'm hip. I was kind of poking fun at how, the fact of how intense he looked when he was banging that drum at the start. I was like, man, Luongo is dialed in. Like, he is banging that drum to destroy it. Like, he looks absolutely furious.

Like, he can't believe they're here. They should have won in four. Like, this is insane. I can't believe we're doing this again. Like, he had so many mixed emotions, just beating the crap out of that drum and but it worked it it worked like that that level of intensity the team showed and uh to see uh to see him lifted at the end was pretty i thought it was bad vibes that he was doing it yeah i know we were talking about that i was like oh is this gonna be really uh this is bad because he was like i don't know

if you saw it but he was i saw. He was jacked. Fired up. He was fired up. And I'm like, there's a guy. Why did you think it was bad vibes? They love him there. No, no, no. I just thought that the energy was along the lines of like Zito throwing the water bottle and Maurice freaking out. Oh.

Yeah. Like a bit of a, we need to keep our composure. A little bit too much. No, but he rallied the man. That intensity brought them together. I've never seen anyone do the celebratory, ceremonial pregame hype with the intensity that Roberto Luongo did it. It was awesome. Alex Edler did not crank the horn with the same level of intensity.

I thought Edler brought it, though, for Edler. For Edler. That's what I'm saying. Connor McDavid won the Conspite Trophy, and it's hard to argue given his overall playoff stats. Didn't come out for it, though. How he helped the Oilers back into the series, I wouldn't have come out for it either.

I feel like you have. No, you don't. Jez Jager in 03. There's pictures. He looks devastated holding it. But he went out there and accepted the award. Also, McDavid's parents were like, did you see them? They were filming the entire time.

His dad was pumped when he heard the Conn Spike trophy. I think he was like, Conn's going to come out. Yeah. Conn's going to come out? Conn should come out. Conn's going to come out. We've seen that picture of Jaguar that's gone around forever. McDavid maybe didn't want that picture of him.

That's not his choice. I don't know if anyone saw his post-game stand-up. I thought he was going to cry. He was really, really close to crying, I thought. He was devastated. I think he was just spent. That too. I don't have the third period ice time in front of me.

He had to have played 19 of the 20 minutes. He was out there the entire third period. Is it worth noting no points in game seven? Came close a few times, but ultimately got skunked. No points in game six either. Right. So we have to address this. No one did talk about that after game six, though,

because everyone was talking about the Oilers winning and them getting support from up and down the lineup. And he was incredible in games four and five, eight points combined in games four and five, but none in game seven. And if you're looking for... We need to talk about this. Here's the thing.

Last night, you'd be like, okay, why did the Panthers win? And you might say, like, well, Skinner might have been able to stop that Reinhardt shot, right? But I think that's grasping at it too much. And it's putting a lot on Skinner. And it's putting – well, you know, you watch that and you're like, well, he could have come up with that save, but it was a nice shot by Reinhardt. Could have given him more than one goal of offense.

But I think ultimately, you look at it, why did the Panthers win? They held Connor McDavid off the board. Well, and Leon Dreisaitl, too, right? Dreisaitl finishes the Stanley Cup Finals, the seven-game series, with no goals and three assists. It's seven games. And when the Oilers scored 18 goals in games four, five, and six. I mean, that's the story.

Here's what we got to understand. The Kahn-Smythe Trophy goes to the most valuable player of the playoffs in their entirety. It's not a finals MVP like what the NBA does. But the finals is more weighted. Sure. So, in the finals, if you look at it, McDavid had an unbelievable series.

The points were ridiculous, but it was done in mostly 3-4 and 5. The games 3-4 and 5. For the consummate winner to go pointless in 6-7, I understand why there was

some pushback on social media. I don't disagree with i think if you were to ask me who is the most valuable playoffs when it started way back god i remember now april when did the playoffs start last year yeah right from the big very beginning to the very end mcdavid was the best player in them i think that's fair to say barkov uh probably had a shout barofsky probably had a shout but mrovsky probably had a shout. But McDavid was the best. That said, it is hard to ignore that those two guys went pointless in six and seven. Yeah.

Like, that's crazy to me. Right? They needed that. Not so much in six, but in seven. How much do you think that's going to stick with him? Yeah. It's going to weigh on that team in the sense of coulda, shoulda, woulda, what would have happened, what if, if they had just gotten...

And it wasn't like they were invisible out there. No, it just wouldn't go in. It just wouldn't go in, yeah. Last night, it wouldn't go in. I mean, the Panthers did a remarkable job, remarkable job of blocking shots and tying guys up in front of the net. Yeah. Right?

It was a clinic in that. And it's something that they got back to after really losing their way as the series went 3-0, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3. You know, I was, again, to steal from, completely steal from Freed and Merrick. They said the biggest thing last night is that felt more like a Panthers game than any of the previous three. Well, they got off to a good start. That helped. And I'm not talking about scoring early.

I'm just talking about the overall first period. They got back to Panthers hockey. You know where I thought the real definitive moment was? Was when Kachuk got that weird tripping penalty. And my take on that is he's done too many accidentally on purpose moves. Well, I think you can call it a penalty anyway. Sure. He tripped him.

But he jumped up and he's like, I fell, I fell. Yeah, he did. And he legitimately did fall. He caught an edge or something. I know, but I think that the refs were looking at it. They're also like, yeah, but you made zero effort to get out of the way. You're like, oh, I will use this to my advantage. Anyway, that doesn't matter.

Yeah, it doesn't matter. Point is, when they went to that kill, and I think it was Forsling that broke his stick, and then Stenland had to give him his stick. Oh, my God. And it was the wrong hand, right? I think it was a lefty stick to a righty shooter. So at that point, you're five on what, three and a half? Was it? I don't even know if it was. No, it was the wrong hand, right? I think it was a lefty stick to a righty shooter. So at that point, you're five on what, three and a half?

Was it? I don't even know if it was. No, it was. Yeah, I went back and looked and checked it all out. So Stenland's playing without a stick. Forsling's playing with a wrong-handed stick. So the Oilers have a five on, I would call it a three and a half players at that point in the second period. I'm always yelling at that player to just go get a new stick.

Well, that's what I thought. Yeah, yeah. But I guess he didn't have the opportunity because they didn't exit the zone. No, no, no, but just do it. Yeah. But when they killed that penalty, I was like, I think that this might be their night. Not for any other reason than you're talking about the Edmonton power play has been so prolific.

They've got them in a super compromised position and they couldn't put the puck in the net. And I'm like, that's a bad home run. That was so exciting, though. Yeah. That power play? Yeah, it was great. One guy, I'm like, oh, my God, he's broken his stick.

I actually wonder what the coaches say about that. I guess they say stay on the ice because you can at least block a shot. Push guys. And they're not going to give you another penalty at that point, so you can just grab a guy and rip him down to the ice. You can tackle him rugby style. You know, you can do whatever you want at that point, so you can just grab a guy and rip him down to the ice. You can tackle him rugby style. You can do whatever you want at that point. It was. It was Stanlin righty-stick

to a left-hand shot. Who else are you happy for? There's Roberto Luongo, Paul Maurice. I've got to say, seeing the reaction of the Kachuk family to Matthew lifting the cup, like Brady just losing it for him, like fellow NHL player. Does he know he plays in the NHL? Yeah, he just felt like a kid again.

He was on a rival team. It was awesome to see though. It was really, it was a really cool reaction. But that was the first cup for the Kachuk family. Yeah. Oh, it meant so much.

You could tell. It was awesome. Yeah, that was genuine from Brady. He was watching it like, I can't believe this is happening. Yeah. He's like,

I can't wait to do this somewhere other than Ottawa. He's like, that's it. I'm asking out. He's crying tears of joy from escaping the Canadian capital. OEL, when he lifted the trophy or the cup, I was kind of like, yeah, good for him.

I'm happy for him. The Canucks, do they get a little, like a half of a ring? They get nothing. Speaking of you, speaking of you. They get an increasingly bigger cap charge in the next few years. I forgot that Jonah Gajewicz was on the team because he was out there. You got to twirl with the cup. Oh, really?

Yeah. I was like, oh, there's Gajewicz. I was like writing somebody a text. I guess he just had newborn. I can't remember if he had twins or a singular baby, but it was like just had a baby. So he had the baby out on the ice afterwards and everything. I was happy for Akpozo.

Yep. He spent a long time in the league. The third guy to get the cup. Many, many years with the sad club, Buffalo Sabres and the New York Islanders as well. He goes out there, he gets into the game. He got inserted into the game, taking out cousins. And I thought, yeah, I think I thought he looked good at times. And, and I was happy to see him lift the game. He got inserted into the game taking out Cousins and I thought yeah I think I thought he

looked good at times and I was happy to see him lift the cup. You know who's story is really good and who I really like as a player? Evan Rodriguez. Yeah. He's a good player. Yeah solid. He's just like does he does the. Laddie pointed out the

NHL he's the first Evan to win the Stanley Cup. They tweeted that out. The first Evan? First Evan. Yeah. But he was undrafted and a total late bloomer. He ends up going to BU, and he was teammates with Jack Eichel. And I guess he put up a lot of points playing with Jack Eichel.

And then when I think the Sabres signed him. Yeah. To hang out with Eichel. Right. The Sabres signed him. But there were a lot of people. It's funny. I was looking back on some things.

A lot of people were like, ah, he's giving me a nothing. Right? He was a product of Jack Eichel. And I saw some comparisons made to him. Do you remember Dane Fox? Yeah, yeah. Playing with Connor McDavid. Oh, he's just him.

He's like. And then watching him play. This guy is a really, really smart two-way player. He was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. No, I know. For a little while. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, there was talk.

There was talk that the Canucks might go after Evan Rodriguez, but he went to the Panthers instead. Okay, what do we got coming up in the show? Greg Wyshynski is going to join us next. Wish he'll be a great guest to talk about this series and also what is coming up this week. Oh, yeah, it is the draft, and then it's free agency. It's going to be a pact next couple of days,

and we'll talk with Wish about that from ESPN. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. The Roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions' 70th season. Get your tickets now at bclions.com. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshad, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews,

inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4-6pm weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 632 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda.

Pacific Honda is North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour 1 of this program is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar

Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning Greg, how are you? I'm good. As you'll probably hear, I'm at the airport,

which is why you hear airport sounds, but I'm good, man. It was a long night, but always a fun one when you see the Cup skated, as it were. Was that the best Stanley Cup final you've ever covered? Boy,

you know, I've been trying to mull that over i think from a competitive standpoint probably just because of the inherent drama of ken mcdavid and the oilers pull off the miracle and there were some really good and fun competitive games i still hold the boston vancouver final up on a pedestal not because of gameplay but because of everything else that happened. I just felt that thing will always just feel so much more epic than what I witnessed here. But this was, from a competitive

standpoint, probably superior and will probably go down as one of the more memorable ones we've ever had in the league. At the end of the day, did the Panthers win the Stanley Cup because they were able to keep Connor McDavid off the scoreboard in Game, did the Panthers win the Stanley Cup because they were able to keep Connor McDavid off the scoreboard in game seven? No, they won the Stanley Cup because

they figured themselves out at the right time. I mean, like, for example, they had been saying for a few games that they felt game five was the ideal for them and that they knew that they had it in them to turn this thing around and they had earned four cracks at it.

And so once Verhage scored last night, you could kind of feel like a little bit of relaxation and a little bit of tension release in the building and from the team because the boulder was no longer rolling down the hill, right? I don't think it's all about McDavid. I mean, I think McDavid is the reason there was a game six and that there wasn't a sweep in this series. But you know,

the Panthers, I thought that the most symbolic thing last night was that the Panthers won that game in, in the third period, basically, you know, by, by shutting it down.

And, and, you know, usually when they're up in the third period, they keep the pedal down and they're the ones getting the most shot at them. But last night, it was icing after icing and holding the fort, and it was a little chaotic in front of Bob, but they worked it out. And their signature in the entire postseason run

was how good they were in the third, so I thought it was appropriate. That's where the game was won. Who were you happiest for when the Panthers won? Me, because it's over. Empathy. Empathy wish, Ash. No, I mean, like, there's a lot of people. I mean, my God, there's so many guys in this roster. You have the old guy without a cup in Nacoposo.

You have the beautiful symmetry of Oliver Ekman-Larsen winning a cup on the same day that Alex Morello walks away from the Coyotes, apparently, if we're to believe Craig Morgan's reporting. Yeah, we'll ask you about that in a bit. Yeah, I feel really good for Maurice. I feel really good for Bill Zito. I mean, Bill Zito, let's be honest. I mean, you talk about untraditional paths to

doing this job. I mean, that guy was a player agent, an assistant GM in Columbus. He gets the Florida gig and then just makes bold move after bold move, whether it's the getting the Sams, the Kachuk trade. I mean, I think if someone asked you this morning, if there was a lesson to be learned for, from the Panthers winning the cup, and I think it's, you know, don't be, don't be afraid to take, take big swings and also fill your, um,

your front office with the smartest hockey people you can. And I think the combination of those two things led to this cup. Rehagey, free agent. Reinhardt, trade. Bobrovsky, gigantic signing that a lot of us thought was stupid and they stuck with him and he won a cup. I mean, that's a really, really impressive amount of management that went on with this roster and it paid off in the end. Were you on the voting panel for the consmite?

Dude, I haven't been on the voting panel for the cons might dude, I haven't been on the voting panel in seven years. I don't know what that's about. There was at least one person on the panel that wasn't even in the press box for the Stanley cup final at all. But no, I was not on the panel. You're still just a blogger to them.

Yeah. I mean, apparently so. I mean, I tell people that and about not being a voter and they are happy. They have the same reaction you guys said, but alas, I don people that and about not being a voter and they are happy. They have the same reaction you guys had. But alas, I don't make the rules. So did you agree with the decision for McDavid?

It was almost unanimous, except for I believe Ryan Clark from your shop, ESPN, went with Borowski. That's correct. Yeah, I would. I would. If I had a ballot, it would have been McDavid, Barkoff, Borowski for me. I don't get the backlash. I mean, the guy was five points away from tying Gretzky's record

for the most points in a single postseason. He was two points away from tying Gretzky's record for most points in a Stanley Cup final. He set a record by having back-to-back four-point games in the final. He set a record for having the most assists in a single postseason. He closed out the Dallas series. the final he set a record for having the most assists in a single postseason uh he won he closed out the dallas series like in any any and again like i said earlier he prevented he prevented a sweep i mean he yeah he was silent in the last two games but um oh it's it's an award

for the entirety of the playoffs he had era adjusted probably the best single run of any player in the history of the playoffs and i don't know how you point to anybody on the panther side of the equation and say that is a definitive mvp and deserves it more than conor mcdavid it certainly isn't bobrovsky 11 of his 16 wins he faced less than 20 24 or fewer shots right that's the defense in front of him it's certainly not barkoff as much as he played great i mean mean, McDavid had more games you could point to and say, he's the reason they won. So the lack of a clear candidate on the other side and a guy rewriting the record book on, on the Edmonton side, I don't, I don't get how there's like outrage over McDavid winning the consummate

unless you just dogmatically believe that a player from the losing team shouldn't win it, which again is stupid because it happened five times earlier. Right. We're speaking to Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Two more on the Stanley Cup final before we move to the offseason stuff. Did you expect McDavid to come out and actually physically accept the Consummate Trophy? Because a lot of people were waiting, including what appeared to be his parents,

for him to come out and actually get the trophy. And we were talking about it earlier. There is that sort of infamous picture of a forlorn, very sad-looking J.S. Chiguerre accepting it at 0-3 when they lost in 7. And I don't know if they were waiting or they knew he wasn't going to come up, but it was a very odd moment where Bettman announced it

and the trophy was there, but no Conor McDavid. And they also played fancy music as if he was going to come out and accept it. Yeah. I don't think they, I don't think they knew obviously. You know, it's funny, an NHL executive texted me after game four, which is when I wrote the story about how McDavid could win the consummate in a losing effort. And that was before his second straight four point game kind of sealed it. And this executive texted me and said, if you thought McDavid looked miserable when the Oilers won the draft lottery,

wait until he wins the consummate and the losing effort. And so after seeing him, listen, man, for the first time in my career, I covered the losing locker room. I've never done that before, but my editors wanted a story about McDavid winning the consummate and the losing effort. And seeing that guy's face and seeing the emotions he went through, and he clearly was, you know, I mean, I don't know.

I can't say definitively that he was crying, but it certainly looked like he was. It was close. It was close for sure. Before he came out to meet us, I mean, his eyes were puffy and such. Like, I don't blame him. I kind of wish he did because it is, you know, the pageantry of winning an award.

And even he acknowledged it's a meaningful award. But, I mean, game seven, you've declared it's cup or bust. You've done everything you can to will your team to that point. And then you don't win it. I think anybody who's got a human emotion in their body will understand why he didn't come out to accept it, even if he probably should have at least just grabbed it or sent out Connor Brown to get it or something.

I don't know. Joining us now is fellow Connor, Connor Brown. Yeah, send someone in his stead to receive the award. But again, like I said, he extremely deserved it. And I'm happy that his postseason was acknowledged in some way, even if it's not the trophy he was looking to win. Are the Oilers as well positioned as anyone in their conference to be back in the Stanley Cup final next year?

They've got some tweaking to do. I think they probably have a better understanding of their roster now, but they've learned a couple things from this run, one being that we don't have to worry about Stuart Skinner anymore, I don't think. And, in fact, I mean, you and the three of us have talked ad nauseum about who might be Canada's goalie in these international tournaments coming up, and it might be Skinner.

I mean, he might have played himself into the driver's seat for that. And then the other thing, too, is he wasn't great. He's still not good in his own zone all the time. And, you know, for all the talk about what McDavid did or didn't do in Game 7, I think that this guy was probably exponentially worse. But Evan Bouchard's real good. And I think this is going to be a real growing moment for him.

I think he needed this run to kind of understand the type of hockey he needs to play in the playoffs. He was a real force in some games, and in some games he was a liability, and I think this will benefit him. They've got some pieces, and the one thing, though, that really stood out for me last night was talking to Dreisaitl. He mentioned about how losing the series hurts, and then he talked about having to go through another 82 games

just to try to get back to the playoffs and then have to go through four rounds to get back to the point they were at now. When you put it in that context, it really is daunting when you lose a game like this to think about that you just tumbled back down to the to sea level right like the mountain is now back in front of you and you were at sea level and that's got to be just a real kick in the gut for these guys to be that close

and then have to hit the reset button and do it all over again next year uh we're speaking to greg wischinski from espn here on the halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 i'm glad you went in that direction with your answer, Greg, because we talked about this yesterday. It's June 25th. I know that the NHL has been constantly pushing and pushing the boundaries of how long a season can go, but this is ridiculous.

In two days' time, they've got to turn this thing around and have their awards show in Vegas. Then it's the draft. And then we're five days away from free agency. It was a huge period for all 32 teams. Is there any talk when you're on the road or you're talking to executives or other people from around the league that this has gone a little bit too much in the other direction? I know having the two days off between games in the cup final

probably made for better actual games because the guys got more rest but it is wild to me that they handed out the trophy on a monday and the draft is going to be that friday well hey listen we've got an in-season tournament coming up next year so get ready to speak july buddy right uh no i i think i i think I think this was definitely a symptom. I mean, I know the schedule was already in place, but this is a symptom, I think, of the travel and the distance between these two cities. I was somebody who was like, hey, this sucks beforehand. Why does it have to be so many games and days in between games?

And then I started traveling between Edmonton and Fort Lauderdale. I'm like, we need more game, more days between games. It was terrible. So I think it's probably a symptom of that. To answer your question. No,

I've not had a single conversation with anybody on the, on the board of board of governors or GMs level that has talked about like the classic Pierre Lebrun. We should, we should start the season in September 1st kind of thing. It's never happened. And I don't know how they feel about it, but maybe there is something to be said for how much things are butting up against each other.

Look, man, we had one of the most significant trades that's going to happen in the entire offseason happen 30 minutes before puck drop in game seven of the Stanley Cup final. Like, that's not great. Like, that's not good for your league to have this kind of collision of stuff happening. I mean, the Markstrom trade happened and, you know, like, all this stuff happened during the course of the final that would usually be happening in the next few days. So they can't be happy about that but but i think it's just symptomatic of how deep everything went into into june this time do you think alex morello surrendering his rights to the arizona coyotes was gary betman's stanley cup i listen that you know i i said i've said this before you got to give the man a flower it's like

he he gamed this out perfectly in in finding a way to get the franchise away from him without him suing and and putting a carrot in front of him that said hey you can you can revive this team if you get the arena built and then knowing that they're so inept and so dumb that they'd never do it really like so there's that's genius uh you know on the part of betman and again like for those who don't know, the thing that happened with the Coyotes is that they, the land auction that was going to happen got canceled because they believe that the land was zoned for a hockey arena.

And it was, except it was a youth hockey arena that seats less people than mullet arena. And the, the, the County was like, Hey, you can, you can go and petition for this to be rezoned or whatever. And then the Coyotes are probably like, but everybody hates us. So we're not gonna, we're not gonna win anything with the, with the municipalities. Like the whole point of us buying land is that so nobody could get in our way

of building a thing. And so apparently according to Craig Morgan, he's walking away from the minor league team that they own and, and then walking away from the coyotes. So what that means, I don't know. I guess it just means that he's abandoning his mission to build an arena. I guess he might still own the IP for the Kachina jersey or whatever. But if they come back to Phoenix, they won't have to worry about Alex Morello laying claim to the team that they want to put there. Don't you think if they do come back to Phoenix or that area,

they should just rebrand the thing anyway? Just start fresh. The Coyotes brand must be just like, blah, down there. Yeah, no, no. To me, the thing that always made sense would be like, you rebrand the team, you start over, you get Morello out of there, and then three or four years into their run as the new team you bring back the kachina jersey and everybody buys it you know like like the whalers jersey and and in carolina you know

um there is a certain amount of affinity i think for that franchise locally but there's no reason to bring back the coyotes i mean you could probably start over and feel pretty good about it but they'll go back i mean again you know that the reason why betman fought tooth and nail for 15 years to try to make that franchise work is because they think the market's awesome they think it's awesome for uh being a boom for for fans if they can ever get it right there and it's important for television because of how big the market is they'll go back but i don't to to your point they're not going to go back unless they have a building i can't imagine they're going to do this nonsense again i think they need a building in order to go to go back all right wish was there

any good gossip going around the stanley cup final in terms of what's coming up for the draft free agency any trades anything about uh free agents like steven stamkos or reinhardt marcia so jay gentel is a topic of conversation in vancouver i i think i think reinhardt stays i know they want to resign them and i think when you look at their usa it's like there's a lot of value in in keeping him around to partner with barkoff because they've been so good together. The one thing I did hear, and I know that it was sort of talked about a little bit yesterday by some people is that the devils are,

are hot to get a, an improvement on their blue line. I don't know if it's going to end up being Brett Pesci or not. I heard, you know, the door off name kind of floated as a possibility to, to, to get a real defensive stud back there.

But they're going to, they're going to definitely address their defense core in some way in the next week or so, even with the acquisition of Markstrom. Greg, we'll let you go. I know you're in the airport trying to catch a flight. Let's do this one more time.

We'll go next week, which of course will be like a day into free agency. And then we'll decide if we're going to call it a day. It's been a long season, but on behalf of everyone here, your Stanley Cup coverage was great. Thank you very much for joining us every week, and fly safe. I appreciate it. Thanks, boys.

Thanks. Greg Budzinski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Yeah, we haven't even talked about the very profound goalie trade that happened yesterday, which sent Linus Allmark from Boston to Ottawa in exchange for a first-round pick in Corpus Allo going back to Boston.

Where the Bruins will turn Corpus Allo into an unbelievable goalie. Right. Yeah. Or back into. So, Laddie, I said prior to the show, I'm like, I don't have a really firm read on this other than from the executive. It's sort of Steve Steyos' first big move, all due respect to trading Vladimir Tarasenko.

Stanley Cup winner, Vladimir Tarasenko, I'll add. But this is a big move from Steyos. This pretty much, one, it secures the goaltending spot. Allmark's been very good in Boston. Maybe the underlying numbers aren't as good. But two, it also gives Greener a real chance of succeeding in his new gig as Ottawa head coach. First and foremost, my thought is,

hope they learn to defend in front of Olmark a little bit. That'll be a big thing. The old salute emoji to Olmark. Good luck, my friend. Good luck. Corpus Salo, I've also been very high on him too because he's always had a really good high danger save percentage, which displays to you that he has an ability to make saves

that other goalies can't get to, which is always a great sign. It's always been the low danger stuff that has cost him, the weak ones, goals that you don't expect him to be scored on from distance, from bad angles. If he can eliminate that stuff from his game, which, hey, the Bruins might be able to, they can definitely turn him into a very good package or even just use him as a $3 million backup.

It's not the end of the world, right? So 48 hours after the completion of the Stanley Cup final, the first NHL buyout window opens. And then it'll close on June 30th. That's the first NHL buyout window.

Who are some candidates? Jack Campbell in Edmonton? Do you think he might get bought out? Yeah, I could see that happening. Good chance. Yeah. I mean, they need to create some cap space there. They've got a lot of guys who are pending UFA, so they do have cap space, but they've got to add players.

You know what I always – so this is pretty standard in the NHL every year. The buyout window opens 48 hours after the Stanley Cup final. I'll always remember in 2014 when the Rangers lost to the Kings in the Stanley Cup final. And it was both Richards, Brad, and Mike that were bio candidates. And I remember everyone kind of knew that the Rangers had to bio Brad Richards. But no one really wanted to say anything while the cup final was going on because he was still playing.

And then literally, bang, two days after they lose the Stanley Cup, they're like, we're buying out Brad. Well, you have to because the window closes. I know. It's tough. This sort of goes back to what I was talking about with Greg with the scheduling

because you're going through heartbreak. You just lost. You got so close to winning, and they lose in pretty dramatic fashion. They're out, and then two days later, they had a buyout, and then the Kings actually didn't buy out Mike Richards in the same window,

and there was a sort of underlying vibe that they didn't do it because they were feeling good, and they didn't want to ruin the good vibes. But for this year, anyway, so I think Campbell will be one. Well, another guy that that i'm curious about and this team i'm very curious about because uh it's time to get back to the playoffs buffalo sabers jeff skinner has three years left on his deal at a nine million dollar cap hit and i know elliot freeman has reported that he's a possible buyout candidate the sabers had also been there was tons of speculation during

the season that they might try and turn some of their young prospects into ready nhl players because again as i said like they have not been to the playoffs not been to the playoffs since 2010 11 so there's some there's been a couple people tweeting out there's something going on with buffalo and washington that they might be sitting on. Cause I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but Washington is really ready to make moves this summer. Skinner's name around a lot. Yeah.

I don't know if Jeff, Jeff Skinner has a trade. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Well, I mean, if they can trade them, go for it, but these also, okay. So the bio candidates that were,

this is just a list from the athletic. I mean, and Harmon Dial contributed to this. Connor Sherry, John Gabriel Paggio, Jack Campbell, Cal Peterson, Jacob Truba, which would be pretty crazy, but he does make a lot of money for what he does on that blue line. Cam Atkinson in Philly. Yep. Justin Hole, Nate Schmidt,

Eunice Corposalo was one of them before he got dealt, and Philip Grubauer. So those are some guys that... Justin Hole? Yeah. I haven't heard that name in a little while. I remember when every day was like a Justin Hole debate on Twitter for Toronto.

I nearly had to mute his name. Yeah. Well, yeah. I forgot the Justin Hole wars that we had to block out of our minds. I guess we should only because we mentioned, I don't think there's really any chance of the buyout, but Ilya Mikheyev for the Vancouver Canucks. I think there's a chance they can buy him out.

I guess. They don't really want to. They don't want to. Two buyouts, two summers in a row. It's a lot, right? Okay. Text in any comments or questions you have about last night, the Florida Panthers winning the Stanley Cup final and the Edmonton Oilers losing

game seven of the Stanley Cup final into the Dunbar Lumber text line 650-650. We've got an open segment on the other side, so we can turn to the Dunbar Lumber text line. You are listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.