Halford & Brough in the Morning - Canada's Team Takes A 2-0 Series Lead

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they talk the Stanley Cup Finals with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (27:00), as the Panthers go up 2-0 in the series over the Oilers.  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.

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Looking forward to people Doubting us again You know We're gonna get The flip backs against law That's a dilly Of a pickle 6-0-1

On a Tuesday Happy Tuesday, everybody. It's Halford and his brother, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in 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. Halford and Brother 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 with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 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, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfee, what 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, that's what you're waiting for. Guest list today begins at 6.30.

Greg Wyshynski from ESPN is going to join us after the Florida Panthers took a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals with a victory last night over the Edmonton Oilers. 4-1 in case you missed it. We'll talk to Wish about that at 6.30. 7.30, Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks. You can ask Batch about the Stanley Cup final if you like.

We can also dive into anything that's happening in the world of the Vancouver Canucks as we inch closer and closer to July 1st and the start of free agency. 8 o'clock, BC Lions general manager Neil McEvoy is going to join the program. Lions did not get off to a great start, losing in Toronto in their CFL opener to the Chad Kelly-less Toronto Argonauts. They'll have a chance to make amends this weekend in the hotly anticipated concert kickoff against the Stamps featuring 50 Cent at running back.

50 Cent is going to play running back. He might play wide receiver at this point. Had to do a little who's who on the Lions because they had such a great turnover at the wide receiver position. Was it a great one or a tough one? Both. It was a great challenge.

Neil McEvoy, the general manager of the VC Lions, is going to join us at 8. Brandon Batchelor at 7.30. Greg Wyshynski at 630. Also, what's happening tonight, because there's no Stanley Cup final, it's an off day. The first of many between games as they go back to Edmonton. There's also no NBA finals game tonight because they're on a break as well

as they go back to Dallas. How about this? Nap Bailey Stadium tonight. Tickets still available for the dog day of summer. This is the game where you get to bring your dog to Nat Bailey Stadium. It's against the Spokane Indians. It's tonight's

7-0-5 is first pitch. Four-legged fans are welcome at the ballpark for this game only. I will note there has to be a dog waiver completed in advance of entering the ballpark. Now, I was thinking of bringing Pedro, but he couldn't read the waiver. I'm just like, honestly, I think it's because he's from Mexico.

Maybe English is not, he's not 100% comfortable with Mexico, but like. The dog is muy confuso. You want to go to the game? I was like, do you want to go to the game? He's like, rough. And I'm like, well, fill out this waiver. I'm not. And he just looked at me. I'm like, okay, well, we can't go to the game? I was like, do you want to go to the game? He's like, rough. And then I'm like, well, fill out this waiver. He just looked at me. I'm like, okay, well, we can't go to the game then. We had a real

standoff. So there's an online waiver. Again, that's going to be very difficult for the dog to do. Oh, he can't even get online. But tonight, we'll mention this again later on if you want to get tickets. He's like my dad. You gotta click what?

WWW. What's the rest of it? That's my dad. You got to click what? WWW. What's the rest of it? That's the dog. So it's the dog day of summer tonight at the Nat. If you want to check it out. I know it's raining right now, but the forecast calls for clearer skies this evening. It's raining cats and dogs.

Yes. Yes, it is, Andy. So anyway, that is what's happening tonight. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? 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.

Evan Rodriguez, noted sniper Evan Rodriguez, scored two of Florida's three third period goals last night, helping them to a 4-1 victory over Edmonton in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. Nico Mikula and Aaron Eckblad also scored. Anton Lundell had a pair of assists. Bobrovsky, 18 saves. And the Florida Panthers are now two wins away, not just from winning the Stanley Cup,

but for forever being exempt from the sad club, Jason. No sad club on the horizon for the Florida Panthers. They're one of our top prospects, too. It's tough. It was a night of unexpected goal scorers in Sunrise. Evan Rodriguez, mentioned this, scores twice. Nico Mikula gets another one for Florida. Then Aaron Ekblad, a defenseman, adds the empty netter.

His first of the playoffs. Matias Ekholm was the only goal scorer for Edmonton. And the Oilers only have one assist from Connor McDavid in the first two first of the playoffs. Matias Ekholm was the only goal scorer for Edmonton and the Oilers only have one assist from Connor McDavid in the first two games of the series and no points from Leon Dreisaitl. If you didn't get to watch last

night or you didn't get to watch game one, if you only saw one game of the series, these were not very similar games at all. In game one, Sergei Bobrovsky had to be brilliant. He was far less busy in game two. In fact, he faced just seven shots over the first two periods. The Panthers were dominating.

Now, Bobrovsky did allow the first shot he faced, but on the bright side for Florida, that came more than halfway through the first period. Frankly, if not for Stuart Skinner, this game could have been out of reach early. But I think the talk during the two days off before game three Thursday in Edmonton probably won't be about any of that.

It won't be about the Evan Rodriguez story or how the Panthers were the better team in game two as opposed to game one. It's going to be about officiating and injuries. Yeah. So it's truly a Stanley Cup final now, right? Yeah. Game two is the one where it went off.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The referee talk and the injuries. Oilers fans are going to say the refs missed a delay of game penalty on Florida, which the officials did miss that. Panthers fans, and this is probably the bigger story going forward at least, Panthers fans will say that Leon Dreisaitl should be suspended for his forearm shiver to Alexander Barkov.

Dreisaitl, now he did get two minutes for roughing, and the Panthers made it 3-1 on the resulting power play. So the Oilers have already paid a price for Dreisaitl's recklessness, carelessness on that hit. But Barkov had to leave the game, and he did not return, and the Panthers were not saying a single thing about it, which makes me wonder what their plan is, what their strategy is.

Do you think it's possible? Now, I've been watching hockey a long time. Do you think it's possible that Barkov is just fine, but they don't want to say anything about it because they want the NHL Department of Player safety to act. Because if he was truly hurt, like if he was really badly hurt, like if he had a bad concussion and they were like,

oh my God, wouldn't they be out there saying that? So yeah. I'm going to allow the music. And also the PGA tour had Scotty Scheffler arrested to make it more interesting. So lots of parts through there. I'm going to put the Scheffler stuff on the table for a moment.

Paul Maurice was asked post-game whether he was the one holding Barkov out, whether he was making a coaching decision to rest his player, given that they were up. And he very tersely responded that he's like, it was a 2-1 game with X amount of minutes left. I was not holding him out. And then when asked about the hit, he said the NHL reviews all hits. And then when asked further about what he thought about the hit, do you have the clip

at the ready? Very tersely yet again, Paul Maurice said, how do you feel about the hit on Barkoff? This isn't the Oprah Winfrey show. My feelings don't matter. And Laddie had issue with the timeliness of that reference. And Meghan Markle didn't like that return. Yeah, an Oprah Winfrey reference to her show in 2024. This isn't the Phil Donahue show.

Little Sally Jesse Raphael. How many kids out there understood that reference? I haven't kept up to speed. Oprah got her own network, right? That's where she elevated to. She's essentially retired now. Right. She's not out there interviewing Gentle Ben and everything else. Yeah, I don't know. Ben, no!

I don't know why he went there. I think it was because he just wanted to punt on the entire thing. And that was the first thing that popped into his head. But to Jason's earlier point about a potential suspension for Leon Dreisaitl, let's turn now to 32 Thoughts. Elliott Friedman, Jeff Merrick recording overnight in the car. And here's Friedman on what he thinks might happen with Leon Dreisaitl.

Maurice has had a really good, as everybody knows, he's been in a great mood throughout these playoffs. He, you know, he's got all the funny quotes. He was not a happy guy in the postgame tonight. And a lot of his quotes, especially on that topic, were really quick. You know, this isn't the Oprah Winfrey show. It doesn't matter how I feel. He threw the onus on the NHL to look at it.

I got the sense that the Panthers were hopeful that with the night that everything will be, you know, okay tomorrow. But, you know, they don't know. And you have to wait and see. And you can understand why they're mad like as as a couple their players said to me if it was the other way around and that was mcdavid or dry sidle got hit that way they'd be arresting us at the border so you know that's you know they feel any panther fan i think would feel that that that deserves a suspension.

I don't know if we're going to go there. With two days off, I can just see everyone saying, let's see how we feel on Tuesday. But, you know, the one thing about it is Dreisaitl's definitely put himself in a position here where he doesn't control the outcome of the situation. He's put himself at the mercy of the NHL and the Department of Player Safety, and they do have to make a decision here. So a few other things from last night's game, and it's all kind of related.

This first point, at least, is related to the Barkovoff injury the panthers are so good when they have the lead they just look completely comfortable with their responsibilities they win a lot of puck battles there's never seems to be any panic in their game now barkoff is obviously a big part of that. Did you hear Wayne Gretzky call him the best defensive player he's seen since Brian Trottier? Yeah, he missed the Patrice Bergeron era, but that's fine.

Yeah. Well, maybe he thinks Barkov's better than him. Maybe. He was busy coaching. It's hard to imagine the Panthers coming unglued in this series. Even if Barkov has to miss some time, it'll be pretty hard for the Oilers

to win four of the next five. The way Florida's playing, I agree. They are, I mean, we say choking the life in that Python-esque grasp that they have on the game, but I think what you saw last night was the ramifications of just two games of being subjected to it by the Oilers, because not only do they have very little time and space to do the things that they want to do.

I think there's two instances with McDavid. One was the breakaway where McChuck chased him down, didn't take a penalty, made life hard on him. The second was when the goalie was pulled and McDavid tried to do that extra dangle. And he got the stick lift and taken off. So there's that, the actual physical checking. I also think that there's a serious wear down and So there's that, the actual physical checking. I also think that there's a serious wear down and attrition effect that's going on right now. Well, Darnell Nurse and Evander Kane

aren't even close to healthy. And then, of course, yesterday they lose Warren Fogle. He gets tossed out of the game for kneeing. And I'm sure Oilers fans didn't like that call either. And we've wondered all playoffs if Dreisaitl is playing hurt. You know, the Panthers learned last year that the playoffs are a war of attrition. And of course, the Canucks learned

that in 2011. Now, of course, the Canucks also learned in 2011 that just because you have a 2-0 series lead doesn't mean you're going to win the series. And we had a text in from 3-Pot Shane into the Dunbar Lumber text line. He said, how painful is it to hear that 92% of teams up 2-0

in the Stanley Cup final go on to win the Cup? Of course the Canucks were in the 8%. Yeah, every time I hear that. Because I remember on the old Curtain Block show going like, I mean, are the Bruins going to win four of the next five? That just seems like too much of a climb. Tall order for the Boston Bruins. So it was fortunate that the Canucks did pull off the win,

and they ended up sweeping the Boston Bruins. That's how I remember it, at least. Here's the one thing. The one thing that could tilt this series is Barkov. Because in the first three rounds of the playoffs, Barkov essentially matched up with Kucherov in the first round against Tampa Bay, the Pasternak line in the second round against Boston, and then Panarin, Kreider, Zubinijad in the third round against the Rangers.

Collectively, if you want to go Kucherov, Pasternak, and Panarin, they combined for one goal against Barkov. That was the stat that was floating around last night. If he is hurt, if he does have a concussion and he misses time, that is going to open things up. Yeah, there's two things that I think can happen. The Barkov injury. If we're talking about the Panthers coming unglued in this series

and losing the hold they have on it, Barkov and also, I guess, the Edmonton crowd? They're going to get a lift going back home. Yeah. There's no question. And if you want to go with that old adage that a series doesn't really begin until a team loses on home ice, this thing is still technically up for grabs.

That's a really dumb saying, by the way. Yeah, I never liked it. The series has begun because it's two games into the series the thing that i would be incredibly concerned about if i was edmonton is are we running out of gas yeah you know because and someone's already texted in about this asking if we can address chris knobloch's comments from the beginning of the series where he likened the lack of playoff experience in the stanley Final to, well, the Buffalo Bills had plenty of experience in the Super Bowl and they never won any of those.

There is a real difference, and I don't know if it's just because they're healthier or whether they've understood the grind, but there's a real difference between Florida in last year's Stanley Cup Final and Florida in this year's Stanley Cup Final. Yeah. And I think part of it... Well, I think it's both, right? They're healthier.

I think it's understanding the physical toll it takes to play their style of hockey and understanding how long you have to play it for. And what Edmonton is, I mean, let's be honest here. Evander Kane can't sit down at the bench. He's probably less than 50 to 40 percent. He looks like a shell of himself out there. When he's playing, his crossovers look awkward. He looks like a guy that's got a sports hernia.

For those that missed it, Darnell Nurse played a grand total of four minutes and 20 seconds last night. 420, nice. And he was gone for the remainder of the game. That left the five defensemen, and that was also without Cody Ceci, who was scratched. That left Devin Bouchard to play 30 right and he had a tough night and part of that has to do with the fact that he played half the game for the Edmonton Oilers so that's going to be some

attrition as well he's not used to playing 30 minutes a night no one's used to playing 30 minutes a night in the playoffs so Nurse got hit early in the game right yeah like it wasn't it wasn't that Nurse just in case anyone was wondering it wasn't that Nurse, just in case anyone was wondering, it wasn't that nurse came in there and he was already banged up and then all of a sudden the coach looks kind of foolish for not going, you know, would not having nurse sit as opposed to CeCe playing. Yeah, no, he got hit early. He stayed on the bench and they were kind of alluding to when Char,

remember when Char got hit in the face with a puck in the 2019 Stanley Cup final and busted his jaw in three places. He insisted on staying on the bench and opening the door. I guess they were trying to draw a parallel on the broadcast with Nurse. So Bouchard plays 31 minutes. McDavid plays 26 minutes. McDavid looked dangerous early on. He looked like the only oiler that was really, really going.

Yep. But he wasn't able to get anything done. Again. Just one assist through the first two games. Dreisaitl doesn't look right either. No. You know? I mean, he's got no points in two games,

and you're going to say, well, he just got off to a slow start in a series. They can't afford that right now. And I think that what may end up killing them if they can't somehow muster the energy to get a win in game three is that the the dallas series did not adequately prepare them for this florida series no the dallas series just didn't it was it was a different kind of test and then it wasn't physical and what you've seen through the first two games between the bennett hit on mcd just the signature two games between the Bennett hit on McD, just the signature hits,

the Bennett hit on McDavid in game one, followed by the litany of hits that you saw Florida do legally. And then Edmonton do illegally. It was almost like the physical response from Edmonton was out of frustration. Like the, I don't think the Fogle one was born out of frustration, but he was trying to make statement.

And so too was dry sidle. Meanwhile, just during this playoffs and during this series, I think Dakota Joshua and Nikita Zudorov and possibly Elias Lindholm, they're all making more money. Because people are seeing. We see it every year. The big and strong teams, the ones that win the war of attrition, are typically the ones that win the war of attrition uh are typically the ones that um go deep in the playoffs and often win the stanley cup um evan bouchard i thought had a tough night

uh had a bad giveaway on florida's winning goal which i just wonder if that was partly him playing so much like it looked almost like a a tired play um he also had to tap out before he got choked out by aaron ekblad yeah which is a bit embarrassing that before it was not great i can't recall ever seeing a hockey player well i just wonder if ekblad might get fined for that at the very least do you think i don't know making a guy tap out was that choke actually bad enough to warrant the tap or was it just like i must be like i've never tapped yeah like i've never like was he like seriously like i dude like i can't breathe like i've just never seen that before it was really wild you should have asked him you can't you can't you can't tap everyone knows you can't tap you either have to fight your way out of it or yeah that's it

there's two ways that can go between the band-aid on the chin in game one and tapping out in game two. Edmonton has shown weakness. They've shown vulnerability. Yeah. Right. You can't do that. The bandaid on the, we never really fully addressed the bandaid on the chin.

On McDavid. Yeah. Is there, was there a bigger bandaid available? I don't think so. That was a blanket basically with a pad on it that they put on his chin. Well, it was hard with the beard. And everyone was making fun of him. It's just bleed right just bleed yeah no one's gonna stop you they're not gonna take you off the ice just no don't they though because remember hughes was

bleeding and they had to take him off right but then he went back out yeah and just continued to bleed right they should they should have shaved a little hole in his uh beard and then put on on like when you take your pet to the vet that's true actually and then they should have put a huge cone around his head so he didn't chew on it. So he doesn't lick it. Why does McDavid have a cone on the end? Yeah, and then last night with Boosh.

He can't see very well. He's crashing everywhere. You can't tap. Falling all over the place. You know the cameras are on you. You can't tap, right? I've seen it at UFC. It's like you just have to let the guy break your arm

if you're in a submission. Well, it must have been pretty bad if instinctively he did that without even thinking, right? You'd think but it's a stanley kill final i know it's gonna stay with him forever yeah he'd like to surrender now uh i did want to make one final point before we uh bring in our next guest um or our first guest of the show i feel like i'm taking crazy pills every Every time I hear on the broadcast, and this is both our broadcast on Sportsnet, but also I've heard it on ESPN's broadcast.

So too have I. Because I was down in the States for game one, and that's what I watched. All of Canada is behind the Oilers. BX has said that right before the game. And I'm like, is Bx trolling like is everyone trolling is the entire is the entire corporate broadcasting world just trolling everyone because you know you see a tweet from uh the prime minister where he's like all of canada is

behind you and it's like that's understandable and and apparently there were well yeah because he's that's the prime minister that's what the habs he's a politician though yeah yeah but yeah he is a habs fan he should know better right like he it's just it's just crazy so i i think there have been some some polls out there that like who are you cheering for and and you know most people do say the oilers but i feel like that's not that's just a poll of everyday canadians not in this province i don't know but it's just like a poll of everyday canadians that don't watch don't don't don't watch it to the extent where they have like a hardcore fandom of a team they don't count they're not they shouldn't be the ones getting pulled. Because they don't care either way.

Yeah. No, they don't. Who cares? They're like, it's like, that would be nice to see Canada have a Stanley Cup come home. It's been so long. And meanwhile, guys like me, I'm like, you can't just say that on a broadcast that all of Canada is behind the Edmonton Oilers because it's 1 million percent not true. There are a lot of people that are aggressively cheering for the Florida Panthers. People in Calgary, I imagine.

People in Vancouver, I imagine, that do not want to see the Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup. And it's not like they love the Florida Panthers. It's just they're cheering against the Oilers. They do not want to see them win the Stanley Cup. Can I also throw in? But I do feel like every time I'm there, they just blanket statement say it like, all of Canada is behind you.

You're like, no, we're not. He's for sure trolling. It's BXL. Whatever. That's not the point. The point is that in addition to teams actively cheering against Edmonton, the reality of it is, is that because it's Western Canada and the Prairies,

Eastern Canada, really half of them don't even have an opinion on it. So there's a marker research company called Ledger that pulled, I think it was close to 2000 Canadians on their interest level in the Stanley Cup final. 58% are not paying what they would consider quote-unquote close attention to it. And the numbers spiked when they got to like Quebec and Ontario, right? Because to be dead honest, if you're a Habs fan, you probably are checked out.

You've been checked out for a while. And if you're a Leafs fan, you traditionally check out right after the first round is done because that's when you're done. So I look at it and I'm like, I get the platitudes that we're putting out there nationally. Like it's Canada's team. But the reality of it is if you were to ask individual hockey fans and hockey markets, Alberta is paying attention. Edmonton's into it.

There's probably a lot of Calgarians that aren't. Vancouver is almost uniform and unified in its we don't want Edmonton to win because they beat us on the way. And it just doesn't add up. But you're right. The messaging is getting crammed down our throat. And I feel like I'm taking crazy pills along with Jason Brough. Who's joining us next? Greg Wyshynski is going to join us from ESPN next on the Halford & Brough

show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.31 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and 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, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. The music means it's almost time for Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here. The highlight of Hour 1, Hour 1 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, 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. It's time now for Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Gregory. How are you?

Tired. But it's all good. It's the Stanley Cup final. You know, you grind it out. You're a real Evan Bouchard type. You know, you're playing 30 minutes a night and all that jive. So, yeah, it's fine. It's good.

I don't know if your Twitter, sorry, X platform has the proper geotagging on it. But up here in Canada, a couple things are trending right now. One of them is the word suspension. I don't know why. The other one is Darnell Nurse. But let's start with the hot trending topic. Suspension. Is one coming for Leon Dreisaitl after his hit on Alexander Barkov?

I like this. Is this the first radio show looking for SEO return to just be chasing the trending topics? Yeah. It's good. I like it. Yeah, this is going to be chasing the trending topics. It's good. I like it. Yeah, this is going to be a real fascinating one. And I think that the Department of Player Safety likes to say that injuries only factor into the punitive part of things.

Injuries are not the reason why they seek to suspend somebody. But I think in this case, and considering the circumstances, we can get a little biblical. We can get a little eye for an eye here. If Sasha Barkov is out for game three, and at least game three, then I think that Leon Dreisaitl should not play in game three. I mean, it's

as simple as that. If your actions, if your elbow to the jaw took out the captain, the most important skater on a team that's up 2-0 in the final, then your team, despite being down 0-2, should lose that player, even if he is important to the point where you may be costing the Edmonton Oilers a chance to rally in the Stanley Cup final. So, Wish, how does the NHL Department of Player Safety go about this? Like, I know what you're saying.

They always say, like, the play has to rise to the level of suspension, and then they say yes or no, and if the answer is yes, then they take the injury into account. So, let's say they conclude that the play, Dry Seidel's forearm or elbow or whatever it was, did rise to the level of suspension. How do they go about investigating the Barkov situation? Do they ask, like, is he going to play in game three?

Or are they allowed, like, how much, like, how, yeah. Is that essentially what they do? Essentially, when it comes to the punishment part of it, that's what they do. Like, they are relying, I think, on the information they they get from a team and the injury certainly does play a factor in, in whether on, on what the level of suspension it'll be. Now, the first part of it is much more of, of this kind of math. It's was the play something that was above and beyond the rule book? Was it a play that had, you know, injurious intent? And also don't, don't forget this too.

Like there have been times in the past where player safety won't suspend or won't do anything. If they feel like the situation had been sort of resolved in a game. So like if this had happened two minutes into the game and let's say dry settle gets a five in a game, like Fogle did, then maybe they don't give him a game because he's already out for a game if that makes sense like there's sometimes that internal game logic math and suspensions as well yeah but this one happened so late and this one happened with a player leaving his skates and this one happened with a an elbow to the jaw i honestly cannot fathom how that wasn't

five last night um and this apparently resulted in injury i mean paul maury said that if barkoff was available barkoff would have played in the last part of that game and he didn't play so there's clearly some sort of injury on the play but but his status is going to be the real issue again i they go they have a formula for this stuff. Unlike a lot of people who have a lot of time and respect for the Department of Player Safety and how they go about deciding these things. But like I said, it's a pretty easy equation for me.

If Barkov can't play in Game 3 because of a hit by Dreisaitl, then Dreisaitl shouldn't play in Game 3. It's as simple as that. I'm just going to put this question to you this way. Even if Barkov misses the rest of the Stanley Cup final, are the Panthers still the overwhelming favorites in this series to win it? That depends. It depends if Drysaddle plays in Game 3.

I mean, honestly, this is why this decision is the biggest story from last night. And a last night where a team from florida became two wins away from the from the cup the biggest story from last night is um you know the a team that has scored one goal in the stanley cup final and it's off the stick of matias ekholm okay uh could lose its second best offensive player and when by the way, when we say that, he's probably like, what, the third best offensive player on the planet, if not second. The Oilers can't win this series without Dreisaitl on the ice in game three. They can't. They'd be a one-line team because everything else behind McDavid

and Dreisaitl has been garbage and hasn't been able to generate anything. And Evander Kane, one of the guys you could depend on maybe, is just an NPC at this point right like he's got one assist in nine games so if they lose Dreisaitl they're gonna lose the series because I don't see them winning a game in which he doesn't play and in fact I think I saw the stat last night where they've lost the last 11 playoff games in which Dreisaitl didn't have a point well if, if you're in the press box because you delivered a suspendable hit on Sasha Barkov, you're not getting a point in game three. Yeah, the Panthers were just so good last night

defensively. I mean, that was a masterclass defensively. I think I saw on your X account that according to Natural Statric, the Oilers didn't have one high danger chance. I imagine that was just on five on five, or was that included the power play? Cause the power play didn't look very good either. No, they had a couple on the power play, but that was five on five.

Again, this is a team with Zach Hyman on the roster, a guy who only gets high danger chances and they didn't have a single one at five on five last night. and that's really kind of outside of the dry saddle thing that's the biggest headline for me last night is that you know if the Oilers left that game um and and played as well as they did in game one and could feel pretty good about okay we are we are doing all we can to try to get the past the puck past Wabrowski it just hasn't happened yet. We've had these breakaways. We've had these good scoring chances on the power play.

We can go back home and maybe the title turn. And Chris Knobloch was trying to talk about it last night where he's like, we hit the post three times. I don't think they did, to be honest, but he kept on saying it. But the problem with game two is that they regressed. They didn't play well in game two. Meanwhile, the Panthers, and McDavid said this last night, leveled up.

They played a lot better in game two than they did in game one. So the Oilers can't be happy with where their game is. They've got to be really worried with where the Panthers' game is. And they go back to Edmonton now on their heels, not only in the series score, but also in the fact that they lack confidence in being able to generate anything at 5-on-5. And the Panthers have the utmost confidence and not a single fear in the world of this Oilers team at this point. We're speaking to Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Now that the series is shifting to Edmonton and is leaving Florida, temporarily anyway. What was the crowd like in Florida for these two games? I know Kevin Bieksa was gushing during the intermissions yesterday talking about how loud it was and how he can't believe that this is the same rink that he played in as a player when he was dead on a regular basis. It did sound very live. It sounded very enthused.

What was it like being there live? Yeah, it's wild what winning will do for a market. We always talk about Columbus was garbage. Wait until they start winning, man. That place is going to pop. It just takes a little bit of time to get fans energized and into it. Also, the other thing

too, I've always said this about the NHL, is that markets mature and fan bases coalesce by living and dying in the playoffs. So them making the cup final last year and falling short probably made an exponential number of new fans that were passionate about this team and wanted to see it through. It's a really interesting market.

The crowds are great. The fans are loud everywhere you go in Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding areas you do see panthers fans and can't their signage but i i did a short like two two and a half minute mini documentary on the new episode of the drop you could watch it on youtube on the panthers new team store yeah and i feel like once you get a team store that's really when you've reached your maturation as a fan base. Like if I can go someplace locally and buy a gold chain with Matthew Kachuk's face on it and he's chewing on a mouthpiece, then I know, I know that I've matured as a fan base because I can't go to target and buy that.

But I have a place now where they know there are enough people that want a gold chain with Matthew Kachuk's face on it, that they feel comfortable opening up an entire store that sells them. And to me, that's the greatest indication of the maturation of a fan base. So, so to confirm that story isn't at the arena, it's in Fort Lauderdale, is it? They have two of them.

It's at the, this one's at their practice facility. It's really crazy guys. Like not only are there gold chains with matthew kuchuk's face on it also a gold chain with a rat on it they sell bicycles there's a florida panthers bicycle that you can walk into the store pay 450 and just ride the bike out of the store that's all is it like a cruiser bike it's like a cruiser bike yeah they've got they got everything they had like uh scented candles pickleballs paddles like it really is one of these wonderful the comparison i made um

it was was like when you're a comic book geek and there's a comic book shop and like you're never going to be able to find a doctor who toilet brush right but in the comic book shop you can and so it's that moment of feeling like you are now a part of something that other people are very passionate about. And now there are places where you can go to congregate and also let your freak flag fly. So it sounds like business is pretty good for not only the Florida Panthers, but the NHL. What did you take from Gary Bettman's presser, and what do you think July 1st is going to be like?

And this is especially important for Canucks fans because they got a lot of important pending UFAs. They do, they do. So I was intrigued by the Bettman presser because it made a little history. I think it's the first time in the history of Bettman's tenure, at least in the last 20 years, where the Arizona Coyotes and Olympic participation did not come up in the press conference. It's kind of crazy that two of

the biggest issues that he has faced in his commissionership are now settled matters for the most part. Yeah, I thought some of the things were a little bit interesting. You know, the blowback on the Four Nations Cup, I'm excited for it. I hope people kind of keep it within context of this is a prep tournament for the Olympics. It's basically an excuse just to have the first USA versus Canada game in the McDavid-Matthews era on primetime television. As long as we keep that in mind, that's great. I was a little surprised by the format. I really thought that there'd be semifinals. I really thought there might be a consolation game, but we're going round robin straight to the championship. And I imagine

they probably have some internal research that people just didn't care about it being any longer than it is or if there was a bronze medal game. So that was a little bit surprising. But overall, again, the league is in a really good place. And to answer your other question, I have a story coming out tomorrow about what some of the executives around the league are saying about what the trade market and what free agency is going to end up looking like. And the cap going up more than it

did, they were all anticipating it being in a certain range. And so that's not a shock. But I was talking to one executive who said, there are going to be contracts handed out, probably to defensemen during the free agency, that are going to seem so out of whack with what has been handed out in recent years, kind of in the flat cap era, that they're going to seem like overpayments, but within the context of the current financial system, they're not. So just keep that in the back of your mind. Because it should be a pretty...

If there's one spot that's interesting in free agency, it's probably on the blue line. And there's going to be a lot of teams looking to beef up. What kind of names come to mind when you think, is Nikita Zdorov one of them? Without question, Zdorov. I mean, anyone who watched the playoffs or continues to watch the playoffs knows the value of a player like that. Brett Pesci, I think, is another one from Carolina.

He's going to be a player. He's got the same agent as Austin Matthews. He's got, I think, a really good case to be a fairly highly compensated player in this league and someone that you can put on your blue line and build around. So there's going to be a few guys that I think really cash in. I mean, we're talking about the Stanley Cup final and the lack of depth, let's call it, on the Whaler blue line. You mentioned Darnell Nurse trending versus a six-person deep group for Florida

where you've got Nico Mikula scoring goals in a final game and almost scoring one against his own goalie too, which was hilarious last night. The blue line is going to be at a premium for these teams, and I think that that's where you're going to see a lot of the bigger contracts handed out on July 1st. Where do you think Elias Lindholm will end up? I mean, do we just assume it's Boston?

Manifest destiny? That's kind of what I assume. It sounds like the Canucks are trying reasonably hard to sign this guy. There have been reports of offers out there seven by seven, which is probably not what he had on the table in Calgary. Is Boston just in a position now when the fact that they've got Pasternak and they've got Marchand still and they got Charlie McAvoy on the blue line and they got good goaltending where they just, even if they have to overpay and pay for the back end of the contract,

they just have to go out and get a center. The hard lesson from the playoffs for them was that their centers were good enough to win in the regular season, but had their lunch handed to them in the Florida series. Coyle, Zaka. They clearly need to do something in the middle and figure it out pretty quick.

But here's the thing. You've got to take the long view on this if you're Boston. And if you hand out a reasonably large contract to elias lindholm let's face it there we have to start talking about leon dry sidle we have to start talking about the fact that this guy is going to be a free agent fairly soon yeah and and there are going to be teams that i think quietly start positioning themselves to make a run at him if he wants out of edmonton and And I think Boston has always been,

when you bring up franchises that might make that run at him, they're always in the conversation. And so I think there needs to be a little bit of long game in here, not saying that they know anything, not saying that they assume anything, but you always have to kind of pay a little bit more attention to the long view. And there might be better solutions for your center spot than Elias Lindholm that come free in the next couple of years. So how do you think Dreisaitl handles that?

Does he, I mean, obviously if he wants out, he wants out, but if he wants to stay, he has to be darn sure that Connor McDavid also wants to stay because he doesn't want to sign long-term in Edmonton and the McDavid the following summer is like, eh, actually I want out. No, that's it. I mean, you're absolutely right. And I think that they have the kind of relationship right now where they'll know. It's been really fun to cover them through the years. I remember talking to Drysaddle when he was way younger about the whole sort of Jordan-Pippen aspect of their relationship.

And he's been super mature about it. I think he understands that, yes, he is one of the best players in the world. He just happens to be playing with the best player in the world. And it's OK. Like he enjoys playing next to him. They've got a friendship. So I do think that they'll be aware of what the other is doing when push comes to shove. But I mean, you know, the thought has always been that at some point he's going to want to break the bank. And maybe that's going to be in Edmonton.

You know, I'm sure they'll do everything they can to retain him. Or maybe he wants to make NHL history and be the most coveted free agent in the history of the sport and make a gigantic sum of money somewhere else because teams will be lining up to pay him and make him the centerpiece of their own franchise. Do you think the Sharks might go after him with their German owner? So Merrick and I both heard that independent of each other,

that the scuttlebutt amongst the 200 hockey men is that because their owner is German, because their coach could be German, right. If they, if they end up hiring Marco Sturm, that that might, that could be a place where dry saddle goes to the point where people have sort of quietly predicted that that's where dry saddle might go.

I don't know. And, and I don't even know if the sharks are going to be in a place where he feels comfortable committing to know that he's going to be challenging for a cup i mean they're going to have salbrini they're going to have will smith ecklund they're going to be pretty good um but i don't know if they're going to be good enough where he can look at that and say i will uh gladly stay at the beach and and be in one of the most beautiful places in the world and be confident that this team can contend. I don't know.

Like, if you had the choice between Boston and San Jose on the this place can contend-o-meter, I would pick Boston because I know that even post-Marchand, they're going to be a team that is desirable for people to come and play and is always going to be in the mix for a cup because of how steadfast they are to be a contender. And Pasternak's pretty young, too.

I like to think that San Jose is going to slowly compile all the Germans and it will culminate with team ambassador David Hasselhoff at the end of all of it. Yeah, that's right. I like it. We know one thing. All right, Greg, thanks for doing this, bud. We really appreciate it. Enjoy Edmonton and the rest of the cup final.

We'll do this again next week. You got it, boys. Thanks. Thanks. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. This is a good question into the Dunbar-Lumber text line. It just came in. Is it more likely that McDavid and Dryside will stay in Edmonton if they win

or if they lose to try to keep chasing it? That's a good question. Depends how they think. I think you're right that one is sort of dependent on the other. They're going to have to sit down. Are we going to keep doing this? Are we both going to stay here? So just so everyone knows, Drysaddle has one year left on his contract

before he becomes an unrestricted free agent. So technically he could sign an extension on July 1st, like 20 days from now. McDavid has two years left, so he has to wait officially until next summer. So this might sound like me being a hater in part. It probably is. But I hope that one, if not both, move on.

And it's not just because I want... Go to the Eastern Conference. Right. It's not just because I want bad things to happen to Edmonton. That's not the point. That's not the entire point. It's not just because I want bad things to happen to Edmonton. That's not the point. That's not the entire point. It's not the point. The point is, you mentioned this yesterday very briefly,

player movement is a good thing. Transactions, trades, free agent signings, big ones of consequence. It's a good thing. Well, I didn't mean it like that, but I have said that in the past. But I do. I very much leaned into that there's nothing wrong with someone plying their trade somewhere for eight years and then being like i'd like a new challenge opportunity i'd like to see the rest of north america or even just the other coast like think how interesting the country

think how interesting the gretzky trade really was. Yes. I mean, if he'd stayed the rest of his career in Edmonton, I know it probably would have been interesting because it's Wayne Gretzky, but I think it's more interesting that he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings and ended up helping hockey in the United States. Look at the NBA. I mean, you cannot argue that the NBA has been made

more engaging, more intriguing, and more entertaining by the constant player movement of superstar level players. No, it's not always a good thing because some of the smaller market teams end up getting screwed. Right, but I mean, look at it now. The Oklahoma City Thunder went through where they had an unbelievable trio of players with Durant and Westbrook and James Harden. And then they had some down years and now they're back among the NBA's elite. Like, I just think that you need to have this constant refreshing, if only because fans now, even though Cap Friendly is going away, rest in peace, you don't need to play taps. It's fine. Fans are in they're engaged in the transactional part of it

and regardless of like alan walsh saying like you know we've gone too far and players are only judged by their contracts and salary figures and numbers now that's a game within the game that fans have one access to and two they love playing it. It's armchair GMing. It's fantasy sports. Like, that stuff matters. And I think to see more of it in the NHL, like, I think the Dreisaitl sweepstakes, if they ever manifest themselves, would be amazing. He would revitalize franchises.

He would be a fundamentally altering person for Boston. Yeah. I mean, imagine him going to San Jose and linking up, and suddenly it's like Macklin Celebrini and Leon Dreisaitl on the same day. Your franchise goes from being irrelevant to one that matters like that. And that's important.

Would McDavid definitely follow him out the door, though? I don't know. Probably. Not definitely, though. I don't know. Who shouldn't have Edmonton lost? Wayne Gretzky, Leon Dreis and connor mcdavid that'd be a lot that'd be a lot of body blows i don't know i don't know enough about mcdavid like

mcdavid's personality is so guarded yeah that i don't really know i mean i don't think anyone has a real great clue about how much he loves being in edmonton right he's like it is a thing that i do to play hockey doesn't look like he loves anything, right? Right. That's the thing. So I don't know, but I mean, I would imagine that I think you're right, that that's, they're a pair,

they're a duo, they're a deal. And they understand that they are far more dynamic together than they would be apart. Okay. We got an open segment on the other side. So feel free to text in any thoughts or questions into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650.

Dunbar Lumber with three stores to serve you in Ladner on Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber Express at Ladner Center or Budeson Vancouver online at DunbarLumber.com. You're listening to the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.