Halford & Brough in the Morning - Congrats To Boston, I Guess

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00) including the Boston Celtics winning their record 18th NBA championship title (6:00), plus they talk the Stanley Cup Finals with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (27:00), as the Panthers try and secure their first Cup win this evening. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da It's going to get really hard. It's over. Time to say it again, Boston. Anything's possible. Banner number 18 has been secured. The Celtics are NBA champions. Anything's possible. I got Kevin. I've been saying it all day. It's like, what are they going to say now?

All they said, I couldn't win. And I did it. I kind of look by saying, if you ain't got no haters, you ain't popping. So hate away. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This is Alfred. It is Bruff. It is Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning, Michael. Good morning, Jason. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Alfred and Bruff in 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 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. 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, that is what you are waiting for. Our guest list today begins at 6.30. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN is going to join us.

It is another opportunity for the Florida Panthers to win the Stanley Cup tonight. It's another opportunity for the Edmonton Oilers to stave off elimination. Wish will be joining us from Florida at 6.30 as we look ahead to tonight's game. 7 o'clock, get this, Canadian Sports Hall of Fame inductee and Canadian tennis legend Daniel Nestor is going to join the program. He won it all. He won every tournament you could in tennis.

In doubles. Yes. And I'm really looking forward to talking to Daniel about his career and about the game of doubles, which we don't really talk about much. Laddie did a bunch of research prior to the show. Laddie's a hardworking individual and a key cog of the Halford & Brough machine. Pointed out that Daniel Nestor had a 27-year professional tennis career. 27 years.

That's a long time. Especially a sport like tennis, right? You're taxing on the body. Yeah. And then it's interesting because no one is a doubles guy. I mean, you would think that it would be just one partnership like Halford & Brough. We've been together for almost two decades. but he played with a variety of different guys, although the majority of his success came with Mark Knowles, which Laddie pointed out in the show.

So Laddie did a lot of research. I did a lot of research. Daniel Nestor interviews. Really excited about it. So he had success even after he broke up with his longtime partner. Key point. Interesting, isn't it? What happened to Mark Knowles?

He coached. Okay. He coached who? Milos Raonic. And Milos Raonic, did you see, had 47 aces in a match the other day? It was that pre-tournament event that they do in London. Did the other guy forget his racket? No! That's what I said. I'm like, who is he playing against?

47 aces in a three-set match set a record on the ATP tour. Yeah. So we'll talk to Daniel Nestor about all that at seven o'clock as we are a tennis show. Now, seven 30,

Brendan bachelor played by play voice of the Vancouver Canucks. We'll talk about the Canucks, whatever else is going on. We'll look ahead to free agency as we inch closer and closer to the end of the NHL season, because the NBA season is done eight o'clock BC lions running back. William Stanback is going to join the show. Two games into his tenure as a BC Lion,

the former CFL All-Star, most noted for his time with the Montreal Alouettes. We'll ask him about what he's seen so far. I forgot that him and big play VA Vernon Adams were teammates in Montreal. So I'll ask him about VA in Montreal and then VA now. And we'll get to know a little bit more about BC's new running back, William Stanback, at 8 o'clock.

Brandon Batchelor at 7.30. Daniel Nestor at 7.00. Greg Wyshynski at 6.30. That is today's guest list. Let's get into what's happening. Without any further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? 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. The Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 last night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, capturing the title and securing their league record 18th title. They moved past the Lakers franchise, who won 17 in Minneapolis and Los Angeles,

to become the most successful NBA franchise of all time. And they did it in what many are saying. Many, Jason, was the worst NBA playoffs in recent memory. Well, first of all, let's focus on the Celtics because there's a lot of articles out there that are asking the question, is this going to be a dynasty? And I realize that that's what editors ask writers to do a lot they're like okay they

got one how many more could they get i remember getting that assignment uh after the la kings won in 2012 and i was kind of like like you realize the nhl doesn't work like this right like it is and i mean i realized they did win one more, but it was kind of like hockey's different than the NBA. But it is appropriate in the NBA because I think you're looking at some of the other teams around the league right now and you're going, all right, are they going to be able to pull it together? Because that NBA postseason, nobody came close to the Celtics.

Nobody came close to the Celtics. And I know that there are people that will say, well, like, what if this team beat this team and then the Celtics had to play them? It's like, what? Yeah, but they didn't. They didn't. The Celtics were the best team in the NBA.

By far. By far. Regular season playoffs, the whole thing. And last night was there for a fitting coronation. And now they are the favorites to win again next season. It's not to the level that the Golden State Warriors got to, where they were actually like minus 180 to win a title one year. The Celtics are still plus 200 or 300, depending on the book you go to.

So it is more likely than not, based on those odds, that another team will win the NBA title next season. But I think there is a lot of people looking at other teams and going, all right, what are you going to do to get into the class of the Celtics? Because the class of the Celtics, they are way above everyone this year. Okay, so the big question that's hanging out there in the aftermath, and I apologize to guys

like Gurp and Suri who texted in all happy. Big Celtics fan has texted in numerous times talking about all the doubters and all the haters, and there were a lot of them that didn't think Joe Mazzulla

was a talented enough coach to lead a team to an NBA title or that Tatum and Brown were never going to get it done given all their past failings. I'll say this. And we talked about it already. The coronation last night, very appropriate.

They were the best team in the NBA this year. They were 64-18 during the regular season. And then in the first round, they beat the Heat four games to one. It wasn't particularly close. In the second round, they blew out the Cavs. They lost one game, the token loss, but they blew them out as well. Then they swept the Eastern Conference Finals. Then they went to the final and beat the Mavericks

4-1. So you're doing the math. Gentlemen sweep against the Mavericks. And it absolutely was, if you look back on it. They wanted to win that at home on the parquet in Boston. If you look at it, they lost three games on route to an NBA title. Now the conversation goes one of two ways.

The non- negative people will say, what a great run, what an appropriate coronation, and how many titles is this team destined to be set up for? The haters will say, what happens when Boston has to go up against some real teams? And that's where Halford and Brough come in because this NBA playoffs, I'm sorry, including Gurp and Suri,

especially, I don't want to rain on your parade, but that was an awful, awful NBA postseason. There was. What about the season in general? It was a down season. Yeah.

It really was. I thought the play-in was supposed to fix all that. Wasn't the play-in going to be the new exciting thing? The play-in was meant to give maybe some teams that struggled through the regular season a second crack at it. It hasn't panned out that way. So they couldn't come close to the Celtics? Like, I don't, what's the endgame here? Well, okay, let's consider this.

The top two seeds in the West in the regular season were the Denver Nuggets, the defending champs, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both were gone in the second round. I think it's fair to suggest that the Denver Nuggets, had they gotten past Minnesota and not been upset in the second round, they would have had a good shot at getting past Dallas, and they would have made a more interesting foil to the Boston Celtics in the NBA final, not only because they were the reigning champs, but also because they possess the MVP, Nikola Jokic, and how difficult he presents a challenge,

especially for a team in the Celtics that didn't really have a big that would have been able to go up against. When I looked at the odds for next season, the Denver Nuggets were at like plus 1,000. Why are people suddenly more down on the Nuggets after they won last season in fairly dominant fashion? Yeah, I do wonder the pieces around Jokic and Murray, probably part of it.

Murray was not healthy this year, and I do wonder if that's going to be a concern moving forward because he's not exactly a huge framed individual. And I saw those same odds. I was a bit surprised because I think that with a longer offseason, that the Nuggets may be better prepped to come back next year and compete to get out of the West and be that team to get out of the West. The other thing, too, though, is that the Oklahoma City Thunder,

a lot of people, that's the team on the rise, the trajectory, because they finished first in the West this year. They've arrived a little bit earlier than some thought. Shea Gildress Alexander, obviously, the Canadian has been great. Chet Holmgren turned into a very talented, like, running mate next to him. So I think a lot of people are saying, does the road through the West now maybe start to go through Oklahoma City as opposed to Denver? But for the playoffs in their entirety, too many sweeps,

including the one in the Eastern Conference Final, and that the Eastern Conference Final really should have been Nick Celtics. It would have been far more entertaining than Celtics Pacers because the Pacers were just done by that point. And it's Boston, New York. And then in the final, the Mavericks were done.

The Mavericks were cooked. I know that they came up against a better team and that better team dominated them. But the Mavericks needed one thing to happen. And it was for Kyrie and Luca to go off in tandem, almost every single game. And it just never materialized because Boston was too good, too deep, too swarming on defense.

And honestly, probably more committed to the bit like boss that, that I'm not saying the Mavericks weren't happy to be there, but the Mavericks did not have as much as stake is Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. And that Celtics had to win Brown Celtics had to win that uh so the NBA finals went Boston wins the first three games and then Dallas gets a token win at home and then Boston goes back to Boston and there was never any doubt that they were winning game five, especially after it started. It didn't take long until there was some serious separation between the Celtics and the Mavs.

Will the Stanley Cup final follow suit tonight? I will be shocked if the Panthers lay another egg like they did in game four in Edmonton, but I don't necessarily think that means they're bound to win. Like if Boston came with its A game yesterday, and they did, they were going to win because they're a better team. But hockey doesn't really work like that. Hockey can be about bounces.

Hockey can be, hockey can just be weird. You can get goalied. And you can get Connor McDavid, right? Like you, so I mean, I think that the Panthers are going to win tonight. I mean, they're the favorites, but I'm certainly not super confident about it. And like we said yesterday, if the Oilers can find a way to win this game tonight,

maybe they play better than the Panthers, just play well. And maybe Bobrowski is still shaken after that game four performance. Maybe they've cracked the code to scoring on the Florida Panthers regardless, right? Maybe Stuart Skinner has the game of his life. That'll make game six real interesting. That's all I'm going to say. Like I said yesterday, I don't want to say it again, like all bets are off on the series,

but this is a game where we should see the Oilers play desperately because they are once again fighting off elimination. But I think we should see some desperation and if not desperation, just some pride from the Florida Panthers because they didn't play with a lot of pride in game four. They really didn't. They got blown out 8-1. They weren't focused.

They had a lot of, I guess, their friends and family were in town to watch them win the Stanley Cup. And then when it became abundantly clear that they weren't going to win the Stanley Cup, they kind of gave up. See, the parallels between the NBA final and the Stanley Cup final, it's hard to ignore them. I don't think one obviously has nothing to do with another, but it's hard not to look at how eerily similar that they were

in that both of the favorites race out to 3-0 leads. They have a chance to win Game 4 on the visitors' ice and or floor. They don't, and they actually get blown out in the process. Because remember, the Boston Celtics got blown out by the Mavs in Game game four it was one of the most lopsided losses in boston cell playoffs finals history and i think everyone is very well aware that the florida panthers didn't just lose in game four they got annihilated eight one so there is the element of did both teams just pack it up and say let's go win this thing at home yeah in five. Like after half the game, I was kind of like, well, it's not going to happen today.

I mean, I've never seen a coach with a more emphatic shrug of the shoulders about what happened than Paul Maurice in game four. It was pretty funny. He's like, yeah, you know, we got Bob some rest. He's like, and that's a good thing. But if they lose tonight, I don't think Paul Maurice is going to be shrugging his shoulders. There will be less of a shrug and it'll be more of a nervous energy that he will be emanating.

But you seem tight in the shoulders. But he did not seem tight in the shoulders after game four. He's like, you know what? We didn't do anything right. And we didn't deal with. Liquid Mills gets all angry. Yeah, he's all bundled up. That's what Paul Maurice is going to be like.

So we'll talk to Greg Wyshynski coming up about Game 5 in the Stanley Cup Final tonight. We're also going to talk to him about the Columbus Blue Jackets, who fired yet another coach. What an organization. So yesterday, in news that came as a bit of a surprise, given how late it is into the offseason, but maybe in hindsight, not that surprising. The Columbus Blue Jackets fired head coach Pascal Vincent,

and that was orchestrated by the new general manager, Don Waddell. Now, if you're not all that familiar with Pascal Vincent's work, it's because there's not a lot of work to be all that familiar with. He took the job, you'll remember, just weeks before the start of last season, and he had to do that. He was almost forced into it because of the situation with Mike Babcock, who resigned days after the Spittin' Chicklets podcast reported that Babcock had asked for players to share photos on their phone

with him in some individual meetings. Vincent took over one year on the job. The Jackets were as bad as they've ever been. They had 27 wins and 66 points. He was kind of known in his brief time in Columbus for healthy scratching guys. That was his big thing.

He did it to Kent. Not just any guys, but younger, up-and-coming, The one that bothered, the one that bothered, the two that bothered the fans the most were Kent Johnson, one of their highly touted young prospects

who was a high draft pick. I saw Kent Johnson skating locally the other day. Not a while, a few weeks ago. He just had surgery. Was he healthy scratched? Yeah, he looked better at hockey than me. Good. That's positive. He also healthy scratched David

Diercek and Kriomorchenko and of course Patrick Laine who has now requested a trade out of Columbus. This is the, when they hire their new coach, and they're going to, I don't think they can go rudderless, although it is Columbus. It's going to be their fifth coach since the 2020-2021 season, which is a crazy amount of turnover. Are they now the most dysfunctional organization in the NHL

now that Arizona has moved to Utah and has stable ownership? If they weren't already, they are now. The only other one that's had this kind of coaching upheaval is Buffalo, which is another very dysfunctional franchise over the last decade and a bit. But Columbus is like number one with a bullet right now. I don't really know. I mean, the layer that's added to all this is the Don Waddell factor. Because he comes in at the top and he's like, what have I inherited here? Like, let's clean this up. And then that's cleaning up the mess from Jarmo Kekalainen, who had to clean up the mess that he created with Mike Babcock. And then had to fix that mess with Pascal Vincent.

And then Don Waddell comes in and says, well, now I got to clean up this mess that you made with Mike Babcock and then had to fix that mess with Pascal Vincent. And then Don Waddell comes in and says, well, now I got to clean up this mess that you made with Pascal Vincent because obviously the guys weren't responding to him. It's a mess in Columbus. I'm not going to go on the usual sports radio tangent of, I feel bad for the fans in Columbus. I kind of do.

But the bigger picture here is that this is a franchise for the last decade that is probably whittled away whatever goodwill they've had with fans. Because it's not just losing. It's a series of bad choices, bad mistakes, compounded by a bunch of on-ice play that won't make anyone forget about all the bad executive decisions that have been made. And then you look at some of the contracts they've got. I mean, Johnny Goudreau is still a good player, but I don't know. He's getting older now.

He's into his 30s. He's got five years left on a deal that's going to pay him $10 million. And he's got a full no-move clause. You know what would be an interesting question for don waddell is that if you were able to have taken this over before the johnny goudreau contract was signed would you would you have made that offer because i bet he's walking into this thinking that's more of a problem contract than an asset to the organization i i don't think you can blame this on johnnyoudreau, though. You can blame it on Darmo Kekalainen. Yeah, I think they just...

I wonder how much is left over from... Remember when they went all in to... And they ended up winning a round. They beat the Tampa Bay Lightning. But I just... I wonder how much... How many assets they spent to just get that, and now that they're in this position. The other problem they've got right now is they've got Patrick Laine

on a contract which is overpaying him badly. Now, there might be some teams out there that are intrigued by Patrick Laine, who wants out of Columbus, and I don't blame him. But are they going to have to retain half that contract? He's got an $8.7 million cap hit. Now only two years left, he's 26, and you could maybe, if you were a non-contender that was looking for a high upside project,

maybe you could talk yourself into Patrick Laine. I know a few people have asked, should the Canucks do this? And I even saw an article written on a blog saying that the Canucks should go after Patrick Laine. And my response was, are you out of your mind? No, no. You know, like he. I don't like him at 8.5. I don't like him at half that at four.

No. What if they keep eight of the 8.5 and the Canucks just take the.5? Would you do it then? Yes, Andy. Yes, I would. But that's not allowed. Despite being highly illegal. We could make it work.

Yeah. Before we go to break. Fund some numbers. Carry a couple zeros. Let's get an update from the Euros in Germany. There's only two matches today. No 6 a.m. match, so that's too bad. But yesterday, everyone's pre-tournament favorite, France, got things underway.

With a 1-0 victory against Austria in a match that was defined more by the broken nose suffered by Kylian Mbappe than the actual scoreline itself. Very uneven performance from the French against a feisty game Austrian side, but the big drama happened midway through the second half when Mbappe was going for a header, collided with the shoulder of an Austrian

defender, and right away, you could tell something was wrong because the Austrian goalie was waving to the sideline frantically to get somebody on. Mbappe bleeding profusely from the nose later confirmed to have a broken nose. So now all of a sudden his, I don't necessarily think his selection

is going to be cast into doubt, but how effective he's going to be because breaking a nose makes it very difficult to do things like head the soccer ball. And also breathe. And breathe. Breathing stuff. And you run a lot in football. I don't know if everyone's aware of this or not. Breathing's tough. And you run a lot in football. I don't know if everyone's aware of this or not. So we'll see what happens with Mbappe moving forward.

He tweeted out afterwards if anyone had any good mask recommendations for him. So he's obviously feeling okay. Right. But he's going to have to wear some sort of protective garb in the future matches. But France gets the job done. That's the big story outside of Mbappe's broken nose. He's going to have to wear a full cage? You know, he might have to wear a full cage.

In the other match, which kind of had ties to the Canadian team because Canada played Belgium at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Belgium once again comes up small in the big moments. They lose to Slovakia 1-0 in a match that was, if you want to talk about defining moments, there was two here.

Two goals wiped off the board for Belgium after video review VAR. One for barely offside and the other for a hand ball. Well early in the build up of the goal. Yeah, well before the actual goal was scored

and there was an argument over whether or not that handball should have even been called. I saw the two guys on the competing network really fighting over that. But yeah, tough break for Belgium. Tough breaks, plural. Two Macaku goals. Screw them though, right?

Well, it was funny. Canada should have beaten them. If you were deep on my Twitter with very eclectic feed, there was a lot of Canadian men's national team accounts. Just bemoaning the fact that Canada didn't get a result against Belgium in Qatar because it was there for the taking. And yesterday Slovakia sort of did what Canada wanted to do. And now you look at Belgium,

they have gone three straight tournament games without scoring a single goal. If you date back to the 2022 Qatar world Cup. As a matter of fact, their last goal came against Canada. So there's a nice little bow on that one. Anyway, we've got a lot more to get to on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. Running back William Stanback is going to join the show

at the 8 o'clock hour. The Roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at bclions.com Coming up on the Halford & Brough show, we're going to dive into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN is going to join us live from Florida.

Can the Oilers drag the Panthers back to Alberta, or will the Panthers win the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history tonight? That's all coming up next. You're listening to 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. 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 is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of Hour 1.

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Greg Wyshynski joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Wish? How are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm excited tonight for the ultimate showdown, which is do I see my family or the Holiday Inn in Edmonton this week? It's going to be a very exciting night. Oh, the national media must be cheering so hard for Florida tonight.

I can't tell you how many times the same situation has been evoked by a lot of people like flying back to los angeles in the rangers series in 14 flying back to los angeles in the devil series in 2012 i mean like it's and the thing is that i don't even think it's as inevitable as those series i think the kings had those things wrapped up i the doors creaked open on this series man like it's not out of the realm of possibility this thing goes way deeper than anyone thought it would, which is kind of exciting. But at the same time, the odds are still very much against the evidence

that they're going to win the Cup, in which case it does feel like we're all wasting our time if it does go, like, six games. So what are the reasons that you think this could go a lot further than everyone expected after the Panthers went up 3-0. Because they're up 3-0, but I agree with the Oilers. They played well.

They played well enough to win Game 1 and didn't because of Bob. I think they played pretty well at 5-on-5 throughout the series. The power play has still not converted at 5-on-4, as Paulice pointed out even though it it connected at five on three so like there's there's parts of their game that aren't working there's parts of their game that are working and you know the thing that gives me pause about this is one uh all of the guys that never hit the score sheet in the first three games hit the score sheet in game four so what's's the carry over there? Two, Bob has given up seven goals in his last three periods.

And there's always this question of fatigue with him. It was the question that faced him last year in the final. And the deeper you go, the more you're kind of like side-eyeing him a little bit. And Skinner's gotten progressively better in every series he's played. So, like, I'm not trying to sound the alarm here. I'm not trying to say we're witnessing a miracle here. But I am saying that, like, there's a lot of signs that point to this thing maybe going back to Edmonton as opposed to finishing tonight.

Yeah, we allowed ourselves on yesterday to just imagine if this is the way the Canadian drought gets broken. And we even hearkened back to the Red Sox breaking their drought by coming back from 3-0 against the Yankees and just how special that was. We realized they had to go on and win the World Series still, but it kind of seemed like a fait accompli after they did that to the Yankees. It would just be boring to come on and say, the Panthers are probably still going to win.

Of course they're probably still going to win. They've just got to win one of these next three games, and they're a pretty good team. How much does the Connor McDavid factor lean into, or how much is that as part of your analysis? Because McDavid, as we all know, has the ability to influence games like perhaps no other skater in the NHL. Yeah, I mean, four points in game four,

the performance that he had in the Dallas game to close out the Western Conference Final. He's always been the great equalizer in the series in the sense of if Connor takes over a game, there's very little you can do. That being said, the two games that were played in Florida where Alexander Barkov got, as Chris Doblock put it, 90% of the time on the ice against McDavid,

he mustered one assist and wasn't even that 5-on-5. So you could look at that performance and say there's some bad luck there. He did have, I think, 13 shot attempts, six scoring chances. It's not as if he was a non-factor in those games. In fact, I think he played much better than anybody else in the Wheelers in those games. But the fact remains is that for all the

offensive fireworks we saw in game four, it's been a different story when the Panthers have gotten the matchups they wanted. So, I don't know. He's been great. In fact, I don't know if you guys saw, but I have the story on ESPN.com this morning about whether McDavid should win the cons might win or lose. To no one's surprise, his teammates say he should. But if you look back at Reggie Leach back in the 1970s, the last skater non-goalie to win the cons might, there's some

really interesting parallels to what McDavid's doing. Leading the playoffs and scoring by a wide margin, breaking NHL records in his performance, and on top of that, he's currently the only player since Gretzky in 88 to factor in on

over 50% of his team's goals. It's been the kind of run for him where you could make an argument for a player in a losing effort to win MVP because he's been that good. Okay, let's table the Stanley Cup final conversation for just a little bit. Columbus Fire is yet another head coach.

Where is this organization at right now? It's in a good place. I'm sad for Pascal Vincent because he's a guy that's been waiting and waiting and waiting for his opportunity to be a head coach in the league. And then he comes in on a sort of break glass emergency situation after the Babcock thing. And then the team doesn't perform, but I feel terrible for him. I hope he gets another shot somewhere. But, you know, I said this when Don Wendell took that gig.

They've got a really good collection of young players in that roster. They've got more that are in the system, more that are going to be on the way in the draft this year. The bar is set at win a playoff round. That's the bar right now for that organization. So you take all that into account the the youth the talent the where where the bar is set and also by the way like the minute this this um this market becomes competitive it's gonna pop like crazy i mean

they're just waiting for it i think it's a really really good spot for a gm and a really really good spot for a coach what do you think is next on Don Waddell's to-do list there? Because I get the sense, the vibe that he came in, looked around at what was going on and said, I got some messes I got to clean up here. Yeah, oh, for sure. I mean, you know, I think probably the line A situation is one that'll be resolved sooner than later.

You know, I think both him and the organization are looking for a change of scenery. So we have that. And then it's going to be interesting to see how Waddell evaluates this team. Is it one where he immediately adds some veteran help in the sense of we think we can be competitive next year? Do they need a little bit more time for the Adam Fantilles and Kent Johnsons of the world to percolate a little bit?

I'm interested to see what his evaluation of the roster is. But I do love the fact that they went outside the organization to find a new general manager. I like the idea of there being sort of an audit of what Jarvo Kekalainen has built there versus someone coming in and just trying to double down on what they were already doing. We're speaking to Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here

on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I did want to go back to the Stanley Cup Final for one second. I wanted to ask about the Florida Banthers, actually, because the one narrative, and I know you wrote about it, that they keep bringing up is that it was tough because the Cup was in the building. And I think Evan Rodriguez talked about it and Carter Verhage and Paul Maurice and the pressure and the nervousness that the Cup was in the building. They do realize that it's going to be in the building tonight, too, right?

They just aren't going to take it away because they might have to hand it out again. They're going to keep it outside. You wait in the parking lot. Does Paul Maurice ask them to keep it at the hotel, like a banquet room? I know that this is all just semantics and stuff they got to say to the media, but I do wonder, and this is away from the solving Bob part of it, I just wonder if it's in their heads a little bit about the opportunity to close it out for a second straight game.

It's been funny to talk to them about that, actually, because a lot of them deny it. A lot of them are like, the Cup had nothing to do with what happened in that game. And then yesterday we were talking to Verhege in the locker room, and finally he's like, yeah, it was super different. The Cup was there, and we were talking to Verhage in the locker room and finally he's like yeah it was super different you know the cup was there and we were thinking about it and then and then like I I kind of followed up and said so so when you said there were like different challenges with the cup being in there what did you mean he's like he goes oh we weren't affected by it at all like we were we

were totally out of you know it's not a big deal to have the cup there I'm like okay buddy right I'm like sure it's a little different I. Maurice was the one who kind of like dropped the mask yesterday and basically said, look, it's, it's something that none of them have ever dealt with pretty much. And he's right. I mean, you know, the emotions of, of having it there and knowing it's there. And, and, and the way Maurice framed it, I thought was pretty interesting was it's, it's like all of a sudden the goal that you've been chasing is now in front of the game that you're playing. In other words, the destination is here. And now you have to like wrap your brain around the idea of like the journey is basically done.

You just have to kind of wrap it up and wrapping up is a tough part. I don't discount the idea that you got to go through that before you can kind of process that energy and process the level that your opponent is bringing with their backs against the wall. So this has been a team that's really shown an adeptness at, at understanding experiences and, and, and, and processing them the right way. So I do, I do as cliche as the, you got to lose before you win stuff can be. I do think that there's something to it when you've never experienced this moment of having the cup in the building,

and now they have. So, Wish, I imagine you've been spending a lot of time with your media colleagues out on the road, maybe a few dinners here and there. What is, if there's one team that people are talking about and wondering what they're going to do this offseason, the kind of wild card of the offseason who is it well it's a little skewed because a lot of my friends are from canada and specifically

the ontario province right yeah a lot of mitch warner conversation you're like oh my god not again oh it's funny i was having i was having cigars the other day with a few writers and we were talking about the differences between American and Canadian media, and specifically the idea that every single day on ESPN, there's a Dak Prescott conversation, and they were telling me that that's Marner. Like every single day, there's a Mitch Marner conversation in Toronto media. They're obviously one just because of the Marner situation,

and I guess like like also you know whatever else true living is going to do but then the devils are probably the other and again maybe that's just bias that's just you talking about them or people asking me about them but i mean like you know that the conversations about what they end up doing in goal i think are are really kind of going to be a tone setter for the rest of the postseason because you have like three or four goalies that everyone's going to be chasing. It's assumed the Devils are going to get one of them. It's assumed that they're going to be able to outbid most teams for them just because of the prospects and the picks that they have.

So they are kind of a pivot point for the postseason. I'm really intrigued to see, though, what they do on the back end. We've spent so much time talking about markstrom and you know all mark and where they might what they might up to end up doing a goal would you be shocked if your boys adaroff ended up with the devils because i wouldn't be shocked based on the postseason that he had and and what their needs are additionally yeah i mean i could see it right We've said Toronto just because the Toronto media

talks to us, too. So they're all talking about true, I mean, true living and Zdorov know each other. The Leafs have to fix their blue line. And, you know,

I'm sure a big, tough defenseman like that would be welcome in the market. I haven't really thought about Zdorov to New Jersey. I'm still holding out hope that the Canucks can find a way to get something done with him. You know, I haven't really thought about Zdorov to New Jersey. I'm still holding out hope that the Canucks can find

a way to get something done with him. I don't think Lindholm is going to be back, but I still think there's a chance that Zdorov is back in Vancouver. My hot take is I think the Devils trade for a defense or acquire a defense before they acquire a goalie. That's my hot take.

We are speaking to Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Let's expand that goalie conversation a little bit more. I know you wrote about it on ESPN.com. The goalie market in general. You mentioned Markstrom. You mentioned Allmark. We shall not forget about John Gibson in Anaheim

who could go somewhere else. And I guess UC Sorrows in Nashville, depending on what goes on there, because he's only got one year left on his deal. So this offseason could really be dictated by the goalie carousel. It will be. Only because, I mean, again, like I wrote, the best solution on the UFA market is the goaltender the Leafs are trying to get rid of in order to upgrade the position in Samsonov.

That really underscores how bad the market is. Soros, I heard they're trying to extend him. They like him as, you know, they love a line of succession in Nashville and having him there for a few more years as Ascroft kind of, you know, finds his way. I think what they'd like to do the most, it's the same thing they did with Pekka Rene

back in the day too. But Gibson's always a weird one. You know, who knows what he would be outside of that team. Is it the team that has made his stats underwhelming? Has he just lost the thread? Will he be better somewhere else? I mean, Markstrom and Olmark are the two ones that you're constantly looking at as like the guys.

And in one case you know i think mark shim has an appetite to leave calgary and then you know what's the cost of acquisition and in the other case you know all mark has already flexed once on on his trade protection as far as where he wants to go but you know at some point i think you have to if you're him understand that you're no longer i mean you know swayman's gonna more than a 50% share of the starts next year and be the guy there. So I don't know. It's going to be fascinating to see how it shakes out,

but I think in some ways it's going to define the offseason for several teams because, again, there are only two or three elite high-end goaltenders that might be available via trade, and there's probably about six teams looking for them. So it's going to be tough. Well, if it's not the goalie market dictating the offseason, I do wonder if it might be Utah, because this is such a unique opportunity for that management group

to go and actually potentially do things and make some moves. I know you had a little back and forth with Bill Armstrong where it was, do they suddenly see Utah as an NHL ATM and Armstrong replied, they do. So do you get the sense that Utah's going to be a major player this summer? Yeah, it's like when your buddy hits the lottery

and all of a sudden everyone that he's ever known is asking him for money, right? It's the same thing. It's like, for years no one's going to Bill Armstrong and looking for handouts because Alex Morello owns the team. And now all of a sudden with Ryan Smith owning the team, they're just like, can I have some money? But Utah is an interesting one because I think there's an anticipation

that they're going to make some big splashes. You know, you think about when Vegas entered the market, you know, they had the poster on the outside of the building was Marc-Andre Xlurry. And that's great. I mean, I sold a lot of tickets and convinced a lot of people to take the team seriously and that kind of thing. I don't know if they take that large of a swing. You know, Marner has been talked about there. And now could they sign Stamkos if he doesn't resign in Tampa? I think that they believe that they've got some players that can be the poster on the outside of the wall in Keller and Logan Cooley and some others.

I think where they're going to be most interesting is on the back end. They're clearly a team that has some needs defensively. I could see them being in, say, like the Brandon Montour business, like that type of defenseman to go out there and really bolster the blue line. If you look at that team, and again, remember, this was a team that was very much in the wild card hunt

before all the relocation stuff started and their season fell apart. If they can get some help on the back end, they've got a great goalie in Connor Ingram. They've got some firepower up front. They could use a little bit more, but it's really the blue line where I think they're going to focus on versus making any huge swings in the first year. What do you think about the speculation that Chicago could do something big

in free agency, perhaps a guy like Jake Gensel, who people in Vancouver are hoping will consider the Vancouver Canucks? Well, I mean, we kind of sit in with that trend that we've seen in recent years of teams that teams that make deals for guys where they might not necessarily be in the right position timeline wise to acquire them but they they get them because they know that that he might not be there when they need him so like dougie hamilton with the devils or temi panarin with the rangers uh philip the no was one with the kings like there are certain this doesn't sync up with our timeline,

but we're going to spend the money because, you know, a year from now this is going to maybe look a lot better. And if Gensel ends up going there, I could see that being the case. Look, I mean, you know, you got to get Connor a trigger man, right? And few are better than Gensel and almost no one has the experience that he has playing with elite talent. And so he's a unique player in that sense. He could definitely be a good influence on Bedard

in the I played with Sid kind of way. And if they want to spend the money and he wants to go there, that's great. I think it's okay to make a deal with somebody even if he's going to be someone who benefits you a few years from now versus right away. Is there a favorite to land Jake Gensel right now? I know there's been a lot of speculation, but I feel like there hasn't been any reports out there about where he's leaning specifically. Well, it's where he's leaning, but then it's also i think the anticipation is that carolina is going to trade his rights to somebody um and so you know when that happens then we're i mean obviously

we're going to have a much clearer picture of who's after him and and how aggressive it's going to be remember if you trade for someone's rights it doesn't mean that he signs there it just means that you can get you get the exclusive uh negotiating window and bring him around and have him see the arena and you and the neighborhoods and all that stuff. So that's probably the first step of any of this. But, yeah, I don't think anyone really has a handle on what he wants to do. And wherever he goes, it's going to be really interesting because he's clearly a top-line winger and a play-driving player.

And I think a lot of the analytics darling teams are going to be salivating that he's going to be available this summer okay here's a question for you who is more likely to leave their team sam reinhardt in florida or stephen stamkos in tampa they're both unlikely right you can just say that yeah i mean they're both super unlikely but when you think about the mechanics of it under the hood then you probably have to say stamkos only because the panthers are in a good place and they've talked pretty openly about they they intend to keep him. I think of their free agents, he's the one that's most likely to resign. And things are going good. The thing about Reinhardt is that if you have him walk away,

then you are potentially harming your best player in Barkov because they have such an amazing partnership. Those two together are probably the best shutdown line in the league on top of being like one of the best offensive lines in the league. You're not, you're never like, this is, this is Patrice Bergeron and,

and, and Brad Marchand, but like to the nth degree. And so you don't want to lose that. So I imagine they resign them. So I'll say Stamko. It's only because like, it still is kind of hinky that they're going to have to, that they're're being like this is the money we have to give you and you can take it or leave

it and we have all these other needs that we have and yada yada yada like it's still kind of an awkward situation there um i guess i'd have to say stamkos in the sense that it just seems like there's there's friendlier conversations happening with reinhardt and the panthers than there are with light the lightning and stamkos so far how How possible do you think it is that Stamkos actually reaches July 1st and can go at least talk to some other teams? Oh, I think it's very possible. I think it's very possible that they pull the grass is greener routine with him. The whole basis of this negotiation is you don't

want to leave Tampa. We know you don't want to leave Tampa. And so we are going to give you a contract that we think we can afford to give you. And hopefully that will be enough because you want to stay. And so part of that is seeing what's out there, and part of that is checking your options. And ultimately, if they bet right that he doesn't want to leave, he'll resign. You know who is going to be leaving Florida? Greg Wyshynski.

Because either the Stanley Cup final will be over tonight or you'll be on your way back to Edmonton. So either way, Greg, we want to thank you for taking the time to do this today. Best of luck with this evening. Whatever happens, we'll be doing this again next week. But for your sake, I do hope you get some time to decompress

and go home and see loved ones. They get right back on the road for the awards. Then enjoy Vegas. I will never forget the juxtaposition of leaving here from games one and two, arriving in Edmonton, and it's literally gray skies, 52 degrees and raining. And I'm just like, I was at the beach. Good luck, Wich. Thanks, buddy.

We appreciate it. Have a good one. Take care. Greg Wyszynski from ESPN here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Do you remember going to the draft in Fort Lauderdale and just swimming every morning? Actually, were you there? Yeah, I was there. Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We lost our car in the parking lot. With Drance. With Drance, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A1A Beachfront Avenue. I finally figured out what A1A Beachfront Avenue meant. Drance was ready to call an ambulance or something.

We walked for 12 minutes. It was quite hot, though. Yeah, he called an Uber just to find the car. Okay, we got a lot more to get to on the show today. Big show, lots of guests. 8 o'clock, we're going to do some CFL stuff. Going to talk to new BC Lions running back, William Stanbeck. 7.30, we're going to talk to Brendan Batchelor.

But coming up next, the latest inductee. Well, he's with a handful of people in 2024 class. But the latest inductee into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, Canadian tennis legend Daniel Nestor is going to be joining the program. Very excited to talk to Daniel in a coronation of a career that lasted nearly three decades on the ATP Tour. So we'll talk to Daniel coming up at 7 o'clock. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Janpro, the leaders in commercial cleaning and janitorial. If your workplace demands a clean environment, contact Janpro for a free no-obligation quote.

Visit them online at janpro.ca. Coming up, Canadian tennis legend Daniel Nestor, next on the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.