Halford & Brough in the Morning - Cory Schneider On Stanley Cup Memories

Episode Date: June 26, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the Stanley Cup Final and memories of Game 7 with former Canucks goalie & current NHL Network  analyst Cory Schneider (3:00), as well as the upcoming crop of free agents and the big moves that may be coming shortly, plus they talk a little Euro Cup (27:00) as well as looking at the Canucks roster and what their major needs should be this off-season (38:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

There's so much administrative nonsense on this show. You're listening to the Halpern and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Sometimes I forget what day corresponds with the administrative nonsense. How could you forget about Eurodance Wednesday? I know. I know. What is wrong with you? Normally one of my favorite days of the week, Eurodance Wednesdays. Yeah.

Turn it up a little bit. A little head dance here going to the desk. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. We are in Hour 2 of the program.

Hour 2 is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor. Without compromise, you can get some at a discotheque near you, or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. To the phone lines we go. Very excited to have our next guest on the program, former Vancouver Canucks goalie, now an analyst with NHL Network.

Corey Schneider joins us here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Corey. How are you? Good morning, guys. How are you doing? I'm good. We are good as well. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Before we get into the craziness of the offseason and the ever-fluctuating goalie market, I do want to ask you about your former battery mate in goal, Roberto Luongo, who is now a member of the front office with the Florida Panthers. He hoisted the Stanley Cup on Monday night. Do you still keep in touch with Roberto regularly? Have you had a chance to speak with him since he won the Cup? And how happy were you to see Roberto Longo finally lift the

Stanley Cup? Well, first of all, I've never seen him as fired up as he was when he was banging that drum. The drum was big. I played with him, and I have not seen him that excited about anything. So that was fun for me to watch. But yeah, we stay in touch a decent amount. I was out there obviously in December for his Ring of Honor

ceremony and caught up with him and the family quite a bit there. You know, we do a fantasy football league together, obviously. So, you know, we stay in touch a decent amount. So I shot him a note after they won, knowing he'd be pretty busy. But he got back to me pretty quickly the next day. So it's exciting. I mean, you know, I don't know what it's like for an executive versus a player, but a cup is a cup.

So I think he's put a lot of hard work into that organization, the goalie department specifically. So I think any time you get rewarded for your work with the Stanley Cup, especially with what he means to that franchise, for them to lift their first one, I'm sure he's buzzing right now. Were you a bit worried for him when it looked like the Panthers were going to blow that thing? I kept pretty quiet. Again, I wasn't going to bug him.

You don't want to, you know, again, he's stressed out enough. He doesn't need me chirping in his ear about what's going on. But yeah, I'm sure he's pretty relieved that they pulled it out. What did you think of the Stanley Cup final? I thought, I mean, I think the drama was great. You know, it was almost two different series. You know, going up 3-0, I was a little bummed because, you know, I'd rather have an exciting final.

So I was kind of like, man, here we go, a sweep or a gentleman sweep. So the fact that Edmonton came back and made it a game seven, I think, was huge. A lot of people I know where I live here on the East Coast who aren't huge hockey fans are talking about it, so that's great. I don't know what the numbers are for viewership, both Canada and the U.S., but I think any time you have a game seven, it's awesome. And I think the game, for the most part, lived up to the hype. It was, you know, again, a lot of energy early, and then you settle in.

But I thought, in general, it was everything you could have asked for. Game seven of a Stanley Cup final doesn't happen all that often. Did it stir up some old memories and, you know, rekindlings for you? A little bit. A little bit, yeah. I mean, you know, I think as a competitor and an athlete, you know, you understand what that's like and what those guys are going through. So, you know, I try not to think about it too, too often. Obviously, it didn't end up very good for us.

But, you know, you sort of see some of the emotions that you feel where you come out with adrenaline and you're all fired up for game seven. But then I think the reality of you're just exhausted emotionally and physically from an entire playoff run. And, you know, it's probably 95 degrees in in Florida so the arena is super hot and humid and I think sometimes your nerves kick in and you become a little tight so you sort of see the game tighten up a little bit as it went on and those are all natural reactions and emotions from what I remember of you know being a part of that game seven. Okay now we're down this road so I gotta ask you did you guys feel you had a better chance to win Game 6 or Game 7? Back in 2011?

Yeah. I mean, we were all pretty excited before Game 6. You know, you're up 3-2. They fly the families out to Boston in case you win, so everyone's there. You know, we just came off another shutout in Game 5, so I think we were feeling pretty good going back into Boston, kind of being like, you know, this can't happen again. We'll be better. But obviously it did. So I think being back home for seven where we played

so well in the finals and all throughout the playoffs I think we were feeling pretty good about it but you know they got that kind of weird goal from Bergeron to start the game and then I think again people talk about it more in retrospect but Tim Thomas was just on another planet for that series so um you know even though I thought we actually played pretty well in Game 7, put up 40-plus shots, I believe, and just couldn't score. So that was it. It's interesting you mentioned the flying of the families. I'm not going to try and, like, you know, speak ill of people's families going.

Like, you want everyone around you with the possibility of winning the Stanley Cup. But the Panthers mentioned that when they got up 3-0, is that they had a bunch of people come out to Edmonton for Game 4, and then Game 4, quite infamously now, was the 8-1 debacle where it just, nothing went right. And I'm curious about that dynamic because they want to treat it like a business trip, but you also kind of have to plan for the possibility of winning because you might never win

another Stanley Cup, and you want your friends and your family and your parents and the kids and your wife and everybody there um so how distracting is it really can you compartmentalize and say like this is my job and this is the stuff I need to take care of until it's time to get on the plane and go try and win the Cup yeah I don't know distracting is the right word you know because they do a good job again the families understand that they're they're awesome during the playoffs they sacrifice quite a bit so you can sort of focus and do your thing. And then the team, you know, they take care of it separately. So you're not, you know, we're not booking flights.

It's the team setting them up on a plane. So they handle all that stuff so we can just focus on hockey. But I think just naturally when you're a game away from the Stanley Cup, your mind, I don't want to say wanders, but you start thinking about it. Like, hey, what if we win? Like, what would I do with it? You know, what's it going to be like? So I think those are very natural thoughts and emotions for anybody

who you know worked as hard as we did and those guys did and any any hockey player gets the cup finals like it's it's human nature so yeah when you have three two in the hotel in boston you're like man we could win the stanley cup tomorrow like that's pretty awesome so i think it i don't think it takes away from your performance you know it, it's obviously there, and you have to face it head on. But, you know, it's obviously part of what gets you to that point is the motivation, and that's the end goal. And, you know, you've got to take that last step, which Florida finally did in Game 7.

But it's definitely in your mind somewhere. We are speaking to former Canucks goalie and current NHL Network analyst Corey Schneider here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, Corey, let's get to the current goaltending landscape. The market, it's been pretty busy over the last week or so. Let's start with a market that you're pretty familiar with, New Jersey. New Jersey Devils have a new goalie. It is Jacob Markstrom.

He comes over from Calgary. Your thoughts on the acquisition from the Devils side of things. Yeah, the goalie position has just been very fluid the last five, six, seven years. It kind of goes back and forth between the high-paid guy winning you the cup and then the nobody winning you the cup. You go from Vasilevsky to Aiden Hill to Bennington coming out of nowhere to now Bobrovsky winning,

making $10 million. I think a lot of teams still aren't really sure what to make of the position and how it impacts winning in the playoffs. But for the – I mean, I think they took a huge step two years ago. We're knocking on the door. And they took a big step back last year. So if you're talking about a team that is in their prime, is ascending, and just needed one more piece to be more relevant, I think that was that team

and the piece being a goalie who they can count on. So I think Markstrom gives you that. I think for the next two years, he'll be good, if not great, which is exactly what that team needs. And, you know, it'll make them relevant. Being a playoff team going on a run. So I think in the short term, it was the right move. And the acquisition cost wasn't crazy.

You know, they have a lot of young players that they're gonna have to pay soon a lot of prospect depth they've had a lot of picks last six seven eight years so i think they could afford to move off that first rounder and and kevin ball um you know again i don't know if this answers the question long term and maybe they're not that concerned about that and that's fine but again he's 34 going on 35 so you know i think you get a little little dicey at that age with goaltenders in terms of the goalie position so again i i don't mind i think it was a good move for the here and now but um you know we'll see in a couple years where they're where they're back with the goalie position um cory let's call you back in just a sec because uh you're you're breaking up a little bit so we'll have a dog call you back and, uh, we will reconnect. I want to ask Corey about just the New Jersey Devils in general, because, uh, hopefully this doesn't happen to the Vancouver Canucks, but I want to ask Corey why the New Jersey Devils took a step back because there is that potential.

Sure. Right? So the one thing, well, there's a couple of things that I think got New Jersey this year. Corey Schneider's back with us now. Corey, I wanted to ask you about the New Jersey Devils and what exactly happened to them this season because fans of the Vancouver Canucks hoping it doesn't happen to the Canucks next season.

Injuries played a role for the New Jersey Devils this year, but also some losses on the blue line. Could you talk about those and maybe any other reasons why you think the New Jersey Devils did take a step back this season? Yeah, I think it was a confluence of events. I think two years ago, I think everything went right. They had guys pop, have career years, you know, really step forward in their games, like Jack Hughes and Jesper Brad and Dougie Hamilton was everything they thought they'd be, and their goaltending was better than they thought they would be. So, you know, I think that year was sort of an everything went right scenario. And then this past year was more like an everything went wrong scenario.

As you mentioned, injuries, missing Hamilton for most of the year, Jack Hughes in and out, not 100% all season, and then the goaltending fell apart. But to your point, I think they underestimated the back end. They lost Graves, who wasn't elite with Pittsburgh, I believe, but he was good for them. And then, you know, Damon Severson, while, again, maybe miscast as a top two, top four guy, was still a serviceable bottom-pairing guy for them. And then Damon Severson, while again, maybe miscast as a top two, top four guy,

was still a serviceable bottom-pairing guy for them. So that's two pretty experienced guys you've lost on the back end. And all of a sudden, you're thrusting Luke Hughes and Simone Nemech and Kevin Ball, and that's half your D-core. And while they're going to be great players, I'm not doubting any of that, it's still early for a 19-, 20-year-old defenseman to handle those minutes at the NHL level. So I think goal prevention obviously is a huge issue, and the goalies are taking the brunt of it,

but I just think their back end was compromised a bit more than they thought going into the season. So, you know, I could see it bounce back pretty quickly. Again, if they shore up the back end a little bit, maybe, you know, sign another guy. I know Pesci's been rumored to go there. He'd be a great addition, and then you get Markstrom. I think that'll help a lot of their issues. again when you have a smaller forward group you know injuries maybe a little more

uh likely so i think they need to add a little bit of size up front as well to help you know insulate some of those guys well that was the question i was going to ask you do you think they need to get bigger up front and and obviously you do i how do you think they might do that i was actually wondering if they might be in the market for a guy like Dakota Joshua in Vancouver. Yeah, for sure. I mean, he,

he definitely would be a good player for them. A good third, you know, maybe fourth line guy, depending on where he slots in. I think they probably need something in the top six though, a little more size up front. You look at the playoffs this year,

you look at the bar cops of the world, the dry sidles, you know, for Higgies, even a big guy, you know, guys like that, who that who i think for me playoff hockey is so much different than regular season hockey the grind um that you need those

big physical guys who can skate and have some skill and again if we all could get them we would but that's the problem is that they're hard to find but you know again as i mentioned they're open for business right now they're looking to win now and bounce back so i don't see why that 10th overall pick might not be in play to go big game hunting and get a big forward who, you know, may be in a bad spot or a tough spot currently. So, you know, I think they have the ammunition

to pull something off if they really want to upgrade their top six with some more size. Doesn't it feel like half the league is rearing to go for this free agency period? It's been all these years of flat cap and like, if we can add a third defenseman, we can, but we don't know if we have the $2 million now teams are ready to roll. And I don't know, it's like going to Vegas is like,

let's go make some bad decisions, guys. Yeah. Well, it's tough because I think the goal of hockey and the reason for the cap and the way it's structured is for parity. So I think, you know, every team, save for five or six, thinks they have a chance to make the play each year right if i just do this or that i should be able to get in the playoffs and then anything can happen where the reality is you know there's probably a much smaller group of teams that are real contenders i thought this year was probably the most legitimate contenders i've seen in a while going to playoffs you could

pick one of eight teams you could say would win the stanley cup and it wouldn't surprise you whereas in past years it felt it's going to be the or it's gonna be the avalanche or you know they're the team to beat so i do think that's inspiring a lot of teams to maybe make some big moves now especially as you mentioned with the cap rising but again i you know i think i think demand greatly outweighs supply you know personally i think there's too many teams there just aren't enough you know good players to how many you know I think there are 32 number one defensemen in the NHL. Probably not. Are there 32 number one centers out there?

Probably not. So you're going to have guys who are overpaid and miscast, and that's just part of the supply and demand of the league right now. So if you can talk yourself into somebody and you think it's going to work, then you're going to do it in June or July. And then all of a sudden come December and January, you sort of reevaluate um I I do think it's going to be a little bit crazy coming in the draft and free agency in terms of teams thinking they're one piece away well if that piece is a goaltender um who would you target right now knowing that some pieces are already off the board

yeah personally again a lot of pieces off the board. Mark obviously just moved as well. I like John Gibson. I know he's not an analytic starling and he's had some down years. I think those Anaheim teams he's played on have been really, really bad the last five or six years. Not that it's comparable, but I went through some lean years in New Jersey where you don't have much in front of you. You don't have a lot of offense.

You don't have a lot of defense. You're just sort of surviving. Eventually, it can wear on you. It can beat you down a little bit. So I think he's 30 years old. I like his skill set. You know, he proved early in his career. He can play at a high level, especially in the playoffs.

And I think his cap number is manageable when you consider what guys are about to get paid in terms of Saros and Shusterkin and the goalie market. I think it's going to heat up here a little bit in terms of what guys are getting paid. So, you know, him at 6, whatever it six whatever it is six four for the next couple years you know I could see a buy low situation of Anaheim's willing to you know they're not on the same timeline as him so I think John Gibbs with the change of scenery and a little more structure in front of him could be an elite goalie again pretty quickly. When you were when you were a goalie in the NHL

what was the one thing that when the team in front of you, your team, did something bad? What was your biggest frustration? Was it not blocking a shot? Was it not picking up an open man? What was the thing that you were constantly maybe not yelling at your teammates for because this isn't soccer, but in your mind you're like, come on, man, you've got to do this? Yeah, I don't know if it was a specific thing like that, but I would say in general, as a goalie, predictability is huge. Like when you walk into the rink every night and you don't

know what's going to happen in front of you, your teammates and what they're going to do, it's a really tough position to play because every night you're sort of saying what's going to go wrong tonight. You know, it could be, like you said, an open man one night or a turnover the next. So I think when you have teams that play a structure and stick to it and you have certain rules and, you know, things that you try to do every night, and again, things are going to happen. It's not going to go perfectly, but, you know, more or less, you know, all right, I'm going to walk in the rink tonight.

I know if I do these things, my teammates are going to do those things. And as long as I don't, you know, screw up or don't execute very well, it should be a good game. So, you know, when you get young and experienced guys, they make mistakes that older, more experienced guys don't execute very well like it should be a good game so you know when you get young and experienced guys they make mistakes that older more experienced guys don't make guys are left open that shouldn't be you know plays are made that shouldn't be turnovers are made that should be so all those things that lead to unpredictability as a goalie you start trying to do it yourself which in that position it's reactive not proactive you can't go make a play

happen you have to wait and react to what's happening in front of you so when you're less certain about what's happening in front of you then it's harder to react to it so i think when you see bad teams that's a lot of it it's just you know that guy shouldn't be wide open but he is and that turnover shouldn't have happened now i gotta go play that and eventually it can wear you down mentally a little bit in terms of uh you know like i said showing up for 50 60 games every year and not having any clue what's about to happen does it affect does it almost affect your work ethic too? Like there's got to be a level of, everyone will say, well, you got to be a professional and you got to show up to the rank every day and you got to do your job. And there's a certain element of that. But

sometimes I think about John Gibson because there have been seasons where he's gotten off to a great start and he's kept the ducks in it. And maybe it's physical fatigue but maybe it's mental fatigue too like guys if you like this is impossible if you guys aren't gonna aren't gonna play in front of me then maybe some of the things that I would have regularly done come in early get the extra work with the goalie coach whatever maybe that starts slipping a little bit. Does that happen? Yeah, I mean, again, I can't speak to each individual, but I think, again, human nature at some points where, hey, it doesn't matter what I do, we're going to give up 45 shots tonight.

You know, I could spend another 10 minutes working on this part of my game and 20 minutes doing that and 15 minutes in the gym doing this, and then all of a sudden you say, but I'm still going to see 50 shots tonight and probably give up four or five goals. So, you know, I'm not saying it happens a lot, but you kind of at some points over time you can sort of say well what's the point you know what am i doing and i do believe that again that's why it changes the scenery gets around a lot but all of a sudden you come into a new environment a winning environment an environment where everyone's pushing each other and you sort of say hey i feel reinvigorated to kind kind of get back to what I want to do and have more fun playing the game.

Because when it stops being, again, it is a job, but, you know, it's supposed to be fun. And when you lose the joy or, you know, you don't have that fun and passion of showing up to the rink and putting everything you have into it, it can slip and it can snowball on you quickly. So, again, that's why I do believe that certain guys, especially if they've been around for a while, when they get reinvigorated by going to a better situation, you look at a Sam Reinhart, you know, he's kind of toiling away in Buffalo, goes to Florida, and now he scores 60.

So, you know, was he that player in Buffalo? Probably, but sometimes in the environment and the organization just doesn't quite get it out of you. So I'm not, you know, not condemning Buffalo. It happens all the time. But just an example of a guy who sort of gets a fire lit under him, and it's true for any athlete or any goalie specifically, so I do think there is an element of that. I wanted to ask you about

what's going on in Boston this offseason. You alluded to earlier that Linus Allmark is now gone. He's a member of the Ottawa Senators. Now, the Bruins got a goalie back, so technically they will have a tandem, but it won't be the tandem of Allmark and Swayman, which has been great over the last couple years and two guys that i think

really connected obviously like the postgame hugs and everything aside they seem like they really found a great vibe where the two of them shared the job but they also enjoyed playing alongside one another until the playoffs came and then it was swayman's gig and what have you but so as a guy that's played in a goalie tandem before and then went off to kind of go, quote-unquote, get your own job, what are some of the challenges that are going to be facing Boston and Swayman in particular this year because that duo was so successful and now it's no longer together?

Yeah, I think any time, I've talked about this before, but I think there's something to be said about having a safety net that when you have another guy who's fully capable um you know it can help you go play more freely because you sort of say all right we got another good option here but also like oh if i if i don't deliver the middle if i don't do well they can always go to that guy and we'll be okay right i think when you know you move off of that and you're the guy playing 50 60 and the other guy's a rookie or a minimum backup and he's not as good as you are. It's a little more pressure on you because it says,

I've got to be the one to win all these games or I can't count on the other guy if I get hurt or don't play well to come in and do what I can do. So I think there is that added level of pressure to perform because you don't have that second option. But yeah, I mean, I like Swayman's makeup. I think he is a competitor and I think he wants it i think he enjoys that and i think we saw it during the playoff so i'm not too worried about him i didn't love getting corposola back in that deal you know

i've not been a huge fan of his um just you know again he's a veteran guy but he kind of had the one really good year in la and cashed in on that which is hey more power to you but um it just seemed unnecessary. I thought they were trying to shed salary at the old mark to improve the team around them. And, you know, they had the best goaltending in the NHL the last two years and look where it got them, you know, it got them to the second round this year. So I think if they could have allocated those dollars somewhere else to the

blue line or upfront, it would have been better, but you know, who knows, maybe they're not done with Corpus L. Maybe they buy them out or swing them in another deal now that he's retained. So I don't think they're quite done. And also, if you're going to pay Swayman $8.5 million a year on his new deal, now you have $11 million tied up in net, which is more than you were paying last year. So if you're going to pay more this year for a downgrade in gold than you did last year, it doesn't quite make sense to me.

So I wouldn't be surprised if there's another shoe to drop there with Corpus Sala. Corey, this was awesome. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the next little bit. It should be a lot of fun with the draft and free agency. Yeah, it will do. Thanks, guys. You too.

Thanks, Corey. Corey Schneider, former Canucks goalie, now an analyst with NHL Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. That is one well-spoken guy. He's dialed in. Yeah. Those numbers. Goalies, man.

It's goalies. Yeah, I guess that's it. They're all very, very smart. They're dialed in. Yeah. Those numbers. Goalies, man. It's goalies. Yeah, I guess that's it. They're all very, very smart. They're all just working on a higher cerebral level. Every single one of them. They just got a lot of time to think because half the time the puck's in the other end.

That's true. Is there a problem with being thoughtful, bro? Just sitting there doing nothing. I wish you'd do it once in a while. Sometimes you get a night off and you just sit on the bench wearing a hat.

I just got a problem on this show. I have no time to think. So there's a bit happening around the National Hockey League right now. We should have mentioned that when the Stanley Cup was handed out on Monday night, it didn't just signify that there was an NHL champion and it was the end of the regular season. It also kicked off the opening 48 hours after that of the buyout window, right? Yeah, we did mention that yesterday,

and there was a couple names that we kicked around. Yeah, the old ticking clock of the buyout window. So the window officially opens, I guess, this evening. And it sounds as though that the Buffalo Sabres are going to buy out Jeff Skinner from the remainder of his contract. Skinner, of course, is on a deal that pays $9 million annually. Well, that's the cap hit. But the savings this year,

this is a bit similar to the Oliver Ekman-Larsen deal. And by deal, I mean the cap buyout. Yep. There is huge savings this year and then pain a couple of years later. Right. So the cap hit, if the Sabres buy out Jeff Skinner, and it sounds like they're going to do that,

would only be $1.4 million this year. So with a $9 million cap hit, that's a $7.5 million cap hit that you're opening up right now for the Buffalo Sabres. So it's one of those things where, is Jeff Skinner still an NHL-er? Yes, very much. So was Oliver Ekman-Larsen, and he went to Florida,

and he played a third pair role, and he played well, and he won a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. But it was also the right move for the Vancouver Canucks because it allowed them to do some things that they needed to do. Mm-hmm. Now, the cap hit for Skinner jumps the following season to 4.4 and the following season after that to 6.4.

And then the final three seasons are 2.4. But the Sabres will be hoping that the cap keeps going up and up and up and there's no other black swan event that happens that brings it all back to earth. They need to make some big, bold moves this offseason. They need to add real veteran NHL players and finally deliver a playoff team to Buffalo. They have not been in the playoffs since 2010-11, and this is one way to do it.

It offers up an opportunity for some team to swoop in there and sign Jeff Skinner, though, who's still a pretty good player. He had 24 goals last year. I think he definitely started to see the decline just in terms of production, ice time, his role on the team. He's 32 years old. I mean, you've got to remember that 40-goal season he had. That was almost four years ago now.

He's still a good player. He's a little light. So I don't know if people say, is that a right fit for the Vancouver Canucks? No, because I think they need to add some more heft into both their bottom six and their top six. But he's a guy that you could get on a pretty nice affordable deal right now. Because he's going to come with no strength attached.

He was back over a point per game a couple years ago. He was 82 points in 79 games, and then he fell off again last year a little bit. But he's also getting the prime opportunities with the Sabres. A lot of times you've got to look at these players and go, okay, he did it for that team. What's his role with your team going to be though? So at any rate, Jeff Skinner sounds like he's going to get bought out.

We got an open segment on the other side. So text in your questions or comments into the Dunbar Lumber text line. We'll go through some other news and notes from the NHL. And we'll also talk about the Vancouver Canucks heading to the draft in Vegas with no first round pick no second round pick what's your level of curiosity at the draft

would you be okay if the Canucks just traded all their picks this year and just said fine just punt on the draft you know I don't think they're going to do that and I don't think that would be wise we're just kind of joking here but let's just throw their papers in the air

yeah yeah yeah it's like and you're all fired I would seriously consider not going to Vegas and just doing the whole thing on the phone save a few bucks yeah it's expensive Vegas is expensive now right you used to be out like the

buffets are all expensive now we're just trying to save you money Canucks we're just literally phoning Vegas is expensive now, right? It used to be like the buffets are all expensive now. We're just trying to save you money, Canucks. Hey, Gary, we're thinking of just literally phoning it in. Is that okay with you? You're listening to the Alfred Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app.

7.35 on a Eurodance Wednesday here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda. Pacific Honda is North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. Final day of the group stage in the Euros. Speaking of Euro dance.

That's right. And then we get to the round of 16 this weekend. So we got a couple of matchups already booked. Italy will take on Switzerland. 9 a.m. our time on Saturday. Germany and Denmark. That's set. That top half of the draw is banana land.

Germany, France, Portugal, and Spain. All of whom would be worthy winners. At the very least, finalists. But they'll all be going through the buzzsaw that is the top half of the draw they'll fight tooth and nail to get through meanwhile we got Austria just surprising everyone at this tournament

that was an amazing game they played against the Dutch that was one of the most entertaining soccer games I've watched in a long long time one of the best games at Euro so far the atmosphere there was incredible so that's part of the reason why English fans are revolting the way that they are. Yeah. It's because the rest of the tournament has been awesome.

Every England match. That group, by the way, should be stricken from the record and forgotten entirely. That entire group. Well, Slovenia played well for Slovenia. Sure. Slovenia was the only... That was a big win for them, nil-nil. Only nice story to come out of Group C. Everything else was a disaster.

Serbia was boring and uninspired and flat. England, I think we've gone through already. Denmark can't exactly be thrilled with how they performed in the group. There was too many 0-0 draws. There were too many games where the teams were content with just waiting for 90 minutes to evaporate.

There wasn't even that many hard tackles and cards. There's nothing to it. Okay, we'll get back into the hockey talk here. We got a text from... You don't need to apologize. Sorry, everybody.

You don't need to apologize. Way to go, Halford. Mark at the office listening to Ray Ferraro on a TO station yesterday, who was between the benches all playoffs, he was adamant that to win a cup these days, you must have a big, strong, physical team.

With the intensity of four rounds, there's no other way to win. My fear is now the Canucks are way too small and light, especially up front, and all this talk about Skinner, Marner, and Gensel isn't going to help. Mark, I agree with you 100%. That is the challenge for this management

group, especially if they lose a guy like Dakota Joshua. But here's another thing. They also want to get faster and they need to get faster. So how do you marry those two? Because sometimes the big guys don't skate as well, right?

You need a big guy that's also fast. And if you get the big guys that are fast, you can't afford them. And a fast guy who's big. You do need a big physical team to win a championship. Look at the teams that have won recently. Florida, big. Vegas, big. Even going back to when Pittsburgh won back-to-back,

I know they did have players like, well, Jake Gansel and Phil Kessel and Connor Sherry. Those guys aren't super physical guys. But I always said that one of the most underrated players in the playoffs was Patrick Hornquist. And Sidney Crosby plays like a power forward, and when Geno's on his game, he is a big, tough dude. Yeah.

They were, you don't have to sit there and say like, oh, they were a powerful team physically. They really weren't. They really, compared to Florida or compared to the way that Vegas played at times or the St. Louis Blues when they beat the Boston. They out-Bruinsed the Bruins on their way to the Stanley Cup. Washington played a heavy style when they won.

You don't have to say they were all like that. Pittsburgh was definitely of the teams that won in the last little while. They were the more, quote-unquote, skilled group. And in fact, in their most impressive Stanley Cup final win, it was their speed and their ability to move the puck which allowed them to really dominate the san jose sharks and i know that series went six games but it was clear that pittsburgh was the best team in that series

remember the sharks came in there like we've got this big powerful four check and the penguins were like yeah well we've got the ability to move the puck and you're not even gonna get to us i'm not too concerned about this organization's ability to add those components through their pro scouting prowess they did it last year in free agency with susie right that was a good find good hit that was a good deal they addressed it via trade was the door off they unearthed well they addressed it it too with Lindholm too because he's a big, heavy dude. They unearthed Dakota Joshua from the sort of nether regions of professional hockey playing in the American League. And I look at this group and I say a lot of that is probably dictated

by what the head coach wants. The old, if you're going to make, you know, if I'm the chef that's making the dinner, let me have some input on the groceries that are being purchased. I think Talkit is going to have a major say. I mean, there are coaches that have clout within organizations. I would put Rick Talkett at the forefront of that conversation, not just because the management group of Alvin and Rutherford is so enamored with his approach, but because there's proof of concept now that he had this great year and won the jack adams so he's probably going to say yeah get me more bigger guys that are going to be tough and physical and nasty because our blue line last year was one of the tallest and the most physically imposing in the

league yeah and they played nasty especially in the playoff so i've got confidence that they can go out and replicate it might not be easy but i think it'll be something that they identify along with but everyone else is going to be trying to do the exact same thing. But that's every year in the NHL. There's never a year where there's a surplus of things that everybody wants. Everyone wants speed. Everyone wants big, strong guys that are physically imposing. Everyone wants goal scorers.

I mean, these are the things everyone wants. The only thing that's really changed this year is that the cap's gone up significantly for the first time in a long time. So there's more money to be thrown around. But teams do that poorly sometimes. GMs make gambles on guys, get infatuated with players, and they spend big, but they spend on the wrong guys. I really like what the Canucks did in free agency last year.

I hope that they – I actually hope that that's the approach. I think that should always sort of be your approach in free agency, just because historically, there's more bad deals handed out in free agency than good ones. Does it ever concern you that the Canucks have,

I mean, two of their three players in the quote-unquote leadership group and their best paid players, some of them, are Quinn Hughes, a very slight defenseman, and Elias Pettersson, a slight center. Yeah, because then it means you're constantly seeking out the attributes that they don't have to find them in a complementary role.

So size isn't going to come from your core guys. It's going to come from the guys you bring in or the players that you have to acquire trade free agency or coming up from the minors, which they don't have right now. So that's an issue. I think it's okay to have a number one defenseman that's going to win the North trophy,

right? It's not, it's not, it's not my concern, Quinn, Quinn Hughes, but you do need to fill out around him. Sure.

Every team has to have an identity, though. Right? And if your identity is we are at our core, we're not the biggest team in the NHL, but we have elite skill, hockey IQ, offensive production, that's your identity. Then it's the organization's job to fill out the rest of the roster so that you can do the things in the playoffs that you want to do and as ray ferraro said you need not it's a nice thing to have you

need to have the size and nastiness and physicality because it is such a grind yeah guys get worn down like quinn hughes did this year we got a text in an average height weight player is good enough as long as they play bigger colorado wasn't big, but they play hard. They got some size, though. I mean, Rantanen is a load. Nathan McKinnon coming at you, that's a powerful player. But I don't disagree with that notion. It does need to be the DNA of your team that we are hard to play against.

And it's such a cliche, I realize it. But when you watch how the Canucks played last season compared to the years before, where teams would come into – do you remember how a big talking point for our show, maybe not league-wide, but for our show was how many disastrous games the Canucks had at Rogers Arena when they were really struggling. Yep. And teams would come in there and bully them. Yeah.

That didn't happen last season. That's an identity thing too. And that's an identity thing. And yes, some of it has to be just the way you play if you're a Vancouver Canuck. And you can play big even if you're a small player. Connor Garland, I'm going to have no problem saying, yeah, you're a guy that can help us in the playoffs. But it sure does help.

I mean, there's a reason that for years these types of players have been coveted. The big strong guys in the playoffs that can, if they are playing with the same intensity as everyone else it's simple physics you know they're they're going to win those battles more often than not uh speaking of quinn hughes did you happen to see the article that imac wrote yesterday about quinn hughes and his dietary alterations last season yeah i did see that yeah it's kind of interesting. He sounded like he hated it.

And he sounded like he didn't want to talk about it much, which is probably fair, because this is the interesting part when you really dial and dig deep on some of these guys is to get that extra, what, 1% or 2% of an edge over your competition, sometimes you have to make pretty significant sacrifices and alterations that might not seem worth it so for here's the

kicker from imax piece after a visit last summer to a denver doctor wasn't nathan mckinnon who specializes in nutrition quinn hugh Hughes stopped consuming alcohol during hockey season, eliminated grains, and reduced other sources of gluten from his diet. He also avoided processed foods and tried to eat natural foods. Any beef he ate was grass-fed. Hughes ate more meals and fewer snacks. Pretzels had become a favorite i tried to eliminate processed foods and i still am mindful of it it is so difficult though it's really difficult and you know what

it is it's just convenience the ease of food it's convenience and then uh then i saw also quoted in that piece which shows you the advantage these professional athletes have. There was a quote from Talkit saying, Quinn always goes to our chef and says I want this, I want that. I was like, if I had a chef, I'd eat a lot better. I'd eat a lot healthier. It's really easy

to not eat processed foods when you know you have a personal chef. And the professional chefs, the good chefs can make healthy food taste good. Yeah, you could get pork chops at 11 a.m. And the professional chefs, the good chefs, can make healthy food taste good. Yeah, you could get pork chops at 11 a.m. Can't. Well, no, I don't think. Or like Homer Simpson calling him up at four in the morning.

Chef. Hey, chef, you know what I got a hankering for. That's right. I don't think that's the quite example that we're looking for, but it's expensive. It's challenging. It's time consuming to eat well. And you have to be really, really disciplined. Like yesterday I came home from the show.

Oh yeah. And I had to do a bunch of errands, run a bunch of errands. And then I was playing golf at two. And then I realized, wait a minute, I haven't even had lunch yet. Well, I'm not going to make, I don't have time to make a super healthy meal. Right. I'm going to make a quick caprese salad. yeah do we have do we have the ingredients we don't because i don't have the time to go to the grocery store you gotta get a big mac and that's and my brain is so stuck

on okay well where's the closest white spot how can i get some food no it's like so it's funny because actually with kids it's really difficult to try and explain all these things. They love processed food. Processed food is designed for them. And it is almost they're preying on kids and people like me. Yeah, but they've also got an idea. It's funny when you go back to the chef. Because all meals for kids are prepared for them, right?

Kids aren't going out and being, I'm going to whip up a quick carbonara and away I go, right? So, and I was trying to explain to the boy, it's like sometimes you kind of have to look at what's available and then make amends based on like something healthy. It's like, okay, so this isn't necessarily a meal, but having an apple and putting some healthy peanut butter on it will do the job.

Like a Cosmic Crisp apple. That's right, Andy. Although a Cosmic Crisp apple. That's right, Andy. Although a Cosmic Crisp would require no topping whatsoever because it's a beautiful, delectable, and delicious apple. That's true. It is delicious. All in itself. This wasn't where we were going with this.

Interesting. Dino Bravo asked us if anything, Quinn Hughes gets ID'd every time he orders an alcoholic beverage. Not a problem anymore during the hockey season, apparently. Can I tell you that I got ID'd? Get of here yeah get out it was in the states so it's a little bit different but when i was on my pretty militant about it when i was on my golf trip we went into a grocery store to load up on beers beforehand and the guy asked me for my id but didn't ask my buddy wow he was a couple years older than me did he look at yours and then

just come to the realization that you were almost 50 and he's like i'm not your young man he was one of those you know he was a it was it was at a grocery store yeah and he was a cashier at the grocery store yeah and he was young sure so he was one of those people that was like i don't know the difference between a 25 year old and uh very handsome 48 you're all old right yeah you're all old at that point yeah 25 45 doesn't matter you're rocking the mustache at that point yeah yeah i was on cloud nine i was like me yeah of course this happens all the time but here go. He did the crip walk out of the store with the food. He was just like, watch me make this guy's day.

Watch me make the old guy's day. It looks like he has so little. Anyway, back to the point. I see your ID, sir. Sam Reinhart mentioned that too, by the way. Oh, by the way. No, I give you my ID. No, seriously.

Someone takes it in. So what did you end up eating bruff i found a granola bar in the car because i was late i was still processed but not may have been a year old i'm not sure it was pathetic yeah it was honestly pathetic there's way too many times where i go through the day i was like yeah i just i didn't have lunch and it's so bad for you too because then i just load up at dinner. Someone just texted me, no Pringles? LOL. So I mentioned to the boy the other day, I'm like, you know, it's funny, on the radio show.

He's like, you're on the radio? I'm like, yeah, you should pay attention. I said, oh, someone texted in because he loves Pringles. Pringles have no potato in them. I was unaware of this and very sheepishly. You know, they do have, though. He's like, I knew that. I'm like, really?

I had no clue. So now I think we're contemplating outlawing potatoes. Well, it was 42% potato. But it's not a, it's a potato product. Potato pressings. Yeah, which is just way too vague of a descriptor. Pressed peanut sweepings. Is that what it is?

It's potato dust off the potato room floor? Is that what it is? So I'm off the potato room floor is that what it is so i'm gonna add a little to the hockey talk here as we get it back on uh fine our friend chris johnston who writes for the athletic wrote about leon dry sidle and um it was interesting how far down the line his piece went on the Oilers possibly trading Dreisaitl. The possibility. And I'm going to read verbatim here. Edmonton is not inclined to let the 28-year-old center

simply play out the final year of his contract and walk directly into free agency next July, according to multiple league sources familiar with the front office's view of the situation. Trying to get him extended is considered a massive priority for the Oilers at the outset of this offseason, but they'll pivot if he shows any reluctance to commit. They've got some wiggle room to trade Dreisaitl if it comes to that that since his contract includes a 10 team trade list alongside a no movement clause so i was just interested that siege went that far to even lay out that his contract includes a 10 team trade list alongside a no movement call i mean the dry

sidle going to san jose thing has been out there mean, it's not even the quiet part out loud anymore. Like Merrick and Freed have talked about it on 32 Thoughts. But do you remember we were discussing the situation and we were kind of like, well, isn't dry saddle just going to go hand in hand with Connor McDavid here? And Connor McDavid isn't eligible to sign an extension this summer. He can only sign one next summer. So you're in that situation if you're dry sidle

where you're going, well, if I'm going to stay in Edmonton, I want to make sure that Connor McDavid is going to stay here as well. So if you're dry sidle, how do you make sure that happens? Can you imagine if he were to sign a massive long-term contract? And not that he hates Edmonton or anything, but imagine if he signs that contract and then the next year,

Connor's like, eh, I don't know if I want to stay. Peace. Yeah, well, I mean, that's the dream. Did I say dream? That's the dream. That's the dream. It's just interesting from a timing perspective. I think this all goes back to we never really know exactly what some of these players are thinking.

I mean, I remember when the Kachuk-Calgary exodus unfolded. I remember being caught off guard, being like, I didn't know he didn't like Calgary. I didn't know he was unhappy there, and I didn't know that he wasn't interested in staying in Calgary long-term. Sometimes it's not even being unhappy. It's the grass is greener somewhere else.

Well, it's also- The grass is still green here. I'm a rich hockey player. Yeah, but- But man, being a rich hockey player in Florida, that sounds awesome. I mean, I think some people, and because it's a little bit more normal in hockey

to spend your career in one place for the entire time, I think a lot of people kind of forget that this is their career and this is their legacy. And being locked into one thing the entire time time when you have the opportunity to go elsewhere like the part about free agency is the free part you're free to do it means free to do anything yeah free to go wherever you want you're free to leave the place it's got to be tempted you're no longer held by the shackles of club restriction or an entry-level deal like you've earned your freedom to go wherever you want to go and like write your own chapter or pick a place that you've always wanted to play

as opposed to the place that drafted you when you were 18 years old right like what connor bedard and macklin celebrini will one day do when they come back to vancouver they just have to get free first that's it so dry side could like a lot of things about Edmonton. I got a great running mate. Connor McDavid's amazing. We could probably win some cups. However... Sure is cold here.

Yeah. The winters are awful. The mall. I'm kind of over it. I notice I'm angry all the time. Yeah. I'm pissy. So that's it.

I mean, you bring up a good point, though. It's not necessarily that you hate the place you're in. It's just you see other places out there. That don't need heated driveways. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. Final hour of the program coming up.

We're going to talk a little BC Lions coming up. Assistant head coach and defensive coordinator of your BC Lions, Ryan Phillips, is going to join the show next. That's ahead of Thursday's game. The BC Lions will take on the winless Edmonton Elks at BC Place. So we'll talk to Ryan about that. And then at 8.30, we're going to do what we learned. Get yours in.

Dunbar, over at Text Line 650-650. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know. And finally, before we go to break, the draft is just a couple of days away. The NHL draft. Not the NBA draft. That the nba draft that's tonight and that's the most we're going to talk about the nba draft the three words i just said right there that's it nhl draft coverage all this week leading up to friday on sportsnet 650 is brought to you

by oxygen yoga and fitness not your typical yoga studio uh coming up next bc lions talk with ryan phillips you're listening to the halford and breath show on sportsnet 650.