Halford & Brough in the Morning - Could Tocchet Be Eyeing Any Of The NHL Coaching Vacancies

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they discuss all the current NHL coaching vacancies (6:00), plus they recap a busy night of playoff action with Sportsnet's David Amber (25:27). 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.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun Scores! Max Newby's the overtime hero in game two! The front of chance and they score! And it's Matthew Kachaka the power play! Martinus up high and he scores! I love these lazy Saturdays. It's Wednesday, Homer! Waaah!

Good morning Vancouver! Six o'clock on a Wednesday! Happy Wednesday everybody. It's Halpern and his bruv at his Sportsnet 650 and we are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halpern and bruv for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five star reviews.

Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Big show on a Wednesday hump day, am I right everybody? Guest list today begins at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host, is gonna join us. A relatively light night in the National Hockey League tonight. Only three games, I was used to four games a night. Only three games tonight. Washington, Montreal Washington Montreal game to Colorado Dallas game three that

series shifts back to Colorado and then of course Edmonton in LA in game two from crypto.com arena we'll look back also on the four games last night including as you heard in the intro Max Domi providing the heroics as Toronto took a two nothing series lead over Ottawa in the Battle of Ontario. So that's at 6.30. Seven o'clock, Frank Ceravelli is going to join us from Daily Face Off.

We should talk coaching openings across the National Hockey League with Frank. Something that we, Jason and I will discuss in relation to Rick Taukett in the first segment this morning. You know who Frank spoke with recently, forgot about him, Jay Woodcroft. Oh, okay. You had him on a recent.

He must be in the mix for some of these jobs. You'd think. So we'll talk to Frank about that at seven o'clock. Also, the Isles decided to part ways with Lou Lamarello yesterday in case you missed that. So we can ask Frank about the ramifications from that as well. Eight o'clock, Randeeb Janda is going to join the program.

It's our final hit of the season with Randeeb, our beloved Canucks color analyst here on Sportsnet 650. We'll put a bow on this phase of the offseason, which of course was the Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen media availability. We'll get Randip's thoughts on all that and look ahead to what should be a very busy offseason phase two for the Vancouver Canucks. So working in reverse on the guest list, eight o'clock it's Randy Janda, 7 o'clock it's Frank Saravalli,

6.30 it's David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Greg, tell everybody what happened. What happened is Bratz-Yvai, 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. We are going to try and still ring out whatever is left of Canucks News here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650 as we stare further and further into the off season abyss. It was a quiet day for the Vancouver Canucks. No tampering as far as I could tell yesterday. It was a tamper free day from the Canucks, but

we're still waiting on a decision on Rick Tauke. Well, on the tampering, Rick Taukewell reported that the NHL will not be doing anything about that. I joked on social media that they probably looked at the Canucks and they're like, there's enough on your plate. You know what? We'll give you guys a pass on this one. We'll give you a break. Yeah, I think we're all expecting a decision on Rick Tauket by Friday. At the latest, the Canucks have a lot of work to do this off season and if they need a new coach as well, they'd obviously like to know as soon

as possible. Jim Rutherford hinted, well, he didn't even hint. He said, like, I think we'll have a decision by the end of the week. So it's Wednesday. So we're halfway through the week. So they still got a little time. Okay. So how many openings around the NHL are there? We're not necessarily saying like, oh, maybe talk, it's thinking about some of these openings, but we're not, not saying that as well.

Um, so Anaheim, Seattle and the Rangers all have official vacancies. Nobody has the job interim or otherwise. Blackhawks, Bruins and Flyers all finished the season with interim guys. Including, uh, Jesper Sorensen's brother, Anders Sorensen in Chicago. That's not his brother.

That's not his brother. That's not his brother. Um, okay. So which of those jobs do you think would be the most appealing, not necessarily for Tauket, but for any coach. And I think we should do it in reverse order. So we'll eliminate some of these teams

and then we'll settle on one final team. I don't think I'd want the Rangers job or the Bruins job. Although they are original six teams and you probably get lots of resources if you go there. It's kind of cool to coach an original six team. Both those teams have some veterans that have had some success in the NHL. But for me personally, you know, you can push back on this, but for me, I think I would look at those and go, those are teams on the way down. You would get the opportunity to coach JT Miller

once again, hypothetically speaking, if you were a coach that had coached him before. We're not pointing to any particular coach, right? We're just saying in general. Oh, it seems like you're pointing to a particular coach. I'm just saying, maybe if you're- Because you said coach again, and then I'm like, okay, well, who's coached JT Miller?

Okay, let me rephrase. Because Coop coached him but I don't think Coop's leaving the Lightning. Yes that's true. So what are you talking about? Well I mean LA Invenio also coached him. Oh that's true yeah. Okay all right. You can always go back to the Rangers. You seem to be suggesting that Rick Tauken would maybe go to the Rangers. You know I'm not I'm just talking about JT Miller here just purely talking about JT Miller maybe a coach would like to coach him for the first time, whatever the case. That, put it this way, I'm with you on those jobs,

maybe being the least enticing, because it does feel like teams that are going in the wrong direction. Of the two, I think that the Rangers probably have a better chance of resuscitating their lives because of Igor Shusterkin, but I understand why you'd address both those with some trepidation.

The Boston job to me seems like rife with the potential where you walk in there and then all of a sudden it's like. Well, especially if you're talking, you're like, I know how important centers are. Yep. What's going on in Boston with their centers? Oh, well, I know Lindholm. Yeah, not the chance to coach Lindholm again,

or for the first time, Zadorov again, or for the first time. Throw it out there. Okay, well we got to eliminate some teams. So I'm eliminating the Rangers and the Bruins. That's fine, that's fine. Seattle I'm eliminating because I just think they're boring. I wouldn't love that job. I wouldn't love that job. That'd be like the job you said a lot.

What would be special about getting the cracking gig? Nice arena. They did pledge towards climate. Yeah. Yeah. Um, no, but like, you know, like if, if you're talking about either it's cool to coach the Rangers or the Bruins cause they're original sex or they've got, they've got some good players.

I mean, like, you know, like Bruins have Pasternak and then McEvoy. They got, they some good players. I mean like you know, like Bruins have Pasternak and McEvoy. They've got good players And both those teams have decent goalies, right? Maybe even more than decent, right? But Seattle, what would you be like? Oh, I can't wait to coach who? Chandler Stevenson. Yeah, Shane Wright Yeah, right like so you're writing Matty Ben Ears would be the and that's not really I mean this is this is this is Kind of the problem with Seattle right now, right? Like what do you what do you talk about? Oh, they're a new team Oh, yeah, what else their marketing team must have a rough go. I yeah, like how do you promote this team? Like what's interesting about them?

I would like in taking the Seattle job to the ing insurance job that I took out of university when I didn't have a lot of job prospects, but there was one. Yeah. And what are you excited about? Having a job? Yeah, right. Getting a paycheck. Yeah, exactly.

Okay, so let's eliminate. Alfred said the job was fine. Yeah, no, so let's eliminate that one. So let's eliminate the Kraken. So it's down to the Ducks, Blackhawks or Flyers, and all three teams are in a certain stage of a rebuild. I think there's long-term potential for all of those teams. But look, if I'm making a decision, me personally, and I don't think I'm going

to be up for any of these jobs, but I probably have to defer to coaching Connor Bedard. Yeah. And the Blackhawks, I know they've been a disaster and all of these jobs would come with significant risk because you could take them in, you know, maybe you, you know, you got a bunch of young players and maybe you don't get the right surrounding pieces or your young players aren't serious enough about the game.

But the Blackhawks also have a bunch of blue chip prospects to come. Plus they've got cap space. Again, it would be a huge challenge and there's a risk that it could go really badly. But it's not supposed to be easy and I'd probably just take Chicago because I think Connor Bedard, I think he needs me. I think he needs my guidance.

That's fair. So I was thinking, I saw you pass this along last night. So I started thinking about it and I started thinking about Montreal because of course Montreal made the playoffs this season. Montreal obviously underwent a rebuild. that took some time, but you're seeing the fruits of all of those negative moments now. And it's interesting because if you look at what Chicago's done, it is very much the Montreal model. It's stockpiling draft picks in the span of three or four years, a ton of first round picks. And then they're sort of at the point of ascendancy where Chicago, I'm saying, where they have to move forward. Like no one's gonna be okay if they come back

with another 30 or 31st place season. Like this year was a disappointment in Chicago. I think, you know, I get, there's not gonna be a perfect comparison, but Montreal seemed to do a better job of keeping the enthusiasm and maybe we're over reading how sad Connor Bedard looked all last season and Montreal, by the way, never had a Bedard.

You know what I mean? Like they never had that, but they always had like some veterans around that are still there. Guys like Brendan Gallagher. Montreal also, and we've had Eric Engels on the show before talking about this, that is a very savvy, nuanced hockey market that understood what they were trying to do.

So they got behind this young core right from the start and said, hey, we know you're gonna go through some tough times and take your lumps, but we understand that that's part of the process. In Chicago right now, it felt like everyone, fans, the front office, and even Bedard to a certain degree, felt like the acceleration had to happen this season

and it didn't, and instead of being like, okay, we're still gonna push through and everything, it just seemed like there was a real, there was like a toxic nature at times around that team. So that's a problem. However. If Badaard smiled more, would we be thinking differently about the organization?

Yeah, maybe. Cause I watched Celebrini play in San Jose and the Sharks were worse. They were a worse team than Chicago. They had an over 100 goal difference. Yeah, they were terrible. Minus their differential. They were a terrible team, but they seemed to play with more joy. Right. I will say at the end of the year, even Tyler Toffoli had some remarks publicly

where he was like, okay, it's fun, but we make stupid mistakes every night. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're terrible, right? Okay, so who would you choose? Because we've got to move on here. Begrudgingly, I would have to choose Chicago. It just makes the most sense. The reason that I wanted to bring up the Montreal comparison is that while they didn't have a coaching change,

if you were an available candidate right now, you'd look at that group and say, it feels like they're kind of ready to make that next step in large part because this year was so bad. Chicago? Yeah. Who's there? Well, they got- Who's there? Well, they got Rin make that next step, in large part because this year was so bad. Chicago? Yeah. Who's there? Well, they got-

Who's there? Well, they got Rinzel that came up, and remember Frank was talking about him glowing. All these guys, these first round, I'm not saying they're gonna make the playoffs, but they could go from being the 30th place team to the 22nd place team. And if you're the coach that gets to take them to that step,

where they're still gonna miss the playoffs, but there's some improvement moving forward, you're also kind of looked at as, oh, you're going to be part of this next wave. Like you're going to be part of the evolution of the team. I'd also want to know what the plan is. Like, what are you guys going to do? You know, the same thing that I would want to go

through the process with the GMs. I wonder if there's going to be a coaching opening on the Island because the New York Islanders are moving on from Lou Lamorello. And we'd wondered about this for a while now with the Islanders, but it's always been tough to get a read on what the Islanders are doing because of Lou Lamorello.

He is not going to be back leading that team. And I wonder if Patrick Waugh is safe. Would a GM go in there, a new GM and be like, all right, you're our guy? Who knows? But I mostly wonder how aggressively the new general manager of the Islanders is going to dismantle what Lou built. You've got to imagine there will be significant changes, otherwise Lou would still be charting the course. Which brings us to Barzal. Bring him home, baby. His name was trending across Canada on social media yesterday

and it still was this morning because there are a bunch of fanbases including the Canucks fanbase but also the Montreal fanbase that is looking at Barzell and going, hmm, I wonder if he'll move because the talk out of the island is that maybe he needs a change of scenery. I look at this and I think that if the Canucks can move on a guy like Barzell They should be all over it. I think he is a Really great by-law candidate because things have gotten so stale in New York I don't know if you saw those clips last year of him sitting on the bench in a Connor Bedard-esque way

Kind of lamenting the lack of energy and enthusiasm around that group. It's because that group was designed to win about four years ago. Yeah. Yeah. Right. How many times can you trot out Casey Zekes and John Gabriel Pagio and Kyle Palmer and Anders Lee and all the same guys over and over and over again, knowing that your best years are behind you because all those guys are in their early to mid thirties now. Barzell is the youngest guy in that forward group

and he's 27. I just wonder if the change of scenery combined with the homecoming angle. Now I have no intel as to whether or not Barzell would be energized or terrified of a trade back home. You gotta wonder about his health too, right? He didn't play 30 games this season. That is a concern.

That's also a reason I think why you could maybe get him at a price that would be more appealing because there are, there's flags. I don't know if they're gigantic red flags or tiny little ones, but there's still issues around the player. And if you're talking about maybe doing a swap and you want to entertain the idea of, you know, is Pederson a guy that could go the other way? I mean, it has to be said, there's a connection there in New York for him, right?

Yeah, I wonder if Horvat would go to bat for him. That'd be interesting. You know like I wonder if the islanders went to we're doing a lot of speculation here. There's a lot of speculation, but we're not complaining about Peterson. We're actively trying to trade. But look yesterday we were talking about You know is Peterson even tradable? Like who would pick them up? Right? You usually need someone to go to bat for you, right? There's got to either be a general manager that's like, I believe in this guy. Sure.

I know things are down, you know, someone in Washington believed in Dubois and then they brought him on and there was a belief there and it's worked out pretty well for the caps. You know, Carolina, I don't know where they are on Pedersen, but obviously they've had some interest, um, fairly recently. You know, if, if it were to come to the Canucks

picking up the phone and talking to whoever the new general manager is with the Islanders, whenever that name may be announced, you know, and let's say they, let's say they discuss this trade and I don't think it's ridiculous to say they'd at least discuss it. Um, would Horvat go to bat for Pedersen? And I think there's a good chance he would.

Yeah. Again, if you want to talk about bounce back and buy low candidates, if you can spin a nice enough narrative and you'd have to be pretty grandiose at talk about bounce back and buy low candidates, if you can spin a nice enough narrative, and you'd have to be pretty grandiose at this point around Pedersen, it could be a thing. I think the bigger idea here is that if you start looking around the National Hockey League

going into this off season, traditionally you kind of do, does this team tick the boxes of one willing to make a big move? And what you need is traditionally a team that misses the playoffs or gets bounced in the first round. Those teams often have some disappointment as well.

Is it a team that's undergoing a managerial change? Is it a team that is looking to move on from some of its core players because they've had some futility in years? And if you do the, you know, tick the boxes here, two keep coming up and it's Detroit and now it's the New York Islanders. And both those teams have guys in Barzell and in Dylan Larkin who have been around for a while,

who in recent years haven't had a ton of success, especially in the post season. And guys that are- In the post season, they haven't been to the post season. Barzell's gotten there more recently than Larkin, obviously. But, and then you start looking at it and you're saying, is there a match there? Is there a fit there?

Oftentimes in the National Hockey League, timing is everything. It's when do you want to do business and when are other general managers and teams open to doing business in that same window, right? The trades are convenient sometimes. Okay, any questions or comments you got, text them into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. I do want to talk a little bit about what happened last night, especially in Toronto. Was that the chance that the Sens had to make a series of this or do you still give them a chance with the series heading back to Ottawa?

Man, Batherson. Like, I... Batherson. Look, that was a nice goal by my Max Domi. Nice move, nice shot, but... Batherson. Yeah, yeah, Batherson. Oh, what kind of giveaway was that? That was Travis Green on the bench yesterday.

Oh, what a flyby. It wasn't good. So he made two pretty big mistakes on that. And it's funny because those were the type of mistakes that the Leafs would make in overtime. You know, for years, and now the Leafs are like the grizzled playoff vets, and the Sens are the ones that are making those types of mistakes and seeing them come back to bite them. Um, and overall the Sens at five on five have

not played badly in this series. And a lot of people noted, uh, coming into the series that Toronto was like on a PDO bender where they weren't getting many shots and they're giving up a lot of shots and that's kind of continued, but they've been winning. They've been winning and one of the difference has been goaltending in that Allmark has not come

up with enough saves considering. He's been outplayed by Stolarz. His pedigree and Stolarz has played pretty well. And now the Sens are in a hole, headed back to Ottawa where you'd hope they'd get a lift from the home fans, but you also know that there's probably gonna be quite a few Leafs fans there. Yeah, I'm hesitant to say that they're done,

mostly based on the old adage of, you're never dead until you lose a game at home in the playoffs, but that game last night really felt like the opportunity for them to steal one in Toronto it would have been Probably somewhat just if they had been able to do it because I thought I thought they played reasonably well over the two games but Over the two games the one common theme for Ottawa a young team that doesn't have a lot of playoff Experiences kind of like what you were alluding to they're the ones making the mistakes

They took way too many penalties in game one that The sequence by Batherson in game two in overtime, it's just, it can't happen. You need to mean, the turnover in the offensive zone is one thing. Like it's a lazy pass to the middle of the ice. But kind of giving it the fly by on the back. The fly by was even worse. You can't do it.

The fly by was even worse. You can't, you know what talk it always says, right? You can make one mistake, but don't pile them up. And that's a young player that, you know, maybe didn't understand the importance and the impact of the situation and the scenario that you can't even give up half chances in that instance. You just can't.

He didn't, I mean, he made the cardinal defense of sin in that he didn't get his stick on a puck and he didn't put a body on the player. Not. And he didn't put a body on the player. Yeah. Not even close. Like he didn't even chip the player. Yeah. He just let Domi go by and Domi, I guess credit to him, he ripped the shot past

Allmark, but at the same time, it's like, man, like how does that happen in overtime? So the other scores from last night, in case you're wondering real quick, we'll rip through them. The Carolina Hurricanes continue to take business, take care of business in their series against the New Jersey Devils. They won 3-1 in game two of their first round series. That thing is looking more and more like a sweep

as we go along. The Battle of Florida got underway last night. Really disappointing. If you're a Panthers fan, you love it because the Panthers won 6-2 over the Lightning, but none of the bad blood that we would expect from the Battle of Florida, these teams having met in the playoffs so many times in years past. Yes, Matthew Kichuck made his return to the lineup after not playing since the

foreign nations face off pair goals on the power play for Kichuck in that one. And then in what was probably the most surprising result of the night, the Minnesota Wild in game two, in Vegas, win five-two, despite not getting a lot of shots on net, they made good on the ones that they did. Another big game from Matt Boldy, a goal and an assist. Great night from Philip Gustafson,

30 saves for the Wild goalie. So they now even up that series at one-one. They steal the game they needed to steal in Vegas and they go back to Minnesota. Okay, we're up against it for time. We got to go to break. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro. From warehouses to washrooms and everywhere in between, Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean, and disinfected. For a free quote, visit JanPro.ca. David Amber is going to join us next. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Rachel and Satya Arshah,

your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 PM weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. He will talk some hockey maybe. I'm on the hotline baby. I'm right in the shrooms talking. I remember what I was doing at 23, pooping in my pants. There's a massive butt coming here guys. No one's fighting Rick talking.

No one wants to fight Rick talking. I'm on the hotline baby. It is, it's David. It is, it's David. Amber, it is, it's David. He's on the hotline. 6.30 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody.

Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80%, 80% with no more interest, no more interest. Visit them online at Sands-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. David Amber is gonna join us in just a moment here.

Hour one of this program is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. David Amber joins us now on the Haliford and Brough show

on Sportsnet 650. Morning David, how are you? Good, how are you guys doing? We're good, so I was watching a bunch of the post-game reactions to Max Domi's OT winner, three-two win for the Leafs to take a two-nothing lead in the Battle of Ontario yesterday. And I saw pundits throwing around words

to describe the Ottawa Senators like crushing and soul sucking, that's a hyphenated word there. And you know, I kinda get it because they are gonna need to win one game in Toronto, it was a good opportunity last night. I do wanna start with Ottawa because the new team to the playoffs and everything, how do you think they will react from that loss yesterday

in which they battled back to get it to overtime, but eventually lost it in heartbreaking fashion in overtime? Well if you listen to what they're saying and if you believe it they're basically saying there's a lot of positives to pull from it. First of all five on five they've been pretty good in the first two games the penalty killers killed them and secondly I mean they overcame a two-goal deficit on the road against a good defensive team in Toronto. They're saying they're going to draw the positives, they're going to be on home ice, it's going to be a different atmosphere and last change and all the other good things that come with home ice advantage and they're going to take full advantage of that. They're saying

this emotionally isn't going to crush them, but you have to think there's part of them that goes, man, we kind of let one slip away, kind of like the Oilers, you roar back from a, for one deficit and you tied at five and you give up a fluky goal in the last minute. You can say all you want, but at the end of the day, you go, man, we really kind of, we had, it was right there for us. Now Ottawa had the momentum and everything else. So, you know, I do think Ottawa is a better team at home like most teams are. And I think they do feel some comfort that they, you know, kind of ease their way into this series

because there were so many guys making their playoff debut and that's sort of behind them now. They know what playoff hockey looks like and they're going to be able to build off of that. So I wouldn't say it's soul crushing necessarily but they've certainly put themselves in a very difficult spot. I mean, now they have to win four out of the next

five games or the season's over. So they recognize what's in front of them and it won't be easy, but I think they, at least they're saying they're ready for the task at hand. Now I am attempting to jinx the Toronto Maple Leafs by saying this, but they do look like the more experienced playoff team because they are the more experienced playoff team, the much more

experienced playoff team because they are the more experienced playoff team, the much more experienced playoff team. The mistakes, plural, by Batherson in overtime, first of all, the giveaway, and then the fly-by defensively on Max Domey, those are the kind of mistakes the Leafs used to make. Yeah, 100%. You're spot on there. And that's exactly it. And I think the Leafs are saying, you know, we've learned from our prior problems in the postseason, I guess, sort of the cynic would say, well, why did it take so long? It was like the ninth run or whatever. But, you know, they certainly are a more mature group. And really the biggest difference between this Toronto team and I think in previous iterations is if you look at their blue line guys, their running guys out there that used to be they didn't trust their third pair whether it was Liligrin and Edmondson or whomever it was

they always would have sort of this incredible difference between the amount of time the Morgan Riles were playing and their third pairing was playing when it came playoff time. If you look at the first two games in game one every defender for the Leafs played at least 17 minutes in game two with the overtime every defender played at least 18 minutes and that's been a big recipe for success for Stanley Cup caliber teams. You know look at two years ago Vegas throughout the whole playoffs they played their sixth defenseman almost equally throughout the whole entire playoff run. And that's something that maybe in games one and two of the playoffs doesn't matter so much,

but in games 13, 14, 15 and down the stretch, it does matter not having that attrition and that weariness. So I think the Leafs are a more balanced team. They certainly have better goal-tenning. Stolarz has been much better than All-Mark so far in this series. And their blue line, one to six, has been very good. Their number six defenseman, Simon Benoit,

was the one who set up the game winner last night from Domi. So, you know, in previous iterations of the Salish team, you wouldn't have the third pairing or a number six defenseman out there in a high leverage situation in overtime like this. So, you know, it is a different feel to the team and they certainly do have some experience, you know,

in these situations in the past and maybe trying to exercise some of those demons in the series right now. Hey, David, we've talked a fair bit about Mitch Marner and his pending unrestricted free agency. Maybe we should be talking more about John Tavares and his pending unrestricted free agency because the guy had 38 goals. What is he 34 years old? He had 38 goals this season.

I know sometimes defensively, um, you know, he's not perfect, but man, he's piling up goals this season. He's made the critics eat their words. Everyone said when that seven year, $77 million deal was signed, knowing that He's made the critics eat their words. Everyone said when that seven year, 77 million dollar deal was signed, knowing that he's not the most fleet of foot, oh my God, that contract's gonna look horrible

come the last year. I mean, how many times you guys, I'm sure talk about that on your show quite a bit, whether it's Pedersen or whatever, like, hey, we're getting them through his prime, but how is it gonna look at the end of the contract? JT Miller, et cetera. He's made everyone eat the words. He had a fantastic year by all accounts.

And remember how professional he had to be, guys. I mean, this was a tough situation. We talked about all the drama in Vancouver this year. There could have been some drama. I mean, the Leafs basically went to John Tavares and asked him to give the C up to Austin Matthews. He could have made a big stink and pouted and demanded a trade or whatever. He didn't do any of those things. He went up in front of the media very graciously, very selflessly and handed over the C and said, you know, I take it very seriously. This was an honor that was bestowed on me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but it's time to move on and Austin has earned that right. And like he said all the right things. He never pouted and he took a ton of

criticism in his course of time here. Some of it justified and a lot of it not justified. And he's been nothing but the consummate pro. And he's going to have a lot of options, gentlemen, just like Stephen Stamkos had a lot of options. And I know that obviously has not worked out for Nashville, but John Tavares is in fantastic shape. He's usually one of the last guys off the ice at the end of a practice. He works on his trade meticulously in the off season. He's incredibly devoted to improving aspects of his game, whether it's face-offs or whatever else.

And he wants to stay here in Toronto. I sat down and did an interview with him that ran in our pregame last night, and he made it unequivocally clear. He wants to stay in Toronto. Whether that you know we can sit here and debate what the numbers going to be I have no idea but you know he'll probably if he stays in Toronto be leaving money on the table because certainly there'd be a lot of teams lined up.

What have you thought about? Oh sorry. No his services sorry sorry go on. I cut you off there I should apologize. What Um, what have you thought of the, the goaltending matchup? Uh, I know Al Mark wasn't awful yesterday, but, um, he has lost the first two games. I know Travis Green went to bat to him in a big,

went to bat for him in a big way after, after the first game. Um, but maybe the story shouldn't be so much about Al Mark. It should be about the guy that is getting it done and that's Stolarz for Toronto. When was the last time the Leafs had so much confidence in their starting goalie?

It's been a long time. I mean, it's been a really long time and people have talked about that in this market for quite a while now, whether it's Eddie Balfour or Curtis Joseph or Felix Potfan. I mean, it's been a long, long time since they have felt they have the edge in gold tenny matchups. If you go through the last seven, eight, nine years, you look down the ice and it's Braden

Holtby and it's, who am I forgetting, on Boston Toucar to Carrasque and, uh, you know, in Vasilevsky, they, you know, Kerry Price, when they lost the mantra, they've always been like, oh man, the other teams got the better goal-turning. I hope we can survive. That's not the case, certainly not in this series. And if they keep moving forward, it is going to be Bobrovsky or Vasilevsky, et cetera, but right now they feel they have the edge and which is pretty remarkable because it is another Vezna winner they're going up against.

But Almark's playoff career has not been as good as his regular season career. And you're not even to use Almark as the benchmark. Just bottom line is Anthony Stolar's I think he has a 940 or 935 save percentage in the series. That tells part of the story but it's when he's making the saves. Think back to game one. I don't know if you watched game one. It was two one Leafs on top. Brady Kachak break away from center, Stolars makes the saves.

That's those are the moments, right? You could go from a two one game, suddenly it's a two two game, Ottawa with all the momentum. Instead he makes the save, two minutes later the Leafs score and it's three to one and they go on to a six two win. It's not just the saves, it's when he's making them and he's looked great so far. But it's Anthony Stolarz. Like I know that he's been kind of like a secret among the goalie community. Like this guy is really good.

He's 31 years old. He's never been, the most games he's started in a season is this season, 33 for Toronto. He's been with Philly, he's been with Edmonton, he's been with Anaheim, he's been with Florida. Never close to in a role like this in terms of its importance and its spotlight on him. Um, where did this come from?

Well, I guess two things. One is sometimes that happens, the maturation of a goalie is a little bit later. I'm not saying he's Dominik Hasek, but if y'all remember, Dominik Hasek started out with Chicago and a bunch of teams and then ended up in Buffalo becoming the sixth time Vezina winner. And it wasn't sort of a natural walk into the league at 18 and take over.

And that happens sometimes with goaltenders. The second thing I guess is last year, he sat there behind Sergei Bobrovsky and he didn't play in the playoffs, but he was part of that team, part of that culture and part of that confidence and he kind of, you know, Brad Tree Living was very, you know, he was very thoughtful in his approach to who he's going to bring into the team this year and he made a point of bringing in Stephen Lorenz, OEL, who I don't need to tell your audience about, who know all about him, and Stolarz. And he specifically picked three guys who just ran to a championship with Florida.

And even if they weren't the main cogs with the Florida Panthers, and they weren't, they certainly were there and felt that feeling. Stolarz came in here, you know, chest puffed out. He came in here with a bit of confidence, maybe not like a guy you would think who's 31 who hasn't been a number one goalie at all. The real problem he's had is staying healthy. And again, he got hurt this year. He's had knee surgeries a couple of times. So there was actually a lot of, you know, Leaf fans holding their breath when Ridley Gregg barreled into him in game one. It's like, oh shoot, you know, it's going to be a problem. He thankfully didn't get hurt there and he's been great. And he's just come in with a little bit of that

swagger, which the Leafs have sorely needed because they've just had that droopy look come playoff time, even though they have these superstar players. And he sort of, he along with those other two guys from Florida really came in and maybe changed a little bit of the attitude with this team. Well, speaking of the Panthers, what did you think of their destruction of the lightning last night? I actually bit of the attitude with this team. Well, speaking of the Panthers, what did you think of their destruction

of the Lightning last night? I actually didn't get to watch this game. What was the story here? Was Vasilevsky off or were the Lightning not defending very well in front of him because it was six goals on not many, not many shots. Matthew Kachak, baby. Matthew Kachak. Yeah.

You know, it's a bit shocking. I didn't watch the game either. I was actually down at the Leaf game last night, but I watched the highlights and I read through the, you know, sort of read through the post game transcripts and everything else. You know, essentially it seems like Florida, first of all, if you watch the highlights,

like those were some, I don't blame Vasilievsky for a lot of them. Those were some high level goals. Sam Bennett out of midair and Sam Reinhardt a beautiful net side tip and you know these were elite players scoring goals on him. Having said that, yeah I was shocked. I picked Tampa to win this series gentlemen and I'm going to stand by that because I assume you know one game is one game but you know one thing about Florida is they do know how to sort of win these games. I mean, we've seen that over the last two years. So I expect a massive bounce back from Vasilevsky, who's going to be a Vezna finalist right behind

Hellevac. And I expect, you know, Tampa to come out with a lot more urgency. You know, Kucherov has to be the guy he was in the regular season. They kind of neutralized him last night and made him a complete non-factor. You know, he might have to, he's got to be there. He's got to be the best player in this, in this, in this series or at least right there with Barkov and, and some of the other stars. So there'll be a bounce back I would think from Tampa, but I was like you, man. I was pretty shocked when I woke up and I saw, wow, six to Florida. That is a serious beatdown. We're speaking to David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada Sportsnet NHL host here

on the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. Let's turn our attention to some of the games tonight, David, including Edmonton, LA. If game one was any indication, and I hope it does follow the script in some degree, because that was amazing. Game two is highly anticipated. Now, there's a lot of storylines going into this one

for Edmonton. Two part question. One, and we'll just start with this one. Do you anticipate that Evander Kane is gonna return to the lineup tonight for the Edmonton Oilers, which would be his first game since last year's Stanley Cup final?

Wow, that would be really big. It's funny, this whole playoffs, we just thought, could Chuck come back after missing 25 games. Gabriel Landis called potentially could play his first game in three years. And if a Vander Kane suits up, that would really, you know, that that could be, you know, and who knows what you're going to get from him, but at least he has that physical presence.

LA is a team that just they box you out, they battle for every inch of ice, they're big, they're physical and quite frankly the Oilers as a collective unit up front are not that big. They gave up a lot of size in McLeod and Holloway and Fogel and Kane and obviously that is for Trent Frederick. Imagine both those guys in there, that could add a whole different physical element. So I'm excited, I don't know. I don't know how to answer the Evander Kane.

I thought he was gonna be ready for game one and that wasn't the case, so I was a little surprised. But seemingly he could be available this series and as early as tonight. And is the second part of the question either gonna start in that? Is that where you're going? Well, I was gonna say, Evander Kane is a difference-maker when healthy and

they've caught me Chris Knobloch was calling him an X-Factor but I wonder if it's enough of an X-Factor to overcome the two issues that plagued them throughout the regular season and once again reared their ugly head in game one and it was ineffective play from Stuart Skinner in that and Evan Bouchard on the blue line but yeah Stuart Skinner in that for sure I wonder, I kept saying I would have started Pickard game one and I know maybe I was in the minority. Not that that's so anti-Skinner, but sometimes it's a bit of a change up, you know?

And you saw in that Vancouver series, Pickard came in and provided a little bit of a boost to Edmonton, and if I remember correctly, Skinner won game seven, did he not in that series? Yep. Yeah. So, I mean, it just sort of changed the momentum a little bit. And I thought maybe they'd start with Pickard and you have Skinner

sort of waiting there. And if Pickard, you know, falters, you have Skinner and you have your guy. But I had a lot of people say to me, you can't do that. If, if Skinner is your number one guy, you can't kind of give them that lack of confidence. Uh, but now you're in a situation where like, shoot, you know, he gave up six goals. It wasn't all his fault. I hated the sixth goal though, guys. And I wasn't, I'm not a goaltender and I'm not going to pretend to be an analyst and I need to talk to Kelly Rudy about this. But you know, that sixth goal, Deno's goal, I know he flubbed the shot, it went into the middle of the net.

So where was Skinner's what I want to know and I know it was a tricky shot to play but I still don't understand why he gave up his net on that last goal which was the backbreaker in the game win over the minute to go. So I'm interested to see what happens. I think you might go back to Skinner tonight. That would be my feel. And then certainly if things come unglued again tonight, then I imagine it's a no brainer. You go to Pickard for game three back at home. I know Montreal is going to be crazy in game three when the series returns there, but man, it will be even crazier if Montreal can find a way to steal a game in Washington and go back with the series tied 1-1.

Do you think they will take some confidence from the way they played in the third period in order to battle back against a Washington Capitals team that looked bigger and stronger than them at the start of the game? Because when I was watching the first few periods, I was like, oh, I think Washington might be a little too much for this Montreal team. Yeah, they got off to a horrible start, Montreal, they did in the first, but then they found their game and they actually were really pleased

with how they played the second, basically battled Washington chance for chance and it seemed okay. And the third, they really were dominant and they had Washington on their heels as they scored the two goals to tie it up. You know, Martin, Saint Louis, Nick Suzuki, a lot of the guys post game made comments that I thought were really interesting when they were basically saying, this is what we've done quite a bit this year. We have the confidence when we're

facing a deficit, you know, 10 third period comebacks is the most of any team in the NHL this year. Having said that, what they need to find is the recipe to come out of the gates strong enough to not have to be in a deficit situation. You know, Montreal did well for themselves. When it was 2-0 Washington, you know, I'll be honest with you, I was like, okay, this could get ugly. Like this could be a 4 or 5-0 game. And Montembo made some saves and the team kind of found its footing and moved forward

nicely. I expect they're going to come out with a bit more urgency tonight. I do want to see what they do with their lineup. You know, Linus struggled at times, Demidov obviously struggled, I thought, in game one and you know, how much are you going to heap on a guy who literally was in Russia 10 days ago, right? Like, you know, you can kind of it's a great storyline, but how are you going to use them? I wonder if you're Mark Tan and Sam Lowe and just making sure that he's in positions to succeed and not a liability to you knowing that the hockey is at just such a different level right now.

So I'm actually really excited for this game. Montreal had that sort of backs up against the wall attitude all year, right? So every time it seems like, oh God, this is it, they're done. They've found a way to sort of resurrect their season. So I'm certainly not in any position to count them out of tonight's game or in this series at all, but it's gonna be a big one. Cause again, just like all these teams,

86% of teams in Stanley Cup Playoff Game 7 history that are up to nothing win the series, 86%. So if you're Montreal, if you're Edmonton, just like what Ottawa's facing right now, you just don't want to have to have that kind of deficit. These aren't must win games, as you guys know, but they really, you really, really put yourself in a tough situation if you go down to nothing in a series.

So before we let you go, the other game tonight, aside from the two Canadian teams, the Habs are in Washington to take on the Caps and the Oilers are in LA to take on the Kings, stars Avalanche. And this series is now shifted back to Colorado. This has been such an awesome series, by the way. If they unveil Gabriel Landiscock tonight, how loud is the pop gonna be in Colorado for that?

And I love the bait and switch they did with us, right? Like I was in studio with the Jets game and we see Landiscock taking the pre-ggame skate and I'm like, Oh, they're going to, you know, they're basically announcing he's back after three years, unbelievable cartilage replacement surgery. And then they pull them out and I'm like, Oh God, really?

And I mean, it's going to pop for sure. And tonight might be the night, you know, tonight, tonight I am most anticipate will be the night, right? You're coming off a loss. He obviously is ready to go. He's been given the green light. You will energize that building through the roof.

Um, and I just can't wait to see how we can perform. Um, yeah, I just have nothing but, but accolades for a guy who would have been so easy just to say, well, I've had a good run, I've won a cup, I've done everything I can, my body can't take what it's gonna have to take to even attempt to come back. I have nothing but praise for Gabriel Landiscauagan. If you've ever dealt with him, he's one of the, he's a real gentleman in the game. Super smart, very engaging, personable, plays hard, so competitive. I think that could be a really, really,

really cool storyline. And as you guys said, I think this has been my favorite series thus far. It really has. It's the twists and the turns and it feels a little bit like a conference final, much more than a first round matchup. And I can't wait to see what happens tonight. It's a triple header tonight. You got the Canadians in the capitals at four o'clock our time stars abs at six 30 and then oilers Kings at seven o'clock. David enjoy it. It should be a great night of hockey. Thank you very much for doing this.

And we will talk again next week. Yeah, looking forward enjoy it. It should be a great night of hockey. Thank you very much for doing this, and we will talk again next week. Yeah, looking forward to it. I'm in studio tonight, and hopefully all you hockey fans out west will be able to tune in, so enjoy the games. Sounds good, buddy. Thank you. That's David Amber, Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Haliford and Breff show

on Sportsnet 650. Boy, do I hate it when someone brings up the two-nothing series lead, and... Almost every single team that gets a two nothing series lead. Goes out and wins. 86% of the time. Yeah. I mean, there is a reason for that. Most of the time the two nothing series lead is by the home team that's earned the higher seed and they're usually the better team and it puts you in a big

hole. I don't actually buy that whole, you're not in trouble until you lose at home thing. Because I think home ice advantage, we've seen in the playoffs over the last little while, like it doesn't seem to mean as much, the home ice advantage. We've seen so many road teams go in and get wins. I think you just, you nailed it, right?

Like it's like, it's so daunting. The thought of winning four of five. Like does anyone think St. Louis is going to win four or five against Winnipeg? Probably only the St. Louis Blues. You know, I think maybe you might give Ottawa that fighting chance of winning four or five against the Leafs just because it's the Leafs.

So for example, you know, I was thinking last night, I was like, oh man, if the Sins can just find a way to win this game, Toronto's going to start panicking. Yeah. Right? Yeah. You just have to put a little bit of panic in

the other team and you have to try and gain some momentum, which is exactly what happened in that Bruins-Connock series, right? The Bruins got a ton of momentum just in game three alone, the way they blew out the Canucks and they rode it, right? So you've got to find a way to turn it around, but I don't know, like a two nothing lead.

The way you turn it around. Like I know the Leafs have their, I know they have their demons in the playoffs, but I don't know. I'm not really seeing many turnarounds. The way you turn, I think, and it's almost impossible to do, but teams don't, the teams that are successful in coming back from two nothing down,

don't look at it from the daunting perspective of we have to beat this team for the next five games. What they do is they say, hey, if we win our next two games at home, where theoretically we should be the favorite, then what we do is turn this into a best of three series. Because then what happens is, you allow yourself some wiggle room.

In a best of three, you can lose one. It becomes that one loss that you had, where you gotta beat a team for the next five. Suddenly it's like, well, now we've just made it a best of three and we've got some wiggle room again. So that's the mentality. The problem, of course, is you have to,

I mean, because what happens is game three becomes a must win, right? When you go down O.J., that's where the sort of the rubber hits the road and you have to perform and you have to produce and you have to do it after not having any success in the previous two. The thing that scares me, sorry, just to finish it,

the thing that scares me about Ottawa is that they're making all the different mistakes that a sort of playoff debutante would make. Lack of discipline. Over enthusiasm in the first game, which resulted in a lack of discipline. Not paying attention to the details in the clutch, especially in overtime with Bathurst in yesterday.

Those are tough things to change mid-series because you're learning as you go along. If you can't figure those things out right away, you end up losing in four or five games in the playoffs. Anyway, we're up against it for time. We've got to go to break. Okay. Do we have an open segment on the other side Frank? Okay, but we've got an open segment at 730 so be sure to text in any of your questions or comments into the Dunbar lumber text line at six fifty 650 Metro Vancouver's trust your choice for contractors and renter warriors for over 50 years

Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. We're going to talk to Frank next, so we'll talk to him about Rick Tauket and whether he's heard anything on that front. Maybe we'll go through some of the many coaching vacancies in the NHL and we'll of course talk to him about the Islanders' decision to move on from Lou Lamorello and what that could mean for other teams around the NHL. Are the Islanders going to be looking to trade some pieces and maybe some significant pieces this offseason?

You're listening to the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650.