Halford & Brough in the Morning - Gustav Forsling Is Pretty Good (Thank You Jim)

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk the Florida Panther's former Canucks who have become a factor in their series (6:00), they debate which Jim Benning gaffe they could do over if they had the chance (20:00), plus the boys look ahead to the NHL & NBA finals and discuss how late they are going this year, as well as if Kyrie will be able to keep these NBA finals drama-free. (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- McCatsey other way. Lundell pulls one in, and he scores! Anton Lundell has given Florida their first lead of Game 5. You may have noticed that the finals will start in a place where you used to play, in Boston. Looking forward to that? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Boston's in the way in between our goals, so that's it. I'm very, very fortunate that I feel like I get good support most places that we go to play,

but it's just for whatever reason, it's just a little bit extra here. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Friday. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford, it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie is on vacation, so good morning to Basketball Ben on the wheels of steel. Good morning. Halford & Brough in the morning is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Acura dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today by visiting your nearest Dilawri Acura dealer. Today we are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Well, they pay the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider,

powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec. That's what you're waiting for. It's the last day of May. This is it. When we come back on Monday, it'll be June, which means we're that much closer to vacation.

No, to what's going on in June. Of course, there's so many great things going on in June, the start of the NBA finals, which we now know about, the start of the Stanley Cup finals. Now, I say all this because while June will be an exciting month, the first week, it might not be great.

We are not going to have a lot of sports on early next week. Maybe the Canucks will make a big trade? Hopefully. Probably not. That doesn't typically happen during the Stanley Cup Final or before the Stanley Cup Final. They usually tell you don't do those sorts of things.

Pedersen for Kachuk is what you're saying? So game one of the... Yeah, maybe. For Kachuk. Sorry, Matthew. One for one. You can't play tonight. Game one of the Stanley Cup final is going to be Saturday, June 8th.

Game one of the NBA finals is going to be Thursday, June 6th. So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and probably Thursday. Could be a little slow. Unless, of course, some of these Eastern and Western Conference finals in the NHL get dragged out a little bit longer. I'm going to start by asking you, the listeners, for a little bit of help. A little bit of help. Give us some stuff to work with here. Ask Us Anything Friday.

We've got a lot of time that we can, you know, sort of devote to Ask Us Anything Friday. Also, the reason I mention this is because we're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway for the best. Ask us anything. If you want to do some Canucks specific stuff, if you want to go further afield and go into the world of sports, if you want to go even further afield and just do an, ask us anything about anything Dunbar lumber text line,

six 50, six 50 hashtag at AUA, put a pizza emoji into the text. I haven't asked us anything. Early one. For everyone. Early one. And it's going to be part of what happened.

What's going to be more painful if it happens? Watching Oliver Ekman Larson hoist the cup for the Florida Panthers if the Panthers win the cup? Or watching Gustav Forsling hoist the Cup for the Florida Panthers. Friend, that is a very good ask us anything. Yeah, it's a pretty good one. Now, Florida might not make it to the Stanley Cup, although they sure look like they're going to, especially after last night.

By the way, good call. I think you might have been right that Game 4 might have been the decisive game in that Eastern Conference Final. Yeah, we'll see. I just think the Rangers are, I mean, they played well last night. Let's just get into what happened. Sure. So really quick. Yes.

On the program today, 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza is going to join us. 7.05, Luke Gazdik. 7.30, Mike Kelly. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall. As mentioned, we're giving away a $100 gift card for AJ's Best Ask Us Anything. And it is Ask Us Anything Friday. Get your Ask Us Anythings in. Dunbar Lumber Tech's line is 650-650.

That's what's happening on the program today. Ben, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? This is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance.

Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Young Sam Bennett, who's not so young anymore, had a goal and an assist, including what proved to be the eventual game-winning goal. The Florida Panthers moved within a single victory of going to their second consecutive Stanley Cup final. They beat the Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night

in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference final. I want to play the Bennett game-winning goal because it was into an empty net, and it was so deflating for Madison Square Garden. It got so quiet. You could actually hear the referee's whistle in the aftermath. Here's what it sounded like. Bennett with the eventual game winner.

Zibanejad hustling after it. Lures the ring in his hair and it got it to center. Knocked away by Trochek. Zibanejad gets hit by Bennett. Bennett comes up with a puck. He's got the empty net. Goes! I didn't get the whistle.

That's too bad. Anton Lundell. That actually sounded like there was a bit of a cheer at the end of there. Yeah, it got so quiet. And then after scoring, Bennett decided to rub salt into the wounds by bouncing Chris Kreider into the end boards. And then the referee started furiously blowing his whistle because he thought a scrum was about to ensue.

Anyway, as mentioned in the intro, Anton Landell scored as well. And your guy, the subject of our Ask Us Anything, Gustav Forslund, got the scoring started for Florida. He was the second star of the game, too. So the Florida Panthers are now one win away from the final. AJ's going to join us at 7 o'clock for his beloved Rangers talk. We might be doing an obituary. Here's the thing.

The takeaway that I saw numerous, numerous pundits lead with yesterday was that in Game 5, the Rangers might have given it their best shot. They had a way better effort than Games 3 and four in Florida where they were roundly outshot and outchanced. They held the lead. Chris Kreider finally got his game going. They played maybe some of their best hockey of the series, some were saying. But at the end of the day, it kind of looked like this.

The best team in the NHL in the regular season gave it their best shot and it still wasn't good enough. And that's going to be a real problem for a team now that has no more margin for error as they are down 3-2 to the Florida Panthers and on the verge of elimination. Yeah, and to discuss this question, who would be

more frustrating to watch hoist the cup if it happens for the Panthers? Forsling or Oliver Ekman-Larsen? It's such a great question because both have such high levels of frustration. Yeah. I think it would be, for me, it would be Forsling. Yeah, it's got to be Forsling for me. But you're paying Ekman-Larsen to do this.

Yeah, I know. That's the tough thing. Money is going to this gentleman. Ekman-Larsen is still a factor for the Canucks and will be for a number of years with his buyout cap hit, which was significant. And I think it was the right move by this management group, but it was the wrong move by the previous management group to acquire him in the first place, even though we've come to appreciate Connor Garland, and he was part of that trade. Yeah, Forsling, though, has turned into, like, let's be honest about Ekman Larson.

He's a third pair guy for them. I know he racked up a bunch of hits last night, but he only played 16 minutes a night. He's a third pair guy. He did play well earlier in the season, in the regular season for the Panthers, and he played a lot of minutes when they were dealing with some injuries to some of their key defensemen. But Forsling kind of, he just, I think, represented the impatience

that that management group had in trading away some of their younger players and futures. And the problem is it amounted to nothing. Like if you buy, the Canucks bought out Oliver Ackman-Larsen and it amounted to something, right? Sure. It helped. It helped. It helped provide us this season.

Him trading for, you know, Jim Benning trading Forsling for, oh God, it was Adam Klendenning didn't amount to anything. And people will fire back and say, well, Chicago traded him too. So it's not like the Canucks were the only team that gave up on this guy. Yeah, but they gave up on him real quick.

And he was their draft pick. And I think that does make a difference. The Blackhawks were going through struggles and maybe it wasn't a surprise that Forsling didn't pan out with them. Forsling goes to Florida. He didn't actually go from Chicago to Florida. Do you go to Carolina or something?

Carolina. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Carolina waived him. So it doesn't— No, I know that. I know that. Regardless of the path that Forsling took, I think you can still be frustrated that the Canucks had drafted a guy that ended up being a very good defenseman in the NHL.

100%. He's 27 years old. Right? It's not like he's... And yes, he's gone through some tribulations and trials in his NHL career. So there's obviously a cautionary tale at play about not giving up on, uh, prospects too soon. As a matter of fact, Florida has a couple of these sort of reclamation projects. Like Sam Bennett's another one too. Yeah.

Languishing in, uh, Calgary and then found his role in his spot in Florida. Wasn't it weird that Bennett never really panned out in Calgary? You watched him play and it was like, he had, he had what you wanted. And I know we all remember him as the kid that couldn't do pull-ups, but this guy's tough as nails, and he's a big boy, and he plays a rough-and-tumble style. Why didn't it work in Calgary? It's not like they never gave him an opportunity there.

Two words. Daryl Sutter. Is that generally accepted as the reason okay so he like I would think that Sam Bennett would be a Daryl Sutter type of guy he had a trade request under Jeff Ward before Jeff before Daryl Sutter took over for Jeff Ward because he wasn't happy with his role and how he was being deployed playing under Jeff Ward and then he initially spoke glowingly about playing under Sutter but fell into the same sort of trappings and issues that he had under Jeff Ward. They wanted more from him.

You know what it is, to be dead honest? They wanted more from him during the regular season. Sam Bennett's a playoff guy. Sam Bennett is one of those guys whose game is better suited to the postseason than it is to the regular season. But he's had good regular seasons in Florida. He's definitely been better. I think he's, I mean, it's so cliche to say that he's found a home or found his niche but he absolutely has

I'm just surprised he never found it under Daryl Sutter because you would think by the style he plays that he would be the perfect player for Daryl Sutter yeah it just sort of became the same issue where he never emerged as more than a bottom six forward. And I don't think it was without trying, but he just sort of became a guy that was used in a variety of roles. He could kill penalties. He was an occasional power play guy, but he never got a ton of minutes. I don't know if maybe he was blocked by some of the higher end forwards in Calgary, but it just never materialized like it has in Florida.

I mean, if you watch him on a regular... Yeah, he could have been blocked by some of the guys they had down the middle mean, if you watch him on a regular... Yeah, he could have been blocked by some of the guys they had down the middle there. If you watch him on a regular basis in Florida, he does so much for that team. And it's just a physical force. Now, the other thing, too, it might be a stylistic thing because Florida, not really like an aesthetically pleasing hockey team.

Like, they grind and grind and grind. And they like to have pucks south of the you know goal line and they like to keep possession for long stretches of time they score a lot of goals like jam plays at the net it's greasy it's effective hockey for sure they've dominated time of possession against the rangers when you look at how much they've had pucks on their sticks oh by the way ben can you pull up that audio from pa Maurice? Paul Maurice in the aftermath, they were trying to, the reporters were trying to sort of unearth or uncork exactly what makes Florida such an effective unit.

And one of the reporters thought that he had figured it out because according to NHL.com, the Florida Panthers had one giveaway, one recorded giveaway in the game last night. And this, you know know I credit the reporter for asking this question uh Paul Maurice kind of I had some fun with it and then Paul Maurice had a real like relatable moment where he wanted to answer the question about possessions and takeaways but he was trying to do it in the moment he might have been caught off guard and in the end he just realized he didn't really know what he was trying to say. But here's Paul Maurice afterwards talking about the one, the lone giveaway that the Panthers had last night in their win over the New York Rangers.

Paul, you guys, according to the statute, had just one giveaway tonight. Is that something that you... That is awesome. Just don't tell me Bobrovsky had it. No. Do you want to know who it was? Yeah, who was it? Hecky. Oh, he's out.

Is that something that you guys talked about? I mean, you were surprised by it, so I don't know if... No, you know what, and to be fair, I don't follow the qualification of what a giveaway is. There were so many puck battles on the walls that I thought we had control of the puck that we didn't make a play and it's into their feet and then they get possession of it. I would count that as a giveaway. I think the change of possession it's either forced or it's not in some ways. What am I trying to say? I think there's a hell of a lot more giveaways in that game

for two coaches and I've lots out he's really he's really enjoying himself isn't he Paul Maurice and all this so he sounds like a pretty funny guy actually but on the subject of that like he's talked about how much the Florida Panthers play pucks on the walls and then on the end boards like that's a that's a big part of their game where the puck is just tied up for long periods of time and he said like they don't that's actually the hardest thing to gauge in terms of when they do their advanced stats afterwards is because that's almost like a neutral possession like no one's really possessing the puck when it's a wall battle right the idea is you the winner of the puck is now the one that has possession he's like

we spend so much time actually in that gray area that he considers them turnovers because the panthers that's kind of how they predicate their play like when we go into those battles we feel like we're better than everybody else so that we can possess the puck for a lot longer so i mean it's certainly working against the rangers because i you know i i think the rangers are the more entertaining team i think they're more interesting and I think they make a better story going into the Stanley Cup final but right now unless some of these guys can get unlocked like Panarin and Zivinijad's had a horrible series um and their their series their season might be coming to an end on Saturday would you say that in general if there's a talented player, everyone sees there's clearly talent in that player,

but that player has not panned out. In general, the main reason is that he doesn't win enough battles on the ice. Could be. I mean, how often... Like, is that at the top of the list? How often do we hear coaches talk about, like, it's the great sort of understated part of the list how often do we hear coaches talk about like it's the great sort of understated part of the game because there's not a statistical benchmark for it like i remember talking about

the greatness of zach parise and what made him such an elite player for a long time he's like he's like an elite board battler and an elite guy one one-on-one-on-one puck battles, right? So some of the kids on the hockey team I coach, they're eight years old, and they think that Trevor Zegers is incredible as a hockey player. He's got sick skills. He's got, yeah. And so they're into hockey cards right now. And they're like, oh, sweet. I got like a Trevor Zegers card. He can do the Michigan, right?

Everyone with kids hockey, you're basically like, you're either a player who can do the Michigan or you're a player who cannot do the Michigan. And the players that can do the Michigan are the best players. Those guys are sick. They are incredible, right? And I just wonder, you know, I don't really want to pick on Trevor Zegers here. That's fine.

He's not listening. But, you know, I think of all the players that have come through Vancouver or wherever, and maybe this is, you know, like it probably doesn't relate to Sam Bennett. But I think of players like Goldie, Jake along the wall. Um, and the guys that didn't pan out for the most part,

it was like, you didn't trust them in those one-on-one situations. It wasn't the flashiest thing, but if you can't win battles and sometimes it's will, but mostly I think it's a lot of it's like technique. They just don't know how to do that because it's hard to actually practice that. You can go out on the ice, and you can practice the Michigan.

You can practice stick handling, all that sort of thing, but battle drills, you need someone else to do it with you. You can't do it by yourself. I also think it's a mentality thing too. I think there's certain individuals that are wired better for that now the ultimate example of you know i think the best hybrid of the the sick skill guy that your eight-year-olds are in love with and the gritty guys is matthew kachuk because we've seen kachuk score unbelievably high and high skill goals between the legs michigan's all that kind of

stuff he's capable of doing it. They ran about a 45-second to a minute highlight pack yesterday of Matthew Kachuk just crashing into Shusterkin. And doing it in a way where it was all the accidentally on purpose, bouncing off him, landing on top of him. But all

it was, was jam plays from either taking the puck below the goal line to in front, or just making a beeline to the front of the net. Right. No, there was no YouTube mixtape about it. Like they're not going to put together like, you know, the kids aren't going to be watching it on TikTok later. Oh, look, here's another jam play. Like it was just that's the kind of and it's in his DNA because that's the way that he plays. And that's the way that he likes to get greasy and battle and things like that. That's what every NHL executive is looking for now

is the hybrid of the high-end skill with the grit that you need to win in the postseason. You know what's a good way to think about players? I always think about it this way. If I was on the team and I wanted to win games, who would I rather have as a teammate? Right. You know? Like, would you rather have as a teammate? Right. You know? Like, would you rather have the guy that can do the sick Michigan

but doesn't really do anything else? Right. Or would you rather have the consistent player that if a puck goes into a corner, you can be pretty confident that he's going to come out with that puck? Yeah. And that's what everyone is looking for now, I think, is who brings all those tools to the table. Because it used to be, I mean, very much the NHL,

you had individual types of guys. You had your high-end skill guys, and we're going back a few decades here, but then you had tough guys to protect the skill guys. The skill guys were left to do one thing, and the tough guys were left to do another thing. And with the eradication of enforcers and everything. Well, I don't know. I think that's an overstatement.

I think skill guys in the NHL have always had to fight battles. Like, I'm talking about puck battles here, not battles, like not like someone's going to beat me up. I'm saying go get the puck. I think the hybrid. Like some of the best puck battlers we've ever seen in Vancouver

are the Sedins. Those guys would win battles along the wall all the time. And a lot of it wasn't due to them being tough or whatever. Like they wouldn't go in there and be like, ah, I'm going to win this battle. They were just really good of it wasn't due to them being tough or whatever like they wouldn't go in there like i'm gonna win this battle they were just but really good with their body position and their sticks but i think

the siddines were uh early adopters of the style that you had to play for what we're seeing now is that because they weren't blazingly fast and they did have to rely on their physicality like i think it's understood in this market that the Sedins were a hell of a lot tougher than their public personas. Definitely. You know what I mean? I think everyone understands this. The way that they responded just wasn't in the sort of... But they weren't greasy.

They weren't like dirty or anything like that. But they could win. They were just in unbelievable shape. Yeah, and they could win battles in tough positions. But I think a lot of that was their technique. Sure. But I mean, it almost goes beyond that. It's like they were ones that had unbelievably high-end skill

and the ability to read plays, but they also, and in a lot of ways, introduced a certain type of physicality that I think it was unique for the time, without question, because they fought for small spaces that they would, like they would dominate very, very tiny spaces of play. And they absorbed contact perfectly because, because of their body positioning though. And also because they work together.

Right. I mean, they certainly weren't water bugging out there. Um, we got an ask us anything from Scott. Okay. If you could get one do over from the bending era, what move are you making? Okay.

So I'm going to make a rule on this, that these, these, um, this has to be in a vacuum because if you say, if you get one do over from the bidding error, what move are you making? If the Canucks had drafted Matthew Kachuk instead of Ole Ulevi, do they end up with Pedersen? Do they end up with Quinn Hughes, right?? There's always these knock-on effects. The butterfly effects. The butterfly effects. So let's just say that somehow these are all in a vacuum.

So if they had drafted Matthew Kachuk, they'd still end up with the team they are today. So for me, I mean, that's one you've got to think about, right? There's so show options. Yeah. Jared McCann for good Branson. That was bad. Yeah.

Nylander instead of Rattanen. The draft one to me, though, that almost falls in a different category because they could have taken anyone ahead of the player that they took. Like, I know we're all picking one particular guy, like Kachuk over Ulevi or Nylander. Hey, they wouldn't have Noah Juleson.

Right. I mean, that's the thing. No butterfly effect. I kind of look at it as it has to be either a trade or a free agent signing where there's a direct, you know what I mean? Because the draft thing, there's too much left to chance. Like, yes, you took this guy,

but you could have taken a myriad of other guys, right? And I know that everyone would have been like, well, Kachuk, but they might not have done it. i might have taken another defenseman instead of you levy just not that you know what i mean yeah yeah so that's a tough one um the toffoli situation the mark you know yeah that the the whole that was a gaffe that whole off that whole off that whole off season can you put a whole off season in there because with mark strom and tana as well toffoli was such a great fit, though. And that one almost hurt even more because it was Benning that made the move.

To get to Toffoli. It's like, good job, Jim. You made a great trade. He's a great fit. Yeah. He's like, well, I'll show you. And then let him walk, right? I mean, there's no shortage of candidates.

I think I'd go with the Ekman-Larsen trade, though. See, now that's a tough one because we're still going to have to pay for that. But it got Conor Garland in the door. Yeah, but... And everyone loves Conor Garland now. Yeah, that's true. We're up for Garland. Yeah.

Dylan Gunther might be a player though. That's a problem. Here's a good text. The Sedins trained so that they became almost impossible to knock off their feet. It's important. I've got a week off from talking about Elias Pettersson. So you're going to have to handle that part. I, you know, he's, he actually has, I'll

take, I'll take a five minute break from my vacation. Your vacation from your vacation. Petey has mentioned that he has trained to become harder to knock down. Um, now he did have an injury this year, but he spends a lot of time on the ice. He spends a lot of time on, and I know

sometimes, you know, it's because you get knocked down in battles sometimes, right? But, but you do need to learn how to stay on your feet in those battles because the whole idea of battles is to get the other guy off balance so you can go and get the puck. So, um, that's going to be something that

he's going to need to train around and i'll be very curious to see him in in training camp to see what he looks like the sadin um petterson correlation is so tough because the sadin's career arc like you saw it like they came in and it was hard right away it wasn't easy and they didn't have success right away so the it was a very sort of traditional story arc and narrative that we saw right two young guys come in and they're not physically mature but they work and they work and they slowly go up and up and up until their zenith which is like 2010 2011 when they're winning mvps and going to a stanley cup final petterson comes

in and he's shot out of a cannon he wins the Calder. He looks like he's going to be a superstar right from the get. And now he's going through, I would say the dip, like this is probably the last, I mean, the COVID years, I kind of, it's very difficult to say what was, you know, on ice struggles and what was, you know, the off ice distractions. But now it's like, there's, I hate using relitigation because one, we use it too much. And two, it's probably not the right term here, but there's a sort of like refocus that he needs to have. I mean, everyone seems to understand this. The general consensus is go on vacation,

get your mind away from the game for a bit and sort of rediscover who and what you are as a player and how you're going to live up to the expectations of this contract now. And that's another thing the Sedins never really had to deal with was living with the weight of a contract. Everything that they got in the NHL, they had earned. And they never felt like they were overpaid players once. The moment Pedersen signed that $11.6 million a year contract, part of it is the inevitability of making damn near $12 million.

But you have to live up to a contract now and that's a lot going on i hope he's taking some time to uh he should throw his phone in the ocean yeah he should i saw he was on a scooter again going over the broad street bridge oh no that was on the day of his press conference yeah oh perfect just going for a quick mental scoot throwing his phone into the ocean might be very therapeutic. Yeah. So maybe that's, and he could afford another one. He should just buy a bunch of phones and throw them all into the ocean. I guess that's not very, it's probably not good for the environment.

They're not biodegradable, these phones. Take the battery out first. Yeah. Recycle the battery and then you can throw the phone in the ocean. Pay a diver to go and get the phones after the fact so they're not stuck in the ocean. But you can buy like 50 phones and just start hucking them. I can confirm it's very therapeutic. I did it with my walking boot after I was able to.

I just threw it into the ocean. Again, not very able to. Let out a big war cry and then hucked it into the ocean. I went back and got it. I felt bad from an environmental standpoint after, but it's very therapeutic to throw stuff in the ocean. He should talk to Aaron Rodgers about that dark room stuff. Oh, yeah.

The meditation that he had. Yeah, yeah. The multiple days just being... Yeah, see... And we're right up against it for time here, but who cares? That can go one of two ways. It can either be eye-opening

and like a revelation, like the guys that do Zoomers, and they're like, I can see everything with more clarity now. But it can also... It can do damage because it can be too much yeah oh no i'm alone with my thoughts this is the last place i want that is the worst now i'm just picturing a hermit crab going around in your walking boot on the beach he needs it it's like him and christana christana found it that's right during his drifter days okay do you think christana just has the same

walking boot and he's held on to it forever and just keeps using it? Again, we're up against it for time. So I went back and I did the search. This is like personal walking boot. I found three different Chris Tanev walking boot eras in Vancouver. And it was 2013, 2016, and 2019. It was like with an eerie level of consistency that every three years he would break his foot.

And then the line would be, Tanev was spotted leaving the arena in a walking boot. If you Google that phrase. Yeah, at this point, you might as well just leave it on. Wouldn't it save time? Just wear it as a fashion thing? He looks so comfortable in that thing.

Yeah, he looks confident. He's used to it. Not my first rodeo. Yeah, like pirouettes in that thing. All right, you're listening to the Halford & Brough Show. If you liked that first segment, well, you're getting more of it because we don't have a guest coming up. So text in your Ask Us Anythings into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650.

Dunbar Lumber with three stores to serve you in Ladner on Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber Express at Ladner Center, or our Budas in Vancouver online at DunbarLumber.com. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 635 on a P.S. The Friday here on Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

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Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Vancouver. Okay, real quick. We've got a game five tonight between the Oilers and the Dallas Stars. I'm already kind of looking ahead to when the Stanley Cup final will begin.

We know when game one will be Saturday, June 8th. Pause. That's right. A week tomorrow is when the Stanley Cup final will start. Now, the issues with this will be that the Rangers and Panthers series could end as soon as Saturday, tomorrow. And in short order, that Oilers-Stars series could be over as well. Whoever wins tonight, obviously, will have a 3-2 lead in that Western Conference final. By the way, we were talking about Chris Tanev earlier and his walking boot.

He was spotted going through the airport in a walking boot. His status is uncertain for tonight. Peter DeBoer wasn't going to reveal any information about whether or not Chris Tanev was going to be able to play. You nailed the vibes and the way of that direction that the Eastern Conference Final was going. You said after those two games in Florida, including that game for where Florida made it to,

to, to send it back to New York, you thought that Florida was in the driver's seat. Florida's in the driver's seat. Do you have a similar thought on the Western conference final, or is this one been too hard to predict game to game? Yeah, I think this one's a coin toss.

I wouldn't be surprised if it goes seven games. Yeah. I, every, it seems like it's funny because every team has had a really solid start to each game where you're like oh, they showed up to play

tonight and then like that, that script gets flipped as well. It was Dallas two games ago that came out with a hot start. Or sorry, last game came out with a hot start and then Edmonton rallied and vice versa. It's been flipping back and forth in that regard. I will say Dallas does have home ice advantage in two of the three. But the first two games in Dallas, you could have made the argument

that Edmonton was the better team for the majority share of those. Yeah, I think Edmonton overall has been the better team in the series. It hasn't been significant, but overall they've been the better team. But that's just more of a take on possession. You do have to manage your dumb moments. Yeah. Right? And I think that's probably the –

we still look for those dumb moments from the Edmonton Oilers, whether it's a stretch where they just take their foot off the gas and that's collectively as a team, that's a dumb moment. Or individually, maybe it's a turnover by Darnell Nurse or maybe it's a bad goal by Stuart Skinner. Until the Oilers, if they do win the Stanley

Cup, like until they do that, that'll be what people are waiting for from the Edmonton Oilers, if they do win the Stanley Cup, like until they do that, that'll be what people are waiting for from the Edmonton Oilers. And I think game four, you know, you can say that was a great win for them. And, you know, now that, you know, they, they showed that they can battle back in these games. Not that they, nobody knew they could battle

back, but they played a solid game. They showed some backbone. They really did. You know, they didn't start out well, but they showed some backbone and they took control of that game and they won the game. They showed some backbone. They really did. You know, they didn't start out well, but they showed some backbone and they took control of that game and they won the game. And people are like, you know, maybe that's the lesson they needed.

Like every game that the Oilers win is like, maybe that's the lesson they needed. Right. But until that's, it's almost like until they win the cup, you're waiting for them to blow it. And I think that's true of really any team that has been in the mix for a while now and hasn't been able to get it done. We say the same thing about Carolina.

It's a little bit different. You're not waiting for them to make the big mistake like Edmonton does, but you're waiting for them to be in one of those games where they desperately need a goal and actually find the goal. So with regards to the Stanley Cup final, as we look ahead, because the potential has it running so late, remember pre-COVID days, the Stanley Cup final would usually be done at the very least in the first half of June. So there was some breathing time between all of the off-season business that needs to get done.

Hypothetically speaking, because there's a bunch of two-day breaks in between games in that Stanley Cup final, if it goes seven, that'll be June 24th. The NHL buyout window opens the moment that the Stanley Cup is awarded. And then it's 48 hours after. You've got 48 hours, You can start figuring it out. And then, boom, window opens on the 26th. Then it's like everything starts to happen.

The 27th is the awards. The 28th is the first round of the draft. The 29th is rounds two through seven of the draft. The 30th, the buyout window closes. 30th is also the day, the deadline to qualify your RFAs. And then it's July 1, and it's the free agent frenzy. So if the Stanley Cup final does go long, you're going to see an absolute barrage of movement in that week

where between the cup final ending and then the draft and free agency beginning. So that could be a really interesting time for nhl teams who no doubt are working on this stuff in the moment but are going to have to kind of put all their deals and contracts and trades in a cupboard somewhere until the end of june the nba finals starts thursday june 6th yep if i'm not mistaken yeah it sucks it's almost a full week off because obviously the dallas mavericks punched their ticket to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011 with a resounding victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves last night. So kudos to the T-Wolves for getting that one win. This must be a building availability thing.

Why do they have game one Thursday, June 6th, and then game two Sunday, June 9th? Both those games are in Boston. I was too busy being focused on hockey Twitter, being livid about... And then another two days off. Yep. The NBA Twitter, basketball Twitter, was very upset about...

About the schedule? The scheduling, yeah. Because everyone now has to sit around and wait for roughly a week. And part of it had to do with the fact that they had their schedule out before the Mavs... Well, it didn't quite sweep, but it was a gentleman's sweep.

And then, obviously, the Celtics swept the Pacers out of there. But it does give us an entire week to hype up Kyrie Irving's return to Boston. Basketball Ben, how excited are you for what is going to be an absolute powder keg when this thing kicks off in Boston? I cannot wait. Just the way he left there, the animosity, the antics for when he's gone back before, the back and forth between him and the crowd, the fines, the beer throwing at him, everything that's happened. It's going to be a lot of drama and he kind of is playing it off a little bit, but the Boston fans are going

to be on him and are notorious for being on players, but the Boston fans are going to be on him and are notorious for being on players. Do you think he's going to be able to avoid controversy? Do you think he's going to be able to control himself in what he says? Do you think he's going to be able to just play basketball?

Cause, cause the one thing you do have to admire about Kyrie is he is a hell of a basketball player. For sure. And if you asked me that question six months ago, he is a hell of a basketball player. For sure. And if you asked me that question six months ago, I'd say no. Yeah, right. I'd be like, there's no chance. But he seems different right now.

Like, I don't know. Like, he seems like the mature old guy. Very zen-like approach to the game. Exactly. I'm going to be the mentor here for these young guys. And I've been to the NBA finals before. I've hit the game winner in game seven to win a championship. Like, let me show you the way.

You mean the guy who was supposed to be in Boston. Exactly. Yeah, he's doing it now as a Dallas Maverick. I imagine a conversation between a young Mav and Kyrie just like, Kyrie, tell me some advice on how to handle the pressure of the NBA finals. And then he gives the advice, and it's good advice. And then the young player goes, do's good advice. And then he's, then the young player goes,

do you have anything else to tell me? Why didn't you like execute this? No, no. The joke would be like, yeah, I've got some more other things to say about the world. The world is flat.

But that's part, but part of the Renaissance season is that he hasn't gone down any of those roads. Any of the conspiracy theories. Has he been active on social media? I don't follow Kyrie on anything. Hasn't recommended any films on Netflix. He hasn't done anything. He's just played basketball.

Oh, yeah, Kyrie? What's that about? Yeah, he hasn't shared any thoughts on the world. I think he's at his best when he's solidly the number two guy. He was there with LeBron in Cleveland, and now he's got Dontridge when he's solidly the number two guy he was there with lebron in cleveland and now he's got don trich it's like okay you're not in the spotlight like he was with boston you don't have to be the guy so the attention's not all on you okay maybe he's better that's important so i want for the listeners that don't know the backstory here we

may as well get everyone up to speed so after kairi left being lebrron's running mate in Cleveland where they won a title and Kyrie wanted his own team he wanted to be the alpha tired of being the beta I think that's how it works but um he the wolf pack and Boston was like come to Boston you can be the guy because we've got these good young players that you can mentor. All of these things that we were talking about. You can be the LeBron here in Boston. They made a huge trade. Danny Ainge swung for the fences. They traded away a heart and soul guy in Isaiah Thomas who basically busted his body and derailed his career so he could play for the Celtics.

Celtics fans loved Isaiah Thomas. And this is Isaiah Thomas 2.0 for the listeners that are thinking about the Pistons and the bad boys. UW. Right. Kyrie comes in and he's great. He's all NBA. He's an all-star. And the pivotal moment came going into the last year of his deal where they couldn't actually sign him.

But you could confirm that you wanted to sign so he i think i remember it was on a podcast or what the media i think it was at a season ticket holder session and he told everyone in attendance he's like if you guys will have me i'll be a celtic for a long time i want a nice way to put that right if you guys will have me of course we'll have you k Kyrie. And then the season played out. And Kyrie started to realize that he didn't love being the veteran leader, the guy that was carrying all this stuff on his shoulders. Because the Celtics had good young players, like Jason Tatum was there,

but he didn't have what he had had previously in Cleveland with LeBron. And then he saw on the horizon what he could have if he had just joined forces with Kevin Durant. So these media photos from the media started making the rounds of. And it was at the All-Star game, right? Where Kyrie and Kevin Durant were having a conversation in the hallway together. And Celtics fans were like, uh uh-oh what's all that about we don't like that we don't care for this at all they're like the angry girlfriend who was that and then talking to and then the breakup started to happen you saw the other person talking to

your guy or gal you're like that's an interesting development and then the development got more interesting and kairi went from being like if you'll have me, I'll be a Celtic for life to I'm out of here. Force the trade. It's not even a trade. I'm out. I'm not going to resign. Just left. And I'm going to join the Brooklyn Nets.

And that was an unmitigated disaster. That's fair to say right now. The crazy part. Steve Nash made some good money off of that. Oh, my God. Poor Steve. I always feel bad for him. That was a no win situation.

He made a lot of money. I don't feel bad for that. money i don't feel bad but of all the coaching gigs of all the coaching gigs that was not the one to take no there were some gigs to take that one was not anything he walked in he's like this is gonna be a key to play as a team guys yeah like i mean of all the things you could predict as a coach i don't think that you can predict that your star point guard is going to suddenly become like an anti-semite overnight and is going to start becoming and then not back down when the owner and the general manager are like please issue an apology so that way that is a tough one that's not one you ask uh in in the interview process because the exit interview like what went wrong oh well yeah got some ideas yeah you know there's no playbook for how to handle that as a coach. The Mavericks pick up the pieces, get Kyrie for what ends up being one of the great, you know, 10 cents on the dollar trades of all time.

Kyrie goes. And after all this time and everything that I've just said, finally becomes the teammate and the leader and the veteran guy and the Batman to Robin that he was always destined to be. It just took him this weird circular route to get there. And now, I mean, I watched a bunch of their games in the Western conference final against the T wolves. And it was,

they had an unspoken agreement, him and Luca, but when it was time to deliver the death blow in the clutch, well, it's two of the most clutch players in the NBA. It didn't like, that was the toughest thing for the T-Wolves to account for was, I don't know which guy we should focus on here.

Because both want the ball, but both are willing to defer. But both can hit the big shot, and both will hit the big shot. And we saw it time and time again. Both had 36 points last night in a closeout game. You got two guys with 36 points? Now it's going to get real interesting, though, because Ruff brings up the right point. All of this so far has been a nice redemptive story

and the renaissance of Kyrie Irving. But this is different because Boston is going to consciously make an effort to try and screw with him as much as humanly possible. For Celtics fans, this is not a series against the Dallas Mavericks. This is a series against Kyrie. And Kyrie, when he's been back to Boston before, has fed into the water being thrown at him and the booze, right?

I mean, there was that one where he stomped on the leprechaun after a win. He flipped the bird to the fans. Multiple times. I don't know if it's his Achilles heel. He did the kid thing with his're behind his back or whatever. And he's like, no, I was scratching my nose. I just scratched my nose with my middle finger.

You're doing with both middle fingers. And I don't know. I double the it. It was a bad itch. It was a tough itch. Right. And I don't know if all of this like I'm just here to play basketball and you know the boston celtics are just another team uh an interruption on our journey to the larry o'brien i don't know if

this is what's going to be the hiccup you know the the way that we look at sports you almost want it to be like this is the ultimate test right it's like is you know uh just focus on the game Kyrie going to be upended by fans who can probably get his goat unlike any other because of the history and because it's Boston yeah right Celtics fans are NBA is so different too because the fans are right on top right now there's no boards no you can hear things from the crowd that you won't hear in any other professional sport because they are feet away from you and there's nothing separating you. Other than your ability to ignore it. It's like 20,000 David Portnoy's in there basically trying to get Kyrie to lose his mind.

Just saying some of the most vile stuff imaginable. Especially in Boston. Especially in Boston. It is Ask Us Anything Friday. Austin and Langley. I'm sorry, Austin. I'm going to read yours later. East Van Tommy.

Ask Us Anything. What was your favorite slow dance song at your high school dance? And do kids still slow dance today? I don't know, Tommy. I haven't been to any high school dances recently. We would hope not. And I certainly haven't been slow dancing at any of them. East Van Tommy says, I'm a product of the 60s,

so mine was Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. What did you do with the part where it started to pick up a little bit? Yeah, what do you do? Do you break it down? That's a long song to slow dance to to continually apologize this uh i'm sorry we had one it's the pleats it's the pleats pants have a lot of friction so uh actually east van tommy says it's a long song

with slow dance groove dance and a good chance for some grope dance, says East Van Sant. Okay. All right. So here is a good one. And you guys tell me if you can remember this song. More Than Words by Xtreme. That's a good one. Oh, that's a great song. That came out in 1990. So I would have been in grade eight or nine then. That's one of the most famous songs that people thought the band represented.

And then when they actually listened thought the band represented and then when they actually listen to the band they're like they're not like this at all yeah no they're like they're one ballad yeah they're a heavy metal band out of boston i think now while your answer is a good one because that a dog we should re-record more than words me and you together please don't uh like sending sending our love down the wall style it was a beautiful harmony well your answer is is a good one but at five minutes and 33 seconds runtime that's the album version the radio edit was 409 the answer to this question without it's the easiest answer on the planet uh it's guns and roses november rain coming in at a cool oh it's way too long yeah that's the slow dance part of it is you really get to work your way into it. You really get to work your way into it.

Yeah. Eight minutes and 57 seconds. If you are trying to make a connection at it, this is for the kids out there listening. If you're trying to make a connection at a high school dance and you want a lengthy opportunity to do so, request Guns N' Roses November Rain. What? Is this legal? What we're talking about right now?

We can be giving high school kids lessons on how to slow dance? I can't give any high school kids lessons. Only in hindsight. I can tell you a bunch of lists of like, don't do this. That's right. Don't drink peppermint schnapps. All right. These are 7 o'clock guests because we've got to get to them.

I think it's got to be. We're going to go local. Everything I do, I do for you, Brian Adams. That's a classic slow dance song. That's a good one. That's a good one. That's one of my go-tos. And I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston as well.

Another good slow dance. No, that would be hard for me because I always just want to belt it out myself. That's true. Oh, dear Lord. He pushes his dance partner away. It's like, time to dance. And I – Okay, so AJ is going to join us at 7 o'clock, Oh, dear Lord. He pushes his dance partner away. It's like, time to dance. And ahhh. Okay, so AJ is going to join us at 7 o'clock, and then Luke Gazdik will get into the Oilers Stars series with Edmonton Oilers superfan Luke Gazdik.

You're listening to the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.