Halford & Brough in the Morning - Pouring One Out For CapFriendly

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports (3:00), plus they talk Stanley Cup Finals with Sportsnet's David Amber (27:00), as the Panthers look to go up 2-0 over the Oilers tonight. 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- And the Boston Celtics are halfway to their 18th championship. Maybe it was the hockey gods getting us back for game six. The Lord is vengeful. Oh, spiteful one. Show me who to smite and they shall be smoothing. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. It is Halford and his brother at Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kinstech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason,

good morning and welcome back. Good morning, thank you. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brother of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda parts, services, trades, loaners, rentals, all of it. Visit them today, Vancouver Honda, and visit their customer service center. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. We both sound awful. We sound awful. It sounds like I've been on a four-day golf bender. Because you have been on a four-day golf bender. Because I've been on a four-day golf bender.

It's like 8 a.m., time for a beer. To follow my 7 a.m. Caesar. And you have been a little under the weather. I lost my voice on Saturday. Right, okay. I went to an elementary school fair on Friday. Okay little under the weather. I lost my voice on Saturday. Right, okay. I went to an elementary school fair on Friday. Okay. Under the weather.

Oh, did I? We should mention he was invited, by the way. As a guest of honor. He didn't just show up to the elementary school fair. Hey, hey! I thought you were going to be like, I went to a concert. No, no, no.

And you were screaming and losing your voice. I was meeting with the public on behalf of the Halford & Brough Show and Sportsnet 650. Okay. But there was a loudspeaker beside me, so I was speaking over top of the loudspeaker the entire time, and I lost my voice.

What were you speaking about? Oh, just talking to people that were coming up about the Canucks and how people were excited about the season. Was this like a – okay, hold on. It's an elementary school fair. Were you in a dunk tank or something like that? There was a big Sportsnet 650 tent. Okay.

Giving away a four-pack Vancouver Canadiens ticket. Really? Yep. Oh, okay. And also in a dunk tank under the tent. Right, okay. Yeah, I was in the pie eating... Well, good for you.

There was a pie eating contest. He was selling his wares. Did anyone know you? Yes. Did any of the kids? Yes. Really? Our youngest ever listener, as far as I can tell.

Regular listener. A three-year-old named Conley came up and said hi. He's serious? Yep. He asked about the Canucks power play. He did. He said his favorite player is Petey. Nice.

Yeah, so it was good. Yeah, he was like, what do you think, Lindholm 7x7? Yeah, I was like, what's going on with Zadora? What was he golfing with Murph for? Anyway, we got a lot to get into on the show today, even though we are both under the weather. That's how much we want to be here on June 10th of 2024. A reminder, our 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. We have a big guest list today. It begins at 6.30. We're going to go to Florida. David Amber, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host is going to join us

for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, which goes tonight, 5 o'clock from Florida. Game 1, obviously, in case you missed it, Florida won 3-0 over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1. Brilliant performance from Sergey Bobrovsky. We'll talk to David Amber about that at 6.30. 7 o'clock,

we're going to go to Boston. Gary Washburn from the Boston Globe, national NBA writer, is going to join us. The Boston Celtics are up 2-0 in the NBA Finals over the Dallas Mavericks. Yeah, I hope the Mavs can make this a little more interesting than it's been so far. But the Celtics have been so dominant in these playoffs. And heading into the Finals, a lot of people said, well, yeah, that dominance because your opponents haven't been very good. But now you're looking at this Dallas team and going,

are they very good? They won, was it 64 games during the regular season? The Boston Celtics did. They were a dominant team. You know, they only lost four games at home all year during the regular season. And now they're 14-2 in the playoffs. So it's almost, almost as if the most dominant team

in the regular season is now the most dominant team in the playoffs. So it's almost, almost as if the most dominant team in the regular season is now the most dominant team in the playoffs. We'll talk to Gary Washburn about that at 7 o'clock. 7.30, Luke Fox, NHL writer from SportsCenter is going to join us. Luke is also in Florida, but I want to talk to him about the other big news of the weekend. Gary Bettman's State of the Union address in which they announced that the salary cap will be going up to $88 million. They confirmed some plans for the Four Nations face-off.

They dealt with a lot of league business. There's a lot to get into, so we'll discuss that with Luke Fox at 7.30. 8 o'clock, it's our regular guest on a Monday, Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and InGoal Magazine. As I said, we've got a big guest list. There's a lot to get into. Working in reverse, 8 o'clock, it's Kevin Woodley. 7.30, it's Luke Fox. 7 o'clock, it's Kevin Woodley. 7.30, it's Luke Fox. 7 o'clock, it's Gary Washburn.

6.30, it's David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We will begin on the ice Saturday night in Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves for the Florida Panthers as they defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 in Game 1 from Florida.

Sergei Bobrovsky, everybody, became the first goalie in 13 years to get a shutout in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Do you know who the last one was, Jason? Lou. Roberto Luongo. Of course, Roberto Luongo now serving his role as the Director of Goaltending excellence in Florida. Did it with the Canucks back in 2011.

So it was the biggest story coming from Saturday night was the Sergei Bobrovsky show. Everyone was talking about the Russian goaltender and how good he's been. Laddie, I want to turn to you right away. We were talking pre-show your thoughts on Bobrovsky. What did I say? I want to get out there right away. Take right away. We were talking pre-show, your thoughts on Bobrovsky. What did I say? I want to get out there right away. Take it away. I said it's extra frustrating for Canucks fans because Bobrovsky is doing to

the Oilers exactly what Demko would have done. Why do you choose violence so early on a Monday night? How dare you? This is what would have happened. He stole that one. He stole that one for sure. Outshot 32-18. But I think you have to give credit to the panthers as a team um for how they played especially in the third period um the oilers still had some chances

um but i i think that i mean one of the main panthers strengths is that they can um really tighten up when they have to and basically choke out a game. And I don't know if they necessarily did that against the Oilers. It was a lot of Bobrowski. Yep. But it was partially that this team is, once they get the lead, they're so good at holding it, and they can choke the life out of a game. Seven shots surrendered in the third period in the shutout victory. So that's pretty good to only surrender seven shots when you got the lead against the Edmonton Oilers.

Florida did what Florida does. Florida did what Florida does in that game. Carter Verhage scored, and apparently Carter Verhage scores every single game for them now. I believe that's 10 in the playoffs, tying Matthew Kachuk's franchise record from last year. And they got a goal from him. Borowski did the business. They were very physical, very physical. I think everyone saw that Sam Bennett administered some physicality

to the chin of Connor McDavid. And Evander Kane tried to seek out some revenge a little bit later on for the hit. But for game one, here's the interesting thing, is Florida went out and did the things that it wants to do. Yeah. And they still feel that they left something on the table. Like when you listen to Barkov and Kachuk and Maurice talk after the game,

they're not happy with the fact that they got outshot by such a wide margin. They feel like they left something on the table. So I could be totally off on this, but didn't it feel like this was going to be a good series when you watch that game? I know it was a 3-0 game, and on paper that doesn't sound like a super exciting game, but I thought it was a good one. game, and on paper that doesn't sound like a super exciting game, but I thought it was a good one.

I thought the energy was there. Yeah. I think there's enough personalities in this series, and especially if it's a long series, this is going to be edge-of-your-seat stuff, I think. It actually set the table nicely, considering how much concern. So Jimmy Dodd and I, who, by the way, is great. He's excellent, isn't he? I really like Jimmy Dodd.

Yeah, he's a great co-host. He doesn't have allergies. My allergies are quite bad, too. My eyes look a little red. I don't know how much you caught of game one of the NBA finals, but that had a lengthy layoff. Both teams came in, looked rusty, didn't shoot the ball well, and it was a blowout for Boston.

So we're like, that's not a great start to a series that we were very much anticipating. I had similar trepidation, big word, coming into Saturday's game, and it actually was kind of different because the energy level was good. I thought the game was pretty good. And I think as far as narratives go, this sets up a great game too because Edmonton has not scored a goal yet, and that's going to be fundamentally important

to Edmonton winning hockey games is scoring a goal. But they're happy with how they played. Yeah. Although there are already some conversations with Chris Knobloch, don't call me Chuck Knobloch, about maybe having to make some alterations to the lineup. I know they're only one game in. I like how he went back to the CC nurse pairing

and it was like immediately a problem. And then right away everyone was like, break them up again. Please don't put them together ever again. And he was so desperate that he was citing the analytics on the pair. You know, like actually they were out there for quite a few like chances for him. Like, yeah, but the goals, those are so important in hockey, I find. So an interesting part on that too was he went to the, as they call it, the nuclear, nuclear option,

which is where you throw McDavid and Dreisaitl together. And speaking of metrics, several people have pointed out that in the playoffs, when he throws them together, they actually haven't been that productive. Like, you automatically think that you throw them together and boom, goals happen. And it hasn't really. But in the same breath, everyone's like, yeah, but in the Stanley Cup final, metrics be damned, you're going to put them together. Nuclear. Nuclear. It's pronounced

nuclear. So there's a lot of storylines going into tonight's game. We will talk to David Amber a little bit later in the show. As a matter of fact, he's coming up at 6.30. So we'll park the Stanley Cup Final for now because I do want to get into a variety of things, including some other news in and around the National Hockey League.

The NHL salary cap is going up to $88 million next season. The league and the NHL Players Association announced this on Saturday. That's an increase of $4.5 million, up slightly from the $87.7 projected figure that the Board of Governors had at their meetings in December. So this is a good thing. Gary Bettman was very proud of the fact that the cap had gone up even beyond their projections. And he said it was a great thing to see. And it means that revenues are as robust as I've been telling you all along. So I get to crow about it too.

Well, having the Oilers in the playoffs for a long run and ticket prices in Canada Canada even the Canucks going to game seven of the second round are going to juice revenues a little bit having the Rangers uh have a decent run at Madison Square Garden that was good for the NHL but just hopping off that topic because I don't really want to talk about Gary Bettman bragging too much. I was just on Cap Friendly because I was wondering how long the Florida Panthers had Carter Verhage locked up because I think he's one of the more underrated players in the league. I think

he's a very important player for the Florida Panthers. And what did Cap Friendly tell you? Well, Cap Friendly, I mean, Cap Friendly, it's just such a good tool. I love it. You go to the site and I learned that Carter Verhage only has one year left on his deal before he's UFA. And then I noticed, oh, Sam Bennett is in the exact same spot. So the Florida Panthers are going to have quite a few decisions to make.

And then they've got quite a few pending UFAs. And like, for example, we all knew about Sam Reinhart, but they've picked up a few rentals like, you know, Vladimir Tarasenko and Kylo Pozo. And you go, this is just such valuable information. We would be lost without Cap Friendly as a sports talk show, as we talk about the nhl and the and the hard cap has has has made things so different in terms of covering the game and we need something like cap friendly um i'm just glad it's here forever it's not it's going to be gone in july

for those that are unaware what i'm sorry, friend. Yeah, that sucks. Cap Friendly is gone. I love Cap Friendly. It was so easy to use. You got 20 days left to enjoy Cap Friendly, maybe a couple days into July. But according to Elliott Friedman over the weekend. You know, but I was just getting over the loss of Cap Geek. Mm-hmm. And then my mom married Cap Friendly. And I was like, Cap Friendly is such a good step-cap site. And now you're telling me that Cap Friendly is such a good step cap site. And now you're telling me that Cap Friendly is leaving too? Is it my fault?

Is it my fault? If you're drinking at 6.13 in the morning, pour out a little liquor for Cap Friendly. All of you sports radio nerds. Take your chamomile tea and your ear medicine. Pour a little out for Cap Friendly. According to Elliot Friedman, Cap Friendly will be done in July. It's because of the Washington Capitals, right? It's their fault?

I'll finish. According to multiple sources of freeges, the Washington Capitals, right? It's their fault? I'll finish. According to multiple sources of freeges, the Washington Capitals, those sadistic bastards, have agreed to purchase CapFriendly. Why? Why? And we'll turn it from public information to private information.

They shouldn't be allowed to do that. That's really mean of them. Well, there's been lots of analytics sites that have been purchased, whether they're cap sites or just like data type sites that have been purchased and then they go dark. I've been told Puckpedia is the new go-to apparently. Yeah, it's a big day for Puckpedia. This is finally their time.

But the thing with CapFriendly is that... They get bought out. The thing with CapFriendly is that they had actually developed good sources by themselves. Yeah. Like most of the time with these sites, or at least the way they start out, is that they go per this guy's report

and they'll have a link to the Twitter report or the original information on, for example, no move clauses, right? And reporters would find out the no move clauses and then that would end up with a footnote on the CapFriendly site or whatever site. But I think eventually as CapFriendly became the really only site that hockey fans and

obviously NHL executives would use it as well, they just developed their own sources. Like if something was wrong on the site. Someone would go directly to CapFriendly. Yeah, go to CapFriendly. And so I don't know. I'm sure the Washington Capitals have plans to build this out even more.

And they were just like, well, we'll buy the site. That'll give us a good start. So we don't have to start from scratch. And maybe they like the people that run give us a good start so we don't have to start from scratch and uh maybe they like the people that run cap friendly maybe they think they're in a valuable part of the uh of the operation but it it is it is here's the good news and i think halford already mentioned this cap friendly is still going to be public and available to use through free agency on July 1st.

So enjoy it while you got it. And Puckpedia, let's go. Let's go. Time to step up to the bigs. Come on, guys, because we need this. It's going to be, it's honestly, I probably use CapFriendly on an average show. I turn to it at least 10 times. Yep.

It's a valuable tool. Again, it's very niche. There's probably some people that are like, what are you guys talking about? Puckpedia pretty much does the same thing. I mean, it gives you all the same information. I will say, though, at a glance. But were they just pulling it from CapFriendly?

That I don't know. Are they going to have to develop their own authentication lines? I don't know. Also, do they have the armchair GM function? That's all I know. As far as the resource goes, though, like Puckpedia is excellent. It's just my one complaint is it's not as compact. So if you look at it at a glance, there's more scrolling involved,

so you can't see your information as quickly. So here's the interesting. The layout could be fixed is my main complaint. Interesting aside here is over the weekend, I was diligently researching the show because I am a professional and definitely wanted to listen to all the podcasts that i humanly could so i was listening to uh philip horonix agent alan walsh who has his very own podcast and he spent about a two and a half three minute rant during one of his latest episodes talking about the philip horonix

contract situation in vancouver and one of the tangents that he jumped off on, and he's done this before, so it's nothing incredibly new, but he said he hates how the modern NHL is so defined by things like the salary cap, the player's salary, how much he's making. And then in negotiations, what he's worth and what he's not worth.

the agents always say that because they hate the hard cap, right? That is the agent speak for they shouldn't have a hard cap i thought the timing was uh just it was coincidental more than anything else but it was incredibly interesting because he was saying it basically devolves everybody into a number it's you don't really guess it does yeah you're not really concerned about the player you're concerned about the dollar figure attached to the player you stop thinking of players in terms of good and bad everything is related to how much they're giving you based on how much you're paying yeah you have

people like drance and you know a lot and he's not wrong but he'll come in and say the nhl is an efficiency contest and they're like oh that sounds fun so the way to i love a i love a good efficiency contest so the way to deal with this is to strip all of the public data from people so they have no idea what anybody's making they're gonna go backwards actually yeah because they're gonna stop releasing contract details at the time of signing. They're like, Philip Hronick has signed a contract for some money. That will be the press release.

So speaking of all this financial stuff, it's June 10th. The Canucks have some decisions to make in this next little while. I wonder when some legit news will come down or is this all just going to go all the way up to the draft and then the draft occurs and maybe there's some rumors and maybe some moves at the draft.

And then July 1st is free agency and Nikita Zdorov and Elias Lindholm and Dakota Joshua and a few other guys could all sign if they want, not with the Canucks. Yeah, I think what's going to happen is everything. The NHL is going to take its annual moratorium during the Stanley Cup final where no business shall be conducted to take away from the league. I think that's only big trades, though.

It's like if the Canucks wanted to sign Tyler Myers to an extension. He's too tall. I don't think the NHL would be like, you can't upstage the cup final with a two- or three-year deal for Tyler Myers with a hometown discount. It's going to rock the hockey world. Could you imagine if Gary Bettman actually had a dossier of what constitutes a big move?

And then, like, that one's okay. You can re-sign Ian Cole if you like, although Ian Cole's going to free agency. That was what Dolly told us on Friday, along with Casey Desmet, by the way. So Freege had a point in 32 Thoughts where he said, it appears to be a very good market for defensemen. And he said, there are some defensemen who are really going to hit it big here. And the other thing I'm also hearing is that it's going to be a very good market

for depth forwards who can play multiple places in your lineup and play that kind of heavy playoff hockey game. So the heavy defenseman and the heavy portable forward who can go up and down your lineup sounds like a lot of them are going to do pretty well. So heavy defenseman. The Canucks have any of those? Nikita Zdorov, Tyler Myers. I would even put Ian Cole in that category. And I know he's not going to be back with the Canucks. That was reported. And then heavy forwards that can play multiple places in your lineup and do multiple things. Well, Elias Lindholm, I think I

would count him as a heavy type player. And we saw how valuable that type of player is in the playoffs. And then Dakota Joshua, I don't know how much up and down the lineup he can play, but he can play on the penalty kill. You know, these guys, what people want is these guys, not just for the size, right? We just don't want a big guy.

They have to be able to do stuff. And both Lindholm and Dakota Joshua are fairly good penalty killers. And, you know, if they go to free agency, they're going to get paid. I even have a hesitation about the Canucks giving Lindholm seven by seven. That was out there.

And, you know, if that's the Canucks, that offer that's on the table and Lindholm maybe hasn't said no, but he hasn't said yes to it, man, like it is going to be some of these guys that played for the Canucks this year are going to get paid, and deservedly so, right? They went into their, especially a guy like Dakota Joshua, went into this year knowing that he was playing for a contract and he worked on his skills. He became an indispensable part of the Canucks lineup,

and now he might have priced himself out of Vancouver. The cap going up to $88 million is great for the Vancouver Canucks, right? They have a lot of contracts that they need to sort out. They've got an extra probably $4.5 million than they anticipated from last year, so that's fantastic. The problem with the cap going up to $88 million is that it also goes up for every other team in the National Hockey League. And there's teams that had an abundance of cap space that have even more now. My biggest concern with the cap going up this much is that some team might be able to come out of their shoes to sign a guy like Joshua.

Like put him at a number where the Canucks just aren't comfortable because they've got so many other things they need to do. Whereas another team is like, you know what? We're willing to overspend by a million annually on this guy because we really think there's something here and we're willing to take that gamble. Like $12 million over three years or something like that? Is that coming out of your shoes for Dakota Joshua? Just because you could afford

the gamble, I think, where other teams might not be able to. A team that is in the early stages be able to like a team that is in the early stages of its rebuild or a team that needs something up front that could use a 27 year old power forward that can do a lot of different things yeah and maybe is just starting to scratch the surface of what he's going to be in the nhl that's something that i could see a lot of teams being enticed by if you were dakota joshua what would you choose uh and these are numbers that are just coming out of my brain okay four by three so four million times three years

with another team or what if the canucks said we'll give you a six-year deal so we're guaranteeing you quite a bit of money here two million dollar at A cap hit of two and a half or three. Two and a half? Yeah. What would you take? Like, forget the Canucks, forget the other team. If you were Dakota Joshua, would you take the short-term money, and it's still quite a bit.

I mean, $12 million is enough if you're careful with your money to be essentially set for life, right? If you're careful with your money. It's like a scratcher win. Yeah. What? Set for life. Oh, right? If you're careful with your money. It's like a scratcher win. Yeah. What? Set for life. Oh, right.

Okay. Or would you take the total money of like an $18 million, plus you get the idea of you like Vancouver, you've got a spot in the lineup, you know the system or whatever. I mean, that would be a no-brainer for me, is I would take the term from the Canucks. And stay in a good place.

Well, because you already know what you've got to a certain degree. Well, I just wonder if it's going to come down to a decision like that for Dakota Joshua. I bet it would because, you know, you talk about, like, it's not always grass is greener. I mean, I can't remember how many times that I've talked about the Yannick Hansen trade

to San Jose, but that one always sticks out to me is that was a guy that I thought would just fit in perfectly, and San Jose just didn't work. And we had Yannick Hansen on the show. And he was out of the league. And we had him on the show two separate times, and I asked him both times, and both times he was like, I don't know what went wrong. It just, nothing

ever clicked. Nothing ever fit. Like, on paper, it made sense. Stylistically, it made sense. You thought he was a guy that could again, portable, up and down the lineup, could play with a bunch of different guys, but it paper it made sense stylistically it made sense you thought he was a guy that could again portable up and down the lineup could play with a bunch of different guys but it never clicked you might think that it's a great fit but in reality it doesn't play out that way okay we're gonna go to david amber next and then we'll come back with uh some of the other news around the world of sports. I got a tweet or an X. What do you call a post on X?

You've never sounded older. And Kyle said, I better hear some Canadian men's national team talk this morning after their massive result versus France yesterday. Yeah, I guess it was a good result for Canada. Terrific result. Nil-nil draw with the number two team in the world. That's why a lot of people hate soccer, folks.

Yeah, really selling it here. That's why a lot of people hate soccer because a 0-0 draw is celebrated. A 0-0 draw in a friendly match. Riveting stuff. David Amber coming up next on the Alfred and 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 post game show

listen 4-6pm weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app 6.32 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. 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. Good tune, Greg. Yeah, I'm digging this one.

Yep. Good vibes on a Monday. Lots going on. Before we get to David Amber, Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host, I need to tell you that 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. We got a text in. Nobody at Joshua's age, Dakota Joshua's age, will take six by two and a half or three over three by four as he can easily make up the difference in years four to six unless he becomes a total bust in those years. That's what I just said.

He's 28 years old, though. I know, but 28 years old, 31, he's not. I know, but he's only 28 in human years. He's not 28 in hockey years because he got such a late start in the NHL. Yeah, but his body's 28. Look at Jonathan Marcheseau. It's part of the reason why he's been so good later in his career. Oh, yeah.

Dakota Joshua and Jonathan Marcheseau are very similar. Kind of the same guy. Basically the same. Very much the same guy. At any same. Very much the same guy. At any rate. I get what you're saying. I mean, part of that text, though, because I saw that one as well, I was like, yeah, that's kind of what we were pointing out.

Like, he could very well go somewhere else and be a bust because you go into the great unknown. You don't have your running mates. You don't have Conor Garland. The instant chemistry is bad. He's not super fleet of foot either. No, I mean, look, I think there's some. He loses a step.

He's out of the league. I think there's some real potential loses a step, he's out of the league. I think there's some real potential for Joshua to be a good, solid NHL power forward for the next three to four years, which is probably the length of contract you'd like. But you never know.

Like, things can change. The grass isn't greener always on the other side is something that definitely pertains to this. Do we have David on the line, by the way? Let's go now to the phone lines. David Amber,

Hockey Night Canada Sportsnet NHL host joins us here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, David. How are you? Jason, Mike. I'm doing well. How are you guys? We're good, thanks. How's Florida so far? It's hot. It's hot down here. It's just been

breaking news. Game one in the books. Game two goes tonight. I guess the other question was obvious when he'd ask is how much of a talking point is sergey bobrovsky been since that stellar performance on saturday night three nothing shutout victory yeah a big a big talking point and and you know most of us remember three four years ago he was in that conversation of what are the worst contracts in the nhl uh you know he signed that big what eight times ten deal or seven times ten whatever it was with florida

and he just looked lost and then you know last year he just came on so strong and had that incredible playoff run one of the best playoff runs we've seen a goalie have in many years and then he's just continued that momentum into this year and you know he's basically looking like a hall of fame goalie right on the cusp of 400 wins a two-time vesna winner and if you add to stanley cuff i think he's locked and loaded you know undeniably uh a hall of famer and he was amazing in game one and um that's the big talking point as you guys mentioned there's like what are you going to do is he in your head and i think that's the big talking point as you guys mentioned there's like what are you going to do is he in your head and I think it's a little premature to say you know goalie has a great

game and he's in the Oilers head but certainly they have to figure out a way to beat Bobrovsky and to make him a little bit more uneasy in his net so that'll be you know objective number one for the Oilers tonight. It would probably be unfair to credit that entire Florida Panthers win to Sergey Bobrovsky because I thought, especially in the third period, the Panthers played a pretty good team defense game. The Oilers only got seven shots on goal in that third period. Isn't that what the Panthers are kind of known for? They can choke the life out of a game, even if that game involves

some really good offensive players on the other team? Yeah, that's what Paul Maurice said. He said, I really liked our third period. The Oilers outplayed, outchanced, outshot. You know, they did everything better than Florida. But in the third period, as you mentioned, I mean, that was textbook suffocating the life out of the game and just really not giving the Oilers much, getting a puck in, basically playing almost what amounted to a 1-2-2.

They didn't forecheck incredibly hard, but they forechecked enough to throw the Oilers off their game to not be able to really retrieve the puck and exit their zone as quickly on the rush chances as they'd like. And there wasn't that much for Bobrovsky to do in the third period. That was textbook Florida Panther hockey we see why they're the top team in the NHL this year as far as goals against and expected goals against and allowing the fewest scoring chances etc so Bobrovsky was stellar early on and then Florida found their game and it sort of showcased what they can do with a lead And that's going to be a key part of this, guys.

You know, Edmonton only trailed for 51 minutes the entire Dallas series. They didn't have to chase the game. When they got themselves down and into a bad position, they quickly rebounded. Whereas, you know, they trailed for 55 minutes plus in game one alone of this series. So that's going to be one of the storylines. You know, we talked, a fewiled for 55 minutes plus in game one alone of this series. So that's going to be one of the storylines. You know, we talked, a few people in the media were talking like, wow, had Zach Hyman scored on that first shift when Bobrovsky coughed up the puck,

maybe this is a completely different game if Florida had to then chase Edmonton a little bit. So I think that's going to be really pivotal tonight. Scoring that first goal, being able to sort of play a more comfortable game if you're the Oilers, and have Florida a little bit on their heels as opposed to the other way around. We're speaking to David Amber, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. David joins us live from Florida at the Stanley Cup Final.

You mentioned that it's too early to panic, and he's not quite in the heads of the Oilers yet. But that being said, it was a shutout, something that doesn't happen to the Oilers very often. And it does put a little bit of focus on the head coach, Chris Knobloch, who has done a good job this postseason, tinkering with the lineups, pushing the right buttons at the right time. Do you expect some changes tonight going into Game 2 from Knobloch?

Yeah, he was asked about that yesterday, and he played his cards close to his vestige. He said, oh, yeah, we're contemplating everything. We're having those discussions. I mean, there's a few things at his disposal. You know, Corey Perry took a penalty. Corey Perry sat for a fair bit of game one. And there's, you know, chatter that what he's been doing essentially is between Carrick, Ryan, Perry, and Fogle.

He's sort of been interchanging the parts depending on, you know, his feel, his gut, and the situation in the series and what they need to do. And maybe Perry possibly draws out and maybe Carrick draws back in or Derek Ryan. You don't want to muck up things too much because the PK has been, you know, incredible. As we know, they haven't allowed a goal since game three of that Vancouver series. Think about how long ago that was. Right. So he definitely probably wants to make sure, you know, if you're going to pull a Fogle out, someone who does some of the PK,

you know, you have, you have a guy like Ryan jumping in, who does a lot of the PK. So there's going to be some, some possible movement up front. And then as far as the blue line is concerned, there is some chatter. Would you think about bringing Deharnais in? Such a heavy series and you have such a big, heavy guy. He's a guy, he'd be their biggest defenseman. And Broberg was very good, but do you give Broberg a seat? Do you give CeCe a seat? There are some options there to play so uh and then and then the biggest adjustment might not be about personnel but might be about how the lines look you know he

pretty quickly went with with 27 and 90 you know 29 and 97 together and do you ride those two together are you going to keep them separate and you know make paul marie's choose who barkov's line is going to try and essentially shut down or negate in some fashion. So there's a lot of different little tinkering that Chris Nagelblad can do. And as you mentioned, he's been very successful this postseason pulling the strings at the right time and making the right moves. So I think he has the confidence to kind of follow his gut and go from there.

Do you ever wonder how much drama behind the scenes there's been this season with Evander Kane and the Edmonton Oilers? I know he's got a sports hernia, and that's maybe just the excuse for the fact that he hasn't been as effective as he normally would be. But, you know, we had that whole – when was that, Halford? When Evander Kane was – was he kind of quasi-healthy scratched for a game after a game at Toronto? It was after the game at Toronto and then he played in Ottawa the next night. I think we had David on the show the day after too, yeah.

I mean, even him announcing the fact that he had that sports hernia at the end of the regular season was kind of controversial too. And you just – you wonder – I guess what i'm asking is like do you think there's stuff about the evander kane situation that hasn't been publicly reported i really don't know when you say the situation you're referring to the injury no just the fact that you know he hasn't been as effective as he might have been. And, you know, there was all these sorts of stories. Elliot was talking about them and about guys trying to get him going because they know how important he is for this team.

I mean, I remember coming into the series hearing all sorts of people saying, like, you know, they're going to need a guy like Evander Kane to play a big role, especially against a team like the Florida Panthers, who are so physical. If he was going, I just think it would be a major, major plus for the Oilers. But he's not going, and I don't even know if you can play him in the top six at this point. Well, Chris Knoblauch was asked about that, and almost in the exact same fashion, he just presented it like,

wow, what would it be like if you had evander kane playing the way he played two years ago in the battle of alberta and chris nablog went as far as to say yeah you know even when i got here back in november um you know that was a different evander kane he kind of maybe caught himself realizing he was maybe saying too much but you know they he alluded to the injury and we don't know all the specifics. Obviously, when Evander King talked about it, he kind of gave more specifics than we were used to hearing from a player this time of year.

But, yeah, he certainly hasn't been a consistent physical force. And the other thing that Knobloch, you know, he actually said, yeah, he used to score at will, which I was like, wow, okay. I don't know if he was scoring at will, but he certainly was a preeminent power forward who could score, and that just hasn't been the case this postseason. He just hasn't had as many looks, as many chances, and hasn't been as effective. Yeah, when you look at guys and you sort of say the margins are so close in the Stanley Cup playoffs, if we have one more guy playing up at that elite level,

that could be the difference. Certainly, that's a guy you look to. You know, Evander Kane at his best, as Brian Burke used to say, those guys are unicorns, right? Matthew Kachuk at his best, same thing. You can aggravate, agitate, but you can also score. You also have a lot of skill up front, and you're right about the top six. Putting a guy like Evander Kane at his peak on a line with Leon Dreisaitl,

my God, like that's a force. And that just hasn't been the case. You're absolutely right. I don't know if there's more to it. You know, Evander Kane recognizes at his career, I've sat and talked with him, and he recognizes at this stage in his career that this might be his best chance to get a Stanley Cup.

It's all lost on him. So you have to wonder if there's just a physical impediment there and he's doing what he can do under the circumstances. But, yeah, maybe there is more to this story and that's going to be one of the storylines that I imagine is going to get flushed out postseason. So how is the media down at the Stanley Cup final reacting to the news that cap friendly is going to go dark soon because the Washington Capitals has bought the site

dark day I mean I don't know about you guys I used to they're a great source whenever I'm like well how many years does this guy have left on his deal you know what's going on here who are the draft picks there you're like boom one click, one click away. It's a fantastic site and I can tell you it's met. The media is not too thrilled about it, understandably, but I get it. You want to have a competitive advantage. If you're the Washington Capitals,

yeah, we left out that infrastructure in place. Many of the teams, and certainly the Canadian teams with a bigger budget, have their special capologists and have their group that they feel comfortable with. But maybe the Washington Capitals were sitting there going, you know, this is a great source. Why all teams are able to use the source? Why don't we just take it away?

And we have a bit of a competitive advantage. It makes sense, but it's frustrating. And what I imagine we will see, and I'm hoping we will see, is someone walk into that space and take over that space. And if they can find a way to do as good a job as CapFriendly does, then it's great for us because, you know, there's going to be more mistakes made maybe in the media because you can always rely on CapFriendly, right, guys?

That's the one thing when you go on the internet, it's the wild, wild west, and you want to make sure your information is correct. I didn't hesitate when I took information from CapFriendly about, you know, players' contract status and how much space was left in the cap for teams, et cetera. I felt very comfortable. And now it's going to be like, uh-oh, where am I getting this from? And is this accurate?

So I hope someone else jumps into that space, but I totally understand it from the Washington Capitals standpoint. And it might give them a competitive advantage as they, you know, figure out contracts and signings and free agency and everything else moving forward. Game two of the Stanley Cup final goes tonight. Five o'clock puck drop our time.

Panthers look to take a 2-0 series lead while the Oilers look to get a split out of Florida. David, thank you very much for doing this this morning. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. We'll do this again next Monday. Thanks, guys. Really appreciate you having me on. We'll talk soon. Thank the game tonight. We'll do this again next Monday. Thanks, guys. Really appreciate you having me on.

We'll talk soon. Yeah, thank you. We appreciate it as well. That's David Amber, Sportsnet NHL host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I assume that the unspoken part of the Evander Kane conversation

is what Sam Bennett did in game one. I believe he finished with 11 hits. Yeah. He's a monster. And it's fine. You know what? The best part of all of it is, is that we can finally put to bed the 18-year-old Sam Bennett meme

and nickname because he has a new nickname now. What is that? Bennett the Menace. I like that, actually. Yeah, and that's exactly what he is. Yeah. It took a while to get there, but good on him. I thought it was 27-year-old Sam Bennett was going to be the new nickname.

That would have been a good punchline. So, guys, I had a thought, um, moving back to the Canucks. Yes. I had a thought about, we're talking about Dakota Joshua and what the Canucks are trying to do this off season. Is there a chance that they go out there and

essentially just try to rebuild the bottom six except for maybe Lindholm as the 3C because if you move on from Dakota Joshua yeah and you trade Connor Garland you can keep you can keep probably Lindholm and Zdorov you can certainly can. And I understand the notion of putting aside the money for the key guys because Lindholm is a center. He's a right shot center. And Zdorov is a big towering blue liner

in a free agent market that you when we were doing the Friedman report from earlier those guys are going to be highly sought after. And the Canucks are probably feeling that right now whether this is whether you agree with this or not that those guys are going to be highly sought after. And the Canucks are probably feeling that right now, whether you agree with this or not, this is their window to try and win because they've got Thatcher Demko on a good contract

and then because they've got Quinn Hughes on a good contract. Now, they've already committed to Petey, so he needs to obviously play a factor in this. But if they were to trade, again, if they don't sign, they've already got a lot of cap space. If they were to trade Garland, that would also help them bring in a winger for Petey. I'm very torn on Garland right now because...

And a lot of people will be yelling, like, he was their best forward in the playoffs, right? I'm like, and I get that. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. it's not just that he was so good in the playoffs it was that you and i went on the air and said that the head coach rick talk it is should be using this postseason as a training ground as a prove it to who can play and who can't who can i ride with moving forward who can't i and in game seven elimination second round edmonton oilers he's putting conor garland over the boards every second shift because he was driving it when other guys everyone was tired everyone was beat up it

was you know game 13 they were running on fumes garland's the guy that's going out time and time and time again. It's very difficult for me, even with my logical brain understanding that he might be a periphery guy in terms of cap hit, position, age, and could you move him? He was also a driver last year. And I think in the case of him and Joshua. He's not a goal scorer though. I know his limitations.

He doesn't score three goals in 13 games. I know all his limitations. I know that a lot of it is probably, honestly, there's probably more to the eyeball than there is to the metrics. Like if you watch him play, you're probably more enamored than if you actually look at the production. I get it. He doesn't have a great shot.

He's not even remotely close to being a perfect hockey player. He's undersized. He doesn't have a great shot. But he plays out of his skin routinely. And in the playoffs, which again was supposed to be the place where this guy's cutting it, this guy's not. This guy's one we ride with. This guy's not. Garland was right at the top of that list right at the top and it's tough because you do run the risk of losing a little bit of your identity when you start moving out guys that are

heart and soul yeah i agree and in the case of joshua a guy that the coach knows you can issue a challenge to and he will rise to it because that was one of the big narratives of Dakota Joshua's season. What if part of the challenge was like, you know, you're in a contract. You're Dakota. Come on, man. Well, okay. On that note, the.

He comes back to K, he gets paid, comes back to Cam, like 40 pounds overweight. The key isn't. All right, boys, let's do it. But okay. All joking aside. When's lunch? All joking aside, which is funny, but all joking aside,

sometimes the key isn't to find a hungry guy and feed him. It's to find a hungry guy, let him go, and then find another hungry guy that's going to give you that. You said we wanted to eat pucks. You didn't mean literally. Yeah, no, but that's what I'm saying is you don't want anyone. It's a sad state of affairs that I'm saying this, but you do not want anyone that's content.

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to parse Patrick Alvin's words too much. I don't think this meant that the Canucks were definitely going to get rid of Dakota Joshua. But when he said like, you know, our job is to go out and find the next Dakota Joshua, but that's 100% true. And the hockey ops department with the Vancouver Canucks, all of a sudden from a media and a fan perspective has a lot of trust and they're being given a lot of leeway.

And, you know, before when it was Jim Benning running the show, having cap space was terrifying because you're like, oh, how are you going to make this worse? Right. when it was Jim Benning running the show, having cap space was terrifying. Because you're like, oh, how are you going to make this worse? Right. With the contracts that you sign or the players that you add through trades. And more often than not, the moves the Canucks made were actually self-inflected wounds. We don't need to go through them.

There's been a bunch of them. Some of the moves paid out, paid off for sure. But, um, right now, all I'm saying is that there is more trust in this hockey ops pro, uh, you know, operation like they, you know, you trust that they've they're, they're covering all their options and they're not getting too, you know, focused or obsessed on one particular move or one particular player that they that they want that they've got backup plans but this is this is a massive test for for this group because now they're coming in with not only expectations but like proof of concept so you've

got a you've got it they play a certain way in theory, it should be easier to plug the holes when you've got a team that actually had an identity. So I was just thinking out loud with that whole thing. You know, I know they value centers way more than wingers. And I know they, if they're going to value wingers, it'll probably be those elite wingers, like that Jake Gensel type. So I just looked at this lineup and I said, you know, I know they've already got cap space, but a lot of that is going to get eaten up by resigning Hronik if that happens. And I know, you know, obviously they would like to bring Zdorov back.

Obviously they would like to bring Lindholm back. And obviously they would like to add another top six winger. So how are they going to do all that without actually shedding some cap space? And for me, you know, if you're not, if you're going to move on from Dakota Joshua, maybe you should just move on from Connor Garland at the same time. I don't know. Coming up on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650,

we are going to turn our attention to the National Basketball Association. Game two of the NBA finals was last night. Game two, much like game one, also went to the Boston Celtics. They now have a two nothing lead in the finals. They are now 14 and two in the playoffs. They have won nine consecutive playoff games. Gary Washburn, NBA writer for the Boston Globe is going to join us. We'll talk to him about the Celtics team, two dud games from Kyrie Irving in Boston, if he can turn it around or if we are kind of seeing an early coronation of this year's NBA champion,

you're listening to the Halford and breath show on sports net six 50.