Halford & Brough in the Morning - Ranking Jealousy For Other Canadian Markets Winning A Cup

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the latest NHL playoff news with Sportsnet's Luke Gazdic (3:00), they revisit classic hockey series from an analytics angle with NHL Network's Mike Kelly (27:00), plus they rank which Canadian NHL teams they would LEAST like to see win the Stanley Cup (45:00). 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.

7-0-1! 701 On a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Kyle from Grow Sports at 650. Had quite a Fiesta Friday track. This is like a movie from the 60s or something that's showing Monte Carlo. It actually said this was the 70s. Really?

Okay, early 70s. It literally does a description. Early 70s. Driving into Monte Carlo. Top down. That's right. Smoking a cigarette. Yeah.

These are the healthy ones. You used to be able to do that. Three out of four doctors recommend this cigarette. Oh, this is a good way to bring it. I started actually watching a show. Oh, okay. And it's not about sports. four doctors recommend this cigarette um oh that's this is a good way to bring it i started actually watching a uh a show oh okay and it's not about sports it's not the another sopranos uh well it's got sopranos vibes for sure okay uh it's a australian black comedy drama called mr in between mr in between yeah now it's gotranos vibes because his job is he's a hitman for hire.

A lot of hitman stuff out there. Yeah. A lot of hitman stuff. And you know what? A lot of them, they have a moral quandary. Yeah. They don't know if they want to be hitmen. See, the interesting thing is he doesn't have so much a moral quandary, but the stresses of his job bleed over into his everyday life where he's like a doting father.

Oh, yeah. Living two lives almost. What I like about it is it's got a real rawness to it. Like he's not a super refined hitman. Right. You know? Yeah.

So it's actually got a... It's like if I was to... Refined hitman? Yeah. He doesn't kill them at the symphony or something? No, no, but he's not like a tactical genius. It's not like an ex-Navy SEAL.

Oh, he just goes in there. He's like, I've been hired to do a job. Unfortunately for you. Now, spoiler and also a warning, both. There's some very, very graphic death scenes. Oh, okay. Well, let's get to AJ now. What better way to set up our next guest

he joins us every friday here on the halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 it's aj from aj's pizza on east broadway morning aj that was very fitting brough but but hey hey uh all four of you have to come monday night for game seven i'm'm just saying. Oh, you're going there, are you? I think a game seven is probably going to happen. No. I mean, you know what? I think they had no business winning game three. Oh, right.

You're talking Rangers-Panthers. Sorry. That one's over. That one's over. Sorry. I thought you were talking about the Stars and the Oilers. How are you feeling about your beloved Rangers, by the way? You know what? I didn't – I mean, I've hated every third period, I think,

for the last five games, right? I mean, I thought they played – I thought that was a good game by them until the third period. It's just been the story, and I don't know if they're just – I mean, Florida's just – I think you said it this morning. I mean, there's nothing pretty about how they play, but they just play and win. So in order for there to be a Game 7 on Monday,

the Rangers will have to win on Saturday. But even before that happens on Saturday, AJ, we actually haven't asked us anything for you and the restaurant. We've got a couple of listeners wanting to know if you guys will be showing the Champions League final on Saturday afternoon. It's a noon kickoff between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund. Your chance to go from being a Rangers bar to a soccer bar.

100%. Yeah, and that's perfect because that's going to lead us into the Euro Cup that's coming a couple weeks away. Beautiful. Okay, so this Saturday, if you want to check it out, AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. And of course, if you want to go in on Sunday to watch some sports, they've got happy hour all day on Sunday. AJ, thanks for doing this,

bud. We really appreciate it. Hopefully the Rangers can force a game seven. Yeah, let's see. Hopefully, too. Take care, guys. Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

Go check them out this weekend. As I mentioned, they're going to be showing the Champions League on Saturday followed by Rangers-Panthers game six Saturday night. And then, of course, Sunday, anything you want to watch on their multiple TVs, it's happy hour all day at AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Also, we're going to be giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's today for the best Ask Us Anything. The listeners have been good today.

Submissions have been strong the first hour of the program. A reminder, if you want to win the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, the best pizza in the world. That's right. I said it. The world. All you got to do is $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, the best pizza in the world. That's right. I said it. The world. All you got to do is send an ask us anything. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650.

Hashtag it AUA. Ask us quite literally anything and put a pizza emoji into your text. You'll be entered into the grand prize contest, and we're going to give away the gift card at 830 today. Okay. It's the Edmonton oilers and the dallas stars tonight from the american airline center in dallas the series is tied to all and with that we'll bring on luke gazdik to talk about this series good morning luke how are you doing good fellas

just uh cutting some tape this morning how is uh how are you guys doing over there? We're doing well. What are you cutting tape of? Right now, it's young Philip Broberg of the Oilers who played his first playoff game last game four. So checking out how the young kid did a little more in depth. What did you think of the moves that Chris Knobloch made making three changes and it wasn't because of injury. He just felt like the Oilers needed some fresh bodies in there. Man, you got to give him credit. Pretty ballsy.

You know what? Before game three, he had taken Ryan McLeod out and I was pretty vocal against it. I thought if there was going to be a tweak, just move him to the wing. I think he plays a better wing than he does center, but he decided to take him right out of the lineup, get some fresh legs in.

But in saying that, I've learned to trust almost every move that Chris Knobloch has made. It's been one of his strengths that I've really enjoyed watching since he got hired is I feel like he has a really good pulse and sense of his team and who's going and who's not, who plays well with each other, who doesn't, who potentially could play well with each other. He seems to just, you know, really understand and have a, you know, good sense of what his team needs. And he goes in there last game. And I remember, you know, we get the lineups live too, right?

So as we're doing the pregame show, the warmups are going. And as line rushes go, we get texts or, you know, producer comes and tells us what the lines are. And he puts them up. And I just remember looking at them going, what is going on here? It was a whole new two-second line, or second and third line. He puts two guys out of the press box in Ryan McLeod and Corey Perry that combined for zero points with their second-leading scorer in dry saddle

and puts young Philip Broberg in on the blue line for Vinny Desjardins, whose birthday it was. And Broberg hadn't played a playoff game this year to the date, spent the whole back half of the year at Bakersfield. And everything worked out for him. Like the McLeod-Drysdale-Perry line scores a goal to get the boys back on the board. And then I thought the young kid did a good job. So I've kind of learned to trust uh

knoblock he seems to um have a way better understanding than i do uh let's talk about the injury to chris tannev he was seen uh in his trusty walking boot um and you know most people knowing chris tannev are sitting there going i think he's going to play like chris tannev is one of the toughest players ever in the NHL in terms of pain threshold can you take us behind the scenes a little bit about with these types of injuries and what Chris Tanev might be going through with the trainers what are some of the tools that the trainers use to get these players ready for action even though they're they might be a little banged up? Yeah, good question.

So I think the biggest question that I got asked about Tanev was that Shotcut snapped at him at the airport, and people were wondering why he was in a public airport and asking if it was real. When you fly out of Edmonton, whether you're on the Oilers or you're on a visiting team, you don't go to the private airport if you need to clear customs. Everyone goes through regular Edmonton International Airport. visiting team. You don't go to the private airport. If you need to clear customs, you, everyone goes through regular international Edmonton international airport. You pull up at the side of the drop-off, just like everyone else.

It's kind of a gong show to be honest, when you're walking around with McDavid and these guys, that's where that famous McDavid picture came out, where the fans were squeezing them a couple years back. That was amazing. So everyone has to go through regular international airport. I think it's just, I think they have a private customs officer that handles the team. So, I mean, that's real, first and foremost.

But with Tanny, I mean, I've never broken my foot in the playoffs like that, where it's time constraints on getting you back. But I have broken my foot twice before. And, I mean, right now it would be 24 7 with with the training staff so you'd be on some sort of meds whether it's voltaire and just to keep the swelling down you also use this machine called a game ready that has different attachments so it's essentially an ice machine that you fill mostly with ice, top it off with water, slowly melts, you have settings on it. And there's different attachments that come out of it. So whether it's your shoulder,

your wrist, your elbow, this one would have a foot attachment, and it's compressed, it wraps around your foot. And it pumps in cold water in and out of the basically the tank that's beside you. And it goes on 25 minute cycles so it's 20 20 on 40 off and you literally sleep in that thing he would be living in that game ready machine right now and then once you get to the rink it's tons of modalities whether it's ultrasound or laser whatever whatever the trainers choose i feel like you know i was going to say one over the other but every single training staff that i've been a part of has a little bit of different ways that they run things and different machines that they like uh one thing for uh foot also was pool

i remember when i was in jersey uh to rehab my foot we were in the pool a lot it's you get in there you um basically just for mobility you're you get in there, you, um, basically just for mobility, you're, you're in there moving your feet around and building up strength. Um, so there's certainly different things you could do. Uh, but he would be in and around the train. I bet you they have a trainer assigned to them right now that is essentially walking around with him. Right. Yeah. It's, it's incredible. The, the types of things that they do. And at the end of the day, is it, you just like shoot it up too and stuff like that. Like that's super old school. If it's a broken bone, you can't shoot anything up.

Shooting up stuff works for muscles, nerves, tendons. If it's a broken bone, there is not a lot you can do other than allow it to heal with time. And like I said, when you don't have time on your side right now, if you can get that foot in a boot, you essentially tie it up as tight as your skate goes. You pretty much cut off the circulation. So you essentially can't feel it. And it's all about your pain threshold. I played one game, one full game on it. And it was some of the worst pain that I've had in my life. And I do not play as much as Chris Tanev.

It's really how much you can handle. Because you can't put that much weight on it. A lot of the weight is going on your other foot. And for a defenseman that has to cap up and pivot and play defense against Connor McDavid, I mean, that's a task. And me and Kev made a comment in the green room as we're watching it when he didn't come back last game like you guys know tanny too if he can't go like you know that it's pretty bad i thought his foot fell off like i thought that was the only way he wouldn't be

able to play if if he is not playing from something you know that 98 of the nhl is is isn't playing either so i hope we see him out there tonight honestly like he's been such a such a key player for that team and i'd hate to i'd hate to see him have to sit out because something like that i'm gonna put you on the on a bit of a spot here um have you have you um have you noticed a stylistic difference between the Western Conference hockey and the Eastern Conference hockey? Because for me, generally speaking, the East has seemed more wide open than the West has. And I wonder how that style is going to, what's going to emerge once they get to the Stanley Cup final. Yeah, great question.

It's something I've spoken on a couple times just from experience. So I'll lay it out like this. I mean, this is almost eight years ago now, but it's still relevant to today's NHL. I played three years in Edmonton, and even back then, it was big, heavy, I want to say slower hockey so all our breakouts were d to d hinge back to d everyone is back in the neutral zone you come up as a unit it's described as heavy and it's Daryl Sutter hockey yeah Daryl Sutter hockey where it's

everyone was kind of taking that LA Kings model that he coached there. I signed in Jersey, and I went to New Jersey, and from the first game, I'm not lying to you guys, I could not keep up. with a little bit of time, John Hines was sending wingers to speed. So we were taught to just blow the zone and it was chips off the glass to speed. So anything that was turned over, we were just, we were gone, right? And so everything is a little more wide open. It's more based on transition. It's quick speed, it's regroups. And to be honest, I never got the hang of it it's it was

a year in jersey that was really tough for me um that was actually the year i broke my foot my first game i played and ended up in the minors and i was up and down and i couldn't score i wasn't scoring so that didn't help and i i could just never really get used to the pace so there's a little bit of a subtle podcast plug but on my pod this summer i had ryan strome on and i asked him because he went from new york to anaheim and i asked him the same thing i told him that equation that i went through and he if anyone wants to go back and listen it's he describes it as real like he it was an adjustment for him too in the way he had to manage it as a center iceman but he described it i believe as night

and day like it was almost like you're playing in two different leagues so it'll be interesting to watch i would say that dallas plays the most east coast style eastern conference style edmonton is the one team that i think can play a little bit of both but there were certainly some teams left in the western conference that i think if they would have got through would have had a hard time with that pace because if you watch Florida it is about as wide open as it gets so I think it's going to be a fantastic Stanley Cup final no matter who gets through but I will tell you from experience it's no joke it's almost like you're playing two different you know types or styles of hockey. Is there a superior style? Because, you know, I know Daryl Sutter won two Stanley Cups with the LA Kings playing that style.

But I also remember when Pittsburgh and San Jose matched up in the Stanley Cup final and everyone was talking about the Sharks and their big, heavy forecheck. And then the Penguins were so good at their breakouts that the Sharks forecheck never had time to get to them. Like they were like, we're coming. Oh, the puck's out of the zone because there was a lot of those.

It was almost like they were flipping the puck out and, you know, putting the puck into space. And it just like, it was very impressive hockey. And I can't remember how long that series went six games, but it was, it was clear right from the beginning that the Penguins were the better team. Yeah. And you know what, you're right.

It's, it's just a lot of high flips. It's guys chasing pucks. And, um, what you do in playing that style is you give up a lot. You end up giving up a lot. And I think you can even see it between two teams right now

who play that style in New York and Florida. Like, if New York didn't have Igor Shosturkin right now, this would be a sweep. I honestly think they would have probably swept this series because if you choose to play that style of wide open, you also give up a lot. So if you're playing a team that is pretty opportunistic and has a lot of skill up front,

a la, you know, Dallas or Edmonton, I was going to say the Oilers, but Dallas even more so, a team that if you give them something, they will capitalize on it. And the teams are getting better and better the further you go in the playoffs. So you do give up a lot.

And I don't know if one is is better than the other i would say that the west is tougher to play in but it's impossible not to include the florida panthers in that category because they're about as tough as they come they are the perfect almost like hybrid combination of east west hockey in terms of we can beat you with skill we'll beat you with will if uh if we're losing we'll drag you into the fight um but i don't know if one's superior than the other i would just say that the west is a little harder on your on your body i just feel like it outside of even through the regular season outside of florida boston you can even throw toronto in there if you want in terms of hits and stuff.

The physicality drops off for a number of teams. I just think in the West, it's almost a non-negotiable for every team. We're speaking to Luke Gazdik, Sportsnet NHL analyst, former NHLer here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Luke, prior to getting you on, we were talking to our buddy AJ. He has a pizza place

locally, and he's a huge Rangers fan. He's really hoping that that series will get to game seven on Monday in order to do that the Rangers are going to have to one win game six on Saturday and to try and do something differently and I think that might be a tall order for them because the sentiment that I got from a lot reading a lot in the aftermath the last night's game was that the Rangers might have played some of the best hockey of the series. They had a lead.

They did a lot of things right. Chris Kreider finally got going, but at the end of the day, the best regular season team might've thrown their best punch at the Panthers and still lost. Is that a fair assessment for what's going on here? That maybe like what the Rangers got just isn't good enough to beat the Panthers here. Yeah.

I'm sorry to your buddy, AJ, but I think this series is toast. I look at Sam Bennett emptying that goal last night as a bit of a microcosm to how the series has gone. There is a 50-50 puck at the red line. New York has their goalie pulled, and it's Zibanejad versus Bennett and Zibanejad tiptoes in tries to kind of push his stick in there gets you know clipped maybe a little high in the chin throws his head back and Bennett just grabs the puck from him manhandles him goes down on a one-on-three finishes it, and then someone runs into him and he just bullies them

and stares them down and no one does anything. That is a microcosm for a player just wanting it more and a team just wanting it more. I think, like I said before, without Igor, this thing would have already been over. They look like they're smothering the Rangers, and I think it would be a different series if the Rangers' top guys were going. And I think it would be a different series if the Rangers top guys were

going. And that includes, you know, their power play Panarin's advantage ad. These guys were outstanding throughout the regular season, help them win a president's trophy, but they just aren't built for the playoffs. Like this Florida Panthers team looks like they are just not going to take

no for an answer. And if I, if I, you know, go back to it and I see that Bennett clip, that says everything to me. It's a team and a player that is like, you are not taking this puck from me. You are not winning this game. And if you are, we are going to absolutely bully you. And that's how they lost two games so far far but i don't think they deserve to lose either and to me i man if new york would have won that then i think we're going seven but i i don't think this thing's getting back to msg well the disparity in the way if you want to say like let's call them

the two most prominent forwards for each team and let's say it's kachuk and uh bennett for the panthers and then it's Zbigniew and Panarin for the Rangers I mean you're what you just said is the perfect example of that like it's two guys in Zbigniew and Panarin that have been on the perimeter way too much and then it's two guys in Kachuk and Bennett that love nothing more than to get their noses dirty 100% it's just it's it's such a contrast in in the way they've played and the players they are. I mean, Panarin had some chances in the first. He consistently looks for chances on the power play,

but Zibanejad has just been non-existent. And if I want to build a team to win a couple of playoff series, man, like Matty Kachuk, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhage, even Barkov, who is first in the NHL in the playoffs in loose puck battle wins. You can't get the puck off him. If he loses it, he's getting it back. And if he gets it on his stick, you're not getting it from him.

And I just think in terms of team toughness and the way they play, man, that is a super tough team and it's going to be tough for anybody to beat them in a seven-game series. Where do you get those loose puck battle stats? We have a couple sources.

Mostly, well, I get a lot of stuff. You realize we work for the same company, right? Do I have those sources at all? I know. Honestly, Steve Fallon, I got to lot of stuff. You realize we work for the same company, right? Do I have those sources at all? I know. Honestly, so Steve Fallon, I got to give Steve Fallon a shout. He just celebrated 25 years at Sportsnet. We have an email for a stats team at Sportsnet that you can ask any question,

any time, any place, and within five minutes, you're getting an answer back. Wow. I also use a site ran by Mike Kelly called Sportlogic, which is outstanding. So between those two, sorry, I didn't mean to say sources like I have them and they're not open to the public. Sportlogic is certainly one that's open to the public. It's a fantastic website. I have it open right now for just clipping Broberg shifts. And so between Steve and the team at Sportsnet stats and, and a couple, um, a couple more analytical sites,

that's where I get a lot of that stuff. Um, who usually shows up as one of the best, uh, I guess, puck battle winners. Like left in the playoffs. Yeah. Or just in general, is there a guy that's always at the top uh zach hyman is up in the top three all the time uh he's the first person that comes to mind in terms of uh loose puck recoveries battle wins four check they call it four check success percentage so if a puck gets dumped in and it's 50 50 he's coming out with out with it like 80% of the time. He's one of the first people I think of when I think of loose battle wins. If I look at Vancouver, J.T. Miller was always up there.

He was a guy who, on top of Barkov and Hyman and these guys, that are consistently very, very hard on the puck and tough to get the puck off. Yeah, that seems to matter a lot on the power play too. Like I think it's one of the more underrated things on the power play is the puck recoveries and then you reset. And I think the Canucks had a real issue with that. You know, if they would manage to get set up and they had a chance and let's say the puck, there was a rebound or they missed the net

because they missed the net a lot and the puck was loose, they would really have trouble recovering that puck and oh there's even a more detailed there's um it's it's rebounds recovered as well so you can have rebounds recovered and you can do it even strength and you can do a power play so we can get as detailed as you want but you're right like that's a huge from power play coaches and head coaches that was from a guy who sat there and watched the power play being coached a lot and sat in a lot of power. That's one of the funny things. I think it's funny.

People are like, who are you to comment on the power play? You never played. I'm like, man, I sat in power play meetings for 11 years with some of the best coaches in the world, with some of the best players in the world, and just watched and observed. I was a sponge. I loved learning about hockey, and I loved sitting front row to some of the best players in the world playing the power play and then listening to them talk about it on the bench and in the dressing room about what options they had and what they were looking for.

So just because I can't physically go out there and do it doesn't mean that I can't speak about it, but coaches, that was one of their number one thing is if we take a shot or if there's a loose puck, we have an extra man on the ice. We should never be losing that battle or a race to it. Well,

Luke, I'll tell you this. Your broadcast game is strong because your segues are incredibly on point. Mike Kelly's the next guest on our show. So very well done there. Perfect intro for him, and a perfect hit today. Thank you very much for doing this. Enjoy the game tonight. Enjoy the games this weekend. We'll do this again next

week. Thanks, fellas. Tell Kelz I said hi. Will do. Thanks, buddy. Luke Gazdik here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. As he mentioned, coming up on the Halford & Brough show, Mike Kelly's going to join us. Vancouver guy, Vancouver native, now doing work with sport logic

and now he's a he's a big tv star he's on tnt biz and grats and ace and he broke down the 1987 canada cup very cool very cool so we'll talk to mike about that coming up next on the halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 hey it's jamie dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 7.33 on a Fiesta Friday here on the Halifax Rough Show on Sportsnet 650. Jason, your dance moves are muy caliente. He's got shakers in his hands. That's what it is, yeah. I believe they're called rockets.

We hope that's what it is. Rockets, yeah, yeah. Take notes, high school people. No, it's the little shaker eggs. The little shaker eggs? Yeah. Yeah hope that's what it is. Rockets. Take notes, high school people. No, it's the little shaker eggs. The little shaker eggs. Yeah. Yeah. That's a problematic.

It's my protein shake. Yeah. Remember when those things had a moment? Remember it was like that plastic container, and then it had this sort of like sphere-shaped metal ball? Yeah, they're still there. Do they still do them? Yeah.

I don't know. I'm not big on the protein shakes. I would take them and then not work out. It was bulking season for me. I've been drinking nothing but milkshakes. It's got to be after your workout. It's very filling. I can't even go to the gym. Pre or

post workout. What if I took the workout part out? What about if you're just too lazy to make dinner? That's right to make dinner that's right wow it's 5 000 calories in a bottle that's awesome my favorite was when they said chocolate milk was really good for you you're like oh my god i guess you have chocolate milk after a workout or a game yeah great marketing this is amazing amazing marketing nate bargatze has an awesome stand-up bit on chocolate milk where he came home one day with like six liters of chocolate milk and his

wife was like why are you buying all this chocolate milk? And he's like, are you supposed to drink it after you work out? And she's like, but you don't even work out. He's like, but I was going to start. I needed to get all the material. Motivation. You're listening to the Halverd and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Halverd and Breff in the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda. Pacific Honda is North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program. Mike Kelly from NHL Network and TNT now. Big television star is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime is great for both pre- and post-workout.

You can get some at a liquor store near you, or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. To the phone lines we go. Mike Kelly joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Michael. How are you? Hey, I'm doing great. How are you? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. So I got to gotta ask how cool was

it to stand next to wayne gretzky and analytically break down his uh and a lot of other stars' appearances in the 1987 canada cup live on television uh look i i hope to have a long and and successful career i i don't know what's going to beat that. I really don't. That might have been it. So it was incredible. Like, you know, it's getting – I didn't – I've never met Wayne until I came down here at the start of this playoff series to do the work with TNT.

How incredibly, you know, nice he is and gracious and just takes time to tell great stories. But it was, you know, it was obviously nerve-wracking the first time I went up there on TV with him, the other guys as well. But, I mean, it's mainly with Wayne Gretzky. Like, I remember as a kid playing, you know, hockey in the driveway like we all did,

and I'd be Pavel Bure and Paola Apontane and all these guys in the early 90s. I was never Wayne Gretzky because in my nine-year-old head, I was like, well, that's just ridiculous. Nobody could be Wayne Gretzky. So breaking that stuff down with him, it was really cool. You mentioned a couple times, if you could see numbers on anything, you'd love to see that. And,

uh, we have really great people at sport logic that were able to get that together pretty quick. And, uh, and yeah, kind of a pinch me moment. So how many,

take us through the process of, okay, we gotta, we gotta watch the 1987 Canada cup and collect the stats from that. What kind of a process, how many people does it take? And do, do they just have to sit through the games and, you know, like there's a process that they go through to take the stats that they want?

So we have a computer vision tracking system at SportLogic. So we take in the broadcast feed of those games and we have the roster information and we have technology that detects the player jersey numbers. And it's actually pretty cool. Like through machine learning, it learns over a number of games to recognize players, the way they shoot, the way they skate, the same way that you are watching on TV,

that you don't need to know what a guy's number is to know who he is once you've seen him enough. And so we've trained it on all the different types of stats and metrics that we track. And there are people there as well. There's a human element to it, but we were able to turn it around in kind of less than a couple days. And then it was just a matter of going through all the information and kind of seeing what stands out the most. And for the people that didn't see your head on TNT, what stood out the most? So Wayne's a great playmaker, we know that, right?

You don't need analytics for that, but the one thing I always look to for guys, the thing about assists when you talk about playmakers is that you need the guy to score the goal, right? You might set a guy up 10 times for great chances if he doesn't score it's not really reflecting your playmaking ability but if you complete passes into the slot the home plate slot area um that's that's a massive driver of assists all the top guys that get assists do that at a high rate uh and i was saying on the on the broadcast that that kucherov this past year unbelievable year right 100 assists led the league in that category and he averaged about four per

game so that's today's nhl where there is such an emphasis on shot quality and guys trying to do this all the time back in the 80s there was not such an emphasis on shot quality it was a lot more just shooting pucks and rebounds and that kind of thing. So Kucherov today, for a game, historic playmaking season, in those two games against a very tough opponent, Wayne had 22. So we averaged 11 per game in those two games. Obviously, he sets up the winning goal with one to Mario Lemieux.

That got a pretty big reaction from himself and the other people on the panel. It's just something that jumps off the page. In those two games, the next highest number was Mario with eight. I mean, I don't want to take anything away from Wayne Gretzky here. This is my favorite hockey tournament of all time, 1987, and I even have a long rambling story about the Canada Cup that the listeners make fun

of. So, um, but I, but when you watch, remember when, remember when they started showing the Summit Series games during the lockout? Yeah. And I started watching those and I watched them with obviously the present the present time's eye, and I'm thinking, like, that would get you benched today.

That would get you benched today. That would get you benched today. How different are the defensive systems, or how different were they back then? And do you think Gretzky would have a tougher time in today's NHL making all those slot passes? Well, I mean, he was ahead of his time, right? So there's that element to it. I don't think Wayne Gretzky would have had much of a tougher time doing anything in any era because of how

great he was. He was so far ahead of everybody else in the way that he saw the game and the way that he thought the game. The funny thing is that if you go back, even the Summit Series in 72, but the Canada Cup as well in 87, if you watch the way that the Soviets played, that's more like what you see today in terms of teams hanging on to pucks, really emphasizing puck possession, not dumping it in quite as much. And a lot of it came from that.

Like that was literally what inspired what you see today in terms of that value of puck possession. So, yeah, it was a different game. But, you know, he was just so far ahead of everybody else in not only how he thought the game, but what he could do with a puck. I don't think he would have struggled too much in today's game. He was incredible. Think about clutching and grabbing as well, right? Yeah, no, they had to deal with a lot of that too.

Do you think that was the greatest duo that's ever played, him and Lemieux together? Has there ever been a duo that has been as good as they were? I don't think so. I think most people's Mount Rushmore, and put them in whatever order you want, it's probably got Wayne and Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux as the top three, right? Mm-hmm.

So those are two of the guys. I mean, it was, even just as a fan, like I was four during that tournament living in South Africa. I didn't know what hockey was, let alone watch it, that tournament. So I watched this all, you know, after the fact, but watching those two guys play together, like it was, it was really cool. And it was really cool a few days ago just to go back and kind of revisit some of that stuff.

We're speaking to Mike Kelly from NHL Network. You see him on the TNT broadcast during the Stanley Cup playoffs here in the Helford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Puck battles, Mike. We've talked a lot about them today. We spent a lot of time discussing it in the intro. We just talked about it with Luke Gazdik. Luke says hi, by the way.

And we also... Love Luke. I've noticed that one of the things that you guys have done on the broadcast is really try and break down the importance of puck battles and try and figure it out from a statistical lean so two things one it's been a big uh plus for the Dallas Stars in this series so far so walk us through who's been good for Dallas and why and then on the back half uh can you explain to us the process that goes into tracking this stuff because it seems like puck battles is almost

anecdotal like he's really good on the walls and he's maybe not but there's got to be a way to like quantify this stuff so you actually get an idea numbers wise of who's good at this yeah it is one of the the metrics that we track at sport logic so um i don't think it'll surprise you i mean every year uh alex barkov is up there um there's there's some guys that you would kind of think of, John Tavares, that are just really good protecting pucks, winning battles, those kind of things.

On the walls, all of that. And we've talked a lot about it on the broadcast because, like, number one, it's an important thing, certainly in the playoffs, and certainly as you go on longer in the playoffs. The last couple of Dallas wins were the direct result of a puck battle win. And, you know, we were talking going into game four that in game three,

Dallas won 80% of the puck battles in the third period, including on the game-winning goal. So it is a big thing. I was talking to a coach yesterday, and that topic came up, and he said, you know, puck battles are everything in the playoffs. So there's so many of them and they're really important. So yeah, it's,

it's a big thing in the series in terms of, of the one that I'm covering with, with Dallas and Edmonton, you know, dry saddles been in a lot of them and he's won a lot of them. Jamie, Ben, Tyler Sagan,

Joe Pavelski. Like there's a perfect example of a guy who's not putting up the kind of points that you might be used to seeing or the goals, but he's still affecting the game in other ways. So Dallas, yeah, through the four games of the series, they've won more puck battles in all games. It's just something to kind of keep an eye on as you go in this one. How much neutral possession is there when you're tracking these games?

Because we played the audio from Paul Maurice this morning where he was talking about the Florida Panthers were only credited, is credited the right word? I don't even know. But they only had one giveaway statistically last night. And he laughed and he said, well, it's funny. I don't view it that way. I view it that when we go into a board battle and we quote

unquote have the puck meaning they're battling for it we expect to come out of it with the puck and retain possession whereas I looked at it and I thought going into a battle theoretically it should be neutral like two guys are battling for the puck no one has it at the moment so I would classify it as neutral possession but I don't know if that's how you guys go about it. Is that a thing that exists, neutral possession? Yeah, so when we're tracking puck possession time, for instance, a team might have 25 minutes in a game and the other team might have 24. And then there's a lot of time where nobody has the puck on their stick. So it would fall into that category.

And then we would look at loose puck recoveries. And there's a lot of those in a game. So like a good game for a forward, you know, they might have about 20. So those are just available pucks. Now, the way that Paul Maurice is talking about, and there's a lot of things you can do with it, right? And coaches will have their preferred way of viewing something and may ask their staff to track it that way if you ask if you got you know 32 head coaches in the nhl in a room uh sequestered them and asked them one by one

what's a scoring chance you get 32 different answers right so there's uh there's a lot of different ways to do it but there's definitely um in terms of what we track, what you would call kind of that neutral time where nobody has the puck on their stick and then it's, you know, whoever gets it next would be a loose puck recovery. What's a stat that like in this series for sure so um that's one in terms of kind of people who do the work that the type of work that i do um and i've talked about this in some segments that i've done and stuff like it's kind of polarizing about face-offs and and some analytics leaning people would say that they don't really matter because the truth of it is there's not a a strong correlation in terms of winning games and winning more face-offs than your opponent but that's a slippery slope to me where i think they do matter um because certainly in terms of

situationally they can matter a lot but i think what happens next is more important than the face-off itself um that's another thing I've talked with coaches about, where you can win a draw in the offensive zone. If you can't generate a chance, well, who really cares? And you can win a draw in the defensive zone, but if you can't get the puck out on that next possession, who really cares, right? So there's a lot of things that we track

and a lot of things I pay attention to in terms of what do teams do next, which I think really matters a lot. Yeah, the puck battles thing is fascinating. And we always talk about the different ways you can win a puck battle. Sometimes it can be just with all out strength. But do you find typically that, like when I think of Zach Hyman, and I don't think of him as this bruising power forward I think of him as just like a very smart player that can find the right spots on the ice typically around the net to to score but also a guy that just whether it's body position or just smarts or whether knowing how to lean on a guy finds a way to come up with the puck. When you do this tracking and you see how certain guys win puck battles, or maybe sometimes if a guy is struggling to win puck

battles, what are some of the things that the players who do, who win a lot of puck battles what are some of the things that they do well well one of them is how you get into the battle and it's it's positional so if i don't know if you wanted to watch the game tonight for five minutes and just watch like dumpins and guys to go back on them and four checkers and watch the way that the guys will position themselves going into a battle if you're getting into kind of a 50 50 puck battle if you can get underneath a guy if you can just get inside position on a guy before you go in you're going to give yourself a better chance of coming out with that puck so there's kind of those fine details to it i guess it's a fast sport sometimes you're crashing and banging and digging away and whatever happens happens but um i do think there's something to that with some of the guys that are best at it

um and then i think zach hyman is a great example because there's guys that win a higher rate of puck battles than he does for sure but he gets in so many of them like there's inherent value in just being in a battle. Yes, for sure. If you're a forward, like Zach Hyman, right?

Like if the puck goes in the offensive zone, you go in for check and you get it, you pin the guy on the board and you get into a bit of a battle with whatever. Um, and then it comes out and he has the defensive guy either goes with it or a teammate goes in, whatever.

Even if you don't win that battle, that's a few seconds that you're not defending in your own end. You're not defending. Um, you're disrupting their breakout. Like even if you don't win that battle, that's a few seconds that you're not defending in your own end. You're not defending. You're disrupting their breakout. Even if you don't win it, there's still benefits to it. So I also look at guys who just get in a lot of them as something that can be valuable. Mike, you do very good work. I'm very glad that an even larger audience gets to experience it and all the work that you've done,

especially on this Canada Cup thing, which is very cool. Enjoy the game tonight. Enjoy the rest of the conference finals. Let's do this again when the Stanley Cup final is set. Hey, you got it, guys, anytime. And I really appreciate you having me. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. Thanks, Mike.

Mike Kelly from NHL Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Let's do some Ask Us Anythings here. Bubble Matthew. Bubble Matthew. With an Ask Us Anything. Like he's in a bubble? Possibly. Possibly. He just really likes bubbles. He needs to specify, I think. Go ahead. If another Canadian

team won the Stanley Cup, how would you rank it from most disastrous to least disastrous? Good question, Bubble Matthew. Okay, Toronto's obviously number one in terms of most disastrous. We asked Basketball Ben at the break and we barely got the question out and he was like Toronto. Yeah.

And then I think for Canucks fans, you'd put the two Alberta teams, probably Edmonton would be number two. And then Calgary number three. Yes. They have more fans. Edmonton has more fans. You would reverse it.

Cause you want to see McDavid. I'd rather see McDavid win than Calgary. I understand what just transpired, but just stop, stop. Don't, don't, don't. We don't need to make those sounds. It was him. What are you looking at me for?

Yeah, I know. Stop it. Stop it. Please. Yeah, I would. Yeah, because Calgary typically for me overall has been like my most hated team. Exactly.

So right. But I don't know. So I think about how jealous I would be of the celebrations. So Toronto think about how jealous I would be of the celebrations. So Toronto obviously would have a massive, massive celebration. Correct. That would be one of the best, and there's no exaggeration here. It would be one of the biggest sports celebrations in North American history.

Correct. If Toronto won the Stanley Cup. Sad but true. It might be the biggest. Yeah, like it would be crazy. Toronto is number one with a bullet. We have established this. So, yeah, I'm flip-flopping on Edmonton and Calgary.

Let's call it a 2A, 2B and get the rest of it. I don't know. Edmonton would be harder to see, I think, because the celebration would be confined to their mall. So it might not be as bad for us because we wouldn't be able to see much in there because they don't have electricity in that mall so they can't get the cameras in there. A lot of hacky jokes out of you.

I respect it. I respect it. I like it. Calgary would be easier to see. We're going to stop at the Zales. Yeah. Calgary has a lot of parade. They have a lot of parade experience though

because they have the Stampede parade. That's true parade every year. So at any rate, I think I'm going to put Ottawa fourth for me. And I know a lot of people are like, why do you care about Ottawa? I was like, you need to,

you need to have one dysfunctional, you know, like if you're a sibling, you got a bunch of siblings, you want to have one that you can always count on doing worse than you are. That's the family reunion. You know, there's that one cluster of the family that's going to show up and. Yeah.

And you're just kind of like. Something's going to go missing. Man, my life is hard right now, but at least I don't have that life. So we'll put Ottawa number four, because if they were to come out and win the Stanley Cup and, you know, we'd be in Vancouver going, oh, it'd be awful.

Yep. And then I'll put Montreal fifth, because, like, you got enough cups. Come on. There's that jealousy angle. And then I think even I would be jealous, but a Stanley Cup celebration in Winnipeg would be incredible. It'd be pretty funny. They'd finally get to build their airport, which would be awesome.

Roll right by the Dollarama. All 15 people would show up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There would, no, that would be, that would be insane. There'd be a lot of flies though.

A lot of mosquitoes. Yeah. Maybe a few moose attacks. Moose attacks. Polar bear incoming. Yeah. Steve from Burnaby asked us anything. How many times do you circle an area

for free parking before settling on pay parking? And then he asked, does AJ's have free parking? Uh, there's plenty, there's, there's a good amount of parking in that area. Uh, I will circle it for the answer is as long as it takes. If there's free parking out there, then I'm

circling. I am not one of those people that freely pays for parking. And I have lived in Vancouver my whole life and I know the best areas for parking. I know certain like secret hidden spots that you can park in. You know, the key is knowing if there's free parking like a block away. Yes. You know, of a busy area.

You've got it in your back pocket. Yeah. So you can try and get the better, closer parking. There are some people that have no problem paying for like the little things. They'll think, well, it's only three or $4. It adds up.

It's true. Over time. It all adds up. And if, and if you start spending your money on, you know, DoorDash, you're, you're delivering a $5 item and it costs you $10. If you make that a way of life, you better be making a lot of money. You're moving away from the parking conversation.

Jason, I got a question for you. Text comes in. Where do you think other teams would rank the Canucks? I know we have to go to break, but just want you to keep going. Number two, probably. Behind Toronto.

Behind Toronto. Yeah, I don't think they- We're not a well-liked fan base. We are not beloved. No. We are not beloved. The. We are not beloved. The other teams do not care for us. And you know what?

I think we just lean into that now. Yeah, we're a little obnoxious, and we know it. We are who we are. We wear it with pride. Yeah. We just spent the last four minutes, like, annihilating Winnipeg and Edmonton for their lack of amenities. I don't know why anyone would not like us.

Yeah. We're so likable. One final hour to go. 8 o'clock hour. What do we got again for the 8 o'clock hour? I've forgotten already. Rick Dollywall? Rick Dollywall, that's right.

How could I forget? Dollywall's got some updates on some free agents, I think. Very nice. He said, ask me about Tyler Myers first. Okay. Okay. So Rick's going to join us at 8 for a Tyler Myers update right off the hop. Then at 8.30, we're going to do Ask Us Anything's $100 gift card

to the best Ask Us Anything to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Get them in. Hashtag it AUA. The Dunbar-Lumber text line is 650-650. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.