Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 5/5/25

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, plus they discuss the latest Canucks news with NHL.com & In Goal Magazine's Kevin Woodley. 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.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Aaaaaaaaaaaaa Aaaaa da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da Inwards, misfires, passes across the shot. They score! Can you believe it? My goodness! What does that feel like? It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool.

It's kind of what you dream of. Piyot shoots to the score! Game over! Seaway's over! Just so much fight. Every single guy brought their game. Good morning Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. It is Halford, it is Bref, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios, a beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Bref of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler. While they pay the highest prices on scrap metal, North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle,

you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step. Big show ahead on a Monday, got out a million things to get into, little bit of a different guest list today

than normal on a Monday. Four guests, entire first hour open, so it's just Halford and Brough. And we actually have an 8.30 guest today, so what we learned will be an abridged version. Today guest list today though begins at seven o'clock. George Richards from Florida Hockey Now is going to join the program tonight. It is Panthers, it is Leafs, it is the start of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It begins in Toronto.

It's a five o'clock puck drop. You can watch it and hear it across the Sportsnet network. We'll talk to George about the Florida side of things going into tonight at seven o'clock puck drop. You can watch it and hear it across the Sportsnet network. I will talk to George about the Florida side of things going into tonight at seven o'clock seven 30. Can we from the Winnipeg free press is going to join us. That was one of if not the, yeah, I'm willing to go there greatest game sevens, at least in recent memory. I don't know of all time, but whatever happened in Winnipeg last night was something special. Winnipeg crazy comeback at the end of regulation, winning in double overtime in game

seven. Imagine what it would have been like to have been in the crowd for a win over the St. Louis Blues in game seven. We'll talk to Ken Wiebe about that at 7.30. Eight o'clock, Kevin Woodley, nhl.com, In Goal magazine will join us. We'll do a state of the Canucks, talk about some of these goalie stories from around the National Hockey League and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Can the Oilers win with Pickard? Did Connor Hellebuck exercise the demons last night? We'll talk to Woodley about that at 8. 8.30, Mark Lazarus from The Athletic is going to join us.

Now Mark's a Chicago Blackhawks beat writer by trade, but he was working the Colorado Dallas series for The Athletic. Another crazy series, great game seven on Saturday and he wrote the end of year obituary for the Avs which is important because that team was visibly visibly shaken after another early playoff exit so we'll talk to him about all that at 830 okay we're also giving away tickets today we are giving away a pair of tickets to see the seas yes the Vancouver Canadians and the Everett Aquasocs at the Nat on Saturday, May 17th. It's a Sportsnet 650 presentation, the Women in Sports Day special guest appearance by Hazel May. Game

time is 1.05. We are giving away tickets today. Caller number 5 at 815. I repeat, caller number 5 at 815. The phone number is 604-280650, that number again, 604-280-650, a pair of tickets every day this week for the Seas and Everett game on Saturday, May 17th, it is Women in Sports Day, presented by Sportsnet 650. That was a mouthful, we got a lot to get into, so without further ado, laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best tools and resources in safety training.

Visit them online at bCCSA.ca. Got to start in Winnipeg. Got to start in Winnipeg last night. Boy, did I actually feel good for the city and the jets and all the guys on that team. Even Rick bonus work in the broadcast from afar. Adam Lowry, 6'10 of the second overtime for the Jets. Improbable rally. One of the most improbable rallies I think I've ever seen in Stanley Cup playoff history. Game seven, a game tying goal by Cole Profetti with 2.2 seconds left.

And then Adam Lowry in overtime. What a game last night in Winnipeg. Since this is a Canuck show, how many parallels were there with 2011 against the Chicago Blackhawks? Way too many. That was the Jets slay the dragon moment. So I apologize for what's coming for you eventually. You know, you'll have fun along the way.

You'll have fun there. Good times. But the end is not good. Um, just with, uh, you know, the president's trophy and the thoughts of, are we really going out in the first round? Have we been sucked in by this, this team again? Um, I know a lot of people were very sensitive

about this online, but, uh, the comparisons between Hellebuck and Luongo were out there to the point that Luongo was trending on social media yesterday. And it's, and it's good that we can still argue about Luongo more than a decade later. And some people were- 14 years. Some people will maintain like, you know, like he wasn't, he didn't have problems in the playoffs.

He had a 9.18 state percentage. It was fine. Look at the numbers, look at the numbers. You can't compare him to a Hellebuck. Well, a lot of people were last night, but man, it was just, I, okay, so full disclosure, this is actually pretty funny. You know, my dad turned 82 months ago

and I said happy birthday on the show? Well, happy birthday to my mom. She turned 80 yesterday and we had a dinner out and it was a very nice dinner. I was on my phone watching this game, kind of watching the game but also like, trying to converse with everyone. I was working, I'm a workaholic. but, uh, you know, I couldn't believe,

I saw the first two periods and I was like, Oh God, the jets, the jets. And then I couldn't believe that they, that they scored that game tying goal with 1.6 seconds. 2.2 seconds left. It was, it was unbelievable that they did it. And then I think equally unbelievable was the quality of the play in the first overtime and then it gets through that without a goal scored and the second overtime, quite a bit of second overtime.

And you knew it would be like a point shot like that, that would eventually get it done. And you know, my first thought was Hellebuck must feel so good. Yeah. He must feel so good. Now I don't know, and you kind of referenced this earlier in the show, if he exercised the demons, he did what he had to do to win the game.

I think Bennington was actually better than him because he had way more shots and Bennington was incredible, but Hellebuck got the job done. Yep. And we'll see if he can take anything from that, from coming out on the winning end and going into the next series against the Dallas stars, who had an equal, not equally, but it was still

crazy comeback against Colorado. We'll get into that. Um, you know, I guess the questions going forward are, um, the health of each of these two teams. Maybe you could run down the key players that we're going to be watching ahead of this Dallas Winnipeg series. Yeah. So Mark Shifely missed games six and seven of the first round series against

St. Louis following the hit from Braden Schenna. Though again, if you ask Jim Montgomery, it was hit from Radik Foxa. Josh Morrissey, perhaps equally, if not more distressingly got hurt on the two nothing goal yesterday. Um, and I, it looked as though that he had actually got shaken up earlier in the period on a hit from Oscar Sundquist, but then Joseph scores to make it two, nothing for the blues. And then Morrissey exited and did not return, which aside from losing their best defenseman, also like it put them down to five defensemen in a game seven must take winner take all. And Neil

Pionk was unbelievable in that game, having to step up, played the most minutes ever in Winnipeg Jets franchise history in that game. He got close to 50 on the night. Just a little- And they re-signed him too. Don't forget, like he's gonna be there for a while. Just a remarkable job by him.

But anyway, so Morrissey hurt exit, did not return to the game and no update afterwards on the status of either Shifeley or Morse. He kind of understandable because there were a lot of other things to focus on the postgame media availability. But I do want to focus back on Connor Hellebuck here because in his walk off interview with Sportsnet, he openly acknowledged how mentally trying this series was.

And I'm with you on maybe not necessarily starring in game seven But surviving it could be something huge for him moving forward Here's Connor Hallebuck following a very very emotional game seven double overtime victory to beat the Blues in round one Yeah, you know I don't think it's any secret that this whole series has been a mental grind ups and downs and you know It takes a team to win and you know, we've been doing it all year and now I build I continue to build and you know I'm looking forward to the next one. So for Winnipeg they win the President's Trophy and they get a big-time scare in the first round and believe it or not that's

been a maybe not the President's Trophy but having or not, that's been a, maybe not the president's trope, but having a good season, that's been a fairly reliable indicator of teams that go to the Stanley Cup final at the very least. In 2011, the Canucks got a scare, but so too did the Bruins in the first round against Montreal. They were a goal away from being eliminated and both those teams go on to win the cup.

Um, I referenced the other day, 1989, um, when the Canucks took the flames to seven games and that was the toughest series for Calgary and they go on to win the Stanley cup. I think they lost three games to the Canucks and then three more games period for the rest of the run. Um, I don't know if it's going to be like that for the Winnipeg Jets, but sometimes when you go

through something like the Jets did and come out good on the other end, it can be a galvanizing moment for the team and they can go on a real run. Now here's the problem. Dallas also had a galvanizing moment against Colorado and I want to talk about that series. Right. These two teams who both win magical game sevens with two goal comebacks in the third period are

going to meet next. So the Winnipeg Jets were the fifth team in NHL history to rally from a multi-goal deficit in the third period of a game seven to win. You know who the fourth team to ever do it in NHL history was? The Dallas Stars the day before against the Colorado Avalanche. Miko Rantan took over when they needed him the most. He assisted on Wyatt Johnson's tie breaking goal and then completed a third period hat

trick with an empty netter. Stars overcome a two goal deficit in the third period to stun the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Saturday night in what was another amazing series. If you want to talk about storybook narratives, like you had everything with Winnipeg last night, but if what happened. Sports really came through this weekend. Sports. If Winnipeg didn't happen last night, we would have been coming in here talking extensively and right off the top of what Rantan did on Saturday,

because that was the kind of stuff that you can't script and you can't make up all the drama surrounding the trade and his circuitous route all the way back to facing his former team in the first round. And then he puts up a hat trick in a game seven. Now here's the thing. I know that this conversation probably should be about Dallas and it should probably be about the team that had this great first round victory and is advancing.

No, it shouldn't. And it should probably be about the fact that it sounds like they're gonna get Mero Hyskinen back and it sounds like they're gonna get Jason Robertson back. But this story is all about the Colorado Avalanche. And this is now, so remember last week we were talking about, you have two types of teams in the National Hockey League at the end of the year

that are frustrated. Most of them are the ones that don't make the playoffs at all, but there's a handful of ones where their first round exit was either unexpected or super disappointing and it might alter the course or trajectory of that team and that's what it sounds like right now in Colorado I had two clip two clips. I want to play here The first is Nathan McKinnon in the media availability afterwards Just laying it bare talking about exactly what his team did or more specifically didn't do against a weakened opponent Here's Nate dog following the loss to Dallas in game seven on Saturday night ending his season

Yeah, definitely, I mean they're missing their best D and maybe their best forward. So we still couldn't beat them. So yeah, I don't know what we're gonna do. They're missing their best D, they're missing their best forward, and we still couldn't beat them. I don't know what we're gonna do. That's quite a quote. I don't know what we're gonna do.

I was like, all right, that's fair. You know what he's gonna do though. He's gonna recruit Sid. Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute. But that's out there in a major way. Sidney Crosby, in case you missed it, Sidney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon are gonna play for Team Canada

at the World Hockey Championships. They're going. Which just goes to show how much they love the game. And each other, potentially. And each other. And if you wanna start Sidney Crosby to Colorado rumors right now, fill your boots. I'm gonna throw in Marshawn as an unrestricted free agent too.

The maritime monster, the three headed maritime monster getting together in Colorado. Let's go win a cup, boy. I want to play some audio. That's a direct quote. Yeah. I want to play some audio from Gabriel Landiscock as well. I just want to give everyone a sense of how pissed off and how shocked and how stunned they were that this went the way that it went. So the reporters were trying to ask all the Colorado guys, hey, what was it like to have Miko Randin do this against you guys in game seven? Because, you know, he was on your team earlier this year and you guys won a Stanley Cup together and all that stuff.

And Landis Gogh was pretty blunt. I think we've got the question in here as well. This is Landis Gogh following the game seven loss to Dallas ending his season. It's Miko. Who's the catalyst for that? I don't. I couldn't care less who scored for them. I really couldn't. I've told you Miko's one of my best friends and I love him, but I couldn't care whether he scored or somebody else scored. I don't care. You know who does care? The general manager of the Colorado Avalanche. Okay.

So here's where I'm wondering. That could not, that season could not have ended worse. Could not have gone worse. You sure sound like someone who cared there for a second. Yeah. And, and the way, the way it all went down and in case you need a refresher, Colorado surprisingly

mid season trades ren to Carolina and Carolina thinks they're going to be able to sign them. Rantanen has no interest in signing with Carolina. It doesn't look like a good match on the ice anyway. So the Hurricanes end up flipping Rantanen to Dallas of all the teams.

And as soon as that trade happened, we were like, well, Dallas and Colorado could easily meet in the first round of the playoffs. And they end up meeting in the playoffs. And then the script writers got together and said, what if, what if it's game seven and Colorado has a two nothing lead, fully in control of the game.

Now 12 minutes, 12 minutes to go. Now what if Rantanen could score a hat trick and add an assist in a four two win for the Dallas Stars. What would that do to the entertainment value of this soap opera that we call professional sports. Well, my question is what's it gonna do to Colorado? Because right now, just consider this, in the first three games of this series,

Colorado trailed for a grand total of 62 seconds. 62 seconds they trailed for. They lost two of those three games, right? That's a problem. In game three, they have one of the most emotional moments, the biggest pop that you've heard in the last five or six years in the National High League when Gabriel Landeskog returns after a three-year absence. Landeskog comes back in this series series returns for game three at home and they lost that game anyway. Then in game seven, they've got a two nothing lead with 12 minutes to go and they lost not in over

time, but in regulation. Those are troubling signs for a hockey team. When Colorado won that Stanley cup in 2022, it wasn't that long ago, you remember that, everyone was like, this is the start. This is McKinnon's moment and now he's gonna elevate to the next level and they've got Kale McCarr and this is going to be the jumping off point for this next new dynasty in Colorado. And since then they've won one playoff series. And Chris, you mentioned the general manager. The egg on his face from the ranting situation,

the Brock Nelson trade, which was an absolute disaster. Nelson finished that series with zero goals. Marty Natchez had one goal in the series. So Brock Nelson and Marty Natchez combined for one goal in that series. That's the team that I have like circled in red pen several times and say, that's the one you got to watch this off season.

Cause if anyone should be pissed off about how their season ended, it's the Colorado avalanche. And the fact that they've still got those players and they're going to try and look for anything possible to help get them over the hump next season. And we've already speculated, a lot of people in hockey have already speculated about Sydney

Crosby potentially, potentially being traded to Colorado and also Brad Marchand, pending unrestricted free agent, maybe joins the Colorado avalanche, maybe both those guys join. And then when the news broke this weekend that first of all, Sid's going to the Worlds, which is going to be held in Sweden and Denmark. Um, it was like, oh, that's awesome.

Sid going to the world, man, that guy loves hockey. He's a, you know, I've heard from Canucks management that Sidney Crosby obsessed with hockey. That's what makes them so great. A little obsessive. Good practice habits. Always just loves the game, wants to go and play. And then we were kind of like, I think John

Shannon reported like, hey, watch out for McKinnon as well. And then soon after McKinnon was confirmed going to the roster and people spent about four seconds going, oh, that's cool. I might watch the worlds this year. Yeah. Sid and McKinnon and then their brains clicked

in and they're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What if, what if Sid and Nate get together over in Europe and they're, I don't know, eating some fish or something like that in Denmark or in Sweden. They love fish. As you do in Europe. Europeans love fish. They're like, there's no Tim Hortons here, but maybe there's a, I don't know, a place where we can get some fish and coffee as you do. It's a morning thing. Come to come to Colorado, Sid. Get out of Pittsburgh. Why do you want to be there anyway? I know you said you wanted to, I know you said you said you want to retire as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. You never

want to play for for another team. But what are you doing? You guys suck. You're terrible. Terrible. You want to go out like this? You don't go out like this. Come to Colorado. We need you, man. We need all go. I'll be the first line center. You be the second line center. We have Brock Nelson in here. It's terrible. Like we haven't been able to, we still haven't been able to replace Nazem Kadri. We've tried. We tried Casey Middlestad. We tried Brock Nelson. It's not gonna work. Charlie Coyle, he's a 3C. Right? Come over here. We'll win a cup together. There was a guy by the name of Ray Bork came to Colorado.

He didn't really wanna play for any other team, but he said, you know, it's not working for me here in Boston anymore. I'm gonna come to Colorado. He won a cup right away, come do it. How is that story not going to get legs? It's gonna get legs. I don't know if he'll ever leave Pittsburgh.

It would take something of this ilk of this nature for it to happen Because again, if you don't know the the backstory in the history between Sydney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon It's not just the Tim Hortons commercials by the way, there are Tim Hortons in Europe There's one in Andorra of all places anyway. Yeah, there's one in Spain and then Andorra, which is next to Spain. And then there's one in the Ireland and one in, I wanna say in England, maybe in Scotland. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. They're neighbors in Nova Scotia.

They're both from Nova Scotia. They played together at the Worlds in 2015. Obviously played together at the Four Nations Face Off. They do the commercials together constantly. They get wacky together? When do we put these wigs on? They wear funny mustaches, chin putty. Again, I still think it's a... The worst acting I've ever seen.

It's not great. They could work on their acting. I don't know if it'll just stay at the rumour level, But that, I mean, let's not deny this. Sid's gonna get asked about it over there. Let's not deny this. This is what's going to drive the summer. I mean, we may not be driving it here. It feels like we might get invested in it,

but it will be a driver throughout the summer. Okay, real quick, we're right up against it for time, so I kinda don't wanna introduce a new conversation, but we've got the entire next segment as well. We can get into some other stuff from the weekend, including another win for the Vancouver Whitecaps who are an absolute wagon right now, but there was some change at the ownership level for the Vancouver Canucks confirmed over the weekend. I'll just read the statement that the club released over the weekend.

In response to various media inquiries that we have received and due to a private family member, Paolo Aquilini has resigned from his position with the team and will be leaving the ownership group. So this comes after a week in which, oh God, it was a really busy week to unpack. The team announced that Rick Tauket wouldn't be back as head coach.

Shortly thereafter, they had to issue a couple statements to various sources that the team was not indeed up for sale after Nick Kiprios, a host of Fan 590, Real, Kipper and Bourne. He wrote in the Toronto Star that he had heard rumors that the Aqualini was exploring a sale of the team. The Vancouver Canucks released a statement after that. And then of course, over the weekend, a sort of addendum to that announcing that no, the team is not for sale. However, there was a change in the weekend, a sort of addendum to that, announcing that no, the team is not for sale. However, there was a change in the ownership structure. And one of the brothers, Paolo Aquilini,

is now no longer on the team. Some people noticed that he had been removed from the sort of like virtual masthead on the team's website and everything else. So there's still a lot of news around the Vancouver Canucks as we try and unpack it. We can get into this conversation more on the other side.

The draft lottery tonight too? And the NHL draft lottery tonight. We'll play one round of Tankathon. The Connaughts have a 0.5 chance to draft in the top five. Let's go. So there is a chance. 0% chance of first overall. And I can't believe we're back doing this again. Well, we are. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. To the phone lines we go. He has a presentation of White Rock Hyundai here on the Halford and Brough show. On Sportsnet 650, it's Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingole Magazine.

What up, Kev? How are you? Good. How are you guys? We're pretty good. I know there was a lot of crazy hockey over the weekend, but I do want to start with the Vancouver Canucks ownership story because I know you've been reporting a little bit on it. What did you make of the news that Palo Aquilini is no longer part of the ownership group?

Um, I guess not surprised and not really something like, to be honest, we would report on, but one of those things that you've heard has been, you know, uh, a reality for frankly, a while. I don't know if the disappearance, I don't know if there's been enough, something that changes officially, obviously the disappearance of his name on the website triggered the media. But to be honest, um, we'd heard it for like at least over a year and the trigger to me that it if not official was pretty much done would have actually

been the Elias Pettersson presser which was the last time we heard from Francesco and if you go back and listen to that presser because I know a few of our eyebrows raised when he spoke, it was not brothers, it was singular. When he spoke about what that meant to his family, he spoke about his dad and his brother, singular, very pointedly. And so, you know, to me that was sort of the, okay, well this is everything we've been hearing sort of matches up and you know I've seen certainly the Canucks are still very active, obviously all the charity work they do and still part of CAN but I think people that have participated in the program and in some of the fundraising around it have seen just a dwindling of support from the team itself over the past couple of years.

I know certainly participants of the Autism the autism network tournament, you know, things like that. And that's obviously something that he started. So they still support it financially through the 50 50, but the actual sort of hands on seems to have dwindled. Haven't seen Palo out there, whereas he used to be a regular presence when it first started. So obviously there's some changes around the team and I won't pretend to know

why or what, what goes on behind behind the scenes but certainly whatever made it news now or official now I think the fact that there's been this this you know split or or change in in how it's structured amongst the brothers is not a surprise and like I said it I mean anytime you sort of speak publicly and have multiple brothers that used to be owners and then just basically say one's name, I mean, it's possible it was a misspeak, but it seemed kind of hard to miss, to be honest with you. Yeah. I guess Canucks fans are wondering if this means anything for the team. I guess the one narrative that would be out there is that if Paolo Accolini wants out of the

family business, does he require a big payout? And if he does, how do the Canucks make that payout without affecting the business of the team? All fair questions and ones that I don't have the answer to, you know, uh, obviously there's a lot of speculation out there. You know, there's a, their family that's deep into developments.

Uh, and I have friends in that industry, um, at, at the high end of that industry. And it's, it's one that has, is in the process of taking a bit of a, a kick right now. Uh. The pre-sales aren't exactly flying off. They're getting killed, right? Like they're getting killed.

Yeah. Um, you know, and everybody loves to, it's funny because everybody loves to hammer investors, real, real estate investors, because they invest in projects and then they make money when the projects are finished. But the truth is without investors, pre-sales never hit their targets and the banks won't

close on deals. And so a lot of real estate, big developments are sort of being held up because the pre-sales are stalled to the point where the banks won't issue the financing to complete the projects. And that's something I hear from friends in that industry of late, and obviously something that would affect, you know, a family that's, uh, as deeply, uh, you know, invested in, in real estate in this market. So in terms of what it means for the team,

honestly, guys, like I don't know the, the brother stuff had been out there with Paula for a while. And, and again, to me, it was, it was pretty clear that the legitimacy of the, of the, of the talk, um, the last time Francesco addressed the media. Okay. Let's move on to the goaltending stuff.

Connor Hallebuck, what can you say after he wins that series for the Winnipeg Jets? Well, good for him and maybe it can, you know, maybe it can provide a confidence spark, but I'm going to, I'm going to have to say, I had to bite my tongue pretty hard not to go on social last night confidence spark, but I'm gonna I'm gonna have to say I had to bite my tongue pretty hard not to go on social last night as Everyone sort of went to the heart trophy Connor Hellebuck is back after a couple big saves in in overtime and even the third period

Because he was out and challenging and That's not how he got the Vezna trophies being out and challenging. Coming out and challenging outside his blue paint, to me, is almost a little bit worrisome. Now, based on the reads and straight line attacks, okay, I'll take it. But the reality is everything that people were criticizing him for in terms of his depth and depth management and playing deep is what allows him to be the goal that he is in the regular season. The problem is it hasn't worked in the playoffs so far. And a big part of it is Connor's game is based on reads or at least his excellence. Like that's the thing that separates him as an elite goaltender is how well he processes

the game. We always used to say that Dominic Hasek had a brain like a computer and a spine like a slinky and Helly sees the game at that level, but he obviously doesn't play the game the way Hasek did. He's kind of the polar opposite. You know, his, his phrase big and boring. He is not physically gifted beyond the size. He's not a terrible skater,

but his East-West movement, the narrowness of his butterfly, there are a lot of things, that sort of athletic reactionary game, he's about reason and patience. And so what they gave up, what were they at? Like 20, I'm just trying to do the quick math, that's really, I think 30 goals in the first round. 17 were on broken plays or sorry. Yeah. Broken plays and screams.

And so what do you do to a goaltender who is elite at reading the game? You take away his eyes. And with such purpose, like Colorado hammered it last year. And the year before that, when it was in the first round, it was slot line plays, east-west plays. Like if you move the puck east-west and challenge his skating a little bit, if you present some deception to those reads, and I think what happened is in this round, you saw him hesitant with his reads. You saw him lean one way and then the guy would go the other way. You saw him get caught cheating a little bit with his reads. You saw him lean one way and then the guy would go the other way. You saw him get caught cheating a little bit with his reads.

Right back to the first game, Kairu from the point. Everyone's like, why is he so deep? Like, I can tell you why he's so deep. He's flattening out his backside edge because he sees, I think it was, neighbors coming in back door and he anticipated pass and he went early. Even last night on the high glove goal and they hammered him high glove. Valakett put it out. I think it was like 10, 10 out of 11 shots, one in high glove. He flattens out because he's anticipating a push. And so the reads that he relies on in the regular season, the defensive structure, and it's not that the jets were bad, but

Connor Hellebuck, Andre Vasilevsky and Calvin Pickard had the three highest expected save percentages in the national hockey league this year, the easiest environments. And so to me, there are things within his game that other teams attack in the postseason at a rate they never do in the regular season. And with the determination you never see in the regular season. And so you see vulnerability and that's crept into his confidence and the confidence he has in his reads. And those things are crucial to his success. But also, with all due respect, like, Benz and the trophy slam dunk, yes. But because all the numbers were so off the charts, everyone wanted to hand him

the heart trophy and he may yet win it. But the reality is, he is very much a goaltender who is in sync with what goes on in front of him like team and goaltender exists together and both things dissipate in the playoffs like it wasn't just him not handling screens there was a there was a game where Tanev goes out to the point and everyone that he kind of got ripped I point to it because the broadcasters called him out and so probably everybody saw it because he went out to the point he didn't block the shot But to me it wasn't that he didn't block the shot to me He didn't go to the point in the right lane. We've talked before about how screens are managed Middle screen goalie has short side

Flexing forward has to be in the middle lane has to be like that's a staple and they started running around and not sticking to Their staples and that didn't allow him to trust his reads I'm always short side as a goaltender around a screen and I know my guys get my flexing forward is going out to the point in the middle lane. Well as soon as he doesn't now I've got a layered screen. Now I've got the traffic in front of me and I've got my forward taking my eyes away as well and that's a shot, we've talked about this before, that goes in 40% of the time if you get it through to the top half of the net. So this is a bit of Jets, this is a bit of Hellebuck,

but a lot of it is like some of the narratives around his numbers that led to the heart trophy discussion. He didn't lead the league in goals saved above expected this year. He was second to Darcy Kemper, who's also one of the playoffs. Like there are elements that get overblown narrative wise, I think, based on numbers. The last time we had a Hart Trophy finalist, Igor Shishterkin, as a goaltender,

his adjusted numbers were three times as good as Hellebuck's were this year. So I think you're seeing that come home to roost a little bit. He still deserves a Vezna. He does so much well, but so much of it is integrated with team. And when both things disappear, this is what you get.

Okay, speaking of narratives, Kev, uh, on Friday during Hellebuck's meltdown in St. Louis, I tweeted out, this is exactly how I wrote it. A listener wrote in this week that quote, Hellebuck is this generation's Luongo end quote. And I've thought about it a lot. Now, when I, when I sent this out, I meant it genuinely, someone meant it genuinely.

Someone texted it in, which is true. The texter's name was Todd has bad takes. And I actually just thought about it a lot. And I- Which is rare for you. Yeah, usually I don't think at all. Just throw stuff out there and let it be. But I did think about it a lot.

And I forgot that any sort of tweet could be manipulated in other people's minds any way they want. So they thought that this was me advocating for this analogy, the comparison, right? And I was just like, I'm just thinking about it. Like I'm watching them melt down on the road. We saw that with Luongo, but you know, people were weighing in and calling me this and that. And I was like, I'm still so sensitive about Luongo. Very sensitive.

It's crazy. One takeaway was very sensitive for sure. But the other one is I didn't think it was that. I was like, I'm still so sensitive about Luongo in this market, man. Very sensitive. It's crazy. One takeaway was very sensitive, for sure. But the other one is I didn't think it was that... Please tell me that you guys saw Luongo's tweet about this. I did. Someone sent it to me afterwards, so I got to chuckle out of that. But I didn't think it was that crazy an idea or a comparison. Some people got very offended by it, which I guess speaks to the sensitivities of the market. But I mean, there's something there where the playoff demons and trying to exercise them,

there's a commonality between the two of them. Or you can tell me I'm totally wrong, like the rest of Twitter. No, no, you can't miss it. Like, I mean, I may be in the goalie union, but I think I'm one of my hits in another market right before that game. I'm like, I don't know how you sit this guy. And I think the, the only damage there that I would worry about is, you know, if the confidence was already shaken, what is Eric Comrie starting game six due to

it further, if you need him in game seven, but it was hard to miss like the road. Like it wasn't great at home either. Right. Like people were pointing to his as 879 at home. Like that was a good juxtaposition. I'm like, that ain't exactly solving things either. But compared to the, compared to OA, it was hard to miss the comparison, right?

Like I had the same thought. Like no one in a million years, I was there. I lived it. I was in the media. I was on the radio in 2011, would have suggested sitting Luongo, not starting him in game six in Boston, especially coming off the game he had in game five

here in Vancouver. Yeah, he couldn't have done that. But in retrospect, right? Like it would have made sense, right? And it was so, it was hard to miss this, like, hey, are you going to look back at what happens in game six and be like, man, we should have to look back at what happens in, in game six? Uh, and be like, man, we should have just given Helly the night off and given ourselves a chance to win with, with Eric and the team plays really well in front

of Eric, um, you know, and honestly, if not for the fact that the St. Louis blues have not figured out how to handle the other goalie being pulled, I mean, they were the worst team in the league in the regular season, 13, five on six goals against. Um, this discussion would be very real right now, but because they get those two goals in the final two minutes with the goalie out and because they went in overtime, there's another chance. Kev, I know you speak a lot about like the technical sides of goaltending and it's all, you know, it's all very interesting, especially when you think about how much

goaltending has changed just in the way goalies play and their sizes and their ability over the last, I don't know what, 30 years or whatever. But to me, and I don't know about you, the most fascinating thing about being a goalie is the mental strain that it creates. And I remember thinking back when Luongo was the Canucks goalie and I remember thinking like, man, I would not want to be in his position

right now because there is just so much pressure on him. And I'm sure Hellebuck was in that same position where you've got the hopes of the city riding on you essentially. Um, I mean, what, what do you think about when, when, when people talk about the mental challenges of being a goalie? I feel like you kind of touched on that when, when you said, you know, to me, it was a little bit worrying when Hellebuck started coming out and

challenging because that to me suggests that maybe he's chasing something, he's chasing something else and he's lost faith in his abilities to stay deeper and read the play. And that sometimes happens when you've lost a bit of belief in your game. Well that's Marc-Andre Flurry, right? Like Marc-Andre Flurry, when things were going poorly, uh, in the 2000s, when he lost confidence and goalies typically go one of two ways when they

don't feel confident, they either play super aggressive and essentially it's like the closer, and this is, this was flower, the closer I get to the puck, the better chance it has to hit me. That's the mindset or goalie shrink on to hit me. That's the mindset. Or goalies shrink on their goal line. That's the most common thing. They tend to retreat. And I think that's what people were seeing in Halibuck without recognizing that that's

how he played a lot part, a large part of the year. Now, listen, the other thing about Halibuck is in straight lines. If you attack him in straight lines, there's nobody better. And that's what we saw in some of those overtakes. So he had the read to step out and take those shots and play a little bit of frankly, hit me. He's big, he's massive, they're attacking in straight lines, the trailer, he steps out on him. He's trusting everyone around him not to make a backdoor pass, but I wasn't the only person. I saw some other goalie people online as this was happening and as he was being praised for it, say,

man, like he's coming out to the point where if somebody makes a lateral pass here, he's done. But they didn't, it worked. His reads were correct. Um, but Flower used to be the same way. He'd get so hyper aggressive and then great on, on open looks, it would hit him, but pucks off the boards, pucks behind the net.

You remember it went back when he was in Pittsburgh, like people banged his shots off his ass Like four or five times a game, right? Cause he was outside his post. I remember saying at the time to someone in Pittsburgh, as they were contemplating, whether they could move forward with Mark Andre Fleury, you need to get them a goalie coach that teaches.

And it's hard to believe now that, you know, they had, they'd have been there, done that old school, like seventies style goalie coach in Pittsburgh at the time. We weren't where we are now in terms of technical teaching. And it's like, you need to get him that type of voice before you throw the baby out with the bathwater. Cause right now he has no positional anchors, no positional staples, nothing to go back to when things go wrong.

So he just gets aggressive and chases the puck and hopes it hits him. Um, I don't think Hellella buck was to that extent yesterday, but certainly it seemed like there was a conscious decision like, okay, straight lines. I'm just going to step out and let it hit me. And he controlled his rebounds, which is, you know, a sign that he's not purely drop and block at that point, but it was certainly a little bit uncharacteristic. And I'm with you. It's a little worrisome. And to the mental anguish, like parents, don't they?

As much as I want to have more young kids subscribing to Ingo magazine, like I wouldn't want to be a goalie parent. It's a tough job, man. Like we all remember the long ago in 2011, the walks around the sea, sea wall and all that kind of stuff. Right. Like, you know, so everyone who's like, don't talk to him, he's doing his thing. I think we also forget, like, don't talk to him. He's doing his thing. I think we also forget, like, don't forget, like, before, maybe those saves in overtime

are his breakthrough. And maybe Keane and Goalie can get back on the same page. Because I do think there's an element of team to his. Like they've stopped doing some of the things that made them so successful in the playoffs. Or in the regular season, sorry. And, but it's kind of like Luongo, right? Like, let's not forget that the Chicago breakthrough wasn't as smooth, right?

Like we all remember the backdoor save low high off the left post to the top of the crease off Patrick Sharp. And that was sort of his defining moment against Chicago. But that series wasn't full of defining moments. As a matter of fact, that series looked like it was heading the other way, both for the team and for him, right? So, and then he gets all the way to the cup final and we still have the Boston meltdowns, but within that, what, three shutouts at home or two shutouts and one goal against at home.

So, you know, like this might be the moment for him, but you're right. Like you can see it there were elements like he would lean and a little bit of cheating in his game that we just don't see during the regular season where either he didn't trust what was going on in front of him the chaos is for sure ramped up and that's a problem for him in the playoffs or he didn't trust his Reeds or his game and if it's the latter one that's probably the biggest problem as far as like trusting what's going on in front of you, like guys, there are six goalies right now

that are above expected for the playoffs. Sort of outperforming their defensive environment. Six, and only two of them are left. Yeah. Like the other four out of the playoffs. Like, so as much as I, again, the goalie union card, like I'm looking at this and I'm like, like goalies matter, okay.

But put toward not to lose your series, like you look at what happened with Edmonton and the switch there. This is about, can you play a style that can succeed in the playoffs and can you stick with it? You know, as another team is trying to exploit whatever deficiencies are within it. To me, even last night is about the Jets

getting back to their game as much as it is, you know, about the goal timing story. Same with the Edmonton series against LA, right? Edmonton was able to take that over. It didn't matter what was happening in that. Kev, we gotta go. This was great, man. Thanks for doing it. Thanks guys. Have a good one. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Engel magazine here in the Halford and Brough show on sportsnet six 50. I said we gotta go because we got stuff to do. First, we're giving away a pair of tickets to see the Vancouver Canadiens and Everett Aquasocks at the NAT on Saturday, May 17th.

Call now, 604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-650. Caller number five will win the pair of tickets. Sportsnet 650 presents the Women in Sports Day on May 17th at the nat with a special guest Appearance by hazel may game time is 105 be caller number five right now 604 280 06 they love the aqua socks We're gonna try and do a couple what we learned real quick. Yeah, right. Okay, let's do a fire up the dot matrix Humanoid submission what we learned as always brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

Uh, homemade dough, premium local ingredients and authentic cooking methods. AJ's is for diehard pizza people. Dine in or order online at ajs.pizza. Uh, Plop, one of our favorite listeners. Love Plop. What we learned, uh, both game sevens this weekend are the reason why sports are the best.

You couldn't have written a better script. No, you couldn't have. And half the time I'm like, we're definitely living in a matrix with all this stuff. Oz and Squamish, what we learned, not everyone can be as amazing as the Whitecaps, who won again over the weekend. The winless defending champions, LA Galaxy lost

one nothing yesterday to Sporting Kansas City. That's right. In a historic win for KC as they became the first team in history, I believe in a professional league, certainly MLS to win a game despite not having a single shot attempt, let alone a shot on goal. How did they do it then? It was thanks to a Galaxy own goal.

The beautiful game never disappoints. In my favorite, what we learned, and if we had time, we would really explore this. Lincoln and Surrey, what we learned. I learned that Sean Avery has written a romance novel called Summer Skate. The book's description reads, sexy and addictive. Summer Skate is the sun on your skin in a string bikini. It's the sounds of

skates cutting across the ice of a hockey rink chasing victory. Yep. Now all of your listeners have their Mother's Day gift taken care of, you're welcome. So I obviously had to make sure that this was not a joke. Summer Skate, a novel by Sean Avery and he's got a co-author, Leslie Cohen. And I just want to read the story here. Summer has begun on the East end of Long Island. Okay. And bestselling author Jessica Riley finds herself unable to deliver on her highly anticipated second book. We all know how that can be.

Her children are demanding her husband is preoccupied with a deadline looming. She fakes a mental breakdown to get away. Oh, where's she going? Only to find that the house next door is filled with rowdy hockey players. Sounds like the Hamptons to me. Tidalizing. Tidalizing.

Is it? What is it? Level above titillating? Tidalating. Tidalizing. That's a new one. Tidalizing. It's tantalizing and titillating. Tantalizing and titillating at the same time. Is that what it, yeah, I did, yeah. Tidalating to the lady to the Liza that's a new one It's tantalizing and analyzing at the same time

It'll I hold a Hufford. Yeah, I like it though. That would be the review in the cover of the Probably I don't know Sean Avery wrote it probably is yeah, I like that actually we're realizing We're gonna use that more often. When we make up words here, we should have a jury. I don't know who we can make it up of. You should thank guests that way, like thanks Kev, that was a tidalizing hit. I was like, what'd you say?

Nothing, just go. Okay. You heard me. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.