Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/10/25

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, including a dominant Game 3 win from the Florida Panthers, they chat Stanley Cup Finals action with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski, plus they discuss the latest hockey trade rumours following the Draft Combine with The Athletic NHL's James Mirtle. 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. 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-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-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-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-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da Bennett in, Bennett scores! Top shelf with the Panthers take a 4-1 lead. What a shift for playoff Sam. The calls and what not, obviously some of them are frustrating. They seem to get away with it one way or the other. Perhaps you have a video bullet. Marco is at minus 4 and doesn't have any points in the finals. Are you worried at all about this play? Retreated.

Good morning Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody, it is Halford, it is brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios, beautiful fair view slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you.

Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. We got a lot to get into on a Tuesday show. I have a lot to get into on the rundown here. It's a lengthy, it's a girthy rundown. It begins at 6.30 this morning. Greg Waszynski, our NHL insider from ESPN,

is gonna join the program. He's in Florida for the Stanley Cup final. He was there for last night's penalty-filled affair with the Panthers 1-6-1 in a rout over the Edmonton Oilers. Greg tweeted out with his article this morning, the Edmonton Oilers swear that the Florida Panthers one six one in a route over the Edmonton Oilers. Greg tweeted out with his article this morning. The Edmonton Oilers swear that the Florida Panthers didn't get under their skin or in their heads during games three. Their actions said otherwise.

So we'll talk to Greg about all that at six thirty seven o'clock. We're going to talk to Owen Newkirk out of Dallas stars podcast host pre and post game show host on D L L S sports in Dallas. The last time we talked to Owen, it was ahead of game four of the Western conference final. Dallas stars were very much alive taking on the Edmonton Oilers. Much has changed since then. Peter DeBoer out as head coach, Jason Robertson in the middle of every trade rumor on the internet and now Jim Nill has a bunch of big decisions to make for the Stars this off season. We'll talk to Owen about that at seven, seven thirty.

Speaking of GM's needing to make big decisions this summer, James Myrtle is going to join the program. Senior writer from the athletic and the NHL. He spent a good chunk of time in Buffalo. Poor guy. Recently for the annual NHL draft combine. And he wrote an article titled The Nine Most Intriguing Teams of NHL draft combine and he wrote an article titled the nine most intriguing teams of NHL free agency what I heard from a buzzy draft combine so we'll talk to James about everything that happened at the combine what he's hearing about the start of free agency and trades to happen this June 8 o'clock Ryan Rigmaiden is gonna join the program

general manager of the BC Lions, we'll look back at kickoff weekend, talk about the Snoop concert and the 31 to 14 win over the Elks on Saturday. No rest for the Lions though. They're on a short week here. Quick turnaround. Thursday night, they're in Winnipeg, will be the home and season opener for the Bombers and Buck Pierce's return to Winnipeg after five years as the team's offensive coordinator. We are giving away tickets to the gold cup match. It's a week today. Seven thirty B.C. place June 17th against Honduras.

It's Canada looking to win this year's gold cup. It was in studio with us yesterday. We're taking calls at eight or five. We went out for dinner. Don't you go out. You didn't take me. No, no, no. It was just me and the gold cup. We just, I respect it. We had a connection.

You wanna be a third wheel, however? You got me out of the gold cup dinner. 805 and 815 this morning, Jason's date, the gold cup and its tickets will be up for grabs. We're giving away a four pack, not once but twice. Phone number is 604-280-0650, number again, 604-280-0650. Caller number five at 805 and 815 will win a four

packet tickets. Finally, finally I need to remind you about the Jays Care 50-50 presented by Sportsnet 650 for Challenger Baseball supported by Tiltown proudly Canadian owned and operated since 1971. Visit them at mytiltown.ca. Our goal is to raise $100,000 and the winner takes half. Buy your tickets now at jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com. When we hit 15,000, we still got a long way to go here before we hit 100K. At 15,000, we're gonna give away a signed Quinn Hughes jersey. You heard it here first on Sportsnet 650.

So buy your tickets now. Jayscaregolf.RaffleNexus.com. Get your tickets, support a good cause, win the 50 50 and maybe a Quinn Hughes signed Jersey. Okay. That is everything that's happening on the program today. I'm not even going to run it down in reverse without further ado, laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed that? You missed that? What happened?

What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools or resources and safety training visit them online at BCCSA dot CA what a one-sided affair in Florida last night, but Ravsky 32 saves Bennett another goal the Panthers Smoked the Oilers 6-1 in game 3 of the Stanley Cup final to take a 2-1 series lead and maybe just maybe unglued the Oilers in the process. So the series has gone penalties in the first period, every game, like a ton of penalties.

Now games one and two played out differently because they were good hockey games and they both went to overtime. But it was a similar story unfolding in the first period yesterday. I want to play, I want to get to the audio right away. Sure. Because this series just got a little bit controversial and the narratives are starting to be written right now. And from the Edmonton perspective, it's Florida is

getting away with a lot of stuff and we are not. Let's begin with Evander Kane. Though he chose his way to play, he's still It's Florida is getting away with a lot of stuff and we are not. Let's begin with Evander Kane. Though he chose his words carefully in his postgame media scrum, he made it very clear what Jason was alluding to. The Edmonton Oilers are on the wrong side of too many calls and the Florida Panthers are not. Here's Evander Kane on the refereeing following a 6-1 loss to the Panthers on Monday night You know you look at some of their

The calls and whatnot obviously some of them are frustrating You know they're they seem to get away with it more than we do They seem to get away with it more than we do I mean, you know, it's it's tough to find the line it's It's, it's, you know, they're doing just as much stuff as we are, you know, it was four, four at the end of it, and then it gets out of hand and, you know, there seems to be a little bit more attention in our group. The Oilers were guilty for 21 penalties on the night

for 85 total minutes in penalty time. The Florida Panthers went to the power play 11 times in game three. But as Kane mentioned, it probably should be the focus here when the game was still hanging in the balance, specifically the first period. Yeah, there were a lot of penalties, but it was dead even for a piece for the Oilers and the Panthers. His first penalty in the Oilers first penalty when he cross checked Forsling in front of the net.

Yeah. That was a little bit soft. I have to admit. And I think if I was an Oilers fan, which I'm not, but if I was an Oilers fan, I'd be like, okay, first of all, that was a pretty soft penalty. And remember last game when the refs missed the too many men on the ice, which was pretty

obvious in overtime. And Bobrowski flopped on the goalie interference call. I can't remember who got called on it. And there was another, oh, who was the Lundell flopped twice. Now some of it is, you know, sometimes a flop is, it's a flop, but it's kind of like, Hey, this, this guy's cross checking me in the back, darn out. Or it was nurse and he kept on cross checking and cross checking.

I mean, he's like, okay, I'm going to go down and see if I get a call. And he went down and he got a call. I mean, it was ridiculous when Jake Wallman then give him a little poke in the face and he went down like Mike Tyson had hit him. I mean, I understand. I understand why the oilers are frustrated, but this is what I always bring up. And God, I'm getting flashbacks to 2011. I'm like, this is the way it always is.

It's a Stanley Cup final. Sometimes it's random with the referees, but don't be a sucker. You know, like, don't be stupid. Don't give the other team an opportunity to flop. Um, and you know, if something goes against you and there are going to be lots of things that go against you, pull yourself together and handle it. So, uh, Chris Knobloch also spoke on the refereeing yesterday and it was a little bit more subtle and quite frankly, a little bit more clever than a Vander Canes. He wanted to make a point of bringing up that the errors

weren't just in game three. And a matter of fact he didn't bring up the errors in game three at all praising the referees for their work in game three while alluding to the missed call that Jason was talking about in game two. Here's what Chris Nalblerk had to say about the officiating following a 6-1 loss to Florida in game 3. Can you win a game like this where there's so much special teams and so much chippiness? Are you getting kind of too far along into the way that the Panthers want to play? No, I don't think so. We got some guys maybe love to drop them gloves a little more and get at her a little bit, but I'd like we're a big physical team. Like we do have some skilled guys

and I don't want to see her skilled guys getting distracted and getting into that. The guys who like it are getting into it. So, you know, and just following up with the penalties, like the referees, I think they did an outstanding job tonight and they're even caught the too many men penalty In the first period which was too many men. They caught us there

I just wish they had been calling the game the in game two and overtime That's what the most interesting than Chris now blocks ever said and it wasn't even that interesting but it was mildly mildly Controversial. That was really smart though like if you're gonna play the refs. Mm-hmm And also like suck up to the refs a little bit, but also criticize them. That's pretty funny Officer you're doing a great job, and I was speeding but you missed five other speeders that went right past me like this The other cop in your car. No the other cops. Yeah, yeah The other cops, he was criticizing the last game. He's criticizing I mean the bottom line is they're criticizing the officiating throughout this series is just doing it.

So you mentioned the first period penalties. They had eight yesterday. So that brings us to a grand total through three games of twenty four first period penalties. Now, I have time for the argument that the officiating has been so spotty in the openings of these games. It has dictated. I don't think last night it dictated it as much, but there becomes a sense with this league and the way that it's

officiated that there's always got to be an evening up. They add the act, bad, act, blood penalty on nurse. The trip wasn't even up. That's exactly what it was is they had sent the oilers to the box three consecutive times. And as you pointed out, they're looking to make a call. Ekblad got his skate right in behind Nurse. It was a little bit of a nudge. Nurse did the flail and went down. Boom. Penalty, they even it up.

First period, not coincidentally, ends up four penalties for the Florida Panthers, four penalties for the Edmonton Oilers. Where it sucked was it gave the game no flow whatsoever. We talked about the first two games of this series being a borderline masterpiece in terms of the hockey being played and how it had everything. It had great flow. There was dynamic scoring chances both ways. There was energy. There was scoring chances. There was goaltending.

It just felt like the first period was start, stop, start, stop. And then by the time that the penalty started piling up, everyone was looking to draw one. Okay. So we got a text into the Dunbar-Lumber text line at 650, 650 unsigned. Rough stuff is one thing, but so much hooking in the center-ized zone. They showed one play where Sam Bennett was hooking dry-side and no call. Back to 90s interference favors Florida. Yeah. I'm so shocked.

Like this happens in the playoffs every year. And we're not back to 90s interference. Go watch a game from the 80s or the 90s. I mean, you could just, you could do whatever you wanted. And if the guy went down, you might get a penalty, but if you didn't, you were fine. But the standard changes in the playoffs, it does. And so you can either complain about it, or you can build your team so that you can take advantage of it.

Or you can just play through it, or you can be the one. You know, it's an interesting question to ask? And I think it, and there's no right answer to this, by the way. There's no right answer. What is more of a turnoff for you? Dirty play or flopping? Do you know what I mean?

Like what is more of a turnoff? It's like a team that tries to get away with like dirty stuff or will punch you in the face when the referee isn't watching. Or you're a team that like kind of plays the victim. Do you know what I mean? By flopping around. It's funny because the Florida Panthers did both yesterday, right? You know, they are not, they're not a likeable bunch. No. It's funny because the Florida Panthers did both yesterday. Right?

They're not a likable bunch. No. And the thing is, they don't care. One man's flopping is another man's trying to draw attention to the dirty play that is being inflicted upon me. I mean, this is why soccer gets such a bad rep, is that there's been countless times where simulation, as it's called in the European football

and South American football, the simulation becomes part of the game. And that's where you cross over from, you know, you're trying to bring attention to what is dirty play on the other side, to you're trying to make the game about drawing penalties. And in this particular instance, trying to go on the power play at any given moment. Right.

And you're taking soft plays or soft calls and trying to turn them into something. So remember we were talking about the Lindell flop. Yep. Right. And he, and he flopped twice after Darnell nurse has crosschecked you a few times in the back, is it bad to go down? Or is it, you know, like, should you just take it? Or did he do the right thing there and just be like, well, I'm getting cross-checked in the back here.

I'm going to go down. Well, I'll answer your question. When the precedent's been set and there's been 24 first period penalties. And this is going down. You absolutely are trying to draw another one. Why would you not at that point? Right. It's the referees dictate where this stuff goes. Like I put the majority of this on the officials because the officials

decided the onset of a game. Hey, boys, this is the way we're going to play tonight. That's either going to be tiki tack or we're going to let you play through it. But I think what Kane is saying, and I don't entirely disagree with him, is like, we can't find the line. That's exactly what you know, like his cross check on Forsling to start the game. And I know the Oilers were on the power play and he was net front presence. So it's kind of like, well, that could have been a huge advantage if you're just allowed to Todd Bertuzzi a guy away. I'm not talking about Steve Moore, I'm talking

about like, um, Bertuzzi used to get called for that all the time. He'd be in front of the net, he'd push off a guy and it'd be an interference slash cross checking, whatever. Yep. Um, I can see why the referees called that, but I can also see that call going uncalled even in

like the preseason. Right. You know, when they're trying to set the standard. And so if I'm him, I'm like, listen, it's my job to go out there and find the line of, because that's the way I play, right? That's, that's, and like, and I get called for that early on in the game.

Like this is, this is going to be hard for me because you know, you say the referees set the standard and I agree in Theory, but I don't think they set a very good standard yesterday because players were confused about where the line was They set a poor standard they made it It was you you said to yourself that you know It was probably a soft call on Kane at the very least to start a game At the onset of a game where you understand what the stakes are. It's one one in the Stanley Cup final.

The series is shifted back to Florida. There's going to be extra added energy and juice in the building. You would think that they would err on the side of like recklessness here, like let the guys play because you there was no reason to have eight penalties in the first period of that game, which wasn't any necessarily nastier than any games that we've seen this year. It got nasty near the end. And I think that was because frustrations boiled over.

There's a couple of other things here. The texter mentioned about the hooking and grabbing on Leon dry subtle through the neutral zone. I think we should discuss one thing, which is going to be prevalent here. And we will get into it with Greg Wyshinski coming up at six 30, the increased physicality as the series has gone on, on two guys in particular, Drysidle and McDavid. And there was a big hit yesterday by an Aaron Blatt on Connor McDavid,

staggered him on contact. He briefly went down the tunnel, came back. I think he missed maybe one shift, but then played with regularity for the rest of it. McDavid and Drysidle were largely neutralized. I kind of wonder if there was one takeaway from Game three, it's that the physicality of the Florida Panthers and I think you're going to give the Panthers the bigger nod in the physical department over the Oilers. I mean, that's just from my view through three games.

I think that Florida is the more physical. Yeah, not by an overwhelming. I don't think Edmonton's a team that can't deal with it. No, but I think Edmonton got pushed around a little bit last night when the game got away from them. And then the over abundance of pushback was a little bit had to do with the fact that we got our, pardon my French, we got our asses kicked physically and on the scoreboard and we got to do something about it in the end.

I mean, there was no surprise that the first guy they went after, when the game got out of hand, it was a four goal game in the third period and the others weren't going to come back. You knew something was going to kick off. And I wasn't at all surprised that the first guy they went after was Sam Bennett, because they want to send a message about what he's been doing to Stuart Skinner. Mm-hmm. And Sam Bennett, it's like, okay. Yeah, I know.

Same thing with Nurse by Gadget. Gadget was like, this is great. This is the biggest impact I'm gonna have on this series. Thank you so much for fighting me. Yeah, I thought Darnell Nurse looked a little too happy after that. It's like, yeah, you hung in there in a fight, you're getting killed on the scoreboard.

But I mean, it's easy for me to say I wasn't in the fight. and killed on the scoreboard, but I mean, it's easy for me to say I wasn't in the fight. I just think that one went perfectly for Florida because you're talking about the physical play of against guys like McDavid and Dry Cytl. Yeah. I kind of laugh sometimes, I'm like, what do you think they're're going to try and do?

Give them the neutral zone. Hey, feel free to just build up your speed through the neutral zone. We're not going to do anything to you. Could the referees call some interference on that? Yep. But I think the Panthers are going to kind of risk it, right? They know that they're not going to call it every time.

And like you can interfere enough and some of it's just check, it's called checking, and taking your own, like I have the right to this space as well. And you're not going to let, or you're going to try not to let Connor McDavid and Dry Sato create speed through the neutral zone and be able to attack you at full speed. Yeah. Like that's just, that's just smart hockey. And the Panthers are again, and if we want to bring it

back to the Canucks, there's a reason why I keep saying Canucks got to get bigger. They got to get bigger up front. They got to get tougher and And they gotta get faster. There's a lot of guys that use their speed defensively, like Gustav Forsling. The Panthers are built for this. And there's a reason why they've been to three straight Stanley Cup finals. So you can either spend your time complaining about the officiating and the way things are called, or you can try and play like that. Because that's what succeeds.

You can like it or not, but that's what does succeed for the most part. Jay writes into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. By the way, get your text in. We'll be reading them throughout the day and we're going to be doing what we learned at 8.30 this morning. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650 650 hashtag at WWL and let us know what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports Jay writes in how did you guys feel about the third period honestly Jay I thought

was way way way overdone from the oilers I understand wanting to get your pound of flesh and I understand frustrations boiling over but it felt like a temper tantrum that lasted about 35 minutes you, when you see a kid in the mall freaking out and you know, they're on the ground and they're throwing their stuff around, they've either had too much sugar or not enough sugar. I don't know which one. All the time. Right. You know, so I was watching the game with the boy where the end of the game and I was like, you know, old man lessons. I was like, son, watch Corey Perry here.

He's going to do something. And like, it's so predictable. And he did it. Like, I was like, ah, Corey Perry's on the ice. Nod Block sent him out there or he probably said, like, put me on the ice. And he went out there with the intent of sending a message for the next game.

And I got really nothing. I got no problem with it. That's what like Corey Perry is a future hall the next game. And I got really nothing, I got no problem with it. That's what, like Corey Perry's a future Hall of Famer. This is what he does and this is the way he's wired. Now, you know, in a lot of those cases though, you just end up looking like a very frustrated team. And the Panthers laugh at you. You know, like you might think,

oh, I'm going to send a message. But the Panthers have already sent the biggest message. They pumped you six one. Greg Wyshinski joins us now in the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Wysh? Hi, everybody. How's it going? Pretty, pretty fun one last night, how totally, totally very much like the first two games in the series.

That's different about it at all. Well, the first periods were similar with all the penalties. I mean, that's true. I mean, that's a good point. Maybe there's a theme we're sensing here where the winning team may want that in the consecutive victory if they posted in the series. I want to read the lead from your gamer yesterday

because we talked a lot about this in the opening segment. It goes, the Edmonton Oilers were blown out by the Florida Panthers 6-1 in game three of the Stanley Cup final. They took 21 penalties for 85 penalty minutes, pulled their starting goalie, had a near line brawl in the third period and one of their players was irritated enough to squirt a stream from his water bottle at the Florida bench. But despite all of this, the Oilers swore that the Panthers, considered to be the NHL's most

agitating team, didn't get under their skin or in their heads. And then you did a drill tweet on Twitter as well. So you managed to capture it all. Are you of the belief right now that the Florida Panthers have gotten to the Edmonton Oilers? You know, occasionally my New Jersey born and bred cynicism comes through in my writing. It was just so painful to like be in that Florida, the Edmonton rather, media availability after the game and just see them swear up and down that they didn't come unhinged.

Like Jake Wallman standing there and being like, hey man, it's a Stanley Cup final emotions run high. And that's why I decided to become a firehose from my own bench of my water bottle because AJ Greer took my gloves. I mean, it was just like all this talk for the last week or even longer than that of it's different this time. We're mentally tough. You know, we've been through it, we know how to handle things. Like maybe they'll all prove that with a game four performance that's so emphatically

in the favor of the Edmonton Oilers that I'll need a neck brace for the whiplash I'll experience. But as of right now, like they took the bait, they swallowed the bait, they played right into the Panthers hands and they just got embarrassed in game three. I mean, it is one of those losses where you're just like, how do you pull yourself off the mat after it?

What was the most glaring example of what you're talking about? The VanderKane. The VanderKane had more penalty minutes last night than he had in 17 previous games in the postseason combined. Okay. And then the Vander Cane and his media availability after the game said, they get away with things that we don't get away with. So that's a tacit admission of two things. One that you're, you're doing the, I'm whining about the ref's business.

And I'm sure that at some point will manifest in a, uh, a Gregory, Campbell is the assistant general manager of the Florida Panthers bit that I'm sure the people of Vancouver will appreciate. Yeah, we've sent them notes already. You left the research on the desk so they can continue your work. And then, and then the other thing it, it, it, it illustrates is that they tried to play the Panthers game last night. They're not that team and they're especially not that team without Zach

Hyman in the lineup which is one of the few guys that can maybe match the physicality of the Florida Panthers without crossing the line. So that was a real slap the forehead moment last night as the kind of like soft whining about the ref even, even Chris Knoblock was doing it after the game where he, you know, sort of congratulated the referees on being able to identify a too many men penalty in this game that they couldn't identify in double overtime. Um, but then also just the admission that they became unhinged and they became

unhinged because they tried to do what the Panthers do. And I think as we're seeing once again in this series, no one can do what the Panthers do. What have you thought of the officiating overall? Because we're up to I think the count is 24 first period penalties through three games now. And what's amazing is that we we should be at like 44. That's just the way the series is played and so I don't know. I mean I wondered the right approach to this because there was a moment after like the fourth or fifth penalty in the first period where it felt like Macaulay and his partner just decided to let

him play prison rules for a while and like you know dry titles getting tackled and nobody's getting getting a call and maybe that's just how they have to approach things because honestly if you listen to the Oilers they're they're kind of like upset that they played these games on special teams and they didn't get a chance to really get in their flow to which I'd say aren't you the team with McDavid Dry Cytle Bouchard on your power play like would you want to be on the power play more often? I don't know. It's a conundrum because it's not just simply

the Florida Panthers doing things and not getting caught or not getting their comeuppance. It's the Edmonton Oilers responding in kind. And, you know, unless you want the entirety of the first period played on the power play, you can't call everything. The Panthers are a unique bunch because they're a combination of bullies and floppers.

Like normally you're either the bully or the flopper. The Panthers are both. I mean there was a classic Bobrowski moment last night. Oh my god. Where Arvison gets the goalie interference penalty and you're looking to see where the laser sight is on Bob's body as he topples to the ground. Well, I thought his skates were going to hit the video board. He just went on his head. He nearly did a backflip. I do think it's a measure of maturity though that he no longer just throws his laundry around in the crease after he gets bumped. He used to do that a lot too.

No, I mean, but that's it. What that all adds up to, like the sum total of what you just said is the word agitation. It's not simply just Marchand's mouth or Bennett falling on goalies or all of the other things that the Panthers are good at doing better than anybody in this league. It's also their ability to draw penalties. And, you know, that's it. We've talked about, I'm sure we've talked about diving before on this show, like as nefarious and as unfortunate as it is as a part of our game, like it's definitely a talent. It's definitely a skill to be able to do some of the things that the Panthers do. Yeah, Lundell did it twice in the corner. Yeah. Oh my God. Both of those times when he, I mean he got popped in the face pretty good,

but the one before that was, you know, the minute he felt the stick on his back, he's digging a hole. And he didn't get popped in the face that good. No, but he still got popped in the face. But the point being is that they're really good at that too. And so the sum total of all of that is that these are all of the ways that they infuriate you and you can either get into the trenches with them and try to do the same thing as them and come off as a pale imitation or there's another suggested path.

Rely on the two best players in the world to carry you through game three and maybe do it that way instead of having Leon Dreisle have no shot attempts for only the second time in 93 playoff games. That's probably not the path I'd choose is to go in that direction. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Our next guest is the senior NHL writer for the athletic, James Myrtle here on the Halford and Brough show

on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, James, how are you? I'm good, I'm good. So does that mean Seattle is like a punchline out there? You just play home or laughing at them anytime they try and do something? Pretty much, yeah. Yeah, we make fun of them a lot because they're so boring. They haven't done anything interesting. What's the most interesting thing about the Kraken?

That they screwed up the expansion draft and now they don't know what to do. I think that they're going to have a hard time keeping fans I think here pretty soon. I've said that a few times and then I get in trouble. But, I don't know. I know Seattle as a sports town pretty well. And I know hockey's not at the top of the list there. And if they kind of, if no one finds anything interesting about them, we'll see about the future.

I know you were just in Buffalo at the combine and I really enjoyed your piece in the athletic. It was, it was gossipy. I love the hockey gossip. Um, let's start with Buffalo because from what you wrote about the Sabres, it sounds like a lot of guys want out of Buffalo. Yeah.

And I mean, I not a huge surprise, but it's but it sounds like they've got a bit of an uprising on their hands that Kevin Adams, the GM there, is going to have to try and find a way to quell and get people on board. I mean, when you miss the playoffs 14 years in a row and you're in Buffalo and you have players that are coming up as free agents that have options, it's going to be a problem for them. And you know, I had some executives that I talked to with other teams that said, you know what, Buffalo's got a lot of talent there and they had the youngest team in the league

last year. They finished with, what, they have like 85 points or something like that, 80 points. They're not, they're not that far away. They're not like in last place or something like that. And they've got some good pieces coming, Owen Power obviously, one of them on the back end. They need to be patient. The problem with that approach is if you have players like Alex Tuck, who can be a UFA in a year, who doesn't want to be there, he can't really afford to be patient.

And there's been a lot of talk about JJ Peturko, one of their best young forwards, potentially wanting out or looking at an offer sheet, Bowen Byrom is frustrated because he's been playing on a third pair because they have three really good lefty and then not very good righty. So I could see a trade happening there and yeah, I mean, the Sabres got to be really careful because they could end up spending a lot of, a lot

more time in the wilderness if they screw this up. I guess the issue with offer sheets is that if Paturka were to sign one, then the Sabres could just be like, okay, we're going to match and you're here. Yes. Yeah, that'll be the debate, but they could try and build some sort of poison pill offer sheet that's like a one year deal at a huge number. Like we've seen that a couple of times before. What if he signs a one year offer sheet for 9 million or something like that, and then all of a sudden is qualifying off for the next year. Is this huge number? There are ways

that you can make it difficult on the team if you don't want to be there. I imagine you asked a lot about Mitch Marner and who might be among the highest bidders for him and who might be the most likely to land Mitch Marner. What did you come up with? Yeah, it's funny in the piece I talk about the nine most intriguing teams around the league and I had some people complain on social media in the comments that, Oh, well, you know, most of the nine teams you, you talked about Mitch Marner. It's like, well, it's kind of a, it's pretty big story right now.

You know, it's not a very good, not a very good free agent class. And then there's one of like the 10 best players in the league. That's going to be UFA, which, you know, there hasn't been a free agent of Marner's caliber since Panarin in 2019 was the last time. So it's been a long time. It's been six years. And you know, you hear different things. You had like some people were telling me that there could be teams that are, you know, not contending teams that are have been struggling for a long time that really feel like they need another piece to put them over the top, that those teams could be offering 15 plus million dollars and one of the teams that I was told that about was Anaheim.

There's another team that's missed the playoffs so many years in a row. I think they're at seven or eight now and they've got a lot of young kids there but they don't really have, you know, they took a step forward last year but they're still a ways away from playoff contention. So you might get teams like Anaheim, San Jose, Chicago, just throwing in a huge offer. Because with the way the cap's going up every year, it doesn't really matter what the cap hit is for them in year one. It matters to them what it looks like two or three years from now.

You know, if the cap's 120 million three years from now, all of a sudden, the $15 million contract probably looks okay. You know, assuming you're, you're getting one of the best players in the league. And the other thing too, talking to people about Mitch Marner around the league, a lot of the executives I talked to don't seem that worried about the kind of the playoff performance piece of it, because most people seem to believe that

if you get him out of Toronto, it's going to remove the whatever's going on there, the bad mojo or whatever you want to call it. And then he's going to perform better. So there's going to be a lot of teams interested. You know, I think at least half the league's going to be in on the bidding for Mitch Marner. And I would be shocked if he comes back to Toronto.

Have you heard anything about what Marner wants in a destination? Like what's most important to him? He ideally would want to be with a contending team where he plays a prominent role, obviously, and to not be in the spotlight to the same extent. I went through the list of all 32 teams and talked to people with a bunch of those teams and, you know, and that's why there's no, you know, he's not going to go to Vancouver or Montreal or somewhere like that, you know, and the teams that as far

as I could tell were at the top of his list are going to be Vegas, Tampa, Florida, maybe to a lesser extent, you know, like an LA. I think I could potentially see Carolina being a factor because they've got so much cap space. Maybe not as sexy of a market to go live in, but certainly a contending team where he would, he would help them take another step. We're speaking to James Myrtle from the Athletic here on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650.

I did want to ask about Anaheim, one of the rare people who actually cares about Anaheim, because I do think it's an interesting offseason for them. Like they made a pretty pivotal coaching hire with Quenville. And I actually found that the remarks from the owner, Henry Samueli, in the aftermath were more interesting than the Quenville hire because it kind of said like, enough's enough of us being on the outside of the playoff picture looking in

and we're ready to take that step. And I always get intrigued when an owner or a general manager says that they're ready to take a next step because usually it means they're gonna do something big and potentially foolish, but big anyway. And I know that Pat Verbeek has been kind of waiting patiently to do something as well

as the general manager. What do you think about, or what did you hear from the combine about what the Ducks might do? Well, I mean, Marner was the number one thing that people were saying, but what they're going to do is they're going to spend more aggressively than they have in the past. And you're right. Like I look at this free agent class as kind of, I think it's going to be like a big game of musical chairs, except there's going to be like 20 teams that want to do

something big and there's only five chairs. So if you don't get Marner or Ehlers or it, the class thins out really fast. So if you're Anaheim and you miss on the top, let's say four free agents, do you take your 15, $20 million and spend it on that second and third tier? Are you going to go give six million dollars to Pia Suter? Because there's going to just be a lot of teams that want to spend money, that want to get better, that aren't going to be able to. So the debate for them is do you just sit with the cap space or do you spend it on what is available? And the thing that I heard in Buffalo talking to other teams, I didn't see Pat Verbeek there.

I don't know if he was there. Maybe he was, but I didn't run into him. But people were talking a lot about them and just saying they thought that Verbeek was under a lot of pressure to make something happen and to make the team take the next step. And that's a market where you miss the playoffs that many times. You know, talk about attendance issues in Seattle, you run into attendance problems and you know, the ducks have an older arena and they're kind of in a suburb. And.

Well, they're putting billions of dollars into it. And there's got a big development there. So I don't know if you heard about that, but they're doing a big reno of the arena. Yes. And it's part of a larger development. Yeah, it doesn't surprise me. The last time I was there, it looked pretty tired.

Yeah. And Reno run down and on the side of a freeway. And so I think they need that, but they're going to need a contending team or at least a competitive team to help generate more interest and success for a project like that. Um, we talked about this earlier in the show and I read it in your piece and it kind of makes some

sense. Brad Marshon to Toronto. Do you think it could happen? Yeah, I think it could happen. And I actually, you know, I've obviously, I've looked really closely at the leaf situation and what they should do and they're in a really tough spot, you know, and they, I actually think it sounds bizarre but I actually think Marshawn probably makes the most sense for them as something

to do. You know, I don't think Sam Bennett's going to come to Toronto. I don't think he's going to leave Florida and he's going to get an incredible number too. But you know, in an ideal world, the Leafs would add another really good center, but I don't think they're going to be able to. And you look at what else is available.

And I just think that, you know, watching the way Marshawn's played in these playoffs and watching the way he carries himself off the ice too. You know, when he came through Toronto in the second round, just the, the swagger that he has and the experience that he has and the way that the younger players on the Panthers and even some of the older players on the Panthers talked about what he's brought to that team, the way that Paul and Reece talked about what he's brought.

I just think that the Leafs need to do something bold and it's going to be hard to do that in free agency. But if you bring in Brad Marchand, the captain of the team that's tormented the franchise for so many years, even if you have to overpay him, which I think you would, I think that's something bold that really changes the culture and changes as Brad Tree Living talked about in his end of season press conference, changes the DNA of the team. That's one of the few things I look at in a free agency that would really do that

for the Leafs. And they've got money to spend with Marner leaving. So I think that they should be in there with a really high bid. Let's talk about the New York Rangers because according to your piece, a lot of the execs have looked at the Rangers situation and gone, that's a tough one to deal with.

You already mentioned Panarin, he's only got one year left on his deal before he's an unrestricted free agent. He's 33, Zabanić, 32, JT Miller, 32, Chris Kreider, 34, Trocek even is 31 years old. Um, what are people saying about the Rangers situation and the fact that a lot of their key players are on the wrong side of 30?

And people are saying they're in trouble. You know, they had such a bad season and trying to pivot with that group is going to be tough. Their cap situation is, is tighter than anybody. And they've got some RFAs, Keandre Miller, uh, Will Cooley, um, that other teams are going to be interested in. The blue line's a problem.

I mean, you guys saw Susie out your way and you know, they acquired him at the deadline and are already trying to get rid of him. Yeah. So I mean that kind of- He had a real tough year in Vancouver and I don't think it got better in New York. No.

So it's not often that you see someone acquired with term that comes in, you know, in March and you're already trying to get rid of them. And that's what, you know, one team I talked to was like, they're already trying to trade this guy that they just got. So they're, they're, they're in trouble. I, I, I don't think any other team has a cap situation as bad as theirs. I mean, they, they basically have, I think they have like 8 million, but then

they have four RFAs that they need to sign and not a full roster. So, you know, and I know Krider's six and a half million is something they've been trying to move out for six, seven months, and that'll give them some breathing room, but also trying to remake the blue line is gonna be a challenge. I don't know, they just feel like they've got issues

all over the place, and that big Shisterkin contract, they're gonna need him to be amazing, otherwise it's just, they're not going to have a chance next year. It's crazy how quickly things change, especially for the New York Rangers. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that they sent out that famous letter to season ticket holders.

Like we're going to have to rebuild. And then everyone was throwing bouquets of roses at them for how well they rebuilt. And they were able to attract guys like Panarin and, uh, you know, they got Truba there and Truba's already been shipped out and now you're in a situation like what, what was that four or five years they went from, all right, we got to rebuild.

They did rebuild and now they're like, I think we might have to rebuild again. Yeah. I don't know if they didn't really rebuild the right way, I think is part of the lesson there, right? Like it was kind of like trying to shortcut it. And I think you can do that and you can make your team a good team, but can you make them a great team that's going to win a championship?

And I think the answer is probably no. You know, so. Yeah. Now they're just stuck, like is probably no. You know, so. Yeah. Now, now they're just stuck. Like they've got, you know, as you said, older players, a lot of no movement clauses. The thing that could help a team like New York is with the cap going up, if all of a sudden there's

going to be a bunch of teams that can't spend to the cap and we go from having 20, 22 teams spending the cap every year to only having eight or 10, that'll give them an advantage every year. And the other thing is that they don't have a problem attracting free agents. So when there is a better free agent class, you know, maybe like 20, 26, maybe they can get another star to come in there. But I think for this season, they're in a really tough spot.

You know, the thing with the Rangers is like, I know what you're saying, but how different would things be if Kako had panned out or Lafreniere had really panned out? And I know he hasn't been terrible, but I think most people saw way more upside in that pair of young players than actually delivered. Yeah, no, that's fair. Yeah.

But, you know, I just, I don't know. It just, it feels like what happened last year was inevitable because the year before, you know, they had that great record, but it really didn't have a lot of foundation to it. You know, like it was built on high shooting percentage and getting really fortunate in a lot of games and they kind of doubled down on that and

it blew up on them. And we've seen that happen so many times around the league. James, one more team I want to talk about, and that's the Florida Panthers. You wrote that no one you spoke to expects Sam Bennett to be available in free agency, which means he's going to resign there according to a lot of people. The one guy that we haven't talked much about is Aaron Echblad. Um, not with you at least.

We spoke with Greg Wyshinski, who was covering, I was covering the Stanley Cup final right now, and he seems to think that Aaron Echblad is gone out of Florida. Um, is that what people that you spoke to were saying, and if he is, where do you think he could end up? So if they signed Bennett, it's probably going to be eight, and if he is, where do you think he could end up?

So if they signed Bennett, it's probably going to be eight, eight and a half million. You know, it'll be a haircut from what he would get on the open market. And that creates a really tight cap situation for Florida to the extent that I don't know that you can fit Eggblad in. It would be really tough. You know, he would have to take a big time

hometown discount and he'd have to move out other pieces. So, you know, and it seems like the logic that a lot of people are saying is that, well, you know, the Panthers came in to this season with a blue line without Seth Jones, right. And, and the, and the other pieces that they had. So couldn't they go in the next season? You subtract Ekblad, Seth Jones becomes your number one.

I mean, he basically is their number one in the playoffs right now. And then you're looking for a defenseman at the deadline again. And I think that there's some logic to that. So eggplant has said during the finals that he, I mean, he's a lifelong Panther and that he wants to go back. So there's always a chance and that, you know, maybe they come up with some crazy eight year deal

where they get the AAV down or something like that. But the, uh, in Buffalo, I was getting asked by other teams, Hey, what about Eklav, what do you think's going to happen there? Do you think he's going to be available? There aren't very many defensemen available in free agency. He's one of the few guys you can say is a top pair D that's going to be available. Him and Gavrikov are the two. Um, so, you know, if he does make it to open market, I think there's going to be some big

time offers for him and there's going to be teams that want to add a guy that's played as many minutes as he had and is able to deliver the kind of all around game that he has for Florida for so many years. I've got to imagine that there's going to be a robust trade market this summer, just in light of the fact every time one of M Marner's rights are gonna be traded just so some team can be like because like you don't want to wait we really want to get Marner oh we didn't get him whoops yeah there I mean it's so thin in free agency I yeah you mentioned this a couple times with other guys as well that if there might even be an uptick in rights

getting treated because there's so few guys that are really desirable in free agency the thing with trading rights is you kind of need to have a bit of a partnership with the player and the team. And it just feels like the relationship with Marner and that camp and the Leafs is not that great. So I don't know if they're going to be able to

finesse that and figure that out. And the other thing too, it gets talked about a lot here in Toronto and fans are like, well, they got to trade his rights and get something. I mean, you're probably only going to get, Carolina got a third round pick for Gensel when they traded him to Tampa. So even for Marner, I mean, well, they got to trade his rights and get something. I mean, you're probably only going to get, Carolina got a third round pick for Gensel when they traded him to Tampa. So even for Marner, I mean, what are you going to

do? Maybe you get a second round pick. Like it's not going to be an earth shattering return. Yeah. It's not so much the Leafs I'm thinking about. It's the teams that, that want that certainty before you go into the draft. I mean, we've talked about it with the Canucks

here. I don't know if they're going to be major players in free agency. I think they're going to do a lot of trading, but you know, let's say they were targeting Marner and then the draft goes and they don't make maybe some deals that they might've if they didn't know about Marner and then July 1st comes, Marner picks another team and then they're like, well, we're screwed.

Yeah. Yeah. Here you go, Brock Besser. Here's, here's 9 million. I still, I still wonder about that. Like, you know, the circle back things like, oh, we tried to do some stuff. We couldn't.

Let's circle back with a guy like Brock Besser. I wonder if that happens. That's where the mistakes are going to happen in free agency. Like there's going to be, I think there's going to be some of the worst contracts ever signed in NHL history in this free agent group, but I think you're right too, Mike.

I think there's going to be a lot of trades because you do have some teams, especially contending teams that are capped out, they need to move some pieces out. And part of the circle back for other teams is going to be, okay, we missed out in free agency. we let, let's go try and get a cap dump. Let's try and get a crider or one of these guys that these other teams are trying to get rid of, and maybe there'll be some value there in those players.

James, great stuff as always, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Okay. Thanks guys. James Myrtle from the athletic senior NHL writer here on the Haliford and Brev show on Sportsnet 650. So I asked James right before we did our hit, I texted him, I said, James Myrtle from the Athletic Senior NHL writer here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So I asked James right before we did our hit.

I texted him, I said, anything on the Canucks? He's like, no, people weren't really talking about them there. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.