Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 6/11/24

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk some Canucks with radio PxP man Brendan Batchelor, plus the boys tell us what they learned.  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. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Anton Liddell near side. Let's it rip. Tipped and they score! Evan Rodriguez going to stick on it! And the Panthers make a pay! It's 3-1!

Baboski was f***ed. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. He was freaking amazing. Looking forward to people doubting us again. You know, we're getting the footbacks against the wall. That's a dilly of a pickle. 6-0-1 on a pickle. 6.01

on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. It's Halford and his breath. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Hey dawg, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Breath of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda.

Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling.

They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Guest list today begins at 6.30. Greg

Wyshynski from ESPN is going to join us after the Florida Panthers took a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals with a victory last night over the Edmonton Oilers. 4-1 in case you missed it. We'll talk to Wish about that at 6.30. 7.30, Brendan Batchelor play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks.

You can ask Batch about the Stanley Cup final if you like. We can also dive into anything that's happening in the world of the Vancouver Canucks as we inch closer and closer to July 1st and the start of free agency. 8 o'clock, BC Lions general manager Neil McEvoy is going to join the program.

Lions did not get off to a great start, losing in Toronto in their CFL opener to the Chad Kelly-less Toronto Argonauts. They'll have a chance to make amends this weekend in the hotly anticipated concert kickoff against the Stamps, featuring 50 Cent. At running back.

50 Cent is going to play running back. He's going to play wide receiver at this point. Had to do a little who's who on the Lions because they had such a great turnover at the wide receiver position. Was it a great one or a tough one? Both. It was a great challenge.

Neil McEvoy, the general manager of the VC Lions, is going to join us at 8. Brandon Batchelor at 7.30. Greg Wyshynski at 6.30. Also, what's happening tonight, because there's no Stanley Cup final, it's an off day, the first of many between games as they go back to Edmonton.

There's also no NBA finals game tonight because they're on a break as well as they go back to Dallas. How about this? Nat Bailey Stadium tonight. Tickets still available for the dog day of summer. This is the game where you get to bring your dog to Nat Bailey Stadium. It's against the Spokane Indians. It's tonight's 7.05 is first pitch.

Four-legged fans are welcome at the ballpark for this game only. I will note there has to be a dog waiver completed in advance of entering the ballpark for this game only. I will note, there has to be a dog waiver completed in advance of entering the ballpark. I was thinking of bringing Pedro, but he couldn't read the waiver. Honestly, I think it's because he's from Mexico. Maybe English is not 100% comfortable with Mexico. The dog is muy confuso. You want to go to the game?

I was like, do you want to go to the game? He's like, rough. And then I'm like, well, fill out this waiver. I'm not... And he just looked at me. I'm like, okay, well, we can't go to the game then. We had a real standoff. So there's an online waiver.

Again, that's going to be very difficult for the dog to do. Oh, he can't even get online. But tonight, we'll mention this again later on if you want to get tickets. He's like my dad. You got to click what? www. What's the rest of it? That's the dog.

So it's the dog day of summer tonight at the Nat. If you want to check it out. I know it's raining right now, but the forecast calls for clearer skies this evening. It's raining cats and dogs. Yes. Yes, it is, Andy. So anyway, that is what's happening tonight. 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 it? You missed that?

What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Evan Rodriguez, noted sniper Evan Rodriguez, scored two of Florida's three third period goals last night, helping them to a 4-1 victory over Edmonton in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Nico Mikula and Aaron Eckblad also scored. Anton Lundell had a pair of assists. Bobrovsky, 18 saves. And the Florida Panthers are now two wins away, not just from winning the Stanley Cup, but for forever being exempt from the sad club, Jason. No sad club on the horizon for the Florida Panthers. They're one of our top prospects, too.

It's tough. It was a night of unexpected goal scorers in Sunrise. Evan Rodriguez mentioned this, scores twice. Nico Mikula gets another one for Florida. Then Aaron Ekblad, a defenseman, adds the empty netter. His first of the playoffs. Matias Ekholm was the only goal scorer for Edmonton, and the

Oilers only have one assist from Connor McDavid in the first two games of the series, and no points from Leon Dreisaitl. If you didn't get to watch last night, or you didn't get to watch game one, if you only saw one game of the series, these were not

very similar games at all. In game one, Sergei Bobrovsky had to be brilliant. He was far less busy in game two. In fact, he faced just seven shots over the first two periods. The Panthers were dominating. Now, Bobrovsky did allow the first shot he faced, but on the bright side for Florida, that came more than halfway through the first period.

Yep. Frankly, if not for Stuart Skinner, this game could have been out of reach early. But I think the talk during the two days off before game three Thursday in Edmonton probably won't be about any of that. It won't be about the Evan Rodriguez story or how the Panthers

were the better team in Game 2 as opposed to Game 1. It's going to be about officiating and injuries. So it's truly a Stanley Cup final now, right? Yeah. Game 2 is the one where it went off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The referee talk and the injuries.

Oilers fans are going to say the refs missed a delay of game penalty on Florida, which the officials did miss that. Panthers fans, and this is probably the bigger story going forward at least, Panthers fans will say that Leon Dreisaitl should be suspended for his forearm shiver to Alexander Barkov. Dreisaitl, now he did get two minutes for roughing, and the Panthers made it 3-1 on the resulting power play. So the Oilers have already paid a price for dry sidles,

recklessness, carelessness on that hit. But Barkov had to leave the game, and he did not return, and the Panthers were not saying a single thing about it, which makes me wonder what their plan is, what their strategy is. Do you think it's possible? Now, I've been watching hockey a long time. Do you think it's possible that Barkov is just fine,

but they don't want to say anything about it because they want the NHL department of player safety to act because if he was truly hurt like if he was really badly hurt like if he had a bad concussion they were like oh my god wouldn't they be out there saying that so yeah I'm gonna allow the. It's not quite a conspiracy theory. And also the PGA Tour had Scotty Scheffler arrested to make it more interesting. So lots of parts through there. I'm going to put the Scheffler stuff on the table for a moment.

Paul Maurice was asked post-game whether he was the one holding Barkov out, whether he was making like a coaching decision to rest his player, given that they were up. And he very tersely responded that he's like, it was a two one game with X amount of minutes left. I was not holding him out. And then when asked about the hit, he said the NHL reviews all hits.

And then when asked further about what he thought about the hit, do you have the clip at the ready? Very tersely yet again, Paul Maurice said, how do you feel about the hit. Do you have the clip at the ready? Very tersely yet again, Paul Maurice said, How do you feel about the hit on Barkoff? This isn't the Oprah Winfrey show. My feelings don't matter. And Laddie had issue with

the timeliness of that reference. And Meghan Markle didn't like that return. That response. An Oprah Winfrey reference to her show in 2024. This isn't the Phil Donahue show. Little Sally Jesse Raphael. How many kids out there understood that reference?

I haven't kept up to speed. Oprah got her own network, right? That's where she elevated to. She's essentially retired now. Right. She's not out there interviewing Gentle Ben and everything else. Yeah, I don't know. Ben, no!

I don't know why he went there. I think it was because he just wanted to punt on the entire thing, and that was the first thing that popped into his head. But to Jason's earlier point about a potential suspension for Leon Dreisaitl, let's turn now to 32 Thoughts. Elliot Friedman, Jeff Merrick recording overnight in the car. And here's Friedman on what he thinks might happen with Leon Dreisaitl. Maurice has had a really good as everybody knows he's been in a great mood throughout these playoffs he you know

he's got all the funny quotes he was not a happy guy in the post game tonight and a lot of his quotes especially on that topic were really quick you know this isn't the Oprah Winfrey show. It doesn't matter how I feel. He threw the onus on the NHL to look at it. I got the sense that the Panthers were hopeful that with the night that everything will be, you know, okay tomorrow. But, you know, they don't know. And you have to wait and see and you can understand why they're mad like as as a couple their players said to me if it was the other way around and that

was mcdavid or dry sidle got hit that way they'd be arresting us at the border so you know, that's, you know, they feel, any Panther fan, I think, would feel that that deserves a suspension. I don't know if we're going to go there. With two days off, I can just see everyone saying, let's see how we feel on Tuesday. but you know the one thing about it is Dreisaitl's definitely put himself in a position here where he doesn't control the outcome of the situation he's put himself at the mercy of the NHL and Department of Player Safety and they do have to make a decision here so a few other things from last night's game and it's all kind of related. This first point, at least, is related to the Barkov injury. The Panthers are so good when they have the lead.

They just look completely comfortable with their responsibilities. They win a lot of puck battles. There never seems to be any panic in their game. Now, Barkov is obviously a big part of that did you hear wayne gretzky call him the best defensive player he's seen since brian trache yeah he missed the patrice bergeron era but that's fine yeah well maybe he thinks barkoff's better than him maybe he was busy coaching uh it's hard to imagine the Panthers coming unglued in this series. Even if Barkov has to miss some time, it'll be pretty hard for the Oilers to win four of the next five.

The way Florida's playing, I agree. They are, I mean, we say choking the life in that Python-esque grasp that they have on the game, but I think what you saw last night was the ramifications of just two games of being subjected to it by the Oilers. Because not only did they have very little time and space to do the things that they want to do. I think there's two instances with McDavid. One was the breakaway where McChuck chased him down, didn't take a penalty, made life hard on him. The second was when the goalie was pulled and McDavid tried to do that extra dangle.

And he got the stick lift and take it off. So there's that, the actual physical checking. I also think that there's a serious wear down and attrition effect that's going on right now. Well, Darnell Nurse and Evander Kane aren't even close to healthy. And then, of course, yesterday they lose Warren Fogle. He gets tossed out of the game for kneeing, and I'm sure Oilers fans didn't like that call either.

And we've wondered all playoffs if Dreisaitl is playing hurt. You know, the Panthers learned last year that the playoffs are a war of attrition, and, of course, the Canucks learned that in 2011. Now, of course, the Canucks also learned in 2011 that just because you have a 2-0 series lead doesn't mean you're going to win the series. And we had a text in from 3-Pot Shane into the Dunbar-Lumber text line. He said, how painful is it to hear that 92% of teams up 2-0

in the Stanley Cup final go on to win the Cup? Of course the Canucks were in the 8%. Yeah, every time I hear that. Because I remember on the old Curtain Block show going like, I mean, are the Bruins going to win four of the next five? That just seems like too much of a climb. Tall order for the Boston Bruins. So it was fortunate that the Canucks did pull off the win,

and they ended up sweeping the Boston Bruins. That's how I remember it, at least. Here's the one thing. The one thing that could tilt this series is Barkov. Because in the first three rounds of the playoffs, Barkov essentially matched up with Kucherov in the first round against Tampa Bay, the Pasternak line in the second round against Boston,

and then Panarin, Kreider, Zbigniew Zbigniew in the third round against the Rangers. Collectively, if you want to go Kucherov, Pasternak, and Panarin, they combine for one goal against Barkov. That was the stat that was floating around last night. If he is hurt, if he does have a concussion and he misses time, that is going to open things up.

Yeah, there's two things that I think can happen. The Barkov injury. If we're talking about the Panthers coming unglued in this series and losing the hold they have on it, Barkov and also, I guess, the Edmonton crowd. They're going to get a lift going back home. There's no question. And if you want to go with that old adage that a series doesn't really begin until a team loses on home ice, this thing is still technically up for grabs. That's a really dumb saying, by the way.

Yeah, I never liked it. The series has begun because it's two games into the series. The thing that I would be incredibly concerned about if I was Edmonton is, are we running out of gas? Yeah. You know, because... And someone's already texted in about this, asking if we can address Chris Knobloch's comments

from the beginning of the series, where he likened the lack of playoff experience in the Stanley Cup Final to, well, the Buffalo Bills had plenty of experience in the Super Bowl and they never won any of those. There is a real difference. And I don't know if it's just because they're healthier or whether they've understood the grind,

but there's a real difference between Florida in last year's Stanley Cup Final and Florida in this year's Stanley Cup Final. And I think part of it... Well, I think it's both, right? They're healthier. I think it's understanding the physical toll... And they understand.

Understanding the physical toll it takes to play their style of hockey and understanding how long you have to play it for. And what Edmonton is... I mean, let's be honest here. Evander Kane can't sit down at the bench. He's probably less than 50% to 40%. He looks like a shell of himself out there. When he's playing, his crossovers look awkward.

He looks like a guy that's got a sports hernia. For those that missed it, Darnell Nurse played a grand total of four minutes and 20 seconds last night. 420, nice. And he was gone for the remainder of the game. That left the five defensemen, and that was also without Cody Ceci, who was scratched. That left Devin Bouchard to play 30, right?

And he had a tough night. And part of that has to do with the fact that he played half the game for the Edmonton Oilers. So that's going to be some attrition as well. He's not used to playing 30 minutes a night. No one's used to playing 30 minutes a night in the playoffs. So Nurse got hit early in the game, right? Yep.

Like it wasn't that Nurse, just in case anyone was wondering, it wasn't that Nurse came in there and he was already banged up and then all of a sudden the coach looks kind of foolish for not going, you know, would not having Nurse sit as opposed to CeCe playing. Yeah, no, he got hit early.

He stayed on the bench and they were kind of alluding to when Char, remember when Char got hit in the face with a puck in the 2019 Stanleyley cup final it busted his jaw in three places yeah he insisted on staying on the bench right and opening the door yeah i guess that was they were trying to draw a parallel on the broadcast with nurse so bouchard plays 31 minutes mcdavid plays 26 minutes um you know that's mcdavDavid looked dangerous early on. He looked like the only oiler that was really, really going.

Yep. But he wasn't able to get anything done. Again. Just one assist through the first two games. Dreisaitl doesn't look right either. No. You know? I mean, he's got no points in two games, and you're going to say,

well, he just got off to a slow start in a series. They can't afford that right now. And I think that what may end up killing them if they can't somehow muster the energy to get a win in game three is that the Dallas series did not adequately prepare them for this Florida series. The Dallas series just didn't. It was a different kind of test in that it wasn't physical. And what you've seen through the first two games, between the Bennett hit on McDavid, just the signature hits,

the Bennett hit on McDavid in game one, followed by the litany of hits that you saw Florida do legally, and then Edmonton do illegally. It was almost like the physical response from Edmonton was out of frustration. I don't think the Fogle one was born out of frustration, but he was trying to make statement. And so too was Dreisaitl. Meanwhile,

just during this playoffs and during this series, I think Dakota Joshua and Nikita Zuderov and possibly Elias Lindholm, they're all like making more money because people are seeing like we see it. We see it every year. Yeah. The big and strong teams, the ones that win the war of attrition are typically the ones that go deep in the playoffs and often win the Stanley Cup. Evan Bouchard, I thought, had a tough night, had a bad giveaway on Florida's winning goal, which I just wonder if that was partly him playing so much. It looked almost like a tired play.

He also had to tap out before he got choked out by Aaron Ekblad, which is a bit embarrassing. I've never seen that before. It was not great. I can't recall ever seeing a hockey player do that before. I just wonder if Ekblad might get fined for that at the very least. Do you think the choke was actually – Making a guy tap out?

Was that choke actually bad enough to warrant the tap, or was it just like – It must be because he I must be like I've never tapped yeah like I've never like was he like seriously like I dude like I can't breathe like I've just never seen that before it was really

wild you should have asked him you can't you can't you can't tap everyone knows you can't tap you either have to fight your way out of it or yeah that's it there's two ways that

can go between the band-aid on the chin in game one and tapping out in game two, Edmonton has shown weakness. They've shown vulnerability, right? You can't do that. The Band-Aid on the... We never really fully addressed the Band-Aid on the chin.

On McDavid, you mean? Yeah. Was there a bigger Band-Aid available? I don't think so. That was a blanket, basically, with a pad on it that they put on his chin. Well, it was hard with the beard. And everyone was making fun of him. It's like, just bleed. Right? Just bleed.

No one's going to stop you. They're not going to take you off the ice. Just bleed. Don't they, though? Because remember Hughes was bleeding and they had to take him off the ice. Right, but then he went back out and just continued to bleed. Right? They should have shaved a little hole in his beard and then put on, like when you take your pet to the vet. That's true, actually. And then they should have put a huge hole in his beard and then put on, like when you take your pet to the vet? That's true, actually.

And then they should have put a huge cone around his head so he could chew on it. So he doesn't lick it. Why does McDavid have a cone on the end? Yeah, and then last night with Boosh, you can't tap. You know the cameras are on you. You can't tap, right? I've seen it at UFC. It's like you

just have to let the guy break your arm. Well, it must have been pretty bad if instinctively he did that without even thinking, right? You'd seen it at UFC. It's like, you just have to let the guy break your arm. It's been pretty bad. If instinctively he did that without even thinking, right? You'd think, but it's a Stanley Cup final. I know it's going to stay with him forever. He'd like to surrender. Now,

I did want to make one final point before we bring in our next guest or our first guest of the show. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Every time I hear on the broadcast and this is both our broadcast on sports net yep but also i've heard it on espn's broadcast so too have i because i was down in the states for game one and that's where that's what i watched all of canada is behind the oilers BX has said that right before the game. And I'm like, is BX trolling?

Like, is everyone trolling? Is the entire corporate broadcasting world just trolling everyone? Because, you know, you see a tweet from the prime minister where he's like, all of Canada is behind you. And it's like... That's understandable. And apparently there were... Well, yeah, because he's...

That's the prime minister. Because he's a Habs fan. He's a politician. He's a politician, though. Yeah. But yeah, he is a Habs fan. He should know better, right? Like, it's just crazy.

He's also a politician. So I think there have been some polls out there that, like, who are you cheering for? And most people do say the Oilers, but I feel like that's not, that's just a poll of everyday Canadians. Not in this province, I don't think. No, but it's just like a poll of everyday Canadians that don't watch hockey. Don't watch it to the extent where they have like a hardcore fandom of a team.

They don't count. They shouldn't be the ones getting polled because they don't care either way. Yeah. No, they don't watch it to the extent where they have like a hardcore fandom of a team. They don't count. They're not, they shouldn't be the ones getting pulled because they don't, they don't care either way. Yeah, no, they, they don't.

They're like, they're like, it's like, that would be nice to see Canada have a Stanley cup come home or that'd be, it's been so long, you know, like, and meanwhile,

guys like me, I'm like, like, you can't just say that on a broadcast that all of canada is behind the edmonton oilers because it's one million percent not true there are a lot of people that are aggressively cheering for the florida panthers uh people in calgary i imagine uh people in vancouver i imagine that do not want to see the Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup. And it's not like they love the Florida Panthers.

It's just they're cheering against the Oilers. They do not want to see them win the Stanley Cup. Can I also throw in? But I do feel like every time I'm there, they just blanket statement say it like, all of Canada is behind you. You're like, no, we're not. He's for sure trolling.

It's BXR. Whatever. That's not the point. The point is that in addition to teams actively cheering against Edmonton, the reality of it is, is that because it's Western Canada and the Prairies, Eastern Canada, really half of them don't even have an opinion on it. So there's a marker research company called Ledger that polled, I think it was close to 2 000 canadians on their

interest level in the stanley cup final 58 are not paying what they would consider quote-unquote close attention to it and the numbers spiked when they got to like quebec and ontario right because to be dead honest if you're a habs fan you probably are checked out you've been checked out for a while and if you're a leafs fan you traditionally check out right after the first round is done because that's when you're done so I look at it I'm like I get the platitudes that we're putting out there nationally like it's Canada's team but the reality of it is if you were to ask individual hockey fans and hockey markets Alberta's paying attention Edmonton's into it there's probably a lot of Calgarians that aren't Vancouver is almost uniform and unified

in its, we don't want Edmonton to win because they beat us on the way. And it just doesn't add up. But you're right. The messaging is getting crammed down our throat and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills along with Jason Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor. Life from Rogers Arena, calling Canucks games. It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor. 7.34 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody.

Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help you with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks, is going to join us in just a moment here.

The highlight of our two, even though we did talk about Jason Krog, it is Krog, by the way, for 10 minutes without actually talking to Jason Krog. We had the Jason Krog conversation. Sans Krog. That's how good we are at radio.

Well, you're just, you're just taking someone's text. Didn't I just say that? Conversation with Kroglist. I repeat, Kroglistglist someone said you said that and you credited that that i don't think you credited anyone though sorry we got a text someone's an unsigned text came in you don't like to brag though because the text went like this here is how great you guys are at your job you just spent 10 minutes talking to jason crogg without even talking to Jason Krog. So thank you, Unsigned Texter. We're not great

at the job. We're super great at the job. Hour two of this program is brought to you by a Primetime craft beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime is full flavor without compromise. No compromise! Get some at a liquor store near you or you can visit the

brewery to see how it's made. The phone line's we go. Brendan Batchelor joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Batch. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Batch, do you think Dreisaitl is getting suspended? I don't. Is there a possibility of that? It's kind of a thing. It's kind of a thing. There's a debate about it, but I would be surprised if they suspended a star player in the Stanley Cup final.

But that said, I don't agree with some of the assertions out there that it wasn't deserving of a penalty. Let's put it that way, but I would be surprised if he got suspended.

Yeah, so would I. But I'm just wondering, after the first two games of this series, especially Game 2, which the Florida Panthers, I thought, dominated, compared to Game 1, where Bobrowski kind of stole the game. Although the Panthers did play. They weren't completely dominated by the others. At any rate i just wonder what hope do others have to get back in this series one is going to be going home

to edmonton getting a home crowd but also is one of them potentially a barkoff injury yeah that's what i was going to say is the hope going home is that you can get your top players away from Barkov which is obviously a much easier task if Barkov is not featured in the lineup so we'll have to see how that progresses and if things are serious for Barkov in terms of an injury and missing any sort of time here that might increase the likelihood of a dry sidle suspension i guess um but uh but yeah that's sort of what the oilers have to be hoping for right now is either that barkov uh is unable to play which um you know puts a lot more sort of spotlight on the the whole thing with dry sidle or uh that they they can create some better matchups and opportunities

further down Florida's lineup for their top players to take control of the game and make a difference. But obviously the ice looks pretty tilted in one direction right now. At the same time, the old saying goes, you're not in trouble in a series until you've lost at home. So we'll see what the Oilers have in store for Game 3 and Game 4 coming up this week.

What makes the Panthers so good? And is there anything that's applicable to the Vancouver Canucks, something the Vancouver Canucks can learn from the Panthers? To me, it's their depth, right? They've got guys throughout their lineup that contribute. And I think the Canucks had elements of that this year. That's why they were able to go on the playoff run that they were. But you look at Florida's lineup and you look at the options they have

and the top players that they have that play further down the lineup. And then guys like Evan Rodriguez, who's a pretty good forward for my money. I think he's pretty underrated around the league. Comes up with a couple of big goals yesterday i i really like a guy like luster renan who's sort of blossomed into a strong depth player for them um and you know they they have a blue line that can kind of resemble what you talk about with um you know the the modern blue lines that have had success in the nhl like vegas's last year like you know to a certain extent lines that have had success in the NHL, like Vegas's last year, like, you know, to a certain extent the Canucks blue line in terms of how they've remodeled it

is, you know, big guys that can move the puck and can defend well. And you look at Forsling and Ekblad and Montour, you know, those are three great defensemen to have in the fold. So, you know, I would say that the Panthers are probably just a better execution to this point of what the Canucks have tried to do with their roster in terms of, like, I see a lot of similarities in terms of the team building. It's just the Canucks maybe didn't have quite as much depth

or quite as much punch at the top of their lineup, and that's what made the difference for them ultimately. We're speaking brendan bachelor play-by-play voice of the vancouver canucks here on the half and above show on sportsnet 650 uh it has been it's been interesting since the season has ended obviously because canucks fans have kind of been in this tornado of angst about the season ending loathing towards the edmonton Oilers as they try and chase their Stanley Cup. And now they're down two games. So there's that. They can hang their hats on.

And then everyone just waiting and waiting and waiting for July 1 with drips and drabs of updates coming in. How have you been keeping yourself busy over the last little bit, Batch? I haven't really. I've been sort of re-energizing here a bit after a playoff run and certainly still paying attention to everything that's been happening

with the rumors around the Canucks and everything. But I think like a lot of fans, my mindset is let's wait and see what actually happens here. So there's rumors around Zdorov. There's rumors around Lindholm. There's going to be noise around these guys until either they're signed or, you know, July 1st hits and they go to the open market.

So I'm just sort of waiting and interested to see how this management group approaches what, you know, has the potential to be a tricky summer, but I think also has the potential to be a summer that could define this team's ability to compete for the next three or four years, depending on who they decide to bring back, how they decide to allocate their cap space. And if they don't bring guys back, then who they look to in free agency or through trade to try and fill the holes that guys like Zdorov or Joshua

or Lindholm might leave if they go to the open market on July 1st and ultimately sign somewhere else. Because the thing that's interesting, and I know it was a singular line, and it might have been a throwaway line. I hate parsing words, but I'm going to anyway. You don't hate it. That's what we do all day. Actually, I love it.

I think I know where you're going here. Well, when Patrick Albee said, you know, and our job is to also find the next Dakota Joshua, not even necessarily with Joshua per se, but that notion of, you know, the guys that we have are great and we love what we did last season. segment it is about finding the next guy that can do it for cheaper which is fair or not right or wrong it doesn't really matter because that's the way the game is played under the hard cap that you don't really necessarily pay the guys that have done the job for you in a lot of instances you say thank you for your service and you find another guy who could do that job for a lesser ticket which is tough but ultimately it's the way that the efficiency game is played under the hard

cap yeah and you get into trouble when you pay guys for what they've already done for you. I mean, like a perfect example of that is the Louis Erickson contract in Vancouver, right? Like he hadn't done it for the Canucks, but he was a proven guy in the league. And this organization gave him a big long-term deal that didn't work out because they were paying him for past performance rather than what he might have been capable of going into his 30s. So these are the things you have to be careful of. next guy because in a cap world where efficiency is king, you need guys making less money providing more if you can have that at all possible, right? So I think for a lot of people around the league and for a lot of teams, the salary cap going up as much as it's going to is going to be welcome in terms of

alleviating some of the crunch that these teams have been under for the last few years since the pandemic and it might lead to some more interesting player movement and some bigger contracts in free agency but where it hurts from the Canucks perspective is for a guy like Joshua who all it takes is one team out there to throw an extra million or two at him per season to pry him away and quote unquote, overpay him compared to what you might expect. And, you know, you just don't want to be the team that's throwing out those kinds of contracts because, you know, looking back at, at some of those sorts of deals more often than not, I think they end up hurting you a lot more than

they might help you even in the short term. And, you know, that's, that's the, the tough needle to thread here is you've got all these guys that were key contributors of a very good team that was one win away from the conference finals. And you want to continue to grow and develop and take a step in the right direction and get back to that sort of level and back to that part of the playoffs next year. But at the same time, you know, you have to be smart and you have to be diligent and you have to think about the medium and the long term as well as the short term. So that's why I say that this offseason could define the way this team is able to compete for the next few years. And why I think it's going to be so interesting is because these are hard decisions to make. Nobody wants to

let Dakota Joshua walk away. Everybody wants him to come back. Even the Canucks management would, you know, admit that, you know, they want him to be a part of their team. They understand the important role that he played this year. But in a salary cap cap world you know there there's a price that you have to be willing to walk away at and Joshua is one of those guys who could be willing to command a lot more than you might have projected uh prior to the season he had this year don't you think too that teams should as opposed to fearing change and fearing the losing of players, don't you think they should embrace change? Like, I've come to embrace the change in teams as a positive. Is there risk there?

Yeah, there's risk there. Because if you try and find the next Dakota Joshua, and then that, you don't find him. Then you're going to look pretty silly for letting Dakota Joshua go. But I don't know. I just think, like, look at some of the energy that the new guys brought to the Canucks this season. Zdorov comes in and energizes the team. And I know you do want a semblance of stability,

but, you know, if you do need to make changes, I think you can spin that or see the silver lining in bringing in players that are going to want to come in and have a great training camp because they want to impress their new teammates. They're going to be energized because it's a change. And some of them are going to be hungry because maybe it's their final chance. Like Dakota Joshua was on the precipice, right? Like if he didn't have a good year this year, I don't know. Would he still be in the NHL going forward? It's not like he'd done a lot in the NHL so far. So if you can bring in more of those guys, then I think that goes a long way for a team. Yeah. And, you know, this is something that Vancouver fans haven't had to deal with

because this is one of the hazards of being a good team. If you perform well and your players exceed expectations, then you're going to have to make hard decisions about who stays and who goes. I think I brought this up last week with you guys, but you look at the Blackhawks and how they actually extended their contention window by moving off of guys like Dustin Bufflin and Andrew Ladd and having to make some of those hard decisions year after year, but found a way to remain competitive. I think the hard part about

this conversation in Vancouver is you're talking to a fan base that I would liken to someone that just got out of a bad relationship. Like you've just gone through a decade of being afraid of your team having cap space because of how they might mess things up. So, you know, it remains to be seen how they manage this offseason. But yeah, I think, you know, change can be a positive and bringing in new blood and freshening things up and having a different look. These can all be positive things as long as they're the right guys that fit the system and the right guys that can fill the roles of the outgoing players. And, you know, compared to what we've seen over most of the last decade

for the Canucks, I think you can trust in this management group and the organization right now that they can, you know, do a good job of targeting these kinds of players. And the fact that they have alignment with Rick Talkett and understand how he wants to play and the kind of players that he will want in the lineup, I think gives them a great opportunity to have exactly that. But the other side of the coin is the fear of the 2020 offseason, where all of these guys that were key contributors to the bubble playoff run left.

You weren't adequately able to replace them for one reason or another, and it sent the team back into a spiral of two or three years of struggling before they got back to this point. So I agree, like, change should be exciting, and I think Canucks fans should be excited about the possibilities of what this organization can do with some of the cap space they have this summer and and you know

try to actually allow this team to take a step and maybe bring in another top six forward and and look at this group to improve but at the same time you know there's a reason that Patrick Alveen has multiple times been banging the drum of we need guys internally to step up and come in and play roles whether that's Pod Coleson or Baines or Carlson or whoever you want to look at from Abbotsford it's because there are going to be openings there is going to be some opportunity for competition for roster spots at training camp I would imagine and um and and but that's part of the cycle of being a good team. This happens when you have success.

This happens when you have players that play well. And it's not necessarily a bad thing, but I can understand why people would be sort of cautious about an offseason like this because they've seen it go the wrong way before in this market. Yeah, it's also incumbent, I think, on the Canucks leadership group, and I'm talking about the players, to, I mean, hopefully there's communication

between management and the players, but also this leadership group needs to accept that there are going to be changes and there are going to be players that they probably enjoyed having on the team that will be forced to move on. And I just wonder if, if you know those players that you mentioned losing it was just such a tumultuous time in the world and it's not even fair to

compare it yeah in some ways it's kind of like because everyone was like pretty upset like the canadian hockey players were feeling like you know they the guys i'm talking about the the players that played in can, not necessarily the Canadians, they felt like they were almost trapped in Canada compared to the lives that the players that were playing in the States were having. And it was just, it just seemed like a really weird time. But also, I think it is incumbent, though, like that being said, is incumbent on the leadership group to just get on boards regardless of what happens like there can't be can't be any pouting if there are some players

that they like leave that's what i'm saying you know what i mean yeah well and i think that situation was unique uh in 2020 for all the reasons you alluded to but also because a lot of those guys left and it wasn't exactly like there was a parade of new guys coming in the door, right? Like you remember that season, Niels Hoaglander had to be elevated into a top six role as a rookie to replace Tyler Toffoli because nobody came in to replace Tyler Toffoli. And, you know, sometimes that works. And Hoaglander had a great year that year on a team that struggled but you know if if a lot

of these guys do move on from the canucks which i think is a real possibility that fans should prepare for um you would still expect the organization to be aggressive in bringing guys in which is not what happened in 2020 and again there's a lot of reasons why that happened that i don't want to relitigate you know a pretty dark era in recent years for the Canucks. But when you look at this summer, you can have confidence in this management group and you should have confidence that if Zdorov and Joshua and Lindholm and, you know, whoever else you want to add to that list of guys that could be departing ultimately don't come back that they will be aggressive because we've seen them be incredibly aggressive in terms of trying to find a way to bring players in to fill those holes and to you know allow this team to continue to grow and develop so i'm not expecting it to be a situation where where those guys leave and it's just like okay well every single one of those

spots has to be filled internally. This is a management group that has cap space. They have more of it now with the cap going up. I firmly expect them to be aggressive and to go and chase opportunities to make this team better. But you also have to couple that with young guys needing to come in and fill roles further down the lineup.

And to your original point, that's also an incredibly exciting thing. Yes, yes. This market loves young guys getting opportunity. We always hear, like, there was clamoring all season long for Pod Colson and Hoaglander and some of these guys to get increased roles and more opportunity and get chances to show that they belong and can be impact players at the NHL level, well, those chances are coming, probably as soon as training camp here in a few months. And that's an exciting thing to have, because when you have opportunities for young players

to develop, that's how you find out about some of these guys and whether they're going to be able to do the job or not. And sometimes it's players that you wouldn't expect that step into those roles and succeed. But, you know, that's a very exciting thing to have with an organization. And that's why I think it's an exciting offseason to see how things shake out. Patch, one final question. Are you excited about England's chances at the Euros? I am. Yeah, I think there's been a lot of negative press about their loss to Iceland in their last friendly, but I'm not going to start worrying until I see a performance like that in the group stages. But yeah, I love the Euro.

I love the World Cup. In fact, the last World Cup was the toughest one for me because it took place during the hockey season, so I couldn't commit all of my time to watching it. But the Euro, I normally sit down and watch pretty well every game. So I'm fired up and I'm ready for Friday. Sunday is when... Sunday for England, Friday for the tournament. Exactly.

I just all watch every game. I love it. So Sunday, England and Serbia versus Mojiz, Serbia at 12 o'clock our time. Batch, enjoy the soccer, enjoy all the hockey news, and enjoy some well-deserved time off. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Have a good one. See you, buddy. Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Quick reminder before we go to break, if you're looking for something to do tonight, given there's no Stanley Cup final games, there's no NBA final games, it's dog day, dog night at Nat Bailey Stadium for the Vancouver Canadiens. I believe at last check, there was 800 tickets still available for the game. Now, I know the weather doesn't look great right now, but it is supposed to clear up. It could be a nice night at the park for you and your dog.

You can bring us. Your four-legged friend. You can bring up me and Andy. We can bring the dogs. My brother still laughs when i showed him the picture of us at our annual christmas dinner and it just said dog dinner 2023 he loves that it's like as a funniest caption dogs love food what can i say so if you want to check it out uh go to vancouvercanadians.com tickets still available for tonight's game

a reminder your dog needs a waiver to get in you You need to sign the waiver, not your dog. That's also an important thing to point out. I've never been to the dog days, and I was going to bring Pedro, but I don't trust him. I don't know what the protocol is for dog behavior. I would think that you'd need to have a pretty resourceful dog. I hope he's listening right now. I hope he realizes

he needs to be better behaved they need a cat day I think cats are often overlooked I've he's pushed for this I've pushed for that

that would be awesome and chaotic and terrifying the cat day would be insane as soon as a bird flies by oh

yeah alright you're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650 Neil McEvoy the general manager of the BC Lions, is going to join us next. Dakota Joshua's, by all rights and all accounts,

he should be rewarded for what he did this season, right? Just in a normal world. He's going to be rewarded one way or another. Sorry, rewarded by the organization that gave him the opportunity. Ah, right. Okay. It should be, you know, there should be some, I don't know, what's the word, congruency?

It should be, you know, I don't know what's the word congruency It should be you know I don't think that's it There should be some congruency No I don't think congruency is the right word It might be I think it's close enough It's a congruent enough word It sounds smart Alignment maybe

I don't think that's it either Point being Congruent in agreement or harmony Yeah there you go. Congruency. Yeah. There you go. That's the first time I've ever gotten one right. Well done.

I'm actually amazed. Yeah, and I'm still not even convinced I got it right. Point being. It's like Halford not studying the night before a big test and he somehow passes it. It was a very congruent performance from you, Mr. Halford. Keep going. With Joshua, it's just this should be, there should be a

world where you pay him what he's earned, and the Canucks are the one that do it, and everyone's happy. But that's not going to happen, right? Everyone's saying, well, he's got to take a haircut, or he's got to give the Canucks a discount, because they gave him a shot. And that's

the hard cap world. Is it possible the Canucks will lose because they gave him a shot. And that's the hard cap world. Is it possible the Canucks will lose every single UFA that they try and resign? No. No. I don't think so. Just most of them. Remember when that happened last time? Yes. Imagine that happening again.

Yes, I do remember that. They all got tired of waiting. Here's an unsigned text. With the way Seeloff's played in the playoffs, do you think trading Demko to say the Devils for say Marino, Holtz, and a draft pick, then flip the draft pick to unload McKay? Okay, this is the whole thing.

No. Do you think trading Demko is the right, like, no. Demko's great value right now. I would not trade Demko You trade him when his contract's up Just because Seelov's played Well in the playoffs What if Demko never has

Another healthy season though? What if Seelov's is Spencer Martin? You know like And also You've got Seelov's And everyone's like Okay he's your starter now That's putting a lot of pressure

On Artie Seelov's Yeah The only thing that I your starter now, that's putting a lot of pressure on RDC loves. Yeah. The only thing that I'll say. And then you got to find a backup. When we had Kevin Woodley on the show yesterday, and he was talking about what goal the coaches have told him. And they said, would you rather, as we do a would you rather on a Tuesday,

have an all-star elite high-end top five number one goalie, or have a good number one center and then a good like top defensive pairing in front of them and they'll say give me the skaters in front of them because i can build you a goalie that can stop the puck in that system yeah but demko's cap it is only five million dollars right this is the only reason the toilet is in the idea of a 12 million dollar goalie like but what you know look you understand why I'm bringing it up. Because Demko's contract after next season suddenly becomes a talking point again. Like Shusterkin is this year.

I think the smart idea would be go into next season with Demko and Seelabs. Give Seelabs quite a few games during the regular season. See how he does. And then maybe you have to make a decision with one year left on Demko's contract. But not right now. And certainly not with the number of goalies that are out there available. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.