Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/16/25

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports including Stanley & Calder Cup finals action, plus the boys chat with former NHLer Blake Wheeler. 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. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Back door, takes a shot, he scores! Let's get out of here! Danila Klibovich just called game one! Here is Rafiu Skajlum, deep in the left field, this thing is way back and it is, oh god! Over the red line and it is out of here for Devers! Ha! One!

Good morning Vancouver, 6-0-1 on a Monday. Up above one! Good morning Vancouver! 601 on a Monday! Happy Monday everybody! It is Halford and his brother at EsportsNet 650 and we are coming live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Gladdy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and brother of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. BC's first and trusted choice for net help with over 3,000 five star

reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler 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 footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Lots to get into you on a Monday show.

It's a four guesters we break down everything that happened over the weekend. We're going to kick off the guest list at six 30 Landon Ferraro is going to join the program. Of course now a color analyst for the Abbotsford Canucks. Uh, he'll be joining us, I believe from the airport in Charlotte. Maybe he can go to Bojangles. They have a good Bojangles there. Uh, two games of the Calder cup in the books this past weekend. Abbotsford survives and gets out of Charlotte with a split. Uh, thanks in large part to already sea loves the series and now shifts to

Abbotsford with game three going Tuesday night as mentioned in Abbotsford. We'll talk to Landon about all that at six 30 seven o'clock. Jean Prince pay is going to join the program sports net oilers, rinkside reporter. The oilers now find themselves on the break after a five, two loss in game five of the Stanley cup final on Saturday. The series now shifts back to Florida with game six set for Tuesday night. We'll look back at it all and set up everything for game six with Gene at 7 a.m. That's 7 a.m. 730. Blake Wheeler is going to join the program.

Yeah, former NHL or Blake Wheeler did some panelist work for Sportsnet during these playoffs. He worked both the Edmonton and Florida series earlier this postseason so we can ask him about the two cup finalists. Can ask him about his former head coach, Paul Maurice can also ask him about international competition. A 2014 Olympian with the U S Blake like the rest of us found out this morning, the first six from a number of countries who have announced their top six players that is not forwards. Uh, that'll be part of the roster going to the 2026 Olympics in Italy. We'll talk to them about that at 7.30. That's Blake Wheeler.

Eight o'clock, Kevin Woodley from nhl.com and Ingold Magazine. Cool time to talk to Kev, of course. Everything that's going on in goal for Edmonton. Pretty big decision for Chris Knoblach. One of the biggest goalie decisions in Stanley Cup final history Yeah, yeah for sure. I don't know what way you go thought that should have gone stew in game five

They did not we'll see what they do in game six can also ask them about hey get this So in their first six for the 2026 Olympics in Italy Latvia has decided to use two of the six spots on goalies Greg. Smart move I think Maybe add three four goalies to the mix. Is Latvia ahead of the curve? More countries should be doing this. Artie Silov, shout out to Artie Silov who's having a phenomenal Calder Cup playoff run and Elvis Mers Lickens, two of the first six I don't know if anyone told Latvia how this thing's supposed to work Like I said up there when you have a goal tender with an 890 safe percentage in the NHL, you just have to find a way to get them on your Olympic team.

You just have to do it. Give them a break, Greg. It's Latvia. It's not like they're swimming in NHL players. They had another player that they could have named. Shirley. Rodrigo Aballs, perhaps. Remember him? Aballs.

Kevin Woodley's going to be joining us at 8 o'clock to talk about that. Probably not Rodrigo A-Balls. Finally, before we get into the show, I need to ask you all a question. Have you bought your tickets for the Sportsnet 650 Jays Care 5050 for Challenger Baseball yet? If you haven't, listen up. It's supported by Tiltown, a proudly Canadian-owned company since 1971. Visit mytiltown.ca.

Our goal is to raise 100K or more for the kids. The winner takes half, hence the entire premise of a 50-50. Buy your tickets now at jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com. When we hit $15,000, we're giving away a signed Quinn Hughes jersey. You're going to be contributing a hundred bucks to that pretty soon, I think. Serious tight two, two, bro. Yeah. You know?

It was a big win for Oklahoma City. It sure was. So in case you hadn't heard, Halford and I made a bet when the Pacers were up two to one in the NBA finals. Yes. He took the Pacers. I took Oklahoma City. It was not looking good for me in game four

The pay it was the the Thunder this time with the big comeback Yeah, as opposed to the Pacers 10 erasing a 10-point deficit in the third quarter. I thought I had it Yeah, but not me because it's going to charity It's for the kids, but I thought I had for the kids. Yeah, okay So that is everything that's happening on the program today Wood Woodley at eight, Wheeler at seven thirty, Principe at seven, Ferraro at six thirty. We got a lot to get into. So without further ado, Ladi, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance.

Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Brad Marchand tortured yet another Canadian franchise on the weekend. Two goals giving him a series leading six. Six goals in the Stanley cup final. The Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers five two in Edmonton in game five at Roger's place on Saturday.

They are now one win away from winning their second consecutive Stanley cup. Uh, Brad Marshawn is incredible. He really is. He is now a legit candidate for the Consmythe trophy. I still think Sam Bennett's the guy. Bennett also scored. He's got 15 goals. Marshawn's got 10 goals. I checked the odds this morning.

Bennett's still a healthy favorite. Yeah. From like, I think it was FanDuel, the one that I checked for the betting odds for Consmythe. Um, this guy, Brad Marshawn, we've talked about it before, whereas a few years ago we were sitting there going, is he like maybe a hall of famer too? He's for sure a hall of famer.

And now you're sitting there going, is this guy a first ballot hall of famer for all the big games that he's played in and all the big goals he scored? I still maintain that he, he scored the, the series clincher in 2011 with the first goal in game six, like when he went in on, on the wango flew down his off wing, ripped one pass along.

I was like, well, that's game six, that's over. And then. It was in for game seven too. It was the first time in Stanley Cafe history. Honestly though, like, cause the Canucks were kind of walking dead when they came back to Vancouver and what he's done against the Edmonton Oilers and in advanced stage too is, is absolutely incredible. I also think we need to really appreciate it, how loaded this Florida Panthers team is.

Their top three lines in the addition of Marchand has helped in a big way here. Immensely. Their top three lines are better than any line the Canucks currently have. Any line. better than any line the Canucks currently have. Any line. Like it's not, the Marshawn, Lundell, Lewis, Duran,

and that's their third line, that's better than any line that the Canucks have. And by a fair margin, they just have everything a hockey team needs. They're talented, they're tough. Someone came up to me and said, yeah, but they're a bit dirty. And I was like, hockey's dirty. Yeah.

Like when you get to the. That's a good thing. Honestly, you get to the Stanley Cup final. Do you want to have the guys that are able to, to participate in the knife fight? Yeah. Or do you want to have the guys that aren't able to participate in the knife fight?

You can say what you want about the refereeing. You could say they shouldn't be allowed to get away with this, but they have been for years. So you might as well have those guys. And I think maybe, um, an underappreciated aspect is the team doesn't seem to be running out of gas. Despite all the hockey they played in the last few years. That's the big one for me. And you have to credit in a lot of ways, Bill Zito for that because he made two incredible

acquisitions in Seth Jones, who's their minutes leader. So you got a defenseman that comes in and plays huge minutes for them. So that helps and he's motivated. He's very motivated to get his career back on track. So they made his career back on track. So they made a good bet on him.

Marshon, add him, talk about motivation. You know, he's on a new team, his career's winding down, probably not going to get many more chances to win the Stanley Cup, especially if he signs in Toronto. Yeah. And I would say a pretty decent addition in a guy like Nate Schmidt.

Got him for what? Very cheap. He was a buyout. It was it was a it was a low cost, low risk guy who fit in perfectly. And it's been a huge contributor for them. The rate, the look what they did down the stretch. And it had a lot to do with the fact that they are a very talented team that built themselves a cushion in the standings.

But they were able to park Kachak on I.R. for really ever since the four nations till the end of the regular season. You know, the Aaron Echblad suspension definitely aided them more than it hurt them because it paved the way for Jones to come in and play the kind of minutes I think that he that they understood he was going to need to play in the playoffs because he's been better than Ekplat. Now here's the thing, Brad Marshawn may go down as the greatest trade deadline.

I mean, day of trade deadline pickup of all time. This, what he's done for this team, when you consider how they should have been tired and they should have been a bit lethargic and maybe they should have been a bit satisfied. They'd been to two Stanley Cup finals. They'd won a Stanley Cup. The shot in the arm that he's given them.

Yeah. Consider this. There are two players in the history of the NHL that have scored five goals in the Stanley Cup finals, just the Stanley Cup final series. One of them is Mario Lemieux, who did it in 91 and 92. The other one is Brad Marshawn, who did it in 91 and 92. The other one is Brad Marshawn who did it in 2011 and then did it 14 years later in 2025. And yes, Brad Marshawn did it in 2011 against the Canucks. He scored five goals in the 2011 Stanley Cup final with the Bruins.

He is one of the most impressive singular driving forces I've seen adding to a good team to make them borderline unstoppable. Yeah, they've lost some games along the way, but I watched that game on Saturday night. Granted, it was on mute. Bruff and I were at a party. We had a lovely time. But you could just tell, even with the sound off, that the Florida Panthers had muted the Edmonton Oilers in that game. Well, let's talk about the Oilers now because it was another slow start for the Oilers. And I was kind of chuckling to myself. I was like, well, Corey Perry is going to have to make another speech.

Didn't work. Got up there and he's like, welcome back everybody. We're in the same position. I'm Corey Perry and I'm mad at you. Yeah. And I'm mad at you. Yeah. I actually, on the way to this party, it was a bit of a drive, and I listened to the Oilers broadcast on the way out. On the Mighty Chud. Yeah, I was on the Mighty Chud.

Yeah. And they were just like, it's actually a pretty good broadcast crew. They're pretty honest. They're not one of these Homer broadcasts. They were just like, you keep doing this over and over again. And I know, you know, this Oilers team has, uh, we're resilient, right? Like that's kind of their calling card. We come back in games. That's what we do. You play with fire long enough, you're going to get burned.

And that's exactly what happened because Florida after blowing that lead in Game four they weren't gonna blow another one. You know, they were gonna be dialed in and they were gonna lock down that game And it's one of these things where you're like, is it the Oilers or the Panthers just that good? Like like cuz I can't I find it hard to believe that the others are just like, yeah, I don't really care about the first period. Or like, it's a Stanley Cup final, you know, it's like, eh, you know, the game's at home. And they're gonna not come out like, with their hair on fire.

I just think maybe in some ways they're playing nervous, like the moment is big, maybe too big for them. And the Panthers are so experienced in these big games. They're so confident in themselves, especially on the road. I think it's more that, I really do think it's more that the Panthers are a very good team than sitting there

ripping the Oilers because you could see how much Dry Cytl and McDavid are playing now. I mean, they're playing, it was not an overtime game and they played what? 26 minutes and 25 minutes. That doesn't say a lot about the depth of your forward group. I will say this, the slow starts in this series, yes, give credit to the Panthers, but you know, given that here locally, I do distinctly remember many a listener chastising the coaching staff for every time

that the Canucks would come out flat, either at the start of the game or the start of a period. Just, I mean, some of these numbers are really egregious to the point where you have to look inward and you can't just say, well, we're getting beaten by a better team because the Oilers have come back a couple of times. And during stretches of this series

have shown they can play toe to toe, head to head with the Panthers. Florida has outscored Edmonton 11-4 in the first period over this series. They've scored at least two goals in every single first period in this series. And in game five, Edmonton had three shots on goal. Three! And they didn't have one over the final 11 minutes. Like that's, there's something wrong internally there. Yeah, you can't just say, well, we're getting beat up by a better opponent,

which it's part of it for sure. But there seems to be a very weird thing with this team where they need like a kick in the pants all the time, whether it be the goalie pull or falling behind by this like massive score or having a bad first period, having Corey Perry light them up. Like it always feels like they need a spark to get them going. And now it's kind of cost them because they're facing elimination in the Stanley Cup final. Like they're one loss away from their second consecutive family.

Stan Stanley Cup final. All right. Pickered or skinner for game six. And Chris Knobloch said yesterday on a Zoom conference, that's a conversation with the staff, our goaltending coach, but with all the assistance, the general manager, and kind of weighing how everyone feels and what's best moving forward. It's not an easy decision. We've got two goalies that have shown that they can play extremely well, win hockey games,

and we feel that no matter who we choose, they can win the game or they could lose the game. It's actually crazy that it's gotten to this point. And I think if the Oilers don't win this series and they still could, they're perfectly capable of winning two games in a row, even against Florida Panthers, they've got that sort of talent in McDavid and Dry Cytl and others.

But, you know, and dry sidle and others. But I've got a little section here and we might as well do this now while we talk about this because I mean, we all know the decision. Yeah. Pickard or Skinner and in some ways, I'm like, my nothing matters. Like, yeah, they're both not perfect goalies. And you just kind of hope for the best.

What's at stake here for the Oilers? And you could say, Ooh, the Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup. I know. But if they can't win the next two home, two, two games, what are their chances of getting back to a third straight finals? Right. of getting back to a third straight finals. Right.

There haven't been many teams that have lost consecutive trips to the cup final. It is a rarity. The last one to do it was Boston in the 70s, when Don Cherry was the head coach of the Bruins, and the Montreal Canadiens absolutely owned them. Yep. They, anytime the Habs played the Bruins, the Habs were going to win, whether it was in the

Stanley Cup final or just in the regular playoffs. Now that matters. It's just, you go back and just, it doesn't happen very often. You know, two teams have gotten to the Stanley Cup final a few times consecutively, but they've lost one and won one. And I think a lot of people thought that's what would happen when they were in the Stanley Cup final a few times consecutively, but they've lost one and

won one. And I think a lot of people thought that's what would happen with this Oilers team because, you know, Sid went to the Stanley Cup finals and lost and then won the next year. Gretzky went to the Stanley Cup finals and lost, but then won the next year. And everyone's like, well, you know, history

says this is going to happen. So this is what's going to happen. But that, you know, history says this is going to happen. So this is what's going to happen. But that, you know, that has really nothing to do with what's going on right now. All those situations were different. We talked about the Islanders team that, uh, the Oilers eventually got over the hump from, they were exhausted.

They were done. They were injured. That's not the Florida Panthers team. Um, and you know, if they don't win this Stanley Cup final, the others are going to have to address the goaltending situation. They can't, they can't bring Skinner back again. Or he can't be the guy. And win or lose, things are going to change for them. They'll need to give Bouchard a big raise if they keep them. I'm sure they will, but they'll need to give them a big raise. A bunch of key players will get a year further into their 30s like at home who did not have a good game

Hyman Kane nudge Perry they miss Hyman Perry will be 64 next year And of course McDavid has a big decision to make so I well I think next season You know There's a chance as long as you've got McDavid and dry side will to get back to the Stanley Cup finals Like theme they know they're gonna need to regroup a little bit going to three straight Stanley Cup finals is extremely difficult Although we have seen a couple teams do it in recent history the most current one, of course the Florida Panthers Losing them is the interesting angle because in a way You'd think that after losing consecutive Stanley Cup finals,

you'd be the hungriest team on the planet. The burn and the hurt and the frustration and the angst of getting so close and falling short would be motivation enough. But there's also the other side of the coin where it's a ton of hockey that they've played. And when you look at this roster, like the goaltending is hilarious, because if it was to exist just in a vacuum You'd say this tandem of Skinner and Pickard

Got them to within one goal of a Stanley Cup last year Right to one in game seven and this year got them all the way back to game six It's very it's very difficult to get this close and to lose and the goaltending is a reason that they got there but if you look at it. You also look at their numbers, 891 for Skinner and 886 for Calvin Pickard in these playoffs. Compared to Sergey Bobrasky at 912. Yep, no I mean it could end up being the biggest difference

and the biggest difference is a handful of games in the Stanley Cup Finals. Because they can get you there, I think they've proven that. In the Stanley Cup final. Because they can get you there. I think they've proven that. In the weirdest way possible, that tandem can get you there. But the others are also going to need to bring in something upfront and maybe on the back end as well. But upfront, listening to the broadcast, they shuffled their lines so much.

It's crazy, right? Because sometimes they are, or a lot of the times, especially if they're losing, they're like, okay, we've got to get McDavid and Dry Saddle together. Yeah. But in the first period it was like, McDavid's out there with Kane and Arvidsson. I'm like, what?

Just give it a try. Yeah. Like it's just, I don't know. And then you see like Arvidsson's in, Arvidsson's out and just the Panthers, their top three lines are just kind of like set, like this is what we're doing and they're rolling and the Oilers seem to be just scrambling for answers

in combinations that are going to work. Sometimes a guy like Evander Kane looks amazing, right? And other times he looks a step behind, he's taking dumb penalties or just too many penalties. You know, the same with Ryan Nugent Hopkins. There was a time during these playoffs, I was like, God, he's looks amazing. But they're best player.

And and then what have you seen from him lately? Very, very quiet. Yeah. I mean, but that's I mean, especially on Saturday, that was a given the energy in the building and the stakes and the scene. It was impressive given the energy in the building and the stakes and the scene. It was impressive what Florida did, the ability to go in there and completely neutralize and silence the home team and the home crowd. But that was a disappointing effort from a lot of the guys up front. I think they miss Hyman in a major way.

I know someone texted it in like the energy and what he was able to do to kind of transition from being a goal scoring guy to a, like a physical presence. They could absolutely use that against the Panthers and his loss was huge, but injuries happen in the playoffs. Okay. Uh, before we go to break, I do want to mention very quickly because we're going to talk to Landon Ferraro next. Your Abbotsford Canucks now tied one one in the best of seven Calder cup final. Uh, they lost on Sunday afternoon, three,

two in overtime to Mike Benning, nephew of former connects general manager, Jim Benning. Charlotte gets a three, two win. Abbotsford gets the split in Charlotte. That's a good thing. They head back, tied one, one in the series of the next three games of this series in Abbotsford. Uh, I saw some of the comments after the game and the head coach, Manny Malhotra was none

too impressed with the, um, the lack of discipline that after the game and the head coach Manny Malhotra was none too impressed with the The lack of discipline that his team showed and really the overall effort They were badly outshot in this game 42 to 13 in game 2 But the biggest story in both these games right now the arty party Archer seal off 90 combined saves over the first two games in this series He had a cool 51 saves in double overtime in game one, which by the way, was one of the wildest hockey games you're ever gonna see.

We'll talk to Landon about it coming up on the other side, but there, did you see the disallowed goal in game one off the face of the wildest thing I've ever seen? That was incredible. Yeah. I didn't know that actually worked. I wasn't ready. So I would use that excuse all the time. There was a defensive zone draw. I'm sorry, I didn't know that actually worked. I wasn't ready. So I would use that excuse all the time There was a defensive zone draw. I'm sorry. I didn't know I could do that

there was a defensive zone draw in Abbotsford and I believe it was Ty Mueller on the draw and Is it and now I'm my understanding in the aftermath is like the it's the understanding that the center is supposed to look around And make sure everyone's ready to go before he puts stick on the ice, right? now the issue here is that either ready to go before he puts stick on the ice right now the issue here is that either Mueller didn't get that memo or The officials were in charge of it for some reason because what happened was Mueller won the drop or Mueller was thinking like it's over time Surely my goalie is ready. Yeah, he's not putting on his mask right now Spoiler alert he was off the drop puck goes in the net chaos ensues. He's like hey one the drop It's also kind of the Lions person's duty to make yeah because it was very obvious that they shouldn't have dropped the puck but Charlotte was like no way

man we're taking this win we don't care chaos ensues so we'll talk to Landon about that the clemovich OT winner what a crazy story this has been guy barely plays in the playoffs and then scores two of the biggest OT goals on this run for Abbotsford. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Former NHL'er Blake Wheeler joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650, courtesy of the Power West Industries Hotline.

Good morning, Blake. How are you? Hey, I'm doing great, guys, how are you? Oh, we're good, thanks for taking the time to do this today, we appreciate it. So, first question, now that you're a member of the media, just like us, maybe a little bit better at it already, what did you think of getting into the media game and doing some panelist work

with Sportsnet during the playoffs? Yeah, it was a blast, I actually loved it. I always kind of thought that it'd be something I'd be into. I mean, what better thing to do than watch hockey, talk about hockey? It was a great experience. The guys on Hockey Night in Canada, as you guys know, are absolutely first class.

They treated me like gold. They made it incredibly easy for me as a first timer doing it. So I had a ton of fun. It looked like a lot of fun. We had the clip there of you getting to interview your former teammate, Mark Schaipley, when you were working one of those series.

You also got to cover a little bit of the Toronto Maple Leaf Florida Panthers series, which feels like a year ago now, but it wasn't that long ago. Florida obviously coached by your former head coach in Winnipeg, Paul Maurice. I'm curious like what was the relationship with you and Maurice like I mean the time in Winnipeg you had a lot of highs there were some lows as well He spoke about you glowingly on a number of occasions. What are your thoughts and memories of playing under Paul Maurice?

Yeah, all absolutely phenomenal there's you know, there's no Paul's absolutely phenomenal. There's, you know, there's no, uh, you know, it's no secret that he's had the amount of success that he's had. Um, you know, that, that he had the career that he's had, but now that, uh, I don't want to say at the backend, but like he put in a lot of really, uh, quality work over a long period of time. And now he's reaping the rewards of that.

He does such a phenomenal job of motivating, of relating to the players. And I think that's the most important thing with Paul is at the end of the day, like we are people and he's a person and it wasn't just about the hockey. I mean, clearly it's a lot about hockey between a coach and a player. But when I talked to Paul, you know, when he was my coach, he cared about my wife. He cared about my kids. He cared about how things were going outside of

the rink. And I think that those little things are what makes that connection and it makes the players want to play even that much harder for the guys they're playing for. What was it like when he decided to leave the team? It was, it was challenging. You know, um, it was abrupt.

Uh, at the time I was hurt, I had just gotten hurt actually in Vancouver. And so I was out and, and you know, it kind of, it came out of nowhere for sure. It was really tough. You know, you, you had been with us for so long. It's such a huge positive impact on our team, our group, the community, the organization, and when he's there one day and gone the next, it was a big

challenge for our group, there's no question about that. Um, what do you miss most about playing? Miss the locker room, miss the guys. Um, I've talked about it with some other guys that have played and, you know, about playing? Miss the locker room, miss the guys. I've talked about it with some other guys that have played and retired now. And you miss being really good at something too. You know what I mean? Like it's.

What's that like? I've never had that. Yeah. You know, it's like you, you're really good at a thing your whole life. And then you think that's just going to bleed over to everything else you do. And then you step on the golf course and you're really good at a thing your whole life. And then, uh, you think that's just going to bleed over to everything else you do. And then you step on the golf course and you're, you're expecting to, you know, break 70 and, and reality hits, you know, and it's like, oh, we were, you know,

had it, had it pretty good there for a little while. Uh, there's things I don't miss about it for sure. But yeah, I mean, you remember all the great stuff about it and yeah, just the teammates and the dinners on the road, all the things you probably hear from all the guys that have retired, those are the things that are the most true for sure. But it is, I mean, it is challenging when you have

something that has essentially been your life's purpose and now it's not. Is there anything, have you got anything in mind on what you'd like to do? Would you like to stay in the game? Would you like to try something else? Little by little, I mean, I have three kids. They all three play hockey.

That feels like a full-time job right now. Doing some of this broadcasting stuff's been pretty cool too. So yeah, there's been some fun things I've been up to, you know, that I really enjoyed getting, you know, getting to try some new things out. It's a kind of a fun season of life where you get to experiment a little bit and kind of see some different different things, try some different hats on. And, yeah, we'll just kind of see what fits.

But talking hockey with guys like you has been a lot of fun. So I could see myself doing some more of that in the future. We're speaking to Blake Wheeler here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You mentioned that you missed the room and the camaraderie and the guys and the dinners and all that, and we hear that a lot when we talk to ex-players. There is times, though, when you've got a lot

of different guys in the room, different sort of personalities, and sometimes they don't mix, and at times they can clash. We saw it here in Vancouver this year, I'm sure you know as well, as everybody else, it was very public, the way that it played out,

and the room got bad, and it ended up with departures. Now, from your time in Winnipeg, it wasn't always roses, right? There was times where things got tough, as they do throughout the course of an NHL career, but what do you remember about those times where there's a lot of strong personalities in the room and at times there can be clashes with leadership and

who's in charge and who's calling the shots and how you work your way through it? Yeah I think the big takeaway especially at this like on this side of that equation is that like there's really no like, no one at fault, you know? I think it's easy in the media or fans or, you know, even externally, if you don't really know the situation to point fingers or say it was this guy or it was that guy, you know, it's kind of everything, you know? It's organizationally, it's coaching,

it's kind of like everyone has a hand in like creating that system. And I think what really gets caught by the wayside is communication in those scenarios. I think the quicker that whether it's, you know, teams or players or however it's structured, if you're able to communicate, you get to the root of it pretty quickly. And I think that that creates a closeness with the team again, and it kind of like reunites you. It's where you avoid the communication. You don't want to have the conversation.

You don't want to address it. You get frustrated. All those different things start to, you know, like bubble at the surface. And that's where things can get fractured when it gets to the point where maybe you have one or two players or groups of players who don't want to say a thing or don't want to have that conversation, then it can spiral out of control. It's interesting what you said there about there's not always just one particular

person to blame and that sometimes that's the outside media perception that this guy's in the right or this guy's in the wrong or this guy's the problem and this guy's not. So like again in Winnipeg when you had the captaincy taken away, did you feel like you were sort of publicly being blamed for what was going on and that that was the media was like, well, it's obviously something to do with Wheeler because he doesn't have to see anymore. Yeah, it's pretty easy to draw like a, a straight linear line to, to those things. I mean, like Paul left the team, the team had sort of a, a tough year that year, um, coaching change, capital city change.

So like, it's really easy to draw that line of that narrative. Now, you know, that's kind of where I think it's important that like there's a lot of moving parts. There's a lot of people, there's a lot of situations that go into those things. I really tried to address it from the standpoint like of, like I owned my piece of it.

I owned being the captain. I owned the fact that we didn't have a very good year. I owned that like, you know, my leadership had kind of dipped a little bit. So there were a lot of factors at play there. And at the end of the day, like you can either feel like a victim in that circumstance, or you can say, hey, look, you know,

I was a part of this and, you know, I accept the change and I wanna be a big part of this going forward. And not to say that it was always easy, but I think that I really wanted to approach it from a position that I still wanted to make an impact on the team just because I didn't have the C anymore. I feel like even that next year might've been, you know, my best year of leadership I had in Winnipeg just by virtue of growing and learning and wanting to get better.

Well, I think one of the issues in Vancouver at the heart of it was that JT Miller and Elias Pedersen were,ersen are wired very differently. They have different personalities, different ideas on how to carry themselves. JT Miller is a very intense guy and Elias Pedersen is probably more of an introvert, as a leader yourself, what advice would you give for, you're a leader and you're dealing with someone maybe that's wired differently from you, but you still want to get the most out of them. How do you do it? Well, then I think that that's the challenge.

And you got to keep in mind that I'm almost 40 years old now. And I, you know, I was captain of a team for a long time. I have perspective and I hope a little bit of maturity on my side. Now, when I was, you know, in my early thirties, you're in the primary or career, like every day feels like you, you got to, you're climbing a mountain to try to, you know, win a Stanley cup. So, um, admittedly, it wasn't something that I always excelled in. I would say that if there was a guy who wasn't like me,

which was a little bit more intense, a little bit more trying to get the most of myself every single day, there can be frustration from a leader when you have guys who maybe appear not on that same page. Now sitting where I sit now I would say the first and foremost hack to this system, like I said before, is just to communicate. What would it look like just to have that conversation of hey listen this is what I'm seeing this is I'm noticing, because it might not be true. They may be feeling the same way as you. They may have a different perspective,

but you get to the root of it so much faster, the quicker that you have that conversation. When you're just assuming things, when you're just holding a grudge, or you're getting frustrated because somebody's not the way you think they should be, I think that's where a lot of tension builds in that system. How much additional pressure is there going through all this in a Canadian

market? Cause that's been a big talking point this postseason, specifically with what happened in Toronto against Florida. Well, yeah, yeah. But also I think it's important to note that like, what a gift it is to play in markets where people care that much about what you're doing, that they talk about it, you know, and, and, sure. Like it's been how many months since the Canucks played a game and still

talking about the same thing. So yeah, there's more pressure there, but at the same time, like when you win and have success in these markets, there's no better place to play. So it's like kind of a double-edged sword, a bit like that, where it's so great to play in markets that people genuinely care about what you're doing every day. And then when it's slides, it can be challenging to have these things said, whether they're true or not.

It's just a way to continue the dialogue and it's entertainment, right, for fans. So that's as an athlete where it can be challenging, I would say, in markets that have a little bit more exposure, you know, where things get talked about and get spiraled and maybe get dissected so much that, you know, what's true and what's not, sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. Are you able to have a sense of humor about it ever?

Oh man. If you're asking me personally, I wouldn't say that that was my approach. I took things pretty personally. I was like aware of my heart on my sleeve type of guy. Like this was my, it was my life, you know, every single moment of every day, I was thinking about how I could be better, how the Winnipeg Jets could be better,

like to win a Stanley Cup. Like that's, I just poured like my entire life and identity into that. So when that's being challenged or talked about or dissected or whatever, it feels very threatening as a player, because, you know, like I said, it's, it's so much of like your, who you are is tied into that. And when it gets, when it gets talked about from a standpoint of, you know, I guess negative, um, yeah, it can be tough.

So the answer is no. I do not laugh. Did not care for it. be tough. So the answer is no. I did not. I did not laugh once. I did not care for it. Thank you. Yeah. Well, and I think you can see with like how I was with the media after games and stuff, like there weren't a whole lot of light moments.

And like I said, I own that. But that, I think is a little bit of a sneak peek into sort of my mindset around that. So I know you've been a busy guy with your kids and their hockey as well. Have you managed to make time to watch any of the Stanley Cup final? I have, yeah I have.

It's been a roller coaster for sure. It's been incredibly entertaining and yeah, it's been great for the game. What do you appreciate about this Florida Panthers team the most? I mean, I'm not saying that they're going to win the Stanley Cup, but they've already won one and they just had a very impressive performance in game five. Yeah, I think that. I think the way they bounce back after these tough, tough losses, even going back last

year to the Stanley Cup finals, they're up 3-0. They lose three straight games. And then they're playing a game seven where, I mean, the weight of the world's on their shoulders and the performance they had in game seven last year was really incredible. The way they played, Edmonton really didn't have a whole lot. I mean, that was a really impressive performance. And then you fast forward to this year and just the way they're playing this year has been really incredible, especially emotional game four. They come back, they tie the game late, they lose it over time.

They kind of, quote unquote, lose this great opportunity to take a stranglehold on the series. And I think I was expecting Edmonton to go home and beat Gun a blaze. And then, you know, the way Florida played in game five was, was incredibly, incredibly impressive. So that would be the thing that stands out for me. We're speaking to former NHL or Blake Wheeler here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650 Blake, before we got you on the show, we were talking about how the 12 teams that are competing in the 20, 26 winter Olympics in Italy are announcing their first six for their roster today.

And I wanted to ask you, you answered the call numerous times for USA hockey at the World Juniors and the Olympics, the World Championships, the World Cup of Hockey. How important was it for you during your playing career to wear the red, white, and blue and rep your country? Yeah, those are some of the highlights of my career. I mean, playing on those teams with the collection

of players from USA hockey, playing in the Olympics, that's not something I had on my bingo card when I was a kid. So those are things like we talk about, my kids are getting older now too, and they're like, wait, you played the Olympics? So those are pretty cool things to have. My kids are getting older now too. And, and, you know, they're like, wait, you play the Olympics? Those are, those are pretty cool things to, to have experienced in my career, in my life, feel incredibly grateful to USA hockey for giving me those

opportunities. And, um, it's, I mean, you saw what happened at the four nations. I think that anytime you get the best on best, it's just, it's so good for the game. So I'm really happy that, that, that the, this generation of players is getting an opportunity to go to the Olympics again, you know, next time around. What kind of, what kind of hockey dad are you? Hands on or hands off?

Yeah, I'm hands on and I'm, I would call them, I would consider myself like incredibly laid back. If they're being a bad teammate or they're not working hard, those are conversation pieces. But outside of that, you know, I'm pretty laid back. We like to have fun. We enjoy it. My practices are pretty fun. I think that that's.

What's getting lost a little bit in youth sports, you know, the fun factor and for me, fun is is not just like messing around and not taking things seriously, but, you know, we still work hard, but but we're doing it in a way where these guys are hopefully getting better at the game and also enjoying it while doing it. TJ Oshie just called it a career. Speaking of the Olympics, do you remember, did it stand out that fondly? Because I know Jason and I were working at NBC at the time when he had the repeated shootouts against Russia in that one

game and TJ Oshie went to be like a national hero in front of Putin. Yeah, how much does, I know you remember, but how much does that stand out to you? Well, I had the best scene in the house. I was standing, I think I was standing next to Paul Stasny Yeah, how much does I know you remember, but how much does that stand out to you? Well, I had the best seat in the house. I was standing. I think I was standing next to Paul Stasny on the bench for that entire thing. And, um, that was, that was incredible. It was, it was one of those moments where you almost couldn't believe what you were seeing, you know, just, uh, how could that move keep working over and over? Uh, that was, that was, that was, that was pretty cool. Yeah. Hey, Blake. This was great, man

Thanks for taking the time to do this today We really appreciate it best of luck if you do end up pursuing the media thing on a more full-time basis You're an insightful guy, and I think you'd be really good at it All right guys. Hey, I appreciate you have me. Yeah, thank you That's Blake Wheeler former NHL are here on the hell for the rough show on sportsnet 650 I love that could you find the humor in it? No no not at all I mean that's that great answer though humor in it? No. No, not at all. But that's, I mean, that's, that's. Great answer though, it's very honest.

That shows how he's wired. Yeah. And look, the elephant in the room is that his relationship with Patrick Lyne in Winnipeg. I think it was a couple guys, right? And Shiefly. Well, Shiefly with what? With Wheeler.

With Andrew Kane, Dustin Buffen, they had a lot of big personalities in Winnipeg. But the thing that people compare it to is Wheeler to Lyne, Miller to Pedersen. Yeah, it was very similar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you got an older vet who's very intense, and a younger player who's very talented,

but maybe wired a little bit differently. Not maybe, maybe wired a little bit differently not maybe Definitely wired a little bit differently. Yeah and Yeah, you know his answer was very interesting Yeah, well, he also admitted that sometimes I thought I fell short, you know Like the answer is you got to communicate communication was the whole thing Now if you can the thing is like the Canucks tried that, right? I mean, how many times did they say they had meetings together, they tried to figure it

out. Yep. The coaching staff tried to figure it out, the management group tried to figure out, the players wanted to have it. There's the problem, Jason. There's only two people that can figure it out and the two people that need to talk. Yeah, they should have sent them off on a road trip, a comedy road trip. It's a buddy comedy without the buddies.

Well, isn't that how great buddy road trips are? They're not the same person. Yep. Well, look at the hangover. They're all very different types. They got to have different personalities. Yeah, planes, trains, and automobiles, right? John Candy and Steve Martin? Right. Very different personalities. This one's fat. This one's fat. This one's skinny.

It's perfect. They're much different than that. And then Steve Martin punched John Candy right in the stomach. Yeah. It was edited out. He was like, that's how Houdini died. No.

No. Oh, man. What were we talking about? Oh, yeah. Right. The mending of relationship. Yeah. I think it's interesting that

He's also It's almost like brave enough to be introspective to be like yeah Like I fell short on a number of number of occasions and yeah I mean a lot of guys have a hard time doing that not even hockey just in general What do you general men in general? Well? Yeah, but when you look back on past behavior and like that was rough There's a couple ways you can go about it. One is you can be like I was in the past I'm just gonna forget about I'm just gonna move on just gonna flush it. How many times do we say that? It's gonna flush it. I'm not gonna address it

I'm just gonna move past it Then there's other people that and it's a tough thing to take a long hard look at your behavior and be like what could I have? Done differently in this situation because when you do that you have to look at what you actually did in that situation. And oftentimes it's either something that you're not proud of or something that didn't turn out the way you wanted it to turn out. Right. And, you know, with something is sort of fragile and finite as a playing career, cause they all end, you know, you're always, you always do the look back. You're what could have been, what could have been different.

And a lot of guys look at it with regards to things they could have won and be at trophies or whatever. He mentioned he was getting into his thirties. Yeah. And he was like, I don't have many years left at this. And you can imagine that if there are some younger players that have lots of years left at it, you're probably like, hey man, put the work in. Yeah.

Right. And I think that's what happened between Miller and Pedersen. Miller came to camp, he was in great shape. He was ready to go. And he was like, I don't have many kicks of the cannon left here. I'm getting into my thirties. We just got to the second round of the playoffs. We were one game away from getting to the conference final.

Let's take that step forward. That doesn't justify any type of behavior though, but it is a very difficult situation and the Canucks ultimately just couldn't handle it. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.