Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/18/25

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including the Florida Panthers winning back-to-back Stanley Cups, plus they chat NHL trade rumours with insider Frank Seravalli. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Lord Stanley staying in South Florida. Last year was greatness, this time it's historic. The Florida Panthers are back to back Stanley Cup champions. We gotta be a dynasty now. It's three years in a row finals, two championships. This team is so special. Nobody cares, we didn't win, so we're gonna try again next year. You lose! Good day sir! Good day, sir!

Good morning, Vancouver! Six o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford and his bruh in his Sportsnet 650, and we are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Nobody cares, good morning.

Hey, dog, good morning to you. Good morning. And laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and bruh for the morning is brought to you. Good morning. And laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brad from the Morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, VCs first and trusted choice for debt help. With over 3,000 five star reviews, visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program.

Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they they recycle you get paid visit them 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver We are coming to you live from the kintex studio kintex footwear and orthotics working together with you in step You got a big show ahead on a Wednesday the official start of the hockey offseason The hockey season is over everybody the NHL season has come to its conclusion The hockey season isn't over my friend. Well the hockey season's over. There's no more hockey games left

Although the Calder Cup still going on. That's what I mean Well our Abbotsford fans, yeah, the NHL season is over there you go The Florida Panthers repeated a Stanley Cup champions by beating the Edmonton Oilers five one in game six of the final on Tuesday night. Our guest list is going to begin at six 30 David Amber hockey night. Canada sports net NHL host will join us. Uh, we will look back on Florida becoming the NHLs first back to back winner since Tampa Bay a few years ago and the third team to do it this century. As Matthew Kachak mentioned in the intro, a bit of a dynasty brewing in Florida.

Uh, we'll look back on everything from last night with David at 630 7 o'clock Frank Sarah Valley from daily face-off is Here we can maybe get into some of the offseason stuff now that the NHL offseason is officially underway news and rumors He's got a lot right now. He's got a lot of content out there. What can trades officially begin? Is it right now? I think you could technically do them during the Stanley Cup final, but you get 10 lashings from Gary Bettman if you take away from the aura. He does it personally. Yeah, he really enjoys it.

He takes a private jet to your city. 10 lashes for every trade. Yeah, there were trades, right? I mean, the Anaheim Ducks acquired Chris Crider. And they got in trouble for it. Did they? Yep. 20 lashes for them.

20. So there's a lot of rumblings out of New York with the Rangers, Chicago, Buffalo, Pittsburgh. We'll get into all that with Frank at seven o'clock. 7.30 Jason Greger from Sports 1440 in Edmonton. Sad times for the Edmonton Oilers. Where do the Oilers go from here? A couple big questions looming.

What Evan Bouchard is gonna get paid. He's ARB eligible as an RFA. They're working on an extension. They're also working on an extension, I would assume, with Conor McDavid as he becomes eligible to sign a new deal on July 1 and then everything else, goaltending and otherwise, for the Edmonton Oilers.

What's next for the Oilers? We talked to Jason Greger about that at seven 30 eight o'clock. Speaking of the Abbotsford Canucks earlier cause their season still goes on. Uh, Brandon Astle is going to join the program at eight o'clock Abbotsford Canucks play by play man. Arch deep Bay and score twice during a five goal third period and onslaught in Abby last night Abbotsford beats Charlotte six one in game three. The Abby connects are now two wins away from the Calder Cup.

We'll talk to Brandon about last night and look ahead to game four on Thursday night in Abby. Finally, before we move along, I need to ask a question to all the listeners. Have you bought your tickets for the sports net six 50 Jays care 50 50 for challenger baseball yet? If you have not buy your tickets now at Jays Care 50-50 for Challenger Baseball yet. If you have not, buy your tickets now at jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com. When we hit $15,000 in the 50-50, we will give away a signed Quinn Hughes jersey.

Again, buy your tickets now. jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com. Buy them today, keep buying them. You got a chance to win a 50-50 and the chance to help out Challenger Baseball, which is a very worthy endeavor. Okay, that is it. That's what's happening on the program today.

We have a lot to get into. So without further ado, laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how

messy 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. So it is the Florida Panthers world. The rest of us are just living in it. They repeated as Stanley Cup champs, beating Edmonton as I mentioned, five one, five one in game six of the Stanley Cup final

on Tuesday night. Back to back for the Panthers, three consecutive Stanley Cup finals, two consecutive Stanley Cup wins, and a partridge in a pear tree. Sam Reinhart with four goals. Another dominant performance from the Panthers as they hoist

Lord Stanley's mug yet again. Okay. I have a question for the room. So dogs, listen up. I know this is early for you guys to actually speak on the show, but what word, you get one word that best exemplifies the Florida Panthers. Halford, start with you, and I know you know mine, so don't steal mine. Damn, I was gonna steal yours.

Just to throw a wrench into the whole thing. I'm gonna use two. They're the best. Okay, the best. Adog? Dynasty. Dynasty, okay. Yeah, yeah, okay, we'll talk about that later.

Laddie? Insatiable. Insatiable. Nice. They're going for three. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. We'll talk about that later. Laddie? Insatiable. In... Ah!...satiable. Nice. They're going for three. I'm going to go with loaded and not in the sense that they got loaded after winning the cup last night where they are currently loaded at the elbow room.

And they probably are. But just sheer, just the sheer number of great players they've got. Um, let's go through what they've got in Florida. But Broski, Laddie will start with the goalie because we love you. He's a Hall of Famer. He's your Hall of Famer. Yep. And he's the starting goalie.

So that's a nice place to start. The defense is deep with a balance of offensive and defensive ability. On the right side, you got Seth Jones and Eklad, well, Eklad for now. They were raving about Gustav Forsling and the job he did on McDavid, and that's not all. And then we come to the forward group. Oh, the forward group, which is really the most loaded part of this roster. Um, this might be the deepest forward group we've seen in the salary cap era.

Just wait until I list off all these players because it's insane. It starts with Barkov, the captain, and a three time Selke winner, including this year. Then you've got Kachuk who brings the swagger and the cockiness, not to mention a pretty nice shot, which we saw last night. Sam Bennett, the tough guy who won the Conspite Trophy leading the league with goals in the playoffs, Sam

Ryan Hart, then you got him the hero last night, a player that's already named to Canada's Olympic team. There's also Brad Marshawn, a surefire hall of famer now in Anton Londell, one of the most underrated players in the league, the center of that third line, featuring Marshawn, third line,

which means we've named six forwards, six forwards that were like, whoa, what a player, before getting to a guy like Carter Verhage, who had 23 points in 23 games in these playoffs, appoint a game player in the playoffs. And he's the seventh forward you'd list. That my friends is one loaded team. And it was assembled through a mix of solid drafting, smart trades and savvy free

agent acquisitions. Yes, the weather and the tax situation helps, but for decades, the Panthers were a joke. They've built something really special there in the last few years. And I think it's okay to tip your cap to the guys who put it together. There was any, so they recorded a 32 Thoughts Overnight,

Fridge and Kaloukaskis and Fridge was talking about his conversation that he had with the owner, Vinny Viola on the ice yesterday and he talked about the way that this organization got to this point. And you got to remember, like, this was a team that had achieved the great regular season success with minimal returns in the playoffs as part of their like learning lessons. And there are a lot of guys on this team that were part of that president's trophy winning team that got unceremoniously dumped in the first round of the playoffs a few years ago.

And that was kind of what led to the Kachuk trade and the Maurice hire and them sort of reinventing themselves, realizing that just being good wasn't good enough that to be this team where we're coming up with the one word superlatives for how good that they are, it takes more. You know, it's interesting. Like when I look at Florida right now, I said the best because if you want to talk about what it means for the rest of the league, they've set the bar in a post salary cap world

really high, like the way that they've done it. We've seen good teams come together for two or three years and then kind of get whittled away by age or injury or the salary cap or a few of the other things that happened to these teams and it might very well happen to Florida as well but the manner

in which they've been able to build reload and then put forth a performance in consecutive Stanley Cup years where there was no doubt that they were the best team in the NHL like no there's no doubt that's why I used two words I cheated I said the best there was no question that that were the best team in the NHL. Like, no, there's no doubt. That's why I use two words. I cheated. I said the best. There was no question that that was the best team in the National Hockey League. They didn't have any weaknesses and they managed to get through a regular season where there should have been a Stanley Cup hangover.

They should have been affected more by the amount of injuries and absences that they had, but they had enough depth. They had enough resolve. And at the end of the day, they just had a good enough team to get through. They need home ice advantage in any of the rounds. They didn't even need Barkov to be much of a factor

in the Stanley Cup final, honestly, in terms of scoring. Matthew Kachuk was and if you heard it in the aftermath, he tore the adductor right off the bone. So he was playing it way less than I'd say 80, 70, 60, 50% way down there. Didn't matter. Cause he was able to go out there and give enough

with a group that was just too good for everybody else. And this is, you know, if you've got anything else you want to add to the Panthers here, cause I kind of do want to. Yeah. To the other side. Well, I do have a little bit.

I did not see Nate Schmidt getting the cup first from Barkov last night, but it makes sense. Smith, Schmidt just missed winning cups in Washington and Vegas as soon as he left. They won the Stanley Cup. So he fits the profile of the veteran who finally got his cup. Um, and I think that is just part of the

culture that the Panthers have built down there. Did you see what they did after that? The cup went to every single guy that hadn't won a Stanley Cup. That was cool. Yeah. Seth Jones got it. Tomas Nosik, Vtech Banachek, AJ Greer,

Jesper Boquist, and then Reinhardt, Bennett, Kachuk, or sorry, not Kachuk because he got it first. Like Marshawn was way late. Yeah, I thought Marshawn might be the guy that gets it. And that is just the, listen, it's not a massive deal, but I think it's a good jumping off point to talk about the culture that has clearly been built down there. And again, you can complain about the tax situation and you can say, wow, they got the advantage of the sun. And it's like, yeah, but those things aren't gonna change.

Like they've clearly, we've seen other great cultures in the NHL and I mean, the Canucks had a great culture back in 2011. It was one of the big reasons they had a lot of success. They had a great culture. And sometimes as we've discussed on the show before, culture is a, you know, is it a chicken or egg thing, where it's hard to build a strong culture

without the talent because if you look around the room and you don't necessarily see a chance to do great things, it's sometimes hard to go above and beyond. And you can say, well, the professional athletes, they should be doing that all the time. Well, yeah, they should, but they don't. You know, any workplace that you've been in, you know, sometimes you look around at the people

and I'm looking at Laddie, I'm looking at A-Dog, I'm looking at Alfred, I'm just like, you know, we'll be a 500 show, right? We don't need to win titles. We don't have the talent. No. Wait. No.

Yeah. But in all reality, you know, if we're comparing this situation to the Canucks, the Canucks clearly had a major culture issue this past season. They did? I mean, two members of their leadership group couldn't get along to the point that one of them had to be traded. If that's not a culture issue, I don't know what is, but hopefully the big problems are behind them now. They've made some tough decisions, but they still have to build a leadership group under Quinn Hughes. And I think that's going to be extra challenging with Quinn's future in Vancouver, so uncertain. You know, but look, I think what the Panthers

have done is really remarkable because we were talking with Wish yesterday and, you know, I said, you know, it wasn't that long ago that I was almost convinced that Florida was going to move. They were just in such dire straits. Their arena isn't in a great place. And I had a buddy that, that went down there actually for game four and he said, God, it's, it's

like, you know, it's such a hassle. It's like, yeah, it's like a 40 minute Uber ride from Fort Lauderdale. And we've seen teams with arenas not in ideal situations move. That was the big deal with the Arizona Coyotes. And you remember watching road games when the Canucks would go into Florida and the place would be half full. Sure.

They're only big games or they're only big crowds would be when Montreal or Toronto played there or the New York Rangers and all the people that were cheering for or on vacation from the North would go to their games. You know, it's really different now. And I, and I think you got to credit the ownership and the management and the players there.

Um, and if you want to talk about the Oilers, it might just be that the Oilers were really unlucky to come and go up against one of the best teams we've seen in the salary cap era. And the last team to lose back to back cup finals was the Boston Bruins. And that was in 1977 and 1978. And that was not because the Bruins were necessarily just like not good enough, you know, like they came up against Montreal and that was one of the most dominant teams we've ever seen in the NHL. Like they barely lost games in the regular season. They barely lost games in the playoffs. They were absolutely dominant. And there have been teams in the past that were really good, but came up against dynasties. And if we're going to call the Florida Panthers a dynasty, and I think that's fair.

That was Adog's word. In the salary cap age to call them a dynasty. I mean, we called the Blackhawks a dynasty and they never went back to back Stanley Cups. So I think we can call them a dynasty, three straight Stanley Cup finals. That's pretty good when you win two of them. So I think we can call them a dynasty, three straight Stanley Cup finals. That's pretty good when you win two of them.

You know, the Bruins in the seventies and the eighties came up against dynasties because the Bruins also lost to the Oilers twice in the Stanley Cup finals in the eighties. The Flyers lost twice to the Edmonton Oilers in the eighties, you know? Sometimes it just happens and I'm not exactly sure where the Oilers go from here.

I'm pretty confident that McDavid is going to re-sign in Edmonton, although we'll probably talk about the chances that he doesn't, but they've got a lot of work to do. Where do you think it starts? Well, actually I wanted to pivot off to a little bit of audio from last night from McDavid and dry sidles specifically. I listened to a lot of audio in the aftermath of last night's game,

just trying to get a sense of where the oilers were at after losing the Stanley cup final. Having done this gig for a while, I know that sometimes the answers in the immediate aftermath of losing a cup final can be disjointed and rambling and gets raw. The emotion of you're not just losing, but your season coming to a crashing halt, it all hits at once. But there was one very clear thing that came across in listening to almost every Oilers player or their coach talk yesterday was a sense of frustration. And I think the frustration stems from exactly what you just said, that there wasn't a lot they could have necessarily Done better or done more because they all seem to acknowledge Whether it was through gritted teeth or not that they lost to the better team that they just ran into for the second consecutive

Year a really good team. I want to play the frustrated Connor McDavid audio first. We'll go there Here's Connor McDavid being asked about Either what went right or more specifically what went wrong against the Florida team that he acknowledged is The back-to-back Stanley Cup champ for a reason here's Connor McDavid following the game six loss in the Stanley Cup final last night. I Mean obviously their for check was greatly they took to the rink. They were able to kind of stay on top of us all over the place Never really able to kind of stay on top of us all over the place. Never really able to generate any momentum up the ice. We kept fucking trying the same thing over and over again, just banging our heads against the wall.

So credit to them. You guys played a pretty good first period, two mistakes and something in back. I guess is that the way you kind of play mistake? Yeah, we kept on saying we want to try to win it to one game. Never found a way to do that. Obviously. You got great players, you know, how many guys had 20 plus points in their postseason, you know, they're as deep as it comes.

Now I want to pivot to an even shorter clip from Leon Drysettle. This one was maybe even more revealing to me and it's small and I know he's frustrated, but he was asked what the takeaway was going to be after losing for a second consecutive year to a Florida team and going on the run that they went on, then having it come up short in the final again. Uh, it's short. It's kind of a, uh, a recurring theme for Leon when he gets frustrated. Uh, here's a very short answer from Leon Drysaddle when asked what the takeaways are

from this year's Stanley Cup final. The takeaways that we didn't win, nobody cares, nobody cares, we didn't win, so, yeah, gonna try again next year. There's a great pivot. Why are you so pissy? There's a great pivot in the middle of that one, where he's like, and then we'll try again next year.

You know what the, the why are you so pissy? Well, I just lost the stanley cup again Um, I would suck it up. I would push back on the uh, nobody cares people in edmonton seem to care I think what he meant was that people might care. Yeah, I think a few people do I think I think what he meant is like Nobody cares the reasons they just care that we lost. I'm trying to put a positive spin on it for leon Here's the thing the thing that him and McDavid both had in common is they did not have answers for why they couldn't beat the Panthers And I both think that they just didn't want to say the one thing out loud which was like we got beat by a better team That's what I'm gonna say go tending I don't think that the goaltending sunk them in this series didn't help the last two games. They weren't close

The last two games they weren't close They got outscored by way too wide of a margin to put that on goaltending No, just lack of depth like the Oilers lack of depth and the Panthers incredible depth. So even Kichuck was saying like Too often. It's just you know, McDavid you do it. I mean it He said he said I think the one thing that was really telling is like, we kept on trying to do the same thing over and over again, just bang your head against the wall. Yeah. And that thing was like, Connor, here you go, do something special. The thing is, I don't know if they were built to do anything differently, because that's how they

got through the playoffs was you ride the two, maybe the two best players in the NHL, two of the top five players. And they had to come back against LA. They dispatched to Vegas with relative ease and they took care of Dallas with relatives. And then they went up against the best team in the NHL. Wow. I will say that the injury to Hyman hurt and maybe I know he was able to play, but do you remember how much we were talking about Ryan Nugent Hopkins and how well he was playing earlier in the playoffs? This is the best hockey he's ever played. Well, clearly he was injured in the Stanley Cup final and it was noticeable.

It was noticeable in that I don't remember anything that Nugent did in the Stanley Cup final. If we're going to go down this road, look, there were way too many guys at forward for the Oilers who were contributing extremely well and regularly during the first three rounds and completely disappeared in that cup final. Like, Evander Cain was probably more of a detriment than an asset in the Stanley Cup.

Well, he disappeared so much, he missed the handshake line. I know you got the 10 minute misconduct and normally in a hockey game, you would be like, all right, that's my night. But I think it's worth pointing out that he didn't come back for the handshake line. You're not the only one that pointed it out.

Yeah, and I'm very curious to see if he's back with the Oilers next year. I know he's got one year left, but I'd be pretty surprised if the Oilers don't try and move that contract. It's a pretty big and telling sign when you've got Vasily Podkolzin as one of your top forwards in the Stanley Cup final. Mm-hmm. I move that contract. It's a pretty big and telling sign when you've got Vasili pod Coles and is one of your top forwards in the Stanley Cup final. That says that a lot of guys didn't show up and pod Coles and was one of the

rest boards and it's no slight against the guy, even though it just sounded like that, given what I said. But there were a lot of guys that, and I know this is an old school reference, but we're on the side of a milk carton in that cup final. And I think Florida had a lot to do with that. And I think Florida's forward scoring at will during the cup final. Like Sam Reinhardt had four goals

in the Stanley Cup clinching game, right? And here's the thing, if it wasn't Sam Reinhardt, you could envision five other guys doing it because that's how often those guys did it with regularity. I don't really wanna get into ripping the Oilers too much today, honestly. I don't think it's ripping, but I think it's acknowledging that we've got a generational player that's gone up against a generational

team two years in a row. No, I know, I know, but look, the Oilers made it to back to back Stanley Cup finals. That's an incredible accomplishment. Um, and, uh, it wasn't all McDavid and Dreisaitle doing it. But clearly, if they want to come back next season and have a chance, they got to make some changes.

They got to figure out their goaltending. I don't think you can sell to the fan base, bringing Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard back. The thing is in Edmonton, they've tried many times. Goaltending has been an issue there for a long time. And they've tried to fix the issue and they never really have. They're still paying Jack Campbell.

You know, and you go back to the Talbot years and Talbot was like a success there. Even Stoller's got a cup of coffee in Edmonton. That's right, he did. He could have kept him. Speaking of the fan base, how would that feel? Imagine if the Canucks went to back to back Stanley Cup finals and lost to the Bruins twice.

Well, we got a question into the- Like imagine if that happened. How would that feel as a fan? I don't know if I'd be able to think that. Not good. Like what are Oilers fans going through right now? Well, we got a question into the Dunbar Lumbertex line and who do you think feels worse,

the Oilers fans right now after losing back to back or Canucks fans in 2011 after losing to the Bruins? I think there is... Back against the same team is way worse. Adog, you've said it four times now. Way worse. There is the sad club element of it though. The Canucks have never won a cup. And I think that, considering they had two games to win the cup in 2011 and they had a game to win in 94 And the way that series went getting off to a two-nothing lead Yeah, but a lot of the Oilers fans weren't even alive for the last Stanley Cup

I don't I think it's way worse to lose back-to-back cups against the same you know what's interesting about it I don't know if it's way worse You know what's interesting about is there was a lot of people it's way worse. You know what's interesting about it? There was a lot of people and this was another thing that McDavid and Dreisaitl brought up, was they openly acknowledged that this year's Panthers team was better than last year's Panthers team. And that was the thing too, there was always the acknowledgement,

there wasn't the acknowledgement that the Bruins were a great team until almost later, when it was like, oh Bergeron really is that good and Oh, Marshawn really is that good. And Knax were still a better team in 2011. You know, like Chara, uh, I think there was an appreciation for his game and Tim Thomas, we all know that he played really well, but I still think

there was that element of like the Knax should have won that they should have, they were better than the Bruins and maybe that changed a little bit as Bergeron's career continued to blossom and have won that. They should have, they were better than the Bruins and maybe that changed a little bit as Bergeron's career continued to blossom and Marchand's career continued like he turned into like people, a player we actually respect, you know, in some ways. But I think it is a lot easier when you get to a final and lose and you're like, well, they were just better. And I think that's what happened yesterday. Yeah. I think that's what happened yesterday. Yeah. I think that's what happened last year too.

And it was interesting listening to the guys talk in the aftermath. Sometimes you just, you tip your cap, so to speak, and you just say we got beat by a better team. You're listening to the best of Halford and brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and brough. Frank Sarah Valley from daily face-off joins us here on the Halford and brough show on sports net six 50 morning Frank. How are you? Pretty good. Hey boys, John, we're good.

Thanks for taking the time to do this as always. We appreciate it. So we will touch very briefly on the Stanley Cup final because we're equally excited about the off season that's to come and all this news that maybe has been stacking up here. But, um, your takeaway is from maybe not just necessarily last night in game six and emphatic victory for the Panthers, but an emphatic season and two in a row for this Florida team, which we were talking about it for the first hour of the program, truly the best of the best in the national hockey league. You know,

they're the top team in the NHL and they proved it throughout the last two playoffs. Uh, the team building, the talent level, the depth, all of it on display, especially last night in the victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Yeah, undisputed best team. I mean, that doesn't always happen with the Stanley Cup champion, despite the nature of the playoffs.

But I think we can all agree, three Stanley Cup finals in three years, two Stanley Cups, And to be honest, an utter run of dominance over a really good Edmonton Oilers team, they had the Oilers off their axis and off kilter pretty much from puck drop and it wasn't just, Hey, we're going to take you into the alley and beat you up. It was also, we're going to take you into the alley and beat you up. It was also, we're going to outplay you any which way you want and we're going to force you to do uncomfortable things with the puck.

And that was on display. Plus you mentioned the team building and I couldn't help but be drawn to the cohesion that this group has. I mean, for a team that won it last year, I mean think about their Stanley Cup order and how they passed it along. They went to all the guys who had never won it before. Nate Schmidt, Tomas Nosik, AJ Greer, go through the list. These guys were getting it. Mackie Samuskevich didn't even play in the Cup final. I don't know if he played much at all in the playoffs. He gets a turn with the Cup. VTEC, Vanecek, who didn't play at all.

Sergei Barbarovsky played every minute of this run. And yet those guys are getting the cup, Seth Jones before, you know, key contributors, Marchand and Bennett and all these other guys, to me, that just tells you their thought process and how they think about it requiring everyone. I know the Panthers might lose some of the guys. They might lose Marshawn, they might lose Ekblad. I think they'll probably manage to keep Bennett,

but the scary thing for the league is Barkov is still 29, Kachuk's 27, Reinhardt's 29. Their guys, their main guys are Lundell's 23 and he could be better. He's already very good. This team isn't going anywhere, is it? Probably not. I mean, that's the beauty of the Seth Jones trade, right?

I mean, you have him for five more years. And yeah, they'll probably have a decision to make at some point with Sergey Bobrovsky as he continues to age. But you're right. Carter Verhege didn't start his next contract yet. And Sam Bennett is about to likely embark on a new one with the Panthers. And, and then you hear Bill Zito say after the game last night that he thinks he can bring them all back, which I think is a tall order and almost impossible.

But your point is well made. Like this team is the beast of the East and they don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. And in fact, when you think about Matthew Kachuk having a point per game postseason, about Matthew Kachuk having a point per game post-season, doing it on one leg after tearing the adductor muscle off of his bone and dealing with a hernia at the same time on the same side of his body, what would have happened if Kachuk had been fully healthy these playoffs?

What would have happened if, you know, go through the list? It's possible to envision a team that's actually more dangerous than its current iteration. Meanwhile, you've got the Edmonton Oilers that, you know, you look at some of their complimentary players to McDavid and Dreissel and there's a lot of guys getting into their thirties. I'm thinking about, you know, Ryan Nugent

Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Vander Kane, Matthias Atcombe. Eugene Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Vander Kane, Matias Atcombe. How different do you think this Oilers team could look next season? I mean, I think the core of it is likely going to remain the same, but I think your question about the periphery of it is certainly in question. I mean, there's no doubt that this Oilers team arrives at a little bit of a crossroads, no one's taking anything away from them for losing to a team like

the Panthers, but at the same time, I went through this exercise last night during the third period, I can't find a team in any of the major four professional sports that has gone to back-to-back finals, lost, and then ever actually got over the hump after the fact. I don't know that it's ever happened. So they've got a tall task in front of them. They are obviously very motivated and their top end players are motivated, but they were also suffocated for the most part on the biggest stage.

So there's still more tinkering to do. I think their goaltending left a lot to be desired and was a key differentiator in the final round. And they also made some significant missteps on July 1st last summer. Any team that we think wins the day in free agency, whether it's the Nashville Predators or all the praise that was heaped on the Oilers on July 1 on Canada day last year, Victor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner were were not only non-factors but were barely even spare parts during this playoff run. So those dollars have to be allocated in ways that really are

efficient and especially when Drisital, his new deal kicks in and Evan Bouchard we know is do a massive raise that kicks in next season It doesn't get easier for the Oilers moving forward then to pay Connor McDavid. It's gonna get harder How do you think they address the goaltending situation? Well, that's really the tough part to figure out because do break out your calculator and do some of the math that I was just Talking about we're looking at 50 million dollars next season and beyond the tough part to figure out because do break out your calculator and do some of the math that I was just talking about. We're looking at $50 million next season and beyond on four players. McDavid, Dreisaitl, Bouchard and Darnell Nurse.

Darnell Nurse had nine and a quarter is the killer. So when you factor all those things in, how do you devote additional funding to your goaltending position? Unless you think you can get something in a similar vein or similar spend category that's going to massively improve your goaltending. I just, who's that going to be? Are you going to trade for John Gibson at 6 million a year? Uh, besides that, Jake Allen is the guy who's the bell of the ball

and free agency this summer. That doesn't really seem to inspire a ton of confidence to bring it back to your market and then do you, do you trade for Thatcher Demko? Would Thatcher Demko have any interest in going to Edmonton? Would he be the answer with his health problems? I think they're in a real tough spot with their goal-tending moving forward. Yeah. Would the Canucks be willing to trade Demko to a rival like the Edmonton Oilers?

I think that's another question. Have you heard anything about- No. Only Calgary and Vancouver are allowed to make trades, not Edmonton. Because Calgary doesn't threaten us. Have you heard anything on the Demco case or anything about anything Canucks wise? Because I'm just wondering when it's all going to start to kick off here. I think it's kicked off, not so much on the goaltending front.

I do think that there's a handful of teams that have been poking around on the goaltending market, the Flyers, the Devils, the Utah Mammoths, they've all been looking around. But in terms of what the Canucks are up to elsewhere, I mentioned with that and Dan earlier this week that I believe Vancouver is one of the teams that's been closely following and has called the Sabres on the JJ Peturko file. At varying points, I think they've had some interest in varying points, I think they've had some interest in what a bow and byron deal could look like. Um, so that part has been ongoing. And, and other than that, how I think we've all been yet to figure out or

trying to drill down on how the Canucks. Solved for that two C position. That is certainly a glaring hole. Marco Rossi is a name that has come up a lot. What did the wild want in return for this and would they entertain the idea of getting futures and then flipping them for something else? Yeah, I think they're pretty open. I think they would be willing to flip and take futures.

I think they'd be willing to take on a roster player as well that they think could help them. And I understand how everyone has positioned the Marco Rossi situation. Some of it's been accurate, some of it hasn't. They're not absolutely giving him away, like that's not how this is gonna work out. They don't mind Marco Rossi so long as he's at a dollar figure moving forward that they believe fits their cap and their roster structure. If you can get Marco Rossi to play 3C at $5 million a year, they're okay with that. But they're not okay with him being asked to play 1C or 2C minutes and make $7 million a year and have that be how their team is featured. So that's the crossroads

that they're at. And for other teams that are looking to improve, the big thing that they're asking themselves is can he be a legitimate top six center as a five foot nine undersized player? Yeah. And that's a discussion we've had a bunch in Vancouver. Um, I know you mentioned this, uh, I don't know where you mentioned, but I saw it on social media. Do you have anything on the Connucks

ownership situation? Well, just that it's been an ongoing tug of war behind the scenes that everyone has seen the reporting of Paolo Franceschi, uh, Paolo Accolini, excuse me, uh, being, separating himself from the rest of the family business and him essentially being bought out. That part has dragged on for a bit. And I think anyone who has positioned it as mostly done

or nearly across the finish line is probably a little bit premature from my understanding. And that I think everyone's hoping that this could be wrapped up by the start of the regular season, but there's still some hurdles to clear. And I think that current going on behind the scenes has just created another additional layer of what everyone would say has been an ongoing drama in Vancouver.

I was going to say one more on this because I didn't want to get to some of the other teams that are making some noise right now. But with regards to landing spots and we're talking about a summer where a lot of teams have cap space and a lot of teams are looking to improve and a lot of teams want to bring players into their respective markets. How much does a situation like that deter players from coming? Because we just finished a Stanley Cup final where everyone had such glowing things to say about the culture that they built in Florida and the work that

they've done from the top down, from the owner Vinny Viola to the general manager, Bill Zito. And I know in the aftermath of a Stanley Cup win, the model franchise stuff is always talked up. But I think in the case of Florida, we are seeing something about it's more than just a great collection of players. It's a very good culture and organization and top down that they've built. How much does the inverse of that detract players from wanting to go somewhere in either via free agency or trade? I don't know that I necessarily see that as being a

hindrance to player movement. Okay. But I think certainly the idea that there's tons of cap space and teams are looking to improve as opposed to being in positions previously where they'd have to pluck players off of their roster is what's working against the current environment that we're all hoping for, which is lots of player movement. I mean, I've, you know, obviously going back and forth with managers throughout the week and trying to figure out the market, I was actually, as I'm talking to you guys, I'm scrolling through one of my text message conversations with a manager and he says, I'll just read you word for word, teams are all looking to add, quote, I can't see someone

subtracting to the point of giving team X what they need to make them feel like they're getting better in that equation. So like, that's the push and pull here is for the first time in a long time, we've got light at the end of the tunnel on the salary cap situation. No one's feeling the heat or pressure to make a move to create flexibility because a lot of people have it. And with that, you're creating an environment where everyone's looking to add and that's hard.

Well, are there some hockey trades out there as they call them? I don't like that phrase because they're all hockey trades. But you know, one for ones, because there should be at the very least the flexibility for these general managers to get creative. Yeah. And I think there's some of that going on, but what have we talked about forever?

Which is a lot of teams are risk averse and the idea of making a hockey trade as the ability to make you look silly in a hurry. And making a futures trade or trading for futures or trading, you know, futures away, it's a lot easier cause the verdict on that is a long ways off. How much more active is Chris jury going to be with the New York Rangers? Mika Zubinajad's name has been in trade rumors, and I know that, I believe it was on one of the daily face-off shows this week. You mentioned that there was a lot of smoke

around Kay Andre Miller. So the Rangers are gonna continue to be really active here. Chris Crury's highly motivated to make his team better from a President's Trophy winning team a couple years ago to missing the playoffs this past season. And with that, I don't think Mika Zubanajad is going anywhere. Uh, his name, I haven't heard it. I think there's been a lot of online speculation and innuendo.

Um, but with that contract, with the control that he has with the signing bonus remaining, there's a lot of risk for any team that would acquire it, particularly at a player who is coming off of a down year. So they're gonna try and rehab his game and get him in a better position and Mike Sullivan has already dug in to do that work. Well, with regards to Miller on the backend, I mean, he was on our trade targets board last season in March, leading up to it, they were taking calls. Then I think it was a harder trade to make at the time. And a lot of teams see a player that has such an efficient and athletic skating

ability and size that they can, they believe they can make him into something better than he is now. And the Rangers understand that proposition also know that they need to get better specifically defending in front of Igor Shisterkin. And even if they were comfortable keeping him, I think their big question is, well, two of them is he the right fit, one, and two, what do we pay this guy? And that part, you're arriving at that juncture now

with him being a restricted free agent. Real quick, or it might not be quick, because it's a big question, but before I let you go, Pittsburgh, there's so many things coming out of here with guys that are available. They feel like the one team that's actually kind of identified as a seller, a team that's open to doing business because they're entering maybe not necessarily great unknown, but it's a different future now.

I know there's a future for Jenny Malkund with one year left on his deal. There's a lot of talk around Chris LaTang and his future, not necessarily with trades, but just what's going to happen. Brian Rust is apparently up for trade. Ricard Raquel is up for trade. So what are you hearing out of Pittsburgh right now? Yeah, I think Kyle Dubas is open for business. I don't think that includes Malkin. They would have traded Latang previously if that contract was tradeable.

I think Eric Carlson is another name that they're certainly open to moving, but at 10 million bucks, it might be difficult. Brian Rust has been out there they should have probably taken the deal that was on the table for Ricard Raquel at the deadline they decided against that and now has a blank canvas this summer to remake this Penguin team in his own fashion which he really hasn't been able to do so far since taking over as GM. Frank, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it.

Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next week. See you guys. See you later. Frank Star Valley from Daily Faceoff here on the Halferd and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. That was really interesting, the text message that he read from one of the managers, and it's kind of one of the things we've been talking about. The Canucks have this plan to remake what, half of their top six? Mm-hmm. Tough environment to do it in. And we just keep coming back to like, how are they going to do it?

Tough environment to do it in. It feels like it's, which they have had a history of doing is making one move to set up a second move. But in this instance, it might be, well, we have to make one move to set up a second move and that's a third move. And then maybe there's a fourth move. That's the kind of layers that you're going to need. What are you talking about?

What? What are you talking about? Give me an example of how that would play out, all those moves. Well, it wouldn't. That's what I'm saying. In this market, it's not going to be as simple as, well, we're going to trade for someone else's asset and then move that asset out the door, we're going to acquire a pick and then

package it with somebody else. There just aren't many teams. Because everyone wants to get better. Yeah. And there aren't any teams in desperation mode. You think back how the Canucks got JT Miller, well, the Lightning were in a cap crunch. Yep.

And for the last five or six years, because of the pandemic, we've been in a cap crunch in the NHL and now teams aren't. There are teams up against the cap, like the Rangers and, you know, but there are none that are, we're a really good team and we just can't keep all these great players. You know, Florida, yeah, they're going to have

to make some decisions there, but I don't think the Canucks are in the market to sign Brad Marchand and if the other big name player that leaves the Panthers is Aaron Echblad, I don't, I don't think that's a conversation for them either. So it just seems like there's no, I mean, there's, I guess there are some names like Marco Rossi, that's out there, but Ladi, you just listened to

the most recent 32 thoughts. Now Buffalo could be, JJ Paterka could be available, but Buffalo is going to want players. They need NHL players. They're not going to be like, oh great, more draft picks and prospects. Awesome, that's worked out so well for us. You can say, well, they can flip them. It's like, well, how about we just skip the whole flipping part and we just trade JJ Paterka.

If Paterka doesn't want to be here, we'll get a player. We'll make a hockey trade with some team. And Alex Tuck, who's a guy that a lot of people in Vancouver are like, well, get them out of there. What does Freach say about Alex Tuck? Well, he just basically poured a lot of water on everyone's trade proposals that haven't going around because he just said, it's super tough to make deals this time of year, because everybody feels like they want to get better for next year.

And these teams that you mentioned aren't going to be taking draft picks And prospects back they want players that can play now players Especially in the Rossi case the the Wild really don't want to get worse by trading Rossi They want to at least be even or better So it's very difficult to be a lot of teams in on all these guys like if you look if you read the stuff that Frank's Doing it daily face-off There's a bunch of teams that are interested in Paterka and teams that quite honestly are probably a little bit closer to winning a Stanley Cup or

being a playoff contender and it sounds like Paterka might not even be on the market it's sounds like it was just a lot of rumors over nothing I think the point I was trying to make earlier facetiously is that it might be the well we're it's the chess moves is you have to make three moves in advance to make the move you actually want to make and Doing that in a highly competitive market where everyone else is trying to do the same thing get to the endgame You know either you know call checkmate or NHL players on your team. It's really tough It's not going to be as straightforward as before. I remember in a smaller scale when the Canucks got Jason Dickinson and it was like, he fits

our needs and Dallas is in a crunch and they can't afford to keep him, so we get him. Yeah. And it was really straightforward. Nate Schmidt, the same thing. It's like, pluck and away. And that doesn't exist anymore. Now, it's almost funny because the machinations would have to be like a bunch of moves in advance to try and get to that point. And again, this managing group has shown an ability to take an asset from one deal and quickly move on to making another deal. But it's in an

environment now it's a brave new world for the national hockey league cap space, no cap crunches. And there are a lot of teams looking to teams looking to get better. And there are reports that the cap's gonna go even more than was anticipated over the next few years. So we'll see how the Canucks fare with this, but man, if they pull this off, they'll have done some really good work. Tip my cap to you, Vancouver Canucks. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.