Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/2/25

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

Mike & Jason talk a busy weekend in sports, including a big Abbotsford Canucks win that puts them up 2-0 in the series thanks to Arturs Silovs' fifth shutout of the playoffs, as well as an embarrassing Whitecaps Concacaf Champions Cup finals loss in Mexico, plus they chat the latest hockey and Canucks news with NHL.com & In Goal Magazine's Kevin Woodley. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Nan, Lydie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford in Brough for the morning is brought to you

by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at sans-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. Another monochromatic day for the Haliford and Brough show. I am wearing all black. Jason is wearing all gray today. You're in a gray outfit.

You're a gray ghost. All black, the hat. Is it? Yeah. Oh, it's a gray hat, bud. That looks pretty great to me. It's gray now because it's been used on the golf course approximately 100 times.

Yes. And gone through the washing machine a few times. Bleached with sweat and sun. Okay, we got a lot to get to on the program today on a Monday. Guest list today begins at 6.30. Brian Mahoney is gonna join the program. He's an NBA writer for the Associated Press on Saturday.

The Indiana Pacers beat the Knicks to win the Easter Conference final and advance to their first NBA finals since 2000, the year 2000. They'll be taking on the OKC Thunder who are in the finals for the first time since 2012. OKC is a massive underscore massive betting favorite in the NBA final. Should they be such a massive favorite? Then we'll talk to Brian about that at six 30, uh, seven o'clock James Myrtle is going to join the program. Our good buddy,

senior NHL writer from the athletic. Uh, he had an article last week. They got some chuckles out of another one of our guests, Greg Wyshinski. The NHL sunbelt problem has no easy solution, but does it need one? Uh, how much of an impact does warm weather and low state tax rate make in the NHL sunbelt problem has no easy solution, but does it need one? How much of an impact does warm weather and low state tax rate make in the NHL and does it make enough of an impact to make significant change? We'll talk to James about that at seven o'clock, seven 30 deep pause, deep breath. We're going to go to Mexico city. We're going to talk to Ben Steiner. He of course,

covers the MLS in North American soccer for Sports Illustrated. And he was there for the Mexico City meltdown yesterday by the Vancouver Whitecaps, a five nil loss to Cruz Azul. That's right, five nil to Cruz Azul in the CONCACAP Cup Final. What went wrong for the Caps? What did Jesper Sorensen have to say in the aftermath?

And is this going to be a fracture point for the Whitecaps for the remainder of their season? We'll discuss all that. Oh, man, they took the Fair Play award. You know what? He's right. Fair Play award. They did like an hour after the tournament ended and all the pomp and circumstance and the trophy celebrations were done. There was a tweet that came out, by the way, the Whitecaps won

the Fair Play award. Good for them. That was a tough one yesterday. We'll talk to Ben about all of that live for Mexico City. Cruz Azul winning the Fair Play Award. Good for them. That was a tough one yesterday. We'll talk to Ben about all of that. Live from Mexico City. Cruz Azul winning the Fair Play Award. No, they didn't. They won the game, but they're just cruising the victory. The Whitecaps Award.

Tell you that. What? Sorry? They're just cruising to victory. Oh, there it is. First dad joke of the morning. Never too early for a dad joke, though. We're going to talk to Ben Steiner at 7.30.

8 o'clock, we're going to talk to Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingo magazine. How about Artie Seelovs and those Abbotsford Canucks? They took a two nothing series lead in the Western Conference finals with a one nothing win over Texas at an Abbotsford on Saturday. Seelovs 26 saves, fifth shutout of the playoffs. Now, if you're wondering, that feels like a lot. It is, it's one shy of the American Hockey League record for a single postseason,

set by another Vancouver Canucks legend, Mika Nornin, set the AHL postseason shutout records all the way back in 2000. And then he took out Cole Lind. That was a sick headbutt. I saw the highlights. That was a headbutt. That was pretty highlights that was a head, but that was pretty impressive That's like what soccer players do when they get in the scrum except Cole Lynn didn't fall to the ground pretending like he was shot

It wasn't and let's not try to get already see love suspended. He won't get suspended. He's a close talker Let's just that's why I classified it as a soccer head, but because it's not a real head But in the context of head butts, it's the lightest head, but you can apply to something So when did Mika Norton do that in the year 2000? OK, so with Rochester in the year 2000. And obviously he turned into because he did all that stuff in the HL, turned into a great NHL goalie, right? With the Vancouver Canucks.

Yeah. Don't you remember his time as a Vancouver Canucks? Please say no, because nobody does. Yeah. How many games? Four, four, four four four games for memorable games though they were unforgettable he had but it's somewhat in every game Finally finally today and every day this week We love you guys so much. We are giving away a $50 gift card to white spot We're giving it every day of this week including today caller number five eight fifteen this morning is gonna win the $50 gift card to White Spot. We're giving it every day this week, including today. Caller number five at 815 this morning is gonna win the $50 gift card to White Spot.

604-280-650 is the number. That number again, 604-280-0650, White Spot. BC's spot to celebrate all of life's big and little moments. If you wanna celebrate both those big and little moments, call at 815 this morning to 604 280 06 50 Working in reverse on the guest list 8 o'clock Kevin Woodley 730 Ben Steiner 7 o'clock James Myrtle 630 Brian Mahoney That's what's happening on the program today Greg. Let's tell everybody what happened Did you guys see the game last night? No. 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.

As I mentioned in the intro, it was a dark, dark evening for the Vancouver Whitecaps in Mexico City on Sunday night. The Whitecaps were absolutely throttled in the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup final, dropping a five nil decision to Liga MX powerhouse, Cruz Azul in Mexico City. It was as one- sided as you'll ever see

in a championship final. Ironic, Jason, because the day prior PSG put forth what many considered to be the most one sided result that you could get in a champion final beating Inter Milan five nil in the Champions League final. I was actually, when it got to 5-0 yesterday, I was like, please just hold it there, because, you know, Inter had that happen to them too.

The symmetry was chef's kiss, perfect. But I will say, Inter, as bad as they looked on Saturday, were better and put forth more than what the Whitecaps put forth yesterday. Did they get a shot on goal? They did not. Not only not. Yeah, but I'm out like that's right. But not only did the Whitecaps not get a shot on goal yesterday,

the Whitecaps did not attempt a shot on goal yesterday in the five nil destruction. They didn't get a single shot attempt. Yeah. Courtesy of Opta, advanced analytics company, single shot attempt. Yeah, courtesy of Opta, Advanced Analytics Company. The Whitecaps were the first team in any CONCACAF Champions Cup match, not a final, any match that's ever been played

in this tournament since they started tracking the stats back in 2012. Yeah, it was not possible. They couldn't even get an attempt. Well, did you watch the game? Because it was possible the way they played. You know, they came in there and. You know and if you were hyping up the whitecaps, you were probably hyping up Brian White.

That would probably have been the first player you'd been hyping up and he couldn't even get the ball. I think he had seven touches or something at some point, well into the game. Yep. And they looked. They looked awful. They looked paralyzed. They looked awful. They looked paralyzed. They looked

paralyzed out there to me. Yep. Yeah, that's fair. They looked gassed at about the 20 minute mark and they started horribly conceding in the eighth minute. And then again, in the 28th minute, the only, look, I'm not often at a loss for words when it comes to something that happened in sports. Usually I do a pretty good job of explaining it, but a couple of people

text me, they're like, what happened here? I'm like, I honestly do not know what happened to start that match. Other than the white caps were completely unprepared mentally, physically, and any other facet of the match, they were totally unprepared for what they were about to face. Cruz Azul set up tiny little traps throughout the pitch in which they were either going to try and press or try and trap.

One of them was right in front of the caps goal. I mean, like early on the first two goals were almost carbon copies. The white caps screwing around with the ball with no idea of where they ultimately wanted to go. So they were just kind of like passing it loosely back and forth. And then Cruz Azul are like,

okay, we're gonna press a little bit here and thank you. We'll take the ball and easy goals. The first two goals were, and I mean this in the most literal sense, directly from turnovers. The second one was off Andres Kubas' foot and two seconds later it was in the back of the net. Kubas had one of the worst matches I've ever seen a player of his caliber have

in that important of a match. Why didn't he get subbed off? I don't know. I thought in at some point that Jesper Sorensen was going to have to sub off Andres Kubas merely to save his mental wellbeing. Like that's how bad it was for him because every time that he made a mistake yesterday,

it was in the back of the white caps net. He must have been shattered post-match. So Bill from Buffalo texts in, well, thank God no one in Vancouver was able to actually watch that soccer match. I actually plunked down the one soccer monthly fee. I gave you the promo code. Yeah, I got a promo code.

So it was only 9.99 or something like that, but at the same time, remind me today to cancel one soccer. Why? Because I don't want that thing. I don't want that thing refilling every month. I got a To Do List on a Monday, it's only got one thing on it.

That's it. We have subscribed to you for 10 years. Look. Thank you. Let's not, okay, let's not break down the match too thoroughly because there's not a lot. What I was going to ask is, are these leagues supposed to be that much far apart in terms of skill or was it supposed to be a closer matchup? On their way to the final, the Whitecaps beat two Liga MX teams. Okay, so it should not have...

Theoretically, it should have been closer than it was by a fair margin. This was a much better Liga MX team than the other two that they played. Granted, Cruz Azul is one of the top teams in Mexico. Mm-hmm. And they really dominated throughout this tournament. They had a pretty lofty goal differential going in. That being said. They beat one of the best teams in Mexico too,

didn't they along the way? Cruz Azul. No, no, no. The white caps. Not at the, they beat good league MX teams. But if you look at the table. They didn't beat Tigras, did they? They beat Pumas? They beat Pumas, no. The white caps. Not at the... They be good in League MX team. But if you look at the table, though. They didn't beat Tigris, did they? They beat Pumas?

They beat Pumas, yeah. If you look at the, it's called the Klazura there. So they split their season in half in League MX. We're really going down the rabbit hole here. Cruisers is probably the best League MX team they played. Whatever the case, let's not focus too much on breaking down the actual match because I'm gonna be very curious to see two things now.

One, how the casual fan that might've either plunked down or gone to the watch party reacts now because I do think that there's going to be that lingering narrative and sense of same old white caps. Yeah, I hope not. And I hope not. Because I don't think they deserve that. But you know that it's going to be lingering out there, right? Because I mean, you heard about the watch party.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, what's the what's the other thing? What happened at the watch party? They had technical difficulties and the big screen blacked out at chunks of the match for the 2500 people that were in attendance. That was a mercy black. That's not great, right? It's not on purpose. But it's not great when you OK. It's not great when you invite an intern into the golf.

Scotty Scheffler's playing well. The crowd, yay! That guy's like feeding him his Netflix account. He's like, just put on anything at this point. Department Q sounds good. Right, like anything at that point would have been better. So it's still, look, there were a thousand traveling fans. There were 2,500 people that showed up at Terry Fox Plaza to watch the match and they put forth,

and I'm not joking for those of you that didn't watch it. One of the worst performances I've ever seen from a team in a championship final, regardless of sport, it was it was awful. Yeah. Do you think the Cruz Azul supporters that were there were just like, these guys beat Messi's team? Yes. I guarantee you there was shock at how one side of the match was because, and I want to play the audio from Christian Jack here. You have to understand that this is a,

this tournament was a big deal and it had not just the ability to host, hoist a trophy. Victor Montalegni was on the, you know, the former president of the CSA and I was the vice president of FIFA. So he's a fairly high ranking international soccer executive. He said that the financial gain

from winning this tournament between the prize money, the tournaments you get to play in and what it means for exposure, he put it at about 16 million. So this is a huge, huge opportunity here. And you could see it with Cruz Azul and the level of intensity and seriousness and importance they brought to the match so I want to

play a bit from Christian Jack here on the one soccer broadcast he does dive a little too deep into the Mexican side of things here but he does put this into perspective about how one-sided how lopsided and how big of a disaster this was for the Whitecaps on the night Christian Jack following Vancouver's five-nil loss to Cruz Azul in Mexico City on Sunday night. What we witnessed tonight was an annihilation. And sometimes that happens at the harsh levels of finals. The pure top level of a football club tonight, a football club that's been the best team in Mexico for a full season and weren't able to get over the line domestically

because of their rivals Club America who they tied tonight by the way with seven continental finals and that means a lot to this fan base weren't able to get over the line and that's why their coach is leaving and all the pressure was to try and save the season tonight and they had 13 days to prepare for this game and they were the overwhelming favorites and they played like it they stretched the field magnificently Rotundi and Sanchez, you know, the whitecaps couldn't get out of their traps and their presses. But inevitably, you know, the clock struck midnight for the whitecaps. And the way that they played to

get here in the end, I think cost them because when they went down a goal and another goal, they'd never sat back and they never dropped deep and they were a little bit naive tactically at the highest level to survive. I don't like criticizing them. It's not me on the field. It's a very difficult job. But in the end, it was, as I said, a comprehensive footballing massacre at the highest level. And it's a difficult one to display and a difficult one for the Whitecaps to stick by. And what was the biggest game of their MLS era? Comprehensive footballing massacre is very well spoken. That's what it was. And yes, they had he mentioned the 13 days to prepare for this match.

They weren't playing midweek MLS games at home against Minnesota prior to this. They did not fly into Mexico. They live in Mexico, Cruz Azul. They didn't have to fly into Mexico on Friday and try and prep for the match. They weren't messing, missing their two best midfielders like the white caps were with Ryan Gould and Sebastian Bearhalter. All that's fair and all that's valid and all that's worth bringing out. But when you start bringing that up, it does, you go down into the territory of excuse land and there's not, there's no

excusing five nil in a final. There's no excusing 33 percent possession and there's no excusing. The fact that here's the thing, I'm not even sure exactly how good Cruz's will is because all of their goals, the first four goals came up direct, obvious amateurish errors from the white caps. It's not like they got picked apart. It's not like there was slow, methodical build up to break them down. They just kind of casually turned the ball over at will. The kind of mistakes that you can't make in

any match, let alone a cup final. Now you said there's two things that you wondered. The first was what, how that happened and I, you know, how fans are going to react. And the second one is how the team's going to react. Number two is how are the white caps going to react? Because there are inflection points in a season. Every, you know, the coach, coaches and managers love to say, you know,

everyone's got to go through some adversity. What they don't say on the end of that is sometimes adversity breaks us. Sometimes you go through a rough spell and you don't come out of it. I don't want to tie everything back to the Vancouver Canucks, but the Vancouver Canucks went through adversity, a lot of it this year, and they never. And it broke them. And it broke them.

And it never righted the ship and they missed the playoffs. But at least they got stronger. They did not get stronger. Right. And I, you know, when he said that they were naive. It's all worth it when they came back against Dallas. Right. Never forget the Dallas comebacks.

Moral victories. When they, when Christian Jack said there that they were a bit naive tactically, that was as close as a shot as he was gonna take it, Jesper Sorensen. And the fact that when they fell behind two-nil, they kind of approached it like, well, we did this against Real Salt Lake in Utah

a couple of weeks ago and we were fine. We're just gonna keep playing the same way that we're playing. Yeah, but in that case, it meant badly. No, I know, but here's the thing. With all the turnovers that they had in their defensive third, and the guys on the One Soccer broadcast

said this as well, they're like, how about starting to play some long balls to Brian White, just to alleviate some of the pressure? Just to hoof it up there. But even there, they had a few long balls that were horrible. Sure. They just, they just, I mean, they just went to touch. But see turning.

They were so bad that they just went to touch. Turning the ball over in Cruz Azul's side of the field is not as bad as turning it over at the top of your 18. It was a nightmare. And I felt bad for, yes, do you see him after the match as he went to go shake the Cruises will managers hand Unfortunately, it was at the same time that the players gave the Cruises will manager a Gatorade bath Oh and yes for yes for his all brown outfit was drenched In Gatorade and then he had to stand like that for the rest God they even screwed that part up He had to stand there for like the trophy celebration and to get his medal and to shake hands just drenched

Oh in Gatorade in his brown out Yes, for sorenson's a good coach How could they not adjust tactically? That's not what they that's not what he does is there? He's we're gonna go pedal to the metal full throttle. We're gonna play the way that surely you're halfway through the game You don't have a single shot on goal like They do not try and change it up then they didn't do it And this is what I'm talking about when I talk about what's going to happen from here on out if their confidence is shattered. Now, it's one game, but it was a disaster of a game.

If your confidence is shattered and what you do, because there have been tiny little signs leading up to this about where the team is at in terms of its style and form. Like they haven't played. They didn't play great leading into this. And other teams have tape on the on the white caps now. And I don't know how to neutralize it. Yeah, we saw it on Wednesday. I do want to end the what happened with segment with a little bit of good news.

And that is the Abbotsford Canucks. Not even a little bit of good news. Great news for the Abbotsford Canucks. Now two wins away from the Calder Cup final. They took a two nothing series lead in the Western Conference final with a one nil, yes, I'm gonna go soccer on this one, one nothing win over Texas.

I had a sold out Abbotsford Center, it was raucous out in Abbey. This is how you know that the Abbotsford Canucks have arrived, because the Halbrow team chat had Abbotsford Canucks text, laddie was texting like crazy, giving us scouting reports on Sammy Blay from the live feed, talking about the scrap at the end of the game.

He threw a hit that I had never really seen before. I saw clips of it afterwards. Yeah, a guy was circling back into his own end and he was late exiting the zone and he just blew the guy up without even realizing it. So it was a weird one, but he's, he's a wrecking ball out there. Yeah. So a little bit.

He wants a, he wants an NHL contract. Obviously you're going to say Calder Cup. Uh, it's also an NHL contract. Well, the real, the real story, let's be honest here and all due respect to Akita Hirose, Andy's guy from a couple of Pope pre-seasons ago scored the only goal of the contest midway through the third period, but artists seal off has been the story of these playoffs so far. Yeah. It's a great day to have Kevin Woodley on the show.

And I've been seeing a little bit of conversation about this and connect circles online. I have no idea if Sealofs would be claimed on waivers or not, but I'm not sure what the bigger risk would be. Number one, losing him on waivers or number two, committing to keeping him on your NHL roster and, you know, playing him meaningful games in the NHL because we've seen goalies

in the AHL perform very well. Sure. The NHL is a different league. And I know there is some thinking out there that RDC loves, look, he's still pretty young. He could use another season in the AHL. Um, but the Canucks might just have a decision

to make, um, because there's a, there's a long term decision to make here as well. The Canucks already have Lankenen signed long-term. They have one year left on Demko who's come out and said, I want an extension this summer with the Canucks. But if they give him the extension, where does that leave Sealovs in the organization? You got Lankenen signed long-term,

Demko signed long-term. Now some people will joke, don't worry, Demko will get hurt and Sealovs will be up there in no time, but that's not how Sealovs is gonna look at it. So I'm gonna throw this out to the listeners. Is there a case to be made that the Canucks either have to trade Demko or have to trade Sealovs this off season?

Could you go into next season with Demko app pending UFA, so there's no extension, but you still keep them, and try to get Sealov's down to Abbey? Text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and Renault Warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. Love to get some thoughts on the Canucks' goaltending situation into the Dunbar Lumber text line because I don't know if the Canucks themselves have looked at their goaltending situation going forward a little differently since we've seen what Artur Silas has been doing in the AHL. But I know a lot of Canucks fans are.

So I'm wondering if your thoughts, or do you have, do you have in your mind an idea of what you want the Canucks to do with their goaltending? Because there's lots of options. I mean, some people, the, you know, the quote unquote smart ones will be like, what if you trade Lankenen? I mean, I guess you could. You could. You could.

Do you guys see a scenario where possibly they go to the other teams and say, hey, there's a very good chance Silas gets put on waivers this upcoming year. If you like him, if you have a goalie coach on your team that really likes Silas, let's work something out here. You're not the first in the waiver priority,

so let's get something going here. Wouldn't be the first time that's happened. He could be a trade ship. I could see something like that for sure. By the way, I know we got a lot more to get into on the program, but his numbers in these playoffs, they do warrant serious attention. They demand you pay attention to them. He's 10-3. He's got a 1.61 goals against, my favorite goal he's had is goals against. He's got 9.41 save percentage. And these aren't against dud teams. These are playoff. Yeah. And five shutouts like and

let's be honest, the team hasn't given him a ton of offense to work with, especially on Saturday. It was they gave him one goal. That might have been the worst winning goal I've seen. Except for the first goal of the series in overtime, which was also

a terrible goal. So we've already got some text in no way. Seal of Clear's waivers. Too many teams with weak goaltending will take a chance on a big moment goalie like Sealow. Someone needs to be traded.

Here's the thing though. When would that waiver thing actually happen? It would happen right around the start of the season. Those team with weak goalies, they're probably addressing it. They're not going to be like, well, what if we wait until the waiver wire? They're going gonna address that. And if you pick up CELUVs on waivers, you have to commit to keep them on your NHL roster. It's like, you can't just be like, well, we got them now,

we're gonna send them down to the NHL. The connects would just take them right back. So I think this whole no waste CELUVs clears waivers thing is like, I think there's a way. I think there's a way. I'm not guaranteeing that he would, but all these people that are like 100% someone would take him.

You also have to commit to him on your NHL roster. You can't just take him in and then go on your development yourself. He's there with you. So, and the backup goalie position in the NHL, it's a huge deal. Now maybe you've got a rebuilding team that's not really caring too much about their regular season.

And they're like, yeah, we'll take a chance on him. But I still, I still don't feel like it's guaranteed that CELOS would get picked up on waivers. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. 802 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halferd, Bruv, Sportsnet650. I got a lot of business I got to take care of here, so bear with me. Halferd and Bruv for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over We are in hour three of the program. Kevin Woodley from nhl.com and Engole magazine.

A presentation of White Rock Hyundai is going to join us to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. Jason, you're next. Jason, you're next. Jason, you're next. Jason, you're next.

Jason, you're next. Jason, you're next. Jason, you're next. Jason, you're next. Jason, you're next. Jason, you're next. Stop our three. Our three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. Jason, your turn. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. And guests on Sportsnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most.

Visit them at Powerwest.ca today. They keep the lights on. Now two things for the listeners. One, we need more What We Learns. I know it was a slow weekend in the world of sports. I know there was no Stanley Cup playoff action. I know there was only one NBA playoff game. I know there was a bunch of soccer and some of you weren't able to watch it or

chose not to vehemently and vigorously chose not to watch it. But that doesn't mean stuff didn't happen. Get your what we learned. What did you learn over the last 72 hours in sports? Let us know. Dumb. Our number text line is 650 650 hashtag it. W W L send it in. If nothing else, it's your chance to be on the radio.

We're gonna do that at 8.30. Finally, finally, to wet your whistle a little bit, dear listeners, we're giving away a $50 gift card to White Spot every day this week. Every day it's gonna happen like clockwork. At 8.15 every morning, caller number five is gonna win a $50 white spot gift card the phone number six oh four two eight oh zero six fifty that number again 604 280 zero six fifty white spot BC spot to celebrate all of life's big and little moments

We'll be giving away a $50 gift card at 815 this morning again call in you can talk to a dog six oh four two eight Oh zero six fifty business giving away a $50 gift card at 815 this morning. Again, call in, you can talk to ADOG 604-280-0650. Business taken care of. Let's go to the Power West Industries hotline now. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingo magazine joins us now on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Kev? Do I get to, do I have to hang up to call in in 10 minutes

to be calling number five or what? Because I love me some white spots. You are not eligible, sadly. Guests. I know guests of the Haliford and Brev show. The consolation prize is to get to talk to us about Arter Silov's. That's fun.

It is fun. Artie's playing a fun, fun game right now and having a lot of fun and being his athletic all over the place dynamic self. It's, uh, it's been quite an interesting run. And it's, you know what, to me is really nice to see. And maybe this is something that can have a little continuity to it. And then purely off Twitter and the internet, the crowds out there. Because I tell you, somebody that goes out there, I go out there mostly to catch up with visiting team goalies and goalie coaches during the regular season. And I do a lot of that at morning skates as opposed to game times, but I do game times

as well. And man, there's been a lot of nights I've been out there and it felt like, you know, friends and family evening and to see that reaction to it. Hopefully there, hopefully this is something they can build on out there because it hasn't really been the case for most of their existence in terms of fan support. Has Arters Silovs, if you were the Canucks, has he done anything in these Calder Cup playoffs to change the conversation or change the plan for next season in the NHL? in the NHL?

Honestly, like I don't know that he could. Like this is, these are all positives and I'm probably been higher than most over the past couple of years on his upside as an NHL goalie. But given where they, where they are as an organization and given what happened last season, I'm not sure any, well we have 14 games now sample size. Even if it gets, you know, up near 20 in the Culver Cup Championship, I'm not sure that's enough to erase a history that had them thinking at one point last season, felt like they were scared to play him. So, um, there are probably elements of his game that continued to evolve. I still think there's a ton of upside.

If nothing else, like what we know about Archer Seal, I was at this point is bright spotlights and big moments don't say this guy, but we kind of knew that all along, right? The world championships getting thrown into the playoffs last year, the clenching shutout against Nashville on the road. Like, we know this. Artur Silov's does not come undone just because the moment is too big. But at the same time, you know, the sort of the sample over the career and

what happened last year, I just don't know that this organization would be willing to take a risk on the possibility of more of last year in the NHL showing up than what's showing up in the Calder Cup playoffs right now. And what I don't know, what I haven't watched enough of is how much of this is him and how much of this is team. And it's really easy when I have the numbers from ClearSight Analytics at the NHL level to sort of filter, you know, how much is the goalie and how much is the team. I've talked to a couple of the teams they've knocked off. People, people that are part of those staffs and that were at all those games and a part

of this process. And one of the things they felt like was this was not so much just him, but them not being able to get to him. And so I think, you know, if anything, when you look at the list of past Calder Cup champions, the names that stand out are the guys behind the bench so much as the guys between the pipes. Like, you know, Hunter Shepard won two straight Calder Cups with Hershey. You take a look at the list of names that have won the Call of their Cup and, and there are some good ones on there from a goaltending standpoint, but there's not, there's a whole

bunch of guys that would have cleared waivers the following season. Um, I've asked you this question before, but let's reiterate it. Um, cause I've forgotten the answer. Um, when you talk to goalies and goalie coaches, what is the biggest difference between AHL success and NHL success? The American Hockey League is a lot less predictable environment. There are goalies that will struggle down there because they don't

have the athleticism per se to succeed when there's as much broken plays and mistakes and pucks off bodies and just sort of for lack of a better term chaos that will come up to the NHL and have a lot of success because the game in front of them is more predictable. They're able to read off it and allow them to play to their strength. I'll give you one example. Akira Schmid who outplayed Ilya Samsonov to the point where he was the Vegas Golden Knights backup in the playoffs.

He had a great run down the stretch, small sample, but his numbers in the American hockey league were dreadful. Like he did not have a good season. And then he came up to the NHL and there were times, especially as Aiden Hill scuffled in the second round against Edmonton where I was like, Hey, we might see a Kierish Mead here because they had developed a belief in him. And I talked to Bruce Cassidy late in the season about what he'd done. And there was very much a belief that he's a guy that's gonna succeed in the NHL level, not in the American hockey league level. And that just because you have success

in the American league, it's not like it doesn't automatically translate. But when you look at a lot of the guys that have sort of gone on these runs, like that common denominator is that exceptional athleticism. Hunter Shepard plays goal like an unmade bed, but he's got two Calder Cup championships

and yet hasn't been able to stick or have success at the NHL level. You look at some of the guys, Garrett Sparks, Dustin Tukarski, like some of the guys that have had success down there, it's not automatic, right? Doesn't mean it can't happen. Even Piotr Kocetkov, the Carolina Hurricanes goaltender he want to call their cup with the Chicago Wolves

and he's crazy athletic but to the point where he's out of control and teams have learned just to pass it around him in the NHL because he's he's he's athletic but he's also hyper aggressive and I'm not saying that's Arterz I'm just saying there are still elements of his game that may need to be refined. This might not translate the same way. It didn't last year, right? So but at the same time I don't want to dismiss him because it's funny because I'm for the

longest time and I probably learned a hard lesson last year because I assumed coming out of the playoffs he'd be ready for the job and the opportunity that presents itself last season. And I've been a big believer of his I there's a ton of talent there The mental strength is obvious has never wilted in a spotlight like that's that counts That's that's not something you can say of a lot of guys The physical tools the athleticism the lateral explosiveness all those things are there for archers sea loft I would argue the six foot, I saw someone recently go,

all right, he's prototypical goaltender, six foot four. And I could almost spit out my coffee on my keyboard because if Archer Siloves is six foot four, so am I. But so I do think sometimes we hear people say, oh, he plays small for a six foot four goalie. I'm like, oh, he's not six foot four. No freaking way. We almost look eye to eye. There's so much to like about the package, but I'm not convinced that they saw enough of the NHL

level that they're going to basically tie their season to it next year. Yeah. What do they do? Do they need to do anything? That's my question. Like, does this, I understand that the run he's on is going to have everybody really excited, but if he ends up being year three and a safety net and the work he keeps doing with Justin Pogge down there, who I continue to hear great things about in his first year as a professional goalie coach,

some of the things we saw in that Utah game, for example, when he came up, like I liked his mid zone and high zone tracking better than I did before. And then in the Anaheim game, you know, a couple of nights later, he disappeared. He turned on Pox and opened up the top of the net. Like if he can continue to evolve

on top of the base that he already has, like there's a guy that could be a great option if you need him. Um, I don't know why there has to be a rush to a decision for next year. Like what about waivers? How many of those guys that I like, all the guys that I just cited cleared waivers the following season. So it looks like Charlotte's going to be, if they get past Texas,

Charlotte's gonna be the next opponent. You know who the goalie is? Kapil Kakinin. Is Kapil Kakinin clearing waivers next year just like he did to be in Charlotte this year? Probably. Right? Like are we having Remy Poirier, the Texas goalie, who's six foot two and has the exact same career safe percentage in three years at the American hockey league level as Archer Seelabs. Are we having a conversation about Dallas being worried about him clearing waivers next year or the following season?

Yeah, I think what people kind of forget too, is that if you pick someone up at waivers right before the season, you got to keep them, you got to play them and you don't. Yeah. And that's the thing, like I don't see a lot of teams that, but listen, I talked to a lot of different goalie coaches

around the league on a pretty consistent basis. And when archers went into the, for the playoffs last year, a lot of them, their, their perspective was like, Ooh, yikes. He shot a lot of them up, but I don't know that he's just highly regarded around, like, I don't know that there's a lineup of people to claim them off waivers for that exact reason, Jayce.

Now, hey, there could be injuries in the preseason and maybe somebody likes him and all it takes is one. But if I was betting right now, I bet he clears. Let's turn our attention, uh, just for a bit to the Stanley cup final. Get started on Wednesday. The goalie matchup is Stuart Skinner for now against Sergey Bobroski for the Florida Panthers. Um, what have the numbers said about Stuart Skinner

when it comes to, is it him or is it the team in front of him? It's a bit of both. So, and this is what makes this cup final really interesting to me. Since the first two games when he lost the job and anybody that watched those first two games, they were horrendous defensively. The first two against the Kings, the first one in particular,

I've cited the numbers several times on the air with different hosts. Like their first game against the Kings was worse than any single game defensively that they played on their way to the cup final last year. They were not winning with that style of, of defensive play. I don't care who was in that. And much like all season long, when Calvin Pickard came in, they stabilized a defensive game for whatever reason. And their coaches even talked about this.

They defend better in front of Pickard and they stabilized it. And they got back to playing a style that they were playing the year before. And when Stu came back in, they continued to play it. And the anchor, the key to that for me, and they did it against Vegas and they did it against Dallas, is not giving up stuff off the rush, especially when Stuart Skinner is in that. They since so the first game back against Vegas was a little loose they've had these moments where they've had these wobbles where they revert but on a whole since then you're talking about seven games so last two

against Vegas and five against Dallas they give up 11 high danger chances off the rush in seven games. Six of them six of the 11 were in game one against the stars and we saw what happened. So if you can limit the rush opportunities and and Stu's need to go backwards flow and manage east west off there, they've only given up one high danger east west across the middle of the ice rush chance since game four of the second round with Stuart Skinner in that and to me that rate like this is nothing against Stuart Skinner because in zone like and overall he's the best goalie in the playoffs since he came back in he's like plus seven goals saved above expected which is even above Bob who

also started slow and heated up but still better than Bob and Bob by the way for the playoffs on a whole is still below expected. So as Long as they continue that I think they've got a really good chance and yet the interesting thing is Dallas and Vegas were two of the best teams in the NHL off the rush and They totally shut it down like just nothing off the rush for either team like think about that like six in one game and five in all the other games combined. What's different is Florida doesn't try and attack off the rush. They dump it in, they for-check and then they force you into turnovers with their pressure. Even if

it's in zone or off quick regroups at the blue line, that may not be traditional rush chances. Like it's not come out of your own zone, break out three on two, but they create downhill opportunities that are like rush chances off of forced turnovers. And to me, it's a real fascinating wrinkle to sort of the style matchup. And as much as it was a quote You asked me a question about goaltending, you know horses for courses It reminds me of Aiden Hill and in when when Vegas won their Stanley Cup

They gave up lots of dangerous chances, but they didn't give up the ones that gave him the biggest fits They didn't give up the stuff across the middle of the ice and into the middle of the ice high in the zone Where his lateral movement from a more aggressive standpoint off the rush or his hands could be exposed they didn't give that up and so right now the oilers are playing to Stuart Skinner's strengths and he is more than holding his own on the end zone stuff it's not always pretty it's not bob it's not the ballet out there like Bobrowski moves but he's getting it done at a best of league clip when the play is in zone, not rush style.

Kev, how easy do you think the Canucks were to defend this season? Because we all know that they didn't create much off the rush. But one of the things that Halford and I have been focusing a lot is just their in zone play and how there aren't a lot is just their end zone play and how there aren't a lot of guys right now, if you look at

their roster that make things happen out there and either take the puck themselves to the middle of the ice or able to set up, uh, chances in the middle of the ice with an East West pass or maybe work it below the goal line and come out front with it and, and pass it, or maybe there aren't enough guys that are getting open in the slot for those passes. And you know, as much as we talk about rush

chances and we should talk about them, it's not like the Canucks were creating a ton of chances when they did get set up in the offensive zone and they got set up a fair amount. Yeah, no, I mean, like you talked about, like, I think if, if Florida was dead last in controlled entries and sort of generating that way, like they dump and chase a lot, Vancouver was right there.

Um, the difference to me was unlike last season, it was a lot more rare for them to sort of have those tenacious prolonged forechecking shifts where they're really hard on the other team and make it hard to get out of their own end and create that level of chaos. And then you're right, have guys go to the net and have the puck arrive there at the same time. Obviously, when Quinn Hughes is on the ice ice that happens with regularity because he's able to elude at the top and find seams and and and find holes and find spots to get shots

through where you can just create traffic and and and you know the types of you know pick a corner through multiple layers of traffic I've talked about it before it's a more dangerous chance than a breakaway but when the only guy on your team that can do that because it takes a lot of skill to do it on the blue Line is Quinn Hughes what happens when everybody else is out there and so Yeah, I know it's it's a fair criticism. It's a fair question Interestingly enough, you know guys like I had questions about the power play Brock Besser we talked about him two years ago being one of the best net front guys

and I had the numbers to back it up. Like top four net front guy in the entire league. And a lot of that was on the power play. And a lot of that was his interplay with JT Miller, the way they worked off each other with screens and willing to go there and pay a price. I mean, you know, broke a finger on one of those JT Miller shots that hit him before he could get out of the way

and clear the short side. But without JT and with, I mean, Brock wasn't even the net front guy in the power play, right? So there are a lot of, there are a lot of questions. I think that style can work, but you have to have the right guys playing it with a tenacity that they failed to regularly achieve. I've talked about it all season. It's a really hard way to play. It's a demanding way to play. And to play it throughout 82, obviously they weren't able to. I do wonder though, I've talked about Besser, I'm trying to figure out without him, who else is doing

it, right? Like, at least two years ago, we saw that guy and he was deployed in a way where he could be that guy. I'm trying to figure out who becomes that guy. Like as bad as it was last year, there might be subtractions on guys that actually were able to do that, that had an ability to win battles in front of the net and deposit second chances. Maybe not at the clip he did two years ago, but certainly at a high end NHL level. I'm trying to picture what happens

with him gone too. There's a lot of questions and to me, it makes for a fascinating off season because I'm curious how they plug all these, much like the goalie conversation. I'm really curious to see which way they proceed. I don't have the answers, but it makes for fascinating discussions. Have you heard anything on the Demko front? Just in terms of his, I mean, he wants a contract extension and it sounds like the Canucks are open to chatting about it, at the very least, but Jim Rutherford also said, look, the risk is going to have to be shared here, but sometimes when you're a player of Thatcher Demko's caliber, even if you had had significant injuries, you're

like, I don't want to share the risk with anyone. I want what I think I'm worth. Yeah. And, and, but for him, the risk mitigation is, you know, another injury plague season and, and what does that contract look like coming out of it versus some security, if you can get a little bit of term and a higher number? At the end of the day, I guess it comes down to does he think he can get through a year healthy playing at the level he did two years ago?

In which case, you know, I've said it before, he vaults into the Swamen-Almark territory, right? And, you know, even Almark could never play, I think, 50 games before in a single season, got eight and a quarter, shorter term, but eight and a quarter. So that's kind of what, to me, I'm not sure either side is willing to assume enough risk or they're both willing to assume enough risk in terms of what that number looks like. It's really easy to say, I want to be back. It's really easy for them to say I want to be back. It's really easy for them to say we want him back. But at the end of the day, how far are they willing to go financially in term and how much of a haircut is he willing to take potentially on a shorter term, smaller deal to stay and have that security versus, you know, not that he would say it this way, but, you know, screw

you, I'll get through a year healthy and I'll get paid. So, and I don't know, I don't have that answer. And maybe they do find a middle ground. Because I do believe that their best chance as a team of succeeding next year is probably with a tandem of Lankin and in Demko and look at, like, look what happened to Audinger in the playoffs. Like, look at the comp, like forget the poll and the two goals and the Pete DeBoer typically, um, not the most goalie friendly guy, but they talked afterwards about it, maybe giving him a day off because he played so much and

he had a respiratory infection. Freddie Anderson had to get days off and like Stuart Skinner is in the Stanley cup final, but he had like two weeks off in a playoffs, right? Bob's the only one that goes tip to tail. So, and that's remarkable. Thirty five. But there's a lot of ups and downs in his game as well. As much as the narrative of playoff Bob exists. Yeah, he has some stinkers.

Yeah. Are we are we finally at the point? I don't know how you do it. And coaches that have to be even braver than they are now. But we're finally getting to the point where it's like, hey, we would never ask these guys to play 17 games in a row in the regular season. Why the hell are we doing it and expecting similar results in the playoffs?

And so which gets me back to you're much better off to have both. I just don't see how you keep both long term. But if there's a willingness to stay, say, on a three or four year deal at six, that's one of the numbers I heard guys like Greg Dollywall are way more plugged in on this than I am and that's one of the numbers I heard him throw out the other day like if that's the number

I don't think it gets it done because I think that you can't put see himself in a higher range but if it were to work and You're in it ten and a half eleven million dollars in goaltending with a cap going up and you can keep both guys fresh because they both show them that that's an issue when they play too much. That's a win. That's a potential for a huge win for this organization moving forward. I just don't know that they'll be able to get that done. Kev, always fun having you on, chatting about goalies and life.

Life. No, mostly goalies. We'll talk to you in a couple weeks, buddy. Thanks, guys. See you, pal. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Engel Magazine here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.