Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Are On A Mission

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they hear from Canucks GM Ryan Johnson on the hiring of head coach Manny Malhotra (3:00), plus the boys discuss an exciting game one of the Stanley Cup Final with Sportsnet NHL analyst Sean Reynolds (27:06). 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 Halford and Brough. Hurtle, into the doctor's assistant. It's back for Erdle. He scores Tomush, Colonel. Then it's 5'4, Vegas. This is an amazing opportunity for a coach that has the makeup and everything that I could want in a coach. The reports of my demise for retirement.

are greatly exaggerated. Oh, dear God, no. Good morning, Vancouver, 601. On a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brub. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming here live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adah, good morning to you. Gary's never coming on this show. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Bradford and Brub in the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates.

They're open seven days a week, and they're open late to help you get debt free. When no judgment or upfront fees, visiting today at Sands dash trustee.com. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to 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 the Middle 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. And we are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio.

Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech. If you want to text into the show today, the Dunbar Lumber Text line is 650, 660. $650 trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber Online today. All right. Let's get into our morning guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive brought to by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 6.30 this morning.

Sean Reynolds Sportsnet NHL reporter is going to join us live from Carolina at the Stanley Cup final. Vegas jumped out to a 1-0 series lead last night with a very entertaining 5-4 win over the canes. What did Sean see from game one? We will find out at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Frank Saravalli, our NHL insider from Victory Plus. He too is in Carolina for the Stanley Cup final. We'll talk to him about maybe all the business and news and rumblings from around the league yesterday. Gary Bettman's media availability, Chris McFarland, leaving Colorado for Nashville and everything else that's going on.

Frank is going to join us at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30, going to the National Football League, our NFL insider, Mike Tannier, from the 2D, Zone is going to join us. Just a ton of big NFL news this week. Headlined by the Miles Garrett to Los Angeles trade. Also, A.J. Brown to the Patriots. A lot of deals going down this week. We'll get into those and more with Mike Tannier at 730. Finally, 8 o'clock, Randy Janda, Kinnock's analyst on Sportsnet 650. You heard it in the intro yesterday. Connect's GM, Ryan Johnson, spoke after the hire of many Malhotra's head coach. Johnson spoke about his new bench boss, but also a lot of other

We can get into all those and more with Randeepe at 8 o'clock. So we got a big show ahead. We got four guests on the horizon. Without further ado, Laddie, to tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What? With all due respect to game one of the Stanley Cup final, which was a very good game, by the way. This is your home of the Cadocke Sports Night 650.

We're going to talk to show. at 630 about the Stanley Cup final. So let's start with Ryan Johnson's media availability yesterday. Following the hire of Maddie Malhotra's, the 23rd head coach in Vancouver Connect's franchise history. Okay. And the easiest question to start with is, and we can play some audio here, Laddie,

is just RJ on why Manny Malhotra? Well, I think very clearly Manny understood that the vision, how connected we want to be, as a staff and a group and that the support that he would have, I, I can't tell you that that was something that was new to him, um, walking into our discussions over the last few weeks. I mean, it's something that I think we all, we all having the opportunity to do this. We wanted to do it with the right people and make sure that we had, um, we know how tough this is going to be. We know

there's going to be some hard days. I think maybe because you guys see that there's a connection between, you know, Daniel and Henrik and myself and Manny that, hey, you know, a bunch of just some buddies getting together to do. That's not the case here. This is more of a mission, something that we see an amazing opportunity to, to change a franchise, to build it the right way, to get it sustainable. And I think just it would be was Manny looking for and it was a matter of time and he and I've discussed it over the last few years of

I felt when I when I bring in somebody especially at the American League level, it's on me a little bit to prepare them for their next opportunity, whether it's with us or with another team. I take a lot of ownership in making sure that I put them in the next best place. place moving forward. I really felt, and I didn't have to sell many on this. Our discussions have led to this naturally, but I really feel this is an amazing opportunity for a coach that has the makeup and everything that I could want in a coach that's going to start the process into this rebuild and working with players and growing to where we want to go. So I love that he called it a mission. Yeah. He was like, we're on a mission from GAD.

Blues Brothers reference. That's another timely reference. Brough caught that one right away yesterday. I think these guys are really motivated at the opportunity, and you use that word as well, to turn the Canucks around the right way. I think they hate what's happened to the team. I just hope they get all the support they need in terms of resources

because I don't want that to be a hindering. I don't want that to be an excuse. These guys are passionate about the franchise. And I really value that as a fan after some of the guys we've seen parachute into this market without a real appreciation for it. And in some cases, not even taking the time to try and appreciate the market. They just came in there. They told us what we wanted. It wasn't what we wanted.

but they told us this is what you're going to get and you like it and we're like, I don't know, I don't know if we do like it. In fact, we hate it. You know, okay, this is an interesting conversation because, you know, looking at it like in retrospect, I did and still kind of am glad that they went through the exercise

of getting someone that was completely disconnected from Vancouver. Because you always wonder, like, what's it going to be like? And maybe, maybe it was the, idea, like, it was pure. Get someone that's not, oh, hi, people are bringing in fans. Get someone that's, you know, not

sort of all that familiar with the history and the sad club and the losing culture and everything. And it comes in with a fresh set of eyes and outside ideas, outside perspectives. And that's what I think Rutherford and Alvin were. Now, here's the important part. Supposed to be. Yeah. That's what they were

supposed to be. The theory and the idea was great. The execution was poor. because I think you brought up an important part here. There was never a sense of real appreciation for the market. You could come in as an outsider. 100% be like, you know what, I'm new here. You know, it's like going into someone's house or going to a new job anywhere.

You know, I want to respect the traditions and the cultures of this place. And I want to learn them. And that kind of goes hand in hand with appreciation. It always felt, always felt like Alvin and Rutherford. and Rutherford especially just wanted things to be like the way they were in Pittsburgh Yeah You heard that a lot in the organization on the business side too

Right and that we didn't do it in Pittsburgh this way And that's a fatal law I was like oh yeah do you get involved in the community in Pittsburgh Because we used to do that in Vancouver You know that's a good point Sidney Crosby play here by chance Is that a thing Because I've thought about it for a while

It's like why was I so Sort of energized when they brought the guys aboard And I'm like well You know Rutherford's got a Hall of Fame Career is a builder and they've won Stanley Cups elsewhere, and I was also invigorated by the fact that they were from the outside looking in, taking that, you know, 10,000 foot view. But man, did it go wrong? Okay. Can I just say also that I love the way that RJ, even though he's a very soft-spoken guy and a very thoughtful

guy, is just carving the hell out of the last regime. He is, if you're listening. And if you're, and if you're paying attention to everything that he's saying. Okay. Okay. So here's, we talked yesterday about, okay, what are the goals going to be? How do you define success in this rebuild under Manny Malhotra? What is Manny Malhotra? What are his objectives going to be?

Because, you know, it's not going to be the playoffs, right? Although previous administrations would have just said, well, we were trying to make the playoffs. and that would be another lack of appreciation for the market because you should be like, no, no. Probably not going to happen. No, build something long-term and stable here. Here's Ryan Johnson on the goals and objectives for Manny Mahhotra. Well, it's very clear.

I want him to implement what I know he does well and that structure within a game in three zones, absolute certainty from players what's expected of them, the structure that they're going to play in. And then, as I've said, it's not the 7 p.m. on Friday nights. It's the 8 a.m. on Monday and the focus and attention on that. Manny and I both feel extremely strong about that and that the games become easy. we're going to ask, you know, these players to get uncomfortable at the ADMs.

And that, the wins and losses or all that other stuff will take care of itself. But as our, as are the judge that not just on Manny but on myself will be the ability to get the players that are here, to understand that and deliver it. And the players that don't will make it very clear that they're, they're not interested to be here and we will bring in players that we know are ready to change that first and then we eventually we will have the patience within the wins and losses but with the structure how we're going to treat each other and then the competitiveness that we will expect at 8 a.m. that will bleed into the to the 7 p.ms and slowly in time the results will come

So that does not That does not sound like a guy who's been impressed With what he's seen from certain players And frankly last year's coaching staff At all Yep He's like we'd like the players to know What's going on on the ice

It's a big plus It totally helps We're gonna try some of the radical And we're going to put a system in place For the players to actually play hockey And then we're going to explain that to them Yeah I mean bruff's hit on

Clearly and concisely We're going to give it a whirl Brett's hit on a very important part of this and that in a very understated and methodical way Johnson has subtly picked apart almost everything that he saw wrong about especially last year

and that is at all levels and trunches of the organization. Managerial coaching and then the room and the attitude in the culture of the players. Yeah. I wonder if Rutherford's kind of was like wasn't I recommending Ryan Johnson? I mean, it was kind of carving everything I was doing.

Should have taken door down. I take everything back. So one of the things that was looking like it could be a thing when Jim Rutherford was still here was Philip Hironik, the new captain. And Rutherford didn't shy away from saying a lot of nice things about Philiperonic and even saying like, yeah, I think he could be the captain. That was kind of another thing that maybe a disconnect in the market. I don't think, I don't think there are many people that were fans of the Canucks that were like clamoring for Philip Horonick

to be the captain. Like I, I like Philip Peronik. He's a really good player and he works hard. I think he's got a pretty good attitude. But like, don't you want it to be something more like, yeah, that's our guy, for sure. Like that's our guy. That's our captain.

Yep. And it's kind of like, it's not Heronic. And maybe it's not Heronix's fault because he's representative of, you know, a regime that, I mean, even the acquisition of Philip Peronick, a lot of people are like, you know, come on. Like, it's not the right time to do something like that, to do a deal like that. And then Heronica came in and not that we don't blame him for not wanting to talk to the media. I don't want to talk to many of those guys either, but like he didn't talk to the media. and he didn't put himself out there for fans.

Like he didn't. And that's fine. That's his right. Not everyone likes to do public speaking and do that sort of thing. But now he's going to be the captain. Like Philip eronic? Like what connection does he have to the fan base? And people say, well, it doesn't matter if he has a connection to the teammates.

That's all that matters. No, it does matter. It does matter. That's what we want. We want it all. And we deserve it all as fans. you want your captain to be a really good player you want him to be a great teammate

and you want him to be involved in the community of a connection with the fans I'm sorry but why should we want why should we deserve anything less than that yeah I don't know and there's not a why should the team deserve any less I don't think there's a rush to name one

I never understood other than I think Rutherford kept using it as a tool to explain why Horonick was going to stick around it's like well he's the next captain of the team can't trade that guy and I think that they were resolute in that I think that's why that they kept

I think that's why the idea got floated really was it was just validation that they were going to keep them around yeah other than that this team doesn't need a captain right now the part you brought up about the naming of a new captain having a sense of importance and accomplishment and it being

a moment is a really important thing it shouldn't just be well you're the best option we got lying around it should be you've earned this it's obvious we don't have to talk ourselves into this, everybody knows. We should play the audio now. This is Ryan Johnson on the captaincy from yesterday

following the hire of Mani Malhotra as the head coach. I can just say through through my time in managing teams, I am firm believer that the captain presents itself. The captain it eventually rises to the surface where you just don't

have a choice. It is It's in your gut. It's in everybody can feel it. I don't like forcing that position on something, someone that might change the dynamic of your team or it might change that player when it's not that obvious or that accepted by the group. I've seen it in my time as a player, as a GM and the HL. I've been very strategic even about assistant captains. And I don't think those are things.

you just hand around. I think they're earned. Obviously myself and a coach are coming in here with kind of a clean slate. Daniel and Henrik, same way. Nothing is just going to be assumed at, oh, you know, these guys have this person's had one where he was here. He should have one. I mean, that's something that we'll go through the initial parts of training camp and make some decisions on people that we think are here and that are able to deliver the environment that we intend to build. So the most interesting part of that

was about the assistant captains and the A's. Why is that, Jason? When he talked about you don't just get one. You actually have to earn it and, you know, be a leader. So who's got A's right now on the team, Jason? Well, was Besser, Heronik, and Elias Pedersen. also J.T. Miller and Tyler Myers also had them in the last two years.

Of course, they are no longer with the team. And the guy wearing the C, Quinn Hughes, also no longer with the team. So the guy is... Pedersen's the obvious one that we're going to talk about here. Yep. Right? I mean... He's the only guy remaining that's worn in A over the last two seasons. Yeah, and he's just kind of... And he was never referenced as a leader by anyone on the team. When anyone talked about, you know, who were some of the guys that are leading the group? Besser would get talked about for sure.

Horonica would get talked about. And, you know, like J.T. and Tyler Myers, like, they did get talked about. They should have been wearing A's. And Quinn Hughes, you know, I don't know. You should have been at least wearing an A. You know, I know, I know if there's debate about whether or not he was a good captain or not, whatever. Let's move past that. I'm going to be real curious.

If Elias Pedersen is on the team, come training. camp are they going to have a letter on him and uh ryan johnson had some very interesting things to say about his conversation with alias peterson and we'll play that audio here because there is a lot to unpack from this conversation with peterson and i want you i know i want to ask a question before we play this audio okay okay Do you think it would almost be a relief for Pedersen if he didn't have to wear an A? I have wondered this.

I have wondered if, so he's had one for the last four years. He got at the start of the 2022, 2022, 2023 season, right? Always seemed forced. Yeah, like it was almost like one of those things where you say, well, this is the next phase, the next passage, you know? Like one of those rights of passage that everybody goes through, regardless of whether you actually wanted it or not. Now, in life, some of those are, you know,

foisted upon you and you accept them because that's how things work. But in hockey, and in this instance especially, it always felt, as you said, like, hey, the contract forced upon you. The A forced upon you. The leadership role. Yeah. The pressure, the responsibility, all of it forced.

So think about all this when you listen to this. I had a great conversation with PD. I really enjoyed being able to just talk to very openly and honestly speak to him about my feelings about his process and some of the adversity and some of the challenges. And there's a lot of them based on the time he's been here. But I wanted to hear him speak. I wanted him to be able to speak without judgment that he knew I was there to listen and to not judge or allowing him

just to speak open freely. And I think the biggest thing, whatever happens here moving forward, is it just wanted him to know that I was very comfortable with him just being himself. I told him whatever communication I'm not going to ask him or put an expectation on him to be something other than he isn't, and that that's okay, and that he and I can work together in any capacity,

and we may ask things of him, but we're not going to ask him to do it outside of really who he feels the core of what he is. And I thought that was very good to establish early. I enjoyed our conversation. It was pleasant and very informational, I think, for both. of us and excited just to move forward. But I thought it was a great, you know, 20 minutes, half hour of just being able to talk without expect to, I need you to be this, I need you to be that. It wasn't that. It was more of, you know, what he could understand of how I manage, how I would communicate and how I intend to treat people in general. there is a lot to unpack there

and it just makes me wonder if at some point PD just went shut down mode emotionally emotions turned off power down remember that he was pressured into signing that contract by management

and that was probably unpleasant at times he had JT Miller and possibly other teammates yelling at him bullying him he had a coach who lost belief in him who didn't like or respect the way he played he had the yips with the puck on a stick the media was all over him the fans were all over him and i think the harder everything got it was like the walls started closing in the more he just seemed to withdraw and frankly become indifferent to his work you know people ask like why doesn't he work harder maybe it's that you know we're we're males here we we love a good emotional shutdown when things are going hard right favorite things to do yeah you know 30 wives or girlfriends listening to this show maybe one or two

they're like yeah i know i know i know when guys emotionally shut down he's doing it they're really they're really really good at it um and when he did kind of withdraw and become indifferent and we also saw his interviews you're like dude why are you so different. That made it worse because then he got ripped for it. Or maybe it was just tendonitis. I don't know. Maybe it was either that, that massive psychological diagnosis from sports radio host,

or was the tendonitis. So one or the other. Like, you never know, right? You never know. Maybe it was spite. He's like, fine, you don't like me? Well, I'm just not going to try anymore. Massive emotional trauma or my knee hurts.

Who knows? Are you guys good? Do you guys ever do you ever do the emotional? emotional shutdown. Oh, yeah. I'm doing it right now. Like working with me. Yeah. It was just like, you, okay, fine. When Brough calls you insulin on the air, and then you're like, me, you know.

All right, we got a lot more to get into on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Still a ton of connect stuff on the horizon, but also we got to recap game one of the Stanley Cup final. Thankfully, we got Sean Reynolds coming up next. Sportsnet NHL reporter. He's live on the scene in Raleigh. He's on our television studio right now. he's going to join us after Vegas jumped out to a 1-0 series lead last night. The very entertaining 5-4 win over the Cains. Sean Reynolds from Carolina joins us next on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650.

It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. Hurtle persist. Back to Hurdle. It scores. It's Thomas. Hurdle with a go-ahead duel.

324. 631 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brub, Sporthen, Brubb of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. They're ready to give you the financial fresh start you deserve. With no judgment or upfront fees, visit them today at sands dash trustee.com.

Big development here at Halbroe Central in the Sportsnet 650 studios, the Kintech Studios. fan everybody. Not someone that likes the show. There's none of those. None of those. An actual fan. Because it is very hot in this studio. We had Daniel Sedin

in studio a couple weeks ago shortly after he was named co-president of Hockeyops. And the first thing he said when he got in after being named co-president of Hockeyops is, why is it so hot in here? It's the Vancouver weather. He was right to have. It's so hot outside. But it was not even that hot outside prior.

Well, the first thing he said after he looked at you was, but then he went. He saw him rough on the chair. That was the first thing he saw. He was a part of melting into that chair. I was like, well, it's pretty warm here. That was a terrific hockey game last night. It was awesome.

5-4 Vegas steals home ice in game one. Before we get to Sean Reynolds. That was the game that everyone predicted, right? I thought you said it was going to be boring. It was going to be a wild if everyone did. Shockingly, we were wrong. Yeah. It happens from time to time more often than you think.

We are at our one of the program, by the way. Sean Reynolds is going to join us. just a moment here. 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 Pall Street in Vancouver. To the Able Auctions Hotline, we go. Our next guest joins us live from Carolina.

At Stanley Cup final, Sean Reynolds, SportsNet's very own here on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Sean, how are you? Doing great, guys. How are you? We are well. Did the energy and excitement levels in the building last night match? what we were seeing. I don't want to say it was completely by surprise, but I was pretty taken aback at how much offense there was,

how wide open it was at times. And, you know, for a series that I thought was going to be boring, how exciting that one was Vegas wins 5'4 on a late Thomas hurdle goal. Well, first to the atmosphere, I have to say, I've been pretty impressed whenever I roll to Carolina at how good of a job the fan base does here, right? Like, this is another one of these, you know, and usually when you see now,

Nashville a couple years ago when things got great with them. And then even the last couple of years, well, with Vegas and teams like Florida, you know, you've got this idea that Southern hockey doesn't really have like a great fan base and they only show up when the Times are goodness. I mean, there's a little bit of that to everywhere. But every time I've come rolling through Carolina, I was on the Ovechkin watch last year when he was going to break that goal scoring record and they came rolling through here. This fan base does a pretty darn good job.

It's a pack building. They're invested. They know what's going on. I got to explain to me last night one of the reasons why they boo Anton, and then when he comes to town, but they don't boo Marner. Even, you know, they were kind of spurned by both in those trades last year. But great atmosphere there and then just like specifically to the game. I guess, you know, you're thinking it's just going to be this defensive affair

and it may resort to that or may revert back to that. but I think what's happening and what you may see in this series is two teams that just refuse to be held down, right? Like the Montreal Canadians, Carolina ended up finding a way to just limit them. And it's almost like Montreal kind of let it happen. You know what I mean? These are just two teams that just aren't going to be held down. They're not going to be held off the score sheet. So you're just not able to apply that defensive pressure to that team and just,

have them wither under it against these two teams, which I think at least explains what happened in game one. You've also got a pretty veteran side in Vegas and a veteran head coach and John Tortorella. And I'm sure that helped them when they fell down to nothing in that game. And the arena was going crazy. And then, you know, you kind of blinked in Vegas. It actually taken the lead not too long after that.

What did you think about some of the performances from the Vegas players? Well, you're describing like the game three from the Western Conference vibes that we saw there, right? Like they went down 3-0 against Colorado. Now you're like, oh, okay, here comes Colorado. They're back in the series. The worm has turned. And then you just see that Vegas doesn't break underneath that. And what you're seeing is a group of guys that just have like, you know, Thomas Hurdle's on the third line.

You know what I mean? Like he was San Jose's best player before they moved him along. And there's just so much depth on this team. And because of that, there's so much reason to believe that, well, if Jack Eichel and his line doesn't get it done, then we're going to move on to Mark Stone. And then if he doesn't get it done, we're going to move on to Thomas Hurdle. And then last night they had, you know, a fourth line goal in like a really underrated player. I think at this time of year, you know, Keegan Coles are right in front of the bet.

And then the defense do what they do and Carter Hart's doing what they're doing. Like, there's no reason for this team not to believe because even when they get down, the way things have gone with Carter Hart is what he's. quite often gives you that next save and you just you never have that feeling that I think probably Edmonton had the last number of years where geez we're in trouble if macdavit or dry title doesn't get out and do this that it's not happening whereas in you know if you're jack ickel you get to leave the ice and be like well i think mark stone's probably got this and or Thomas hurdles got this or the fourth line i'll pull something off or quentin howden will be the best score on our team this time right

And I do think that to a degree, it doesn't bode well for Carolina because coming into this series, Carolina's whole thing is they pressure you until you crack. And you take a look at that veteran Vegas team, they are not going to crack easy. So, I mean, we're just starting a rebuild here in Vancouver. And the Canucks don't have any difference makers or depth. You know, they have depth of non-difference makers, but they don't have. have, they don't have depth. And I, and I think both these teams, I mean, you make a great point about Vegas's depth.

And, and, but Carolina has it too. I mean, Nicolai Eilers, I know Rod Briddemor doesn't like to number his lines, but, you know, he's a third liner with Jordan Stahl and Jordan Martinuk. And Jordan Stahl scored a big goal. Nikolai Eilers scored two goals yesterday. My question for you is, you know, yeah, the depth is good for Carolina. about when is Sebastian Aho going to make himself known, not in this series, but in these playoffs? Yeah, great question.

Yesterday, or sorry, after the game, John Tortorello was asked about Tomash Hurdle and how he said when he'd showed up, and really it's what, eight games left in the season or something like that, he'd walked in, he'd saw that hurdle was struggling, he wasn't scoring, he was watching the game tape, and he's seeing you, well, he's doing a lot of the things that a hockey player should do, but he's also, there are things he's not doing offensively.

And his response is, we have time. We have to, you know, he talked to Thomas Hirtle and he's like, we have time to get this going, but not a lot. Like, at some point, you're going to have to get going here. And then you see the response to that, and the player finally wakes up, I think he's gone 29 games without a goal or something like that. Now, all of a sudden he started scoring again and he gets, you know, the game winner in this one.

That's the importance of having that guy finally getting over the hump and being able to contribute. Before game one, Rod Brindamore was talking about Aho and that line. And his response was essentially like these guys do have to get going. Like they need to.

And so to me, the calls already happened. You know, they love to crank the siren there, right? You know, before the games for the hurricane, it's kind of like the old tornado call or whatever. Emergency. You've got to prepare. You've got to get ready here. Like the siren has been,

sounded for that line. They need to check in. The team is lucky they've got to this point. Or to your point, their depth has done an amazing job of carrying this team to this point. You just get the sense against this Vegas team that has everybody going up and down the lineup that those guys aren't going to be able to be passengers any longer. They need to step up. And I mean, I was watching that game last night. You know, Seth Jarvis, I thought, had a little bit of a rough game. I get it. He's a younger player. It's a big moment, you know, I give him a pass. He's got to get going, though, for that team in game two, for sure, by game three.

But Aho and that, you know, Spetsnikov, those type of players, if they don't check into this series, I don't like the way it's going to go for them. Has anyone come up with a reasonable explanation as to why that line has just gone completely cold? Because there's been, they're in different opponents. It's not like they've been hard matched. It's not like the teams had issues putting the puck in the back and the net across the board. Seth Jarvis has played in some big games.

Like, he's young, but he's played in. some of the biggest games you can play in. Their ice time hasn't been decreased or diminished. They finished last night collectively, the three, with no points and just six combined shots on goal. Does anyone have a theory for this? I don't have, I haven't watched them enough. I mean, I did watch them last round.

I've seen them. I know a lot about what drives this team. I haven't seen them enough to know the specific intricacies of their game. Like I've seen Nick Eilers play a lot from his time in Winnipeg. So when I see him play, I can tell you what's going with his game, not going with his game. But what I saw last night, as I was like looking at that line and I was thinking, you know, not just say need those guys to get going, but I didn't like the way that they

were playing on the ice. You know, Sebastian and Hauer gets the puck once. I mean, he looks like he's going to turn it up ice, but it looked kind of casual to me. And then he had the puck strip and it was a chance going the other way. Brett Howden had a great line last night where he said, I just, I like, I like the difficulty of this. Like, why does Brett Howden turn into, you know, a postseason scoring God? Well,

he's craving this. You know, the line I used last night was like, you know, some people are comfortable in discomfort. Brett Howden seems to crave discomfort, right? And so that means when it gets to be the hardest time of the year, that player doesn't

just like that. He's not squeezing the stick. He's not, you know, worried about it. This is what I'm here for, right? It doesn't look with that mind like that's what they're there for. You get certain players that like wide open ice and they operate really well in wide open ice and and what I'm seeing right now are players that that don't crave the difficulty of the situation. This is really hard. They're getting checked. You know, it's tight. They don't get to move the puck around. They don't get to get up to speed

easily. And, you know, for me, it's a mindset of these guys at some point are going to have to get to the idea that this is going to be really hard. And they, need to accept that and they need to kind of find a way to enjoy it or they're not going to get to where they want to go. We're speaking to Sports Nets, Sean Reynolds, live from the Stanley Cup final in Carolina here on the

Halford & Breft Show on Sports Net 650. Sean, what did you think of the collective goaltending last night in game one of the Stanley Cup final? Yeah, it's funny to suggest that, you know, Carter Hart did a good job

when the game started out and, you know, a couple of goals in the back of the net before they even get started. I thought he righted the ship at some point. And if you're a team like Vegas, you get the luxury of being that goaltender. Like it's not back because I always think, you know, the ultimate series was Jean-Sebastian Gigare.

And you guys saw that way back the year after the Canucks lost to Minnesota. And then they went on to play the Ducks and everyone thought that Minnesota was going to destroy the Ducks. I think they had one goal that entire series. Like Jean-Sabastian Zaguerre back then, you just couldn't let in goals. You couldn't have off shots, right? Well,

Carter Hart gets to have, you know, oh, I didn't quite wake up at the beginning of that game. He still gets to be the guy who at some point figures it out in the game and then stops letting pucks in. And now, you know, you get to win because your team will go get things going for you. I thought Freddie Anderson looked a little stationary. Like I had someone suggest to me last night. the kind of goaltender who likes to really, you know, be in his, in his box. Like this is, you know, I do the padstack here. I do this there. I do that there.

And I had a goaltending coach at one time suggest to me, like, great goaltenders. Like every goaltender basically is a butterfly goaltender now, and they're in their box. And that box allows them to stop 80 to 85% of the shots that they face. But the truly good goaltenders are the ones that know when to abandon that box and go Dominic Hachach and dive across the crease, make that save here and there. And it's the instinct of those goalies to stick with their structure as long as they possibly can and have that knee-jerker reaction of the structure is not working in this situation. I need to bail out of it.

Freddie looked like a guy to me last night that was not quite on that knee-jerk reaction. He wasn't like jumping out of the system to go make those saves. So, I mean, I think there's definitely more that he can provide. And, you know, probably Carter Hart as well. But, you know, for a game that was as high scoring as that was, I don't pin much of it on the goalies. There's a beautiful goal by Vegas, the game where I mean, great movement off the puck, great passing, great finish.

Yeah, I mean, it was the goal that I think that game deserved to win the game. Look, Sean, you mentioned Eilers and I know we've been having so much conversation across this country about Mitch Marner. and what are people in Toronto saying about Mitch Marner nearly winning Stanley Cup? I want to ask you as a Winnipeg guy, what are people in Winnipeg saying about Nick Eilers? Because the Jets have kind of taken a back seat

in terms of, you know, teams that people are talking about. I think a lot of people are talking about Vancouver because they just cleared house and they're going through a rebuild. You know, but Winnipeg had a really, really disappointing year. and now everyone's seeing Nick Eelers doing what he's doing in the playoffs. I mean, what's the reaction back there? Oh, it was on fire last night because this is one of those things that a lot of fans in Winnipeg saw coming.

So there's like there's a prioritization that happens in Winnipeg, right? Like Mark Schifley and Kyle Connor, you know, back to the days of Blake Wheeler, those guys get all the opportunities. And it's this big thing in Winnipeg that there's a certain segment of the fan base that are like just split up Schifely and Connor already, which is kind of crazy to think because, you know, together those guys do amazing things. Mark Schifley has a 33-year-old broke out with a hundred point season this last year. You wouldn't think that there's a fan base clamoring to see those guys split up, but there is. And the roots of that come to the idea that, you know, Nick Eilers was in the Jets top sixers. the better part of a decade. And at one point, Kyle Conner got injured and he moved up,

Ely was moved up on the line with Mark Schifley and absolutely tore it up. And I was talking with him in the dress room one day. And I'd said, hey, how come I don't remember how well you play with Mark Schapling? He said, because I've never played with him before. That's insane to think that that skill of a winger was in the top six of a team for almost a decade and had almost never played with the number one center. But if you want to know why Nick Elyler's left, that was it. Nick Eelers had been capped. There was not going to be more opportunities for him.

He probably didn't get the opportunities that he'd earn. He's probably a player that was a lot better than we, than most people even thought that he was because he just did not get those opportunities. And what you're seeing here in Carolina is that player getting those opportunities. So he has a 71 point season this year, even though he stumbled out of the gates trying to get in, you know, figure things out with his new team. He's, you know, very likely a point per game player. He probably has been a point for game player given the opportunity for eight years or so.

And so for me, what's interesting here is I know Nick really well. I know his game really well. And I feel like I'm seeing the rest of the league and fans from across the league be like, oh, my God, this Nick Elers is better than I thought he was. here's the problem. Nick Eelers has always been that good. He's just never been given the opportunity to show it. It's why he left the Winnipeg. And it's why Winnipeg Jets Twitter was on fire last night because everyone is pointing and saying, see, this is what we said was there all the time. And the team did not do the things it needed to do to elicit that. And that is a very, very valid criticism. It's a very true statement. How hard is it going to be to improve the Jets this off season? Do they have any young guys coming?

Is there anyone in the system that can, because they haven't drafted much over the last few years? Well, they have, but the drafting, they have sent out the door more draft picks. I forget what the time span is, but like, let's say it's like the last eight years, they've sent away more picks than any other team. There, it's hard to see it because we look at teams like Vegas and think like, oh, these guys are going all in. the future is now.

The Jets did that. It just doesn't feel like they've done it because you didn't see much of a payoff for it. But the cupboards are fairly bare. They don't have a lot going on there. And I always say this. You want to know what happened to the Jets last year? Well, it's obvious they let a lot of speed go and they got older. They brought older guys in.

And then all of a sudden the team that was designed to be in your face and cramming the puck down your throat, similar to what we see from Carolina, just couldn't do that anymore. they were suddenly slower. Losing Nick Eilers is 40% of the problem. Like when people say to me, like what happens to the Winnipeg Jets? Well, losing Nikolai Eilers, he hid the fact that they didn't have offensive depth for years because he could just play with anyone and elevate. So they didn't have a second line center for a lot of the time.

But they picked up Vladislav Mn Minesma Kov to be a fourth liner, and he ended up being Nick Euler's center last year, right? So is it easy to feel? not at all. To me, they're four or five players away suddenly, and they let, you know, three of them go kind of for nothing last year. And it's not easy to get people to come to Winnipeg, right? So you're talking about years and years of meticulously curated players, right? Like a Nino Nider who's picked up for, I think, a second rounder at some point, he comes in. And at the time, it doesn't seem like a big deal. But the Winnipeg Jets are really good at identifying exactly

what they need and having that guy in there. They swung and missed. You know, they went cold and swung and missed on about five players last year. Didn't work out. It's not going to be easy to replace that. And the tricky part, you talked about it, they don't have a lot coming up in the pipe. And yet Mark Shreifley is 33, Adam Lowry, 33. Connor Hullabuck is 33.

Their window is really, really tight here. They don't really have a lot of the resources to go out and make traits to bring guys in right now. So they're stuck in between. because the time is now for that core. And so if you're going to believe in that core, you need to invest in them right now. Even if you do, I don't think there's anything about that core that says they're a championship team in waiting.

They've been around for how long. So you're in one of these situations where the jets that have decisions to make right now. It looks like they're going to try and go all in on this team. And when that window closes, they're going to have no resources coming up behind that and it could potentially lead to some dark years in the Winnipeg. They've got a tough job ahead

of them. Hey, I know we've got to let you go more up against for time, but when you were answering that, I just thought of something as it pertains to the future. What's going on with Shane Donan in a managerial role in Winnipeg? Oh, guys, I've been on the road a lot, so I'm actually not sleeping on that one, but I haven't been, I've been more focused

on, you know, the last year after the playoffs there, but I'll tell you this, the Jets, the Jets, one of the most important things for them and that happened years ago, but was to connect Jets 2.0. and Jets 1.0. And so they do a really good job of honoring their former players and bringing them in.

They thought that that was important. I think that organized, you know, one of the things when Chicago revitalized after a lot of bad years, and then that led to the Tain and Tays years was they really reconnected with their alumni. The Jets have done a really good job of that. So the idea of the Jets grabbing a guy who was a former jet, I think he was their last first round pick before they left and went to, to Phoenix, and we all saw what he did there. I think they love the idea having a smart hockey man who has jet's roots coming back in and doing something.

They love the idea of it. So I think it looks to me like it would be a marriage made in heaven if that ends up happening. Game two, the Stanley Cup final goes tomorrow night from Carolina. Sean, thanks a lot for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tomorrow, bud. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me.

Yeah, thank you. That's Sean Reynolds, Sportsnet, NHL. reporter here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. We're actually going to have Jim Tooth from Winnipeg on later in the week because I... Just setting this table there for that, you know? I saw, I saw them discussing, should the Jets go after Elias Pedersen? I was like, oh, Shane Dones's first order of business in Winnipeg. Let's go get EP40.

The other funny thing about, I know this is turning into like hardcore Winnipeg talk here, but whatever. What about the bombers? Yeah. I did not realize that of all the NHL teams, Winnipeg has the most skeleton staff. I think of all 32 NHL clubs, they barely have anybody in their front office. Yeah, Kevin Sheldiav is also the janitor.

He does everything. He does it all. He scans the tickets on his phone at the door. He does everything. And he's like, what's in your bag? Honestly, I'm not joking. Refills the vending machines. I think there's like six people that make up their front office.

it's super small. Yeah. They have two people that run like pro and amateur scouting. One's the pro, one's the amateur. I think I might be overstating it, but the idea, the only reason I brought up. Dix look dire there, man.

Yeah. They look real dire. And bringing back Jonathan Taves was, you know, everyone loved it at the time because going back to Manitoba. Yeah. But that was not a good decision on the ice.

Okay. We got a lot more to get into on the Halford and Breft show on Sports Net. speaking of the Halford and Brough show, the Duick Auto Group is the official automotive sponsor of Halbro. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal and why nobody has since 1926. Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown, visit them in Richmond and visit them online to the Duick Auto Group. com.

Coming up at 7 o'clock, Frank Saravalli is going to join the program. Also live from the Stanley Cup final in Carolina. But we'll do more league business with Frank. We can also talk about Gary Bettman's state of the media, State of the Union address yesterday to the media. That's at 7 o'clock. 7.30. Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the two deep zone is going to join us. We got a lot of big NFL trades that happened this week to get into, including Miles Garrett to the Rams and A.J.

Brown to the Patriots. That's all coming up in the second hour of the program. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.