Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Get Their Coach

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the Canucks announcing the hire of head coach Manny Malhotra (3:00), plus they preview today's Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (29:12).  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. That feels like for eight years we've been talking about getting this chance. So we're finally here and, you know, obviously we want to make the most of it. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is SportsNet 650.

We are coming live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Mount Pleasant. Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Hey, dog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Are you drowning in tax debt if you are? Sands and Associates can often reduce your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they were

cycle you get paid, visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We're coming to live from the Kintech studio. Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech. If you want to text in to the show today, maybe you've got an opinion. A new head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. The Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650, trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar,

number online today. Guestless today. It's a Duke morning drive. Brought you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 630. Greg Wasinski, our ESPN, NHL, Insider. He's going to join the program. Tonight, 5 o'clock, everybody. The Stanley Cup final begins. The Vegas Golden Knights are in Carolina to take on the canes in game one.

Greg is on the scene in Raleigh, including yesterday's Media Day, to give us all the biggest stories from the Cup final. Greg will join us at 6.30 this morning. 7 o'clock, Brendan Batchelor, Play-by-Playboy voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on SportsNet 650. The Canucks made it official last night. Mani Malhotra has been named the 23rd head coach in franchise history. So this transformative offseason now has a near complete overhaul of decision makers in almost

all of the highest and most important roles. What about the analytics group? What about the scouting department? No, we'll talk to Batch about the hire of Manny Malhotra, maybe who he will fill out of staff with. that's coming up at 7 o'clock 730 dwayne vano is going to join the program president of your bc lions big times for the lions off the field right now the major meteorites deal that we talked about last week major upgrades to the practice facility in surrey dwayne vano president of the bc lions is going to join us at 730 8 o'clock paul runnels is going to join the program he is the director of talent and productions

for the upcoming FIFA fan fest, Jason. That, of course, will begin Friday, June 11th, coincides with the start of the World Cup. We'll talk to Paul about what to expect from the fan fest. Are there any good tickets available for this thing? How much are they? Paul's going to join us at 8 a.m. for this event that, quite frankly, we don't know a lot about,

and we actually talked about, we'll give you a little peek behind the curtain here. Although we've kind of made fun of the fact that the tickets are wildly expensive to watch a soccer game and there's a lot of good tickets still available. We just want to get on more of a fact-finding mission as opposed to, say, last Friday's interview with Rick Dollywall that was very confrontational.

We booked him to get free tickets. Paul, do you have any tickets? Paul's going to join us at 8 a.m. So we got a lot to get into them. Do you have any tickets because I can't afford to go to the fan fest? And failing that, do you have any money I could borrow? We can ask them all these questions at 8 a.m. Okay, we got a lot to get into on the program.

Well, don't further ado. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happens. happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was, we know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? Whoa. We begin right here in Vancouver at approximately 8 p.m. last night. Another major development in what I mentioned has been a very transformative offseason for the Vancouver Canucks.

Another Vancouver Canucks player promoted to a major role of prominence. Mani Mel Hocher becomes the 23rd head coach in franchise history announced by his good bunny, good bunny, good buddy, good bunny, good bunny, bad bunny. Bad bunny. Wait, good buddy, Ryan Johnson, who made the announcement last night. Mani is in as the 23rd head coach in franchise history. Yeah, and after relatively little consternation, all things considered in this particular hockey market, the Vancouver Canucks did get their man yesterday.

you think about how long it's been since we all knew that the Kinnucks were targeting in on Malhotra certainly over a week, maybe almost two weeks. It's funny last week. We set Wednesday as the panic deadline

for what's going on with Malhotra, but there was no real panic. Pat yourself on the back. You showed great restraint there. But you know what I think a lot of it was? We didn't have anything else to panic about because no other names leaked. It's true.

You know, like it was, we just kept hearing, yeah, they're talking. They're talking to Mani Mahotra. You might have heard a few like, yeah, they, they've reached out to some like backup guys. But this is a move that's been largely expected since Ryan Johnson was named general manager along with co-presidents Daniel and Henrik Sedeen. and the quote from Ryan Johnson in the press release Mani and I have been in the battle together before so I know firsthand what a good teacher, leader,

and quality person and he is. Johnson loves those quotes where it's like, we've bled together, we've been in the battle together. Yeah, it's very descriptive. Yeah, it's like, yeah, we went, we saw some stuff together. Feels like a guy that watched Bandit Brothers a few times. Yeah.

He went on connection, consistency. and putting in place the proper foundation will be key for our group moving forward. We both believe that pressure is a privilege and learning to become a good pro takes patience, dedication, and a be better than yesterday mindset. The Connects first announced the move to season ticket holders

in a message that reiterated the team's newfound focus on connection, community, culture and consistency. I don't know if anyone has noticed, but basically anything good that starts with a C, the Canucks are rallying around. I would like to suggest camaraderie. That's a good one.

I will also accept collaboration, communication, creativity, and commitment. Chocolate? Coupon. Chocolate? A coupon? Camel. You're just coming.

up with words though that start with C. It has to be... Choir. Quire. Quire. A lot of... A lot of people thinks that starts with a cue. Crow. Okay. Cat. Gotcha. So there are many questions to be asked of Manny

when he's introduced later this week. Ryan Johnson, let's move on. We'll hold a Zoom session for reporters this morning after our show. but when Manny's introduced, and some of these questions will be applicable to Ryan Johnson as well, I would like to know, did he consider talking to any other teams? Was he allowed to talk to any other teams? Was he always focused on the Vancouver Canucks job?

Why did he take the job when there was probably going to be interest elsewhere for his services? And this is his first NHL head coaching job. important one. How is he going to define success during this rebuild? Because it's not going to be on, you know, making the playoffs, certainly next year and probably not the next few. Who will fill out his staff? That's a lot I want to know. That's a huge one. Because normally when you fill out a staff of a team that's, you know, looking to win, you're like, okay, we got, we got a forward guy, a defense guy, we've got a guy that can run the power play, the PK. Is that the same formula?

Or do you do something a little differently in a rebuilding year? Well, based on last year, your assistant coach does a lot of media obligations too. So that's something to consider. Yeah. I mean, okay, we're not going to get into that. Oh, we can talk about it was badge. Every time batch I'd be between the benches like Kevin. Who am I talking to today?

Okay. Does the head coach, all the other head coaches have just done their media obligations. Uh-huh. I love the spin, too. he's like he's trying to empower his other assistants. No, he's not. He's trying to not do media obligations. While also empowering his other assistants.

What are Mani's thoughts on potentially coaching his son? Probably going to get that question. And of course, the obligatory question about Elias Pedersen. Yeah. Everyone gets one of those. It's a weird story to cover in this fashion because it's breaking news and it's fairly massive news when you consider there's only 32 of these jobs across the National Hockey League. and for the outsiders, you know, you're reading the sort of non-Vancouver media outlets that have picked up on this.

And, you know, they're all celebrating this reunion of former Vancouver Canucks players and teammates who are now leading the charge and hoping to drag this organization out of the darkness. But we've been so immersed in it. And honestly, from the moment that the Siddins and Johnson got named as presidents and general manager, this felt like an inevitability to the point. where a lot of the discussions last week, especially here on Sports Night 650, across all of the shows, was when is it going to get done? Not is it going to get completed?

Are they going to be able to push it over the line? It was just a matter of timing. So there's almost not an awful lot to add to the conversation right now. We're really going to need to hear specifically from Johnson and Malhotra. We've already discussed it so much, right? Like we've had the Caleb and Manny commentary. and you know we've heard from the siddines who have suggested that it's not a big deal and i think ryan johnson has reiterated that but what we'd really like to hear from and who

we'd really like to hear from is nanny yeah because caleb um i don't think he's going to say like i don't want to i don't want to play for my dad he's just going to say whatever team drafts me that's fine right but it's it's the most the most important guy in all all this is Mani. Yep. You know? And, you know, well, here's the thing. I don't know what he's going to say about it. I have no idea.

He's going to say it's fine. Yeah. Because that's what the organization's party line is. That's correct, Jason. There's alignment now. Remember that lack of alignment that we've had in previous? If he went up there and said anything other than what the Sedines and Johnson have already said publicly about a Malhotra father's son duo, I'd be shocked. Yeah. He's like, yeah, not a big fan, actually. Yeah. Don't care for his attitude.

If Stenberg's there, I say we take him. Yeah, like he's, you know. I like him, but he's a reach at three. It'll be, yeah. What are you guys even talking about? It'll be, it'll be, it'll be diplomatic. There may be one of those things where it's like, and you know, we've got to see how the draft unfolds

or there's no guarantee than any player will fall to us. Don't pick him. He doesn't clean his room. Don't do it. It's going to be very diplomatic. He says he will, but it never does. It's going to be very much in line with what the organization has already put out there. I'll be, I think,

filling out his staff is going to be maybe the most important thing because for all of the positive attributes that Manny has as a coach, he's lacking one major thing. And it's the experience of being a head coach at the NHL level. And you can go a variety of different ways with your staff. Now, bringing in a guy, let's say, that has NHL head coaching experience is great. But it's also that guy that's always there. Maybe not necessarily you're deferring. to him or that they're looking to him as, man, he's going to be the head coach full stop.

Like there's not going to be any question about his authority, his responsibility, all that. But, and I don't think he's going to be in jeopardy of losing his job anytime soon unless the thing goes totally pear shaped. But there's always a concern of bringing in a guy that's had an elevated role, greater experience, higher profile than you. That's said, I think they're going to need to do it. The, um, it's funny. I, I feel like there's going to be this narrative out there. and maybe it started to be, you know, broken apart a little bit here, but, you know, what was the concern about Ryan Johnson,

according to some people in the organization? It was that he wasn't, you know, a killer enough to be a general manager. And people have always thought the Sadiens, oh, they're too nice. You know, Manny Mahhotra might fall under that too. I'm going to be really curious to see what kind of coach he is. Because I think, you know, he, by all accounts, he does get to know his players and he does realize

that every player is unique and he tries to tailor his coaching to that but I want to read a quote that Drants included in his it was a quick article last night that he wrote about Conucks hiring Manny Mahotra

and he got a quote from Manny after Abbotsford won the Calder Cup and Malhotra said the biggest thing I've learned coaching-wise is that as a coach, we ask guys to do certain things or to play a certain way. You can demand it, you can ask it.

Ultimately, however, it's the player's decision about whether they want to do it or not. It's that understanding that we can ask players whatever we want, but until they're committed or to use the cliche term, bought in, nothing can really happen. I'm just really curious to see how patient this group is, with, it's going to be with certain players. Yeah, I think they're going to need to get everyone on board. And if everyone isn't on board, okay, what do you do then?

So that's, I'm glad you brought that up. I had heard anecdotally that during, that Calder Cup championship season in Abbotsford, there were a number of times where players were either demoted down the lineup, had their ice time reduced, or dropped from the lineup entirely, without it being publicly disclosed as a disciplinary issue. And that they had certain standards that if you did not meet, there was going to be a response from the head coach swiftly. And it was going to be made very clear to you,

the player, why you're, like, why is my ice time reduced? Why am I being scraged? You know there's times where it's like, why is this guy suddenly not in the lineup. Yeah. I mean, again, this is all sort of like not specific, told to me in confidence, but, you know, the anecdote's been passed around enough. And it's not like a damning anecdote or anything like that. It's just the way that they went about their businesses, they had very clear, very clear

sets of guidelines about what, what constituted professionalism for them. Do you remember we have Manny on the show prior to the start of training camp that year? And he talked about the right attitudes he wanted to see from players in training camp. And I said, okay, well, what does that actually look like? I distinctly remember, I think I've used

this as like a coaching tool later. He talked about Atu Ratu that when they would introduce a drill, Ratu would always jump to the front of the line right afterwards. And he was unafraid of maybe like screwing up the fine details of it or like, you know, the first time you run through a drill.

Sure. You haven't done it before. Maybe you don't want to look like an idiot or you want someone else to take the lead. He said, man, he said, I really appreciated that for two reasons. One, it showed initiative and then he wanted to jump in and he was energized and ready to go. But the other one was he was ready to show us that he could take instruction and execute it right away. And he didn't need to be shown two or two or three times.

And he said, you know. It'd be funny if that was the case, though. Right. He's like, and then he screwed it up five times. He just constantly screwed it up. He really, he really dragged our practices out. And we had to bench him for two games afterwards, but we liked his gusto. No, like, so when, when, when Mani relayed that to us, I was thinking like, here's a guy

that knows exactly what he wants to see from his players in terms of attitude and how they approach the job. And, you know, sometimes it can be really nebulous. Like, telling a guy to be prepared is one thing. but then showing him exactly what it looks like to be prepared. That's when guys have a light bulb moment, right? Here's a question for you. Yeah.

How different is it to hold players accountable in the HL compared to the NHL? Dramatically. Dramatically, because there's way more eyeballs on you, full stop. Well, isn't it also like, if you want to sit a guy in the HL, you just sit a guy in the HL? Yeah. And there's no one making, like, I don't know,

just to pull a number out of the air, $11.6 million. on your team. Yeah. And some guys, for that reason, it's a lot of easy. You can almost sit anyone in the in the American League, I would say. A lot more difficult to do in the National Hockey League. Also, a lot more

people scrutinizing your every move and a lot more people picking apart every single thing that you do. Now, if you can be defiant in the face of that, you'll be successful. Also,

Mani does have the advantage of that. And I mean, you can be defiant. of coming in on a team that is not expected to win hockey games. Yes. Yes. For all of the bad that the Adam foot year gave us, but one silver lining is going to be that he dropped the bar so low in terms of expectations, that Manning's coming in and it's going to be, everything's going to be, I have a breath of fresh air to it.

Sat put this out on Twitter yesterday. He's like, they should have probably had Mani as the head coach last year. If you could have gone and done a bunch of do-overs from last year, I think that would have been right near the top of the list, right? Because, again, I'll say it till I'm blue in the face. The Adam foot year was a waste of a year. It was a waste of a year developmentally. I know that they raced to the bottom, but you could have done that while guys were learning on the job.

No one got better last year, I don't think. So they probably could have had Manny on the job last year, and he probably could have been a year ahead in terms of, you know, installing all the things he wants to install. Canucks might not have picked off three, though. Pardon me? Canucks might not pick top three, though. Hey, dog, I cannot argue

you with you about this anymore. They were a horrific outfit. They could have had the best coach in NHL history and they were still going to be... Bottom three in the league? Yeah, they would have been. They were the worst team in the NHL by 20 points. I think coaching did have a lot to do with that, though.

Well, losing Quinn Hughes did too. Of course, yeah, yeah. And trading away all of the veterans that they traded away, Sherwood, Garland, Myers, all of them. Like, they were designed to be bad last year, and boy, did they accomplish it, right? So anyway, back to like when Manny comes in, he's got, as clean of a slate as you're going to get in the National Hockey League, I would say.

And he's coming in as a popular figure as well. Jay texted in and ask any details on Manny's contract. No, not yet. I'll be curious, though. How many years? What's the salary? You know, term is, well, both of the, them are big for different reason. Term for Manny, if I, if I was going in there, like minimum three years.

Yep. I would request that. And then when it comes to salary, geez, I don't know. Rob texted and he said, why don't the Canucks ever go for any of the big name coaches? And he said it as no disrespect to Manny. And I think there might be two reasons for that. I think money is a factor right now for the Canucks. Like I think it is.

I think based on everything you've heard. You know, they're not splashing money around. They just aren't. Not for, you know, and I don't expect them to be a cap team this year. Because I think they're probably preparing for revenues to go down a little bit in this rebuild. Now, Drans can come on the show and say that they should go wild and free agency. And, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a good Drans. idea and I understand why he's saying it, but I don't think they're going to do it.

I don't think they're going to, you know, buy draft picks essentially in that way. Maybe they will, but I don't know. They've been a cap team for a long time. I don't know if they're going to be a cap team this year. We'll see. But also, you know, this team isn't a Bruce Cassidy team. You know, if you're talking about some of the big names. being out there.

Bruce Cassidy doesn't want to coach the Vancouver Canucks. He wants to coach Edmonton. Yeah. This isn't a winning job. This is a teaching job. Cassidy would break some of these kids, I think, with his style. Well, he's just, he wants to win. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

You know, and I think he, he wants to coach players that, you know, are difference makers in the NHL. You know, he coached a Vegas team that is now in the Stanley Cup final. They have a bunch of very, very good players. I think we all need to remember that the Vancouver Canucks do not have one difference maker type

player on this team right now. They don't. Now, Demco could maybe return to form, but we wouldn't wait for a while now for him to return to form and stay healthy doing it. We all know the story with P.E. and after that, what are you looking for? Like who's going to be your game breaker?

Who's going to be your difference maker? This is going to be also the challenge for Manny Malhotra because right now we are in the honeymoon phase with this new group. And you know, you can tell from the way that I talk about the Canucks now, it's actually positive because, you know, I think this was necessary. They needed to clean house and bring in some people that were, not only financially but emotionally invested

in returning this franchise to a certain level of respectability and to running this thing without dysfunction without all the nonsense and garbage we've seen over the last few years but I'm not pretending that it could be game 38 next season

and we're like oh my God these games are tough to watch because there's no one out there that can do anything. Yeah. Like who would you right now, if you were the other team and you were prepping to play the Canucks, who are you like, you gotta watch out for this guy?

Nobody. There's nobody. Elias Patterson. But I don't think that that's necessarily something that's gonna hamstring Manny in year one. In year one. I don't.

Neither do I. But put it this way. It's hard. a long season. Yeah, but it's a hamstring, hamstring, but there's also like, it does get hard and that's going to be one of the challenges for

Manny and this organization. And that's why I said, you know, one of the questions I would ask is like, how do you define success? Honestly, one of the ways that you might define success and who the players are that you can build around is who's still coming to the rank

with a positive attitude, 100% ready to work when the team keeps losing games. See, like I think that there's really something here that the organization can lean into that we don't have the high-end talent that a lot of our opponents on a nightly basis are going to have. But the one thing that we can do is out work, out hustle, have more energy. You can become a really likable team in the early stages of a rebuild if you've got the right approach. Go back and we've talked about Montreal till we're blue in the face here, but we're going to keep doing it. If you go back and look at some of those early days in Montreal when Marty St. Louis was first on the job and they were in the infancy.

of their rebuild. I talked to a lot of HABs fans who said like, hey, we understand what the process is. And right now we're energized by the fact that even though the results aren't there and there's still mistakes being made, guys are trying to play the right way and most importantly they're playing hard

and with a purpose. And those are things that Manny can bring in right away and can make a, this is a savvy enough hockey market that you can make major inroads and you can, you can put some good like credit in the bank with people when you have the team playing

that way. And the room needs good guys. Yep. It needs to be a fun place to come to work even if you're losing and there needs to be a level of enthusiasm and enjoyment that we just have not seen for the last few years in Vancouver. Okay, we're going to go to break. When we come back, Greg was Shidsky for ESPN is going to join us. Game

one of the Stanley Cup final tonight. Five o'clock. Greg is on the scene. He's going to preview it for us. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sports 9-650. Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drans. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcast. 633 on a Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford and Brubb of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Got debt? If you do, reach out to Sands and Associates during regular business hours and they'll get back to you within 20 minutes. Visit them today at Sands. trustee.com. We're in our one of the program.

Greg Wosinski, our NHL insider from ESPN, is going to join us in just a moment here. Our one of this program 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. You know, had it not been for Manny being named head coach last night, we were going to spend a lot of time in the opening segment of the show

talking about tonight's Stanley Cup final on yesterday's Media Availability Day in which I rephrased it Mitch Martyr Media Availability Day. So I compiled clips. I have Eric Tulski and Rod Brindamore talking about Mitch Marner.

I have John Tortorella and Kelly McCriman talking about Mitch Marner. There's Wyshinsky's piece on Jack Eichle talking about Mitch Marner. There's audio from Mitch Marner and then there's several reaction pieces,

many of them at Sportsnet.com, about Media Day being dominated by Mitch Marner. Do you think Media Day was biggest for Vegas, Carolina or Toronto? Toronto, without question. Barner's a beast at Media Day. Yeah. Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline,

our next guest, as mentioned, our NHLN Center from ESPN. Greg Wischinski here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What I wish. If there was a guy on the Dallas Cowboys, right? Who was notorious for choking

in the playoffs. And then he left the Dallas Cowboys for another team and was going to be the Super Bowl MVP. Like, that would be a major story. That would be the story of the playoffs. That would be the thing that we all talk about. And I know

that I know out of everybody that it is repulsive sometimes to center the Toronto Maple Leafs in all of our coverage. But I have to push back on the idea that it is somehow overwrought to

focus our coverage on Mitch Marner when he's clearly the story of the playoffs. No, no, okay, I'll clarify. We would have done the exact same thing. I was doing it with a wink and a nod. Maybe there's a touch of it being overwrought, but I think the funny part for us was we came in on Monday

and talked with Stanley Cup finals booked and we did a preview about like what the major storylines are going to be and what to expect. I don't think we mentioned martyr once. Now maybe it's just because we're old and out of touch and not really understanding what's going on. But I was, I was a bitch. I got to admit, I didn't think it would be that prominent

and that prevalent. And it just seemed like it was all anyone was talking about yesterday. So there's, there's three reasons for that. Sure. The first is, obviously, it's a huge story. And again, I don't think that it's like banging the Leafs drum as much as like Montreal's general manager talking about the Leafs. Like, what are we doing? The second thing is you have to remember, this is the first time a lot of our Canadian friends are descending upon this series.

You know, and, you know, when you unleash a writer from, say, my, my, my, my friend, my friend, friend Kevin McGrane, for example, from the Toronto Star. Sure. On, you know, a series that has Mitch Marner in it, you're going to get more Mitch Marner coverage. The third thing is, I mean, you know, what are we supposed to do? Write about Carter Hart, who they're hiding from us. Yeah.

You know, maybe if there was more things to write about, we could, we wouldn't have to focus on Mitch Marner. Okay. I'll add a fourth. Mitch has added his own oxygen to this as well. I know it was a brief comment yesterday, but the one that caught a lot of people's attention was when asked for a follow-up on the dark times that he'd had in hockey, which he mentioned after winning the Western Conference final. He kind of teased that he will speak more

about that after the Stanley Cup was over. Maybe if they win the Stanley Cup. So there's a there. It was a good tease. Yeah. Like he's cutting a good promo. He could go to WWE after this. Like it's good, right? I don't. So he, I mean, he's, I don't want to use the word guilty, but he's as much, or he's adding as much oxygen to this as anyone. would say. He's got a future in radio. Coming up. Mitch Marner's dark times after the break.

Yeah. Stay tuned. So, so I agree with you. And I think what's happening with Marner is really interesting because as somebody who's now covered him and his journey for a few playoff rounds, like he's had a dam up to hold back all of the leaf stuff for most of these playoffs. And now you're starting to see some leaks springing out, you know, like the water is spraying out of some of these holes in the dam where he's talking about the dark times and he's talking

about, you know, the maturity of his team to not get mad at each other when things go bad. You can kind of see the dam is starting to break a little bit insofar as Mitch being unable to hold back any further on all of this stuff. And so, you know, win or lose this series. It's going to be really interesting to see what that ultimately manifests as. Does anyone have any idea of what he's talking about? Because I don't want, it's It's funny. Like, I'm kind of poking fun at it because that's what I do, but I don't want the dark times to actually be really dark. Well, I don't think he was conjuring Clothulu in some sort of like Lovecraftian, you know, a ceremony.

If that's what you were at, I don't think those are the dark times we're talking about. No, listen, I imagine it has to do with some of the things he's already discussed, which is, you know, some of the unfortunate incidences that he had in Toronto. the fact that the constant criticism of his play manifested in some mental and physical health issues for him. Like he's kind of talked about it before. I don't know if there's more to it than that. But I don't know. Listen, it's a fascinating story. I wrote a piece about it.

I guess it was last week about just like the Toronto reaction to everything that's happening. And inside the piece, there's a lot of sort of rational. thought about this would have just never happened in Toronto for him. Like it would have never happened in Toronto for him. It's like the old Tyler Sagan, Kinnard. Would he have ever become Tyler Sagan if he was still in Boston? I don't know. Maybe not.

Maybe he had to go to Dallas. And in Marner's case, he definitely had to go to a team where he didn't have to be the guy. There were players that had rings in the room, and he can just sort of fit in rather than feel like he's carrying the weight of a franchise that hadn't won a Stanley Cubs since 1967. Okay, tell us how the Carter Hart media avail went?

Briefly, I think is the word I would use. So there's two parts of this. First of all, I know my friend Corey Lobula put out on Twitter that they didn't allow any questions. They did allow one question. And then they cut off the availability after that. There was no follow-ups about the hockey Canada stuff. What the Knights did, though, that I thought was really poor form was they had him scheduled to go to sit in one of the little pods,

you know, one of the little desks with the microphone. And then he didn't go to the one he was supposed to go to. And then he went to another one. And then they only had him speak for less than six minutes. And so, like, all of that is nonsense. I mean, you got to let us all know where he's going to be because obviously we want to talk to him. And then second of all, he's a starting goalie in the Stanley Cup final.

Yeah. There are guys yesterday at Media Day who can't speak English that hung longer than six minutes. And was he escorted out of there or did he decide to leave? No, they cut it off. They cut it off. The Golden Knights did. Yeah, they did. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. The Golden Knights in particular, a guy I know, John Rosascoe, who used to be the PR guy for the Rangers and used to be doing PR for the Leafs, was bought in by the Golden Knights after they got punished. by the league for the Tortorella press conference. He's a pro. He's really good at what he does. I like the guy. But, I mean, when I say he's really good at what he does,

what he does is cut off of press conference before you can really get in depth on any issues with Carter Hart. So less than six minutes, playing a little docee dough with where he's going to talk. And at the end of the day, like, listen, I'm not trying to tell anybody how to do their job. But to me, it's just like this was the chance for him to speak about it, to talk about it, to deflect questions about it, and then we're done.

And now it's become a thing. And now you run the risk of the next time we get a chance to talk to Carter Hart, people asking the questions they weren't able to ask on Media Day. Yeah. Okay, so we've gone through Marner, we've gone through Carter Heart. Was there anyone else that was compelling at Media Day? I'll tell you that, Mark Jenkowski, a rage-filled controversy fountain. No, man, it was, it's an interesting.

media day for a couple reasons. First of all, we have to mention that, you know, the late Claude Lemieux does sort of loom over the series in a couple of ways. He was Freddie Anderson's agent. He was Rasmus Anderson's agent. You know, Freddie put out a statement that I think the hurricanes are hoping would be the end of the discussion about Claude, but, but obviously has this to answer a bunch of questions yesterday about it. I think he handles, he's handling it as well as anyone could when you lose somebody who was as close to him to the point where he felt like he was a family member. But I'll, you know, I'll say this. Gary Bettman and Bill Daley are talking at 430 today. And I would be shocked if the letter that the Lemieux family put out about donating his

brain to science and about specifically calling out CTE doesn't get mentioned. I mean, that is, and that is the third rail for talking to Gary Bettman. Like he is a CTE denier as far as the linkage between what happens in this league and degenerative brain disorders. And I think this is now a very important entryway back into that conversation. And I do expect that he'll have to answer a question about it today. That's clearly just Bettman the lawyer, though. Like, I mean, right? I mean, not that it makes it, not that it makes it okay.

But does he feel that if he even admits it a little bit, the NHL opens itself up to massive litigation? I mean, potentially, but other leagues have, have, you know, acknowledged the linkage, including in, like, congressional hearings. Yeah. So, listen, you might be completely right on that score, and ultimately you probably are, because obviously in the NHL, you also have a situation where they've taken steps and should be applauded for it, by the way, to reduce the number of, you know, checks to the head. Yeah. And, you know, there's been reductions in fighting and all this other stuff. Like, they've taken those measures.

but if you do that and then you acknowledge a linkage, then now you're kind of probably wading a little bit into the waters of what did you know and when did you know it, right? So yeah, there's every reason, I think, for him not to address it, but I mean, he's been pretty adamant about it. And I'm intrigued to see what that now looks like in 2026. Because honestly, boys, it's been kind of a golden era in hockey for the NHL as far as revenues and success on the ice and the way the game is played.

they've not had to talk about this in a long time. Yeah, I wish, I mean, you're a big Devils fan. You were as a kid. What was your reaction when you heard the news about Clodd Lemieux? I was crushed. He's my favorite player growing up. He was the first jersey I ever owned with a player nameplate because I love the way he played.

I love the fact that he was the NHL's biggest villain, his biggest troll. It's, you know, Brad Marchand or Matthew Kachuk of his day. but also was its clutchest playoff performer. It's like the fact that those two things could coexist in the same person to me as a kid was just absolutely fascinating. And so, yeah, I was really knocked on my behind and, you know, heard from a lot of friends and family about, you know, our memories of him. Because, you know, 95 doesn't happen if it's not for Claude Lemieux scoring a goal against the Flyers in the conference final in Philly that, you know, set the doubles on their way. It's, it was really devastating.

And then obviously, you know, like everybody else, when you hear about the way it went down and, you know, the manner in which his family found it, but everything is just completely heartbreaking. Awful. Okay. Hard turn, but let's talk about this series and what you expect from it. Vegas checked their way to the Stanley Cup final. Carolina checked their way to the Stanley Cup final. You know, defensively, they both had masterpieces on the. their way to the final. So do they just check each other into like one-nothing games or are we

going to get something different out of the series than a lot of people expect? First off, I think it would really help if they have three fights in the first nine seconds. I think that would be great. That does tend to hype things up a little bit. Proven way to get people interested in your series. No, I think I think game one is the one we're all really curious about because it's not only stylistically what does it look like, but it's also matchup-wise. I mean, clearly the Knights are the deepest team Carolina will have faced, and Carolina

is the deepest team that the Knights will have faced because when they faced Colorado, like half the team should have been should have been in a hospital bed. And so, like, what does that look like? Who does Jordan Stahl play against? Is it the Martin Line or is it the Eichel line? You know, who does Mark Stone play against?

Is it the Aalho line or is it the Taylor Hall line? Like, there's a lot of that stuff we're going to learn tonight that I'm sure will change during the course of the series, but there's an error of mystery as to what this is actually going to look like on the ice. I picked Carolina in six. I got to be honest with you. Like, there is a chance that we are looking at a juggernaut. I think people are sleeping on how good they've been. I mean, the only game they lost was after the longest layoff between playoff rounds and 107 years.

Like, they could have swept the entire Eastern Conference playoff. And that's incredible. And if they keep getting the offense, they're getting from all corners of their lineup. And by the way, like, the Ajo line is not even going at five on five right now. Like, that's, that's, that's like one that there's a, there's some room for improvement. And if Freddie Anderson keeps doing what he's been doing in these playoffs, which is staying healthy and not giving them any reason to, you know, think about him being not the starter. This, this could be quicker than we think. Yeah. Yeah. That line of Stan Coven between Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake is just,

testament to the way that Carolina does business. I mean, even just saying like Stancoven, you're playing center, he's like, okay. And then it works out because the team is structurally so sound and also he's a really good player. But, you know, you think about Jackson Blake who's a fourth round pick, you know, that's a great draft pick. And the acquisition of Stancovin came after they had to pivot on the Rantan acquisition. And Taylor Hall, I mean, you got this guy who, you know, is putting up. piling up points in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I don't know what his cap hit is.

I think it's below $4 million, though. I mean, they're just such an efficiently run organization. Am I missing anything else about the Cains? Because, you know, like I just, look, do I love watching their games? Not really. And they were so good against Montreal and so dominant against Montreal that I'll be honest with, I turned off some of the games because Montreal didn't have a chance in them.

that's that that should be that's a compliment to them that they were so dominant that I'm like I I don't need to watch this because I know what's what's going to what's going to happen but they are a very very well-run organization yeah and I think they're a bit more exciting than people might think I think they have sort of a a 2000 doubles problem where the 2000 devil said like Alex McGilney and Scott Gomez and all these like offensive guys and they were a pretty entertaining team but all people could remember was 95 It's like Well, I know what I'm watching

Wesh And I'm just seeing a dominant team that that that won't allow or didn't allow Montreal Certainly didn't allow Philly To create any scoring chances And as a neutral I'm looking for entertainment at both ends of the ice And they've been just so good that I'm like Well, this is not really worth my time

Because I know who's going to win Yeah, you're looking for more for more back and forth Instead of just like Yeah, yeah, it's credit to them I'm not trying to like I'm not trying to say you're boring I'm like, you're too good based on the competition. And let's be honest, like the Keynes had a relatively easy path to the Stanley Cup final. Did they?

But yes, I think they did. But I think credit to them for hanging around long enough where they get a season, where they get a bit of a break. And the biggest break is that Florida isn't in the playoffs. Let's do this. Okay. Ottawa was a dark horse darling. entering the playoffs.

Analytically, people said that they could be a team that really made a lot of trouble for teams in the first round, and they swept them. Philly had the hottest goalie in the playoffs in Dan Bladar, and they swept them. Montreal, from a point's perspective, was much better than Vegas and was coming in, having won consecutive game seven series, and they probably should have swept them. Vegas beat a neophyte Utah team that wasn't ready for prime time. They beat an Anaheim team that beat a. one-legged Connor McDavid and the Oilers who are exhausted and then can't defend for their lives.

And they beat half of Colorado, right, because the other half was injured. And so I will push back, sir, on the idea that Carolina somehow had a much easier path than Vegas who got every break imaginable for a team in the Western Conference, not having to play a healthy McDavid and the Oilers, not having to play teams that know what the hell they're doing defensively, and certainly not having to play the actual Colorado Avalanche in the conference final. Why did you have to make it about Vegas? I was just talking about Carolina relative to previous years of Carolina. Because I wanted to talk about Mitch Marner. Here's a pivot point for you, the same conversation, but a different direction.

Have these playoffs been disappointing? Yes, absolutely. I mean, like, they've been interesting in the number of teams that we don't normally get to see play, but the brevity of these series is very disappointing. The fact that we didn't get to see some of these teams that are in the playoffs at their full strength is very disappointing. I mean, like, you didn't get Connor McDavid, like, you know, in these playoffs. You got him on one leg.

You didn't get Cal McCarre for two games in the conference final, and you didn't get Nathan McKinnon for the last, like, four periods of the conference final because he was playing like 2026 Alex Ovechkin out there just standing still and taking shots. Like, yeah, and, you know, the number of overtime. time games, you know, I mean, obviously Carolina's played a few of them, but they were brief. You know, from an on-ice perspective, interesting matchups,

some interesting storylines, some really fun moments, I think ultimately a intriguing Stanley Cup final matchup, but not nearly the inherent drama and, you know, games seven that we all like to watch in the playoffs. Does there need to be some level of concern that for two

consecutive years, the conference finals have been so one-sided? Yeah. The problem there is that if you go to the NHL and you're like, your playoff format needs to change because the conference finals are so one-sided, they'll be like, okay, but what about the first round and how many bangers we gave you there? Like, they're very much focused on this playoff format, this wildcard format, producing the best matchups possible at the time when the most people are watching,

which is in the first round. And so that's their counter argument to any of this. I agree with you. I think you'd want your conference finals, your penultimate round to be more exciting. I think in the NFL, we've had a tradition now of the conference finals being better than the Super Bowl, right? And I think in many cases, the Stanley Cup final has been better than the conference finals in the last few years of the NHL. Greg, this was excellent as always. Thank you for taking the time to do it.

Enjoy game one of the Stanley Cup final tonight. We will do this again next week. Thanks. Thanks for keeping it right on time. I have four more Mitch Marner stories to write. That's a big. I do appreciate you guys doing that for me. I love it.

Thanks, buddy. See you, pal. Greg Hushinsky. Take care. Rights for ESPN and the Mitch Marner fan site that also is on ESPN, here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. I will play some of the audio at some point this show

because it was, the highlight to me was they were trying to figure out a way they being the collective media. How are you going to ask Carolina's general manager and head coach about Mitch Marner? And they came up. what the good way of doing is they went back to last year when there was a deal in place

with them Leaves GM Bradtree Living reportedly to send Mitch Marner to Carolina about that. Yeah. So they asked that he nixed. They asked Tulski about it and he appropriately responded by saying he could not talk about a player that was under contract to another team. So that was

that. Come on. Tamper a little. I know. Anyway, game one tonight 5 o'clock, it kicks off what I am hoping, I am really hoping will be a highly competitive series given how both teams look here's a couple things one they're the two best teams in the playoffs without question the records suggest as much the way that they've won dominant both their commitments to you know the defensive side of the puck all of it two we have not really had a super

compelling series outside of tampa bay in montreal in these playoffs it would be nice to get one and three times something unexpected can strike a match or set off the powder can just make it go. It's what I always talk about in 2011 when the Bruins and the Canox, for those of you that don't remember, when they came into that series, there was not a lot. Not a lot

of history, not a lot of lot of history, not a lot of head to heads. It all kicked off with Burroughs and Bergeron in game one and it just got more and more flammable from there. So violence, you're looking for some violence to controversy? Nastiness. Have you really had that? Like think about, I mean, not that anyone wants to see dirty or ugly hits, but we haven't really had any sort of like big dramatic moments

where it's been like this colossal hit or a multi-game suspension or any of these things that, you know, the real sort of drama that lends itself to conspiracies and, you know, we're getting screwed by the league. It's not great for business, but it makes talking points. Brendan Batchel is going to join us next and we'll talk about Vancouver Canucks new head coach, Manny Malhocha. You're listening to the Halford Abrupt show on Sportsnet 650. I was a bitch, I gotta admit.