Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Promoted A Yogi

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

In hour one, Mike & guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk a new Canucks assistant coaching promotion in Yogi Svejkovský (6:00), plus they preview tonight's game one of the NBA Finals from the Celtics side of things with Boston Sports Journal's John Karalis (27:00). 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.

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-d right field. It is deep and it is a good win. I want to punch baseballs to the moon. We all know that the moon is not made of green cheese, but what if it were made of barbecue spare ribs? Would you eat it then? You know, maybe the Cubs could have got it done if they'd come really hot, really fast.

Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford. It is not Brough. It is Jimmy Dodd. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios

in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jamie, good morning. What's going on, man? Good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning.

And Laddy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Dodd in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for honda customers they have a friendly knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for sales financing service or parts we are in our one of the program our one is brought to you by north star metal recycling vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal north star metal

recycling they recycle You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. And of course, we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews soar feet. What are you waiting for? Kintec. That's what you're waiting for.

Folks, you cannot buy chemistry like that. We didn't even go over that in the pre-show rundown. He just knew I'm the Kint just knew, I'm the Kintec guy. I'm the Kintec guy today. How you doing, Jamie? I'm doing great, man. I feel way better than I normally do coming into the morning show. And that's because there is actual

sunlight outside. There's sunlight. Yeah. There's a couple months a year where the morning show shift coincides with actual sunlight, as opposed to, as I put it, coming into the dreary darkness of death known as the morning show. Good morning, everybody. We got a big show ahead.

I'm just stunned about how much better I feel. Oh, my gosh. The sun is up. You feel like a completely different person coming in. It's great. There's a certain level of energy that comes with doing a show in the middle of June. Now, this week is stunk. So really, there shouldn't be any energy whatsoever,

but it gets better starting today. The NBA Finals begin this evening. 5.30 our time is tip from Boston. It is the Mavericks and the Celtics in Game 1. At 6.30, John Corrales is going to join the program from the Locked On Celtics podcast and the Boston Sports Journal. We will talk about the number one story

of these NBA finals, and it gets underway tonight right away. Kyrie Irving's return to Boston. We'll speak to John about that at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Adnan Virk from MLB Network. 7.30, Alexander Gange-Ruzic from One Soccer Canada. Canada soccer, everybody. And the new gaffer, Jesse Marsh.

They are in the Netherlands. They will take on the Netherlands today. 11.45 is the kickoff. Our time, the first of two friendlies against the FIFA 7th ranked Orange, as they're known internationally, the Dutch national team. And then on Sunday, Canada will take on number two ranked in the FIFA rankings, France, in France. So we'll talk to Alex Gangeruzic

from One Soccer about that. Excuse me. At 7.30. 8 o'clock. This is going to be fun for you. You get to talk to Thomas Drance. Yes, thank goodness. Rarely happens.

Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk is going to join us at 8. And then at 8.30, Canucks head coach and the 2024 Jack Adams winner for coach of the year, Rick Tockett is going to join the program. Very excited to talk to Rick Tockett at 830.

I'm also very excited to announce that for the fourth consecutive day, we are giving away a pair of tickets to see Snoop Dogg, Snoopaloop, on June 25th at Rogers Arena. Best what we learned is going to get the Snoop tickets. Hashtag it WWL. Put a ticket emoji into your text. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Here's the thing.

We're not actually going to have a designated What We Learned segment today because we have so many guests and talk is coming on at 830. We'll read them intermittently throughout the show, and we will announce the winner right at the end of the show after the interview with Rick Talkett. But again, if you want to win Snoop tickets, hashtag WWL. Tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports.

Yes, Greg? You know what Rick Talkett said to the What We Learn segment? I don't. You're dead. It's true. He actually said that. He's not a big What We Learn guy. No, apparently not. So, working in reverse on the guest list. 8.30, Rick Talkett. 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance. 7.30, Alex Gungay-Ruzick.

7 o'clock, Adnan Virk. 6.30, John Corrales. It's a big show. We got a lot to get into. Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We begin with some news from vancouver canuck land on wednesday the team announced that former skills coach yogi svakovsky nailed it guys nailed it i did it svakovsky i'm gonna call him that for the rest of the hit they said call him yogi i said no way yogi svakovsky has been promoted to assistant coach while daniel and hendrick sadin are going to take on an increased

coaching role as well this comes after the departure of Mike Yeo to the Ottawa Senators. Thoughts, Jamie Dodd? So it was interesting to hear Rick Tockett speak yesterday on Zoom with some of the media because one of the things he said was, you know, we've been kind of considering Yogi. I'll just say Yogi because apparently I got his name wrong yesterday on Canucks Talk. You coward.

Durant's like, no, no, it's definitely Shevkovsky. And then that's in dispute. Let's put it that way. Anyways, they said they were deaf. They were already considering Yogi for a promotion, even if Mike Yo had stayed. So obviously, they think very highly of Yogi and what he can bring to the staff. And the thing that stood out to me was Rick Talkett kind of hammering on the point yesterday on the Zoom of how much key players trust Yogi, right? Like, hey, JT Miller goes to him for advice, looks for him, sometimes even more when he's looking for Rick Talkett,

to pick up tips, to talk things over. Elias Lindholm, same thing. And, you know, we hear that all the time about Rick Talkett, right? How much he values his ability to build the relationships with the player. So, obviously, he sees that happening with Y Yogi and that's going to hold a lot of weight. And you know, it's,

we'll, we'll get to some Rick talk at clips. He was asked about the relative lack of experience on his coaching staff. And I think that's a fair thing to bring up, but you know, Rick, Rick also said it's up to him to make sure the coaching staff kind of comes together and gels and learns to work as a unit.

And it sounds like he's, he's excited about the staff he has. Okay, let's play the audio now. Here is Rick Talkett saying he's not concerned about the relative lack of NHL coaching experience behind the bench in the wake of Svejkovski's promotion. Yeah, I think it's on me to really convey that, like, for the Twins, I mean, they're getting another year of experience as coaches. I know it's kind of part-time. I think they're going to take a little bit more time with it.

Obviously, Sergey, he's been a coach here for six, seven years. Obviously, I think footy has come leaps and bounds. I know it's really his second year technically, but the way he handled this year, a year and a half with me, he's a veteran. He's been a captain. He knows. So he's a veteran coach to me, even though I know he's only technically a two-year guy. Obviously, Ian Clark is huge on our staff.

And then I think when you promote within, I think Yogi is a guy that is going to bring enthusiasm to our staff. So, you know, I'm not concerned about the experience, and it's up to me to make this gel together. So at first blush, some of you may be thinking, this feels like an awful lot of time and effort and energy expended on the promotion of a skills coach to assistant coach. And one, yes, it's the off season. It's slow and this is your home of the canucks so we are gonna hyper analyze this but there are a couple very interesting takeaways from this entire last i'd say week where mike yo left the organization and

landed in ottawa at a time where um there were major questions facing particularly the power play in the wake of what happened in the playoffs. And then you lose the guy in charge of the penalty kill. And all of a sudden you're saying, well, that's a lot of changeover for a team that had a very good regular season, had a good playoff, won a round, made it to game seven of the second round, but is looking to take it to the next level. And now they're going with a group of relatively inexperienced coaches from a uh nhl behind the bench standpoint but there's two things here i think one uh promoting from within which i think is always a good organizational mandate when you talk about it works all the way

down and it's a trickle-down effect to ahl abbotsford and players coming up i think the more important thing here is that uh Tockett had a willingness to understand that some changes needed to be made because of how the power play finished up last year and how it went in the playoffs. It was a major, major problem in the second round against the Edmonton Oilers, and some people could point to that's

maybe why the Canucks didn't get to play Dallas in the Western Conference Final, and you would say he's the Jack Adams winner, reigning coach of the year. You might want to hold on to all that control and keep coaching the power play, but to be able to elevate someone from within

and then hand off those duties and say, we're going to try a different look at it. I think it's an important thing. Yeah, and, you know, Talkit, it's interesting. He's very reluctant to kind of assign duties to individual coaches, right? As we know, he's a big roundtable guy. So it all kind of falls on the roundtable as a collective responsibility,

whether it's the power play, whether it's the penalty kill, right? But it did sound yesterday like, okay, Yogi is going to be what we would traditionally call kind of the power play coach for the first unit. The Sedins are going to be more involved as well. But it also brings up the question, well, who's going to be in charge of the penalty kill, right? Because that was Mike Yeo's responsibility.

Is it going to be Adam Foote? He hasn't done that at the NHL level before. And I was kind of thinking, you know, really to me, the assistant coach thing, like the way I've been thinking about it, is through the special teams units. And going into next season, I was thinking, okay, which special teams unit do I have more concerns about? I'll throw this question out to the listeners as well. Are you more concerned about the power play or the penalty kill going into next season?

I think at first blush, it kind of seems like a crazy question. It's like, well, the power play, we've seen what they can do at their best. We know how much the penalty kill has struggled over previous seasons. And even at the beginning of this year, that's's ridiculous but down the stretch and especially into the playoffs the penalty kill was much more reliable much more successful looks better on the eye test look better statistically way better than the power play did now if you asked me okay which one will rank higher relative to the rest of the nhl at the end of next season, I still probably lean to the power play, right? Because there's a certain amount of talent there.

Pedersen, Hughes, Miller, Besser, that's four guys you feel really good about on power play one. You can find a fifth guy. You can do things there. But I still might have more concerns about the power play because I think this team needs an elite power play to be an elite team. We've seen what the 5-on-5 scoring looked like in the playoffs. It didn't look great.

They need that power play to boost that, to supplement that, in a way that I don't think... What a freaking boost. Yeah, that's right. I've realized I say that word a lot. Anyways. It's a good word. In a way that I don't think they need an elite penalty kill.

I think they can be an average penalty kill and be a true contender. I don't think they can have an average power play and be a true contender. I don't think they can have an average power play and be a true contender. So when you think about it from that perspective, I mean, that's a lot of responsibility riding on Yogi, right? To come in and fix this power play in a way. There's something really interesting at play with the Edmonton Oilers here. And a lot of people have spoken about how great their special teams have been during the playoffs, right? The Edmonton Oilers right now at evens, five on five, have 40 goals for

and 40 goals against. They're basically a saw-off team at five on five. That is not traditionally the statistical hallmark of a Stanley Cup champion. I don't want to go so far as to say that the Edmonton Oilers could be the modern era's

first special teams Stanley Cup winner, but it's kind of starting to shape up that way. If you go back to last year, when Vegas won the Stanley Cup, at 5-on-5, they outscored people by a 2-to-1 margin of 66-33. So that was a team that did not have to rely on an outstanding power play and a stifling penalty kill to win series. Edmonton is the exact reverse. They've got, now at this point, an all-time historically

talented penalty kill and a power play that everyone knew that was probably going to cook at around 35% in the playoffs, which is a really great mark. How does that relate to the Vancouver Canucks? I'm with you on for this team to be um that next step that next level team wanting to get beyond the final eight into the hallowed final four or god forbid the stanley cup final um it's pretty obvious with the pieces that they have and the personnel that they have that the power play has

to click at a near similar rate yeah because that's where they're going to make hay and i do think that there may be something about teams not being as dominant at five on five anymore either with parity or in a cap league or whatever that a team like vegas from 2023 might be the anomaly and a team that can really cook on the power play might be more of the norm yeah and it's a good point about the oilers and the the zero goal differential at even strength now yeah is that going to be an anomaly are we going to see the playoffs called in a similar way? Because that's part of it, right? Like one of the reasons we always stress five-on-five play in the playoffs

is because the refs stop calling penalties. So you're playing a lot more five-on-five hockey. That hasn't been the case, I don't think, in as extreme a manner as some years this year. So who knows if that continues going forward? Now, I will say, as much as I have more concerns in some ways about the power play, Mike, the urologist from Brockville, makes a good point, as he often does in the inbox here,

says, I think given the potential personnel changes and how bad the PK has been over the past few years, we have to keep that PK at least league average, and that's not as easy as it sounds. That's a good point, because you look at basically all of their best penalty killers, right? Teddy Bluger lindholm dakota joshua ian cole tyler myers who sounds like he'll be back but what do they all have in common they're all unrestricted free agents yeah no that's going to be a real challenge this offseason bruff and i talked about it yesterday

in that uh when you remove the architect i'll use that term very generously here, but Yo was the architect of it. You remove the architect and you remove a lot of the gardeners and painters and everyone else that's responsible for it, it can be very difficult to replicate the success they had late in the year. I'd like to answer your original question. By the way, if you want to weigh in,

Don Barlamer text line 650-650. What special teams unit are you more concerned as house of negativity I like to say intrigued by uh we can flip it around would you be more optimistic yeah right god forbid we have some optimism about things around here uh what unit are you more focused on going into the offseason Dunbar Lumber tax line 650 650 you can also send what we learns in to get snoop. It is, for me, the penalty kill. I think that the power play, just by part of having Quinn Hughes on it,

will always have the ability to be good. And if it goes through slumps, it may just be on his shoulders to snap them out of it. PK right now, for me, without the same coach that got it to a pretty decent level last year, and without the talent there from last season, and I don't know who's going to get brought back in free agency

that's the one for me I want to talk about Daniel and Hendrick Sedin some audio here sounds like they're going to be far more involved at the NHL level than they were in previous seasons including one of them get them behind the bench on occasion and at least one of them I don't know why they both can't travel but at least one of them, I don't know why they both can't travel, but at least one of them going on every road trip this season. There's going to be a Sadeen factor with the Vancouver Canucks next year. When you got twins, why would you bring both? You just bring one and you're good. Why would you break up that energy?

It's like how they shot, was it Full House? Yes. You have to have them together. With Mary-Kate and Ashley? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You need them together at all times. Anyway, here's Rick talking more on the S Sedin's role being elevated for next season. Yeah, I think one of them will come on the road with us,

whether it's between him or Sergei. So we'll have another hands on deck here and eyes for us. So one of them, you know, if it's a five-game, four-game road trip, one of them will come on for us with Sergei as being the other guy. So we'll be covered there um obviously um they'll be part of the power play um you know uh and be involved that they they were more in the second unit so i i think that um i'm going to use their knowledge even more and they're i think they're more comfortable to even get dive into it more. For the same thing, team systems, they're starting to understand what I want.

I think for me, they're going to take a little bit of a bigger chunk. I think they feel comfortable doing that now before I think they like coming along slowly. And I think that they're willing to take a little bit more bite of the apple for us to say. No bite of the elephant. Bite of the apple this time from Rick Talkett. So I think this is great. The Sedins are obviously franchise icons and legends. I think it's interesting watching the evolution of their post-playing careers.

It's almost like they're just trying to figure out what they want to do in the most basic sense. Will the power play look different in in a way with sedine's more actively involved with they're going to assuming they're going to be twins in the offseason actually but can we expect the power play to be deployed differently because of this or will it look more i mean i hope it doesn't look the same as last year so yeah i mean you would assume that they're going to have their own imprint on it that would be obvious but i also think like rick talkett obviously has a way he wants the power play to look and i don't know that it's going to be a completely dramatic change just

because it's yogi and the twins having a little more say in it right like i think rick talkett i think we know what he wants he wants them to be more movement he wants them to you know attack more go to the net more. It's just for whatever reason it hasn't translated onto the ice. But I don't think those principles are going to change. I think the biggest takeaway, A-Dog, is that it's about the Sedins,

not even necessarily about the power play. You're starting to see the formation from it being like a nebulous job. They're just kind of around. Yeah, they're just learning the ropes, figuring things out. Right, but there was some thought that they might go into management. Like they're just kind of around. Yeah. They're just sort of learning the ropes, figuring things out. Right. But I mean, there was some thought that they might go into management.

Right. I mean, there was that part of it too. You've seen this with a lot of ex NHLers that move into their post playing career and they're not exactly sure what they want to do. It's like your first year of university, right? You take a bunch of different classes.

You're trying to figure out what your fourth, right. Or your third or your fourth or your six, like you Van Wilder. And then you kind of are looking at it. You're like, is that what is exactly that i want to do what i want to specify in and it does seem as though they've kind of veered towards being back on the ice yeah uh working with players as opposed to working in management or learning the ropes of the front office they did do that in a certain capacity but it seems like their passion might end up being

working with players, which makes sense. I remained convinced that up until about two years ago, the Sidians could still lace them up and provide a completely competent fourth line for the Vancouver Canucks and get some power play time if they needed to. So I think it's great that when you have people in your organization, this goes back to Yogi as well,

when you have people in your organization, this goes back to Yogi as well. When you have people in your organization that not only you believe in, but have proof of concept that they've done good work and that they will continue to do that. It's important to elevate those people as opposed to always going outside the organization and bringing people in. You got to remember in the early phases of the Alvin Rutherford era, there was a lot of outside people coming in. Right. And it was a lot of replacing what you already had. So for them to say, hey, we inherited this individual or this individual was brought aboard. We weren't sure how it was going to work out to elevate them is a good thing. It's a good organizational philosophy.

And it gives other people in the organization the belief that, yeah, there is a ladder that can be scaled up here. It's going to be cool to see one of the Sedins, I guess it'll be rotating bases, Daniel and Henrik, behind the bench for Canucks games this season. By the way, this texture makes a good point, right? As much as we're talking about, okay, who's coaching the power play, what does it look like, does it look different, tactics, all that, this texture says they just need Petey to get his confidence back,

power play solved. That is a big part of the story. Pettersson goes in the tank in the latter half of the season. Predictably, the power play suffers as a result. If you think he's going to have a big bounce back year, that's a really, really good reason to have a high degree of confidence in the power play going into next year. You want to do some Blue Jays before we go to break?

I guess. Deep sigh. Do we have to? Deep, deep sigh. I will say it would be funny if the Sedians' exact role was specifically just to bully Pedersen into playing better. Bully? They just both gang up on him on the ice.

This is what you're going to do now. And then they do the good cop, bad cop routine. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's good. But no one knows who the good cop or bad cop is because they keep switching. This is very confusing. So, Laddie, we now have two Blue Jays fans in attendance. Not just one.

So, 50%, we now have two Blue Jays fans in attendance, not just one. So 50% of the studio, no doubt thrilled with Isaiah Kiner-Falefa. Yesterday, you know what? Just roll with it. I want to play the audio. A walk-off for Kiner-Falefa in the bottom of the ninth. The Blue Jays beat the Orioles 3-2 on Wednesday night. Here's what it sounded like. And in the air to right field.

It is deep and it is a game winner. I'm going to read verbatim from Jamie's notes. The Blue Jays win a walk-off against the Orioles, but'm going to read verbatim from Jamie's notes. The Blue Jays win a walk-off against the Orioles, but I still hate this team. I've reached the point where even when they do something good, I just roll my eyes. Explain yourself, sir. It's like, you know, if you've been trying to

get your kid to clean their room and they're not doing it and then they do the bare minimum. They pick up two things and they're like, look! and you're like, oh, great. That's awesome. You've really solved the problem. Technically, it's good. It's like me watching the Cucks for eight years under Benning.

It's great. They won a game. We're supposed to have a parade because they won a game by one run against the Orioles? Well, the game yesterday, it required a fantastic pitching performance from Barrios, and they still only scored three runs. That's the thing. It's like they got spanked in the first two games of the series, squeak out the narrowest possible victory in this one.

So your run differential in the series is like what? Like minus 15 still or something stupid. It's like, great. All right. Yeah, you can occasionally barely eke out a win at home against good teams. Awesome. We will continue this conversation coming up in the 7 o'clock hour with Adnan Virk. But it was really the only other sports highlight of note from yesterday.

And kudos to the Jays for not getting swept by the O's. They got a chance to split the series. I will say that. But I kind of agree with the sentiment. It's like, is this just really celebrating the lone victory that you might get after getting smoked by the Orioles in the first two games. Adnan Virk is going to join us at 7 o'clock to talk about more of that. But coming up on the other side of the break, we are going to dive into the world of the National Basketball Association. Game one of the NBA Finals is tonight.

The Larry O'Brien Trophy is officially now up for grabs. John Corrales, Boston Sports Journal and the Locked on Celtics podcast is going to join us. And we're going to start with the big question. How is Kyrie Irving going to deal with the Boston faithful tonight at the Garden? That's coming up next. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show with Jamie Dodd here on Sportsnet 650.

It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshaw, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4-6pm info, and even the post-game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.30 on a Thursday.

Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, a brough. Featuring Jamie Dodd, by the way. Not Jason Brough, Jamie Dodd. He's right here beside me in studio. We're both wearing white hats. We're wearing your Bellsprout hat. We have so much chemistry.

So much. So much chemistry. It's unbelievable. Did you meet up beforehand and coordinate what you'd be wearing? Didn't even talk to one another. Really? We just knew. We both pulled up in CR coordinate what you'd be wearing? Didn't even talk to one another. Really? We just knew. We both pulled up in CRVs, though, at almost the exact same time.

C in CRV stands for chemistry. I'm going to have to look that up. Halford and Brougham for the Morning is brought to you by, appropriately, Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. John Corrales from Boston is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight

of Hour 1. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. It is Game 1 of the NBA Finals tonight from Boston.

5.30 tip our time. It is the Celtics. It is the Mavericks. Joining us now from Boston Sports Journal and the Locked on Celtics podcast, John Corrales here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, John.

How are you? I'm great. How are you guys doing? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. It must be an exciting time in Boston, not just because of the NBA finals, but because of all the stories and narratives and linear paths that we've

taken to get here. So I'll set this up with a bit of a preamble. My co-host and I were talking at length about the Kyrie Irving return, and we were referencing one piece from NBC Sports Boston that put together a Mount Rushmore of sports villains in Boston. And it was Alex Rodriguez, Roger Goodell, Ulf Samuelsson, and Kyrie Irving. I'm like, that's some pretty impressive company. Can you tell our listeners, having covered the team as closely as you have in this market, just how big of a villain Kyrie Irving is in Boston Celtics land yeah um pretty big pretty big um because he did he committed the cardinal sin of quitting on the

team right you know that that that's what fans are really upset about he um he said he was going to sign and then he changed his mind in the middle of the season. And then not only changed his mind in the middle of the season, but during a playoff series against Milwaukee, he just didn't play. He just looked like a shell of himself. He decided that he wanted to switch on to Giannis Antetokounmpo. He wanted to guard Giannis Antetokounmpo, and he got roasted. And the Celtics got crushed in that series.

So I think Celtics fans were like, okay, it's bad enough that you wanted to leave. You didn't have to torpedo a playoff series in order to do it and get out of here as fast as possible. So I think that is a lot of lingering animosity uh for celtics fans and then you know he goes to brooklyn he steps on the mascot which a lot of people didn't like and and it just kept on going from there so when we've done the lead up to this we played a lot of the kairi audio over the last couple days including his remarks after they flew out of Dallas and then his remarks from media day.

And there seems like a real Zen like approach, like a guy that is understood that he's about to walk into the lion's den or whatever other analogy you want to use. And he needs to keep that level of calm. Do you expect him to be able to maintain it? Because there's a big difference between saying you're going to be able to keep your head and then keeping it when you're in the middle of a pressure cooker. Yeah, you know, look, I don't know how he's going to be.

He seems like he's in a good place. And, you know, personally, I'm happy for him. If this is like him having realized, like, yep, I had some things going on in my personal life. I lost a dear member of my family. I didn't know how to handle it all, and I reacted poorly. That's the kind of personal growth that you want to see in a person, and I'm willing to just move on from it. I've been willing to move on from it.

I don't think that somebody leaving a sports franchise is that big of a deal that people have fought for those rights as free agents and all that stuff. So, yeah, he could have done it better, but, you know, maybe he really is, you know, moving on, growing, maturing and all that stuff. And if that's the case, then he just will take everything in stride and he'll play basketball and probably play it pretty well. But, you know, when you get into that moment, if you haven't really moved on and if he's just saying certain things to say them,

then there's a possibility that they'll get under his skin. And, you know, it just kind of depends on how he's playing. If he, you know, he has the opportunity to shut fans up, which is something athletes love doing on the road. So it's going to be loud. It's going to be obnoxious. And if the Celtics can tap into something, if fans can tap into something there and they trigger an ego or an attitude, it could help the Celtics in limiting a very important player

for the Mavericks. Maybe he'll want to guard like Jason Tatum or something this time, like he did with Giannis. I'd forgotten the Giannis tidbit. That's hilarious, given the size differential between the two guys. But, I mean, from a Celtics fan's perspective, has that been kind of the dominant talking point leading into this series, just the Kyrie Irving return?

Because, you know, you lay it out, and you can understand why there is some of that bad blood lingering. And to your point about what the atmosphere is going to be, have Celtics fans just kind of been hyping them up to make this as tough as possible on Kyrie specifically going into tonight? I mean, it's a storyline. I don't think it's the dominant storyline. I think for people in Boston, the biggest storyline in Boston is this is Tatum and Brown's chance to kind of make things good. And, like, there's an unfairness.

There's always an unfairness to major storylines, I think, because it distills away a lot of the nuance. And for Tatum and for Brown, this is their opportunity, more so than who is on the other side. I think the biggest storyline in Boston is Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, against a team that they should beat, can they step up to beat them? And can this Celtics team with Joe Mazzulla in his second year, and people have had questions about him regardless of the results. And, you know, there are those questions. Porzingis with the injuries and not being really 100%.

So I think the prevailing attitude in Boston is more focused on, can these guys get the job done? It's a little bit different situation when the Warriors were here, where people were picking the Warriors because they've been there and done that. If people are picking Dallas around here, it's because it's always attached to some sort of phrase like, we just don't know about these guys. We just don't know about the Celtics. And, you know, to your point, right,

like, it does feel, it felt like all season, right? They've been the best team, the Celtics, all year in the regular season. You know, they've had a pretty straightforward time through the playoffs.

It feels like the path has been there for them. It's kind of all setting up for this to finally be their year. How much pressure is on this team and, you know, especially tatum and brown to make sure that's the case and if they aren't able to get it done in this year with so much going their favor i mean what does the or like are there does it feel like there could be big repercussions

if this series doesn't go their way uh it kind of depends on how it doesn't go their way. Like, if Tatum and Brown both try to do too much and fail and turn the ball over five times apiece and it just kind of looks bad, then, yeah, there probably would be repercussions. If they go out there and play perfect basketball or close to perfect, whatever perfect is in the NBA Finals, And Luka Doncic is just a basketball God. And Kyrie Irving averages 25 points a game and the Celtics just lose. I think you just tip your cap to the Mavs and you say they lost, they got beat and you know, it kind of sucks that they got beat,

but that's how it goes. And there might still be changes, but I think a majority of the people would understand like Celtics played great and Luca just beat them. So there is a kind of a, it depends, but there is pressure. I mean, outwardly there's pressure.

A lot of people are, like I just said, they are looking at this team. It's like, you're the champion. This is, this is just go finish the job, win four more games.

You've won almost 80% of your games. If you win four more times, that's going to be the number. You're going to be right at about 80%. So keep it going. Keep winning at your normal rate. And finish this thing off. We're speaking to John Corrales from the Locked on Celtics podcast and Boston Sports Journal here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

John, let's talk about Joe Mazzulla here for a moment, the Boston Celtics head coach. Now, understand, the audience that you're currently speaking to in Vancouver has been almost exclusively tied up in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and some of them are maybe just getting up to speed with what's going on in the NBA Finals. So Joe Mazzulla, for those that are unaware, the youngest head coach to reach an NBA Finals since Bill Russell did it in 1969. Grand total of 35 years old.

He's got a very unique approach. He's got some very interesting personality quirks in the way that he goes about his job. Can you explain to our listeners what makes Joe Mazzulla so unique and how he's done such a fantastic job this year getting the Celtics to the NBA Finals? And do it in two sentences or less, right? Yeah, exactly. So Mazzulla gets the job under weird circumstances. When Emei Udoka violates team rules, has an improper relationship with a staffer,

and is eventually dismissed and by circumstance being the only guy kind of available that doesn't have a connection to udoka one of the few holdovers but still has some head coaching potential missoula ends up getting the job and he gets the job like a week before training camp last year and is thrown into it and has, you know, they have a good level of success for a first-year guy, but they

fall behind 3-0 in the conference finals to the Miami Heat and come almost all the way back but lose. And so that's seen as a disappointment. And Missoula, with his unique strategy of not calling timeouts in you know almost to an extreme during the regular season started to you know people didn't like what they saw right and the one thing fans can see is hey i see a 14-2 run happening here call a timeout that's the one thing every fan knows

and so he refuses to do that sometimes. And, you know, he has his reasons. He is a unique personality. He takes a very philosophical approach. He, in his whole mantra for these playoffs is this is no different than the regular season. And it's a smart one because he knows that his team is made up of guys that have been told you have to be different in the playoffs. And he wants everybody to be the same. You've got to do the same job. You've just got to do it better and through more difficult circumstances.

So he takes a very zen, a very psychological approach, and he challenges notions. Whatever you think something, you can frame a question as, like, based in fact. Like, everybody has accepted this fact, and he'll push back on the framing of your question saying, I do not accept that fact. And it's interesting, and it's challenging. But it's also worked. It's something that he has, it resonates with his team.

And now in the playoffs, he does call timeouts when he needs to. He has a method to his madness. And so, yeah, he's a unique guy, but he's a very smart guy. And I think the league is starting to catch on. You just heard LeBron James on a podcast with J.J. Reddick being like, oh, this Joe Mazzulla, he's a genius, huh? The more you talk about him, the more I like him. So people are starting to kind of catch on

to him, and even if he takes a different way to get to where he gets to, he's still there, and he might get there before everybody else sometimes. Because I remember there was the one story about film sessions with Mazzulla where he showed the team images of sandcastles and then the metaphor was that even the best sandcastles get washed away by the tide and then you got to rebuild them and

like every day you got to build a new sandcastle that's one of the jason tatum astutely pointed out that it's kind of cheesy but he understood the point behind it all how does it go from being guys acknowledging that it might be a little bit cheesy and it might you know elicit some eye rolls to okay we've got buy-in because it works you know like that that's the that's the whole thing like you can say uh oh this this doesn't make any sense so this what? And then you, you, you try it because he's the coach. Right. And, and everybody on the team knows like, look, he's our coach. So let's give it a shot. And it works as opposed to like an Adrian Griffin in

Milwaukee, you know, or Darvin ham in LA. Like you give the guy a little bit of rope and he says, okay, let's do this. And you're like, Oh, this doesn't work. And either you adjust or you don't. And like Missoula is like, okay, let's do this, and you're like, oh, this doesn't work. And either you adjust or you don't, and, like, Mazul's like, okay, let's do this, and it works. Or if it doesn't, he's like, okay, scrap it, boom, next thing. And, you know, he gives the guys the appropriate amount of, you know, room to be themselves, and he gives them the right amount of respect.

And it's not just I'm the coach, you do this. It's a collaborative effort. the right amount of respect. And it's not just, I'm the coach, you do this. It's a collaborative effort. And I think everybody just kind of understands each other. They understand the roles. And Missoula has the appropriate amount of, I'm in charge, but also I'm your coworker because it's the NBA and everybody's a professional. And, you know, it's not college. And it's not a very hierarchical kind of thing.

It's just it's a unique kind of situation in the NBA. So he's trying all this stuff and it works. And so when things work, everybody's kind of on board. And it's interesting hearing you talk about his style, because, you know, one of the fascinating things about the Celtics team is we're so used to viewing the NBA through the star player lens, right? In this series, it's Tatum versus Doncic. And look, Jason Tatum's an elite player, but really the calling card for the Celtics team is just the incredible depth that they have with their starting five and Al Horford. And it sounds like, you know, obviously you have to have the roster to be able to play that style, but it sounds like Joe Mazzulla's coaching style has

kind of been perfect for getting everyone to buy into, you know, we're not Jason Tatum and a supporting cast. We're a team, and that's how we're going to win, which is, you know, not how it's always been in the NBA. Yeah, you know, a lot of times the analysis of an NBA Finals would be like, who has the best player? Yeah. Okay, Luka Doncic, okay, so the Dallas Mavericks are going to win.

But you're right, it's not that with the Celtics. And it can't be that with the Boston Celtics. And I keep saying to people, this is not Luka versus Tatum. And if you're going into it looking for Luka versus Tatum,

sorry, you're going to be disappointed. Because it's Luka versus the Boston Celtics. And Luka and Kyrie versus the Boston Celtics. And the Celtics are at their best when Tatum is attacking and giving the ball up and then getting the ball back.

And obviously he's an incredible isolation scorer, and he'll be taking guys off the dribble and looking for his own shot, and he'll be doing plenty of that because his job is also to put up a lot of points for the Celtics. That's his number one thing. But he's so good that he draws multiple players. He draws multiple defenders. And when the Celtics are built the way they are, it just makes sense.

You're like, okay, Jason, I'm sorry that you're going to, like, sacrifice a few points from your total, but you want to win a championship. This is what you do. You draw two, and you let Jalen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derek White, and Drew Holiday play four on three. And when you get those guys playing four on three, then you're going to score. And when you score, you go back and you set your defense. And you know what?

You'll find a way to score six or seven points in a quarter, and when you do that, you're still going to average up to 28 points or so. So you're going to still find your points somewhere. Just do this, and the rest will fall into place. And the same thing with Jalen Brown, and the same thing with these other guys. And it just so happens that Kour Porzingis is bought into his role, and Derek White is a superstar in his role, and Drew Holiday is playing his role better than ever. So all of that stuff kind of adds up to the sum of the parts are greater than just that one guy.

John, real quick before I let you go, how do you see the series playing out? It's all going to depend on the Celtics three-point shooting. It really is because I think the Mavs have just given up a ton of threes all year long, a ton of corner threes, and the Celtics have been in the regular season so good at those. If they can hit those, if they can generate a lot of looks off of the Mavs closing out on those three-point shots, the corner three-point shots. They're going to generate a ton of three-pointers, and they're going to put the Mavs in rotation. Credit to the Mavs for their defense, but it depends on how good the Celtics are shooting. I'm going to say Celtics in six because I think they're just all season long. They've proven

they're ready for this moment, and they haven't had many bad shooting nights in a row. And I think Luka is special enough to win a couple games on his own. I just think the Celtics are just better top to bottom. There are weaknesses on Dallas that you can attack, and even though Luka is special and Kyrie is special, Boston is special too, and more special from one through six than Dallas is, so Celtics in six.

John, this was awesome, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Enjoy the NBA Finals. It should be a lot of fun. I will do that. Thanks, guys. Thank you. That's John Corrales from the Boston Sports Journal and the Locked on Celtics podcast here on the Halford & Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet

650. I'm excited for the NBA Finals because there have been no sports all week. So let's not discount that, folks. Also, if you're not a fan of the Hoopies, and I know having read the Dunbar Lumber text message in Basket at 650-650 that many of you aren't, that's fine. Give it a shot tonight. Just try it. It's at 530. There's fine. Give it a shot tonight. Just try it. It's at 5.30.

There's literally nothing else on television tonight. It's all a bunch of empty calories on television. Sit down. Tune in. Especially at the start. You've got game one in Boston. Kyrie starting lineup. It's going to be a fever pitch type emotion in that building.

It's going to be frenzied. It might die down throughout the series, depending on if Kyrie can shut the crowd up or if the crowd can get to Kyrie and make him ineffective. It also has a lot of potential for combustibility because we've talked about it on the show. We've played audio on the show about Kyrie. And I just kind of always call it reaching this moment of Zen.

I have come to peace with what happened in Boston and my actions since leaving Boston. And now I just want to go and play basketball. And it's a great message until you get thrown into the pressure cooker. So I think it's going to be a lot of fun to watch tonight. I highly recommend you give it a shot. Well, and you talk about combustibility. I mean, Luka Doncic, the premier trash talker in the NBA right now. He will drop 40 points on you and then loudly tell you about it, right?

And tell the fans sitting courtside about it, right? So it's not just the Kyrie responding to the heated Boston fans angle, right? It's also like Luka Doncic can make things happen. He can stir things up in a big way out there. There's a few elements that could raise the temperature in this one. Yeah, so that's tonight, 530. And then, of course, we still get a whole nother day and a half before we get to the Stanley Cup final.

Thank goodness. I'm just not ready just yet. Need a little bit more time to prepare. How much have you got? I know the show is called Canucks Talk in by which you talk about the Canucks a lot. But how much have you guys focused on the Edmonton Oilers Florida Panthers matchup going into Saturday's game one in Florida? Not much, to be perfectly honest. I mean, we've had some national guests on. I do feel like part of it is, so in a normal year, you know,

you get somebody on from Florida, you get somebody on from Edmonton. I don't think there's a lot of appetite to hear Oilers analysts on the station right now. That's a very good point. We've run into that on a number of occasions, including our normal Friday Insider Luke Gazik. Of course. Who will not be appearing this Friday,

just so we're clear. We're going to take a week off from one another and then revisit the relationship in the aftermath. But it's a very interesting case study that maybe we can get into with Talk It Later, by which, I mean... I mean, I get it. I don't want to hear it either, and I work here.

There's a lot of people who don't want to hear about the Oilers. I get that. I see these national articles about the Oilers, and I'm like, do not care. Next. It's making me angry. I guess that's kind of the point, though. Drives clicks.

Okay, you've got that. The Oilers were the ones that ended the Canucks season. Yep. You've got the anytime Canadian team is the last one standing, you've got the annual. They're Canada's team. Are we cheering for them or are we not debate, which is annoying and drives people up the wall. So that's two factors that are driving our audience away from this. I think the third one is the what if, which I've seen.

I thought it would die off, but it continues to creep in. And it's just the what if this happened or what if that happened? What if Demko was healthy? What if the power play was good? I hate that though. What if, what if, what if? What if they were able to find one more goal of offense in Game 7 of the second round? Yeah, but they didn't.

Can't we just move on? But we're not, but people aren't. And I think those three factors are why the appetite for this series hasn't been as high. I'll wonder what happens when the games actually get underway, because I think it all changes then. I'm excited for the games. I think it's going to be a good series. I think there's tons of star players. You know, the Barkov versus McDavid matchup.

I'm going to have no problem enjoying and sitting down and watching the games. It's just, yeah, for our purposes, I don't know how many people need it. Why has Evan Bouchard been so good this year, right? Like, I don't know. Yeah. Okay, so we got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. 7 o'clock hour, we're going to talk a little baseball with Adnan Virk from MLB Network. And then we're going to talk to Alex Gongeruzic

from One Soccer at 7.30. Four hours after we talk to Alex, Canada will play one of the biggest international friendlies it has ever played against the Netherlands. FIFA ranked number seven team in the world. They will be playing in the Netherlands. Again, kickoff is 11.45 our time. It is the first of three matches in which Canada will play

the Netherlands, France, and Argentina. Big, big task ahead for the new gaffer, Jesse Marsh. We will talk to Alex Gange-Ruzik at 7.30 about that. 8 o'clock, it's the Drancer 8.30. It's Rick Tockett, head coach of your Vancouver Canucks. And then we're going to give away tickets to see Snoop. So we got a lot more to get to.

Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show with Jamie Dodd here on Sportsnet 650.