Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Showed Some Pride

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00),  they talk last night's OT Canucks win over the Sharks in what was the penultimate game of their season (6:00), plus the boys look ahead to the NHL playoffs with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (28:44).  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.

Whoa! Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose to the f***ing Canucks? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da listening to Halford and Bruff. HALFORD AND BRUFF Hughes, high slot for Fesser, one timer, missed the net, rebound, side of the goal, he already obstructed, with the press, scores! Hughes had the puck most of all over time, that helps. So, maybe that's the strategy, to actually just give him the puck and we all watch him. To be honest, I wasn't too nervous, like, you know, played hockey for a while.

It's good they're getting a taste, oh. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It's Halford and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Breft for the Morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. With over 3,000 five-star reviews, visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling Vancouver's premieres metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal North Star Metal Recycling they recycle you get paid visit them at 1170

We are coming to you live from the kintex studio kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step Did you want to jump in early there was that it? Yeah? Oh, okay? Is everything all right? Yeah, okay? We're a big show ahead on I'm just so excited a bit of an erratic start today though. I just want to get in there I don't a dog only one game left in the connects regular season a dog is Hurt there's some sort of it's it I don't want to call it a medical emergency because that would grossly overstate both medical and emergency But a dog is just kind of shuttling back and forth between his chair and the first aid room.

I think he just needs a band-aid. I think that's what he needs. So we'll try and get Adog the help he needs. We'll have an update later. Yeah, we'll update you on the health of the dog. Hey, we will get him the finest vet, the finest vet that we can find here, the Haliford and Breft Show.

We have the resources to help him here. Okay, let's focus shall we? We got a big show ahead on a Tuesday. Guest list today begins at 6.30. Greg Waszynski from ESPN is gonna join us, our NHL insider. The final wild card spot in the Western Conference could finally be decided tonight

as all three of St. Louis, Minnesota, and Calgary are in action. We'll look ahead to that with Greg. We can also ask about the Eastern conferences version of the Vancouver Canucks, the New York Rangers, whose tumultuous season is slowly coming to an end. It has just been, it's been a real slow death march for the New York Rangers. A lot of drama there. I do want to ask him about the Rangers because Rick Tuckett continues to be tied

to that job. Should it become available? I don't know. Maybe they'll keep Peter Laviielette around. They won't. We'll talk to Greg Wyshinski at 6 30 about all that. 7 30 Jason, gonna do a little NBA talk on the show today. Adam Morris from the All City NBA pod with former NBA or Tim Legler on the All City Network. The NBA's play-in tournament begins tonight. There are two games tonight. It begins with Atlanta and Orlando. That's the 7-in tournament begins tonight. There are two games tonight. It begins with Atlanta and Orlando. That's the 7-8 in the East.

But I think everybody is a little bit more excited for the nightcap, which of course is Memphis, to take on Steph Curry and Jimmy Buckets and the Golden State Warriors. The winners of tonight's game become the 7 seeds and play the number 2 seeds in their respective places. Well, I think today would be a great opportunity to discuss whether the NHL should adopt the plan.

So if anyone has any comments about that, text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. We can easily have that conversation today since I don't think we need to go super in depth on the Canucks-Sharks game. Oh, I disagree, Fred, because at eight o'clock, Brendan Batchelor, who called that game last night, did you see my notes? I called it the Canucks beat Sharks in. Oh, I disagree friend because at 8 o'clock Brendan Batchelor who called that game last night Did you see my notes? I called it the Canucks beat sharks in OT thriller. Mm-hmm Were you thrilled? I was thrilled. Were you sitting on the edge of your seat the whole time? I didn't even need the edge because I was already off it. That's how exciting it was. I was like is this Swear game gonna go to a shootout

Are they gonna treat us to a shootout is this gonna go to a shootout are they going to treat us to a shootout is this going to go to a shootout laddie was there you enjoyed yourself it was going to shoot out i was going to put that out there that you'll join us at eight o'clock that was the ultimate game of the regular season for the connects they still got one left at home against

the Vegas Golden Knights will talk to batch about what he saw maybe we'll look ahead to some other big stories like Rick talk its future coaching in Vancouver working in reverse on that guest list though eight o'clock It's batch 730. It's Adam Mares, and it's 630. It's Greg Wyshinski. That's what's happening on the program today Greg 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 messy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Jake DeBrust scored a thrilling goal with 17.6 seconds left

in overtime. Vancouver Canucks beat the lowly, and I mean lowly San Jose Sharks 2-1 on Monday night. That was San Jose's 10th consecutive loss during that 10 game losing streak. Last night was actually a defensive stalwart by their standards. They've given given up only they've given up 48 goals over the 10 losses they only gave up two last night one of them was

in overtime so to one for the Vancouver Canucks over the Sharks in the second to last game of the regular season yeah it was 0-0 after the first and that was like a shock locking it down those a shock the Canucks had a four-minute power play in that first period. The power play looked good. Georgiev, I guess, decided to play after his last performance, I think, was the one against Minnesota where he allowed eight goals. He was like, all right, I'm going to lock it down a little bit better tonight.

The Canucks had plenty of chances. The power play looked good. The whole thing you have to take into appreciation how bad San Jose is. Can I do the- San Jose, you watch them play and you're like, man, it looks fun to play for them because there's no expectations on this team. It'll be interesting to see how much that changes next season, but I cannot discern what they're

trying to do out there. Just have a good time. They're just having a good time out there. Maybe keep the vibes high, although losing would dampen the vibes somewhat. Yeah, it doesn't seem to. It really- Actually, you know what?

It's a good point. It doesn't seem to. Yeah. You know there's going to be this conversation about San Jose this off season and heading into next season, it's going to be like, you know, uh, we, we, we've got a lot of young talent here, but we, you know, losing cannot be acceptable, uh,

anymore and we can't get comfortable with losing in it. And, you know, we have to hate losing and, and you know, you're going to have that conversation about San Jose and we'll see how it goes because like, it's funny because we're going to talk about Chicago because they went into Montreal and actually beat Montreal last night and San Jose is worse than Chicago, you know, but, but, but the vibes in Chicago are so low compared to, uh, to San Jose.

so low compared to San Jose. And the funny thing is, is that game was one nothing for the Sharks, like halfway through the third period. And I'm sitting there going like, I still think the Canucks are gonna win this game. Yeah. And it, you know, let's just throw it out there. It had a very pre-season yeah in part because of the lineup Did you do the roll call yesterday for the guys that were playing in this game?

Like some of the names that were in this moment Yeah, when you were in in the suite watching the game last night I made a joke that I was actually not at a junior game for once so everyone said well Did you see the lineup that they posted you're still kind of close? I know Nikita Tolopilo obviously made his NHL debut for the Canucks So dude did Kirill Krijatsv on the shark side of things such luminaries as Cam Lund one of my favorite players Jimmy should Jimmy Schultz should They didn't have a face for him on this on the jumbotron, but they found one about halfway through the game

I don't know how they did that Daniella goose chin Luca can yoni all of my favorites. Who's the local kid? Luca Cagnoni. Okay. You had about 20 family members in the crowd. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, that's cool.

So was that his first NHL game? No, it's the sixth or seventh. Okay, but he was just recently called up. He didn't know he was going to be playing in his hometown. It was him and Schulte that just got called up and got thrown into line. Listen how we're talking about this team. Like, oh, good for him. That's great.

I'm proud of you. I hope he had fun out there. And Macklin Sellebrini, of course, scores against the Canucks. What a shot. Beauty's Night. What a shot. For Tolopilo, too, you're like,

who scored the first goal on you? He's like, yeah, Macklin Sellebrini. The first overall pick in the game. He won't be getting a can of Bud Zero when Celebrany was hired. Over. So before we get into some of the audio that we do wanna parse through,

shout out to Tolopilo. He gets his first win in his first ever NHL game. Quinn Hughes went and picked up the puck form in a very nice gesture. Quinn Hughes, speaking of the captain, 409th career point, tying Alex Edler for the most by a defenseman in Canucks history. And finally, Jake DeBrusk,

and we can jump right into the audio here, set a career high in goals this year, 28, surpassing his previous high, which I think he did twice in Boston of 27. Let's just jump right to the audio because after the game, Rick Taukett spoke about Jake DeBrusk scoring his 28th goal, how many of them have come on the power play,

but also adding in that there might be another level for Jake DeBrusque to reach. Here is Rick Taukett on DeBrusque following last night's 2-1 win over the Sharks in OT at Rogers Arena. The good thing for Jake, I think, um, a lot of goals around the net. If you look at his goals, I don't know, what's he got 15 power play goals now? He's one of the top power play guys. He didn't play in Boston much power play. That's a positive. A lot of goals around the net. Now there's other parts of the game he has to get better at. So, you know, that's for another conversation. But I am happy with

his net front goals. But, you know, there's another level for him to play without the puck and a little bit of pace, you know, but, but, uh, it's something to build around. So, um, play without the puck and play with pace. And I think that's the play with pace thing is the big one for me. Yeah. Um, with De Bruyce because outside of his great hands around the net,

and we've seen him hop on rebounds. We've seen him tip a lot of pucks home. He does have great hands around the net and that's awesome. Yep. You need that. Um, but here's the thing that a lot of people text in about, and I certainly don't disagree with, when else do you notice him?

It's fair. Like does he push the play? Does he push the play forward? Like if you're gonna compare Jake DeBrus to, what's another prominent, like Garland. Garland, how much do you notice him, you know, during the game? You notice him a lot, right? Now, the difference between Jake DeBrus and Garland, how much do you notice him during the game? You notice him a lot, right? Now the difference between Jake DeBresque and

Garland is like Garland around the net isn't as good as Jake DeBresque, right? Like if you could combine those two players into one, you'd have one, you'd have like a guy that pushes the pace and has great hands around the net. Garbrest. You garbrest. Yeah.

Kids can call you gar call it. Yeah. Kids can call you Garbusk. Okay, I have thought about this and it's like, in a very weird way, and we've said this before, but I think Debrusk was maybe the most as advertised player that I've ever experienced in my years of following the Vancouver Connects. When they pick up someone in free agency,

you're like, what's he like as a player? And you'll ask his, the reporters and maybe some teammates he used to play with them in his previous locale and the scouting report, even aside from the streakiness, everything kind of fit. It's like he'll show you glimpses where you're like, wow, there's maybe more there than what you're getting out of them. But then when you look at the size of the contract that he signed, the amount that he's deployed,

his cap hit, he delivered on that contract. I don't think anyone, can anyone say that that was like too expensive or too rich of a deal? It's good value right now. Yeah, it's absolutely fine value for the money that you're paying him. However, no coach is gonna say that in the aftermath. They're always gonna say they got another level to go to. But in this instance, I kind of get what you're paying them. However, no coach is going to say that in the aftermath. They're always going to say they got another level to go to.

But in this instance, I kind of get what you're saying. Like when you see the stuff in front of the net and you're like, that's great. He's got an ability to finish. He's got nice hands. He's got touch. Can there be more? Because at times you do see more,

just not with any regularity. But here's the thing. He's 28 years old. You don't, they didn't have bad coaches in Boston. You know, there's a reason sometimes he was in and out of the coach's dog house in Boston. This might be who he is. Oh, I think it's, I think it's 100% who he is.

Yeah, like I'm not going to be more. Yeah I'm not gonna I'm honestly just not gonna spend a whole lot of time Thinking that there's so much more for the brush to give No, but I mean we're talking about it because the coach said no, I know. Yeah No, I don't know. But like if I were along the lines of what you're saying right now It's like I you gave you 28 goals. Yeah for 5.5 million. He played in almost every game. He was pretty durable. Um, he's a nice guy.

He did all the walkup interviews very well. Like he did pretty much, I ticked a lot of boxes for what you signed him to. But Bruce Cassidy can be, you know, I don't know, maybe, maybe a different approach, but Bruce Cassidy is a pretty tough coach. You know, it's not like, uh, it's not like he was handling him with kid gloves.

So maybe they have to find a different way to try and get Debrecht involved in the rest of the game. Yeah. But I, I, I'm just not optimistic about it. I think he can get more goals though, but so much is dependent on how his center plays and who his center is, you know, he's he's scored 28 goals with, let's just call it some inconsistency in the top six among the centers.

Half as well. Let's just call it half his goals were on the power play. Yeah. Yeah. Right. He had 28 14 on the power play. So if you want to do that glass half full analysis of that, it's like, Hey, he did find, um, not necessarily a new level, but a new role as a power play specialist.

Specialist is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, but he did score 14 times with a man advantage. Like I heard the boys on the post game show talking about, who are they comparing? Oh, Zach Hyman on the island, on the Wohlers. And they were saying like, well, he came into Edmonton and he didn't light it up right away. You know, he had something like 27 goals his first season

and then a few more the next. And then his third year there, he had 52 goals or whatever he had. Yep. And now he's come back to Earth. But no, no, no. But my whole point was like, oh yeah, who are his centers there?

Are they good? Does he have talent down the middle? Table setter if you will I mean I think Nebraska having 28 goals this year is terrific Considering what's happened down the middle and yeah like the the Hyman thing is hilarious because if you go back to last year He scored 70 goals between the regular season of the playoffs He scored 54 in the regular season and 16 more in the playoffs like he was between the regular season of the playoffs. He scored 54 in the regular season and 16 more in the playoffs. He was scoring with regularity at a clip

that there was only a handful of players that were putting pucks in the net, right? And now this year, maybe a little bit more of a regression to the mean, but a lot of the 70 goals had to do with the fact that he had McDavid playing at this level way up here as his center. Well, net front-wise, the Caducks might be covered because they got Jake DeBrusk and

apparently a young Thomas Holmstrom. Okay. I can't believe the timing in the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. Someone said, is DeBrusk the modern day Tim Kerr? And I'm like, that would be amazing because apparently the Canucks have a fledgling Thomas Holmstrom. This is Rick Tocket yesterday discussing Linus Carlson who scored the lone regulation goal for the Vancouver Canucks

in the 2-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. And Tocket, and I believe this was unprompted, I don't think they were, just look it up, it's Tocket on Carlson in teams. I think this is Tocket discussing the player, not necessarily being asked for a comp, but talking about a guy that he sees glimpses of in Linus Carlson. Now, Thomas Holmstrom, for those that don't necessarily remember his style of play, probably the premier net

front presence in the National Hockey League over a five or 10 year gap. We got the audio here. Here is Rick Talkett talking about Linus Carlson and his comparison to Thomas Holmstrom. Yeah, you guys probably know Thomas Holmstrom for Detroit Red Wings. Kind of reminds me, he made a living. Like, he was a hell of a player. And he was probably one of the best net front guys

in the league for his era. I mean, he was one of the top guys. I think that's a goal for a guy like Carly. Can he be that wiry, just control that net front and get those type of goals? I think there's something there. He's got to get stronger and this is like I said, he's got another level of fitness, all those guys do and that's just part of the maturation. But yeah, he's a guy that, uh, that can, you know,

he should embrace that role because he can do it. I have to admit, I've been really impressed with Carlson. And when he was sent down a little while ago, I was like, why is he down? I thought he was great, you know? And, uh, and I was, I was like, I was like, is it a waiver wire thing? Like, I didn't like, I need to bring in one of these guys that knows the rules. Like, why is he down there?

He looks pretty good. And then, and then they brought up Baines for a bit. I'm like, what? You know, Carlson's good. He, you know, he's not, um, I wouldn't say he's like a super like thick guy, but he's, he's, he's strong and, uh, he plays bigger than I expected when he was acquired by the Cadacs from the Sharks.

There's a backstory there too because I think a lot of people were like, oh, Lena Carlson, who was the kid that they sent to San Jose? Don Allen. Don Allen, right? Everyone was upset about Jonathan Don Allen and everyone was like, oh, they're ruining him down in Utica and look how that one turned out. Yeah, thank you Jim Yeah, wasn't he like didn't go home? Yeah, he's wanted to go home Well, I think the comparison there sorry is that Holmstrom wasn't like Holmstrom's got this aura and reputation as being this net front presence

That was like huge, but he wasn't he was his wiry. He was six feet tall. He was 200 pounds He wasn't a massive physical presence. Wasn't like putting Chara in front of the goalie. He just found, I think using the phrase or the term wiry is a good one because it's more of a mindset, it's a mentality to be in for net front presence sometimes and that's what Holmstrom had.

Well, you gotta have a long reach sometimes too. Like you gotta be willing to get to pucks. You gotta be willing to take a ton of abuse. That's kind of the big thing. Like you're gonna get a lot of cross checks into the small of your back. You're gonna be on to take a ton of abuse. That's kind of the big thing. You're going to get a lot of cross checks into the smaller back. You're going to be on the ice a lot. It's a greasy dirty job, but if guys can do it with

their mentality and a physical makeup that lends themselves to it, you could be a very valuable NHL-er. Let's talk quickly about the Habs Chicago game because someone texted in and said, Brough, you are jinxing the Montreal Canadiens by getting on the bandwagon. I said, don't worry. I said, don't worry.

I pre-jinked Columbus. And Columbus is the only team that can catch Montreal for the final playoff spot. So I already took Columbus out because I got on their bandwagon. So don't worry, Montreal's still gonna get in. But man, like. Montreal's left the door open though worry, Montreal's still going to get in. But man, like Montreal's left the door open though. And that's probably not a great thing.

And in their last, I want to say five games, they've been bad. Yeah. They, you know, they've gotten some results in some of those games, but you can't get out shot at home by Chicago. Well you also game where you, you blow a two nothing lead, then that can't happen. And if Montreal doesn't pull it together, they're gonna be out of the playoffs real quick. So the Habs lost yesterday in case you missed it. 4-3 in the shootout to Chicago as Jason mentioned. They got out shot by the Blackhawks

and blew a two nothing lead and really wasted the energy and aura from Ivan Demidov's NHL debut in which offensively he was brilliant. A goal and an assist really brought the Bell Center faithful onto their feet with that energy fulfilling the promise that so many people had for him. Terrible back check on I want to say it was the Nazar. Is it Nazar or Nazar? I don't know how to pronounce it. But on the goal in regulation, it was a two on,

it was sort of a two on one that kind of turned into a two on a ho. Yeah. And the back check got spot shadowed because he would just sort of dem it off, would just sort of gliding back, not really getting back into the play at all. And they're like, well, he's got the Kovalev comp down pretty close. Like, you know, everyone, everyone thinks he's going to be the next Kovalev. He certainly got that part of his game, like honed in. And then we're going to have to get the K.H.L. out of this kid. Honestly, I mean, that is going to be part of it when you play that,

when you play in the K.H.L. all season long and then you're thrown not just into the NHL, but into crunch time in the NHL. The Habs, I'll be dead honest here, should be disappointed and a bit embarrassed that they haven't locked this thing up yet. They've got a very healthy margin on Columbus and Columbus has been hanging on by a thread for days now. And they continued to last night. Columbus is four points back.

The Habs have one game left in the regular season against Carolina, all they need is a point. If they don't win that game against Carolina or don't get a point and let Columbus decide their own fate, that's a failing for the Habs. What'd you guys make at the end of that Habs? The shootout? The shootout, did you see what happened? So, Nazar slash Nazar scored in the shootout

on an empty little backhand move. Right. And then the puck got so thoroughly lodged in the back of the net that nobody knew that it went in except him. Yeah. And but including the referees and the officials now, Freage kind of did a really quick blog breakdown of what happened. I guess someone jumped on the headset right away and tried to tell the on ice officials like, that's a goal. You know, if you can't find the puck, you should wait until you find it before you start letting Patrick line a shoe

Which is what they did so it was mass chaos and confusion and they ended up allowing the goal after the line a shot Which ruffled some feathers, but it was technically play had restarted. Yeah, you're not supposed to go back and change Yeah, line. He was like I would have done something different. Yeah to go back and change. Yeah, Limey was like, I would have done something different. Yeah, totally changed my approach. I knew that was a goal. And then what was crazy was the shootout continued and Suzuki had a brilliant move

that somehow stayed out of the net. It plunked off the crossbar and then fell and it looked like it was gonna bounce off solder blown and it didn't. So the Habs lose four, three in the shootout. And then yeah, still have not clinched that playoff spot. Before we go to break real quick so the Kings and Oilers matchup was already locked in for the playoffs yesterday. It was a very interesting

dynamic going into their playoff series. Home ice advantage was still up for grabs and the Kings grabbed it in a very definitive way. Five-nothing beating up. Now keep this in mind, what some were calling the Oilers B team, because the Oilers were without, wait for this, Connor McDavid, Leon Dreisaitl, Matthias Ekholm, Trent Frederick, Zach Hyman of Anderkane,

Troy Stetcher and Jake Wallman. That's like half the team that they didn't go to play LA with. They got beat five nothing, LA clinches second and home ice advantage. Well, they're not gonna have that come for the first round. Yeah, he's out the entire first round. During the intermission of a game that got pretty nasty,

including Darnell Nurse getting five in a game, they did an interview with Philip Deneau about what was going on with Edmonton. Here's what Deneau had to say. How did it get to the point where we are right now? What's going on out there? I think they just have their B squad and trying to hurt us. So that's pretty much the message that's that.

That's what I'm thinking. But yeah, they just had their B squad and they're trying to hurt us. So Durnall nurses part of the B squad. Yeah. He's like, I'm a squad guy. Acted like a B squad goon. My contract. That's a squad contract. So and I think this was spec that asked it like, I'm an A squad guy, acting like a B squad goon. You should see my contract. That's an A squad contract. So, and I think this was Speck that asked it, but I'm not 100% sure, but kudos to whoever the Edmonton reporter was who decided to ask Corey Perry

about what Philip Deneau had to say during the intermission. Here's Perry's response to Deneau's accusation that the Oilers dressed their B team and tried to injure the LA Kings. Don't we know that the intermission said that you guys were playing a B squad and trying to hurt them? What the f***? Sorry, my language, what do you want us to do? Did you not look at what's happened over the last couple of weeks? Like, what do you want us to do? We're not out there to hurt anybody.

I mean, that's, I don't know, cool. So why did all those guys sit? Do you want me to tell you? Yeah. Okay. Connor McDavid, rest. Okay. Leon Dreisle, undisclosed.

Matthias Ekholm, undisclosed. Trent Frederick, ankle. Okay. Zach Hyman, undisclosed. Evander Kane, hip and knee. Troy Stetcher, undisclosed. Jake Wallman, undisclosed. And a lot of undisclosed injuries.

A lot of undisclosed injuries a lot of this closed a lot of those injuries there and mcdavid rest is interesting because the others have One game left and I think it's in San Jose. Why would he even go down there? I yeah, I imagine they'll do the exact same thing and not planning these guys and sure what trying to hurt the Sharks, right? He's one point away from 100 Who mcdavid? Yeah, is that 99 point? One point away from 100. Who? McDavid. Yeah. He's at 99 points. I don't think he cares. So the back half of that answer from Corey Perry was he was like, guys, we were just trying

to get into the playoffs. Our goal was to get into the playoffs. We just want to get into the playoffs. Now, I don't know if they've got enough left in the tank to do, I mean, they've got McDavid and Dreisaitl, so they've got that, but they look like a team that's limping into the playoffs. We'll talk more about the Edmonton Oilers

and maybe the New York Rangers with Greg Wyshinski coming up next on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. 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 podcasts. 634 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Grubb, Sportsnet 650. Halford Grubb

for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Greg Wyschinski from ESPN is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour 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. So throughout the show we'll keep resetting what's at stake for the final

wild card spots in the East and the West. In the West, all three teams of interest play tonight. St. Louis, Minnesota, Calgary, so it could be decided tonight. In the East, as we mentioned prior to going to break last segment, Columbus Blue Jackets still have a chance. It is incredibly slim, but their road in

is they gotta beat Philly tonight, they gotta beat the Islanders on Thursday. They got to make sure that the Habs lose in regulation to the hurricanes on Wednesday. So the Habs should be in, but they're not there yet. And they blew a golden opportunity last night. Let's bring our next guest into the conversation. Now, Greg Wyshinski joins us here on the Haliford and Bref show on sports net 650. What up, Wysh? Yeah, all they have to do is, you know, beat a Carolina Hurricanes team coached by Rod

Brindamore. And you know how many nights off those guys get. So they should be facing a Hurricanes team completely checked out, I'm sure. No, those guys compete every night. It's like the worst opponent to have when you have to play what should be a meaningless game for your adversary but it means everything to you. You don't think the Habs are really really going to blow this though? I don't, I tend not to believe so. You know Columbus is again just like everybody else

on the Eastern Conference bubble this year there are times when you watch them and you're just like how does this team lose with the way their offense can get cranked up at times? And then, you know, during their swoon in the last couple of weeks, their offense malfunctioned and it was their, you know, and they weren't getting any goaltending either until recently. So they're another one of these teams that depending on the night can be very Jekyll and Hyde. So I actually have, it's the blue jackets of it all that kind of has me a little bit specious about

anything shocking happening in the East. But you know, I guess the Habs can chalk up last night to the, you know, the maturation of a contender and you know, young teams make mistakes whenever, but like losing to Chicago in that spot, that mean, that's like borderline, you should forfeit your opportunity to be in the playoffs, losing in that spot to Chicago. Like it's unconscionable when you have a chance to do what they could have done last night and then blow it in the way they did.

Well, they also haven't been very good for the last four or five games. I watched a bit of that Detroit game last week where they actually ended up winning 4-1. I can't remember what the shots were in the first period, but it was a lot for Detroit to not many for Montreal. And I feel like their next few games have gone like that.

Like didn't Chicago actually outshoot them last night? Which you don't want to, you know, you can't let that happen on your home ice with a chance to clinch a playoff spot. Here's the thing about the NHL right now. I'm not sure who's winning games. I think only the Sabres in Chicago are actually winning games at this point in the season

because it seems like every playoff team, every team chasing the playoffs, they're all losing. Somebody's got to be winning if all of these other teams are losing, but I'm not quite sure who's winning. It's crazy. I mean, even the good teams like Washington went on a skid and you know, some of the other teams that are in contention are just like not not necessarily performing well. It's pretty amazing how like the St. Louis Blues were such an anomaly, you know, last week before

they even got into a little bit of a mire lately of being absolutely on fire because it just feels like nobody is right now at this point in the season. Do you think it will be tough for Washington to regroup after Ovechkin's record-setting performance and then all of a sudden you go, okay, enough of that. Now it's about the team and now it's about doing something in the playoffs. Well, that's the thing. They weren't playing well for the last couple of weeks and so the question was, is that symptomatic of a team with nothing to play for outside of the president's trophy, which they probably don't even want to win? Is it symptomatic of a team being distracted because how many times can Gary Bettman and

the director of the FBI show up to your games before it becomes a little weird? Or is it symptomatic of some of the injuries that they've had, like Protoz and Logan Thompson, for example. So I'm still personally trying to figure out exactly what's kind of gone sideways with the caps. But, you know, I still think whoever ends up in that eighth seed, listen to me, that last wild card spot, there we go, is probably gonna lose to the Capitals. I think the Capitals, from a systems perspective and from an overall talent level,

which I think gets disrespected because they don't have another, quote unquote, superstar beyond Ovechkin, is a team that's criminally overlooked in this conference. And I think whoever ends up in the lowest seed is probably going out against the Caps. But then things get really interesting if in fact Carolina advances past Jersey,

because that's a bit of a tougher draw, I think, for the Capitals. And by the way, do you think Gretzky was like, hey, who am I sitting with for these games? I'm taking a lot of heat in Canada for some of the people that I'm hanging out with. Who have I got next to me? Cash Patel.

So I covered the record breaking game and I was under the impression that he was a guest of Gretzky's. Am I wrong on that? I might be wrong on that. I don't want to. I have no idea. I don't want to say, I don't want to speak

at a turn but for those who don't know, so obviously when he breaks the record we had to wait a long time for all the celebrations in the locker room to end and what have you but, we had to wait a long time for all the celebrations in the locker room to end and what have you. But we also had to wait a long time because we had to crowd into a single file line and press ourselves against the wall because the Secret Service was there to make sure that Cash Patel could go and celebrate Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky's record. It was sort of surreal to be in that situation where all of a sudden, you could always tell

the difference between arena security and secret service security by the size of their necks and just feeling as though you don't want to mess with them. Okay, let's move on before we get a bunch of texts into the Dunbar Lumber text line on this. You know, the Canucks played San Jose last night and they beat them, barely, but I noticed, I actually just saw this, that Logan Couture is, they're not going to say he's going to retire,

they're going to say he is unable to play anymore because he's got a couple years left on his contract. So he's not going to play any more games, but he'll still be on the roster, LTIR. And then I was watching last night, I was like, oh my God, games, but he'll still be on the roster, LTIR. And then I was watching last night, I was like, wow, oh my God, Mark Edward Vlasic is still on the Sharks. And then I looked at that, I'm like, oh, he's got a year left on his deal. And I wonder if they'll buy out the final year of that deal because, you know, look, he's had a great career,

but it's over. What do you think they're going to do this off season? Because Mike and I were talking about the Sharks and saying how like they're kind of fun to watch and it looks like they're having fun despite being awful and losing all the time. There will come a point where, you know, yeah, you got this young talent, but this is no longer

acceptable and you know, I'm sure we'll hear some of the cliches like losing can't be acceptable. And we got to and we got to get uncomfortable with losing and I just wonder if they do anything this offseason. Let me pause on Kutur for a second and you're right I confirmed that last night that he's going to do the I'm retiring but not officially retiring because I still want to get a lot of money kind of retirement. That guy man, obviously man, they can't, obviously San Jose came close a couple of times and, and they're, they're foibles as a, as a team that couldn't break through in the postseason are well established. I think it's despite the accomplishments of guys like Marlowe and Thornton,

that's always going to kind of be around their necks. The, the shark, the shark's never really breaking through and, and winning a championship, but to term, man, oh man, I love that. He was one of those guys and I covered him for a few years when I lived in San Jose where losing was not an option. Like he was somebody, he's like McKinnon in that way. Like where they just become absolutely disgusted with everything themselves, their teammates, the ice, everything if they don't win. And I really wish that guy could have had a second act somewhere as some championship contending team,

second line center. Cause I think he would have been ideal on some of the teams that we've seen win in the last few years. As far as the sharks go, like, I do think they probably have another season beyond next season to percolate and to rebuild and to not have the weight of the world on the franchise's shoulders because unlike in Chicago and obviously like Chicago we've come into

into focus has a few guys that will be okay around Badaard but only they have anybody on the level of Will Smith or Eklund like I think that that Celebrini has a bit more around him than Badaard does for example so I think they that celebrini has a bit more around him than than Badaar does, for example. So I think they've got probably two years before the pressure really builds to have to be a contender. But as far as this offseason goes, like they'll poke and pack and get some veterans, especially on the blue line. And then hopefully, you know, what you want to see next year is not necessarily a playoff contention, because I think they're far away from it, but at least forward progress. The offseason, I think I'm most interested in watching non-Conucks division is that of the

New York Rangers. It feels like this has been one of the most dysfunctional seasons, at least in the last few decades for the Rangers, if not all time. And it feels like every significant journalist that's covering that team has pointed to a different moment during the season where the dysfunction just kind of crumbled the room and I know that people were happy with the JT Miller trade and he might be a key to writing this ship but it just feels like La Violette knows that he's gone and that's gonna happen probably pretty quick. The Corps knows that it's already been partially broken up and that's probably gonna continue and there's got to be huge pressure on

Drury and I got to wonder if he's feeling the heat and job security because of who his boss is. But then again, maybe he's not because of who his boss is. Like, you know, Drury has always been the guy that has been kind of nodded at by James Dolan. And, you know, as far as the confidence in him building this team, I mean, you know, he won out in the,

if you want to call it a power struggle, but the Jeff Gordon situation, and, you know, he's been giving carte blanche to kind of do things to try to make this team a contender, including some, you know, big swings, both addition and subtraction wise. So I, listen, it's such a, the disappointment this season is of such a magnitude

that nothing would surprise me as far as who pays for it. But that being said, I mean, they still think they've got something there. They've, they obviously signed to jerk into a long contract and have other players in this roster that would indicate that it's not going to be a tear down, for example. So it wouldn't surprise me if Drury is still the guy with his hand on the wheel,

even if everything around this team changes pretty dramatically. The JT Miller thing is interesting because again, like the whole point of this transformation seems to be to get away from a core that's Chris Kreider and Mika Savanajad and create a core that's more like JT Miller, which is again, part and parcel of their flirtation with Brett getting Brady Kachuk. I actually think the worst thing that happened to the Rangers this season is Ottawa being good. Right? Like they might have had a chance to swoop in and get Brady if he was despondent about the Senators being an also Ram, but the fact that they're a playoff team and one that in an ideal situation can maybe even win

around is like the worst news ever for the Rangers. the Rangers. Um, you're around the, that, that fan base a lot because you're a Devils fan and you see what's going on with the Rangers fans and the, and the Islanders fans. Have you seen a Rangers fan fan, uh, fan base hate their team more than this year? Because, you know, I, I spend, when I spend time on social media and I look at what Rangers

fans say about this team, like there is such a disdain for how they play and New York fans being New York fans, they're not afraid to call something as they see it. First of all, a guy in Vancouver saying this is pretty, it's a pretty big statement to make. Yeah. You're making that statement about another franchise.

But am I right? I mean, you might be. I mean, it's hard to tell with Rangers fans whether they're despondent because of what's happening with the Rangers or they're despondent because of where the Dow Jones is. Really, that's kind of the issue with Rangers fans is you just never know. Devils fans, Islanders fans, working class heroes, Rangers fans, they're buying tickets to entertain clients. Everybody knows this. No, I mean, like, listen, you're absolutely right.

I mean, like, and again, it's the heights that they climbed last season. It's the talent on the roster, the amount of money spent on this roster. And not only is it the fall from grace down the standings, but it's ugly. I mean, you know, there are systemic problems with this team at five on five. It's always been like that. There are guys that haven't played to their potential, either because of injury or just

because they're having off seasons. And there's just a general, you know, there's a frustration for what's happening on the ice. And then that's multiplied with frustration with what's happening behind the scenes. I mean, Rancher fans are smart. Like they know that if you put Chris Kreider's name in a memo to 31 other teams, knowing who Chris Kreider is

and knowing how sensitive this guy is and how much he means to the room, of course it's going to have a deleterious effect on your roster, even if you meant for it to be a kick in the behind. So the whole thing has been a model of mismanagement and poor execution. And it's not a surprise they ended up where they are, but it's going to be, like you said, the most fascinating off season in the NHL. We're speaking to Greg Wyshinski from ESPN here on the Halifax and the Rough Show on Sportsnet 650. I agree with you, you know, with the Rangers being the most interesting, but there's no shortage of contenders.

I'm really, really curious to see what happens in Detroit. And Jay actually just texted in to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. I think partially tongue in cheek, although maybe not. Is Detroit allowed to fire Iseman or is he going to resign at the end of the week? I don't necessarily think that's going to be the end game, but I think it speaks to how disappointed wings fans are, especially since for a while there, after they hired McClellan this season,

it did look like they were going to make the postseason. Yeah. And that's the thing, too, is like, it's a coaching change specifically made to just get into the playoffs. And they didn't, you know, I don't I don't think, you know, McClellan, all think McLeod all of a sudden turns his team into a Stanley Cup contender, but he sure as hell should have turned this roster into better than the rest of the Drek at the Eastern Bubble and that didn't happen. What you guys don't know is that the Eiser plan is actually a 17-year plan, so we are only one fifth into it.

Patience, got to have patience. Yeah, so you got to, you know, like one step into it. Patience, gotta have patience. Yeah, so you gotta have a little bit of patience. The Red Wings are in a spot because, again, like when they were bad, and they were never that bad, and that's the problem, is because they never ended up with any of the quote unquote generational talents that were in the drafts during the years in which the Red Wings were outside of the playoffs. They've got a collection of really, you know, pretty good players and some of them are really good players, but the sum total is not that of a contender.

And you know, it's kind of baffling on the one hand that they didn't have more luck and baffling on the other hand as to what you do when that happens. Like when you go into a quasi rebuild and you don't make the playoffs for several seasons and you come out of it without having an elite collection of talent that you can kind of market as a next generation, I don't know what happens next. And again, like, you know,

Iserman had it easy in Tampa. He got Stamkos and Hedman to build around. They drafted extremely well with Khrushchev and Point. Like it's a wholly different situation and it reminds you of that one general manager's success in one market does not portend success in another market and I think that's what Detroit is suffering through right now. Let's finish off with the Edmonton Oilers. Are they going to be underdogs against the LA Kings, the team that they've beaten in three straight playoff rounds?

Well, the underdogs have virtue of not having having home ice I think that last night probably clinches that right for the Kings so it's clinched. Yeah Yeah, so and that's huge for them based on how well they played at home this season It's it's gonna be one of the ultimate tests of Connor and Leon Which is to take a team? That is not playing well and hasn't played the same level of consistent defense that they played last season, take a team that has specious goaltending, that take a team that won't have Matthias Eckholm

and might not have Darnhill Nurse for a couple of games of the playoffs, depending on what player safety determines on that Clinton-Byfield cross-check last night. And can they put that team on their backs and beat an LA Kings team? And the crazy part is, is I think they can. All due respect to the LA Kings, but like, you know, if Connor and Leon are in a series

and they're both at like 80% and maybe we're at that with those guys, I still think they're good enough to drag this team through a round of the playoffs. I don't think they're good enough to beat Vegas, but I think that they can still get past the Kings as crazy as it sounds, but they're gonna be underdogs for sure. There's a lot of people that are ready to dance on the grave of the Oilers, which is kind of amazing when you think about

how many people were like all in on them last year to try to get Connor and Lee on their cups. I've got my dancing shoes on. Yeah, well, listen, man, again, there's a certain shot in Florida with that. I'm sure. I mean, you know, there's, it's an easy team to root against this thing if the chips are down. But again, you think about last season and I think there was a certain amount of anticipation that, you know, much like we've talked about before though, that's going to getting his cup and taking that off the table as far as

a criticism does see Connor when it would be great at some point. But this season for whatever reason it just seems like everybody's ready to just dump on him. I don't know if it has anything to do with their general manager, that's part of it, but we'll see. We're officially into haters season in Vancouver. That's what we call the playoffs, haters. We just, well, I'll speak for myself here. We just cheer for other teams to feel sad. It's just really funny that you considered this, like that segment into seasons for somebody in Vancouver. I just assumed it was like, you know, like Hollywood is a 12 months, a year thing. They don't take like a month off for these movies. I just assume that you guys are just haters all the time.

Well, no, wish. I mean, the regular season is self-loathing season, and then the playoffs is hater season. It's a different kind of loathing. That's all. Hey, thanks for doing this today, bud. We appreciate it. When we do this next week, we'll be talking playoffs

because we'll be writing the thick of them. Thank God. Yep. Let's get this going. I feel like all of the top seeds, like I feel like we've we've figured this all out about weeks ago, like maybe like after four nations

or like we're good. We know who's going to be in. If we were playing an EA sports game, we're just like skip to end of season. What the stats look like. Thanks, Wish. Hey, Tom. Yeah, Greg Wyshinski from ESPN

here on the Halferd and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, we're gonna go to break hour one. It's in the books. We've got an open segment coming up. If you wanna dive into any connects related stories, any NHL related stories, anything you wanna get into across the world of sports, we can do it coming up cause we've got an open segment.

7.30, Adam Mares from the All City NBA podcast is gonna join us. The play-in is tonight, very exciting game on tap between John Moran and the Grizzlies, taking on Steph Curry and the Warriors. Winner goes through to the playoffs, loser goes through to play the winner of the 9-10 game. I have two questions for the listeners. Number one, play-in, NHL, would you be into it? Number two, are you worried at all, concerned, or just curious about what's going on with Tom Willander? You're listening to the Alfred and Bruff show

on Sportsnet 650.