Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Florida Panthers Are Canada's Team

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including a big Abbotsford Canucks playoff win & the Edmonton Oilers booking their trip to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row (3:00), plus they chat the latest NHL news with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (26:21).   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.

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-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- away by De Smith as he reaches out and they score! De Smith tried to poke it away. Anytime you pull a goalie, the reasoning is always to try and spark your group. The Edmonton Oilers pour onto the ice. They are the Western Conference Champions for the second year in a row. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning Vancouver! Six o'clock on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford and his breath. 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. I like your energy this morning.

Thank you. It's very impressive. You must be happy the week's over. I am very happy. Nearly over. Did you say it's the weekend? Oh my god Hey, Doug. Good morning to you. All right, man. Lady. Good morning to you as well Hello. Hello, Halferd and brother the morning is brought to you by sands and associates BC's first and trusted choice for net help With over three thousand five star reviews visit them online at sands-trustee.com 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 This is them 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver

We are coming to you live from the kintex studio kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step got a lot to Get to you on a Friday show guest list today begins at 630 not a Friday regular But he's gonna join us today Greg Wyshinski from ESPN our NHL insider will be on at 630, not a Friday regular, but he's gonna join us today. Greg Wyshinski from ESPN, our NHL insider, will be on at 630 this morning. The Stanley Cup final is set. It is the first Stanley Cup final rematch in consecutive years since 08, 09. The Red Wings defeated the Penguins in the first one,

and the Penguins defeated the Red Wings in the second one. 16 years since we've had one of these laddie hates Rematches are you watch? Laddie this morning who hates rematches laddie came in this morning, and I'm like I bet you're all jazzed up You're ready. I bet he's got a lot of good hot goalie taste cooked up I thought you'd like Arturo Gotti only needed to see it once yep But laddie comes out of nowhere from the clouds and just drops very casually while I'm drinking my coffee Hate rematches. I'm solid reasoning for it. I know let's hear it. It makes the season moot We just played an entire year for what?

We could have just done another stand-up final and given it to the oilers in the pair You're saying this entire year is a waste of time. It was a huge waste of time this past year I like the way you think and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. I would not. Please unsubscribe me from this newsletter. However, in the case of- I see his point. If you had told-

I, what? Why? It feels like the whole year was just like a dream. Yeah, what is the point of it all? A waste. Nothing mattered. All those inator in Vancouver. Yeah, I was gonna say, knowing what we know now-

But nothing mattered. It was the year of nothing. And now we're back here again. If you told me now that you could have fast-forwarded through this entire Canucks season and just got to the end of it, I would have been like, yeah, I'll take it. OK.

Yeah. So if they were like, you got to see what's happening this year. So can you imagine this Canucks team in fast-forward motion? It actually looks like normal speed. It'd be like home or watching a car crash. OK, so Wyszynski is going to join us at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Michael D'Agostino is going to join the program. He is the assistant manager. It always sounds weird when I say it in footballing terms.

It's not a coach, it's a manager. But when you say assistant manager, it's like you're talking to like the second in charge of Burger King or something. You can't call him assistant coach? You can, but it's a manager in soccer, right? It's not a coach, it's a manager, right? They call him coach in baseball. Right, exactly.

For the purposes of our radio show, I'm gonna say assistant coach of the Whitecaps, Michael D'Agostino, they're gonna fly out today to Mexico ahead of Sunday's big ConcaCaf Champions Cup final against Cruz Azul. So we'll talk to Mike before they embark on their flight. The task that lies ahead. We can also look back on that nil nil draw, maybe not so much about the actual nil nil draw, the goalless draw on Wednesday night, but ask them if they're going to start anticipating that a little

bit more now that they're the powerhouse of MLS. Do they have to be prepared for more of these parking the bus tactics? Just kind of funny text. Look, they are finally moving their feet when we fast forward It's all we had to do actually for some reason PD still standing still Why are you so critical of him? You know we're trying to we're trying to move all of the show a dog no we shouldn't okay devolve Speaking of evolving is the show moge is gonna join us at 730. He'll be joining us live from Edmonton

There's another CFL preseason game. There's a couple of them. The BC Lions are in action They will take on the Elks from Commonwealth Stadium at 6 p.m. Our time. So we'll talk the moge ahead of that one That's it for the preseason. That's it for training camp the snoop and the preseason opener the season opener Sorry are now just a week away. So we'll talk to Moj about all that at 7.30. Eight o'clock it's Rick Dollywall. I have no idea what we're talking to Dolly about. This is where I normally turn it over to noted show handler of Rick Dollywall, Jason Brough.

What do we got for Dolly today? I think we're going to talk, well, a bunch of topics, but one that I think is interesting is, uh, Demko and what they do with him. with him because contract talks would have to start with him pretty soon. And for any of the pending UFAs that the Canucks have, they might as well get going and seeing what the number is for a Pew suitor if they want to revisit things with Brock Besser as well. But I think we're going to talk Thatcher Demko with Rick Dollywall. Okay.

And finally, it is a Friday and we're going to do a new mission this morning as it pertains to the sports side 650 Jays Care 50-50 in support, of course, of Challenger baseball, proudly supported by Tile Town. If we top $10,000 by the end of Canucks Central this evening, Friday evening, the station will do a draw for tickets to see the Abbotsford Canucks game two of their playoff series on Saturday.

And you're gonna wanna go to that game because the Abbotsford Canucks and Christian Willannon had a huge win last night in overtime against the hated Texas Stars. 50, 50 tickets started just $10. Bundles are available for more chances to win. If you want to grab them now, go to jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com or text the word money, M O N E Y to six 56 50. And we will send the link directly to your phone so you can buy 50 50 tickets.

You must be 19 plus and also in BC to play Let's do some good for a very very good cause challenge your baseball and let's do it together again Jays care golf dot raffle nexus.com or text the word money to 650 650. That's the show That's all of what's happening today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? 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. The Edmonton Oilers are on their way back to the Stanley Cup final. They did it by scoring three goals in the first eight minutes of yesterday's game. They went on to eliminate the Dallas Stars with a 6-3 win in game five of the Western

Conference final in Dallas on Thursday. That means the Oilers will now face the Florida Panthers on Wednesday. We got to wait nearly a full week before the Stanley Cup final gets underway in Edmonton. How about the Edmonton Oilers finishing with the six most points in the West, yet still getting home ice advantage in the Stanley Cup final? The Oilers are on their way to their second consecutive Cup final, Jason. Yeah, a lot of thoughts on this. Um, and we'll probably spend more time on, on

Dallas than Edmonton because we've got a few days to talk about the Edmonton Oilers. And then we've got all of next series to talk about the Edmonton Oilers. Soon the Dallas stars will be forgotten like all the other teams. You know, I was thinking about last night, um, after, after Dallas was eliminated,

how the season ends, like in a storm of criticism for pretty much every team, except for one. Like there's a couple playoff teams that go out and you're like, well, that was a good, that was a good try, right? Like when the Peg Jets, I think will fall into that category. Everyone's like, well, that was a good, that was a good try, right? The Winnipeg Jets, I think, will fall into that category. Everyone's like, yeah, that was a good effort there.

And of course, I don't think the Winnipeg Jets fell under that category at all. I think that was super disappointing. And so you're wrong about that. I think teams like Montreal, people were like, yeah, you know what? You weren't really expected to do much. Good for you. You did well. Uh, maybe even Ottawa, um, that gave Toronto a bit of a push.

It's kind of like, well, you know, we'll see next year. Um, but you know, I, I think, I think Winnipeg wasted a golden opportunity and it was really sad what happened with Mark Shifely, but the team as a whole fell short. Um, Carolina and Dallas both made the conference finals and they both failed to get over the hump yet again. I mean, as a Canucks fan, I, I die to be in the playoffs,

failing to get over the hump. It would be incredible. We, you know, we'd have it. We'd be in the playoffs. We'd win a couple of rounds and, uh, you know, but then, you know, I think Dallas, I think Dallas was more disappointing than Carolina. I had to be perfectly honest with you. I think, um, you know, considering that just the way they, they went down,

especially in, in their final game, I mean, they're down three nothing before your eyes can blink three times. And they just, I don't know, they just didn't bring it all serious. Jason Robertson started to bring it, but it was too little too late. And then you look at a bunch of the guys and you're like, what did you even do in this series? So I ran a very scientific poll on X last night. My favorite website.

Just asking all of my followers. More disappointing conference finalists. Real simple. Carolina or Dallas. I wasn't sure where it was going to go. I think there might have been some recency bias because we just watched the Dallas Stars flame out in five games. Sure enough, your sentiment is accurate. Nearly 700 votes cast.

64% of the people say Dallas was the more disappointing conference finalist, which is no small feat because Carolina was lousy in the conference final. They had one game where they were able to dictate what they wanted to do. And the rest of them, it was very much a one-sided series. But to me, the story of that Dallas Edmonton series was this was the third time that Dallas got

to the conference final. It felt like the year because of the Rantan acquisition. And this was an Edmonton team that despite getting better as the playoffs went along, I think there was a lot of people that went into that series thinking, this is the year Dallas can do it and this is the year that they will get over this Edmonton hump. Not only did they fail to do that,

they kind of failed to do it in spectacular fashion outside of the third period in game one, where they got the three power play goals to win it. Was there any other stretch in this series where you thought that Dallas was legitimately taking control? I think the answer is no. No, in full credit to the Oilers for a lot of that. Um, this team has learned to play well defensively. This team has learned to play really well with the lead.

A lot of the times in this series, certainly not yesterday, but the best moments for the Dallas Stars were early on in the games. And, um, you know, the other, I think it was game four, Stuart Skinner, uh, it was one of the games. Stuart Skinner kept them in it for the first period.

And then the second and third periods were like, it was lock it down stuff from the Edmonton Oilers. And I think we saw something similar, not the first period, cause the Oilers got off to a great start, but the stars did have a bit of a push and they made it a one goal game. But it never really felt like the stars were going to do it because the Oilers either found

a goal and caught him a David. What an amazing goal that was. I watched that on repeat like 50 times just to see his acceleration and how he held off Rupé Hans, but the Oilers just do a really good job of checking and keeping the other team to the like 50 times just to see his acceleration and how we held off Rupé Hans. But the Oilers just do a really good job of checking and keeping the other team to the outside. And we saw them do it against the Canucks and we were like, that's a Canuck problem.

Right? But like, I think the Oilers just do it really well. And I think getting back to your point about Carolina versus Dallas in the disappointment bowl. You know, Rod Brindamore made, I think, a pretty good point, a defensive point, but a good point when he was like, look, we lost some guys on this team, right? Sure, that's fair, yep. And they tried to add Rantanen and they did for a bit, but then they lost him.

So basically they traded out Neches for Stankovic, which I don't know, I really like Stankovic, but you could probably call that a wash if you're being generous. And you know, Nietzsche has a, he's more experienced than Stankovic for sure has done more in the NHL. But then you're looking at Dallas. So, so Carolina, you're like, yeah, they lost

some guys, they weren't, they weren't locked and loaded, right? Yep. Certainly not like they, they lost some guys. They weren't locked and loaded, right? Yep. Certainly not like they were when they got Gensel and had him for the playoffs. Dallas was locked and loaded, man. They were ready to roll. Although, one guy that wasn't locked and loaded,

at least according to his head coach, was Jake Ottinger. And I feel like now's a pretty good time to dive straight into this. Yeah, sure. Because that was the biggest talking point of yesterday, let's be real, was that very early into game five with Ottinger having allowed two goals on his first three shots faced,

Peter DeBoer called a timeout. And he thought, okay, that makes sense. You're gonna call a timeout, he's gonna get the guys' heads right, he's gonna yell at them on the bench a little bit. It's all good. After the timeout. He's gonna get the guys heads, right? He's gonna yell at them at the bench a little bit It's all good after the timeout there was a very odd sequence in which Jake Ottinger started to skate back to his net and

Then Peter de Boer barked out and I couldn't tell if he called him Jake or Otter But he basically told him you're done for the night buddy get back to the bench and off came Jake Ottinger and on went Casey to Smith now in the aftermath Peter Borough was asked obviously first question when he gets to the podium following the loss Off came Jake Ottinger and on went Casey De Smith. Now in the aftermath, Peter Borah was asked obviously first question when he gets to the podium following the loss about the entire sequence, what went in to the goalie pull, why he made the decision, what he said to Ottinger, all of it. Very interesting and very revealing remarks from Peter De Borah after one of the

most controversial coaching moments goalie pull or otherwise that we've seen in recent playoff memory. Here is Dallas stars, head coach Peter DeMora talking about his controversial decision to pull Jake Ottinger early in game five. Well, any, anytime you pull a goalie, you know, there's, the reasoning's always to try and spark your group. So that was the number one reason. You know we had talked endlessly in this series about trying to play with the lead and obviously we're in a two-nothing hole right away. And you know what I didn't take that lightly and I didn't

blame it all on Jake but you know the reality is is if you go back to last year's playoffs, he's lost six to seven games to Edmonton, and we gave up two shots on two goals in an elimination game. So it was partly to spark our team and wake them up, and partly knowing that status And partly, you know, knowing that, you know, status quo had not been working, you know, and that's that's a pretty big sample size.

I didn't blame it all on Jake, Peter DeBora said, but I blame a lot of it on him. That was kind of my take. Just most of it. And I was a little bit, a little bit in shock that that's where he went in the postgame. I understand that Ottinger wasn't good in the series. But if you it's funny, because I kind of deferred to some of the other outlets that were carrying the series and covering it and writing about it. So Mark Lazarus from the athletic who's been doing that series had a pretty scathing article about the Boers decision to pull out during that game.

scathing article about the Boers decision to pull Ottinger in that game. And then I noticed that a lot of the media outlets that were writing about it pointed out that Edmonton was able to beat Ottinger. This is right from the Sportsnet article, quote, on two grade A scoring chances, both by Corey Perry and Matthias Janmark. Yeah.

I mean, the first one was on a power play. Well, Maverick Bork, man, keep your stick down. Yep. Um, and the second one was on a terrible line change by the Dallas Stars. And yeah, both were, the second one, you're like, you would have liked to stop there. Right?

You would have liked to stop the first, liked to have stopped all of them, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. Yeah. But I don't think any of them were like wow what's going on? A couple of the Casey De Smith goals against were that like well hey what's going on? I mean and that's a really tough position you put

Casey De Smith in too right? Super cool like what not super cool because the game was like five minutes old but you know you put him in the series he's like this is a big game right? His last game was late at all. His last game was like five minutes old, but, um, you know, you put him in the series. He's like, this is a big game, right? His last game was played at all. His last game was April 26th. Right. And it is now May 30th. And then, and then you throw them in that situation. Um, some people were like, well, I mean, the stars did get a spark.

I'm like, I hope they would have been able to generate a spark without a goalie pole because they were at home, you know, facing elimination. I would hope they'd be motivated to find their legs without having to have the goalie pole. Like it was, it was pretty obvious when you watched the sequence unfold that he did it out of anger. That it was.

I agree. And it was weird the way it went because he called a timeout and then he talked to his skaters and was telling them, I don't know, whatever. And he was wearing a brown suit and that's a bad choice at any rate. Um, and then Autinger just skates back to his

goal and then he gets called back. And I was thinking, man, like what's the communication level where you've called your time out, you've already spoken to your players. Autinger thinks he's going, so what was Casey De Smith thinking? Please don't put me in. That whole thing was just like, it was weird. And the one thing I will say that were similar in both the Carolina and the Dallas,

or Carolina and Dallas, both those teams lost their composure. Big time. Big time in those series. Yep. And I, and part of it is just like, that's what happens when you lose in big games. You, it's really tough to, to keep your composure.

But also I think both teams were feeling that like, oh my God, it's happening again. Feeling like we're, we're blowing it in the conference finals. So Sean texted, by the way, Dunbar number text message in basket, 650, 650, text in your what we learned, ask us anything's $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway for the best.

Ask us anything. Sean writes in, he says, Halford, why were you in shock? DeBoer said what he did about Otter. He told the truth. We all know it. Let's not call a coach being honest with the media strange. Sean, the reason that I said it was strange is because at every opportunity prior to this, when Peter DeBoer was asked, he said very specifically, Jake Ottinger is not the problem. Jake Ottinger is the least of our problems. They had many other problems in Dallas,

namely the complete inability to score goals from games two through five. I mean, that's what got me about it. If you're going to end, here's the thing. If he was lying to the media before to protect his goalie, he may as well just keep the lie going in the aftermath. He's still got to work with the guy conceivably, assuming he doesn't get fired. Also. It was his version of the truth

We just went over the two goals You could easily pin that second goal with the poor line change on the coach Because who gets the blame most of the time when there's miscommunication at the bench. Let's the coach. Let's say that Ottinger was bad in the series, which I think at times that he was and he got outplayed by Skinner You can say he was average. Right. Absolutely. And let's say that, okay, you've acknowledged this. To go down to the final game, the elimination game,

and say, I think I got a better chance now, not in any of the other games, but now with my second best goalie and taking out my best player That doesn't like logically that doesn't make any sense to me My theory in that moment would be if I'm gonna go down swinging in this series I'm gonna go down with my best players playing and I just been my best player like Audrey's the only reason they got out of The second round against Winnipeg as far as I'm concerned

Right was he having a tough time against Edmonton sure Was Casey De Smith gonna have any less of a tough time? I think that played out in the second and third period. A lot of goalies have a tough time with Edmonton. You know, it's like. Surprisingly. If the difference, and let's be honest, between the two of them in that game was negligible, go down with your, go down fighting.

Go down with your best player in there. I don't know what the ramifications are gonna be for De Boer. Like, I don't know. You're kinda with me on this one, I think. I don't necessarily think he's about to get fired for this decision. Well, his comments, it sounds like he might be. But it certainly, certainly creates a brand new and very bizarre drama

between him and surprise, surprise Peter to borrow and a goalie having drama that wasn't there prior to Game 5. I do want to mention before we go to break and then we'll talk to Greg Waszynski and we'll continue the NHL conversation. Congratulations to the Abbots for Canucks. They're up one nothing in their series against Texas with a three two overtime winner

last night, the goal scorer, Christian Wallanan. Smith takes a feed from Kara over the left point for Wallanan, he'll tee up a shot, stop by Porter. He scores! Christian Wallanan! Let's get out of here! Christian Willanin just called game one! Now you'll notice on the call our man Brandon Astle said, saved by Poirier. It's a goal! Did you see the goal?

It was a bit of a stinker. Did he just assume it was going to be saved? He was like, oh, he didn't save it. Wow, he should have. I think he actually saved about 43% of the puck if it got it squeaked through and the reaction afterwards was pretty tough to see is that poor ages kind of Collapsed and he knew that he should have had at one of his defense We came up and patted him on the head and he's yeah, that's what we'd like to have back It's having run the head. Yeah, he said this one's on you, buddy I hate you For the Texas Stars well hey now You know you got to think about it now the Dallas Stars eliminated from the playoffs how many guys make a beeline?

To Abbotsford to get into this series in time for Saturday How many guys Greg anyway great job by the Abbotsford Canucks last night to win the opener of their series? Anyway, great job by the Aventer connects last night to win the opener of their series It was as I mentioned it went late It was like in the last stages of me putting together the show last night. They wanted an overtime so we didn't get a ton of content or You know notes from it But good job from the Aventer connects to go up one nothing game two of that series is on Saturday And if we hit a ten thousand dollar fifty fifty total for the Jays Care Sportsnet 650 50 50

In support of Challenger Baseball by the end of today We will be giving away another pair of tickets to see that game to in Abbotsford on Saturday night Okay, we are up against it for time We're gonna turn our attention to Greg Wyshinski our next guest on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650 We will talk about everything involving the Stanley Cup final But there's some other news from around the NHL yesterday. Lane Lambert is the new head coach of the Seattle Crack and Jonathan Taves is apparently going to be making a comeback to the NHL next season so we'll get into all that with

Greg Wyshinski next on the Haliford and Bref show 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 post-game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. I like this version. Don't know where you keep finding these. Isn't there a rocky theme version with the piano? I think there is. Yeah, it kind of reminds me of this. You now know

your task for the remainder of this segment, Greg. You are listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sports Night 650 to 631 on a Friday. A sweet, sweet Friday. Halford and Brough of 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 Wyshinski from ESPN is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of hour one, especially on a Friday.

Uh, 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. To the phone lines we go, the Power West Industries hotline, as a matter of fact, Greg Wyshinski from ESPN here on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Greg. How are you? Are we are we sure that isn't the injury theme?

You know, it was very reminiscent of when somebody gets injured during a Fox NFL game and they play the the dramatic piano version of their theme song whilst someone is, you know, clutching their ACL after a sack attempt. And here comes the car. Maybe that's what we heard. Yeah. Um, wish, uh, just your thoughts on, uh, the goalie situation with Pete DeBoer and I'm going to have to clarify the goalie situation. This one's with Jake Ottinger.

He's pizza maniac. Like, what are we even doing? You're, I understand the idea that you're trying to shock the system of the team. But if you're trying to shock the system of the team that probably should have happened in your lineup before the game, it's not to take out your best goaltender and a guy that has done yeoman's work and getting you to this point in the playoffs, because your, your team failed twice and flaked out in the first period again. Here's what happened last night. The rookie Pete put in the lineup. He took a high sticking

penalty a minute 47 to the game to give Connor McDavid a power play. That's one nothing. The second goal was because Pete's team was in an absolute coma and let Matthias Janmark get in behind the defense for a partial break and that's two nothing. So the first one was the lineup change Pete made that failed and the second one was an unmotivated group that wasn't prepared for this game, which I don't know, probably isn't on Jake Ottinger, completely flaking out and now it's two nothing on two shots. But for him to go on the press conference after the game and talk about Jake Ottinger's record against the Edmunds and Oilers and how that's a good sample size my man what about the team in front of them like that's that's who's losing these games it's

not Jake Ottinger my god this team had two goals in three losses before last night. What are we doing? How are we putting this on the goalie? But he was talking like a man who knew he was going to be fired. So who knows? Maybe he was just in a crabby mood.

Do you think he will be fired? Cause a dog brought that up on our, on our group chat last night. And I was like, nah, he's not going to get fired. There's no, there's no coaches left and but did do you think otherwise there's always coaches left I mean Jay Woodcross left yeah still doesn't have a job if memory serves I listen he's got one more year left on his contract so it's entirely plausible that

they let this thing play out one more time. I think the two things that are really interesting here are one, how do you possibly run it back with Jake Ottinger and Pete DeBoer in the same locker room? Like I don't know, that's kind of an unrecoverable thing if you're a starting goaltender in this league to have your coach be that blatant to basically have your coach like what if they have to play the Oilers again next year and your coach said you can't beat them that's not motivation that's just him having no belief in you right so like like that's that's a that's a really unrecoverable

thing that he said last night and then the second thing is is that, you know, you have to balance the regular season success and Pete's had a higher points percentage with Dallas that he has with any other team he's ever coached in the league. And the fact that they have been the Western Conference Final three straight times and Pete, because he is very smart, knows exactly what his situation is. He bought up the Washington Capitals. And if you look at the Washington Capitals, a team that, you know, couldn't get past a certain point in the playoffs until they did and they won the cup, it was in their fourth year with Barry Trotz.

Right. So Pete's basically laying it out. Listen, let's do this one more time. It takes teams a while to be able to do this. We'll break through next year. Barry Trotz did it with the Capitals. Why can't Pete DeBoer do it with the Stars? But is this job in jeopardy? I think it absolutely is. I think it absolutely is. Do you think that was just quite literally an angry goalie poll?

Like he was frustrated at the moment, then he just snapped and made a decision. Or do you think it was more methodical than that? I think he was angry at and you're not getting him saves in the first. I think he probably thought that that this game, I think he knew what we knew which is that if the Dallas Stars can get a lead in this game they probably weren't gonna win the game. Like that was the one thing that hadn't happened yet in a series. It's the one thing that was gonna let them exhale a little bit and not feel the weight of the world on their shoulders and it was the one thing that

was gonna do what they had been completely unable to do at any point in the series, which is to plant a seed of doubt or concern in the Oilers. The Oilers were the most unbothered team in the conference final. Like they did not have a moment in which their confidence was shaken.

Stork Skinner was not worried for a moment in the series. Like they know why they lost game one. It was an anomalous thing with three power plays and three power play goals. The rest of the time they were fine. So if you score the first goal last night, you're feeling pretty good about yourself. And then they didn't.

And then he got angry, probably at his team, but also probably at Otter and yanked him in the hopes that it was gonna, I guess, spark the team. But also because as you stated last night, he legitimately believed that Casey DeSmith gave him a better chance to win against the Edmunds Hoylers than Jake Ottinger, which again, is kind of like a fireball offense.

How excited are you for this rematch? I'm really excited for it, man. Like I'm not excited for the travel. I just spent an hour and a half last night mapping out my next two and a half weeks of life. Lots of, I forgot the fun of the connecting flight. I mean it's actually a little bit more compressed I think schedule wise than it was last year too. So now it's kind of like there's a game then there's a full travel day then there's a game you know going between Edmonton and Florida.

Listen I think Edmonton is much better than they were last year. I think they're more mature. I think they've committed themselves defensively in ways they didn't last season. I think Skinner's playing with more confidence than he did last season. I think Florida's better than they were too. I mean, I think the addition of Marchand to give them another really good line to go along with the two that they have, the ability to flip Verhege and Rodriguez, the two that they have, uh, the ability to, you know,

flip Verhege and Rodriguez from the first or second line and both lines remain incredibly good. Bob's playing well. Um, they're, they're, they are, they are, they, they could be the only antidote in this league to the Oilers with the way that they play with the players that they have with the swagger that they carry. It's not a moment in which they're intimidated to play McDavid and Dry Seidel. And that's a, that's a hard thing to find in this league.

Um, the concern I have for Edmonton is the injuries. Like I do think this is a Zach Hyman series and not having him as a real, real, real big problem against Florida. Um, and then you're hoping that Connor Brown gets in. I mean, I mean, obviously Skinner was a good story last night, but Connor Brown's been really special for them. So you hope that he gets back in. Kind of lean in Florida six, but I have to kind of dive into the numbers

a little bit more before I make a formal pick. I'm with you on the Hyman thing. I think I'm probably going to pick the Oilers just because I don't know, I think with McDavid and Drysaddle, even though the Panthers are an unbelievable team and a type of team that's not going to get intimidated by them, those guys are just like, McDavid's goal last night was just incredible. And maybe I'm just being swayed by too much of

the 83-84 narrative, which I'm sure we're going to get a whole lot of. We're going to learn a lot of things about the 83-84 narrative over the next few days because there isn't a game until Wednesday. But it's more what you said earlier, like their commitment to defense. Maybe this is going to be one of those series where it's like all about who's able to get the lead, especially if the Oilers get it because they've been just so impressive in lock it down moments. Like they made Vegas look toothless.

They made Dallas look toothless except for maybe Jason Robertson at the end. And I don't know if that's on Vegas or Dallas, but I know Edmonton has had a lot to do with it. But that's why, that's why I think Florida is the perfect opponent for them is because, I mean, I covered the East, right? That Carolina team has not given you a whole

hell of a lot to work with. And Florida is patient. They will take what you give them and they will wait and they will wait and they will strike at the right opportunity and all of a sudden they've scored three goals in eight minutes and And I think that's part of the thing that you have to be if you're playing Edmonton is you can't get flustered If you're down one nothing and you can't get flustered if you're not getting to your game in the third period I think a team like Dallas legitimately flakes and freaks out in the third period if they can't get to your game in the third period. I think a team like Dallas legitimately flakes and freaks out in the third

period if they can't get to their game. And that's why they had three consecutive games of four shots on goal in the third period, like that's an excusable. I don't think Florida is going to be the same way. I think Florida knows exactly how they have to play. They keep it extremely simplistic whilst Dallas, I don't think could do the same thing. And so I completely agree with you.

And I would not be the least bit surprised if Edmonton raised the cup in the final. But I'm telling you that like, for all of the things that Edmonton has done in the West that have been extremely effective, like that magic might not work on, on Florida. Like they might be impervious to those cells. We're speaking to Greg Wyszynski from ESPN here on the health and improv show on Sportsnet 650. I know we're all very deep in the waters when it comes to the playoffs

and the Stanley Cup final, which just got booked. But how much time have you put into the newest coaching hire? Seattle Kraken announced that Lane Lambert is the new guy behind the bench replacing Dan Bilesma. Disco gets one year behind the bench before he's out. Your thoughts on Lane Lambert as the new hire for the Seattle Kraken. Conflicted.

A little bit. How so, Greg? Oh, I just don't know. I don't know if he's a head coach. I gotta be honest with you. I don't know if he's a head coach. There are some really, really good assistant coaches that I'm not convinced are head coaches.

And you know, you think about Pittsburgh with Todd Reardon as an example. Like I think that guy is an amazing coach of, of their defense and for anybody's defense, but you know, they put him behind the bench in Washington and it just didn't work because he may not necessarily have the skills to be a head coach. I covered Lane and in Lane with the outers. I mean, the outers are kind of a unique situation when you're the coach under Lou and the personnel being there. And maybe in a different situation where he's going to be creating

a bit of culture and structure and maybe working with some younger players, it'll be a different fit in Seattle. And again, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt because I think this league is built for second chances. Like I liked the Blaschel hiring in Chicago. I think that's the guy that needed to kind of like get to Detroit out of a system, learn a little bit from John Cooper and then cycle back.

I mean, Pete DeBoer was a second chance coach at one point in his career. I just, I'm just surprised. I'm surprised that's the direction they went. I, I'm not exactly inspired by it, but I don't know. Like I, I'm hoping that maybe he can take his experience in the Allenders and then become a different coach than he was in New York.

Did you get the feeling that the Kraken actually had trouble attracting people that were really wanting the job? I mean, I think they want to talk it. Yeah, but I mean, he wanted the flyers. So it's not, I mean, we can't, we can't fault Seattle for not landing the plane with a guy that clearly had another part of the country in mind,

if not another team in mind. But what's attractive about taking the cracking job? What's attractive about it? Besides it being an NHL head coaching job, right? Which is nice. I wasn't going to be, there's only 32 of them. I mean, that's stupid. Not all coaching jobs are created the same.

I think, first of all, you're obviously walking into a new franchise that has brand spanking new facilities. They have, you know, strong ownership. They're, you know, a new GM, which hopefully will have a positive effect on the roster, even though Ron Francis haunts the franchise like Emperor Palpatine still by working above Botero. I don't know the answer to that to be honest to you because like I couldn't tell you what the direction of this franchise is right now. I mean they didn't get the desired effect from the expansion draft and then they were very slow to understand that and still have players in the roster that

from that draft that don't necessarily contribute to being a playoff contender. The original sin of the franchise with the Grubauer contract which was you know absolutely terrible and he's been terrible for them. So I don't know is the answer. I don't know what the direction is. I don't know what the vibe is and you know what are they four years or five years into their existence. If I say Seattle Kraken Hockey, you still have no idea what that means and that's kind of a problem. Yeah, I think the Kraken are kind of like a sneaky under the radar problem for the NHL in that they're in a market that's not a hockey market, although it's two and a half hour

drive away from a a hockey market, although it's two and a half hour drive away from a crazy hockey market. Um, they're also in a market that's probably going to get their NBA team back and that's going to push them down the totem pole even more. Um, like you're kind of, you're making my point when you, when you say like, I don't know what Seattle Kraken hockey is and neither do I.

Like who's the star on the Seattle Kraken? I realize they're an expansion team and we all maybe hold them unfairly up to the Vegas Golden Knights, but for me, they have done nothing big or interesting or splashy or at all interesting to captivate a market that is going to need to be captivated. They're not just going to be like, oh, I love

hockey because they don't love hockey in Seattle. They love football and they love the NBA and they love ripping on the Mariners. Like that's, that's what Seattle does. I've watched it my whole life. I don't know if that's fair. I mean, the Thunderbirds are there, right? Like they, you know, they, I think there's hockey fans there and I think there's enough hockey fans for there to be a team there. But, you know, I talked to their owners about it being a crowded market and about the fact that like when the NBA comes back to Seattle, what does that mean to you guys?

And they've, they've sworn up and down, there's enough money in the market to, to support everybody, to keep everybody happy. The difference between Seattle and Vegas was that when Vegas came online, they were the first pro team in Vegas. There wasn't the Mariners and the, and the Seahawks and all, you know, don't forget about University of Washington sports, which are huge too. Like there's so much competition already in Seattle before the NBA gets there. And, and, you know, you, you kind of had to do the same thing Vegas did, which is to kind of put your, plant your flag and say, we're

important in this market. You know, we, we deserve your entertainment dollars. We deserve your attention. This is going to be a really fun ride. And they just haven't done it yet. And, you know, to their in their defense, maybe they didn't realize that room was going to smarten up about the expansion draft rules like and they weren't going to have the same advantages that Vegas had. Maybe the NHL didn't realize that either in maintaining the same rules

from from year to year. The fact of the matter is that outside of that one little playoff blip, they're just a team that's like, when I say name a Kraken, you might say Beniers because he's like the only good young player on the team, but you're probably going to say like Jordan Eberle or Jaden Schwartz and they all, it seems like they have seven of the same guy. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of the problem.

And they're all good, but they're all complimentary players to better players that simply aren't there. And, you know, they, they go and sign Chandler Stevenson's and they get another guy that's of that ilk. Like it's, it's, it's been mismanaged pretty poorly. It's, it's a classic Ron Francis. We're just trying to be good enough to maybe get into the playoffs, maybe team. And, uh, and, and I feel, I feel like they've completely stumbled that stumbled out of the gate in the first few years. We're speaking to Greg Wyshinski from ESPN here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet

650. And I know that, uh, you've been on the road, you've been working the Stanley Cup final, but we're starting to get to that time of the season where offseason news overlaps with the playoffs. And there was some big news yesterday that Jonathan Taves is on his way to making a return to the National Hockey League. The agent Pat Brasson said, yes, 100% Johnny is feeling great and they are moving forward with the return to the NHL. He has now played since 2023.

Do you have a sense of how much interest Taze is drawing currently or might draw? And will he make a return to the NHL next season? He absolutely will. I think he's going to draw a good amount of interest because of the intangibles that he brings to the table as a three time cup champion, a Conchmouth winner being Jonathan Taze. Like, they're going to definitely be teams that are going to want to add that as a three time cup champion, a Conch Smythe winner, being Jonathan Taves, like, there are gonna definitely be teams

that are gonna wanna add that to their mix. You look at a team like Toronto, like why wouldn't the Leafs want that on their roster? That is the quintessential rings in the room guy that you'd look at and be like, maybe he can fix this. There's gonna be a ton of speculation about Winnipeg because of where he's from and all that stuff. So I don't think he's going to suffer from suitors and I don't think he's going to suffer

from finding a place to play if he wants to play. My concern is that he wasn't all that good when he left. He's a couple of years older. He hasn't played for a few years. And if we're being honest, I mean, there's like a little dash of Aaron Rodgers now in the recipe. It's a little bit of this guy's gone on a spiritual journey and you know, there's maybe maybe some ayahuasca or something. It's like, I'm not saying he did. I'm just saying, I'm just saying there's a little bit of the Aaron Rodgers thing happening

right now with Tav that maybe wasn't there during the peak of his powers as a Canadian hockey icon and a captain of the Chicago Blackhawks. So you're speaking about the article that he did with GQ. It's funny because Bruff and I were talking about this at the break and I actually forwarded it to Bruff because I read it last night. And the procedure that he underwent

was essentially a detox in India. I don't have the name of the procedure in front of me, but it involves some pretty heavy-duty Expelling expelling yeah physically and emotionally right so that in case anyone's wondering what Greg's talking about here And it was part of almost like flushing his system from everything that Went through his body over the course of his NHL career So it is gonna be an interesting one to watch because I'm kind of with you like someone's going to look at it Especially given the dearth of free agents as well.

Like it's not a great free agent class. I'll be curious to see where he goes. Speaking of free agent signing places, I did want to end with this. Gary Batman did his media, one of his media availabilities anyway, yesterday. And he was asked, of course, about Florida teams, given that they are now what? It's six straight Stanley Cup finals for teams based out of Florida and favorable weather, favorable state tax. And it was funny because James Myrtle from the Athletic asked the question, wrote an article about this.

The NHL sunbelt quote unquote problem has no easy solution, but does it even need one? You're laughing. Oh my god that is the funniest thing you've ever said on this show. I know. James Myrtle in the Leafs pajamas is writing an article about the NHL's sunbelt problem. My god the absolute hubris of those dummies in Toronto will never stop Amazing me in his defense before you go on your rad He did end the headline with but does it need a solution? Oh? God

Anyway, I'm just mad now. I'm just mad at the athletic for the headline. Look sir What are we gonna do? Create an incredible weather machine to make those places not beautiful to live in? Like that's part of the math. And yeah, the tax thing is a real thing. As if the weather machine hasn't already been created. It's true. Now who's being naive?

Jeez. Look, here's the other part of it that, I mean, I'm not gonna read the article. So like, I'll just assume that he touches on it. These are two of the most well-managed teams in the league. Like who wouldn't want to play for like Jeff Vinick team during the time in which he was the owner in Tampa? Who would want to play for a Vinny Viola team?

Every single person that comes to Florida, Brademar Shand on down is like, I can't believe how well-managed this team is and how well they take care of people. Vegas is the same way. Vegas is the same way. Dallas is the same way. Like there's so many advantages that go beyond the economics of these places. It's where you're living. It's who's owning the team. It's how they take care of you. And yeah, to speak to the myrtle of it all, it's the media market in the sense that when I'm covering the floor, I went to a Bill Zito press conference yesterday

and I was maybe one of, I'm covering the floor, I went to a Bill Zito press conference yesterday, and I was maybe one of, I'm gonna say three people, maybe three people that didn't work for the team that was at the press conference, the day after they clinched the Eastern Conference. So like, that's what I'm talking about. Like there's a lot of advantages to these places that go beyond the economics of it,

and there's no way to replicate it, and there's no way to legislate against it. So good luck Toronto, I guess. Yeah, someone texted in with, I know we got to get going here, but with actually a pretty good thought earlier in the week and said, you know, like if the Oilers win the cup, I wonder if that does some advertising for playing in Canada because the celebration is going to be insane. And are any of the players that were, that

are in the league right now, were they there in 1993 to, you know, to, to, to witness what Montreal was like after they won the cup? Can I ask you a question? Have the Oilers suffered in retaining talent or attracting talent? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not at all. So why? Because as much as we goof on Darrell Cates, he's been a good owner. They've

upgraded their facility to something crazy. You have a chance to play with the best player in the world and maybe the second or third best player in the world. There are ways that you can attract talent to places that don't have beaches. Well, the Leafs did it the ways that you do it. Well, the Leafs did it. The Leafs did it. What? The Leafs did it.

The Leafs attracted talent. They got John DeVarious to sign there. They had all these veterans that were willing to sign there for not much. Cause you know, like I'm with you Wish. I think this whole thing is overblown. And quite frankly, like if we're talking about the economic advantages of these,

of these non-traditional markets and these Sunbelt teams, that's going to really dissipate when the, when the cap is hitting like one 13, like you're going to be able to pay and retain your guys in ways that maybe you're not able to. And, and, and also, um, if you do have to pay them at rates that aren't, that are above what like Dallas gave Rantanen and what Tampa gave Gensel, you're not going to be hurting as much as the cap increases. So I don't know.

It's funny. I guess we should have to get into a time machine and convince Gretzky never to leave Edmonton. That's it. And then none of this would ever happen. The Sunbelt would never happen. We have a quaint little 22-league team. So that's really it. So I hope I hope the athletic Toronto writers can get working on a, you know,

a DeLorean and fly back in time and tell Wayne never to leave Edmonton. It was a garage league and that's the way we liked it. It's always going to stay that way. Greg, thanks for doing this today, but we appreciate it. So next week we'll get back to our regularly scheduled midweek hit. So I believe we will be talking to you when you get into Edmonton. I believe you're staying at the, you're staying at the Double Tree in West Edmonton. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm looking at.

I think a Tuesday is media day, we should be good for that. And then Wednesday we start the fun. I'm excited that it got moved up actually. I think it's kind of fun that we get right into it. If Dallas had won last night, I mean the Panthers could have probably, you know, asked off the Cancun for a week.

You know, that was going to be built into the schedule. But but now we're getting right back into it and it's going to be a ton of fun. Thanks for doing this, bud. Appreciate it. Anytime. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford and Brush on Sportsnet 650. I did get a little tinge of sadness yesterday because I'm still on all the NHL media mailers. So yesterday they sent out information for the media hotels with the special link and the special code to get your media rate.

And I was like, that was a good time when we used to go to the Stanley Cup finals. It was so much fun. Just crisscrossing across the continent. You know, getting a stay in random hotels, possibly the DoubleTree in West Edmonton. Could have been us. Those days are gone now.

But look at us now. Did you get any emails from the Washington Capitals recently? Oh, we didn't even ask Wish about that. We should, okay, you know, I know we're up against it for time, but what the hell, it's our show. Yesterday, in case you missed it, someone in the Washington Capitals organization

got fired, so as far as I can tell, I guess a corporate ticket sales individual, and they were quick to point out an individual, sent out a tease for next season's tickets by saying, come see Alex Ovechkin's last season with the Washington Capitals. It was in all caps and it was bolded and it was in red. Yeah, and he went, I guess he went to Puckpedia's like,

oh look, one year left in Ovi's contract. He's not staying after this, is he? I'll just run with this. And then in one of the more impressive cleanups I've ever seen in terms of media mistakes, the Capitals quickly issued a statement identifying, not by name, but by position, the individual that aired, and that story got quickly shut down.

So there was the reference there. Okay, we are up against for time. We gotta get to break. When we come back, Michael D'Ag Castillo is gonna join us white caps assistant coach Right before they fly off to Mexico for the big Conca calf Cup final against Cruz Azul on Sunday We're gonna talk to the Moj at 730 Dolly wall at 8 and it's ask us anything Friday get those in Dunbar lumber Text message in basket is 650 650. You are listening to the Halford and Bref show on sportsnet 650