Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Oilers Are One Win Away, Make It Stop

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they talk the latest around the NHL playoffs with What Chaos Show & CBS Sports' Pete Blackburn (27:31). 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- Kain on Thompson, hole it scores! Kain will shoot, scores! Evander Kain! Evander's a gamer. Is it tough to block out the outside noise? What outside noise? I have no idea. No clue what's going on. Good morning Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody.

It is Halford at his brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning.

Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for Dead Elf with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at sans-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 the middle of the 70 pile street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintex studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step for guests on the program today. Guest list is going to begin at six 30. Our good buddy, Pete Blackburn is going to join us. He's the host of the what chaos show on the all city network. We'll talk all things Stanley Cup playoffs with Pete last night. The Canes took a three one lead in their series with the caps.

The Oilers took a three one lead in their series with the Caps. The Oilers took a three one lead in their series with Vegas. Uh, we've got tonight game four of the stars and jets from Dallas. And then tomorrow night, that's right. Two days off between games. Their critical game five between the Leafs and Panthers in Toronto. We'll talk to Pete about that at six 30 seven o'clock. First time guest on the program, Kevin Gray Jr. Uh, he is the Mavs podcast, also pre and post game host on the DLL S Mavericks Network.

Now you're probably asking, why are we talking Dallas Mavericks? Well, if you missed it last night in one of the crazier NBA draft lotteries of all time, the Dallas Mavericks, despite having less than a 2% chance at the first overall pick, won the draft lottery and more importantly, the right to draft Duke University Star Forward Cooper flag. Surely this won't create any controversies or conspiracy theories. Not at all. Has this taken over for the Patrick Ewing draft? Yes, and immediately. It's like, what if you trade one of our league superstars

to the Lakers in a trade that doesn't make any sense for your team? What if you were to do that and then somehow end up with the number one overall pick for the best draft prospect they've had, well, since Wemby, so it's not that long ago. And then there's got to be- But a potentially franchise altering guy.

And then there's gotta be something about them moving to Vegas. That's the next step. We'll talk to Kevin Gray about that at seven o'clock out of Dallas. Big night for the Dallas Mavericks last night. Uh, seven 30 Derek Lee is going to join the program. Anaheim ducks reporter for the hockey news. Again, you might be asking, why are we talking about the Anaheim ducks? Well,

it's already been an eventful off season in Anaheim. Greg Cronin out, Joel Cuenville, and we'll also talk to Derek about what personnel moves the Ducks could make on the ice this off season. You know who I want to ask about? I bet you want to ask about Trevor Ziegres. I do. I understand that you and Jamie were discussing him

whilst I was away last week. Yeah, and Jamie was trying to sell me on Trevor Ziegres. How'd that go? Eh. You could see Bruff die in real time. It was really cool. I was like, how are his cellies? Yeah.

So Sage just went completely blank. Yeah, did he do the Michigan one, too? The Jason Bruff kind of player. Bring him on board. That's, uh, that'll sell some video games. So, seven video games. So, 730. It's gonna be him and Mitch Marner on the Canucks next year.

Derek Lee's gonna join the program on that. Derek Lee's gonna join the program. I like Marner. Derek Lee's gonna join the program at Anaheim at 7.30. Eight o'clock, Buck Pierce is gonna join the program, the head coach of your BC Lions. What a diverse and eclectic sports show we have this morning. BC Lions training camp is now underway at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops. Buck is gonna join us right before they take the field

at 8.30 for practice this morning. And then at nine 30 this morning, BC lions owner of our dome and tease this last night on X they're going to announce this year's concert kickoff headliner. That's at nine 30 this morning. The lions are going to announce that. So it's a big show. There's a ton to get into. Uh, we are doing tickets to see the who again. We're going to be doing a giveaway at 8.15 this morning. The Who are at Rogers Arena on September 23rd. We're giving away a pair of tickets every day this week.

I'll give that information out throughout the show because we've already gone way long on the rundown. So without further ado, laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was.

We know how messy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is Brats you mind? 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. It was the usual cast of characters getting the job done for the Edmonton Oilers last night in their three nothing win over the Vegas Golden Knights. Yes, it was Adam Henrique leading the way in the gold department, and it was Stuart Skinner with a 23 save shutout, just like we expected. With the win, Edmonton takes a commanding three one

series lead over Vegas in their second round series. They are now one win away from their second consecutive Western Conference final. Yeah, Evander Kane with another solid game for the Oilers too. Goal and an assist for Evander Kane. Henrik was the first star, Kane was the second star, and Stuart Skinner was the third star.

Evander's a gamer. Sure is. Yeah, and he'll tell you about all the fancy cars that he drove to the rink in and it was like, weren't you, how are the finances, are they still good? Maybe they're leased. Maybe they're, yeah.

Anyway, if the Oilers play like that, for the rest of the playoffs, they're gonna win the cup. But we just don't know if they can. Right. Right, it's just, I mean, they played, they played really well and there was a save early on. I think it was on a Barbachev that Stuart Skinner made when Stetcher actually got beaten. Yep.

Stetcher was out there, otherwise played well. Shout out to Stetcher. A little confusion on that play, but Stuart Skinner came up with the save and barbership has been a little snake bitten, but when he made that save, it was like, uh-oh, because the Golden Knights really didn't create much all night.

So if they weren't going to have a shaky goalie in there, they're not going to win that game. Yeah. And that, this is the crazy thing about the Oilers. Like we've seen the Oilers at their best in this series, but we the crazy thing about the Oilers. We've seen the Oilers at their best in this series, but we've also seen them at their worst.

So it's just a matter of, can they bring their best four out of seven games in a series? Because if they do, they're going to win the cup. They're that powerful when they're good. The one thing I did not expect from this series was that Edmonton was going to find a way to blanket the Golden Knights attack. Just consider this. That was the hundred and fifth playoff game in Vegas Golden Knights history.

Prior to that, they had been shut out a grand total of four times in those 105, 104 games. Like they just don't get shut out. Look at these numbers. Jack Eichel did not have a single shot on goal last night They only mustered 23 in total your boy Jack Eichel stone and Carlson Had one shot a piece so if you're telling me that they were able to hold Eichel stone and Carlson two shots combined That is a remarkable thing Yeah and Carlson to two shots combined. That is a remarkable thing. Yeah, this is a Vegas team that was tops in the Pacific Division.

Going into this series was the betting favorite, and I think the favorite in a lot of people's minds as well. And through the first few games in this series, it very much looked like, OK, if Edmonton, if Edmonton is going to win, they're going to do it kind of playing this fire wagon hockey where they outscore their mistakes. Then out of nowhere, they put up one of the most, you know, it was a blanket of a performance. Yeah, they absolutely stifled everything that Vegas had going.

And this comes after a game where they allowed five and it was punctuated by an absolute clown car routine in the third period to that Vegas win the game. The Oilers make little to no sense whatsoever. Here's the few things that I can say definitively about the Oilers. There's oftentimes where they're gonna have the two best players on the ice at any given moment and you're kind of at their mercy at that point. The other thing about this team and shout out to Jason Greger who came on our show right at the end of the King series and pointed this out and he said I think the Oilers might have the best forward

group in the NHL right now. And I was like, okay, Edmonton guy loves the group. I'll take it with a grain of salt, but then you watch it. And last night. Well, yeah, if their depth comes through, they obviously can make a case. Now we were talking about Florida's forward group the other day. And I mean, that's really good. other day and I mean that's really good Yeah But and that's why probably those two teams met the Stanley Cup final last year and it was really close consider last night Adam Henrique with a pair of goals you mentioned that Evander Kane had a goal in an assist Um, I did not I forgot that Casperi captain and played for this team

I he came they dragged him out of mothballs yesterday. I cool little skates with orange and blue I he came they dragged him out of mothballs yesterday. He's got cool little skates with orange and blue. I know that. Yeah, sweet. So he gets out there and he gets to play on a line with scoring sensation of Vitaly, Paul Colson and Leon Drysidle. And this was a line that had not played together for the course of the season. He throws it together in a very pivotal game midway through the second round.

And lo and behold, like they're an effective group out there. And I saw a couple of different people talking about it last time, they said, imagine if you're Knoblock and you're throwing this together and you're like, okay, Leon, I know you had a really tough game last game. So we're gonna shelter you a little bit. Yeah. With Kaepernick and Podkosen.

Instead of saying like go out there and reconnect with McDavid and score eight points, you're gonna get Podkosen and Kaepernick who hasn't played this entire series, and you're gonna go there and you're gonna be part of this blanketing defensive performance that I had. I was, again, I hate giving this much effusive praise for the Oilers and I'm sure some people

in the Dumb Bar Lumbertex messaging basket are hating every minute of this. Well, they know it too. I mean, they know that when the Oilers bring their A game, they're a very good team. We all watched the playoffs last year. You know, I had doubts about their depth this off season.

I think of Van Der Keen's a massive story. He didn't play all regular season and there was questions about whether or not, um, I mean, the whole thing just seemed weird with the whole, you know, like, can they spend his LTII? But regardless, say what you will about a Vander Kane and his character and the fact that sometimes, you know, his teammates don't exactly love him.

This guy is a terrific hockey player. He is an unbelievable hockey player. He is a power forward with skill that can really rip the puck. And you know, he's the type of guy that any team would like on their team if we're just talking about the actual player playing hockey. He is very, very effective, especially in the playoffs.

And he has been in the series in limited minutes too. Like he's not out there playing 20 minutes a night. He's playing 12 to 13 minutes a night. He was a total wild card heading into these playoffs. I didn't, I don't think anyone knew what to expect from Evander Kane. And what he's giving them right now is a real power forward performance and he drove Aiden Hill nuts yesterday and I think Aiden Hill, I know he allowed only

allowed three goals but he was rattled man. He was totally rattled. They did a really nice job in that first period of coming out punching quite literally in the case of the scrap that happened in the first period between Nick Hague and Trent Frederick, punching Vegas in the mouth. Shots were 15-5. Everything about that first period was tilted in favor of the Oilers and it just felt like Vegas could never catch up. I'm gonna be dead honest. I'm gonna be dead honest right now between that first round series against Minnesota. They won obviously, but it wasn't the most convincing.

No, not at all. Between that and what they've shown in this second round, this has not been a terrific playoff for Vegas. I know it's not over yet. I know they can still find a way to rally, but I would be shocked if Vegas wins this series. Right. Shocked. And I know that's not a hot take because they're down 3-1, but I feel like last night was a series. And if you look at it right now, there are guys on that

team specifically, if they go out meekly to the Oilers, you're going to look at, you're going to first look at Eichel, you're going to look at Stone, who granted Stone's banged up and he's not playing at a hundred percent, but when has Mark Stone ever played at know first look at Eichel You're gonna look at stone who granted stones banged up and he's not playing at 100% But when is Mark Stone ever played at 100%? Eichel stone Carlson you're gonna look at that those guys you make where were you in this series? Where were you guys has hurdle been effective hurdle is not done much door? Fave who is like a really important goal scorer for them who's been snake-bitten as well like they just would their offense Just really dried up. Yes hurdle Kurtl hit something, his trainer.

That's right. You made a point of bringing that up. Yeah, they put protective tape on the trainer just to make sure it doesn't hit him again. No, they did like a chalk outline on the back of the bench where he hit his own trainer with his stick. So again, I'm not writing this series off. When does Vegas start?

If they go out to Edmonton, when does Vegas start going? Oh, some of our key guys are slowing down a little bit. Like Mark Stone, love the player. I think Mark Stone's a terrific hockey player. And he's their captain. But he has a lot of injury history. He's never been, I mean, he is a, let's call it

charitably a unique skater. He's 33 years old. And then you look at Patrangelo who's, what was he, 35 now? Yeah. He's getting on, right? So, all of a sudden you're looking at this team and going, yeah, they're still good. They're still good. But can they attack you in waves like they used to? It doesn't seem like it. No, it's a different team. And we had Jesse Granger on the show last week

as well as we were previewing this series along with Jason Greger. And while he noted that they were great in terms of statistically scoring off the rush this year, he did say they're not a fast team. You look at them and they might have some individual pieces that can skate, but they're not fast this series. And really the series prior too,

they've looked slow at times and it's going to be really interesting to see moving forward because there's a couple of teams in that Pacific division. Now we can probably get into the Los Angeles Kings stuff later because it sounds like they're going to announce Ken Holland as their next general manager. There's a couple of teams that now that this, you know, it's not over for Vegas yet, but it is over for the Kings. They might take a look after the dust settles on this season and say, you know, what are we missing and what do we need moving forward?

And maybe some major changes could be a foot there. The other playoff game last night, Carolina Hurricanes continued to handle the Washington Capitals. It is now a 3-1 lead for Carolina in that series after a 5-2 winning game for over the cap. Sean Walker scored, Taylor Hall scored. They both had a goal in an assist. Seven goals. What was everyone drunk in this series?

Well, what's going on? That's crazy times. That's crazy times. Seven goals. It was, I watched it. It was still pretty boring. The five two score kind of not entirely indicative of what the game was.

The three two game with just a few minutes to go. Sean Walker scored on a bit of a odd man rush after, who was it? It was a Sandeen stick got stuck in the boards and then they went in on a three on a odd man rush after who was it was a Sandeen stick got stuck in the boards and then they went in on a three on one and he scored and then they scored an empty netter after that. So a three, two game near the end, a five, two game at the end. I don't have a ton to say about the series. It has been incredibly boring. They have choked the absolute life out of the Washington capitals in this series.

Washington has had 21 shots on goal in the last three games. Three games, 21 shots on goal. And then they had 14 in game one of the series. Like they're just not, Ovi finally got on the board yesterday, so he was able to score a goal, which was nice. He pounded one.

Yeah, he absolutely destroyed a puck. Five on three, yeah. But outside of that, I believe there was six minutes of penalties in Washington favor in the first period and they got a grand total of like one shot on net. Carolina is just dictating this series defensively doing whatever they want to do. And it doesn't make for very entertaining hockey. I know it's great. I know that they're very good at what they do. I know they're the most disciplined and structured team in the NHL. Maybe there's going to be an Oilers Carolina

disciplined and structured team in the NHL. Maybe there's gonna be an Oilers Carolina rematch, the rematch that nobody wanted. That is, that's a good way of framing it actually. The NHL's already working on the slogan for that one. To almost 20 years later. Yeah. Edmonton, Carolina, nobody wanted it the first time. Yeah, now nobody wants it again.

It would be a cool contrast of styles, but I mean I don't know how much of that's- I wouldn't use the word cool, but it would be interesting. Cool. I'd like to see- cool, but it would be interesting. Cool. I'd like to see. How much of that series have you watched? I watched quite a bit yesterday.

Yeah. It's just, we're not putting it on. No, no, no, Wish put it perfectly when he was on with us yesterday. It's a throwback series. That's how playoff hockey always used to be. Yeah. We're like, oh, it's two one.

The other team is done. It's only the second period. Yeah, I know, but it's, you know hockey always used to be. Yeah. Where you're like, oh, it's 2-1. The other team is done. It's only the second period. Yeah, I know, but it's the NHL. One goal lead is insurmountable in that series. It's been lousy for Washington because they were the second leading scoring team in the NHL in terms of goals per game during the regular season, and they can't get anything going in this series. I wonder, I kind of wonder, I know they haven't been eliminated yet, but I'll be curious to

see what Washington is like next season. Like we've seen teams find- That's a good question. You know, lightning in a bottle for a year and everyone's like, how did they, they turned it around. It's brilliant. They're just incredibly managed. Like I can't think of a team that was like that where everyone was like this, this management

group really figured it out. Incredibly managed. I can't think of a team that was like that, where everyone was like, this management group really figured it out. They took some chances and man, it's all come together. And then the next season, it kind of falls apart. I know that doesn't happen, but I can't think of any team where that might have happened, but I don't know. Never seen or heard of it happening before. I'm very curious to see what happens with Avetchkin next year, because obviously the

goal scoring chase is over. I don't know how much of the end of games you've been watching here, but Carvery doesn't play Avetchkin when they are, I mean, they haven't been sitting on a lead that much. Do you remember when Forrest Gump stopped running? He was like, I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go home now. Could that be Ovi? Could Ovi'll go home now. Could that be Ovi? Could that be Ovi?

Could Ovi just go home? Everyone's just like so, so into him for, I mean, this year has been crazy for Ovi and it's been a terrific story. But maybe at the end of it he's like, I'm pretty tired. There's no way. I guess he could.

I'm not even joking. He won't. He's got a contract. I know, but he's done what he wanted to do now. I guess. He's won a Stanley Cup. He's the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer. I know but he's done what he wanted to do now. I guess he's won a Stanley Cup He's the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer I mean this would be I mean you don't want to go out after like a meek five game loss to the

Carolina Hurricanes, but you know you can't write your own script a lot of the times okay before we go to break I want to give a quick update on the Canucks coaching search before we go to break Elliott Friedman was on with Donnie and Dolly Yesterday because it's been kind of quiet and people are asking like, where are they at? When are they going to name a new head coach? Where are they at in terms of interviews in a shortlist? When are they going to get to the fireworks factory?

Here is Fridge with an update on when the Canucks might get to that fireworks factory. Here's Fridge on Donnie and Dolly from yesterday. I believe they did a whole bunch of interviews last week. Mal Hoacher's name obviously is there. Marco Sturm's name got out and I think that's pretty legitimate. I believe that this week, the Canucks are going to try to drop to a short list of three or four candidates. I would think that Sturm would be on that list. I would think that Malhotra would be on that list. And then

probably one or two more. So, but that's why I understand the Canucks are in the process of doing, they did their larger group last week and they're going to narrow it down to three or four this week and prepare to do those interviews. So, um, at the beginning of the season, I, uh I would not have bet on me saying, I wonder if Marco Sturm could be a good coach for the Canucks. I hadn't done any Marco Sturm research, quite

frankly, in years. I hadn't thought about him. Didn't he play for the Canucks for like six games? Yes. Yes. Good pull. Noted German, Marco Sturm. I mean, it's so crazy that he's probably gonna be an amazing coach six games Marco Sturm Could be the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks Marco Sturm zero points two penalty minutes

He was not here for a long time. I was frankly a good time, but he was here. I like how So you're some of the reporting on Sturm has been like he's very ambitious Like he just wants to prove that he's a head coach Is he sending out resumes or something like that? Like what what does that look like? Are the are the Canucks interested in Marco Sturm because he's actually interested in them Well, he's also on he's been I can't refuse interview to the Bruins were just interested in bringing him in for an interview But the Bruins this guy keeps on sending his resume to us Well, and he also played for the Bruins very good winning percentage in aahl as a head coach by the way every year has gone up

It is interesting that he how long she's been a head coach in the three years in the age I have four years as an assistant coach with the LA King He's got very similar resume to Manny actually. But he's got more head coaching experience in the AHL. Two more years as an AHL head coach. 625 winning percentage with Ontario Rainland. And he's very ambitious. He's ambitious. You could say Manny is ambitious, probably.

He does one of those things where he's like, you deliver your resume in a very creative way. Like you sneak in there, telegram. Yeah, send him. And the telegram says, Marco Sturm wants to be a head coach. A candy gram. That will be going from Rick's hockey to Marco Sturm.

I know a lot of the players, like they don't care as much as maybe we did about what players did in the NHL, but talk had kind of had that presence of like, I was one of the toughest power forwards in the NHL. You are grossly underestimating Marco Sturm's playing career. Grossly underestimating. Like a seven time 20 goal scorer, almost a thousand games played. German. Yeah.

I mean, here's the player coach thing, it's an interesting dynamic, because everyone talks about Rick Tocco was this big, mean, tough guy. Players love him because they remember him. Some remember him as a player, and others don't. They look him up on YouTube,

and he's like, wow, he's a nasty piece of business. 40 goals, 600 penalty minutes in a year, right? Did you just headbutt that guy? Right. I wonder if it's about the type of career that you had, or that you had a career. Because I remember a couple of people had told me that they were shocked that Travis Green

had gotten into coaching. They're like, if you watch Travis Green as a player, it was no condemnation of the way that he played, it's just he never struck anyone as a guy that was gonna get into coaching. At the end of the day, I'm joking about this stuff because that only gets you like your first day, it's like, wow, Rick Tauke it, you know, or whatever.

Yeah, yeah. Then you got to coach. But then you got to coach and then it's about building relationships with the players and the players at the end of the day, they care about themselves. Yes. And hopefully they care about the team, but mostly they care about themselves and they care about their career. And, and how many times do you hear players say like, the thing I like

about this coach is he showed that he actually cared. He actually cared about me. So, you know, you could be the greatest hockey player of all time and be the head coach. If you don't care about your players, then you're not going to be successful and they're not going to respect you.

Because these guys don't remember these, a lot of them anyway, right? The, you know, how many, how many Canucks watched Rick Tauke at? Like none, but probably what, you know, for Quinn Hughes, the guy that loved Rick Tauke at maybe the most. It was about the working relationship. Yeah.

He said he got significantly better. Yeah. Under the tutelage of Tauke at and foot. Yeah. That's what it was. The relationship stuff, the respect for the way that he was able to deal with players. Yes. But in terms of just

straight coaching, Hughes was pretty adamant that they made him a better player. And that's something to be said because Hughes was a pretty good player before they inherited him. OK, we're up against it for time. When we come back, more

hockey talk to come. Plea Pleat, Pete Blackburn, host of the what chaos show on the all city network is going to join us. We'll talk all things playoffs. Look back at lat last night. Look ahead to tonight's action as well. Just one game tonight, but one game tomorrow as well. Lots more to get into on the show. Don't forget to get your what we learned in Dunbar lumber. Text line is six 50, six 50. You're listening to the Halford and Bref show on sports net six 50.

Canuck stock 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. 631 on a Tuesday. It's a big band Tuesday here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. I just went to go get a coffee in the break room and in our building we also have a very distinguished very reputable news station, city news 1130. Yeah. So one of the anchors there looked at me as I was getting a coffee and

she said it's a sweat pan day today is it? I replied they're all sweat pan days. It's called a normal day. Yeah, I Some I like how we've gone back to dressing how we used to dress in elementary school Yeah, just wearing whatever whatever's on the floor from the night before Underwear mixed up in our pants sure cuz we take them all off at the same time my socks jammed into the legs We're getting dressed at like pre 5 a.m. People into the legs of the building though that's true how do you put on a suit and tie at four in the morning I have no idea but they do it some easy was that on the floor that suit no okay you are listening to the health and breath show on sportsnet 650 Pete Blackburn from the what chaos show

on the all city network is gonna join us in just a moment here the highlight of our one hour one of this program is brought to my North Starcling. 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. Hour one of this program brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first entrusted choice for debt help. With over 3,000 five star reviews, visit them online at sands-trustee.com. Our next guest comes courtesy of the Power West Industries hotline, Pete Blackburn here on the Halford and Bruff show

on Sportsnet 650. What up Pete, how are you? I'm good, how are you guys? Yeah, we're good, thanks for taking the time to do this. So we were talking about the Oilers Vegas series in the opening segment and Bruff said that, Wyszynski framed it best when he said it was a throwback series.

And I was thinking, no, Pete framed it best on Twitter last night when he wrote, Oylers Golden Knights after Kane's caps is like going to the strip club straight from your nephew's baptism. I was like, that's very well said, Pete. And it's accurate and it's right. So two questions off of that tweet.

One, what have you thought of the entertainment value of Oylers Golden Knights thus far? And two, what have you thought of the entertainment value of Oilers Golden Knights thus far? And two, what did you think about Edmonton so thoroughly outplaying Vegas last night in that win? No, I'm shocked that one of the questions wasn't, have you done that, going from your nephew's basket? I just assumed it was part of it, yeah, yeah. No, I don't have a nephew.

I mean, the Edmonton series is not surprising because it involves the Oilers and it does feel like every series or game that the Oilers are involved in is just insane in some shape or fashion. So, uh, I've been surprised that they've been so like good and resilient, I guess. Uh, I mean, obviously game three didn't end the way that they wanted it to a lit me in a parade of just breakdowns that led to that loss. But I mean, they've been the better team in the series pretty, pretty solidly. And that's pretty surprising to me, but the entertainment factor does

not surprise me whatsoever. Do you keep coming back to like, they can't really win the cup with the types of defensive breakdowns that they have in a significant number of their games. They were excellent last night and also their goaltending, whoever it's going to be. And it looks like it's going to be Stuart Skinner now because there are reports that

Calvin Pickard's out for a while. Yeah. I mean, I keep going back to like, they, they can't really win, right? I don't know if you guys watch succession, but like in the final season of succession, you know, I think Logan Roy was like, I love you, but you are not serious people. And that's kind of how I feel about the order. It's like, you are not serious people with the way that you play.

And like, but who am I to say? Because they've kind of cruised, I don't know if cruise is the right word given the start that they had in the LA series, but like, they have not played good hockey and yet they still keep winning games. And what happens if they turn it on? What happens if they get good goaltending? What happens if they get the Stu Skinner that that was, you know, they got during last year's playoff run where he was pretty good, good enough to get them to game seven of the Cup final, not without his bumps in the road. But like what happens if they like actually, actually find their game?

And that's a crazy question to be asking when they're up three to one in the second round. But again, like they've got the two best players in the world who aren't really like fully taking over right now. They're getting depth scoring and they're overcoming these massive hurdles that either are being put in front of them or they're putting in front of themselves. So like, who am I to say that they can't just run this all the way to the end? What have you thought of aander Kane in this series? I think he's been pretty good.

I did not know what to expect from him after a couple surgeries, not seeing him for a year. And especially with this Oilers lineup, you never know what it's going to look like on any given night. Chris Noblec loves throwing his lines into a blender, has all season long. So I really did not know what to expect from Cain, but he's been, he's been the Evander Cain that you kind of knew when he was at his best. And I think he's been a pretty solid like tone setter and a offensive contributor and I guess 200

foot contributor throughout these playoffs so far. So Mike and I were talking about a potential rematch in the Stanley Cup final of Carolina and Edmonton, the one that happened like 20 years ago, the rematch that no one has been calling for. But wouldn't that be, I don't want to call it like cool or exciting, but fascinating. It would be an interesting contrast of styles

if it were to happen. Yeah, it would definitely be fascinating. And I mean, it would, it would certainly put to the test, the narrative that's kind of being shaped as postseason. an interesting contrast of styles if it were to happen. Yeah, it would definitely be fascinating. And I mean, it would, it would certainly put to the test the narrative that's kind of being shaped this postseason, which is that Carolina is super boring and, and you know,

not entertaining to watch. Like if you match them up against the Oilers, that is the best test to find out whether the Carolina hurricanes can play an interesting series and you know, I don't know how much I subscribe to the, the hurricanes are boring can play an interesting series and you know I don't know how much I subscribe to the the hurricanes are boring sort of narrative just because what they were rick siding at points during the regular season and I don't think that their

system is always like a droning system to watch but like in the first round they play the Devils who were essentially incapacitated and didn't have a bottom six and now I think Washington's kind of played like crap for about like half of this series. So I don't know how much I put the boring product on Carolina's plate versus who they're actually playing. It's a good point because I think the biggest issue with this series is that Washington has not found a single way to break through with any sort of like meaningful longevity. They've had fits and starts and spurts but Carolina's wanted to choke

Washington out of the series and then they've done it like I haven't seen enough pushback there ever been enough shots on goal there haven't been enough goals period Spencer Carbary's talked about it that you know it's been really hard to get the offensive zone, nevermind get anything going when you're in there. So I think that's why the series has been so boring is one team has been able to dictate its style and that style just happens to be a very defensive style. A hundred percent. And you saw in game two, when Washington bounced back,

like they were actually winning battles. They had a full on pushback against the Carolina. And it was a pretty entertaining game. They ended up winning that game. But otherwise like game one, they got absolutely dominated. And then last night's game and, you know, game three, they had good first periods, but they had nothing to show for them. And that seemed to be really, really demoralizing and whether they packed it in

or whether they just got worn down after the first 20 minutes or first 30 minutes, they really had nothing in the tank at the end. We're speaking to Pete Blackburn from the White Chaos Show on the All City Network here on the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. We get game four of the Stars Jet series in Dallas tonight. And the story of this series and really the entire playoffs of the Dallas Stars has been Miko Rantanen. Are we going to need some sort of 30 for 30 style documentary on the Miko Rantanen

almost regardless of how the playoffs go now with the amount that he scored and the way that this season has gone into teams that he's played with and left in his wake. I feel like we're going to need a deeper dive on Miko Rantanen when the season is done. A hundred percent. And I said it like a couple of weeks ago. I was like, is this the most interesting single season, like from an individual level that an athlete has had in, you know, twenty, thirty years?

Like you can talk about like a storyline like Ovechkin chasing Gretzky and things like that. Bonds chasing the home run record, guys getting traded, but like, how many guys have had the drama that Miko Ranton has had in his life this season, been traded twice, signed a big time long-term extension, struggled with like both of his new teams, then got to the playoffs and been like,

okay, I'm gonna light this entire thing on fire, including the house that I used to live in in Colorado. Like that is unbelievable. And if he finishes this off and goes for a, uh, like a con smith and a Stanley Cup title in Dallas, like I think it's absolutely stamped that this is the most interesting and riveting individual season in like athletic history.

You still wonder what happened in Colorado that it just seems to me like they gave up on resigning him way too quickly if they ever did want to resign him. I do feel like I still have questions there. Like did they not give a final like ultimatum notice to be like, if you do not come down on your ass and this, we don't make

progress here, we are going to trade you. Or was he as shocked as he seems to be? Like the fact that he was so shocked, like, I don't know which side to buy. And, you know, like if you are the front office, you would think that you give that guy an opportunity, one last opportunity to come down on his price and stay there. And so, yeah, I still definitely have questions. Do you have questions about whether Connor Hellebuck can play goal on the road? I think you'd be silly not to at this point.

I've been a little bit encouraged by what I've seen from Hellebuck so far in this second round series, which is a pretty low bar given how he played in the first round. So, you know, I think that he's going to need to be great from this point on just to give just to give the Jets kind of a chance here because Dallas is so good and you know right now they've got a game lead he's gonna need to be great the rest of the way whether it's home or on the road. We are speaking to Pete Blackburn from the White Chaos show here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650 Pete the other day on your

show you had our good buddy JD Bunkus on tucking Leafs and Pan. So the Leafs have obviously let the Panthers off the mat to a certain degree. It's now a best of three. That series doesn't get back underway until tomorrow. What are you expecting now that this thing is the best of three? What was JD expecting now that this series is the best of three? He's kind of echoing a lot of Leafs fans in my life, which is they're essentially feeling like this is over. And I don't blame them. And it's mainly based off of how Florida looked in game four. Florida looked unbelievable in game four, like the kind of game

that you expected from last year's Florida team. And like when a lot of people were projecting the series, they kind of expected it to look like it did in game four. And it was just, they played an unbelievable game. Bob looked good. And you know, it was hard not to look at that game and say, well, this is kind of what Toronto did to themselves by letting Brad Marsh and score and over time in game three, you had a chance to go up three, nothing. Put these guys on the ropes and give yourselves a lot of runway to get this done.

Instead, you let them back in and then they absolutely dominate you in game four. And it's hard not to feel like the boogeyman has arrived to this series. And so, you know, I certainly don't blame them for morale being very, very low, even with it being tied in the best of three. So Pete, what's going on Boston sports wise? I'm just going through the teams right now, the Patriots now, the Bruins now, the Red Sox, meh, would you say? And then the Celtics are suddenly down three one in their series against the next.

I know Jason Tatum. What's going on? And Jason Tatum. Yeah. I mean, that's the bigger blow there. I would have confidence in the Celtics being able to erase three one series lead had Jason Tatum not seemed to suffer what could be a very serious injury.

So yeah, I mean, the vibes are very bad right now. Try not to celebrate too hard on that victory lap while going down the list. But yeah, I mean, things are certainly not amazing right now over here. Um, what are people saying about the Bruins and, um, how much does Rick Tuckett's name enter the conversation? Yeah, he's showing up a little bit, but like,

my question is, and you guys might be able to answer this, given given the buzz around Rick Tauket and what his demands seem to be, like Elliot said on his podcast yesterday that Rick Tauket is interviewing teams, not the other way around. My question is, are we sure that Rick Tauket is that good of a coach to be commanding that kind of poll in these interviews. And like, I'm not going to blame a guy for, you know, taking advantage of his position and, and

sort of like the buzz around him, but I'm not sold on him being like an unbelievable coach, especially given the way that the bottom fell out in Vancouver. Like. Yeah. I don't know. I'm not, I, I, I think Tauke is a good, I

think he's a good coach and he certainly taught the Canucks how to defend and how to maintain a structure, but yeah, you've got to have questions about what happened this season in Vancouver. You have to. And there's a big debate in Vancouver about, you know, why Elias Pedersen fell off or why the

team really struggled to create offense, was that the system? Was it too defensive oriented? Was it too strict or was it the players? Now everyone's got their opinions, me watching the actual team. I thought it was a player issue. I thought it was a personality issue. But yeah, I don't blame you.

And I think you would also have questions about like Rick Tocket was the head coach while the teams, you know, two of their best players and two of their leaders were at each other, you know, how did you try and solve that and why didn't it work? I think that's a perfectly fair question to ask in an interview. Um, but yeah, from the outside looking like

Vancouver media has been accused of being, you know, enamored with Rick Tocket and he's an interesting guy. And you know, there's a reason why people like watching him on TV. He's kind of an entertaining guy. He has good stories. He's had a terrific career, but I think it's perfectly fair to wonder how good a head coach he is if he's asking for elite coach money. Exactly. I don't think he's a bad coach, but I don't know if he's the kind of coach that comes in, kicks down your door and says,

here's what I want or else I'm out of here. That's just my bigger question. To me, the Canucks were one of the more inconsistent teams on a night-to to night basis this year, which like they could beat any team on any given night, but then they could also look like the 32, the 32nd best team the very next night. So like that to me is like perhaps a reflection on coaching. So I just have questions, but as far as the Bruins go, like it's hard to talk about the Bruins right now and not because it's, know not fun but it's just you know you don't know what they're gonna look like next year you don't know who their coach is gonna be you don't know what the approach by management is gonna be

like are they on a one-year timeline because they're trying to save their jobs maybe are they gonna spend big and free agency are they gonna be scared away by the signings of Lindholm and Zdorov last year when they tried to make their big splash who's to be coaching the team? Who's going to be playing for this team? We really don't know. So it's hard to talk about them right now. Well, one of the questions I have, big

question, I'm sure you do. I mean, it's pretty obvious is what's going on down the middle. And here in Vancouver, Rick Taukett in his last season, in his last press conference here, ultimately was talking about, you know, the problems or the issues that the Canucks have down the middle. You know, Elias Pedersen, well, JT Miller's gone now.

Um, you know, Philip Heidel is kind of a wild card with, with his health and they were talking about going out and getting a top six centre. And he basically said like, that's a huge part of any team is down the middle. And look at the Bruins sister, when they had Bergeron and Creechy, it was awesome, but they don't. Like who are the top two center?

Is it Lindholm and Middelstadt now in Boston? Is that, is that what you say on paper? Is that, is that your top two centers in Boston? Yeah, probably. Unless you're, unless you're, uh, sliding Zaka down the middle. Like I think they prefer to play him on the wing. Um. But how are they going to solve that?

That that's you can't, you can't win like that. It's not an easy fix either. Like the top six centers do not grow on trees and they are not easy to come by. And so I feel like the Bruins have been kind of trying to search for that for a little bit where they can bridge the gap from the Berger on a Kreechie. Obviously it hasn't worked out in Lindholm. for that for a little bit where they can bridge the gap from the Bergeron Accraeci. Obviously it hasn't worked out in Lindholm. Definitely like as a one seed is not not the fix either.

Not the guy that they thought that they were really investing in last summer. So it's a big question. I don't know how they answer it. And yeah, I think that that's probably one of their one of their bigger concerns. And also like, unfortunately for them, they're also trying to acquire like two top six wingers this summer too. So they got a lot of holes to plug. They sound like the Canucks.

The Canucks have said like, we need to add three top six forwards. Okay. Good luck. I mean, how are you going to do that? Right. Like what's the plan in Boston? What do they have to work with to get these players? Honestly, I would not rule out a Jeremy Swainman trade.

I would not overlook that possibility given how he performed last year. Like I still believe in Jeremy Swainman as a good goaltender. I would love the Bruins to keep them, keep him. But given the contract situation, given what they're due to pay him and how many holes they have on their roster, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that they look to deal him. What do you think his market value is? Goalies are always just, I mean, the value on goalies is always, who knows?

Right. I mean, I still think it's pretty high given, like you could write off last year as sort of this just disaster of a season based off of everything that happened, whether it was contract negotiations, showing up late to camp, never being able to get like a solid footing and the team in front of him being bad.

Like I think that a team that needs a goaltender would absolutely be interested in and pay a pretty nice price for Jeremy Swainman. You know it just depends like how does how does that team make it work money-wise and you know ultimately how much you giving up for him. But I think that like from the Bruins perspective, they could address a couple of needs and maybe replenish their system a little bit while trading a goaltender that they're not totally sure about.

One last one for me before we let you go. And it is just, I want to finish on the Bruins, but I want to go right to the top with Neely and Sweeney and where the confidence index is in these two leading this team moving forward. Cause I know like the Swainman thing was acrimonious. The end of year media availability was testy. It seems like people aren't thrilled

with the direction of the team. And these are the guys in charge of pointing a team in whatever direction they're gonna go. Yeah, I think the confidence level is quite low at this point. And I don't think a lot of people even trust them with that that seventh pick given their first round drafting track record but for me the biggest the biggest like eye-opener this offseason so far was that press conference and Cam Neely essentially like kind of passing

the buck to Don Sweeney and saying like, well, Don's in the final year of his contract coming up. We'll, we'll see how he does this year and we'll revisit like where we're at next off season. And to me, like those two guys are synonymous. If Don Sweeney is losing his job, Cam Neal, I should probably be losing the job in lockstep with him because they've kind of operated like that the entire way through. And I don't think that anybody believes that Sweeney is pulling any strings or any triggers

without the approval of Cam and without like Cam having a big voice in it. So that to me is the more concerning thing is that, you know, if, if Sweeney falls on the sword, why is Cam getting way scott free? Pete, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the game, singular tonight and the games tomorrow and the rest of the week.

Let's do this again soon. Absolutely. Thanks for having me, guys. Yeah, thanks for coming on. That's Pete Blackburn from the What Chaos Show. Some people thought I was saying Whitecaps Show. Oh, okay. I don't know how they did. I didn't think I was enunciating that poorly.

He's got one of those too. What? Strictly Whitecaps. Out of Boston. It does not do good numbers. Oh, okay. I don't know how they did. I didn't think I was enunciating that poorly. But the what? He's got one of those too. What? Strictly white caps. Out of Boston. It does not do good numbers. Yeah, it's not great, but it's a fashion project. It's a lesser known project.

The what show? The what chaos show here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So a bunch of listeners, I think they felt seen and heard when Pete essentially questioned Rick Taka. And from the outside looking in, I fully, fully understand anyone that's like, how's this guy, what's going on, how's he demanding elite coach money? I know he won the coach of the year last year, but look at how this year went.

Look at how things went in Tampa Bay and Arizona. I will always push back and say like those were two of the most dysfunctional franchises and then Taki came to another dysfunctional franchise in Vancouver. And you know, this is Tampa back in the old days. They're not dysfunctional now, but Arizona was and Vancouver was this season.

But I fully understand people that are like, are we sure this guy is, this guy is a great coach. And I think that's why it's going to be so interesting to see number one, where he lands. And number two, how he does where, you know, in Vancouver, they're going to get a new head coach and whether it's Manny Maholtra or Marco Sturm, we should just keep our minds open

about what those guys can do because maybe they have some new ideas. I mean, again, my opinion, and I have been wrong many times before, is that I watched the Canucks play this year and I didn't think it was a coaching issue. I thought it was a player personnel issue. I agree.

Especially upfront. Like I did not think they had the horses to create offense. However, if there's a guy that can come in and has some new ideas about how to create offense in the offensive end, or maybe create more rush chances, then I am open to seeing it and I'm open to being wrong about certain things.

Right? Like that's why we watch sports. So, this whole thing, you know, where talk it goes and how he does versus what the Canucks do and how they do, is it going to be interesting to watch? Okay. We're way up against it for time here. So we got to go to break. Our one is in the books. Our two is on the other side of the break. Kevin Gray Jr is going to join us out of Dallas.

He is the Dallas Mavericks period and post game host. Also a podcaster, all things Dallas Mavericks. Why are we talking about the Dallas Mavericks? Well, in case you missed it yesterday, the biggest news non-hockey division in all of sports is that the Dallas Mavericks. We'll talk to Kevin Gray, Jr. About that coming up next on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650.