Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Oilers Might Be For Real This Year And It's Awful

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with Sports 1440 Edmonton's Jason Gregor about how the Oilers might have already booked another trip to the Stanley Cup Final after what has been a dominant series thus far versus the Dallas Stars, plus they speak with Whitecaps FC Sporting Director Axel Schuster about his red-hot club. 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.

Music It's 7.02 on a Monday. It's an 80s Monday here on the Haliford & Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford & Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. With over 3,000 five-star reviews, visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. We are working on getting Jason Greger out of Edmonton on the phone. Talk a little Euler's Stars to the Western Conference final.

Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, this song is killing me. The don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at jason.mortgage. It's so uplifting. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you and Steph. While we wait to get Jason Greger, I have to admit that I was wrong.

No, you weren't. No, no, no. I was wrong. It was Tampa and not Chicago. We confirmed that with Sean. So sorry for accusing you of being a liar. It's okay. I was the liar. Well, well, well. How the turntables. And the people listening are like, we don't care.

Don't even care. We don't care what it was. Don't even care. Why do you guys have to fight? I think we've reached the point where we're just fighting about anything now. Just pick a topic. Let them go.

We haven't been able to fight about the Canucks for a while. So we're just going to fight about anything. Um, what was the biggest thing for you this weekend outside of hockey while we wait to get Jason on the line? Well, it's funny that you ask because you know how on many occasions you've talked about the rise, dare I say proliferation of available soccer in Canada now. Like a lot of soccer. So I'm going to walk you through yesterday. I say proliferation of available soccer in Canada now, like a lot of soccer. So I'm going to walk you through yesterday.

Just as an example, like I actually stopped and used a bruff anecdote in speaking with a couple of my buddies when they asked what you did this morning. And I was like, I can't believe how much soccer there is available to us now. So I woke up at eight or so I woke up earlier than that. But at eight, there was the final day of the Premier League. All teams kicked off at eight a.m. Right. It's goal rush Sunday. And there was jockeying for European positions and everything.

So consumed two, two and a half hours of, I think it was nine matches going on concurrently. Then after that, I was Jones and I was scratching the side of my face, I was like, there's gotta be more on there. And sure enough, there was. The Taca de Portugal, the Portuguese Cup final between Sporting and Benfica. Yikes, man.

Was on. So I'm like, all right, I'll watch that. Sure, it's on, I'll watch it. And then when that ended, in Italy, Serie A kicked off, I believe it was seven matches, again, all at the same time, because it was their final. Sure. And there was a bunch of things up for grabs is there.

And then on Fubo, you can do multiview so you can split your screen into four. OK, so I watched four. Getting exercise, you walk around at all. I was at all. So I thought it was when I'm explaining this and I was thinking about telling the anecdote, I'm telling the anecdote on air. I'm like, I should mention, like I wasn't sitting this entire time. I was over you on your treadmill. I was on my Peloton. I don't have a Peloton. No, I was like doing stuff, but I was, it was more about the amount of coverage that was easily and readily

accessible to us nowadays. This is just how it is. So anyway, that was Sunday and readily accessible to us nowadays. This is just how it is. So anyway, that was Sunday. And then after that, watched Oilers and Stars, and then the nightcap, of course, was Nick's Pacers. So it was a good little sports Sunday. That Nick's Pacers series have been pretty fascinating, actually. Home court means nothing.

The Knicks absolutely blowing it at home, and then the Pacers, I guess you could say, absolutely blowing it at home. I was watching the Extended I guess you can say, absolutely blowing it at home. I was watching the extended highlight pack this morning when we got in in the studio and yeah, the Pacers were up, I want to say 15, maybe even got to 17. The Pacers fans looked so shocked at the end of that.

They were like, we were thinking sweep, but now, uh-oh. Yeah, did you see in the Western Conference final too, Minnesota made a big statement and their game three blowout victory as well. So all the inverse there, right? It's like home courts meant something in the West, meant absolutely nothing in the East.

Is Jason not picking up? Is that OK? So what we were going to do in this moment was we're going to talk to Jason Greger, look back on Sunday's win for the Edmonton Oilers, taking it to one series lead over the Dallas Stars. We did cover a fair bit of this in the intro segment. If you want to download our one of the program, Apple, Google, Spotify, our one is now they're available for download.

I was intrigued. And if you want to weigh in on this as well, Dunbar number text line is six fifty, six fifty. I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves here. And I know there's some trepidation with booking Edmonton's spot in the Stanley Cup final because, you know, we're pretty much outspoken of the fact that we do not want to see a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup. But I will admit, I'm ready to go there because I think that a rematch

of last year's Stanley Cup final, which was the best Stanley Cup final the NHLs had in at least a decade, would make for great theater, great drama. And if, if Conor McDavid is gonna win a Stanley Cup, and you assume over the length of whatever his great career will be, he'll do it. Well, you assume he'll do it. A lot of teams in the league now.

Right, but you assume that he'll do it. The way that this one would go, dragging his team, kicking and screaming from three nothing down last year to get to game seven, ultimately falling short and very painful fashion. The narrative arc of the rematch and everything else, it's pretty tantalizing. Well, yeah. And if it happens, we'll all get through it together. But it's funny, Keith, the grip texted in with an early, what we learned into the Dunbar

lumber text line. And he said, uh, you guys are absolutely in the minority when it comes to cheering on another Canadian team to win. You guys are absolutely in the minority when it comes to cheering on another Canadian team to win, just driving by establishment. I heard huge roars when the Oilers scored. And when I got to my local, 90% of the full house was rooting for them. Maybe even a hundred percent, not me, so 99%. I'm still trying to figure out a way how none of the remaining teams can win.

Anyway, maybe it's just this year with an enhanced anti-American vibe sweeping this country. I think that's part of it. I also think that the majority of people don't see it like we do. And there are some people that are like, what, you're not cheering for the Oilers? Like they don't really, they don't understand. My mom asked me why we weren't cheering for Toronto

as a matter of fact. Right, they don't understand. Are they crazy, do you not listen cheering for Toronto as a matter of fact. Right. They don't understand. Do you not listen? She said no. The pettiness, the insecurity, the fact that we'd have to watch these fan bases that we spend so much of our time ridiculing or whatever. Watch them celebrate and they'd have that one up

on us. I get it. I also think that when people go out to an establishment to watch the game, they're there because they're, they're excited and they're there to cheer for the team. Like I've seen tons of Oilers jerseys and Oilers shirts around the city.

There are some people in Vancouver, there are a lot of people in Vancouver that are just Oilers fans, they're from Alberta. Yep. Uh, and they cheer for the Oilers. So that, so that's also part of it. It's risky, but I do want to see the rematch. God, I want to see it.

Although when I'm watching the game, I'm cheering for Dallas. Like I can't cheer, I just can't do it. Like I can't cheer for another Canadian team. I physically cannot do it because of the jealousy and the pettiness. Well I'll tell you one thing when these playoffs started I did not I had zero expectations that we would be at May 26th talking about the Oilers going back to the Stanley Cup final. You remember the beginning of the playoffs?

Nobody all season they felt off except for Luke Gastic. Nobody picked Edmonton to get out of the West. Nobody. Yeah. They did not look like a Stanley Cup contender going into this postseason. They had the component pieces to be a threat in the West, but going into the playoffs, and then after two games of the playoffs

where the Kings looked like they had finally unlocked the riddle that was the Oilers, nobody had expected this. Now not only did the Oilers right the ship and win, at times they have looked like the second most dominant team in these playoffs behind Florida. It has been. I think at times they've looked just as good as Florida. Like I've done a lot of cap tipping towards, begrgingly, I'll add, but towards the Edmonton Oilers on this run. You got to remember they've had the same

goaltending issues that plagued them throughout the regular season and last postseason. They've already gone away and back to Stuart Skinner. And despite all of this and some egregious defensive play in the first series against Los Angeles, have found a way again. It gives me no pleasure to anoint. This team is being the second best or maybe the best team in the postseason.

But when credit is due, like pay the credit, they have been so good. And their forward depth is unbelievable. Another thing I didn't see coming, and I'll really admit that I was way wrong on this, Evander Kane being able to jump back in after being off for an entire year and be an impact player. And I mean, like, capital I impact. He's been he gets reassists on Sunday in a game where so many different forwards did huge things. Zach Hyman, who had a down year in terms of production during the regular season, has been fantastic.

He had the Ryan Nugent Hopkins praise. The Ryan Nugent Hopkins narrative now is underappreciated. No one really understands what he brings to the table, except in Edmonton. But he's in the conspite race. He's been great. And this is a forward group where you don't have to rely on McDavid and Dry Cytle every single night,

which I think was one of their Achilles heels last year. Is it too often they just looked at Dry Cytle and McDavid and they were like, do stuff, make it happen for us. And enough times they did it. Right, and in clawing back from three nothing down in the Stanley Cup final, that was the quote of McDavid's calling card is, you know, he freaked out,

said it's not good enough, swore a bunch, they caught it on camera, and then they went and rallied and won three straight. I like how there were a lot of people that were like, you know, like McDavid, he's still good, but he's, I don't know, you know, I was too. I was like, he's still good, but I don't think he's been as good as last season. You look at the stats now, he's leading the playoffs in scoring. Yeah. It's just, they've gotten so much other production for everywhere else.

The bar for him though is so high, and rightly so. He's an incredible player. Um, but I, I love the, I love the narrative of, of a potential rematch, especially with the two teams, you know, if Dallas comes back and wins this series against Edmonton, which there's a chance of, it's only two, one Edmonton. Um, it'll be like, that's funny. You know, we'll all get a, we'll all get a hearty chuckle out of it, but then you'll have a finals with Dallas in it I mean I want no part of

Dallas and quite frankly I want no part of Carolina winning another game in that or a game in that series anyway Dallas Carolina would do the worst-case scenario for me yeah yeah because even Dallas Florida you kind of like sorry wouldn't have been like all right Florida wouldn't have been any better. Yeah, you're just like, all right. It wouldn't have been any better. You know, if Florida wins, cool. If Dallas wins, all right. Dude, dude.

That's an upset, but I can't see me getting emotionally involved. Now, one nice thing about having Edmonton in the final is that everyone's going to have their rooting interests. Sure. You know, there's gonna be people in Canada who's like, cheer for Canadian team. Well, get on.

And then there are people in Canada who are like, I do not cheer for Canadian team. Whatever side of the coin you're on, at least people will care. At least people will care, exactly. I remember the Florida Vegas Stanley Cup final, and I remember working through it right here on Sportsnet 650, and there was no buzz, no text coming into the

Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. There was no like there were no conversations when we got off the air. Like people weren't making an appointment viewing. No, it was flat. It was dead and it was boring. Do we have Jason on the line now? OK, great. We're going to go to Edmonton now.

Jason Greger from Sports 1440 and Edmonton is going to join us here in the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Jason, how are you? I'm good, fellas, sorry, rookie mistake. Left my phone with my ringer off. It happens. It's all good. Thanks for joining us anyway, we appreciate it. We've been talking a lot about what the Edmonton Oilers

did this past weekend, Friday and Sunday. Two big games, a ton of different contributors, Stuart Skinner, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, now you'll notice that I mentioned three guys before I mentioned McDavid and Dreisaitl, and this is a callback to what you said on our show about a week and a half ago when you came on talking about just how great this forward depth is

for the Oilers, and they proved you right, Jason, because it has been a master class in having different contributors night after night after night. Big reason why, after losing that first game against Dallas, they're now up to one in the series. Well, really, outside of a six minute span when their penalty kill was awful,

the Orders have really kind of dominated the series. They have. If you look at, Dallas has, they got five goals in that third period, one in empty netter, and then they have two goals in the other eight periods. And, you know, Amundsen's outscored them 12 to two in those periods. And they've, you know, they've outshot them Stewart Skinner. Obviously yesterday I thought Dallas, probably

for the first time all series really controlled the play in the second period at five on five. And Skinner was huge. They, you know, they did score one goal, but then McDavid scores with 19 seconds left. And if you're Dallas, you're like, God, we just played our best period and we didn't gain any ground. And so, you know, I look at Edmonton and right now this is their series to lose. I think the way they're playing, you know, Skinner's obviously playing great, but they got contributions everywhere up and down the lineup. You know, like Zach Hyman, he's going to set the NHL record for most hits in the playoffs. He's already got 109, you know, the record's 126. So, you know, he's going got 109, the record's 126, so he's gonna do that, which guys have to get outside

their comfort zone sometimes, right? And it's funny when you talk about teams who don't win, and it's because they have some guys who don't show up when it matters, and right now, Edmonton has a boatload of guys who are playing better than they play in the regular season. Are you able to explain Stuart Skinner, just how it works why this happens?

What to expect on a nightly basis is almost like why Stuart Skinner and how? Yeah, you know it's a fair question because I think honestly a lot of it gets really overblown I'm like if you go back and you actually dissect the first two games against LA There is not one bad goal now. Did Stuart Skinner make a great save no,. So he didn't play great, but he didn't play bad, but because they allow six goals, everybody just automatically points to the goal center. But if you go back and look at those games, the orders defensively in those two games, that might've been their worst two games of the season, like they gave Adrian Kempe three Mississippi's to skate in, I don't know how many times to score

goals and you give most of, you know, and he's one of the best shooters I think in the league and you know what it happened so you know Skinner we saw it last year against Vancouver you know he had two bad games in game one and three and and the numbers look worse because he didn't have a ton of shots in those games right so everybody looks at safe percentage now well safe percentage is always going to be lower in today's NHL because there's fewer shots on goal. It doesn't mean there's fewer high danger chances. There's just fewer shots. Right. So everybody gets focused on safe percentage, I think. And could Skinner be a little bit more consistent? Yeah. But he's also not paid to be an

elite goalie. He's a $2.6 million goalie. And he's probably the best value when you look at, you know, hey, you're getting 2.6 mil and the guy is two wins away from going to the Stanley Cup final again. And the thing with Skinner, he has those five games in the playoffs that he allowed 25 goals and everyone's like, Oh my God. But in the other 25, he's only allowed 52. So you know, he's got like a 2.10. So you look and say, Hey, 25 games, really solid nine 17, say percentage two point, uh, what is it?

2.08 goals against average. But then there's five games that are meant and everybody takes the five games. Like somehow those five games count evenly to 25. Like, I don't get it. I don't ever understand that analysis on any player. Right. And so like, if you go eight games without a goal as a forward, but then you score 50 goals in a season, does everyone say, well, geez, guy didn't do much. So Skinner can be a lightning rod because he's a

goalie, and when he's off some games, like the Vancouver games, he was definitely off, there's no question, right? I thought those were probably his two worst games, but the two games against LA this year, I actually didn't think he'd played that, to be honest. And I got Woodley to break down the goals. And I think there was two, you know, kind of goals saved above expected that he should have had, but it wasn't like it was awful. Um, I think with the Oilers, what's fascinating about them is that the difference between their very best and their very worst is huge.

And we actually see it in the playoffs. You know, we've been seeing much more of their very best lately though. Um, because you know, you're right. Like there, there were games in that LA series where I'm watching and I'm going like, I'm not blaming Skinner for that. I'm blaming this Oilers defense and the fact

that there's guys wide open and the Oilers seem to be clueless. Remember how much like Darnell Nurse and Bouchard were struggling at times defensively. And yet also during this playoffs, I've watched them and be like, these guys are like checking unbelievably well. And, and, and, and, you know, the same applies for Skinner.

I'm like on some of these games, I'm like, I'm not giving Skinner a ton of credit for these shutouts. I'm giving the Oilers team in front of them more credit than Skinner. So I guess the question is, can the Oilers put together more of these good games than bad games? Well, I really think they have, if you look, they're 10 and two in their last 12.

So you know what? And they've got, you know, three shutouts, you know, yesterday, yesterday, as I said, I thought Skinner was the best player in the second period by far. And you know what? And you're going to need that, right? Like every good team who goes to a cup final, you're going to need your goalie to steal you a game or two here or there. You know, Skinner last year stole him game six against Dallas. No question. You know. He had another good game against LA when they got out shot 33-13 and only gave up a goal. So he can do it. You don't obviously want him to do it all the time, but Goldkneading is a weird guy. Look at Hellevuk. Look at his numbers. This guy is like a Vezna trophy winner. His numbers are terrible. But Edmonton's defense has, when they play their structure, ever since Knoblock

took over last year, right after game 14, Deores have been a much better defensive team. Now, can they still be their worst opponent and self-destruct a bit? Yeah, kind of like the third period against Dallas, their penalty kill just couldn't get a stop and then they took two stupid penalties. That's the other thing we should, you know, in the playoffs you can't take dumb penalties. And you know, Corey Perry, guy who has played seven most games, he knows you can't crosscheck a guy in the face in the offensive zone in a playoff game. So yeah, they'll still do it but overall you look at Vegas like they dominated Vegas. Vegas is a really good team and in this playoff against Dallas outside of the third period of game one I really think Edmonton is dominated so they're

definitely capable of it they're they're constructed now that they can win games differently if you want to go high scoring they can obviously do that but you want to play a physical game they got enough physical guys you got Hyman you got Kane you got Pod Coles you got Frederick like they got a more than enough physical players in today's NHL. And then, you know, you obviously you got McDavid and Dry Settle and, and the crazy part guys is that Connor McDavid hasn't had to have games where he goes Connor McDavid like, right? Like yesterday scored two goals on two nice shots, which

haven't really seen from him. And so McDavid, if he, like, if he gets going and Dry Saddle gets going, which we've seen them, those guys score two points a game. Well now all of a sudden you got a even tougher beast. I think that's probably the most positive thing for Edmonton is that if you're waiting for one of those games from those two, you might get it in the Stanley Cup final. That could be the difference of them maybe winning it this year rather than losing it. Jason, even I got to admit that the Oilers fans have been awesome during this playoff run. The

building is so loud. What's it like in Edmonton these days? What's a game day like? Well, you better be loud man. They're just betting you over for the ticket prices. It's 700 bucks, like some of those lower bowl seats, just, you know, not even the club seats, 700 bucks a seat. Like the cup finals is going to be 1200. Like it's a joke, but anyway, and I'm a seat and ticket holder so I can say that. Like I think it's an absolute disgrace, but, um, the, uh, the, the oilers fans, you know what, they're loud. They're obviously excited before the games and it seems as the deeper the playoffs go, they get a little bit louder, which, obviously excited before the games. And it seems as the deeper

the playoffs go, they get a little bit louder, which, you know, the games become a little bit more important. And, you know, I know there's lots of people like, why are they playing an afternoon game in Canada? We hate afternoon games. Trust me, the building was louder than it'd be in any other game. Like, and I'm sure Tuesday will probably be slightly louder because now they're thinking, Hey, maybe we win and now you're up three to one. So you know what the, the fan, the Canadian fans and now you're up three to one. So, you know what, the Canadian fans overall, I think in a lot of these markets, they understand it, they live it, they love it. And the fact that the orders are really good. There are some years where you got your fans and you're like, we got to cheer so loud because we got to hope that maybe we can help our

team win. I think the fans here are like, they're confident that their team could win and you know after last year like look at like let's punch the ticket everybody out there knows Florida's going to the cup right I guess a no-brainer Carolina can't win to save their life and so there's a chance only the third time in 45 seasons that you have a rematch in the cup final and you know Edmonton couldn't definitely punch their ticket here I think if they can get up three to one I don't think they're gonna lose three in in a row. So huge game on Tuesday. And I expect the building to be rocking it. No, it's great. Hey, as an older guy now, I'll tell you, I love the six 20 starts.

We're speaking to Jason Greger from sports 1440 and Edmonton here, Jason, one more before we let you go. What are you seeing? Or maybe more specifically, what aren't you seeing from the Dallas stars in this series? Wow. They're five on five scoring guys. And I wrote it before the series starts. Like Jamie Ben, Matt Duchesne, Jason Robertson, how many goals five on five did have all playoffs? Zero.

So, you know, you can, and now obviously Rupay Hintz was out of game. And Miko Rantzen and even Miko Rantzen, like like Miko Ranton's got 20 points or 21, but 17 of them came in five games. He's got a lot of goose eggs. And so I just, their five on five scoring just isn't good enough. And they need, they need Ben. Yeah, like I haven't even really noticed them in the series guys. Like normally Jamie Benz are a real jerk on the ice.

Like I haven't seen him in a scrum. I haven't seen him face wash anybody. Matthew Shane scored in game one on the power play. great, but five on five, I don't notice them. Wyatt Johnston hasn't done enough. They got way too many of their better guys. Like outside of the finish line, Rupe, Hens, Rand and Granlin. After that, it's a real question mark across the board.

So unless those guys get going, and they really haven't got going all playoff, like I think Jay Gottinger won in the second round against the Jets. If you look at the shots and everything, the Jets controlled that series more. The Jets could have got a save from Hellebuck. Funny enough, I think they would have won that series. Like look at how many bad goals he led in on screen from distance in that series. So to me, I think Dallas is, they're five on five scoring is their major flaw right now. And they're not fast enough, like they're not as fast as yours,

five on five. And I think we've noticed that in the series. So, you know, unless Edmonton's penalty kill wants to be awful again, it's going to be hard, I think, for Dallas to win because they haven't shown they've been good enough five on five, really all playoffs. When you look at, like they got a negative goal for differential and what are we 16, 17 games in for them? You just, that's, it's odd to think you can win in the playoffs and get outscored five on five. Jason, this was great, man. Thanks a lot for doing it. We appreciate it. Anytime boys. Sorry again for being late.

Oh, no problem. No problem. Jason Greger from sports 14, 14 and Edmonton here on the health for the breath show on sports net six 50 on the subject of goaltending. It's time now for one to watch brought to you by Delaney's. Okay. T's time now for one to watch brought to you by Delaney's OK Tire. Tonight's one to watch Sergey Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky, much like the rest of his Florida Panther teammates, has been dominant against Carolina. But Bobrovsky really like his Florida Panther teammates has been dominant

throughout the playoffs. Two goals allowed or fewer in seven straight games dating all the way back to the second round. The longest such streak of any team this postseason one shy of the Panthers franchise record. Bob also stopped 23 of 25 in game three to earn his 45th career playoff win. That is the franchise Mark by a long and distant margin.

All other Panthers goalies, including Roberto Luongo have combined for a grand total of 20 playoff victories. And Bob is already at 45. Depending on what's almost like they weren't very successful. It's almost like they never went to the playoffs prior to the last few years. Depending on what sportsbook you go to, Barofsky either has the second or third shortest odds to win the Kahn-Smith trophy. You could probably up those tonight with a win as the Florida Panthers with a win tonight would head to their third consecutive Stanley Cup final. It's time to put on your Toyo tires, whether you drive a car, light truck or van.

Toyo tires are designed to perform in all kinds of conditions. Visit Delaney's OK tire in Langley and Aldergrove. OK tires service, repair and tires. You're listening to the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd. And Thomas Strantz. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 7.33 on a Monday. It's an 80s Monday here on the hell for the brush show on sports net 650 quickly rocketing up with the charts of my favorite musical theme days hey Doug did I tell you someone came up to me the other day and said hey man big fan of the

show you got to change that music on Thursdays though and I was like I'm with you brother nah that's a week with. You got to embrace the thrash. Thrash Thursdays. Just tell me what people are saying. Many people are saying. Many people also love thrash. And they are very, very hardcore about it. No one's come up to me and said it. Yeah, well it's because you're not a thrash kind of guy.

Alright, all you metalheads, you heard it. You see Bruff on the street. Yeah, you tell him you love the thrash. Now look what you've done. Yeah. Gonna have a bunch of long-haired grease balls coming up to me on the street. Yep, you tell him right after him. You tell him you love the thrash. Now look what you've done. Yeah. Gonna have a bunch of long-haired grease balls coming up to me on the street. Yo Brough, I heard you were just in the trash. Easily the most polarizing of our musical theme days. Anyway, moving along.

Everyone loves 80s Day though. That's true. Nothing polarizing about this. Everyone loves it. Justin and Suri, thrash Thursday every day. Oh look, it's in all caps. What a surprise. And from Suri. You are listening to the Haliford and Brev show on Sportsnet 650. Sorry Suri, Haliford and Brev 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 our tour of the program. We are at the midway point of the program. Axel Schuster, sporting director of the Whitecaps is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominick at JasonDoubtMortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Visit them online at JasonDoubtMortgage. We go now to the Power at West Industries Hotline. Big win for the Vancouver Whitecaps over the weekend 14 matches in a row unbeaten joining us now the sporting director of the Whitecaps actual Schuster here on the Halford and Rough show on Sportsnet 650 good morning Axel. How are you? Happy Monday morning. I'm very good, and I want to tell you I like your music Mondays and Thursdays. Oh nice Thanks, Axel. That is perfect. We're not going to change either.

Just because you said that, that's good. OK, I do want to circle back to what happened over the weekend. Another fantastic performance, even though the first five minutes left, something to be desired for the White Caps falling behind to know ultimately rally for a three to victory. Thanks to a late Pedro Vite goal. Your thoughts on getting not just one point, but three points out of a 2-0 deficit in Utah

over the weekend, Axel? You know, it was a great challenge for us, because we fall back to nothing after five minutes. And it doesn't matter how many mistakes you are doing. It's important how you react to it, and the team reacted great to it. It was another character test for our team with all the big games coming up and having had so many big games to not let it go and say, okay, today is not our day.

No, to fight back and to say, no, we don't let it go. There's plenty of time to play and we want to get a result here and it's the second time that we come back from two goals down in the last four games. So I think our team is very well prepared for whatever the challenge next Sunday will be. What can you say about the play of Brian White who had the first two goals in the comeback against Real Salt Lake on the season?

So he sits second in MLS scoring with 10 goals. I believe he's got 15 across all competitions and it just feels like with every passing match, he's got more and more confidence in front of goal. No, we, we, we always say that he's one of our most important players and it is amazing to see him not only because he's such a good goal scorer and he's doing this season over season. It's not a one off season or the one breakout season. He does that now since he's arrived at the club,

but he's also, and you know him, he's such a humbled, hardworking character. So he's our first defender as well. So he's doing this with not resting and it was not saving his energy at any moment in the game. And this time he was actually leading the team on the, to the pitch as the captain. And he was an outstanding role model for every player in our club.

So White did get one of the recalls to the US men's national team for the upcoming international window. He's obviously very happy about being in the national team fold. He's had a little bit of experience there already. He got called up prior. But the new call up from your guys team for the Americans now is your midfielder, Sebastian Bearhalter. And I saw the interview with him after he got the news that he was getting recalled

and they said it might've been one of the happiest moments of his life. Obviously his dad managing the team and his ties to the program, it meant a lot to him. My question for you is when you guys acquired Bearhalter, did you anticipate that he could grow into this kind of impact player or has he exceeded your guys' expectations? Look, there's never something wrong with exceeding our expectations. We had high expectations for him. I remember my first conversation with him. He had one year in Columbus, one year in Austin. And I said, you have to find a home, you have to give yourself patience and time to develop because you have all the skills, but you also need to give it time. And so when we extended the contract the last time, we all had a good feeling that he did a big step forward and we were speaking about he has to become a consistent starter, he has to become one of the best players, domestic players in our league in his position. And I think he's there and that

he now gets called up is a great thing for our club. Anyway, we have five calls up to the Gold Cup and four of them have become national team player in our club and they haven't been national team players before. So it's also a great statement from for our club that you can become a national team player if you come to Vancouver. Yeah. Just get your thoughts on that because sometimes it's a bit of a hassle when the players have to go play for the country because the international breaks aren't lined up like they are in European soccer.

Um, but you must feel, or correct me if I'm wrong, you must feel that they gained something from going out and playing in these pressure environments for their countries. You know, at the end of the day, we're not having that bad, good players. We wouldn't be four points and a game in hand ahead of everyone else in the

Western Conference. So you can see it on both sides. These good players and their great performance also helps us to be the best team in MLS, to be in the Concord Cup Champions League final. And at the end, when it comes to the games that we have to play without them, we have to look into what we have in our depth. But I always remind everyone that we played a game against Minnesota a few weeks ago before we went to Miami. And everyone was expecting that we will skip this game because we played a lot of our depth players and we won against Minnesota and they have been second in our Western Conference at that time.

So we're not worried about our depth and we are very happy for our national team players. By the way, what do you think about the talk about MLS going to a more traditional European schedule and moving away from the summer schedule? Are you for that or against it? Look, from, you know, I have both head on, I'm the CEO and the spotting director.

I think from the spotting director side, there's no question for me. And if you now speak about international windows, we have seen it last year. Um, we want to have a top product under the pitch. I think we, we, all our teams have a top product on the pitch if you have every player available. But last year

Some of the national team players have missed almost 10 games. That's one third of the regular season That is not good for the competition either So beside of the fact that the teams that have to suffer without them But also not the same level of competition if if the national team players are not there So and we will only be able to change that if we change the calendar. From the CEO side, I totally understand that it is challenging in some markets. We rely heavily on gates, on tickets that we sell. And especially we in Canada, if you look at our two other brothers in the league in Toronto and Montreal, yeah, it needs some more preparation

because we also as a league cannot afford that those teams suddenly cannot play any home game or that they play in front of almost no one because it's minus 30 degrees there. So we need to prepare as well, but I think in general we have to go to it at one day. How will they do that though? I mean, Toronto, Montreal is one thing, you know, Chicago, New York, Kansas city, uh, it gets really cold there. Like I know you can, you can, uh, you can heat the field and everything, but I mean, from a

marketing perspective, from a scheduling perspective, it's, it's going to be really challenging. You know, there are a lot of smart brains in New York in the league office and there are definitely ways to work a little bit around that. I'm coming from Germany and we play through the winter and it's very, very cold in some of our regions, but we are having a huge break in winter for this. And then we continue with the competition. For that reason, our summer break is a little

bit shorter. So there are intelligent ways to work around it. I think it's more important that the facilities, the stadiums and the training facilities as well are prepared, because one thing is to play in the stadium and heat the field. The other thing is to train every week five, six times in these conditions. So you also have to be prepared for that. For that reason, I say we probably need a little bit more time, but I also think that in general we will have to discaddle at some point in the future. Okay.

Well, let's continue on with the weather talk because I don't think cold is going to be an issue down in Mexico City. Now I know you've got this game against Minnesota coming up, but what are the travel plans? What are the special preparations you're going to make to go down and play this very big game in Mexico City? Look, one good thing is that we already played twice in Mexico and we played in Costa Rica, so we are used to travel long hours south of the US border and play games there. We have our experience.

We will not do something super special. We will have to arrive a little bit earlier than we have been used to for the other games because there's a media day and we have to train in the stadium from a media standpoint on Saturday. But we are fully focused on the game on Wednesday first and all team operations are working already on the schedule and all the set up for the travel. We will leave on Friday after training here and I think we are all prepped for this and there is nothing special and nothing new for us and it's better to keep it like that because I know that for every player and everyone this is a big game you don't need to do more things to make them aware that this is a big game just keep it as simple as possible. As far as the opponent how is the preparation what are you

guys anticipating from Cruz Azul compared to the other Ligue 1 teams that you've played already? Look, they're a very, very strong team. We have seen how they have played against Seattle and how dominant they have been against Seattle. But we are as well. So we are the best team in MLS right now. And we go there as the team with the best record in MLS. We are in good form, and we are also a team that is hard to beat, a team that can come back from two goals down twice now in the last four games. So I think it's about the same things like the last time against Pumas where we played in the same stadium. Hang in, never stop, never give up, and believe that you can change the game to your advantage

in the 90s plus third minute. We had Jesper on the show last week and we asked actually about Ryan Gould's availability for that match in Mexico and he all but essentially ruled him out saying that even if he was back to being able to participate in matches, he wouldn't necessarily be match fit for June 1. I'm curious about the injury. When he when Gald was initially injured, did you guys anticipate that it was going to be this length of time that he was going to be out? No, we were hoping that it would go faster, but

medicine and bodies are never 100% the same. So for the reason we had to accept and understand that the pain that he had was limiting him for longer than expected. The good thing is now he is over that. He is able to do everything we ask him to do and to increase the load every day without any pain and any setbacks and any problems. That wasn't the same a few weeks ago. So we now think we are on a good path to have him back in foreseeable time, but it has taken a little bit longer. But that's sometimes how it is. Sometimes it takes less time and sometimes it takes more time. Unfortunately, this time it took more time. Was there any consideration for him to undergo surgery on the knee or was this always something that was just going to be rest and rehabilitation?

No, we actually asked for a second and a third opinion just to be safe. And we did that with our medical team. So they wanted to be sure that there's nothing that we have maybe missed in all of this. It was always something that you only can do conservative. It's not an injury where you can really help with a surgery. It's more about the time it takes to be completely free and that the injury has healed in a way that you can use your foot and leg again with 100%, what is obviously important to build up also then shape and muscle. And that's what he is doing right now. We're speaking to White Cab sporting director Axel Schuster here on the Halford & Brough

show on Sportsnet 650. I did want to circle back briefly to talk about playing through an international window. It was funny. I think, uh, yes for Sorenson in his first tour of duty as an MLS manager is learning the, the nuances and the interesting parts of the league. And it's that when you're going to play Seattle, I know there was a quote from him talking about that he's going to be missing nine players due to the fact that they he's going to be missing nine players Due to the fact that they're all going to be called up for the international window Which is a thing that I think you know probably in Denmark

He was not accustomed to usually when international windows are on you take a break, but Pivoting off what yes, but is now realizing about MLS My question for you is now that a lot of the European domestic leagues are coming to an end Is there any thought to the club looking at free agents that might be out of contract and potentially signing them over the summer? Look, FIFA rules say that any player that we want to add now as a free agent has to have to be out of contract when our last window closed. Okay. You cannot add somebody who is just recently became a free agent. But in general, to answer your question in a different way, we don't believe that the

player who is now out of contract, that he can come in and have an impact and help us more than some of our depth players. I always say that the Seattle game is obviously a little bit special. And I hope that the whole city is coming to support the young group that we will play on that day in an important game. But other than that, I always recommend everyone who's following the team to write down a starting eleven without the players that are gone. And you will see that all of them have played all of them have played their role in our successful season so far. We believe that they will be ready and they will help us to gain more points at home and on the road in the time where some of the national team players are

not here. Axel, I got to ask you, I'm going to ask CEO Axel now, not sporting director Axel. CEO Axel, have you seen an increase in business and in ticket sales and in interest in the club? Yeah, we see actually, we see it over two years now. Obviously last year was a little bit of an outlier because of the Miami game and it was very important to prove to everyone that we can retain the strong numbers we had last year. I would say that the very good season this year helps us to do this. We have also just recently sold our sleeve

patch and we haven't sold it before because we had some expectation on the price tag for it. So we see absolutely the business and also the ticketing picking up. That is what you expect. Also, besides of the fact that this is a very important business question, I also think that the way we play, the performance that we put on the pitch and the exciting soccer that we play also deserves that people come and support this team and this club. It must have been very satisfying for you considering what happened last season with the Miami game and all the upset fans when Messi didn't show up, despite

the fact that you had the full house, it must've been very satisfying to watch the fans really get their money's worth in that Miami game specifically. What did you think of the, just the spectacle at BC Place for that day? Obviously the win was nice, but the fans went away happy. What made me happy the most was that it was a blue and a white game. It was different than in some other stadiums where clubs have chosen them to play in a bigger venue where I would say 25 to 50 percent of the people that are coming are wearing a pink jersey. That wasn't the case. The

people were coming to support us and the people were and showed their frustration with how things went last year. Yep. And I have to say, that's something I want to see from my city. That's something that I want to see from the people who generally like us, support us, come to our games, ramp up behind your team, make a statement, and then it's our job on the pitch to copy that and show you a great performance.

And so it was a wonderful evening because everything played into each other so well. No one can carry a grudge like a Vancouver sports fan. I was very proud of him that day. Axel, thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate you taking the time. Best of luck in the next two matches, but specifically on Sunday in the Kukkikaf Cup Championship.

It should be a really great day. Thank you very much, guys. Thank you. That's Axel Schuster, Whitecaps sporting director here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, let's do a quick reset here. We got a final hour of the program coming up. Eight o'clock we're going to talk to Brandon Astel.

So today at two o'clock our time, the Abbotsford Canucks are going to play the fifth and deciding game five of their series against the hated Colorado Eagles. Now, if you're wondering two o'clock, what's going on? It's Memorial Day down in the States. So it actually works great from a programming perspective because we will have Brandon's call at two o'clock right here on Sportsnet. Six fifty. Then after that, we'll pivot over to game four, another potentially decisive game between Florida and Carolina. If Florida wins tonight, they'll complete the sweep and they will

move on to the third consecutive Stanley Cup final. So that's all the programming today on Sportsnet 650. We are here with you for another hour. Brandon Astle is going to be coming up next. That's at eight o'clock at eight thirty. We're going to be doing what we learn. And this is a reminder to get yours in the Dunbar L Lumber Text Line is 650-650. What did you learn over the last 72 hours in sports? A lot happened over the weekend. So let us know, hashtag it WWL. Text it into the Dunbar Lumber Text Line 650-650.

We'll do them at 830. And it's your chance to be on the radio. One final hour to go. Keep it on the dial. You're listening to the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650.