Halford & Brough in the Morning - There Is Too Much Sports Happiness In Toronto And Edmonton

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, including a busy night of NHL playoff action (3:00), plus they talk the Leafs moving onto the second round with The Athletic Toronto's James Mirtle (28:49). 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- Oh, you got it! Penalty coming! Scars! Happy birthday! Get it! Says it in front, loose pass! Slams away by the star! They threw it into their own net! You what? This one hits a deep left. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning Vancouver 601 on a Friday.

Happy Friday everybody. It is Alfred at his brough. It is Sportsnet 650 and 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.

And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Go get a consumer proposal which will keep you debt free and get up to 80% of your debt solved with no interest. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec Footwear and Orthotics working together with you in step. You got a big show ahead on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody.

The weekend is here. The guest list today begins at 6.30. James Myrtle from The Athletic is going to join us. We'll talk some Toronto Maple Leafs with Myrtle. The Leafs beat the Sens in game six last night. They took their first round series against Ottawa. It is just the second series win for the Leafs since 2004. And they will now face the Florida Panthers in the second round. Florida and Toronto, of course, have played in the playoffs once before, back in 03. Remember that when they said, we want Florida.

We want Florida, and then Florida beat them in five games. We'll talk to Myrtle about that at 6.30. We made a mistake. Oops. Seven o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza is gonna join the program. A reminder, $100 gift card to AJ's today for the best Ask Us Anything or What We Learn.

Bruff said to me before the show, hey, we should do more ask us anythings today. I think he's right. Dunbar Lumbertec's line is 650, 650, get him in, hashtag AUA. You can ask us quite literally about anything. Doesn't have to be about sports, doesn't even have to really make sense. Just send them in, we will answer them throughout the show. Best one gets a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway.

After AJ at 7005, Jonathan Davis, not the lead singer of Korn, but from Sirius XM Satellite Radio, NHL Radio, is gonna join us to talk Los Angeles Kings. The Kings were eliminated last night after a 6-4 loss to the Oilers. I believe this is what the kids nowadays called crashing out. Is that right?

Did the Kings crash out? Like Ned Flanders after the kids nowadays called crashing out. Is that right? Did the Kings crash out? Like Ned Flanders after the hurricane. Yes, exactly. They crashed out big time. How? Tell me how. After you go up two nothing in a series and you chase the starting goalie of a team, you then

lose four straight to the backup goalie while the backup goalie is posting an 893 save percentage. Hey, that's the generational talent. They've done that before too. They've had the Oilers in a tough spot in that series and they've blown it. This was a special kind of collapse that we'll talk to Jonathan Davis about that.

Maybe we'll talk about Joel Quenville being potentially hired in Anaheim as well. 730, it's the Moge, the Moge laddie. Hey, you know what happened this week that we didn't talk about, but we can talk it's the Moge, the Moge laddie. Hey, you know what happened this week that we didn't talk about but we can talk about with the Moge? The CFL draft. Return you to exciting 15th round action at the Canadian Football League draft. And so the Saskatchewan Rough Riders who scored only four Rouges all last season, Jack. Is that all they have? They didn't get not many rouges for the writers.

They always tally up the rouges at the end of the year. That's classic. We can also probably ask some motion about the NFL draft and the Shider Sanders thing and all that. That's going to be at 7.30, 8 o'clock. It's Rick Dollywall. I'll turn to our resident Dolly handler, Jason Bruff. What are we going to talk to Dollywall about today? I mean, we're going to talk about talk it. And we might talk a little bit more about Adam Foot and whether or not Manny Mulholland is a serious candidate to be the next head coach of the Vancouver Canucks.

Working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock, Dolly Wall, 7.30, it's the Moj, 7 o'clock and 7.05, Jonathan Davis and AJ. And then at 6.30, it's James Myrtle. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? and 705 Jonathan Davis and AJ and then at 630 James Myrtle that's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety

simpler by giving construction companies the best tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We were going to start with our pre-written notes, but right now we have a bit of breaking news out of the National Hockey League courtesy of Elliott Friedman regarding the New York Rangers coaching job, Jason. Yeah, Freach just broke this a couple of minutes ago and the New York Rangers have made it official. Mike Sullivan is the 38th head coach in New York Rangers history.

Salé. A long coach, long history, I think of 38 head coaches. This was not unexpected. As soon as Sullivan left the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was widely expected that the New York Rangers would make a really big push. It was reported by ESPN yesterday that the deal is expected to be one of the richest coaching

contracts in NHL history. Now, I don't know if it will eclipse what Mike Babcock got with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but you remember that deal was signed by Babcock and then a bunch of other coaches got paid. And then I don't know if this kind of went hand in hand with the pandemic and revenues being down, but a lot of the teams were like, no more of this

stuff, we're cutting back on the coaches. Um. There was a market reversal. Yeah. And now there's been a bit of the teams were like, no more of this stuff. We're cutting back on the coaches. There was a market reversal. Yeah. And now there's been a bit of a bounce back and we'll see if Rick Tocket can take advantage of that market bounce back. ESPN also reported, by the way, that Torts is a strong possibility to rejoin the Rangers organization.

Of course. And of course, Torts and Sully were togetherin the Rangers organization. Of course. And of course, Torts and Sully were together on the Rangers bench for a long time. Well, NHL long time, from 2009 to 2013 when Torts was the head coach and Sullivan was the assistant coach. And then of course, that duo came to Vancouver for one glorious year. Unforgettable. After they were done in New York with the Canucks and the Rangers switched coaches. So-

And now Sully and Torz are switching positions. Well, I think Torz might be in executive position there. Oh, okay. I doubt he'd be on the bench. Right. I'm just purely speculating here. Torz as an assistant coach would be hilarious. But Torz as an assistant coach would, I don't know.

You know, he you just be like alright So they get out of the way I'm in charge now everyone will be looking over their shoulder like he's gonna say something Version of Toro's gonna take players under his wing The players like I'm not comfortable with this. I'm not comfortable with you being the good cop I think you are right though. I think it'll be in more of an executive role Yeah, and it's interesting. I'm not gonna lie. I know that it was reported and I believe ESPN's Emily Kaplan was the first to really break this

story wide open yesterday, but I'm still kind of surprised that Sullivan is diving straight into another job. I know it's on the East coast and it's a pretty high profile marquee job. So it's not like the, um, the references we keep making the torts taking the Vancouver job. It's not that.

Yeah. But it's still a guy that's been coaching for over a decade in the same spot. And you know, things just sort of burnt out at the end, like it's not like he had this great, uh, final few seasons and got to leave on a high in Pittsburgh. Maybe he's super motivated then to, to go to a

team that has a better chance than currently Pittsburgh, not that there aren't issues in few seasons and got to leave on a high in Pittsburgh. Maybe he's super motivated then to go to a team that has a better chance than currently Pittsburgh. Not that there aren't issues in New York, but I think the Penguins just got to the point where it was like, man, we've got Sidney Crosby here, but not much else. Yeah. And I understand that part of it.

That could be a motivating factor, but 10 years on the job in the NHL is a long time. So if you're wrong about that, maybe you're wrong about Cooper wanted to take time off after getting let go of the lightning. I wasn't wrong about it. You really want to go to the Canucks now. I wasn't wrong about anything per se, because

I didn't necessarily think he was going to step away, I just thought that that might be the better course of action because we've seen coaches before get burnt out, right? Some guys just up and leave. I mean, that was the sort of famous Paul Maurice in Winnipeg. He got burnt out.

He was done. He had been there for too long. Of course, he also resurfaced much faster than anyone thought he was going to. And when you have a big money. Since he won a Stanley Cup. When you have a big money offer, like the Rangers obviously gave Sullivan.

That probably helped, right? But it's hard to say no, but is your heart really, really in it? So we'll see. I mean, probably is, right? I mean, when you go to coach the New York Rangers, it's pretty cool. You're Madison Square Garden.

Yeah. Let's just say it moved them to a bigger house. It can get, yeah. In the New York area. Um, Joe Haggerty, uh, tweeting out, of course, Joe covers the Bruins and the Bruins head coaching search continues because Bruins fans were hoping to get Mike Sullivan. I don't know if Tauket is a contender for the Bruins job,

but Tauket has, he'll be in the mix now. I know, and I'd be shocked if he's not coaching in the NHL this season. I still think he's going to take the Philly job. Speaking of Tauket and the Vancouver Canucks, I guess you can file this under, you know, things are bad when, uh, there's a speculation by Nick Kiprios that, uh, the Canucks might be

put up for sale at some point. And then yesterday after our show went off the air, um, you know, the Canucks spent a lot of their day denying those rumors, our own Satyar Shah was one of the people that reached out to the Vancouver Canucks and they were like, no, the team's not for sale. Noah Strang from Daily High have also reached out to the Vancouver Canucks and a spokesman also

confirmed that they are not up for sale. For the record, I have never heard anyone in the know suggest the Canucks are for sale. In fact, whenever I've asked the questions of people in the know, they immediately shoot it down and say that owning the team is very important for the Aquilini family. It's more than just an investment, although that

investment has done very well in terms of franchise value. I've been told that a few times. It's very important to the people in that family that they own the team. Now that doesn't mean a sale will never happen. It's a family business and families can disagree on the direction of the business sometimes.

We work for a family business. There have been no disagreements here though. Nope, none. It has been totally calm. Haven't been any books written about the family disagreements here. Not one. This place, the family is all together.

Rock solid. At any rate, I don't think, I know there's some like hopeful people out there, you know, maybe a new owner, things would change. I don't think you should expect any change in the way the Canucks go about their business until they tell us or show us that they're going to operate differently.

You will waste a lot of energy hoping for things. I know that talk at leaving was a gut punch to the organization and we talked about it on the air and we said, God, you know, maybe is this gonna, is this gonna make them do some soul searching and say, you know, is it us? Is it, is the way we're doing it? No, it's the children who are wrong.

But I, you know, I still expect them to be aggressive this off season to add to their forward group. I still expect them to do everything they can to convince Quinn Hughes to stay. And here's the thing, because I hear a lot of people go, well, when Hughes leaves, um, and they got nothing left here, they, you know, they'll be, they'll be forced. They'll be finally forced into one of these patient methodical rebuilds. Uh, I expect the Canucks, if that were to happen, to keep trying

to make the playoffs every year. We're going to retool even harder. No appetite for a longer methodical rebuild until they tell us otherwise. Until they say that, you know what? We've operated in a certain way for a while and that every year it's important for us to make the playoffs and that's something that's kind of been rewritten in the whole, you know, all those years that they didn't make the playoffs from, you know, whatever it is, 2015.

Because they made it with Willie in the first year and then they missed a bunch of years in a row. And people are like, oh, that was their rebuild. I was like, they kept trying. Yeah. Like they kept trying to make the playoffs. Sure. You know, it's not like they just spent to the cap

floor and we're like, we're okay with this. Important days in March. Very, very, very different than what a team like say Buffalo did, where they said the fan base is going to suffer for a bit and hopefully we'll come out the other end in a good way. Now, neither strategy worked out for Vancouver or Buffalo, which just goes to show you how hard this is.

Yeah. And how there is no one right way to do it. But I would just suggest to the fans who are in, maybe this will change things territory because talk at left. I think this off season especially, they're going to be very aggressive because they know they don't want to lose Quinn Hughes. Oh, I don't even think there's a question with that. And if you heard Jim Rutherford's post-Hawket media availability, I mean, he said, like, if it's a

gut punch, well, we can take a knee and a standing eight count, but we got to get back up off the canvas and punch right back. That was the mentality. That's the way the mentality is going to be. So. I like the fight is over. Yeah. Not in our minds. Not in our minds. You are talking to the water bottle. Okay. Oh, we can do it. Okay. Let's turn our attention to the Stanley Cup playoffs right now because

three teams saw their seasons come to an end yesterday. We will begin with the Canadian teams that were in action, including two facing off in the Battle of Ontario Which is now over Max patch already? Yeah, Max patch already scored the tie-breaking goal We'll let with less than six minutes remaining Toronto beats, Ottawa 4-2 I want to replay Joe Bowen's call of the William Nylander empty netter which made it for to one of the all-time Bowen's call of the William Nylander empty netter which made it 4-2 one of the all-time calls from an all-time radio guy, Joe Bowen on the call as the Leafs eliminated the Sens in the Battle of Ontario.

Back around into the corner it goes and the Senators get it back to the point. Here Sanderson had right, blocked there on the Leafs, get it out. Willie, now you got it Willie, now you got it, Willie! Now you got it, Willie! Now you got it! Totally coming! SCARES! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN! THE SKY IS BLUE AND CLEAR AGAIN! WE WILL DRINK A CUP OF CHEER AGAIN! HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN! And it goes on like this. We will drink a cup of cheer again. Happy days are here again.

And it goes on like this. That one is amazing. Kind of funny. Aside from the last part, none of that was doctored. That was the call. Joe Bowen, Leafs win, second playoff series win since 2004. We'll put a bow very briefly on the Ottawa Senators season. Good job Ottawa, way to make the playoffs, way to push when you were down three nothing in the series.

But I remember on the show yesterday, I even said as delicious and as fattening as it would be to watch the Leafs lose game six and then go to game seven with all the ghosts of past playoff performances. I didn't have any faith that Ottawa was gonna be able to get it done. And the other, kudos, you know what? I will say this, kudos to the Leafs

because when David Perron scored that funky goal to make it 2-2 off Stoller's neck bone and head, I thought, oh, here it is. This is the collapse right now. The inevitable collapse is gonna happen right now because the Leafs have blown a two, nothing lead in this game. Of all the people to score the winning

goal to Patches. Yeah. I was kind of happy to see him do that. He hadn't scored for a long time. Yep. He'd had incredible chances and should have scored. He also had some giveaways in his own end. And I actually wondered at one point in that

game, if Pacioretty was going to be benched for the game. Yep. Yep. And he only ended up playing 13 minutes in 49 seconds. Um, and this is a guy that, uh, you know, we, I, I still remember him as a, as a hab. Yeah.

I think, I guess some people remember him as, as a Vegas golden night. But, but yeah, he hadn't scored in a long time and that was just a perfect shot by him and I was not happy that the Leafs won, but I guess if they're going to win, I was happy to see patches when our patches get the goal and he sounds like a dog, doesn't he? When you call him patches. In the first period, the Leafs had a power play late, uh, in the period and everyone

was talking about that. I haven't scored a power play goal in a, in elimination game forever. It was like, what was it like 0 for 31 or something like that. And I'm like, they're scoring right now. They are scoring guaranteed all this conversation about the lack of power play. they're scoring right now. They are scoring guaranteed all this conversation

about the lack of power play and then Matthew slid one in. Yeah, I think it was. With a really smart shot. Yep. Gretzky scored like a hundred of those, sliding them along the ice. And then the goalies were like, what if we took

away the bottom of the net? And then they said, no, just going to let it in. Yeah. 150 times over for Wayne Gretzky. Nylander was excellent. Yeah, it was great. He scored the second goal and then made the key play. Watch that one, Quentin Byfield,

that's how you take advantage of an empty net. You know who got the shot block on the Nylander empty net or that Joe Bowen was going mental about was Scott Lott? Scott Lott, yeah. And he was like, oh,ter that Joe Bowen was going mental about was Scott Lott. Scott Lott Yeah, and he was like, oh he did something cool. The much maligned Scott Lott Anyway, you mentioned that Pat Reddy used to play for the Vegas Golden Knights. So that we'll pivot over Florida Toronto now in the second round as I mentioned, but the other game last night of four The Vegas Golden Knights real quick because I paid zero attention to this series and it was probably the most competitive six game series

You could have got from the two. Uh, Ikel finally got on the sheet. Ikel and stone as the series went along and got better and better and played at their best last night, three to win for the Vegas golden Knights over the Minnesota wild in game six. That series was sort of earmarked by the fact that after Minnesota got out to that two one series lead, they lost three straight, but the games that they lost, two of them were in overtime,

and last night's was a 3-2 game. So it was about as close as you can get in a six game loss. But Minnesota, a couple things happened. They did a good job of silencing Stone and Eichel in the first half of the series, and then they kinda got their legs and started scoring in the second half. And it came down to big moments.

That Ryan Hartman goal that was disallowed in the previous game was And it came down to big moments that Ryan Hartman goal that was disallowed in the previous game was probably a bigger gut punch than everyone thought it was. And Vegas moves on now to face the Edmonton Oilers. Now we need to talk about this series because even though it's over and even though it was entertaining, I wish it would never end.

I wish the LA Kings and the Edmonton Oilers just played this series infinity for the rest of time. The Kings are like, please no. It's. I disagree with this idea. I never want to see the Edmonton Oilers again. Do you think, you know who I was thinking

about after they lost for the fourth straight time in the first round? One of the olds. Doughty and Kopitar. Two of the olds. How mortified they must be by losing in this way. And there's been a couple series where like the first one went seven games, right?

And, and, and the Kings played well and I think McDavid ended up putting the team on his back to win that series. And then last year, the Oilers just dominated the Kings. Those are the two series that I don't really think about much, but it was the one- We've been thinking about this one for a while though. It was the second series where they had a 2-1 series lead,

game four in LA, had a three-nothing lead in that game, blew that lead and lost in overtime. That was the Jim Hiller challenge game? And then, no, no, no, I'm talking about lost in overtime. That was the Jim Miller challenge game? And then, no, no, no, I'm talking about three years ago. Oh. Okay. They had a 2-1 series lead, game four in LA. They had a three nothing lead in that game and they blew it and lost it and then lost

games five and six. And they lost the series in six. And then this year, very similar, had a two nothing lead in the series, game three, things are looking good. Jim Hiller challenges, um, after the others had tied the game and then loses the challenge and the others score right away on the power play.

And then game four, they had a three, two lead. I thought this was worse. Three, two lead, 30 seconds left. Byfield has the puck, the net is empty. He doesn't need to score into the empty net. He just needs to get it out, holds onto the puck. Evan Bouchard of all players makes a great defensive play, although he's probably used to

just like recklessly pinching. That was like, this is where I, this is where, this is where I really stand out. Um, of course the Oilers go and score and win it in overtime. And then the Kings, they were done. Too many self-inflicted wounds in this series for the Kings.

They were done. So you look at that series three years ago and you look at that series this year, very similar. The Kings had the Oilers in a position where they shouldn't have been able to let them off the mat. And combination of the Oilers have some pretty good players, including McDavid and Drysaddle, but also just, I don't know, careless mistakes.

And I think that's what Doughty and Kopitar must be like, come on guys, like these, these guys are, they've won two Stanley Cups, you know, and they, they won it playing Darrell Sutter hockey, which is very responsible and very, um, it's just like, it's very tough hockey to play, but also to play against. It's the definition of hard to play against. And I'm watching this series and the Kings are just, they're just loosey goosey. Well.

Like how can you, how can you let that, how can you let that happen to you? I mean, look at some of the scores in this series, six five, six two, seven four, six four. Like there were multiple games where, and I know the panelists like Derek Lalonde and Kevin Bax Exxon Sports Network, we're calling it river hockey repeatedly throughout the series. Like they let this break into river hockey and

they let this get into river hockey, which obviously. That's the Oilers game. Obviously suits the Oilers. They've got defensive inefficiencies. They've got their backup netminder in. They want to get into games where the scores are six, five, seven, six, whatever, because that'll allow them to outscore their problems.

And LA, after doing a reasonably nice job in the first two games, exploiting all of the Oilers' defensive inefficiencies and not making any mistakes themselves, then it just, the collapse happened and it happened fast. We're gonna talk to Jonathan Davis from SiriusXM NHL Radio in the seven o'clock hour. And I do wanna ask him if they can run it back

after what happened over this last week and a half. Because there's collapses on their own in a vacuum. And then there's one where you collapse against a team that has beat you in three previous playoffs, where you're mentally and physically and emotionally prepared to finally get over that hump. And then you think you're halfway there going up two nothing in the series, carrying a lead into

the third period of game three. And then the bottom falls out and you never regain your footing. Like they never really came back after those self-inflicted wounds by Hiller and Byfield in those games. Who's got a better chance to advance to the conference final, Edmonton or Toronto? They both got very tough matchups.

Oh, Edmonton. Edmonton's got Vegas, Toronto's got Florida. Toronto is not getting past Florida. Toronto is not getting past Florida. Just to play- Toronto's not getting past Florida, they might win the cup. Yeah, that's why Toronto is not getting past

Florida. So they can't do it. Just to play devil's advocate. I agree with you, but I still, I mean I'm gonna regret saying this in a few weeks, I still can't see the Oilers winning the cup with Calvin Pickard as their goalie. No, they could go back to Skinner at this point. I think the goalie- I just can't.

I think, I think- Or that blue line, frankly. I mean the blue, although John Klingberg last night- McDavid and Dry's title would have to like find another level, which I don't even know if that's possible. I like the Leafs blue line line a lot more and I like their defensive game more than the Oilers Yeah, yeah, but yeah, but that I mean that's secondary to me. The the primary issue is the matchup like I watch This is pretty good, man. I think like you might be I think I think Florida is like built different

also as the kids like to say especially for this run and I watched that series against Tampa Bay which on paper and really in reality should have been a much closer affair and Florida was big Nasty tough and physical seems like they have a lot of the attributes with their key guys that the Toronto guys don't have and I'm looking at I'm like, where would you give the tick to Toronto over Florida in a series? Maybe in terms of offensive firepower, like high end scoring, but even then it's not a huge advantage.

Other than that, you go down the list, it's like Florida, Florida, Florida, Florida. So I also, I want no part of the Leafs advancing past the second round. Yeah. We're going to talk to James Myrtle next. And all I will say is there was far too much happy in Edmonton and Toronto yesterday. I did not care for it. We're going to talk to James Myrtle next.

We'll talk about the Leafs and maybe talk a little bit about the Sens as well. You're listening to the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshaw, your. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post-game show.

Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. Here's Dolby for... He scores! Max Patcheretti! You know, obviously when you're sitting down and the team's winning, you're happy for them, but you want to be a part of it. And I'm just thankful for the opportunity. 6.33 on a Friday.

Oh yeah, it's a Fiesta Friday. You're listening to the Halpern and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. That was Patches. Was that Patcheretti? Okay, it's a Fiesta Friday. You're listening to the health of a brush show on sports net 650 That was patches was that patch ready? Okay good. I didn't know I Played his goal Yeah, I just didn't know usually it makes sense your story track. I thought you could put it together Yeah, I did I asked quietly who was that the narrative makes sense laddie Very good arc that you put together talk about not being in the lineup, you know Mm-hmm. Well, there are enough clues in there that you could pick up. Yes the clue was that Austin Matthews He's been in and out of the lineup. It's way briskey

You are listening to the health of the brush show on sports net 650 James Myrtle is gonna join us in just a moment here By the way, we are in our one of the program our one is brought to you by Northstar metal recycling Baker is 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. The show is also 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. To the phone lines we go. James Myrtle from The Athletic

in Toronto joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, James, how are you? Good, good. Yeah, gonna have to get used to the Leafs winning series, I guess, once in a while. Well, they got two now since 2004, so yeah, you should really get used to it.

They are on their way to round two. You wrote about it for The Athletic. On Twitter it says, on They are on their way to round two. You wrote about it for the athletic on Twitter. It says on the Maple Leafs heading to round two and what was different this time around for Toronto? Tell the listeners James, what was different this time around for Toronto? Well, I mean, this is good for a Vancouver audience. They've got Chris Tanenoff who I think, you know,

he only had one point in the series, but I think he could argue he might've been the Leafs MVP just with the way that he played. He was so good and he was exactly what this Leafs team has needed. And you know, when everyone was saying the sky was falling and the playoff demons and everything were coming back to get Toronto, the media here wisely requested to talk to to Tanev and he came out after game five and said everything's fine and You know, we're in a good spot and then he went out and played like that So, you know, it wasn't just him it was you know, they they get Oliver Ekman Larson from Florida He's on the third pair played really really well in this series scored two big goals Brandon Carlo. They bring it from Boston

Anthony Stollers the their starting goalie, came in from Florida last year, played really well. You know, a lot of the new additions that Brad Treeliving made worked out for them in this series. And I think that if they would have played against Ottawa with the team they had last year, I think the result could have been way different. Is it fair to say that Brad Treeliving builds a different blue line than Kyle Dubas does?

Yeah, I would say so. Yeah, I mean, the Leafs were kind of at a little bit of a crossroads last year in free agency where they had 15 to 20 million dollars, they had a bunch of different holes. I could certainly see a lot of general managers make different decisions than Tree Living did. He went relatively cheap in goal with Stoller's at two and a half million. He didn't really sign any forwards of note and he spent big time on the back end. And, you know, the result is a less exciting Leafs team, but it's one that, but it's one that, that plays really well defensively.

And if they can get a lead in games, they can lock things down pretty well. And you know, I had this stat out there last night, the Leafs were 37-1 and one in games where they're leading after the second period, which is, I believe the best record in the league. And that just isn't what this team has been historically. Yeah, I guess maybe I'm misremembering things, but I guess I just remember

Kyle Dubas having more of an affinity for the offensive style defenseman. And then he goes to Pittsburgh and he gets Eric Carlson in there in a move that did not work out. But we were comparing the blue lines of the Oilers and the Leafs. And I look at the Oilers blue line and I think, yeah, there's a lot of puck moving ability there and potential in the offensive end, but if I'm looking to, to lock down a game in the playoffs and frankly, if I want a playoff style blue line, in my opinion, I would much prefer to have the Leafs.

Yeah. I mean, it's a, it's a veteran group. Uh, there's size there. The Leafs blocked a ton of shots in this series. I think they lead the NHL in shot blocks and the playoffs and yeah, I mean, it's, it's different. The Leafs don't play a possession style, you know, and part of it's not just the GM changing.

It's the coach changing as well. I mean, the style the Leafs are playing is way different than what they played under Sheldon Keefe and it's, it's not always a pretty style. You know, there were games even against Ottawa where they're getting heavily outshot and spending a lot of time in their own end. And, you know, it's, they're, they're trying to win a different way. And it worked against Ottawa.

So the big question and probably what we'll get to in on this segment is will it work against Florida? And that's like the real test of this, not, not beating Ottawa. Hey James, is this going to work against Florida? I don't know if you guys saw, I put out the, the betting odds are heavily against the Leafs in this series.

I think, I think they're, they're giving them a 36% chance to win or something like that. And, and I think that that's fair and proof% chance to win or something like that. And I think that that's fair. And proof of concept, two years ago, the Leafs won a round. They beat Tampa in the first round and they got absolutely trounced by Florida in the second round. The series went five games, but if I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure the Leafs went

down 3-0 and didn't play particularly great in some of those games and somehow found a way to win game four and then it was over. A lot of people are going to be picking Florida in a short series here. I think maybe the only thing that I can think of that really works in the least favor is Florida's really beat up after having gone to the final the last two years. Matthew Kachuck, you watched that series against Tampa in the first round. There were games where he's playing 12 minutes, 13 minutes. He's not at full capacity. Ekbled's been in and out of the lineup for the last couple of months with the multiple suspensions now for him.

That's about it. If the fatigue factor catches up with the Panthers, then maybe the Leafs have a shot there. We're speaking to James Myrtle from The Athletic here on the Haliford and Rough Show on Sportsnet 650. The one thing that does concern me about this Maple Leafs team is that they seem to deal with adversity and when things aren't going exactly to plan much better than previous iterations.

For example, I think at one point in the series, correct me if I'm wrong, but the power play was over 30 or something like that. The power play was miserable and they were able to, uh, it was, sorry, it was in serious clinching games. That's what it was, um, over 30 and they were able to find a way last night. But the bigger part of this to me is like, you look at the guys that scored key critical, important goals, you know, max Domi gets an OT winner. Simone Benoit gets an OT winner. Patrick Reddy gets a late third period winner. It feels like that for whatever reason,

they're able to get secondary scoring at crucial moments. So maybe some of that pressure is alleviated from the big four. Maybe. I mean, it played out that way, certainly against Ottawa. So, you know, I think they're going to continue to need to get that. The core four guys, I would say they had an okay series, you know, when Matthews gets the big goal last night, uh, Nylander comes through with, with the second goal.

Marner wasn't great in games five and six. No, no, you know, and Tavaris played pretty well last night. Um, but like I said, I, I think that, you know, if you're giving out letter grades, the core four probably as a group gets like a C plus or a B minus or something like that. And they're going to have to be better than that to beat Florida. And that's going to be one of the areas that they could potentially separate from the Panthers is their high end talent, if they can produce. But you know, as you guys know, and I think most hockey fans know the biggest problem for

the Leafs over all of these years, these eight, nine years with in the Austin Matthews Mitch Warner era is the stars haven't produced when series have been on the line. And to their credit, they did that last night. And we'll see if the narrative is different in round two. Hey James, I want to ask you about the Sens.

Where do you think they go from here? Because I'm looking at their lineup and they've got some good young players, obviously. Tim Stootsla is only 23 years old. Jake Sanderson is only 22. So maybe those guys can take another step next season, get even better, but I'm wondering where else the improvement could come in Ottawa because you know, David Perron scores a big goal.

Well, he's 36 years old. Um, Giroud is 37 years old. I don't know if he'll be back next season. Where, where is, where is that kind of leveling up going to come from in Ottawa? Yeah, I mean, they had kind of a weird year this year where, you know, Almark was hurt and didn't play well early in the season.

But if you look over the second half of the year, I think Ottawa had the ninth best record in the league and they played pretty well. And, you know, they started to get some secondary scoring from the, you know, Shane Pinto's and they bring in Dylan Cousins from, uh, from Buffalo and, you know, he's a guy that's got a lot of raw talent.

It's still a pretty young team. You know, I feel like Jake Sanderson, especially watching this series, I think he can be a top 10 defenseman in the league. Yeah. So that's a great weapon. Brady Kachuk was playing hurt. He, I think he had some sort of serious hip problem

and his season wasn't great. You know, like his brother, they both went to the four nations and played their brains out and, and got beat up a little bit. His skating looked way off. Like he looked awkward out there. He was, he was struggling and, and he had a good series, you know, but he only had 55 points this season.

So I think there's more there for Stutzla. I think there's more there for Stutzla. I think there's more there for Kachak in a year when he's healthier. Sanderson's going to continue to take steps. I know they've got some good prospects coming as well, you know, with Jeroe's contracts coming off, the talk that I heard during the series is that maybe he comes back on a really steep hometown discount. So maybe that frees up some cap space for them to potentially add another free

agent, you know, I think they could use another, probably another top four defenseman, Nick Jensen, I didn't think had a very good series for them. Um, and they could probably use another difference maker upfront. So, you know, I think there's a way for them to, I think they're going to be a consistent playoff team now going forward. And the big thing for them is probably going to be, they committed on that huge number was 8.25 or

something like that for Almark and they need him to be really good. And he got outplayed in the series. You know, he was brutal in game one. He had an uneven year during the season. He's a guy that won a Vezna trophy two years ago. And with that commitment on that contract, they are going to need them to be better than that.

But I still see them, like I said, as a playoff team. And I think if they had some of their other, and don't ask me to name them because I can't, I can't think of them off the top of my head right now, but I know they've got some really promising prospects coming. Uh, there's the, the, the defenseman that was in, uh, I believe was in the double HL this year, who's going to be really good. So, you know, if, if they have some other young players get better and some of their prospects

step into the lineup, I can see a scenario where they're a contender and, you know, two or three years from now. Well, let's bring it back to the least for a final question. Um, are least fans daring to dream or does that only really happen in reality if they can find a way to get past Florida? I think at this point, most of the fan base is,

is skeptical. You know, like there's a lot of the fan base is really down on this team and it doesn't believe in the core and it's just really frustrated with how long this has played out. So I think it's going to take them beating Florida for the bandwagon to really fill up. So you know, there's, there's those people that are all with the diehards that always believe but I think that in general, the perspective in the fan base is they want to be shown that

this team is different and beating Ottawa in six games in a series that was a little bit uneven isn't really going to be enough to do that. James, this was great buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy round two against Florida. It should be a lot of fun. We'll check back in as that series gets underway and do this again.

Okay. Thanks guys. Thank you buddy. That's James Myrtle from the Athletic in Toronto here on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. A friendly reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday here on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. We're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Dunbar number text line is 650-650.

To win the gift card, you have to hashtag it A-U-A. And importantly, you need to put a pizza emoji into the text to be entered into the grand prize contest to win a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Derek texts in with an Ask Us Anything, given the Minnesota mafia in Winnipeg, and if Ehlers walks, does Winnipeg not seem like an easy landing spot for Besser? I think the reason Ehlers is walking is because they don't have the cap space to keep them. I might be mistaken about that, but I just thought that that's the reason why, because they've got to re-sign Velardi and they've got to,

they already gave Neil Pionk. The big one for them is Kyle Connor. He's going into, next year will be the last year of his deal. Yeah. So they've got to keep some money for him. They've done a really tidy job though of keeping all those salaries in check.

I mean, I know that Connor Hallebuyck has had his struggles in these playoffs, but that's a Vezna and Hart candidate that's making eight and a half. Well, they got Josh Morrissey at 6.25. They got Shife late eight and a half too, right? Yeah. They've got good contracts on the books. I don't see Bester going to Winnipeg. To answer the question, I see him going to Minnesota.

I have no idea where Bester's going to go. I really don't. I mean, I know that Minnesota makes sense and I don't think we need to lay out the reasons why, but Minnesota also needs the cap space and they also need the need for that particular player. I don't know if they do or not. I mean, they may have more pressing issues with a team

that got bounced from the playoffs last night, by the way. This is a crazy stat. The Wild have now lost nine consecutive playoff series. It's the third longest streak in NHL history. It's eight straight, one and done appearances. That's the second longest streak. So such a weird dynamic and an odd existence for a team where you're good enough to get to the

playoffs, but every year you're done early. St. Louis was kind of like that for a long time. They had that long playoff run. Now it wasn't like they were out in the first round every time, but they were just this, you know who else, when I was growing up? Washington. Yeah.

Always made the playoffs. It's a very strange existence for the team. And Mike Gardner always scored at least 20 goals. Yep. You know, like it was just, they were a good team, but never quite good enough to get over the hump. The last time The Wild made it out of the first round was 10 years ago, 10 years ago.

So as I spin it back to Besser, I mean, he's, you know, great guy, good player, solid, effective goal scorer. Does he fit the profile or is it just, he's a Minnesota guy and he wants to go home and you know, there's a team that plays there called the wild. Like they may have bigger fish to fry. But I think Minnesota's, I don't know if they're

a destination franchise. They're not Winnipeg, but they're close to Winnipeg. Sometimes when you've got a hometown boy that wants to go home, you got to seriously look at it. They were a destination team once upon a time. Remember when. Yeah, but that's cause they blew their brains

out on the contracts to those two. The best anecdote. They're still paying for them. The best anecdote I can remember is we were, so that deal went down on July 4th. Right before the lockout right right but free agency started on the first Canada Day and then the fourth of course is Independence Day in the US so we were working because I mean July 4th meant nothing to us

where but we were working for NBC at the time and there was nothing going on in sports yeah everyone was on vacation everyone was barbecuing and lighting off fireworks, and Parise and Suter signed. And I remember sending it to the desk at NBC, and the guy individually wrote me back, and he's like, can I verify a couple things here? He's like, one, is that dollar figure real? I'm like, yeah, that's real. Because it was something in the neighborhood of about $180 million combined for the two players.

Yeah, yeah. And the other one was, he's like, and Minnesota? I'm like, yeah, Minnesota. Like they wanted to go big. This is what they wanted to do. Those were the two best. Remember they were worried. They were worried because their attendance had started to dip a little bit.

So the owner said, we got to make a splash here. But it was right before the lockout, right? And then they locked him out. It was like, yeah, we do need the owners to, you know, there needs to be a CBA where the owners are controlled essentially. Calm down a, yeah, we do need the owners to, you know, there needs to be a CBA where the owners are controlled. Essentially. Calm down a little bit, Craig Leepold.

Yeah. Greg and Pit Meadows ask us anything. Are either of you interested in going to Mexico for the Whitecaps game? We should mention this. I'm aware of a list of 75 plus people already planning to make the trip down for the biggest game in club history.

Okay, Halford, who are the Whitecaps going to play and where do they play? Stupid Cruz Azul. They won yesterday. 1-0 in the 81st minute on a penalty. So for 80... That's good though. The Whitecaps have not fared well against Tigres. No, but... Which is, of course, Spanish for elephant.

That's right. And I can verify that. Crew eat them one bite at a time. Sure. Uno by uno. Cruz Azul wins one nil yesterday, but up until the 80th minute, the penalty was in the 81st, up until the 80th minute,

everything was working perfectly for the Vancouver Whitecaps because if that game ended in a nil nil draw, Cruz Azul would have gotten through by way of the away goals because in the previous match at Tigres, there was a one one draw. So Cruz Azul was sitting back and they were like, this is great.

All we got to do is have this nil nil draw play out, we're at home. We can book our tickets for the final. We just got to put it on Cruz Azul control. Yes. Oh, that was clever. That's a laddy joke. That's a laddy dad joke. Way to go, dad. You're welcome, son. Then Cruz Azul is awarded a penalty from Calgary referee Drew Fisher, I might add, who was working the game and looked flummox the

entire time. It's so damn hot. Everyone is yelling at me. Why are they all yelling at me? Both teams yelling at me constantly. So the penalty was awarded to Cruz Azul. They scored. English. English. He was, I mean, I felt he was stressed out. He was a stressed out dude last night. There were 11 minutes of added time because of all the theatrics and craziness that went on in the second half. But anyway, so because Cruz Azul won the match in regular time, they get the opportunity to host at the Estadio Olímpico, I can't pronounce the last part of it, but it's the Estadio Olímpico in Mexico City, Mexico. Sorry? No, there's the Olympic Stadium.

Universitario. Yeah, Estadio Olímpico Universitario. Yeah, it was built for the Olympics in 1968. It was built in 1967. Is that when they had the Olympics? Yeah. Can you imagine the summer Olympics in Mexico City? It's hot. Milk was a bad choice. And you're at elevation?

Yeah. Like, I can't catch my breath. It's 100 degrees. Mexicans have a sizable advantage. Like, this is great. Yeah. So back to the white caps. Back, this is great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So back to the white caps, back to the white caps. They will travel down now on June 1st,

so you got a month to prepare your travel plans and everything else. In addition to the 75 people mentioned in the text there, I do know some people that are already making plans to go down because- There's only 27 there right now. It's not bad. Temperature-wise, you mean?

Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean- That's okay. I would love to go. I think it would be an incredible experience. It's not bad. Temperature-wise, I mean. Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean. That's okay. I would love to go. I think it would be an incredible experience. I did talk to a couple people who were on the cast of 300 that got flown from Vancouver to Miami for that match, and they said it was incredible.

Like, potential bucket list stuff for them as diehard Caps fans. That's cool. Because you go and you're going into messy stadium and messy backyard and then for the Caps to put on the kind of show that they did. What was the flight back home like? Very raucous, very joyous. A Wolf of Wall Street style.

The scenes were, yeah there was a lot. Where are the quailudes? The scenes were great. Everyone was having a blast. So in light of that, I do think maybe going down to Mexico City could be a lot of fun. Do you like a raucous plane ride? I do not.

It feels unsafe to me. I don't think I've ever been. I'm just old. I don't think I've ever, I've never really been a part of a raucous plane ride. I don't like moving around in a plane in a little raucous one. No, actually, you know what?

I've never been on a party plane or one where people are getting up and bingling. I also like- It's like jumping around in an elevator. You're just tempting fate. I'm also a big Irish goodbye guy when I'm partying. Yeah, right. And so that option is off the table.

Yeah, where can you go? It's why I don't fly PJs anymore, actually, because I just prefer standard, regular airlines where you sit and you put, you know, you got a stranger. There's strangers there, right? Stranger to the left of you, stranger to the right. Yeah.

You don't have to talk to any of them. Yeah, don't get me wrong, like the private jet is convenient. Yeah. But yeah, for that reason, I too prefer to flight coach. Okay, coming up on the other side of the break, AJ from AJ's Pizza is gonna join us. He's got an Ask Us Anything for us on the other side in light of Ask Us Anything Friday. After AJ, we're

going to be joined by Jonathan Davis from Sirius XM NHL Radio. We're going to talk about the Los Angeles Kings collapse. He covers all the California teams. Maybe we'll talk about Joel Quenville's potential hire in Anaheim as well. That's all coming up in the second hour of the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.