Halford & Brough in the Morning - We're Through The Looking Glass Here, People

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason get the Golden Knights side of things from The Athletic Las Vegas' Jesse Granger (1:43), ahead of the start of tonight's Oilers VGK round two series, plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). 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.

802R 802 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for dead health with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. Jesse Granger's gonna join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound

real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet. Campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Uh, Jesse Granger is going to join us on the hotline

powered by Power West Industries. Guests on Sportsnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Uh, don't get caught in the dark when it matters most, Halford. Visit them at PowerWest.ca today. They keep the lights on. Makes sense. I won't be caught in the dark that way.

Let's go to the phone lines. Now the hotline, if you will. Jesse Grainger from The Athletic here on the Halford & Bref Show on Sportsnet 6.50. Morning, Jesse. How are you? Good morning. I'm Jesse, how are you? Good morning, I'm great. How are you guys? We're well, thanks for taking the time to do this. So we're breaking down this Edmonton Vegas series in two parts. We just spoke with Jason Greger from Sports1440 in Edmonton and now we're speaking to you from the Vegas side of things.

We were joking throughout the show today that we haven't spent an awful lot of time discussing, analyzing, talking about the Vegas Golden Knights this year, because they've kind of ticked all the boxes. It's like, yep, they're really good. They've won a lot of games. They're going to finish tops in the division. They're making the playoffs. And then we didn't spend an awful lot of time

discussing their first round series win against Minnesota either. So let's backtrack a little bit here. Let's go with that series in particular. What was the one big takeaway, the one big story line or narrative for the Vegas Golden Knights in that comeback victory over the wild in round one?

Yeah, to me, the biggest story of that series was Vegas getting better as it went on. They started slowly. And even though they won game one, it wasn't pretty. And they didn't feel great about their game going out of that. And then they lose the next two games to fall behind two to one. And the biggest difference early in the series was Minnesota stars were out playing Vegas and stars, Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy were phenomenal over the

first half of that series. I'd say the first three games and the golden ice were really struggling to corral those guys to slow them down. It seemed like every time the puck was on their stick, it was resulting in a high danger chance the other way. Meanwhile, Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Shay Theodore, even Aidan Hill and Nett, all of Vegas' best players, they really had a slow start to the playoffs.

Luckily, their depth is so good that they were able to kind of keep their heads above water until the stars got going. Bruce Cassidy made a interesting, bold lineup decision that ended up being a brilliant one by moving William Carlson from the center where he's played basically his entire career up to the left wing with Jack Eichel to create basically a shutdown line. Those are their two best skating centers.

They're two best defensive forwards. You put them together on the same line against Kaprizov. Not only did it shut the Kaprizov boldly line down, but it got Jack Eichel going offensively. Mark Stone came to life. And then in that game six up in Minneapolis, they absolutely, the stars dominated the game. Jack Eichel and Mark Stone were great.

Aidan Hill had his best game. Shea Theodore started to play more like himself. So, um, to me early on Minnesota caught Vegas on the teals. The Golden Knights found their game. They looked like a totally different team by the time that series ended. And they assuming they can roll that kind of momentum into the oiler series. They're they're really cooking now. Is the strength of Vegas their top players or is it their depth?

You know what? This year, they're more reliant on the top players than they have been in the past. I will say that this is a team that for eight years they've been great. And for eight years it's mostly been the depth that has given them the advantage. And I would say that like, if you look back to that oiler series two years ago, it was especially apparent then because the oilers depth wasn't as good then. I think the oilers have better depth now. I think Vegas is depth maybe isn't quite as good. And that's weird to say because they had some depth guys that had awesome years,

like Brett Howden scored 25 goals. Keaton Kolesar had a career high in goals. Pavel Dorofiev who's injured right now, but he burst onto the scene and scored 35 goals. They've got a lot of depth, but I do think they're more reliant on their stars than they've ever been. And that's partially just cause Jack Eichel had his best season of his career. And he's, to me this year, this is the first time the golden Knights have ever had someone in the heart discussion, in the trophy discussion. They usually just generally have a bunch of really good players. They don't have one guy that's kind of

doing that for them. And this year, Eichel to me, I don't know if he'll, if he belongs in the top three, but he certainly belongs in the top five heart discussion. Um, he's everything for this team, career high in points. He's the number one penalty killer. He's the number one power play guy. He basically does everything for this team. So yeah, I would say there, there's still a very good depth team. Um, but I think they're a little more reliant on the top guys than usual. You know, when we talk about a lot of the top players around the league, there's something that you associate with all of them.

Connor McDavid for me, it's like his speed. It's crazy. Dry Cytl, it's his finishing ability. You know, Nathan McKinnon, it's the power in which he plays the game. What is it about Jack Eichel that makes him a great player? If you're watching him for the first time,

what do you notice? I think to me it's patience and confidence. He, the way he doesn't panic when there's pressure on him and the pucks on his stick. He's because his body, he's so good at using his body to shield the puck and he's so strong and he's got a really long stick. He's got long arms.

His ability to once, whether it's in the defensive zone and you're trying to break the puck out or whether it's the neutral zone and you're trying to get an entry or whether it's in the offensive zone and you're trying to hang onto that puck in a cycle for a little bit longer, he just, the confidence he has that you can't take this puck from me, Lynn ends up making so many plays because he'll hold onto it for that extra second. He, he calms things down when there's a panic and the puck's kind of flying everywhere. You don't know where it is. Just, just get it to Jack and all of a sudden it's calm.

And now he's looking to make a play. And I think that as he's built chemistry with players on this team, they're starting to realize that when Jack has the puck, if I find a soft spot in the defensive zone, he is going to get the puck on my stick and it's going to be a great chance for me. So I think that that's what I think of when I think of Eichel is his ability to buy that extra second, not panic with the puck on his stick and make plays. So Jack Eichel is the one C. You mentioned that William Carlson moved from centre up to the wing to play with Eichel.

Does that leave Thomas Hurdle as the two C? And if that's the case, has he played a lot of centre or has he mostly been on the wing this season? Yes, Hurdle is the two C and he's played centre basically all season. When they first traded for him from San Jose last season, they did bring him in on the wing, but it didn't go particularly well.

This year he's gone back to his natural position in the center and he's been very good for this team. He's probably their best weapon on the power play, but at even strength over the last month of the season, I would say he's probably been their best player. So yeah, he's, he's centering that line. He was playing with Pavel Dorofyev, their leading scorer in the regular season, who's now injured. He's day to day.

We don't know if he'll play in this series or when he'll play. But right now, hurdles between Brandon Saad and Keaton Kolesar on that second line, which is kind of a weird combination of players, but it's worked so far in the limited time we've seen them. Saad's a great skater. He gives that line a little bit of speed and hurdle is more of a possession down low type of guy. And this team is just they have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to center. So that's why they have the ability to move Carlson up there because even with him not playing in the middle

you've still got obviously Eichel and Hurdle are studs. But then Nicholas Wah and Brett Howden have both been great for them up the middle also. So they have a lot of guys that can play center that are that are on the wing. So it allows Bruce Cassidy to do some mixing and matching depending on the matchups. Okay. So where is this team vulnerable? Well, the defense is can Minnesota showed this if you pressure the defense and make them break pucks out and put a lot of pressure on them and, and a lot of bodies in the offensive zone, when you're for checking, they will make mistakes and it's partially because they're so good at moving the puck.

You got guys like Shafi or an Alex Patrangelo and Noah Hannifin. They don't like to take the easy chip out. They'd look for plays because, because they're such good playmakers. They want to make that stretch past that starts the transition offense and early in that Minnesota series, they had a bunch of turnovers right in front of their net that led to quick goals against. And to me this year, when I think back to, they didn't have very many rough stretches, but when they did have rough stretches, it was when they didn't.

Manage the puck well, breaking it out of their zone. And it's funny because their, their defense is obviously so talented, probably one of the best defensive groups in the league, but because they are so confident in their breakout ability, they will try riskier passes than Bruce Cassidy would like sometimes. So, um, yeah, I think, I think that's probably the weakness on this team. It's not a big weakness though. So, I mean, this is, this team is going to be, I don't know if they,

if their A game is quite like when I see Colorado playing at the top of their game, man, they're flying around. They're so good. I just think that Vegas brings it to a game more often than most of the other teams. Like, I don't know if their ceiling is quite as good as the other teams, but they just show up every night and find ways to win even when they aren't at their best because they don't have many weaknesses. We're speaking to Jesse Granger from the Athletic Vegas Golden Knights and goalie expert for the Athletic here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. I do want to ask

you about what happened with Anthony Stollers and Sam Bennett last night but before we do that I do want to ask one final thing about this series. You wrote about this for the Athletic and we talked about this with Jason Gregor in the previous hit. The animosity between these two teams. You pointed out the last time that the Golden Knights and Orthers met in the playoffs 312 combined penalty minutes, suspensions both ways, some nasty stuff across the board. Are you expecting that the intensity and animosity will return and will it return quickly in this series? I do. The players wouldn't flat out say it,

but you could tell in just their faces when I asked them about it and just the way they kind of look at you and then they say, oh, well, it's playoff hockey. We'll see what. I do think that there's a genuine dislike between these teams because they're both Pacific division powers, because they kind of know all year, every

regular season meeting, it feels like this is preparation for a playoff meeting. They, they kind of knew all year, we're going to have to go through these guys. If we're going to get what we want in the end of the season. So yeah, I do, I do expect it to be physical. I expect it to be emotional. It's going to be super interesting to see how long it takes for that to get there I don't expect it to to take long obviously the Patranjalo slash on dry side of last year was what really kind of sparked things but

That was a little later in the series I think I don't know if we'll see I think these two teams are gonna be terrified to put the other on the power play I will say that when I think back to two years ago, that was when Edmonton's power play was at its peak. It was like 50%. It feels like that year. And like talking to some Golden Knights players the other day, they were like, yeah, that series was stressful because you knew if we give them a power play, it's like, it's going

to be a goal more times than not. Well, that was back when Vegas's power play wasn't any good and they were winning despite their power play. This year, they're the number two power play in the league and they are really good. And they were really good in that first series against Minnesota. They got one almost every game. And I think that basically the only thing that's going to keep this series from maybe tipping over the edge in terms of the emotion, the animosity, is the fact that both teams are going to be very careful

to not be the one to give the first power play at the game because These two power play units are just cooking and and they're gonna be tough to stop and I think that that might end up being what? Decides the series is which team can kill penalties better Listeners listen up. We are giving away a pair of tickets right now Vancouver Canadians at Everett Aqua socks at the Nat on Saturday, May 17th It's a Sportsnet 650 presentation women Women in Sports Day with a special guest appearance by Hazel May. Call right now, 604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-650.

Caller number five will win a pair of tickets to see the C's and Everett on Saturday, May 17th. Jesse, before we let you go, I mentioned earlier, I do wanna ask, what did you think about the Sam Bennett, Anthony Stoller's incident from last night? Yeah, I mean based on what we saw it did look like he was trying to give him a forearm to the head. It didn't look like it was a ton of force but clearly it was and I don't know it's just this is a goalie who embraces these net front battles. We saw the way he was playing against Ridley Greg in the first round.

This is a physical guy. So you've got Sam Bennett trying to battle with him in the front, doing what Sam Bennett does. And to me it looked, it looked like it was an intentional form. And if that's the case and you knock out the starting goalie and obviously we're, we're having to assume that that is what ended up making Anthony Stolaris leave the game. It was nine minutes later. Maybe he was just sick. There's a chance that that wasn't what caused him to leave the game.

But if it was, I would imagine you see a suspension. But I don't know. To me, it looked intentional. What did you guys think? We debated it for the better part of 15, 20 minutes right off the top of the show. Uh, by the way, there is word coming down from both Emily Kaplan and Chris Johnson that their sources are saying there will not be any supplemental discipline for Sam Bennett on the

internet. Sam Bennett is talking about it right now. Um, Chris Johnston has a quote from Bennett and he says, uh, he called his contact with Anthony Stolar's a bump that didn't feature much force. He said, there's no intent. Stoli is a great friend of mine, but when I hear

that he went to the hospital, of course I feel bad. That's what I saw when I saw the video. I was like, yeah, there was contact there. It's goalie interference should have been a penalty, but I didn't see anything like super violent about it. In fact, it looked kind of curious to me that he ended up in the situation that he ended up in.

I agree with you and I will say that I, and I actually tweeted pictures of it out, like it ends up being kind of weird the way that Stolarz went out of the game after contact to the back of his head, but if you look at the way Stolarz wears his goalie mask, he's got it really tight to the point where the back of his head is sticking out further than any goalie mask. He's got it really tight to the point where the back of his head is sticking out further than any goalie I've ever seen in

the NHL. Um, I don't know. It's hard to explain without looking at the picture, but he is wearing his goalie helmet with the back of his head sticking a lot further out than normal. I don't know if that could have had anything to do with it, but it's, it's an interesting wrinkle into this situation where like, I, cause I agree with you. The contact didn't look like it was a super forceful hit at the time. The game tonight, it is round two. It is game one.

It is the Oilers. It is the Golden Knights live from Vegas. Jesse, thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. Enjoy this series. It should be a good one. I definitely will.

Thanks for having me guys. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate that. That's Jesse Granger from the Athletic here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Laddie, what about that? Have you ever noticed that Anthony Stoller's goalie helmet is very snug to his skull?

A lot of guys wear their masks incorrectly. We'll put it that way. So that's- Explain it. Well, the goalie mask is, it's supposed to sit a certain way on your face. Okay. And from coaching purposes,

my correction of the way you wear your mask is to do with how you see, because you're the bars of your mask can actually get in the way. If you wear like a, like the junior cage, not the cat eye cage. Um, so that's where I kind of, I do look at the way goalies wear their masks. And, um, it could be a factor. Yeah, definitely. There's a lot of guys that get to the pro levels that still don't wear their masks correctly.

And I haven't looked specifically at Stolarz in the way he does, but yeah, if Jesse's right, then it could have played a factor. Okay, real quick, a reminder that we're gonna do what we learned coming up here on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Get yours in, Dunbar Lumbertext line is 650650, hashtag it WWL and let us know what you learned

over the last 24 hours in sports. I think we got to most of the NHL stuff. We've been yet again, woeful in our coverage of the national basketball association. It was another unbelievable ending for the Denver Nuggets who have already had two of them now in the very early stages of the playoffs, but we just ran out of time.

There's so much sports going on right now. What do you got? My what we learned was going to be another hockey one. There we go. Uh, and we already kind of mentioned that the Islanders won the draft lottery, but what we didn't mention was this will be the fifth time the Islanders pick first overall and they joined the NHL two years

later than the Vancouver Canucks did, who still haven't picked first overall. Now. They've never moved up in the draft. There are, they once held the first overall pick. They held it for just a short moment in 1999. And they let it go. During when Brian Burke was making a bunch of

moves to make sure that he could draft the Sedin twins twins second and third overall in that draft. Um, so the, the teams that have never picked first include the Canucks, the Flames, the Ducks, the Hurricanes, the Wild, the Preds, and then Seattle and Vegas. Right.

I think that's the list. Yeah. If, if, if anyone thinks that I made a mistake there, but the Canucks and the Flames would really stand out as teams that have never picked first overall. The Islanders picked first overall in their first two years of existence. 1972, they get Billy Harris.

One of my favorites. 1973, Dennis Potvin first overall, that was a good pick for them. And then they picked a goalie in 2000, Rick DiPietro and John Tavares of course went first overall in 2009. So the weight continues for the Canucks. They had no chance at picking first

overall in the draft this year. You can only move up 10 spots and the Canucks would have had no chance at picking first overall in the draft this year. You can only move up 10 spots and the Canucks would have had a chance to pick fifth overall, but not first overall. So the weight continues for them. Moocow. Okay. I'm going to try and do, I'm also going to do NHL

by the way. I'm going to try and run through everything that's going on with the coaching searches. And now I guess we have to expand that into the general manager movement and searches as well. Okay? First off, we mentioned this earlier in the show, David Carl staying at the University of Denver. This one was interesting because of the article that you alluded to from the Denver Post, big op-ed in the wake of the Colorado Avalanche going out in round one suggesting that the Colorado Avalanche should dismiss Jared Bednar and hire David Karl. In that same report from the Athletic that Karl had extended at the University of Denver,

it was noted that it wasn't just the Chicago Blackhawks who made overtures at Karl, it was the Anaheim Ducks as well because they of course have a vacancy. A team that some thought might have a vacancy, but ultimately will not. The Nashville Predators on Monday, General Manager Barry Trotz announced that Andrew Burnett would be back behind the bench for the Predators after a pretty dismal season. And it was also a dismal season after their much Ballyhooed free agent class that included Steve Stamkos and Jonathan Marsh.

So predators just won 30 games last year, which is dreadful. Finished with just 68 points. Despite this, they're going to stick with Andrew Burnett behind the bench for another year. Barry Trotz essentially said Andrew Burnett is a good young coach and we want to keep good young coaches in the fold. We mentioned that Rob Blake is out in Los Angeles as the general manager. It sounds like today, Jim Hiller is gonna find out

if he gets to keep his job or not. He's gonna meet with Luke Robitaille, then Luke Robitaille is gonna meet with the media to discuss the Rob Blake removal as general manager, and then what comes next for Jim Hiller. And Robitaille is the president. Robitaille is the president in Los Angeles. Finally. This is not just meetings, Luke Robitaille is, I'll handleer. And Robitize the president. Robitize the president in Los Angeles. Finally.

This is not just meetings, Luke Robitize, I'll handle this. Yeah, he's just there. He's like, I just like talking. Um, finally, the Vancouver Canucks, the only real news here, and we did discuss this on the show yesterday was courtesy of 32 Thoughts. And it sure does sound as though Adam Foot is

becoming more and more of a pronounced, legitimate candidate for this vacant head coaching job in Vancouver. I know you talked about this earlier in the show. is becoming more and more of a pronounced, legitimate candidate for this vacant head coaching job in Vancouver. I know you talked about this earlier in the show. Doesn't have much experience. He was like a head coach in the dub for what? 62 games.

It did not go well. No. And then he ends up on the bench with Rick Tocket as the assistant. Now I will say. I mean, he's got, I mean, he obviously has a long hockey history, knows the game, but there's just some things, I don't know.

A lot of, look, a lot of head coaches throughout history have had pretty uneventful, dare I say, bad starts to their head coaching tenure. I hate cherry picking these two, but because we talked about them in the wake of this NFL season, like you look at Pete Carroll's previous NFL head coaching job when he got the Seahawks job, remember I remembered

he was just sort of that guy from New England that was sort of not great but not terrible, just a meh candidate. I know he went back and reinvented himself in college, but he was a guy that a lot of people were like, really, Pete Carroll at the NFL level? Bill Belichick was the same before he got that job in New England. He was largely remembered as a guy that couldn't get it done in Cleveland. Well, I think he was remembered as more than that. He was remembered as quite a defensive

coordinator with the Giants. Quite a good defensive coach, but not as a head coach. Almost like Adam Foote as a defensive coordinator, if you want to use the parallels for the Vancouver Canucks. Anyway, I'm not trying to make that comparison. I don't know if this is the right elevation at the right time. I would feel like- Maybe they're just trying to recreate talking. They're like, you know what he said.

Yeah, you guys are buddies. Keep saying that here. Act like him. I always just assumed that Foot would go wherever Talk went. Kind of thought the same. And I thought both of them would just end up in Philly. But here's the thing.

If you were to offer Foot the head coaching job, you've got to think that he would take that as opposed to just riding shotgun with Talk it. I mean. Yeah, probably. Now, from the Canucks' perspective, me being heavily invested in what they do and where they're going to go and having some success next year,

I would approach that hire with some trepidation because he's never had an NHL head coaching job before neither as many Malhotra. I know what you're all saying. And I get that too. I, I am wondering if they'll go outside the family. And by that, I mean the organization. Cause really at this point, what you would be doing is either giving your assistant coach the bump to the head coaching role or giving your AHL guy the

promotion, you could go outside the family. We'll have to see. Okay. So there's a lot to still be determined when it comes to coaching around the NHL and of course the Vancouver Canucks and as JD and Coquitlam texted and we made this point earlier in the show, Hughes loves foot. Yep.

This is a blatant attempt to keep Hughes happy. That might very well be the case because everything is about Quinn Hughes right now. I've heard they're going to introduce some new menus at Roger's Arena, but they want to make sure that Quinn approves of them first. Just call Quinn Hughes Quentin Tarantino because he loves foot. Oh man. Okay.

Before we go to break. How the hell did that come from? That wasn't bad. You know what? He said he loves foot. Wasn't bad. Give us a moocow on all that. Ah.

I also think of Rex Ryan. Yeah, there's two guys. I could have said Rex Ryan. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro. From the boardroom to the break room and everywhere in between, Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean, and disinfected. For a free quote, visit JanPro.ca. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyarshah, 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. Now for my favorite part of the show. What did I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time.

On the show. On the program. It is what we learn time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. So it seems as though we are tapped, tapped on what we learned. We're gonna turn it right over to the humanoids. Going to fire up that damn matrix.

What We Learned Humanoid Edition is brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. AJ's original signature pies are a must try. Like the Detroit, inch thick crust, crispy cheese topped with parmesan and basil. Order it online or at AJ's.pizza. Justin and Yves Van, what we learned with the Edmonton Oilers starting their second round series, I'm reminded that Jason still hasn't taken Adog out for dinner after he lost last year's Canucks Oilers bet. How do you know? Oh yeah. How do you know? Justin and Ysvan? That's right.

Are you spying on us? That's true. I took you for Christmas dinner. Thanks for reminding me, Justin. That's right. Are you spying on us? That's true. I took you for Christmas dinner. Thanks for reminding me, Justin. That's Christmas though. It counts. I got you that soup. That soup. Soup counts.

Soup is not a meal. Yeah, we'll make that happen. That's true, I forgot about that. You're a year late on your bet. That's brutal. Yeah, interest kicks in, you get dessert now. Yes. What we learned from Rich, once again, it is

great to watch Toronto fans getting very excited about their team, but the rest of us knowing this won't happen, will it? I don't know, man. If they get past Florida, if they get past Florida, I start to get worried. I really do think this Leafs team, I like their blue line a lot more.

I love the fact that for them, I don't love it. Sure. But like Matthew Nise is a playoff player. You know, like he's a good player and I think Craig Berube is a terrific postseason coach. He just keeps the team calm. He called a timeout yesterday at a perfect time. It was a good timeout.

The. Talk and take note. Joseph Wohl had to come into the game for Anthony Stolarz. There was all the reason in the world for the Leafs to lose their minds and run around in a panic. The goalie got hurt. They're playing the defending cup champs. The lead is starting to dwindle.

Borrubbe calls the timeout and it wasn't directly, but eventually the Leafs get a goal from Matthew Nyes to make it 5-3. Now it was still interesting in the end, but they got it done. And I felt in the Leafs Senators series, and maybe this is a low bar, but the Leafs to me looked like, first of all, the better team, but also the very, the most mature team.

And they've had a lot of playoff experience. So, you know, maybe they're learning, maybe they're learning out there. I mean, lost in all of the hoopla and histrionics from our analysis of yesterday's game, we sort of overlooked the fact that the Maple Leafs won game one, first time that they've won the opening game of consecutive series since the early two thousands. If you want to look at their body of work over seven playoff games now,

they've lost in regulation once. And it was that sort of egg that they laid at Ottawa for nothing loss. Outside of that, they've been pretty good. They're getting wins. Now I understand why some people put the actual victory last night on the back burner and in the background of the narratives here. Because one, the Stollers Bennett thing is sort of the most ripe for sports radio debates and

controversy and headlines and everyone's waiting the next bit of news. But the other part of it is there's a lot of people I think that are waiting for the bottom to fall out in Toronto now because they got out to the 4-1 lead, but if you watch that game, you'd say Florida probably left that game feeling all right about themselves, especially if Stollers is out and Wall is in, yes? Okay. I read this tweet from Pierre Lebrun about an hour

ago and I thought this is Craig Borube. So Lebrun tweeted out after it was reported that Bennett is not going to get supplemental discipline. LeBrun tweeted out, um, my sense is the Leafs as an organization don't want to waste energy on this in the coming days. They want to focus on the task at hand up one nothing in the series.

And this is what Borube does best. He prepares his team for things to go wrong and he prepares for the league to miss a call. I know it happened on the hand pass on the blues run to the Stanley Cup final. And he's kind of got the attitude of, well, it happened, are we going to waste energy and complain about this?

I mean, the fans can do it if they want, but we as a team are going to say like, it happened, there's nothing we can do about it. Let's stay focused. And that's so much easier said than done. And you might think it's obvious, but we're going to bring it up again. 2011, the Canucks management,

if they said there was one thing they regretted from the Stanley Cup final is they got too wrapped up in what people were saying about them. And we remember the rest of the country pretty much cheering against the Canucks and they got distracted. They got consumed by the noise. And you can't let that happen.

You have to go into these playoff runs knowing you're going to get screwed sometimes. Sure. And it just happens. You can either cry about it and play the victim or you can move on to the next game the best you can. Honestly, the biggest test for Borubei now is if

he's going to be able to do and orchestrate that level of patience and calm and letting water go off your back in Toronto, like he did in St. Louis. Because all due respect to St. Louis as a hockey market, it's a different beast. Definitely. Definitely. You're going to be asked more about it. You're going to have more reporters trying to find ways to get you to talk about it. because all due respect to St. Louis is a hockey market. It's a different beast. Definitely. Definitely.

You're gonna be asked more about it. You're gonna have more reporters trying to find ways to get you to talk about it. Berube is gonna have to do a real good job here of moving on and getting his players to move on as well. By the way, I got a report from Renan Lavoie at TVA. Brandon Carlo just said that he saw Anthony Stollers at the Maple Leafs team breakfast this morning.

Stollers was smiling. No word on what he ate at breakfast, but he was smiling. Whoa, smiling? Big news. He was cheesing? Cheesing. With the boys? Just loving it.

And he was practicing headers. Shouldn't have done that. Tampa and East Van, what we learned. I learned that for the first time since 2017, the Canucks own picks in each of the draft seven rounds. For now. But if history has taught us anything, chances are they won't come draft day. The one thing that I keep coming back to is the first round draft pick is obviously in play, but

that alone is not going to get you a top six center, not even close. You're not going to get a top six center with the 15th overall pick. No. You're going to have to throw something else in, maybe two something else is in there. You have, I mean, we have noticed that the

value of the first round pick and it has changed, I would say somewhat dramatically in recent years. It's a mid round pick in a so-so draft. The first round pick used to net you a lot. I think people were once so enamored with the idea of stockpiling first, but now I think it's probably got to do with larger sample sizes and people doing more data analysis and how the drafts work. Realizing that it really falls off after the top five picks.

Yeah, like a first round pick, they're not all created equal. Often they're not even created remotely equal, especially if you're talking top end bottom end. This one's great. This is Jett, the dental patient. So I'm assuming that Jett is not permanently a dental patient, which means maybe he was in the dentist's office waiting for his appointment. And I think more people should sign their text as what they're doing in that exact moment. Maybe that's his job.

He volunteers at the dental academy. Jett, the dental patient. Permanent dental patient. Andy the Yonner, those kinds of things, right? He writes, hashtag WWL what we learn. Buffalo's GM Kevin Adams slideshow and paper note game must be fired. I guess it is. He has officially become the Jim Benning of the East.

Not a great title to have, but Kevin Adams is the Jim Benning of the East, the modern day Jim Benning of the Eastern Conference. So he is who the Connucks should look to take advantage of then in a trade So I like your line of thought here Fleece him somehow find a dead or a peterson to Buffalo for their entire farm team find a desperate man Yeah, make him an offer exactly and just you know cross your fingers and hope that it gets done Yeah, I do wonder if they could circle back on Norris

Get him out of Buffalo. By all accounts- We live day to day. That was Kevin Adams. Yeah. That was his pitch to Terry Pagula. I do wonder if they could circle back on that because again, by all accounts, Norris was not

thrilled with being moved from Ottawa to Buffalo. Well, in some ways, if the Sabres are going to pounce on Pedersen, maybe they're going to be like, well, we traded away Jack Eichel when things weren't looking very good and the relationship had soured a little bit. You don't have all the information. And things didn't work out for us, so maybe we can be the Vegas in this situation. Can I add another layer to this?

Oh God, and then we'd be the Vegas in this situation. Can I add another layer to this? Oh God, and then we'd be the Buffalo. You know how Elias Pettersson is a good friend of Quinn Hughes's? You know who a better friend is? Josh Norris. Well, yeah, that's everyone's assumption though. Yeah, but if you're trying to appease Quinn Hughes, you make Adam foot the head coach. Two birds with one stone.

You acquired Josh Norris. It's like, we're doing everything we can here. Yeah, yeah. You make Adam foot the head coach. Two birds with one stone. You acquired Josh Norris. It's like, we're doing everything we can here. Everything we can, short of getting your brothers. That's the next step. We're going to try and do everything we can here. And then you use the guilt when Quinn thinks about leaving. You're like, you're going to leave your buddy Josh here? Such a good guy.

And your buddy Adam? Yeah. Look at him, he's over there waving at you. Head coach. He's waving at you. Coach, look at him. He looks so sad. Mean, but he's sad. Sad inside.

Got a what we learned here from GW. What was OG? George Washington. Yeah. Wow. What was it? I was trying to remember what it was in King of the Hills. GH, right?

Good Hank? That's one of the greatest running gags of all time. He has a good name, Hank. Yeah. And his name's the second he's time. He has a good name, Hank. Yeah. And he names the second kid. That's his name. Imagine his actual name is George Washington. That's why he has to sign all those texts, GW.

That would be pretty impressive. That'd be a really, imagine your name is George Washington. There's gotta be one out there. Oh, there's gotta be a ton down south. Very strange. Anyway, George Washington writes, hashtag WWL, am I getting this right?

One, the league cancels the New York Islanders All-Star weekend. Two, the governor of New York then sends the league an angry letter. And then three, the Islanders magically jumped 10 spots to win last night's NHL draft lottery. George Washington ends his text by saying,

feels a little fishy. Our good buddy, Sean Leahy, formerly of NBC's Pro Hockey Talk and Puck Daddy with Greg Wyshinski, I was texting back and forth with him yesterday on a different note, because Leeds did their celebration for winning the championship yesterday, their drunken parade.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, he sent me a screenshot of what's going on with like deep state Islanders conspiracy theories. And this is the theory. The theory is that the NHL rigged the draft lottery to compensate for taking the All-Star game away from the Islanders. And they also said, Lou's gotta go. And look what happened. Lou's gone and they're drafting first overall for the first time since 2009.

Sometimes I wonder if our world isn't getting a little too conspiratorial. Nah. Oh, people are generally fine, I think. Completely normal. And the fact that we're being- Conspiracies in everything, man. Yeah, well, as they say, everything is a conspiracy if you're an idiot. Also, we're also being subjected and exposed to all new conspiracy theories all the time.

They used to just exist in like newsletters and fanzines. My darn pattern finding on brain. It's like the Jim Birch Society. You had to go out of your way to find these conspiracy theories. Now I log on to Axe and they're everywhere. I got every, it's because they sell man, they sell. That's true. It's good content.

Professional sports franchises, Hawking Crypto. Yeah. Hawking Crypto. Oh man. That was great. Yeah. It was a great moment.

Uh, Greg and Pitt Meadows, what we learned after being relegated from the Premier League last year, Luton were relegated from the championship this year. It's only the fourth time this has happened. Yeah, we talked a little bit about Luton when they came up to the Premier League because they were kind of making fun of their stadium.

Kennelworth Road. Which it sounds like it's named, it looks like a kennel. Yeah. Well, you would actually, you'd be like, I don't even know if I want to send my dog here. But the funny thing is, is they're trying to build a new stadium. I know.

And now they're going to be in the third division. They, I genuinely feel bad for the club because is they're trying to build a new stadium. I know. And now they're gonna be in the third division. They, I genuinely feel bad for the club because in a weird way, and this is gonna sound weird, but in a weird way, when they got promoted, if there was any club that should have turned it down and been like, we're not ready for this, it should have been Luton.

No one's ever gonna actually turn it down. But when they went up, like their stadium wasn't ready for it. They remember they'd open on the road with a bunch of consecutive matches because they were doing up. You needed specific upgrades to make it Premier League worthy. Yeah. One of them was like, it cannot smell like this. Yeah. There's too many shipping containers being used for like concessions and

like people standing on it during the match. That's no good. Also, they just didn't have the finances ready to spend to be competitive at the Premier League level. So they got relegated right away and they're back down. But now getting relegated from the championship to League One is really tough, really tough, because you're talking about a massive loss in operating revenue and income and everything else. I think they still get Premier League money

because when you get to the Premier League, there's a knock on effect of two or three years where you still get a share. But you're in League One, you're not on television really at all. Yeah. You're playing really small clubs, really like grounds of 3000, 4000.

And it does hurt for a team of two years ago was playing against Man City and Liverpool and United and Tottenham and Chelsea and all the big clubs. Can you imagine if Wrexham gets promoted again? It's got to stop. I mean, they're in the championship now. They are one promotion away from playing in the Premier League.

They've done three straight promotions on the trot. This one will be the most difficult, obviously. What's their stadium situation? I knew they were doing Reynolds there. Yeah. I'm not a hundred percent certain where they're at with it. That should be my expertise. Oz and Squamish, another soccer one.

Let's go. Sorry. What we learned. Let's go. Don't apologize. The Whitecaps are now the number two ranked club in CONCACAF. They were ranked 28th on December 9th, according

to the Caps communication account. Let's hope they go to number one, June 2nd. Here's the thing. The team that is ranked number one is the team they will play in the tournament final. Cruz Azul from Mexico. Columbus Cruz, number three, and Inter Miami is all the way down to number nine.

How much are losers? Idiots. I got a couple- It is bizarre to see the white caps at number two. It's amazing. It's awesome. I got a couple buddies, Shoutout Dave and

Jamie Fletcher, they're, they already booked their tickets down to Mexico to go watch the Whitecaps take on Cruisesville in Mexico City. I never thought they'd be ranked higher than Club America. But here we are. Which is in Mexico. Also in Mexico.

Um, it's been great. I went to the match on the weekend, uh, another win for the Whitecaps. They're undefeated in 10 matches. Go look at the MLS standings on your talking box, the computer, look at the gap between the white caps in the West, the number one team and the LA galaxy, defending MLS cup champion, LA galaxy.

And tell me the point differential between the white caps and the LA galaxy. The caps have a 23 point cushion on the galaxy. The caps have 26 points. The galaxy have a three. How do you have a 23 point lead already? The season just started. They have a seven point lead over

number two, Minnesota. It's May 6th. The season goes until October. Like it gets, it's crazy. And you know, sometimes teams will be doing okay in the league, but make a run in a tournament like Crystal Palace is in the final of the FA cup, right? It's, it's, it's way more rare, especially for a team.

Let's face it, like the whitecaps to be doing really well in the league and make a run. Because sometimes you have to choose. Yeah. Sometimes you have to. You have to choose. You're like, all right, well, I guess, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll try in this one. On top of everything, they haven't had Ryan Gault. For almost all of the season.

It's crazy. Who's, who's been the, who's been the most surprising player? Ah, so you're asking the great question now. So they did this on one of those MLS panels. Is it Pedro? My dog Pedro? Your dog Pedro. So they asked who the MVP should be

and they had three different answers. One said Pedro Vite, who's been great. One has to be Brian White. One said Brian White, one said Sebastian Bearhalter. Right. And then they all came to the conclusion that the MVP is Jesper Sorensen. And I don't think they're wrong.

It is remarkable what's going on. You know what the funniest part is, is that I don't know how much you've followed MLS like media coverage, but traditionally, they know that Vancouver's in the league and that they're called the Whitecaps and that's the end of the knowledge. Yeah.

They kind of knew. In the village of Vancouver. They kind of knew Vanny. They're like, Vanny's funny, he's Italian, he's demonstrative. And he gets kicked out. You would make news that way too. So they are. So passionate. You can see all these MLS pundits. Takes his shirt off.

Yeah. Yeah. All these MLS. Got suspended for that I think. He should. Yeah. Keep it on. All these MLS pundits now are having think. He should, yeah. Keep it on.

All these MLS pundits now are like having to learn about the white caps. I know. They probably hate it too. I still don't know much about them, but they are by far the best team in MLS. Okay, the music means we gotta get outta here for today, but we will be back for tomorrow.

Enjoy the games tonight everyone. We got two in the Stanley Cup Playoffs to watch and then dissect for tomorrow's show. But for today, we gotta say goodbye. Signing off, I have been Mike Halford, he's been Jason Brough, he's been A-Dog, and he's been Laddy. This has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

In terms of blowing things.