Halford & Brough in the Morning - What If?

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason do a Rangers post-mortem with The Athletic New York's Arthur Staple (3:00), they wonder if the Canucks might sign Chris Tanev this off-season, whose Dallas Stars were just eliminated from the playoffs (15:00), they take the pulse of Edmonton with Oilers radio PxP man Jack Michaels (27:00), plus the boys play the "What If?" game in relation to the Vancouver Canucks (40:00). 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.

702 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough of Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda. Pacific Honda is North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program.

Arthur Staple from The Athletic in New York is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor. Without compromise, get some at a liquor store near you or visit the brewery to see how it's made. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio, Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider. Powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that'sintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for.

To the phone lines we go. Arthur Staple, senior writer for The Athletic in New York, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Arthur. How are you? I'm good, guys. How are we doing? We are well. Thanks for taking the time to do this again. So another Rangers season ends ends and like so many others in the last 10 to 12 years uh falling short of the ultimate goal the article up on

the athletic right now is rangers continue frustrating legacy good sometimes great but still not enough how much frustration is there from the fan base and from the team itself after losing in six to the Panthers on Saturday? I'm sure there's a lot. You know, I certainly see some of it from the fan base. I imagine within the organization, starting at the top, you know, James Dolan withstood a few years of the rebuild after the letter went out at the end of 2018 and traded off a lot of the guys who helped make them successful in that 2012 to 2017 era where they made one final three conference finals didn't win they retooled they got lucky in

the in the draft lottery they brought it back they rose right back to near the top and kind of stuck in the same spot now with with two conference final losses in the last three seasons and maybe not quite being the team that everybody looks at and says this is the team to beat. I think coming into this conference final against Florida, people thought Florida might be the better team and certainly throughout that series they looked like the better, more complete team and the Rangers looked like a team that has an excellent all-world goalie in Igor Shosturkin and a lot of high-end guys who maybe didn't perform as high-end as they needed to that series, and not a ton else.

So frustration, I think, is the right word, just because there's been lots of success. I think a lot of organizations, a lot of fans of different franchises around the league would be very happy with the legacy the Rangers have built the last 13 years, but I don't know if it's quite enough for the man at the top of the organization. Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, and Artemi Panarin combined for two goals. Two goals against the Panthers in that six-game series.

Which of those three is taking the most heat right now? I think it's probably Panarin again, and I don't know if it's completely justified here. He had a terrible playoff last season against New Jersey. Didn't really see eye to eye with Gerard Gallant. Peter Laviolette comes in. I think Panarin, 120 points, second best scoring season in Rangers history. He really showed a different kind of purpose, a different kind of leadership on the ice this season with the way that he played. His line with Vincent Trocek and Alexi Lafreniere. You know, Alexi Lafreniere had a big turnaround year.

And Panarin was good at times in the playoffs. And I thought that line was really good the first few games. Last couple games against Florida, they really got shut down and kind of pushed out to the perimeter. He only had the one goal late, six-on-five goal in game six. So he definitely takes some heat, but I think the way that he played in the regular season kind of tends to nullify that. He's probably one of the five or six best regular season players

in Rangers history. I think maybe he's a band of Jed and Kreider who didn't have a great season on five, you know, Kreider's still a reliable scorer, especially on the power plays of Zibanejad. Good, but not great season. Maybe seeing those two guys kind of pushed out of the fight a little bit in this series, especially after the way that Kreider finished the Carolina series with that hat trick in the third period to get them through. Those guys taking some heat too, but I think ultimately those three guys, you know, Panarin has a no move. Kreider is, you know, one of the all-time great rangers.

Zibanejad is just starting a long-term contract. I don't know that there's a lot of things you can do to change it. And I don't know if you want to change it when you've got those three guys driving the bus the way they do in the regular season. So what will be the focus for the offseason? I think the guy that people are looking at is Jacob Truba.

It's strange to say. He was just named captain a couple of years ago. He's been, certainly in terms of the leadership part of it, an exemplary ranger. Does a lot of stuff in the community in the New York area to lead by example in that way. But I think the way that his play kind of deteriorated really is the right word this season and into the playoffs and really finishing with not great

results on the ice. I think he had led the playoff post-season 11 minor penalties a lot because he got beat and was caught out of position, you know, caught a little bit out of position trying to make a hit on the panthers first goal in that game six um his no move drops down to a 15 team no trade on july 1st and i do wonder if chris jury will look to try to move him i don't know how much interest there'll be i would imagine there'll be some you know you kind of wondered it's happened to guys before in New York, Ryan Callahan, Ryan McDonough injury definitely hurt both those guys,

but they were heart and soul guys like Truba who tended to slow down. And also I think the burden of being the captain of the Rangers can be a little bit much happens in a lot of different franchises. And with this one, maybe because it's New York, because the spotlight is here because of who runs the team. They do tend to maybe take a little bit more heat than usual and try to do a little too much. And so that's kind of, to me, the focus in terms of the core guys.

We'll see what Drury decides to do with Trubel once we get into July 1 and that no-move drops to the no-trade. Will they start talking extension with Shosturkin? He's got one year left before he's a UFA. I'm sure they're going to start. It might be a startling number that Shusterkin's camp presents. You know, I've heard talking 12, 12.5, maybe even 13 million per year with the way the cap is going to go up.

And obviously, Rangers are delighted that Ewer Shusterkin was so important to them, had such a great postseason. But I think the flip side of it when you get eliminated is, well, now he's certainly proven that he's the most invaluable member of this team and he wants to be paid like it. You know, he's making, you know, 5.67 million cap hit right now. I'd have to think that, you know, in a different cap era that we're, you know, you look at Sergei Bobrovsky's seven times 10, and that's kind of the standard bearer now for

goalies. But with the cap going up, I can imagine that the ask, at least to start, will be something above 12. I don't know if it'll end up that way, but I think you're looking at whenever this extension gets signed, you're looking at the highest paid goalie in the league, and certainly deservedly so with the way that he's played. Will Capocacco be available in trade this offseason? Do you think the Rangers will try and move him? I think so.

I think he can carve out a role here or in a lot of other places is a very good middle six forward guy who maybe if he got some power play time somewhere else would be a guy who could be a 25 goal guy maybe even a 30 goal guy with some extra power play time but he's a pretty well-rounded player as a young guy it's just I think the expectations of being the number two overall pick a guy who at times leading up to that draft was maybe in the conversation to be number one. It seems silly to look back at it now with the way that Jack Hughes has played and the way that Kaka has played. But if it's a new spot for him, I think you could see him do quite well. He's got a lot of skills. He's got the size.

I think his defensive awareness as a forward is pretty underrated. I think you look at a team like Florida, you look at a team like Colorado, he's got friends in Miko Rotten and Alexander Barkov in both those places. If he ended up in a place like that, where the pressure was being the number two overall pick was a little bit lessened because it wasn't in that organization. I think, I think he could really thrive. I think there'd be a lot of interest. I don't know if they could get commensurate value.

So we'll see if the Rangers decide to keep him for another year or two and see where that goes. But yeah, I have to imagine if the trade price is right, that he might be on the move. Overall, the Rangers must feel pretty good about their chances of returning next season and taking another legitimate shot at getting to a Stanley Cup Finals, no? Yeah, I think you look at some of the twists and turns of the season, they really didn't hit a lot of adversity at all this year. They started the year incredibly well, 18-3-1, and that was even when Shusterkin wasn't playing that well. Jonathan Quick did a lot of that heavy lifting in net during that stretch. You mentioned Panarin's great season. A lot of their other big guys had really good seasons.

Lafreniere took a big step forward. Vincent Trocek established himself as a really, really good number two center on this team and maybe one of the best number two centers in the league and sometimes the number one center with the way that his usage went and the way that line went. They breezed through the first round. They breezed through three quarters of the second round and then ultimately pulled that out against Carolina. And really, once we got into the Florida series, you do wonder. It's a very good team with a very good coach. But when you haven't been knocked back a little bit, it's hard to know how to react. And they did have a lot of comeback victories. I think they led the league in comeback wins this season.

But it's a different thing to try to come back in a series against a team that's playing as well as Florida. And, you know, I don't think they have a lot to be unhappy about other than not getting to the finals and not winning. But I do wonder, you know, how they face the next season, you know, and you look at their division too. It's not like a lot of teams are beefing up and improving in leaps and bounds. Maybe Jersey will bounce back. Maybe the Islanders will be a little bit better. Carolina's Carolina. I don't know that they're going to face a ton of challenge in the regular season once again. It's a way to figure out how to maybe be a little bit more strategic at the deadline.

I think that Alex Weinberg and Jack Roslevic additions were fine, but ultimately not really big help. Maybe take a bigger swing at the deadline next year if they don't make any drastic changes and be able to kind of get that top six guy that they wanted to add in previous years and maybe it didn't quite work out as well but uh you know i think i think there's just minor things that need to change for them because i don't know that they're really gonna gonna face a lot of adversity again once we get into next season

i mentioned earlier the zabinijad crideranarin stat where they combine for just two goals against the Panthers over the course of six games. How impressed were you with the Panthers' ability to choke out and suffocate a game, and how big a challenge do you think they're going to present Drysaddle and McDavid in the final? I mean, they're really good.

It's shocking. You're not shocking, but you have a guy in Barkov who is to me, you know, he's really taken the mantle from Patrice Bergeron as the best two-way center in the league by a pretty large margin. You know, he was really dangerous at times at the offensive end and just always seems to be in the right position defensively. The Rangers, I think their East-West offensive style really

maybe played into Florida's hands a little bit. I think when you're playing a guy like McDavid, who can freelance and do things that you don't really expect anybody to do on the ice because he's so unique, that might present a bit of a challenge. I would have thought before the last couple of games of the Western Final that the goaltending advantage was pretty squarely in Florida's spot. But Stuart Skinner has really put a couple of really nice games together and maybe he's on the right kind of roll going into the final to negate what you thought would be a big edge for Florida. And just sort of seeing that Edmonton can win a couple of low-scoring games

and maybe be a little bit more patient than they've been, that might help them and maybe change my mind a little bit going into the final. But, but Florida is really, they're such a well-oiled machine. You look down there, they're forward group guys that the average fan has never heard of. You got guys like E2, Luster Ryan and Anton Lundell on their third line who are exceptional talents and played really well against the Rangers.

Gustav Forsling, I think has already made a name for himself and he's going to, he's on the way to becoming a star, a real true top four defenseman. You know, Nico Mikula, who was with the Rangers last year after the deadline has played really well, certainly in this series against the Rangers.

It's a tough, tough group and there's, it's hard to generate a lot, and they don't need to generate a lot themselves to win games. So I'm curious to see if Edmonton can be patient enough to kind of wait for their opportunity, or McDavid can wave his magic wand and kind of make Florida's incredible structure crumble a little bit

to create some space, but it is going to be tough for them for sure. Arthur, great stuff as always. Thank you very much, not just for this, but for is going to be tough for them for sure. Arthur, great stuff as always. Thank you very much, not just for this, but for all your coverage you provided us this year. Enjoy some well-deserved time off. Not a lot, though, because at the end of June it gets busy again. Enjoy the next couple of weeks, and thanks again for doing this. Thanks, guys. Anytime. Thanks, Arthur.

Arthur Staple from The Athletic in New York here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We were talking earlier in the show about the month of June and all the things that are on in sports. Stanley Cup final, NBA finals, lots of international soccer, BC Lions kickoff, et cetera, et cetera. One thing I want to know is how the Vancouver Canucks will deal with the Philip Hronik situation from a timing perspective. Right.

Because it's easy to say, well, he's an RFA. You can deal with it later in the summer. But we just watched Chris Tanev get eliminated from the playoffs. He's probably going to sign on July 1st somewhere, unless he re-signs with Dallas or his rights are traded and then he signs with the team. I don't think he's probably going to wait

all that long. Sure. You remember when he left the Vancouver Canucks, one of the things that he was concerned about was the Canucks just kind of kept putting them off, putting them off, putting them off. And then it reached July 1st or it reached, I can't remember what the free agency day was.

It reached free agency day. And he was like, uh, guys. And the Canucks were busy. They ran out of time. With other stuff. So he was like, okay, I'm going to sign with Calgary then. See you later. Um, so those things are related, right?

Sure. If the Canucks go past July 1st without a resolution to the Filip Hronik situation, and then all the right shot defensemen in the UFA class are signed, the quality guys at least, then that puts them in a tough place. Do you remember when Brock Besser was a pending RFA and they were trying to decide what to do with him? He ended up signing July 1st. Right. And that was probably something that the Canucks had agreed to because they were probably dealing with backup plans of their own. So how does the timing work with all this things? Because the Canucks need to address the defense. They're going to

have, I mean, they have all these free agents, whether they're unrestricted or restricted. They only got three guys under contract, and that's Quinn Hughes, Carson Soucy, and Noah Juleson. All the other ones are free agents in some capacity. From a timing

perspective, this isn't a great landscape. It's not not good just in terms of the amount of business that you have to do in a short period of time right if you want to throw mark friedman in the mix you have four unrestricted defensemen and you have one restricted that's a lot of negotiate negotiating and balancing and you know trying to carve out some money here to save some money elsewhere or vice versa. But doesn't it all start with Hronik?

Doesn't it have to all start with Hronik? Because you can't – what if you go into the season? I suppose it does. Go past July 1st and all the other guys are signed, like Tanev is signed and whoever, Dylan DeMello is signed somewhere. But it's not Vancouver because the Canucks are dealing, you know, they don't have any space because they've earmarked a certain amount to Hronik.

Does that not give the Hronik camp the upper hand in leverage and negotiations? If they're like, you have to sign us because you want to bring back a good team next season. Yeah, like historically, some of the nice parts of what having an RFA is you can kick the can down the road until later on in the summer.

But I don't think that's the situation here because Myers is going to be something of a priority based on how the club has spoken about him and how he's spoken about the club.

Nikita Zdorov would be a priority. These aren't guys that I think you can let dangle, especially going into July 1, where other teams can just jump the queue and say, hey, we're going to offer you the money right now, as opposed to you having to wait for someone else to get their deal done. It's a complicated offseason, though.

Well, this is part of the reason. Really, it's plus they've got to bring in a top six scorer. Herodic's timing was part of the reason why Detroit moved off him. Yeah. With their own structure, in terms of where their contracts were coming up and expiring. So they offloaded that headache in part to Vancouver. And they're like,

you can deal with it when his contract comes up because lo and behold, they've got a bunch of defensemen that they need to sort out as well. And yeah, no, you know what, on this one, I'm, I'm really,

really puzzled as to how it's going to play out. Because you would think, your logical mind would say, he's probably, he's 26. It's an RFA contract. If you're looking at him long-term, he's the number one priority. With all due respect to Myers and Zdorov. Yeah. Like, Karonik would be your number one priority.

How dare you? Well, but there's always a structure to things. Right? There's a hierarchy. And, you know, even the players know it. You can hear some of the guys that are just like, I don't think I'm first in line here to get dealt with. Yeah.

And I just wonder, basically this whole conversation is, when do the moves start coming for the Vancouver Canucks? Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if Tyler Myers is announced before at all. Because it sounds like conversations are down a road where both sides want to be together. Like before the draft, you mean? Oh, yeah, yeah. Like soon. It could happen this week.

I know I said there's a hierarchy, but if you can get a guy on a team-friendly contract and you want to keep him, then just do it. Just do it. As long as it isn't too onerous or whatever, just take care of that. It makes your financial outlook a lot easier because you've got that money slot. Sometimes you take care of the easy negotiations first. Isn't it funny how far we've come on Tyler Myers? Yeah, it really is.

It's crazy. It really, really – I did not anticipate – I was one of his biggest haters for this entire time here, and'm like i hope they recite him put it this way i always thought there was a possibility that he'd be back yeah good bad or otherwise because he was here stuff was here and unless he well i wasn't always sure he's gonna be back but unless he completely drummed himself out with his play which i mean don't get me wrong, at times with the chaos, it was likely. But now it's not that it's a marriage of convenience. Like, based on how he played over the last six months,

there are fans clamoring for it, right? Yeah. Clamor might be a strong word. There's a lot of people. Has it reached clamoring status? There are a lot of people right now that feel like there's a lot of people. Even in the Dunbar-Lumber text message in basket, there are people that now that feel like there's a lot of people, even in the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. There are people that I think that Myers is as high a priority as some of the other guys on that blue line.

He was really good in the playoffs, even though the analytics might disagree with me, I would say he was. I thought he had a good season. His production was way. He struggled at times early on. But his production was up. His minutes were down. And I think that the combination of working with Foot and Gonchar

maybe tweaked a couple things in his game that allowed him to play less frenetic. So you know how we're talking about the Edmonton Oilers PK and how important it's been? Yes. The Canucks PK as a whole is basically unrestricted free agents. Right. Their top guys are all unrestricted. Tyler Myers is one of them.

In the playoffs, it was Lindholm, Joshua, Zdorov, right, like all the- Bluger. Bluger. You know, I'm probably forgetting some names here. Like, Carson Soucy's under contract, so that's good. So would you say there's a good chance this D is once again going to look very, very different

next season? I don't know. It's going to look different, but I again going to look very, very different next season? I don't know. It's going to look different, but I don't know about very, very. That's the question. Well, that's why I'm asking because they've got so many guys with question marks above their heads and they have only so much money. So will they be forced to reshape it yet again because of the situation? Possibly.

Possibly. Here's the thing. It's too bad because now they finally got a decent core. But it might look different with the names on the back of the jerseys, but I think the idea is going to be kind of the same. You saw it at certain points this year of the way that Tuckett wanted a blue line built. It was predicated on size, right? Size and some nastiness, too.

That's what I really liked about Tyler Meyer's games in the playoffs. He played nasty. He was fierce out there. And I believe that's partly why Brendan D really liked about tyler myers games in the playoffs and i played nasty he was fierce out there and i believe that's partly why brendan dylan's name keeps coming up because they're like well and also dolly's getting a commission on that so there's that there's that defensive issues though as well like i mean sure but the knock on the door off was that he would prone to like cataclysmic mistakes handling the puck and that sometimes his reads weren't great and you kind of take that with the fact that he's big and physical and tough and nasty, and it really paid off in the playoffs.

Blake in the Ridge. Bruff, I am clamoring for Myers. There you go. Hashtag clamoring for Myers. Do you think that's going to get trending on social media? Clamoring for Myers. Myers agents are like, what the hell is this? Yeah, that's a great word, by the way, clamoring.

It's fun to say, too. Yeah. Coming up on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, we're going to go to Edmonton. Jack Michaels, play-by-play voice of the Edmonton Oilers, is going to join us as the Edmonton Oilers are now on their way to the Stanley Cup Final, which begins on Saturday. 8 o'clock, Randy Bjanda, Sportsnet 650, very own.

I can't even talk. Sportsnet 650's very own, Randy Bjanda. What did you do? Nailed it. Nothing, really. Did you hear that? No. It was one slip-up.

It was one slip-up. I mean, it fell down a flight of stairs. And I did it twice. Yeah. We're also giving away tickets to see Snoop. June 25th, Rogers Arena. That's going to go to the Best What We Learned. We're going to do that at 8.30.

With a ticket emoji, right? Use a ticket emoji. Hashtag it, WWL. Tell us what you learned over the last 72 hours in sports. Put a ticket emoji into the text. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd.

And Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 7.32 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for.

Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. Jack Michaels, play-by-play voice at the Edmonton Oilers, is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour 2 of this program is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some at a liquor store near you,

or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. The Edmonton Oilers are on their way to the Stanley Cup Final. It begins on Saturday. Joining us now, play-by-play voice of those Oilers, Jack Michaels here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Jack. How are you? I'm good, man. It's obviously a pretty chaotic last 24 hours, even leading up to it. I think it's fair to say this city has been waiting a

long time for this. And back in the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 18 years, and with a chance to break that Canadian dry spell and, and just basically surviving two really hard series in a row. And, uh, the next one isn't going to be easy either. Uh, you mentioned surviving. So I got to ask shots on goal, 35 to 10 shot attempts, 74 to 24 Edmonton had eight shots on goal at 5-on-5, yet they won and they're on their way to the Stanley Cup final. Have you ever really seen anything like that, like what happened last night? Well, you know, it's funny because if you look at Game 4 of the LA series, the Kings dominated similarly. I think the shot clock was 33-13, as a matter of fact. And last night, you know, obviously the Oilers shattered all previous records for fewest shots

of a playoff game and, you know, biggest shot deficit in a series clincher and all that kind of stuff. But it leads me to the greater point. And look, that is no recipe for success. We saw the Rangers ultimately, you you know fall prey to those numbers against florida i mean they hung in that series for as long as they could but ultimately the numbers dictated that florida was going to win that series and indeed they did so it's no recipe for success but the point being is this is not even the oilers from two years ago this is a team that defends fairly well, and I know that the shot clock looks ridiculous. Stuart Skinner was very good last night, let me say that right

up front, but a lot of those shots were a little bit of a box-out scenario. Dallas had some good looks. Most of those good looks actually came in the last two minutes, But Edmonton has proven this year they can grind out a 1-0 win over L.A., a 2-1 win over Dallas to clinch, a 3-2 win over Vancouver where it got a little hairy late. But if you think about those last two games against the Canucks, Vancouver didn't get a ton of good looks. This is a team that defends much better than it's given credit for and still has enough high-octane offense to have the four top scores in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the top

four scores at five-on-five. So it's not just a creation of the power play, even though the game winning goals and the series winning goals in both the Vancouver and the Dallas series came on the power play. They're not just a one-trick pony power play McDavid-Drysaddle. Last night, they needed their goaltender to steal them one, and Stuart Skinner certainly did that. Jack, maybe just some thoughts on Connor McDavid getting to play on the NHL's biggest stage. Some would say finally getting to play on the NHL's biggest stage. I would say finally getting to play on the NHL's biggest

stage. Absolutely. I mean, and we've seen this in sports before, guys. I mean, you know, certainly Merrill Lemieux had to wait quite a while, seven years. Michael Jordan, same thing. I think he waited the same seven years Lemieux did. You know, it doesn't always happen overnight. You know, Gretzky, I guess it was, you know, I guess it was five years before he won it, you know, four until his first final. There does need to be patience. And a lot of people would say, well, Edmonton's, you know, still not a complete team. Look at how they got dominated in game six. You know, it does tend to get a little nitpicky. I mean, only the, only the truly great teams, I think have, you know, have zero weaknesses. I, I still think that, you know, we're in a period right now where there's a

lot of good teams in the NHL, but there's not, it's not the winner of Chicago and LA anymore is going to win the cup. We're not in that sequence. You know, Tampa had three or four dominant years. You know, we had three or four dominant years. You know, we're now in a period where a lot of teams that have had a lot of looks over the years are starting to break through. Tampa was one of those. Washington, St. Louis, Vegas last year had been around it for four or five years. You know, the year prior, Colorado had been around it four or five years. We all remember Nate McKinnon's famous speech where he said,

I've won nothing. And that's what McDavid and Dreisaitl have been feeling. That's why they were comfortable saying it's cup or bust. All the individual accolades at this point don't mean anything. And for Connor McDavid, yeah, he's playing on the world's greatest stage, but I think more to his way of thinking is he's finally gotten his team in a position where they can compete for the ultimate prize. Because all that individual stuff at this point, I think, has been achieved for Edmonton. What they're set out to proving right now is that they can win it collectively.

And I think if you look at the perceived advantages that dallas had in this series why a lot of hockey experts believed that the stars would win even though edmonton was the betting favorite you looked at goaltending and you looked at depth and edmonton has 16 different guys that have scored a goal in the stanley cup playoffs this year the same number as dallas and quite frankly stewart skinner and the numbers would bear this out, outplayed Jake Ottinger head-to-head in that series. And I think a lot of people in Vancouver might be surprised to see that, because I'm sure Stuart would be comfortable saying it, and I certainly am, Calvin Pickard was key in that series, negotiating the Oilers through a difficult time against the

Canucks. Then Skinner came on to finish, and he's carried that momentum forward. Did you see this Oilers PK being what it is in these playoffs? Well, to me, that's been, I mean, that was the other thing I was going to say, is the age-old adage, and you talked about it right at the outset, the shot attempts and the fact that Edmonton had eight shots on that five-on-five. Well, the two they didn't have five-on-five, both went in the net. And then their penalty kill,

in my opinion, was the key to the Vancouver series. I think the penalty kill is the single... If you're asking me, what's the single reason Edmonton is in the Stanley Cup final, I'd say it's the penalty kill. Because think about the Vancouver series. I think the penalty kill, more than anything, sucked the life out of Vancouver as a team, and at times,

Rogers Arena. In the two road games that the Oilers won in that series, it was the penalty kill at five on three, and certainly in game seven, it choked the life out of not only the Vancouver attack, but I thought the crowd. Penalty kill is on a terrific run. There was no hint that it would be this good in the regular season. It wasn't a poor penalty kill, but it was middle of the road, something like 79%, middle of the pack in the NHL, but it's shattered all kinds of club records, and now it takes a streak of 28 in a row into the Stanley Cup final. What do you think about the Florida Panthers? What's the first thing that comes to mind? Heavy. I mean, you know, I think these series get appreciably harder. Vancouver banged Edmonton

around a lot more than LA did, especially, you know, on its back end, which wasn't the most mobile defensive unit, but they certainly made life tough on the Oilers. This Dallas series, even though the Stars aren't the most physical team in the world, they've got a lot of true and tested pros, and not all of them had great series, and that was also, you know, critical to Edmondson's success, but Florida has heaviness and skill up and down their lineup, even their skill guys. I mean, Sasha Barkoff is like Leon Dreissel, not a small man, not an easy guy to get the puck from, not an easy guy to play against. I mean, there's a reason this guy is,

you know, heading into Kopitar territory as far as the automatic Selke ballot every year, no matter what kind of year he has. You know, Sam Bennett is once again being playoff Sam Bennett. I'll never understand why Calgary couldn't find a home for this guy. And they're having a guy, you know, I mean, they have a guy like Zach Hyman. They have Sam Reinhardt, who's had a heck of a year and was always those guys, and maybe you and I didn't pay as close attention because he was out in Buffalo, but I'll tell you what, when those Sabres teams quit at times, Sam Reinhardt was always the guy playing hard.

I got a lot of respect for Florida. I mean, they are going to be a massive challenge, and no disrespect to Dallas or Vancouver, but I'm sorry. I think Florida's a step up in weight class. And if Edmonton plays at the same level they did against Vancouver and Dallas, I think they're going to get beat. I really do. They're going to have to find another gear. And that's what the Stanley Cup playoffs is all about. I mean, I just feel like, you know, the Oilers, my own experience seeing it head toto-head is Colorado just had more than Edmonton had in 2022.

Vegas found a little bit more than Edmonton had in 2023. I'm telling you what, the Oilers are going to have to find two more levels because that Florida team just beat the President's Trophy winners. Their President's Trophy winners themselves two years removed, and they're coming off an appearance in the Stanley Cup final. No team had gone back to a final after losing one in 15 years. The Panthers have done that. This is a rugged, hard group led by a rugged, hard man who, like Peter DeBoer,

has done a lot, but he hasn't won, and that's Paul Maurice. So they've got a motivated coaching staff. They've got a motivated group of players, but I'll tell you what, this Edmonton club is not, you know, the young guns anymore. They're the oldest team in the league. And like Leon Drysaddle said two rounds ago, we want to win pretty badly too. Jack, we talk a lot about McDavid and Drysaddle. We talk a lot about Evan Bouchard on the back end and Zach Hyman gets a lot of attention as well because he used to play in Toronto. Do we talk enough about Ryan Nugent Hopkins?

Because he is one of the key forwards on that penalty kill and he's also producing offense. I mean, he had 100 points last season. His production was down quite a bit this season during the regular season, but I noticed him a lot during that Canucks series, and I was just wondering if he's underrated and we should be talking about him more.

Bang on. And I don't know whether you heard Leon Dreisaitl's comments prior to Game 5, but he said he's probably the coach's favorite player, involved in every aspect of the game. And I think what you're saying really is this postseason, he shined in spots that I think in previous years, McDavid and Dreisaitl did. Game six and seven against Vancouver.

You know, I thought he was the best player. He was clutch, you know, and ultimately, I think to be universally respected across the league you've got to do it when your team needs it the most and that's deep into the stanley cup playoffs game six and seven against vancouver two power play goals including the game winner in game five against dallas and that obviously swings the series in edmonton's favor because now they go home up three two they've taken home ice advantage back away from the Stars. And so I think those three games are going to be on Ryan Nugent Hopkins'

resume as signature games. And they come deep in series. You know, one comes in an all-Canadian matchup, and another comes in a matchup that puts the Oilers in the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 2006. So those are exactly the kind of games that I think get your name out there a little bit more prominently. But all the core guys you mentioned, McDavid, Drysaddle, Nurse,

any which way you slice it, Hyman, they all respect Nugent Hopkins. They all know that without him, the team is lacking. The sum of the parts isn't there. And that's because Nugent Hopkins is part of that penalty kill that's ripped off 28 straight. He's part of that power play that's been the best in the league now for five years running. I mean, it's on a five-year tear, the likes of which we haven't seen before. So, you know, when you're involved in all aspects of the game and you're out there in the final minute, you know, and trusted by your coach to be out there and not make a mistake, you know, that's how you earn respect from the inside.

From the outside, it's starting to come because of what he's done in the clutch this postseason. It's crazy that he's 31. He's a wily veteran now. He still looks 19. He still looks 19. That pencil-thin mustache is not going to convince anyone that he's in his mid to late 30s. I mean, Stuart Skinner's mustache would absolutely destroy Nugent Hopkins' mustache in a a duel but you know what he's uh he's got that youthful spry look and edmonton's gonna need plenty of that against florida because it's not gonna get any easier jack this was great thanks for taking the time to do it we really

appreciate it uh we'll check in next week once this thing finally gets underway you better believe it yeah i know the nhl has gone the nba route now we got to kick back for a week and wait go to florida early and just hang out well trust me it's 13 and raining sideways today it's a vancouver type of day here in edmonton i wish i was on a plane cheers guys thanks jack that's uh jack michaels play-by-play voice of the edmonton oilers here on the half of the rough show on sportsnet if the Dunbar-Lumber text message in basket has proven anything, it's that many of you are not over the Vancouver Canucks losing to the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of this year's playoffs.

Yeah, that's fine. No, you know what? I didn't respond to a single one of them. No. A single one of them. Even the guy that texted in seven times during a 13-minute Jack Michaels. Why don't people not like Jack? Jack's good.

Jack's nice. They just don't want to hear it about the Oilers. They just don't want to hear it. I geters. They just don't want to hear it. They don't want to hear praise for the Oilers. I get it. I get it. It's okay. First off, it's Monday, right?

Everyone on Monday sucked. Garfield had it right. No good, right? Happy Tuesday, everybody. Secondly, it's still raw. And thirdly, and now that we get to do this sort of like retrospective look, that the Oilers took care of the Stars, the what-if quotient is high on a Monday.

And fourthly, it is raining sideways and 13 degrees. What's your biggest what-if from the Canucks playoff? Your biggest realistic what-if. Well, Demko, right? It's got to be Demko. Not for me. It's got to be. Actually, I take it back.

It's Petey. Yeah. Because CeeLoves actually to be. Not for me. It's got to be. Actually, I take it back. It's Petey. Yeah. Yeah. Because Seelov's actually played okay. They played good. Game seven to advance to the Western Conference final was a one-goal game. And Besser didn't play. At the end of the day.

And Besser didn't play. And Petey was doing nothing, and Besser didn't play. Yeah, but Demko can steal your games. I mean, not that Seelov's didn't at times. He was fantastic. But Demko's just a – I don't know. I think it would have been a lot different. Petey finished with one goal in 13 games.

Yeah, he wasn't good. He was bad. I had a week off. Very, very bad. I had a week off last week. You're allowed to know, yeah. Didn't talk about Petey. Now I'm back.

Okay. That's my biggest what if. What if he had played? That's fair. If you look at the Oilers, you know, how many legit top six guys do they have going right now? You know, like McDavid, Dreisaitl, Nugent, Hyman, four, right? I mean, how many top six guys, guys who played in the top six for the Canucks, did they have going during the playoffs?

Two. Miller and Besser? Yeah. Maybe Garland. Garland, three. But is he top six? He was during the playoffs. Two. Miller and Besser? Yeah. Maybe Garland. Garland. Three. But is he top six? He was by the end.

He was top one. He played all the minutes. I mean, Lindholm played well. Lindholm, four. But not to the extent that these other guys have. And I think it just underscores two things. Number one, the Canucks need to go out and get another top six forward because they just need another winner.

That's simple. Everyone knows that. And number two is we're all going to be waiting and wondering what Petey looks like when he comes back next season. By the way, did you see who scored the eventual series clinching goal for the Florida Panthers against the New York Rangers game six on Saturday? Vladimir Tarasenko. I was laughed at when I suggested.

That was his third goal of the playoffs? It was his first point of the series. I was laughed at when I suggested. That was his third goal of the playoffs? It was his first point of the series. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He did absolutely nothing in the whole series.

But that line was good. That line was good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he wasn't producing. With Lawson Lundell, one of my favorite players. So it's Lundell, Lusterainen,

and Tarasenko. And Tarasenko. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, he didn't produce anything, but he did score the eventual series clinching goal. So there was something there. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, he didn't produce anything, but he did score the eventual series-clinching goal. So there was something there.

No, I go back to Game 7 against Edmonton, and I'm not saying I wake up in a cold sweat with nightmares, but the quality chances landing on the sticks of Sam Lafferty, Phil DiGiuseppe, and Ilya Mikheyev. Like, it just... Yeah, it was frustrating. You know? Yeah, but if Demko's a net man, Sam Lafferty, Phil DiGiuseppe, and Ilya Mikheyev. Like, it just... Yeah, it was frustrating. You know? Yeah, but if Demko's a net man,

it might not have even gone to school. No, you're absolutely right. I think that's the frustrating thing about the series. There are some major what-ifs. Yep. Now, Dallas is going to look at last night and say, how did we end up with one goal out of that game? Right?

The chances that they had. The stank oven was cooking. I'm trying to train. They just never seem to get going. The stars in the series. They were good yesterday. But they weren't. Did they produce a ton of amazing chances?

I thought the Oilers did a pretty good job. There were a lot of shot attempts, but a lot of them were getting blocked. The second half of the second period and all of the third, I thought it was like a borderline caving in. They were all over them. The puck just wouldn't go in. What Michael said on the interview, I thought was pretty true. They did a pretty decent job boxing out a lot

of the shots from the outside and a lot of the shots Skinner could see. So to Jason's point, I actually don't remember a ton of grade A how did that not go in. Right. I mean, the Oilers are actually good defensively now. It's really frustrating. Well, at times. But that was also...

Most of the time. That was also we're facing elimination. Like, everything's out the window. We're just throwing pucks on net. New York did it in Game 6 against Florida. They had 72 shot attempts, and, like, none of them got through. It's sort of the same thing. But I thought that territorially, like, zone possession-wise...

Well, of course, yeah. Yeah, zone possession-wise, they dominated. Well, the other part of it, too, was I noticed that DeBoer made the switch. When he started leaning on Johnston and the stank oven, that's when they were at their most dangerous. It wasn't Ben and Sagan who were, you know. Yeah.

And Robertson. Johnston had some good chances. I remember one in the slot that he just kind of flubbed. They're going to be good for a very long time. Yeah. They're going to be good for a very long time. Yeah. They're going to be good for a very long time. And in large part because they've drafted so well. How cool a name is Maverick Bork.

Yeah, that was an interesting one, eh? Yeah. They got a map. I wonder who he's cheering for in the NBA finals. I thought that was an interesting move on a team that had that many vets that you bring in a guy that, I mean, he played one game all year, right now. I know that they were looking for some kind of spark, but I thought that was a big move because I mean,

the guy had spent, again, he was the AHL MVP. It's been, well, the Panthers are a tier above the Oilers previous opponents. So good luck boys. Andrew,

it's just a difference. Sorry, not to cut you off. It's just a different style of play. Not a lot of teams can do what Florida does. Cause they don't have the the makeup right they don't have the roster they don't have the guys you need certain players to play that way you also need a coach that's willing to lean into it the biggest dynamic change i think is going to be that again people don't really i don't know how many people pay attention to dallas but like they were the least penalized

team in the nhl this season for a reason. That's not in their DNA. That's not in their makeup. They're not that team. They don't put a glove in your face, post-whistle. They're not a scrum team. There's not jam plays where they're trying to land on top of your goalie and injure them.

That is Florida. That's Kachuk. That's Bennett. That's what these guys do. I think it's going to be an awesome series. I think so, yeah. I really do. Andrew in Victoria texts in,

Meh, Oilers talk is still better than soccer talk. Randy Janda is going to join us next. We'll ask him that question. What is your biggest what if from the series against the Edmonton Oilers for the Vancouver Canucks? There are some very good candidates. What if Thatcher Demko had stayed healthy? And that is with all due respect to Artie Silovs,

who made some incredible saves along the way, but at the end of the day, you remember some of the goals that went in, a lot of point shots. Maybe Demko is on those. Maybe with a little more experience, he's on those. Finding the puck. You know, at the end of the day, I guess Silov's save percentage was not high. What if Petey was the Petey that we know he can be?

What if Brock Besser was able to play game seven? That's a life as a Canucks fan. There's a lot of what ifs. What if Brock Besser was able to play game seven? That's a life as a Canucks fan. There's a lot of what ifs. What if this happened one day? I hope that we'll be like, it all came together. That's right. No what ifs because they won the Stanley Cup. Well, the what ifs will be, what if this didn't go this exact way and we'll break down all the things that could have gone wrong?

What if we went down Richards instead of Seymour? What if those bike lanes weren't there? Would the parade have been a little more enjoyable? What if there wasn't so much traffic on Stanley Cup Parade Day? I missed half of it because of all the traffic. That's the what if that I want to ask. Randy Janda is going to join us next

on the Halford and Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650.