Halford & Brough in the Morning - A Fiery Canucks Practice Is Always A Good Sign

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason preview Week 3 with NFL.com's Nick Shook (1:37), plus they discuss the latest 'Nucks news with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance (28:46). 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.

7 to 1 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford and Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, 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 two of the program.

Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Just kidding. Let him find it. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec. So, we got a lot to get into here in the National Football League. Thursday night football tonight. We got the Vikings. We got the Rams.

Rams are getting back. Cooper Cup might be getting back. Puka Nakua. That's kind of cool. Aren't they going to be selling at the trade deadline, though? Isn't that the talk with them? Yeah. See, I was wondering about that because if you look at the standings, if they win tonight,

they're right back to smack it. Right in the race for the NFC West. Isn't that the talk with them? Yeah, see, I was wondering about that, because if you look at the standings, if they win tonight, they're right back to smack it, right in the race for the NFC West. So I don't know what's going to happen there. We got new quarterbacks starting everywhere. We got an old quarterback, Tua Tungavailoa, making his return from a concussion. So let's get into all this now with Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Nick. How are you?

I'm good. I'm very happy to be on with you guys. And it always warms my heart when I hear your synergy as you come back from break there. It's just, it's a beautiful thing to hear. I have full of good vibes right now. There's so much, I hate saying it this way, sports. So much sports. But there's everything happening. Like every night, there's something to look forward to.

Tonight we get Thursday night football on top of nine NHL games and everything else that's everything happening. Every night, there's something to look forward to. Tonight, we get Thursday night football on top of nine NHL games and everything else that's going on. I'm actually kind of intrigued by this one because as we were talking about, I don't know what direction the Rams are going to go in here. We pay close attention to them because they're in the same division as the Seahawks.

They're at the bottom of the NFC West, but in the NFC West, that means you're still pretty close to the top of the NFC West, but in the NFC West, that means you're still pretty close to the top of the NFC West. And a win tonight with the receivers coming back, suddenly the season starts looking a little bit different. What's your read on the Rams? Well, that's why last week's win was so big over the Raiders because you dropped a 1-5, even in this division.

Your hopes are dwindling, and you're looking at a long second half of the year. But to be able to stay at two and four there, you know, just a couple of games behind the Seahawks atop this division in a division that has failed to separate. You know, the Rams are, you know, the 49ers being three and four, the Cardinals being three and four. You know, the concern has been turned up in Santa Clara. The Cardinals, what do we know about them? I mean, they they're fun to watch at times. They blew out the Rams in week two in the game that they lost Cooper Cup to the ankle injury, but they haven't looked like that team since.

But they're still fun, and they still got to win over the Chargers on Monday Night Football. So it's very much the taking. And I think that the Rams, deep down, think back to the way they lost week one in Detroit. And that was a back-and-forth affair in which they both were very strong teams. And the Rams have dealt with nothing but injuries since then. They lose Nakua that night.

They lose Cooper a couple weeks later. They lose a bunch of offensive linemen within the first month. I mean, Matthew Stafford's been operating with a generally bare-covered receiver for most of the season, so much that Tyler Johnson, who couldn't crack the Buccaneers lineup, has emerged as a key playmaker for them, among others, Demarcus Robinson, another one being a veteran who made a contribution last year and has come through again this year. But it's been rough.

It's been really rough for them offensively. They just haven't had a low ceiling. Stafford's been asked to kind of do too much in the last couple of weeks. He's hurt them just out of necessity, not necessity, but just because he doesn't know what else to do. You know, he's thrown a couple of picks in Chicago. He had a bit of a rough game in which they didn't score an offensive touchdown for most of that game against the Raiders.

You know, they mustered 20 points, and seven of their points come from a cam curl follow return. So it just feels like you haven't gotten the real rams because of injuries. So if they get these guys back and they're able to mount a little bit of a push here, this division, you know, the Seahawks at four and three, have not separated themselves. It's very much for the taking.

So I hate to say it because I hate to put a lot of expectation on one game, but because the trade deadline is coming up, could go one of two directions based on tonight's result. The Rams also play in Seattle next week, and if they lose that game, then the trade deadline's a couple days after that, I think, and that could be it for them. Let's talk about this trade that still isn't official yet, but it sounds like it's going to happen.

DeAndre Hopkins to Kansas City. I know there's been a lot of talk and debate on how much of an impact Hopkins could have on the Chiefs, but I guess it's pretty clear that the Chiefs had to do something. Yeah, they definitely had to do something with this team. And, you know, a lot of people are bashing Mahomes for, oh, he's not having a good year. You know, his numbers are down and so on and so forth. He's kind of in the same boat as Matthew Stafford,

except he's Patrick Mahomes. And that, look, our weapons are limited. We lost Isaiah Pacheco. We have very little, if anything, to really work with. I have to rely on both of my tight ends, and every opposing defense knows I want to use Travis Kelsey every week. So he's basically out of the equation. So no, Greg, come on down. You're my new, one of my top targets now because we just lack options outside. I mean, you think about Marquise Brown hasn't played all year, has the collarbone injury.

You think about the rest of their depth chart, you lose Rasheed Rice to a knee injury. Juju Smith-Schuster is one of your best remaining players on the roster. Xavier Worthy is a rookie, but he's done some things, but he's not the guy that you necessarily lean on as a number one. They've had to really piecemeal this offense together. So yeah, if DeAndre Hopkins is available, I mean, he's essentially stuck in, not quite exile, but with an offense in Tennessee that lacks a quarterback, whether it's Will Levis taking huge risks or Mason Rudolph just trying to manage the game. Why not go for him?

Why not get after him and add a talent like that who's definitely going to be interested in trying to chase a ring with the Chiefs? So this is probably one of the clearest players that I thought was going to be traded before the deadline. Maybe not to the Chiefs necessarily, but I just felt like he was going to be on the move. He wasn't part of their game plan, their most recent game. He hit one catch and just disappeared otherwise. So it made a ton of sense. DeAndre Hopkins being in Tennessee never really made a lot of sense to begin with. Maybe when he first arrived, but I was shocked that he was there, you know, even going into this year. And I think after, you know, seven weeks, that was the time for him to join a contender. So

good move. I think it's the Titans doing right by him. And I also think it's the Chiefs definitely adding a weapon to an offense that sorely needs it. Who are some other big names that could change teams? Well, we've heard Kubrickov's name mentioned as well. And, you know, when we get to near the deadline, it kind of turns up even more because people look at the Browns and they say, well, you know, they're going to just blow it up. Everybody's available. Well, they already traded Amari Cooper, right? So we have a decent amount of movement having already happened, especially at the receiver position. But you could always look at them for a number of veterans that could be on the move as well.

I even think of a guy like Greg Newsome, who's in a contract year, because if you look at the Watson situation and how it might affect their cap, there's no telling who they might have to get rid of. And they're going to capitalize on a certain amount of players that are on their roster and in contract years. I think Newsome's one of them. Darius Smith is a veteran as well who could be available.

I don't think that they would move Miles Garrett, but dramatic Brown fans around here always talk about, oh, ship everybody out, ship Chubb out, ship Garrett out. I think those are franchise cornerstones. But, I mean, you really want to look at it as instead of players, you look at it as sellers. Who are the bad teams right now? Jacksonville's not a good team.

The Giants are not a good team. The Patriots are not a good team. And then you look at veterans or usable players on that team. I look at, like, K.J. Osborne, a receiver in New England, who has been a non-factor save for this past week, who I loved in Minnesota, who I think would be a nice addition for a number of receiver-needy teams that might fly under the radar because he's not a big name. You know, we already saw Ernest Jones get traded away out of Tennessee.

Second time he's been on the move this season. And then, of course, you think about the Panthers, and you think about Bryce Young. And are they going to move him? Because it sure feels like he doesn't have a future there. The Andy Dalton, you know, car wreck that happened this week kind of threw that into question a little bit, but I still feel like they're going to move him just because it feels very much, at least on the surface,

like Dave Canales has little to no interest in continuing with a guy that he did not draft and clearly has a long way to go to becoming a starting quarterback in the NFL. So all kinds of possibilities, but with the receiver market being as hot as it's been, I think that we probably start there and move forward. Is it possible, you mentioned the Browns and how they might be blowing it up or maybe they won't, but is it possible that Deshaun Watson has played his last game for the Browns? That was the feeling on Sunday.

Personally, and then when I spoke to some of my colleagues about it later in the day, that certainly is what it felt like. And, you know, we don't know the specifics of the contract and whether there are clauses that would get them out because of injury or not. I mean, that money's guaranteed. It's just how does it affect the cap? The salary cap largely, I learned this at the Saints a few years ago. I was tasked with writing, the Saints are $79 million over the cap,

and these are the players that could be on the move in order for them to get under the cap. I listed 10 players. Two guys left. One retired, and one went somewhere else. None of the big names that were on that team left. $79 million in what they could potentially have to owe to get rid of Deshaun Watson, which is north of $150 million, at least depending on how you would designate a cut or a trade. Those are different totals, but I learned that there's a lot of mythical status to the

salary cap. It can be navigated as you work through your finances every year. So I feel like from a football perspective, look, you tore your Achilles in week seven. That's a long road to recovery and to return to the football field. We saw that with Aaron Rodgers. He tore it in week one. And yeah, he talked about maybe coming back, but we knew he wasn't going to come back.

And it took until most of camp for us to be 100% certain that he was going to be able to play. So you're on a long road back for Deshaun Watson. You haven't proven anything. If anything, you took a huge step back this season. You lost the confidence of the fan base and probably of the coaching staff. We'll see if they're still around next year. There's just a lot of uncertainty and elements that go work against his favor

of continuing with the Browns other than the contract. So if they could find a way out, I think they would find a way out. And honestly, I don't know if he ends up on another team in the NFL because what's the point of adding a player of that caliber unless it's an absolutely dirt-cheap contract? So I think we've seen the last of him in Cleveland and maybe the last of him in the NFL. We're speaking to Nick Shook from NFL.com here

on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You mentioned Bryce Young there, so I want to explain to the listeners exactly what's happening. Andy Dalton, the only reason Andy Dalton's not playing this weekend is because he got in a car accident and he hurt his elbow. This is despite the fact that last week,

Andy Dalton, in that embarrassing loss to Washington, went 11 for 16 for 93 yards and two interceptions, and that still, still had him ahead of Bryce Young because Dave Canales said, I wasn't going to make the change. He's being forced to make this change. So Young's going in to replace a quarterback who was horrible, but was still ahead of him on the depth chart

with a head coach that, as you pointed out, doesn't seem to have any interest in having him on the team, and he's got to go on the road into Denver. I'm in a betting group that's looking for all chalk and all locks this week, so is there any way that Carolina does anything in Denver? Is this the safest bet of the week? Look, I do picks every week, and there have been games where I'm like, there's no way that team wins, and they find a way to win.

It truly is any given Sunday in the NFL. But I could not possibly feel more confident in predictions than this week. The Panthers already owned one of the worst offenses in the NFL. That was Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton, by the way, who led them to a win in his first start, has been free-falling in my QB index, and is actually going to hit a new low this week. There's a little bit of a surprise.

When we publish that later today. Because he was that bad. Those two interceptions he threw in that game were horrid. First one obviously being a pick six by Dante Fowler on a screen that he just missed his target because he heard the throw. Second one, his receiver kind of falls down. He never had a shot.

And yet Bryce Young is that much worse. Bryce Young has never adjusted the speed of the NFL game, the complexity of NFL offenses, or the fact that he's not very tall and can't see down the field. Denver has one of the best defenses that you're not going to hear about, but you're going to witness when you watch them play every week. They're going to get after him. It's going to be an ugly affair for them,

for the Panthers when they play Denver this weekend. So, yeah, I feel very confident that the Broncos will win this game. I've been wrong before. You know, I had a friend in Vegas who I said, hey, congrats on beating the Panthers, you know, in this upcoming week, and they lost that game. But those were different times. The Panthers are a bad football team, and Bryce Young,

unless he completely transformed and they brought him out of one of those, like, preservation chambers and he came out a new man with the ability to process the game at a high speed and everything else. Not going to happen. It's going to be a very rough weekend for the Panthers. Well, that segues into my next question about another quarterback change, and that's in Miami. What's the latest, basically, on Tua Tungavailoa's return from concussion

and when he might get back in? I mean, all things sound like they're trending toward the positive. on Tua Tungavailoa's return from concussion and when he might get back in? I mean, all things sound like they're trending towards the positive. You know, we still have final injury report designations that'll come out on Friday, but I mean, Tyree Kill saw good enough about it last week, or not last week, yesterday, to tell everybody to play him in fantasy.

Strike up the band, we're back. So that sounds good. You know, we're still waiting to see the official designations like i said we know we might hear something from mike and daniel today more likely we'll get the you know the injury report tomorrow and we'll have our final answer on that but look the dolphins need it they need it bad um all due respect to tyler huntley and what he's been able to do in baltimore in previous seasons in relief of the injury of lamar jackson

but uh he has not handled that job very well. And I can't blame him. What we've learned is I think this offense is very complex and takes a certain type of quarterback that they did not have behind Tua Tungabedlo. It wasn't Skyler Thompson. It wasn't Tim Boyle. And it wasn't Tyler Huntley. None of them have been able to resuscitate this offense,

which ranks dead last in scoring. And I think 11.7 points per game, which we're talking about the Dolphins. If it was August and I told you we'd be at this point a week away from Halloween, you'd slap me in the face and say, stop lying to me. I have better things to do than stand here and listen to you lying to me. But that's where they are. That's how far they've fallen because they lost Tua.

So I'm not saying Tua's going to come in and magically fix it, like Tyreek kind of alluded to in his comments yesterday, but at the same time, it's got to be much better than where they were before. At least he has experience with operating this offense and tons of reps with the key targets in this system because right now Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddell have been non-factors, both in fantasy and just on a regular Sunday.

It's been more about their running game and Johnnie Smith than anything. So it would be really nice to see him come back because it would be nice to see the Dolphins actually operate their offense. They've been a really, really, really rough watch in the last five weeks. Okay. Let's finish with some, the best quarterback talk here. And that is Lamar Jackson, what he did on Monday night. Just a cool five touchdown performance and another victory for the Baltimore Ravens, who I said are the best team in football. And a couple of

listeners are like, what about the Chiefs? And I'm like, no, it's the Ravens because they're just more fun to watch. That's where I'm putting my index on right now. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that Lamar was an MVP in 2023, and somehow he's taken his game to another level in 2024. What is that level, and how has he been able to do it, Nick?

So the narrative on Lamar for most of his career has been, you know, he's a great runner. He's electric. He's incredibly elusive. You can't contain him. You can't bring him down. Greg Roman's offense had a lot to do that with that because they utilize his running skills a lot. Well, we're in year two of the Todd Munkin offense and when Munkin showed up, everybody talked about how they're going to be able to throw the football, and that kind of came through last year with Zay Flowers, the emergence of

him. They got the top seed in the AFC, and they lost to the Chiefs at home in the AFC championship game. They didn't put up a ton of points, right? Well, this time around, they add Derek Henry. Zay Flowers is again Zay Flowers. Isaiah Likely is a dog next to Mark Andrews.

And Rashad Bateman has started to produce as well. But most importantly, Lamar Jackson has taken like three steps ahead in his passing proficiency. I mean, it hit me a couple of weeks ago when doing QB index and watching their game. I was like, oh, wow, he's like an elite passer now. Like there would be times in the past where he'd miss a guy by five or 10 yards downfield. He's not missing those guys. He's putting incredible throws on guys at every depth of field, no matter the situation. You add the scrambling element, which is always there.

He's got surprisingly incredible pocket presence. He kind of floats around sometimes every once in a while. He gets sacked and everything else. But he looks very comfortable back there, and there's always the threat of Derrick Henry in the run. He can come up and creep up on you at any time. In that game that they played last week, there was a period where Derrick Henry had five carries for 22 yards,

and he ends up with a total over 160 on like 17 attempts, and they absolutely bludgeoned the Buccaneers into submission in the second half. By the way, in that game, he also threw a long touchdown pass to Rashad Bateman that was perfect. I mean, you couldn't be put on him any better. They can beat you in the run. They can beat you in the pass. They can beat you in any way, and you're going to have a hard time predicting which one's going to beat you on that

Sunday, and it all has to do with the fact that Lamar Jackson has elevated his passing game to an elite level, and I think right now he's an easy favorite to win MVP. Nick, you're the best. Enjoy the game tonight, and enjoy all the games this weekend. We'll do this again soon alright guys thanks thank you

Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650 on the subject of Derek Henry I just want to add I was watching another

Jerry Jones radio appearance same station that he went nuts on how'd that go he went back on there yeah like nothing happened

an entire new staff at the radio station what's up, guys? So the question came about why they didn't get Derrick Henry this offseason because they have a terrible running game, right? He had the balls on this guy. It's so great. He's like, well, you got to understand,

we run a different offense than Baltimore, so it's hard to say that Derrick Henry would be having the success. I mean, oh, you mean you don't run a good offense? Is that why? He might not. He would try to legitimately success. I mean, oh, you mean you don't run a good offense? Is that why? He might not. He would try to legitimately, like, in a straight face, say, like, you know, maybe he wouldn't be having all these yards with us because we run a different offense.

Yeah, yeah. Baltimore has a great offensive line. Yeah. I'm like, I can't. I love Jerry Jones. It's going to be sad when he no longer does this. But, man, is it funny. So last night, the Capitals won again, and

Ovechkin potted one into an empty net, moving 40 goals from Wayne Gretzky's record. The Caps beat the Flyers. I think the Flyers have now lost six straight. They're 1-5-1. Fedotov. Their lone win was in Vancouver. Fedotov, not good. But I think for

them, the best news is that Michkov looks like a player. Yep. And Lachenko. He might be their only player in a little while. But I think for them, the best news is that Michkov looks like a player. Yep. And Lachenko. Might be their only player in a little while. But Michkov looks like he's going to be real good. I'm curious about this Washington team. 5-1, baby.

Because they did make a bunch of changes, including bringing in Dubois. I don't know how much of an effect that Dubois has had. Big game last night. Goal and two assists last night. Empty netter. Empty netter. Who cares? One of much of an effect that Dubois has had. Big game last night. Goal and two assists last night. Empty netter. Empty netter. Who cares? One of the worst empty netters I've ever seen, by the way.

Goal and two assists. There were two empty netters. Ovi got one and Dubois got one. Dubois' one was off a botched change right after they pulled the goalie. So it was 4-0 Washington. Then they cut it to 4-3. Yeah, the Flyers came back in a big way. And then Dubois scored an empty netter to make it 5-3.

It'd be funny if they gave Dubois a standing ovation in 10 minutes. By the way, Ovi. You did something! He had a goal and two assists. He had a good game. He did, yeah. 855th career goal for Ovechkin to the empty netter. Now just 39 back.

Of tying it. 40 of breaking it. The Caps have been using the number, the countdown number, is to break it. Got it. So it's 40 goals to break it. Who wants a tie? So I would say at this point, based on how Ovi's starting,

I'd say it's unlikely he does it this season. I would also say it's unlikely. Possible, but unlikely. Although I don't know how good the Caps can be this year. Just keep feeding them empty netters. I'll give them credit. They kind of got into the playoffs last year and then were quickly exposed.

They're like, you shouldn't be here. And they were like, what are you doing here? No, we know we shouldn't be here. And then Pittsburgh was like, we should be there. And then almost defiantly, Brian McClellan went out and just kept adding pieces to this team. And I was like, I don't know about this,

but I guess if your entire franchise existence is to see Ovi to this team. And I was like, I don't know about this, but I guess if your entire franchise existence is to see Ovi break this record. But it's not, I guess. But you may as well have a good time trying to do it, because I still don't think they're a cup contender. No. But they'll probably be, if this keeps trending in this direction, there's no reason they can't be back in the playoffs

and maybe, you know, win a game in the playoffs. My favorite part of the Capitals roster, two right-handed catching goalies. Really? Where do you see that? Logan Thompson and... Charlie Lindgren. That's right.

Charlie Lindgren, their MVP last year. He's been very good this year again. Yeah. They're a weird, fun team. There's weird, bad teams that I don't like a lot, but they're a weird, fun team. The Raptors are going to be terrible, aren't they? They're a weird, bad team.

Not even weird, just bad. Well, they're weird because they don't have any good players, which is very strange. Usually you try and have one or two, but they don't have any. Isn't Scotty Barnes good? Scotty Barnes was terrible yesterday. But he's good, isn't he? Like, I don't know.

I'm like, that's the guy I can name. Scotty Barnes is a good player. They've got him and the guy that does the shaving commercials. Grady Dick. Yeah, yeah. He's a clean-shaven guy. He had a layup yesterday. End of analysis.

Oh, Subway guy and Gillette guy? Subway guy and Gillette guy, yeah. Does he even shave? That's kind of the joke of the ad. Is it? Yeah. It doesn't seem like there's a joke in there. It's like he keeps it smooth, and he doesn't have a razor.

He's just rubbing his face. Anyway, the Raptors last night, 136 to 106 in a season opening loss to the Cavaliers. Tighten up on defense. Tighten up. Here's a fun fact. The worst season opening loss in Toronto Raptors history. Now, the reason that that's funny is because this is the 30th year, correct? This is why.

What a way to celebrate your 30th anniversary. Lose by 30. They're ringing in their 30th anniversary with one of the most unimpressive rosters I've seen in a long time. Anyone that is impressive is either not playing well or is hurt. And then Emmanuel quickly, the only guy who played well last night, got hurt. So that was good. They had Vince Carter on the play-by-play.

Him and Alvin Williams were doing the color commentary last night. And I know, I'm bracing myself for this and I'm prepared for it, that there's going to be a lot of Vince Carter content crammed down our collective throats this season. I know. I'm going to be a lot of Vince Carter content crammed down our collective throats this season. I'm, I'm, I know I'm, I'm going to deal with it. And last night I dealt with it for the first half of a NBA basketball game and I'm done. I know there's 81 games left or whatever, but it was, I was like for about five minutes, it was kind of interesting, but Vince Carter, who I'm not particularly fond of, combined with a terrible basketball team and incessant talking, because they've got a lot of dead air to fill because there's nothing to call on the court. They were just telling stories in the middle of the play.

They're going to run out of stories if they're not careful. They ran out of stories by the third quarter yesterday. What was your 17th best dunk? And Alvin Williams is like, that's right, Vince. Like, it was not scintillating. It's going to be a long, long season for the Toronto Raptors. Get your CFL report ready.

Brother, I got it ready. Thomas Drance is going to join us next. And then right after Drance, or about half an hour after Drance in the 8 o'clock hour, Frank Saravalli will join us. So there's going to be a lot of hockey talk, a lot of Canucks talk coming up. The Canucks next game isn't until Saturday at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins. And we've mentioned

a few times that the Penguins have to play in Edmonton on Friday night. So advantage Canucks on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It is time now for the Canadian Football Report, brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. As you've noticed all season, and I believe this is going to be one of my last CFL reports, I basically turned this into a BC Lions report.

And even though the BC Lions aren't playing this weekend, I still found a way to make it all about the BC Lions. So one thing that's going to be decided in the final weekend of the CFL season is where the BC Lions are going to head for the Western semifinal on Saturday, November 2nd. BC's destination will be decided on Saturday, and it's going to come down to either a trip to Winnipeg or a trip to Saskatchewan.

What options? Winnipeg controls where this thing is going to go. Entering the final week of the season, the Bombers are first in the West. They can clinch top spot and a first round bye with a win or a tie on the road in Montreal. If Winnipeg secures first place,

the Lions go to Regina to open the playoffs against the Rough Riders. However, however, if the Bombers lose in Montreal, that opens the door for the Rough Riders. However, however, if the Bombers lose in Montreal, that opens the door for the Rough Riders on Saturday night. In that case, Saskatchewan could get top spot with a win over Calgary, which would then send the Lions to Manitoba the week following. Emoji would be so happy.

It's just two favorites. Actually, I think he does really like Regina. Not so much about Winnipeg. If you're wondering how the Lions have done recently against Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, short answer is not great. They were whipped 39-8, a real traditional football score there by the Rough Riders

on October 12th, and then lost 20-11, another traditional football score to the Bombers in the last matchup in August. That was the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. And what we just have to call Thomas Drance erotica. at your podcasts. Thomas Grant's Erotica. Expected goals. Thomas Grant's Erotica. Top model.

Thomas Grant's Erotica. Red Russian. Thomas Grant's Erotica. PDO. Thomas Grant's Erotica. P.D.O. Thomas Drance Veronica 7.35 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, 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 two of the program. Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk is going to join us in just a moment here.

Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuck at jason.mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him at jason.mortgage. To the phone lines we go. It's the Drancer, Thomas Drance here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Drancer? How are you?

Gentlemen, good morning. Big takeaway from practice yesterday. Were you at practice yesterday first? I wasn't. I was traveling back from Chicago. So, yeah, no, missed the interesting-seeming practice, although not unusual for players to get a little bit heated in an engagement. And honestly, I think you kind of like that, right?

You want guys to be competing to some extent. I mean, you want them competing hard. I have no problem with people getting frustrated with a teammate. We saw with Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua, right? Last year, where they fought and then within weeks of the season starting, it was clear that there was something special chemistry-wise going on. Now, I don't know if I'm not expecting a sudden kumbaya on that level necessarily between number 40 and number nine

in vancouver but i don't think it's um all that like interesting that two guys got heated over the course of a battle drill yeah so what you're saying is a line of blooger pd and miller could work the only question i had and we talked about this earlier was Rick Talkett in explaining it away just said not a big deal sometimes that happens and then you know you go out and you buy the guy dinner and I was like okay well who's responsible for buying who dinner in that scenario is it always the instigator or is it maybe the guy that was being more passive like hey I know I gotta I gotta raise my game so I'll take you out for dinner. Or do they fight over the dinner fight? Like, how does it work?

I'm so confused. Three words, dine and dash. I also think it's one of those things, you know, like where you have a tip with somebody and it's like everyone knows. Everyone knows who's picking up the tab. Everyone knows who is unreasonable in a reasonable environment anyway. The heat was off Petey for a little bit, it seemed, like that, because the Canucks were winning games,

and he was showing signs of progress, I would say. How much has Conor Garland helped him out in that regard? Yeah, I mean, I think that line's been pretty good, right? I think that line has played well, even if the goals haven't been there for Pettersson. So, you know, I mean, I think they, like, I think Garland and Hoaglander, there's something there in my mind

in terms of just a pair of whirling dervishes going about the ice winning a ton of battles. I've been pretty impressed with what they've been done as a duo ever since training camp and you know i've always wanted to see what it would look like like for whatever reason over the past two and a half years largely because garland was cemented on the third line but even when he bumped up he was far more likely to play with miller or play with bow than he was with Pettersson, right? Like, it was shocking, actually, how rarely Pettersson and Garland had played together

over the last two years. And when you think about it, right, I mean, Garland's led this team by primary assist rate five on five for most of his Canucks tenure. And, you know, Pettersson's got that one-shot finish and he's left-handed. Like, it makes sense in my mind's eye that, Hey,

really good finisher with really good passer and the, and their off-handedness like that seems like it should work. That seems like an interesting thing to try. And, and, you know, I don't even know that we've seen that part of it yet. Right. Like it feels like it's more worked for um the club from a play driving perspective i guess garland did find petterson in the high slot for the pass that he ended up sending to hoaglander at the side of the net in philadelphia so you know we've seen it i guess a bit but not not the way that i'd sort of draw it up in my head where it's like and garland finds petterson for the quick shot and it's

you know a great angle a a high-quality line. Like, I don't know that we've seen that part of it yet, but I do think that'll come if they're able to sort of expand the sample of ice time together and work. But yeah, I mean, I think it's looked good, and I do think getting Pedersen, like, this was the theory of adding DeBrusque, right? Like, you need to get Pedersen,

you need to get any star forward in this league right because i know whenever someone says anything like this the idea is like whoa they should be able to drive their own line and it's like with ilia mckea come on man i i just saw him play in chicago we don't need to pretend that anybody could elevate ilia mckea right like you need somebody to help. Like, you need help driving in this league, especially in a top-of-the-line lineup role, right? Like, Besser helps drive, right?

Like, that's a quality of linemate that's going to help you control play. You know, I think Garland's that player. Like, I do think Garland is capable of doing that and bringing that to the Canucks' top six. And right now, he's getting an opportunity to do it. More than more than top six like Garland's leading this team in ice time five on five among forwards right like he's been you know not just like a good compliment to Pedersen right like he's arguably been their best forward in the first six games of the season yeah I made a comment

about a week ago when I said I think Garland at times has been the Canucks' second best forward after JT Miller, and a lot of people push back on it. And I'm like, that guy drives lines. Like, his play. Like, what do you think? I go further. Sorry. Jason, you didn't go far enough.

He's been their best forward, period. Right. I was going back to the playoffs last year. Oh, yeah. And, you know, and I kind of was like, oh, maybe I'm overlooking Besser because Besser is a very strong part of that forward group. Got four goals.

Right. But, I mean, I just think, I wonder if you could lay it out because I know you've always been supportive of Garland and you've been like, if you want to call him like the Garland truther or whatever. But I do think that compared to when he first arrived in Vancouver, he's either upped his game more or he's found something under Rick Tockett that he didn't have before rick talk it was there yeah i mean i think i think it's trust though i don't think it's form like that that's what i would say i just think the role is bigger i think when you look at you know players that bruce boudreaux that like thrived under bruce boudreaux and like you know uh pod coles and alex Chason. I think Bruce Boudreau liked size and sort of needed it up front more than Tocant does.

I think Tocant maybe is the opposite on the blue line, where if you're a big defenseman, you're going to get a longer leash under Tocant, but you have more of an opportunity as a gritty, smaller forward. Like, I honestly think that's the biggest change. I think Toc it has been more willing to play garland and lean on garland in a way that was never going to happen with budro and i think you've seen the same thing with hogland and so i think that's it like i i really do i really think it's as simple as a coaching change and and a level of sort of trust being granted to

a player and i'd add this like even then you know garland's ice time was probably lower than his actual contributions last season right like he was counted on to drive a third line and for about the last 50 games of the season he was probably vancouver's most important five on five engine up front um from a play driving perspective miller was obviously that from like an emotional leadership clutch coleses perspective, no question about that. But, you know, I honestly just think it's been the change to talk it. There's obviously a lot of trust there, right? The whole teacher's pet narrative with Garland and talk it. And I think you're seeing that more than anything. I think it's an empowerment thing. It's a responsibility thing more than it's anything that's changed in his game.

I actually think it's remarkable how little, not how little Garland's evolved, but like how much perception has changed around Garland. And for me, this has been basically consistent across his three years in Vancouver. Fill in the blank here. This is the most depth the Canucks have had up front since? Oh, man. It's been a long time. And, you know, you think about it like you get a healthy lineup here.

Are you going to be able to play Joshua with Suter and Sprong on a fourth line if you want to? I'd start him out slow because he might take some time to find his skating legs. It's going to be tough to come into the season at this point. He's a big guy,

so it might take him a little while to just find his legs. Yeah, I mean, you might be able to go with a fourth line, though. Joshua Sprong, the guy who scores

at a top line rate with a 20-goal scorer in Joshua from a pace perspective last season with Pew Suter, who's like absolutely capable of playing minutes as a first-line wing, right? Or a second-line center and a pinch if you need it. You know, I mean, that's a preposterous luxury. That third line looks great. Like, certainly if the Canucks are rolling like this when Joshua is able to to return I don't know that you mess with any of the top nine lines and I think you're right there's something to you know the the ability to add Joshua's size

on the into a fourth line roll and slowly sort of phase him into a bigger spot up the lineup right um yeah I mean that's ridiculous but and and yeah i think that's been one thing that one part of the logic of this team going into this season that hasn't taken any time to get going is we've seen it right like we've seen the depth scoring we've seen what this bottom six can do we've seen how skilled it looks and for me that was the big takeaway of that blackhawks game you know i know rick talk it afterwards garland called it sloppy right and talk it suggested that the club wasn't as good as they'd been last season at protecting the guts of the ice and i think all those things are fair right right and that as much as the canucks generated the blackhawks sort of kept

coming back and and if you even wanted to say that you know win was more dependent on kevin lincoln and then it seemed i'd agree with you he was phenomenal but the quality of the goals that this team is manufacturing the quality of the looks this team is manufacturing look completely different to me certainly with the chicago game being sort of a an exclamation mark on it uh than what we saw last season right like there were four goal periods that this team had last year, but it was like deflection off Sam Lafferty's butt, deflection at the net front, like puck bounces into the blue paint right in front of Joshua, right?

And then one of Vancouver's star players makes an incredible individual effort. The goals we saw in Chicago, I mean, just like seemed them to death, right? Like they were beautiful plays and team-level passing moves and, you know, far more stuff happening off the rush or off really sharp keep-aways or keep-ins by especially Philip Hronik. Yeah, Hronik made a nice pass. I don't think he got an assist on that, but made a really nice pass there. Really nice pass down to Sherwood on the first goal.

I mean, so it's like more active blue liners. Just like it looks like a more thoughtful way to score goals, and it looks to me like a more sustainable way to score goals, even if Vancouver's dining out on efficiency the way they usually do. The quality of the offensive play, I think, is at a totally different like at a totally different register right now than it was at any point last season uh you know that's my impression in the early going anyway i'm still not quite sure why bluger didn't shoot it's good

that he passed to heinen but it felt like he had the whole open net there at any rate it all worked out and that's fine um what do you make a Carson-Suse start? Yeah, I don't know. It's early, so you don't want to overreact to it. I think Suse is a super dependable, totally capable second pair defenseman. For whatever reason, the splits are pretty stark, right? Like this, because it's not just about Soucy, right? The Soucy-Myers pair and then whatever they're doing on the third pair

and Branstrom's, you know, I think brought a puck-moving element this team needs, but, you know, he hasn't, like, completely solved the issue that I'm about to get into, which is what this team looks like in non-Hughes minutes. Now, I say non-Hughes minutes, but obviously I mean non-top pair minutes because I think Hironic's been excellent through six games, not a hot take. He was awesome in Chicago. And honestly, he's looked more engaged to me defensively.

He's looked more dynamic, more assertive individually in the buildup. Like I think this has been, you know, a real purple stretch for Gronick. But when Hughes isn't on the ice right now at five on five, I mean, this is a different team. And this is a team that's getting massively outshot and regularly getting stuck in their own end of the rank. You know, the Canucks have outshot their opponents by a preposterous margin. It's like 81 to 42 with Quinn Hughes on the ice. And yet, if you go look at it five on five,

like the Canucks have been outshot, or sorry, have only outshot their opponents by, you know, like 10, right? Which means they're closer to minus 30 by shot differential in all other non-hughes minutes um and and that's consistent with you know the forwards like miller petterson the the best canucks forwards they're out shooting opponents and outscoring opponents two to one in minutes where they're playing with the top pair and in all other minutes it it looks pretty iffy. And so, you know, I'm curious to see that this week, right?

Like this, as much as Lankanen has looked fantastic, like been more than, he's given the Canucks more than like, he's given them a chance to win tonight. Like he's been the reason they've been able to win or win comfortably when it could have been close, especially over the past week. Like he's been great. The forward depth of the offensive sort of attack from the Canucks, I think, has looked great.

The bottom four thing, right? That, to me, is the sort of, I guess, the big question, the part of, you know, this team we weren't sure about coming into this season that I think we're still we weren't sure about coming into this season that i think we're still very much not sure about and if anything it's sort of trended in a way where maybe it's reasonable for it for us to be a little bit pessimistic about what it could look like here is sort of the quality of competition ramps up and and this week's where it's going to get interesting right like not that the penguins are in the same caliber of team as the Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes,

but they've got a lot of forward depth. They've got the depth to potentially stress out Vancouver's bottom four defense pairs. Or bottom two defense pairs. The bottom four defense. And so I'm curious to see what that looks like here over the next three games with a trio of difficult opponents rolling into Rogers Arena and whether or not the Canucks are able to find a way to control play a bit better in those minutes when Hughes is taking a breather.

Is there a path to fixing this issue if it indeed does still need to be fixed at the trade deadline? Well, for sure. I mean, they're going to be able to toll space, so they'll be able to add a salary, potentially a significant salary, depending on exactly how they're able to manage it, how often they're able to roll with 22 guys or 21 guys on the roster,

and on and on. I mean, it's not going to be straightforward, but they should have flexibility. And look, we know how this front office operates. I mean, they've swung a November trade for a defense. Well, in fact, they've swung an October trade and a November trade for defensemen in two consecutive years, if you think about it. They brought in Stillman and then Baer two years ago,

and then last year they brought in Friedman, and then they brought in Zdorov. And this year they've already brought in Brandstrom so you know it's just like this this front office group tinkers with their defense they tinker early um and they've done it consistently both of the last two years like we're still on that same path right now even if they you know may not necessarily complete a trade or execute a trade for a defenseman in November um we've seen it like we've seen that this Rutherford Patrick Alvin axis don't like to wait they don't tend to sit around and and sort of wait to make a deal um and they specifically you know have seemed to be aggressive upgrading their blue line early.

So not only do I think they have the ability to sort of make an upgrade here, I think they will. I think they will, and I think we might see them swing for a single before we even see them swing for something larger in, who am I kidding, not at the deadline, but in early January based on the MO of this front office. So, yeah, I mean, expect fireworks when you're talking about Rutherford and Albine and expect some early, maybe not fireworks, but like sparklers. Expect some early season sparklers to sort of just tweak,

tinker with the defense. Not quite a Roman candle. Yeah, I was always so disappointed in sparklers. Not quite a Roman candle. Yeah. I was always so disappointed in sparklers. More than a birthday candle. Can't even throw these things. All right, Drancer. Thanks for joining us today.

We'll talk later. Cheers, dude. Bye. See you, buddy. Thomas Drance from The Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk right here on Sportsnet 650. More hockey talk to come on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

On the other side, Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff. We'll ask him for what he knows or what he's hearing, what he thinks about the return of Thatcher Demko, whenever that may be. We'll also ask him, they did a thing on Daily Faceoff the other day asking about coaching hot seats. We haven't talked about that in

a while, but we're already six or seven games into the season. Are any coaching seats getting warm across the NHL? Sully? He's coming to town on Saturday. Yeah. Canucks could turn up the temperature a little bit on him? Maybe. Maybe. That's all coming up next on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.