Halford & Brough in the Morning - Can The Canucks Survive The Red-Hot Sharks?

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they chat about tomorrow's Canucks matchup in San Jose (6:00), plus they preview Sunday's Seahawks matchup vs. the Rams with ESPN's Brady Henderson (28:45). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- Chance down low. Ovechkin scores! Clonox goalie coach Marco Tornoyas. Now taken by Crosby on the far side. Cuts it through. He shoots and scores! Sidney Crosby, the overtime game winner! Whatever, Rob. Just give me a rub. Give me some meat.

Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Friday. Sweet, sweet Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. It is Halford and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec

studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five star Google reviews. So, Rafit, what are you waiting for? Kintec, got a big show ahead as we always do on a Friday. We have a lot to get into to set you up for the weekend. We have a lot of guests to talk to on the show today. Beginning at 6.30, Brady

Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN, is going to join us. It's the Seahawks hosting the Rams. Seahawks, one and a half point dogs to the Rams. Despite the fact the Rams are coming into Seattle with a losing record, what has become of Lumen Field, Jason? What has become of the 12s? Where are the 12s?

They're gone. They're gone. It's just 11 now. The actual appropriate number of players on the field. That's it. AJ is going to join us at 7 o'clock. AJ's Pete's on. He's Broadway.

I assume he's going to join us because I have not actually spoken to him since the Yankees lost the World Series. So we will try and connect at 7 with AJ. A reminder, as we speak about AJ, we're giving away a $100 gift card today to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, the best pizza place in the world. Best ask us anything or what we learned.

The best, only the best, will win a $100 gift card. You have to put a pizza emoji into either or. Hashtag it AUA, hashtag it WWL, but put the pizza emoji into the text hashtag it aua hashtag it wwl but put the pizza emoji into the text you'll be entered into the draw uh 7 30 moj is going to join us ahead of the bc lions playoff game on saturday 3 30 kickoff our time from regina against saskatchewan we'll talk to moj about that at 7 30 8 o'clock rick dollywall is going to join the program i don't know what we're going to talk to dolly about. That's Jason's department.

Jason navigates the Dollywaters on Thursday evenings. Yeah, I got a text from Rick, and he's like, I want to talk about the temperature of the market after two losses. Good enough. You're going to talk a little temperature with Dollywall. It was cold last night, I'll tell you. It was cold last night. It was wet. He also said the Elias Pettersson saga,

and would teams be interested in him. Wow. I thought they already had that argument with Drance on the crossover. Rick loves to relitigate a good argument. Okay. Especially when the guy he's arguing with is not present. So we'll talk to Rick at 8 o'clock about that. Moj at 7.30, AJ at 7, Brady Henderson at 6.30.

We got a lot to get into on the program. So without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what's happening. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Your Vancouver Canucks had a day off yesterday. No hockey for the Vancouver Canucks. They were told to just get away from it all after that 6-0 loss on Wednesday to the New Jersey Devils.

So we will find out most things today when they resume for practice. Yeah, they're going to practice at about 1130 out at UBC and yeah we'll wait and see how the lines and the power play units look today at practice and then they're gonna leave to head down to California for three games down there the first on Saturday against what the red-hot San Jose Sharks?

I did my pre-scout last night. Yeah, you watched the Sharks and Blackhawks? How was that? They beat the Blackhawks 3-2. Will Smith getting jiggy with it? So Will Smith got jiggy with it. First two NHL goals. You know he wears number two?

What? As a center? Brian Leach? No, no. Number two. Number two as a defenseman. A fine number for a defenseman like Hall of Famer Brian Leach? No, no. Number two. Number two is a defenseman. It's a totally fine number for a defenseman

like Hall of Famer Brian Leach, who I don't like, but that's fine. It looks very strange. Like Taylor Hall's four as a forward looks weird. He was also playing last night. But two is,

it's very bizarre. But anyway, other than that, he had a really good game. Did they look good? Nope. No. But they didn't look terrible.

I flipped by it a little bit. How many people do you think were there six yeah a lot of empty seats in san jose they so i i learned a lot about the both the blackhawks and the sharks last night so um they do a intermission piece where they try you know the typical like interview i've never seen this before they did an interview with an assistant coach. Really? It's been done. Are you sure? I think so. I think so.

I can't think of like an example in my brain, but I want to say it's been done. These are like CNN arguing skills. Surely somewhere in the history of the sport, this had been done. Is that the most interesting takeaway you had from it? That they interviewed an assistant coach in the intermission? Well, the most interesting takeaway was I actually watched the intermission. I should have just flipped somewhere else. But they panned to do a pano shot

of the arena. And I was like, that looks like a pregame shot because there was no one in the seats. But it wasn't. It was just a regular intermission. There was more people there that were working at the arena then. And you know what? The crazy part is I thought about it. I'm like, that would have been a fairly decent game to go to

because it would have been Celebrini against Bedard. Yeah, but Celebrini's still hurt. But Celebrini's still hurt, and he's not playing. So anyway, the Sharks have won three in a row. We can get to them in a little bit. But back to our Vancouver Canucks. So the Canucks did send Baines and Brandstrom down, but that's presumably for cap-related reasons.

The weekly recall. Yeah. Is this even worth reporting at this point? You know what's going to happen. The next day, they'll be like, yeah, they're back up. Here's the thing. We do have to wonder when Dakota Joshua is going to make his season debut, and could that be on this trip?

I would say the same for, not that Forbort hasn't made a season debut already, but when is he going to return to the lineup? Because, you know, Baines is probably the obvious guy to come out if Dakota Joshua goes in. And Branstrom, well, I don't know who comes out if Forbort goes in. Because you get the complication of the lefty-lefty if Brandstrom stays in there. I don't know. But those guys are going to be in the lineup sooner rather than later, I think. Joshua and Forbort.

I think the Canucks could really use Joshua at this point. I think they could use a jolt of energy or something different into the lineup. I guess we should note on the subject of Abbotsford and guys going up and down, the stars and moons align because Abbotsford is also in California all this week. They play in San Diego Saturday, Sunday, and then they play in Ontario, not the province, the city, on Wednesday. So I suppose, I mean, and the Canucks do tend to get creative with their recalls and reassignments, that maybe there's an opportunity there for some guys to take a quick jaunt to go play for the Abbotsford Canucks.

Because the Canucks go Saturday in San Jose. They got a bunch of days off before they play Tuesday, Thursday in Anaheim and Los Angeles. So they're basically in California for the week, which is actually a fun time to go. They will be down there for the U.S. election, too too in Anaheim, which should be a lot of fun. But I do wonder if there could be some maneuvering or some machinations where they move guys up and down because the Abbotsford Canucks are down there as well. Let's look on the out-of-town scoreboard last night

because there are a few interesting results. San Jose, we already mentioned, they've now won three in a row. They beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. I'm sure Conor Bedard was thrilled with that. The Edmonton Oilers playing without Conor McDavid. They go into Nashville. They pound the Predators.

They solve the problem. 5-1. They got rid of McDavid. They scored five goals for the first time in a game this season. Leon Dreisaitl, two goals and an assist. The Nashville Predators are, i think that there's in full-blown like we're in trouble mode here because they briefly and by briefly i mean they won three games snapped out of the funk to start the season but now they're three six and one they're two five

and oh at home and it just doesn't seem like it's clicking at all that whatever style that they had last year that got them to the playoffs and gave them a good run against the Canucks in the first round has been completely thrown out the window. They missed Kiefer Sherwood. Absolutely. The Carolina Hurricanes hosted Boston.

And speaking of teams in trouble, the Bruins are in trouble. The Hurricanes beat the Bruins 8-2. And the Bruins are now 4-6-1. I've watched the Bruins a few times. They do not look like themselves. And this could, I mean, this could be the break that the likes of the Buffalo Sabres and the Red Wings and the Ottawa Senators have been looking for.

And that the Bruins, are they good? They might not be good anymore. It might finally be it for them. Yeah, so there's a lot going on in Boston right now. This game was in Carolina, by the way. I do want to preface this by saying, if you're wondering if there's been more lopsided scores in the first month of this season than ever,

you would be correct. There have been, I think it's 70 games that have been decided by three goals or more already in the early stages of the season. And we've seen a few eights hung up there as a matter of fact, like the earlier this week, just a couple of nights ago, it did Seattle crack and beating Montreal eight, two, you had the Ottawa senators winning a game, eight, one. You've seen some pretty high end teams get blown out, including, Hey, your very own Vancouver Connocks who got throttled six,0 on home ice. I don't know if there's any rhyme or reason or logistics for it, but it's happened.

Anyway, Boston loses 8-2 to Carolina last night. And the Elias Lindholm scrutiny is starting to bubble to the surface. It's not a terrible start to the season. It's two goals and six points in 11 games, and he did get one last night. He got an assist last night, sorry. But Freed and Kyle spoke about this on 32 Thoughts, which came out this morning.

And they said, right now, Boston's trying to spin this as, the last couple of years, we've started the season like gangbusters. We were the best team in the NHL. This is good that we're losing bad. And it didn't translate to the end of the year because we had early playoff exits.

Now we're trying the other thing. People are kind of like, yeah, right, whatever. You've seen early in the season that Montgomery has expressed his frustration with the way the team has played. There was a very public calling out of Brad Marchand. The Lindholm thing is interesting. So Freed actually talked about the end of days in Vancouver with him. And I'm paraphrasing most of this, but it's pretty accurate. I can trust myself here. He said a lot of the Canucks players were

actively recruiting him to stay because they felt like he was the perfect complimentary piece for the group that they had. That he wasn't going to be relied upon to be one of the best players on the team, but he was going to be the fourth or fifth best player. And he fit really well, especially in the playoffs when he was tasked with that. He went to Boston and suddenly it's like there's a lot more. He's not a 1C anymore. He's not a 1C. He's not a 1C anymore.

Right? We saw it. I don't think he can move that well. But I think he can be effective. Freed's put it, if he's your fourth or fifth best player, you're pretty happy. Sure. If he's your number one center and you're relying on him

to play a ton and lead the charge. He was the top center available. Right. Doesn't mean he's still a 1C. And, I mean, he's being thrust into a position where he's not only got to be a 1C, but he's got to be on a 1C on a team that has a great lineage of number one centers prior to him. Of course. And has high expectations.

Like, we're not talking about going to a rebuilding team or going to a team that doesn't have cup aspirations. Even though they might not be a cup contending team, Boston approaches it like that. So there's a lot of consternation about what's going on in Boston right now. The Washington Capitals, these guys might be legit. They honestly might be legit based on their scorelines and the fact, I mean, I know Montreal isn't very good, but the Caps beat the Habs last night 6-3. And the Caps, if you look at the shot totals, really dominated this game, especially the third period.

And I guess Martin Saint-Louis, the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, did he say this in French? He said it in French? No, he said it in English. Oh, he said it in English? Yeah, the translation didn't do him justice. I heard the quote later.

Okay, so the quote was, we threw up all over ourselves in the third period? Yes. And then, unfortunately, one of the— So it's going well for the Habs. Yeah. I mean, they weren't good at all. They had 16 shots on Charlie Lindgren.

He stopped 13, which isn't even that great, but he still got the win. Can we hear the Ovi goal? Ovi got one. You got the Ovi goal there? Ovi got one closer to Wayne Gretzky last night. He now needs 36 to tie, 37 to pass. He's got three goals in his last two games. So he's rounding into form a little bit earlier than he normally does.

Here's Alex Ovechkin in a 6-3 win for the Caps over Montreal on Thursday night. Carolina has a 6-2 lead over Boston after just two periods. Loose in front here. Great chance down low. Ovechkin scores they managed to get in the Boston slander in there too right before the goal

yeah that was good a lot of people texting in and saying oh you glossed over the Podkolzin fight in the Oilers-Preds game and I guess we did yeah

jeez Podkolzin who was that Jeremy Lauzon where did that come from yeah he just caught him with a caught him with a right and then caught him with another right. Did we? And he went down.

Did we miss this in Vancouver in trying to figure out what Pod Colson was going to be? Maybe he's an enforcer? Maybe he took some lessons in the offseason or something. Maybe this is what we were missing the entire time. Because he has not done anything else. But you understand you have to actually physically have a hand of stone to bust someone's forehead like that. Like, they teach you don't punch him in the forehead

because the forehead's a strong bone. You want to get him on the button, not the forehead. I love the announcers when that scrap started. They're all just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Lozon's a tough customer. Whoa, whoa, whoa. And then he just got clocked by a punch. That was the thing that got everyone was he wasn't beating up on, like, Steve Stamkos or anything.

He went after Jeremy Lozon, who's a tough customer. And again, I want to reiterate this. He knocked him out with a forehead punch. It wasn't in the cheek. It wasn't on the button. He just caved in front of his forehead. Ah, right on my forehead. And his hand was fine.

Wow. Probably stunned a little bit. No, I don't think he did the job. I don't know. That was funny. I saw a couple people on Twitter point out like, oh, either like the secret's out or people have finally figured out Pod Coles. And I do not remember this being in his Arsenal wheelhouse on his resume at all.

Does anybody? I don't remember ever, ever hearing that he had this in his game. But, I mean, here's the thing. You can't tell me that that was a lucky punch or that that was a fluke because that was delivered with the kind of ferocity of a guy that's thrown one of those before.

I'll just leave it at that. Like, it looked like a shot. He fought once as a canuck against a.j greer of the boston bruins and lost considerably i don't know what changed since 2022 well he might have just got lucky with a punch right i mean no i've seen lucky punches land they're wild and they're haymakers and it's just you're flailing right that was a shot so i don't know maybe pod colson secretly has been like this crazy assassin the entire time we never knew about it that's his real job

he was good at hiding the americans if he was a secret assassin he's really good at being the secret part uh the leafs beat the kraken four to one last night and i think the uh the story there is william nylander who apparently went to Craig Berube and said, I want to play more. I want to play on the PK. I want to play on the first unit power play. And Craig Berube went, okay, maybe. And then Nylander went out there and scored two goals. But. And that's his eighth goal. So seventh and eighth goal for William Nylander. So that's pretty good. He got chastised, though, by Berube. Because he had a weak back check on the one Seattle goal.

So he came to the bench. You could see Berube jawing at him. And I think it was along the lines of, you want more playing time, huh? That's an interesting one. So I watched the broadcast. And that's all they talked about pregame. And all they talked about in the first intermission.

And it's funny because they asked Nylanderrew about it a shirtless william neil andrew about it after the game and he was like it's not a big deal it's just a conversation i mean brumais nickname is chief he's like just a conversation that me and chief were having and it's not really a demand it's just i want to play more The thing is, if you look at all of the measurables, he is playing less, right? Like there's been a decided knockdown in ice time where it's two minutes less than he's playing under Sheldon Keefe. And this, despite the fact that he's played pretty well

and he's producing, I don't really know exactly what's going on other than Berube went in with the idea of we've got to make this team less top-heavy and we've got to get more of our role guys playing more important roles, right? So, for example, I don't know if you've been following the exploits of Matthew Nyes. Matthew Nyes is having a great year. He's playing well, yeah. Yeah, right? And that line that's got Pacioretty on it gets a lot of looks, right?

Despite the fact that Max Pacioretty showed up on a PTO and signed a one-year deal. So I do wonder if part of that is just giving a haircut in ice time to some of the big guys so some of the smaller guys can eat. You sound like you watched a lot of sports last night. Did you watch the Monday night or the Thursday night football game? Bits and pieces. Garrett Wilson, that was an incredible incredible catch you don't hear this very

often but he was able to get his shin down in the end zone yeah it was after making an incredible one-handed catch it was a better catch than odell beckham jr now i think that's almost a decade ago the one that he had because he was able to get his shin down, do you think? I felt like his extension of the body was more impressive, actually. Because you know what it looked like? The Michael Jordan jump man logo. The way that he, it was unbelievable. So Garrett Wilson makes this incredible 26-year.

It was a go-ahead touchdown as well. And I guessgas is always right because you and i said yesterday how and why are the new york jets favored against a at least in terms of record far better houston texans team they went out and did the business 21 to 13 well the defense got it done too for the jets cj stroud completed what like nine passes or something like that it wasn't it was 11 of 30. 11 of 30 for C.J. Stroud. And they're without no Stephon Diggs, no Nico Collins, so they're pretty banged up.

But that was, I guess in hindsight, the line made sense because everyone from the Jets, from the coach Jeff Ulbrich to Aaron Rodgers and everybody, they said their season was on the line. They said we needed to win this game if you go to 2-7 it's going to be really hard mentally to try and dig your way out of that so I guess the desperation factor played into the line but that

catch was completely unbelievable and you're right at first glance it looked like he only got one foot in but then on the replay the shin Jason the shin made all the difference in the world he dragged that shin and he was okay the refs originally missed that. He's like, I didn't see him get his shin down.

You didn't see the shin drag there. Yeah, no. So it was a big night in sports. How was everybody's Halloween, by the way? It wasn't rainy. It was good. Awesome. Candy filled.

Yeah, you ate a lot of candy? Candy and Simpson filled. Although I have trouble staying awake now, I find, as I age. I'm not able to do the late Halloween nights anymore. Well, we work an early morning radio show. That's part of it. When did you go to bed? Were you falling asleep on the couch?

Oh, yeah. I kept falling asleep during the Simpsons-a-thon. I'm like, come on, Andy. Snap out of it. Come on, man. Slap myself in the face. Let's go. Pouring water on my head, and it wasn't working.

I kept passing out. All the chocolate, too? That was part of it. That was part of it? Well, I thought that chocolate would help you stay awake. No, it's just like a chocolate. It the chocolate too? That was part of it. That was part of it? I thought the chocolate would help you stay awake. No, it's just like a chocolate. It's so cozy? Maybe your place

is too cozy now. Yeah, I had like seven blankets on me. It was an ordeal. That's nice. I'm glad you had a cozy Halloween. It was fun. There's considerably less fireworks now, right? Yeah. I mean, I heard a little bit. I heard a few, but in Delta, it was bad.

Is it legal in Delta? No, it's not. And I thought the rain might start... It's a municipal thing. ...stopping people. I vividly remember as a child, though, we had one of those neighbors in our block that would always go all out with the firecrackers for Halloween

and just put on a friggin' show. It was insane. Go down to Lummi Island in the States? Yeah, it was just massive explosions. Grab all the fireworks? But apparently, a lot of people tell me this is just like a BC thing. It's a Vancouver thing. No other province. Well, when I lived in Kamloops, it was like that too, though. There was lots of firecrackers.

But other provinces, I guess, don't do this? This is just like a local thing with the firecrackers? Do other provinces have a fireworks night? Anything? I don't do this. This is just like a local thing with the firecrackers. Do other provinces have a fireworks night? Anything? I don't know. Not on Halloween. I don't understand why it's just a local thing.

New Year's Canada Day. That was it. Very strange. A friendly reminder, it is Ask Us Anything on the program today. So if you want to get them in, start emailing. Sorry, emailing. How old am I? Start texting now.

Start setting your carrier pigeons. Send a handwritten note. Mail, mail, you know. Slide it through the mail slot. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Start getting them in. We're going to give away the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway to the best of what we learned, or ask us anything. Around 830, a reminder to put a pizza emoji into the text.

It's a good weekend for sports. And the last sort of local fight, this could be it for both the Lions and the Whitecaps this weekend. So the Lions go on Saturday to Mosaic Stadium in Regina to take on the Saskatchewan Rough Riders in the West semifinal. And then on Sunday at BC Place, 545 kickoff, the Whitecaps are in a do or die againstfc in their best of three because they lost the first game in la i don't have who's more likely to win yeah i knew you were gonna ask that who's

more likely to win the lions i think they're only three or three and a half point dogs going into saskatchewan the line was not as lopsided as i thought it would be i wonder if it has saskatchewan has been totally inconsistent as well so my first gut answer was going to be the Lions because, as I always say, the one answer you can give to any argument in the CFL is it's the CFL, right? Anyone can win on any given day. There's no dominant teams, even with the records.

The Whitecaps do have something in their favor in that there's no pressure on LAFC to win on Sunday. LAFC, in its back pocket, has that third indecisive game back in LA if they need to get through. But they don't really want to play that game. No, but, I mean, they wouldn't be that upset if they had to. You get to go back home. The owners are like, we get an extra home day.

You get some exercise. Yeah, you know, you get to run around. Yeah, you could talk training session on Sunday on turf, see what that's all about. So I think at the end of the day, though, I'm still going to say the Lions are the more likely of the two because the opponent is less imposing. Like LAFC is very good.

Yeah. There's a reason that they were the number one seed in the West. They've got a lot of money. They spend it on a lot of good players. They score a lot of goals. They're a very, very difficult opponent. For people going to the match, what are the rules if it finishes regulation regular regulation in a draw straight to a shoot

out straight to a shootout and it's basically no extra time there's no aggregate and every match has decided to have a winner and a loser it doesn't matter by how much you win or lose by right but it's straight to penalties right so you could lose seven nothing in the first leg yeah and then go and then go nil nil and win in penalties and force a game three, even though you haven't scored a goal. Right? That's how it works. What do you think the Whitecaps will try and do?

That's interesting. I know I asked, we had Tosin Ricketts on the show yesterday, and I said, is the goal and the objective to put your best foot forward early and try and not let this go down to the coin flip that is penalties? Or do you say we have to stay in this for as long as possible and keep this match alive as long as possible? Because the one thing with LAFC is they kill teams on the counterattack.

They are very good at watching a team move forward and press and then going the other way and scoring on the counter. And on the road, sometimes that's all you need to do is get one counterattack goal and then park the other way and scoring on the counter. And on the road, sometimes that's all you need to do is get one counterattack goal and then park the bus. I think knowing Vanny relatively well, having him on the show and watching him all year, it's not in his DNA to sit back.

If he's going to go out, which he might very well be, he's going to go out guns a blazing. They're going to try and put on a show. They're going to try and score some goals. I hope they do it. LAFC 9, the Whitecaps 1. It did not work. We tried, but it did not work.

Brady Henderson is going to join us next to talk a little bit about the Seahawks as they face the Rams in a big game for both teams this weekend. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks.

Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.32 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Big day. It's a Friday, of course. You made it through another week, everybody. Congratulations. Also,

farewell to October. That's done. We're in November now. My birthday month. Happy birthday month, Greg. Thank you. It's not until the end of the month, but I like saying that. Both of the dogs do this. Is this the worst month? November? Pardon me? Yeah. I don't care

if your birthday's in it. Birthdays are irrelevant anyway. Wildly overrated. November, it's so dark. Yep. So wet. And unlike in, say, February, there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Right.

You know, like you know you're in it. You're in it. February's dreary. However, you can see, see forward that March and April are just there on the horizon. Now, I do like November for the sports. Yeah. But October is better than November, right? Because you lose baseball. You lose the World Series. You lose playoff baseball.

So, yeah, it's a tough one. And there's Greg's birthday. Yeah. Which is's birthday. Yeah. Which is the worst. Yeah, big time down. I don't think I've had a non-rainy birthday my entire life.

It's not going to change, brother. Always rained on my birthday. I doubt that's going to change this November. Brady Henderson's waiting patiently on hold here. So let's get through the business at hand.

You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on 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 one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go, our Seahawks insider from esbn brady anderson here on the halford and breath show on sportsnet 650 good morning brady how are you good morning fellas by the way the answer for me is february that's when nfl writers uh get away on vacation once the season ends so february for me all right one vote for brady Brady for February. Duly noted. Okay, I want to talk about the week that was at Seattle Seahawks practice because I sat there and watched that Bills debacle

in its entirety, and I saw the frustration on the sidelines, the fights, Gino's expressive nature, Mike McDonald staring into the 1,000-yard abyss. It was a tough game. What was the mood and vibe at practice this week after a very disappointing home loss to Buffalo on Sunday? Yeah, well,

I know the mood in the locker room afterwards was as quiet as I can ever remember. And I mean, the phrase, you could hear a pin drop comes to mind. It was that quiet for most of the time I was in there. And then, you know, it's funny i think i mentioned this before but the mood in an nfl building at least by the time like reporters really get back into the locker room on wednesday is it's typically not as dour and as down as you might think maybe on monday when those guys have to watch the film and they got to watch all the mistakes that they made the day before and in that that case, there were quite a few of them.

So in the immediate aftermath, it might be that way, but usually by Wednesday, Thursday, by the time we get back in there, it tends to be business as usual. So, you know, we don't watch practice, but we're in the locker room, you know, three, four days a week. And so, or excuse me, usually sometimes three days a week and uh it seemed fine guys seemed to be moving on i mean the thing about the nfl is once you gotta buy there's always a next game and uh your teams usually are able to wash that stuff away and get ready for the next opponent what were the guys saying about the emotional outbursts

both on the sideline and on the field? I know there was the fistfight on the sideline, but there was also, like, Gino Smith was very, like, visibly frustrated, visibly upset. And he talked about keeping his emotions in check. What did he and the rest of the guys have to say about keeping those emotions in check? Yeah, well, Gino, you know, to his credit, he really owned up to that. And he was, I thought, very self-reflective yesterday in talking about how just emotional of a player he is. And I've talked about this before, and I really think that that was one of the few times where it's been totally visible to fans and people watching it.

I just know behind the scenes, that's been a thing with him for a long time, and it's something that the last coaching staff tried to work on him with. I mean, Pete Carroll at one point called him a hothead, and it was really amid a greater compliment to Smith about how typically level-headed he is once he talks to reporters postgame. But in the moment, he is fired up, and he sometimes lets that emotion get the best of him. And that was, I think, one of the rare times where we've actually seen it.

I think a lot of times it happens on the sideline when cameras aren't watching or in the huddle, on the field, or even behind the scenes during practice. This guy is a highly passionate, highly emotional guy, and it sometimes catches up to him. And he's been described to me from inside the organization as a guy who just lives and dies on every play and and the thought has been at least with somebody i talked to is that they've really tried to get him to work on look you can be mad on monday in the film room

just don't don't be mad from play to play and don't let what happened on the last play affect you on the next play i talked to somebody who even said that he thought Geno would benefit from seeing a sports psychologist just to be able to, you know, help him manage those emotions in the heat of the moment. So, but Geno, he said a lot of that yesterday. He said that, you know, he's a passionate player and that he wants to be passionate. He knows that that's a big part of who he is, but you know, when it, when you end up costing you a penalty, because you throw a ball out of the fender, because you're you're upset that he felt like he hit you out of bounds, that's obviously when you're crossing that line. How is Mike McDonald handling all this?

He's a young guy, first time as a head coach in the NFL, and a tough act to follow in Pete Carroll in Seattle. What have you noticed from him? I just think this goes back to what we talked about, what I'm sure a lot of people talked about, was there's going to be growing pains whenever you're a first-time head coach. You're also 37 years old, and it's not like he had been a coordinator forever either. There's just so many things that Mike McDonald is dealing with for the very first time.

I think any time a coach, when you've got star players like that, you've really got to be careful of, you know, he wants to be, he's got to walk a fine line, too. You know, he wants Geno to know that, look, man, you can't get a taunting penalty. You can't get a 15-yard taunting penalty. You can't lose your cool in that situation. But he's also got to do it in a way, as he talks about it publicly, that he

doesn't want to rub Smith the wrong way, and he doesn't want to lose his quarterback. Mike McDonald is willing to get on younger players, but veteran players who he knows that he can't lose, I think he's typically a lot

more measured in how he criticizes those guys publicly. How do you think he's done so far, Mike McDonald? Okay. I mean, you know, I think I made the point on this show and certainly definitely on another show that, you know, I thought early in the season when they won three straight games, I think I said I thought that, you know, this season might be kind of a season-long reminder of how poorly coached the Seahawks were last season.

And obviously the subtext of that was that they look like a very well-coached team the first three games. So go ahead and cut that clip out. Send it to Old Tape Disposed if you want. Because, yeah, that just hasn't been the case. It definitely was the case during those first three games. They look like a well-coached team, but, you know, again, maybe that goes back to the idea that they were getting away with stuff

because they were playing against lesser opponents. And so, yeah, I mean, you commit 11 penalties for 82 yards, and that was with a number of penalties that I think were offset or declined. That's not the measure of a well-coached team. That's a measure of an undisciplined team. And then obviously throw in the issues that they've had stopping the run. I think the issues of running the ball are to some degree, maybe to a large degree, a product of just not having the guys up front

to run block, and you don't have the talent there maybe. On defense, that's not the case. They've got the talent to stop the run. They've got the talent to do a lot of things on defense, and they're not doing it. And to me, that's a reflection of poor coaching. How long has the offensive line been an issue for Seattle? I would say a decade, to put it frankly. Like, does John Schneider ever talk about this or get asked about this because I feel like he should be oh yeah yeah he does he does yeah I mean and they had look they had a good

offensive line in the early I would say 2012-13 when they were um you know they had some really good players there and they were spending a lot of money on their offensive line and i just think it goes back to the idea and i don't i don't say this to give john schneider a pass it completely but i think it goes back to the idea that there's a lot of teams dealing with bad offensive lines right now just because there's not a lot of really good offensive linemen now that that is definitely the case i think i think if you look listen to other markets they're probably talking about their offensive line, too. It just maybe hasn't been as long-running of an issue in those teams as it has been in Seattle.

So there is just a lack of quality offensive linemen being produced in the college game. That said, I'll say this. I've said this before and I'll say it again. They haven't done a good enough job still of finding and identifying those guys. I'll give you an example. They drafted Christian Haynes in the third round,

who's not been good at all. And he's now not even going to rotate in at right guard, at least for the time being, because Mike McDonald said that they're going to roll with Anthony Bradford for the entirety of the game. Well, Christian Haynes was drafted in the third round. A guy that San Francisco drafted a few picks later, Dominic Cooney, from Kansas,

is right up there among the league leaders at guard in pass block win rate. So that's a guy that they passed up on who's having a pretty good season. Now, I don't judge any draft pick, you know, through eight games of their rookie contract, but right now, at least, it looks like they drafted the wrong guy. So I think it's a combination of both, of not having enough of those quality players to pick from and then also just not picking the right guys in certain cases.

We're speaking to Brady Henderson from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Ernest Jones, the new middle linebacker that they just acquired via trade. The good against the Bills, he led the team with 15 tackles. The bad was he got absolutely bulldozed by James Cook, and then unfortunately his helmet went flying through the end zone, so that made a lot of video highlights. And then the weird, I'm watching the game,

and he's got a gigantic brace on his right arm. I was like, I don't remember this being in the scouting report. So what were your takeaways from Ernest Jones' debut, and what can you expect moving forward at middle linebacker? Yeah, well, with the brace he had that on in tennessee so that wasn't like a brand new injury that he showed up with he's been he's been wearing that for a while um and he wasn't on the injury report this week so it doesn't seem like something that is that big of a deal so you know a lot of guys typically you see other position

players wear those um but i thought his debut was that's about as much as you could ask a guy to do having just showed up to the practice facility on what it was wednesday but it was like midnight wednesday so he practices twice with his new team and then goes out and leads the team in 15 tackles and to me i saw just the kind of what he was as advertised, which is a downhill, aggressive player. And when you would watch Jerome Baker, you just wouldn't see that. And you would just see a lot of passive, kind of tentative play. Again, I don't know if he was still dealing with injury. I don't know if he was kind of uncertain with the defense

just because he had missed so much time. But it was just night and day watching one very passive player, watching them go from one very passive player to a super aggressive downhill player in Ernest Jones. And it didn't really make a huge impact on their run defense because it was once again, not good at all. But I think over time you will see him be a difference maker in that regard. So real quick now, because I know you got to go, DK Metcalf, is he going to play on Sunday? I think so. Yeah, that was the word from Mike McDonald at the start of the week. He certainly didn't guarantee it, but he said that they're optimistic, even knowing that Metcalf wouldn't practice on Wednesday. So we'll see if he

practices today. McDonald has also said that he's not necessarily a guy that needs to practice in order to play. So it is supposedly possible that he could not practice today and still play. But I have a feeling you're going to see him on the practice field, at least in some capacity today, and that you're going to see him on the field on Sunday. Brady, enjoy the game on Sunday. Thanks for doing this. We'll do it again on next Friday.

All right, sounds good, fellas. Talk to you then. Yeah, talk to you then. That's Brady Henderson, our ESPN Seahawks insider here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. all right sounds good phil let's talk to you then yeah talk down that's brady henderson our esbn seahawks insider here on the halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 brady is the presentation of the clayton public house pre-game to post game the clayton public house is your home of football catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors visit them at the clayton pub.com when we talked to brady at this time last week the Seahawks were four and three,

and they were in first place in the NFC West. By Sunday night, they could be in dead last in the NFC West. That's how tight and, dare I say, mid that division is. Well, the 49ers will eventually pull away with us. I don't know. They're so banged up. Yeah. Ask us anything, Brandon from T-Town.

We haven't done any Ask Us Anythings. A reminder to get them into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. The Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber, and Ladner has moved progress way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. What team, Brandon asks asks in Vancouver needs a deeper playoff run for overall lasting success in the city,

the lions or the white caps question, Brandon. Yeah. You know, like what the gray cup being in, in Vancouver this year, it would really help the lions if they could get there.

But I've been saying over and over and over again that the Whitecaps have got to take the city on a run of some sort. Like just people get into the Whitecaps. You know, like has there ever been a time where there's been like a run that the fans have enjoyed? Not long enough to really like jump aboard like the traditional bandwagon. No, nothing's come even close? Not long enough to really jump aboard, like the traditional bandwagon.

No, nothing's come even close to being long enough. People talk about the old 79 soccer bowl that they went on to win, and it sounds like Vancouver went crazy for that team. I was only three years old at that time, a long time ago, but it does sound like the city went crazy. I do continue to have an issue with the TV thing.

Like it's not on regular TV. It's on Apple. Like this game on Sunday is not on. Brother, Sunday isn't going to be any better for you. Well, I know. That's what I'm saying. It's not good. Right?

Like it's hard to catch on when people are like, how do you watch the game anyway? If the question is who needs it more right now, the answer is clearly the Whitecaps. Yeah. The Lions do have several things going for them, despite the fact that the on-field product this year was, again, I hate using this term, mid.

It's as mid as you can get, 9-9. I think ownership for the BC Lions is tremendous. I think that they've done a lot of really good, cool initiatives beyond the field that has reinvigorated the fan base and brought more people to their games. I would say that the Lions' biggest issue probably is the league they play in as opposed to anything they're doing operationally. Yeah, that's a good point.

MLS has a much brighter future i'd say than the cfl and i would look at almost the inverse that mls probably looks at the white caps as this is a problematic franchise they're small they're i think the situation at bc place is pretty well established about how contentious the relationship can be between landlord and tenant. Also, what the long-term outlook is, and it's unclear. We had Axel Schuster on the show, and he confirmed that they're entering negotiations for a new lease for BC Place, but we had no idea what those talks look like and what the goals are going to be.

And finally, in the long history of the BC Lions, they have won before. You know what it looks like, even though it's been a while, for the BC Lions to win a Grey Cup. You have no idea what it looks like for this iteration of the Vancouver Whitecaps to get out of the preliminary rounds of the MLS Western Conference playoffs. Like you said, there's never been a deep run where you can point back to and say remember that remember those days remember how much fun that was it doesn't exist it's not there

what's the furthest they've gone uh they made it did they go to the semis once so the mls playoff but the playoffs have changed a little bit um call it for the purposes of this conversation like the second round right that's probably the best way of looking at it okay well that's not very good uh ask us anything at what age did you guys stop dressing up for halloween and going to adult halloween house parties for me it was almost exactly the age of 30 i couldn't tell you exactly when it was, but I used to love Halloween parties in my 20s. Yep. And now I would say I just hate parties.

Do you like, take Halloween out of it. Take Halloween completely out of it. Do you like going to a party? It's fun to see friends if you haven't seen them for a while. I don't think I've been to a legit shaker in 10 years. Well, it doesn't have to be a house party. It has to be like a party party. Yeah, but even it, because I went to, actually, that's not true.

I did go to a full legitimate uh we got the top floor booked off birthday party at a brewery did you like it yeah it was all right yeah they had a sports on the tv so i was fine there needs to be sports on tv they had to enjoy it they had something that could take my you're like a kid just like he likes he likes to watch sportsies in your 30s are boring. Give him his iPad. It'll be fine. You just sit around a room and drink and talk.

I like those things. That's okay. How much does it depend on being single versus not? Probably is a factor. I didn't think about that. For sure. I think for sure. You got to be on your best behavior.

I do distinctly remember the last full-on proper Halloween party I went to at a house where you got an invite from someone that you didn't even know because there was a party and a lot of people showed up. And everyone there was there for the explicit purpose of partying. I was working at the Sutton Place Hotel. I think I've mentioned that before. I did not have a costume so i stole a bellman's jacket and the doorman's hat and went and that was a terrible idea because all night people kept jokingly handing me their keys to park their car yeah it was oh you and then you part and then i stole their cars it was it was a good costume like it was very uh uh eastwood and us pointing out halford

calling parties shakers is why he hasn't been to one in a while yeah like a full-on shows why you know what it was the last time you had a really good shake yeah everyone knows i used to call them shakers all the time you could do a rousing shaker right now everyone understands what you're talking about right everyone understands what i'm talking about you walk in there's a bunch of strangers nobody knows what they're doing there's someone playing like cornhole i find when i when i go to parties now quite quickly my thought is when can i leave that's fair you know what's a good what is the socially acceptable time how much time do i have to put in before I can leave? Yeah. Without looking like a jerk. Sometimes I will ask before we go, I'll be like, when do you think we can leave this party?

And I get in trouble for that a lot. We haven't even gotten there and you're asking, when can we leave? And I'll be like, please answer the question. Just ballpark it for me. 1030? Yeah. When am I going to be in bed by? Yeah.

Rager texts in something very astute as we get older and older. House parties are a dying, if not dead, breed. This is true. My kids in high school now, the concept is foreign. Why? Don't know. The internet? Do they all just party on their phones?

Maybe. What about in the dorm areas? I'm sure there's some good house parties going on in school year around the universities. Apparently, there's a big revival, especially among SEC schools, to make America great again and bring back the traditional college experience, which is like great fraternity. I don't think they party as hard. They don't. They don't. Why is that? Are they more serious now?

Are they less risk-taking? Kids drink less, too. Statistically, as the generations get younger, there's just less drinking. I guess that's good. It's a healthy alternative. I guess it's not good for the alcohol. Kids have figured out the sucker's game.

It's really expensive. Vaping is the problem. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a lot of different changes with the younger generation, but I do know it's factually been pointed out. So where do they use it? They're at home vaping and playing Fortnite. It is hilarious, though, because there seems to be this push

from the older generation to, like, get out there and take some risks and go party and meet people. When I was your age, I was doing all sorts of irresponsible things, and they were like, is that a good thing? Which is weird because several generations ago it would be like, when I was your age, I wasn't doing anything crazy like that, you crazy kids. The backdrop of Superbad, which was two kids trying to score boos so that they could go to a house party,

was something that was very prevalent in RU. Well, yeah, I related to that because that was my house party era. It's not. That was my 20s, right? Right. But if you show that to a teenager now, they're like, I don't follow that. Yeah, I was at a house party where a sink fell through the ceiling. That's the best house party I was ever at.

It was actually a house party. Three people were very injured. Yeah. Someone texted. It was very illegal, I'm sure. Someone texted it. I loved it when Halford said, cornhole. He had to specify the game. I'm sure. Someone texted in. I loved it when Halford said cornhole. He had to specify the game.

I always do. I always do. I just want to make sure. So where do kids party then? Are you like, where, what is the. Are you trying to get invited? Yeah. What are you kids doing this weekend?

I think we should go to break. You guys on Snapchat? Okay. No, but I'm saying like, what is like, what is the house party for like people in their twenties? Like what is the replacement is my question. Text in. Text in.

I'm really curious about this. What do y'all do? What is the – if any young people are listening at 6.56 on a Friday. First of all, why? What is your – how do you party these days? What do you kids do? A-Dog wants to know and he wants an invite. Yeah.

A.J. is going to join us next, hopefully. We'll talk about the Yankees loss. Moj at 7.30, Dolly at 8 o'clock. In this next segment, we got lots of time for Ask Us Anythings in the Dunbar Lumber text line. And don't forget, there's a $100 gift card to AJ's on the line for best Ask Us Anything. So be sure to include the pizza emoji when you text in your Ask Us Anything.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.