Halford & Brough in the Morning - Elliotte Friedman On JT Miller

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the latest Canucks & NHL news with Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman (6:10), plus they discuss big changes for the BC Lions with radio commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich (27:19). 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.

7-0-1 on a Friday. It's a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford & Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650. So the show goes off the rails on Fridays, right? Previous segment, we're talking about helicopters and our inherent fear of being in them. Then a very, very inaccurate scientific breakdown of how helicopters work. Then we quickly pivoted to what's going on with Jay Leno. Anyone got any ideas there?

If you want to weigh in, Dunbar-Lumber text line is 650-650. I don't know what's going on. I hope he's feeling better. He had a fall. Sure he did. You just love conspiracy theories, don't you? Big helicopter got to him. It was actually written up in a bunch of newspapers.

It's everywhere. It's on CNN. Right. Why doesn't he sell one of his hundreds of exotic cars if he needs the money like the conspiracy theories suggest? Does he have the cars still? He's addicted to the cars. He can never let them go. You are listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

We will pull it back together here. 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. AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two.

Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominick 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. Visit him online at Jason.Mortgage. Don't a lot of people, don't a lot of celebrities not care for Jay Leno? Like he doesn't have the best reputation. No, Conan doesn't. That's correct.

Yeah. Like he- Yeah, the Conan thing. No, Conan doesn't. That's correct. Yeah, the Conan thing. Well, it's not just that though. He's seen as kind of like a snake, right? That is also correct. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec. This show on Friday.

Just one big what we learned. Just run it. I didn't expect to come in on a Friday and just run Jay Leno down. After destroying the concept of helicopters. Okay. We learned something about helicopters.

Auto rotation. And the Jesus nut. We learned something about sharks yesterday. It was a big week of learning here. No bones. No bones. No bones in a shark. To the phone lines.

You can just eat them. Don't do that. Take a big bite out of them. Please don't do that. That's why they always got to keep swimming. No bones. No bones. No bones in a shark. To the phone lines. You can just eat them. Don't. Don't do that. Take a big bite out of them. Please don't do that. That's why they always got to keep swimming. No bones, no bones, no bones. Don't. Don't.

Don't. Don't. AJ. AJ from AJ's Pizza. I'm sorry I'm so aggressive. I have no bones. I'd be mad too if I didn't have any bones. Right?

Please, I beg of you. Please stop. AJ from AJ's Pizza. Boneless. I repeat, boneless. He joins us now on the halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 what up aj all right it seems like i came on the perfect time because we're in the trust circle right yes i literally woke up 30 seconds ago nice i jumped out of bed

like i heard santa claus and i was like what time is it what time is it so it seems it seems fitting i had a whole bit for a dog and and now i'm i'm lost okay that's fine we can't focus on one thing that we can all speak about without any prep whatsoever and that is that american thanksgiving is coming up next week what time you guys open on american thanksgiving 9 a.m we have been there on american thanksgiving before very few places in the city do American Thanksgiving as well as AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. You're open early.

You're celebrating a day of football and trying to ignore your family. What better place to do that than with your local pizza place? So what do you guys got going on? Exactly. I mean, it's happy hour all day. We got breakfast pizzas starting right at 9. It's going to be awesome. It is a really fun day.

Just call in sick and then call is a really fun day. So you just, you know, call in sick and then call in sick the next day. Perfect. I can't wait for the two and eight Giants to meet the three and seven Cowboys. No, that's the only thing that the games, I mean, the first game is good. The first game is good.

Okay. Because the Lions are fun to watch. By the way, I'm not talking about anyone that, you know, might cheer for a team in the Lions division, but do you think the Lions are now everyone's second favorite team? You know what? They are mine for sure. I think so.

I mean, how could you not cheer for them? Yeah. Truly. Exactly. They're not only, they've got the hard luck underdog story, but they are fun to watch. Yeah. And they are really good on both sides of the ball. Like, really good.

And you know what? It's a good story for Jared Goff. I'm going to let you go. You can go back to bed if you need to. I understand that this was a very early morning, although a late morning because you're an early riser. Oh, I'm an early riser. I'll remind everyone this weekend to head to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

Happy hour all day Sunday. And then next week, 9 a.m. for all the football and all the American Thanksgiving. You can head there as well. Thanks for doing this today, bud. Yeah, I appreciate it, guys. Take care. That's AJ from AJ's Pizza

on East Broadway. Best pizza place in the world. 325 East Broadway. Visit them this weekend. And then we went last year for American Thanksgiving. There's nothing better than getting some breakfast pizza

and beer at 9 o'clock in the morning and watching football. Chef's kiss better than getting some breakfast pizza and beer at 9 o'clock in the morning and watching football. Chef's kiss. You really embrace all of America with that one. Okay, Elliot Friedman, we are working on getting on the phone here. He's going to join us in just a couple of minutes. I believe they dropped the new 32 Thoughts overnight, was it, if I'm not mistaken?

Yeah, so there's all sorts of topics they went around, including the Ottawa Senators and their tough loss to Vegas and Travis Green's tough love approach. So we'll talk to Elliot about that. Someone texted in with an Ask Us Anything and said, are the Calgary Flames legit? I think Frege and Kyle talked about that.

And they also talked about just the general stuff that the Vancouver Canucks are going through. So no better time than now to speak to Elliot Freeman. Elliot joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Freedj. How are you? Good, guys. How are you doing this morning? We're well. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it.

Let's start with what Jason was just talking about, the Vancouver Canucks. It's been a pretty tumultuous week for the team as they now head out on their Eastern road swing that begins on Saturday in Ottawa. Let's just ask the big picture cover all bases question here, Elliot. Do you have anything new or anything that you want to share about the Vancouver Canucks? Not at this point in time. I think that, look, I think that number one,

when you're in kind of like a week of tumult like these guys are in right now, you kind of have to figure out what things are going to look like before you really start to, unless you're thinking of making some kind of permanent change, which I don't get the sense they're doing, you kind of got to figure out what your roster is going to look like and how things are going to unfold before you really start to think about changes. So, you know, maybe they try to add something just to get them through the next couple of weeks.

But I think for the most part, like this is your team for the next little while until Miller gets back and we'll just see how they battle through it. Oh, there goes my hot take. I predicted that the Canucks will make a trade

at some point on this road trip. So I guess I'm going to be wrong on that. I didn't know that, Jason. Like the thing is, any team that's led by Jim Rutherford can do anything. But, you know, he likes to look and he likes to go as early as he can. But, you know, the one thing I always remember is, you know,

it's harder to make deals when you're in a position where other people think you need to meet them. Like one guy who's going through that right now is Barry Trotz in Nashville. He's, you know, he's trying to do something, but the sharks are in the water, right? They know they're in trouble. And so they're going to make a hurry on them. I think the thing about the Cocks is, you know, right now they're,

they're in a little bit of trouble. So you have to be very careful what you do when you're in that situation. Like I think if they, like I think if he was to do something in the next two weeks, it would have been something he probably would have done anyway, if it was something major. What reaction, how much reaction did you get text or calls when you suggested that,

hmm, maybe the Bruins should trade Nikita Zdorov back to Vancouver. You know, I've got some. There's no question about that. You know, sometimes you just sit there and you say, okay, what's a match? What makes sense? And, you know, Zdorov has struggled in Boston this year. He's not the only one.

A whole bunch of them have struggled. I think one of the things there, too, is that I think the Bruins have kind of said to him, you know, Nikita, there's a certain way we need you to play. And as you guys know, sometimes he likes to carry the puck. He likes to be creative. I'm not sure that Boston really likes that part of his game. They want him to get the puck up the ice as quick as possible, and they want him to intimidate people.

And I think the thing was, too, is that in that situation, Zdorov obviously has say over things, and it's whether or not the Bruins and Canucks would ever even want to think about something like that. But the Canucks do miss him. He was a bit of a wild man at times, but he fit really well. He fit the identity that Talkett likes to play.

And, you know, they do miss him. And it's funny, like, you know, you have occasionally seen things where, you know, a player went somewhere. Like, I always remember Craig Conroy when he went from L.A. and then eventually went to L.A. and eventually he went back to Calgary. If I remember correctly, I should have looked this up, but I think there was like a Pittsburgh Ranger deal a long time ago

where someone got traded and then got traded back. But it's rare, but it does happen. And, you know, he was a good fit there. They miss him. And so far, it hasn't been a fit, although it's early. Let's talk a bit about the Ottawa Senators because I know you and Kyle discussed it

on the latest 32 Thoughts. The Canucks are going to play the Sens on Saturday. And I haven't watched a ton of Sens games, but I've been noting that they're piling up shots but they're not piling up wins what's going on with this team um you know the you know Jason I'll tell you this the one thing we're really learning in this league is I think it might be harder to rebuild in the NHL than anywhere else. I really am beginning to think that. You know, you look at all these teams that have been,

like the Eastern Conference is full of teams that have been on the cusp for years. Ottawa, Detroit, Buffalo, for sure. It is, like, you take a at like how long, you know, Chicago was at the top of the league. Now you look at what's been going on the last few years, Anaheim. I just think that this is a league where it's really hard to win. And I think that shows you how far the Canucks have come.

Like the fact that they've, like the Canucks have turned around faster than some of these other teams have. I think that's big credit to A, their players and B, you know, just the kind of team that's been put together. But I look at Ottawa and,

you know, Travis Green, you guys know Green. He can really grind you guys know Green he can really grind you he can he really presses the buttons but even he saw last night that that team was fragile

like Vegas comes in I realize Toronto Ottawa is not the toughest back to back in the NHL but they played the night before Petrangelo got hurt they were using their backup who's Samson, minus a bunch of guys. And Vegas just owned the start of that game.

And you could see Ottawa sag. And I just think that there's a lot of talent in that Ottawa team. But when things go wrong, and Buffalo kind of goes through this too, when things go wrong, it's really, like, they sag. And, like, that's the one thing I felt about the Canucks the other night against the Rangers. Can you imagine what it's like? You walk in in the morning, you hear that JT Miller's not going to play

and he's going to take some time off. Like, you can just fold. But they played hard and they didn't get a point, but they gave the Rangers everything they could handle. I think the one thing that's, that's one thing I, I really like about the Canucks. And I think,

you know, there's a lot of talk about Patterson. There's a lot of talk about Miller and how great they are, but, and they aren't great players, but I think Hughes is the guy who really sets the tone. I think that he pushes, you know,

he's not a fiery guy in terms of what he says, but he's a fiery guy in terms of what he does. And you can see that that team follows him. Let's talk a bit about why it's so hard to rebuild

in the NHL. Is it because it's so hard to acquire talent? That talent isn't really, or is it building a culture of winning so you don't have a team that sags every time something wrong goes, happens? Or is it the first one?

I think it's the first one, honestly. You know, if you look at it, like we're all sports fans, right? If you get the right quarterback, you can change your NFL team pretty quickly. You need a lot of players and a lot of good players, but we've seen a lot of situations where a quarterback can make a big difference.

In the NBA, sometimes it's as simple as one player. I don't think there's a sport where one player can change a team more than the NBA can. And I'm not knocking other sports. I'm not one of those please like my sports guys. But one guy can make a big difference. You know, in the NHL, you know, you look at a guy like Bedard, you look at a guy like Salobrini, who I really am impressed with this year.

They're great players, but what do they play? They play 22, 24 minutes at the most. You've got to even Ottawa. Ottawa's got a bunch of really good players. Buffalo's got a bunch of really good players.

I just think you need goaltending. You need to be strong down the middle. You need to have star players. You need to have solid D. You need to have depth. You need all of it to win. All of it.

It's so hard to get. The other thing, too, I really think has happened, guys, is the league's gotten really young. This used to be an old league. players can take care of their bodies longer now and you can you can play until you're older because we've got so many things we can do now but if you take a look at how young the league is overall I think it's it's kind of you of I think people don't, they come in and they think, I don't know if they think it's going to be easy but

especially if you're not coming from the CHL where they play more of a pro schedule you're not ready for this you're not ready for the schedule that it does to your body and also I don't think a lot of players realize, especially when they're young,

how hard the regular season is just in terms of length. And secondly, how much the flip changes when the playoffs start. Like, you know, we're talking about this Austin Matthews injury the other day, and I had a player tell me, you know, in the regular season, if I find out what it is, I might give him a pass. I might. Okay?

But in the playoffs, if I know what it is, he's not getting a pass. And I just think that still when the playoffs start especially, it is a brutal, brutal game. And the other thing, too, is that big hit the other night with White Cloud, there are too

many players who come into the NHL right now and just don't think they're ever going to get hit. And the amount of hitting is down, like big hits like that is down, because I think the game's changed a lot, but the fact is that people forget that there's

still guys out there who will do it. The onus is on you to do it cleanly but they forget that there's still guys out there who will do it you know it's interesting i was watching the amazon the thursday whip around show that they have it was on last night yeah and they had uh george peros on during one of the breaks and he was going back and forth with Mike Rupp and with Scott Hartnell, and Hartnell straight up asked him, when you're taking punishments and hits into account, how much do you guys have to consider the fact that young guys come into this league and they're just not ready to be hit? And Parrow said they actually, when they do their rookie symposium sort of thing,

they tell them, they're like, there are people in this league that play very physical and are going to make a point of playing physical on you. So it is out there, but I just wonder if you need to get hit first. I liken it to crossing a crosswalk. Still look both ways. Yep. Right? Still look both ways.

Because even though you're in the right and you're in the crosswalk, if you get run over, you get run over. Like, you know, it's like my son, he doesn't play, like, organized hockey, but he skates. And, you know, when he's skating, I say, like, I don't really care what you do out there. Go out and have fun and do what you like to do. But the one thing I demanded him is that he always has his head up.

Because even when you're going on, like, free-flowing public skates, you never know when someone's going to try something or they're going on like free-flowing public skates you never know when someone's going to try something or they're going to fall or stuff happens and uh it was uh it was a like i always tell them that that's the one thing i care about just keep your head up so you see what's going on around you frege i wanted to ask you about jt mill. Do you remember many instances like this? No, there aren't a lot. I have come across,

I was reminded yesterday and the player asked me not to say who it was, but I was reminded of the situation of yesterday or a few years ago where a player took like a couple of days off and they announced

it as something else and it turned out he was just taking like a mental break. You know, I think that to do it it sounds like it's going to be the expectation here is he'll hopefully, and everybody

hopes he's okay, hopefully he rejoins the team after their road trip. I guess the last game is on December 3rd in Minnesota. So we'll see how it all plays out. But one like this for a couple of weeks, it's unusual. And it's also unusual in the sense that, you know, sometimes where we've seen, like, for example, like there's a player in Nashville right now, Spencer Sassner, who's taking some private time. And he hasn't, you know, nobody said what the situation is.

And, you know, again, you hope he's okay. But, like, that's a situation where he just hasn't been with the team all year. So the circumstances of this one are unusual. But, you know, one of the things that, you know, there are a couple of things about it that kind of come out of it. Number one, you know, there is much more of an emphasis now on mental health. And the other thing here, too, that's a bit compound compounds this he's also battling an injury so you're you know it's not the worst thing if maybe he gets some time to rest from the injury but there is a bigger

emphasis on mental health now this is something that you know the world is much more cognizant of but i did have a couple people say to me yesterday like they wonder like if this starts to become more prevalent if if you know teams start to hear from players saying you know what i'd like to do that too um what is the fallout of that going to be is it something that the leaguer and players are going to have to address purely from a procedural point of view but it's a little it's a little earlier for that like i just you know you know the thing is too about it is you know the connects could have just announced that you know miller was battling an injury and he's going to take some time and nobody would have batted an eye but you know no i guess nobody really wanted to do that um for whatever reason so So it seems a bit unusual, but it has happened periodically before.

I just don't know if it's happened too much in season for that long. I do want to, we're jumping around here, but I did want to ask about Calgary real quick. We talked about them off the top of the show and I said, even though they're the enemy and they're the rival, I begrudgingly respect what they're doing this year because they've got to be the most surprising team in the league right now. As we get closer and closer to American Thanksgiving

and being in a playoff picture, I mean, the Flames are right there. They don't score a lot, but they don't give up a lot of goals. They win games. They grind it out. They got good goaltending. They're one point back of Vegas for top spot in the Pacific. And I know that you and Kyle talked about them on the most recent 32 Thoughts. What were you guys discussing about the Flames?

Well, I mean, like last night, I looked up. I was otherwise indisposed, but I looked up and the shots were like 3 to 10. I was like, holy smokes, like what's going on there? You know, the thing that in the summer, like there had been a couple of really hard years there, guys, a lot of noise. And, you know, Craig Conroy, what he asked is he asked all his players, especially the veterans, I'm going to have a quiet summer.

I expect you guys to come back and compete hard and put on the best possible show we can. And to those players' credit, they've answered that. And some of it is veterans who are tired of losing and some of it like dustin wolf it's young kids who are getting an opportunity and they want to run with it and um i think i don't know if this is going to last like the odds are against that this lasts all the way but i'm enjoying watching them beat the odds to start the year.

Like, Mike, what you control is your effort. It's like the Canucks the other night. What you control is your effort. And this team gives them a hell of an effort, like, almost every night. And it'll be interesting because Anderson's having a great year. You know, Coghrey's been really good in terms of agreeing to play with young players and not having a problem with it. Not every veteran is like that. You know,

Coleman has said, I'm going to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. And the young kids are going with it. I, I even think they wonder though, like how long is this going to last? Sure.

While it lasts, they're going to enjoy it. Freed, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend. We'll talk again soon. Yeah, so you know what, guys?

I got a call this morning. Someone said to me, you set the city on fire yesterday. We can't handle two days in a row. So I'm sorry if I was a little caller. No, this was great. Thanks, man. All right, guys. Take care.

Yeah, Elliot Friedman here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So the Sens are a fragile team. Never did get that Brady Kachuk trade request out there. He should have been like, could you just do some rampant speculation on our behalf? I think he was feeling the heat a little bit. Just wanted to have a nice relaxed attitude

towards work. Like we all do. All right, we got a busy show. moge is going to join us next we'll talk about some of the changes the bc lines have already made and some that they might make like i don't know buck pierce being named the head coach the new head coach that's the rumor and then rick dollywell is going to join us at eight o'clock so what a show we've got little seahawks talk early with Brady Henderson as they prepare for their biggest game of the season

against Arizona after beating the 49ers. AJ just woke up, and he joined us. That was kind of funny. Freedge, we rarely get Freedge on the show. And then Moj and Dolly, back-to-back. And it's Ask Us Anything Friday so be sure to get your Ask Us Anythings into the Dunbar Lumber text line

650-650 Use the pizza emoji if you Want to be entered into the contest for Best Ask Us Anything or What we learned. $100 gift Card to AJ's Pizza Is on the line. It's a Fiesta Friday on the Halford & Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650.

Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's the mooch. I did not eat four burgers. Yes, it's the mooch. I don't want to go to Winnipeg.

Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. It's the mooch. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. It's a millennia. Yes, it's the mooch. Halpert's fine, but, you know, Brumf is just grumpy all the time. 733 on a Friday. Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj. It's the Moj.

7.33 on a Friday. Adi and I were talking about doing a remix of this song. Oh, yeah? Yeah. You can't tell me what surprises you. All it has is just more Moj's. I'm throwing a couple rap verses in there, I think. Yeah, some F-bombs. I got out of hand in a hurry.

You're 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 2 of the program. Moj is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour 2 is 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. That is sarcasm. Let him find those. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. To the phone lines we go. Another presentation of the Clayton Public House, Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

What up, Moj? It started getting out of hand at about 6.03 a.m. this morning. It's been a show. Have you ever been in a helicopter before? Yes. Well, a helijet. Were you? We took a helijet to the island one time for a celebrity golf tournament

we were in, and we took a helijet over, which was really cool. What's the difference between a regular helicopter and a helijet? I don't know. I think it's the same thing. I think the helijets are just a little bigger, a little bit more powerful. I think a helicopter, what, two, four people, whereas a helijet, you could probably fit in, like, whatever, ten.

Oh, I thought it was something cool. Like, they had jet engines and it was a helicopter. Probably. I don't know. There might be some aviation expert out there that can let us know. You're a football expert. We're going to ask you about the BC Lions. So big changes in the front office.

Ryan Rigmaiden is now the general manager of the club. And you wrote recently that there's a lengthy list of coaching candidates as the Lions' new regime vows toughness mode. So if they want to get tougher, who could be the next head coach of this team? Who's the leading candidate right now, if you had to guess? Well, right now I think the leading candidate is Buck Pierce. He and general manager Ryan Rick Maiden have history. Ryan was with the Lions organization when he first came into the CFL,

went over to Winnipeg for three years, and then came back to BC in 2020. So he does have history with Buck Pierce, three years of it in Winnipeg for three years and then came back to BC in 2020. So he does have history with Buck Pierce, three years of it in Winnipeg. And I think he's probably a leading candidate. You know, Orlando Steinauer is another name that keeps surfacing.

He wants to get back into coaching. The former head coach of the Hamilton Tiger Cats took them to two great cups. So we'll see how it plays out. And then, you know, there are internal candidates like Jordan McSimmick and Ryan Phillips as well.

But I think right now, if I had to put money on it, I'd probably put Pierce and maybe Steiner at the top of the list. Would part of the idea behind getting Buck Pierce be a guy, a head coach who obviously understands the quarterback position and knowing full well that the Lions are going to have to get Nathan Rourke back up to speed? I think probably the bigger thing that Rick Maiden and the front office want to see is the change of culture and it's strange because you know we heard all these you know they had the t-shirts made up for the culture this and that but you know the the more

people that I've talked to since the end of the year, the one thing that kind of keeps surfacing was that players got a little too comfortable. They didn't necessarily fear for their jobs. I don't know if accountability was an issue, but I'll just say that they got comfortable. And that, I don't think, is a good thing because you want your players to be hungry you want your players to to go out there and you know play like their jobs on the line and I think that's the one thing that they want out of this new head coach and you know you heard him talk about leadership and toughness and accountability and you know Ryan Rick Mayden talking about these these criteria that he wants in a head coach I I think the only thing to do is they just got to get a guy in there

that starts instilling some belief in these guys in the sense that when adversity hits, they're going to fight their way through it. And that clearly was an issue. And, you know, they talked about the fact that when adversity hit last year, they just were not mentally tough enough. And they believe that bringing in a different voice at head coach with a different sort of mindset probably might be the answer to that. And, of course, you're going to have to change some personnel as well, too.

Well, speaking of changing personnel, it's publicly announced that Vernon Adams Jr. is going to be traded. One of the first jobs for Rig Maiden as GM. Does announcing this publicly, is that sort of like a nod to everyone knows we're going to trade them so we may as well make it public anyway and then maybe you're trying to serve a bunch of different masters with this trade like you're trying to do right by the player you're also trying to get something good in return you're trying to help your football team but you're also trying to make sure that va ends up in a good situation somewhere yeah i mean it's interesting because there was a organizational

shift in philosophy in the sense that rick campbell said that you know va would have a lot of say in terms of where he went and um ryan rick maiden said well you know we're going to do what's best for the team we will consult with vernon adams jr and for people that don't understand these guys have a long history together i mean ryan rickmaiden met Vernon Adams Jr. when he was 19 and put him on the Meg list for the Lions way back when. And then, of course, you know, he got traded to his Meg rights, got traded to Hamilton and so on and so forth. But they have a long history together.

The organization really respects Vernon Adams Jr. And I think they're going to find some sort of solution, some sort of common ground that will help both sides. We're speaking to Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Let's go to the Vancouver Canucks here, Moj. It was a disappointing homestand that the Canucks just wrapped up, 2-4 over the six games, just four out of a possible 12 points.

Maybe it's not a bad thing that they're getting out on the road now, beginning on Saturday in Ottawa. Yeah, I mean, clearly this team has been rocked with some injuries, the JT Miller situation, Brock Besser, let's not forget about Thatcher Demko. All-star goalie, so you're talking about

three all-stars right off the get-go that aren't in your lineup. When you look at that homestand, the one thing that I kind of looked at all the teams coming in, none of these teams are on a heater. A lot of these teams are struggling. And you know, when you look at that homestand, the one thing that I kind of looked at all the teams coming in, none of these teams are on a heater. Like, a lot of these teams are struggling. And, you know, you've got to take advantage of that situation. And clearly the Canucks didn't, only winning two games out of the six.

And now they're off on the road. It's interesting because when you look at the standings, that margin for error that they have in terms of the playoffs is kind of whittling away a little bit. And you don't want to get caught in a situation where all of a sudden you're scrambling to get points so um you know they're trying to do with the best that they have but like i said for me it was it was a very disappointing homestand and you know the other thing that's kind of scary is like i think you know even rick talker talked about the game against nashville that you know hey we played well well

you're playing well and you're losing that's not not a good sign, right? But it is the team that is depleted by injuries and, of course, the absence of JT Miller. So they're just going to have to go out there and then hopefully tread water and just kind of like, you know, try to stay the pace until they start getting some of these bodies back. Do you think we'll see Demko or Besser on this road trip? I think you might see Demko. I mean, you know, you've heard about the fact that he's getting closer.

So, you know, maybe that and he's been practicing with the team on a lot of occasions. So maybe that's the situation that, you know, kind of plays itself out on this road trip. Besser as well, you know, maybe he does come back if he passes all the concussion protocols. But here's the one thing about the injuries though, and talk it hit on this, it gives players, other players opportunities right and you find out what you have with certain players and if those players now need to fill certain roles elevated roles at the end of the year at least they'll have this experience to draw back on so that's a good thing with some of the adversity that you face sometimes that it gives players opportunities to go out there and get stuff done. And then they

gain that experience for down the road because, you know, you're going to need, I mean, if you're taking a deep playoff run, let's not kid ourselves. I mean, you're going seven, eight, nine defensemen deep sometimes, right? So if Noah Jolson gets a little extra time now, great, right? So that's the one thing I think that, you know, you look at the adversity, you have to take advantage of it, and hopefully your guys get the experience out of it. Let's go to the Seattle Seahawks. We just spoke with Brady Henderson about an hour ago, talking about a big game this weekend in Seattle,

a divisional rivalry against the Arizona Cardinals, who are tops in the NFC West, making Kyler Murray one-dimensional. We hear about it a lot because he can make so many plays with his feet. Probably easier said than done. How do the Seahawks do it? Well, I mean, you've got to keep him in the pocket. But here's the thing. Kyler Murray's been a really good passer this year.

He has. Don't think yourself about it, right? He has, yes. So, to me, I just want to worry about one thing, and that's Kyler Murray as a passer. And that'll be tough enough to defend against the way he's been playing but clearly if you allow him to get outside the pocket and do special things um now now you're really asking your defense to do a lot and the thing that concerns me a little bit you know seeing some of the Seahawks games and what going back and watching that Seahawks

game on Tuesday night obviously the great cup on Sunday. The one thing that concerned me a little bit was how easily Brock Purdy got out of the pocket. So Brock Purdy's been able to get out of the pocket a little bit. I just wonder about how they're going to try to contain Kyler Murray. They've got a great running game with Connor. I think if there's one positive in this game for the Seahawks,

it's the fact that their offensive line is starting to get better. They're starting to get some bodies back, but Arizona's front isn't exactly the best in the league, right? So that's one thing that kind of bodes well for the Seahawks. But it's going to be an interesting game. Arizona's coming off a bye. This is a Seahawks team that has to start stacking some wins. And you've got Arizona two out of the next three weeks.

You have to win at least one and hopefully two to give yourself some distance between you and the Cardinals. So Moj, a lot of people text in. Helijet is a company. There's nothing jet about the helicopter. It's just the type of company that, or is the name of the company. The company also has airline part to it.

So they have a jet and a heli portion to the company. Oh, I see. So technically I have been on a helicopter, not a heli jet, whatever. Well, you have been on both. Yeah. Okay. All right. The other one is, it's Ask Us Anything Friday,

and we've got a good one, and it's actually based on last night's game between the Steelers and the Browns. Ask Us Anything unsigned text. Which is more fun to watch, an NFL game in perfect weather or a game with rain, wind, and snow? Oh, snow games are the best. Forget about, you know, rain or whatever to me.

Snow games. You know what's magical about snow games? What did you do? At least we did when we were kids. I don't know about Brough. You know what's magical about snow games? What did you do, at least we did when we were kids, I don't know about Brough, you lived in an elite neighborhood, Alford maybe. But the thing is, when we were kids, first thing we'd do was snowfall. We'd grab a football and go to the park and play tackle football. We sent our

butlers. Yeah, probably. Go enjoy a game, fellas. And then the footmen would go out there and they would have a good game too. Yeah, you'd probably live in one of those biggest states like in Downton Abbey or whatever. But anyway, Alfred and I, one more blue collar than you. That's right, buddy. We played football with rocks and we liked it.

Exactly. We'd go to Queens Park in New West and we'd get the football. It'd be a blast. I still remember some of those days. You sit there and you run and then you hit the brakes and you slide for about six yards. I think that's something that a lot of fans could probably relate to is just playing in the snow in those type of conditions. For me,

it's the snow without a doubt. Good answer, Moj. Thanks for doing this today, buddy. We appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend. We'll do this again next Friday. I can't believe I didn't get a food question. We went with the football one. It was football or food. The two things that Moj knows best. And then helicopters is the third. Have yourself a great weekend, fellas.

See you, buddy. Thanks. That's Bob. Boob. Bob the Moj Marjanovic. You didn't even say boob. I was going to. I'm going Bo.

So the question was watching the game, right? Now, actually, while the snow games are fun, I don't know how much. You probably didn't watch it last night. I saw a bit of it. It was actually difficult to watch because it hurt the eyes. Right.

So Amazon Prime. It's blinding. It had to use graphics to show the numbers and the hash marks on the field because you couldn't see them. So when the guys were running on the field, you had this weird sort of like ghosting effect where when they ran over the graphics,

they disappear briefly. It was very jarring to watch. And then the snowfall, it was the thick, the big heavy flakes, right? Which it makes it very visually difficult to see from a distance. Would you rather them not superimpose the stuff on the screen?

I don't know. I was going back and forth on that. Like I like knowing where they are on the field and where the first down markers are and down in distance, especially in a close game because you had to get the field goal range and stuff. Don't you think there's something to be said by the way on this question

about playing in perfect weather or in a dome where the game is going to be cleaner and well played? You can have a real shootout. I'd rather watch Patrick of my homes and perfect that's a good weather as opposed to like being limited by the weather sure there's that for sure because there were some plays yesterday the greatest show on turf right going

back to the old ramps like the pittsburgh punter yesterday kicked the ball 16 yards on a punt he just it was too cold it went off the side of his foot and it just went straight out of bounds. Not again. And no one could kick yesterday. It was a total disaster in the second half. Russell Wilson. And I don't know what they were doing. So he got sacked four times in the first half by miles.

Garrett miles. Garrett was in Russ's face the entire time. They did that briefly flirted with the two quarterback thing yesterday. So fields went in for a couple plays. And then of all the things for Justin Fields to do, they got him to throw like a 30-yard bomb. I'm like, make him run. Like, that's what he does.

He's a running quarterback in bad conditions. That's called keeping him off balance. Yeah, and it did because – It didn't work? No, Justin Fields was totally off balance. He missed the throw. And then Russ came back. Russ got crushed at the end of that game.

Didn't he start the game 10 for 10 or something like that? So if you looked at the box score of last night's game, you'd be like, he had a very good, very efficient day. If you watch the game, you'd be like, not great. That hit at the end, though. That hit at the end. He got crushed. He's getting a little older now.

These snow games are tougher. They threw a Hail Mary at the end and he waited until the very last nanosecond to release it. So the guys could get in the end zone. Right. But by doing that, just exposed every part of his body for a huge hit. And boy,

did the Cleveland Browns take it? Like they just annihilated him to his credit. He popped up. And I mean, it wasn't like a devastating loss for the Steelers or anything. You're still in pretty good shape. Do you have the Jameis Winston? Oh, God.

Did he do another postgame thing? He's the funniest, most unintentionally funny athlete going. I didn't know this about him until this year. These speeches. So, okay. He's like a guy that's enthusiastic about public speaking and speeches without being very good at it. That's probably the best way that I can put it.

And he's got this sort of, I don't want to call it riz, but there's something charming and endearing about it. I don't know what it is. Anyway. It's natural. One of his former teammates, I think it was Jerome Ford, said it best. He's like, when Jameis comes into the huddle to call a play, he does it like he's about to tell you a secret.

He starts with a little, psst, come here. Right? Like he's got an excitement, and I think he wants to try and deliver everything. I have an announcement to make about this next play. It is a big play, gentlemen. Time count violation. Right. Ruffalo just whistled, penalty. J big play, gentlemen. Time count violation. Right.

Ruffalo just whistled penalty. Jameis, he got hurried out. So this is him after the game yesterday. We're just playing. Just see what you think, listeners. Jameis Winston, after a big win for the Browns on Thursday Night Football in the snow. You know, it was, it really was amazing.

Like, I was just praying on the sideline because that fourth quarter, it really was like, it was a whole paradigm shift. Like, we were playing so well offensively and then bang, bang, back-to-back drives with turnovers. And I'm just like, oh my gosh, like this is really an NFL's film moment. The snow starts pouring down.

It starts getting like, I felt like my feet started getting heavy because I'm squishing through the snow. And man, it was so good. It was so great to end up getting that win. I don't even know what to say. I'm not a religious man, but I need him to be my preacher. Right.

I love him. You know he's not using paradigm shift right, but not totally wrong. Like, close enough. Squishing through the snow. I do it all the time. I'm like, that phrase is close enough to what I wanted to get at there. It's got to be a drop, though, when the snow hits here in Vancouver. I'm squishing through the snow.

I'm using that one. All right. Uh, let's real quick reset here. We got an hour left on the program. Dolly. Well, is going to join us today.

We've got a bunch of ask us anything's what we learned. We should do a couple more before we go to break a reminder. Final half hour of the program. We're going to give away a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway. Best pizza place in the biz, uh, for the best, ask're going to give away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, best pizza place in the biz. For the best, ask us anything or what we learned. And we haven't picked the winner yet, so you still got a chance to get him in. Hashtag WWL or AUA and put a pizza emoji into your text.

That's an important part of this whole thing. John in West Kelowna. Do you guys think if the usual Canucks defense suspects stink again tonight, that tonight could be the night they finally decide moving forward to split the D pairings up and just try something different it feels slightly overdue at times already this year they've done it mid-game before for a bit yeah but man I mean I've asked this question, for the last couple weeks, whether or not they're going to split Soucy and Myers up. And to facilitate that, would they split Hughes and Hronik up?

And every practice, it's back to Hughes and Hronik and Soucy Myers. And sometimes the third pair changes around a little bit. But those top four have been together. And, you know, based on what has been said by Rick Talkett and the fact that he went out there and had separate conversations during their last practice in town with the likes of Susie Myers and I think Juleson got a little time too, it sounds like the plan is, guys, we need you to play better. Yeah, and that's a fair plan.

It's a fair plan. It's a fair plan. I don't know if it's going to work, but it's... At a certain point, you're going to have to say to these guys, we're going to need you to play better, and we're going to count on you guys more and more as the season goes along. Because, I mean, I think we all know that signing more towers, like Forbort and DeJarne to add to the previous towers in Susie and Myers. This is all with an eye to the playoffs.

It's all with a nod to we want to be big and physical at the time where you need to be the most big and the most physical. Yeah. That being said, you can't just press the fast forward button and get there. Like you have to get through the regular season. So I think talking. If the things progress like they are, DeJarne is the fast-forward button and get there. You have to get through the regular season. So I think talking— Well, if things progress like they are, Darren A is sure going to be fresh for the playoffs. Right. He can't even get into the lineup.

And I don't think—there are times when I watch him, and he looks unplayable. He looks like he doesn't know what he's doing. It's not great. It's not great. I hope that a lot of work—that's got to be Adam Foote's 1A project right now. It's like you're going to have to— I think his 1A project is Susie and Myers right now, like, that's got to be Adam Foote's 1A project right now. It's like, you're going to have to. I think his 1A project is Susie and Myers right now. Yeah, that's true as well.

1A and 1B. I don't know which one is A and B. Day or night might have just been a bad signing. Possibly. And a bad bet. Hopefully not. Hopefully he finds his game. But remember, this is a guy that was on the Oilers and the Oilers went on a long playoff run

and eventually decided during that run that he shouldn't be playing. Yeah. And that's when Broberg got his opportunity and Broberg looked good out there and then Broberg got offer sheeted and he's no longer with the Oilers. And then the Canucks signed De'Arne. And a lot of people when they signed De'Arne were like, hmm, that's an interesting bet. Good luck with that. A few people have been texting in about how the Canucks might miss Ian Cole. And I think they do. I watched the

Ian Cole yesterday, and he looked pretty good for Utah. He's having an offensive explosion. He just had such a rough playoffs. Yeah. And I also wonder just if the Canucks couldn't afford him. Possibly. I don't remember. What's he making in

Utah? 3.1. Yeah, so I don't think they wanted to give him that. What's he making in Utah? 3.1. Yeah, so I don't think they wanted to give him that. That's fair. I don't think they wanted to give him 3 million. So they prioritized bringing in more wingers, and they did bring in Forbort and De'Arne. And so far, look, it's a problem.

The Canucks have a problem on their defense, and two things are going to have to happen. Number one, they're going to have to play better. The guys that they got under contract, especially Susie, who is fully capable of playing better. We saw it last season. I agree. It's not like he's getting old.

It's not like you're like, oh, maybe he's aging out. No, he's not. He's just playing badly. He's going through a rough stretch. And the other is they're probably going to have to make a trade at some point. I think the latter is the one. And I know Freedj threw some cold water on it when we had him on. By the way, the Hour 2 podcast featuring Elliot Friedman is going to be available for download, Apple, Google, Spotify, in just a few minutes.

He threw some cold water on the notion of a trade, but I still like what we had going there that the over under on maybe having a trick my hot take yeah i i think that more pieces fit and make sense for a trade than not because the teams that i know the record is fine fine is about the most optimistic i can be with it the overall record is fine the level of play probably has not been for the general manager and president of hockey operations liking. Most, the worrisome thing for me is the amount of goals that they're conceding. Yeah.

That's the starkest contrast to last year for me, is they are giving up way more goals, especially at home, where it was a bit of a fortress. And some of it's goaltending. Yes. A lot of it's goaltending. People asking about Calgary. Is Calgary for real?

Look at Dustin Wolf's numbers. They're very good. They're off the charts. What is he, 936? Calder candidate. Yeah, absolutely. He's been very good. That's a ridiculous save percentage in today's NHL.

Speaking of ridiculous, Rick Dollywell is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.